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BODLEIAN LIBRARY 
OXFORD 



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V 



BRISTOL 

PAST AND PRESENT 



J. F. NICHOLLS, F.S.A. 

Outf Liirarum Britial Frit Utnaia 

JOHN TAYLOR 

LUreriaii BrhtU Mmaim and I^rarj 



Vol. Ill— Civil and Modern History 



BRISTOL 
PUBLISHED BY J. W. ARROWSMITH, II QUAY STREET 

LONDON: GRIFFITH AND FARRAN, ST. PAUL'S CHURCHYARD 

1882 



/ 



BRISTOL 
FRINTED BT JAMBS WILLIAMS AKROWSMITH, QUAY STREBT 



p^eb:5(?e. 



BEBE are but few words to add to those which have prefaced the former Volumea. We thank 

our fellow-citizeua for the hearty welcome they have given to Bristol : Past and Present, 

and our critics for the leniency they have shown to its errors, and trust that in this 

Volume few, if any, will be found, and those of but trifling impdrtance. We aak for an 

impartial judgment of its merits, assuring our readers that it has been oar endeavour to 

record the events narrated in its pages carefully and without bias. A man's proclivities 

will naturally give a tone to his worlc, but it has been our endeavour to make this as 

little perceptible as possible, to write without asperity of those whose actions we disapproved, and 

without flattery of those whose conduct we admired ; nor are we conscious of having written 

One line which,' dying, jre could wi«Ii to blot. 

Special helpers demand special mention, and, in addition to the names recorded in the previous 
Volumes, onr best thanks are given to Thb Coepokation of Bristol, for permission to nse 
the picture by John Syer (Frontispiece to Volume I.), presented to the City by Eobt. Lang, Esq.; 
Miss Lucy Todlmih Smith; Drs. J. Beddoe, G. F. Bubder, B. Davies and J. G. Swayme; Eevs. 
J. W. Caldicoit. D.D., and J. Hancock, M.A.; Col. A. M. Jones; Alderman H. Naish; Messrs. 
E. Briqhtman, L. Bedton, E. W. Coathdpe, T. Coomber, F.C.S., A. Cox, W. George, T. Howard, C.E., 
Macmillan & Co. (for permission to use portrait of Mary Carpenter), F. W. Newton, Reid and Hicks, 
E C. Sampson, B. Wilson, and J. D. Woolcock ; Proprietors of Srietol Times aiid Mirror, Bristol Mercury 
and Daily Post and Wegtem Daily Press; and lastly, Mr. D. T. BuRGES, Town Clerk, and Mr. J. T. Lane, 
City Treasurer, for the unrestricted access they have afforded to the archives of the City. 

A quaint old author says, " There are three diflicnlties in authorship ; to write anything worth 
publishing, to find honest men to publish it, and to get sensible men to read it" Without egotism, we 
consider these to have been overcome. It now remains for Bristol Present to make such practical use 
of the lessons derived from the mistakes of Bristol Past as shall cause Bristol Future to take high 
rank amongst the most renowned and prosperous cities of the Empire. 



JOSEPH D. WESTON, ESQ., 

UAYOB OF BEI8T0L 

AND 

CHAIRHAH OF THE BRISTOL FREE LIBBA&T, 

THIS VOLUME 

OF BRISTOL: FAST AKD PRESENT 

fiH with fiinctxt xt^pti mA tfiittm f^dicated 

BY ITS AUTHOR, 

J. F. NICHOLLS, F.S.A. 



-^ SEIIE^^L i IIIDEX. ■<• 



Abduction in Briitol, lia. 

Actof ancBluDod, 140. 

Acton, celebnted, wlio hi 
formed od tbe lUge or 
UiMtre, King streBt, SOI. 



BriitolhtJiwiHll.. S9. 
AltktD. JuDiH, olioj JuK the Paint 

Albert. Frince.'Tlglt or, b> Bristol. 3 
AlderaieD. flnt Election of, in JMit 



ucient Bristol, 241. 



Blancbirdi, 2D4 
CliflDn, aft ; CdI 
tor-*. S4S : Fry'i 






. John 



I, Nloholi 



AiDBlU. Prino 



3it: WhiUj's, a 
vliiU Brlilol, 1... 
.... Kt by Briitol enargy 

uid CApltal, 393. 
AmBrlcmi eoloiiltii, di 

dependence b; the, 
Ancwot nppeuum ud condition of 

BiMol, He ; arobltectnre of BrlHiol. 

SST ; BriitQl ■lehonwa, 141 ; Brltlol 

"iMJtwntBrhoiue*,"— ' ' 

MliDUinldw 

orBrtatol, 3S0. 

Britlol, HO. 
Abus pracUlmed in Biiitol, US : 

vMf Brfatol, I6S. 
AiudM, bulldiDg of the, commfnced, 

BIO. 
Archltcctonl ipeclmeu In Brlatol. 

Architecture of Brlitol, tncient and 

medlcnl, 13T. 
Annj, remnikible dlabuiding of tbe, 

AitUleij eompuiT in Briitol, TO. 
A«nlt or Bi^itol, lucceurol, bj the 
Parlismentviiiu, 9. 

D, Briatol. Iniugnnted, Ud. 

9 pinte, in Briitol, 301. 

bh doclu, U3. 

B4Dk, Bnt opened in Briitol, 190 ; 

of BogUnd rooDded, 149. 
Banking conpaDlei b Biiitol, »!. 
B*pti*t collase, IH. 
Bu^iit mUle, hipttilng at, 98. 
" Barebone'i Parliament.' 31. 
fiarrlDgtoD, Hon. Daion, the autl- 

qoarian, 90l>- 
BartoD B»is anion, 268. 
BeaoTott, Cake of, thruteo* Kon- 

moDthfrom Briitol, Ill- 



Bewitchment, aappooed, of children 

and hones In Bibtol, 198. 
BlU or Rlgbta pisHd, 149. 



. ofal 






printing Acta oCFirllac 

Blenheim, battle of, lejoiclna* In 

Griilol. lis. 
Bcara, clothlag, and BcbooIlDg of a 

Boscobel, Prince Charlei hldei'ln the 

Branding with i hot l'mn,'l&§. 
Brui niianractorT, Rrit in England, 

Bread, price of, In BtlBtol, 3a, SS, 121 ; 

rIolB iraoDg the collieni, 191. 
Brick baildinge, Bnt, in Bristol, 

Bridewell". deicrlpUon of, 114 : re- 
built, 172 ; bridge rebnilt of itone, 

Bridgo, Brletol, greit Hce on, 19 ; re- 
built, 192 
Bridge, CllftOD iQipenBion, hiilorr or 

Bristol, sc'uinnte of, tirta ISIO, fll, 6i. 

Brlsti'l Cathednl school, 2U. 

Brialol coilege, aifi. 

" Bristol forlienelf" IS. 

BrIUIn, Jonithao, the foi^r, baoged, 

British Association, flnt meeUng in 

Bristol, 343, 
Broken in Bristol, Act for the regn- 

Ution of, 17T. 
Bruton, Leoniutl. tecielarj oT the 

Free Port asiocUktlon, 913. 

BuU biit'ng in Briitol, 820. 
Bordock. Mr*., trial and aiecntlDii 

Burke, Bdtnnnd, elected member for 
Briitol, va ; ipeech of, on rearing 
from the npnientatlou of Briitol, 
209. 

Cabot, GebaitUn, of Bristol, 292. 
Calendar, refomi of the, 190. 
Calico, ant piece of. Dianufactored 

in Brtilol, 344. 
Caon, Sir Robert, committal of, to 



■'ISii.s 



origlna 






demolition of, se ; 

ineei ouiic, rW. 
Cathay. Brlilo] mercbaati' seatchca 

for. M2. 
Cathedral anthoriUes and corpora- 

tloD, diiipntei between the, OS. 1^1. 
Catherine. Queen, *lilte Briitol, 70. 
Catholics and Dliaenten, perseca- 



FuUer's charity, MS ; George Hir- 
rlngton'i gift, 352; Oeorge While's 
gift, 2M j glfis topoor houiekeepen. 



charity, 2^3 : John Hejdon'e gift, 
483 : John MerloM'i chulty, feo ; 
John Pearce'i gift, Sii : KItcfaen'i 
charily, 2M ; Lady HaberOeld'a 
charity, 262 ; Loin Money ctiirlty. 
261 : Mary Ann Peloqnin'i charity. 
253 : Hattbew Hiyland's gift. 233 ; 
Owen's charity. 219 : Frltocen in 

irorthy's gt'ft, U3j Blr Abri^an 



Ellon's 



iBrity. S6 



uCbei- 



gifl, 2!i2 ; Thomas Jones's chsrity. 

■as ; Thomu White's charily, 353 : 

Triiillyhoipltil.247. 
Oharlei 1. beheaded, 23 : sold to the 

Farliiment by thi Soots, 18 : Charlee 

II. proclaImM in Bristol, 46 ; pro- 
Charles, Prince, defeated by Crom- 



Chirtan granted to the Cabot*, 394, 
Charten of Briitol, 28S : ItUTendered 



inla between the, 88, 181. 
Civic diipntoi, 80. 
Clltton,cIn3i 1780,109; manor of, 48. 
Clirton coUege, 389. 
Clifton down Congregational ohnrch. 



Dlying b. 
Coaching t>l 



and KhoollDg of a 

Carted. 311 ; 'stage. 
1 Briitol and the 



irist's hospital, 
jrrhanli' alms- 



giTM £6, 
Sueen Ai 
lity of, IJ 



ramUT, m ; BmnldMnt gOla, 13T : 
principal proprietor of the Hint 

the malnlenaDCe of'sb additional 
boyi at Qoeen Bltabeth's hospital. 



Bristol for money lent, 122. 
Colston hall, 146, 362. 
Colston'i hotpttal or boarding acbool. 



^DiDbe dlagls, : 
^ommercljrao 



Congregilional and Theological Inst 

Congregational Union, meeting ] 

Bristol, 864. 
Conitablei, night. In Bristol, 310, 



Cook's FoUy. 143. 
in Biiitol, 40. 



d, 62; market, 
catbednl au- 



thorttlo.diipnlei 
corpontlon. pursing the Briitol, 
117icorpo™tlonofthepoor,Brtilul, 
28T:lnitltated, 140. 
Conaln, TnriUsfa, eaptan of Bristol 

Oonncil honee, 244, 

County Court, Bristol, Dpsnrd, S4S. 

Court, chanctar of the restored, 47. 

CiDuiwell, Ollrer. cIobh the llttingi 



Frhicc Cbarlea, 23 : defeats the 
Boota, 23 i letter ^m, dricriblng 

from, to the corporation of'srlrtol, 
30 ; lleutenant-geoeni under Falr- 
fai at the atcond siege of Briitol, 2 ; 
lord high ateward of Bilatol, 3; 
TtslM Briitol, U, 1^ 



VI 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



Cromwell, Richard, proclaimed lord 
protector, 41 ; visits Bristol, 40. 

Cross, civic, S45. 

Cross, Civic High, in College green, 
foundation-stone laid, 346. 

Customs revenue at Bristol, 216, 

Defoe, description of Bristol by, in 

1761, 197 : in Bristol, 167. 
Description of Bristol, 377. 
Discoveries, Bristol, in America, 298, 

298. 
Dissent, open, in Bristol, 92. 
Dissenters and Catholics, penecTi- 

tions of, 66. 97. 
Dissenting chapel in Bristol, flnt 

marriage in a, 843. 
Dock company, Bristol, established, 

228. 
Docks, Bill for the transfer of the, 

passed, 846. 
Docks, Bristol, transferred to the 

dty, 813. 
Downs Act, Clifton and Dordham, 

860. 
Dram shops, ancient Bristol "hot 

water houses," or, 241. 
Drawbridse, first, erected, 170 ; rules 

and by-Taws for the, 214. 
Drawbridge opened, 322. 
Drinking in Bristol. 241. 
Duckinff stool in Bristol, 62, 68, 172. 
Duke of Edinburgh, visits of, 355-6. 
Duplicity of Charles I., 16. 
Dutch, under Van Tromp, sweeping 

the English channel with brooms 

at their mastheads, 21 ; prisoners, 

confinement of, under RedclifT 

church, 21 ; victory of Blake over 

the, 21. 

East Indies, first merchant ship trom 
the, bound for Bristol, 281. 

Earl, Sir Thomas, trial of, 143. 

Earthquakes in Bristol, 141, 174, 190. 

Ebenezer chapel, 182. 

Educational society, Bristol, founded, 
203. 

Elections, Bristol, prior to the Re- 
form Bill, 234. 

Election squibs, 210. 

Eminent natives of or residents in 
Bristol :— 
Baily, E. H., R.A., 278 ; Barrett, 
William, F.8.A., 278; Beddoes, 
Thomas, M.D., 279 ; Beddoes, 
Thomas Lovell, 279; Bird, Edward, 
R.A., 279; Bowdich, Thomas Ed- 
ward. 279 ; Bran white, Nathan, 280 ; 
Breillat, John, 280 ; Broderip, John, 
F.B.B. , 280 ; Butler, Joseph H., 280 ; 
Carpenter, Rev. Lant, LL.D., 280; 
Carpenter, Hary. 280 ; Catcott, Rev. 
Alexander 0, 281 ; Catcott, Rev. 
Alexander Stopford, 281 ; Chatter- 
ton, Thomas, 281 ; Child, William, 
Mus. Doc, 281; Coleridge, & T., 
281 ; Cotlle, Amos, 281 ; Cottle, 
Joseph, 281 : Dallaway, Rev. James, 
M.A., F.R.a, 282 ; Davy, Sir Hum- 
phroy, bart., 282; Draper, Sir Wil- 
liam, 282 ; Esgles, Rev. John, M.A., 
282 ; Eaton, Oiarles, 282 ; Elton, Sir 
Charles Abraham , bart , 282 ; Estlin , 
John Prior, LL.D., 282 ; Evans, Rev. 
John, 282 ; Evans, John, 282 ; Foster, 
Rev. John, 282 ; Fox, E. L., M.D., 
282 ; Orinfield, Thomas, 288 ; Hall, 
Rev. Robert, 283 ; Haberfield, John 
Kerle. 283; Hallam, Henry, 283; 
Harris, John, D.D. , 283 ; Heywood, 
William, D. D. , 283; Holmes, George, 
283: King, John, 283; Kington, Jonn 
Bamett, 283; Lawrence, Sir Thomas, 

- 283; Longman, Thomas, 288; Lovell, 
Robert, 284 ; Ludlow, Mr. Ser- 
jeant, 284 ; Macaulay , Zachary , 284 ; 
More, Hannah, 284; Pearsall, Robert 
Lucas, 284; Porter, Anna Maria, 
284 ; Porter, Dr. W. O., 284 ; Porter, 
Jane, 286 ; Powell. Anne, 285 ; Pri- 
chard, James Cowles, M.D., F.RS., 
285 ; Purdy, Victory, 286 ; Reynolds, 
Richard, 286 ; Robinson, Mary, 286 ; 
Ryland, Dr., 280 : Sanders, Thomas, 
286 ; Sealey, Thomas Henry, 286 ; 
Seyer, Rev. Samuel, 286; Smith, 
William, 286 ; Soutbey, Robert, 286 ; 
Bymonds. John Addington, M.D., 
287; Thistlethwaite, Jamei, 287; 



Thorn, Joseph Romaine, 287; Was- 

brough, Mattiiew, 288 ; Wesley, 

Charles, 288 ; Wesley, Samuel, 288 ; 

Worgan, John Dawes, 288 ; Tearsley, 

Ann, 288. 
Ethnology of Bristol district, 276. 
Evacuation of Bristol by Rupert, 12. 
Ewm's, St, churoh, united with 

Christ diurch, 212. 
Exchange, Bristol, foundation laid, 

186 ; made into a com market, 228. 
Exhibitions at Colston's hospital, 262 ; 

at Cambridge and Oxford, 257. 
Exorcism of G«orge Luklns in Temple 

church, 216. 

Fairlkx, Sir Thomas, capture of Bristol 
by, 10; command of the "New 
Model Anny'* given to, 2; sum- 
mons Rupert to surrender Bristol, 6. 

Fairs, St James' and Temple, 
abolished, 844. 

Fairs, times of holding settled, 177 ; 
and altered, 202. 

Farthing, Bristol, 27. 

Fellowships at the Oramnutr school, 
257. 

Fine Arts Academy completed, 848. 

Fines for reftising to serve mtmicipal 
offices, 343. 

Floating harbour completed, 226. 

Floating harbour, feud condition of 
the, 321. 

Floods, great, 172, 197, 220. 

Fountains, drinking, in Bristol, 275. 

Free Libraries, 353. 

Free Port association, Bristol, foun- 
ded, 313 ; procession, 313. 

Free trade, Cabot virtually the father 
of, 208. 

French man-of-war captured in the 
Bristol channel, 192 ; prison at 
Knowle, 199 ; at Stapleton, 219, 222. 

Frobisher, Captain Martin, trades to 
Bristol, 298. 

Frost, great, 88. 

Gaol, Bristol, descriptions of, 218 ; 

new Bristol, 229. 
Gardens, Great, 203. 
Gas, Bristol lighted with, 229. 
Gas Company, 246. 
Gas, oil. Act for lighUng the city 

with, passed, 320. 
George I., accession of, celebrated in 

Bristol, 16C; riots on the occasion, 

167 ; trial of the rioters, 168 ; George 

II. proclaimed in Bristol, 174 ; 

George III., charter of, 196. 
Giant's cave, St. Vincent's rocks, 

gang of robbers captured in the, 

225. 
Gifibrd, Andrew, the " Apostle of the 

West," 101. 
Gift sermons, 164. 
Grammar school, 256. 
Grammar school re-opened, 845. 
Grammar school, state of the, in 1828, 

822. 
Great Britain, s.s., built in Bristol, 

810 ; runs aground in Dnndrum 

bay, 311 ; refloated, 311. 
Great Orphan Book and Book of 

Wills, 269. 
Great Red Book, 269. 
Great Western^ the first ocean-going 

steamahip, built at Bristol, 810. 
Great White Book of Records, 269. 
Guardians of the poor, 268. 
Guildhall, new, foundation-stone laid, 

846. 
Guthrie scholarship, 260. 
Gwynn, Nell, in Bristol, 87. 

Habeas Corpus Act psssed, 76. 

Hannah More, 206. 

Hardcastle and Thompson, imprison- 
ment of the Baptist ministera, 102. 

Health of Bristol, 277. 

High Cross, removal and re-erection 
ofthe, 179, 188, 199. 

Hill's bridge. New Cut, knocked 
down, 847. 

Honours gained by Clifton college, 
261 ; by the Grammar school, 258. 

Hook's mills asylum for orphan girls 
established, 210. 

Hospital, Bristol General, 246 ; St 
Peter's. 246 ; Trinity, 247. 

Hotel biU, Briitol, 241. 



Howard, the philanthropist, visits 

Bristol, 218. 
Huguenots in Bristol, settlement of, 

117, 143. 
Hunt, Henry, the Radical, 228. 

Ilfraoombe, steam communication 
between Bristol and, 842. 

Imposter, Mary Willcocks, the, 280. 

Improvements in Bristol, 242, 846 ; of 
the port of Bristol, various plans 
for tne, 818 ; proposed river, 200, 
214, 224. 

Incendiarism in Bristol, 206. 

Independent denomination, founda- 
tion of the, 91. 

Independents and Presbyterians, 16 ; 
success ofthe latter, 47. 

Indulgence, declaration of, 61. 

Infirmary, Bristol Royal, 2i6; found- 
ing of the, 182, 211. 

Inland revenue at Bristol, 266. 

Inns, ancient Bristol, 240. 

Inoculation introduced by Dr. Jenner, 
222. 

Ireton's proposals to the king. 16. 

Ironsides, cnaracter and rougion of 
the, 1. 

James, Captain Thomas, of Bristol, 
terrible sufferings of, in search of 
the delusive north-west passage, 
301. 

James II. flees ttom. London, 121 ; in 
Ireland, 140; portrait of, by Sir 
Godfrey Kneller, 89; proclamation 
of, 110; visits Bristol, 115. 

Jefflreys, Judge, notorious charge of, 
to a Bristol jury, 112; prosecutes 
the mayor and aldermen of Bristol, 
113. 

Jesuits, Quakers suspected to be, 26, 
34. 

Johnson, Dr., visits Bristol, 206. 

Kidnapping in Bristol, 113. 

King square laid out, 191. 

King's evil, touching for, 115. 

" Kkke's lambs," 111, 116. 

Kite carriage, Pocock's, exhibited at 
Ascot races, 822. 

Knight, Sir John, member of Parlia- 
ment for Bristol, extraordinary 
speeches of, 142. 

Land Bank founded, 149. 

Law library, Bristol, foiinded, 231. 

Leather market established In Bristol, 

215. 
Lectern, cathedral, offered for sale by 

auction, 83. 
Leonard, St., church, Act for taking 

down, 200. 
Library, City, 262, 858. 
Linen manufactory in Bristol, 75. 
Literary Bristol merchant, 17. 
Little Red Book. 269. 
Locke, John, 157. 
Lords, House of, abolished by statute, 

21. 
Lord's supper first administered to a 

Dissenting church in Bristol, 93. 

Macadamising tested first in Bristol, 

321. 
Macready, Mr. William. Bristol theatro 

opened under the management of, 

231. 
Magistracy of Bristol, 267. 
Magnetic needle, variation of the, 

discovered by Cabot, 298. 
Mansion-house, Clifton, 853. 
Maps of Bristol :— Early. 235; Mil- 

lerd's, 63 ; Roque's, 187 ; map of 

Bristol, 1882, /aoel. 
Mayoral precedence disputed, 66. 
Mayor and sheriffs of Bristol, right 

of electing the, 321. 
Mayor of Bristol, right of the, to take 

Us seat on the bench of any of the 

common law courts, 197. 
Mayor's Audit Book, 269. 
Mayor's dues, 206. 
Mayors of Bristol, fh>m 1886 to i^e 

prosent date, 840. 
Mediaeval architecture of Bristol, 288. 
Merchant venturers, list of, 1777, 208. 
" Messiah," first performance of the, 

in Bristol, 228. 
Meteorology of Bristol district, 278. 






Methodism in America, founded firom 

Bristol, 181. 
Methodist regular ministry, origin of, 

in Bristol, 181. 
Monarchy aboUsbed by statute, 21. 
Monmouth, Duke of, rebellion ofthe, 

102, HI. 
Moro, Hannah, S06. 
Mud dock oompletad, 102. 
Municipal government of Bristol, 26d. 
Municipal oflloes, fines for reftulsg 

to serve, 848. 
Municipal Reform Act, passing of 

the, 889. 
Mural decorations, ancient, 188. 
Musical Festival, 865. 
Mutiny of soldiers in Bristol, 140; of 

the Osstle garrison, 18. 

Naseby, battle of, 1. 

Navigation between Bristol and Bath 

completed, 175. 
Naylor, James, persecution of, 98. 
Neate, the Bristol pugUist, 820. 
N^tiations between Fairfax and 

Rupert for the surrender of Bristol, 

6. 
New Cut opened, 228. 
New England, origin of, owing to the 

enterprise of the men of Bristol and 

the west of England, 300. 
Newfoundland discovered and colon- 
ised by Bristol men, 298, 301. 
Newgate rebuUt, 142 ; taken down, 

202. 
Newspapers, Bristol, 288. 
" New style " ordered to be used, 190. 
Nonconformity, rise and progress of, 

in Bristol, 90. 
North-west passsge, expedition ftom 

Bristol to explore the, 801. 

Officials, municipal, salaries of the, 

in 1835, 889. 
Orphan houses, Ashley down, 262. 

Parliamentary elections in Bristol, 

tabulated form ofthe, 232; leaders, 2. 
Parliaments, septennial, established, 

169. 
Patents for dlBcovery and colonisation 

granted to Bristol men, 298. 
Patterson, William, builder of the 

Great Western^ the first ocean-going 

steamship, 310. 
Peers, first creation of new, in English 

history, 161. 
People's park, presented by Sir 

Greville Smyth, 355. 
Persecutions of Dissenters and Ca- 
tholics, 66, 97. 
"Petitioners" and " Abhorrers," 77. 
Petition to Parliament from Bristol, 

20. 
Pillars, brass, removed to the firont 

of the Exchange, 208. 
Pillory in Bristol, 146, 162, 157. 
Pinney, Mr. Charles, mayor of Bristol, 

trial of, 837. 
Pirates, Bristol, 804. 
Pithay Baptist chapel, 98. 
Plague in Bristol, 4, 12, 14, 24. 
Plate, city, 269. 
Ray acting prohibited, 156. 
Playbill, Bristol, copy of one of the 

earliest. 200. 
Poetical aescription of Bristol, 162. 
Police, new, commenced duty in 

Bristol, 842. 
Police of Bristol, 275. 
Poor Law union originated by Captain 

Caiy, 168. 
Poors^ rate valuation of the parishes, 

218. 
Pope, description of Bristol by, 184. 
Popish plots, alleged, 78. 
Population of Bristol, 266. 
Port charges, rival, compared, 812. 
Porti»head docks, 244. 
Portland stroet dhapel, 182. 
Portraits in the municipal gallery, 

cifioa 1700, 166. 
Post office, Bristol, 276. 
Pottery, Bristol, first record of, 248. 
Prayer book, common, substitution 

of the "Directory" for the, 8. 
Presbyterians and Independents, 16; 

success of the former, 47. 



GENERAL INDEX. 



vu 



Fiefcender, rebellion In fltToor of the . 

JW. 
"Pride's puiM," 17. 
Frinoe tnd PrineeiM of Walei Tlsit 

Brif toU 18S. 
Frinoe of Wales, Tisit of, 96L 
Fring, Oaptidn Martin, sailed from 

Bnstol on a Toyace of diKOverj in 

North AmericiL 399. 
FrinUng presses m Bngland, 17. 
Prison, Frenoh, at Knowle, 199; at 

StapUton, 819, 222. 
Prisons, Bristol, 275. 
Prtyateen, Bristol, U8, 159; of the 

18th oentory, 804. 
Property, oorporation, value of the, 

in 1836, 841. 
Fogsley^Dame, 168. 
Pnmp, wine street, petition for the 

remoYal of the, 204. 
Punishment in Bristol, influence of, 

329. 

Quakers in Bristol, first appearance 
of the, 98 ; meeting-house built, 99 ; 
suspected to be Jesuits, 26, 84. 

Queen Blisabeth's hospital, 263. 

Queen square, building of, com- 
menced, 16L 

Quo warranto against the mayor, bur- 
gesses and commonalty of Bnstol, 
84. 

Baoes on Durdham down, 822. 
Railroad between Bristol and Bath 

projected, 320. 
Ratable value of Bristol, 266. 
Bedcliff church, confinement of Dutch 

prisoners under, 21. 
Redclifl^ St. Mary, church damaged 

in a thunderstorm, 820 ; portion of 

parapet blown down. 848. 
Red Maids' school, 263. 
Reform BUI, celebration, in Bristol, 

of the passing of the, 838. 
Reform riots in Bristol, 82.Y. 
Relics of the sieges of Bristol, 13. 
Religious chronological sequence, 96 ; 

dissensions in Bristol, 84. 
Restoration of the monarchy, 44. 
Retrenchment in the Bristol council, 

118. 
Rioters, trial of the Bristol, 386. 
Riots in Bristol, 174. 176, 200. 217 ; 

on the aooesMion of Geoive I., 167, 

214 224. 
Riots', Reform, in Bristol, 828. 



Riverimprovements, proposed, 800. 

River improvements, 1868, 851. 

Roads leading to dinon and Redland 
in 1759, 194. 

Robbers, gang of, captured in the 
Oianf s cave, St. Vmoent's rocks, 
225. 

Rogers, Captain Woodes, fsmouf 
voyage of, round the world, 808. 

Royal fort demolished, 86. 

Rupert, defence of Bristol by, 8 ; dis- 
missed from the king's service, 14 ; 
evacuates Bristol, 12; summoned 
by Fairfax to surrender Bristol, 6. 

Sailors' home, Bristol, opened, 847. 
Salaries of the municipal oflicials in 

1885, 889. 
Sanitary authority, Bristol, 267. 
Saucy ArethitBa laun6hed and fitted 

out in Bristol, 808. 
Savage, Richard, satirises the dtlMns 

of Bristol, 188. 
Scholarships :— 

Grammar school, 858 ; Guthrie, 260. 
School Boards :— 

Bedminster, 264 ; Bristol, 264. 
Schooling, board, and clothing of a 

young Lady at Bristol in 1677, 68. 
Scots, defeated by Cromwell, 23 ; sale 

of Charles I. to the Parliament by 

the, 16. 
Seal, common, of the dty, 272. 
Sea mills, dock at, 161. 
Sea walls built, 188. 
Sedgemoor, Monmouth defeated at, 

111. 
Selkirk, Alexander, in Bristol, 308. 
Sermons, gift, 164. 
Sheathing ships' bottoms with lead, 

introduction of the practice of, 297. 
Sheriffs, mayor and. of Bristol, right 

of electing the, 321. 
Ship incendiarism in Bristol, 206. 
Ships, Bristol, in 15th century, 298. 
Ships-of-war built and launched in 

Bristul. 303. 
Siege of Bristol, second, 8. 
Sieges of Bristol, relics of the, 18. 
Signs, Bristol, 241. 

Slave owners, compensation to Bris- 
tol, 344. 
Slave trade, 165. 

Somersetshire reduced by the Parlia- 
mentary forces, 2. 
South Wales, steam communication 

between &istol and, 842. 



Squibs, election, 810. 
SUtisttcs of Bristol in 1786, 194. 
Statistics relatiug to the population, 

Ac, of Bristol in 1847, 845. 
Steam oommunicatlon between Bris- 
tol, Ufracombe and South Wales, 

842. 
Steampackets between Bristol and 

Ireland, 830. 
St. John's bridge over the Frome 

buUt, 198. 
Stoke house, Stapleton, built, 198. 
Stone bricUre (St Giles's) built, 191. 
Stoppage, west of England bank, 854. 
Storm, fearfhl, 206. 
Sugar, presents of, from Bristol, 161 ; 

refining in Bristol, 84. 
Surrender of Bristol by Rupert, 

articles of the, 11. 
Suspension bridge, Clifton, history of 

the. 816. 
Swords of the city, 270. 

Taverns, ancient Bristol, 840. 

Teach, Edward, the Bristol pirate, 804. 

Teetotal temperance society in Bris- 
tol, first mention of the, 842. 

Test and Corporation Act passed, 50. 

Theatre, Bristol, converted into a 
meeting-house, 156. 

Theatres in Bristol, 156, 159, 200, 201. 

Thompson and HardcasUe. imprison- 
ment of the Baptist ministers, 102. 

Threatening letters in Bristol, 178. 

Tide, rise and fall of the, in the Avon, 
243. 

Tobacco growing in Bristol, 151. 

Tokens, Bristol, 27, 228. 

Toleration Act passed, 140. 

Town council, committees of the, 267 ; 
election of the. 267. 

Town's dues, 206. 

Trade and Mining school, 258. 

Trade and Mining schools opened, 
847 

Trade of Bristol in the 14th and 18th 
centuries : — 
Export trade with the American 
coast and Newfoundland, Guinea 
traile. West India trade, 809 ; trade 
with the Levant and Turkey in the 
14tli century, 291. 

Trade of Bristol in 1826. 822. 

Traitor's bridge built, 161. 

Trees, growth of, encouraged in 
Bristol, 238. 

Turnpikes, destruction of, 180. 



Turnspit dogs, 809. 

Btof, 

and and Scotland, 169. 



Uniformity, Aet of, passed, 60. 

ofBn^dandan' 
University college of Bristol, 864. 



Union 



Vanghan, Dr., 858. 

Victoria, Queen, pioclsinAtion of, in 

Bristol, 848. 
Victoria rooms opened, 844. 
Volunteers, Bristol, 820. 
Volunteer movement in Bristol, 848. 

Wsges paid to members of Parlia- 
ment. 146. 
Ward divisions in Bristol under the 

Municipal Reform Act, 889. 
Watch committee in Bristol ap- 
pointed, 841. 
Watchmen in Bristol, 819. 
Waterworks company, first annual 

meeting of the, 845. 
Waterworks, first Bristol, 148. 
Wellington, Duke of, presented with 

the freedom of Bristol, 229. 
Wells, Perrotf 8, 190. 
Wesleyan chapel. Old Market Street, 

182. 
Wesley, John and Charles, in Bristol, 

180. 
West of England bank, stoppage of, 

854. 
Wetherell, Sir Charles, recorder of 

Bristol. 828. 
Whale fisheries, Greenland and South 

seas, abandoned by Bristol ships, 

809. 
Whipping at a cart tail, 157. 
Whitfield, Geoige, in Bristol, 180. 
Whitson, Alderman, 247. 
William and Mary proclaimed in 

Bristol, 189. . 
William of Orange, Bristol seised for, 

121 ; lands at Torbay, 121 ; refrises 

to stay in Bristol, 145 ; statue of^ 

in Queen square, 178, 
Window tax, 149. 

Wine, presents of, from Bristol, 161. 
Wines, Bristol corporation, sale of 

the, 842. 
Wooden house at comer of Wine and 

High streets, 67. 

Zinc first manufactured at Hanham, 

187. 
Zoological Society gardens at Clifton 

estsblished, 842. 




^ him •}• OB •)• ILLHSTPTIOIIS. -^ 



FrofUispieee, 
face 



Clifton Sijspbnsion Bridob 

Map op the City of Bristol, 1882 

RsDCLiFF Gatb — South View ... 

Temple Gate — ^North View 

Sir Thomas Fairfax. From an old print 

Steep Street, the ancient road to Prior's Hill 

Oliver Cromwell. From a Miniature, by Cooper, in 

THE Baptist College, Bristol 
Redgliff Church in the 17th Century 
Prince Charles and Mistress Lane. From an old print 
Bristol Token * 
Bristol Farthing 
The "Angel" Inn, High Street 
The Pie Poudre Court in Old Market Street 
Richard, Lord Protector 
Baldwin Street in the 17th Century 
Leonard's Lane in the 17th Century 
Lanoton's House, Welsh Back, 17th Century 
Fac simile of Millerd's Map of the City of Bristol ... 
Timber-framed House at Corner of High and Wine 

OxKKKik) *•• ••• ••• ••* ••. «•. 

Windows in Colston's House, Small Street ... 

Romsey's House in King Street 

The ''Jolly Sailor" in Marsh Street. From an old 

FJS JJI Jr ••• ••■ *•• ■•■ • • • ••• 

Leotern, originally in the Cathedral, now in St. 

Mary-le-port Church 
Widow Kelly and other Women stopping up Frome 

Gate at the Siege of Bristol in 1643 
Punishment by Whipping and the Pillory. From an 

OLD f KIMx ... •«• ... ..• ... ..• 

James Naylor. From an old print ... 

The Horsefair, showing the Back Entrance to Broad- 

pfl pj^^Tl X^UAJt Jali •■• ••• ••• ■•• «•• 

\7I4SI1 f xCOSUB •■• *•• ••• ■«• ••• ••• 

Candelabrum in Temple Church 

'< Three Tuns*' Tavern, Corn Street, afterwards the 

a)USH XNN ••• ••! ••• ... «•• 

The North Prospect of ye Great Hoxtse on St. Augus- 
tine's Back in Bristoll, now Colston's Hospitall 
FOR Boys. From an old print ... 

Edward Colston 

City Library, adjoining the Merchant's Almshouse ... 

Reduced fac simile of a Letter from Colston 

Colston's School, now the site of Colston Hall 

Houses in Peter Street 

\yOOK S J? OLL X ..a ... ••* ... •>. ... 

Caryatides at the Mutt 



Poife 

1 
5 
5 
8 
10 

17 
22 
24 
27 
27 
33 
37 
41 
48 
51 
58 
64 

67 
70 

77 

79 

84 

91 

95 
97 

104 
108 
109 

116 



120 
123 
126 
131 
136 
141 
147 
150 



Page 

House at Barton Hill in which Queen Anne bested ... 154 



The "Cock and Bottle" Inn. From an old print ... 
Robert Kitchen, from Painting in Council House 
The Earl of Pembroke, from Painting by Yavdtke ... 
Houses in Wine Street. From an old drawing 
Old Houses in Broadmead 
Wood's Halfpenny 

Corn Market, afterwards the Cheese Market 
Statue of William III. in Queen Square 
Part of Queen Square, 18th Century 

The old Hotwell House in 18th Century 

Clifton old Turnpike Gate and Promenade in 18th 

v/ENTUR Y *.. ... ... ... ,., ,,, 

Roque's Map OF Bristol, 1741... 

Inside of the Exchange, as originally built ... 

Roads leading to Clifton and Redland in 1759, from 

MS. PLAN OF THAT DATE, INCLUDING NeW RoAD, NOW 

Whttbladies 
Arms of Bristol Crown Fire Insurance Office 
Tower of Dundry Church 
The "Llandoger" Tavern, New Kdxq Street 
Hannah More 
Edmund Burke 



167 
163 
165 
170 
173 
173 
177 
179 
183 
184 

184 
187 
189 



194 
196 
199 
204 
207 
210 



Entrance to Mary-le-port Street from High Street ... 212 
The "Fourteen Stars" Tavern ... ... ... 216 

Bristol Bridge, 1793 ... ... ... ... ... 218 

Old Bristol Volunteer ... ... ... ... 221 

Jessop's Plan for Floating the Harbour ... ... 224 

Jessop's (improved) Plan, which was adopted and car- 

• ••• ••• ••• ... ... Alb4 



RIED OUT 



The Hotwells and Clifton Hill in 18th Century ... 225 
The Avon before it was made into a Floating Harbour 225 
Bristol One Pound Note ... ... ... ... 226 

Halfpenny issued by Niblock, Draper, 18 and 19 Bridge 
Street ... ... ... ... ... ... 226 

Halfpenny issued, 1795, by Niblock and Hunter, 18 and 
19 Bridge Street ... ... ... ... ...226 

Shilling issued by sundry tradesmen... ... ... 226 

Shilling of John Chester ... ... ... ... 226 

Penny Token issued by Saml. Guppy, Patent Copper 
Sheathing Nail Manufacturer, 34 Queen Square 
AND THE Grove Avenue ... ... ... ... 227 

Penny Token issued, in 1811, by persons unknown ... 227 
Shilling issued by Robert Tripp, Army Clothing Con- 
tractor ... ... ... ... ... ... 227 

Sixpence issued by Wm. Shepherd, Bookseller, Small 
Street and Corn Street ... ... ... ... 227 

Shilling issued, in 1811, by persons unknown ... 227 



LIST OP ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Pbhmt Tokih ibsued, m 1811, b7 pbbsons uiiknowk ... 2 
Fbhkt ToEBtr issviD, ih 1811, bt Haaiobd'b and Bbistol 
BaASS AND COPFIR COUPAMT ... ... ... 2 

SiXFUICB ISSDBD BT RoBRRT TRIPF, ASVY CU>THItia CoH- 

TiucroB, ooBKiB or Bboas Qdat ... ... ... 2 

Shillimo jBSfrtii bt Wm. Shkphkbd, Booesbu.ui, Smau. 
STum AND CoBK Stbeet ... ... ... ... 2 

SlXPUICI ISSDXD BT NlBLOCK AND IiATHAH, DkAPEBS, 

BUDOK Stkxbt ... ... ... ... ... 2 

Hautcnht issuKD, IN 1811, BT Hartobd'b and Bkistol 

Brass and Cofpib Cokfabt ... ... ... 2 

Ealfpbhkt issubd, ur IT93, st Hawkins Bibd, Tka 

Dialer, 2 Witri Strbet ... ... ... ... 2 

Sixpence issued bt E. Brtan, Stationer, on the Tolzet 2 
Sixpence issued by sdndbt tkadeshrn... ... ... 2 

Shillimo issued by B. Bktan, Stationer, on the Tolzet 2 
Mart Willcoces, aliaa "Caraboo, Pbikcbss of Javasct" 2 
Sptcbb'b Door, Welsh Back ... ... ... ... 2 

Moral Decorations or Ancient Dormitory in the 

Deanbbt ... ... ... ... ... ... 2 

"QmLDHALL" Tavern, Broad Street ... ... ... 2 

Granary or Missbs. Wait and Jahks, Cbarlottb Street, 

Qdeeh Square ... ... ... ... ... 2 

Mbsbbs. J. S. Fry and Soks' HAXurAcroRT, Nelson 

Stbbet ... ... ... ... ... ... 2 

The Liverpool and London and Globe bauRAKCE Orrics, 

COBH Strbet ... ... ... ... ... 2 

Alderman John Whitson ... ... ... ... 2 

Bristol Gsamhak School, Ttndall's Park ... ... 2 

Clittoh Collkoe and Chapel ... ... ... ... 2 

Moral Dbcobatiohs or ANCiBRt Dorhitort in the 

Deanery ... ... ... ... ... ... 2 

iRDUcnoN or the Mator. From Ricart'b Calendar ... 2 
The Crrr Swords 



The Common Seal of thi 
Seal, cirta Edwabd 1.,.. 
Seal,- circa Edward IlL 
Arms or Britfol, Hth i 



Cnr 



Abms or Bristol, 16th Centdrt 



> IfiTH Cbhtcbibb 



Arms or Bsistol, 17th Centubt 

Seal or Cmr, Edward L 

Cnr Arms, 1683 to present tdc* 

Mast Carpihtxr 

Stapleton Church 

Richard Retnolds 

Akn Yearslet 

Mural Decorations or Aiicuirr Dormitort 

Dbakert ... 
Gallbt of tbe Crdsadsbs 
Sebastian Cabot's Map, 1541 ... 
Sebastian Cabot 

Bbistol Mastiff charoins the Indians 
"Cat and Wheel" Tavebn, Cabtle Green 
The "Elephant" Tavern and Site or it 

Bess" Tavsrh, Kicholab Street ... 
"Pbihce of Wales" Tavern, Redcliff Street 
The "Obbybouhd" Tavern, Lewim's Mead 
Bristol Floating Harbour, showing the " Great 

Western" on the aittcKS ... 
The "Great Western" (the first OcEAN-ooiNa Steam- 
ship built) 
W. Bridos)' desion for Bridob, 1793 ... 
J. M. Rendel's debiqh roR CLinoH Suspension Bridqe, 

1830 3 

T. Telford's desion roR Clipton Suspension Bridge, 1830 3 
Clifton Subfenbidn Bridqe, as erected fboh I. K. 

Brunkl's desion ... ... ... ... ... 8 

Bristol Riots : Charoe or the Dragoon Guards in 

QuEBN Square ... ... ... ... lo face 3 

Sir Ceables Wbtherell. From a cohtemporart print 3 
Market House akd Swobh Cobh MrntB's Office ... 3 

Colonel Brbreton. From a cohtemporart print ... 3 
Mantelpibce in John Lanoton's House, Welsh Back. 

Temp, m* 3 

Tbk Victoria Rooms, Clifton... ... ... ... 3 

The High Cross, Collboe Green .,. ... ... 3 

Finb Arts Acadbmy, Cufton ... ... ... ... 3 

Imtbrior of CLirniH Down Congbigational Church ... 3 



eiYIIi %IIJ) EQODE^I] r^IgTO^Y. 



CHAPTER X. 



^ T^E ^ STH^^T •!• E^^. ^ 



PART I. feontinwdj. 



UNO the restored Koyalist rigim» the 
majors were Humphrey Hook, to whom 
we hare already referred, Alexander James 
and Francis Creswick. James was a man 
of no force of character ; although his 
loyalist convictions are evident. He was 
the son of Thomas James (mayor 1612), 
had served as sheriff in 1628, and was 
advanced to tlie dignity of alderman in 1643. He was 
also chosen as master of the Herchant Venturers in 
1642. When the city was re-captored by Fairfax and 
Cromwell, in 1645, he " was dismissed from the corpora- 
tion by the Lords and Commons for having been active 
in promoting the designs of the enemy" in 1664. At 
the Restoration he seems to have cared no longer for 
civic honours, for he did not comply with the order of 
the Privy Council, which ran thus : " It is his Majesty's 
pleasure and command that no person whatsoever, being 
of the body of the Corporation, do presume to absent 
himself from the next election of officers. . . And 
if after this admonition any shall wilfully neglect or 
refuse \o assist at the said election, or to take upon him 
the magistracy, being elected thereunto, you are hereby 
willed and commanded to return the names of all such 
persons up to the board, whereupon his Majesty will 
give further direction for reducing them to conformity." 
IVoL. in.] 



Alexander James must then have been an old man, 
although he lived for fourteen years longer; at his 
death he was buried in St. Nicholas church. By his 
will, which bears date 1663, he left f 100 to the poor of 
the said parish. 

32. Cromwell, after his experience at Edgehill, had 
told Hamj>den "that a set of poor tapsters and town 
apprentices would never win in fight against men of 
honour;" that men with an earnest purpose and full of 
religious fervour were those who were needed to over- 
come the chivalrous bravery of the cavaliers. Ho set 
himself heartily to accomplish the task of raising such 
an army, beginning around his own form at St. Ivos, 
Hunts. His success is well known ; his Ironsides neier 
were beaten, they neither drank nor swore, and were 
thoroughly amenable to discipline; in brief, they wore 
men of whom England may well be proud, soldiers who 
drank in their inspiration from the histories of the 
Bible, who with sword in hand and a firm faith in Ood 
as their groat Captain wore invincible. 

In choosing hia men Cromwell took little or no note 
of their differences of doctrine. To him it was all one, 
whether they were Presbyterians, Independents, Baptists 
or Levellers, so that they were good soldiers, A leader 
who had spent nearly his whole fortune to raise such a 
body of troops could little brook the kid-glove warfare 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1645. 



of Essex or Memcliester ; earnest, resolute men, such, as 
lie and his, looked for leaders of a kindred spirit, not 
those ''who would spin out the war, make the kingdom 
weary and hateful of the very name of a Parliament," 
men whom in his epigrammatic style Cromwell described 
as ''afraid to conquer.'' "If the king be beaten, he 
will still be king ; if he conquer, he will hang us all as 
traitors," said Manchester, at Newbury. To which re- 
plied Cromwell, "If I met the king in battle I would 
fire my pistol at the king as at another." This quarrel 
ended in the retirement of Essex, Manchester and 
Waller, and the formation of the " New Model Army." 
" Get together 20,000 honest men, choose godly honest 
men to be captains, and honest men will follow them." 
Such an army was speedily raised, and the command 
was given to Sir Thomas Fairfax, the brave northern 
leader who had won Marston Moor. 

The bulk of the " honest men " who in the year 1645 
held high command were men of noble or of gentle 
blood, and not, as many still assert, the scum of the popu- 
lace. Young Montague, afterwards Earl of Sandwich, 
was only twenty years of age ; he raised a regiment in 
Cambridgeshire when he was eighteen. Pickering was 
Montague's brother-in-law, a cousin of Dryden,the poet; 
Ingoldsby was a grandson of old Sir Oliver Cromwell, of 
Hinchinbrook ; Fleetwood, the son of Sir William Fleet- 
wood, of Woodstock ; Sheffield was a son of Earl Mul- 
grave ; Pye was brother-in-law to John Hampden ; 
Whalley was a cousin of Cromwell ; Huntington was a 
high-principled gentleman ; Ireton, the cleverest man in 
the army, was a barrister of the Temple ; Butler, Eich 
and Ghraves were all gallant men, whose families were 
of good and ancient lineage. By the side of these were 
other admirable soldiers, who had risen from the ranks. 
Pride was a foundling, who had been left in a church 
when the war broke out; he was a drayman, and he 
rose by his skill and good conduct. Okey was stoker at 
a furnace in Islington, and afterwards a chandler in 
Thames street. Bainsborough, steady as a rock, had 
been the skipper of a merchant ship ; both he and old 
Welden had learned the tactics of war in many a con- 
flict since they won renown on the field of battle. We 
might instance many another, but these men will all 
appear as leaders in the impending fight that was to 
extinguish the Eoyalist cause, and of which Bristol was 
to be the arena. 

Cromwell, as lord high steward of Bristol from 1651 
until his death in 1658, is entitled to a place in these 
pages. His grandfather was the golden knight of 
Hinchinbrook who entertained James for two nights 
when he was on his progress to London to be crowned, 
and again when the king was returning to Scotland. 



His great grandfather was nephew to Thomas Lord 
Cromwell, "the hammer of the monasteries." HiB 
mother was a descendant of a Stuart, so that Cromwell 
himself was a far-away cousin of the misguided king. 
His uncle, Sir Oliver, his father's elder brother, was 
knighted by James in return for the hospitalities of 
Hinchinbrook. Three of his aunts were married to men 
whose names have become landmarks in English histoiy. 
Elizabeth was mother of John Hampden; Joan was Lady 
Barrington ; and Frances was Mrs. WhaUey, whose sons 
were Thomas, a Boyalist, Edward, the famous colonel, 
and Henry, the judge advocate. A cousin, being a 
daughter of his uncle Henry, was married to St. John, 
the great ship-money lawyer, and his grandfather and 
uncle were in succession chosen as knights of the shire 
for Huntingdonshire. Cromwell became a fellow-com- 
moner of Sidney college, Cambridge, on the very day 
that Shakespeare died, April 23rd, 1616 ; but, being an 
only son, he, on his father's death in the following 
year, left college to manage for the family the home 
property. In 1627-8 he was returned to Parliament as 
burgess for the town of Huntingdon. The house at 
Huntingdon in whidi his father lived had been at one 
time a brewery; it is possible, but there is not a shadow 
of evidence to prove it, that the elder Cromwell might 
have brewed beer for sale. 

When it became clear that the men of large estates, 
Essex, Manchester and Waller, either would not or 
could not end this sad war, and they were, by the self- 
denying ordinance, deprived of their commands, the 
house exempted Cromwell, who was sent, at Fairfax's 
express desire, to join him in the west as lieutenant- 
general and commander-in-chief of the horse. Received 
with shouts of joy at Naseby by the New Model Army, 
he, on the 14th June, routed the king's left wing, and 
keeping his men well in hand, wheeled round to the 
side left open by plundering, blundering, fiery Rupert, 
and fell with irresistible force upon the Royalist centre, 
jamming them up between Okey's dragoons and Fairfax, 
charging nobly bareheaded at the head of his life- 
guards, and so Naseby was won and Charles' last great 
battle ended in his irretrievable defeat. 

33. Events now marched rapidly to a condusion. 
Bristol, the strong place in the west, must be recovered 
for the Conmionwealth. In order to secure this result, 
the clubmen of Somerset had to be pacified and Somerset 
reduced to quietude. We have a glimpse of Cromwell 
and his Ironsides at Langport dashing through its long 
street, with flames arching over their heads from the 
rows of burning houses on each side as they chased the 
defeated Royalists to the gates of Bridgwater. This 
latter town was captured; Sherborne was stormed by 



A.D. 1645. 



THE SECOND SIEGE. 



Pickering ; Okey seized upon Bath, and a line of posts 
was settled from the Parrett to the English channel. 
Fairfax and Cromwell then set abont the reduction of 
Bristol, the only important place, with the exception of 
Oxford, east of Devon that remained in the king's hands. 
Prince Bnpert held it for the king, Sir Bernard de 
(Joipme, an artillery officer of great skill, adopted the 
old lines of defence, which he greatly strengthened ; it 
was he who threw out the double ditch and rampart, 
with a covert way between the Water fort and Brandon 
hill fort. In the former of these there were now seven 
guns and six on Brandon hill. The old Windmill fort 
was greatly enlarged and surrounded with high walls, it 
was a pentagon, mounting tweniy-two guns, and was 
known as the Great, or Boyal, fort ; the redoubt behind 
the Montague tavern was converted into a fort (Colston's 
fort), having seven guns ; Prior's hiU fort, on Nine Tree 
hill, the key of the position, commanding as it did the 
castle and city from a very superior elevation, had 
thirteen guns allotted to it, the walls had been carried 
up to a great height, a ladder of thiriy roimds scarcely 
reaching to the top, it had two tiers of loopholes (Crom- 
well, however, only mentions **four guns on the top," the 
other number we take from the king's letter to Edward 
Turner [given in Vol. L, 312-4], possibly the others were 
in casemates, and the lieutenant-general only mentions 
those en harhetU), Stokes Croft gate was protected by 
Prior's hill fort, and Lawford's gate, a double work with 
seven guns, that faced the open ground leading up to 
Kingswood. Along this portion of the line there were 
twenty-two guns, in sconces, half-moons, and at the gate. 
These formed the defences of the outer line, which 
mounted a total of seventy-seven guns. The ancient 
walls and castle remained as of yore, excepting that 
they had been repaired and strengthened. Here were 
mounted on the south side, at Tower Harratz and Temple, 
fourteen guns; at Bedcliff and its sconces, fifteen; at 
the Castle and Newgate, sixteen; at the Frome gate, 
one ; and at the Pithay, one, making for the inner line 
of defence forty-seven guns. But Chx>mwell states that 
the mounted cannon captured numbered one hundred 
and forty; the balance of sixteen was probably dis- 
tributed between the gates of Back street, Marsh street, 
the towers along the Quay and a battery on the Marsh, 
which had been thrown up to command the river. 

Bupert, who had arrived in Bristol in July, 1645, 
had a garrison of 2,500 effective soldiers, besides 1,000 
horse and 1,500 auxiliaries. Amongst his officers were 
Lords Lumley and Hawley, (Jeneral Tilyard, Sir Walter 
Vavasour, Sir Bichard Crane, Colonel John Bussell, Sir 
Bernard Acihley, Sir Matthew Appleyard, and Colonels 
Fox, Murray, Osborne and Slingsby. Bupert declared 



that he could hold it for four months against any force, 
and he threatened to hang anyone who even talked of 
surrender. The cattle from the surrounding country 
had been swept into the Marsh, large supplies of grain 
were collected, much beer was brewed and stored up, 
and 2,000 measures of com were brought from Wales 
for the poor amongst the citizens, whose total number 
was computed to be about 12,500 persons. 

As the Constitutionalists advanced Bupert burnt 
part of Clifton and Bedminster, intending also to bum 
the adjacent villages; but Colonel Welden, with his 
horse, dashed on to Pyle hill, and Ireton stabled his 
horse in Bedminster old churchyard, whilst a flying 
column saved Hanham, Keynsham, Brisling^n and 
Stapleton from the flames. Fairfax reconnoitred the 
city on August 2 let, and slept that night at Hanham; 
the two next days were spent in posting the troops 
around the devoted city. Welden raised a battery on 
the hill above Totterdown, and seized the fort at Portis- 
head. His brigade of four regiments covered the Somer- 
setshire loop from river to river. They were posted in 
alignment forming a segment of a circle, as follows : — 
Herbert's regiment, leaning on the Avon, on the site of 
the Great Western Bailway sheds ; Fortescue's, next to 
him; then Ingoldsby's, whose left reached to Bedmin- 
ster Causeway ; Welden's bent round to Wapping, and 
completed the enclosure [Bathurst basin and the New 
Cut were not then excavated]. Behind these, in sup- 
port on Pyle hill, above the three lamps, were Sheffield's 
horse ; next to him, Pye's ; whilst Cromwell's own regi- 
ment, commanded by Huntington, rested their left on 
the Malago stream. 

On the opposite side of the Avon Montague's brigade 
swept round in another aligned segment from that river 
to the Frome. It consisted of Montague's regiment, 
along the site of Queen Anne road to Cheese lane ; 
Pickering's, along Whipping Cat hill, rather to the east, 
in what is now Newtown ; Waller barred the roads to 
Kingswood and Easton; and General Fairfax's own 
regiment filled the void of market gardens between the 
Stapleton road and the Frome, by Eugene street. Behind 
the openings between these regiments, in support, were 
Graves' and Desborough's horse. North of the Frome 
Bainsborough's brigade bent round from that river to 
the valley known as Woolcot park. The major-general's 
regiment lay in Earl's mead ; Birch's, next to him, ex- 
tended up to Ashley road ; behind these lay Whalley's 
horse, at the foot of Ashley hill ; Hammond's regiment 
stretched from St. Barnabas church to Cheltenham road, 
having in support, on the site of the Montpelier Bail- 
way, Colonel Bich's horse, commanded by young Bethel. 
Bainsborough's men, tried and trusty veterans, crossed 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1645. 



Arley hill at the foot of Gotham brow to nearly the 
bottom of Lovers' walk. Pride's regiment (in Woolcot 
park) was divided; one-half threatened Colston's, the 
other the Royal fort. Okey's dragoons, in two regi- 
ments, formed the concluding segment, and covered the 
ground from the Victoria rooms to Clifton wood, facing 
Brandon hill, and threatening Washington's breach and 
Limekiln lane. Ireton's horse were on Bedland green ; 
Fleetwood's lay a sturdy barrier across the Whiteladies' 
road, just above Clifton down railway station ; and 
Butler's watched QaUow's Acre lane and the Hotwell 
road. The sites quoted were, of course, not then built 
upon, but consisted of open fields and gardens. Fairfax 
had removed to Stoke house, near Stapleton ; but, like 
a thorough soldier, he soon shifted his quarters to a 
mean farmhouse [two rooms of it are stiU standing] on 
the hill above Montpelier.^ He saw that if Prior's hill 
fort was once taken, the surrender of the city was 
secured. In a field at the back of the house may still 
be seen the remains of the small lunette from which he 
battered the fort. The city was thus invested on every 
side, and the intention was evident from the disposition 
of the forces, viz., to reduce it by blockade. Not a 
pailful of milk or a basket of eggs could pass into the 
city, so thoroughly was it environed. There was a large 
number of the townsfolk favourable to the Common- 
wealth, but these were overawed by the garrison ; and 
to add to the terrors of the siege, the fatal plague was 
raging with virulence within the walls. 

Cromwell, whose headquarters had been at first at 
Wickham bridge, Stapleton, had removed to Ashley 
bam, and the late H. J. Harford, stated once that 
his father, who bought the Wickham bridge property in 
1805, had a place in the upper chambers pointed out to 
him that was boarded up. He had it opened, and found 
it to be a closet formed by a dosed-up gable window. 
In it were a helmet and two halberts ; one halbert was 
covered with crimson velvet, but the wood was so rotten 
that it fell to pieces, the place being very damp; the 
other was the old brown bill of the period. 

34. On Saturday, August the 23rd, the guns of the 
Royal and Prior's hill forts played all day [they killed, 
however, only one man], to cover a sally by lie cavaliers, 
who, issuing from the latter fort, dashed fiercely down 

* Was the immortal Milton present at the siege of Bristol? 
When Seyer was writing his History there was a farmhouse at the 
bottom of the field, but to the north of Fairfax's headquarters, 
neai' the little stream that ran from Horfield, in the attic of which 
was descried some very beautiful Italian verses, written with 
pencil on the wall. Copies were taken by Seyer and other gentle- 
men, and the general impression was that they had been written 
by that great poet the fiiend of Deodati, whose muse revelled as 
perfectly in the Italian language as she did in the English tongue. 



on Bainsborough's men at the bottom of Cotham brow. 
Steadily confronted by their resolute old opponents of 
Marston Moor and Naseby, they were beaten back, 
and left their gallant leader under a heap of slain. 
Thus perished Sir Eichard Crane, a gallant knight from 
Norfolk, a fine cavalry man, who had commanded the 
king's horse at Marston Moor. On Sunday, the 24thy 
encouraged, perhaps, by the hymns that rose from the 
valley, another attempt was made. A large force of 
horse and foot from the postern of Prior's hill charged 
at a hand gallop down the hill; but Bainsborough's 
men sang praises with their swords girded, and every 
man was ready on the instant to fall into line. The 
cavaliers who had hoped to surprise them were driven 
back in disorder, losing their major and many men. 
On Monday the general, by warrant of the sheriff, 
raised the posse comttatus to aid in surrounding the city. 
To these Fairfax gave two guns, and they appear to 
have been stationed on the left of the Ironsides on the 
little hill opposite to the jail, from which by their shouts 
and numbers they alarmed the city. Failing in the 
above-named attempts, Eupert directed one to be made 
in the opposite direction, and on Tuesday, the 26th, at 
four o'clock in the morning, in a pelting storm of rain, 
a sally was made from Temple gate on Welden's bri- 
gade, in which the Cavaliers were again repulsed ; they 
captured, however, an outpost of ten men through the 
carelessness of the officer in charge. Sir Bernard 
Ashley was here mortally wounded close to the works 
of the besiegers. The ten men with a trumpeter were 
sent out on the 28th as an exchange for the dying 
knight. North and south being barred, the besieged 
next tried, on the 27th and 29th, to cut their way 
through on the east, issuing from Lawford's gate, but 
Montague was too good a soldier to be caught napping. 
There was hope, however, in the untried west — the king 
was moving towards Oxford, and Goring had advanced 
to Chard — so in the grey dawn of the misty morning of 
September 1st, 1,000 Boyalist horse, led by Sir Horatio 
Carey, and 600 foot soldiers tried to force a passage 
from the Boyal fort, and by way of Washington's 
breach. Here there was hard but very brief fighting, 
and again the Cavaliers retreated to the shelter of their 
lines, carrying with them, however, a notable prisoner. 
Colonel Okey, who in the dense fog had ridden into 
their ranks by mistake. 

The fleet of the Parliament was in Kingroad, and on 
the above day Admiral Moulton landed, and offered the 
services of his blue jackets, sharp active fellows, itching 
for a fight on shore. Another coimcil of war was held 
by the besiegers, at which the cautious plans hitherto 
held were reversed on good and sufficient grounds. The 



CROMWELL'S SUCCESSFUL ASSAULT. 



city vas known to be weU. found in arms, ammunition 
and proTisions ; the well affected of the inhabitanto to 
the Parliament were powertcsa to make a diversion in 
favour of the besiegera ; the weather was most unsea- 
sonable; incessant rains and mists had saturated the 
ground ; the men had but litUe shelter and no comfort 
in their sodden tents; the repeated sallies kept them 
ever on the alert ; and the plague, although it had mer- 
cifully been kept from them hitherto, might unexpectedly 
decimate their force any day. A regular siege would 
be both long and tedious, the threatened advance of the 
king and 
of Goring 
was appre- 
bended; 
neither did 
it suit the 
active en- 
ergetic spi- 
rits of men 



who had 
stormed 
Laugport, 
Sherborne, 
and Bridg- 
water, car- 
ried Bath, 
and conquer 
months, to di 
det«rnuned < 
storm. To a 
a strange det 
besiegers ha 
pieces of arti 
pelier, and tl 
served as be 
conflict of n 

swords againoi: luivj iui» uvuuucu niuu i;nuuuu 

and bristling with palisades. "Truly all this 
is the work of Qod. He must be a very Atheist who 
doth not acknowledge it," said the prime mover, when 
success had crowned such apparently insufficient means. 
Without breaching the walls, the brigades from their 
several stations, as before described, were, like the 
Israelites around Jericho, to march straight on before 
them, and carry them by faith and their strong hands. 
Welden's brigade, with three forlorn hopes of 200 men 
each and twenty ladders, were to storm the walls be- 
tween Tower Harratz and Bedcliff in three different 
places, and each man was to carry a faggot with which 
to fill up the ditoh which here was the hack Avon. 



The orders were as follow : — Two men to each ladder, 
who were to have S«. each ; two sergeants, to order 
each ladder, at 30«. a man; the sergeants who com- 
manded the men bearing the faggots to have the same 
amount; twelve men, with firepikes and muskets, to 
follow each ladder. Each body of 200 men to have a 
captain and lieutenant, and a field of&cer in command ; 
the lieutenant to lead the van with five files, the captain 
to second him with seven files; tweuty pioneers to 
march in the rear, to level the lines and make way for 
the horse; gentlemen of the ordinance, gunners, and 

mnHvuiBiu tn ha raoAv in attirn the gUnS, and 

against their 
ments and a 
torm in after 
itague's men 
and the line 
), whilst for 
ved the post 
ff's hill fort, 
ides we have 
aval brigade 
were de- 
tailed in 
boats with 
two hun- 
dred of 
Pride's 
men to 
attack the 
water fort 
at the foot 
of Bran- 
don hill- 
One regi- 
ment of 
horse and 
one of foot 

Ttnplt Gatt—IloTlh Fine. 

dered to 
be continually in motion in the fields before the Boyal 
fort, to keep it busy. The regiment of dragoons, with 
two regiments of horse, were to attempt the line and 
works by Clifton and Washington's breach. [This spot it 
will be remembered is opposite the Blind Asylum, it was 
carried by assault during the siege of 1643]. In addi- 
tion to the extra pay before-named all of the men had 
6t. each paid them by the Parliamentary Conmussiou- 
During these proceedings bad news came from the north. 
A letter, therefore, was sent to General Leven, sympa- 
thising with the Scotch, who had been terribly beaten 
by Montrose ; it was written in a council of war, and 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.IX 1645. 



was signed by the following officers tlien encamped 
around Bristol : — 



" THOMAS FAIRFAX. 
OLIVER CROICWELL. 
THOMAS HAMMOND. 
HENRY lEErrON. 
EDWARD MONTAGUE. 
RICHARD FORTBSCUB. 
RICHARD IN6LESBY. 
JOHN PICKERING. 
HARDRES8 WALLER. 
WILLIAM HERBERT. 
ROBERT HAMMOND. 
JAMBS GRAY. 
THOMAS PRIDE. 



ROBERT PYE. 
THOMAS RAIN8BB0UGH. 
THOMAS SHEFFIELD. 
CHARLES FLEETWOOD. 
RALPH WELDEN. 
JOHN RAYMOND. 
LE ON WA TSON 
ARTHUR EVEUN. 
RICHARD DEAN. 
THOMAS JACKSON. 
JOHN D HSBRO U GH. 
CHRISTOPHER BETHEL."! 



On Thursday, September 4th, the weather, which had 
cost many lives both of men and horses, began to dear 
up, and the guns from Montpelier lunette being steadily 
served, kept up an attack on Prior's hill fort. A sum- 
mons was also prepared to be sent to Prince Bupert, 
which ran thus : — 

"For his Highness Prince Rupert. — Sir, —For the service of 
the Parliament I have brought their army before the city of 
Bristol, and do summon you in their names to surrender it, with 
all the forts belonging to the same, into my hands for their use. 
Having used this plain language, as the business requires, I wish 
it may be as effectual unto you as it is satisfactory to myself that 
I do a little expostulate with you about the surrender of the same, 
which I confess is a way not common, and which I should not 
have used but in respect to such a person and to such a place. I 
take into consideration your royal birth and relation to the cromrn 
of England, your honour, courage, the virtues of your person and 
the strength of that place which you may think yourself bound 
and able to maintain. Sir, the crown of Enghmd is, and will be, 
where it ought to be ; we fight to mMn fj^in it there. But the 
king, misled by evil counsellors, or through a seduced heart, hath 
left his Parliament [aV and his people] under God, the best assur- 
ance of his crown and family : the maintaining of this schism is 
the ground of this unhappy war on your part ; and what sad effects 
it hath produced in the three kingdoms is visible to all men. To 
maintain the rights of the crown and kingdom jointly, a principal 
part whereof is that the king, in supreme acts concerning the 
whole state, is not to be advized by men of whom the law takes 
no notice, but by his Parliament, the grefit council of the kingdom, 
in whom (as much as man is capable of) he hears all his people as 
it were at once advising him, and in which multitude of counsel- 
lors lies his safety and his people's interest ; and to set him right 
in this hath been the constant aud faithful endeavour of the Par- 
liament, and to bring these wicked instruments to justice that 
have misled him is a principal ground of our fighting. Sir, if €rod 
makes this clear to you, as he hath to us, I doubt not but he will 
give you a heart to deliver this place, notwithstanding all the other 
considerations of honour, courage, fidelity, &c., because of their 
consistency and use in the present business depends upon the right 
or wrongfulness of this that hath been said. And if upon such 
conviction you shall surrender it, and save the loss of blood, or 
hazard of spoiling such a city, it would be an occasion glorious in 
itself and joyful to us for restoring of you to the endeared affection 
of the Parliament and people of Engkund, the truest friend to your 
family it hath in the world. But if this be hid from your eyes, 
and through your own wilfulness this so great, so famous and 
ancient a dty, and so full of people, be by your putting us to force 
the same exposed to ruin and the extremities of war (which we 
yet shall in that case as much as possible endeavour to prevent), 
then I appeal to the righteous God to be judge between you and 

^ Seyer, 11., 438. 



us and to require [requite] the wrong. And let all Ekigland judge 
whether the burning of its towns, ruining its cities and destroying 
its people be a good requital from a person of your family, which 
hath had the prayers, tears, purses and blood of its Parliament 
and people. And (if you look on either as now divided) hath ever 
had that same party both in Parliaments and amongst the people, 
most zealous for their assistance and restitution, which yon now 
oppose and seek to destroy, and whose constant grief hath been, 
their desire to serve your &mily have been ever hindred or made 
fruitless by that same party about his majesty, whose counsel you 
act and whose interest yon pursue in this unnatural war. I expect 
your speedy answer to this summons, with the return of the 
bearer this evening, and remain your highness humble servant, 

'* Thomas Faibfax. 
" September 4th, 1645." ^ 

To rightly understand the allusions in this letter, we 
would remind our readers that two of Fairfax's uncles 
died fighting for the Queen of Hearts, Prince Rupert's 
mother, the daughter of James I. and sister of Charles I. 
When her selfish father and her brother neglected her, 
and with her the cause of Protestantism upon the Con- 
tinent, the people of England cried, ''Shame!" and a 
number of gentlemen volunteers left England to help 
her, amongst whom were the two brothers Fairfax, who 
fell at Frankenthall. This is what Fairfax meant, and 
doubtless it had some efiPect in bringing about an earlier 
surrender. 

''This day about 2,000 well-affected countrymen, 
who with many more upon treaty with the lieutenant- 
general at the beginning of the siege had engaged their 
assistance to make good the same, marched with some 
thirty-six colours in the face of Bristol, had quarters 
assigned them and kept guards. Two pieces of ordnance 
also were sent unto them for their encouragement, it not 
a little grieving the enemy within to see the forward- 
ness of the country to come to our assistance, for which 
reason [and to lay an effectual caution against their 
revolt] it was held fit to make use of those forces from 
the country rather than for any considerable service 
could be expected from them. The trumpeter that went 
in with the summons was detained all night, during 
which space no sally was made by the enemy, nor no 
alarm given by us. Only the seamen and their boats 
coming up the river to St. Vincent's rock was all the 
motion this day produced. Neither upon Friday, Sep- 
tember 5th, was there any sallying out, but all was 
quiet on both sides ; and the trumpeter returned from 
Prince Bupert with an answer to the general's sum- 
mons, in these words : — 

** Sir, — ^I received yours by your trumpeter. I desire to know 
whether you will give me leave to send a messenger to the king to 
know his pleasure in it. I rest, your servant, 

** RCTFB&T. 

" September 5th, 1645. 

* Seyer, U., 4S9-40. 



A.D. 1646. 



CROMWELL'S SUCCESSFUL ASSAULT. 



" Saturday, September 6tli, a trumpeter was sent in 
with a reply to Prince Bupert's answer, in these words : — 

'' Sir, — Your oyertore of sending to the king to know his plea- 
sure I cannot give way to, because of delay. I confess your 
answer doth intimate your intention not to surrender without his 
majesties consent ; yet because it is but implicite I send again to 
know a more positive answer from yourself, which I desire may be 
such as may render me capable of approving myself your highjiiess 

humble servant, 

"Tho. Fairfax. 
" September 6th, 1645. 

''This day came twelye colours more of the well- 
affected countrymen, as an addition to the former forces. 

"September 6th, seyen in the morning, the trum- 
peter went in and was detained all that day and night. 
Everything was prepared for a storm, the general was 
in the field to that end, the soldiers had their faggots 
on their backs and leaped for joy they might go on ; 
yet about ten at night for several reasons it was held 
fit to give orders to put off the business till Monday 
morning, two of the o'clock, and only to alarm the 
enemy for that time, as we did often, to amuse them 
and keep them waking. 

"Lord's day, September 7th, in the forenoon the 
trumpet returned with these propositions from Prince 
Bupert : — 

'* Sir, — ^Whereas I received your letter for the delivery of the 
city, forts and castle of Bristol, and being willing to join with you 
for the sparing of blood and the preserving of his majesties sub- 
jects, I have upon those grounds, and none other, sent you these 
following propositions : — 

" 1st. That myself, all noblemen, commanders, and soldiers of 
horse and foot, that have served either his majesty or Parliament 
in England or elsewhere, as likewise all persons whatsoever, men 
or women, now resident in this dty of Bristol, castle and forts 
thereof, shall have free liberty to march away out of the said city, 
castle and forts, with their arms, flying colours, drums beating, 
trumpets sounding, pistols cocked, swords drawn, matches lighted 
at both ends, bullets in their mouths, and as much powder and 
match as they can carry about them, with all their bag and bag- 
gage, horses, arms, and other furniture, ten pieces of canon, fifty 
barrels of powder, match and bullet proportionable. 

"2. That neither mine own person, nor the person of any 
nobleman, commander, officer, gentleman or soldier, or any other 
of mine or their retinues, be searched, molested, or troubled upon 
what pretence soever, but left to their liberties, to depart or stoy, 
as it shall be most convenient for them. 

" 3. That none of your army whatsoever shall entice or per- 
suade any officer or soldier of mine from their regiments or colours 
with any promise of preferment or reward. 

"4. That all such officers and soldiers that are hurt and sick, 
and cannot now march out of this city, castle and fort, shall have 
liberty to stay in till they be recovered, and then have safe con- 
ducts to go wheresoever they please, either to any of his majesties 
armies or garrisons, or their own houses, where they may live 
quiet, and that in the interim those being sick and hurt may be 
protected by yon and have civil usage. 

" 5. All prisoners taken on both sides since the b^;inning of 
this siege be f<xihwith set at liberty. 

"6. That myself and all those above mentioned may not be 



required to march further in a day than what conveniently we 
may, and that a day or two of rest be allowed upon our march, if 
we shall find it requisite ; and that we be accommodated with free 
quarter during our march and a sufficient convoy to any of the 
king's armies or garrisons which I shall name, to secure us in our 
march from all injury and incivility that shall any ways be offered 
unto us. And likewise that there be one hundred and fifty car- 
riage horses and forty wains, with sufficient teams provided for 
carriages of all sorts. 

" 7. That no person here in these articles mentioned shall be 
in their march, rendezvous or quarters, searched or plundered, 
upon any pretence whatsoever ; and that two officers be appointed 
by you, the one for accommodation of free quarters for officers, 
soldiers and others, and the other for providing of horses and 
carriages for our baggage and train. 

** 8. All noblemen, gentlemen, clergymen, citizens, resiants, or 
any other person within this city, suburbs and liberties thereof, 
shall at any time when^they please have free liberty to remove 
themselves, their goods and families, and to dispose of them at 
their pleasures, according to the known and enacted laws of the 
land, either to live at their own houses or elsewhere, and to enjoy 
their houses, lands, goods and estates without any molestation, 
and to have protection for that purpose ; and this article to extend 
to all those whose estates are sequestered or not sequestered, and 
that they may rest quiet at their abodes and travel freely and 
safely upon their occasions. And for their better removal they 
may have letters of safe conduct, with horses and carriages at 
reasonable rates, upon demand. 

** 9. That all persons above mentioned may have free liberty to 
pass to any parts beyond the seas any time within three months, 
as their occasions shall require. 

*' 10. That the lines, forts, castle, and other fortifications about 
or in the city of Bristol, be forthwitii slighted, and the dty stated 
in the same condition it was before the beginning of this unnatural 
war, and that hereafter the Parliament during this war place no 
garrison in it. 

"11. That no churches be defaced ; that the several monbers 
of the foundation of this cathedral shall quietly enjoy their houses 
and revenues belonging to their places, and that the ministers of 
this city may likewise enjoy their benefices without any trouble. 

** 12. That no oaths be imposed upon any person now in this 
dty, suburbs and liberties, other than such as are required by the 
andent and enacted laws of the land. 

*M3. That the xnajor, sherifb, aldermen and dtdzens within 
this corporation of the dty of Bristol shall be free in their persons 
and estates, and enjoy all their privileges, liberties and immunities 
in as full and ample manner as formerly at any time they did 
before the beginning of this war, and that they shall have freedom 
of trade both by land and sea, paying such duties and customs as 
formerly they have done to his majesty ; and that no mulct or fine 
be imposed upon any person mentioned in this article upon any 
pretence whatsoever, or questioned for any act or thing done, or 
committed before the day of our marching forth. That no free 
quarters shall be put upon them without their own consents. 

** 14. That all other persons whose dwellings are in this city, 
and now absent, may have the full benefit of these articles as If 
they were present. 

"15. That all noblemen, gentlemen and others that have goods 
in this city, and are now present or absent, may have liberty at 
any time within three months to dispose of their goods as they 
please. 

*' 16. That there be no plundering or taking away of any man*s 
person, or any part of his estate, under what pretence soever ; and 
that justice, according to the known laws of the land, be adminis- 
tered to all persons within this dty by the civil magistrates. 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



" 17. And for the performance of these orticlea I expect such 
lioatoges to be given as I shall accept of, and hereunto t desire 
your speedy answer. 

"Sir, by this you may evidently perceive my inclination to 
peace, anH you may be assured that I shall never desire anytliing 
more tlian the hononr of the king and safety of the kingdom, and 
that I may become, sir, your aervant, 

" RVTIKT. 

"September 7th, I6W. 



Sir Tlvmiai Fairjia, From an oU prtn'. 

" To wHch propositions the general returned this 
answer: — 

" Sir, — I have perosed ^onr propoaitiona, whereio some things 
are dovibtfulty eipresaed ; other things inconsistent with the duty 
I oive to them I serve. Notwithstanding, to the end I may give 
asaurence that 1 earnestly desire to save effusion of blood end the 
ruin of a city and people that may in time be so aerriceable to the 
crown and kingdom, if it please your highness that 
[aV committees] may treat between us concerning the 
dating of things ; I hope to make it evident to the world that 
what shall respect the honour of a soldier, dne civility to all men, 
the good and welfare of the people of that city, both in passing 
by what is post and restoring them to the privileges of all other 
Bubjecta and to the immunities of their city, will readily be con- 
dcBcended nnlo by me ; and to the end no time may be lost, I 
have here inclosed aent you the names of commissioners [aC com- 
mittees] who, upon the retnm of hostages of equal condition nnto 
me, ah&Il attend your highness, sufficiently instructed to conclude 



on my part, provided the said treaty be ended by nine of the 
clock this night. And to this I desire yonr answer within the 
space of an hour, and remain yonr highness humble servant^ 

"Tho. Faisfaz. 
" SepUmber 7th, 1045. 

" This answer bein^ returned presently after dinner 
by the same tnimpeter, he was detained till eight at 
night, and then he brought this answer from the prince, 
or to this effect in writing : — ' That he hoped his propo- 
sitions had been such as needed no explanation; yet 
because some doubts were made he was wHling to hare 
the exceptions set down in writing, and his highness 
would return an answer.' [The writer of one of the 
pamphlets mentioned above adds as follows: — 'So this 
night also, though eight men ^licj were drawn oat and 
appoint«d to their Beveral posts, the storming was put 
off, and to-morrow a certain hour will be set the prince 
peremptorily for his positive answer. There can be 
but two things in my opinion that induces the prince to 
offer conditions : either he is not able to defend the 
place, and in fear of 8ir Lewie Dives' conditions if he 
be driven for refuge in to the fort-royal ; or else he doth 
it to gain time till his counter- scarf es and inner lines be 
finished, which he is veiy active in making day and 
night ; or that he expects aid from the king or Goring, 
neither of which are moving this way, as our intelli- 
gence is, and therefore {on that reason) one day's time 
longer is given. No man knows how this business may 
work, especially with tho townsmen. If the general's 
answer be made known to them, or if a treaty be 
embraced, the noise of it and the sight of committees 
vriU make men greedy of conditions, or miwiUing to 
resist, if on the prince's part it be broken off. . . . 
The essential articles are exemption from sequestration ; 
cathedral-men to continue, against which there is an 
ordinance ; the works to be demolished and no garrison 
hereafter, which may be inconvenient. These articles 
will receive dispute. — September Vth, past twelve at 
night.' Mtm. The ordnance of the house for taking 
away the use of the Common Prayer-book and substituting 
the Bireetory is dated March 13th, 1644-5,] 

"Monday, September 8th, the general returned a 
particular answer to every article, which as to the sol- 
diery was very honourable, and could not but be very 
acceptable to the citizens, for the offer was most fair to 
the citizens to oblige them to ns, in case the conditions 
offered them were but known to them, as we hoped 
they would. However, we bad used means by our spies 
to convey the same to them. [Sir Thomas Fairfax sent 
two copies of the articles which he proposed signed and 
sealed by himself, and required one of them to be sent 
back to him, signed and sealed by the prince, by six 
o'clock in the evening, otherwise he should consider the 



A.P. 1645. 



CROMWELL'S SUCCESSFUL ASSAULT. 



treaty at an end.] In the interim all things were pre- 
pared for the storm, eveiy commander viewing his posts. 
The trumpet was detained beyond the time appointed, 
yet afterwards returned with a denial, but not positive. 
That night was appointed for the army to fall on, but 
upon better consideration it was held fit to put it off to 
another day and only to alarm the enemy. 

** Tuesday, September 9th, in the morning the trum- 
pet was sent in again [with a letter from the general, 
informing the prince that he has already offered all 
that he can grant, and that he perceives that delay was 
wholly and chiefly intended by his letters and carriage]. 
He therefore informs him that if he did not immediately 
accept what was offered all that had passed should be as 
no treaty, requiring the trumpet to return by twelve of 
the clock ; but notwithstanding he was detained till ten 
at night, and then returned with an unsatisfactory 
answer. Whereupon all things on our part were put 
in readiness for a storm. At twelve of the clock in the 
night the general went into the field to give orders 
about the drawing out of our men and manag^g the 
Btorm for the next morning." ^ 

At two in the morning, on September 10th, the 
beacon ^e blazed on Montpelier, and four guns fixed in 
rapid succession woke up the inhabitants of the city, 
where expectancy was aweary of waiting. At the sound 
an armed host engirdling Bristol for seven miles sprung 
up into active life, and made the welkin resound with 
shouts of ^' David! David!" as they closed upon their 
encircled prey. This was the battle cry for assaidting the 
outer line ; when this was carried, it was to be changed 
to ''The Lord of Hosts." From the marshy lands of 
St. Philip's rang out the cry of the men of Montague ; 
Pickering's re-echoed it from the market gardens 
through which they rushed ; Waller and Jackson joined 
in the shout as they crowded down the Stapleton road ; 
whilst the loud hurrahs and solid tramp of the horse of 
Desborough and Qraves, as they trotted up on the old 
Boman causeway in support, added to the din. Along 
the sodden meadow by the Frome there was a double 
burst of joy at the prospect of escape from a miry bog 
to drier ground, where they coidd shake off the ague 
by slashing malignants. One thundering shout woke 
up the echoes of Ninetree hill, reverberating to Mont- 
pelier. It was the single outburst of the tried veterans 
of Hammond and Eainsborough, who reserved their 
breath for their work. They had to " set a stout heart 
to a steep brae," with a tough job at the top of it. Ear 
away up the winding curves of the vales of Cotham and 
Bedland the file firing of manly cheers rang on and on 
until from Clifton hill they clash with the glad hurrahs, 

1 Seyer, H., 440-46. 
[Vol. m.] 



across the Avon, of Welden's men, who from Pile hill 
are marching down to attack the lofty wall built by the 
butchers of Eedcliff . By the time that they reached the 
foot of the wall, and ere their faggots splashed into the 
mud of the deep ditch, there rises above the confused 
din of many voices another and a new cry. It peals over 
the water from St. Philip's Marsh. It is that of victory. 
" The Lord of Hosts ! The Lord of Hosts ! The Lord 
He is God ! " Montague's men have won the line in 
front of them, and, according to orders, exult in the 
new shout of battle. From the Avon to the Frome 
they sweep the line, carrying sconce, half -moon and re- 
doubt ; they concentrate on Lawford's gate, which they 
capture, taking in all twenty-two guns. The pioneers 
bridge the ditch and level the ramps ; Desborough and 
Qraves gallop in by the Batch and the Bull-ring; 
Jackson, with the general's horse, leaps the uncleared 
impedimenta by Pennywell road, which brave old 
Skippon's regiment and young Birch have carried ; and 
throughout the now densely peopled district known as 
the ward of St. Philip and Jacob, from Back Avon 
street to Wade street, up to the Castle walls, after a 
fierce struggle, rises the one exultant shout, " The Lord 
of Hosts! " Not so fortunate, however, were those on 
the Somerset side of the river. Welden's men found 
their faggots insufficient to solidify the deep mud, the 
walls were high and their ladders too short, and so, 
deeply disheartened, they had to retire with loss. 

The tide not serving for the boat attack by the naval 
brigade on the water fort, the men composing it were 
detailed to assist Pride in alarming the Eoyal fort, and 
some of them were sent round to aid in the attack on 
Prior's hill. These carried a small advanced work 
manned by Welshmen, broke down the line quickly, 
the pioneers filled in the gap and the horse entered, 
meeting within with a party of the Cavaliers' horse led 
by Colonel Taylor, our brave Eoyalist townsman. Here 
a fierce combat ensued, the colonel was mortally wounded 
and some prisoners were taken, which so disheartened 
the rest that they retreated down the Horfield road 
under shelter of the Colston and Hoyal forts. No 
determined attack was made on the western side; the 
fortifications there were of the strongest, and feints to 
occupy the garrisons of the four forts — ^Water, Brandon, 
Essex, and the Eoyal — seem to have been all that was 
intended. 

But the sturdiest attack and sternest defence was 
that at the north-east comer, from Stokes Croft gate to 
Prior's hill and Colston's fort. For two hours after the 
line had been carried from Newfoundland street to the 
Frome, and thence to the Avon, Prior's hill fort played 
fiercely with round and case shot upon the besiegers, 

n 2 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



who kept up A lively return fire into the portholes with 
their musketry. Bainehorough's men in steady align- 
ment pressed step by step up the hlU as though on 
parade, under a shower of shot from fort, ramparts and 
glacis; his lino extended from Gotham brow to Nine- 
tree hill. The walls of Prior's hill fort were lofty and 
the ditch was deep. "Now for the ladders," shouted 
the veterans who were not to be denied- Alas ! though 
of thirty rounds, 
these reached only 
to the portholes. 
It was still dark 
when the troops 
gained the foot of 
the fort, and for 
two weary hours 
the assailants 
sought in vain to 
get possession of 
the parapet. Even 
when they had 
succeeded in doing 
so, Bowen and his 
troop were for 
Other two hours 
fighting hand to 
hand, at push of 
pike, with the 
brave defenders, 
only Bucceeding at 
last when Pride's 
men crept in at 
the portholes in 
the rear in the 
manner which we 
will now describe. 
Hammond, from 
the site of Arley 
chapel, had dashed 
down upon Stokes 
Croft gate, which 
was at the foot of 

the hill near the ^vw, surer nnanci. 

Ashley road. This 

gate he blew open with a petard, and the line to the 
south was carried and levelled, so that Ireton's horse, 
commanded by Major Bethel, were able to enter. After 
a sharp bout with the ^Royalists' horse, in which the 
gallant Bethel fell mortally wounded, they drove the 
defenders back to the Barton. This left the way clear 
for Hammond, who rushed up within the defences by 
Hiligrove with deadly sweep, and was joined at the top 



by some of Pride's force, who had stormed in by the 
line at the back of Kingsdown parade. On the inner 
side Prior's hill fort was weak, and from thence Pride's 
men, creeping in at the portholes and climbing by their 
ladders, which here reached to the top of the work, 
carried all before them. Captain Lagoo seized and 
lowered the colours, and the few brave men who sur- 
vived ton tor shelter to the rooms in the fort, where 
they were set upon 
and mercilessly cut 
down, because, in 
addition to their 
obstinate defence, 
they hod repeated- 
ly refused quarter. 
A few only were 
spared at the 
command of the 
officers. By this 
time the day was 
breaking; the 
darkness had ser- 
ved the assailants 
well, for had the 
storming been at- 
tempted in day- 
light, when the 
armies could have 
been distinguished 
from each other, 
the thirty guns 
and upwards of 
the Royal and 
Colston forts and 
of the redoubt on 
Kingsdown would 
have decimated 
the attacking 
force, and most 
probably have 
saved the city for 
the king. As soon 
^■.,v«,.««l » Ihe good aews 

reached Fairfax, 
at Montpelier, he and Cromwell rode up to and entered 
the captured fort, and whilst they were on the top 
examining the city and planning the best method of 
attacking it the guns of the Castle opened upon them. 
One shot struck the parapet within two hands' breadth 
of the general and his lieutenant without injuring either. 
Oiir readers may speculate upon the difference one foot's 
distance would have made in the destinies of England. 



A. p. 1645. 



CONDITIONS OF SURRENDER. 



11 



A few hours later Bupert sent a trumpeter to desire 
a parley, ** which there was reason enough to refuse ; 
but considering the enemy had fired the city in several 
phices, in so much as it was probable the whole city 
would have been consumed if the fire had gone on, the 
general sent the prince word that he woidd embrace a 
parley, proyided he caused the fire to be quenched 
immediately, which was done accordingly, and so the 
treaty proceeded on, and by seven at night it was con- 
cluded of according to these articles. 

''That his highness Prince Eupert, and all noble- 
men [commanders], officers, gentlemen and soiddiers, 
and all other persons whatsoever, now residing in the 
city of Bristol, and castle and forts thereof, shall march 
out of the said city, castle and forts thereof, with colours, 
pikes and drums, bag and baggage. The prince his 
highness, all noblemen, gentlemen and officers in com- 
mission, with their horse and arms, and their servants 
with their horses and swords, and common soldiers with 
their swords ; the prince his lifeguard of horse, with 
their horse and arms, and 250 horse besides to be dis- 
posed by the prince, and his lifeguard of firelocks with 
their arms, and each of them one pound of powder and 
a proportion of bullet; and that none of the persons 
who are to march out on this article shall be plimdered, 
searched or molested. 

'' That such officers and soldiers as shall be left sick 
or wounded in the city, castle or forts shall have liberty 
to stay till their recovery, and then have safe conducts 
to go to his majesty, and in the interim to be protected. 

''That the persons above mentioned, who are to 
march away, shall have a sufficient convoy provided for 
them to any such garrison of the king's as the prince 
shall name, not exceeding fifty miles from Bristol, and 
shall have eight days allowed for their march thither, 
and shall have free quarter by the way, and shall have 
two officers to attend them for their accommodation and 
twenty waggons for their baggage, if they shall have 
occasion to use the same. 

"That all the citizens of Bristol, and all noblemen, 
gentlemen, clergymen, and all other persons residing in 
the said city and suburbs of the same, shall be saved 
from all plunder and violence, and be secured in their 
persons and estates from the violence of the soldier, and 
shall enjoy those rights and priveledges which other 
subjects enjoy under protection and obedience to the 
Parliament. 

" That in consideration thereof, the city of Bristol, 
with the castle, and all other forts and fortifications 
thereof, without any sleighting or defacing thereof, and 
all the ordnance, arms, ammunition, and all other furni- 
ture and provisions of war, excepting what is before 



allowed, shall be delivered up to Sir Thomas Fairfax 
to-morrow, being Thursday, the 11th day of this instant 
September, by one of the dock in the afternoon, with- 
out any diminution or imbezlement, his highness Prince 
Eupert then naming to what army or garrison of the 
king's he will march. 

" That none of the persons who are to march out on 
this agreement shall plunder, hurt, or spoil the town, 
or any person in it, or carry out anything but what is 
properly their own. 

"That upon signing these articles Colonel Okey, 
and all persons now in prison in the ciiy of Bristol, the 
castle or forts of the same, shall immediately be set at 
liberty. 

"That sufficient hostages be given to Sir Thomas 
Fairfax, such as he shall approve, this night, who are 
to remain with him until the ciiy be delivered. 

" That neither the convoy nor officers sent with the 
prince shall receive any injury in their going or coming 
back, and shall have seven days' allowance for their 
return. 

" That upon delivering of the town sufficient hos- 
tages be given for the performance of the articles on 
both parts. 

" Signed by us the commissioners on the behalf of 
his highness Prince Eupert, 

"John Mynne, 

"W. TiLLYEH, 

" W. Valvasoxtb. 

"Signed by us the commissioners appointed on the 
behalf of his excellency Sir Thos. Fairfax, 

'*Edw. Montague, 
"Tho. Eainsbobough, 
"John PicKBBiNa. 

" That which moved the general to give such favour- 
able conditions was merely the preservation of the city, 
which otherwise woidd have been consumed by fire if 
the enemy had been driven to desperate condition." 

. . . " This day, the well-affected countrymen of 
Gloucestershire, to the number of about 3,000, with 
some thirty colours, appeared, expressing great for- 
wardness to serve the Parliament; but the service 
being over, they returned to their own homes. 

" In this storm we lost several officers, both of horse 
and foot, and had many wounded. Major Bethel was 
shot at entering the line, whom I have never occasion 
to mention but greatly to his honour ; of this wound he 
shortly after died. Captain Ireton, who led on the for- 
lorn hope at the storm, was shot with a brace of bullets 
in the arm, and it is broken thereby ; but after enduring 
great torture and pain for many months, he is, through 



12 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



▲.D. 1645. 



Qod's blessing, happily recovered. Major Cromwell, a 
valiant and discreet gentleman (major to Colonel In- 
glesbie), was wounded in the storm, whereof he after- 
wards died. lieutenant-Colonel Purefoy, of Colonel 
Fortescue's regiment, a very stout man, was slain upon 
the place. Captain Hill, of Sir Hardress Waller's regi- 
ment, slain at the storm. Major Beade, Colonel In- 
glesbie's brother, and divers other offioers wounded. 
[Another writer says: — 'Our loss of men was incon- 
siderable, not credible almost. I assure you that in 
Colonel Bainsborough's and Colonel Montague's brigade 
not forty men are lost.'] 

« Thursday, September 11th, the prince, according 
to the articles, marched out of the great fort, as also 
many ladies and persons of quality, who had convoys 
appointed them according to agreement. [One of our 
Calendars says: — 'Prince Bupert marched out with eight 
lords in his company, and 500 horse and 1,400 foot, 
with their muskets and other arms.'] In the prince 
his marching out, the general himself attended him out 
two miles. The prince, after he was out of the fort, 
declared which way he intended to go, and propounded 
Oxford, whither, accordingly, he and all his company 
were safely convoyed ; and because he feared the rising 
of the clubmen upon him, and not being secure enough 
in his convoy, as he conceived, he desired the general to 
let him have 1,000 arms for his foot, engaging himself 
upon his honour they should injure no man therewith, 
only to make use of them (if need were) to keep them- 
selves from the violence of the people, and to return 
them back again, which accordingly was allowed him, 
and so many as kept their arms restored them again, 
but the greatest part of them in their march running 
away many of the arms were lost. Divers persons of 
quality that were in the town desired liberty to stay a 
little while longer, till they could provide themselves 
with horses and necessaries to march away, which 
civility the general did not deny them. 

<'A great appearance there was of the coimtry to 
see the marching away of the prince, and extremely 
cryed they out against the prince, ' Give him no quarter, 
give him no quarter.' 

<' The goodness of God to the army during this siege 
in preserving them from the sickness was very remark- 
able, for when the army was resolved to march from 
Sherbom to Bristol one main objection there against it 
that time was least the plague should be thereby brought 
into the army; but every man's conscience and judg- 
ment being satisfied that the design was good, and most 
for the advantage of the publick, and feazible in their 
opinion, they resolved to trust God what he would do 
with them as to the sickness that was much spread in 



those parts. And whereas when the army came before 
Bristol, as likewise for many weeks before, there died 
within the city above an hundred a week of the sick- 
ness, nor could we quarter our forces in any town or 
village but the sickness was in it ; yet during all this 
time not one officer or soldier in our army died of the 
plague that we could not hear of, or but one. [One of 
the pamphlets says thus : — ' God hath appeared to own 
our comiQg hither in preserving this army from the 
infection of the plague, considering that the soldiers 
(do what we can to prevent it) nm daily into infected 
houses, and to this day not a man in the anny dead 
thereof that I can hear of, or but one.'] WHat ord- 
nance, arms, ammunition and provisions we found in 
the forts, ciiy and castle I shall give you in the words 
of lieutenant-General Cromwell's letter to the Speaker 
of the House of Commons, wherein also the reader may 
find, not only a confirmation, but an amplification of 
this story, by some other particulars not yet mentioned, 
which letter foUoweth : — 

'"It hath pleased the general to give me in charge 
to represent to you a particular account of the taking of 
Bristol, the which I gladly undertake. After the finish- 
ing of that service at Sherbom, it was disputed at a 
council of war whether we should march into the west 
or to Bristol. Amongst other arguments, the leaving so 
considerable an enemy at our backs to march into the 
heart of the kingdom, the imdoing of the coimtry about 
Bristol, which was exceedingly harassed by the prince, 
his being but a fortnight thereabouts, the correspon- 
dence he might hold with Wales, the possibility of 
uniiyng the enemies forces where they pleased, and 
especially the drawing to an head the disaffected club- 
men of Somerset, Wilts and Dorset when once our backs 
were turned towards them. These considerations, to- 
gether with the taking so important a place, so advan- 
tag^us for the opening of trade to London, did sway 
the balance and beget that conclusion. When we came 
within four miles of the city we had a new debate 
whether we should endeavour to block it up or make a 
regular siege.' " * 

CromweU then gives a detailed accoimt of the storm- 
ing of the city, which we have already worked into our 
story. "Being possessed of thus much as hath been 
related, the town was fired in three places by the enemy, 
which we could not put out, which begat a great trouble 
in the general and us aU, fearing to see so famous a 
city burnt to ashes before our faces. Whilst we were 
viewing so sad a spectacle, and consulting which way to 
make further advantage of our success, the prince sent 
a trumpet to the general to desire a treaty for the sur* 

1 Seyer, II., 449-53. 



A.D. 1645. 



CROMWELL'S LETTER TO PARLIAMENT. 



13 



render of the town, to whicli the general agreed, and 
deputed Oolonel Montague, Oolonel Bainsborough and 
Oolonel Pickering for that service, authorising them 
with instructions to treat and conclude the articles, 
which are these inclosed, for performance whereof hos- 
tages were mutually given. On Thursday, about two 
of the dock in the afternoon, the prince marched out, 
having a convoy of two regiments of horse from us, 
and making election of Oxford for the place he would 
go to, which he had liberty to do by his articles. The 
canon which we have taken are about 140- mounted, 
about 100 barrels of powder already come over to our 
hands, with a good quantity of shot, ammunition and 
arms; we have found already between two and three 
thousand muskets. The Eoyal fort had victuals in it 
for one hundred and fifiy men for three hundred and' 
twenty days, the castle victuaUed for near half so long. 
The prince had foot of the garrison, as the major of 
the city informed me, 2,500, and about 1,000 horse, 
besides the trained bands of the town and auxiliaries 
1,000 — some say 1,500. I hear but of one man that 
died of the plague in all our army, although we have 
quartered amongst and in the midst of infected persons 
and places ; we had not killed of ours in this storm, nor 
all this siege, two hundred men. Thus I have given 
you a true, but not a full account of this great business, 
wherein he that runs may read that all this is none 
other than the work of God ; he must be a very atheist 
that doth not acknowledge it. It may be thought that 
some praises are due to these gallant men, of whose 
valour so much mention is made ; their humble suit to 
you, and all that have an interest in this blessing, is, 
that in the rembrance of God's praises they may be 
forgotten. It is their joy that they are instruments to 
God's glory and their country's good ; it is their honour 

• 

that God vouchsafes to use them. Sir, they that have 
been employed in this service know that faith and 
prayer obtained this city for you; I do not say ours 
only, but of the people of God with you, and all Eng- 
land over, who have wreastled with God for a blessing 
in this very thing. Our desires are that God may be 
glorified by the same spirit of faith by which we ask 
all our sufficiency, and having received it, it is meet 
that he should have all the praise." [Here ends Oliver 
Cromwell's letter, as published by Parliament.] " Pres- 
byterians, Independents, all have here the same spirit 
of faith and prayer, the same spirit and answer ; they 
agree here, have no names of difference: pity it is it 
should be otherwise anywhere. All that believe have 
the real unity, which is most glorious, because inward 
and spiritual, in the body and to the head. For being 
united in forms, commonly called imiformiiy, every 



Ohristian will, for peace sake, study and do as far as 
conscience will permit. And for brethren, in things of 
the mind, we look for no compulsion, but that of light 
and reason. In other things God hath put the sword 
in the Parliament's hands, for the terror of evil-doers 
and the praise of them that do well. If any plead 
exemption from it, he knows not the gospel; if any 
would wring it out of your hands, or steal it from you 
imder what pretence soever, I hope they shall do it 
without effect. That God will maintain it in your 
hands, and direct you in the use thereof, is the prayer 
of your humble servant, 

"Oltvee Cromwell. 

''Bristol, September 14th, 1645. 

''This night the general removed from his quarters 
at the farmhouse, where he- had been all the time of 
the siege, extremely ill-accommodated by reason of the 
littleness of the house, which yet he contented himself 
withal, in regard it lay so conveniently upon any alarm. 
. . . But this night he and the lieutenant-general 
removed and went to Bristol, which they found so unlike 
what it had been formerly, in its flourishing condition, 
that it looked now more like a prison than a city, and 
the people more like prisoners than citizens, being 
brought so low with taxations, so poor in habit and so 
dejected in countenance, the streets so noisome and the 
houses so nasty, as that they were unfit to receive friends 
or freemen till they were cleansed." ^ 

Comparing the two sieges, we are constrained to say 
that if Bupert deserved to be excused, Fiennes ought 
not be censured for giving up the city. Bupert's outer 
line was stronger, and the forts were more heavily 
armed and manned than in 1643. Bupert had, it is 
stated, between 4,000 and 5,000 men, horse and foot, 
certainly he marched out with 1,900 men; Fiennes but 
1,700 of all sorts. Bupert might reasonably expect 
the king to raise the siege as he had promised. Essex 
sent word to Fiennes' father. Lord Say, that he feared 
it would be impossible to relieve Bristol. Fiennes ob- 
tained better articles of surrender than did the prince. 

When the ground of the upper portion of Mother 
Pugsley's field and the land near Fremantle square on 
the west and north sides was being dug into for building 
purposes, in 1835, a number of leaden bullets and some 
tobacco pipes and small measures were exhumed. These 
were relics of the two sieges, the bullets many of them 
being flattened. The pipes are of the description termed 
woodcocks' heads, the stem being about the length of 
that bird's bill; the bowls are about one-fourth the 
size of an ordinary day pipe. That tobacco was in 

* Seyer, II., 467-9. 



14 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1645. 



request amongst the soldiers during both sieges is evi- 
dent from the journal of Captain Hill, of Eedland, under 
date 1643, April. He writes: — **A trumpeter came to 
us from Prince Eupert's troop with a message to me 
from my Lord of Cleveland to beg that I would send 
him some tobacco, but I being out of the way Colonel 
Fiennes sent him a pound, and Colonel Popham 
another." The measures were such as would hold a 
charge of powder for the muskets. 

Charles was greatly incensed with Bupert's surren- 
der. In a letter dated August 1 2th, the king says : — 
'*Tou assured me if no mutiny happened you would keep 
Bristol for four months ! Did you keep it four days ? 
Was there anything like mutiny?" He concludes by 
dismissing the prince from his service, and ordering 
him to quit the kingdom. Bupert, nothing abashed, 
visited the king at Newark, and in a rude manner. 
Clarendon says, ' * endeavoured to j ustif y himself. * ' The 
king then signed a short declaration, by which he 
'' absolved his nephew from any disloyalty or treason, 
but not from indiscretion." Major-general Skippon 
was soon after (December 12th) made governor by the 
Parliament, which ordered that £3,000 per month for 
six months should be raised for the support of the 
garrison in the following proportions : — Bristol, £200 ; 
Somerset, £1,200; Gloucestershire, £800; and Wilt- 
shire, £800 per month. On the conquest of the city, 
September 11th, the mayor and council had sent to ask 
Fairfax whom he would wish to be elected mayor on 
the 15th, the usual day of election. He declined to 
interfere, and told them to follow their ancient custom. 
The result we shall show in our notice of Francis 
Creswick. During this year, 1645, 3,000 persons had 
died of the plague within the city. 

List referred to at Vol. I., 359: — James Abbotte; 
Edmund Arundell, merchant ; William Beane [perhaps 
William Deane] ; George Boucher, merchant : he lived 
in Christmas street, near Froom gate; John Boucher, 
merchant, son of Nathaniel Boucher ; young Mr. John 
Boucher, son of Geo. Boucher, apparantly an Oxford 
scholar ; Eev. Mr. Brent ; Francis Belcher, soap-boiler ; 
Thomas Barret, cutler; Philemon [al. Philip] Barrow; 
Captain Boone; Edward Boone [perhaps the same as 
the next] ; Edward Bounde ; John Broadway [or Brad- 
way], vintner; Mr. Brooks, of St. Michael's; Cornelius 
Broadway [or Bradway] ; Mr. Thomas Bursell [or Bur- 
sill] ; Robert Blackborrough, brewer ; Rob. Browne, of 
Clifton ; Laurence Browne ; Thomas Browne ; Joseph 
Browne ; GTi£Q.n Batten ; Nathaniel Blaunch ; John 
Casly; John Cosbie; John Collins; John Carey, cooper; 
Captain T. Cole or Coale, of St. Augustin's, who offered 



to make a bridge of lighters across the quay, that the 
prince's soldiers, horse and foot, might more easily 
come into the city : (Mem, Neither the Drawbridge nor 
St. Giles* bridge was then built) ; Mr. William Coleston 
[or Coulson] and his brother; Mr. Edward CapeU; 
young Walter Cowley [or Cowling], a practitioner in 
medicine under Mr. Bennett; William Coxe, of Long 
Ashton ; John Councell ; N. Cule ; William Dabber 
[from Fiennes' proclamation, where the names are very 
ill- written or printed] ; William Deane ; Edmund Dacres 
[or Daker], plumber; Mr. Edward Dacres, perhaps the 
same [probably brothers and partners as plumbers] ; 
John Dimmock [or Dymmut], carpenter; Captain 
Doughtie ; Nathaniel Dowles ; Robert Doule [a/. Robert 
Dowlesse] ; William Evans ; Mr. Fitzherbert ; Toby 
Goodyar [or Goodier] ; Ephraim Goody [or Goodyar], 
a goldsmith ; Richard Grigson ; John Goodman ; Mr. 
Green, lawyer, steward of Bristol [perhaps steward of 
the sheriff's court] ; the two Haynes's, William and 
John, halliars, in Halliar's lane, both sons to Widow 
Haynes ; Richard Howell ; Thomas Heyman, merchant, 
in St. Augustine's ; Thomas Hilman ; Edward Hunger- 
ford ; Edward Hunt ; the two Herberts ; Edward James, 
a rope-maker ; WiUiam Joanes [or Jones] ; Richard 
Lacket [or Lucket], a cooke ; Edmund Lewes ; Mr. 
Thomas Milward [or Millard or Miller], of St. Michael's; 
Dr. Markes; Thomas Martin; John Nickins, a trunk- 
maker ; William Oubler ; William Pope ; John PevereU 
\al, John Potrell] ; Henry Priest ; Mr. John Pestor, 
appointed by Mr. Yeomans to be one of his captains; 
Captain Bounde Rich ; Henry Russell ; John Rowden ; 
Thomas Redding ; Rowland Searchfield, merchant ; John 
Swetman ; James Sterry [perhaps Terrey] ; Nathaniel 
Streete, a tyler ; Thomas Stephens ; Mathew Stephens ; 
Robert Taylor ; Edward Taylor ; the two Tristrams, 
brothers, John, a chaundler or sopemaker, and William ; 
Mr. George Teague [or Teige] ; John Taylor, merchant ; 
John Taylor, rope-maker; James Terrey; Mr. John 
Throupe [or Thruppe], gentleman ; John Tilly, mercer; 
James Thomas ; young Mr. Towgood, an Oxford scholar, 
son of the Rev. Mr. Towgood, vicar of St. Nicholas: 
(Mr. Towgood's house was searched, and it was said by 
the rebels that they found there papers which discovered 
the whole plot, and arms, and between £3,000 and 
£4,000 in money) ; John Waldon \al, Waldron], horn- 
maker; Thomas Yaymond; John Williams, hatter, in 
Broad street ; Mr. Weeks : (Duk. Weekes, inmiediately 
after Essex's removal, rode through Cirencester to Neford, 
to invite Prince Rupert to Bristol) ; Samuel Warin [or 
Wame] ; Robert Yeomans, merchant, in Wine street ; 
William Yeomans, merchant, brother to Robert Yeo- 
mans ; Richard Yeomans, grasiar. 



CHAPTER XI. 



HlGLnDip -f T^E -f 60n]I]Q0I|IHE^M^. 

PART II. 

I. State of the Kingdom. Ireion's Proposals; Ike King's duplicity; demands of tite Army, etc. 
2. Francis Creswick, the Mayor, dismissed by order of Parliament and Gunning chosen. 3. A literary 
Merchant of Bristol. Skippon, Governor. Mutiny of the Garrison, etc. 4. Bristol men for themselves. 
John Gunning's mayoralty and life. 5. Richard Vickris, Mayor. Great Fire on Bristol Bridge. Petition 
of the Corporation. 6. William Cann, Mayor. Estates of the Bishopric sold. "No King, no Bishop" 
verified. House of Lords abolished. The Rump. 7. Cromwell's decisive acts. Barebone's Parliament. 
Blake's Prisoners confined in Redcliff Church. 8. Parliament keeps early hours. Bristol munitions for 
Ireland. The Lord Lieutenant in Bristol, g. Execution of Charles I. His Character. Cromwell's 
activity. The Battle of Worcester. Flight of Prince Charles through Bristol. 10. Myles Jackson, Mayor, 
entertains Cromwell. Abuse of the Mayor. 11. Hugh Brown, Mayor. Fire Engine, etc., ordered. A good 
Merchant Venturer, 12. Joseph Jackson, Mayor. Doddridge's Tankards. Jackson's will. Bristol 
Farthings. 13. Interesting list of Protesters against the establishment of Presbylerianism. 14. Henry Gibbs, 
Mayor, Members of Council to stand up devoutly when speaking. 15. George Hellier, Mayor. A quorum 
fixed and Prayers reinstituted in the Council. Petition of Carr's sister. House to house Collection for the 
Poor. 16. Attempts to make men religious by law. Local enactments, 17. Cromwell declared Protector. 
The new Constitution and Parliament, Cromwell's despotism. Bristol compounders. 18. Advent of the 
Quakers. Their persecution. Polemics of the age. Ralph Farmer the leading spirit of Presbylerianism. 
How the pulpits were filled, etc. Order for demolishing Bristol Castle. 19. Castle Street built. Walter 
Deyos, Mayor. Constables ordered to keep children and idlers in order on the Lord's day. Water and 
Holiness incompatible. 20, Richard Batman, Mayor, lends his bedding to Prince Charles. Fasts ordered. 
21. Incidents of the period. The Church or Parochial Rates. Letter of Cromwell. Results that followed 
its receipt. Second letter. 22. Incidents. Barge ordered for the Mayor. St. Ewen's Churck ordered to 
be turned into a Free Library. 23. Richard Cromwell in Bristol. Death of the Protector. Proclamation 
of Richard. Oliver's character, 24. Walter Sandy, Mayor. Becomes a persecutor. Reaction against 
Puritanism. Local incidents. The apprentices rise. Change of Government. Penn's freedom, etc. 
Ellsworth's loyalty. 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



U have done jour work now and maj 
go and play, tinleea you fall out amonp 
yourselveB," said the gallant Cavali^, 
Sir Jacob Afitley, after Ub defeat at 
Stow, which followed dose upon Naae- 
by. The people's cause was Tictorious, 
but the shrewd old Koyalist saw the 
danger that lay ahead. Charles also 
was astute enough to see that if he 
would recover his authority his only chance lay in 
being able to foment differences amongst his con- 
querors. Democracy was already beginning to sprout 
and to grow new heads. The Presbyterian form of 
Church government was largely in the ascendant ; out 
of 105 ministers at Westminster who had been ap- 
pointed to revise the Articles only five were Inde- 
pendents; out of 12(1 ministers in London only three 
were in sympathy with the Sectaries. Had the matter 
been pressed in Parliament on Sept 25th, 1643, when 
the House accepted with uplifted hands the Solemn 
League and Covenant, the nation would doubtless have 
become Presbyterian ; but the tide was missed at its 
turn, men who had on principle been making such enor- 
mous sacrifices for social and political liberty could not 
. endure a new intolerance which sought t« make them 
conform to any specific views. And so at a bound 
Voluntaryism sprang into vigorous life. The Presbyte- 
rian Parliament insisted on " Uniformity." An unex- 
pected but practical answer was speedily given j in 
London within four years sixteen religious bodies, and 
in Bristol four, at least, were formed, each of them 
having large congregations, who were unable conscien- 
tiously to join the Now Establishment. 

These men became the living soul of Dissent, the 
life of the Commonwealth, and to-day their successors 
in England outnumber by far the members of the 
Presbyterian church, from whom they then separated. 
Cromwell, the gi'eat leader of the Independents, told 
the House that "the honest (religious) men who won 
Naseby, in venturing their lives for the liberties of 
their country ventured them also for the liberty of con- 
science—from brethren, in things of the mind we look 
for no compulsion, but light and reason." Polemics 
grew rife ; Charles said, " Time and dissensions are 
working for me. I hope to be able to draw either the 
Presbyterians or the Independents to side with me for 
extirpating one another, so that I shall be really king 
again." Hence he refused the terms to which the 
Scotch, with tears, implored him to consent; whereupon, 
finding >i'""i intractable, they sold him to the Parliament 



for £400,000, and then marched back to Scotland. The 
king in their hands, the Houses now endeavoured to 
enforce the Covenant on the army ; but the cittzen 
soldiers would not hang their swords upon the wall 
until their work was done and " liberty was assured to 
all men" (their interpretation of the word was, however, 
but a narrow one). Their action was sharp and decisive. 
Two men from each regiment were selected to form 
a soldier's porhament ; these they termed adjutators. 
Five hundred troopers marched to Holmby house to 
secure the king. " "Where is your conuoission?" asked 
Charles. "Behind me," said Joyce, pointing to his 
soldiers. "It is written in very fine and legible charac- 
ters," replied the king, who went not unwillingly, still 
hoping to find hia advantage in fomenting dissension 
amongst his adversaries. Then the House in its anger 
forced Cromwell, who had left the army, to seek refuge 
with the soldiers. In three days the troops were in full 
march upon London, and the Presbyterian party suc- 
cumbed. Ireton, the greatest stoteaman of the age, then 
laid before the king the following terms:— A general 
act of oblivion for all but seven Boyalist delinquents, 
who were to be banished; withdrawal of coercive power 
from the clergy ; Parliament for ten years to control the 
naval and military forces, and to nominate the great 
officers of state ; belief and worship to be free to all ; 
Acts enforcing the use of the Book of Common Prayer, 
attendance at Church, or the taking of the Covenant, to 
be all repealed; Roman Catholics, although restrained 
in some things, to be freed from compulsory attendance 
in Protestant churches; Parliaments to be triennial ; a 
redistribution of seats and electoral reform of the House; 
taxation to be readjusted; legal procedure simplified; 
and a vast number of privileges, political, oommerclal 
and judicial, which pressed unduly upon the community, 
to be abolished. 

The moderation of these demands Is shown by the 
fact that all of them, with but few exceptions, have 
since been won piecemeal by the people, and they form 
the strength of the Constitution at this day. But the 
infatuated king replied to the proposers, "You cannot 
do without me ; you are lost if I do not support you." 
"Ah!" said Ireton, "Youmean to be arbitrator between 
us and the Parliament ; but we mean to be so between 
the Parliament and your majesty." 

The Houses rejected the proposals; Charles evaded 
a direct reply, tried to delude both parties, and at the 
very time he professed to be negotiating was engaged 
In preparing a fresh rising of the Boyalists of England 
and an luvasion of the kingdom by the Scotch. "The 



FRANCIS CRESWICK, THE MAYOR, DISMISSED. 



two nations will soon be at war," he wrote. 'When 
the army sought Mb signature to their terms he was 
missing, having escaped from their custody. 

Stormy times these were ; the " king a man of great 
parts and great understanding, but not to be trusted." 
The Parliament was adjudging Arians, disbelieTers in 
the inspiration of the Scriptures, the resurrection of the 
body, or a day of judgment, to abjuration or death ; and 
decreeing that any man believing that he bath bee will 
to turn to God, or in the existence of Purgatory, in the 
lawfulness of images, in the imlawfulnees of infant 
baptism, denying the Judaic sanctity of the Lord's day, 
or asserting that Church government by a presbytery 
was unlawful, should be sent 
to prison. The Boyalists were 
also rising in Kent ; South 
Wales unfurling the royal 
standard; the Scotch army, 
20,000 strong, with 3,000 in 
advance on the banks of the 
Bibble, all embittered with the 
Independents for their rejection 
of the Covenant and coquetting 
with the temporising king, who 
was again in detention at Caris* 
brook. But the leaders of the 
army proved equal to the occa- 
sion. Fairfax stamped out the 
insurrection in Kent; Cromwell 
drove the Welsh insurgents into 
Pembroke, which he compelled 
to , surrender ; then by rapid 
marches, having cnt the rear- 
guard of the Scotch to pieces 
at Wigan and forced their foot 
to surrender at Warrington, he 
continued his progress to Edin- UoU^ 

burgh, where he restored the ' 

Duke of Argyle to power. ''"" " «iii!at%rc, by Coapcr, 

Obstinately bent on retaining place and nominal 
authority, the Presbyterian Parliament now joined the 
Boyalists and offered easy terms to the king, who, 
looking for aid from Ireland, still played a double port, 
writing privately to his queen, "Nothing is changed in 
my designs;" yet was be making concessione to the 
commons as if in earnest. But now the army, with 
patience exhausted, made more onerous and weighty 
demands. "A new Parliament; electoral reform ; Par- 
liament to be supreme ; change of monarchy (which. If 
it be retained, shall take the form of a chief nutgistrato 
elected by the people) ; no veto ; and heaviest of all, 
Charies to be brought to trial for treason against the 
[Vol. UL] 



nation." The Parliament scornfully replied by accept- 
ing tbe king's concessions as the basis of a peace ; the 
soldiers answered by seizing Charles, whUst Fairfax 
marched npon Loudon. Then Colonel Pride purged 
the House by excluding 120 members of the dominant 
party therein ; the Independents who were left (a mere 
fragment, nicknamed " The Bump,") sided with the 
army, 

2. Although Fairfax and Cromwell had, in 1645, 
obtained possession of the city of Bristol, the loyal 
party in the corporation imagined that they would be 
allowed to follow their ancient custom, and being in a 
majority in the house they elected Francis Creewick, a 

royalist, as mayor. His civic 
reign was, however, brief. On 
October 28th an order of the 
Lords and Commons was signed 
dismissing him from the cor- 
poration, immediately on the 
receipt of which, in Bristol, 
Major-Oeneral Skippon, who 
was in command of the casUe, 
ordered the mayor to summon 
a meeting of the corporation 
on December 9th. The gene- 
ral, in military costume, atten- 
ded on that occasion, and read 
the order of the Parliament, 
which removed Creswick from 
the mayoralty and Thomas 
Colston from his aldermanship, 
as "persona disaffected to the 
proceedings in Parliament and 
active in promoting the designs 
of the enemy in times of war 
and danger." On tiie following 
day Creswick and Oolaton at- 
k.^^.-"' tended at the Council - house, 

:» iSt Bojrfiji coUem, Brttoi and theformerdelivered to John 
Qunning the swoid of justice, the cap of maintenance, 
and other insignia of office. Creswick died in 1649, 
and was buried in St. Werburgh's church, leaving a 
widow, Ann, who died in 1662. 

On the first meeting of the house subsequent to this 
change the corporation voted a tun of Canary and a pipe 
of Oascony wine to Skippon as " a tribute from the city 
and a welcome te the same." At this time there were 
only four provincial printing presses at work in the 
kingdom, viz., at Bristol, Shrewsbury, York and Exeter. 

3. A famous merchant of Bristol was Heniy Birk- 
head who, about the year 1645, wrote a play entitled 
Cola't /urie; or, Lirenda^t Miiery, which he dedicated to 

B 3 



^^mmi. 



18 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1645. 



Lord Herbert. The characters, under feigned nameS; 
are those who had been most prominent in the Irish 
Bebellion. Archbishop Laud claimed to have confirmed 
Birhhead in Protestantism after he had been seduced 
by a Jesuit in June, 1635, and carried over to St. 
Omers. ''He took his degree as M.A. June 5th, 1641, 
was made Senior of the Act celebrated in that year; 
entered on the law line, kept his fellowship during the 
times of usurpation, had liberty to propose a dispensa- 
tion in the ven. conv, for the taking of the Degree of 
Doctor of Physic by accumulation, but whether he took 
that degree it appears not. After the Bestoration he 
resigned his Fellowship, became registrar of the diocese 
of Norwich, which he resigned in 1 68 1 ; he had a chamber 
in the Middle Temple, and lived sometime there and 
elsewhere in a retired and scholastic condition for many 
years. ' Harry Birched now lives (1693), worth, as 'tis 
said, £1 ,000.' ^ He founded the Professorship pf Poetry 
at Oxford; the statute was published in 1708." ^ Tyson, 
our authoriiy for the above, says Langbaine's style 
(whose account he has been transcribing) is not suffi- 
ciently precise to discountenance the conjecture that Mr. 
Birkhead's residence in Bristol took place during the 
latter part of his life, where he probably acquired, at 
least, a part of that property which he appropriated to 
the dissemination of poetic taste. 

On December 11th, 1646, the House of Commons 
voted Skippon, who was already governor of the castle, 
to the command of Bristol, but allowed him to exercise 
the office by deputy. He was chosen to command the 
convoy of the £200,000 which was to be paid to the 
Scotch before the king left to be surrendered into the 
hands of the Parliament. The use of the Book of 
Common Prayer was prohibited in the year 1647, when 
Gabriel Sherman, merchant, was mayor. A fine and 
imprisonment was the penalty inflicted for reading it in 
public. On July 19th the Parliament voted that Bristol 
castle should be kept in repair and the keys delivered 
to the mayor and corporation, who were to govern it as 
before 1643. This did not suit the garrison, who in 
November mutinied ; they secured one of the aldermen 
of the city and held him* as a hostage for a month's pay 
then due to them. The mayor thereupon wrote to the 
Parliament, who, on November 23rd, sent a letter to the 
general ordering him to liberate the alderman and to 
prevent any similar abuse of authority. 

4. In common justice to many of the men who, from 
our standpoint in the present century, appear to have 
changed sides in the seventeenth with a readiness that 
is reprehensible, it should be remembered that the divi- 
sion of the people into political parties was then aU but 
^ Wood's Oxford. • Bristol Memorialist, 212. 



unknown. The terms of opprobrium. Whig (a Scotch 
thief) and Tory (an Irish savage), only came into vogue 
in 1680. The only parties in the kingdom strictly so 
called were those who were actively engaged on the 
side of the king (the Cavaliers), and those who sided 
with the Parliament (the Boundheads). 

Between these two classes there was a large stratum 
of the population which had no predilections as to the 
form of government, men who wished to live quietly 
and to follow their daily avocations, their utmost ambi- 
tion rising no higher than a seat in the common council, 
with a possible reversion of the civic chair. 

That this feeling was prevalent in Bristol we have 
seen, when at the very commencement of the troubles its 
commonalty declined to admit the forces of either king 
or commons. '^ Bristol for herself" might have been 
their motto, '' let them flght for the mastery elsewhere ; 
we are traders, we will uphold our civic rights, but we 
care little who holds the sovereign power." By no means 
a generous, patriotic, or loyal position to take, we admit, 
but one perfectly in accord with the maxim of successful 
trade, ''Mind your own business." Hence we are not 
at all surprised to find that John Gunning, a merchant, 
the new mayor, son of John Gunning, who was mayor 
in 1627, trimmed his sails so as to always have a fair 
wind. When Fiennes had taken the city. Gunning 
scrupled to take the oath of allegiance to the Parliament 
and was fined £200, as we find by the following letter : — 

'* To Master Ganning the younger, Bristoll. Whereas the city 

is at this time environed, and in great imminent danger to be 

swallowed up by many cruel and barbarous enemies, of Papists, 

Irish Rebells, and others ; and most of the inhabitiMits of this city 

have, and all ought to take an oath, and protestation for defence 

thereof with their lives and fortunes; these are to require you 

forthwith to pay to my servant Ralph Hooker, to be employed for 

the defence of the citie, the summe of two hundred pounds ; 

which summe, in respect of your estate is below the proportion 

required of other persons of your qualitie, by ordinance of Ftfflia- 

ment. And if you shall refuse in this time of so great necessitie, 

you may expect whatsoever the desperate resolution of soldiers 

reduced to extream necessitie, may put them to act against your 

persons and estates, unlesse by a speedy contribution towards their 

supply you shall prevent the same. 

'* Given under my hand July 25, 1643. 

"Nath. Fisnnxs." 

From this and also from subsequent events we gather 
that Qunning was a wealthy man. On the surrender of 
the city to Prince Eupert he had served on the com- 
mittee of Boyalists which was appointed to treat with 
the inhabitants for presenting the king with the ** token 
of the love and affection of the city," and had subscribed 
£150 towards the fund. Gunning was associated with 
the most devoted men of the Boyalist party in the dty. 
He also subscribed £45 towards a present of 500 guineas 
to the queen of Oharles I. when she visited the city. 



A.P. 1646. 



BRISTOL MEN FOR THEMSELVES. 



19 



In the chamberlam's account, April 2drd, 1644, is an 
item of 28. Sd., ** paid for ten linen money bags to put 
the 500 guineas in presented to the queen.'' He contri- 
buted '' one horse completely furnished " for the neces- 
saiy defence of the city against the ineyitable attack of 
Fairfax and OromweU ; but when they had taken pos- 
session of Bristol he became an active partisan of the 
Boimdhead corporation. While mayor he was chosen 
on a committee to levy the arrears of the £6,000 due to 
the soldiers, and was empowered to advance money, not 
exceeding £200, "for the service of Parliament." In 
July, 1646, he advanced £150, "which money is pro- 
mised to be repaid by the committee of Parliament now 
resident in this city." 

During the mayoralty of Oolonel Taylor (1640) the 
salary of the mayor had been augmented from £52 to 
£104 per annum, and on Ghinning's re-appointment, in 
1654, the salary was increased to £208. He was evi- 
dently a moderate man, but his Boyalist proclivities 
were not forgotten. " One Bichard Jones, coppersmith, 
was sent to Newgate, to be tried at the session for saying 
that Ghmning was more like a horse or an ass than a 
mayor [this was during his second mayoralty, in 1654], 
and that he was a cavalier and not fit to be a mayor ; 
and upon the warrant being served he drew his sword 
and endeavoured to wound the officers." Gunning's 
name was read out on September 15th, 1649, when he 
was fined £10 for not attending in his place at the elec- 
tion of the mayor and sheriifs. He continued to hold 
office in the council, and was present at the last meeting 
of the Bepublican chamber, on September 15th, 1659. 
His name does not appear in the list as a member of 
the council in 1660, after the Eestoration; but he evi- 
dently was chosen, for in 1661, when the then mayor, 
Henry Greswick, had to go to London to present a peti- 
tion- to the king, there being no money in the treasury^ 
"the mayor and Aldermen John Gunning and Joseph 
Jackson advanced the money." 

5. In 1634 Bichard Yickris gave a parcel of ground 
for the purpose of enlarging the library founded by 
Eobert Bedwood, in 1613. His wife was one of the 
ladies who was active in the Smeuts by means of which 
Essex obtained admission into the ciiy. In 1643, when 
the Boyalists had recovered possession of the city, Yickris 
was required to swear fidelity to the king; but the 
sturdy old Puritan set a noble example to his vacillating 
brethren, by honestly refusing to perjure himself. He 
was, accordingly, dismissed &om the corporation; but 
he was not long excluded, for when the Constitutionalists 
were in the ascendant, in 1645, "the Lords and Com- 
mons desired him to resume his seat, having received 
complete testimony of his devotion to Parliament." He 



was also by them appointed on the committee of inquiry 
"into the delinquencies of persons on state matters." 
The following year he was called to the municipal chair 
and was elected an alderman. His portrait adorns the 
Merchants' hall, of which he was master in 1648. He 
resided at the comer of High street and the Shambles, 
within St. Nicholas' gate, where, July 10th, 1649, the 
record says the alderman "is content to provide a lodging 
for the lord chief baron, and it is agreed that the house 
shall be at the charges of his entertainment for one 
supper or more." 

Yickris is again conspicuous as present at the last 
meeting of the Oommonwealth-appointed corporation, 
15th September, 1659. He appears at the Bestoration 
to have retained his aldermanic dignity. When the 
corporation met it was resolved, as a substantial proof 
of their allegiance, that £500 in gold and a congratula- 
tory address be presented to the king by the members 
in Parliament for the city, with Aldermen Aldworth and 
Yickris, &c. Yickris had two sons, both eminent mer- 
chants and members of the Merchant Yenturers. The 
last notice we have of him is in 1673, when, on Novem- 
ber 29th, he granted an annuiiy or rent-charge of £10 8«. 
per annum, to be payable for ever by the treasurer of 
the Merchant Yenturers, "to the end that he shoidd 
pay 4s. per week for ever towards the relief and main- 
tenance of a poor woman to be placed in the Merchants' 
almshouse, and who was to be one of St. Stephen's 
parish, and that Ann Wells should have the same pen- 
sion as long as she lived. To St. James', £2 12«. ; 
BeddifP, £2 12«. ; Temple, £2 12«." 

During Yickris' mayoralty, on February I7th, a fire 
broke out in the house of Mr. Edwards, an apothecary 
on Bristol bridge, which raged fiercely, the houses being 
all built of timber, old and dry. Evans says it destroyed 
all the houses on both sides to the number of twenty- 
four or twenty-five [an old MS. — penes me — gives the 
number as eighteen]. Evans adds that they were re- 
built with the timber and lead from Bagland castle and 
parks, which had been surrendered to Fairfax on the 
19th of August in that year. 

A petition which was presented to the House of 
Commons in the name of the inhabitants of Bristol, on 
September 2nd, 1647, shows that although Presby- 
terianism permeated the Parliament and had usurped 
authority in the churches, it did not find favour with 
the bulk of the citizens of Bristol. The sympathies of 
the petitioners were evidently with the army, which, to 
support its claims, had at this time established its head- 
quarters at Putney, with outposts advanced as far as 
Hampton court. The Parliament was in a strait, but 
determined to die game, called in the deputation who 



20 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



JL,j}, 1648. 



had brouglit the document from Bristol, thanked them 
for their affection, but could not approve of all the 
things contained in their petition, and so dismissed 
them. The document, epitomised, ran thus : — First, 
they prayed for a settlement of peace, and that the 
house would prevent another war (with the army); 
second, that they would answer the grievances of the 
army and vindicate them; third, that they would pre- 
serve the just rights and lib^iies of the people from 
tyranny ; fourth, that they would free the people from 
unlawful powers and from endeavours made to suppress 
their petitions ; fifth, that they would remove out of the 
house and from places of justice all unfit and incapable 
persons ; sixth, that faithful persons (t.^., the Indepen- 
dents) may be trusted; seventh, that they would use 
tenderness in imposing the covenant; eighth, that they 
would not grieve tender consciences; ninth, that they 
woidd pass an act of oblivion; tenth, that they would 
ensure speedy trial to all prisoners ; eleventh, that they 
would not countenance lengthened periods of imprison- 
ment ; twelfth, that they prayed for compassion on the 
widows of those who had fallen and upon maimed 
soldiers; thirteenth, that accoimts should be rendered 
and published ; fourteenth, that they would so order it 
that suits-at-law should be less chargeable and dilatory, 
and that the laws should be in the English language 
and be reduced in number and volume. A reasonable 
petition, fidl of common sense, smacking of Indepen- 
dency, one in which all Episcopalians could join heartily, 
but by no means satisfactory to a Presbyterian Parlia- 
ment. 

In 1648 Sir Harry Vane was lord high steward of 
Bristol, and on May 2nd the House voted £6,000 for 
Bristol, and on May 10th passed an ordinance for forti- 
fying it in some new places, but their whereabouts is 
not stated. On June 21st the Parliament passed an 
ordinance for settling the militia and £1,000 for the 
fortification and victualling of Bristol, and on the 30th 
of the same month another ordinance for £10,000 for 
Bristol. On the 12th of December the Bristol merchants 
complained to the House of Commons of the great 
neglect there was in guarding the coast, that ten mer- 
chant vessels had been in the previous week taken by 
the Irish. 

6. William Gann, who had been sheriff in 1635, 
captain of the trained bands in 1640, city treasurer in 
1642, who had contributed £60 towards a present to 
the king, and had lent £25, in 1644, towards the 500 
guineas to the queen, had lent £100 towards the loan 
to the county of Somerset, and had contributed **one 
horse completely furnished" for the necessary defence 
of the city against the Parliament, was made mayor in 



1648-9. Cann, like many others, was more loyal to 
Bristol than to party. When the Parliament had posses- 
sion of the city his name occurs as attending a meeting 
of the corporation, December 30th, 1645. He was also 
on the committee ** to consider of aU things that would 
conduce to the good and benefit of the city." In 1647 
he was chosen alderman, and appointed on a committee 
''to present to Parliament some grievances of the city." 
But the exploit which has rendered him famous was his 
reading at the High Cross during his mayoraliy the 
proclamation for changing the Gk)vemmeixt into a Com- 
monwealth. We believe he was the first mayor in the 
kingdom who did this. But Cann recoiled from the 
extreme measures of the Commonwealth party, with 
whom he gradually ceased to associate, and it was not 
until he had been fined for non-attendance that he 
resumed his seat in the chamber. 

In 1655 he served on a committee for demolishing 
the castle. When the Protector, imder the delusion 
that the Quakers were disg^uised Jesuits, sent a letter to 
the corporation, dated 24th January, 1654-5, desiring 
the apprehension of aU such suspected persons, we find 
William Cann's name attached to the directions to the 
constables. Again, on the receipt of the Protector's 
letter, dated March 16th, 1657-8, cautioning the corpo- 
ration against a ** sudden insurrection of the old Cavalier 
party," it was resolved to put the city in a posture of 
defence, and Alderman William Cann sat on the com- 
mittee. This was his final appearance; he did not 
attend the last meeting of the Commonwealth-appointed 
corporation. He became subsequently a warm sup- 
porter of the Restoration, and was created a baronet by 
Charles 11. He left £25 each to four parishes — ^St. 
James, St. Nicholas, St. Stephen, and St. Philip and 
Jacob, the interest thereof to be given to the poor on 
the 8th of January for ever. He married Margaret 
Teomans, sister to the ** state martyr." 

On the 6th of March, 1649, the estates of the 
bishopric of Bristol were sold for £8,390 7«. 9^4. The 
beautiful old gatehouse in College green only fetched 
£18 13«. 4d. On the 30th of April an Act of Parlia- 
ment was passed by which the lands of the dean and 
chapter of Bristol were sold, the bishop's palace and 
park (CoUege street) were bought by Thomas and John 
Clark for £240. King James' prediction, '* No bishop, 
no king," was now verified to the letter. England was 
declared to be a Commonwealth and Free State. On 
Jidy 21st Colonel Legge was committed to the castle of 
Bristol, charged with high treason against the state; 
and on October 4th Colonel Scroop was made governor 
of that fortress. Trade now rapidly revived in Bristol, 
the losses sustained by both parties during the long and 



A.D. 1648. 



BLAKE'S PRISONERS CONFINED IN REDCLIFF CHURCH. 



21 



iLarassing war which had desolated the kingdom, were 
reoovered by the elasticity of commerce, and prosperity 
advanced with leaps and bounds, instead of a steady and 
more secure rate of progress. Many of the quaintly 
beautiful medifiBval houses, for which Bristol was long 
famous, were built about this period. 

During the months of Februaiy and March, 1649, 
both the Monarchy and the House of Lords were for- 
mally abolished by statute, and a Commonwealth was 
proclaimed ; the continental kings thereupon withdrew 
their representatives from England ; the Prince of Orange 
allowed Prince Bupert to fit out a piratical fleet for 
preying upon British shipping; the Scotch proclaimed 
Charles II. as their king, and Catholic Ireland rose in 
revolt, whilst thousands of beneficed clergymen and 
public functionaries in England refused to engage to 
be faithful to the Bepublic ; one half of the judges re- 
tired from the bench, and a majority of the new Council 
of State, which consisted of forty- one members of the 
House of Commons, who had been selected to carry on 
the Government, declined to take an oath that pledged 
them to an approval of the king's death and the estab- 
lishment of a Commonwealth, so deeply had Monarchy 
struck its roots into the nation. It was not until May 
that the Commonwealth was proclaimed in London. 
Meanwhile the Bump, as the remnant of the Parlia- 
ment which remained was contemptuously termed, was 
desired to prepare a bill for summoning a fresh Parlia- 
ment. This, however, did not suit their purpose ; their 
aim was to free themselves from the control of the army 
and to sit as a permanent governing body. The officers, 
on the other hand, demanded an immediate appeal to 
the people. Cromwell supported this demand, and gave 
as reasons for discontent ''their (the Parliament's) selfish 
greed of houses and lands, the scandalous lives of many 
of them, their partiality as judges, their interference 
with the ordinary course of law in matters of -private 
interest, their delay in reforming the law, and their 
manifest design of perpetuating their own power. . . . 
There is little to hope for from such men for a settlement 
of the nation." 

7. The House insisted in vain on the retention of its 
power; its final hour had come. By armed force Crom- 
well cleared the House [the details of the manner are 
matters of history], and the days of the Bump Par- 
liament were ended. The step can only be justified by 
considering it as a vindication of the old constitution ; the 
nation at large was fully satisfied of the injustice which 
the ejected members sought to perpetuate in their own 
persons. '' We did not hear a dog bark at their going," 
said the Protector years afterwards. 

OromweU was no mere military despot. He spoke 



truly when he said, '' It is you that have forced me to 
this ! I have sought the Lord night and day that he 
would rather slay me than put me upon the doing of 
this work." Nor was he the hypocrite his enemies have 
delighted to paint. Neither he nor his officers desired 
to hold office by the power of the sword, *' no, not for a 
day." But their position was as novel as it was critical. 
To summon a fresh Parliament on the same narrow 
basis as that which elected the defunct one, would be 
anything but a nartional representation; so the futile 
expedient of a constituent convention, consisting of men 
who had fought for liberty, and who were supposed to 
be of earnest convictions, was selected to the number 
of 156, by a Council of State consisting of twelve 
persons, from lists furnished by the Congregational 
churches. The intention was thait this assembly, nick- 
named the '' Barebone's Parliament," should pass mea- 
sures and so pave the way for a truly national represen- 
tation, to whom in fifteen months' time they should 
transfer their authority. They were earnest men, and 
their zeal in promoting speculative reforms partook of 
the spirit of revolution, so that all classes, especially 
those of the law, the clergy and the landed gentiy, 
resisted measures which amounted to a confiscation of 
their property. Cromwell hated this levelling system. 
''I was by birth a gentieman," he said, ''and I see in 
the old social arrangement of nobleman, gentieman and 
yeoman a good interest of the nation and a great one." 
Meanwhile the Dutch fleet under Yan Tromp was 
sweeping the Channel, with a broom at the masthead in 
derision, but Blake won a glorious victory over them; 
after which the mayor and some of the aldermen, com- 
bined with the citizens of Bristol, upon the report of the 
good news made a collection throughout the city for the 
wounded, which amoimted to £200 : this, together with 
much good old linen, was sent to Weymouth and other 
ports to be distributed amongst the sujfferers. Por this 
act of considerate kindness the House of Commons sent, 
through their Speaker, a letter of thanks to the mayor 
and citizens. Fifty of the prisoners taken by Blake were 
brought to Bristol. The Castie dungeons being imsafe, 
they were placed in the crypt of BedclifP church, which 
for the nonce was converted into a prison. 

Item. Paid by the order of the mayor and aldermen 
for thirty large bed mats, and twenty more for 
the Dutch prisoners under Redcliff church, at 
L8* 4(*. per mat .•• ■■. «•• .•• ••> ••• •>• ••• J&u o4. od* 



Bound together with cords at the dose of 1655, these 
men were conveyed to Chepstow and lodged in the Castie. 
The sexton of Beddiff was paid 5s, for cleansing the 
vault. ^ 

^ life of Colston, 157. 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



8. Tbe practice of the House of CommonB in the 
17th csntuiy may be contrasted favonrably in one re- 
spect vith that of the Houbo in the present agie. In 
1614 they met daily, at seven in the morning. In 1642 
they fined every member vho woe not present by eight 
for prayers 1«. for the poor. In 1656 the Honae rose at 
noon. In 1659 it was ordered that the Speaker do take 
the chair at eight 
in the morning, and 
that the council of 
state and commit- 
t«eB do cease to sit 
at that hour and 
do attend in the 
House i and in 1690 
Sir William Wid- 
drington and Sir 
Herbert Price were 
committed to the 
tower for bringing 
in candles to pro- 
long the sittings 
after dark. On 
July 4th, 1649, the 
Honee of Commons 
was adrieed that 
1,660 barrels of 
beer sjid pTOTisions 
in proportion were 
ready in Bristol for 
shipment for the 
soldiers in Ireland, 
and on the 17th 
Lientenant-General 
Cromwell came to 
the dty on hie way 
thither. In the 
first quarter of the 
present century 
Mr. Francifi Harris 
found in hie gar- 
den, in St. James' 
square, the case of 

an exploded sky- JWdtf ra-r^ i. 

rocket, the writing on which having excited attention, 
he unrolled the tube and found it to contain an 
account of the reception of Cromwell on the above 
visit. "This evening, July lOth, about five of the 
clock, the lord-lieutenant began his journey by way of 
Windsor and so on Bristol. He went forth in that state 
and equipage as the like hath hardly been seen, himself 
in a coach with six gallant Manders' mairee, whitish 



grey, with divera ooaohes accompanying liinij and vet7 
many officers of the army; his lifeguard consisting of 
eighty gallant men, the meaneet whereof a oommander 
or esquire in stately habit ; with tmmpets sounding 
almost to the shaking of Charing Cross, had it been 
now standing. Of his lifeguard many are colonels ; 
and believe it, it's such a guard aa is hardly to be 
paralleled in the 
world. The lord- 
lieutenant's colours 
are white,"' 

"By letters from 
Bristol we are cer- 
tified that the Lord 
Lieutenant came 
thither on Saturday 
night last where he 
was royally enter- 
tained by the sol- 
diers and officers in 
arms, and others 
who held offices by 
order of Parliament. 
The citizens like- 
wise expressed 
much ]oy at his 
coming, and enter* 
tained him with 
great respect." * 

"The Lord Lieu- 
tenant of Ireland 
is yet at Bristol; 
money is sent him, 
and under God, hie 
lordship will some 
seven days henoe 
meet it at the water 
side, and about a 
week after launch 
for Ireland." • 

From the above 
it would appear 
that Cromwell must 
*•'''*""'"'» have spent from 

three weeks to a month in Bristol at this time. Hia 
memory was cherished, for the next year he was chosen 
to be lord high steward of the city. 

9. The following is copied from an old MS. : — " This 
year, on the 30th of January, 1648-9, King Chailes the 

' Mod. InteL, July 6th to 12th. 

• Perfect Diurnal, July 16th to 23rd. 

■ Perfect Occ., July 20th to 27th, 



A.D. 1650. 



THE BATTLE OF WORCESTER. 



23 



first was barbarously beheaded, when he had reigned 
23 years 1 1 months and 3 days ; and the same day his 
son, King Charles the second, began his reign, but was 
not crowned until the 23rd of April, 1660." No one 
can read the story of the unfortunate king, Charles I., 
without pitying his fate; even the men most sternly 
opposed to his aim, which was to establish despotic 
authoriiy in the monarchy, hesitate not, like Cromwell, 
to think of it as a cruel necessity. Truly, in his case, 
the sins of the father were visited upon the child. From 
his childhood the doctrine of personal irresponsibility of 
the monarch, the divine right of the king to govern as 
he pleased, had been incidcated by parent and teachers, 
had been the constant theme of parasites and flatterers, 
and the maxim thus indoctrinated in him in his youth 
was Btrengthened and confirmed by his marriage to 
Henrietta Maria, of France, a woman of great ability, 
whose absolutism was even stronger than was his own. 
Faithless to his word, no promise could bind, no oath 
could restrain him in his attempts to recover his sup- 
posed rights. Artifices the most imworthy, statements 
the most disingenuous, and vows that were notoriously 
false were held by him sacred as means to attain his 
one great end and aim. The crisis came ; still he was 
king and a power in the state although in duresse, ever 
acting with duplicity and rejecting all efforts of accom- 
modation, so the dominant party in the realm came to 
the conclusion that there could be no security for liberty 
whilst Charles was alive. The laws of the kingdom 
were im^oubtedly strained by his trial and execution ; 
but as the ag^s roll on and modem thought disperses 
the fiction of that *' divinity which doth hedge a king," 
not only does his title of ^'Eoyal Martyr" disappear 
from, the Prayer-book of the class most attached to him 
in life, but their successors have also learned, to a great 
extent, to admit that the life of Charles and the liberties 
of this great nation could never have co-existed, and 
that the lesser, perforce, had to yield to the greater. 

Cromwell made short work with the Irish in 1 649-50, 
and then leaving Ireton in oonmiand he hastened back 
to England, the Scotch having proclaimed Charles 11., 
who arrived in Scotland on the 23rd Jime, 1650. Fair- 
fax at this period retired from the army, and Cromwell 
succeeded him, and headed an expedition against the 
Scotch, whom he defeated at the battle of Dunbar on 
August 3l8t, where 4,000 were killed and 10,000 taken 
prisoners. Charles II. was crowned at Scone on January 
1st, 1651, and in June was with a Scotch army en- 
trenched at Stirling, whence, at the head of 11,000 
men, he marched southward into England, Leslie being 
in command. 

OromweU, who had taken Edinburgh castle in the 



previous December, and now, on the 2nd of August, 
mastered Perth, was soon on Prince Charles's track. On 
the 22nd of August, the Parliamentary garrison having 
evacuated the city of Worcester, the prince marched in, 
took possession, and set up his standard. But few com- 
peuratively joined the royal forces, whilst the men of 
Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire and Warwickshire fiocked 
to enrol themselves imder Cromwell, who, on the 28th, 
was dose to Worcester at the head of 30,000 men. 
Throwing a bridge of boats over the Severn and another 
over the Teme, the Commonwealth general crossed over, 
beat the enemy from hedge to hedge, drove them for 
three hours into, and then out of Worcester and the 
Eoyal fort ; this was followed by a night of terror, the 
Scotch horsemen flying northward by every available 
road, the foot soldiers hiding in woods and cornfields 
from the infuriated populace until the victorious soldiers 
had so many prisoners that they cared to make no more, 
and so let the poor wretches escape as best they could. 
The prisoners exceeded 7,000. 

Charles, when aU was lost, fied to White Lady's, 
where he spent all the next day in a wood without meat 
or drink. Thence guided by a faithful ' * country fellow, ' ' 
Bichard PendereU, he reached Madeley, where Mr. Woolfe 
secreted him in a bam, thence to Penderell's brother, 
William, at Boscobel, where the fugitives clambered up 
into a great lopped oak tree in an open plain, carrying 
with them bread, cheese and beer. From their hiding- 
place they saw soldiers who were searching for them. 
This was on Friday. The two next days were spent at 
Boscobel until the afternoon of Sunday, when, guarded 
by the six faithful brothers PendereU, Charles joined 
Wilmot at Moseley. Here he was transformed into a 
decent-looking serving man, who was to convey his 
mistress, a daughter of Colonel Lane, to the house of 
her cousin, Mrs. Norton, at Abbot's Leigh, near Bristol. 
With the lady seated on a pillion behind him (a male 
cousin. Colonel .Lascells, being one of the party), they 
in three days reached Bristol without interruption. 
Whilst passing along Castle ditch they were greatly 
startled by the firing of cannon from the castle; the 
alarm, however, did not concern them — ^the body of 
Lieut.-Oeneral Ireton, who had died of the plague at 
Limerick, was being landed at Bristol, where it was met 
by a civic procession and conducted through the ciiy. 
Charles' horse having cast a shoe on the road, he asked 
the brawny smith, "What news?" "None since the 
beating of those rogues, the Scotch; but I don't hear 
that that rogue, Charles Stuart, has been taken yet." 
Charles thought " that rogue ought to be hanged," and 
the smith said " he was an honest man to say so." 

There was no vessel in Bristol in which they could 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



Prina Chatla and JUbfrea Law. Fntu bx dU print 

venture an escape, and tradition adds that vliilet waiting 
for an opportunity the cook, who knew the prince, saved 
him from capture by a party of soldiers sent to search 
the house. With admirable presence of mind, she threw 
over bim a carter's frock and began basting him with 
the ladle for neglecting to attend to the jack. " The 
block on which Oharlea H. stood when the cook basted 
him with her ladle was disposed of at the sale of Mrs. 
Trenchard'a e£Fects at Abbot's Leigh (she was a descen- 
dant of the Norton family). Several virtuosi attended 
the sale for the purpose of buying it ; but'Fowell, the 
auctioneer, with the idea of improving the sale, bad it 
split into a number of pieces, hoping to dispose of each 
as a relic. This made it of no value comparatively, and 
BO it IB lost to the antiijuary. At this sale John Weeks, 
of The Bush, bought all the pictures for £30, worth, at 
least, from £300 to £400." > 

Charles, on his way through Bristol, must have 
passed under the walls of the then undemolished castle, 
up Newgate hill, through Wine, High and BedcliS 
streets, thus running a great risk of identification. 
From Abbot's Leigh he made his way to the coast of 
Dorset. Beset with perils on every hand, shifting his 
quarters daily as opportunities arose and failed him, he 
finally escaped to France from a mean little village, 
Brighthelmstone (Brighton), on the I5th of October, at 
five in the morning. The secret was known to forty- 
five persons at least, who, to their honour, all remained 
faithful. 

10. In one of the picturesque old mansions at the 
comer of the Shambles and High street, just within 
> H. M. Smith's MS. 



St. Nicholas' gate, lived Hjlee Jack- 
son, merohast, mayor 1649-^0. The 
house and grocer's shop next door 
belonged to and was tenanted by 
Dennis Hollister, who represented the 
city in the Barebone's Parliament. 
In this comer house, on the 5th of 
May, 1690, the lord-lieutenant of the 
kingdom, Oliver Cromwell, was enter- 
tained by the mayor ; he had not long 
before returned from reading stem 
lessons in retributive justice to the 
men of the massacres in Ireland — 
lessons that Drogheda, Wexford and 
Olonmel still remember with execra- 
tion. At the period of this visit he 
was to proceed to Scotland on a 
somewhat similar errand. His stay 
in Bristol was brief, but we learn 
that he was saluted with thrice re- 
peated volleys of great guns from the Castle and the 
Fort. For the entertainment the mayor received 
£10; and a butt of sack, which cost £20, was pre- 
sented to their distinguished visitor. It is recorded 
that Jackson was mightily proud of his guest, espe- 
cially when in after years he had arrived at supreme 
power ; but his happiness was during the following year 
interrupted by a terrible calamity, which turned all his 
joy into mourning. He had a countiy msusion at 
Gompton Greenfield, in which his family were residing, 
the plague being once again in the dty. The house 
took fire, and all the children who were therein perished 
in the flames. During his mayoralty the corporation 
agreed to have a private fast, to implore the Almighty to 
avert the pestilence. The mayor was desired "toadvise 
the clergy thereof, and to request them to give notice in 
their churches." On June 18th one month's contribu- 
tion was taken up in Bristol towards the sum of £60,000 
per month, which Parliament had imposed on England 
and Wales for the benefit of the sufferers from the 
ravages of the plague; the aldermen appointed assist- 
ants in each ward to aid them in collecting, and the 
constables were given warrants to collect. Prayer and 
practice here went band in hand in alleviating the 
distress; but nothing served to shut out the deadly 
foe, whose chosen home is the dirt^, illdrained, narrow 
street, overcrowded with tenants, into many of whose 
rooms never a ray of sunlight could fall, or a waft of 
pure air reach to dissipate the malarious gases generated 
in the middens and open closets which defiled the homes 
even of the wealthy, or the public foul latrines that 
discharged perpetually their noisome contents into the 



A.D. 1650. 



FIRE ENGINE ORDERED. 



25 



riversy whose waters were used for washing and too 
often for drinking. 

" Tuesday next is thought a meet day for a private fast to* be 
kept in this oity, to implore God's favour and mercy to us in 
ceasing the sickness now begun ; and Mr. Mayor is desired to 
speak to the ministers of this city to that purpose, and that they 
give notice of it in their churches the Sunday before." 

One little incident shows that party feeling had not 
died out in Bristol under the Puritan rigims, George 
Salter was brought before the magistrates and punished 
for saying, '' Alderman Jackson is a cross, high-spirited 
man, a man of influence, but no friend to the king. I 
would like to hold his nose to the grindstone." 

Jackson was not chosen as alderman until 1650, after 
the death of Charles I. ; he was also a master of the Mer- 
chant Venturers, and subsequently resided in Nicholas 
street. He had been apprenticed to Thomas Davies, 
merchant, and was chosen sheriff in 1631, his colleague 
being John Gunning, jun. ; Henry Yate, mayor. Jack- 
son was short of cash after the surrender of the city 
to Prince Kupert, as he only gave £20 towards the 
'' token of lore ;" but he had to give up 198^ ounces of 
plate, in order to make up his quota, evidently by force. 
He was an economist, for when appointed, with others, 
to present the address to the lord protector we And this 
note : — « ^ 

August 23rd, 1654. Paid Alderman Myles Jackson so 

much as he disbursed at London 
to deliver the recognition to the 
lord protector 4 16 

Paid my own expenses (the cham- 
berlain) 5 

Paid for a dinner and other charges 
for those that went up 18 

He acted on the committee for demolishing the castle, 
but did not take office after the Bestoration. He left 
benefactions to St. James' parish. His son Thomas 
succeeded him in business. 

1 1 . There is a portrait of Hugh Brown in the Mer- 
chants' hall, of which society he was an efficient mem- 
ber. Although he attained the chief civic dignity, he 
is more discernible transacting the business of the hall 
than in discharging his municipal duties. His name 
occurs but seldom on the pages of the journal of the 
corporation. In 1642 he served the office of sheriff 
with Joseph Jackson. He subscribed £150 for the pre- 
sent to the king ; but he did not provide a horse to be 
used to defend the city against his friends. He was 
elected an alderman in 1646, the year the destructive 
fire occurred on the Bridge, to which we have already 
alluded. This fire probably destroyed that portion of 
the chapel of the Virgin Mary which had escaped the 
desecration of Walter Stephens when leader of an Icono- 
[VoL. HL] 



clastic mob in 1642, for which, it is said. Sir William 
Birch, of Westminster, in 1649, granted to biin and his 
two sons "the two stone arches on which the priest's 
tenement formerly stood to be built upon." The means 
at the disposal of the corporation being inadequate to 
combat a fire of any magnitude, Alderman Brown was 
requested " to purchase an engine in London, to he sent 
down with all speeds It was further resolved ** that hooks 
and ladders be provided by the chamber ; also that Mr. 
Powell, Chamberlain, do provide an engine and fifty 
buckets for quenching fire also in London, to be paid 
by the chamber. Every member of the common council 
to provide at least, in his house, six buckets. The mayor 
and aldermen to have the same thing done in each 
parish : these were ordered to be kept in the several 
churches." The presentment of the grand jury, twenty- 
four years subsequently, makes it doubtful whether the 
engine "to be sent down from London with all speed" 
had then arrived. The corporation complain that at a 
late fire in Bedcliff street " buckets were wanting, and 
scarce one in a great number was soimd." They further 
order that "a convenient number of links and torches 
be provided at the city charge, always to be kept in 
readiness against times of extremity by fire." 

Alderman Brown was elected chief magistrate in 
1650. The official year then commenced the 15th of 
September. During his mayoreilty there is an entry 
which has reference to the raising men for the English 
fleet under Admiral Blake in the contest for naval 
supremacy with the Dutch admiral, the renowned Van 
Tromp. It is a charge "for impressing one hundred 
seamen to be sent to Portsmouth by order of the Council 
of State to be reimbursed by the Mayor." 

That the chamber had secrets of importance may be 
inferred from the following note : — " March 4th, 1652. — 
Besolved that members divulging the secrets of the 
House be fined £10." On the 3rd September, 1652, 
"a day of thanksgiving was appointed, when it was 
ordered that two copies of the Act of Parliament be 
sent to the Churches and sixpence to the drummer; Mr. 
Mayor sent about to proclaim the same." Hugh Brown 
now disappears from the corporation records. But, in 
1642, he had been chosen treasurer to the Society of 
Merchants. Subsequently he became thrice master and 
twice assistant. He was elected, in 1646, to preserve 
the order of the society and to settle such things as 
should be necessary for its well-being; in April, the 
following year, he was directed to proceed to London 
on the business of the Eastland trade, and, in June, he 
stated to the hall the result of his labours. In October 
he voted that Thomas Speed, merchant, a Quaker, should 
he admitted a free burgess of the hall. Speed having 

B 4 



26 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1651. 



married the widow of Bobert Yeomans, late a master of 
the hall, who was executed for his loytilty. "After Yeo- 
mans' death, his estates, which were of great value, 
were seized; his widow redeemed the remainder at a 
cost of £500." ^ The matter was pressed on the ground 
that ** Speed, being a burgess of the society, will and is 
like to be for the benefit and good of Bobert Yeomans' 
children." Yeomans' youngest child was bom after his 
father's death, and was named Posthumous. The fine, 
on the recommendation of Alderman Brown, was limited 
to £5. 

Alderman Brown was a benefactor to the city. In 
1653 he gave land in Mangotsfield to the corporation 
for charitable uses ; he also gave out of lands in Ham- 
brook £2 14«. per annum to the poor of each of the 
parishes of BeddifE and St. John, to be distributed in 
bread ; also to the poor of Temple, £3 ; St. John, £3 ; 
Beddiff, £3 ; St. Augustine, £2 ; St. Philip, £2. He 
gave to the Society of Merchants a tenement next to 
his own house [to secure the above by his will, Slst 
October, 1653 ; but the bequest has never, we believe, 
been realised, and the house has long been lost to the 
charity]; also £100 to maintain three poor people in 
their almshouse.^ 

''November 11th, 1650. — ^At an assembly of the 
Society of Merchants, he then being mayor and also 
master of the society, did of his own voluntary and free 
will become surety unto the society for the annual pay- 
ment of £7 10«. for ever towards the maintenance of 
two poor aged men to be placed in the Merchants' alms- 
house, in addition to those already settled therein ; he 
to have the appointment of the two men during his life." 

Hugh Brown's house was in Oom street, on the site 
of the Boyal Insurance buildings. When the cellars 
were uncovered it was found that the quoins of their 
doors were built of stone, with moulding of the Idth 
and 14th centuries, the sculptured work being built into 
the wall, so that it is probable there had been an earlier 
structure. The cornice of the banqueting room had 
the initials H. B. at intervals. The mantlepiece was 
removed to Bromwell house, Brislington. 

12. Alderman Joseph Jackson succeeded to the 
mayoralty in 1651. He was bom in 1611, and was 
apprenticed to Myles Jackson, merchant, taking up his 
freedom in 1631. He was assistant to the Society of 
Merchants in 1640, which office he held at intervals 
till 1661. When he was sherifp, in 1642, the council 
elected him captain of the trained band, with 100 men 
under his command, he being a great supporter of the 

1 H. M. Smith's MS. 

' The receipts from Brown's charity amount to £5 is, per 
annum. 



Parliament. He sat on Fiennes' committee, and was 
appointed, on the 1 6th March, 1643, *'to confer with 
Sir Francis Hawbrey, governor of the forces in the city, 
touching a scandalous petition presented to the king 
against the Society of Merchants by Mr. Hugh Lewis, 
touching the transportation of calf skins and butter, 
and concerning the arrangement by them made with 
Lord Hopton." Jackson's name is down for "£100 
contributed to the king.*' He was a member of the 
corporation appointed by the Parliament which met 
30th December, 1645. The same year he was warden 
of the Society of Merchants, and was engaged by them 
"to peruse the ordinances and to settle such thingps as 
were necessary for the good of the society." La 1647 
he married Mrs. Maria Hook, and was in the same year 
chosen alderman and master of the Merchant Venturers, 
which latter position he occupied four times. In 1649 
he was appointed by the state one of the commissioners 
for preserving "the timber trees and wood in the Forest 
of Dean." In 1651 he became chief magistrate of the 
city, and on April 3rd he was chosen on a committee 
"to consider of the charges and expenses of those 
gentlemen which rode up to London to mainetaine and 
justifie the election of the burgesses at the last Parlia- 
ment, and that such noates of disbursements and charges 
which they shall approve of, the chamberlain is to re- 
pay the same." 

Bobert Aldworth and Joseph Jackson divided be- 
tween them the honour of entertaining persons of con- 
sideration who visited the city in 1651-2 ; the latter had 
for guests Bichard Cromwell and General Desborough. 
Jackson resided in a patrician mansion in Small street, 
which, after his death, became the residence of his 
son-in-law, Bobert Yate. This house was, during the 
present century, known as the "Ship" tavern; subse- 
quently it was divided into offices. 

Under date of May 31st, 1659, we note:— "This 
day, the gift of Mr. Doddridge, the late recorder, being 
two gilt flagons weighing 152 oz. 8 dwts., were presented 
to the corporation for the use and honour of the city, 
and the chamberlain was ordered to pay Alderman 
Joseph Jackson £5, being so much expended by him 
above the £40 bequeathed by his (Doddridge's) will to 
the purchasing the said flagons." On every committee, 
having for its object the consolidation of the Common- 
wealth government, we And the name of Alderman 
Joseph Jackson; also on those having for their object 
restriction of the amusements of the people, and, too 
frequently, on those distinguished for their bigotry and 
wild fanaticism. He refused, however, to grant a war- 
rant for the apprehension of the Quakers who were 
accused of saying mass in Back street and being Jesuits 



BRISTOL FARTHINGS. 



in disguise, but he believed the accosatioii to be true. 
PreviouBly to the collapse of the Commonwealth he was 
appointed "'with full powers for the better con eideratiou 
and enlargement of the Charter of the Society of Mer- 
chants." The following year, January 21st, he stated 
to the hall his intention to give £5 4«. annually for the 
support of a poor man in the almshouse. November 
Hth, 1660, he entered the hall for the last time. On 
the BeatoratioD it was resolved to present the king with 
£500 in gold. There was no money in the treasury, 
and Mr. Alderman Jackson lent the corporation £525, 
charging £2S for converting the money into gold, 
and £16 10s. interest for six months, at 6 per cent., 
taking a bond for the amount, £566 I0>. He died on 
the 2nd of January, 1661, and was buried in St. Wer- 
burgh's church, leaving considerable property to his four 
children, Joseph, Ann, Eleanor, and Sarah. Ann was 
married to Robert Tate and Eleanor to Bobert Earle, 
Joseph and Sarah were minors. His portrait, adorned 
with a sknll, is preserved in the hall of the Merchant 
Venturers. His will, made on the eve of his departure 
for Oxford, 15th November, 1658, begins, " Not know- 
ing how the Lord may dispose of me in this life, my 
times being in His hand," &c. On the 4th of February, 
previously to his going to London, he made alterations 
in it. He " bequeathed £200, the interest of which was 
to be applied as his overseers should settle towards the 
maintenance of the gospel in St. Werburgh's church, 
also 70 gowns of grey frieze to be given at my funeral." 
He also expresses hie anxious wish that his younger 
children, Joseph and Sarah, "should be educated in the 
fear of God, and kept from the fashions of the world, 
especially from gaudy appaxel and naked necks, and 
that his children should live in mutual love, without 
jarring, but with all lowliness and meekness, submitting 
themselves to the ruling hand of Qod, in what condition 
they may be, and not to entertain thoughts that might 
occasion division among them and cool their affections 
to each other, but professing Christianity, to endeavour 
to adorn their profession." He left the "care and 
tuition " of them to his brother, PhUip Jackson. 

During this year Richard Aldworth, M.P., showed 
to the council of state the old lozenge -shaped Bristol 
farthing, which is shown in our Civn. Histobv, p. 267, 
and on receiving encouragement from them he procured 
a round stamp, and engraved on one side the city arms, 
on the other the letters C.B. These proved a great ac- 
commodation to the public, small change being scarce. 
The chamberlain of the city guaranteed to exchange 
them for silver. 

' ' After the death of ChMles I. the royal f»rtluDg tokeni bear- 
ing hia name and titles were entirely disoaed, and, in order to 



ropply the great want of small aaxteaey, copper and bram tokene 
were made and issned by taTermkeepem, coffee-houae keepera, and 
tradere of all aorta. Between KHS and 1672 an immenae nnmber 
of auch tokena were struck by private persona in nearly every part 
of England. The city of Briatol, however, forms a remarkable 
exception, as nsitber Snelling nor any other nomiaouitist haa ever 
seen a single tradesman'a token of that place of the ITth century. > 
A town farthing only waa atmck, apparently by authority of the 
mayor and corporation, and served for the use of the city and ita 
neighbourhood during the whole of thia period (1648-78). The 
Bristol farthing of 1652 is one of the earlieat dated town pieces. 
It ia very probable that the corporation prohibited the ntaking and 
iasaing of any private tokens in Briatol, and that ia the reason 
why the only Briatol tokena of the ITth century are all town 
piecea of the following types : — Type No. 1. There are some 
acarce farthings which ore clearly earlier than the dated onea of 
1652 and following yeara. They are town piecea, probably iaaned 
by the mayor and corporation, and, from viuiouH circnmatances, I 
shonld aasign them to the 1649-1651. They are circular, eiglit- 
tentha of an inch in diameter, and made of copper. Obvfrte, a 
ship issning from a castle (the arms of Bristol) ; revtrti, the letters 
C.B. (for Civitas Bristol) ; and in the centre, surrounded by the 
legend, ' A , BRISTOL . FARTHIHO.' No inucT circle on either side. 
Tliere are several apecimsna in the British Museum, some differing 
slightly in the executioD. 

" 1 have discovered evidence which goes far to prove that many 
were made by David Romage, a workman in the London mint. 
Having corefally compared the Bristol farthings (of both types, 1 
and 2i with the Commonwealth farthings made by Ramage. I have 
no doubt, from the great similarity of their execution, that Bam- 
age engraved the dies of the Bristol farthings of 1619-1662, and 
that the initial ' R ' under the date of them stands for his name. 
Several numismatists, on very slight evidence, have asserted that 
the ' R ' was the initial of Thomas Rawlings, a Royalist engraver. 



"Type No. 2. Copper farthings, diameter eight-tenths of an 
inch. Obvfret, a ship iasuing from a castle, surrounded by a 
corded inner circle. Legend, 'the. arks. o» bristoll.' Revtrm, 
two large letters 'C.B' in the field, the date below tbem ; all 
within a corded inner circle. Legend, ' a , BaisTOLL . farthimo.' 
Mint mark, a mullet (or five-pointed star) on each side. The 
earliest date on these farthings ia 1652, and all the specimena with 
that date have a small letter ' R ' under the date on the revene. 
Those dated 1662 have a cinquefojl for the mint mark on the 
oftupr.'f, and on the rewrite have a cinqnefoi! or a lozenge between 
' C.B.' Some of the 16G2 farthings have the small ' B ' nnder the 
date, and some are without it. Othera of these farthings are 
dated 1670, withoat the ' R,' and a cinqnefoil mint mark on 
obverie (the farthing of 1662 is engraved b Soelling'a Copper 
Coinage, pi. 1, No. 15). There are also several contemporary 
imitations of these farthioga in the Bristol Mnaeum cabinet. 

" Snelling says, p. 13 of his Copper Coinage, that some Briatol 
farthings are dated 1G6C, but I have not been able to meet with 
one. Mr. Sholto Vere Hare has two doted 1676 and 1679 (with- 

> We have in our poaseasion, however, a apecimen of a token 
iaaned by a local tndeunan in the reign of Charlea IL, a copy of 
which we engrave as a curioaity. — En. 



28 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1652. 



out the letter ' R '), which dates have not hitherto been noticed ; 
but as the making of town tokens was strictly prohibited by 
Charles II. 's proclamations of August, 1672, October, 1673, and 
December, 1674, it is difficult to account for such late dates as 
1676 and 1679 on tokens. Mr. S. V. Hare and Mr. W. Brice 
exhibited Bristol farthings of 1652, 1662, 1670, 1676, and 1679 at 
evening meeting of the archaeological congress, 8th August, 1874." ^ 

13. The following document, bearing date 1785, is a 
copy of one published in 1712, giving a list of nearly 
400 freemen of the city of Bristol who, in 1650-1, pro- 
tested against the attempt of Ralph Farmer and John 
Knight to consolidate and assess the parishes on behalf 
of the Presbyterian clergy (in other words, to make a 
church rate) : — 

TO THE CITIZENS OJ BRISTOL. 

The present attempt of the clei^y to fix a pound-rate on all houses 
and premises in this city, to ensure their independence and 
increase their revenues, calls aloud for the publication of the 
following observations, which were printed and dispersed 
when an attempt like the present was made in 1712, which 
the inhabitants prevented by a timely and spirited opposition. 

It is hoped that so much public spirit now remains as will induce 
you to exert yourselves in like manner at the present alarming 
crisis. 

Reasons offered to the inhabitants of Bristol, 1712, 

Against a tax solicited for by the clergy thereof, containing notes 
on some animadversions, subscribed by above four hundred of the 
inhabitants, most of 'em members of the Church of England, about 
sixty years ago, with the animadversions themselves on the other 
side. 

The clergy, who are now soliciting for a tax to be laid upon 
estates, houses, &c., in the city of Bristol for a more liberal main- 
tenance, having made use of the Act of Consolidation as an argu- 
ment to perswade the inhabitants of the equity and reasonableness 
of such an imposition, the design of publishing this paper is to let 
the present inhabitants know what were the sentiments of their 
forefathers, to the number of above four hundred (most of *em true 
sons of the Church of England in her persecuted state), free bur- 
gesses and freeholders of the said city, in this matter. And tho' 
the reasons in general contained in their animadversions are built 
upon very solid and substantial arguments, such as will hold good 
at all times, as long as the constitution of the city with respect to 
its rights and privileges remains unshaken ; yet in regard of the 
different circumstances of the times, the reader may take with 
him the following cautions in the perusal thereof. 

I. As for the grand charter of the city of Bristol, it is a grant 
and confirmation of all the accustom'd liberties and franchises 
thereof, of which that of exemption from tythes being not the 
least, and enjoy'd for so long a tract of time, 'tis not to be doubted 
but that the citizens have the same right to that as to all other 
exemptions and privileges which for time out of mind they have 
enjoy'd. 

II. As to the second animadversion, it is humbly offered to the 
present mayor, aldermen and common council, whether what is 
therein asserted be not true in fact— that is, whether there is not 
amongst the city records a deed, or grant of the tythes of the 
lands of Bristol for ever, to the mayor, burgesses and commonalty, 
whereby it may appear that the city lands are by covenant, for a 
valuable consideration, exempted from the payment of tythes, &c. 
And if 80, whether the freeholders, and occupiers of lands, houses, 

* H. F, Henfrey, Letter to Bristol Paper. 



&c., within the said city have not reason to expect that the magis- 
trates, who are ex-offieio conservators of the rights and privileges 
of the city, should not stand neuters in this attempt upon them, 
but by humbly representing this matter to the Parliament under 
their common seal demonstrate to the world that they have used 
their utmost endeavours to transmit to posterity the rights and 
properties of the city committed to their charge in the same con- 
dition they receiv'd them from their ancestors. And under this 
consideration 'tis likewise humbly hoped that the Parliament, 
when this case is laid before them, will be very cautions of alien- 
ating the properties of so great a number of her majesty's sabjecta 
without their consent. 

The inhabitants of Bristol have enjoy'd, time out of mind, an 
absolute property in their whole estates, which includes every part 
thereof ; and it being so, it is presumed that the property of any 
part, whether 1-lOth, or l-15th, or l-20th, or l-90th, cannot be 
alter'd without each particular proprietor's free coiiaent» any more 
than the half or the whole, which the Parliament in their great 
wisdom have always considered, and therefore have constantly 
enquired, when a bill has come before them tending to the altering 
men's properties, whether the allegations of the bill have been 
made good to the satisfaction of all parties conoem'd, which, with 
submission, 'tis hoped will be consider'd in the present case. 

III. The argument drawn from an act of the common council, 
mentioned in the third animadversion, is referred to the present 
mayor, aldermen and common council for their consideration. 

IV. The oath of a freeman is so close to the point, that there 
needs nothing to be said to enforce it ; and all freemen ought to 
consult the copy of their oath, and then consider how they can 
discharge the sacred obligation they are under without opposing, 
by all lawful means, an attempt upon one of those great and 
antient privileges of the city which they have so solemnly sworn 
to maintain. 

Lastly, as to those parts of the animadversions which relate to 
the times in which they were publish'd, they are only printed with 
the rest to render it an intire copy ; and it is hoped that such of 
them as are applicable to the case in hand will have the greater 
weight with some of the promoters of it when they shall see their 
fathers' or grandfathers' names in opposition to that which they 
are now so zealously contending for, a copy of which, with the 
animadversions before-mentioned, is on the other side. 

Upon the whole it may be queried 

Ist. Whether the present promoters of this tax, if they had 
lived in the days of their forefathers, would not have opposed that 
attempt for the same i^eason their fathers did ? 

2nd. Whether there is not the same reason for opposing the 
present attempt, since the rights, priviledges and franchises of the 
city, and the oath of a free burgess for the support and mainten- 
ance of them, are the same now they were then ? 

Fabian Hill Thomas Moor Thomas Bradford 

Francis Cox William Hodson Edmond Lochstone 

Richard Child Bevy Matthews John Foord 

William Hodson, eld. Samuel Farby William Fry 

Richard Yeamans Thomas Wallis James Gould 

Thomas Dean John Hicks Edward Pierce 

Robert Sheward Henery Davis Richard Brown 

William Watts George Boswel William Shatford 

Edward Piot Robert Legg Richard Tyler 

William Cook Thomas Harris Edward Averet 

William Baugh Richard Hayward Edward Tyley 

Walter Steavens John Gamlen Edward Bagg 

Thomas Edwards Edward Bovey Edward Summers 

George Hartwell Abraham Berkin Richard Adams 

John Cecil John House Richard Sassett 

Solomon Waffon Gregory Popley Bartho. Williams 



A.D. 1652. 



PROTESTERS AGAINST PRESBYTERIANISM. 



29 



Bdward Wedmore 
Paul Williams 
Roberfc Hayden 
Thomas Yeat 
Bichard Batterton 
Thomas Berwick 
James Sharp 
John Adams 
Thomas Haines 
Edmond Lewis 
Bobert Winstone 
James Morgan 
Thomas Smart 
Christopher Gary 
John I^yton 
Bichard Ash 
Thomas Goldsmith 
William Bird 
Bobert Badley 
Joseph Lawrence 
Dar. Haine 
Jonathan Bichards 
Richard Orchard 
Thomas Jones 
Boger Still 
John Hill 
John Qoodchild 
Edward Turket 
Charles Watts 
Francis Hellier 
William Crabb 
George Evans 
William Batts 
Bobert Culm 
Christopher Bobinson 
Thomas Woodward 
Thomas Prigg 
James Easton 
Thomas Hodson 
John Wiatt 
Charles Powel 
John Hnlbert 
Thomas Pirn 
Balph Husband 
Edward Undlestone 
Samuel Weare 
William Coole 
John Smith 
John Owin 
Thomas Wells 
Thomas Thomas 
Bobert Brown 
Thomas Brown 
Bichard Holister 
Thomas Wall 
Joseph Winniat 
Francis Oleed 
Tho. Goodman, sen. 
John Fluellin 
Bobert Hayford 
Frands Little 
Nicholas Fox 
Lawrance Joyner 
James Wathen 
William Combe 



Toby Massey 
John Nickins 
John Walter 
John Smith 
Bichard Hales 
Toby Goodear 
John Shipway 
Gilbert Moor 
John Hay ter 
Thomas Walter 
Henery Joyner 
Bichard Biggelstone 
Anthony Hammonds 
Nicholas Jordan 
John Shepheard 
Gregory Tilley 
George Yeamans 
John Saunders 
Charles Jones 
JohnCruinp 
Stephen Shrimp 
Thomas Hancock 
Edmond Dilly 
Samnel Wharton 
Thomas Evans 
William Dove 
Edmond Evans 
Boger Chapman 
Bobert Bead 
William Allen 
WiUiam Knight 
Abraham Scott 
Alexander Smitwick 
'William Bedwood 
John Evans 
William Adams 
Michael Pittman 
Jeremy Lane 
Joseph Bowden 
Boger Pillown 
James Chapel 
Edward Wilcox 
Nathan King 
Lawrence Bricker 
Thomas Fisher 
William Jayne 
Thomas Pax'tone 
Bobert Lancaster 
William Merrick 
Arthur Steart 
John Wilcox 
Barthol. Allen 
Thomas Barrat 
John Clark 
Bichard Gregson 
William Hurd 
Thomas Moggs 
Daniel Claxton 
John Eastmead 
Thomas Turner 
Bobert Deffel 
William Baugh 
Peter Muggleworth 
James Hill 
Thomas Smith 



Walter Simmonds 
Bichard Benson 
Bichard Sanford 
Bichard Coleman 
Jasper Curtile 
Bichard Pope 
George Brathwait 
John Thurstone 
Samuel Tibbot 
Humphrey Little 
John Collins 
Balph Oliff 
Theo. Newton 
William Middleton 
James Coles 
Francis Hawkins 
John Lovel 
Gabriel Stert 
Lawrence Swetnam 
John Knight, sen. 
Francis Granfield 
William Young 
Simon Bower 
Edward Hum 
John Watts 
Thomas Dean 
William Vaughton 
John Hawkins 
George Gibbs 
Walter Long 
John Pope 
Miles Dickson 
Christ. Brinsdon 
Andrew Jordan 
Thomas Prestwood 
John Abraham 
John Grt^y 
George Salter 
Thomas Haines 
Leonard Hancock 
John Bath 
Boger Long 
John Catef ord 
James Wathen 
John Suter . 
Boger Willowby 
William Listen 
Walter Picks 
Thomas Provis 
John Witeing 
Bobert SimpRon 
Bicharrd Hudson 
Thomas Turner 
Bichard Fench 
John Hawkins 
Henery Warren 
Leonard Still 
Bobert Watts 
James Cable 
Bichard Baker 
John Smith 
Thomas Crump 
Francis Fisher 
Cristo. Tayler 
Bobert WiUet 



William Pope 
Bobert Beds 
Thomas Steavens 
John Paster 
Thomas Beaven 
Edward Morgan 
Bobert Woodward 
Henery Merrit 
Walter Paine 
Thomas Mercer 
Thomas Carry 
Bobert Higins 
William Gibbons 
Bichard Long 
Abraham Barnes 
John Bradway 
Bichard Higgins 
Bichard Edwards 
John More 
Thomas Hart 
Edward Price 
Timothy Parker 
Matthew Stevens 
John Hook 
John Gardner 
John Dymer 
George Atwood 
Bichai'd Bubb 
John Morgan 
Henry Apleton 
George Coolishey 
Peter Lodge 
William Boswell 
Bichard Newman 
John Pickering 
Moses Longman 
W^illiam Elliot 
Michael Days 
Bichard Lucket 
Wat Ellis 
Daniel Adams 
Benjamin Snaknel 
George Baddam 
Bichard Howil 
George Parker 
John Nutbrown 
George Patridge 
Edward Maid 
Strang Mendham 
Henery Hort 
John Poller 
William Taylor 
William Dean 
George Dy 
Edward Creswick 
Thomas Hall 
John Holcomb 
John Knight 
George Chamneys 
Jonah Wilcox 
James Bubb 
Toby Lamb 
Bichard Gold 
William Harris 
William Griffin 



Roger Bnmsteed 
Phillip Cartred 
Bobert Challens 
John Lawf ord 
Daniel Westfield 
Humphrey Beal 
William Pople 
John Tyler 
William Pardew 
William Walks 
Samuel Clements 
Samuel Wealstead 
John Palmer 
John Heal 
Thomas Watklns 
Bichard Boxwel 
Nichoks TiUy 
Bobert Fry 
Bichard Baugh 
William Bussel 
Thomas Hopkins 
James Cramm 
William Wealstead 
Peter Hilley 
John Baugh 
Nicholas Hort 
Henery Diddicate 
Samuel Dobbins 
Thomas Butler 
John Pagter 
Bobert Nutt 
Trusterin Gill 
Nicholas Cause 
Bobert Webb 
John Poyke 
John Hiscox 
James Tyther 
Thomas I*layer 
George Caro 
John Marmadance 
Thomas Challoner 
James Phillips 
Simon Hurle 
Bobert Pumell 
Thomas Goldney 
Bobert Fry 
Samuel Norris 
John Birt 
William Harford 
William Paine 
William Merrick 
Francis Bumsteed 
Bobert Badham 
John Hedges 
John Berkin 
Henry Morgan 
George Linsey 
Bobert Young 
Walter Tocknel 
John Toney 
WiUiam WiUet 
Bobert Yeamans 
Edward Mathews 
Alexander Gray 
John Bumstead 



John Carey 
Edward Bullock 
John Totterdel 
Henry Paul 
John Ballen 
Walter Marks 
Jeremiah Helliard 
Bobert Brallard 
William Dens 
John Walter 
Boger Painter 
John Jacomb 
William Sparks 
Bobert Wear 
John Bird 
Francis Bogers 
Edward Berrow 
Hugh Lewis 
George Dean 
Matthew Williams 
Reace Jefferies 
Richard Taylor 
John Dussel 
William Creed 
John Moody 
William Davis 
William Ceymer 
Thomas Salizbury 
John Massey 
Peter Becott 
John Birkin 
William Stafford 
Steven Keech 
Steven Keech, junr. 
Thomas Hare 
Griffin Batten 
Francis Price 
Edmond Dacroser 
Henry Saunders 
Peter Hurman 
William Jane 
William Baim 
Edward Jefferies 
William Atkins 
John Deem 
Marmad. Williams 
John Cary 
Thomas James 
Bobert Bicroft 
John Orchard 
William Ling 
William Bumel 
Edward Williams 
Alexander Morgan 
Francis Dimer 
John Collins 
John Bleachley 
Thomas Plomer 
Benjamin Moseley 
George Peters 
Bichard Dean 
Edmond Clymer 
Bichard Stubbs 
John Thurstone 
James Berkin 



30 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1652. 



Here U the Cities Animadversions against Consolidation, 

Liberty. — Its grand charter, which, with all its jurisdictions, 
privileges, &c., was granted and committed by Edward the Fourth 
to the mayor, and commonalty, and burgesses thereof, their heirs 
and successors for ever. 

Property. — The discharge and freedom from tythes, or forced 
contributions for ministers, being its right of inheritance for ever, 
purchased upon a valuable consideration of an yearly rent. 

Law. — An act of common council — viz., that the city should 
not join with the ministers thereof, to make suit to the Parliament 
for encrease of their livings, by enforced tythes or contributions. 

Custom, or Prescription, having always comfortably and plen- 
tifully maintain'd its ministers (time out of mind) by free and 
voluntary contributions. 

Peace. — Li the avoiding of differences and divisions, which 
the pursuance thereof may occasion. 

Equity. — That no minister be placed over any parish before he 
be first approved and allow'd of by the major part of the parishoners, 
who are to provide for him, and chiefly to have and receive the 
benefit of his ministry. 

Common Consent. — As appears by the petition and number of 
free burgesses, the subscribers. 

Oath. — The free burgesses being oblig'd by their oaths to use 
their utmost endeavours to preserve and perpetuate by all lawful 
means the antient charters, liberties, customs, privileges and fran- 
chises thereof, procured with much cost and labour, and inviolably 
transmitted to them by their ancestors. 

General Good. — Being at present under great decay of trade, 
losses both by sea and land, customs, imposts, excises, contribu- 
tions to state and poor, d-c, this heavy imposition may become an 
intolerable burthen and of dangerous consequences. 

These things being so, query 

1st. Whether consolidation can be submitted unto by the free 
burgesses of this city without the falsifying their oaths, the breach 
of Uieir charter, the destruction of their property, the violation 
of their privileges and franchises ? 

2nd. Whether the new mayor, aldermen and council in execut- 
ing consolidation, by assessing the parishes, &c., do not betray the 
charter, privileges and liberties of the city, which into their hands 
have been transmitted inviolably for many hundred years past by 
their ancestors ? 

3rd. Whether he or they of Bristol, who have procured and do 
promote consolidation, have not and do not act against this city 
and the free burgesses thereof, as in the particulars beforemen- 
tion'd, and contrary to his and their oaths and duty ? 

4th. Whether those ministers of Bristol, Mr. B. F. and Mr. 
J. K., in soliciting consolidation, do not manifest themselves to be 
men greedy of filthy lucre, oppressors, and evil members of and 
enemies to the city, and no ministers of the gospel ? 

The Presbyterian clergy, in the time of the Common- 
wealth, ** acquired a legal settlement of a pretty extra- 
ordinary nature — eighteenpence in the pound upon all 
dwelling-houses, warehouses, stables, &c.y besides five 
shillingps in a hundred upon all the stock throughout 
the town, in whatsoever traffick employed, all of which 
upon the consolidation of the parishes amounted to a 
very considerable sum. The above Act is entitled * An 
Act for the more frequent Preaching of the Gospel and 
better Maintenance of the Ministers in the City of 
Bristol.' The active Presbyterians named as agents 
therein are — ^Richard Aid worth, Bichard Yickris, Wm. 



Lam, Luke Hodges, Henry Gibs, Joseph Jackson, Hugh 
Brown, Aldermen Ed. Tyson, Robert Aldworth, John 
Haggett, James Powel, George Hart, Jonas Clutterbuck, 
William Grig, George Lane, Robert Harris, Jeremy 
Holwey, Robert Yickris, Dennis HoUister, George 
Bishop, Thomas Harris. Five of them to form a quo- 
rum. Act printed in London, April, 1650." ^ 

14. Henry Gibbs, who succeeded Jackson as mayor 
in 1652, was the son of Henry Gibbs, brewer, of Back 
street, whose monument is described in our Egci^esi- 
ASTicAL HiSTOKY, 43-4. He served on the first Puritan 
corporation, was sheriff in 1640, alderman in 1646, and 
sat on every conmiittee until 1650, when he left the city 
and resigned his gown. He was not long absent ; on 
July 1 6th, 1652, he was re-elected alderman, and in 
September following was chosen mayor. Some of the 
rules of the council at that period have a primitive 
quaintness, for instance it is ordered : 

" That the oath of a common councilman be read at every 
meeting of the House. When any member hath a desire to speak 
he shall devoutly stand up, keeping his place, with his hat off, 
and shall address his speech to Mr. Mayor, and not to any other 
person. That the usual time of meeting for the members of this 
house be at nine of the clock in the forenoon ; and Mr. Mayor to 
set up an half -hour glass, and those that come in after the glass is 
out to forfeit the sum of twelve pence." 

Alderman Gibbs was removed from the corporation 
by Charles II. for disloyalty. His last appearance in 
the council chamber was September 1 5th, 1659. There 
is a portrait of him in the council chamber. Gibbs, 
who was a draper, married Jane, daughter of Nicholas 
Meredith, by whom he had a son, John, a silkmercer, 
and five daughters, Elizabeth, Hannah, Martha, Esther 
and Sarah. Sarah married Ezekiel Wallis. 

St. Nicholas almshouse was built this year on ground 
granted by the chamber in answer to a petition of the 
inhabitants of that parish at a rent of 6«. 8(f. per annum 
in perpetuity; the site was under the wall in the Marsh, 
near to Back street gate, where the house still stands. 
In St. Nicholas parish was bom, in 1652, '* Matthew 
Morgan, son of Edward Morgan, mayor of Bristol in 
1667. He was the translator of the two pieces entitled, 
Tht Tranquility of the Mind and Consolation to Apollontus in 
the rather famous version from the Greek of PlutarcVs 
Morals J which first appeared in 1684, and has lately been 
re- edited in the United States by Emerson the transcen- 
dentalist and another. Whether the transatlantic edition 
includes the Dedicatory epistle to Wm.y Archbishop of Can- 
terhury, we do not know, but as a curiosity of literature 
it should not be lost. Morgan was proud to confess 
himself a clergyman of * the purest and best reformed 
church upon earth, but certainly no adulation ever 

* Apology for the Clergy, 1712. 



A.D. 1653. 



PETITION OF CARR'S SISTER. 



31 



offered to the Pontiff of Home could be more blas- 
phemously fulsome than that of this Protestant divine 
to the primate of Canterbury, and to the king of Eng- 
land, his patron, who attracted by the ' perfume of his 
lordship's goodness,' had pursued him into his retreats 
and caused an universEil jubilee by raising him to the 
archiepiscopal throne. With humblest prostrations of 
reverence he (Morgan) kneels and begs pardon for * in- 
trusion into such an awful presence,' and prays the 
person of his adoration to vouchsafe to shine auspiciously 
upon him ; seeing that it is hard not to share in an in- 
fluence which is so general, since all men enjoy the 
diffusiveness of the sunbeams, to the resplendent fount 
of which his lordship is likened. But the culmination 
of his idolatrous passion is reached when he speaks of 
the divine majesty of Charles the second, whom he com- 
pares to the Most High himself, calling him ' a prince 
who hath the image of the Deity so closely impressed 
upon him, that the Idea comes very near the original ! ' 
Lord Bacon declared kings to be 'mortal gods' (to 
whom of all mankind God is least beholden ; for though 
He does most for them, they do least for Him), but to 
compare a profligate monarch to very God is a vast step 
in presumption. The swearing of uncle Toby's soldiers 
in Flanders was nothing in profanity to this." ^ 

15. George Hellier, ironmonger, mayor in 1653-4, 
was a moderate man. He had subscribed £100 to the 
** token of love," had been sheriff under the feoyalist 
rigime in 1638. The following are the chief records of 
his year of office : — 

Febraary, 1653-54. Thomas Hobson, innkeeper, and G. linelle, 
gent., made oath before George Hellier, mayor, that the Common- 
wealth waa indebted to the innholders of this city the sum of £988 
\\b, 5d., due to them for quartering of soldiers in February, 1646-7, 
and the Court of Parliament which then sat in the city confirmed 
the account by signing it, to be laid before the grand committee 
at London. 

April 3rd, 1654. A former act, rendering it necessary that 
twenty-six of the members of the chamber must be present for the 
making of any orders, laws, and ordinances, and it being found 
that at several meetings soe greate a number of twenty-six persons 
doe with very greate difficulty come together, and in consequence 
of the frequent absence of many from various lawful causes, being 
often productive of disappointment and delay in despatching 
public affiiirs, some of which were urgent, it was enacted that in 
future foor-and-twenty should be considered a sufficient number 
to all intents and purposes for making any act of common council. 

According to an ancient custom the chamber had 
used a Form of Prayer preliminary to the transaction 
of public business. This form lapsed when the times 
were out of joint, but now the crisis being past, the 
chamber resumed its ancient custom. 

December 4th, 1654. Whereas it appears by the records of 
this citie that heretofore at the assemblies of the mayor, alder- 

» Taylor's Book about Bristol, 268-9. 



men, and common council — before they began to consult of any 
business — supplications and prayers were made to Almighty God 
for a blessing upon their council, which of late years having been 
discontinued, and being very desirous to revive a matter of so 
great concernment, knowing that without the Lord's presence and 
assistance no council or consultations can prosper, or be to any 
good purpose. 

In conclusion it was 

This day agreed and ordered that Mr. Farmer, a godly, able 
minister of the gospel, be desired to pray at every assembly with 
the mayor, aldermen, and common council, in their place of meet- 
ing, to implore God's presence with them, his directions in their 
debates, and blessings upon all their councils that their resolutions 
and determinations may be for his glory, and the good and welfare 
of this city. And the said Mr. Farmer to have £10 a year for his 
pains. 

Hellier did not serve on any committee of note. He 
died 21st April, 1656, and was buried in St. Thomas' 
church. For a sermon in this church he left 10«. per 
annum, part of the profit of £40. The remainder to be 
given to the poor of St. Thomas for ever. 

On the 14th of September, 1654, a petition was 
read from the feoffees of Mrs. Alice Cole, wife of Alder- 
man Cole, deceased, and sister to John Carr, deceased, 
desiring to have granted them ^'soe many foote of 
ground in fee farm as may serve for their building 
thereon an English free school and an house for the 
master thereof upon part of the citty's waste upon St. 
James' back. This House being willing to further soe 
pious a worke doth order that the surveyors do lay out 
ground in the waste according to the petitioner's desire. 
The removal from fear of the plague of many wealthy 
families and consequent loss of trade had impoverished 
the inhabitants and the poor were in great straits. The 
Protectorate chamber was charitably disposed." 

4th J^uary, 165S-9. The House this day taking into considera- 
tion the manifold and extraordinary necessities of the poor at this 
time agreed that a collection should be made throughout the city 
from door to door towards the relief and comfort of those that are 
much in want, and out of a deep sense of the miseries that many 
now lie under. 

The mayor, aldermen and common council liberally 
headed the subscriptions, and the absentees were re- 
quested to ''forward such sums as they may feel disposed 
to contribute to the laudable purpose." 

Monday, 17th instant. These particular persons for the several 
wards be desired to go from doore to doore and to gather and re- 
ceive such sums of money as the Lord shall stir up their hearts to 
give towards soe charitable a worke in such a tyme of extremity. 
And the ministers were requested on the next Lord*s-day, by an 
order from the mayor, to signifie to their several congregations of 
the tyme and manner of this collection, and that they stir np ye 
people to a free and large contribution. 

16. 1654. ''Forasmuch as Mr. James Bead, of 
this city, derke, uppon Satterday ye 26 day of August 
last did marry John Bradley and Sarah Bannister ac- 



32 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1654. 



cording to ye old formes as he liath confessed before us. 
It is therefore ordered that he finde sureties for his 
good behaviour, and to appear at the next sessions, 
&c." 

The Presbyterians were now seeking by the strong 
hand to make men orderly and religious, according to 
their standard. The foregoing and following items will 
serve to show how they confounded thingps that differed, 
and to illustrate the Judaic manner in which they en- 
deavoured to keep holy the Lord's day, by fitting man 
to the Sabbath : — 

1654. February 23, all importers of wood for fuel were ordered 
to land it below the lower brass post upon the Quay, having first 
of all waited upon the mayor and told him their price. 

June 6, no butter to be exported again after it had been brought 
to the city until it had been offered openly in the market at Zd. 
per lb., and on June 21 it was further ordered that Sd, should be 
paid out of every kilderkin exported, the money to go to the relief 
of the poor. 

September 23, the assize of bread was as under, wheat being 
3s, per bushel. * * The twopenny white loaf to be 22) oz. in weight ; 
the twopenny wheaten loafe to be 33 oz. { and Id. weight ; the 
twopenny household loaf to be 45 oz. in weight." 

October 4, an order was issued against badgers and regrators 
of com. None to be brought until the market bell had ceased 
ringing. 

October 25, Bichard Rogers, blacksmith, and Ann Dabder, 
single woman, of Tewkesbury, were apprehended, the woman in 
man's apparel, for having kept company together at the Seven 
Stars, in Thomas street, and at Thomas Beale's house on St. 
Michael's hill, where the said Ann put on the man's apparel, and 
being both drunk the night before, when they abused the con- 
stables with very filthy language. They were ordered '' to be set 
upon a horse, back to back, and so to ride, the constable going 
before them, through High street, Redcliff street, St. Thomas 
street, and Wine street ; the said Rogers to be set down at New- 
gate, and remain there tiU he found sureties for his good behaviour ; 
Ann Dabder to be set down at Bridewell, to be whipped, and sent 
to the place of her dwelling, from tithing to tithing, with a pass. 
Alice, the wife of Thomas Beale, who aided the disguise, to be set 
in the stocks for being drunk, there to remain for three hours, she 
refusing to pay 5«. according to the statute in that behalf ; and 
that she be committed to Newgate for trial at the general gaol- 
delivery, for being a common bawd and entertainer of lewd pea:w>ns 
in her house, and prohibited from keeping any longer an alehouse 
within the city." 

November 3, Capt. William Davis obtained an ordinance which 
enabled soldiers who had served in the war in Scotland to exercise 
trade in the city, f.e., made such freemen. 

November 11, Ann, wife of Thomas lUly, butcher, for swearing 
two oaths within the parish of Christ church, having forfeited 
Zs. 4d. each oath to the poor of the parish, and having refused to 
make payment or give security, was ordered to be openly set in 
the stocks for three hours. The husband having resisted the 
sheriffs' officers in the execution of this order, he was committed 
to Newgate till he should find sureties for his appearance at the 
session. 

November 13, John Amory appointed Lead Reeve to dig for 
lead ore in the manor of Ck>ngle8bury belonging to this city. 

December 19, there was an order against apprentices rioting in 
the streets. " Oliver P. — You are, within seven daies after sight 
hereof, to draw all the forces out of the castle within the oittie of 



Bristol (except onely such as you shall thinke fitt to appoint for 
the guard of y' house and funily), untill the tenth day of May 
next ensuing, and to put them into the great fort above the said 
cittie. And our former order for demolishing of the said fort and 
disbanding of the forces there, you are to suspend untill further 
order. Given at Whitehall, the 27th December, 1654. To ColL 
Scroope, Gov' of the cittie of Bristol." 

** 1655. 10th February, whereas I have been arrested and am 
now in prison at the suit of the Company of Taylors, for nseing 
their trade ; in consideration that the Taylors will consent to 
release me from prison, I doe hereby promise to depart out of ye 
citty, by the tenth of May next, with my wife and children, and 
will not retume againe hither and offend in the like kinde. 

* ' Jambs Gokbktt. " 

" The 7th of September, 1655. I have now rec'd of Mr. Maior 
xlv«., and therefore will be gone with my wife and children for 
Ireland, in the space of the fortnight next ensuing, if the wind 
serve, otherwise with the first faire winde. " James Ck>RBCTT." 

April 3, it was ordered by the corporation that two ladders, 
one long and the other short, should be provided by the church- 
wardens of every parish, for the better prevention of the dreadful 
consequences of fire. 

May 3, for the prevention of sickness, Mr. John Stone, mer- 
chant, wa§ ordered te remove out of his cellar in Mane street, 
over against Baldwin lane, "all such trayne-oyle as there now 
remaineth, and that he place the same in some other convenient 
place, where it may not be noisome and offensive to the nighbour- 
hood, &c." 

May 5, '* for the prevention of sickness during this hot season 
of y* yeere. It is ordered that all inhabitants of this dtty doe for- 
beare to throw any dust or filth before their doores, or in the 
streets or lands of this citty ; and that they twice every day 
during this hot weather, throw water before their doors in the said 
streets and lands." 

May 9, Robert Rutter, a soldier of Major-Gren. Skippon's and 
Col. Haynes' regiment, exhibited his certificates; and Richard 
Balcomb, shoemaker, and Thomas Reeve, soldier, claimed their 
freedom to exercise their trades; and John Parker, a founder, 
admitted on payment of a fine of 40«., there being none of that 
profession within the city. 

October 22, the innkeepers were restrained from taking more 
than 6«{. for a night's hay for a horse, and for a bushel of oats 
only 2s. 

November 23, '* Samuel Bearham made oath that a oontract 
and intention of marriage betweene John Hardimer, of Christ 
church parish in Bristol, tayler, and Frances Donnoell, of the 
parish of St. Peter hath beene published three market days in 
three several weekes within this citty. " 

1656. August 29, an order of the mayor stated that in pur- 
suance of a statute of January 25, 19 Henry VII., '*the masters, 
wardens and brethren of the fraternity and company of Innholders 
within this city, being an ancient fratemitie, time out of mind," 
obtained a confirmation, bearing date March 1, 3d of the late King 
James, under the hands and seals of the lord chancellor, lord high 
treasurer, and lord chief justice of the King's Bench, of " certain 
ordinances and constitutions for the well ordering and governing 
of themselves. Amongst which ordinances a certain number of 
ancient innee are declared to bee common innes and hosterries 
within this cittie and liberties thereof, and that noe more or noe 
other than are therein particularized should bee made use of as 
innes and hosterries. And whereas a certain messuage without 
Redcliffe yate, within the liberties of this cittie, commonly called 
the Angdl, was heeretofore used, employed, and allowed as a 
common inne and hosterry, ass well by the maior and aldennen of 
the said cittie as by the said company, although not within the 



CROMWELL DECLARED PROTECTOR. 



nnmber tJlowed hy tba B&id ordinuicei and constitntiotii, and par- 
ticnlarly bob coofirmed in the ^eare of our Lord God 1624 ; smce 
which the said meunage haveing beene wholly taken downs and 
demolished, and now againe newly erected and built, and made 
very large and comtnodioDB for sntertainment of men and horses, 
and the present master, wardens, and company of innholders, 
together with Anne Praett, widow, owner and occupier of the said 
messuage, makeing their application to us that the said messuage 
might be for ever allowed as one of the common innes and boater- 
ties within the cittie, soe as it might not be prejudicial! to the said 
ordiutuiceB and constitutions. We therefore, coiuidering tbe said 
request, and theiF reasons enforcing.the same, conceiveing it may 
tend to the common good of the people coming and travelling to 
and from this cittie, have thought fitt and doe declare anr willing- 
ness thereunto," &C. 

1667. March 6, Willitun Hobson, m^^hant, having been con- 
victed upon the oath of two witneises, for that he, within the 
space of nx months past, had avowedly in words professed that 
the act of drunkenness might be committed without sin, it was 
ordered that, according to ao Act of Parliament in that behalf, he 
shonld be committed to prison, ther« to remain for the space of 
■ix months without bail or mainprize, and until he should pnt in 
sufficient sureties to be npon good behaviour for the whole year. 

1058. June 14, William Wilkes and John Barnes were com- 
mitted for walking in the Marsh, about six o'clock on the pre- 
oeding Sabbath-day, and not paying the fine. 

October. A lecture having been set up without authority in 
St. Maryport church, at seven in the morning of Sundays, the 
churchwardens were ordered not to suffer the bells to he rung nor 
the church doors opened, nor any one to preach, without further 
order from the mayor and aldermen. 

1659. March 27, Hugh Millerd, a journeyman tailor, taken up 
by the constables of St. James' ward, for walking ou the Lord's 
day in time of sermon, and refosing to pay the fine of IDs. John 
Whiting, a carpenter, having charged John Moat*, one of the St. 
James' constables, as a persecntor in this particnlar, he too was 
eomniitted, to answer for the offence. 

July IS, Christopher Poole, tailor, with Sarah Harbert and 
Ann Long, ordered to be set on horseback (Christopher to ride 
in the midst, with his face towards the tail of the horse), and so 
to ride throngh the cityoadbesetdownat the house of correction. 
17. The Borebone'a parliament, torn by internal 
dieaensions, abdicated its functions in December, 1653, 
baring first named a nev and more numerous council of 
Btate. This bod; drew up r new constitution, which the; 
named the Instrument of QoTemment, and this being 
adopted by the council of officers, Cromwell was by 
them declared Protector, and on Beptember 3rd, 1654, a 
new Parliament was elected. It consisted of 400 mem- 
bers from England, 30 from Scotland and SOfrom Ireland; 
rotten boronghs were abolished and the seats transferred 
to larger constituencies ; the suffrage was conferred upon 
all who owned property to the amount of £200, but 
Catholics and malignants (i.e. Boyalista who had borne 
arms) were excluded from the franchise. Now for the 
first time members from the three kingdoms sat side by 
side in the House. The Presbyterians were returned 
in large numbers, and the right of veto by the protector 
was by them early challenged. " I called not myself to 
this place, God and the people of these kingdoms placed 

[Vol. I1I.1 



me here. Why may I not balance this Providence with 
any hereditary interest?" To which "divine right" 
they could make no effective reply ; but if his argument 
were good the means which he took to enforce the joint 
government by a single person and a Parliament was 
as bold a defiance of constitutional law as any perpe- 
trated by the Stuarts. " Ood and tbe people have called 
me to this post, none but Qod and the people shall 
take it from me." But to secure his position he com* 
pelled every member ere he could enter the Hoose to 
solemnly engage " not to alter the Govemmrait." One 



Tin Angil Jnn, High SlrtA 

hundred of the elected declined to do so, and the re- 
mainder, instead of "healing and settling" the affairs 
of the nation, stubbornly contended for power, re- 
versed the protector's ordinances and revived the old 
doctrine, no supplies until grievances were redressed, 
whilst they left the army unpaid and upon the verge of 
mutiny. In January, 1655, tbe sittings of the House 
were closed by Cromwell and the government became a 
personal despotism, his declaration that ' ' tbepeople prefer 
their real security to forms" were words that Charles 
himself might have uttered. Now was seen the energetic 



34 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT, 



A.D. 1655. 



spirit of the man ; the whole land was divided into ten 
military governments, each with a major-general at its 
head, possessing ample powers. Taxes were levied by 
sole authority of the protector ; all who had fought for 
the king had to contribute one-tenth of their income ; 
Episcopalian clergy were forbidden to act as ministers 
or as tutors, but this harsh measure, at the instance of 
Archbishop Usher, Cromwell rendered inoperative; a 
censorship of the Press was established, and council 
who attended in court against the legality of the above 
proceedings were imprisoned. These were, indeed, harsh 
measures, but the wisdom and grandeur with which 
Cromwell used the unconstitutional power he had thus 
assumed, as well as the necessity for its assumption, 
must be well weighed before a eorrect decision can be 
even approximately arrived at in judging his character 
and conduct. 

The following, taken from Dring's Catalogue, are 
some of the Bristol men who compounded for their 
estates in 1665: — Arundel, Edward, £50; Boucher, 
John, £135; Grigton, Eichard, £105; James, Alexander, 
£669 10«. llrf. ; Jones, Gilbert, £43 5«., late chancellor 
of Bristol; Long, Eichard, £600; Wallis, Ezekiel, 
£177 10«. 

18. In January, 1654-5, the corporation was given 
information that certain persons of the Franciscan Order 
had arrived from Eome, who, "under the garb of 
Quakers, were suspected to be Jesuits." Crediting this 
absurd report, with the blindness of sectarian hatred, 
Eichard Vickris, deputy-mayor, in Gunning's absence, 
granted a search warrant for the apprehension of 
''strangers come to this city and can give no good 
account of themselves." The warrant was also signed 
by other members of the corporation; viz., ** John Locke, 
Gabriel Sherman, WiUiam Cann, Joseph Jackson, Henry 
Gibbs." The warrant was put into execution. The 
constables entered the house in Com street where the 
Quakers assembled, and turned them into the street, 
where they were violently assaulted and knocked about 
by the mob. The deputy-mayor, Eichard Vickris, and 
other members of the council, with John Knowles, priest, 
are described as beholding the outrages from the Tolzey. 

In July, 1655, Benjamin Moseley was '*to find 
securities for saying that Aldn. Vickris had spoken 
nonsense, and if he did not hold his talking there would 
be a course taken with him and some of the rest of the 
justices in a short time ! " This extract may be taken 
as a sample of many illustrating the inquietude of the 
community during the protectorate. Vickris served on 
the committee of the corporation which on May 2nd 
was appointed to draw up an address of congratula- 
tion to the protector. The coimcil seem to have been 



rather tardy, the appointment being then five months 
old. 

Evelyn, visiting Bristol in 1654, says, ** Here I first 
saw the manner of refining sugar and casting it into 
loaves, where we had a collation of eggs fried in the 
sugar furnace, together with excellent Spanisli wine." 
At the end of this year we find the common council 
debating whether one or more persons shall preach the 
Tuesday's lecture at St. Nieholas. 

One of the most remarkable results of the liberation 
of religion from the control of the Episcopacy in England 
was, as we have already seen, the rise and rapid spread 
of Denominationalism throughout the land. It was at 
this juncture that the Quakers first made their appear- 
ance in Bristol, as shown in our Eoclssiasticai< History, 
285. Bristol was at this period the very hotbed of 
polemics. Never is religion so disgraced as when pro- 
fessors of it who claim each to be a follower of the 
Saviour, the Evangel of love, bespatter each other with 
foul words, and persecute even imto death men who 
differ from them on dogma, when 

" Round their narrow pale they plod, 
And scomfnlly aaeune, 
That all without are cursed of God, 
And justify their doom. " 

Verily of this age the Master would have said, "Ye 
know not what manner of spirit ye are of." We gather 
from the writings of the time that the Church of Eng- 
land was ignored, and the Presbyterian party, which 
had, as we know, become the church of the state, occu- 
pied generally the pulpits of the Establishment and 
were bitterly hostile to the Independents, Baptists and 
Quakers. William Grigge, in 1659, published a little 
book, and, in order that it may spread in the nation, says 
''there are store of them in Bristol to be sold at Nicholas 
Jordan's for three farthings a piece." Grigge was a 
tanner, a leading Presbyterian, very intimate with Balph 
Farmer. He exclaimed with great volume against Crom- 
well's ''wicked toleration" and "liberty of conscience," 
whereby "Bristol was become the receptacle of blas- 
phemers." He charged the Baptists with the same 
adulteries and enormities that had disgraced the sepa- 
ratists at Munster, accused Dennis Hollister, once an , 
elder and preacher, who had become a Quaker, of de- 
faming the scriptures, and one T. C. (Timothy Cattle) 
of saying that "infant baptism was one of the most 
soul-ruining mysteries that ever came from hell." On 
the shallowest pretences he raked up accusations of 
drunkenness, blasphemy, and murder against the Qua- 
kers ; he praised the Parliament for passing that honour- 
able sentence against Naylor, death itself being his 
desert, he " conjured them to put a restraint on all 



A.D. 1655. 



POLEMICS OF THE AGE. 



35 



soul infecting parsons, and to compel everyone, however 
unwilling, to attend the Presbyterian ordinances." 
Gbigge was answered in a masterly manner by a firm 
friend of liberty of conscience, in a tract, RdbshuksKs 
Outrage Reproved, wherein the writer disproved Grigge's 
assertions and facts so called ; he further showed from 
Origge's own words, that the sole object of himself and 
his master, Balph Fanner, minister of St. James', and 
their party, was to bring the whole nation into subjec- 
tion to their "lordly Presbytery," that they had thrust 
the bishops out of their chairs in order to get into them 
themselves; and "did hope ere this to have had the 
necks of all dissenters under their feet, and to have 
made the little finger of the Presbytery heavier on 
sectaries than the bishop's loins." He predicted that if 
the reins of government ever got into their imperious 
hands the days of the Marian persecutions would be as 
a year of jubilee in comparison therewith. " There is 
little doubt," he adds, "that if thou and thy Master 
Ealph could have had your wills we should have seen 
the same work made with the innocent in Bristol as 
Manasseh made in Jerusalem. (2 Kings xxi. 16.) And 
though the hand of the Lord hath so limited your 
rage that that hath been prevented ; yet let me tell thee 
that thou needest not to wish more to rest upon the 
city's score than already doth. For a large account have 
they to give to Him that sitteth in judgment for the 
innocent blood that hath been shed, and for all the 
cruelty and oppression that hath been exercised upon 
the persons and estates of those that have no helper but 
Him that is higher than the highest." This gentleman's 
language, although plain, is as unobjectionable as his 
arguments were unanswerable. But it was not so with 
all even of the long suffering Quakers. Dennis Hoi- 
lister, when he had joined their body, sent out a book 
entitled The shirts of the whore discovered, and the mingled 
people in the midst of her. In a letter sent hy Dennis 
HoUister to the independent baptized people, who call them- 
selves a ehureh of Christ in Bristol, hut are found to he a 
synagogue of Satan; another pamphlet was entitled Satan 
enthroned in the chair of Pestilence. The Baptists replied, 
but with far less of scurrility, their hardest words were 
such as follow: — "Quakerism beg^un (no doubt) by 
Satan, and carried on by his instruments, ' Popish 
seminaries,' * Jesuits,' and some ' apostate professors ;' 
'ignorant, bewitched, and deluded people,' these they 
affirm would come into our meetingps on the Lord's day, 
in the open public places called churches (which we had 
then liberty to be in during the whole of Cromwell's 
reign), and in the midst of the minister's sermon they 
would with a loud voice cry out against them, calling 
them ' hirelings ' and ' deceivers,' and they would say 



to the people, they must turn to the light within as 
their teacher, and that that was Christ within. Thus, 
with many other railing, judging, and condemning 
words, they would frequently trouble us, shaking, 
trembling, or quaking, like persons in a fit of the ague, 
while they spake with a screaming voice, and would not 
cease until they were carried forth of the place, pretend- 
ing they were moved by the Spirit to come and warn us. 
Thus Satan transforming himself like an angel of light 
strove against the true followers of Jesus Christ. These 
against the doctrine of our Lord Jesus, and others 
against the discipline, as our friends, called Presby- 
terians, those of them that were better spirited or rigid, 
who would vilify our ministry, and their call 'to it ; ' 
saying they were not true ministers, because not called, 
aind ordained in their way, by a classical or synodical 
assembly, and not brought up at the universiiy for such 
literature ; and because we met in houses divers times 
in the week for prayer, &c., they spake evil of us as 
seducers."^ 

Balph Farmer, on the death of Nicholas Meredith, 
in 1639, had been nominated as his successor to the 
office of chamberlain by the king ; but the corporation, 
Puritan as it was, did not accept the nomination, having 
themselves chosen William Chetwynd. We next hear 
of this gentleman as the lecturer at St. Nicholas and 
the Presbyterian minister at St. James'. When the city 
surrendered to Fairfax, in 1645, there was a Parlia- 
mentary ordinance in force, by which the Church of 
England service had been abolished, and a Directory 
set up in its stead. All clergymen who refused to con- 
form were deprived of their benefices, and " honest 
men " were appointed in their place. A large portion, 
if not the majority, of the soldiers being Independents 
(this name, in 1645, embraced all dissenters from a state 
church, and was used in contradistinction to Presby- 
terians and Episcopalians), some of the Church pulpits 
in Bristol were filled by them. Thus when Cromwell 
was in Bristol, in 1649, he went to St. Ewens' church to 
hear Major Kem, who is described as " a babe of grace 
in a scarlet coat, with silver lace, and a sword by his 
side, who preached very strange thingps, wherewith the 
people were much moved." Then Thomas Ewins, of All 
Hallows, London and Llanvaughas, who adopted Baptist 
views in 1656, and who was a man of great power and 
godliness, became rector of Christ church. Hancock, a 
butler, succeeded to the vicarage of St. Philip. The 
deprived vicar of St. Nicholas, Towgood, was succeeded 
by John Paul, Constant Jessup and others. Of the latter 
the Quakers said the city had no reason to be grieved at 
his removal, but that they had gotten a worse in his 

* Broadmead Records, 57. 



36 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1655. 



place, meaning Ealph Farmer, the Presbyterian. But 
Matthew Hazard, of St. Ewen, a moderate man, who 
resigned that benefice in 1643, and Nathaniel Ingelo, 
both spoke in favour of his removal. Ingelo would not 
be a likely man to suit the severer Puritans; he dressed 
well, ''in garments not becoming the gospel;" he was 
passionately devoted to music, which he practised at 
home and at the houses of the gentry; at this, his 
church-members were troubled, and for it they admon- 
ished him. "Take away my music, you take away my 
life," said he. He afterwards became the author of 
several works — one a romance, Bentivoglio and Urania — 
was a Fellow of Eton college, a Doctor of Divinity, and 
became the talented leader of the band of Charles II. 
Farmer was rigidly orthodox, a lordly bishop in all but 
the name, possessing a fluent delivery, and was a man 
of considerable literary attainments; he was a violent 
antagonist of the Quakers, not altogether without reason, 
for "they were continually disturbing him," says a con- 
temporary, "whilst praying or preaching, so that this 
attracted large congregations, makings the church like 
a playhouse." He wrote a book against them, which 
he entitled The Mystery of Ungodliness. It contains an 
account of the examination by the magistrates of the 
first Quakers who were apprehended. 

These social amenities between professing Christians 
were confined to no denomination, even the Quakers 
used strong language. "Sons of Pride," "Priests of 
Baal," and "Ministers of Antichrist," are amongst the 
appellations bestowed on the preachers from whom they 
differed. 

The only excuse we can make for this departure on 
all sides from the true spirit of the gospel is that its 
nature was misunderstood, religion was in a state of 
transition ; and whilst the persecutors were highly 
culpable, the sufferers were often most exasperating 
and far from blameless. With this remark we gladly 
dose this sad page of Bristol history. 

In 1654-5 the Parliament discovered that castles 
were antagonistic to liberty, and ordered their demoli- 
tion throughout the land. The following order sealed 
the fate of Bristol castle : — 

Olivxb p. 
These are to authorise you forthwith to demolish the castle 
within the city of Bristol, and for so doing this shall be your 
warrant. 

Given at Whitehall, 

28th day of December, 1654. 
To the Mayor and Commonalty 
of the City of Bristol. 

Nehemiah Wallington, a Puritan diarist, tells us 
that a new chapel was built {eirea 1630) in the castle of 
Bristol for the queen, and the workmen having hoisted 



a g^eat beam for the roof tree, they found it in the 
morning broken in two, nothing having been laid upon 
it to cause the fracture ; moreover, the chief workman 
fell and broke his neck, which things he concludes to be 
omens against Popery. 

One of the last captives was John Pitzherbert, who 
had been engaged in the attempt of Yeomans and 
Boucher, but had effected his escape at that time. 
When the ciiy was taken by Fairfax he was captured 
and imprisoned, chained to another for nine weeks in a 
dungeon in the Castle. He was a man of substance, 
and was fined £360 ere he obtained his liberty ; he lost 
at least £5,000 by his loyally. 

On the 28th December, 1654, Cromwell's order was 
sent for the immediate demolition of the castle; but 
although our Calendars say that this was accomplished 
in a fortnight by the householders, who had each to 
work in person or else to pay a substitute, it is clear 
that the work was not so speedily executed, for on 

February 28th, 1655, Major brought another 

peremptory order from the lord protector, and the major 
declared that he would stay until the work was com- 
pleted, notwithstanding the badness of horse quarters 
and the dearness of the place to the soldiers. The fort- 
night of hard, effectual work must therefore be trans- 
posed from Christmas to March, 1655. 

19. In 1655 a bridge was made over the ditch of the 
castle at the west end of the Old Market street, and a 
new street (Castle street) was built and opened through 
the site of the castle, to the great convenience of the 
citizens, who before this had to pass down Lower 
Castle street, along Castle ditch and up Newgate hill, 
in order to get from the east into the city. That the 
river at this period had not a good reputation for the 
navigation of large ships is evident from the following 
order made this year: ''No ship of above 100 tons shall 
be allowed to come up to the Quay, or Back, under a 
penalty of ten pounds." The West Indiamen and other 
large ships had to lie at Hung^oad in deep water (the 
mooring chains remain), and their cargoes were sent in 
lighters up to the city. This year a frigate called the 
Islipj pierced for 30 guns, was built in Bristol, and 
another named the Nanttoichj pierced for 44 guns, was 
launched the following year by Mr. Bayly. 

July 24th, 1655, an order was received to demolish 
the Hoyal fort, and to remove the munitions of war to 
Chepstow castle. The demolition was not completed until 
subsequent to February 28th, 1656. It is a popular 
fallacy that Oliver Cromwell pulled down the western 
nave of the cathedral. This arose doubtless from the 
fact that a Cromwell in Henry Vlii.'s day was the 
destroyer of the monasteries. Neither when lieutenant- 



WATER AND HOLINESS INCOMPATIBLE. 



gemeral nor aa lord-protector did Oliver order or coun- 
tenance BO sacrilegioue an act; but in the year 1655 
" Walter Deyos, a god-fearing mayor, stripped the 
lead £rom tlie nave and cloisters of the cathedral. But 
some did cause the spoliation to cease, and did order 
the chamberlain to sell the lead and to expend the 
mon^ in the repairs 
of the cathedral. 
Jane Barry, eexton- 
eaa of the cathedral, 
for the repairs, 
£79 8». 6i." DeyoB 
was sheriff in 1639: 
warden in Mer 
chants' hall in 1641 
treasurer in 1 644 
mayor in 1655-6 
died in 1658. His 
widow resided in St. 
Werburgh's parieh 
at the Itestoration. 
Six marshals were 
chosen to be con- 
stablea to attend the 
mayorinlong gowns, 
with the city arms 
upon their sleeves. 
Erery citizen not at- 
tending in his turn 
the nigbtly watch 
was fiued in summer 
sixpence and in the 
. winter eightpeuce for 
his neglect. During 
his mayoralty some 
of the instructions 
issued to the alder- 
men's deputies for 
the better obserrance 
of the Sabbath are 
worthy of especial 
notice. ' ' That each 

deputy in his ward '*' ' ** pouiin twii 

do of his uttermost care and endeavour, for the sanc- 
tifying the Lord by walking about his ward." People 
were not allowed to walk except to and from tbeir 
respective places of worship. They were watched and 
fined for each offence of non-attendance 2j. 6d., or 
"clapt" into prison. Tbe constables are particularly 
to "observe boys, children and others, and to take 
notice of the names of the parents and masters of 
nich boys or children, who may be playing, sitting, 



vainly or profanely walking or idling on the Tolzey 
under Christ church, or about the High Gross, or in the 
streets at Farthing pitt, in the Marsh or Castle fields, 
or elsewhere within the city which are usually the re- 
ceptacles of such disorderly persons." An account was 
also to be kept of all vessels going up and down the 
river, and of tbe per- 
sons who employed 
them. No persons 
were allowed to pass 
over the ferry at 
Limekiln slip. The 
officials were to " ex- 
ercise due vigilance 
and mark all those 
who do not regularly 
attend publick wor- 
ship that they may 
be reprimanded ac- 
cordingly." But the 
most absurd, un- 
healthy prohibition, 
from which will be 
seen the extreme 
length to which un- 
cbecked fanaticism 
would ride its hobby, 
was this; "That all 
conduits be shutt, 
and kept fast, and 
the keepers of the 
same presume not to 
suffer any water to 
bee drawne from ye 
pipes on yt. daye." 
And tbe constables 
are to present the 
names of persons so 



carrying a " payle, 
stand, or vessell 
through the streete." 
In Old iiaikei siiwi. Cleanliness in the 

estimation of these men bad evidently no connection 
with godliness. After these samples one may doubt 
whether it was all a caricature when tbe satirist wrote 
of a man 

" who hanged hia cat on Monday 
For killing of a moiue on Sunday." 
20. Itichard Balman, mayor in 1656, was a brewer 
who bad been apprenticed to William Baldwyn. Whilst 
we write (1881) a mantlepiece has been discovered in 



38 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.i>. 1657. 



the house in which he lived in Mary-le-port street, 
bearing two shields, with his monogram, and also the 
brewers' coat of arms. In 1641 he was sheriff, his 
colleague being the unfortunate Bobert Yeomans. 
Balman, on September 30th, 1643, with William Col- 
ston and others, was on a committee ''to think of 
levying and bestowing £100, and also a tun of wine, 
to be presented to the governor for the prince's 
table." A curious trait of the times was the scarcity 
of domestic furniture, and the now common necessaries 
of the sleeping apartment were then luxuries only to be 
found in the mansions of the opulent. On the 9th 
March the following year he lent *'a feather bed, with 
a mattress, bolster, two pillows, a pair of sheets, a pair 
of blankets, and pillow bearers," for the use of Prince 
Gharles. These were lent in response to the following 
invitation from the Boyalist chamber: ''Whosoever of 
the city shall furnish or lend any bedding or furniture 
for the prince's accommodation in the Great House on 
St. Augustine's back shall have the same safely restored 
to them, and in case any shall be lost or spoyled, the 
same to be made good to them." Balman (although he 
had been fined £100) was apparently the only Puritan 
who contributed to the prince's comfort. He also pro- 
vided a horse for the defence of the city, but after its 
capture by Fairfax he enrolled himself on the popular 
side. On January 14th, 1647, he was appointed on a 
committee for presenting to Parliament some g^evances 
of the city, and, in 1656, was mayor and alderman. 
During his mayoralty fasts were numerous; we give 
one example out of many: — 

Sir, — His highness the lord protector of this Commonwealth 
have agreed upon a declaration for a general fast, to be holden in 
all places within England, Scotland and Ireland, upon Thursday, 
30th October next, whereof the ministers and teachers of the 
respective parishes and congregations are, by the tenor thereof, 
to take notice. We have therefore sent you several copies of the 
said declaration, which you are strictly required carefully to send 
abroad and disperse to the several parishes and congregations 
within your city. In proving your utmost endeavour and diligence 
that the same be done with effect, and returning a speedy account 
to the Council of your receipt hereof, and proceeding thereupon. 

Signed in the name and by the order of the Council for the 
mayor of the city of Bristol, these. 

Whitehall, September, 1656. 

To this the mayor replies : — 

Right Honourable, — Your letter, together with the copies of 

the declaration for the fast to be kept on the 30th October instant, 

I received, and immediately sent abroad and dispersed the said 

copies to the several parishes and congregations within this city, 

and shall endeavour in what I can to maintain a due observance 

of the day from only at present, 

Your humble servant, 

Richard Balican, Mayor. 
Bristol, 18th October, 1656. 

To the Right Honourable the Lord President Lawrence, 
at Whitehall, London, these. 



Balman attended the last meeting of the Common- 
wealth corporation, he was also chosen on the Hoyalist 
corporation after the Eestoration, and attended the first 
meeting of the chamber. In 1663 he lent £50 towards 
the expense of entertaining Charles II. and his queen. 
He resided in Mary-le-port street, and retired from the 
city in 1 667. His daughter, Mary, married John Hicks, 
who was mayor in 1671. 

21. The following incidents of this period are epito- 
mised from Evans : — 

1656. Febmary 20, the constables were ordered to assist 
Capt. Robert Doleman of the Wexford frigate in the impressment 
of 200 able mariners, seamen and watermen, above fifteen and 
under sixty years of age. 

June 4, wheat at 5«. per bushel, the assize fixed the twopenny 
white loaf to weigh ]4 oz. 3 qr. 1 dm., the wheaten 22 oz., and 
the household 29 oz. 1 qr. 3 dm., so that the poor man this year 
had less bread for his money by nearly two parts out of five than 
he had in 1654. 

September 8, Captain Morgan who had built some houses at 
Crockeme Pill without the consent of the corporation of Bristol, 
apologized by letter, and promised that no more should be built 
without their leave. 

1657. John Cottrell and Robert Jones, bakers, of Pensford, 
admitted to sell bread in the market, being two out five persons 
thus privileged. 

July 17, a new inn built by George Hele, tailor, adjoining the 
site on which the ** George " inn formerly stood, was allowed to be 
used as a common inn and hostelry. 

August 26, an order was obtained that there should be no other 
inn within the precincts of the castle. 

This month also complaint was made that Ed. Morgan, Thomas 
Wallis, Bartholomew Allen and others had digged wells in the 
vicinity of the spring that supplied All Saints conduit in Maudlin 
lane. Ordered no more should be dug, and these be filled in if 
they affected the supply. 

1658. August 19, the water bailiff was. sent to Crockeme Pill 
to require Mr. Morgan and all his tenants to pull down the seyeral 
houses built there, contrary to the decrees of the Exchequer with 
which they had been served. 

December 8, all private persons are ordei^d not to take in the 
horses of travellers to the prejudice of inn holders, who by law 
and custom of England are responsible for all such horses. By 
another order horses are not allowed to be fed in the streets. 
Penalty on the owner 6c/., to go to the poor. Inhabitants suffer- 
ing a horse to stand to forfeit U, A constable or serjeant-at-nace 
bringing such horse to the next common inn to receive 4d. from 
the owner, who was also to pay 2d. to the inn holder for the stand- 
ing of the horse. 

Elizabeth Nut, of Chelvey, a vagrant, was whipped from the 
High Cross to Reddiff gate, and so sent home. 

Arthur Farmer was chosen mayor in 1 657-8. During 
his mayoralty, August 12th, 1658, an entertainment was 
given to the natives of Bristol at the great house at the 
bridge-end, ** over against the ' Bear ' tavern." Tickets 
58. each. His worship being a Bristol-bom man was 
treasurer. 

On January 5th, the manor farm and prebend of 
Tollerton, in the county of Gloucester, and the manors 
of Westhatch and North Weston, in Somerset, were 



A.B. 1657. 



LETTERS FROM CROMWELL. 



39 



ordered to be sold in fee to meet the many thousand 
pounds the chamber was indebted. 

The previous mayor had ordered, by virtue of Act 
Parliament, that £909 should be yearly levied by asses- 
ment on each parish for the support of the ministers of 
religion, viz., St. Michael, St. Augustine and St. James, 
£50; St. Thomas, £12; Temple, £48; BeddifP, £40; 
St. Philip and the Castle, £20 ; St. Stephen, £90 ; St. 
Nicholas, £120; St. Werburgh and St; Leonard, £85; 
All Saints and St. Ewen, £70 ; Christ church and St. 
John, £120 ; St. Mary-le-port and St. Peter, £96. These 
assessments only amoxmt to £791. So, in 1658, the 
corporation contributed £100 to make up the sum total. 
From the above it will be seen that St. Nicholas was by 
far the richest parish in the city. 

Hooke's Mills orphan asylum bears the date of this 
year in the carved work of one of its fireplaces. The 
New Castle gate^ and the Queen's gate were built this 
year. 

Arthur Parmer bequeated to St. James' parish £40, 
the profit thereof to six poor housekeepers for ever; 
and to St. Mary Beddiff £40, St. Thomas £40, Temple 
£40, Christ church £40. 

The following letters were this year (1657) addressed 
by Cromwell to the corporation : — 

Oliver P. — Truaty and well-beloved we greet you well. Re- 
membering well the late expressions of love that I have had from 
you, I cannot omit any opportunity to express my care of you. I 
do hear on all hands that the Cavalier party are designing to put 
us into blood. We are, I hope, taking the best care we can, by 
the blessing of God, to obviate this danger ; but our intelligence 
on all hands being that they have a design on your city, we could 
not but warn you thereof and give you authority (as we do hereby) 
to put yourself in the best posture you can for your own defence 
by raising your militia, and putting them in readiness for the 
purpose aforesaid : letting you also know that for your better 
encouragement herein you shall have a troop of horse sent you to 
quarter in or near your town. We desire you to let us hear from 
time to time touching the malignant party, and so we bid you 
farewell. 

Whitehall, 2nd December, 1657. 

Upon receipt hereof the chamber inmiediately appointed 
two committees, one to answer the protector's letter the 
other for placing the city in a posture of defence. Alder- 
man Henry Gibbs was on both committees. In pursuance 
of the command the chamber ordered the xnilitia to be 
raised, and that the officers of which, formerly approved 
by this house, do forthwith undertake the charge of their 
respective companies. Another letter from Cromwell 
followed : — 

Gentlemen, — We have certain intelligence that the old Cavalier 
party, and those who favour their interest in these nations, do 

^ This was the Newgate, which was removed and re-erected 
in Brislington, where, at the entrance to the Black castle, it may 
still be seen* 



design a sudden insurrection in this nation, and are to be en- 
couraged therein by the Spaniards, who, together with Charles 
Stuart, intend an invasion, and we are informed that your city is 
particularly designed upon, and that some of their agents are sent 
down privately to prepare both persons and things against the 
time they shall be ready. Wherefore, we have thought it neces- 
sary to give you timely notice thereof, to the end you may be 
upon your guard, and be in a posture to defend yourselves either 
against open force or secret undermining, and we shall be ready as 
you shall let us understand your condition to give you any assist- 
ance as it shall be necessary for preserving the peace of the city.-- 

We rest your ever loving friend, 

Olivbb p. 
Whitehall, March 16th, 1657-8. 

To the Mayor, Aldermen imd Common Council 

of the City of Bristol. 

Although Cromwell had before this date destroyed the 
castle and ''purged the chamber of malignants" the 
above letters denote his apprehensions of a revolt and 
his anxiety to secure the allegiance of the city. For 
these he had good reason. A plot was on foot by which 
Clayton, Fyle and others, were to seize Bristol and 
Gloucester, which was to be the signal for a general 
insurrection. 

22. In December, 1658, a rate was ordered for the 
castle liberty for the relief of the poor. On January 4th, 
1659, twenty watchmen were appointed at 4d. per night 
in summer and 6d. per night in winter, to be under the 
control of Bichard Hopkins, marshall. In March, the 
market in Broad street on Saturdays was confined to 
butchers from the coxmtry ; city butchers, who had shops 
elsewhere all the week long, were prohibited from stalls 
on penalty of 6«. Sd. per day. October 1st, a survey of 
the conduit head (at Breene's mill) which supplied the 
Quay and Back pipes was ordered, there being a leakage. 
October 18th, the coxmtry butchers ordered to leave the 
market in Broad street at three o'clock on Saturdays. 
The mayor and aldermen directed search into all char- 
ters, books of records, writings and evidences, relating 
to the city. The report thereon to be made in writing. 

We give here another instance of the manner in which 
Bristol closely followed the customs of the metropolis : — 

1658. 26th August. It is this day ordered and ordained that a 
handsome barge be rowed with eight or ten oars, after the manner 
of those barges used by the lord mayor and aldermen of London, 
and other companies there, to be built at the city's charge, and a 
convenient phice be also built for keeping of the same. And the 
chamberlain is to take care for providing the same accordingly. 

Eight days after the chamber had issued the above, 
Cromwell died and the Government was shortly dis- 
solved, leaving the Eoyalists to follow out the idea. 

1661. January 31st. Paid Michael Deyos, water bailifif, towards 
building of a barge for the mayor and aldermen, £20. 

The mayor's Calendar informs us the barge was com-* 
pleted. <<This year, 1661, a new barge was built to 



40 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.B. 1658. 



pass up and downe the river to bee used by the maior, 
aldermen or counsel!." From the epithet new, it will 
be inferred there was an old barge, although the Com- 
monwealth does not point to any precedent. 

"We have elsewhere recorded the gift, by Robert 
Bedwood, of a house and books, wherewith to found a 
free library for the city as early as the year 1613 ; and 
in the year 1657 the thoughtful among the Puritans 
were desirous of having another in the heart of the 
city. The site they selected is that now occupied as the 
printing and publishing ojQice of the Western Daily Press, 
Coming events are said to cast their shadow before, but 
two hundred years is too long a stretch for even a 
fanciful imagination to connect a desire to make the 
spot a seedplot of learning with the establishment of the 
first penny newspaper in the west of England. The city 
groaned beneath a plethora of churches, and the citizens 
sought to make one of these more useful, although in 
another way, so they petitioned Parliament as follows : — 

1657. April 1st, whereas there is a very small church and 
parish sitnated in the centre of the city, called St. Ewens, or 
St. Audeons, consisting of but 22 families, and in distance from 
two other churches but the breadth of a street ; there not being 
any maintenance for a preaching minister belonging thereunto, 
and may with consistency be united to another parish ; and 
whereas there is a great want of a library within this city, for 
publick use and propagation of learning ; it is ordered that Mr. 
Aldworth, now burgess in Parliament, be desired to use his best 
endeavour in Parliament, that the said church with the appur- 
tenances, may be given to the mayor and commonalty of this city, 
to be employed to that use or other publick uses. 

A free library was even then felt to be a necessary 
corollary to a free school : our intelligent forefathers dis- 
cerned this in an age that was narrow-spirited, bigoted 
and fanatical. There were those, however, who said 
that not only was instruction in the rudiments of learn- 
ing necessary for the young, but that a man's education 
was not complete when he left school, or even the imi- 
versity, but that it was the work of a lifetime, and its 
growth should be encouraged by public grant and sup- 
port as being a national benefit ; a thoroughly educated 
people are practically masters of the world. These men 
were wise in their generation. They had, as we have 
seen, secured land for a free school; but the death of 
Cromwell and the dissolution of the Government pre- 
vented the carrying out of the great idea of a central 
free library in the heart of the city, and the matter has 
remained in abeyance to the present day. 

23. In 1658 Bichard Cromwell made a progress 
through the country and came to Bath. Bristol, which 
had earned great fame from its profuse hospitality and 
sumptuous banquetings, was anxious to have a visit 
from the son and presumed successor of the lord pro- 
tector. A meeting of the common council was called, 



and Mr. Farmer, the mayor, Walter Sandy, and the 
aldermen, together with John Willoughby and Henry 
Appleton, sheriffs, were deputed to wait upon him and 
General Desborough, at Bath, to present them wine and 
sugar as they shall see fit (a regular Bristol custom this), 
to give them an invitation to the city, and then to make 
such provision for their entertainment and their retinue 
as shall be agreeable to them, and uphold the dignity 
of the city. The chamberlain was despatched to Bath 
with a cordial invitation, taking with him 1031b. of fine 
loaf sugar and a cask of wine, £8 13«. ^d. His ezpensefi 
are given at 12«. %d, ; his attendants at 8«. 6^. 

The most illustrious Lord Bichard aocepted the 
sweets, sent Mr. Mayor a present of venison (two 
bucks), and complied with the request. He arrived 
in Bristol on July Srd, 1658, accompanied by his lady, 
the Hon. WiUiam Cromwell, Mr. Dunche, and a numer- 
ous train of gentry. He was met on the road by the 
sherifiPs at the head of 200 horsemen. At the city 
boundaries the mayor and aldermen awaited him with 
400 mounted men. The g^ns thundered a salute from 
the Marsh, the ships in the harbour fired oft their 
artillery, and amidst the heartiest demonstrations of 
goodwill he was escorted to the house of Colonel Aid- 
worth, in Broad street. Next morning he rode out to 
view the city and neighbourhood, returning to a noble 
dinner at which, although there was abundance of 
wine, &c., the utmost decorum prevailed (so says our 
chronicle). The wine bill amounted to £145 \%s. 2d. 
In the evening he took another ride into the town 
Marsh, amidst salvoes from the great guns, partook 
of another banquet at the house of the mayor, and 
returned the same evening to Bath. The narrator, en- 
larging upon the duty and good affection shown to him, 
adds, ** Yet it is no more than is paid to that noble lord 
in every place by such as have had the honour to observe 
his great humanity, joined with so great hopes and the 
noblest indications of a virtuous mind." Another item 
indicates the prevalence of the Puritanic element at 
their convivial gatherings: '*Mr. Balph Farmer for 
prayers and graces which was extraordinary, 13«. 4d" 
Amongst the luxuries is " a gross of pypes," but there 
is no price attached, and tobacco is not named in the 
disbursements. 

** Man's life is as the grass of the field: in the morn- 
ing it is green and groweth up, in the evening it is cut 
down, dried up, and withered.'* With these impressive 
words of a sublime old psalm did Kalph Farmer con- 
clude a solemn prayer at a mournful meeting of the 
corporation three days after the death of Cromwell. The 
great leader who stood between them and monarchy had 
been removed. Ho had come to his end by no rugged 



PROCLAMATION OF RICHARD. 



path, but tranquilly upon his bed ; above the roices of 
the storm he had heard and answered to the last stern 
roll-«aU. This was to the chamber an important meeting. 
There were present the mayor, Arthur Fanner, seven 
aldermen, the sheriffs, and fifteen common couscilmeu. 
After the reading of the letter announdng the death of 
the protector afid commanding the proclamation of his 
son, " the most noble and illuBtriouB Lord Kichard," it 
was ordered, ordained and enacted, that according to 
the purport of the same, his highness shall be this day 
(September 6th) proclaimed by one of the sheriffs at the 
High Cross, and the maimer of the solemnity to be this : 
Tbat the m&yor, ■Idermen, and comnitm coiucil BhiJl forthwith 
mset >t the QoildhKll in their Bcwlet gowns. That waraiog be 
preBCDtljr given to all the sevenl copiponiea of the llverieB within 
the dtj to attend at the Guildhall ; also that all the mperior 
officers of the trained bands, and their oergeanta and drummers be 
there and here likewise, with the citj moiiciaiu, and all other 
civil officers belonging to the corps also. That directiooa be given 
far bonfires, tmmpeta, ringing of bells, firing of great gnns in the 
Marsh, at the city's charges, as also for discharging all the great 
gana in the several ships at the Key, Eongroad, and Kiogroad, 

The proclamation was as follows : — 
Whereas it hath pleased Almighty God in His wise and ever- 
ruling providence, to take into His mercy the most serene and 
renowned Oliver, late lord protector of this Commonwealth. And 
whereas his said lite bighneu did in his lifetime, according to the 
hnmble petition and advice, appoint and declare the most noble 
and illustrioas lord, the Lord Bichard, eldest son of his said late 
highness to succeed him in the government of these nations. We 
therefore, the mayor and the other magistratee of this city of 
Bristoll, in the name, and with the consent and concnrreuce of the 
commonalty of the said city, do with one full voice, and consent 
ol toogae and hrart, publish and proclaim the said most noble 
and illustrious Lord Richard to be the rightful lord protector of 
this Commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland, and the 
dominions and territories thereunto belonging. To whom we 
acknowledge all fidelity sod constant obedience according to &« 
law, and the same hnmble petition sud advice : with all heart Mid 
hnmble affections, beseeching the Lord, by whom princes rule, to 
bless him with long life, and these nations with peace and bappi- 
nsaa tinder his government. 

The cost of the proclamation : — 

£ t. d. 
Paid the drummers and sergeants for tJieir attendance 
and also the tnmpetars at the proclaiming the Lord 

Richard Cromwell, protector 2 10 6 

Paid the seamen for firing the gnns 12 

I^d Michael J>eyos for 3 barrels of powder, and other 
charges, in shooting of the great guns in several ships 

at the Key 16 6 2 

Paid tor a, butt of sack given away by order of the 

mayorand aldermen 28 

Paid the trumpeters and waits at the proclamation ... 2 10 

AlUiough on the surrender of the city by Fiennes to 
the Prince Bupert, Arthur Farmer was fined £100 for 
his anti-monarchical prodiTities, yet he lent another 
£100 for the payment of the king's troops on the security 
of the publie faith. He also (on compulaios) gave one 
[Vol. III.] 



horse to defend the city against the attack by Fairfax 
and Cromwell. 

Cromwell's government has been aptly described by 
Burks "as somewhat rigid, but for a new power no 
savage tyranny." Clarendon, the Boyalist historian, 
says, " His greatness at home was but the shadow of 
the glory he had abroad." He raised his country out 
of a state of pitiful subjection to foreign powers, to 
which the Stuarts had reduced it, to a commanding 
position. "It was hard to discover which feared him 
most, France, Spain, or the Low Countries, where his 
friendship was current at the value he put upon it." * 



there vntoijcLonghig: 

He threatened that the thunder of his guns should be 
heard in St. Angelo, unless the persecution of the Tau- 
dois ceased; he refused the alliance of Spain because 
"there is no liberty of conscience in the land;" the flag 
of England, under Blake, was victorious on every sea ; 
be demanded and obtained from the Pope and the Grand 
Duke of Tuscany indemni^ for British ships that had 
been seized by Prince Supert, and been sold in their 
states. Algiers and Tripoli complied with his demands, 
and when the Bey of Tunis, pointing to his fortresBes, 
bade h™ for answer "do his worst," he battered the 
forts and burned the Corsair's fleet in bis harbour. 
Without affecting a supremacy for England over the 
nations on the Continent there can be no question that 
t Clarendon, Ylt., 207. 



42 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1659. 



she at that time occupied a foremost place. At home his 
toleration made him many enemies. Sectarian prejudice 
was too strong for him to act up to his principles always, 
but it is abundantly evident that Cromwell's very soul 
revolted from persecution in matters of religion. '^ If a 
man who is an Independent will despise him who is under 
baptism and revile him, and will reproach and provoke 
him, I will not sufPer it in him . . . neither should Pres- 
byterian censure Independent, nor Baptist either. « . . 
I have borne my reproach, but I have, through God's 
mercy, not been imhappy in hindering any one religion 
to impose upon any other." The Quakers, hunted and 
persecuted by every other sect, found a friend in Crom- 
well ; he moderated the sentence passed upon poor 
crazy-brained Naylor, and listened to George Fox with 
pleasure, dismissing him from custody with the words, 
'* Come again to my house. If thou and I were but an 
hour of the day together we should be nearer one to 
the other. I wish no more harm to thee than I do to 
my own soul." In 1655 Cromwell brought before his 
council a petition from the Jews in which they prayed 
for liberty to settle again in England ; but the rags of 
intolerance dung to the men who had themselves suffered 
the heaviest, it was William Prynne who published a 
manifesto against their being suffered to return; the 
clamour was great, but the next year the protector 
sought for no legal sanction but gave them a welcome, 
and raised no objection to their erecting a synagogue. 
In 1658 he honestly tried once again to revert to con- 
stitutional government by Parliament. The elections 
were fiercely contested. Forty members were selected 
to form an Upper House. The Houses met on the 20th 
of January, 1658, but were in so intractable a mood they 
did no business, so were dismissed on the 14th of Feb- 
ruary. Plots and conspiracies, both in the army and 
among the people, grew prevalent, Anabaptist joined 
with Eoyalist, and Protestant 'prentices leagued with 
the Catholics of Spain, but the ringleaders were seized 
and made an example of. A calm ensued, but in the 
midst of it Cromwell lost his favourite daughter, his 
son-in-law Bich, and the Earl of Warwick, his constant 
friend, and bowed down by private griefs and public 
cares the burden of the state proved too much for him 
to bear. ''The greatest man that ever was," so said 
Cardinal Mazarin, "broke down." ''As he rode at the 
head of his life guards I saw, and felt a waft of death 
go forth against him; and when I came to him he^looked 
like a dead man. After I had laid the sufferings of 
Friends before him, and had warned him, according as 
I was moved to speak, he bade me come to his house. 
So I returned to Kingston, and the next day went up to 
Hampton Court to speak further with him; but the 



doctors were not willing, so I passed away, and never 
saw him more," so wrote George Fox, 

" He mnst stand 
Among the heroes of his native land, — 
There let him reign the grandest of the grand." ^ 

In a night of terrible storm, on the drd of September, 
the anniversary of Dunbar, and Worcester, the great 
man, who, with all his mistakes and blunders, did more 
for us as a nation than any king from the days of Alfred 
the Great passed to his account. The night before his 
death he said, "I would be willing to live to be yet 
more serviceable to God and His people ; but my work 
is done. Yet God will be with his people." 

24. Walter Sandy, mayor in 1658-9, was a con- 
tributor of £50 to the "token of love and affection to 
the king;" he became sheriff in 1646, when his name 
occurs in an instrument as follows : — 

May lOth, 1646. — Alderman Gibbs and Sheriff Sandy to confer 
with Mr. Edwards, on the bridge, and his wife and Mrs. Sly, and 
to correspond with them for the estate of Mr. Sly, which is 
escheated to the city by his attainder. 

July 13th. — The composition made with Mr. Edwards and his 
wife, sister and heir to Mr. Sly, of £100, Edwards to pay all 
creditors that are townsmen, and secure the payment of the £100, 
and thereupon is to have a conveyance in fee, paying the ancient 
fee farm rent under the city seal. 

On Walter Sandy's elevation to the chief dvio dignity 
the corporation met to prepare an address of recognition 
to the ''most noble and illustrious Lord Eichard;'' but 
they were so long considering the matter that the Lord 
Kichard had descended from his dangperous elevation 
before the address was presented. That so much intel- 
lectual labour might not be thrown away, the Hoyalists 
cleverly made the address presentable at the restoration 
by substituting Charles for Eichard and other verbal 
alterations. The corporation met again the 20th Sep- 
tember, apparently for the purpose of putting a black 
border to a page in the corporation Journal, as no other 
business was transacted, or if there was it is not re- 
corded. At the last ''calling of the House" for the 
election of oificers by the Commonwealth-appointed cor- 
poration, 15th September, 1659, Walter Sandy in the 
chair. Alderman Tyson was chosen " maior for the yere 
ensuing," Mr. Gleed to be eldest sheriff, Mr. Maior elect, 
according to an ancient privilege, desired Mr. Timothy 
Parker might be chosen second sheriff. At the restora- 
tion Walter Sandy joined the Eoyalists. He lent £25 
towards -the entertainment of the king and queen, but 
he was not desired to resume his seat. We may rightly 
estimate the character of this man when we find his 
name attached, without compulsion, ^ye years after his 
mayoralty, to the following warning to all who had the 
^ The New Bristol Guide, a comic poem by Rev, FranciB Barham. 



A.B. 1660. 



REACTION AGAINST PURITANISM. 



43 



audacity to worship Qod in a different form to that 
ordered by the Church of England. Six males and 
three females being found guilty of attending conven- 
ticles were, on the third offence, committed to Newgate, 
tried, and were thus condemned : — 

That they and every of them should be transported beyond 
the seas to the Island of Barbadoes, one of his majesty's foreign 
plantations, there to remain for the space of seven years ; and if 
they shall escape before or after their transportion and shall re- 
turn to England without his special license, they are to sufifer as 
felons without benefit of clergy, and lose all their goods for ever 
and lands for life, if they have any, unless they shall, before the 
said sessions of gaol dehvery be ended, pay down £100 a peece of 
lawful money of England in pursuance of the said Act and by 
authority thereof. These are in his majesty's name to will and 
require yon forthwith on sight hereof to embarqne the several 
persons to be safely transported from this port to his majesty's 
plantation of Barbadoes aforesaid, and for so doing this shall be 
your warrant, whereof you are not to fail, as you will answer the 
penalty in the aforesaid Act for your neglect therein. 

Given under our hands and seals, this 16th day of Sept., 1665. 

John Lawford, Mayor. 
Robert Atkyns, Recorder. 

John Willoughby, Henry Oreswick, John Locke, Walter Sandy, 
Edward Morgan, John Knight. To the sherifis of the city and 
county of BristoU. 

The severe restrictions of the Puritans, their con- 
demnation of all pleasures, however innocent, had 
created a powerful feeling of discontent in the minds 
of the majority of the nation. This was especially the 
case amongst the young generation, who knew only by 
repute of the hardships and early sufferings which their 
fathers had endured. Young people cannot be dra- 
gooned into religion ; the tighter the cords with which 
they are bound, the more desperately outrageous will 
be their rebound when they get their liberty. 

The 'prentices of the city during the war had been 
in the scarcity of men elevated, in 1642, into undue 
importance. All who enlisted were indemnified, and 
their term of service was counted as a portion of their 
apprenticeship, whilst their masters were bound to re- 
ceive them on their return. This did not tend to make 
them more obedient servants, or to set a good example, 
in 1660, to a generation eighteen or twenty years their 
junior. In that year, when Qeneral Monk entered 
London with the full intention of restoring Charles II., 
Bristol was in a ferment. At this critical juncture 
Edward Tyson, merchant, held the official dignity of 
chief magistrate, and experienced more of the anxieties 
of office than most of his predecessors. 

The quartering of the military upon the inhabitants 
was an oppressive burden. Some few, comparatively, 
of the soldiers were little better than brigands, and to 
the mayor the housekeepers looked in their extremity 
for protection and redress. 



u 



December 16th, 1659. — By a resolution of the com- 
mittee, the mayor (Mr. Tyson) and aldermen were to 
treat with lieut.-Oolonel Mainwaring to prevent the 
soldiers taking free quarters unless one week's pay was 
made them in advance." The soldiers were, however, 
induced by a pecuniary consideration to forbear helping 
themselves. 

** December 25th (Christmas-day had been abolished 
by Act of the Commonwealth Parliament). Paid cer- 
tain officers and soldiers of Mainwaring's regiment, by 
order of the mayor and aldermen, to prevent plundering, 
£50." 

Tyson's position as chief magistrate could not have 
been a comfortable one, as witness the following re* 
cords : — 

''1660, January 6th. — Ammimition ordered to be 
provided, and satisfaction to drummers and sergeants. 
A guard to be kept night and day. The expense to be 
raised upon the inhabitants." 

This was a heavy burthen to the respectable poor, 
and Mr. Mayor was expected to assist them. 

''January 16th. — The mayor agreed to advance the 
poor housekeepers who entertained the soldiers £105, 
to be repaid out of the subscription money.'* 

The corporation did not omit in this season of trial 
and tribulation to unite in supplication to the throne of 
grace. They ordered "that some time be set apart by 
this assembly to seek the Lord solemnly and publickly 
by fasting and prayer, in respect of the nation, and a 
committee to draw up a declaration holding forth the 
grounds thereof, and to appoint days and times and 
churches where it is to be observed.'* 

A contemporary MS. says : — " When the eve of 
Shrove-Tuesday was come there was a great commotion, 
and the bellman who, by order of Mr. Mayor, did read 
the proclamation forbidding the throwing at cocks and 
tossing of dogs, according to ancient custom on Shrove- 
Tuesday, had his bell cut from his back ; and the next 
day being Shrove-Tuesday, there was a gathering of 
much people, and the apprentices did rise, and did show 
their contempt for Mr. Mayor his orders, and did make 
much sport by tossing of dogs and cats and squailing of 
geese and hens. In St. Nicholas street a goose was 
squailed before Mr. Mayor's his own door, which so 
irritated Mr. Timothy Parker, the sheriff, that he en- 
deavoured to disperse the mob, but had his head broken 
for his pains. 

"Shops were closed, business was suspended, and 
labour ceased. The apprentices assembled in the Marsh, 
crying out for a Free Parliament, some for Charles 
Stuart. The streets swarmed with noisy swaggering^ 
crowds, rudely armed, whose pent-up loyalty grew dan- 



44 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1660. 



gerous. In an orderly manner the disorderly appren- 
tices set guards in several places, and also secured the 
main guard. They even set a guard upon Mr. Mayor 
in his own house, leaving the corporation without a 
head. Thereupon the people did beat up driuns round 
about the city, and made great brags what they would 
do ; and being in no wise let, forced open the houses of 
those most attached to the Commonwealth, the masters 
of families hatching and fomenting the tumult and setting 
them on.'' Democracy was at a discount and Monarchy 
at a premium. 

The mayor being in durance, the council appointed 
a committee who issued a proclamation which the ap- 
prentices only laughed at. ''On February 2nd, 1660, 
the apprentices who cried a Free Parliament in Eichard 
Cromwell's day and kept the city a week kept guard 
in the meal market and guard house in Wine street. 
On the 1 0th they were ordered to deliver up their arms 
at the G-uildhaU. Masters, trustees and widows were to 
make a register of apprentices and servants who went 



»i 



m arms. 

1660. March 14th. — Paid Richard Barges and the drams for 
making proclamation for the apprentices to lay down their armes. 

For a week the city was literally in the possession 
of the apprentices, and there is no knowing what the 
upshot would have been had not a troop of horse en- 
tered when the insurgents, to avoid bloodshed, prudently 
dispersed. The advent of more soldiers subdued the in- 
surrection. But Mr. Mayor's troubles were not over. 
There arose another apprehension of the soldiers ''mak- 
ing free quarters." How this danger was overcome the 
following record shows : — 

March 22nd. — Paid by order of the mayor and aldermen to the 
two troops of horse that were in the town to send them going, £20. 

The Boyalists paid Edward Tyson the equivocal com- 
pliment of retaining the empty title of mayor imtil his 
official year had expired. He was therefore a municipal 
dummy — as the Chronicle expresses it, "a mere thing of 
a mayor." When the merry month came round the 
lads and lasses raised a maypole in their gladness at a 
break in the Puritan rigime ; but they were a little too 
soon, for on May 14th an order was issued against the 
erection of maypoles, on the ground — "First, that their 
orig^ was heathenish ; secondly, that under the gospel 
they were scandalous." ^ 

In 1660, on March 27th, several letters were read in 
the council, one from the Lord Qeneral Monk, another 
from Yice-Admiral Fenn ; and it was resolved "that the 
same be referred to a committee to consider of both, 
and of what answer to be returned thereimto, and to 
report their opinions to the House." But while they 

^ Old MS. 



were pondering and deliberating the Boyalists were 
acting, and the committee were rudely awakened by the 
intelligence that the New Parliament had voted money 
for bringing over the royal family, therefore the 
"opinions" of the committee are lost to us. But 
instead of the momentous ohaage in the government of 
a great nation absorbing all the faculties of the oorpo* 
ration, it was a secondary consideration ; and they occu- 
pied themselves, not in endeavouring to secure the 
permanency of their government, but in ascertaining 
the right of Bir William Penn to the freedom of the 
city. This last resolution is as follows : — 

That taking into consideration the freedom of General William 
Penn, the Honse have thereupon ordered, ordained and enacted, 
that it be referred to Mr. Robert Vickrias, Mr. William Grigg, 
and Mr. Chamberlain, to search the records of this city for the 
freedom of his late father, deceased, and if it appears that the 
said father was admitted a free burgess of this city, that then they 
shall make report thereof unto the mayor and aldermen, who are 
hereby authorised and empowered notwithstanding any acts or 
ordinances of the mayor and aldermen and common council to 
the contrary, to direct and appoint the chamberlain according to 
custom, to admit the said General Penn, as the son of a freeman, 
into the liberties of the city.^ 

Admiral Penn was not a Quaker ; and it is notorious 
that he turned his son, the real illustrious Penn, out of 
doors for joining that body. The admiral was a Bristol 
man, but he was no credit to the city. By dint of the 
arts which flourished in the court of the restoration he 
obtained a lucrative olflce in the navy ; but Pepys, the 
honest old secretary, tells us repeatedly in his diaiy that 
''the admiral was a worthless, jobbing, indolent, and 
time-serving knave." 

In 1660 Christ church bells were recast, and chimes 
were set up by Eichard Qregson, churchwarden, who 
was one of the sheriffs this year. On March 15th the 
Parliament was dissolved. Admiral Penn (who with 
Yenables had been sent to the Tower, in 1655, for mis- 
managing an expedition to the West Indies, and not 
exerting themselves in an attempt upon Hispaniola), 
was a candidate for the representation of the city in the 
new Parliament ; but the corporation favoured Mr. John 
Stephens, the recorder, and John Elnight, sen., mer« 
chant, who were both elected. 

The Houses met at Westminster on the 25ih of 
April, when the king's letters and declaration were read 
to the Houses, and the Commons voted '' £50,000 for 
his majesty's present occasions." 

'' On the death of Oliver Cromwell, who died Sep- 
tember drd, 1658, when various attempts were made to 
set up strange forms of government, and the state fell 
into such confuBion that it was evident nothing but the 
restoration of royalty could restore peace and order, 

1 Tovey's LocalJottuigi. 



A.D. 1660. 



ELLSWORTH'S LOYALTY. 



45 



Bristol was no indifferent spectator of the troubles, but 
took its part in promoting his majesty's return. The 
following paper gives honourable testimony of this loyal 
spirit: — 

" Vera Copia, 

** These are to certify all those whom it shall or may conceme, 
that we are credibly informed, and many of ua of our own know- 
ledge doe know that Bichard Ellsworth, of the city of Bristol, 
merchaot» in September, 1645, so farre adventured his person in 
loyalty to his Martyred Majestic (of never dicing memory) and 
defence of the said city, against the then Parliament's forces, as 
that in the then stormeinge thereof he was sorely wounded to the 
hazard of his life, he being then a commission officer. That ever 
since he hath continued his loyalty to his lawfull Prince and 
Soveraigne, notwithstanding all the late vicissitudes and changes 
of governments and govemours, rejecting and refusing both offices 
under and all charges, covenants and engagements unto the said 
govemours and governments. 

'* That when the late Committee of Safety treasonously usurped 
the Supreme Authority of this kingdome, he in December last, in 
the yeare 1659, invited the Apprentices of the saied city to peti- 
tion the Mayor thereof to associate with the adjacent counties, 
and the Lord Mayor, Aldermen and Common Councd of London, 
for and towards reprieval from that slavery they were subjected 
unto by the tyranny of those usurpers, which by its discovery ere 
it came to the birth proving abortive, he in January foUowinge 
stirred up the said Apprentices to rise in opposition to the then 
Bump Parliament, under the pretences contained in their letter 
and decLuration by him drawen upp for and sent to the Appren- 
tices of London, committing the same to the press for publicke 
viewe, to encourage and quicken the said Apprentices and all 
others to rise al^ att the same time and contribute their utmost 
assistance towards the accomplishment of the great worke of his 
Majesties most desired restoration to his just rights and preroga- 
tive, which said risinge at that time gave the lifte to the then 
tnmeinge scale of State afiairs. 

" That when the secluded Members were readmitted to sit in 



Parliament, he did then also encourage and quicken the said 
Apprentices of Bristol to petition the then House of Commons 
for his Majesties restoration as aforesaid. And to the end God 
Almighty might hasten his Boyall Majesties retume to his Crowne 
and Kingdomes, he in February following drew upp a narrative to 
persuade his Majesties loyall subjects to be fervent and frequent 
in effectual prayers at the throne of God's grace on his behalf, 
and sent the same to London for publicke view. 

" That in the March foUowinge, he advised his Grace the Duke 
of Albemarle of an intended risinge of the officers of the then 
army in and about London, to obstruct the settleinge of the militia 
and sitting of the New Parliament, for the which he had his 
Grace's thanks, as per his letter of the 28th of March, 1660, now 
last past. 

[** Concerning this branch of this Certificate, I do certifie that 
it is true. — Albemarle,] 

" All which appears by the severall petitions and papers afore- 
said which we have seen, and therefore beinge fully satisfied of 
the truth thereof, and that the said Richard Ellsworth hath there- 
by given very signall testimony of his affections to his Majesties 
interest, government and service on severall occasions to him pre- 
sentinge, we have hereunto subscribed our names, anno. 1660, &c. 

** Henry Cbeswick, Mayor. 

** Bichard Greoson, Sherrife. 

** Bob. Poyntz. 

*' Nather, Late Lieut. -Coll. 

** William Colston, Dep. -Lieut. 

** Bi. March, John Lock, Aldermen. 

** Allex. Jambs. 

** Walter Sandy, Alderman."^ 

On May 8th King Charles II. was solemnly pro« 
daimed at the High Cross in Bristol by Francis Gleed, 
one of the sheriffs, the mayor and aldermen being 
present in their scarlet robes, and on May 25 th Charles 
landed at Dover. 

» Seyer, II., 507-8. 



The maieriah for this and the previous chapter hare been gathered from many sources beside those already acknowledged 
in the foot notes ; amongst these may be mentioned Barretts and Pryee*s Histories of Bristol, The Bristol Memorialist , 
Bobinson^s Lecture, Clement Marhham^s Life of Fairfax, Oldmixon^s History of the House of Stuart, Clarendon's 
History of the Bebellion, Bumefs History of his Own Times, Stubbs\ Greenes, and other Histories of England, 




CHAPTER XII. 



•^ TP •!• STH^^T + EP— e^^^LES + II. ^ 



I. Accession of Charles II. Reaction of the Presbyterian party. Disbanding of the Army. Character of 
the Court and the King. 2. The bulk of the people hold on to the liberty they had gained, and keep the King 
and the Lords in check. The Breda Proclamation. 3. Henry Creswick, Mayor. Incidents of the period. 
Nathaniel Cale, Mayor. Charles restores the Royalist members of the Common Council. The Solemn League 
and Covenant burnt by the hangman. Cale pensioned. The Treasurer's mace. 4. Act of Uniformity. The 
Nonconformists of 1662. The Five-mile Act. The King's marriage; his conduct. 5, Robert Cann and 
Company's claim. Cann is made a baronet. Incidents of his life. 6. Sir John Knight ; his conduct in 
the House of Commons and as Mayor. Disputes as to precedence between Cann, Yeamans and Creswick. 
The Mayor, Mr. John Knight, is committed for breach of privilege and acquitted. Sir John, his namesake 
and accuser, sneaks home; his character. 7. Sundry payments. Sir John Knight presented by the Grand 
Jury for assaulting Sir R. Yeamans and the Mayor; his death. 8. Land on Montague Hill devised. 
Incidents of the period. Ducking a scold. The plague stayed, g. Sir Thomas Langton, Mayor; incidents, 
Edward Morgan, Mayor. Visit of the Duchess of Monmouth. Thomas Stephens, Mayor; his gifts to the city. 
10. Jonathan Blackwell. Christmas Steps. Rochfort's description of Bristol. 11. Sir Robert Yeamans. 
Mr. John Knight, the late Mayor, leaves for London. 12. John Hicks, Mayor. A sunken ship in the river. 
Attempts to make men religious by Act of Parliament. Persecution of Dissenters. Millerd's map published. 
Topographical description of the city at that date. He publishes a larger map, with engraved border. 13. Act 
for the encouragement of the Woollen trade. The tide of the Avon utilised as a motive power. The Queen 
visits Bristol. 14. Ralph Oliff, Mayor; his persecuting proclivities. 15, Robert Rogers; his great house 
haunted by a ghost. The old timber-framed house in High Street. Bill for a Girl's Board and Schooling. 
Sundry incidents of the period. 16. William Crabb, Mayor, at issue with Bishop Guy Carleton, who sought to 
impose an inquisition upon the citizens. Correspondence relating thereto. 17, Queen Catherine visits Bristol. 
Sir John Lloyd, Mayor; his credulity. Bedloe, the informer. John Lewis, the antiquary. 18. Richard 
Thompson and his famous sertnon, for which he is impeached. Proceedings quashed by dissolution of Parlia- 
ment. His fulsome sermon on kingly power. 19. Struggles and mistakes, political and polemical. A Bristol 
slave in Morocco. Money gifts to redeem captives. 20, Establishtnent of a Linen Manufactory in Bristol. 
Appropriation of part of the gift money. Sir John Knight's protest. 21. Bristol Artillery Company. The 
King and the Catholics. 22. Sir R. Hart and the ghost. Chief Justice North and Bedloe. Sir John 
Knight, sen., and others presented by the Grand Jury as petitioners. 23, Address to the King. Election 
contest. Party strife in the Common Council. 24, Incidents of the period. Sir R. Southwell's letters, etc. 
25. Thomas Easton, Mayor. Fulsome address to the King; incidents. 26. A "Quo Warranto" brought 
against the Corporation. Charles grants a new Charier. The King nominates the Council. Abstract of the 
letters patent. 27. Occurrences arising out of this Charter. A n Insurrection planned. Holloway escapes, but 
is subsequently taken and hanged. 28. Nell Gwynn in Bristol. Sir William Clutterbuck, Mayor; his bequests. 
29. Corporation address on the death of Charles II., and accession of James II. Address of the Quakers. 
Charles's death and character. Sundry items of historical interest. 



A.B. 1660. 



ACCESSION OF CHARLES IL 



47 




HE death of Cromwell sealed the fate of 
the Eepublic. Charles had, by his con- 
duct, made that form of Government for 
the time being a necessity; but it had no 
healing, consolidating power, and, con- 
sequently, no chance of continuance, siave 
by the strong hand of force. Under its 
regime the dislocation of the people into 
parties had rapidly progressed, and contention was 
more bitterly manifest than in the period of open war- 
fare. Disappointed politicians, of many and diverse 
factions, helped to swell the ranks of the reactionists. 
Especially was this the case with that most influential 
body, ihe Presbyterians, who, since the advent of the 
Independents to power, had become decidedly Koyalist. 
It was they who played the chief part in the Eestora- 
tion, and the bulk of the members of the Convention 
Parliament, which met on the 25th of April, 1660, were 
Presbyterians. They were also weU represented in the 
privy council. Their loyalty knew no bounds, for the 
king had solemnly promised that he would preserve and 
maintain the Presbyterian establishment as the church 
of the realm. Ere the veil was torn from their eyes, 
and they were relegated to a fiercer persecution than 
their fathers had endured, they voted that the annual 
royal revenue should be fixed at £1,200,000. To 
make up this amoxmt, the odious excise laws, first in- 
troduced in the time of the Civil war, were perpetuated, 
by which means the king was rendered more indepen- 
dent of Parliament tiian any of his predecessors. But 
before many months had passed they saw the very in- 
strument by which they considered their religious system 
was secured, and to which the king had solemnly thrice 
given his adhesion by oath, burnt by the hands of the 
common hangman ; and again, by the unjust execution 
of that great statesman, Yane, they found that a Stuart 
had only to resolve to suspend a law which protected an 
offender against the state, and he would find ready and 
subservient tools upon the bench to effect his object. 

One of the most remarkable events of that or of 
any other age was the disbanding of the army, which 
had been practically for many years the instrument of 
government : 30,000 men, numbers of them old soldiers, 
having been paid their full arrears, assembled with their 
regiments 4n different parts of the country, and, with 
the exception of 4,000 foot and 1,000 horse, were dis- 
persed to their homes. ''No roadside inn witnessed a 
brawl of their creating, no cottage door ever saw one of 
their number in a beggar's garb. Ceasing to be soldiers, 
they dropped quietly into their old honest ways, to be I 



known from other men only by their more sober habits 
and more thoughtful industry." ^ 

The exuberant loyalty of the Presbyterians descend- 
ing to servility, which, in 1 660, characterised at first the 
leaders of the people, was simply the rebound from the 
severe Puritanism of the Commonwealth. Then the 
state, godly in its conception and arrangements, had 
honestly, but mistakenly, aimed at making the people 
godly by human enactments. No public oifice could be 
held or pulpit occupied by men who did not, at least, 
profess to be religious. The village revel, with its rustic 
sports, the merry dance around the maypole on the 
green, the Christmas feasts, theatrical representations, 
bull-baiting, bear-baiting, cock-fighting, horse-racing, 
song-singing and a country walk on the Sunday were 
put on one level, all were alike considered to be works 
of the devil and had all been prohibited. To deck 
one's house with hoUy, eat mincepies and bum the Yule 
log stamped the perpetrator as a Papist. Under the 
name of religion the Puritans had built up a narrow 
social tyranny, which, because of its petty meddling 
with things not sacred, was more galling and oppressive 
than the political system of Tudor or Stuart. 

What wonder, then, that under Charles II. all that 
was noble and good in Puritanism was confounded with 
its failings, its weaknesses and its miserable exuviea, and 
both the court and the nation rushed into an opposite 
extreme, one in which godliness had neither an assumed 
nor a real place. Lewdness, debauchery and the duello 
became the marks of the fashionable gentleman. The 
poems of the day are revolting in their fleshliness ; the 
drama, redundant with wit and sparkling with genius, 
is foul with obscenity, and its lessons are the reverse of 
those of morality and honour. 

The stage, however, was only the reflex of the court, 
where the king 

'' Of a tall stature and of sable hue, 
Much like the son of Kish, that lofty Jew;" ' 

'' Who never said a foolish thing 
And never did a wise one/' ' 

led the revels; and in his love of what was false and 
vile, in his contempt of virtue and disbelief in purity 
and honesty, stood a full head and shoulders above his 
most dissipated courtiers. On the very night of his 
Eestoration day he took the wife- of Colonel Palmer as 
his mistress, and ere long made her a duchess. 

2. But the people had, to a certain extent, been 
bettered by their late masters, and a great proportion 

^ Vaughan^B Revolutions, III., 431. 
• Andrew Marvell. * KooheBter. 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



remained Puritan in belief, although th^ cast off its 
ridiculous phraeeB and exceptional prejudices. Thej 
got back their mincepies and mayxiolea ; but, ■whilst 
rejecting the extravagances of religious enthusiasm, 
they retained the habit of free inquiry, which resulted 
in a wonderful activity of scientific research and theo- 
logical latitudinarianism ; from the one school we derive 
the Eoyal Socicly (founded in 1662), from the other 
profoimd thinkers like Hobbes, and liberal Churchmen 
like Hales, Chillingworth, and that most brilliant of 
preachers, Jeremy Taylor. When Charles en tered White- 
hall, and Monarchy was restored without restriction, the 
frivolous courtiers con- 
sidered that "finis" was 
written upon the great 
revolutionary work of the 
1 7th century. Never was 
there a greater mistake. 
Amidst the exuberant 
professions of loyalty the 
spirit of constitutional 
liberty retained its vital- 
ity, and step by step the 
supreme power was trans- 
ferred from the crown to 
the representatives of the 
people. The blind, un- 
reasoning devotion to the 
crown of the old Cavalier 
had died out, and loyal 
as the nation now un- 
doubtedly was, it was a 
loyalty that discerned bow 
powerfully to influence 
all administrative mea- 
sures and to prevent a, 
wholesale policy of re- 
action. Charles and the 

House of Lords pressed ' "^ * ™' " 

hotly for revenge upon those whom the king styled his 
father's murderers; but the privy council actually con- 
tained twelve members who had borne arms against the 
king, and the Commone steadily resisted and repressed 
the cry for blood. Twenty-eight of the late king's 
judges were arraigned at the bar, but only thirteen 
were executed. An Act of Indemnity was passed. But 
not a voice was raised for the restoration of the Star 
Chamber, of monopolies, or of the court of High Com- 
mission ; the right of the king to levy ship-money could 
find no advocate, and Parliament was admitted on all 
hands to be the medium by which supplies were to be 
granted to the crown. Crown lands held by military 



tennre had ceased to be of any great pecuniar; ralue, 
but the sovereign still bdd the guardianship of orpbaoa' 
estates. Elizabeth had used this power to educate 
Catholic minors in the Protestant faith. James and hia 
unfortunate son had given their wards when they were 
heiresses to court favourites, and had even sold them in 
open market to the highest bidder. One of the first 
acts of the Convention Parliament was to free the 
country gentry, by abolishing the claims of the crown 
to reliefs, wardship, purveyance and pre-emption, and 
by the conversion of lands held in chivalry into lands 
held in common socage. In lieu of these rights Charles 
accepted £100,000 per 
annum, which, as we 
have stated, was raised 
by a general exdee, in- - 
stead of , as in justice it 
should have been, oat of 
the lands thus set free 
from ancient, although 
arbitrary, enactments. In 
his proclamation from 
Breda, Charles had so- 
lemnly promised " to res- 
pect liberty of conscience 
and to assent to any 
Acts of Parliament which 
should be presented to 
him for ita security." A 
compromise was attempt- 
ed between Episcopacy 
and Fresbyterianism, the 
Independents holding a- 
loof ; but it fell throu^, 
and the Convention Par- 
liament was dissolved on 
December 29th, 1660. 
"Salph Sadler, about 

Clifton to Frances Chamber, widow, wbo, marrying 
John Gtood, his two sons inherited and sold it, in 166S, 
to Qabriel Deane, of Bristol, merchant, and Abel 
Kelly; and their descendants sold the manor and 
manorial rights, retaining the lands, to the Society of 
Merchant Adventurers."^ 

3. The first mayor of Bristol under the Beetoration 
was Henry Creswick, merchant, son of Francis Ores- 
wick, who lived in Small street, and who had enter- 
tained Charles I. during his mayoralty in 1645. He 
had been apprenticed to Alderman Sichard Long, 
took up his freedom on 14th of August, 1639, was 
■ Eoapp'* Hudbook of Clifton, U. 



A.i>. 1661. 



INCIDENTS OF THE PERIOD. 



49 



made free of the Merchant Yenturers' Society on the 
same day, was chosen into the corporation in August, 
1643, and became sheriff the following September. 
Dismissed from the corporation in 1645, we lose sight 
of him for fifteen years, imtil, on the 19th of June, 
1660, by a writ of mandamus, he was replaced in the 
municipal body, and at the ensuing election was chosen 
as master of the Merchant Yenturers and also mayor. 
In 1663 he was made alderman of the ward of St. 
Mary-le-port ; and in 1664, for four days, he enter- 
tained James, Duke of Ormond, lord lieutenant of 
Ireland, and his duchess, en route to their yice-royalty. 
The city was at that date greatly disturbed by the 
ejection of the Nonconforming clergy, and the duke did 
his best to pacify the citizens, but he had no olive- 
branch of authority, and consequently did little good. 

It has been stated by Tovey that Creswick was 
knighted when he, with others, went in state to London 
to present a petition to the king concerning the quo 
warranto that was brought against the city. "April 9th, 
1660-1, the qiw warranto was read to the common coxmcil, 
and it was resolved that an humble address should be 
presented to the king for delaying proceedings and for 
renewing the charter. That the mayor do proceed to 
London to petition the king, taking the advice of the 
recorder and town clerk of this city.'* 

The treasury was empty, and money had to be 
found to ensure success; to go on such an errand 
empty-handed to Charles would be futile. The mayor 
and two aldermen, John Gunning and Joseph Jackson, 
furnished the cash, and the latter was paid £2 for 
tran9mitting £300 to London for the mayor, who was 
attended by his officers in new liveries. " Item paid 
for cloth, £4 16s. ; lace and trimming two cloaks when 
the mayor went to London on city business, £5 1 8s. 6d., 
and making the same, 12s. On presenting the petition 
to the king the mayor was knighted." 

There is some discrepancy here. The quo warranto 
was not issued imtil 1682-3, in February, and Cres- 
wick 's name does not appear amongst those who went 
to London on that occasion to make their peace with the 
king. Creswick was mayor in 1660-1. There was at 
that date evidently fear felt by the corporation of 
ulterior proceedings, they having gone beyond their 
charters in choosing fifty instead of forty-three persons 
for the common council, and the threat of a quo warranto 
was held over them. Charles was pleased, however, 
to accept their submission at that time, and on the 
22nd of April, 1664, he granted to the citizens an 
xnepeximusy confirming all the charters given to them by 
his father, and enacting that all the members should 
take the oaths of obedience and supremacy. On in- 
fVou III.] 



spection of the records of the Merchant Yenturers we 
find Mr. Henry Creswick, in April, 1663, registered as 
being present, but in October of the same year his 
name is recorded with the prefix Sir. In 1677 he enter- 
tained Queen Catherine at his house. Lady Creswick, 
who died soon after the visit of her majesty, had been 
a widow, named Hook. Sir Henry, who married her in 
1639, survived her only a few months, and was buried 
in the same tomb in St. Werburgh's church. Six 
knights bore his paU, viz., Sir Hugh Smyth, Sir John 
Newton, Sir Eobert Cann, Sir Humphrey Hook, Sir 
Thomas Langton, and Sir Qeorge Norton. During 
Creswick's year of office the Convention Parliament 
was dissolved, Qilbert Ironside, a native of Hawkes- 
bury Upton, was made Bishop of Bristol, and a frigate 
of fifty-two gims, the 8t, Patrick^ was laimched at this 
port. **Cophee" houses, where "tee" was sold, were 
opened in Bristol in 1660; the leaf was not taxed, but 
a duty of eightpence per gallon was imposed upon the 
drink. Parliament ordered that Mrs. Lane and Francis 
Windham be each presented with £1,000, for services 
rendered to the king after the battle of Worcester. 

Creswick was succeeded in the mayoralty by Na- 
thaniel Cale, soap maker, of whom we first read, in 
1643, as being a party to the conspiracy to admit Prince 
Eupert. In 1644 he was chosen as one of the sheriffs, 
and he contributed for the defence of the city "one 
horse completely furnished." 

On May 8th, 1661, a new parliament assembled; the 
members were mostly young men. Pepys describes 
them as being "the most profane, swearing fellows that 
ever I heard in my life." It was idtra loyal, not above 
fifty opposition members finding in it a place. To this 
parliament Humphrey Hook and John Knight were 
elected for Bristol, " but Mr. Hook did desire that the 
Lord Ossory should be in his stead, who was returned, 
and sat in the House of Commons imtil he was taken 
into his majesty's privy coimcil, and then Sir Humphrey 
Hook was in his former place of being, parliament 
man." ^ The worthy alderman had, during the interim, 
been rewarded with a title. The House of Lords con- 
sisted of 113 peers. This parliament confirmed the 
Acts of its predecessor, but it could with difficidty be 
brought to assent to the Act of Indemnity. The bodies 
of Cromwell, Ireton, and Bradshaw (or.remains supposed 
to be theirs) were torn from their graves and hung on 
gibbets at Tyburn; those of two of the noblest of 
Englishmen, Pym and Blake, were cast out of West- 
minster abbey into St. Margaret's churchyard. The 
members on entering the House were compelled to * 
receive the communion. The Solemn League and 

» OldCaL 

c 3 



50 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.B. 1662. 



Covenant was burnt in Westminster hall, at their 
order, by the common hangman ; the bishops were 
restored to their seats, and the Test and Corporation 
Act was passed in order to purge the corporations, 
which were the strongholds of the Constitutionalists, 
of all persons disaffected to the monarchy. Before 
entering upon any municipal office members were re- 
quired to receive the communion after the Anglican 
manner, to renounce the League and Covenant, and to 
make a declaration that ''It was unlawful upon any 
grounds whatever to take up arms against the king." 

On the 10th of October, 1661, the mayor summoned 
the town coxmcil, and read to them the following procla- 
mation : — 

Charles R. — Tnuty and well-beloved, we greet yon well. 
Whereas several of our good subjects were removed from the 
magiBtracy and other places of trust in that our city, during the 
late distractions, for their known affection to us and to the 
ancient and established laws of this nation, and persons of con- 
trary principles settled in their room, our will and pleasure is, 
that having first displaced all such burgesses, common council- 
men, and all other officers as have been so unruly brought in, and 
all others who are notoriously disaffected to our Government, 
you will cause to be restored such aldermen, burgesses, common 
councilmen, and other officers as were, during the late ill times, 
put out ; and that they, with such persons of' integrity as yet 
remain, may be empowered to fiU up their numbers by a free and 
legal election, that so the good people of that oui' corporation may 
with all freedom enjoy the benefit of their charter and andent 
customs. 

Your compliance herein will be of no less advantage to that 
our city than of satisfaction to us, and will give us cause to be 
mindful of you on any occasion whereby we may assure you of 
our favour. And so we bid you farewell. 

Given at our court at Whitehall, October 4th, 1661, in the 
]3th of our reign. 

By his Majesty's commands, 

Edward Nicholas. 

To our trusty and well-beloved, the Mayor of our City of 
Bristol. 

Cale foimd a grim satisfaction in turning the tables 
upon the men who for years had held office in the 
Bristol common coxmcil; he did his best to win the 
king's promised favour, but Charles does not appear to 
have been mindful of the obsequious chandler. On 
October 30th, the mayor summoned sixteen members to 
be sworn into the re-modeUed corporation ; of these five 
were conscientious men who could not take the new oath 
or conform to the church. During the year the king's 
commissioners, employed in purging the corporations, 
visited Bristol, and, in conjunction with the mayor, 
turned out of office aU who were suspected of being 
tainted with anti-monarchical principles. The fines levied 
on those who were summoned to serve, but who declined 
to take the oath, served to replenish somewhat the empty 
treasury. In 1663, Cale lent £25 to the city towards the 
cost of entertaining Charles and his court. In his old 



age Cale fell into poverty and became dependent upon 
the support of the mimicipal body of which he had once 
been the chief. 

1692. Whereas the mayor, aldermen and common councell, the 
5th day of January, 1688, upon the consideration of the low condi- 
tion of Mr. Aldennan Cale did by act of common councell agree 
and ordain that during the pleasure of this house, he the said 
Alderman Cale should receive forty pounds a yeare payable by the 
keeper or master of the Back hall unto this citty, which the said 
Aldennan Cale having received from time to time during his life 
and being lately deceased, leaving a widow in a poor sad and dis- 
tressed condition, upon consideration thereof it is this day ordered 
and ordained that Mrs. Cale widow of the said Alderman Cale shall 
during the pleasure of this house receive from time to time the 
sum of thirty pounds a yeare, part of the said forty pounds a yeare 
payable by the master or keeper of the Back hall, for the time 
being unto the chamberlain of the said citty, the same to be paid 
her quarterly by due and equal portions of which said order the 
master of the Back hall and the chamberlain of the said citty for 
the time beinge are to take notice, and to pay the same accordingly. 

This year a new barge was built for the use of the 
coimcil on the river. The treasurer's mace, which is 
silver gilt, was made, in 1662, out of the materials of 
a far more ancient one. The corporation are also the 
possessors of eight silver maces, a number exceeding 
those possessed by any other city in England. These 
were made in the mayoralty of John Beecher, 1721-2, 
and bear the names of himself and his contemporary 
sheriffs. They were added to the regalia on the occasion 
of the newly-fitted church of St. Mark being adopted as 
the mayor's chapel, in 1721, previously to which date 
(with the exception of the period elsewhere alluded to 
when the dispute with Bishop Thomborough was rife) 
the corporation had attended service at the cathedral. 
They were intended to dignify the mayor's and sheriff's 
sergeants, who bore them as the insignia of office. 

4. Contrary to the king's promise, an Act of Unifor- 
mity was pressed through both the Houses, by which aU 
orders, save those conferred by the bishops, were dis- 
allowed, the sole use of the prayer-book in religious 
worship was enforced, and an unfeigned assent and con- 
sent to aU that it contained was demanded from every 
minister. These stringent measures were followed by 
the natural and anticipated result. Nearly two thousand 
rectors and vicars, forming about one-fifth of the English 
clergy, were driven from their parishes as Noncon- 
formists; the great bulk of these were Presbyterians, 
who had themselves endeavoured to establish a uniform 
system of church government. Flogged with their own 
whip, these men were now driven to join the Volunta- 
ries whom they had persecuted as Sectaries, and to cry 
out loudly for that liberty of conscience which they, 
when in power, had themselves refused to tolerate. 

Persecution soon blended these dijffering denomina- 
tions into one, and the Church of England was con- 



ACT OF UNIFORMITY. 



fronted for the first time Bince the Befonuation by a 
powerful, wealthy, and organised body termed generally 
DisBenters. Cbarles, after a lengthened struggle, found 
these schiematicB too strong to crush, and they wrung 
from him reluctantly a legal recognition, under the 
Declaration of Indulgence, in the shape of a license 
granted to indiridnal churches to have freedom for 
worship within certain named buildings. One such 
license is preserved in the vestry of Clifton Down 
Congregational church, the legitimate successor of the 
Fresbyterian church, which, under the ministry of Mr. 



Umard"! latu li> lA 






Weeks, used to meet for worship in an upper room on 
St. James' back ; and another is preserved in the Baptist 
college. 

Charles, in his anxiety to tolerate the Catholics, 
issued a pToolamatioQ in which he exempted from the 
penalties of the Act of Uniformity "all those who living 
peaceably, do not conform themselves thereunto, through 
scruple and tenderness of conscience, but modestly, and 
without scandal, perform their devotions in their own 
way." He endeavoured in the next session of Parlia- 
ment to effect this by a bill which gave to the king the 
power of dispensing with all statutes enforcing con- 
formity in worship or imposing religious tests. The 



unconstitutional character of this bill compelled even 
the Nonconformists to withhold their support. The wise 
among them truly wished for religious liberty for all, 
but not at the caprice of any one man, and the strong 
opposition of the Commons forced the king to withdraw 
it. The church was roused, the Eoman Catholic priests 
were banished by royal proclamation, and the Con- 
venticle Act was passed, in 1664, by which more than 
five persons meeting for religious worship, other than 
that of the Church of England, were punished by fine, 
imprisonment, and, for a third offence, banishment from 
the realm. This was followed, October 30th, 1665, by 
the Five-mile Act, by which every deprived clergyman 
was forced either to swear " that he held it unlawful to 
take up arms against the king, and that he would not 
endeavour any alteration of government in church or 
state, or to take up his residence at a distance of not 
less than five nules from the place wherein he had been 
wont to minister." The House even attempted to enforce 
this oath apon every person in the nation, but this further 
measure was lost by a narrow majority of six. 

Charles had married, on the 21st of May, 1662, 
Catherine of Braganza, a sensible, amiable, but some- 
what weak princess. His first act of conjugal affection 
was to present the Countess of Caatlemoiue to her in 
open court, when it was known to all the courtiers, as 
well as to hie wife, that she was his avowed mistress ; the 
" religious and gracious " king, moreover, insisted upon 
the queen's acceptance of her as one of her ladies of the 
bedchamber, and notwithstanding her natural repug- 
nance, he finally, by harsh measures, attained his end. 
Charles, who was a thorough libertine in morals, soon 
made his court the most abandoned and dissolute in the 
annals of Unglisb history. Its profligacy reached to 
such a pitch that some of its scenes recorded by Pepys 
in cipher were found by his editor " too gross to print." 
The queen brought him as her dowry about £500,000, 
and a considerable portion of this sum the king spent 
upon his rapacious mistresses. Hallam, writing ironic- 
ally, says, "We are much indebted to the memory of 
Barbara, Duchess of Cleveland, Louisa, Duchess of Ports- 
mouth, and Mrs. Eleanor Owynn. We owe a tribute of 
gratitude to the Mays, the Killigrewa, the Chiffinches, 
and the Orammonte. They played a serviceable part In 
ridding the kingdom of its besotted loyalty. They saved 
our forefathers from the Star chamber and the High 
Commission court ; they laboured in their vocation 
against standing armies and corruption ; they pressed 
forward the great ultimate security of English freedom, 
the expulsion of the House of Stuart." Catherine was 
soon little better than a puppet in the hands of the 
reigning favourite for the time being amongst her many 



52 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1662. 



riyals, and was never free from the companionship of 
her husband's mistresses. 

That ducking-stools were still employed as a mode 
of punishment, the following incident will show : — 

1661. — Cost of a new dacking-stool £2 128. 6d. 

Oct. 14th. — It being proved before ns that good wife Orchard, 
of the parish of St. Michaels, is a common scold amongst her neigh- 
bonrs and a very disorderly person, it is therefore ordered that 
according to custom she be ducked three times in the ducking- 
stool on the Weir, and be forthwith sent to the house of correction. 

Nat. Gale, Mayor ; Joseph Jackson. 

5. The first mention we find of Eobert Gann, who 
became mayor in 1662-3, is the following, taken from 
the Journals of the House of Gonmions : — 

18th April, 1648. — Humble petition of Mr. R. Canne and Com- 
pany. — Ordered, that the said committee do make, stop and for- 
bear to pay any more money or pay unto Colonel Anthony BuUer, 
governor of the Isle of SiUey and the garrison there, until the 
said Colonel Buller shall declare for whom he stands. 

Mr. Bowse reports from the Conmiittee of the Revenue the 
state of the business of Robert Canne and Company of Merchants, 
of BristoU; that com and other merchandizes were taken from 
them by Colonel Anthony Buller, governor of the Isle of Sylley, to 
supply the extreme wants of that garison, for the service of the 
Parliament ; which, with the damage the said Robert Canne and 
Company of Merchants sustained thereby, amounted to the sum 
of two thousand eight hundred fifteen pounds eighteen shillings 
tenpence. 

Ordered, that the sum of two thousand eight hundred fifteen 
pounds eighteen shillings and tenpence, due to Robert Canne and 
Company of Merchants, of Bristoll, for com and other merchan- 
dizes taken from them by Colonel Anthony Buller, governor of 
the Isle of Sylley, to supply the wants of that garison for the 
service of the Parliament, be paid and satisfied unto the said 
Robert Canne and Company of Mercliants, or their assigns. 

Bobert Cann was of Compton Ghreenfield, and was in 
office when the king, queen, Dukes of York and Mon- 
mouth, the Duchess of York, Prince Eupert, and a great 
train of nobility came from Bath to Bristol, on Satur- 
day, September 5th, 1662. The mayor and aldermen in 
their scarlet robes, together with all the common coun- 
cilmen, and the trades' companies in their regalia^ met 
his majesty at Lawford's gate, where the mayor, kneel- 
ing, delivered up his sword and ensigns of authority to 
the king, which were graciously returned to him. Sir 
Bobert Atkyns, the recorder, made an oration ; then the 
mayor, preceding the king, bareheaded, with the sword, 
&c., borne before him, led the way through Old Market 
street. Lower Castle street, Newgate, Wine street and 
High street to the great house at the Bridge end, where 
his majesty dined, and afterwards knighted '' Mr. John 
Ejiight, of Temple street, then a burgess of Parliament 
for Bristoll, and shortly after swome maior ; Mr. Henry 
Oreswick ; Mr. William Cann, son of Sir Bobert Cann, 
the maior ; and Mr. Bobert Attkins, the recorder's son 
('but other MSS. mention Bobert Cann, the mayor, as 



the fourth, instead of Mr. Atkins'). And the next 
week following Mr. Bobert Yeamans, then sherriffe, 
attending his majesty at Bath, did likewise receive the 
honour of knighthood. When his majestic came to 
Bristoll all the streets from Lawford's gate to the 
Bridge, as the Old markett, through the Castle into 
Wine streete, and the Bridge, were all sanded; and 
about 150 pieces of ordnance in the Marsh gave three 
vollies, one when his majestie came to the Bridge end, 
another when he had dined, and the third at his depar- 
ture. After dinner the king rode in his coach with his 
queen to Bath again. His majesty and the queene (to 
use the bath) lay at Bath about a moneth, and then by 
the way of Oxford returned to London." ^ ** Sir Bobert 
Atkyns, jun., was knighted when he was only seventeen 
years old." ^ 

In the otiSLTge for disbursements are items for ''bacon 
and artichokes, sturgeon, a gross of pipes, &c. ; and the 
inns and hostelries swarmed with servants and retainers, 
who rolled about like nobles in a state of beastly in- 
toxication." * 

Sir Bobert Cann was again chosen as mayor in 

1675. One of the privileges of the mayor was the right 

during his year of office to nominate some worthy man 

as a freeman of the city. Sir Bobert (why is not shown) 

nominated a Mr. Bagnell without his consent. Bagnell 

declined the imsolicited freedom; he evidently did not 

consider it added to his dignity. 

September 12th.— Sir Bobert acquainted the House that Bagnell 
refused the honour in saucy, impertinent language, whereupon the 
House expunged the previous order and declared Mr. Bagnell 
incapable for ever of receiving such a favour. *'Mr. Mayor, for 
his great services done to the city last year, is to have the right to 
nominate another man.*'* 

A Churchman himself, fond of his bottle and not 
nice in his speech, Sir Bobert seems to have had a kindly 
feeling towards the Separatists. We read of his inviting 
all their chief men to dinner on the 22nd of October, 
which greatly troubled the informer Hellier, who, two 
days afterwards, by letter demanded the mayor's help to 
break up the meetings of the Dissenters. The mayor 
sent his son. Sir William Cann, to warn the congrega- 
tion that his father would be forced to come, and desired 
them to disperse, which they did. 

This good feeling, so far as the Presbyterians were 
concerned, seems to have disappeared by 1679. When 
the bluff old merchant saw that they, together with the 
bulk of the nation, had rxm mad on the *' No Popery " 
cry, and having himself no faith in the revelations of 
Bedloe, Oates, Dangerfield, &c., he incurred the dis- 
pleasure of Parliament by giving public expression to 

» Seyer, H., 611. • H. Smith. 

* Gloucestershire Notes and Queries, 237. * Bristol Archives. 



A.D. 1662. 



ROBERT CANN AND COMPANY'S CLAIM. 



his sentiments. For tHs, being one of the members for 
Bristol, he was called upon to give an account in the 
House, and for his blufP, graceless speech was expelled 
therefrom. 

October 28th, 1680. — An information being given against Sir 
Robert Yeamans, of Bristol, and against Sir Robert Canne, 
a member of this House; that they did in October, 1679, publickly 
declare that there was no Popish plot, but a Presbyterian plot, 
and Mr. Rowe, sword-bearer of Bristol!, being called in to the bar, 
and attesting the same, and the same being likewise attested by 
Sir Jno. Knight, a member of this House ; and Sir Robt. Cann 
being called upon by the House to make his defence therein, 
who standing up in his place did, in making such defence, utter 
several reflecting expressions against Sir Jno. Knight. And ex- 
ceptions being taken by the House thereunto, and the words being 
taken by the clerk, in writing, which are as followeth : — That as 
for the credit of Sir John Knight in Bristoll, it is such that a jury 
of twelve men, his neighbours, will not believe his testimony. 
And the House being informed by several members that he im- 
mediately added these words, ''God damn me, 'tis true ;" which 
words being read to Sir Robert Canne, and he having in his place 
explained himself, was ordered to withdraw. Ordered, that Sir 
Robert Canne be brought to the bar of this House, and do re- 
ceive a reprehension from the speaker upon his knees, which was 
accordingly done. 

And Sir Robert Canne being again withdrawne the House, 
after long debate, resolved, that it doth appear by the evidence 
this day given to this House, that Sir Robert Canne is guilty of 
publicly declaring in the city of Bristol, in October, 1679, that 
there was no Popish plot but a Presbyterian plot. Ordered, that 
Sir Robert Canne, a member of this House, be committed to the 
prison of the Tower. Ordered, that Sir Robert Canne be expelled 
this House. And then was brought to the bar of the House, and 
upon his knees received the judgment of the House for his expul- 
sion from the House and his commitment to the Tower. ^ Ordered, 
that Mr. Speaker do issue his warrant to the constable of the 
Tower, or his deputy, to take the body of Sir Robert Canne into 
custody, and detain him during the pleasure of this House. 
Ordered, that Sir Robert Yeamans be sent for in custody of the 
serjeant-at-arms attending this House to answer for publickly de- 
claring in the city of Bristol, in October, 1679, that there was no 
Popish plot but a Presbyterian plot. 

Nov. 8th. — A petition of Sir Robert Cann, knight and baronet, 
now prisoner in the Tower, was read, whereby he acknowledged 
his ofifence, and begs the pardon of the House, and to be released 
from his imprisonment. Ordered, that Sir Robert Cann be dis- 
charged from his imprisonment. And that Mr. Speaker do issue 
out his warrant for the doing thereof. ' 

In reference to the aboye. Sir Dudley North says : — 
'^Bowe, the sword-bearer, was suspected to be one of 
the conspirators in the Eye House plot, and some of the 
Whigs sought to implicate his masters in the Corpora- 
tion. Sir Bobert Oann, ever passionate and hasty, was 
so provoked at Eowe being brought up for this purpose 
to the House of Commons, that he swore by Qod he 
was a damned rogue ; for this swearing he was sent to 

^ One of the narrators adds that when the sturdy old baronet 
rose from his knees, taking out his handkerchief he dusted the 
knees of his small clothes saying, " *tis a damned dirty house this, 
I shall be glad to be out of it.'' 

* Journal of the House of Commons, IX., 642. 



the Tower, where (being a little too stiff to kneel) he 
lay till Parliament rose." 

This cannot be, we think, correct. Sir Eobert did 
apologise on the 8th of November, 1680, whereas the 
Eye House plot was not planned until March, 1 683. But 
the irate baronet evidently did not care to accept the 
decision of the House, for he contested the next election, 
and there seems to have been a double return : '' 20th 
December, 1680. The committee decided that Sir Bobert 
Cann was not duly elected, but that Mr. Bobert Henley 
was duly elected." The House did not, however, con- 
firm the report, but voted that neither of them was 
elected, inasmuch as the late mayor and sherifFs had 
imposed the following oath: — "You shall swear you 
are a freeman and that you have not voted already." 
And so the late mayor and the sheriffs were ordered to 
be sent for by the sergeant-at-arms to answer at the 
bar of the House. ^ This Parliament was dissolved 
January 10th, 1681, and so the matter dropped. 

Sir Dudley North married Sir B. Cann's daughter, 
a widow, Lady Gunning. Her father objected to the 
match until North was possessed of landed estates of 
the value of £3,000 or £4,000 per annum. North wrote 
offering to settle on the lady £20,000 to purchase an 
estate, to which Sir Bobert replied — 

Sir, — My answer to your first letter is my answer to your 

second. 

Your humble servant, 

R. C. 

North, equally laconic, replied — 



Sir, — I perceive you neither like me nor my business. 

Your humble servant. 



D. N. 



However, the old man, imable to prevent the match, 
settled his daughter's fortune on herself, and they were 
married ; but before going to church the lady, it is said, 
committed to the flames the valuable deeds, choosing 
rather to rely upon the honour and affection of her 
husband. When Sir Dudley made his first visit to 
Bristol after the marriage he, to humour the vanity of 
that city and people, put himself in a splendid equipage ; 
and the old man. Sir B. Cann, in his own house often 
said to him, '* Come, son, let us go out and shine," ^ i,e, 
walk the streets with six footmen in liveries attending. 
In his old days Sir Bobert was one of the aldermen of 
the city who was ordered from the bench to the bar by 
the Lord Chief Justice Jefferys to answer the charge of 
kidnapping. His arms were, ** az. fretty arg. on a fess 
gules, three leopard's faces or. crest in a mural crown, 
gules, a plume of six feathers arg and az." ^ 

^ Journal of the House of Commons, IX., 684, 706. 
• Life of Sir Dudley North, 167. ' Barrett, 4d5. 



54 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1663. 



"On November let, 1663, the new Speedwell was 
cast away in lanncliing at Gib Taylor, and foiir men 
and boys were drowned in her. Also in the month of 
December last year, the old Speedwell broke her moor- 
ings at the Limekilns and turned over on one side by a 
great gust of wind, and two men were drowned. 

." Several houses in the city took fire this year (1664), 
viz., the Tolzey, the Pelican stables in St. Thomas street^ 
a barber's shop in Tucker street, and a wash-house in 
the Castle, but they did but little damage. And Cutler's 
Tnill was burned down to the ground on a Saturday 
night." ^ 

Bedminster old church was re-built, the figures on 
one of the stones, 1663, have been altered by foolish 
hands into 1003. 

6. Owing to the fact that five men bearing the name 
of John Knight were more or less identified with the 
history of Bristol within twenty-five eventful years of 
the city's history, there has arisen great confusion as to 
their several characters and actions. The John Knight 
who now claims our attention was a merchant, son of 
George Knight, mayor in 1659 ; he served as one of the 
sheriffs in 1660, and was mayor in 1663-4. This man 
had a son named John, who does not appear to have 
held office; he died 29th May, 1684, six months after 
his father. Another John Knight, a sugar merchant, 
was sheriff in 1664-5 and mayor in 1670-1 ; he never 
was knighted. The fourth was sheriff in 1681-2, in 
which year he was knighted, and mayor in 1690-1, 
and the fifth is only incidentally mentioned as a hooper 
petitioning for help to redeem his brother from slavery. 
Having thus cleared the way we proceed to notice the 
career of the first Sir John Knight, who became mayor in 
1663-4. He had been returned to Parliament when only 
a simple burgess, in conjunction with Mr. Humphrey 
Hook, in 1660-1. There was a double return, the then 
candidates being Thomas Earl and John Knight. The 
latter was knighted on the king's visit to Bristol in 
September, 1662-3. Whilst member of parliament he 
was chosen as chief magistrate also of the city in lieu 
of Mr. John Pope, who, having been sheriff under the 
commonwealth in 1654, refused the mayoralty the above 
year, preferring to pay the fine. The first record we 
have of Knight in the House of Commons is where 
he complains, on the 10th April, 1663, "that he has 
been abused by one Manton, a commissioner of excise, 
because that he had in committee given information as 
to the bad management of the excise in Bristol. In 
1663-4 he, being then mayor of the city of Bristol, had 
leave given him by the House to go to Bristol to see to 
his majesty's business in that city. It seems to have been 

» S«yer, U., 612. 



his fate to have been often in hot water with hin fellow 
citizens and others. During his mayoralty there arose 
great dissensions in the city with regard to precedence. 
About this time Bristol had a plethora of titled men of 
recent creation. There were at least fourteen entitled 
to the prefix Sir, two being baronets. Sir Bobert Cann 
and Sir Bobert Yeamans, the other twelve knights 
being Sirs Henry Creswick, Bichard Crumpe, Bichard 
Hart, Thomas Earl, John Knight, William Clutterbuck, 
William Hayman, William. Merrick, Thomas Lang^n, 
John Lloyd and Humphrey Hook. We are not sure that 
these were all ennobled in 1663. There seems to have 
been a fresh crop every year, but Sir Humphrey Hook 
(as Mr. Hook) had passed the chair in 1643 ; Sir Henry 
Creswick, who had been mayor in 1660, was the senior 
alderman. Sir Bobert Cann had been mayor in 1662, 
and being of higher rank than Creswick and Knight 
(the mayor) he claimed to take precedence of them; 
the ordinary practice had been for the mayor, during 
his year of office, by virtue of his rank as king's 
escheator, to take precedence of every one in the city 
except his sovereign, then followed the sheriffs and the 
aldermen, those who had passed the chair taking pre- 
cedence according to seniority. " But," said Sir Bobert 
Atkyns, the recorder, **ever since they g^ew rich and 
full of trade and knighthood— carried too much sail and 
too little ballast — ^they have been miserably divided." 

The two baronets in the council, Cann and Yeamans, 
insisted, by virtue of their rank, to have precedence of 
Sir Henry Creswick, the senior alderman, and most un- 
seemly disputes arose. The matter was referred to Sir 
Bobert Atkyns and Sir John Frederick, of London. Sir 
Bobert Atkyns, in his reply, states that he has formerly 
delivered his opinion. 

He oonsiden it most dear that the precedency is due to Sir 
Henry Creswick in all places where they are together about the 
business of the city ; but when they meet in their private capacity 
then Sir Robert Cann, having the superior dignity, has as clear a 
right to the precedency. He considers Sir Robert Cann very ill 
advised if he come up to London to have the controversy settled 
by the Herald or Council Table, for U will but expose ta to the 
merriment and contempt qfihem that heard it. 

Sir Bobert Atkyns concludes : — 

In the first place I must therefore again advise yon to do the 
duty of your place with courage, and to let the world know that the 
name of a mayor is not an empty title, but carries power and 
authority with it, and either intntee or commands reverence. 

Much to the same effect Sir John Frederick writes: — 

And now to satisfy your desire concerning our customs here in 
London as to the court of aldermen and common councilmen : 
first, as touching the aldermen in London, of knighthood or 
knight baronet, or any other dignity given, no junior alderman 
takes precedence of his senior alderman in any court place or 
occasion of the city, but the senior alderman keeps his place as 



A.D. 1663. 



DISPUTES AS TO PRECEDENCE. 



55 



before, notwithntanding any such addition of honour. And like- 
wise a theriff that is no knight hath the precedency of any com- 
moner, dignified with that or any other honour. 

Sharp retaliatory language was used in the chamber, 

which was followed by still harsher measures. The 

report states that, February 9th, 1663, 

Sir Robert Yeamans, for his contempt and uncivil language to 
Mr. Mayor (Sir John Knight), and refusing to find securities for 
bis good behaviour, is committed to his majesty's gaol of Newgate 
within the said citty. 

Whereupon the dissatisfied baronets carried their sup- 
posed grievance to the throne, by an esf parts petition : 

The humble and loyal representation of Sir Robert Cann, 
Knight and Bart., who was lately mayor, when your majesty was 
graciously pleased to honour the citty of Bristol with your royal 
presence, and Sir Robert Yeamans, Knt., who was then sheriff, 

Humbly sheweth — That your excellent majesty having out of 
your princely favour conferred several honours and dignities upon 
us, but so it is that by a late act of the mayor, aldermen, and 
common council of your majesty's city of Bristol, it being decreed 
and ordained to this effect, that the aldermen and their wives shall 
have precedence and place of all knights and baronets and their 
wives in Bristol, contrary to the usage and custom that is and hath 
been in that city. 

Your majesty's most humble petitioners thought them obliged 
in bounden duty and loyalty to your majesty to give your most 
excellent majesty notice thereof, so that nothing on their part may 
be concealed whereby your majesty's honour may seem to be 
eclipsed, and your royid prerogative intrenched upon by any of 
your majesty's subjects, upon any pretext, in these your majesty's 
dominions ; lest In so doing your majesty's petitioners should 
become guilty of concealing anything that might turn to the 
prejudice of your majesty's most royal person, the crown and 
dignity, and because the matters aforesaid may also occasion some 
controversy in that your majesty's city, where your petitioners 
have residence. Your majesty's petitioners do most humbly pray 
that this most humble representation and petition being in your 
majesty's royal heart, such consideration may be had therein that 
your petitioners and others, upon whom your majesty hath been 
pleased to confer honours, may peaceably and quietly enjoy their 
places and precedency, and that such order may be taken there- 
upon as your majesty shall think fit, and your majesty's petitioners 

shall ever pray. 

Robert Cann, 

Robert Yeamans. 

Not receiving an immediate reply to this petition, 
which they considered the importance of the subject 
demanded, they further addressed in quick succession 
two letters to the secretary. The mayor and aldermen 
also laid their case before his majesty, which elicited the 
following : — 

Sir, — I have forborne to answer yours of the 13th and 17th 
current till his majesty had given some hearing to the complaint 
therein against Sir Robert Cann and Sir Robert Yeamans, who 
have on their part pressed us much to be heard, and accordingly 
were so by his majesty yesterday, many of the council (of state) 
being present ; and as to their point of precedency which they 
pretended to, by virtue of their knighthood, received this deter- 
mination — ^that in aU places where the body or juniors of the city 
is under any form their knighthood is not to avail them anything, 



but they are to take their place according to their seniority, the 
same to be observed also by their wives, if there be any ceremonies 
or meetings of them, as it is when my lady mayoress goes to the 
spittle (Queen Elizabeth's hospital). The wives then do take place 
according to the seniority of their husbands, but in all indifferent 
places whore there is no solemn representation of the body or 
juniors of the city, then the knights and their wives are to take 
place of all them that are not so. 

As to the other point of their withdrawing themselves from 
the publick duties of the city and countenancing factions and 
disaffected persons, there they had both of them very severe repre- 
hension given them, with a command presently to return home and 
submit themselves there to yourself the mayor for any disrespect 
done to you or the dignity of your office, which, being passed. Am 
majesty thought Jit to have them admonished, that they doing what 
they are enjoined you should receive them with all courtesy and 
reconcile them to yourself and your brethren. 

As for Mr. Knight, ^ the matter passed not so fairly with him ; 
he had very severe reproof for his misbehaviour to the sheriff, and 
order given him speedily to return to Bristol, and there submit 
himself to the process of the law, which had yet passed xoorst for 
him, if my lord-general had not interposed some good words, 
remembering his activity at the time of his majesty's restoration. 
Mr. Streamer, the sheriff, had not the good fortune to be present at 
the mortification of Mr, Knight, which certainly would have contri- 
buted to his satisfaction, neither had I seen him to acquaint him 
with it. 

In conclusion, his majesty bade me tell you how much satisfied 

he is in your case of the good government and quiet of that his 

city, and to thank you in his name for it, with assurance that no 

other encouragement shall be wanting to you as the occasion 

offers, towards which I shall readily concur with much affection 

as your very humble servant, 

Henry Bennett. 
Whitehall, February 25th, 1663. 

The admonishment and ''severe reprehension" do 

not appear to have had much influence in conciliating 

Sir Robert Yeamans, who, doubtless, was indignant at 

having been imprisoned. He evidently stood upon his 

dignity, as having been not only a knight, but also 

sheriff during the previous year, when Sir Robert Cann 

was mayor. 

1663-4, March 10th. — ^At a meeting this day, the mayor. Sir 
John Knight, desired Sir Robert Yeamans, knight, to submit in 
respect to the affront he had done to his majesty's grant within 
this city, according to his majesty's said order signified by the 
said secretary, the said Sir Robert Yeamans refused to do the same 
{i.e., apologise), but submitted, and took his place in the house 
according to his seniority. 

Secretary Bennett's letter would be supposed explicit 
and decisive enough for all reasonable persons, but the 
grandees were pertinacious and wearied the secretary 
with their reiterated complaints. Tired with such petty 
squabbles, he wrote sharply : — 

Sir, — I cannot forbear telling you that / am almost ashamed, 
as well in my own behalf as yours, to molest his majesty in the 
punctilioes that are disputed betwixt the knights and senior alder- 

^ The opposition in Bristol must have been very powerful, as 
we find that this Mr. Knight became sheriff the ensuing year, and 
was elected mayor in 1670. 



56 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1664. 



men of your city, and because I am told that some one of the 
former hath, since his majesty's determination, contested the pre- 
cedency with one of the sheriff's executing his office, * I do again declare 
to you that his majesty's pleasure is that the aldermen, sheriffs 
and common council of that city shall take their respective places 
according to their seniorities when the body and jurisdiction of 
that city is under any form or attending on the mayor, and also 
when they are doing their duties in the exercise of their respective 
offices, and this preferable to any knight whose rank and prece- 
dency his majesty declares to be only due to them in indifferent 
places, as is expressed in my former letters. Having said this I 
hope you are sufficiently directed for all decisions of the kind, 
and that his majesty shaJl hear no more of them. 

I am, your humble servant, 

Henrt Bjennett. 
Whitehall, April 6th, 1664. 

To Sir John Knight, mayor oif the city of Bristol. 

This quarrel continued for years, but it culminated 
in 1669-70, when, Sir Robert Yeamans being mayor, 
Sir John Knight, one of the members for the city, 
accused him and the mayor-elect, Mr. John KnigEt, and 
a majority of the council chamber, of being fanatics — 
i,e., disaffected to the Government. Upon this Sir Robert 
was sent for to London, and was committed to the Tower ; 
but the falsity of the accusation appearing upon exami- 
nation, the informer, Sir John, had to beg pardon on 
his knees of Sir Robert before the king. There was 
just then a conflict of jurisdiction in Bristol, and 
the mayor was upholding the civic authority. The 
Commons had passed the Habeas Corpus Act, and 
Charles was busy attempting to repeal the penal laws, 
which made him tolerant towards those who winked at 
fanatics. Sir Robert was honourably acquitted, and on 
the 21st of February he returned to Bristol, being met 
by a procession of 220 horsemen, and escorted in triumph 
into the city. 

Sir John had not yet done ; he was a most useful 
man in the House, and belonging to the High Tory 
party, was certain of a large following. So on the 24th 
of February, 1670-1, he accused the then mayor of 
Bristol, his namesake, Mr. John Knight, of breach of 
privilege, and assaulting him as a member of the House, 
and throwing him down in the street in Bristol when 
he, as a justice of the peace, was in the execution of 
his office, and by the said mayor's arresting his (Sir 
John's) servant and assistant, Richard Hyot. The 
mayor was sent for, and was committed to the custody 
of the sergeant-at-arms for breach of privilege. He 
was then discharged on his own security to appear that 
day sevennight, a committee being appointed to consider 

the case. 

After examination, the committee reported the mayor 
not guilty. Question arose "to agree with the com- 
mittee's report." Answer, "No." The mayor was there- 
1 **The sheriff's are the eyes of the may or. "—Liber. Albus, 37. 



upon found guilty by the House, and on March 28th, 
1670-1, was committed to the custody of the sergeant- 
at-arms. On April 1st he was discharged on his petition, 
and on the 20th Mr. Knight returned in triiimph to 
Bristol, being met outside the city by a procession of 
235 gentlemen on horseback, who escorted him to his 
home amidst the plaudits of the citizens. 

The informer. Sir John Knight, returned privately 
to Bristol, and not daring to ride through the city, he 
crossed the water at Lawford's gate, and so got quietly 
to his residence in Temple street. He appears, how- 
ever, to have somewhat recovered his position amongst 
his fellow-citizens in 1677, as we find him in attendance 
upon the queen on her visit to the city that year. 

He continued to represent Bristol in parliament 
until the dissolution, and served on a great number of 
committees ; within three months, in 11678, he was 
nominated on twenty-eight, some of which were highly 
important. Bitterly opposed to the Papists he took an 
active part in searching out the plots, real or assumed, 
that kept the kingdom for two years in a turmoil. A 
good French scholar, he was deputed by the House to 
translate the letters of Coleman (executed for con- 
spiracy) ; also to examine and correct a mistranslation 
of the Gazette into French. He was on each of the 
committees for searching the lodgings and papers of 
Mr. Wright, Mr. Richard Langhomey, and Mr. Ireland; 
amongst the papers of the latter he found and presented 
to the House a faculty, under the seal of Cardinal 
Barberini, for dispensing with oaths. His name was on 
the back of a bill, brought in November 22nd, to secure 
the Protestant religion against the dangers from Popery. 
In shprt his zeal for Protestantism overcame his royalist 
proclivities, and he stands forward as one of the Peti- 
tioners who were the antagonists of the Abhorrers, 
by which name the court party was desigpiated. (The 
party denominations of Whig and Tory had not then 
come into vogue.) This ecdesiasticism brought him into 
collision with old friends, whom we may designate as 
the High Court party, and caused the rupture between 
Sir Robert Cann and himself, which, as we have seen, 
ended in the expulsion of the choleric baronet from 
the House. Moreover Knight had been originally a 
Presbyterian, and in conjunction with Ralph Farmer 
had sought to establish that form of religion in Bristol. 
His son-in-law, Joseph Creswick, mayor in 1679, ** being 
ex officio one of the deputy lieutenants, and by commis- 
sion one of the captains of the train-band of the city, 
had his commission taken away, and his deputation 
revoked, for following the advice of his father-in-law, 
Sir John Knight, the old ratt," i,e, in electing Thomas 
Day as an alderman. 



A. p. 1663. 



PRESENTMENTS BY THE GRAND JURY. 



57 



Our readers will remember Sir Jolm's sensible letter 
of remonstrance with regard to the advance of the 
£2,000 gift money, in order to establish a linen manu- 
factory for the employment of the poor in Bristol. 
Although his warning did not reach the chamber in 
time to prevent the advance and to save the money, it 
proves hiTTi to have been a man of shrewd business 
capacity. 

7. The following items are not without interest. In 
1661 there is a charge for the High Cross : — 



1661. Paid William Thome, by order of the mayor, for 
settmg up the king's statue, and mending the 



£ 8. d. 



other statues 



I • • • • • • ■ 



1^ n n 

• •• ••• ••• ••• 't^ ^/ \/ 



Paid for painting the king's arms on statue ... 6 10 

1663. October 8th. Paid John Harvey, stonecutter, for 

putting up the king's effigy at the Tolzey ... 1 

Paid ditto for work about ditto 2 5 

November 26th. Paid Robt. Wilkinson, plumber, 

for work about said effigy 4 



The scxdptor was Caius Gabriel Cibber, father to 
Colley Gibber. On the rebuilding of the Tolzey, in 
1703, the statue was placed in the Old Guildhall ; it now 
stands in a passage outside the School Board room. 

1667. November. Paid William Starre, armes painter, 
by order of the mayor and alderman, for his 
majesty's picture put up in the council house £4 lOtf. 

The parliament proving intractable, and having 
brought in a bill to exclude James, Duke of York, 
from the throne (he being a Catholic), was prorogued 
on January 18th, and was dissolved on May 28th, 1681. 
Before the dissolution, however, ''Sir John was presented 
at the quarter sessions by the grand jury for affronting 
and assaulting the mayor in the execution of his duty ; 
also for stigmatizing and branding with the odious and 
ignominious names of Papists, &c., his majesty's sub- 
jects. Several persons were also presented for preaching 
at unlawful conventicles, and the constables of several 
of the wards were presented for not disturbing unlawful 
oonventides." ^ 

The grand juries about this period mixed up the 
work of sanitary and moral reformation : — 

Wee present the chamberlain for not mending the sink before 
the Henn and Chickens. For not cleansiog the Law ditch, which 
causeth the water to stop upp the waie to Glastonbury court, and 
atinketh to the greate annoyance of the inhabitants, and for not 
repairing the conduit. 

Wee doe present John Keemis, cooper, not fitt to sell ale, having 
noe child ; he keept a tapster, which are noe freeman, that have a 
wife and child. 

Wee doe present Richard Hook, shipwrite, not fitt to sell ale, 
having noe child and brews themselves. 

Wee doe present Henry Wilkes, a barber surgeon, not fitt to 
sell ale, having noe child, and alsoe for entertaining a strange 
maide in his house which are sick. 



1 Evans, 228. 



[Vol. IIL] 



At the session of St. Thomas's ward, held at the Wool hall, 
Octoher, 1666, it is ''ordered that Robert Bottemy doe remove 
his nasty dogg within this two dayes, or else be bound to the good 
behaviour." 

An indictment found against Robert Burkett, baker, ''for 
baking a dogg in a pie, and giving it to several persons to eat, 
upon certaine information to ye court that ye persons who eat of 
the same are not att all hurte by itt, and upon Burkett's con- 
fession and submission this courfc doth order his discharge, paying 
the fine of forty shillings." 

At a session held in the Merchants' hall for St. Stephen's ward, 
3rd March, 1677, it was ordered: — "That Elizabeth Pope go to 
service in three weekes, or to bee sent to the House of Correction, 
for living at her own hands." 

In this renewed persecution of the Dissenters we find 
another Mr. John Knight, the sheriff, actively engaged ; 
he was knighted at Newmarket, 1681, became M.P. in 
1688-9, and was mayor in 1690-1. 

The king summoned a new parliament to meet at 
Oxford on March 20th, 1680-1. Sir John Knight, sen., 
was one of the candidates. Particulars of this contest 
wiU be given on a future page; with it we consider ends 
the public career of a somewhat remarkable man, who, 
with strong passions, and bitter prejudices, was yet, we 
think, a consistent and, in his parliamentary career of 
twenty years (setting aside his " no popery " mania), a 
most useful man. He died on the 16th December, 1683, 
aged 71 years, and was buried in Temple Church. He 
left £20, the profit thereof to be given weekly in bread 
to the poor of the parish for ever. His son John died 
in 1684. Barrett gives his arms as ''paly of 6 arg. and 
Q-. quartered with parted per bend ermine and sable 
counterchanged, a lion rampant or." * These are mis- 
placed in the mayor's Calendar, and are charged to 
Mr. John Knight, sugar boiler, mayor 1670. The 
arms blazoned to the mayors, 1639 and 1663, do not 
belong to them. 

8. "In 1665 two closes of ground, called the Upper 
and Lower Montagues, containing sixteen acres, and a 
close called Kingsdown, of seven acres, were the 
property of Henry Dighton and Catherine, his wife, 
which had their four daughters — Mary, wife of Henry 
Foot, gent., Catherine, wife of Bobert Bound, grocer 

and shipwright, mayor 1709-10, Martha, wife of 

Hicks, Sarah, wife of David Jones. In 1737 this land 
was purchased by Giles Greville, apotheccuT" (father of 
the rector of St. Stephens in 1829). He laid out the 
same for building, commencing with the 'Montague' 
tavern, and four summer-houses in so many gardens on 
the brow of the hill, to preserve the prospect from 
obstruction. The house subsequently occupied by Mr. 
Alderman Fripp was next built on one of these gardens, 
and then a house in Sarah Jones' portion on Marl- 

« Barrett, 547. 

c 4 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



borough Hill." * The wealthy tradesmen and merchantB 
in tboae days did not go off to the seaside for a holiday, 
but migrated for the summer to such summer-houses 
as the above, either on Kingsdovn or in the country. 

Ta 1664-5 the mayor was John Lavford, grocer, 
who, dying in 1686, bequeathed £2 12s. per anntun, 
issuing out of tenements, to the poor of St. Peter's, and 
a like sum to the poor of Temple parish, to be given 
in weekly doles of bread. He also left £50 to each of 
the following parishes : St. Philip, St. James, and St. 



LangUm't Boi'ie, WiUh Buct, 17lh Cenlurii. 

Mary Bedcliff ; also to Christ church the like sum, the 
interest to be given in weekly bread doles to the poor 
for ever. Hie name occurs prominently in connectiDn 
with an attempt to eetablish a linen manufactory in 
Bristol, in competition with the fine cambric manufac- 
ture of France, when considerable opposition arose to 
the use by the corporation of the gift moneys for such 
a purpose; we shall have to refer to this subject on a 
future p(^e. 

The postage of a letter from London to Bristol was 
threepence, as appears by one from Edward Saunders, a 



solicitor, with this superscription: "To Ur. John Hellier, 
at his house in Oom street, in Bristol dtty. These, 
&c."» 

Lawford was succeeded by John Willoughby, mer- 
chant; William Crabb, carpet weaver, and Sichard 
Crump, being sherifis. Willoughby, who was sheriff 
in 1657, married Anne, daughter of Hugh Elliott; 
he was removed from the corporation at the national 
crisis, but re-elected in 1661. In 1663 he lent the ci^ 
£40 towards the entertainment of Charles II. and his 
court. He was chosen mayor and alderman in 1665. 
During his mayoralty Cutler's milla were burnt to the 
ground on a Saturday night ; they were large woollen 

It wsa ordered and ordkyned for the prerentiiig of ffrs that 
noe faggot pile« be made in the citt; by any of the bakert, bnt 
what faggota or wood they dm ihall be kept in their hoiuaa, and 
□ot elsewhere in the city, on a penalty of twenty poimdi. 

This was a salutary precaution. Several alarming 
fires had occurred during the previous year, and when 
we remember the narrowness of the streets, and the com- 
bustible materials of the houses and their merchandise, 
it is a matter of surprise that the city escaped so well. 
The Tolzey at the Council-house was burnt down ; fires 
also occurred at the "Pelican" inn, in Thomas street, 
in Tucker street, and in the Castle. At the same time 
it was enacted : — 

Whereas the coming of the ahipp* to the key pr«ve« verjr 
prejadiciol to the harbonr, and may be dangeroui in reapect of 
fyre. It ia ordered and agreed that the like engagement as bath 
beene formerly upon the coming upp of ihippa ahall be hereafto' 
given for their falling downe within twenty day* after [Le., we 
EDppoee, t« HnngTDad]. 

The use of the cucking or ducking stool was now 
not unfrequent ; — 

September lat, 1666.— WhereM Lettioe Evans, wife of John 
Evan*, of the pariah of Temple, have beat formerly ducted at a 
tommonKold; and it being this day proved that sheitill continne* 
as a common dietnrber of her neighboara, it ia thia day ordered 
that the said Lattice Evans bee ducked thia afternoon three times, 
at the usnal place according to coatoni. [The usual place waa the 
millpond at the comer of Lower Castle and Ellbroad abeeta.] 

This year (1665) six marshals were appointed "to 
attend the mayor aa constables, with the citty armea on 
their staves ; the sheriff's yeomen to wear their ooates, 
basket hilted swords, and dag^iers, without their cloakes, 
on paine to be dismissed." The following order will be 
found interesting : — 

The eighth day ot January, 1660. — It ia enacted and ordained 
that the aurveyora of the citie'a landa be fully empowered to make^ 
conaeut, and agree to any eicbange or eicbangea of any gronnda, 
or parcela of land«, moot convenient with the titlea, tenants within 
the manor of Fortiahead, aliaa Foaaett, ahail deaire to be made 
between them or any of them and tenaots and lords of other 
' Bvana, 222. 



A.D. 1666. 



THE PLAGUE STAYED. 



59 



JDMoon which have parcels of land intermixed with the citie's 
lands there. likewise, that the said surveyors do take special and 
speedy care that all the manor houses, lands and tenements, both 
in the city and county, yet unsurveyed, and belonging to the city, 
or any hospital or almshouse, be forthwith surveyed, the charges 
whereof to be paid and disbursed by the chamberlain, treasurers, 
and baiUfis of the several hospitak and almshouse respectively ; 
and also to choose and appoint four persons who are to be sworn 
before the mayor and aldermen, as usually for the viewing and 
surveying of iJl encroachments upon the citie's waste lands, who 
are to make their return unto the said surveyors, who are hereby 
empowered to order the chamberlain to pay and satisfy them for 
their pains; and upon the said returns the said surveyors are to 
take speedy course for the abating and throwing down such new 
encroachments, or otherwise to make such agreement with the 
parties concerned to pay a yearly sum into the city for the same. 

Jolin Willougliby attended the chamber for the last 
time, January 25th, 1672-3. He left two sons, John 
and Henry, both merchants. His descendant, Christo- 
pher Willoughby, was chamberlain of Bristol, whose 

lineal representative was Sir Willoughby, of Bal- 

don, Oxfordshire. This year the city of London was 
most grieyously yisited with the pestilence, the contagion 
whereof spread as far as Bristol. ''It began at Bed- 
minster, where it raged much, and soe likewise at 
Barton Eegis. Yea, it came within Lawford's gate. 
Some houses in Haulier's lane and Bedcliff street were 
infected, and some other places, as at the Mermaide on 
the Back ; and when it was belieyed it would overspread 
the whole city, as it had done London, it pleased God, 
of His wonderful mercy, to restraine it soe that it went 
noe further." ^ 

Li the accounts for 1666 are several sums paid to 
parties for their exertions in extinguishing the fire at 
the Ooundl-house. The city evidences and writings 
were removed to St. George's chapel, in the Guild- 
hall, where they were left imcared for, for we find in 
1688 a complaint made that ** they were in great 
disorder and confusion." The scorched condition of 
some that remain attest their narrow escape from 
destruction. The fire was confined to the muniment 
room, and is held answerable for many a missing 
document. 

9. Willoughby was succeeded in the mayoralty by 
Thomas Langton, son of John Langton, who was sheriff 
in 1634. Langton was apprenticed to William Cann, 
merchant, mayor in 1648. He married his master's 
daughter, Hester, and was chosen as master of the Mer- 
chant Venturers in 1664, and mayor, 1666; soon after 
his election he was knighted by Charles. He resided 
in the fine ancestral mansion on the Welsh back, 
which was built by his grandfather, John Langton, 
mayor in 1628. Sir Thomas died in 1673, and was 
> Evans, from Aid. Haythome's MS. 



buried in St. Nicholas church. By his will, dated May 
16th, 1672, he bequeathed to the poor of that parish 
£50, the interest thereof in weekly doles of bread. He 
also left 20«. per annum for a sermon to be preached 
on Good Friday for ever. The Custom-house, which 
stood on the Welsh back, was built, and the St. 
Patrick, a frigate of fifty-two guns, was launched at 
Gib Taylor, the mayor and corporation and 20,000 
people being present. Five or six hundred men were 
impressed in Bristol for service in the fleet, and one 
hundred foot soldiers were enlisted under the Earl of 
Worcester. ^ 

John Walter, a freeman, was disfranchised for a colourable sale 
of strangers* goods ; he was re-admitted upon petition on payment 
of £16. « 

June 14th. — It appeareth to us this day that Margaret Adams 
is a common scold and disturber of her neighbours. It is 
ordered yt the said Margaret Adams be sent to Bridewell, and 
from thence be caryed to ye ducking-stool on ye weare, and accord- 
ing to custom be ducked three times. 

John Willoughby, Mayer. 

Edward Morgan, upholsterer, succeeded to the civic 
chair. Our annals relate that during his mayoralty, in 
1667, "the Duchess of Monmouth came privately to 
Bristol and dined at the house of Edward Hurne, 
vintner (sheriff in 1669), on St. Michael's hill, where 
she was visited by the mayor (Edward Morgan, up- 
holder) and some of the councell. They went thence 
to the house of Eichard Streamer (sheriff in 1663), 
where she was visited by Mrs. Mayoress, and where 
a banquet was prepared for her g^ace and retinue. 
She was conducted on her departure as far as the 

Castie." 

Morgan died 13th September, 1669. He gave twelve 
pence per week to the poor of St. Thomas' parish in 
bread for ever, out of his land at Pitnell Tockington, 
Gloucestershire. He was buried in the church of St. 
Thomas, Bristol. At this period the city had only two 
public lights — one on the Quay, and one at Blind Gate. 
The chamberlain is ordered to ** issue two shillings each 
for their maintainence." The city, from six to nine 
o'clock, during the winter months, had its darkness made 
visible by ** lighted candles and lanterns," which were 
hung at the doors of the respectable inhabitants. St. 
Thomas' parish had fifty-two lights ; St. Ewen's and St. 
Leonard's, twelve each. 

Morgan's successor in office was a man whose memory 
should be held in reverence by Bristolians. A vile effigy 
in the courtyard of his almshouse in the Old Market 
street is supposed to represent Thomas Stephens, who 
was the son of William Stephens, of Bishop's Canning, 
in the coimty of Wilts, husbandman. He was appren- 
* Evans, 223. • H. Smith. 



60 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1668. 



ticed, in 1622, to James Gbugh, grocer, and was admitted 
to his freedom in 1630. His residence was near Old 
Market street. In 1656 he was chosen into the corpora- 
tion, and on his being elected sheriff, 15th September, 
1660, he refused to serve, and was fined £200, which he 
declined to pay ; whereupon he was committed to New- 
gate, '* there to remain till he shall be delivered from 
thence by due course of law." He petitioned the House 
to be discharged from fine and imprisonment, promising 
to accept the office whenever the corporation should 
think fit to re-elect him. They agreed to release him, 
and in 1668 he was elected mayor, and also a member 
of the Society of Merchant Venturers. His will bears 
date, 6th April, 1679 ; therein he directs to be buried in 
St. Nicholas churchyard, near to the spot where his 
wives and children lay, according to his degree and 
quality, the manner to be left to his surviving wife, 
Cecil, and his executors and overseers. To Cecil, his 
wife, he bequeathed his household furniture and plate, 
and £300 in money, and £100 premium, with the 
scabbard that was given him when he was mayor. To 
his old friend, Dean Towgood, forty shillings to buy him 
a ring. To the Eev. Thomas Cary, minister of St. 
Philip's, who was to preach his funeral sermon, twenty 
shillings, for which sermon £5 and a mourning gown 
was ordered to be given. To Humphrey Little and 
Bichard Hart, who were sheriffs during his mayoralty, 
twenty shillings each to buy a ring. To the poor of 
Bishop's Canning, in the county of Wilts, £10, the 
interest to be distributed annually by the overseers. 
To his brother-in-law, Mr. Jacob Self, his velvet 
tippet and £5. He appointed Eobert Stephens, his 
kinsman, executor, and William Jackson, Jacob Self, 
Robert Perry, and Bichard Ivyleaf, overseers. He 
founded two almshouses ; one in the Old Market, a 
stone building, containing sixteen rooms ; the other 
establishment is in Temple street, and contains twelve 
apartments. The annual income of these charities is 
about £731. 

In May "a child was drowned in a tanpit, five people 
were drowned on the Back Quay, a cobler brake his 
neck down a pair of stairs, over against the back pipe, 
and a woman was executed on St. Michael's hill, in 
September, for the murder of her child, which she bare 
to her own father." 

In 1668 the Ud^ar frigate, of seventy-two guns, was 
built by Mr. Bailey, of Bristol, and was successfully 
launched; her burthen was 1046 tons; her complement 
of men, 432. The following extract most probably re- 
lates to the above ship ; it is taken from a work in the 
king's library in Paris, in three small volumes, now very 
scarce, describing the travels of Mons. Jorevin de Boch- 



fort. He came, in the reign of Charles H., to Bristol, 
and remained here for a considerable time. In a minute 
graphic sketch of the city he says : '' Near the place 
where the peninsula formed by the conflux of the rivers 
Avon and Frome terminates, is a fine meadow, the 
favourite promenade of the citizens of Bristol, because 
planted with noble avenues of trees (the Grove and 
Queen square), besides being the chief place for ship- 
building. The biggest vessel that ever swam upon the 
ocean was almost completed there. She mounted eighty 
pieces of cannon; the keel was measured sixty-five paces 
in length. One day, when strolling beneath these fine 
trees, I observed a ship under repair which was terribly 
mangled by cannon-shot. It was of Portugal, and 
during her voyage had been attacked by two Spanish 
vessels of superior force, as a Portuguese informed me. 
Having outsailed them she arrived at Bristol, richly 
laden with oil, wine, silk, preserved fruits, oranges, 
lemons, tobacco, sugar, and other merchandize. One of 
her owners and a seaman were killed, and five or six 
others desperately wounded, during the fight by the 
splinters of a plank ; had she encountered tempestuous 
weather, she must have sunk." 

10. Jonathan Blackwell was a vintner. He entered 
the corporation September 3rd, 1650; was elected sheriff 
1652. On 16th January, 1659, he was again one of the 
sheriffs, and was made captain in a militia regiment 
raised to protect the ciiy, he having been previously a 
captain in the trained band. On the 2nd of May, 1654, 
he was one of the signatories to the address of recogni- 
tion to Cromwell, as lord protector, and the same year 
he served on the committee for dismantling the Castle. 
He turned with the tide, for on the 30th March, 1660, 
he was one of the committee that waited on Charles H. 
with a present of £500 in gold, and an address. In 
September, 1661, he ceased to be a member of the cor- 
poration, having removed to London, where he also 
became an alderman. He is chiefly remarkable for 
having built Queen street, now known as Christmas 
steps. The sedillia, or recessed seats, in the upper 
portion of these steps, are traditionally said to have 
been erected by the inmates of St. Bartholomew's 
hospital, and were occupied by them as places for 
levying alms, and the sale of relics, scriptural MSS., 
&c., on the wayfarers passing to and fro. After the 
abolition of the monasteries, the almsmen of the Three 
Kings of Cologne often sat there to receive contri- 
butions. There is no doubt but that this was a public 
way before it was properly stepped by Blackwell. In 
1855 the upper portion was widened and otherwise im- 
proved, and again in 1881. The following is a copy of 
the original inscription on the tablet : — 



A.i>. 1669. 



CHRISTMAS STEPS. 



61 



This STREETE WAS STEPPERED BONE 

ft FiKisHKD, Sbftxmbsb, 1669. 
Thb Right Worp''. Thomas Stbvkns, 

E8QR. THEN MATOR, HvMPHBY LtITLE, 
AND RiCHABD HaBT, SHERBIFrSS. THE 

Right Wobp^. Robert Ysahans, 

Knt. k Barbonet, Matob Elect, Chables 

Powell and Edwabd Hobne, Shebbiffes 

Elect of this Gitty. 
Bt and at The cost of Jonathan 
BLAGKWELU Esq". Fobmeblt SHERRIFFE 
OF THIS CITTY, AND AFTERWARDS 
ALDERMAN OF THE CITTY of LONDON 
A BT Ts SAID Sib Robert Tbamahb, wbck 
MAYOR AND ALDERMAN of this Cmr, 
NAMED, QVEENE STREETE. 

At the end of September, 1670, Admiral Sir William 
Penn's corpse was brought to Bristol from London ; it 
lay in state in the guildhall until October drd, when, 
escorted by the trained bands, it was carried to Beddiff 
church, and there buried. 

The following accoimt, although not without errors, 
is most interesting; it appears to be from the pen of 
Mons. Bochfort. 

Most of the towns in England situated in the internal parts of 
the country, are almost without walls, or defences, which are only 
to be met with about those on the sea coasts. Bristol does not derive 
much strength from its walls except the side towards Bedminster, 
which the river Avon separates from the town. On this side there 
are three great streets, wherein are some rich merchants, and a 
very handsome church of our Lady of Redeliffe, built with a red- 
stone, and ornamented round about with figures of saints and bas 
relievos. Its bell and tower is high and very well finished. One 
may walk on the top of the church, there being a platform sur- 
rounded by a balustrade. These three streets begin at the bridge 
over this river ; it is covered with houses and shops, and here 
dwell the richest merchants of the town. Near this place is a 
pleasant walk in a beautiful meadow by the river side (Redcliff 
mead or the great gardens). Having passed the bridge you 
come to a great arcade supporting a church with a clock and tower 
on it (St. Nicholas church and gateway), which makes the entry 
into several handsome streets leading to all parts of the town ; 
that in the middle (Com street) is the principal, and forms an open 
area or market place, wherein stands the town hall and exchange. 
The street called Monia (High street) is of equal magnitude ; it 
passes by an area where some markets are held, and wherein are 
some covered market houses ; this crosses another street, which 
runs behind the Grand port and Quay. I lodged in the house of 
a Fleming, where I was pretty well entertained, both man and 
horse, for two shillings. Indeed all over England living is very 
reasonable, provided you drink but little wine, which in this 
country is very dear. The little river, which makes the great 
port, separates a small part of the town, to which the way lies 
over a stone bridge (Frome bridge, Christmas street) ; it is situated 
on the declivity of a mountain, where formerly stood a strong 
castle commanding the whole town. ^ At present its place is 
occupied by the cathedral church of St Augustine, ornamented 
with a high tower. 

I walked from thence to the port of Conquerol (Crockeme pill, 
Hungroad), in the village of De pill (Pill), where those large vessels 

^ The writer is here probably confounding the Royal fort and 
Brandon hill with College green.— -Ed. 



stop, that for want of water cannot come up to the town, from 
which it is distant three miles. By the way on the banks of the 
river I found a medical spring, near a small house, in which dwelt 
a man who explained to us its wonders and qualities, which made 
me recollect those at Bath, a town only six miles from Bristol, and 
situated on the same river where are baths whose waters are hot 
in some places and cold in others. The king has a place there ap- 
propriated for his bathing, round about which are several admirable 
pieces of sculpture. The metropolitan church in the same city is 
among the finest in England ; it is represented in the forty wonders 
of the kingdom. The ordinary walk of the people of Bristol is in 
a meadow at the end of the peninsula of the town where the two 
ports join, on account of many fine rows of trees, and its being a 
place proper for shipbuilding (the Grove, Gib Taylor, and the 
Marsh). 

The Fleming, at whose house I lodged, long kept a priest who 
secretly said mass in his house ; but it having been discovered he 
was forbidden to do it, so that at present one cannot hear mass 
at Bristol, although it is a port frequented by many Catholics- 
Flemish, French, Spanish and Portuguese. At Bristol one may 
procure a passage to Ireland ; vessels loaded with coal or iron 
frequently sailing from that place to Cork or Einsale, which are 
good seaports in Ireland. 

I was desirous of seeing, before I went thither, all that part of 
England watered by that beautiful river Severn, which passes 
through some of the most considerable towns in the kingdom. I 
left Bristol to go to Glochester ; the way lay through meadows by 
the side of a small river, whence I entered into the mountains, 
where I found Stebleton, Embrok, lerenton, Stoon, Nieuport, 
Kemlrig and Estminster, and from thence I arrived through 
meadows at Glochester.^ 

1669. — Captain Sturmey, the man who descended 
into Penpark hole, gave two dials at the Pill, and two 
more at St. George's church door. In St. George's 
parish he wrote his mathematical treatise, entitled The 
Mariner's or Artiafs Maganine,^ A fine fireplace in a 
house on the Broad quay bears the date 1669. 

In 1670 an alarming fire broke out in BedclijS street. 
There was a high wind, the candles could not be lighted 
in the hanging lanterns, and great complaints were 
made of the lack of links and torches. 

11. Incidentally we have already referred to some of 
the principal eyents in the life of Sir Bobert Yeamans, 
bart., who occupied the civic chair in 1669. He was 
son of John Yeamans, brewer, of BeddifP, was baptised 
at the church of that parish on April 19th, 1617, and 
took up his freedom at the age of twenty-six. He was 
twice married, his first wife, who died in 1680, being a 
daughter of Sir Edward Stafford, of Bradfield, Bucks; 
his second, Abigail Turner, he married when an octo- 
genarian. In 1647 he was admitted on a fine of £10 to 
the Merchant Yenturers' Society, and was chosen warden 
in 1652 and master in 1662, being sheriff of the dty 
the same year. He entered the corporation in 1661, 
and subscribed £50 towards the expenses (£1,550) of 

^ The errors are only such as might be expected in the narrative 
of a passing stranger.— Ed. 
• Collinson, UI., 151. 



62 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1670. 



the king's yisit to Bristol. The week after the king 
had left Bristol, Yeamans waited on his majesty at 
Bath, and was knighted. He was created a baronet 
(Sir Bobert Yeamans, of Bedland) in 1666. The un- 
seemly brawls between himself, Sir Bobert Oann and 
Sir John Knight, which occurred in 1662, and again in 
1670, have been described. Over the south entrance of 
the church of St. Mary Beddiff there is a carred gilded 
sword, with this inscription below it : — '' 1 686. Sir Bobert 
Yeamans, knight and baronet, mayor of this city in 
1669, gave £50, the profit thereof, to the poor of this 
parish in bread every Lord's day for ever.'' He was 
buried in the church. 

Sir Bobert was succeeded in office by Mr. John 
Knight, sugar refiner, sheriff 1664. His arms, misplaced 
in the mayor's Calendar, are "paly of seyen gules and 
sable, on a Canton gvL, a spur, or." The chief incident 
of his mayoralty was the fact of his being compelled to 
appear before the king on a charge brought against 
him as a f ayourer of schismatics, and before the House 
of Commons for breach of priyilege and assaulting in 
Bristol his namesake. Sir John Knight, member of 
Parliament for the city. His reward consisted in the 
approbation of his fellow-dtizens and a good conscience 
towards GK>d. He must not be identified with his titled 
namesakes, either the man who preceded, or he who 
succeeded him, in 1690, as mayor and was elected M.P. 
for the city in 1688. The estimation in which he was 
held may be gathered from the following certificate of 
character, which was numerously signed and sent to 
London on his behalf : — 

I certify and declare that Jofan Knight» esq., now mayor of the 
dtty of Bristol, hath from time to time given pleare eyidenoe of 
his serious and sober life, without any manner ... of his 
peaceable disposition and judgement in promoting the reconcillia- 
tion of others, aud by his earnest desire for composing differences 
wherein himself e hath beene concerned hath likewise given signall 
testimonys of Ms greate loyalty to his majesty and government to 
the hazard of life and estate in the worst of tymes, and for the 
restoration of his majesty as orthodox in his judgement as to the 
doctrine conformable in his practice to the Liturgy and govern- 
ment of the Church of England, and no frequenter or approver of 
seditious conventicles ; and further, since his elevation to the 
mayor of this citty, hath alsoe manifested his unquestionable 
abiUity, faithfullness and wisedom in the service of his majesty 
in his place ... by his prudent management of publick affi^ires, 
and by a lawful execution of his majesty's laws relating to matters 
either ecclesiastical! or dvill. 

He settled in the metropolis, and there died. We 
read that in 1706 '' John Knight, of London, presented 
to the corporation of the poor in Bristol the reyersionary 
interest of a house in High street, the sign of 'The 
George,' then in the occupation of William Burt, linen 
draper. It was occupied by Mr. Barry, bookseller, in 
1826.''* 1 H.Smith. 



In 1670 the first Oom Law was passed. It imposed 
a prohibitory duty practically on all foreign grain. 
Wheat might be exported on payment of one shilling 
per quarter customs duty, but no foreign wheat could 
be imported until the price in the home markets ayeraged 
80«. per quarter. Mr. William Hasell was deputy-cham- 
berlain of the city this year; he succeeded to the office in 
1675, on the death of John Thurston. 

12. John Hicks, mercer, was mayor in 1671-2. 
During his mayoralty the corporation purchased from 
the crown the ground-rents of certain lands, which had 
belonged to some of the religious houses that were 
abolished by Henry Vm. ; the sum paid was £3,024 
158. Id. 

In 1 672, on the 5th of January, we find the following 
record in the Journal : — 

The House being this day informed that a bark called by the 
name of WHOiam and Thomas, belonging to foreigners, has for 
several years lay sunk behind Sir Humphrey Hook's house [on or 
near the Assembly-rooms, Prince street], over against CSanon's 
marsh, fall of holes and almost decayed, to the prejndice of the 
river and the hindrance of ships passing up and down, a ccnn- 
mittee was formed to consider the best method of removing the 
obstruction. 

Finding, after six months' consideration, that they, 
as conservators of the river, had no power to act, with- 
out the assent of the grand jury, they transferred the 
whole affair to them ; and on the sessions held June 6th, 
1672, no owners being found, or any persons who could 
be made liable for the expenses, the grand jury ordered 
** the said ship so sunk to be ripped up or otherwise for 
the preservation of the river, and the mud and dirt to 
be removed, and the water-bailiff, the sword-bearer and 
the quay-keeper were ordered to take speedy and effec- 
tual care for putting the same m execution according to 
the law of this court, and they shall be held sacred, 
harmless and indemnified." 

The rude license which had broken through all the re- 
ligious restraints of Puritanism had produced its natural 
result — ^vice, licentiousness, profanity of language, and 
an utter disregard of the sanctity of the Sabbath. Bishop 
Ironsides was dead, and Ouy Oarleton had been elected 
in his stead ; Archbishop Sheldon could urge upon the 
clergy the execution of the Conventicle Act, ''that blessed 
work .... for our great advantages ; " ^ but the moral 
and spiritual education of the people was a matter 
which neither he nor his clergy ventured to attempt. 

The civic authorities in Bristol, finding the ecclesias- 
tical power impotent, took the matter into their own 
hands, and endeavoured to make the Sabbath day decent, 
if not holy, by legal means. They therefore ordered, in 
January, 1672, that the constables of the wards of St. 

1 Doc. Annals, II., 276. 



AJ>. 1671. 



MILLERD'S MAP PUBLISHED. 



63 



James, 8t. Nicholas, St. Stephen and St. Maiy BeddifF, 
together with Temple, should patrol their respective 
wards every Lord's day, stafE in hand, not only during 
the time of divine service, but also before and after- 
wards ; they were to *' disperse all imlawful assemblies, 
whether of children or otherwise, who shall be pro- 
faning the day by using unlawful recreations, making 
of uproars, breaking the peace, or other disturbances of 
his majesty^s subjects;" they are particularly ordered 
'* to learn the names of the parents, or masters of such 
children or servants, likewise of the schoolmasters and 
schoolmistresses where they are taught," to give an 
accoimt of them on the Monday to the mayor and alder- 
men, in order that due punishment may be administered. 
It is further ordered that the chief constables of the 
wards of All Saints, St. Ewen's and Trinity do each 
send one constable, with his staff, to the Tolzey, to dis- 
perse all persons found walking there during the time 
of divine service, and '' such as they shall there find and 
who will not depart " they are to report their names and 
residences, as above mentioned. 

Alderman Hicks was no favourer of dissent, for on 
the 28th of February, 1675, we find him paying in the 
sum of five shillings, obtained by distraint of the con- 
stable of St. Stephen on the goods and chattels of Sarah 
Edwards, for being present in a conventicle held in the 
parish of St. James (the occasion was on the 14th of 
the month, the king's licenses having been withdrawn 
on the 12th, the very day that Mr. Weeks, their teacher, 
was seized and thrown into Newgate, Hicks being for- 
ward in his apprehension) ; he also paid in five shillings 
obtained from John Morley in a similar manner, and 
five shillings which the constables and churchwardens of 
St Ewen's had distrained on the goods of Philip Neade. 
Hicks died in 1701. He left to the mayor and alder- 
men the sum of £12 lOs. for such of ''the poor of All 
Saints parish as do not receive alms;" also ''the profit 
of a house in Temple street to six of the poorest men 
or women of St. Peter's parish, not receiving alms, yearly 
on the Idth of February for ever." 

In the year 1671, Millerd published his "Exact 
delineation of the famous dttie of Bristoll and suburbs 
thereof composed by a scale and ichnographically de- 
scribed," in a plate of 9in. by lOin. ; and in 1673 he 
published his four-sheet map, which has a border of 
engravings of many of the old buildings then extant, 
which greatly adds to its interest and value (many of 
these are reproduced in this work). The tower of 
the White lodge, which stood on the brow of the hill 
overlooking Le win's mead, at the junction of Colston 
street and Perry road, was only destroyed when the 
last-named road was formed. The Old park was then 



known as Little park. At the foot of Christmas steps, 
opposite to the entrance to St. Bartholomew's hospital, 
there was a slip called Prior's slip, and several ship- 
building yards, between which and Frome gate there 
was only one house. The Pest house was in the field at 
the end of Newfoimdland lane. The bridge over the 
moat in Queen street, Castle precincts, was called Castle 
bridge; and Limekiln lane, Castle mead, now Bread 
street, led up to two limekilns ; Cheese lane, boimding 
St. Philip's churchyard, passed a glass house on the left, 
and was named Cold harbour. There were brick-kilns 
in an enclosed field upon the right-hand side of the lane, 
and the portion of land which ran parallel with Temple 
mead upon the opposite side of the Avon, was called 
King's marsh. Upon the Temple side of the river 
Tower Harratz was the first, and considerably the 
largest, of four towers on the wall between the Avon 
and Temple gate; within these was the Back close, 
where woollen cloths were hung out to dry, and Temple 
back was planted with trees from a slip behind Temple 
church nearly to Coimtess slip. Pipe lane was Back 
Avon walk ; Three Queens' lane was Ivie lane ; opposite 
to it was Mitchell lane. In the quadrangular space 
formed by Portwall lane, Beddif^ street, Three Queens' 
lane, and Thomas street, there was a glass house. Bed- 
difp hospital was at the distance of six houses from 
the "Saracen's Head" inn. Guinea street was Treen 
Mill lane; it made a curve round a windmill on the 
right (both mill and lane being outside the city wall) to 
Treen or the Wooden mill, having on the left' hand, at 
its junction with the river bank, the Passing slip, which 
is now the inner lock of Bathurst basin. There was a 
glass house on Beddif^ back, within the city wall, and 
the spaces lying between the river and the houses in 
BedclijS street, between that and Thomas street, between 
the latter and Temple street, and between that and the 
Back close, were laid out in fertile gardens and orchards. 
The Weavers' old chapel stood in one of these open 
spots, between the two streets. Temple and Thomas, 
near to the north end. The Welsh back, as far west as 
King street, was built upon; so were both sides of King 
street, but all the rest of the Old Bristol marsh (the 
Orove and Queen square) was open ground, well planted 
with trees; it was used as a recreation ground and a 
public promenade by the citizens. One portion of it, 
between the Ghrove and Prince street, was enclosed, 
and used as a bowling green. Sir Humphrey Hook's 
house stood near the site of the Assembly rooms, on 
the north side of Prince street, with its garden extend- 
ing nearly to the quay, together with four small houses 
adjoining, between it and Thunderbolt street; this 
latter, together with Alderskey lane, was lined on both 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



flides with dwelling. The space between King street. 
Marsh street, Maiden tavern lane, Baldwin street, and 
Back street, had a fringe of houseB all round it, hut 
within were pleasant gardens and orchards. It waa one 
of these garden houses, situated on the wall in King 
street, that Bobert Bedwood gave for a library. Upon 
the opposite side of the cut for the riTer Frome, known 
as the Narrow quay, Canon's marsh was without any 



Fae itmUi dT iflUcrd'f llap nf Hit Cttf if BrWal. 

houses ; there was only a single dwelling on the bank, 



south-west of St. Augustine's church; pleasant gardens, 
and cherry and apple orchards, stretched away in a long 
parallelogram, past the cathedral on its western side, 
until, passing the Lower College green, they ended in 
the flowery meadow which has become College street. 
The old Monastic, now the Deaneiy, bnildings in a 
quadrangle surrounded Lower College green. Behind 



A.D. 1666. 



ENCOURAGEMENT OF THE WOOLLEN TRADE. 



65 



the houses which bordered the south and west sides of 
the tongue-shaped piece of land that projected from 
Pipe lane to College green, there were orchards and 
pleasure grounds ; between Cow lane (now Park street 
viaduct) and Leopard lane were gardens, &c., on both 
sides, a few houses on the north side, but not one ad- 
joining it on the south. This was also the case with 
Limekiln lane. Bullock's park extended from Brandon 
hill to Park row, and thrust a spur down to Stoney lull ; 
a few scattered houses, set in market gardens, dappled 
the hill in the triangle formed by the Blind Asylum, 
the Boyal fort, and Church lane, St. Michael's. St. 
Michael's hill had a steep narrow lane leading up to 
the gallows. Stinkard's dose nestled in under the 
Boyal fort ; Horfield road was through fields on either 
hand. From Maudlin street (the eastern end of which 
became the site of the Lifirmary) and St. James' priory, 
gardens ran right up the hill to King^down. Stoke's 
croft, from North street corner, consisted of pleasant 
fields. East of the Barrs, King street, and Merchant 
street, the fields came up to the back of the houses, 
save on the Weir, where the dwellings were thrust out 
into the country as far as the Baptist burying-ground 
in Bedcross street ; still further east did they line the 
Gloucester and the London roads; on the latter they 
extended nearly to Lawrence hill and the forest of 
Kingswood. On the Broad quay there was the Lower 
slip, not far from the end of Thunderbolt street, and 
another, set obliquely to the river, near the Great tower. 
Marsh street curved up to St Leonard's gate. Stephen's 
and Baldwin streets (Clare street was not then made), 
and two narrow passages, Kose lane and Swan lane, led 
from Marsh street in parallel lines to the river. The 
one bridge over the Avon was Bristol bridge; that 
nearest the sea on the other river was the Frome bridge. 
Shipping came right up to the Quay head, there being 
no drawbridge to hinder ; at low water they lay supine 
in the muddy bottoms of both Avon and Frome, and as 
the tide flowed they were warped in to the quay wall, 
and the work of loading and unloading went on. Men 
worked, and were paid generally when employed about 
shipping, by tides, not by days ; night work was double 
pay, and Sunday work double the week days' remunera- 
tion. In 1673 ** the thanks of the House, with a piece 
of plate to the value of £10, was voted to Mr. James 
Millerd for his present of a map of the citty, being the 
largest, exactest, and handsomest that was ever yet 
drawn of this citty." This map is valuable on account 
of its rarity, the copper plate having been destroyed; 
it is at best a poorly-executed work in point of engrav- 
ing. This was followed by an oblong view of **The 
citty of Bristol," but there being no gratuity forth- 
[VoL. m.] 



coming from the corporation, Millerd engraved a cur- 
tain over the dedication. The copper plate of this is, 
we believe, stUl preserved. 

Millerd's first example was followed by the dedica- 
tion to the Merchant Venturers of '*Two bookes of 
maps and armes," by Bichard Bloome, for which the 
corporation voted him £5, and the society of Merchant 
Venturers "voted him £10 for his civility for his 
present of two bookes, with our coat of armes in the 
front of each volume." Li 1678 Bichard Wallis was 
also presented with £5 for a map of the arms of trades, 
but a significant note follows this entry: — "In future 
no present of like nature to be accepted where a gratuity 
is expected." 

13. In 1666, in order to give encouragement to the 
woollen manufacture of the country, which was then its 
staple trade, it was enacted that no person should be 
buried in any other than grave clothes composed entirely 
of woollen, under a penalty of £5, to be paid to the poor 
of the parish ; this penalty being found to be inadequate 
it was afterwards increased. We have but two notices 
of Christopher Cbiffiths, merchant, who was mayor in 
1672-3 ; one is that on Trinity Sunday he and the mem- 
bers of the common council met at the Tolzey and went 
thence to hear a sermon by Dean Towgood, and received 
the sacrament at his hands, under the Act known as the 
Test and Corporation Act. This they were compelled to 
do, or forfeit their position ; for no man could hold office 
under the Government, or occupy a seat in the council, 
without partaking of the eucharist, which was thus de- 
graded into a political test. The other notice is in the 
shape of a certificate that ''Christopher Griffiths was 
buried in St. Nicholas church, in December, 1687, and 
that he was not put in, wrapt, or wound up, or buried 
in any shirt, shyft, sheet or shroud made or mingled 
with flax, hemp, sUk, haire, gold or silver, or any other 
material, but sheep's wool only ; or in any coffin lined 
or furred with any cloth or stufp, or any other thing 
whatsoever," &c. This is attested by two witnesses 
sworn before Sir Bichard Crump, knt. Around this 
certiflcate there is an emblematic border, rudely sketched 
in ink of skulls, crossbones, mattocks, spades, hour 
glasses, &c. 

In January there fell so much rain that on the 1 7th 
aU the meadows around the city were flooded to a depth 
of four feet six inches; many cattle were drowned, a 
great deal of hay was swept away by the flood, and 
much damage was done to the com. The following 
year wheat was very scarce and dear, and large quan- 
tities had to be imported. 

The experiment of using the tide as a motive power, 
which will some day we cannot but think, when fuel has 

P 



66 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1673. 



become scarce and dear, be successfully accomplished, 
was tried this year in Bristol. A water mill was built 
upon a lighter, at Gib Taylor, by Thomas Jayne, a 
house carpenter ; it worked upon the ebb tide only, and 
ground com at the rate of two bushels an hour. It was 
pulled to pieces at St. James' fair in September. '' This 
year the conduit in the middle of Thomas street was re- 
moved to the end of Church lane, and the sheep market, 
with a wool market- room over it, was built, having been 
removed from the north side of the church. This year 
also was the Cathedral church, Christ church and spire, 
and St. Stephen's pinnacles, tower and church, new 
mended and flourished."^ 

Guineas were first coined in the year 1673, but we 
have no record of any having been minted in Bristol. 
Bichard Streamer, merchant, was then mayor. " Queen 
Katharine came to Bristol July 1 1th, 1674, and was hon- 
ourably entertained at Sir Henry Creswick's. The effigy 
of King Charles II. was removed on the leads nearer 
the Council-house by the persuasion of the Duchess of 
Cleveland, who came with the queen ; it standing and 
being before, as she said, like a porter or a watchman." ^ 

Streamer's name occupies an unenviable position in 
the annals of the persecutions in Bristol, but he appears 
to have had a sense of what was due to decorum and 
public morality ; he would not prostitute the civic dig- 
nity, or bow shamelessly before the king's lemans. 
Although a bigot, he was an honest man, hence no 
g^ded spurs fell to his lot. *' On the 1 1th of September, 
1673, the Countesse of Castelmaine (one of the king's 
mistresses) rode into this cittie in her coach, in pompe, 
attended by Sir John Churchill of Churchill, togeather 
with Sir Thomas Bridgis, of Oainsham, and their ladies, 
with their retinue of servants ; and rode by the Tolzey, 
and downe Broade street, and soe along the Key, where 
the great guns fired as she passed along. She alighted 
at Alderman Olive's, at the Three Tuns » in Wine street, 
and was there entertained at the cost and chardges of 
the said Sir John Churchill."* To the credit of the 
corporation they ignored her visit; but as a contrast, 
and to show that it was from no sordid motive that they 
had been so reticent, we note that the Marquis of Wor- 
cester, lord lieutenant, was entertained right royally by 
the citizens. On the 7th of August it was moved in the 

^ Old MS. 

« Seyer, XL, 514-15. [We very much doubt whether the 
queen visited Bristol before 1677. — Ed.] 

» The Three Tuns was the house which, in 1825, was occupied 
by Mr. Morgan, silversmith. The sign was part of the arms of 
the Brewers' Company, as may be seen on two houses in Mary-Ie- 
port street, and one in the Pithay, adjoining Tower lane, also on a 
shield on a chimney piece in a third house in Mary-le-port street. 

♦ Seyer, IL, 515. 



chamber, '* that the marquis be invited to visit Bristol, 
and that he be entertained at the charge of the dty. 
That Sir Bobert Oann and Sir John Knight ride over to 
Badminton, and present the invitation in the name of 
the mayor, aldermen, and common council." (Coach hire 
to Badminton, S6s.) It was further ordered that the 
mayor and aldermen ** do consider and resolve as to the 
manner of his reception and entertainment; and that an 
humble address be presented to him for the appointing 
such lord deputy lieutenants as are citizens and not 
country gentlemen." **The country party," Macaulay 
says, *^ included all the public men who leaned towards 
Puritanism and Eepublicanism." The charge on the 
city fund for the entertainment of the marquis amounted 
to £237 4«. lid, ; of this sum £122 U. 4d, waa disbursed 
by the mayor, 18«. 9d, by Captain Joseph Creswick ; and 
Nicholas Dupont, the French cook, received £1 14 4«. lOd. 

14. The next year Ealph Cliff, innkeeper, landlord 
of the ** Three Tuns," in Wine street, who said he took 
office solely to persecute the Nonconformists, was chosen 
as mayor. He had been sheriff in 1664; he was a 
great wine-bibber and hater of dissent; his name has 
become as notorious as that of Hellier for his ran- 
corous cruelties in carrying out the Conventicle Act 
against his inoffensive fellow-townsfolk. It was in his 
back parlour over their potations that the chief perse- 
cutors used to meet on the morning of the Lord's day, 
whence, as soon as the bells had ceased, they issued 
forth on the foray, in organised bands, to pounce upon 
their humble victims who were engaged in divine 
worship. 

Out of the whole number of the corporation only 
about eight or ten of its members have their names 
associated with these acts of religious intolerance, and 
of these several were compelled by their official duties 
rather than by an act of willinghood to take the steps 
which they did. The law was thrust upon them by the 
Q-ovemment, but the majority of the chamber declined 
to act, and Cliff, the vintner, the tenant of Hellier, the 
chief persecutor, was elected to do the dirty work. The 
royal proclamation against Catholics and Dissenters, 
now that the Declaration of Indulgence was withdrawn, 
had led to the adoption of more rigorous measures, for 
the execution of which unscrupulous, ignorant, and 
vulgar men were especially fitted. Nine years later, 
in 1682-3, Charles, in order to break up the growing 
democracy of the cities and boroughs, had seized, by 
quo warranto y the charters, first of the city of London, 
and then proceeded to secure his aim (absolute power) 
by seizing, amongst other places, the charters of Bristol. 
A servile ignorant tool was necessary; such a one existed 
in Bristol ; true he had previously served as mayor, and 



TIMBER-FRAMED HOUSE IN HIGH STREET. 



so was, by the ordinances of the city, incapacitated for 
office; but the king's will could override the city's by- 
laws, and by especial command from his most gracious 
majesfy, the corporation were ordered to elect Balph 
Oliff as their chief magistrate for a second term. Sut 
a greater king than the tall, swart man, who wore the 
English crown, was waiting for his subject. Oliff was 
carried in his chair to the guildhall, where he took the 
oaths amidst the ringing of bells, firing of cannon, and 
the tumultuous shoutings of the rabble, and then was 
taken home to die, which event occurred within twenty- 
four hours; he was sixty-four years of age, and was 
buried in the chancel of All Saints church. His son, 
Kalph, shared in his father's antipathies; he predeceased 
him by two years, dying, in 1681-2, at the age of thirty- 



ore jumbled in bewildering confusion. The Ch-eat 
house was an obstruction. Its removal was ordered, 
which did not then remove the obstruction. A record, 
1675, informs us that: — 

Whereas ye Great hoase att ye Bridge ear], wbereiii Nehemia 
Webb dwelt, wu tutely taken down and u nov in new baildiog, 
and in ye erecting of ye aaine, some part of ye new building ii 
much beyond its dne bounds and limita, done without le«ve or 
licence, to the straighteaiag and nnrrowiiig of the common street, 
and esteemed to be a great nnisance. Report thereof being this 
day made to the mayor, aldermen, and common council, in com- 
mon council assembled, and of the view that bath been made 
thereof by Mr. Mayor, and the surveyor of tbe citty lands, 
according to cnstome. Itt is ordered that the sarveyor of ye 
citty lands doe according to an "Act ot common couociil in yt 
behalf forthwith order the citty carpenter and masons in their 
presence to take and beat downe the tame new building, *oe be- 
yond ita due bonnds and limits as aforesaid. And fur soe doing 
tluB order and ordinance of ye houso shall bee their warrsnl ; and 
itt was done sccordbgly." 

On a very grotesquely carved bracket within the shop 
window of the curious old timber-framed house which 
stands at the comer ot High and Wine streets, is the 
date 1676. Tradition avers, we think correctly, that 
the house was constructed in Holland, and then brought 
to Bristol and re-set up in its present position. There 
is also a good specimen of a leaden snow box attached 



The Oxford, a 54-gun ship, 683 tons, and for 274 
men, was launched at Bristol; on St. John's day the 
weathercock of St. John's church was blown down, 
another was put up in 1676. 

Sir Robert Gann succeeded Oliff as mayor, and " in 
his year Bobert Aldworth, the town clerk, died, and 
John Bomsey, was chosen as his successor, who did his 
utmost to set tbe king against the city." ^ Forty feeling 
ran high, and this is the 
record of a polltlcol oppo- 
nent, and must be token 
eum grano lalu. 

15. At 281, Vol. I., we 
have given an engroving of 
the Oreat house at the 
Bridge end, the residence 
of Eobert Bogers, who was 
mayor in 1622. 

Tbii moior, as his estate was 
greate, soe he poeseded the same 
uot without trouble : leaving it 
to his Sonne, a knight, he enjoyed 
not the same above three yeares, 
and then dyed ; and his stately 
hoose, fit for a king's palace, was 
turned into a tsTeme. 

The old house had a 
ghost, o "headless shade," 
highly sensational, and there 
are traditionally preserved 
some silly doggerel lines 
containing o prediction, is 
which the plt^ue, the fire 
on the bridge, tbe trial of 
Teomans and Boucher, the 
destruction of the Castle, 

■ Evans, 227. Tiitbtr-fiaiifi Bi«m at Corner i/ mgh niul IFint SIrttU. 



68 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1676. 



to the front of the house, No. 34 in High street, that 
bears the date 1686. 

Copy of a hiUfor a yearns hoard, clothes, and education, qfa young 

lady at Bristol, m the year 1677. 



It. 
It. 
It. 

It. 



Laid out for HANNAH as foUoweth : 

"ImpriB. For a payer of shooes 

It. For making her new coat longer 

For a necklace and mending a pr. of shooes 

Paid for a payer of shoes 

Mending her old coat and for ribbon to border itt, 

and for a lace and sampler and thread 

For paper and for a payer of sizers and rebon for 

her dressing box 

It. For a payer of shooes and shooe points 

It. For mending her shooes 

More laid out than I had of her mother for a 
payer of boddises, a hood and a skarffe 
It. For a payer of shoes and mending a payer of shooes 
It. For a lace and mending her two coats and for 

A w vl.r\#AA •■• ••• •■• ••» ••• ••• ••• ••• ••• 

It. For a fan and making her lacest petticoat and 
bordering 

It. Paid for 2 purses for her 

It. For a yeare*s Schooleing 

And for her yeare*s Tableing 

Sum totall 

More for a payer of shooes 



lb. B, d. 
00 01 08 
00 01 00 
00 00 08 
00 01 06 

00 02 00 

00 03 06 
00 01 10 
00 00 C4 

00 03 06 
00 02 00 

00 04 01 

00 04 06 
00 02 00 
00 17 00 
10 00 00 

12 05 07 
00 01 07 



In all 12 07 02 

<<0n the 15th April, 1676, Nathaniel Haggard, 
William Powlett, John Bomsey, Edmund Jones, and 
James Ghregory, petitioned to be town derk. The first 
three were proposed; John Eomsey was elected (and 
made a free burgess of the city). Voted that town derk, 
steward, and other officers, shall always give place to 
all the council." This is the first mention of Bomsey, 
but his house in King street bears date on its door, 
1664, and has the initials j.\ It was here that he 
entertained Judge Jeffreys in 1685. The ''Llandoger" 
tavern, in the same street, is about the same date. 

August 29th. — Sir W. Waller claimed the right to 
prisage of all wine imported into Bristol in Whitsun 
week. 

16th September.-— Ordered no great guns, or mur- 
dering piece, shall henceforth be discharged or fired at 
the key. 

1 6. Alderman William Crabb, during whose mayor- 
alty, in 1676, the attempt was made by Ouy Carleton, 
the bishop, and the dean and chapter, to obtain certain 
priyileges, and to impose an inquisition upon the dti- 
zens, the mayor writes to Sir John Knight that " they 
are surreptitioudy seeking, without the privity of the 
corporation, to procure a clause to be inserted in the bill 
for the endowment of poor vicarages, or in some other 
act now pasdng, that will be adverse to the city's 



interests," and he advises the members to be on their 

g^ard, to watch, and carefully inspect all new local 

acts, lest the city be surprised in an affair of such 

magnitude. 

The rupture between the Cathedral authorities and 

the civic dignitaries, in 1609, had never been thoroughly 

healed. A committee of the council was now appointed, 

who, on May 12th, 1676, wrote : — 

To the Honourable Sir Robert Atkyns, one of the JuBtices of his 

Majesty's Court of Common Pleas. 

My Lord, — We have desired Sir John Knight to deliver you a 
copy of a paper given in to us by the dean and prebendaries of the 
church of Bristol, the purport whereof is to exempt themselves, 
not only from the jurisdiction of the city, but in truth from all 
temporal jurisdiction whatsoever, which, in our opinion, will not 
only be a great infringement of the liberties and privileges of the 
city, but also of very ill consequence, and pernicious to the 
Government ; the particular transaction whereof we refer to the 
relation of Sir John Knight. In a case of this moment and diffi- 
culty, we make it our request to you that you will be pleased to 
afford us your advice and assistance with Sir John Knight, to 
support our rights and undoubted immunities ; and the frequent 
experience we have of your readiness to promote all good acts for 
the weal and preservation of this city assures us of 3'our granting 
the request of, 

My lord, your lordship's most humble servants, 

William Cbabb, Mayor. 

Thomas Stevens. 

Robert Cakk. 

John Lawford. 

Richard Streamer. 

Meanwhile it would appear from the following letter 
that the ecclesiarchs had been carrying affairs with a 
high hand, even going so far as to arrest the mayor, 
probably for contempt of the Ecclesiastical court, but 
we have not been able to £nd any record of the tran- 
saction except the following : — 

Bristol, 18th June, 1676. 
To the Honble. Sir Robert Atkyns, Ac. 

My Lord, — ^We make bold to acquaint your lordship that the 
dean and chapter persevere in the contest with the city with un- 
seeming rigour and severity, cm by arresting qf the mayor, by 
endeavouring to obtain a commission of charitable uses, in which 
they nominate none but creatures of their own to be commissioners. 
We humbly beg your lordship's opinion whether we are not exempt 
by the statute from the inquisition of such commission; and if 
your lordship happen to see the lord chancellor, that you would 
please acquaint his lordship with these proceedings of theirs, and 
we are sure they will receive very slender encouragement from his 
lordship to proceed in this severe manner, and to make so great a 
breach between the church and the city and the government of it. 

Wm. Crabb, Mayor. 
Robert Cann. 
John Knight. 
John Lawford. 
Richard Crumpe. 

Sir Bobert did not '^happen to see the lord chan- 
cellor," we suppose, but he forwarded the following 
letter for them: — 



A.D. 1677. 



BISHOP GUY CARLETON'S ATTEMPTED INQUISITION. 



69 



To the Bight Honourable Heneage, Lord Finch, Baron of Daventry, 

Lord High Chancellor of England. 
My Lord, — There has of late begun unhappy diflferences be- 
tween the dean and chapter of the church of Bristol and the city. 
The ground of this contest is immunities lately set up and claimed 
by the church, much in derogation of the privileges and undoubted 
righto of the city ; and not only so, but they have endeavoured to 
shorten the jurisdiction and extent of the city by depriving us of 
almost an whole parish, claimed by them as a distinct and separate 
jurisdiction. How far tliey have been aggressors in this contest, 
and with what unbeseeming heat and ardour they have prosecuted 
this affair, by the instigation of the bishop, will be too tedious to 
give your lordship the trouble of knowing. Nor, my lord, as we 
are informed, are they contented with that only, but are labouring 
to obtain a commission of charitable uses, in which they do not 
stick to declare that they principally aim at an inquisition into the 
Arcana of the city, and have not nominated any members 
thereof, nor any person but such who are creatures of their own 
to be commissioners. We hope, my lord, that the city is exempt 
by the statute from any such inquisition ; however, our humble 
a<idres8 to your lordship is that if any such inquisition be to be 
issued forth, that the names herewith to be delivered to your 
lordship might be inserted. It is not without a great sense we 
have of the misfortune of this place to be thus engaged (where the 
church has so many enemies), that they will so industriously 
endeavour to make so loyal a magistracy at a necessary variance 
with them ; and of what ill consequences it may be that they 
should intermeddle with the government of the city, and inter- 
rupt the current of justice in a great part of it, your lordship, we 
are sure, is very apprehensible, and we are confident will not find 
countenance from so great an example of wisdom and justice as 
your lordship. 

Thus begging your lordship's pardon. 

We remain, my lord. 

Your most humble servanto, 

William Crabb, Mayor. 

HoBERT Cann. 

John Knioht. 

John Lawford. 

Richard Crumpe. 

Tlie next record shows that the lord chancellor did 
move in the affair : — 

Sir Thomas Jones, judge of assize, made it his request that Sir 
John Churchill would endeavour to accommodate the controversy 
between the city and the bishop and dean and chapter, if per- 
mitted, which was agreed to, a report to be made to the House for 
its final determination. This order to be kept secret, it being by 
vote of the House agreed to be secretly communed of, and that no 
person presume to discourse of it under severe penalties. 

The dispute lingered on ; the mayor and corporation 
did not, as was their wont, go to the Cathedral, but to St. 
Mary Eedcliff church, where a sermon was preached by 
the Eev. Nicholas Penwame, who also preached before 
them in the church of St. Mark. 

On the 22nd of June, 1677-8, Bichard Crump, soap- 
boiler, being mayor, we have further correspondence on 
the subject, the following letters being addressed to 
Sir Bobert Cann and Sir John Knight, members of 
Parliament for the city: — 

Sir, — This day our town clerk (Romsey) went with ^Ir. Pen- 



warn to the Bpps. court. And by the attorney hee gives me the 
great thing expected from him in conformity to the canon in that 
project of prayers wherein he is to preferr the dignified clergy 
before the civill magistrates, and his complyance in this poynt lb 
expected to-morrow seaven-night. And if you thinke itt worth 
our while to contest itt I hope you will give us some countenance 
before the tyme is fixed, otherwise it will bee unreasonable in us 
to expose the ministers to the fury of the bpp. for a cause wee 
cannot justifie, and desire your answere, and am, sir, your afieu- 
tionate friend and humble servant, 

Richard GRusiPB. 

To Sir Robert Cann, Knt. and Barrt., a Member of Parliament at 
the Parliament House, the 22nd June, 1678. Another of the 
same to Sir John Knight. 

Knight, who, it will be perceived, was the active 

man of business, replied in the following able and 

characteristic letter: — 

London, 29th June, 1678. 

Mr. Mayor, — I have not received any lately from you, and 
since my last I find the bishopp and his clerkes have been soUicit- 
ing for another commission of charitable uses, the better still to 
affront the magistrates and trample upon them, which the lord 
chancellor refuseth till he hath spoken to our recorder in itt, who 
teUs me that Bidly had beene once there to speak with him, and 
left word with his servants in itt, and that hee would againe attend 
him. I shall take care to prevent itt if I can. Alsoe those of St. 
James's have putt in a foolish bill of seventy sheetes against the 
citty, which on perusall I finde they claim the church and . . . 
of the churchyard, as a body politique time out of mynde, and 
insist upon the commissioner's decree, which, with the inquisicion 
and all other proceedings, they fully recite ; but I shall take care 
in that allsoe and prevent their designs, if by tlie ... of many 
you bee not persuaded to bee betrayed out of your right. All 
they pretend to Mr. Homes right to be chaplain there is by a 
license from the bishopp, so that I cannot finde by their bill that 
they have any right att all. Butt John (? Hellier) has done this, 
whose trade is to live by divisions. 

I moved the court to have the costs in Sir Wm. Waller's suit 
taken off, but could not ; and this day I was summoned to attend 
the taxing it, the particulars demanded was £94 odd money. All 
I could do was to get the £44 odd money abated, so that the citty 
is taxed to pay £50 for itt, which the nexte terme by a motion 
happily may be mitigated to £40. If not itt must bee payd. 
They threaten to bring another suite about prisage wines that 
Mr. Speed had. But I bid them to take their course, and I sup- 
pose they will not, for wee have a better plea, and the citty's right 
by itt may be retrieved. You see how many troubles the citty's 
divines bring upon you, butt pray bee not hectored out of itts 
right. And if itt were my single interest I would an able minister 
to serve in St. James', Homes place, who have no right to bee 
there, yett have wee raised his estate by itt, by which hee hath so 
insolently abused the citty ; and if the bishop, under colour of 
license, may putt ministers in our chappells without our consent, 
as he hath done at St. James', but especially at St. James' which 
is our lay fee and no parish church, and wee thus tolerate itt you 
may ... to the rest of our rights in a short time. I am 
your most 

Affectionate friend and servant, 

John Knight. 

I purpose to stopp the parishioners' proceedings by a motion 
as to the profitts of the next St. James' fayre that is to bee col- 
lected and deposited till the law have ended it. 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



To tliis the following reply was sent : — 

Seuions, July Ist, 1ST8. 

Sir, —^y TOUT* to Mr. Mayor of ihe 29th of June, wee doe with 
our thankfulneu for itt obaerve your cftre of the citty, and the 
cODcecnea thereof. And that yon very early mett with a new 
attempt of reviving the comnuuion of charitable nses which is 
apparent ... by the management ... of the last . . . 
only to . . . att and prejudice the citty and government 
thereof, and doe therefore desire you to prevent that deaigne if 
possible yon can. 

And wee don't qnestion butt our recorder, Sir Robert Atkyna, 
will in this as in everything else bee assistant to you in a matter 
of Boe much importance to yon all. Wee thank yon very kindly 
for the account you give of the business of St. James's, and as wee 
have allready reserved the management of it to you, soe wee doubt 
not butt that you are very well informed of the citty's right. And 
therefore we shall on all occasions give you the greatest furtherance 
and countenance that lyes in our power to accomplish that busi- 
ness. And if the presenting of another petBonne in the roome of 
Mr. Home bee our interest, pray give directions therein, uid it 
■ball be punctually observed by ns. If the costs of Sir William 
Waller cannot be rednceed to anny lesse summe wee must bee 
contented. However, wee take notice of your greate care of us, 
and return yon our hearty thankes, and bee sure, sir, that wee 
are, sir. 

Your affectionate friends, 

Bicbard Crumps, Mayor. 
JoBH Lawfobd. 
John Cbabb. 

On the 28th of January, 1677, a. new writ was 
issued for Bristol, and Sir Bohert Cairn was elected in 
the room of Sir Humphrey Hook, deceased. 



"In 1677, the 
Eev. Richard Pen- 
I wame, minister of 
St. Stephen's, was, 
on his petition, ad- 
mitted to the freedom 
of the city without 
payment, having re* 
sided in the city for 
many years, and hav- 
ing many children, 
with the prohahility 
of having many 
more, to whom the 
freedom may be 
beneficial. On Feb- 
ruary 19th, the Bev. 
Thomas Palmer, 
minister of St. Wor- 
burgh's, and the 
Bev.Emanuel Heath, 
minister of St. Au- 
gustine's were ad- 
mitted to the freedom 
for the same reasons 
as stated by Mr. Ponwame." ' 

It was not until 1 682, in the mayoralty of Sir Thomas 
Earl, that the dispute between the civil authorities and 
the ecclesiastics was heal^. A place in the choir of 
the Cathedral was allotted for the mayor, aldermen and 
common council, t<] sit together in a body when they 
attended divine service, and a joint committee was ap- 
pointed to make the seats convenient. A unicorn, gilded, 
was put up to hold the sword, for whidi the cushion 
and cloth of state, both fringed, the corporation paid 
£21 9«. But Alderman Crabb was not then forgiven or 
forgotten ; in 1682 he was presented by the grand jury 
as the " champion of the Dissenters." He died in 1702, 
aged eighty-seven, and was buried in Temple church; 
his wife, Margaret, predeceased him in 1693, and their 
daughter, Mary, married Ezekiel Longman, a soap- 

17. "'JulySDth, 1677, Queen Katharine came from 
Bath to Bristol, guarded by the Earl of Ossory and his 
troop, and was received by the mayor and aldermen in 
their scarlet, who did ride two by two in theire foote 
cloathes on horsebacke, accompanied with the rest of 
the councell and chiefe of the cittie unto Lawford's gate, 
where the town clarke very gravely uttered a learned 
oration unto her majestie. And then after the mayor 
with all the majestrateB tooke horse againe ; the last of 
' Tovoy's Local Jottings, 



A.D. 1678. 



QUEEN CATHERINE VISITS BRISTOL. 



71 



the oounoell did ride foremost, and soe in order till they 
came to the mayor, who did ride bareheaded before the 
coach where the queene was. And all the way as they 
came from Lawf ord's gate to Smale street all the trained 
soldiers of the cittie made her majestie a guard. And 
after the major and coimcell had conducted her majestie 
to her lodging, which was at Sir H' Oreswicke's house 
in Smale street, all the trayned soldiers gave a volley of 
shott, and presently after the great guns fired. And 
after a most noble and honourable treat given by the 
mayor and councell to her g^ace, and all the nobles 
and guard that attended her, she rode in her coach 
to the Hott-well, being attended by the said Earl 
of Ossory and other nobles, togeather with Sir John 
Knight of this cittie, being then Parliament-man and 
burgiss for this cittie of Bristoll, and her guard, and 
there did stay a little time, and dranke some of the Hott- 
well water (but one MS. says she went to the Hot-well 
before dinner). Presently after she returned to her 
court in Smale street, where after a little repose she 
took her leave, and returned the same day to Bath.' 
Some MSS. date this visit July 11th, 1677, which ap- 
pears to be an error arising from the queen's [supposed] 
former visit in 1674. 

"July nth, 1677, the same evening on which the 
queen was here, a ship called The Friendship was by 
accident burned at the g^aving-place near the Marsh." ^ 

At the visit of the queen the churchwardens of the 
several parishes were ordered to have the church bells 
rung. The streets from Lawford's gate were sanded up 
to Sir Henry Creswick's door. All the House was ordered 
to appear in black clothes, and as her majesty had to 
pass Newgate the sheriff was to order the gaoler to keep 
the poor prisoners away from the gratings. The cost of 
the entertainment, £446 2«. 8(^., was defrayed by the 
city, and the mayor. Alderman Crump, was consoled for 
the preference shown to Sir Henry Creswick's hospi- 
tality by being knighted. ** The commercial-rooms now 
occupy the site of Creswick's house, which was entered 
from Small street;" ^ this house was nearly opposite to 
the family mansion of the Colstons. Crump died on 
January 11th, 1699, and was buried in St. Thomas' 
church. 

The next mayor. Sir John Lloyd, brewer, was the son 
of the John Lloyd, also a brewer, who was sheriff in 
1633. In 1666 Sir John was chosen to be sheriff, but 
refused to serve, for which, and for his contumacious 
behaviour in the presence of the chamber, he was com- 

» Seyer, II., 515-16. 

* MS. of H. Smith, whose father, Richard Smith, surgeon, 
married Miss Creswick, the descendant and heiress-at-law of the 
alderman. 



mitted to Newgate, '' there to remain till discharged by 
due course of law." During his official year he did not 
attend once as sheriff, but subsequently was regular in 
his attendance at the council chamber. The year 1678 
was that in which the "no Popery" craze culminated; 
the atmosphere was redolent of plots, real or pre- 
tended. One of the men who set themselves to dis- 
cover, or to plan these romances, was the infamous 
Bedloe, who, having imposed on the credulity of the 
mayor, was by him sent up to London to give his 
evidence. Sir John Elnight, sen., was busy there, 
searching people's lodgings, overhauling their papers, 
and committing suspects to prison. The Commons had 
gone mad on the subject of Popery, whilst Charles was 
coquetting with the French court, and the Duke of York 
had openly avowed himself a Eoman Catholic, he, with 
all his faults, being a more honest man than the king, 
who, outwardly and avowedly Protestant, was, we now 
know, a professed Catholic in secret. Bearing in 
mind the temper of the times we shall better under- 
stand the following correspondence. Spies were out 
on every hand, and tale-bearers ready to amplify all 
rumours : — 

My Lord, — The last weeke in a vessell from Ireland came hither 
one Turwell, and there being a report by Lady Berth and other 
passengers in the shipp that he had spoken dangerous words, I 
thought fitt to send for him and seize his papers, upon the careful] 
perusall of which I find only that he has formerly been related to 
Mr. Daniel Arthur, a person now in custody (as lb reported) for 
being engaged in this plot against his Ma^<^ and a letter from one 
Mr. Lumsdale, a copy of which I have enclosed sent yr lordshipp 
and another paper, whereof I have likewise enclosed sent a copy 
of which I am inclined to thinke a character, it not looking like 
any language that eyther myselfe or those concerned with mee in 
taking the examination had been conversant with. This is all I 
can find or picks out of his papers. But upon examination of 
witnesses two have sworne that there beinge a discourse betwixt 
them and this Turwell about the plott and conspiracy, he sayd he 
believed there was noe such thing, and that it was only a talke 
and report of some idle and fantasticall people. He owns himself 
a Roman Catholick. His disposition seems rough and resolute, 
his stature tall, and his demeanour gentill, my lord, this is the 
summe of what as yett I can alledge against him, and doe there- 
fore, most humbly begg yr lodps. opinion how, and in what manner 
I am to house the prisoner. Untill you think fitt to communicate 
itt to councill that I may have their directions I don't think fitt 
to determine this ; I ... of the words sworne agst. him, or 
to decipher the characters according to my owne judgement, or to 
take security for his good behaviour according to the late procla- 
mation without further order. My lord, I will make noe apology 
for giving you this account, my duty obligeing me to give it to 
some one of the councell, and my owne experience giving mee 
sufficient assurance that you doe not thinke anything a tarouble 
which may bee of publicke good or use to his maty., and therefore 
humbly take leave to subscribe myself, as in all duty bound, my 
lord, yr lodp.'s most devoted, most humble servant, 

Jno. Llotd, Maior. 

Bristol, 16th Sep., 1678. 
To the Lord Marquis of Worcester. 



72 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1678. 



Nov. 6th, 1678. 
Bight Honourable, — The last night by your direction and 
order I sent Bedloe upp to you and in the surest way I could then 
think of. I wish he may prove soe useful! to his ma^)"- by his in- 
formation as you apprehended he would. There came here the 
last week fourteen persons, their habit spoke them gentlemen, 
their armes (as swords, pistols, and some guns) soldiers, and their 
speech to be Irish. They pretended to have come lately out of the 
French service, and that they were going upon his majesties into 
Ireland. Being in these circumstances I did not think meet to 
restraine them, nor to use much severity in their examination. 
Especially, seeing that their behaviour was sevil and did not render 
themselves obnoxious to any law. Some of them have already gott 
their passage, and those that remain (as I am told) talk as if the 
number of about 300 are expected here this week upon the like 
account. I shall take all care imaginable to secure the peace of 
this place by the civill power, soe that I hope we need not be ap- 
prehensive of much danger from their personnes. Butt whether 
any of them by this course fly examination above or are engaged 
in this devillish design against his majesty. And in what method 
to deal with them or others in cases of this nature I begg yr 
speedy advice and order which shall bee exactly followed, and doe 
begg the favour of yr correspondence in theese difficult times, for 
the advancement of his majesty's service, 

Yor honle. most humble servant, 

John Lloyd, Maior. 
To the Honble. Mr. Secretary CJoventry. 

Tliree days later Uoyd writes again, to Secretary 

Williamson this time : — 

Bristol, November 9th, 1678. 
Bight Honourable, — I have sent these to acknowledge yours of 
the fifth instant, but before yours came to my hand I had one from 
Mr. Secretary Coventry of the same import, and had, by the safest 
method I could think of. sent Mr. Bedloe to him, and doubt not 
he has appeared accordingly. I have also sent back to you the 
letter directed to Mr. Bedloe, as believing it improper for mee to 
intrude into what (for ought I know) ought not to come under my 
perusall. You may bee very confident that all yr commands upon 
any occasion shall bee most punctually performed by me, and would 
for the promotion of his majesty's service in this citty be glad to 
receive any intimation from you, whether wee ought to putt our- 
selves in any other posture of defence or watch that whatt has 
been usuall, and allsoe whether we ought at this time to make any 
narrower inspections into strangers who come for transportation to 
this citty than wee have ordinarily done. 

I am, with all dutiful respect. Bight Honourable, 

Your most humble servant, 

John Lloyd, Maior. 

To the Bight Honourable Mr. Secretary Williamson. 

The letters crossed on their route. 

Whitehall, November 9th, 1678. 
Sir, — This is in answer to two of yours which I lately re- 
ceived ; the first, of November 5th, accompanying Mr. Bedloe, 
who arrived here the 7th inst., in the evening, very safely, by your 
prudent directions and conduct, for which I am to return you his 
majestie's thanks. The latter was of November 6th, giving account 
of fourteen persons come to your citty the last week with intention 
to passe from thence into Ireland, in whose behalfe you have acted 
so discreetly that I might very well forbeare to give you any advice 
in the like cases. But if such numbers come as you mention to be 
expected, viz., 300, or the like, it will conceme yon to be soe much 
the more vigilant in observing their persons and behaviour, and if 



you find noe reason to judge otherwise of them than that they 
come to get a passage to their owne country, I see none but you 
may permit them in such manner as will best consist with the 
peace of your citty. But if any person or persons amongst them 
give you evident or probable cause to suspect them, yon will doe 
well to detaine them there till you have rendered an account 
hither of such your suspicion of their detention and received his 
majesty's further orders thereupon. I shall gladly embrace and 
entertaine a correspondence with you in this time of publick danger, 
and at all tymes shew myselfe very cordially, 

Sir, your affectionate, humble servant, 

Henry Coventry. 

In Oldmixon's History of the Home of Stuart the 
author says Bedloe was an accessory after the murder 
of Sir Edmondbury Godfrey, and advised them how best 
to dispose of the body : — 

Bedloe advised sinking it in the river with weights, and while 

they were talking of it Prance comes in In the meanwhile 

Bedloe goes to Bristol, in order to ship himself for Ireland ; but 
whether he was really troubled in conscience for concealing the 
murder, or was set upon it in hopes of a reward for the discovery, 
he surrendered himself as an evidence to the mayor of Bristol, 
John Lloyd, Esq., who sent him to London, where he was carried 

before a committee of the House of Lords to be examined 

Prance made a fuU discovery of the murder Bedloe's 

evidence is the strongest confirmation of Prance's Bedloe 

died at Bristol the 20th of August, and the Lord Chief Justice 
North being then there in his circuit visited him before his death, 
and with his last words Bedloe attested " that the Duke of York 
was engaged in the plot." 

**At the entrance of the church of St. Mark on the 
22nd of August, 1680, was buried Captain William 
Bedlow, without any memorial or inscription, though 
he deserved to be chronicled for the particulars of his 
life. He is said to be concerned in the Eye house plot 
in Charles II' s. time, and with Titus Gates pretended to 
discover the authors of the death of Sir Edmunsbury 
Godfrey, 1678; and on the oaths of these two many 
were executed, all who denied the charge with their 
latest breath. Bedlow was buried near the great door 
next the green, and his funeral expences are said to 
be discharged by the chamber of the city, his goods 
having been seized and carried out of the house for 
the large debts he had contracted." ^ 

Another letter, short but characteristic : — 

Sir, — I tooke notice of the advertisment in the Oazette of the 
23rd instant, and least any such person should shelter themselves 
in this place I gave encouragement to some persons to enquire after 
the ofi'enders ; and one of them, by all description and the confes- 
sion of himself e, as you will perceive by the copy of his examina- 
tion, I have here detained in our gaole, and desire that you will 
take care for the removal of him hence, in order to his tryal by 
huheaa corpus. The persons who made the discovery to me doe 
take notice that a good reward is promised to them, and they have 
desired me to advertise you thereof that they expect it ; and by 
description Davenport left this port butt the last weeke and went 

^ Barrett, 347. 



A.D. 1679. 



RICHARD THOMPSON AND HIS SERMON. 



IS 



up with the carrier for London, where it is possible upon enquiring 

yon may find him. This, I thought, behoved me to inform yon to 

gJLve me an account of the receipt of this by the nezte post. 

Your lo' friend, 

John Lloyd, Mayor. 
Bristol, May Slst, 1679. 

To Mr. Thomas Doyley, of his maty.'s mint, within the Tower of 

London. 

Of Lloydy Boger North, from personal observation, 
writes : — "I never saw nor heard any human thing 
speak so lofty as he did, and all in humour and tags of 
Latin. He declared for 9ub and supra, and much more 
at that rate." 

Sir John Lloyd was knighted during his mayoralty 
for his *' eminent services." The following year he was 
chosen alderman, but petitioned to be dismissed, which 
was agreed to on payment of a fine of £200; meanwhile 
he died, and the fine was not paid. During his mayoralty 
four persons were cited into the spiritual court for pur- 
loining the Lord's day, in travelling to Bath on foot, 
for which they paid twenty shillings each for the use of 
the parish of St. James. One wonders how the king 
and his courtiers were engaged that day. 

On the 29th August, 1675, was bom in Bristol John 
Lewis, who became a celebrated antiquary and a volu- 
minous author. His father was a wine cooper in this 
city. The son was educated at the Free Orammar school, 
Wimbome, Dorset, and took his degree at Exeter college, 
Oxford. Ordained, in 1698, by Bishop Compton, his first 
curacy was at St. John's, Wapping, London. The Lord 
Chancellor Somers, in 1700, gave him the rectory of 
Acris, Kent, and, in 1705, he was appointed minister of 
Margate. He, in 1706, resigned Acris, on being col- 
lated to the rectory of Smallwood, with the chapelry of 
Hythe ; the same year Archbishop Usher gave him the 
rectory of Eastbridge, Kent, and in 1708 presented him 
to the vicarage of Minster, Isle of Thanet, upon which 
he resigned Smallwood and Hythe. In 1719 Arch- 
bishop Wake made him master of Eastbridge hospital, 
Canterbury. He resided at Margate from 1705 until 
his death, on the 16th of January, 1 746-7* He was 
buried in the chancel of Minster church with his wife, 
who was the youngest daughter of Mr. Bobert Knowler, 
of Heme, Kent. His chief works are : — 

1720. The Life of Dr. John WyclifFe. 8vo. 

1730. Sequel to ditto, containing also an abridgement of Bishop 

Peacock's work. 

1731. The Translation of the New Testament, by Wycliffe. Fol. 
'* A New Edition of the Life of Sir Thomas Moore, with 

Notes. 8to. 
1723 and 1736. The History and Antiquities of the Isle of Thanet. 

4to. 
1727. The History of the Abbey and Church of Ferersham. 4to. 
1737. The Life of Master William Caxton, of the Weald of Kent. 

8vo. 

[Vol. in.] 



1738. The History of the Rise and Progress of Anabaptism in 
England. 8vo. 

1740. A Dissertation on the Use and Antiquity of Seals in Eng- 
land. 8vo. 

1744. The life of Dr. Reginald Peacock, Bishop of St. Asaph and 

Chichester, in the reign of Henry VI. 8vo. 

1745. The Life and Writings of Dr. Hicks, dean of Worcester 

(a nonjuror), with a list of the deprived Bishops and 
Qergy of 1689. 8vo. 

Lewis also assisted Dr. Edmund Calamj in the com- 
pilation of his account of The Ejected Ministers. 

18. Bichard Thompson, vicar of St. Mary Bedcliff 
and rector of St. Thomas, was, in 1679, an active par- 
tisan of the High Church party. A scholar on the old 
foundation of University college, Oxford, he, on being 
slighted for a fellowship, entered at Cambridge, and on 
receiving orders was presented by the master of Mag- 
dalen to Bring^n curacy ; and when afterwards his 
patron became dean of Sarum, Thompson was made a 
prebendary, and obtained the living of St. Maries in 
Marlborough. Here he made the acquaintance of John 
Norbome, of Calne, with whom he travelled on the 
Continent, taking every opportunity of hearing the 
famous preachers Bourdaloue, Menestrier, Clode, Daill6, 
&c. He was recalled in 1678, "upon the vacancy of 
Bedminster by Bristol, which is the name of that living 
whereof he is now the priest." He speedily became 
popular, and always had a full auditory; but ''no man 
was more persecuted by the Church of England's ene- 
mies within that city, and particularly by Day, Young, 
Young the preacher. Whitehead, Hort, Roe, Bead, 
Tyley, Crossley, their factors." On the other hand, 
Guy Carleton, late bishop of Bristol, but then of Chi- 
chester, and the dean and chapter of Sarum, gave him 
a high certificate of character ; so also did John Lloyd, 
mayor 1679, and the following gentlemen, several of 
whom held or had held office : — 



John Hicks, Alderman 
Richard Cramp, do. 
John Knight (not Sir 

John) 
George Morgan 
Thos. Davidge 
Edmond Brand 
John Broadway 
William Gnnter 



John Hellier 
John Oliff 
John Yeomans 
John Combes 
George Bonrchier 
Thos. Turner 
Geo. Hart 
Jas. Millerd 
Ralph OUff 



Jas. Twyford 
Daniel Pym 
Thos. Hartwell 
Edmund Arundel 
Richard Benson 
Francis Yeomans 
Thos. Durbin 
Chas. Allen. 



On January 30th, 1679, Thompson preached a sermon 
in the parish church of St. Thomas, in the very height 
of the craze about the ** Popish plots," in the course of 
which he said, or was accused of saying, ''that there 
was no Popish plot, but a Presbyterian plot;" he con- 
tinued, ** that the devil blusht at the Presbyterians, and 
the villain Hampden grudged and made it more scruple 
of conscience to give 20s, to the king for supplying his 

P 2 



74 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1679. 



necessities by ship-money and loan (which was his right 
by law) than he did to raise rebellion against him ; that 
for a man to receive the Sacrament from any other 
minister than the priest of the parish in which he lived 
was damnation to his soul ; that Calvin was the first to 
preach the king-killing doctrine; that a Presbyterian 
brother qua talis is as great a traitor as any priest or 
Jesuit; that the makers of the law for burying in woollen 
were a company of old fools and fanaticks, that he would 
bring a schoolboy who should make a better Act than 
that and construe it when he had done. Further, it was 
also matter of accusation that at a funeral sermon for 
one Mr. Wharton, preached by the said Thompson, he 
had scoffed at the petition for the sitting of Parliament, 
saying the deceased was no schismatical petitioning 
rebel, but one at whose instigation the grand jury of 
Bristol had made a presentment of their detestation 
against petitioning for the sitting of a Parliament ; that 
in his sermons he said he had been above one hundred 
times to the mass beyond sea ; that he frequently 
aspersed several divines of Bristol — viz., Mr. Chetwind, 
Mr. Standfast, Mr. Grossman, Mr. Palmer, and others, 
saying that such as went to their lectures were brats of 
the devil ; that this Parliament was like to that of 1641, 
the devil had set them on work and the devil would pay 
them their wages ; that he railed at Henry VIII., saying 
he did more hurt in robbing the Abbey lands than he 
did good by the Eef ormation ; that he scoffed at Queen 
Elizabeth, calling her a lewd, infamous woman, the 
worst of women — no better than a church robber, her 
father began the work and she finished it; that he would, 
if he could, haul out the meetingers and fill the jails 
with them, and he hoped to see their houses afire about 
their ears in a short time ; that if he were as satisfied 
of other things as he was of justification, auricular con- 
fession, penance, extreme unction and chrisme in bap- 
tism, he would not be long separated from the true 
Catholic church of Home ; that the king was a person 
of soft, mean temper, and could be easily led to any- 
thing, but was a Solomon in vices, but the Duke of 
York was a prince of brave spirit, who would be faithful 
to his friends ; that at one Sandford's shopdoor in Bristol 
he said Bedloe was a bad man in many plots and not to 
be believed ; that he railed at the clergy for manying ; 
that Sir John Knight, the member of Parliament, was 
as bad as any fanatic, and not fit to be believed ; and, 
lastly, that after excommunication by a bishop, without 
absolution from a superior court, such an one was surely 
damned, and he would pawn his soul for the truth of 
it." All this and more was given in evidence against 
the said Bichard Giliompson, before a committee ap- 
pointed by the House of Commons in December, 1680. 



When desired to make his defence, he ''did for the 
greatest part confess words spoken to that effect, and in 
oth^ things endeavoured to turn the words with more 
favour towards himself; but the witnesses being of 
great credit, and many more being ready to have made 
good the same things, the committee looked upon the 
business to be of a high nature, and therefore ordered 
the matter to be reported specially, leaving it to the 
wisdom of the House." The House resolved, nemine 
oantradicenU : — 

That Richard Thompson, clerk, hath publicly defamed his 
sacred majesty, preached sedition, vilified the Reformation, pro- 
moted Popery by asserting Popish principles, decrying the Popish 
plot and turning the same upon the Protestants ; and endeavoured 
to subvert the liberty and property of the subject, and the rights 
and privileges of Parliament, and that he is a scandal and a re- 
proach to his function. 

And that the said Richard Thompson be impeached upon the 
said report and resolution of the House. 

And a committee is appointed to prepare the said unpeachment 
and to receive further instructions against him, and to send for 
papers, persons, and records. 

The above is epitomised from the House of Commons* 
Eeport, and other pamphlets of the time. 

Sir John Knight sat, with eighteen others, on this 
committee. 

On the 5th January, 1681, Thompson petitioned the 
House to be allowed to give security ; this was allowed, 
and on the 10th of the same month the proceedings 
were quashed by the dissolution of the Parliament. 
Thompson's faith in princes went not unrewarded ; in 
the last year of Charles II.'s reign, when James, Duke 
of York, swayed the sceptre of power, he was made 
dean of Bristol and chaplain in ordinary to the king. 
On June 21st, 1685, he preached in the cathedral before 
the Duke of Beaufort, lord lieutenant, and his soldiers ; 
the sermon, at the request of the duke, was published ; 
it was from Titus iii. 1. — "Put them in mind to be 
subject to principalities and powers." We give a few 
gems from this discourse. 

I. The duty of all Christians who live under govern- 
ments to be subject. 

II. The duty of aU ministers of Christ's gospel is 
to put the people in mind to be so. 

The duty is (1) to pay active obedience to all our 
prince's just commands ; (2) to suffer patiently if he 
oppress or punish us for not observing even their un- 
lawful commands. 

Obedience is not to be hindered by a scrupulous con- 
science, nor by any oath such as a Solemn League and 
Covenant ; that it must be paid to all principalities and 
powers; that the principle holds good for ever; that 
there is nothing so unchristian as to dispute the wills 
and pleasures of their princes, to raise tumults and levy 



A.i>. 1679. 



MONEY GIFTS TO REDEEM CAPTIVES. 



75 



arms against ihemi yea, though they were heathbns 
and TYSAirrs, and the most fbofbssbd enemies that 
GAir BE IMAGINED TO OOD AND GOODNESS; that there is 
nothing so great a contradiction to the spirit of the 
gospel as the foulness of that spirit that ruleth in the 
hearts of the now rebels in arms (Monmouth and his 
army) against a prince so every way great and just and 
good as our present most gracious and liege lord and 
soYereign, King James II., a prince that came to the 
crown in the f uU eifeness and maturity, as well of 
viHTUKS as YEABS, a prince whose wisdom, justicob, MEBOf , 

MUNIFICENCE, MAGNANIMITY, SOBRIETY, and TEMFERANOE, 

and whose courage to dare bravely in the greatest 
danger is equal to his christian fortitude in bearing 
the worst of evils from a sort of men-devils among us; 
a prince whoBe firm fidelity to his friends, and whose 
ZEAL for the honour of the English name and nation 
are so notoriously known, both at home and abroad, 
that even base envy and detraction have but rendered 
them more acknowledged and illustriously consficu- 
ous. There is one qualification which will gild and 
ADORN his CROWN, and add a lustre to his great name 
in chronicle, and that is his veracity. King James II. 
shall be known in the ages to come by this affellative, 

'' KING JAMES, THE JUST, FRINGE OF HIS WORD." 

Few flatteries more fulsome and false have ever 
fallen to the lot of any historian to place on record. 
Thompson was installed as dean of Bristol on 25th May, 
1684-5 ; he enjoyed this dignity only until January 10th, 
1685-6, according to Barrett. He died November 29th, 
1685. 

1 9. The year 1 679 was one of struggles and mistakes. 
The Parliament passed the Habeas Corpus Act, and im- 
peached the chancellor ; the king dissolved the House, 
ruled by a council of thirty, and enforced the Conventicle 
Act. 

We of the present generation have no tangible idea 

of the misery often caused in the i7th century in many 

families by the capture of ships by Turkish corsairs, 

and the carrying into slavery both officers and crew. In 

1674 we find a petition from John Knight, a cooper 

(no relation, apparently, to either of the men who held 

such prominent positions in the city), which is as 

follows : — 

1674. October 2lBt. —Upon reading of petition of John Knight, 
of this city, cooper, this day presented unto this court, setting 
that in the month of June, 1668, his brother, Henry Knight, of 
this dty, cooper, sailing in the good ship called the Matthew and 
Sarah, of Bristol, Thomas Sparks then master, was by the Turks 
taken prisoiiar and carried captive into Sally, and from thenoe to 
Fez, where he remains a slave to the Emperor of Morocco ; that 
there is a possibility of obtaining his freedom for £130 sterling, 
which the said petitioner is unable of himself to raise, and there- 
fore humbly requesting this court to think of some expedient to 



redeem a poor captive out of miserable bondage which for above 
six years past he hath undergone ; this court upon consideration of 
the said petitioner, having a tender regard to so real an object of 
charity, do make it a request to the inhabitants of this dtty that 
they would show their readiness to assist the said petitioner by 
their charitable contribution towardes the relief of his poor brother 
that hath been so long in that slavish captivity; and do order that 
the churchwardens of each parish, by and with the consent of the 
right revnd. father in God, the lord bishop of this diocese (now in 
this court), do, on the petitioners* behalfe, ask to take and receive 
the charity and benevolence of all well-diBposed persons living 
within the respective parishes of this citty for that end and pur- 
pose ; and all such monies as shall be by them received towards 
the said captive's ransome bee paid into the hands of Robert Yate, 
of this citty, merchant, who is hereby desired to take care for re- 
mitting the same towards the redemption of the petitioner's 
brother as aforesaid. 

The subject comes prominently forward during Ores- 
wick's mayoralty in connection with a generous gift of 
£1,000 by Andrew Barker, of Fairford, the interest 
whereof was to be devoted in redeeming captives from 

slfliVerv 

Bristoll, 2nd June, 1699. 

Sir, — ^Mr. Fitzherbert did this day acquaint us with a very 
kind inclination of yours towards this citty, which was, that a 
relation of yours having left a £1,000, the profitt thereof for ever 
to be employed for the redemption of captives from slavery, you 
were pleased to make this place the object of that charity, and so 
receive the benefit of itt. This kindness of yours does very well 
deserve our hearty thanks, and gives you a title to all the services 
wee can possibly doe you on all occasions, upon which you may 
certainely depend. And you may be very well assured that 
instead of capitulating any method for the settlement thereof, we 
shall readily assist in any that you may prescribe for us. 

Sir, Mr. Fitzherbert also told us that you had ill resented it 
from us that you had not the counterparts of some conveyances, 
made by your father, of certaine hmds to charitable uses delivered 
to you. Most of us can sincerely acquitt ourselves of that as not 
being acquainted with any such desire; snd those not soe con- 
cerned wee dare affirm did itt by inadvertency than obstinacy or 
any disrespect to you. However, it shall bee our particular care 
to see you have right therein, and you may be confident to find us 
on all occasions. 

Sir, yr afifectionate friends and servts., 

Joseph Crsswick, Mayor, 
BoBT. Cann, 
Jno. Lawjvbd, 
Ralph Oliffe, 
—^ Crabb, 
BiCHD. Crump. 
To Andrew Barker, Esqre., att Fairford. 

20. It was during this mayoralty that the attempt 
was made to establish a linen manufactory in Bristol 
with the gift moneys held by the corporation, supple- 
mented by private subscriptions. The following items 
in connection with this transaction are interesting : — 

1670. — Whereas the summe of three hundred pounds of the 
guifte of Mr. Thomas Fanner now lyes in ready money in St. 
Qeorge's chappell to be laid out in land for the benefit of Queene 
Elizabeth's hospital in the Greene, and also the sunmie of fifty 
pounds, the gifte of Mr. Nethway, in the hands of Mr. Conning, 
to bee laid out in land for the benefitt of the master and usher of 



76 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.i>. 1679. 



the Grammar Schoole, and the summe of seven or eight hundred 
pounds of an unknown person is offered to be hud out in purchasing 
of land for the pious poor within the citty. 

1677. — That the £1,500 now in the custody of Alderman Law- 
ford, being gifte money, be paid this afternoon or to-morrow 
morning unto the chamberlaine who is to put the same into a chest 
with foure keys, and that clavingers be appointed to ye chesty and 
that publication be made of the receipt thereof to the present, that 
all persons who have a right to borrow the same may report to Sir 
Robert Cann and the clavingers (clavinger keeper of the keys) for 
that purpose, soe that the will of the donor may be preserved, 
and tiiat ye chest may bee att Sir Robert Canne's house. Mr. 
Mayor, for the tyme beinge, and the other three appointed clavin- 
gers— Sir Robert Canne, Mr. Earle and Mr. Hart— to have power 
to dispose of this money, and to be elected yearly att the tyme of 
the election of officers and to be accountable in other cases. 

October, 1678. — Whether the gifte money shall from this day 
forward be in the disposall of the mayor and aldermen, or whether 
it shall bee disposed of by five persons, one of them to be by the 
house? 

November, 1678.— Whether Mr. Mayor, the sheriflfs for the 
tyme beinge, and the chamberlaine shall be clavingers of the gift 
money? Ans.— No. 

Qu. 2.— Whether the power of disposall of that money from 
hence forward shall be in the mayor for the tyme beinge, two 
aldermen, the sheriffs for the tyme beinge, and two of the common 
council men, which aldermen and common councill to be elected 
yearly by the house, and in case the question be in the affirmative 
it shall be disposed of by any four of them, whereof the mayor to 
be one, and this account to be audited yearly, or whether only in 
the mayor, aldermen and sheriffs, or major part of them, whereof 
the mayor and sheriffs to be three. 

It is ordered by the casting vote of Mr. Mayor, that the dis- 
posall of the gift money hence forward shaH be in the mayor, 
aldermen, and sheriffs, and the major part of them, whereof the 
mayor and sheriffs to be three, and the account to be audited yearly 
as other accounts. 

1679. 25th May. — It was this day ordered that whereas the 
citty have undertaken to advance the summe of two thousand 
pounds to the undertakers of the linen manufactory of this citty, 
upon the terms agreed on, that the six hundred pounds of the gift 
money now remaining in the chest in the custody of the chamber- 
laine bee deposited as part of that two thousand pounds. It 
beinge the opinion of the house that the lending itt to the usee 
qforesaid is very consistent and agreeable with the intentions qf the 
pious bentfactors. 

Against this abuse of the city money Sir John 
Knight, their representative, protested, and a letter 
from him discloses his watchful c€ure of the city even 
to the detail of the gift money; it also reveals that the 
inhabitants were oppressed with local burthens, which 
their members sought to mitigate. 

Westminster, 24th day of May, 1679. 
Right Worshipfull,— Since my last I had an account from Sir 
Robert Cann that some act of common councell is made for the 
chamber of Bristol to grant scales for the taking upp of £2,000 to 
be lent gratis to some linen drapers for 10 years, on condition to 
keep 50 poore in Bristol at worke upon the manufacture of linen, 
and that some charetable persons had agreed to lend moste of itt, 
and for seven years must paye interest for the money, when as 
the chamber is abeady in a very deplorable condition, and the linen 
manufacture project must come to nothing, for that the Act against 
French linens will expire in March, come twelve month, and the 



French trade will be open again as ever. And we shall never have 
that act again revived, and then they will have the trade again. 

I thinke myself, being a clavinger, obliged to save the dtty as 
much as I can, and that no such citty taxes ought to be passed. 
And I alsoe account myselfe as one of the number that ought to 
bee heard, tiU I with my reasons before the execution of any such 
act of common councell, all of which I never had from you any 
notice att all. And therefore I request you, for the good of the 
citty, to delay the execution of this matter, and to forbear giving 
out any citty seals till it shall please God to send Sir Robert Cann 
and myself home to Bristol to be heard in it, not doubting butt 
before you fully proceed you will allow us the liberty as members 
of the common councell to be heard and not to be excluded from 
giving our votes in itt. With my best respects presented, I remain 
right wopL, 

Your affectionate friend and servt., 

John Knight. 

21. '* In the beginning of the year 1679 an artillery 
company was established here. The Marquis of Wor- 
cester, lord-lieutenant of the city and county of Bristol, 
as well as of the counties of Qloucester, Hereford and 
Monmouth, on March 6th, 1678-9, communicated to the 
mayor, Sir John Lloyd, his majesty's approb^^tion ; and 
on the 12th of December following certain articles and 
orders were agreed on, ' to be observed and performed 
by every person that shall be admitted into the friendly 
society of the Exercisers of Armes within the citty of 
Bristoll.' No person was to be admitted into the society 
until he had produced a certificate under the hands of 
two of his majesty's justices of the peace, purporting 
'that such person had before them taken the oaths of 
allegiance and supremacy and the declaration in the 
statute.' The marquis, on the 1st of March, 1679-80, 
appointed his 'dear son Charles, Lord Herbert, to be 
captain and leader of the said artillery company.' Their 
other officers were a lieutenant and ensign, appointed 
probably by the same authority, with a drum-beater, 
marshal and armourer. The institution was probably 
intended as a royalist or high-party association. They 
met every Friday for exercise, and on the first Friday 
in every month they were ' to appear in the habits, and 
to be provided as followeth : — Every pikeman habitted 
in a gray doth coat lined with scarlet, a scarlet pair of 
breeches and stockings, and a white hat, a shoulder buff 
belt, a silk crimson scarf, with a good pike, and a sword 
or rapier ; every musketteer with a gray doth coat lined 
with scarlet, a scarlet pair of breeches and stockings, 
and a white hat, buff collar of bandoliers, buff girdle 
and frog, with a g^od muskett and four-and-twenty 
charges of powder, and a g^od hanger or cutting sword.' 
These particulars were extracted from the original paper 
(signed by 101 members) by the late Rev. Samuel Seyer, 
of Bristol." 1 

The king, in 1679, had given himself up to the 
^ Notes and QuerieSi 2nd Series, iv. 5. 



SIR RICHARD HART AND THE GHOST. 



Boman Catholic part; ; the Duke of York was in power 
in Scotland, which he governed according to his own 
will ; and the country part; set on foot a petition " that 
Parliament, which had been prorogued till the 26th of 
January, might sit to try offenders and to redress impor- 
tant grioTanoes." In it they said "his majesty's per- 
son, the Protestant religion, and the Qovemment of the 
country were in the most imminent danger from a most 
damnable and hellish Popish plot, branching forth into 
horrid villauies against his majes^'s most sacred person, 
&c." Copies of this petition were sent up from, most of 
the counties, cities and large towns. The manner in 
which the king received them may be judged from a 
portion of his reply to Mr. Thynne, of Longleat, who 
presented that from Wiltshire; — "You say you come 
&om the country P You come from a company of loose 
people— Protestant Dissenters and sober Churchmen ! 
Wbat do you take me to be ? I know well enough, but 
I care not to tell it. What do you take yourselves to 
be ? I admire gentlemen of your estates should animate 
people to mutiny and rebellion. You see to petition is 
to rebel," &c 

Two days after a petition from London had been 
presented the king issued a prodamation against peti- 
tioning, "as contrary to the common and known law of 
the land, and tending to raise rebellion." The Monar- 
chical party immediately sent up addresses to the throne, 
declaring their abhorrence of the petitions; and the 
kingdom was divided into two great parties, the precur- 
sors of the Whigs ond Tories, to whom were given the 
names of Petitioners and Abhorrers. These addresses 
were graciously received by the king, who rewarded in 
many instances the bearers with knighthood, and at 
least a trio of these questionable honours fell to the lot 
of Bristol officials during this and the subsequent year. 
22. Sir Bichard Hart, alderman and merchant, was 
mayor in 1680-1 ; of bim the following curious story, 
of which we leave our readers to form their own judg- 
ment, is related : — 

Sir Richard Hart, an kldermon of BriBtol, sleeping at the new 
hooae of hiB brother-m law, Sir William Jones, King Charles tbe 
Second's attomej-general, when in bed in the morning early, 
when the daj wm very cleare, and tua cnrtaines open at the bed's 
fe«t, he there saw hia daughter (whom he had left the day before 
we] at hia home, seventeen miles distant from that place), leaning 
upon a cabbiuett that stood in that chamber, with her hand to her 
head, and looking earnest!; upon him as he lay in his bed He 
was very mnch surprised at it^ yet continued bis beholding, then 
a considerable space of time before she disappeared ; and then in 
all baste bee arose, and called his man, and sent him with all 
speed to hia house, with bis eommande to retume immediately 
with an account of his family, for that hee had an apprehension 
that all was not welL The servant went and returned the same 
day, and broogbt an aeconnt to bis master that all were well, 
sieept the young ladje who bad been taken ill about four o'clock 



that momiog, the tyme of the apparition, bnt shee had a doctor 
with her, and was pretty wel, and they hoped tbe worst was 
past ; bnt hee replied that hee should see her noe more, and eoe it 
fell ont, for shee dyed that daye. 

"On the 16th of August, 1680, Lord Chief Justice 
North was dining at the house of Town Clerk Bomsey, 
in King street. His lordship's brother, the mayor (Sir 
Bichard Hart), the two sheriffs, Prebendary Grossman, 
Dr. Dunbar and others were amongst the guests (the 
entertainment cost the city £54 178.). Sir John Knight 
was introduoed ; he bore a communication from the no- 
torious Captain William Bedloe, who w^ lying ill with 



Conuct^l Bmu In Kiiv Stml, In icHlck tu ettttrlaijied Judgi Jtffreti. 

fever, and who wished his lordship to take his dying 
deposition. This his lordship deferred until after his 
nine o'clock supper. At the interview North says : — 
' I saluted him, said I was extremely sorry to find him 
so ill ; I imagined he had something to impart to me as 
a privy councillor, and therefore if he thought fit the 
company should withdraw.' He told me that needed 
not yet ; he had much to say which was proper for the 
company to hear, and having saluted the sheriffs and 
Mr. Crossman, he began." .... (Particulars are 
omitted, but it is well known that he charged the queen 



78 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.i>. 1681. 



and the Duke of York with complicity in a plot to 
murder the king. Bedloe received altogether £804 of 
the public money for his so-called revelations.) 

'' The next day Bedloe's brother came to me and told 
me his brother desired a copy of the deposition he had 
made before me ; but I told him I had well considered 
it, and could not give him a copy without the king's 
leave, but I would move the king in it, and if he gave 
leave I would send him one. Would I recommend to 
his majesty his brother's condition, that his sickness was 
veiy chargeable, and move his majesty for some supply 
of money for his subsistence, which I promised to do. 

''Sir John Knight, Sir Bobert Atkyns and John Law- 
ford, aldermen, were presented for publishing a writing 
under the title of a petition, in which were contained 
divers reproachful untruths and falsehoods. A new 
persecution also broke out against the Dissenters, who 
were some of them presented for preaching at unlawful 
conventicles, and unwilling constables of the Whig party 
were presented because they did not disturb unlawful 
conventicles." ^ 

On April 18th, 1681, the g^and jury moved an 
address of thanks to the right worshipful Sir Bichard 
Hart, mayor, the aldermen, justices, &c., for their pub- 
lishing in court, on the 12th of April, his majesty's 
reasons for dissolving a corrupt Parliament. They 
state the act to have been '' abundantly satisfactory to 
this city," and in ultra loyal language express their just 
sense ** of his majesty's great justice and prudence in 
the conduct of all his affairs, of his care to secure our 
present establishments, both in church and state, and of 
his resolution to govern by law himself, and to protect 
his subjects from arbitrary and illegal imprisonments by 
others." In return for these marks of g^ace and favour 
they pledge themselves " to continue immutable in 
loyalty, duty, and obedience to his majesty, his heirs 
and successors, humbly to acquiesce in his and their 
royal wills and pleasures, and with our lives. and. for- 
tunes to maintain and defend his and their royal 
persons, crown, and dignity, with all their rights and 
prerogatives, &c." 

The names attached, as grand jurymen, to the ad- 
dress to Sir Bichard Hart are : — 



Thomas Rogerson 
Bobt. Zefiycatt 
Wm. Scott 
Thos. Darbin 
Ricbd. Kirwood 
Thos. Rich 



William Lewis 
John Oliffe 
Richd. Gibbons 
Geo. Lackin 
Edwd. Millard 
Walter Gnnter 
David Dorville 

Sir Bichard was interested in the question of prece- 
dency. 

^ Tovey's Looal Jottings. 



Thos. Lngg 
Hen. Daniell 
Bobt. Brookhouse 
Thos. Turmell 
Thos. Tiley 
Ben Boston. 



January, 1681.— Sir Bichard Hart having produced a letter 
from Sir Robert Sawyer, wherein he set down precedencies npon 
the eerthraries, the House doe order the thankes of this House, in 
the name of the dtty, be returned to him for his great service 
and kindness he has done this citty and Government, and that the 
town clerke doe give him notice thereof. 

23. The following fulsome address was ordered by 
the House to be presented to the king : — 

2nd May, 1681. 
Our ordering, at the quarter sessions, the publication of his 
majesty's royal declaration, touching the causes moving him to 
dissolve the last two Parliaments (the second sat only from March 
21st to March 28th ; they had resolved to exclude the Duke of 
York from the succession to the throne), and at that time ex- 
pressing to our unanimous consent to, and great satisfaction 
therein, as also our full concurrence with, the address of the 
grand jury, thereupon delivered in court the idth of April last 
past, which wee look upon to bee but secret and undesoemed 
acknowledgments for so signal a grace and favour vouchsafed 
by his sacred majesty to all his liege subjects in that unparalleled 
gracious declaration, do, as a further testimony of our most ex- 
alted sense of his majesty's grace and goodness imparted to his 
subjects therein, as also of the greate felicity and happiness wee 
and all his good subjects doe enjoy under his most admirably wise 
and gracious government, doe retume our seyerall unfeigned and 
hearty acknowledgments to his most sacred majesty, under whose 
excellent conduct all good men thinke themselves safe in the en- 
joyment of their religion, Uberties, and properties, for the preser- 
vation whereof there can noe greater security bee had or hoped 
for than the laws of the kingdom and his majesty's royal word 
to govern by them, whilst the designee of ill men labour the sub- 
version of idl under the specious pretence of reformation, though 
by the same methods that brought to pass all the miseries of 
usurpation and tyranny that this kingdom groaned under. Nor 
ought wee to bee less thankfull to his sacred majesty for the 
assurance he hath given to his people to extirpate Popery, redress 
grievances, and so govern according to law, than that hee is 
graciously pleased to mention the calling of frequent Parliaments, 
which oounsell added to the crown will in all likelihood produce 
the good effects of removing fears, detection of all plots and 
machinations whatsoever, preservation of his majesty's royal per- 
son, protection of his church, established from the malice of her 
Popish and schismatical enemies, the greatest felicities wee can 
bee blessed with ; and that our zeal may not be wanting for the 
accomplishment of such good purposes, wee doe oonceive our- 
selves bound in gratitude to his majesty, as well as by our duty 
and allegiance, and are steadfastly resolved to iwy^»i»tr^iT? and 
support his majesty and his lawfuU successors in all his and their 
rights and prerogatives, and our religion established with the 
utmost expense of our lives and fortunes ; and to the end that 
these our resolutions might not only remain a testimony against 
us, but redound to the shame and dishonour of our posterity, if 
any should err therefrom (which God forbid), we doe order that 
these our sentiments and resolutions be entered into the records 
of our sessions, with this petition to God Almighty, that He will 
set down length of days on his majesty's right hand, and on his 
left hand, riches and honour, preserving his royal person and our 
religion established against his and its enemies. 

RiCHAsn Ha&t, Mayor, 

KOBT. Y&A]fAin% 

John Hicks, 
Abraham Sajndxba, | ^j^^jt^ Ralph Oliffb, 

Arthur Hart, ( ' Bichd, Crumf. 



PEPYS AND DEBORAH WILLETT. 



On the 20tli of June, 1681, a batt of good aaok, or 
the Talno thereof in a piece of plate, was ordared b; 
the SodetT of Merchants to be presented to Six Bichard 
Hart, the mayor, " as a token of the reepeot of the oor- 
poration for him and for hie great care about the manor 
of Clifton, and other ooncenu of the hall." 

Sir Bichard wai 
90. Sir John Ed 
bera vho re- 
ceived "va- 
g«fl" for their 
services in the 
National Aa- 
eemblj. Sir 
Richard was 
elected to be 
sent to the Con- 
Tention, and 
Toted against 
the Prince and 
Princess of 
Orange being 
made king and 
qneen. Hie 
career came to 
a close the 1 6th 
January, 1701. 
He was bnried 
in St. Nicholas 
ohorch. 

We get 
another peep 
at the manner 
of the times 
from that 
quaint old 
courtier, Pe- 
pys, in his 
amusing dO' 
meetic revela- 
tions, iFherein 
he informs us 
that in "Marsh 
street hie wife' a 
maid, Deborah 
Willett, -wae 

bom, which fa«t combined with her being a pretty person 
was a sufficient reason that he shoiild visit the halls of 
her anceatOTS here when he came to Bristol. In his 
diaiy are several references to the fascinating Willett. 
Concerning her first arrival at his house, and the im- 
pressions she mode, «e are told that on his return one 



morning from the Duke of York's council, ' he finds 
our pretty girl, Willett, come, brought by Mr. Batcher, 
and she is veiy pretty, and so grave as I never saw a 
little thing in my life. I wish my wife may use her 
weU.' His amiable wish seems to have been fulfilled, 
for we soon 
find Deborah 
and her mis- 
tress on very 
pleasant terms. 
On Tuesday of 
the following 
veek they set 
out in a hired 
coach with four 
horses, him- 
self, his wife, 
and Willett, 
the two latter 
in their mom- 
in(f gowns, he 
says, 'very 
handsome and 
pretty and to 
my great lik- 
ia^, my wife 
and girl talk- 
ing and telling 
tales and sing- 
ing, and before 
night came to 
Bishop Staf- 
ford.' By her 
own desire the 
girl slept 'on 
a tnmdle bed ' 
in the same 
chamber with 
her mistress 
and master, 
they occupying 
'the high bed.' 
Only a fort- 
night after, he 
begins to fear 

Stral. From on oW JViii<. ■!_ . -ji i 

that maid and 
mistress will soon part, for at the Duke of York's 
house, in the presence of the king, whither they went 
to see Th» Coffit Huutt, 'the most ridiculous, insipid 
play (he complains) I ever saw in my life, here,' he 
proceeds, 'before the play began, my wife begun to 
complain to me of Willett's confidence in sitting 



80 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.i>. 1681. 



cheek by jowl by us, whicb was a poor thing; but 
I perceiye she is already jealous of my kindness to 
her, so that I begin to fear this girl is not likely 
to stay long with us.' There was no summary part- 
ing, however, for six months after, when he returns 
home one day to dinner, in company with Sir William 
Penn, he finds ' by Willett's crying that her mistress 
had been angry with her,' but in his prudence, he adds, 
^ I would take no notice of it.' In the ensuing summer, 
master, mistress, and maid, set out on a western journey, 
indusive of a visit to Bristol. At one point of the route 
they * were fain to go into a room where a pedlar was 
in bed, and made him rise ; and there wife and I lay, 
and in a trundle bed, Betty Turner and Willett.' Also, 
he says, 'his host was merry, and made us mighty merry 
at supper about manning the new ship at Bristol with 
none but men whose wives do master them.' When 
the travellers arrive at Bristol, while Pepys goes to 
view the quay, Deborah calls upon her imcle Butts, a 
sober merchant, very good company, who walks with 
her to the inn, and joining her master and mistress, 
showed them the custom house, and made them under- 
stand many things of the place, and * led us,' says the 
unique diarist, 'through Marsh street, where our girl 
was bom. But Lord ! the joy that was among the old 
poor people of the place to see Mrs. Willett's daughter, 
it seems her mother being a brave woman and mightily 
beloved. And so brought us back by surprise to his 
house, where a substantial g^od house, and well fur- 
nished, and did give us good entertainment of straw- 
berries, a whole venison pasty, cold, and plenty of 
brave wine, and above all, Bristol Milk ; where comes 
in another poor woman, who, hearing that Deborah was 
here, did come running hither, and with her eyes so 
full of tears, and heart so full of joy, that she could 
not speak when she come in, that it made me weep too. 
I protest that I was not able to speak to her, which I 
would have done, to have diverted her tears. Butts' 
wife, a good woman, and so sober and substantial as I 
was never more pleased anywhere.' Deborah returned 
to London with her lady and her master, and we find 
mention of her frequently after." ^ 

Without asserting our own absolute correctness, we 
think we can throw a little light upon an obscure and 
greatly entangled phase of the political history of the 
city at this period. After the king had dissolved Par- 
liament, on January 18th, he summoned a new one to 
meet him at Oxford. Four candidates were proposed — 
Sir Eichard Hart, knt., and Thomas Earl, merchant, on 
the one hand, being Abhorrers, and Sir Bobert Atkyns, 
the recorder, and the late member, Sir John Knight, 
^ Taylor's Book about Bristol, 326-7. 



who were Petitioners, on the other. Hart was a Tory, 
Earl a Whig ; both favoured the Duke of York, .and 
were supporters of his claim to the throne. Knight was 
a strong Churchman and Tory; and Atkyns, although 
not a violent partisan, was considered to be a Whig* 
A strange combination : on one side a Tory and Whig, 
for the king and the Duke of York ; on the other a Tory 
and Whig, against the king's measures and for the ex- 
clusion of the duke, as a Papist, from the succession to 
the throne. The poll lasted six days, and Hart and 
Earl were elected ; this was in March. Sir Bobert 
Atkyns was by no means anxious for the honour, and 
left town during the contest. Party feeling ran very 
high. 

In the midst of the turmoil Alderman Sir John Lloyd 
died. The mayor. Sir Bichard Hart, deferred from day 
to day the calling of a meeting of the council to choose 
a new alderman, the custom being to take the common 
councilman who stood next upon the list, who in this 
instance was Thomas Day, '' a man of large estate and 
no tang of a fanatic." This man being, however, not of 
the mayor's party, his worship schemed by delays to 
defer the choice until Sir Bobert Atkyns, who was a 
justice of the Common Pleas, and other of the aldermen 
had been forced to leave Bristol, whose absence would 
give his party a majority, and enable them to pass over 
the obnoxious Thomas Day. Three times did the re- 
corder press the mayor to call a meeting, but in vain ; 
whereupon he (Sir B. Atkyns), being senior alderman, 
together with five others. Sir John Knight, John Law- 
ford, Joseph Creswick and> two others, after giving the 
mayor due notice, proceeded to an election on March 8th, 
1680-1, and chose Thomas Day. Alderman Sir Bobert 
Cann had the gout^ but he sent word that he approved 
of their choice; nevertheless, he voted most certainly 
for Earl. Day, said Sir Bobert Atkyns, had but one 
great fault : ** at the election he gave his vote for myself 
and Sir John Knight, against Mr. Mayor and Mr. Earl." 

''The mayor, incensed at this proceeding, procured 
the recorder and the three aldermen first mentioned 
above to be indicted for a conspiracy and riot at the 
Quarter Sessions, October 4th, 33 Charles 11. [1681]. 
Although there were six, and all imanimous in their 
choice, yet they politicly indicted only four of them, 
and left two out, because it would have been too gross 
and palpable if six justices of peace had been indicted 
before a lesser number of their brother justices. And 
this indictment was found before the mayor, their fellow- 
justice and four more at the most ; so that five, who are 
the lesser number, exercise their authority over six, as 
much justices as themselves. 

''The substance of this extraordinary indictment, 



AJ>. 1681. 



ELECTION CONTEST. 



81 



drawn up, as usual, in Latin, is as follows : — ^That by 
the charter of Henry Vii., 1499, it is provided that if 
any person shall make debates or discord concerning 
the election of a mayor, or any other officer, he shall 
be punished in proportion to his offence. That by 
the charter of Queen Elizabeth, the recorder and the 
rest of the aldermen are of the privy council \_de privato 
eoneilio] of the mayor, whenever the mayor shaU call 
them together; and that they have no right to meet 
together or transact any business belonging to that 
council, unless by the summons and in the presence of 
the mayor. But that these four aldermen conspired 
together to elect a new alderman ; and, in pursuance of 
their wicked conspiracy, they entered by force of arms 
into the Tolzey ; and in the Ooimcil-chamber, with other 
aldermen, riotously did assemble, and without the know- 
ledge of the other aldermen held a privy coimcil of 
aldermen, and chose Thomas Day for an alderman in 
the place of Sir John Lloyd, without any summons to 
meet sent by tlie said Bichart Hart, then mayor, in his 
absence and against his will. 

''This strange indictment was tried at the assizes at 
Bristol by Nisi Prius, and the defendants were found 
g^ty. ' And thereupon Sir Eobert Atkyns, one of the 
defendants, in Michaelmas term 34 Charles 11., 1682,' 
[having then lately before this case been one of the 
judges of the Conmion Pleas, but then discharged of 
his place after eight years sitting there secure], * came 
into the court of Eling's Bench, and in arrest of judge- 
ment argued his own case, not as counsel, nor at the 
bar, but in the court in his cloak, having a chair set for 
him by the order of the lord chief justice.' 

''He begins by making several legal objections to 
the indictment, such as this, that it does not alledge 
that there is any corporation at all at Bristol, without 
which the court could not judicially take any notice of 
it. But he rests his defence chiefly on this, that the 
mayor is not so g^eat a personage as this indictment 
supposes; that he is among the aldermen only the^r«^ 
among his equals ; and that if he will not do his duty by 
calling them together for an election, the majority are 
justifiable in assembling for that purpose without him. 
Several passages in this report show the extreme vio- 
lence of the contending factions. In the case of the 
swearing of an alderman, by the express words of the 
charter, 'it cannot be done, but before the mayor and 
alderman, both. This Sir Eichard Hart was duly chosen 
an alderman long ago, but not sworn until the last gaol- 
delivery, when we were going to try the felons. I being 
present, they thought that sufficient to satisfy the char- 
ter, and in a tumultuous manner, with a hideous noise, 
they cried out to swear him, and this was not the usual 
[Vou UL] 



place neither for it. I opposed the swearing of him in, 
and I will justify it, that he was utterly imfit to be 
sworn, by something that happened since his being 
elected an alderman ; they would not hear me, but re- 
solved to proceed to swear him, because I was present 
with the mayor. Thereupon I withdrew, and in my 
absence they went on to swear him, and he now acta as 
an alderman and as a justice of the peace under this 
colour.' His conclusion is remarkable : — ' I have been 
recorder of Bristol these one-and-twenty years, longer, 
I think, than any man can be remembered. I have 
sworn aU the aldermen that are now upon the bench in 
my time, and many more who are now dead. I can say 
it without vanity. Till the time of this unhappy elec- 
tion of members to the Oxford Parliament, which I 
sought not, I had the goodwill of all sides, even of this 
Mr. Mayor, who was Sir Eichard Hart; for I never 
would join with any party, but did all I could when I 
came amongst them to draw them together and unite 
them; for ever since they g^ew rich, and full of trade 
and knighthood, too much sail and too little ballast, they 
have been miserably divided. And unless this court, to 
whom I think it properly belongs upon complaint in 
such cases, will examine their disorders, and command 
peace and order to be observed in our proceedings, I 
cannot safely attend there any more, nor hold any goal- 
delivery.' Whereupon the court arrested the judgement. 

" The original report I should suppose well worthy 
of a lawyer's perusal. It is also reported in Sir Bar- 
tholomew Shower, Vol. 11., 248, from whence I am 
informed by my learned friend W. B. Elwyn, Esq., that 
after Sir Eobert Atkyns had first moved and argued in 
arrest of judgement there was an adjournment, and the 
ground on which the court ultimately agreed the indict- 
ment to be vicious was 'the want of a recital of the 
letters patent.' Shower ends with observing that Sir 
E. Atkyns resigned his recordership [before the year 
expired] on Lord C. J. Pemberton's and his brother's 
persuasion, which was all that ths city of Bristol aimed at 
hy their indictment. Modem reports state only that he 
resigned hy the persuasion of his friends. Shower says that 
Pemberton, 0. J., must by his advice have thought the 
conduct of the recorder rather irregular, and that he 
would probably have been left to his verdict but for the 
advantage which he had from the art of quibbling. 
From the foregoing facts it appears probable that Sir 
Eichard Hart and the Tories had obtained a temporary 
superiority in the common council." ^ 

Ere this matter was settled the Abhorrers had suc- 
ceeded in getting a majority in the council, and Thomas 
Earl, the member, was chosen as mayor for 1681-2, 

» Seyer, II., 618-20. 

D 3 



82 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1681. 



with Hicliard Lane, grocer, and John Knight, merchant, 
as sheriffs. During his mayoralty Earl was knighted 
by the king, and John Knight, the sheriff, was also 
made a knight. Earl's parliamentary career was a brief 
one, the House being dissolved on March 28th, 1681-2. 
We shall have occasion again to refer to a portion of 
his career under the reign of William HE. 

25th January, 1681. — ''All absent members [from 
the council] to be fined 6*. 8i." 

"28th September, 1681. — Eichard Hart, mayor. — 
At which time they proceeded to the election of an 
alderman, in the room of Sir John Lloyd. And Thomas 
Earl, esq., mayor-elect, was in nomination to be alder- 
man, and was elected by Sir E. Hart, Sir E. Cann, Sir 
E. Yeamans, Mr. Alderman Oliffe and Mr. Alderman 
Crumpe, being the major part of the aldermen present. 
Absent: Atkyns, Wm. Crabbe, Joseph Oreswick. No: 
Sir Jno. Knight, John Lawford, John Hickes." 

24. "November, 1681. — Eowe, the sword-bearer, 
obtained a mandamus against Mayor Earl, to restore 
him to office of sword-bearer." ^ [Eowe, who refused 
to carry sword before Sir E. Hart on 27th of October, 
gave evidence against him, and uttered opprobrious and 
reproachful words, for which he was suspended from 
his office and removed in January, and Daniel Fjrm put 
in his place.] 

Li 1681 the grand jury of Bristol recommend that 
no printed or written news or pamphlet be suffered to 
be read in any coffee-house or tippling-house in the 
city, except such as shall have been first shown to the 
mayor or the alderman of the ward for the time being 
in which such house is situate. Sundry coffee-houses 
were mentioned which were " said to be commonly 
frequented on Lord's days as other days by many schis- 
matical and seditious sectaries, and other disloyal per- 
sons, where for their encouragement in tippling they 
were usually entertained with false news, lying and 
scandalous libels and pamphlets, tending to the reproach 
and dishonour of the established religion, and of his 
majesty's government, and divers of his great officers 
and ministers of state." ^ 

Good old Eichard Standfast, the author of A Caveat 
against Seducers and A Little Handbook of Cordial Com- 
forts, the rector of Christ church, died in 1681, aged 
seventy-eight years. His son, John Standfast, M.A., 
was, in April, 1682, presented to the rectory of Portis- 
head, nem. eon. 

Sir Eobert Atkyns resigned the recordership on the 

19th December, 1681, and Sir John Churchill was chosen 

in his stead. Sir John's last signature in the records is 

under date December 15th, 1683. '»Li 1682 the corpo- 

* Bristol Archives. « Robert's Soc. Hist., 189. 



ration proposed that the fines thenceforth levied on the 
Dissenters should be appropriated to the use of the 
French Protestants settled in Bristol." ^ 

Mr. Blathwayte, in a letter to Sir B. Southwelli 
dated Whitehall, November 5th, 1681, acquaints him 
of a charge of disloyalty urged against him at court. 
There is a draft of Sir Eobert's reply, dated November 
7th, stating that he knew of these calumnies. ''I have 
while here refrained to go to Bristol, as having nothing 
to do in the towne, nor health to drinke between meales, much 
less to partake among strangers in contentions among 
themselves." Sir Eobert gives also a list of ''parties 
to be consulted in this malicious assault against me." 
[This was after Sir E. Atkyns, Sir J. Knight and others 
were presented by the grand jury as Petitioners, and at 
the time when the above parties were about to be prose- 
cuted for electing Mr. Thomas Day as an alderman.] 

The calumny appears to have arisen from Thomas 
Earl, who maintained that he had some daim on the 
Kingsweston estate ; he was at that time mayor of Bristol, 
and the causes are thus aUuded to in Sir Eobert's letter : 
''The two magistrates of Bristol preceding this I did 
not know (Sir E. Hart and Jos. Creswick), or ever saw 
to my knowledge ; but this man I have both seen and 
felt, being £2,000 the worse for him, and he for aught 
I know his damnation the worse for me, but tis not my 
fault that he forswore himself in Chancery. He did it 
to get this estate, which I have dearly purchased with 
my money, and tis noe wonder he is incensed to goe 
without it, who has paid a dearer thing; but the man 
is now got into Sanctuary, where he never was before 
(in Parliament) : tis a pretention to serve his majesty, 
and in your shelter. I shall say no more than what 
concerns my own quiet and defence." * 

Our readers will, with us, regret that the possessors 
of these interesting papers relative to our history are 
unknown. After the death of the Eight Hon. Edward 
Southwell Clifford, Lord de Clifford, his state papers, 
&c., were sold, and it appears that from the charter of 
1269 down to the tradesmen's bills the documents had 
been thrown into chests, and through want of care the 
damp, &c., had defaced them. The above quotations are 
from portions of these documents. 

25. Few things are more remarkable in the history 
of our city than the care and judgment exercised by the 
aldermen in the choice of men who were possessed of 
means sufficient to maintain the dignity of the mayoralty, 
and to transmit the same unblemished to their successor. 
Out of 466 mayors who are known to have sat in the 
civic chair down to the year 1681, only two are recorded 
as having lapsed afterwards into poverty. Thomas 
^ Smiles' Huguenots, 284. ' Southwell Papers. 



A.i>. 1682. 



FULSOME ADDRESS TO THE KING. 



83 



Easton, merchant^ was destined to be a third example 
of the instability of wealth. During his mayoralty, in 
1682-3, the following stilted sycophantic address was, 
on the disooYery of the Bye House plot, unanimously 
adopted by the House : — 

To the ELing's moeit sacred and Excellent Majesty.— The Humble 
Address of the Mayor, Aldermen, and Common Conncell of 
the Citty of BristoU. 

Dread King, — As the inexpressable blessing of your Majesty's 
most gracious condescension in ascending with Triumphant Meek- 
ness the vacant Throne of Your Illustrious Ancestors of Blessed 
Memory (?) filled us with the most exalted Gratitude redolent of 
the most Prolific Joy at the magnitude of the National Blessings 
it produced. Nevertheless we were surprised with horror and 
detestation that any should be found so wanting in gratitude to 
the Great Bestower as to compass the Life of the Sacred Person 
of Your Majesty and that of Your Royal and Pious Brother (T) 
evincing a dastajrd enmity to the Glorious Constitution of Church 
and state. 

And now that the wonderful Providence of the Everlasting 
King of Kings, and Eternal Lord of Lords, has been made mani- 
fest in the defeat and exposure of the iniquitous and Hellish design 
against Your August Majesties Awful Will and Magnificent 
Person ! Wee, the Corporation of this Ancient Cittie, are under 
a Special and stringent obligation to Onmiscience for the discovery 
of this baneful and destructive Plott. 

And furthermore, in Bold Humility, Wee assure Your Supreme 
Majesty Wee shall ever retaine Invariably our attachment to Your 
Royal dynasty and obedient to the laws of Crod and Man, worthy 
Members of the Established Church. 

With fear and trembling, therefore, Wee retrospect this truly 
Wonderful and Providentiall escape, on a Just^ Grave, and Great 
Monarch, a Sleepless Ministry and Wise Senate, combining to 
render the Nation Flourishing, Intelligent, Prosperous, Holy and 
Happy ! 

And now, with all timidity. Wee approach the Sublime 
Footstool of Infinity, Supplicating the Merciful Omnipotence to 
Crown Your Gracious Majesty and Royal Family with every 
Temporall and Spirituall Blessing, and when the cares of Govern- 
ment are over, and Your Majesty's Royal Hand can no longer 
grasp the Golden Sceptre of Dominion, may Your Most Sacred 
Majesty be translated to the Blessed Communion of Saints, there 
to Reign in Glory Everlasting ! May it please Your Majesty is 

the Prayer of 

Thomas Easton, Mayor, 

^ &c &c. &c. 
To what a depth of degradation must the city have 
fallen when its chief men could consent to pen so fulsome 
an address to such a king. It was presented to Charles 
at Winchester, and on September 25th *' the mayor re- 
ported to the House his majesty's gracious reception 
of the same, and read the yeiy words uttered by his 
majesty." Well might Charles give them honied words. 
Here was the second city in the kingdom "playing into 
his hand " at the very moment when he was determining 
to rule without a parliament, and he soon sent them a 
different answer in the shape of a quo warranto. 

August, 168S. — It being generally known that Mr. Thomas 
Easton, mayor in 1682, and then chosen alderman, had long been 
imprisoned for debt, and was still insolvent and unable to attend 



to the duties of his office, under such circumstances that he hath 
not ever since, nor can he attend the office of alderman of this 
citty. It was agreed — That his election be declared void, and 
that he be accordingly discharged from all duties oon8eG[uent 
thereon. 

He remained in gaol till delivered by death, pre- 
ferring, says a MS., "dishonesty and the evil abandon- 
ment of a prison society to the soft amenities of civilised 
life and the tranquil enjoyment of heart and home ! " 
His estate wasted in "ryotous living" his widow peti- 
tioned the chamber for assistance, stating that she '^was 
entirely destitute, and incapable by reason of her sick- 
ness to earn a maintenance ; " but the chamber ''did not 
consider it a case to which the publick money should be 
applied," and dismissed the petition, "there not being 
any special bequest for the like condition." The widow, 
however, was persevering. She petitioned again at the 
next meeting of the chamber, which, to get rid of her 
importunity, allowed her a pension of ten pounds per 
annum. 

In the winter of 1683-4 was the great frost which 
lasted about three months, i.e. from the beg^inning of 
November to the 5th of February ; it was so severe that 
ships could not pass out of the Quay by reason of the 
many and mighty heaps of ice and mud congealed 
together, *' resembling a ruined street, part of the walls 
being left standing." ^ The Phoenix was the first fire 
insurance company; it was established 1682. The four 
physicians in Bristol were John Griffiths, William Tur- 
gis, I. Chauncey and T. Bourn. In 1683 John King, 
spectacle maker (Evans thinks the first of the trade in 
Bristol), was admitted to the freedom of the city, on a 
fine of £3, upon giving his promise that he would not 
carry on any other trade therein. 

In 1683 a brazen eagle for a lectern was given to 

the Cathedral by one of the prebendaries. In 1801 it 

was advertised for sale, as follows : — 

' ' The Eagle from the Bristol Cathedral. — To be sold by auction, 
at the Exchange coffee-rooms, in this city, on Thursday, 2nd Sep- 
tember, 1801, between the hours of one and two o'clock in the 
afternoon (unless previously disposed of by private contract), a 
beautiful brazen spread eagle, with a ledge at the tail, standing on 
a brass pedestal, supported by four lions, one at each corner. Tbis 
elegant piece of workmanship was sold last June for £27 odd by 
the dean and chapter of the Cathedral church of the holy and 
undivided trinity of Bristol, or their agents or servants, and 
weighed Bcwt. 20Ib, or 692tb, and has since been purchased at an 
advanced price by a native of this city, in order to prevent its 
being broken up, and to give the inhabitants a chance of buying 
it. It was given to the Cathedral in the reign of Charles II. by 
one of the prebendaries who had been there forty years, and is 
supposed by the following description, which was engraven on the 
pillar or pedestal, to have stood in the choir 119 years : — Ex Bono 
Oeorgij Williamson STB Hujua Ecclessia CcUhedraUs Bristol Vice 
Decani ; that is, the gift of George Williams, Bachelor of Divinity, 

^ Old MS. 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



■ab-d«ui ot thii Calliedr&l chnrch of Bristol, 1G63. The whole 
of the itlicriptioii, except the fignrei 1G83, has been token off the 
the pedeetal withont the consent of the buyer, which be has aince 
had re-engraved. Thia piece of uitiqnity, which it of the mo«t 
exquisite shape, is made of the best and purest brass, and well 
worth the attention of miaistera and chorchwardana, or any gen- 
tleman or lady who woatd wish to make a present to their parish 
chnrch ; trader* with foreign parts may find it worth their while 
to pnrchase, aa a like opportunity may never occur again. Sooh a 
haodsome bird would be, as it has hitherto been, a great ornament 
to the middle aisle of a chnrch. It for many years stood in the 
choir of the Bristol Cathedral, and npheld with its wings the 
sacred troths of the blessed gospel. The minor canons formerly 
read the lessons on it, and in most cathedrals the custom is kept 
np to this day. This snperb bird is now at King street ball, and 
may be inspected three days previana to the sale. N.B.— The 
pnrchaser offered previous to any advertisement to resell the eagle 
at the price he paid for it, provided it were replaced in the choir, 
which offer was refased." 



Laltrn irrtgiiuiBll (n Ot Cattedml, Junu In SI. Uary-li-porl C*«n*. 

Th^« were no bidders, but a citizen generousl; 
boaght and diepoeed of it in the manner shown by the 
following inscription : — 

' ' This eagle and pedestal, weighing 692D>, were gratuitously 
presented, December lOtb, 1801, by William Ady, a native of St. 
James' parish, to this chnrch of St. Mary-Ie-port, on conditions of 
their being placed in the chancell, there to remain for ever." 

26. The advent of James, Duke of York, an avowed 
Boman Catholic, to power, in 1682, and the arbitrary 



measures of the king, who appeared determined to mle 
without a parliament, raised a feeling of disaffection 
throughout the land. The jadges who were devoted to 
the crown, on a quo warranto being brought against the 
corporation of London, decided that the charters and 
liberties of that city were forfeited. Before the judg- 
ment was recorded, the frightened common councilmen 
had made peace with the king by a voluntary surrender 
of their charters, and by yielding np their ancient 
privilege of electing the city officers, notably the sheriffs. 
This successful attack upon the metropolis was speedily 
followed with regard to other cities. On Monday, 
February 12th, 1682-3, Su" Robert Sawyer brought a 
writ of quo tcarranio into the Court of King's Bench 
against the mayor, burgesses, and commonalty of Bris- 
tol, calling upon them to show by what warrant they 
claimed to be a corporation. They had undoubtedly 
broken their charter by electing to their council fifty 
men and upwards, instead of the mayor and forty-two 
men, named by the charter of 15 Heniy Vii. It would 
seem that the corporation had misinterpreted the charter 
of 23 Elizabeth, 28tb July, 1581, and had elected some 
or all of the twelve aldermen, allowed by that instm- 
ment, from citizens who were not in the common council, 
thus increasing their number. The corporation, on the 
9th of November, 1683, pleaded guilty to this violation, 
"by a supernumerary common council," and surrendered 
their charters to the king, praying for pardon and the 
restoration of their privil^es. The dgnatees are : — 
Sir William Clutterfanck, mayor Sir Robert Cann, aldemuui 
Sir John ChnrchiU, recorder Sir Richard Crump, alderman 

Sir Richard Hart, alderman Mr. Thomas Eatton, alderman 

Sir John Knight, the late sheriff John Bomsey, town clerk. 
(old Sir John was alive) 

On June 2nd, 1684, Charles waa pleased to hear 
their prayer, and to grant the citizens a new chartEir 
(the cost of which was £544 13«. 6i.), of which the 
following is a summary : — " The city to be incorporatod 
by the name of the mayor, burgesses and commonalty 
of the city of Bristol, having the same legal privileges 
as heretofore ; to have a common seal ; Sir William 
Clutterbuck (then serving in lieu of Oliff, deceased) to 
be mayor until 15th of September next; the mayor to 
have the same authority aa heretofore ; he shall take 
proper oaths; there shall be two sheriffs with authori^ 
as heretofore ; Nathaniel Driver and Edmund Arundel, 
esqs., are appointed by the king ; they ahall take proper 
oaths; there shall be a common council of forty-three 
persons. The king nominates them, viz. : — 
John Churchill, knt. Edmnnd Amndel 

Robert Cann, knt. and hart. William Merrick 

John Lawford, esq. George Morgan 

Robt. Yeamans, knt. and bart. Oile« Merrick 



A.i>. 1684. 



THE KING NOMINATES THE COUNCIL. 



85 



John Hicks, eeq. 
Wm. Crabb, esq. 
Kichd. Cramp, knt. 
Joseph Creswick, esq. 
Bichard Hart, knt. 
Thomas Easton, esq. 
William Glutterbnck, knt. 
William Hayman, esq. 



John Sandford 
James Twyford 
Walter Gunter 
Bobert Dowding 
George Morris 
Antony Swymmer 
John Yeomans 
Edward Tocknell 



John Bomsey, late common clerk John Cliff 

of the city aforesaid, and also Bobert Yate 

the common clerk of the city John Whiteing 

for the time being James Pope 

John Knight, knt. (Sir John Henry Combs 

Knight, sen., was now dead) John Brad way 

Abraham Saonders Bobert Smith 

John Coombes John HoUister, mercer 

John Moore Scarborough Chapman, and 

Wm. Swymmer Bichard Gibbons, gentlemen, 
Bichard Lane who are to take all of them 

Oeoi^e Hart proper oaths. 

Nathaniel Driver 

Vacancies are to be filled, by election at the next meet- 
ing of the common council after any or every such 
vacancy, by the coxmcil men. They shall have power 
to make laws, to impose pains and penalties; shall have 
all fines, and as great power as heretofore ; the laws to 
be approved of by the lord chancellor. The mayor to 
be elected annually on September 15th; also the two 
sherifPs, and other officers on that day. In case of 
death of the mayor or sheriff, the common council to 
elect another, who shall serve for the remainder of the 
deceased's year. The king nominates for recorder. Sir 
John Churchill, knt.; recorders to be justices of the 
peace, with the same powers as heretofore ; to be also 
the first alderman of twelve nominated, viz. : — 



John Chnrchill, knt. 

Bobert Cann, knt. and bart. 

John Lawf ord 

Bobert Yeamans, knt. and bart. 

John Hicks 

William Crabb 



Bichard Crump, knt. 
Joseph Creswick 
Bichard Hart, knt. 
Thomas Easton 
William Glutterbnck, knt. 
William Hayman. 



Aldermen in future to be elected from the common 
council by the mayor and other aldermen ; they must 
be resident in the city or its suburbs. Anyone refusing 
to serve as common councilman, alderman, mayor, or 
sheriff, to be fined, not more than £500, and committed 
to prison until payment. Persons not possessing £2,000 
shall be discharged. Mayor and aldermen to be justices 
for various purposes (specified) ; they may enquire into 
the conduct of sheriffs, &c., inspect and proceed on in- 
dictments, fine delinquents, &c., &c. ; the mayor and 
commonalty to have fines. Mayor, &c., to hold four 
sessions of the peace for gaol delivery; fines of gaol 
delivery reserved to the crown. The justices to take 
proper oaths. John Komsej to be the common or town 
derk ; he is to take oaths, and to be paid by fees, as his 



predecessors. The town clerk to be in future elected by 
the common council; he must be a barrister of three 
years* standing, approved by the king ; he is not to be 
an alderman or sheriff. John Kobins to be steward of 
the sheriff's court ; he shall be paid by fees, &c. ; com- 
mon council to elect his successor, who must be ap- 
proved by the king ; on a vacancy the common council 
to elect another steward, who shall be a barrister of 
three years' standing, approved of by the king. Two 
coroners are nominated, viz., George Lunell and Kow- 
land Searchfield, who are to take proper oaths; vacancies 
in the office to be filled by the common council ; the 
elected to be approved of by the king. The mayor, 
aldermen, and other officers, to take the corporal oath 
of allegiance and the other oaths, approved by parlia- 
ment, before commissioners, viz., Lord Guildford, keeper 
of the great seal, the Duke of Beaufort, ^ Marquis of 
Worcester, Leoline Jenkins, knt., Oharles Kenwith, 
bart, John Smith, bart., James Herbert, knt., and 
John Fitzherbert, Esq., or any three of them; the 
keeper of the seal, Duke of Beaufort, Marquis of 
Worcester, or Sir Leoline Jenkins, to be one of the 
three. Power of removing the mayor, or any of the 
common council or officers, to remain with the king. 
Com brought by land to be sold at the ancient market- 
place in Wine street ; com brought by water to be sold 
at Aldworth's slip on the Frome, and from thence along 
the river bank towards the Gib for the space of thirty 
yards; also grain brought to the Back may be sold 
there ; the mayor and aldermen to govern the market 
and to regulate the tolls. Three doth fairs are granted, 
to be held in King street, viz., on 18th Apnl, two days, 
18th June, two days, and the first Thursday after the 
feast of St. Michael, one day, in the street between the 
river Avon and the Merchants' hall. Also five horse 
fairs in the year, viz., on the 25 th January, in Temple 
street, and to continue during the feast of St. Paul ; on 
the 25th and 26th of March, on Bedcliff hill ; on the 
25th and 26th of May, in Broadmead; on the 25th, 26th, 
and 27th of September, in Temple street, and on the 
25th, 26th, and 27th of November, on Eeddiff hill. If 
the said days any of them fall on a Sunday, the fair to 
be kept on the Monday next following. The court of 
piepoudre to be granted, with all liberties, &c., but so as 
not to interfere with the above-named fairs. All former 
grants, &c., to be confirmed to the mayor and com- 
monalty, and non-usage of privileges to be no impedi- 
ment. The tenure to be as heretofore." 

^ The duke was the first of the title, grandson of the heroic 
and talented Henry, first Marquis of Worcester, who so bravdy 
defended Ragland castle; he had won the strawberry leaves 
December 2nd, 1682-3. 



86 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



The charter is signed Piggott; the fine in the 
Hanaper, £6 13<. 4d,, Guildford. 

Memorandam — That the 10th day of Jaly, after the date of 
these letters patent, by virtue and in execution of the same, we, 
Charles Marquess of Worcester, Sir John Smyth, bart., Sir James 
Herbert, knt., and John Fitzherbert, Esq., iu the Guildhall of the 
said city of Bristol, all and singular of the oaths to the several 
persons respectively in these letters patent directed to us to be 
administered according to the tenor and exigence of the said letters 
patent did administer; William Merrick and Richard Gibbons, 
gentlemen, being only absent. 

Worcester. 

James Herbert. 

John Fitzherbert. 

27. Considerable difficulty has arisen as to this char- 
ter. James, by proclamation some few weeks before he 
abdicated the throne, restored the '^ ancient gOTemment" 
and replaced it on its earlier charters, placing most of 
Charles's nominees in the chamber, and giving back the 
power of election to the burgesses, who treated the above 
charter of Charles as nuU and void, refused to serve 
offices, nor did the common council attempt to compel 
them by fine to serve as they might have done if the 
charter had been held to be valid. Queen Anne, however, 
in her charter (which is the legal instrument for civic 
government to this day) supposes Charles's charter 
(given above) to be in force, for she granted a pardon 
for all offences against it, and she confirms all former 
charters, unless they are contradicted by her own. Seyer 
says, **It is a question of some difficulty and of con- 
siderable moment, for the validity of many acts of the 
common council at this day depends upon it; but 
although I have seen and heard legal opinions relative 
to it, yet it does not seem hitherto determined." ^ Our 
readers will remember that Seyer was writing before 
the Municipal Corporation Act was passed. 

It may well be conceived that this arbitrary manipu- 
lation of the charters of Bristol by the king did not give 
satisfaction to the country party, who were to a great 
extent excluded from office. The disaffected in Bristol 
entered into communication with those in London, and 
James HoUoway, a linen manufacturer of this city, was 
the go-between. The conspirators used to meet in a 
garden in Baldwin street. An insurrection was planned 
in November, 1682, to begin simultaneously in Lon- 
don, Bristol, Exeter, Taunton, Chester, York, and 
Newcastle. Bristol, it was concluded, could be easily 
managed by a surprise with 350 men, 200 of whom 
were to be raised in Bristol, and 150 were to be sup- 
plied from Taunton ; these were to be divided into four- 
teen parties, including those destined to attack the main 
guard at the Tolzey. The strangers were to be lodged 
at inns and alehouses as near their appointed posts as 

^ Seyer*8 Charters, 294. 



might be ; they were to 
the watch went off duty 
morning, then to seize o 
and their leading oppon 
and ammunition; then t 
why they had taken up a 
many thousands in the 
them. Before, however 
which Joseph Tyley, ! 
William "Wade, of Bristc 
was conceived (the Rye 
for March 22nd, and dis 
cost the life of one of £ 
William Bussell, and pn 

HoUoway inimediat< 
talent and patriotic spi 
ment he had been proi 
the encouragement of 
and preventing frauds 
would have saved the 
ploying many thousant 
linen manufactory in 
cambrics equal to thoi 
the same at Bristol bj 
poration, the gift mon 
we have related; he 
land could be profitabl 
people be found cons 
brought him into freq 
bury, Essex, Clarendoi 
chagrin caused by the 
plan appears to have e 
to the country party. 

When the news thi 
Bristol, HoUoway sayi 
Uttle horse, about 40«. 
as a man deaUng in w 
then repaired to Bris< 
(aU other friends ther 
vaUed with a poor ma: 
tons, for £20 reward 
months, to go with n 
the West Indies or y 
August they sailed frt 

with bad weather, sprung their mast, and had to put into 
St. Ives ; they saUed thence on the 4th September, and 
owing to the weather had to shelter in several French 
ports, not reaching EocheUe until the 17th. There he 
loaded with brandy and other goods, sailing on the 4th 
October for the West Indies, where, as a merchant, he 
had done business for years, had several factors, and 
was owed a round sum of money, which he considered 



A.D. 1684. 



NELL GWYNN IN BRISTOL. 



87 



woiQd more than suffice to pay his creditors in England. 
He reached Barbadoes on the 11th Noyember, stayed 
there two days, but being too soon for the crop, after 
landing part of his cargo, visited Antigua, where he 
stayed ten days ; he then visited the Caribbees, Mont- 
serrat, Nevis, St. Christopher, and other islands, return- 
ing to St. Christopher's, whence he wrote to his factor 
in Nevis to send him the moneys due to him. This 
Bcoimdrel, to save his pocket, betrayed him. HoUoway 
was arrested, sent home, and was hanged on an outlawry 
for high treason, at Tyburn, April 30th, 1684. HoUo- 
way, in his confession, says, ''I heard of another design 
that was intended against the king and the Duke of 
York as they came from Newmarket; there were but few 
in it, and they were eleven months contriving it, but 
it failed." 

Holloway was a member of the Church of England, 
not a Separatist. He stated that he belonged to the 
"Horseshoe" club in Bristol, but not to the ** Mermaid," 
and that the other party had greater clubs than theirs. 
He repeatedly asserted in his defence that it was their 
fear of arbitrary government and Popery, and the stifling 
of the Popish plots, that alone induced himself and others 
to conspire against the king ; they did not design any- 
thing against his majesty's life, but only to liberate him 
from the control of those whose bad advice kept him 
from calling a parliament, and who were the enemies of 
himself and of his people. 

28. A contemporary MS. relates : — 

1683. December 13th. — The king and Mistress Glwyn (Gwynn) 
came priirily to Bristol!, and drove to the Colledge to see the colored 
window Mistress Glwyn had set np, and the king did chide Mistres 
Glwyn for being soe wastefull. They dined with the mayor, 
William Clutterbucke, grocer in Come streete, who had been 
mayor by speoiall commande of his majestie, and after dinner the 
king did knight Mr. Mayor, and soe they departed. 

At the eastern end of the north aisle of the cathedral, 
at the commencement of the present century, below the 
window was a board, with the following couplet : — 

'< For this windowe faire, azure, ruby, golden, 
To Mistress Glwyn this charche are beholden." 

Sir William Clutterbuck, the son of Josias Clutter- 
buck, grocer, Com street, married Sarah, daughter 
of John Yemon. He was chosen into the corpora- 
tion on September 24th, 1671, made sheriff in 1678, 
and in 1682 he received the thanks of the grand jury 
''for serveing his country against Dissenters and his 
impartiality in keeping the gaol at Newgate.'' In the 
same year he was chosen a trustee of Queen Elizabeth's 
hospital, and in 1684 was made a knight, alderman and 
mayor by the king. In 1702, on the 30th of June, he 
resigned all his public offices owing to his ill-health; 
and dying in 1707, was buried in All Saints church. 



His widow was left as his executrix, and she afterwards 
married John Eomsey, the town clerk. To the church 
of St. Augustine he bequeathed a gilt plate, weighing 
28 ounces, to be used at the administration of the Holy 
Sacrament. He also gave £40 the interest thereof to 
be delivered in bread to the poor of the parish every 
Lord's-day; to Christ church parish £50 the interest 
thereof, 20«. for a sermon, 10«. to the derk, and 20«. to 
the poor in bread ; and £40, the interest, to the poor of 
St. Peter's. Sir William had a son, Stephen, who be- 
came mayor in 1739. 

Sir William Hayman, mayor in 1684, is historically 
familiar from his having been called from the bench to 
the bar, with other magistrates in the civic scarlet, 
by Lord Chief Justice Jeffreys, to answer a charge of 
kidnapping; and he was fined £1,000 "for suffering 
a boy committed to Bridewell to go beyond the sea." 
Particulars of this proceeding we shall give on a subse- 
quent page. Sir William was a wealthy West Indian 
merchant, residing in a substantial antique mansion in 
Small street. On November 1st, 1670, he married the 
sister of Edward Colston, the philanthropist. He was 
chosen sheriff in 1679. In 1681 he was elected a gover- 
nor of Christ church hospital, London, and is styled "of 
London, merchant." In 1866 he entertained the king 
at his house, and in 1690 he was elected an alderman. 

On 11th June, 1692, Sir William conveyed to the 
feoffees of St. Augustine's parish a rent-charge of £10 
per annum for ever out of a house in Horse street in 
the said parish, £5 being the gift of his daughter, Sarah 
Langton, the residue £5 being his gift. To be distri- 
buted, viz. : — To eight poor widows not receiving weekly 
alms, on Christmas-day for ever, 10«. each. To the 
vicar of the parish, for a sermon to be preached every 
Christmas-day in the morning, being Sir William's birth- 
day, £ I ; his widow to have the nomination of the widows 
during her life, and to her he gave for her life the house 
out of which he had made the rent-charge payable. 
His wife was the daughter of William Colston, who, by 
his will, gave to her £500, and to her two daughters 
£100 each, to bo paid them at the age of twenty-one 
years, or on their marriage; to their father, William 
Hayman, he left £5. Sir William's private character 
is said to have been a most estimable one. He was 
morbidly solicitous to preserve inviolate the rigid silence 
of his place of rest, and that no carnal, discordant noises 
should hurtle on the sanctified solemnity of his sepulchre ; 
for which purpose, several years before his death, he 
superintended the construction of a vault near the altar 
in St. Augustine's church, to which, his life's probation 
over, he was, in the year 1702, in the seventy-eighth 
year of his age, consigned. He directed his remains ''to 



88 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1686. 



be decently interred according to the Liturgy of the 
Church of England, as by law established.'' In the 
same vault are interred his daughter, Sarah Langton, 
and his widow, Dame Mary. The latter deceased 29th 
March, 1711, aged seventy. At his death he possessed 
considerable property ; one portion, consisting of estates 
in the island of Jamaica, he bequeathed to his godson, 
William Hayman, son of his lately deceased brother, 
Stephen Hayman, baker. To his daughter, Mary, who, 
in 1698, married Thomas Edwards, he bequeathed pro- 
perty in Bristol and £1,000 in money for her sole use, 
ODd the sum of £20 to purchase mourning for herself 
and husband. His wife. Dame Mary, whom he describes 
as his "loving and weU-beloved wife," he made his 
executrix, leaving her very wealthy, with the house, 
furniture and all the jewels possessed by her; also his 
chariot and horses, and all the plate with the Colston's 
arms engraved thereon. To his mother-in-law, Mrs. 
Colston, and to Mrs. Edward Colston, whom he ap- 
pointed to be one of the overseers of his will, he left 
£10 each to purchase mourning. 

29. Upon the death of Charles, numerous flattering 
addresses were placed at the feet of his successor. Even 
the capital was proudly eulogistic, and Bristol followed 
in the same obsequious strain. The corporation agreed 
that an " address be presented the king on the death of 
his brother, Charles II., of blessed memory!" After 
the usual stereotyped preliminary, it says : — 

We cannot approach your sacred majesty without expressing 
our sorrow at the decease of our late most gracious sovereign, and 
yonr majestie's most entirely beloved brother, King Charles the 
2nd, which would have been insupportable had not your majestie's 
eminent virtues and undoubted title to the crown alleviated our 
griefs, and secured us from all danger, by having one of the same 
blood, endued with admirable sagacity in government, with entire 
aiffection to the welfare of all your good subjects, and the happy 
state of your kingdome, succeeded to the throne, which is most 
plain by your majestie's adventuring your royall blood to defend 
those heretofore yon are now by right to govern, and by those 
gracious expressions of your majestie's to your honourable privy 
conndll at the first sitting amongst them, and many other circum- 
stances that give us entire confidence of happiness under your 
majestie's government. Nor is this a new opinion taken up by us 
upon yonr majestie's ascending the throne, but was our former 
sentiment, declared by many addresses from ns to his late sacred 
majestic, of blessed memory. We doe therefore, in confirmation 
of our loyalty, and as further demonstration of affection, duty, 
and allegiance, assure your majestic, that we will stand by and 
assist your majestic in the support of your crown and government, 
in all honour and safety, with our lives and fortunes ; and shall 
duly pray for your majesties long and happy reign. 

Given under the corporation seal of this city by the full and 
free consent, this 17th February, in the first year of yonr majesties 
reign. 

One can scarcely imagine these sentiments came 

from the leading men of a city which had petitioned 

against James' succession. Had the corporation in- 



tended to be satirical, they could not have been more 
successful. 

There is an item in the audits for 1685 : — 

Paid the mayor, expenses to London to present an address to 
the king, £30. 

In striking contrast to the corporation document is 
the characteristic address of the Society of Friends : — 

We are told to testify our sorrow for the death of our good 
friend Charles, and our joy for thou being made our governor. We 
are told that thou art not of the persuasion of the Church of 
England, no more than we ; therefore we hope thon wilt grant ns 
the same licence which thou allowed thyself. Which so doing 
we wish thee all manner of happiness. 

Laconic, but to the purpose. No notice of their 
manumitted brethren, whom James had released from 
incarceration : there was nothing for which to be thank- 
ful; thd king had merely done a just act, and the 
Quakers were not hypocrites to simulate a virtue they 
could not feel. 

The old MS. Calendar states :—" King Charles 11. 
dyed February 6th, 1684-5. Mr. Maior was afterwards 
knighted by King James." Charles died a professed 
Eoman Catholic ; extreme unction and the eucharist 
were administered to him by a Catholic priest. ''His 
reign was a transition state from a practical despotism 
to a regulated system of freedom, but the violence of 
the popular party defeated, in a great measure, the 
good ends which they professed to have in view, and 
brought upon themselves the mortifi.cation of seeing the 
crown, not only invested with a greatly-increased in- 
fluence, but even viewed with a growing veneration on 
the part of the multitude, who are most easily led astray. 
Had not Charles contrived to suspend the contest be- 
tween the popular and arbitrary principles of the con- 
stitution, a civil war must have ensued in his time, or 
the Eevolution been anticipated by a period of ten years. 
His reign is rendered memorable for the passing of the 
Habeas Corpus Act, which put an end to arbitrary im- 
prisonment, and secured the personal freedom of the 
subject on the firm basis of law." ^ 

Hepworth Dixon thus describes Charles : — 

A gaunt dark man, with hairless scalp and bleary eyes, sensual 
mouth, false teeth, false curls, false colour, bald, bewigged and 
painted, with a sunken cheek, a hideous leer, with a pinched and 
saturnine face, a man passed the middle age and looking older 
than his years, fast hobbling to his grave, with gouty leg and 
broken frame, amid a rout of gamblers, courtezans and pimps, 
who cheat each other and play false to him ; a prince who sells his 
country for a bribe ; a churchman who betrays his faith ; a man 
whom no one calls his friend ; a lover whom his lemans dupe and 
cheat. 

From a collection of letters, papers and other docu- 

^ Creasy, 1686. 



A.D. 1G86. 



ITEMS OF HISTORICAL INTEREST. 



89 



ments, offered for sale in 1834, which related to the 
municipal and general history of Bristol, we select the 
following, being the vendor's description (the papers 
themselves having disappeared) : — 

Copy of the charter granted to the merchant venturers 
of Bristol by Oharles U., 1665. — Certificates of Hum- 
phrey Colston, British consul at Malaga, 1672. — ^Peti- 
tion of Samuel Day, son of Sir Thomas Day, of Bristol, 
for the place of governor of Bermuda, void by the 
displacing of Captain Goddard. — Upwards of ninety 
letters from Colonel John Eomsey, collector of customs 
at Bristol, and of his cousin, John Eomsey, town clerk 
of Bristol, to Sir Bobert Southwell, from 1675 to 1682. 
These letters show that the town derk was indebted for 
his situation to the entreaties of his cousin, the colonel, 
with Sir Bobert, which the town derk requited, by an 
unwearied assistance, in settling the purchase of Kings- 
weston, near Bristol, an estate, as appears by the cau- 
tion observed in the letters, to have been disposed of 
to the Southwells (see page 82), considerably under 
its real value. — Draft of a warrant, March 1677-8, 
for the removal of Colonel Eomsey from the office of 
collector of customs to aid his majesty in his military 
capacity. — In a letter, October 12th, 1678, the colonel 
shows how the lord treasurer would prevent his being 
of service to the king, his lordship (the treasurer) 
can have no cause for it, but that the colonel was my 
Lord Shaftesbury's servant. — ^A letter of 4th January, 
1678-9, contains the assertion ''that Bristol aire is 
souraine against madness." — One of February says: 
**"We are all preparing to go to Ilchester to-morrow 
morning to the election, where imdoubtedly Sir Hugh 
Smyth and Sir John Sydenham will be chosen, my Lord 
Fitzhardinge is the only antagonist, and he has the name 
of a courtier, which does not goe downe with these free- 
holders." The anticipation was correct. — Another letter, 
dated London, July 22nd, 1 679, details some facts relative 
to the acquittal of Sir George Wakeman : — ''Tou may 



better guess at the joy at Windsor than I can." — One 
of May 20th, 1682, contains interesting notices of the 
early disgrace of the Duke of Monmouth, in whose sub- 
sequent rebellion the colonel appears to have borne a 
prominent part. 

There is in the Council chamber a picture of James IL 
by Sir Godfrey Kneller, but in the books is the following 
entry: — 

1686. April 7th. — Paid John HoskiiiB for the king's picture, £10 5«. 

Paid for gnilding frame Ids, 

John Hoskins, who was a painter of repute, died in 
1664. He had a son, who was a miniature painter, 
but who does not appear to have had a very high repu- 
tation, and it is not probable that a painter in miniature 
would have been able to throw such artistic power into 
a picture of such a size; possibly, through him, the 
commission was g^ven to Sir Godfrey, or, what is more 
probable, he might have obtained the picture from Sir 
Godfrey and then sold it to the corporation — ^the odd 
money given for it and the charge for gilding makes it 
look very much like a second-hand transaction. 

There is an interesting story connected with this work 
of art. James II., towards the dose of his reign, fell 
into great disrepute in Bristol, and his portrait disap- 
peared from the walls of the Council chamber. Some 
years ago the late Mr. James Curnock was entrusted 
with the task of cleaning the corporation pictures. He 
found one which was intended to represent Charles II. ; 
the head and wig were most indifferently painted, and 
formed a striking contrast to the artistic rendering of 
the dress and the hands. The colours were thinly laid 
on, and beneath the wig there was evidence of another 
wig existing. Having obtained leave, Mr. Cumock pro- 
ceeded to remove the surface work, and so succeeded in 
discovering the lost portrait of James II. Mr. Garrard, 
who was treasurer at that time, is said to have dis- 
covered in the city archives the record of a payment 
^' for painting over the king's head." 




[Vol. m.] 



D 4 



CHAPTER XIII. 



TP ^ISE OB DISSEP 11] BRISTOL— PEI(SE6UTI0]] 
OB ITS ^Dpppg. 



I. Puritanism in the i6th and lyih centuries. Declarations of the Independents and of the Baptists, 

2. Results of Purilanisnt in Bristol. Mrs. Hazard and others become Separatists and form a church. 

3, The Quakers: their sufferings. James Naylor whipped and branded. 4. Chronological sequence of the 
denominations. Ewins becomes a Baptist. 5. The Persecution begins: Ewins and Terrill thrown info 
prison. Country sites where the Dissenters worshipped. 6. Expedients taken to baffle their persecutors. 
Baptist Mills, why so called. Ewins dies : Hardcastle succeeds at Broadmead. 7. Charles grants licenses, 
which he afterwards withdraws. Hellier, a notorious persecutor. Hardcastle and Weeks are apprehended. 
8.' The Baptists found a close communion church. Andrew Gifford : his romantic work, his sufferings. 

9. Thompson is imprisoned: dies in Newgate. Two scarce pamphlets. Where the church met in the Castle. 

10. Hardcastle again imprisoned. Conspicuous persecutors. 11. Sacrilegious ruffianism. Hardcastle's 
death. Ford hunted into the Avon and drowned. Knight dies from the effects of his submersion. Fownes 
dies. la. Weeks and the Presbyterian Dissenters. Two noble laymen, Edward Terrill and Ichabod Chauncey. 



shall now give a brief sketch of the 
rise and progress of Nonconfomiiiy 
in Bristol, noting more especially the 
effect of the measures adopted by 
Charles II. towards the Separatiets. 
At the close of the I6th century many 
persons of tender conscience in divers 
parts of the kingdom were led to em- 
brace the doctrine of justification by faith, in contradis- 
tinction to the general teaching and ceremonial worship 
of the Church of England, which held the theory that 
every one In the land was a Christian. The world thus 
brought bodily into the Ohnrch had naturally brought 
the Church down to its level ; any man, however vile, 
might take the sacrament as a sign of fitneaa for office 



in the State, but no one could hold office without thus 
asserting his church membership. The Puritans in 
their attempts to correct this extreme, created another 
by strongly emphasising the doctrine of conTemon, and 
they went so far as to assert that no man should be a 
church member who was not dear as to the very date 
and manner of his second birth. The natural effect of 
this teaching was, that In their hands the church be- 
came a reservoir of the elect and sanctified, instead of 
becoming a healthy, life-giving stream to the world, an 
educating institution in which men should from child- 
hood be trained in truth and goodness. Hence the 
Christ-life became rather an accident than a result, an 
error which two centuries have failed as yet to rectify. 
But few of these good men, however, became at that 



RESULTS OF PURITANISM IN BRISTOL. 



time 8«paratiflto; etill the name Pnritan was generally 
given to them on account of their purity of life and the 
precision of their doctrinal viewa. Early in the 17th 
century, John Bobinaon, the pastor of the church from 
which sprang the Puritan fathers, separated from the 
Anglican communion, and founded the Independent 
denomination, but he admitted the right of the ciyil 
authori^ to interfere vith the constitution of the 
church, and held it to be a duty for godly magietratee 
to force men by penalty to attend on divine service. 
The Baptistfl, who, in the year after this delirerauce of 
Bobinson's published their Confmim of Faith (1611), 



cry day and night to the Lord to pluck down the lordly 
prelates of the time, and the auperstition thereof." 
They also met at Anthony Kelly's, grocer, in High 
street, at Bobert Haynes', writing schoolmaster, in 
Com street, at Bichard Moon's, farrier, in Wine 
street, and at Goodman Coles', victualler or batcher, 
at Lawford's gate. Mr. Kelly died in 1631; Mr. Yea- 
mans in 1633, after which from time to time Puritan 
clergymen, chiefly from South Wales, came occasionally 
to minister to the bereaved flock. Eventually, Mr. 
Hazard, "a young preacher who savoured of the Puri- 
tanic spirit," came to St. Nicholas on a temporary 



Wldvai KtUt and otlitr w 



in Oopping %p Frtmie GaU ol (At Siigt al £H<toI to. 16i3. 



show a greater advancte in the principles of religious 
liberty ; in it " they deny the ri^ts of the civil magis- 
trate to interfere with religion, or with matters of 
conscience, or to compel men to this or that form of 
religion, because Ohrist is the King and Lawgiver of 
the church and of conscience." 

2. In Bristol from 1604 the Bev. William Yeamans, 
a Puritan vicar of the church of St. Philip and Jacob, 
was the central rallying point for the godly, " who sat 
under his light for nearly twenty years, keeping many 
fast days in private houses, namely, at one Wm. Lis- 
tun'a house, a glover, near Lawford's gate, and at one 
Bichard Langford's house, a bouse carpenter in tbe 
Castle, and sometimes at other places, where they did 



visit, and as a supply preached at Bedclifi, but had 
to leave there because he used too much plainness of 
speech. This would appear to have been in 1639, at 
which period the widow Kelly kept on the grocer's 
shop between the Guilder's inn and the High Cross, 
"where she would keep open her shop on the time they 
called Christmas Day, and sit sewing in her shop, as a 
witness for Ood in the midst of the city, in the face 
of the Bun, and in the sight of all men . . . when as 
it were all sorts of people had a reverence of that par> 
ticular day above all others. . . . She was the first 
woman in this city of Bristol that practised that truth 
of the Lord which was then hated and odious, namely. 
Separation." (This is the same strong-minded lady 



92 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1640. 



who, with Mistress Joan Batten and others, stopped 
up the Frome gate with woolsacks and earth to keep 
out Prince Eupert, in 1643, for particulars of which see 
Vol. I. 310.) Meetings were then resumed in private 
houses, and it was the practice of the godly people to 
meet at each other's houses for devotional exercises, ''to 
compare notes of the sermons," and because there were 
many women of the company, the basest insinuations 
were circulated about these gatherings. Mrs. Kelly's 
house was attacked on at least one occasion, and all 
the windows broken by "a rude mob of the rabble and 
sailors," because " they heard there was a conventicle 
of Puritans, which was to them a very strange and un- 
heard of thing, for people to meet in a church with a 
chimney in it." The injured party complained to the 
mayor, and sought for redress and punishment of the 
ringleaders, but the magistrate, instead of doing them 
justice, threw some of them into prison. This led to a 
petition to Parliament of complaint against the mayor, 
which William Listun went to London and presented. 
The Houses ''graciously favoured the cause of the 
godly, and well resented their case in Bristol," which 
startled the mayor, and abated his persecuting spirit. 
When Listun returned from London, it was noised 
abroad that he too would be imprisoned, and more 
severely dealt with than others had been, and he was 
advised to keep quiet. But strong in the justice of his 
cause, he went the next day to the shop of his friend 
Haynes, opposite to the Tolzey ; the mayor, on seeing 
him there, sent a sergeant to ask him to come over and 
speak to him, when, instead of sending him to prison, 
his worship asked him what he did in London, and 
being told, he civilly dismissed him. 

Unable to conform to the ceremonies of the establish-* 
ment, the sectaries also hired houses in other parishes if 
there was therein a Puritan preacher* — the law being 
very strict as to their attendance on the church of the 
parish in which they resided — returning on the Monday 
to their shops and places of business. When Mr. 
Hazard was driven from Beddiff, the people per- 
suaded the widow Kelly to marry him, which she did. 
Soon afterwards, on hearing the clergyman of her 
parish (All Saints) state in a sermon "that pictures 
and images might be used in churches," she rose and 
left the church in the midst of the sermon, nor ever 
would enter it again, for which conduct, and for having 
previously refused to kneel at the sacrament, she was 
about to be brought into the spiritual court, to avoid 
which she and her young husband had just stepped out 
of their door to go and hire a house in another parish, 
when at this juncture "a woman came to them in the 
street and told them the minister of St. Ewen's parish 



was deceased, and that the people of the parish had 
chosen him (Hazard) to be their minister." In the 
parsonage, which they only used themselves on the 
Lord's day, the Hazards entertained sometimes two or 
three families at one time (who were expatriating them- 
selves for conscience sake to New England), whilst they 
waited in Bristol for a ship or for a fair wind. At 
other times the parsonage became a lying-in hospital 
for good women, who objected to the "ceremonies of 
their churching, the cross, and other impositions, that 
most of the parsons of other parishes did burden them 
withal that were delivered within their precincts." Mr. 
Hazard, by virtue of his office, was compelled to use 
the prayers of the church, although he would not in- 
discriminately administer the sacrament. Then arose a 
conflict in Mrs. Hazard's mind as to her duty. Her 
wifely affection and her position as a clergyman's wife 
drew her one way; her conscientious dislike of forms 
acted powerfully in an opposite direction. On her way 
to church one morning she hesitated and made a final 
appeal to her Bible; it opened at Eev. xiv. 9-11, "If 
any man worship the beast," &c. This was decisive; 
she from that moment became a Separatist. Four 
others, holding similar views, joined her: these were — 
Atkins, a countryman of Stapleton; Cole, butcher; 
Moon, farrier; and Mr. Bacon, a young minister. 
This was in the year 1640, and these five laid the 
foundation of open Dissent in Bristol. They met in 
the Parsonage house, and "covenanted to worship the 
Lord purely and persevere therein to their end." Their 
custom was in the morning of the Lord's-day to have 
their own devotional exercise until the prayers in the 
church were ended, and then to enter and listen to 
Mr. Hazard's sermon. In the aflvmoons they met to 
strengthen each other in the faith, at first at Mr. 
Hazard's, subsequently at Mr. Bacon's house in Lewin's 
mead. At Easter, Mr. Hazard, who was a man of 
very tender conscience, left the city, in order to avoid 
being compelled by law to administer the Sacrament to 
all comers being parishioners; at which juncture Mr. 
Cann, a Baptist, who had issued a Bible with notes and 
references, came to Bristol. Mrs. Hazard fetched him 
from the "Dolphin" inn, where he preached in the 
large room, to her own house, where she entertained 
him during his stay in the city. The next Lord's-day 
he preached in the church at Westerleigh, where many 
of the professors went from Bristol to hear him ; but a 
godly great woman of that place, hearing that he was a 
Baptist, caused the church to be closed against him in 
the afternoon, although the vicar, A£r. Fowler, was 
rather favourable to him. Mr. Cann, therefore, held a 
service of two hours upon the green, and stated that if 



A.D. 1660. 



THE QUAKERS: THEIR SUFFERINGS. 



93 



the GhurcheB were dosed against him he should in future 
hire a bam, or any oonyenient building for the purpose 
of worship. 

The idea of preaching in an unconsecrated place 
found no favour in the sight of the people, as we may 
well imagine, and for two years the Separatists con- 
tinued worshipping as they best could in each other's 
houses. They lost A£r. Bacon, who accepted a call to 
the church at Filton; the little handful of believers, 
however, prospered under lay agency imtil, in 1642, a 
Mr. Pennill, who had been the vicar of St. Leonard's, 
became a Nonconformist, and took the oversight of 
them in the Lord. By this time, with accessions from 
Bridington, Keynsham and Wells, &c., they numbered 
in church fellowship 160 persons. Then broke out the 
war between the king and Parliament, and the oppro- 
brious name of Boundhead was applied to the Puritans, 
chiefly because the apprentices, who in large numbers 
entered the army, cut their hair short, so that their ears 
could be seen. The city being, in 1642-3, in the pos- 
session of the Parliament, many Welsh christian people 
sought refuge therein ; and Mr. Cradock, who was pastor 
of the church at Llanvaches, being with many of his 
people refugees, the two churches, Welsh and English, 
coalesced, and met in fellowship in the great room of 
the " Dolphin " inn. This was the first place in Bristol 
in which the ordinance of the Lord's Supper was ad- 
ministered to a Dissenting church. They afterwards 
met for worship at a baker's house on St. James' back, 
and finally in the church of St. Ewen, imtil Bristol was 
taken by Prince Bupert, when they again met secretly 
in private dwellings, prindpally at Mrs. Nethway's, a 
brewer's house in Lewin's mead ; but on the Lord's-day 
in the morning they attended the church of All Saints, 
where A£r. (afterwards Doctor) Ingelo was appointed 
the minister. This continued for four or five years, 
when Mr. Ingdo's dress and musical tastes gave offence 
to the more rigid. Mrs. Nethway having heard a good 
report of Mr. Thomas Ewins, late of All Hallows, 
London, but then a preacher at Llanvaches, rode over 
into Wales to hear him ; the result being that Mr. Ewins 
was, on the 14th July, 1651, invited by the commis- 
sioners under the Act of Parliament passed ''for the 
better maintenance of ministers to preach the gospel," 
as wdl as by the members of the church, to come to 
BristoL The commisdoners who dgned the invitation 
were ten in number. [The first commisdoner was 
Dennis HoUister, who was a member of the Parliament 
of 1653 ; four others, viz., H. Browne, B. Aldworth and 
E. Tyson, who was mayor in 1659-60, with E. Yickris, 
who had been chief magistrate; two others, Thomas 
Harris and George Lane, served also as sheriffs; the 



other three were James Powell, John Haggatt and 
Jer. Holwey.] 

Most modem preachers would shrink from the work 
performed by Mr. Ewins. Teacher of the church which 
had given him the call, *^ he was also appointed by the 
mayor to be lecturer for the city. Every Tuesday he 
had to preach a sermon at St. Nicholas ; on the Lord's- 
day morning at Christ church ; at St. Mary-le-port in the 
afternoon ; and in the summer he frequently preached 
as well in the evening at St. Thomas', over the bridge, 
and at St. Philip's, because these churches were more 
spacious." He also preached once a fortnight at the 
almshouses of St. Michael's hill (Foster's) and at Law- 
ford's gate, lectured at Bedminster and other places on 
convenient seasons, and during the long winter evenings 
he gave ezpodtions and lectures at St. Ewen's and St. 
Leonard's. Under the Commonwealth the practice ap- 
pears at first to have been for the Dissenters to have 
what is termed a mixed communion, pedo-Baptists and 
Baptists worshipping God in fellowship and brotherly 
unity; but in 1650-1, or thereabouts, some of the 
brethren who could not countenance "the sprinkling of 
infants" separated themsdves from the congregation, 
and tmder Mr. Hynam fotmded what is best known as 
the Pithay Baptist church. 

3. Li our EccLBsiASTiOAL HisTOBY, at 24 and 285, 
we have already g^ven some description of the rise and 
sufferings of that section of the church of Christ known 
originally as the Quakers, but now more frequently 
called the Friends, who were the first sufferers in Bristol 
for conscience sake since the days of the Marian perse- 
cution. Their first appearance in Bristol was probably 
in 1652 ; certainly they were here in 1658. At serious 
variance with their fellow-Separatists, and bitterly per- 
secuted by the Presbyterian hierarchy, they rapidly 
increased in number in Bristol. Conceiving themselves 
the subjects of inward monitions from the Divine Spirit, 
resolutely opposed to compulsory payments for religious 
services, rejecting some of the courtedes of sodeiy, 
remarkable for plainness in dress and manner of speech, 
they pertinadoudy thrust themselves into the churches 
and offendvdy gave utterance to their peculiar views 
before the assembled congregations. They thus brought 
upon themselves punishments which, if not wholly tm- 
merited, were, it must be allowed, carried to an excess 
that was thoroughly disgraceful to a dvilised Christian 
community, punishments which in several instances re- 
sulted in death. In 1655, James Naylor, who had been 
one of their preachers, suffering imder abeiration of 
mind, came to Bristol from Glastonbury, attended by a 
concourse of persons more mad apparently than him- 
self. They ** spread their garments before him, hand- 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1666. 



kerchiefs, aprons, scarfs and the like, and even gloves, 
singing *Holy, holy, holy,' &c. October 24th, 1666, 
they came through Bedminster ; Naylor rode on horse- 
back, and there were six more in his company, one of 
whom, a young man, bareheaded, ' led his horse by the 
bridle, and another uncovered before him, through the 
dirty way in which carts and horses and none else usually 
go, and with them two men on horseback, with each of 
them a woman behind him, and one woman walking on 
the better way or path. In this posture did they march, 
and in such a case that one George Witherley, noting 
their condition, asked them to come into the better road, 
adding that Qod expected no such extremity ; but they 
continued on their way, not answering in any other 
notes but what were musicaU, singing ''Holy, holy, 
holy. Lord God of Sabaoth," &c. Thus continued they 
till by their wandering they came to the almeshouse 
within the suburbs of Bristol, where one of the women 
alighted, and she, with the other of her own sex, lov- 
ingly marched on either side of Naylor's horse. This 
Witherley saith he supposes they could not be lesse 
deep in the muddy way than to the knees (and at this 
Tory time it happened to rain so violently that the water 
ran in streams from their deaths) ; and he saith they 
sang, but sometimes with such a buzzing mel-ODious 
noyse, that he could not understand what it was. This 
the said Witherley gave in upon oath. Thus did they 
reach BatdifP gate, with Timothy Wedlock, of Devon, 
bareheaded, and Martha Symonds with the bridle on 
one side, and Hannah Stranger on the other side of the 
horse. This Martha Simonds is the wife of Thomas 
Simonds, of London, bookbinder (and sister to Giles 
Calvert, the bookseller, living at the black-spread-eagle 
at the west end of Paul's, publisher of most of the 
fanatic books of that day), and Hannah Stranger is the 
wife of John Streuiger (alias Stangar), of London, comb- 
maker, who sung *'Holy, holy, holy. Lord God of Israel." 
Thus did he ride to the High Crosse in Bristol, and after 
that to the '* White Hart " in Broad street.' " ^ 

Being apprehended, Naylor was sent to London by the 
mayor, and was tried for blasphemy by the Barebone's 
Parliament. The trial lasted thirteen days. * * December 
16th, it was proposed that the punishment of James 
Naylor should be death; and the question being put, 
' the noes went forth ninety-six, the yeas eighiy-two, so 
it passed in the negative.' On the next day, Wednesday, 
17th, the House agreed to the following sentence: — 
' Besolved, that James Naylor be set on the pillory with 
his head in the pillory in the Palace yard, Westminster, 
during the space of two hours on Thursday next, and 
shall be whipt by the hangman through the streets from 

^ Seyer, II., 486-^. 



Westminster to the Old Exchange, London ; and there 
likewise be set on the pillory with his head in the pillory 
for the space of two hours, between the hours of eleven 
and one on Saturday next, in each place wearing a paper 
containing an inscription of his crimes ; and that at the 
Old Exchange his tongue be bored through with a hot 
iron, and that he be there also stigmatised in the fore- 
head with the letter B ; and that he be afterwards sent 
to Bristol, and be conveyed into and through the said 
diy on horseback, bareridged, with his face backward, 
and there also pubHddy whipt the next market-day 
after he comes thither; and that from thence he be 
committed to prison in Bridewell, London, and there 
restrained from the sodeiy of all people, and there to 
labour hard, till he shall be released by Parliament; 
and during that time be debarred the use of pen, ink 
and paper, and shall have no relief but what he earns 
by his daily labours.' This inhumaTi sentence was fully 
executed on the unhappy maniac. Thursday, December 
18th, he stood in the pillory in Palace yard, and was 
from thence whipped to the Old Exchange, receiving 
310 lashes, one on crossing each gutter." ^ 

''Saturday, December 20th, James Naylor was to 
have suffered the remaining part of his sentence; but 
on the morning of that same day a petition was pre- 
sented to the House, signed by Joshua Sprigge, for- 
merly an eminent independent preacher, author of a 
book quoted above, T. Z. and Jer. White (Cromwell's 
chaplain), C. H. representing the wretched condition of 
the prisoner and the danger to his life if he should 
receive the remainder of hie punishment ; and praying 
in the name of many honourable persons, both dtizens 
and others, wholly unconnected with him, for a week's 
respite, which was granted. Meanwhile many well- 
affected and respectable persons, of whom Colonel 
Scrope, sometime governor of the castle and fort of 
Bristol, was the first name, shocked at the inhumaniiy 
of the sentence, petitioned Parliament for a remission 
of the remaining part of the sentence; many of the 
members were against admitting the petition, but being 
put to the vote it was admitted. The petition was pre- 
sented Tuesday, December 23rd, at the bar of the 
House, by Mr. Joshua Sprigge, above-mentioned, ac- 
companied by about one hundred eminent persons in 
behalf of the whole ; Mr. Sprigge made a short speech 
on presenting, but it was imsuccessful. The petitioners 
then applied to his highness the Protector, still without 
effect. On Wednesday, December 24th, five Presbyte- 
rian or Independent ministers, Caryl, Manton, Nie, 
Griffith and Eennolds, went to James Naylor in New- 
gate, and it was said that they did so by order of the 

' Seyer, II., 491-2. 



JAMES NAYLOR WHIPPED AND BRANDED. 



Parliament ; but Naylor persistiiig ui his ordinary di3- 
couTBe and usual ansTers, they left him in wrath. 

" Od Saturday, December 27th, he aufEered the re- 
nuuning part of bis puniahment. ' About eleven o'clock 
be was oanied in a coaoh from Neirgate to the Blaok Boy, 
near the Bt^al Exchange, in which house he continued 
till the clock had strnok twelve at noon, when by diverB 
on foot with balberts be was guarded to the pillory, where 
when he came they presently put his head into the same, 
and having pinned it down came up Martha Symonds, 
and with her two others, who were said to be Hannah 
Stranger and Dorcas Erbury; the first seated herself 
just behind on the right side, the two latter before him, 
and Bobert lUch likewise accompanied him with com- 



him ; after which Bobert Bioh, through his ardent love, 
licked the wound on his forehead. And James was 
conveyed to the Blaok Boy, and from thence to New- 
gate.' This Bobert Eicb had been a merdiBnt in London, 
an enthusiastic follower of Naylor, a prafeot maniac, but 
religions and faarmleaa. After James Naylor had been 
on ^e pillory some time, 'he took a paper out of bis 
pocket and placed it over his bead, whereon was written. 
It is wstitkh Loeb 23, 36, This is the Knra of tex 
Jews. But presently an officer stept up and polled it 
down, and turued Bobert Bich and the two women off 
the pillory ; but after a while they lifted up Bob^ Bich 
again on the pillory, where he staid till James Naylor 
had undergone his sufferings for that time, and held 



PvniAmtnt by whii^tit and Oe PWiiry. Fnm an obt P 



fortable words, kissings and streaking on bis face. He 
having stood till two, the executioner took him out, and 
having bound bis arms with cords to the pillory, and 
having put a cap over his eyes, he bad him put forth 
his tongue, which he freely did, and the executioner 
with a red-hot iron, about the bigness of a quill, bored 
the same, and by order from the sheriff held it in a 
small space, to the end the bebdders might see and 
bear witness that the sentence was thoroughly executed ; 
then, having took it out, and pulling the cap off that 
covered his face, he put a handkerchief over his eyes, 
and putting his left band to the back part of his head, 
and taking the red-hot iron letter in his other hand, put 
it to bis forehead till it smoaked, all which time James 
never so much as winced, but b<n« it with astonishing 
and heart-melting patience. Being unbound, he took 
the executioner in his arms, embracing and hugging 



him by the hand whilst he was burning, and afterward 
licked and sucked the fire out of his tongue and led 
him by the hand from off the pillory. This was also 
very remarkable, that notwithstanding there might be 
many thousands of people, yet they were very quiet, 
few heard to revile him or seen to throw any one thing 
at him. And when he was a burning, all the people, 
both before him and behind him and on both sides of 
him, with one consent stood bareheaded. 

" ' Afterwards he was sent by the sheriffs of London 
to Bristol, and the sheriffs of Bristol before tiiat had a 
warrant under the speaker's hand to see the sentence 
executed as far as they were ooncemed therein. January 
16th, 16S6-7, he arrived at Lawford's gate, where he ' 
slept January 17th, this day James Naylor took horse 
at Lawford's gate and rode on the horse bareridged, 
with his face to the tail, through the city without Bedoliff 



96 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1666. 



gate, and tltere alighted, and was brought to the middle 
of Thomas street, and there stripped, and then tjed to 
the horse to be whipt from thence back again to the 
middle of Broad street. Before his whipping the fol- 
lowing order was sent to the keJBper of Newgate: — '' A£r. 
Boch, cause Naylor to ride in at Lawford's gate, from 
thence along Wine street to the Tolsey, thence down 
High street, over the bridge, and so out at EeddifF 
gate ; there let him alight, and bring him into Thomas 
street, and cause him to be stripped and there made fast 
to the cart-horse, and in the market first whipped ; from 
thence to the foot of the bridge, there whipped ; thence 
to the end of the bridge, there whipped ; thence to the 
middle of High street, there whipped; thence to the 
Tolzey, there whipt; thence to the middle of Broad 
street, there whipped; and then tane (taken) into the 
Taylor's hall; there release him from the cart-horse, 
and let him put on his dothes and carry him thence to 
Newgate, by Tower lane, the back way.'' And whereas 
of custom the bellman goes before and makes procla- 
mation of the offence of the offender, yet here the 
keeper commanded the bellman to the contrary (as 
was said), and suffered one Jones (a coppersmith and 
ugly Quaker) to hold back the beadle's arm when 
striking ; and in all the way the bell rang but six 
times, a trait of mercy in the midst of such brutality 
which ought to be recorded to the credit of the magis- 
tracy of Bristol. All the while he passed along, his 
dear and worthy friend, Eobert £ich, the maniac above 
mentioned, rode bareheaded before him, haying a meer- 
maid's head, such was the length of his hair, singing 
**Holy, holy," &c. After this the sheriffs of Bristol 
sent him up to the governors of Bridewell, London, 
who had before received order from the speaker as to 
that part of the sentence wherein they were concerned, 
where he continued till the wise providence of God re- 
leased him. After his discharge from Bridewell he re- 
turned to this city, and in a meeting with some of his 
friends he made a public recantation of his errors in so 
affecting a manner that they were convinced of the sin- 
cerity of his repentance. He lived some time afterward 
in this city in a serious and becoming manner, and died 
on a journey from hence to Wakefield, in Yorkshire, 
where he was bom in 1616.' " ^ 

4. The chronological sequence may be roughly simi- 
marised as follows: — Up to 1645 the Ohurch was the 
established church of England, it included men of all 
views, from highest Anglicanism to the extreme Puritan- 
ism. Outside its pale there were a few Separatists, who 
were Independents, men who claimed perfect liberty in 
matters religious, and who held that no man or body of 

^ Seyer, II., 493-6. 



men had any right to dictate to them modes of worship, 
or forms of doctrine. After the conquest of Bristol, in 
1 645, came in, by Act of Parliament, the English Pjresby- 
terians, who monopolised the churches and their livings, 
but with these men, who sought to usurp the place of 
the church of England and to form themselves into a 
state church, the Separatists or Independents could not 
unite. As we have noticed elsewhere, Independency 
grew rapidly, and speedily resolved itself into several 
modes of worship. Originally, in the struggle for re- 
ligious life and liberty, lesser forms had been con- 
sidered to be but of little import ; but now they took 
definite shape, and led, naturally enough, to further 
divisions. The pedo-Baptists retained the name Inde- 
pendents, but about 1651 another body was formed in 
Bristol, who were termed Anabaptists, who practised 
adult or believers baptism, these were again divided 
into open and close communionists, and in 1654 other 
godly men left both of these societies and became 
Quakers. The practice at this period appears to have 
been for the Presbyterians to hold their service in the 
church at stated regular times, after which the Separ- 
atists occupied the pulpit or held their own service in 
rooms. *' 1 had thought to go to the meeting that was 
after sermon in the Castle, at the governor's. Colonel 
Scrope's, house in the Castle." ^ At times the Independ- 
ents were allowed to preach in the churches, ''which we 
had liberty to be in, all the time of Oliver's reign " * 
(Cromwell went to St. Ewen's to hear one Major £emm), 
but they more frequently, if they spoke in the building 
at all, did so after the regular service was ended, and 
they held their commimion service and their church 
meetings in private rooms. 

Mr. Ewins left the Presbyterians in 1656 and became 
a Baptist, or rather he seems to have engrafted adult 
baptism on the Presbyterian form of church government. 
He was, under the Restoration, turned out of his several 
appointments in the city churches. There was some 
difference of opinion amongst his people as to their 
taking the oath of allegiance and supremacy which, on 
the 1 0th of December, 1660, was tendered to all above 
sixteen years of age. The brethren met those of the 
dose communion views for conference upon its terms, 
and agreed to take it in as far as they were warranted 
by the Scriptures. They sent their view of the oath 
in writing to the mayor. Sir Henry Creswick, who 
ordered that they should not be disturbed imtil he 
had received fresh orders from the king and council 
to whom he sent the paper. These orders came down 
within the month, and were to this effect: — ''That 
they must take the oath according to the letter of 
^ Broodmead Records, 60. * Ihid, 56. 



PERSECUTION OF DISSENTERS. 



the law." Some reframed from taking it, but the 
majority aubmitted. 

5. On the 15th of the 11th month (January), 1660, 
the mayor sent Mb sergeant mih the king's proclama- 
tion, and forbad Mr. Ijwine to preach in his own houae. 
Thenceforth the meetings were held in a large room at 
the end of Broadmead, called the Friars; but on the 
21et of June, 1661, Ewine was summoned before the 
mayor, and diarged to preaoh no more. This he disre- 
garded, and on the 27th of July he was taken by a 
sergeant of the trained band whilst preaching, and with 
a giiard of musketeers was sent to the city marshal's, 
in Ohrifitmae street, where he was kept a prisoner until 
the 12th of August; he was then committed to his own 
house as a prisoner until the 27th of September, when 
ho was discharged in open eessions. He, howerer, 
returned to his people and continued bis ministry, 
and on June the 24th, 1662, was chosen to be pastor, 
having up to. that date been simply recognised as a 
teacher. On the 26th of October he was again taken 
into custody whilst preaching at the Friars, and oon- 
veyed with a guard of musketeers to the Ouildhall, 
whence he was committed to the marshal's, in Wine 
street, where he was kept close prisoner until the 1 3th 
of November, when he was liberated by the late mayor, 
Nathaniel Cale. For a while the church had rest, but 
when Sir John Knight became chief magistrate, on the 
first week of his holding ofBce, he sent for Mr. Ewins, 
on the Saturday, October 3rd, and commanded him not 
to preach ; upon his answer that he must obey God and 
not man, and persisting in meeting his congregation on 
the following day, he was for the third time taken into 
custody, and was committed to Newgate, having for a 
companion Mr. Patient, one of the Baptist ministers, a 
dose communionist. In the afternoon Messrs. Terrill 
and Simpson, laymen, were also taken and imprisoned in 
the same place. Terrill was released on sureties after a 
fortnight's detention i the others lay in prison until the 
sessions, a period of three months. They were then 
indicted and found guilty of a riot, and were fined, 
Ewins and Simpson, £50, and Terrill, £5, which sums 
refusing to pay, they were again thrown into prison. 
After Bu2ering for three months some friend paid 
Terrill's fine, he being still oontumadons, and he was 
released. The others were kept in prison until Sir 
John Knight was going oat of office, when it was 
arranged tiiat if some one would nominally pay the 
fine, it should be reduced. This was done, at the cost 
of forty shillings. 

This was the beginning of a series of bitter persecu- 
tions, of which the record reads like a page torn from the 
histoiy of the Vaudois, or that of the Bwttish Covenan- 
IVot. HL] 



ters. Hunted out of their homes, harassed by fines and 
imprisonment, banished from the city, exiled from thmr 
native land, their meeting-houses spoiled by riotous 
mobs, led on by truculent, time-serving magistrates, 
bibulous mayors, or a martial kiahop, the Dissenters 
had to seek a sanctuary, wherein to worship God, in 
the glens, cliffs, and woods, that surrounded their ci^. 
Many of these well-known spots, soeaes of exquisite 
natural beauty, are to the thoughtful mind, rendered 
still more lovely by the remembrance that our fore- 
fathers hallowed them by services that were divine, 
held at the hazard of their liberty or their life. On 
the Somersetshire side of the Avon some of the localities 



Jana Ifaykir. From on old Prinl. 

thus chosen were St. Anne's wood, the meadows around 
Brislington and Knowle, the Leigh woods and the Ashton 
valley. In Gloucestershire, the winding reaches of the 
serpentine Avon had their frowning bluffs of Pennant 
stone cat into galleries of seats for accommodation. 
The woods of Conham and Hanham resounded with 
songs of praise, or the hushed low voice of prayer and 
instruction ; the glens of tlie banks of the Frome, the 
dingles and copses of Westbury and Henbury, the slades 
of Durdham and Clifton, and the quarries of the Avon- 
side, were, as necessity arose, to them temples in which 
they fonnd the holy of holies. The river itself became 
to some the pathway into immortal life, and the noi- 
some dungeon the gateway into heaven. In all the 



98 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1664. 



Bturdy fights for religious liberty that adorn the history 
of our native land, few, if any, are more deserving of 
everlasting record than that which our forefathers waged 
in Bristol, almost without intermission, from 1660 imtil 
the second Declaration of Indulgence was won in 1688, 
when freedom of worship was proclaimed, and religious 
tests, as a qualification for office, were abolished. Let 
those amongst us who enjoy advantages won by the 
sufferings, tears, and death of our ancestors, remember 
them with gratitude as we read these pages of their 
history. 

Ewins and Simpson were released on September 26th, 
1664. During all the time of his incarceration Mr. Ewins 
had on every Lord's-day preached out of a lofty window 
of the gaol to his beloved people, who gathered under 
the walls, an exertion which seriously affected his health 
and shortened his life. Still himted by the constables, 
they had to leave their preaching place at the Friars, 
and when the Oonventide Act, which imposed penalties 
ranging from one month's imprisonment to seven years' 
transportation, was passed in May, 1664, they met in 
private houses. Being assembled thus at Mr. Yeats's 
house, in Mary-le-port street, an information was laid 
against them by one Tyler, a meal man, who lived near. 
The mayor, Mr. Lawf ord, grocer, the ex-mayor, Sir John 
Elnight, with other aldermen and officers, broke open 
the door, by which time Mr. Ewins and others of the 
brethren were conveyed away through the adjoining 
house. Terrill and a minister were apprehended as they 
issued from the house, but proof of their having been 
engaged in the meeting being wanting, they escaped 
banishment. Of those found in the room, some were 
apprehended, and, it being their first conviction, they 
were sent to prison for one month. 

6. One of their principal rendezvous was at Mr. 
Ellis's, in Com street, from which, by arrangement, 
when the house Was visited by the sergeants, they es- 
caped through a cellar into a back street. This plan 
being discovered, and an entrance forced that way by 
the officers, Ellis, fertile in expedients, once more baffied 
the capture of the ministers, and those who had been 
previously convicted. He had contrived a secret door 
behind a great cupboard, by means of which the delin- 
quents, who were most earnestly wanted, escaped into a 
garret, where they lay perdu; but thirty-one were taken 
in the room, and on conviction, it being their first offence, 
they were imprisoned for one month. This occurred 
repeatedly; at last Mr. EUis himself was caught and 
imprisoned. 

Mr. Ewins records the appearance of '' three blazing 
stars," one of which was first visible for fourteen days 
in December, 1664, the second throughout the following 



month, and the third in March, 1 665 . This was evidently, 
from the drawings left by the narrator, a large comet, 
with its tail differently inclined when seen in widely 
distant parts of its orbit. In 1665 the appearance of 
the plague, and the appointment of a more liberal- 
minded mayor, John Willoughby, merchant, gave the 
persecuted church breathing time and rest. 

On the 6th of April, 1666, ten men and four women 
were baptised in the river Frome, at a spot ever since 
known as Baptist mills. Their purpose had been to 
have been immersed in February, but several accidents 
and the rigorous season prevented. In June Mr. Ewins 
was served with a process to appear before the bishop, 
which he disobeyed, and on the 20th he was brought 
before the mayor. Sir Thomas Langton, and because he 
would not promise to leave the city he was imprisoned 
at the marshal's house, in Frog lane, until July 20th, 
when he was bound over to appear at the sessions, but 
there this ended. Mr. Ellis had meanwhile removed to 
Whitson court, where in a large upper room the church 
assembled peaceably for some years, until the death of 
A£r. Ewins, who was buried in the churchyard of St. 
James. 

On the 11th of April, 1670, the old Oonventicle Act 
was revived and amended ; all doubtful clauses were now 
to be interpreted in favour of the suppression of con- 
venticles, and it gave warrant to the officers to pursue 
offenders who fled or removed into another county. A 
fine of £20 was to be levied on the preacher, and one of 
£20 on the owner of the house or ground wherein the 
meeting was held. The hearers were to be fined 5s. 
each for a first and 10«. for each subsequent offence. 
The amoimts to be levied by distress on their persons, 
goods or chattels. Any justice declining to act upon 
information given, to be fined £100. 

The Bristol Dissenters were destined soon to feel the 
effect of the revived Act. On the 10th of May some 
informers, sent by Bishop Gilbert Ironside, came to 
their place of meeting, and finding the door closed th^y, 
with tiie aid of the constables, forced it, and so ensured 
a conviction the next day against many of the congrega- 
tion. By the next Lord's day the persecuted fiock had 
made a window through the party wall in the adjoining 
house, in which the preacher was placed, unseen but 
not unheard, he thence brake to them the bread of life. 
The bishop's men came, however, and for three Sundays 
following ensured convictions against the auditors. On 
the fourth Sunday, Sir Eobert Yeamans, the ex-mayor, 
came with some of the aldermen and the officers, and 
turned the people out of doors. As a last resource, 
the mayor ordered the trained band out on each Satur- 
day evening to watch against their assembly, and fur- 



A.D. 1673. 



HELLIER, A NOTORIOUS PERSECUTOR. 



99 



ther took the precaution to nail up and look the doors 
of the place where they were wont to assemble, so that 
they were driven to the lanes and highways to hold 
their services; this lasted for several months. Mr. 
Terrill's garden-house, near Lawford's gate, became a 
favourite resort as this persecution declined, and the 
next mayor, Mr. John Knight (not he of the same name 
before mentioned as Sir John), being a more liberal- 
minded man, the wearied people again had a respite. 
Mr. Thopias Hardcastle was entreated to come as suc- 
cessor to Mr. Ewins, and in the list of ninety-eight mem- 
bers who signed the call to him to take the oversight of 
them in the Lord the name of Dorothy Hazard appears 
at the head of the female signatures. This would appear 
to have been her last public act. In the- list of those 
who promised a few months afterwards to give definite 
sums yearly to the support of the minister we do not 
find her name. She had lived to a great age, and had 
apparently spent all her substance. She died on the 
14th April, 1678-4. Her death is spoken of twice in 
the records, and she is stated to have been the first 
female member of the church, and to have come to her 
grave like a shock of com fully ripe. 

Driven from Whitson court, the church, in 1670, 
hired a meeting-house at the lower end of Broadmead, 
''where the heretics called Quakers had formerly used 
to meet, it being four great rooms made into one square 
room, about 16 yards long by 15 yards broad, which we 
took and fitted it up against the 20th of August, 1660-1." 
Fresh attempts were made to trouble them, but Mr. 
Alderman Knight, of the sugar house, then mayor, 
showed them favour and forbearance. Mr. Hardcastle's 
stipend was £20 per quarter. This year it is noted in 
one of our old MS. annuals the Quaker's meeting- 
house was built by them near the Weir. The spirit 
of Ohristian forbearance had not thriven under persecu- 
tion, inasmuch as in an entry of the church at Broad- 
mead in the following year they denounce "the dam- 
nable principles of the Quakers." 

During all the time of their persecution, to their 
honour be it spoken, the Baptist church had not scru- 
pled to exercise discipline upon lax members, cutting 
off those who x>ersisted in living contrary to their views 
of the gospel; and now, in 1670-1, they addressed a 
loving circular letter to those of their number who had 
left the city, and also fraternal letters to other Baptist 
churches in Oloucester, London, and elsewhere. 

Ll 1672, Mr. Terrill was deputed to preach at Shire- 
hampton, " the place being altogether destitute, the 
chapel open, where all sorts will freely come." But 
their present quiet was only a lull in the storm, which 
ere long was to burst upon them with renewed fury. 



7. There were, in 1673-4, six separate churches of 
Dissenters in the city besides that of the Quakers, viz., 
Mr. Hardcastle's, Broadmead, mixed communion, the 
greater part being Baptists ; Mr. Andrew Qifford's, in 
the Friars, afterwards in the Fithay, dose communion. 
Baptist; Mr. Kitchen's, Baptist; Mr. Thompson's and 
Mr. Troughton's, both Independent or pedo-Baptist ; 
and Mr. Weeks', English Presbyterian, thenceforth to 
be ranked as Nonconformists. Three of these. Weeks, 
Troughton and Hardcastie, were in St. James' parish. 
Mr. Kitchen's people met within the precincts of the 
Castle, they were free-will Baptists, numbering about 
seventy or eighty. Mr. Troughton's followers were 
fewer still, being only about twenty in number; they 
had no fixed place of worship, but met chiefly in St. 
James'. Mr. Thompson's met in the Castie. 

In 1671 Guy Oarleton was made bishop of Bristol; 
he had served formerly as a captain in Charles I.'s 
army, had been in exile with Charles 11., and now, 
being in the plenitude of power, was very bitter against 
the schismatics. Balph Cliff, who is described as a 
great drinker, and one ready to do the bishop's will, 
was mayor. To these was joined a third and more 
pestilent adversary, one John Hellier, an attorney, who, 
by craft and subtiety, had obtained an estate of about 
£200 per annum, a dissolute man, of foul tongue, 
who, being the mayor's landlord, could use him at his 
pleasure. This man, living in St. James' parish, got 
himself elected a churchwarden, "with which fig leaf 
he covered himself, pretending what he did against us 
was in pursuance of his duty." Cf Hellier, an amusing 
anecdote is recorded. Cn one of his raids on the Fresby- 
terian church he proceeded as usual to take down the 
names of those present at the service. Cne man hesitated 
to give his, and when pressed repeatedly refused. Being 
still urged by others of the congregation to do so and 
not be ashamed to own his principles, he replied, " But 
I am ashamed." " What of ? " " Why, of my name." 
"Why so, young man?" roared out Hellier. "Because," 
said he, looking on him with apparent shamefacedness, 
and great reluctance, " because it is the same as yours ! 
it is, Hellier." Cne can imagine that even the grave, 
serious members could not refrain from a hearty laugh 
that would be a real refreshment in their sore trouble. 
HeUier, with his man; Fledwell, the vicar of St. Feter's; 
Heath, of St. Augustine's, and Gk>dwin, of St. Fhilip's, 
came to the meetings during sermon time, and then laid 
information against those present ; but the four large 
congregations had secured licenses from the king [see 
EoGLESiASTiOAL HiSTOBY, 295] (that of Mr. Oifford is 
preserved in the Baptist college), and they employed 
counsellors-at-law to plead their right peaceably to 



100 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1674. 



assemble for worship. ''The bishop sat on the bench 
with the mayor, and threatened and browbeat the coun- 
sellor for pleading the licenses, and afterwards, in his 
sermon in the Cathedral, inveighed against him as one 
who would plead the devil's cause for a piece of money." 

Notwithstanding these protections, Carleton and Hel- 
lier proceeded, first against Mr. Oifford, who on the day 
of his visit did not happen to preach; of this Hellier was 
not aware, but supposing the preacher to be Andrew 
Gifford, he swore an infonnation against him. The 
chief constable, who was favourable to the Dissenters, 
evaded for some weeks the execution of the warrant; 
and when it was served, and Hellier had repeatedly 
sworn that Gifford was the man who was preaching, his 
evidence was disproved by ten persons. Much chagrined 
at the result, Hellier did not trouble them for four 
months; so the preachers kept their regular meetings, 
and pleaded their right by law to do so. Meanwhile 
the bishop went to London, and the result was that 
Charles, in February, 1674, withdrew the Hcenses by 
proclamation. Hir lordship lost no time on his return : 
not waiting for the first day of the week and its ap- 
pointed, services, he, on the 10th of February, with 
divers of the clergy, some of the aldermen and some 
military ofiicers, went (it being Wednesday, the lecture 
night at the Castle meeting) to the chapel, and there ap- 
prehended Mr. Thompson. Some of his congregation 
being made aware of the coming attack, lahut the doors of 
the meeting-house: the noise and disturbance caused him 
to desist, and by persuasion he escaped into the adjoining 
house by a door of communication ; but a chorister boy 
from the Cathedral espied him in his flight, and for a 
sixpence given him by this bishop betrayed his retreat. 
At nine o'clock the same night he was committed to 
prison for six months by the mayor, bishop and aldermen. 

Four days before this ''a fiery apparition appeared 
in the air over St. James' ; in shape it was like a boy's 
kite, the head of it oval and like fire, with a taU stream- 
ing white, and growing longer and lesser till it seemed 
to be ten yards long. It moved but slowly towards 
Lawford's gate, and we lost sight of it as it passed over 
the houses." All extraordinary natural phenomena were 
looked upon as portents, and the good people thought 
when their persecution thickened that this had been 
indicative thereof. 

On the 14th of February, being the next Lord's-day 
after Mr. Thompson's apprehension, the mayor, Oliff, 
with Aldermen Hicks and Lawf ord, accompanied by the 
mayor's sergeants, visited during divine service the 
Broadmead and St. James' back meeting-houses, and 
apprehended both Messrs. Hardcastle and Weeks : they 
were taken at once to the Tolzey, where, refusing to 



take the oath under the Test and Corporation Act, they 
were both committed to Newgate, where Mr. Thompson 
had preceded them. Sheriff Fielding, the soap-maker, 
deridingly telling Mr. Weeks as he shut him in ''to 
take his farewell of the holy brethren." The Presby- 
terians now were the greatest sufferers, inasmudi as 
they had not introduced lay agency in their ministra- 
tions, but had relied upon an educated, cultured and 
regularly ordained ministry; hence their people had 
great difficulty in supplying their pulpit with men who 
had received the necessary education at an university. 
Driven together by the pressure of circumstances, the 
three bodies for a brief while fraternised and held their 
meetings in common; but on the 21st Mr. Oifford was 
warned, and on the 1st of March he also was taken and 
committed to prison. The method of procedure of the 
Dissenters was as follows : — Outposts were provided to 
watch and give notice of the approach of the officers, 
and at a given signal the long passage leading to the 
rooms were crowded by the women, who would also sit 
dose together upon the stair, which was the principal 
way of access. Hellier and his men rudely thrust these 
aside, threw them down, dragged some of them out and 
sent them to Bridewell, but could not get through the 
crowd ; then the officers went to the other door, broke it 
open, and making prisoners of the chief men, carried 
them before the mayor. These scenes occurred both at 
Mr. Weeks' as well as at Broadmead, and the excite- 
ment, the sense of duty, of weakness passively resisting 
brute force, of right contending with wrong, gave to 
the persecuted new strength and added daily to their 
numbers. 

8. Leaving for a short time the pastors of the Castle 
meeting and Broadmead safely incarcerated, let us turn 
to the records of the other church, that of the Close Com- 
munion Baptists, which became the parent of the Pithay, 
King street and City road churches in this city. In 
1652 one of the members of the Broadmead church 
" desired leave of the congregation to go and join him- 
self to the other church in Bristol that were all baptised, 
having one Henry Hynam for their teacher." ^ This is 
the first mention we have of this select body of Dissen- 
ters : they were probably small in number, as they seem 
to have been very leniently dealt with in the first perse- 
cutions. Mr. Hynam died in 1679. "In a garden in 
Eedcross lane we buried that weak but holy, lamb-like 
servant of Ood, Henry Hynam, pastor, before brother 
Oifford, that we might bury our dead without the cere- 
monies of the parish parsons in their yards." ^ 

At the Eestoration Mr. Thomas Patient was for a 
short time assistant-pastor to Mr. Hynam ; for preaching 
* Broadmead Records, 41. > Ibid, 399. 



A.D. 1677. 



ANDREW GIFFORD. 



101 



he Buffered imprisoimieiit in October, 1668. Originally 
a pedo-Baptist minister in New England, he, on a change 
of views, became co-pastor with Mr. KiffiTi in London ; 
then he went with Oeneral Fleetwood to Ireland in 1 649, 
where he laboured till 1654, preaching chiefly in the 
cathedral of Dublin. A letter of his to the lord-lieu- 
tenant is published in Milton's State Papers, In 1666 
he was again in London, as co-pastor with Mr. Kiffin at 
Devonshire square; he died on the 30th July in that 
year. 

In 1672 a female member was expelled from the 
Fithay church, which met in the Friars, for taking upon 
her to preach at meetings after being admonished, and 
justifying her conduct ; for putting on man's apparel and 
going to Mr. Hardcastle's meeting because she would 
not be permitted to preach in her own garments, and 
for being idle and gadding about, not minding her 
husband's business or keeping her own house. 

Mr. Hynam was succeeded by Mr. Andrew QifPord, 
who was ordained on the 3rd of June, 1677. He 
had preached constantly before this, being what was 
termed a preaching member, sometimes occupying the 
pulpit at St. Leonard's, until he was excluded by the 
Act of Uniformity. He appears to have been physically 
a perfect contrast to Mr. Hynam. Being once invited to 
preach a funeral sermon for the wife of a wealthy man 
in a market town in Somerset, in the church some 
opponents kept the organ playing in order to drown 
his voice, Mr. OifEord came down into the churchyard, 
and preached from a tombstone, making thereby a last- 
ing friend of the widower, who ever after freely offered 
his house, for preaching and as a shelter. G^ifPord 
would preach anywhere, and in the later persecution, 
would even swim over the Avon, regardless of weather 
or danger. So great was the attachment of the colliers 
to In'ni that they formed a bodyguard around him when 
he was preaching, and when interrupted, they would 
disguise him. With an old coat, a pitchfork, and a 
bundle of hay on his shoulder, he once marched right 
through the posse of officers sent specially to arrest 
him. He frequently assumed different dresses in order 
to evade detection. On one occasion he wore a very 
loose coat, much too large for him; surprised by the 
informers, one grappled him, but he slipped out of it 
and escaped. The bellman cried it before his own door 
' the next day, but Mr. Qifford was not to be caught. 
One day, meeting a dear personal friend, Mr. Lawrence 
Brain, he said, '' Lawrence, did you not meet me last 
night, going through Lawford's gate? Why did you 
not speak to me ? " "I did not see you, sir." " Did you 
not meet a tinker?" **Yes." "That was me, Law- 
rence." Four times he suffered imprisonment; three 



times in Newgate, and once in Gloucester castle. He 
was as courteous as he was intrepid, a quality in which 
some of his equally zealous brethren were somewhat 
deficient ; hence he had more favour shown him by the 
magistrates, some of whom did not approve "the hunting 
of so innocent and holy a man, whose very countenance 
and presence struck amaze into the beholders." Once 
at the Friars, whilst he was preaching, the mayor and 
officers entered and commanded him to be silent and to 
come down. He replied, "I am about my Master's 
business, but if you will stay until I have done I will 
go with, you wherever you please." They stayed ; he 
went with them to the Tolzey, and was dismissed with 
a caution. He did not fare quite so well on another 
occasion ; the officer, on his refusal to desist, struck 
him on the face. Mr. Qifford repHed, in the words of 
his Master, " God shall smite thee, thou whited wall." 
His assailant was cowed, and waited until the service 
was concluded. Being committed to Newgate for a 
month when the prisoners suffered from infectious 
fever, he was allowed to be removed to a house in a 
more airy situation, and so escaped the malady. In 
January, 1684, he was taken on a warrant signed by 
thirteen magistrates. The weather was bitterly cold, 
and his wife, ere he rose from his bed, endeavoured to 
dissuade him from going out to preach, she having had 
a singular dream, viz., that on taking his first step out 
of doors he was up to the knees in snow, and that she 
saw two men seize him and take him a prisoner to the 
" Sun " inn, outside Lawford's gate, and there hold him 
down by the shoulders by main force behind a particu- 
lar table. Gifford told her she talked like one of the 
foolish women; nothing should hinder him from his 
Master's business. On opening the window and finding 
that a heavy snow had fallen, the wife renewed her im- 
portunity, but in vain. To satisfy her, however, extra 
precautions were taken, and their son, Emanuel, was 
stationed on the watch, to give an alarm if infonners 
approached. Sitting on the ground a few minutes to 
rest, the lad's frieze coat became so firmly frozen to it, 
that he could not rise without cutting off the skirts, so 
was unable to give the alarm in time, and his father 
fell into the hands of the enemy. The colliers gathered 
around him with bills and clubs, and would fain have 
rescued him, but he prevented them, saying, that whilst 
he was justified in doing all he could to prevent being 
taken, now that he was in custody he thought it right 
to submit, and to leave his cause to God. His wife 
being near her confinement, one of the city magistrates 
allowed him, on his parole, to return home for three 
days ; but before that time had expired he was seized, 
carried to Gloucester in most inclement weather, and 



102 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1686. 



was thrust into the gaol in that city as the midnight 
chimes were striking. In the prison both he and Mr. 
Fownes wrought a good work amongst the felons; 
whilst at court his persecutors sought for and actually 
obtained from James, Duke of York, an order to con- 
fine him for life. Of this Mr. Gilford was secretly 
apprised, and when his six months expired he desired 
his dismissal. The governor said, ''It is not usual to 
open gates at midnight." '' Tou opened them to take 
me in/' said GifPord; and backing his application with 
a present of money, he marched out to the same tune as 
that which played at his entrance. Six hours later came 
an express from London with an order to imprison him 
for life. It was too late ; this was his last imprisonment 
His grandson. Dr. Gifford, who for a short time preached 
at Broadmead chapel, says: ''The Eev. Andrew Gifford, 
my grandfather, was, with several others in the city of 
Bristol, deeply engaged in the affair of the Duke of 
Monmouth. He collected a considerable sum, and pro- 
vided ammunition ; and when the duke came near the 
city, he sent his son, Emanuel, to Knowle castle, a mile 
out of the city, to invite the duke and his friends in, 
assuring him that there were many friends and supplies 
provided, and that a part of the city wall was imder- 
mined to let them in with ease and safety. But the 
Duke of Beaufort, the lord lieutenant, having set fire 
to a ship in the harbour, and sent the Duke of Mon- 
mouth word that if he attempted the city he would 
burn it down, the duke seeing the flames, called a 
coimcil of war, in which it was resolved to preserve 
the city from being destroyed. Ajid thus, being be- 
trayed by those about him, especially Lord Gray, a 
notorious coward, he desired my father to return his 
thanks to his friends; but the coimcil having determined 
otherwise, he should remove into the west, and earnestly 
desired my father to accompany him ; which my father, 
perceiving' that the duke was betrayed, civilly refused, 
telling him he must now return as his commission was 
at an end. Accordingly, he rode round near Keynsham 
bridge ; but as he was going through Kingswood a 
friend met him, and asked him what he did there, 
teUing him that the plot was discovered, and that his 
errand to the Duke of Monmouth was publicly known, 
and a troop of horse was sent out to take him, and 
therefore bid him shift for his life. On hearing this he 
took oS the saddle and bridle and turned his mare loose 
in the wood, and hid himself in a great bush near the 
highway -side, where he had not been more than a 
quarter of an hour before the troop came by, swearing 
if they could catch the heretical dog, they would cut 
him as small as herbs for the pot; but missing their 
prey, a little before night they returned the same way, 



on which my father caught his mare, and as soon as it 
was dark returned home safe, and kept out of the way 
for some time. The next day the fatal battle of Sedge- 
more was fought. He was a melancholy witness of the 
sufferings of five or six, executed without Eeddiff gate, 
on ihe account of it; but lived to share in the joy of the 
Prince of Orange's arrival ; the first news of whose em- 
barkation, at HelvoetslujTs, was brought to Bristol by 
his brother, Samuel Gifford, who sailed the veiy night 
before the prince, who entreated him to be his pilot 
through the channel, which he excused himself from, 
lest it should endanger his cargo." For twenty-eight 
years Andrew Gifford endured persecution. He has 
justly been described as the apostle of the west, having 
founded so many of the Baptist churches that are scat- 
tered up and down through Gloucestershire, Wiltshire 
and Somerset. He visited these frequently, not with- 
out complaint on the part of his affectionately attached 
people. He was an active promoter of the General Union 
of the Baptists in England and Wales, and a zealous 
patron of education. In 1690 he carried from his own 
church to London £50 for the training of young minis- 
ters. Being asked "why so anxious that your grandson 
[afterward Dr. Andrew Gifford] should have a learned 
education when neither yourself nor son, Emanuel, had 
one ?" " It is for that very reason," said he. He was 
assisted in the ministry by his son and by William Har- 
ford, who suffered in the persecution, became acquainted 
with the inside of Newgate, and was interred in the same 
grave as Mr. Hynam, in the burial ground in Hedcross 
street. During Mr. Gifford's ministry the church re- 
moved from the Friars to a soaphouse opposite the Pithay 
pump, which premises they bought, in 1699, for £168. 
Mr. Gifford died in November, 1721 ; he, also, was 
buried in the old ground in Bedcross street, and was 
succeeded in the pastorate by his son, Emanuel. 

9. We now return to the imprisonment of the £ev. 
Thomas Hardcastle, and the imprisonment and death of 
the Eev. John Thompson. There are several veiy scarce 
pamphlets in our possession relating to this and cognate 
subjects. They are too long for insertion, but we give 
a summary of their contents, preserving as far as pos- 
sible the quaintness of the diction, but sparing our 
readers the antique spelling. One of these, bearing 
date May 1st, is by Thomas Hobson, gent., governor 
of the gaol of Newgate. It is addressed to the bishop, 
has a preface by a clerical hand apparently, with the 
"imprimatur Ex. Ed. Lambethanis, June 1, 1675, Thos. 
Tomkyns, printed in London by William Godbid," and 
is sworn before Balph Oliff, the mayor. It narrates the 
conviction by B. Oliff and Sir John Ejiight, on February 
10th, 1674, of Mr. Thompson, and speaks of him as a 



A.D. 1675. 



THOMPSON DIES IN NEWGATE. 



103 



corpulent man ; states that lie (the gaoler) allowed him 
seyeral times to walk on the leads of the prison, to 
yiew the city and the adjacent country; that Thompson, 
Hardcastle and Weeks shared between them the largest 
chamber in the prison, containing two feather beds, imtil 
the violence of the fever compelled his friends to move 
to other quarters; that, in his opinion, the vomit Dr. 
Chauncey gave the deceased contributed to his death; 
that he had three physicians, and the best food and 
drink the city afPorded ; that the disease was a malig- 
nant fever; that the coroner held an inquest on the 
body, and that it had decent Christian burial. The 
preface accuses the Dissenters of possessing a turbulent 
spirit of fanaticism, states that it was their interest to 
delude the people and make them have an ill opinion of 
their lawftd governors, afiirms that they had recourse 
to lying and forgery to accomplish their ends, and that 
credulous men too often countenanced their malicious 
relations ; for instance, the right rev. father in Qt>d, the 
lord bishop, is accused by them of having procured the 
imprisonment of Thompson and thrown him into a filthy 
dungeon, where the stench of the place and of a jakes 
near it, together with the want of meat, drink, and other 
necessaries, had partly poisoned and partly starved him 
to death. '' Whereas the contrary is true; he had the 
fairest lodgings in the prison, was never free from visi- 
tants, and scarcely had any intermission from eating and 
drinking until he had, by a surfeit (whereof he died), 
made himself incapable of the pleasures to which he 
had been accustomed," &c. 

The Beply to the Bristol ITarrattve, wherein the Mali- 
ciou8 Relation contained in it, concerning his Death, is found 
False and Impudent, 1675, ascribes the preface of that 
pamphlet to some informer (particularly a parson), to 
whom falsehood, rancour and impudence, perjury and 
lying, had become so familiar as to have become natural. 
Accuses the writer of polluting the ashes of the dead 
{de mortuis nil nisi bonum), it affirms that Mr. Thompson 
was a man of sobriety and moderation, a Christian 
divine and scholar of eminence, one whose exemplary 
abstinence was so well known as to cause the bold 
prefacer to be loathed and abhorred for charging his 
death, firstly, on his excess and intemperance ; secondly, 
on the indiscreet conduct of his friends who sought to 
alleviate the noisomeness of the prison ; the only witness 
to which is the gaoler, an interested party, &c. (From 
the Latin and Greek quotations, we judge this reply to 
be the work of one or all of the three pastors who were 
then suffering imprisonment in Newgate, viz., Hard- 
castle, Weeks and GKfford.) The reply, in continuance, 
gives Thompson's history : he was a son to Hugh Thomp- 
son, miniBter, of Dorchester, in which town he was borui 



was educated imder Hallet, of Bridport; then became 
a student and fellow of Christ Church, Oxford, where 
he was nine years, leaving with M.A. degree, when the 
church returned to Episcopacy ; he then went to Dor- 
chester and married a daughter of W. Ben, the dissent- 
ing teacher in that town; he came, in 1670, on special 
invitation to Bristol, not as matter of choice, but of con- 
science. He is described as having enjoyed the friend- 
ship of Gilbert Ironside, the bishop, in 1670-1 ; but 
Parsons, Williamson, Pledwell, Heath and Godwin were 
employed, it is stated, by his successor, Bishop Carleton, 
with particular enmity against Thompson, so that they 
caused him to be the first minister in this city to be 
convicted, on which occasion he was fined £20. When 
Thompson was the second time betrayed (by a college- 
singing boy for sixpence) into the hands of the bishop 
and the justices, he was baited and reviled by his lord- 
ship as a seditious villain, a factious fellow, one who 
deserved to stretch a halter, and such like. To which 
Thompson replied (after he had modestly rebuked him 
for his unbridled passion as utterly unbecoming a gospel 
bishop) : * ' Sir, * Master ' is my title by the law of the land, 
for I am a Master of Arts of the University of Oxford." 
Civis Romanum sum. After a long argument he was con- 
victed under the Oxford Act, as he firmly refused to take 
the corporation oath. His mittimus being made out, he 
asked, as it was late, that he might sleep at his own house 
that night ; the justices were willing, but the bishop, in 
great wrath, rose and said, ''Eebel dog! away to gaol 
with him." It was the 10th of February when he was 
committed. On the 25th, feeling HI, Thompson sent for 
Dr. Chaimcey, who at once said his case was dangerous, 
and asked that he might be removed into a more con- 
venient chamber. Application was made by the doctor 
and a person of quality that he might be removed out of 
prison to some room fit for a person in his condition to 
be in, and they offered bail in £500. The sheriff was 
willing, but was afraid of the bishop ; they next applied 
to the committing magistrate. Sir John Knight, who 
was willing, and went himself the next day to the 
bishop, who still refused, and threatened the sheriffs 
with the extremity of the law if they did not keep him 
a close prisoner imtil the six months' end. That the 
vomit which the gaoler implied had killed him was given 
as the best known means of staying the fever, all three 
of the physicians approved of it; but all was in vain, the 
fever grew upon him, and on the 4th of March, at mid- 
night, he expired. They acknowledge that during his 
illness he had the best room in the gaol, a good feather 
bed to lie on, free access of his friends, and as good en- 
tertainment as he could have within those walls ; but for 
the bare lodging he was charged 10s, per week, and that 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



tlie Yory room in wMcli he vae lodged was annoyed vith 
a moBt naaty jakes. More hardships than these they de- 
clare have not been affirmed in the caee of Mr. Thomp- 
son ; but in the case of Moses Jacoo, John Taylor, Bobert 
Golebon and Bog^er Bagnall, who were committed to 
Newg^ate, March Hth, for being found in a conventicle, 
they state this, that the keeper ashed them what lodgings 
they would have, and they answered a free prison, upon 
which, it being seven o'clock at night, they were thrust 
into the Westhouse, one of the worst places in Newgate, 
where was a 
low, damp, 
earthen floor ; 
that they were 
left all night 
without straw 
or any bed to 
lie on, or a seat 
to sit on ; were 
denied candles 
or any refresh- 
ments ; and a 
bottle of bran- 
dy that some 
friends sent for 
their use was 
kept from 
them. One of 
the debtors 
commiserating 
their case in- 
formed the 
ministers who 
were prisoners 
of it, with the 
result that he 
himself was 
locked up in 
the same place. 
This story (they 
add) is the 
ground of the report which the keeper hath translated 
to Mr. Hobson. Continuing the narrBtiTe, they say 
Thompson, on his death-bed, sent for his fellow- 
prisoners, who, weeping, he comforted, saying, " Pray 
make my being here ae comfortable as you can, that 
I may speak to you and for my Lord . . . 'Tis 
good," he added, "to die in good company." Then 
follows an elegy of three pages. We have also a 
similar pamphlet which narrates the deaths of Francis 
Bamfield and Zachariah Kalphson, written by Hercules 
Collins, their fellow-prisoner in Newgate. At the end 



TKt Hon^tr, ihou'iiv '^ l""^ entrance to Bnadmtad ITAoibI. 



is an elegy which states that these ministers died for 
Christ in the press yard, Newgate, Bristol. Balphson's 
real name was Jeremiah Marsden. These pamphlets 
are as rare as they are curious. 

On the evening of the 5th they carried Thompson's 
mortal remains for interment to the churchyard of St. 
Philip's. Brief as was the time, the cry had gone 
throughout the oity, and five thousand sympathisers 
thronged the streets that led to the grave. All claBses 
of the community were represented, save the knot of 
persecutors, for 
Mr. Thompson 
was a man 
who, irrespec- 
tive of the 
manner in 
which he had 
been done to 
death, deser- 
ved their eym- 
pathy. He 
succeeded Mr. 
Hicks as pastor 
of the Indepen- 
dent church, 
whose meeting 
rooms were in 
the Castle, 
close to the 
Water gate. 
From this and 
the incidents 
given of the 
different at- 
tacks by the 
officers on the 
congregation, 
we should 
judge that the 
large room in 
No. 56 Castle 
street, which looks out upon the ditch, was the meeting 
place of the denomination, which in unbroken succession 
is now represented by the Independent church in Castle 
green. It is expressly said " to be a lower room, with two 
lofts overhead, one above another. They made a door to 
the stairfoot into the second story, and made the minister 
stand in that middle room, and he so preached that 
they below and above might all hear. And they caused 
a curtain to be made that when the informers came in 
they might not see him that preached, but only hear 
him, and could not come at him by reason the new door 



■ ■ ■ t^mi^^ 



A.B. 1675. 



HARDCASTLE AGAIN IMPRISONED. 



105 



at the stairfoot was kept fast, and none suffered to go 
up but known friends. And if they went to break 
open the door, before that could be done they could 
from that second story convey the minister away into 
another house." ^ At Broadmead sentinels were ap- 
pointed, who passed the word when an informer came 
in sight ; then the preacher having withdrawn, the cur- 
tain was pulled back, and the people began to sing one 
of the psalms chosen beforehand for a moment of need. 
In this manner the Scriptures also were read ; each of 
the congregation had a Bible open, and the portion to 
be read being announced, all studied it in silence. ** By 
these means, when the mayor came, he was disappointed; 
they were all singing, and whom to take up for preaching 
he could not tell. "When the informers were gone, the 
singing ceased, the curteiin was drawn, and the preacher 
resumed his discourse until they returned, which they 
sometimes did three times during one meeting. Then 
again the preacher retired, the curtain was drawn aside, 
and singing was resumed, as before. ' This (they say) 
was our constant manner during this persecution, in 
Oliff's mayoralty ; and we were in a good measure edi- 
fied, and our enemies often disappointed. Latc8 Deo,^ 
They had also contrived a back entrance, which led by 
a long passage to a house in the Horsefair, through 
which they could pass. 

" On the 18th of July a Mr. Eobert Colston, a soap- 
boiler, formed one of the congregation. He was not 
suspected of being a spy, not being known as an in- 
former. Such, however, he was ; and unhappily, when 
the signal was given of the approach of the informers, 
the person who attended the curtain withdrew it too 
soon, not giving the speaker sufficient time to be seated. 
Colston saw Mr. Terrill in the attitude of speaking, and 
immediately left the room. When the sergeants went 
in, they told Mr. Terrill that information was already 
gone to the mayor that he had been preaching. And 
the next morning Colston gave the information on oath, 
and Mr. Terrill was ordered to be brought up by the 
mayor's sergeants ; but Mr. Bodenham, who was in the 
Council-house, and heard the order given, went and 
apprised Mr. Terrill, who immediately made his escape. 
Then the 'mayor granted a warrant against him, and 
the constables had strict orders to bring him up to the 
quarter sessions, which were held that week. . . . 
But their search was fruitless; for though Terrill was 
there, he was so cleverly concealed at first, and after- 
wards introduced into a room imdemeath, that, to their 
deep mortification, they were compelled to return without 
accomplishing their purpose. Several times, also, during 
the week he narrowly escaped being taken. 

^ Broadmead Records, 228. 
[Vol. HL] 



''On the 25th HeUier saw at Broadmead, in the 
morning, a gentleman and lady from Coventry, who 
were clients of his, and whom, the day before, he had 
invited to dinner." He therefore did not act; in the 
afternoon, however, he visited the Presbyterians, and 
''as soon as Mr. Weeks' meeting had closed he lighted 
a large fire, and burnt their stools and chairs with a 
rapidity which must have been the result of strongly 
excited feelings, until the landlord^ fearing lest the house 
also would be consumed, came in and extinguished the 
fire." 1 

10. On the 2nd of August, 1675, Messrs. Hardcastle 
and Weeks, having served their term of imprisonment, 
were liberated. Hardcastle preached at Broadmead the 
next Sabbath. Eefusing to come down at Hellier's com- 
mand, he was again convicted; but it being his first 
ofPence since his imprisonment, he was only fined. Not 
to be silenced, he preached on the 15th, for which offence 
he was again sent to prison, this time for six months. 
The bishop, with the mayor and constables, went to the 
chapel the next Sunday, and ordered the congregation 
to disperse, but they went on singing psalms. Unable 
to do anything, they next went to Mr. Oifford's, and 
finding him preaching, took him and sent him again to 
prison. 

In the following month Sir Bobert Cann was chosen 
as mayor, WiUiams and Lane being sheriffs. These 
were more moderate men, and, greatly to the bishop's 
disgust, on the 22nd of October the mayor gave a ban- 
quet, to which he invited the principalDissenters. 

"As a security against the informers, Mr. Weeks' 
people shut up one of their doors, and instead of a 
curtain, as at Broadmead, they put up a wainscot-board 
in a convenient place, behind which they placed the 
preacher, so that, though all might hear, no one could 
see him but friends, who alone were permitted to 
approach that part of the meeting. And when the 
informers made their appearance, the elders, by a 
convenient contrivance, conveyed the minister into an 
adjoining house. 

"The expedient adopted at Mr. Gifford's was dif- 
ferent. A company of tall persons surrounded the 
speaker, and near where he stood was a trap-door in 
the floor, through which, on the entrance of the in- 
formers, whose approach was announced by a vigilant 
doorkeeper, he was let down into another room. 

"The church in the Castle was not so often inter- 
rupted by informers as the other three, nor Mr. Gifford's 
so often as the other two, Mr. Weeks' and Broadmead 
generally sustaining the first onset, and frequently occu- 
pying the informers imtil the others had dosed. But 

^ Fuller's DiBsent in Bristol, 61-4. 

£ 2 



106 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1682. 



in the week-day the bishop's men frequently visited 
Mr. Thompson's place ; he himself had been sacrificed, 
and his flock were not spared." ^ 

Whilst the pastors were in prison the people still 
met as was their wont, and repeatedly sang down the 
informers and constables, there being no law against 
singing psalms. Conspicuous amongst the persecutors 
we find the names of Oliff, Streamer, Sir Joh^ Knight, 
Sir Bobert Teamans and Alderman Grab, who, as tools 
of Hellier and the bishop, were ever ready for a raid 
upon the meeting-houses. 

Bluff old Sir Bobert Cann had no taste for these 
Sunday sports. Fond of his glass, as were most of his 
compeers, and not scrupling to a few round oaths on 
occasion, he yet saw the injustice of these arbitrary 
proceedings against his fellow-townsfolk, as indeed did 
the majority of both the laity and the clergy. The men 
who worked the mischief were, puppets ; the strings that 
pulled them led from Whitehall. '^Have a good mind 
to it, as the king said to me, and the business will be 
done. The king said to me [Sir John Knight], ^ Sheriff, 
let the prison be the prison.' " 

Obliged at times to follow in the wake of HeUier 
and the bishop, Cann, whenerer he could, appears to 
have given the Dissenters notice that he was coming. 
He was often not to be found, and on one occasion 
actually went to London rather than proceed against 
them. Let the kindly actions be placed in the balance 
against the profane language to which he was addicted. 

Mr. Hardcastl'e died suddenly on the 7th of Septem- 
ber, 1678. He was one of the ejected Nonconformists, 
having held a living in Yorkshire and been chaplain to 
Lady Barwick, as well as being a close friend of Lord 
H. Fairfax. Seven times was he imprisoned for con- 
science sake ; of these, twice he suffered periods of 
confinement for six months each in Newgate gaol, 
Bristol. His letters to the church during his imprison- 
ments show him to have been as good a man as he was 
firm and unyielding in his principles. Mr. Fownes suc- 
ceeded him in the pastorate, and on April 22nd, 1679, 
**the church in Broadmead agreed with that in the 
Pithay to buy a burying ground for ourselves, a garden 
in Eedcross lane, that we might bury our dead without 
the ceremonies of the parish parsons in their yard." 
The purchase was not concluded tmtil October, and 
additional ground has been added to it. 

11. In 1680, George Hellier, a brother of the arch- 
persecutor, appeared on the scene, and inaugurated 
another six months' foray on the Sectaries; and in 1681, 
under Sir Thomas Earl, mayor, began, on November 
10th, a persecution, the first victim being Mr. Fownes, 

^ Fnller'B Dissent in Bristol, 92-^. 



who proved himself to be a worthy successor to the late 
pastor of Broadmead. The constables and rabble, on 
on the 13th of December, on pretence of levying a dis- 
tress warrant for £5 as a fine in lieu of a soldier-at-arms, 
sacked Weeks' meeting-house at St. James' back, doing 
damage to the extent of £ 100, breaking down the pulpit 
and the gallery, demolishing the windows and carrying 
off the seats. Then Hellier, with his crew, fourteen 
labourers and a rabble of boys, went to Mr. Gifford's, 
and from thence to the Quakers', where they acted in 
the like manner, appraising their plunder from Mr. 
Weeks' at twenty-two shillings, that from the Quakers' 
at fifteen shillings, and Mr. Gifford's at twelve shillings 
and sixpence. Broadmead and the Castle chapel escaped, 
having paid the fine. But temporising was useless, for 
the next Thursday Broadmead was rifled, pulpit and 
pews were destroyed, beer was enthroned on the Bible 
cushion, and clouds of tobacco smoke served as incense, 
whilst ribald songs took the place of the psalms of 
David. The next Sunday the reprobate lawyer sent in 
three tankards of beer during the time of service, and 
challenged the congiregation to drink; then, finding that 
they would not disperse, he nailed up the doors and 
fastened the people in. 

The years 1681-2 commenced inauspiciously ; each 
week's proceedings is but a repetition of the unbridled 
violence of that which preceded it, until at last, wearied 
out, the sufferers left their ruined meeting-houses in the 
city, and sought for quiet resting-places in the adjacent 
country ; a valley on Durdham down is named as the 
first of these refuges. Mr. Fownes, who had been in 
prison over three weeks, was removed by hdbea» corpus 
to London, where, his mittimus being illegal, he was 
released. Then the following places are given as the 
spots where the congregations met for worship : Bussel- 
ton (Brislington) common, fields in Barton Hundred, in 
Farkhouse, over Durdham down, lane near Baptist mills, 
Glen Frome, Stapleton, Upper Knowle, Conham house, 
the woods at Hanham, Keynsham, Kingswood, Easton, 
Horvill (Horfield), Westbury, Gassen lime, Southmead, 
Scruge Hole, where Mr. Terrill had the sides of a hill 
cut into steps to serve as a gallery. Li these secluded 
spots the various congregations met, to the number 
generally of from 1,000 to 1,500 persons, their chief 
persecutor now being Sheriff Knight, who returned 
from Newmarket, where he had been with the merry 
monarch and the duke, and got knighted. Then the 
bandogs of bigotry waited at the city gates and illegally 
apprehended the people who entered from the country, 
accusing them of having been at a preachment. Mean- 
while, every precaution was taken by the downtrodden 
people to divert or avoid suspicion; the women were 



A.D. 1683. 



FORD HUNTED INTO THE AVON AND DROWNED. 



107 



cautioned not to wear white aprons or pattens when 
attending seryice, and the men passed out of the gates, 
not in groups, but singly. At the dose of the year the 
several pastors found it wise to withdraw into seclusion. 
In January, 1683, the congregations met in the woods 
round about Conham, escaping across the river into 
Somerset when the watchers signalled the approach of 
the officers. On March 15th, one hundred and fifty of 
the Dissenters were fined £20 each for not going to 
church ; on the 28th, Mr. Fownes fell into an ambush, 
and was taken on horseback whilst about to preach in a 
wood. Then, to drcumvent the Sectaries, Hellier got 
himself appointed under-sheriff of Somerset, and armed 
with pistols, he and his constables came upon a congre- 
gation listening to Mr. Whinnell on Brislington common ; 
whilst these were endeayouring to escape across the river 
into Gloucestershire, Hellier gave the signal to young 
Balph Oliff , who lay perdu awaiting them under the cliffs 
of Hanham, with the. officers. These chased Mr. Knight, 
a minister of Taunton, and Mr. Ford, a Bristol mercer, 
for half a mile, vociferating, ''Knock 'em down," so 
that onlookers thought they were hunting deer. Ford 
and Knight, not thinking the water deep, sought to re- 
cross the river by wading, when the former began to 
sink and cried out for help. Oliff, Watkins, the mar- 
shal, and their men. Hoar, Tilly and Lugg, instead of 
succouring them, ran off, when a Kingswood collier 
plunged in and with great difficulty saved Mr. Knight, 
but Ford was drowned. Knight, taken to a house in 
Pile marsh, was, by the use of suitable means, re- 
covered, which his persecutors hearing of, they beset 
the house, but Mr. Fox, the owner, demanding to see 
their warrant, refused to admit them without, and while 
they went to fetch one, he removed Mr. Knight to 
another refuge. The body of Mr. Ford being re- 
covered that evening, a coroner's jury of nineteen 
persons was impannelled, who brought in a verdict 
against three of the pursuers, for whose apprehension 
the coroner issued warrants, but the mayor of Bristol, 
Oliff, declined to assist him in any way. Two of these 
men, Watkins and Hoar, were some weeks later taken 
at an alehouse ; but yotmg Oliff stating that they had 
been alrei^y before the city magistrates (which was 
false), Mr. Newton, a cotmty justice, let them go, not- 
withstanding which, at the Oloucestershire assizes a 
true bill was found against them for murder, on the 
prosecution of Mr. Ford's widow, also against TiUy and 
Lugg as accessories, but at Lord Herbert's dictation the 
judge directed the petty jury to acquit them. During 
their trial Mr. James HoUoway, a merchant, who was 
in court as a spectator, was accused by Oliff of having 
formed one of the congregation, and he was conse- 



quently botmd over to appear at the sessions at Glou- 
cester. (This is the man who was executed the year 
following for being concerned in the Bristol plot.) 

On the 10th, Mr. Whinnell, the schoolmaster, who 
had preached often for the Broadm^ad church during 
Mr. Fownes' enforced absence, had to fly, a warrant 
being issued to apprehend him. That day also Mr. 
Knight died from the effect of his submersion in the 
Avon ; another martyr to intolerance soon followed him. 
** On Monday, the 23rd, the church had a day of fasting 
and prayer, partly on account of Mr. Young, who had 
lately 'turned from being parson of Bussleton to preach 
among the Dissenters, principally Mr. Weeks' people.' 
A week before he had been to Gloucester, on a visit of 
condolence to Mr. Fownes. It being the sessions, Balph 
Oliff was there to prosecute Mr. Dickenson, and caught 
sight of Mr. Toung as he was riding into the city. He 
tracked him from street to street till he saw where he 
put up his horse ; then he procured a warrant, followed 
him into the prison, seized him, carried him before a 
justice, and swore that he had heard him preach at a 
conventicle in the fields within the last two years. He 
was therefore committed for six months." ^ Mr. Fownes, 
whose legal term of imprisonment had expired, was on 
various pretences remanded as '< turbulent and sedi- 
tious," and bail was demanded to the extent of £600, 
that he would be on good behaviour, i.e. not attend any 
meetings. This he refused to do, and he was kept, ille- 
gally, in Gloucester gaol for two years and nine months, 
he having been only committed for six months. An 
endeavour was made to convict him also of a riot ; but 
he pleaded that he and his horse could not surely be 
guilty of such, and that there was no other company 
when he was taken. The jury, although the bishop's 
chancellor who was on the bench tried to browbeat them, 
returned a verdict of ** not guilty." He made strenuous 
efforts to obtain his liberty by claiming it at the end of 
his teim, but the gaoler said he had orders not to let 
him go; then he appealed to the judge of assize, but 
in vain, the word had come from head-quarters, *'It is 
not safe to the Government to let him go." Suffering 
from disease aggravated by confinement, an eminent 
physician said '4t was no less than murder; better they 
had run him through with a sword the day he came 
in"; death on the 29th of November, 1685, put an end 
to his martyrdom, soon after which the troubled sea 
subsided into a treacherous calm. 

12. We turn now to the Presbyterian church, which 
is represented by the Congregational church on Clifton 
down. ''It may have been about the y^lar 1660, or a 
little later, that the fraternity was first f oimed ; but no 

^ F«ll«r*8 Difloent in Bristol, 157. 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



miuiBter is mentioned till, all at once, we find a license 
granted by King Charles 11. in 1 672, in pnraoance of the 
indulgence to Protestant Disaentera he had then yielded 
to 'Jix. John Weeks, of the Presbyterian persuasion, 
to be a teacher of the congregation allowed by ub in a 
room or rooms, in the house of John Lloyd, lying on 
St. James's back, in the city of Bristol.' . . . {The 
original license still hangs in the vestry of this church.) 
This Kb. John Weeks waa a noble and excellent man, 
and of far more importance in the ' kingdom of God 
and of Christ ' than the preTarioating monarch who 



other places besides his own meeting-house, and em- 
braced every opportunUy of diffusing the message of 
salvation. On one occasion he was preaching at Glen 
Frome, when some informers came who had vowed to 
shoot him, but he directed his discourse to th^n with 
such majesty and boldness that they rode away without 
giving him any disturbance. He was twice imprisoned 
six months for hie N^onconformity, during which he 
preached out of the prison windows, and had many of 
the common people constantly to hear him. He was 
onoe carried to prison from hie pulpit, where, irhile he 



had granted him a license to preach imagined him to 
be. He had been a regularly educated and ordained 
minister of the Church of England, fixed at Buckland 
Newton, in Dorsetshire, and by the passing of the 'Act 
of Uniformity,' in 1662, was ejected, like many others, 
because he would not declare his unfeigned assent and 
consent to everything which human authority saw fit to 
impose in matters of religion and the worship of God. 
After his ejectment he came to Bristol and ministered 
to the above congregation, which, very soon after his 
arrival, attracted by the eloquence and power of his 
preaching, amounted, it is recorded, 'usually to about 
1,000 peojJe.' . . , He was often called to ofBciate in 



was preaching, the officers came in and demanded by 
what authority he preached. He thereupon clapped his 
hand on his Bible, and said, 'By the authori^ of God 
and of this Book.' They ordered him to come down. 
He desired they might conclude with prayer, which 
they yielded to, standing by uncovered. He prayed 
so heartily for the king and the government that 
one of his friends, after prayer, asking a clergyman 
who came with the officers, what he had to say 
against such a man, he replied, ' Truly nothing ; only 
such men eat the bread out of our mouths.' Mr. 
Weeks was a man of great piety and prudence, and 
very remarkable for his courage. It was said of him. 



EDWARD TERRILL AND ICHABOD CHAUNCEY. 



' Tliat he oould bear anything from his enemies, but 
not BO from Ms friends,' " ' 

In 1685-6 Mr. Weeks' congre^tion purchased the 
Old Theatre, in Tucker street ; the site is now occupied 
as an iron warehouse. The entrance was by a passaj^ 
(close to the "Pilgrim" public-house), at the end of 
which a flight of steps led directly into tlie meeting, the 
door of which was in the centre of the building ; this 
was large, having three galleries that would hold about 
a thousand people. ISx. Weeks lived to a ripe old age, 
dying OD the 23rd of Norember, 1696. He had for a 
while Edmund Calamy (who afterwards became cele- 
brated as the learned Dr. Oalamy) as an assistant. 

Ere we turn from this interesting record, we would 
mention that Ur. TerriU, that noble sufferer for con- 
science sake, the very pillar and backbone of Noncon- 
form!^ in its infancy In Bristol, whose sdf-denying, 
generous labours did much to establish its character 
■ Cuton's IndepeDdenoj in Bristol, S2-3. 



for that broad, vital Christianity which has ever since 
distinguished our city, died in 1665. In 1683 he be- 
queathed to Almondsbury, the place of his birth, £S0 
for the purchase of land, "the yearly income to be 
given to successive poor in the winter season for ever." 
The story of these porsecutiona would be incomplete 
did we not place on record the sufferings of another 
faithful layman. Dr. Ichabod Chaunccy, a physician who 
came to Bristol, in 1670, from Goggleshall, Essex. He 
was a son of the Hev. Charles Channcey, of Ware, 
Herts, who was cjoctod, in 1662, as a Nonoonfonniet. 
Chauncey, after repeated fines and imprisonments, was 
esiled from his native land in August, 1684, under the 
Act 35 Elizabeth, for his religious belief ; he went, vi'd 
London, to Holland. Under the dispensing power of 
James 11., in 1686, he returned to Bristol, and was not 
again molested. He died on July 25th, 1691, and was 
buried in the churchyard of St. Philip's. 



Cand^abnim It TempU CliuTdi. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



^ TP f STU^^T •!• EP— prQES •!• II. -^ 



I. Accession of James II. Proclamation in Bristol. 2. Monmouth's Rebellion: its effect in Bristol. 
Trial of the Rebels; Judge Jeffreys' charge to the Jury; he sends the Mayor and some Aldermen to the 
Bar for Kidnapping. 3. Incidents of the period; Men Stealing. The Apprenticeship System. Bampfylde 
Moore Carew, the king of the gipsies. 4. A Priest arrested for saying Mass. The Southwell Letters. Sir 
John Knight's Petition to the King. The King visits Bristol and Sedgemoor. 5. Second visit to Bristol of 
James : ceremonious reception. The King coquets with the Dissenters. The Pope's Nuncio in Bristol. 
6. The King purges the Corporation : list of members dismissed ; /is( of new members. 7. How the news of 
a Prince's birth was received in Bristol. The Huguenots. Economies of the Common Council. 8. The 
Bishops imprisoned. Trelawny's popularity ; his character, g. Interesting Scraps from Old Letters. 10. The 
nation in a ferment. James endeavours to retrace his steps. 11. Romsey in prison. Nathaniel Wade: his 
escape from Sedgemoor, romantic arrest, and pardon ; he builds Wade's bridge. 12. Disinclination of men to 
take office in the Council. 13. Landing of the Prince of Orange. The Earl of Shrewsbury and Sir John 
Guise secure Bristol. The Mob attack the houses of Catholics. James' character. 14. Edward Colston: 
his birth, descent, life, and benefactions. 




[f^AUES, I>iike of York, succeeded Ilia 
brother, the late king, and 'waa pro- 
claimed in Sriatol by GHes Merrick, tlie 
slierifi, the tmmpeta aounding, and every 
place in Bristol where he waa proclaimed 
was hung with acarlet. He was pro- 
' claimed by the name of James 11., on 
Sunday, ISth February, 1684-6, and waa 
by order again proclaimed on Ifonday 
following. April 23rd, he and hia Queen Maiy were 
crowned at Westminster with very great splendour, and 
the day waa kept in Briatol with all aigns of joy and 
gladness. All shope were ahut up ; the mayor and the 
oouncil and the companies in right order went to the 
; fifty-two great guns were three timea fired, 



beaide many guna in many ahips at the Key. The con- 
duits ran with wine very plentifully, and the evening 
ended with bonfires, &c. l^e bells all OTer ihe fity 
rang for joy, even the tavern bella.' " * 

The king, who bad been an openly avowed Boman 
Catholic aince 1671, published two papers taken from 
the strong box of the late monarch, which proved that 
Gharlea had himself lived and died in the same faith. 
James' firat words aa king were a pledge to preserve 
the laws inviolate and to protect the Church of England. 
" We have the word of a king, and of a king who waa 
never worae than hia word ! " waa the joyful 017 through- 
out the land, and it produced immediate results. 

A Parliament waa assembled on May 1 9th, the first 
> Seyer, U., 623. 



A.D. 1686. 



MONMOUTH'S REBELLION. 



Ill 



sinoe 1681. Sir John Ghurchill and' Sir Eichard Crump 
were elected for Bristol without opposition. ''The 
House Toted £1,200,000 per annum to the king for 
life, were liberal in voting supply, and overlooked the 
king's irregularities." ^ 

The eftect produced by the king's words was but the 
lull preceding a storm, the first symptom of which came 
from the north, where Argyle landed and sought to 
wrest Scotland from the rule of a Popish king. His 
attempt was premature, and failed ; he was arrested 
whilst attempting to escape, and died a traitor's death. 

2. The second gale came from the west: on June 
11th, 1685, the Duke of Monmouth, an illegitimate son 
of the late king, landed at Lyme, in Dorset, and issued 
a declaration of his intention to uphold the Constitution 
and the Protestant religion. Highly popular amongst 
the men of the west, especially with the Whigs and 
Dissenters of the middle class, because of his avowed 
intention to uphold Protestantism and to govern accord- 
ing to the teachings of the Bible, great masses of people 
flocked to his standard ; the villagers of Somerset turned 
out en masse, armed with scythes, hay-knives and pitch- 
forks; the ladies of Taunton, to their misfortune, pre- 
sented him with embroidered banners and a Bible, and 
the townsmen proclaimed him king. But the nobility, 
gentry, and leading clergymen, both Nonconformist 
(GifFord, of Bristol, being an exception) and Church of 
England, held aloof ; they had no confidence in the son 
of Lucy Waters, who was known to be like his father, 
a man of dissolute life and morals; their hopes were 
centred in William of Orange. On the 22nd, Monmouth 
left Taunton for Bridgwater; there the mayor and alder- 
men in their robes met him in procession and preceded 
him to the High Cross, where they proclaimed him 
King. His army by this time amounted to 6,000 men, 
and they might have been trebled, but that he had 
neither arms with which to equip nor money to pay those 
who had already enlisted. Meanwhile the Boyalist forces, 
under Churchill, were harassing his rear as he marched on 
Bristol. On the 24th he reached Pensf ord ; but although 
Wade and Boe, both Bristol men, had given him re- 
peated assurances that the majority of its inhabitants 
were in his interest and devoted to him, there was no 
demonstration made in his favour, beyond an attempt 
to create confusion by the firing on that day of a ship 
named the Abraham and Mary as she lay at the Quay. 
On the contrary, as soon as the news of Monmouth's 
landing reached the city the militia was called out and 
divided into watches, two of which kept guard at night, 
one in the Guildhall, the other in Thomas street, near 
the church. The Duke of Beaufort, lord-lieutenant, 

^ Greasy. 



hastened to the city, and on his arrival drew up twenty- 
two companies of foot in Kedcliff mead and six com- 
panies in the Lamb ground, and threatened that if 
Monmouth's friends admitted him into the city by any 
devious way he would immediately bum the place about 
their ears. Some of the disaffected were locked up in 
the Guildhall to keep them out of mischief. 

Monmouth marched from Pensf ord to Keynsham; 
but being informed of Beaufort's threat, said, ''God 
forbid I should bring such calamities as fire and sword 
on so noble a city," and although some of his men had 
actually reached Bedminster down, he turned towards 
Bath. On the 26th a small party of the king's horse, 
under Colonel Oglethorpe, were surprised as they rode 
into Keynsham, and had the enemy been on the alert 
they might all have been captured. The rebels were 
in the fields refreshing themselves, and ere they could 
muster, Oglethorpe had escaped, after killing and wotmd- 
ing some twenty men ; his own loss being Lord New- 
borough badly wounded and four men taken prisoners, 
three of whom, viz., Andrew Herbert, Charles Pope 
and Edward Taylor, were Bristol men, and the fourth, 
Captain Savage, belonged to a troop of Gloucestershire 
horse. 

Meanwhile Paversham, with 250 of the king's horse- 
guards, stout, able men, exceedingly well mounted and 
finely accoutred at all points, had reached Bristol, which, 
finding sufficiently defended, and learning that Mon- 
mouth had changed his intention and was about to 
march on Bath, he anticipated him by a rapid advance 
on that city. Bath, walled and garrisoned, was an in- 
superable obst^le to an undisciplined force, however 
enthusiastic; the militia of Sussex and Oxfordshire, 
with a volunteer force of gownsmen, barred the way to 
London; and, losing heart, Monmouth fell back into 
the west by way of Frome and Bridgwater, to meet 
with his disastrous defeat on Sedgemoor. Of the fero- 
cious cruelties of " Kirke and his lambs," who disgraced 
the name of soldiers, and the bloody campaign of the 
atrocious Jeffreys, all have read with horror. "About 
200 of the prisoners were brought to Bristol to be trans- 
ported. James desired to give his courtiers about a 
thousand ; but Jeffreys remonstrated, and told the king 
that they were worth £15 a-piece. Wade fled from 
Sedgemoor." ^ 

. On Monday, September 21st, Jeffreys came to Bristol, 
and lodged at the house of the town derk, John Bomsey, 
King street. The house, which is given at page 77, is 
still standing, and bears on its door the initials ^-^ and 
the date 1664. After he had refreshed himself, he went 
to the Tolsey, and thence to the Guildhall, where the 

^ Southwell Pftp«n. 



112 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1685. 



commissions were opened and a jury of forty-one men 
was sworn. The lord chief justice then made his no- 
torious charge, of which the following are extracts: — 

Gentlemen, — I am, by the mercy of God, come to this great 
and populous city — a city that boasts both of its riches and trade, 
and may justly indeed claim the next place to the great and popu- 
lous metropolis of this kingdom. Gentlemen, I find here are a 
great many auditors, who are very intent, as if they expected 
some formal or prepared speech ; but, assure yourselves, we come 
not neither to make set speeches nor formal declamations, nor to 
follow a couple of puffing trumpeters, for. Lord, we have seen those 
things twenty times before ! No, we come to do the king's busi- 
ness — a king who is so p^racious as to use all the means possible to 
discover the disorders of the nation, and to search out those who 
indeed are the very pest of the kingdom : to this end, and for this 
purpose, are we come to this city. But I find a special commis- 
sion is an unusual thing here, and relishes very ill : nay, the very 
women storm at it, for fear we should take the upper hand of 
them too ; for, by the by, gentlemen, I hear it is much in fashion 
in this city for the women to govern and bear sway. But, gentle- 
men, I will not stay you with such needless stories : I will only 
mention some few things that fall within my knowledge. For 
points or matters of law I shall not trouble you, but only mind 
you of some things that lately hath happened, and particularly in 
this city (for I have the Kalendar of this city in my pocket) ; and 
if I do not express myself in so formal or set a declamation (for, 
as I told you, I came not to make declamations), or in so smooth 
language as you may expect, you must attribute it partly to the 
pain of the stone, under which I labour, and partly to the uneven- 
ness of this day's journey. 

Gentlemen, I may say that even some of the youngest amongst 
us may remember the late horrid rebellion, how men, under colour 
of law and pretext of justice, after they had divested a most 
gracious and most merciful piince of all his royal power, by the 
power of the sword — they, I say, under colour of law and pretext 
of justice (which added the more to the crime, that it was done 
under such pretended justice), brought the most mild and meekest 
prince (next to our ever blessed Saviour, Jesus Christ, if we may 
but compare him to a man) to die a martyr, the first blessed 
martyr (pardon the expression) besides our most blessed Jesu, who 
suffered for us on the cross — I say, besides that blessed Son of God, 
— this, I say, was the first royal martyr ; not suffering him to speak 
for himself, or make his defence — a liberty which is given to the 
vilest traitor ; and this was done (not to descant on the number) ^ 
hy forty-one / The rebels, not resting here, for rebellion is like 
the sin of witchcraft, divested the lineal, legal and rightful heir 
of the crown of all his power and prerogative, till the mighty God 
of heaven and earth, God Almighty, restored him to his ji^st right. 
And he, as if begot in mercy, not only forgave all offences, and 
pardoned voluntarily even all that had been in actual arms against 
him (except those accursed regicides), but made it a crime for 
anyone that should but remember or upbraid any of their past 
crimes or rebellions. Good God ! Jesu ! that we should live in 
such an age, in which such a prince cannot be safe from the sedi- 
tious contrivances of pardoned rebels ! Had we not the Bye con- 
spiracy, wherein they not only designed to have mnrthered that 
most blessed (for so now we may conclude him to be with God 
Almighty) and gracious king, but also his ever dear and victorious 
brother? Had we not the Bill of Exclusion, which our most 
gracious king told us he could not, without a manifest infringe- 
ment of the royal prerogatives of the crown (which are too sacred 
for OB to touch) consent to ? Had we not the cursed counsel of 

^ A shrewd hit at the number of the Bristol common councilmen. 



Achitophel ? ^ Kings are God's vice-regents on earth, and are indeed 
Gods on earth, and we represent them. Now, when God Ahnighty 
had of His infinite goodness called this blessed prince unto Him- 
self, He sends a prince, who assures us he will imitate his royal 
brother and renowned predecessor in all things, especially in that 
of his clemency and mercy, and that, too, upon the word of a 
king — a king, I assure you, that will not be worse than his word ; 
nay (pardon the expression), that dare not be worse than his word. 
Which of you all, that had a father murthered by another (and 
that deliberately, too, under colour of justice, which added to the 
crime, and your brother, nay, yourselves, thrust out from your 
inheritance, and banished from your country, nay, that sought 
your blood likewise), would not, if it was in your power, revenge 
such injuries and ruin such persecutors ? But here our most 
blessed prince, whom God long preserve, hath not only forgiven, 
but will venture his life for the defence of such his enemies. Has 
he not ventured his life already as far as any man for the honour 
of these kingdoms ? Nay, I challenge this oity to show me any 
one man of it, that perchance may not be worth a groat, that has 
ventured his life so far for the safety of these kingdoms as this 
royal prince hath done ? Good God ! what an age do we live in t 
Shall not such a prince be secure from the sedition^ rebellion and 
plots of men ? He is scarce seated on his royal throne (where God 
Almighty grant he may long reign I) but on the one hand he 
is invaded by a condemned rebel and arch-traitor, who hath re- 
ceived the just reward of his rebellion ; on the other hand up 
starts a poppet prince, who seduces the mobile into rebellion, into 
which they are easily bewitched, for I say rebellion is like the sin 
of witchcraft. This man, who had as little title to the Crown as 
the least of you (for I hope all of you are legitimate), being over- 
taken by justice, and by the goodness of his prince brought to the 
scaffold, he has the confidence (good Grod ! that men shr^uld be so 
impudent) to say that Qod Almighty did know with what joyfulnesa 
he did die ; (a traitor !) having for these two years last past lived 
in all incontinency and rebellion, notwithstanding the goodness of 
an indulgent prince so often to pardon him; but it is just like 
him ! Rebellion (as I told you) is like the sin of witchcraft. For 
there was another, which I shall not name, because I will not 
trample on the dust of the dead, but you may remember him by 
these words of his speech : he tells you that he thanks ?iis Ood thiU 
he falls by the ax, and not by the fiery tried. He had rather (he 
had as good have said) die a traitor than a blessed martyr. 

Great God of heaven and earth ! what reason have men to 
rebel ? But, as I told you, rebellion is like the sin of witchcraft. 
Fear Ood and honour the king is rejected by people for no other 
reason, as I can find, but that it is written in St. Peter. Gentle- 
men, I must tell you, I am afraid, I am afraid that this city hath 
too many of these people in it ; and it is your duty to search them 
out, for this city added much to the ship's loading. There was 
your Tylys, your Boes, and your Wades, men started up like 
mushrooms, scoundrel fellows, mere sons of dunghills; these 
men must forsooth set up for liberty and property ! A fellow that 
carries the sword before Mr. Mayor must be very careful of his 
property, and turn politician, as if he had as much property as 
the person before whom he bears the sword, though perchance not 
worth a groat. Gentlemen, I must tell you, you have still here 
the Tylys, the Roes, and the Wades, I have brought a brush in 
my pocket, and I shall be sure to rub the dirt wherever it lies, or 
on whomsoever it sticks. Gentlemen, I shall not stand compli- 
menting with you ; I shall talk with some of yon before yon and I 
part. I tell you, I tell you, I have brought a besom, and I will 
sweep every man's door, whether great or smalL Must I mention 
particulars ? I hope you will save me that trouble ; yet I will 
hint a few things to you that perchance I have heard of. This is 

^ The Earl of Shaftesbury. 



A.D. 1686. 



JUDGE JEFFREYS' CHARGE. 



113 



a great city, and the magistrateB wonderful loyal, and very for- 
ward to anist the king with men, money, and proviaions, when 
the rebels were joat at your gates. I do believe it would have 
went yery hard with some of you if the enemy had entered the 
dty, notwithstanding the endeavours that was used to accom- 
plish it. Certainly they had and must have great encouragement 
from a party within, or else why should their design be on the 
city ? Nay, when the enemy was within a mile of you, that a 
ship sheuld be set on fire in the midst of you as a signal to the 
rebels, and to amuse those within ; when, if God Almighty had 
not been more gracious unto you than you was to yourselves (ao 
that wind and tide was for you) for what I know, the greatest 
part of this city had perished ; and yet you are willing to believe 
it waa an accident I Certainly here is a great many of those men 
which they call Trvnvmen, A Wlug is but a mere fool to these; 
for a Whig is some sort of a subject in compariaon of theae; for a 
THmmer is but a cowardly and base-spirited Whig ; for the Whig 
is but the journeyman-prentice, that \b hired and set on in the 
rebellion, whilst tiie Trimmer is afraid to apipear in the cause ; he 
stands at a doubt, and says to himaelf, " I will not aaaist the king 
until I aee who hath the beat of it,'* and refuaea to entertain the 
king's frienda for fear the rebela ahould get the better of it. Theae 
men stink worae than the worae dirt you have in your dty ; theae 
men have ao little religion that they forget that he that is not for 
us is against ua. Gentlemen, I tell you I have the kcUendar of this 
cUy here in my hand. I have heard of thoae that have aearched 
into the very aink of a conventicle, to find out aome aneaking 
raacal to hide their money by night. Come, come, gentlemen, to 
be plain with you, I find the dirt of the ditch ia in your nostrila. 
(}ood God I where am I ? In Bristol t Thia dty, it aeema, claima 
the privilege of hanging and drawing among themaelvea ; I find 
yon have more need of a commiaaion once a month at leaat. The 
very magiatrates, which should be the ministers of Justice, fall 
out with one another to that degree, they will acarce dine with 
each other; whilat it ia the buaineaa of aome cunning men that lie 
behind the curtain to raiae divisiona amongst them, and aet them 
together by the eara, and knock their logger-heada together. Tet 
I find they can agree for their intereet^ or if there be but a kid in 
the case, for I hear the trade of kidnapping is of much request in 
this dty. They can discharge a felon or a traitor, provided they 
will go to Mr. Alderman's plantation at the West Indies. Come, 
come, I find you stink for want of rubbing. Gentlemen, what 
need / remind you of these things ? I hope you will search into 
them, and inform me. It seems the Dissenters and phanaticks 
fare well among you, by reason of the favour of the magistrates. 
For example, if a Dissenter, who is a notorious and obstinate 
offender, comes before them to be fined, one alderman or other 
stands up and says. He is a good man (though three parts a rebel). 
Well, then, for tilie sake of Mr. Alderman, he shall be fined but 
five shUlinga. Then comes another, and np stands another Good- 
man Alderman, and says, I know him to be an honest man 
(though rather worse than the former). Well, for Mr. Alder- 
man's sake he shall be fined but half -a crown. So manus manum 
/riaU ; you play the knave for me now, and I will play the knave 
for yon by and by. I am ashamed of these things. And I must 
not forget to tell you that I hear of some differences among the 
dergy — those that ought to preach peace and unity to otiiers. 
Gentlemen, these things must be looked into. I shall not now 
trouble you any further. There are several other things, but I 
expect to hear further of them from you ; and if you do not tell 
me of some of these things, I shaU remind you of them. And I 
find, by the number of your constables, this is a very large 
dty, and it is imposdble for one or two to search into all the 
concerns of it ; therefore mind the constables of their duties, 
and call on them for their presentments; for I expect every 

[Vol. IIL] 



constable to bring in his presentment, or that you present him. 
So adjourn, &c. ' 

Another writer, disposed to consider Jeffireys, ''when 
under no state influence," as '' sometimeB inclined' to 
'protect the natural and civil rights of mankind/' states 
that 

The mayor and aldermen of Bristol had made a practice of 
transporting convicted criminals to the American plantations, and 
selling them by way of trade. Thia turning to good account, 
when any pilferers or petty roguea were brought before them, they 
threatened them with hanging, and then aome officera who atten- 
ded earnestly advised the ignorant, intimidated creaturea to beg 
for transportation, aa the only way to aave them ; and in general 
their advice waa followed. Then, without more form, each alder- 
man took one, and aold him for hia own benefit. ' 

Six men were convicted of high treason, three of 
whom were reprieved; the others were hanged, drawn 
and quartered. One of them, Tippett, a shoemaker of 
Bedminster, was a victim to fatal curiosity: ''I did no 
more than go to see the army," was his plea. About 
400 men were brought to Bristol, sentenced to trans- 
portation. 

*' * At the assizes in Bristol, JefiPeries had a great 
feud with Sir William Hayman, the mayor, and also 
with Sir Robert Oann and Alderman Lawf ord ; he made 
the mayor come off the bench to the bar, and made them 
all three give caution that they would appear at the 
King's Bench next teim.' Another MS. gives 'the 
words of Sir Oeorge Jeff eryes, Lord Chief e Justice of 
England, which he spake to the mayor of Bristol, Sir 
William Hayman, September 22nd, 1685, as follow: 
''Sir, Mr. Mayor, you I meane, kidnapper, and an 
old justice of the peace on the bench [meaning Alder- 
man John Lawf ord] I doe not know him, an old knave ; 
he goes to the taveme, and for a pint of sack he will 
bind people servants to the Lidies at the taveme. A 
kidnapping knave ! I will have his ears off before I 
goe forth of towne. Well, read that paper," giving it 
to John Eomsey, then towne derke, and commanding 
that it should be read aloud, that all might heare ; the 
said paper was read accordingly. One was for picking 
of a pockett, for which the now mayor would have sent 
him to Jamayca, &c. "Kidnapper [speaking to the 
mayor], you I mean, sir; doe you not see the keeper of 
Newgate ? If it were not in respect of the sword which 
is over your head, I would send you to Newgate, you 
kidnapping knave. You are worse than the pickpockett 
who stands there [meaning at the barre]. I hope you 
are men of worth ; I will make you pay sufiiciently for 
it," and presently he fined the mayor £1,000. The 
lord chief justice, speaking againe to the maypr a little 
before he arose off the bench, ordered him to the barr, 

^ Evana, 23&-9. • Ibid, 239. 

B 8 



114 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1685. 



whither he went accordingly; and as he stood there 
like a prisoner, the lord chief justice asked him whether 
he was g^iy or not guilty, to which the mayor pleaded 
not guiliy. Then he made him give security untill the 
af temoone, and in the aftemoone the mayor was turned* 
over prisoner to both his sheriffs. Furthermore he said 
to the mayor, ** Had it not bin in respect to the city, I 
would have arraigned him, and would have hanged him 
before I did forth of this city, and would have scene it 
done myself e; a kidnapping knave! " ' The other calen- 
dars mention the affair, but not so particularly. On the 
whole of this extraordinary transaction, it may be ob- 
served on the one hand, that the magistrates of Bristol 
at that time did probably sometimes strain the law or 
terrify petty offenders with the prospect of severe 
punishment, that they might by these means send 
over persons to work on their estates in the infant 
colony of Jamaica ; otherwise it is scarcely to be sup- 
posed that the chief justice would have thought of so 
strange an accusation: and on the other hand, Jefferies's 
conduct and language are so outrageous, as to induce a 
suspicion of intoxication, to which he was much addic- 
ted, Qr perhaps of insanity. Boger North, in his Life 
of Lord Keeper Guildford, first published this story ; his 
account does not contain all which is above mentioned, 
but it contains many other curious circumstances." ^ 

** At London, Sir Eobert Cann applied by friends to 
appease the lord chief justice, and to get from under 
their prosecution ; at last he granted it, saying, ' Go thy 
way, sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee ! ' 
The prosecutions depended till the Bevolution, which 
made an amnesty, and the fright only, which was no 
small one, was all the punishment these juridical kid- 
nappers underwent, and the gains acquired by so wicked 
a trade rested peacefully in their pockets." ^ 

From another source we learn that the mayor was 
fined £1,000, not for "kidnapping," — ^the ugly word is 
pleasantly converted into the vague offence " for suffering 
a boy committed to Bridewell to go beyond sea." The 
aldermen, however, viz., Sir "William Glutterbuck, Sir 
Bobert Cann, Mr. Alderman Lawf ord, Mr. John Napper, 
Mr. William Swymmer and Mr. Bobert Kirke, were 
ordered to 6^ter into recognisances, "with sufficient 
sureties, the principal in £10,000 and the sureties in 
£5,000 each, to appear to answer an indictment at the 
King's Bench for kidnapping." 

3. There is no record that the Commonwealth-ap- 
pointed corporation speculated in human merchandise, 
though they dealt somewhat leniently with men-stealers, 
as for instance: "September 24th, 1655. — John Morgan 
and Bobert Bliss, for tnen- stealing , to stand upon the 
1 Seyer, II., 531-2. » Life of Lord Keeper Guildford, 27. 



pillory one hour three market-dayes, with the offence 
written upon their breasts. To he protected" signifying 
they were to have wire guards before them to shield 
their persons from the missiles of the mob. The pun- 
ishment was " for form's sake " ; it would not be grace- 
ful to inflict the extreme sentence; it would not have 
been prudent to have dismissed the offenders. 

March 2lBt, 1661. — Information having been given by one 
Thomas Durham and his father against one Thomas Povey, for 
assaulting the said Thomas Durham on the highway, taking 
money from him, and stealing of him away without the consent 
of his father to go to the West Indies, and he being known to be 
a common man -stealer, and tptrit that entkdh away people; it 
is therefore ordered that he find security to appear at the next 
Quildhall session in the year, to be holden for the city and county. 

Nath. Calb, Mayor. 

We have italicised a relic of a once-popular super- 
stition, curiouB from being in a magistrate's book. Some 
quarter of a century subsequently, the magistrates 
adopted vigorous measures to stop the retail traffic in 
humanity, and their eyes were opened to its villainy; 
but the wholesale villainy — the African trade — filled 
their coffers with red gold ; there was no evil in that. 

Whereas many complaints have often times been made to the 
mayor and aldermen, of the inveighling, purloining, carrying and 
stealing away boyes, maides, and other persons, and transporting 
them beyond seas, and there selling them, or otherwise disposing 
of them, for private gain and profit, and it being a time of much 
"vt^aTin^," to have children and others in such a barbarous and 
wicked manner to be carried, stolen, and sold without any know- 
ledge of the parents or others that have the care and oversight of 
them; it was "ordained, for the prevention of such mischiefs, that 
all persons for the future who should be leaving as servants should, 
before going on board ship, have their covenants or indentures of 
apprentice^p enrolled in the Tolsey book, and that any master of 
any ship or vessel acting contrary to this enactment were to be 
fined for every such offence, twenty pounds." And further it was 
decreed, " that the water-bay liffe should from time to time make 
diligent search in all ships and vessels transporting persons as 
servants beyond the seas, and should be find any on board who 
had not enrolled their names in the Tolsey book, notice thereoff be 
given to the mayor." ^ 

Thiff was in May, 1685, a month before the corpora- 
tion were ''scoured" by Jeffreys. ''John Sleeman to 
stand in the pillory at the High Gross next market-day 
for half an hour, with an inscription on his breast of his 
offence — KroNAPPiKa, To he protected." The magistrates, 
influenced by a noble selfishness, inclined to the side of 
mercy. 

That Bristol was not singular in this traffic, or the 
last to abandon it, as far as related to the exportation 
and sale of Englishmen, is evident from the adventures 
of Bampfylde Moore Garew, a man of good family, who, 
possessed with a mania for the free life of a gipsy men- 
dicant, was twice seized, exported, and sold into slavery 

^ Tovey's Local Jotting8« 



A.D. 1686. 



THE SOUTHWELL LETTERS. 



115 



at Maryland. The first occasion he was seized at Barn- 
staple, and sent from Exeter by Justice Beavis. The 
time of his escape and return must have been about 
1740. The ship Eahtf being at that date in Eingroad, 
pressing men, her captain, Samuel Qoodere, was hanged 
whilst his ship lay there, for the cruel murder of his 
brother. Garew escaped the press-gang of the Bubff, he 
Bays, by shamming smallpox, having punctured himself 
in many places with a needle, and rubbed salt and gun- 
powder into the sores. He was again seized at Topsham, 
a few years later, by the same merchant from whose 
ship he had escaped in Maryland on the first occasion, 
and was sent thither again; but once more he got away, 
and went to Boston, where he shipped as a sailor with 
Captain Ball, of the Mary, Bristol, for £15, fifteen 
gallons of rum, ten pounds of sugar, ten pounds of 
tobacco, and ten tobacco pipes. They were two months 
on the home voyage before they made Limdy. Carew 
tells us that on the first occasion, having been un- 
successful in attempting to escape, he was loaded with 
an iron neck-coUar, which was rivetted upon him, ac- 
cording to the custom of the country, by Captain Froade, 
of the ship Julian, of Exeter. 

4. In the autobiography of Sir John Bramston we 
find this incident related: — ''On Sunday last, April 25th, 
1686, at Bristol, information being given to the mayor 
(Richard Lane, grocer) that mass was saying in a house 
in that ciiy, he took with him the sheriffs and some 
aldermen, and went and apprehended the priest and the 
conventicle, and committed the priest and some of the 
company to the gaol, and sent to the bishop. Sir Jona- 
than Trelawny, notice of it. His lordship carried the 
letter to the king." The priest was brought to the bar 
on the 10th of May, but the lord chief justice being 
conveniently absent, he was remanded to the king's 
bench. We hear no more of him; probably he was 
liberated by the king, who would not thank the mayor 
for his zeal. 

Thomas Alcock, of Bristol, in a long and interest- 
ing letter to Sir Bobert Southwell, dated Bristol, June 
26th, 1685, describes the conflict of the king's soldiers 
with ''Gaffer Scot" (the Duke of Monmouth) and his 
vagabond rebels, the latter being defeated and routed 
at Keynsham, and had purposed to have seized on 
Bristol. He complains, "lamverywearie, having been 
in arms night and day all this weeke and hope this night 
to rest." ^ Colonel Bomsey, from a passage in one of 
Lord Wejmouth's letters, appears to have saved his 
neck by being instrumental in the conviction of other 
persons implicated in this rebellion. Mr. Blathwayt, in 
a letter to Sir Bobert, March 23rd, 1685-6, "acquaints 

^ Southwell Papers. 



him of Colonel Bomsey's being ordered, instead of a 
pardon, to repair to St. Nicholas island, near Plymouth, 
where Lambeth was kept, there to remain in safe custody ; 
this afflicts the colonel, more especially his lady, but it 
is decreed. Also letters of Thomas Gbering, Sir Bobert's 
land steward, and of Katherine his wife. The humble 
petition of Sir John Knight, of Bristol (read in council, 
July, 1684), praying the king to discharge him from the 
common council of Bristol as the only expedient to secure 
the petitioner from envy and ruin, and thereby compose 
the difference in that city, and in some measure restore 
it to unity within itself." ^ 

Li 1686 Mr. Samuel Hall left £230, the interest to 
be spent in binding a poor boy or girl apprentice from 
Beddifl:, St. Werburgh, St. Philips, or St. Thomas 
parishes. 

On the 18th of August, 1686, "Kirke's Lambs" 
came to Bristol to be quartered for the winter, they 
were under the command of Captain Trelawny, brother 
to the Bishop of Bristol. They were a loose, rough lot 
of men, " who committed great disorders, beating some 
and stabbing others." Their coming was preliminaiy to 
a visit from the king on 25th August. George, Prince 
of Denmark, the Dukes of Beaufort, Somerset and 
Grafton, Lord Peterborough, and many other noble- 
men formed the royal retinue. It was probably on this 
occasion that the king turned aside to pay a visit to 
Hanham court. Mr. Creswick, in 1817, used to show 
a tree under which his grandfather once entertained 
James 11., as he was informed by Hugh Brain, who 
lived to be 102 years of age, and whose father was 
present. The king was received with the usual for- 
malities at Lawford's gate, and was conducted to the 
house of Sir William Hayman, in Small street, where 
he was honourably entertained at the cost of the ciiy 
(the bill amounted to £573 0«. Id,), The next day his 
majesty rode on horseback into the Marsh and reviewed 
the soldiers who had there pitched their tents. From 
thence he went along the Quay over Frome bridge, up 
St. Michael's hill, and rode along the old line of defence 
in the civil war as far as Prior's hill, thence down into 
the Barton, St. James', up Newgate hill, and so to his 
lodgings, where he touched several for the evil. After 
dinner he went to Beddiff gate, and thence to Portis- 
head point, attended by several of his nobles. In the 
evening he knighted William Merrick, the sheriff, and 
Charles Winter, high sheriff, of Gloucestershire. Next 
morning, early, the king started for Bridgwater, on his 
way to Sedgemoor, to view the place where his army 
had overthrown the Duke of Monmouth. From which 
we gather that if Sir William Hayman had been 

» Southwell Papers, 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



guilty in the iing'a eetiination of any offence, it tbb 
condoned by his fine and by his hospitality. Whilst 
the king's birthday waa being celebrated in the Marsh 
on October 1 4th a grenadier lost both hie hands, through 
prconaturely loading a gun without sponging it. A 
young grampus, six yards long, vbb caught in King- 
road in KoTember, and a whale, twelve yards long, was 
stranded at Bumham in the same month. 

5. The king and queen being at Bath in the sum- 
mer of 1687, the mayor, Kichard Lane, grocer, and the 
council ordered that an invitation be sent to their majes- 
ties to visit Bristol, that they be received at Lawford's 
gate by the mayor and aldermen in scarlet gowns, and 
council in black gowna, on horseback, and that the 
several companies of the dty be ordered to attend in 
their formali- 
ties, and that 



the invitation, and made an entry of it in their books, 
that the nundo came without their knowledge. This 
the king took very ill, and said, " I see the Dissenters 
are an ill-natured sort of people that cannot be gained." * 
James' aim was the restoration of Boman Catholidsm 
in England, and he had now obtained a regular reddent 
at his court from the Pope. 

On July 3rd the Pope's nuncio had made a public 
entrance into Windsor, " in pontifical Am*," attended by 
monks and other eooleaiastioa in their varioos dreasee ; 
the lord chancellor, the lord privy seal, the lord treasu- 
rer, and the bishops of Sarham and of Chestor, in their 
ooaches, joined the procession. A short time after his 
arrival, the nundo came to Bristol and dined at &e 




boors. The Quakers, by the hand of Charles Jones, 
one of their body, who headed a deputation, presented 
an address of thanks to the king for his Declaration 
of Indulgence. They held that the prindple of re- 
ligiouB liberty to all men was right, without regarding 
the motives which had led the king to make such a 
proclamation, and so set free his fellow-religionists, the 
£oman Catholics. On his return to London from Bath 
the king made Mr. William Kiffin, a Baptist preacher, 
an alderman of London. Those who had stood up for 
Uls king during the debate about exclusion were now 
turned out with dl^race, and those who had appeared 
most violently against him were put into the magistracy. 
The nundo, being invited to diae at the OuildhaU when 
the king dined there, the mayor and aldermen disowned 



monarch, and proof against the cajoleries of the priest; 
they held fast by their ProtestantiBm and refused to 
abolish the penal laws against Becosants and S^uiratiBtB. 
6. In 1686, in oppodtion to the ecclesiastical oom- 
misdon, "at Bristol the rabble, countenanced, it is said, 
by the magistrates, exhibited a profane and indecent 
pageant, in which the Virgin Mary was represented by a 
buffoon, and in which a mock host was carried in proces- 
sion. The garrison was called out to disperse the mob ; 
the mob, then and ever since, one of the fiercest in the 
kingdom, resisted. Blows were exchanged, and serious 
hurts infiicted." ' 

■ Oldmxon'fl History of the House of Stuart, 72S-6. 

* H. and B. Smith* MS3. 

• UJWMiUy, VL, 99, from Gtttn, May 18-2Sth, 1666. 



A.D. 1687. 



THE KING PURGES THE CORPORATION. 



117 



If oyer man had need of the saying, ''Save me &om 
my friends," it was James. He determined to obtain, by 
the strong hand of power, that which his blandishments 
had failed to effect. Oharles IT., by his charter of 
1682-3, had brought the members of the council within 
the ix>wer of the Idng, who reserved the right to displace 
any member or officer at his pleasure. Kings seldom are 
at a loss for tools. Nathaniel Wade, barrister-at-law, was 
a deyer intriguer whose prodivities were manifest in 
Monmouth's attempt, but now the Whigs and certain 
of tihe Dissenters, who favoured the Declaration, were 
in league with the king and the Catholics against the 
High Church Tories, of whom a majority swayed the 
council in Bristol. On Februaiy 2nd, 1687-8, Wade 
came from London with '' the corporation purge." '' On 
Februaiy 4th he delivered to the mayor a special com- 
mission under the privy seal, whereby the mayor and 
sheriffs (having been in office only four months), six 
aldermen, the town-derk, and eighteen common council- 
men, were displaced. The order of council was as 
follows:— 'At the court at Whitehall, January 13th, 
1687. By the king's most excellent majesty and the 
lords of his majesty's most honourable privy council. 
Whereas by the charter granted to the city of Bristol, 
a power is reserved to his majesty, by his order in 
conncil, to remove from their employments any officers 
in the said city, his majesiy in council is pleased to 
order, and it is hereby ordered that Bichard Lane, 
mayor, William Swymmer, John Hickes, Sir William 
dutterbuck, Abraham Saunders, John Coombes, and 
Thomas Easton, aldermen, Samuel Wallis and John 
Sandford, sheriffs, John Bomsey, town-derk, Edmund 
Arundell, Nathaniel Driver, Giles Merrick, James Twy- 
ford, George Hart, John Oliffe, Bobert Dowding, John 
Bradway, Henry Coombes, Marmaduke Bowdler, John 
HoUister, James Pope, John Yeamans, Bichard Gibbons, 
John Seward, John Whiting, George Morgan, and Ed- 
ward Todcnell, late sheriffs, common coundlmen, be, 
and they are hereby removed and displaced from their 
aforesaid offices in the said city of Bristol. 

'' ' William BniDaEMAir.' 

" Mr. Wade then produced a second order, whereby 
the vacant places were filled up. 

« < To our trusty and well-beloved the aldermen and 
corporation of our dty of Bristol. 

" ' James, Bex. Trusty and well-beloved, we greet 
you wdl. Whereas we have by our order in council 
thought fit to remove Bichard Lane from being mayor of 
that our dty of Bristol [&c., the preceding removals are 
repeated], we have thought fit hereby to will and re- 
quireyou forthwith to dect and admit our trusiy and 
well-beloved Thomas Day to be mayor, Michad Pope, 



mercer, Walter Stephens, William Jackson, William 
Brown, Humphry Crosdey, and Thomas Scrope, to be 
aldermen, Thomas Saui^ders and John Hine to be 
sheriffs, Nathanid Wade to be town-derk, Henry 
Gibbs, William Donning, George White, Midiael 
Pope, Joseph Jackson, Alex. Dolman, Peter Saunders, 
James Thomas, William Burgess, grocer, William 
Whitehead, William Weaver, William Burgess, dra- 
per, John Grant, John Gary, John Curtis, Nathaniel 
Day, Joseph Burges, and John Duddlestone, to be 
common councilmen of oujr said dty, in the room of 
the persons above-mentioned, without administering 
imto. them any oath or oaths, but the usual oath for 
the execution of their respective places, with which we 
are pleased to dispense in this behalf : and for so doing 
this shall be your warrant. And so we bid you fare- 
well. 

'' ' Given at our court at Whitehall the 14th day of 
January, 1687-8, in the third year of our reign. By 
his majesty's command, 

" ' SUTOBELATO, P.' " 1 

Thomas Day had a house in the countiy at Barton 
hill; the chimney-piece is still extant in the '^Bhubarb" 
tavern, and bears ''j^' 1672. 

7. On June 12th the news came to Bristol that the 
queen had been delivered of a son, which caused some 
rejoicing amongst those who held with the court. The 
bells rang awhile, but the people did not respond. A 
vast number of the nation would not believe in her 
majesty's pregnancy, and dung to the idea that it was a 
trick planned to pass on the crown to a Boman Catholic 
successor. 

Many of the Huguenot immigrants who, for con- 
sdence' sake, had fled from their own country after the 
massacre of St. Bartholomew, settled in Bristol, and 
in 1687 a French Episcopal Church was formed. ''It 
was," Smiles says, ''of considerable importance, and 
was first held in the mayor's chapel of St. Mark the 
Gaunt; but in 1726 a chapel was built for the spedal 
use of the French congregation, on the grounds of 
Queen Elizabeth's hospital for the Bed Maids, situated 
in Orchard street." The chapel at its first opening was 
so crowded with worshippers that the aides, as well as 
the altar place, had to be filled with benches for their 
accommodation. From the register of the church it 
would appear that the Bristol refugees consisted princi- 
pally of seafaring people—captains, masters, and sailors 
—from Nantes, Saumur, Saintonge, La Bochelle, and 
the Ide of Bhe. 

The Chamber had been struggling with embarrasi9- 
ments for a series of years, and had made oonvuldve 

^ Seyer II., 634-6. 



118 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.i)b 1688. 



efforts, that came to nought; to extricate itself. In 1686, 
retrenchment with economy was the cry. The mayor's 
salary was reduced to £52 per annum, the sessions' 
dinner discontinued, and '' the salary of all the officers 
reduced to the amoimt paid in May, 1661." During the 
Monmouth rebellion there had been a considerable charge 
in placing the city in a position of defence, and the com- 
mon council were now so beset with difficulties that they 
heroically directed attention to the trimming of the official 
costume, and a resolution was passed, ''that a distinction 
should be made between the officers' gowns and those of 
the common council ; that the mayor's sergeants' dress 
be purple gowns unguarded; that the yeomens' coats be 
of the same colour, but of the present fashion, with 
short swords and bagonetts." The colour of the ser- 
geants' gowns, however, gave offence, and it was forth- 
with resolved that they should be black and not purple, 
and it was ordered that they ''be unfurred and without 
velvet." The mayor valued some old iron, which he 
did not know anything about, at £9 per ton, but Alder- 
man Wallis, oblivious of the popular fallacy that a mayor 
knows everything, said, " his worship does not under- 
stand old iron ; it is worth considerably more, and had 
better not be sold till the fair. ' ' The silver trumpets were 
"ordered to be sold by the sergeant, who is to bring 
the money in accoimt, and in the same manner to dis- 
pose of the trumpeters' old coats and chain costumes." 

"Received of John Cossley, goldsmith, for the silver trumpets 
and lace of the trumpeters* coats, £24 lOs" 

"It being represented to the House that there had 
been for several years past paid into the parish of 
Temple twelve pounds per annum, and to Beddiff 
three pounds per annum, out of the Chamber towards 
maintaining their respective poor, it was thereupon put 
to the vote whether the same shall be paid or discon- 
tinued; and thereupon it was, upon vote, ordered by 
the majoriiy of this House that these two payments and 
either of them shall from henceforth cease and be no 
longer paid, unless at the next meeting of this House 
good cause shall be by the said parishes respectively 
shown to the contrary." It was also "ordered that the 
Chamber be no longer concerned in repairing the chan- 
cel of Temple church, unless at next House good cause 
should be shown to the contrary." Also "that the 
Chamber shall not at any time from henceforth pay to 
the burgesses of the city in Parliament any salary or other 
pay for their services there, but that is to be paid as the 
law directs." "That no public entertainments should 
be given, or presents of wine made, until the oiiy debts 
were paid." Mr. Mayor being elected " a second time, 
would not insist upon double salary." Amongst other 
civic properties the mayor's barge was put up for "pub- 



lick sale," but there being no bidding, it was ordered 
" to be ripped up, and the materials to be sold." 

8. Seven of the bishops had refused to read the 
king's declaration of liberty of conscience on the ground 
of its being unconstitutional, amongst these was Tre- 
lawny, bishop of Bristol. They were committed to the 
Tower on the charge of writing a seditious libel (their 
petition to the king), and on June 29th, 1688, they were 
acquitted. On the news reaching Bristol on the Monday 
following there was great rejoicing, the beUs of the 
churches rang out all day, and bonfires blazed through- 
out the night in many parts of the city. All over the 
West oountiy the peasantry had chanted a bold Cornish 
song, of which the refrain was — 

< * And shall Trelawny die ? 
And shall Trelawny die ? 
Then thirty thousand Gomiahmen 
Will know the reason why ! " 

On this ancient ditty the Eev. B. 8. Hawker engrafted 
his popular " Song of the Western men." 

How far Trelawny was in earnest in his resistance is 
a question ; that he was a disappointed man, a truckler 
and a timeserver is, we fear, beyond dispute. Witness 
the following letter, taken from the Clarendon papers, 
written a few days only before he was appointed to the 
see of Bristol, to Lawrence Hyde, Earl of Bocheater, 
brother-in-law to the king : — 

My Lord, — Give me leave to throw myself at your lordship's 
feet, humbly imploring yonr patronage, if not for the bishoprick 
of Peterborough at least for Chichester, if the Bishop of Exeter 
cannot be obliged to accept of that now vacant see which he seemed 
to incline to when his removal to Peterborough was purposed; and 
I am assured from those about him that if the king should be 
pleased to tell him he is resolved on his translation to Chichester 
he. vrill readily close with it ; and let me beseech your lordship to 
fix him there and to advance your creciture to Exeter where I can 
serve the king and your lordship. 

I hear his majesty designed me for Bristol, which I should not 
decline, was I not already under such pressure by my father's 
debta, as must necessarily break my estate in pieces, if I find no 
better prop than the income of Bristol, not greater than £300 per 
annum, and the expense in first fruits, consecration and settle- 
ment will require £2000. If Peterborough and Chichester be both 
refused me I shall not deny Bristol, though mine own ruin goes 
with it, if it be the king's pleasure or any way for his majesty's 
service that I should accept of it, but I hope the king will have 
more compassion on his slave, and that your lordship will vouch- 
safe a better lot to 

My Lord, 
Your most humble and devoted servant, 

J. Trblawky. 

Macanlay has delighted to honour Trelawny, but to 
us he is only another example of the inability of a 
frenzied populace to estimate moral character. 

" ' Vox popuU, vox Dei,* is monstrous odd ; 
It is, and it is not, the voice of God. " 



A.D. 1688. 



ROMSEY IN PRISON. 



119 



For a specimen of the bishop in his parental character 
Bee our Eoolesiastioal History, 95. The Great House 
in the Marsh was at this period, 1688, the residence of 
Sir William Poole. 

9. In the Southwell collection were various letters of 
Dr. Griffith, a physician at Bristol, who was the medical 
attendant on Sir Bobert Southwell and his family. 
Richard Gravett, a bookseller in Bristol, in a letter to 
Sir Bobert, in 1687, sends him a pamphlet on the state 
of Ireland, and adds, ^* what other new things come forth, 
I will take care and send ; and if you take them not, I 
will take them again if you peruse them three or four 
days or a week." In another letter. Judge Baldock's 
charge at Bristol is said to be highly intemperate and in 
favour of the Popish government of James II. A letter 
from H. Gktscoyne to Sir Bobert Southwell, October dOth, 
1688 : ** My lord hath received a very dvill letter from 
the mayor of Bristol, on the occasion of his being chosen 
their high steward, to which I send by his grace's com- 
mand under this cover to you, to cause it to be delivered 
in such manner as you shall judge proper." The Duke 
of Beaufort was chosen lord high steward in that year, 
and the town derk, Bomsey, on November 1st, an- 
nounced his intention of forwarding an express ''to 
let his grace know what we think to be very true that 
the Dutch are landed at Torbay." Letters of Thomas 
Edwards, of Bristol, one dated December drd, 1688, 
acquaints Sir Bobert ''that the fear of the country 
people about having their horses impressed is vain, 
none were to be taken but with the person's consent; 
on complaint the horse to be immediately restored, and 
the latter to be severely punished." 

10. The whole nation was now in a ferment, the 
leading men amongst the Liberals and Dissenters had 
never agreed with James' policy, and those of them who 
had taken that side had lost all faith in him. Numbers 
of the principal persons in the kingdom were in corre- 
spondence with William, Prince of Orange, entreating 
him to come over and regulate the government and save 
the Protestant faith. James, in terror, proposed to call 
a new Parliament, and on August 24th the writs were 
issued, returnable on November 27th. The plans for 
frustrating the designs of the Prince of Orange were, 
however, rendered abortive by James' infatuation, vacil- 
lation, and pride. On September 26th he restored the 
deputy-lieutenants and justices whom he had displaced; 
on the 28th he proclaimed a general pardon, and, whilst 
replacing in power the Church of England men, whose 
cause the Prince of Orange had espoused, and restoring 
them to the commissions and trusts they had been un- 
justly deprived of, he, in the madness of folly, revoked 
the writs for calling a Parliament, and determined to 



govern without one. On the l7th of October, still 
further to complicate his cause, having made foes of 
all the Tory members of the corporations by demand- 
ing imder a quo warranto either the surrender of their 
charters or the displacement of those who would not 
receive and act upon his Declaration. In Bristol he 
dissolved the new Chamber by proclamation, and ejected 
the members he had thrust upon the city, making new 
foes, by replacing those whom he had previously turned 
out. A copy of this proclamation may be seen in Seyer 
n., 537-9. On the 22nd of October there arrived in 
Bristol an order to cany the changes into effect. On the 
2drd Sir William Clutterbuck, by the old charter, con- 
vened the former members, who chose William Jackson, 
merchant, in the room of the king's nominee, Thomas 
Day, mayor; Jackson had been elected on September 
15th, and was now re-elected; whilst John Hine and 
Thomas Saunders, sheriffs, had also to yield to Thomas 
Listen and Joseph Jackson, merchants; these sheriffs 
of a month were also displaced, and Thomas Cole, 
merchant, and George White, draper, were chosen in 
their room. 

1 1. In 1688 John Bomsey, the town derk, was miss- 
ing; there was "considerable excitement in the corpora- 
tion on account of the confusion that would have ensued 
to all civic transactions " when a letter was received in 
which he states, "I am a prisoner in the Fleet (London) 
at the suit of my daughter and only child, and her 
husband." At the suggestion of the mayor, "his very 
loving friend, Nathaniel Wade," was allowed to act as 
his deputy. Bomsey got over his difficulties, indeed it 
is doubtful whether it was not a friendly arrest, as botli 
he and his brother were concerned deeply in the Bevo- 
lution (Bomsey's daughter had married Sansom, the 
collector of customs, Bristol). Be that as it may, he was 
a part owner in the Duke and the Duehsse, privateers, 
by which £178,000 was cleared, and out of the proceeds 
he gave a pair of silver candlesticks to the Bristol 
cathedral of the value of £174. These the dean and 
chapter placed on the commxmion table. 

Nathaniel Wade was a barrister of the Temple, ad- 
mitted to the New Inn, June 11th, 1678, to the Tem- 
ple, June 16th, 1681. Bomsey swore that Wade was 
concerned in the Bye House plot. He joined Mon- 
mouth in Holland under the name of John Lane (his 
mother was a Lane), and superintended the landing of 
the cannon at Lyme Begis ; after Sedgemoor he fled to 
Hfracombe, and thence to Brendon, where he was taken 
by the rector,- Bichard Powell, who says, "the colonel, 
in attempting to escape, was shot through the back ; he 
was disguised, on his head he had an ordinary hat, grey 
clothes, leather stockings, the soles of his shoes three- 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



quarter inch thick, with great nails in them of the 
ordinary coimtry fashion. I took up his coat ta see 
where the bullet lodged and found that he had a good 
holland ahirt on bis back. I told him that this shirt did 
not belong to those clothes, fto. He said his name was 
Lane, but when his wound became worse he disclosed 
his proper one; he lay at this place some weeks under 
the care of two surgeons." Wade's coufeesiooB are 
dated from Windsor; but he was first imprisoned in 
the Tower, where James risited him to induce him to 
g^ve up the names of those concerned in Monmouth's 
rebellion. His friends used to send him, done up in 
the plaits of his shirt, the names of those who suffered 
death ; these he gave to the king, who, finding he could 
get no more information, pardoned him, saying, " Your 



oTer the Frome at the end of Wade street was built by 
him, in conjunction with Abraham Hook and others, in 
1711. He resigned the office of steward in 1711-12. 
He was buried in the Dissenters' burial ground. Bed- 
cross street, in 1717 ; he left two daughters, Anne and 
Damaris, whose births are recorded on the register of 
the Friends. 

12. The following curious entry in the ArchiTes 
shows how indisposed the burgesses were to accept 
office at this time : — 

Meeting of the Common Conncil, Norember 6th, 1688, " was md 

the order uid *n]timoiu to Mr. Willuun Bromu^ iheriff-eled^ 

to appear here ud be ewom into that office " : — 

Mr. William Browne, — Above i* a copy of onr Cimon Coonoell 

wherebj yon are chosen aa well one of the SherriToe of this Citj 

of BriatoU m one of the Bayliffee of the Maioi and Commonali^ 



friends, Kajor Wade, have long been with tiie dead." 
In 1 687 he was sent down by the king, who was anxious 
to cuwy favour with the Dissenters, as town clerk, with 
a revised list of the ctnnmon council, but he only held 
office for a few months. In 1688, on the landing of the 
Prince of Orange at Torbay, he mounted his horse to 
join hi-m ; but remembering that he owed his life to 
James' clemency he returned to Ms house, where he 
became conveniently ill until William was firmly fixed 
on the throne. In 1689 he, with Sir Francis Trenchard 
and oth^^, gave evidence before the House of Lords 
regarding the judicial murders of Lord William BoBsell 
and Algernon Sydney. In 1698 he gave £50 to St. 
Peter's hospital, of which he was chosen deputy-gover- 
nor in 1704. In Anne's charter, 1710, we find him 
steward of the sheriff's court, in which he was con- 
firmed. He appears as Major Wade at the head of the 
militia, repulsing the Kingswood colliers. The bridge 



of the Mune City, and yoa having not appearad to be nrome and 
take npon yon the aaide Office acoording to fonuer summons — I, 
William Jaclcson, Maior, and we the .Udermen of thia City hereto 
onbecribing, Doe hereby aignifie to yon your Baid Election, and 
doe now again snmmoni yoa to appear, on Tuesday, the sixth day 
of NoTember, by tenne of the clock in the forenoon of the same 
day, at the Onildhall of this City (at which time and place I, the 
said Moior, have already BQmmoned a Conncell to be holden for 
that purpose), then and there to be sworae into and take npon yon 
the said oflicea, or to show good cause to the oontrary, in default 
whereof you will be fined acoording to the cuitome of this City, 
GiveD nnder onr hands and also under the Common Seale of this 
City thia third day of November, one thousand sii hundred eighty 
and eight. Subscribed, William Jackson (Maior), John Uickes, 
Richard Crumpe, Joseph Creswicke. An oath was then made by 
Thomas Chatton and Oilea Andrews of the service thereoS. 

Mem.— That on Monday, the fifth day of November, 16S8, we, 
anderwritt«n, by order of Mr. Maior, went with an inatrttment of 
BomnionB under the Commoa Seale of thia City (a true oopy whereof 
is above written) to Frenchay, where, between seven and eight of 
the clock in the morning, we knocked at the door of the inner 
conrt of Mr. Browne's house, but receaving no answer, we went 



A.D. 1688. 



LANDING OF THE PRINCE OF ORANGE. 



121 



to the hoiue adjoining, being Mr. Browne's tenant's house, and 
inquired of a woman there (whom we suppose to be Mr. Browne's 
tennant) for Mr. Browne, his wife and family, were by her answered 
that Mr. Browne had not been at home for a long time, whereupon 
we left the instrument open upon the porch, &g, 

Thifl being deemed sufficient service, the House pro- 
ceeded to impose a fine of £400 upon the said Mr. 
Browne. "Drowning men catch at straws." James 
had, in March, sought, by further concessions, to regain 
the position he had lost in the esteem of the citizens 
of Bristol, and he appointed Symon Hurle to be alder- 
man, and John Jones, James Wallis, Thomas Walden, 
Samuel Clark and Daniel Owilliam to be members of 
the common council in place of those members who had 
been dismissed, or rather, we judge, of those who de- 
clined to serve. The council met on the 25th, and ap- 
pointed a committee to draw up an address of thanks 
to the king for the choice he had made. John Duddle- 
stone was its reporter, and on presenting it he was appa- 
rently knighted, inasmuch as we find that William, about 
fourteen months later, made Sir John Duddlestone, knt., 
a baronet on June 11th, 1689-90. This was twelve 
years before Anne came to the throne, and it completely 
demolishes the silly story which has recently been re- 
vived in a religious periodical, viz., that Duddlestone 
was a corset maker, who had a vulgar wife, and that he 
was knighted because, when prince George of Den- 
mark, Anne's husband, was in Bristol, Duddlestone was 
the only man who showed him hospitality. He was a 
wealthy tobacco merchant of Bristol and London, with 
residences in both Shannon court, Com street and St. 
Peter street, Bristol. James was too late; the very 
sheriffs he appointed were the men who in Bristol de- 
clared the throne vacant by the abdication of the king 
and proclaimed his successor. 

13. On November 4th and 5th, 1688, the Prince of 
Orange landed in Torbay ; the stone on which he first set 
foot is guarded as a precious relic on the pier at Brix- 
hjBoa. With a Dutch army of 14,000 men he marched 
on Exeter. There he remained ten days, receiving acces- 
sions from all ranks. The news was brought daily to 
Bristol by post, and was cried about the streets in half- 
penny broadsheets. As William advanced to Sherborne 
the possession of Bristol, as the key of the west, was 
ieli to be of the first importance. The Earl of Shrews- 
bury and Sir John Quise were sent to secure the city 
for the prince. Sir John had, from a difference with 
the Duke of Beaufort, been constrained to take refuge 
in Holland. Now the tables were turned ; he had raised 
in Gloucestershire a regiment for the prince, and with it 
and two troops of dragoons, one Dutch and the other 
English, he entered Bristol, ''the duke," says one 

[Vol. m.] 



Calendar, ''not staying to dine." Ouise then sent the 
dragoons on to make sure of Gloucester. Then came 
in the Lord Delamere, who, seeing the condition of 
affairs, did with his six companies declare for the Pro- 
testant religion and the Prince of Orange. It would 
seem to be a matter of course, but so it has ever been 
that in times of confusion, when the grip of the law is 
relaxed, a mob has arisen in Bristol. No sooner did 
the rabble know that Beaufort had retired, than they, 
before Guise could arrive, sacked the house of Mr. 
Whitney, a Catholic collar-maker, in Castle street, 
ruined his household goods, burned his books and stole 
his valuables, besides abusing his wife, he being absent 
in London ; from thence they went into King street to 
two other such houses, and did much harm. The fol- 
lowing week they rose again in tumult ; but the three 
knights. Sir John Knight, Sir Eichard Crump, and 
Sir Thomas Earl, although they were pronounced and 
avowed "no Popery" men, rushed to the rescue, drew 
their swords, and so daunted the rabble that they fled. 
Seven of them were captured and put in prison; the 
rest escaped. 

The king fled, but being taken, was brought back to 
London, finally leaving the realm on December 23rd. 
On the 16th December the dragoons left Bristol, having 
in charge six horses laden with money raised by customs 
and excise in this ciiy (tobacco then paid 6d, per pound 
duty). 

"James 11. succeeded to his brother under many 
disadvantages, so far as his own character is taken into 
account. His arbitrary principles had never been con- 
cealed, because he viewed the prerogative in the light 
of a religious ordinance, committed to the sovereign by 
an authority above aU human control, and entrusted 
to his wisdom for the good of the church and people. 
He was a man of g^od private character, steadiness and 
a conscientious regard to truth, and he had a great 
command over his passions; but to these valuable quali- 
ties were added so deep an infusion of despotism as to 
render him quite unfit to govern the kingdoms over 
which he ruled. The inroads which he made on the 
constitution, and the designs he meditated against the 
Protestant established church, hurried on a crisis for 
which he was unprepared." 

14. We know of no more appropriate period in which 
to give a brief history of Bristol's great philanthropist 
than the reign of King James, brief though it was. 
Our readers will see how at a critical period in our civil 
history, when the king was truckling to the Catholics 
and leavening the corporation with his friends, Colston 
called in the moneys he had lent to the city, and in 
disgust took up his residence elsewhere; whether he 

E 4 



122 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1688. 



acted wisely is not for us to decide, we simply narrate 
the fact as we find it. 

Edward Oolston was the eldest son of William Oolston 
and Sarah ^nSe Batten), his wife, who resided in Small 
street, Bristol, in a mansion the remains of which are 
now included in that portion of the Guildhall which 
is occupied by the Law Library and other offices. 
Mrs. Colston was on a visit to her parents, in Temple 
street, when the child was bom, on November 2nd, 
1636. The house, which stood opposite to Dr. White's 
almshouses, has been demolished. He was christened 
in Temple church, November 8th, 1636. The baptismal 
feast was held after the mother's return to her home, in 
December. We learn from the monument in ^11 Saints 
church, ** To the dear memory of his father, his mother, 
their two daughters and four sons, William, Thomas, 
Hobert, and a second William," that there was a fanuly 
of at least eight children. Thomas and Eobert, together 
with another son, Eichard, were alive in 1676, and are 
mentioned in the father (William Colston's) will. The 
family was of good descent. From Ghrillim's Heraldry 
we find that a Colston of Essex, in the reign of Edward 
m., bore arms — ^two barbels respecting each other. 
The arms of the Bristol Colstons prove them to have 
belonged to the same family; although the fish are com- 
monly supposed to be dolphins in their coat of arms, they 
are not, we believe, the conventional dolphin of heraldry, 
but the barbel. The legend that Colston adopted the 
dolphin in his arms because one of these fish entered a 
hole that had been made in one of his ships, and so 
stopped what would otherwise have been a fatal leak, 
must be discarded, the arms being of so much earlier a 
date. The first mention of the family in the annals of 
Bristol is in 1345, when Thomas Colston had estates in 
Temple street, bequeathed to him by John Woodrowe. 
In 1387 a Thomas Colston served as one of the bailiffs 
of the town. Thomas, the great-grandfather of the 
philanthropist, was sheriff in 1561-2, and mayor in 
1577-8. On an* old stone which used to be under the 
reading-desk in All Saints church was the following 
inscription : — '' Thomas Colston, mayor and alderman 
of this ciiy, died 16th November, 1597. 

" Death is no death, now Thomas Colston lives, 
Who fourscore years hath lived to his praise : 
A joyful life now Christ doth to him give, 
Who wrong'd no wight, each man commends his ways. 
Death him commands to bid this world adieu ; 
Thrice happy those who die to live anew." 

His son William was sheriff in 1600 ; another Thomas 
Colston was sheriff in 1629 ; whilst William, the father 
of Edward, was sheriff in 1643, and deputy-lieutenant 
of Bristol and commander of Colston's mount during 



the siege in the year 1645. Humphrey Colston, an 
uncle, resided in Spain, being English consul at Malaga. 
Edward Colston was early put to nurse at Winterboume, 
but was educated at Christ church, London [see his 
letter bearing date March, 1705], after which we get no 
certain information about him until he bursts upon our 
notice as the friend of education. Barrett says that 
'^ at years of maturity he was sent as a factor to Spain, 
where he behaved with great diligence and prudence. 
He cultivated the Spanish trade of oil and fruit with 
such industry, that besides the fortune descending to 
him from his parents, and some say by the death of his 
brothers (one of whom is said to be consul at Venice), 
he acquired great riches, so great that the family since 
have never yet given any account how his fortune accu- 
mulated so fast. It has been said he was also concerned 
early in the trade to the East Indies ; all agree that he 
was a most successful merchant, and never insured a 
ship and never lost one.'' ^ Chalmers says that two of 
Colston's brothers died in Spain the victims of assassi- 
nation, a tragedy which had its influence on Colston's 
character. But Mr. Oarrard, the late chamberlain, and 
Mr. S. G. Tovey, Colston's talented biographer, have 
failed to venfy the tradition, and evidently disbelieved 
it. In 1680 Edward Colston was chosen one of the 
governors of Christ's hospital, London, to which, within 
five years, he gave £500, and again in 1693-4 a free 
gift of another £500. His father died in 1676, and 
left him certain estates in Hambrook, together with a 
third part of two houses and a warehouse in St. Peter's 
parish, after the death of his wife (Edward's mother, 
who lived until 1701), also £1,000 in cash. In 1682 he 
lent the ciiy of Bristol £1,800, at five per cent. In 

1683, December 10th, he took up his freedom as the 
son of William Colston; and on the 17th of the same 
month, as '' a free burgess of Bristol and a Metre (i.e., 
St. Kitts') merchant, son of William Colston, deceased." 
He became a member of the Merchant Venturers' Society, 
was chosen on a committee for managing the affairs of 
Clifton, at which we find him present June 7th and 2l8t, 

1684. In the preceding April he was also chosen on 
the vestry of St. Werburgh's. From receipts in the 
Council chamber, we find that Colston's loan to the ciiy 
had increased, in 1685, to £4,000, by his having trans- 
ferred to him seals for £2,000, which Mrs. Colston, 
his mother, had lent. On October 13th, 1687-8, we 
find him sueing the city. '' The mayor. Sir Bichard 
Lane, recommends to the House the business of Mr. 
Colston, that an extent is issued against the city. It 
being proposed that the quit rents of the Castle and 
Stockland be security to such person who shall advance 

1 Barrett, 655. 



EDWARD COLSTON. 



the money to Mr. Colston, or to Mr. Oolston hiniBelf ; 
and Mr. Town Clerk to take care of the couvejanoes for 
the mortgage to accept of £200, at an; time in dificharge 
of the principle, and that Mr. Bomsey, town olerk, and 
Mr. Tate take care to see to this. 

"April 9th, 1666, £400 was paid to Colston; and 
November 6th, 16B7, the remainder, including legal 
charges, to Mr. Thomas Edwards." > 

Colston hated the Boman Catholics, and the Pope's 
nuncio had been in Bristol during the year. The king 
had granted the Declaration of Indulgence, and the 
changes in the corpora- 
tion were imminent; 
Bristol was veering ronnd 
to the side of Dissent and 
Catholicism. To a man 
of Colston's charactor, 
these would appear to be 
reasons sui&cient for him 
to break with the corpora- 
tion and to take up his 
residence elsewhere ; he 
choae Mortlake, Surrey, 
where, in I6S9, we find 
him engaged iu paroohial 
aSairs. 

IJeaving for a moment 
solid facts for vague tra- 
ditions, we give the fol- 
lowing items on the word 
of Sila« Told, "s man of 
eminent veracity," says 
John Wesley; but inas- 
much as we find that Told 
states as facts that Colston 
was the son of Edward 
Colston, a journeyman 
soap-boiler, whose wages 
did not exceed ten shil- 
lings per week, and "that 
he built at his own ex- 
pense the whole church and tower of All Saints, near 
the Tolzey, Bristol," we can only accept Told's testimony 
for facts that came under his personal observation. The 
statements he gives have obtained currency as truths, 
hut our readers must judge for themselves. Told was 
only admitted into Colston's school at the age of eight 
years, i.t., in 1719, so that we cannot give much credence 
to his account of what happened to his patron thirty- 
five years before he himself was bom. " He paid his 
addresses to a lady; but being very timorous lest he 
' Tovey"* life of Edwwd Coliton, 21-2. 



should be hindered in bis pious and charitable designs, 
he was determined to make a Christian trial of her 
temper and disposition, and therefore filled his pocket 
full of gold and silver, in order that if any object 
presented in the course of their tour over London 
bridge he might satisfy his intention. While they 
were walking near St. Agnes' church, a woman iu ex- 
treme misery, with twins in her lap, sat begging, and 
as he and his intended lady came, arm-in-arm, he be- 
held the wretched object, put his hand in his pocket, 
and took out a handful of gold and silver, casting it 
into the poor woman's 
lap. The lady, being 
greatly alarmed at such 
profuse generosity, col- 
oured prodigiously, SO 
that when they were gone 
a litde farther toward the 
bridge-foot she turned to 
him and said, ' Sir, do you 
know what yon did a short 
time ago?' 'Madam, 're- 
plied Colston, 'I never let 
my right hand know what 
my left band doth.' He 
then took leave of her, 
and for this reason never 
married, although he 
lived to the age of eighty- 
three. . . . His penu- 
rious, avaricious house- 
keeper .telling him that 
he was profuse and over- 
free, he would reply, 
'Sweetheart, be not 
troubled, I only lend to 
the Lord, He will restore 
me fourfold; riches flow 
on me surprisingly; I 
have it from Christ to dis- 
tribute among His own 
members, I neither can nor will bo unfaithful to my 
trust.' When some friends would urge him to marry, 
he usually replied in a sort of pleasantness, ' Every 
helpless widow is my wife and distressed orphans my 
children.' " ' 

Colston did not, however, when he became non- 
resident, forget the poor or the ignorant in his natave 
city. "September 2nd, 1690, 'Colston made applica- 
tion to the corporation to purchase two acres, three 
quarters and twenty-seven perdies of pasture ground, 
■ Tovey's Ldf« of Edward CoUton, U. 



124 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



▲.D. 1695. 



on St. Michaers hill, just above the site of 8t. Mary 
Magdalen's nunnery, called the Turtle's, or Jonas 
Leaze, to erect thereon an almshouse and chapel and 
three other messuages. The application was referred to 
the surveyors of city lands, to contract with him. The 
10th September following the corporation agreed to sell 
him the same for £100, which he paid on the ensuing 
November. The charge of building and finishing this 
house amounted to about £2,500. January 24th, 1696, 
he conveyed to Sir Bichard Hart and twenty-seven other 
persons of the city of Bristol a piece of land, called the 
Turtle's, or Jonas Leaze, which he had purchased of the 
corporation, on part of which he had built an almshouBe, 
and that the same shotdd be called Colston's almshouse, 
and be for ever employed for an almshouse or abiding 
place for twenty-four persons (twelve men and twelve 
women), the said Edward Oolston to appoint during his 
life, and afterwards by the master, wardens, assistants 
and commonalty of the Merchant Adventurers.' . . . 

'''Merchants' hall, at a meeting, September 17th, 
1695, Colston's proposal for the endowment of the alms- 
house was read, and the committee of the master war- 
dens. Sir John Knight, Mr. Arthur Hart, Mr. Bobert 
Yate and Mr. Edward Tocknell, were appointed to 
constdt with him and conclude the arrangements, which 
they did 20th instant, and next day delivered their 
sentiments to him.' ^ Colston was therefore in Brieitol 
at that date, but by the 20th of the following month 
he had returned to Mortlake, where we find him 
attending a vestry meeting. . . . 

"'December 5th, 1695. — The almshouse on St. 
Michael's lull wants some men to fill it ; if you, or any 
of your. body, know of any persons that are fit to go 
into it, I would gladly have them put in. I would 
willingly that they should be such as have lived in 
some sort of decency ; but that a more especial regard 
should be had that none be admitted that are drunkards, 
nor of a vicious life or turbulent spirit, lest the quiet 
and order the inhabitants at present live in be thereby 
interrupted. If a fit man could be found out that should 
succeed Mr. Ham he might be presently admitted, and 
his allowance should be I2d. per week more than the 
rest, till he comes into his station ; for, in truth, when 
he (Mr. Ham) dyeth, the house will be under a very 
great want of a prudent overseer, to preserve the good 
order that is among them. One of those houses which 
I built, adjoining to the almshouse, and is made over 
as part of its maintenance, wants a tenant: I recom- 
mend it to the care of all the gentlemen of the Mer- 
chants' hall to find out one, and when that is done I 
make it my request to them that he may be put in at 

1 MerchantB' Hall ProceedingB. 



such rent and terms as they shall think fit ; and further, 
that they wotdd please to appoint a committee to visit 
the house once every three or six months at longest, for 
I leave it wholly under their care and management, and 
shall in a little time send them down all the writings 
relating to it. 

" ' I am, sir, your humble servant, 

'"Edwaed Colston.' 
" 'Mortlake, the 6th October, 1696. 
" ' Gentlemen, — ^I think in this month or the ensuing 
you constantly hold a general court for the stating your 
yearly accounts, at which time I make it my request 
unto you that the account relating to my almshouse on 
St. Michael's hill may likewise be audited, to prevent a 
farther meeting thereabouts. The trouble, therefore, I 
cannot apprehend can be so much as to obstrucit your 
other affairs that are appointed for that day, because 
it will not consist of many articles. As for the debtor 
part, the weekly allowances may be all comprised in 
one sum. The coal money in another, which is £12, 
being for twenty-four sacks for each inhabitant, half to 
be delivered before, and the other after, Christmas ; the 
soap and candle money being £12 more, namely, 10«. to 
each of them. In a third article, the reading of prayers. 
In a fourth, which comprehends all the charges of the 
house, when there shall be any casual ones, as repairs, 
they may be also added; and for the creditor side of 
the account, the fee-farm rents (when they are received 
l>y you, which I intended should have been this year, but 
that the scarcity of money hath obstructed the regular 
payments of them) may be made good in one article, 
the rent of Lansdown's house in a second, Jane Short's 
in a third, and the rest of the ground behind the alms- 
house in a fourth, and the forfeitures for any omissions 
about prayers (if any shall be) in a fifth. Although I 
have mentioned this method, yet I shall submit to such 
an one as you shall judge more proper to be used, what- 
soever it be that you shall agree upon. I desire it may 
be made up once in a year, and that the balance that 
shall be due thereupon may be brought to the account 
of the year following, which balance is designed shall 
be kept as a stock for repairs, against such time as they 
shall be needful. The rents appropriated for the main- 
tenance of the house exceeding the constant charge by 
about £10 per annum, since you have not received this 
year the fee-farm rents (which, God willing, shall be 
paid you this next), please to credit the house for such 
sums as have been paid to your treasurer by Mr. Thomas 
Hart and Mr. Richard Baily, which last hath my direc- 
tions to pay you any further sum that shall be needful 
to defray the expenses till Michaehnas; and likewise 
for £15, due from Walter Lansdown, for one year's rent 



▲.D. 1695. 



EDWARD COLSTON. 



125 



of his house, to Michaehnas last; and also for £2 5«., 
due from John Short, for the other half-year, for said 
ground; and further, for £7, one year's rent of his 
house he now lives in, due at Michaelmas. I desire the 
said rent may be demanded and received from them 
before your audit, because I would willingly then have 
them made good in account, forasmuch as it would be 
more facile and dear if all the income of the year could 
be received before and made good at that time; but, 
notwithstanding this account is not to be audited before 
your general court sit, I judge it convenient that the 
yearly expense be not carried beyond Michaelmas, and 
from that time a new accoimt to commence. Towards 
the canning on of this new charge, I have further 
desired Mr. Eichard Baily to pay your treasurer £50. 
I am forced to pay it in by such small sums, because I 
find money with you at Bristol is also received with a 
great deal of difficulty. One of the houses adjoining to 
the two abovenamed is yet unlet. I should be glad if 
a tenant could be procured for it by any of the members 
of your society ; but if that cannot, be done, then to 
encourage the present reader of the prayers to live 
therein. I shall be willing that he be for the future 
allowed £10 per annum, where, as he has hitherto been 
paid but £8, for reading the prayers; neither shall I 
give more, unless it be upon the said condition — for 
the rent of the house he shall pay but £8 per year, 
which I judge to be moderate ; however, if it should be 
thought too much, you may please to do therein as you 
find convenient. Herewith I enclose you a scheme of 
the rules which I would have observed in the almshouse ; 
if, after perusal, you shall find it needful to have a 
further addition, pray favour me with sentiments there- 
abouts, and you will oblige, 

" * Your humble servant, 

** * Edward Colston. 

" * When your court is over, pray favour me with a 
copy of the account as it stands in the book, and like- 
wise with the names of such feoffees that are dead since 
the particulars I had from Mr. Yeamans, which may be 
two years past. 

'' ' To Captain Samuel Price, 

<' < Master of the Merchants' hall in Bristol.' " ^ 

These are fair samples of his letters, and they prove 
him to have been a thorough man of business as well as 
a Christian philanthropist ; he was a strict man, one who 
held to the adage *' Take care of the pence, the pounds 
will take care of themselves," and who would and did 
exact the fulfilment of his bond to the utmost farthing.. 

Colston did not forget the class of men who had 
helped him to make his great wealth : — 

1 Tovey's Life of Edward Colston, 81-83. 



*' * October 24th, 1695.— That at this court and hall, 
the master reporting that Mr. Edward Colston hath 
proposed to maintain six poor sailors in our almshouse, 
in case we will build convenient rooms to receive them, 
it is voted that his proposal be thankfully accepted, and 
the master desired to write him a letter of thanks. 

" * Worthy Sir, — ^I this day communicated to our hall 
your charitable proposal of providing for six poor sailors 
for ever, if we would build additional rooms to our 
present almshouse for their reception, the which we 
unanimously accepted of, and a committee is chosen to 
prepare fit buildings accordingly; and they are agreeing 
with workmen forthwith to sett about it, as well for 
their six as for six persons intended to be settled there 
by the executors of Mr. Ed. Jones, deceased, who resolve 
to follow your good example. And by order of the said 
socieiy, their thanks are by these rendered you by, 

" * Sir, your humble servant, 

** 'Samxjel Price, Master. 

** * To Mr. Edward Colston, Merchant, London. 

*' 'Merchants' hall, Bristol, 24th October, 1695.' " 

To this Colston answers : — 

'* * I received yours of the 24th October in due time, 
whereby I perceived that the Merchants' hall had re- 
solved upon the building of a new apartment, not only 
for the reception of the six -poor sailors proposed by 
myself, but for double that number; I return you my 
hearty thanks for imparting this said overture unto 
them, and to request you to render them, in my behalf, 
to the whole society, at their first meeting, for their 
unanimous consenting thereto. When I understand the 
house is finished I shall make provision for the main- 
tenance of my quota.' 

''It was not long before the Society of Merchants 
fulfilled the condition on which they had accepted Col- 
ston's endowment. In 1699 the eastern wing of the 
almshouse was built, the old centre rebuilt, and both 
angles imited. On the left of the entrance, facing King 
street, are the city arms, with the date 1696, and on the 
right [adjoining the Ciiy Library] the date 1699, with 
the arms of the Society of Merchants. The part on the 
left was built with the monies of Colston and Jones. 
Placed against the centre almshouse in the great quad- 
rangle, painted on a board, are these homely, truthful 
lines: — 

" ' Freed from all storms, the tempest and the rage 
Of billows, here secure we spend our age — 
Onr weather-beaten vessels here repair, 
And from the merchants* kind and generous care 
Find harbour here, no more we put to sea, 
Until we launch into eternity ; 
And lest our widows, who we leave behind. 
Should want relief, t^ey too a shelter find. 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



Thni all our anxioQB citcb wad. aorroyn ceue, 
Wbibt onr kind gnudiani tnm our toils to ease, 
Mky they be -with an endless Sabbath blesi. 
Who have afforded onto us this rest' 

"The donation of Colston, for the support of six 
Beanten, of whicli the hall takea the trust, is said to 
have arisen from an incident which Silas Told thus 
relates: — 'One of his (Colston's) ships having been 
missing for upwards of three years, and having been 
given up aa totally lost, arrived deeply laden. He said, 
as he had given her up as totally lost, he would claim 
no right to her, and ordered the ship and cargo to be 
sold, and the produce to be applied towards the relief of 
the needy, which was immediately carried into execu- 
tion.' " 

We next find 
the following 
entry, dated 
November ISth, 
1695:— 

'"Ordered, 
that the thanks 
of this house be 
returned to Mr. 
Edward Colston, 
for hifl gift in 
having added si i 
boys unto Queen 
Elizabeth's 
Hospital; and 
that the mayor 
(Samuel Wallie) 
and the alder- 
men are desired 
to write him a 
letter to that 
purpose.' [Col- 
ston, before he 
purchased the land for the endowment of the additional 
boys, that his benevolent purpose might not be delayed, 
paid in the interval the sum of £70 per "'""m as the 
allowance for the six boys. In 1697-8 he conveyed to 
the governors of Queen Elizabeth's Hospital a house 
and sixty-eight acres of land, at Tatton, in the county 
of Somerset, which he had purchased of William Dale ; 
and another messuage, and about thirty-five acres of 
land, at Congreabury, for the purpose of maintaining 
the said six boys. The boys to be the sons of free 
burgesses, and each boy to receive ten pounds as an 
apprentice fee, the same boys to be over and above the 
thirty belonging to the said hospital. And he further 
expressly provides lliat in case the governors should at 



Clly Library, niQo/nii 



any time lessen the number of thirty-six boys, and 
should not fill up that number within three months, 
after a request in writing by him, or the Society of 
Merchants, it should be lawful for Mm, or the society, 
to possess themselves of the premises granted, and 
apply the profits thereof to the use of his hospital in 
the parish of St. Michael, or for the benefit of the 
Merchants' almshouse.] 

"An Act of Parliament, passed in 1697, 'for sup- 
plying some defects in the Laws for the Belief of the 
Poor of this Kingdom,' led to the entire purchase of 
Aldworth's fine mansion in St. Peter's churchyard, com- 
monly known as the Mint. Colston was the principal 
proprietor of the sugar-refining business, which, in 1 689, 



there carried 
on by 'Edward 
Colston and Co- 
partners.' The 
partners were 
Richard Bea- 
chim, Eeq., of 
London, Sir 
Thomas Day and 
Capt. Nathaniel 
Wade, of Eye- 
house celebrity. 
They sold the 
property on the 
7th June, 1697, 
for £800. In the 
conveyance it is 
styled 'a man- 
sion-house be- 
hind St. Peter's 
church, hereto- 
fore a sugar- 
house.' To aid 
in effecting this purchase, money was advanced by 
Colston and Richard Beachim. At a meeting of the 
court, held at St. Peter's hospital, November 22nd, the 
mayor (Sir Robert Yate) presiding, they were paid £200 
each, 'in part of the money due for the purchase of 
the Mint workhouse for the corporation.' . . . 

" Colston's name is not often visible in the books of 
the corporation. He is discernible at times aa present 
in court, and once or twice as bestowing a donation. 
On August 8th, 1700, at a meeting of the court, it was 
ordered that he should have the thanks of the corporate 
body, ' that his name be put up in the table of benefac- 
tions, and that he be elected an honorary guardian of the 
poor of this city.' The record bears testimony why be 



AlmApiM. 1S7€. 



( 



▲.D. 1701. 



EDWARD COLSTON. 



127 



was thus distm^shed : — * Mr. Treasurer maketh report 
that Edward Colston, of London, Esq., present in court, 
hath paid ^nm one hundred pounds, as his gift to the 
poor of this city, under the care of the corporation. 
Ordered, that he have the thanks of the court for the 
same, and that his name be put up in the table of 
benefactors. — (Signed) John Duddlestonb, Governor.* 

" The last notice we have of Colston's attending the 
court in 1701 is October 9th." * His presence in Bristol 
was doubtless connected with the pious view of com- 
forting his aged mother and closing her eyes. On the 
22nd of December, 1701, she feU asleep. He was pre- 
sent at her funeral sermon, which was preached in 
Temple church by the Bey. George Keith, and in All 
Saints church he caused to be erected a monument with 
this inscription : — 

"to the dear memory 

OF HIS FATHER, WILLIAM COLSTON, AND OF HIS MOTHER, 

SARAH COLSTON, 

INTERRED NEAR THIS PLACE, 

IN THE SEPULCHRE OF HIS ANCESTORS; 

ALSO, 
THEm FOUR SONS, WILLIAM, THOMAS, ROBERT AND WILLIAM ; 

FURTHER, 

THEIR TWO DAUGHTERS, MARTHA AND MARTHA, 

WHO WERE ALL NATIVES AND INHABITANTS OF THIS CTIT ; 

WILLIAM, HIS FATHER, DIED THE 21bT NOVEMBER, 1681, AGED 73, 

AND 

SARAH, HIS MOTHER, 22nD DECEMBER, 1701, AGED 93 YEARS. 

EDWARD COLSTON, THEIR ELDEST SON, 

BORN LIKEWISE IN THIS CITY, BUT AN INHABITANT OF LONDON, 

HATH DEDICATED THIS MONUMENT.*'^ 

While his heart was yet warm with filial affection for 
her memory, he gave £1,000 for the maintenance of 
poor children, £3,000 for the relief of poor debtors in 
Whitechapel prison and the Marshalsea, and during a 
time of great scarcity in 1708-9, when wheat was 8«. to 
9s, per bushel (more than double its ordinary price), he 
gave the munificent sum of £20,000 to the London 
committee for helping the poor throughout the country. 
These three benefactions are beyond all praise, inas- 
much as they were anonymous. Previously to this last 
he had, in 1702, given £200 to the poor of the ciiy of 
Bristol. He this year returned to Mortlake to reside, 
but before he left Bristol he gave £500 towards re- 
building the school-house of Queen Elizabeth's Hospital. 
We can easily imagine that so great a friend of educa- 
tion would not sympathise very heartily with a corpora- 
tion several of whose members were unable even to 
sign their names, as directed by 13 William lU., for 
which inability they were removed from the council. 
* Tovey'8 life of Edward Colston, 38-43. * Ibid, 45. 



The manner in which the corporation received Col- 
ston's advances will be understood from the following 
minute : — " * Mr. Edward Colston, being a very great 
benefactor to this city by several charities and bounties, 
and this day having made proposal of adding a farther 
number of boys to those settled in the Hospital of 
Queen Elizabeth, of Bristol, it is ordered that Sir 
Thomas Day, Aldermen Jackson, Yate, Lane and WaUis 
attend him with the thanks of the house.' His proposal 
was probably to add another four boys, so as to increase 
the number to forty-four, and also to rebuild the school- 
house, to make it capable of containing 120 boys. 
[Colston had from 1702-3 allowed the charity to receive 
the annual rent of £51, payable by John Porter, for 
premises at Wick St. Lawrence, for the maintenance of 
four boys, making in the whole foriy-four in the hos- 
pital, but he had never conveyed these premises to the 
governors. The 24th July, 1710, having himself estab- 
lished an independent foundation, the following July 
the boys were reduced to forty.] We infer this from 
reading the heading of the subscription list: — *We, 
whose names are/ hereunto subscribed, do promise to 
pay towards the pulling down of the hospital, and re- 
building it convenient for the accommodation of 120 
poor boys, the several sums following our respective 
names. Witness our hands this 26th day of August, 
1702.' 'I, Edward Colston, promise to pay £500 for 
this purpose,' &c. [The subscription list received addi- 
tional names up to the month of March, 1704-5, when 
it amounted to £2,155, of whicli twenty members of 
the corporation contributed £1,400, £150 of which was 
never paid. The re-building commenced in the early 
part of 1703. Another house had been taken for the 
temporary occupation of the boys till March, 1704-5, 
when they were removed to the Mint, where they re- 
mained till their return to the new hospital, College 
green, September, 1706. The entire cost of the building 
of the 'Free Grammar School' was £2,471 14«., of 
which £2,005 was raised by subscription, and the re- 
maining £466 14«. was paid out of the hospital funds." ^] 

When the re-building had commenced Colston pro- 
posed to give an additional sum towards the endowment, 
so that 100 or 120 boys should be on the foundation 
instead of forty-four. Mimicipal ignorance led to delay, 
and ultimately the offer was declined by the corpora- 
tion. Cautious and deliberate, yet resolved, the good 
man waited awhile ; but his next move was to make an 
offer to the Merchant Venturers' Society. 

"'Mortlake, March, 1705-6. 

" ' G-entlemen, — ^Although my intention of making 
provision for fifty poor boys hath been hardly censured 
^ Tovey's Life of Edward Colston, 50-1. 



128 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



▲.D. 1706. 



by some of the inhabitaiiis of your city, nay, even by 
some of the magistrates, if I have not been wrong in- 
formed ; yet the sense of that hath not extinguished 
those thoughts, but I still retain them, and I make no 
doubt but they will meet with far different returns from 
the magistrates of the dty of London, should I make 
the offer for the benefit of Christ's Hospital there, than 
they have from yours. But although I have had my 
education, and spent good part of my days there — ^yet, 
since I drew my first breath in your city, I rather incline 
that the poor children bom there shotdd partake thereof ; 
therefore, if your society will please to undertake the 
trust (and are not of the opinion that gifts of that nature 
are only a nursery for beggars and sloths, and rather a 
burthen than a benefit to the place where they are be- 
stowed), upon the conditions mentioned on the other 
side, which is a paragraph taken out of my late will; 
then its my desire that you would take it into considera- 
tion whether the place may be proper and convenient ; 
as also if there be a likelihood of finding of stone upon 
the premises — if not, if it may now be had from the 
field that was formerly Mr. Seward's, that lieth on the 
other side of the road, and from which I was furnished 
for the building of my almshouse. When you shall 
favour me with your sentiments thereon, then we will 
enter more into the further thoughts of the time of 
beginning the structure and the endowments it ought to 
have. My present ones are ten pounds per annum for 
each boy, which since I found was as much as was 
expended at Queen Elizabeth's Hospital, by the par- 
ticulars given me out of their books for ten years fol- 
lowing ; and I suppose may be more than will now cost 
them at the Mint, to which, if £100 per annimi were 
added for the master, &c., and for placing them out 
apprentice at £5 each, which will not be done but once 
in seven years, and therefore will not come to above 
£36 per annum ; the whole provision, by these proposi- 
tions, will come to £600 per annum for fifty boys, which 
is the least number I think of ; and the upper part of 
the field belonging to my almshouse fronting the road 
for the building the house, if there be room enough 
for that purpose ; there will be no need of orchard 
nor garden ; neither will they there want for air, pro- 
vided a court be assigned them to play in, which is 
what occurs to my thoughts at present. I shall attend 
yours thereabouts, if, sirs, you will oblige your humble 

servant, 

" ' Edwabd Colston.' 

'' This letter sets at rest the vexed question as to the 
propriety of the removal of the school to Stapleton. It 
is no doubt a removal which Colston himself wotdd 
have approved of. We read his anxiety that the boys 



should not want for air, and that he thought of an 
orchard and garden, which, under the circumstances, 
coijdd be dispensed with. The trustees, in the course 
they have pursued, have done all and ever3rthing to 
carry into execution the will of the founder. Almost 
the only instance in which Colston gives us any infor- 
mation concerning himself occurs in the preceding letter, 
wherein he says ' he had his education and spent a good 
part of his days in London.' . . . 

''The merchants, above the predilections of the age 
for antiquated ignorance, appreciate Colston's intention, 
and the confidence he placed in their honourable society ; 
and the hall writes the following reply, judiciously avoid- 
ing any comment on the discouragement with which his 
offer had been elsewhere received : — 

" 'Merchants' Hall, Bristol, 

"'30th March, 1706. 
" ' Sir, — ^We received yours of the 21st instant, and 
yesterday, being as soon after as with convenience it 
could be, a hall was called, and your letter was read. 
It was voted and ordered, nemine eontradicentey that the 
thanks of this hall should be returned to you for your 
kind offer in your letter ; and the hall agreed to accept 
of the trust offered to be reposed in them, and we were 
appointed a committee to return the thanks of the haU 
accordingly, and further to correspond with you there- 
abouts. 

" * We do, therefore, in pursuance of such order, 
return you the heariy thanks .of this hall for your good 
and charitable proposers ; and as to the place you men- 
tioned for building the house, some of our members 
have viewed it, and do find it very convenient and large 
enough for the purpose. We are informed that there 
is not stone on your own ground ; but Mr. Holmes, who 
owns that ground which was Mr. Seward's, having been 
spoken to, hath offered that we shall have stone there 
at the same rate as we paid for your almshouse. As to 
the £10 per annum you propose for the maintenance of 
the boys, we are of opinion that that sum will be very 
su£B.cient ; but as to the £5 for binding them out appren- 
tices, we doubt that a boy in this time cannot be placed 
out to any good master for that sum. At present we 
shall not give you any further trouble, but shall attend 
your further directions, and with all give our utmost 
assistance to put forward so good a design, who are, sir, 
your most humble servants, 

« < William Clabks, Master. 
" ' John Dxtddlestoni. 
" ' Abbahak Elton. 
" ' Jakes Hollidqb. 
" ' Thomas Hobt. 
" ' Abbaham Bibksn.' 



A.D. 1706. 



EDWARD COLSTON. 



129 



** Conaidermg the above letter was written at an age 
when even some of the magistrates regarded a school as 
a 'nursery for beggars and sloths/ and members of 
the common council could not write, we may overlook 
the inelegancies of the composition and look at the 
liberal element which pervades it. . . . 

''The members of the Merchants' hall, fully awa- 
kened to the importance of the trust about to be com- 
mitted to them, and instigated by a due sense of their 
serious responsibiLity, zealously exerted themselves, to 
the utmost of their judgment, to bring into speedy 
operation the project of their exalted citizen. Colston 
was desiroiis of investing his money, intended for the 
support of the school, in land. Accordingly, March 
I7th, surveys of several estates were brought to the 
master of the hall, when the standing committee was 
ordered to survey the same, ascertain their value, and 
report on the most advantageous purchase. October 8th, 
two letters from Colston were read, relating to the main- 
tenance and education of fifty boys, for which he offers 
£627 per annum. The members agree with him that it 
would be su£Q.cient, but desire a little more for contin- 
gencies; and resolve that if he would settle £640 per 
annum, 'they would, with all gratitude and thankful- 
ness, undertake the same, and enter into such covenants 
as shall be advised for the due performance thereof.' 

" In the meantime the committee had been engaged 
in ascertaining the most available situation for the erec- 
tion of the school. November 1st, 1706, it was discussed 
which would be the most favourable. Mrs. Lane's (the 
Great-house), St. Augustine's back, Colston's ground, 
on St. Michael's hill, 'or the house and garden (late 
Manning's), in Temple street.' The hall decided upon 
Mrs. Lane's house, if it could be purchased, and ap- 
pointed a committee to view the same. November 6th, 
they reported that the house was found substantial, and 
with some alterations would be well adapted for the 
purpose; that, exclusive of the materials of the sugar 
trade, still-house, and the hangings of the dwelling- 
house, they did not consider £1,500, the sum required, 
unreasonable, which decision they desired to communi- 
cate to Colston, who, the following August, 1707, pur- 
chased the house for £1,300, and its conversion ajid 
adaptation to the purposes of the school were imme- 
diately proceeded with." ^ 

This stately mansion, so often noticed in these pages, 
had been built on the site of an extensive friary of the 
Carmelites (see Eoolesiastical Histobt, 112). " Though 
prudent and careful in his expenditure, Colston never 
withheld what was necessary. He desired to be guided 
by the knowledge and experience of others in prose- 
» Tovey's Life of Edward Colston, 63-8. 
[Vol. m.] 



cuting and maturing his benevolent institutions. In 
answer to his enquiries as to the amoTint requisite for 
giving full development to the projected school, he is 
informed by the hall that it would require an estate of 
not less than £850 per annum to maintain, educate and 
apprentice fifty boys, and that they supposed such an 
estate would cost £18,000. 'The 10th June the hall 
agreed to purchase, as part of the endowment, an estate 
of Edward Browyer, Esq., at fieare, in the county of 
Somerset, for the sum of £9,000 and 150 g^uineas; and 
on the 19th, as another portion of the endowment, 
accepted Colston's proposed settlement of his manor of 
Locking, in the same county, valued, by Mr. Stephen 
Stringer, at £5,000. In a letter from Colston, of the 
5th July, he states that he considers it would be more 
convenient to make all purchases in his own name, and 
then convey them to the hall in one deed, with which 
the hall concurred.' A survey and estimate of the estate 
of the late Sir Thomas Eastcourt, at Nation, in the 
county of Wilts, was also made by Mr. Stringer,, and 
sent to Colston, as another investment for the remainder 
of his endowment. December 12th, the same year (1707), 
Sir John Knight, Sir John Duddlestone, Mr. George 
Mason and Mr. William dark were requested to wait 
on Cobton, at London or Mortlake, in order to confer 
with him concerning the school. They returned with 
proposals from him in his own hand, relating to the 
estate agreed to be purchased of Mr. Browyer and to 
the manor of Locking, which proposals were accepted 
by the hall. 

"While these negotiations are pending a letter is 
received from Colston, dated April 2nd, wherein he pur- 
poses to provide for an additional fifty boys, and desires 
that a clause should be inserted in the settlement, 
obliging the hall to maintain them upon the terms men- 
tioned, provided a proportionable value of land should 
be endowed. To this the hall agreed conditionally, that 
they approved of the maintenance. [The hall accepted 
of the lands at Congresbury, lately purchased of Mr. 
Appleby, and intended to be settled by Colston, of the 
yearly value of £5 1 . About this time he sent his scheme 
to the Merchants, who referred the same to coimsel's 
opinion, by whom it was amended. The committee 
directed the master and others to attend upon Colston 
with it. The expenses of Mr. Mason, Mr. dark and 
Sir John Duddlestone, the members who waited upon 
Colston with the scheme to and from London, were 
£55 8«. 9d.f which was directed to be paid.] It is ap- 
parent throughout all Colston's negotiations that he 
was a strict disciplinarian — a skilful organiser of busi- 
ness arrangements, apt in making a bargain, and not 
to be taken advantage of ; though voluntarily granting 



130 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1708. 



away large sums, he was especially careful over small 
ones, and did not forget any quarter which, howeyer 
trifling the amount, could be made productive. We 
may suppose the same principle to have influenced him 
in his commercial pursuits, to which probably he was 
more indebted for his vast wealth than to any caprice of 
fortune. In the letter wherein he makes the munificent 
proposal of supporting another fifty boys he enquires 
concerning the cellars under the ' Gbreat-house,' and 
desires to know for what they will let. In reply, he is 
informed that they will not yield above £20 per annum. 

** The draft of Colston's settlement for the mainten- 
ance of one hundred boys, legalised by counsel, was 
approved by the hall, which, October 14th, 1708, con- 
sented to accept the trust, and appointed a committee to 
inspect the progress of the work at the ' Great-house,' 
that it might be * properly executed according to Col- 
ston's directions.' They were also 'to let the cellars 
and warehouses belonging thereto at most rent,' &c. 
At this period the names of forty members of the hall 
were sent to Colston, for his selection of f eoflees for his 
intended settlement. The nominees, appointed^by Col- 
ston himself, were — Francis Colston, Eev. Charles Brent, 
Bev. Hugh Waterman, Sir John Smyth, Bart., Edward 
Southwell, Esq., Bichard Haynes, Thomas Hungerford, 
George Attwood, James Fym, Joseph Edwards, Thomas 
Oldfield, John Henely. In the conveyance (dated No- 
vember, 1708) of the property for the support of the 
one himdred boys, Colston stipulated that he should 
have the nomination of the boys during his life, and 
after his decease one-half of them should be nominated 
by the Socieiy of Merchants, the other half by his exe- 
cutors, and after their demise by his nominees. On the 
death of a nominee, the survivors were, within three 
months, to elect some other to fill the vacancy. . . . 

^* That he encouraged the labour by his presence is 
evident from the following familiar anecdote : — * During 
the alterations at the hospital one of the labourers, in 
ascending a ladder, was observed by Mr. Colston to be 
without a hat. Mr. Colston went to a shop in the vicinity 
to purchase one — his dress and appearance were such 
as to draw from the woman serving not very courteous 
behaviour ; but during the negotiation Colston was dis- 
covered by the master, who was sitting in an adjoining 
room at dinner, who immediately came forward and 
expressed his thanks at having been honoured with his 
(Colston's) presence. Mr. Colston having purchased the 
hat, withdrew with it, and was observed to present it to 
the labourer.'. . . He possessed what is rarely united 
in the same person — ^humility and wealth. He inspected 
and assisted the labourers, regardless of everything but 
the object of his solicitude, and covered with dxist and 



lime, received (if we are to credit the apocryphal anec- 
dote) that uncourteous treatment which too often bef als 
the wearer of soiled or homely apparel, howerer just 
and good the heart that may beat beneath it. 

''Another little incident (communicated to the late 
Mr. Bowland's father, distiller on the Quay, by a car- 
penter who assisted in fitting up the school for Colston), 
touching upon Colston's fixedness of purpose, is to be 
preserved with jealous care, as an authentic pendant to 
the above. One day a man was called from his work to 
turn a grindstone, that a carpenter might sharpen his 
tools. Whilst thus engaged, Colston, not seeing the 
man at his usual work, sought for him. Coming to the 
place where he was, he sent him to his task, saying ' he 
wanted the school finished, that he might get his boys 
in;' and, taking the handle of the grindstone, continued 
turning as long as was necessary. . . . 

''With his usual judicious consideration, Oolston 
directed the master to inform the hall that he had 
allowed the expenses incurred in repairing the houses 
and lands to be settled ; but that he expected in future 
no money should be charged for common repairs than 
that mentioned in a schedule affixed to the deed of 
settlement, to which the hall agreed, and that an 
abridgement of the settlement should be made, to be 
read over once a year, in the Common hall, at a meeting 
of the society. ... 

" He wrote, on April 20th, 1710, to the hall, express- 
ing his intention to furnish the boys intended for the 
hospital ' each with a suit of clothes, cap, band, shirt, 
stockings, shoes, buckles, spoon and porringer— one of 
each; also, brewing utensils, barrels, bedding sheets, 
towels, tablecloths, notwithstanding the hall was bound 
to provide the same.' The clothes, &c., cost £122 10«., 
for which the thanks of the hall were voted him July 
7th — 'more especially his due, as the charge did not 
properly belong to him, but to the hall.' " ^ 

That month the school was opened, and the day was 
observed by holding a special service at the Cathedral ; 
the venerable founder, leading his grandnieoe by the 
hand, headed the procession from the school-house. 
"There has descended, by oral tradition, a beautiful 
passage in Colston's life, illustrative of his great humi- 
lity, and his desire that not to the servant who did the 
work of his Master, but to the Master be the thanks- 
giving, the praise, and the glory. Shortly after the 
opening of the school, while Colston was yet in Bristol, 
a poor widow waited upon him with her only son, en- 
treating Colston's aid in obtaining the boy's admission 
into the school on St. Augustine's back. After a few 
enquiries satisfactorily answered, the widow was made 
^ Tovey'B life of Edward Colaton, 61-6. 



EDWARD COLSTON. 



glad hj Colston rflmoring her an- 
xiety tor her child, gradoualy adding 
tltat, if npon enqoirj her oaBO were 
prored aa stated, he himself would 
be the bo^'s patron. The poor 
woman, in th« fnlneoa of her gra- 
titode, raid she wonld erer pray 
that Heaven's UeesingB might des- 
cend on Colston, and that when her 
son grew np she would teach him 
to thank hie benefactor. ' No,' 
the mild reproof, ' we do not thank 
ttia donds for nun, nor I 
for lig^t, bnt we thank the Ood 
who made bodi the donds and the 
Bnn.' "* Hia eolidtade for the wel- 
fare of the school is erinoed by the 
letter of which we give a reduoed 
fmaimiU, From his first settlement 
at HoTtlake he took part in pare- 
ohial affairs. There, on the death 
of his mother, he established two 
schools, and, in 170S, he re-built 
their almshouse. 

The reaction against the Whig 
party, in 1710, was very great, and 
when the qneen called a new Par- 
liament Colston was proposed as 
one of the membwe for Bristol. 
"In a newspaper of the day the 
election is thus notioed; 'Bristol, 
Ootober 38th.— (^ Wednesday last 
owr deotion came op, and it was 
geaOTvlly believed the old mem- 
bers wonld have oarry'd it without 
opposition, for Edward Oolston, 
Esq., who had given fifty thousand 
pounds to the dfy, in building of 
hospitals, sdiools, and other diari- 
tiea, refused to stand, by reason of 
his age; but aome persms, who 
were well affected, demanded a poll 
fcr him and Captain Eorle, and, 
aft^ four days' poU, the said Ur. 
OolatMi and Captain Earle carried 
it— the first by near a thousand 
voices, and die latter by six hun- 
dred. It was surprising to see the 
joy it oocasitmed in this dty when 
th^ carried Uieir member that was present along 
the dty, with tiia mitre and streamers before him, 
> T«T«7'« Lit* of Edward Colcton, 67-8. 













'f^r'y 1'*^,^"^ 




^i^^iiiiJ 



fikjuod/u itmlla aS a UOnt Jmn OHibm. 



and the vhole dty was illominated, and the uig^t 

oonduded with bonfires and the ringing of bells.'"* 

> Tovej'i life of Edward CoUton, 71. 



132 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1711. 



In March, 1711, on the motion of the mayor, Chris- 
topher Shuter, a gross of bottles of sherry was presented 
to Colston for his services; the wine cost £16 18«. 6d, 
He presented petitions during the session from Bristol 
in favour of keeping the navigation free between Han- 
ham mills and Bristol (there was a biU then pending 
for making the Avon navigable from Bath to Hanham 
mills) ; also for power to raise a further sum of £1,200 
for employing, educating and maintaining the poor of 
the city ; also that the trade to Africa might be open to 
all her majesty's subjects (slavery was not abhorrent 
even to a good man) ; also sundry other petitions, but 
he was not one that wasted the time of the House by 
speechmaking. 

In 1699, Mary Gray left money by will, £50, the 
profits, less 6«. Sd.j for a sermon for teaching fatherless 
children of Temple parish. Mr. John Gray afterwards 
supplemented the gift ; he was a cousin of Colston, which 
fact probably induced the latter to take an interest in his 
native parish. (In the new schoolhouse, a building of 
good architectural character in Victoria street, is a tablet, 
with the following inscription : ''On this endowed school 
for forty poor boys, by Mr. Edward Colston, in 1712, 
there was engrafted, in 1864, a national school, in ac- 
cordance with a scheme sanctioned by his trustees, the 
Charity Conmiissioners, and the Committee of Council 
on Education, and new schools, with accommodation for 
200 boys and 200 girls, were erected, with a good dwel- 
ling-house for the master, at a cost of £2,534 Ids. Sd,, of 
which there was contributed by the public £1,693 2«. 2d. ; 
the Committee of Privy Council, £541 17«. 6d, ; the 
Society of Merchant Venturers, £200 ; the. Diocesan 
Society, £ 100 ; and publicly opened on the 21st February, 
1866, by the Eight Reverend Bishop Anderson. — John 
Longman, Treasurer.") 

It is necessary, however, that we take a retrospec- 
tive view of some ten years' occurrences in connection 
with this school, ere Colston interested himself in it. 
The Hey. Arthur Bedford, the vicar of Temple, had 
taken a great interest in the school founded by the 
Grays, had collected subscriptions in the parish, and 
devoted the offertory to the purpose of erecting a Church 
school for the 232 poor children in the parish, of whom 
only three were provided for by the guardians. After 
a while, the parochial subscriptions being £35 per an- 
num, Mr. Colston gave an additional £10 to make it 
perpetual. The children then met in Tucker's hall, for 
which a rent of £4 was paid. Then Colston wrote to Sir 
John Hawkins, ^'that he had determined, God willing, 
to settle an annuity, for the support of the school for 
ever, of £80, in clothing and educating forty poor boys." 
In 1710 Sir John Duddlestone, writing to Colston, ex- 



presses his great approbation at the progress made by 
the children ; soon after which Colston writes to the 
trustees, that ** as soon as the parish is in cash to build 
a school, I wiU take care to order money to pay for the 
purchase of the ground." Then occurred the election, 
in which Colston and Bedford, both conscientious men, 
took different sides. Colston's antipathy to Dissenters, 
his inability to recognise any good in men who differed 
from the Established Church, or to conceive it possible 
that any clergyman could sympathise with schismatics, 
was the weak point in his character. Bedford was a 
liberal-minded man ; he could not support Colston, nor 
did he like to stay in Bristol to oppose his valued friend, 
so he went to Gloucester, where he voted for the two 
Whig candidates. This led to a rupture between the 
friends, which ended by Mr. Bedford resigning the vicar- 
age in 1713. (See EoGLESiASTicAL History, 146.) Colston 
never lost his good opinion of the late vicar, for we 
find him that year expressing his doubts as to whether 
the boys will be so well cared for by the new vicar as 
they were by his predecessor. In answer to a letter 
from the trustees, on February 13th, 1711, asking him 
to define the number of boys to be chosen from this 
school into the Hospital school, on St. Augustine's 
back, and the number of aged poor from Temple 
parish into his almshouse, in which they express a 
fear that the merchants who live in the richest parishes 
might, after his decease, prefer the poor of their own 
parish, to the injury of those living in poorer neigh- 
bourhoods, to prevent which they ask his leave to set 
up a table in the school that shall express his intention, 
he replies : '* Whereas I have caused to be taken into 
my hospital on St. Augustine's back one hundred poor 
boys from the several parishes of the city, which I 
proportioned according to the lists given me by the 
churchwardens, out of an inclination to be equally 
assistant to them all, for which reason it is my desire 
that such method shall be still continued and perpetuated 
amongst them to the end that each parish may be par- 
takers of the said charity, according to the number of 
their poor as it was at first given by me ; but whereas 
at the said first admission there were taken in from 
Temple parish but eight boys, and since that time I 
have been credibly informed that the number of their 
poor is much increased by reason of the little trading 
there is in the said parish, which makes them want a 
further help ; therefore, and because it was the place of 
my nativity, it is my will and desire that the said parish 
should enjoy the benefit thereof, in as full a degree as 
any other of the said city, and that in order thereto there 
should be at no time less than the aforesaid number of 
eight boys (if not ten) in my said hospital, and that so 



A.D. 1712. 



EDWARD COLSTON. 



133 



often as any boy of the said parish shall die, or for any 
misdemeanour, or according to the establishment, be re- 
moved, another, or so many more, shall be taken in con- 
tinually, and from time to time of the poor of the said 
parish as shall make up the said number, within the 
term of thirteen weeks, from his or their death and re- 
moval. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand 
and seal, in the presence of the two subscribed witnesses, 
the 31st December, 1712. Witness, Thomas Edwards 
and Bobert Carr. — Edwabd Colston. To the present 
and all future masters, wardens, and assistants of the 
Society of Merchant Adventurers of the city of Bristol, 
and to all others that are empowered by my settlement 
to the said Socieiy to place boys into my hospital, in the 
parish of St. Augustine." ^ 

Colston, a thorough business man, required an esti- 
mate of costs before he issued orders for the erection 
of the building. But the trustees, overstepping their 
authoriiy, consulted a builder, and had all but come to 
terms, which brought down a sharp reproof. **I gave 
you no authority to send for or to agree with Mr. Davis. 
. . . Let not anything be done therein till you hear 
farther from me ; and that there be no after additions, 
it will be much better to consider what wiU be needful 
as well for beauty and strength before my contract be 
entered upon. It being also intended that the inside be 
furnished with forms, desks, and what else be needful. — 
Tour friend to serve you, Edwabd Colston." * 

The school finished, Colston paid the balance. '* The 
trustees, in a letter through Mr. Gray, thank Colston 
for the £47 12«. 7d.y and say that in order that the books 
for the schools shall have no tincture of Whiggism they 
have added this clause : ' Provided that such books are 
composed by sound members of the Church of England, 
and are first approved of as such by the trustees, then 
by the bishop, and also by the Society for Promoting 
Christian Ejiowledge.' " ^ 

Colston was elected a member of the above society 
in 1709. They wished him to accept ''a correspon- 
dence," which he expressed himself willing to do, *' pro- 
vided it don't oblige him to write frequent letters." In 
1 7 1 he instituted a course of Lent lectures. ' ' * Whereas 
I have ordered sermons to be preached in some of the 
parish churches in the city of Bristol every Wednesday 
and Friday during Lent, yearly — upon several subjects 
relating to the primitive discipline and usage of the 
Church of England, such as the Lenten Fast, the Nature 
and Institution of the Catholic church, the Excellency 
of the present Church of England, the Censures of the 
Church, viz. : Excommunication, Pennance, and Besti- 
tution, Baptism, Frequenting the Communion, Against 
» Tovey'i Life of Edward Colston, 82. • Ihid, 83. • Ihid, 85. 



the Pope's Supremacy, and the Errors of the Bomish 
church. Confirmation, Frequenting the Public Worship, 
Our Saviour's Meritorious Passion, Confession, Public 
and Private Absolution, Public and Private Bepentance ; 
(but because the last of these is a topic very much 
handled, and the two former may be a subject for one 
discourse, forasmuch as they are inseparably united), 
instead of Bepentance, Superstition and Enthusiasm, in 
the room of Absolution (if it shall be adjudged by the 
generaliiy of the ministers of the said city, who are to 
preach those sermons, that they will be more beneficial), 
which I have continued during my life, with an allow- 
ance of £20 per annum to such ministers of the said 
city as shall preach them, together with a sermon each 
month in the year to the prisoners in Newgate, and also 
a yearly sermon, on the 2nd November, at the Cathedral 
church, at which my hospital boys are to be present. 
The Socieiy of Merchants to pay the £20 per annum for 
three years, and at the expiration of three years, should 
my executors and nominees be satisfied that such preach- 
ing hath proved beneficial to the inhabitants, by in- 
clining them to a love and good liking of the institutions 
of the Primitive church, then the Socieiy of Merchants 
to pay the same for ever. Should the ministers neglect 
their duiy, the £20 per annum to be paid to the church- 
wardens of Beddijff and St. Thomas parishes, towards 
the maintaining of a chariiy school in each parish, for 
tweniy children at least, if the parishioners will raise a 
fund sujB&cient to teach the children to read, write, cypher 
and the Church catechism, and in default the £20 to 
be given annually to forty poor housekeepers of the said 
two parishes who do not receive alms, and who do fre- 
quent and conform to the doctrines of the now estab- 
lished church. The minister, who shall teach my boys 
their catechism, to be allowed 20«. per annum, to make 
up his salary £10 per annum. The boys not only to 
repeat by heart, but thoroughly to understand the 
meaning and use of the present Church catechism.' . . . 
** We learn that here his favourite place of worship 
was the Cathedral, which he daily attended. On the 
Sabbath he would stand at the door to see his boys 
arrive, and as the long train, with doffed caps, passed 
their benevolent patron, he would kindly pat them on 
their heads, speak encouragingly to all, and follow them 
to his accustomed seat within the choir. Here the dean 
and chapter had exhibited their respect for his virtues 
and admiration of his character, such as we believe had 
been seldom conceded to a private individual — a stall, 
distinguished by his crest and initials, having been 
appropriated to his use. A short time previous to Col- 
ston's decease he had made a contract, it is said, to pave 
the whole of the Cathedral choir with white marble, at 



134 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1716. 



his own priyate oost, to the amount of £600. This 
munificent intention he did not live to perform. He 
subscribed, however, towards beautifying the choir and 
hiying the marble about the Communion table. . . . 

'' For the augmentation of sixiy small liyings, Colston 
placed in the hands of the govemors of Queen Anne's 
Bounty £6,000. His intention was communicated to 
them by Mr. Edwards. In reply, the goyemors state 
that they look upon the charity ' as so prudent and well 
placed,' that they desire Mr. Edwards to give the thanks 
of the board to the donor. ' So large is this benefac- 
tion, that after all his other immense sums given in 
charity, the name of Mr. Colston does stand highest 
amongst those who have added to the Queen's Bounty 
for augmenting the maintenance of the poorer clergy. 

*'With respect to the amount of this benefaction 
there is a tradition which, although imauthenticated, 
may be incidentally related. It has since Colston's time 
been applied to many succeeding philanthropists, as it 
has probably descended to him from some kind soul in 
ages far remote. It is related that a gentleman waited 
upon Colston for the purpose of soliciting aid in the 
augmentation of sereral small benefices. He explained 
the requirements, and warmly advocated the cause of 
the poorer clergy. Colston had just opened a letter 
when interrupted by his visitor, and deferred its perusal 
until the interview was over. After expressing his 
regret that he could not, in justice to the many claims 
upon his purse, do more in so excellent a cause, he 
presented the gratified agent with a cheque for £3,000. 
While yet speaking, Colston's eye was attracted by some 
words in the ox>ened letter, and he begged to be excused 
while he read. The contents informed him of the de- 
struction by fire of several large warehouses. These, 
conformable to Colston's views, had not been insured, 
and his loss was very considerable. He calmly handed 
the letter to his companion, saying, ' See how the Lord 
reproves his tardy steward ; I had reserved that property 
for a charitable endowment after my decease.' He then 
requested the cheque to be returned, which he imme- 
diately destroyed, and writing another, said, as he placed 
it in the hands of his visitor, 'I have still something 
left, let me endeavour. to make atonement while I have 
to give.' He had doubled the amount ! 

''Colston had now retired to his seat at Mortlake. 
Whatever had been the cause, if any had induced him 
to withdraw his attendance from the parish meetings, it 
was removed, and he resumed his place the 24th June, 
1711. We find him in attendance during the two follow- 
ing years, and fjor the last time the 13th June, 1713." ^ 

In December, 1716, he writes to Mr. Bobert Earl : — 
^ Tovey't life of Edward Cokton, 97-103. 



^" As to the accounts of both Houses, whensoever the 
hall shall think fit to send them, I expect and demre 
that they come in the same form that they last did — 
that being agreeable to the covenants between us ; only 
I judge they ought to be signed by the master and the 
other gentlemen, our friends, that audit them, as hath 
been formerly done. And if the almshouse accounts 
were made debtor for the balance of the hospital, and 
that thereby evened, then at one view it ^ould appear 
what was owing by the hall on both — ^but this last I 
submit to their thoughts, as I also do if the arrears may 
not be sooner got in. 

''^When you shall have duly considered of the 
placing out of some of the boys apprentices, and by so 
doing paying the money allotted for that purpose sooner 
than otherwise they ought to have done, and find that 
the hall hath been any ways damaged thereby, I will 
readily reimburse them of it by ordering the payment 
of it to them, for I would not have it charged in their 
accoxmts, that it may not be brought into a precedent 
for the future ; and for that end it is my desire that no 
boy be taken in above such an age, as he may tarry in 
the house full seven years, without being a prejudice 
to his being bound out an apprentice afterwards, and 
that his or their parents be acquainted that no manner 
of allowance shall be made for that purpose, unless thej 
shall complete the said time there, the which, peradven- 
ture, may make them not to misrepresent their ages, and 
thereby causing a breaking in on our agreed methods, 
which it- is my desire should be punctually observed. 

** * Sir, I am your humble servant, 

** ' Edwabjd Colstof.' 

''The accounts kept by the haJl were probably not 
managed according to Colston's system; and the worthy 
baronet, who, it wiU be observed, was no grammaiian, 
for the purpose of avoiding difPerences and saving 
trouble, suggests to Mr. Earl : — ' If Hie accounts was 
made up in the manner within mentioned, it will please 
Mr. Colston, and be an ease to the hall, so is my opinion, 
that am, your humble servant, Jobv DuDDLRSTOini.' 

''The following year, in October, a letter addressed 
to Sir John Duddlestone was received horn Colston, and 
read to the hall. The contents refer to putting out ap- 
prentices from his school, and in phxasedogy partakes 
of the same business character as the preceding cone- 
spondence. This, as it does not portray any new feature, 
we withhold transcribing. It is different, however, with 
his next letter. We Imve ever seen him particularly 
sensitive on any infringement, or apparent disrespect to 
his position, or what he m^ht have oonstraed into un- 
sanctioned interference, slight, or neglect. The acting 
without his council or approbation displeased and dis- 



A.D. 1718. 



EDWARD COLSTON. 



135 



quieted him, and ruffled the wonted tranquility of his 
pladd temperament. It was under the influence of such 
feelings that lie thus expressed himself : — 

'< 'Mortlake, 26th April, 1717. 

** * (Gentlemen, Gtoyemors of the Merchants' Hall,— 
Yours of the 15th past and 5th present I received in 
due time, and with the latter your hall's accounts of 
my hospital and almshouse, which I have passed accord- 
ingly, and as to what relates to the former, notwith- 
standing I have empowered them to make choice of a 
schoolmaster and other officers requisite for my hos- 
pital ; yet the common civility that is showed to all men, 
especially to those under my circumstances, would have 
prevented the surprise you express to have been at, for 
my resenting your too hasty proceedings in your election 
of a chief, before you had intimated to me your disap- 
proval of the person recommended by me for that em- 
ployment. But since my inclinations are rather to close 
than to widen a breach, I shall forbear to say anything 
further on that subject. Only I do hereby solemnly de- 
clare that I had not the least knowledge or intimation 
of l£r. Looker being a non- juror at the time I recom- 
inended him, nor yet till after you had made choice of 
Mr. Samuel Gardner, who I shall hope, and not doubt 
by the discharge of the trust reposed in him, will deserve 
the character you have given of him. I shall also ac- 
quiesce in what you write relating to myself ; and, lastly, 
that you will have no objection to direct that this fol- 
lowing clause be copied in your hall book, which I rather 
desire, because it will remain there on record. 

^' ' That I was not induced to endow my hospital only 
for the bare feeding of the one hundred boys that at 
present and in futurity are to inhabit there, but chiefly 
that they should be educated under such overseers and 
masters as will take care that they shall be bred up in 
the doctrine of our present Established Church of Eng- 
land. Therefore, I conjure you, as well all the present 
as future governors of your hall, that they take effectual 
care, as far as in them lieth, that the boys be so educated 
as aforesaid, and that none of them be afterwards placed 
out as apprentices to any men that be dissenters from 
the said communion, as they will be answerable for a 
breach of their trust at the last and great tribimal before 
which we must all appear. 

'' ' I am, your humble servant, 

"'Edwabd Colston.' 

" Towards the ' seating and beautifying' All Saints 
church, Colston had given, in 1703, through Mr. Thomas 
Edwards, £100. In 1713 the low freestone tower was 
taken down, atid the present dome was commenced 
building. It cost £589 lOs, Sd,, raised by voluntary 
contributions of the citizens — Colston himself gave £250 



and an additional £100 for 'beautifying' the chancel. 
At a meeting of the common coxmcil, 16th January, 
1716| 'a petition was laid before the house from Mr. 
Harcourt, minister, Isaac Taylor and Francis Oythers, 
churchwardens of All Saints, stating their having ex- 
pended several hundred pounds in building a new tower, 
and that £800 would not be sufficient to mend the side- 
walls, seats inside, and setting up the bells, conduit, and 
other things to be done in the church ; all which, being 
for the glory and service of God, and for the honour of 
the city (the church being situate in so eminent and con- 
spicuous a part of it), and praying the consideration of the 
house; — ^resolved, that £100 be paid the churchwardens 
towards accomplishing so pious and good a work.' 

** On erecting the present tower, imder the influence 
of a grateful feeling towards Colston, his crest of the 
dolphin and a pine apple were placed over the same as 
a vane ; but with time the grateful feeling appears to 
have subsided, and to have given way to a sense of 
disappointment. Colston remained no longer to answer 
to the call of improvement, or the appeal of charity. 
He had left but a small bequest to the church in which 
his ashes and those of his sires reposed. Therefore, 1 6th 
May, 1728, the vestry resolved that the present vane 
should be taken down and a ball and cross substituted. 
The dolphin was of copper, and, with the pine apple, 
was ordered to be sold in 1729." ^ 

Being applied to by the rector of Chew Stoke for 
help, he writes 12th April, 1718 :—" 'Tours, of the 9th 
present, informs me that you have been endeavouring 
for these last two years to set up a school iu Chew Stoke, 
and, in order thereto, have got up subscriptions to the 
value of £169, and are in hopes to make them £200, 
with which sum you propose to purchase £10 per annum 
in lands, in perpetuity, for the payment of a master to 
teach the boys therein to read, write and cypher, and 
also to be thoroughly instructed in our Church cate- 
chism.' The letter then proceeds to declare Colston's 
willingness to assist in so good a work, but that his 
incHnation would be rather to do it by a certain sum for 
a term of years. In a subsequent letter, dated 1 3th May, 
1718, Colston adverts to a communication which he had 
received from the same person, acquainting him with 
the further progress that had been made towards settling 
a charity school by purchasing a house, and that sub- 
scriptions had been received suffix^ient to pay for the 
same within £5, which Colston offers to contribute. 
Colston settled the annual sum of £5 on the school 
during his life and for twelve years after his decease." ' 

It will ever redoimd to the credit of Colston's chris- 
tian character that his good works were done by him 

X Tovey's Life of Edward Ck)lBton, 108-9. > Ibid, 109. 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



while his vigour was unimpaired aod hie mind unde- 
cayed ; it was no giying that which he could no longer 
poaaeea, still less carry away. It was not the work of 
repentance, of remorse, but one of benevolence and 
love, Bpread over the many years of his lengthened 
pilgrimage of eighty-four years. As the end drew 
near, one after another of the ties that bound him to 
earth dropped away. His sister, Ann, who had lived 
with bim for many years at Mortlake, then his ten- 
derly-loved niece, Sarah, his nephew, Edward, and in 
1720 his valued 
friend, the Bev.W. 
Jones, the clergy- 
man whose minis- 
try he attended, 
passed onward into 
the Spirit land. 
His own end seems 
to have been a 
gradual decay of 
nature. "An in- 
ward daily sink- 
ing ; business is irk- 
some, and thought 
wearies, but prayer 
is always welcome. " 
Sight failed, and a 
kind friend and 
neighbour often 
came to read to 
him; "she proved a 
very helpful assist- 
ant to me in my 
indisposition," for 
which he left her a 
legacy of £tOO. 
And so, apparently 
without a relative 
present to close his 
eyes, the grand old 

man passed, on October llth, 1721, into the presence of 
bis Lord, to be greeted with the " Well done, good and 
faithful servant." 

Nine years before his death Colston had written 
directions for hie funeral — " 'As to what relates to my 
funeral, I would not have the least pomp used at It, nor 
any gold rin^ given ; only that my corpse shall be 
carried to Bristol in a hearse, and met at Lawford's 
gate, and accompanied from thence to All Saints church 
by all the boys in my hoepital on St. Augustine's back, 
and by the six boys maintained by me in Queen Eliza- 
beth's Hospital in College green, and also by the twenty- 



four poor men and women (or so many of them that are 
able) in my almshouse on St. Michael's hill, and only to 
the church-door of All Saints ; likewise by the six poor 
old sailors that are kept at my charge in the UerohantA' 
almshouse in the Marsh, and likewise by the forty poor 
boys in Temple parish that are clothed and otherwise 
provided for by me. To be drawn directly thither, so 
as it may be there in the close of the evening or the 
first part of the night ; and my further desire is that at 
my interment the whole burial service of the Church, as 
it is now appointed, 
may be decently 
read and perform- 
ed. And that the 
money, that might 
have otherwise 
been expended in 
gold rings, be laid 
out in new coats or 
gowns, stockings, 
shoes and caps for 
the six sailors; and 
the like (except 
caps) for so many 
of the men and 
women in my alms- 
house that shall ac- 
company my corpse, 
as above, and are 
willing to wear 
them afterwards. 
And to signify that 
this is my desire, I 
have hereunto set 
my hand this fif- 
teenth day of July, 
1712. 

(Signed) 
'Edwakd Colston. 

11 Kit tif CiMa, HaU. 

"'My sister, 
Ann Colston's corpse, is interred in Mortlake church, 
under the rail, on the south side of the Communion 
table. But since it was her desire that her bones 
should lie in the same grave where I shall be buried, 
and forasmuch as my intentions are that my corpse 
shall be carried into Bristol, and interred in AH Saints' 
church, in the grave that belonged to my ancestora, my 
desire is that my said sister's bones should be taken up 
(if it be done by the authority of the minister, without 
the trouble of applying to the bishop of the diocese), 
and put into and carried down in the same coffin with 
my body ; or if that cannot be conveniently done, then 



A.D. 1721. 



EDWARD COLSTON. 



137 



is another small one to be put into the hearse,, and 
buried in the same grave with mine, in compliance 
with her request in that behalf/ 

''Among Colston's papers was found an interesting 
estimate of the expenses of his funeral, £209 7s. 2d. 
It conveys a gloomj picture of the style in which the 
mournful ceremony was performed, and contains full 
particulars of the dismal paraphernalia, which was not 
in strict accordance with Colston's desire that ' not the 
least pomp should be used ' at His funeral. From the 
document we learn that the funeral procession consisted 
of a hearse and six horses, covered with plumes and 
black velvet, attended by eight horsemen in black cloaks, 
and followed by three mourning coaches, with six horses 
to each, plumes and black velvet. Additional mourning 
coaches, and twelve pages with caps and truncheons, 
accompanied the gloomy cavalcade to Brentford. - The 
sable parade was a week on its slow and melancholy 
journey, and where it rested on the road the rooms were 
' hung in deep mourning.' ' A large velvet paU, edged 
with silver,' covered the coffin, and 'a lid with fine 
ostrich feathers was placed on the body for the journey.' 
' Twenty-four shields and eight large silver candlesticks,' 
with wax candles, were around the coffin, which was 
surrounded by a rail decorated with 'tweniy-four silk 
escutdieons,' and more plumes of ' fine ostrich feathers.' 
' Nine dozen escutcheons, twelve banners, an Atchieve- 
ment frame, &c.,' dressed the rooms, and completed the 
undertaker's show." ^ 

The day of the arrival of the procession in Bristol 
was a gloomy one; the rain had all day descended in 
torrents, yet the streets were lined with people, and 
every window along the route was crowded with spec- 
tators. The Merchants gathered in their hall, and met 
the corpse at the entrance to the city ; the grey-haired, 
weather-beaten mariners from Xing street, dad in their 
rueful black cloaks, and the aged men and women from 
Bt. Michael's almshouses, new clothed, marched feebly 
before them, thirty in number, whilst 146 boys from 
Temple and Colston schools led the van, chanting the 
90th Psalm, to the church of All Saints, all hung with 
black. Five hours, says Silas Told, did the procession 
take from Lawford's gate to the church, which it only 
reached at midnight of Saturday, October 28th, amid 
the light from flaring torches and the sobbing sound of 
falling rain. " Southwell, Codrington, Harrington, Trye, 
Haines and J. Downing, Esqs., were ye bearers." The 
following day his funeral sermon was preached to a 
crowded audience by the vicar, the Hev. James Harcourt, 
from the words — ** He hath dispersed abroad, and given 
to the poor, and his righteousness remaineth for ever; 
» Tovey'8 Life of Edward Ck)lBtoii, 118-16. 
[Vol. ni.1 



his horn shall be exalted with honour." — ^Psalm 112, v. 9. 
''His figure, modelled from the original picture by 
Bichardson, was executed by Eysbrach. It is judiciously 
draped in the costume of the period, and reclines upon 
an altar tomb at the eastern end of the north aisle, sur- 
mounted by a pedimental canopy, beneath which is the 
following inscription and list of his charities. It con- 
tains a record almost unparalleled in any time or 
country." [It is still customary to place a bouquet of 
flowers in the bosom of Colston's statue every Sunday, 
an eloquent token that ' the ashes of the good and just 
smell sweet and blossom in the dust.'] 

THE PCJBLIO CHARITIES AND BENEFACTIONS GIVEN 
AND FOUNDED BY EDWARD COLSTON, Esq. 

IN BRISTOL. 

ON ST. UICHABL's HILL. 

1691. — An almshoQBe for 12 men and 12 women, the chief 
brother to receiye 6 sh., the others 3 ah. per week, 
besides coal, &o. To a chaplain, i£10 per annom. 
The whole to be paid by fee-farm rents on estates 
in Northumberland, Cumberland, and Durham, 
and by some houses and lands near the house. The 
charge about « £8,500 

IN KING ST&XBT. 

Six Baylors to be maintained in the merchant alms- 
house, by a farm in Congresbury, Somerset. The 

*? *T WiT^O ••• ••• ••• ••• •«• ••• ••« ••• ••• ••• vW 

IN TKMPLB STREET. 

1696.— A school for 40 boys to be doath'd and taught, 
endowed with an annuity out of the manor of 
Tomarhear, Somerset. An house and garden for 
ye master. Ye charge 8,000 

1702. — ^To ye re-building ye boys' hospital, and for 6 boys 
to be cloath'd, maintained, instruot'd, and appren- 
ticed. A farm of £70 per annum, in Congresbury. 

X e cnarge ••• ••• ••• ••• ••• ••• ••• ••• ••• a, ow 

IN ST. FETER's FABISH. 

To the Mint workhouse 200 

And for placing out poor children 200 

ON ST. AVOUSTINB'S BACK. 

1708. — A hospital for a master, two ushers, and a cate- 
- chist, and for one hundred boys to be instructed, 
cloath'd, maintained, and apprentic*d, the charge 
aoouv ••• ••• ••• ••• ••• ••• ••• ••• ••• •■• 4v,vwv 

£100 per annum, to be given for 12 years after his 

death either to those who have been apprentic'd 

from the hospital of St. Augustine's back, or for 

. the apprenticing of boys from Temple school, by 

£10 each ••• 1,200 

TO THE REVSRAL CHARITY SCHOOLS. 

Each £10 per an., given for many years while he liv'd, 
and to be continued for 12 months after Ms death. 



TO YB REPAIRING 


AND BBAUniTINO OF CHURCHES. 


All Saints 


£250 


St. Michael ... £50 


Cathedral 


260 


St. Stephen's ... 50 


Clifton 


60 


Temple ... 160 


St. James 


100 


St. Thomas ... 60 


St. Mary Redcliff 


100 


St. Werburgh ... 160—1,230 

F 2 



138 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1721. 



• ■ • • «• 



For reading prayers at All Sts. every Monday and 

Tuesday morning, £7 per annum... 
For 12 sermons at Newgate, £6 per an. ... 
For 14 sermons in Lent, £20 per an. 



• • • « • • 



••■ ••• ••• 



••• •■• ••• ••• 



■ ■ • « • • 



IN LONDON. 

To St. Bartholomew's hospital ... 

To Christ church " ... 

To St. Thomas " 

To Bethlem '• 

To the new workhouse without Bishop's gate 

To the Society for Propagating the Gospol ... 

To the Ck>mpany of Mercers 



■•■ ••• ••• •■• 



••■ ••• ••■ 



• •• ••• 



£140 
120 
400 



2,500 
2,000 
500 
500 
200 
900 
100 



IN SURREY. 

AT SHEEir. 

An almshouse for six poor men, built and endowed 

AT MORTLAKE. 

For the education and clothing of 12 boys and 12 

girls, £45 per an 

To 85 poor people at his death, 208. each 

IN DEVONSHIRE. 
Towards building a church at Tiverton 

IN LANCASHIRE. 

Towards building a church at Manchester 

To eighteen charity schools, in several parts of 
England, for many years of his life, and to be 
continued for 12 years after his death, £90 per 
annum. 

To the augmentation of 60 small livings 



900 
85 

20 

20 



6,000 



In all 



... £70,695 



'* 'this GRRAT and pious BSNBFACTOR was known to ha VI DONX 
MANY OTHBR KXCELLENT CHARITIS8, AND WHAT HI DID IN 
SECRET IS BELIEVED TO BE NOT INFERIOR TO WHAT HE DID 
IN PUBLIC* 

** On the slab beneath is the following : — 

" 'EDWARD, THE SON OF WILLIAM OOLSTON, ESQ., AND SARAH HIS 
WIFE, WAS BORN IN THIS CITT NOVEMBER 2ND, 1636. Dt'd 
AT MORTLAKE, IN SURRT, OCTOBER IItH, 1721, AND LIES 
BURIED NEAR THIS MONUMENT."*^ 

There are several other monuments in the church to 
members of the Oolston family. 

In corroboration of the last paragraph but one given 
above, the late Mr. Thomas Serel, of Wells, some years 
since wrote that he had discovered that Mr. Edward 
Colston (the nephew who predeceased his undo) was, in 
1707, made free of the city of Wells and of the Wool- 
combers' Company, and that under the date 27th June, 
1709, he found this entry also in the archives of tiiat 
» Tovey's Life of Edward Colston, 121-24. 



city: — ''At this convocation it was put to the vote of 
this house (Mr. Colston, sen., being now at Bristol) 
whether the thanks of this house for his late great 
charity and benefactions to this city should be sent to 
him thither, and at the same time to give him an invita- 
tion to this city, and also to give him the offer of being 
made a freeman and burgess thereof or not, and it passed 
in the affiimatire ; and at the same time this house made 
their request to Mr. Becorder to make a journey to 
Bristol for the purpose abovesaid, and promised to re- 
imburse him the charge and expense thereof." Mr. 
Serel added: — ^There is no record of what this ''great 
charity and benefaction" was, nor although he had 
written to IfoUs and Quertee, and sought information 
elsewhere, had he been able to discover. 

It is a fact, we believe, without precedent, that six 
different societies have been formed in this city of 
Bristol, comprising all ranks, conditions and denomina- 
tions of men, to commemorate the memory and work of 
this servant of Gh>d : — The Oolston Society, established 
November 2nd, 1726; the Dolphin, 1749; the Grateful, 
1758 ; the Anchor, 1768 ; and the Oolston Fraternal 
Association, 1862. [See Eoglbsiastical Histobt, 103.] 

We have dwelt somewhat at length on this subject 
because it is one dear to the heart of Bristolians, fragrant 
and evergreen as each November month recurs. We 
know but of one instance in which political animosity 
even dared to try to soil the purity of character or the 
holiness of life of this ever to be honoured name, and it 
fell harmless, because it was a lie. That he had his 
faults is but to say he was human ; his early training, 
and the injustice and harshness of the Puritanic element 
that ruled Bristol during his youthful days, narrowed 
his character, and caused such a rebound that he was 
never able to see anything good in men who were averse 
on principle to an Established State Church. That, like 
many another great man^ he was somewhat dogmatic^ 
and liked to do good according to his own line of thought, 
our readers will have gathered ; but beyond these trivial 
shortcomings we have been unable to discover anything 
that is not noble, generous, and In the highest degree 
honourable — ^in short, his life is that of an educated, 
philanthropic. Christian gentleman. Those who wish 
to see extracts from his will may read them in Tovey's 
Life of Edward CohUm^ to which we have been largely 
indebted for the above particulars. 



CHAPTER XV. 



^ wiuiwrn im mw im (mm %vm- ^ 



I. How William and Mary succeeded to the Throne, Opposition thereto in Bristol. 2. Their 
Majesties Crowned. The Bill of Rights. The Nonjurors. The Tories in power. 3. James in Ireland. 
Mutiny of Soldiers in Bristol. Disputed Election. Quarrel between Lord Brandon Gerrard and Sir John 
Knight. 4. Sir John Knight's career in the House of Commons; his extraordinary speeches. 5, Settlement 
of French Huguenots in Bristol. Party squabbles in the city. 6. William lands in Kingroad, sleeps at 
Kingsweston, and treats the Mayor and Citizens with contempt. Letters of the time. Captain Price's 
adventure. Anecdote of R. Henley. 7. Incidents of the period. Cook's Folfy, Detention of two Bristol 
Ships. First Bristol Water Works, 8. Bank of England and the Land Bank founded. Old Moneys 
called in, New Coinage minted in Bristol, g. Penalties for growing Tobacco in Bristol, Local incidents. 
10. The Cathedral authorities and the Corporation at variance. The Coins minted in Bristol. 11. Strike 
of the Cooks. Death of Dame Pugslty, Seizure of a Bristol Ketch, etc. 12. Anne ascends the Throne, 
is proclaimed in Bristol; her visit to the city, its cost. Queen Anne's house; her second visit. 13. St. 
Werburgh, the aristocratic parish. Sir William Lewis, Mayor; his hobby. Incidents, Terrible tempest. 
The Theatre presented as a nuisance. 14. John Locke. Defoe in Bristol. Local incidents. 15. The Battle 
of Blenheim; rejoicings and address on account of it. Captain Gary originates the idea of a Poor Law 
Union. 16. The first Brass Manufactory. Refusals to become Members of the Common Council. Robinson 
Crusoe. 17. James Holledge, Mayor. Doctor Sacheverell, Sir Abraham Elton, Mayor. The last Bristol 
Charter. Presents of wine. 18. " Traitor's bridge " built. Interesting city items. The South Sea Dock 
built, now known as Sea Mills. Poetical description of Bristol. 19. Anthot^ Swymmer, Mayor. Gossip of 
the Lawyer's Clerks. A Bristol Lawyer becomes Earl of Westmoreland. Sundries, 20. Sacheverell again. 
The War with France. Gift Sermons. Municipal Portraits. The Corporation's Petition in favour of the 
Slave Trade. 



IEEE dajB after the departure of James 
n., William, Prince of Orange, who liad 
married Mary, the eldest daughter of that 
king, was, on 26th Deoember, 1688, in- 
vited to take upon lii'mifftH the adminietra- 
tioD of afiairs in England. On January 
32nd, 1689, vheu the Conventioa Parlia- 
ment met, tliere were great differences of 
opuiion; but they declared the throne vacant, and so 



frittered away the time in disputes as to the eucceasion, 
that William, who declined the appointment of regent, 
threatened he would leave the kingdom. Upon this the 
crown wae ofiered to him and his wife, on the condition 
of their acceptance of ttie Declaration of !Bight ; they 
consenting, the dvil list was fixed at £700,000, and 
tiieix majesties were proclaimed in London on February 
13th and in Bristol on February 18th, 1689. 

The strife, however, was by no means ended, for 



140 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A«D. 1689. 



Dundee in Scotland, the Lord-Deputy Tyroonnell in 
Ireland, each with a large following, as well as the 
great mass of the country clergy and the cavaliers in 
England, were Jacobites (as the partisans of James 
were now called) to the backbone. The former swept 
Mackay's regiments to death in the glen of Killiecrankie, 
but perished himself in the moment of victory; the Lord- 
Deputy called the Catholic Lish to arms under the flag 
" Now or Never," which he flaunted over Dublin castle, 
the plunder and massacre of Protestants was promised 
them for their reward; whilst the English Jacobites only 
lacked a leader, who possessed means and talent to make 
them formidable. William aimed at accomplishing three 
ecclesiastical changes ; such a relaxation of the terms of 
conformity as should comprehend the chief Dissenters ; 
the removal of religious tests ; and the passing a Tolera- 
tion Act. The ministers introduced a Comprehension 
Bill which would have dispensed with subscription to 
the articles and homilies, which were objected to by the 
Nonconformists, and the king strenuously supported the 
measure, but the attempt failed. In Bristol the opposi- 
tion to it was very bitter, whilst Sir John Knight, one 
of the members for the city, was its uncompromising 
opponent in the House. Few, indeed, but the Presby- 
terians gave it a cordial support. The Independents, 
Baptists and Quakers were united, with but few excep- 
tions; they could not accept a state-paid church, and 
many thoughtful politicians, although they favoured 
some national recognition of religion, were averse to 
giving an increase 'of power to a hierarchy which had 
almost invariably ranged itself on the side of arbitrary 
government. 

On the other hand the High Churchmen and the 
Jacobites, both lay and clerical, would make no conces- 
sion to schismatics. The king's attempt, on March 16th, 
to admit Dissenters to civil equality shared the fate of 
the Comprehension Bill. One hundred and thirty-nine 
years had to pass ere this act of simple justice was 
carried and the Test Act was repealed. The king, how- 
ever, managed so as to pass a Toleration Act on May 
14th, which, although not based on any broad abstract 
principle, yet so met the exigencies of the time, that 
very few Protestant Dissenters declined to avail them- 
selves of its provisions. 

2. On the 11th April, 1689, the king and queen were 
crowned. The mayor and corporation walked in pro- 
cession on that day in Bristol ; there is an item in the 
accounts of 10«. paid to a woman who strewed sweet 
herbs and flowers before them in their progress. The 
Cross in Market street was htmg with red kersey on 
the occasion, and was long known by the appellation 
of the Bed Cross in consequence* The Declaration of 



Bights was made the Bill of Bights, and was passed on 
December 16th. By this Act the right of the people to 
depose an unworthy king and to set on the throne one 
of their own choice was established, and all claim of 
divine right, or of hereditary right independent of the 
law, was put an end to. The Jacobites who held office 
in church or state were required as. public functionaries 
to take the oath of allegiance, and to a large extent they 
bowed to necessity. But Archbishop Sancroft, with a 
few other prelates, and a number of the higher clergy, 
refused to take the oath, treated all who did take it as 
schismatics, and when they were deprived of their bene- 
fices, &c., by Act of Parliament they proclaimed them- 
selves (the non- jurors) to be the only true members of 
the Church of England. The state church suffered as 
much, nay more, by this schism in her body than she 
has done by all the assaults of those outside her pale. 

Whigs and Tories had been united in effecting the 
Bevolution, and in office, as ministers of the Crown, 
the former were by far the more numerous body in the 
House. Most injudiciously they now sought to punish 
the men who in the former reigns had made them suffer, 
and they refused to pass a Bill of General Indemnity 
which the king laid before them. So the Parliament 
was dissolved in February, 1690 ; and the king, under 
the title of '' An Act of Grace " in his own name, issued 
a general pardon, and placed the administration in the 
hands of a coalition, with Danby, a Tory, at its head as 
lord-president. 

3. On March 20th, 1 690, a new Parliament assembled 
in which the Tories had a considerable majority, and on 
the 12th of that month James, with a convoy of twenty- 
five French men-of-war, had sailed for Ireland, where he 
landed on the 14th at Eansale, and, at the head of an 
Irish and French force, marched against the Protestants 
in the north. William prepared to send troops thither. 
On 27th April two regiments came to Bristol to embark, 
but August was advanced before the English army at- 
tained any sufficient proportion for its work. The raw, 
undisciplined levies were difficult to handle, the more so 
as they were without pay, and having no legal existence 
were not liable to military punishments for military 
offences. Moreover, the power of billeting the soldiers 
in private houses had been abolished by law. Colonel 
Foukes' regiment had come to Bristol on April 10th to 
be shipped to Ireland. On being drawn up in College 
green the grenadiers refused to take up their arms 
until they had their pay ; three shillings per man was 
then doled out to them as part of their arrears; still 
they were contumacious; an appeal to the civil law 
would have been a cause of delay, and probably in- 
efficient, so the officers made a law with their swords, 



SIR JOHN KNIGHT. 



ontting down several, and tlireatenrng^ to bang one of 
the ringleadera, whereupon the men Hubmitted and were 
embarked, Colonel Tobnareh's regiment taking ship at 
the same time. This diiEculty of enforcing discipline in- 
duced the Parliament, in December, to pass the Mutiny 
Act, by which the requisite powera were conferred upon 
the officers and provision was made for the pay of the 
troops. The Uutiny Act and the grant of Supply are 
still annual grants; 
which necessitate 
the assemblage of 
Parliament every 
year. Thus the 
greatest change in 
our constitution, 
which removed 
power from the 
irresponsible hand 
of the monarch to 
the responsible re- 
presentatives of 
the people, was 
brought about in 
an indirect but per- 
fectly efBcient way. 

At midnight on 
Ifarch 3rd, and 
again on October 
7th, smart shocks 
of earthquakes 
were felt in Bristol. 

Arthur Hart, 
merchant, was 
mayor in 1689, 
and John Bubb, 
mercer, and John 
Blackwell, vintner, 
were the sheriffs. 
To these succeeded 
Sir John EJiight, 
who had been 
knighted when 
sheriff in 1681, and 
whose name will 

have become familiar to our readers. In the bitter 
oontentions in Bristol, in 1688, he and Sir Bobert Hart 
had been returned to the Convention Parliament by 
the sheriffs ; but W. Fowlett, the recorder, and Bobert 
Yate, the unsuccessful candidates, petitioned against the 
return, on the ground "that the sheriffs had employed 
unjust means, by admitting men who had no right to 
poll and rejecting others who, being on the register. 



would have polled for the petitioners." ' On November 
4th we find Sir John complaining, as a member of this 
House, that the Lord Brandon Qerrard, another member, 
had, at a committee on Saturday last, given Mm some 
threatening language. Lord Oerrard, not being in the 
House, the serjeant-at-arms was ordered to give him 
notice to attend in hia place upon Thursday morning 
next to answer to the matter of this complaint. Enight 
was an active mem- 
ber on many oom- 
mittees. In March, 
1688, we find his 
nameona bill "for 
removing Papists 
ten miles from Lon- 
don and Westmin- 
ster;" on another 
for preventing the 
export of wool; an- 
other "for abolish- 
ing hearth money 
as a source of 
revenue ; " another 
for "enquiry into 
simony and pro- 
motions in the 
Church." On April 
Ist his name stands 
first on the com- 
mittee for "repeal- 
ing the Act for 
governing corpora- 
tions." The House 
decided that no one 
be admitted to any 
place in the magis- 
tracy unless he 
have within twelve 
months before re- 
ceived the Sacra- 
ment according to 
the Church of Eng- 
„. ^. . land. In May, 1689, 

Peter SIrtet. ' ' ' 

he took an active 
part in the committee which charged the late Lord 
JaBteyi^ manors of Dolby and Broughton with repay- 
ment of £15,000 and interest, which had been extorted 
hy that unjust judge from Edward Frideauz, of Ford 
abbey, Devon, under pretence that he had been cog- 
nisant of Monmouth's attempt and had rendered him 
assistance. 

' Honse of ConunoDi' Joumkl, X., 3CZ. 



142 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1690. 



4. On February 6th, 1690, as we have seen, William 
indignantly dissolved the Convention Parliament; but 
Sir Bobert Hart and Sir John Knight were re-elected 
in March, 1690. Sir John being at that time mayor of 
the city, the House of Commons allowed him to return 
a mandamus directed to himself. Both members voted 
against William and Mary being chosen Mng and queen. 
During his mayoralty Newgate was re-built, and paid 
for by a taz on the inhabitants of sixpence in the pound. 
As the cost was £1,600, it follows that the rateable value 
of the city was only £64,000. The may6r also raised a 
wall around the Hotwell spring to keep out the tidal 
water of the river. In 1692 Knight presented a petition 
from the Master Wardens and Company of Pinmakers, 
Bristol, against the monopoly of the pinmakers of 
London. Sir John hated Popery and Dissenters, but 
he had not one grain of love for foreigners ; he was a 
Jacobite at heart, although he would not become a non- 
juror. 

1690. October 9th. — Sir John Knight, the mayor, 
<< desired to report to the council on which days and 
how often it will be fit for the house to attend the Word 
[go to church], it being observed to be less frequent at 
their attendance, which occasions total neglect almost." 
A choice specimen of civic grammar this. Though a 
shrewd man of business, he was unable to write a 
sensible note. 

1684. ''Sir John Knight presents his compliments 
to Sir Bichard Crumpe, and have a hat which are not 
mine. If you has a hat which are not youm, probably 
it are the missing one." ^ 

The dedication of Kingston's 8&rm<m (published in 
1682-3) to Thomas Eston, mayor. Sir John Knight, jun.. 
Sir Eobert Cann, Sir E. Teamans, Sir B. Crump, Alder- 
men Hicks and Oliff, and Messrs. Hart and Comb, 
sheriffs, adds another proof of Sir John's uncompro- 
mising opposition to Popery. He was also an English- 
man of the old school, with an immense hatred of 
foreigners; hence his opposition to the bill ''for the 
naturalisation of such Protestants as shall take oaths to 
their majesties and the test against Popery." This bill 
was bitterly opposed in the House, Sir John taking an 
active part and being one of the tellers in several divi- 
sions thereon. On the third reading, on January 4th, 
1693, it was lost, the yeas being 101, the noes 142 — 
majority, 31. It was against this bill that he is said to 
have made the rabid speech [given at 145-6 of our 
EooLESiASTiOAL Histoey], which so delighted his party 
that they had it printed and circulated all over the 
country. We give a sample, which will more than 
suffice : — 

^ KemysMS. 



Mr. Speaker, — ^This nation is a religiouB, jnst and jealooa 
nation, who in some of their fits and seal have not only quarrelled 
and fought for the same, but have murdered and deposed kings, 
nobles, bishops and priests for the sake of their religion and liber- 
ties, which they pretend to prove from the Bible. We are the 
religious representatives of this religious people ; let us therefore 
learn instruction from the case before us, from that great book 
where we may be informed that St. Paul, being bom free of heathen 
Rome, escaped a whipping, and valued and pleaded that privilege. 

He continues in an irreverent, obscure, wandering strain 
for some length, and thus sarcastically concludes : — 

Sir, I perceive some gentlemen are uneasy; perhaps I have 
offended them in supposing that they are religious representatives, 
or concluding that their religion is from the Bible. If it be that 
which displeaseth I beg their pardon, and promise not to offend 
again on that score, and conclude all with this motion : — "That 
the sergeant be commanded to open the doors, and let us first kick 
the bill out of the House and then foreigners out of the kingdom." 

In 1744, fifty years afterwards, the House, being 
unwilling to tolerate the presence of so disgraceful a 
memento of the past, ordered : — 

That the said speech contained false and scandalous and 
seditious expressions and reflections, and that it be burnt by the 
hangman, the sergeant-at-arms to attend in the Palace yard to see 
this order executed. 

We learn from the Archives that Sir John was in his 
old age reduced to great poverty, and that oh December 
15th, 1717, he petitioned the council — ''That by the 
unnatural conduct of his only son he was reduced to 
great necessity and want, that he and his relations had 
been the chief officers of the city, and prayed the chari- 
table assistance of the house." Twenty pounds were 
unanimously voted him, and a similar amount in June, 
1722. From this we should think it probable that he 
was related to Mr. John Knight, mayor in 1670. Sir 
John was a member of the Merchants' hall, and on his 
petition, previous to his application to that society, 
they, with their accustomed liberality, granted him a 
pension of £20. After Sir John's decease his daughter 
Ann petitioned the house, stating that '' her father left 
her in a very poor and mean condition, and that she 
was imable to support herself by reason of an infirmity 
in her eyes, and was in great want." Twelve pounds 
per annum was voted her. 

5. It was but a vain attempt of Sir John and his 
friends to stem the tide ; England was daily becoming 
more cosmopolitan, and in less than two years from the 
delivery of the speech we have quoted we find the head 
of a family, a French Protestant merchant, naturalised 
in Bristol, a man who took an active and intelligent part 
in civic affairs, and one of whose descendants became a 
large benefactress to the city. 

1695. September 22nd. — ^Edward Arundely Esq., 
mayor, solicited that " the freedom of this cily be con- 



A.i>. 1690. 



HUGUENOTS IN BRISTOL. 



143 



ferred on Stephen Feloquin, merchant, a French Pro- 
testant, a denizen of this kingdom and an inhabitant of 
this city, it being a privilege allowed to the mayor for 
the time being. Carried unanimously." Many of the 
French refugees who escaped to this coimtry on the 
revocation of the edict of Nantes settled in this city, 
under the Act passed for the naturalisation of foreigners. 
Fourteen years later we find on "May 4th, 1709, — The 
following French refugees produced certificates of their 
having received the sacrament in the French church of 
Bristol, under the hands of Jeremy Ticknell, minister 
here, and took the oaths and subscribed the declaration 
directed by law for the naturalisation of foreigners." 

1709. July 7th. — Mr. Mayor laid before the House 
a letter he received from the Privy Council, dated 29th 
Jime: — 

Whereas her majesty of her generous and seasonable bounty 
hath hitherto subsisted several thousand Germans of the Protes- 
tant religion, who, being oppressed and ruined by the great exac- 
tions of the French on the frontiers, and otherwise distressed on 
account of their religion, hath fled for refuge into this kingdom, 
and hath also out of a deep sense of their distressed condition 
ordered a general collection of the charitable benevolence of all 
her loving subjects within the whole kingdom of Great Britain for 
their present relief and settlement. To the end, therefore, that 
they may be the sooner put in a way of exercising their industry 
for the support of themselves and families here, and may become 
useful to the kingdom by their labour in their re8X)ective capacities, 
we have thought fit by her majesty's special command, and do 
heartily recommend it to you and the chief magistrates within 
your jurisdiction, to meet together and consider of the best ways 
and method for disposing of any number of the said distressed 
Protestants within your jurisdiction in such manner that they 
may be enabled by their labour and industry the better to con- 
tribute towards the support of themselves and families; and by 
your own example invite and encourage your neighbours to afiford 
them all countenance and assistance as there shall be occasion, and 
of your proceedings herein from time to time to return an account 
to the board. And so not doubting of your more than ordinary 
care and seal in so charitable a work, and so very acceptable to 
her majesty, we bid you heartily farewelL 

From the Council at St. James's, the 29th day of June, 1709. 

Tour loving friends, 

cowpeb, c. somkrs, p. c. 

Dorchester. Jas. Vernon. 

Radnor. Debbt. 

J. Trevor. J. Holt. 

The consideration of this letter was left to a committee, . 
which was '' to inspect the present condition of the ciiy 
and to make report nnto the next House," resulting in 
a rather curt reply from Mr. Mayor : — 

Bristol, 9th July, 1709. 
On receipt of your lordships' of the 29th of the last month, I 
summoned the common council of this city to meet, which they 
did on Monday last, when I laid before them your letter, on read- 
ing which it was unanimously agreed that each member should 
inspect their several divisions and try how far we are able to com- 
ply with her majesty's most pious and generous intentions of 



subsisting some of these distressed Protestants now fled to this 
kingdom for refuge, and that they should this day make their 
report. Accordingly this morning they met and read their several 
reports, the substance of which is : — ^That the limits of our county 
extending yery little beyond the city walls, we have no such thing 
as husbandry within our jurisdiction ; that we have no manufac- 
tories here, saving the making of pantaloons and woollen stufEs, 
which trade for three or four years past is so &r decayed and lost 
that the great number of French refugees, and our own people 
who were employed therein, are by that means and the deamess of 
provisions grown so poor that many hundreds for want of employ- 
ment have lately become chaigeable ; and that the trade of this 
city consisting wholly of merchandise, shop-keeping, and naviga- 
tion, we are not capable of making any provision for these poor 
sufferers. I am heartily sorry we cannot better answer your lord- 
ships' demands, but though it is not at present in our power to find 
employment for them, yet every one of our body will not fail to 
encourage our fellow-citizens to contribute their utmost for their 
present relief. 

I am, as in duty bound, 
Tour lordships' most obedient humble servant, 

Jas. Hollbdgb, Mayor. 

To the Right Honourable Lords of Her Majesty's Privy Council. 

The use of St. Mark's church as a place of worship 
was allowed the refugees until 1721, when it was fitted 
up especially for the use of the mayor and corporation. 
In 1726 they obtained a grant of land in the Hospital 
orchard for building a ''place of worship." Also on 
petition praying for assistance, ''finding their calcula- 
tion of the expense very deficient," the corporation 
voted them £50, to be paid Mr. Lewis Casamajor. In 
1727 the Society of Merchant Venturers voted their 
minister and churchwardens £50 towards furnishing 
their chapel, in consideration of which they were to 
provide " a good pew for the use of any member of the 
society who should desire to attend service there." 

We now return to the local politics of 1680-90, and 
from the following letters, and remembering that the 
members for the city had strenuously opposed the con- 
ferring of the crown upon their * majesties, and had 
opposed consistently but strongly the king's measures 
in the House of Commons, we shall be better able to 
understand the contemptuous treatment of the second 
city in the kingdom by William m. on his return from 
Ireland in September, 1690. Ths TriMof Sir Thomaa 
JEarU gives the following picture of the time : — " Much 
heats and contentions degraded the chamber at this period 
and engendered continual squabblings and burnings." 

The committee appointed to enquire into the indigni- 
ties and affronts offered to the whole .government of the 
city, especially to Mr. Mayor, 2nd October, 1690, report 
that "Sir Thomas Earl had been the principal supporter 
thereof." 

Ist. — That the said Sir Thomas Earl, out of a malicious and 
evil mind, purposely intending to bring the mayor and other good 
citizens under their majesties' displeasure, did contrive and write 



144 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1690. 



» letter nnto the Earl of Shrewsbury, when principal secretary of 
state to their majesties, dated Bristol, 17th February, 16S9 :— 

Right Honble. — I did not presume to give your lordship any 
trouble upon the information sent you about the French pass found 
in the mate's or one of the men's chests of the ElUnor, because 
the confession of the parties made the whole truth appear for that 
neither the master nor myself were privy to it, but being advised 
that our mayor (Arthur Hart) would insinuate that the ship was 
bound to France with bulletts, I am obliged in all humility to 
assure yr lordship they are false suggestions, and that the ship 
with most of her lading is mine, and bound directly for Bilbao, 
and consigned to my own sons who are factors there, for whose 
sake I drive noe other trade ; nor have I these thirty years sent 
any adventure to France. And all other endeavours having failed. 
Sir John Knight is turned affidavitman himself, and the mayor, 
who holds the same principalis, hath gott a lewd fellow to swear 
to something that I believe was taught him here, and if any regard 
he gives to such ridiculous information yr lordship will find trouble 
enough whilst this man is mayor, for their whole party being 
known to be most zealous Jacobites will endeavour to cover the 
same by aspersing those who they most mortally hate for their 
most timely appearing and faithful asserting the present Qovem- 
ment. And the project was designed to baffle the election of 
members here. What I have to reccomend your lordship is, that 
most of the goods are perishable ; desiring your lordship's direc- 
tions for their clearing, being still in the hands of the officers and 
much damified, I shall labour to aprove myself yr lordship's most 
grateful and obedient servant. 

"The committee, taking into consideration these gross foul 
charges laid against the mayor, did inform themselves of the 
reasons in agitating Sir Thomas Earl to write so scandalous a 
letter. 

** That the 8th February, 1689, two custom-house officers had 
voluntary before the mayor deposed on oath to seizing a French 
pass which was found in the chest of the mate on board the ship 
ElUnor, who upon examination confessed to having been sent by 
Sir Thomas Earl to one Mr. William Storker (who shipped him 
as mate), from whom he received the French pass." 

Another party "made information that, being in company 
with several seamen lately come from France, they declared that 
they saw two vessels with lead on account of merchandise for sale, 
and it was reported that the ships were sent thither by one Storker 
and Earl of Bristol" 

In taking the information and committing Storker, the 
magifitrates were publicly affronted by Sir Thomas Earl, 
** who averred the commitment was illegal, and refused 
to sign the same, although as an alderman he had 
assisted in taking the examination. Sir Thomas Earl, 
followed by a violent and tumultuous mob, rushed into 
the Tolzey and insolently menaced the mayor and alder- 
men for letting to bail one Moor, who had been com- 
mitted for seditious words, which clamour of his was so 
much countenanced and abetted by many of those who 
came along with the said Sir Thomas Earl for that pur- 
pose that the mayor and aldermen were in great appre- 
- hension for their safety, and had that influence upon 
them that they were forced to comply and order the 
person to be again taken into custody against their 
judgment." 

The committee further fotmd that the French pass 



could not influence the election for Parliament, for there 
was no advice at that time that Parliament was dissolved. 
The committee likewise And that — 

Sir Thomas Earl and other members of the common oouncell 
in their militairy capacity as deputy-lieutenants did oome into the 
councell house and did there demand the oommon oounoell books 
to be produced to the Right Honorable the Earl of Macclesfield, 
lord-lieutenant of this county, on purpose to bring an accusation 
against the maior, to prie into the secrets of this eitty, and to reflect 
on the government thereof, &c., to arraigne the proceedings of the 
maior and common councell before persons who had neither cogni- 
zance of nor judication in the matter contrary to their duty, the 
law, and oathes of common councell men. 

Upon the whole matter the committee are of opinion that 
the insollencies and indignities offered to the maior and whole 
government of the citty, being of soe high a nature that they 
should decline comeing to any detirmination therein, but refer itt 
to the consideration of the whole house to justifie the maior and 
government of this citty by punishing of what is past and to 
ordaine bylaws for the prevention of the like for the future. 

Sir Thomas Earl's answer was deferred to the 1st of 
October, when he produced ** a paper in writing which 
he desired to be his answer to the charge that was put 
in against him." The question was put whether the 
answer in writing should be accepted, or whether Sir 
Thomas Earl should stand up and make his answer in 
his place. It was carried that the paper should not be 
accepted. The first article being read, he was asked 
''whether he writ a letter to the Earl of Shrewsbury 
whereof the contents of the first article was a part." 

Sir Thomas Earl, after having the question put to 
him several times, refused to answer unless the original 
letter was produced. To the second and third articles 
he made brief replies, and was then ordered to wi&draw 
while the house entered into debate of the matter about 
him, after which the question was put whether he was 
guilty of each separate article, and a majority decided 
that he was guilty, there being only three negatives to 
the second article and four to the third, whereupon it 
was carried in the affirmative that he should be expelled 
and removed from being a member of the common 
council from henceforth. But the business was not 
terminated. Sir Thomas protested against the decision 
of a ** nest of Jacobites." In November the new mayor 
(Sir John Knight) acquainted the house that he had 
been served with a mandamus in the case of Sir Thomas 
Earl, and spoke of '' obtaining the advice of counsel to 
justify the course the chamber had taken." Mr. Yate, 
upon debate of this matter, did say, ''the goe out of 
Sir Thomas Earle, and that what the house did then was 
an idle thing." Mr. Yate desired the pardon of the 
house for that rash saying, which was granted to him. 
The proceedings of the house to be justified. In the fol- 
lowing February, however. Sir John Knight's tone had 
greatly moderated ; he informed the house that he had 



A.D. 1690. 



THE KING LANDS IN KING ROAD. 



145 



been served with a writ from the court of King's Bench, 
requiring ''that Sir Thomas Earle, being formerly re- 
moved from the common council of this cittj, may be 
restored to the same place he was before." Mr. Mayor 
added, ** that he knew not how to intermeddle therewith 
lest he might infringe the liberties of the House of 
Commons, of which he was a member, and leaves the 
chamber at liberty to do therein as they thought fit. 
Thereupon the chamber ordered Sir Thomas Earle to be 
restored in obedience to the writ, and that he might 
have notice and summons accordingly for the future." 

Sir Thomas Earl was a merchant, apprenticed to 
Alderman Brown. He married Eleanor, daughter of 
Joseph Jackson. In 1681 he filled the civic dignity, 
when he was knighted by Charles II.; in the same 
year was elected M.P. for the city; March, 1691, took 
his seat as an alderman. In St. Werburgh's church 
were some obituary memorials of the family, with the 
following : — 

Here also lyeth the body of Sir Thomas Earle, knt., aometime 
mayor and alderman of this citty, who departed this life the 
24th June, 1696. Aged 67 years. 

Dame Eleanor Earle, widow of Sir Thomas Earle, aged 74, died 
7th June, 1709. 

Sir Thomas had two sons, Giles and Joseph ; Giles 
was one of the lords of the treasury in 1739; Joseph 
was a merchant. 

6. William, having by the battle of the Boyne, July 
Ist, 1690, crushed the hopes of James and extinguished 
the aspirations of his party, embarked at Waterford, Sep- 
tember dth, on his return to this kingdom. On the 6th, 
accompanied by Prince George of Denmark, he landed 
at King^oad, and that night lodged at Eling^weston, the 
residence of Sir Bobert Southwell, his majesty's principal 
secretary of state, one of the companions of his voyage ; 
next day, being Sunday, multitudes of people went to 
see him; but the king, riding in one of the Duke of 
Beaufort's coaches (being obliged to come through 
Bristol, the only road to Badminton being over Durd- 
ham down, thence St. Michael's hill and Steep street), 
passed through Bristol without stopping. The mayor, 
Mr. Arthur Hart, and the aldermen had received him 
at Frome gate, and they walked before him bareheaded 
and in their scarlet gowns until he left the city by Law- 
ford's gate. Be it remembered that the g^eat majority 
of the chamber at that time were Jacobite in their pro- 
clivities, and that the strife with Sir Thomas Earl, which 
had lasted six months, was at its height, and it was well 
known to the king that Earl and Sir Bobert Southwell 
were also at variance, and our readers will at once see 
the unpleasant complication of affairs between the king 
and the corporation. There were, indeed, not a few 
[Vol. m.] 



men who cared not to serve in the common council. 
Mr. Humphrey Corsley, refusing this very year, was 
disfranchised ; whilst John Whiting was fined £300 for 
refusing to serve, and, not paying the money, was sent to 
Newgate, for which he brought an action against the 
chamber for false imprisonment. The matter was com- 
promised eventually on his giving a release to bar all 
past and future suits. The disinclination to serve still 
continuing, in 1721 a committee was appointed to coerce 
defaulters into obedience under penalty, but it seems to 
have been ineffectual. 

''I protest against all money paid to Parliament 
men," said Sir Hobert Tate. This was in February, 
1690-1 ; nevertheless Sir Bichart Hart was paid the 
usual wages or salary paid to former members, viz., 
£98 13«. ^d. Sir John Knight received £94 6«. Sd., but 
on December 1st, 1691, it was ordered ''for the time to 
come no more wages be paid to any members of Parlia- 
ment for this ciiy out of the said chamber." On August 
26th, 1695, it was moved, ''whether the salary or wages 
of our members of Parliament for the time they have 
already served be paid out of this chamber ; carried in 
the affirmative, that they shall be paid for the time they 
have already served, and then to cease being paid by 
the chamber." 

We copy here some interesting notices from the 
Southwell papers. The humble petition of Edmund 
Beddiche, of Bristol, ironmonger, to the House of Lords, 
relative to an agreement with my Lord Stourton's servant 
for wine and brandy. Letters in Cardonnel's hand to 
Mr. Henley, describing Blathwaite's inconsolable grief 
for the loss of his wife, 1690; there were also twenty- 
three letters of Mr. Bobert Henley, magistrate at Bristol, 
1690. Henley was a decided Whig, and took part in 
Monmouth's rebellion, from the results of . which he 
escaped as by a miracle. These letters are addressed to 
Sir Bobert, as principal secretary of state attending his 
majesty in Ireland, and they detail many particulars of 
great interest in the annals of this momentous period 
of English history. One letter, June 21st, 1690, replies 
to Sir Bobert's intimation of the safe landing of William 
at Carrickfergus. " 'Tis here (Bristol) entertained with 
great joy by those that wish well to him and the Govern- 
ment who set the bells ringing, where they had the 
command of them. My neighbour said the next news 
we have will be that he has fought with his father." 
He sends particulars of the amount, &c., of the Customs 
at Bristol, and says fears are entertained in Bristol on 
account of the tidings of the appearance of the French 
fleet of no sail. The letter of June 28th says:— "In 
Gloucestershire the beacons near Painswick and several 
other places were cut down on Wednesday sen'night in 

F 3 



146 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1690. 



the night; Mr. Eogers and some Papists thereabouts 
were very insolent the next day where thej met, and one 
parson here neglects to pray for his majesty's success in 
Ireland, yet enjoined to do so every Sunday." He sends 
also the jshipments made for the forces in Ireland, con- 
tracts, allusions to, and names of persons in and about 
Bristol, notices of the conduct of Sir Bobert's household 
at Kingsweston, &c. Also a letter of Major Butler, of 
Bristol, relative to the march of Brewer's reg^ent, 
December, 1691, and the names of ships, with particu- 
lars of their lading, which have been taken or are 
missing on the coast of Ireland and in the river Severn, 
belonging to Bristol. December, 1691, with letter, 
&c., signed by William Dains and Thomas Bichardson, 
wardens of the commonalty of Merchant Adventurers of 
Bristol. Copy of a commission granted by James to a 
privateer, the Sun frigate, 1692, taken on the rescue of 
the Lintle of Bristol, brought into Padstow. Petitions 
of the Socieiy of Merchant Adventurers and other trades 
in the city of Bristol. Extracts of some letters to Mr. 
Mason, of Bristol, about ships taken in 1693. Particu- 
lars of the Bristol shipping detained at Nantz. Various 
letters and papers relative to the shipping at Bristol. 
Amongst them we find one containing a curious notice 
of Captain Price, of whom there are many letters 
among the collection : — '^ The town empty and nothing 
worth notice, when in the morning betimes notice was 
brought me of Captain Price's arrival and of a g^eat 
misfortune that befell him. Coming up to London 
bridge at high water, about one o'clock in the night, 
his boate run against one of the arches, and turning the 
other end against another of the arches, presently over- 
set, from which accident three of his men and two 
passengers that came over with him were drowned, and 
he was himself taken up at the third rising for dead. 
Ten thousand pounds' worth of gold was cast upon the 
arches, which was all saved, and I heare that the captain 
is like to do well. One told me that was with Mr. 
Burchett, one of the secretaries of the Admiraltee, that 
he said hereupon, ' It was a pity that the captain was 
saved, for that he was a blockhead and good for 
nothing.' " 

This Bobert Henley was not the man who after- 
wards became Earl of Northing^n and lord chancellor, 
and of whom the following interesting story is told : — 
''In a trial at Bristol, he had to examine a witness 
on the opposite side named Beeve, a merchant of that 
city. Mr. Beeve, being offended with the lawyer's 
speech, sent for Mr. Henley, while dining at the * White 
Hart,' to speak to a gentleman in an adjoining room, 
when he immediately locked the door, demanding instant 
satisfaction with swords or pistols, or an apology. Mr. 



Henley pleaded that his language was only that in 
common use at the bar, and had not meant to give the 
least offence ; but, if undesignedly he had offended him, 
he would beg his pardon before the other lawyers in 
the next room. No further notice was taken till after 
some years when Henley had become lord chancellor; 
he then wrote to Mr. Beeve, asking him to pay duiy 
and freightage on a couple of pipes of Madeira, con- 
signed to him on board a ship bound for that port. If 
he would do this, and cause it to be sent to the Grange, 
he would take the earliest opportunity of defraying all 
expenses and would be infinitely obliged. All was done 
as desired, and during the winter following Mr. Beeve 
dined in London with the lord chancellor and several of 
the nobility and gentry, when, with great good humour, 
his lordship related to all the whole story of his ac- 
quaintanceship with Beeve." * Henley was bom in 1 708 ; 
married an heiress in Bath; became member for that 
city in 1747; attorney-general, 1756; lord chancellor, 
1757. He was son to Sir Arthur Henley, of Henley, 
Somerset. 

7. In 1690, Alexander Mackenzie was ordered to 
stand in the pillory on Saturday next an hour, and to 
be fined ten marks for uttering sedition ; Joseph Topp 
to stand in the pillory one hour on Saturday next, at 
eleven o'clock, and for the same space on the Wednesday 
following, for speaking seditious words. ' ' Bristol bird's- 
eye " is not a thing of yesterday ; from its intimate con- 
nection with the Colonies, Bristol carried on an extensive 
trade with them and with the West Indies, and tobacco 
had become an article of g^eat demand. Sir John 
Duddlestone was a large importer and manufacturer. 

This year the Tolzey, adjoining the church in 
Thomas street, was finished. Newgate prison was re- 
built in 1691 [see illustration, I., 157]. 

One of the choicest legends treasured in our local 
histories appears to have had its origin about this time. 
On a spur of the high plateau known as Durdham down, 
on the south-west, projecting over the river, stands an 
ivy-covered stone tower (to which in modem days a 
handsome residence has been attached) ; it bears on its 
lintel the inscription, "I. Cook, 1693," and was probably 
built by J. Cook, merchant, sheriff in 1672. The story 
is as follows : — 

On the Bumniit of the hill beyond Sneyd park, jast abov^e the 
spot where the carboniferons system joins the old red sandstone, 
and the hill begins to drop away towards the Severn valley, there 
stands a round ivy-clad tower, conspicuous for its position, and 
forming the central point in a most exquisite circle of landscapes. 
The legend runs that the wife of Sir Maurice Cook, the owner 
of extensive estates in the neighbourhood, whilst walking one 
evening in the domain, she being then eneiente, was accosted by a 

^ Tovey's Local Jottings. 



COOK'S FOLLY. 



■trauge-lookiiig man, who peatenxl her for ftlmi. She gftve him a 
coin, Mying, "ThAt will bqy jon food for the preunt." He im- 
portnned her for a larger gift, profeeiing to bo an aatrologer, to 
whom th« haaveni were as familiar as a horn-book, and able nn- 
eningly to read bvmaii dertiniea. Hii importonity', oombioad 
with her natnral cniioai^, prevailed ; the gave him the nouey 
required, and aiked him to predict the fate of her firat bnt nnboni 
child, " Note the precise moment when it enters the world, and 
soon after you shall see me again." Within a week the babe was 
bom. The stranger duly appeared, learned the required facta, 
and next day presented the glad father with a scroll oontoining 
the following words : — 

" Twenty times shall Avon's tide 
In ol1^^ i ^ 1l ^ of gUateiiing ice be tied — 
Twenty times the woods of Leigh 
Shall wave their branches merrily, 
In Spring bnrst forth in mantle gay. 
And dance in Summer's scorching ray ; 
Twenty times shall Antnmn's frown 
Wither all their green to brown — 
And still the child of yesterday 
Shall langh the happy boon away. 
That period past, another Sun 
Shall Qot hia annual journey run. 
Before a silent secret foe 
Shall strike that boy a deadly blow. 
Such and rare bis fate shall be. 
Seek not to change his destiny." 

The father read it with a shndder. Men held astrology to be 
an nnerring science, and how could he fight against fate I He, 
however, like a wise and loring husband, concealed the drift of the 
horoscope from his wife, and quieted her by asserting the fellow to 
have been a gipsy impostor. , 

As the child grew in years and healthful beanty, the father's 
anzietiea increased with his passionate love of this which proved 
to be his only sod ; and before the lad reached his twentieth year 
Sir Maorice had caused to be constructed this ttntnge tower, into 
which no one could enter save by permiision of its teuant. 

When the fatal year was about to begin the father showed bis 
son the scroll, and entre«ted him to occupy the retreat (at which 
all beholden had wondered) until the year expired. The young 
man langhed at the prediction ; said he wonldn't lose a year's 
liberty and freedom for all the astrologers in the oniverse, Ac- 
Bat seeing' his father's anxiety, he yielded, and took np his resi- 
dence in his voluntary prison, which wsa made as secure as stone 
and iron would allow. His meals were drawn np by him in a 
basket ; every luxury was snpplied. His mother was long since 
dead, but tbere were not many momenta of the day when eitber 
hi* sisters or bis father were not within sight or call. 

And BO the months rolled on until the eve of the last day of 
the fatal year drew on with darkling shadows. Father and sisters 
joined bim in a oboms of delighted anticipations of the morrow, 
and, ere they left, aaked it there was anything more they could do 
for him. "Nothing," said he; "yet a* the night feels chilly, 
and I have little fuel, send me np one more faggot. This is the 
last time that, like an old woman at the well, I shall have to dip 
and draw for my wants, thank Ood, for 'tis weary work to one's 
arm. Good night, father I Look at Mars, the star of my fate I 
See how he shines; all will be well." SirMaarice looked round; 
at that moment a dark ctond obscured the planet, and the father 
shuddered at the omen. 

He retired to his home. Sleep he could not ; ever and anon 
he cam» to the window to be cheered by the bright flickering of 
the firelight from the tower window. The morning dawned ; 



father and daughters hastened to welcome their loved one. 
"Walterr Walter!" the sisters cried. "Answer! This is a 
cmel jest." Sir Maurice stood silent and unmovable, after the 
one command to the servants, ' ' Fetch a ladder I " They did so ; 
one of the men mounted and looked in at the window, then turned 
with beaming face, "Master is fast asleep !" "Come down, man, 
he's dead !" in a freoEy burst out Sir Manrice, as he rushed to and 
mounted the ladder. Daahing into the room, there lay his son, 
de«d, with a serpent twined around his arm and his throat covered 
with blood. The reptile bad crept from the faggot last sent to 
him, and bad fiilfilled the prophesy. 

Such is the legend ; we have BommariBed it &om the 
earlieet edition known to us— one published apparently 
very early in ^b oentury. There is doubtlees as much 



of truth in it as is contained in most storieB of the kind. 
The probability is that John Cook, who was sheriff of 
Bristol in 1673, built a strong and Beonre building for 
temporary resort in one of the most lovely aites in an 
exquisitely beautiful neighbourhood ; that the singu- 
larity of its construction got for the building most 
naturally the name, "Cook's folly," and the rest ot 
the story grew out of the wondering minds of those 
who conld imagine no valid reason why a man should 
seclude himself from his f^ows, or dream of the en- 
joyment that could find solace in Nature, apart from 
the servile, bargaining bustle of a great city. 



148 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1694. 



We copy the following interesting itemB from the 
JSbtue of Commons' Journal : — 

A petition of several merchants of the city of Bristoll, owners of 
the ship Betty frigate, was presented to the house and read, setting 
forth that, in 1693, the petitioners built the said ship, and furnished 
her Mrith all warlike provisions, and obtained a commission from 
the Admiralty for making her a privateer. That afterwards her 
captain took a French ship loaden with fish, and sent the prize for 
Bristoll ; but, by contrary winds, was forced into Cork, in Ire- 
land, where she was stopped by Mr. Bedsford, agent for the prize 
office in Bngland, under pretence of securing his majesty's share, 
though she was not arrived at the place of discharge, for which 
the petitioners* correspondent there offered unquestionable secu- 
rity upon her arrival at Bristoll, that she might have the convoy 
of the England frigate, then bound for Bristoll ; but the said 
prize was stopped at Cork so long that the England frigate went 
away without her, and afterwards coming thence alone she was 
re-taken by the French, and so wholly lost to the petitioners, who 
applied themselves to the commissioners for prizes for reparation 
of their damages sustained by their detention, but can hitherto 
have no relief, and praying the consideration of the house in the 
premises. 

Resolved, — ** That the consideration of the said petition be 
referred to a committee, and that they do explain the matter, and 
report the same with their opinion therein to the house. Deten- 
tion allowed to have been illeg&l." 

Also 

A petition of several merchants of the city of Bristoll, owners 
of the ship Danhy gaily, waa presented to the house and read, 
setting forth that the petitioners, in 1692, built the said vessel, 
and furnished her with all warlike provisions, and applied them- 
selves to the Admiralty for a commission for her >?oing a privateer, 
but were denied it ; afterwards Horatio Townsend, lieutenant to 
the Marquis of Carmarthen, hired her into his majesty's service, 
and used her therein for several months, but the Navy Board 
denied any payment of her hire ; that afterwards the petitioners 
sent the said gaily to the Streights, on a trading voyage, and upon 
her arrival there made fresh application to the Admiralty for a 
privateer's commission, but were denied it because she was in a 
foreign port ; whereupon they procured a commission from the 
Duke of Savoy to keep to themselves whatever they should take 
of the French king's subjects, and accordingly the said ship took 
several prizes in the Archipelago ; but putting into livome port 
with her prizes was there stopped by Mr. Blackwell, the English 
consul, and agent for the prize office, for his majesty's fifth part, 
where they are still detained ; that Captaio Silcar, captain of his 
majesty's ship the TurVs Tyger, took by force from the com- 
mander of the petitioners' ship one of her prizes. That the peti- 
tioners have often applied themselves to the commissioners of the 
navy and prize office for damages, but can have no relief, which 
is to the great discouragement of privateering and loss of the 
petitioners, and praying the relief of the house in the premises. 

Ordered, — "That the consideration of the said petition be 
referred to the committee to whom the petition of several mer- 
chants of the city of Bristoll, owners of the Betty gaily, is referred, 
and that they do examine the matter thereof and report the same 
with their opinion therein to the house." 

In 1694 Frome gatehouse and gates were pulled 
down, St. James' poorhouse in Barr's street was built. 
Queen Mary died on December 28th of smaUpoz, in the 
sixth year of her reign, aged thirty- three. '* She was 



not buried until March 5th following, at which time 
'the high-cross was hung with mourning from top to 
bottom, and all the great bells in the city tolled three 
distinct hours, from nine to ten, from two to three, and 
from four to five o'clock.' 

" ' At the assizes in August, 1695, two colliers were 
hanged for a murder committed by them a year ago on 
a stranger behind St. James' church going up the hill.' 

" This year, 1695-6, began the great recoinage of silver money. 
The state of the silver coin for many years past had been miser- 
ably bad, being so reduced in size by clipping that some of it was 
only half ita value, ' sixteen shillings of it being weighed against 
one of King Charles's milled crowns and found wanting;' and 
the guinea commonly passed for thirty and thirty -one shillings, 
although the legal value was twenty-one shillings and sixpence. 
' In June last year a great discovery was made here in Bristol of 
clippers and coiners of money, and some were committed to New- 
gate and some were sent to Gloucester. One Mrs. Scarlett in 
particular was condemned at the last August assizes to be burned 
for this offence, but was reprieved, and afterwards made her 
escape.' These disorders in the coin occupied much of the at- 
tention of Parliament, for they produced very ill effects on all 
money transactions with foreign countries, particularly in the 
payment of the troops abroad, and produced serious discontents 
at home, much aggravated by the friends of the late king, who 
hated the present government. It was at last determined to re- 
coin all the silver money, and that the work might proceed the 
faster, mints were set up in Chester, York, Norwich, Bristol and 
Exeter, besides those in London. 'For this purpose the sugar- 
house behind St. Peter's church [now the hospital for the poor] 
waa fitted up, and on the 12th of September, 1696, they began to 
coin, and then the old coin \7as not allowed to pass unless the 
greater part of the letters were legible, except sixpences, which 
were allowed to pass if not dipt in the innermost ring. The 
mint allowed five shillings and eightpence per ounce paid in new 
coin for old money and for plate, great quantities of which latter 
were brought in. The work went on briskly; our mint coined 
£2,000 some weeks, and other mints after the same rate, so that 
new money came about sooner than was expected, and the guinea 
soon became current at twenty-two shillings. They coined here 
during 1696 and 1697, and then left off, having coined £450,000, 
all which money has the letter B under the head ; and then the 
house was purchased by the guardians of the poor, therein to 
employ the poor and youth of this city in spinning and weaving 
cotton ;' but the house is commonly called the Mint to this day. 
' In order to defray the expense of this coinage, a tax was laid on 
windows.' 

"In the month of July were uncommon rains, which con- 
tinued without ceasing from Thursday the 9th in the afternoon, 
until Sunday morning, causing so great a fresh in the rivers here 
that great quantities of hay were carried down and lost."^ 

This scheme of calling in the old clipped and ham- 
mered money originated with the celebrated John Locke, 
of Wrington. 

On February 5thy 1695; the first Bristol Water works 
company was formed under an Act of Parliament, Mr. 
Blake and Mr. Yates preparing the bill. The water was 
brought in pipes from the Avon at Hanham weir, where 
the ruins of the engine null still exist, to a reservoir on 

» Seyer, II., 544-5. 



A.D. 1695. 



FIRST BRISTOL WATER WORKS. 



149 



Lawrence hill. The companj purchased of the corpora- 
tion the right, title and privilege of supplying the 
inhabitants of Bristol with fresh water for two hundred 
years upon payment to the chamber of Bristol every 
seventh year of the sum of £166 ISs. 4d. The specu- 
lation soon failed, the freehold and leasehold lands of 
the company were sold, and ultimately the Bristol Dock 
company purchased Hanham mills, but not the right to 
supply the water. 

March 9th, 1695. — The chamber petitioned for leave 
to make the Avon navigable to Bath — it would be good 
for trade, and breed up watermen for sailors, &c., &c. 

''1695. William Bonny petitioned the House for 
liberty to have a printing-house in the city. After a 
long debate and consideration of the petition, it was the 
opinion of the House that the setting up of a printing- 
house within this city might be useful in several 
respects." 

On January 5ih in this year William Penn married 
Hannah, daughter of Thomas CallowhiU, merchant, of 
Bristol, after whom Penn and Callowhill streets were 
named. 

A tax on windows, at the rate of 4«. for ten, 8«. for 
twenty, was levied, in order to cover the deficiency in 
the clipped coinage; it was to continue seven years. 
The Corporation of the Poor was instituted under an 
Act of Parliament on the 12th of May, 1696. Their 
first meeting was held in the Guildhall, on May 19th. 
This year the Merchants built the western wing of their 
almshouse in King street. ''The Hotwell house erected, 
with the pump raising the water 30 feet, at the cost of 
Sir Thomas Day (mayor in 1694), Bobert Tate (mayor 
in 1693), Thomas Callowhill and other citizens; a lease 
having been granted for that purpose by the Society of 
Merchants, as lords of the manor, for ninety years, at 
£5 per annum. October 28th, 1696, a pamphlet entitled 
An Account of the Proceedings of the Commons in relation to 
the reeoining the dipt money y and falling the price of guineas^ 
was ordered to be burnt by the common hangman. The 
Land Bank, that had been established by Act of Parlia- 
ment last year, and was to have raised two millions and 
a half, did not produce anything, which reduced the 
Gk>vemment to very great straits. About this time bank 
notes were discounted at 20 per cent., and Gh)venmient 
tallies at 40, 50, and 60 per cent., which was no small 
inducement to the court to listen to proposals of peace ; 
nor were the French in a better condition, which made 
them equally pliable." ^ 

8. In 1694 a shrewd Scotchman, William Paterson, 
had founded the Bank of England, under a charter 
dated April 25th, which enabled the proprietors to 

^ Evans, 248. 



issue promissory notes, discount bills of exchange, to 
deal in bullion and foreign securities, and to act as 
pawnbrokers by lending money on goods as security; 
for this privilege they loaned on the security of a duty 
on tonnage £1,200,000 to the Oovemment. A ring 
was formed by the Lombard street money-lenders, and 
desperate attempts were made to rim the new bank ; it 
was declared to be a scheme to lend money to the 
Government, at any moment and to any extent, without 
the consent of Parliament. This charge was met by the 
insertion of a clause by which their charter was to be 
forfeited if they ever acted in such a way without the 
consent of the Parliament. In 1696 Chamberlain 
and Briscoe started the scheme of a Land Bank, which 
was foimded on the principle that because an estate 
was worth £20,000 at twenty years' purchase, it was 
worth that every twenty years, and could be immediately 
convertible at the same rate for any number of years. 
Unsound, but attractive to the landed gentry, who thus 
obtained g^eat accommodation and a fanciful accession 
of wealth, it found favour with William as a means of 
furnishing money for his wars. The Bank of England 
had only loaned £1,200,000 at 8 per cent., but the Land 
Bank undertook to advance him £2,500,000 at 7 per 
cent. The bill was ratified, and Parliament adjourned 
on one and the same day. The last day appointed for 
the payment of clipped coin into the treasury was the 
4th of May, 1696. As that time drew near there was 
a violent rush to pay in the old and get new coin, but 
although the mints at London, Bristol, York, Exeter 
and Norwich were working night and day, there was a 
great scarcity of currency; the notes of the Bank of 
England gave some relief, but there was not enough 
cash in circulation to carry on the business of the 
nation. Those who possessed the new milled money 
began to hoard it on the expectation of a rise in value ; 
great distress ensued; the Jacobites made their game 
and fostered the discontent; the bubble Land Bank 
burst, its shareholders being all borrowers instead of 
investors; the Gk)vemment demanded in vain from 
empty coffers the promised loan; and the Lombard 
street money-lenders, laying hands on all the paper of 
the Bank of England, made another run upon it, one 
goldsmith alone presenting £30,000 of its notes for 
cash. The notes presented by the "ring" the bank 
refused to cash, leaving the holders to their remedy at 
law, but they cashed those fairly presented by the 
public, who continued with some hesitancy to support 
them ; whilst Montague, to relieve the tightness of the 
money market, invented the system of " exchequer 
bills," promissory notes of from £5 to £100 value, 
bearing interest on the security of the annual taxes. 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



These were received with avidity. In the very crisis of 
the struggle the king had to apply for a loan to pay his 
troops; he was granted one of £200,000. But to such 
extremity was the Threadneedle street concern reduced 
that they were compelled to withhold one-fourth of the 
value of their notes, endorsing them as three-fourths 
paid when received, and re-issuing them at one-fourth 
of their nominal value. Both the Government and the 
banh, however, stood loyally each by the other, the 
public faith increased as the new coinage flowed from 
the mints, and by the end of the year, to the chagrin 
of Jacobite and Jew, the distress abated, and revived 
commerce flowed once again in its wonted channels. 

" After ftlmortnuiB years' cruel and bloody war with Frsnije, a 
happy and bononrabla peace wai concluded at Ryswick, on the 
lOth of September, 1697, which was proclaimed iu London 
October 19tb, and in Bristol on the 29th, by the ahenETi, at five 
distinct places, viz., at the High orou, St. Peter's cross, Temple 
cross, Si. !rbolli»« pipe, and the Kay pipe. Th«y were accom- 
panied to each place by the mayor and common council, tojjether 
with the depaty-lientenanta, militia, constables, Ac. ; and at each 
proclamation were several vollies of small shot fired by the militia, 
who were uiswered by the cannon in the Marsh and on the Kay, 
there monnted for that parpose, with great acclamations, ringing 
of bells, waits playing, drama beating, trumpets sounding, colonrs 
flying, and conduits running with wine. There were few of our 
ohoTcbes, if any, which h«d not on their towers and ateeples aome 
signal colonrs or fiags, as also had the ships and the house-tops of 
several of the citizati*, and the evening was concluded with bon- 
fires and an almoH universal illnmination." From this last ex- 
pressioii it i» plain that the peace was not approved of by all in 
this city, and one of the calendars, mentioning an event in the 
last snmmer which »eemed likely to retard the peace, adda,^ 
" Which many people hare did hope, but blessed be Ood it [«11 



out otherwise, although against their wills." And when newa of 
the peace arrived here on September IGth, the same calendar adds, 
" Of which we had great joy and great sorrow." 

A plentiful harvest in Uie year 1697. " Early in the spring of 
the year 169S, wheat was at eight and nine ahillingR per bushel, 
malt at four ahillings and sixpence, and oats at two shillings ; but 
in April it was cheaper ; the best wheat was aold at seven shillings. " 
" A very oold and backward season ; on the 3rd of Hay it hilled 
■nd mowed very mnch all over England. " ' 

1697. We have before us, on a sixpenny stamp, a 
license for Joseph Glamsy, of Chard, to work for Stephen 
Hohistan, a merchant taylor in Bristol, in which is stated 
that Gamsy, being a foreigner, at his instant importu- 
nity and request is admitted to work tor the said Hohis- 
tan, the conditions being that he shall not privily receive 
any work in secret for his own profit, shall Neither make, 
sell, nor cut to be made or sold, any manner of garment 
within the liberties, or take money or reward therefor 
(except the garments be made for his own body, or the 
bodies of his wife and children), and shall not during 
his abode in the city work at the trade of a taylor with 
any person or persons except as a journeyman, and with 
su(dL persons only as are members free of the said sociefy 
of Uerchant Taylors; the license to be void if he does. 
Witnesses, John Coujuotoit. 

JOHH TtTHLT, 

BoBT. Caubbidos. 
9. There had been passed, in 1660, an Act of Par- 
liament which prohibited the growth of tobacco in this 
country under a penalty of 40i. per rod. In 1689 the 
> Seyer IL, 64S~e. 



A.i>. 1697. 



COINS MINTED IN BRISTOL. 



151 



merchantB of Bristol petitioned to be eased of the tax 
of threepence in the pound on tobacco. Ordered to be 
laid on the table.* In 1697 Dorothy Gray, widow, peti- 
tioned the House of Oommons to the following effect : — 

That her late husband, John Gray, being well acquainted 
with all manner of plants, in the year 1692 discovered nine several 
plantations of tobacco growing, containing 1,300 rods, near Bristol, 
which said plantations were planted by several rich merchants, 
viz., Mr. Pope, sheriff 1692, Mr. Sullock, Mr. Elton, sheriff 1702, 
mayor 1710, Mr. Brooks, Mr. Goodman, Mr. Benfield, Mr. Gate, 
Mr. Biddle, Mr. Lycense. That her husband gave information 
upon oath to the magistrates of Bristol, and also to his majesty's 
commissioners of customs of the said plantations, and caused the 
same to be rooted up and destroyed. That the land was measured 
by Mr. Weeks and Mr. Webb, and also by Byord and Payne, two 
custom-house officers. That in Trinity time the commissioners of 
customs ordered one Peregrine Bertie, a searcher, and one Hutchin- 
son, their solicitor, to prosecute the planters, for which they have 
incurred a forfeit of £12 per rod to the king, the poor, and the 
prosecutor. Process issued, and the offenders' effects were seized. 
Gray was ordered to continue in London, which he did at great 
chaiges for several years. That, in September, 1697, a report was 
made, showing that the forfeitures amounted to £15,000. That 
Gray never had any share of the money, or reward for his service ; 
that he was ruined in this service, and died without having re- 
ceived one penny for the same. That the said Dorothy Gray, his 
widow, had made many unavailing attempts to recover the share 
in the forfeitures due to her, but had been repeatedly put off and 
denied ; that she had only received twenty pounds of the same, 
and that the king and the poor had been defrauded of their rights. 
She therefore prays the honourable House, &c. (We have been 
unable to discover any result. ) 

When the Mint ceased to coin in Bristol the building 
was, in 1697, bought by the guardians of the poor, as 
a place in which to employ paupers in spinning cotton ; 
the price was £800. Previously the poor were housed 
in White hall, adjoining the Bridewell; the impotent 
poor were lodged in workhouses in St. Philip's, in the 
Castle, in Temple street, and in St. James' parish, also 
in divers other places. In 1698 the statues in the hall 
of St. Peter's hospital were bought for £70, and a mul- 
berry tree was cut down in the garden, ''because the 
boys are always climbing after the fruit." A building 
in St. Peter street, called the Watch-house (? part of 
the old Barbican), was taken down by the corporation 
of the poor, with the consent of the mayor and aldermen ; 
it was supposed to have been an appendage to the Castle, 
as there was no nightly watch until 1755.' 

10. In 1698 the High Cross was repaired, richly 
painted and gilded. St. James' church was also repaired 
at a cost of £600, and the hulks of the houses on the 
bridge were taken down. Queen square was commenced, 
and the first buildings of brick (the Tontine warehouses, 
we believe, on Broad quay) in the city were erected. 

It had been the practice for the mayor and the com- 

^ House of Commons' Journal, XIII. 
> H. and K. Smith's MSS. 



panies of the trades in their liveries to attend divine 
service at the Cathedral on the 29th May ; but in 1 696-7, 
on account of some difference between the corporation 
and the Cathedral authorities, the mayor, John Hine, 
grocer, and the- crafts worshipped at Temple, and in 
1697-8, John Bubb, mercer, being mayor, they all went 
to Bedcliff church. In 1699 the Society of Merchants 
built the east wing, and re-built the old central part of 
their almshouse in King street. Between March and 
June most of the horses in the city suif ered from what 
appears to have been glanders. In 1701 the Merchants 
re-built their hall, and the Merchant Taylors their alms- 
house, for which they chose a new site in Merchant 
street, before which date it stood in Marsh street. One 
MS. says Sir John Duddlestone erected it. Sir John 
was deputy-governor in 1699; he became governor of 
the corporation of the poor in 1700. 

On March 8th, 1702, William m. died, aged 52, 
having been thrown from his horse. ^ Although he saved 
the kingdom from tyranny and oppression, William was 
neither a lover of liberty nor of a mixed government. 
And to the camp his manner was lacking in courtesy 
and his notions were arbitrary ; he disliked the discus- 
sions of a Free Parliament, and did his best to confine 
the business of the state to a small and manageable 
circle. His policy was not favourable to the interests 
of the country over which he reigned ; he exhausted its 
resources, and introduced the principle of mortgag^g 
its future taxation in order to accomplish his purposes. 

Amongst the curiosities of this reign we note an Act 
(passed in 1700) to prohibit the printing or weaving of 
calicoes. A more sensible Act was one which compelled 
watch and dock makers to engrave their names upon 
their productions. Savery's (the first working) steam 
engine was erected in 1698. The Society for the Pro- 
pagation of the Gospel was incorporated. Sir Isaac 
Newton was made master of the Mint, and an income- 
tax of four shillings in the pound was passed, in order 
to exclude the Pretender. 

''At the great re-coinage, in the year 1696-7, when 
all the money made by the old hammered process was 
finally called in, Bristol was chosen for one of the five 
country mints which were set up in order to expedite 
the re-coinage, and to facilitate the distribution over the 
kingdom of the new money. Silver halfcrowns, shil- 
lings and sixpences, with the bust and arms of William 
m., were accordingly coined in this city during the 
years 1696 and 1697 ; and these coins are distinguished 
by the letter * B ' under the king's head. 

*' The halfcrowns, shillings and sixpences are of dif- 

^ ' ' The highest eulogium that can be passed on the Bevolution, 
of which William was the head, is that it was our last.'* — Macavlay, 



152 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1697. 



ferent sizes, but all of the following type: — OhverMy 
bust of the king to the right, in Eoman armour and 
drapery, and with a laurel wreath round his head. The 
letter B, for Bristol, below the bust ; legend, avLiELMys 
. in . DEI . GRA. Reverse, four shields arranged in the 
form of a cross, and each crowned. The upper shield 
bears the arms of England; the lower one those of 
France; on the right, Scotland; with Ireland on the 
left The arms of Nassau in the centre of the coin. 
Legend, mao . bb . tbjl . bt . hib . rex . 1696 (or 1697). 
The 1696 half crowns have the following inscription on 
the edge : decvs . et . tytamen . aitno . begki . octayo. 
The half crowns of 1697 read noko instead of octayo. 
The edges of the shillings and sixpences are milled with 
oblique lines. Weights of the halfcrowns, shillings and 
sixpences, 232^, 92f and 46^ grains respectively, and 
made of standard silver as at present coined. ^ 

''The Bev. Bogers Ending, in his Annals of the 
Coinage^ states that 'the weight of hammered money 
and wrought plate imported into this mint, for re-coin- 
age, amounted to 146,977 lb.; which, at £3 2«. the 
pound weight, was coined into £463,728 14«.'^ Page 
213, vol. ii., 3rd edit. 

''On the 15th August, 1696, the mayor and alder- 
men issued a notice, to the effect that the officers of the 
mint would pay 5«. 8rf., in lawful money, for every 
ounce of clipped money or wrought plate brought to 
them. The following is an exact copy of the original 
printed broad sheet, from that in the British Museum : 

**CMtas BrutoH—By the Right Warship/ul the Mayor and 
Aldermen. These are to give Notice, That the Bighi Honourable 
the Lords of His Majesty's Treasury^ have been pleui'd to Send 
Down for the Ben^ of This CITY, and the Counties Adjacent, 
One Thousand Weight of SUver, Value Three Thousand Pounds, 
and Upwards, to the Mint here, to be Coyn'd into the Lawful Coyn 
of this Kingdom ; and to be put in the Hand of some Able and 
Sufficient Person in this CITY, to Exchange such Old Clipped 
Sterling Money, as any Person will bring in, on the Encouragement 
or Allowance of Five Shillings and Two Pence an Ounce, and Six 
Pence an Ounce by way of Recompence ; And the Officers of the 
Mint have Directions to Keep an Account of the Deficiency thereof, 
and also to Pay the like Allowance of Five Shillings and Two 
Pence an Ounce, and Six Pence Recompence, for- such Wrought 
Plate as shall be brought in. Pursuant to the Late Act of ParUa- 
mentt as soon as such Plate shall be Melted, Essay'd, and Reduced 
to Sterling: Which Five Shillings and Two Pence, and Six Pence 
an Ounce, as well for Clipped Sterling Money, as for Wrought Plate, 
is to be Immediately Paid down. Dated in Bristol, this Fifteenth 
Day of August, One Thousand Six Hundred Ninety and Six. 

''In the subsequent year a petition of the mayor ^ 
and commonalty of this city, presented to the House of 
Commons on the 30th December, 1697, stated that there 

^ Mr. William Brice exhibited a fine set of the Bristol half- 
crown, shilling and sixpence, all dated 1696, at the evening meeting 
of the Congress, 8th of August, 1874. 

* Should not this amount be £455,628 14«. ? 



would, by computation, in a month's time be in the city 
at least £150,000 of old hammered money, brought to 
the fair from Wales and other places ; and prayed that 
the Mint might be continued some time longer for the 
coining of that money, in order to prevent the incon- 
venience of sending it to the Mint at the Tower. {Jaur- 
nah of the Souse of Commons, vol. zii., p. 18.) 

''Among the Exchequer documents in the Public 
Becord office, London, Queen^s Bemembraneer^s MiseeU 
lanies, Mint, 599-29, 9th William III., are two printed 
forms, filled up in manuscript, 'witnessing payments 
made by Alexander How, deputy master and worker of 
his majesty's mint at Bristol, to Nicholas Baker, being 
the nett produce of two separate quantities of hammered 
silver money which had been by the said Nicholas 
brought in to be coined, dates May and June, 1697.' 

"The first paper is numbered 33, dated 12th May, 
1 697, and is signed by ' Alexr. How,' who states that he 
paid £8,759 5«., for 30,915 ounces (at 5«. M, per ounce) 
of old hammered coin, brought by Nicholas Baker to 
the Mint, to be there coined on the 6th February, 1697. 
This document informs us that the above amoimt brought 
into the Mint only made £7,728 15«. in new milled 
money ; and that the cost of melting, refining, coining, 
&c., was £257 12«. ^d,, and the remaining loss or defi- 
ciency £772 17«. 6i., thus making the total loss to the 
Government £1,030 10«. out of £8,759 5«. 

"The second paper is No. 63, 8th June, 1697, and 
witnesses the payment of £60 0«. 2^d, by How to Baker 
for 211 oz. 16 dwts. of hammered silver money. 

" The above-mentioned silver coinage of William III. 
was the last authorised coinage at Bristol." ^ 

11. In 1700, "there being a confederacy among the 
cooks now in this city, it is ordered that in case any 
able cooks come from London that the mayor and alder- 
men have liberty to admit them into the freedom of the 
city." 

1701. The corporation of the poor, in July, pur- 
chased, in three lumps, Mr. Page's estate for £1,600. 

James II. died at St. Germain, on September 16th, 
1701. " Jeffrey's death was hastened whilst in confine- 
ment by drinking brandy. As recently as 1820 the 
place of his interment in London was discovered, when 
the populace, still alive to his villanies, treated his 
remains with every indignity."* On November 17th 
Bobert Tucker was put in the pillory, from nine to 
twelve, with the word "cheat" in capital letters sus- 
pended from his neck, " with other words chosen by the 
town derk affixed to his hat." 

"Mrs. Pugsley died August 4th, 1700, aged eighty. 
Her funeral was according to her directions, and was 
^ Henfrey, 365-8. ' H. and R. Smith. 



A.D. 1701. 



ANNE ASCENDS THE THRONE. 



153 



' pnnotaally performed to the admiration and in the view 
of ten thousand spectators.' Her body was borne nn- 
coffined on a litter, with a sheet for shroud, preceded by 
a fiddler playing a sprightly air, and two damsels strew- 
ing sweet herbs and flowers, while the bells of St. 
Nicholas church rung a merry peal. Thus it was carried 
to a g^aye in a field adjoining Nine-tree hill. Dame 
Fugsley was supposed to be the widow of a yoimg 
soldier killed at the siege of Bristol, 1645, and buried 
with military honours on Nine-tree hill. His widow 
wore mourning all her life, and desired to be borne to 
her grave with demonstrations of joy at their happy re- 
union. Mother Pugsley's well is within recent memory. 
It consisted of two stone basins, one of which contained 
' an infallible remedy for the eyes,' whilst the other was 
especially renowned for making tea. She built a hut 
over the spot where her husband fell and was buried, 
which gave her name to the field and well. At her 
death she bequeathed money for a sixpenny loaf and 
a ninepenny loaf at Easter, and a twopenny loaf on 
Twelfth-day, to each of the sixteen women inhabiting 
St. Nicholas' almshouse. The vulgar supposed her to 
have been a witch, and they trampled upon her grave. 
A skull, thought to have been her husband's, was dug 
up ; it had a bullet hole just above the temple." ^ 

We add a few more extracts from the Southwell 
MSS. An abstract of the Acts of William and Mary, 
1695, for the erection of hospitals and workhouses 
within the city of Bristol, and for the better employ- 
ment of' the poor thereof. Many curious and interest- 
ing papers relative to the seizure of the Postillion ketch, 
of Bristol. This vessel with its freight entered Cork har- 
bour, purporting to come from Bilbao, but in fact came 
from Bochelle, which Captain Waller, deputy vice- 
admiral of Munster, hearing of, seized, and the whole 
was condemned for the king by the Admiralty Court of 
London, but before the sentence could be transmitted 
the Irish Bevenue Commissioners obtained an order 
from the Lords Justices for the ketch to be delivered to 
them ; and although it was fully adjudicated at London, 
yet they persisted it should have been tried in the 
Exchequer Court of Ireland, where only two-thirds 
would have been given for the king, an allegation 
which gave rise to a contest at law that lasted from 
August, 1693, to June, 1697. In connection with this 
case are numerous letters of Captain Waller, Sir Charles 
Hedges (Secretary of State), Thomas Bedford, Sir B. 
Cox (Chancellor of Ireland), B. Collinge, Sir B. South- 
well, and many others. An accoimt of the strange 
effects of thunder and lightning upon a ship called the 
Panther, of Bristol, at Cadiz, in 1701. There are also 

^ H. and K. Smith. 
[Vol. IILl 



enumerated letters of Major Bobert Yate, Bristol, 1702; 
Bichard Bailey, 1703; Joshua Eranklyn, 1711; Thomas 
Edwards, 1711 ; Sir William Davis, 1716, all of whom 
were Bristol men. 

12. On the death of William IH., Anne, the youngest 
daughter of James 11., ascended the throne, Lord Godol- 
phin being in power; the National debt amounted to 
£16,394,702, bearing interest of £1,300,000 per annum, 
Bristol was still the second city in the kingdom, and we 
find in the return of seamen and ships made this year 
that she possessed 165 ships and 2,400 seamen, whilst 
Liverpool only returned 102 ships and 1,100 seamen. 

On March 12th, Anne "was proclaimed in Bristol 
by the sheriffs with great solemnity; April 23rd she 
was crowned with the usual ceremonies,* and on that 
same day her coronation was celebrated in this city in a 
very triumphant and extraordinary manner as follows : — 
The mayor and aldermen, in their scarlet gowns, with 
the rest of the common council and many of the chief 
citizens went to the college to hear a sermon, before 
whom marched the militia, bravely armed ; after them 
followed the hospital and mint boys in their blue gowns 
and coats, with bonnets on their heads, very delightful 
to behold. Then came the several companies of trades- 
men, with their proper colours and badges, in comely 
order. Then followed twenty-four maidens, dressed in 
night-rails and white hoods, with fans in their hands, 
being led by a comely young woman, dressed in close 
white apparel, wearing a wig, hat and feather, carrying 
in her hand a half -pike, as their captain. Then followed 
the mayor and magistrates as before mentioned, having 
divers trumpets sounding before them, and the con- 
stables of every ward with their staves of o£S.ce, attend- 
ing to suppress all disorders which might happen by the 
extraordinary concourse of people, not only of citizens 
but of country people round about, who came to be 
spectators. After the common council, at a convenient 
distance, followed the mint-maids, dressed in blue, at* 
tended by their overseers ; then the hospital-maids, dad 
in their red apparel, with very dean and white linen 
nightcaps, each carrying in her hand a sprig of holly 
and box gilded. After them followed eight young men 
in hoUand shirts, with knots of ribbon on their shoulders 
with this inscription, < Ood save the Queen,' carrying in 
their hands ne^ed swords, and wearing in their hats 
coronets of gilded laurel, preceded by two drummers^ 
After them followed twenty-four damsels in white sars- 
net scarfs and hoods, wearing in their dresses and on 
their bosoms knots of ribbon, white, green and red, each 
of them with a gilt bow and arrow in her hand. Next 
to them followed several citizens' daughters of chief 
notOi sumptuously apparelled, wearing knots also of 

F 4 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



the above-menticiiied colours, and branclieB of latuel in 
their boaom, with this motto, ' Ood save Queen Anne ' ; 
the two last of them supported a crown richly adorned. 
Then came Madam Mayoress, attended by the magis- 
trates' wires reiy splendidly apparelled, having the city 
music sweetly playing before them. The battlements of 
the churches were hung with scarlet cloth, and the 
towers had flags and streamers, and the crosses were 
dressed viUi the same furniture. All the conduits and 
gates and church 
porches were 
adorned with 
flowers and gilded 
branches, curiously 
wrought into a 
variety of figures, 
particularly St. 
Stephen's porch 
and St. John's gate ; 
over the arch of the 
former was this 
motto, ' Ood save 
Queen Anne,' cu- 
riously worked with 
a variety of small 
flowOTfi on abed [a^ 
banh] of camomile; 
over that were the 
arms of England 
neatly framed with 
the like odorifer- 
ous materials, and 
a crown above 
worked also with 
Sowers ; on each 
side was a mitre 
worked in the same 
manner: the charge 
of adorning this 
porch was said to 
be £30. St. John's 
gate was curiously adorned with flowers and branches 
of gilded laurel on both sides ; also over the middle of 
the arch, on both sides the gate, was set a crown of 
mitres, and underneath each crown hung a pentagon, 
the one facing Broad street bearing the inscription Ihut 
Regina Ecclma, and that which faced Christmas street 
the words Dux Foemina Facti. The houses in Uie chief 
part of the city were splendidly adorned with arras and 
costly drapery of several devices; and iu almost every 
place the street was decked with branches and gilded 
sprigs, sweet flowers, crowns and garlands, many of 



Bvau at Barim BUI in tokltA Qum* Amu rattd. 



which were valuable. The ships also were not without 
their signals of joy, having their wast cloths, streamers 
and aunoients displayed. Ringing of bells, discharging 
of great ordnance with many vollies of small shot wore 
not wanting, and in divers parts of the city wine freely 
ran for any, that could catch it. And toward the evening 
of the day appeared in the streets a company of young 
men in their holland shirts, distinct from the aforesaid 
former company, carrying also in one hand naked swords, 
and in the other 
leading as many 
young women, ap- 
parelled in white 
waistcoats and red 
petticoats, wearing 
their night head 
dress and large 
straw hats. Also 
suddenly came a 
multitude of the 
more robust people, 
bearing aloft the 
effigy of the pope, 
represented by an 
old man utting in 
a chair, having a 
long beard, and 
very white straight 
locks, wearing on 
his head a triple 
crown, holding in 
his right hand a 
crosier staff, hav- 
ing a scarlet mantle 
on his shoulders 
fringed with seem- 
ing white fur, his 
vestment and 
breeches being of 
white linen. Be- 
fore him were 
borne divers crosses and implements by his attendants 
and officers, many of whom wore vizards of ghastly 
aspect. Likewise was rung by a certain officer a small 
tinkling bell, to g^ve notice of his approach. And at 
last to close the solemnity the night was, as it were, 
turned into day by the numerous lights in the windows 
of almost every house, and the great bonfires in the 
streets, wherein at last the pope and all his trinkets 
were consumed."^ 

War against France was declared, in London, on 
' Seyer,, II., 648-60. 



A.D. 1702. 



ANNE VISITS BRISTOL. 



155 



May 4th ; it was made a matter of great rejoicing when 
proclaimed in Bristol on the 18th, the mayor, aldermen 
and sheriffs in scarlet forming a procession, preceded by 
the martial music of the militia and the officers in parade 
dress with their swords drawn. 

"On the 28th of August, 1702, Queen Anne came 
to Bath ; and on the following Thursday, 1st September, 
her majesty, accompanied by Prince George, came hither, 
attended by divers of the nobility, and was met on the 
road by a g^eat number of the principal citizens on 
horseback, and received at Lawford's gate by the mayor 
and aldermen with the acciistomed ceremonies. The 
mayor alighted o£E his horse and made a very loyal 
speech, expressing the great satisfaction of the city in 
the honour of her majesty and his royal highness's 
presence ; after which he delivered the keys of the city 
gates to her majesty, which she immediately returned, 
and then the sword in like manner. He then mounted 
his horse and conducted her majesty through the Old 
Market, one side of which was guarded by those citizens 
on horseback who had met her majesty, among whom 
were about sixty {alii one hundred) of such as were or 
had been commanders of ships, who were distinguished 
from the rest by knots of red ribbon in their hats, led 
up by Captain Price with trumpets; the other side of 
the Old Market was guarded by a great number of citi- 
zens on foot, under the command of Major Wade. There 
were a great many scaffolds on both sides, which, as well 
as the windows of the houses, were filled with persons 
of the best fashion, as were likewise those of the other 
streets through which her majesty passed, all adorned 
with carpets and tapestry. The city music was placed 
on the Market-house (in the middle of Wine street) ; a 
triumphal arch was erected at St. Nicholas' gate, adorned 
with greens and flowers, with a flag on the top. After 
the sea-captains mentioned above followed twelve coaches 
belonging to the nobility and gentry, drawn by six horses 
each. Then came her majesty, having great part of her 
guards before her coach and part of them following it ; 
she was clothed in purple, being her mourning apparel 
for the late King William, also her coaches and the 
trappings of her horses were black, and so likewise 
were those of the nobility who were with the queen. 
In her coach rode her husband. Prince George, and two 
ladies of honour ; then came eighteen ministers of this 
city, riding bare-headed; and after them the common 
council in their gowns, followed by the mayor and alder- 
men, who were bravely mounted, having on their scarlet 
gowns, and all riding bare-headed, the mayor being 
hindmost, next to the queen's coach, carrying in his 
hand the pearl sword. In this manner was her majesty 
conducted to Sir Thomas Day's great house at the Bridge 



end. Before dinner she was pleased to admit Mrs. 
Mayoress and other ladies and gentlewomen to the 
honour of kissing her hand, and to confer the honour 
of knighthood on John Hawkins, esq., mayor. The 
aldermen, sheriffs, common council, and other principal 
citizens and gentlemen of the neighbouring country had 
also the honour to kiss her hand. While her majesty, 
his royal highness, and the whole court were splendidly 
entertained at dinner, one hundred cannon mounted in 
the Marsh for that purpose, and all the cannon from the 
ships at the quays were fired, and the bells were ringing 
all the time. Her majesty's guards were dismissed and 
sent to the quarters appointed for them, where they 
were entertained at the city's charge, her majesty being 
guarded by the citizens in arms. All the churches and 
towers were adorned with flags, the ships in the port 
hung out their flags and pendants and fired their guns 
incessantly, and everyone strove to give demonstrations 
of their joy for her majesty's presence and of their duty 
and loyalty to her; after which her majesty and the 
prince returned in the evening to Bath, where, on the 
6th, a proclamation was signed for prorog^uing the Par- 
liament, which' was to have met on the 8th of October, 
to the 20th of the same month." ^ 

The cost of the queen's visit was £466 4«. 7d,f in 
fifty-nine disbursements, amongst which are the fol- 
lowing : — 



* • • • • • 



••• ••• ••■ 



• • • • • • 



•a« ••• «•• 



City music in Wine street 
Sergeants and drams... . 

Charcoal 

Cloth at High Cross 

Loan of pewter plates and caps 
Paid for glasses ... 

Beer from the mayor's brewery 

Decorating the bamqneting hall with flowers 
Paid for queen's picture ... 
Sir Thos. Day for apartments... 

Grocer 

Confectioners 
Trumpeters... 
Firing guns... 
Powder 



■ • • • • • 



•• ••• •■• 



■• ••• ••■ 



• • • • a • 



•*• ••• ••• •■• ••■ 



■ • ■ « • 



« • • • ■ fl 



• • • • • ■ 



■ ■• ••■ •*■ ••• ■«• ••• ••• 



••■ •■■ ••• 



••• ■•• #■• 



«•« •■• ■•• ••• 



• • • • • ■ 



• • • • • • 



«•• ••• •*• ••• 



£ 8, d. 

1 
6 

2 11 

3 10 
12 12 

6 14 

11 15 

14 

24 15 

22 19 

2 1 1 

16 

6 

1 4 8 
10 5 

Alderman Blackwell and Co., vintners, for wine ... 110 

Butchers' meat 16 14 

v/vder ... •.. ... «•* ... ... ••• ... *.• *•• ... vxx V 

To entertaining the guards at White Hart, White 

Horse, White and Red lions, and The Bell ... 40 7 6 

jMULer ... •<* ..• •«. •.. ••• ••• ••• ••• ••• ••• vAw o 

.^Lpo vUeca^y ... ... ... ... ••• ••• ••« ... ••• v ^ % 

Doomed to speedy demolition, but at present standing 
in an advanced stage of decay, is an old mansion on Bar- 
ton hill, which belonged to the father of Sir John Haw- 
kins, the mayor at the time of Anne's visit ; it bears the 
date on the ivy-clad doorway of 1668, and on the 
mantle-piece of the chief room are the initials t\ ^^Ta- 

» Seyer, II., 661-2. 



156 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1703. 



dition ayers that this is Queen Anne's house, and as it 
lies but a little way out of the direct route from Bath 
by which her majesty travelled, it is reasonable enough 
to suppose that after her diusty ride from that city she 
did halt here to rest awhile/ and that this is the spot 
where the citizens met her and conducted her to the 
civic reception and public entry at Lawford's gate. 
Nearly opposite to this mansion there stood another, 
the country house of Sir Thomas Day, at whose town 
house the queen dined ; the only relic of this building 
left is, we believe, the chimney-piece (in what is now 
the ''Ehubarb" tavern), which bears the initials tPa.» 
1672. 

The next year the queen, accompanied by her hus- 
band, again visited Bath. Mr. Lewis, the mayor of 
Bristol, with the aldermen and town clerk, waited upon 
her majesty, when she was pleased to confer the honour 
of knighthood upon his worship. The items of ex- 
pense are somewhat curious: — ''Expenses: The mayor, 
£1 58, Sd, ; 2«. to a serjeant to wait upon the mayor, and 
20«. to Joseph Jones for his journey to Bath with forty 
guineas." It was upon this occasion that ^'twelve 
persons afflicted with the king's evil were sent by the 
corporation of the poor to Bath to be touched by the 
queen; a surgeon (probably the above Joseph Jones) 
attended them."^ The belief was then general that 
there was a healing efflcacy for this g^evous disease in 
the touch of a crowned sovereign. The gracious act 
was accompanied by a royal gift of coin, called ** a touch 
piece," one of which, given by this queen to a member 
of the Oatcott family, now lies before us. 

13. St. Werburgh's parish is but a small one in the 
very heart of the city, but from a rate made in 1702 for 
cleansing, paving, and lighting the streets, for which 
the said parish was assessed at £11 5«., we find that it 
contained the houses of many families of distinction : — 
Abraham Elton, John Knight, Alderman Blackwell, 
Bobert Yate, M.P., Sir John Duddlestone, Peter San- 
ders, Sheriff Higgins, Lady Hayman, Lady Earl, 
Madame Yate, Madame Scroope; the churchwardens 
were John Bartlett and James Fisher. Sir William 
Hayman died this year, aged 78. Sir William Lewis 
did not reside in the city, and when he visited his soap- 
boiling manufactory he was ''much discommoded at 
the noise in the streets." He is described, "for selfish 
ends seeking his own gain and his own comfortable 
lodgement, attempting to interrupt the traffic of the 
city, by which traffic its hospitals and adonmients do 
increase and its name do spread to foreign ports." He 
complained to the council, and, in 1707, proposed 
"that the great noise made by trucks in the city by 

^ H. and B. Smith's MSS. 



means of the iron materials used about them is a great 
annoyance to the inhabitants thereof; and thereupon the 
question being put whether trucks to be used in this city 
for the future should be made of wood only, or not, ex- 
cepting nails and the banding of the wheels, it passed 
in the affirmative. And it was accordingly ordered that 
whoever should use trucks made in any other manner 
should forfeit three shillings and f ourpence, to be levied 
by distress and sale of the offender's goods. It was also 
ordered that public notice be given by the bellman with 
aU speed." The following year his hobby is again be- 
fore the council. " The conveniency and inconveniency 
of cart wheels and other wheels for carrying of dung 
and other heavy carriages in the streets of this city, 
having iron bandage or great iron spikes driven or put 
into them, be referred to a committee appointed about 
the river to consider of." 

"Mr. Benjamin Perrot and Mr. Eichard Warren 
being presented by the grand jury for making use of 
iron-bound wheels to their carts, that warrants be 
issued against them to be bound over to answer the 
said offences against the next sessions." 

In Eeddiff church, on the pavement near the eastern 
window, is the following : — 

Here lyeth the body of Sir William Lewis, knight and alderman 
of this city, who departed this life the 23rd May, 1712, aged 
56 years, 7 months. 

Sir William possessed considerable property, which 
he bequeathed principally to his widow, who survived 
him until 1722. He gave his son £500, " in token not 
of my love," and £1,000 when he attained the age of 
22 years. 

In 1703 two copies of the Hed Book of Orders were 
ordered to be made, one written on vellum, the other on 
paper, which were delivered to Sir William Lewis, the 
mayor. 

Queen Elizabeth's hospital (the Gaunts) and Foster's 
almshouse were both commenced to be re-built in 1702. 
Queen Anne's Bounty, for the augmentation of poor 
livings in the Ohurch, was instituted in 1704. 

(hi January 17th the queen, in answer to a present- 
ment of the grand jury, decreed an order for the regu- 
lation of playhouses, prohibiting them to act anything 
contrary to religion and good manners. The acting of 
plays in Bristol was prohibited, and the theatre in 
Tucker street was purchased by the Presbyterians and 
converted into a meeting-house. The names of the 
grand jury who signed the presentment of the Bristol 
stage were Walter Ohapman, Daniel Hickman, Edward 
Thurston, John Adderley, William Galbraith, Thomas 
Oordell, Thomas Tate, Stephen Peloquin, Bichard 
Taylor, jun., James Stewart, John Scott, Jeremiah 



DEFOE IN BRISTOL. 



Fearoe. The counoil-hoiue in Broad street was 
partially le-buUt and faced with freeatone. The 
number of alehouses in tlio dty was limited to 
220. InapeuandinkdrawingofKedcliff church 
of this date, by Henry Blondel, a mulberry tree 
in the veetem part of the yard, with its arma 
supported by seveii props, is shown; the church- 
yard was fenced in by a thickset hedge, and 
was entered from the Bedmioster side through 
a common field gate. Outside this gate, on Bed- 
dlff hill, the stocks for the punishment of the 
unruly were fixed. 

14. The immortal Newton published his 
treatise on Optics in 1704 ; it had been delayed 
thir^ years because of hie reluctance to engage 
in controversy. In that year died John Locke, 
of Wrington, aged 72. He was the ablest 
supporter of the doctrine of a "negative com- 
muuity," viz., that lands, &c., were originally 
the property of none, but that whoever first re- 
daces them by use and by labour makes them 
his own. Others held, and still hold, the doc- 
trine of a "positive communis," viz., that every 
man has a right to an equal distributive share 
of the earth's surface, productions, &c., of which, 
whatever distribution may have been made, either 
provisionally or by usurpation, he cannot justly 
be deprived. 

We have already given some particolars of 
Defoe's residence in Bristol. The following will 
not be without interest to those who have — as 
who has not f— found in his Eehinton Cnuoe one 
of the finest prose epics that the world has yet 
seen. Defoe, when in Bristol and in communication with 
Alexander 8elkirk,UBedthe "Star" inn, Cock and Bottle 
lane. Defoe, with all his talent, was ever in difficulty; 
witness, for instance, the following notioe: — 

St Jime*', JwQuy lOlb, 17M. 

WhereM Dviiel Defoe, aliat Daniel De Pooe, ii charged, with 
writing B scandkloiu and leditioiu pamphlet, entitled The ShorUtt 
Wa]/ vnlh Diaenlen. Ue ia a luiddle-eiied, spare man, aboat 
46 years old, of a brawn oompleiion, but wean a wig ; a hooked 
noee, a atiaight chin, grty ayet, and a mole near hie month. A 
reward of £50 ii offered for hii appreheneion. 
He was discovered in his hiding place, and, as a punish- 
ment, was stood three times in the pillory in London for 
his offence. He then wrote an ode on the pillory, con- 
cluding with the line, "That fools look out, and knaves 
look on." Defoe wrote, including pamphlets, 2t0 works. 
Hin Robinton Cnuot was,jiteT many refusals, first pub- 
lished in the Xomfim Pm^ it began In the 125th number, 
and dosed in the 269thi< The publisher made £1,000 
profit by it, and in forty years it went through forty 



Ftbtl aii M PriiU. 

editJona; yet Defoe died, in 1731, not only poor, but 
insolvent. ' 

The pillory was still a Bristol institiition of the age : 

1704. Mary James, for a cheat, to stand in tlie pillory for 
half-an-honr, viz., St. Thomae' market. High Cross, Wine street, 
Qnay pipe, BedclifT hill and Temple pipe. 

The barbarous practice of whipping a thief through the 
streets, tied to a cart or the tail of a horse, was in full 
practice in 1 70S. On April ISth in that year Thomas 
Davis, for stealing a chewe, was stripped to the waist, 
tied to a carf B tail, and fiogged from All Baints' lane to 
the "White Horse" in Keddiff street, the sentence 
runs, "till his body.be bloody, thence to Newgate, an 
officer to carry the cheese by his side;" also "Kfaria 
Fritchard, for a cheat, in taking three yards of dowlas 
from Mr. Biehton in the name of Alderman Swynuner, 
to be stripped naked to the waist on Friday morning 



158 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1705. 



next, and whipped from the Tolzej, down one side of 
High street and up the other, between the hours of 
twelve and one o'clock." In another part of the MS. 
we find that '' the keeper of Newgate was fined £5 for 
not having his irons for burning ready." This relates, 
doubtless, to another barbarous punishment, that of 
branding with a hot iron on the hand, or on other parts 
of the body, for certain offences. 

On February 19th, 1704, John Stretch, watchmaker, 
was made free of the city, on condition of his presenting 
a watch and dial plate to be set up in the Tolzey, he 
engaging to keep the same in repair during his stay 
in the city. The other watchmakers petitioned against 
him, for which the chamber termed them ''saucy and 
impudent, reflecting on the rights of the house." 

The following items of account are not without 

interest : — 

£ «. 

1704. March 6th. — For wainscoting the great room in the 

conncil-hoose 50 

1705. Anguat 20th. — Robert Powell, for the marble chim- 

ney-piece for the great room 7 

For drawing, gilding and painting the four coats of 

arms npon the new cloth 14 

For gilding and painting the carved coat of arms, 

and the two figures of Pmdence and Justice, and 

the frame for the sword 4 10 

For 126 yards of paint- work for the great room 

15. Francis Whitchurch, soapmaker, was mayor in 
1704. There were g^eat rejoicings in Bristol for the 
victory at Blenheim on August 28th in that year. 

The streets were in a flame with bonfires, which did bUze in 
all void places in the middle where four streets did meet, and 
before Mr. Mayor's was one ; and the High Cross, that had been 
newly dight, where the greatest bonfire was, was soe tarnished 
and blackened by the smoak and blistered by the flames that it 
was grievous to behold ! But nothing could surpass the brilliancy 
of the windows, illuminated with so many candles that it were 
Tain to keep count ; but at the Tolzey, where was wont to be the 
fairest sight, was none, all was dark, it being taken down to be 
built anew. However, there was a goodly show at some great 
houses, gay with oil lamps of divers colours, that could not be 
kept enlightened by reason of a lively wind that blew them out. 
And by reason that the mayor's house had no lamps of divers 
colours, he not being exceeding Uberal. It is said he did save out 
of his office, giving no hospitality ; moreover, he had a sour and 
lofty look, which made him much disliked by the people, who, 
when they saw the candles were soe far between, called for more 
lights, which not being put the windows were stoned, and much 
more mischief would have been had not the constables took some 
of the foremost of the mob, whom they clapt in the Bridewell, 
hard by, whereupon the rest made away and came not back again. 
But there was much swaggering and boastfulness in the streets 
that evening, and the constables and watchmen and mayor's officers 
had soe discomfort, and could take no rest till the city was stilled. 

A congratulatory address was presented to the queen : — "The 
humble address of your majesty's most loyal and dutiful subjects, 
the mayor, aldermen, sherifib and common council of your majesty's 
city of Bristol. As the glorious victory which it pleased God to 



give your majesty's troops and those of your allies at Blenh«m 
has struck our enemies with terror and confusion, so has it given 
us and all other your majesty's subjects the highest admiration 
and greatest pleasure to congratulate the advantages we all enjoy 
under your majesty's government, but now especially for your 
majesty's magnanimity in commanding your army among so many 
difficulties in so remote a country, and your wisdom in judging 
rightly both of the emergency and happy consequences of that 
march. Nor is your majesty's sagacity less discerned in your 
choice of the Duke of Marlborough to be captain and general of 
your forces, to whose conduct and personal gallantry, inspired by 
the conmiand and assisted by the blessings attending so pious a 
queen, no small share of the glorious success of that day is justly 
owing. We therefore, your majesty's most dutiful and loyal sub- 
jects, do on this occasion, which adds so much glory to your 
majesty's great name, honour to your general, and so loudly pro- 
claim tiie good discipline and carriage of your officers and soldiers, 
and afibrds so many benefits and pleasing prospects to all your 
subjects, humbly crave leave to lay this our congratulatory address 
at your royal feet, heartily beseeching Almighty Gk>d every day, 
more and more, to crown your majesty with success, and to bless 
your confederates and all your subjects with your majesty's very 
long reign." 

The year 1705 was distinguished by strong political 
and religious dissensions. The greatest excitement pre- 
vailed throughout the country when the queen dissolved 
the high Tory House of Commons. After a violent 
opposition, a majority of Whigs was returned to Par- 
liament. For Bristol the former members. Sir William 
Daines and Eobert Tate, were returned. In the muni- 
cipal election the choice fell upon Nathaniel Day, soap- 
boiler ; the sheriffs were Morgan Smith and Nathaniel 
Webb. John Gary, familiarly known from the lane of 
houses which he built, and which is to this day called 
Captain Cary's lane, died this year. His name deserves 
a place in our country's annals, for he was the first man 
in England to originate the plan of uniting the different 
parishes, so that one common rate should be raised to 
relieve the destitute poor. The first attempt to form a 
union for this purpose was at his suggestion in 1695. 
The following year an Act of Parliament was obtained 
for that purpose. He was a merchant, the son of Thomas 
Gary, vicar of St. Philip's.- His brother, William, was 
vicar of Temple in 1700, of St. Philip 1723. Captain 
Cary published a standard work, A Discourse on Trade, 
a copy of which is in the City Library, which he dedi- 
cated to H.E.H. the Prince of Wales. It was repub- 
lished after Cary's decease by his brother, at the request 
of his majesty's ministers, and was reprinted in 1745, 
together with An JEssay towards Settling a National Credit, 
and An Account of the Proceedings of the Corporation of 
the Poor, 

16. The first brass made in England was at Baptist 
mills in 1705; the workmen w^e brought from Hol- 
land. Many of the pits on Durdham down, and on 
some of the Somerset hills, show whence the calamine 



▲.D. 1708. 



FIRST BRASS MANUFACTORY. 



159 



was procured for its manufacture. Copper also was 
first made in England by Sir Simon Olark, whose assay- 
ists, Messrs. Coster and Wayne, established a copper 
manufactory near Bristol, in conjunction with Sir Abra- 
ham Elton, Bart. In 1706 a penthouse was built on 
the Back against St. Nicholas church-yard. It appears 
to have been like the Tolzey, and was called The Walk. 

On August 10th, at the general quarter session, 
another grand jury presented, '' Mr. Power and his 
Company for acting stage plays within the liberties of 
the city;" this was in the building now known as Salem 
chapel, St. Augustine's place. The theatre at Jacob's 
wells then became the place of retreat for the drama. On 
October 28th Prince George, the husband of the queen, 
died of asthma and dropsy at the age of 55 years. 

The union of Scotland and England was completed 
in 1707-8, and the first Parliament of Oreat Britain 
assembled on October 23rd; the old members were 
again returned for Bristol. Mr. Hungerford and Mr. 
Liversedge were arrested by order of the mayor for 
refusing to serve as common council men, which the 
house approved, and thanked the mayor for maintain- 
ing the honour and dignity of the city. It seems that 
these gentlemen had had twelve months to consider the 
matter, but they declared that they could not conscien- 
tiously take the oaths, and they declined to perjure 
themselves. Suits were brought against them in Hilary 
term, 1710. The corporation endeavoured to claim a 
retrospective power in the new chamber of that year; 
but litigation ensued, until wearied out Mr. Hungerford, 
in 1717, paid the fine £200 and costs £40; but Mr. 
Idversedge stiU fought- the matter, and obtained a rule 
of the Court of King's Bench to have the cause tried in 
the county of Somerset. The last entry in the Archives 
on the subject is dated August, 1723 : '' The committee 
formed, in 1717, for the prosecution of Mr. Bichard 
Liversedge being dead or removed, and Mr. Idversedge 
being also dead or removed, the mayor moved that the 
prosecution be stayed, which was carried in the affirma- 
tive by aU." 

*' <0n the 9th of September, 1707, the moon being 
nine days past the full, it was observed that the first 
tide of flood, which according to its usual custom should 
have been at Bristol about eleven o'clock, came in about 
eight, and flowed about a foot at the Gibb, and then 
ebbed ; and afterwards on the same morning it came in 
again at its customary time, viz., about eleven, and 
flowed as usual; so that it flowed and ebbed twice 
within twelve hours.' 

"This winter, 1708-9, was very long and severe; 
and beside many hard frosts there were four consider- 
able falls of snow; and the wind being generally E. 



and N.E. blew off the snow from the wheat and exposed 
it to the frost, which injured it greatly and caused our 
husbandmen to fear a scarcity ; and the merchants hav- 
ing exported much to Flanders for the army and to 
other places, wheat advanced by degrees from about 4s, 
a bushel to Ss, or 9s. before the winter was over, and 
the poor murmured much. On the 21st of May, 1709, 
the colliers of Kingswood, about 200 men, came into 
the city, and being joined by other poor caused a great 
consternation, and the militia was raised; but having 
received a promise that wheat should be sold on Monday 
next at 6s. Sd. they dispersed. Some of the colliers 
however staid behind, and for some threatening words 
were seized and secured in the council-house ; of which 
the rest being informed they returned, and there was 
some bustle between them and the militia. Two or 
three of the mob were wounded ; but some of the sash 
windows of the council-house, lately made, were broken, 
through which the colliers made their escape. 

'^'Ghreat Britain being at war with France and 
Spain, many privateers were fitted out in Bristol. 
August 2nd, 1708, two famous ships of this kind, called 
the IHike and Duchess, commanded by Captain Woodes 
Rogers, sailed from hence to the Pacific ocean, and did 
great damage to the Spanish trade and colonies there, 
with great profit to the owners, some of whom were of 
the sect of the Quakers. They took .among many a 
Spanish prize called the Marqutss, of which Rogers 
writes thus: — "We found- in the Marqutss near 600 
bales of pope's bulls, sixteen reams in a bale : as this 
took up abundance of room in the ship, we threw most 
of them overboard to make room for better goods, except 
what we kept to bum the pitch of our ships' bottoms 
when we careened them. These bulls are imposed on 
the people, and sold by the clergy from 3 rials to 50 
pieces of eight each, according to the ability of the pur- 
chaser." Captain Rogers published an exact journal of 
the voyage, well written in a plain style, and very in- 
teresting.' " ^ 

'' In 1709 the bank or island called the Oreen bank, 
on the river Froom, above the great tower, was walled 
in, and the quay thereby greatly enlarged, and two ships 
were built thereon. The CoUege green railed in, and 
the walks laid out with young trees. EedclifiP church 
repaired, by means of a brief for £5,000. The chamber 
contributed £200. The custom house. Queen square, 
commenced building." ^ 

17. James HoUedge, who was mayor in 1708, was a 

merchant; the next year he was chosen chamberlain, 

which office he held for thirty years. He made no 

profit out of his office, for a few months later we find 

* Seyer, II., 568-9. • Evans, 253. 



160 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.i>. 1710. 



him petitioning the chamber for ''relief to support him- 
self and wife in their old age, he having been reduced 
to poverty from advances made to his son and others, 
and by other misfortunes." The corporation voted him 
an annuity of £50, which he received until his death in 
1742 ; his widow had £25 per annum allowed her. In 
1759 his daughter, Elizabeth Stringer, solicited assis- 
tance, and was allowed £15 per annum. 

Dr. Sacheverell preached his celebrated Jacobite 
sermon at St. Paul's on November 5th, 1709, for 
which he was impeached on January 13th, 1710, and 
suspended for three years on March 23rd. In it and 
in his speeches he endeavoured to bring odium upon 
the moderate men in his own church, as well as upon 
the Dissenters; the queen patronised his views, and 
gave him the living of St. Andrew's, Holbom, London. 
The mob favoured the High Church party, and dread- 
ful riots ensued, many chapels being attacked and des- 
troyed, and on this popular tide the Tories came into 
office in September; they were the Liberals of the 
age, and were supported by the Boman Catholics, and 
(strange anomaly) attempted to abolish protecting duties, 
to free commerce from its restrictions, and to establish 
triennial Parliaments — all of which were opposed by the 
Whigs, who went for the conservation of the old prin- 
ciples of trade, septennial parliaments, and No Popery ! 
Edward Colston and Thomas Earl were returned. 

On July 24th, 1710, the queen granted a new charter 
to this city, wherein she confirmed all former privileges, 
and renounced the powers, which her predecessors had 
so wantonly exercised, of removing the mayor and other 
officers of the municipality at their pleasure, and ap- 
pointing creatures of their own ; she also granted that 
officers duly elected by the burgesses should not need as 
heretofore the approval of the sovereign. 

This charter, After reciting the queen's motives, &c., confirms 
previous letters patent, making Bristol a city and county by itself, 
nominates a mayor, a recorder and eleven other aldermen, of whom 
the recorder is to be the first ; two sheriffs and nineteen conmion 
councilmen, who are to continue in office on good behaviour; 
the whole council to consist of forty-two persons, besides the 
mayor. The town clerk, steward of the sherifiTs court, and 
two coroners, are also by it appointed, and seven vacancies, 
caused by the contemptuous rrfusal to serve of certain bui^esses 
who had been elected, are ordered to be filled up by "the 
mayor and present common council ; " power is given to make 
and enforce penalties, ordinances for governing the city, &c. 
On death or removal of an alderman, the mayor and aldermen 
to elect his successor out of the common counciL All vacancies 
to be filled by the council. The recorder to be a barrister of five 
years' standing. The town clerk and the steward of the sheriff's 
court to be barristers of three years' standing. All members of 
the common council to continue in office as '* long as they behave 
themselves well in the same." The mayor, recorder, and alder- 
men, to be justices of the pcice, and three of them to be justices 
of oyer and terminer, and gaol delivery. Fines, forfeitures, &c., 



granted to the mayor, burgesses, and commonalty, without ac- 
count ; they are to hold four sessions of the peace yearly, and to 
have same power as other justices. They are to take oath for the 
due execution of their office, but the royal approb<Uion is to be no 
longer required btfore they enter upon office, neither are they in 
future to be removable by the crown. The conmion council to 
have power to alter time and place of present markets, and to 
hold future markets where they choose ; also to make by-laws 
to regulate them. Confirmation of all previous liberties winds up 
this valuable charter, for which a fine of twenty marks sterling 
was paid into the queen's hanaper. 
2ith July, 9 Anna Reg., i,e., 1710. 

Sir Abraham Elton, bart., was the first mayor after 
this charter was signed. 

When, through the instrumentality of the recorder, 
Mr. Justice Eyre, the foregoing charter was obtained for 
the city, there was ordered: — 

12th July. — ^Twelve dozen of sherry to be sent to the Marquis 
of Dorchester; the same to the lord chancellor (Lord Cowper); 
the same to Sir James Montague, her majesty's attorney general : 
thanks voted the lord chancellor for his services; the same to the 
Marquis of Dorchester ; the same to Sir James Montague : the 
thanks to be communicated in such a manner as to Mr. Justice 
Eyre shall render the same most acceptable. 

The recorder had also the thanks of the house, and 
he was voted a present of fifty guineas instead, ''to be 
laid out in the purchase of a pair of coach horses, to be 
presented to him for his acceptance as a testimony, 
though a very small one, of the attachment of this 
house hath of his favour." In answer to which ho 
writes : — '* I prefer your excellent sherry." It may 
be inferred from the following that his preference was 
indulged :— 

August 10th. — Paid Col. Yate, being what he expended in 
wine for the recorder over and above the fifty guineas, the gift of 
the house to him, £4 12tf. 

We have before noticed the custom in Bristol of 
presenting wines, sugar, &c., to notable personages ; it 
was one of ancient date. We here give a few instances 
of these gifts during the latter half of the 17th and the 
beginning of the 18th centuries. In 1644, when Bristol 
was in the hands of the Boyalists, there was a present 
of wine sent to Bath to Oliver St. John, the king's 
solicitor-general : — ^ 

1 tierce of claret 

22 gals, canary 

Cask for ditto 

Excise, 25/-, porterage, 6d, 
Chamberlain's horse hire, kc 
Carriage to Bath 





£ s. d. 




3 




4 8 




5 




15 6 




10 




10 




£10 8 6 



In 1648-9, on his return from Ireland, Cromwell was presented 
with a butt of sack, £20. June 17th, 16«'^8, John Blackwell, for wine 
sent to Lord Richard Cromwell, at Bath, £72 10«. Sd, To the 
recorder (Idr. Doddridge), three dozen bottles of wine and two 



AJ>. 1711. 



''TRAITOR'S BRIDGE" BUILT. 



161 



BOgar loaves. Also on Jane 28th, 1668, paid to John Baokwell, 
for wine tent to the Lord Richard Cromwell, at Bath, and spent 
at Mr. Aldworth's, and given to the recorder, £72 10*. Zd. To 
Richard Challoner, for 1031b of fine loaf sugar sent to the Lord 
Richard Cromwell, at Bath, and also for a cask, £8 15«. 6d, In 
1609, sack, claret, and wt. wine were sent to Lord Arlington, at 
Bath. 1688, May 23rd.— The mayor acquainted the house of the 
arrival of the Princess Anne of Denmark at Bath ; the mayor and 
others to proceed on Friday next to Bath to congratulate her on 
her arrival, and either to invite her highness and the prince hither, 
or make them some present in the name of the city ; the deputa- 
tion report they had met with a gracious reception, but that their 
h ighnesses intended not to go abroad, and cannot visit the city. 
(Anne and her husband were keeping quiet and away from 
court ; she had declined to become a pervert.) There was sent 
to Bath a hhd. of sack and two hhds. of claret ; price of for- 
warding to Bath, £3 8«. ! I Their highnesses departed suddenly 
from Bath, so that the sugar had to be sent after them to London, 
at a cost of 16«. In 1683, Sir Lyonel Jenkyns, secretary of state, 
was presented with wine to the amount of £37 9«. lid, ; forty 
doaen of marked bottles and four large crates are charged to the 
city, £6 14«. John Romsey waited upon him with the present ; for 
his expenses to- Bath he claimed 20s, In 1670 the corporation 
presented Robert Aldworth, their town clerk, as a token of 
respect, with a butt of Spanish and a tun of French wine. In 
1671> Sir Robt. Atkyns and Ids wife being in Bristol, a present of 
wine was made to them. The annual salary of the lord high 
steward was not an extravagant one. His grace the Duke of 
Ormond accepted the office in 1661, but was not paid for his 
services until 1672, when, instead of the eleven years' salary, the 
eoi' p w atiuu sent him a butt of the best sherry, and half a tun of 
French wine, bought in London at a cost altogether o'f £60. James 
Butler, however, was too keen to be done out of £5 of his dues ; 
he did not like London wine to be substituted for Bristol Milk. 
** Nothing better oould be obtained," wrote his secretary, " but 
his grace trusted the substitute would not be hasarded again." So 
we find the following orders in 1699 : John Backwell was paid for 
wine sent to the Duke of Ormond, £30. In 1701, for wine for 
the duke, £28. In 1703, a butt of wine to be presented to our 
high steward for his constant care of our trade, and for granting 
convoys to our ships touching at Ireland, he being lord lieutenant. 
1706, August 15th. — A pipe of sherry to be given to the Duke of 
Ormond, high steward of the city, he having on all occasions been 
very useful, £59. In 1708, wine sent to the Duke of Ormond, 
£39 17s. In 1711, May 9th, the duke being on his way to Ireland, 
it is ordered that a butt of sherry be presented to his grace from 
this city, £59 109. 3d. 1713, December.— Ordered that five gross 
of sherry be presented to the Duke of Ormond, and one gross to 
Edward Southwell, Esq. — (a gross of sherry had been sent to this 
gentleman in 1709). In February, 1714, Mr. Aldennan Yates read 
a letter to the house which he had received from Mr. Southwell, 
which stated that the duke was much pleased with the sherry, 
that lie esteemed that which had been sent toliimself as a great 
favour, and he was ready on all occasions to be serviceable to the 
city, "with which acoount the house was well pleased." There 
are other aooounts of these wine payments for favours, or bribes 
for those that were anticipated. 1703, November 10th. — The 
Society Merchant Venturers voted that a present of wine be 
made to Ed. Southwell, Esq., for his services to this society, the 
quantity to be such as the master and wardens shall see fit. 
1711.— Wine sent to Captain Earl, £14 8f. 1712.— Wine sent 
to Ed. Colston, £16 ISs, 6d. ; also a present of a gross of sherry 
to each of the members, and a gross to Mr. Secretary BurchelL 
1714.— Twenty doaen of sherry sent to London to CoL Earl, to be 
of by him for the good ol the dty. 1717.—A butt of 

[Vol. IIL] 



sherry to be presented to Sir Wm. Daines and Joseph Earl, Esq., 
the members for the city. In 1721, Sir George Byng being in 
Bristol, a present of wine was ordered to be made to him for his 
services to our trade in the Mediterranean, and that Col. Earl, 
Col. Tate, and John Beecher (the mayor) do wait upon him with 
the thanks of the hall (Merchant Venturers) for his services. 

18. In 1711a stone bridge was built over the Frome 
at Earl's Mead at the charge of Nathaniel Wade, steward 
of the sheriffs court, who owned considerable properly 
in the locality now known as Wade and Qreat Ann 
streets, &c. In this work he was assisted by Abraham 
Hook and others. From Wade's antecedents this bridge 
is still known as Traitor's bridge. On September Srd 
Dr. Robinson, bishop of Bristol, was made lord privy 
seal in the stead of the Duke of Newcastle, deceased. 
The bishop was one of the plenipotentiaries appointed 
to execute .the treaty of Utrecht. His motto in Bunio 
characters is still preserved in the Cathedral. [See our 

EOCLBSIASTIOAL HiSTOBY, 75.] 

Mr. Samuel Jacobs' fmrpre stare^ was, by order of the 
mayor and aldermen, pulled down in May, 1711. '' The 
like order for removing the purpre stare by Mr. S. Prigg, 
in Oom streeti in his late built house there, and all 
others of the like kind that Mr. Mayor, ftc, shall see 
neceasazy." Nathaniel Wade, barrister, was this year 
steward of the Sheriff's court. 

15th Aug^t, 1712. — ^The committee appointed 12th 
December, 1711, to treat with persons touching the re- 
moval of the roperies, pitch and tar-houses from Queen 
square report that they had agreed with the Society of 
Merchants for their right and interest in the Eope-walk; 
and further, the Society of Merchants had agreed that 
any members of the common council for the time being 
shall have leave to make any public feast or entertain- 
ment in the Merchants' hall, and also to make use of 
the other rooms built, or to be built, as oonveniences 
thereto. Mr. Town Glerk was ordered to take care that 
the Society of Merchants' covenant for the loan of the 
Merchants' hall be according to the report; and also 
Mr. Town Clerk to take care the Society of Merchants 
in the first place oonvey.the ropery to the mayor, bur- 
gesses and commonalty before the lease be granted. 

To serve a temporary purpose (the signing of a peace 
with France), the Tories, for the first time in English 
history, created twelve new peers, and by so doing 
secured a majority in the House of Lords, they having 
already a predominance in the Commons.. The property 
qualification for members of Parliament was at this time 
fixed at £600 per annum for counties and £300 in land 
for boroughs. The dock at Sea Mills was begun to be 
built by a company this year ; its object was to accom- 

^ Dr. Johnson, 427, 1824 edition, gives "poipzise, a close 

Wemdomre.*' 

O 



162 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.i>. 1713. 



modate the anticipated trade from the South Seas (Law's 
enormous Jiaseo, known as the South Sea bubble, was 
projected in the previous year). This year the Bev. 
William Ooldwyn, A.M., master of the Grammar school, 
published his poetical description of Bristol : — 

" Beyond the bridge a second city grows, 
And thousand scenes of wealth and beauty shows ; 
There lies the spacious streeta where London wares 
Display the tawdry pageantry of fairs ; 
Temptations offer'd to the virgins there 
To choose a marriage dress of modish air. 

Observe the flippant sparks in smartness nurs'd. 
With Fleet street style, and Lndgate language versed, 
O'er glossy silks, in glossy words explain, 
And, like the tongue-pad lawyers, talk for gain. 

As here the showy toys the eye delight. 
Next Nature's pride presents a finer sight, 
Lo ! Florio's happy spotb in verdant dress, 
Trees, modelled forms, and flowery sweets express ; 
Methinks I feel the jessamine and rose 
A fragrant breath in rich perfume disclose ; 
The orange plant indulged with warmest rays, 
High flavoured scents, and golden fruit displays ; 
Here pruning art redundant beauty crops. 
And shapes the spiral yews in conic tops, 
Whilst silver hollies wider compass spread. 
And guard, with native spears, a globar head." 

a Temple street h Avon street. Great gudens, Ac. 

19. Anthony Swymmer, mayor in 1713, was the son 
of Alderman William Swymmer, who was arraigned 
before Judge Jeffreys for kidnapping. Anthony de- 
frauded the revenue by planting tobacco contrary to 
Act of Parliament. He was apprenticed to his father. 
In 1 704 he had served the office of sheriff. When mayor 
he is described as '' not being given to hospitality, save 
at his neighbour's expense, and although he had of 
publick monies for the same, he gave no entertainments, 
which did provoke much heats and stir up strife and in- 
jured the ancient reputation of the citty for hospitality, 
but being very rich and influential he was in no wise 
let. Two years afterwards, when alderman and governor 
of the corporation of the poor, there was much bruit and 
fame abroad that he had given £50 to St. Peter's hospital. 
But the people were incredulous, as he was known for 
a hard man, and shook their heads and said 'twas the 
monies of the citfy." He was also governor of Queen 
Elizabeth's hospital. His death is recorded thus : — 

Thursday, ye 18th June, 1719, about twelve o'clock, Anthony 
Swymmer, esq., one of ye aldermen of this citty, was seized on 
ye Tolzey with the appopletick fit, and iiooke into Mr. Wall's, ye 
bookseller's shop, Where he was presently let blood, and in some 
little time carried to Sir William Daine's house, where ye alderman 
dyed about three or four hours after. He was buried on Monday 
evening, the 22nd, at St. Augustine's. Ye prayers was read, but 
ye church was not hang'd with black. All ye council invited, ye 
Hospital boys attended, but I think did not singe along ye streets 
as usuaU. Tis said he dyed worth about forty thousand pounds. 
Ye funeral sermond was preaoh'd by ye reverend vicar of St. 



Augustine from part of ye 6th verse of St, Mark, but whether 
eulogistick of ye character of ye deceased or other wise I could 
not comprehend. 

He lived in a large house on St. Augustine's back, nearly 
opposite Colston's Great-house. About the year 1730 
this house was occupied by Mr. Fane, who married 
Elizabeth Swymmer, daughter of the above-named mer- 
chant. Mr. Fane, who was the great grandson of Sir 
Francis Fane, was an attorney and derk to the Society 
of Merchants. At this period there lived in the Great- 
house in College green, next door but one to St. Augus- 
tine's church, Mr. Jarrett Smith, who was also an 
attorney, and who became Sir Jarrett Smith, of Ashton 
court. The clerks of both these gentlemen frequented 
the *' Prince Frederick" tavern in Le win's mead. Smith's 
clientele were amongst the gentry, Fane's amongst the 
vulgar herd, which often was the cause of sneers and 
chaff from clerks of the green. On one such occasion 
a clerk of Fane's repHed to the jeers, ''Your master! 
A Smith indeed! Why, only let twelve persons die, 
and our master will be Earl of Westmoreland." Such is 
the instability and uncertainty of human life, the un- 
likely event did occur, and Mr. Fane succeeded his 
cousin in 1762 and became Earl of Westmoreland. He 
inherited, however, little more than the title. His son 
eloped with the daughter of a rich London banker and 
became wealthy. The earl kept up the old residence in 
Bristol until his death, 12th November, 1771. Lady 
Westmoreland continued to reside in her ancestral home 
until her decease, 12th November, 1782. It then be- 
came the residence of James Harford, who was a 
Quaker. Mrs. Mary Harford separated the west wing, 
making it an occasional residence ; the body of the house 
she let, in 1827, to Mr. Stone, auctioneer, who used it 
as a public saleroom. The large cellars facing the Quay 
were let to a French brandy distillery company. During 
the erection of the new Custom-house the above building 
was rented by Government. 

On May 19th the peace of Utrecht, signed on March 
30th, was proclaimed in Bristol by the sheriffs with great 
rejoicings, such as bell-ringing, bonfires and illumina- 
tions. The " Prodigal Son " was one of the principal 
inns. ** Mr. John Gray this year founded the Charity 
school for girls on the western side of Temple street. 
This school was originally instituted on Temple back, to 
which Mrs. Mary Gray had given £50 in 1699." i 

''September 7th, 1713, the election for members of 
Parliament began here. The candidates were Sir Wil- 
liam Daines, Colonel Joseph Earle and Thomas Edwards, 
jun. The High party, as they were called, supported 
Earle and Edwards ; the Low party and Dissenters voted 

^ Evans, 256. 



THE WAR WITH FRANCE. 



for Eorle and Daines ; Colonel Earle being approved by 
both parties aa a moderate man, althougb certainly of 
the Low party. This election was carried on with ^eat 
violence, so that the ruder sort of people went to blows 
and broke one another's heads, behaving^ themselTes 
very unlike considerate men, so that the election broke 
up on Tuesday following. Edwards and £arle were 
returned as members ; but the calendar from whence 
this account is 
taken, being 
written by one 
of the Low 
party, asserts 
that the matter 
was unfairly de- 
termined, and 
that their party 
was the more 
numerons, and 
that not half of 
those who had a 
right had given 
their Totes. This 
is the first lame 
that the calen- 
dars mention 
anything par- 
ticular concern- 
ing these elec- 
tions." ^ This 
election cost 
£2,257 9». Id. 

20. The BUB- 
pension of Sa- 



che' 



ell, 



1720, for three 
years, brought 
the Commons 
into great con- 
tempt ; never, 
perhaps, had a 

greater storm iw-r< ki^;™. >™ j 

gathered areunda more insignificant personage. Town# 
end, in his Mtntoirt, originated a phrase that has become 
a proverb. When speaking of this blatant eccleeiastio, 
he says :— "He had risen like a rocket, and he fell like 
its stick ; he had been used as a torch or a firebrand, the 
means of sudden brilliancy, and when the confiagration 
was over men cast him aside with no more regard than 
a piece of blackened wood." 

During the greater part of Anne's reign a fierce war 
' Seyor, U., SSO. 



with France was earned on, and the victories of Bamil- 
lies and Blenh^m were won by that great general, 
UarlbOTOUgh. This war was consistently opposed by the 
Jacobites, who had now amalgamated with the Tories, 
but was heartily supported by the Whigs, on whose 
side were ranged as pamphleteers Addison and Steele, 
whilst Swift and others wrote in opposition. It is a 
humiliating fact that throughout this reign the minis- 
ters of this great 
nation depended 
far existence on 
the favour of a 
mistress of the 
robes (Duchess 
of Marlborough) 
or a bedchamber 
woman (Mrs. 
Maaham). 

The spirit 
that before the 
Beformation 
led to bequests 
for chantries, 
masses and 
lights to be kept 
burning before 
the altar had, 
whether as a 
meagre atone- 
ment for sins 
committed, or as 
a means of be- 
nefiting future 
generations, its 
correlative in 
gift sermons to 
be preached in 
certain churches 
on different 
anniversaries. 
Money was in 
iiiiiB in ctwncu-kcM.. ^^^^ t^MBi pro- 

vided to pay for a dinner on the said sermon day ; and 
we believe that whilst many spiritual exhortations, which 
had not this addendum, have disappeared and the money 
been misappropriated, tlie dinner sermon is carefully 
kept up to the present time. 

The following list, extending over a century, which 
we quote from Tovey, shows that "bequests for gift 
sermons commenced aa early as 1336, when the great 
religious mutation was a^tating the land ; also, if the 
penalty for non-attendance had been inflicted, the mem- 



164 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1718. 



bers of the corporate body would hare almost daily paid 
6s. Sd,, or almost daily walked piously to churoh, but 
they did neither the one nor the other. 

GIFT SERMONS. 

St. Jambs, 
1536. William Sage, 20$., for two BermoiiB yearly, for ever. 

Mr. Pierce, 20»., Bermon 6th November, ditto. 
1678. Mary Walter, 10*., first Simday after 9th November. 
1713. Stephen Chapman, sen., 20»., Good Friday. 
1716. Bev. Stephen Chapnutn, 2O0., d(Hh January. 
1718. Michael Pope, 20*., Suiday after Michaelmas. 
1720. George Packer, 21«., 28th January. 

1723. Ann Merrick, £200 — ^interest thereof to be paid the niini«i»r 
for reading prayera in the church onoe every day, for ever. 
1730. John Haythome, 20i., Christmas day. 

All Saints. 
January 30th, the martyrdom of King Charles I., by 

■*^» • V VUlU ^^^^V JL ■•• ■•• ■•• ••• ••• ••• ••• ••• ••• 

February 2, the Purification, by Dr. White 

First Sunday in Lent, by Roger Hurte 

May 1st, St Philip and Jacob* Dr. White 



£ $. d. 



10 
2 10 
10 
2 10 










Sunday after St. James' day, by Alderman Richard Cole 10 

Sunday before September 16th, by ditto 10 

November Ist, All Saints' day, Dr. White 2 10 

November 17th, Queen EUaabeth's accession, by Mr. 

Peter Millard 10 

November 30th, St. Andrew's, Mr. Samuel Bayly ... 12 

December 28th, Innocents' day. Dr. White 2 10 

For reading prayers every Monday and Tuesday, by 

Mr. Robert Colston, son of William Colston, esq. ..660 

1622. \ Saint WntBuitaH. 

Ma^h 25 l'^'^' ^^™*' White gave lands of £10 per annum for 
T 2d I ^^^^ sermons in this church for ever. 

Dec. 27./ 
1624. \ 
May 6. 1 Humphrey Brown gave an estate at Elberton of £7 
May 22. V per annum for reading prayers at six o'clock moming», 
June 24. 1 at St. Werbnrgh's, and £2 for four sermons there. 
July 1./ 

1661. Joseph Jackson gave £200, the interest thereof for pro- 
moting divine worship in this church. 
Edward Colston gave £160, to erect a new altar-pieoe. 

Chbist Chubch. 

1636. Henry Yate 20s., and 60«. for the poor. 
1661. Francis Gleed 20s., and 40«. for the poor. 
1708. Sir William Clutterbnck 20s., lOs. to the clerk, and 20t. to 
the poor in bread. 

Saint John. 
Mr. William Griffin, 10s., St. John's day. 
Mrs. Elizabeth Colston, widow, IO9., New Year's day. 
Mr. Thomas Edwards, 20s., two sermons, St. Thomas's day, Good 
Friday. 

Saint Mabt-lb-pobt. 
1782. Thomas Smith, £400— 40s. to the olerk and sexton, and the 
remainder of the interest to the rector for reading prayers 
twice a week. 

Saint Stbphen. 
1678. Mr. John Miner, mariner, gave the moiety of six tenements, 
a stable and two gardens, for a sermon to be preached in 
St» Stephen's church the first Friday in every month. 



Saint Pkibb. 

Mr. Christopher Kedgwine gave 10s. a year. 

Mr. Thomas Clements gave a house for two sermons yearly, and 

the rest to the poor. 
Mrs. Elizabeth Spurt, 20s., sermon 29th June. 
Mrs. Mary Davis, 10s., sennon 17th July. 
Samuel Wallis, alderman, 20s., sennon on the day of electing 

governor, &c. 
James Birch, £60, for a sermon and dinner for the vestry on the 

10th December. 
Rev. Hugh Waterman, 20s,, for a sermon seoond Sunday in August. 

St. Nicholas. 

Mrs. Elizabeth Hall, first Sunday in every month, £6. 
William Chaloner, January 0th, or Sunday after, 10s. 
Sir Thomas Langton, Good Friday, 20s. 
Sir William Cann, knt, 1693, April 23rd, 40s. 
William Burrows, May 3rd, 20s. 

Alderman William Tucker, Sunday after Trinity, 6t. Sd. 
George Snow, Sunday before 24th June, 6s. Bd. 
Roger Hurte, 24th June, 6s. 9d. 
August 6th, Mr. William Evans, 10s. 
Mr. Michael Deyoe, August 3rd, 13f. id. 
October 28th, November 7th, John Whitson, esq., 20s. 
First Sunday in Lent, to be preached at Horfield, gift of Alder- 
man John Langton, 12s. 
Derrick Popley, first Sunday in Lent, 10s. 

St. Philip and Jacob. 

Thomas or Abraham Clements, esq., 10s., sermon, 1st January. 

Elisabeth Smith, sermon, 4th January. 

Eight Sundays in the year, Mr. Cox's. 

Christopher Blackboume, 10s. each for two sermons, one Ash 

Wednesday and the other Good Friday. 
May 1st, Sir Abraham Elton's hart, 208. 
May 9th, Mr. James Smith's. 
Mrs. Dionis Gibbes, 20s., sermon, 28th September. 



Alderman Kitchen ... 
George Hudson 

George White 

T. Warren, sen. 
Dr. White, two ser- 
mons 

John Gray 



Mr. C. Woodward ... 

George Benson 

Sir Robt. Rogers, knt. 
Mrs. K Woodward... 
Mrs. Julian Shuter ... 
Mr. T. Holbin .,. ... 



£ s. 
10 




1 



10 
6 



TufPLB. 

d. 






Mrs. Mary Gray 

Geoige Knight 

John Hudson 

John Barker, alder- 
man, 13 sermons in 
the year, first Sun- 
day in the month . . . 



£ s. d. 

6 8 

12 6 

10 



St. TfloxAB. 

£ s. d. 




10 



10 



10 



George Hellier ... 
Robert Rogers, aid. 

John Pope 

Matthew Warren 
George Longman 
Christopher Brimsden 



4 6 8 

£ s. d. 

10 

10 

10 

1 
10 



Rbdcuff. 



£ s. d. 

Ann Edson 13 

G.Gibbs, five sermons 3 

William James 13 

Sir Robert Yeamans 7 4 



£ 
1 



s. d. 





Joseph Bullock 

Christmas day k Eas- 
ter Sunday, the ves- 
try to the minister 2 10 



1713. '' The mayor and oommon oonnoil for this city, 
for the better instraotion of the people in their duty to 



MUNICIPAL PORTRAITS. 



Qod and advancmg religion and pie^ ia tliis city, very 
many years pa«t ordered that one Bennon at ike charge 
of the mayor, bnx^wee and coimoil should be preached 
OD Tuesday every week, by some learned divine of this 
city to be appointed by the oonunon council, which 
sramon has obtained the name of the Tuesday lecture, 
beings vacant by the death of Dr. Bead, the same ia 
ordered to be continued. Two petitions were read, 
one from the Bev. John 
Frankland, D.D., rector 
of St. Stephens, the other 
from Dr. Bead, Master 
of Arts, who officiated in 
the church of St. Stephen 
since the death of Dr. 
Bead. Dr. John Frank- 
land chosen by a majority 
of voices." * 

The municipal por- 
trait gallery at the time 
of tiie death of Anne 
contained the following 
pictures: — "The earliest 
are those of Bobert and 
Nicholas Thome, the 
benefactors to the Oram- 
mar school. Bobert bears 
a remarkable likeness to 
his king, blufii Henry 
Vlll. Nicholas has an 
ascetic, miserable look. 
They were painted when 
Holbein was in the zenith 
of his reputation by some 
mediocre imitator of that 
great master. The execu- 
tion ia in the lowest pos- 
sible style of art; they 
bear date 1536 and 1S42. 
Those of Mr. Thomas 
White, a native of Coven- 
try, who settled here as j^ Earl <^ Fa-bnU. fton 

a merchant, and who be- 
came a benefactor to the city, and of Sir Thomas 
White are of abont the same period; they have all 
the BtiSness without the execution of Holbein. Next 
in date is the portrait of Mr. Bobert Eitchin; then that 
of Dr. White, founder of Temple hospital; Aldermen 
Whitson, Harrington, Gibba and Lane are of the 17th 
century; Edward Colston is of the early IBth, and a 
picture of much higher pretension as a work of art. 
> Tovey's Loo»l Jottings. 



Of royal personages there were only Charles I. and H. 
and William and Mary (James had disappeared like a 
palimpsest, to re-appear in the 19th century); King 
William's knees are a curiosity in drawing. The por- 
traits of the Earl of Portland, Lord Burleigh, Bobert 
Cecil and the Earl of Dorset are very interesting. As 
a work of art, a fine full-length portrait of the Earl of 
Pembroke, lord high treasurer, an indubitable Vandyke, 
has most pretension and 
most value." ^ 

Jeffreys did not stamp 
out the practice of kid- 
napping. "Thereisnot," 
writes a local annalist in 
the reign of Queen Anne, 
" a brick in the city but 
what ia cemented with 
the blood of a slave. 
Sumptuous mansions, 
luxurious living, liveried 
menials, werethepreduce 
of the wealth made frem 
the Bufferings and groans 
of the slaves bought and 
sold by the Bristol mer- 
chants. From the first 
cargo of human flesh 
sent to Ireland until the 
abolishing of the abhor- 
rent traffic, they traded 
largely in the living oom- 
modity. In their child- 
like simplicity they could 
not feel the iniquity of 
the merchandise, but they 
could feel it lucrative; 
advancing it as a reason 
for certain privileges." 

February, 1713. The 

humble petition of the 

mayor, aldermen and 

paiKiinjr bt vavifit. common council of fhe 

city of Bristol eheweth: — 

Thai the chief dopeDdence of the iuhabitanti of this dty for 
their •nbsistence is on trade, the greatest put whereof is to h«r 
niftjeaty's plantations and ooloniei in America and the ooast of 
Africa, which employs great nninber* of handy craftamen in build- 
ing and fitting out ships, and in the making and mannfkctnra* of 
wool, iron, tin, copper, brass, kc., a ooiuidenhle part whereof ia 
exported to tiie coast of Africaybr buyinj) of ntgroa, which trades 
are the great support of onr people at home and foondation of oar 
trad« abroad. And we shall ever pray, tc.* 

' Tovey's Local Jottings. » Ibid. 



CHAPTER XVI. 



^ T^E PQOYERI^I) Ep.— GEORGE I. ^QD II. ^ 



I. Accession of George I. The Mob on Coronation day. Trial of Ike Rioters. 2. Henry Walter, 
Mayor. Rumoured approach of the Pretender. A necdote of Walter. The first Drawbridge erected. 3, Coroners 
held in contempt. Death of the Mayor. Ceremonies consequent thereon. Order of precedence for the Companies. 
4, Sir Abraham Elton returned to Parliament. Great Flood in Broadmead. 5. Local incidents. Wood's 
Coinage. Death of George I. 6. Accession of George II. Coronation rejoicings. Visit of Princess Amelia. 
Importations of Grain, etc. y. Fatal Riot. New Com Market. Re-arrangement of Fairs, etc' 8. Statue 
of King William III. 9. Opposition to the Excise Bill, etc. Visit of the Prince of Orange. 10. Advent of 
Whitejield and the Wesleys; effects of their Preaching; their first Chapel. Bristol sends Wesleyans to America. 
The Methodist Ministry originated in Bristol. Chapels, etc. ir. Elbridge founds the Infirmary. Roger 
North on Bristol and its Funerals. 12. Local items. Pope's visit to and description of Bristol. 13. Civic 
occurrences of interest, 14. Roque's Map of the City. Incidents of the age. Savage, the Poet. Curious 
discovery. The Pretender, etc. 15. Attack on the Turnpikes. A fine Aurora Borealis. Local incidents, 
16. New style of Calendar. The Colliers' Riot. 17. Interesting details. King Square laid out. Hogarth's 
Paintings, Simmons, the Artist. 18. Capture of a French Man-of-War in the Bristol Channel. Bristol 
Bridge re-built. 19, Park Street and College Street built. Death of George II. Statistics of Population in 
Bristol for half a century. 




T a meeting of the common council, August 
3Ut, 1714, the mayor, Anthony Swymmer, 
moved an addreaB to hia majesty George I. 
^Jb on hifi acoeBsion to the throne, which wae 
S^J/St' ordered to be prcBButed by the recorder, Sir 
'Wjl/^j Bobert Eyre. The king and his son landed 
at Greenwich on Saturday, September 1 8th ; 
" and the corporation of Bristol, having pre- 

Tioofily had notice to that effect, ordered that the day 
ahonld be celebrated in this city with the utmost pomp 
and splendour. "That it lie left to the mayor and 
aldermen to see that it be performed accordingly; that 



Mr. Sheriff Beecher, Mr. Whitehead, the mayor-elect, 
and Mr. Hicks be desired to attend the Dean of Bristol 
and to acquaint him with this order, and that if he 
think fit to have a solemn service and a aermon at the 
Cathedral that day the mayor and common oooncil will 
be in their places in the most solemn manner." The 
shops were all shut, there was a general holiday, bells 
rang from the churches, Brandon hill shook under re- 
peated volleys of cannon, and the whole city was illu- 
minated at night. The coat of the proclamation was 
£48 4*. 4d. ; the total expense, £83 ]4j. Gd. 

That there was a strong J'ooobite party in the caty. 



A.D. 1714. 



THE MOB ON CORONATION DAY. 



167 



who, biding their tiinei merely bowed to the popular 
cry, and Bwam with the stream only to change its direc- 
tion, is shown by subsequent events. Bristol, centricaUy 
situated, and the commercial emporium of the west of 
England, has been for ages the resort of the roughs and 
wastrels of the adjoining counties, as well as of the 
southern parts of Wales and Ireland. Coming hither 
ostensibly in search of work, these men, in periods 
of depression of trade, or in times of great political 
excitement, have, by the violence of their conduct, many 
times brought disgrace upon the fair fame of this great 
city, so that a " Bristol mob " is a cognomen for aU that 
is ruffianly and destructive. 

By certain well-known means the wealthy Jacobites 
of the ciiy (amongst whom, the evidence proved, were 
many members of the Loyal Society) secured the 
services of the roughest class. The Whigs and the 
Dissenters were for the greater part shopkeepers and 
tradesmen, with a sprinkling of wealthy merchants. On 
the evening of October 20th, the coronation day, there 
was a coUation and ball in the large room of the Custom- 
house, Queen square. The windows of the houses in 
the city were illuminated, and bonfires were prepared 
in different places. These signs of rejoicing attracted 
large crowds-, but left other portions of the city at the 
mercy of a comparatively few, but evil-disposed, persons. 
A rumour had got abroad that Mr. Stephens, a baker in 
Tucker street (well known as a prominent Whig, but 
whose popularity was not heightened by the fact that 
he was collector of the king's taxes), had in his posses- 
sion an effigy of Dr. SachevereU, which he was about 
to publicly bum. The cry, "Down with the Whigs 
and SachevereU for ever!" soon gathered a mob, at first 
of no great dimensions; they, about six o'clock in the 
evening, attacked the house, assaulted Mrs. Stephens, 
who stood in her doorway resisting their, entrance with 
a broomstick, struck out the eye of a woman named 
Baker, and then marched off, with a threat of returning 
later in the evening. Preparation was made to receive 
them. Mr. Stephens' son was captain of a West India- 
man, and he gathered his friends to defend the house. 
True to their promise, the rioters at night returned and 
filled the narrow crooked street. The inmates tried 
every means to pacify them. The mayor sent the con- 
stables to keep the peace ; they searched the house and 
assured the mob that there was no effigy, still nothing 
would satisfy them but mischief. They smashed in 
the windows, stole twenty pounds in money, drank all 
the liquor they could find and carried off the plate, to 
the cry of " Down with the Soundheads, SachevereU 
and 0- ■ , and d— n aU foreigners." One of the 
rioiters struck Captain Stephens with a pole and knocked 



him down; he seized a sword and wounded a cooper, 
warning the rioters that he and his friends had firearms, 
with which they were resolved to defend the house. 
The inmates drew the kneading trough across the pas- 
sage, and intrenched behind it and from a secure posi- 
tion on the stairs they kept the mob at bay. Three 
times a blunderbuss was fired, but as only one young 
man, John Oonning, a watchmaker's apprentice, was 
hurt by shot, and he, it is said, was assisting Mr. Stephens, 
it is clear the defenders must have intended not to kiU, 
but simply to frighten their assailants. 

MeanwhUe a shoemaker, Henry Thomas, a good 
Quaker, interposing, besought the mob to retire, but he 
was thrown down, trampled upon, and so injured that 
he died the next day. Qt)nning also died a few days 
afterwards, but the cooper recovered. Then the magis- 
trates arrived on the scene, took the names of many 
persons, and succeeded in dispersing the mob. The 
Presbyterian meeting-house was next door to Stephens' 
house : this they attempted, but being told that there 
were parties within armed with muskets they desisted. 
They also assaUed the house of the under-sheriff, Mr. 
Whiting, on Temple back ; he had won their iU-wiU 
by a recent prosecution of '^ a notorious rog^e who had 
been guUty of perjury." Whiting was forewarned, and 
had laid in a stock of wine and Uquors, which he dis- 
tributed amongst them with fair words, taking note the 
meanwhUe and making a list of the ringleaders. They 
also visited the house of Mr. Jeffery, a distiUer, who 
was a prominent Dissenter ; they smashed his windows 
and were satisfied. The like fate befeU the house of a 
button-maker, who was said to have made the buttons 
for the coat put upon the effigy of SachevereU. They 
seem to have been a perambulating body; there were 
three, if not four, attacks on Stephens' house, but finaUy 
they set off to finish the night with an assault on the 
dancers at the Custom-house baU. Here they reckoned 
without their host. The gentlemen, aided by the officers 
of the Customs and their own servants, saUied out 
against them, and the miserable wretches fied in aU 
directions. 

Sixteen men, who are described as being the scum 
of the rabble, were taken into custody; others who 
were impHcated fled from the city. On Friday, the 
22nd, the mayor, Henry Whitehead, issued a proclama- 
tion, offering £50 reward for the discovery of the mur- 
derers of Henry Thomas, but this was without effect. 
A special commission was sent down from London to 
try the rioters, consisting of Mr. Justice Powis, Mr. 
Justice Tracey and Baron Price, with whom came, as 
counsel for the Crown, Mr. Serjeant Cheshire, Mr. Lut* 
wich, K.C., and Mr. Cowper. They left London on 



168 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1714. 



November 22nd, attended by proper officers, making a 
kind of semi-state procession through their route, in 
order to give greater weight to their proceedings. Two 
hundred of the principal citizens met them on horse- 
back as they came by the new road from Bath, they 
being the first persons of consequence who had travelled 
by that route. The members of the Loyal Society de- 
cided also to join the cavalcade ; they formed the first 
part of the procession as it entered the city. Avoiding 
Temple street, because of the narrow neck of Tucker 
street, through which the cavalcade must have passed, 
the Tories led the way by the usual route of Thomas 
street, which the Whigs observing, they continued on 
through Portwall lane to BeddifF street, thus keeping 
the judges to themselves. At Bristol bridge the Tories, 
in their chagrin, met them with cries of ** Down with 
the Eoundheads ! " ** No Je&eys, no western assizes ! " 
and such was the confusion and so dense the multitude 
that the judges were one hour passing the three-quarters 
of a mile which led to their lodgings. 

On Friday the grand jury found true bilk against 
the following, who were indicted for a riot, and on 
another count for murder and burglary: — John Wilmot, 
tailor, Bedcliff ; John Bullock, weaver. Temple ; Thomas 
Ittery, sugar-baker, St. James ; John Fine, barber, St. 
FhiHp and Jacob ; Gabriel Belcher, saddler, St. John ; 
John Harding, shoemaker, St. Philip and Jacob; and 
Evan Howell, gardener, of Blackborton, Oxford. Har- 
ding was acquitted for lack of evidence ; the other six 
were, after the jury had been locked up from 10 p.m. to 
midnight, acquitted of the murder and burglary, but 
found guilty of the riot. 

There was great confusion in the court on the first 
day of the trial. The one side held that this rising, 
with intent to pull down houses, was a levying of war 
against the king and high treason at common law (25 
Edward HI). On ihe other hand it was contended (1st 
Mary, c. 12) that there was no treason in the case. One 
of the members of the Loyal Society (Hart, a magis- 
trate and well-known non-juror, who unsuccessfully 
opposed Elton and Earl in 1722) thrust himself forward 
in support of the prisoners, for which Colonel Earl in 
open court told him that he was one of the ringleaders 
of the mob, and he was obliged to stand down, whilst 
another of their friends for contempt of court was held 
to bail. ^ 

On Monday, Edward Hughes, cooper, St. Mary-le- 
port, was found not guilty of the murder of Henry 
Thomas ; and a lad, Francis Painter, was found guilty 
of stealing to the value of tenpence in the house of 
Mr. Stephens. (At that time stealing from a dwelling- 

^ Beyer, II., 568. 



house to the amount of one shilling was a capital 
offence.) The same night a gang of riotous fellows 
went to the mayor's house, but beyond creating a 
tumult in the street they did nothing. On the Tuesday 
the before-named Edward Hughes and Francis Painter 
were a second time indicted, together with Kichard 
Collery, shoemaker, St. James, Hugh Berry, peruke- 
maker, All Saints, and John Jones, glover, of St. 
Thomas, for a riot. A nolle prosequi was entered against 
Hughes and Painter ; the other three were found guilly. 
On Wednesday the scene shifted, and Francis Stephens 
was tried on two indictments, the first for stabbing a 
cooper's apprentice, the second for the murder of John 
Qt)nning, by shooting him with a leaden ball. He was 
found not guilty on both indictments, the judges ruling 
that the law justified the action. Lastly, William Shewell 
was tried and found guilty of rioting, it being proved 
that he encouraged the mob by shouting, with an oath, 
''Down with the house!" The prisoners were fined 
twenty nobles each, sentenced to be imprisoned three 
months, and to give security for good behaviour for 
twelve months. Joel Grooker and Jacob Brittain were 
bound over to appear at the Gloucester assize for bribing 
the king's evidence. The man who was held to bail for 
vilifying the jury in court had his trial postponed until 
the next gaol delivery; William Thomas and Samuel 
Stacey, who had absconded, were apprehended on their 
return, five weeks after the trial, on a charge of abetting 
and encouraging the riot, but in each of these cases the 
prosecution was dropped, the Gbvemment being un- 
willing to use severity at so critical a juncture of the 
nation's history. 

One of the saddest things that the historian has to 
record is the depth of degradation to which parly strife 
reduces men, otherwise estimable and intelligent. That 
some of the Jacobites instigated the mob to ruffianly 
violence is too true; but the fact did not justify the 
virulent language of the Whig narrators, or entitle one 
of them to try and bespatter the reputation of such a 
man as Edward Colston, by a dirty insinuation that ** he 
has shown how much he prefers good werks to purily 
of life by laying out some thousands of pounds in 
building hospitals here, whilst he himself lived vexy 
much at his ease with a Tory, though of a different 

sex, at M ^ke." The baseness of this aoousation will 

strike our readers who remember that Oolston was 
seventy-eight years old, and that up to within a short 
period of this date his sister had lived with and kept 
house for him. 

The Tory party greatly damaged their cause by their 
excesses in different parts of the kingdom; it was a 
blunder which Bolingbroke and his colleagues made to 



A.D. 1715. 



HENRY WALTER, MAYOR. 



169 



divert the attention of their followers from practical 
politics to a dream of the restoration of the Stuarts. 
Bowdyism was not palatable to the landed gentry ; the 
clergy had no desire to be supported on one side by 
such a rabble and on the other by a Eoman Catholic 
king; and the bursting of the South Sea bubble, in 
which the Tory ministers were implicated, increased the 
difficulties of the trading classes and opened the way 
for a reaction in favour of the Whigs. 

A new Parliament was snmmoned, which met March 1714-15. 
The candidates were Sir William Daines, knt. and Col. Joseph 
Earle, on the Whig side, and Thomas Edwards and Philip Freke, 
esqrs., of the Tory party. "At the close of the poll there 
appeared a majority for the two latter, who were carried aboat 
the Cross according to custom ; bat in the meantime the sheriffs 
returned the two former." One of the Calendars is of the same 
mind. ''This year the sheriffs, Whitehead and Taylor, made a 
false retam of members to serve in Parliament for this city. 
Their villainy was exclaimed against much.*' What the Whigs 
said in their defence does not appear. Freke and Edwards 
petitioned, probably to no purpose. This Parliament, in April, 
1716, voted itself Septennial, and that all future Parliaments 
should be such likewise. 

In August, 1715, began the rebellion in Scotland; and in 
many parts of England were shown strong proofs of attachment 
to the exiled family of Stuart, and of disaffiection to the house of 
Hanover. The Jacobites (as the friends of the Stuarts were 
called) "had certainly formed a plan to get possession of Bristol, 
where they had many friends ; of which as soon as the Govern- 
ment had notice, they ordered the Earl of Berkeley, lord-lieu- 
tenant of the counties of Gloucester and Bristol, to repair hither, 
where he arrived on the day when the mayor was sworn into 
office [al.f on the day of election]. He brought with him 
Brigadier-General Stanwix's regiment of foot; and about the 
beginning of October, CoL Chudleigh's regiment of foot marched 
into Bristol and joined Lumley's regiment of horse and the two 
battalions of Stanwix and Pococke, which were here already. 
The Earl of Berkeley with unwearied application and diligence 
took all necessary measures for the security of the city." On 
Sundayi October 2, the discovery was made of a design to 
seize the city for the Pretender ; whereupon the militia was 
raised, and the gates were kept shut and guarded, and cannon 
planted at some of them, and the city kept in manner of a 
garrison for several months. " Many of the citizens, who were 
thought to be in the interest of the Pretender, were sent to the 
Marshalsea, among whom was Mr. Hart, a merchant, charged 
with having collected great quantities of warlike stores for the 
use of the conspirators. At Bath the Jacobites had formed a 
laige magazine of war for the use of the insurrection, which it 
was intended should immediately be made in Somersetshire, 
headed by Sir William Wyndham ; information of all which 
being obtained, the Lord Windsor's regiment of horse and Bich's 
dragoons went to Bath, under the command of Major -General 
Wade, who there seized of the rebels 200 horses, t^ chests of 
fire-anns, a hogshead full of basket-hilted swords, another full of 
cartouches, three pieces of cannon, one mortar, and molds to cast 
cannon which had been hidden under ground ; and, October 7, 
Sir Wm. Wyndham was committed to the Tower." Although 
they were thus disappointed, yet they conceived another design 
against this city, being informed about the middle of January, 
1716-16, that the late Duke of Ormond intended to land in the 
West of England ; whereupon the Government thought fit to re- 

prou m.] 



inforce the dty with Pococke's regiment of foot, and some other 
regular troops ; and the loyal citizens formed two voluntary 
troops of horse. Nor were these precautions needless, "for in 
the night between the 14th and 15th of January, 1715-16, a 
waggon laden with goods for Bristol fair being by accident set 
on fire at IIoTinslow, there was discovered in it great quantities 
of fire-arms and ammunition lying under the goods : whereupon 
the same were seized by a trooper of the Duke of Aigyle's royal 
regiment of guards."^ 

Henry Walter, who was the mayor in this year, lived 
at the comer of High and Nicholas streets. He was 
buried in the Mayor's chapel, where there is a mural 
tablet to his memory. 

He was succeeded in business by Ids apprentice, UeweHyn, 
whose family sold the house, in 1825, to the corporation ; it was 
the last of the open shops. Nearly opposite was the other prin- 
cipal woollen draper's, that of Mr. Matthew Brickdale, sen., whose 
son afterwards became M.P. for the dty, and who was at this 
time an apprentice to his father. Llewellyn and young Brickdale 
had to sweep the street in front of the shops to the kennel in 
the centre, and in wet weather they, for a joke, used to com- 
bine and divert the stream to the narrow portal of St. Nicholas' 
gate, just below their shops, greatly to the discomfort of benighted 
pedestrians. Walter was a Whig, and it was of him that the 
anecdote should be related that has been often told of the younger 
Brickdale. Mr. Walter was never known to be out of temper. 
Two of his fellow-citizens wagered—one of them that he would 
put him in a pasdon, the other that it was impossible. They 
called on him at a moment when he was giving a dinner to his 
brethren of the corporation at his house. They wanted to see a 
particular doth which he would not allow anyone to serve but 
himself, and, asking for this, the worthy mayor was called down. 
They kept him talking and hedtating as to thdr choice for a full 
half -hour, without producing the slightest symptom of impatience 
at their tediousness, when, as a final experiment, the adverse 
wagerer threw down a shilling upon the shop counter, saying, 
<* There, Mr. Walter, cut me off a shilling's worth, that's all I 
shall want for the present." Without a change of look or tone, 
he Idd the shilling upon the cloth and carefully cut a piece of 
the same size and shape. ''There," sdd he, "is exactly a shil- 
ling's worth. GkK>d morning t'ye. I know not when I have gotten 
a shilling so easily." This story was related by Mr. Llewellyn.* 

October 2(Hh. — The mayor acquainted the house that the king 
had sent the lord-lieut.. Earl Berkdey, to take care of the dty 
and secure it against his majestie's enemies ; and his lordship 
having required several things which occasioned an immediate 
expense, and his not having time to call a meeting to advise 
them, was forced to order the same. 

The thanks of the house voted him for the care he took in 
the safety of the city, and that all expensess soe laid out, and the 
entertainment of our lord-lieut. during his stay amongst us, to- 
gether with any other charges for the defence of the dty, should 
be borne by the dty. 

Christopher Shuter, esq., for entertaining the lord- 
lieutenant £45 17'* 

The sherry giving offence, not being genuine 

"Bristol Milk," the next bill was:— 

£ «. (2. 
Entertaining the lord-lieutenant 68 15 3 

Capt. Paul, for making batteries, and persons to attend 

wuem ••• ••• ••. *•• ... .. .•• «.. ... ••■ ... M K o o 



» Seyer II., 671-3. 



* H. and R. Smith. 



a 2 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



The gieneral master was in CoUege green. There 
Tere bulwarks on Bedcliff backs, a guard at Bedclifi 
gate, and another at the Guildhall. 

December 14th.— The Eul of Berkelsf hkving ordered the 
whole r^uneot of tniUtia to be in mhu, ooniiatiiig of ten com- 
pmnioi, mod to be on duty till the 12th iiut., tmd the wptkin of 
CMih eompanjr hkTing been Kt * coniidenble ezpeEae in paying 
tba HTgeanti uid dnunmen of their respective oompkniea, it wat 



Den, two trampeti and two itaudmrda, and two new coati for the 
tnunpeteiB belonging to the Uoopa, be provided mt the dty 
charges, and that the Mid trumpeten be added to the city 
mniick, with Balaries, all of which ia referred to the mayor, 
aldermen, and eherifi." 

£ *. d. 

Paid Seth Partridge, for tmmpeti 21 17 6 

" " four trnmpeten* coat* 34 10 

" olothfopdo 34 14 



Satua in Wiiu SIrtit, 

wdered that the sum of Ua gniueaa be paid to each captain. 
£107 16«. waap^d. 

January llth, 1716.— Oenei«I Wade [not to be confounded 
with Nathaniel Wade, eaq., aonetiDie deputy town-clerk}, com- 
mander of hia nuyeatie'e force* in the Weet of England, having 
reviewed two of the kiog'f r^lmente of foot yeeterday, it was 
ordered that all expeniaa of the general's entertainment be paid 
by the chamber. Paid, £20 3*. 8d. 

It waa then resolved :— "ti time of onr late danger, with the 
eonaent of Earl Berkeley, onr lord-lienteiuuit, to form themselves 
Into two troops of hone, a thing both for the honour and security 
of the city, it la ordered for their enoonrsgement that two bui- 



fr<m an old drnwliiip. 

The first dravbridge was tiirown over the iVome 
branch of the Floating harbour in I7H-1S. It had 
two arches of stone, and cost the city £1,066 Gs. Id. 
TTntil this was built all traffic to Clifton, and the north 
and western suburba of Sristol, had to be carried on 
via Christmas street, Frome bridge, and St. Augustine's 
back, or Host street and Trenchord street. The only 
accflu to the now bridge was by two narrow lanes out 
of Marsh street, or along the quays, dare street was 
not made until 1770. The firat newspaper published 



▲.D. 1718. 



CORONERS HELD IN CONTEMPT. 



171 



in Bristol — Farley^s Brutol Journal — appeared in Janu- 
ary, 1715. At the September assize, in 1715, Mark 
GK>ddard sued James Harris and John Cox for damages 
sustained by rioting at the election in 1713, and re- 
covered £187 16«. St. James' barton, which was com- 
menced in 1707, was completed this year. 

About the latter end of November began a froat, which con- 
tinned with small intermissions until about the 8th of February. 
It was very severe, and during its continuance there were seventl 
considerable falls of snow. In all the parishes of the city were 
ooUections made for the poor, who were incapable of working by 
reason of the frost : and the mayor and conmion council gave 
£100 out of the chamber for their relief. 

The appearance of the Aurora Borealis, probably after a long 
intermission, is thus noticed in one of the calendars : — '' Tuesday, 
March 6, 1716, in the evening about seven o'clock, it being dark 
nights, the moon in her last quarter, appeared in the heavens a 
light, or as some call it, a Meteor, chiefly in the north and north- 
west parts of the sky. It was like the dawning of the morning,, 
from which many bright streams shot forth several ways with a 
quick motion. It continued most part of the night. "^ 

This summer the almshouse in Temple street, the 
g^ of Mr. Alderman George Steyens, linen draper 
(mayor 1706-7), was built; it was to accommodate 
twelve poor persons. On December 26th, about 3 p.m., 
a fire broke out in Wine street, at the house of Mr. 
Plomer, mercer, near the High Cross ; it burnt seven 
hours, and there being a brisk gale, several houses 
were consumed and the city was greatly endangered. 
The poor of the city worked so well at the fire that 
the mayor, Mr. John Day, ordered them gratuities to 
the amount of £36, with which the chamber was well 
satisfied. 

November 15th. — ^Bishop Smalridge, of Bristol, was removed 
from his post of lord almoner for refusing to sign a declaration 
testifying his abhorrence of rebellion. * 

3. The office of coroner does not appear, at this time, 
to have been held in much esteem. 

December 13th. — ^It being taken notice of in this house that 
by means of the meanness of the persons who of late filled the 
office of coroner for the city, the said office was become con- 
temptible, Mr. Henry Fane and Mr. Samuel Foss were nominated 
by Ck>lonel Yate as proper persons to be chosen into the offices of 
coroners for this city, now vacant by the death of Martin Helm 
and James Millard, gentlemen. Carried unanimously. 

Messrs. Fane and Fobs were both of them attorneys ; 
they did not care to become the instruments of raising 
the office from the ''contempt" into which ''gentlemen" 
had brought it, but excused themselves on the ground 
that their employment as attorneys required frequent 
and unexpected absences from the dly, and that they 
could not undertake duties which necessitated the 
presence of one of them at least in the city or within 
call at all times. Their excuse was allowed in February, 
^ Seyer IL, 673-1. • H. and R. Smith. 



1716. The real and personal properly assessed for the 
poor in the parish of St. Stephen amounted to £744 
17«. Id, 

In 1716 the reversion of the house called the Ghreat 
Tower, on the Quay, "which was anciently built so far 
out as to extend very near to the Quay side, and is a 
hindrance to the landing merchandise in this port," was 
bought for £253. The lease of the tenant, Mrs. Kay, 
was bought for £150; the costs of surrender were £1 
2s. 9d,, and of pulling down the tower £89 14«. 9d. 
The tower occupied the spot which is now the opening 
into Baldwin street; it abutted on the site of the Draw- 
bridge. 

Li the Bristol Mmortalisty 65-8, may be read a long 
account of the pretended cure of one Christopher Lovell 
of the "king's evil," by the touch of the Pretender at 
Avignon, to which place the man was sent by some of 
the Jacobites of Bristol. The sea voyage did the man 
good, but the disease broke out with increased virulence 
after his return to this city. 

In 1 7 1 8 the corporation of the poor gave up the work- 
house, Whitehall, to the city. The dome was completed 
to the church of All Saints, after a wearisome delay 
through want of means. The fish market in High street 
was at this time removed to the open triangular piece of 
ground on the north side of St. Stephen's church, and 
tiiie conduit which stood there was removed to the site 
on the Quay which it now occupies. The ground was 
levelled, raised and railed around, and the market was 
held here until 1770-1, when St. Stephen street was 
built on its site. The last bit of the Quay wall, 200 feet 
in length, up to Gib Taylor, was finished ; thence it 
was carried eastward 280 feet during this year. Slips 
also were made for the ferry to Beddiff back, at Treen 
Mills (Bathurst basin), and at GKb Taylor on both sides 
of the river. 

John Day, the mayor, died of apoplexy on the 20th 
of June, 1718 ; he was seized with the fit at ten in the 
evening and died at two next morning. Upon the news 
spreading, the aldermen met in the Ooundl-house to 
preserve the peace of the government of the city until 
a new mayor was appointed. Out of courtesy to the 
deceased's family, they resolved not to fill the office until 
after his interment, but adjourned from day to day until 
Monday, when, having received notice that the funeral 
was to be that afternoon, they all agreed to attend it. 
Day was buried in St. Werburgh's church, on the 23rd 
of June, at three in the afternoon. The funeral was 
attended by the aldermen, Sheriffs and conmion council, 
with their officers, two hundred and fifty-eight persons, 
all men of note, besides bearers, officers, six ministers, 
and fifty-two coaches. Day had served as sheriff, mas- 



172 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1720. 



ter ol the Merchant Venturers' Sociely, and governor 
of the corporation of the poor. He was a frugal man 
in private, but when occasion arose he was generous 
and liberal in his public character. The town derk, 
Nathaniel Wade, barrister, in pronouncing his eulogium 
on the 26th in the Council diamber, reminded the house 
''that the honour of the city subsists in the person of 
the mayor, who within the boundaries of the city is 
superior to and presides over our lord-lieutenant and 
every other subject, and also the supreme authority 
which runs through every branch of the govemmont of 
this city subsists in his person." The sheriffs, Messrs. 
Nash and Price, were then ordered to proceed to the 
late mayor's residence in Guinea street (it bears the date, 
1 7 1 8, on the front) to condole with his widow and to fetch 
the insignia of his office, which they did, returning with 
"the mayor's sword with the scabbard, presented to him 
by the present sheriffs, the sword of state, commonly 
called the pearl sword, the Sunday sword, and the 
mourning sword, the two charters and boxes, the Bed 
Book of Ordinances, both parts of the seal of the Statute 
of Merchants, the mayor's pocket seal of office, the keys 
belonging to the mayor as daviger, and otherwise of 
the great chest of the Tolzey, wherein the city seal and 
iron casket are kept." The house then, following pre- 
cedent, elected Thomas Clement, shipwright, as mayor, 
to whom Nicholas Hicks, the last mayor then living, 
administered the oaths in the usual form ; the insignia 
were then delivered to the new mayor, he was attended 
by the members in black gowns to the Tolzey, and the 

ceremonial was complete. 

November 3rd, 1719. 

CiTT OF I TTTHEREAS differences have arisen between some 

Bbistol. ( T T of the Incorporated Companies of this City on 

acoonnt of precedency, and that the allegations of the 

contending parties have been fally heard. It is this 

day determined by the mayor and aldermen, that on 

all Solemnities when the said Ck>mpaniee are to widk 

in Procession before the Mayor the following order 

shall be observed, of which all persons shall take 

notice : — 

Ist. Next before the Mayor the Company of Merchant Taylors. 

2nd. Next before the Company of Merchant Taylors the Company 

of Weavers. 
3rd. Next before the Weavers the Company of Chyrai^eons. 
4th. " ** Chymrgeons « Smiths. 

6th. " *' Smiths ** Hoopers. 

6th. *• " Hoopers ** Whitawenu 

7th. " " Whitawers " Dyers. 

8th. " " Dyers " Joyners. 

9th. " " Joynen " Wire Drawers. 

lOth. " " Wire Drawers " Cordwainers. 

11th. " ** Cordwainew " Tanners. 

12th. " " Tanners " Butchers. 

13th. « " Batchers << Bakers. 

14th. '< " Bakers '' Inn-Holders. 

15th. " «' Inn-Holders " Sadlers. 



16tlL Next before the Sadlers the Company of Hatters. 



17th. 

18th. 

19th. 

20th. 

21st 

22nd. 

23rd. 



it 
ti 

«< 
<< 
(( 
<« 



«< 



' Hatters 

' Tamers 
' Tobacco Pipe Makers " 

* Carpenters " 
' Halliers <* 

* Porters " 

* Tylers " 



Tamers. 
Tobacco Pipe Makers. 
Carpenters. 
Halliers. 
Porters. 
Tylers. 
Masons. 



In 1719 the court-room at St. Peter's hospital was 
rented by the proprietors of the Bristol Fire Office and 
the General Insurance Company, each of whom paid £4 
per annum rental.^ 

4. On the 6th of December, Abraham Elton, sen., 
merchant, was created a baronet. This gentleman, in 
conjunction with Joseph Earl, was returned to Parlia- 
ment for the ciiy in 1722, after a sharply contested elec- 
tion ; the successful candidates were both of them Whigs. 
The Tory candidate, WiUiam Hart, sen., petitioned 
ag^ainst their return, but in Tain. May, 1719, was very 
wet, and the Frome oyerflowed its banks, so that Earl's 
mead was several feet under water on the 17th and 18th 
of that month. Broadmead and Merchant street were 
inundated, and the flood reached as high as the wall on 
which the ducking-stool was placed. This, it will be 
remembered, was on the edge of the mill-pond in Castle 
ditch, at the junction of Lower Castle and Ellbroad 
streets. During the previous year Edward Mountjoy, 
the mayor, had sentenced a woman to be ducked; but 
at the expiration of his year of office she, by her hus- 
band, brought an action against him, before Sir Peter 
King, at the Guildhall, and recovered damages. (We 
have been unable to verify this statement of Evans'; 
probably the offence was not one for which the above 
puniehtnent had been legally specified.) 

Strange's almshouse, below St. John's steps, and 
Simon de Burton's almshouse. Long row, were both re- 
built in 1721 ; the Quay wall was continued upward 
from the end of King street ; Bridewell was re-built at 
a cost of £1,053 3s.; and an Act was obtained to build 
an Exchange. 

5. In 1720 it was ordered that the wives of the 
members of the conmion coimcil be invited annually to 
the dinner on the 10th of November; and, in 1721, John 
Beecher, the mayor, thought it would be more devout 
and proper that the yeomen attending the ladies to 
church should wear black ^ :^r.r instead of their present 
cloaks (of scarlet, we presume). Dr. Chauncey was 
presented by the chamber with a piece of plate, value 
tweniy guineas, for his attendance on and care of the 
prisoners in Newgate, by which he had prevented, with 
the blessing of Gk>d, the spread of a malignant dis- 
temper that had broken out in that prison. 

> H. and R. Smith. 



, WOOD'S COINAGE. 



Otd Bm$a in Bnadmitad. 

In 1721 the corporation reBolved to have a place of 
irorBhip of tlieir owd : — 

B«mg duly grateful to Alinightjr Ood for the proaperity of 
the dtjr in geDeral, and of thii ancient corpoTation in particular, 
the; deaire to magnify Hii name b; fitting up St. Mark'i charoh 
foi their oomtaut and perpetual use, vherj Qod might be wor- 
ehipped and Uia praiM* (ong. 

Id 1722 Eobert Eyre, eldest son of Sir Robert Eyre, 
one of the judges of the court of Kiog'a Benoli and 
recorder of Bristol, was presented with the freedom of 
the oity. Stoke's oroft school And almshouse, founded 
by Abraham Hook, meroliant (sheriff in 1706), and others 
of the society of Protestant DiBsenters worshipping in 
Lewin's mead, who gave the ground for the buildings 
and subscribed £4,200 for its erection and support. A 
gunpowder magazine at Tover Harratz was built this 
year by the corporation. On June 18th, Mr. Jones, a 



writing mast«r, was made free, gratis, 
he being a diligent, ingenious man, 
who had invented and published divers 
treatises for the improvement of persons 
in arithmetio and merchants' acoounta. 

1722. Mrs. Elizabeth Blanchard died, who 
had fonnded an almahonae at the north-east 
end of Milk atreet for fire poor women, being 
Baptista of the lociet]' meeting in the Pithay, 
which in 181S removed to Old King street. 
The head of the Back, on the Avon, from the 
conduit to the fint alip (the Hemwwt dip, 
from a public-honae oppoeite), wis widened. 
The wharf "ander the bank," north side of 
the Froom, vae erected for the landing of 

1724, The plan for completing the navi- 
gation to Bath began to be put in execution, 
b; dividing the e«timated expense into thirty- 
two aharet, for which aubecriptioni were ob- 
tained. September 7th, died Sir William 
Daines, alderman of Bristol, and several times 
its repreaantative in Parliament, He was suc- 
ceeded by James Donning, esq. 

1725. The condnit on the Back was re- 
built.' 

William Wood, who was, Seyer 
thought, a Bristol man, and who cer- 
tainly had an estate at Northwood, 
Winterboume, in 1723 obtained a pa- 
tent to coin half-pence and farthings 
for Ireland to the amount of £100,000. 
This money was coined in Brbtol to 
the weight of upwards of 59 tons. A 
senseless clamour was, however, raised 
against its circulation in Ireland. The 
press was led by the satiric pen of 
Dean Swift, who, bitterly opposed to 
the Whig government, had no scruples 
as to the means he employed to bring their measures 
into disrepute. Writing under the pseudonym of 
" The Draper," Swift's attack on Wood's coinage be- 
came most popular. The excitable Irish people, already 



irood't H^fpam^. 

disaffected towards the house of Hanover, rose tumul- 
tuously in divers parts, and the patent had to be with- 
drawn. Wood was compensated with a pension of 



174 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1726. 



£3,000. It was asserted that Wood's profits would 
have been over 150 per cent. ; that the Irish were not 
in want of copper coins ; that if they had been, the 
patent had been surreptitiously obtained, and that the 
coins were light and not of the intrinsic value promised; 
and finally, that the coinage of money was a royal pre- 
rogative that ought not to be entrusted to a subject. 
These complaints were investigated by the lords of the 
Privy Council, who found that the coins were of good 
value, the copper being of the best quality, the pieces 
heavier^ than the patent required, and that the attorney- 
general, the solicitor-general and Sir Isaac Newton, the 
master of the Mint, had been consulted as to the patent 
and had assisted in drawing it up, and lastly, that Ireland 
had never had so good a coinage ; to which we add, after 
comparing the English coins of the same year, many of 
which, as well as those of Wood, are now before us, 
dredged up from our Floating harbour, that the Bristol 
money is both heavier and of better quality, as well as 
of far superior workmanship and finish, in fact they 
were not equalled until, in 1797 and 1799, the coinage 
was ag^in entrusted to private hands (at the celebrated 
Soho mint). 

In 1726 Macklin performed at the Theatre, Jacob's 
weUs. Queen square, which was begun in 1708, was 
completed this year. 

The wharf continued on the Back, sonth of Qaeen Bquare, for 
180 feet forward. The coet was £488 12«. 7d, The street opened, 
and the Market-house (now the Cheese market), between Wine 
street and St Maryport street, commenced erecting for the sale of 
com; and in the following year the old Market-house, in the 
centre of Wine street, was taken down. 

1727. June 11th, the king died of paralysis, at Osnaburgh, on 
his progress to Hanover, aged sixty-seven. Succeeded by his 
eldest son. ^ 

George I. was a man of more virtues than accom- 
plishments. Lord Mahon says we are to consider the 
era of the Georges as equal to that of the Antonines at 
Borne. It was a period combining happiness and glory, 
a period of kind rulers and a prosperous people; but 
this prosperity, unlike the period of the Antonines, did 
not depend on the character of a single man. Its foun- 
dations were laid on ancient and free institutions, which, 
good from the first, were gradually improving. Bristol 
shared in the increased glory and wealth of this reign, 
but the sovereign never visited the city. Neither was 
he a favourite with the English people ; his heart was 
in Hanover. With truthful criticism, which under a 
Tudor would have cost him his head, Lord Chesterfield 
remarked: — '' England is too big for him. The best 
way to dispose of the Pretender is to make him Elector 
of Hanover, for the English would never go thither 

^ Evans, 260-61. 



again for a king." Sir John Vanbrugh, the great archi- 

tect, flourished in this reign; he built the mansion at 

Kingsweston, which is one of the simplest and best of 

his erections, and is admired by many for the arcade 

that connects all the chimneys. His general style was 

massive and ponderous; hence the witticism of the 

epigram on his death and burial: — 

** Lay heavy on him earth, for he 
laid many a heavy load on thee." 

6. On the 1 1th June, 1 727, George 11. succeeded to the 
throne, at the age of forty-three years and seven months. 
He was proclaimed in London on Wednesday, the 14th, 
and in Bristol on Saturday, the 17th June ; Peter Day, 
merchant, being mayor, and Ezekiel Longman, mercer, 
and Henry Ck)mbe, jun., merchant, being sherifiFs. 

The house met at the Council-house in black, the High Cross 
being hung with black cloth. The mayor, aldermen, and council, 
the militia officers and constables, with leading citizens, marched 
in procession round the Cross, the sword-bearer carrying the 
mourning sword. They then returned to the council-house and 
arrayed themselves in scarlet, the High Cross being meanwhile 
re-draped in scarlet. The procession being re-formed, visited the 
High cross, St. Peter's pump, Temple, Thomas and the Quay 
conduits, at each of which places the sherifb read the proclama- 
tion, amidst the braying of trumpets and the acclamations of the 
citizens. The pearl sword and cap of maintenance were worn by 
the sword-bearer ; the city music and arms of the militia were in 
attendance, and the several conduits were run with wine for the 
populace.^ 

About the latter end of February, 1726-7» a petition was sent 
to Parliament pomplaining of the badness of the roads around the 
city, and praying relief and provision for keeping them in good 
repair. In consequence of this an Act of Parliament, 13 George L, 
1727, was obtained, and on the 26th of June toll-houses with gates 
were erected outside the city bounds at Lawf ord's gate. Totter- 
down, and Ashton. For a short period the tolls were collected, but 
the country people and the colliers were violently opposed to the 
measure ; great disturbances ensued, and the gates were soon cut 
down and demolished, chiefly by the colliers, who would not suffer 
coal to be brought here, whereupon the mayor had the city supplied 
from Swansea, which when the colliers perceived they brought their 
coals as usual. Soldiers assisted at the gates to take the toll ; but 
the next night, after the soldiers were withdrawn, the gates were 
all cut down a second time by persons disguised in women's apparel 
and high-crowned hate. 

In 1735 the ''Beads' commissioners taken out of 
Somerset and Gloucestershire disagreeing with the oom- 
nussioners taken out of the city of Bristol, the mutiny 
and insolence of the peasantty in the neighbourhood 
prevailed over the force of the statute, and the roads, as 
bad as most in England, remain unrepaired to this day." ' 

On Tuesday, July 18th, 1727, at 4 p.m., there was a great earth- 
quake in Bristol and in the West of England. I was very sensible 
of it at the Red lodge by the shaking of me as I lay in my bed, 
being fully awaked some time before. All the house shaked. 
[Seyer gives the date as the 19th, and describes it at XL, 577.] 

August 19th. — ^A baker and his wife, living outside Law- 

^ Old MS. • Oldmizon, lU., 804. 



A.D. 1727. 



VISIT OF PRINCESS AMELIA. 



175 



ford*8 gate, were found guilty of forging writings, for which they 
were put in the pillory for an hoar, and fined 208. each, being 
yery poor. Also one of Somersetshire for the like ofience was pat 
in the pillory and was fined forty pounds. 

October 11th, Wednesday. — George 11. and Qneen Caroline 
were crowned. The conndl in scarlet met the mayor at the 
Gonndl house, and in their coaches attended him to the mayor's 
chapel, 'Where Dr. Creswick preached from 2 Samuel xxiii. 3 : — 
** He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in ye fear of ye 
Lord.*' The incorporated companies waited on the mayor. Briga- 
dier Eirke's regiment paraded on College green, and marched 
thence to Com street, where they lined the way between the 
two Tolzeys whilst the procession passed through. The Blue 
boys had a loaf, cheese, and a cup of ale each at the mayor's 
house. The mayor gave a dinner, and in the evening enter- 
tained the officers of the regiments, ftc., at the Council-house ; 
this was followed by a ball and supper at the Merchants* halL 
The soldiers fired YoUeys in the street ; the guns from Brandon 
hill fired four times each forty-four rounds, being the number of 
years of his majesty's age, viz., one round early in the morning, 
the second when the corporation came to ye chapel, the third at 
their return, and the fourth in the evening. Also the guns from 
the Marsh, and ships at the Key, the city musick playing, the 
bells ringing, &c., &c The High Cross was hung with scarlet, 
and several of the church towers were hung with scarlet cloth, 
as well as ships* colours from their tops. There was also a large 
bonfire on Brandon hill. ^ 

Not. 16ih, 1727, Alderman Hicks died. NoYember 
29ih/ Jlobert Earl was elected alderman, and sworn in 
December 11th. On tbe 27tlL December the navigation 
to Bath was completed, and the first barge was sent to 
that city, laden with deals, lead, and meal. The Parlia- 
ment having been dissolved by proclamation in Aug^t, 
there was an election in Bristol, the candidates being 
Abraham Elton, jun., and John Scrope, who were re- 
turned, and Joseph Earl and William Hart. One MS. 
states that Mr. Hart, who was a leading capitalist in 
the clothing trade, sold his election. In 1728 Scrope 
distinguished himself in the House of Commons by 
showing that the revenue from the civil list which was 
settled on the long did not amount to £800,000, and he 
proposed that it should be increased by £ 1 1 5,000 arrears, 
which after warm debate was carried. Ghreat complaints 
were made during this year of the cruelties practised by 
the Spaniards in the West Indies, who, on various pre- 
texts, seized English ships and most barbarously treated 
their crews. Captain Jenkins, of Bristol, appeared at 
the bar of the House, and the feeling against Spain 
was intensified by his evidence, which was supported 
by petitions from Bristol, Liverpool, and London. 

In May, Bristol was gladdened by a visit from the 
Princess Amelia, who was received with great pomp. 
Sir A. Elton, bart., M.P. for the city, and Mr. SherifE 
Bayley, waited upon her royal highness at Bath, on the 
5th of May, with an address, and invited her to honour 
the city of Bristol with a visit. She determined to 

^ H. Muggleworth's MS* 



accede to their request, and to come by water, which 

she did on Thursday, the 9th of May. The house met 

in their scarlet robes at the Council-house at ten a.m., 

and, accompanied by many gentlemen, went to the house 

of Edward Bucklers, in Temple street, who had invited 

them to refresh themselves before her royal highness's 

landing. Thence they proceeded to the Slip, on Temple 

back, where a handsome stage covered with scarlet had 

been erected, which had a guard of honour from Lord 

Tyrawley's regiment. The procession was as follows : — 

Water bailiff, with silver oar, in his boat ; the Earl marshall 
(Lord Sussex), Lord Glenorchy, and Dr. Tessire, her royal high- 
nesses physician ; Her Royal Highness, in a wherry, attended by 
the Countess of Pomfret, Duchess of Rutland, and Lady Frances 
Manners. Her royal highness was received on landing by the 
mayor and corporation, and the procession on land was in the 
following order :— Two gentlemen ushers and Dr. Tessire in one 
of her royal highnesses coaches, constables, city musick, mayor's 
and sheriff's and the city officers, corporation, gentlemen of the 
city, Lords Sussex and Glenorchy, sword-bearer with cap of 
maintenance, mayor (bareheaded), Her Royal Highness in Sedan 
chair. Countess Pomfret, Duchess of Rutland, and Lady Man- 
ners, in one of her royal highnesses coaches. The route was by 
Counterslip, through Tucker street to Temple cross, ye right 
hand of Temple street, through ye Long row into Thomas 
street, over the Bridge, through High street, leaving the High 
cross on ye left hand, down Com street, through Small street, 
along ye Key, by ye Merchants' hall, by ye Custom house, 
where ye collector and officers stood ranged under the piazzas 
of the same ; thence they went to Mr. Alderman Day's house, 
a guard of Lord Tyrawley's regiment attending. 

The corporation formed a lane of approach, through 

which the princess entered into the hall and was carried 

up stairs. The town clerk read the following address : — 

The mayor, aldermen, sheriffs, and conmion conncill of this 
city humbly crave leave to congratulate your royal highness upon 
your arrival here, heartily wishing you a long life, health and 
happiness. They are truly sensible of the great obligation that 
you have laid upon them, and do rejoice to see a princess of ye 
blood royal, a daughter of the most illustrious house of Hanover, 
honour the city with her presence. 

To which her royal highness was pleased to return 
a handsome answer. The gentlemen of the corporation 
had the honour to kiss her royal highness's hand. 
(The sword-bearer had his cap of maintenance on and 
the sword in his hand when he kissed hands.) Then 
the mayor, aldermen, &c., went to the Merchants' hall, 
after which the Dean of Bristol and the clergy had the 
honour of kissing hands ; then followed the officers of 
the regiment. In the afternoon her royal highness in 
her coach, attended by the Countess of Pomfret, Lord 
Sussex, Lord Glenorchy, Mr. Southwell and other gen- 
tlemen, in coaches, ''proceeded through Queen square 
to ye Gibb, and at ye end of ye Key was shown where 
the rivers Avon and Froom met, and that part which 
brings ye ships to ye Key, &c. She then went over the 
Drawbridge to St. Austin's, round College green, and 



176 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1729. 



back to ye MerchantB' hall, where she was pleased to 
receive madam tlie mayoress and the ladies of the 
corporation and city, who kissed hands, the mayoress 
bringing her to the stair-foot, and the mayor and sword- 
bearer to her coach, amidst complimentary speeches, 
ezpressiye of her royal highness's gratification at the 
manner in which she had been received, which she 
would certainly express to her royal father.'' She 
then went to Alderman Day's, where she dined in pri- 
vate, two other tables being provided for her suite, and 
another, in another house, for her servants. Dinner 
over, the mayor and corporation in their scarlet robes 
waited on her royal highness in their coaches to take 
boat at the Slip a little after four o'clock, when she 
departed amid loud acclamations from the crowds of 
people on the banks. The evening finished with an 
entertainment at the Merchants' hall and a ball. At 
her landing a salute of twenty-one great guns from the 
river bank at Tower Harratz ; the ways were lined with 
crowds of people ; there was another salute from the 
guns in Queen square and the ships on the Quay, which 
were bedecked with fiiags ; the churches were adorned 
with scarlet doth, as were the High Cross and the 
Council-house. The fronts of the houses were gay 
with carpets, scarlet cloths, boughs, &c., and their 
doors, windows, and roofs, were crowded with specta- 
tors, who with loud huzzas proclaimed their joy. 

"The following February Sir A. Elton died, and 
was buried in St. Philip's church with great pomp ; 
the scabbard of the great sword, and the wearing 
sword as baronet, were placed upon his coffin." ^ On 
February 21st, Peter Day was elected alderman in his 
stead, but he was not sworn in until July 20th. 

The anniversary of the king's accession to the throne 
was celebrated in Bristol on June llth with great re- 
joicings. 

Lord Tyrawley'fl regiment, newly clothed, fired salates in 
Queen Bqnare, and the evening was concladed with an enter- 
tainment of wine at the council honse, at the expense of the 
city. « 

Saturday, July 20th, Sir E. Eyre, lord chief justice, 
resigned the recordership of Bristol; dated 13th inst. 
Monday, July 22nd, the Hon. John Scrope, esq., unani- 
mously elected recorder. The same day Mr. Thomas 
Daniel was elected coroner, in the room of Mr. William 
Dickason, deceased. Thursday, August 29th, the Hon. 
John Scrope, esq., was elected a member of the common 
council, and doubts having arisen as to the legality of 
his election to the recordership — on the ground that Sir 
Bobert Eyre had not, with his resignation of the office 
of recorder, resigned that of common councilman for 
^ H. and R. Smith. > H. Mnggleworth's MS. 



the city — John Scrope, esq., was re-elected recorder on 
this day. 

The picture of George II., now in the Council-house, 
was purchased this year. 

In 1727-8 there was a great dearth throughout 
England, and grain was imported between January 1st 
and September 28th into Bristol in one hundred and 
six ships, amounting to 66,819 quarters, at a cost of 
£18,630 28. Sd, This was followed by a further impor- 
tation before March, 1729, in ninety-three ships, of 
37,108 quarters, at a cost of £7,664. The greater part 
was imported from the Baltic and the Mediterranean, 
but New York and Philadelphia sent nine ships with 
wheat. 

On June 26th, 1729, the Bev. Alexander Stopford 
Catcott was appointed reader in Mr. Mayor's chapel, at 
a salary of £20. 

This year ye rails, floor and altar-piece at Mr. Mayor's chapel 
was made and sett up. 

7. In 1729 John Price, merchant, was mayor, and 
Henry Lloyd and Abraham Elton, jun., merchant, 
sheriffs. At the close of the civic year, September 
29th, whilst the corporation was at church preparatory 
to the swearing in of the new mayor, Samuel Stokes, 
soap boiler, a body of weavers, who demanded higher 
wages, and had riotously assembled in Kingswood that 
morning at seven o'clock, marched on the house of 
Stephen Feachem, a large manufacturer in Castle 
ditch, which they threatened to break into, level to 
the ground, and murder its owner, imless he would 
raise their pay from 7^. to Sa, per piece. The house 
was defended by Feachem and a few of his friends; 
in the street in front of the house there were twenty 
soldiers and two sergecmts of Lord Deloraine's regi- 
ment. The sheriffs, Lloyd and Elton, hastened to the 
spot, and, backed by Tyrawley's whole regiment, they 
read the Biot Act. The rioters, still refusing to dis- 
perse, were fired upon ; seven were killed, and many 
others wounded; others were seized and committed to 
Newgate, but at the ensuing session they were dis- 
charged, as no one appeared to prosecute them. The 
sergeant in command of the detachment in front of the 
house was amongst those killed by the fire of his com- 
rades whilst endeavouring to persuade the mob to retire. 

In Vol. I., 282-3, of this work, we have recorded 
some curious items connected with the building of a com 
market, the sinking a well, and erecting a pump in the 
centre of Wine street. In July, 1726, a house in Wine 
street was bought of Mrs. Elizabeth Stratton, widow, 
for £700, and it was ordered that the old com market 
in Wine street should be pulled down. The house then 
''made an agreement with the feoffees of Trinity chapel 



NEW CORN MARKET. 



fox the late ' Swan ' iim, in St. Uary-le-port street, and 
the tenemeats thereunto adjoiuiiig, b; paying a fee-farm 
rent for the same, and that the >aid buildings be pulled 
down and a convenient place for a com market built on 
part of the said ground, and that the remainder thereof 
be built upon in such manner and at such times as the 
said committee shall think proper, and that they also 
shall have power to demolish the house lately bought of 
Mtb. Elizabeth Stratton, in Wine street, at such times 
as they shall think fit." Faymente were made for this 
alteration, which made a new communication between 
Wine and Sfary-Ie-port streets, in "1726-7 £500, in 
J 727-8 
£700, on 
account 
of build- 
ing the 
new com 
market 
and other 
build- 
ings," but 
no par- 
ticulars 
are men- 
tioned. 

At a 
meeting of 

coQocil, the 
24th Jul7, 
1730, the 
pttttioD of 
nvenl bnr- 
gesMB and 
free traders 
of thw city, 
Htting forth 
the great in- 



and griev- 
ance they 

were under in regard to the two fairs held and kept here, and 
piaying snch relief therein as this boose should think moat proper, 
was read to the house. 

At a meeting of the common council, 27tb Febmsiy, 1731, it 
was decided that the times of holding the said two fairs shall be 
changed and settled as follows, via. :^That the snnuner fair, now 
oommonly called St. James' fair, shall always and for ever here- 
after begin, be held and kept in the nsnal and accnatomed place 
within this dty on the first day of September yearly, nnlees it 
shall happen on a Sunday, and then to begin on the second day of 
the said month ; and that the winter fair, now commonly c^ad 
Bt. Paul's fair, ahall always and for aver hereafter begin, be held 
and kept in tbe usnal and accnstomed place in this city on the 
first day of March yearly, unless it shall happen on a Sunday, and 
then to begin on the second day of the said month of March ; and 
the times of holding each fail be limited to eight dear selling 
[Vou m.] 



days, and no more ; and we do recommend it to the house to take 
proper and effectual measures, that the times of holding the s)ud 
two fairs may be so attended and settled as aforesaid, if this house 
shall think Stt. 

It was further decided that the standings comouly erected in 
Wine street in this city, for sale of goods and merchandisM at the 
fair comonly called St. James' fair, are comon nuaanosa, and do 
much interrupt and hinder people paosing the said street during 
the s^d fair, and ought not to be suffered to be erected there again, 
and in regard all profit and advantage of such standings hare time 
out of mind been granted to the sherifi of this city (for the time 
being taking the fee-farm). It was ordered that in lieu thereof 
the said fair shall be held yearly in Broadmead, in tbe parish of 
St. James' in this city, the some nnmber of standings being allowed 
(or sale of goods and merchandizes as have hitherto been usually 
and custom* 
arily erected 



In June, 
1730, an 
Act of Par- 
liament 
was ob- 
tained for 
the regu- 
lation of 
brokers in 
this city. 
On Tues- 
day, the 
first of 
Septem- 
ber, the 
Hon. John 
8 or o p e 
came to 
Bristol to 
sit as judge 
of Oyer 
and Ter- 
miner ; he was met by a great number of gentleman on 
horseback, and for^ or fifty ooachea, to "shew ye respect 
to Mm as our recorder, and especially for the service he 
had done ye city in Parliament in reapeot to the African 
trade." On Thursday, October Ist, the Hon. Arthur 
Onslow, speaker of the House of Commons, visited 
Bristol, and was received with great ceremony at Temple 
gate by the mayor and corporation, who showed him the 
Tolzey, Council-house, and entertained him to dinner at 
Mr. Alderman Day's great house, where the bishop and 
dean of Bristol were also guests. 

On June 19th, the sum of £200 was voted for the 
relief c^ the inhabitants of Blandford, sufferers by fire ; 
o 3 



Marixt, BftTvar^t Of Clitem Jfarbl. 



178 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



▲.D. 1731. 



also £100 for the relief of tke inhabitants of Tiverton, 
who had suffered severely by a great fire. On Wednes- 
day, July 14th, William Cann was elected town clerk 
on the death of Henry Blaake. 

In 1730, BeddifE gate was re-built, and another 
Turnpike Act was passed, under which colliers were 
exempted from payment of toll; the gates, however, 
shared the fate of their predecessors, and were soon 
cut down. Dr. Robert Booth, dean of Bristol, died on 
August 8th, and on the 21st Dr. Samuel Creswick kissed 
the king's hand on his appointment to the office. 

8. Edward Foy, merchant, was mayor in 1730, and 
Edward Buckler, maltster, and William Barnsdale, 
merchant, were the sherifPs. 

In the latter part of this year (1730) a set of villains made a 
practice of sending threatening letters to several persons, some 
thrown into shops, and others dropped in the streets, demanding 
money, from some eight guineas, from others ten, &c., to be left 
in certain places which they appointed, and threatening to murder 
them, bum their houses or otherwise ruin them, if they did not 
comply with their demands And this was commonly practiced 
in various parts of the kingdom, besides Bristol. The Tories 
attributed the blame to the ministry, who as Whigs were un- 
willing to enact laws sufficiently coercive. Mr. Clements, ship 
builder, and other gentlemen, had such letters sent to them 
during the winter. Mr. George Packer, living at the yard next 
to Mr. Clement's dock, below Trinity street, in the way to the 
Sea banks, had several letters of this kind sent to him, to which 
he paid no attention ; and on Saturday, October 10th, at the dead 
of night, his house was burned to the ground. And still after this 
Mr. Packer had other letters, telling him that although he had 
escaped the fire, by which they intended to destroy him, yet they 
would have his life if he did not put the money where they ordered. 
The city was so alarmed by these villainies that a double watch 
was appointed until six o'clock in the morning. One Mr. Power, 
an attorney, lately from Dublin, a person of very gentlemanly ap- 
pearance, was much suspected of being concerned in these enormi- 
ties, and was on that suspicion committed to Newgate. On his 
trial he proved an alibi by the evidence of two ladies, in whose 
company he was sitting till twelve o'clock. ^ 

Packer's house adjoined his dock, and great fears were enter- 
tained lest the fire should reach a ship that lay there, which would 
have endangered all the shipping at the quay and a great part of 
the city, the wind being strong from the east, the tide being out, 
and the ships aground ; it being also in the dead of the night, and 
no people or water near to extinguish the fire. * 

In 1731 there was a great drought; cattle had to be 
driven miles to water, the grass was burned up, and 
hay, which fetched £4 per ton, had to be brought from 
the north and west. This year Arthur Taylor, distiller, 
was mayor ; he resided in the house now occupied by 
Messrs. Franklyn, Morgan, and Davey, on the Welsh 
back. Edwai;^ Cooper, merchant, and William Barnes, 
sugar baker, were sheriffs. With this year H. Muggle- 
worth*s handwriting ceases in the MS. (the worthy sword- 
bearer being dead). Although the MS. is continued to 

» Seyer II., 678-9. 

> H. Muggleworth's MS. 



1785, it is a mere record of the names of the mayors and 
sheriffs, without giving their occupation. 

This year it was pvoposed in the chamber to erect 
a statue to Qeorge 11. ; this was negatived, but another 
was passed : — 

December 8th, 1731, at a meeting of the common council, ''a 
memorial, subscribed by a great number of gentlemen, setting 
forth that the memoriiJists, with many of the inhabitants, were 
willing at their own charge to erect a public statue to the memory 
of our great and glorious deliverer, the late King William III., 
praying the house to appoint a proper place to erect it," &c. The 
house decided upon Queen square, then the focus of merchant aris- 
tocracy, and "cheerfully" contributed £500 ; and £300 were given 
by the Merchants' hall " towards erecting in Queen square a fine 
equestrian statue in brass," &c. 

1732, May 6th. — At a meeting of the common council. Alder- 
man Beecher returned thanks to this house from the subscribers 
to the memorial for erecting a public equestrian statue of his late 
majesty. King William III., for the gracious donation of this 
house," &o. 

1736, September 25th. — At a meeting of the common council, 
**Mr. Mayor acquainted the house that the publick statue in Queen 
square was finished in the handsomest manner, and that there was 
the sum of £769 10«. Zd. deficit." 

December 3rd. — It was carried that £500 more be subscribed. 
Hydbrach, the sculptor, was paid £1,800 ; of this £1,000 was con- 
tributed by the corporation, and £300 by the Society of Merchants, 
leaving but little for the citi2ens. 

From Free Briton, August 16th, 1733 :— " It ought to be had 
in everlasting remembrance," says Mr. Walsingham, "that when 
the common council of London refused even to read a petition to 
erect a statue at the expense of the petitioners in honour of King 
William III., the city of Bristol of their own free will raised a 
statue, at their common charge, with a magnificence worthy of 
his fame and of their affection to his m^nory. The statue, 
sculptured by Mr. Rysbrach with infinite application and success, 
is worthy of public attention, not only as regards the memory of 
King William, but it is a work of genius, and will do honour to 
this nation. Methinks I see the spirit of antiquity sublimely 
expressed in every stroke. It was thus that senates dedicated 
statues to their gods and patriots ; their private genius bore its 
part in private love." 

It is accounted one of the finest equestrian statues in Europe ; 
it was modelled by Rysbrach, but the operative artist was Van 
Oost. * 

Queen square, which was commenced on the visit of 
Queen Anne in 1 702, and was named after her, was not 
completed until 1726. It was in 1 7 1 planted with cross 
rows of lime trees, but these were cut down in 1 776. 

In 1731 Mr. James Fumell was elected coroner on 
the death of Mr. Daniels. Hay markets were appointed 
to be held at the end of Broadmead and Temple cross, 
for hay coming by land ; at the head of the quay called 
** Timber key," on St. Augustine's back, and at the lower 
end of the quay, by the graving dock, for hay coming by 
water. The market days were on Tuesdays and Fridays. 
On December 8th Mr. James Holledge, the chamberlain, 
was presented with 150 guineas, as a free gift for his 

^ Tovey*8 Local Jottings. 



OPPOSITION TO THE EXCISE BILL. 



good ■erriceB to the tAty. It w&a ordered th&t Thomas 
Lewifi and Co., common platen at the Theatre, St. 
AngUBtme's back, be presented as a nuisance. 

On Ma; 6th, 1732, it was ordered that £100 be paid 
to the chuTchwardeoB of St. Stephen's chorch, as a free 
gift from the house towards repairing and beautifying 
the church and tower of St. Stephen's. Also that the 
mayor and surreyors of the ci^ lands do carry on the 
Quay wall from the ferty at BeddrS back to a place 
called the Graring 
place. On June 11th, 
George IL and hw 
majesty Queen Caro- 
line, having honoured 
the city by sitting for 
their portraits, it was 
ordered that their 
pictures be set up in 
the Council chamber. 

Ou Sunday, Nov- 
ember 5th, the house 
declined to go to the 
Cathedral; but the 
mayor, attended by 
the corporation and 
the incorporated com- 
panies, went to the 
Ifayor's chapel and 
heard a sermon by 
Mi. Smith. 

On Monday, 10th 
January, 1733, the 
house resolved that 
if any excise be laid 
upon customable 
merchandise and 
home- manufactured 
goods, to send a reso- 
Intioa to their mem- 
bers to oppose the 

■.me m Puliimient s«».virBi™, 

by all legal and dutiful methods. This year the great 
crane near Gib Taylor was erected by Mr. Fadmore, and 
the Mod dock was completed at the expense of the Society 
- of Merchant Yenturers. 

9. Walpole sought by a system of indirect taxation 
to free the land from all burdens. He contended that 
smuggling and fraud diminished the revenue immensely. 
The gross average amount of the Customs' tax on 
tobacco, for instance, was £750,000, the net produce 
only amounted to £160,000 ; he therefore proposed to 
transfer this revenue to the Excise, to establish bonded 



warehouses for wines and tobacco, and to collect the 
duty from the inland dealers. Kis plan, he argued, 
would, without increasing the cost to the consumer, 
enable him to dispense altogether with the land tax, 
would make London a free port, and give to it the trade 
of the world. An unprecedented agitation set in against 
this scheme. It was argued iu the House of Commons 
that already the sea-coast towns were looked upon as 
belonging to the Crown, the influence of its officers in 
them being so great 
that not a member 
could be elected to 
Parliament who was 
not their nominee, 
and that under this 
scheme the Excise 
would extend the in- 
fluence of the Crown 
to aU the towns and 
corporations of Eng- 
land. Bristol was 
thoroughly aroused; 
it discarded Scrope, 
the Treasury nom- 
inee, who only polled 
1866 votes, whilst Sir 
Abraham Elton had 
2,420, and Thomas 
Coster 2,071. The 
idea of London mo< 
nopolising the trade 
which had been the 
chief cause of Bris- 
tol's prosperity was 
odious. The popular 
ferment throughout 
the kingdom com- 
pelled Walpole to 
withdraw the mea- 
sure. 

year the High Cross, which stood at the junction of 
Wine, High, Broad and Corn streets, was taken down 
and deposited in the Guildhall. It was worn and 
fretted through age, and was considered to be unsafe \ 
an additional and weighty reason for its removal was 
the space which it occupied, impeding the greatly in- 
creased vehicular traffic in the centre of the city. 

Febraiuy 2Ut, 1734, Williun Henry NaasSD, Prince of Orange, 
cune to this city, pnnuMit to an iaviUttioD presented to him at 
Bath by Mr. Pope and Mr. Otiuoo, the sheriffs. He came to 
EDglaod in November Iftit, in order to npouM the Princess Royal, 



180 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.B. 1734. 



bat being taken ill he went to Bath for the recovery of his health. 
When he visited Bristol he was met on the road two miles from 
the city by the mayor and sherififs, and a vast crowd of people 
with orange cockades, and conducted to the Council-house, where 
WnL Gann, Esq., the town clerk, addressed him in a speech, to 
which the prince returned a very obliging answer. This ceremony 
being ended, the whole body attended him to his lodgings at 
Alderman Peter Day's, in Queen square, and from thence to the 
Merchants' hall, where a very elegant entertainment was provided 
for him. After dinner he went to the Hotwells, where he tasted 
the water, and on his return the quay and the rivers, &c., were 
shown to him ; and then about seven o'clock he returned to the 
hall, where he supped ; and after supper there was a ball, where 
were assembled at least five hundred gentlemen and ladies. Wm 
highness opened the ball by a minuet with Sheriff Pope's lady. 
He slept that night at Alderman Day's. On the next day he 
received the compliments of the clergy, and taking his leave of 
the magistrates, he returned to Bath. Soon after he went to 
London, and on March 14th he married Ann^ Princess Royal of 
England, our king's eldest daughter. 

On the 8th of January, 1734-5, arose in the morning a great 
wind, not much unequal to that in November, 1703, as long as it 
continued. It blew down four large trees in St. James' church- 
yard, it rent the great bar of iron which supported the weather- 
cock on St. Nicholas' steeple ; it ripped and folded up the lead of 
Temple church as if it had been paper, it blew down many chim- 
neys, untiled many houses, and did great damage to several ships 
which lay in Kingroad. ^ 

10. In 1734 Buck's well-known views of the city, 
from Brandon hill and Pile hill, were published. This 
year the Methodists began to create a stir in Bristol and 
Kingswood. Before John Wesley and George Whitefield, 
by their Christ-like work, humanised this locality, there 
was scarcely an assize at Gloucester but a Kingswood 
man was left for execution for horse or sheep stealing, 
or still graver felonies. The relatives were generally 
allowed to carry away the body of the convict, which, 
on taking home, they usually exposed, nearly naked, 
by the roadside, with a plate on the breast, for the con- 
tributions of the passers-by, ostensibly in order to bury 
their dead. Such was the brutalised state of the people 
that they often levied this hideous blackmail (for such 
it was, few daring to refuse to contribute) long after the 
necessary sum had been raised, when they spent the 
overplus in a drunken orgie. 

"Never," says a shrewd modem historian, ''never 
had religion seemed at a lower ebb " than in the earlier 
part of the reign of George 11. The Church had sunk 
into political insignificance. The bishops, who were 
political nominees of the Whig minister, were power- 
less for good, owiQg to the Tory proclivities of their 
clergy. Pluralities abounded ; the wealthy and learned 
of the priesthood were absentees, but the bulk of the 
clergy, ignorant, indolent, poor, and without social con- 
sideration, " the most remiss in their labours in private, 
and the least severe in their lives." Walpole had sus- 

* Seyer, U., 679-80. 



pended the sittings of Convocation, and religion in the 
higher ranks of society had become a by-word and a 
mockery. Nor did Nonconformity fare better ; its pro- 
fessors had declined in number, whilst a great wave of 
Arianism had swept over their churches and benumbed 
their vital energy. Drunkenness and obscene language 
were not considered to be disgraceful; chastity was 
sneered at as unfashionable, and seduction was openly 
taught (see Lord Chesterfield in his letters to his son) 
as being part of a political education. The poor, re- 
duced to pauperism, were ignorant and brutal, being 
left without education, or moral or religious training. 
The criminal class, undeterred by the frequency of 
capital punishment, and the ruthless character of the 
laws, which inflicted the same penalty for a shop rob- 
bery of more than one shilling, or the cutting down a 
young tree, as it did for a sanguinary murder, made 
men reckless. Drunkenness had fearfully increased, 
owing to the introduction of gin-shops, some of which 
invited '' a man to get drunk for a penny, dead drunk 
for twopence." In short, the pictures of Hogarth, in- 
stead of being caricatures, fall immeasurably short of 
a faithful portraiture of the manners and customs of 
the age. Such was the condition of affairs throughout 
the land when a religious revival began, which in a few 
years changed the whole aspect of English society ; it 
infused life and activity into our churches, both estab- 
lished and sectarian, purified our manners and literature, 
carried the gospel of love to the peasant as freely as to 
the peer, swept away piecemeal our Draconic legislature, 
cleansed the Augean prison styes and made them habit- 
able, reared hospitals and infirmaries, popularised educa- 
tion, rested not until it had struck off the shackles of the 
slave, and everywhere proclaimed the common brother* 
hood of the human race, and the grand law that true 
love to Gk)d is best shown by love to one's fellow-man. 

The men who began this new epoch for our country 
and for the world were of the middle class of society. 
George Whitefield, the son of an inn-keeper at Glou- 
cester, a servitor of Pembroke college, John Wesley, 
Fellow of Lincoln college, and his brother Charles, 
a student of Christ church, Oxford, were the leaders 
of the movement. Whitefield was emphatically the 
preacher; his impassioned earnestness carried all be- 
fore it; it wrung the gold out of the pocket of the 
calm philosophic Franklin, won the admiration of that 
cynic^ sneerer at all good, Horace Walpole, and washed 
white furrows down the grimy faces of twenty thousand 
colliers at a time in the meadows at Kingswood. The 
enthusiasm of these preachers closed the pulpits of the 
churches one after another against them ; they heeded 
not, but took to the churchyards, the streets, the fields; 



▲.D. 1734. 



WHITEFIELD AND THE WESLEYS. 



181 



they were mobbed at the inBtigation of squire and clergy, 
ducked in horseponds, stoned, bespattered with filth and 
their lives endangered, still they persevered. Charles 
Wesley, by the sweetness and simplicity of his hymns, 
threw a new and exquisite feature into the movement; 
whilst John Wesley, fitted to be a ruler of men by his 
power of command, his faculty for organisation, his cool 
judgment, literary talent, industry, patience, piety and 
earnestness, consolidated the scattered forces into one 
great body, which, from the methodical devotion and 
reg^ularity of life observed by its members, gained for 
them the nickname of Methodists, a title of honour of 
which they may ever be proud. The effect of this move- 
ment upon the other sections of the religious community 
was immediate and startling, the lethargy of the clergy 
was broken up, and the evang^cal body became a 
reality which gradually eliminated the dissolute clergy 
and forced the absentees into residence; moreover, it in- 
fused new vitality into other denominations and created 
a healthy emulation in divine work for their fellow- 
men throughout the whole body of professed Christian 
teachers. 

On re-visiting Bristol in 1739, and finding no church 
available in which to preach, Whitefield went to Kings- 
wood, and there, on Saturday, February 13th, he com- 
menced preaching in the open air. Such success attended 
the services thus inaugurated that he appealed to his 
friend John Wesley for help; he came, listened, and felt 
reluctantly, it is true, compelled to follow his example. 
On Sunday, April 2nd, he preached on a little hillock 
near Baptist mills, standing on a stone, which after- 
wards was reverently used as the foundation stone of 
the Wesleyan chapel in that locality. Casting aside his 
prejudice, under pressure of the visible presence of the 
Divine Spirit in the work, he rose to the emergency, 
and to listening thousands in the suburbs and in the 
city, at the bowling-green and the meeting rooms in 
Nicholas, Castle and Oloucester streets. Back lane and 
the Weavers' hall, he preached daily. The Society 
thus formed soon felt the need of a home, and the 
first Wesleyan chapel in the kingdom was built in 
Bristol. The foundation stone was laid on May 12th, 
1739, in Broadmead; it is a spacious building, having 
six freestone pillars supporting the galleries, and has a 
dwelling-houBe for ministers over the chapel ; it is now 
occupied by the Welsh Calvinistic Methodists. It was 
in connection with the debt incurred in building this 
meeting-house that the system which may be termed the 
life and soul of Methodism was founded. We mean, of 
course, the penny per week subscription by each member 
for sustenance of the cause, and the dass meeting in 
which their spiritual life is quickened and made vigorous. 



Eighteen conferences were held in this chapel during 
Wesley's life, the first being on August 1st, 1745. This 
was the second conference, the first having been held in 
London. Wesley's career might almost be said to have 
closed in Bristol, as the last conference he attended was 
in the above-named chapel. Since his death there have 
been twelve of these gatherings held in our city. 

At a conference held in 1771, the Rev. Walter Shirley 
and a deputation waited on the body to ask Wesley to 
alter his minutes of the preceding year, but they found 
him inflexible ; ''he sang with them, prayed with them, 
shook hands with them, and stood where he was." The 
minutes of ''free grace" were unchanged, but a con- 
troversy followed which greatiy weakened the doctrines 
known as Calvinism. The first preacher appointed to 
Bristol was John Jones, 1749. The Bristol circuit at 
that time included the surrounding neighbourhood, and 
this good man had to itinerate as far as Bath, Keynsham, 
Kingswood, &c., there being no other circuit that em- 
braced those localities. 

Methodism in America is closely related to Bristol. 
Captain Webb, a lieutenant in the 48th regiment, who 
had been converted by a sermon by Wesley in Bristol, 
had by his preaching in New York added fresh life to 
the little society gathered there, and on his return he 
induced Wesley to send over the two first Methodist 
preachers to that country. From Bristol, in September, 
1781, Francis Asbury sailed for America, and on Sep- 
tember 2nd, 1784, in the old room at Broadmead, Wesley 
ordained Coke as bishop, and Whatcoat and Yasey as 
presbyters, to proceed thither and administer the sacra- 
ment; thus, in theological language, founding the 
American Methodist church. It was in fact in Broad- 
mead and Portiand chapels that the battie was fought 
and won between antiquated sacerdotal custom and en- 
lightened scriptural freedom ; for here it was that the 
Methodist ministers claimed and first exercised the right 
to administer the sacrament, and by so doing they welded 
the scattered societies into one mighty body — ^the Wes- 
leyan Methodist church. The Methodist regular ministry 
may be said to have had its rise in Bristol, for here 
John Cennick was commissioned to preach to the colliers 
of Elingswood. Thomas Maxfield, another well-known 
preacher of these early days, was a native of the city. 
Charles Wesley lived in a small house in Stokes croft, 
and many of his divine songs were composed whilst en- 
joying the umbrageous shade of Lovers walk. The 
Kingswood school, established by the philanthropy of 
Whitefield, was altered from its original design by 
Wesley into an institution for educating the children 
of Wesleyan ministers. Some of the foremost men in 
the body have been stationed in Bristol; the lion- 



182 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1734. 



hearted Nelson, holy Bramwell, scholarly Adam Clarke, 
eloquent Bradbum, thoughtful Beaumont, and power- 
ful Etheridge, may be specially named, as well as their 
worthy successors, who in our own time have charmed 
immense congregations by their eloquence, pathos and 
piety, such as John Lomas, Samuel D. Waddy, Samuel 
Eomilly Hall, William Morley Punshon, and Charles 
Tucker, the missionary. 

Portland street chapel was the second building 
erected by the body, to which Captain Webb largely 
contributed, and wherein he often preached in his regi- 
mentals; dying in 1796, he was buried in this his 
favourite place of worship. It is a spacious building, 
with a large gallery at one end, and contains a painted 
altar-piece by Bird. There is a turret with a bell, and 
the Church of England service is still read there. Here, 
too, was laid in the tomb all that was mortal of John 
Bundy, a rare specimen of the local preacher of the days 
of old — a brewer's labourer, whose master said, "My 
beer ought to drink well, for Bundy prays over every 
cask in the cellar," and who on his death-bed sent for 
his faithful servant to come and pray by him ; he also 
left him a large legacy, which Bundy refused to accept, 
as also he did a rank of houses left to him by a lady, 
requesting that they might be given to the rightful heirs. 
Bundy became practically the spiritual adviser of the 
prisoners in Newgate, and travelled in the cart with the 
condemned felons, praying and singing with each poor 
wretch as he sat shivering on his own cofiin, whilst the 
pitiful procession crawled slowly up Steep street to the 
gallows at the top of St. Michaers hill. This good 
man's courage and kindness were only equalled by 
his piety, fervour and simplicity. He fasted once and 
nearly killed himself, because he felt called upon to 
follow his Master ; twenty days out of the forty he thus 
abstained from meat and drink, when fainting nature 
forced him back into common sense. At the opening 
of Portland chapel, in 1792, by Messrs. Bradbum and 
Boberts, the preachers wore gowns and bands, and read 
the Liturgy in a surplice, which gave great ofPence to 
the clergyman of the parish and led to a somewhat 
acrimonious controversy, after which the vestments were 
quietly dropped. Thomas Exley, author and philoso- 
pher, was a local preacher in connection with this chapel. 

Ebenezer chapel, in Old King street, was built in 
1796; its dimensions are 80 feet by 60 feet; it is a 
handsome building, and is calculated to seat 2,000 
persons, having three deep galleries; it was opened on 
the 28th of June, at which time the number of mem- 
bers in society in Bristol was 1,645. The Wesleyan 
chapel that lies between the Old Market street and 
Eedcross street is a still larger building ; it will hold 



2,300 persons; it has galleries on three sides, and has 
good accommodation in the shape of school -rooms, 
vestries, &c. ; it was opened August, 1817. The Wes- 
leyan chapel at Baptist mills has been three times 
enlarged ; it has accommodation for a large school ; 
also numerous class-rooms, vestries, &c. 

11. John Elbridge, the founder of the Bristol Boyal 
Infirmary, was deputy -comptroller of the Customs in 
this city in the year 1734. When he was appointed or 
where he was bom is not known with certainty, but 
there is reason to believe that he was a native of the 
parish of St. Ann, in the island of Jamaica. At the 
second meeting of the society which founded the Infir* 
mary he was appointed treasurer. It was held in the 
Council-house on the 7th January, 1736, in the. mayor- 
alty of John Blackwell. Amongst those present were 
the sheriffs, Joseph Eyles and Henry Dampier, Dean 
Creswick, Sir Michael Foster the recorder, and twenty- 
eight other gentlemen. In the committee-room is a 
tablet beneath a portrait of this estimable man, which 
bears the following inscription : — 

John Elbridge, esqaire, was among the first who engaged in 
this charity. As soon as the society was formed he was chosen 
treasurer, and cheerfully undertook the care of the buildings, and 
of providing furniture of all kinds for the house and apothecary's 
shop, necessary for the first opening. He gave a constant and 
unwearied attention to this work, which he effected entirely at 
his own expense in the year 1737. In the next year he erected a 
new ward for twelve patients, which he furnished with beds, and 
all other accommodations likewise, at his own expense. Besides 
these most seasonable benefactions, which may be estimated at 
£1,500 at least, he by his will bequeathed to the use of the 
society £5,000. He died on the 22nd of February, 1738, treasurer 
of this society. His epitaph was written by Dr. Shibbear, who, 
in 1740, published a pamphlet on the Bristol waters. 

The Infirmary was opened on December 13th, 1737 ; the ground 
on which it was buUt was called Jobbings leaze, or leas. ^ 

Mr. Elbridge's residence was the old house in Boyal 
fort. In a part of his garden, at the entrance of the 
lane, he in his lifetime built a school, which at his 
death he endowed with the sum of £3,000, for the 
clothing once a year of twenty-four girls, and educa- 
ting them in ''reading, writing, cyphering and sewing." 
In 1 748 the trustees built for the master and mistress, 
at the cost of £287, a dwelling-house. The master has 
the right for ever of signing a note ''Elbridge,'' and thus 
sending a sick or wounded scholar to the infirmary, who 
is to be instantly admitted. 

Boger North, in his Life of Lord Ouildford, says : — 
" Bristol is a marine trading city, with a small cathedral. 
It is remarkable that there all the men that are dealers, 
even in shop trades, launch into adventures by sea, 
chiefly in the West Indies and Spain. A poor shop- 

^ R. Smith. 



BRISTOL AND ITS FUNERALS. 



keeper that sells oandles will liave a bale of stockm^ 
or a piece of etoS for Nevis or Yirginia, ox rather than 
fail they trade in men, as when they seat amall rogues 
taught to pray for, and vho accordingly received actual 
transportation even before any indictment was found 
against them. In a word pride and ostentation are 
publicly professed ; christenings and burials pompous 
beyond imagination ; a man who dies worth £300 will 
order £200 of it to be laid out in a funeral procession." 
This is a gross exaggeration. No doubt more was spent 
in mortuary customs than was needful, as is the case 
to-day ; but from the day-book of Ifr. Brickdale, clothier 
and undertaker in High street, who afterwards became 
U.F. for the city, we give the items of two funerals, 
which, although the coffins are not included (they being 
supplied by the carpenter), will, we have no doubt, bear 
comparison with undertakers' charges of modem date. 
The reader will be struck with the great quantity of 
cloth used on such occasions. 



Aldermu Jaous Dtuming, for fimand of his Udjr, AptQ li^ 
1737 :- 

£ *. A 

To hanging pulonr tod hall aad for the flooring S S 

To the oM of 8 ittmda 8 

" " 8 ■tuul'Clotha and I stool ditto 9 

" " 8 Urge candleaticki 10 

" " 2 dozen large white Bconces 6 

" " I dozen »nd s half black japtmued ditto 7 6 

" " » clo&k for jonraelf 5 

" " 1 ditto foryourman 6 

" " 11 coachmen'a ditto 2 15 

" black cloth for ye chuich 2 6 

To paid for wax and mold candlea .> 12 

" " hanging up ye bays and takiog it down ... OHO 

" " tenterhooks and tacks 2 6 

" the carriage to utd from Stapleton, twocondnc- 
tors, with black gowns, hat-bands, crape on poles, 

and paid them 10 



Memonuidum. — A very wet day ; the baye and flooring very 
tt and dirty. > 



Mr, John Hawkins, for funeral of his lady, February 2 

1735:- £ s. 

13 yds. superfine Mack doth at 17/- ... 11 J 

7! " " " " " 17/- ... 6 11 

4^ ' ' sad grey superfine 

3 '■ blaek " 



" 14/- 
■ 14/. 
" 91- 
'17/. 

' /li 



S " superfine, for Mr. Mathew 

To the nse-of S32 yds. bays 

" ". B7 " toot-cloth " /3 ... 

" " i doi, 7 Bcoocei " 4/- 

" " 8 stands " /12 ... 

" " 8 stand. cloths and 1 stool 

" " II gentlemen's cloaks ... " 2/6 

" " 10 for coachmen " 2/6 

" " S black cloths for church 

To cash pud for two wai candles 

" for tenterhooks and tacka 

■■ tor banging np and taking dowue 

" two conductora with black gownee, crape hatt 
bands, ciape on poles, &c 



13. In 1735, John Sorope, being still unpopular, 
resigned office, and Sir Michael Foster was chosen re- 
corder of the city. He lived at Lower Ashley-house, 
which was on the affluent of the Frome, near the 
boiling well; it was demolished in 1824. "In 1785 
the High Cross was re-erected in the centre of College 
green and finely beautified. By survey taken in 1736, 
Bristol, with its suburbs, was found to contain 1,300 
houses and 80,000 inhabitants;'" but inasmuch aa this 
gives over sixty-one inhabitants to each dwelling, it is 
evident that the number of houses should be 18,000. 
At the request of the corporation, the Bristol charters 
were this year translated by Charles Qoodwyn, B.D., 
and published. William Jefferies, who was mayor in 
1738, presented )ife-size portraits of himself and his 
wife to the chamber ; and moved " that it would tend to 
the honour and grandeor of this city if some convenient 
mansion-house was purchased by the corporation for 
the mayor to reside in, and in which he could entertain 

> Bristol Times, January 22nd, 1859. ■ Erana, 263. 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



the judges, tbat the house of Alderman Peter Day, 
detieased, with its furniture, was to be disposed of, that 
it was a fit place," ftc. Carried in the affirmatiTe. This 
was the Mansion-house in Queen square which was 
bnmed in the riots of 1831. On Hay 15th a petition 
was presented to his majesty praying that the 



in the merchant serrice who were wounded when on 
board privateers might be eligible for Greenwich hos- 
pital. At the king's command a clause to that effect 
was inserted in the Act of Parliament. On Sept. 10th, 
1739, Sirlfichael Foster, the recorder, 
sentenced Captain James Newth to 
death for the murder of hie wife. 
Newth poisoned himself a few days 
after, and was buried at a cross road. 
Bumour stating that he had been tried 
for piracy, that he had murdered one of 
hie cabin boys and had caused the death 
of three of his mariners, a Bristol mob 
dug up his remains and treated them in 
a moat shameful manner. * Pope, the 
poet, this year viuted Bristol and left 
the following description of the city : — 

EVom Bktli jaa go along the Avon, or it* 
nde, the road 1;ing generally in light of it; on 
wch buik Are eteup ruing hillf, clothed with 
wood at top, and sloping toward the atream 
in gTMn maadowB, intermixed with white 
homes, mills, and bridges ; this for seven or 
eight mile*, then you come in aigbt of Bristol 
(the riTer winding at the bottom of steeper banks to the town), 
where yon see twenty odd pyramids unoklng over the town (which 
are glasa honse*', and a vast extent of honses, red and white. Yon 
come first to old walls, and over a bridge bnilt on both side*, like 
London bridge, and a* mnch crowded, with a strange mixture of 
^ Abridged from Gentlenuu'* Hagarine, V., fiSS. 



s e a mim , women, children, loaded hoTM*, iMe*, and (ledge*, with 
goods, dragging along together without po*ta to sepante them. 
From thence yon come to a qnay along the old wall, with honses 
on both sides, and in the middle of the atreet as far as yoa can 
•ee, hnndreda of ships, their masts as thick as they can stand by 
one another, which is the oddest and moat •nrprising aight imagin- 
able. This street is fnUer of them than the Thames from London 
bridge to Deptford, and at certain time* only, tiie 
water nam to carry them ont, so that at other 
times a long atreet foil of *hip« in the middle, and 
bou«e« on each side, looks like a dieam. Faaaing 
still along by the river, yon come to a rocky way 
on one side, overiooking green bills on the other ; 
on that rocky way rise several white honses, and 
over them red rock*, and a* yon go farther more 
rock* above rock*, mixed with green bnahea and 
of different coloured stone. This at a mile'* end 
terminates in the hon*e of the Hotwell, wheie- 
abonts lie several pretty lodging honses, opoi to the 
river with walls of tree*. Whenyoahaveaeenthe 
hills which seem to ahnt in upon yon, and to stop 
any farther way, yon go into the house, and look- 
ing out at the back door a vast rock of an hundred 
feet high of ted, white, green, blue, and yellowish 
marble, all blotched and vari^ated, strike* you 
quite in the face ; and tanung on the left, there 
opens the river at a vast depth below, winding 
in and out, and accompanied on bot^ sides with 
a continued range of rocks up to the donds. On 
the top of these rock* there runs on the one side 
a large down of fine tnrf for abont three mile*. It looks too 
frightful to approach the brink and look down npon the river, 
bnt in many parts of this down the valliea descend gently, and 
you see all along the windings of the stream, and the opening* of 
the rock* which turn and close in upon yon from apace to apace 



Cliflm Old TMrRpOi Call and r 



n ISOk CmtHTf. 



for several miles on towards the sea. There is first, near Bristol, 

a little village upon this down, called Clifton, where an very 
pretty lodging houses overlooking all the wooda, hills, and steep 
oliffs, and very woody valleys, within half a mile ot the Wells, 
where in the summer it must be delicious walking and riding, for 
the plain extends one way for many miles ; particolarly there is a 



A.D. 1738. 



CIVIC OCCURRENCES OF INTEREST. 



185 



tower that stands close to the edge of the highest rock, and sees the 
stream torn quite round it ; and all the banks one way are wooded 
in a gentle slope for near a mile high, quite green ; the other bank 
all inaccessible rock, of an hundred colours and odd shapes, some 
hundred feet perpendicular. I am told one may ride many miles 
farther on an even turf on a ridge that on one side views the river 
Severn, and the banks steeper and steeper, or quite to the open 
sea ; and on the other side a vast woody vale as far as the eye 
can stretch, and all before you the opposite coast of Wales beyond 

the Severn The city of Bristol itself is very unpleasant, 

and no civilised company in it ; only the collector of customs 
would have brought me acquainted with merchants, of whom I 
hear no great character. The streets are as crowded as London, 
but the best image I can give you of it is, 'tis as if Wapping and 
Southwark were ten times as big, or all their people ran into 
London. Nothing is fine in it but the square, which is larger 
than Grosvenor square and weU builded, with a very fine brass 
statue in the middle, of King William on horseback ; and the 
quay, which is full of ships, and goes half-way round the square. 
The College green is pretty, and (like the square) is set with trees, 
with a very fine old cross of Gothic curious work in the middle ; 
but spoiled with the folly of new gilding it, that takes away all 
the venerable antiquity. There is a cathedral, very neat, and 
nineteen parish churches. 

13. In 1736 a public-house, tlie ''Boar's Head and 
Salmon/' at the comer of Frog lane, was given by Mrs. 
Ann Aldworth to the poor of All Saints and St. Augus- 
tine. The victims of the law who were capitally con- 
victed were less mercifully treated than at the present 
time. They either stood in a cart, with the halter round 
their necks, and swung gently oS as the yehiicle was 
moved on, or they had to climb a ladder until the hang- 
man could adjust the rox>e around their necks, from 
which they either swung themselves or were thrust oS 
by the executioner ; hence they died hard, being in most 
cases suffocated only. In this year Joshua Harding 
and John Yemham were hanged at Bristol for house- 
breaking. When cut down and put in their coffins they 
were both alive. The latter died, after being bled, 
about eleven in the evening; Harding was placed in 
the Bridewell, and was afterwards taken care of in 
'' a charity-house," his life being saved. ^ 

In 1737 "Lionel Lyde, the mayor, sued — Hart for 
recovery of mayor's dues, 40^. Defendant pleaded the 
general issue. The trial was before Leigh, chief justice, 
and a special jury. Verdict for plaintiff." ' Nathaniel 
Day being mayor, the corporation ordered the table 
of loan moneys and benefactions to be put up in the 
Oouncil-house for public inspection."^ Trinity alms- 
house, north of Lawford's gate, had an additional 
building; and Giles Malpas, pinmaker, of Thomas 
street, built a charity school for the boys of Beddiff 
and St. Thomas in Pile street. 

7th April. — In a publication by A. S. Catcott, LL.B., 
master of the Grammar school, dated as above, " printed 
1 Old MS. • B. Smith. • Evans, 263. 

[Vol. ni.] 



and sold by Felix Farley, at Shakspear's head in Castle 
green, also W. Evans on St. James' back, J. Wilson in 
Wine street, and P. Brown in St. Thomas' street," giving 
an account of the visitation that year by the mayor, 
John Black well, esq., the aldermen, &c., the following 
boys distinguished themselves : — 

Latin and Greek, EnglUh verse. 

Francis Woodward, C. Heylyn, 

John Bergen, Thomas Hill, 

Thomas Francis, James Grace, 

Charles Bowyer, Joseph Terrill, 

Thomas Willing, William Oakey, 

John Sampson. Daniel Monro, 

Richard Woodward, 
Thomas Harding. 

The following is a fair specimen of the versification : — 

Where the small Frome his widening banks divides 
To form a bay for Avon's swelling tides, 
And the soft ooze receives the incnmhent weight 
Of thronging vessels, big with weighty freight, 
By monks possessed of old, —a f abrick stands, 
By pious Thorn redeemed from greedy hands. 
From error freed, from rapine snatched away. 
He gave to better use the destined prey. 

The doors unfold ; a passage strikes your sight, 
Dark, narrow, dismal with malignant light ; 
You try the gulf, with hands held out before. 
And stumbling feet the devious way explore. 

In 1738 the City Library was finished, and the land 
for the new Exchange was secured; it was originally 
occupied by Snowgale's almshouse. The poor were now 
removed to a new building in All Saints lane. 

His Bx>yal Highness Frederic, Prince of Wales, and Augusta, 
his princess, came hither from Bath, 10th November, 1738, and 
were met by the mayor, &c., at Temple gate, where a platform 
was erected for the common council, dressed in their scarlet gowns, 
to salute them on their arrival, and the recorder delivered a speech 
to them. All the trading companies, with their flags, &c., walked 
in procession before their coach up High street and along the 
Quay to Queen square to Mr. Comhe*s house. After he had re- 
ceived the compliments of the clergy, gentlemen, ftc., he was 
presented with the freedom of the city and of the Society of 
Merchants, each in a gold box ; and was then conducted to the 
Merchants* hall, where an elegant dinner was provided at the 
city's expense and a ball at night. They lodged at Mr. Henry 
Ck>mbe's that night, and returned the next morning at ten o'clock 
to Bath. 

The famous convention with Spain was concluded January 
14th, 1738-9, wherein the interests of Great Britain seemed to be 
so much neglected that a most violent clamour against the ministry 
was raised through the whole kingdom. Petitions against it were 
presented to the House of CJommons from London, Bristol, liver- 
pool, and other places. It was at the dehate on this convention 
that four hundred members took their seats in the House of 
Ck>mmons before eight o'clock in the morning. The convention 
was at last approved hy a majority ; but it was evident that Sir 
Robert Walpole's power was declining, for, being no longer able to 
withstand the clamour of the whole nation, war was declared 
against Spain, October 23rd, 1739, in London, and in Bristol, 
October 29th. 

Q 4 



186 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



▲.D. 1741. 



At the election in the year 1741 Sir Abraham Elton, bart, 
and Mr. Southwell were re-elected without opposition. Fkkrties 
at this time were more violent perhaps than ever since the Revo- 
lotion, and the elections in general more violently contested. 
Parliament met December Ist, and the opposition to the minister 
was on the whole so much strengthened by this election that 
within few months he retired. 

Sir Abraham Elton died 19th October, 1742, and an election 
to supply the vacancy began 24th November, 1742, when Robert 
Hoblyn, esq., who had married the only daughter of our late 
worthy member, Thomas Coster, esq., was chosen without opposi- 
tion. The mayor. Sir Abraham Elton, son of the late member, 
declared himself a candidate, but did not stand a polL^ 

On January 5th, 1740, a poor man died of exposure 
from cold in Marsh street ; also a woman in Milk street. 
** January 26th, a ship with corn from Barnstaple, whilst 
the navigation of the Severn is obstructed by the hard 
frost, has come to Bristol. The captain, without con- 
sidering the condition of the poor, asks Ss. 6d. per 
bushel; bakers won't give more than 58, 6i. Assize 
of bread, 5»." * 

The foundation of the Bristol Exchange was laid 
March 10th by Henry Combe, mayor; the " Guilders' " 
inn, which extended back from High street to the west 

« 

of All Saints lane, and the block of houses between All 
Saints and Cock lanes and Com and St. Nicholas streets 
furnished the site.® 

In a Journal of Transactions relating to an election 
at Bristol, 1739, which is wholly in Mr. Edward South- 
well's autograph, are detailed some interesting facts 
relating to Bristol. Southwell was elected M.P. on the 
death of Mr. Coster. In naming his arrival at Bristol 
on October 6th, he says : — " I drove through BristoU at 
full Tholsell time, about one o'clock. Mr. Coster, the 
late member, was buried the night before at the Cathe- 
dral, and every bell in the city tolled for him from 
morning till night." Southwell kept all the printed 
squibs issued during the election ; the rough drafts of 
many of his addresses to his constituents ; letters from 
the mayor, the aldermen and chief persons in Bristol 
relative to the various elections in which he was con- 
cerned; petitions of merchants, instructions from the 
town council, and a variety of other docimients ; drafts 
of bills, &c., transmitted to their representative in Par- 
liament; papers relative to the lighting of the city of 
Bristol with lamps, &c.; petitions from debtors incar- 
cerated in Newgate in 1741-5 ; some interesting accounts 
of the forces raised by the towns-people of Bristol to 
repel the Pretender in 1745 ; letters of Bobert Hoblyn, 
esq., M.P. for Bristol, 1747 ; list of ships trading from 
Bristol to all parts of the world; lists of his Bristol 
guests. 

» Seyer, XL, 581-2. » Old MS. 

" For particulars of this building, see Wood's Exchange. 



Thomas Hulm paid £50 fine for refusing to serve 

the office of deputy-governor of St. Peter's hospital. 

Under the old Act the fine was only £25, but so many 

persons chose rather to pay than serve that it was found 

necessary to double the amount of the fine. In 1765 

Joseph Flower was allowed £75 to take the office for a 

second year. Neither was the office of governor coveted. 

In 1771 Jere Ames paid £50 for refusing the honour 

after he had been chosen by the court; and in the 

minute-book Burgum, Chatterton's credulous friend, 

wrote: — 

** As chairman, Henry Burgum for the last time ; 
And if you catch me at it again, 
I!ll gee you my mother for an old man." 

In 1778 Griffith Musquelina and GFeorge Watson re- 
fused to serve, and each of them paid the fine. There 
is also a singular entry under the date of 1771 : — '* Mr. 
Peach, one of the guardians of the poor, discharged 
in consequence of his having convicted a felon." We 
presume the word ''been" has been omitted. 

In 1741 the men who assisted in carrying oS. Sir 
John Dinely, viz., Charles Bryan, Edward McDaniell 
and William Hammon, were fined 40^. each and impri- 
soned for one year. (See Eoclesiastigal History, 240.) 
''Mahoney was hanged in chains on the Swash; the 
stump of the gibbet is now [1829] standing. The 
* White Hart ' was curiously divided. The bay window 
was formerly a balcony; it was on the lands of the 
dean and chapter. The front rooms were held on lease 
of the city chamber. The parlour behind, afterwards 
for forty years the dressing-room and surgery of Messrs. 
Smith and Gold, was on the boundary wall of St. Mark, 
and the site of the public-house was the waste or road 
between it and the cemetery, i.e., before St. Augustine's 
church was built. In the cellar were several grave- 
stones." ^ 

14. In 1741 the four-sheet survey of Bristol, taken 
by John Boque, was published by Benjamin Hickey, 
bookseller. The almshouse at the south-west comer of 
Milk street, for five old bachelors and five old maids, 
was built by Thomas and Sarah Bidley, brother and 
sister, of Pucklechurch. John Jayne, of Temple parish, 
mariner, gave £140, the interest to be applied towards 
clothing and educating the poor girls of that parish 
for ever. Letters were now despatched between Lon- 
don and Bristol six times a week instead of three as 
heretofore. 

In 1742, the Bristol Oracle was first published. 
Admiral Vernon, on his return from the West Indies 
in the Boyne, struck on the rocks near St. David's Head 
December 27th ; having got his ship ofE, he arrived in 

1 B. Smith. 



ROQUE'S MAP OF BRISTOL. 



Bristol Jannaiy 6th, and proceeded to the house of the 
mayor anudet the aodamatioiis of the people ; he left 
for London on the I3th, and was on the following day 
most graciously received by his majeety. Zinc was this 
year manufactured by Mr. Champion, of Bristol. A 
patent was afterward obtained by If r. Emeraon ; the 
manufactory was at Hanham. 

Oq Monday, July 11 Hi, 1743, John Farrington, ag:ed 



nineteen, a private soldier, was shot on Clifton down 
for desertion ; anoUier, who was condemned, walked 
with him to the spot, where he was respited. Nona 
but deserters were employed in the execution. Cord- 
wainers' ball, which used to be held at the "Pilgrim," 
Tucker street, was now removed to the "Bell," Broad 
street. The corporation of the poor formerly held Old- 
field lodge, Milk street, as a sick house ; it stood at the 



188 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1746. 



end of Paul street, on the south side of Newfoundland 
street. In 1798 it was sold for £1,000.^ 

The Exchange, which is the property of the corpora- 
tion, was erected at a cost of £50,000 ; it was opened 
with great ceremony on September 27th, 1743, when 
the corporation, the Society of Merchant Venturers and 
the Yarious trade companies met at the Guildhall and 
walked in procession to the new building. Large num- 
bers of prlvateersmen joined the cavalcade, with bands 
of music, firing cannon, and other marks of rejoicing. 
(The adjoining markets had been previously opened for 
public use on March 27th.) The interior, which has 
been recently covered with a glass roof, is now devoted 
to the use of the com merchants. Until the public nomi- 
nation of members of Parliament was abolished, this 
was the site of the hustings. The architect was Wood, 
of Bath. 

Bull-baiting and cock-fighting were favourite amuse- 
ments of the well-to-do citizens. St. Jude's church now 
stands in the bull-ring, and the principal cock-pit was 
on the west side of Back street, about 100 yards from 
the steps and opposite to the ^'Windsor Castle Man-of- 
War" public-house, it was entered by an arched passage. 
There is little doubt but that, intellectually, the chief 
citizens had sunk so low as to deserve much, if not all, 
of the biting satire which the pens of successive satirists 
inflicted upon them during this half century, and to this 
depth of degradation their ilL-gotten wealth and the in- 
humanity of the trafB.c in slaves had mainly contributed ; 
nevertheless it became not one who had feasted at their 
tables and borrowed their money, to repay them when 
he had exhausted their kindness by bespattering them 
with abuse. This was the case with the unfortunate 
Bichard Savage who, arrested for debt, died of fever 
this year in Newgate. About 1780 a stone stood on the 
right of the path in the churchyard of St. Peter's, lead- 
ing to the hospital, opposite nearly to the west door, on 
which was recorded the parentage, &c., of the poet. It 
is said to have been removed at the instance of the 
Countess of Macclesfield; a monumental tablet in the 
south wall of the church has since been erected to his 
memory. 

Savage's Satire was published this year : — 

" In a dark bottom sunk, Bristol ! now 
With native malice lift thy lowering brow ; 
Then as some hell-bom sprite in mortal guise 
Borrows the shape of Goodness and belies, 
All fair, all smug, to yon* proud hall invite, 
To feast all strangers ape an air polite ; 

* • • • • 

Revere, or seem the stranger to revere ; 
Praise, fawn, profess, be all things but sincere ; 

> R. Smith. 



Insidious now, our bosom secrete steal, 
And these with sly sarcastic sneer reveaL 

What friendship canst thou boast 7 what honours claim ? 

To thee each stranger owes an injured name. 

• • • • • 

Thy sons ! tho' crafty, deaf to Wisdom's call, 
Despising all men, and despised by all ; 
Sons ! while thy clifEs a ditch-like river laves, 
Rude as thy rocks, and muddy as thy waves. 
Of thoughts as narrow as of words inunense, 

As full of tiirbulence as void of sense ? 

• • • • * 

Let foreign youths to thy indentures run, 
Each, each will prove, in thy adopted son. 

Proud, pert, and dull — 

• • * • ^ 

And tho' by nature friendly, honest, brave. 
Turn a sly, selfish, simp'ring, sharping, knave." 

The editor of the Universal Magazine, in commenting on 
this Satire, says : — '^ As it was wrote while Savage was 
in Newgate, one would think he had drawn the characters 
of that city from the gaolbirds he conversed with there." ^ 

1744. — The library in the Bishop's palace repaired, and partly 
rebuilt by Bishop Butler. Whilst these repairs were in progress, 
a parcel of plate fell through the floor in a comer of one of the 
rooms, and discovered a room underneath containing a great many 
human bones and instruments of iron, supposed to have been 
designed for torture. A private passage, too, was found, of a 
construction coeval with the edifice, an arched way, just large 
enough for one person, in the thickness of the wall, one end 
terminating in the dungeon, the other in an apartment of the 
house which seemed to have been used as a court. Both en- 
trances of this mural passage were so concealed as to make it 
appear one solid thick wall. ' 

In the year 1745, when Prince Charles Stuart, with a body of 
Scottish Highlanders invaded England, and was advanced as far 
as Derby, the whole nation was thrown into confusion. Numbers 
of the citizens here in Bristol met at the Merchants* hall, and 
there signed a parchment containing their resolution to stand by 
King George and the royal family ; and on another parchment 
they subscribed their names to such sums as they intended to con- 
tribute towards raising men for the king's service, which at length 
amounted to £36,450. They gave about £5 per man to enlist, and 
above 60 were sent to London to be incorporated in the king's 
guards. Monday, October 7th, 1745, the Trial, privateer, and 
her prize, which she had taken bound to Scotland with firelocks 
and other warlike stores, and having on board £6,000 in money, 
and a number of men, came into Kingroad. Two Irishmen taken 
on board the prize were sent to London in a coach and six horses 
on the following Thursday. * 

1746. —April 17th, the battle of Culloden. The town clerk, 
William Cann ; his deputy, John Mitchel, and their clerk, James 
Briton, all three insane. Mr. Cann cut his own throat, and the 
other two were sent to the receptacle at the Fishponds. * 

Parliament was dissolved 18th June, 1747. Mr. Southwell 
and Mr. Hoblyn, the former members, were re-elected.* 

Wallis Wall (Sea Walls) was built this year. 
When Mr. Southwell was altering his house at Eings- 
weston, a small walled-up room was discovered in which 

^ Universal Magazine, 81. ' Evans, 268. 

• Seyer, II., 692-3. * Evans, 269. • Seyer, IL, 593. 



ATTACK ON THE TURNPIKES. 



WM aoOTeted a quantity of old plate, together with the 
reoords of a, barony granted to the family by Henry m. 
The property had been thns concealed during the civil 
war of the 17th century. In 1776, the representative of 
the family eucoesefully claimed as nephew and heir of 
Margaret, Countess of Leicester, and BaronesB de Clif- 
ford, the baronies of De Clifford, Westmoreland and 
Teed, of Alnwick, oounty Northumberland.' 

In 1748, the Piazza on the Welsh back for a com 
market was erected. A man was hanged in chains on 
Bedminster downs this year. 

15. That turnpikes were very obnoxious, the fol- 
lowing will prove : — 



paned for the pnr- 
pooe of repuring 
the rosda ten miles 
■11 round the city, 
which occixioDed 
great limrmuniigB 
axaong the country 
people, who clam- 
oored Rgunat the 
toU ma & mighty 
grievance, eapee- 
ikll; the colliers 
ftt Kingjwood. 
About K fortnight 
after the erection 
of the gates, the 
Ash ton pike was 
destroyed in the 
night, mod soon 
after Uie Bittoa 
pike was blown 
np by gunpowder 
in the night. 
The commissioners 
offered £100 re- 

tiou of any of the offenden, and sgun set up the gates which 
h«d been destroyed. But in some few days the Bitton pike was 
cnt down ; and three persons present coming into the city after- 
wards were taken and committed to Newgate, which so enraged 
the Somersetshire men that they threatened they would come and 
release the prisooer*. And accordingly on the day appointed, 
Aogust Ist, they came in a very great body, 500 or 600, in open 
day, armed with clubs, pikes, hay-knifOB, and some gans, display- 
ing ensigns, and dmms beating, and three were mounted on horse- 
back as oommanders. They first destroyed the Aahton pike, and 
then proceeded to Bedminster, where they continued in a body 
till 11 o'clock in the forenoon, and while they were there entirely 

pulled down the house of one Durbin, an officer of the peace. 

They then advanced to HedcliCTe hill, and RedcliOe gate being shut 
they went through Pile street up Totterdown, where they preeently 
destroyed the BrisJington and Whitchurch turnpikes, amidst a 
numeroaa party of spectators in the fields. The sheriOs of Bristol 
went with constables and their own officers to Temple gate to pro- 
tect the city ; and when some gentlemen, citisens, who attended 
> Evans, 269. 



IlulrU 0/ Ih 



them, earnestly reqaeated them to go on, nrging that if they 
proceeded no further the rioten would return unmolested, the 
sheriffs refused to do so, and forbade the constables or their 
own officers to go beyond the liberties of the city, whereupon 
Mr. John Brickdale, jonior, with many other citizens, and abont 
50 sailors, anned with cntlaases, drove the rioters, and took 
prisoners 27 or 28 of them, who were all cotniuitted to New- 
gate ; and on application to the Duke of Newcastle, secretary 
of state, the crown prosecuted them. Four of them were tried 
at Taunton assiiea for pnUing down Dnrbin's house, two of 
them were convicted and eiecated. The others were tried at 
Salisbury assizes ; but notwithstanding that the fact was noto- 
riously proved against several of them, the jnry, being conntty 
people, would not find one man of them gnilty. The colliers 
of Eingswood aUo rose and destroyed the Olouceatcrshire pikes 
and honses, and continned ranging the country for a week or 
more, extorting money from travellen, and living on free quarter 
among the farmers. ' 

"August 
25th, 1749, or 
more probably 
1750, Joseph 
Abseny, or 
Meesini, was 
executed for 
the murder of 
Mary Withers, 
at the White 
Ladies public- 
house (on the 
left of Uie road 
opposite Vic- 
toria place). 
Abseny was 
hanged in 
chains onDurd- 
ham down, on 
the gibbet on 
which the mur- 
derer of Sir Bobert Cann's coachman still hung. For 
this murder the licence was taken away from the house." ■ 
On the same day Jeremiah Haggs was executed at the 
gallows on St. Michael's hill for the murder of Eleanor 
Dillard, altat Liverpool Ndl. 

Abont the begimiiug of the year 1 7S0 there appeared 
a remarkable aniora borealis, which attracted great 
attention, and the first quarter of the year being veiy 
tempestuous, great fear was excited in the mind of the 
public. A storm broke over the city on February Ut 
from the south-west, doing immenBe damage ; it was 
accompanied by a heavy thunderstorm, with torrents of 
kail and rain. The steeple of St. Nicholas was stripped 
of its leaden casing and many chinmeya were blown 
down. One fell through the roof of a house outside 
' Seyer, II., 5M-5. ■ R. Smith. 



u erlffinalff ImUI. 



190 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1751. 



Lawford'fl gate, burying a man and his wife in their 
bed; tbe woman was speedily rescued, but the beams 
of the fallen roof had to be sawn asunder before the 
man could be extricated. The damage done by this 
tempest throughout the whole of the west country was 
almost without precedent, so many houses were stripped 
of their roofs and some of them were blown down. 
This was followed on the 8th by a smart shock of earth- 
quake; exactly a month after, viz., March 8th, it was 
followed by one still more violent. These were looked 
upon as being premonitory of the end of the world, 
which, to the great terror of the inhabitants, it was 
confidently predicted would occur on the 8th of April. 

''In 1750, Ohatterton's father obtained the parch- 
ments of which his son made such use. The chests in 
the muniment-room had been disburthened of them in 
1724." ^ Mr. Alexander Morgan, whose MSS. were in 
the possession of the late Eev. Q. W. Braikenridge, 
began to collect and write his historical MS. this year. 

1750. — Bishop Butler recommended to the corporation of 
Bristol to build a church at Kingswood, and he himself subscribed 
£400. The bishop had expended nearly £5,000 in repairs of the 
palace. He was this year translated to Durham. Dying at Bath, 
in 1752, his remains were brought to the Cathedral. John Cony- 
beare, twenty-ninth bishop of Bristol. He remained in this see 
till his death, July 13th, 1756. His sermons, in four volumes, 
were published after his decease, with an immense list of sub- 
scribers, headed by the king. Two whales brought to Sea-mill 
dock and the blubber boiled there. August 1st, the first bank 
opened in Bristol, in Broad-street (at the house now [1824] occu- 
pied with the offices of Messrs. Osborne and Ward), by Mr. Isaac 
Elton, Mr. Harford Lloyd, Mr. William Miller, Mr. Thomas Knox 

and Mr. Hale. Mr. Edye was the principal clerk. There 

was at this time no other banking house out of London, except one 
kept by a Jew at Derby. The instant deposit of gold was very 
great.' 

This William Miller, a wholesale grocer, dwelt in a 
mansion in Taylor's court, built by his father; it still 
has in a shell over the door the initials and date ^'^- ; 
he is said to have been worth £100,000. On February 
24th proposals were advertised for erecting the lamps 

in the parish of St. Stephen's. 

In 1751 Dean Tucker was burnt in effigy in Bristol. 
It was said that he had been to Bome and begged pardon 
of the Pope for the violent language which in the pulpit 
he had used against the Papacy.^ Jacob IlifPe, a iype- 
founder in Bristol, wrote and published the Book of 
Jasher; it was reprinted in 1829. A bill for the 
naturalisation of all foreign Protestants was so strongly 
opposed in Bristol and other towns that the House of 
Commons threw it out. 

On April 24th, 1752, Nicholas Mooney was hanged 
on St. Michael's hill for a street robbery. On July 29th 
there was a dreadful storm of thunder and lightning, 
* E. Smith. « Evans, 270-1. 'E. Smith. 



and such a heavy fall of rain that the roads became like 
rivers. Two men and two boys who took shelter in the 
doorway of the church of St. George, Kingswood, were 
struck down by the lightning, but were not killed. Six 
horses drawing a waggon on the Bath road were struck 
down ; two were killed, a third blinded, and a haymaker 
in an adjoining field was also struck blind. 

In one of the issues of the Bristol Journal, published 
in 1752, there appeared the following advertisement: — 

This is to acqnaint the pnblick that Perrott's wells, near 
Kingsdown, are now opened for the reception of company, and 
his rock shell-work and fountains are completed. The company 
may be accommodated with good wines of all sorts, likewise coffee 
and tea to be had at any time of the day. He humbly hopes that 
his friends who shall be pleased to honour him with their company 
will not go through the Virgin well field, nor o^er any of the 
hedges, but keep the right paths. The way to the wells is over a 
new stile at the top of Ninetree hill, keeping under the hedge on 
the left hand, it being the proper road to the said weUs, and there 
is another road from the turnpike. He requires no money for the 
sight of the curiosities, only every person to pay for what liquor 
they call for, if it be only a gill of wine. Those who don't chnse 
to drink anything may give what they please at the bar. 

This was an opposition well to the Virgin or Dame 
Pugsley's well, the water of which was noted as good 
for the eyes, the latter was at that date in an open field 
on Nugent hill (it is now in the garden of Spring villa). 
It was arched over slightly above the level of the field, 
and was reached by a descent of three steps ; the water 
flowed into two receptacles like basins, hollowed out 
side by side on a large stone. 

Perrott's speculation proved for a while attractive, 
as in subsequent announcements he acknowledges the 
*' great patronage of people of all ranks, contrasts his 
well with the generally muddy, dirty water of the Virgin 
well," and offers gratis to the public all "the water 
they choose to fetch for private use." 

16. New Style was ordered to be used in England 
from this year, and time was thenceforth to be computed 
by the solar year. Up to this date the civic year began 
on the 25th of March, but now it was ordered that 1751 
should end on the 3 1st of December, making that year 
to consist of only 282 days ; further, in order to correct 
the accumulated error in reckoning according to Old 
Style, eleven days were dropped out of the calendar 
for 1752 in September, the 3rd of that month being 
reckoned as the 14th. By the Old Style, or Julian 
calendar, the year was computed to consist of 365 days 
5 hours and 49 minutes, instead of 365 days 6 hours. 
The difference up to 1752 amounted to eleven. days, 
hence that number was dropped; now the calendar 
corresponds as nearly as possible with the solar year. 

In May, 1753, the colliers of Kingswood, Coalpit 
heath and pits adjacent rose and entered the city in a 



A.D. 1755. 



THE COLLIERS' RIOTS. 



191 



body, numbering some hundreds; their grievance was 
the high price of bread, which they conceived to be 
owing to the exportation of com. On reaching the 
Oouncil-house, and presenting a petition praying for 
redress, they were pacified by promises from the mayor 
and magistrates. The more unruly members, however, 
proceeded to the Quay, boarded The Lamb, wheat laden 
for Dublin, and began to abstract the cargo. The con- 
stables, headed by the magistrates with drawn swords, 
cleared the ship and took some prisoners; this news 
being conveyed to the main body of the colliers, they 
retraced their steps and demanded the release of the 
prisoners. The constables, to save themselves being 
overpowered, consented; but bitter blood having been 
aroused, the colliers, who were unarmed, had recourse 
to stones. Several affrays followed ; men were wounded, 
windows smashed, and finally the pitmen retreated, 
leaving their ringleader. Job Phipps, in the hands of 
the authorities, and vowing to return with arms and be 
revenged. Forewarned, the magistrates called out the 
Militia, set a guard at the Ouildhall, and advised the 
citizens to arm. Tuesday and Wednesday passed with- 
out an attack; but on Thursday, on two several occa- 
sions, large numbers came as far as Lawf ord's gate, but 
retired on seeing the Militia. On Friday fifty dragoons 
(Scots Qreys) came from Oloucester; nevertheless, at 
one o'clock, a large mob marched by way of Milk street 
on the Bridewell, seeking to rescue their leader. One 
young man was shot dead whilst climbing the prison 
gates ; the mob raised three cheers over his body, dashed 
in the gates and rescued their man. Ere they cleared 
off a party of gentlemen attacked them in Bridewell 
street, killing some and wounding many. The mayor, 
John dement, marched down by the Pithay to intercept 
them, but they had retreated. Several of the more 
resolute citizens followed the rioters through Lawford's 
gate, but were in their turn assailed, and two of their 
nimiber were captured by the mob and imprisoned for 
the night in a coalpit, but were released next day. The 
rioters numbered about 2,000 ; four were killed, a large 
number wounded, and twenty-nine prisoners were taken. 
These were tried by special commission ; many were let 
off on giving security for good behaviour, and the 
heaviest sentence was two years' imprisonment. An 
address of thanks to the mayor for his care in sup- 
pressing the riot was numerously signed in the city. 

The gentlemen were led by Charles W. Lysaght, who died at 
St. Hellier's, Jersey, on 12th March, 1827, aged ninety-three. At 
the time of the riot he was in Bristol, and he put himself at the 
head of a band of volunteers, doing such good service that he 
received the thanks of the corporation and the freedom of the 
oity. The aathorities also procured for him a commission as 
ensign in the army | he soon rose by pnrohase to be captain of 



the 26th regiment. He commanded the Grenadier company at 
the battle of Minden, 1759, and distingnished himself by his 
bravery.* 

On November 15th the Exchange was re-opened 
after alterations which cost £1,500, and the steps and 
terraces of Beddiff church were re-laid with Purbeck 
stone. 

17. The following curious items of expenditure occur 
in 1753 : — January 29th : Paid for the exhibition of a 
machine for cut heads, 2U. (Some kind of guillotine, 
we presume, is meant ; is it a coincidence merely that 
the entry is on the anniversaiy of the execution of 
Charles I. ?) February 24th, for exhibition of a fire- 
eater, 2U. Mr. William Yick this year, by will, left 
£1,000 for a bridge to be built over the Avon below 
Bownham ferry. 

Parliament was dissolved in 1754, by proclamation, a little 
while before the regular period of seven years ; and Wednesday, 
April 17th, the election of new members began in this ci^. 
The numbers were as follow : — Robert Nugent, 2,592 ; Bichard 
Beckford, 2,246; Sir John Philips, bart, 2,160. Mr. Nugent, 
afterward Lord Clare, was a government man, and was supported 
by the Whigs. It was a strong opposition, and much rancour 
and animosity were shown on all sides. Mr. Beckford (who was 
in the West Indies when elected) died early in 1756, and the elec- 
tion of a new M.P. began on March 2nd. The candidates were 
Jarritt Smyth, esq., attomey-at-law, living in Bristol, afterward 
Sir Jarritt Smyth, bart., and Thomas Spencer, esq. The poll 
dosed on the 17th, when Mr. Smyth was declared duly elected ; 
but a petition was presented against the return. Mr. Smyth was 
considered to be of the high party, but a moderate man.' 

April 16th, 1754, the first stone of St. Giles' bridge 
(Stone bridge) was laid ; the cost of this erection was 
£1,825 14s. 4id. In 1755 a state coach for the mayor 
was provided at a cost of £324. The panels, illustrat- 
ing the four seasons, were painted by Simmons ; the 
hammer-doth was crimson with deep gold fringe ; the 
spokes of the wheels were bright scarlet, the body 
ultramarine. 

This carriage was, some years since, seen going to decay in a 
coach-yard on the spot where the Philosophical Institution was 
afterwards erected in Park street. It was a large and cumbrous 
vehicle, nearly surrounded with glass, similar to that of the 
King's coach, but on a less magnificent scale. Few subjects for 
satire escaped the penetrating glance of Chatterton. In a yet 
unpublished poem, in the possession of Mr. Richard Smith, 
written in 1777, his splenetic muse thus notices this appendage 
to civic dignity : — 

" The cits walked out to Amo's dusky vale, 
To take a smack at politics and ale, 
While rocked in clumsy coach about the town. 
The prudent mayor jogged his dinner down." * 

Open hostilities began, in May, 1755, between the 
fleets of England and France, although war was not 
declared until the May of 1756. King square was laid 
1 B. Smith. • Seyer, II., 590-600. * B. Smith. 



192 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1758. 



out, with the adjacent Btreets, and the buildings oom- 
menced. On November Ut, the day of the great earth- 
quake at lisbon, the water in the Hotwell turned 
red, and that of a well in Clifton, belonging to Mr. 
John Harrison, became black as ink. The Drawbridge 
was re-built on a better plan. In 1756 Ann Yearsley, 
the Bristol milkwoman poetess, was bom. A survey of 
the city gave 13,000 houses and 90,000 inhabitants. 
Hogarth executed three paintings, which are now pre- 
served in the Bristol Fine Arts Academy, the subjects 
being Christ and the Woman of Samaria, the Sealing of 
the Tomb, and the Resurrection ; for these he was paid 
500 guineas. The total cost, including alterations, 
frames, &c., was £761 Os. Id. Hogarth had the 
assistance of Mr. John Simmons, a house and sign 
painter of Bristol, who, when in 1766 the pictures 
were placed in Bedcliff church, executed the four 
niches under them. Simmons was a clever artist who 
derived considerable emolument from painting trades- 
men's signs, at that time universally in vogue. It is 
said that when Hogarth came to Bristol to receive the 
commission for the above-named pictures, on passing 
through Bedcliff street the sign of the '* Angel" inn 
attracted his attention; and on enquiry, finding that 
Simmons was the name of the artist, he said, ''Then 
you need not have sent for me." So fully was Simmons 
employed in this department that when, in 1765, an Act 
of Parliament was passed which enforced the removal 
of all signs that projected over the pavement, he de- 
clared to a friend that he had lost £500 a year in con- 
sequence. He painted the Annunciation, an altar-piece 
for All Saints church, an altar-piece for St. JohnJs 
church, at Devizes, and one for a church in the West 
Indies. His portrait of Ferguson, the astronomer, was 
twice exhibited in London, and procured him an invita- 
tion to the dinner with the Koyal Academicians, who 
strongly advised his removal to the metropolis. He 
preferred, however, to remain in Bristol, where he 
painted, successfully, many portraits of well-known 
characters. He died of paralysis and softening of the 
brain, on January 18th, 1780, aged sixty-five, and was 
buried in Bedcliff churchyard. 

18. On February 17th, 1758, died one of the most 
remarkable inhabitants of Bristol, named John Watkins, 
commonly known as Black John, because, in an age 
when men went dean shaven, he wore a huge beard. 
Descended from a respectable family, and lawful heir 
to a large estate which was unjustly withheld from 
him, he vowed that he would never shave until he en- 
joyed it. He supported himself entirely by begging, 
and although he had lodgings in Temple street, slept 
usually in one of the glass houses. At his death he 



left more than two hundredweight of half -pence and 
silver, besides a considerable quantity of gold, which 
he had acquired by mendicancy. His portrait was 
painted by Simmons in his daily appearance : — "a 
round slouched hat, a haulier's frock, a long beard, 
and a square stick. When he came to sit, Simmons 
told him to go downstairs and wash his face ; this he 
did, without cleaning his hands, which induced the 
painter to give them in the picture their usual ap- 
pearance." Simmons also painted another remarkable 
Bristol mendicant, Tom Bennett. 

In the month of November, 1758, the BeUiqueux, a French 
ship of 64 guns and 417 men, by mistake entered the Bristol 
channel in a fog, and cast anchor not knowing where she was. 
News was soon brongbt to Kingroad, where lay the AfUdope, of 
50 guns ; and an officer was dispatched to Captain Sanmarez, who 
happened to be at a ball at the Hotwells. A waiter mounted on 
the table and demanded alond, "Is Captain Saamares in the 
room?" "Here!" was the answer from among the crowd; and 
a few hours brought him in sight of the enemy. The commander 
of the BelUqueux at first was inclined to fight, but afterward 
struck his fiag to a vessel inferior to his own in men and guns, 
and was brought a prize into Kingroad. ^ 

Mary Eobinson (Perdita), the future poetess, but 
better known as a mistress of George, Prince Begent, 
was born in the Minster-house of the Cathedral. 

The great inconvenience of the narrow roadway 
over the river Avon was felt by all who had occasion 
to cross by the old and only bridge; accidents were 
of daily occurrence, and public opinion pressed for a 
new and more commodious structure. In 1 760 an Act 
of Parliament was obtained to value the houses that 
covered the ancient bridge and to build a new one. 
Carriages and horses laden with coal, or with grains 
as back carriage, were to be exempt from toll. When 
the purposes of the Act were accomplished the tolls 
were to cease, and the surplus moneys to be applied 
to the repairs and lighting of the bridge on the same 
site, and another, if necessary, at Temple backs, '' and 
opening avenues leading thereto. The increase of com- 
merce, and consequently of inhabitants, the number of 
carriages of all kinds, drays and horses constantly pass- 
ing over the bridge, and of boats, lighters, &c.y under 
it, in such a trading city rendered a freer and less inter- 
rupted passage here absolutely necessary, and a better 
communication between the two parts of the city now 
became indispensably requisite, accidents daily happen- 
ing there for want of it, besides the delays occasioned 
by carriages meeting and obstructing it. So various 
were the opinions of the commissioners appointed by 
the Act for re-building the bridge that a whole year 
passed after obtaining the Act in disputes whether it 
should be a one-arched bridge or a three-arched one, on 

» Seyer, II., 600. 



r 



A.i>. 1760. 



BRISTOL BRIDGE RE-BUILT. 



193 



new or on the old foundations. Arcliiteotfl were con- 
suited and builders of all kinds ; warm contests arose, 
and parties were formed on this occasion not without 
weekly publications in the public prints and in pamphlets 
in defence of their notions, by which the necessary work 
was greatly protracted, as procuring the Act had been 
before through disagreement in the methods proposed 
for raising the money to defray the expence, which 
was fixed at last by a toll taken at the bridge itself, 
a tax on the houses of the city of sixpence in the 
pound, half paid by the landlord and half by the 
occupier, and by a small tonnage on the shipping and 
vessels. A temporary bridge by the side of the old one 
above it was at length agreed on, and in the beginning 
of July, 1761, they first began taking down the houses 
and old buildings on the bridge, being first sold with 
all their materials to the best bidder. The temporary 
bridge was now in great forwardness, and was opened 
for the passing of foot people by the end of September, 
for horses and carriages January 1st, 1762, paying cer- 
tain tolls. . . . The first design of constructing a three- 
arched bridge on the old foundations was carried by a 
majority, forty-five being for the old foundation, eighteen 
for the new ; which, though the most obvious and best 
scheme for the span of the river and for every other 
advantage to be expected in the building was frequently 
changed, and violently censured in comparison of a one- 
arch, yet at last happily preferred and adopted, the 
masonry of the old piers being found on boring to be 
very firm and good, and adjudged by the examining 
masons not to be constructed of a casing only of masonry 
with rubble in 'the centre, but, contrary to the notions 
of some of the architects, to be throughout firm and fit 
for the great incumbent weight of the intended super- 
structure." ^ 

The stone used in construction was brought from 
Courtfield, in Wales, with the exception of the balus- 
trade, which was of Portland stone. The centre arch 
is an ellipse ; the two side arches are semi-cirdes. It 
was finished in 1768, being opened for foot-passengers 
in September and for vehicles in November of that year. 
Mr. George Oatcott, the city librarian, who was a man 
emulous of fame, sought it in divers ways; he patro- 
nised Ohatterton, descended into Penpark hole, climbed 
to the top of the new steeple of St. Nicholas to engrave 
his name, and now paid his guinea to the workpeople to 
be allowed to cross the bridge on horseback before any- 
one else. 

We in this day find it difficult to realise the vast 
benefit to the city which was conferred by the building 
of this structure. Not only was the river thrown open 

1 Barrett, d5-6. 
(Vou nL] 



to view from it, but the whole neighbourhood under- 
went a thorough renovation. Where Bridge street now 
stands, and between its site and the river, were the 
ruinous old shambles of the butchers. High street 
dipped down into a hollow way spanned by Nicholas 
gate, from which was a steep ascent to the bridge. 
Tucker street, a narrow and crooked thoroughfare, 
led from Temple street, so that on both sides of the 
Avon a large number of houses had to be purchased in 
order to make sufficient approach to the bridge. The 
commissioners took up about £49,000, so that ''not* 
withstanding the immense sum expended on the bridge 
and avenues to it, and the toll still continuing to the 
great injury and unequal burden of those on the Somer- 
setshire side, and the other duties so long paid, which 
were much complained of ; yet, in 1 787, application was 
again made to Parliament to raise more money to pur- 
chase the houses on the right side of Tucker street and 
in Temple street, to open a new road or street to be 
called Bath street, which, though greatly opposed by 
many, was yet carried through the House, and an Act 
granted for purchasing the houses in Tucker street and 
St. Thomas street for that purpose." ^ 

Another new bridge was also constructed this year 
over the Frome, opening a way into Lewin's mead ; it 
crossed the river on the east of Frome bridge from 
Christmas street, and was named St. John's bridge. 
Stoke-house, Stapleton, was built this year by Lord 
Bottetourt ; and in July the freedom of the city was 
presented, in two gold boxes, to the Eight Hon. William 
Pitt and the Duke of Newcastle. 

19. The increasing commerce of the city was rapidly 
absorbing the dwelling-houses and converting them into 
shops and warehouses, so that wealthy men began to 
build residences without the ancient walls. Bullock's 
park, Amery's dose, the Orange and Tapley's garden 
were green fields and gardens that stretched away from 
College green up the sloping hollow between Brandon 
and St. Michael's hiUs. A considerable portion of this 
land had been leased from December 21st, 1696, for a 
thousand years at one penny per annum, with £45 to 
the representatives of Nathaniel Day and 5«. per annum 
to the king; it was now held by three families — the 
Daubeny's, DevereUs, and Woodward, bishop of doyne. 
There were also two pieces of freehold land at the foot 
of the present Park street, abutting on Frog lane, which 
had been bought of — Worth and — Hart on October 
1st, 1661, for a term of one thousand years. In 1759, 
on September 29th, another small piece adjoining, being 
freehold and a part of the '< Boar's " inn yard, was pur- 
chased of Arthur Hart, executor of W. Harfc, for the 

» Barrett, 97# 



194 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 17G0. 




THX UASUBIS OF THB BOADS. 



M. 
1 

2 
1 



2 

1 



c. 



10 

1 



From CoUedge Green up mile Hill to the Down 

From do. to do. by Clifton 

From do. to do. the New Road 

The Hill in Frog Lane and Trencher Lane, Ten ChainB. 

The Altitnde 40 ffoot or 4 ffoot to a chain. 

The Binng of Mile Hill, 40 chaina. 

The Altitude, 240 ffoot npon an averidge, 6 ffoot to an 

chain. 
The rising of the Hill tow^ Clifton about the same. 

THl HSASUBl OF THl LAVDS TAKEN FOR THB 

VEW ROAD. 

A. R. P. 

1. From Baptist Garden 32 

2. Outer puckingrove belong to Mr. Sanders of | q ^ ^ 

Keynsham i 

3. Inner puckingrove to Mr. Joness of Bristol ... 1 31 

4. Smoak Acre, 2 Grounds, one to Mr. Fisher,^ 

Lessee under Society of Merch^ the other V 1 38 

to Coheirs of Mr. ffireeman, deed i 

5. Mr. Fishers und' Soci3^ of Merch 16 

6. Mr. Brothertons 18 

7. Next to Brothertons 18 

8. The Farther pond 19 






2 3 35 



Three last belong to ye Coheirs of late Mr. Freeman, 
deed. 



BoadM laodiny to Clifton and BoSUind in 1769, from MS. plan ^f fhait date, including New Rood, now Whiteladiet. 



remainder of the term of one thousand years. The 
aboye land was in that year laid out for building, and 
Park street, Qreat Oeorge street and Charlotte street 
were planned and the work oommenced. From Evans' 
remarks, whence we take the above, we gather that the 
original speculators were not fortunate, and he names 
the chief sufferer, Mr. Francis Ward. 

On February 15th, 1760, eight large trees in Queen 
square blown down, the lead on Merchants' hall rolled 
up like a scroll, part of the battlements of St. Mary 
Beddiff blown down, the lamps blown out of their 
rings, the JSagle sunk in Kingroad, and much other 
damage done by a storm. March 16th, at three a.m. 
on Sunday morning, Thomas Jones, a schoolmaster, and 
Martha, his wife, were burnt to death in their house in 
Charles street. Complaints were made of the High 
Cross in College green being out of repair. Eight new 
bells were put up in St. Stephen's tower. April 10th, 
Mr. Henry Bengough married Miss Cadell, of Wine 
street. Mr. Bengough and Mr. Cadell purchased the 
copyright of JBlachtane^s Commentaries. A wooden bridge 
from the Bope-walk to Ellbroad street was erected ; in 
1824 it was succeeded by one of stone. Seyer ends his 
Ststorieal Memoin of JBrtsiol this year. 



Gborge 11. died suddenly at Kensington, October 
25th, 1760, aged seventy-seven, and was succeeded by 
his grandson as Oeorge III. 

Wreford, in his Cunosittei of JBrktol, gives the 
following statistics, which, it will be seen, differ 
considerably from those of Evans, who stated the 
city at this time contained 13,000 houses and 90,000 
persons. Unfortunately Wreford gives us no authority ; 
probably he took only those within the municipal 
boundary. 

In 1735 the number of hoosee in thia city was 6,701 ; in 1788 
they had increased to 8,701. The population was at the latter 
date between 70,000 and 80,000. In 1745 the receipt for one year 
of wharfage, a local toll on foreign imports and exports, was 
;£918; in 1775 it was £2,000. From the year 1750 to 1757 the 
average net receipts of the Customs at Bristol was £155,189 ; at 
Liverpool, £51,136. The net receipt at Bristol in 1764 was 
£195,000 ; the number of vessels reported inwards, 2,353. After 
this date the trade began to decline (in comparison with liver- 
pool). We find that in 1784 the customs of this city yielded 
£334,909 ; those of Liverpool, £648,684. The reason of this was 
owing partly to the local taxation of Bristol and partly to the 
springing up of the great many factories at Manchester, Bolton, 
and other towns of the north, nearly all of their goods being sent 
through Liverpool. ^ 

^ Curiosities of Bristol, Prefatory Number, 1. 



CHAPTER XVII. 



^ TP pi^OVE^I^I] Ep.— SEO^GE HI. •<• 



I. Accession of George III, His character. Local incidents. 2. Visit of the Duke of York. 
Sundry Bristol authors. Blatze Castle built. Reminiscences of Bristol and Clifton. 3. Civic items. 
Suggested plans for a Floating Dock. 4. City Improvements. The Theatre at Jacob's Well; its successor 
in King Street. 5. Chattertonia. 6. Alteration of St. Paul's Fair. Bishop's Park laid out. The Bristol 
Education Society. New Coaches to London, etc, 7. Britain, the forger, hanged. Wine Street Pump, 
Election of Edmund Burke, 8. Fatal Accidents at New Passage Ferry. Dean Tucker and Edtrmnd Burke. 
g. Local Act of Parliament. Jack the Painter fires the city. 10. List of Masters and Wardens of the 
Merchant Venturers' Society. 11. Local items. 12. Burke's speech on declining the contest in 1780. 
13. Incidents of the period. Exchange of sites by the Grammar School and Queen Elizabeth's Hospital, 
Mansion-house finished. Street alterations, etc. 14. Mayor's dues. Alteration of parishes. Valuation for 
Poor rates. 15. Howard's visit. State of Newgate Prison and the Bridewell. 16. Tontines, Drawbridge 
rules. Schemes for a Floating Harbour, etc. 17. Exorcism in Temple Church. Banking Companies. 
18. Local incidents. Hotwell Spring. Charitable Methodist Institution and Magdalen Hospital founded, 
ig. Loyal resolutions. Duel. Cruger leaves for America, zo. Bristol Bridge Riots of lyg^. 21. Refusals 
to serve as Mayor. Local items. Z2, Trial of Perry for abduction. The "Mock Volunteers." 23. Suspen- 
sion of cash payments. Local incidents, 24. Yeomanry and Volunteer Forces raised in Bristol. Interesting 
civic matters. 25. Wet Harvest. Dear Bread. State of the French Prison at Stapleton. Pestilence. Local 
incidents. z6. Press Gangs at work. Items. 27. Bristol Dock Company incorporated by Act of Parliament. 
28. Local incidents. Act for Paving and Lighting. 29. Opening of the New Cut, etc. 30. Narrow escape 
of Aeronauts. Opening of the Commercial Rooms. 31. Bristol Silver and Copper Tokens. 32. Henry 
Hunt in Bristol — his candidature, petition, etc. 33. Historical events. Small Debts Recovery Act. Bristol 
Coal Gas Company commence building. 34. Accusation of Perversion to Popery of Boys educated at 
Colston's School. 35. Mary Willcocks, alias "Caraboo, Princess of Javasu." 36. Local items. Death of 
George III. 37. Parliamentary Elections from 1734 to present date. 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



j«K^^^ EOEOE in. ascended the throne Octobei 
fl^HBHjE^^ 25th, 1760, at the age of twenty-three 
EdffiilEl^w J ^^ ^^ ^^^^ been the miBfortime, with bui 
^m^^^BjSi f6w exceptions, of those bom to govem 
I^'STO^WtJf to have been surrounded by flatterers, 01 
iw31ubi#^I ^'^^ incapable of giving wise and judl- 
I ^ng^^n I cious counBels to them during their youth, 
^^S^ which should fit them to become states- 
men as well as monarclui. "George be 
fcing ! ' ' was the dogma the mother of the young prince 
had habitually taught him, a maxim he held thioughonl 
his life whilst he had command of his reason. Ooyeni 
he would ; the result was that in ten years he reduced 
goTemment to a shadow and turned the loyally of Me 
subjects into disaffection ; in twen^ he had forced th« 
colonies of America into revolt and independence, and 
brought Ellwand to the brink of ruin. He was wretch- 
edly educated, nor had he the capacity for using greatei 
minds than hia own. But dull and petty as his tempei 
was, he was clear as to his purpose and obstinato in the 
pursuit of it. His reign, which began with a peean oJ 
triumphs for Minden, Lagos, Quebec and Quiberon, 
victories won in the last year of the reign of his prede- 
cessor, was carried on in an almost continual state ol 
war, in which Great Britain lost, from 1793 to 1815, 
not fewer than 96,363 killed and wounded, and at a 
monetary cost for fourteen years (from 1801 to 1814] 
of £630,000,000. The national debt was increased 
during his reign £571,074,235.1 

The appliances for extinguishing fires at this dat« 
were not of the highest order, if the representation 
given on a policy of the Bristol Grown Fire office, 
numbered 8,657, is to be taken as an indication of the 
"engine" employed: the policy is for £1,200, and ie 
signed by W. Brickdale as chairman. 

Small street was widened in 1760 by taking down 
the east end of the church of St. Werburgh, which wac 
much decayed ; the church was re-opened in 1761. The 
Harch and September fairs were fixed by Act of Par- 
liament. Bishop Newton was appointed to the see ol 
Bristol by the king, who exercised his prerogative with- 
out the intervention of his ministers. 

There was great excitement in Bristol this year, 
caused by the supposed bewitchment of the children 
and horses of a man named Giles, who lived at tiie 
" Lamb " inn, in West street, and was a common carriei 
between Bristol and Bath. 

The fint week that Gilei wt up in oppoiition flying wagoi 
to London, to do the diatuice in three dtya, two o( hia eigbl 
1 Cnaaj't Oreat Eventa. 



A.D. 1702. 



VISIT OF THE DUKE OF YORK. 



197 



Mesars. Newcomb and Dolman on lease at £24 per 
annum, eleven years unexpired, was offered for sale. 
" May 9th died Mr. Wall, who for fifty years had kept 
the bookseller's shop next the Council-house, and for 
many years before the great Bank in Broad street was 
opened had followed the business of a private banker 
with great reputation." ^ On May 26th, 1761, the sale 
of the houses on Bristol bridge was advertised, and on 
January 21st, 1762, the temporary bridge was opened 
to the public. 

2. The Duke of York visited Bristol on December 
27th. He was received by the corporation at Temple 
gate, where the freedom of the city was presented to 
him in a gold Ibox; he crossed the river on the tem- 
porary bridge, received addresses from the clergy and 
the merchants at the house of Mr. Combe, in Queen 
square, dined at the Merchants' hall, supped with the 
mayor (Isaac Elton), breakfasted at the Boyal fort with 
Mr. Tyndall, visited the glass houses (there were at this 
time fifteen large manufactories for botties, flint and 
plate-glass in Bristol), after which he returned to Bath. 

In the year 1762 John Noble was mayor. He 
asserted the right of the mayor of Bristol, as a judge 
of the Court of Admiralty, to take his seat on the 
bench of any one of the common law courts. Being in 
London, he proceeded to Westminster and claimed the 
right, to the surprise of the judge then sitting, who was 
about to t&ke harsh measures until he was informed by 
one of the counsel that the mayor of Bristol was by 
charter thus privileged. The mayor, having been accom- 
modated with a seat by the side of his lordship, rose, 
bowed, and said that, having asserted the daims of his 
city, he would at once withdraw. Piyce says that 
Noble, who was sheriff in 1759, was the first merchant 
in Bristol who imported the produce of Turkey direct 
to Bristol, but we have seen that our merchants, 
Sturmey, Strange and others, did a large trade-in the 
Levant in and before the 15th century. Noble died 
March 11th, 1768, aged fifty-eight years, and was 
buried in St. James' church. There was in October a 
great flood, so that the low lands Were seven feet under 
water. 

Emanuel Collins, A.M., was vicar of Bedminster ; he 
was a low, obscene writer, a disgrace to his doth; he 
kept a public-house wherein he would marry people for 
a crown, which is said to have been a principal cause of 
the Marriage Act of 1752. He was also master of a 
school for boys in Shannon court. In 1762 he published 
** MiseeUanies in Frose and Verse, Sfc, 153 pp., small 4to, 
printed by E. Farley, in Small street." 

There is a small 12mo. volume of Miscellanies which 

1 R. Smith. 



was published in 1790, by John Jones, which is of such 
a character that it is hard to say whether he or Collins 
would bear off the palm for scurrility and obscenity. 

One of the most picturesque bits of scenery in the 
West of England is the ravine known as Combe dingle, 
which is dominated by Blaize castie. 

Abont the year 1762, Thomas Fair, esq., a merchant, of 
Bristol, purchased from Sir Jarrett Smith, hart., aa estate at 
Henbnry, including Blaize wood, so called from the existence 
anciently, within its precincts, of a chapel dedicated to St. Blaise, 
Bishop of Sebastia, in America, who is said to have discovered the 
art of combing wool. The estate comprises a richly- wooded valley 
interspersed with bold rocks, and commands ddicions views of 
the river Severn, the Welsh hills and neighbouring country. . • • 
Mr. Farr commenced his operations by laying out a walk around 
the wood and opening the foliage at places of easy access for the 
most striking points of view. In 1766, at an expense of about 
three thousand pounds, he erected on the highest acclivity a 
castellated building, consisting of a very large circular room and 
a few small rooms which he named Blaize castle. The structure 
IB elegant; and from its apartments, but especially from the 
summit of its tower, the eye ranges over an extended prospect, in 
every direction, rarely equalled for the richness and variety of its 

features At the entrance of the wood was a neat rustic 

building, formed of roots and branches of trees. A gentleman, 
who was a stranger, having visited the wood, on his return left 
the following lines upon the table of the root-house, written with 
a pencil : — 

** Far I have roam'd, o'er many a foreign soil. 
And viewed the different beauties of this isle : 
They far excel what many pleasing call ; 
But thy improvements, Farr, excel them all.'' 
♦ ♦ » • 

The approach to the house is through a gothic lodge on the 
top of Henbury hill. After passing through a wood the road 
arrives at the side of a hill, whence the house appears across a 
deep woody glen which was formerly deemed impassable. How- 
ever, by cutting away the face of the rock in some places and 
building lofty waUs in others to sustain the road, and by taking 
advantage of the natural projections and recesses to make the 
necessary curvatures, carriages now pass this tremendous chasm 
with perfect ease and safety. This masterly improvement was 
projected by the late Humphry Repton, esq., and executed under 
his superintendence.^ 

Henry Jones flourished also at this time. In 1761 

he published his tragedy The Sari of £ssex: in 1767, 

Cltfton : a poem in (wo Cantos. These two poems display 

considerable ability, and Farr is referred to in the one 

on Clifton : — 

« The Farr, with willing heart can frequent blend 
The connoisseur, the merchant and the friend : 
At the rich genial board on each can shine 
And make his converse lively as his wine, 
His three years* toil with happy eye may view 
And joyful guess what three years more may do." 

Bristol is thus referred to in J[ Tour through the 

Island of Great Britain, Sfc, published in 1761 : — 

The merchants of this city have not only the greatest trade, 
but they trade with a more intire independency upon London 

^ Evans, xxix. 



198 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1761. 



than any other town in Britain. And 'tis evident in this par- 
ticular, viz. : — That whatsoever exportations they make to any 
part of the world, they are able to bring the full returns back to 
their own port, and can dispose of them there ; which is not the 
case of any other port in England, where they are often obliged 
either to ship part of the effects in the ports abroad, on the ships 
bound to London, or to consign their own vessels to London, in 
order both to get freight and dispose of their cargoes. 

But the Bristol merchants, as they have a very great trade 
abroad, so they have always buyers at home for their returns, and 
such buyers that no cargo is too big for them. To this purpose 
the shopkeepers in Bristol, who in general are wholesale -men, 
have so great an inland trade among all the western counties that 
they maintiain carriers, just as the London tradesmen do, to all 
the principal counties and towns, from Southampton in the south, 
even to the banks of the Trent, north, altho' they have no navi- 
gable river that way. 

Add to this, that, as well by sea as by the navigation of two 
great rivers, the Wye and the Severn, they have the whole trade 
of South Wales, as it were, to themselves, and the greatest part 
of that of Korth Wales ; and as to their trade to Ireland, it is 
prodigiously increased since the Revolution, notwithstanding the 
great trade which of late the merchants of Liverpool also drive 
with that kingdom. 

The greatest inconveniences of Bristol are its situation, its 
narrow streets, and the narrowness of its river ; and we might 
also mention another narrow, that is, the minds of the generality 
of its people ; for the merchants of Bristol, tho' very rich, are not 
like the merchants of London ; the latter may be said (as of old 
of the merchants of Tyre) to vie with the princes of the earth ; 
whereas the former, being raised by good fortune, and prizes 
taken in the wars from masters of ships and blunt tars, have 
imbibed the manners of these rough gentlemen so strongly that 
they transmit it to their descendants, only with a littie more of 
the sordid than is generally to be found among the British 
sailors 

The corporation being very reserved in admitting persons to 
trade in their liberty who are not freemen, there are not so many 
new buildings and improvements of streets, ftc., at Bristol, as 
would otherwise be. As for the city itself, there is hardly room 
to set another house in it 

The quay along the river Frome is very noble, and well filled 
with all sorts of merchandise ; and an handsome row of houses 
fronts it. The whole quay is reckoned the longest in England. 

College green is deemed the healthiest situation in the city. 
An Assembly room is erected for entertainment and amusement 
of the gay, as at other considerable places, for luxury must 
always follow riches. It is an handsome building, and stands in 
the way from the city to the Hot-well. 

The old theatre at Stokes croft is also altered into a com- 
modious room for an assembly, which is held every Tuesday 
during the winter. 

There were, when I was at Bristol, no less than fifteen glass 
houses in it, which is more than are in the city of London ; they 
use, indeed, themselves, a very great number of glass botties, 
which they send, filled with beer, cider, and wine, to the West 
Indies, much more than goes from London ; also vast numbers of 
botties are now used for sending the waters of St. Vincent's rock, 
not only all over England, but, we may say, all over the world. 

The Hotwell water-spring rises perpendicularly out of the 
rock in the sloping muddy bank of the river Avon, about a mile 
below the city of Bristol, between high and low water mark, 
where the river makes its entrance between those stupendous 
clifib of rocks, which seem to have been torn asunder by the 
violence of an earthquake, or the general Deluge, at the foot of a 



cliff where once stood a chapel dedicated to St. Vincent, from 
which the rock and well take their name. 

The water was originally inclosed in a brick cistern ; out of 
this cistern came a wooden pipe which emptied itself into a little 
pond beneath. In this pond peoi^e washed their sores. It has 
been computed to discharge about forty gallons in a minute. 

The city of Bristol in 1692 nused a wall of stone round the 
well, higher than the tide ever rose, but the weight of such a 
column of ^vater had well nigh altered the course of the spring. 
In 1695 the Merchants' Company granted a building lease to 
certain proprietors, who recovered the spring, and made a foun- 
dation for pumps, which now raise the water up thirty feet high 
in the centre of a house called the pump room, whose thick wall 
keeps off the tide from the spring 

The soil near the well is, for the most part, fruitful, with a 
constant verdure all the year. The tops of the hills, called downs, 
are flat, and covered with a thin dry turf upon lime stone, pro- 
ducing great variety of plants, such as heath, eyebright, wild 
thyme, marjoram, maiden-hair, wild sage, geraniums, &a, which 
breathe forth a pleasant odour, and affords pasture for oows, 
horses, sheep, and asses. On these downs the company exerdse 
themselves daily in riding, from whence they conmiand the 
beautiful prospect of the ships lying at anchor in Kingroad, of 
the Bristol Channel, and South Wales, enjoying at the same 
time the benefit of the sea air, which affords a constant breeze, 
even in the hottest weather, and strengthens and refreshes the 
lungs. 

Provisions of all sorts are to be had in plenty during the 
summer, which is the season allotted by custom for driving 
these waters. Garden stuff is early and excellent. There are 
lodgings near the wells, convenient enough for such as are real 
invalids ; there are magnificent lodgings in the beautiful village 
of Clifton, on the top of the hill, for such as have carnages, and, 
whose lungs can bear a keener air. There are balls twice a week, 
and card-playing every night. 

The river is (it is true) muddy, and unseemly at low water ; . 
nor do fishes of any value care to inhabit so filthy a stream. But 
this is amply made up by the constant vicissitudes of the tides, 
which purify the air. When the river is quite full, the tide is 
supposed to rise near forty feet, the common tides, thirty ; and 
when the ships are carried up and down by the tide, panning and 
repassing through the meadows and trees, the prospect is indeed 
enchanting, especially when the beholder is so situated as to see 
the rigging of the ships, and not the water. 

There are turnpike roads all around, and variety of agr eea ble 
rides and fine prospects. Some conveniences are still wanting; 
the road down to the Fountain of Health is far from being com- 
modious. There is a shaded parade or walk at the weUs for the 
company, though not large enough. The common road is either 
very dirty or very dusty. .... 

A littie fartiier thai^ the wells are a fine dock [Sea Mills], 
capable of containing 150 ships, and a basin, but the largest ships 
lie mostiy at Hung-road, four miles below the city 

The government of Bristol is administered by a mayor and 
twelve aldermen, of whom the recorder is always one, two sheriffs 
and twenty-eight common-councilmen. A great face of serious- 
ness and religion appears at Bristol; and the magistrates are 
laudably strict in exacting the observation of the Sabbath, con- 
sidering the general dissoluteness that has broken in almost 
everywhere else. For one thing they deserve great commenda- 
tion, and that is, for the neatness observed in keeping their 
churches, and the care they take in preserving the monuments 
and inscriptions of those buried in them 

It is very remarkable that this city is so well supplied with 
coals, that though they are all brought by land-carriage^ yet they 



REMINISCENCES OF BRISTOL AND CLIFTON. 



are generally laid down at the doon of the inbabftanti at J*., Si., 
or 9i. par ohaldmu. .... They draw all their heavy goods here 
«n aledi, or aledgaa, -whieh they call gee-hoes, without wheela, 
Thia killi a moltitnde of honei, and the pavement ia worn so 
■mooth by them, that ia wet weather the straeta are alippery, lo 
that in froaty weather it ia dangerooa walking 

The original author waa Daniel Defoe; this was a 
sixth edition, published twenty -fonr years after his 
death, with additions by another editor. 

On a beaatiful site on Clifton hill, which orerlooka 
the Talley of the Avon and commands a fine view of 
Dundiy, with its pin- 
nacled tower and the 
distant Uendipe, 
stood Clifton parish 
church, on the site of 
the present atructure ; 
it had a rustic ap- 
proach between two 
humble cottages, 
which led into the 
churchyard ; in one 
of these an old shoe- 
maker, Jacob Hale, 
assistant oyerseer, 
might be seen cob- 
bling shoes in his 
litUe bulk ; the Ob- 
servatory on Clifton 
downs waa a wind- 
mill, the Kojral York 
crescent an unfur- 
nished barracks, il- 
lustrating the text, 
"this man began to 
build and was not 
able to finish"; the 
Uall and Caledonia 
place were green 
fields, traversed by 
paths dear to lovers, 
and the ugly white- 
washed toll-house with its turnpike barred the way; 
to cross the downs after nightfall was a deed of daring 
that few ventured upon, and none without dread of 
an encounter with highwaymen as they looked back 
upon the last light which glimmered from the window 
of the toll-house; children spent their half -pennies on 
cakes and sweeties at Mrs. Uiller's shop at the comer 
of Oranby hill, celebrated in Miss Edgeworth's novel, 
Waste net, viant not ! Dandies promenaded the Hot- 
wells after drinking the waters at the pnmp room; in 
summer time men tossed the sweet-scented hay on the 



TawtT of l>M,ndry C^urrX. 



site of Zion row, or sheltered from a summer thnoder- 
stonn in an old cowshed; Victoria square was a pad- 
dock to the adjoining brewery, Buckingham place and 
Bichmoud park were a nursery, cattle grazed on the 
steep slope of Clifton wood, and farmer Elliot chased the 
boys, whip in hand, for climbing over and breaking his 
hedges in their search after blackberries or birds' nests, 
or threatened the law's vengeance on the fair maidens 
who gathered sweet cowslips and primroses in what are 
now the most fashionable sites of beautiful Clifton. 

3. The High 
Cross which had been 
re-ereoted in College 
green was removed in 
1768. 

1763. Daring the 
war now concluded there 
waa a depAt for fVench 
priioneri at Enowle, 
juita Tottentown and 
Pile hill. A short time 
previous to the peace one 
of the soldien, on hie 
return from guard, for a 
wager, with a single ball 
etmck the weathercock 
of St. Mary Redcliff 
towBT. Abont nine yean 
afterward the cock ceased 
to traverse, and on ex- 
amination it proved that 
the gnnahot wound had 
opened a passage for the 
raiD, which corroded the 

The lYenoh prison 
waa on the right hand 
aide of the road. In 
1S26 the foundations of 
the walls conld he traced 
on the aoath aide of Fir- 
field bouae. * 

In 1 764 the 
Pithay gate was de- 
molished, and on 
November 3(Hh the 
foundation of the Theatre in King street was laid. The 
corporation paid the vestry of St. Nicholas £216 in con- 
sideration of their opening a new way under the tower 
to the Back. 

The Hon. Daines Barrington, who succeeded Sir 
Hidiael Foster this year as recorder of the ciiy, was the 
fourth son of the first Viscount Barrington. He became 
one of the Welsh judges and was a profound antiquary. 
Possessed of ample means he retired from the bench 
and devoted himself to the purpose of investigating 
> Evans, 282. ■ B. Smith. 



200 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1764. 



onriouB questions of legal antiquity. He was an F.B.S. 
and F.8.A. and a somewhat yoluminous author. 

The net remittance of Customs' duties this year was 
£195,000 from Bristol and £70,000 from Liverpool; the 
number of vessels entered inwards at Bristol was 2,353. 
The free quays of Bristol were 4,600 feet, those of 
Liverpool 3,000, of London 1,500. In consequence of 
the demands of the shipping interest strenuous efforts 
were now made to induce the authorities to give more 
and better accommodation for ships, which would enable 
merchants to be independent of the tides in the river ; 
but although a plan was broached in 1765, and several 
others were suggested at intervals, it was nearly forty 
years ere the idea was carried into effect. The fol- 
lowing appears to have been the first practicable plan 
for making a floating dock, it was by Smeaton, the 
eminent engineer, builder of the Eddystone lighthouse ; 
he, in 1765, proposed to wall or bank up the end of 
the Frome, dig a new canal 100 feet wide and drop the 
tail of it into the Avon, at the bottom of Canons' marsh, 
just above the glass-house, through a chamber capable 
of holding eight ships, with sea and land gates; this 
canal to berth twenty-four ships and to be widened if 
more berths were thought necessary* His estimate was 
£25,000, exclusive of purchase of lands, and damages 
to Bridewell mill and Tombs's dock. 

4. William Champion, in 1767, propounded a plan 
for damming the river at Eedcliff at a cost he thought of 
£37,000, but Mylne's estimate for the work was £65,000. 
Jessop and White also proposed a similar plan, but their 
canal lay further away from the river. 

In this the king's 6th year was passed an Act of Parliament 
for widening the streets, hmes, passages and places, and taking 
down buildings on the banks of the Froom — to remove sheds, 
houses, &o., standing on the Butts, from Denmark street to 
Tombe*8 dock— take down Stb Leonard's church and the vicarage 
house, and unite the parish with St. Nicholas — for enlarging the 
Shambles, Bull lane, and Dolphin street, extending from High 
street to Narrow Wine street — for removing St. Peter's Cross and 
Pump, standing in the way through St. Peter's street into Dolphin 
lane, and selling the cross and pump, and erecting another pump 
elsewhere— ^f or regulating projecting signs and sheds, and altering 
water-spouts — to open the way through Lawford's gate, by re- 
moving seven houses on the south side and three on the north 
side — to remove two houses at the comer of Quay lane and Christ- 
mas street, a house in Castle street, eleven old houses and a 
brew-house on the south side of Baldwin street, and a tenement 
on the south side of Back street — two houses in Silver street, next 
to Lewin's mead—a house on the west side and a flight of steps 
on the east side of Small street gate— premises on both sides of 
Narrow Wine street, from Newgate to Chequer lane, and three 
houses next to Dolphin lane— three houses in Temple street next 
to, and three houses in Tucker street — part of gardens extending 
from College green to Limekiln lane or Cow lane, to increase the 
way twenty feet more in one place and thirty feet in another — 
to open and lay out a new street [Union street] by taking down 
three houses in Wine street, nine old tenements behind them in a 



plaoe called the New bnildingB, a yard and a court of three 
tenements behind St. James's back, and five ruinous honaea in 
Broadmead, opposite the Lamb inn — ^to lay open and make a new 
street from the lower end of Com street through part of Marsh 
street to the Quay, nearly opposite the Drawbridge, including 
fifty-four houses or tenements and oellars — ^to widen Hallier'a 
[Haulier's] lane, and make a new street [Nelson street] extending 
thence to Broadmead, at least thirty feet wide, including two 
houses in Christmas street and other premises, with part of the 
old Bowling green, thence to four old houses on St James's back 
fronting Broadmead— also to open a way to an intended new 
square in St. James's, by taking down a house in Stoke's croft 
[that part of it now called North street] and a house in Milk 
street.^ 

In the petition for the Act the church of St. Leonard 
was styled a nuisance, greatly to the amusement of the 
House of Commons. '* The new square was that known 
as Brunswick, and the new streets were afterwards 
named York and Cumberland.''^ One of the objects of 
the above Act was to compel the removal of overhanging 
signs, and to force people to convey the water from the 
roofs of their houses by snow boxes and pipes, so as to 
avoid the cataracts that fell in rainy weather on pedes- 
trians. There was considerable rioting this year owing 
to the scarcity of com, which occasioned an order in 
council to stop all outward bound ships corn-laden untiL 
the Parliament met. Bridewell bridge (for illustration 
of which see I., 64) was this year replaced by one of 
stone, the wood being much decayed. 

John Dunning, afterwards Baron Ashburton, became 
recorder in 1766. He was bom at Ashburton in 1731 ^ 
was called to the bar in 1756, rose into repute by his 
management of an action in which the East India Com* 
pany was concerned, and did much to secure the 
personal liberty of the subject by his great speech, 
when defending John Wilkes, against the validity of 
general warrants. He was chancellor of the Duchy of 
Lancaster in the Bockingham administration. His 
portrait in the council chamber is by Sir Joshua Bey- 
nolds, for which the common council paid £105 on 
December 11th, 1782. 

The theatre, driven by the by-laws from Tucker 
street, Stokes croft (opposite the site of the Baptist 
college) and St. Augustine's place— 

" Pleasure had a hat at Jacob's well." 

The following is a copy of one of the earliest play- 
bills:— 

By a Company of Comedians from the Theatres-Royal in London, 

At the Theatre at Jacob's Well, 
On Wednesday next, the 15th June, 1743, 

Will be performed a Comedy called 
THE CONSCIOUS LOVERS. 

Sir John Bevil Mr. Habrikotok 

^ Evans, 282-3. » B. Smith. 



A.D. 1764. 



THE THEATRE AT JACOB'S WELL. 



201 



Bevil, Junior Mr. Halb | Myrtle Mr. Gashbl 

Oymberton Mr. Hiffislet | Tom Mr. Woodwaiid 

Sealand Mr. Bosoo; 

being the first time of his appearance on this Stage. 

Humphry Mr. Watts | Daniel Mr. Vauohan 

PhilliB Mrs. Hai:e 

Mrs. Sealand Mrs. Mabtbn | Isabella Mra Mullabt 

And the part of Indiana by Mrs. Pbitohabd. 

To which will be added a Farce called 

THE OLD MAN TAUGHT WISDOM; 

Or, The Viroik Unmasked. 

The part of Lncy by Miss Hiffislet, 
being the first time of her appearance on this Stage. 

Boxes ds.— Fit 2s.— Balconies Is. 6d.— Gallery Is. 

To begin half an hour after Six o'Clock. 

Tickets to be had, and places taken, at Mr. Hiffislbt*s, 

near the Theatre. ^ 

The Bituation was under Clifton hill, immediately out- 
side the dty boundary, just above the site of St. Peter's 
church ; on playnights the gravelled walks of Brandon 
hill were crowded to watch the entrance of playgoers, 
whilst from a field behind the theatre, separated from 
the court-yard by a hedge and low wall, curious people 
stood for hours in the evening to catch a glimpse of the 
actors as they passed from one side of the stage to enter 
on the other. These pryers were so annoying that on 
one occasion an actor pointed a gun at and so dispersed 
them. The house appears to have been built by Mr. 
John Hippisley, who, when the theatres in the metro- 
polis were dosed, brought down to Bristol a very respect- 
able company. He died in 1748. 

When Powell, the actor, in 1764, was at the height 
of his popularity, ladies were requested to send their 
servants at four o'clock, or two hours before the doors 
were open to the public, in order to keep their places. 

In 1764 there occurred a serious riot at the theatre, 
arising out of the following cause. A tradesman had 
joined a friend in a bond; his friend absconded, the 
bondman was arrested, and his family were reduced to 
great distress. The managers, on being applied to, gave 
a benefit night for the distressed family on the 3rd of 
Aug^t. This was so successful that the friends of the 
defaulter daimed a like indulgence on behalf of his 
family ; to this the proprietors demurred, as the season 
was near its dose, and Winstone's benefit night had yet 
to come, but they promised to give the first night of the 
next season for such an object, and issued bills to that 
effect. This did not satisfy the claimants, who on Win- 
stone's night packed the house, pelting the performers 
with rotten apples, oranges, &c. Powell and the actors 
in vain attempted to pacify them, when Mr. John Castle- 
man, surgeon, from one of the boxes called upon the 
orderly part of the audience to join the actors and turn 
1 Jenkins' Memoirs of the Bristol Stage, 17. 
[Vol. m.] 



the rioters out of the building ; this they accomplished 
after a short but severe contest. 

There were but two ways leading to the theatre from 
Bristol, Limekiln lane and the Bopewalk, and the diffi- 
culty of access induced, this year, some of the playgoing 
inhabitants to determine to erect a theatre within the dty 
if it were possible. Two gentlemen, Messrs. Thomas 
Symons, a solidtor, and Alexander Edgar (mayor, 1787) 
were the chief movers. Two sites were offered them, 
one being in King street, on which the Old theatre now 
stands, which was chosen because it was in the midst of 
the residences of opulent merchants and men of fashion; 
another advantage was that it secured an entrance for 
the actors from the Backhay, Back street. The other 
site was the '' Boar's Head" yard. Limekiln lane, the 
comer of Park street. (Park street was only then be- 
ginning to be built, Berkdey square was not dreamed 
of, indeed the late Mr. Arthur Palmer used to say he had 
often leaned over a rustic stile at the comer of Oollege 
green and watched the milking of the cows that had 
grazed on Bullock's park — Park street). There was 
great opposition to this movement, more eepedally by 
the Quakers, but the foundation stone was laid on the 
30th November, 1764, and on May 29th, 1766, the 
theatre which Oarrick pronounced to be "the most com- 
plete of its dimensions in Europe " was finished. The 
architect was Mr. James Patey. The original pro- 
prietors numbered forty-eight, and their shares were 
£50 each. These entitled them to a silver ticket, 
which gives free admission to every performance in 
the building. 

The house held 1,600 persons — ^boxes, 750 ; pit, 320 ; 
gallery, 530 ; giving a total amount at the prices of 
admission then charged of £229 15«. It was opened on 
the 30th of May, 1766, with a " concert of music and a 
specimen of rhetoric," t.^., a play and a farce. This 
was done, the house not being licensed, to evade the 
statute, which punished all performers in unlicensed 
theatres as rogues and vagabonds. The rhetoric was a 
comedy, " The Conscious Lovers," and the performance 
gave £68 to the Infirmary. Oarrick wrote the prologue 
and Arthur the epilogue. In 1778 a special license was 
procured from the king (a copy of which is in the city 
library), which overruled the by-laws of the dty and 
settled the theatre on a firm bads. 

On the nth September, 1769, there was a crowded 
house, and a man was thrown from the gaUery into the 
pit; he was carried into the green-room and bled, he 
returned and witnessed the play, but died a few days 
afterwards. Amongst the histrionic stars that have 
shone on its stage may be named Shuter, Quick, Mrs. 
Siddons, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Kemble, Macready and 

H 2 



202 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1709. 



William Powell, who, dying in Bristol in 1769, was 
borne to an honoured grave in the Cathedral. 

Newgate was taken down in 1766, and the materials 
given to Mr. Reeve, of Brislington, of Beeve and 
Devonshire, a Quaker firm, who were West India 
merchants. The houses at the head of the Quay began 
to be taken down to widen Quay lane. The parish of 
St. Leonard's was annexed to that of St. Nicholas. 

St. John's chapel, Bedcliff hill, which, in 1571, had 
been granted by Elizabeth for a free Grammar school, 
was taken down. The school was removed to the chapel 
of the Virgin, at the east end of the church, in which 
there stood a stStue of Elizabeth carved in wood; it 
now stands under the tower. 

An Act of Parliameut was obtained for raising money to 
discharge debts contracted for re-building the parish church and 
tower of St. Nicholas, and to re-build the spire and complete the 
said church, and for other purposes; the computed expenses of 
the whole, £7,624 5«. The Mud dock at the Grove completed, 
and the Quay waJl continued round to the Market-house, St. 
Nicholas' back ; the cost was £10,000.^ 

6. ''On July 1st, 1767, Bristol'^ marvellous boy, 
Ghatterton, left Colston's school for the office of Mr. 
Lambert, solicitor, next door to the ' Bush ' coach 
office. Com street, which was over Henderson's, after- 
wards H. Browne's, plate and jeweller's shop, and in 
1825 was occupied by Mr. Short, the bookseller; Mr. 
Lambert did not remove to St. John's steps until 
after Chatterton had left him."' Chatterton's fate 
was to be greatly misunderstood, especially when he is 
described as having been dull in learning his letters, &c. 
A lad whose whole education was obtained at a charity 
school, where nothing was taught but the three E's; 
who in his tenth year, out of his trifle of pocket-money, 
began to hire books from at least three libraries ; who, 
before he was twelve, made a catalogue of seventy 
books thus read; who, when not quite eleven years 
and six months old, wrote and published Apostate 
Will; who transcribed the glossary from Speght's 
Chaucer from a copy hired of Qreen, the booksdler; 
who formed an intimacy with men so greatly his 
seniors in age and position — as were the Catcotts, 
Barrett, &c. — and exhausted the stores of their libra- 
ries, was indeed no ordinary lad. He had free access 
to the old city library, wherein he found, amongst 
other works which would be helpful to bim in writing 
his historical pieces, Camden's Britannt'a, Isaacson's 
Chnmology, Phillip's New World of Words, Skinner's 
Mymohgieon, the Promptorium Parvohrum (which has 
a number of rude attempts at an alphabet, in the 
caligraphy of the 15th century, on a fly leaf, by whom 
made can only be guessed), Hook's BristoUia, Heylyn's 

^ Evans, 284. * R. Smith. 



Cosmographies Nalson's CoUeetions, The 2\irHsh jSJpy, 
full of historical matter, Herodotus, Strype, Swift, 
Milton's prose and poetical works, Cowley, Diyden, 
Pope, Ogilby's Virgil, Ovid's JEpisUes and Metamorphoses^ 
Plutarch, Shakespeare, &o. Some particulars of his life 
are given in our Egolesiastigal History, at 211-13, 
to which we will add that a recent examination of the 
registers at St. Mary HeddifP, and the finding by 
Mr. John Taylor of an old Life of Christ, on the leaf 
of which were entries of considerable interest, show 
that his mother's name was Sarah Young, of Sodbury, 
that the date of her marriage was 25th April, 1748, and 
that Chatterton had an elder brother named Malpas, 
who was bom 12th December, 1750. 

That Chatterton was not appreciated in Bristol is 
too true; aUowanoe, however, must be made for the 
fact that the fragments of poetry, so truly invaluable^ 
which he produced were believe^ to be scraps found by 
him, and as such paid for at a rate that to a diarity 
boy must have seemed satisfactory, however paltry we 
may deem the remuneration ; and that if it be, as it is, 
only too true that he experienced neglect by his f eUow- 
citizens, it was not they, but those of London who 
drove him to starvation, despair, and suicide. 

" Great wits are snre to madness near allied. 
And thin partitions do their bounds divide.'' — Dbtdbm. 

There are some of his lines, written about the time when 
he left Bristol, which never have, and never can be pub- 
lished, but which, it would seem, go far to prove that 
he was occasionally not far from the verge where reason 
totters to its fall. 

In Chatterton's pocket was a letter from Mr. Catoott to which 
he had replied on the 12th, and which contained not a complaint 
of want or distress ; it finished with an essay addressed to 
Dr. Newton, bishop of BristoL Had he asked for money to 
bring him home, it would have been sent him, and his mother's 
table woold have supplied his daily need. She died 1st Janoaiy, 
1792 ; her sister, Mrs. Newton, March, 1804. > 

William Bradford Smith was uncle to the writer of 
the above paragraph. He was a warm friend of Chat- 
terton, and wrote an able vindication of his friend, 
illustrated with many early anecdotes. 

December 15th, William Hillhouse was chosen sword- 
bearer, vice John Wraxhall, deceased. John Heylin, the 
donor of many books to the city library, shot himself in 
a fit of insanity at his house in College green on August 
28th, 1768. 

6. Li 1769 the building of Brunswick square was 
commenced, and Benjamin Donne published his map of 
the country eleven miles around Bristol. The time of 
holding the fairs was altered from January 25th to 
March 1st, and from July 25th to September 1st 

1 R. Smith. 



A.D. 1770. 



BISHOP'S PARK LAID OUT. 



203 



St. Paul's fair was remoyed from Tejnple street to 
the Great gardens in 1825. These once bore the name 
of '* Bristol's Military gardens;" previouslyy from the 
old maps, it is evident that they were a ''rackhay" or 
field for stretching and drying woollen doth. This was 
the spot where Fiennes, when in council, determined upon 
his cowardly surrender of the city to Prince Bupert. 

The gardens were a choice resort in the 18th century, 
and were laid out in the stiff antique style, afterwards 
adopted by Capability Brown. 

Lo 1 Florio's happy spot in verdant droBS, 
Treea modelled forms, and flowery sweets express, 
Methlnks I feel the jassamine and rose, 
A fragrant breath in rich perfume disclose ; 
The orange plant indulged with warmest rays, 
High-flavoured scents, and golden fruit displays ; 
The sweet collections ranged in finest mould 
In various figures cut, proportion hold ; 
For pruning Art redundant plenty crops 
And shapes the spiral yews in conick tops, 
Whilst silver hollies wider compass spread 
And guard with native spears a globar head. 
Delicious storehouse to amuse the eye I 
What furnitures in one plantation lye, 
As spreading branches flourish from a tree, 
A thousand other gardens spring from thee. 

Wm. Goldwyn, A.M. 

The Bristol Fire Insurance office established by sugar refiners 
chiefly against their own risks. It was subsequently thrown open 
to the public, and the same establishment continues. Offices, 
Small street buildings, on the site of Deane, Whitehead and Co.'s 
banking-house, formerly the mansion of the Creswick family. 
*' Alderman Holworthy's house, opposite," where Charles IL and 
James II. lodged, in August, 1643, was that now (1824) occupied 
by Messrs. Pinnell and Doddrell, grocers, the state-room or hall 
of which remains. 

October 1st, Chatterton*s description of the friers passing the 
old bridge appeared in Felix Farley's Bristol Journal — his first 
printed production. St. Nicholas church completed. ^ 

That part of the bishop's park, which is now College 
street, was granted on lease to Mr. Worrall, in 1770, 
for 90 years, at £60 per annum, the right of the bishop 
to lease it was obtained by a special Act of Parliament. 
St. Leonard's church in Oom street, with its gateway 
beneath known as the Blind gate, because it led to no 
road out of the city, was taken down, and Com street 
was continued under a new name in a direct line to 
the Frome (Quay). The new portion was named Clare 
street, after Lord Clare (lately Mr. Nugent, M.P. for 
the city) ; to this alteration the corporation contributed 
£2,000. On reference to the map, I., 64, it will be 
observed Marsh street, from Pill end, curves away on the 
left, whilst Fisher lane branches oS to the right. The 
view down Oom street, previous to this improvement, 
was barred by the irregular frontage of the houses, 

^ Evans, 285-6. 



which extended in parts ten feet or more into the streets 
as weQ as by the church and its gateway. 

The White house at Knowle, long familiarly known 
as ''the salt box," was built this year by Mr. Oantle, 
keeper of Newgate. Mr. Edward Terrill of the Broad- 
mead chapel had, in 1679, devoted a large part of his 
estates to the education of young men for the ministry. 
From various causes this, with other bequests, did not 
come into effective operation until 1720, when, under 
Mr. Bernard Fosket's tuition, on November 5th, Mr. 
Thomas Bogers was admitted as the first student. In 
1770 additional aid was obtained, and the Bristol 
Educational sodeiy, which embraced the previous be- 
quests, &c., was founded by Dr. Caleb Evans. This 
institution, which has been the alma mater of many 
most eminent ministers of the Baptist persuasion, still 
flourishes in our midst, but is better known as the 
Baptist college. 

In 1771 the pavement before the Ooundl-house was 
altered and the brass pillars were removed to their 
present site in front of the Exchange; St. Stephen 
street was opened for traffic, and College street was 
begun. 

Six stage coaches commenced to ply between Bristol 
and the Hotwells, over the drawbridge, at sixpenny 
fares. A great advance was now made in the ac- 
commodation furnished for travellers; fast machines 
(coaches) were started to do the distance to London 
in a night and a day, also slower machines in two days 
and one night. 

The following is a copy of one of the bills : — 

The London, Bath, and Bristol machines in one day will set 
ont on Sunday night, March 31st, and continue going every Sunday, 
Tuesday and Thursday night from the Saracen's Head in Friday 
street, and from the Bell Savage inn, Ludgate hill; and every 
Monday, Wednesday and Friday night from the Three Cups in 
Bread street, and from the Swan inn, Holbom bridge, London, 
precisely at ten o'clock for Bath and Bristol ; and every night 
(Saturday excepted) from the White Lion inn, Broad street ; and 
every Monday, Wednesday and Friday night from the Bummer 
tavern, Bristol, at nine o'clock for London; and every night 
(Saturday excepted) from the White Hart inn. Stall street, the 
White Lion and the Greyhound inns in the Market-place, Bath, 
at eleven o'clock, for London. Also a large coach, to carry six 
inside passengers, will set out every Sunday, Tuesday and Thurs- 
day night from the White Hart inn. Broad street, Bristol, at nine 
o'dock, for London ; and every Monday, Wednesday and Friday 
nights from Garrard's hall. Basing Lane, London, at ten o'clock, 
for Bath and BristoL 

Also a machine in two days will set out from the One Bell inn 
in the Strand, London, every Monday, Wednesday and Friday 
morning, at six o'clock, for Bath ; and from the Christopher inn 
in the Market-place, Bath, at seven o'clock, for London. Also the 
post-coaches, in two days, as usual, will set out from the Rose inn, 
Holbom bridge, and the Grolden Cross inn, Charing Ooss, London ; 
and from the White Hart inn, Stall street^ and the White Lion 
inn in the Market-plaoe, Bath, 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



Prices In the above nuwhioM, fcc.. 



I foUov :- 



1 10 I 



Iiutde to and from Briitol in one day 

Child ia Up and cmteide ditto 

Inaids to and from Bath ditto 

Child in lap and ontaide ditto 

Iiuide to and from Bath in two dayi 

Child in lap and ontiide ditto 

Poat-cooch to and from Bath 

Child in lap and ontaide by po«t-coaeh 

Each inaide pauenger by the huge coach to and from 
Bath and Briatol 

Child in lap 

Half the money to be paid on taking a place, the other half on 
entering the machine. Inside paaaengera to be allowed 141b. 
weight each ; child in lap, and ontaide, Tib. ; all above to pay in 
the one-day maohinea and poat ooach three half-penoe per ponnd, 
and in the two-dajr machine one penny per ponnd. They all call 
at the Old and New White Hone cellare, the White and BUck 
Bear inns in Piccadilly, London, both going in and ont of town. 
The proprietors will not be acconntable for any jewels, plate, 
money, writing*, &c. [if lost) unless entered and paid for a« ancb. 



Bath. 



Joseph Oladar, j 
Thomas King, 
Richard Maltby, Devicea. 
James White, I 
Thoma. Hancock, \ ^^^^' 
Mary HaUiwell, i 
William Clark, j 



Ann Bannister, i 

Joseph Cookman, j E««^g- 

John March, Maidenhead 

William Day, Hoanslow. 



TV Lbindiijer Tavern, Nrw K 



December 2nd and IStli, the libraTj Sodet; formed 
at the Oity library, New King street. It was opened 
in 1773, in wMcli year another Act was obtained for 
enlarging the burial ground of 8t. Stephen, and for 
making couunodiouB ways and passages in that parish. 

7. From the year 1 765 the differences between Great 
Britain and the American colonies gradually widened 
until, in 1775, war was openly declared between the 
two countries. On the 26th of July, 1770, the dockyard 
at Portsmouth was set on fire by an incendiary, rumour 
ascribed the act to the Americans, and Jonathan Britain 
endeavoured to turn it to hie advantage. 

On May ISth, 1772, Jonathan Britain waa hanged for forging 
fonr bills of exchange to the valne of £46. He waa appre- 
hended in Reading on July 30th. On Friday, Angnst 2nd, he 
took a large dose of anenic, which waa ineffectnal. As soon as 
the news reached Bristol, Messrs. Jones, of that city, wrote to 
say that Britain waa wanted for certain forgeries in Bristol, par- 
ticnlarly for fonr billa on George Nelson and Co. Britain then 
professed to be a party concerned in setting fire to the dockyard 
at Fortamoath, which he knew to be a bailable oB^ce, he not 
being ai yet committed to gaol for forgery (an offence that was 
not bailable], hoping thai to get oat of prison and to save his life. 
Mr. Lawrence, of the " White Lion " inn, the father of the clever 
lad who became Sir Thomas Lawrence, tntrodnced the prosecntore 
from Beading to residents in Bristol who had been dnped and hod 
their names forged by Britain for the eeveial snms of £30, £6, 
£10, £M and £20 in Bristol alone. Britain hod access to the 
Whitperer, a periodical of considerable notoriety and circulation, 
and his pretended power to discover the authors of the incendiary 
fires at Portsmouth and elsewhere, and to reveal conspiracies 
agaijut the Government, led many to believe in hjin even in 
BristoL He waa, according to his own autobiography, one of 
the moat nnmitigated sconndrela that ever breathed, and richly 
deserved the fate he met with. 

In 1773 the inhabitants of Wine street having got 
rid of two of the nuisances in their thoroughfare, the 
Com market in 1728 and the fairs in 1780, tried to have 
the pump removed. In their petition to the corporation 
they allege that "the same is railed in, and is an 
obstruction to the carriages passing backward and for- 
ward, and the colliers usually tie their horses to the 
rails and posts surrounding the pump, and thereby give 
offence to the people who live opposite. . . That 

these horses are tied ten or twenty at a time, and pre- 
vent people coming to their shops ; " and the great 
majority of the inhabitants of Wine street pray that 
the pump may be removed into the Oom market, and 
be placed therein against the bach of some houses. The 
corporation ordered "the railings around the pump to 
be taken down, and four large stones to be erected in 
order to prevent carriages running against the pomp ;" 
this gave a width of 22 feet on each side of the struc- 
ture, and effectually banished the colliers' packhorses. 
The corporation took further steps to comply with the 
wishes expressed in the petition for removing the pump 



A.D. 1774. 



ELECTION OF EDMUND BURKE. 



206 



into the Com market but to this Mr. Peter Muggle- 
worthi who owned the adjoining property, and his 
tenants objected, on the ground that the said pump 
had been and still was very serviceable ; that thiriy-six 
years before there had been a fire in the street, which 
would have destroyed many houses but for its water, 
inasmuch as the All Saints pipe and other springs were 
entirely dry, whilst this spring had never been known 
to fail even in the dryest season ; that its very presence 
gave greater security to the inhabitants, who, now the 
horse nuisance was removed, were perfectly satisfied, in- 
deed petitioned that it might not be moved; that the 
Com market was only 14 feet wide, and that if the 
pump be placed against the wall of Mr. Muggleworth's 
property it will be so great a nuisance that his tenants 
threaten to leave, &c. 

The house still manifesting a desire to effect the 
alteration, a majoriiy being clearly in favour thereof, 
Mr. Muggleworth had a case prepared and laid before 
the Hon. J. Dunning, who, on April 15th, said ''the 
corporation have no right to accommodate the public 
by any act at the expense of private individuals or 
prejudicial to their private property. I suppose the 
soil unto which it is proposed to remove the pump 
belongs to the corporation, otherwise they have no right 
to place it there; but, supposing them to have such 
rights, they will be answerable for the consequences if 
it proves injurious to their neighbours and Mr. Muggle- 
worth's tenants, or he himself, if his houses through 
this cause become untenanted, may, by an action in the 
case against the workmen employed to do the act, re- 
cover a suitable satisfaction for their loss." (The pump 
still stands.) 

John Evans, the author of the Chr<mohg%eal Outline 
of the ffUtory of Bristol^ from which we so copiously 
quote, was bom on the 23rd October, in EUbroad street. 

In 1774 there was a general election, and in addition 
to the old members, Matthew Brickdale and Lord Glare, 
Henry Oruger, a man whose sympathies were with the 
American colonists, was nominated. The two first- 
named candidates had the support of the corporation; 
but a vigorous attempt was made to break up the 
monopoly of the representation by the chamber. Ed- 
mund Burke, whose name had been mentioned, was 
not accepted by the public meeting. The cry was 
« Oruger only!" Burke immediately left Bath for 
Malton, for which town he was elected. Meanwhile 
Lord Olare, discovering that many old friends had for- 
saken and others were looking coldly upon him, and 
his intimates acknowledging that he was looked on as 
second to Oruger, retired on Saturday in disgust from 
the contest. On the second day of the poUing Burke 



was nominated as a candidate by Joseph Harford and 
Bichard Ohampion, Brickdale's friends protesting that 
nomination after an election had begun was illegal; 
however, at last the sheriffs, John Durbin, jun., and 
James Hill, were persuaded to allow the name to stand. 
Brickdale petitioned, on the ground that he was at the 
head of the poU when Olare retired; that many free- 
men were made after the writ was issued, who voted at 
that election. Another petition, signed by 883 electors, 
alleged that Burke's nomination was contrary to law. 
The committee sat from Saturday, February 11th, to 
Saturday, February 18th, 1775, when Omger and Burke 
were declared duly elected. Brickdale was strongly 
censured by many of his old friends for including 
Oruger's name, seeing that he had not coalesced with 
Burke. 

It was after this election that Thistlethwaite pub- 
lished his Comtdtatumy a mock heroic poem in three 
cantos, pp. 48. In 1775 a second edition, to which 
he had added another canto, was published. On 
August 12th, 1774, Bobert Southey was bom in 
Wine street, Bristol. 

8. On Sunday, November 6th, the ferry boat crossing 
from New Passage, containing eight persons, was over- 
set through the folly of one of the passengers, whose 
hat blew overboard. He insisted on the boat being put 
about to recover it, and being resisted he seized the 
helm, and in the struggle the boat fell away, was upset, 
and seven of its occupants drowned. It is said that the 
unfortunate man had a large sum of money in notes 
within the lining of his hat, which made lii^i so anxious 
for its reooveiy. 

In 1775 the way was made from Wine street to Broadmead, 
called Union street; and May 1st St. James's market was opened. 
In July, St. Michael's church conunenoed re-building, except the 
tower. The building of Park street, in Bullock's park, began. 
Blind steps, leading from St. Nicholas market to Back street, 
taken down, enlarged and opened. It was estimated at this time 
that £5,970 per annum was expended for the poor of Bristol in 
the hospitals, ftc., exclusive of £10,000 raised for the parochial 
poor, and that there were constantly 1,082 persons of all ages 
who lived wholly upon public chari^. ^ 

The ground rents of Qare street sold for £69,000 and upwards. 
Lady Huntingdon's chapel, St. Augustine place, was opened. * 

James Thistlethwaite published The Tories in the 
JhmpSy or the Lamentation of Matt^ to his Friend Ned. 
The humour of this talented writer is defiled by the 
scurrility which seems to have been common to most 
of the authors of that age. The struggle with the 
American colonies was now nearing its height. Dean 
Tucker, who was all his life a great controversialist 
and a copious writer on trade, was at this time the in- 
cumbent of St. Stephen's church and dean of Oloucester. 

^ Evans, 292. • B. Smith. 



206 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.i>. 1776. 



Ab early as 1745 lie was termed by the Zandan Evening 
Post (a strong Jacobite publication), ^'A Low Church, 
fanatical, Oliverian Whig, Josiah ben Tacker, ben Judas 
Isoariot." Differing with Burke on the American ques- 
tion, he, in answer to that statesman's speech in favour 
of the American colonies, published a pamphlet, in 1775, 
entitled A Letter of Dean Tucker to JEdmund Burke, If,P. 
for Bristol, and Agent for the Colony of New York, a copy 
of which is in the city library. Tucker's scheme of deal- 
ing with the revolted American colonies was different 
from that of the Parliament and that of Burke. The ma- 
jority in Parliament claimed absolute supremacy; Burke 
would have g^ven up parliamentary control over each 
colony, but would have erected each provincial assembly 
into an independent parliament, subject to the king with 
his usual prerogatives. Tucker's scheme was absolute 
separation ; as the colonies would not submit to the 
authority and jurisdiction of the British legislature, 
neither should they share in its privileges and advan- 
tages. At the same time he would enter into alliances 
of friendship and treaties of commerce with them, as 
with any other sovereign state. 

Joeiah Tacker was a native of Langhame, Cannaiihenshire. 
Bom in 1712, he became a scholar of Jesna college, Oxford; 
entered holy orders at twenty-three years of age, was curate of 
St. Stephen's, 1737 ; chaplain to Bishop Bntler, by whose interest 
he was made a prebendary of Bristol cathedral, and on the death 
of Mr. Catcott, was made rector of St. Stephen's. He took a 
decided stand for the naturalisation of the Jews, for which his 
efiSgy in canonicals was burnt in BnstolL In 1753 he published a 
pamphlet on the Turkey trade, in which he opposed the principle 
of chartered companies. He was largely instrumental in the re- 
turn of Lord Clare for Bristol, and his lordship, out of gratitude, 
obtained for him the deanery of Gloucester, in 1758, at which 
time he took his degree as D.D. In his famous pamphlet, 
ThoughU on the Dispute Between the Mother Country and America, 
he asserted that the latter could not be conquered, and if it could, 
the purchase would be dearly bought ; he warned this country 
against commencing a war with the colonies; advised they should 
be left to themselves, which he contended would be productive 
of infinite good to Britain. Both Dr. Johnson and Edmund 
Burke, one the champion, the other the enemy, of American 
taxation, treated Tucker's view with contempt; and Burke, in 
the House, called him "the advocate of the court," and supposed 
"his labours would raise him to a bishopria" Burke disliked him 
because he was a thorough supporter of Lord Clare, and opposed 
the invitation of himself to BristoL In 1778 Miss P^oquin 
bequeathed to him a considerable legacy, and her house in Queen 
square to be a residence for the rector of St. Stephen's. He sent 
John Henderson, a young man of extraordinary ability, to Oxford, 
and supported him there at his own expense. Tucker resigned 
his living, with the consent of the chancellor, in favour of his 
curate, for whom every man in the parish. Dissenters included, 
joined with him in the petition. He died in December, 1799. ^ 

9. On Monday morning, April 8th, 1776, the Snow 
Dickenson, from Philadelphia to Nantes, which had been 
fitted out by order of the congress, and consigned to 
^ Abridged from Public Characters, I. 



Messrs. Montandonin & Co., was brought into this port 
by the mate and crew, who, on finding that the cargo 
was destined to the purchase of warlike stores to be used 
against this country, determined to make for Bristol. 
The cargo and ship were valued at £7,500. The cap- 
tain's orders were to purchase with the proceeds of the 
cargo 1500 stand of arms, with bayonets and steel ram- 
rods, and fifteen tons of gunpowder, or failing that to 
bring saltpetre and sulphur. 

During this year Dr. Johnson and his friend Boswell 
paid a visit to Bristol in order to enquire into the 
authenticity of Bowley's poetry. There occurred also 
this year a most fearful storm; all the ships in Elingroad 
but two were driven on shore. It was computed that 
2,500 persons perished in different parts of the kingdom. 
Some of the lime trees which formed eight cross lines 
in Queen square being uprooted, the remainder were aU 
cut down. 

** The late treasurer, Mr. Gkurard, said in 1825, the 
corporation had no account of Mayor's dues anterior to 
1776. Prior thereto they were received by the Mayor 
himself. He had accounts of Town's dues up to 1640." ^ 

An Act of Parliament was obtained, ** to remove the danger 
of fire amongst the ships in the port of Bristol, by preyenting the 
landing of certain commodities on the present quays, and for pro- 
viding a convenient quay and proper places for landing and storing 
the same ; and for regulating the said quay, and the lighters, 
boats, and other vessels carrying goods for hire within the said 
port of Bristol ; and for other purposes therein mentioned." The 
object of this Act was to enlarge and occupy the Merchants' 
floating-dock, in Rownham meads. From September 29, all that 
part of the parish of Clifton that lay between the bound-stone of 
the city on the east of a little brook, anciently called Woodwell- 
lake, but now a sluice under ground, at Limekiln dock, and the 
ferry called Rownham passage, and between the river Avon and 
the road which leads from the said bound-stone and the said ferry, 
were hereby separated from the judicial jurisdiction of Gloucester- 
shire, and made part of Bristol, except with regard to taxes and 
votes at elections for knights of the shire. 

October 17, the limits of the new docks marked out. ' 

Hannah More published Sir Eldred of the Bower and 
the Bleeding Rock, dedicating the work to David (Warrick. 
John Howard published a pamphlet on Bristol Newgate 
and Bridewell. The ''Fiye Beakers" inn. New Market, 
was re-named the '' Queen Charlotte." 

During this year the American colonies declared 
themselves independent. 

In December, 1776, a diabolical series of attempts 
was made to bum the shipping and city. The Savannah 
la Mar, a ship of 400 tons belonging to Mayler and 
Maxey, bound for Jamaica, was maliciously set on fire 
by means of combustibles, pitch, tar, rosin, with which 
the decks and rigging were bedaubed and set on fire. 
Fortunately there were two large puncheons of water on 
^ B. Smith. * Evans, 292-293, 



}ACK THE PAINTER FIRES THE CITY. 



the deck, and heang promptly duoovered the fire vas 
extingnisbed vith the loss of the mizen-m&et and rig- 
ging. The TeU-knoTn privateer, the Famt, which was 
Ijing about the middle of the quay, was aUo attempted. 
A third ship, the Cork trader, HAerHia, Captain Knethell, 
had her binnacle stuffed with inflammable materials, 
including a bottle of turpentine. These had been ig- 
nited, but for want of air had failed to bom. 

On the same day an attempt was made to fire the 
warehouse of Mr. Morgan, druggist, Corn street. 
CSimbing a wall ten feet in height the incendiaiy had 
wrenched off three iron bars from a window, and 
Itaving thus forced an entrance he filled a large box that 
liad contained Glauber's 
Salts with combustibleB, 
ixtduding tar, spirits of 
-wine, and turpentine, 
- whiA'lie placed against 
the oil casks. Providen- 
tially, the elm wood of the 
Ixtx being damp the fire 
was confined to it. On 
Sunday morning just be> 
fore daybreak the ware- 
Xiooaea of Messrs. Lawsley, 
Partridge & Co., Bell lane, 
were found to be in flames, 
fmd although ten engines 
were at work with plen^ 
of water from the river 
they were soon entirely 
consumed. One of the 
darks found in one of the 
rooms a large torch, with 
a lot of matches and other 
inflAmmable material. The 

gacks of grain and bales of „ 

Spanish wool that were 

saved were oonveyed to the Exchange and the area of 
Queea square, and were guarded day and night by the 
military. The "Bell" inn at the bottom of Broad street 
caught seven or eight times, but fortunately the fire 
was extinguished, or in all probability the buildings in 
the area between Broad, Small and Com streets would 
have been burnt to the ground. There was no wind, 
the tide was high, and the fire, after eating its way 
eastward as far aa the dead wall of St. John's arch, 
was conqnered. Between seven and eight o'clock the 
same day two other attempts at arson were made in 
Lewis's mead, one b^g at the sugar-house of Mr, 
Alderman Barnes. lu divers other parts of the city 
large torches of a peculiar make, with long handles for 



use through cellar and other windows, were disoovered, 
which had failed in the object intended by the villainous 

The ^ann excited in the oil? by these attempts was 
very great. The oitisens enrolled themselves in bands 
and patrolled the streets night and day. The king 
offered a reward of £1,000 from his privy purse, to 
which the inhabitants and the chamber added 500 
guineas, for the discovery of the offender. For some 
weeks every effort at discovery failed. At last suspicion 
fell on a Sootdunan named James Aitken, aUat Jack 
the Fainter, who lodged in the Fithay. He was appre- 
hended, bat for some days kept hie own oounseL A 
Welsh painter named 
Baldwin, who had long 
resided in America, pre- 
tended friendship with 
and visited him, to whom 
Aitken confessed that he 
had not only caused these 
fires, bat that it was he 
who had burned Ports- 
mouth rope-house on 
December 7th, and that he 
had attranpted to fire the 
dockyards at Chatham and 
Plymouth, but had failed, 
his design being to weaken 
or destroy the flourishing 
navy of this country; 
that he had made draw- 
ings of every dockyard in 
the kingdom, and knew 
the number of ships, their 
weight of metal and the 
number of their guns, and 
j^^^ that his employer was Mr. 

Silas Deans, a member of 
the American oongrees who was then in Paris. 

The machine he employed was a box of wood and 
perflated tin, in which he placed certain oombustiblea 
and a lighted candle, which would ignite them after 
burning a fixed number of hours. One of these ma- 
chines which had failed, being found in one of the 
warehouses at Portsmouth, was produced at his trial at 
Winchester, on the 6th March, 1777. 

Aitken was found guilty, and was hanged at Porte- 
mouth on a gibbet 67 feet high, being the mizen mast 
of the Araihua frigate. Before his execution he con- 
fessed his guilt not only of the fire at Portsmouth but 
also of those at Bristol, stating that he had placed oom- 
bustibles in at least a dozen warehouses in that city, 



208 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1777. 



choosmg those that were the moat ndnous and btiilt 
chiefly of wood. Having fired these he left for Sodburj, 
but turned back when he saw the conflagration thinking 
the greater part of the city had been consumed. The 
same night he made other attempts on the shipping, but 
was prevented by the vigilance of the patrol. He then 
tried to ignite certain barrels of oil, pitch and tar on the 
quay, hoping that the fire would float on the water and 
bum the shipping, but he failed in all his attempts 
except that in Quay street. He was barely 21 years of 
age at the time of his execution. 

It is still believed by some that the head of Jack the 
Fainter was built into the upper part of the front wall 
of the warehouse which in Quay street adjoined the 
offices in which this work is printed. The head was 
plainly to be seen from the street. The house was 
demolished to make room for the present building in 
1863. It is hardly necessaiy to refute this absurd story) 
which arose from the fact that the builder, Mr. Bosser, 
purchased, in 1776, the materials of Chandos house and 
the ruins of Keynsham abbey, from which latter place 
he had removed a lot of corbel heads, some of which 
were employed in the erection of the building as course 
stones. The building committee of the Philosophical* 
Institution tried to purchase them before they were so 
used, but the owner of the premises in Quay street re- 
fused. Bosser stuck one of them fronting the quay. 

10. In 1777, St. Michael's church was opened. 

The following items connected with the Merchant 
Venturers' Socieiy, to which reference has been so often 
made, will be found interesting. 

Masters Merchant HaU, up to November lOth, 1777. 



Arthnr Hart 




1745 


Samuel Monckley 




... 1768 


NathaDiel Foy 




1753 


Andrew Pope ... 




... 1769 


Cranfield Beoher ... 




1766 


William Jones 




... 1770 


Isaac Baagh 




1769 


Thomas Farr ... 




... 1771 


William Hart 




1761 


James Daltera 




... 1772 


Richard Farr 




1762 


Isaac Elton ... 




... 1773 


William RecTe 




1766' 


Robert Smith ... 




... 1774 


James Bonbonooa ... 




1766 


Paol Farr 




... 1776 


Sir Abraham Isaac Elton, 




Henry Gamett 




... 1776 


K/Cl&Va ••• ••• ■•• 


• • • 


1767 









••• ••• t*« ••• 



■•• ■•■ ••• ••• 



•tl ••• ••• ••• ••• 



• • • •• • 



• • • • ■ • 



Honorary Members, 

The Right Hon. Earl of Einnool... 

The Right Hon. Earl Nugent 

The Right Hon. John Earl Spencer ... 

Sir Jarritt Smith, bart. ... 

The Right Hon. the Earl Poulet ... 

The Right Hon. the Earl of HiUborough ... 

The Most Noble Augustus Henry, Duke of Grafton 

The Most Honble. Charles, Marquis of Rockingham 

The Right Hon. Henry Seymour Conway, Esq. 

Sir William Meredith, bart. ... 

Sir George Saville, bart. 

The Right Hon. William, Earl of Chatham 

Sir William Draper, Knight of the Bath ... 



••• ••• ••• 



••• ••• ••• ••• 



• •• •■ • 



• • • •• • 



1760 
1765 
1768 
1768 
1766 
1766 
1766 
1766 
1766 
1766 
1766 
1766 
1766 



Geoige Presoott, Esq 

Matthew Brickdale^ Esq 

Sir Charles Eemys Tynte, bart. 

Richard Hippisley Coze^ Esq 

The Right Hon. Edward, Lord Clifford 
The Most Noble Henry, Duke of Beaufort 

Edmund Burke, Esq 

The Right Hon. Lord North 

The Right Hon. the Earl of Berkeley... 

The Right Hon. the Earl of Suffolk and Berkshire 

The Right Hon. the Earl of Sandwich 

Wardens. 



William Wansey ... 1766 

John Hobhouse 1766 

Richard Combe 1757 

Samuel Span 1761 

Nathaniel Wrazall ... 1762 

William HiUhouse ... 1762 

Peter Hatton 1763 

Sir Jas. Laroche, bart. 1765 

Andrew Reeve 1766 

Michael MiUer, jun. ... 1767 

... 1768 ( 

... 17741 

... 1768 

... 1769 



John Powell 
<< 

Henry Cruger . 
George Daubeny 



Thomas Perkins 
Geoige Champion . 
Edward Elton... . 
John Fowler ... . 
William Weare 
Richard Champion 
Henry Lippincott . 
John Vaughan 
Jeremiah Hill... . 
Edward Brice... . 
John Gamett ... . 
John Champion 
Henry Hobhouse . 



AsMstanis. 



Joseph Blissett 

John Smith 
<< 

« 

John Hanner . 
<< 

« 

Samuel Davis . 



1730 

1745) 

1746) 

1747) 

1748 V 

1762) 

1766 



John Daubeny 
Henry Casamajor 
George Gibbs 
John Fisher Ware 
Jere Hill, jun. 
Richard Bright 



Names of such as have borne no office yet. 



Thomas Hoskins ... 

James Hazell 

William Harrington 
Thomas Robinson ... 
Charles Crosse 

Thomas Jones 

Richard Pigott 
Michael Beecher ... 



Sir John Stapylton, bart. 1736 






Francis Birbeck 

George Hart 

Nehemiah Champion 
William Champion 

Walter King 

Thomas French 
Sir Lionel Lyde, bart. 
Leeson Blackwood . . . 
Anthony Swymmer 

John Day 

Edward Curtis 
Christopher Thornton 
Joseph Daltera 
Thomas Blackwell . . . 
Corsley Rogers 
Robert Rogers 
Thomas Ricketts ... 
John Harford 



1712 
1722 
1722 
1722 
1731 
1731 
1732 
1736 



1737 
1737 
1737 
1737 
1739 
1742 
1746 
1747 
1749 
1749 
1762 
1762 
1764 
1766 
1767 
1767 
1760 
1761 



1766 
1768 
1768 
1768 
1768 
1771 
1775 
1775 
1776 
1777 
1777 



1769 
1770 
1770 
1771 
1771 
1772 
1772 
1773 
1773 
1775 
1775 
1776 
1776 



1776 
1775 
1776 
1776 
1776 
1776 



Mark Harford 1761 

Thomas Bowse 1764 

William Farr 1766 

Joseph Farrell 1765 

Henry Bright 1767 

Robert Gordon 1767 

Edward Harford 1767 

James Harford 1768 

Justinian Casamajor ... 1769 
James Martin Hillhouse 1774 
James Whitchurch ... 1774 

Charles Daubeny 1774 

Samuel Whitchurch ... 1776 
Christopher Willoughby 1775 

John Powell, jun 1776 

William Weare, jun. ... 1776 

Isaac Hobhouse 1776 

Edward Harford, jun. ... 1776 
John Taylor Vaughan ... 1776 

John Fowler, jun 1776 

James Daubeny 1776 

Timothy Powell 1777 

Joshua Powell 1777 

John Scandrett Harford 1777 

Joseph Harford 1777 

Charles HiU 1777 



A.D. 1778. 



BURKE'S SPEECH ON DECLINING THE CONTEST IN 1780. 



209 



Endorsed. 

MERCHANTS' HALL, BRISTOL. 

LIST OF MSMBSBS. 

NoTember 10th, 1777. 

Merchants' Hall, BristoL — The maimer of choosing officers on 
the 10th November, yearly. Note, the master is to be one that 
hath been master, warden or assistant, to be chosen tiius : — The 
present master to nominate one person, the present wardens and 
assistants one, the commonalty one. These three in competition 
to stand to the vote of the whole society present, and the person 
that hath the majority of voices to be master. The persons that 
are to be in election are to be present in court. 

The wardens to be snch as have been assistants, to be chosen 
thus : -The present master to nominate two persons, the wardens 
and assistants two, and the commonalty two. Out of these six, 
two are to be chosen by one at a time, and majority of voices to 
carry it. 

Assistants to be chosen thus : — ^The present master ever to be 
one. He to name of the former assistants four. He to name ten 
persons out of the commonalty and their names to be put into 
lots, and those five the master takes out of the hat to be the other 
five. 

11. In 1778 the OloueesUr, for 60 guns and 316 men, 
896 tons, and the Medea, for 82 guns, were built and 
launched at this port. The estates and rentals of the 
corporation produced £14,000. Old England, private 
ship -of -war, James Todd, commander, sailed in Sep- 
tember on a cruise, she returned with La Sehe, a large 
brigantine, from St. Domingo. On her. second cruise 
she was sunk by a French frigate, which she engaged 
a considerable time ; the captain and some of the crew 
were drowned. 

Li 1779, Mrs. Mary Peloquin bequeathed £19,000 to the cor- 
poration for various purposes. The drawing of pitch and tar 
from pit -coal was no^ first discovered in BristoL An Act of 
Parliament was obtained for making and repairing several roads 
round the city of Bristol, reciting all the former Acts, inclusive 
of that of 31 Geo. 11.1751.^ 

Henry YII. had made of a pretender to the crown a 

scullion in his kitchen, and condemned him to turn the 

spit on which the king's dinner was roasted, but the 

operation was generally performed by an unhappy dog 

shut up within a wheel. Somewhere about the year 

1780, a frolicsome young midshipman, from Bristol, 

home for his holidays, enticed all the turnspit dogs of 

the ciiy of Wells out for a run on the Mendip hills, to 

the dismay of the cooks and the detriment of the diners, 

the truant dogs could not be found until the frolic was 

ended. Out of this circumstance arose the invention of 

the improved jack for turning the spit used in roasting 

meat, and the discontinuance of the breeding of the 

little bandy-legged pug, known as the turnspit. 

Ferguson, the astronomer, in a lecture on eclipses 

deliyered in Bristol, and subsequently published by S. 

Farley, Castle green, asserted that the 3rd of April, 4746 

Julian period, was the date of our Saviour's crucifixion, 

» Evans, 293. 

[Vol. III.] 



that date being the only one within twenty years on 
which an eclipse could happen. 

On December 6th, 1780, the house of Joseph G^rge 
Pedly, in Little King street, was set on fire by the occu- 
pier, who, as a fraudulent bankrupt and suspected of 
arson, was committed to Newgate, whence he escaped 
on the 1st of April, 1781, but was re-taken in Newcastle 
in September. At his trial he signified that £2,500 of 
his creditors' money could be restored, 650 guineas being 
buried in a field at Clifton, ten £100 bank notes in 
Tyndall's park in a bottle, fourteen £100 bank notes in 
another part of the plantation. The two first items 
were found and recoYcred for the creditors, the latter 
the prisoner could not find.^ 

12. In 1780 there was a contested election, the can- 
didates being Sir Heniy Lippincott, Matthew Brickdale 
and Henry Cruger ; Lippincott dying a new writ was 
issued, and the election of 1781 took place. Edmund 
Burke, who had declined to stand in 1780, made the 
following speech : — 

Qentlemen, — I decline the election. It has ever been my rule 
through life to observe a proportion between my efforts and my 
objects. I have never been remarkable for a bold, active and 
sanguine pursuit of advantages that are personal to myself. 

I have not canvassed the whole of this city in form. But I 
have taken such a view of it, as satisfies my own mind, that yo^r 
choice will not ultimately fall upon me. Your city, gentlemen, is 
in a state of miserable distraction, and I am resolved to withdraw 
whatever share my pretentions may have had in its unhappy 
divisions. I have not been in haste; 1 have tried all prudent 
means, I have waited for the effect of all contingencies. If I were 
fond of a contest, by the partiality of my numerous friends (whom 
ye know to be among the most weighty and respectable people of 
the city), I have the means of a sharp one in my hands. But I 
thought it far better with my strength unspent, and my reputation 
unimpaired, to do early and from foresight that which I might be 
obliged to do from necessity at last. 

I am not in the least surprised, nor in the least angry at this 
view of things. I have read the book of life for a long time and I 
have read other books a little. Nothing has happened to me but 
what has happened to men much better than me, and in times and 
in nations full as good as the age and country that we live in. To 
say that I am no way ooncemed would be neither decent nor true. 
The representation of Bristol was an object on many accounts dear 
to me, and I certainly should very far prefer it to any other in tiie 
kingdom. My habits are made to it, and it is in general more 
unpleasant to be rejected, after long trial, than not to be chosen 
at all. 

But, gentlemen, I will see nothing except your former kind- 
ness, and I will give way to no other sentiments than those of 
gratitude. From the bottom of my heart I thank you for what 
you have done for me. You have given me a long term which is 
now expired. I have performed the conditions and enjoyed all 
the profits to the full, and I now surrender your estate into your 
hands, without being in a single tile or a single stone impaired or 
wasted by my use. I have served the public for fifteen years. I 
have served you in particular for six. What is passed is well 
stored. It is safe and out of the power of fortune. What is to 

* Bristol Tracts, xxxv. 

n 3 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



oom« ia in truer band* thui oon ; ud He, in whcae hudi it li, 
bMt know* whether it is beet for yon ftnd me tluit I ahoold be in 
Farliunent or even in the world, 

Oattlemen, tbe meluicholy e*eiit of yeetenUy rekdi to ne en 
Kwfnl leeeon agunit being too mach tronbled kbont may of the 
object! of ordioRry ambition. The worthy gentleman who hae 
been anatohed from ni at the moment of the election, and in the 
middle of the oouteat, whilst hie dedree were at warm and hia 
hope* aa eager u onia, hai feelingly told m what ahadowa we are 
and what ahadowa we purane. 

It haa been nnial for a candidate who declinee, to take bia 
leave by a letter to the aherifb ; but I received yonr troat in the 
bee of day and in the face of day I accept yonr diamiaaion. I am 
not — I am not at all aahamed to look upon yon, nor c»n my 
preaenoe diacompoae the order of buBineM here. I humbly and 
respectfully take my leave of the aherifla, the candidate* and the 
electora, wiahing heartily that the choice may be for tbe beat at 
a time which oalla, if ever time did call, for aervice that ia not 
nominal. It ia no plaything that yon are about. I tremble when 
I consider the touat that I have preanmed to a«k. I confided 
perhapa too much in my iutentiona. They were really fair and 
upright, and I am bold to aay that I aak no ill thing for yon when, 
on parting from thi* place, I pray that whoever you chooee to 
euooeed me may reeemble me exactly in all thing*, except in my 
abilitiee to serve and my fortune to pleaae you. 



The foIloTing paragraph is oopied from Burke's 
printed address: — 

I return yon my beat thanks for having, at any time or for 
any period, coodeacended to think of me for your repreaentative. 
I have done my duty towards yon and towards the nation aa 
became me. You dispose of the future trust (aa you have a right 
to do) acoording to your discretion. We have no cause of com- 
plaint on either aide. By being returned into the mass of private 
cituens my burthens are lessened, my aatiafactions are not de- 
stroyed. There are duties to be performed and there are comforts 
to be enjoyed in obscurity, for which I am not without a diapoai- 
tion and reliah. I am anre that there is nothing in the retrospec- 
tiou of my public oonduct which ia likely to disturb the tranquillity 
of that situation to which you restore me. 

13. In 1781 George Daubeny was ohosen to the 



Tacancy cauaed by the death of Sir Henry Lippinoott. 
The two following sqaibs of the serere oonteeted electioa 
in this year, between Danbeny and Crnger, show the 
method in vogue of appealing to the eating and drinking 
capadtiee of the voters: — 

HUZZA. I 
DAuanrr for ever. 
AH tnie Britoua are invited to aasenble at the FULL HOOH, 
Stoki'h-Cboit, Tuesday next, at 12 o'clock, to try the Difference 
between Auricah Bitu. Basr, and the BoUT Bixf or Old 
EsoiMm. To drink a HetJtb to the Friend of the King and the 
Constitution, and the Downfall of Rebels ^noad and Incendiaries 
at home. 

Stand np for the Church. 
Sapport a Fellow Citiceu. 

No Yankee. 
No ComproauMT. 
Janoary 27, 1781. 

This produced the following rejoinder : — 



Oruger for ever t 
HUZZA I 
Witbont Cbdoib we should have had no election. Without 
CftCQaK we should have bad no Bre/ nor Ale. Without Crvger, 
that designing Oompromiter Daubsnt, would have been sent up 
to Parliament for Life. — It was Dm^ttKy who treated tor your 
SighU and PrivUtget.—Davbeny was one of the Committee for 
that purpose, and but for Orvgcr would have SM you aU. 

It is DauUny who hates Ou Poor. It is Davhtny who says 
that nothing bnrta him so much ss to be oUiged to aak Aot 
Batealt : meaning the Poor, but hearty Franoi. 
No Frenchified Englithmtn I 
No Danbeny I No Popery ! 
A Large Lin^f, a fuU Pot, and 
Oruger for ever 1 
Tbe Friend of the Poor. 
CRVOBS for Ever! 
On Sunday evening, Uarch '28th, one of the Brietol 
and London machines was stopped by a single high- 
wayman on the other aide of Box ; with Uie end of 
hia pistol he broke tbe window of the coach, and de- 
manded the passengers' money. A Bristol gentlemaa 
said he would give it him aa soon aa he oould, and 
pulling OQt a piatol he fired at and wounded the high- 
wayman, who made oS aa fast aa he could. 

On August 31st, by a letter from Captain Shuldham, 
of the ship Ihtblin, in Flytnouth harbour, information 
was brought that the combined fleet of tbe enemy, 
thirty-four or thirty-five aaU of tbe line, had been aeen 
five or aix leagues oS Scilly ; the mayor, Mr. William 
Miles, hastened to acquaint the lorda oonunisdoners of 
the admiralty, great fears being entertained for the 
West India fleet of merchant ahipa then due. Two 
quick-aailing sloops of war were immediately aent to 
meet the fleet, and to inform, them of the presence of 
the enemy, and to direct them what course to eteer. 
In 1782 the old All Saints Tolzey, on the nortb side 



A.D. 1783. 



BRISTOL INFIRMARY. 



211 



of the church, was taken down to widen Oom street; 
the old house of the Calendars at the west end was also 
taken down and re-built. The castellete of the conduit 
at the Quay-head was remoyed, and the Fish market 
was removed from Fisher lane (now St. Stephen street) 
to St. James' new market in Union street. 

Mr. John Furrier, of London, settled so much money 
in the Fublic Funds as would raise the apprentice fee 
of the boys in Colston's school to fifteen pounds. He 
also gave the boys 100 silver and 100 brass badges. 
The Tontine warehouses on the Quay were built this 
year. 

On the 26th December a meeting was held at the 
"White lion" tavern to consider a plan, of Mr. James 
Lockyer, for finishing the Eoyal York crescent (forty- 
six houses) by a Tontine scheme. It was stated that 
£20,000 had already been expended upon the premises, 
and Mr. Lockyer's plan proposed the raising of 700 
shares, of £100 each, for the benefit of any subscribers 
who shall be entitled to any share or shares, in virtue 
of the surviving lives on which such share or shares 
shall be holden at the expiration of the term of twenty- 
one years. The following gentlemen were chosen as 
trustees: — John Cave, Joseph Harford, William Fry, 
William GKbbons, Oeorge Daubeny, and Bichard 
Yaughan, esqrs. 

In 1783 the boys of Queen Elizabeth's hospital (the City 
school), Orchard street, and those of the Orammar school, in 
late St. Bartholomew's hospital, Christmas street, exchanged 
places. This change was afterwards confirmed by Act of Par- 
liament, viz. : — "An Act to enable the corporation of the city 
of Bristol to exchange the building of the hospital called Queen 
Blizabeth's hospital, for the building called the Bartholomews 
in. the said city, and for altering the times for holding the 
Bristol fairs." The preamble states that the mayor, ftc, are 
governors of Queen Elizabeth's hospital for the maintenance and 
education of poor children, in the houses near College green, for- 
merly the sole property of the mayor, ftc, and by them given and 
converted to that purpose ; that they are likewise governors or 
visitors of a free grammar school in the Bartholomews. "And 
whereas the apartments belonging to the said building called the 
Bartholomews are not large enough to receive and maintain many 
of the citizens' children, who have a right to be educated at the 
said Grammar school, although the said apartments are sufficient 
to serve aU the purposes for which the hospital called Queen 
Elizabeth's hospital was intended. And whereas it would be of 
great reciprocal oonvenience and advantage, if the masters and 
scholars belonging to the said free Grammar school at the Bar- 
tholomews aforesaid were removed to the said building called 
Queen Elizabeth's hospital, and that the master and children 
belonging to the said hospital were removed to the said building 
called the Bartholomews ; but as it is apprehended that such 
exchange, though it would manifestly be of such reciprocal 
benefit as aforesaid, cannot be made without the aid and 
authority of Parliament, may it therefore please your majesty," 
&o. His majesty was not told that the master of the free Grammar 
school had married the daughter of an alderman (Henry Dampier, 
sheriff in 1731 and mayor in 1756), who very naturally preferred 



the light and air of CoUege green to that of Christmas street 
Mr. Alderman Dampier did well so to exercise his influence for 
his daughter's better health and comfort ; but whether the com- 
plaisance of his magisterial brethren ought to have carried them 
so far, is another question.^ 

Bichard Burke, brother to Edmund, was chosen 
recorder this year. 

Begun at first in St. Peter's hospital in 1735, the 
Bristol Infirmary was, in 1737, located in a building in 
Earl street (Jobbings leaze), upon the site of the present 
edifice, the foundation of which was laid on June 2nd, 
1781. In 1788 the east wing was completed. In 1793 
further additions were made in the body of the struc- 
ture. In 1805 contributions were received for a west 
wing to the amount of £10,602 12«., Mr. Eichard 
Reynolds starting the subscriptions with the sum of 
£500. The first stone was laid June 1st, 1806, by 
Edward Protheroe, Esq. In 1850 her majesty graciously 
ordered the a£x ''Eoyal" to its title. Since then an 
additional story has been raised for dormitories, and on 
October 3rd, 1876, this noble charity was rendered still 
more useful by a thorough reorganisation of its sanitary 
arrangements at a cost of £20,000. 

Mail coaches were established by John Palmer, of 
Bath, and the experiment was first tried between 
Bristol and London. 

The necessary revolution in the economy of the General Poet 
Office, London, for discharge of all the posts at one hour, was 
effected by the individual example of Francis Freeling, Esq., then 
a lad, sent for from the Bristol Post Office for that purpose, the 
clerks having mutinied against the new plan, as impossible to 
be executed. The House of Mercy, on Colston^s parade, Redcliff 
church -yard, for twelve poor widows, built and endowed by 
William Fry, distiller. 

The Haymarket was established by the corporation 
on Friday, October 1st, 1784, in Broadmead; Mr. W. 
Ludlow was derk, and being furnished with only 
beams and scales, the magistrates determined to erect 
a weighing machine, which was put down by Mr. 
Edgell, of Frome, and was opened for public use on 
Tuesday, 15th of February, 1785. King^s Weston, a 
poem published anonymously in 1784, was by Thomas 
Hobhouse. Zion road, Clifton, was begun. The free- 
dom of the city was presented to Edmund Burke. 

"David Lewis, of Bridge street, termed 'a retailer 
of ^gg»^ [we believe, however, he was a siUc mercer], 
sought election as M.P. for Bristol." ' 

In 1785 the new Mansion-house, erected in Queen 
square at the comer of Charlotte street, was finished, 
and the banqueting-room, the entrance to which was 
in the above-named street, was opened for the reception 
of company on April 5th. 

In this year an Act of Parliament was obtained to render 
^ Evans, 294. * E. Smith. 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



more effeotnal tho Act 33 Geo. IL for re-bnilding, ftc, the bridge 
ovBT the Avon — to take down the WDth aide of Tnoker rtroet, 
miBie of the homea od the west tide of Temple street, aod tome on 
the eMt side of St. Thomu street, nearett to the bridge, to open a 
new straet (Bath street} from the bridge to Temple street— for re- 
■noring the statne of Neptnne, the pipes, &c. , sod for taking down 
and. re-building or selling the Cross in Temple street. An Act of 
Parliament wm also ohtsjned tor re-bnilding Christ church, other- 
wise the Holy Trinity, and for widening the adjacent streets.' 

A Marine society for educatiiig poor boys for a B«a- 
farisg" life was eetabliahed in Briatol. At this time the 
clergy were endeaTonring to fix a pound rate npon all 
houses and premises in tbe 
city, wbicli called f ortli much 
animadTersion, and refer- 
ence to the public spirit of 
the citizens in 1 650 and 1 7 1 3. 
[Bee pp. 28-30 of this vol.] 

In 17B6 James Eirk- 
patrick was elected town 
clerk on the resignation of 
Sir Abraham Elton., Bart., 
the hearty thanks of the 
House being given to that 
gentleman for his services to 
tbe city during a long course 
of years. His Cbace tbe 
Duke of Portland was elected 
high steward, in lieu of 
Philip, Earl of Hardwick, de- 
ceased, and Isaac Uatthews 
as water b^ifl, void by the 
death of Isaac Wheeler. 

A stand of three hackney 
coaches was set up in front 
of the Exchange; these were 
soon increased to twenty. 
Queen's parade, Brandon 
hill, and Berkeley square 
were commenced. Old Christ 
church was token down and 
the foundation of the present structure was laid Novem- 
ber 4th. The wing of the City Library, Ejng street, was 
erected. The Ber. Alexander Catcott left by will a num- 
ber of books, chiefly on the Huntingtonian philosophy, 
and a collection of fosuls, &c., for the use of the public. 
This cabinet is now deposited at the Bristol Uuseum. 

14. In 1787 Alexander Edgar, mayor, sued David 
Lewis for mayor's dues. Lewis pleaded the general 
issue, and especially that he, as being a burgess of 
Kidwelly, was exempt. Tried by Lord Kenyon and a 
special jury. Verdict for the plaintiff. 
' Evans, S9G. 



St. James' parish being Tsiy extensive, and its church 
too small for the parishioners, was divided, and the 
eastern portion was made the parish of St. FauL On 
June 16th the boundaries were fixed by the vestary. 

A faculty was obtained on the 10th Hardi, in answer 
to a petition presented 15th January, 1766, for uniting 
St. Ewen's parish with that of Christ ohurch. The last 
sermon was preached in St. Ewen's on Hay 15th, 1791. 
The bells and materials of the inside of the dkuzch were 
sold by auction August 1st, 1791. 

In 1768 a cheese market in the old Com market, 

_ between Wine street and 

St. Ifary-Ie-port street, was 
opened, the first market-day 
being Wednesday, January 
2nd. On March 8th the cuty 
was illuminated, guns fired 
royal salutes from Brandon 
hill, and the church bells 
wOTe rung all day, to oele- 
brate the king's restoration 
to reason. 

In 1788, Bnmswiek sqnare 
boilt. This year were obtained 
the three following Acts of Par- 
liament, via. : — "An Act tar re- 
moving and preventing encroach- 
menta, obstructions, annoyances 
and othw niuuDoe*, within the 
dty of Bristol and the liberties 
tberaof, and for lioensing and 
better regulating hackney- 
coaches, cluin, waggona, carts 
•nd other oaniages, tc, and 
porters and other persons within 
and for certain distancea ronnd 
the dty and liberties, and i<x 
better regulating the shipping 
and trade, and the rivets, wharfs, 
backs and quays, and the marketa 
within the aaid libertiea, and for 
other purposes." By this Act 
the corporatdon were empowered 
to make by-laws reapecting the 
Drawbridge, to establish a market for mw hides and skins at the 
Back hall, regulate the Ssheriea on the rivers Severn, Avon and 
Froom, &c The schedule contains tables of feet of the quay* 
warden and the water-bailifT. "An Act for widening and ren- 
dering oommodions Broad sb«et, and for enlarging the CoDndl- 
hoQse sod GnildhalL" .... "An Act for regulating building 
and party-walls within the city of Bristol and liberties thereof." 
This Act provides that the external wall of all new buildings 
shall be carried up perpendicnlaily, and range in the general line 
of the street, fte. ; and that when any eitemsl wall or part 
thereof, nngieg with the street, shall be taken doim, the wall 
to be rebnilt or repaired Hhsll rise in a petpendicolar line from 
the ancient story-post or foundation of such bnilding. No new 
bow'windows or other projections to extend, in any street thirty 
feet wide or more, above ten inohes, nor in a street leas than 



Uarif-ii-port Stmt fron BlyX Stml. 



A.D. 1787. 



STATE OF NEWGATE PRISON AND THE BRIDEWELL. 



213 



thirty feet above five inches. No comioe or covering in the 
former case to extend more than eighteen inches, nor in the 
latter more than thirteen inches, from the npright line of the 
building. ^ 

At the end of the year there was, by arrangement, 
a fresh valuation for the poors' rate, the central parishes 
being heavily burdened, whilst BeddifP, St. James, 
St. Augustine, and other outside parishes, were being 
rapidly built upon. It was arranged after many meet- 
. ings by the deputies of the parishes, and sanctioned by 
the magistrates ; the proportionate increcise or decrease 
is given in the following table : — 



Pariahes. 



• •• • • • 



All Saints 

St. Augnstine's 
Castle Precincts 
Christ church ... 
St Ewen's 
St. James' 
St. Leonard's ... 

St. John's 

St. Michael's 

St MaryBedoliff ... 
St. Mary-le-port ... 

St Nicholas 

St PhiUp's 

St Peter's 

St Stephen's ... 

Teinple 

St Thomas' 
St Werburgh .. 



• • • • • • 



• • « « • 



• * • • • • 



• ■ « • • • 



• • • • • • 



1788. 



227 
1092 
541 
643 
121 
1545 
210 
335 
495 
525 
257 
943 
476 
416 
1012 
447 
588 
227 



1780. 



10,000 



£ 
226 

1398 

370 

324 

86 

1922 
178 
284 
502 
750 
166 
924 
394 
336 
976 
524 
480 
160 



Increase. 



£ 
306 

• • • 

• • • 

« • • 

377 



7 
225 



Decrease. 



10,000 



77 






992 



1 

• • ■ 

171 

219 

35 

• • ■ 

32 
51 



91 
19 
82 
80 
36 

• • • 

108 
67 



992 



From this it will be seen that St. James', St. Augustine's, 
St. Mary BeddifP, and, to a small extent, Temple parishes, 
were at this period the areas in which the city was ex- 
tending. 

15. The philanthropist Howard visited Bristol gaol 
during the years 1774-5-6 and 1787-8, and wrote as 
follows concerning it : — 

Bristol Newgate stands in the middle of the city. It is too 
small for the general number of prisoners. For debtors there are 
fifteen rooms, yet no free ward ; the poorest pay lO^ci. per week, 
others 28, 6d. For women felons a day-room and several night- 
rooms. For men felons a day-room, with a court-yard adjacent, 
20 feet X 12 feet. Their dungeon, the pit down eighteen steps, is 
about 18 feet x 17 feet and 9 feet high. Barrack bedsteads, no 
bedding nor straw. It is close and offensive, only one small 
window. There is another yard, the tennis-oourt, larger than 
that of the felons' ; prisoners are admitted into it by turns. A 
room or two at the top of the house for an infirmary. There are 
many narrow passages. The utmost attention is requisite to keep 
the prison healthy. I found it clean, considering it was so crowded 
and so dose. It was scraped and limed once a year before the late 
Act for preserving the health of prisoners. That Act is neatly 
painted on a board hung up in the chapel, which is commodious 
and has a galleiy. 

^ Evans, 296. 



On his second visit Mr. Howard is not so complimen- 
tary: — 

This close prison is white without and foul within. The 
dungeon and several rooms very dirty. The bath is used as a 
vault. No allowance for mops, brooms and towels for the 
prisoners. 

Mr. Nield, following in the footsteps of the great 
philanthropist, thirty years later, says : — 

Two of the debtors' rooms had been then turned into free 
wards for poor debtors. The tenms-court was used as a drying 
ground ; it contained a pump of good water and a bath, which 
was seldom used. The men felons have two rooms, one 15 feet x 
13 feet, 7 feet 8 inches high, adjoining which is a sleeping room 
the same size, the only air admitted to which is through an iron- 
grated window in the day-room. The infirmaiy is reached by 
twelve steps up the court, 20 feet x 12 feet ; it is 18 feet x 12 feet 
6 inches and 7 feet 6 inches high, has glazed windows, a fireplace, 
and a small aperture in the door for a ventilator. The second 
room is 24 feet x 18 feet, 8 feet high, windows trebly iron-grated, 
two sleeping cells, 11 feet x 7 feet, with stone-arched roofs, a very 
small court, with an open sewer in it. The condemned room is 
18 feet X 13 feet, 9 feet high, with a double iron-grated window 
that looks into the felons' yard. The dungeon is described by 
Howard, but some benevolent gentlemen of the city occasionally 
senH a few rugs. When, in 1801, it was chiefly appropriated to 
prisoners under sentence of transportation, seventeen prisoners 
slept in this pit every night. The turnkey himself told me, 
that in the morning when he unlocked the door he was so 
affected by the putrid steam issuing from this dungeon that it was 
enough to knock him down. The female ward for felons was a 
room 42 feet x 24 feet, 6^ feet high. It serves the purpose of 
both a day and sleeping room. It overlooks the men's court, and 
once had four windows, two of which are now blocked up. 
(Palaces were exempt from window tax under Oeoige III., but 
the gaoler, strange to say, had to pay the tax on every window 
above the allotted number; no wonder that he considered four 
windows an unnecessary number.) There is in the room a sink, 
but no water is supplied, except what is ordered up by the keeper 
from below. There is no table of gaoler's fees, and the prison is 
too small for work ; really the present gaol is disgracefuL Salaries : 
Gaoler, Mr. Humphries, £200 ; £2 a year gown money. Fees for 
debtors : First action, 6«. 8d. ; second and every subiBequent one, 
3«. 4d, ; London action, 9s. For felons, IZs, 4d. Transports, £5 
each, when delivered at Portsmouth. Garnish abolished. Chap- 

lain, £35. Duty : Sermon every Sunday ; prayers, Wednesday 

and Friday. 

There was no employment in Newgate to break the monotony 

of confinement. 

There were legacies, £4 for thirteen sermons. 

Mr. and Mrs. Freenum, £5 for bread and beef on Christmas 

eve, and £3 6«. 8d. interest on £100 left by Mr. John Heydon. 
The churchwardens also paid yearly £4 2$, from R. Aldworth's 

legacy, of which sum the dehors had two-thirds and the felons the 

balance. 

Any person arrested by an action in the Tolzey court could at 

the next court day confess his debt, and at the first court after be 

chaiged in execution and claim subsistence money, sixpence per 

day from his creditor or supersedeas. 

Felons were compelled to attend divine service, but with 

debtors it was optional, and was not appreciated, seldom more 

than one-fourth being present. So little regard was paid to the 

service that drinking, chewing tobacco, and even smoking was 

carried on in the galleries. 



214 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1788. 



These particulars, as are also those which follow with 
reference to the Bridewell, are abstracted from a letter 
to Dr. Lettsom, of London, written by James Nield, on 
December 10th, 1807. 

The Bridewell was divided by the street that led to Monken 
bridge; the keeper's house was on one side (Central Police station) 
the ooDunon side was on the other. The criminals had a day-room 
on the master's side on the ground floor, five yards sqnare and ten 
feet high, and up stairs two rooms to which the master famished 
beds at 28, per night. 

The common side consisted of two parts separated by a court- 
yard, 50 feet X 15 feet, in which was a pump for hard water and 
a cistern for soft. The first part had on the right hand two cells, 
on the ground floor, for vagrants, 16 feet 6 inches x 6 feet 6 inches, 
each had an iron-grated window looking into the court, and a most 
offensive sewer in one comer. The sleeping-room above was large 
and airy» but the straw, when the xflftratof^saw it, was short, 
dirty, and almost worn to dust, there were no bedsteads or rugs. 
On the left hand was a room for persons incarcerated for non- 
payment of fines, 22 feet x 17 feet and 10 feet high, with an 
iron-grated window looking into the court, and a sewer in the 
comer, not offensive, being near to the river; up stairs was a 
sleeping-room of the same size. 

The second part, on the ground floor, consisted of two rooms, 
16 feet 6 inches x 6 feet 6 inches, with arched roof 9 feet high at 
the crown, an aperture in the walls one foot square, to admit light 
and air, and an iron grating over the door. 

The sewers opening into the Frome just outside were a high- 
way for rats, so that a cat had to be kept in each room at night 
to keep the vermin from gnawing the prisoner's feet.^ Over these 
cells was the infirmary, 22 feet x 17 feet, 10 feet high, with a fire 
place and a glazed window. On the left hand was the vagrant 
women's room, 18 feet x 16 feet, 10 feet high, with an iron-grated 
window towards the court, and over this was a sleeping-room the 
same size, the straw had to serve several sets of prisoners, and the 
condition of floor was perfectly indescribable. The court being 
out of sight from the master's house the priMners were not per- 
mitted to use it, the pump, or the cistern, save for a short time 
in the middle of the day, three times a week ; and when we leam 
that some of these poor wretches were imprisoned for three years 
and in irons, we may better imagine than describe the filthy state 
of these miserables. 

The fees were 3«. 6d,, for which the prisoners might be detained 
until the same was paid. The salary was £30 for the keeper, after- 
wards, when Thomas Evans became master, it was £50. He 
proved a more feeling keeper than his predecessors, Millward and 
Parsons ; he had the rats banished, the floors mended, the cells 
whitewashed, and both prison and prisoners kept clean. There 
was no salary for the surgeon, who was paid by bill. The allow- 
ance was a threepenny loaf as at Newgate. The prison was built 
in 1721, and the number of prisoners in December 17th, 1801, 
eight; in October 4th, 1803, sixteen; and on September 20th, 
1806, five. 

16. On February 20th, Mr. William Barrett, of 
WraxaU, near Bristol, issued his proposals for printing 
by subscription The HUtory and Antiquities of the City of 
Bristol, price one guinea and a half; half a guinea to 
be paid at the time of subscribing, the remainder on 
delivery of the book in boards. 

On June SOth was advertised the Bristol Tontine 
association, Ames, Cave and Co., bankers, treasurers; 



Nathaniel (Hfford, William Bulgin and Josiah Oreet- 
head, trustees, in shares of one shilling per week. Money 
to be placed out on Government securities, and equally 
divided, principal and interest, at the end of seven years 
between the surviving members, ratably and in propor- 
tion to their respective shares. Twenty-one directors 
chosen annually, who are to meet once a month. 
W. Jenkins, broker, and B. Bosser, printer, secretaries. 
On 20th December were issued the rules and by-laws 
for the Drawbridge : — 

1st. After 12th January next No loaded carriage of any des- 
cription whatsoever except coaches, landeans, chaises, phetons, 
and one-horse chaises or chain shall be permitted to pass over. 

2nd. Empty drays may pass, but not empty wagons, carts or 
trollies. 

3rd. That the persons appointed to keep or draw up the 
bridge give their constant attendance thereto. 

4th. That the said Drawbridge be drawn and kept up one 
whole day twice in the year. 

5th. A fine not exceeding 40/- for breach of rules. 

By order of the Matob, Aldirmbk and Common Council. 

From a broad-sheet, dated May 5th, 1789, we leam 
that in the year 1788 a eommittee was formed for 
making the quay one general floating dock, and one of 
the committee, whose fortune is stated to have been 
adequate to more than four times the expense of the 
scheme, offered to do the work and take the risk if he 
might have the profit. 

A notice was issued from the Council - house on 

December 19th, 1792, signed by Henry Bengough, 

mayor, and Bichard Bright, Master of the Society of 

Merchant Venturers, which states : — 

That at a meeting of the oonunittees of the Corporation and 
Society of Merchants, to whom the several plans for the improve- 
ment of the port have been referred, the advertisement signed 
Ames, HeUicar and Sons, lately inserted in the Bristol newspapers, 
convening a meeting at the " White Lion," in Broad street^ to- 
morrow, to open a subscription for making Canons* marsh into 
floating docks, and to throw a stone bridge over the river Frome, 
was read, and the same haviug been taken into consideration by 
the said committees, it was resolved [the substance of the resolu- 
tions was]. That the citizens be informed that plans are in progress 
which will be of far greater utility ; that only so much money 
should be raised as would pay the interest of the sums borrowed 
to carry on the work, and provide for a sinking fund to gradually 
extinguish the debt ; that the oonunittees think all such works 
should be for the sole benefit of the public, and that no individuals 
or private bodies of men should derive any emolument therefrom ; 
that the committees recommend the Corporation and the Society 
to oppose any scheme of private individuals, and request the 
citizens not to give it any support until they have the design com- 
municated to them which is now under consideration by the 
Coiporation and the Society of Merchant Venturers. 

Amongst other places suggested was one by Mr. 

Tombs, a ship builder, of Dean's marsh, which was as 

foUows : — 

To carry the water of the Frome by a cut 26 feet in width 
through St. Stephen's street and Baldwin street Ivy nearly its old 



A.i>. 1789. 



EXORCISM IN TEMPLE CHURCH. 



215 



DAtoral oonne into the Avon at the end of Bedeliff parade, thenoe 
to make a new ont for the combined riven through Bathorst 
basin to the Red clift, Rownham, by pointing gates at Rownham, 
Guinea street slip and Frome bridge to hold np the water enclosed 
as a floating harbour ; intermediate pointing gates to be fixed at 
limekiln dock, Blanning's dock, and the mouth of the Quay, to 
form different chambers for safety and for scouring. By this plan 
he considered most of the sewers would discharge into the tidal 
river, and the whole of the coasting craft might at their option 
either lie always afloat, or as beforetime rise and ground with the 
tides in the Avon. The estimated cost was £130,000. The plan 
is dated. Canons' marsh dockyard, March 20, 1792. 

17. On Idth June, 1788, was performed in Temple 
chureli a most extraordinary instance of exorcism on 
Gfeorge Lnkins, of Yatton, Somersetshire, which be- 
came not only the cause of much conversation, but also 
employed the pens of many writers, most of whom 
endeavoured to prove LuMns to be an impostor ; whilst 
on the other hand those who were of the Bev. John 
Wesley's persuasion asserted it to be a miraculous inter- 
ference of Divine providence in delivering this wretched 
demoniac from the power of Satan, under whose baneful 
influence he had been afflicted nearly eighteen years. 
Their abbreviated narrative is as follows : — 

On Saturday, Slst of May, 1788, Mrs. Sarah Barber, of 
Yatton, called on the Rev. Mr. Easterbrook, vicar of Temple, 
acquainting him " she had seen a poor man afflicted with a most 
extraordinary malady, who when in fits would sing and scream in 
various sounds, scarcely human, and which fits to her knowledge 
he had been troubled with for near eighteen years. He had tried 
several medical gentlemen, but in vain. That the people of Yatton 
oonceived him to be bewitched ; that he himself declared he was 
possessed of seven devils, and that nothing could relieve him but 
the united prayers of seven clergymen who could ask deliverance 
for him in faith. 

Accordingly, on Friday morning, 13th June, 1788, the Rev. 
Mr. Easterbrook, and six other ministers in connection with the 
Rev. John Wesley, and many others, attended the poor man in the 
vestry room in Temple church. When they began singing hymns 
the man was immediately thrown into violent agitations, his face 
violently distorted, and his whole body strangely convulsed. 
Sometimes he would speak in a deep, hoarse, hollow tone, person- 
ating an invisible agent, at other times horribly blaspheme in his 
natural or a female voioe^ then again sing or laugh in various 
voices and pronounce himself to be the great detiL While the 
ministers were engaged in fervent prayer he sang a Te Deum to 
the devil in different voices, saying : ** We praise thee, Devil, 
we acknowledge thee to be the supreme governor,'* ftc. A clergy- 
man present desired him to speak the name of Jesus, and several 
times repeated it to him, at all of which he as often repeated 
''devil.'* During this attempt a small, faint voice was heard 
saying, ** Why don't you abjure t " on which the clergymen com- 
manded in the name of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost the evil 
spirit to depart from the man, when a voice was heard to say, 
" Must I give up my power T " and this was followed by dreadful 
bowlings. Soon after this another voice, as with astonishment, 
said, ** (hir master has deceived us 1 " The clergymen still con- 
tinuing to repeat the aJbjunUion a voice was heard to say, " Where 
shall we go T " And the reply was, " to hell, and return no more 
to torment this man." His distortions were then stronger than 
ever, attended still with dreadful bowlings, but as soon as this 



oonfliot was over he said in his own natural voice, "Blessed 
Jesus." He then immediately praised God for his deliverance, 
and kneeling down said the Lord's Prayer, and returned his thanks 
to all who were present. The meeting broke up a little before one 
o'clock, having lasted nearly two hours, and the man went away 
entirely delivered, and had no return of his disorder. ^ 

LuMns was a common carrier, a singer, actor of 

Christmas mummeries, a ventriloquist, and was it would 

appear a victim of epilepsy. He was taken several 

times to Temple church, where finally in one great 

struggle between the powers of evil and of prayer, 

which lasted for two hours, victoiy declared itself on 

the side of the vicar and his assistants. A fierce, bitter, 

personal polemical warfare ensued, Mr. Norman, a 

surgeon of Yatton, leading the assault, and showering 

unsparing ridicule on the transaction, the actors therein, 

and the man who had he considered made them his dupes. 

But whether Lukins was epileptic, impostor or demoniac, 

it appears on good authority that from that hour the fits 

left him, and he led a sober Christian life thenceforth, 

being, in 1798, a respected member of the Wealeyan 

society in Bristol. 

'' Lo, Lukins comes, and with him comes a train 
Of Parsons famous for a lack of brain : 
With owl-like faces, and with raven coats. 
Their solemn step their solemn task denotes. 
By exorcising, prayers and rebukings. 
To drive seven sturdy devils out of Lukins." 

BrUtol^ a satire, by LovelL 

The foimdation stone of St. Paul's church was laid 
on April 23rd, 1 789, by Levi Ames, mayor. St. Thomas' 
church was taken down for re-building except the tower, 
which, Evans says, was, in 1825, still shorn of one of 
its pinnacles. Mr. Shiercliffe published his first edition 
of the Brutal and Sbttcell Guide, Benjamin Donne pub- 
lished, by authority, his map of Bristol. The number 
of hackney coaches was now increased to thirty, and the 
corporation fixed the stands in the streets at which they 
were to ply for lure. 

In 1789 there were five Banking companies in 
Bristol. Old Bristol Bank, Clare street : Messrs. Tyn- 
daU, Elton, Edwards, GKllam and Edye. Com street 
Bank : Messrs. Yaughans, Baker, Smith, Hole and Davis. 
Exchange Bank: Messrs. Worrall and Blatchley. Bristol 
Bank, Small street: Messrs. Deane, Whitehead, Harford, 
Son, and Aldridge. Bristol Bank, 15 Com street: Messrs. 
Ames, Cave, Harford, Daubeny and Bright, who had 
removed thither from Small street the previous year. 

18. On January 7th, 1790, a market for tanned 
leather was established at the Back hall, to be thence- 
forth continued weekly. Till the beginning of this year 
inhabitants were allowed to send for the water of the 
Hotwell gratis, but on Mr. Powell's renting the spring 

^ Bristol Tracts. 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



he made a cliarge of threepenoe for erery viokered 
botUeful. Visitors had also given an optional gratuit;, 
bat now a regiilar cha^e was made of one guinea for 
the first month, and 5*. for the servant, andhalf-a- 
guinea each succeeding month, with 2». Sd. for the 
Berrant. Payment to be made on drinldiig the first 
glass of the water. 

On February 23rd Biohard Bright, John Harris, 
John Savery and John Butler were delegates from the 
Dissenting congregationB in Bristol, Qlouoestershire and 
Somerset, to act in concert with the General committee 
in London for procuring the repeal of the Corporation 
and Test Acts. 

A little Bodety of poor men, mostly followers of the 
Bev. John Wesley, had been founded in Bristol in 
September, 1786. Each member agreed to pay one 



penny per 



week, in order to raise a fund to relieve 



strangers who had neither habitation, clothes, food, nor 
friends. Five hundred and ten poor distressed persons 
were relieved in 1790, and received in various propor- 
tions £64 ISt. lid. Balance in society box, £1. Two 
hundred and fifty-four persons were also visited, but 
were found not to want any relief. 

In May, 1790, a subscription was opened for insti- 
tuting a Magdalen hospital in or near the city, and on 
the I6th a conmiittee of the subscribers was formed at 
the Quildhall. A house was taken at Hook's Mills, and 
on Sunday, February 27th, 1791, the first public service 
was taken by Dr. Small in the committee-room. Twenty- 
three penitents in the house were hidden from the gaze 
of the gener&l congregation by a silk curtain. The first 
stone of the new chapel was laid on the 1 9th July, 1 791 ; 
Dr. Small officiated. 

Dp to this date the only entrance to Bristol vid Temple 
street was through Tucker street, a narrow, crooked, 
dirty lane, one angle of which still remuns; but this 
year Bath street was built, and many other streets in 
the city were widened and improved, the corporation 
having ordered that all bulks, steps, or other projections 
on the footway should be removed, and that at the 
comer of each street or avenue there should be affixed 
a painted board, having in black letters on a white 
ground the respective names. At the end of Tucker 
street was the "Fourteen Stars" tavern, Counterslip, 
which was a favourable resort of the Guinea captains 
on their return from the Coast. This was one of the 
houses which Olarkson visited frequently in order to 
obtain evidence that should aid him in his humane 
efforts to abolish the slave trade. 

November 8th, John Dawes Worgan, poet, was bom ; 
he died July 2Bth, 1809. Bichard Smith, sen., surgeon, 
and the Bev. Caleb Evans died this year. The Bev. 



John CoUineon, F.S.A., of Long Ashton, pnblished his 
Sittory of Somerut. 

19. In 1792, on Wednesday, I2th December, at a 
common council h^ in St. George's chapel, a seriea 
of resolutions were passed unanimously, the first and 
second expressive of loyalty to the king and constitution 
and the determination of the oouncil to uphold the laws 
of the realm ; the third stating their intention to detect 
and bring to justice all authors, pubhshers and distribu- 
tors of seditious writings, to suppress all tumults and 
riots, and to bring to justice all disturbers of public 
tranquillity; the fourth called on all good citiEens to 
co-operate with the magistrates to accomplish this salu- 
tary end ; and the last ordered the said resolutions to be 



T*» "FDHrtem Sean" Tartnt. 

printed in the public papers of this city, of the adja- 
cent counties, and also in the Star, St. Jamtt' Ckronieh, 
and the Otneral ^mittg Peit. 

Sion ipring, Clifton, 246 feet deep, opened by Mr. Morg&n. 
TraahMn'B ptinting of Chriat r«ising the Danghter of Jftinu 
presented to Redclifl' church hj Sir Clifton Wiatringhun, bart. 
With this the 33rd year of Geo. III. tenmnAt«d the printing of 
Act* of Porliunent in BUck Letter, or Old Englioh, type. It 
■hoald be known that none of previona date, except tnoh aa were 
M printed, can be given in evidence ■■ law. Jamea Morgan, 
mayor ; William Qibbooa and Joaepb Oregoiy Harris, aberiffaL 
In this mayoralty eomni«Dced the observance of Good Friday by 
closed abopa, < 

In 1793 the wife of Bichard Brinsley Sheridan (ni« 
■ Evans, 298. 



▲.D. 1793. 



BRISTOL BRIDGE RIOTS. 



217 



linlej), of Bath, died at the HotwellB. Her remains 
were interred in the cathedral of Wells on July 7th. 

On December 10th a duel was fought in a field near 
the " Montague " tayem, between Lieutenant Brown, of 
the 54th regiment, and Ensign McDavid, of Captain 
Sharp's Independent Company of foot. Both fired 
without effect; at the second shot Lieutenant Brown was 
wounded in the knee. The cause was a dispute at the 
theatre. MoDavid was a silk mercer in High street. 

Henry Oruger declined to contest Bristol in the elec- 
tion that was about to take place, and, leaving this 
country on the 8th of April in the ship Bristol, settled 
in New York. He aehieved renown in 1774, when, 
having to follow his colleague, Edmund Burke, he 
attempted no oratoiy of his own, but was content to 
say, **1 say ditto to Mr. Burke.'' Later on in the 
American episode he left Burke in the rear, and de- 
clared that ''America was independent, will be inde- 
pendent, and ought to be independent." 

20. The Bristol bridge riots of 1793 form another 
blot on the escutcheon of the city. Some persons in 
authority appear to have blundered in their calculations, 
and sought to stretch an Act of Parliament so as to make 
it cover the error, and then, with a wrong-headedness 
which it is lamentable to contemplate, resorted to force 
in order to accomplish their end. The Act authorised 
the Bridge commissioners to collect a surplus sum of 
£2,000 for preserving the bridge in repair. The com- 
missioners, it appears, as the conclusion of their term 
drew near, thought this sum insufficient, and, without 
seeking further powers, determined, on the expiration 
of the lease, in September, 1793, to re-let the tolls for 
another year. Aware of this determination, a respectable 
body of individuals representing the people purchased 
by subscription of the lessee of the bridge, Mr. Hiscoz, 
the last nine days of the current lease, and at once threw 
the bridge open. The public, we conceive, had an un- 
doubted right to be satisfied by the commissioners that 
their conduct was legal, and, in order to test its ille- 
galiiy, to refuse payment of the toll. They had been 
informed, when the tolls were last let, that the bridge 
debt would be discharged in September, 1793, and that 
the letting of 1792 was the last occasion upon which the 
said tolls would be offered. 

In 1792, Mr. Seyer, the broker, declared, ''This will be the 
only opportunity any person wonld have of bidding for them, as 
no tolls would be collected after the 29th September, 1793." Mr. 
W. Harris and Mr. Symons ** both declared to me that I certainly 
should be the last person that would collect the tolls ; " they also 
produced the bridge account, on which I observed ** you will have 
nearji £3,000 in hand." Mr. Harris replied, "We shall have 
enov^ to defray every expense of keeping the bridge in repair." ^ 

* From a handbill issued by Abraham Hisoox. 
(Vol, IDL] 



Hiscoz was the bridge hirer and collector until after 
the commissioners had advertised the tolls to be let for 
another year, from September 29th, 1793, when he was 
bitterly abused by the public, and got no remedy from 
the magistrates. Nine days before the expiration of his 
term, on being applied to by a respectable body of 
citizens to relinquish his right of collecting toll on re- 
ceiving an adequate consideration, he at once consented. 
This was done under the impression that if the toll were 
uncollected for nine days the bridge would become 
legally free. On September 19th, amidst joyous shout- 
ings, the people thronged over without paying. The 
gates were the property of the lessor of the tolls, and 
some foolish fellows cut them down and burned them ; 
they then proceeded to an act of greater madness by 
pulling down and burning the table of tolls which was 
at that time a capital offence. The trustees offered on the 
next day a reward of fifty g^uineas for the discoTery of 
the offenders; they also stated that there were liabilities 
of £2,500 still against the bridge, whilst the other side 
asserted that the corporation had sufficient funds to cover 
all liabilities if the same were properly applied. No 
steps were taken to reconcile these differing statements, 
no offer of submitting the trustees' accounts for scrutiny; 
but relying on the strong hand, whilst the renter's term 
was as yet unexpired, they, on Saturday, September 
28th, set up other gates. Mischief was brewing, it was 
Saturday night; many men were the worse for beer, 
others were soon made so; the faggots on the Welsh 
back lay handy, the sleepy ^^charlies" looked com- 
placently on as a mob gathered, and from the wood- 
stacks carried and piled combustibles against the new 
gates, which were soon burned. Hundreds of curious 
passengers became on -lookers at the bonfire; they 
were increased into a multitude, when the magistrates, 
attended by a party of the Herefordshire militia, marched 
up to take possession of the expiring embers. These 
innocent arrivals were gathered round the authorities 
to leam what new steps would be taken, when from out- 
side the circle came volleys of stones aimed at the imlitaiy 
and the civic authorities. The Biot Act was read, but was 
unheard in the mSUe; the military fired over the people's 
heads, and the assemblage then dispersed. The next 
day, being Sunday, the tolls were again attempted to be 
taken, and continual strife arose as each vehicle drew 
up to the toll-houses, the mob ordering the driver not to 
pay, whilst the newly-appointed collectors demanded the 
toll, and to the best of their means refused a passage to 
defaulters. The aid of the constables not being sufficient 
the magistrates sent for the military, overawed by the 
presence of whom the populace ceased their contention 
for a while ; as night fell the carriages were allowed to 

H 4 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



pftBB toll fm, and again the mob dlBpened and tlie 
soldiwfi went to their billets. " Sunday evening at nine 
o'dook," says one narrator, " & pistol was fired on tbe 
eastern footpatb wbile tbe guard was taking possession 
of it, without anj apparent effect, but a joumeTman tiler 
and plasterar named John Abbott, on reaching his home 
in Temple street, diaoorered that he had been wounded. 
He died on the Sunday following." Two thousand 
haod-biUa were tlien issued by the civic authorities 
warning the people not to appear in the streets as the 
military had orders to fire in case of any tumult. On 
Monday morning, September 30th, the strife was re- 
oommraoed as the vehicles entered the city. Finally at 
eleven o'dock, the Biot Act was three times read, the 
people were ordered to .disperse within one hour, with 
intimations of a fatal result if more than twelve persons 
should appear together in a group. But inasmuch as the 
apeakers, in the opinion of the populace, were the law- 



breakers by infflstiag on the unjust payment of a toll, 
but little heed was paid to their threats. Early in the 
afternoon the magistrates returned to assiBt the collectors, 
and the work went on amidst a great deal of chaff and 
banter ; then the military were again sent for, and from 
three to six the toll was collected literally at the point of 
the sword. Boon after this the magistrates, oonstables 
and soldiws retired for the night, as was supposed, 
upon which some mischievous boys fetched faggots bom 
the Welsh back and made a bonfire at the bridge end ; 
finding no interference from the peace officers they burst 
the toll-house doors, brought out the furniture and all 
that was inflammable and threw it upon the fire (the toll- 
houses were of stone). Then an officer with eight men 
marched up and the fire was put out, but being assailed 
with missiles, and having no orders to fire, he and his 
men had to retreat precipitately. Then the drums beat 
to arms and the people followed the sound, many of them 
keeping, as they thought, at a safe distance from the 
scene of conflict. Some of these were females, a few 



with babes in their arms, whilst fathers actually hoisted 
their children on their shoulders to see the sight. At a 
quarter past eight there marched down High street a 
large party of soldiers with some magiatrates who en- 
deavoured to dear the bridge. Oyster shells and other 
missiles being thrown at them from the Welsh back and 
Baldwin street, some of the military were struck down ; 
enraged, they faced about, and the front rank fired ap 
High street, the mob instantly fell back and jammed 
up every street ; the angry soldiers, it is said, left 
their ranks in order to single out individuals, whilst 
others of them kept a desultory fire up every street that 
radiated from the bridge. This fo^llade was utterly 
unexpected, nine hours had elapsed since the Biot Act 
had been read, the on-lookers supposed that at least 
there would be sufficient notice to allow of retreat. Nor 
were those safe who bad kept at a distance, one shot 
entered the house at the comer of Wine street and 
passed through the headboard of the bedstead. Elev^k 
persons — whose names are here given — were killed and 
about fifty wounded. 

John Abbott, Junee Howall, Jsmca Bannet, 

William HorgkD, William Powell, Ismo Davia, 

Honiplmy Lewis, John Jodgs, Gliubeth Kegan. 

William Aldridge, Anthony Gill, 

From advertisements in the papers we find that it 
was John Thomas, William Elton, Matthew Wright, and 
John Bally who took an assignment of Mr. Wintour 
Harris' lease of the toUs from the Ist of October. 

The following is the justifioation of the ooiporation 
and Bridge commissioners, taken from a broadsheet 
issued October let, 1793, by order of the mayor and 
aldermen, signed Worrall, town clerk. 

Yesterday, at 9 a.m., the toU-gatheren attended to receive 
the toll for the Bridge commiMiouen, Mr. Harrii, the lenee, 
having given np the leaoe for one year whioh he had takan, Thqr 
met with intemptioD, many peraoiu farcing their way and ra- 
fiuing to pay. The eonctablea were lent to aid, and one of tha 
magiitratM attended at 10.30. Some of thoae who attempted to 
force their way were taken into cnitody and oommitted to the 
Bridewell. On their way thither attempt! at reacne wera mada 
by a mob. Thii oauaed the mi^sttatea to read the Biot Act 
three timet, the last reading being ai the dock struck eleven, 
Mr. Symoni, the clerk to the tnagiatrates, addreued the mnlti- 
tade, and promiBed that the Bridge acoonnta ahonld be immedi- 
ately printed and dispened through the city, and that the toll 
fibonld cease oa eoon aa the earn authorised by the Act ahonld 
have been realised. 

The people were then given one hoar in wbiob to disperac^ 
being aaanred that at twelve o'clock the civil power wonid en- 
force the taw. 

At the appointed time the magiatiate* returned and fonnd the 
mob largely increased and determined to free the bridge. A de- 
tacHment of military wal then ordered down ; they were drawn 
np in two linea on the bridge, where tbey remained nutil 6M, 
Several magiatratea attended, relieving each other at intarvaU, 



A.i>. 1794. 



TRIAL OF PERRY FOR ABDUCTION. 



219 



to aasift the toll oolleoton until the aboTO-named hour, at which 
time, being apprehensive of violence, they prevailed on the Bridge 
oonuniaaionerB to shut np the toll-honses. The military were then 
withdrawn, the poets and chains were removed, and the magistrates 
returned in the rear of the soldiers to the Council-house. Within 
half an hour they learned that the mob was burning the toll- 
houses. The military were again sent for ; meanwhile an officer, 
who with a few soldiers had remained in the guard-house, pro- 
ceeded to the bridge and attempted to disperse the mob, but the 
party was obliged to return, the officer having been wounded by 
missiles in two places. Soon after the military arrived, when the 
mayor, &ye aldermen, one of the sheriflfs, and the peace officers, 
preceded them to the bridge and oonmumded the mob to disperse. 
They were pelted with stones, oyster shells, &c, when the magis- 
trates ordered the military to do their duty ; when the front rank 
fired they were assailed by a shower of stones, &c., from a larger 
mob that had closed in upon their rear, upon which the soldiers 
faced about and fired up High street, killing some and wounding 
others — some of whom were doubtless innocent of evil, but very 
indiscreet, inasmuch as due warning had been given by printed 
handbills that the Riot Act had been read, and that the military 
would be directed to fire if the mob did not disperse. 

On the drd October another handbill was issued, 
signed Worrall, town derk, in which the magistrates 
call upon fathers not to let their children be loitering 
in the streets, masters to command their servants, trades- 
men and manufacturers to exhort their labourers to 
pass quietly and nqt to join the rioters and disorderly in 
abusing, throwing dirt, or otherwise insulting the mili* 
tary, who haye only done their duty. They call on all 
good citizens to assist the peace ofiicers in apprehending 
any disturbers of the public peace, who will be dealt by 
with the utmost severity of the law. Dr. Long Fox, an 
eminent physician, endeavoured to obtain a meeting for 
enquiry into all the circumstances, and so to bring the 
matter before parliament, but, owing to the opposition 
of the parties in power, he could not obtain the use of 
any large room in the city. 

21 . On September 15th, 1794, John Fisher Weare was 
chosen as mayor, but he declined to serve ; on the 2nd 
of October following Joseph Harford was chosen, but 
he also declined to serve; finally, on the 20th of that 
month, Joseph Smith was chosen and was immediately 
sworn in. 

Tontines were now the rage. We find in the Mireury 
advertisements for one in Great George street, another 
in King's parade, and a third in Boyal York crescent. 
The local literature was chiefly occupied with articles on 
the late riot. Much of it was in the form of parodies 
on parts of the Old Testament, the Litany, Te Deum, &c. 
In May, the Loyal Bristol regiment of 654 men was 
raised by the city, and presented to Lord Charles Somer- 
set. In January, a stone coffin containing a skeleton 
was dug up in a garden on Barton hill. 

Joseph Bomaine Thorn, a somewhat voluminous 
writer of what would now be deemed very poor poetry, 



flourished at this time. A canal fever had set in, a 
mania similar to that which filled the country with rail- 
road speculators in 1848. One of Thorn's pieces. The 
mad gaUop to Devtaes, is a satire on {his. Other pieces he 
wrote were J^tirefnent, CUto and Delta, Christmas, Brit- 
toUa, Lord Howe triumphant, The Poor Boy. He was 
severely and deservedly satirised by Lovell. 

On the 29th June, St. Paul's church, Portland 
square was opened. The vicar. Dr. Small, was his own 
architect; the result may be seen. It is probably a 
unique specimen. 

In Stapleton prison on March 15th, 1794, there were 
confined 1031 French prisoners, of whom 75 were in 
hospital. The prison was enclosed by high walls, on 
which at convenient distances there were erected sentry 
boxes, in each of which a pair of sentinels f adng op- 
posite ways was always on duty. 

22. On the 14th of Apnl, 1794, before Sir Ticary 
(Hbbs, recorder, there occurred one of those eauwe oiUhrei 
which ever and anon crop up, and leave their mark in 
the legal decisions of our courts of law. 

Bichard Vining Perry, a young siugeon of respectable family 
and good standing, was put npon trial for his life for abducting 
and marrying Clementina derke, a young lady fourteen years and 
eleven months of age, from the school at Bristol kept by Miss 
Mills, the successor of Miss Hannah More, and the future mother 
of Lord Macaulay. Miss Gierke was the daughter of a shoemaker 
at Ban£^ in Scotland, whose wife was sister to a Mr. Ogilvie, 
who beginning life as a mason, afterwards amassed a large fortune 
in Jamaica, returned to this country, placed his niece at the above 
school and at his death on January 23, 1791, devised the whole of 
his property, with the exception of two annuities of small amount, 
to her. Miss Gierke was a b&utiful, but as may be surmised very 
precocious young lady. She appears to have only known Perry a 
month ; he had met and bowed to her twice whilst she was walking 
on the downs with her schoolfellows ; she had received two notes 
from him and was quite willing to elope. Betty Baker, a servant in 
the school, was the go-between. She, on the 18th of March, 1791, 
went out on an errand and did not return. On the 19th, a chaise 
came to the school, and a note was delivered by a servant in livery 
to Miss Mills professing to be written by Mr. Gordon, Miss 
Gierke's guardian. "William Gordon's compliments to Miss 
Mills, requests she will send Miss Gierke in his chaLse to his 
house, as a relation of hers is just arrived and wishes to see her.** 
Miss Gierke manifested no agitation, she even, as a blind, asked 
Miss Mills to accompany her, which that lady declined. Miss 
Gierke left the chaise in Infirmary street, near to Mr. Perry's 
house, where she joined Betty Baker. A poet-chaise and four was 
in waiting at Stokes' Croft turnpike ; Miss Gierke, Mr. Perry, his 
friend Mr. Baynton, and Betty Baker got in and set off for 
Newport, thence ma Gloucester to Gretna Green, where the 
defendant and nominal plaintiff were married. Miss Mills, ac- 
companied by her brother and Mr. Weeks of the *< Bush" tavern, 
set off in pursuit, and met the happy couple on a Cumberland 
common. Perry would not allow them to speak to his wife, but 
at once took her on the continent. The prosecutor would not call 
Mrs. Perry; but the defendant put her in as a witness, when she 
deposed tiiat the whole plan was pre-arranged, that she went 
voluntarily knowing that she was to be married at Gretna, and 



220 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



juJk 1791. 



that Bhe was perfectly satisfied and never for one moment wished 
to leave her husband. Verdict, not goilty. The goildhall for 
half-an-honr resounded with the shouts of the people. 

In 1794 The Moek Volunteer $ was published. It is a 
poetical satire, directed, the author says, ''not against 
those who haye aotuall j come forward in support of our 
king and constitution, but a set of persons who, from a 
desire to obtain the name of soldiers without experiencing 
the trouble and danger necessary to deserve it, haye pre- 
sumed to form themselyes into a kind of miUUiry auma- 
turn, without the sanction of Ooyemment or of the magis- 
trates." The lines haye merit and point, and from them 
we leam that whilst the yolunteers were exercising in 
Tyndall's park, a watchman, set to guard certain building 
materials, mistaking them for robbers, fired a blunder- 
buss and put them instantly to the rout. From its style 
we judge the author to haye been Thistlethwaite. 

23. On the suspension of cash payments by the Bank 
of England, by order of the privy cotmcil, on the 26th 
February, 1795, a meeting was called in Bristol, at the 
Mansion house, by Mr. J. Harvey, the mayor, on the 
27th, at which the said order was read; and it was 
unanimously resolved — 

In order to prevent any inconvenience that may result to the 
community, and to preserve public confidence in this emergency, 
that we will accept, and we earnestly recommend our fellow- 
citizens to take in payment, " the promiawry notes ^ the several 
bankers in this cUy" in lieu of cash ; and we recommend to the 
several bankers that they do not make any payments in specie, 
nor demand specie for any bills in their bauds from any person 
who shall tender " Bristol " or "Bank qf England " notes to the 
amount of such bills ; and that this resolution shall be in force 
until the sense of Parliament on the subject shall be known. 

James Ha&vkt, Cfhairman, 



Mr. Mayor, 
Jno. Pinney, 
Thos. Tyndill, 
Jas. Tobin, 
Rich. Vaughan, 
Benj. Baugh, 
Ph. Miles, jun., 
Wm. Gibbons, 
Jas. Whitehead, 
J. I. Baker, 
John Lowder, 
Saml. Edwards, 
Henry Tobin, 
Jno. Cave, 
Jos. Harford, 
Jno. Daniel, 
R. Bruce, 
D. Wait, jun., 
Wm. Clayfield, 
A. Pinney, 
J. Ambrose, 
Jno. Morgan, 
R. H Davis, 
Jas. Harford, 



G. Gibbs, 
W. Holder, 
Saml. New, 
Rd. Bright, 
M. Harford, 
L. Ames, 
M. Castle, 
Hellicar and Sons, 
Ph. EUiott, 
Thos. Fielding, 
Jos. Hall, 
Thos. Cole, 
Jos. Smith, 
Simon Oliver, 
Joel Gardiner, 
Ireland, Wright, 

and Co., 
Clayfield and Sons, 
Jno. Noble, 
RBsillie, 
S. Worrall, 
Jos. Edye, 
Wm. Skinner, 



Geo. Daubeny, 

Robt. Claxton, 

P. Protheroe, 

Ed. Protheroe, 

J. Morgan and Co., 

Lewis Corser and Co., 

D. Wait and Sons 

S. Fripp and Co., 

Lowbridge and Rd. Bright, 

Wm. Fripp, 

Ball, Davis, Vanderhorst 

and Co., 
Tobin, Pinney and Tobin, 
Vaughans, Baugh and Co., 
Wm. Miles and Son, 
Wm. Gibbons and Co., 
J. I. Baker and Co., 
Edwardi^ Bown and Ed- 
wards, 
John Cave and Co., 
Harvey, Wason and Co., 
T. Daniel and Sons, 
Harfords, ft Brass Compy. 



I 



On October 29th the dty was yisited by the highest 
flood in the memory of man ; there was a spring tide 
and a high westerly wind. Soon after eight o'clock the 
Quay became impassable^ together with the communica- 
tion between Glare street and the Drawbridge. Broad- 
mead, St. James' back, Old King street, Ac., were 
almost entirely tmder water to a considerable depth; 
it flowed nearly up to Baldwin street. 

In 1795 the Asylum for Orphan Girls estabtished at Hooke's 
mills, and the chapel opened ; St Peter^s church repaired ; the 
new pump-room of Sion spring opened. James Harvey, mayor ; 
David Evans and John Wilcox, sheriffs.^ 

There was an election in 1796, at which five candi- 
dates came to the poll. Amongst the reasons given why 
Lord Sheffield should not be supported in Bristol are 
his support of a Com bill, of a Qsol bill, his opposi- 
tion to the Kenneth and Avon canal, from Bath to 
Bristol, and his support of a motion to limit the number 
of African ships to those already employed in the trade, 
'' on which it may be observed that there is not a single 
trading ship in the Floating dock — one old hulk only." 
The Whigs brought forward Mr. Benjamin Hobhouse 
in opposition to him. The Toiy "White lion" dub 
nominated Mr. Charles Bragge. Mr. David Lewis, an 
uneducated but spirited tradesman of Bristol, started as 
a poor man's candidate, and Mr. Thomas was also nomi- 
nated. This was one of the smartest elections of days 
of yore in the production of squibs and wall literature. 
Hobhouse, who started too late, had his name linked 
with that of Tom Paine, greatly to his prejudice. The 
Blues coalesced with the old Whigs and supported 
Sheffield. 

24. <<In danger ready!" the now familiar motto of 
our yolunteers, was adopted in 1797, when a loyal 
address to the king having been passed, it was deter- 
mined that Bristol should act as well as speak ; accord- 
ingly, on February 17th, a troop of Yeomanry Cayalry 
was raised. The officers were Captain W. B. Elwyn, 
Lieutenant B. Baugh, Comet Mark Harford, Sergeant 
Edward James, Corporal John Weeks (landlord of the 
''Bush") and Trumpeter Bichard Parry. They num- 
bered fifl^ persons. On the 18th, at a public meeting 
in the Ghiildhall, Evan BailHe in the chair, resolutions 
were adopted for the formation of a proposed coips 
of infantry, who were to serye without pay or emolu- 
ment. The mayor was appointed honorary colonel; the 
colonel was Evan Baillie; the lieutenant-colonel, Wil- 
liam (jh)re; Thomas Kington and Thomas Haynes, 
majors. The mayor, Mr. J. Haryey, forwarded the 
address and resolutions to the Ooyemment, and grati- 
fying replies were receiyed from the Duke of Portland 

^ Bvsos, aoi~2. 



. 1797. YEOMANRY AND VOLUNTEER FORCES RAISED IN BRISTOL. 



on Marcli 6th, and from Earl Berkeley, the lord liea* 
tenant, on March ISth. The re^ment wa» forthwith 
formed, duly drilled, and consisted of ten oompauies. 

Evan Bftillie (Pwk row), oolonel; William Oore (Briiliogton), 
llioinu Tyndall (Fort), lieatemuit'Colonel* ; Thomu Kington 
(Clifton), ThoniM EhynM (Cartls green), nujon ; Stephen Cave 
(Bnuuwick Bqnire), qoarter-maater. 

Grkhadixb Comfaxt. — Gabriel Gioldiief (Clifton), captain; 
Geoiga EiUhonn (Qneen's parade), Uentecant ; G. W. Bnuken- 
ridge (Bedoliff parade), lecond lientenant; William Haaaell (Panl 
(treet, Portland aqnare), third lieutenant. 

FntST CoKFANT,' — 8. L. Harford (Zion place, Clifton), cap- 
tain ; J«nie» Evan Bajllie (Park row), flnt lientenant ; John 
Barrow (Uni^ateeet},aecondlienteiuuit; Andrew Smith (Berkeley 
plaoe), ensign. 

SicoKD COMPiBT, — E. Vanghwi, jnn. (Berkeley eqnare), 
captun i Richard Prescott (BrialingtoD), fint lieutenant ; Thomoa 
Salmon (Old Market), aeoond lieatenant ; Frederick Danbeny 
(B«dland), ensign. - 

Tman CoiiFAifr.' — Thomas Cole (Brislington), captain ; R. 
Hontagne, jnn. (Park row), &r«t lieutenant; Thomas Protheroe 
(Leigh), seeond lieatenant ; James Morgan (Great George street), 

FouxTH CoKPART. — Kobert Bnsh (CoUc^ green), oaptaln ; 
J. J. Biddle (Portland square), flnt lieutenant ; Edward R. Clay- 
field (Qreat George street), second lieutenant; Rgbert Bush, jnn. 
(Baldwin street), eniign. 

FiTTB CoMrANY.— Charles Payne (Qneen's parade), captain ; 
George B*x*ter(Montague parade), first lieutenant; James Pahuer, 
second lientenant ; Jamea W. Chadwtck (Ashton), ensign. 

SiZTB COHFANT. — A. P. Collingi (Cotham), capbun; Joseph 
Hall (Mary-le-port itreet), fint lientensnt ; Sir E. Protheroe, knt., 
second lieutenant ; Stephen Honley (Cotham), ensign. (This 
company was often called the Cnstom-honse oompany.) 

SsTnHm CoMrAHT. — Peter Baillis (Berkeley sqnare), captain; 
George Oibha (Bedland), first lieutenant; William Jacques (Upper 
Baston), second lieutenant; John Beamea (College green), ensign 
(afterwards a celebrated Chancery barrister). 

ElOHTH CoKTAirr. — John Gordon (Clerehill), captain; Lionel 
OliTer (Trinity street], first lientenant; William Ferry (Shire- 
hampbm), second lientenant; Samnel C. Edwards (Bedcliff street), 

LioHT iHTAKTitr. — John Haytborae (Barton hill), captain ; 
Henry IL Llewellyn (High street), first lientenant ; Charlee Oresley 
(Qneeo sqnare), second lieatenant ; Samuel Whitchnroh (back of 
Park row), third lientenant. 

Bbistol ijaHT HoBsi VoLDirnBBs. 

F1B8T TaooF.— Biohard Peareall (Clifton), captain; John 
Tanghan (St. Michael's hiU), lieutenant; D. Baynton (Old Market 
street) comet ; William Clarke, qnartermsster. 

Sicoim Tboop. — Levi Ames (Berkeley square), c^itain ; J, 
Wedgwood (Cote), lieutenant ; Charles Harvey (Park atreet), 
comet ; William Paiaona (Brislington), qnartermsster ; Samnel 
Simmona Salmon (St. Augustine's place), surgeon. 

We believe the only active serrioe eeen by these 
patriots oonsisted in mounting; guard over the French 
prisonon, in order to relieve the regulars who, on the 
tidings that the Frenoh had landed at Fishguard, were 
immediately marched off into Wales. There were no 
aims ready for the Tolunteers, but a substitute was 
found, all the mopBtioks in the city being bought up 



and turned Into pikes vith iron 
headfi, which proved thoroughly 
effective in restraining the 
priooners from making any at- 
tempt to regain their liberty. 
Ab a further securi^ it was pro- 
posed that the 2,000 prisoners 
should all be lowered into the 
coalpits of the neighbourhood; 
this, we need scarcely say, was 
not done, but the Bristol volun- 
teers continued their servicea, 
and, after being armed, for a 
considerable time fumiabed the 
whole or a portion of the guard 
at Stapleton ; for tbia they re- . 

ceived, through the Duke of <*» enmi fowiwir;^ 

Portland, then lord high steward, one of "the secretaries 
of state, the thanks, si the kfiig. When the treaty of 
Amiens vaff'Sgned they were marched with military 
music and flying oolonrs to the "Bush" tavern, and 
were ooolly told by their colonel " that the government 
hod no more need of their servioes, and they might 
go." When the war again broke out this nngradous 
dismissal was remembered and reeented, and few d&ens 
at first enrolled themselves, but as danger grew im- 
minent, bankers, merchants and tradesmen rushed to 
arms. The cavalry force was particularly well mounted. 
When the Duke of Cumberiond reviewed them he said 
"he never saw finer horses in Ms life," and the rank 
and file, their captain boasted, were worth millions. Mr. 
Stamford WMtdngham, who served as a private, left 
the oorps to go out to Spain as wool agent, for the firm 
of which his brother-in-law, Bichard Hart Dana, was a 
partner. When the French invaded the Peninsula he 
reverted to arms, formed an irregular oorpa of cavalry, 
did good servloe, attained to the rank of general, and 
received the thanks of the Duke of Wellington. 

In 1807, when the Prince of Wales visited Bristol, 
the Bristol volunteers formed a guard of honour to 
H.B.H., who remarked that the grenadiers were the 
finest company of volunteers that he had seen. The 
cavalry escorted H.B.H. to Berkeley on his return. The 
regiment was finally disbanded in 1814, when the oorps 
received the thanks of the Prince Begent and a silver 
medal in commemoration of their gratuitous services. * 

A voluntary oontributioQ, in 1798, was also raised 
in Bristol, for the defence of the oountiy and the aid of 
government. From a list of the subscribers and balance 
sheet we learn that the volunteer infantry contributed 
£1,189 9e. 6d., besides the moneys subscribed intfieir 
' Abstraotad fiom Bristol Times. 



222 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1800. 



private capacity as honseliolders. Eiom the latter we 
learn that the net balance handed to the goyemment 
amounted to £33,343 8«. Hd. 

On April 26, 1797, a petition for peace, and for the 
dismissal of his majesty's ministers, was agreed upon at 
the guildhall, and was left for signature at the guild- 
hall ; the West India coffee-house ; the market ; Jack's 
coffee-house; Seed's, bookseller. Wine street; the 
"Druid" tayem, Old market; Biggs's, bookseUer, 
Drawbridge; the ''Talbot" tavem, Bath street; Barry's, 
the Bridge ; and John Eose's, printer, Broadmead. 

On Saturday, the 80th of September, an inquest 
was held on the body of James Doe, who was found 
drowned in Sea mill dock. The deceased had lived 
some days in the ruined dock warehouse, the walls of 
which were inscribed with pious meditations, the last 
date being September t4th; he had been a painter on 
china at Wedgewood's. 

On November 20th, at a meeting held at the guild- 
hall, the mayor in the chair, a subscription was inaugu- 
rated for the relief of the wounded seamen and the 
widows and orphans of such as were killed in the action 
between Admiral Lord Duncan and the Dutch fleet 
imder Admiral de Winter, on the 11th October, 1797. 

In September, 1798, a subscription was raised to 
procure "comforts for the Eoyal North Gloucester 
Militia, who nobly volunteered to proceed to Ireland to 
defend that kingdom against the attacks of a foreign 
enemy." Mr. Benjamin Donne died, "master of me- 
chanics to his majesty." Eobert Claxton, mayor; 
Daniel Wait, junior, and William Fripp, sheriffs. 

In the Monthly Magazine for May, 1798, there is an 
article written by Coleridge on the state and manners of 
Bristol. His complaint against the barbarous use of 
drays had little effect until a reform was begun by 
Messrs. Yaughan and Longman of Glare street hall, 
about 1808, who were the first who employed sugar 
carts in Bristol. 

1799. — Vaccine inocalation introduced by Dr. Edward Jenner. 
The amount of Dr. Jenner's expenses incurred by correspondence 
was more than £7)000. This, however, was covered by the grant 
from Parliament of £10,000. 

John Morgan, mayor; Henry Bright (sugar refiner) and 
Worthington Brice, sheriffs.^' 

25. In 1800 the mayor was William GKbbons; the 
sheriffs, Bobert Oastle and Samuel Birch. The harvest 
this year was yeiy wet ; the wheat sprouted in the fields, 
deprived of its gluten, the dough had no stiffness, and 
when placed in the oven ran out from under the door. 
Naturally bread rose to famine price, as may be seen 
from the following notice : — 

The price of bread, set the 7th February, 1801, for the city 

* Evans, 902. 



of Bristol, to take place on Monday, the 9th February, and to be 
in force for the said city of Bristol for the space of seven days : — 

lbs, oz, dvft, 8. d. 

The peck loaf 17 6 is 6 4 

Half -peck loaf 8 11 " 3 2 

Quartern loaf 4 6 8 " 1 7 

Half .quartern loaf ... 2 2 12 « 9} 

Twopenny loaf 7 6 

Penny loaf 3 11 

Wm. Gibbons, Mayor. 

N.B. — If bread of inferior kind to the standard now fixed be 
offered for sale, or bread composed of other mixture than that of flour 
of wheat, the letter H must be marked upon the inferior, and the 
letter M on the mixed, and the same must be sold at inferior prices. 

On the 20th of December, 1800, Messrs. Thomas 
Batchelor, deputy-governor of St. Peter's hospital, and 
Thomas Andrews, poor-law guardian, addressed a public 
letter to the mayor of Bristol, in which they complained 
of the treatment of the French prisoners at Stapleton. 
They were nearly naked; the mud in the unpaved court- 
yard was inches deep; the bread fusty, the beef carrion, 
and that only one pound of this bread and half a pound 
of the beef (bone included) was given every twenty- 
four hours to each prisoner ; that no vegetables were 
allowed, except to the sick in hospital; that some of 
the sick lay dying, apparently from famine, and all 
but naked on the ground in the outer court; that the 
deaths were six or eight per day; that 250 had died 
during six weeks, and that, the writers had reason to 
believe, the contract prices were quite sufficient to give 
the prisoners better food and greater comforts. The 
mayor very properly forwarded the complaint to head 
quarters, stating that the prison was in Gloucestershire, 
and out of his jurisdiction. On December 31st orders 
came that the prisoners should be supplied with proper 
dothing ; that a quart of rice or barley gruel for every 
three men should be given them warm as soon as they 
rose in the morning, &c. Commissioners were also sent 
down to esEamine the prisons, and to enquire into the 
truth of the accusation. It was found that the state- 
ments had been exaggerated, but the evidence produced 
would not have satisfied a jury of the present day. Mr. 
Alderman Noble, of Bristol, in his evidence, stated that 
he acted as agent for the contractor, Mr. Qrant, of 
London, and supplied the provisions on commission ; 
and the witnesses seem to have been all more or less 
interested. It was given in evidence, however, that the 
deaths in November were forty-four, and in December, 
up to the 20th, thirty-seven ; the number of prisoners 
being 2,900. Making eveiy allowance for the gambling 
away of food and dothing by the prisoners, it is 
abundantly evident that there was ample room for 
enquiry. ^ 

^ Bristol Tracts, L 



A.D. 1801, 



BRISTOL DOCK COMPANY INCORPORATED. 



223 



On the 12ih of April, resolutionB were passed in a 
public meeting of the deputies of twelve parishes — 

First, to assist the magistrates in proteoting the free markets 
of the city, and in bringing to justice any persons who prevent 
provisions being brought into the city, or who forestall in order to 
sell at their own prices ; second, to pledge ourselves not to con- 
sume more than one quartern loaf weekly for each person in our 
families, to decrease our consumption of fresh provisions by one- 
sixth, and to attend the markets and give a preference to those 
who will supply the public on the lowest terms. 

In 1801 Joseph Edye was mayor; Samuel Span and 
Bichard Yaughan, sheriffs. The estimated population 
of Bristol was 63,645. Pestilence followed on the heels 
of her elder sister famine in the shape of spotted fever ; 
within nineteen weeks twenty-eight people were down 
with it in one house in Back street, and eight were 
buried out of another house in Ellbroad street. Sani- 
tary arrangements were neglected ; one of the old houses 
in Back street, which was pulled down in 1879, was a 
building of four stories, let out in single rooms, the 
entrance to it being through a passage, one side of 
which was devoted to open latrines, which commimi- 
cated direct with the sewer, so that the inward draught 
of sewer gas swept upwards into every room. In that 
very dwelling the cholera of 1832 was most deadly. 

The chamberlain's salary was, in 1801, raised from 
£62 to £101, and again to £125. 

In 1802 Eobert Castle, the mayor, died, and was 
succeeded by David Evans ; J. F. Edgar and Sir H. 
Protheroe, knt., being sherifis. The Blind Asylum 
society laid out nearly £2,000 in the purchase of a 
house. George Oatcott, Chatterton's friend, died No- 
vember 19th. **A Life of JSdnnah Morey with a critical 
review of her writings, by Bev. Archibald McSarcasm," 
was this year published, the writer being Dr. Shaw. 

26. In 1803 the impress service was keen, and some 
useful hands having been pressed at Pill in May, most 
of the other western men lay p^rdu ; but on the 1 4th, 
as the Sturdy Beggar (Cork packet) was attempting to 
ascend the Avon without towboats, a mob at Pill assailed 
with a shower of stones the people on deck, wounding 
many. Three boats also boarded the vessel and pre- 
vented her proceeding to Bristol. 

On May 15th an embargo was laid on all vessels in 
the port of Bristol. The French ship Le Glorieux was 
taken by the privateer Eliza, Oaptain Thomas; she 
had on board the governor of St. Lucia and a crew of 
forty-one persons. 

All the ships from Kingroad came up to Bristol on 
a report that the enemy's fleet was in the Channel, 
leaving only the Arethma, guardship, and her tender in 
the roads. Two armed cutters cruised off Lundy to 
guard the coasting trade. 



Mr. Thomas Wall, brewer, of Bristol, returning from 
Westbuiy, was robbed on Durdham down of twenty- 
seven guineas, chiefly in one-pound notes of the Bristol 
Banks and the Bank of England. Attempting to defend 
himself, he was cruelly beaten, kicked, and left for dead. 

The flrst record we have seen of the performance of 
'^ The Messiah " in Bristol is the following : — 

Third morning's performance, Friday, April 16th, 1803, at St. 
Panl's church, Bristol, of a grand musical festival for the benefit 
of the Bristol Infirmary. Directors of the orchestra, Mr. T^namni 
and Mr. R. Bro<lerip ; leader of the band, Mr. Weichsell ; conduc- 
tor, Mr. Eanzzini. Principal vocal performers : Mrs. Billington, 
Miss Sharp, Mr. Harrison, Mr. Enyvett, and Mr. Bartleman* 
Principal instrumental performers : Violins — Messrs. Weichsell, 
Richards, Sturge, Loder, Percival; VioloncelloB — Lindley and 
Herschell; Flutes — ^Ashe and Howell; Oboes — Ashley and Perry; 

Clarionets — Smith and Wright ; Trumpet — ^Waite ; Bassoons 

T. Ashley and Stanbury; Trombones — Flacks, Dressier, and 
Zivingman ; Drums — Windsor; Double Drums — Jenkinson ; 
Tenors — Seine and Chubb ; Double Basses — Philpotts and Evans ; 
Organ— Mr. Boyton. 

N.B.— The band will consist of 120 vocal and instrumental 
performers. 

27. The Clifton burial ground, below York place, was 
opened in 1 803. David Evans was mayor ; Samuel Hen- 
derson, jun., and John Haythome, sheriffs. The Bev. 8. 
Seyer was presented to the perpetual curacy of Horfield. 

The first Act of Parliament for improving and ren* 
dering more commodious the port and harbour of Bristol 
passed on the 11th August, 1803, whereby the mayor, 
burgesses and commonalty of the city, the master 
wardens and commonalty of the Merchant Venturers 
of the said city, and the several persons subscribers 
towards the sum thereby authorised to be raised, were 
united into a company of proprietors of the works 
thereby directed to be made, under the firm of ''The 
Bristol Dock Company ; " and a board of directors, 
consisting of twenty-seven persons, was appointed for 
managing the affairs of the said company, to consist of 
the mayor, eight members of the common council, the 
master of the Society of Merchant Venturers and eight 
members of the society, and of nine subsoribera By 
this Act the Dock company was authorised to erect 
dams across the river Avon to exclude the spring tides 
from the Floating harbour, to make a new channel for 
the Avon with entrance basins therefrom into the Float- 
ing harbour, and to do all other things necessary for the 
execution of the said work ; and as a remuneration for 
the monies to be expended in such works, the company 
was authorised, from the expiration of twelve monthB 
after such works should have been begun, to receive 
tonnage rates upon all vessels entering the port, and 
upon all goods imported from parts beyond seas, and 
also to collect £2,400 per annum by a rate upon all 
houses and lands within the city. 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



We have already alluded to eereral plans that were 
mooted during the ISth century for floating oertain 
portions of the riTer Avon vhioli TOUsd in a serpentine 
form throug^h the city. Iii 1800 another scheme vas 
published, which bears the signature "J. 1" The idea 
was to excaTste a dock in Canons' marsh, 480 yards 




JtitBf't Plan for FleeUni O* naxbeuT. 

long by 220 wide, which, it was calculated, would hold 
twenty-six ships. The end of the rlTer Frome was, at 
Qib Taylor, to be banked up thirty yards in breadth, 
through which flood-gates were to be placed for soouring 
the river. A tongue of land 30 yards wide and 300 
yards long was to be projected into the new dock, divi- 
ding it for three fourths 



Ut. Tessop's plan, published in 1802, as will be seen 
from the illustration, was as follows : 

He proposed to cany the water of the Avtm through 
a new out, beginning at the back of the present gaol, 
down to the Beddift house near Bownham. To place a 
dam with an overfall and bridge at the mouth of the 
Frome, thus diverting 
the water of that river 
into alarge basin of nine 
acres dug out of Canons' 
marsh. This basin at its 
western end was fo com- 
municate with the old 
bed of the Avon, which, 
being dammed off at 
what is now the liver- 
pool wharf and again 
at the present dam op- 
posite to Beddift house, 
was to be converted into 
a floating-harbour. The 
entrance to this harbour 
was to be through an 
oval basin of six acres, 
with double looks at eaoh end. There was ofl^^ by 
this plan a through communication from Bownham mead, 
via Canons' marsh, right up to the Stone bridge. The 
main entrance into the floated portion was by gates at 
Bownham, but there was also a tidal look into the nine- 
acre, from the top or east end of the newly-cut channel. 



DESION 

for ImptovlnK tli« 

HAIlBOim or BBIBTOL. 

[803. 



of its length into two 
portions of equal width. 
At the west end of the 
dock three locks were to 
lead into a floating basin 
two acres in extent, out 
of which two other locks 
were to lead into the 
Avon, nearly opposite 
to the present Gas 
Works offices. The total 
area, of floatage would 
be about 20 acres, giving 
room by double berths 
for 140 ships. The cost 
was estimated at £53,000. 

Another scheme was broached for converting Queen 
square into a floating basin, with a quay 90 feet in 
width aronnd it. This would give three and a-half 
ftoree of water, and aooommodato three tiers of ships on 
eaoh side. 




/(Msp't limpnitd) plah wklct 



which lock would be just below the present IVinoe street 
bridge. Jessop claimed that by this plan ships would be 
kept afloat at the Quays, and could eatesr the locks or go 
to sea at neap tides. The great objeotioa was that it left 
all the Avon from Prince street bridge still tidaL The 
cost of the work was estimated at £156,840, with com- 



OPENING OF THE NEW CUT. 



penaatioD not more than £200,000. It was eetiinated 
that the Dock dues Tould realise £8,600, and the six- 
penny rate on houses in the oily £2,400 — £l 1,000. 

Jeseop's scheme was improved, and the result was 
the plan which forms our present floating harbour. 
A dam was placed across the Avon at Totterdown, the 
waters of wMch river were carried by a new cut from 
thencs through the Bedmineter meadows as far as the 
B«dcli(t house, where another dam was thrown across 
the bend of the Avon that had flowed through the city. 
By this scheme the area 
was greatly enlarged, 
upwards of eighty acres 
being floated, and the 
Frome and the Avon 
from Totterdown lock 
to Sownham were made 
into one continuous 
float. The waste of water 
was supplied by the 
Frome, and by a feeder 
out from Totterdown to 

Netham, where an over- ^ ^°"^ "^ ^*^ 

fall dam was thrown across the Avon in order to keep up 
ft steady head of water. Provision was made for land- 
floods by a sluice between the feeder and the Avon, as 
shown in the illustration. The work was begun on June 
1st, 1804, the flrst sod for the New Out being dug at Wap- 
ping, under Hr. Jessop, engineer to the Dock Company. 

In 1804 Edward 
Frotheroe was mayor; 
Levi Ames, jnn., and 
Philip Frotheroe, 
sheriffs. In January 
this year a gang of rob- 
bers who had long been 
the terror of CUfton and 
the neighbourhood were 
captured in the Giant's 
cave, St. Vincent's rooks. 
Four of them were fry- 

ing eggs and bacon at a fire, and they had sent two women 
of the gang for beer. At that time access to the cavern, 
which they had famished comfortably with chairs and 
tables, was by a narrow ledge along the face of the cliff. 

The foundations of Bedminster iron bridge were 
iMd by John Scandrett Harford, in 1805. It was 
opened for carriagoB July 15th, 1807. Whilst these 
pages are passing through the press, this bridge is 
being replaced by a greatly improved structure. 

On February 21, 1806, £ve ribs of another bridge 
(Hillsbridge), then being erected over the New Cut, fell 
[Vol. in.] 



down. BichardVaughan,jnn., mayor; Henry Brooke and 
Edward Brice, jun., sheriffs. William Fripp declined to 
serve as mayor, and Vaughan was chosen October 2iid. 
On Uay 5th an Act for enlarging the several Acts 
for paving, pitching and lighting the streets and other 
places within the city of Bristol and the liberties there- 
of was paeeed. 

Henry Bright, mayor in 1807, died during his year 
of office, and was succeeded by Samuel Birch; Sir Henry 
Frotheroe, knt., and John Haythome were sheriffs. On 
October 6th H.E.H. the 
Prince of Wales and the 
Duke of Sussex dined at 
the Merchants' hall, and 
were presented with the 
freedom of the city; they 
left in the evening for 
Berkeley. 

In 1808 John Hay- 

thorno was mayor, and 

Benjamin Bickley and 

Philip George sheriffs. 

"*^'*' On March 1st a school 

on ULt. Lancaster's plan was opened, a room having 

been hired, which was fitted up for eighty boys. 

Prince William of Gloucester was made a freeman 
of the cily of Bristol October 27th. 

29. In 1 809, J. H. Wilooz being mayor, and Michael 
Castle and George King sheriffs, the New Out was 

opened, and the Float- 
ing harbour completed 
at a cost of upwards of 
£600,000. The work- 
men, in forming the 
New Cut, discovered 
large quantitiee of trees 
about twenty feet below 
the surface embedded in 
day. They were lying 
mostly in one direction, 
. u(o a n»n-(, flBrtow. ^^ appeared as though 

they were swept suddenly down by a hurricane. 

The foundation of the new Assembly-rooms at the 
east end of the Mall, Clifton, was laid. On February 
1st it was resolved in public meeting "to erect a Com- 
mercial coffee-room in Bristol; the shares, which are 
transferrable, are all taken up." Also this year a num- 
ber of gentlemen, who had formed a Philosophical 
Institution, projected the erection of a building to be 
appropriated to scientific and literary purposes. The 
project lay in abeyance, however, until 1820. 

30. In 1810 Philip Frotheroe was mayor; William 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



Inman and James Fowler, sfaeriffe. Sir Henry Fvotheroe 
was choBen, but he declined Berring; the corporation 
then elected Philip Protheroe. The chief events in con- 
nection with Bristol this year were the trial of Sir H. 
Lippinoott, bart., and the narrow escape of two aeronauts 
who aacended from Brietol. On Konday, September 
24th, Mr. Sadler, a veteran aeronaut, ascended in his 
balloon from a field at the bach of Stokes' croft, accom- 
panied by Mr. William Clayfield. They crossed the 
Severn, the wind being from the east, from Woodapring 
point to Sully island ; there meeting a current from the 



eastward, they were driven to the Naah, when the wind 
changing to north-east, they were carried across tiie 
Channel to Watermouth. The gag failing, they oonld 
not surmount the bills, and were oaught by a land wind 
from the south-west, which carried them out to sea. 
Fortunately, the critical poution of the aeronauts had 
been seen by gentlemen at Lymnouth ; these manned a 
boat and sent her off to intercept the drifting balloon 
and save its oooupants. Temple gate was this year 
taken down. On September 30th the Commercial-rooms 
were opened. 



BrliM One Pmxd 



■d by Sibioct, Z^miwr, IS and 10 Bridgt SIrrtl. 




Shlinnff iatued by nndrjf tradaimit, 



BRISTOL TOKENS. 




U 9Me« SgwuY and At CrvH Asmv*. 



my Tokttt Usiitd In IStl by jMnnu unJminc 



PttmtTOIittiUiitHiilSllbjfpimnitunkwnBH. 



Ptmt Tclit\Utiud In let! by BarfonFuxnd Britlot Bnm and Copptr Comff. 



Si^xtuafinudbii SIMndc and LaOuM, 




Balfpiniti-'i'iinlSUhyHarfifrStanSBTWolSnuaniiCapptrCixitpv- liiiIfpmnyUtttedinl7SSbyHavkiniBM,TtaI>tBlit,t WintStrtil. 



#^# ## 



SiiptvM itntd b^ E. Bryan, Slalirmir, in Oit Tulay. Stijtna Unui bf juiiifry tr 



228 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.I>. 1811. 



31. In 1811 so great was the deficiency of specie 
tliat it was almost impossible to obtain change in silver 
for a guinea, which would then readily fetch 26«. Bank 
notes for £1 formed the chief circulating medium. 
Shopkeepers gave a premium of one shilling in the 
pound to obtain silver from those who had hoarded it. 
To counteract this evil severed Bristol tradesmen issued, 
with the tacit consent of the Government, sundry silver 
and copper tokens which were available for the purchase 
of small articles and the payment of wages. The shilling 
tokens were worth intrinsically eightp^ce, and the six- 
penny, f ourpence ; some copper tokens had been issued 
during the scarcity of coin in 1793-6. The vendors 
bound themselves to take them in payment at their 
nominsd value when presented. We give faesimtles of 
most of these and also of a one pound note. 

In connection with these tokens the following public 

notice was issued : — 

Tokens — ^Redcliff parish. Public notice.— Messrs. Garratt 
and Co. having publicly declared that after the 2nd of November 
they will not give for their tokens the value for which they were 
issued by them, we, the undersigned, have determined that we 
will not receive them for more than nihepence each after this 
day: — 

S. and J. Fitchew, John B. Jacques, John B. Cross, 

James Clark, Samuel Lucas, Bobert Rowland, 

John R. Grant, Brookman and Son, Thomas W. Hall, 

Wm. Frost, Pumells and Co., Thomas Lane, 

John Clark, John Simkin, Peter Peace, jun., 

£.. B. Wilhnot, Henry Gwyther, G. A. Hogarth, 

Stephen Doughty, Wm. Puke, Richard White. 

Bristol, 31st October, 1812. 

In 1811 Levi Ames was chosen mayor, but declining 
to serve, J. H. Wilcox was chosen (for the second time) 
in October; Edward Brice and Benjamin Bickley, sheriffs. 

The population of Bristol, including Clifton and Bedminster, 
estimated at 71,279 ; but this, as well as every other census in 
time of war, was very loosely taken, the disposition being scarcely 
less strong to evade such an enquiry than to prevent a full assess- 
ment of taxes. ^ 

In November the Exchange was made into a com 
market. The see of Bristol, the income from which 
was inconsiderable, was very largely augmented by the 
rectory of Almondsbury being reserved and attached 
to the bishopric. The weekly assize of bread by the 
magistrates ceased in Bristol in Jtme this year. The 
Bev. Oharles Lee, master of the (Grammar school, died 
in October, aged seventy-seven. 

82. It was in Bristol, in 1812, that the famous Henry 
Hunt began his career as a candidate for Parliamentary 
honours. When in that year the Hon. 0. B. Bathurst 
was made chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster three 
candidates were proposed for the vacant seat in Bristol, 

^ Evans, 90-56. 



E. Hart Davis, H. Hunt and William Oobbett, esqs. 
The poll was kept open for fourteen days, at the enor- 
mous expense to B. Hart Davis of £12,000. Serious 
riots took place, and the city was kept in a constant 
uproar. After the dissolution in the following October 
Hunt again contested the dty, the other candidates 
being B. Hart Davis, E. Protheroe and Sir Samuel 
Bomilly. B. Hart Davis and Protheroe were returned. 
Hunt petitioned, and the proceedings lasted from Feb- 
ruary 26th to March 11th, 1813 ; he conducted his own 
case, otherwise it was thought that bribery might easily 
have been established and one or both of the sitting 
members unseated; he obtiedned a warrant from the 
Speaker for giving him free access to the city books, 
and employed John Cranidge, A.M., master of an 
academy at Upper Easton, who published, in 1818, an 
8vo, pp. 296, entitled, '*A Mirror for the Burges9e9 and 
Commonalty of the City of Bristol, in which is exhibited 
to their view a part of the great and many interesting 
benefactions and endowments of which the city hath to 
boast, and for which the corporation are responsible, as 
the stewards and trustees thereof ; correctly transcribed 
from authentic documents." It was stated during the 
enquiry that Bristol had more moneys vested in trust for 
benevolent purposes than the whole empire of France. 

Mr. Hunt's reception in Bristol in 1812, when he 
came, on May 12th, on the invitation of some Badical 
friends, was most enthusiastic. Biding on a grey 
horse, he was received by thousands of persons at the 
entrance to the city. On his arrival at the Exchange 
he mounted one of the brass pillars and addressed the 
multitude. He advocated a petition for peace, which 
was adopted and received some thousand signatures. 
One htmdred and ten persons dined at the new Assembly 
rooms ; amongst the toasts. No. 10, was '' The House of 
Commons in the river Thames and every honest member 
a cork jacket.'' Hunt died at Alresford, February Idth, 
aged sixty- three ; he was a first-rate sportsman, an en- 
thusiastic angler, and a good shot. 

A broad-sheet published at the Mirror office on 
Tuesday, May 12th, 1812, contains three letters, one 
to the mayor of Bristol, J. H. Wilcox, by B. Hart 
Davis, M.P., and one to Jere Osborne, esq., from the 
same gentleman, also another from H. A. Broughton, 
esq., nairating the assassination of Mr. Perceval in the 
House of Oommons'on the 11th. Mr. Davis was in the 
House, and saw the assassin seized. '' He acknowledged 
to me almost immediately that it was he that had (as he 
expressed it) the misfortune to shoot Mr. Perceval." 

On April 2nd, 1813, Messrs. Stock and Fry's sugar- 
house, Lewin's mead, was burnt; it was insured for 
£12,000. On May 10th, John Harris was tried as an 



▲J>. 1816. 



HISTORICAL EVENTS. 



229 



aooeosoTj for pulling down the statue of George m. 
in Portland square ; lie was sentenced to twelve months' 
imprisonment and a fine of 40«. The first report of the 
Adult schools was published. James Fowler, mayor; 
Benjamin Bickley and Philip George, sheriffs. 

33. In 1814, William John Struth was mayor; 
William Fripp and James George, jun., sheriffs. Peace 
was proclaimed with America; and the mayor and 
Bichard Yaughan, jun., were knighted on presenting 
an address to the Prince Begent on that occasion. 

Sir William J. Struth served again in 1815, having 
for sheriffs Benjamin BicHey and Philip George. 

J. S. Harford published a pamphlet on prisons, this 

year, in which he says : — 

The moral influence of punishment, as it operates at the 
present moment in Bristol gaol, is of a monstrons nature — men 
and women of the most abandoned nature promiscuously mingled 
through the day, without any employment to interrupt thefar de- 
praved thoughts and their progress in corrupting each other. I 
saw the irons put upon a little boy ten years old, who had just 
been brought in for stealing a pound and half of sugar. He was 
then introduced into the felons* court, crowded with a set of 
wretches, among the most abandoned of their class. 

From November 20th to December 9th, being a 
period of twenty days, Mr. John Stokes, of St. James' 
square, walked a thousand miles on the Bath road at 
Saltford. The actual time occupied in walking during 
the twenty days was eight days, twenty-two hours, 
seven minutes, fourteen seconds. 

''The Freemasons purchased by subscription, for 
£1,600, a house in Bridge street for a hall, and ex- 
pended £2,000 on alterations and decorations. H. Gold- 
wyn, P.G.M., Henry Struth, D.P.Q.M." ^ 

June 20th, 1816, an Act of Parliament passed for building a 
new gaol in the city of Bristol, and for other purposes. It was 
herein provided that '* the expenses of repairing, maintaining and 
supporting the new gaol and other erections, of the salaries to the 
governor and other officers, and of maintaining and supporting the 
prisoners, should be defrayed by the mayor, aldermen, and com- 
mon council, out of the estates, funds and revenues belonging to 
the mayor, burgesses and oonmionalty of the city." Towards the 
building of the gaol, it was enacted tiiat £60,000 should be raised 
by a rate of not more than 2s. in the pound on the annual value 
of aU the lands, houses, ftc, within the city and county of 
Bristol The lands separated from the counties of Somerset and 
Gloucester, by 43 Geo. III., and added to Bristol, were exempted. 
The land taken for the purpose of the Act lay in the parish of 
Bedminster, adjoining, on its north side, sundry messuages, Ac., 
the property of the dean and chapter — anciently Trenelly, Trene, 
or Trine mill mead. 

July 27th, the Duke of Wellington visited Bristol He 
entered publicly through Park street, dined at the Mansion 
house, and was presented by the corporation with the freedom 
of the city in a gold box. Hb departed the same evening. 

John Haythome, mayor ; Edward Daniel (barrister) and John 
Barrow, sherifib. John London M'Adam appointed general sur- 
veyor of the Bristol turnpike roads.* 

> R. Smith. • Evans, 808-9, 3M. 



The following interesting item is from an old hand- 
bill of about this date : — 

The body of Robert Teomans was discovered in a leaden coffin 
in a vault near the vestiy on the north side of St. Mary-le-port 
church, about fifteen feet below the surface, in a good state of 
preservation. It was wrapped in a blue quilted counterpane, 
worked with red roses in the bud; no grave clothes, but was 
dressed in the ordinary costume of the period (1643). He appears 
to have been a robust man, at least six feet in height. The marks 
of strangulation could be plainly seen. The body was re-buried 
in the same vault. 
[From broadsheet] — Harry Bonner, printer, 4 Bridewell lane. 

In 1816 (56 George m.) an Act waa passied for 
the more speedy and eaay recoveiy of small debts in 
the city and county of Bristol, to include the parishes 
and out parishes of Clifton, St. James, St. Paul, 
St. Philip and St. Jacob ; the tything of Stoke Bishop, 
in Westbuiy-on-Trym, and the parish of Bedminster, 
in Somerset. The Bristol assizes being held only 
once a year, and the distance of the assize towns of 
Gloucester and Somerset being so great, the expense 
of recovering small sums exceeded their value. Under 
William and Mary, a Court of Conscience had been 
established in Bristol for the recoveiy of debts not 
amounting to forty shillings. By this Act powers were 
obtained to recover debts in the said county and the 
said parishes, if the sum did not amount to sufficient 
for an arrest on mesne process. On St. George's day 
the Bristol Coal Gtus company commenced building 
their works on Temple backs, and began lighting in 
1817; the city was lit up in 1818. They were incor- 
porated on March 23rd, 1819. On June 25th the Court 
of Bequest Act received the royal assent. 

84. A complaint was made that the boys in Colston 
school were carelessly indentured to Boman Catholics. 

St John's, Newfoundland, Jnly 29th, 1816. 
Mt Lobd, — ^I beg to inform yoor lordship that a considerable 
number of young men educated at Colston school, Bristol, and 
apprenticed in direct violation of the Founder's will to Boman 
Catholic masters in this country, have consequently embraced 
popery with a most bigoted attachment. I am persuaded your 
lordship will take this subject into serious consideration, and that 
the recurrence of such abuses will be effectually and speedily pre- 
vented. 

I have the honour to be, my lord, your lordship's most obe- 
dient, faithful, humble servant, 

Bavid Rowxjjm, Missionary, 
The Bight Beverend Lord Bishop of Bristol 

The matter was enquired into by the bishop and the 
Society of Merchants, with the following result : — 

Trinity Lodge, Cambridge, November 17th, 1816. 
The Bight Worshipful the Mayor. 
Snt, — ^I beg to acknowledge the honour of your letter of the 
12th instant, communicating to me a copy of the proceedings of 
the committee of merchants, on the subject of the letter lately 
received by me from Newfoundland. • 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



It ia k v«ry gntifying ciTciiiiistaiiM to find thkt the vril oom- 
plkined of, namely, that of the frequent perrerdon to popery of 
the yonng men tent frum Cobton'i icbool to NewfonodlaJid, has 
been by no meani of tha extent intiniatsd by the miiaionary there ; 
but it ia DO leM gratifying, though perfectly conairtent with their 
character*, to find inch an important body of men aa the merchanta 
of Briatol employed in the active inveitigation of ao tnomentoni a 
subject. 

I have the honoor to be, air, your mort obedient, humbia 

W. BamoL. 
Right Worthipfnl John Haythome, Esq. 

In 1817 a yiew of Bristol from Brandon hill was 
publidieil at Cambridg;^. 

35. A clever impostor named Mar; WiUcocks, who 
styled herself "Caraboo, Frmcess of Javasu," caused 
great excitement in Bristol and Bath this year. 



Vary WiUiocki, altai "CaTaboo, Friiutu of Javatn.' 
" And whore did ahe come from T and who can she be I 
Did ahe fall from the iky t did iheriae from thaaeal' 
Lat« one evening in the apring of 1817 the nutic inhabitanta 
of Abnoudibury, in Glouoeatenhire, were aurpriaed by the en- 
trance of a young female in atranga attire. She wore leather 
ahoea and black worated atockinga, a black atuff gown with a 
mnalin frill at the neck, a red and black ahawl ronnd her ihoaldera, 
and A bkck cotton ahawl on her head. Her height waa abont five 
feet two inchea, and ahe carried a small bnndle on her arm eon- 
taioiog a few neceeaariea. Her dothea were loosely and taatafnlly 
pat OD in an Oriental faahion. Her eyea and hair were black, her 



forehead waa low, her noa« ahort, her month wide, hor teeth 
white, her lipa were large and full, the nnder lip projected a 
little, her chin waa small and round, her hands were clean and 
eeemed unnaed to labour. She appeared aboot twenty-five yean 
of age, waa fatigned, walked with difficulty, spoke a language no 
one conld comtavhend, and aignified by signs her desire to sleep 
in the village. The cottagers were afraid to admit her, and 
aought the deciaiou of Mr. Worrall, a magistrate for the connty, 
at Knole, whoae wife oaoaed her own maid to accompany ber to 
a pnblic-honae in the village, with a reqneat that ahe should have 
supper and a oomfortoble bed. In the morning Mra. Worrall found 
her with strong trace* of aorrow and diatreaa on her countenance 
and took her to Enolts whither she went reluctantly. It waa Good 
Friday, and at the mansion obaerving a crosi-bun, she cut off the 
cross and placed it in her bcaom. Paper and a pen were handed 
to her to write her name. She shook her head, and when ahe 
appeared to comprehend what waa meant, pointed to henelf, and 
ezclumed "Caraboo." The next diqr she was taken to Bristol, ex- 
amined before the mayor at the oouncil house, and committed to 
St. Peter's hospital as a vagrant, whither peraooB o( respectabili^ 
flocked to visit the inoomprehenaible inmate. From that plane 
Mrs. Worrall removed her once more to Knole. A gentleman 
who had made several voyages to the Indies, extracted from her 
signs and gestures and articulations that she waa the danghter of 
a person of rank of Chinese origin at " Jsvaan," and that whilst 
walking in her garden, attended by three women, she had been 
gagged and bound and oarried off by the people of a pirate prow, 
and aold to the captain of a brig. From thenoe she was trans- 
ferred to another ship which anchored at a port for two days, 
where fonr other females were taken in, who, after a voyage of 
five weeks were landed at another port. Sailing for deven more 
weeks and being near laud she jumped overboard in oouaeqaenoe 
of ill oaage, and awimming aahore foond herself on this coast, and 
had wandered for six weeks till ahe found her way to Almonds- 
bnry. She described herself at her fatiier's to have been carried 
on men's shoulders in a kind of palanquin, and to have worn aeven 
peaoock'a feathers on the right side of her hettd, with open sandala 
on her feet having woodea aoles, and ahe made heraelf a dreaa 
from Bome calioo given her by Mrs. Worrall in the style of her 
own, which had been embroidered. The late Mr. Bird, the artist, 
aketohed her aooording to this account, as in the illuatration. The 
particulars connected with these recitals and her general oondnct 
were romantic in the exbeme. At the end of two months she ran 
away, bnt waa foond in the same character at Bath and again 
retnmed to Mrs. Worrall. Shortly afterward* the imposture 
which had puieled so many was discovered, and to the astonish- 
ment of persons whose sympathies she had excited the lady 
Caraboo, a native of "Javasn" in theeaat, wasdisoovved to have 
been bom at Witharedge in Devonshire, where her father was a 
cobbler. A very fait account of her singnlsr imposition is given 
in a narrative published by Mr. Gutoh of Bristol in 1817, from 
whenoe this sketch is taken. After her impoatnre wis discovered, 
and her account of the earlier portion of her life spent aa aerrant 
in aeveral families was verified, she was provided, by the gener- 
osity of Mrs WoTTsU, with a passage to America, which country 
ahe had expressed a strong desire to visit, and from which she 
returned in 1824. Taking apartmanta in New Bond atreet ahe 
madeapublic ezhibitioDof herself,. at a charge of one ahilling each 
person ; but it does not appear that any great number went to 

August 2Ci, the theatre in King-street was opened, nnder the 

new management of Mr, John Boles Watson, (rf the Olonoeater 

and Cheltenham theatres. John Haythome, mayor; George and 

Abraham Hillhonse, sheriffs. November 6th died, in child-bed, 

• J. M. Gntch's Caraboo, 1817. 



A.D. 1817. 



LOCAL ITEMS. 



231 



the PrinceaB Charlotte, aged 22 yean. December 17th, Qaeen 
Charlotte^ the Prinoeas Elizabeth, and the Duke of Clarence, being 
▼iaiton at Bath, were invited by the coiporation to visit BristoL 
They were received at the Manmon-house, rode thence to Clifton ; 
on their retom viaited Colonel Hugh Baillie and his lady, at their 
honae in Park row ; and returned the aame day to Bath. ^ 

In 1818, the BrUtol Mereuty was purchased of Mr 
Fine by Messrs. Brown and Manchee for a joint-stock 
company. Copyright £600, material to be taken at a 
valuation. The number then printed was 300. 

January 20, Sir Robert Gifford, baronet, aolicitor-general, 
choeen recorder of Bristol, on the retirement, through ill-health, 
of Lord Chief -Juatice Oibbe, who had fiUed that office more than 
twenty yean.' 

36. A petition was lodged against the return of B. 
Hart Davis and Edward Protheroe, on the ground that 
the poll which began on June 16th had been pre- 
maturely closed on Saturday the 20th. The petitioners 
on behalf of Oolonel Baillie were Thomas Bale, Andrew 
Winter and others. The petition was not successful. 
Henry Francis Brooke, mayor; Thomas Hassell and 
Nicholas Booh, sheriffs. 

On October 16ih, 1818, the Bristol Law Library was 
founded. Each of the members, who were to be either 
barristers or attomeys-at-law, deposited five guineas for 
his share; the subscription was two guineas. The room 
in which the library was kept was once the banquet- 
room of Hugh Brown, sheriff 1642, mayor 1650. 

In the Briitol Mirror for October 10th, 1818, or in the auc- 
oeeding Bristol Observer, may be aeen an intereattng letter, dated 
on the 3rd from Brialington houae, explanatory of a recent article 
in the Rouen OaeeOe, upon the aubject of Dr. Foz*a father, Joaeph 
Fox of Falmouth, having peraevered in hia determination to 
reatore hia ahare of aome French prizea, captured by two veaaela 
of which he waa part owner, to the Buffering proprietora, and in 
the completion of which liberal purpoae the doctor himaelf waa 
inatrumental, after hia father'a deceaae. ' 

Dr. Oockin, who kept an academy near Keynsham, 

refused to bury one of Dr. Fox's children in consecrated 

ground because the parents were Quakers. 

October 27th, arrived the Albion^ Captain Bnckham, the 
firat merchant veaael direct from the Eaat Indiea bound for the 
port of Briatol. November 17th died Her Majeety, Queen Char- 
lotte, aged 75 yeara. 

November 20th, Meerza Jaffir and Meerza Saulih, who three 
yean previoualy had been aent on a miaaion to thia country by the 
reigning prince of Peraia, Abbaa Meerza, arrived in thia city. On 
the 22nd (Sunday) they viaited the cathedral, St. Blary Redcliff 
and other chnrchea, and heard divine aervice at the Unitarian 
chapel, Lewin'a mead. On the 23rd they viaited the Phoenix 
glaaa-houaea and other manufactoriea. Their coatume waa the 
Peraian, but they apoke Engliah fluently. The ritea of domeetic 
hoapitality were adminiatered to them chiefly by C. A. Elton, 
eaq., at Belle vue. 

December 20th, the brother of the Emperor of Auatria, the 
Archduke Maximilian, with a travelling auite of attendanta, 
being in Bristol, attended divine aervice in the Roman Catholic 

^ Evana, 810. > Ibid, 310. • Ibid, xxxiii. 



chapel in Trendhard atreet. On the Monday the arch-duke viaited 
the principal manufactoriea. 

On March 20th, 1819, Mr. Protheroe announced hia determina- 
tion to decline the future repreaentation of Briatol, in conaequence 
of a miaunderatanding with hia committee for conducting the late 
election, upon the aubject of hia portion of the expenaea. " A full 
Detail of the Facta, relative to the late Election of Edward Pro- 
theroe, eaq., with a complete Juatification of the Conduct of hia 
Committee, by a Committee-man,''* waa printed at the Bristol 
Observer o£Bce. Thia pamphlet produced one from Sir Henry 
Protheroe ; but the diapute terminated in acquittal of the Com- 
mittee, by a letter from Mr. Wul Fripp, jun., which appeared in 
the Bristol Observer of May 13. 

March 29th, the thealz^ waa re-opened under the management 
of Mr. William M'Cready. 

June 14th, an Act of Parliament paaaed "for repairing, 
widening and improving the aeveral roada round the city oif 
Briatol, and for making certain new linea of road to communicate 
with the aame." 

September 23rd, the two eldest aona of C. A. Elton, eaq., 
Abraham and Charlee, about thirteen and fourteen yeara old, while 
amusing themaelvea apart from the reat of the family, on a amall 
island called Bimbeck, near the bathing place at Weaton-auper- 
Mare, by the flowing of the tide on the cauaeway that aeparated 
the island from the shore, were drowned in their attempt to regain 
it. All search for the bodiea proved unavailing. The aympa- 
thetic exertiona of Colonel Rogera (a Somersetshire magistrate 
and lieutenant-colonel of the Mendip Legion), for ten hours in an 
open boat, brought on a fever, of which he died on the 6th of 
October. The bodiea of the two youths eventually floated to the 
shore of the family estate at Clevedon, where they were buried by 
their grandfather, the Rev. Sir Abraham Elton, bart, without 
permitting his son to share the renewed affliction of witnessing 
their injured remains. Mr. Elton's grief found vent and consola- 
tion, as his tone of mind recovered strength, in "The Brothers : 
A Monody.'* 

William Fripp, jun., mayor; James Oeoige, jun., and John 
Gardiner, aherifia. 

November 2nd, died Edward Bird, R. A., hiatorical painter to 
the Princeaa Charlotte. On the 9th hia remaina were attended 
from hia reaidence at King'a parade by upwards of 300 friends and 
fellow-citizens, and deposited at the foot of the steps from the 
cathedral into the cloisters. Mr. Bird having, on his appointment 
in 1813, presented her royal highness with his painting of "The 
Surrender of Calais,** the royal widower, prince Leopold, gave the 
widow of the artist £100 ; and in February and March, 1820, the 
prince, with the poeaeaaora of many other of hia pictures, con- 
tributed to their exhibition. 

December 14th, at night, a fire in High street, at the entrance 
of All Saints* passage, destroyed, including one occupied by Mr. 
Bees, bookseller, four houses, unveiled the andent west window 
of All Saints* church, and the heat and smoke that issued into the 
church itself occasioned the discovery of a walled-up recess, in 
which were found a black letter bible and other books that must 
have been secreted by the Catholic prieata during their alarm upon 
approach of the Reformation. Theae, we hope, will at all timea 
be found in poaaeaaion of the churchwardena. ^ 

In 1819 Mr. Henry Savery, sugar broker, was, on 
the 4th of April, sentenced to death for forgery. He 
pleaded guilty and was respited, but transported for 
life.' Samuel Gardener, esq., of Combe hall, Oxford- 
shire, granted to Queen Elizabeth's hospital nine acres 
1 Evana, 312-U. • Monthly Magazme, 1819, XXXVI. 



232 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1880. 



of land in the paridi of Congresbnry. Mrs. Sutton 
dying, left £1,750 in Five per Gents, to Temple street 
school for girls ; she was the widow of Alderman John 
Harris, of Queen square. 

In January, 1820, the Floating harbour was frozen, 
and skating was in Togue over nearly the whole of its 
surface. On the morning of the 16th, at eight o'dock, 
the thermometer registered twenty-four degrees below 
freezing point On the 2drd of January the Duke of 
Kent, father of her most gracious majesty Queen Victoria, 



died at Sidmouth, Devon, aged fifty-two years, and on the 
29th George m. died, aged eighty-one years. On March 
7th Mr. W. H. Gtoldwin, P.G.M., of Bristol, fell down in 
a fit and died, whilst viewing a fire at Messrs. Dowell's 
premises, in Wine street. By order of H.B.H. the Duke 
of Sussex, he was buried with full Masonic honours. 

37. Appended in tabular form are particulars of 
Parliamentary elections in Bristol from the earliest 
recorded date of which we have details, 1734, to the 
present time: — 



Datai 



1734 

1739 

1741 

1742 
1747 

1754 

1756 
1761 

1768 

1768 
1774 



1780 



1781 
1784 



1790 



1796 



1801 
1802 

1803 
1806 

1807 
1812 



Nameu 



'Elton, Sir A., but. 
*G<Mter, Thomas 

Scrope, John ^ 
^Southwell, Ed. 

Combe, Henry * 

•Elton, Sir A., but. 
*Sonthwell« Ed. 
•Hoblyn, Bobert • 

'Southwell, Ed. 
*Hoblyn, Robert 

^Nuffent, Hon. Robert ... 
*Beckfoitl, Richard 

PhiUpps, Sir J., bart. ... 
•Smith, Jarritt * 

Spencer, Hon. John 

*Nagent, Hon. Robert ... 
•Snuth, Sir Jarritt • ... 

*Clare, Lord {nS Nugent) 
•Brickdale, Matthew * ... 
•Clare, Lord ' 

*Cniger, H. 
*BnrKe, Edmund 

Brickdale, Matthew 

Clare, Lord 

*Brickdale, Matthew 
*Lippincott, Sir. H., bart. ' 
Cruger, H. * 
Peadi, Samuel ^^ 
Burke, Edmund *^ 

• Daub^y , George * • 
Cruger, H. 

*Brickdale, Matthew «• ... 
*Cruffer, H. 

Baubeny, Greotge 

Peach, Samuel ^* 

* Worcester, Marquis of ' * 
^Sheffield, Lord 

Lewis, David 

•Bragge, Charles ^ * 
*Sh^eld, Lord ' ' 

Hobhonse, Benjamin ... 

Thomas, S. 

Lewis, D. 
•Bragge, Charles 

•Bragge, Charles 
•BamTe, Evan " 
*Bragge, Charles *• 

*Bathurst, Charles Bragge 
*Baillie, Evan 

^Bathurst, Charles Bragge 
•Baillie, Evan 
•Davis, Richard Hart •<^... 
Hunt, Henry 



FoUtlos. 



Whig 

■ • ■ 

Tory 
Whig 
Tory 

Whig 
Whig 

• » • 

Whig 

• ■ ■ 

Whig 
Tory 
Tory 
Tory 
Whig 

Whig 
Tory 

Whig 
Tory 
Whig 

Whig 
Whig 
Tory 
Whig 

Tory 
Tory 
Whig 
Whig 
Whig 
Tory 
Whig 

Tory 
Whig 
Tory 
Whig 

Tory 
Whig 
Indep. 

Toiy 
Whig 
Whig 
Whig 
Whig 
Tory 

Tory 
Whig 
Tory 

Tory 
Whig 

Tory 
Whig 
Toy 



B«gui 



May 15 

• • • 

Nov.' 28 

• • m 

No 



No Contest 



No 

•> • 

April 17 

••* 

••• 

March 

• • • 

Sept. 

• •• 

March. 

• • • 

June. 
Oct 7 



Sept. 8 



Jan. 31 



April 3 



Nov., one 



May 27 



Ended 



June 13 

• • • 

• • • 

Deo. 12 

• • ■ 

Contest 



Contest 



Mayl 



No Contest 

• • « 

No Contest 

• • • 

No Contest 
Nov. 3 



Sept. 20 



Feb. 24 



May 8 



day only 



May 28 



VotM. 



I 



Nov. 23. 
July 7. 

• • • 

Aug. 6. 
Dec. 13 

• • • 

May 20 

• • ■ 

June 30 



No Contest 
No Contest 

■ ■ ■ 

No Contest 
No Contest 

• • • 

No Contest 
July 13 



2,420 
2,071 
1,866 
2,559 
2,190 



2,590 

2,248 

2,163 

No 

returns 



3,565 

2,707 

2,456 

283 

2,771 

2,518 

788 

18 

3,143 
2,771 

3.458 

3,052 

2,982 

373 

544 

537 

12 

364 

340 

102 

2 

1 



Bamarki. 



1,907 
235 



^ Scrope, afterwards Baron Scrope, lost his election 
through supporting Walpole*s Ezdse bill. 

* This contest ensued on the death of Coster. Combe 
was in favour of the Excise bill ; he had also petitioned 
against Coster, and sought to lessen the votes of the 
fAemen. 

* By-election on the death of Sir A. Elton. 

* By-election on the death of Beckford. 

* He had been made a baronet on May 16th ; he was a 
solicitor in Small street ; his house was at Stapleton. 

* Brickdale was a woollen draper, 20 High street 

' Re-elected on his aooeptsnoe of the office of Vice- 
Treasurer of Ireland. 

' Sir H. Lippinoott was created a baronet July 25th, 
1778. 

* Cruger retired after the ninth day's polling. 

^® Peach, who was a linen draper in St Mary-le-port 
street, was father-in-law of Cruger, and founder of the 
Tockington family ; he was only nominated to receive the 
second votes of Cruger's supporters. 

11 At this election, R. Combe, a tradesman in Coll«tte 
green, was put up bv the Tories, but being in ill health he 
retired in favour of Lippinoott ; Combe died on the first 
day of polling. 

^* By-election on death of Sir H. Lippinoott Daubeny 
was a sugar refiner. 

^* This was the most protracted election ever held in 
Bristol, having lasted five weeks and one day. 

^* Cruger being in America, Peach was only nominated, 
as in the election of 1780, to secure Cruoer's second votes, 
and not with any expectation of being elected. 

^* To save expense both parties agreed to return one 
representative each, and the two memD«rs were chosen by 
the Steadfast (blue) and the Constitutional (veUow) dubs. 
Lewis, as an Lidependent, was not accepted by the Whigs. 

^ * Bragge was a barrister; he was brother-in-law to Lord 
Sidmouth, and had been a member of most of the Tory ad- 
ministrations of his time ; he afterwards changed his name 
to Bathurst (Bathurst basin is named after him). In 1801, 
upon his taking office as Treasurer of the Navy, he was 
re-elected without opposition. 

1 ^ Lord Sheffield had, by his support to a Com bill in 
the House, cast reflections upon a petition sent against it, 
which was signed by 5,000 persons ; hence the oppoeition 
to his election. 

1 * West Lidia merchant and partner in the Old bank. 

* * On his appointment as Secretary of War. 

*® Mr. Batiiurst {ni Charles Bragge) having been ap- 

g}inted Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Richard Hart 
avis, a Russia merchant and member of a banking firm, 
was selected by the Tories as his successor. Hunt, the 
other candidate, was a blacking manufacturer, of London, 
and a Radical leader. 



PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS. 



•DftTu, Bichird Hftrt *■ 
•Protheroo, Edward 

Romilly, Sir S. 

Hunt, Henry 
'Davia, Riclurd Hirt 
*ProthGTO«, Edward 

BmUm, CoL Hngli *■ 



Baillia, Jams* Evan " 
■Davii, Richard Hart 



•Daria, Bich»rd Hart 
•BaUlie, Jamea Evan 

Proth«roe, Edward, jnn. 

Acland, Jamea 



[le, Jamee Evan 

Protheroe, Edward, jno. 

WilUama, John 
•Miles, Philip John 
'"- -Ml, Sir IL R., bi 
a, Jamee Evan *■ 

Hobhonse, Sir J, C, 
•Mile^ P. W. 8. •• 
'Berkeler, Hon. P. H. 

Fripp, William 
•Milaa, P. W. 8. 
•Berkeley, Hon. F. H. 

Pripp. William ■• 



Whig 

Whig 
Bad. 
Tory 
Whig 
Whig 
Whig 
Tory 
Whig 
Tory 
Whig 
Whig 

Tory 
Whig 
Whig 
Bad. 
Whig 
Whig 
Cora. 
Whig 
Whig 

Lib? 



■Miles, P 

" pp. ^uuam 
latt, A palsy 
•Berkeley, Hon. P. : 
•Langton, W. H, G. 

HcOeachy, P. A. ■> 
•Berkeley, Hon. P. H. F. 
•Langtou, W. H. O. 
•Berkeley, Hon. P. H. F. 
•Langton, W. H. G. 

Slado. F. W. 
•Berkeley, Hon. P. H. F. 
•Peto, Sir M., hart " . 

Fremantle, T. P. 
•Milea, J. W. " 

Morley, Sainnel 
•Berkeley, Hon. P. H, P.. 
•Morley, Samuel 

Milea, J. W. 
•Bobinaon, B!. S. '* 

Hare, 8. V. 
•Hodgson, K. D. 

Hare, 3. V. 

_.[>dgK>l|, E. 1). 

•Morley, Samuel 

Hare. S. V. 

Chamber*, G. H. 
•Fry, Lewia '• 

Gncet, Sir Ivor, bart. , 
•Morley, Samnel 
•Fry, Lewia 

Qaeat, Sir Ivor, bart, . 

Kobinson, E. S. 



, Protec 
Libl. 
Ckina. 

. Protec. 
UbL 

LibL 

. Proteo. 

Con*. 

Libl. 

LibL 
Libl. 
Cona. 
LibL 
LibL 
LibL 
LibL 
Cona. 
LibL 
LibL 
Com. 
Cona. 
LibL 
LibL 
LibL 

LibL 
Cona. 
Libl. 
Cona. 
LibL 
Libl. 
Cona. 
Cons. 
Libl. 

IJbl. 
Libl. 
Cons. 



Oot 6 

June IS 
Maroh7 
Jaly2S 
July 30 

April 30 
Deo. 12 



Jane SO 
March 8 



March 27, no Contest 
April 29 



April 29 
November 17 

■"Mw«h 26'" 
Jnne 25 



10,704 
10,070 
g,39S 
4,100 



laving 

■■ Col. BaiUie, 6 Park row, who was ion of Bran Baillie, 
waa nominated by the more conMTvativeWluga in oppoaitaou 
to Protheroe, He petitioned on the gronnd of a prematnre 
retnm by the ihenffik March 19th, the Houm dedSed 
that tiie coudnot of the aherifb wm correct. 

*■ Protheroe having declined to atand, the Whig West 
India merchanta aeleoted Bright, one of their nnmbei. The 
Steadfast clnb refoied to help B. Hart Dari*, bnt invited 
Philip John Milea, who iuned an addreia, bnt did not 
stand; this canaed the diaaolntion of the Steadfast dnb. 
Blight's maorion ia now the Sailors' Home, Qaean aqnare. 
Davis, being seoond, refused to be diaired. 

■* J. E. Bai 

he wat nominated without hi 
second day. 

■* Protheroe waa nominated without his knowledge in 
oppoeition to Bright, the freemen being determined to 
have a conteat. Hta honae is now the Honse of the Sisters 
of Mercy, Dighton street. 

" R. Hart Davis isaned an address ss an Anti-Reformer, 
but did not stand. 

*' The polling daja ware now limited to two. 

*• J. E. Baillie ooaleseed witb Hobhouae; the Tories 
nominated P. J. Miles, who wat carried at the head of the 
polL ^e Mnnicipal Baform hill, passed on September 9th, 
1836, destroyed the ayston of elections by the corporation, 
and placed the maoagemoit of mouioipal aSair* in the 
hands of the eitiiens. 

'• The polling w 
the last ocoaaion oi 

*■ Fripp wat opposed to Miles on the ground that the 
friends oi that gentleman had not supported him at the 
election of 1837. He waa in a firm of tret traders. Milet 
waa a Protectioniat. 

■ * The old Tories being Protecttonieta, and the Conserva- 
tives Free Tntdera, were unable to agree in their support of 
either Miles or Fripp. MoGeachy, the son of a Bu-badoea 
planter, waa invited to contest the election on their behalf, 

•■ Sir Morton Peto accepted the Chiltem Hnndredt. 

■■ On petition. J. W. Milea wat nuteated Jnne 24th. 
Seat vacant till the general election, 

•• Ondeceaseof the Hon. P. H.F. Berkeley a test ballot 
was held, on Msrtji 23rd and 2ith, to decide on the merits 
of Messrs. Robinson, Hodgson and Odger, when Robinson 
received 4,SU2, Hodgson, 2,861, and Odger, 1,335 votes. 



TKe tuleriait (*] indicate (Ae pertoni tlecled. 



WTiere the date it not given the elatim miul be taken a* drc&. 



234 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1820. 



Prior to the pasaing of the Beform bill, for months 
before the time when an election was to take place 
public-houses were open to freemen in all parts of the 
city and its suburbsy in which, almost without limit, 
they could drink at the cost of one or other of the con- 
tending parties. Bands of music paraded the streets, 
ever followed by a noisy and mischieyous rabble. Blud- 
geons, painted with party colours, were kept in stock, 
ready to be put into the hands of hired ruffians, for use 
rather than for show. It needed no ostensible cause for 
the ''lambs'' of one party to w)reok a house opened by 
the opposition, if the aggressor were the stronger ; the 
" Bush," " White Lion," " Bummer," and other houses 
were thus stormed repeatedly, the windows all broken, 
and on divers occasions the ground floor was cleared out 
after everything practicable had been destroyed. The 
magistrates, if not powerless to restrain, were in too 
many instances partisans, and looked upon such enor- 
mities as letting off the steam of political excitement. 
Freemen were made by the thousand literally, for at 
one election, that of 1812, out of 3,896 who voted 1,689 
had taken up their freedom in the four weeks prior to the 
election. These were all made at the cost of the candi- 
dates, the average of each being about three pounds. 
Marriage with the daughter of a freeman made the 
husband free immediately, and there is no doubt but 
that women were foimd who, by a bigamous contract, 
made several men, within a month, freemen of the city. 

Besides unlimited drink, freemen were paid 7«. 6d. 
each for polling, also money for chairing and other osten- 
sible reasons, about 20«. to 25s. each, together with a new 
hat. The seat was virtually in the hands of the most 
corrupt individuals, and the candidate most in favour was 
the one who pledged himself to keep the poll open as long 
as there was an elector who had not voted. Hence the 
expense of a contest was something enormous, and men 
like Brickdale, Cruger, the elder Protheroe, James Evan 
BaiUie and E. H. Davis spent fabulous sums. Brickdale 
was reduced to dependence on his son, the comptroller of 
customs in Bristol ; Cruger in straitened circumstances 
retired to New York, his native city; Protheroe spent 



£70,000 in his three contests ; and Baillie's election, in 
1830, cost him about £27,000; whilst B. H. Davis spent 
a princely fortune in six contested elections for the dty, 
which he represented from 1812 to 1831, when, like a 
squeezed lemon, he was discarded. Thoughtful and re- 
sponsible men on both sides were disgusted at a system 
which for months hindered and at times entirely sus- 
pended business, and which placed the representation 
of a great city in the hands of a drunken rabble. The 
nomination days were scenes of boisterous horse-play, 
ending in violence ; partisanship disgraced high places ; 
even sheriffs were known to admit their friends by a 
secret entrance, so as to pack the Guildhall before the 
doors were opened to the public, in order to cany the 
show of hands. 

The successful candidate was chaired, by being borne 
in a kind of triumphal car upon men's shoulders ; behind 
him stood a friend with an umbrella bearing his colours, 
shielding him from the weather, and, if the election had 
been a dose one, from the rotten eggs and harder mis- 
siles, such as oyster shells, of his opponents. If he were 
a favourite with the clergy the bells rang out deafening 
peals; otherwise they were dumb, save when his men 
6ould storm a steeple. Thus preceded and followed by 
bands of music, by trade processions carrying banners 
and emblems of their craft, the new member passed 
through the principal streets, bowing right and left to 
the vast multitudes who thronged them to the veiy roofs 
of the houses. 

The half century which has passed since the last old 
Bristol chairing occurred has witnessed many changes, 
but few more striking than that which the Ballot and 
the cessation of open nomination has caused in our 
Parliamentary elections ; and the tendency of legislation 
is to carry on the reform in this direction, to place the 
man who finds the money in the same category as the 
man who accepts a bribe, to put a stop to canvassing 
and other kinds of wasteful expenditure, and to bring 
into our elections orderly behaviour and thoughtful 
responsibility in the room of strife and chaos. 



Bristol: Past and Present having now been brought to a period within living memory, we propose, before 
continuing the local occurrences that follow the accession of George lY., to treat of certain special subjects in 
their entirety rather than in the fragmentary manner in which they would have been mentioned if their chronolo- 
gical order had been followed; for instance, under the heading of Streets, Domestic Architecture, Public Buildings, 
Charities, Colleges and Schools ; Municipal Government ; Eminent Men and Women ; Maritime Adventures and 
Discoveries, special chapters will be given, and finally the chronological history from the present chapter to present 
date will be continued. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



SrpETg, OLD m$, D0I1QESTI6 ^^G^ITEGM^, 
e^^^ITIES, S05OOLS jniD eOI/LESEg 

FROM THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 



I. Early Maps and Streets. 2. Medicsval Houses. Cellars and internal arrangements. 3. Mural 
Decorations of the latter part of the 16th Century. Sites of Ancient Houses. 4. The Old Inns of Bristol. 
Bill of Fare. 5. Ale Houses and Dram Shops. Hotel Bills. Signs and Badges of Trades. 6. Modem 
Improvements, New Streets, Waterworks, Warehouses, Manufactories, Potteries, etc, 7. The New Docks at 
the mou^ of the Avon. Provision and Timber Trades. Banking Companies, 8. Public Buildings. 
9. Charities and Almshouses in Bristol under management of Charity Trustees. 10. Charities other than 
those under Charity Trustees. 11. Educational Organisations, vix.. Baptist College, Bristol College, Bishop's 
College, Cathedral School, Congregational and Theological Institute, Grammar School, Trade and Mining 
School, Clifton College, Colston's Boarding School, Free Libraries, Orphan Houses, Ashley t>awn. Queen 
Elizabeth's Hospital, Red Maids' School, School Board, Universify College, 



HE map of Sristol, shown in Vol. I., p. 
214, liaa been carefully laid down from the 
topography of William Wyrcestre ; it is 
eBpeciallj intereBting, inasmuoh as it is 
the first attempt to delineate ootreotly the 
idmography of Bristol in William Wyr- 
oeetre's time. Bicart's plan, taken from 
the Mdyor'i CaUniar, is fanciful, but 
worthless. Hoefnag'le's map, published in Braun's 
Civitatei Orbit Tnrarum, 1581, has bean recently proved 



to be an inaccurate oopy of one "measured and laid down 
in plattorme by me, W. Bmith, at my being in Bristow 
the 30th and Slst of July, Ano. Dmi. 1568." ^ Speed's, 
Millerd's (HI., p. 64), Bocqaes' (HI., p. 87) and Donne's 
are of more recent date. Bythemapof 1480(1., p. 214), 
and that in outline in Vol. I., p. 129, will be readily seen 
the plan of the streets and the situation of the public 
buildings. The main thoroughfares, which seem so in- 
> SloBue't MS., 2fi96. W. GMrg«, Briit. uid Olone. Ardua, 
Soo., IV., pt 2. 298. 



236 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1480. 



conyeniently narrow, sufficed for a traffic that was 
carried on chiefly by manual labour, the use of wheeled 
yehides being prohibited in the city, and commerce with 
inland towns being transacted by means of packhorses. 
The lateral branches from the main streets were still 
narrower, St. Mary-le-port street (m., p. 212), John 
street and Tower lane being specimens that are still 
extant. The thoroughfares were further narrowed by 
the projecting bulks, or outside counters, and also by 
the steps which led down into the tawterrain or cellar of 
most of the houses. Only a few of the roadways were 
paved or pitched with round cobblestones. Each house- 
holder had to keep his frontage swept, but, inasmuch aa 
there were no middens, the rubbish had to be carried by 
the rainfall down the open gutter which led through 
the middle of each street to the river. In wet weather 
the spouts and gargoyles from the gabled roofs poured 
their cataracts on the pedestrians, and after sunset, 
with a cry thrice repeated, by order of the commonalty, 
of ''Take care!'' the nuisances from the upper stories 
were hurled into the street. In humid weather the 
odour was insufferable ; pigs, ducks and geese revelled 
amidst the garbage, and shared with the few aged 
outcasts the office of scavenger. Until the Jews were 
banished from England, their poor were usually em- 
ployed as nightsoil men. 

The darkness of the early night would be feebly 
broken by the candlelight from the houses, and at 
irregular intervals the municipality ordered that each 
householder should hang out a lantern of horn or paper 
with a lighted candle before his door. On the occasion 
of a visit by royalty the route taken was sanded or 
gravelled (this curious custom is still retained in several 
ancient thoroughfares when a corpse is being borne to 
its grave). 

The principal streets within the most ancient wall 
were High street. Wine (Wynch) street, Broad street 
and Com street. From High street, beginning at Bristol 
bridge, there branched off on the right hand Worship 
street, the Shambles, and St. Mary-le-port street; on 
the left hand, the Welsh back, Baldwin and Nicholas 
streets, and Cook's alley. From Wine street, on the 
north side, branched off the Pithay. Com street had, 
on the south side, Yenny and Oook lanes, which con- 
nected it with Nicholas and Baldwin streets, and on 
the north side Small street. Broad street had, on the 
west, Bell lane, and on the east, Oiderhouse passage, 
John street and Tower lane. Within the second, or north 
wall, were Nelson street (Ghrope lane) leading to Monken 
bridge, and Christmas street (Ejiifesmith street) leading 
to Erome gate and bridge. The third wall erected en- 
closed the Broad quay, Fisher lane and I^lle street. 



which followed the meandering, ancient bed of the 
Frome to its junction with the Avon on the Welsh 
back. Marsh (Skadpulle) street and Back (Bafft) street 
were also within this area. On the bank of the Avon 
there were slips for shipbuilding, and also a public 
''lavandery " for the washerwomen. A raised causeway 
of red earth ran along the bank of the Frome from 
Gib Taylor, past several slips and shipyards and a 
public latrine, to the Quay head; there were other 
latrines in Nelson street, near the foot of the Pithay, 
and the Welsh back and Bristol bridge. The tongue of 
land between the river outside the walls was planted 
with trees, and on it were the archery butts and a 
bowling green ; this was the recreation ground for the 
townsfolk. 

Bristol bridge (I., p. 91, and m., p. 218) was one of 
the wealthiest streets in the dty. It gave access to the 
transpontine district; Temple, Thomas, and Beddiff 
streets radiated from its southern point — ^the two latter 
direct, the former vid Tucker street, of which a small 
portion containing the ''Pilgrim" inn yet remains. 
These trifurcated streets were traversed from the river's 
banks and connected with each other by narrow lanes, 
which served as boundaries to the orchards and gardens 
in which the wealthy had their country seats, or for 
the rackhays (fields with racks of wood), on which the 
weavers dried their woollen doth. Temple back skirted 
the river on the eastern, and Beddiff back on the western, 
side of this district. Outside the south or Beddiff wall 
Beddiff church stood on its hill, and beyond it the 
village of Bedminster. On the eastern side of the town 
stood the Castle, beyond which was Old Market street. 
To the north-east from the foot of Newgate hill Merchant 
(Marshal) street led through the Barrs to Kingsdown. 
In the 15th century Pownham's great house stood at 
what is now the junction of King street and the Horse- 
fair, Cheddar's mansion was in Broadmead, at the comer 
of St. James' back, and Vyelle's, with its tower, stood 
at the comer of the Broad quay and the Drawbridge ; 
Yyelle's was finally demolished in 1772. The northern 
suburb was nearly all monopolised by the religious 
houses, save that between them and the town wall there 
were a number of narrow lanes thickly inhabited by 
the very poor. Shrined images of the Virgin adorned 
conspicuously some of the streets, and the fragment of 
the sculptured lion of St. Mark, at the comer of Pipe 
lane and Trenchard street, gives one instance of the 
manner in which the monks defined the boundaxy of 
their habitation. 

2. Of the picturesque Decorated style of architecture 
employed in the earlier mansions of the wealthy there 
are but few specimens left; the most notable, if not 



MEDIAEVAL HOUSES. 



the very earliest, ia Uie luindaome door of Spycer's 
hall (for the roof and mouldingB of which see Vol. I., 
pp. 149, 174). The faotostio gables, projectiiig oriels, 
with richly oarred oarTatides and multitudinous asglee, 
which threw many a darkling shadow, have ever been 
choice atudies for the artiat. The beauty of the mediee- 
Tal dwellings was the growth of necessity. Oiven a 
oircamacribed space covered with dwellings (privileges 
were oonfined within the liberties), an ever-increasing 
population, and a trade that came with leaps and bounds, 
and we see the natural result. First, the burgesses 
would excavate in the hill below their dwelling. Beneath 
many of the houses in High street are cellars, some of 



SpfetT"! DtoT, WtUk BMk. 

which have their oaken beam roofs supported by mas- 
sive lozenge-shaped pillars of soUd oak that stand on 
stone plinths ; others have groined vaultings, with stone 
ribs of the Perpendicular period ; others again have ribs 
of stone which spring from single quadrangular pUaster 
columns, whence they branch out after the manner of 
the orypta of a church, with bosses at the intersections. 
Pointed arched doorways led from these into smaller 
apartments. Between Small street and St. Stephen's 
street the hill below the surface is like a honeycomb. 
Massive in their proportions and solid in their structure, 
these cellars were used as storehouses for heavy goods 



and wines. In Wyrcestre's time some of those in Com 
street were used for the sale of wine by retail. Having 
made the most of their subterrane, the next effort of 
the townsfolks' ingennity was to gain space as their 
building rose upwards ; this they effected by extending 
the stories laterally as they advanced in height. Shut 
closely in by neighbours on each side who were in a 
similar plight to themselves, they could only thrust out 
their transom beams over the street or from the back of 
the dwelling. On these beams they raised a light frame- 
work of timber, which, with the exception of the bay 
windows, was pargetted or filled in with lath and plaster. 
The second, and often the third, stories were projected 
still further ov^ the street, and some foot or more of 
additional space was gained by the oriel, which was 
thrust out in advance. These overhanging structures 
were supported by cantilevers, or brackets, which were 
often handsomely carved, or by caryatides, as in the 
case of St. Peter's hospital (in., p. 150). To reduce 
the weight when yet another story was added, they ran 
the front up into an acute gable, which was generally 
adorned with barge-boards cut into arabesque figures, 
with a carved finial and pendant at the angle. The 
dose proximity into which the opposite dwellings of a 
narrow street were thus brought necessitated an addi- 
tional element of the picturesque in the form of glass, 
which also added to the security of the building by a 
reduction of the weight ; hence frequently the whole 
street front of the second story grew to be one huge 
window with casements, having at times an oriel with 
Stained glass in the centre for ornament. Glass was 
but rarely used on the ground fioor (never in the busi- 
ness houses until the 17th century); there the §hop(B 
(shops) were open to the street, having a bulk or counter 
outside sheltered by a penthouse and the overhanging 
upper BtorieS'(in., p. 141). Here the daily retail traffic 
was carried on by the apprentices, who used every 
touting artifice to extol their wares and to attract cus- 
tomers. Behind the shop in the merchant's house was 
the avia (hall), a large, lofty room, with a carved oak 
roof, of which Spycer's (I., p. 174) and Ganynges' 
(II., pp. 21S-6) are good specimens. In such halls as 
these the wholesale business was transacted, and here 
at a cross table on the dais the merchant entertained his 
more notable guests, whilst his household sat below the 
salt. Above the ground floor were the camtra (parlour), 
bedroom and kitchen, unless, as was sometimes the 
case, this latter was on the ground fioor behind with 
the offices. Above these, in one or two floors, were the 
lolaria (garrets), the upper ones being in the high- 
pitched gables. The doorways were deeply recessed, 
with numerous mouldings and carved work, and as 



238 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 06tl< 



wealth increased tlie walls were hung with costly tapes- 
try, which in the 16th century began to be superseded 
by oak wainscot. The ceilings about the same period 
were elaborately moulded in geometric patterns ; they 
had bosses or pendants at their intersections, and the 
whole was framed in a deep cornice, which was relieyed 
at intervals by figures of animals, or at times by the 
monogram of the owner. Oood specimens of these 
remain, notably in Small street, St. James', the Quay, 
St. Peter's hospital, and on the Welsh back. The earth 
floors of the shop and hall in the ISth century soon 
gave place to finely rammed white day, then to a con- 
crete of lime and ashes, which were covered with straw 
or rushes; Erasmus, in his day, describes them as 
having the bottom layer unchanged often for years, and 
full of garbage and filth. These were superseded by 
wood, but in some cases, such as Canynges' (still extant), 
by a handsome arrangement of encaustic tiles. The 
fires of wood were on a hearth-stone, the billets being 
kept in place by iron dogs. In the kitchen was a cosy 
ingle nook (I., p. 205), where a favoured few might 
sit and watch the steam from the iron crock, suspended 
by long hooks that were fixed in the chinmey ; but these 
were luxuries of the 16th century. 

Three things be marvelloasly altered in Englonde within 
sound remembrance. One is the multitude of chinmies lately 
erected, whereas in their young days there were not above two 
or three in upland ish towns of the reaulme, but each one made 
his fire against a reredoss, in the halle where he dined and dressed 
his meate. The second is the greate amendment of lodgings for 
sayde they our fathers, and we ourselves have lyen full oft upon 
strawe pallettes covered only with a sheete under coverlets made 
of dagswain, or hopharlets (I use their own termes), and a good 
round logge under their heads instead of a boulster. If it were so 
that our fathers or the good man of the house had a matteres or 
flock bede, and thereto a sack of chaffe to rest hys hedde upon, 
he thought hymselfe to be as well lodged as ye lorde of ye townne. 
FiUowes, sayde they, were thought mete onely for women in 
ohildebed ; as for servantes, if they had any sheete above them it 
was well ! for seldome had they any under their bodys to keep 
them from ye prickinge strawes that ran oft thorow the canvas 
and raced their hardened hides. The third thinge they tell us of 
is the exchange of treene platters into pewter, and wode spoons 
into sylver or tin. Now they have learned to gamish their cup- 
bords with plate, their beddes with tapistrie and silk hangings, 
and their tables with fine naperie. ^ 

When, as in the days of the Tudors, corn was pro- 
hibited to be exported, and money lent out on interest 
was, by law, liable to have one-half forfeited to the 
Crown, and there could be no investment in public 
securities, successful men turned their superfluous cash 
into jewels and plate, and the comer cupboard became 
their bank of deposit. ''The small innkeepers served 
you on silver dishes, with silver tankardS| and each 

1 Holinshed, 86-6, 1577. 



tavei^, however humble, would contain one hundred 
pounds' worth of silver plate." ^ 

The merchants also expended their wealth on towers 
to their mansions, and often had a portcullis over their 
gates ; Oanynges' tower at the Budde house, Yyelle's, on 
the Quay, and others, are instances. Early in the 17th 
century, mantel-pieces (so named from the practice 
of the couriers hanging up their mantles therein to 
dry) were introduced from Italy. Bristol can boast of 
a large number of beautiful specimens ; they may be 
found in conjunction with the moulded ceilings to which 
we have alluded ; those at St. Peter's hospital in Small 
street and on the Welsh back are the most elaborate. 

3. Puritan aesthetics seldom commend themselves to 
the taste of the present generation ; witness I., p. 239 
and on opposite page, the mural decorations of ancient 
dormitory in the Deanery, which are late Elizabethan ; 
full size they measure about fourteen inches in diameter. 

Most of the choice specimens of medieeval architec- 
ture in Bristol have disappeared of late before the march 
of improvement ; numbers of these have been enshrined 
in the present work, which will, as the years roll on, 
become, perchance, their only repertory. The follow- 
ing are a few of the best examples that are left: — 
St. Peter's hospital, the Pithay— notably an old house 
at the top with the brewer's arms in the front — several 
others in St. Mary-le-port street, the house at the comer 
of High and Wine streets, Bomsey's house in New King 
street (the date on the door is 1664), the ''Pilgrim" in 
Tucker street, houses in Whitsun court, St. James', at 
the foot of Christmas steps, in Lewin's mead, in Host 
street, in Temple street, in Oastle ditch. There are some 
good specimens of 18th century work in Prince street, 
for instance the front of the Assembly rooms; the 
Merchants' hall, the City library (III., p. 126) and 
Cooper's hall, in New King street, the Exchange, Pto- 
theroe's mansion in Dighton street, one or two on St. 
Michael's hiU, others in Dowry square, on Clifton hill, 
and other parts of the dty. The growth of trees was 
encouraged in the city in the days of old, and down to 
the 19th century some remained to cast their shadows 
over several of the courts in Small street; there was 
also a mulberry tree in Broad street, opposite the 
'' Guildhall " tavern. Four rows of lime trees adorned 
the Grove ; an ancient oak stood in front of the '' Stag 
and Hounds," in Old Market street, under which the 
Pie Poudre court (III., p. 37) was held; one grew at 
the foot of the High Cross in the Idth century. Those 
in Queen square were first planted in 1705, the cross 
rows in 1710; Brunswick square in 1788; those in 
College green are recent, but one which stood near the 

^ ItAlisn Relation, 21M2. 




il 

si 



I 
I 



IS 
III 



^4 I 
;p I 

^•1 ! 

i I 
f 1 

i 

l?l 

I 
p 

I 

hi 

a 

Ip 
il 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



westem steps was old; in 1850 it va» still kaown as 
the "Abbot's Tree," from a seat at its root baving been 
a favourite resort of Abbot Elliott. 

4. In 1552 the number of tareniB was limited to six, 
but in 1606, on tlie Ist of March, the following inns 
were authorised: — The "Black Bear," "White Horse" 
and " Bed Lion," in Eedcliff street; the "Lamb," "Ante- 
lope" {aliatihe "Black Horse"), "White Lion," "Three 
Kings" and the "Bell," in Thomas street; the "Sara- 
cen's Head," Temple gate; the "Crown" {aliiu the 
"Guilders"), High street; 
the "Swan," St. Mary-le- 
port street; the "Lamb," 
" Dolphin," " Horseshoe," 
and "Elephant" {atiat the 
"Spur"), Wine street; the 
"White Lion" and "White 
Hart," in Broad street; the 
"Abyndon" (a/tu* "Jones'," 
atiat "New Inn," aliat the 
"Bummer"), in Venny lane 
and High street ; this last is 
mentioned as the "Greene 
Lattia" as early as 1241. 

The "Swan" ie mentioned 
in 1434 ; the "Virgin" tavern 
was well known in 1 445 ; it 
gave its name to the lane, 
which the Commonwealth 
changed into Kaiden lane. 
A tavern called the "Bell" 
was built in 1569, in Broad 
street, by John WiUis, the 
chamberlain; the "Pelican" 
("Talbot") was in existence 
in 1579, at the time of the 
visit of Queen Elizabeth. 
The " Fourteen Stars," 
Counterslip (demolished 

after the late Conrad Finzel CuiwtaJi ra« 

bought the premises in 1857), the "Queen Bess," in 
Nicholas street, which stood opposite the present Fish 
market, the "Cat and Wheel" ("Catherine Wheel"), 
Castle green, were all of them Elizabethan. Why these, 
six of which were probably standing in 1552, are not 
enumerated in 1606, is difficult to understand, unless 
they claimed a prescriptive right as existent under the 
first charter of the company, which was dated 1449. 
The first mayor whose trade is mentioned in the 
CaUndar was William John, a brewer, 1518-19. Later 
on, in the 17th century, we find the names of the 
"Green Uan," Lawford's gate (pulled down 1768), the 



"Man of War," Back street, the "Prodigal Son," the 
"Plume of Feathers" {aliat "Princess Arms"), ^^e 
street (changed int« "The City of Bristol Arms" by 
the Commonwealth men ; the city arms are still over 
the fire-place in the dining-room ; there was another of 
same name in BeddifF street). The "Nag's Head" is 
mentioned in 1643, and again in 1743 it is named as 
the place where the Mercers and Linen Drapers' com- 
pany were wont to dine. The "Ship" inn, in Steep 
street (III., p. 10), was not built until after die siege in 
1649. The "Lamb" inn. 
West street, was the house 
in which James Naylor slept 
in 1655. An inn named the 
"George," in Castle street, 
was built in 1657 (the Coal- 
brookdale company's pre- 
mises are built upon its 
site). In 1655 the "Her- 
maid" is mentioned ae in- 
fected by the plague. The 
"Three Tuns," in Wine 
street, was kept by Uj. Oliff, 
who was twice mayor (there 
was another of the same 
name in Corn street, at 
which the Pope's Nuncio 
dined in 1687, the Exchange 
stands on its site). The 
"Angel"- inn {aliat the 
"Bull"), in High street 
(III., p. 33), dated from the 
19th century. The "Foun- 
tain" was patronised by the 
Drapers' company in 1643; 
it was in High street. The 
"Gout" was outside St. 
Leonard'a gate, in what is 
now Clare street. The 
1, Brood aw*. "Eose" inn. Temple street, 

is also mentioned in 1643 as the meetdng-plooe of the 
Boyalist conspirators, Teomans and Boucher ; it had a 
large embossed rose in the centre of its panelled ceiling; 
possibly this occasion and this room might have ^ven 
birth to the proverbial saying for secrecy, " Under the 
rose"; there, at a subsequent date, the notorious Beef 
steak club held their symposium, and there the equally 
notorious Duke of Norfolk paid his memorable visit. 
The first mention of the "Bush" (III., p. 116), im- 
mortalised in Picheirk, and celebrated for it« coaching 
and its dinners, is in 1743. Bills of fare at Christmas 
time were published by Weeks, a later proprietor, that 



A.D. 17d9. 



SIGNS AND BADGES OF TRADES. 



241 



for 1799 was, he said, '^ perhaps not to be equalled in 
Britain." Besides a boar's head, a bustard, red and 
white grouse, turtle, salmon and turbot, there were five 
haunches, five necks, ten breasts, and ten shoulders of 
venison ; also forty-two hares, seventeen pheasants, 
forty-one partridges, seventeen wild geese, eighty-one 
woodcocks, one hundred and forty-nine snipes, seven- 
teen wild and forty-four tame turkeys, eighteen golden 
plovers, a swan, a peacock, four peahens, one hundred 
and sixteen pigeons, nineteen ducks, and fifty-two barrels 
of oysters, in addition to beef, veal, and a great variety 
of other comestibles. The '' Star," in Cock and Bottle 
lane (m., p. 157), has been mentioned under date 
1704 in connection with Defoe. The ''Three Queens," 
Thomas street, the ''Eaven," in St. Mary-le-port street, 
and the ''Lamb," in Broadmead, are mentioned by name 
in historical documents, 1643. 

In 1656 the master wardens and brethren of the 
fraternity and company of innholders obtained a confir- 
mation of their charter under the hands and seals of the 
Lord Chancellor, Lord High Treasurer, and Lord Chief 
Justice of the King's Bench, under the ordinances of 
which they declare a certain number of ancient houses 
to be "common inns and hostelries within the cittie and 
liberties thereof, and that noe more, or noe other than 
are particularised, should be made use of as inns or 
hostelries." By exercise of their right they in that year 
proceeded to certify that "the 'Angel,' Eeddiff street 
[re-built 1880], without Eedcliff gate, should, upon the 
application of the owner and occupier, Anne Pruett, be 
then made and allowed as one of the common inns and 
hostelries," &c. Many of these inns, like the "Tabard" 
in Chaucer's Pilgrimag9 to Canterbury , were built in a 
quadrang^ular form, having for the centre a large yard, 
around which ran open galleries which gave access to 
the chambers. The innkeepers, by their charter and 
the by-laws of the town, were restricted in their charges, 
they might not take more than ^d. for a night's pay for 
a horse, or 2«. for a bushel of oats. 

5. Beferences to alehouses, &c., are given in Vol. I., 
pp. 227, 254, &c. Holinshed described ale in 1577 
thus: "Ale sometyme our onely, but now taken with 
many onely for olde and sicke men's drinke («'.«. thought 
by many to be only fit for) ; .... it is not at 
all or very little sodden, and without hopps, is more 
thicke, fulsome, and of no such continuance, which are 
the three notable thinges to be consydered in beere." 

Li 1651, hot- water houses, a species of dram-shop, 
began to creep into use in the city ; frequented by the 
idle and the drunken it was ordered, "that every keeper 
of such house, and every person found tippling therein, 
.should be fined 6«. 8(^." The houses were not, however, 
IVoL. ni.j 



abolished, as we find that in 1682 a "dreadful fire broke 
out in one of them, and the brandy and other strong 
waters fiowed into the street, and so to St. John's gate 
along the channel, all on fire." In a city which for 
centuries imported perhaps one-third of the wines and 
spirits that were consumed in the kingdom, it is not 
surprising that taverns fiourished, innkeepers grew rich 
and merchants bibulous. At no time or place was the 
propensity for good living and high drinking more in- 
dulged in than in Bristol about the beginning of the 
present century, and by no dass of men so much as by 
the members of the old dose corporation. Three-bottle 
men were the rule rather than the exception, and many 
a man holding a high position would be ashamed to 
acknowledge that he had gone to bed sober overnight. 
Illustrative of this is the following bill made out by the 
mayor as chairman of a private dinner pariy held at 
Beeves' hotel, College place, June 25th, 1807 : — 





£ 8. 


d. 


22 dinners at 25«. 


27 10 





12 bottles of sherry at 5«. 6(2. 


3 6 





12 bottles of port at 5« 


3 





12 bottles of hock at lOs. 6(/ 


6 6 





20 bottles of claret at 11«. 


11 





6 bottles of champagne, paid for by Sir R, 






Yaughan, the mayor 


■ • • 






£51 2 





w ai vors ••• ••• ••• ••• ••• ... ••• ... 


1 3 






£52 5 

This dinner was consumed by twenty-two persons, of 
whom sixteen were members of the corporation, six of 
them at the least being magistrates, four were officers 
in the army, one an admiral and one a private gentleman. 
Another peculiarity of the city during the 18th 
century was the number and oddity of the signs that 
hung over the shops and which were engraven on bill- 
heads and cards. In an unlettered age such outward and 
visible signs as the "Golden Leg" to represent the hosier, 
the "Wheat Sheaf" the com merchant, &c., was no doubt 
necessary; an ignorant messenger or buyer could under- 
stand the representation although not able to read. As 
trades multiplied, the ingenuity of younger shopkeepers 
was tasked to find out new and striking emblems to 
distinguish their shops ; some placed their late master's 
with their own, hence grew up such badges as the "Eagle 
and Child," others struck out sudi grotesque combina- 
tions as the " Cock and Bottle," others were perverted by 
the populace until the " Swan and the Lyre" became the 
" Goose and Gridiron." Besides the overhanging and the 
wall sig^s, the mercers, hatters, shoemakers, &c., used 
also to thrust out poles like that of the barber chirurgeon 
with its spiral tape, upon which they hung samples of 

I 3 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT, 



tbeir goods. la 1792 a local Act of PaTliatoent iraa 
obtained which compelled the remoTal of all projecting 
or overhanging signs, but it has evidently fallen into 
desuetude. 

6. So rapid and marked has been the progress of 
improvement in the dty during the last twenty or thirty 
years in its business, domestic, and ecclesiastical archi* 
tecture that some notice must be taken, however brief, 
of a change which, although a loss to the antiquary 
and the artist, has been an immeasurable gain to our 
sanitary condition, a convenience to men of business, and 
has added greatly, in our estimation, to the beauty and 
comfort of every-day life. The Floating harbour is no 



longer converted into a cesspool to receive the sewage 
of the whole city, but our eloacis now carry their contents 
into the sea by the tidal river. New streets have cut 
through and let the sunlight and fresh air into what 
were once unhealthy courts and alleys crowded with 
demoralised inhabitants. Pure wator in abundance is 
brought from the springs of the Meudips at Chewton, 
East Harptree, Barrow and Chelvey ; conveyed by stone 
aqueducts from Chewton, fifteen miles from Bristol, to 
the storage reservoirs at Barrow, which are 66^ acres in 
extent, the water is thence carried by pipes, for six 
miles, into the city. There are five service and four 
compensation reservoirs at different points of the works. 



and the water is driven with a force tliat ruses it to the 
level of the highest chambers in Clifton. The poor 
were never so well cared for or so dothed and fed; 
criminals are recognised as brethren, although fallen, 
and are no longer treated as savage beasts of prey; the 
children of the poorest are receiving an education of a 
kind and in such buildings as few, even of the wealthy, 
oauld command for their children forty years ago. The 
dim light from the oil lamp has given place to the bril- 
liant gas light, which in its turn awaits its fate as an 
illuminator from the lamp of electrical force. The rattle 
and lantern of the many caped "oharlie" has been 
superseded by a well-disdplined police force. Men of 
temperate and business habits and known probity of 
character sit daily in the seat of justice and hold the 
balance with truth and equity. The broad-wheeled 
wagon and the lumbering coach, the majestic wall-sided 
old West Indiamen, sugar and rum laden, have passed 
into the limbo of forgotten things, forced thither by 
the magic power of steam. If Bristol no longer builds 
Leviathan steam ships for ocean trafiio she at least 
can say that she pioneered the way and that in a 
style and quality of workmanship that has never been 
surpassed ; pity indeed it is that whilst she set the 
world an example in building colossal vessels for inter- 
ocean traffic she had not then, neither has she yet, 
in the old dty the means to receive and to despatch 
them with celerity and profit. Of high grade educa- 
tional establishments, institutos, halls and buildings, 
erected specially for and devoted to instruction, amuse- 
ment, science and art, we shall have occasion hereafter 
to treat. The huge warehouses, granaries and mills, 
on the banks of the Floating harbour, store and grind 
the staple of life, some of them combining architectural 
beauty, with great storage capadly, notably the granary 
of Messrs. Wait and James, Charlotte street. Queen 
square. The leather trade of Bristol is famous all over 
the world, aud the manufacture of boots and shoes has 
thriven eo as to be surpassed in quantity by few towns, 
in quality of workmanship by none ; situated chiefly in 
the north-east portions of the ancient city the trade is 
breaking up and monopolising the squares which laxst- 
chant princes built in the last century for their dwelling- 
places, and its ramifioations extend to Kingswood and 
the suburban villages. We no longer, as of old, mann- 
factuie the woollen fabric, but the home and export 
trade of clothing, as carried on by some dozen firms in 
the dty, is certainly equalled by only a few towns in the 
north of England. The corset manuf aetories of the dty 
employ a large number of hands; the soap manufactories 
maintain the ancient tame of Bristol for that mosi useful 
article; whilst "Bristol Bird's eye" has an ever increas- 



BRISTOL MANUFACTORIES. 



ing reputation, as is evidenced by the numerous tobacco 
manufactorieB in the dty. The refined sugar trade, once 
a principal staple of the dty has, it is to be regretted, 
greatly declined through unfair foreign competition ; the 
immense works of Messrs. Finzel have the fires blown 
out, yet several refineries still employ a large amount of 
labour. Like a giant oak amidst saplingB, the colosBal 
works of Messrs. J. S. Fry and Sons, cocoa and chocolate 
manufacturers, overtop the surrounding buildings. In 
1820 the ooueumptioa of cocoa in the United Kingdom 
was tuder 300,000 lbs., and the duty was 2t. 2d. per lb. ; 
in 1882 the duty of one penny per lb. was paid on 
10,897,795 lbs. The northern bank of the Avon, from 
Totterdown to Hanham, is fringed with alkali and other 
chemical works. 
Another manufac- 
ture of world-wide 
renown is that of 
floorcloth. On the 
southern bank of 
the Avon immense 
sheds have of late 
years been erected 
for the storage of 
mineral oils, of 
which the import 
trade into Bristol 
has become very 
extensive. The 
Bristol wagon 
works employ 
about 700 hands; 
ihey have a cosmo- 
politan trade, and 
export largely to 
India and South 
America. 

The first record 
of Bristol pottery is in the reign of Edward I. About 
the close of the 17th century "China ware, far beyond 
white Japan," was advertised as made and sold by 
Pattenden, of Com street. Examples of the ceramic 
art of the dates 1702 to 1728 are well known to col- 
lectors. Ftom 1738 to 1750 Biohard Frank had his 
delf works first on BedcM hack, then at Temple back ; 
tiiese were continued by Bing until 1788, then by Bing 
and Carter to 1793, by Pountney and Allies to 1816, 
Pountney and Gloldney to 1837, J. D. Pountney to 
1851, and as Pountney and Co. to the present date in 
connection with the Victoria pottery ; some of Fifield's 
drawings on tiles, of the date 1820, are preserved by the 
firm with jealous care. Champion's Bristol china works 



Mmrt. J. 8. Fry ai 



were in Castle green; begun about the year 1765, the 
pottery was finally closed in 1777. The glased "Bristol 
ware," which superseded the old salt glaze, was the 
invention of Mr. William Powell, and was first made 
at the pottery in 1833 at Temple gate, which is still 
carried on by his eons. The glazed vitrified stone ware 
is manufactured by Messrs. Price and Co., in Victoria 
street; their establishment dates from 1740. The once 
famous manufacture of glass bottles, which, during the 
1 8th century, made certain portions of the city remark- 
able from the number of conical furnaces, is now repre- 
sented by one house alone, that of Powell and Bicketts, 
which, since 1853, has been the representative of the 
Cooper's and the Phcenix glass bottle works; their 
output, however, 
equals very nearly 
that of the whole 
of the glass manu< 
factories in the 18th 
century. 

The iron manu- 
facture is well re- 
presented by the 
blast furnaces at 
Ashton gate, the 
rolling mills at 
Ashton and Barton 
hill, St. Vinceot's 
corrugated iron 
works, St. Philip's, 
and galvanised iron 
works at Barton 
hill, with other well- 
known firms. The 
Bristol Distilling 
Company Limited 
continue a business 
founded in 1780. 
7. For about five and a- half miles from the Cumber- 
land basin, at the Hotwells, the Avon forms a rapid 
tidal river full of curves to its junction with the Severn, 
from which point to Lundy Island it becomes the Bristol 
Channel, that portion of it which lies north of the Steep 
and Flat Holms, np to Avonmouth, being in the port 
of Bristol. The rise and fall of the tide in the river 
varies considerably ; whilst at spring tides there is an 
abundance of water, at neap tides there is much difficulty 
in bringing ships of great length and heavy tonnage up 
to the Floatiog harbour, and this ted to the formation 
of docks at its mouth, with a railway communication 
between tiiem and the city. 

The Bristol Port and Channel docks, at Avonmouth, 



ilmnfiicCerf, Kdmn Sfmf. 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



oa the north aide of the river, vere oommenced in 1868, 
four years after the Aot had been obtained. One hun- 
dred and forty acres of land were secured ; the water 
area is about 16 acres; the dock is 1,400 fee^ x 500 feet; 
quayage, 3,200 feet; depth in dock, spring tide, 82i feet; 
neap, 22^ feet ; oyer the cill, spring tide, 44 feet ; neap, 
36 feet ; the lock is 454 feet x 70 feet. Ships drawing 
26 feet can enter during six hours, and those drawing 
16 feet nine hours of each tide. Communication with 
the Midland and Great 
Western railways is by a 
tunnel under Durdham 
down, and there is also a 
short line to the Hotwells. 

The Fortishead Dock, 
Pier and Bailway company 
obtained their Aot in 187). 
The situation is on the south 
side of the mouth of the 
Avon, to the east of Fortis- 
head hill, which effectually 
shelters the harbour from 
west and south-west gales. 
The land obtained was 60 
acres, and the works were 
commenced in 1873. The 
water area is about 20 acres, 
the depth on the cill at 
spring tides nearly 34 feet, 
with 30 feet average depth 
along the quay wall. There 
is a timber pond at the inner 
end 13 acres in extent ; the 
total length of the floatage 
from the pier to the end of 
the pond is 4,533 feet ; the 
quayage, inclusive of the 
pier (550 feet), is 3,363 feet; 
thelockis583feetx 66 feet; 
the entrance is to the north- 
east. To this undertaking 
the corporation of Bristol, 
who are large landowners at Fortishead, contributed 
£100,000. The railway communication is by the Fortis- 
head Bailway company, a short line which is worked by 
the Great Western Bailway company. 

The provision trade has of late years assumed very 
large proportions in Bristol since the establishment of 
the Great Western and the Bristol Gty steamship lines 
to America. The Bristol Steam Navigation and other 
companies supply regular lines of oommunioation coast- 
wise ; also to Ireland, Scotland, and the Continent. 



Th* UtwTwl and London and Gldbe It 



About thirt? acres of land adjoining the Float is 
absorbed by the timber trade, which, in 1642, imder 
the old rigintt, employed only 42 ships, with an aggre- 
gate tonnage of 18,393 tons ; these, under more favour- 
able auspices, had increased, in 1874, to 202 ships, with 
a tonnage of 109,000, 

The banking companies are the Bristol Branch of 
the Bank of England in Broad street, the Bristol and 
West of England Bank Limited, the London and Sooth 
Western Bank Limited, the 
National Frovindal Bank of 
England Limited, the Old 
Bank (Miles, Oave, Baillie, 
Edwards and Co.), Stnckey's 
Banking Company and the 
Wilts and Dorset Banking 
Company, in Com street; 
these being built especially 
for banking purposes, pos- 
sess every needful internal 
accommodation, as well as 
handsome elevations on their 
ext^or, which render them 
a credit to the city. The 
Capital and Counties' Bank 
limited is in Victoria street; 
the Bristol Savings' Bank, 
which is the oldest in the 
kingdom, in St. Stephen's 
avenue ; the Bristol Penny 
Savings Bank is held at the 
OuildhaU, and the Post 
Office Savings' Bank at the 
head office in Small street. 

The offices of the in- 
surance and assurance com- 
panies are principally 
located in the central part 
of the city, in chambers 
whose elevations are for the 
most part elaborately oma- 
ojtoe, Com BtmL mented, and one of which is 

shown in illustration given above. 

8. The city has some good architectural specimens 
in its public buildings. The Council- house. Com street, 
is from a design by Sir Bobert Smirke, B.A., and was 
erected in 1827 ; it is surmounted by a beautiful statue 
of Justice from the chisel of E. H. Buly, B.A. ; the 
staircase and Council chamber are chastely decorated, 
and the handsome staircase has its steps inlaid with , 
brass and coloured enamel. The Exchange has been 
already noticed (IIL, pp. 188-9). There is a heantiful 



A.D. 1882. 



PUBLIC BUILDINGS. 



245 



Ionic portico to the Commercial rooms in Com street, 
oyer which ia tk has rslief, by Bubb, which represents 
Britannia, Neptune and Minerva receiving tribute from 
the four quarters of the globe, whilst symbolical figures 
of commerce, navigation, and of the city of Bristol, 
adorn its summit. The Chamber of Commerce has its 
location in St. Stephen's buildings, in the street bearing 
the same name. Across the Drawbridge, on a gentle 
acclivity to the right, and on the site of the Great house, 
afterwards Colston's school (III., p. 136), stands Colston 
hall. This magnificent pile contains, besides the large 
hall (which will accommodate 2,250 persons in the body 
and galleries, and 400 additional in the balconies and 
orchestra, or 6,000 standing, being 146 feet long, 80 feet 
wide and 70 feet high), two other halls, one with sitting 
accommodation for 700, the other on the ground floor 
for 400. The organ in the great hall cost over £3,000. 
The building, which was erected by spirited citizens to 
supply a great want, rather than as a speculation, has 
cost upwards of £45,000. Four medallions of weU- 
beloved citizen shareholders, who will not soon be for- 
gotten in Bristol, Conrad Finzel, Oeorge Thomas, Henry 
Overton Wills and Bobert Charleton, have been placed 
in the spandrils over the arches of the great hall. On 
another small hill to the left, in front of College green, 
is the Civic Cross, designed by Norton, erected 1850. 
Near the foot of Park street, on the left hand, is the 
Freemasons' hall, the finest in the provinces ; it was built 
for a Philosophic institution in 1820, C. E. CockereU, 
E.A., being the architect. The frieze under the portico 
is from the chisel of E. H. Baily, B.A. ; the ceiling 
of the staircase was painted by E. Bird, B.A. This 
hall is highly decorated ; it has an organ, and a carpet 
that cost £200. The highest degrees of Masonry have 
been worked in Bristol, from time immemorial; the 
Freemasons of America daim descent from the lodges 
of Bristol. In Oreat George street. Park street, stands 
St. George's church, having a handsome Ghrecian Doric 
portico, the ascent to which is by a noble flight of steps. 
At the upper end of the street is Bethesda chapel, where 
the orphans' friend, Oeorge Miiller, has ministered 
for so many years. At the top of Park street is the 
Church and Asylum for the Blind, wherein sixty inmates 
of both sexes find a comfortable home and are taught 
divers trades; adjoining the church is a fine building, 
originally the Bishop's college, but now devoted to other 
purposes. The next building is the Bristol Library and 
Museum, in the vestibule of which is Baily 's ''Eve at 
the Fountain." The library was founded in 1772 ; the 
librarian is Mr. John Taylor, author of A Book about 
Bristol and the ecclesiastical portion of the present 
work, &c. The Bristol Institution, established in 1823, 



for the promotion of science and art, has been for some 
years amalgamated with this library. The institution 
now includes a museum of zoology, geology, archeeology 
and industrial products, a library of 50,000 volumes, a 
newsroom, and a lecture-room that will hold 400 persons. 
The building is in the Venetian style, and occupies a 
commanding position on a broad platform, with flight 
of steps. The museum contains an admirable collection 
of fossils, marbles from the antique, and a fine selection 
of objects in natural history; the geological collection is 
the finest out of London. Near to, and in the rear of 
this building, are the Bristol University and the Bristol 
Grammar school, which will be referred to in future 
pages. On a commanding site which is formed by a 
spur of Clifton hiU stands the Boman Catholic Pro- 
Cathedral and the convent of St. Catherine. The Victoria 
rooms, occupying the finest site in Clifton, cover the 
main approaches to Clifton and Bedland at the junction 
of White Ladies' and Queen's roads and Eichmond hill. 
The noble portico of this fine fa9ade is supported by 
massive Corinthian columns, which bear a rich entab- 
lature and pediment, with classic carvings in high relief 
representing the "Advent of Morning." The broad 
flight of steps leading up to the building, which is 
flanked by colossal sphinxes on either hand, gives it a 
most imposing effect; it was erected in 1840, at a cost 
of £20,000. Near to the Victoria rooms is the Bristol 
Fine Arts Academy, with its ornamental front. The 
elevation is handsome, in the Venetian style, profusely 
decorated and embellished with statuary ; it was erected 
in 1858, at a cost of £5,000, exclusive of ground, and 
in 1877 some additional rooms were erected at a cost of 
about £600. The academy was founded by the munifl- 
cence of Mrs. Sharpies, a widow lady residing at the 
Hotwells, in the year 1844. Hearing that efforts were 
being made to establish an exhibition of pictures, she 
generously came- forward with a donation of £2,000 for 
that purpose, and, assisted by some of the most eminent 
of the citizens, established the society. At her death, 
in 1849, she bequeathed to the society about £3,000. 
The present building was completed in 1858, and contains 
a collection of pictures by Mr., Mrs. and Miss Sharpies, 
amongst which will be found portraits of General 
Washington and many other eminent Americans, and 
likewise several pictures of particular interest to Bristol. 
On the ground-floor is the Government School of Science 
and Art. The Clifton club has an imposing frontage 
on the north side of the Mall, Clifton. The New 
Theatre Boyal, Park row, was opened on October 14th, 
1867; on Boxing night, 1809, the pit and gallery en* 
trance was the scene of a terrible catastrophe, eighteen 
persons losing their lives through overcrowding. Not 



246 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



▲.D. 1882. 



far from it to the east, on the descent of the hill, is the 
Certified Industrial School for Boys, sentenced by the 
magistrates under the Industrial Schools' Act. This 
institution, with an average of 80 inmates, has during 
its existence sent forth 200 lads, of whom 90 per cent, 
are known to be doing well. Near this is the Jews' 
Synagogue, adjoining which is the Asylum for Hopeful 
Discharged Female Prisoners. At the upper comer of 
Lodge street stands the Eed lodge, erected by Sir John 
Young about 1600, which contains a splendid Eliza- 
bethan panelled room, with rich carvings and ceiling 
and a richly decorated fireplace. It is now used as a 
Beformatory for Girls. This was instituted by Mary 
Carpenter ; it was the first in the kingdom certified for 
the reception of convicted girls, and the house was given 
to Miss Carpenter for this purpose by Lady Byron, the 
widow of the poet. At the bottom of Lodge street is 
situated the commodious chapel founded by Selina, 
Countess of Huntingdon ; re-erected in 1831. The roof 
forms a nave and side aisles without pillars. The 
Coopers' hall in New King street, and the Assembly- 
rooms in Prince street, have each a noble fa9ade ; both 
buildings are now used as warehouses. The City library 
(m., p. 126) has a good front ; it, also, is in New King 
street. Near it, at the comer of Marsh street, is the 
exquisite front of the Merchant Venturers'/ hall, which 
was erected in 1701. At the comer of Excise avenue. 
Queen square, are the Inland Bevenue offices ; and not 
far distant, in the centre of the north side of the square, 
stands the Custom-house, a good solid piece of architec- 
ture. On the eastern side of the Float, and on the edge 
of Bathurst basin, there stands the Bristol General 
Hospital; founded in 1832 it was re-built in 1858, in 
the Italian style, of blue lias with Bath stone dress- 
ings, two worthy citizens, Joseph Eaton and Oeorge 
Thomas, having been the chief contributors. Not far 
distant to the west is the Protestant convent of the 
Sisters of Charity. St. Peter's hospital has been fully 
described in Vol. 11., p. 135; it 'lies back from Peter 
street, in the shadow of the church. The Boyal Infir- 
mary (an account of which will be found in Vol. m., 
p. 182) is in Marlborough street. The Guildhall, Broad 
street, a building in the Tudor style, has a fa9ade 
adorned with statues of Victoria, Edward HE., Charles 
n., Foster (recorder of Bristol), Colston and Dunning 
(recorder of Bristol). In Tailors' court, nearly opposite, 
is the Temperance hall (11., p. 268). 

In 1881 a magistrates' court of Petty Session, a neat 
but handsome pile of buildings, with every necessary 
convenience for magistrates, officials and prisoners, was 
erected in Bridewell street, adjoining the Central police- 
station. In 1850 public baths and wash-houses were 



erected on the Weir; and in 1873 others were opened 
on the New Cut, in the Mayor's paddock. These belong 
to the corporation; they contain admirable swimming 
baths, and every requisite is furnished for laundry 
purposes at a merely nominal charge. 

The Cattle market. Temple mead, will accommodate 
7,000 sheep, 500 pigs, 300 horses and 1,000 oxen. In 
the city there are also markets for com, fish, hay and 
straw, leather and provisions. 

The works of the first or Coal Oas company, inoor- 
porated 1819, which was the second formed in Englimd, 
are in Avon street, St. Philip's. In 1823 the Oil Ghis 
company was established in Limekiln lane. These 
amalgated in 1853, under the title of the Bristol United 
Gas Light company; their works are at Avon street^ 
St. Philip's, Canons' marsh, and Stapleton road. 

Amongst the modem buildings which adorn the city, 
in addition to those already specified, we briefly mention 
the elevations in great varieties of style of architecture 
in Com street. Wine street, Baldwin street, Bedcliff 
street (notably those of E. S. Bobinson and Co. and 
W. D. and H. 0. Wills), Bridewell street (H. H. and S. 
Budgett and Co.), and others in Victoria street. 

The hotels are exceedingly commodious, and many 
of them are palatial in style. The principal are the 
Ghrand, the Boyal, Queen's, Imperial, Clifton Down, 
St. Vincent's Bocks', Montague, and the Boyal Talbot. 

9. The Bbistol MuinoiPAL Charities werOj previous 
to the year 1836, administered by the corporation, but 
by 5 and 6 William, cap. 76, known as the Municipal 
Corporations Act, their management was removed from 
the corporation and vested in a body composed of 
twenty-one trustees, to be thereafter specially appointed 
to that duty. By an order of the lord chancellor, dated 
the 19th October, 1836, the first board was formed, of 
which Mr. James Cunningham was elected chairman. 
In the years 1852, 1865 and 1875, appointments were 
made to fill vacancies on the board occasioned by death 
or resignation, and Messrs. George Thomas, Frederick 
Terrell and Herbert Thomas have successively occupied 
the chair — the last-named gentleman being the present 
chairman. The two first appointments of trustees were 
made under orders of the lord chancellor, and the two 
last by the charity commission, to which body the ap- 
pointment had in the interim been transferred. The 
net annual income of the charities thus dispensed may 
be roughly stated at about £27,000. 

The following are the various charities, the object of 
each trust, and ike mode of administration. Alderman 
Whitson left, besides his endowment of the Bed Maids' 
school, the following : — 

CmLD-BsD Chabitt.— Inoome, £52 per aimwn, whioih i« 



CHARITIES IN BRISTOL. 



Iwrtowed la gUt« of £t to poor lyiDx-b Tomen Kwding within 
the bonndvtM of th« uioient city, 

Oirra TO PooB Housikbefkrs. — Dooatioiu of £1 each are 
giTen umnklly to ons hundred and five poor men, being honsa- 
holdera rMidiDg within th« ancient city. 

Oirr TO Widows.— Fifty-two poor widowa, reiident in the 
audent city, are annually selected to receiTe this charity of ten 
ahillingi eaob. 

In addition to the obaritiee ontunerated abore, 
Alderman Whit- 
eon bequeathed 
BmaU annuities 
for poor scholars 
at Oxford (now- 
paid OTer to the 
Orammar school 
scholarship 
fund), the Mer- 
chants' alms- 
house, the Eed- 
cliff free school, 
the poor of Bur- 
nett, the poor of 
Clewerwall, the 
master of New- 
land Grammar 
school, and to St. 
Nicholas church. 

TaiNITY 

Hospital. — The 
foundation and 
endowment of 
this hospital, 
situate in Old 
Market etzeet, is 
believed to date 
from the reig^n of 
Henry T. The 
founder was 
John Barstaple. 
It is recorded 
that a committee 
appointed to en- 
quire into the 
charities at that time under the management of the 
corporation, whidi sat from the year 1737 to L739, 
examined some of the old deeds in relation to Trinity 
hospital, and ordered the charter founding the s^d 
almshouse to be copied and "Englished," as far as it 
was possible, it being very much decayed. Of this 
oopy the following ia a correct transcript: — 

Eenry the 5tb by the grace of God Kbg of England and 
France and Lord of Ireland. To all whom these present! shall 



JUmuii Jekn WhUmm. 



oome health. Know ye that whereBB onr most dear father, the 
Lord H., late King of England, by hi* letters patent and out of 
his espetiat grace had granted .... for him and his heirs as 
mach as in him lay to John Barataple .... That in a certain 
»oid place in the anhnrbs of Bristol a certun perpetnal hospital or 
olmshoiise .... for the scitnation and wholesomneH of the 
air . ... for certain poor .... an hospital or olmBhouoe 
for the fraternity or gild of brethren and listen .... And 
that each of the hospitals or ahnshonsei of the sud fraternity or 
gild .... and that the said , . . ■ should be guardian of 
the hospi tal or olms- 
hoaae aforesaid, as 
also guardian of the 
hospital or alms- 
house of the Holy 
Trinity, nigh Iiaw- 
ford's gate, within 
the snbnrbs of 
BristoL . . IHvioe 
service, by prayers 
and preaching, to 
be performed . . . 
That each of the 
chaplains should be 
master and gaar- 
dian of the frater- 
nity or gild afore- 
said, and of the 
Holy Trioity, near 
Lafford'i gate, 
within the labnrba 
of Bristol .... 
to receive and take 
the profits of the 
lauds and other pos- 
sessions to them 
and their successors 
forever . . . with- 
out intermedling of 
others .... and 
that each of the 
guardians and 
brethren and sistera 
of the gild afore- 
said ... as farr as 
they are able . . . 
cause to be made 
and established 
laws and ordinances 
fortheregnlationof 
the Society .... 
To the guardian of 
the fraternity or 
gild aforesaid . . , 
r gild .... for the augmentation, 
fraternity or gUd of brethren 
the goods and chatties of the 
ten ... . and all and every of them the like 
sums .... which payments . . . . to the ofonwud John 
Bantaple .... of the hospital or almshouse .... to him 
and bis successon for ever .... give, grant, and aasign .... 
and also, notwithstanding the letters patents of our said dear 
father .... the aforesaid John .... for the more whole- 
some .... of the brethren and aiaten of the fraternity or 
gild of the Holy Trinity .... Robert and Nicbolaa . . . , 



of the lame fraternity 
snstaining, and receptio 
and sisters . . . . b 



248 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



▲.D. 1882i 



and of our espetiai grace have granted for ub and our heirs as mnch 
as in tu lyeth to them the said .... Thomas, John .... 
Robert, David, Robert and Nicholas .... * or any four of them 
.... in honoar of the Holy Trinity and St. George .... 

to establish .... the fraternity and gild aforesaid 

incorporated for ever .... yearly a certain master .... 
of the almshouse of the fraternity of the Holy Trinity and St. 
Greorge in Bristol should take for ever .... brethren and sisters 
of the gild or fraternity .... and take and receive the lands, 
tenements, and other possessions whatsoever .... To be had 
and holden to him and his successors for ever .... And that 
the aforesaid master of the said gild or fraternity and the brethren 
and sisters of the fraternity or gild aforesaid .... founded 
and appointed .... And we have moreover granted for us 
and our heirs as much as in us lyeth to the aforesaid .... 
That the master .... of the fraternity or gild and their 
successors .... for the augmentation, sustaining, and re- 
lieving of the said .... fraternity and gild .... when 
and as often as need shall require .... And the same sums 
so assessed on the goods and chattels of any the brethren and 
sisters aforosaid .... to the payment of the same .... 
Robert and Nicholas and their heirs, or the aforesaid master of 
the brotherhood or gild, or his successors .... aforesaid, or 
other the premises aforesaid by us or our heirs, justices, estheators, 
sheriffs or others .... on occasion thereof be in any manner 
molested or aggrieved .... us and our heirs .... in the 
least due and accustomed. In witness whereof we have caused 
these our letters to be made patents. 

Witness ourself at . ... day of February, in the fourth 
year of our reign. 

This endowment has been largely augmented by the 
gifts of Francis Codrington, a Bristol merchant, and 
Eichard Eeynolds. The net income is about £2,000, 
arising from lands and hereditaments at Chew Mag^a, 
Dundry, Portishead, Congresbury, Wick St. Lawrence, 
Winterboume, &c. ; from certain house property in 
the city of Bristol, and the dividends arising from 
monies invested in consols. The hospital, on the south 
side of Old Market street, was re-built in the year 1856, 
and considerable additions have been made thereto since 
that date. The present handsome structure provides 
accommodation for thirty -six inmates, viz.: — thirteen 
men and twenty-three women, who have each two living 
rooms and a scullery. A neat chapel has been recently 
erected on the site of a former structure, and underneath 
are interred the remains of the founder and his wife 
(II., p. 116). On the north side of the street is a more 
ancient building, wherein twenty women are housed, 
each person having one apartment only. The inmates 
all receive seven shillings per week each. 

Fosteb's Almshouse, Colston street. — 
John Foster, by Will of the 6th August, 1492, directed his 
Executors to find a Priest to sing in the Chapel which he had built 
to the honour of God and The Three Kings of Coleyne, for his Soul, 
and distribute weekly for 40 years after his decease among the 
poor dwelling in 13 chambers of said Almshouse 2«. 2d,, being for 
every chamber 2d, weekly, and he willed that certain lands in 
Qloucestersbire should be sold, and the money applied in pur- 



chasing the King*s license to found in said Chapel a perpetual 
chantry, and in purchasing an estate for building an Almshouse.* 

The present rent-roll represents house property in the 
city, and farm-houses and land at Chew Magna, Bishop's 
Sutton, &c. The net annual income is about £1,300, 
which includes an endowment from Dr. George Owen's 
charity. There are twenty-four alms-folk on the foun- 
dation, of whom twelve are men and twelve women, 
each of whom receives seven shillings per week. The 
mayoress of Bristol for the time being is entitled to the 
nomination of four of the women. The almshouse 
building, which is of ancient date, has been partially 
re-built in a ver^ ornate style, and it is intended to 
complete the works as soon as the funds of the oharitj 
will permit. In the old building the inmates have one 
room each, while in the new portion each person has two 
living rooms and a small scullery. There is no limit as 
to qualification, but the trustees do not usually elect ap- 
plicants under sixty years of age. Annexed to the build- 
ing at the entrance is a small pre-Beformation chapel, 
in which service is conducted once a week by the vicar 
of the parish, who is also chaplain of the almshouse. 

Bbngough's Almshouse. — Alderman Henry Ben- 
gough, by his will dated the 9th April, 1818, gave 
certain lands and hereditaments, situate in the parish 
of Nempnett, Somerset, for founding and endowing ** a 
hospital, as a perpetual place of refuge for the main- 
tenance and support of the aged and infirm when desti- 
tute of any other means of subsistence." It was expressly 
provided that no action should be taken to fulfil the 
charitable intentions of the donor until the several 
leases granted by former proprietors for terms of years 
determinable on lives, for which the property was held, 
should fall in and determine ; and in the meantime the 
rents and profits of the estates were to be invested from 
time to time, when and so often as the money in hand 
should amount to the sum of £50, in the Three-per-cent 
Government bank annuities. The last of these leases 
fell in hand in the year 1878, when the trustees pro- 
ceeded to the erection of a handsome almshouse on a 
property in Horfield road, in the parish of St. Michael, 
purchased by them for that purpose from the Society of 
Merchant Venturers. The directions of the founder 
required that the trustees should 

Elect and appoint in the proportion of three women to one man, 
and so in proportion the women being always three-fourths of the 
total number of persons from time to time in the said hospital ; so 
many men and women being unmarried (except with respect to the 
men in the cases hereinafter mentioned) at the time of admission, 
to be respectively of the age of fifty-nine years or upwards, being 
Protestants and British bom subjects (no foreigner bebig considered 
as eligible to be admitted). 

^ Municipal Charities— Inspector's Report, 55, 



A.i>. 1882. 



CHARITIES IN BRISTOL. 



249 



It is further provided that the truetees 
Shall from time to time, aa near as may be, elect and appoint one- 
half, consisting of persons professing the religion of the Established 
Church of England, and the other half always to consist of Protes- 
tant Dissenters of any denomination tolerated by law, inclading 
the people called Qoakers, if an adequate number of persons of 
those persuasions, eligible in every other respect, shall from time 
to time duly petition for admission ; and that no person shall be 
admitted who hath eve^ received parochial pay from any parish or 
place as a pauper. 

And further, the trustees are empowered — 

If they shall at any time or times think fit (but not that it shall 
be imperative or obligatory on them so to do), at the election of 
any man or men to be admitted into the said hospital, instead of 
electing an unmarried man or men, therein to elect and appoint 
any married man and his wife jointly, with benefit of survivorship 
to the longest liver of them, each being of the age of fifty-nine 
years or upwards, and eligible in every other respect, agreeably to 
the restrictions hereinbefore contained ; and that in every case of 
the so electing any such married couple to be admitted into the 
said hospital instead of an unmarried man, every such married 
couple shall be deemed and considered as one person and as repre- 
senting one man only, and there shall be paid to them jointly and 
to the survivor of them such and the like clear weekly stipend, 
pay or allowance, and no more, as an unmarried man would have 
received if elected ; yet, nevertheless, that such weekly stipend, 
pay or allowance shall in every such case, upon the death of either 
the man or his wife so elected, be continued to be paid to the 
survivor of them during his or her continuance in the said 
hospital 

It is further provided — 
That no election shall take place for filling up or supplying any 
vacancy or vacancies occasioned by the death of any man or woman 
admitted into the said hospital, until the expiration of six calendar 
months after his or her decease at the least, and that the pay or 
allowanoe of every such person so deceased shall, in the inter- 
mediate space until another person shall be elected in his or her 
or their places, be appUed in augmentation of the funds of the 
said hospital. 

The income is about £500. 

Owen's Chaeity. — Dr. George Owen, by indenture of 
the 2nd May, 1553, granted certain lands to the corpora- 
tion to find ten poor men to be placed in Foster's alms- 
house and to have seven pence per week paid to them. 
Under an order of the Court of Chancery of the 2nd 
June, 1843, a new scheme for the appropriation of the 
income of the charity was established, whereby it was 
ordered that five-sixths of the said income should be 
applied for the use of the Qrammar school and the re- 
maining one-sixth for the support of the almshouse, 
called Foster's almshouse, and the Three Kings of 
Cologne and the poor people therein. The income, 
which at the present time amounts to about £1,200, is 
thus applied. The property of the charity consists of 
warehouses and tenements in Bristol (principally in the 
parish of St. Mary BeddifE), and farmhouses and land 
at Chew Magna, Dundry and Bishop's Sutton, in the 
couniy of Somerset. 
[Vol. m.] 



Hannah Ludlow's Chaktty. — 

Hannah Ludlow of the City of Bristol, Spinster, by her Will 
dated the 11th December, 1863, gave and bequeathed all her 
residuary personal Estate, as therein mentioned, to the Trustees 
of the Bristol Charities, and she declared that— "The Trustees for 
the time being of the said Charities should stand possessed of and 
interested in such estate upon trust, to invest the same in the 
purchase of 3 per cent. Consolidated Bank Annuities, and to stand 
possessed thereof, and also of the Bank Annuities which should 
compose any part of her residuary personal Estate, upon trust to 
pay and apply the diyidends thereof, after deducting the needful 
expenses of carrying the trusts of her will into execution, in 
annuities of Thirty pounds each, payable in equal quarterly or 
monthly payments as the Trustees should think best, to such 
Widows and Single Women as the Trustees for the time being 
should think proper, being natives of the City of Bristol, and 
above the age of fifty years, who should have been well educated 
and brought up, and lived respectably, and should be of irre- 
proachable character but become reduced in their circumstances, 
and who should not have been for the greater part of their lives 
domestic servants. And from time to time for any inmioral con- 
duct, but not otherwise, to discontinue such annuity to any of the 
persons who should have enjoyed the same, and to exclude such 
person or persons from all further benefit under the trusts of her 
will. And from time to time, upon the death or discontinuance 
of any such person or persons who should from time to time have 
enjoyed such annuity or annuities respectively, to elect another or 
others in their or her places or place, and so from time to time, in 
order that the said dividends should be constantly enjoyed by 
such persons as aforesaid."^ 

The income of the charity amounts to £570, and there 

are eighteen annuitants. 

Gist's Charity. — 

Samuel Gist, by Will of the 22nd of June, 1808, gave to 
Trustees £10,000 £3 per Cent, bank annuities upon Trust, out of 
the Dividends to maintain Six Poor Men and Six Poor Women, to 
maintain, educate, clothe, and apprentice Six poor Boys in Queen 
Elizabeth's Hospital, and Six poor Girls. And upon further trust 
to pay £5 yearly to such poor Men and Women, and £10 for an 
apprentice fee, and in case there should be any overplus of the 
interest to apply same towards the maintenance, educatiun, 
clothing, and putting apprentice so many Poor Boys of Queen 
Elizabeth's Hospital, as far as such overplus would extend. * 

In discharge of this trust three poor men are paid 
£20 12«. per annum each, viz., £15 12«. for maintenance 
and £5 for lodgings, and three female annuitants receive 
£18, being £13 for maintenance and £5 for lodgings. 
Candidates must be over fifty years of age, natives of 
the ancient city of Bristol, without any income for life 
amounting to £20 a year. The persons selected by the 
trustees are generally those who have been in some- 
what better circumstances than the ordinary poor. 

By an order of the Court of Chancery, dated the 14th 
November, 1820, the payment to Queen Elizabeth's 
hospital of the sum of £100 annually and to the Bed 
Maids' school of the sum of £72 yearly was approved as 
satisfactory performance of the trust for poor boys and 
girls. 
^ Municipal Charities— Inspector's Report, 139. * Ib'id, 91. 

I 4 



250 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.n. 1888. 



Onet was a slave-liolder in Yirginia, U.S.A., but his 
slaves were, by a direction contained in his will, manu- 
mitted. He died on or about the 16th January, 1815, 
in Gower street, London, and was, by his desire, buried 
under the church at Wormington, Gloucestershire. He 
left certain monies, the interest on which was to be de- 
yoted to the maintenance of a schoolmaster and minister 
for the benefit of the descendants of his manumitted 
slaves (800 in number) who were also to have assistance 
in the shape of food and clothing. The community 
which can now lay claim to these benefits numbers up- 
wards of 500 persons. 

Bonvtlle's Chakity.— Thomas Bonville, by an in- 
denture of the 20th October, 1819, gave certain bank 
annuities for the several purposes thereinafter set forth. 
It is directed that the proceeds and interest of £4,000 
consols be paid to and for the support and maintenance 
of the Benevolent schools established in the parishes of 
St. James and St. Paul, the remainder of the income to 
be divided into two equal moieties, the one to furnish 
five annuities of £21 each, and the residue to be divided 
into equal portions, so that no portion shall exceed 
£10 10«., and may be as near to that sum as an equal 
division will admit, the same to be paid half-yearly to 
such poor housekeepers of the ancient city of Bristol as 
shall from time to time be elected thereto. It is directed 
that the other moiety shall be divided into equal portions 
not exceeding £5 58, each, and to be as near to that 
amount as an equal division will admit, the same to be 
paid to poor housekeepers half-yearly as above. This 
gift is not an annuity, but the recipients thereof are 
elected annually. The receipt of parish pay is a dis- 
qualification, widows or single women, of not less than 
fifty years of age, are always to be preferred. The 
present disposition of the fund is as follows, viz., five 
recipients of £21 per annum, seventeen of £10 10«. and 
fifty-three of £5 5«. 

By indenture of the 1st June, 1822, Thomas Bonville 
further gave certain bank annuities and other stocks, 
the income of which is to be applied from time to time 
in yearly sums of not exceeding £21, nor under £5 5s., 
each, payable to poor lodgers residing in the ancient city 
of Bristol. The conditions of payment are similar to 
those as set forth under the first-named deed. There 
are fifty-one recipients of this gift, viz., fifteen of £10 
and thirty-six of £5 5s, per annum each. The income 
of this charity is about £1,060. 

John Merlott's Charity. — Alderman John Merlott, 
by his will of the 14th January, 1784, gave £3,000 upon 
trust, to pay the interest to blind persons of fifty years 
and upwards, in sums of £10 each yearly, without regard 
to the place of birth of any of such objects provided they 



be residents in Great Britain, and in eveiy other respect 
upon the like terms and conditions as in Hetherington's 
charity in London, whereby it is required, inter dHa, that 
applicants shall have been ''stone" blind for upwards 
of three years ; and further, that they be of sober life 
and conversation, not receiving parochial alms, not being 
common beggars, and not having any annuity, salary, 
pension, estate, or income for life amounting to £20. 
The petitioners are divided into four classes, the first 
consisting of persons who have attained the age of eighty 
years, the second of persons of seventy and under eighty 
years of age, the third of persons of sixty and under 
seventy years of age, and the fourth of persons of fifty 
and under sixty years of age ; and provided there is a 
sufficient number of eligible candidates in the older 
classes the first class is to be preferred to the second, 
the second to the third, and so forth. The funds of this 
charity were largely augmented by the gifts of Hichard 
Eeynolds and Miss Elizabeth Merlott, the former of 
about £2,400 and the latter of £5,000. The present 
income is about £490, and there are forty-seven re- 
cipients of the charity. 

Db. Thomas White's CHABniES. — ^This benevolent 
donor, a native of Bristol and Yioar of St. Dunstfui's-in- 
the-West, London, bequeathed (1622) estates in London 
and Essex for various charitable purposes in London 
and Bristol. The present appropriation of the funds 
applicable to Bristol, and which are under the control 
and management of the trustees of the Bristol Municipal 
charities, is as follows: — 

£ 8, d. 

The minister of All Saints, Bristol, to preach four ser- 

mons in the said cbnrcli yearly 10 

The miniBter of St. Werbnrgh*8, Bristol, to preach four 

sermons in the said church yearly ]0 

The minister of Temple parish, Bristol, to preach one 
sermon in the said church yearly on St. Thomas' 
d»y in the fon«.oon, and one .eLon Ukewuie on 
the Feast of St. John the Baptist in the forenoon 6 

The poor of Temple hospital, for the increase of their 

alms there and other purposes 12 

On St. Thomas' eve, to and for the relief of poor 
prisoners in Newgate gaol, Bristol (vidt Prisoners 



in Gaol fund) 



••• ••• ••• «•• 



2 



Marriage portions of £10 each to four poor maidens of 
good character, who have lived at least five years 
in one place, or have been for a Uke period steadily 
engaged in the pursuit of some trade or other 
calling, upon their marriage 40 

Grammar school endowment fund 100 

(This last amount was formerly appropriated to the repair of 
the highways leading to the city of Bristol within the compass of 
five miles round every travelling and market way, and also the 
ways to the baths and ten miles towards Oxford, but inasmuch 
as the local board is bound to repair all roads which are made 
and placed in proper order, an Act' of the 21st and 22nd Victoria, 
obtained under the Charitable Trusts Act, 1858, provided that the 



A.D. 1882. 



CHARITIES IN BRISTOL. 



251 



income ahonld be inveBted from time to time in the pnblio funds, 
in augmentation of the endowment of the Grammar school. ) 

A Bum of £660 is applicable for loans, viz., a capital sum of £600 
and an annual income of £60, which latter, after having been once 
lent, is applicable to making good any losses arising from non- 
payment of any loans, and, subject thereto, the amount so repaid 
is applied to the augmentation of the Grammar school exhibition. 
This fund is lent out in sums of £30 each for two years, free of 
interest, to persons carrying on business within the Parliamentary 
boundaries of the city of Bristol upon the bond of the borrower 
and two or more satisfactory sureties — £60. 

The residue of the income is ordinarily paid over annu- 
ally to the governors of Temple hospital, but should 
there remain in any year a balance after the satisfaction 
of their daim it is appropriated, under the Act prcTiously 
quoted and the scheme of the Endowed Schools' commis- 
sioners, 1875, to the augmentation of the Grammar 
school endowment fund. The present income, which 
fluctuates considerably, amounts to about £500. 

Dr. White further founded, and placed under the 
control and direction of the court of Zion college, Lon- 
don, an almshouse at London wall, London, for twenty 
persons, of whom four persons, yiz., two men and two 
women, were to be received from Bristol. By a sale of 
certain of the lands, out of which such income issued, 
including the almshouse building, the revenues were 
considerably increased, and thereupon a scheme was 
framed for the management and reg^ation of Sion 
hospital and the application of the income thereof, 
which was approved by order of the High Court of 
Justice, Chancery Division, on the 23rd of July, 1877, 
whereby the trustees were empowered to make arrange- 
ments with the then existing inmates of the almshouse 
to commute their residence and weekly payment into 
pensions, and thereafter to apply the income of the 
chariiy in the bestowal of pensions of not exceeding 
£50 per annum each. One fifth of the number of pen- 
sions is allotted to Bristol, and eight inhabitants of this 
city, viz., four men and four women, now receive pen- 
sions of £35 each. Candidates must be poor and im- 
potent folk, so reduced in strength as to be unable to 
work, and who shall have attained the age of fifty years 
at least at the date of election, provided that no person 
shall be elected who shall have been in the receipt of 
parochial (other than medical) relief within twelve 
months next preceding the time of election. The 
Bristol pensions are bestowed by the governors of 
Sion hospital, on the nomination of the Bristol charity 
trustees. 

Loan Money Chabity. — This chariiy is composed of 
the gifts of fourteen donors, viz. : — Sir Thomas White, 
John Heydon, Eobert Thome, Eobert Aldworth, George 
White, John Whitson, Eobert Eogers, John Dunster, 
Thomas Jones, Bobert Kitchen, Bobert Bedwood, Francis 



James, John Doughty and Thomas Pearce Allison. Sums 
of from £50 to £500 are lent out at a nominal rate of 
interest to persons carrying on business in the ancient 
city of Bristol, upon satisfactory personal security and 
for a term not exceeding six years. Under a scheme of 
the Endowed Schools' commissioners, dated the 13th 
May, 1875, one moiety of the funds of this charity was 
added to the endowment of the Qrammar school. The 
present loan fund amounts to the sum of £3,400, added 
to which a sum of £1,000 is invested as a sinking fund 
for making good occasional losses. The loans are ob- 
tained upon petition. 

Kitchsn's Chabity. — Alderman Eobert Kitchen, by 
his will of the 19th June, 1594, devised to trustees his 
capital mansion house, situate in Small street, within 
the city of Bristol, with the appurtenances to the same 
belonging, upon the special trust that his executors or 
their successors should, at any time they should think 
most fit, sell the said capital messuage and premises for 
the greatest price they could have for the same; and 
after such sale, dispose and employ the money which 
should be made or received for the same to the best 
benefit, relief and sustentation of poor people. 

And by an indenture of the 27th March, 1631, the surviriog 
executors of the will paid £1,000 to the corporation (being the 
proceeds of the sale of the mansion house aforementioned), to the 
intent that " there should be for £600 of that sum a rent charge 
of £32, issuing out of the lands of said Corporation, to pay 10«. 
a week every Saturday to some one poor householder, either a 
Burgess, or the widow of a Bui^ess inhabiting in the seventeen 
Parishes of the City, mentioned in a Schedule, making £26 a 
year, such householder to be nominated by the Mayor and Alder- 
men, and the Churchwardens and Overseers of the poor of the 
Parishes respectively, one after another, in the order in the 
Schedule, going over the same Parishes in order again and again, 
week by week for ever ; and the remaining £6 a year, residue of 
the £32, to pay £3 at Lady Day, and £3 at Michaelmas, yearly, 
for the preferment in marriage, or for a stock to set up a trade of 
such of the poor kindred of himself or his wife, a Kitchen or 
Satthfield, as should dwell in Bristol, for ever, and for want of 
such kindred, for the placing of three fatherless or friendless 
children, dwelling in Christchurch, Temple, or St. Stephen's 
Parishes, at the discretion of the said Mayor, Aldermen, Church- 
wardens, and Overseers. And for the other £400 of the said 
£1,000, £125 thereof to be yearly lent to merchants of Bristol in 
sums of £25 gratis, £250 to be lent to Six or Seven Burgesses for 
five years together, in sums of £5 or £10, and the remaining £25 
to be lent to the Mayor gratis every Michaelmas, with a basin and 
ewer, double gilt, 90) ounces, which Humphrey Hook the then 
Mayor had ; to the intent that the Mayor should have a care to 
the Charitable Trust. The Corporation covenanted faithfully to 
execute the trusts, and that if they failed it should devolve on the 
Corporation of Bath. 

Abel Kitchen, the surviving Executor of the Will of Alder- 
man Kitchen, by his Will dated in 1639, directed that the rents of 
the New Market or Shambles, in Bristol (which he described as 
being of the gift of the Alderman, but whether to himself, the 
testator, or to the Charity does not appear), should be settled, 
after payment of the quit rents therein mentioned, for placing out 



252 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.a 1882. 



Beven poor boys or girls at £2 10«. a piece, "^ and for the following 

gifts ammally, viz. : — 

£ «. d. 
To the parish of Westbury-upon-Trym : 6s, Bd. to the 
poor of the parish, and 6s. Sd, for a sermon to be 

preached there annually 13 4 

To the parish of Christchurch for bread 16 

To the minister of St. Stephen's for a sermon 10 

To the vicar of Kendal, in the county of Westmore- 
land, for a sermon 10 



So far as regards the annual payment of £26, dis- 
tributed in pursuance of the trusts, in gifts of ten 
shillings each amongst the poor of the several parishes 
of the city, the method of award is as follows : — 

The Churchwardens of the Old Parishes, together with a 
Committee of the Corporation who represent the ancient Mayor 
and Aldermen (under the Municipal Corporation Act, 5 and 6 
William 4th, c. 76, sec. 73) meet at the Council House in March 
or April (generally some time before Easter). The Town Clerk 
has previously sent a precept to the Churchwardens, which is 
affixed to the Church door, giving notice that on a certain day the 
Committee will sit for the receipt of the applications. The 
Churchwardens fill up the recommendation, and bring it to the 
meeting, and, if approved of, the order to pay on the same form 
is signed by the Chairman. This order is taken to the Charity 
Trustees. * 

By an Act of Parliament, 21 and 22 Yic, cap. 30, 
schedule sec. 6, it is enacted that the annual surplus, if 
any, arising from this sum, not required for distribution 
in the manner prescribed by the founder of the charity, 
shall be placed by the trustees to the credit of a fund 
for general charitable uses belonging to the same 
charity, and be applied and disposed of by them for 
such charitable objects for the benefit of the poor of 
the city or borough of Bristol as the trustees shall from 
time to time determine. From this fund accordingly 
annual subscriptions are given to the Infirmary, the 
Hospital, and the Dispensary. A grant is also made 
therefrom annually for coals for the poor, and grants of 
not exceeding five pounds each are bestowed on dis- 
tressed citizens. 

Elizabeth Ludlow's Gift. — Miss Elizabeth Ludlow, 
by her will of the 11th February, 1805, gave the sum 
of £1,000 three per cent, bank annuities, directing that 
the dividends arising therefrom, and amounting to two 
sums of £30, be yearly divided on the 2nd February 
amongst five poor widows and widowed daughters of 
free burgesses residing within the limits of the ancient 
city. The trustees observe the directions of the testa- 
trix's will, but do not as a rule give this gratuity two 
years following to the same person, or until at least 
three years have elapsed. 

Lady Haberfield's Chabity. — ^Dame Sarah Haber- 
field, by her will dated the 25th day of April, 1870, 
gave to the trustees of the Bristol charities the sum of 
^ Municipal Charities — Inspector's Report, 103-4. * Ibidf 127. 



£500 for the purposes set forth in the following extract 
therefrom: — 

I GIVE to the Bristol Charity Trustees Five Hundred Pounds 
to be invested in Consols, and the annual inoome thereof to he 
divided equally on the twenty -seventh day of December in every 
year among such Ten Poor Married Women not receiving parish 
relief as the said Charity Trustees may select. And I declare that 
this Legacy is given by me in memory of my late Husband, Sir 
John Kerle Haberfield, who died on the twenty-seventh day of 
December, One thousand eight hundred and fif ^-aeven, and who 
six times served the office of Mayor of the said City of Bristol. 

The bequest came into the possession of the trustees 
by the death of the testatrix in June, 1875, and has been 
distributed annually since that date in sums of thirty 
shillings each to ten poor married women. 

Geobgb HABBiNaToir's OiFT. — ^The trustees receive 
£27 per annum from the corporation, which is distri- 
buted, on the nomination of the churdbwardens of the 
several parishes, among free burgesses and housekeepers 
of the ancient city in gifts of 1 0$. each. 

Aldebmak Joseph Jackson's Chabity. — ^The corpo- 
ration pay the trustees annually £22 10«., of which the 
latter distribute gifts of 4«, to forty-four housekeepers 
in the ancient city, being freemen, or widows of free- 
men, recommended by the overseers and churchwardens. 
The sum of £12 is paid annually to the minister of St. 
Werburgh "for the encouragement of preaching the 
word of God in that parish." The surplus balanoe is 
carried to the credit of Queen Elizabeth's hospital under 
Act of Parliament. 

Db. Chablbs Slopbb's Gift. — For Bibles to be dis- 
tributed amongst the poor in the andent city of Bristol. 
The income is £15 per annum. 

Ann Thxtbston's Chabity. — ^Nine gifts of £1 each are 
nominated by the mayoress, or the mayor, if he be unmar- 
ried, to as many women in child-bed, being the wives of 
freemen of Bristol, without distinction of residence. 

Thomas Holbyn's Gift. — Income, £5 per annum, 
£4 lOi. of which is distributed in gifts of lOi. each to 
poor people in St. Thomas' parish, and 10«. a year is 
paid to the vicar for a sermon. 

Fbancis Fttlleb's Ohabity. — The corporation pay 
about £11 per annum to the trustees, who distribute in 
sums of lOi. at the discretion of individual members of 
their body. 

Edwabd Oox's Gut. — The corporation pay £10 per 
annum to the trustees, who g^ve it away in sums of lOs. 
or £1 to poor persons resident either in the parishes of 
St. Philip, St. James, or Eeddiff. 

Sib Abbaham Elton's Chabity. — ^The sum of £2 is 
distributed annually in gifts of is, to the poor of All 
Saints, and a similar sum is appropriated for the 
Grammar School Exhibition Fund. 



A.i>. 1882. 



CHARITIES IN BRISTOL. 



253 



Thomas Chbstbr's Ohabttt. — ^Income) £8 per an- 
num, which is distributed in gifts of lOs, a-piece to 
seven inmates of St. John's almshouse and of 58, to 
eighteen poor parishioners of St. John's, the names of 
the latter being furnished by the yicar. 

Matthe-w Haytlakd gave a rent-charge of £4 for 
the preaching of twelve sermons in the Common Jail, 
and BiGHABD Holwobthy added £20 to the foregoing, 
for 20i, a year to be given to the poor prisoners ^vide 
Prisoners in (}aol fund). 

Oeobob White's Gut. — The trustees receive £5 per 
annum from the corporation for the relief of prisoners 
fvide Prisoners in Oaol fund). 

John Peabob gave 20s, a year for a sermon on the 
6th November in St. James' church. 

Thoi£AS Jones' Ohabity. — The trustees pay £4 a 
year to the vicar of Stowey, £2 for four sermons annu- 
ally and £2 for the poor of that parish. 

Httmphbet Bbown's Chabity. — ^The trustees pay to 
the trustees of the Consolidated Charities (Westbury- 
on-Trym) the sum of 10«. per annum for a sermon to 
be preached in that church, and £2 for the poor of the 
parish; to the churchwardens of Iron Acton, 10« , and 
£2 to be distributed as at Westbury ; to the rector of 
St. Werburgh the sum of £2 for four sermons, and to 
the vicar of St. Nicholas £20, for a sermon on every 
Lord's day in the afternoon. 

Mabt Ann PsLOQinN's Chabitt. — ^Mrs. Peloquin, by 
her will of the 27th April, 1768, gave the sum of 
£19,000, to be placed out at interest to pay the income 
of £300, to tiie rector, curate, derk and sexton of St. 
Stephen's. To pay tiie interest of £15,200 amongst 
thirty-eight poor men and thirty-eight poor women, 
freemen, or widows or daughters of freemen, house- 
keepers in the ancient city of Bristol, not receiving 
parochial alms or keeping alehouses, in sums of £6 6«. 
each. To pay the interest of £2,600 amongst poor 
lying-in women, wives of freemen, SOs, to each. (These 
gifts are in the nomination of the mayoress of Bristol 
for the time being.) And the interest of £1,000 residue 
amongst twenty poor widows and single women and ten 
poor men, to be annually nominated by the minister 
and churchwardens of the parish of St. Stephen. 
Under a scheme of the Endowed Schools' commis- 
sioners, dated the 13th May, 1875, the sum of £10,000, 
being a part of the aforementioned sum of £15,200, 
was applied — £5,000 towards the augmentation of the 
endowments of tiie Ghrammar school, and £5,000 to- 
wards the augmentation of the endowments of the Bed 
Maids' school. The unapplied balance of thia charity 
(if any) is annually transferred to the credit of Queen 
Elizabeth's hospital, in pursuance of Act of Parliament. 



John Heydon's Gift. — John Heydon, by his will in 
1579, gave £100 to be lent to yoimg men trading over 
the seas, who were to pay £3 6s. Sd, annually for the 
use of the same, which amount was to be divided 
amongst poor persons in prison. The capital sum is 
incorporated with the loan money charity previously 
mentioned, and from that amount the sum of £3 6s. Sd, 
is carried yearly to the Prisoners in Qttol fund. 

Thomas White's Chabity, — ^Mr. Thomas "White, by 

deed of the 14th January, 32nd Henry YIII., granted 

to trustees certain lands and hereditaments at Henbury. 

The sum of £13 is paid by the corporation of Bristol in 

respect of this endowment to the municipal trustees, 

who administer the gifts in the following manner, 

agreeably to the intentions of the founder: — 

£ «. d. 

To FoBter*8 almshoiiBe, annually 2 8 

** AlmshoosiBs in the parish of St. Thomas, annually... 2 8 
" Almshouses in the parish of St. John the Baptist, 

annually.* ^ o U 

" Almshouses in the parish of St. James, annually ... 2 8 
'* the churchwardens of AU Saints, for the maintenance 

of the conduits, annually 10 

" the Prisoners in Gaol fund, annually 1 1 8 



£11 13 8 
Fbisoners in Gaol Ymm. — This fund is made up 
of sundry gifts, as follows, viz. : — 

£ «. d. 

Dr. T. White— annually 2 

John Heydon ** 3 6 8 

Thomas White " 118 

Richd. Holworthy " 10 

Geoige White " 6 



£12 8 4 



The above gifts are applicable to the redemption or 
relief of poor prisoners. Since, however, the abolition 
of imprisonment for debt the fund has accumulated, 
and such accumulations were, in the year 1875, by a 
scheme of the Endowed Schools' commissioners, dated 
the 13th May in that year, applied in augmentation of 
the endowments of the Grammar school. The accumu- 
lations of the income siuce that date are in the hands 
of the trustees. 

10. The following are not under the Oharity trustees : 
Whitb's Almshottsb, in Temple street, where once stood 
the hospital of the Knights Templars, afterwards that 
of the prior and brethren of St. John of Jerusalem, 
was, untU 1882, a quaint parallelogram of small gabled 
buildings, with a narrow grass-plot running up its 
centre, entered by a gate-house in the Perpendicular 
style, in which resided the ancient brother. This hos- 
pital was founded by Thomas White, D.D., in 1613, to 
bear the name of '* The Ancient Brother, Brothers and 



254 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1882. 



Sisters of the Temple hospital in Bristowe." Originally 
intended for ten poor and impotent people, its property 
has so augmented that thirty-two occupants now hare 
two rooms each, 7$, per week, and a number of other 
donations. A curious paragraph in the doctor's will 
specified the annual dinner that was to be eaten by the 
goyemors, of which the inmates of the almshouses were 
to have the reversion ; it consisted of a belly of boiled 
pork, with peasen pudding, an apple pie baked in a 
pewter dish, a suet pudding, a loin of real, and a baron 
of beef, which was to be brought in on an iron gallows. 

All Saints Almshouse was built in 1350, it is said, 
by Stephen Gnowsall, in All Saints lane ; removed, 
when the Exchange rose partly on its site, in 1740, to 
St. John's parish. City improvement again removed it to 
All Saints street in 1813. Eight aged women receive 
5«. 3d. per week, besides simdry gifts. 

Blanchabd's Almshouse, in Milk street, provides a 
home for ^'five poor old maids whose labour is done; 
and, for want of such poor maids, for widows of the 
Baptist persuasion." Each inmate receives 4«. per week. 
Founded by Miss E. Blanchard, 1722. 

Btjbton's Almshouse. — On an ancient building in 
Long row is an inscription ascribing its foundation to 
be by Simon de Burton, 1292, who is said also to have 
been five times mayor of the city and the founder of 
St. Mary EedclifP church. The name appears in the 
list of mayors six times, but that Simon Burton founded 
this almshouse is about as mythical as the statement 
that he founded the church. The honour belongs to 
John Burton, bailifp, sherifp, mayor, and afterwards 
M.P. for Bristol, between 1416 and 1450. Sixteen 
poor women receive each, weekly, 5«., besides a few 
small gifts. 

Clifton Almshouse, erected and endowed by T. W. 
Hill, for twelve old persons, stands in the vale between 
Brandon and Clifton hills. 

Colston Almshouses and Chapel, on St. Michael's 
hill. Founded by Edward Colston in 1691, for twelve 
men and sixteen poor women ; these each receive 7«. a 
week and coals ; the elder brother has lOi, Prayers in 
the chapel twice a day. 

Fbt's House of Mbeoy, Colston parade. — ^Eight 
single women here receive Ss. each per week. 

Merohant Tailobs' Almshouse, Merchant street. — 
Founded by charter of Bichard 11., 1399. The edifice 
was erected 1701. Six shillings per week is paid to 
each inmate of the nine apartments, the same being 
tailors or tailors' widows; a similar amoimt is distributed 
to out-pensioners. 

The Mebohant Seamen's Almshouse, in New King 
street, is a quadrangle, founded 1696. Nineteen sea- 



men and twelve seamen's widowB receive— the elder 
brother lOs,, the rest 6s, , weekly, besides donations. 

Bedglipf Hill Almshouses, of whioh Canynges is 
the ''reputed" founder, give accommodation to fourteen 
persons, who receive U. 6d.^ and some of them 2$., per 
week, each. 

The Hedcliff Poorhouse for eleven persons ; three 
of these have 28. 3i., and nine 2«., each, per week. 

Bidlev's Almshouse, in Milk street, founded by 
Miss Bidley, built 1739. Five bachelors and five maids 
inhabit here, each receiving 9«. every fortnight. 

St. James' has a poorhouse, wherein are twelve poor 
women, who each receive 4«. per week. 

Spenoeb's Almshouse, in Lewin's mead, founded in 
1493, was endowed with 2d. per week for each of its 
twelve inmates. Sixteen aged persons now receive each 
2s. 6d. per week from St. Peter's hospital. 

St. John the Baptist's Almshouses are on St. John's 
steep. These are said to have been founded, about 1490, 
by Bobert Strange, thrice mayor of Bristol; rebuilt, 
1721. Seven aged women receive each 3«. 5d. per week 
and sundry small donations. 

St. Nicholas' Almshouse, in New King street, a 
many gabled building, dated 1652, forms a home for 
sixteen aged women, supported by gifts and a weekly 
sum from St. Peter's hospital. 

St. Baphabl's Almshouse, Cumberland road. — Six 
aged seamen receive a small weekly allowance and coals. 

Alderman Stevens, in 1679, founded an almshouse 
for freemen's widows or daughters. It is situated in 
the Old Market. Sixteen persons have apartments 
herein, and they each receive, weekljr, 5$. 

Stevens' Temple Almshouse was founded by the 
same benevolent individual. Here there are twelve 
apartments, and each inmate receives, weekly, 5«. 

The TJnitabian Almshouse, in Stokes' croft, was 
founded by Abraham Hook in 1722 ; here twelve poor 
women each receive 12«. lid. per month. 

11. The Baptist College, an institution for educate 
iiig young men for the ministry in connection with the 
Baptist denomination, was commenced in 1679, when 
Mr. Terrill, by deed, devised a large portion of his 
estates for the maintenance of "a holy learned man, 
well skilled in the tongues, vis., Ghreek and Hebrew, 
one who doth own and practise the truth of believers' 
baptism." He was to devote three half days in the 
week to the instruction of " some yoimg men, not ex« 
ceeding twelve, who were members of any baptised 
congregation in or about Bristol, for two years at the 
most." The bequest did not come into operation until 
the year 1720; Bev. Bernard Foskett was tutor, and the 
first student was Thomas Bogers, of the Pithay church. 



A.D. 1882. 



EDUCATIONAL ORGANIZATION. 



256 



In 1770 the Bristol Education socieiy was formed 
througli the exertions of Dr. Oaleb Evans, as an ad- 
ditional aid to Mr. Terrill's bequest, with which it 
continues united. During the early part of the present 
century it became well known as the Baptist academy, 
Eobert Hall having been its president, as well as Dr. 
Byland and others of note. There are some choice 
treasures amongst the stores of its library, the chief 
being the only perfect copy of Tyndale's translation of 
the New Testament, and a miniature on ivory of Oliver 
Cromwell, by Cooper — illustrations of these two being 
given in this work. This college has been very success- 
ful, many of the most eminent scholars and preachers 
of the Baptist persuasion having been trained therein. 
The course is four years^ and the number of students 
averages about twenty-five; the Bev. F.W. Gotch, D.D., 
one of the revisers of the New Testament, is the principal. 

'* Bbistol College was opened on the 17th January, 
1831 (as the prospectus said), 'in the house formerly 
occupied by Matthew Wright, esq., in Park row,' and 
which house has since been razed for the construction 
of Perry road. The first principal was Dr. J. H. Jerrard 
(fellow and classical lecturer of Caius college, Cam- 
bridge), Mr. Charles Smith, of St. John's college, in 
the same university, being vice-principal and mathe- 
matical professor. The Bev. Dr. Conybeare (afterwards, 
we think, dean of Llandaff, and father of the writer 
of the once famous essay 'On Church Parties'), was 
visitor. The age of admission was twelve or thirteen ; 
and for lads not advanced enough in the rudiments of 
Greek and Latin, a preparatory class (or junior school) 
was opened to fit them for taking their places in the 
regular classes of the college. The terms of admission 
were £18 for the nominees of proprietors, and £21 for 
other students, with an entrance fee of £1 10«. In the 
July following the opening of the institution there were 
public examinations of the pupils, there having been 
three days' private trial previously 'conducted on the 
Cambridge plan by written translations and answers to 
questions on the subjects on which they had been occu- 
pied since the opening of the college.' The public 
examination, which was vtva voce, conducted by the visi- 
tor, was confined to those who had most distinguished 
themselves. These were taken in Pindar, ^schylus, 
Plato, Aristophanes, Thucydides, Juvenal, &c. Amongst 
the prize-boys in this first public display we find the 
then and since familiar names of Swayne, Fripp, 
Prichard, Clarke, &c. Bristol college just ran out its 
ten years, and closed at Christmas, 1841, during which 
time there were several changes of masters. Mr. F. W. 
Newman (now Professor Newman), succeeded Mr. Smith 
as vice-principal at an early stage of its history, and 



Mr. Newman was replaced by the Bev. J. E. Bromby, 
now head-master of a large collegiate institution in 
Australia, and who, upon Dr. Jerrard resigning, took 
the post of acting-principal, but not principal. Mr. 
(now Dr.) Bromby afterwards resigned and opened a 
school in Clifton, when Dr. Booth, of Trinity college, 
Dublin, became principal, and Mr. John Exley vice- 
principal. Both these gentlemen, on the college closing, 
opened schools for themselves; but Dr. Booth soon after 
left to accept a head-mastership in Liverpool. During 
its ten years' existence Bristol college did good work, 
and turned out boys who afterwards distinguished them- 
selves as men in various departments; amongst them 
we may mention the Rev. S.W.Wayte, master of Trinity 
college, Oxford; Professor Stokes, senior wrangler of his 
year ; Mr. Edward Fry, Q.C. ; the Rev. George Swayne 
(to whom we are indebted for the Herodotus in Black- 
wood's present series of 'Ancient Classics for English 
readers'); Mr. Walter Bagehot, of the Economist, &c. 

" Bishop's College and Bristol Colleoe had a con- 
temporary existence for about six months, the former 
having been opened on the 17th of August, 1840 — 
temporarily in a house in Bellevue, Clifton, until the 
building, now known as the Drill hall, was purchased 
by the Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol, Dr. Monk, and 
conveyed to the college on the security of mortgage. 
The structure was originally erected for a Red Maids' 
school, but was never occupied for that purpose, the 
boys of the college being the first inmates. The late 
Duke of Beaufort and the bishop were the patrons; 
the Rev. H. Dale, M.A., Demy of Magdalene college, 
Oxford, being the first head -master, at a salary of £400; 
the second master was the Rev. Dr. Woodford, now 
vicar of Leeds, and so well known as one of the most 
eloquent preachers in the English church. The terms 
for pupils were, with a nomination, £24 ; without, £25. 
Bishop's college — whose duration as a public school 
might have been about that of Bristol college — was 
in some sense started in opposition to the latter, which 
was largely, but not wholly, in the hands of Liberals 
and Dissenters. Bishop's college was emphatically a 
Church of England school, the bishop being visitor. 
The last head-master, we believe, was Dr. Robertson." ^ 

The Bbistol Cathedral School, foxmded in the 
thirty-sixth year of Henry VJLLl., was re-organised 
imder a scheme approved by the queen in council, 
Eebruary, 1875. The governing body consists ex-officio 
of the dean of Bristol (chairman), the lord bishop of 
the diocese, five governors nominated by the dean and 
chapter, one by the lord president of her majesty's 
ooimcil, one by the governing body of the Grammar 
^ Satarday Bristol Times and Mirror, July 29tli, 1871. 



256 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1882. 



school, one by the goyemiiig body of Oolston's hos- 
pital, one by the head masters of the Grammar school, 
Colston's hospital, and Queen Elizabeth's hospital. The 
head master is Eev. Henry W. Pate, M.A., St. John's 
college, Cambridge ; there are four assistant masters. 
The number of boys is limited to one hundred. The 
aim of the school under the scheme is to provide in- 
struction for the choristers of the cathedral church and 
other boys, being day-scholars, who seek an "education 
higher than elementary, in accordance with the doctrines 
of the Church of England." All scholars pay a tuition 
fee of £2 per term, which includes all subjects taught 
in the school. Boys are admitted as choristers on the 
appointment of the precentor. Boys other than choris- 
ters are not admitted under eight years of age. 

The CONOBEGATIOKAL AKD ThEOLOGIOAL InSTITTTTE 

seeks to train for their special work, village pastors, 
home missionaries and evangelists. The institute is 
in Upper Byron place. To students unable to defray 
the full cost of their maintenance, pecuniary help is 
given ; and those who evince the possession of qualifi- 
cations for .a classical training, are recommended to one 
or other of the colleges. The course of study extends 
over three years; Greek is an optional subject. The 
number of students in residence is twenty-two. The 
principal is the Bev. J. P. Allen, M.A. 

The GuAMMAB School. — In the reign of Henry VIII. 
there was established in Bristol a family of the name 
of Thome. Eobert Thome was a Spanish oil merchant 
and soap maker, and a wealthy member of the woollen 
cloth trade. He was a descendant of BoUo, Duke of 
Normandy, and his family claimed consanguinity with 
the noblest in the kingdom.^ In 1515 he became mayor 
of Bristol, and in 1523 represented the borough in 
parliament. During his attendance on this parliament 
in 1523, Eobert Thorne died, and was buried in the 
Temple church, London, wherein, Hakluyt says, stood 
his monument, bearing a Latin inscription of which the 
following is a literal translation : — 

Here lies Robert Thorn, whom sometime the City of BriBtol 
deservedly selected to discharge the office of Mayor, for the 
commonwealth was always an object of great care to him, and 
his native land was dearer than all wealth. 

To give aid to the helpless, to allay the bitterness of private 

strife 
To help every one with his prudent counsels was always his 

delight. 
Do Thou, Christ, who graciously hearest the prayer and 

vows of the distress'd 
Grant to him a place in the Country of Heaven. 
By will he devised certain property for the erection, founda- 
tion, continuance, and supportation, of a Free School of Grammar 
to be established in BristoL' 

^ History of the Thorn Tree and Bush, 62. 
* Nicholas Thorne*s Doed Poll, 1st July, Wl. 



He left two sons, Bobert and Nicholas, who with 
John Gbodryche were his executors. Goodryche was 
one of the priors who afterwards preached against 
Latimer, when in 1526-7 he denounced purgatoiy, &c., 
in the streets of Bristol^ At the time of his father's 
death Bobert Thome, jun., was residing in Spain. Bom 
and bred in Bristol he had become a merchant tailor 
of London, but his great wealth was accumulated at 
Seville, where he lived in friendly intimacy with the 
most scientific seamen and geographers of his day. 
(For further partictdars of the Themes, see YoL I., 
pp. 231-3, 240-1.) On March 17th, 1531, the king 
granted to Eobert Thome, jun., Nicholas Thome and 
John Ooodryche, the right to purchase from Qeorge 
Croft, the master, and Sir Thomas West and Lord de la 
Warr, the patrons, the whole estate of the Bartholo- 
mews for the founding of the Ghrammar school; and 
they, as executors of the elder Thome, began to carry 
out the testator's wishes. 

Nicholas Thome died on the 19th August, 1546, and 
was buried at the east end of St. Werburgh's church ; 
his ashes, if they have not been disturbed, now lie 
under the middle of Small street, at the Corn street 
end. On a monumental cross in the chancel of the 
church there was this inscription: — 

In this tomb, gentle reader, lies Nicholas Thome, formerly a 
famous and apright merchant, whose words were governed by 
truth, and whose deeds were ruled by justice and virtue. Bom 
in Bristol, there also he died, being more worthy of the gift of 
everlasting life, for he ruled the city as chief magistrate, and 
enriched it with a noble school at his own and his brother's 
expense, and the whole community of Bristol acknowledged him 
as a munificent father, by whose bounty they were blessed. 

The old and the young, boys and maidens, and the inhabi- 
tants at large, weep and lament that he should so soon have been 
taken from them ; but the Almighty hath seen fit to remove him 
from these scenes of misery, blest though he was in the affection 
of his second wife and ten children. 

This tomb contains only his earthly remains; his soul has 
entered the region of the skies. 

The same tomb contains the ashes of his first beloved wife, 
and also of their firstborn son. 

On the death of Nicholas (the last surviving execu- 
tor of the elder Eobert Thome) the conveyance of the 
property was still incomplete; ''there was no further 
assurance or establishment of the premises, which de- 
scended in that state to his sons, being his heirs, John 
Harris being the master of the school at a salary of 
forty marks." 

Bobert, the third of the name, and eldest son of 
Nicholas Thome, succeeded to the estate; but ere any 
settlement could be effected he, too, died without issue, 
and the next son, Nicholas Thorne, jun., became the 
possessor of the property. 

» Seyer, U„ 217. 



EDUCATIONAL ORGANISATIONS. 



For the next fifteen jeait the property wu in abeyance, and it 
would evidently have been lent to the city bnt for WiUi«iu Cur, 
nuifor in 1661, by whom Nicholaa, jnn., was compelled to come 
to a settlement, and by a deed poll of the year 1561 it appetura 
that there were granted to the mayor, bargeeeee and common- 
alty of Briitol, the houae and hoepital of 'Uie Bartilmewa, and 
the poneaaioni thereof, which King Henry the 6th had pre- 
Tionsly, by letter* patent of the ZSrd year of hia reign, granted 
the corporation of Bristol hii licenie to take, and wherein 
Nicholas Thome, the «aid nephew and heir of Robert, bad made 
a Gnunmar achool, and placed a icboolinaster to teach grammar. 
The naet deoUred by the grant were to find a scbooliUMter and 
one or two other persona anfficiently learned and virtuons to toach 
grammar and other good learning, and for the better edncation 
and bringing np of yonth in knowledge of virtae, without anything 



adm 



nof 



every tcholar. 
Thii gnmt ia 
followed by a 
grant from 
the corpora- 
tion to Nich- 
olaa Thome, 
in fee of the 
same hospit- 
al, and part 
of the poaaee- 

at a rent of 
£30 a ye*r, to 
be reoeived 
by the cor- 



for 



the 

Free echool. 
Thia oonTey- 

anbject of an 
inqairy by 



.BrfHol Grammar ScAool, Timdall' 



era under the 
atatnte of 
Charitable 

Uaee, and it was determined to be a fraud on the charity, but 
it appearing that the defendant, Alice Pjkea, the daagbter of 
Nicholas Thome, and her two aiateia, Catherine and Mirabel 
had made a partitioii of the lands which descended to them 
from their father, and that the said two aietera and their hus- 
bands had levied Gnee and auffered recoveries of the Ertate 
allotted to them in the partition, and that the whole rent of the 
charity Isnda in the posseaaion of Alice was only £66 yeKrly, and 
" she waa nttarly barred of all remedy for any part of the other 
lands which descended to her and her siatert, and the mayor and 
commonalty, being moved with the remembrance of the many 
good acts and deeds of charity done by the ancestors of the said 
Alice nnto the city, and viewing her great charge, having 7 
danghters to provide for, and only the lands in question left her, " 
agreed to accept £iO yearly rent for the maintenance of the 
acboolmatter, and £1 St. 8d. for reparations, an agreement which 
waa confirmed by a decree of Lord Chancellor Ellesmere. In 1617 
{15 James 1st), the corporation pmebased for £650, and took a 
[Vol. UL] 



conveyance to nominees, of the interest of Alice Pykes in the 
lands the subject of the commiaaion. The corporation th«ic*- 
forward applied the rents and fines generally for the maintenance 
of the school. In 1769 {not in IT45, as stated by the Com- 
missioners of Inqairy, Vol. 20, p. 6), an Act of Parliament was 
obtained for the removal of the Orsmmar school in Chriatmaa 
atreet to Unity street (adjoining the Red Maids' achool). The 
Act for this purpose enabled the corporation to exchange the 
building called Queen Elizabeth's hospital for the building called 
St. Bartholomew's. In 1814 considerable property in Brislingtoo, 
in Somersetshire, part of the estate of the oharity, which had 
been outstanding on leases for lives, fell into possession. Between 
that time and 1833 the corporation received between £4,000 and 
£6,000 from sales of timber, and from fines in respect of new lease* 

TTp to 
the year 
1617 there 
was no re- 
striction as 
to eligibi]' 
ity for ad- 
mi Bsion to 
the school; 
it was "for 
all children 
and of her t 
that would 
repair to the 
said school 
for learn- 
ing;, &c. ; " 
hut in 1634 
Geo. White 
gavo an ex- 
hibition at 
Oxford of 
the value of 
five pounds 
yearly for 

the maintenance and support in that university of such 
poor scholar or scliolars who should be sent there from 
this school, the same being sons of freemen of Bristol. 

Mrs. Snigge's two exhibitions of the value of six 
pounds each, given in 1636, had a similar restriction. 
Alderman Whitson gavo, in 1627, two ten pound exhi- 
bitions "towards the maintenance of two poor men's 
sons at Oxford or Cambridge that had first had their 
education and bringing up in the Free Qrammar school." 
Two fellowBhipa at St. John's, Oxford, were founded 
by Sir Thomas White, knight and alderman of London, 
in 1566, for each of the grammar schools of Coventry, 
Heading and Bristol. By the ordinance of 1860 these 
■ Mouicipal Charities—Inspector's Report, IS, 19. 



258 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1882. 



feUowships were changed into a similar number of 
scholarsliips, tenable each for five years, and of the 
yearly value of £100. 

The school was closed from the year 1844 imtil 1848 ; 
on the 12th January in that year it was re-opened with 
about three hundred boys, a new scheme, of the 25th 
Jime, 1847, having given the right of admission to the 
school to boys resident within the enlarged boundaries 
of the city and ooimty of Bristol, or within two miles of 
the Exchange. The history of the school since the 
year 1848 has been one of unbroken prosperity. In the 
year 1875 a scheme framed by the Endowed School 
commissioners, having been approved by her majesty 
the queen in council, was established, imder which the 
school has attained still greater eminence. In the year 
1879 the school vacated the old premises in Unity street 
and took possession of the present magnificent building 
in Tyndall's park, which had been erected for its occu- 
pation. On this occasion the Eight Hon. W. E. Forster 
delivered the opening address, to listen to which a 
company of two thousand present and past scholars 
and visitors was assembled in the great hall of the 
school. The number of scholars immediately increased 
to upwards of four hundred, the full complement 
for which accommodation has been provided, and this 
number is still maintained. The school is intended 
primarily for day boys, but about fifty boarders are 
admitted, each of whom is required to reside in one of 
the master's boarding houses, or with a near relative. 
It is a first-grade classical school, with a modem de- 
partment. The present head-master is the Bev. J. W. 
Caldicott, D.D., formerly tutor of Jesus college, Oxford. 
The estates are vested in the municipal trustees, who 
pay over the net income annually to the governing body 
of the school appointed under the scheme of 1875, and 
composed as follows, viz. : — The municipal trustees for 
the time being, who are life governors ; two gentlemen 
appointed by the Bristol town council; two by the 
Bristol school board ; one by the masters of the school ; 
and one by the masters of Queen Elizabeth's hospital 
and the mistresses of the Bed Maids' school, who all 
hold office for a term of six years. The income from 
endowment is about £1,800, and from tuition fees about 
£4,000. Under schemes of the date of that for the 
management of the school, for the diversion of portions 
of the funds of certain charities, the (Grammar school 
benefited to the extent of £9,605 10«.^ On considera- 
tion of the gift of £5,000 from Peloquin's charity, the 
Grammar school provides seven free entrance scholar- 
ships annually, to be competed for by boys of Queen 
Elizabeth's hospital and the elementary schools of Bristol, 
^ Peloqoin'a, Loan Money, and Priflonen in Gaol Charitiea. 



failing suitable candidates from which they are open to 
all comers. There are also various other school and 
college scholarships, the aggregate amount of the whole 
being about £900 per annum. 

With regard to results, and the sterling solid char- 
acter of the education imparted to its alumni, the 
Grammar school may challenge comparison with any 
of the other public schools of the three kingdoms, as 
witness the following list of honours attained during 
the last ten years, viz. : — 

A public examinenhip of mathematics at Oxford ; two mathe- 
matical tripos moderatorships and a classical tripos examinership 
at Cambridge ; a senior studentship at Christ Church, and fellow- 
ships at Merton, Queen's and Worcester colleges, Oxford ; a fel- 
lowship at Caius, and two fellowships at Trinity college, Cambridge ; 
a tutorship at Christ Church, and a lectureship at Wadham college, 
Oxford ; a professorship at University college, London, and the 
second Smith's prize at Cambridge ; six university mathematical 
scholarships (three senior and three junior) ; four Lady Herschers 
astronomy prizes, and eight mentions of proxime accestU for the 
same scholarship, at Oxford. Among other honours the school 
has had in the same time are the third Wrangler's place thrice, 
and also eighteen first-classes and twenty second-classes in the 
degree examinations, and forty-four college scholarships and exhi- 
bitions in the two universities. At London university, among the 
honours have been the gold medal for mathematics in the M.A« 
degree examination, five first-classes in classics and mathematics 
in the B.A. degree examination, several exhibitions and prizes, 
and the first and other high places in honours in the matriculation 
examinations. Besides these honours, other students have gained 
the gold medal of the Royal Geographical society in its examina- 
tion of the public schools, and numerous distinctions in the 
examinations for the military and civil service, and for admission 
to the di£ferent professions. 

The buildings of the school consist at present of the 
great hall and nine class-rooms for teaching, and the 
private house of the head-master. It is intended that 
a hostelry shall be hereafter built for the reception of 
boarders, who at present live in the private houses of 
certain of the masters. In the great hall is a veiy fine 
organ, the gift of Mr. W. H. Wills, M.P., one of the 
governors of the school. 

The Bbistol Trade Ain) Mmnra School provides 
an education based on the teaching of the Applied 
Sciences, and such other subjects as afford a proper 
preparation for those to be engaged in engineering or 
the constructive arts, in manufactures or in commeice. 
It was established in 1856 at the suggestion of the late 
Oanon Moseley, himself a distinguished man of science. 
The master is T. Ooomber, F.0.8. The following is the 
present organisation of the school : — 

I. — ^The primary division, for boys not under nine years of age. 

II. — The secondary division, for boys not over eighteen yean 
of age. In this division there are two sections : — (1) For the 
study of mathematics and the applied sciences. (2) For oom- 
merdal studies. 

III.— The higher division. This division also includes two 



A.i>. 1882. 



EDUCATIONAL ORGANISATIONS. 



259 



sectioiiB :— (1) For the teaching of mining, dvil and mechanical 
engineering known aince the establishment of the institution as 
the Bristol Mining school. (2) The chemical laboratory, for the 
stndy of practical chemistry, analysis and assaying. [This is open 
to o^er persons who do not ordinarily attend the school] 

IV. — The evening classes, for adults and youths not under 
sixteen years of age. 

The number of students and scholars who received 
instruction in the day and evening classes during the 
year ending Midsummer, 1882, was 572. 

The institution was one of the first to take advantage 
of the aid towards instruction in science offered by the 
Department of Science and Art; and Earl GranTille, 
who was then at the head of the department, indicated 
his sense of the importance of the work that was pro- 
posed to be done by coming to Bristol on the 28th of 
March, 1856, to open the schools with a public expres- 
sion of his approval. 

Ten years after this, in the report presented by Earl 
Granville's successor, the Duke of Buckingham and 
Chandos, to her majesty in council, his grace thus ex- 
pressed himself: — ''That the Trade school of Bristol 
should, with its 120 pupils, carry off four out of the 
eight gold medals awarded, besides two silver and four 
bronze medals and ninety-seven prizes, redounds greatly 
to its credit, and places it decidedly at the head of the 
list of science schools." And to mark his gratification 
with the results that had been attained, his grace came 
to Bristol, on the 8th of January, 1867, to distribute the 
prizes earned in the examinations he had reported on. 

A sufficient proof of the continued success of the 
school is afforded by the fact that of the sixty royal 
exhibitions at the Boyal School of Mines and the Beyal 
College of Science in Dublin, during the last ten years, 
twelve have been taken by pupils of the Bristol Trade 
school. 

When the Endowed Schools commissioners settled a 
scheme for the educational endowments of Bristol, they 
appointed the Society of Merchant Venturers trustees 
of the Trade and Mining schools. The society has 
ever since taken a warm interest in the institution, and 
(its requirements having outgrown the accommodation 
afforded by its present premises) is now erecting new 
buildings, which were thus referred to in an article in 
The Times on the 18th of June, 1882 :— 

The trade guilds of London are not to stand alone in their 
generous efforts to improve the technical and scientific education 
of the country. At Bristol, the centre of the manufacturing, 
mining and engineering industries of the West of England and 
South Wales, the Merchant Venturers' Company, the only re- 
maining trade guild of that city, has lately entered into a contract 
for erecting a handsome and very complete building on the site of 
the old Bristol Qrammar school, at a cost of more than £30,000, 
in addition to that of the site. It is to contain chemical, physical 



and metallurgical laboratories and lecture-rooms, machine and 
geometrical drawing-rooms, and engineering lecture-rooms and 
workshops. The organisation and arrangement of the school 
courses will be the same as in the old building, and it is hoped 
that the increased and improved accommodation afforded by the 
new building will enable the Merchant Venturers* school (as it 
is now to be called) to retain the position it has so long held in 
the first rank of technical schools in the kingdom. As already 
stated, the building now in course of erection wiU cost more 
than £30,000, and the fitting and equipment of the class-rooms, 
lecture-rooms, workshops, laboratories, museum and library will, 
it is expected, require some £10,000 more. Certainly when a 
provincial guild like that of the Merchant Venturers of Bristol 
can set so splendid an example of munificence and public spirit, 
there should be no fear for the future of technical education in 
the country. 

Clifton Oollege. — At a meeting held in the Sub- 
scription-rooms, Clifton, on May 16th, 1860, Mr. John 
Bates, mayor, in the chair, resolutions were carried to 
the effect that the want of a public school for the educa- 
tion of the sons of gentiemen had long been felt to be 
a serious detriment to Clifton, and it was desirable that 
such a school should be forthwith established. Accord- 
ingly, on September 13th, 1860, a limited Habiliiy com- 
pany was formed, with a capital of £10,000, in 400 
shares of £25 each ; these shares were divided into two 
classes, "A" shares to nominate a boy to the school, 
and " B " shares to receive £4 per cent., or to be paid 
their capital on notice from the company. The mag- 
nificent site now occupied by the college, consisting of 
about thirteen acres (to which about two acres has been 
subsequentiy added), was purchased, and the Eight 
Hon. the Earl of Ducie was elected president ; with him 
were associated twelve distinguished vice-presidents, and 
the following coimcil, upon whom devolved the task of 
carrying out the undertaking, was appointed: — Bev. 
Canon Outhrie (chairman), W. H. Harford (vice-chair- 
man), John Bates, F. Black, M.D., F. N. Budd, M.A., 
Lieut.-Colonel Bush, John Colthurst, George Cooke, 
Eev. J. Heyworth, T. L. Jenkins, Joshua Saimders, 
J. A. Symonds, M.D., W. Gale Coles (treasurer), H. S. 
Wasbrough and Alfred Cox. 

The council expended £100 in prizes in a public 
competition for a suitable design, and that of Mr. 0. 
Hansom was approved. The building was at once com- 
menced, and in about a year the school-room (which 
will accommodate 800 persons seated) and class-rooms, 
together with the head-master's house, were completed ; 
these buildings, with the subsequent additions and the 
chapel, form a quadrangle facing the dose. The council 
were fortunate in securing the services of the Bev. John 
Percival, fellow of Queen's college, Oxford (who had 
been for two years an assistant-master at Bugby) as 
head-master ; and the college was opened on September 
30th, 1862, with sixty-nine boys who had attended the 



260 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1882. 



preliminary school. The constitution of the college 
vested in the head-master (who had the appointment 
of assistant -masters) the uncontrolled management of 
the school ; and that the council exercised a wise dis- 
cretion in the steps they took is evidenced by the early 
success of the college. 

In 1 865 Canon Guthrie, who had been chairman of 
the council from the commencement, and had been inde- 
fatigable in promoting its interests, died. His death 
was severely felt by the council and the head-master, 
and at the ensuing annual meeting a perpetual scholar- 
ship of £50 per annum was founded, to be called the 
"Guthrie scholarship," as a tribute to his memory. 
The canon had been most anxious that a chapel should 
be added to the college, and his widow, who had shared 
his interest in the institution, intimated her wish to 
defray the cost of the chapel herself ; this was acceded 
to, and on the 15th June, 1867, the present handsome 
building, in the Early Decorated style, was opened for 
divine service. The college added the tower ; an organ 
was given by the head-master ; the pulpit by the assis- 
tant-masters, and other gifts were made of windows 
and church furniture. 

Canon Moseley, one of the founders of the Bristol 
Trade and Mining school, succeeded Canon Guthrie in 
the chair of the council ; and he, having resigned in 
1868, was succeeded by Bev. James Heyworth, who, 
dying in 1879, was succeeded by F. N. Budd, M.A. 

In 1863 a jimior school was attached to the college, 
and the boarding arrangements were extended. In 
1864 a second master's house, a house for the Bachelor 
masters and three fives-courts were built. In 1865 two 
more houses were secured for boarders, and the sana- 
torium was opened. In 1 866 a new wing was added to 
the college building, and the erection of a third master's 
house was begun. In 1867 the physical science school, 
with the chemical laboratory and the gymnasium, were 
added to the buildings. In 1868 considerable additions 
were made to facilitate the teaching of physical science. 
In 1869 the swimming baths were added; swimming has 
been included in the curriculum. In 1870 the library 
(the gift of the head-master), additional class-rooms and 
a second sanatorium were built. In 1871, through the 
support of friends, several oases of scientific specimens 
for the museum were placed in the library, the botanical 
garden was added, and in that year and the following 
the workshop and physical laboratory were completed 
and opened. 

The following statement, presented at the annual 
meeting in 1872, as to the growth of the number of 
boys, calculated to July in each year, will be found 
interesting: — In 1862 they were 69; in 1863 they in- 



creased to 134; in 1864, to 222; in 1865, to 255; in 
1866, to 289 ; in 1867, to 307 ; in 1868, to 342 ; in 1869, 
to 361 ; in 1870, to 374 ; in 1871, to 422 ; and at 
July, 1872, to 433. The school had already come to 
be recognised at the universities, in London and else- 
where, as having taken its place in the first rank of 
those great English schools which belong not to any 
particular locality, but to the country at large, whilst 
by many leading scientific men it was looked upon as 
one of the very few schools which had a^ yet made any 
successful endeavour to give natural science its proper 
place in the higher education of the country. 

In 1874 a preparatory school for very young boys 
was added. A museum, the gift of masters, boys and 
friends of the head-master, was added to the library, 
the sole condition being that these, with the library, 
should be called ''The Percival buildings." In this 
year the council successfully arranged a comprehensive 
plan for increasing the scholarships. In 1875 a new 
building for the jimior school was provided; new 
boarding-houses were erected, and 600 boys thronged 
the schools. In order to avoid the danger of the college 
drifting into the position of a merely commercial specu- 
lation, the council determined to apply to the Crown 
for a charter. A meeting took place on the 18th 
December, 1876, the Bight Hon. the Earl of Ducie, 
the president, in the chair, when the application for the 
charter was approved, and the shareholders agreed to 
wind up the limited company, and that each shareholder 
should become a life-governor under the royal charter ; 
this was sealed by her majesty on the 16th March, 1877. 
The statement presented to the privy council with the 
petition for the charter set forth that about fifteen acres 
of land had been acquired, school-buildings with all 
modem appliances erected, and between £70,000 and 
£80,000 had been expended in establishing the school; 
that the then shareholders had contributed only £6,728, 
and about £1 3,000 had been contributed by private bene- 
factions from members of the coimdl, masters, parents 
of boys, and other friends of the college. 

The college, since obtaining the charter, consists of 
original governors, being the former shareholders, and 
Hfe-govemors, who may become so on payment of £50. 
The governors in their yearly meeting elect the council, 
who are the governing body, and are each entitled to 
have one boy in the college on his nomination. The 
original governors have a right to nominate someone to 
replace them in lifetime, or to succeed them after death. 
The council have the power to nominate boys to the 
college subject to such annual charge as they think fit, 
and Uiey, imder this right, charge £5 per annum. The 
college is a public school, and open to all boys without 



EDUCATIONAL ORGANISATIONS. 



distinotioii of daas; this is a alight change from the 
original oonstitution, vhiob reatricted the boya to sons 
of gentlemeii. The religious teaching ia in acoordance 
wiih the Ghoroh gf England, but no bof ia compelled 
to attend services to vhidh his parents cooscientioualy 
object. 

The chapel, veil aoited to the boys Then it vaa 
built, bad long been unable to contain the increased 
numbers, more dasa-rooms vtm required, and the un- 
finiohed quadrangle spoke loudly aa to vhat waa required. 
A committee of citizens was formed, and they determined 
to oonimemorate the grant of the charter and to welcome, 
aa belonging to the old city, its new educational foun- 
dation. They obtained contributions amounting to above 
£7,000 for additional aohool-buildinge and additions to 
the chapel, and a new wing, comprising lecture-rooma 
and daaa- 



day soholara and boarders into one. Each form haa ita 
maater, who is responsible for his boys from whenoe- 
Boever they come. The games are all under regulation, 
and attendance at " call-over " for the sporta is rigidly 
enforced ; aU boys have their place, and no idle loafing 
is permitted. The result is an eamestnesfi and relish 
which is soon imparted to all new corners — a tone of 
manlineaa pervadea the place. The seniors in the sixth 
form have clear and undisputed authority. The result 
being that the school haa excelled in athletics. So far 
from this having been detrimental to study, it has been 
the singular fact that every captain of the cricket eleven 
who haa gone to the university haa taken a scholarship. 
The prowess of the boya in sport as well aa in work ia 
well recogniaed at the universitiea. In 1881, at Oxford, 
the president of the boat club, the captain of the eleven 
and the 




ed president of [IVinit? college, Oxford, and tendered 
bis resignation to Clifton college. After seventeen years 
of moat arduous and anxious labour he felt the need of 
comparative rest, which the diatinguished post at Oxford 
afforded him, and on the dth April he took leave of the 
school. The council appointed aa hie successor the Rev. 
James Uaurice Wilson, late fellow of St. John's college, 
Cambridge, and (senior wrangler in the year 1860) for 
many yeare a master at Bugby. 

In 1881 the new aohool-buildings were completed. 
This year was signalised by the foundation by Jewish 
donors of an annual scholarship, in recognition of the 
opening of a boarding-house for boys of Jewish faith. 
About £3,000 were collected by the head-master and 
other friends, which enabled the north aisle of the 
chapel to be very handsomely completed ; it was opened 
for servioe in January, 1882. 

It has been the policy of Clifton college to blend the 



Music has been cultivated aaaiduously; the organist and 
choirmaster found means to drill and maintain an ad- 
mirable choir and & band of inatrumentaliste, and the 
annual college concerts have been one of the days moat 
looked forward to and thoroughly enjoyed. 

It remains to add the list of the chief honours won 
by the school to this time : — 120 open scholarships and 
exhibitions at Oxford and Cambridge, including 17 at 
Balliol; 09 admissions to Boyal Military academy, Wool- 
wich ; 30 to Boyal Indian college, Cooper's hill ; 70 to 
Boyal Military college, Sandhurst ; 22 admiseiona to . 
Indian civil service, one first on list ; two Foreign office 
dragomanshipa ; nearly all of which were won direct 
from the school, besides minor honours. The college 
now consists of 650 boys, ita fullest complement, and 
applications are on the books to £11 vacancies for two 
yeara in advance. Although without doubt one of the 
most important schools in England, its school build- 



262 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1882. 



ings are yet incomplete; the north-west angle of the 
quadrangle still wants the tower destined to dose the 
square. 

Colston's Hospital (now Colston's Boahdino 
School) is referred to on pp. 127-8 of this volume. 
In 1858, owing to the improyed value of the property 
and to its judicious management, the trustees considered 
that they were in a position to add twenty boys to the 
foundation. But the " Great house," in St. Augustine's 
place, not affording sufficient accommodation, and the 
siurrounding buildings and factories precluding the 
possibility of its enlargement, it became a question 
whether the school should be removed. As, however, 
great difference of opinion prevailed upon the subject, 
as well in the city as among the trustees themselves, 
the matter was brought before the Master of the Bolls, 
who eventually approved of the proposal. The trustees 
thereupon purchased the former palace of the bishop 
of Gloucester and Bristol, together with fifty-seven 
acres of land, for £12,000; and a new wing having 
been added to the building, the school was formally 
removed in 1861 to its present locality at Stapleton, 
where, with its grounds and a bathing-place at the 
river, it occupies a space of about seven acres. The 
hospital is a boarding school; its object, not being 
merely elementary, is to supply a sound practical and 
liberal education in accordance with the principles of 
the Church of England. The management of the trust 
is still left in the hands of the Society of Merchant 
Yenturers ; but a new governing body is appointed for 
the schools, consisting of twenty-three members, viz. : — 
the bishop of the diocese and the rector of Stapleton, 
eX'Officio; thirteen from the Society of Merchant Ven- 
turers; two appointed by the magistrates of Gloucester- 
shire and Somerset; three by the school board for Bristol, 
and three co-optative. The school now comprises two 
elements: (1) ^oMne^^ton^^, of whom eighty are chosen 
from within the parliamentary borough of Bristol, and 
twenty from the counties of Gloucestershire, Somerset and 
Wilts. They must have attended an elementary school 
regularly for a year preceding their application. They 
are elected in order of merit, as tested by a competitive 
examination in the subjects of standard 4 (code 1875), 
for boys between ten and eleven years of age, and in 
those of standard 5 for boys between eleven and twelve 
years of age; they must also satisfy the examiner of 
their knowledge of the church catechism. Founda- 
tioners receive board and tuition gratuitously, and if 
necessary, an allowance towards clothing. (2) Paying 
Scholars, The number of these is limited only by the 
extent of accommodation ; but if necessary, the gover- 
nors are empowered to enlarge the building ; they pass 



an entrance examination, one standard lower for corre- 
sponding ages than that fixed for foundationers, and 
enjoy all advantages of the school upon payment of 
about £30 per annum. No boy can be admitted under 
ten or over twelve years of age; nor can any remain 
beyond the school term in which he. attains the age of 
fifteen years. By direction of the scheme the governors 
'' will apply a sum of not less than £100 per annum in 
maintaining exhibitions, to be competed for by boys who 
have attended the boarding school for not less than two 
years immediately preceding the award thereof, tenable 
at any grammar school, or other place of liberal or pro- 
fessional educatio|i, approved by the governors." 

The hospital has for many years more than fulfilled 
the intentions of its founder, and during the last few 
years has considerably increased the extent and charac- 
ter of its work. The number of passes at the Cambridge 
and Oxford local examinations from 1858 to 1872 were 
fifty-six, fourteen of which were honours; in science 
and art, from 1874 to 1880, two hundred and nineteen 
have passed. Now that the stay of the boys in the 
school has been reduced from seven years to four years, 
and the present governors decline to pay the fees for the 
Cambridge and Oxford examinations, the boys are not 
sent up. The head master is the Bev. John Hancock, 
M.A., Trinity college, Dublin ; there are six resident 
assistant-masters, including a French master, and one 
visiting-master for music and singing. 

The Old City Libraby, founded in 1613, in New 
King street, has, under modern Acts of Parliament, 
been developed into a free public lending library, with 
news and reading rooms. It has at the present time 
branches at St. Philip's, King square, and Bedminster ; 
these combined contain nearly 50,000 volumes. The 
visits of readers to these institutions average very nearly 
one million and a half per annum. The chief librarian 
is J. F. Nicholls, F.S.A. 

The Orphan Houses, Ashley Down. — In the Orphan 
houses, on Ashley down, Bristol possesses the most not- 
able and magnificent charity in the world. The build- 
ings, five in number, are similar in plan, solid, well-built, 
destitute of ornament, roomy, lofty, light, well-drained, 
and efficiently ventUated. They have accommodation 
for 2,050 children. The land and houses have cost 
£115,000. The annual expense of clothing and main- 
tenance for each orphan is now £13 11«. %d.\ this in- 
cludes every expense without exception. There is no 
capitation grant, grant-in-aid, or part payment. The 
sole conditions of admittance are that the child be a 
legitimate orphan, destitute and bereaved of both parents 
by death. Upwards of £900,000 have been received in 
the form of voluntary contributions for the institution and 



A.D. 1882. 



EDUCATIONAL ORGANISATIONS. 



263 



its cognate agencies, since the work was began, in 1836, 
by Mr. Miiller. No personal application for aid has been 
made by any connected with the work ; their trust is in 
Ood, and their only invested fund a living faith in Him 
who says, '' Feed my lambs,'' who has His stewards in 
every land, and to whom belong the treasures of earth 
and sea. That faith has been at times severely tried ; 
the inmates have risen in the morning, penniless, and 
without food for the day ; but the little ones have never 
hungered ; the Father of the fatherless has sent them 
" day by day their daily bread," and always in time. 

Queen Elizabeth's Hospital (otherwise called the 
City School).— 

John Carr, by hiB Will proved on the 10th April, 1586, 
devised his Lands at Congresbnry, in Somersetshire, to Thomas 
Aishe and others in trust, to erect and found, in some convenient 
house, a Hospital for bringing up Poor Children and Orphans, 
being men-children bom in Bristol, with Fouhdation, Ordinances, 
9lo., similar to Christ's Hospital, in London. 

An Act of Parliament of the 39th Elizabeth created the Mayor 
and Common Council a special Corporation as Govemors of the 
Hospital, which was established, as recited in the Act, in the 
Mansion House or late Hospital, caUed Billesweeke or the G aunts, 
granted to the Citizens by King Henry VIII. The originid 
Hospital premises were subsequently, in 1769, exchanged for the 
Grammar School premises, and the Queen Elizabeth School was 
removed to the place at which the Grammar School stood, in 
Christmas Street, at the foot of St. Michael's Hill. This was 
effected under the authority of an Act of the 9th of George III. 

The new site of the School was granted in 1717, by the Mayor, 
Burgesses, and Commonalty of Bristol, to the Governors of the 
Hospital, by an Indenture of the 20th of August in that year; 
which recites that a stately and magnificent House had been built 
thereon in 1706, with the materials of the Old Hospital, and with 
the charitable Gifts of several well-disposed persons of Bristol. 
The School has since, in 1847» by the authority of the Court of 
Chancery, been removed to a commanding site on the side of 
Brandon Hill nearest to Clifton, and a spacious School House and 
premises erected thereupon, occupying, altogether, about three 
acres of Land.^ 

Besides the estates originally devised to the charity, 
gifts of land and houses have been made by Edward 
Colston, James GoUop, Samuel Hartnell, Eichard Hughes 
and Andrew Barker ; and considerable acquisitions hare 
been made by means of a legacy from Lady Mary 
Bamsey, and otherwise; as also by allotments made 
upon enclosure of common lands. The trustees are 
lords of the manor of Congresbury and Wick St. Law- 
rence, the advowson of the vicarage of which is also 
their property. They are also owners of land in Winter- 
bourne, Siston, Henbury and Almondsbury, in the coimty 
of Gloucestershire, and of considerable house property in 
the city of Bristol. The net income is about £6,000, which, 
previous to the year 1875, was devoted, subject to certain 
small bequests, to the maintenance, clothing and educa- 
tion of two hundred boys from the city of Bristol and the 
^ Municipal Charities— Inspector's Report, 1. 



parish of Congresbury, and one boy from the parish of 
Netherbury, Dorset (the birthplace of Carr). In 1876 a 
new scheme, framed by the Endowed Schools commis- 
sioners, was established for the management of the hos- 
pital ; under this the governors of the Grammar school 
are sx-officio the governors of Queen Elizabeth's hospital, 
and the net income of the charity is annually paid over 
by the municipal trustees to this body. At the same 
time the number of scholars on this foundation was re- 
duced to one hundred and sixty, in order that hereafter, 
when the income will suffice, two day-schools may be 
opened in connection with the trust. Of this number 
sixty are poor orphans of Bristol or Congresbury, who 
enter between eight and ten years of age; and one 
himdred are boys from the Elementary schools of 
Bristol and Congresbury, who are eligible for admis- 
sion between the ages of ten and twelve years; in- 
clusive of one boy of either class (the former to be 
preferred), from the parish of Netherbury. When the 
day-schools are established, fifty boys will be drafted 
therefrom, and fifty only from the Elementary schools 
as above. The mode of admission is by competitive 
examination. The present head master is Mr. Eobert 
Jackson, who is assisted by a draft of six resident 
masters. There is an exhibition fund of £200 per 
annum, to be appropriated in carrying boys of merit 
to some place of higher instruction. 

The Bed Maids' School. — Alderman John Whitson 
(the leading incidents in whose career have been re- 
ferred to in Vol. L, pp. 270-80-85) by feoffment of the 
16th March, 1621, gave to trustees his manor of Burnet, 
in the county of Somerset, together with the advowson 
of the parish church thereof ; the rectory of Chewton 
Keynsham, in the county of Somerset, together with 
lands and hereditaments in Dundry, Littleton and Chew 
Magna, in the said county, and the like in the counties 
of Hereford and Worcester; with several messuages and 
tenements in the city of Bristol, to the uses of his will 
as follow, viz. : — 

The Red Maids' school was originally established, in accor- 
dance with the testamentary wishes of the founder, for the main- 
tenance and education of forty poor women children, within a 
house or hospital in the city of Bristol ; the said girls to be 
appareled in red cloth, and to be in charge of a "grave, painful 
and modest woman, of good life and conversation." The funds at 
their disposal enabled the trustees to increase the number of in- 
mates of this institution, so that, previous to the coming into 
operation of the new scheme of 1875, referred to in the article on 
Queen Elizabeth's hospital, the number of girls so maintained and 
educated was one hundred and twenty, by a staff consisting of 
head, second, and three assistant mistresses. The school-house, 
which is a handsome and commodious building, is situate in Den- 
mark street. A scheme of the same date as that referred to above, 
dealing with a portion of the funds of Peloquin's charity, now 
inapplicable to their original purpose, enriched this charity to the 



264 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1882. 



extent of £5,000. The governing body is the same as that of 
Qaeen Elizabeth's hospital, with the addition of four women 
governors, who are appointed to office for a term of six years. 
The number of scholars has been reduced to eighty, of whom 
fifty are poor orphans of Bristol, who enter between the ages of 
eight and ten years ; and thirty are girls from the Elementary 
schools within the parliamentary borough of Bristol, who are ad- 
mitted between the ages of ten and twelve years. The mode of 
election is by competitive examination. The surplus income 
secured by the reduction in the number of boarders is to be 
applied, as soon as it will suffice, to the establishment of two 
day-schools for girls, when fifteen girls will be drafted thence into 
the boarding-school, and fifteen only from the Elementary schools. 
The education imparted to the girls embraces such subjects as 
French, drawing, class-singing and telegraphy. The net income 
paid over by the municipal trustees to the governing body amounts 
annually to about £3,000. The sum of £100 per annum is set 
apart for exhibitions, enabling scholars of merit, including in- 
tellectual proficiency, to pursue their studies in some place of 
higher instruction, general or technicaL 

The first Bbistol School Board was elected on 
January 27th, 1871. It was found, on taking an edu- 
cational census, that there were then within the Bristol 
district (which does not include Bedminster) 7,712 chil- 
dren between the ages of three and five years, and 
26,916 between the ages of five and thirteen years. 
There was accommodation for 19,729 of these in schools 
that were subject to inspection, and for 3,608 in private 
schools. The city was divided into four districts for 
the purposes of the Elementary Education Act; arrange 
ments were made for the payment of fees for the children 
of parents who were unable to pay, and each district 
was placed under the charge of two officers ; subse- 
quently a superintendent officer was appointed, and the 
whole work was controlled by foxir standing con^nittees 
of the board. The by-laws received the sanction of her 
majesty in council on November 3rd, 1871. Bristol 
differs from other large cities in having a larger pro- 
portion of well-to-do residents, and of families in which 
no children are found. There is school accommodation 
for 31,000 children; the number of children on the 
registers for 1881 was 29,596 ; the average attendance 
was 21,638. The percentage of attendance has gone 
up from 70-7 in 1873, to 73-1 in 1881. The school 
premises built by the board are at Ashton gate. Barton 
hill, Clifton, Mina road, St. Philip's, and Sussex street. 
The board rent school premises at the Blackfriars, Biver 
street, and Merchant street. These schools have accom- 
modation for 4,782 scholars; the average attendance at 
them is 3,424; the cost per child averages £1 17«. 5}e^.; 
the average of board schools in the kingdom is 
£2 2«. 9id,; of voluntary schools, £1 14«. 9^^^;. Eleven 
officers are employed to look after the children, whose 
visits during 1881 amounted to 129,196; of these, 
25,148 were on account of children found in the streets. 



Fenny banks, which were established in 1878 in board 
schools, had during the year 1880 deposits to the amount 
of £194 12«. 4d. Cookery classes are held at six of 
the schools. There are two industrial schools under the 
board ; one in Southwell street, with an average of fifty- 
three inmates, the cost of which was £934 8«. Id.f to- 
wards which the treasury contributed £487 9«. Sd. ; from 
1875 to 1881, eighiy-five girls were committed to this 
school by the Bristol magistrates. The other is the Day 
Industrial school. Silver street, the expenditure of which, 
including the cost of food, amounted to £608 4«. 9d. ; 
towards this the Treasury contributed £120 1«. 10 J.; the 
guardians of the poor, £56 0«. Id. £28 0«. lOd. has 
been received for firewood ; the balance has been borne 
by the rates. The number on the register is now 
nineiy-two ; eighty-four during the year were admitted 
on magistrates' orders, and sixty-four have left. 

The staff consists of derk to the board, ass i stant 
derk, superintendent officer, eleven attendance officers, 
and one hundred and forty -five instructors and assis- 
tants. The rate averages threepence in the pound per 
annum. The present is the fourth board. The chair- 
man, Mr. M. Whitwill, and the vice-chairman, the Rev. 
J. W. Caldicott, D.D., have served on all of the four 
boards. 

In the Bedminsteb School Board there are two 
board schools — Knowle school and Bedminster down 
school. In the former there is at present accommoda- 
tion for 600, in the latter for 190 children ; in both 
schools the average attendance is equal to the accom- 
modation. The rate averages about ninepence in the 
pound. The board consists of seven members. 

The niovBBSiTY College of Bristol originated, in 
the year 1876, in the desire of some of the friends of 
the Bristol Medical school to provide for the scientific 
and higher technical training of those above the ordinary 
school age in the West of England and South Wales, 
on the lines so successfully followed by the Owen's 
college, Manchester. On the condition that instruction 
in ancient and modem literature was induded in the 
curriculum, BaUiol and New colleges, Oxford, offered 
to co-operate in the scheme. Through the liberality of 
the worshipful the Clothworkers' Company of London, 
instruction in the technical sdenoe of woollen doth 
manufacture is given in the West of England by the 
staff of the college. After being legally incorporated, 
the college was opened for its first session on October 
10th, 1876, with courses of lectures given by resident 
professors and lecturers of distinction. At first these 
lectures were delivered in the temporary premises, in 
Park row, but a portion of the capital liberally sub- 
scribed by the citizens of Bristol and others interested 



A.D. 1882. 



EDUCATIONAL ORGANISATIONS. 



265 



in the undertaking, was invested in a piece of land in 
Tyndall's park, immediately behind the Bristol Museum 
and Libraiy, and the first block of what promises to be, 
when completed, a handsome building was erected. This 
block was first occupied in October, 1880, by the classes 
in literature, mathematics, classics, botany, geology, and 
French and German literature. Further subscriptions 
rendered it possible to add to this building a new 
wing (begun in March, 1882), which provides ample 
laboratoiy accommodation for the chemical, physical, 
and engineering departments ; and it is intended to re- 
move entirely from the temporary premises in October, 
1882. 

The college is managed by a council ; one half, which 
consists of some of the most influential citizens of Bristol, 
nominated by the contributors, who form a board of 
governors; and the remaining half are nominated by 
representatives appointed by the vice-chancellors of the 
imiversities of Oxford, Cambridge and London, Balliol 



and New colleges, the Bristol Medical school^ and the 
Glothworkers' company. 

The college has no endowment, but is sustained by 
the contributions of public-spirited citizens and others 
interested in the progress of education, and receives in 
addition, assistance from the Anchor Society. The 
Medical school is affiliated to the college, and instruc- 
tion is given in all the branches which are recognised 
as necessary for a liberal education. Since its foimda- 
tion, the attendance has averaged five hundred students 
per annum of both sexes. As this college is the first 
which has opened its doors to women, it is gratifying to 
see that full advantage has been taken of the facilities 
provided. Since University college was opened, similar 
colleges have been founded at Sheffield, Liverpool, 
Nottingham, Birmingham, and Dundee ; and there can 
be no doubt that such institutions are destined to play a 
prominent part in the future history of education in this 
country. 




Mural DteoratioM qf Ancient Dormitory in ihe Deanery. 



(Vol. HLl 



K 2 



CHAPTEK XIX. 



TQmimFjas GOY^w^mi% wmw^ pe^oijs, 






1801. 


1811. 


1621. 


1631. 


Ancient citjr 


40,811 


46,592 


52,889 


69.074 


Added dktricti . 


20,339 


24,891 


32,219 


45,334 



I. The Imperial and Municipal Government ,- Population, Boundaries, Expenditure, Corporation, Poor's 
Rates, etc. ; Mayor's Calendar, etc. 2. Corporation Plate, Regalia, Swords, Charters, 3. Town and City 
Seals. Dallaway's Theory refuted. Arms of the City. Ages of the Seals. Crest. 4. Prisons. Courts of 
Assize and Sessions; Police. Post Office. 5. Ethnology of Bristol and District. Sanitation, Geolo^, 
Meteorology. 6. Eminent Persons. 



iVRlNQ the tea yean previoiiB to 1S73 the 
Imperial taxation of Bristol yielded an 
tmaual average of Cuetoms' reveune ro- 
eeiTed at Bristol of £1,064,808. The In- 
land revenue for ten years previous to and 
including 1875 yielded £498,146. We be- 
lieve we are correct in stating that in 
1881-2 the amount af the latter was largely 
increased. Bristol stands high with the seaport towns 
in the amount of Customs' revenue received, though 
these are largely affected by alteration of duties, that of 
the abolition on sugar alone in May, 1874, making a 
reduction of £300,000 per annum. 

The municipal government is based upon many most 
ancient charters granted to the city, as has been narrated 
in these pages. The last was that granted by Anno, on 
the 24th July, 1710. 

The nuyor, recorder ftud aldermen were by this charter con- 
firmed in their pooition as jostices of the peace for the city and 
county of BrUtol, ftnd for the purpose of gaol delivery within the 
Bsme, four times in every year. 

The bonndaries of the city within ita ancient limita comprised 
756 acrea ; and the added diitricta, by the Municipal Act, 6th and 
6th WilUam lY., contained 4,124 acrea, or a toUl of 4,679 acre*. 
The population of the ancient city and of theae diitricta for thii 
centnry ii m follows : — 



61,153 71,483 65,108 104,408 

1S41. 1651. 1661. 1671. 1881. 

Ancient city... 64,266 66,716 66,027 62,662 66,964 

Added districts 60,880 71,612 88,066 119,890 149,639 

125,146 137,328 154,093 182,652 206,603 
This does not include the population of the suburban 
districts. The three unions numbered, in 1881 : — 

Briitol 57,499 

Barton Rqpa 166,068 

Bedminiter 67,331 

290,898 
The ratable valne has greatly increased, aa may be seen by 
the following : — 
Batable valne. 1841. 1861. 1871. 1881. 

Ancient city ... £212,318 £237,168 £301,214 £344,481 
Added districts 193,886 271,820 418,769 662,385 

£406,206 £608,986 £719,983 £906,866 
Inthefifthandnxtbyearsof the reign of William IV. (1835). 
the Mnnicipal Corporations' Reform Act was passed, which abo- 
lished the principal existing mnnicipal corporations in England 
and Wales, except tiiat of the city of London, and enacted that 
on the 1st of November in every year, those inhabitants whose 
names had been placed on a published list called the bnrg«H roU, 



A.D. 1882. 



IMPERIAL AND MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT, 



267 



should be entitled to elect from themselvefl, a certain number of 
persona to constitate a corporate body, to be called the town 
ooandl, who were to continue in office for three years ; one-third 
of the whole number to go out of office on the let of November 
in each year, but to be eligible for re-election. The town council, 
on the 9th of November in every year, were to elect one of 
their body to be mayor for the ensuing year ; also, every third 
year, on the same day, to choose a certain number, being a third 
of the elected councillors, as aldermen ; they were to continue in 
office six years, one-half being elected every three years ; the alder- 
men might be selected from the councillors or from the burgesses ; 
the vacancy created by an election of a councillor to be filled by 
the burgesses of the ward to which the councillor belonged ; the 
united body constituted the town council for the city or borough. 
The council also to elect a gentleman to fill the office of high 
sheriff, who might be either a member of the council or a person 
outside that body, whose duties consisted in receiving the judges 
on circuit ; he was also the returning officer for the city of mem- 
bers of Parliament, and ezediited, by his officers, certain writs 
.and processes of law. 

By thiff Act (5tii and 6th WiUiam IV.), the city of Bristol 
was extended, to include within its boundariea the adjoining 
parish of Clifton, the out-pariahee of St. Jamea and St. Paul, and 
St. Philip and Jacob, with parts of the parishea of Bedminster 
and Westbury-ourTrym, by which the area included in the city 
was increased to 4,879 acres, with a circuit of about fifteen miles. 
It is now divided for municipal purposes into thirteen wards, 
three of them returning six members each to the council, and the 
remai n ing ten wards electing three members each, the town council 
being thus constituted of forty-eight members elected by the bur- 
gesses, with sixteen aldermen, chosen by the council, which make 
up the total number of sixty-four members. 

The magistracy of the city is administered by about forty- 
seven acting justices of the peace, who are appointed by the Lord 
Chancellor from time to time, on the recommendation of persons 
locally connected ; they are assisted in their duties by a chief 
derk and two assistants. In the commission of assize for gaol 
delivery, the mayor is included in the commission for the city with 
the judges on circuit. 

In the year 1806 (the 46th of George UL) an Act was passed 
conferring the power of constructing and maintaining the sewers, 
paving, cleansing and lighting the ancient city of Bristol, upon 
thirty-eight commissioners ; ten burgesses being selected by each 
of the eighteen parishes and the ward of Castle Precincts, out of 
whom the justices elected two commissioners from each parish or 
ward. This body had power to make rates for the purposes of 
the Act» which were to be certified by the justices, — and being 
directed by precept to the incorporation of the poor, were collected 
by them with the poor rates, and the amount paid over to the 
commissioners. This was the authority that continued to act as 
a highway board for the ancient city of nineteen parishes until 
the adoption by the town council, in the year 1851, of the Health 
of Towns Act, which entirely superseded the Commissioners' 
powers ; as it did also those of the highway boards of the parishes 
of Clifton, St. Philip and Jacob (out), and the parts of Bedminster 
and Westbury within the municipal area ; also similar powers 
exercised by the commissioners for the district of St. James and 
St. Paul ; and the council took on itself, under this Act, the 
management of all the streets and roads within the municipal 
area, with the exception of those which were then under the 
•commissioners for turnpike roads, which have been since included. 

By the town council adopting, in 1851, the Health of Towns 
Act, they became a board of health, or sanitary authority, and by 
that and subsequent statutes they had vested in them the powers 
relating to the construction, maintenanoe, lighting and cleansing 



the streets, and the construction and maintenance of sewers ; also 
the powers of a nuisance authority, for the prevention or abate- 
ment of nuisances within the city, to secure the proper supply of 
water, and generally as to all matters relating to the health of the 
inhabitants. They deputed the carrying out these powers to a 
committee of their body, subject to confirmation by the counciL 

The town council having also, in the year 1865, adopted the 
Local Government Act of 1858, a committee was appointed, called 
the Streets Improvement, to exercise the powers conferred by the 
several Acts of Parliament for the improvement of old, and the 
construction of new, streets and roads, all their proceedings being 
subject to the confirmation of the town council at their meetings ; 
the powers to take property, otherwise than by agreement, being 
obtained by special Acts of Parliament. 

The various other committees of the town council have their 
special duties assigned them. . The principal are known as the 
Finance, the Watch, the By-Laws, the Free Library, the Baths 
and Washhouses, the Improvement, the Parliamentary Bills, the 
Visitors of the Lunatic Asylum, the Cattle Market, the Cattle 
Plsgue, and the Docks* Conmiittees. 

The ordinary expenses for sanitary purposes, as well as the 
sums required to repay by annual instalments the monies, with 
interest, borrowed by the authority for streets' improvements, and 
for the exercise of the various powers conferred by Acts of Parlia- 
ment as a board of health, are defrayed by rates levied by the 
town council as a sanitary authority, twice in each year, which 
amounted in the year ending March, 1882, to about £118,790, in 
addition to other minor sources of revenue. The whole of the 
area of the city was also divided into six sewer districts, on each 
of which a separate annual rate was assessed, to pay off annually 
a twentieth or thirtieth part of the money borrowed for the con- 
struction of the main sewer of the district, with interest thereon. 
In five of these districts the principal money with interest has 
been discharged, and in the only remaining district the amount of 
the annual rate in August, 1881, was £3,143. , 

The income and expenditure of the town council itself is 
managed by the Finance conmiittee. The income is principally 
from rents of city properties, tolls of markets, dues on shipping, 
fines in police courts, payments from Gk>vemment towards police 
expenses, and interest on monies in consols, the deficiency being 
made up by a borough rate, which is apportioned and assessed by 
the council on the several districts, and is collected by the incor- 
poration of the poor, and the overseers of the five parishes or 
districts of the enlarged city boundaries, and paid over by them 
to the city treasurer. The gross sum raised by borough rate 
varies considerably, being from £4,155 to £37,931 per annum: the 
average for the last thirty- three and a half years was £23,000. 

While the city within its ancient limits was governed by its 
common council under its charters, and, as subsequently enlarged 
in 1835, by its responsible municipal council, there was another 
incorporated body, which acted under its powers for the care, 
maintenance, and employment of destitute persons within the 
ancient limits, or nineteen parishea. 

The first legislative provisions f6r an assesament upon real 
property for the maintenance of the poor were made by the Act 
of tiie 14th of Elizabeth, cap. 5. By this Act, and the statute of 
the 43rd of that reign, the churchwardens and overseers of every 
parish were to raise by taxation of every inhabitant, either weekly 
or otherwise, sufficient for the relief and employment of the poor, 
and the placing out of apprentices. 

In the year 1696 (the 7th and 8th of William III.) the nine- 
teen parishes or places comprised in the limits of the city of Bristol 
were incorporated for the purposes of oaring for the poor, and for 
assessing and levying rates to form a common fund for their relief 
and employment, and for the erection or purchase of a workhouse 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



or hoapitaJ out of the lame, i^rgB enough lor the poor who were to 
be employed thereiii, mnd for the tcconunodatiDii of thoM who 
were niuble to work. By thin Act the whole of the existiiig city 
became h one pkruh for the purpoae of the poor, wad one law 
officer did the bnsineas where nineteeo were fonnerly employed, 
and the Mving in expense waa conaiderable, baaidea the inconve- 
nienoe occaaioned the poor in beinf; removed from one parish to 
another, od aoconnt of their Tarioaa aettlemeitta. The chnrch- 
wardena and overaeera itill ooutinued to collect the ratea when 
apportioned by the jnaticea to each pariah, and theae anmi were 
paid into a common fond which waa under th« control of the 
incorporatioD of the poor. In the year 1798 the building adjoin- 
ing St. Peter'i charch, which had been need as a mint for coining 
for a abort time, was pnrcbaaed ) 
tor a poorbonae by the incorpora- 
tion for £800— pArt of the ram 
being given by lome citiieua ; 
and lubieqaently an additional 
bnilding waa pnrchaaed. 

The oonatitntion of this cor- 
poration in 1696 waa by the elec- 
tion of f onr ratepayer! from each 
of the twelve aldermaoic wards, 
and theae forty -eight elected 
persons were called gnardians 
of the poor, who were choaen for 
fonr yeara, half of their number 
to go ont of office every second 
year. The mayor for the time 
being, and the twelve aldermen 
were alao membera of the court, 
together with any honorary 
gaardians, who might be elected 
1^ the court from those who 
had given contribatioDi of £100 
or upwards to the poor fond. A 
anbaeqnent Aot (1714) increaaed 
the nnmber by conatitnting the 
two churchwardens of each 
pariah membera of the court ; 
but in 1718 this waa repealed so 
far as related to janior church- 
wardens, and only the seniora 
wore retained. Honorary 
gnardianahip was also diaoon- 
tinned in the beginning of the 
present centnry. The present 
constitution of the conrt coosista 
of the mayor for the time being, 
twelve member* of the town 
oonncil elected annnally, forty- 
eight elected guardians, the Indncliim tt a* Mayer. 
seventeen aenior chnrchwardena, and the aenior overseer of the 
Castle Precincts — the incorporation being thus composed of 
seventy-nine members, except when some of the membera are 
chosen in more than one capacity, which is frequently done. 
This body is the board of guardians of the poor tor the eighteen 
pari^ea, and by Yic. L, cap. 86, exercise the power of overseers 
within those limits, and levy and collect all the local ratea of the 
district, except the board of health or sanitary rates. The rates 
are assessed halt-yearly, and consist of the poor rate, the harbour 
rate, and the borongh rate (if required), and once in each year 
the borongh dock rate ; and before the year 18S1 the pitcUog, 
paving and lighting rate. 

The amount of the rate levied for the poor by the church- 



wardena in 1696 (the year before the Incorpoiation Act) was 
£2.1H, and in the foUowing year (1697) it was £2,316. It 
gradually increaaed, and in 1822 was about £26,000, and at the 
present time is about £S3,S00, in addition to the other rate* col- 
lected and paid over to other aothoritica. 

For the purpOMS of poor law management, the eity of Briitol 
is under three distinct authoritiea — the incorpoiatiDn ol the poor 
for the ancient city, mentioned above ; the Bartcm R«gis union, 
for the parishes of Clifton, St. Phihp and Jaoob (ont), the district 
at St. James and St. Paul, and the p«ri«h of Westbury ; and the 
Bedminster union, for the parish of Bedminster. The total 
amount of the local rate* for the five outlying pariihea or parts 
of parishes within the municipal area for the year 1874, not in- 
cluding the asaitary and sewers' 
rates, was about £52,818, or an 
avoage of Zi, 4jdL in the pound 
upon the ratable value of 
£446,940; this ratable value in 
1882 is £480,160.' 

2. Tlie most Taluabk 
reoorda in tlie poaseecdoa 
of the corporation are the 
Charters, of which &ere 
are many in a good state 
of preeerralion, the most 
interesting being that 
given by John, when Earl 
of Uorekin (etrea 1185), 
which is thought to b« a 
unique speoimen ; another, 
which has an illtuninated 
initial date 1347 (see Yol. 
I., pp. 172-5); that of 
1373, which made Briatol 
a county (Vol. I., pp. 178- 
80), and those of Charles 
I. and Queen Anne. The 
Ifayor't Caimdar begun to 
be compiled by Bobert 
Bioart, town clerk, in 
1479; a thick, square folio 
of paper, 383 leaves, each 
quire enclosed in a parch- 
ment cover and so bound 
up, many of these parch- 
ment leaves being used for illuminated drawings. The 
initial letters and principal words are for the most part 
rubricated. On folio 5 is a curious plan of Bristol; on 
folio 152 is a picture of the induction of the mayor. The 
outgoing mayor hands to him a Bible ; the town clerk, 
below them, is reading to him the oath, the sheriff and 
the aldermen in scarlet standing near, the sword-bearer, 
with his cap of maintenance in hand, holding the great 
sword, and the chamberlain, with bia mace, stand cm the 

■ Alderman Naish in Bristol and its Environs (revised). 



Fnn fitoirl'j CaUndar. 



^D, 1882. 



CORPORATION PLATE. 



269 



lower level with the town derk. To the right are more 
aldermen in scarlet ; the sergeants and town officers, in 
parti-coloured robes of murrey and dark blue rayed, 
with maoesy stand on the left hand and on the near side 
of the table, on which is displayed a white bag of 
money, tied with red, an inkstand, penner, roll of parch- 
ment, and the leather case for the Bible ; outside the bar 
are the commonalty, in whole coloured robes of green, 
blue, scarlet, murrey, &c. The perspective is singular, 
the distant figures of the mayors, sheriffs, &c., being 
the largest, whilst the others decrease in size as they 
near the spectator. The book is divided into six parts. 
Farts I. and 11. are abridgments of English history; 
Part m., the first date in which is 1289-90, contains a 
list of the mayors from the first of Henry m., which 
is continued to the present time, the coat of arms of each 
being blazoned at the head of the entry ; Part IV. con- 
tains rules for the guidance of the officers in their duties; 
Part Y. is a transcript of sundry charters; Fart YI. is a 
copy of some of the constitutions of London to serve as 
precedents, with notes, &c. There are also ITte Great 
Orphan Book and Book of WiUs, which dates from 1382 
to 1554 ; two register books of wills, 1594 to 1638, and 
1633 to 1674 ; The Great Red Book, the contents beiug 
chiefly ordinances, &c., of the dates of the reigns of 
Henry YI. and Edward lY. ; The LitOe Red Book, which 
is of still earlier date, 1344 to 1574 (see Yol. I., p. 171) ; 
The Mayor' 9 Audit Book, 1532; The Great WhiU Book 
of Records, 1496 to 1590 ; many minute books of the 
meetings of the corporation, admissions of freemen, ex- 
penditure, &o. 

One of the earliest articles of silver plate presented 
to the city (if, indeed, it be not the very first) that is 
still preserved, is a rose water ewer and salver, silver 
gilt, weighing 7 lbs. 6 oz. 10 dwts. It was the gift of 
Bobert Kitchen, alderman of the city, and, though 
bequeathed as early as 1573, it only came into the 
possession of the corporation in 1595, from the hands 
of Kitchen's executors. The ewer is urn-shaped and 
of graceful design, having a plain curved handle, which 
is surmounted by a demi- monster. Deeply engraved 
arabesques cover its surface; in front is a repouseie 
cherub head ; sea monsters are on either side within 
oval medallions, separated by festoons of fruit. A 
boldly wrought Medusa head-mask supports the inser- 
tion of the handle, and within the lip is a projecting 
lion's head. The salver, which is ornamented in the 
same style as the ewer with engraved and repoussie 
work, contains on a raised medallion an escutcheon, 
with the arms of the donor and the inscription — 

THS OUT OF BOBKRT KITGHEK 
LATB ALDBBMAir 07 THIS CIT. 



The plate mark is that of 1595. There are also within 
the escutcheon the initials I. B. above a rose (for John 
Barker, Kitchen's old servant and executor). During 
the Bristol riots of 1831, this salver was stolen by one 
Ives, who cut it up with shears into 169 pieces. Some 
of these he offered for sale te Mr. Williams, goldsmith, 
telUng him that it was a portion of some old family 
plate. That gentleman, suspecting his story, requested 
him to bring the remaining pieces the next day. Ives 
was then secured; the pieces, all but two tiny frag- 
ments, were recovered, and were by Mr. Williams in- 
geniously riveted to a silver plate, which now forms 
the back of the salver. Its beauty is unimpaired and 
its value enhanced by the process. The late Sir Bobert 
Peel offered its weight in gold for it in vain. Ives was 
transported in 1832 for fourteen years, and on his re- 
turn he had the consummate impudence to call at the 
Council-house, introduce himself, and ask for a sight of 
the salver. The height of the ewer is 12 in. ; the 
diameter of the salver is 19^ in. 

In 1590 Alderman Bird presented an elegant double 
gilt silver grace cup, weighing 80 oz. 

In 1628 Captain Samuel Pitts, being on a voyage 
to Jamaica, in the ship KirUingUm Galley, was attacked 
by a Spanish rover of superior force. Pitts bravely 
defended himself, and after an arduous struggle beat 
off the enemy. For this gallant conduct, and for saving 
the ship with its valuable cargo, the Society of Mer- 
chant Yenturers of Bristol gave to Captain Pitts a richly 
chased Monteith and collar of silver, with an appropriate 
inscription; its weight is 266 oz. 11 dwts. In 1821 this 
handsome ornament, being offered for sale at public 
auction by the descendants of the gallant Pitts, was 
purchased by the corporation for £148 16«. 

In 1658 Mr. Eecorder Dodridge made the city a 
present of a pair of massive silver gilt tankards, "richly 
decorated with repouseie and chased ornament in three 
bands, consisting of foliated arabesques, festoons of 
fruit and flowers, enclosing strapwork, cartouches, with 
which are sea dionsters. The lids are similarly orna- 
mented." The height of the tankards is 14} in. ; the 
breadth in the base is 7^ in.; the weight 152 oz. 8 dwts. 
Each bears around its drum the following inscription: — 

"EX DOKO JOHAimiS BODRIDOE, BEOOBDATOBIS dVITATIS 

BBiSTOLL 1658." The shield of arms and crest of the 
worthy recorder are engraven on the front, being argent, 
two pales wavy gules between nine crosses crosslett gulee 
three, three, and three ; crest, a lion's head erased gulee, 
murally gorged or. The plate mark is 1634. 

In 1683 four silver badges and chains were purchased 
by the corporation to be worn by the city waits ; these 
weigh 28 oz. 13 dwts. 



270 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



AJ>. 1882. 



In 1745 the water bailiff had an oaf enriched with 
fiilyer ornament bought for his badge of office ; it is so 
loaded with metal that its weight cannot be correctly 
ascertained ; probably the weight in silver is about 
36 oz. At the same time a silver badge and chain were 
purchased for the deputy water bailiff. 

The year 1709 was prolific in gifts. Mr. G. Smyther, 
an alderman of London, presented to the city a silver 
punch bowl, weighing 105 oz. 17 dwts. Mrs. Mary 
Boucher presented a silver tankard of the weight of 
52 oz. 10 dwts. Mrs. Searchfield gave four handsome 
silver candlesticks, a snuffers and stand, of the weight 
of 100 oz. 10 dwts. ; and Mrs. James gave a silver 
salver of 35 oz. 9 dwts. 

In 1722 eight maces of silver were purchased by the 
corporation for the use of the officers in civic proces- 
sions ; these are in the usual 17th century style of art, 
and weigh 208 oz. Alderman Peloquin, of London, 
gave, in 1770, a silver candlestick with branches, that 
weighs 99 oz. 7 dwts. 

The insignia of the Oity Exchange keeper and the 
city bellman are of wood, silver mounted, the weight of 
the metal being about 48 oz. ; date 1715. There are 
also two silver trumpets of the same date, weighing 
54 oz. 12 dwts. The following curious entry relating 
to these is found in the council book for 1715 : — 

Several gentlemen of this city in the time of our late danger 
having, by the consent of the Earle of Berkeley, our lord lieve- 
tenant, formed themselves into two troops of horse, a thing both 
for the hononr and security of the city ; itt is ordered for their 
encouragement that two banners, two trumpets, and two standards, 
and two new coats for the two trumpeters belonging to the troops, 
be provided att the city charges, and that the said trumpeters be 
added to the city musick with salarys, all which is referred to the 
care and management of the mayor, the aldermen, and sherrivs. 

Henry Walter, mayor, xi January 1715. 

The gold chain of office worn by the mayor is 
elaborate in ornament and peculiarly handsome; it 
weighs 26 oz. 4 dwts., and was purchased by the cor- 
poration, in 1828, at a cost of £285. 

The small mace borne by the city treasurer as the 
insignia of his office, is of the 17th century work, 
and is copper gilt; it is about 18 inches in length, 
finishing in an imperial crown of four arches, sur- 
mounted by an orb and cross patt6e ; the head has in 
four-shield raised the city purse and the dty arms, both 
repeated; between these, four angels, with extended 
wings, bear up a collar and the crown. 

The sacramental service in use at the Mayor's chapel 
is of modem date (1830) ; it consists of a paten, two 
chalices and two dishes of silver, weighing 129 oz. 1 dwt., 
<and was the gift of Thomas Champion, mayor and alder- 
man of the city. 



In June, 1851, a magnifioent silver dessert service 
was presented to Sir John Kerle Haberfield, knt., on 
the completion of the sixth year of his mayoralty. In 
1871 his widow, Lady Haberfield, presented the service 
to the corporation. It consists of nine pieces — a centre 
ornament, with emblematic figures of Justice, Generosity 
and Commerce ; two high fruit stands for corner dishes ; 
two fruit baskets, with sportive boy figures ; four comer 
dishes, with figures emblematic of the seasons. On the 
tripod are the civic arms, the arms of Sir John, and the 
following inscription : — 

TO SIB JOHN EXRLB HABERVDELD, KFT. 

six Tims 

MAYOR or BRISTOL. 

FROM HIS RLLOW CmZIKS. 

1851. 

The total cost of this beautiful service was £580. 

A silver salver, the gift of Mr. J. M. Kempstor, for 
many jears ocHinettlor for the ward of Clifton, completes 
the list of the plato. 

By charter the mayor of Bristol is made the king's 
escheator ; he has thus the dignity of an earl, and a 
sword of state is borne before him in his official 
capacity. 

The cap of maintenance worn by the sword-bearer, 
together with the sword borne by him, are symbolic of 
ancient privileges. This official is the only man who is 
allowed to remain covered before royalty. [Maintenance, 
in law, is an officious assistance of a party (with money 
or otherwise) who is at law; a man may, however, 
maintain the suit of his near kinsman, servant, or poor 
neighbour, out of charity or compassion.] The cap and 
sword borne before the mayor symbolise inflexible 
justice, and the mayor's right and readiness to main- 
tain the cause of the poor burgesses whenever necessary. 

The swords are four in number, the oldest being 
one given to this city in 1506 by the then Lord Mayor 
of London ; it was originally in a scabbard richly em- 
broidered with pearls — these by the lapse of time have 
all disappeared, but the inscription engraven on the hilt 
yet remains : — 

John Willifl of London, grocer, Huor, 
To Bristol gave this sworde faire." 

The next in date is the ''Lent Sword," so named 
because borne before the judges when the assize falls in 
that sacred season. It is a two-edged blade, 3 ft. 3} in. 
in length, 2 in. in width, tapering to a point; it has a 
cross hilt engraven on each side with a honeysuckle, 
silver gilt ; the handle is 9 in. long, ending in a large 
round pommel of 9 in. circumference, canying the Si. 
G-eorge's Cross, with a date, 1583 (1 Bich. m.), and 
the shield of arms of the same monarch. The letter M 



THE CITY SWORDS, 



irifhin a T under a crown appears in a scroll of foliage, 

and around the pommel in Boman oapitals ia insciribed — 
Thii Bworde we did repaier 
Thomu Aldworth beinge M&yor. 
The scabbard of blaek velvet is richly bedight with 

symbols in cdl- 

Ter gilt; stars 

preponderate, 

but on either 

side is a sun. 

The point itseU 

ends in a orown 

of JtMr'd«-l^» 

and oroBBoa 

patties, sar- 

moiinted by de- 



length, and ia corered with gilt wire ; the cross hilt ia 
of Ctothio pattern and ia 14 in. aeroas ; the oval pommel 
has in a sunken panel the arms of the aity, and on the 
reverse are two ahielda bearing, one the otobs of St. 
George, the other France and Ebigland quarterly. The 
OTnaments of 




over all, the 
orb and cross. 
Juatice with 
sword and 
scales. Wisdom 
with a serpent, 
Temperance, 
Fortitude, the 
garter and mot- 
to with the arms 
of lUohardm., 
the arms of the 
city of Bristol, 
St. George slay- 
ing the dragon, 
and an eagle on 
a tree stump, 
surrounded by 
roee bushes 
in bloom, are 
the principal 
mountings, 
which are linh- 
ed together by 
the fetter-locks 
of the House of 
Tork. The four 
first verses of 
Itomans xiii., 
"Lot every sovl 
be subiect to the higher power," etc., are inscribed on 
one of the aides, with date, "aho 1594, aito. sl. bbo. 
S6. FRAiToia ENioHT, UAiOB," all being in Boman caps. 

The third sword is also straight and two-edged ; the 
blade measures 3 ft. 2J in. ; the handle is gilt, 8^ in. in 



1670." There are also remains of the velvet bands, 
fetter-locks, and suns of the House of Tork plainly to 
be traced. 

The last of these handsome swords is also the largest; 
the blade ia 3 ft. 5 in. in length and 4 in. in width, 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



slightly tapering — it is of blued steel with gilt pattern ; 
the hilt is 17 in. long; the handle, including the pom- 
mel, IB 15 in. long, silver gilt, of Louis Quatorze style, 
elegant and massiTe in its soioll-Tork and its cabled 
spiral foldings, Thich merge into and form the ponunel. 
The Boahbard is of rich crimson Tclret ; it is edged with 
gimp laoe, surmounted by an armine cap, and orer this 
an imperial crown. The silver gUt mountings are the 
royal arms as described on No. 3 sword; also those of 
Qeorge U., with the inscription in Soman caps, "Aimo 

BEOm OSOBGU SBCUUDI TICBSIHO 9VIST0, AITKOQCE SALUTIB 

1 7S2." It bears also the figures of Beligion, Faith, Peace 
and Commerce. This sword was purchased by the cor- 
poration in 1753. The silver weighs 201 oz. J8 dwts. ; 
its cost was £188 16«. 3d. 



that heprodncM (iianpport of thii thsorytherwoltof thepreMot 
inquiry entirBly tnnu. 

The device oa thU eftrlieat Mil ii ■ cutle with fonr towen, the 
two iKTgeit of nneqnftl height kkvitig between them a great gate, 
the portaJa of which are cloaed. The loftieit tower i* preenmed 
by Mr. Dallaway to repreMot the keep of the oaitle. That on 
the other tide of the gate ia ■nrmonDted by the figure of a mail 
blowing a trumpet, and may therefore fairly be dedgnated the 
warder's tower. Mr. Dallaway obaarrca that there i* reaaon to 
believe that a repreientktion of the caf tie of Briitol, ai it eiiited 
at that period, waa pnrpoaely intended, aa in the cm« of the eeil 
of the dty of NorwudL Be this as it may, it is the deaign on the 
obverse that awakens onr intereat in tliia teal, as it it tnppoeed 1^ 
Mr. DalUwsy to have refereuoe to a remarkable incident con- 
nected with the city of Briitol, nnmentioned by Mr. Barrett, bnt 
retpecting which Mr. Dallaway hat collected many paaaagGs from 
the chronicle! of the 13th and 14th cantoriea. The snbjeet of the 
detign ia «a followa :— At the end or angle of a wall ii a ronnd- 



3. "The first mention," says Mr. Dallaway, "that I 
have seen of a common seal is in the charter of 47th 
Edward HI., a.d. 1372, for the nhotoe of a sheriff, a«i 
liffitlo eommuni HeU Vilh Briitol :" ^ but he observes "that 
circumstance does not prove that the common seal was 
then first made, but rather that it had been extant 
previously." 

The late J. B. Planch4, Somerset Herald, in a moat 
able paper published in the Britith Arehieologieal Pro- 
ceedingi for 1875, pp. 160-9, refutes Mr. Dallaway's and 
the generally received opinion as to the origin of this 
seal, as is shown in the following extract : — 

No doubt bat there were several seals extant previonaly, and 
it it with the origin of the eaiiieat of all that the ttory I have 
allnded to is connected by Mr. Dallaway, and apon the evidence 
■ Archteologia, XXI. 



headed archway rarmoanted by a crenelat«d battlement, above 
which are leen the head and arm of a man who it apparently 
beckoning to the ateersman of a aingle-maated veaael in foil sail, 
either abont to pass or ""^'"g for the bnilding. The oiroDm- 
scription in Lombardio charaotera reada : — 



which Mr. Dallaway interprets thna — " I am the key of the secret 
port, The pilot steers the helm of the afaip. The warder pointa 
out the port with hia forefinger;" and adds, "the arch and towtt' 
are intended to repreaent the secret port, by means of whioh veMela 
of conaiderable aiie were admitted into the walla of the caatle, 
the river Avon being thna made to comnmiucate with the ditch." 
Withont atopping to question the accuracy of the translation vS 
this monkish I^tin, whioh Mr. Dallaway admits he made tui 
ptrieulo, I at ooce endorse hia opinion, tliat whatever circonutanca 
snggeated the design it has been the prototype of all the city aeala, 
however varying in their detaila, and likewiae of the city anna, 
but that it ia "evidently historical" mnit not be ao hastily 



A.D. 1882. 



TOWN AND CITY SEALS. 



273 



admitted. Nevertheleas, the story told by WaUmgham and 
others, and which Mr. Dallaway adduces in support of his theory, 
is extremely carious, and fully deserves investigation. It runs 
thus : A l&rge ship, which by stress of weather had been driven 
aboat in the British channel, was discovered when becalmed (ex 
paueU venHs) hovering at the month of the Avon by some persons 
("cives," not *'navita'')* Walsingham says "only four" in small 
boats. The ship excited the greatest interest from its size and 
fomitnre, and the certainty that some one of consequence was on 
board. The " oives " induced the passengers by promises of safety 
to enter the port of Bristol. Wykes says : ** Puppim ipsam earn 
tota fardna capientes invitos perduxerunt intersecus*' (into the 
creek and gate of the castle), that is, after they had perceived 
that they had fallen into the hands of the enemy and that all 
opposition would be useless. Speed, following Walsingham, only 
says they were surprised. The vessel, proved to have on board 
Almeric de Montfort, with his sister Alianor, daughter of Simon, 
the great Earl of Leicester, whom he had brought over from France, 
with the intention of landing her on the Welsh coast, and giving 
her in marriage to Llewellyn, Prince of North Wales, who was 
then at war with King Edward I., a.d. 1275. The treachery or 
successful manoeuvre was the piloting this rich vessel, with the 
marriage portion of the bride and other valuables, into the secret 
port of the town, and then surrendering the prize into the hands 
of the king himself, who, it is inferred, was at that time in the 
castle. The lady, it is said, was treated courteously by the 
sovereign, but the men with the savage barbarity practised in 
those days. Wykes relates that the citizens gave " px«dam ipsam 
non ignobilem domino regi triumphali lietitia,'* and Mr. Dallaway 
argues that it is borne out by these circumstances that the delinea- 
tion of this achievement was represented on the common seal of 
the burgh and port, and an inscription added in monkish Leonine 
verse, obscure in itself, excepting that it be allowed to allude to 
this historical fact in particular, and was then first of all confirmed 
by authority. 

Here, again, I must demur to the conclusion arrived at. Let 
us first hear Peter Langtoft's account of the incident ; moderuising 
the spelling it would read as follows : — 

" The next year following Edward's coronation 
Lewellyn of WeUhland into France sent 
De Montfort's danghter to wed. Her friends all consent 
Almerick led her to the ship. Now on they went. 
Sailing and rowing to Wales to LeweUyn. 
A burgess of Bristol with a cargo of wine 
Overtook their ship, and asked why and whence they were. 
They said with King Philip to Wales they wonld fare. 
What did this bargees ? Misled their wending. 
The maid and her property he broofi^t to the king. 
The maiden Edward took, as he was most oooiteoos. 
Into safe onstody, and thimked the burgess. 
When Lewellyn hesid the tidings, on war he did decide, 
For he was sorely vexed at the capture of his bride." 

Mr. Dallaway contends that as Edward is expressly stated to 
have thanked the burgess for so acceptable a prize, it is most pro- 
bable that he allowed a service performed by the men of Bristol 
to be commemorated in their great seal. These are the grounds 
on which Mr. Dallaway founds his theory, and we will now en- 
deavour to ascertain how far they may be relied on. 

Alianor de Montfort, daughter of Simon de Montfort, Earl of 
Leicester, was bom in England, and educated in France ; married 
Llewellyn, Prince of Wales, at Worcester, in October, 1278, and 
died the year following. The date would fairly enough accord 
with that given for the capture of the lady on her voyage to 
Wales, and there is sufficient evidence to be found in Rymer's 
Foedera that Alianor de Montfort was in the power of the king, at 
Windsor castle, in January of the former year. The battle of 
Evesham, in which her father, Simon, and her brother, Henry de 

[Vou ra.] 



Montfort, were slain, was fought in 1274. Almeric and the rest of 
the family escaped to France; and thus far, again, there is nothing 
to militate against the hypothesis of Mr. Dallaway. Here, how- 
ever, we leave the region of fact and enter the clouds of conjec- 
ture. Mr. Dallaway produces no evidence that Edward L was at 
Bristol in 1275, but only says it may be inferred he was. I shall 
show you that he was not. 

Thanks to the labours of my lamented friend, the late Rev. 
Charles James Hartshome, we are enabled to state positively that 
Edward I. never set foot in Bristol, after he came to the throne, 
until the 20th of September, 1276, when he remained here five 
days, and on the 27th was at Gloucester. His next visit did not 
occur till the Ist of December, 1284, when he appears to have 
passed one day in this city on his way to Gaermarthen, returning 
hither on the 21st, and remaining till the 2nd of January, 1285, 
so that he seems to have kept Christmas here ; we are consequently 
certain that at no time in 1275 could Alianor de Montfort have 
been delivered to him personally in the castle of Bristol. This 
fact, however, only affects the exact date recorded of the capture 
of the ship, which, it may be contended, might have occurred in 
September, 1276, during the five days he was here ; but at that 
period Llewellyn was already carrying fire and sword into the 
marches, and consequently it could not have been the seizure of 
his bride that drove him into rebellion. The cause of the war was 
the repeated non-compliance of Llewellyn, on various insufficient 
and frivolous pretexts, to attend and do homage to the King of 
England for his dominion in Wales, which neglect he followed up 
by open hostilities, ravaging the English marches, and burning 
and destroying all before him. 

Having examined the historical facts which are presumed to 
have suggested the design of the seal, let us now turn our atten- 
tion to the seal itself, which I have already described. I confess 
that I cannot discover the slightest reason for supposing the cap- 
ture of Almeric de Montfort's vessel is in any way represented, 
or even indicated, in the composition, which I believe to be of an 
earlier date than the incident to which its origin is attributed by 
Mr. Dallaway. H I am justified in that opinion, of course there 
is an end to the argument ; but as that point is still open to dis- 
cussion, I will state my objections upon other grounds little less 
fatal, I think, to the theory he has propounded. 

Li the first place there is nothing singular in the design. A 
ship is making for a port, and the warder, from his tower, is sig- 
nalling to the steersman, or, as Mr. Dallaway translates the 
inscription, "points out the port with his forefinger." What 
more appropriate design could have been suggested for the com- 
mon seal of a city which as early as the reign of Henry IL was 
described by William of Malmesbury as "a wealthy city full of 
ships from Lreland and Norway and every part of Europe, which 
brought to her great commerce 7" 

The seals of Bedford, Launceston, Carlisle, Exeter, Dorchester, 
Barnstaple, Lancaster, Norwich, Newcastle, Cardigan, Caermar- 
then, Denbigh, Guildford, Pembroke, Warwick, Totnes, Bridport, 
Tewkesbury, Queenborough, Clitheroe, Bridgenorth, Stafford, 
Orford, Devizes, Malmesbury, Ludgershall, Pontefract, and several 
other towns in England and Wales, display castles, acoompanied 
more or lees by certain charges for difference. Any one who is 
familiar with the designs of our early or mediaeval painters or 
illuminators must be struck by the absence in the example before 
us of the principal features and incidents of the story this seal is 
supposed to commemorate. Where is the lady ? Where the ship 
of the Bristol merchant, or, according to one version, the boat 
with the four citizens of Bristol on board by whom the French 
vessel, with its fair and noble freight, was deooyed into the 
"secret port" of the castle? An artist of the 13th century 
would not have left the subject of his design for an instant in 

K 3 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



donbt. Alianor do Mootfort Mid hsr brother would haive be«D 
leen on board the betrayed bark, and the artifice by which they 
were entrapped indicated more or Imi clearly, according to the 
fashion of the time. The circnmacription in which Mr. Dallaway 
perceived a mygterioaR allusion to the event appaara to me a plain 
and simple explanation of the aubjecC represented — a warder is 
giving directions to the steenman of a ve»ael making for the port, 
which, if the ship was being bronght in by Bristol citiiena, or a 
Bristol merchant, would be nnnecessary ; the words, therefore, I 
take to be of general, and not special application. 

The neit leal in point of date is 
» smaller one, iiucribed " Sigillnm 
Maioritatia Ville Bristolie," and re- 
presents the utne subject with a re- 
markable difference. Here we see a 

eastle with a water-gate on one aide 1 

of it, out of which a ship is iamung. ' 

Little more than her forecastle is 
visible, bat on it is planted a banner, 
of the oblong form, characteristic of 
the reign of Edward I., displaying 

the three lions passwit gnardant of 3^ ^^ gj^^ j_ 

England, and beneath it is the letter B. 

Now, surely if there hod been any intention to commemorate the 
capture of Alionor de Montfort by the device on the former seal, 
Bnpposing it to be of that date, it must have been fresh in the re- 
collection of the engraver of tho latter, as well aa of the civic 
antborilies, and in an; alteration care would have been taken to 
improve the design by identifying it more clearly with the event, 
instead of depriving it of any chance of recognition by making 
the vessel a king's ship, dying, what is in modem parlance called 
the royal standard, and leav- 
ing in lien of entering the port 
of the castle. This seal is not 
noticed by Mr. Dallaway, but 
he describes another, engraved 
on the same plate. Said to have 
been affixed to » deed, dat«d 
1350, with the same cironm- 
soription and a similar design ; 
but the architecture of the 
oaatle is of a later period, and 
there are two warden on the 
battlements blowing trumpets. 
&at dreo Wm.nI til. Of the ship, the forecastle only 

is visible. The banner planted 
on it is square, and charged with the arms of France (temfe of 
fiear-dt-lyi) and England quarterly, as first borne by Edward III. 
A fourth, a drawing of which, made by Augostine Vincent, Kouge 
Croix Ponrsuivant, temp. Qneen Elizabeth, is to be seen in his 
most interesting and valuable MS. in the library of the College 
of Arms, was appended to a deed of the 10th of Henry TIIL, by 
Thomas Halleway, who was mayor of Bristol in 1434, and fonnded 
a chantry in the church of All Saints in this city in 1450. Here 
we have again a castle of similar character, a flag fiying on the keep 
and two warders on separaCe towers blowing trumpets. The hull 
of a vessel of a different build, without masts or sails, little more 
than her head out of the water-gate, and displaying on it a banner 
of the royal arms, France and England, quarterly, the JUvr-dt-lya 
in the first quarter reduced to three, a change which took place in 
the reign of Henry Y. This is the latest, I believe, of the seals 
of the mayoralty of Bristol, and as void as the others of any 
special feature which would connect it with the stery of Alionor 
de Montfort. 

Now lot ns turn to the arms of the city, which exhibit the 



same subject with similar slight variations, and must, therefore, 

have been founded on the seals which undoubtedly claim priority 

of date. There are engravings of four ; the most ancient from the 

form of the shield and the character of the architecture is, I 

should say, coeval with the 

third seal, time of Edward 

IIL But who c«n stat« 

that the arms hod been only 

granted at that datel They 

may have been in existence 

some time previously. The 

style of painting or sculpture 

of any particular example 

indicates merely the dat« 

of its eiecntion, and anns 

might have been asngued 

to Bristol long before the 

original of this engraving 

was made. It repreaenta 

only the water-gate of a 

castle, flanked by two round 

towers, out of which is seen _,,,., ,„„„._, 

issntng a vessel with a bow- 
sprit and one tall mast, but no soIL There is a flagstaff on the 

forecastle, bnt no flag. There is no warder on the wall, and 

the effect is altogether poor and inartistic, conveying indeed tb« 

notion of ita being an unfinished production. 

The next example dis- 
plays a better style of archi- 
tecture. The two tower* 
have slated domes or cnpo- 
las, on Gttch of which is a 
ron^ and the ship fnlly 
rigged, with her foresail 
se^ appeara to be passing 
out of the water-gate, 
which, in lieu of being be- 
tween the towers, is situ- 
ated in the centre of the 
one on the right. The base 
of the shield is heraldicoUy 
parted per pale, the dexter 
side reprosentiiig water, and 

the sinister srasa or marshT 
Am d/ BrWoI, Ifift Cenliirif. j^j^ * ' 

The third example pre- 
sents us with a similar castle, 
and the water-gate in the 
right hand tower as before ; 
but the towers are each 
Burmonnted bj an imperial 
crown of six arches, with 
either standards or vanes 
on them. The ship is still 
more elaborately drawn, and 
appears putting to sea with 
foresail and mainsaol set ; a 
small quartered flag is flying 
at each masthead. The base 
of the shield is not divided 
heroldically, but the dexter 
side beneath the ship is harry 
wavy, representing water. 



u tj BrUtol, ITIh Cattnj. 



and the sinister a mass of rock projecting beyond the line which 
would have parted the base per pale, as in the former inatsnce. 



SEALS AND ARMS OF THE CITY. 



The fourth sbield divpkfi th« trma of the citjr m *t precent 
bome, Mid Mtd by Mr. Dallkway to hftve been granted by Sir 
Henry St. George, Garter, for ooDfirmation of which he refers tis 
to the Tiaitation of the coonty of Oloncetter token by that officer's 
depntieB in 1683, he being at that time not Qarter, bnt CUrencenx, 
bat no snob trme appear in that rlaitatioa. 

On a fiy leaf at the beginning of Camden's visitation of the 
oonnty, taken in 1623, is the dnwing which hae been copied by 
Dalhway in his MS. additions to Barrett's History, with the 
ungainly supporters and inerplioable orest, of which tiie original 
gi&nt by Cooke, Clarenceni, in the reign of Elizabeth, is preserved 
amongst the mnniments of the corporation. 

In an alphabet of arms, compiled about the latter date, the 
arms of the city of Bristol are blazoned thus — "gvia, a ship 
ii»wing out of ye port of a castle, joined to the sinister side of ye 
shield or, with ye eastle argcTU, on a monnt wrt, " bnt no mention 
of supporters or crest*. In all modem pointings or engravings of 
the city arms the water-gate is omitted, and the ship is repre- 
sented aud blazoned as passing by the castle ; while in the early 
Mols and shieldi the ship is invariably represented itaning ont of 
the port, and not being decoyed into it. I snbmit, therefore, that 
there are no grounds whatever for tiie conjectnre of Mr. DoUaway, 
unsupported even by tradition, that either the seals of the corpo- 
ration or the arms of the city of Bristol owe their design to the 
story of Alianor de Montfort's captare by stratagem on her voyage 
from France to the coast of Wales, whatever truth there may be 
in the story itself, the detuls of which are contradictory, and the 
date, as far sa the presence orSiiig Edward L at Bristol in 127S, 
abaolutely erroneous. 

In the absence of doonmentary evidence, I can only suggest 
that the oldeat seal, of which a representation is before us, dates 
from the grant of the charter of incorporation of Henry IIL, in 
which case there is an end at once to tlie conjecture of Mr. Dalla- 
way. The style of the architecture, the form of the ship and the 
mode of steering it, all point to ao earlier date than the aocesaion 
of Edward I., during whose reign the small second seal was pro- 
bably executed, and the original design improved by a better artist. 
The third seal is nndonbtedly of the time of Edward III., who 
confirmed and extended the charter of Henry III., removed the 
■taple of wool to this ci^, and in 1373 erected it into a separate 
oonnty, under the designation of the city and connty of Bristol 

The fonrth and latest of the ancient municipal seals may 
have been made in the reign of Henry V., as it was appended to 
a deed dated the 10th of Henry YI. ; aud the reduction of the 
' fienr-cU-lya in the qaarter of France to the number of three for- 
bids oar assigning it to an earlier period than the time of bis 
father, who made that alteration in the royal arms. 

I cannot conclude this 
paper without expressing 
my regret that snch a ct«st 
should have been assigned 
by any king of arms to 
snch a grand old coat a* 
that which has for sii oen- 
tnriea distingoished the 
city of Bristol. The oni- 
coms, but for their aupic- 
toresqne attitude, might 
be accepted, thongb not 
in the least applicable to 
the city ; bnt the crest i« 
designed in the very worst 

t«HCKi M«,rf ,. g!." '"'■^ "°'^" 

' Jour, of the Brit Arch. Asiocn., 181-9. 



Another seal bears the full face and bust of a king crowned, 
crossed by a lion passant at the breast, and with a castellette on 
either side, and ii known from the legend to have been first issned 
by Edward I. It is likewise in the Lombardic character : "s. idw. 

SBO. AKOL. AD. AtCOaV. DKBITOK' AP'd. BBISTOLL." That the two 

castles are affiled, is an nndoubted evidence that Edward I. is 
meant, because they appear so placed upon his great seal, with 
reference to his C|Deen, Eleanor of Castile, as also upon several 

4. Tliere are about thirty fountains in different parts 
of tlie city and on tlie Downs, notably one on Durdhsm 
down erected by the Bath and West of England Agri- 
cultural Society, near the wte on which they held their 
exhibition in 1874. 

The prisonB are two in nomber, one of them — Law- 
ford's gate — being a county prison ; it is in Glouoeater 
road. The 
Qaol, on the 
New Cut, 
built in 1820, 
coBt £60,000. 
Aocommods- 
tion for 200. 
It contains a 
chapel, built 
byttopri- »,^~..«..r»~..i~ 

sonerB, value £3,500, and an organ, value £360, provided 
by the late governor, Capt. J. A. Gardner, who antici- 
pated the Prisons' Act of 1865 by some thirty yeare, and 
had all the yards reconetructed. The old Bridewell, 
which dated from 1607, has been demolished, and the 
handsome warehouses of Uessrs. H. H. and S. Budgett 
and Co., have been erected on its site. 

The courts of Quarter Session and Assize are now 
held in the Gnildhall, which has a double frontage, 
looking eastward into Broad street and westward into 
Small street. The mayor of Bristol, by charter, has a 
seat with the judges. The ancient " Pie Foudre," or 
"Dustyfoot" court, formerly held in the open air in Old 
Market street, has been lately amalgamated with the 
Tolzsy court, which having also, under a recent Act, 
come under the Conmion Law Procedure Act, is now 
held quarterly under the Becord^; counsel only con 
plead. The court of Bequest, the court of Conscience 
and the court of Bankrupt*^ are all merged in the 
County court, which is also held in the Guildhall. The 
justices* court of Petty Session is held daily at the 
magistrates' court of Pet^ Session, Bridewell street. 

The Central Police station adjoins the court, having 
also on entrance to the engine house, &c., in St. James' 
back. The force numbers 374 rank and file, and com- 
prises one chief constable and four divisional superinten- 
* Dallaway, la 



276 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1882. 



dents, inspectors, sergeants, &c. ; fifteen of the number 
are detailed for duly as river police. There is an efficient 
brass band, the instrumentalists being members of the 
force. The district stations are lettered A, B, C, D. 
Four horses and a prison van are kept. The prisoners 
are collected every morning in the van from the district 
stations and brought to the magistrates' Petty Sessions 
court. Those committed are sent in it to the Gaol. Two 
constables patrol the Downs on horseback every night. 
There is a fire engine, hose cart and fire escape at each 
district station. The Fire Brigade consists of one super- 
intendent and twelve men, all under the chief constable; 
these are sworn constables, but they do not usually act 
in that capacity; a number of constables resident in each 
district are drilled in the fire brigade to assist in case of 
necessity. There is a steam power fite engine kept 
ready at the Central station in Bridewell street. A new 
castellated structure for Bedminster district station was 
opened July 24th, 1882. 

In the Bristol Post office there are 191 clerks (of 
whom 26 are females), 152 letter carriers, and 73 tele- 
graph messengers employed. The letters, in 1875, 
averaged 303,000 per week; in 1882, 387,791. There 
are two branch offices (Clifton and Temple gate), 26 
receiving houses, and 76 pillar and wall boxes. The 
rural district has 77 sub-receiving houses, and 54 pillar 
and waU boxes. Clifton had in 1854 two clerks and 
five letter carriers, it now employs nine clerks and 32 
carriers. The Clifton letters in 1854 were 21,400 per 
week; for the year ending March 31st, 1882, they 
amounted to 64,992. The registered letters at the Head 
office for one month in 1872 were 2,955, in 1882 they 
have reached to 67,040. 
The Post office Saving Baoks' traiuaotionB for 1881 

"'»*'' •.. ••• ••• ••• ••• ■•• ••• ..• ... «•■ X0|00x 

Money orders iuiied, numbered ... 

paid *• 
Postal orders Bold " 11,679 J 39334 



« • • ■ • • 



31,851 J 147 286 
116,454 1 "''-^ 



paid " 27,765 { 

In both of these departments the excess of receipts over 

expenditure is something worthy of notice. 

There has been a considerable increase in the receipt 

and despatch of telegrams during the past ten years, as 

will be seen from the following : — 

Year ending Year ending 

March Slst, 1872. March Slst, 1882. 

Forwarded from Bristol 86,886 158,437 

Delivered in Bristol 214,426 863,404 



299,812 621,841 

5. Considerable ethnological difPerences are observa- 
ble within a radius of thirty miles round Bristol. The 
peasantry of north Wilts and of the Cotswold country, 
within the watershed of the Thames, display generally 



Teutonic types more or less pure— smooth features and 
fair complexions. In the vaUey of the Avon, from 
Chippenham westwards, an increased proportion of 
Keltic or British blood exhibits itself in the greater 
tendency to dark hair. In the northern comer of 
Somerset, from Bristol to the Axe, the fair Frisian type 
crops up pretty frequently, but on the slopes of the 
Mendips, and in the hilly region of Selwood, the pre- 
ponderance of the ancient blood is re-asserted by the 
darker colours, the more angular visages, and the square 
shoulders. In the hill country beyond the Usk the 
Silurian type is conspicuous— a frame short and robust, 
face broad, skin dark and ruddy, eyes dark and almond- 
shaped, brows arched, hair dark or brown. The same 
race, more or less crossed with English and Flemish 
blood, overspreads the low country of Glamorgan, with 
east Monmouthshire, and the Forest of Dean. 

The dialect of Wessex, exemplified in the poems of 
the Eev. W. Barnes, and those of Mr. J. Edwards 
(*'Agrikler,") is far from being extinct in Somerset, and 
the Gloucestershire speech differs little from it except 
in intonation. The Anglicised Welshmen beyond the 
Severn have a dialect and accent of their own. 

The population of Bristol has been fed chiefly from 
Somerset, Gloucestershire, and Wales; and from the 
evidence of surnames the proportion of persons of Welsh 
descent may be estimated at from one-eight to one-tenth. 
This proportion is almost as large in the farmers of the 
neighbouring district, whether north or south of the 
Avon. 

There is some reason for thinking that the skull- 
type prevalent in Bristol during the middle ages was 
shorter and rounder than that most common in the 
present day in the city and the surrounding districts.^ 
Whether this brachykephalic medieeval iype was due 
to the influx of French settlers after the Norman con- 
quest, or to a possible (Belgic? or Lig^an?) settle- 
ment of much earlier date, is mere matter of speculation. 
Irishmen, and persons of Irish blood, are remarkably 
few, considering the proximity of their country. A 
certain amount of physical degeneration has taken place 
among the native Bristolians, as among the natives of 
other British cities— 300 of them yielded an average 
stature and weight of 5 feet 5*8 inches and 182^ lbs., 
after deductions made for shoes and dothing. The 
average height of men in the surrounding counties may 
fairly be put at half an inch more. 

Situated as Bristol is in North Latitude 5V 27' and 
West Longitude 2° 35', and on the west coast the dimate 
is mild and the hygrometric state of the atmosphere is 

^ See paper on the St. Werbnigh's skulls in the Brist and 
Clone. Arch. Trans. By Dr. Beddoe. 



A.D. 1882. 



ETHNOLOGY OF BRISTOL AND DISTRICT. 



277 



generally higli, it is not subject in winter to extreme colds 
nor in summer to extreme heats. It differs materially 
in this respect from places situated on the east coast or 
on the great plateau of the midland counties; the air in 
the lower parts of the city may be considered soft and 
relaxing rather than bracing ; however much this con- 
dition of the atmosphere may benefit some constitutions 
it has its inconveniences. A few days residence in the 
lower parts of the city has often been known to tem- 
porarily deteriorate the voice in public singers which is 
speedily restored to its normal quality by a day or two's 
residence on the upper leveb ; but the city lies on so 
many different soils and at so many different levels that 
no general description will apply to the whole of it; 
the lower parts are situated on alluvial overlying the 
new red sandstone, but the newer and more elevated 
parts are on the new red sandstone and millstone 
grit and other allied formations. The elevation above 
sea level varies considerably ; the lower parts ore but 
a few feet above high water level, whilst the upper 
p&rts of Clifton are 315 feet above. The air on the 
higher levels, such as Durdham down, is very pure and 
bracing, and readily shows the presence of ozone on the 
application of the proper test, thus Olifton is exceedingly 
well adapted by its situation for the reception of invalids 
who can here, within a limited area, choose the climate 
best suited for their constitutions. Those who require 
a soft, mild atmosphere, have for their selection the 
crescents and other buildings on the lower and sheltered 
slopes of the hill^ and those who require highly ozonized 
and bracing air, fresh from the Atlantic and Bristol 
channel, can get all they desire on Olifton and Durdham 
downs. 

The limits of this work precluding a full sanitary 
history of the city it is only possible to glance at a few 
of the more prominent points. In past times Bristol 
was not healthier than other cities. By an exhaustive 
Government inquiry, in 1 850, it was found that the annual 
rate of mortality was 28-0 per 1,000. In 1851 the Public 
Health Act of that period was applied to the whole of 
the Parliamentary borough, including Olifton. Since 
then 150 miles of main sewers have been constructed at 
an aggregate cost of £161,000, so that Bristol is now 
one of the best sewered and drained cities in the country. 
The effect o{ this, with other sanitary measures, has been 
to lower the rate of mortality very considerably, possibly 
more than in any other large town in England. The rate 
for the whole of the borough during the last five years 
having averaged only 20*8 this may be considered as its 
normal annual rate at the present time. Thib rate for 
Olifton during the same period has averaged only 18-8. 

Owing to the extensive sewering carried on during 



the last thirty years the level of the subsoil water has 
become very low, the most noticeable effect of this on 
the public health has been to reduce the mortality from 
phthisis to a very low point, the average AnT> Tii^1 rate of 
mortality from this disease during the last five years 
was only 1-8 per 1,000, although many invalids suffering 
from this complaint come to Clifton from other parts of 
the country and thus add to the nimiber of deaths. By 
a judicious choice of locality invalids could probably 
find in Clifton all the advantages sought for by exile to 
foreign health resorts without any of the discomforts 
which invalids feel so acutely when resident among 
strangers. 

The city is well supplied with hospitals for the treat- 
ment of ordinary diseases and also for the isolation and 
treatment of cases of infectious diseases. Strict and 
constant watch is kept over the progress of ihese com- 
plaints by the officers of the sanitary authority, and the 
best means known for their prevention^ are enforced 
when practicable. The result has thus far been very 
satisfactory, as the rate of mortality from this class of 
diseases has, during the last five years, averaged only 
2-4 per 1,000 per annum. 

Although Bristol has, during the last thirty years, 
expended vast sums of money in improving its sanitary 
condition with unexampled success, further outlay in 
this direction is looming in the future; at present all its 
sewers empty into the river Avon, on the south of the 
city. Owing to the rapid current of the river and the 
high tides no injury to health has been traced to this ; 
but should the citizens decide on dockizing the river the 
whole of the sewerage must be taken out of it. Owing 
to the peculiar formation of the surrounding grounds 
this problem presents xmusual difficulties and must en- 
tail a vast outlay of money; however, as Bristol has 
been so successful in its sanitary measures in the past, 
we have good reason to believe that it will be equally 
so in the future. 

The following is a short description of Bristol : — 

The city lies on low ground, in a somewhat triangular basin 
formed by the vallies of the rivers Avon and Frome ; the latter, 
a smaU tributary from the north-east, which flows through the 
picturesque little vaUey of Glen Frome, and not to be confounded 
with the larger stream passing by the town of that name. Where 
the Avon debouches from the Conham gorge, it spreads into a 
broad valley which it has lined with aUnvial deposits. On this 
low land much of the old city is situated, viz., the parts round 
Temple street, Marsh street, Queen's square and Canon's marsh, 
while High street and Redcliff hill stand on solid ground superior 
to the alluvial plain ; part of the latter is so little above the level 
of high tide— though the city is seven miles by water from the 
mouth of the river — that at spring tide the waters have been found 
to overflow and fill the cellars of the houses which line the river 
in the Hotwells and Quays. The river Avon separates the oity 
into two portions. The artifioial bed or New Cut ii excavated in 



278 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



JLJ>. 1882. 



the new red sandBtone, which ii not left nnoorered along the 
natural course of the river, t.e., the existing Floating Harbour. 

Its hills are more or less broad table-lands, and we may 
speak of them as the north-western, the eastern plateaus and 
southern ridge. The steep acclivitiee on the north, which we 
ascend in leaving Bristol, are seen to be the edge of a large plateau 
of Palffiozoic rocks structurally, though these are sometimes masked 
by later rocks, such as Lias, lying upon them in discordant stratifi- 
cation ; the inclines of Granby hiU, Clifton hill (237 feet high), 
Brandon hill (259 feet high), are descents from this high ground 
towards the Hotwells. Again, the end of this upland plateau ex- 
tends eastward from here by Park street, along Kingsdown parade 
(220 feet), from whose abrupt slopes the city, with its fine church 
towers, may be overlooked to great advantage. The whole of this 
ridge so far consists of the hard siliceous beds of the Millstone 
Grit— dippiug at a high angle with the rest of the Palaeozoic 
beds — and these same grits also face the edge of the plateau on 
the Leigh down side of the river. To this plateau belongs Durdham 
down (312 feet), which is intersected by the Avod gorge, and that 
in so picturesque a fashion that Clifton must always be famous for 
its river scenery. The high land on the Leigh side is to all intents 
and purposes one and the same table-land with Durdham down, 
for the Clifton gorge has little to do with the structure of the 
country, its formation is entirely subsequent to the upraising of 
the anticlinal arch of Old red and Carboniferous rocks, which 
either continuously or in a series of echelons runs through the 
district from Clevedon to Tortworth. The renowned Avon gorge 
is but a notch in the ridge, a mark indeed of the tooth of time, 
but a small matter compared to the lengthened processes by which 
the old PalflBozoic rocks were raised in dome shaped ridges, and 
were then cut down some 5,000 feet lower by the inexorable plane 
of denuding agents, till the shom-off edges of the uplifted strata 
were left as the level table of Durdham down. The height of the 
Observatory hill, Clifton, is 315 feet, and that of Ashton Tump 
270 feet 

To the south of the town are the swelling slopes of Knowle 
and Totterdown, which extend round Dundry hill in a belt of in- 
termediate height, and which has for its rcMon cTilre the existence 
of nearly horizontal beds of Lias limestones below, harder and 
more capable of resisting denuding forces than the clays which 
have been cut back at the intermediate base of Dundry hill. The 
summit of this hill is 769 feet above mean sea level ; the solid 
Jurassic beds which crown the ridge are in the same way the 
cause of the existence of this high ground, which bounds the 
horizon for a considerable sweep on the south. 

On the east of the city we have irregular high land, with an 
average height perhaps of 180 feet. It extends from the river 
Frome on the north-east to the clififs which bound the river Avon 
by Conham and Brislington ; it consists for the most part of coal 
measures, and contains the sites of numerous coalpits. It is the 
hard sandstones (Pennant) of the coal-period which are cut through 
by the Avon in the picturesque windings of the river by Conham. ^ 

The mean annual results of meteorological observa- 
tions at Glifton give the following average: — Mean 
barometric pressure at 228 feet above sea, 29*698 
inches; mean temperature, 48*7 degrees; mean daily 
range of temperature, 13*6 degrees; probable highest 
temperature, 85*0 degrees; probable lowest tempera- 
ture, 16*4 degrees ; mean humidity (sat. = 100), 83*1 ; 
mean amotmt of doud (scale 0-10), 5*9 ; mean daily 
OBone (scale 0-10), 4*6; mean rainfall, 32*194 inches. 
^ E. B. Tawney, F.G.S., in Bristol and its Environs, 319-22. 



These observations are in latitude 5V 27' 47" N., longi- 
tude 2' 86' 30" W. 

Ozone is most abundant in the month of June, least 
so in November, and the difference between the two 
months is very large. On the whole there is much 
more ozone in the summer than in the winter. Apart 
from seasonal influences, the proportion of ozone varies 
chiefly with the direction of the wind. When the wind, 
veering normally, reaches west -south -west, ozone be« 
comes suddenly abundant. It continues abundant with 
the wind at west and north-west, is much more scanty 
when the wind has passed the north, and with winds 
between east and south is scarcely found at all. The 
geographical relation of Glifton to the Bristol Channel, 
is probably the chief cause of these differences; its 
relation to the adjoining city may be a minor cause. 

As a rule, the neighbourhood of Bristol is less liable 
to deep snows than are the eastern, northern, or central 
districts of England, or even the more inland parts of 
Gloucestershire. 

The large preponderance of westerly over easterly 
winds is very striking. North-east and south-west 
winds are pretty evenly balanced, and north-west winds 
occur with about the same degree of frequency. A 
south-east wind is less common, and north and south 
winds are both comparatively rare. 

6. Bristol may justiy claim to have been connected, 
either through birth or by residence, with a very large 
number of eminent men and women ; and, in alpha- 
betical order, a list of a few most entitied to notice is 
given : — 

Bailt, E. H., R. a., the eminent scnlptor, best known by his 
great work, " Eve at the Fonntain," was bom in Bristol, March 
10th, 1788. He presented the frieze in aUo-reUevo (over the 
entrance of the Freemasons* hall) to the committee of the Philo- 
sophical Institution ; it represents "the Arts, Science and Litera- 
tnre, being introduced by Apollo and Minerva to the city of 
Bristol, who, seated on the Avon, receives them into her maternal 
protection, and dispenses to them encouragement and rewards, 
while Plenty unveils herself to Peace, since under their happy 
influence those expansions of the human intellect flourish and 
improve.*' He died May 22nd, 1867. 

" And should grim death that himtaman lesre 

Bat start an Alderman or If ay'r, 

And hunt him as yon'd hunt a hare, 

« 4t ft • 

Or in plain terms, should he decay, 

And look to death and quarter day, 

• • ft • 

And by last will and testament 
PrOTide for his own monument ; 
Baily*8 his man, in spite of death, 
To chisel in again his breath : 
Make Uood reflow in marble vein, 
And set him on his legs again." i 

Bakrett, William, F.S.A., surgeon, author of 7%e Hidory 

and Antiquities of the City qf Bri&tol, was a "native of Chippenham, 

in Wiltshire, or the adjoining village of Notton, where he was 

* Bliymes, Latin and English, Rev. J. Eagles, 88. 



u 



A.D. 1882. 



EMINENT PERSONS. 



279 



born about the year 1736. His parents dying when he was very 
young, he was placed by his guardians at a school in the place of 
his nativity, from whence he was removed to Winchester, where 
he formed a lasting friendship with the son of Mr. Tandy, a sugar- 
baker, in Thomas street, whose daughter he subsequently married; 
he settled in Broad street, from whence he removed to a house which 
stood at the comer of Host street, nearly opposite Colston hall, the 
garden of which at that time extended down to the river. Here he 
remained until about 1784, when the loss of his wife many years be- 
fore, and frequent attacks of gout, to which he was subject, induced 
him to resolve on retiring from business, and devote the rest of his 
days to study and to preparing his History of Bristol for the press. 
He accordingly purchased a house at Wraxall, Somersetshire, in- 
habited by the late Mr. Homer, where he occupied himself in 
close study, or attending the poor of the village, to whom he gave 
his gratuitous services, until his death, which occurred, rather 
unexpectedly, from a carbuncle on one of his eyebrows, which 
proved fatal in forty-eight hours." ^ He died at the residence of 
his son on September 15th, 1789. 

Bbbdobs, Thoiias, M.1>. (often termed "Plutonian Beddoes"), 
physician and scientist, was bom at Shiffiiall on April 13th, 1760. 
He settled in Bristol, and in 1798 established a Pneumatic institu- 
tion in Dowry square, Hotwells, towards which Mr. Lambton con- 
tributed £1,500, and Mr. Thomas Wedgwood £1,000. The chemical 
laboratory was placed under the care of Humphrey Davy, then 
only twenty years of age, who therein began his famous career of 
scientific and chemical discovery. Beddoes was a voluminous 
writer, and an ardent friend of liberty. He married, in 1794, 
Anna Edgeworth, a sister of the celebrated authoress. He died 
at his residence, Rodney place, on December 24th, 1808. 

BxDDOis, Thomas Lovbll, son of the preceding, was bom at 
Clifton on 20th of July, 1803, and at his father's death, when he 
was six years of age, was left to the guardianship of Mr. Davies 
Giddy, better known as Sir Davies Gilbert, president of the Royal 
Society. He was educated at Bath, then at the Charter house, 
finishing at Oxford. A poet of no mean order, he began to write 
early ; his first work was not, however, published until 1822, 
when he was nineteen years of age. From Oxford he went to the 
University of Gottingen to study medicine, and thence to Basle, 
where he died in 1849, seldom visiting England. He was 
possessed of great originality of thought ; was manly, and un- 
compromising in opinion ; had an utter disregard for money, and 
would not allow any friendly influence to aid his career. He 
was of very advanced opinions, and was passionately fond of dis- 
cussion and argument, but was never known to give way to ill 
temper or anger when defeated. His medical treatises were 
excellent, but were all published on the continent. His poetical 
tastes inclined to the dramatic, and the specimens he has left 
are so admirable that we can only regret that one who was 
possessed of such high artistic ability did not publish more. 

Bird, Edward, R.A., historical painter, was bom at Wolver- 
hampton on the 12th April, 1 774, " but was for many years a resident 
in Bristol, where he was well known as a highly gifted genius, and a 
generous, kind-hearted and philanthropic man. An hypochondria- 
cal affection, of some years* standing, preyed upon his otherwise 
apparently strong and vigorous frame, and long before his death 
all that medical skill could do for him was confined to the allevia- 
tion of bodily suffering, without at all removing the cause of it, 
until, at last, he was deprived, by increasing debility and con- 
tinuous pain, of the pleasure he had so long enjoyed in the occu- 
pation of his favourite art — that of an historical painter, in which 
he was very successful. In early life he is believed to have exer- 
cised his talent in a very inferior branch of art, which, however, 
taught him to execute, in after time, the mechanical part of his 

» Pryce, 362-3. 



compositions with accuracy and despatch ; and to his own almost 
unaided genius he appears to have been indebted for his after 
proficiency in. the art in which he' obtained so much eminence. 
He was early patronised by Mr. West and the Marquis of Stafford ; 
his pictures, too, were viewed by the public, at the annual exhi- 
bition, with marked partiality ; and had his health continued 
good, it appears probable that he would have amassed a large 
fortune for the benefit of his bereaved family. For Lord Bridg- 
water he painted ' The Debarkation of the King of France,' and 
also the 'Embarkation,' for which he was liberally rewarded by 
that munificent patron of art. For the Prince Regent he painted 
' The Psahn Singers in a Country Church,' and had a commission 
for a companion picture, which, however, he did not live to 
execute. His picture of 'Chevy Chase' procured him the ap- 
pointment of historical painter to the Princess Charlotte ; and at 
his death Prince Leopold presented his picture of the ' Surrender 
of Calais,' with a purse of one hundred guineas, to his family, for 
their benefit. The Freemasons of Bristol, the ceiling of whose 
hall he finely embellished with the results of his genius, performed 
a funeral dirge at his decease, and by them, as well as by numerous 
private citizens, his memory will be long held in respectful re- 
membrance."^ He died November 2nd, 1819, in his forty-fifth 
year. Like most of those who have been taught to any pur- 
pose, Bird was Mb own teacher. Free in the exercise of his 
thoughts, he was perfectly original. His works are his own both 
in conception and execution ; he followed no model, he had no 
master, nature was his nustress. She appears to have done almost 
everything for him ; study did but little, and yet his pictures 
never failed to please the eye of the connoisseur, and to stir the 
sympathies and affections of all who saw them. He was most 
successful, perhaps, in that style of art called 'low life ;' but his 
pictures are entirely free from anything gross or offensive, whilst 
they are full of genuine humour, good sense, fine feeling, senti- 
ment and moral tendency. Happy had it been for Bird and his 
family had he always continued to exercise his powers upon such 
subjects, but in the latter part of his life he was induced to leave 
them and to give himself up to some undertakings which produced 
only weariness, disappointment and disgust, and helped to shorten 
a life not less adorned by the social virtues than honoured and 
distinguished by the brightest talents. * 

** And Bird, poor Bird, wh«n will regret 
IPer cease, Uiat raeh a star la set V* > 

"BowDiCH, Thomas Edward, the enterprising African tra- 
veller and author, was bom in Bristol, in the month of June, 1793. 
He received the rudiments of Ids education at the Grammar 
school, from whence he was removed to a celebrated classical 
academy at Corsham, in Wiltshire, and ultimately to Oxford. . . 
Having a near relation in a high official post on the Cold Coast of 
Africa^ he obtained permission to join him at that station. It was 
there that the germ of the spirit of enterprise within him took a 
deeper root, and an embassy being at this period in contemplation, 
to conciliate the King of Ashantee and to propitiate an extension 
of commerce, Mr. Bowdich solicited an appointment, and with 
some difiiculty (owing to the circumstance of his being married) 
obtained it. Never was intrepidity more required, or nobly ex- 
hibited, than on the conducting of this mission ; the whole pro- 
ceedings have been detailed by Mr. Bowdich with talent and 
ability, only equalled by the well-directed zeal and the incom- 
parable pradence which distinguished his services on this inter- 
esting occasion. His volume on the Mission to Ashantee will 
constitute an imperishable monument of intelligence, ardour and 
integrity. In proof of the absence of all selfishness in the com- 
position of this gifted and faithful envoy, it deserves to be recorded 

» Pryce, 139-40. 
* Bhymes, Latin and English, Eev. J. Eagles, 157-& • Ibid, 88. 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



tlul^ having onoe been deteined m an hotti^ by tlioae who were 
not over icrnpaloiui in their means of acquiring an advantage, he 
reqneoted thoaa wheae intereeta lie represented not to permit the 
ooniideration of Ai'i aafety or hit life to interfere with the objecta 
for which the negociation waa contendiDg. 

"Hii miaiiou having aaoceeded, he returned to Bnrope, and 
hero we moat pause for a moment to lament that an unhappy 
difference with the African company te«med for an instant to 
throw a gloom over the proapecta of this *ble traveller and to 
threaten the farther discovenei of this undaunted spirit. In 
jnatice to his memory, it must be obaerved that hia detection and 
exposure of the abmea of tJiis association has since led to its 
diasolation." Declining an offer of the French Oovemment, he 
made a second joamey on hii own responsibility, to explore parts 
of Africa tmtrodden by the feet of Enropouii. "By unceasing 
exposure in making a *an«j of the river Gambia he contracted a 
fever, which was increased by his constant praotioe of taking 
nightly obaervatioos, and [in 1824] he periahed a martyr to bis lave of 
science in the thirty-first year of hia age, ... He waa a member 
of many leftmed societies at home and abroad. Hia published 
works are the Mianon to AthanUt; An Analy»i$ of tKt Natural 
Clauijication qfih« Mammalia; An Inlroduetion to the Omilhology 
of CuvUr; EUmaiU of Conchology; A Malhematieal Invaligation 
vUh Formula/or caletilaling Lunar Eciiptti, &c , &c." ' 

BiUNWBtTK, Nathan, artist, was born at Lavenham in 1775. 
He came to Bristol in 1SI9 to attend a Weileyan conference, in 
order to paint the portraits of the ministers. He settled in the 
dty, and died in his eighty-second year, on the ISth of March, 
1857- •< Then joq hive Bnnwlilli. who cnn p«lnt 

Tou ill from tloaBr np to wlot 

flo Bit, bo'U Ut 70U to 1 tiAtr . . . 

. . . . tH Bnnwhlt*'! bniih 

Cui iBske iminaital smile uidblnih."! 

Breillat, Johh, gas engineer, was bom in 1770. In ISll, 
when he was a dyer in Broadmead, he lit op his shop windows 
with gaa made by himself upon the premises; he also gave lee. 
tares on the manufacture and properties of different gasea, in 
which he asserted, amidst much ridicule, " that the time waa not 
far distant when ooal gas would be used generally for the purpose 
of illumination." Shortly afterwards he erected a few lamps in 
one of the itreeta of the city, which earned for him the nickname 
"Brilliant Breillat," and the taont that "he brought hia firefroei 
h— 1." In connection with other far-seeing individuals, he aided 
in the formation of the Bristol Coal Qas company, by meana of 
which Bristol became the second city in the kingdom that was lit 
with gaa. (The Act of Incorporation waa not, however, obtained 
by the company until 1819.) Mr, Breillat became the engineer; 
he died at the Oas works in 1856, in the eighty-sixth year of hie 
age. 

Brodirip, John, F.R.3., scientist and author, was for some 
years the joint secretary with Sir Roderick Marchison of the 
Geological society, London ; he waa bom in Prince street, Bristol, 
oa the 21st November, 1780, and died February 27th, 1359. 

BuTLBR, JosBTH H., Quaker, poet, was bom in Bristol, 1805. 
He was a mechanic. AfDicted in health, he went to America, 
where he settled at Troy, New York. Hia fugitive poems in that 
ooantry were collected and published under the title of Wild 
Flowert of Poety, for which the bishop of Pennsylvania wrote 
the introductiOD. Betnming to hia native land in a disabled state. 
Sic John Kerle Haberfield (then mayor) and other friends enabled 
Butler, in 1849, to publish SkelchM by the Waytide. He returned 
to Troy, where he died October 3rd, 1854. 

Cabfkktkr, Rev. Laht, LL.D., preacher and theologian, was 

> Pryce, 537-8. 

> Bbymea, Latin and English, Rev. J. Eagles, 91. 



bom in KiddenuinBt«r in 1780. Prom 1617 to 1840 he was one of 
the ministers of Lewins' mead chapel ; his theological writing are 
numerous. He died at aea in 1840. 

Carpkmtib, Mart, daagbt«r of the preceding, was ban at 
Exeter, April 3rd, 1807. Her pity for the destitnte and forasken 
led to the establishment of a ragged school in Bristol in 184S; and 
in 1853, in oonnection with Matthew Davenport Hill, recorder of 
Birmingham and oammiadoner of bankrupt^, Bristol, and other 
friends, a reformatory waa planned at Eingswood for boy* and 
girls, which waa opened in 1854, DifBooltiea arose from its mixed 
character which Induced I^dy Noel Byron to purohaae the Bed 
lodges which she let at a low rent*I to Miss Carpenter. The girls 
were removed thither from Kingawood, and Miss Carpenter under- 
took the entire management. As the reformatories oonld only 
receive children who had been convicted of crime, and who had 
been seutenoed, Misa Carpenter felt the deaitability of some action 
which should prevent the street arab from falling into the criminal 
class. She and her friends devised, and were mainly instmmental 
in obtaining, the Industrial Schools' Act, under which, in 18G7i a 
school for boys was established in Bristol ; and in the aotomn of 
that year, principally through her exertions, a giria' indnatrial 



Marti OuftnttT, 

school waa also eetabliahed. Under Forster's Act all grants wwe 
withdrawn from ragged schools ; Miss Carpenter therefore changed 
her lagged into a day (feeding) industrial school, on which footing 
it bas continued since 1872 in succeasful operation. In 18ft4 she 
built a workman's hall in front of the ragged school prcmisw ; 
the same year she published Our ConvicU, a work in two vols., 
and actively coalesced with the select band of prison reformen, 
visiting daring the next few years the United Statee and Canada, 
in order to increase her knowledge on subjects connected with 
impriaonmetit. 

Another cboeen field of Mary Carpenter's activity was our 
Indian empire. In 1833 she became a hearty friend of Rajah 
Banunohun Roy, and from that date arose her interest in the 
condition of the native races. Desirous of personal investigation, 
she, in 1866, proceeded to India, and having been furnished with 
credentials from the home government, waa received by the 
authoritiee in the three presidencies aqd by the native enmmnnity 
with great respect and consideration. On her retoro ahe pub- 
lished Six Moritha in India. Three times since that date abe 
re-visited India, striving to remove the opposition which was 



A.D. 1882. 



EMINENT PERSONS. 



281 



manifested to the education of her sex, and was so far Buccessfiil 
in her efiforts as to lay the foandation of a system of female educa- 
tion that requires only time to make it a national blessing. She 
had also the high gratification of seeing a Bill carried for the 
establishment of reformatories and industrial schools throughout 
our Indian empire. She distinguished herself, moreover, in ques- 
tions of social science, not so much by her advocacy of woman's 
rights, as by her practical demonstration of woman's capabilities. 
In October, 1872, she, on the invitation of the late Princess Alice, 
attended a congress held at Darmstadt on the subject of ''Women's 
work. " In the April preceding her decease she delivered a course 
of six lectures on India, at the Bristol Philosophical and Literary 
Institution. She died during the night of June 14th, 1877, and 
was buried in Amo's Vale cemetery on the 19th. A handsome 
monumental tablet has been erected to her memory in the north 
transept of the Cathedral. 

Oatcott, Rev. Alexaivdeb C, author and geologist, bom 
in Bristol, a good poet, profound linguist, well skilled in the 
Hebrew and the Scripture philosophy, and judicious school- 
master. He was subsequently vicar of Temple, and author of an 
ingenious treatise on the Deluge. He left two cabinets containing 
fossils and minerals, with a few coins and books, to the City 
library. 

Catcott, Rev. Alexander Stopford, father of the preceding, 
was vicar of St. Stephen's and master of Bristol Granunar School. 

Chatterton, Thomas, is referred to in Vols. II., p. 211, and 
m., p. 202. 

Child, William, doctor of music, a native of Bristol, was 
educated in music under Elway Bevin, organist of the cathedral 
of that city. In the year 1631, being then of Christ church 
college, Oxford, he took his degree of bachelor in that university; 
and in 1636 was appointed one of the organists of the chapel of 
St. George, at Windsor, in the room of Dr. John Mundy, and 
soon after, one of the organists of the royal chapel at Whitehall. 
After the Restoration he was appointed to the office of chanter in 
the king's chapel, and director of the private music to Charles II. 
On the thirteenth day of July, 1663, he obtained his degree in 
St. Mary's church, Oxon. He died in the year 1696, having 
attained the age of ninety years. ^ 

Coleridge, S. T., was bom at Ottery St. Mary on October 
21st, 1772. His erratic career in early life has been graphically 
told by Cottle and others, but inasmuch as he began his literary 
career in this city, we claim to place lus name amongst our eminent 
men. In 1794 he came to Bristol to meet three friends with whom 
he had planned 1^ emigrate to the banks of the Susquehanna, there 
to form a "Pantisocracy," or scheme of universal brotherhood. It 
was to consist of twelve families ; the minimum sum required was 
£2,000, put each man's quota was not <'to be settled with the little- 
ness of arithmetical accuracy." Coleridge and two of his friends 
and partners in the scheme, Southey and Burnett, lodged together, 
"up one pair of stairs," at 48 College street, Bristol, and when 
their bill for eleven pounds was presented, they could only muster 
seven pounds between the three. Both he and Southey delivered 
a course of lectures during the summer — Coleridge on " Political, 
Moral and Theological Subjects," Southey on "History" ; these 
were delivered at different rooms in the city— the ** Plume of 
Feathers," Wine street, and the Assembly Coffee house, on the 
Quay, being amongst them. But such was Coleridge's absence of 
mind, or so little importance did he attach to his engagements, 
that he scrupled not, for a whim or through self-indulgence, to 
disappoint repeatedly his waiting audience by absenting himself 
on the appointed night. Another partner in tiie *' Pantisocrocy " 
was Robert Lovell, who had married a Miss Fricker, one of three 
sisters. Coleridge falling in love with Sarah Fricker, alas! for 

^ Epitomised from Pryoe, 521. 
[Vol. UL] 



their scheme of human perfectibility. Lovell objected to Cole- 
ridge as a brother-in-law whilst he remained penniless, upon which 
they quarrelled ; nevertheless, Coleridge, on October 4th, 1795, 
married the lady, and settled for awhile in a cottage at Clevedon, 
They soon, however, returned to Bristol, and took up their resi- 
dence in some pent-up rooms on Redcliff hill, where he wrote his 
first volume of poems, on February 22nd, 1796, for which Joseph 
Cottle gave him thirty guineas. Ever planning and ever pro- 
crastinating, the first of his many schemes that next came to the 
birth was a miscellany, called The Watchman, which was to 
be a review, newspaper and annual register, to be published 
every eighth day, each part to consist of thirty-two pages. 
Four hundred subscribers were obtained in Bristol, and Cole- 
ridge visited the great towns and the metropolis to increase 
their number. His eloquence electrified and won for him a 
large number of subscribers, but the publication was ineffably 
dull, and it died at its tenth number. A Socinian in his re- 
ligious viQws, he next attempted the pulpit, and made his 
dibut at Bath. It was an utter failure $ seventeen persons came 
to the second service, and before the sermon was half over, one 
after another, three of the principal members of the church left 
their seats and the building. During his midland journey, he had 
made the acquaintance of Charles Lloyd, son of a banker in 
Birmingham, who, fascinated by Coleridge's conversation, pro- 
posed to come to Bristol and to be domesticated with him. This 
occasioned a removal from Redcliff hill to a larger house on 
Kingsdown, where his son. Hartley, was born. But ere the year 
1796 was ended, tempted by his friend Poole, of Nether Stowey, 
and by the offer of a house for seven pounds per annum, the two 
friends removed to that village. In 1798, when on a visit to 
Shrewsbury with a view of becoming minister of the Socinian 
church in that town, Coleridge made the acquaintance of Thomas 
and Josiah Wedgwood. Josiah gave him £100 not to enter the 
ministiy, and as long as he held Unitarian opinions the brothers 
handsomely allowed him £150 per annum. In September, in 
company with Wordsworth, Coleridge visited Germany, and on 
his return, he, together with Joseph Cottle, joined Wordsworth 
on a visit to the Lake district. His health failing, he next went 
to Malta as secretary to the governor of the island, at a salary of 
£800 per annum ; this he gave up within a year. On his return to 
England he started a periodical. The Friend, which had no better 
success than The Waicfiman, His friend De Quincey then gave 
him £500 ; and as a contributor to the Morning Post and Courier 
he struggled on until 1816, at which time he placed himself under 
the care of Mr. Gillman, a surgeon of Highgate, in order if 
possible to be cured of his propensity for opium, of which drug 
he took as much as two quarts per week in the shape of laudanum 
— indeed, on one occasion he took a quart within twenty -four 
hours. There he remained until his death, July 25th, 1834. In 
monologue, Coleridge has never been excelled ; as a thinker he 
takes high rank ; but his fame as a poet will outlive all other of 
his gifts. 

Cottle, Amos, the elder brother of Joseph by four years, 
published, in 1797> a volume of Icelandic poetry. The Edda of 
Saemund. He was a graduate of Magdalene college, Cambridge. 
His brother, in the fourth edition of The Malvern Hills, republished 
several of the minor pieces of Amos. He died in the year 1800. 
To furbish up a rhyme. Canning, in the Anti-Jacobin, made (if he 
had seen the book) a wilful mistake when he wrote — 

** And Cottle, not he that Alfred made flunous. 
But Joseph, of Bristol, the brother of Amos." 

Joseph Cottle*s name as the author is on the title-page of Alfred, 

Cottle, Joseph, was bom in Bristol in 1769. He carried on 

a bookselling business, first on Bristol bridge and afterwards at 

the comer of High and Com streets ; he retired in 1798. He was 

K 4 



282 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1882. 



the intimate friend of Sonthey, Coleridge and Wordsworth, and 
was, indeed, the medium of introducing them to the knowledge ef 
the British public. To Southey he gave fifty guineas and fifty 
copies of the book for his Joan of Arc, His poetical works 
are Alfred^ an heroic poem, Fall of Cambria, llie Messiah, The 
Malvern HilU, John the Baptist, and Sir Malcolm ami Ella, &c., 
&c. He resided at 1 Carlton place, Bedminster, until he built 
Firfield house, Knowle, where he died, June 7th, 1853, aged 
eighty-four. Lord Byron savagely attacks Cottle in English Bards 
and Scotch Reviewers, but confounds him with his brother Amos. 

Dallaway, Rev. Jambs, M.A. and F.R.S., antiquary and 
man of letters, was bom in St. Philips*, Bristol, in 1763. He 
died, in 1834, at Leatherhead, of which parish he was vicar. 

Davy, Sir Humphrey, bart., chemist, was a poor Cornish 
lad, who began his successful career in Bristol. He resided at 
3 Rodney place with Dr. Beddoes. He died at Geneva, in 1829. 

Draper, Sir William, was a distinguished military man who 
met "Junius" with his own weapons, but with little success. He 
built Manilla hall, Clifton, which he named after the scene of his 
chief victory, and erected in front thereof an obelisk and a ceno- 
taph in memory of his companions in arms. He died at Bath, in 

1787. 

Eagles, Rev. John, M.A., was born in Bristol in 1784 ; edu- 
cated at the school of Rev. S. Seyer, in Bristol, until thirteen 
years of age, he then was placed at Winchester, after which he 
was entered at Wadham college, Oxford, where he took his degree 
and entered the church. For thirteen years he was curate of 
Halberton, for the last five of which he had for his rector the 
Rev. Sydney Smith. He then removed to the curacy of Winford, 
but, in 1841, he relinquished clerical duty for more congenial 
artistic and literary occupation. He continued to reside in his 
native city until his death. He wr.s a man of high literary 
and artistic culture. His charming papers in Blo/chwood, entitled 
The Sketcher ; and Rhymes in Latin and EngUsh by the Man in the 
Moon, originally published in Felix Farley* s Journal, will be 
familiar to many Bristolians. As a painter he was thoroughly 
English in his style, and his landscapes charm by their vigour, 
truth and excellence. He died at 10 King's parade, November 9th, 
1855. His father, Thomas Eagles, was, we believe, the author of 
Llewellyn Penrose, a charming romance in the style of Robinson 
Crusoe, 

Eaton, Charles, was the son of George Eaton, a wholesale 
ironmonger of Bristol. He was bom in this city in 1792. With 
his brother George he succeeded his father in business, but, in 
1835, the brothers retired from trade. Members of the Society of 
Friends, the Eatons were strenuous labourers in the causes of 
negro emancipation, peace, and temperance. In 1836 Charles 
became the editor of the Bristol Temperance Herald, He gave 
prizes of £100 each for the best essays on "Juvenile Depravity," 
and "The Physiological Effects of Alcoholic Liquors.*' These 
were awarded to the Rev. H. Worsley, M.A., and to Dr. W. B. 
Carpenter. Towards the Bristol General hospital, Charles con- 
tributed £6,500, and at his death he bequeathed to it a further 
sum of i'3,500, making a total of £10,000. He died May 26th, 
1858, at his house on Redcliff parade. 

Elton, Sir Charles Abraham, bart., was born in Bristol, in 
1778. He died at Bath, June 1st, 1853, aged seventy-five. The 
Eltons were a notable Whig family in Bristol during the 18th 
century. Abraham was mayor in 1710, and M.P. for the city. 
He was created a baronet on the 31st October, 1717, and at his 
death was succeeded by his eldest son, Abraham, who was member 
for Taunton, and afterwards for the city of Bristol, until his 
decease in 1742. He was succeeded by his eldest son, also 
Abraham, the third of the name, who dying unmarried, the title 
devolved upon his brother, Sir Abraham Isaac ; he died in 1790, 



and was succeeded by his eldest son, the Rev. Abraham Elton, 
who, dying in 1842, was succeeded by Sir Charles, the subject of 
this notice. Sir Charles was an elegant scholar. He published 
A Translation of Hesiod, Specimens of the Classic Poets, from 
Homer to Tryphiodorus, in English, 1825. Henry Hallam was his 
brother-in-law, and he enjoyed the friendship of Charles Lamb, 
Julius Hare, De Quincey and Barry Cornwall. He was a frequent 
contributor to the London Magazine. His touching poem. The 
Brothers, describes the fate of his two beloved sons, who were 
drowned whilst bathing at Bimbeck island, Weston-super-Mare, 
on the 20th September, 1829. He married Sarah, daughter of 
Joseph Smith, esq., of Bristol, by whom he had a numerous 
family. Whilst absent on the Continent, his friend, the Rev. 
John Eagles, thus refers to him in an amusing poem : — 

" As Horace uys, ' Arouad what thyme/ 
About what flowery bank of rhyme, 
A busy bee on bnsy wing 

Does Eltun take his wandering ? 

« • • • 

I love thee, Elton, and this pen — 
For thou to me art ' man of men '— 
ShaU tell thy city half thy worth. 
And bid it glory in thy birth." i 

Sir Arthur Hallam Elton succeeded him, being the seventh baronet. 

EsTLiN, John Prior, LL.D., a voluminous author, was for 
forty-six years one of the ministers of Lewin's mead chapel, and 
the proprietor of a celebrated classical school on St. Michael's 
hill; he died in 1817. 

Evans, Rev. John, author, amongst other publications, con- 
tinned in a second volume Corry*s History of Bristol; he died 
in 1832. 

Evans, John, printer, author of A Chronological Outline cf 
the History of Bristol, was a native of Bristol and a musical 
amateur. Whilst entering the Brunswick Theatre, London, on 
business, on February 28th, 1828, the building fell and he perished 
in the ruins, in the fifty- fifth year of his age. 

FosTBR, Rev. John, the essayist, was bom in Yorkshire, in 
1770. Educated at the Baptist academy, Bristol, he accepted the 
ministry of the Baptist chapel at Downend, and died at Stapleton, 
October 15th, 1843. He was buried in the Broadmead burying 
ground, Redcross street. 

Fox, E. L., M.D., born at Falmouth, April 26th, 1761, was 
a physician of eminence, not only for his special skill in the 
treatment of mental disease, but also for the sterling upright- 
ness and fearlessness of character which were evinced by him 
on several occasions. His father, who was a Quaker, lived 
at Falmouth ; he had two partners in a shipping business, 
who insisted on taking out '* letters of marque'* for all their 
ships during the war which followed on the French Revolu- 
tion. They were very successful, and amongst other prizes they 
captured a great quantity of old plate belonging to the French 
noblesse who were fleeing out of France. When Napoleon was at 
Elba and Louis XVIIl. was restored, Mr. Fox desired to restore 
his share of the booty, which amounted to many thousands of 
pounds. He sent Dr. Edward Long Fox to Paris to seek out, if 
possible, the owners, failing which, to restore it to the French 
Government. The king received the young Quaker most cor- 
dially, though the courtiers jeered at his costume. Not being 
able to discover the owners of the property, Louis asked the 
young man what he was to do with it. '*Sire, build with it an 
hospital for the relief of sufferers by the war." The property 
was at once made over for that purpose, but ere the hospital could 
be built. Napoleon escaped from Elba, and during the hundred 
days the money was absorbed and lost. The king conferred a 
strange gift on the Quaker, viz., the addition of a banner and 

^ Rhymes, Latin and English, Rev. J. Eagles, 77. 



A.D. 1882. 



EMINENT PERSONS. 



283 



flear-de-lyB to his crest. Dr. Fox*8 conduct during the Bristol 
bridge riots, we have elsewhere alluded to ; he died May 2nd, 
1835, aged seventy-four. 

** Death knocks at all oar doors, they say. 
But not exactly the same way ; 

tt « * • 

And should friend Fox, a man of skill, 
Be called in, vrhere death means to kill 
Some sinner with gout, stone, or phthisic, 
Kre this consummate man of physic 
(His chariot standing at the door) 
Can touch the step, death stalks before." i 

Grinfield, Thomas, of Clifton, a graduate of Trinity college, 
Cambridge, published, in 1815, a volume of epistles and miscel- 
laneous poems. He died April 8th, 1870. He was a friend of 
Sir Walter Scott, Southey, Wilberforce and Barham. 

Hall, Rev. Robert, was bom at Arnsby, Leicestershire, 
May 2nd, 1764. He was educated at the Baptist academy, which 
was at that time in North street, Bristol. AVhen seventeen years 
of age he was sent to King's college, Aberdeen. In 1783 he 
became the assistant of Dr. Caleb Evans, both in the Baptist 
academy and in the church of Broadmead. During his residence 
his reason became impaired, and on his recovery he found that his 
venerable friend and colleague. Dr. Evans, was dead, and his 
place was occupied by Dr. Ryland. At this juncture Mr. Hall 
received, and accepted, an invitation to succeed the Rev. Robert 
Robinson as pastor of the Baptist church at Cambridge. Here he 
attained celebrity as a preacher, and the most distinguished men 
of the age were to be found whenever opportunity served amongst 
his hearers. In 1803 he had a return of his malady. From 
Cambridge he removed to Leicester, and from thence, in 1825, he 
returned to Bristol, as the successor of Dr. Ryland, at Broadmead. 
Mr. Hall was on principle a Nonconformist, and he resolutely 
declined an offered preferment in the Church of England. He 
died February 21st, 1831, aged sixty-seven, at his residence, 
Ashley place, after a life of great physical as well as occasional 
mental suffering. His remains were interred in the same vault as 
those of his venerable predecessor in the Baptist burying ground ; 
but in December, 1853, they were removed to Arno's Vale cemetery, 
where a handsome tomb, with a medallion portrait in alto-relievo, 
was erected to his memory. 

Habkrfield, John Kerlb, solicitor, knighted in 1850. 
He was six times mayor of Bristol, and in 1837 refused to 
take the salary, £400; he died December 27th, 1857, aged 
seventy-two. 

Hallah, Henry, the historian, was the son of Dr. Hallam, 
dean of Bristol. He was bom in 1778, three years before his 
father's accession to the deanery. He was a pupil at the Bristol 
Grammar school, thence he went to Eton, and graduated at Christ 
church, Oxford. He married Julia, the daughter of the Rev. 
Abraham Elton, of Clevedon court, baronet. His historical and 
other works are of the highest character. He died January 22nd, 
1859, and was buried at Old Clevedon church. 

Harris, John, D.D., author of Mammon, The Great Com- 
mission, &c., and principal of New college, London, was an 
apprentice to Mr. Cox, a tailor in Milk street. He was bom 
March 8th, 1802, and died December 21st, 1856. 

Heywood, William, D.D., "was a native of the city of 
Bristol, became successively scholar and fellow of St. John's 
college in Oxford; after that, chaplain to Archbishop Laud, as 
also to his majesty, and about the year 1636 D.D., and vicar of 
St. Giles' in the Fields, London. On the 28th of September, 
1638, he had a prebend in the collegiate church of Westminster 
conferred on him."' Being sequestered by the Parliament, in 

* Rhymes, Latin and English, Rev. J. Eagles, 98. • Pryce, 522. 



January, 1643, he suffered imprisonment and was reduced to great 
want. At the Restoration he was repossessed of his preferments, 
and died in July, 1663. 

Holmes, George, was an artist, who devoted the greater 
portion of his life to the profession of a drawing master, in which 
he was assisted by his son. He published sketches of the southern 
counties of Ireland, taken in 1797. 

King, John, an historical and portrait painter, for many 
years resident in this city, is best known by the altar-pieces of 
St. Thomas' church and the Mayor's chapel. He died at Dart- 
mouth, July 12th, 1846. 

*' The Bristol school i How rose it there ? 
Let Bird, Qold, Eden, King declare ; 
Their modest worth is damb— forbear. "i 

Kington, John Barnett, offers to young men a fine example 
of the pursuit of knowledge under difficulties of no ordinary 
character. A Bristol boy, born and reared in indigence and 
obscurity, and apprenticed to a tinman, his love of literature and 
passion for books led him to add to the little shop which he 
opened at 9 Bath street a second-hand book trade. Here he com- 
menced to dabble with his pen. Two Bristol merchants (Mr. 
Harman Visger and Mr. Thomas Davis) noticed and helped him. 
He next found employment on the Bristol Mercury. Kind friends 
revised for him a volume of poetry. Then he became secretary to 
the Liberal Registration Association. He next started a news- 
paper — The Bristol Advocate. This, although it failed, brought 
him into notice, and won for him the valuable friendship of 
Thomas Babington Macaulay, to whom in after years he dedicated 
his volume of poems — Nibley Green. He was the author, also, of 
Letters of a Burgess on the Trade of Bristol. Through the kindly 
help of friends, he was finally appointed editor of the Weekly 
Chronicle, a London paper. He educated himself in the usual 
branches of a liberal profession, studied the law, became a mem- 
ber of the Inns of Court, and in due time was called to the bar. 
During this struggle Kington was a martyr to bronchitis; his 
respiration was painfully imperfect, and he suffered from disease 
of the heart. Added to this, he contracted an early marriage 
with a sickly woman, who, after bearing him six children, died of 
consumption, leaving all these little ones to his care. Nevertheless, 
through these drawbacks he fought his way from being a tinker's 
boy to the position of barrister-at-law. He died January 8th, 
1848. 

Lawrence, Sir Thomas, president of the Royal academy, 
was born at 6 Redcross street, Bristol, on May 4th, 1769. His 
father for a while kept the "White Lion" inn, Broad street, but 
afterwards removed to the *'Bear" inn, Devizes. Thomas gave 
indications of his genius at a very early age, and by the time he 
reached twelve had become famous. In 1787 he established him- 
self in London ; in 1792 he became portrait painter to the king 
and to the Dilettante society. On the death of Benjamin West, 
Lawrence was selected to succeed him as president of the Royal 
academy. He died January 7th, 1830, and was buried in St. 
Paul's cathedral. 

" Bristol has lent fUU many a name 
To fill th' ' obstxeporous trump of fame,' 
Sir Tliomaa Lawrence, President 
Of the R. A.'s, pre eminent ; 
In geniiis v^igorous, yet refin'd, 
Noble in art, yet more in mind." • 

Longman, Thomas, the founder of the publishing house of 
Longmans and Co., was bom in Bristol, in 1699. His great-grand- 
father, Thomas, was, in 1658, a soap-boiler, in which business he 
was succeeded by his son, EzekieL The father of the publisher is 
described in our annals as a gentleman. 
> Rhymes, Latin and English, Rev. J. Eagles, 87. « Ibid, 88. 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



LoTiLL, Robert, tlie Qokker po«t, wu the son of a pin 
nuuiafacturer who lived in Old Market Btreet and afterwards in 
Castle green. He married Miw FHcker, and hit frienda, Southey 
and Coleridge, by marriage became his brothen-in-law. He was 
one of the promoters oF the " Fantiaocraoy," and he It was who 
introduced the poeta to Cottle the publisher. He died in 1796, 
having on a business joamey been taken with fever at Salisbury ; 
in hii eagemesa to reach hii family ha travelled when be ought to 
have lain by, reached hit home and died. Under the nom de 
plume of Moachui, hs, in conjunction with Sonthey, published a 
small IZroa volume of poema. His sarcastic powera were con- 
siderable i hi( satire on Bristol shows how mistaken he was in 
himself as an ensample of human perfectibility, His wife sur- 
vived him Hiity-Beveo years, dying at the age of ninety-one at 
the residence of her niece, Kate Southey, the daughter of the 
poet. The following is an extract from Brittol: A Satire— 1 794 :— 

Low In s dnsr ud gloomy tsIb icmitLrAd, 

By mad cemsDled and by smoke obscured, 

A city itudi, sod Brlitol li Iti niuie, 



■ Tlisl o'l 






Tnde, mighty tnde, h«n holds ndtUcBi sny. 



' Vhit ships iiTlvedr 



POH the Bsbcl bum ; 

' WhsUtbo price of romf 
■nd ' Haw sie itoclii tiHliy I ' 



OnBO 



» Ihe cIllKi 



Oh, "mh 

aimnl but ttiU tioaa. tbcj resr do oth« 111 ; 
Opprns theni. sUrTe them, murder, it yon will, 
Utill thtll thej kafi^l Bubralulve, kiss the rod, 
Aodlhuik the huid thst thus protects tlieir god." 

Ludlow, Mr. Serjeant, commissioner of the court of Bank- 
ruptcy, and formerly town clerk of the city of Bristol until the 
passing of the Municipal Reform Bill, in 1835. The learned 
gentleman died March 18th, 1851. 

Macaulat, Zachart, bom in 17S8, married, in 1708, Selina 
Mills, one of two sisters of Mr. John Mills. These ladies took 
the school at 10 Fork street, in 1793, of Hannah More, when she 
retired from scholastic duties. Thomas Babingtou Macaulay (Baroo 
Macaulay) was the child of the abore-naoied Selina. Zachary 
Macanlay had lived in the West Indies, and afterwards held a 
Government appointment at Sierra I,eone ; he had thus become 
conversant with the iniquitous slave trade, and was able to render 
efficient help to his warm friends, Clarkson and Wilberforce, in 
the emancipation of the negroee. He died in 1BS9. 

More, Hannah, was bom at Stapleton, February, 1743. 
Her patents had been fellow-domestics at Stoke house, and on 
their marriage Jacob More was appointed master of Fishponds 
charity school, with a salary of £30 per annum. Here five 
danghteis and a son were bom. More subsequently removed 
to Stony hill, Bristol, where he opened a school, and his daugh- 
ters also opened one for day scholars in Trinity street. Here 
Hannah began to write poetry, and by excellent natural abilities 
and a facile pen she eoon won her way into the esteem of the 
higher class and the religious worid. By aid of wealthy friends 
thus made, the sisters were enaliled to open a boarding school at 
10 Fork street. In 1773, when eighteen years of age, she pub- 



lished her paatontl drama, Tkt Search a/Ur Happkteu; Tkt 
Infiexibk Captivt, Percy y The Fatal Faitehood, tragediea, and other 
poems followed. In 1760 her views changed, and she declined to 
write for the stage. All her subsequent works are of ft moral or 
religious character, and by her writings she realised above £30,000. 
In 1793 she retired from the school at Park street to Barley wood, 
Wrington. In 1828 she returned to Clifton, and died there on 
September 7th, 1833, leaving beqaeats t« charitable objects to the 
amount of £10,000. Mrs. More's style is stiff and nnim aginative. 
She was, we think, overrated ; at all events, in the present age 
she would not have reached the pre-eminence she obtained. 
The education of T. B. Macaulay, whose father was her intimate 
friend, had commenced nnder her core. Knowing her intimately, 
he was pressed to write her life, but declined. There was no 
community between her style of thought and that of the brilliant 

Feaioall, Bobbrt Lucas, musical genius, one of the earliest 
and most devoted members of the Bristol Madrigal societjr (estab- 
lished 1836), to which body ha presented some of his finest 
madrigals. He died August 6th, 1856. 

PoRTtB, Anna Makia, author of The ffmgarian SrolAert, 
bom December, 1780, died at Montpelier, Bristol, June 21st, 1832. 

Porter, Dr. W. 0., an eminent physician, died at bis resi- 
dence, 29 Portland square, Bristol, August 16th, 1850, aged 



EMINENT PERSONS. 



MTent7-aix. He wm the Hthor of a work on tTphns fever (1809), 
Mtdkal Seiente and Slhia (1837), and of that chuming book. 
Sir Bdwtrd StavxarPi Narratnt, which was pnbliBhed through 
the agency of bia UBter, Jane Porter. He thongbt the world 
would not deem a work of fiction to be luitahle to hii proteiaion. 

POBTBit, Jahb, author of The BeoUith ChUft, was born in 
Durham, in 177G. For many years she reiided at 29 Portland 
■qnare, Bristol, where she died May 24th, 1850, aged seventy -fonr. 

PowiLL, Aknb, a native of Bristol, in 1821 published by 
subscription a small volume of poenu, entitled Cli/Um, Caradaeu*, 
BoadUea, and other piecei. 

Pbicuird, Jahks Cowlis, M.D., F.R.3., was bom at Boss, 
in 1788. He was a member of the Society of Friends, and hie 
education was altogether private. He had a great facility for 
acqairing languages, and he delighted, when visiting in Bristol, to 
talk to foreign sailon in theii otm tongue. Accosting a Greek 
sailor one day in Romaic, the man was so pleased that he 
caught the boy in bii arms and kissed him heartily. Selecting 
medicine aa hia profession, Frichard was placed with Dr. Pole, of 
Brish^ whose anatomical preparations were held in great repute. 
t From Bristol he went to Stainei, in order to learn medical phar- 
macy under Dr. Pope and Mr. Tothill, and thence to St. Thomas' 
hospital, London, where he worked hard in the Anatomical school, 
after which he spent three years in hard atudy at Edinburgh, 
having for fellow -students Amould, Estlin and Hancock, who 
continued through life hii intimate friends. Graduating at Edin- 
burgh, he then was entered at Trinity college, Cambridge, where 
he joined the Qiurch of England ; after which he entered at St. 
Jolin's, Oxford, bat finding the society uncongenial, be took his 
name off the books and became a gentleman oommoner of Trinity. 
Hia stay here was short. In 1810 he returned to Bristol, beginning 
his career as physician to St. Peter's hospital in 1812. To this 
appointment the pnblie owes his work on Nrrnous DUeaxi ; also 
that on /fwontfy. In 1813 he published Sfirarcha into Ike I'kyaical 
HMory of Man, 2 vols., 8vo. In 1816 he became physician to 
the Bristol infirmary. He took an active part in founding the 
Bristol Literary and Philoaophical institation. In 1845, being 
appointed one of her majesty's commissioners in lunacy, he re- 
moved to London. He was elected a fellow of the Royal society, 
correeponding member of the Royal institute of France and of 
the French academy of medicine \ he was an honorary member of 
most of the learned societies of the Continent and America. In 
1S35 the university of Oxford conferred upon him the degree 
of doctor of medicine by diploma, the highest honour the nniver- 
sity can bestow. Devoted to hia profession, he fell ill at Salisbury 
while at work, was removed to his house in Wobum place, London, 
where he died December 23rd, 1848. Ethnology, when Prichard 
entered npon its study, was an almost uncultivated field. Camper 
had, indeed, began a classification of races according to the facial 
angle, and Blnmenbach was founding the science, bnt this was 
unknown to Prichard. Whilst the RtMaroha were nndergoing 
their final development (five editions were pablisbed np to 1847), 
the doctor fonod time to produce a volume on the Natural HMory 
pf Man. This great work alone would suffice to eatabUsh his fame 
aa a thinker and writer. In 1819 he published his treatise on 
Egyptian Mythoiogj. He was the author, alau, of Tht EatUrn 
Origin of tht Ctllie Nationt. In the Cyclopadia of Praelieat 
Mtdieint he ooutribnted the articlea on delirium, hypochondriasis, 
insanity, somnambnliam, animal magnetism, soundness aud un- 
sonndness of mind and temperament. Dr. Prichard was in statare 
below the middle height and of alight make, bead good, forehead 
broad and prominent, voice weak, but clear and distinct, manner 
retiring, thonghtfal, simple and anaffected. 

PcntDY, ViCTOBr, the Kiugswood collier, was bom in Bristol 
in 1747. This singular name was given to him from the following 



circnmstance. His father, one of the earliest foUowen of John 
Weeley, was to preach at a village near Bristol ; a mob collected, 
assailed him with missiles, and threatened to dnck him in the 
horse-pond, but the good man persevered, and finally got them to 
listen to hia sermon. When be got home he found a sou was bom 
to him. "Then," said he, "he shall be called 'Victory,' for this 
day the Lord hath given me the victory," From the age of five 
years Victory gave himaelf to God and His service. He preached 
his first sermon in 1771, and Hr. Wesley sent him on circuit as an 
itinerant preacher ; but he soon returned, having determined to 
labour only as a volunteer. He worked at a colliery, hence his 
appellation ; there be learned the trade of a cooper. He after- 
wards worked aa day labourer in a stone-quarry, qualifying him- 
self in over bonis for a clerk's situation, which he obtained and 
filled for many years under the steward of the Duke of Beaufort, 
who would have made him overseer of his collieries, but Purdy 
would not work on the Sunday, even when needful. He lived on 
and laboured until June 2Sth, 1S22, having preached 3,300 ser- 
mons, and walked 27,639 miles to deliver them, besides composing 
1,853 hymns, which fill a good-sized Svo. volume. 



SiAant Jfevno'di. 
Rkvholds, Richard, philanthropist, bom at 17 Com street, 
November, 1736, died at Cheltenham, September lOth, 1816, in 
his eighty-first year. He was the bead of the Coalbrookdole iron 
works nntil he retired and settled in his native city. During his 
life he gave away not lees than £200,000. In his latter years his 
donations averaged £10.000 per onnnm ; to one institution he gave 
4'20,000 ; he also boaght two estates in Monmonthshire which he 
settled on trust for the benefit of certain cbaritiea in Bristol. He 
founded the Samaritan and other socletiea. The "Reynolds Com- 
Society " was, after hia death, founded in his honour. 
" H»n« no Tsin pomp, hii gtolj to prolong, 
No ilrr iminortilitr ot lonc, 
No iCDlptund ImlgeiT o' bronze or ■tooe. 
To miik« til* lintuneots for erer known, 
Btfuolds rtquins ; . . . . 






le wottlilei or Ihs laud."— J. IfmlfomrrTi. 



286 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



▲.D. 1882. 



RoBiKSOK, Maby, fiei Darby, was bom November 27th, 1758, 
at the MiiuBter house, College green, next to the old gateway. Her 
whole life is an unfortunate romance, and those who blame her 
failings would do well to consider the circumstances in which she 
was placed before they condemn her. The family was Irish, but 
the grandfather of Mr. Darby inheriting an estate in Ireland, took 
with it the above name instead of the ancestral one, McDermott. 
Miss Mary Darby was a pupil of Hannah More and her sisters ; at 
six years of age she was a precocious and very beautiful child. 
When she was nine, her father embarked his whole fortune in a 
scheme for whale fishing, by Esquimaux, on the coast of Labrador, 
and he was absent some years on that inhospitable shore, where 
he lost all his fortune. Meanwhile he had placed his daughter at 
school, at Chelsea, with Meriball Lorrington, a masculine woman 
of great and varied attainments, but a confirmed drunkard ; a 
ruinous school for a forward, precocious girl, who was actually 
sought in marriage by a captain of the British navy when only 
thirteen years of age; he said he would wait for her, but his 
ship foundered at sea and he perished. Darby was as proud as 
he was imprudent, and his wife and children were at this time in 
pecuniary distress. When Mary Darby was fifteen years and 
three months old, she was married to Mr. Robinson, a law 
student of Lincoln's Inn, a man without means or morals, who 
had succeeded in persuading her mother that he had a large 
estate and great expectations from a rich uncle. This was un- 
true ; Robinson had no money ; the rich uncle, whom they went 
to see in Wales when Mary's first child was a few days old, told her 
to "strap it to her back and beg for it, for Tom would die in gaol." 
In fact, on his journey back from this Welsh uncle, Robinson 
was arrested for debt and lay in gaol for fifteen months. Then 
the Duchess of Devonshire patronised Mrs. Robinson, and she, 
becoming the pupil of Garrick, made her d6but at Drury lane 
theatre as Juliet, and for three years took the leading parts in 
tragedy. She next became the unlawful love of the rou£ who has 
been styled the '* First Gentleman in Europe." Soon discarded 
— one day told that he never could cease to love her, and the 
next, cut dead by him in the park — this young and beautiful 
woman of only twenty-three years of age, who for his sake had 
given up her profession, strove to maintain herself by her pen. 
From twelve years of age she had courted the muses, and now 
the periodical prints teemed with her productions. In 1784, 
travelling by night to serve General Tarleton, who lived with 
her as her husband, she caught a violent rheumatism, which 
reduced her to infantine helplessness for the rest of her life. 
She died December 26th, 1800, at Old Windsor. 

Ryland, Dr., bom at Warwick in 1753, was pastor of the 
Broadmead Baptist church, and president of the Bristol Baptist 
college from 1793 until 1824, on the 30th day of December in 
which year he died. He read Hebrew at five years of age to 
James Hervey. He; entered the ministry at Northampton in 
1771. A voluminous writer, he was the author also of many 
beautiful hymns that are in use in all the churches. 

Sandebs, Thomas, founder of the Pmdent Man's Friend 
society, in 1812, which afterwards became the Bristol Savings' 
bank. He died August 30th, 1854, aged eighty-six. 

Sealey, Thomas Hekry, was bom at Halstone, near Chel- 
tenham, about 1811. Being in comfortable circumstances, he 
spent his early manhood in travelling on the Continent, chiefly in 
Italy, where his classic tastes revelled amid the scenes consecrated 
by Petrarch, Tasso and Dante. Returning to England, he settled 
down to literary pursuits in Bristol, and became, in 1842, editor of 
the Western ArckoBological Magazine; after which he embarked 
his genius and fortune in a weekly newspaper. The Oreat Western 
Advertiser. After a hard straggle for existence, this failed, in- 
volving him in ruin, his losses by this speculation being not less 



than £12,000. His misfortunes, preying upon a sensitiye mind, 
threw him into a consumption and hurried him into a premature 
grave, just as his finer faculties were beginning to develop and 
his position in the world of letters to be acknowledged. All who 
knew him loved him. His genius was subtle, his irony delicate 
and pungent, and his style resembled that of Charles Lamb and 
Oliver Goldsmith. His first volume of poems, published under 
the title of The Little Old Man of the Wood, is a quaint, witty 
local brochure. Shortly before his failure Sealey oonducted a 
periodical, SedUy^s Western Miscellany, in which he published 
some charming tales ; but he will be remembered best by a pos- 
thumous work entitled Broad Orins from Chma, a small 12mo. 
of 150 pages, in prose and rhyme, in the style of the Ingoldshy 
Legends, full of wit, humour and puns, and by the local legend of 
St. Vincent and St. Ooram, which appeared in Bentley*s Miscellany. 
He died July 16th, 1848. 

Seykr, Rev. Samuel, whose father was rector of St. Michael's 
and master of the Grammar school, entered as a scholar of Corpus 
Christi, Oxford, in 1774, procured B.A. in 1778, and took his 
degree as M. A. in 1781. For many years afterwards he conducted 
a school in the Royal fort, St. Michael's hill, and under his able , 
but somewhat severe guidance the sons of the most respectable in- 
habitants of Bristol were instructed. He retired from this estab- 
lishment in 1810. The only church preferment he enjoyed was the 
small living of Horfield, near Bristol, to which he was presented by 
Dr. Mansel, bishop of Bristol ; holding also in the last few years of 
his life the adjoining rectory of Filton in commendam. In 1828 his 
health began to decline, and he resigned the former living, having 
during his occupancy, partly through Queen Anne's Bounty and 
partly at his own expense, built a comfortable parsonage-house 
for its future incumbent. He published in a 4to. volume, in 
1812, The Charters and Letters Patent Granted by the Kings and 
Queens of England to the Town and City of Bristol ; MeiTioirs, 
Historical and Topographical, of Bristol and its Neighbourhood, in 
two 4to. vols., 1821 ; and A Popular Latin Orammar, which has 
gone through several editions, fie translated also into English 
verse the Latin poem of Vida on Chess; and, in 1808, he pub- 
lished Latinum Bedivivum, a treatise on the modem use of the 
Latin language, and the prevalence of the French. He also 
published, by request of the mayor and corporation, an assize 
sermon preached before Recorder Gifford. His other produc- 
tions are : — Principles of Christianity, Clerical Non- Residence, and 
a Treatise on the Syntax of the Latin Verb. He was one of the 
original members of the Bristol Library Society, and for thirty 
years was regularly and unanimously elected its vice-president. 
He died at his residence, in Berkeley square, August 25th, 1831, 
and was interred privately (by his own request), on Thursday, 
September 1st, at Shirehampton. 

Smith, Wiluam, the originator of adult schools ; it is claimed 
for him that he founded the Bristol Adult and the Wesleyan 
Sunday schools ; also schools for the Irish poor and "Fragment," 
since called "Ragged," schools. He died October 17th, 1848, 
aged eighty years. 

SouTHEY, Robert, was bom in Wine street (now Na 9) on 
August 12th, 1774. His father was a linen draper. At six years 
of age Robert was sent to the school of Mr. Foote, a Baptist 
minister, and afterwards to that of Mr. Flowers, at Corston, 
near Newton St. Loe. When fourteen years old he was placed 
by his maternal uncle, Mr. Hill, at Westminster. While there 
the French revolution broke out : Southey sympathised with the 
movement, and sent in a theme, in which Burke and the anti- 
revolutionists were severely handled. An admirer of Paine's 
Rights of Man, Southey also upheld the rights of boys, and 
attacked the system of horsing and flogging then practised in the 
school. Nor did he spare the head master in the Flagellant, which 



A.D. 1882. 



EMINENT PERSONS. 



287 



was the name of a magazine written by the boys and published 
for the school. For this he was expelled, and was denied admit- 
tance at Christ church, Oxford, on the ground of his being a red- 
hot Repubb'can. However, in 1792, his uncle, Mr. Hill, had 
influence enough to get him into Balliol college, on condition of 
his studying for the church ; but his university career was brief, for 
a time he became a Socinian, and, in 1794, he left Oxford. Under 
the nom de plume of Bion he, in conjunction with his friend Lovell 
(Moschus), published a small volume of poems, and, as has been 
told, entered warmly into the emigration scheme. On November 
14th, 1795, he married Miss Edith Fricker, leaving England for 
Portugal the same day, to join his uncle and learn his business. 
Joseph Cottle had given him for his Joan of Arc fifty guineas, and 
promised him fifty copies of the book. It was published during 
his absence. Returning to Bristol the following summer, he gave 
a course of historical lectures, which were well received. In 1797 
a college friend, Mr. W. W. Wynn, made him an allowance of 
£160 per annum, and he entered and ate his terms as a barrister 
at Gray's inn. He visited the peninsula again in 1800, taking his 
wife with him on this occasion, and on his return for a brief while 
was private secretary to Mr. Corry, chancellor of the exchequer 
for Ireland. This he threw up because Corry wanted him to be 
tutor and beiar- leader to his cub of a boy. Always busy, Coleridge 
says, ** I never think of him without seeing him mending or using 
a pen. " He began now to ^ake way as a literary man, and sought 
to settle in Glamorganshire ; but, finding his would-be landlord 
uncongenial and suspicious and unable to understand a poet, he 
finally removed to his delightful home at Greta hall, Keswick, 
above the lake Derwentwater, and under the shadow of Skiddaw. 
Here he devoted himself to literary pursuits with a zeal that is 
almost unparallelled : prose works and poetry teemed from his 
ever-seething brain with a rapidity and excellence that was 
astounding to ordinary mortals. In 1813 he was appointed 
laureate ; he received his doctor's degree in 1821. In the interval 
between his publishing Wat Tyler and his apotheosis of George III. 
the poet had veered from liberty, fraternity and equality to the 
divine right of kings. Yet it is but right to add that Southey 
was in both extremes of opinion undoubtedly conscientious, and 
whilst in private life he was ever kind to an excess, approachable, 
tolerant and gentle, as a writer he was eager, unshrinking and 
uncompromising ; few men have, indeed, been more beloved by a 
circle of intimate friends, fewer still have had so wide a range of 
literary work, and none have stood higher in moral worth than 
Doctor Robert Southey. He was at different times offered a 
baronetcy and a seat in Parliament, which he prudently declined. 
He married a second time, in 1839, Miss Caroline Bowles, and 
shortly afterwards the overtaxed brain gave way. 

" Amid hU own imperishable lays 
In silent blank fataity he sits ! . . . 
A homan statue ! His nnconscions stare 
Knows not the once familiar spot, 
Knows not the partner of his lot, 
Who, as she guides him, sobs a broken-hearted prayer.** 

He died March 21 st, 1843, leaving personal property to the 
amount of £12,000 for division between his four children. On 
the last visit of Southey to Bristol, he by appointment met a 
friend for the purpose of visiting Lock's mills, Bedminster, which 
he described as being in the time of his boyhood one of the 
most delightful retreats in the neighbourhood, and spoke of the 
windings of the beautiful Malago, of the rustic bridge, the orna- 
mental pleasure grounds, and the beauty and abundance of the 
flowers, &o. On their way they diverged to North street, where 
Southey asked leave of the occupier of the house in which his 
aunt once lived, and which for a while had been his home, to 
enter and go over it. The sight of the familiar room into which 



they were shown was too much for him ; he burst into tears and 
rushed out of the house. When they reached Lock's mills he was 
horrified ; the scenery and the purpose to which the premises had 
been turned (a glue manufactory), so different to the recollections 
of his boyhood, again overcame him, and he begged his friend 
to take him at once back to Firfield honsoy where he was the 
guest of Mr. Cottle. 

" Bapphlcum me nee tibi comparaii 
BouUie, neo vel te pudet eemolari, 
Sive mayls Laurlfer, an vocari 
BristoUensis." i 

Symonds, John Abdingtok, M.D., was bom at Oxford, 10th 
April, 1807. He was educated at Magdalen collie school ; in 
1825 he went to Edinburgh, where he graduated in 1828. He 
then returned to Oxford, and joined his father in practice until 
1831, when he removed to Bristol. He was soon after elected 
physician to the General Hospital, and lecturer on forensic medi- 
cine at the Bristol Medical school ; this latter post he, in 1836, 
exchanged for the lectureship on the practice of medicine, which 
he held until 1845. On resigning his place at the Hospital, in 
1848, on account of his greatly increased private practice, he was 
elected its honorary and consulting physician. He married, in 
1834, Harriet, daughter of James Sykes, Esq., whom, to his 
great sorrow, he lost, in 1844, after she had borne him five chil- 
dren. In 1851 he removed from Bristol to Clifton hill ; in 1853 
he became a member of the Royal College of Physicians, and a 
Fellow of the body in 1857. In 1858 he was called upon to deliver 
the Gulstonian Lectures in the college at Pall Mall. He read a 
paper on " Death by Chloroform " before the Harveian Society in 
1856. The year 1863 found him in an appropriate position as 
president of the British Medical Association ; his address on that 
occasion is considered a masterpiece ; the Lancet termed it the 
most successful Apologia pro vUd sttd ever published. La the 
midst of his professional studies and publications, Dr. Symonds 
continued to cultivate general literature, which he ensured time 
for by his habit of early rising. Symptoms of declining health 
manifested themselves in 1868, which induced him to visit Italy ; 
but the climate of Rome being unfavourable, he removed to 
Naples, and thence to Florence and Venice, travelling slowly 
home by the Tyrol and Germany. Partially restored to health, 
his energetic spirit would not allow his frame the necessary re- 
pose, and he accepted the office of president of the Health Section 
at the autumnal congress of the Social Science Association at 
Clifton in 1869. From that period his life slowly consumed 
away, until on February 25th, 1871, at the age of sixty -three 
years, he fell asleep. 

Thistlsthwaite, James, author of TJie ConatUtaHon, Corrup* 
Hon, The Tories in the Dumps ; a schoolfellow and contemporary 
of Chatterton; a scurrilous satirist of the Churchill school, of 
very considerable talent and unbounded audacity; a powerful 
mill used for grinding chaff or worse. He was apprenticed to Mr. 
Grant, a bookseller in Com street, comer of Stephen street. His 
writings were outrageously personal, and Thistlethwaite used, it is' 
said, to perambulate Bristol with the butts of a brace of horse- 
pistols projecting from the ample pockets of his coat. In 1774 
he published The Consultation, a bitter satire against the Tories^ 
the dedication is to Henry Burgum, Esq., whom he styles lord 
of the manor of Glastonbury. For twenty-three pages he vilifies 
the pewterer with coarse invective and abuse. Names of well- 
known citizens, with simply the vowels left out, abound in the 
pages, which are covered with vile imputations or accusations. 
Thistlethwaite afterwards removed to London, where he died. 

Thorn, Joseph Romaikb, was the last surviving clerk of 
Henry Crager, M.P. He wrote CUto and DeUa, The Mad Oattop 

^ Rhymes, Latin and English, Rev. J. Eagles, 3. 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



to Deuaa, Selinmml, Britlolia, CkrMmat, Tht Poor Bay, wd 
other poems. He died at hia residence, St. Vincent's p&rkde, 
Aagiut ISth, 1350, in his eighty-iiith jeM-. 

Wasbbouor, Matthew, a braasfoDDder of Bristol, wm the 
real diBcoverer of the rotatory motion of the steam engine, an 
invention whicli converted a rectilinear into a continuous circnlar 
motion, making it a fit inatnunent to propel shipping. His patent 
is dated March 10th, 1779. Before his death he had applied the 
inTention practically, both in Bristol (Messrs. Yoang and Co.'s 
flour mills, Levin's mead] and in Birmingham. " My share (says 
Watts] in the application (of the crank movement) I remember 
perfectly to have been as fallows; — One of Matthew Wasbrongh's 
rotative engines was erected at Birmingham tor a rolling mill, 
and was much talked of. This set me again to think upon the 
subject," *e. Again, "I at present recoUact nothing of Fiti- 
gerald's rotative machine, but think it was something of the 
ratchet kind ; bat Matthew hod added a fly-wheel, which, as far 
as I know, was the first instance it had been applied tor that 
purpose." * WashroDgh was the first to odnpt Picksrd's crank 
motion (patent IT30) to one of his engines in conjunction with the 
fly-wheel ; hence the idea that he was the inventor of the crank. 
Watta was a personal friend of Waahrongh, and was practically 
acquainted with his works in Bristol ; the date of Watte' patent 
is 1782. Wssbrongh was bom in Narrow Wine street in Hovem- 
ber, 1753, and died October 2lBt, 17S1, aged twenty eight. 

WsaLBr, Chahlks, for many years organist to Kings George 
III. and IV., was bom in this city, December lltb, 1757. He 
was the son of the Bev. Charles Wesley, and nephew to the Rev. 
John Wesley, the founder of the Methodists. Before he was 
three years of age he is said to have manifested a great love for 
music, and when but six years old be was placed under regular 
instmction, practising the works of Corelli, Scarlatti and Handel, 
with whose compositions he became so great a proficient that by 
the time he had reached his twelfth year it was believed that no 
person could excel him in the performance of them. Handel, 
however, w.ia his favourite writer, whose music we are told he 
was continually humming on his death-bed, and working his 
fingers on the bedclothes as if still performing his masterly pro- 
ductions. For many years he was organist at Surrey chape), 
London, where the Rev. Rowland Bill was the minister ; but 
towards the close of bis life his dnties were transferred to the 
old church at Marylebone. His disposition is described as most 
amiable and his Christian character nuexceptionable. He died 
May 2ard, 1834.' 

WzsLBY, SAmTBL, wBs bom in Charles Street, Bristol, February 
24tb, 1766. He wrote an oratorio, "Ruth," when only eight 
years of age, which he presented to Dr. Boyce, who in acknow- 
ledging its reception, wrote: "Dr. Boyce presents his compli- 
ments and thanks to hie very ingenioua brother composer. Master 
8- Wesley, and is very much pleased and obliged by the possession 
of the oratorio Ruth, which he shall preserve with tho otmoet 
care as the most curious product of bis musical library." Samuel 
Wesley died in London, October lllh, 1837. 

WoROAJf, JoBN Dawes, was bom in Bristol on 8th Novem- 
ber, 1791. His father was a watchn«ker, belonging to the 
Moravian church. John was a precocions child ; he was placed 
at the Fulneck school, near Leeds, where his success was extra- 
ordinary, but his health was too delicate, and he was then re- 
moved to the eatablishment of Mr. Pocock, of Bristol, a man of 
deserved and lasting fame as a schoolmaster. At twelve years of 
age he entered hia father's business, but Mr. Worgan dying the lad 
returned to school, studying for the church. In his sixteenth year 
hewent as tutortothesonof Richard Hart Davis, M.P. for Bristol, 
and from thence accepted an appointment as tntor in the family 
• Muirhead's Life of WatU, 261. ' Fryce, M2. 



of Dr. Jenner, of Berkeley, the discoverer of vaccinatirai. Always 
delicate, slim and overgrown, Worgan's health became more and 
more precarious ; a love affair, opposed by the young lady's 
friends, finally landed him in a consumption, and he died in his 
IBth year, on the 24th of Jnly, 1809. 



.Inn fnnKy. 

YKAR3LKT, Amk, the well-known poetical milkwoman, ws* a 
native of this city. Bom in 1757| she married early a uommon 
labourer; seven children followed, and indigence became their lot. 
The Earl of Bristol, casually bearing of her genins, came to her re. 
lief; and Hannah More, at whose house Ann Yearsley used daily to 
deliver milk, then in the zenith ot her fame, published by subscrip- 
tion a volume of her poems, with a dedication to the earl and a pre- 
fatory letter to the Hon. Mr«. Montague. The book was a decided 
success ; £350 was funded, the debts of the poverty-stricken poetess 
were cleared off, bnt differences arose between her and her patroness. 
The blunt, honest milkwoman could not bear that Miss More should 
have the whole control of the money. She asked that the might 
have the interest, at least, with which to bring up her family, and 
that at her death it should be equally divided amongst her sur- 
viving children. This Miss More refused; she insisted that she 
and Mrs. Montague should lay out the money, principal and 
interest, as they thought fit from time to time, and in such way 
and manner as they should think most for the benefit and advantage 
of her and her children. Mrs. Yearsley aacceeded in ber desire*, 
bnt made a foe of her former friend. After retiring from hw 
milk-walk, she kept a circnlatiDg library at the Colonnade, Hot- 
wells, and died at Melksbam in 1806. She was unread in all the 
great poets except Young's Night Thought, Milton's Parttdit Loll, 
and one or two of Shakespeare's plays. Her poems abound in 
imagery, metaphor and personification, and her life was a dignified 
stmggle with honest poverty. 

A few items on tlie local press will not be withont 
interest. On January 26th, 1790, Messrs. Bulgin and 
Roaeer, printers, 3 Wine street (removed from Broad 
street, adjoining Christ cliurcli), advertised their inten- 
tion to issue a new and impartial weekly paper, to be 
entitled the Srittot Mercury and Uhivtrtal InUUigtfttir. 



A.D. 1882. 



THE NEWSPAPER PRESS. 



289 



In a note Mr. BoBser is said to have fieired a regular 
apprenticeship to Mr. Bonner, printer. Castle green. 
In 1818, on August 13th, it was purchased of William 
Pine by Messrs. Browne and Manchee for a joint stock 
company, copyright £600, material to be taken at a 
valuation. The number then printed was 300 weekly. 
It passed into the hands of Mr. W. H. Somerton in 
1859, and in January, 1860, the present proprietors 
started in conjunction with it the Bristol Daily Post, pub- 
lished on the remaining five days of the week, and in 
January, 1878, the two papers were incorporated in a re- 
gular daily paper under the title of the Bristol Mereury and 
Daily Post. This is issued at one penny daily through- 
out the week, on Saturday a supplement of eight pages is 
published, containing all the news of the week, which 
can be had for an additional penny. Felix Farley^ 
Bristol Journal was started in 1714; in 1853 it was 
incorporated with the Bristol Times, which was founded 
in 1839, and in 1865 it was further amalgamated with 



the Bristol Mirror, which was first published in 1773. 
For a period of 168 years unswerving Conservative 
principles have been consistently advocated by the three 
papers, of which the Daily Bristol Times and Mirror, 
published five days a week at one penny, and on the 
sixth day, as the Saturday Bristol Times and Mirror, at 
twopence, is the legitimate offspring. The Clifton 
Chronicle, published on Wednesdays, was established 
1850. In 1858 the Western Daily Press, the first daily 
newspaper in the West of England, and in 1859 the 
Bristol Observer, a Saturday penny paper, with original 
tales, and in 1877 the Bristol Evening News, were founded 
by Mr. Peter Stewart Madiver. The Bristol Oracle 
started in 1742 ; it lived but a few years. The Bristol 
Gazette, founded in 1767 on the old Whig lines, lasted 
until within the present decade. Within the last twenty 
years there have been a number of attempts to found 
other newspapers, all of which collapsed after a struggle 
more or less brief. 




M%na DtcoraHont of AwXffd Dotmitcry in Oe Dwmy, 



[Vol. m.] 



CHAPTER XX. 



YOY^fiES OB DIS60YEP ^p ^DYEpnp, 
HQ^RITIIIQE ^ISTOP OB TP POp OB BI(ISTOL, 



r. Mythical terrors of the Ocean. Bristol trade with the Levant and Iceland, 2. Columbus visits 
Iceland, and probably Bristol. List of Bristol Ships, 3. The first definite attempt to find the unknown 
land originated in Bristol, John Cabot in Bristol in 1491. Sebastian Cabot's birthplace discussed. 
4. Discovery of the Continent of America by Cabot. Sebastian's Map of 1544. The King, in 1495, grants 
a Charter to five Ships of Bristol for the purposes of Colonisation, Reasons why the expedition was delayed 
until 1497. 5. The voyages of 1494 and 1497 discussed. 6. A second patent obtained in 1498 for 
Colonisation. Spanish corroborative testimony. Columbus first sights the Continent of America in 1498. 
7. Subsequent career of Sebastian Cabot. 8. Patents to Bristol men in 1501-2. Trade opened with the 
West Indies and Newfoundland. Subsequent voyages of the 16th Century, g. Voyages of Gosnold and 
Martin Pring ; the latter takes precedence of the Pilgrim fathers at Plymouth, ro. Aldwortk and Elbridge's 
patent for Colonisation, Guy's Charter for planting Newfoundland. 11, Captain James' expedition in search 
of the North-West passage. 12. The Buccaneers; War with Spain. Men-of-war built in Bristol. Rogers' 
voyage; he picks up Alexander Selkirk. 13. Avery and Teach turn Pirates. 14, Bristol Privateers of the 
i8th Century. 15. The inception of Ocean Steam Navigation at Bristol by the building of the "Great 
Western " Steamship. 16. The " Great Britain " built in Bristol, 17. A mistaken policy drives trade away 
from Bristol. The Free Port Association formed. The Docks transferred to the City, 1848. 18. Various 
plans suggested for Docks or Dockising the River, 19. History of the Suspension Bridge. 



her mBuIar position has made 
t Britain a nation of eeamen, 
d of lier "heritage the sea," 
^ wag the first of her porta that 
ched out into 
d Ocekn's grey and meUnchoIy waste," 



^^e deiert circle ipreade, 

Of the round watara, girdled by the sky,' 



in search of " that unknown and silent shore " of whose 
myBteriouB existence the western winds and the Gulf 
stream gave frequent proof by the waifs which they 
brought and cast upon the shores of our CSiannel. 
From the days of Aristotle, b.o. 384, to those of Fro- 
copiuB, A.D. 560, Latin writers had contended for the 
existence of an occidental land. In after years doctors 
of the Church termed it a "terrestrial Paradise," "the 
Fortunate leles," "the isle of the Seven Sleepers," "the 



BRISTOL TRADE WITH THE LEVANT AND ICELAND. 



isle of St. Brendui," &c., but all agreed that the sea 
whioh lay between it and Europe waa a terrible thing to 
attempt to cross. It waa the tnura mortuum (sea of the 
dead), enormous aerpents lashed its craters into foam, 
ravenous fish and fearful kraken followed the doomed 
ship and ^th suoker arms that would reach to the 
loftiest maat engulfed their paralysed prey ; devils, 
ghosts and hobgoblins filled the thick broody darkness 
with shrieks and wailings ; a grisly bony hand was 
protruded from its fathomlese depths which irresistibly 
dragged uiy rash adventurer down; above all, there 
waa no ooming back, for hov could a ship that sailed 
down hill on the other aide of a round globe ever sail 
up the hill again ? These were but a few of the terrors 
that for ages deterred men from an attempt to explore 
the unknown sea : — 

"No aliipB went o'er the waters wide. 
No boat with oar or uil. 
Bat the wartw of the eeM were tenanted 
By the diagoD and the whale," 

By the time of the Crusades men had felt their way 
along the coasts of Europe and Africa even to the Holy 
Land, returning with rich cargoes of apices and aancti- 
fied pilgrims. By the middle of the 14th century the 
merchant mariners of Bristol were driving a lucrative 
trade with the Levant and Turkey. Oanynges in the 
middle of the 16th oentuT7 had a patent giving him 
the ezduaive right to trade for fiah with Iceland ; he 
exported cloth and other manufactures, wheat and bread 
stuffs. Superstitioua terror died away before experi- 
ence, our hardy Bristol mariners had looked behind the 
mask and had found that the dangers of the North 
Atlantic were actually lesa than those of a lee shore in 



aaiUf qf Ua Cmtadai. 



the Channel. The coast of Labrador is within 100 
miles of Iceland, and it is incredible to auppoae that 
the islanders who fiahed on the banks knew nothing of 
the western shore, and that, knowing of its existence, 
the fact would not soon become equally well known to 
Canynges' seamen. Besides, the Northmen had oen* 
turies before oroBsed over from Iceland and had skirted 
the American coast far enough south to gather grapes. 
Canynges, although the most famous, was not the first 
or the only mariner of Bristol who traded to Iceland. 
"In 1436 Henry TI. granted B licenae to John, the 
Bishop of Holem, who was then in London from Ice- 
land, in which he authorised him to engage John May, 
with hia ship the ^atheriru, for a voyage to Iceland. 
May was to act as the bishop's attorney and to trans- 
act his business, as the bishop did not wish to leave 
England." ' The Mays were good navigators of Bristol, 
and the Kath«rin» belonged to the port. Henry Uay, 
in 1498, carried in the Xary of BrUtow6 120 pilgrims to 
the shrine of St. James, Oompostella. 

2. There is no abeolate proof, but there is very great 
probability that Columbus himself sailed from Bristol 
to Iceland in one of Canynges' ahipa. 

In the month dI Fetnvary, 1477, I sailed a hundred league* 
beyond the iiland of Thyle, the aonthem part of which ia distant 
from the eqninosial 78 degree*, and not 63, aa some wish it to be; 
nor does it lie upon the line where Ptolemy's west begins, but 
much more toward the west. And to this island, which is as 
large aa England, the English come for traffic, and eapecially 
those of BrittoL And at the time I was there the sea waa not 
frosen, bnt in soqm plaoes th« tide rose 26 fathoms [feel], and fell 
the same. ■ 

It is known that previous to 1477 Columbua sevwal 
timea visited England in aearch of employment, and it 

* Abstracted from Rymer's 
F•Bder^ X., 64e, 64S, 

* The Italian mns ss foUows i 
" lo navigai I'anno 1477, ael meae 
di Febraio oltra Tile isola cento 
leghe, la cin parte Anatrale ft Ion- 
tana dall' Equioottiale scUuitatre 
gradi. et nan sesaantatre, come 
alcuni vogliono; ne giace dentro 
della linea, che include I'Occi. 
dente di Tolomeo, ma b molto pin 
Oocidentale; Etaqneat'iaoUiChe 
b tanto gnuide oome 1'Inghilteria, 
TMino gl'Inglesi con leloromerca- 
tantie, specialmente qnelli di Bris- 
tol. Et al tempo, che io vi andai, 
noD era congelelate il mar« che 
in alcuni Inoghi Bscendena van tesi 
bracda, et diacendena altro tauti 
in altessa." (Historia del S. D. 
Fernando Colombo, 1571, c. iv.) 
'* Braccia" is evidently a clerical 
error.— Da la CoffTA. 



292 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1491. 



ifl only reasonable to suppose that failing to find any in 
London he came as far as Bristol, the second city in 
the kingdom, bat most probably the first maritime port 
in the world at that period. 

It is more than doubtful if London could produce at 
that date such a fleet as the following : — 



Mary Ccuiynges 
Mary Badclyf 
Mary and John 
Th4 Cfalyoi ... 
TheOaieryn ... 
The Marybat ... 



400 tons 
600 " 
900 " 
60 " 
140 " 
220 " 



The Margyt de Tynly 200 toni 

TheLytyleNiehoUu... 140 " 

TheKaUryndeBoet&n 220 " 

The ship in Iselond 160 "^ 

2,990 tons 



These 2,990 tons of shipping belonged to William Canynges. 



The Mary Orace ... 

A ne jje — ^^" ,,, ,,, 

Th4 Mary Bryd ... 

The Mary Shemman 

TheOtorye 

Mary of Bristowe 
Le Oeorge qui quer 



800 tons 
360 " 
100 " 
64 " 
200 " 



TheKateryn 
The Chrieiqfer 
The Leonard 



180 tons 
90 " 
60 *• 

1,334 tons 



lex. 

Johannes 611 tonne. 



• • . name, gut diepoeUua est ad mare, 
Johannes Godeman habet navium . . 
Thonias Straunge eireUer XIL < 

From Bymer's Fcedera and other sources we gather 

the names of other Bristol ships, which carried from 80 

to 200 pilgrims, such as the St Anne, of Bristowe, 8t 

John, of Bristowe, The ly-inttff, of Bristowe, the Catherine 

Sturmy, of Bristow, the Cogg Anne, &c. These, together 

with those of which the burden is enumerated above, 

will give a fleet of about fifty ships with an aggregate 

of between 7,000 and 8,000 tons, but it is a legitimate 

inference that there must have been many besides these 

of which no mention has been discovered. 

In this year [1468], after some anctors, a merchant of Bristowe, 
named Stormye, which with his ship had travailed in divers parts 
of the Levaont and other parts of the Est, for so mnch as the 
fame ranne upon him, that he had gotten some green pepper and 
other spyoes to have sette and sown in Englande as the fame 
went, therefore the Janawayes (Genoese) wayted him upon the 
sea and spoiled his ship and another. Bnt this is full like to be 
nntme that the Janawayes should spoil him for any such cause ; 
for there is no naoion in Europe that dealeth so little in spyces. 
But were it for this cause or other, the trouthe is, that by that 
naoion an offence was done for the which all the merchants 
Janawayes in London were arrested and sent to the Flete till 
they had found sufficient security to answer the premises. And 
finally for the harmys that theyr nacion had done to this Sturmye 
vi M. markes was sette to their payne to paye, but how it was 
paid, no mention I finde.* 

8. It is dear, however, that if the shores of Labrador 
were spoken of in the hearing of Canynges' seamen or 
of Columbus, they were not supposed to be those of the 
far-famed occidental land. These and the route west- 
ward to Cathay, or the Indies, were yet to be sought 
for. The following notice of the first definite attempt 

> Will Wyroes., 114-16. • Ihid, 107-8, <Area 1480-7. 

" Ibid, 112-8. 



from Britain to solve the problem that is known was 
written by a (then) living witness, the unde of the 
owner of the ship and a townsman of the adventurers:— 

1480 die 16 julii, navis . . . . et . . . Jay junioris 
ponderis 80 doliomm incepemnt viaginm apad portnm BristoUie 
de Kyngrode usque ad insulam de Brasylle in oocidentali psits 
Hibemitt, fulcando maria per . . . . et Thlyde eel magialer 
navie erientifiette marinarku todue AngUa; et noy» Tenerant 
BristoUin die lunao 18 die septembris, quod dictao naves velaTe- 
mnt maria per circa 9 menses, nee invenemnt insnlam', sed per- 

tempestates maris reTersi sunt usque portum in 

Hibemia pro reposidone navis et marinariorum.^ 

This valuable but from its brevity and omissions 
most tantalising notice, infonns us that in 1480, on July 
15th, the ship of John Jay, the younger, of 80 tons, and 
another, began a voyage from Kingroad in search of 
the island of Brasylle, to the west of Ireland, plough- 
ing their way through the sea, that Thomas Lyde, the 
most scientific mariner in all England, was the pilot, 
that news came to Bristol, on September 18th, that the 
ships sailed about the sea during nine months [this is 
evidently a mistake for weeks] and did not fijid the 
island, but driven by tempests they returned to a port 
on the coast of Ireland for the repose of themselves 
and the mariners. John Jay, sen., died daring the year 
of the search; he was buried in Beddiff church (see 
Vol. n., p. 208). 

The want of success did not deter other merdiants 
of Bristol from jprosecuting a further search. Don 
Pedro de Ayala, the Spanisli Envoy to England, writing 
to his sovereigns, Ferdinand and Isabella, on July 25th, 
1498, says, ''The men of Bristol sent out every year 
two, or three, or four light caravdas in search of the 
idand of Brasylle and the seven cities, according to the 
fancy of that Italian Cabot, and this they have done for 
the last seven years." This specific mention of Cabot 
throws a strong light upon the position and standing 
which he must have, therefore, hdd amongst the mer- 
chants of England as early as 149 1 . John Cabot is said 
by Stow to have been by birth a Genoese. By virtue of 
a residence in Venice of fifteen years he, on the 28th of 
March, 1476, was naturalised as a dtizen of that Be- 
public. He had previoudy married a Venetian lady, by 
whom he had at least three sons, Lewis, Sebastian and 
Sanctus. In his career as a merchant he had traded to 
London, and when he finally left Venice he settled there 
for a time, afterwards removing to Bristol which he 
appears to have made his home. Whether his more 
celebrated son, Sebastian, was bom in Bristol or in 
Venice is a debatable question. Biohard Eden, who 
knew Sebastian intimatdy, wrote thus: — ''Sebastian 
Cabot told me that he was borne in Bxystowe, and that 

> Will. Wyroes.; 152-8. 



DISCOVERY OF AMERICA BY CABOT. 



at iiij yeare ould he waa oarried with hia father to 
Yanioe, and bo retomed agayne into Eng;land irith his 
father after oertayne years, whereby he waa thought to 
have been bom in Venice." > Eden, however, has been 
acouaed by Desimoni of revereing the names, and it ia 
areired that the child waa brought at four years old 
frtmi Yenioe to Bristol. An anonymoua narrator of 
ooareraations with Cabot, writing to Bamosio, says, 
"He spake further to this effect, 'When my father 
departed from Venice many yeeres since to dwell in 
England to follow the trade of merchandisea he took 
me with him to the citie of London while I was very 
yong, yet having nerertheleaae some knowledge of 
letters of human- 
itie and of the 
^here.' " If this 
is to be taken liter- 
ally Sebaatian 
miut have been 
ten or twelve 
years of age when 
he left Venice; 
one cannot oon- 
oeive a duld four 
years old pes- 
eeased of auch 
knowledge. This 
favours Eden's 
view. On the 
other hand Peter 
Martyr aaaerts 
that Sebaatian 
told him, ae he 
most certainly did 
tell Contarini, the 
Venetian Ambas- 
sador in 1522, 
"I waa bom in 
Venice, but bred 
up in England." It has been asserted on the beat 
authority that some years since in the muniment cheat 
of the church of St. Thomas, in Bristol, there were 
several deeds attested by members of the Cabot family, 
which were of the date of Henry VH.'b reigu, and 
tradition avers that Cathay, at that time a part of the 
saburbs, was their abode, foreigners not being allowed 
to liTe within the walls of the dty, and that it was so 
named because of their empl<^ment. These records 
cannot, however, be found. 

4. But if it be open to doubt whether Bristol gave 
birth to the noble seaman it is indubitable that he waa, 
> Eden, 2SS. 



to use his own language, bred here, and that Bristol 
energy and Bristol capital asBiated in fitting out the ex- 
pedition which discovered the mainland of America. 
Bobert Thome, in his letter to Henry VH., expreaaly 
states that Hb "father and another merchant of Bristove, 
Hugh Elliott, were the discoverers of the Kewfound- 
lands." The name of the elder Thome is not in the 
patents of 1601 or 1S02. Hugh Elliott's is in that of 
1502, which waa a voyage for coloniaation ; It is 
reasonable enough, therefore, to suppose that both of 
the above merchants were sharers in the earlier at- 
tempts at discovery, which followed on Jay's nnauc- 
oessful voyage of 1460, but their names are obaoured 
by those of the 




of June in that year ; the Prima Vista seen by the ad- 
venturers waa Gape North, on Cape Breton ialand. This 
map is in the BAUothiqv* ItaptruU, Paris ; it was pub- 
lished dnring Sebastian Cabot's lifetime, and is en- 
dorsed, "Sebastian Cabot, captain and pilot, major of 
his sacred imperial majesty, the Emperor Don Carloa, 
the fifth of thia name, and King our Lord, made Uiis 
figure extended on plane in the year of the birth of onr 
Saviour Jeane Ohriat, 1544." There are two inaorip- 
tiona on it, one in Spanish, the other, which is appen- 
ded, in Latin : — 



294 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



▲.D. 1494. 



redempto, 1494, die vero 24 Jonii hora 5, sub dilacolo qnam terrain 
primnm Tbuan appellAnuit et inwilftm qaandam ei opposiUm In- 
Bulam divi Joannis nominArunt qnippe que Bolenmi die f esto divi 
Joannifl aperte fuit. 

This inscription cannot be a mistake in the date, for 
it is alike, in Arabic numerals, in both the Spanish and 
the Latin inscriptions, and it is abundantly evident that 
the publisher of the map considered and believed it to 
be perfectly true that Cabot did make this voyage in 
1494. Kochhaf also notes this date in his book as 
having been seen by him on a map of Cabot's at 
Oxford. 

On the return of the ship a charter was obtained 
from Henry VII., which runs as follows : — 

Henry, by the grace of God, &c. &o. 

Be it known to all, that we have given and granted, and by 
these presents do give and grant, to our well-beloved John Cabot, 
citizen of Venice, to Lewis, Sebastian, and Sanctos, sons of the 
said John, and to their heirs and deputies, fuU and free anthority, 
leave and power, to sail to all parts, conntries and seas of the 
Batt, of the West, and of the North, under our banners and en- 
signs, with five ships, of what burthen or quality soever they be, 
and as many mariners and men as they wiU take with them in the 
said ships, vpon their own proper C09t and charges, to seek out, 
discover and find, whatsoever isles, countries, regions or provinces 
of the Heathen and Infidels, whatsoever they be, and in whatso- 
ever part of the world which before this time have been unknown 
to all Christians. We have granted to them and every of them 
and their deputies, and have given them our license, to set up our 
banners and ensigns in every village, town, castle, isle or mainland, 
of them newly found ; and that the said John and his sons and 
their heirs may subdue, occupy and possess all such towns, cities, 
&c. by them found, which they can subdue, occupy and possess 
as our vassals and lieutenants, getting to us the rule, title and 
jurisdiction of the said villages, towns, &c. 

Yet so that the said John and his sons and their heirs, of all 
the fruits, profits and commodities growing from such navigation, 
shall be held and bound to pay to us, in wares or money, the Jifth 
part qf the capital gain so gotten for every their voyage, as often 
as they shall arrive at our port of Bristol (at which port they shall 
be' obliged only to arrive), deducting all manner of necessary costs 
and charges by them made : we giving and granting unto them 
and their heirs and deputies that they shall be free from all pay- 
ments of customs on all such merchandlBe they shall bring with 
them from the places so newly found. 

And moreover we have given and granted to them and their 
heirs and deputies that all the firm land, islands, villages, towns, 
&c. they shall chance to find, may not, without license of the said 
John Cabot and his sons, be so frequented and visited, under pain 
of losing their ships and all the goods of them who shall presume 
to sail to the places so found. 

Willing, and commanding strictly all and singular our sub- 
jects, as well on land as on sea, to give good assistance to the said 
John and his sons and deputies, and that as weU in arming and 
furnishing their ships and vessels as in provision of food and buy- 
ing victuals for their money, and all other things by them to be 
provided necessary for the said navigation, they do give them aU 
their favours and assistance. 

Witness myself at Westminster, 6th March, in the eleventh 
year of our reign, or 1496 a.d. 

It can scarcely be conceived that any sane merchants 



would, upon their own costs and charges, send out an 
expensive expedition of five ships in search of a land 
entirely unknown ; moreover, the terms used imply that 
the object of this charter was to enable them to com- 
plete the discovery of the ''isle or mainland by them 
newly found," and to occupy and bring it under the 
jurisdiction of the King of England. It may be asked, 
''Why, if Cabot made this discovery in 1494, did he 
not make public his success?" To which it may be 
answered, " He did to the king, and in 1495 obtained 
the above charter." None but a sovereign could confer 
a beneficial domain upon the discoverer. Heniy was 
desirous of emulating the achieveknents of Spain, but 
as on June 7th, 1494, the treaty of TordesiUas had 
been signed, he had to hold his hand. By this treaty 
the line of demarcation was drawn between Spain and 
Portugal, dividing between them the newly-found lands, 
whilst the discoveries of Columbus, both actual and 
prospective, had been sealed to Spain by a bull from 
the Pope. On March 28th, 1496-6, Ferdinand and 
Isabella, in answer to letters from Doctor Puebla, their 
agent in England, wrote : — 

You write that a person like Columbus has come to Englsad 
for the purpose of persuading the king to enter into an under- 
taking similar to that of the Indies, without prejudice to Spain 
or Portugal These are very uncertain enterprises, and the King 
of England must not go into them at present, because he cannot 
do so without injury to us. ^ 

Henry YII. had at this time planned a confederacy 
with Spain, Flanders and Italy to check the designs of 
France beyond the Alps, whilst on the other hand 
Perkin Warbeck, a claimant to the English throne, 
backed by the Duchess of Burgundy and James lY. of 
Scotland, was in the latter kingdom planning an inva- 
sion of England. These circumstances are sufficient to 
accoimt for the fact that the expedition granted by the 
charter of March 5th, 1495, did not sail until the summer 
of 1497. With regard to this voyage, the following 
quotations are of great interest. Under date August 
24th, 1497 :— 

Also some months ago his majesty Henry VIL sent out a 
Venetian, who is a very good mariner, and has good skill in dis- 
covering new islands, and he has returned safe, and has found two 
very large and fertile new islands, having likewise discovered the 
seven cities, 400 leagues from England, on the western passage. 
The next spring his majesty means to send him with fifteen or 
twenty ships. 

Here John Cabot, the head of the firm, is referred 

to in terms that imply previous discoveries. Again, 

Lorenzo Pasqualigo, in a letter to his brother, says : — 

The Venetian, our countryman, who went with a ship from 
Bristol in quest of new islands, is returned, and says that 700 
leagues hence he discovered land, the territory of the Grand Cham. 

^ Spanish State Papers, 88. 



THE VOYAGES OF 1494 AND 1497 DISCUSSED. 



He ooMted (or 300 leagnM, ud haded ; mw no hDDUui belngi, 
but he hu branght hither to tbe king certftin aaum which had 
been tet to o»tcb game and a needle for nmking neta; he also 
found lome felled treei, wherefore he soppoied there were inhkbi- 
tanta, and retnmad to hia ahip in alarm. 

He WW three montha on the voTage, and on hii returo he uw 
two ialandt to atarboard, fant wonld oot land, time being preciona, 
aa be waa abort of proviaiona. 

He aa;t that the tides are alaok, and do not flow aa they do 
here, The King of England is mach pletued with this inteUigenoe. 

The king baa promiaed that in the spring our conntrTiDaii 
ahall have ten abipa, armed 
to hia order, and at hii re- 
qneet has conceded him all 
the priaoneiB, except anch 
aa are oonfined for high 
traaaon, to man hia fleet. 

The king haa also given 
him money wherewith to 
amoaehimaelf till then, and 
he ia now at Bristol with hia 
wife, who is also aVenetian, 
and with hia aons. 

Hia name is Znvi Ca> 
bot, and he ia atyled the 
Great Admiral; vast honour 
ia paid him ; he dresaea in 
ailk, and thess English mn 
after him like mad people, 
so that he can enliat aa man j 
of them aa he pleaaea, and 
a number of our own. 

The discoverer of these 
placea planted on hia new- 
found lands a large cra««, 
with one flag of England 
and another of 9t. Mark, 
hj reason of hia being a 
Venetian, ao that odt hnn- 
oer baa floated very far 
afield. 23rd Angnat, 1497, 

5. From the privy 
purse expenses under 
dateAu^Bt 10th, 1497, 
the following item is 
taken: — 

To him who found the 
aewUle £10 

That John Cabot 
sailed on this Tojage 
with his son is very 

likely, but inasmuch as Columbus on his first voyage 
was sixty-nine days on the outward passage, and fifty- 
eight days on the return, and on his voyage in 1493 
was thirty-nine days on the outward passage and 
ninety-four on the return, whilst in 1498 he was actu- 
ally sixty-three days sailing west only, this voyage of 
1497 could scarcely have been the voyage of 7%» Mathete, 
which is said to have sailed on May 10th, for we learn 
that John Cabot -was in London on August 1 0th, which 



wonld give forty-five days for the voyage out, and forty- 
seven days from the discovery of Prima Tista to ooast 
and sound his way for 300 leagues along an unknown 
shore, make his voyage home, take a journey to London 
and obtain an Interview with the king, a feat that could 
with difficulty be performed even in these days by the 
aid of steam. From the above reasons it seems far more 
probable that the discovery of the oontinent of America 
was made on June 24th, 1494, in a ship belonging to 
John Cabot, by himself 
or his son, Sebastian, (a 
Bristol-bred, if not a 
Bristol-bom man, )orby 
both of them ; that the 
ship's name was 7^ 
Mathtto, which sailed 
from Bristol on the 1 0th 
of May, having a «rew 
(D'Avezac says) of 
eighteen men, the 
greater part from Bris- 
tol, but one Genoese and 
one Burgundian. It 
may be safely afiBrmed 
that John Cabot was the 
speculative promoter of 
this voyage. He and 
his sons sought to profit 
thereafter under the 
charter obtained in 
March, 1495, but their 
expedition was delayed 
in sailing until 1497. 
Corroborative evidence 
is borne by the por- 
trait of Bebastian, as 
here given, which was 
ascribed erroneously to 
the pencil of Holbein, 
and which bore this 
inscription : — " ^gii* 
Sib Caioti, A»ffli fiiii 
Johan Caioti, Vtneti 
militii aurati, primi invmlorii tarra nova mi Senriei VII. 
Anglia Reg»." This picture waa sold by Mr. Charles 
Henry Harford to Mr. Bichard Biddle, of America, for 
£500 ; it was destroyed in the great fire at Fittsbvirgh, 
but a fine copy is preserved in the gallery of the Massa- 
chusetts Historical society. The date for this first voyage 
is further corroborated by Chryt»us, Oxford, 1556, and 
by Hakluyt in ISS9, from a map by Clement Adams. 
M. D'Avezac also says: — "I assume it to be a fact here- 



296 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1498. 



after incontested that the first disooyery of Oabot was 
made on the 24th of June, 1494." ^ 

6. Whether the above argument for the Yojage of 
1494 be accepted or not, one fact is quite dear, viz., 
that on the Srd of Februaiy, 1498, John Oabot secured 
a second patent for colonising that portion of the conti- 
nent which had been discovered, and this was nearly 
four months before Columbus left Spain on the Yoyage 
in which, for the first time, he sighted the nu^jnland of 
America, so that, without detracting from the deserved 
renown of Oolumbus, we proudly claim for Bristol the 
honour of the actual discoYory of the continent of 
America — ^a well merited reward for many years of 
costly research and enterprise by her mariners. 

The second charter runs thus : — 

Memorandum quod tertio die Febmarii Amio Regni Regis 
Hemrici Septimi XIU ista Bella delibata fuit Domino Cancellario 
Angliae apud Westmonasterium exequenda. 

To the Kinge. 

Please it your Highnesse, of your most noble and habonn- 
dant grace, to grannte to John Kabotto, Venecian, your gracious 
Lettres patents, in due forme, to be made, accordyng to the tenor 
hereafter ensuying, and he shall continually pray to God for the 
preservacion of your most Noble and Roiall astate, long to 
endure. 

HR Rex 

To all men to whom theis Presenteis shall oome send 
Qretyng; knowe ye that We of our Grace especiall and for dyyers 
causes us movying. We have given and graunten and by theis 
PresentiB geve and graunte to our weUbeloved John Kabotto 
Venecian sufficiente Auctorite and power that he by him his 
Deputie or Deputies sufficient may take at his pleasure VI 
Englisshe shippes in any Porte or Fortes or other place within 
this our realme of England or obeisance so that and if the said 
shippes be of the burden of CO tonnes or under with their 
apparail requisite and necessarie for the safe conduct of the said 
shippes and them convey and lede to the Londe and isles of late 
found by the said John in cure name and by cure oommaundment, 
paying for theym and every of theym as and if we should in or 
for our owen cause pay and none otherwise. 

And that the said John by hym his Deputie or Deputies 
sufficiente maye take and receyve into the said shippes and every 
of them all such masters maryners pages and other subjects as of 
their owen freewiUe woU goo and passe with him, in the same 
shippes to the said Londe or Isles without anye impedymente lett 
or perturbance of anye of our officers or ministres or subjects 
whatsoever they be by theym to the seyd John his Deputie or 
Deputies and all other our said subjects or anye of theym passinge 
with the seyd John in the seyd shippes to the seid Londe or Isles 
to be doon or suffer to be doon or attempted. 

Geveng in commandment to all and every our officers minis- 
ters and subjects, seying or herying theis our Lettres Patents, 
withoute anye furthe commandment by us to theyme to be geven, 
to perfourme and socour the saide John his Deputie and all our 
seyd subjects so passynge with him according to the tenor of 
theis our Lettres Patentis. 

Any statute aote or ordenance to the contrarye made or to be 
be made in anywise notwithstandynge. 

Feby. 3 1498. 

1 Maine Hist. Soc., 607. 



Here, then, we hare a scheme for oolomsation and 
trade, as well as for disooyery. All subjects who woidd 
go of their own free will were welcome. Bounties were 
given to others. In the priyy purse expenses is a record: 

Ap 1 1498. A reward of £2 to Jas. Carter for going to the 
new Isle, aLso to Xho" Bradley, and Launcelot Thirkill, going to 
the New Isle, £30. March 22P^. Lancelot has received £20 as a 
prest for his shippe, going to New Ilande. 

The chronicler here calls it an island, but the king, 
who had seen the charts, and heard the tale of the diB- 
covery, and of the mighty riyers rushing into the sea, 
in his charter calls it the ** Londe and Isles." 

Perkin Warbeck's insurrection had filled the gaols, 
and the king did not know what to do with the prisoners; 
the Venetian Calendar tells us, that "the king gaye 
Oabot the sweeping of the prisons, all but those guilty of 
high treason ; " these men could not haye been intended 
as mariners, but were doubtless to be settlers to colonise 
the land. Gomara, who corroborates this, says : — 

Sebastian Cabot went also to know what manner of lands 
these Indies were to inhabit. 

He had with him 900 men, and directed his coarse by the 
track of Iceland, npon the Gape of Jjabrador, at fifty eight de- 
grees ; although he (Cabot) says much farther, affirming that in 
the month of July there was sach cold and heaps of ioe that he 
darst pass no farther ; also that the days were yery long, and in a 
manner without night, and the nights yery dear. 

Certain it is, that at the sixty degrees the longest day ia of 
eighteen hours. 

Bat considering the oold and the strangeness of the un- 
known land, he turned his course from thence to the west, calling 
at the Baccalaos for refreshment, f oUowing the ooast to the thirty- 
eighth degree, from whence he returned to England. 

On the 25th of July, 1498, the Frothonotary Don Pedro 
de Ayala, writing to Ferdinand and Isabella, says : — 

I think your majesties haye already heard that the king of 
England has equipped a fleet in order to disooyer certain islands and 
continents which he was informed some people from Bristol, who 
manned a few ships for that purpose last year (1497), had found. 
I haye seen the map which the disooyerer has made, who is 
another Qenoese, like Columbus, and who has been in Seyille and 
in Lisbon, asking assistance for his diBOoyeries. The king [Henry 
VII.] determined to send out ships, because the year before the 
fleet consiBted of fiye yessels which carried proyisions for one 
year ; it is said that one of them, in which one Friar Boil went, 
has returned to Ireland in great distress, his ship being much 
damaged. The Genoese has continued his yoyage. I haye seen 
on a chart the direction which they took and the distance they 
sailed, and I think what they haye found, or what they are in 
search of, is what your highnesses already possess. It is ex- 
pected they will be back in September. I write this because the 
king of England has often spoken to me on this subject, and be 
thinks that your highnesses will take great interest in it. I think 
it is not furtiier than 400 leagues. I told him that in my opinion 
the land was already in the possession of your majesties, but 
though I gaye him my reasons, he did not hke them. I believe 
your highnesses are already informed of this matter, and I do Mi 
now send the chart, or ** mappa mundi,*' which thai num has made, 
and which, according to my opinion, is false, since it makes it 



A.D. 149& 



SUBSEQUENT CAREER OF SEBASTIAN CABOT. 



297 



appeu* as if the land in question was not the said island (viz., 
that discovered by Colombas).^ 

Men from Bristol planted the first flag upon the 
continent of America. Juan de la Cosa, in his map of 
1500, displays five English flags upon the coast with 
inscriptions and names of English places, such as Sea 
discovered by the English; Cape England (Cape Eace); 
Cape Lizard; Cape St. John; St. George's Cape, &c. 
Cosa was Columbus' friend, companion and pilot in his 
voyage of 1498, which gave him the first sight of the 
continent of South America, four years and two months 
after, as we think, Sebastian Cabot had discovered North 
America, three years and two months after the patent 
was sealed to John Cabot and his sons, and six months 
after the second patent had been granted to John Cabot. 
It was not imtil August 14th, 1502, that Columbus saw 
the mainland of North America, which he skirted from 
the Isthmus of Panama to Cape Ghracias-a-Dios, in 
Honduras, 15* N., which appears to have been the 
highest point on the continent reached by him. It is a 
legitimate inference that both Cosa and Columbus had 
Sebastian's chart, and very likely had secured some of 
the mariners who had made the voyage of 1497. 

7. Whilst Sebastian Cabot was absent in command 
of the expedition of 1498 his father, John Cabot, died. 

Beating northward in search of a western passage 
to the Indies, Sebastian says : — 

The soil is absolutely sterile and yieldeth no fruit. Also of 
the inhabitants, that they wear beasts' skins and the intestines of 
animals for clothing, esteemiDg them as highly as we do our pre- 
cious garments; that their weapons are the bow and arrow, 
spears, darts, slings, and wooden clubs. That the country is 
crowded with stags of unusual height and size ; also with very 
large bears, which throw themselves into the midst of the shoals 
of fish, and seizing their prey drag them to land and devour 
them. On this account they meddle little with men. . 

He further says they found soles of an ell long, and such 
abundance of a lai^e fish called baccalaos (cod-fish) that in some 
of the bays they actually impeded the sailing of his ships ; also 
seals and salmon in great abundance and of vast size. Hawks, 
eagles, and other birds of plumage, akin to the colour of the 
raven, were found in great quantities. 

On his way he landed a party of colonists, many of 
whom died during his absence ; on his return from the 
north, finding the survivors disheartened, he re-embarked 
them, sailed as far south as Florida, when the men 
mutinied, provisions ran short, and Cabot, bafOled, re- 
turned to Bristol some time subsequent to October, 1498. 
Cabot's after career must be told in few words. Unable 
to obtain further employment imder Henry Vii. he went, 
in 1512, to Spain, but returning in 1517, Eden says: — 

Henry VIII., in the eighth year of his reign, fitted out, fur- 
nished and set forth certain ships, under the government of 
Sebastian Cabot, yet living (1553), and one Sir Thomas Pert, 

^ Spanish Calendars, 177. 

[Vol. III.] 



whose faint heart was the cause that voyage took none effect. If 
(he continues), I say, such manly courage had not been wanting 
it might happily have come to pass that that rich treasurye, 
called Perularia, which is now in Spain, in the city of Seville, 
and so named (for that in it is kept the infinite riches brought 
thither from the new found land of Peru), might long since have 
been in the Tower of London, to the king's great honour and the 
wealth of his realm. 

On his return Cabot left for Spain, where he attained 
to a high official position. On March 4th, 1525, he sailed 
in command of a Spanish expedition, hoping to reach 
the Indies through the Straits of Magellan. Jealousy 
and disaffection prevented his success, but he entered 
the Eio de la Plata and explored and colonised its 
fertile shores for Spain. After many years' service in 
Spain, feeling slighted, he in 1548 returned to Bristol, 
and was the first to introduce into this country the 
practice of sheathing the bottoms of ships, which he 
did with lead. He had hardly settled down when an 
urgent demand was made by the Spanish ambassador 
that 

Sebastian Cabote, grand pilot to the emperor's Indies, then 
in England, might be sent over to Spain, as a very necessary man 
for the emperor, whose servant he was, and who had given him a 
pension. 

The answer to this application is still preserved 
amongst the Harleian MSS., and it g^es very far to 
prove that there had been no quarrel between the em- 
peror and Cabot. The English coimcil, in its own 
anxiety to retain Cabot in this country, does scant 
justice to his dignified and fitting reply when pointedly 
and rudely interrogated as to what he would do at the 
command of the council or of his sovereign. This is 
the narrative of the occurrence : — 

And as for Sebastian Cabot, word was first made that he 
was not detained here by us, but that he of himself refused to 
go either into Spain 9r to the emperor in Flanders ; and that 
he beiug of that mind, and the King Edward's subject (Bristol 
born), no reason or equity would that he should be forced or oom- 
pelled to go against his will. 

Upon the which answer the ambassador demanded that Cabot 
should vivA tfoce, in the presence of some one whom the council 
should appoint, declare this to be his mind and answer. 

Whereunto we condescended, and at the last sent the said 
Cabot with Richard Shelley to the ambassador, who, as the said 
Shelley hath made report to us, afiirmed to the said ambassador 
that he was not minded to go, neither into Spain nor to the 
emperor. 

Nevertheless, having knowledge of certain things very neces- 
sary for the emperor's knowledge, he was weU contented, for the 
good-will he bore the emperor, to write his mind unto him or to 
declare the same here to any such as should be appointed to hear 
him. 

Whereunto the said ambassador asked the said Cabot, "In 
case the king's majesty, or we the council, should conmiand him 
to go, whether then he would not do it." 

Whereunto the said Cabot made answer : "If the king's 

L 2 



298 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



▲.D. 1501. 



highness, or we, should so command he knew well enough what 
he had to do." But it seemeth that the ambassador took this 
answer of Cabot to mean that on being so commanded by^ the 
king or by us he would be content to go. 

Wherein we reckon the said ambassador to be deceived, for 
Cabot had divers times before declared unto us that he was fnUy 
detennined not to go hence at all. 

Spain, of course, struck off his pension, and Edward 
immediately gave him one of 250 marks (£166 ld«. id.), 
a very handsome sxim for the period. Appointed by 
Edward YI. to an office which gave him the general 
supervision of the maritime affairs of the kingdom, he 
explained to the king the variation of the needle, of 
which Oianeti says ** He was the first discoverer of this 
hid secret of nature." He fixed the magnetic pole on the 
meridian 110 miles west of Flores. On the 14th Decem- 
ber, 1551, the Merchant Adventurers company to Bussia 
was incorporated, of which he was made ''the first 
governor without removal " (the Bristol company was 
incorporated under a separate charter on December 23rd, 
1552, of which also he was made governor). By this 
far seeing step Cabot broke up the monopoly held by 
the Oerman or Steelyard merchants, became virtually 
the father of free trade, made England the manufactory 
of the world and her ships the carriers of its produce, 
and for his exertions the king gave him £200 as a 
reward. He lived to a great age, and was deprived of 
his pension in 1557 by Queen Mary through the influ- 
ence of her husband, Philip of Spain, but when he died 
or where he was buried is not recorded. 

8. Failure had not disheartened the Bristol mer- 
chants, they applied for and on the 19th March, 1501, 
obtained from Henry VII. a new commission for the 
discovery of unknown lands. It was in favour of Bichard 
Warde, Thomas Ashehurst and John Thomas, merchants 
of the "towne of Brystowe," and John Femandus, Francis 
Fernandus and John Ounsolus, three Portuguese. This 
patent was for ten years ; they were to explore at their 
own expense in unknown seas, in which they were to 
exercise the office of king's admiral, to have the privi- 
lege of importing for four years in one ship of any 
burthen all articles duty free, they might charter as 
many ships as they pleased, take whomsoever they 
chose, and govern in the king's name all lands by them 
discovered. The Portuguese, being aliens, were, however, 
to be charged extra duties on all articles exported or im- 
ported. On the 9th December, 1502, another patent was 
granted to Thomas Ashehurst, John Gunsolus, Francis 
Fernandus and Hugh Elliott (sheriff in 1500-1) in which 
the term was extended to forty years, the exemption from 
duty in the one ship to fifteen years, and an additional 
ship of 120 tons burthen was also to be free of duty for 
five years, whilst the ungracious alien clause was omitted. 



The voyage of 1501 had produced but small results, 
and three of the original patentees having withdrawn, it 
was specially provided that discoveries under this new 
patent should not be of any benefit to them. In the 
Privy purse expenses is the only record we have found 
of these voyages: ''January 7th, 1502. To men of 
Bristol that found th' isle, £5." ''September 30th, 

1502. To the merchants of Bristol that have been in 
the Newe founde launde, £20." "November 17th, 

1503. To one that brought hawkes &om the New- 
founded island, £1." "April 8th, 1504. To a priest 
that goeth to the new island, £2." "August 25th, 
1505. To Clays going to Bichmount with wylde cattB, 
and popingays of the Newfound island, for his oostes, 
13«. 4d. To Portugales that brought popingaies and 
catts of the mountaigne, with other stuff, to the king's 
grace, £5." Also in 1502, "three salvages, who were 
clothed in beast skins and who did eat raw flesh," were 
exhibited at Westminster before the king. Bobert 
Thome, as has been shown in Vol. I., 232, stimulated 
Henry YIII. to make another attempt at solving the 
north-west passage. "I reason that as some sicknesses 
are hereditarious and come from the father to the sonne, 
so this inclination or desire of this discovery I inherited 
from my father." What other share beyond the sugges- 
tion of the voyage Bristol had in it is not known, but in 
Nicholas (Bobert's brother) Thome's day book under 
date 1526, was an entry of armour and merchandise sent 
to one T. Tison, in the West Indies, which shows that 
Bristol was trading at that time with the west. In 1574 
her merchants so highly appreciated the value of the 
Newfoundland fishery that they found one fourth of the 
capital required (£4,000) towards the formation of a 
company for the colonisation of the northern districts 
of America. Three years after this date Captain Martin 
Frobisher arrived in Kingroad with a shipload of what 
he supposed to be gold ore, but which proved to be utterly 
valueless. In 1578 Anthony Parkhurst, of Bristol, who 
had been four years in Newfoundland, in a letter to 
Hakluyt, describes the number of vessels resorting to 
the fishery and gives a natural history of the island. 
In 1582 Bobert Aid worth and other merchants of this 
city subscribed 1,000 marks towards a fleet fitting out 
for western discovery, and furnished two vessels, one of 
sixty the other of forty tons. 

In 1594 The Grace, of Bristol, sailed on the 4th of April from 
Kingroad into the great river of St. Lawrence, for the fins of 
whales and train oil, as far up as the island of Nantiscot, and re- 
turned to Hungroad the 24th of September the same year. 

9. The next voyage to the American continent of 
which there is any record in connection with Bristol was 
that made by Bartholomew Gosnold, who has been gener- 



A.D. 1589. 



VOYAGES OF GOSNOLD AND MARTIN PRING. 



299 



ally, but miatakenlj, supposed to have been an agent of 
Sir Walter Baleigh. Gbsnold was associated in this ad- 
venture with Captain Gilbert and Bobert Salteme, who 
was either a son or a nephew of William Salteme, M.P. 
for Bristol in 1589, and who had been sheriff of the city 
in 1574-5. This expedition if not promoted by was at 
least partly at the risk of Lord Cobham, who was largely 
interested in American colonisation schemes. Other 
merchants in the West of England and in Bristol were 
venturers. It was a trading adventure, in a single ship, 
the Concord of Dartmouth^ which sailed from Falmouth 
in 1602. 

For the following letter and other particulars of this 
and one subsequent voyage of Captain Martin Pring we 
are indebted to the Eev. B. F. de Costa, of New York : — 

Sir, — Wheras as I wrote unto you in my last that I was gonn 
to Weymouth, to speake with a pinnes of myne arived from Vir- 
ginia, I found this bearer, Captayne Gilbert ther also, who went 
on the same voyage. But myne fell 40 leaugs to the west of 
Virginia and this bearer as much to the east ; so that neather of 
them spake with the peopell. But I do send both the barks away 
agayne, having saved the charge in sassephrase woode ; butt this 
bearer bringing some 2,200 waight to Hampton, his adventurers 
have taken away their parts, and brought it to London. 

I do therefore humblie pray you to deale withe my Lord 
Admirall for a letter to make seasure of all that which is come to 
London, ether by his Lordship's actoretye or by the Judge ; be- 
cause I have a patent that all shipps and goods are confiscate that 
shall trade ther, without my leve. And wheras sassephrase was 
worth 10s., 12s. and 20s. a pound before Gilbert returned, his 
cloying of the market will overthrow all myne, and his owne also. 
He is contented to have all stayde; not only for this present butt, 
being to go agayne, others will also go and destroy the trade, 
which otherwise would yield 8 or 10 for on, in certenty, and a 
retnme in xx weekes. 

I desire butt right herin ; and my Lord Admirall, I hope, will 
not be a hinderance to a matter of trade graunted by the Great 
Seale of Inglande ; his Lordship havinge also freedome and an in- 
terest in the Countrye. A man of my Lord's, of Hampton arested 
part of Gilbert's, for the I hope my Lord will not take it ; belong- 
ing not unto hyme ; having also hymesealf poure to trade ther by 
his interest. And it were pitty to overthrow the enterprise ; for 
I shall yet live to see it an Liglish nation. 

Ther was also brought 26 sedar trees by Gilbert, which one 
Staplyne of Dartmouth hath ; If my Lord will vouchsauf to write 
to C. Harris to seaze them, we wiU part them in three parts, to 
seele cabineats, and make bords and many other delicate things. 
I beseech you vouchsauf to speake to my Lord. I know his Lord- 
ship will do me right herein. I, for hast, have not written. For, 
if a stay be not made, it wil be spent, and sold into many hands, 
this bearer, Captayne Gilbert — who is my Lord Cobhame's man — 
will find out wher it is. He came to mee with your post letter. 
It is he —by a good token — ^that he had the great diamonde. 

I beseich you, favor our right ; and you shall see what a prety, 
honorabell and sauf trade wee will make. 

Yours, ever to serve you, 

W. Ralegh. 

I hope you will excuse my cumbersome letters and suit. It 
is your des^ey to be trobled with your frinds, and so must all 
men be. But what you think unfitt to be dun for me shall never 
be a quarrell, ether intemall or eztemall. I thank you ever more 



for the good, and what cannot be effected farewell ! If we cannot 
have what we would, methinks it is a greate bonde to finde a 
frinde that will stray ne hyme sealf in his frinds cause in whatso- 
ever, — as this world fareth. 

Wemouth this 21 of August. 

Gilbert went without my leve, and therefore all is confiscate ; 
and he shall have his part agayne. 

It is very doubtful whether colonisation was intended ; 
if so, we judge that it failed through mistrust of Gilbert, 
« my Lord Cobham's man," who appears to have been 
a double dealer. Gosnold named Cape Cod, and spent 
three weeks in Cuttyhunk harbour. 

In 1603 Captain Martin Pring and Edmund Jones 
sailed with two ships from Bristol, the Speedwell and the 
Discoverer, This voyage was undertaken at the instance 
of Hakluyt, a prebendary of Bristol, who incited ** sun- 
dry of the chief est merchants of Bristol," and who for 
them obtained leave to '' entermeddle and deale in that 
action," and Pring says he held the permission " under 
his (Ealeigh's) hand and seale." The Salteme family 
were interested also in this adventure and prudently 
avoided the imputation of being interlopers. 

Pring reached the coast April 10th, 1603, near Fox 
island, at the Penobscot, and then entered various rivers 
between that point and Savage rock, Cape Neddick. 
After leaving Savage rock ''he bore into that great 
gulfe which Captain Gosnold overshot the yeere before." 
This gulf was Massachusetts bay, where, not finding any 
inhabitants on the north side, he sailed across it and 
came to anchor on the south side. His statements show 
conclusively that he visited the harbours of Plymouth 
and Duxbury. The soundings apply to no other place 
than Plymouth. He says he entered a bay having at 
the mouth twenty fathoms of water, and a pleasant hill 
adjoining, which he seems to have named Mount Aid* 
worth (after Bobert Aldworth) ; he also named a bay after 
the mayor of Bristol (Whitson), '' these being the chief 
furtherers of the voyage as well with purse as with 
travel (labour)." From the bay there was a river, up 
which they passed in boats ; he was land-locked in seven 
fathoms, and describes the harbour as winding in com- 
pass like a snail (Mourt says, ''in fashion like a sickle 
or fishhook"). He was there between six and seven 
weeks, and his people made excursions into the country, 
one of them g^ing six miles into the interior, and 
bringing home from thence a cargo of sassafras ; 
Bobert Salteme also brought home a fruit tree care- 
fully wrapped in earth, which bore a fruit like a peate- 
plum. When Pring was about to leave, the Indians 
became hostile atid set the woods on fire. He had 
erected a "barricado," and had sown wheat, barley, 
oats, peas, and sundry sorts of garden seeds, which 
for the time of his abode, being about seven weeks. 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



although they vere Ute BOwn, came up very well. It 
would seem bom the foregoing abetract that our Bristol 
mariner vas the first European vho cultivated, and 
for a while renided on and hallowed the spot, which 
the English pilgrims from Lejden, seventeen years 
afterwards, under Bobinson, landed upon and made 
clasoio ground. They reported "a large burnt space," 
the scar of which is seen to thia day in the naked 
plain about two miles out of Plymouth town, and they 
also mention "an abundance of saBsafras." 

Robert Salteme, who wm with both Goanold kiid Priog (m 
Parchoi teatifiei), took order* in the English charcb. It baa there- 
fore been anppoaeil tb»t, M ft Uyniftii even, he mD»t have coaducteii 
Epiicopal terrices in Cattyhaiik in 1602. If thia ii conceded, we 
m&y with equal reaaon couclade thftt he did the ume with Pring 
in 1603, at PlTmontb, and that the Pilgrinu were anticipated bj 
the Church of England 
on their own gronnd ; 
yet there is no notice 
of any of the religious 
MTvicea probably per- 
formed by thia ombtyo 
clergymao, and it ii 
therefor* to be hoped 
that the plant with its 
fruit, like a "peate- 
plum," which fae car- 
ried to Old England 
from Plymouth, proved 
more proaperona than 
any of the great tmtbi 
that hcmayhave tanght 
Doder the ahadow of 
Monnt Aid worth while 
employing the vener- 
able forma of the 
mother church. Pring 
viaited the coaat again 



great service to Popham and Gilbert's expedition in 
1607, which soiled from Plymouth. One of the chief 
promoters of this voyage was Sir John Popham, the 
lord chief justice, who had been recorder of Bristol ; 
he died that same year. Sir E. Gorges, who wrol« a 
"brief narration" of this voyage, Uved at the Great 
house, St. Augustine's bach. 

We carried with oa from Briatol two eicellont BiwtiTo", '^ 
whom the Indiana ware more afraid thwi of twenty of obt men. 
One of the«e maativea would carry a half-pike in hia mouth. Ana 
one Maater Tboniaa Bridgea, a gtntlemau of onr company, aceom- 
panied only with one ot theeo dogs, and paaaed aii mile* aJong tne 
country, having loat hia feUowa, and returned aafely. And when 
we would be rid of the aavagea' company, we wonld lot looao tne 
maatiffa, and auddenly. without cries, they wonld flee away. 

In Vanderita's translation of Pring's narrative, there 
is a copper- plate en- 
graving of a fight 
with the Indians, 
and a Bristol mastiff 
charging with a 
half-pike in his 
mouth. Bev. B. F. 
De Ooata, who has 






much time to 



1606, 






minute aurvey of all 
tiie porta, and the fol- 
lowing year the Pop- 
ham colony was com- 
menced in Maine. Pring was therefore intimately anooiated with 
the moveraenta in Uaine in 1607-3. The letter which Verrazano, 
who Had previoualy explored the cout, had pnbliahed wu also 
need by Captain Pring; and an accooat of the voyage waa alao 
written by 3alteme, n /aet tJiat ntvtr ttem* to hant bten notired. 
The latter narrative waa once in the poaaewion of Captain John 
Smith, and the fragment preaerved ia simply of interest aa ahowing 
that Priog did not go ao for south aa Goanold and Gilbert. 

Salteme'a account concluded with the following liuea, vhich 
indicate hia preaching tendency : — 



Pring visited and explored Sagadahoc in 1606, and 
he took back to his native land Nahanada, a Sagamore, 
who had been oaptnred and brought to England by 
Captain Waymouth in 1605. He says this man, Na. 
hanada, was made a Sagamore, or chief, and rendered 
< B. F. de Coata, New Y»rfc. 



^e iikTeBtigation of 
the subject, arrives 
at the conclusion 
that these ancient 
worthiea deserve to 
rank among the 
founders of New 
England, which, he 
thinks^ owes its 
origin, not to re- 
ligious persecution, 

BHM UastiJ clmrBiT,3 at ladtani. ^ muoh OS tO the 

irrepressible enterprise of the men of Briatol and the 
West of England. 

With regard to the above voyages, Beyer says : — 
When the diacovo? ot ao many countries and aoaa hitherto 
unknown had given a o(«iaiderabIe impniae to maritime adventure, 
the merchanta of Briatol were not behind the rest of their country- 
men in seeking celebrity and profit by the aame meana. Mr. John 
Wbitaon and Mr. Robert Aldworth, and otbera, set forth a ship 
for the diacavery ot the north-weat paaaage, under the commsnd 
of Martin Prinne, being then hut twenty-three years of age, who 
after proved a very good aeaman in the Eaat India voyagea.* 

Pring was buried in St. Stephen's church. Against 
•the north wall of the chancel, surmounted with the orma 
of the Merchant Yenturers, and with numerous allego- 
rical figures in allusion to his profession around and 
beneath it, is the following inscription : — 

• Purchaa. XIL, 1655. • Seyer. II.. 2W. 



A.D. 1632. 



ALDWORTH AND ELBRIDGE'S PATENT FOR COLONISATION. 



301 



To the pious 

Memorie of Martin Fringe, 

Merchant, sometyme Generall to the 

East Indies, and one of y* 

Fratemitie of the 

Trinitie House. 

The lining worth of this dead man was such 

That this fay*r Touch can gine you but A touch 

Of his admired guifts ; theise quartered Arts, 

Enrich'd his knowledge and ° spheare imparts 

His hearts true Embleme where pure thoughts did moue, 

By A most sacred Influence from aboue. 

Prudence and fortitude ore topp this toombe. 

Which in braue FRINGE tooke vpp ^ cheifest roome ; 

Hope — Time supporters showe that hee did clynte, 

The highest pitch of hope, though not of Tyme. 

His painefuU) skillfull trauayles reach't as farre, 

As from the Artick to th' Antartick starre ; 

Hee made himself e A shipp. Religion 

His onely compass, and the truth alone 

His guiding Cynosure, faith was his sailes. 

His anchour hope, A hope that never fayles ; 

His fraight was charitie ; and his retnme 

A fmitfuU practise. In this fatall vme 

His shippe fayr Bulck is lodg'd but ^ ritoh ladinge 

Is hous'd in heauen, A hauen neuer ladinge. 

Hie terria muUum iaelattui et vndis, 

OhU Anno j ^^^'^ I ^^f, 
i JEtatia S 46. 

10. On February 29tli, 1632, a patent was granted to 
Eobert Aldworth and Giles Elbridge, merchants, of 
12,000 acres of land in New England, and an ad- 
ditional 100 acres for every person transported by them 
to New England within seven years, provided they 
(»'.«., the emigrants) abode there three years; the 12,000 
acres were to be laid out near the river Primaquid, and 
were allotted in consideration of their having imder- 
taken to build a town there, and settle inhabitants for 
the good of that country.^ 

Newfoundland was colonised by Bristol men, and 
many of the citizens subscribed liberally towards its 
support during the early years of the settlement. In 
the year 1608, John Guy, with John Rowberrow and 
others, formed a committee to take into consideration a 
letter which had been received by the mayor of Bristol 
from the lord chief justice (Popham), touching the pro- 
jected plantation in Newfoundland ; they were directed 
to express the determination of the Society of Merchants 
and the corporation not to have anything to do with the 
scheme unless it should please the king's majesty to 
undertake the same and to join in the charge. This 
was agreed to on the king's part, for in the records of 
the ensuing month there is a list of the contributions of 
the corporation and of the members of the Society of 
Merchant Venturers. Guy, with many others, agree- 
ing to subscribe twenty marks a year for five years, 

^ Sainsbury Col. Papers, I., 141. 



James I. granted a charter ^ making them a body cor- 
porate, and Guy sailed with a number of colonists in 
the early part of 1609, taking with him a large stock of 
poultry, rabbits, goats, cattle, &c. He stayed with the 
infant settlement two years, and after his return to 
England was made mayor (1618). During his year of 
ofiB.ce he received orders from the lords of the council to 
raise in Bristol, -from the merchants and ship owners of 
the port, the sum of £2,500 towards defraying the ex- 
penses of an expedition for the suppression of the 
Turkish pirates, who at that time infested the seas. 
Guy demurred, but offered £1,000, which was, he said, 
a fair proportion compared with the sums paid by 
London and the ports in the west 

11. In 1630-1 John Tomlinson, then mayor, Hum- 
phrey Hook, John Baker, Eichard Tonge, John Taylor, 
Giles Elbridge, and other merchants of Bristol, fitted out 
a ship to explore the north-west passage, and gave the 
command to Captain Thomas James, a barrister, who 
was also a persevering and intrepid seaman, who sailed 
from Bristol in a small vessel of seventy tons, with a 
crew of twenty-two all told, in search of the delusive 
north-west passage, on the 2nd of May, 1631. Captain 
James had taken part in Sir Thomas Button's Arctic 
voyage in 161 1, and in after life did good service against 
the Turkish pirates and the Spaniards. They reached 
the coast of Greenland on the 4th of June, and then for 
six months began a desperate battle with the forces 
of nature in that part of the Arctic sea. Turning into 
an open bay trending south-west, which had hitherto 
been unexplored, but which now deservedly bears the 
name of James' bay, James toiled on hoping to get 
into some large river, or at least to winter upon the 
mainland. 

" They were the first that ever burst 
Into that silent sea." 

After unheard of perils they at last reached the southern 
end of the bay. Physical geography has revealed to us 
the fact that there is yearly an inset of broken ice brought 
by the downward current from the pole into this bay; be- 
tween this broken churning pack and the shore the little 
Senrietta Maria was caught, and, in October, they had to 
sink their ship to prevent her being smashed ; they built a 
hut of trees on shore, covered it with sails and snow, and 
there spent a miserable winter; their food was salt junk, 
salt fish and biscuit, their drink melted snow. So ter- 
rible was the cold that a wounded man in a dose-boarded 
cabin, with a fire in it, a pan of hot coals in his bed and 
all the clothes he could bear, had the plaister frozen 
on his wound and the wine under his pillow. Scurvy 

^ This charter comprehended the southern and eastern parts 
of the new found land between 46 and 62 degrees N.L. 



802 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



▲.D. 1690. 



attacked them all ; three died, and the others were saved 
by the discoyery of some green vetches in June. Amidst 
all their privations they behaved most nobly. With the 
snow up to their middle they cut down trees, made of 
them framing and planks, and nearly finished a pinnace 
to bring them home, their only tools being two broken 
axes tied in a cleft stick, two whole ones, and three 
cooper's adzes, the carpenter being so ill that it took 
two men to hold him up as he walked to his work. By 
God's good providence they, in the spring, cut their way 
down through the ice to their ship, finally floated her, 
had a terrific struggle along shore in the wash of the 
loose hummocks between the floes and the land, got even 
as far north as Fox's channel, when on August 24th 
coming to thick solid ice they were compelled to 
put the ship about and to sail for home, which they 
reached on October 22nd, 1632. On the ship being 
docked it was found that the cutwater and stem, with 
fourteen feet of her keel, and much of her sheathing 
were torn away, many of her inner timbers cracked, and 
a sharp rock had cut in one place through her plank- 
ing and inner skin, above which it projected an inch 
and a half, so that ''it was truly miraculous how 
she brought us safely home." Thus ended a voyage 
which for perils, constancy and resolution is scarcely 
to be parallelled. A spirit of fervent piety pervades 
the narrative of this eventful voyage. The expedition 
at its starting was commended to God by a service on 
board in Kingroad, and the first thing the mariners 
did upon their return was to go to HedclifE church 
and return thanks to God for their preservation. Cap- 
tain James was a careful navigator, kept a g^od log, 
made tables of the altitudes and azimuths, carefully 
noted down the variation and declination of the needle, 
and Boyle, in his treatise on heat and cold, acknow- 
ledges the great assistance he had received from Cap- 
tain James' journal. 

12. From the year 1625 until 1630 a naval war was 
carried on between England and Spain. The Spaniards, 
supported by a bull from the Pope, claimed the rich 
coasts of Mexico and South America as national pro- 
perty, forbade all trade between these coasts and the 
nations of Europe, and arbitrarily seized on all ships 
that approached within five leagues of the shore. They 
endeavoured to drive out the English, French and Dutch 
from the infant settlements which they had planted on 
the small scattered islands, and exercised great cruelty 
upon the men who had landed in desolate parts in order 
to hunt, kill and cure the flesh of the wild cattle and 
swine with which the coasts were overrun. These men, 
from their occupation, were termed buccaneers {houcariy 
dried flesh). Embittered by their losses, and stimulated 



by a desire to revetf ge their comrades, these buccaneers, 
the offscouring of many lands, but desperately reckless 
and brave, seized on small boats, or made themselves 
rafts, with which they attacked and carried many Spanish 
craft ; finally, as they increased in strength, they cap- 
tured the richly laden galleons of Spain, stormed casUes, 
sacked towns, and laid whole provinces under tribute. 
Many private ships were fitted for war and sent out 
from Bristol between the above dates ; the broadsheets 
and songs of the day show that they were tolerably 
successful, and privateering became, for at least a cen- 
tury, a speculation in which the Bristol merchants 
adventured largely. 

The New World was wide, but its title was disputed; 
the ocean was vast, but it concerned nations unborn that 
its empire should pass from Catholic Spain to the free 
realm of Protestant Britain ; and the men who wrought 
the change, from the rough-dried flesh-ourer to the 
gentlemen adventurer, were, for the better part of a 
century, a sort of crusaders of the sea, eminently 
practical, but loose in the view they took of their 
opportunities and duties. They captured galleons, 
stole negroes, or sold their prisoners without remorse; 
they prayed as they filibustered, planned wisely, from 
patriotism or cupidity, enterprises which they executed 
with heroic audacious bravery ; by turns soldiers or 
merchants, spoilers or colonists, good sailors but better 
pirates, euphuists but statesmen, they played well 
their part in the great drama that has given Britain 
the ascendancy on the seas, and men of the Anglo- 
Saxon race the dominion over the better half of the 
New World. 

A ballad, of which we give three stanzas, was with- 
out doubt exaggerated to suit the vulgar taste, but it is 
a curious record of one of the many conflicts of that 
date: — 

Thb Honour of Bristol. 

Attend yon and give ear awhile. 

And yon shall understand. 
Of a battle fought upon the seaa 

By a ship of brave oommaxid : 
The fight it was so famous 

That all men's hearts did fill. 
And make them cry " to aea 

With the Angel Gabriel/* 
• • • * 

Seven hours this fight continued. 

And many brave men lay dead. 
With purple gore and Spanish Uood 

The sea was coloured red. 
Five hundred of their men 

We there outright did kill, 
And many more were maim'd 

By the Angel Gabriel. 



ROGERS' VOYAGE: PICKS UP ALEXANDER SELKIRK. 



We hftd wiUiiu oar English ship 

Bat only thr«« men slun 
And five men hurt, the which I hope 

Will MMD be well tgaiii : 
At Brtotol we were luided, 

And let na pnlM Qod atill, 
Ttut thnj bath bleit our men 

And onr Angel Qabricl. ' 

la 1627, the Charlet maiL-of-Tar, 300 tons and 30 
guna; in 1665, the Itltp frigate, 30 guns; in 1668, the 
Nantwith, 44 guiu, and the St. Pah^ek, 52 guns; in 
1668, the Edgar, 72 guns, 1,046 tons; ia 1679, the 
Jforthumhtrland, 70 gnus 
and 1,096 tons; in 1680, 
the Oxford, 54 guns, were 
built smd launched in 
Bristol. FrivateerB and 
foreign ships of war in 
abundance folloved, 
after which contributionB 
to the royal aayj ceased 
until 1778, when the 
Olouefthr, 60-gun ship, 
and the Med4a, 32-gun 
frigate, were built, soon 
after which the celebrated 
ArttkuM ( ' ' the saucy 
Artthuta") waa also 
launched and fitted out 
in Bristol. 

One of the most 
famous of the privateer- 
ing captuns of Bristol 
was Captain Woodea 
Kogers, who on August 
Ist, 1708, began that 
most famous Toyage 
round the world in the 
Ihik*, 30 guns, having 
for a consort the Dwhtu, 
26 guns, commanded by 

Captain Courtney. The "Caiond fF*«i- Ta 

force consisted of 333 men all told. Thomas Dover, 
the inventor of "Dover's powders," a physician, was 
second captain, president of the council, and a share- 
holder, and the celebrated Dampier was pilot of the 
ezpediUon. They rounded Cape Horn in December, 
1708, and on 81st Janoary, 1709, ran for the island of 
Juan Fernandez to water. There they found Alexander 
Selkirk, who had been on the island four years and four 
months. This man, known to the whole world as the 
immortal Bobinaon Crusoe, had been sailing master of 
' 8«yer, IL, 287-8. 



the Cinqvg PorU, one of Dampier's fleet. He now joined 
Bogere, and- was appointed to one of the first prizes 
taken as her sailing master. By sacking coast towns 
and plundering expeditions into the interior, and the 
capture of the Aeapuleo treasure ship, Bogers acquired 
and brought home for his owners £170,000. On his 
return he lived at 19 Queen square, and Selkirk, it is 
said, frequented the "Cock and Bottle" tavern. Castle 
green, where Defoe used to meet him and gather mate- 
rials for his ininiitable romance. Bogers was made 
govMnor of the isle of Providence, one of the Bahama 
islands, in 1716. It was 
a great rendezvous for 
pirates, and the governor 
hod two men-of-war to 
attend him and a fleet of 
twelve others at his con- 
trol, in order to put down 
these sea robbers. He 
issued a proclamation 
offering pardon to all who 
submitted by September 
Gth, 1718, and a large 
reward for each pirate 
taken after that date. 
The vast majority sub- 
mitted, Bogers hanged a 
few of the recalcitrants, 
whilst oUiers sailed away 
to the Indian ocean to 
be out of his reach. In 
1724 he, in command of 
the Delieia, a 40-gun ship, 
went to Madagascar for a 
cargo of slaves, there he 
fell in with a lot of the 
pirates who had fled from 
him at Providence, living 
as petty kings ; they first 
tried to take his ship by 
"™' *^""* ''""^ surprise, but failing they 

sold him a large number of slaves, whom he carried 
to the Dutch colony of Batavia. He is said to have 
had the command of a squadron which was sent to 
extirpate these villains from Madagascar, but there is 
no certain record of that fact. He died in Queen square 
in 1732. 

13. The Spaniards by the beginning of the 18th cen- 
tury were so thoroughly beaton and humbled owing to 
their losses that when the French persisted in smuggling 
goods into Chili and Peru they had neither ships nor 
men sufficient to prevent them. Turning for help to 



304 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.1X 1740. 



the men who had brought them into this condition, the 
Spaniards hired, amongst other ships, the Duke and the 
Duchess, on their return from their successful cruise. 
These, well fitted and provisioned, sailed for the Bay of 
Corunna, where they awaited orders from the Spanish 
government. Avery, the chief officer of the Duke, con- 
ceiving the idea that he might as well fight for his own 
profit as for the Spaniards, with the aid of sixteen men 
from the Dueheae, carried ofE the Duke from under the 
guns of the Duchess and a Dutch hired frigate of 40 
guns, set the captain and six men on shore, and turned 
pirate. He sailed for Madagascar, which he made his 
rendezvous, there he was joined by two other ships, and 
they lay in wait for and captured the ship of the Great 
Mogul, full of pilgrims, amongst whom was the Mogul's 
daughter, bound for Mecca. Plundering the vessel of 
an untold amount of wealth, silks, jewels, g^ld and 
silver, they liberated her. The other ships being small, 
Avery persuaded them for safety to transfer their share 
to the Duke for future division, as she was a fast ship 
and well manned and armed ; no sooner was this done 
than he treacherously left them and sailed for the West 
Indies. There he sold the Duke, bought a small sloop, 
dropped the men in driblets at different places with 
such portions as he chose and, sailing for Ireland with a 
chosen few, there sold the sloop. Having secured the 
diamonds and jewels for his own share, he crossed the 
channel and settled at Bidef ord. He then sent for some 
Bristol men, in whom he thought he could confide, and 
delivered to them the jewels, vessels of gold, &c., for 
sale on commission. Finding that they did not remit 
the cash he came stealthily to Bristol, pnly to find that 
there were pirates on the land as well as on the sea; the 
men disowned the reception of the goods and threatened 
him with the gaUows ; he escaped penniless to Ireland, 
thence worked his passage to Plymouth, whence he 
walked to Bideford, and soon after died without leaving 
money enough to buy a coffin. 

Another notorious privateersman was Edward Teach, 
of Bristol, a fellow of great courage and resource, but 
ignorant and brutal, so that he never obtained advance- 
ment. In 1716 he turned pirate, and was from his 
hirsute appearance thenceforth known as ^' Blackboard." 
Starting with a small sloop he soon captured a Spanish 
slave ship, which he mounted with 40 guns. His bold- 
ness was unprecedented, he fought a British man-of- 
war, the Scmrhoroughf 30 g^ns, and made her sheer off ; 
he blockaded the harbour of Charlestown, held the 
ships therein to ransom, landed and walked the streets 
with his men, and retired with £1,500 and a chest 
worth £400 more. He then reduced the number of his 
men by marooning seventeen of them on a desert island 



without food or water. His captures were numerous, 
his atrocities fearful, and these were equalled by his 
profanity. On one occasion he had the hatches battened 
down on himself and his men and brimstone burned in 
their midst to see which could stand heUfire the longest 
He was finally most bravely killed and his sloop cap- 
tured by Lieutenant Maynard, of the ship Pearl, in one 
of the intricate creeks full of shoals in North Carolina. 
Of Maynard's men twenty-nine were killed or wounded 
in the attack, the pirates had nine killed besides Teach, 
who had twenty-five wounds, several of which would 
have been fatal, ere he was cut down by the lieutenant's 
own hand. Property to the value of £2,600 was re- 
covered and the victors returned with Teach' s head 
swinging from the bowsprit. "His beard was very 
black, thick and long, it came up to his eyes and down 
to his waist : he used to twist it with ribbons in small 
tails and turn them like snakes over his ears. In action 
he carried three brace of pistols, and stuck lighted 
matches imder his hat, so that he looked frightful, like 
a fury from hell." 

14. The Bristol newspapers of the middle of the 18th 
century contain but little other local intelligence than 
may be gathered from the advertisements of the different 
privateers, with an occasional account of their successes 
or misfortunes. The advertisements are of this character : 

Gentlemen sailors, cadets, midshipmen, &c., &c., willing to 

enter on board the Trial, may apply to , Nag's Head, Canons' 

marsh, or on board that celebrated ship, now lying in Teast's 
dock. Drummers, trumpets, and other fitting mnsick will hare 
great encouragement. 

The merchants had large shares in^ these private 
ships of war, and tradesmen clubbed together their 
smaller means to share in the adventure, so that by 
1757-8 in men and metal they approached nearly to 
the royal navy. 

During the war with Spain in 1740-1 Bristol mer- 
chants were very active in fitting out privateers. Wood, 
in his history of the laying the foundation-stone of the 
Exchange, states that the procession came out upon the 
Quay ''where the Princess Amelia, a letter of marque 
ship, lay repairing from the damages she had received 
in the last of four victorious battles with the Spanish 
privateers in the present war, one of which privateers 
her captain blew up in the Eling's channel, and was 
particularly rewarded by the Admiralty for his gallantry, 
g^od conduct and courage in that brave action. From 
this glorious object the procession was continued up to 
the Key," &c. 

In 1740 the Vernon, privateer, was also very success- 
ful, capturing several prizes off the Canaries, yalued^i 
from £18,000 to £20,Q00, with some Spaniards of note 



BRISTOL PRIVATEERS. 



vas ta^en, and tlie hardy tars were carried prisonere to 
Garthag^a. They broke prison the same night, seized 
a yawl in the harboor and put to sea ; next day, being 
without proTisIone or water, they landed and supplied 
themselveB by plundering the houses on the ooaat. 
They arriTed safely at Jamaica, where they found their 
prizes and shipmates. Captain Colt soon fitted up 
another Teasel, in which, cruising on the Spanish main, 
it was his good fortune to capture a Caraccae ship, a 
rich prize, laden with cocoa. 

In 1744 the Zyon, privateer, of Bristol, captured, on 
the Slst October, a large French ship, with 500 hogs- 
heads of sugar and a great quantity of indigo, which 
ship arriTed in Bristol on Xovembei 4th ; and on tlie 
same day the Primt Minuter, a London privateer, which 
had been token by five French men-of-war, arrived in 
Hungroad, she having been re-captured by a Bristol 
privateer. The French prisoners taken during the war 
were confined in the RedcliS caverns, through some of 
which the Harbour railway ia now tunnelled. On Sun- 
day night, January 22nd, 1745, a number of them 
attempted to escape by scaling a wall into Guinea street ; 
one of them being shot dead by the sentinel, the others 
retreated to their prison in the rock. In February of 
the aame year four Bristol merchants purchased H.M.S. 



Ti4 " EltpiVoTil ~ Tartrti awt SUt if At " Qhhii Sta " Taxm, 
Siekelai Strut. 

on board one of the ships (which was Dutch); these 
gentlemen were imprisoned at Captain Saunders', in 
Guinea street. It waa a portion of the crew of this 
ship that assisted Captain Goodere, of the Suhy, in 
1741, in carrying off his brother. Sir John Dinely 
Goodere, whom he murdered (see Ecclesiastical His- 
TOBY, 240). 

A fast schooner, carrying fourteen guns, besides 
swivels, with a large number of men, was fitted out and 
manned in Bristol to cruise against the Spaniards. Ker 
commander was a Frenchman. Also the Ibzhunt«r, a 
Bristol-built ship, of 300 tons. Captain James Dodd 
Bonnell, with twenty carriage and eighteen swivel guns, 
took out a letter of marque. 

In 1741 Captain Colt, of the snow Boyd, of Bristol, 
with sixty hands, started from St. Christopher's on a 
cruise against the Spaniards. They took two prizes, 
and were convoying them to Jamaica when a Spanish 
man-of-war gave chase. Colt, by consent, put all his 
men but twelve into the prizes and bade them escape, 
whilst he stopped and fought the man-of-war. There 
waa a heavy sea running, a long engagement ensued, 
but the snow was not hit once ; on the wind falling she 
[Vol. in.l 



« </ IToIa" Taixm, Stdcllf Stn^. 



306 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



▲.D. 1747. 



MdsUngs, 40 guns, and fitted her out as a privateer, and 
on the 8th of April 273 French prisoners in Bristol were 
exchanged bj cartel for the like number of Englishmen. 
On July 9th, 1744, the SofMraet, a snow, which had been 
built in Bristol, sailed on her first voyage with a letter 
of marque, she was 120 tons burthen, carried 12 six- 
pounders and 96 hands; her captain's name was North- 
over. At seven in the evening she, being about two 
leagues east of the Holms, capsized when tacking, and 
all but ten men and the pilot were drowned, these were 
saved by clinging to the buoy and to her topmasts. 

In 1745 the Tryal, privateer, of Bristol, Captain 
Connor, captured off the Groyne a Spanish ship of 12 
guns and 60 men, on board of which they found 2,500 
muskets and bayonets, above 100 barrels of gunpowder, 
five tons of shot, and seven chests of silver, designed for 
the rebels in Scotland. Two Irishmen were on board, 
one of whom had a colonel's commission of horse, the 
other was a pilot. These men were sent to London and 
examined before the Duke, of Newcastle, the first was 
committed to Newgate, the other to the custody of a 
messenger. 

On March 15th, 1745-6, "the Royal FamUy," 
privateers, sailed from Bristol, where they had been 
fitted out. These ships, the King George^ of 30 g^ns, 
Commodore Walker commander; the Prince Frederick, 
28 guns, 240 men. Captain James Talbot; the Luke, 
20 guns, 150 men, Captain Morrock, and the Princess 
Amelia (no particulars) were chiefly owned by London 
merchants, they were to act in concert against the French 
and Spaniards. On May 30th they took the Postillion de 
NantCy value £1,743 15«. 3^., which was fitted up as a 
tender and re-named the Prince George; October 28th 
they captured the Port Galley; December 16th the 
Nostra Seignora Ruen Carrega, a Spanish ship, which 
they sold in Lisbon for £13,816 ; on the 10th February 
they took the Nostra JRemodisali La Nymphaj which they 
insured in Lisbon for £155,800, she was sent to Eng- 
land, and was lost near Brighton. This was their first 
cruise. The Prince Frederick and the Luke had returned 
to Bristol, the King George and Princess Amelia did not 
return until May. In connection with this first voyage 
the following items are of interest : — 

.On Saturday, January 25th, 1746, a man named John Barry, 
who kept the ** Harp and Star " tavern, was arrested in company 
with one Peter Haynes, a low attorney, whom he kept in the house 
for the purpose of forging seamen's wills, and a servant boy who 
was used for attesting the said wills. Barry had invited a name- 
sake, James Barry, a petty officer of the Dvkt^ privateer, who was 
entitled to £2,000 prize money, to his house, and was suspected 
of poisoning him as well as of forging a will in favour of himself. 
Barry was found by the sheriffs secreted under a bed. 

On the third Wednesday in March, 1746, the sailors of the 
privateers, Princesa Amelia^ King George, Prince Frederick and 



the Luke, struck on account of wages, the ships being bound on 
an eight months' cruise to the South seas. The men said that 
their agreement was for fifteen guineas per man, bat the merchants 
had reduced the advance money to five guineas. To the number 
of 2,000 they met on Brandon hill, passed a resolntiofi that who- 
ever took less than the fifteen guineas should be hanged upon a 
gallows ; they then patrolled the city, but beyond breaking a 
few windows did no more mischief, and at night retired to their 
quarters. Meanwhile four hundred seamen, liberated on cwtel, 
arrived from France ; these shipped immediately, and the privsp 
teers fell down to Kingroad on April 5th, to the chagrin of the 
combination. 

The King George and Princess Amelia followed their 
comrades from Kingroad on their second cniise on the 
11th July, 1747 ; on the 20th Angust they captured a 
Spanish ship, the cargo of which they sold for £6,022 
Os. Sd, They cut out two Spanish Tessels from Lagos 
bay, and the King George, in concert with two of His 
Majesty's ships, the RusseU and the Lartmauih, captured 
the Gloriosa, a Spanish man-of-war, for which they ob- 
tained one-third of £12,050. The privateers next cap- 
tured the St Agatha, value £ 1 6,226 Is, 9d. On the 7th of 
June, 1748, their tender, the Prince George, capsized in the 
Bay of Biscay, when only 20 men out of 134 were saved. 
The Prince Frederick and the Luke on the 20th met and 
engaged three French registered ships from Callao, two 
of which after a stubborn resistance they captured, the 
third escaped. The prizes were so battered that the 
victors had to throw overboard the guns and anchors of 
one of them to keep her afloat, and all their masts being 
shot away they had to tow them until their arrival at 
Kinsale on July 31st. Three men-of-war were ordered 
by the admiralty to Kinsale to convoy these rich prizes 
to Bristol, where they arrived safely on September 8th. 
Their merchandise of cocoa, cochineal, &c., was tran- 
shipped at Kinsale, the bullion and plate only being 
brought to Bristol. On Thursday, September 26th, 
forty-five wagons loaded with the treasure started £rom 
Old Market street for London, guarded by the sailors in 
laced hats, most of them on horseback, and a detach- 
ment of soldiers, the wagons all dressed out with flags. 
The value of this capture exceeded one million sterling. 
On October l7th the proprietors of the ships waited on 
the king and offered him their share of the prize money, 
£700,000, for his majesty's service, "the money to be 
re-paid in such manner as shall be adjudged most proper 
by Parliament." The bullion was sent to the mint to 
be coined. Many of the sailors were kidnapped, or 
seized by press gangs, their share of the prize money 
was thrown into chancery, with a result that may 
readily be surmised. 

In 1745 the Q^een of Kungary, privateer, of Bristol, 
Captain Ligledue, whilst towing a prize, was captnivd 
by four French men-of-war within six hours' sail of 



BRISTOL PRIVATEERS. 



Plymoath ; and on the lOtii of July, Captain Bromedge, 
in the Hueany, distinguished himself by the manner in 
vhioh he handled hie ship and fought her for three 
hours against the Bdkna, 36 guns, the Mart, 32 guns 
(nine, six and four-pounders, besides 24 swiTels), and a 
third French ship not named. Night separated the 
combatants after a discharge of 180 guns and 2,400 
email arms on the part of the enemy, and 120 guns 
and 800 smaU arms on the side of the British. The 
rig^ng of the Tuteany was so cut to pieces that 
Bromedge was compelled to surrender at day-dawn. 


she towed her bulky prize up the Avon excited the 
greatest enthusiasm. The Bristol merchants provided 
lodgings and surgeons for the wounded on both sides. 
This year the Fame, of Bristol, Captain Patrick, was 
very successful. 

In Ftlix FarUy't Srittol Journal of 1 6th July, 1757, 
is the following list of privateers bdonging to Bristol 
in 1757, manned by about 7,500 adventurers, and 
carrying between 1,200 and 1,400 guns. Seyer eaya 
the hope of capturing stores sent by the French to their 
North American colonies was illusory, and many of the 
adventurers became great losers. 




Bfaipi' NimBL 


Ciptilna. 


i 


S 

s 


1 


i 

1 


■ 


n* "SreyhniwI'' Tann, UiWi Had. 

Then the enemy were preparing to board. The French- 
man returned Bromedge his sword and commission in 

fought eight ships, containing 280 men and 80 guns ; 


Britonia" 

Duke of CornwaU „ 

Ancient BritoD ... 

Eagle frigate 

Revenge 

& ::: 

St. Andrew 

SStr-'::: ::: 

■Hawke 

Tartwr 

Anaon 

•Conatantine 

Phcenix 

Hemile. 

Halifax 

Marlborangh 

•Enterprise 

•Trjfclf 

Cromwell 

Hibemia 

Vulture 

■fc. ::: ::: ::: 

PmMiMl Hera 
'Hawke l2nd of nuie 
■Merenry 

Lottery 

TttrtJU^i Prize ... 

Fortnne 

St. George 

•Crab * 

'Ketch Banger ... 

Ferret 


Neilaon 

Fowler 

Jenkina 

Murray 

Knill 

Heighingtonj 

Howe 

Bzekiel Naah 

Olive 

Dibdin 

John Clarke-.. 
Jamei Conner 

Shaw 

R. Wapshutt 
G Wynne 

Reid 

Wm-Buhop... 
Haloran ... 

Buriord 
Paul Flynn ... 

Smith 

J. Leiaman ... 
McNamara ... 

Twino '.'.'. '.'.'. 

Featiim" 

LiddaJl 

Watkina 

J. Emeraou ... 

T. Griffitha ... 

Whites 
Wairaee ... 
J. Pattrick ... 
J. FcBttna ... 


670 
500 
400 
400 
400 
330 
300 
300 
300 
300 
250 
250 
260 
180 

200 
180 
150 
ISO 
160 
150 

130 
120 
120 
ISO 
130 
120 
100 

i66 

100 
100 

sii 

70 
60 
50 
260 
6O0 


280 
300 
220 
250 
200 
180 
200 
200 
180 
200 
170 
160 
130 
150 
130 
120 
140 
100 
120 
140 
120 
120 
130 
110 

lOD 
110 
100 

eo 

100 
80 
100 

so 

60 

80 
60 


38 
3« 
30 
30 
30 
26 
26 
26 
30 
36 
20 
20 
22 
20 
18 
20 
20 
20 
IS 
24 
26 
16 
16 
16 
16 
16 

14 
16 
12 
14 
14 
12 
10 
10 
8 
8 
24 
28 


12 

20 
20 

16 

10 
10 
12 

20 
12 


ST 
8 
S 

8 
M 

8 
8 
8 
3 
3 
T 
8 
8 
T 
8 

MT 

S T 

8 

Sank 
T 

8 


she captured five, sank one of 14 guns, and two es- 
caped ; the action lasted two hours. 

In August, 17S6, Captain Davids, in the Britmmia, 
brought into Bristol a French ship of 500 tons, mount- 
ing 16 guns, with a crew of 40 sailors and 160 soldiers. 

twen^-siz wounded. The Britannia was much the 
■mailer ship of the two, and her shattered condition as 


ThoM marked w 
Lientenaot R.N., d< 
21rt, I7M. 8 Ca 

The above list 
ing ships, makini 
to number 51 ehi] 
that year 1,004 


th " are not in 
ed at hia hona 
ptain White wm 
Mfd. T Tak 

was enlarged 
a fleet of pri 
« (48 only are 
:unB. It is f 


the ae 
kill 

in 1 

?ateei 
given 


cond 

Stony 

d. 

S8b 

rs wh 

),an 

con 


St. 

hill 
8 

yth 
ich 
deal 
plet 


. 

3UCC 

efo 
was 
rryii 

6 lil 


Made 

•tober 

JMlfuI. 

How- 
said 
gin 
t of 



308 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



▲.D. 1760. 



privateers belonging to Bristol in the year 1758, printed 
by John Orabham, Narrow Wine street, in 1760. 



Ships' Namei. 


CaptaiDf. 


Quu. 




Recovery ... 
Invincible ... 




Hutchinson ... 


• • • 


16 






Nash 




36 




Severn 




Lynch 




18 


S 


Bellona ... 




Richards 




16 




Johnson 




Packer 




10 




WUtahire ... 




Smith 




22 




Constantine 




Forsyth 

Dibdin 




20 




Bristol 






36 




Dragon 
Drake 




Liddle 




16 






Richardson ... 




12 




Spitfire ... 




Brown ' 




10 




Lockhart ... 




Vey 




6 


S 


Penelope ... 




Graham 




20 




Hornet 




Godby 




6 




Salisbury ... 




Pocock 




16 




BeUona 




Read 




12 




Mars 


• • • • • • 


Oliver 




20 





S Successful. 

In addition to the foregoing, the following names of 
letters of marque belonging to Bristol are to be met 
with in the same series of newspapers, published in the 
course of that year : — 



Ships' Names. 



Duke of Cumberland 

Tartar (a snow) 

Patriot 

Charles 

True Patriot 



Captains. 



Philip Ball 

Stephen Webbe ... 
Thomas Dixon ... 
Terence Magrath 
William Randolph 






Tons. 



250 



300 
360 



Qiins. 



14 
14 
20 
22 
22 



The Bristol Chronicle, 1760, mentions the arrival of 
the Fame at Bhodes with two prizes, which were ran- 
somed for 2,500 dollars. 

Subjoined are a few items of later date, narrating 
the feats of sundry privateers during the war with 
France. These notices, like the preceding ones, have 
been cuUed chiefly from the Bristol newspapers, notably 
Felix Farley^ 8 Bristol Journal, 

The Ty^er, privateer, John Shaw, jun., commander, 
22 guns, six and nine-pounders, 100 men, took the Maria 
on her first cruise ; on her second she fell in with a 
squadron of French men-of-war, and was taken, Decem- 
ber, 1779. 

The Bear, privateer, Joseph Bobins, commander, 84 
guns, 180 men, sailed on a cruise, August, 1780, un- 
successful; second cruise, commanded by John Shaw, 
sen., unsuccessful ; third cruise, she took the Amazon, 
French transport, 20 guns, for America, and the En- 
dray eht, a large Dutch ship, from Caraccas to Amsterdam. 

The Lively (from Virginia to France, prize to the 
Jupiter, John Marshall, commander, afterwards called 
the Lively) 16 guns, 90 men, John Marshall, com- 
mander, sailed on a cruise. 



Z. if. Virginian, Aselby, 20 guns, 100 men, took the 
Petite Magdalen, brig, from Bordeaux, for Fort-au- 
Piince; was afterwards taken by a French ahip-of-war. 

The Lion, privateer ship-of-war, John Shaw, sen., 
commander, in company with the ViffUani, fell in with 
two French line-of -battle ships, one of which, 74 gons, 
he engaged for two hours, and obliged to sheer off with 
great loss and damage ; the Lion had eight men killed 
and twenty wounded. The Vigilant, having silenced the 
ship she engaged, lay to till daylight, when her adver- 
sary proved to be a French 74-gun ship, by whom she 
was taken. The Lion carried 44 guns and had 168 
men; the Vigilant carried 80 guns and 180 men; her 
captain was John Marshall. The following inscription 
is in Shirehampton churchyard: — 

Sacred to the memory of John Sh*w, haven-master at Hung- 
road, port of Bristol, and formerly captain of the Xrton, privateer, 
of 44 gnna and 168 men, which, on the night of the 6th December, 
1788, engaged L'Orient, French man-of-war, of 74 gnna and 800 
men. The ecene of action was the Bay of Biscay, where, after 
two hoars close engagement, the enemy was beaten off with the 
loss of 237 killed and 244 wounded. The Lion had twenty-two 
wounded and nine killed. The gallant oommander died December 
20th, 1796, aged eighty years. 

The lugger Gh-ey hound. Captain Nelson, on her second 
cruise, 1780, took and re-took several prizes^ Sailed on 
her third cruise the latter end of December, re-took s 
Liverpool privateer of 74 guns, and, in company with 
the Casar, took the Amasum, a French transport, from 
Bhode island for Brest, also a brigantine. She was 
taken by a French frigate off Belleisle, July, 1781. 

The ship Active, Captain Hodart, 12 guns, 32 men, 
went a four months' cruise ; returned unsuGoeesf ul, 1779. 
Sailed again for the westward, September, 1779. 

The ship Mars, John Chilcot, commander, 36 gons, 
22 twelve-pounders, 8 carronades, sailed on a cmise, 
August, 1779, and is supposed to have been cast away 
amongst the Western islands, as she was never after- 
wards heard of. 

The cutter Prince Alfred, John Leisk, commander, 
22 six-pounders and 9 carronades, sailed on a cruise, 
January, 1781 ; returned unsuccessful in June. Sailed 
again in July, 1781, and soon afterwards took the Libr0 
Navigatewr, a French ship, from France for the East 
Indies, also the brig Fame, from France for America* 
She was obliged to take shelter in St. Anders to save 
the lives of her crew, having lost mainmast and rudder. 
She was first called the Prineeee Bohergue, of Dunkirk. 
Prizes to the Lord Cardiff— La Livina Paetora, L'AngiU- 
que (afterwards the SguirreT). 

The Fox, privateer, 1 4 guns, 80 men, sailed on a 
cruise, January, 1781 ; returned unsuccessful, July of 
the same year. 



BRISTOL PRIVATEERS. 



Briilot FtoaUng Hariour, lAowln; Ou "Grtal Wuttn" m (lU ttacla. 



The ship Rainhow, 10 three-ponnderfl, 25 men, sailed 
on a cruise, January, 1781 ; returned the latter end of 
the month, hariap epnmg a leak. 

The Bbrnet, prirateer, 24 aix-pounder caironades on 
one deck, 10 siz-pounder carronades on quarter deck; 
her captain, Mr. I>aTid, died April 17th, 1780 ; she was 
afterwards conunanded hy Captain Hinton ; ixiok a large 
ship laden with 370 hogsheads of tobacco and a tier of 
guns from Virginia; afterwards, in concert with the 
Mn-omTi and others, took the Fort of Aumeray, and all 
the ships to the number of twenty. AiriTed safe at 
Bristol, July, 1781. 

15. But the ships of Bristol were not confined to priva- 
teering; towards the close of the 18th century, sereaty 
large sliips were employed in the West India trade, and 
Bristol became the great mart for sugar, rum and ma- 
hogany ; the Guinea trade for ivory, gold dust and 
negroes, was flourishing ; a large export trade was 
carried on with the American coast and Newfoundland, 
the return freights being tobacco, rice, tar, deerskins, 
timber, furs, Indigo, logwood and fish. The Qreenland 
and South Sea whale fisheries had proved uncertain, and 
were abandoned. For the better accommodation of the 
shipping, the Floating harbour and Cumberland and 



Bathuret basins were constructed (see ante jip. 223-5). 
The record of the next forty years is one of a fatu- 
ous policy, which, by her supineness, reduced Bristol 
from her proud position of the second seaport in the 
kingdom, drove the trade from her by exorbitant dues, 
and suffered Liverpool and other ports to outbid her 
for the commerce of the world. At the end of the 
third decade of the present century ships were being 
built of larger size, and the extra charges for lighter- 
ing from Hungroad to the city added a heavy itom 
to the dock dues. Steam was revolutionising the coast- 
ing trade, and although scientists declared it would be 
an impracticable feat to cross the Atlantic in a ship 
propelled by stoam alone, there were a few practical 
men in Bristol who thought otherwise. Dr. Lardner 
said at the meeting of the British Association in 
Bristol, in 1B36, that it was no more practicable than 
a journey to the moon. As an auxiliary power it had 
been used eucoessfully in the Savannah, an American 
swling ship, which had performed the voyage from New 
York to Liverpool in thirty-one days ; but the honour 
of conceiving the idea, and of building a ship whose 
sole motive power should be steam, and whose destina- 
tion should be the other side of the Atlantic, belongs 



310 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1838. 



to Bristol. A company was formed, in 1885, for this 
purpose ; it was called The Great Western Steamship 
company, and, undeterred by the ominous assertions of 
scientific authorities, the first ocean-going steamship, 
the Great WesUm, was built of wood by Mr. "William 
Patterson, of Bristol, from a design furnished by Mr. 
Isambard K. Brunei, for the sum of £63,000. She 
was launched from the Wapping dock on July 19th, 
1837; was of 1,340 tons register, with engines of 440 
horse-power. She sailed on April 8th, 1838, for New 
York, hoping to make the passage out in twenty days, 
and that home in thirteen days, instead of the thirty- 
six and twenty-four days usually occupied by sailing 
packets. Seven adventurous souls went in her as 
passengers ; on her third day she passed a liner seven 
days out from Liverpool, and in fifteen days and ten 
hours she was in her berth in New York; on her return 
she had sixty-eight passengers and 20,000 post office 
letters ; she did the trip in fourteen dear days (May 7th 
to 22nd). Instead of consuming 1,480 tons of coal, 
which the scientists asserted would be necessary, she 
actually used only 450 tons. One hundred thousand 
persons assembled in New York to witness her depar- 
ture ; it was felt that a great problem had been solved, 
and the Atlantic narrowed to one half in time. This ship 
was of insignificant size as compared with the British and 
American liners of the present day ; she measured 212 feet 
in length by 35 feet 4 inches beam, and 23 feet 2 inches in 
depth ; her engines were on the side lever principle, the 
cylinders 73^ inches in diameter, and 7 feet stroke ; she 
had four distinct boilers, and cydoidal paddles; she drew 
8 feet 8 inches aft, 7 feet 8 inches forward, unloaded ; 
she was rigged with four masts, and had a very pro- 
nounced funnel; her saloon was decorated by Mr. 
Farris, painter of the "Panorama of London," in the 
Coliseum. Letters were charged one shilling each, 
slips and newspapers, threepence each ; passengers out, 
thirty-five guineas; home, thirty guineas; and small 
parcels made up at the rate of five pounds per ton. 
Her passages averaged fifteen days twelve hours out, 
and thirteen days nine hours home. 

The St. George's Steampacket company, London, 
anxious to antidpate the honour of being the first to 
open the trade, started the 8%r%u9, one of their steam- 
ships, which had been employed on the line between 
London and Cork ; she left London on March 28th, 
and Cork April 4th, 1838, with ninety-four passengers, 
and reached New York on the 2 1st of April, after a pas- 
sage of seventeen days. The Great Western left Bristol 
on April 8th and arrived at New York on the 22nd, having 
completed the passage in two days and fourteen hours less 
than her competitor from Cork. The Sirius on her re- 



turn was placed on a steam line to St. Petersburg. The 
Atlantic thus bridged by steam, and the regularity of 
the passages made by the Great Western, induced the 
Admiralty, in October, 1838, to advertise for tenders lor 
the conveyance of the mails by steamships to America, 
The Great Western Steamship company anticipated no 
opposition, but a lower tender than theirs was sent 
in by the Cunard company, the amount being £56,000, 
whidi subsidy was afterwards increased to £81,000, per 
annum. A better ship never was built than the Great 
Western; in 1845 Lloyd's surveyor declared her to be as 
sound in material and as perfect in form as on the day 
she was launched. She was sold to the ship-breakerB, 
in 1856, by her then owners, the Royal Mail Steamship 
company, with the Severn, the two fetching £11,500. 
The great mistake made by the Bristol company was in 
their attempting to open this new line with a single ship, 
instead of tiiree or four, which would have ensured r^;u- 
larity of despatch and arrival. Rivals sprang up in 
London and Liverpool. Messrs. Samuel Cunard, G^eo^ge 
Bums and David Mac Iver, of Liverpool, formed the 
Cunard company, and Mr. Napier, of Glasgow, built for 
them four ships, all exactly alike ; a regular service be- 
tween Liverpool and New York was established, and 
Bristol lost her opportunity of becoming the great trans- 
atlantic steamship harbour of England. But the supre- 
macy was not yielded without a struggle. On the 7th of 
December, 1839, the President, built by Messrs. Curling 
and Young, of London, was launched with great idat; 
her career, at first very disappointing as to speed, was 
brief; on her fourth voyage, in April, 1841, she en- 
countered very heavy weather, and ice being plentiful 
in the Atlantic, she foundered without leaving a sign. 

16. Meanwhile the Great Western Steamship com- 
pany was not idle. In July, 1839, a ship of still more 
colossal proportions was laid down under Captain dax- 
ton, managing director, Mr. I. K. Brunei, consulting 
engineer, Mr. W. Patterson, shipbuilder, and Mr. T. B. 
Guppy, superintendent engineer under BruneL This 
ship, named the Great Britain, was built of iron, with 
lapped joints, like a clinker-built wooden ship, which gave 
enormous stability and strength, was the largest that had 
been constructed for navigation by steam, and in many 
respects was an entirely new departure in shipbuilding. 
She had five water-tight partitions; her screw, which 
was of wrought iron, was of six arms, 16 feet 6 inches 
in diameter, 25 feet pitch, and Weighed four tons ; her 
length on the keel was 289 feet, between perpendicnlaxs 
296 feet, over all 322 feet, 51 feet beam, depth of hdd 
32 feet 6 inches, main load draught of water 16 feet, 
measurement 2,984 tons, engines 1,000 horse-power, 
rigged as a six-masted schooner with square yards on 



THE "GREAT BRITAIN" BUILT IN BRISTOL. 



the Beooad msBt only ; &ve ot the maets vere lunged 
for being lowered in case of need. Originally intended 
for a paddle aliip, the then little knovn screw propeller 
was nltimatdy adopted for her motive power. These 
noyelties attracted much attention in the scientific world, 
and called forth many predictions, which, happily, were 
not fulfilled. The machineiy being norel, no engineers 
were willing to contract for its manufacture ; it was 
therefore constructed by the company. She was launched 
from the Great Western dock, Bristol, in the presence 
of H.E.H. 
Prince Al- 



multitude 
of people 
on the 19th 
July, 1843. 
The ship's 

sions led 
to an awk- 
ward pre- 
dicament ; 
it had been 
calculated 
that she 
would 
hare a free 
passage 
through 
the loots 
of the 
Bristol 
dock when 
light, but 
when her 
machinery 
was put on 
board she 

could not DU "Onal Walm- (IKi fini 

pass. She was therefore detained from sea some months, 
until the loch was widened by the temporary removal of 
a portion of the top of the side walls of the lochs. The 
experimental trip was made December 12th, 1S44 ; her 
speed enrpaBsed that of the fastest paddle ships of the day, 
and her behaviour during severe weather on the passage 
to London sOenced the opponents of iron ships, aud led to 
the adoption of that material in the royal aud mercantile 
navies. She was placed on the American station, bat 
after a successful voyage her career was interrupted. 



On September 22nd, 1S46, at 9.30 p.m., ten houra 
after leaving Liverpool on her voyage to New Torh, 
this noble ship ran aground in Dundrum bay, Ireland, 
through a mlstako as to the lights. She had about one 
hundred and nine^ passengers on board, the largest 
number that had ever crossed in a steamer, who were 
all safely landed. For eleven months and four days 
she lay there comparatively uninjured, being floated off 
on August 26th, 1847. She had only six holes in her 
bottom, the smallest 2 feet by 1 foot, the largest 5 feet 
9 inches 
by 1 foot 
4 inches, 
which 
were stop- 
ped with 
great inge- 
nuity by 
Mr. John 
Oroome, 
of Bristol. 
The me- 
thod used 
for her 
protection 
during the 
winter was 
most in- 
genious. 
Faggots of 
furze were 
sunk in 
the sand 
about 40 
feet from 
her stern, 
which 
formed 
a breah- 
water 1 50 
yards in 

Oetan-siitrji Sltanuhip duUlJ. length; 

these were loaded with stones, &c. ; between this founda- 
tion and the ship 5,800 fascines, 1 1 feet long by 20 inches 
diameter, were piled up with their butt ends towards the 
sea ; these were pinned down with iron piles having bent 
heads, which were from 6 to 9 feet long. This mass was 
finally weighted and bound down by a sort of cradle of 
green beech trees, from 4S to 52 feet in length, which 
were pointed and driven into the seaward foundation and 
brought thence at an angle of 70° to the ship's gunwale, 
where they were left free. Eighty of these poles were 



312 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1846. 



placed at about eight yards distance from each other ; 
they were connected with chains, and every third chain 
was secured either to the propeller shaft or to anchors. 
This elastic breakwater would often bend before the 
force of the waves from three to four feet, but would 
instantly recover itself after the blow had passed. The 
following summer, when it was necessary to remove the 
breakwater in order to float out the ship, the greatest 
difficulty was experienced, the foundation being as dense 
as concrete, and more difficult to remove than granite. 
For security she was, when floated, taken first to Belfast ; 
but finding that the leakage was inconsiderable, she was, 
in tow of the Birkenhead, taken to Liverpool, which was 
reached safely on August 30th, 1874. Bepaired and 
altered to a sailing ship, with auxiliary steam power, and 
again altered into a sailing ship only, she is still doing 
good service, being ** ship shape and Bristol fashion." 

The late Mr. Scott Eussell, delivering a lecture at 
the Bristol Atheneeum, on April 15th, 1863, said that in 
the building of the Great Britain all the good sense and 
practical wisdom which had caused the success of the 
Gfreat Western seemed to have abandoned the company. 
What was wanted was a sister to the Great Western; 
what was built was as imlike as it was possible to con- 
ceive. While other people were copying the wisdom of 
the original Bristol shipowners, they themselves forgot 
all their wisdom and took to quite another course. 
Instead of building a second Great Western, they built 
a single ship of a new sort, as different from her as 
possible, so that they had all the disadvantages of two 
experimental vessels, instead of having a couple of one 
sort. The second mistake was one of a stiU more fatal 
kind ; they determined to make their second ship a 
museum of inventions. The old model and proportions 
of the Great Western were utterly abandoned, so that 
there were no two things common between her and 
her companion. The Great Britain was to be 300 feet 
long, 50 feet beam, 3,443 tons, and 1,000 horse power. 
Next in regard to shape ; that was entirely revolution- 
ised, and turned into an imitation of Sir W. Symonds' 
new and empirical form of ship. She was to be made 
of iron, which was wise for a ship of that magnitude. 
In regard to her novelties there was no limit, and the 
whole ship and her machinery was a congregation of 
experiments. In the middle of her progress she was 
altered from a paddle-wheel to a screw-propeller ship, 
and that experiment was not enough, for the propeller 
must needs be propelled by a kind of chain gearing for 
communicating the power of the engine to the screw. 
If she had been a simple companion to the Great Western, 
and proper dock accommodation at moderate dues pro- 
vided, Bristol miglit have retained the advantages she 



had achieved ; instead of that a ship was built which had 
to be sold as a disastrous bargain to ply in the trade of a 
rival port, where her ingenious engines had to be taken 
out, her new screw gear got rid of, and the destiny and 
arrangement of the vessel so changed that she became 
a new ship of slow speed and auxiliary power. 

17. The mistaken policy of the Corporation and Dock 
company meanwhile was exercising a most injurious in- 
fluence on the commerce of BristoL The population 
was nearly at a standstill, and in all other ways the 
city was decaying. The Chamber of Commerce investi- 
gated the causes, and, finding a great dispcuity between 
the port charges of Bristol and those paid elsewhere, 
did their best to induce the Corporation and Dock com- 
pany to lower the dues. 

The following table, which is given from Letters 
of a Burgess, published in the Bristol Mercury in 1833, 
will be a sufficient instance of the fatuity of the com- 
pany to which Bristol had handed over the oonirol of 
her commerce: — 

CALCULATIOH OF THX FORT CHAROm PAYABLE ON A CARGO 
FROM TBS BAST INDIES, PAYABLB AT 



Articlbs. 



Bilk, 882 bftlM, at 
V bale 

Indigo, 349J501be., 
atVlOOlba. 



Total paid at eaeh 
port 



^portionate 
taxation .. 



LOXDOH. 



Rate. 



ff. d, 
1 4 

10 



Amount. 



£ $. d. 

15 10 8 
145 14 6 

£161 6 S 



£10 



LlYKBPOOL. 



Rate. 



ff. <L 

8 6 

1 ai 



Amount 



£ ff. cL 

1W 6 

ill 6 



£810 6 6 



£1 18 6 



BlUSTOL 



Bate. 



s. cL 
1 
7 Oi 



Amonnt 



£ ff. <L 

106 10 5 

1945 19 7 



£1351 10 



£8 7 9} 



On twenty articles given in another table, being goods in or- 
dinary daily consnmption, the proportionate taxation for port 
charges was 

LoNDOir. LiTERPOOL. Huxx. Bkistol. 

£1 Off. 7H. £1 Sff. 6icL £1 Off. Od. £3 Sff. Si^i 



The withdrawal, in 1846, of the Great Western from 
the port brought matters to an issue. The Chamber of 
Commerce estimated that the falling off in the exports 
from £339,728 to £150,883 was mainly due to her re- 
moval on account of exorbitant charges. An agitation 
which was begun in 1 839, for the transfer of the privi- 
leges and power of the Dock company to the dty, kept 
the question alive. Twelve hundred of the leading men 
of Bristol, in 1846, signed a memorial, which prayed 
that the terms of the proposed transfer should be sub- 
mitted to arbitration, which was presented to the town 
council and also to the Docks company. The matter 
became one of account. The average dividend which the 
company had declared was £2 As. 5d, per cent. The 
shareholders sought to get compensation on a scale that 
^ Letters of a Burgess, XXIX., 1833. 



A.D. 1845. 



THE DOCKS TRANSFERRED TO THE CITY. 



313 



was objected to. The result was that in this year the 
Free Port association was formed, in which politics were 
ignored in favour of the public good of the city. Mr. 
Bobert Bright was chosen president, and the agitation 
took a definite and powerful form. The citizens in public 
meetings objected to the corporation spending money on 
city improvements until the question was settled ; the 
operatives and trades in public and special meetings 
kept the matter weU before their feUow-citizens until, 
in 1 848, an arrangement was come to between the town 
council and the Dock company. A bill for the transfer 
was introduced into the House of Commons, which pro- 
vided for the redemption of the docks by the creation of 
a sinking fund, which gave a charge upon the rates of 
f ourpence in the pound. The preamble of the biU stated 
that " if such docks should become vested in the mayor, 
aldermen and burgesses of Bristol, subject to proper 
provisions, facilities would be afforded for the improve- 
ment of the trade of the port and city of Bristol by 
equalising, reducing, or otherwise altering the rates 
now payable under recited Acts, or some of them, which 
rates as now levied are detrimental to trade." An in- 
fluential and determined opposition arose, not against 
the transfer, but on the ground that the ratepayers 
would be taxed fourpence in the pound for the benefit 
of the shipowners and merchants. At a meeting of 
ratepayers convened by the mayor, the following reso- 
lution was carried : — 

That provided a board of Dock commissioners can be formed, 
to be wholly chosen by the ratepayers, and a reserve fund of 
£50,000 previously formed be provided for accidental repairs, the 
proposed transfer is highly desirable, inasmuch as it will restore 
to Bristol the control of her own port, the alienation of which in 
its consequences has been most injurious to her commerce, industry 
and port. 

The town coimcil, by thirty-two to five, determined, 
however, to uphold the bill in its original form. Under 
the Preliminary Inquiries Act, the Admiralty sent down 
a commissioner to make an enquiry into the proposed 
scheme, which was duly held in the Guildhall. The bill 
passed the third reading in the House of Commons 
May 24th, 1845, and on SOth June the Act received 
the royal assent ; and at the next meeting of the council 
the following gentlemen were elected as the Dock com- 
mittee: — Messrs. R. P. King, G. Thomas, Gibbs, Yisger, 
B. Bobinson, Jarman, Yining, G. E. Sanders, J. Miles, 
0. J. Thomas, J. Poole, W. Naish and R. Phippen. 

A congratulatory meeting of the Free Port associa- 
tion was held in the Guildhall, in September, 1848, at 
which Mr. Bright proposed that when the reduction of 
dues took place the city should observe a general holi- 
day. This was carried into effect on November 15th, 
when one of the grandest processions which Bristol has 
[Vol, ni.] 



witnessed was formed in Old Market street ; it marched 
in the following order to the Downs : — Trades delegates, 
town derk and corporation officials, mayor, aldermen 
and town council (F. H. Berkeley and P. "W. 8. Miles, 
the members for the city, joined the procession at Clifton 
church). Merchant Venturers, corporation of the poor, 
Mr. Bright and members of the Free Port association, 
merchants, bankers, traders. Oddfellows, shipwrights, 
printers, sawyers, confectioners, potters, braziers, cop- 
per-smiths, brassfounders, wireworkers, boiler-makers, 
rop6-makers, twine-spinners, coopers, wheelwrights, agri* 
cultural implement makers, glass-blowers, glass-cutters, 
smiths, masons, cabinet-makers, floorcloth-workers, pin- 
makers, gas .and waterworks' men, Hibernian society, 
all with music, banners, specimens of trades, &c., the 
fire brigades and engines bringing up the rear. The 
processionists afterwards returned to the Council-house, 
most of them winding up the day at public dinners. 

The success of this movement is largely due to one 
man who is still living, Mr. Leonard Bruton, the secre- 
tary of the Free Port association, and to its president, 
Mr. Kobert Bright, whose portrait is preserved in the 
outer hall of the Society of Merchant Venturers, with 
the following inscription : — 

Bobert Bright. Presented to the Society of Merchant Ven- 
turers by the subscribers to the Bright testimonial fund, 1857, in 
token of his efforts for securing the freedom of the port of Bristol. 

In 1865 Mr. Bruton was presented with a testi- 
monial of 500 guineas and a piece of plate with an in- 
scription acknowledging his services; and again, in 1880, 
a cheque for £1,000 was presented to him as a recog- 
nition of the great services he had rendered to the city. 
The result of the movement was a reduction of more 
than sixty per cent, in the local dues on ships coming 
into the port of Bristol, and of thirty per cent, on 
goods. During twenty years before 1848 the rise per 
cent, of tonnage from foreign parts was 33*37; from 
1848 to 1857, the increase rose to 66-65 per cent. ; and 
from 1858 to 1867, to 62-36 per cent. The money re- 
ceipts rose 50 per cent., the ratable value from £406,206 
in 1841 to £719,983 in 1871, and to £906,366 in 1881. 

1 8. Various plans were set on foot for improving the 
port ; some, indeed, had been suggested previously. In 
1 832 Mr. Milne, C.E., advocated the erection of a pier, 800 
feet long, at Portishead. In 1 839 Mr. I. K. Brunei pointed 
out several methods — first, constructing a lock of suffi- 
cient dimensions to admit large vessels into the Floating 
harbour, and for cutting off dangerous points in and 
deepening and widening the river; another, at a later date, 
was to construct a floating pier at Portishead and make a 
railway to join the Bristol and Exeter railway. In 1 839 
Mr. Macneil also proposed to build a pier at Portishead. 

L 4 



314 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.i>. 1853. 



In 1852 Mr. Rendel Bubmitted proposals for straight- 
ening the mouth of the Avon (which then ran between 
Dunball island and the ground now used for rifle prac- 
tice) ; a pier, 1,500 feet long, was to be run out near the 
lighthouse, another at Chapel Pill, on the west side, 
1,050 feet from the east pier, which was to lap over 
it, giving an entrance from the north-east. At the land 
end of these piers a dock was to be constructed within 
the marshes of sufficient capacity for the largest steam- 
ships then or likely to be in use; the entrance was to be 
by two locks, one 670 feet by 100 feet, to have a depth 
of 27 feet on the cill for six hours of each tide; the 
other lock, for small craft, was to be at the southern en- 
trance to the dock. On the Somerset side it was pro- 
posed to purchase 50 acres of land and to reclaim 125 
acres; on the Gloucestershire side, 450 acres were to 
be bought and 160 reclaimed. The total cost of this 
scheme was estimated at one and a half millions. 

In 1853 Mr. John Oroome proposed to convert Wood- 
hill bay, Portishead, into an outer harbour by erecting 
a breakwater 1,200 feet long from the Black Nore, with 
a deep landing pier at Portishead 600 feet in length, to 
cut a channel 150 feet wide through Portishead hill, to 
form a tidal basin at the end of this cutting 350 feet 
wide and 2,600 feet long, which was to communicate 
with two docks of fifty acres each, having a depth of 
water 30 feet, by means of two locks, each 900 feet by 
100 feet, the cut and tidal basin to have 20 feet at low 
water spring tides. He further proposed to construct 
four graving docks, 900 feet by 100 feet, with a reser- 
voir 600 feet square, to be supplied by Portishead Pill, 
and to connect the whole with the Avon by a canal near 
the village of Pill, also to have a railway to Bristol. 

In 1853 Mr. W. B. Neale, C.E., proposed to convert 
Portishead Pill into a floating dock, with an entrance 
harbour of 16 acres, protected by two piers, the eastern 
1,300 feet, the western 1,000 feet in length, both having 
slips and landing places. 

Mr. Thornton proposed a modiflcation of Mr. Bendel's 
plan. The dock to be one half the size, Dunball island 
to be reclaimed, and the swash and the channel of the 
river to be used for making the dock ; there was to be 
an entrance lock 800 feet by 130 feet, together with a 
graving dock 895 feet by 130 feet. He also, in 1858, 
prepared a plan for dockising the Avon by cutting an 
entrance through the fore shore, with piers and locks 
at Avonmouth, throwing a dam across the river which 
would give 600 acres of surface water. The plan also 
included a new course for the river opposite the powder 
magazine, with additional quayage at Bristol to the ex- 
tent of 2,600 feet. In 1860 the same engineer proposed 
to construct a small dock, with quay, at Avonmouth, for 



ocean-going steamships. Mr. May also, in 1858, sug- 
gested a landing-stage at Dunball island. 

In 1859 various other reports were made on the 
capability of the port for improvement. Mr. Parkes 
was neither in favour of docks at the river's mouth nor 
of dockising the river. He suggested the widening and 
deepening the river bed, and diverting the tidal cnrrents 
into the old channel between Dunball and the land. 
Mr. Green proposed the restoration of the channel of the 
river to its ancient bed by throwing out an embankment 
from the Somerset shore, which was also to be a pier 
or landing-place, to 100 yards below low-water mark, 
south-west of Dunball island, to which it was to join. 
He would also make a similar embankment on the 
Gloucestershire shore, leaving a seaway of from 300 to 
400 feet between the extreme ends of the piers. The 
tidal harbour was to extend towards Pill, with an 
average width of 1,500 feet, and with sufficient depth 
of water to float any ship until she could proceed to 
Cumberland basin ; his plan involved also the widening 
and deepening of the Avon. 

Mr. Howard, the Docks' engineer, with a view of 
preventing the injury to the City docks and fixed pro- 
perty which he considered would inevitably arise from 
independent private docks made at the mouth of the 
river, proposed to extend the existing floating harbour 
down the river, making new entrances at Kingroad. 
His plan was to construct an outer tidal harbour on the 
flat foreshore at Kingroad, on the Somerset side, which 
was to be enclosed by two piers, and would contain suffi- 
cient depth of water at low tide for ordinary steamers to 
enter. In it was to be a floating landing-stage, accessible 
at all states of the tide ; the river was to be dammed near 
the lighthouse. The great float was to be connected 
by tidal basins and locks with the outer tidal harbour. 
The three outer entrance locks would be respectiTely 
100, 64 and 40 feet wide; his estimate for the whole 
was £800,000. The report containing these three plans 
was by the town council referred to Mr. (now Sir John) 
Hawkshaw, C.E., and Mr. Page, C.E., who were re- 
quested to report if the scheme for converting the Avon 
into a floating dock were practicable, and generally 
as to the schemes which had been proposed. After 
a lapse of about eight months, these gentlemen pre- 
sented their reports. Mr. Hawkshaw preferred, of the 
schemes at the river's mouth, Mr. Bendel's plan, but 
thought it too large and costly ; moreover he did not con- 
sider that piers outside the Avon would attract ocean-going 
steamers to the port ; the construction of docks at the 
mouth of the Avon was quite practicable, but they 
would lead to a divided and ultimately to a competitiffl 
trade. Of the plans proposed for dockising the Avon, 



A.D. 1869. PLANS SUGGESTED FOR DOCKS OR DOC RISING THE RIVER. 



315 



lie greatly preferred Mr. Howaxd's, but thought that he 
had under-estimated the cost, which he himself calcu- 
lated at £ 1 ,200,000. Mr. Hawkshaw saw difficulties with 
regard to the anchorage at Kingroad, and could him- 
self come to no satisfactory conclusion without a long 
and careful examination of the bed of the river, and 
the strata underlying the banks and shoals at and near 
to the confluence of the Severn and Avon. He could see 
nothing to account for the deep water at the mouth of 
the Avon if its tidal waters did not cause it ; if they 
did, their abstraction might be fatal to the port of 
Bristol. His general impression was that the river 
should be widened, straightened and deepened, but he 
was not of opinion that even then ocean steamers of 
the largest class would come up to Bristol; the better 
plan would be to construct a steam dock at the mouth 
of the river, and to connect the same with Bristol by a 
railway laid on the margin of the Avon. He recom- 
mended that the improvement of the river be proceeded 
with, leaving the dock to be carried out as necessity 
proved requisite. 

Mr. Page spoke highly of Mr. Howard's plan, but 
did not think that the Avon ought to be turned into a 
floating harbour. (1) It might interfere with the tidal 
action of the Avon, and it probably would have a preju- 
dicial effect on the depth of water at the entrance to the 
proposed docks at its mouth. (2) The great expense of the 
plan, combined with the expense of diverting the sewage. 
(3) The interference with the trade as carried on with 
sailing vessels, and the necessity of towing all such 
ships up to Bristol. He considered it not necessary 
that the ships should come up to Bristol if the cargoes 
were brought, and would provide a pier and hydraulic 
apparatus adjoining Kingroad, together with a railway 
&om thence to Bristol quays and the great tnmk lines ; 
he would also widen and deepen the river for three and 
a half miles &om Cumberland basin, so as to allow 
ships drawing 22 feet to come up to Bristol at neap 
tides. Finally, he would, when requisite, construct a 
dock in the old north channel at Avonmouth, of which 
the pier should form one side, the said dock to be 2,100 
feet by 440 feet, having an area of 25 acres, and a tidal 
basin 800 feet by 600 feet ; the total cost he estimated 
at £260,000. Shortly after this report, a motion was 
made in the council virtually to carry out Mr. Page's 
plan ; this was lost by thirty-two to seventeen on 
February 17th, 1860. In 1862, a company procured 
an Act for constructing a railway to Avonmouth (the 
Port railway and Pier company) ; this was opened in 
1 865 ; it terminated at a short pier that was run out 
into the channel between I>unball island and the main 
land, which pier has since then effectually silted up the 



said channel. In 1 864 another company was formed (the 
Bristol Port and Channel Dock company) for the con- 
struction of a dock at Avonmouth. In 1865 the cor- 
poration obtained an Act for deepening and improving 
the river and for new entrances. In April, 1867, the 
Bristol and Portishead railway was opened, and the 
docks at Portishead were begun in 1871. The corpora- 
tion of Bristol possesses lands at Portishead, and, in 
1872, the town council resolved by thirty-two votes to 
twenty -six not to contribute towards the Avonmouth 
dock, but by thirty -six votes to nineteen they deter- 
mined to subscribe £100,000 to the completion of the 
dock at Portishead. In 1872-3, new entrance looks 
of large capacity, in a nearly straight line with the 
river, were opened at Cumberland basin, in accordance 
with the plan of Mr. Howard, the dock engineer. On 
February 24th, 1877, the Avonmouth dock was opened 
by the mayor, Mr. G. W. Edwards, who was accom- 
panied on the Juno by a large number of the citizens ; 
and on June 28th, 1879, the flrst craft, the Lyn, steam- 
ship, entered the Portishead dock. 

Mr. Hawkshaw's prediction as to a divided and com- 
petitive trade being the result of docks formed at the 
river's mouth became true to the letter. The Ghreat 
Western steamship line, which had been started, in 
1871, for the resumption of passenger traffic with 
New York, to ensure regularity in sailing, gradually 
removed their ships to Avonmouth as the point of de- 
parture and arrival. Inducements were offered by the 
managers of each of the three companies to shipowners 
and captains in order to get their trade, and great dis- 
sensions arose in the city and town council. The matter 
was, in 1882, flnaJly arranged satisfactorily by the 
mayor, Mr. J. D. Weston, who had been chosen as 
mediator between the three companies. On May 27th, 
1879, sheds for the reception of foreign cattle were 
opened at Cumberland basin. On June 17th Mr. 
Howard, at the request of a committee of the corpora- 
tion re-published his plan for dockising the Avon at an 
estimated cost of £790,000. In 1872 half a mile of 
new wharves with deep water berths were completed 
on the Somerset side of the Floating harbour and con- 
nected by a short line and tunnel (the Bristol Harbour 
railway) with the trunk lines at Temple meads. At 
these wharves the Bristol City steamship line to New 
York and the large grain-laden ships load and dis- 
charge ; and in 1875, by a tunnel under Durdham 
down and the Clifton Extension railway, the dock at 
Avonmouth was connected with the Midland and Great 
Western railways. 

The two fortified islands, the Steep and the Flat 
Holms, form the western boundary of the port of 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



Bristol, and with batteries on Brean down and at 
Penartb, render it safe from all aBsault in time of war. 

19. The following is a Bummary of the history 
of the beautiful Clifton SuBpension bridge, which 
hangs like a portcullis across the ^r^ of the 
Avon, just in advance of the entrance to the Floating 
harbour : — 

In the year 1 753 Alderman Tick left all his residuary 
estate, amounting to £1,000, to the Merchant Venturers' 
society, for the pur- 
pose of building a 
bridge, toll free, over 
the Avon from Clif- 
ton down. He es- 
- timated the cost at 
£lO,Q0O,andinl83O 
the estate had ac- 
cumulated to about 
£8,000. The inade- 
quacy of the funds, 
the necessity of levy- 
ing tollB, and the de- f- SH,ita- dnsgt 
sirability of substituting iron for stone, the plans for 
which latter it was estimated would coat £90,000, and 
were, moreover, incongruous with the site, rendered an 
Act of Parliament necessary. A committee wao formed, 
and plans were received from Mr. J. M. Bendel and 
others, but were not accepted. Mr. T. Telford, engineer 
of the Menai bridge, was also requested to prepare a 
suitable design ; he produced a singularly beautiful one, 
of which we append 
an illustration, the 
cost of which he es- 
timated at £52,000. 
An Act of Parlia- 
ment was obtained 
in spite of opposi- 
tion from the dean 
and chapter, who, 
being the owners of 
Itownham ferry 
(the title to which 

dates from the 12th ^ J m jttnddi <iaign /or a 

century), claimed under Tick's will to be entitled to a 
sum for supposed injury to their property. (Under 
the Act of 1861 compensation was awarded to them ) 
The first Act was obtained 29th of May, 1830, and trus- 
tees were chosen. Five competitors appeared with plans 
of superior merit. Mr. Davies Gilbert, formerly president 
of the Eoyal society, was appointed referee, and the 
design of Mr. I. K. Brunei was unanimously chosen, 
the cost being estimated at £57,000. 



In 1831 the work was commenced by Lady Elt<»i 
turning the first turf on the land for the approaches on 
the Clifton side, which was given by the Merchant 
Yenturers' society, and steps were taken to collect dona- 
tions and subscriptions to carry on the work. The 
Bristol riots intervened, and stopped all progress ; but, 
in 1S33, the trustees made another attempt, whidi, 
however, proved abortive. Oa the passing of the Great 
'Western railway bill, in 1835, the bridge trustees deter- 
mined to begin and 
carry on the woA to 
the extent warranted 
by the funds in hand. 
Mr. Miles gave the 
stone, plans for the 
, pier on the Leigh 
woods' side were pre- 
pared, and, in 1836, 
an iron bar was hung 
acroes the river at a 
somewhat lower ele- 
fm- Bridge, 1703. vation than that of 

the present bridge. Five shillings was charged for an 
aerial rido in the basket that traversed the ravine on 
this bar, which sum was subsequently reduced to 2«. 6d., 
then to 1«. : £125 was thus realised, but in 1853 this 
dangerous contrivance was removed. 

On the 27th of August, 1836, the first stone of ths 
Leigh woods' abutment was laid by the Marquis of 
Northampton, president of the British Association for 
the advancement of 
^^ Science, which was 
then holding its 
sixth annual aede- 
runt in Bristol. The 
whole cify was M 
feu on this occawon, 
the river, cliffs, and 
hanging woods 
being covered by 
tens of thousands 
of people in holiday 
ijitin smjwui™ Brw^p ISM, attire, who for the 

most part had marched in procession through the city to 
this beautiful spot. The works proceeded at first satis- 
factorily, but, in 1837, the contractors became bankrupt, 
and delay occurred ; other contractors were then found, 
and the abutment was completed in 1640. The tunnels 
and chambers in the rock for fastening the main chaws 
and the approaches for the roads were then excavated, 
and the whole of the ironwork was contracted for. So 
matters progressed until 1843, when it was found thst 




HISTORY OF CLIFTON SUSPENSION BRIDGE. 



the moneTs wUoh had been left and had acomuulated, 
amoontinp to £45,000, vero expended, and the works 
oonseqnentl; were temporarily stopped. 

The time allowed by the Act for the completion of 
the bridge expired on the 29th May, 18S3, but vrhen it 
was on the very verge of completion the work was again 
abandoned for want 
of funds; the portion 
of the chains, sus- 
pending rods and 
flooring which had 
been delivered were 
sold to satisfy de- 
mands, and things 
remained in abey- 
ance until 1B57, 
when a proposition 
was made by Lieut.- 
Colond8errell,C.G., 
of the United States, 
to finish the struc- 
ture with wire after 
the plan of the sus- 
pension bridge over 
the Niagara. Happily this met with no adequate 
support. 

In 1861 a new company, entitled The Clifton gua- 
pension Bridge company, was formed, and a new Act was 
obtuned, which received the royal assent on June 28th. 
Messrs. John Hawkshaw, F.K.S., and W. H. Barlow, 
F.B.8., being appointed the engineers, the piers and 



T. TtVimTi iultn fir CUflttt SufoulM Brldgi, 18S0. 



land on both sides of the river were transferred to the 
new company for £2,000 in paid-up shares; £50 per 
annum was to be paid over to the Old Trust for the 
purpose of securing the object of Alderman Tick's be- 
quest, viz., a bridge toll free, but meanwhile tolls were 
made payable on all traflic, with the usual exemption 
in favour of soldiers. 
Sir John Heniy Gre- 
ville Smyth, bart., 
took shares to the 
amount of £2,500, 
and gave a donation 
of like amount,, on 
condition that the 
bridge shonld be 
constructed of the 
width of 30 feet, in- 
stead of 24 feet, as 
contemplated under 
the Act (this was five 
feet narrower than 
Brunei's plan), and 
that the owner of 
Aahton court should 
be entitled to the use of the bridge toll free for thir^ 
years. The ori^al chains, which had meanwhile been in 
use for Hungerford Suspension bridge, London, bad been 
re-purchased, and the work was oonunenoed under the 
direction of Mr. Thomas Airey, for Messrs. Cochrane and 
Co., the contractors, and progressed satisfactorily until 
December 8th, 1864, when, amidst great rejoicing, this 



CUflim Siapmlim Brtdf « erected fnm I. K. finmel't dutfn. 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



ma^iflooDt aerial straoture wu opened. Thrse pto- 
oeBflionfl were formed, one being military, oompoeed 
principally of local volunteers, under the command of 
Colonel Brunker, which aasembled in Queen square and 
marched to the bridge. The Artillery, Yeomanry 
(Huesart) and the Naval Beseire oroased the bridge and 
took up the poritionfi assigned to them. The Bifles filed 
to the right and guarded that aide of the new road, the 
Engineers guarded the left side. 

The civic procession consisted of the awemblage of 
trades and friendly societies, headed by the mayor and 
dvic officers, and members of the oorporation of the 
poor, who had paraded the city to Clifton down. Upon 
their arrival portions of the two bodies coalesced and 
formed the Bridge procession in the following order: — 
The Militia and VoLtrtrrcKa Omcuts, 

THS CoNTKAPTOBa, 
Tm SUTERIHTIIIDIHT Ot WoilKB AHD TBI BaiDQX WOBRmtN, 

The Fobbioh Cokbdls, 

Tai Lord Biaaor or GuiDCBrraft and Bristou 

Till Dban AMD Cahohs, with otbbk Clirovmbn, 

Thr Lokd-Liiittiiiaht or GLODcaanK and or TBS Citt ahd 

Cocimr or Bristol ai<o thb LoBD-LiBiTTKHAirT or SoHiBBKr, 

TBI MAOISTRATBa OF GLOUCISraK AHD BatSTOL, 

Tub Chairhan and Dirbctobb or thk CoiirANr, 

Tub Ofticbbs or thb Cohpakt, 

Thi Mayor, ALDiRMiif ahd Town Councillors, 

Thb Societt or Mbrchaht VaNTCBKRB, 

Tbb Corpobation or thb Foob, 

Tub Dbleoatbs or thb Tradb ahd Faiehdlv Socibtibs. 

This procession crossed from Clifton, and was welcomed 
by salvoes of artillery from the Somerset side ; it then 
recrosaed the river, and the Earl of Ducie, lord-lieutenant 
of the oounty of Qlouoester, and the Earl of Cork and 



Orrery, lord-lieutenant of the oounty of Somerset, on 
reoeiving an address from the chairman of the Bridge 
company, Mr. Mark Huish, formally declared the bridge 
open to the public from the following morning. In the 
afternoon 350 ladies and gentl^nen partook of a banquet 
at the Victoria rooms. 

The height of the bridge from high water is 245 feet, 
the span of the chains from saddle to saddle is 702 feet 
3 inches, the span between the abntments is 627 feet, 
its weight is 1,500 tons, it will support a burden of 
7,000 tons. There are 1,200 links, of 24 feet in length 
and 7 inches in width, in the chains, these sweep grace- 
fully through two pillars, 86 feet high, on each side of 
the river at a height of 73 feet, they are th«i carried 
more abruptly on the land side to the surf ace,, and are 
securely anchored 70 feet within the solid rock, 400 
bolts, 4g inches in diameter and 25 inches in length, 
fasten the links together, and the bridge ia attached to 
the chains by rods of iron 1| inches in diameter, which 
are placed 8 feet apart, and which vaiy in length from 
3 feet to 65 feet. The handrail is of oak, and the 
carriage road of Baltic timber braced together, covered 
with a plank floor laid transversely. The abutment on 
the Leigh woods' side, which commences at a height of 
130 feet, is carried up llOfeettothe floor of the bridge, 
and with the pillar cost £13,971. Due precautions 
were taken to allow of the expansion and contraction of 
the metal, and the bridge was tested under a load of 
500 tons of stone, with a result that satisfactorily proved 
it to be the strongest suspension bridge in the world as 
well as the handsomest. Its total cost has been some- 
what over £100,000. 



A fall page pw» of Clifton Siupmtim Bridgt formi tA« D'onlptpiwt to this Volume. 



CHAPTER XXI. 



PIJOVE^I^IJ Ep.— fiEO^GE IV. TO YIGTO^. 



I. George IV. begins his reign. First applications for Railroads. Sanitary condition of Floating 
Harbour — Card's plan. 2. The right of election to offices by the Common Council tested. 3. No Popery 
Meeting. The Grammar School. Survey of the Bristol Channel. Election Riots. Death of George IV. 
and Accession of William IV. 4. Popularity of Sir Charles Wetherell — he opposes Reform, becomes an 
obstructive, and loses his popularity. 5. Public feeling against the Bishops. Riots in the country. Great 
Reform Meeting. 6. Muting of Sailors in Bristol. Application for Military. Arrival of Sir CharUs 
Wetherell. Commencement of the Riot. First Attack on the Mansion-house. Escape of the Recorder. 
7. The Scene on Sunday Morning. The Mansion-house cellars forced. Escape of the Mayor. Colonel 
Brereton sends the 14** Light Dragoons out of the city. Attack on the Bridewell. The County Prison 
set on fire. Attack on the Bishop's Palace. 8. Firing of the Mansion-house. The north side of Queen 
Square burned. 9. The Excise Office fired. Return of i^h Light Dragoons from Keynsham. Arrival 
of Troops from Gloucester. 10. Major Beckwith's statement. The citizens demand a police. Special Com- 
mission appointed. 11. TVie King's speech. Sir Charles WethereU's defence. Trial and sentences of the 
Prisoners. Courts Martial on Colonel Brereton and Captain Warrington. Mr. Pinney, the mayor, tried 
and acquitted. 12. Anniversary of Passing the Reform Bill. Cholera in Bristol. 13. Reaction against 
Reform. Sir Charles Wetherell acts as Recorder. The Municipal Corporation Reform Act. 14. The 
Municipal Officers, Re-arrangement of Salaries. List of Mayors and Sheriffs since 1835. Clifton joined 
to Bristol. 15. Indebtedness and value of the City Property. 16. Meeting of the British Association. 
Death of William IV. Accession of Victoria. 17. Compensation to Slave Owners. Launch of "Great 
Britain." 18. Street Improvement Bill. 19. Death of a Director in an accident on the Great Western 
Railway. The Claim on the Long Ashton estates. Landing of the body of Lord Raglan. 20. Brief 
notices of incidents of local interest from 1854 to the present date, including Volunteer movements. 



EOBGE IT. ascended the tlirone in his 
fifty-ninth year, ha-ring been eight years 
Prince Kegent He waa prodaimed in 
Bristol on February Srd, 1820. — On Feb- 
m&ry 29th, the foundation stone of the 
Bristol Philosophical and Literary insti- 
tution vas laid by the mayor, William 
Fripp, ]un., assisted by the sheriffs, 
James George, jun., and John Gardiner, 
the Dean of Bristol, and a hoet of eminent men, one 
hundred and fifty of whom afterwards dined at the 
Merchant Yenturera' hall. — On the 20th of August the 
old gaol of Newgate ceased to be used as a prison.— 
Daring this year the stained gjasa which fills the win- 
[Voi-in.] 



dow over the altar in the Mayor's chapel was purchased 
at Sir Paul Bagot'a sale by the chamberlain,— Mr. Levi 
Ames, the senior alderman, died, leaving £36 a year to 
equip the nine watchmen and the night constables of 
8t. Mary-le-port ward in boots, hate and great coats. 
In the twelve city wards there were fifteen night con- 
stables and one hundred and fifteen watchmen, the wage 
of tlie former was I61. and of the latter lOf. per week; 
the chief and petit constables numbered one hundred 
and seventeen. — George Hilhouse elected mayor, and 
Thomas Hassell and Bobert Jenkins sherifls. 

InJauuary, 1821, Mr. William Adyegave£100 to the 
Eye Infirmary. — On the night of the 29th a Mr. and Mrs. 
Norris fell into Cumberland basin and were drowned^ Mr. 



320 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1822. 



Norris being a Freemaaon, £500 was raised for their four 
orphan children. — On April 24th St. MazyEedcliff church 
was damaged during a severe thunderstorm, and several 
ships were stranded in the Bristol channel. — John Har- 
wood was hanged at the new gaol for the murder of 
Eliza Balsham, a former sweetheart. He threw a stone 
at her in a quarrel, on the 26th January, at a distance 
of thirty yards; she lingered until February 17th in 
the Infirmary. He was executed on April ISth, after 
standing twenly-five minutes on the platform before he 
could summon courage to give the fatal signal by drop- 
ping his handkerchief. His skin, flayed and tanned, is in 
the museum of the Infirmary. — July 19th the king was 
crowned; there was the usual rejoicing in Bristol on 
the occasion. — Steampackets this summer began to ply 
regularly from Bristol to Ireland. — Mr. Henxy Browne, 
banker, published a plan for cleansing the Frome ; this 
gentleman was one of the partners in the Bullion bank. — 
Abraham Hilhouse elected mayor, and Nicholas Boch 
and Thomas Camplin sheriffs. 

In March, 1822, the dock dial was placed in front 
of the Exchange. — May 16th an Act was passed for the 
employment and maintenance of the poor of the diy; 
for altering the mode of assessing the rates; for paving, 
pitching and lighting the city, &c. — ^The Prince and 
Princess of Denmark and suite came to the Hotel, 
Clifton, on July ISth ; after visiting some of the manu- 
factories, they left for Longleat, on their way to Copen- 
hagen. — The freedom of the city was conferred upon 
Sir F. Freeling, the son of a journeyman sugar baker 
on Beddiff hill, who from a junior position in the Bristol 
Post office had risen by his talents and ability to be the 
directing and controlling power in the General Post 
office, London. 

" Bristol, too slowly came thy ciric grace. 
As thon of Freeling art the native place, 
Since he, by deeds and worth 'tis plain. 
Can well retom the honour he may gain.'' 

Early this year the prospectus of the Bristol Chamber 
of Commerce was issued, and in February, 1823, it was 
organised, Mr. Joseph Eeynolds being first president, 
Mr. Thomas Stock and Mr. Joseph Cookson vice-presi- 
dents, Mr. O. Helicar secretary. — August 12th the new 
church and churchyard of Clifton were consecrated by the 
Lord Bishop of Bristol. — This year the entrance to Park 
street was widened and improved by public subscrip- 
tions. — The old Hotwell house, which was erected in 
1696, and which abutted on the river, was taken down, 
in order to widen the new road to Clifton down ; a 
new building of the Tuscan order was erectedT. — The 
site of Newgate prison was sold for £655, subject 
to a ground rent of 70*. — Neate, the Bristol pugilist. 



was beaten by Tom Spring, having fought thir^-seven 
minutes with a broken arm ; Mrs. Fry offered him £600 
to pay forfeit and expenses if he would not fig:ht. He 
declined, but promised her that he would never fight 
again whatever the result. The love of brutal sports 
still lingered ; when the last bull was baited in Bristol 
we know not, but the bull ring was the open space in 
which the church of St. Jude now stands. The in- 
habitants of that locality bore the name of *' Indl paun- 
chers," and the euphonious appellation still adheres to 
one of its lanes. — James George elected mayor, and 
Gabriel Goldney and John Cave sheriffs. 

On January 1st, 1823, the ship Wear0y of 450 tons, 
bound &om Bristol to Jamaica, having sailed hence on 
the preceding morning, was wrecked at eight o'dock in 
the evening on the Irish coast, between Ballyootton and 
YoughaU. Fifteen persons (induding the master, pilot, 
two females, one infant, and three male passengers) 
perished. Thirteen escaped. — In June the Bristol Do(^ 
company declared a dividend of one per cent, to the 
shareholders. — ^In April the foundation-stone of the new 
Council-house was laid by the mayor. — ^The quarter-boys 
that struck the hours outside Christ church were sold ; 
they are now in the possession of Mr. Braikenridge, of 
Clevedon. — This month Mr. James Maze, of Bristol, was 
killed by a fall from one of the Pyramids in Egypt. — 
In July the reading-room of the Bristol Philosophical 
Institution was opened. — John Barrow dected mayor ; 
John Savage and Charles Frederick Pinney, sheriffs^ 

In May, 1824, the building of the Arcades between 
Broadmead and the Barton was commenced. — ^The royal 
assent was given to a bill for lighting and watohing the 
parish of Oifton, and in June an Act was passed ''for 
lighting the dty with oil gas." — During this month the 
first exhibition of pictures in the Bristol Institution was 
held. — Application was made for a bill to enaUe the 
mayor, burgesses and commonalty to reduce, alter, 
modify, and regulate the town dues and the mayor's 
dues, and the charging and collecting thereof. — Wher- 
ries were established as a means of pubUo conveyance 
between Prince street bridge and Cumberland basin by 
Mr. Davis.-— Thomas Hassell dected mayor, John Gar- 
diner and Charles Ludlow Walker sheriffs. 

On January 3rd, 1825, the first railroad between 
Bristol and Bath was projected; Sheriff Gardiner 
took the chair at the "White lion" tavern, Bristd, 
to receive the report of Mr. J. M. Tucker, the surveyor. 
The capital was to be £100,000, in 4,000 shares of £25 
each. Also on February 2nd a meeting of the London 
and Bristol Bailroad company, capital £1,500,000, in 
shares of £100 each, was held at the " London " tavezn 
to receive the report of Mr. John Loudon McAdam, who 






A.D. 1824. 



THE SANITARY CONDITION OF THE HARBOUR. 



321 



advised the oonsiaruotion of a turnpike road in connection 
with the railroad via Wallingf ord, at an estimated cost 
of £130,000 ; Biohard Hart Davis, M.P., was the chair- 
man. — ^The by-laws of the Corporation of the Poor, also 
John Evans' ChronologMl ouUtne of ths Sutory of Bristol, 
and the second volume of Bev. Samuel Seyer's Memoirs 
of BrisMf were published this year. — Eingsdown was 
lighted with oil gas. — ^The condition of the water in the 
Floating harbour was, through the intense heat of the 
summer, perfectly fetid; since 1809, the city sewers, of 
the length of five miles and three-quarters, had daily 
been pouring their contents into it as into a common cess 
pool. Application was made to the directors of the Dock 
company to remedy this evil by culverts and new sewers 
that should convey the matter to the New Out. On the 
Dock company demurring to the liability sought to be 
imposed upon them the conunissioners of sewers moved 
for a rule to show cause why a mandamus should not 
issue against the directors of the Dock company requir- 
ing them to execute such works. After much litigation, 
a peremptory mandamus was issued in February, 1827. 
That doctors differed, and that there were two opinions 
on the question of the sanitary condition of the harbour, 
is evident from the following: — "From 1795 to 1809 the 
deaths from fever in Bristol were 2, 1 75. From 1 809, when 
the river was dockised or floated, to 1824, they were only 
1,319."^ — Oarey's plan, published in 1 825, for improving 
the Floating harbour, consisted of piers and a pair of gates 
in Oanons' marsh, with three sluices on each side ; three 
sluices from a pier on the south-west into the New 
Out ; Prince street bridge to be furnished with gates ; 
a double swing bridge, working on a central pier, to 
replace the Drawbridge ; another opposite Farr's lane to 
the Butts; four sluices into Cumberland basin from the 
Floating harbour ; gates in Netham dam 30 feet broad, 
to be shut at high water, thus forcing the head of water 
down the feeder, and through the Floating harbour to 
the sluices in Canons' marsh, and through them into 
the New Cut. — ^Mr. John Loudon McAdam, general 
surveyor of the roads for the Bristol district, and in- 
ventor of the system known as ''macadamising," (i.^., 
making and mending roads by using stone broken into 
fragments about the size of a walnut), gave notice that 
he should resign his post at the expiration of the cur- 
rent year. The Bristol trust has the merit of being the 
first body in the kingdom to test his plan. — ^In the month 
of June, on the petition of Frederick Jones, of Stapleton 
road, Mr. Joseph Hume, in the House of Commons, 
stated that the petitioner had on two several occasions 
demanded of local bankers gold for their notes and had 
been refused. That of the legal obligation of country 

1 B. Smith. 



bankers to pay in gold there could be no doubt, but the 
only remedy for the noteholder who had been refused 
seemed to be, not as was thought and intended by sum- 
mary process, but by an action at law. After consider- 
able debate, the petition was ordered to be printed. — 
Henry Savery was tried before the recorder for foi^^ing 
a note-of-hand for £500, with intent to defraud George 
Smith and his co-partners, trading under the firm of 
John Freeman and the Bristol Copper company. He 
persisted in pleading guilty, and was sentenced to be 
hanged ; he was subsequently reprieved and transported 
for life, because it was shown that a Bristol magistrate 
had told him his life would be spared if he pleaded 
guilty. — The Mechanics' Institution was opened by Lord 
John Eussell June 20th. — In August a strenuous attempt 
was made to extend the jurisdiction of the gaol delivery 
and Nisi Prius assizes at Bristol. 

2. On November 25th rules were obtained in the 
King's Bench in the nature of a quo warranto, calling 
upon Mr. John Ha3rthome, mayor, and Messrs. Oabried 
Ooldney and John Savage, sheriffs, to show by what 
authority they held their offices. The case came on 
in 1826. The substantial question to be tried was 
whether the right of election was vested in the mayor, 
aldermen and common council as a select body, or 
whether the burgesses at large had not under the 
charters a voice in the election of their officers. A 
distinct and collateral objection was taken against the 
sheriffs on account of their having served the office 
three years previously. For the rules, custom and 
the old charters were pleaded, showing that Bristol 
was an ancient town, and not a corporation by pre- 
scription. As such the burgesses had a right, which 
they had constantly exercised, of choosing their mayor 
long antecedent to their first common council, which 
was established under the charter Edward m., 1373, 
and that the charter of Charles II. was void ; con-r 
sequently elections under it were not valid. Contra 
it was argued that the elections took place under the 
charter of 9 Anne, by which the power of election was 
confided to forty-two of the more discreet citizens and 
burgesses besides the mayor, to whom the power of 
election was given. The rules as they related to 
both the mayor and sheriffs were discharged. This 
established the validity of the elections according 
to the charter of 9 Anne. — Beckless speculation had 
caused an issue of £6,000,000 by the country banks ; 
discounts were raised, trade was checked, a panic en- 
sued, and, on December 20th, the Bullion bank, 
Messrs. Browne, Cavenagh^ Browne and Bayly, Com 
street, Bristol, suspended payment. (See engraving 
of one of their notes, ante p. 226.) — John Haythome 



322 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.1>. lffi». 



elected mayor, and Oabriel Goldnej and John Savage 
ahenffs. 

In 1826 the foreign import trade of Bristol amounted 
to 84,931 tons, in 425 ships, of which number 358 were 
British and 67 foreign ; as the exports were nearly, if 
not quite equal, the above figures must be doubled for 
the non-ooasting traffic on the river. These ships were 
towed up and down the Avon by Pill boatmen, who 
were paid 3«. 9J. per man, assisted by horses on the 
towpath between the Broad Pill and Bristol ; but this 
year six West Indiamen were, during the first week in 
November, successfully taken from Bristol over the Swash 
at the mouth of the river by the steamboats Glamorgan 
and Bristol, thus establishing the practicability of steam 
towage in the Avon. The names of Christopher Claxton 
and Mark Whitwill, sen., should be associated with this 
successful attempt to benefit the port and to break up an 
effete monopoly. — On Sunday evening, June Ist, Mr. 
Hunt left Ilchester to pay a visit to his friends in Bristol ; 
he came in a coach and four from Wells, was drawn 
into the city by his admirers, and from one of the pillars 
in front of the Exchange addressed the vast multitude. 
It was fourteen years since his first, and eleven years, 
he said, since his last visit. He was making an elec- 
tioneering tour of Somerset. — On July 3 Ist Mr. Courtney 
made a second and most successful passage down a 
rope stretched from the summit of St. Vincent's rocks 
to the foot of Leigh woods. — Two men who refused to 
pay a fine for unseemly behaviour during a funeral in 
Bedcliff church were, on August 23rd, set for three 
hours in the stocks on Bedcliff hill. This was, we 
believe, the last exhibition of the kind in Bristol. — 
Thomas Camplin elected mayor, and Thomas Hassell 
and Daniel Stanton sheriffs. 

In January, 1827, William Henry Hervey, fifth Earl 
of Bristol, created first Marquis of Bristol (John, Lord 
Hervey of lokworth, had been created Earl of Bristol 
October 5th, 1714). — The lowest price quoted for Bohea 
tea in Bristol was at this time 3«. 2d, per pound, the 
highest being fine Hyson, 10«. — Joseph Kiddle (a man 
hired that day) was killed as he entered the cage of a fine 
young lion which was on exhibition at the '* Star " inn, 
Bedminster. — The Branch Bank of England was opened 
at the upper end of Bridge street, tmder a new Act passed 
this year. — Notice was given, on the 13th October, of 
the intention of the corporation to open a market for 
live cattle in Temple Meads, and to remove the existing 
market in Thomas street. — ^A new swivel bridge (Draw- 
bridge) was opened August 12th, by the mayor, on his 
way to church; it cost £1,930, and was constructed by 
Messrs. Acraman; weight, 120 tons; carriage way, 18 
feet ; two footpaths, each 5 feet wide ; opened and shut 



by a winch wheel, which one man could work.— In 
September two men were killed by the caving in of the 
earth whilst constructing a tunnel for the sewer in 
Prince street. The shafts were afterwards filled in, 
and the tunnel was carried along the Quay. — Gabriel 
Gk>ldney elected mayor, and Charles Payne and H. W. 
Newman sheriffs. 

3. On Januaiy 9th, 1828, John Noble, senior alder- 
man of Bristol, died, eighty-four years of age. He was 
sheriff in 1775, mayor in 1791, and alderman in 1792. 
Under the Orenville administration he was appointed 
one of the auditors of the public accounts, and resided in 
London, only paying an occasional visit to Bristol. He 
was bom at Taunton in 1744. — On February 12th there 
was a great meeting in Queen square held by adjourn- 
ment from the Guildhall, for the purpose of petitioning 
Parliament against any further concessions of political 
power to the Boman Catholics within these realms. — ^In 
May the races were held on Durdham down, in Ihe 
presence of a large and fashionable assemblage. — ^The 
famous kite carriage, the invention of Messrs. Pocock 
and Sons, schoolmasters of this city, was exhibited at 
Ascot Heath races, where it was inspected by George lY. 
It then started from Staines in company with several 
coaches, all of which it distanced, and passed evexy- 
thing on the road. It covered the eight miles between 
Staines and Smallberry green in half an hour less time 
than the Bull and Mouth coach. — The following curious 
extract is from Felix Farley** Bristol Journal of this year : 

Dr. GoodenoQgh, the master of the Grammar school, has four 
or five free scholars now upon the foundation. For each of these 
he reoeives £4 ; also 7«. 6ci. quarterly for firing and keeping the 
school clean. His salary is £80 per annum, with £1 6«. 8(2. hat 
money ; the under-master has also £80, and 13«. ^d. hat money. 
The school is open to all the sons of freemen within a mile of the 
liberties of Bristol. The head-master only considers himself bound 
to teach such boys the learned languages, but for an additional 
sum of sixteen guineas he puts the foundation boys on a footing 
with his priyate pupils, of whom he has thirty-five boarders ; he 
also takes a few day boarders. 

Mr. Isaac James, who for thirty years had been one of 
the tutors of the Baptist academy, died December 8tL — 
John Caye elected mayor, and 0. L. Walker and Thomas 
Hooper Biddle sheriffs. 

In 1829 a camera obscura was opened in West's 
observatory on Olifton down. — The traffic between 
Bristol and Liyerpool was chiefly carried on in smacks 
of from 80 to 120 tons burthen, which sailed once a 
week. — Sweeping chimneys by machinery was intro- 
duced into Bristol this year under the auspices oi a 
society for superseding the employment of children in that 
dangerous occupation. — On May 21st a Bristol horticul- 
tural society was formed ; the first show was held on the 



23rd of June, and the second on the 4th of Angnist, both at 
the Olifton hotel. — The western aroh for foot passengers 
under the tower of St. John's church was opened In 
September ; the eastern one had been opened some 
months prenoualy. — Samuel Wesle;, editor of the works 
of SebastJan Bach, opened the ot^an In St. Hary Bed- 
olifiE church on September 29th ; tickets, 4i., 7*. 6d. and 
lOt. each.— 0. Pinney, in seconding the nomination of 
J. E. BailUe as member of Parliament, stated that Ato- 
eighths of the whole trade of Bristol depended on the 
West Indies. He advocated the education of the slaves, 
so that they might ultimately be fitted for a similar posi- 
tion to that of the English peasantry. — John Savage elec- 
ted mayor, and H. W. Dawson and J. E. Lnnell sheriffs. 

In 1830 the Bristol channel was surveyed by Lieu- 
tenant Denham.— On Thursday, February 4th, the Cattle 
market, Temple meads, was opened. — William Cobbett 
delivered In July, at the Assembly rooms, Prince street, 
a series of lectures on " Political Economy." — In this 
month Mr. Baillie made his public entrance into Bristol, 
which was signalised by a riot. Oenttmun on horseback 
assailed with bludgeons the friends of Mr. Protheroe, 
the defeated candidate, and the "Bummer" tavern was 
attacked by the mob, who destroyed the windows, shut- 
ters, Ac. ; the windows of Hi. John Hare, Temple gate, 
were smashed in, and the whole city was in a state of 
tumult ^m the extraordinary number of intoxicated 
persona.— Qeorge 17. died June 26th, 1 S30, unlamented, 
and William IV. succeeded him. The coronation day, 
September Bth, was celebrated in Bristol with great 
splendour ; the bells of the churches were rung, cannon 
fired, and the streets liberally adorned with bunting, 
notwithstanding a heavy fall of rain, which tended to 
mar the processions and the fireworks In the evening. — 
John Savage again elected mayor, and George Protheroe 
and William doxton sheriffs. — During the month of 
September Mr. Charles Finney presided at a meeting 
held in Bristol to congratulate the French nation on 
the revolution and the three days of July. This gentle- 
man was mayor in 1831, at the time of the riots.— 
October 30th, the Bristol Political Union was projected 
by Mr. James Adand in the Britteliatt. 

4. We now enter upon one of the most important 
eras in the modem history of our city. In 1S3I the 
Bristol riots occurred in oonnection with the agitation 
for reform ; Sir Charles Wetherell, the attorney-general 
under the Duke of Wellington's administration, was a 
vigorous opponent of the emancipation of the Boman 
Catholics ; on the second reading of the Belief Bill he 
opposed It In a trenchant, vigorous i^veech, notwith- 
standing the fact that the Oovemment, of which he 
was a member, hod introduced the measure. "Qre- 



ville says, ' The Speaker said the only Inmd interval Sir 
Charles had was that between his walstooat and his 
breeches.' When he speaks he unbuttons bis braces, 
and in his vehement action his breeches fall down and 
bis waistcoat runs up, so that there is a great Interreg- 
num. He is half mad, eooentrio, ingemious, with great 
and varied information, and a coarse,, vulgar mind, 
delighting in ribaldry and abuse, beddee being an 
enthnsiast; he is inflexibly honest, and with all his 
eccentricities highly honourable."* On 22nd March, 
1830, the Duke dismissed him, and Sir Charles won 
high renown amongst the anti-CatholIo por^ for the 



sir darUt WiOurta, fn* a tmUmjBraiy yriil. 

sacrifice he bod made on principle. He was at this 
time the Beoorder of Bristol, a paction equivalent or 
nearly so to that of judge of the King's bench, and on 
his entrance into Bristol in April to hold the Assixe he 
was welcomed by an immense multitude with shouts of 
"No Popery! Wetherell for ever!" The mob attempted 
to take bis horses from the carriage in order to draw 
him in triumph, and they spent their surjdus energy in 
smashing the windows in the houses of the Catholics and 
of their chapel in Trenchord street. Sir Oiarlee was only 
another instance of the instability of popular favour, for 
the Hosannahs of the day speedily gave place to male- 
diction and outrage. His opposition to a reform of the 
Constitution was equally oonsdentlons and even more 
obstinate. On July 6th, 1831, the second reading of the 
< The Age we live id, 850. 



324 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 18SL 



Beform Bill was carried by 867 to 231, and on the 12th 
the House attempted to go into committee; when a few of 
the Tories, deserted by their leaders, were headed by the 
ex-attomey-general, and for eight hours the small and 
dwindling body, by repeated divisions, obstructed the 
progress of the measure, until at half -past seven in the 
morning, with, numbers diminished to twenty-four, they 
relinquished the struggle, just as the Liberal whips had 
sent out for a fresh relay of members from those who 
had taken a night's rest. This extreme partisan spirit 
on the part of the chief criminal judge of the city greatly 
irritated the minds of the Bristol reformers, and when 
in his place in the House of Commons he spoke with 
contempt of a petition to the Lords which had, it was said, 
20,000 Bristol signatures, and declared that there was 
a reaction against the bill, the indignation against him 
in the city was extreme. Cunning demagogues and 
unwise orators fostered the feeling and magnified the 
offence. Equally unwise antagonists of reform made 
defiant orations and added fuel to the angry passions of 
the multitude. There is no doubt but that Sir Charles 
was in some degree misled by the speeches and resolu- 
tions passed by those who had not sufficient perspicadiy 
to gauge the feeling of the country, and was encour- 
aged to fight by such meetings as the following: — 
On Friday, January 28th, a ''loyal and constitutional 
meeting" in opposition to reform had been held at the 
''White Lion" tavern, Bristol, Mr. Alderman Daniel 
in the chair, when an address to his majesty and a 
petition to Parliament were unanimously adopted. The 
petition, after alluding to the disturbed state of the 
country where every artifice is practised to infiame the 
passions of the people, and to diffuse discontent and 
dissatisfaction by a licentious press, states that it would 
be a fatal error if Parliament believed that a popular 
clamour for revolutionary innovations under the pretext 
of reform expresses the sense of the nation; that the 
respectable portion of the people have abstained from 
attending meetings called in advocacy of discontent and 
the disturbance of the public peace ; that our admirable 
form of government, King, Lords and Commons is, of 
all political systems planned by human wisdom, the most 
perfect and complete ; that any changes necessary must 
be corrected with caution, new elements introduced would 
destroy its very form and character ; that the Protestant 
religion must be supported ; vote by ballot denounced 
as a degrading theory; that rank and property naturally 
give an infiuence over those to whom they give support 
and the means of existence; that the kindly affection 
subsisting between these two classes, the employer and 
the employed, forms the best safeguard of social order 
which would be destroyed by giving the ballot; that 



the ballot would lead to universal suffrage, that such 
changes would be of ftttal oonsequenoe to ^e state, and 
they pray that all attempts to introduce such measorei 
may be met by a firm and decisive rejection. 

This petition of the loyal and oonstitational meetiiig 
called forth great exertions on the part of the reformen 
who got up counter-petitions, with 12,000 signatureB, 
which were presented to Parliament on the same niglit 
as that of the Tories. Mr. Hunt objected to the recep- 
tion of the latter, on the ground of its being a printed 
paper and so contrary to rule. 

5. At the dissolution of Parliament in Apifl, at an im- 
mense mass meeting held in Queen squasretm the 26tli, 
it was determined to contest the election, and Edward 
Protheroe, jun., and James Evan Baillie were selected by 
the Whigs as the reform candidates. At a meeting of 
the Tories held at the "White Lion" tavern their old and 
deservedly respected member, Bichard Hart Davis» liad 
been selected to fight the battle of anti-reform, but on 
his canvass he found the cause hopeless, and on the 30ih 
he wisely retired. On the 1 5th of September Mr. Ohailei 
Pinney was chosen mayor, and Oteorge Bengough and 
Joseph Lax sheriffs. On the 19th of September the bill 
was finally carried in the Commons by 845 votes to 289, 
but after a powerful debate in the House of Lords, 
which lasted from October 2nd to October Tth, it wbb 
thrown out by a majority of 41 upon the seco&d 
reading. Only two bishops voted for the bill, whilst 
twenty-one, including the primate (exactiy the nmab€r 
that would have turned the scale), voted against it. 
This made the prelates highly unpopular, and for a 
while was certainly very injurious to their order. At 
Badical meetings the abolition of the House of Lords 
was advocated, whilst those who could not agree to so 
extreme a measure were perf ectiy willing to exdude the 
bishops from all legislative power. 

On October 12th 60,000 persons walked in processioii 
to St. James' palace, London, to present an address to tbe 
king. These were joined by a rabble who demolished the 
windows of unpopular peersi and committed still grosser 
outrages. A similar riot broke out at Derby, where their 
excesses culminated in the breaking open of the Borough 
gaol and the release of the prisoners. In an attempt on 
the County gaol they were less successful; they were fired 
on and several of the rioters were killed and others woun- 
ded. At Nottingham a mob attacked and burnt the Castle; 
from thence they marched against the country seats of 
the anti-reform peers and gentry, several of which th^ 
sacked and pillaged. Upon that Sir Charles WethereO, 
in the House of Commons, attacked Lord Althorp and 
Lord John Hussell, and charged them with conniv- 
ing at the dastardly attacks that had been made on 



THE RIOTS. 



the and -reformers, and witb enoonraging illegal Dom- 
bmadoas as a means of carrjring the Beform Bill. 
This added greatly to his onpopularit?. Sudh a state 
of excitement thiooghout the kingdom had nerer be- 
fore been known. Politioal nnions had been formed 
in most of the large citieB; meetings of 150,000 persons 
had been held, damorons for reform, and the country, 
when, on the 20th of October, Parliament was prorogued, 
iras vithin a measurable distanoe of civil war. 

On the rejection of the Beform Bill by the lords, 
aondi^ meetings had been called in Bristol by. the part; 
of progress, which were numerously attended ; by per- 
miaaion of the mayor, Ur. Charles Finney, on October 
12th, one snob was held in &e Quildhall, from which it 
wae adjourned ^ .-- • 
^tyQiwen^uajre ; 
the chair was 
taken by Mr. J. 
Addington ; the 
chief speakers 
were Ueesrs. S,. 
Ash,J.£.Lunel, 
Job. Beynolds, 
J. Monohee, £. 
Frotheroe,M.F., 



C. H. Pr 



IPP. 



JforU HoUM end Sieorn Con, Uf^t 



Bev. Francis 
Edgeworth (Bo- 
man Catholic), 
John Hare, W. 
Herapath, Dr. 
Oarpenter and 
Captain Hodges. 
The speeches 
were undoubted- 
ly strong, espe- 
cially those of Ur. Frotheroe and Oaptun Hedges ; so 
also were the resolutions, which, together with a loyal 
address to the king, were passed unanimously by accla- 
mation. On the other hand, the Tories, elated by their 
victory in the House of Lords, were unsparing in their 
taunts and defiance. 

6. Ueanwhile the day of the crucial test drew near, 
and, on October 18th, a meeting was called by Captain 
dazton and sundry others (chiefly captains in the West 
India trade) of sailors ; it was held on the decks of the 
.EbrI of Liverpool and on adjoining ship, the CharU», 
ostensibly for the purpose of voting a loyal address to the 
S&ilor king (this was the only reason given in ihe requisi- 
tion) ; the real object, however, was to get the sailors 
to form a body guard to protect Sir Charles Wetherell. 
This was frustrated by Mr. John Wesley Hall and other 



reformers, upon which Oaptun Ckxt(m (who was in 
the employ of the corporation as oom-meter) declared 
the meeting dissolved. It was reconstituted immediately 
upon the Quay; Ur. Hall was installed as ohairman, 
and the fiJlowing resolution was moved by Mr. J. Q. 
Fowell, and seconded by Mr. Webb : — 

That tha sulon of thU port on the preMnt occamon sanieetlj 
expresB their decided and loyal attaofamant to hit majesty and hi* 
Oovflrmneitt, but will not allow themaelf es to be made a cat'i 
paw of by the oarporation or their paid agente. 

As the day for holding the assixes drew near, great 
apprehensions arose with regard to the safety cf^the . 
recorder's person and the,.£fiace of the d<f^, and the 
deputation, submitted to him the pro- 
priety of post- 
poning, if possi- 
ble, the gaol 
delivery. Sir 
Oharles was 
afterwards accu- 
sed of having 
persistently 
come down to 
exercise the 
functions of a 
judge, contrary 
to the remons- 
trances of the 
Qovenunent, as 
well as of the 
civic authorities 
— a statement 
which he averred 



part of it, false, 
base ana scan- 
dalous. The Government was certainly never consulted, 
and if they had been, the chancellor of the exchequer 
stated "that they knew the assizes oonld not have been 
legally held without the reocn^er's presence;" whilst the 
magistrates simply consulted with Sir Charles as to the 
practicability of a postponement On finding that the 
gaol must be delivered, the authorities, a week before the 
assize time, sent a deputation to Lord Melbourne, at the 
Home office, and requested the aid of a body of soldiers 
to keep the peace during the recorder's visit. His lord- 
ship sought a conference with the members for the ci^; 
Mr. Baillie was from home, but Hr. Protheroe engaged 
to go down to Bristol and accompany Sir Charles in his 
carriage, if the military were dispensed with. " His 
friends," he said, " would be answerable for order, if the 
people were allowed only to give expression to their 



326 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1831. 



strong and unalterable dlBapprobation of Sir Charles 
Wetherell's political conduct; but," be added, ** be would 
not be answerable for tbe quiet of the city if the military 
was employed." Mr. Herapath, president of the Political 
Union, who had been requested to induce the imion to 
form a guard of protection for the recorder, on learning 
the application that had been made, informed Mr. 
Alderman Daniel that he had not been aware of the 
intention of the city authorities to employ an armed 
force for the protection of a judge of the land — a 
course which he believed to be unprecedented in Eng- 
lish history, and which had produced an effect upon the 
council of the union which the magistrates alone must 
be answerable for. " However,?' he added, ''I feel con- 
fident that no member of the cotmcil will be f otmd com- 
mitting outrages on that day." Whether these words 
were meant as a warning or as a menace, unhappily the 
expectation of outrages was fearfully fulfilled. " The 
scum that rises uppermost when the nation boils," 
overpowered the men who had kindled the fire, and 
vain were all attempts of legal authority or of popular 
leaders to repress the tumult, or to confine it within 
moderate bounds. 

On Saturday, October 29th, the civic force appointed 
as a guard for the recorder, marched out, about ten 
o'clock in the morning, by way of Bristol bridge and 
Temple street, as far as the dty boundary at the ''Blue 
Bowl " tavern, Totterdown, to await his coming. They 
mustered about 300, and included the sheriff's officers, 
regular constables, and special constables; the latter 
being augmented by men who were hired for the 
occasion, and some of whom were very unfit for the 
office. A troop of cavalry was stationed in the cattle 
market and another in the new gaol. The usual hour 
for the judge to arrive was three o'clock in the after^ 
noon ; the idea of anticipating the time and avoiding 
a contact with a crowd was well meant but proved a 
failure. The line of route to the Guildhall was thronged, 
and the shops were all closed. At half-past ten o'clock, 
Sir Charles arrived in a carriage drawn by four grey 
horses. About 2,000 people received him with hisses, 
yells and groans. Entering the sheriff's carriage, 
which was preceded by the municipal officers with 
favours in their hats, and by the trumpeters, with 
two gentlemen on horseback riding by each door of the 
carriage, he moved on towards the city, but so dense 
was the crowd that the procession could not be properly 
m ars halled. At Hillsbridge (Bath bridge) several stones 
were hurled at the carriage ; Temple street, was one 
dense mass of people, and the female hahituh of its 
alleys added shrill execrations to the din. At Bristol 
bridge the cortige cotdd scarcely force a passage, and 



most unequivocal were the tokens of feeling there 
manifested ; and as it left the Bridge the carriage waa 
again pelted with stones. By the time the recorder 
reached the Guildhall it was noon, and some minutes 
elapsed ere he ventured to alight ; however, he reached 
the bench in safety, and the doors of the hall being 
opened, the room waa instantly filled. The usual form 
of opening the commission by reading the charter waa 
followed amidst great interruption, and the town derk, 
Mr. Serjeant Ludlow, hoping to allay the excitement, 
made a few remarks, in which, alluding to reform, he 
was met with an astounding uproar of mingled cheers, 
hisses and groans. The recorder threatened to commit 
any one detected in thus disturbing the court, and 
specials were sent into the crowd to discover the offen- 
ders. The preliminaries being finished, the court was ad- 
journed to eight o'clock Monday morning. The recorder 
withdrew from the bench amidst hisses, after which the 
audience dispersed, having given three cheers for the 
king. The streets were more densely thronged than 
before, and bodies of men were watching the ba(^ door 
of the Guildhall in Small street, as well as the mayor's 
state carriage in Quay street, in which Sir Charles was 
to be conveyed to the Mansion-house, Queen square. 
After the lapse of half-an-hour, the recorder made his 
appearance amidst a tumultuous expression of dis- 
pleasure from those assembled. The line of route to 
Queen square was filled with a dense mass of people, 
and a file-firing of groans and hisses accompanied the 
carriage as it rolled along, varied only in one instance, 
this being the front of the Commercial -rooms, which 
was thronged by a number of the friends of Sir Charles, 
who greeted him with rounds of cheers. On his arrival 
at the Mansion-house the carriage was again pelted 
with stones, one of which broke the glass of the lamp ; 
the recorder, however, escaped untouched. 

The mayor had given instructions to the special 
constables to exercise the utmost f orbearance, but there 
were excitable, unruly spirits amongst them, besides the 
roughs who had been hired as substitutes. Some of 
these, angered by and probably suffering from the mis- 
siles, rushed into the crowd and arrested a spectator 
who was innocent of offence. Elated by their success, 
they repeated their sallies, capturing six others, and 
using their staves to clear the way. Beyond peeping 
at the tumult from behind the curtains of the Mansion- 
house, the magistrates appear to have taken no steps to 
abate it; the specials were without organisation or a 
responsible acting head; whilst the populaoe, to the 
number of 1,500 or 2,000 persons, surged like a tem- 
pestuous sea about the square. Suddenly there was a 
cry, << To the Back !" and a rush was made to the faggot 



A.D. 1831. 



THE RIOTS. 



327 



piles for sticks. The parties who thus armed themselves 
were about 600 in number, for the most part mere lads, 
who at the first collision with the constables threw down 
their sticks and fled. This was at half -past twelve on 
the Saturday, at which time had an active popular man 
appeared on the scene and assumed command, the prob- 
abilitj is that no further violence would have ensued. 
Occasionally a pane of glass was smashed by stones, or 
a stick was hurled at the special constables by some 
hobbledehoy from behind that portion of the crowd 
which was massed in front of the Mansion-house. The 
attempt to capture such offenders led to sundry col- 
lisions, in which the force was generally worsted, whilst 
the mob was angered by the occasional seizure of in- 
nocent but ujiwise lookers-on. One of the constables 
was chased into the Floating harbour, whence he was 
rescued by a boatman, and one man had his skull frac- 
tured and was taken to the Infirmary. At half-past 
two the constables retired within the Mansion-house, 
whence they sent to the Bridewell a batch of prisoners 
whom they had taken during the morning. The mob, 
learning this, followed, and in Nelson street overtook 
and rescued them. About four o'clock a number of 
the constables were ordered to withdraw to their homes 
for refreshment, with orders to be at the Guildhall at 
six o'clock in the evening, ready for service if re- 
quired. Their departure gave an opportunity to the 
riff-raff, which was speedily seized. Certainly not 
more than a dozen windows had up to this time been 
broken, but now sticks and stones were freely hurled, 
and much destruction of glass ensued. The mayor, 
Mr. Charles Finney, supported by some of the alder- 
men, then came to the front of the Mansion-house 
and endeavoured to address the assemblage, threatening 
to read the Biot Act and to call out the military. The 
answer was a volley of missiles, one of which — a top 
rail torn up in the square — nearly struck his worship 
on the head. The Biot Act was then read, in reply to 
which the mob rushed upon the weakened force of 
speciab, disarmed them, and compelled some of them 
to join in demolishing the windows of the Mansion- 
house. The sashes and window shutters were smashed, 
the doors forced, the feast provided for the dignitaries 
was exposed to view, and most of the furniture upon 
the ground floor was demolished. The iron railings in 
front of the Mansion-house were pulled down and the 
bars converted into weapons, and walls were overturned 
for materials to hurl at the upper windows. At this 
critical juncture Sir Charles Wetherell effected his escape, 
but not, as he himself stated in the House of Commons, 
imtil the bed of the chief magistrate had been taken to 
barricade one of the windows. 
[Vol. m.] 



The threats of vengeance on the recorder were at 
this time fearful, and an attempt was made to bum the 
Mansion-house with its occupants, which was frustrated 
by the arrival of two magistrates with some of the 3rd 
Dragoon Guards and a troop of the 14th light Dragoons. 
The whole available miHtaiy force numbered ninety- 
three men, being one troop of the drd Dragoon Ghiards, 
and two troops of the 14th light Dragoons. These 
were quartered at Leigh's Horse bazaar and at Fisher's 
Horse repository, which were contiguous to each other 
in College street. The Becruiting office was at the north 
comer of College green, dose to the Bishop's palace; 
Colonel Brereton's quarters were at No. 2 Unity streeti 
about 1 00 yards distant. Finding his life imperilled, the 
recorder got out of a window on to the flat roof of the 
dining-room. A female in the next house lowered a short 
ladder, by which he and some friends reached the roof, 
from which, at great peril, they dropped to that of the 
stables and hid in the hayloft. Exchanging his dress 
for that of a postillion, and arranging for a style of 
address to be used suitable to his apparent condition, 
Sir Charles ventured into the street, and by the above 
artifice passed safely through the mob in King street 
and was conducted to a house on Kingsdown. Anxious 
about the mayor's safety, he subsequently returned to 
the city in disguise, where he passed nearly two hours 
on the Quay and in the neighbourhood of the square, 
when, finding that the riot was increasing, he returned 
to his place of refuge, and shortly after left in a post- 
chaise for Newport, which he reached between two and 
three o'clock in the morning. 

On the arrival of the soldiers the mob retired from 
the door of the Mansion-house, cheering the troops 
lustily ; mischief, but not plunder, was evidently up to 
this period all that they contemplated. Col. Brereton, 
who was in command, was informed by one of the 
magistrates that the Biot Act had been read three 
times, and that he must use whatever force was neces- 
sary to disperse the mob, dear the streets, and restore 
peace to the dty. This order was confirmed by the 
mayor, who, however, would not give the order to fire 
upon the people, neither would Colonel Brereton accept 
the responsibility of so doing. The troops then en- 
deavoured to "ride through" and "walk away" the 
rioters, whereupon they became turbulent, and assailed 
the soldiers with brickbatSi stones, and other missiles. 
Two of the 14th Light Dragoons were severdy wounded, 
and one of the officers was hurt by the falling of his 
horse; still Colond Brereton thought they were "a good- 
humoured mob," and expressed his conviction of being 
able to "walk them away." He would, he said,* be 
answerable for the peace of the dty, and would patrol 

H 2 



328 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



iuD. 1881. 



it dnring the night. He oontmoally rode amongst the 
moby shook hands with hundreds, led off cheers for the 
king, and if good temper, firmness and presence of 
mind could have effected a restoration of peace, he 
would doubtless have accompUshed it. But the time for 
the kid gloTC had passed, and suavity had to be supple- 
mented by hareber measures, to which he was averse ; 
disorder grew more rampant, and about nine o'clock 
Captain Musgrave's troop of the 14th Light Dragoons, 
who were returning from feeding and refreshment, were 
ordered to draw swords, which indication of a resort to 
force was unheeded bj the mob. About eleven o'clock 
the magistrates sent two or three constables before the 
troops with lights, but an officer of the 14th light 
Dragoons complained that his soldiers would be need- 
lessly sacrificed, being ujider orders only to use the fiat 
of their swords, whilst the mob retreated to the barges 
and ships, where his men could not follow them. 

Captain Morley, of the trow Weekly Paeket, of Stroud, 
had during the day shipped some carboys of vitriol, 
which were demanded of him by a number of Irishmen 
for the avowed purpose of throwing over the horses of the 
1 4th Light Dragoons. Just then they heard the soldiers 
trotting down the Welsh back, returning to re-light the 
gas in Queen square, which had been extinguished by 
the mob. The men left the trow and ran ujider the 
Market-house, where they pelted the soldiers; mean- 
while Captain Morley drew his trow away into the 
middle of the Floating harbour, and so frustrated the 
diabolical design. 

At this time Captain Shute, of the Bedminster troop 
of North Somerset Yeomanry Cavalry, was requested 
to muster his troop in readiness for the next day. At a 
quarter to twelve a large portion of the mob moved off 
to the Council-house, where they smashed the windows 
and endeavoured to force the doors. Orders were then 
given to Captain Gage's troop of the 14th Light Dragoons 
to protect the Council-house. Captain Gage being left to 
his own discretion, charged through High street. Broad 
street and Wine street, driving the rioters into the 
alleys, whence they attacked the soldiers with stones. 
At the top of the Pithay, a soldier being struck, turned 
and shot his assailant, Stephen Bush, dead upon the 
spot. Many were woujided by sabre cuts, one of whom, 
Daniel James, who was cut down at the comer of High 
street, died in the Infirmary. By half-past twelve 
o'clock not a rioter was to be seen in the centre of the 
city ; and about two o'clock on the morning of Sunday, 
the mob having left Queen square, the troops retired to 
their quarters, leaving a picquet of the 8rd Dragoon 
Guards at the Mansion-house, and one of the 14th 
Light Dragoons at the Council -house. These were 



moot unwisely removed by Colonel Brereton before eight 
o'clock in the morning, and by his desire the troops weie 
concentrated at Leigh's Bazaar stables. 

7. So ended the first day's proceedings. With the 
dawn of Sunday, the 30th, the crowd began again to 
gather in Queen square, composed for the most part of 
many who on a day of cessation from toil were led 
thither by mere curiosity, but many of whom speedily 
became participants in the atrocious proceedings that 
ensued. When the news spread that the picquet was 
removed the roughs came down in a body, tore down 
the barricades, which had been put up during the night, 
from the front of the Mansion-house, swarmed through 
the lower rooms, forced the wine cellars in which were 
four hundred dozen of choice wines, threw out into the 
square the furniture, china, glass, &c., distributed the 
liquor with an tmsparing hand, and soon the whole area 
became a scene of drunken revelry, wherein intoxicants 
led men hitherto respectable to join the criminal and 
abandoned classes in arson and robbery. It was at this 
period that the mayor and one of the sheriffs with 
difficulty escaped over the roofs of nine houses to the 
Custom-house, from whence they hurried to the Guild- 
hall. Major Mackworth, who had been with his worship 
during the night, and who endeavoured during the 
temporary absence of the under-sheriff to organise the 
special constables, testified that the mayor remained at 
his post as long as it was tenable. The mayor and 
some of the magistrates hastened to find Col. Brereton, 
and ordered him to get out the troops ; and whilst the 
soldiers were saddling they knocked at the doors of the 
inhabitants of College green and St. Augustine's back, 
calling on the inmates in the king's name to come to 
the aid of the magistrates. Colonel Brereton was at 
this time desired by one of the aldermen to order the 
soldiers to fire, but he would not give the order, stating 
that the mob would be infuriated, and might overcome 
the troops, when the whole city would be given up 
to slaughter. He said it would be better to keep the 
mob in temper ujitil the arrival of the reinforcements 
which had been sent for, but which could not be ex- 
pected until the next morning. Notices were posted, 
which stated that the Eiot Act had been read three 
times ; also that Sir Charles Wetherell had left the city 
at twelve o'clock the previous night. This notice, which 
had inadvertently been dated 1830, was looked upon as 
an attempt to deceive, and helped still more to anger 
the people. Another notice convened a meeting of the 
citizens at the Guildhall, to assist in restoring peace to 
the city. At half -past ten o'clock, just as the bells rang 
out for church, the 14th Light Dragoons retired to their 
quarters, whither they were followed by crowds of 



A.D. 1831. 



THE RIOTS. 



329 



people, wlio were embittered against them because of 
their charging the mob on the previous night ; and in 
College green, being pelted with stones, thej turned at 
bay, and several shots were fired at their assailants, 
nevertheless thej were followed with invectives and 
insult to their stables. 

At eleven o'dock the special constables who had 
been on duty, many of them from eight o'clock on 
Saturday morning, retired to their homes, and only a 
few citizens (about 150) had responded to the request 
of the magistrates by coming to the Guildhall. Soon 
after noon news was brought that the mob was on its 
way to the Bridewell, determined to liberate the prisoners 
who had been committed thereto on Saturday. At this 
juncture Colonel Brereton applied to the magistrates for 
their authority to send the two troops of the 14th Light 
Dragoons out of the dty, stating that the people were 
so exasperated with them in consequence of their having 
fired that their lives would be sacrifioed if they remained, 
moreover they and the drd Dragoon Guards were, he 
said, BO fatigued, both men and horses, that they could 
^ot take any duty for some time. Vain were all the 
remonstrances of the magistrates, who pointed out that 
he would leave the city defenceless. The colonel insisted 
upon the necessity of the measure, and upon his own 
responsibility ordered most of the drd Dragoon Guards to 
quarters, and proceeding to Fisher's stable yard, College 
street, ordered Captain Gage to leave the city with the 
men of the 14th light Dragoons immediately; some of 
the horses being at the Bazaar stables a difficulty arose 
in their joining the troop, and several shots were fired 
by them in Limekiln lane. They left the city "at a 
trot," by the colonel's orders, and he returned to Queen 
square and sought to pacify the drunken, maddened mob, 
by telling them that he had sent the 14th Light Dragoons 
out of the city to Keynsham. The Bridewell was on the 
right hand side of the street, the keeper's house on the 
left; between these ran the roadway (Bridewell lane) 
from Nelson street to St. James' Barton, over Monken 
bridge (see Vol. I., p. 64), which was closed by gates at 
either end. About half -past one the mob reached the 
bridge gates which Mr. Evans, the keeper of the Bride- 
well, had closed; the rioters had broken open a smith's 
shop in Nelson street, whence they brought hammers, 
crowbars, &c., and they soon forced the gate facing 
Nelson street, whereupon Mr. Evans and the turnkeys 
retreated into the house side of the prison. The mob 
then lifted off the large gates of the bridge and threw 
them over into the Frome and began to force an entrance 
into the prison itself. Evans kept them at bay for a 
while with a blunderbuss until learning that the troops 
had left the city he threw them down the key of the 



prison, and whilst they were liberating the prisoners he 
with his wife and children escaped over the roof of the 
house, and in a few minutes the building was on fire, 
and the firemen were repulsed on attempting to approach 
to extinguish it. Another party had meanwhile pro- 
ceeded to the gaol upon the New cut ; on their way they 
forced open the workshop of Messrs. Acraman, where a 
respectably dressed man coolly gave orders for them to 
select two dozen sledge hammers, as many crowbars 
and a lot of wedges, ''and," said he, ''I shall want some 
spanners to take off the nuts, get three pair, but mind I 
shall expect all these things to be returned." Notice 
had been given to the governor of the gaol of their in«> 
tention; he had gone for assistance to the Guildhall, 
and Aldermen Hilhouse and Savage, with about sixty 
citizens and constables, were returning with them when 
they were confronted by the mob and forced to retire 
before the volley of missiles, many thousands of persons, 
respectably attired, looking quietly on. After about 
three-quarters of an hour's arduous labour by the mob 
a hole was made in one of the outer gates of the gaol, 
a man crept in, drew the bolts, and instantly the crowd 
rushed in, filling the yard and the governor's house 
which they stripped, throwing most of the furniture (the 
prison van and the governor's books) into the New cut. 
As they were releasing the prisoners about twenty of the 
3rd Dragoon Guards, tmder Comet Kelson, arrived at a 
foot's pace ; they rode up to the large gates, one of them 
looked in, the mob had given way outside, and some 
200 villains were literally entrapped within the walls, 
for the turnkey, with assistance, had closed the gates ; 
at this critical moment the soldiers wheeled, took off 
their hats in response to the cheering of those who still 
lingered about, and returned to their quarters, the officer 
stating that he had orders only to go to the gaol and 
return, but to use no violence ; the mob then released 1 70 
prisoners, and in a few minutes the gaol was in fiames. 
The treadmill, which had been filled with straw from 
the wards, was first set on fire, and in an hour the 
governor's house and the chapel were consumed; the 
mob had rubbed some liquid which they brought in tins 
over the benches of the chapel, these they set upon end 
and the fire soon caught the roof. The wings of the 
gaol, being of stone, could not be burnt, but every 
pane of glass within the building was smashed. 

Mr. Herapath, the leading spirit of the Political 
Union, with some members of the council of that body 
and its secretary, endeavoured in vain by persuasion to 
stay the proceedings of the rioters ; he then went to the 
Council-house where he met Aldermen Savage, George, 
and G. Hilhouse, whom he informed of the avowed in- 
tention of the mob to destroy the Dock gates and to ^ 



330 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 18SI. 



pillage the banks, and he adyised that the swing- 
bridges at Cumberland and Bathurst basins, and at the 
end of Prince street, should be opened, and the rioters 
be thus confined within the peninsula formed by the 
New cut and the Floating harbour. The scheme was 
plausible, but within that area were some of the principal 
shipbuilder's yards and considerable property in shipping 
which would doubtless have been fired by the mob by 
way of retaliation. Mr. Herapath was asked if he would, 
with the members of the union, assist in quelling the 
riot, he thought that as the members disapproyed of the 
calling in of the military they would not serve tmder the 
magistrates, but he could engage that many of them 
would serve tmder himself. This was demurred to. 
From the gaol the mob divided into several parties, one 
of which burned the toll-house on the New cut, another 
destroyed that on Prince's street bridge, the keepers 
having due notice given to remove their effects. As 
the shades of evening fell, other bodies of the ruffians 
marched upon and destroyed the other portion of the 
Bridewell, and about half -past six o'clock they appeared 
in force before the Gloucestershire County Prison at 
Lawford's gate; here the same tactics were followed, 
entrance was forced by crowbar and sledge hammers, 
the prisoners were set at liberty, and the building, 
being fired, soon became a mass of ruins. At half-past 
eight o'clock the lurid glare reflected in the heavens 
from the fires at the three prisons and the toll-houses 
was awful to behold. Another party visited the lock- 
up for debtors in Tailor's court. Broad street, but on 
the sheriff's officer promptly liberating his prisoners 
they departed without further outrage. Terror now 
seized on most of the prominent officials of the Corpora- 
tion, and men were busily employed in removing names, 
door plates, Ac, in order to avoid identification. The 
bishops, by their adverse vote on the Bef orm Bill, had 
made their body unpopular; advantage was taken of 
this feeling, and the cry was raised at Lawford's gate 
'<to the Palace," which the rioters reached by several 
different routes. The entrance gates, which had been 
dosed, were forced, and to shouts of the '* the king ! no 
bishops ! " the mob rushed in, demolished the furniture 
which they piled upon and under the tables and set the 
heap on fire; in the kitchen they took the coals from the 
grate, spread them on the dresser, and heaped broken 
sticks thereon ; upstairs they cut open the feather beds, 
and thrust into them live coals, whilst the light-fingered 
gentry carried off all the valuables that were portable. 
About half -past seven o'clock news had been brought to 
the mayor and the magistrates, on their return from 
Colonel Brereton's office, that the Mansion-house was 
threatened with fire as well as the Palace. After con- 



sideration it was determined to save, if possible, the 
Palace, on account of its proximity to' the Cathedral, 
and two-thirds of the gentlemen who had gathered at the 
Council-house left in two divisions, each headed by three 
magistrates ; they sent a messenger to the stables with an 
order for the 3rd Dragoon Qnards to meet them in College 
green. This was done, sixteen soldiers, with Colonel 
Brereten, formed in two lines before the door of the 
Palace whilst the civilians entered and put out the fires. 
The mob scattered in every direction, some ran into the 
garden, others into the doisters, where they were fol- 
lowed by the specials and roughly used, upon which the 
colonel said '* it the striking was repeated he would ride 
the constables down." Amongst those taken in the 
house was a yotmg fellow named Wany, he and two 
other prisoners for security were tied to large casks in 
the cellar. The specials then charged the mob who fled 
before them, but one gentleman who advanced too far 
was stabbed in the back, and only saved his life by dis- 
charging his pistol at his assailants. Meanwhile that por- 
tion of tiie 8rd Dragoon Guards on duty at the Mansion- 
house had been sent for to the Palace, but before they 
reached it the glare of light over Queen square plainly 
showed that the Mansion-house had fallen a prey to the 
flames. Colonel Brereton, instead of assisting the reso- 
lute party at the Palace, now, without notice, withdrew 
his men. The rioters, reinforced by a large party which 
had completed the work of destruction at Lawford's gate, 
and who, by a toss up, "heads for the alderman" in 
Berkeley square, "tails for the bishop," "Bishop wins! 
hurrah for the Palace!" speedily filled College green 
and re-entered the Palace. The defenders were driven 
helter-skelter out by the back, in a few minutes the 
building was in fiames, and the heat was so intense that 
the lead melted on the roof of the adjoining cathedral ; 
the villains next kindled a fire in the grand old Norman 
chapter-house, with many of the valuable records and 
books stored therein, and attempted to break through 
the doister door into the cathedral, but being met with 
expostulations were prevailed upon to desist. The 
chapter-house, being built of stone with a stone floor, 
their mad attempts to fire it failed, but they left behind 
them cakes of combustible matter which proved that 
some amongst them had made arson a study, and that 
these fires were the outcome of previous consideration 
and plans. The bishop's wine was sold publidy at one 
penny per bottle, and the bulk of the rioters were drunk. 
His lordship had preached at the cathedral in the 
morning, but with his family had left for Almondsbmy 
in the afternoon. 

8. The above fires, terrific as they seemed, were but 
incidental preludes to the great conflagration whidi had 



THE RIOTS. 



aow oommeBced in Qaeen square. About seven o'cloob 
in the erening, Then the soldiers had been withdrawn 
tor the protection of the Palace, the mob burst once 
mote into the devoted Manedon-house ; the wine cellars 
were re-ransacbed ; a fire was speedily kindled in the 
kitchen under the banqueting-room, also in several of 
the upstairs apartments, and in a few minutes the whole 
building was enveloped in flames. Fortunately, after 
the destruction of property on the ground -floor on 
Saturday night and Sunday morning, the authorities 
had taken the precaution to remove many of the valu- 
ables, including most of the cdt; |date, and the pictures, 
which were cut out of the 
frames, rolled up and 
carried away. 

At this juncture, 
about ten o'dook in the 
evening, the Dodington 
troop of Teomanry, un- 
der the oommand of Cap- 
tain Codrington, arrived 
in the city. On their 
way up Caatle street they 
passed about 200 people 
who were breaking into 
tits " George and Dra- 
gon " tavern. The chief 
oonstable of the word 
entreated the captain to 
send a detachment of 



ignorant of the fact that 
the Kiot Aot had been 
read, he replied "he 
could do nothing until 
that had been done, and 
he was on his way to 

the Council-house to receive orders." On hie arrival 
there he could find no magistrate, and he was directed 
to proceed to the commanding officer's station, the Re- 
oruiting office. College green, to report himself. Then 
a messenger was sent thence to the Council -house 
by Colonel Brereton for a magistrate. An answer was 
despatched within five minutes, but the colonel had left 
and could not be foimd. Affairs were in a hopeless 
muddle. The mayor, separated from his force of special 
oonstables whilst on his way to the Falace, had retired, 
worn out, to Alderman Fripp's, 30 Berkeley square, 
leaving word where he was to be found. However, 
within half-an-hour billets were made out for the 
Yeomanry, and a letter was sent to the colonel, re- 
questing him to execute the orders previously given— 



" to consider hinuelf fully authorised to take whatever 
steps and give whatever orders he, as commander of the 
troops in the city, may think fit, to restore and preserve, 
as far as possible, the public peace ; not only to apply 
to the troops under his command, but to any which may 
subsequently arrive." The letter was dated "Berkeley 
square, Sunday night, twelve o'clock." The colonel had 
gone out ere these letters arrived. Captain Codrington, 
however, found him, and they went with the troop to 
Fisher's stables, where, after a short conference to- 
gether, the captain wheeled his forty men, marched 
them past the Falace, Exchange and Council -house, 
and left the dty. In 
justice to the mayor it 
should be said that he 
was far from being a 
robust man, that he had 
been greatly harassed 
since the Saturday morn- 
ing, that he had been in 
office little more than a 
month, and that he only 
arrived in England from 
the West Indies a few 
weeks before he was 
elected to the mayoralty. 
The following letter 
was that night sent by 
Captain Codrington to 
the home secretary; — 

My Lord,— I have the 
honour to repreMut to four 
l<»d«lup that in oouMqnenoe 
of a reqniiitaoD frotn the 
DUfor of Biutol, bstweeu 
tiro and three o'clock Tester- 
day, I oollected my troop ol 
Cotoitl Bnrtlon. fnm a emUemparaTy print, TMmanry with aa Uttle loas 

of time at wm practicable. 
When your lordship couaiden that I had to send aome mile* in 
different direotioM, yon will, I think, admit the alacrity of my men 
when I state that we were enabled to much from hence (Dodington), 
with scarce a man miating, by aeren o'clock. Having, howerer, 
fifteen mile* to go, and the night being veiy dark, we oonld not 
reach Briitol till after nine, when, I lament to aay, we fotind the 
city on fire in many places, the gaola emptied, and the town in the 
greatest oonfnaion. Having paraded throngh the prindpal part* 
of the city for more than two houn without being able to find a 
magiatrate — hearing that they had, in fact, left the town, after 
withdrawing both hia majcaty's troops and the police — finding 
omwdvet tbns nninpported, and without a hope of being in any way 
serviceable — the city being actnally in the uncontrolled power of 
the popniaco, I had no alternative bat that of withdrawing also 
my men, and we returned borne about five o*cloak this mommg. 
Feeling it my dnty to ma^e this statement to your lordahip, I 
should ill perform it towards the brave men I am proud to have the 
honour of oommonding, if I did not further state that no man oould 



3S2 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A-D. 183L 



hare oome forward with more alacrity ; and, although they might 
not hare acted with the discipline of hia majesty's regular troops, 
they would not have been exceeded by them in zeal, loyalty, or 
a determination to haye done their duty ; and had they had an 
opportunity of acting, they would haye shown themselyes not 
uttdeserying of his majesty's approbation. 

I haye the honour to be, my lord, your lordship's obedient 
seryant, 

0. W. CODBINOTOK, 

Captain of the Dodington and Marshfield 

Yeomanry Cayalry. 
Dodington, October 31st. 

At ten o'dook at night Colonel Brereton Tisited the 
square with a detachment of the 8rd Dragoon Chiardfl 
whilst the fire at the Mansion-house was raging ; they 
walked their horses for a quarter of an hour quietly round 
Queen square, themselves protected from the drizzling 
rain by their long doalcs; and then retired to their quarters. 
Incredible as it appears, it is a fact that from that time 
until the following morning not a soldier was ordered 
to the square, nor was the slightest attempt made by 
his majesty's troops to check the destruction of public 
or priyate property, but whilst the second dty in the 
kingdom was threatened with total destruction the chief 
munidpal officer and the officer in command of the 
king's troops were both in bed. 

No distinction was now made between public and 
private property. Notice was given by the mob to the 
inhabitants to dear out, and before twdve o'dock the 
houses on the north side of Queen square, between the 
Mansion-house (Charlotte street) and the Custom-house, 
had been gutted and were in flames. (See engraving 
of Queen square, ante p. 183.) Some fifty officers 
had been busy all night at the Custom-house removing 
the books, papers and valuable property, when the 
simmions came to them at a quarter to eleven o'dock ; 
they replied, ''This is the king's house, our good king 
whom you have been cheering." " D — ^n the king — go it," 
was the answer ; desks were broken open, linen smeared 
with combustible paste was nailed to the wainscot, win- 
dow frames and doors, and in five minutes the place was 
in a blaze. The upper rooms were full of pltmderers, 
many, it being the end house of the row, were on the 
roof, whence they had crawled from the other burn- 
ing buildings, and it was supposed that not less than 
fifty of the rioters perished in the flames at this spot. 
A large party, who were supping in the housekeeper's 
room, were all burnt to death ; three dropped from the 
roof, one of whom fell into the molten lead on the 
portico, where he writhed in torture till life was extinct; 
another, bruised to death by the fall, exdaimed, " Oh 
that I had taken my wife's advice and never come to 
Bristol, but I was persuaded and sent for." Undeterred 
by these hoxrible scenes, the incendiaries, many of whom 



were mere hojs, now carried on the destructive work on 
the section of the north side of Queen square, ronning 
west from the middle avenue. The houses behind these in 
King street were chiefly of wood and plaster, and the 
wind being from the south they speedily caught fire ; the 
bonded cellars were used for storing wines and spirits, 
one of these had a large stock of brandy, another was 
full of rum; the casks burst with the intense heat^ 
the burning spirit fiowed into and burst up the sewen 
in King street (oppodte the City library), the street was 
full of casks of wines and spirits which had been rolled 
out from the cellars, the gates of King street hall were 
dosed and guarded by cannon, the yard being full of 
goods brought thither for protection ; one of the ware- 
houses in Prince street was full of cocoa belonging to 
Messrs. Fry, and this burnt with a fearful stench whidi 
lasted for weeks ; at one time it was feared that all the 
houses in King street would have been burned. 

9. At two o'dock in the morning of Monday the work 
of destruction was commenced on the west side of Queen 
square, beginning at the Excise office, and house after 
house was fired. There seems to be abundant proctf 
that the greater part of the devastation of this night 
was caused out of a pure love of misdiief by an insig- 
nificant number of wretches, mostly boys of from ten to 
twelve years of age. Some such were seen, when their 
retreat from the upper story of a burning house was cut 
off by the fire, to coolly damber along a coping of a 
few inches in width to the adjoining house, which they 
entered by the window, and immediatdy set fire to the 
bedsteads and furniture. During the night bands <rf 
yotmg men paraded the town, and entering the public- 
houses, &o., demanded ''drink or blood;" also in Wine 
street, &c., they assailed the houses, requiring money to 
be given them under threats of murder. At three o'dodc 
in the morning the mayor (still at Mr. Fripp's) de- 
spatched the following letter : — 

Bristol, 8 a.nL Monday morning. 

Sir, — I direct yon, as commanding officer, to take the most 

vigorous, effectiye, and decisive measures in your power to qnell 

the existing riot, and prevent farther destmction of property. 

lam, &a, 

Charub Fimixr. 

This letter was addressed to '' Oolond Brereton, or the 
officer commanding his majesty's troops." It was de- 
livered to Captain Warrington, at Leigh's bazaar. He 
opened and read it, remarking that ''he could do nothing 
without a magistrate, and that he should require one to 
go every inch of the road at his side," adding, '* there 
is a great screw loose somewhere." He remained in- 
active until four o'clock in the morning, when Alderman 
Oamplin, as a magistrate, saw him at his quarters, and 
demanding help went with him in search of the oolond, 



whom the; fonnd in his lied in Unity street. Upon 
1>eing lOOBed he objected to take oat "the jaded troope, 
for," said he, "what can they do against snch a mob." 
Strongly orged, he at length consented, the dookg straok 
five as they entered Prince street, where in front of a 
worehoase in flames they found aboat 600 people, these 
they charged throngh and entered the square by Farr's 
lane avenue. The 
troops formed two 
deep in front of Cap- 
tain Claxton's honse, 
^0. 42; about a 
dozen gentlemen 
rushed into the honse 
and beat out the 
plunderers, one-third 
of whom were boys 
and women ; they 
found the honse on 
fire on every floor, 
but were able to ex- 
tinguish the flsjnes. 
Two houBBs adjoin- 
ing the middle ave- 
nue escaped the fire 
on this side of the 
square, all the others 
between the Excise 
office and Captain 
Claxton's were burnt 
to the ground. At 
seven o'clock in the 
morning Kajor 
Mackworth rode to 
Keynsham and 
fetched back the 
squadron of the 14th 
Light Dragoons ; on 
the road they were 
joined by the Bed- 
minster yeomanry, 
under Captain Shute. 
A messenger sent for 
troops had reached Qloucester about two o'clock in the 
morning; Ifajor Beckwithput them in motion and himself 
preceded them, arriving in Bristol about seven o'clock. 
When his men arrived from Gloucester and Eeynsham 
about ten o'clock. Major Beckwith, who was in command 
under Colonel Brereton, cleared the Palace of the ruffians 
who were plundering the wine cdlars, left a guard there, 
thence proceeded to Queen square by the Ezcise avenue, 
and forthwith charged the mob, cutting down a number 



Kanlclpitet in John LangUm'! H< 



of them ^o crowded about the statue in tlie centre, they 
then charged down the Welsh baok, along the Grove and 
through Prince street, then up Glare, Com, and Wine 
streets, through Peter street and Castle street. Early 
in the morning the pow» eomitatut had been called out ; 
about 5,000 men obeyed the call, they were furnished 
with a short staff and wore as a badgo a strip of white 
linen around the 
arm; the naval and 
military pensioners 
were called out, and 
Captain Oook, of the 
North Gloucester- 
shire militia, was 
placed in command 
of them. The city 
was crowded with 
people, dense crowds 
had been pouring 
into it from the 
surrounding country 
during the early 
hours of the morn- 
ing; as the soldiers 
charged and cleared 
the streets the spe- 
cials closed up and 
guarded the ave- 
nues, so that grad- 
ually the city became 
tranquil, the shops 
and warehouses were 
all shut, and busi- 
ness was entirely 
suspended. About 
three o'dook in the 
afternoon it was re- 
ported that the rab- 
ble, driven out of the 
city, were robbing 
and plundering on 
the Bath road, a 

ITiUi Baek. Tem]^ I«4. , ^ ' 

troop of Progoons 
was despatched which overtook them, capturing some 
and dispersing the rest, During the day the following 
placards were posted throughout the oi^: — 
CotmeU-houM, Bristol, 

Slit October, 1831. 
The pout eomitatui of this dty and oaanty hsTiiig been called 
ont to net in oOQJnactioD with tha military to endeavoar to reBtore 
the peace of the city, and aa the moit Beven meatore* roaat be 
adopted to accomplish that object, the magiitratea earneatlj 
cantiOD all penont not engaged in official dntiei ai ooiutablea, to 



334 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1831. 



keep within their reipectiYe dwelliogB, as they will otherwise be 

exposed to the most imminent peril 

G. PiKNST, Mayor. 

Bristol, October Slst, 1831. 

It will be of the ntmost importance that the inhabitants 

should place lights in the windows of their respectiTe honses as 

soon as it becomes dusk ; and the magirtrates again earnestly 

entreat that all persons will strictly confine themselves within 

their respectiTe dwellings. 

0. PnnnET, Mayor. 

At night the ohurclies and houses generally were 
lighted up, it being feared that the rioters might again 
assemble, and by cutting the gas pipes leave the city 
in darkness. While the soldiers, &c., were guarding the 
streets, signal guns and bells from the ships in harbour 
intimated their readiness to meet any attack. All shops 
had been closed during the day, but no further disturb- 
ance took place. Tuesday, November 1st, was occupied 
in apprehending the rioters and endeavouring to recover 
some of the stolen property. A general search took 
place throughout the city, and with much effect, as 
before night immense quantities of goods were re- 
covered and lodged in the Exchange and the parish 
churches. A great many of the leaders were also 
recognised and tckken into custody ; and about forty of 
the prisoners who were liberated were either captured 
or surrendered themselves. Many rioters must have 
lost their lives, for on clearing away some of the space 
adjoining the Custom-house, three bodies were foujid, 
and for many subsequent days bodies continued to be 
dug out. The following is the number of killed and 
wounded, as per return from the public hospitals : — 



Infirmary — Shots, 2; burnt, 1 ; sword-cut, 1 ; drink, 1 
St. Peter's hospital—Burnt, 5; sword-cut, 1 ; drink, 1 



Total 



• • • • • • 



5 

7 

12 



39 

24 

4 



Wounded and injured : — 

Infirmary — Shots, 8 ; sword-cuts and contusions, 31 

** Other causes, 22 ; drink, 2 

St. Peter's hospital — Sword-cuts, 2 ; other causes, 2 
Dispensaries, &c. — Shots, 2; cuts, 16; other causes, 11 ... 29 

Total 96 

Such of the woimded persons as could be recognised as 
incendiaries were carefully guarded in the wards, and 
some of thenii when recovered, were committed to take 
their trial. 

10. Major Beckwith, in his evidence, stated that the 
mayor and magistrates seemed stupefied with terror, and 
that he asked for one of them to accompany his troops on 
horseback ; all but Alderman Camplin said they could 
not ride, and he said he had not been on horseback for 
eighteen years. The major then demanded and received 
a written authority from them to act. The following is 
a list of the leading members of the corporation : — 



Charles Pinney, mayor 

Sir Charles Wetherell, alderman 

Thomas Daniel 

John Haythome 

James Fowler 

William Fripp 

George Hilhouse 

Abraham Hilhouse 

James Geoige 



<< 



(( 



<( 



4< 



« 



<( 



« 



(« 



<« 



(< 



John Barrow, aldennan 
Thomas Camplin 
Gabriel Goldney 
John Savage 
George Bengongh, sheriff 
Joseph Lax " 

W. O. Hare, under-sheriff 
E. Ludlow, town-derk 



Becriminations naturally enough followed. On the 
drd November a public meeting of the citizens took« 
place at the Commercial-rooms, when the following 
address to the home secretary was agreed upon : — 

To the Right Honourable Lord Melbourne, Secretary of State for 

the Home Department, &c. 

We, the undersigned, merchants, bankers, traders, and other 
inhabitants of the city of Bristol, deeply lamenting the riotous 
and disgraceful proceedings that have recently occurred in this 
city, and the sad destruction of property resulting therefrom, 
that the lives and fortunes of the citizens were for a considerable 
period entirely at the mercy of a desperate mob, and firmly con- 
vinced that all this might have been prevented if proper precau- 
tions had been adopted, do earnestly request your lordship will 
be pleased to cause an investigati<« to be instituted, as the only 
course that will pacify the minds of the public and restore confi- 
dence in future. 

The mayor also issued a statement concerning the 
riots, in which he charged Colonel Brereton with not 
acting according to orders given. Major Mackworth, 
who led the troops to the charge on Monday morning, 
laid the blame chiefly upon the citizens, whom he 
charged with lukewarmness and party spirit. The fol- 
lowing are the answers of Messrs. Baillie and Frotheroe, 
members for Bristol, sent to the chairman of the com- 
mittee, in acknowledgment of the memorial praying for 
investigation into the conduct of the magistracy : — 

London, November 7th. 

My dear Sir, — I have had the honour of receiving your letter 
of the 5th inst., addressed to Mr. Protheroe and mysdf jointly ; 
and by the mail-coach of this morning I also received the memorial 
voted at the public meeting of the 3rd instant, at the Commercial- 
rooms, at which you presided. I wrote immediately to Mr. 
Protheroe, at his town residence, requesting him to make an 
appointment that we might proceed together to the Home office, 
to deliver the memorial to Lord Melbourne, but I found he was 
unfortunately out of town. Presuming it to be the desire of the 
meeting that no time should be lost in laying the wishes of the 
memorialists before the Qovemment, I went this evening and 
delivered the memorial to the Secretary of State for the Home 
Department, assuring his lordship that the document was moat 
respectably signed by all classes of my constituents, without 
distinction. 

I likewise stated to his lordship that the letter of the chair- 
man of the meeting, which accompanied the memorial, urged 
most strongly that the investigation prayed for may be conducted 
by persons totally unconnected with tiie dty, that no possible 
suspicion may be entertained of bias or partiality. 

Lord Melbourne, in reply, asked me to state that he would 



A.i>. 1881. 



A SPECIAL COMMISSION ISSUED. 



335 



sabmit the memorial to his colleagnes in office, and that it ahonld 
receive their immediate and serious attention. 

I have the honour to be, my dear sir, 

Your faithful and most obedient servant, 

Jas. E. Bailub. 
James Cunningham, Esq. 

2 Charles street, St. James's square, 
November 8th. 

Dear Sir, ^Immediately upon the receipt of your letter this 
morning, at Gaddesden, I came to London, and, waiting first upon 
my colleague, I found, very much to my satisfaction, that he had 
not stood upon any ceremonious scruples of delicacy, which would 
have been misplaced in so urgent an afiair, and had presented the 
memorial to Lord Melbourne. Conceiving it, however, to be my 
duty, in compliance with your request, to urge also upon his 
lordship myself the necessity of an immediate inquiry, I went 
instantly to the Home office. I found Mr. G. Lamb alone there. 
Lord Melbourne being unwell. With Mr. Lamb I had some con- 
versation, which gave me no reason to hope that any inquiry 
could soon be instituted into the conduct of the magistrates, and 
that the various depositions must be previously received. But of 
course it was not in Mr. Lamb's power to speak as freely in a 
matter of such iutense delicacy as one of his majesty's ministers, 
and I therefore waited on Lord Grey, but finding him from home 
I saw Lord Althorp, and I am happy to inform you that the 
subject will receive this evening the consideration of a Cabinet 
Council, the result of which I shall be able to make known to you 
by to-morrow's post. 

It may be on my part trespassing too much on your attention 
if I avail myself of this opportunity of apprising you how anxious 
I have been to be at Bristol, but I cannot allow myself to incur 
the possible charge of indifference ; and I beg to say that although 
family indisposition and business might have been a sufficient 
reason for my remaining where I am, yet I could not have resisted 
the strong desire I have all along entertained since the disaster, of 
going to Bristol, had I not been distinctly assured that I was of 
more use in remaining in or near London, as an organ of commu- 
nication with ministers. 

It would be presumptuous in me to suppose that I could form 
an opinion upon the cause of events in Bristol, but I must confess 
that my mind can with difficulty, if ever, be brought to believe 
that the male population of Bristol, if they had been called out as 
a restraining force, would have been insufficient in repelling the 
attacks of these bands of rioters. But it is easy to find faults, 
and perhaps retrospect is of little value, unless we are ready now 
to provide for ourselves a protection against the recurrence of 
these evils by removing their causes. 

But I am sensible if I proceed further that I shall be tres- 
passing beyond those limits which I ought to respect in this 
communication. I will only, with every sentiment of respectful 
deference, but yet earnestly, press upon your attention the de- 
sirableness, in my opinion, of our city exerting itself strenuously 
in its own behalf, as the best guarantee of receiving from ministers 
or Parliament the attention demanded in the memorial, or required 
by our circumstances. 

I have the honour to remain, dear sir, 

Your obedient and faithful servant, 

June. Cunningham. Esq. ^"'^^'^ Pbotheeoe, Jun. 

I have underlined since the disaster, for previous to that 
period I offered Lord Melbourne to go down if wanted by anyone. 

On November 5th the markets were ordered to be 
closed at six o'clock. During the week all the city 
churches were lighted, and watch and ward kept through 
[Vol. IILl 



every parish. A military, inquiry into the conduct of 
Colonel Brereton, the commanding officer of the district, 
was instituted, and was held at the Merchant Venturers' 
hall; it terminated in his being placed under arrest 
previous to trial by court-martial. 

The presidents of the great charitable societies, the 
Dolphin, the Anchor, and the (Grateful, determined not 
to hold their usual annual festivals this year. 

Parochial meetings were held, and a public notice 
was given of an intention to apply to Parliament for 
leave to bring in a bill or bills for the following pur- 
poses: — 

1st. To establish and matntAJn an effective police, with 
stipendiary magistrate, within the city and county of Bristol, 
and in the several parishes of Clifton, St. James, St. Paul, St. 
Philip and Jacob, Westbury-upon-Trim, and Bedminster. 2nd. 
To supersede the present custom of watching. 3rd. To make pro- 
vision to regulate the holding of assize by the judges of the circuit 
within the said city and county of Bristol. 4th. To provide for 
the maintenance of such police and magistracy. 5th. To provide 
for the loss sustained by the late fires and riots within the said 
city and county of Bristol, either out of property now held for 
the benefit of the city or otherwise, as the case might be. 

EsTUN AND Ball, Solicitors. 

It having been rumoured, apparently on good au- 
thority, that Sir Charles Wetherell would return to 
Bristol to try the rioters, action was taken with a view 
to induce him to abandon such a design, and on Novem- 
ber 8th a declaration, strongly worded, was drawn up, 
which was signed by many persons who were liable to 
serve aa jurors, in which they declared their opinion to 
be that a calm and impartial administration of the laws 
was the first duty of a judge, and the sure m.eans of 
upholding the dignity of the office, and of securing to 
him personally the respect and admiration of all good 
citizens ; that it is a great detriment and misfortune to 
a community when judicial functions and political par- 
tisanship are found united in one person; that whilst 
the undersigned desired to bear testimony to the up- 
rightness shown by Sir Charles as recorder of the city, 
his presence would prove such a fruitful source of ani- 
mosity and discontent that they pray him either to sur- 
render the judicial office or to withdraw himself from 
the contested field of politics, otherwise they plead the 
interests of justice in Bristol will be compromised and 
party spirit be rendered more violent and bitter. On 
December 3rd a special commission was issued, of which 
the lord chancellor was the head, the object of which 
was to inquire into the origin of the riot and the causes 
of the subsequent outrages. 

11. On December 6th, the king, in his speech at 
the opening of Parliament, made the following allusion 
to the late riots in this city : — 

The scenes of violence and outrage which have occurred in 

H 3 



33a 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1832. 



Bristol have caused me the deepest afflictioii. The authority of 
the law mnst be yindicated by the punishment of oflfences which 
have produced so extensive a destruction of property and so 
melancholy a loss of life. I think it right to direct your attention 
to the best means of improving the municipal police of the king- 
dom, and the more eflfectual protection of the public peace against 
the recurrence of similar oonmtiotions. 

During the debate upon the address, Sir Charles 
Wetherell entered into a very long defence of himself 
from the imputations and charges brought against him 
by the public press, and also complained that himself 
and the mayor and aldermen of Bristol had not been 
included in the special commission issued for trying the 
rioters. Ministers stated that Sir Charles having claimed 
the insertion of the recorder, the mayor, and aldermen's 
names in the commission as a matter of right, that 
mere claim of right had made it impossible that their 
names should be included, for it was not possible for 



ACQUITTKD. 

James Williams, William Osgood, Edward Arbom, Samuel 

Levers, John Peach, Thomas Martin, Samnal- Newton; Mary 

Charles, Margaret Gwyer, James Hasty, John Cox, Sarah Coz, 

r\ XXI • X • J 1. Eleanor Doyle, Samuel Smith, John Bond, James Dyer, Robert 

Itovemment to make concessions to any judges ^4a..--r'* 

claimed to act as such in what was 




cause, the 

tumults having been directed against the recorder and 
the mayor and aldermen themselves. 

A special commission for the trial of the rioters was 
opened at the Guildhall on January 2nd, 1832, before 
the Lord Chief Justice Tyndal and Mr. Justices Taunton 
and Bosanquet. One hundred and fourteen were in- 
dicted, and their trial resulted as follows : — 

DEATH. 

Christopher Davis, William Clarke, Thomas Gregory, 
Richard Vines and Joseph Kayes 5 

DKATH RECORDED. 

Patrick Kearney, tMatthew Warry, tJohn Towell, Henry 
Crinks, Joseph Thomas, David James, t James Courtney, John 
M'Kay, tDaniel Higgs, -f-Thomas Evans Bendall, -fJames 
Sims, tCornelius Hickey, tJames Snook, fWilliam Reynolds, 
tGeorge Andrews, Patrick Bamett, Benjamin Broad, tStephen 
Oaisford, tMichael Sullivan, Timothy Collins, Henry Green, 
Charles Williams, tJames Coleman, James Price, James Dyer 
and tlames waiKer « , .. ... 



26 



FOURTEEN TEARS* TRANSPORTATION. 

fO nUXfJo XY68 ... ••( ««• •■• ..« •.. «.« ,,, ,,, .,, 

SEVEN tears' transportation. 

tWilliam Christopher, tAaron Martin, tJames Street, 
tCharles Huish, tRichard Neville and t Joseph Keates 

TWO TEARS* IMPRISONMENT. 

Samuel Browning, Felix Wyman, John Harper, John 
Jellemy, Charles Coates, John Rees, James Phillips, Edward 
Macdonald, William Bennett, Daniel Sullivan and William 

vyunllip ■•• I.. ..« ,,, ,,, ... ,,, ,,, ,., J,, ^^^ ^^^ 

TWELVE months' IMPRISONMENT. 

Catherine Hogan, Thomas Gallick, William Punch, Ben- 
jamin Donne, William Drew, Daniel McCarthy, John Jones, 
William Nason, Charles Nott, William Bearde, William Jen- 
kins, George Styling, William Morgan, Peter Brown, John 
Jacobs, William Hedges and Joseph Hedges 

t Sent to New South Wales. 



6 



11 



SIX months' impeibonmxnt. 

Hannah Rees, William Burgess, James Cole, Edward 
Dady, Thomas BrimmeU, Daniel Doyle (and to be privately 
whipped) and James Bentley 

FOUR MONTHS* IMPRISONMENT. 

Thomas Huasey, William Jarvis and Stephen Culley ... 

THREE MONTHS* IMPRISONMENT. 

John Tarrant Bnffin, John Simmons and William Lee ... 

ONE month's IMPRISONMENT. 

Thomas Lane and Mary Parker 

NO BILLS POUND. 

John Brittan, Richard Phipps, Thomas Fitzgerald, Wil- 
liam Beer, Sarah Anderson, Samuel Harding, James Donovan, 
John Dally, James Bayley, Charles Turtle and James Elliott 



11 



22 
114 



17 



'onchard, Anthony Harvey, Jonas Osborne, John Howell, 
William Reeves and William Dogherty 



The execution of the five unfortunate men who were 
tenced to suflfer the extreme penalty of the law was, immediately 
upon their condemnatiott, which was one of the most awfid 
scenes ever witnessed, ordered to take place on Friday, the 27th 
of January, 1832. 

A petition to the king for mercy received nearly 
11,000 signatures; in it the petitioners note ''the en- 
tire absence of any testimony showing a guilty premedi- 
tation; that the excesses of the mob arose from the 
impulse of the moment, and that, amid the excitement 
and the devastation of property, they restrained them- 
selves from outrages affecting personal safety ; that the 
guilty conduct of those capitally convicted began at a 
late period of the riots through the unrestricted access 
to intoxicating liquors ; that the impunity that attended 
the first outrages involved them in a depth of crime 
which would have been prevented had the proper 
measures been taken to check their mad and criminal 
career, and to restore the peace of the city," &c. The 
prisoner Vines was respited, it being proved that he was 
little better than an imbecile. 

Of the four who suffered the dread penalty, Christo- 
pher Davis was the only man moving in a respectable 
sphere of life. He was, or had been, a wharfinger, and 
possessed property to the amount of about £300 per 
annum. He was a man of strong political feelings, 
easily excited by drink, and when in that condition, 
used most violent language ; he was found guilty of 
destroying the New Gaol. Clarke was a sawyer, sub- 
ject, since an accident to his head, to fits of derange- 
ment when under the influence of liquor. Elayes was 
a groom, who only went, after ten o'dook on the Sunday 



A.D. 1832. 



COURT-MARTIAL ON COLONEL BRERETON. 



337 



night, to see the fires ; he declared his innocence to the 
last. Gregory was a labourer. They were hanged at the 
New QboI, on the New cut. Seyen hundred special con- 
stables kept the front of the gaol dear ; the 14th Light 
Dragoons were at Fisher's stables; the drd Dragoon 
Guards at the Oattle-market ; the Fusiliers at the Ex- 
change. There was a double guard of the 75th within 
the walls of the gaol, and the Artillery had planted 
their field-pieces in its Yidnity, whilst the whole con- 
stabulaiy force was held in readiness. It was a palpable 
case of locking the stable door after the steed was stolen. 

Seyen of the Bristol rioters died of cholera, in 1832, 
on board the conyict ship before it sailed for New South 
Wales. Matthew Weary, who was little more than a 
lad, a journeyman baker, whose sentence of death had 
been commuted to transportation, jumped oyerboard, 
intending to swim to the shore, but was shot dead by 
the sentinel. 

At the Gloucester assize, Joseph Mills, William 
Spokes and Henry Hurd had sentence of death re- 
corded against them for haying, with others, broken 
into the house of John Mack and destroyed property to 
the yalue of £100, after the destruction of Lawford's 
gate prison. John Wakefield, a poor stupid -looking 
boy, pleaded guilty to breaking Lawford's gate prison. 
Oatridge, the keeper of Lawford's gate prison, was 
allowed £230 damages, and Mack £146, by the Barton 
Segis Hundred. 

A court-martial was held on Colonel Brereton; it 
began on January 9th, 1 832. On the night of Thursday, 
the 14th, finding that the eyidence was strongly against 
him, he shot himself through the heart. The proceed- 
ings therefore were immediately stopped. — On Tuesday, 
January 4th, Captain Warrington was also brought be- 
fore a court-martial ; his trial lasted until February 3rd, 
when he was sentenced to be cashiered. He was, how- 
eyer, allowed to sell his commission. — Ex-officio informa- 
tions were also filed against seyeral of the magistrates 
for neglect of duty, and against the mayor, Mr. Finney, 
whose trial took place before the court of King's Bench. 
His defence was that the dtizens refused to confide in 
or assist the magistrates, and that consequently, deserted 
as they were by their fdlow citizens, they could not 
haye acted more effidently. Upon these grounds a 
yerdict of acquittal was giyen, and the other informa- 
tions were withdrawn. 

On January 7th, 1832, Mr. J. C. Lewis, a retired 
captain in the army, was indicted for the manslaughter 
of a boy named James Morris, whom he shot at the 
comer of the Ghroye ayenue on the morning of Mon- 
day, October 3l8t, at about eight o'dock, when the 
captain, being one of the spedals, was endeayouring to 



preyent the mob from re-entering Queen square. The 
captain declared that he had no intention of shooting 
the boy, that he was, whilst holding the pistol, struck 
yiolently on the arm which caused the pistol to explode. 
The yerdict was not guilty. 

All the plate at the Mansion-house was sayed, with 
the exception of a large silyer salyer, deyoted to the 
presentation of the grace-cup. An old woman^ con- 
fined in the New Gaol on a charge of receiying part of 
the plunder, hanged herself in the prison. 

The testimony of independent witnesses on the 
trial of Mr. Finney, the mayor, was to the effect that 
at the first the number of persons who were engaged in 
breaking open and firing the houses was under twenty, 
and that at the last they did not exceed one hundred 
and fifty, and that the others were merely lookers-on. 
That the magistrates and Mr. Serjeant Ludlow told the 
owners '^ to use their own discretion " in the defence of 
their houses. That at the meeting held in the Guildhall, 
at half -past three on Sunday eyening, the mayor, when 
asked what plan he had to propose to the meeting, said 
he had none, and the town derk said '' eyery man must 
exercise his own discretion and at his own respond- 
bility." The whole affair appears to haye been one 
imhappy muddle from the beginning to the end. The 
members of the I^olitical Union raised a storm of indig- 
nation against the recorder, which was speedily allowed 
to get beyond their control, and which eyentuated in 
the abominable excesses that haye been narrated. The 
mayor and magistrates had no plan or effectiye organi- 
sation for suppressing outrage, and from consdentious 
or prudent motiyes declined to take the responsibility of 
ordering the soldiers to fire on the mob ; the town derk 
adyised the calling out of the poMe eomitatus, but at the 
same time he informed the mayor and magistrates that 
it was not their duty, but that of the sheriff to do it. 
There is no eyidence that t^e sheriff was asked peremp- 
torily to take the step, but there is eyidence to show that 
the citizens protested " that they would not be led out 
to be murdered unless they were supported by the 
military." Colond Brereton, when pressed to act, and 
told that the soldiers had been sent down expresdy to 
protect the dty, declared ** he was ready to risk his own 
life, if it could do any good, but he would not unneces- 
sarily risk the liyes of those under his command ;" and 
when urged on the Saturday eyening to take stronger 
measures he asked the mayor, ''Am I to fire, sir?" 
receiying for answer, " You must fire if the mob cannot 
otherwise be put down." Major Mack worth begged 
that he would not do so, as many innocent spectators 
would suffer. He also testified as to the personal 
courage of the mayor, who was *' unsupported by any 



338 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1832. 



adequate civil or military force, and, moreover, was at 
a most critical period deserted bj those from whom he 
might reasonably have expected assistance." 

December 13th, 1831, Mr. Protheroe gave notice in 
the House of Commons that he would move for leave to 
bring in a bill to alter and amend the Charter of the 
city of Bristol. 

On February 7th, 1832, Mr. Baillie brought up the 
report of the Bristol police committee, and obtained 
leave to bring in a bill to establish an effective police in 
the city, also he brought up the report of the Bristol 
compensation committee, and obtained leave to bring in 
a bill for providing compensation for damages sustained 
during the late riots. February 13th, the town clerk 
stated that the county rate for the above purpose would 
be one of ten shillings in the^pound. 

The following is the amount of claims stated on 
Monday, April 30th: — 



1 for 


£25,000 


29 from £500 to £1,000 


1 •• 


20,000 


9 " 400 " 500 


2 between 


7,000 and £8,000 


12 " 300 " 400 


2 •' 


4.000 " 6,000 


9 •• 200 " 300 


6 " 


3,000 " 4,000 


6 " 100 " 200 


3 •• 


2,000 " 3,000 


6 mider 100 and above 30 


6 " 


1,500 " 2,000 


28 " 30 


8 from 


1,000 to 1,500 





Total amount, £122,777 lU. 

12. The commissioners under the Bristol Damages 
Compensation Act concluded their labours and published 
their report, which was drawn up January 10th, 1835. 
The nimiber of actions was 121 ; damages by verdict 
£6000, by compromise £49,823 13«. Id., were recovered ; 
the costs averaged £53 5«. lOd. for each action. — April 
7th, 1832, there was a great fire at Mr. Hare's floor-doth 
manufactory.— June 19th, the members of the Political 
Union celebrated the passing of the Heform Bill by 
walking in procession with banners, music, &c., and on 
August 14th a public dinner was provided on Brandon 
hill for 5,500 persons; there assembled about 30,000 
people, the tables were stormed, and the affair resulted 
in a scene of riotous disorder. The fireworks prepared 
for the evening were also marred by the conduct of 
the rabble. — On July 1st, whilst removing an old 
tenement upon the north cloister of the Cathedral, 
one of the buttresses fell and demolished the room in 
which Mary Bobinson, the poetess, was bom. — On the 
30th a public meeting was held at the Guildhall, for 
the purpose of forming a railroad to London ; estimated 
cost, £2,808,330. The bill was read a second time in 
the House of Commons on March 6th, 1834, but was 
rejected by the Lords on July 25th. — This year the 
cholera visited Bristol ; the first case occurred on July 
11th, in Harford's court, near the Stone bridge; the 



ravages of the disease were most deadly ; up to the 
9th of August, seventy-three deaths had occurred in 
the city ; on that date a piece of ground adjoining the 
New Cattle market was set apart as a place for the 
burial of cholera victims. On the 11th the plague 
was virulent in St. Peter's hospital, where six hundred 
paupers were crowded, fifty -eight girls sleeping in 
ten beds, and seventy boys in eighteen beds. On 
the 12th of August the curate of Temple parish in- 
terred thirty -one persons, victims in that locality. A 
cholera hospital was erected on the New cut, strenuous 
efforts were made to prevent the spread of the contagion, 
good food was liberally supplied to the poor, and by the 
beginning of October the blue, or Indian form of the 
disease, had disappeared. This visitation cost the city 
in direct expenses £2,738 14«. lOd. 

13. On September 15th, 1832, Daniel Stanton was 
elected mayor, and J. N. Franklyn and M. H. Castle 
sheriffs. — On December 12th and 13th the reaction 
against Reformers had set in strongly in Bristol, and 
Sir R. Vyvyan and Mr. James Evan Baillie were re- 
turned as members of Parliament at a sharply contested 
election ; a petition was lodged, but it was decided on 
May 2nd, 1833, that they were duly elected. The West 
India merchants coalesced with Vyvyan. They had been 
cool, if not hostile, in their support of reform; their 
desertion quickened the feeling against slavery, and 
hastened its doom. 

On September 14th, 1833, Charles Ludlow Walker 
was elected mayor, and James Lean and Peter Maze 
sheriffs. — On the 27th the Indian reformer. Rajah Ram- 
mohun Roy, died at Stapleton grove ; his remains were 
afterwards removed to Amo's Yale cemetery, where a 
handsome monument was erected to his memory. 

On April 2nd, 1834, an Egyptian mummy was opened 
at the Bristol Philosophical Institution. — The Steep 
Holms was this month sold to Mr. C. K. K. Tynte by 
the corporation. — ^Land for the erection of a dwelling- 
house, shops, and chapel for an Asylum for the Blind 
was bought in Tyndall's park ; it measured la. 2r. 13p., 
and cost the committee £1,850. — The mudscraper, an 
invention of Brunei, was first used in May, with good 
results; it is still used in Bathurst basin. — September 
15th, Charles Payne was elected mayor, and J. N. 
Eranklyn and W. K. Wait sheriffs. — ^It was petitioned 
to remove the haymarket out of Broadmead, it having 
become a great thoroughfare and a place of trade. — 
On October 8th, at a meeting held in the hall of the 
Merchant Venturers' society, it was determined to apply 
afresh for an Act to complete the whole line of the 
Ghreat Western railway, and in November the corpora- 
tion of Bristol and the Merchant Venturers' sodety 



A.i>. 1835« 



THE MUNICIPAL CORPORATION REFORM ACT. 



339 



agreed to take each of them one hundred shares. The 
allotment of shares in Bristol was well taken up. — 
On November 22nd the foundation-stone of the new 
Custom -house was laid on the site of the former 
building. — December 30th, the coroner's jury returned 
a yerdict of wilful murder against Mrs. Burdock, for 
poisoning Clara Ann Smith. 

On January 9th, 1836, Sir R. Vyvyan and Mr. P. J. 
Miles were returned as members of Parliament for 
Bristol. — On March 19th it was proposed to form the 
Bristol Tea company, for trading direct to China ; capi- 
tal, £500,000, in shares of £100.— It was proposed 
to establish a new market in West street, and a court of 
inquiry was held imder a writ of ad quod damnum. The 
jury found that it would damage the existing markets 
in Bristol. — On April 9th Sir Charles Wetherell, the 
recorder, came to Bristol for the first time since the 
memorable riots in 1831, to deliver the gaol. The 
learned gentleman was met at Totterdown by the 
sheriffs and their officers, but not the slightest mani- 
festation of party feeling was shown. He had to try 
Mrs. Burdock, the Court of King's Bench having de- 
cided against the removal of the trial from the jurisdic- 
tion of the city and county of Bristol. Mrs. Burdock 
was tried on Monday, the 13th of April, and hanged on 
Wednesday, the 15ih, in the presence of 50,000 persons. 
She was the last who suffered under the jurisdiction 
conferred on the city by the old charters. She made a 
confession on the Tuesday of her guilt, in which she 
implicated her dead paramour. Wade. — ^The Act for the 
Bristol and Gloucestershire railway was obtained in 
1828 ; it was begun between Bristol and Coalpit Heath 
in 1 829. Originally intended to be a single line, it was 
converted ultimately into a double one, and was opened 
on August 6th, 1835.— The Bill for the Great Western 
railway received the royal assent on the 3 1st of the 
same month; the opposition during two sessions of 
Parliament cost the promoters £88,710. The applica- 
tions for the 5,000 reserved shares on September 17th 
were 14,308, and shares went up to £8 premium. — ^The 
Municipal Keform Act was opposed in the Lords by the 
corporation. Sir Charles Wetherell called as witnesses 
Mr. Alderman Fripp, ex-mayor, and Mr. Burges, solicitor 
to the corporation. The Act, however, passed on Sep- 
tember 9th. — On October 28th the ward divisions under 
the Mimicipal Beform Act were settled by the barristers 
as follow : — 



Cocmolllon. Voters. 


Connclllon. Voten. 


Bedminster ... 3 ... 177 


St. Angnstine'a 6 ... 335 


Bristol 9 ... 870 


St. James' 3 ... 413 


CUfton 9 ... 494 


St. Michael's ... 3 ... 306 


District 3 .. 814 


St. Paul's 3 ... 836 


Redcliff 6 ... 617 


St. Philip ft Jacob 3 ... 432 



On November 10th Lord John Bussell was enter- 
tained at the Gloucester hotel, Hotwells, and presented 
with a piece of plate for his exertions on behalf of 
reform. — On December 28th the following gentlemen 
were declared by the mayor, Oharles Payne, to have 
been elected for the several wards, viz. : — 

BiDMiNSTBB. — B. Phippen, J. Drake, S. Brown. 

Bristol.— J. Wood, W. K Acraman, T. Stock, F. Ricketts, 
P. Maze, C. B. Fripp, H. Bash, t J. Lean, t J. Savage. 

Clifton.-— t Charles Payne, tG. Goldney, tJ. N. Franklyn, 
J. Cookson, t A. Hilhonse, W. S. Jacqnes, R. E. Case, J. Ford, 
tM. H. Castle. 

District.— t J. E. Lnnell, T. R. Sanders, R. Ash. 

Redcliff.— tC. George, H. Ricketts, R. S. King, G. Thomas, 
W. 0. Gwyer, G. E. Sanders. 

St. AnousTiirE's.— tT. Daniel, C. Hare, Richard Smith, J. E. 
Nash, tP. Maze, Jan., T. Powell. 

St. Jah£s'.— J. Conningham, S. S. Wayte, J. W. Hall* 

St. Michael's.— J. Howell, t J. George, tC. L. Walker. 

St. Paul's.— N. Moore, R. T. Gappy, W. Harewood. 

St. Philip and Jacob.— T. Harris, W. Herapath, E. B. Fripp. 
t Denotes members of the old oorporation. 

The highest number polled was for J. Wood, in the Bristol 
ward, 388. 

On the dOth the above gentlemen met and subscribed 
the declarations prescribed by the Act. — On the Slst^ 
Mr. Thos. Daniel in the chair, they elected, after con- 
siderable discussion, the following sixteen gentlemen to 
be aldermen : — ^William Fripp, Charles Pinney, T. H. 
Biddle, B. Bicketts, William Bushell, William Watson, 
J. K. Haberfield, J. Maningford, James Gibbs, Nicholas 
Boach, Edward Harley, George Franklyn, John Win- 
wood, Thomas Stock, W. K. Wait and John Yining. 

Five of the above gentlemen had been defeated in 
ward contests. The first division, taken on the question 
that Mr. William Fripp be elected an alderman, resulted 
in a tie, the numbers being twenty-four for and twenty- 
four against. The Whigs disagreeing amongst them- 
selves, thirteen gentiemen were elected out of the list 
of names put forward by the Tories, Mr. 0. Pinney, 
the ex-mayor, being one of them. He was nominally a 
Whig, but was nominated by both parties, the other 
three being Messrs. T. Stock, B. Bicketts and J. Man- 
ingford. This election secured that preponderance of 
the Tories in the council which they have ever since 
retained. 

14. Mr. 0. Payne held the mayoralty under the old 
Act until December, 1835, when Mr. T. Daniel was 
elected as mayor by thirty-eight votes to twenty-two; 
he declined to serve, and on January 11th, 1836, Mr. 
William Fripp, alderman, was chosen under the old 
ooiporation. The mayor's salary, with emolimients and 
fees, had averaged about £2,500. It was now deter- 
mined to give up the Mansion-house, and to fix the 
salary at £700 per annum, with £100 for a carriage. — 



340 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1898. 



The recorder had receiyed £105, with a hogshead of 
port or sherry ; now the salary was fixed at £400, with 
an allowance of £100 for trayelling expenses if he 
resided at a greater distance than seven miles from 
Bristol; his duties were increased, and he had to pre- 
side at quarter sessions. — ^The sword-bearer, who was 
also inspector of weights and measures, had receiyed 
£190; the fees of the latter office brought him also 
£140 per annum. The salary was now fixed at £300, 
to be paid out of the borough fund. — The collector of 
the town dues had receiyed ten per cent, on moneys 
collected, together with an allowance of £150 for a 
clerk and office. His commission was reduced to seyen 
and a-half per cent., with no claim for compensation 
when the dues should be abolished. — The salary of the 
chamberlain, who had to receiye and to pay all moneys 
for the coiporation and the charities, and to keep the 
books, was £700. He was allowed a commission on 
country rents, which amounted to £299 13«., as treasurer 
of the charitable estates he had £300, making a total 
of £1,299 13«., out of which he paid his deputy £100. 
The deputy-chamberlain, in addition to the aboye £100, 
receiyed a salary of £250 from the corporation, and 
fees and commission, £148 3«. ; total, £498 3«. The 
derk receiyed £130 a year. There was also an appren- 
tice, whose salary was £20. The chamberlain's title 
was now merged in that of the treasurer, the salaries 
to be: — Treasurer, £700; deputy, to be called first 
clerk, £250; second derk, £120; apprentice, £20. 

Up to this date there were two sheriffs for Bristol, 
but now she lost one, and, under the new Act, Mr. Daniel 
Oaye was elected sole sheriff ; under the same Act the 
mayor was elected on Noyember 9th in each year. We 
giye a list of mayors and sheriffs from 1836 to the 
present date : — 

Mayors. SHiKim. 

1836 ] lih January, Wm. Fripp Daniel Cave 
1S36 9th November, Jas. George Thomas Kington 

1837 John Kerle Haberfield Thomas Kington Bayly 

1838 John Kerle Haberfield Francis Savage 

1839 James Norroway Franklyn Richard Vaughan 

1840 Robert Phippen Hngh Vaughan 

1841 George Woodroffe Franklyn Thomas Jones 

1842 James Gibbs Jeremiah Hill 

1843 William Lewton Clarke Thomas Wadham 



1844 Richard Poole King 

1845 John Kerle Haberfield 

1846 William Goldney 

1847 John Decimus Founiney 

1848 John Kerle Haberfield 

1849 John Kerle Haberfield 
1860 John Kerle Haberfield^ 



John Harding 

Thomas Hill 

Abrm. Gray Harford Battersby 

Edward Sampson, Jnnr. 

Peter Ma7«, Junr. 

John Jasper Leigh Baily 



Joseph Walters Daubeny 

^ The honour of knighthood was conferred on the mayor by 
the Queen at St. James' palace, March 26th, 1851. He was 
accompanied on the occasion by Earl Fitzhardinge, lord-lieu- 
tenant of the county. 



Matobs. 

851 Wm. Henry Gore-Langton 

852 Robert Gay Barrow 

853 John Greorge Shaw 

854 John George Shaw 

856 John Vining 
866 John Vining 

857 Isaac Allan Cooke 

858 James Poole 

859 John Bates 

860 Odiame Coates Lane 

861 John Hare 

862 Sholto Vere Hare 

863 Thomas Porter Jose 

864 WiUiam Kaish 

865 Joseph Abraham 

866 Elisha Smith Robinson 

867 Francis Adams 

868 Francis Adams 

869 William Killigrew Wait 

870 Thomas Canning 

871 William Proctor Baker 

872 William Hathway 

873 Thomas Barnes 

874 Christopher James Thomas 

875 John Aveimy Jones 

876 George William Edwards 

877 George William Edwards 

878 George William Edwards 

879 Henry Taylor 

880 Joseph Dodge Weston 

881 Joseph Dodge Weston 



Shebots. 
John Battersby Harford 
Robert Bright 
Philip John William Miles 
Robert Phippen 
Albany Bonrchier Savile 
George Oldham Edwards 
John Henry Greville Smyth* 
William Henry Harford 
William Montague Baillie 
Joshua Sanndem 
George Rocke Woodward 
Charles Daniel Cave 
William Wright 
Henry Cruger William Miles 
Joseph Cooke Hnrle 
William Henry MUes 
William Gale Coles 
Robert Phippen* 
Thomas Proctor 
John Fisher 

William Thomas Poole King 
Thomas Todd Walton 
Thomas Todd Walton 
Charles HiU 
George Bright 
William Smith 
William Henry Wills 
Charles Bowles Hare 
Robert Low Grant Vassall 
Francis Frederick Fox 
William Edwards George 



In the debate on the report of oommittee, Febroaiy 
4th, 1835, it was stated that, in 1825, the oorporation 
was so greatly in debt that their bankers ref osed to 
adyanoe more money without the deposit of the title 
deeds of the corporation as securily, and that Mrs. 
Harford, the mother of the deputy-chamberlain, then 
lent them the moneys requisite, on bond at five per 
cent., there being not a shilling in the treasuiy chest. 

On January 30th, 1836, a mandamui had been ap- 
plied for in the court of King's Bench to test the question 
whether the new Mimicipal Corporation Act, which made 
the Tillage of Clifton a part of the borough of Bristol, 
had taken away the jurisdiction of the oounly of Glou- 
cester magistrates, or whether their authority was only 
taken away in such matters as strictly related to the 
purposes of that Act. On Februaiy 1st it was decided 
«that the transfer of the jurisdiction in Clifton from 
the county of Gloucester to the city of Bristol was as 
complete as words could make it, and that the township 
of Clifton was now a part of Bristol." — The same day, 
in the court of Common Fleas, in a special case before 

^ Mr. Smyth refaaed to serve ; law proceedings were taken 
against him, but his year of office expiring before the cause csme 
on for trial the proceedings were witiidrawn. Mr. Edwards, the 
sheriff of 1856, did the duties. 

* Mr. Robert Phippen died during his year of office, Jnly 6th, 
1869. 



REPORT ON THE CORPORATION PROPERTY. 



n* ViOatia Jtanu, Ctf/toi. 



tiiat court, it was decided "that Ireland was a place 
bejoad the seas," and therefore liable under the Dock 
Act to pay a higher duty on goods than those brought 
to Bristol "coastwise." 

15. On February 5th, at an adjourned meeting of 
the council, a Watch committee was appointed, which 
produced a scheme for an efficient police force, the 
estimated cost being about £9,000 per annum. Hr. 
Bishop was appointed police superintendent at £350 
per annum. — Mr. Serjeant Ludlow, under protest, acted 
as town clerk. He contended that the most important 
duties had been detached from the office and inferior 
ones substituted, which he thought a barrister ought 
not to be called upon to ful£l, especially at a reduced 
remuneration ; he would neither accept the new ap- 
pointment nor give up his claim to compensation for 
loss of office. He afterwards, by letter, showed that 
his average income had been from salary and fees 
£913 5t, 10 J. per annum; be was allowed as compen- 
sation, £533 6*. a. The learned gentleman, taking 
offence at eomc Btrioturee by Mr. 0. H. Payne, town 
oouncilloT and ez-mayor, sent hie friend. Captain Cooke, 
with a demand for an explanation and authority to act 
as circumstances might require. Mr. Fayne, in reply, 
claimed his right to criticise, as one having a decided 
interest in the d^'s funds, but disclaimed any idea of 
imputing intentional misstatement, or anything incon- 
sistent witb the character of a gentleman to the learned 
Serjeant. 

The Duke of Beanfort was appointed lord high 
steward of Bristol; he had a majority of sixteen over 



Lord Seagrave, the lord-lieutenant, who was also nomi- 
nated. — On February 8th, the IStry, a small tug boat, 
which had been bought for towing ships on the Avon, 
was boarded by about thir^ Pill boatmen, who carried 
her off and tried to scuttle her. She was picked up the 
next day drifting off Beachley; warrants were issued 
against eighteen of the rioters, and rewards offered for 
their apprehension. 

In a debate in the Council chamber, on February 
9th, it was shown that the annual imposts in the city 
amounted to £ 1 2,400 ; that deducting town dues, interest 
on debt, cost of new gaol, Ac, there remained to meet 
this an income of about £13,000. That the amount of 
the poor, paving, harbour and compensation rates levied 
on Bristol in 1833 was £65,029, asseesed upon 10,114 
properties; that only £54,146 oould be oollected from 
6,670 properties, whilst 3,444 other properties contri- 
buted nothing; that 2,488 persons were summoned for 
the rates, and that 1,400 ot these were excused by the 
magistrates. 

The report on the corporation proper^, presented 
this month by Mr. Sturge, was as follows: — 

BaUte and timber in the coDDtr; £]44,400 

Lands in vicioity ot BristAl let at nok-rents 14,000 

Fm farm uid chief rent! 39,060 

Premises in Bristol at r«ck rents, subject to repairs S7,940 
Exchange and St. James' markets, subject to repain 38,772 

Town and mayor's dues 31,640 

Beversion of houses in Bristol held by lease nnder 

corporation 66,200 

Mansion-honse 4,760 



342 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.JK 1836. 



There were besides, the public buildings, Council-liouBe, 
Guildhall, Gaol, Bridewell, Mayor's chapel, Guard-house 
and City Library ; the total indebtedness was £11 1,542 
I5s. \0d. It was then moyed to petition Parliament for 
leave to appropriate the sum of £35,000 in redeeming 
the rates levied under the Damages Compensation Act, 
and this was carried by thirty-two to twenty-three. 

On Monday, February 15th, it was decided that the 
treasurer should have charge of the city plate, the mayor 
to have the use of it when he desired. — Twenty-four 
gentlemen were nominated as magistrates after great 
discussion, twelve from each party, the names being 
sent up to the Government. Twelve Whigs and six 
Tories were appointed. Objections to certain gentle- 
men nominated on the Conservative side of the House 
having been sent up, gave rise to a heated debate in 
Parliament, in which Sir R. Vyvyan charged Lord John 
Bussell with being influenced by corrupt motives. The 
Speaker had to call on the noble lord and the hon. 
baronet to give their assurance that they would not 
carry the matter further. Of the gentlemen chosen, 
Messrs. T. Kington (Con.) and B. Bright (Whig) de- 
dined to serve. 

On February 23rd it was shown that the cost of the 
law business of the town council, including town derk, 
city solicitors and their various derks, had averaged 
£3,350 per annum. Mr. Daniel Burges (father of the 
present town derk) was appointed town derk, and 
Messrs. Brice and Burges city solicitors, the salary, to 
cover all law business, payment of derks, &c., exclusive 
of Parliamentary charges, to be £3,000. Mr. Brice had 
been a faithful servant of the city for twenty-nine, and 
Mr. Burges for seventeen years. 

The Cholera ground and Scavengers' yard. Temple 
meads, were induded in the twenty acres belonging to 
the corporation which was required by the Great Western 
Bailway company. The council demurred to the rail- 
way taking the whole of the land. In answer it was 
said that the engineer, Mr. Brunei, said it would aU be 
required. Moreover, as there were 8,000 shares, of the 
value of £200,000, held by inhabitants of Bristol, it was 
desirable to give every facility to the Great Western 
Bail way company for their terminal arrangements being 
thoroughly complete in Temple meads. The company 
ultimately decided that the Cholera ground and Scaven- 
gers' yard, together with a portion of land near the 
Cattle market, specified by the council, should not be 
claimed by them; moreover, they were willing to insert 
a dause in the deed of conveyance that, at the end of 
ten years, they would give up any of the land not 
required by them on the same terms as those on which 
they purchased. The price asked for the ground (18a. 



3r. 15p.) was £12,000; the company oflfered £11,800. 
In September, on arbitration, the sum asked, £12,000, 
was awarded. 

In February, several acres of ground on the Bath 
road were purchased, with a view to form a Zoological 
Society's garden. It was afterwards dedded to form 
one nearer to Clifton, and on May 12th the society 
reported that they had bought the ground (now occu- 
pied by them) of Mr. Francis Adams for £3,456 10«., 
and had expended £8,800 upon it. The plot measured 
about twelve acres. The gardens were opened July 
11th of the same year. 

On March 10th the stock of wines belonging to the 
corporation, 520 dozen, was sold by auction for £1,507, 
realising a profit of £500. On the 15th, the furniture 
of the Mansion-house fetched £725 4^. 2d. 

On May 4th Mr. Grindon was unanimously appointed 
coroner. — The common council, by forty-two to four, 
decided to petition for the removal of the dvic disabili- 
ties of the Jews. — It was ordered that henceforth the 
names of the members voting be entered in a division 
book. — Mr. W. 0. Hare was appointed derk of the 
peace. —On Saturday, the 14th, a peal of bells was 
presented by Mr. John Bangley to the church of St. 
Matthew, Kingsdown. — On the 24th the prospectus of 
the Bristol Cotton Twist and Power Loom company 
(capital £200,000, in 4,000 shares of £20 each) was 
issued. 

On June 4th steam conmiunication by the steamship 
Star was opened with Hfracombe and South Wales.— On 
the 5th two Persian princes, on the 2drd the Prince of 
Orange with his two sons and suite, and on July 2 1st 
the Prince of Oldenburg, nephew of the Czar of Eussia, 
visited the city ; they and their suits* were entertained 
by the mayor. — On June 26th the new police commenced 
duty. The head-quarters was at the Guard-hotise, Wine 
street (see Vol. I., p. 303) ; the force numbered 227 men. 
— Prospectus of the Bristol and Bitton Cotton Twist 
company issued ; capital, £300,000; shares, £100. 

On July 2nd a grand horticultural/<^ was held at Mr. 
Miller's, Durdham down. — On the 14th a great dinner 
was given to Mr. Thomas Danid, late senior alderman, 
to whom an address, signed by 7,000 of his feUow- 
citizens, was presented ; five other gentlemen who had 
been in conjunction with Mr. Danid, Messrs. C. L. 
Walker, J. George, N. Boch, A. Hilhouse and J. N. 
Franklyn, were also induded in the entertainment.— On 
the 28th the stempost of the Great Western steamship 
was raised from the keel amidst great rejoicing. 

The first mention of the Teetotal Temperance sodety 
in Bristol with which we have met is a challenge of 
William Bulphin, a chimney-sweep of Steep street, in 



▲.D. 1837. 



MEETING OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION, 



343 



Felix Farley's Bristol Journal, August 27th, 1836, to dis- 
cuss the subject ; he proposed to support the moderate 
system. 

16. The first meeting in Bristol of the British Asso- 
ciation was held in August. The local subscription 
amounted to £1,700. The general committee met in 
the Chapter-house of the Cathedral. Amongst those 
present whose names have become historical were Pro- 
fessors Babbage, Buckland, Henslow, Forbes, Wilson, 
Faraday, Sedgwick, Bigaud, Peacock, Christie and 
Uoyd ; Drs. Roget, Hitchie, Wheatstone, McCullagh, 
Phillips, Lardner, Prichard, Hare (Philadelphia), Dal- 
ton, Symonds, Thomson, Daubeny and Carpenter ; Lords 
King and Northampton ; Sirs Dayid Brewster, John 
Rennie and William B. Hamilton ; Bey. A. Crosse ; 
Messrs. B. J. Murchison, De La Beche, MacAdam, H. 
Hallam, Davies Gilbert, G. Cubit, George Bennie, W. D. 
Coneybeare, W. Herapath, J. W. Lubbock, J. J. Bussell, 
H. Fox Talbot, W. Snow Harris, I. K. Brunei, Colonel 
Sykes, Tom Moore and W. Lisle Bowles. The Marquis 
of Lansdowne being unable to be present on account of 
the illness of his eldest son, the Marquis of Northampton 
took the president's chair. The Great Western railway, 
with its tunnels and cuttings, was an object of great 
attraction to the geological, botanical and mechanical 
sections, whilst in the latter Dr. Lardner was so unwise 
as to prove to his own satisfaction the impossibility of 
a steamboat ever crossing the Atlantic. Mr. Crosse's 
discoveries and his growth of crystals in quartz excited 
much attention. 

September 3rd, the following by-laws were enacted : 
Any person refusing to serve the office of mayor to be 
fined £100, that of alderman £60, auditor £50, assessor 
£50, councillor £50.— On the 6th, eighteen gentlemen 
were nominated by the town council to serve as charity 
trustees.— On the 1 0th, C. S. Bartlett, a low comedian 
playing at St. James' fair, shot his mother-in-law in 
Lippet's lane, Stapleton ; he was hanged at Gloucester, 
April 15th, 1837. 

On October 10th, during a hurricane, 60 feet of the 
parapet of BedcHff church was blown down, great 
damage was done in the city, and the tide was the 
highest known for upwards of twenty years. — On the 
17th the sees of Gloucester and Bristol were united. 
The bishop visited Bristol on the 19th. 

On February 3rd, 1837, two prisoners in a damp 
cell in the Bridewell were suffocated through the in- 
cautious use of a pan of coals.— The influenza was 
deadly in Bristol this month, one undertaker within five 
days burying eighty-five persons who had died from its 
effects.— Four lives were lost at a fire at " William IV." 
tavern, Temple street, on the night of March 15th. — 
[Vol. m.] 



The foundation-stone of the new cotton manufactory. 
Barton hill, was laid on April 1 8th.— On the 24th, Mr. 
John Wesley Hall laid for the foundation of a new 
Wesleyan chapel at Baptist Mills the identical stone 
that John Wesley stood on when he preached in that 
locality. 

On June 20th, at Windsor castle, in his seventy-first 
year, died the sailor king, William IV., and his niece, 
Alezandrina Victoria, our present most gracious Queen, 
succeeded. The following was the order of procession 
for proclaiming her most graci6us majesty Queen Victoria 
in the borough of Bristol on Saturday, June 24th, 1837 : 

Body of Police Ck)NSTABL£s. 

The High Constablb. 

Exchange Keeper, with Staff of Office. 

Band of Music 

Ck)RF0RATE Officers. 

Frothonotary of Tolzey Court. Begtstrar of Court of 

Conscience. 

Officers of Bristol Staff. 

Herald. 

A Car. 

City Soucitor. Town Clerk. Treasurer. 

Sword Bearer. 

The Bight Worshipful the Mayor. 

The High Sheriff. 

Under Sheriff. 

The Magistrates. 

The Town Councillors. 

Consuls of Foreign States. 

The Clergy. 

The Dissenting Ministers. 

The Charity Trustees. 

Master, Warden and Society of Merchant Venturers. 

Governor, Deputy Governor and Corporation of the Foor. 

Band of Music. 
Churchwardens and Inhabitants of the different Parishes. 

Police Constables. 
Superintendent of Police. 



BouTE : 

Proclamation will be made at the top of High street, and be 
repeated at each place where the procession halts. 

The procession will proceed along Wine street to Peter's 
pump ; from thence down Bridge street, over the bridge to 
Temple cross ; thence through Temple street and Portwall lane 
to Thomas street, where the cross formerly stood; thence over 
the bridge, along the Back, through the Mansion-house avenue 
into Queen square; thence, after encompassing the statue of 
King William to the comer of the Square to Prince street, re- 
turning along the Quay to the Quay pipe; and from thence 
through Stephen street and Com street to the Council house. 

On July 1 9th the launch of the Great Western steam- 
ship took place. — On the 24th, Mr. P. W. 8. Miles and 
the Hon. F. H. F. Berkeley were elected to represent 
Bristol in Parliament. — The first marriage in a Dis- 
senting chapel in Bristol was celebrated on the 3lst| at 
Brunswick Congregational chapel.— On September 29th 
extra pilotage on foreign ships was abolished by the 

K 4 



344 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1838. 



town council. — In December the dean and chapter pur- 
chased the ruins of the Bishop's palace, College green, 
and the grounds belonging thereto, for £1,450. 

17. In 1838, under a new survey of the city, the 
ratable value of the nineteen parishes was assessed at 
£213,417. — On January 19th the steamboat Killamey^ 
on her passage to Bristol from Cork, was wrecked on 
the Bennies rocks ; twenty-five persons perished, the 
others, after spending three days and two nights upon 
the rock, were saved by means of a basket swung on 
a rope from the opposite cliffs of the bay, and thence 
swept over the rock. 

In February the cross rows of lime trees in King 
square were cut down and the iron railing put up. — In 
the same month the following sums were paid as com- 
pensation to owners of slaves in the West Indies, who 
resided in Bristol or its neighbourhood, out of the sum 
of £20,000,000 voted by Parliament. The list does not 
include any sum under £3,000 : — 

£ «. d 

Richard Bright 8,092 7 5 

Robert Bright 3,820 9 4 

Jas. E. Baillie 12,967 12 3 

H. D. J. E. Baillie and O. H. Ames ... 23,024 6 5 

Jas. Conningham 3,798 2 3 

Jas. Cunningham 8,559 6 

Sir B. Codrington, hart 29,866 17 1 

Thomas and John Daniel 55,177 13 3 

PhiUp John Miles 9,076 1 4 

Charles Pinney and E. Case 3,572 10 11 



Total 



£157,955 9 



On February 16th the Hon. F. H. F. Berkeley, 
whose return had been petitioned against, was declared 
duly elected. — June 4th, the Great Western railway 
was opened from London to Maidenhead. — On the 
28th the coronation of Her Majesty Queen Victoria 
was celebrated with great rejoicing; the funds were 
raised by public subscription, and not as of old, fur- 
nished by the corporation. — In April, the Great TFestem 
steamship was on view in Bristol, having returned from 
London, where she had been exhibited. She made 
several highly successful voyages to and from New 
York during the year, averaging thirteen days on her 
homeward passages. — On July 2nd Mr. Courtney miade 
another successful flight down a rope from St. Vincent's 
rocks to Leigh woods. — On the 16th the fairs held in 
St. James and Temple parishes were abolished. — On 
December 26th, Fergus O'Connor held a Chartist meet- 
ing on Brandon hill, which proved a failure. 

Li January, 1839, calico was for the first time manu- 
factured in Bristol. — On February 9th, William Davis 
murdered John Butt in Cold Harbour lane ; he was 
hanged at Gloucester, April 6th.— On April 18th, the 



"Great Western" hotel, Hotwell road, was opened. — 
September 6th, a shock of an earthquake was felt in 
Bristol. 

On February 10th, 1840, there were great rejoicings 
on account of the Queen's marriage. — On August 6th 
Sir Eobert and Lady Peel visited Bristol ; they stayed 
at the "White Lion" tavern, Broad street.— On Sep- 
tember 10th the lords of the Admiralty arrived in the 
steamship Firebrand. 

On June 28th, 1841, Mr. P. W. 8. MUes and the 
Hon. F. H. F. Berkeley were returned as members of 
Parliament for the city.— On July 22nd the new building 
at the top of Park street, intended for the Bed Maids' 
school, was sold to the Charity trustees for £9,250. 
By consent of the Lord Chancellor, it was afterwards 
sold to trustees on behalf of the Bishop's (intended) 
college for £9,750.— On August 17th the report of the 
Bristol General Cemetery company was issued ; it gave 
the total cost of land, roads and building as £13,340.— 
On September 27th the mayor and officials began to 
beat the bounds of the city. — The new bridge from 
Bath street to St. Philip's opened; it was built by a 
company and cost £11,000, but with the approaches 
nearly £20,000. 

On May 24th, 1842, the Victoria rooms, the founda- 
tion stone of which was laid by Mr. J. K. Haberfield 
in 1838, erected at a cost of £20,000, and occupying the 
finest site in Clifton, were opened. The noble portico 
is supported by massive Corinthian columns, which bear 
a rich entablature and pediment, with classic carvings 
in high relief representing the " Advent of Morning." — 
On July 12th, the Boyal Agricultural society visited 
Bristol; the exhibition was held at the back of the 
Victoria rooms, the ploughing, &c., in a field at Sneyd 
park. 

On July 7th, 1843, Highbury Congregational church 
was opened, with accommodation for 700 people; the 
Eev. David Thomas became its first pastor in 1844, and 
continued to occupy the pulpit till his death, November 
7th, 1875.— On the 14th the Eoman Catholics bought, 
for £5,000, the Irvingites' chapel, near the Stone bridge, 
which had cost £13,000. Bishop Baines, who preached 
the opening sermon, died in his bed at Bath during the 
following night.— On July 19th H.R.H. Prince Albert 
visited Bristol to be present at the launch of the 
Great Britain steamship. He received addresses from 
the mayor and oorporatioui from the Society of Mer- 
chant Venturers, who gave him the freedom of their 
society in a gold box, and from the clergy ; a procession 
was then formed through the city to Clifton, and*thence 
by the valley road to the company's yard entrance in 
Cumberland road. After partaking of a banquet with 



A.D. 1844. 



STREET IMPROVEMENT BILL. 



345 



the Hits of the neighbourhood, under the presidency of 
Mr. T. Kingston, the prince named the ship in the 
usual manner, by dashing a bottle of wine on her bows. 
He left immediately for London, having expressed him- 
self highly delighted with aU he had seen. There were 
30,000 people on Brandon hill to view the launch. — On 
October SOth the foundation-stone of the new Guildhall 
was laid by the mayor, Mr. James Gibbs, with great 
Masonic ceremony. — Seyeral foreign princes visited 
Bristol during the year in order to inspect the Great 
Britain. 

In 1844 the fronts of the picturesque old houses in 
Broad street, between the Coundl-house and the Guild- 
hall, were taken down to widen the roadway. — ^In May 
the Bristol and Exeter railway line was completed 
and opened* — On July 6th the King of Saxony visited 
Bristol by rail from Bath to attend divine service at the 
Soman Catholic church on St. Augustine's back; he 
returned to Bath that night, but came back on Monday 
morning to inspect the Great Britain steamship. — On 
August 31st the Prince of Prussia, being a guest of the 
Duke of Beaufort, came with his grace from Badminton 
to see the huge ship. 

On January 16th, 1845, Miss Ann Dimsdale be- 
queathed aboub £26,000 to ten various charities in 
Bristol. — In June, the foundation-stone of Horfield 
barracks was laid with Masonic rites. — On August 20th 
and 21st the Queen Dowager, with suite, visited Clifton, 
Kingsweston and Blaize castle. — ^William KJiibb, the 
eminent Baptist missionary, died November 15th, 1845 ; 
he was, in 1816, an apprentice to Mr. Fuller, printer, 
Bristol. 

In January, 1846, the statue of Chatterton was re- 
moved, by order of the vicar of Reddiff, from conse- 
crated ground. — The work of restoring St. Mary RedclifP 
church was begun April 21st, by the mayor at the head 
of an imposing Masonic procession. — On June 18th the 
foundation-stone of St. Simon's was laid by the mayor. — 
Thomas Clarkson, the negro's friend, who was well 
known for his anti-slavery efforts in Bristol, died Sep- 
tember 26th.— On October 28th, E. B. Crowther, Q C, 
took his seat as recorder, in the room of Sir Charles 
Wetherell, deceased August 17th. 

18. In 1847 the town clerk stated before the Gt>vem- 
ment surveyors sent to examine into the merits of the 
'' Street Improvement Bill " that the population was 
140,158; the number of streets, 2,250; the lanes, 50; 
alleys, 10; courts, 380; houses, 20,000. The squares: 
Queen square, 6a. 3r. and some poles; College green, 
4a. Or. 2p. ; Brunswick square, la. Or. 36p. ; Brandon 
hill, 19a. 2r. ; Portland square, 2a. Ir. ; King square, 
la. Or. 22p. That £800 had been laid out in forming 



public walks on Brandon hill; thirty new streets had 
been laid out within ten years ; that the estimated cost 
of the improvements was £76,060 ; that the capital re- 
quired, £40,000, was proposed to be raised by a borough 
rate of twopence in the pound, and the whole to be 
completed in seven years. The projected improvements 
were to be as under : — 



To widen Bristol bridge £2,500 

To make Victoria street 24,000 

To make a new street from Broad street to the Bridewell 39,000 

Alterations in the Hotwell road 3,500 

Alterations in Berkeley place, Redclifif hill, York place, 

ou ver Si!re6v ••• ■■• ••• ••• ••. •■• .•« •.. ••• /,vOU 



£7B,060 

In February the directors of the Bristol and South 
Wales Junction railway purchased the Old Passage 
feny, with 80 acres of land, and all the appliances of 
the ferry, for £20,000. — March 15th, the new County 
court was opened at the Guildhall by Mr. Arthur Palmer, 
jun., the judge. — March 27th, the first annual meeting 
of the Bristol Waterworks company was held at the 
"White Lion" tavern. The report stated that the com- 
pany had paid to the Merchant Venturers' society for 
machinery, pipes, &c., £18,000 ; to Mr. Coates for Zion 
spring, £13,500; to Mr. W. Hamley for Buckingham 
spring, £2,014 lOtf. ; to Mr. John Coombe for Eichmond 
spring, £4,950, the two latter by arbitration; total, 
£38,464 lOtf. Bristol was at this time the most un- 
healthy large town in the kingdom, two only excepted. — 
On June 2nd, Buckingham Baptist chapel, Clifton, was 
opened by the Bev. J. H. Hinton. — On June 18th, the 
Grand Duke Oonstantine of Russia visited the city and 
neighbourhood. — On July 30th, the Hon. F. H. F. 
Berkeley and Mr. P. W. S. Miles were returned as 
members of Parliament for Bristol. — ^In August, Miss 
Ann Williams bequeathed to twelve of the Bristol 
charities the sum of £6,500 ; also Mr. Bobert Suple 
bequeathed £8,800 to twelve charitable and religious 
institutions. — September 27th, Mr. Macready realised 
£1,500 profit by a visit of Jenny Lind to his theatre in 
King street. — On October Ist, the water from Barrow 
was conveyed over Bedminster bridge. — On October 5th 
Miss Walsh, whilst botanizing, fell over St. Vincent's 
rocks. — November 15th, the Branch Bank of England 
removed from Bridge street to their new premises in 
Broad street. 

In 1848, the Bristol Free Grrammar school, after 
being practically in abeyance twenty-five years, was 
re-opened under Dr. Evans ; two hundred boys, sons of 
citizens, were admitted on January 24th. — An appeal 
from a decision of the Master of the Rolls, in the 
matter of Colston's school, was decided by the Lord 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



Chancellor in favour of the UerohantTentnrera' Booiety. 
— May 23rd, the Bill tor the transfer of the Docke passed 
the House of Commons ; it received the royal assent 
July 30th. — On Jane 5th the corpses of the wife and 
two children of T. W. HiU, a builder on Kingsdown, 
who had died in the previoos autumn, were exhumed 
from their grave, in Bt. Paul's churchyard, FortUnd 
square, by order of tiie coroner; they were found to 



ITu nig\ Onm, College Onin. 

have been poisoned with arsenic ; the wife's life was 
insured for £3,000 ; whilst the inquest was being held, 
the husband poisoned himself with pruseio acid.— On 
August 16th the fBundation- stone of 8t. Jude's church 
was laid by the Tenerable Archdeacon Thorp.— On the 
26th the city seal was affixed to the Docks Transfer deed. 
On February 13th, 1849, an order was issued by 
Dean Lamb that the priests' service at the Cathedral 
should be read, not sun^ or intoned. Qn the 27th an 



investigation was held by the lord bishop, at the request 
of a large body of those who usually wonhipped in the 
edifice. Hie lordship, on March Ist, pronounced the 
order of the dean to be null and void, on the ground of 
its having been issued without the conourrence of the 
chapter, or of himself as visitor. — On March 7th Mrs. 
Jefferies was murdered by her servant-girl, Sarah H. 
Thomas, who was hanged at the new gaol, April 20th. 
— On April 14th the new Exchange Market-house was 
opened.— On June 10th the cholera broke out in Rod- 
cross street; there were twenty-two deaths in three days 
in the courts adjoining.- September 2dth was kept as a 
fast on account of the cholera visitation, and November 
16th was a day of thanksgiving because of its cessation. 

In I8S0 Miss Graven fell from &.e lion's head, 
St. Vincent's rocks. — On July 15th there was a dread- 
ful thunderstorm.— On the 22nd the boiler of a small 
passenger steamer, the Jt»d Rover, which plied on 
the Floating harbour, burst; six persons were killed, 
and two died on their way to the Infirmary ; thirteen 
others were injured, several of whom died of their 
wounds. — On August 6th the foundation-stone of the 
civic High Cross in College green was laid, with full 
Masonic rites, by the mayor, Mr. J. K. Haberfield ; the 
architect was Mr. Norton ; the ground was given by the 
dean and chapter. — On the 12th the Baths and Wash- 
houses on the Bopewalk were opened. — In December, 
Amo's Vale court was bought by the Boman Catholics 
for a conventual eBtabliehment for poor girls. 

On June 20th, 1851, fifty colliers were buried alive 
in a coal-pit at Bedminster ; after being in the pit forty 
hours they were all, by great exertions, brought alive to 
the surface. — On July 29th the Archaeological Institute, 
under the presidency of Lord Talbot de Malahide, held 
ite annual session in Bristol. 

In March, 1852, Bristol was connected by telegraph 
with London and many other large towns. — In May, 
Sir Stratford Canning chose for his title as a peer that 
of Stratford de Beddiffe, he being descended from a 
branch of the Bristol Canynges. — In June, the Lord 
Chancellor decided against the claim of the Charity 
trustees to nominate and choose persons to fill vacan- 
,cies in their body ; his lordship appointed nine gentle- 
men.— On July 9th the Hon. F. H. F. Berkley and Ur. 
W. H. Gore-Langton were returned to represent Bristol 
in Parliament. — On August 5th the Princess Oldenburg 
of Russia and tuiU, and on the 2dth the ex-Queen of 
France, consort of Louis Philippe, visited the city, — 
On September 14th Greenwich time was adopted for 
Bristol. — On October 14th and 15th the city bounds 
were perambulated. — On the 19th a man named Spear 
killed his wife in Castle street ; he was tranejKtrted for 



LANDING OF THE BODY OF LORD RAGLAN. 



life on April 6th. — On N'oTember 9th a whirlwind did 
g;reat damage in the city.— On December 9th a company 
was incorporated under the title of "The Kiagroad 
Harbour, Docks and Railway, Port of Bristol." 

19. On February 24th, 1853, Hr. James Oibbs, one 
of the directors of the Great WeBtem railway, was killed 
at Ealing, the express train in which he was travelling 
having run off the line. — On the 26th a stone was placed 
over the grave of Chatterton's father in Bedclifl charch- 
yard. — In March the Sailors' Home, Queen square, was 
opened. — On the 9th the Horfield estate was transferred 
to trustees for the benefit of poor clergy of the diocese. — 
On the 17th, 
James Tucker, 
a shoemaker, 
killed his two 
children at Clif- 
ton, and then 
cut his own 
throat. — On 
April 2nd FeUx 
Farhy't Briitol 
Journal was 
amalgamated 
with the Bristol 
Tim»i.—In 
May the old 
"Bush" hotdl 
was sold to the 
West of Eng. 
land and South 
Wales Banking 
company for 
£10,000. — On 
August 8th the 
case of Tom 
Provis, who 

claimed the -^'" Fir^ Atu a, 

Smyth estates at Long Ashton and the baronetcy, com- 
menced; the plaintiff was committed to Oloucester gaol 
on a charge of foigeiy ; he was convicted, and died in 
Dartmoor prison on May 20th, 1855. — On November 
16th the Duke and Duchess of Brabant, cousins of the^ 
Queen, visited Clifton. 

In January, 1854, the burial grounds in the city 
were ordered to be closed wholly or in part. — February 
25th, Cornelius Murphy was killed in Prince street by 
a Spanish sailor, who, on April 5th, was sentenced to 
twelve months' imprisonment. — On March 16th, the 
Duke of Beaufort was inaugurated as the lord high 
steward. — On April 7th Sir A. Cockbnm was appointed 
recorder.— On May lUh the engar refinery of Messrs. 



Hier and Stock, in Old Market street, was burned ; the 
estimated loss was £30,000.— On May S2nd the founda- 
tion-stone of Arley Congregational church was laid by 
Mr. E. Ash.— On June 6th Stuckey's new bank. Com 
street, was opened.— On October 25th the Bristol Athe- 
meum was inaugurated by Lord John Buss^ (this 
institution was begun, in 1844, at the Assembly rooms, 
Prince street). On the 27th a grand civic banquet waa 
given to Lord John Eussell at the Merchants Venturers' 
hall. 

On February 7th, 1655, the election of a Boman 
Catholic bishop of Clifton took place.— On Hardi 20th 
Hillsbridge, on 
the New Cut, 
was knocked 
down by the 
John, a screw 
barge of 180 
tons and six 
horse -power; 
two lives were 
lost. April 5th, 
Bath bridge, a 
new structure 
of wrought 
iron, was or- 
dered to replace 
the above, at a 
cost of £5,700. 
—On July 24th 
the body of 
Lord Raglan 
waa landed 
from the Cora- 
doe, and forwar- 
ded in solemn 
procession on 
'—■"'^ itowaytoBrd- 

minton by the civic and military authorities as far as 
Fishponds. — On August 19tli a child was mysteriously 
murdered near Cook's Folly ; the murderer was never 
discovered. — In November the steps of Queen street 
(Christmas steps) were widened at the top. 

20. On March 28th, 1856, the Bristol Diocesan Trade 
and Mining schools were opened by Earl Qranville. — 
On May 18th the first anniversary of the Presbyterian 
church was held in Broadmead rooms. — On October 
12th H.B.H. the Prince of Wales visited Bristol in- 
cognilo, on his tour through the West of England. — 
On December llth the Bristol Incorporation of the 
Poor held its last meeting as a sole and independent 
corporation. 



348 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



▲.D. 1867. 



On July 3l8t, 1857, Chatterton's monument was re- 
erected on unconsecrated ground, opposite the Pile street 
j^chool.— On August 19th two captured Bussian guns 
(d6-poiyiders) were mounted on Brandon hill. — On 
September 11th Charlotte Fugsley was murdered in 
Leigh woods by a^ fellow-servant, John Beale, who was 
hanged at Taunton on January 12th, 1858.— On October 
3 1st, the Bristol General hospital was opened. 

In 1858 the magnificent building known as the Fine 
Arts Academy, Whiteladies' road, was completed. It 
was founded, in 1844, by the munificence of Mrs. 
Sharpies, a widow lady residing at the HotweUs. 
Hearing that efforts were being made to establish an 
exhibition of pictures, she generously came forward 
with a donation of £2,000, and, assisted by some of 
the most eminent of the citizens, established the society; 
at her death, in 1849, she bequeathed to the society 
about £3,000. The building contains a collection of 
pictures by Mr., Mrs. and Miss Sharpies, amongst which 
are portraits of General Washing^n and many eminent 
Americans, and several pictures of particular interest to 
Bristol, notably the trial of Colonel Brereton, the races 
on Durdham down, the ball-room at Clifton, three 
large Scriptural pictures by William Hogarth, from 
St. Mary Redcliff church, and the Nineveh marbles. 
In the same building is the Government School of 
Science and Art. 

In 1859, when the memorable boasts of the ''French 
colonels " elicited an unexpectedly practical response in 
the establishment of the volunteer movement, Bristol 
was behind none of the large cities in patriotic spirit, 
for it was the first to offer the services of a rifle battalion. 
The Government did not at once accept this offer, being 
disinclined to sanction the establishment of larger bodies 
than companies of volunteers. The leaders of the move- 
ment in Bristol remaining firm, the offer was eventually 
accepted. In the meantime the services of several com- 
panies in different parts of the county had been offered * 
and accepted. So impressed, however, had the lord- 
lieutenant (the Eight Honourable the Earl of Ducie) 
been by the spirit shown in Bristol, that he accorded 
to the Bristol battalion the honour of ranking as the 
first in the county. By general consent, the First 
Gloucestershire (City of Bristol) Eifle Volunteers in- 
herited the traditions of the old Bristol volunteers, and 
most valued among these the well-known motto, ''In 
Danger Eeady !" From the formation it has been their 
especial privilege to have as their honorary colonel the 
mayor of Bristol for the time being. On May 18th, 
1859, the first meeting of those interested in the move- 
ment was held in the Guildhall, under the presidency of 
the mayor (Mr. James Poole), when it was resolved that 



the services of the Bristol Eifle corps (which it was then 
decided to form) should be offered to the Government 
through the lord-lieutenant. On the 26th of May a 
list was opened for the enrolment of honorary members, 
and a committee was formed, under the presidency of 
the high sheriff, for raising funds for the maintenance 
of the corps. It was not, however, until the 14th of 
September that the formation of the regiment, consist- 
ing then of eight companies, was notified in the London 
Oauite, when the following appointments were made: — 
Major Eobert Bush, late of the 96th Eegiment, ap- 
pointed lieutenant-colonel, and Captain H. B. 0. Savile, 
late of the Eoyal Artillery, appointed major. On the 
19th September, Captain A. M. Jones, late of the 27th 
Eegiment and 4th West York Militia, was gazetted 
adjutant, and Mr. D. Burges, town clerk, was. gazetted 
quartermaster. The following gentlemen were appoin- 
ted captains of companies : — J. Bates, William Wright, 
Colston Lucas, Andrew Leighton, C. Einger, J. C. 
Pattenson, E.N., H. Goodeve, S. E. Taylor, and (on 
the formation, early in 1860, of two additional com- 
panies) James Ford and Boddam Castle. Drilling, 
however, had commenced at an early date in almost 
every available space, more especially on the Observa- 
tory hill, in Queen square and the Exchange, in which 
building the corps were allowed to occupy rooms for 
their orderly-room, &o. In all these arrangements the 
regiment was much indebted to the late Mr. D. Burges^ 
then town derk ; but to the care, energy and soldierly 
spirit of Lieut. -col. Bush, the success of the reg^ent in 
its earlier stages is mainly to be attributed. From the 
commencement of the corps the practice of rifie shooting 
received great attention, and it is believed that in 1860 
a greater number went through the annual course of 
musketry instruction than in any other volimteer corps. 
The character for good shooting which the regiment 
early acquired, it has ever since maintained. At the 
meeting of the National Eifle association at Wimbledon, 
in 1867, Sergeant H. Lane won the Queen's prize of 
£250, together with the gold medal and badge; and, 
in 1868, Drum-major Hutchinson, in the first stage of 
the Queen's prize, won £60 and the silver medal and 
badge. The battalion has invariably been successful 
in its contests with other battalions, the most notable of 
which were its victory over the Birmingham battalion 
in 1863, and the double victory over the 2nd Stafford- 
shire battalion, long known as the best shooting bat- 
talion of its district. It is worthy of being recorded 
that in the return match with this battalion the Bristol 
riflemen made the highest score ever made by an equal 
number of men (thirty a side). In 1866 Lieut-colonel 
Bush was succeeded in the command by Colonel F, 



A.D. 1859. 



THE VOLUNTEER MOVEMENT. 



349 



Wright Taylor, late commandant of the Pojal Cana- 
dian Bifles, who held the command till his death, in 
April, 1881. Major 8. E. Taylor, senior major of the 
regiment, then succeeded to the command, retiring at 
the end of the year, and was succeeded by Colonel 
A. M. Jones on his retirement from the adjutancy at 
the dose of 1881. The want of a permanent head- 
quarters had, from an early date, been Tory generally 
felt, and many efforts had been made to obtain suitable 
quarters. It was not, however, till 1862 that a prac* 
tical shape was given to the scheme by the spirited 
purchase of the valuable property formerly well known 
as the "Bishop's college," near Park street, by two 
officers of the regiment, Captains W. Wright and James 
Ford. The re-purchase of this property being offered 
to the regiment, it was finally arranged to raise the 
necessary funds from the members and supporters of 
the regiment through the machinery of a limited lia- 
bility company, which was registered on the 26th of 
March, 1862, the first object of which was defined as 
''The establishment and maintenance in the city of 
Bristol or the neighbourhood of drill-grounds, armoury, 
store-room, &c., for the use of the Bristol Hifie corps." 
It may be interesting to note that the regiment is 
within one or two of its full established strength of 
1,000 ; the total number who have been enrolled to the 
present date is 5,324. 

A further advance in the volimteer movement was 
made in November, 1859, when, on the 12th of that 
month, a meeting was held, under the presidency of the 
mayor (Mr. J. Bates), having for its object the forma- 
tion of an Artillery Volunteer corps. This was effected, 
and, on 21st December, Captain H. B. 0. Savile, then 
major of the newly -formed rifle volunteer corps, was 
gazetted major-commandant. Four batteries were raised, 
and, in January, 1860, Messrs. J. B. Harford, W. M. 
Baillie, H. Ghrant and Captain Egerton, B.N., were 
gazetted captains ; in August of the same year another 
battery was formed, the captain being Captain W. H. 
Barlow, retired R.E. ; a sixth battery was formed in 
1872, the captain being Mr. W. M. Webb. In 1869 
Major Savile retired, and was appointed hon. colonel, 
an appointment which he now holds, and Captain Cave 
succeeded him as major-commandant. In 1871 Major 
Cave resigned, and Mr. F. Bacon, R.M.A., succeeded 
him. Major Bacon was succeeded, in 1873, by Colonel 
A. Blunt, R.A., as lieutenant-colonel. In 1879 lieu- 
tenant-colonel Blunt retired, and was succeeded by 
Major A. H. Yersturme, the present lieutenant-colonel 
of the corps. The number upon the roll at present is 
439, and 2,323 have been enrolled from the commence- 
ment to the present date. In connection witb the Artil- 



lery corps there was, in 1880, a cadet corps formed, 
consisting of boys attending the Bristol Qrammar school. 
The Bristol Engineer Volunteer corps was formed in 
April, 1861, at the Locomotive works of the Bristol and 
Exeter railway, Temple meads. Two companies were first 
formed under the command of Captain J. B. Harwood, 
the secretary of the line, and Captain J. Pearson, the 
locomotive superintendent. In the following year Cap- 
tain Harwood resigned, and was succeeded in the com- 
mand by Captain J. Pearson, Mr. W. P. King, one of 
the directors of the line, taking the vacant captaincy. 
In 1864 two additional companies were formed; Captain 
Pearson was promoted to be major, and Messrs. W. P. 
Wall, B. Cooper and W. Patterson were appointed cap- 
tains. In 1866 Major Pearson resigned the command 
to Captain B. W. Pigeon, who had been appointed to a 
company on the retirement of Captain W. P. Wall« 
The head-quarters were removed from the Bristol and 
Exeter yard to the Com Exchange, and recruits were 
now admitted who were not emphyis of the Bristol 
and Exeter railway; it thus became a city instead of 
a railway corps. In 1867 the corps was formed, with 
the Gloucester corps, into an administrative battalion, 
Major Pigeon being promoted to be lieutenant-colonel, 
and Captain W. P. King to be major. The Bristol 
corps was increased to six companies in 1867, Lieu- 
tenants A. G. Gandee and J. Belcher being appointed 
captains ; and in 1868 a seventh company was added, 
and the present commanding officer, Lieutenant-colonel 
E. C. Plant, who had joined the corps in 1864 and 
passed through all the different grades of non-commis- 
sioned officer and lieutenant, was appointed to command 
it. Lieutenant-colonel Pigeon retired in 1870, and was 
succeeded by Lieutenant-colonel J. H. DowUng, of Glou- 
cester, under whose command it was reduced to five 
companies. In 1874 the command was handed over to 
Lieutenant -colonel (then Major) E. C. Plant, under 
whom it was again raised to six companies in 1876, 
and to its original strength of seven companies in 1877. 
In June, 1880, it was separated from the Gloucestershire 
Administrative battalion, and formed into a separate 
corps under its present colonel. Major H. Wiltshire 
and Captain and Adjutant E. C. Hart, B.E., are at the 
present time the other field officers. In 1876 the Clifton 
College Cadet corps was formed and attached to this 
corps, the sixth company of which is formed of those 
cadets who are old enough to be enrolled. This was 
the first Eng^eer Cadet corps formed in the kingdom. 
In addition to eng^eering the regiment stands high in 
shooting. At the Wimbledon meeting of the National 
Bifle association in 1878, Corporal F. Larway won the 
Prince of Wales' prize, value £100; in 1879 Captain 



350 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1873. 



E. Lang won the Canadian Trophy and Grand Aggre- 
gate prize; and in 1880 Sapper Bobert Ferciyal and 
Bugler H. Veale won the Cadet Corps Trophy. The 
present strength of the corps is 700 enrolled members 
and 80 cadets, 3,120 enrolled members and 380 cadets 
having passed through the ranks. 

Another advance in the volunteer movement was 
made in 1873, when, without any public meeting or 
assistance from the general public, the Bristol contin- 
gent of the Boyal Naval Artillery volunteers enrolled 
themselves on the 14th March. Gjving their services 
to the Government, the men do not receive any allow- 
ance in the shape of a capitation grant, and have 
therefore to find their own uniforms and bear other 
expenses which, in volunteer corps generally, are paid 
by money received from Government. In December, 
1874, Captain M. B. Dunn, B.N., was appointed com- 
manding officer; this position he held till 1877, when, 
on his appointment as rear-admiral, he resigned, and 
Captain Parsons, B.N., succeeded him. Captain Parsons 
resigning in 1879, Captain T. 8. Gk)och, B.N., assumed 
the command, which he still holds. To Sub-lieutenant 
Milton* Lewis must be assigned the credit of being the 
originator of the movement in Bristol. Drill takes 
place on H.M.S. Dadaltu ; and the Admiralty, desiring 
to popularise the movement, yearly place a gunboat at 
the disposal of the commanding officer for cruising. 
The present number of enrolled members is 194, and 
455 have passed through the ranks since the formation 
of the corps. 

Taking the totals of the four volunteer corps given 
above, we find that the following number of citizens 
have, during the last twenty-three years, passed through 
the ranks, so that Bristol has at least done her share 
towards forming an army of defence : — 

Rifle Volunteers ... 
Artillery Volunteers 
Engineer Volunteers 
Naval Artillery Volunteers ... 



■«■ ■•• •■■ ••« 



■ •• ■■• t m • •■• 



••• ••■ ••• •■• 



• t • • ■ • 



Total 



5,324 

2,323 

3,120 

455 



11,222 



On January 15th, 1859, the Porto Novo, an African 
trading ship, was destroyed by fire whilst unloading at 
BeddifP wharf. — On February 24th Colston's school was 
removed from St. Augustine's to Stapleton. — In March 
fifty-six Italians, who had been sent into exile by 
the King of Naples, arrived in Bristol, and were most 
heartily welcomed by the mayor, Mr. John Hare, and 
the citizens of Bristol. A subscription was set on foot, 
which was responded to in all parts of the kingdom, 
£10,760 being raised for their relief. — On April 12th 
Mr. William Miles was created a baronet.— On the 30th 
the sugar refinery of Messrs. Fuidge, Fripp and Co., at 



the Stone bridge, was burned; 600 tons of sugar and 
1,000 tons of charcoal were destroyed, representing a 
total loss of £80,000.— On June 13th, during a marine 
excursion to Watchet by the NiMitk Ahhey, six persons 
from Bristol were drowned whilst returning to the 
steamer, through overcrowding the small boat in which 
they had embarked. — On September 7th the Presby- 
terian church on St. James' parade was opened.— On 
the 20th the Monkey steam tug was sunk during a colli- 
sion in the river off Sandbed point, and the next day 
the boiler of the Fury steam tug exploded in Hungroad, 
killing two men. — On December 17th the Sea BeUe, of 
New York, caught fire in the Floating harbour; she 
was ultimately scuttled, after burning twelve hours. 

On January 6th, 1860, the workshop at Messrs. 
Perry's coach factory was burnt. — On February 13th 
H.B.H. the Prince of Orange visited Bristol and Clifton. 
—On the 27th Mr. James Pahaer died, leaving £20,000 
to ten of the charitable institutions of Bristol. — During 
the month of April the arching over of the river Frome 
from Merchant street to Union street was completed. — 
On June 11th the foundation-stone of Bedland park 
Congregational church was laid by Mr. B. Ash ; it was 
opened September 4th, 1861. — On June 19th the chim- 
ney at Counterslip sugar refinery, 201 feet in height, 
was finished. 

On April 10th, 1861, Philip street Baptist chapel 
was opened. — On May 3rd, at a dreadful fire in Castle 
green, at Messrs. HumdaU, Hellier and Wills' colour 
works, a workman was burned to death. — On May 17th 
the Clifton and Durdham downs' Act, by which Clifton 
down, containing 230 acres, and Durdham down, con- 
taining 212 acres, were secured to the citizens as places 
of recreation for ever, received the royal assent — On 
June 16th the boiler of the river steamer Alarm burst 
near Messrs. King's wharf, killing one man and injuring 
others. — On August 5th Blondin performed on the high 
rope at the Zoological g^dens. — On the 28th the Great 
house (Colston's hall) was sold for £3,000.— On Septem- 
ber 11th the City road Baptist chapel was opened; the 
Bev. N. Haycroft preached in the morning, and the Bev. 
C. H. Spurgeon in the afternoon. A tea -meeting was 
held in the Circus, in which Mr. Spurgeon preached in 
the evening to an inmiense congregation. The unruly 
mob outside, angered at not being able to obtain admis- 
sion, the doors being closed by the police, flung brick- 
bats and stones at the building, greatly to the alarm of 
the reverend gentleman. — On the morning of Simday, 
December 15th, great consternation was caused in the 
city by the announcement that H.B.H. the Prince 
Consort had died during the previous night at Windsor 
castle ; every family mourned for him as for a friend* 



A.i>. 1864. 



VOLUNTEER REVIEW ON DURDHAM DOWN. 



351 



In 1862 the Ifars steampaoket, trading between 
Bristol and Waterford, struck on the Grow rock, and 
sunk in deep water twenty miles from land ; the captain, 
twenty-nine passengers and twenty of the crew were 
drowned, six persons only being saved. — On June 17th 
a review of the volunteers was held on Durdham down; 
there were 6,746 under arms, and it was estimated 
that nearly a million of spectators were present. — On 
July 31st the first annual assembly in Bristol of the 
United Methodist Free Church was held in Milk street 
chapel, when the Eev. William Eeid, of London, was 
elected president. — This year Clifton college, Emmanuel 
church in the Dings, and the Hensman memorial church, 
Victoria square, Clifton, were erected. 

On January 29th, 1863, the following resolution 
was carried in the town council by thirty-three votes 
to twenty-six: — 

That it ifl essential for the preservation and increase of the 
trade of the port that the river Avon be deepened, widened and 
straightened from Rownham ferry to and including the Horseshoe 
point, and also that land be purchased within the Floating har- 
bour for the purpose of improvements, and for making new 
wharves. That this council, having considered the report printed 
by order of the Bocks committee, and the several alternative 
schemes therein contained, and bearing in mind the objections 
urged against any increase of the existing dues on goods and 
ships, is of opinion that the abovenamed works and purchase of 
land may be accomplished by borrowing a sum not exceeding 
£400,000, the interest upon which can be provided from the fol- 
lowing sources and without any risk of taxation to the ratepayers, 
viz. : — Dock surplus, £9,700; dues on com and provisions, £2,700; 
rents on ships in Floating harbour, £1,000; rents from surplus 
land, £1,000; increase of trade, £2,000; total, £16,400. And 
the law officers be and are hereby directed to proceed with the 
bills now deposited, modifying the same in accordance with this 
resolution. 

On February 13th Dean Elliott and the chapter, in 
pursuance of the eon^S d'Hire, elected Dr. EUicott to the 
bishopric of the united sees of Gloucester and Bristol. 

" Between the Bristol magnates 
What difference may there be ? 
Why Elliott has the deanery 
And Ellicott has the see." 

On March 10th the marriage of the Prince and Prin- 
cess of Wales was celebrated with great rejoicing. The 
mayoress, Mrs. Sholto Y. Hare, planted an oak tree on 
Brandon hill. The volunteers mustered in Queen square, 
and marched thence to Durdham down, where they were 
reyiewed. The Oddfellows met in full regalia at the 
Cattle market, and the Foresters gathered in Meadow 
street, St. Paul's, and marched in procession through 
the gaily decorated streets to the Downs. The fire- 
brigades paraded the city with their engines. The 
Sunday school children gathered in Queen square, and 
to each one was given a cake, oranges, and a new 
[Vol. XXL] 



threepenny-piece ; four thousand of their number then 
visited the Zoological gardens. The poor of the various 
parishes were feasted, the electric light and the lime 
light were both exhibited at night, there was a grand 
display of fireworks, and the illuminations were excel- 
lent and general, the whole city being resplendent with 
its gala devices. On May 18th an oak casket, contain- 
ing a necklace of sapphires and diamonds, the gift of 
the ladies of Bristol, together with an address, was 
presented to her royal highness by the mayoress, Mrs. 
Sholto Y. Hare. — It was given in evidence this year, 
before a committee of the House of Commons, that 
the sugar imported into Bristol was of the value of 
£720,000 per annum; that one tobacco broker alone 
paid duty on that article amounting to £400,000 ; that 
the African imports averaged £250,000; and that the 
timber trade produced £7,000 per annum of revenue to 
the port. — On June 29th Yictoria Wesleyan chapel was 
opened by the Eev. C. Prest, president of the Wesleyan 
conference. — On the 30th the Totterdown and UnderfaU 
toll-gates were ordered by the town council to be 
abolished. — On August 10th and 11th the boimds of 
the city were perambulated ; and on the 20th the water 
boundary of the city, for jurisdiction, was sailed over 
to the Flat Holms. The water boundaries for pilotage 
and for port charges differ from the above. — On Septem- 
ber 8th the river boundaries were perambulated as far as 
Hanham mills. ->0n October 6th the tender for building 
Colston hall was accepted at £l7,000.~On the 7th the 
shock of an earthquake was felt in Bristol and through- 
out the West of England. 

In April, 1864, a fine old mulberry tree that grew on 
the site of the present Post-office was cut down to make 
way for that building; this was the last of the ancient 
trees that grew within the city. — On the 25th Garibaldi 
passed through the city on his way to Cornwall. He 
was received with the greatest enthusiasm ; the mayor 
and mayoress presented him with an address, but the 
crush was too great for speech -making. — From June 
13th to the 17th the Bath and West of England Agri- 
cultural society held their show on Durdham Down, 
opposite the reservoir of the Waterworks company; 
33,800 persons paid for entrance £3,050. — On Novem- 
ber 10th Oakfield road Unitarian church was opened 
for public worship. — On December 9th the Suspension 
bridge was opened for traffic. — The drought this year 
lasted five months; the deficiency in the rainfall was 
2,044 inches, the actual fall being only 1*121 for the 
twelve months. 

On May 13th, 1865, Mr. W. D. Wills, of this dty, 
died in St. Bartholomew's hospital, London. Mr. Wills 
was slightly deaf, and whilst crossing Snow hill he was 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



knocked down by an omnibus, aostaining fearful inju- 
ries, whicli resulted fatally.— On June 9tli there was a 
great fire at the oil and colour works of Messrs. John 
Hare and Co., Temple meads.— On July 12th the Hon. 
F. H.F. Berkeley and Sir S. M. Peto, bart., were returned 
as members of Parliament for the city. — September 19th, 
a working men's industrial exhibition was opened at the 
Drill hall; there were 783 exhibitors, £3,253 14*. llrf. 
was taken, and 116,926 persons passed through the 
turnstiles. — The autumnal meeting of the Congrega- 
tional Union of Eng- 
land and Wales was 
held in Bristol during 
the third week in 
October. The Eev. 
DaTid Thomas was 
the chairman of the 
union this year, and 
aa such he ofBciated ; 
the business meetings 
were held in Bruns- 
wick chapel. — On 
November 1 8th the 
mayor of Bristol, 
being of the Hebrew 
persuasion, worship- 
ped at the Synagogue. 
On the 14th of 
May, 1866, the EeT. 
Eobert Yaughan, 
D.D., was presented 
by Mr. Morley, chair- 
man of a most re- 
markable meeting of 
prominent Noncon- 
formists, with a 
cheque for £3,000 for 
his services to Non- 
conformity. Dr. 
Yaughan was a Bris- 
tol boy, who began w^^a^a*«™D™» 
life as a carpenter ; he preached his first sermon for the 
Bristol Itinerant society in one of our country viHagea; 
became the founder of theSritnh Qaarterly Eevimc; was 
for sii years a pastor at Worcester, for sixteen at Ken- 
sington, filled the Theological chair at the Lancashire 
college, and afterwards was pastor at Uxbridge. He was 
the author of John de Wyeliffe, Life and Opintont of John 
Wydiffe, Revolutions in Engliih Biitory, and other works. 
He was one of the finest platform orators in the king- 
dom, and he did more than any one man to place Chris- 
tianity on Congreg ttional principles before the educated 



olasses of his age. His maxim was, " Never me^^ the 
Englishman in the Dissenter, or the Ohriatian in the 
Nonconformist .' ' 

On March 23rd, 1867, there was a terrific fire at 
the Bathurst Flour mills, adjoining the Bristol General 
hospital, which caused great alarm to the inmates of 
that edifice.— September 20th, the Colston hall, erected 
at a cost of £45,000, and on October 14th, the New 
Theatre, in Park row, were opened.— Turnpikes were 
abolished this year throughout the Brist<d district. 

In 1868 the new 
Post ofiBce in Small 
street was opened. — 
On the resignation of 
Sir S. M. Peto, bart., 
there was a contest 
between Mr, J. W. 
Miles and Mr. 8. 
Morley. Mr. Miles 
was elected, but on 
June 25th he was 
unseated on petition ; 
at the general election 
on November 1 7th, 
the Hon. F. H. F. 
Berkeley and Mr. 8. 
Morley were re- 
turned; Mr. Miles 
was defeated. — Perry 
road was opened on 
August 20th.— St. 
Paul's church, Clif- 
ton, was consecrated 
on September S9th. 
— Tyndale Baptist 
chapel, Whiteladiea' 
road, was opened on 
September 30th. — 
During this year 
Portishead pier was 
opened, and the 
Steamship company commenced running a daily servico 
of packets throughout the sununer to Lynmouth and 
Ilfracombe. — On November 11th Clifton Down Con- 
gregational church was opened by the Eev. Samuel 
Martin, of Westminster. This beautiful structure, 
which still lacks its tower, manse and schoolrooms, 
was the work of Mr. Hansom, the architect of Clifton 
college. The original church is one of the oldest in the 
city ; it sprang out of the Commonwealth, and still 
possesses the license to preach which was granted ita 
then pastor, the Eev. John Weeks. In ita inception it 



VonQrtgati'itud fTAurcA. 



■ W<V« «■ 



▲.D. 1874. 



FIRST BRISTOL SCHOOL BOARD. 



353 



was English Presbyterian, and its old place of meeting, 
wluch consisted of two rooms upstairs on slightlj different 
levels, reached through a house and then by a long pas- 
sage, has not long been destroyed ; within living memory 
it had a quaint old gallery at the west end, and a step 
down in the centre showed the spot where the two rooms 
had been thrown into one. In 1686 the church moved 
to the Old theatre, in Tucker street, which had been 
purchased, and there for a while the afterwards greatly 
celebrated Dr. Edmund Calamy laboured. About 1775, 
Tucker street being demolished, the chapel was sold, 
and a new one was built in Bridge street, which had 
its chief entrance on a higher level in the churchyard 
of St. Mary-le-port; the lower part, facing Bridge street, 
was leased to a wine merchant, which elicited the follow- 
ing smart stanza : — 

** There's a spirit above and a spirit below, 
A spirit of weal and a spirit of woe ; 
The spirit above is the Spirit Divine, 
The spirit below is the Spirit of Wine." 

In this church, amongst other celebrated men, Mr. 
(afterwards Dr.) liefchild laboured, and in 1835 Henry 
Isaac Boper became its pastor ; finding, after some 
thirty years' ministry, that the bulk of his congrega- 
tion had migrated to Clifton, he, with the consent of 
the trustees and the aid of generous friends, built the 
present beautiful structure ; and two years later he ful- 
filled a long -expressed intention, and retired from the 
ministry with the love and affection of men of every 
grade and party in the city. He died April 6th, 1874. 

During the month of September, 1 869, the Formidable, 
man-of-war, arrived in Kingroad, near which she is 
still stationed as a training ship for boys. — On Sep- 
tember 30th the Social Science congress held a very 
successful meeting in Bristol.~On the 26th of Decem- 
ber, being Boxing-night, nineteen persons were crushed 
to death at the entrance of the New theatre. Park row. 

In 1870 a test ballot was held in Bristol by the 
Liberals to decide on the choice of a successor to the 
Hon. F. H. F. Berkeley, deceased ; Mr. Kirkman Hodg- 
son was chosen, and was subsequently elected. — The 
grand organ at Oolston hall was erected this year. 

On January 27th, 1871, the first Bristol School board 
was elected ; Mr. Lewis Fry was chosen its chairman. 
— On April 14th Qreenbank cemetery was consecrated 
and opened.— On the 20th one of the gates which was 
being built in the new jimction lock at Cumberland 
basin fell, killing four men and injuring four others. — 
Steamship traffic for goods and passengers between 
Bristol and America was this year resumed ; the Arra- 
yon, the first steamship, arrived in Bristol on June 23rd; 
she is still on the line doing excellent work. 



On February 2nd, 1872, the new Masonic hall, in 
Park street, was opened. — On May 1st the Baths and 
Washhouses on the New Cut, the property of the ciiy, 
were opened.— On the 9 th the mayor, Mr. Proctor Baker, 
assisted by the mayoress, laid the cap-stone of the spire 
of St. Mary BeddifP church ; this was done in a heavy 
shower of rain, at a height of 280 feet from the g^und, 
and 170 feet from the top of the tower. 

In March, 1873, the new racecourse at Ejiowle was 
opened ; H. R. H. the Prince of Wales was present on 
Wednesday, the 19th. — On July 19th the new locks at 
Cumberland basin were opened. — The tramway from 
the Drawbridge to Bedland was begun this year by the 
corporation. 

On January' 29th, 1874, the triennial election of the 
Bristol School board took place. — On February 2nd 
Messrs. Hodgson and Morley were elected members of 
Parliament for the city. — On May 13th, at a public 
meeting in Colston hall, Mr. J. D. Weston in the chair, 
the Free Library Act was adopted for Bristol. The 
St. Philip's branch was opened to the public July 8th, 
1876 ; the Ceotral library, October 9th, 1876 ; a branch 
at King square, March 24th, 1877 ; and that at Bed- 
minster, September 29th, 1877. — On April 1st the JSran 
Frinz, a steamer of 1,076 tons burden, was stranded at 
the Horseshoe point in the river Avon. — On June 8th 
the Bath and West of England Agricultural society held 
their show on Durdham down ; the money taken at the 
gates was £8,313, being nearly £1,800 more than had 
been taken at any previous exhibition.— On July 18th 
five young people, employis of Messrs. £. S. and A. 
Bobinson, whilst on their summer outing, lost their 
lives by the swamping of a boat at Teignmouth. — On 
August 4th and subsequent days the British ArchsBO- 
logical Association held a most successful meeting in 
Bristol. — ^The Mansion-house, Clifton, was presented 
to the city by Alderman Proctor; the city boundaries 
were beaten ; Bedminster school board was elected ; 
an agricultural labourers' demonstration was held on 
Brandon hill; the Clifton Extension railway from the 
Clifton Down station to Temple meads was opened, and 
the first cabman's rest was erected during this year. 

On April 26th, 1875, William Hole was hanged for 
the murder of his wife. — On July 14th and 15th there 
were great floods in Baptist Mills and the neighbour- 
hood. — On August 25th and following days the British 
Association held their 45th annual meeting in Bristol. — 
The tunnel under Clifton down to Avonmouth was com- 
pleted.— St. Philip's bridge was freed from tolL 

On April 24th, 1876, a man named Deacon was 
hanged for murdering his wife. — On May 24th there 
was a very large fire in Christmas street, the damage 



364 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



A.D. 1877. 



being estimated at £60,000.— On June 3rd the tramway 
to Stapleton road was opened. — On July 27th the driver 
and fireman of the "Flying Dutchman" express train 
were killed, and many persons injured, by the engine 
running off the rails at Bourton.— On August 16th 
there was a disastrous fire in Castle street, wherein 
Mr. T. Skinner lost his life in trying to save two of his 
children, who perished with him in the flames. — On 
October 6th a stack of staves fell at St. Paul's cooper- 
age, killing three men and injuring some twenty others. 

On January 22nd, 1877, tiie triennial election of the 
Bristol School board took place. — On February 24th 
Avonmouth dock was opened by the mayor, Mr. G. W. 
Edwards. — On May 1st Messrs. Miles and Oo.'s bank 
and the Old Bank coalesced. — On August 22nd the 
demolition of St. Werburgh's church. Com street, was 
commenced. — On October 2drd the new nave of the 
Cathedral was opened. 

In January, 1878, Brunswick schools were opened. — 
On February 12th to 15th the Trades' conference was 
held. — On March 18th, during the construction of the 
dock at Portishead, a large portion of the wall gave 
way, causing a long delay and a large expenditure of 
money. — On March 80th, in consequence of an infrac- 
tion of the law, the lord bishop of the diocese withdrew 
his license from St. Baphael's church. New Cut. — On 
May 12th the steamship Oipay, whilst coming up the 
Avon, went aground ; the traffic of the river was stopped 
for some time, and ultimately she was taken to pieces 
by the Docks committee. — On Jime 8th the Bristol rifle 
volunteers encamped on Durdham down, where they 
remained for a week. — On July 9th the Eoyal Agri- 
cultural society opened their exhibition (which was 
honoured by the presence of n.B.H. the Prince of 
Wales) on Durdham down ; the total attendance was 
123,051. — On August 18th the Bristol and Gloucester- 
shire Archaeological society held their meeting in Bristol. 
— On October 23rd Dr. Percival, under whose manage- 
ment Clifton college had attained so much success, was 
elected president of Queen's college, Oxford. Upon 
Dr. Fercival's resignation of the head mastership of 
Clifton college, the Hev. J. M. Wilson, M.A., was, on 
December 16th, elected to succeed him. — On November 
28th the nave of the Cathedral was illuminated with 
the electric light. — On December 9th a panic was caused 
throughout the West of England and South Wales by 
the stoppage of the West of England and South Wales 
District bank, with liabilities amounting to upwards of 
£3,000,000. The directors were placed upon their trial 
for mismanagement on the 27th April, 1880; the trial 
resulted in a verdict of not guilty. — On December 22nd 
St. George's church, Kingswood, was burnt down. 



On February 1st, 1879, the Bristol and West of 
England bank Limited commenced in the building in 
Com street formerly occupied by the bank which failed 
in the previous year. — On June 17th Mr. Howard, C.B., 
engineer to the corporation, presented his plan for 
dockising the river Avon at a cost of £790,000. 

In January, 1880, the triennial election of the Bristol 
School board took place. — On February 2nd the London 
and South Western banking company opened their new 
offices built upon the site of St. Werburgh's church, 
Com street. — On March 22nd a new petty sessional 
court was opened in Bridewell street ; this obviated the 
necessity of parading and marching the prisoners who 
had to be examined before the magistrates at the Council- 
house through the streets during the busiest part of the 
day. Extra accommodation for the magistrates, as well 
as the prisoners, had become a necessity. — On May 24th 
the Wilts and Dorset banking company opened their new 
premises in Com street. — On June 24th the Tramway 
company opened their line to the Hotwells. — On July 8th, 
on the occasion of the Sunday school centenary, there 
assembled at the Zoological gardens 16,000 children, 
2,000 teachers, and 10,000 general public. — On August 
21st theSalvation army held their first service inBristoL — 
On November 16th the Aiha steamship, trading between 
Bristol, Belfast and Glasgow, was wrecked on St. Govan's 
head, near Milford Haven ; twenty-seven lives were lost. 
On the 17th of the same month the Bedminster tramway 
was opened, and on the 18th the Horfield tramway was 
opened. — On December 20th there was a good exhibition 
of works of art by the Bristol and West of England 
Photographic society. 

On January 15th, 1881, at the instance of the cor- 
poration, the electric light was tested in the centre of 
the city. — On the 18th the heaviest snow fell which had 
been known for many years. — During this month the 
Bristol City steamship, trading between Bristol and 
New York, was lost with all hands. — On March Ist, 
New Baldwin street was opened by the mayor, Mr. 
J. D. Weston. — On the 30th the David Thomas memo- 
rial church at Bishopston was opened ; the mayor pre- 
sided at the luncheon. — On April 20th a beautiful little 
pleasure-ground adjoining Lovers' walk was opened as 
a place of recreation for the public. — On May 26th 
there was a conference of masters of industrial schools 
from all parts of the kingdom held in Bristol. — On 
July 26th an industrial exhibition for Clifton was 
opened at the Hotwells by the mayor. — On September 
26th the headings of the tunnel under the Severn met, 
giving a passage under the river from shore to shore. — 
On October 9th the large stationery, printing office and 
book stores of Messrs. C. T. Jefferies and Sons were 



A.D. 1882. 



THE MUSICAL FESTIVAL SOCIETY. 



365 



oonBiiixied by fire. — On the 30tli the religious census of 
Bristol was taken by the proprietors of the Western Daily 
PrM«.— On November 9th H.R.H the Duke of Edin- 
burgh visited Bristol to inspect the naval reserve ; he 
made a detour, in order to examine the Sailors' institute 
and church in Prince street. — On the same day Mr. 
J. D. Weston was chosen mayor for the second time. — 
The 16th will be remembered by many on account of a 
terrible fire which occurred through the bursting of a 
barrel of petroleum on board the Solway steamship when 
oft the Skerries ; thirteen persons were burned to death, 
and six others left the ship in a boat and were never 
heard of.— On the 30th there was a great fire of petroleum 
at a store on Temple back, which burned for many 
days. — The Bath Cityy a sister ship to the Bristol City, 
trading also to New York, was lost after a long and 
sturdy battle with the elements in the Atlantic; nine 
lives were lost either by drowning or from exposure. — 
On the 20th a chimney-stack fell in St. Philip's, killing 
two persons and injuring fourteen others. 

On July 1st, 1882, the old churchyard of St. James' 
was opened by the mayor as a place of rest and recrea- 
tion chiefly for the inhabitants of that locality. The 
whole of the ground had been relaid, and was tastefully 
laid out with rockeries, flower-beds, asphalted walks, 
garden seats, &c. ; in September a stone cross, having the 
figures of St. James and St. Paul in niches— the gift of a 
lady — to which was added a fountain, was set up in the 
eastern portion of the ground. — On July 13th Sir (Jre- 
ville Smyth, bart., of Ashton court, presented to the city 
twenty -two acres of land on the Ashton side of Clift 
house, and between it and the Clifton Bridge railway 
station, as a recreation and pleasure groimd for the 
citizens. Sir Greville expressed a wish that a portion 
of it should be allotted for the use of the Bedminster 
Cricket club, in the same manner as that portion of 
Durdham down on which the Clifton club plays is re- 
served. — On July 25th a new police station was opened 
at Bedminster by Mr. E. S. Bobinson, who officiated in 
the absence of the mayor, and presented a double-faced 
illuminated dock to be placed in the turret. — The new 
church of St. Peter, Clifton wood, was consecrated by 
the bishop of the diocese, who preached the opening 
sermon on the 26th September.— On the 27th an ex- 
hibition of gas appliances, under the auspices of the 
Bristol Gas Light company, for lighting, warming and 
cooking, was opened at the Eifle Drill hall. — On Sun- 
day morning, October 8th, a very destructive fire broke 
out in the large flour mills of Messrs. Baker and Sons, 
on Heddiff back; the fire consumed the buildings known 
as the Old mill and the Corporation mill, but the larger 
structure, which is comparatively new and is nine stories 



in height, was happily saved from ignition. Only the 
breadth of the Back separates these mills from the 
premises of Messrs. C. T. JefiPeries and Sons, which by 
a singular coincidence had been burned on the corres- 
ponding Sunday in October, 1881. 

The closing week of October, 1873, witnessed the 
inauguration of the first Musical Festival in Bristol ; 
the oratorio appropriately chosen for its commence- 
ment, on Tuesday, the 21st, was Haydn's Creation. 
Mendelssohn's Elijah; Macfarren's St. John the Baptist 
(the first time of its performance) ; Mendelssohn's 
Hymn of Praise; Bossini's Stahat Mater and Handel's 
Messiah were the works rendered: there was a miscel- 
laneous concert each evening. The principal artistes 
were Mesdames Lemmens Sherrington, Otto Alvsleben, 
Fatey, Miss Enriquez and Miss Julia Wigan ; Messrs. 
Sims Beevds, Edward Lloyd, Yempn Higby, Santley 
and Lewis Thomas. The receipts amounted to £5,842, 
and 11,548 persons paid for admission. The balance, 
being made up to £200, was equally divided between 
the Bristol Eoyal infirmary and the Bristol General 
hospital. Bristol, already well known to the musical 
world for its Madrigal and Orpheus Glee societies 
(which are second to none in the kingdom), at once 
took foremost rank for the purity of tone, correctness 
of time, light and shade, and tasteful rendering of the 
choruses, which made the Festival a success. The 
result was the formation, in January, 1874, of the 
Bristol Musical Festival society, which consisted of 
300 members, each of whom became a guarantor to 
the amount of £25 to cover any deficiency that might 
arise in working up and holding every third year a 
festival, each guarantor being entitled to a free ticket 
to most of the intermediate concerts which are held 
between the festivals. The object was to establish 
triennial miLsical festivals, and to train a voluntary 
choir for the effident performance of music of the 
highest class. Training classes were formed, a nomi- 
nal fee of threepence per lesson was charged, and the 
result was highly encouraging. During the winters of 
1880-1-2 these classes induded 794 pupils, of whom 
260 passed a successful examination and obtained cer- 
tificates for effidency in singing at sight, in time and 
tune. The choir speedily numbered 270 picked voices, 
and this number has now been increased to 385. 

The second Festival was hdd in October, 1876. 
The works given on that occasion were Elijah ; Verdi's 
Requiem Maes; Handel's Israel in Egypt; Spohr's FaU of 
Babylon; Beethoven's JSngedi; Mendelssohn's Hymn of 
Praise and the Messiah. The prindpal vocalists were 
Mdlle. Titiens, Madame Edith Wynne, Mdlle. Albani, 
Mesdames Patey and Trebelli-Bettini, Messrs. Edward 



356 



BRISTOL: PAST AND PRESENT. 



▲.p. 1882. 



lioyd, Harper Kearton, W. H. CummingB, Maybriok, 
H. Pope and Herr Belirens. The receipts amounted to 
£6y687, and 12,978 persons paid for admission. The 
expenses (which oorered fittings, Ac, for future festi- 
vals) left a balance on the wrong side, necessitating a 
call on the guarantors of one guinea each. The collec- 
tions taken after the morning performances amounted 
to £210, and were divided between the Bristol Bojal 
infirmary and the Bristol General hospital. 

The third Festival was held October 14th to 17th, 
1879. The works rendered were Handel's Samwn; 
Mendelssohn's The First Walpurgu Nighty Elijah and 
Sear my Prayer; Brahms' Rindtdo; Mozart's Requiem: 
Beethoven's Choral Symphony, and the Meesiah. The 
principal vocalists were Mesdames Albani, Patey and 
Trebelli, Miss Emma Thursby, Messrs. E. Lloyd, Barton 
McGuckin, B. Hilton and Santley. The receipts were 
£6,158 17«. 4<^., and 11,968 persons paid for admission. 
The collections taken after the morning performances 
amounted to £207 19«. 6d. ; £250 each were given to 
the Bristol Boyal infirmary and the Bristol General 
hospital, and £110 6s, Bd. was reserved for contin- 
gencies. The liability of the guarantors was now re- 
duced to £10, with a recommendation that their number 
should be increased from 300 to 500. 

The fourth Festival was held October 17th to 20th, 
1882, imder the presidency of H.B.H. the Duke of 
Edinburgh, K.G., and was honoured by the presence 
of their royal highnesses the Duke and Duchess of 
Edinburgh, who were met at the railway station by 
the mayor and corporation, by whom an address was 
presented. The streets were gaily decorated, and the 
guard of honour consisted of the city volunteers. The 
programme contained the Elijah; Beethoven's Jtf(M« in D; 
Goimod's new oratorio. Redemption; Haydn's Spring ; 
Eossini's Moaee in Egypt; Mackenzie's Jaeon (written 
expressly for this Festival); and the Messiah, The 
principal vocalists were Mesdames Albani, Patey and 
Trebelli, and Miss Anna Williams; Messrs. E. Lloyd, 
Joseph Maas, Harper Kearton, Bobert Hilton, Mon- 
tague Worlock and Santley. The receipts amounted to 
£6,263 2«., and 11,209 persons paid for admission. 
The collections taken after the morning performances, 
amounting to £214 15«. 2d,, were divided between the 
Bristol Boyal infirmary and Bristol General hospital. 
Mr. Charles Hall6 conducted and furnished the band 
for each of the festivals, and Mr. George Eiseley 
presided at the organ. 

Bristol having, during the past ten years, advanced 



with rapid strides in the knowledge and love of music, 
it was determined that strong efforts should be made to 
found in perpetuity a Bristol scholarship at the proposed 
Eoyal College of Music, of which H.B.H. the Prince of 
Wales will be president. The committee of the Bristol 
Musical Festival, recognising the importance of the 
movement, lent its aid, and it was determined that any 
profit derived from the triennial Festival of 1882 should 
be handed to the local committee for the purpose of 
assisting the fund being raised for the scholarship. 

From the 10th to the 13th of October, 1882, the 
Congregational XTnion of England and Wales held, for 
the third time, its autumnal sederunt in Bristol. There 
were present about 1,100 ministers and delegates. The 
business meetings, under the chairmanship of J. A. 
Macfadyen, D.D., were held, by the kind permission of 
the Baptists, in Broadmead chapel, it being the largest 
Dissenting place of worship in the dtj, as well as the 
most central. The historic associations that duster 
around Broadmead from the days of Widow Kelly, 
down through a long line of sufferers for conscience* 
sake, and of eminent Christian teachers, such as Dr. 
Byland, Bobert Hall, John Foster, Ac, received a re- 
markable addition on the 12th. It is now the place 
wherein what may be termed a new departure of the 
Church of England occurred. A number of the most 
eminent clergymen of the Established Church, headed 
by Dean Elliott and Canon Girdlestone, waited upon the 
Union with an address of welcome couched in the most 
fraternal Christian language, and signed by fifty-eight 
clergymen resident in Bristol. Different sections of the 
Establishment were grouped together upon the platform, 
and the dean. Canon Girdlestone, the Bevs. E. A. Fuller, 
M.A., C. J. Atherton, M.A., and J. M. Wilson, MA., 
the head -master of Clifton college, expressed their 
sincere desire to cordially co-operate with the Congre- 
gational body in the work of advancing the Kingdom 
of Christ During the reception of the deputation and 
the reading of the address by the dean, the audience 
remained standing, and evinced their gratification by 
repeated rounds of cheering. A more perfect contrast 
with the scenes of imchristian violence perpetrated on 
this very spot between 1662 and 1682, and which are 
narrated in these pages, it is difficult to imagine, and 
the beautiful incident itself forms a fitting sequel with 
which to dose this history, seeing that it is an augury 
of a brighter future, being an advanced step in that 
religious culture and brotherly kindness which form 
the real foundation of all true prosperity. 



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Oi ca 


=^ St: 


■=*a -Ss 


s ^ 


<^ -^^ 


So ^ 


1—^ ►^s 


ts- S3: 




§ m 




m « 


& CO' 


g r-r 


«a- >< 


•S f 


"fj ^E^j 


?3 OQ^ 




1 ^i 


09 CD 




« S" 




THIflTEEN EXHIBITION MEDALS. | | IHBDHAil DOWN. tUlTOM 


5q' 




. GRIFFITH & FAREAM, WEST CORNER ST. PAUL'S CHURCHYARD, LONDON. 




PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY J. W. ARROWSMITH. Railwav Glide Offick. 11 QUAY STP.KKT, 8RI.ST0L. 


" 


-!♦ 


ARROWSMITH'S WASHING BOOK, 1/- 


-I- 




p. J. SMITH & SONS' 

ffiON-STEUTTED 
PIANO-FORTES 

Eatig EnflEisli Cases, 

OR ANY DESIGN TO ORDBB. 



i, bj COLIARD 



WELL-KSOWM MAKERS, 
ON SALE OK HIRE. 

1 ROYAL PROMENADE, 

QUEEN'S ROAD; 

Ajm 

3 4 4 PRINCES STREET, 
OXFORD ST. LORDOK. 



Part XX. completed the two first volumes of 
"Bristol: Past and Present." A specially prepared case — 
the design for which took the prize offered by the publisher 
to the students of the Bristol School of Art — is on view 
at 11 Quay Street. 

Price for binding (including case) y. 6d. per volume. 



J. W. ARROWSMITH, Bookbinder, 11 QUAY STREET, BRISTOL. 




ESTHETIC AND EASTERN ART FABRICS, 



FOR 



Dresses, Dpliolstery «b(1 all purposes wiere soft draping Is reqnired. 

MYSORE 8ILK| Colour Printedj of a line tdxtnre, in both bright and subdued coloun, from 35s. per piece. 

MYSORE SiLK, Oofd Printed, for Bv^niog Kobet, rare, conventionalr <3id artistic designs, tcom. 358. per piece. 

^AGPORE SILK. ^^ Artistic Gowns, in choice and rare colours, firom the Faintest Straw Colour to the Darkest 

Sapphire, 25s. per piece. 

The deilgntt frtnn the origituiU tpood blooks in the Indian J)fusntm,/om a vatnahU coSection, rare and ckaraUeriiUc 
UMRITZA OA8HMERE« " ^^ ^^^ Oostuine Cloth has been received with immense JkTour."— Q«em» 

UMRITZA CASHMERE ^i^ Artistic, JSsthetic, and Usefal Colours, Persian Pixilcs, Venetian Reds, Tenra-cottat 

Ochre TeUow, Sapphire, Peacock Blue, Browns, Drabs, Old Gold» 4tc. 

UMRITZA CASHMERE ts inade of the purest Indian Wool It combines the utmost softness, and lightness 

necessary for graceHil draping, with the warmth of the Indian Cashmere, regular 
te^cture, and datability of European Fabrics. 218* per piece oi 9 yards. 



PATTERNS POST FREE 



LIBERTY 8c CO. 



EASTSBN 
ART STORES, 



218 8c 220 REGENT STREET. 



■i^ 



BARKER'S HiRVI MS 

IKSTANTIiT CUBES TOOTHACHE by painlessly, destroying the 
Kerve, thus rendering extraotion unnecessary. 

It may be used as a stopping for Teeth that have commenced to Decay. 



Can be obtained through any Cfiemist, at JfH and Sj9 per Packet, 

or direct from the Mbker^ 

WEST PM GOBBEB. 51 WHITE liDlES' ROAD, CUFTOH. 

Proprietor of BABO&'S Or'glnAl BAIT BE OOLOeiTS, in 1/- and 2/* Bottles. 



Prlctf One Shltltng. 



THB 



AUTHOR'S GUIDE, 

SEOni A 

S3PBOI^/CBlT 

BOOKWORK AHD OTffiR PRINTING TYPES, 

Accompanied by directions to penoxiB about to pablisL 

BRISTOL; 
I. ARROWBMITH, QUAT BTBBHT. 



INTRODUCTION. 

TN Issuing the accompanytop Sj-eimeu Book of Tjpes, «ff ^^^^«,^?S!LtoS 
1 softom the knowledgTthar a vork of tWs deaOriplfon wUltc fotmd of ^^^^^^^^^ 
to AuSorl, ProfcMlonafand MercantUe men. It la necewartly limits, bocause Unpoi. 

•Ible in so smaU a l>ook &■ this to i^ert mo"^ » '«7 fC2S^'«ot in tho wovlnoes. 
As the flrat Book of Specimens Iwued, he believes, in Bristol, if not in tne provmoe., 

IM trusts that It wUl meet with such apptoi^ as to wmmand ft»J-«J°*\ ^^ j^^' 

I The flrst part Is do voted to type used for book-wortc, and ta «^" *« give • ^"^^ i™ 

or ttie space ooeopied by type (STdilTerent sties, the same artkje (?^^£L^^^* "ySf 

Sr™ aSttowto read) haa'fen reprinted on successive pages In the eaxly portion of the 

"^ik thf latter part are given, few samples of Script and Fancy TTP«, w«Wl«» "^^ 

ftasionAl and Business men. ^*.vi- 

A few directions for "giving out copy niay be acceptable. 

1.— Copy shonld be writtm dearlv and dUttocUy, o» one *«• </ <»« V«S»f ^^* ««» »'*® 
being nombered eonsecutlvely, ._ ^ ^ i_ *vi- .«« ^i«..^.fw»,« Aa to tiia 

t-A goS margin should be left on each ebeet, and jn ^^ «^3[,^^^Sj5?','^i thSI 
pSSrSh^d be written. When it is neeesssiy to print tn CAPITAL Isttere.ttag 
IlnCTshoSld be diawii uuder the woid : if In small capitals, two lines : and If In 

S.~w£l'^pSSft2^ sent for revision, ^^y^^r^\a^^ t^^^^^^L'S'^ S*^rt 
H tbat Smy be marked, as sD^ht mistakes ofl«D creep into the « copy ami are not 

^l^'^^^^^T^^l^^^f^^ ^2f -to Write them in luk of a dllf. 

ThT^IS&^'^i^aSpTtt ^ times to render any asslstano. ^^Im^ tj 

persons aboS to publish, and from his JW "«>'*?«* ^ 2X2; Ji*J£?JS SSlSS 
has at bis command, he has confidence in being enabled to guarantee thwpnw, quMws 

"^^inK^^ssary, upecimens and estimates wiU be lubmltted at very short notices. 




EARGE & CO., 

<Lat« W. €. ' PEABOE.) 

DIAL HOUSE, 12 HORH STREET, BRISTOL, 



WBtob fl^b^iS, %tm)kfi%, &t* 



SILVER WATCHES. . GOLD WATCHES. 

Fronfi 17/6 to £© Ss. Frooi 88/- to £88. 

MARBLE CLOCKS. WOOD CLOCKS. 

From 88/- to £fiO.. From 18/- to 5^80. 

BBPAIBS SXPEDITIOVSLT MTD CHEAPLY SXBOTJTED. 



P ERFECTION OF BOOKIORK. 



Has the pleasure to announce 
that he has just added to his 
already extensive Plant' a Hot- 
Rolling Machine, by which 
each sheet is thoroughly pressed 
and glazed before delivery. 

SAMPLE SHEETS MAY BE HAD ON APPLiOATiON. 

II Quay Street, Bristol. 



FR( 



BRISTOL: 
12 i. 13 CURI 

Pictui 

ARTIST 



UNDER ROVAL AND IMPERIAL PATRONACE. 

EGERTON BURNETT'S 

ROYAL SERGES 

tncluda tbc belt matiua nt Utta indlipeueiible mit«rUI. and 04n be i^lied ou hi tUM Wind ind 

WuthtionLudaiulSu. iDBunnneror Wlntw, roc LIDIKS', QGSTLBHE.V'd, ur OSlE.DRBN'B WEAB. 

Prices Ar Ia«Im. I/« is «/• yt. Far SnUcmeM, Ul>„ Item % 11 r<. 

PATTERNS POST FREE, wth other 

FASHIONABLE PURE WOOL DRESS FABRICS. 

E. B.'a BLAOE SGRaxa AS ORDBBXD FOR OOURT HOnRNINO. 
1^ E. B. has tiad th* honour of racahrinx Ordon from nMirlv »crY Court In Europ*. 

Carriaija paid Ui tfte prinetpal Itneni in Bufflandt and It Ci^^, Betfait^ or Bcollani^ 
Goodt paekad jot Bxportaitot. ^njr JeAtf/A cuf. 

Address: EGERTON BURNETT, 

No. 4, WELLINaiON, SOMEESET. 

CAUTION.— EOERTON BURNETT hu No A^ntl, and no connection with Any London 



Bristol, ifti;tstiif®ttgIanlr!^^jitt^(KaIfs|trmancirf 
Building Society. 

NO ENTRANCE FEES. RESERVE FUND, £lie,1Ml. 

®«ltM : 

8 ST. STEPHEN'S STREET, BRISTOL. 

FOn PROSPECTUS AND FtlLL INFORMATION APPLY AT THE OFFICE. 
H. R. FARGUS, Gliairmau. C. J. I-OWE, Secretary. 



1 


E 


W4ai «J/i^ ^ * ^// 


lOKS, 




laper; 


"" /^J^..^,^*^ 


JES 


// 'S>^ SfiM. 


1 ATED. 
rk. 


'S^u^. 


P. J. SMITH & SONS' PIAHOS, by COILABD 


ffiON-STRUTEED well-know« ma^^ 

ON SALE OE HIBE 


PIANO-FORTES 

" OUEEH-S R04D; 

maris EMltoi, «„«. » & 4 PRInTeS OTEET 


OE iSV BESIOK TO okOER. OXFORD ST. LOBDOll. 


Part XX. completed the two first volumes of 


" Bristol : Past and Present." A specially prepared case — 


the design for which took the prize offered by the publisher 


to the students of the Bristol School of Art — is on view 


at II Quay Street. 


Price for binding (including case) 3s. 6rf. per volume. 


J. W. ARROWSMITH, Bookbinder, II QUAY STREET, BRISTOL. 


•^ 


. -M 




/ESTHETIC AND EASTERN ART FABRICS, 



FOR 



Dresses, Upbolstery and all pnrposes Where soft dnplBl is required. 

MYSORE SILK, Colour Prfnted,.of a fine texture. In l>oth bright attd subdned colours, from ZU. per pieoe. 

MYSORE SILK, <^old Printod, for Byeniog Robes, nu-e, odnYentioual, and ariistip desigos, irom 858. per piece. 

NAGPORE SILKj ^^ Artistic Oovms, in choice and rare colours, ftom the Faintest Btraw Oolour to the Darkest 

Sapphire, Sfo. per piece. 

The deHgns, from the original wood hlodca in the Indian Mfueunt/orm a uxhiabU coUeetion, rare and charaeteriilio. 

UMRITZA OASHMERE. " The New Costmne Cloth hse been received with immense foTour/'—^^Meii. 

UMRITZA CASHMERE in Artistic, iBsfhetic, and Useftil Colours, Persian Pinks, VenetUm Beds, TenaAootta* 

Oohre Yellow, Bapphire, Peacock Blue, Browns, Drabs, Old Gifld, Ac. 

UMRITZA CASHMERE ^ made of the purest Indian Wool. It combines the utme9t softness 'and BgihtneBB 

necessat^ for graceftil draping, with the warmth of the Indian Cashmere, regular 
texture, and durability of Enropean Fabrics. 21s. per piece oi 9 yards. 



PATTERNS POST FREE 



LIBERTY & CO. 



3SASTEBN 
ART STORES, 



218 & 220 REGENT STREET. 



i 



> 



i 






BARKSR'S HSRVIHS 

INSTANTLY CURES TOOTHACHE by painlessly desfaroyiag the 
Nerve, thus renderioig extraction umeoessary. 

It inay be used as a stopping for Teeth that have oomineaeed to Decay. 



Can befibtained through any Chemist, at l/H and B/9 per Paekd, 

or direct from the MakeTf 



VEST PiRK CORHE R, 01 VHITE l iPIES' ROAD, GLIFTOI. 

Fro|vletor of BABXER'S Oifginal BATT BE COLO03IS, \t !/• and 2/- Bottles. 




EAROE & CO„ 



<Lat» W. €. PEASCE.) 



DUL HOUSE, 12 RORTI STREET, BRISTOL, 



Watob 1|Bb^$/ §mtllm, &t. 



SILVER WATCHES. GOLD WATOHES. 

From 17/& to £8 6«. From 88/- to £89. 

MARBLE OLOCKS. WOOD CLOCKS. 

. From 88/- to £aO. Fi^ona 18/- to £BO. 

BXBAIBB BXPlEDtnOITSLT AND OHXAPLY SXSCnTTXD. 



Price One ShJIIInK. 



AUTHOR'S GUIDE, 



PERFECTION OF ROOKWORK 



SDPHOIMIEUT 



BOOKWORK AKD OTHER PRINTIH6 TYPES, 

Aocompuded by direetions ta pMWDi ftboat to pabliih. 

BBX8T6Lt 
I. ABaOWBMXTH, QUAT 8TBBBT. 



INTRODUCTION. 



floUo 



N liniliig the McompMiTiM BpmAmm Book of Typei. ^J^}^^J'J;S^;iJi^^ 
& Avthots, Profcuionaaixd Meicaa^ men. It te wf^^yj^***** Deoanse mipoo- 

of tiw epi^ oSttpIedbT tnwSTifllwfflt liM^the^ 
teiS Stonto S2) Sae iwitprltttdtfm ■uooMB^ 

**^ the l«tter p«t M« glvstt a frr Mmptos of Beript Slid Jtocj Typ«, IMiWl 

fturiifnul and B mIbw i s smb. . , 

•A few diwcttOM tor "ghtaf ottt wW^iW,^ •J^2*»Sf,, om «.««> mM 
I --Copy ilKmld bo writtsa ole«ilbj»d 

* pri^^KSdbewrltten. When it to Becefttiy to pitotto OAmAL btt«^ 

KwSoSm bo diatrn undot the woid: if in mai* OArtTAis. two IhMS : »d If la 

A-wS^pSSb^ 

n that WbeniaAed, MelightmUtslMioftttcrw to^ «fT awi aw iw» 

■"^iSSftlSS^wiT, tftebatu tad mOmIm wm b« mtamttod .tirwr ib«»t BoUe.* 



J. w. AfiaewsiinB 

Has the pleasure to announce 
that he has just added to his 
already extensive Plant a Hot- 
Rolling Machine, by which 
each sheet is thoroughly pressed 
and glazed before delivery. 

SAMPLE SHEETS MAY BE HAD ON APPLICATION. 

II Quay Street t Bristol, 



I 


OOKS, 


7/L/ «^i4u «// io Wu^iF 








paper? 


*" / ^ \sAi^m^, 




UES 


// S^ Mu.«. 


1 


tATED. 

irk. 


'M'ua^. 


p. J. SMITH & SONS' 




PIANOS, by COLLARD 

AKI' OTHKB 


ffiON-STETJTTED 




WELL-KHOWH MAKERS, 
ON SALE OR HIEE. 


PIANO-FORTES 




\ nnvAT pRnMCKinp 



Eailg £njli«l| €ma. 



OR AKY DESIGN TO ORDER. 



QOEEH'S ROAD; 

3 & 4 PRINCES STREET, 
OXFORD ST. I.OHDOII. 



P(Wt XX. completed the two first vohtmes of 
'' Bristol : Past and Present." A specially prepared case — 
the design for which took the prize offered by the publisher 
to the students of the Bristol School of Art — is on view 
at II Quay Street. 

Price for binding (including case) 3s. bd. per volume.. 



J. W. ARROWSMITH, Bookbinder, [I QUAY STREET, BRISTOU. 




/ESTHETIC AND EASTERN ART FARRIGS, 

Dresses, Upbolstery aAd nil purposes vliere soft draping ^ required. 

MYSORE SILK, Colour Printod, of a fine toxtuie, in both brl^t aikl tabdaed eoiotm, from 368. p«r piece. 

MYSORE SILK, Qold Printod, for Brenifig Bobea, rare, conTentional, ahdartSatic deslgiu, from 35d. per piece. 

NAGPORE SILKi ^^ Artistic Gowns, in choice and rare colours, from the Faintaat Straw Coloor to ihe Daikect 

Sapphire, St^a. per piece. .^ 

The designs, frovi ths oHginai vfood blocks in fht Indian Afiueui)i,/onn a vohidble 09(UetUm;-iran and charaUerlslic, 

U M RITZA OA8HM ERE. *' The New Costtune Goth has been received with Imm ense fliTOtir."— (^vem. 

UMRITZA OASHMERE ^ Artistic, JEsfhetic, and Usefal'Coloors, Periiaa Pinlu, Venetian Beds, Tem-ootta* 

Ochre YeUow, Sapphire, Peacock Bloe, fixowns. Drabs, Old Oold, Ao. 

UMRITZA OASHMERE ^ i^^^ ^ ^« poreat Indian Wool It combines the ntmest aoftnera and UghtneM 

necessary for graceftd dra^ng, with the wannth of the Indian Cashmece, regular 
texture, and durability of European Fabxioa. 21s. per piece oi 9 yards. 



PATTERNS POST FHEE 



LIBERTY & CO. 



S^^s. 218 & 220 REGENT STREET. 



SASTEEN 
ABT 



BARKiR'S HSRVmS 

XN8TAKTI*T CXJBSS TOOTHACHE by painlessly deetrofying the 
Keire, tbtu rendering extraction nnneeesBary. 

It may be naed as a stopping for Teeth that have connnenoe4 to Decay. 



Ccm be obteuned through any Chemist, at J/H and 2/9 per Packet, 

or directfrom the Maker, 

' ^ifptnfitif audi gmits (SHutaitt, 

lEST PM CORKER, 61 VHITE LIDIES' ROAD, CUFTOH. 

Plvpnetor of BABm'8 Or'gijul BAU DI OOLdeiTB, in 1/- and 2/- BotUes. 




EARGE & CO., 



Oate W. C. PSaRCE.) 



DIAL HOUSE, 12 NORTH STREET, BRISTOL, 



WMti '^MJam, ^mtllm, &t. 



SILVER WATOHES. QOLD WATOHES. 

From 17/6 to £8 8a. FroxA 88/- to J28B,; 

MARBLE OLOCKS. WOOD CLOCKa 

From 88/- to £SkO. From 18/- to £80. 

BEFAIBS XXPEDinOITBLT ASCO GHBAPI.T EXJEOUXXb. 



Prioa On* ShlUtng, 



AUTHOR'S GUIDE, 



P ERFECTION OP B OOKWORK. 



s]psox:m:si:]^ 



f^A^^A^^WV^M^^h^^^^^^^^ 



mum m other pbintimg typbs, 

AocQmpaided by diieotioai to penoDi »boiit to pnUkh. 

BRISTOL: 
1. ABB0W8HITH» QVAT STBBBT. 



INTRODUCTION. 

Is iunlna the Mcompaaytog Bpedmen Book of Typee^ tte miiihejtotoji^^ 
taAn^S,Rofl»laii3«ndMeK»iitllemen, It to n#oei8MUy Umlted.bec4iMe l»poi- 
ittIeinBO(liain»book«etbi»toliiHertmorelhiaafcwipedmeD^ . . .^ ,,,,^^-t^,^ 

A» tbe lKtBoi>k of SpwtoeM iMued, be bdleTi^ to %tol, if TO^ 
Mtni»Utbatttwi]ImeetwlthiuchaBp»oTilMtoooinmi«ndate-iiroe. ,^„^f ia.. 
STairtSfft tedevoied to type njeSfSr book^yo*, end to <fder to «lve aw^ MjJ 
of ie •peoe oocapied by tn>« S^iflteent slM^ 

**^ the latter p$rt are «lT«n » «nr ewaplei of Bortpt and Fuwj TtP«, n»^ 
^takmal and Bnaiaeat men. 



A ftm dirastloDs tat - givtaff out eopy " may b 
«.*-Copy ahoqld be vrttinieuariy and diitinctiy, 



p^pfToaly, eaA foBo 

^ng mimbered ednteeatitely. , ^ ^ m^ a.^, ^ ai^^^^m^^m *m^ *t% ^m 

1.-A goS maKin abould be leSon each sheet, and in ^^«»2L<SSSS??t5t; «i2I 
fiS^^SSdS written. -Wbenitlsneprtary toprtattoCAPra^fct^ 
Ihies •boDld be drawn under the word: if inaiULL CAPixAia, two Unea ; and ff m 

J.- wS?p^Si aent for revialon, wttionlar attention f^^^^^^^.T^'S'^ 2^*55 
ftat may be marked, aa alldit nartaket often creep tnto the "oppy and are noi 

dtoeoterednntflitieaobeethehattaaof the"Bead«. _.. .. ^ ^ ,„^ ^ . aiilk. 
*— In marking oon*stkm» in the prwA, it would be well to write them la Ink of a dllft. 

rent colour to tlieletter-pztNa. ^ . . . _^ ' - . _^«^ ♦« 

Jtaaatb 



Wbea neceattry, 8pe<^en» and eattanates will be enbmitted at very short notices. 



Has the pleasure to announce 
that he has just added to his 
already extensive Plant a H0T7 
Rolling Machine, by which 
each sheet is thoroughly pressed 
and glazed before delivery. 



SAMPLE SHEETS MAY BE HAD ON APPLICATION. 






II Quay Street^ Bristol. 



•\ 



^A 



- t 



9fm 



i 



M 




iESTHETIC AND EASTERN ART FARRM8, 

Bresses, Upbolstery and all porposes wbere soft draping Is required. 

MYSORE 8ILK, Colour Printed, of a Una texture, in twth bright and tabdoed colom, lh>m 8fi«, per pieco. 

MYSORE SlLKy OoM Printed, for Bv«niBg Bobet, rare, conventioiud, and artlstio deafgns, ttom $5b. per piece. 

NAGPORE SlUK, for Artistlo Oowns, in choice and rare colonn, firom the Faintest Straw Colonr to the Darkeet 

Stfpphlre* S68. per jpieoe. . 

The deaiffM, frtm th$ original v>ood iloch$ in the Indian MusenUf form a valuable cdUeHon^ rare and characterittie. 
UMRITZA OASHMERE. ** The I^ewCoetnme Cloth haa been received with inunenae fliTonr.*'— Qimm, 

UMRITZA CASHMERE in Artiattc, i£stiietic, and Usefbl Colours, Peieian Pinks, Venetian Bedtf, Ttoa-cotta* 

Ochre TeUow, Sapphire, Peaeock Bine, Brawns, Braba, Okl CM4, 4w. 

UMRITZA OASHMERE ^ made er the pmeat Indian WoioL It complies tiie ntmeet tottatm aad fightMse 

neces8ar]r for graceful draping, with the wairath of the Indian Cashmere, regSar 
textnre, and dniability of Enropean Fabrics. 218. per piece oi yards. 



PATTERNS POST FKBE 



I 



LIBERTY 8c CO.. aw^^st^s, 218 



:^ 



J 



& 220 REGENT STREET. 



, /BARKSR'S HmVIHS 

) "J^fFTUXTLY CUBES TOOTHA.CHS by pamlessfy destroying tho 
ufD am Nenre, thus rendering eztraotion unneoeosary. 

lf()f^ jfi niay be used as a stopping for Teeth that Imre oommmeed to Dec» 

e * 

^ - ' ' " *■ - 

' or direct from the If aier, 

i to PA8K COMER, 51 WHITE LiDIBS' ROAD, CUFTW. 

npc O'i 

^'^'^ ^rProprl0tor of BASKS&'S Ongizial EiU DB GOLOSBB, in 1/- and 8/- Bottles. 

: LO]»D(^ 



One 6hYllln|^ 



"/ 



VUTHOR'S GUIDE, 

boRK AMD OTM PIIIN116 TYPES, 

'•JtMxmfttaei hj dinefions to penon* ftboat to jntiUL 



her 



BBX8TOL! 
I. ABBOWBMXTH» QUAT BTBBBT. 



ew 



I 



INTRODUCTION. 

mteg the accompanying Bpeeimen Book of rftrpes, the Pabllaher is Jn5»«J *» *; 

wmlheknowledMOawwrofthlsdeseri|i^wiUbefonndof0^^ 

tore, Frofesskmia and KeicanUle men. It Is neeessarily Hmtted, beeanse Jspos- 

•tfosBiaUe book as this to insert mote than a few spedmens. 

le flrat Book of BpednMDS fssoed, he beUerea, in Bristol, If not in ttepiortoees, 
«thatitwlllraeetwithsaohappcoY»lastDeommandare>is8n^ 

first part to devoted to ^rpe osecTftv book-work» and hi ©rder to glye a cornet »ea 
iMuse oeenpled by type <tf dJflteent siaes, the same arUde rwhteb it wmM b<^^ 

•athoBi to lead) has SMnrq^ilBtedon saecessiTe psges in the early prntton of the 

4ie letter part are given a teir semples of Script and Fttiey typM, nseMl te Fro- 

jal and BnsinessBMn. 

<tow direetions for "giving out eopy" may be acceptable. v # i*-. 

ppy ahmild be WKlttin olesrhr and distinctly, on one fids 0/ (^ lN«w oiOir, eteh fow 

being numbered eonsecoAlTNy. 

. good margin Bhoeki be WtOT each sheets and in this any dhjwti^^ 
pBnterdioald be written. IHien it is neoeasaty to print in OAFIT4I1 Mtsn, ^ee 
fines sboQld be drawn under the word ; if In small canTALS, two lines ; and If in 

Italic, one Uns. ^ ^^s^^ 

.When m^ eie sent for rerision, particular attention should be paid to aiup queries 

_ that may be mariced, as ^Ight mistakes often creep into the ''eepy* and are not 

^ discovered unta It reachesthe hsnds of the_**,Beady.'* .. 

_IB maxkfag eonectioBS in the ptwHS, it woold be weU to wrlto them tft Ink of a diffe- 

* i«ni ooknir to the lsllsr<preaB. 

The FubUsher wffl be happy si sB ttmss to lender any assistance to his Igjw to 
•enoM alKmt to pnibllah, and ftom Us fam ancrimeat of types, and the feeilltiee he 
{mI^Is oomtnand, hehas eoaildenee toMBg asabled to guarantee AtapiusM, guolOy 
^J ntppdltton, 

WBeA neeessaiy, speetanens snd estfnstos will be submitted at very short noiloes. 




liEARGE & CO., 

. (Late W. C. PBAECB,) 

DIAL HOUSE, 12 NORTH STMT, BRISTOL, 



WixU% /^ixhm^ §mfMm, k. 



SILVER WATCHES. GOLD WATCHES. 

Froin 17/e. to £8 8». From 86/* to £88. 

MARBLE CLOCKS, WOOD CLOCKS. 

From 86/* to £20. From 18/- to £80. 

BBPATTlft EXPaDmOTTSI^ ASn OHEAFLT BXBOOTBD. 



PERFECTION OF ROOKWORK. 



I. W. AB&0W9XITB 

Has the pleasure to announce 
that he has just added to his 
already extensive Plant a Hot- 
Rolling Machine, by which 
each sheet is thoroughly pressed 
and glazed before delivery. 

SAMPLE SHEETS MAY BE HAD ON APPLICATION. 

II Quay Street, Bristol, 



Di: 



Annual 
L.LEGE GREEN. 



^nMMtstMnMmM\mm'§tmmtrd 










iESTHETIG AND EASTERN ART FABRICS, 

FOR 

Dresses, Upklstery €nii all purposes wbere soft dr&piog Is required. 

MYSORE SILK, Colour Printed, of a fine texture, in hoth bright and aubdued coloura, from 359. perpiAce. 

MYSORE SILK, C)ofd Printed, for Bvening Bobea, rare, conTentional, and artistic designa, from 35a. per pieee. 

NAGPORE SILK, ^^ Artistic Gowns, in choice and rare colours, from the Fainteat Straw Colour to the Daikeat 

Sapphire, asa. per piece. 

The design*, frtym the oiiffijuH wood blocks in the Indian MuseuMjform avalucLble collection, rare and ckaraOtristic, 

UMRtTZA OASHMERE. " The New CoBtume Cloth haa been ret3eived with imioenae iiiTonr."— Q^Mm 

UMRITZA CASHMERE in Artistic, i3Bsthetie, and Usefol Colours, Persian Plnka, Venetian Reda, Terra-cottat 

Ochre Yellow, Sapphire, Peacock Blue, Browns, Drabs, Old Oold, Ac. 

UMRITZA CASHMERE i^ tna^ of the purest Indian Wool. It combines the utmost aoCtnesa, and Ughtneas 

necessary for graceful draping, with the wumth of the Indbm Cashmere, regular 
texture, and durability of £uroi)ean Fabrics. 21a. per piece oi 9yarda. 



PATTERNS POST FREE 



LIBERTY & CO 



■f 



SASTXBN 
ART STOR£8, 



218 & 220 REGENT STREET. 



BARKSiR'S HSRVIHJB 

INSTANTLY CXTRBS TOOTHAGHS hy painlesflly destroying the 
Nerve, thus rendering extraction QzmeceBsary. 

It may be used as a atopping for Teeth that have commenced to Decay. 






Can be ohtained through any Chemist, at I/H and 2/9 per Packet, 

or direct from the Makers 

VEST PM COBHEB, 61 Hm LU)I£S' ROAD, OIFTOI. 

Frqcleear of BABOE'S Or ginal BAU BE 00L0&17E. In 1/- and 2/- Bottiet. 



Prictf One ShltllnK. 



THB 



AUTHOR'S GUIDE, 

e 

WBOKQ A 

BOOKWORK m OTMR PRIHTIH6 TYPES, 

Accompanied by directaoui to psxionB about to pablish. 

BBISTOIi; 
I. ABROWBMITH, QUAY STRHHT. 



INTRODUCTION. 

IN ]Mstans the accompanying Specimen Book of Tn>ea, JJe mUaher iatodi^^ 
■o ftS thrkSowleJSe^af a Vork of thia deaoripifon wiU be foimd of P«J^^^ 
to aSSS, Pwfaaaion2^and MertjantUe men. It ia necetearlly limited, l)ecaiiae impoa- 

■Ible In ao amaU a book aa thU to inaert more ttan a few •P«2J5®?f*„ot In the wovinoea, 
Aa the flrat Book of Specimena isined, he belleveB, m Bristol, If JJ* "^ *°* provmow, 

b* tniata that it will meet with audi approval aa to command a «'-«J^«\ oorMci idea 
Seartt part ia devoted to type need for book-woik, and in o"^" *S,«^yf * ^^ ^^ 

or ieepaw ooOTpied by type (Srdiltorent alMC. the aame article (whi^ it J^-g* *^>^^ 

Sw^aSSortto wad) haa ^ lepttoted on aucceaaive pages m the early portion of tne 



ik tht Utter part aie given a few aamples of Seript and Fancy Typei, Mrfa te Pw- 

fbosienal and Bnsineaa men. . .^x^m. 

A few dircctiona tor «' giving ont copy; may be MceptAWe. 

1, Copy Bhonld be written clearlv and diatlnctly, on one 8(d4 (ff a« faper oimv* ««» »•"" 

being nnmbexed eoniecatively. ^ . ^ . «« x».i„ ..,- ^iirAAtioiifl fto. to tba 

Si— A goSl margin ahould be left on each sheet, '^ *? *i^,S^nAwffi^iS^ thS5 
printer ahoW be written. When it iancjWMUHuy to print to^ 
finca ihould be drawn under the word ; if in bjujx capitalb. two iinaa , ana u « 

S.-w£S^p^fl?S. «mt for revision, particular attention f^ouldbej^id tp^ ^erijj 
-, thai ^ be marked, as Blight mletekw often creep /Dto the and are not 

^ Jln^^iS^^rS^oriS^d^a^^^^ ^eff-to write them In ink of adilf. 

ThT^^^llr^'.SrS^-Sr^^ an time, to «nder any assistance ^^^-^ ^S 
ons aboS to pnbllah. and ftom Ma htfge aawrtment of types, and the »cilltiee ije 
S hSISmm^, he ha^confidence fabelng enabled to guarantee ck^jnuss, quality 

iS^SSisary, specimens and estimates win be submitted at very short notices. 







EARCE & CO., 



<Late W. C'PEAROE,) 



DUL HOUSE, 12 HORTH STREET, BRISTOL, 



SILVER WATCHES. ^ GOLD WATCHES. 

From 17/6 to £6 8s. From 85/- to £85, 

MARBLE CLOCKS. WOOD CLOCKS. 

From 88/- to £20.. From 18/- to StUO, 
RBPAIBS SXPEDITIOVSLY Ain> CHEAPLY BXSOUTBD. 



P ERFECTION OF BOOKWOM. 



I. W. AHBOWSinTl 

V 

Has the pleasure to announce 
that he has just added to his 
already extensive Plant a Hot- 
Rolling Machine, by which 
each sheet is thoroughly pressed 
and glazed before delivery. 

SAMPLE SHEETS MAY BE HAD ON APPLICATION. 

II Quay Street, Bristol. 



'i . 



B 


)OKS, 


T4a^ ^/ du ma io Wuni ;> 


3 


"" / ^ J^«^««i< \. 




JES 


// !B,«^ &iu^. 


1 


lATED. 

rk. 


'Btai^. 


P. J. SMITH & SONS' 

ffiON-STEUTTED 




PIANOS, b; COLLARD 

AKb OTHKB 

WELL-KNOWN HIKERS, 
ON SALE OB HIEE. 


PIANO-FORTES 

o 

Saclg Enfiltst Cases, 

OR Airy DESIGN TO OEDEB. 




1 ROYAL PROMENADE, 
OUEEK'S ROAD; 

3 4 4 PRINCES STREET, 
OXFORD ST. LOHDOH. 



Piwt XX. completed the two first volumes of 
''Bristol: Past and Present." A specially prepared case — 
the design for which took the prize offered by the publisher 
to the students of the Bristol School of Art — is on view 
at 11 Quay Street. 

Price for binding (including case) 3s. i>d. per volume. 



J. W. ARROWSMITH, Bookbinder, II QUAY STREET, BRISTOL. 




iESTHETIC AND EASTERN ART FABRICS, 



FOB 



Dresses, Upholstery and ail pnrposes w bere soft (inpin^ is regtired. 

MY80RE StLKf Colour Printed, of a fina textuie, in both bri^t aod subdued eoionxs, from 359. per piece. . 

MYSORE SILK, Qp^ Printed, for Brenlsg Bobea, rare, conT«&tl<mal, and arUsttc designs, fiom S56. per piece. 

NAGPORE SILK) tor Artistic Gowns, in choice and me colours, from the Faintest Straw Colour to the DariKe«t 

Sapphire, 258. per piece. • 

The de$ignt, fr<m iht original wood hl^Tcs in the Jadton AfiMeum, form a vahiable 09lUetlon,"^rare and characUrUiie. 
UMRtT21A OASHMERE. " The New Costume Cloth has been received wtth immense favour."— (Jveeii. 

UMRITZA OASHMERE ^ Artistic, iEethetic, jind UseftirColoars, FerSian Pinha, Venetian Beds, ferra-oottftt 

Ochre TeUow, Sapphire, Peacock Blue, Browns, Drabs, Old Gold, Aa. 

UMRITZA OASHMERE ^ made of the purest Indian Wool It oomUnes the ntmest softness and lightness 

necessary for graceful draping, with the wwrmth of the Indian Cashtaere, regular 
texture, and durability of Bnropean Fabrics* 2l8. per piece oi 9 yards. 



LIBERTY & CO.. abt s^tores, 218 



PATTERNS POST FRHE ^^ 

& 220 REGENT STREET. 



BARKER'S HSRVIHE 

tN8TAKTX»Y CUBXSS TOOTHACHB by painlessly destroying the 
4 Kerve^ thns rendering extraction nnnedessary* 

It may be used as a stopping for l^tb tbat have conuneneed to Decay. 



Can he obtained through any Cfhemist, at II 1\ and S/9per Fackei, 

or direci from the MdheTi 

WEST PARK CORBE R, 61 WHITE LAD IES' ROAD, CUFTOH. 

Proprietor of BABXEE'S Original BAT7 DE OOL0GBB, in 1/- and 2/- Bottles. 



Price One ShUlIni^ 



AUTHOR'S GUIDE, 

HDM a 

BOOKWORK AMD OTM PRINTING TYPES, 

Aooompaoied by direction to penou tboat to paUiab. 



BBXfTOL: 
I. ABBOWBMITH» QUAY flTBBST. 



ass 



[ 



INTRODUCTION. 

N lasuJna the accompanying Bpedmea Book of Types ^ the ^^M^«Ji55^J? *! 
V ^wSt^^l^lJS^i^ll^i^ desUaS will be '?«!S^C2J,2?toS2 
Anthora, ProfessiowTand Mercantile men. It la aseeasarily limited, because impoa- 

ible in BO small a book as this to Insert more than a fcw "g^^M. - ««»,rf«--M 

Aaitte first Book of Specimens issued, ha UUeves, In Bristol. If not in the proTlneea, 

* tmaU that it will meet with such aTOioTsl aa to oaatmaDd »»J-"^.^ ^ «««•<* M«a 
The flrat part la devoted to tm rjaSilM boofcjoik. and. to «"!« *® f^Tfi^g!? fJSJ 
f tbe apaee occupied by type of diffwent siaes, the aame artide ftW^* "J^SJi ^^^S 
w iS aShora to «*d) fisa &n wprintod on suocesalva p^ 

*^Iii tha Utter part a» given a f^ BsiapleB of Script and Fancy TtP«i, n««W* «« ^«>- 

MKional wi ffd Bustoesa men. 
Aftowdiiwtionate-glTtogoutcopy'^mwbeacoeptaMe.^^^^^ -i^h toHa 

.—Copy shoidd be wrtttan flesfflT and diattoctiy, o» c»« sWs <tf <»• |«W<r o»%» ••« 
bems numbered eonieeutiTeiy. ., _^ ^ ^^ *^ 4w- 

.-A^^ mSgin should be left on each sheet, and to thia any dfred^J^to^ 
p^ribSSa be written. WhenitisneMsttiytoprtntto CATOAjiri*^ 
fines should be drawn under the word; if toaiotL CAPrtaia. two Unes ; sad If to 

.-mSS?p^*«?S sent for revision, pwticulsr attention ^^^Si.Y'^ySt^^ JSfSS 
tluit maybe marked, aaslSbtn&takes often creep Into the "copy and an not 

diaoovered unttl It reaches the hands of tha " Basdar. *. i^v a# , Mm^ 

w— In marktog oonectiona to the prool^ It would ba w^ to write them la Ink of a dUft. 

rent colour to the lettef'press. 




When necessary, specimens and etttoiates will be submitted at very short notices. 



1 




EARCE & CO., 



<Late W. C. PEAKCE.) 



DIAL HOUSE, 12 SORTH STREET, BRISTOL, 



Wfttcb ll^ta, %mt\\n% U. 



SILVER WATCHES. GOLD WATCHES. 

From' 17/6 to £8 Ss. . From 88/- to £98, 

MARBLE CLOCKS. WOOD CLOCKS. 

From 88/- to £80. From 18/- to £80. 

BEPAIBS SXFEDinOlTSLY kSD OHXAFLT EZB017TBD. 



P ERFECTION OF R OOKWORK. 



#«A#%AA^^VWWM^MAMM#«^ 



I. W. AfiaOWSKITE 

Has the pleasure to announce 
that he has just added to his 
already extensive Plant a Hot- 
Rolling Machine, by which 
each sheet is thoroughly pressed 
and glazed before delivery. 



8AMELE SHEETS MAY BE HAD ON APPLICATION. 



II Quay Street, Bristol. 



N 



lOOKS, 
UES 

iLTED. 



■uw m<^ eaU 6) Cruini F 



// 



%>teau 



P. J. SMITH & SONS' 

ffiON-STKUTTED 
PIANO- FORTES 

OR ANY DESIGN TO ORDEH. 



PIANOS, bj COLIiBD 

WELL-KBOWN MAKERS, 
ON SALE OE HIRE. 

1 EOYAL PROMENADE, 
QUEEH'S ROAD; 

AND 

3- & 4 PRINCES STMEt, 
OXFORD ST. LOBDOll. 



Part XX. completed the two first volumes of 
" Bristol : Past and Present." A specially prepared case— 
the design for which took the prize offered by the publisher 
to the students of the Bristol School of Art— is on view 
at H Quay Street. 

Price for binding (including case) y. dd. per volume. 



J. W. ARROWSMITH, Bookbinder, II QUAY STREET, BRISTau 







/ESTHETIC AND EASTERN ART FABRICS, 

FOR 

Dresses, Upholstery and all purposes wbere soft draping is required. 

MYSORE SILK, Colour Printed* of a fine texture, in Iwth bright and tubdned colours, flrom Sfii. per piece. 

MYSORE Sl^Kt Q^^* Printed, for Bvenlng Ro1>ee» rare, odnventional, and artiatic deaigns, from 96a. per piece. ' 

N AGPORE SILKa '^ Artistic Gowna, In choice and rare colours, from the fUnteat Btraw Oolour to the Daxkeat 

Sapphire, S6a. per piece. 

Tht designs, /rom the origUiol wood blocks in (he Indian Mueeumf/orm a vahtdbU ceOteMon, ran and charaeUHMe. 

UMRITZA OA8HMERE. " The New Costume Cloth haa been received with immense fkTour."—^v«en. 

UMRITZA OASHMERE in Artistic, JSsthetlc, and Usefhl Colours, Persian Finks, Venetian Beds, Tena^iotfa* 

Ochre Yellow, Sapphire, Peacoclc Blue» Browns, DrabSi Old 0<fld, Ac, 

UMRITZA OASHMERE ^ m<ide of the puieat Indian Wool It combines the utmeft softnesa aod Hgjhtaess 

necesaaitjr for graceftd draping, with the warmth of the Indian Cashmere, regular 
texture, and durability of European Fabrics. 21s. per jriece oi 9 yarda. 



PATTERNS POST FREB 



LIBERTY & CO. 



} 



ZBASTEBN 
ABT BT0BE8, 



218 & 220 REGENT STREET. 



BARKER'S MEiRVmS 

IN8TANTLT CUIEIES TOOTHAOHS by painleaaly deslroyiiig the 
Netve, thus rendering extraction nnneceiaary. 

It inay be used aa a ttoppiag for Teeth that have oommenced to Decay. 



Can ht^abtained through any Chemise, ai l/H ctmd 2/9 per Packet, 

or direct from the Maker, 



lEST PARK COMBB, 51 WHITB UDIES* SOU), CLIFTOI. 

Fn|ri0tor of BABXSB'S Oifgisal EATT BI OOLOeiX, Itt 1/- and 2/- Bottles. 




EARCE & GO,, 



<Late W. €. PEAECE.) 



DUL HOUSE, 12 MTH STBSET, BBISTOL, 



Wfttob '^ukm, ^mtllm, &t. 



SILVER WATCHES. GOLD WATOHES. 

From 17/C^ to £8 8«. Froxn 80/- to £80. 

« 

MARBLE CLOCKS. WOOD CLOCKS. 

From 80/- to £SO. Fi^xn 10/- to £0O. 

BBPAIB8 XXFXDITIOTrSIiT AlTD COaSAPLY BZSdITTSD. 



fVice On« BhllHng. 



AUTHOR'S GUIDE, 

BOOKWORK AND OTMR PRIMTIN6 TYPES, 

Aocompaided by direetions to pmona ftboat to poblub. 

1I&I8T0L1 
I. AB&OWBICITH, QUAT 8TBBBT. 



P ERFECTION OF B OOKWORK. 



INTRODUCTION. 

Rpaelaeii Book of Typea, the PaliUakar to tadoMAto do 

g,^^ iff*.^«MU man. It ta aaeeaaaiilT limited* DeeanM impoa- 



IN tonbigtheacc 
■o fnm the know! 

rf»a In ao aman a Ijook aa thto to Inaert mw ttan a ftw gMdmoD^^ 



Aia In ao amau a wwi aa tiiia to uaen mow w» • ww y^rvTiT^^ «« ih* niovlnoaa 
Aa tta St Book of Specimaiia toned, ha^WMam, in »yoMf »«* In the pwmoaa, 

ii the ktter part aw glwn a 1^ amplaa of Bertpt and FMoy Typea, nMlW «Bf ftto. 



•A few diwetioaa tor "aWBf «nt copy" m»;ry^ aocaptalrfa. 

bete anmband aoaaeetttlTely. 
1,— A^ood maigia ibotdd be Wl on each sheet, "d^^.W 
iSSrSSSdbaiffltten. When it to neoeaawT to print ia C 
KeartoSi be drawn undar the word : if in anai* camau 
JtaUt^ one line. 



dlTCattaia.fte.,tothe 
lAFITALftttan.lhi»a 
I. two linia : and Sf In 



toUo 

tettothe 
Ihiaa 
Sf In 



A- Whei pi«ifSi aent for fCTtolon, nartlcnT«att«tlwi f^<«»ldl»^pald to My giariaj 
^ftSn^ merited, M.ltohtnffiw^^ and aie not 

^M^oStonnhllah. nd ft«m hto laxfo anottmeot of typ«>, and the ^1™;J2 
ThtaSSimMd;hfto^^ ffStog -mbtod to snaiantee ampnm. 9i»aM*t 

VJEfSS^eary, ipedmena and aattmstea will be anbmltted atirwy *hort notlcea. 



J. W. HBOWIMITI 

Has the pleasure to announce 
that he has just added to his 
akeady extensive Plant a Hot^ 

V 

Rolling Machine, by which 



»•! 



.! 



each sheet is thoroughly pressed.] 
and glazed before delivery. - 

m 

SAMPLE SHEETS MAY BE HAD ON APPLICATION. 

II Quay Street, Bristol. 



EW SYSTEM OF RETAIL TRAOIKG. 



srs. FERRIS & Co, 

OhembU to Str Majett^, 

A 6 UHXOH STREET, 

;nGS, i TOILBT AKTlClEa, 

E3, PERFUMED SOAPS, 

MEDICINES, ' SUHGICAL INSIKUMKNl 

5S, ' Ahd APPUANCE3, 

e nrioes ohargsd br tbe Xioodou and Prorliud*! 
Co-c^wAd-Te S<Mde11as. 

PRICB LISTS ON APPLICATION. 

. AND IMPERIAL PATRONAOB. 

TON BURNETT'S 

L SERGEI 



.KNS FOST FSEB, oUA otAer 

'URE WOOL DRESS FABRIC! 

IS AS OBDBRXD TOR OOUBT MOnRNINQ. 
of rccalvinc Ordon from naarlv •n^ry Oourt If Eiin 
pal IcioH In gagland, and W Cerk, Oiilbtt, or Asriaiid. 

3ERTON BURNETT, 

reiXMOTOH, S01IEB8ET. 

iTT ha* No A^anU, and no oonnoetlon ¥rtth taif UmIwi 



I 



V\