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JAMES BURN;
THE "BEGGAR BOY."
I
AN
AUTOBIOGRAPHY:
RELATING THE NUMEROUS TRIALS, STRUGGLES, AND
VICISSITUDES OF A STRANT^LY CHEQUERED LIFE.
WITH
GLIMPSES OF ENGLISH SOCIAL, COMMERCIAL,
AND POLITICAL HISTORY, DURING
EIGHTY YEARS, 1802-1882.
HODDER AND STOUGHTON,
27, PATERNOSTER ROW.
MDCCCLXXXII.
[All rights reserved.}
Hazell, Watson, and Viney, Printers, London and Aylesbury.
e ti i c a t i o n *
TO
THOMAS BAKER, Esq.,
OF THE INNER TEMPLE,
BARRISTER- AT- LAW.
DEAR SIR, In dedicating my Memoirs to you, J am afraid
that anything I can say will but ill mark my sense of your great
worth, or express anything like the amount of gratitude I owe
you. Your unsought friendship was to me an unlooked-for
honour, and your disinterested kindness and generosity turned the
tide of my adverse fortune by your having obtained for me a
comfortable situation.
I only wish the literary merit of the book had been worthy of
your approbation, but 1 know you will think more of the vicis-
situdes through which I have passed, than of my manner of
relating them.
In conclusion, I beg you will accept this humble acknowledg-
ment of my sincere gratitude for your kindness as a friend and
benefactor, and my esteem for your character as a man inde-
pendent of the " Guinea Stamp"
Believe me,
Your faithful and obliged Servant,
JAMES BURN.
LONDON, October \st, 1882.
PREFACE.
THE Author has been induced to publish this volume,
from a consideration that a perusal of the nume-
rous trials and hard struggles of his life may have a
tendency to stimulate young men to an endeavour to
overcome the obstacles and difficulties which may sur-
round their early positions in the world. This brief
history of an eventful and highly chequered career, he
thinks, cannot fail to impress upon the youthful reader
a lesson of useful import. Men in their daily intercourse
have frequent opportunities to study each other's history,
but as they cannot keep up the connection in the regular
order of events, their narratives necessarily become dis-
jointed. There is also another consideration of still
greater importance to the proper understanding of a
man's character, which is a knowledge of his motives.
Could we but see the hidden springs which prompt men
to action, we should often be less liable to judge harshly
of each other's conduct, and, instead of censuring, find it
our duty to praise.
The first division of the book will introduce the Author
in the character of a wandering vagrant. It will be seen,
that when he was cast upon his own resources, he was
placed in circumstances of extreme danger, being ex-
posed to the twofold temptations of poverty and bad
company. It may be said that he overcame the diffi-
b
vi PREFACE.
culties of his critical position by the energy of his
character.
The second division will show the reader the mis-
directed efforts of an uneducated man, whose ambition
was fettered by the want of early training. In this part
of the work the Author has endeavoured to open up
the whole volume of his mind, and thereby expose its
most secret springs. It will thus be seen that many of
his commercial failures have arisen from a pure want
of caution, and like many a well-meaning man who has
split upon the same rock, instead of looking for the
sources of his numerous mishaps in his own want of
judgment, he has frequently attributed them to causes
which never existed.
The third epoch of the Author's life may be said to
have been ruled by a series of conflicting circumstances,
over which he appeared to have had little or no control ;
however, the reader will not fail to observe that the same
determination of character which saved him from moral
shipwreck in early life, still enabled him to weather the
storms of adversity in more advanced years. On the
whole, the narrative will be found to be a series of
natural incidents arising out of their various causes, and
the Author has made no attempt either to heighten
their colour, or enhance their importance. Much of the
reflective matter in this volume will be appreciated, or
otherwise, according to the preconceived opinions of
those into whose hands it may fall. The Author has
only to add, that his notions of men and things, whether
right or wrong, have been produced by much rubbing
with the world, and in the meantime, they are the honest
expressions of his mind,
JAMES BURN,
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
PAGE
Recollections of infancy Marriage of my mother and step-
father Commencing life as a beggar The frequent
inmate of a jail Narrow escapes from death A thunder-
storm at night Consequences of intemperance A vagrant
journey to London Influence of early impressions. . I
CHAPTER II.
Recollections of London, and improvements The press gang
system Enticements of a Jew Kidnapped by a sweep
The pedlar's trade Encounter with highwayman Lost
in snowstorm Unwarranted charge of theft The six
fighting brothers Carlyle Superstitions A ghost story. 28
CHAPTER III.
Employed as a cowherd Visit to Ireland Transferred to my
father Lamed by a horse Escape to Scotland A long
tramp. . , 64
CHAPTER IV.
Herding cattle Happy days with the Dagg family Farm life
with the Richardsons Border smugglers' operations.
viii CONTENTS.
CHAPTER V.
PAGE
Rejoin my mother In the service of Mr. Peters Hawking
resumed Kitty Dawson Employed by a Cheap Jack
In danger as an innocent smasher 98
CHAPTER VI.
Wanderings Harvesting A militia substitute Unfortunate
speculation in tea Enlistment Failure to pass the doctor
Trial of the sea Second arrival in London A trudge
to the North after Kitty Dawson Introduction to the hat
trade. . . ... ... . . . .114
CHAPTER VII.
Caught by a second Kitty A change of masters A militia
man Resolution to take a wife First learn to write
Taste for reading Visit to Dublin A turnover at Otley
Birth of a son. . . . . . . . . . 140
CHAPTER VIII.
A tramp to Sherborne for work Third experience of London-
Become a politician Elected member of Reform Asso-
ciation A hat manufacturer in Glasgow Take a tavern
Business ruined Loss of my first wife Career and death
of my brother Robert The sole survivor of my mother's
family 156
CHAPTER IX.
Keep a spirit cellar in Greenock Attacked by sciatica A
lecturer on Odd-fellowship Sickness Foreman in a hat
factory Again a master Once more a tavern keeper A
grand master of Oddfellows Elected a delegate Business
fortunately ruined 174
CONTENTS ix
CHAPTER X.
PAGE
Improvements in Scotch and English towns Employed by an
engraver Removal to Yorkshire Lecture on Burns
Move on to Liverpool Work as a shipping labourer
Struggles with poverty and disease Delivering serials in
the book trade. . . ..... . . .195
CHAPTER XI.
The book canvassing business Commercial directory making
Early reminiscences and improvements Employed on
Mr. Hill's paper. . . ..,-'. V .217
CHAPTER XII.
Passage to Dublin IteLadies 1 Journal Failure of the Dublin
agency Scenery, etc., in Ireland Landed for the fourth
time in London. . . , . ; .... . 225
CHAPTER XIII.
Again established in Edinburgh Publish a circular President
of the Burns club The centenary A handbook of
London Decide on emigrating to the United States. . 240
CHAPTER XIV.
Passage across the Atlantic Arrival wholly unexpected
Recommence hat making Robbed by the stevedores. . 256
CHAPTER XV.
Suffering from laborious work Seasons and fruits of the United
States Desire to return to England A journeyman hatter
in Brooklyn Social phases of American life. . . . 267
x CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XVI.
PAGE
Employment in New Jersey Removal of family from New
York Native Americans and emigrants Loss of employ-
ment from a trades strike ; . .286
CHAPTER XVII.
New experience in brush hat making Health deteriorated by
the American climate Loss of work after hot season
Slackness during the winter Summoned by a false hope
to New York Characteristics of the empire city. . . 300
CHAPTER XVIII.
Climate, amusements, and political life in the United States
Generous assistance of Mr. Mingens Effects of the civil
war Slavery, etc. England and America compared. . 327
CHAPTER XIX.
The voyage home London for the sixth time Illness of wife
Disposal of book on America An unlooked-for prize
Crowded state of the metropolis 350
CHAPTER XX.
Start for Newcastle Employed by a Newcastle hat company
Expansions of periodical literature Descriptions of
Newcastle 366
CHAPTER XXI.
Renewal of acquaintance with the Dagg family Early re-
miniscences 384
CONTENTS. xi
CHAPTER XXII.
PAGE
Writing for a Hexham newspaper Stage coach and railway
systems Passage from Newcastle In London the seventh
time. 393
CHAPTER XXIII.
Inquiries Visit to Wokingham Employed in the Salmon
Fisheries Office Survivors of my family Letters from
James Burn, Junr. . . : \ ' 'I .. , * . 402
CHAPTER XXIV.
The inspectors of salmon fisheries Studio of Mr. Frank
Buckland Visit to Hesleyside and Bellingham Dis-
missal from the Fisheries Office. ..... 4*6
CHAPTER XXV.
Grant from the Royal Literary Fund Memorial to Mr. Glad-
stone Assistance from Tom Taylor Employment by
Mr. Manby Friends found through former book Death
of my eldest son. ........ 426
CHAPTER XXVI.
Loss of my second wife Employed in Great Eastern Railway
Final removal to London Second grant from Royal
Literary Fund Thomas Carlyle The Earl of Beacons-
field. . .... . . . . . . .438
THOUGHTS ON THE VARIOUS MEANS OF INSTRUCTION. . 449
SUPPLEMENT
Social improvements of the nineteenth century Things
of the past and present, etc 469
INDEX 636
OTHER WORKS OF JAMES BURN.
HISTORY OF ODD FELLOWSHIP 1846. (McGowan, Glasgow.)
LANGUAGE OF THE WALLS 1853. (Patterson, Leeds.)
MERCANTILE ENTERPRISE 1854. (Hill, London.)
THREE YEARS AMONG THE WORKING-CLASSES IN THE
UNITED STATES DURING THE WAR 1866. (Smith,
Elder, & Co., London.)
THE EDUCATIONAL PLACES OF AMUSEMENT IN LONDON
1878. (Hogg, London.)
HISTORY OF STRIKES 1879. (Heywood, London.)
CHAPTER I,
THE following pages will give the reader an account of
my early history, as faithfully as my memory will allow
me to do ; and I have made up my mind to do this in the
hope that my numerous trials and difficulties, and the some-
what strange experience of my chequered life, may be of
service in guiding the steps of youth in the path of duty. As
a general rule, it may be taken for granted that the life of a
mere working man can be of very little interest to the
public ; of course there are marked exceptions to this rule.
When a man has worked up from the obscurity of humble
life by the force of genius, as some of the sons of toil have
done, the histories of their lives become valuable contributions
to the literature of their country. Biography is considered
by many people to form the most pleasing part of history.
It sets before us the character of such men as may have
become eminent for their virtues, or notorious for their vices ;
by it we learn, too, the motives which led them to aspire to
deeds of glory, or the delusions which carried them into the
snares of vice. In reading the life of a man of marked
character, if honestly written, we are placed in a favourable
position, whereby we are able not only to observe his actions,
but we can also see the whole machinery of his mind, the work-
ings of his various passions, and the strength of the regulating
power of his judgment. The man who either writes his own
life, or has it written for him, may be said to be withdrawn
from the crowd of his fellows, and placed to a certain extent
naked upon an elevation, as an example either to be followed
or shunned.
2 CIRCUMSTANCES FORM THE CHARACTERS OF ME.V.
In thus giving the world the history of my life, I will
endeavour to furnish a faithful narrative of the whole chain of
events which have acted and reacted upon me ; keeping in
the background only those things which are trivial, or other-
wise unworthy of notice. It is true that I have never achieved
any act worthy of public notice : the relation between my
name and fame has been as distantly remote from each other
as the Poles. But as a set-off for the want of bold adventure,
deeds of daring, and noble enterprise, the reader will find
much that is worthy of reflection, and in some instances my
conduct may be found not unworthy of imitation. Like a
large number of my own class, I was born in the cold shade
of poverty, nursed in sorrow, and reared amid difficulties,
hardships, and privations. When we know the numerous
petty shifts and dishonest subterfuges which characterise the
conduct of a large portion of those members of society whose
position places them above want, we cannot feel much sur-
prised at the dishonest practices of that miserable class of
beings who hang as it were on the outskirts of civilization.
The man who can dine is very differently circumstanced to the
poor wretch who, after he has had one meal, has no idea
when or where he may be blessed with another! Those
members of society who are fortunately blessed with a regular
supply of food and raiment may be said to be the antipodeans
to the accidental feeders, and their modes of thinking are,
in every sense of the word, as opposite as their ways of
living.
Nearly all the people now living with whom I am acquainted
have only known me since I became what may be termed a
free man ; or, in other words, since I became an independent
member of society, by the application of my energies to
honest industry. To attain this position, humble as it may
seem, was with me a work of years of toil, anxiety, and ardent
hope. The great majority of young men who are put to
trades or professions are generally prepared in some measure
before they are sent to masters to pass their probation for the
RECOLLECTIONS OF INFANCY. 3
duties of life ; the reader will learn, as he proceeds, that my
case, upon entering into the busy arena of the world, was
very different.
Where or how I came into the world I have no very
definite idea. The first place I found myself in was a large
garret in Dumfries, with sloping roof for side walls, and it
had the recommendation, in a natural history point of view,
of literally swarming with rodents, known more commonly by
the name of rats. I can well remember my mother having
to keep a switch by her side when we were taking our food ;
otherwise I believe they would have had the lion's share of
it. This tenement was situated on the west side of the mid
steeple opposite the stone bench which in those days was
used as a fish-market. This was about 1804 ; and though
so far back, I can call up before my mind's eye both the
shape of the room and the domestic appliances it contained.
An old postless bedstead was on the right hand of the
entrance ; a small deal table stood near the fireplace, which
latter convenience was on the hearth; an old unpainted
chest was honoured with a berth near the single window
which lighted the apartment ; this was made to answer the
purpose of a dresser and plate-shelf, and was furnished with
a few white earthenware basins, two brown unglazed por-
ringers, four common- ware plates, and two long-handled horn
spoons. These articles, with a small tub and two three-legged
stools, filled up the catalogue of our furniture.
My mother was then earning her bread by carding hatters'
wool, which, I believe, was a very laborious business. Poor
woman ! she had been unfortunate in placing her affections
in the keeping of my father, who had deceived her, and left
her with myself in her arms as a recompense for her lost
honour and slighted affections. Shortly after the event of my
birth she must have left the north of Ireland, and migrated
to Dumfries by the way of Port Patrick. While in Dumfries
she frequently took me with her to Mr. Beatties' hat manu-
factory, where the men in their frolicsome moods hailed her
4 MARRIAGE OF MY MOTHER AND STEPFATHER.
as the giantess and wee Jamie as the dwarf! The manu-
facturing appliances are very different now to what they were
in the morning of the nineteenth century. There was not a
single carding machine in Dumfries, and as a consequence
all the wool required, both for manufacturing and domestic
purposes, had to be carded with hand cards. The hat trade
in those days was a very important branch of industry in the
town, indeed it may be said to have been the staple business.
My visits to the hat factory made the odour rising from the
plank kettles familiar to my sense of smell for many years.
At that time little did my mother or her dwarf of a son think
that he would become a member of the fraternity of Jolly
Hatters.
Among the first remarkable events in my early history
was that of having been taken to see an execution in the
front of the then new jail in Dumfries, in 1806; the name
of the man who suffered was " Maitland Smith." He had
murdered and robbed a cattle-dealer who had lodged in
his house the previous evening, Smith having kept a tavern.
The next event which clings to my memory was my mother's
marriage with a discharged soldier, whose health and constitu-
tion had been sacrificed before the altar of patriotism and
glory in the Peninsular War. This gentleman's name was
William McNamee. What sort of a figure he made in the
war I know not, but I am fully aware he was no ordinary
person in the estimation of all who had the honour of know-
ing him. In height he was upwards of six feet, and as
perpendicular as the gable end of a house ; his bones were so
poorly covered with anything in the shape of muscle, that he
looked like the frame of a man just set up. The first time I
saw him, and indeed as long as I knew him, he wore buckskin
smalls (a part of the uniform of the foot-guards); his limbs
were so small that he put one in mind of Burns's inimitable
" Death and Dr. Hornbook." Whether it was the fashion to
wear the hair long at that period I am not certain (though I
am aware that the cue was worn by some elderly gentlemen,
McNAMEE A DISCHARGED SOLDIER. 5
and that it was common in the Navy), but Mac wore his
hanging down upon his shoulders ; the colour was that of a
dark chestnut, and it hung in graceful curls. When in the
vigour of health he must have been a very good-looking man ;
his face was still prepossessing, and his bearing was charac-
terised by a commanding military air. The marriage was
celebrated by a son of Vulcan in the village of Springfield,
about half a mile from the then celebrated Gretna Green.
One of the incidents which took place during the marriage
was my having a sound thrashing during the absence of
the wedding party. One of the vagrants, who was a fellow
lodger, was a little hump-backed woman who by her snarling
ill-temper had made herself disagreeable to the rest of the
lodgers ; she was therefore not invited to join the wedding
party, and while she was sitting brooding mischief I happened
to climb upon the back of her chair, and this act gave her a
pretext to let loose her feelings of revenge. But if she could
have seen a little before her she would have taken no notice
of my boyish trick of chair-climbing. When the wedding
party returned, the poor creature was taken out of the house
and held under the spout of a pump until she was half drowned,
and though the act was a very cruel one, the whole of the rest
of the lodgers enjoyed it as a pleasant treat.
How long the marriage festivities were kept up I cannot
say, but this I know, that after the event the world became to
me a scene of continual vicissitudes and hardships for many
years. It is true I had a reversionary interest in it ; and how I
turned this patrimony to account will be seen in the sequel.
My new step-father, and good mentor, was a man. who pos-
sessed a large share of common sense ; he had seen a good
deal of service while in the army, having been in several
general engagements, and was with the Duke of York in his
memorable Dutch campaign. His scholastic attainments, I
believe, were limited to reading and writing imperfectly. He
was a member of the Church of Rome, and a rigid observer
of all its forms. Poor man ! he had one failing, but this one
6 THE IRISHMAN'S ROMAN CATHOLIC ZEAL.
was followed by a long train of others ; when he once tasted
intoxicating liquors he had no restraining power to close the
safety valve until he was either thoroughly worn out or his
finances were exhausted. Getting drunk with him was a very
simple thing, but the sobering process was a serious matter.
When he was in his sober moments, McNamee was as well-
conditioned and as honest a man as the sun could shine
upon, and, strange to say, when under the influence of drink
he was quite the reverse. The most dangerous of his drunken
foibles was an everlasting propensity for polemical discussion,
accompanied by an obstinacy of character like that of Gold-
smith's village schoolmaster,
" For e'en though vanquished, he could argue still."
This superabundance of religious zeal often caused him
to receive treatment anything but in keeping with the
charity of the Gospel. Like the majority of his countrymen
(his name will indicate that he was an Irishman), the mind of
my stepfather was largely surcharged with strong feelings of
religious prejudice. It will be remembered, however, that
people professing Catholicism in those days were marked with
the hateful brand of the national stigma produced by the penal
laws; they were therefore continually labouring under a pain-
ful sense of their unmerited wrongs. The members of the
Church of Rome, though British subjects, and contributing
to the national wealth by their industry, as well as submitting
to all the conditions of society, were debarred from nearly all
the rights and privileges of common citizens. They were not
only continually subject to the gross and brutal attacks of the
ignorant, but their wrongs were frequently used as stepping-
stones to State preferment by the rich and powerful. It was
thus that the deadly embers of religious animosity were kept
alive, and one class of society was continually made the foot-
ball of the other. I have no doubt but my stepfather's mind
must have been soured by the overbearing conduct of his
comrades while in the army ; who took occasion to prove
COMMENCING LIFE AS A BEGGAR. 7
their sense of religion by a system of heartless persecution,
which at that time was certain to find favour with many of
their superior officers. Of course this was no justification of
his foolish conduct, and I merely mention it as a palliation.
Men who are goaded by the unjust treatment of their fellows,
seldom regulate their conduct by the principles of reason:
unmerited wrongs are pretty sure to produce a spirit of re-
venge ; and, in my opinion, he would be more than a man, or
less than a man, who could passively submit to such degrada-
tion. From the above traits in my stepfather's character, it
will be seen what manner of man he was, and it may therefore
be readily imagined that a mind so formed would necessarily
exercise no small influence in the building up of my own.
McNamee had never learned any trade or profession,
having gone to serve his country when he was little more
than a boy. After he found himself unfit for duty he unfor-
tunately took his discharge on request ; by which means his
long service of twenty-eight years was unrequited. When
my mother put herself under the protection of this gallant
defender of his country, he was making a living by appealing
to the charitably disposed members of society. My mother had
been making a living, as a travelling merchant, by retailing
to the public such small wares as she could carry in a basket.
Shortly after the marriage it was mutually arranged that
my mother should continue her business until my stepfather
could save as much as would set him up in the same line.
In the meantime I was to go along with him ; being rather
a prepossessing-looking little fellow, I was considered a
pretty good subject to stimulate the kindly feelings of all
good Christians. My existence up to this eventful period
may be said to have been in the dreamland which, to a
certain extent, lies beyond the confines of memory. It is
true I recollect some few landmarks, which left their impress
upon my memory, some of which may be chronicled in due
course.
. In the course of a few years after this, I had passed through
THE FREQUENT INMATE OF A JAIL.
a life full of hardships and romantic adventure. What I
mean by romantic was the being placed in strange positions
and in unlooked-for places or situations. Within the short
space of two years I had been an inmate of every jail in the
south of Scotland. My poor stepfather's love of drink, and
his religious dogmatism, continually embroiled him in scrapes,
and being his squire, of course I came in for a share of his
treatment. I have still a pretty vivid recollection of nearly
being made food for a colony of rats in the Tolbooth of
Moffat. I remember, too, having been fed upon brose,
with brose as a condiment, during fourteen days in Dunse
jail ; and I am not without some reminiscences of the "gude
toun of Hawick," having been boarded and lodged in the
Tolbooth there for the space of seven days. This circum-
stance arose out of the following little incident. McNamee
had been on the "fly" in that town during eight or nine
days ; and when both his money and credit were gone, he
sallied forth into the country upon a begging excursion.
The first place we landed at was a farmhouse a little out of
the town, upon a rising ground to the south. I remember
this house well, and when in Hawick a short time ago, I had
the curiosity to visit the locality in order to see if the old
house was still standing. I found it not like the " ruined
cottage where none shall dwell " ; after upwards of sixty-five
years I hailed its thatched roof and dingy walls, little altered
since my first visit.
My good stepfather McNamee had only been in the house
a short time before he had fairly enlisted the kindly sympathy
of the farmer " by fighting his battles o'er again." After the
subject of the wars had been sufficiently exhausted, my good
mentor wound up with a religious disquisition ; on the whole,
the good-hearted farmer seemed much satisfied with the
abilities of the old soldier, and rewarded him accordingly.
When we were passing out of the lobby, or rather passage,
which separated the dwelling-house from the byre, my step-
father's evil genius tempted him to steal a tether or horse-
EVIL EFFECTS OF DRUNKENNESS.
hair rope, which hung temptingly against the wall ; the
farmer, following us out at the same time, caught him in
the act. Poor McNamee's boasted sense of religion was like
Paddy the piper's music ; when " a hole was made in his bag,
his music flew up to the moon." The event sobered Mac in
a minute, and the consequence was our having had the
honour of the board and lodgings I have noticed above.
At that time Hawick was a very different place to what it is
now, and a number of French prisoners of war were then
living both in the town and neighbourhood on parole.
About nine months after the Hawick escapade, we were
located in a small village in Annandale of the name of
Hightee, in the neighbourhood of Lochmaben ; and at that
time our social condition had been considerably improved, in
consequence of my mentor having abstained from drink during
some six months. We were then dealing in hardware, and
had so far climbed the hill of prosperity that we were enabled
to keep an ass ! It would have been well if it had been the
first in the family ! In consequence of being out of an
assortment of goods, it was arranged that three of us were
sent off to Dumfries to obtain the required stock, I mean
McNamee, myself, and the cuddy. Burns has said truly that
" the best laid schemes o' mice and men gang oft agley."
So it was with Mac ; he owed himself a treat for his past
good conduct, and of all the men in the world he was the
last to allow a debt owing to himself to go unpaid. With the
high resolve of liquidating this obligation, he called a meeting
of his creditors, and so relieved his mind of all further anxiety
about the matter. Small matters will occasionally produce
great consequences. This passing over the line of total
abstinence into the region of drunken revelry was owing to
McNamee's having accidentally met with an old military
acquaintance, both of whom were glad to see each other.
After three days and nights, the ass, his panniers, and myself
were all that remained of our worldly effects. There is a
climax to all worldly things. So, like the immortal Tarn
10 ESCAPE FROM DEATH FALLING FROM AN ASS.
O'Shanter, the time arrived when we required to "tak the
gate " ; like him, too, we set out upon our journey when border-
ing upon the midnight hour. It was fortunate that the season
was propitious, it being the summer time. Our way lay through
Locker Moss and over a high hill, the whole of which was
moorland, without anything in the shape of a regular road.
When crossing this moor I was seated on the back of the
ass, but having been fairly worn out with the want of sleep,
and being jaded with fatigue, I tumbled off Neddy's back
somewhere about the middle of the moor ; and as the night
was pretty dark, the ass and his travelling companion jour-
neyed on without me. Having fallen on the soft turf, I lay as
soundly and as comfortably asleep as if I had been in the
best bed in Dumfriesshire. I lay on this moorland couch for
a considerable time, when McNamee, after a good deal of
trouble in finding me, picked me up and flogged me well for
parting company without leave.
I can well remember the horse-track over the moor, from
Hightee to Locker Moss, with the lane leading from the
village by a gentleman's house which stood on the slope of
the hill within a short distance from the summit; and I can
see in fancy the lilac and laburnum trees overhanging the
lane, which I had oftentimes admired as things of great
beauty. It was in this lane, too, our donkey, after tumbling
me over his head, nearly broke my spine, by having caught me
by the small of the back.
In those days the village of Hightee or Hytoe was a
regular rendezvous for vagrants. I remember one very
ludicrous scene, which was likely to have ended in tragedy.
Among the swarms of beggars, tinkers, and gipsies, there
was a woman who had been in the neighbourhood for a con-
siderable time. This lady was short of the senses of speech
and hearing ; at least she made it convenient to be so. She
had successfully levied black mail upon certain of the fair
sex, under the pretence of telling them what good things the
Fates had in store for them. It had come to pass that the
A RIS TOCRA CY IN VA GRA NT LIFE. I I
oracles of this Sibyl had always either been wrongly inter-
preted or not true. Upon the occasion in question, a large
number of the villagers, after having consulted the Lynch Code,
carried the poor deaf and dumb lady to a pond of water that
embellished the village green, and, after having bound her
with a horse halter, by way of trying the hydropathic
cure, they dragged her body back and forward through the
water. For some time her complaint seemed hopelessly
incurable ; but as she was determined not to go to the other
world by water, she at: last allowed the water to do for her
what it undoes for many others ; and when the villagers
found that they had rendered the woman such a service as
that of restoring her hearing, and, what was of still more im-
portance in a female point of view, the use of her tongue,
they landed her on terra firma. The woman was all but
drowned, and it was long before she was restored to animation.
I have often seen her, after that occasion, as comfortably
deaf and dumb as any lady fortune-teller could wish to be.
In those days Hightee was a regular rendezvous of one of the
two gipsy families who plied their industrious habits on both
sides of the Scotch border, and Sir Walter Scott's Meg
Merrilies was no doubt a member of the Hightee family ; for
these people were not only thoroughly acquainted with the
geography of the country on both sides of the debatable
land, but they were less or more acquainted with almost
every family's history in the district over which they travelled,
and they had the address frequently to turn this knowledge
to a profitable account.
People who look down from the comfortable eminence of
social life will necessarily imagine that all class distinctions
will cease to exist among the wandering nomads who live
upon the charity of the well-disposed. In this they are very
much mistaken. In whatever walk of life men are placed,
talent will always take the lead. Among beggars, the mem-
bers of whose fraternity the world considers to be upon a
dead level with each other, there is an aristocracy as exclusive
12 THE SCOTCH FARMERS" AWMOUS DISH.
as any that prevails among the higher orders of society.
The difference between a common beggar, who earns his
daily bread by cadging for scran, and the genteel profes-
sional, who is known by the title of a Highflyer, is as
marked as the distinction between a peasant and a peer.
The highflyer is a man of great fertility of invention, and
he is frequently a person of much intelligence, with easy
manners and good address ; persons of this class can afford
to live like gentlemen, while the lives of the others are made
up of a dull round of drudgery. Vagrants are not wanting
in ambition, and the genius of one successful member is
frequently the cause of stimulating the energy of some of his
compeers. I have known men made up for the charity market
in a hundred different ways, and have seen some adepts
in the profession who were able to personate half-a-dozen
characters, and by that means impose upon the feelings of
the benevolent successfully in each.
Among the wandering tribes in those days there were a
great many of the humbler class of beggars, who carried the
"meal poke." Many of the farmers' wives kept what was
called an awmous dish ; this was a small turned wooden bowl,
and when used was filled in keeping with the generous
feelings of the donor. The people who did not keep vessels
of this description were in the habit of measuring their
alms either by a single handful or by a double handful,
which was styled a " goupen fou." Some people gave alms
in oatmeal, and others in barley-meal. The oatmeal, how-
ever, was always preferred by the beggars, inasmuch as
they could always find a ready market for it, and at a better
price than could be had for the barley-meal. The altered
condition of society, by the onward march of social progress,
has been the means of producing considerable changes
among the vagrants, both in Scotland and Ireland, since the
times I am writing about. There was one class of beggars
which was peculiar to both these countries ; I allude to the
Hand Barrow Mendicants. These miserable creatures were
THE HAND-BARROW MENDICANT. 13
a source of infinite trouble to the people in the wild
sequestered parts of the country. The manner in which these
dilapidated and crumpled-up fragments of humanity were
transported from one house to another imposed no small
tax upon the time, patience, and kindly feelings of all who
were honoured with a visit. These creatures were either
seated upon their barrows or they reclined on bundles of
rags ; and when one of them was set down at a farmer's door,
it required two able-bodied people to remove the living
lumber to the next house. This was frequently no easy task,
inasmuch as the weight of the occupant of the barrow was
often considerably increased by the size of the meal pokes.
It often happened, too, when one of these creatures was
planted at the door of a farmhouse, especially in the summer
season, when there would only be a single female at home,
he or she, and the barrow, would have to remain until
the servants came to their meals, and that, too, irrespective
of the condition of the weather! In many instances these
living loads had to be carried a considerable distance before
they could be deposited at the door of another farmhouse.
I knew one case where a woman of this class was made to
find the use of her limbs by two young fellows, who had the
charge of removing her, having treated her to a cold bath in
the river Esk, which they had occasion to ford on their way
to the next house. Her ladyship, instead of "taking up
her bed and walking," arose from her bed and ran! It
would be next to impossible to conceive the misery, hard-
ships, and privations this class must have suffered : some of
them suffered from spinal diseases, and others either had no
limbs, or they had lost the use of them. The new poor law
has provided both for this class of people and another which
was allowed to go at large in Scotland and Ireland ; I allude
here to the idiots and imbeciles who were found in almost
every village and clachan in both of these countries. The
able-bodied class of imbeciles in Scotland were kept in food
and clothing in many places by going the round of the parish ;
14 NARROW ESCAPES FROM DROWNING.
the farmers and millers taking them in turn for a certain
time, during which they got out of them what labour their
condition of mind would admit of.
During the time we were in the valley of the Annan, when
out with my stepfather we had occasion to cross a burn
which was much swollen with heavy rains that had just
fallen ; the stream was bridged over by the trunk of a tree,
rudely flattened on the top side, with a hand-rail on the
down stream side. McNamee had just crossed this rude
bridge when he heard a splash, and on looking down he saw
me in the torrent on the broad of my back, with my arms
stretched out. He had just time to catch hold of the tip of
the forefinger of my right hand ; had he missed that chance I
should have been carried into the boiling vortex of a whirlpool
immediately below the bridge. In the course of less than
eighteen months I had three other escapes from drowning.
While in Greenock, I fell over the quay, and was fished out
by a sailor ; and I was rescued from the river at Aberdeen by
a fisherman, when we were passing through that town after a
tour through the Highlands. Upon another occasion, when
the family were lodging in a lonely cottage in Liddisdale, I
was sent out upon a peddling excursion, my stock-in-trade
being a few songs (ballads) in slips, and a dozen penny
story books. I was directed to go the round of a certain
district ; I had, however, a will of my own, and one too which
was continually involving me in difficulties. Instead of going
in the direction I was told to do, I took it into my wayward
head to cross the Liddel. On the opposite side of the ford I
was about to cross was a blacksmith's shop and a dwelling-
house, both of which were pleasantly nestling at the bottom
of a bank covered with trees, and the clear stream of the
Liddel in the front. I had managed to get about half way
through the river, when my centre of gravity was changed
from my heels to my head, and I was carried down the
stream for a distance of about a dozen yards, when I was
brought up by a large boulder. I had no sooner lost my
FALL FROM A WAGON, STRUCK BY A ROOF-SLATE. 15
legs than my sense of consciousness followed, and when I
found myself I was seated in the house of the blacksmith. I
was little the worse for my involuntary bath, and while my
clothes were being dried I was regaled with a lump of oat-
cake and a basin of milk. I had, however, lost the whole of
my literary wares, and this loss, combined with disobedience,
conjured up to my susceptible imagination the certain
infliction that awaited me when I should reach home.
The blacksmith's people were very kind to me ; they raised
a few pence for me to make up for my loss, and sent me
across the water on horseback. I reached home in the
gloaming, and, as I had anticipated, I got payment in full
of what was owing for disobedience of orders. Before this
I had missed pretty narrowly going to the other world by
other means than that of drowning. I was passing over
Shap Fell with my mother, on her way to join my stepfather at
Kendal, and being both footsore and wearied my mother asked
a carrier to give me a lift, which he was kind enough to do.
The man's cars were loaded to a considerable height, and the
property in them was protected from rain by thick woollen
covers. I was placed on the top of one of the cars, and
had been there only a short time when I was fast in the
arms of the drowsy god ; I had not been long, however, in
this comfortable state of oblivion, when I must have fallen
off, and it was not until I was left fully two miles behind
that I was missed. It is a curious circumstance that though
I fell from such a height and on the hard macadamised road.
I was really very little the worse. Some few months after
this event, while passing into our place of lodging in the
company of my stepfather, the weather was exceedingly
stormy, in fact it was blowing a hurricane, and the slates
and tiles were being blown from the roofs of the houses
Before passing under an archway which we required to go
through, I was caught on the frontal bone with a slate,
and was carried, into the house for dead. That slate left
an impression upon the outside of my head which was
1 6 A THUNDERSTORM AT NIGHT.
long remembered in the inside. That accident happened
in Longtown upon the Esk, the last and first town in
England. At that time, the industrial classes were nearly
all employed in hand-loom weaving, for the Carlisle manu-
factures. I may mention here, as indicating a somewhat
strange feeling, that whenever I was in any place where
there were weavers I was under a continual dread lest I
should meet my own father, who was a weaver named
McBurney. I had never seen him, and had no reason to
dislike him, yet I could not bear the idea of meeting with
him. I shall have more to say upon this head by-and-bye.
While my stepfather continued sober he treated me with
all possible kindness, and not unfrequently evinced as much
real affection for me as if I had been his own son : but un-
fortunately when he was in drink, and of course got into
trouble, I was continually made his scapegoat, and no small
share of his sins were visited upon my devoted head. About
six months after the Dumfries expedition, McNamee had been
drinking for some days in New Galloway, a small town in
the wilds of Kirkcudbrightshire. After he could remain no
longer in this place, he sallied forth late one stormy night
in October, and he knew not whither he was going. In the
course of a short time we arrived on a wild desolate moor ;
the face of the sky was covered as with a pall, and the
rain fell in torrents. I can never forget how he dragged
me along the dreary waste without his knowing where he
was going. His tall, gaunt figure was frequently brought
into fearful relief by the flashes of lightning and the fitfuj
claps of thunder which followed, and he looked like the
genius of the storm with a young victim in his hand ready
as a peace-offering. During that awful night we floundered
on through its dreary hours, and had so frequently measured
our lengths amid the bogs and swamps of the moor, that \ve
actually became a part of it. By daylight we found ourselves
in the neighbourhood of a lonely shepherd's cottage. The
inmates of this house received us kindly; we were both
CONSEQUENCES OF INTEMPERANCE. I/
completely exhausted, and I believe if we had not met with
this relief at the time we did, we should have both perished.
As it was, I could not be removed for eight days, in con-
sequence of having been seized with a fever ; and McNamee,
after having been sobered, suffered both in mind and body,
and he made a thousand resolves for the future to avoid
drink as he would the devil.
During the whole of this time my mother had been very
industrious ; but the great misfortune with her was, she had
no sooner accumulated a little property than her thought-
less husband squandered it in dissipation. Poor fellow !
there never was a man in the world with a better set of
good intentions ; but as a set-off to these unfinished virtues,
he possessed a stock of evil ones which were like Pharaoh's
lean kine they continually devoured the good ones. Being
a creature of impulse, his whole life was a continual round
of sinning and repenting, and I firmly believe that he was
as honest in his resolves of amendment, as he was industrious
in crushing his good intentions. In consequence of his fre-
quent rounds of dissipation he was subject to fits of delirium
tremens. At that time I had no idea of the cause of this
fearful malady, and as a consequence was often nearly
frightened out of my life. The first circumstance of this
kind occurred at a place called. Wark; this is a small
village upon North Tyne, twelve miles from Hexham, in
Northumberland. McNamee had been drinking in this place
for some days ; whether he was obliged to leave the place
surreptitiously, or did so upon his own account, I cannot
say ; but this I do know, that I shall never forget the occa-
sion as long as I live. We left Wark between ten and eleven
o'clock at night, in the middle of winter ; he had made up
his mind to go to Hexham, but instead of taking the direct
road by Chollerford, he forded the Tyne, and took the road
by Barrisford, which was at least three miles further round.
How we got safely through the river I cannot imagine, but
it must have been attended with no small danger'; all I
1 8 DELUSIVE EFFECTS OF DELIRIUM TREMENS.
now remember is that we were both as wet as water could
make us.
We had not proceeded on our journey more than half-
a-mile after having forded the river, when McNamee brought
up in the middle of the road. Up to this time he had been
talking to himself a great deal of incoherent and disjointed
stuff. This was an ordinary occurrence with poor Mac, when
under the influence of the jolly god. The moment we came
to a dead stand, he pointed his hand to the devil, who was
standing in the middle of the highway, at the comfortable
distance of about five yards in advance of us. We stood still
for a couple of minutes, during which time he seemed
resolving the matter over in his mind as to whether he
should retrace his steps or go on. At last he crossed himself,
muttered a short prayer, and we moved forward. The devil,
in the most friendly and accommodating manner, did the same.
In order to satisfy himself of Satan's identity, my friend made
an attempt to pass him ; but, however fast we walked, we were
not able to lessen the distance a single inch, or, however
slow we paced the ground, our relative positions remained
unchanged. My poor little heart fluttered like a new caught
bird in a cage, and I was in a condition of the most inde-
scribable fear ; I did not see the devil, but I imagined we
were in the company of thousands. McNamee was a person
who, under ordinary circumstances, possessed a large amount
of moral courage ; but he must have been more than mortal
who could encounter the devil single-handed, and that devil
a blue one. For some time the perspiration exuded from
every pore of his skin, and every now and again he crossed
himself, cursed, or mumbled a prayer ! All this tirne^ he
grasped my trembling hand with something like convulsive
energy, and I clung to him for my very life, and was afraid
to turn my eyes either to the right or the left. Although
the night was extremely cold, and my clothes were saturated
with water, the powerful emotion of fear must have sent my
blood 'galloping through my system ; otherwise I must have
A DREADFUL NIGHT OF SUFFERING. 19
perished. Our journey home was one of continual mental
suffering. Every bush and tree, and every gust of wind, were
to me as many devils, and during the whole time, my mentor
continued talking to himself and blackguarding his satanic
majesty, who still acted as pilot. In this unenviable con-
dition we passed through the dark wood at Chipchase Castle,
along the lonely shady lane to Barrisford, by the ivy- covered
little church at Chollerton ; there was no sound of life in
Barrisford, and the only light we saw was one through the
chinks of Phipp's shutters, the only public-house in the
village.
We next passed Chollerford, and saw the old posting inns
at the end of the bridge, standing out against the morning
sky, a great black mass ; and as we moved on through the
single lonely street of the village of Wall, the hanging signs
of its two public-houses were creaking in melancholy chorus
to each other by the action of the wind. The devil still kept
moving ahead, and we followed as if he had been our guide ;
but when we arrived at Hexham Bridge our unsocial travel-
ling companion silently took his leave of us, after having
accompanied us over a distance of fifteen miles of a lonely
road. It would be impossible for me to describe my own
sufferings during that dreadful night. My poor deluded
stepfather continued to see and hold converse with the
devil for some days after, and it was more than a month
before he recovered from the effects of his debauch, and his
nocturnal journey with the master of the Blues !
Upon another occasion, some time after this, McNamee
had been drinking in Lauder, a small town in the south of
Scotland. We were obliged to leave this place in con-
sequence of some of the active habits of his unamiable
drunken propensities. When we left Lauder, my mentor
was in a state of insane drunkenness. We took the Edin-
burgh road, I should think by chance, for he seemed not to
know where he was going. This road at that time passed
over a desolate moorland country. How far we had
20 DEMONS CREATED BY INEBRIETY.
travelled I cannot say, but during the night we lay down
upon the moor by the way-side. We had not been long
there when a continual succession of stage coaches began
to pass and repass us. The whole of these vehicles were
laden with a strange set of passengers. Some of the
passengers were ugly grinning demons of every possible
shape and form ; some were merry imps, and others mis-
chievous rascals. They all seemed to know poor Mac.
Some of them invited him to take his place as an outside
passenger; others grinned at him with horribly distorted
faces. Some were for hanging him ; others preferred the
amusing method of drowning. Some suggested roasting,
while others demanded a show of hands for boiling him.
For hours these infernal coaches kept rattling past us, and
my step-father kept my horrors alive by directing my
attention to what the devils were saying. It is true I did
not see any, but I heard my companion attending to
their strange remarks, and when he saw them it was quite
enough for me, I could feel more than sufficient without
ocular demonstration. During the whole time this coach-
ing parade of the devils went on I clung to my stepfather,
and as far as I could buried myself in the skirts of his old
military overcoat. I believe that, up to the date of our
encampment on this spur of the Lammermuir, the road
had never been honoured with anything in the shape of
a coach nearer in character than a rude country cart. I
have an idea, too, that at that time there were few, if any,
stage coaches in Scotland ! But McNamee's blue devils
were quite able to fill the roads both with coaches and
passengers.
I have cause to remember another occasion when these
blue fellows held him in their hellish thrall for six
days and nights. This was while we were storm-stayed
in a lonely ferry house in the island of Skye. I think
he suffered more upon that occasion than he did upon
either of the former. He was surrounded by legions *f
DRUNKENNESS WORSE THAN PESTILENCE. 21
devils, who tormented him in every imaginable way ; and
during the whole of this time I was in a continual state of
wild terror, and, what made my condition one of continual
unmitigated suffering, I had no one to sympathise with me.
We had left my mother on the main land, and the people
in the ferry house were as ignorant of English as if it had
never existed.
Drunkenness is a fearful disease, and is a most fruitful
source of all the worst crimes in the catalogue of sin. In
this country the foul and brutal demon of intemperance has
done more in defacing the image of God in large masses of
the people, than all our other vices put together. It is
certainly a pitiful thing to see a man voluntarily come down
from the god-like dignity of reason, and leave his moral
nature behind him, that he may revel in madness. Intem-
perance is a fearful vice in men, but in women it is a hundred-
fold more hideous. When women are worthy of good men's
love and admiration, they are both the best and most beau-
tiful of all God's created beings ; but when debased by
drunkenness they are the most shamelessly disgusting.
I have frequently thought, when I have seen people in this
country, with the instincts of self-preservation, prepare to
defend themselves against an attack of cholera, or some other
pestilence (and with what anxiety they endeavoured to ward
off the dreadful malady), that had they taken the same pains
to stay the ravages of intemperance, which is a thousand
times more fearful in its consequences than any plague, or
indeed than all the combined scourges that have ever afflicted
humanity, they would then have been doing a duty to them-
selves, their country, and posterity. I know there has been
much pity expended upon the victims of this dreadful scourge,
and we have periodical displays of excited feelings, and
the ventings of honest indignation; yet fire-water sweeps
on in deadly torrents through the fair fields of humanity, and
carries thousands annually into the gulf of eternity. That we
may see the deformity of this monster in a clearer manner.
WAR LESS DEVASTATING THAN DRINK.
let us imagine three hundred thousand drunkards, male and
female, all congregated together in one locality, so that their
united actions could be observed. I ask, would not their
madness make the very angels weep, and humble the thinking
witnesses of the revel to the dust ? Depend upon it, the
^50,000,000 the people of this country spend annually upon
intoxicating drinks and narcotics, is quite sufficient to manu-
facture this number, large as it may appear. The statistical
returns of our huge criminal department prove that 150,000
human beings annually pass through our gaols. From my
own experience, I would say that the great majority of these
have been initiated in crime by passing through the cursed
portals of the gin-palace. If we could only watch the
melancholy but transient career of these poor self-devoted
victims, and see them reeling over the precipice of eternity
with fearful rapidity, how should we shudder with all the pity,
fear, and horror of our natures ! The historian and the
moralist may paint the revolting horrors and direful calamities
of war; but I am satisfied that the blood-stained sword of
Mars never produced so much human suffering as alcohol
has done. >
When we come to reflect upon the awful penalties this vice
frequently imposes upon its victims, we cannot but feel sur-
prised at the self-immolation of so many thousands of human
beings. With the drunkard, the infatuation is as blind and
reckless as the retribution is almost sure to follow, and few
are able after entering the gulf-stream of dissipation to check
their headlong career until they are totally wrecked.
I have said that my stepfather's health had suffered much
while he was in the army. All the time that I knew him he
laboured under a severe asthma, and was subject to continual
attacks of coughing; and his breathing was often so laboured,
that one would imagine his machinery was fairly worn out.
I often think, when I reflect upon the matter, that, consider-
ing the brutal manner in which he used himself, if he had
taken even ordinary care he might have prolonged his life
A VAGRANT JOURNEY TO LONDON. 2$
much beyond the date of his death. In the latter part of
1 8 10, McNamee took it into his head to visit London, to see
if he could obtain sufficient recommendation to pass the
Board at Chelsea, in order to become an out-pensioner. By
this time my mother had increased the muster-roll of our
family by two, a boy and a girl ; we therefore numbered the
round half-dozen. A journey to London in those days was
no trivial matter ; however, as wandering was our destiny, it
mattered little where we roamed. After we crossed the
Border, my stepfather made application for a pass in
Carlisle, which was readily granted by the magistrate when
he learned the object of our journey. This pass enabled us
to get relief in the various towns and villages through which
we had occasion to travel. As this turned out a profitable
speculation, we embraced nearly all the towns over the half
of the kingdom on the way up. This journey initiated us
into the genteel mysteries of vagrant life in England ; and
when McNamee could afford to keep himself sober, we could
save money, and live like fighting-cocks into the bargain.
I can well remember the marked difference in the etiquette
of the English and Scottish beggars ; at that time, the
manners and habits of these strollers were as different as
it is well possible to conceive. The English beggars were
then characterized by an independent, free-and-easy style; of
course the distinctions of class were rigidly maintained on
both sides of the Border, but in all cases the Scotch were
far behind the genteel civilization of their southern neighbours.
The manners of these people, I imagine, are formed upon
the model of people who hold a much higher social position
in the community. Honesty may be said to be the basis of
human virtue. This consciousness, however, of what is right
is liable in the minds of some people to an amazing amount
of latitude. In some men the perception of this principle
''becomes small by degrees and beautifully less."
Upon comparing men's actions and motives, it will be
found that the difference is frequently only in the degree ;
24 ENGLISH AND SCOTCH BEGGARS COMPARED.
for instance, we were lodging in a house in the city of York
upon the occasion of the races, in which there were not less
than fifty vagrants, male and female; among this hetero-
geneous group of all ages, conditions, and nationalities, there
was one jovial young fellow who had found himself incon-
venienced by the possession of a very pretty girl of about
nineteen years of age. This pair of young turtle doves had
been freely inebriating themselves for the space of three days.
At the expiration of this time, the gay Lothario, either sated
with love or full of generosity, kindly transferred his lovely
nymph to the keeping of another gentleman, and he im-
proved the value of the gift with half a gallon of beer. The
real cause of this separation was, in all probability, incom-
patibility of taste or temper, or perhaps both. No doubt
the manner in which the business was effected was exceed-
ingly vulgar, immoral, and seemingly heartless. But, keeping
the beer out of the question, the same sort of thing is
frequently being done in our modern divorce courts.
There is a good deal of difference, or rather I should say
there was in the time I am writing about, between the
vagrants in Scotland and England. In Scotland the Paddings
Rans were all private houses ; and in England, with very
few exceptions, they were all public-houses. The Scotch
beggars, true to the taste of their countrymen, when they
wish to wash their necks it is with Usquebaugh (whiskey) ; the
English, on the other hand, swill beer or sip nectar made
from raw grain whiskey, vulgarly called gin. There are
few scenes more interesting than to see a room full of cadgers
cooking their evening meals. Some go about their busi-
ness in the most systematic order, and do up their little
dishes with taste and cleanliness ; others are less fastidious,
and cook what they have in the most ready manner; but
the roughs go to work like savages.
After a good many vicissitudes and two incarcerations, we
arrived in London, and took up our abode in that sylvan
retreat where the motley inhabitants spoke all tongues, from
VISIT TO A KIND FRIEND AT THE TOWER. 2$
Kerry to Constantinople Church-lane in St. Giles'. " Sad
thy tale, thou idle page ! " The ruthless hand of progress has
swept this place of a million memories, and many a thousand
dark deeds, from the map of the world ! If I remember cor-
rectly, we paid ninepence a-night for one bed in a large
barrack of a building, the proprietor of which kept a provision-
shop. This fellow was both as ugly and as dirty as if he had
been made to order ! The very atmosphere of London, or else
its gin, very soon produced an exhilarating effect upon the
nervous system of my mentor. In the course of a few days
his libations had reduced us to the most miserable state of
destitution, and, to add to our hapless condition, we were left
among strangers, many of whom were brutalized into heartless
grinning savages by drunkenness. McNamee's discharge was
backed with an excellent character. The commanding officer
under whom he had last served was then an officer of the
Tower.* As soon as he got himself into full marching order,
by being free from the influence of drink, he presented him-
self before Colonel Cook and was very well received. The
colonel kindly promised to use his influence in his behalf,
and, in the meantime, made him a present of two pounds ; as
I was with him at the interview, I was introduced as his own
son. The colonel also made me a very handsome present,
and requested that McNamee should introduce my mother
upon his next visit. For some time after this all went
" merry as a marriage bell." The colonel was an old
bachelor, that is, if my memory does not fail me; he took a
very strong liking to my little person, and was very anxious
that my mother should invoice me over to him, in order that
he might train me up in his own way. What obliquity of
feeling or false sentiment made her cling to me, by which
means my fate was to continue to be chained to the car of evil
destiny, I know not. As a proof that the colonel had no
idea of how we were living, he purchased me a splendid suit
of clothes, made in a sort of half military form, with an
* Probably keeper of the Regalia.
26 A' OTIC ED BY H.RJL THE DUKE OF YORK.
immense number of gilded bell buttons. Poor old man ! he
little thought he was dressing me like a puppet for the charity
market !
After we had been a month in London, my step-father
obtained an interview with the Duke of York. I cannot say
whether he promised to interest himself in McNamee's favour
or not ; however, he made him a present, and, on leaving us
at the Horse Guards, he patted me on the head, and inquired
my age. Passing the Board proved an utter failure, which I
believe was entirely owing to the everlasting drinking pro-
pensity of the man. When all other resources failed for
raising money, he used to make charity sign-posts of himself
and the other two boys, along with me. Human sympathy is
a strange thing it binds men of all ages, countries, and con-
ditions, in the god-like bonds of universal love. To those
who have not got occasion to think upon the subject, it would
be a matter of surprise to learn the amount of real charity
which exists in London. If my friend had taken care of the
money he had given him during his begging campaign in
London, I am satisfied that he could have gone into some
business, by which means he would have been enabled to have
rubbed the vagrant rust off his character, and become a re-
spectable member of society. The hungry devil in his
stomach seemed ever ready to swallow up every good resolve
the poor man could make.
I need not say that my mother's JUfe was one of continual
misery. When left to herself, she was a woman that could
always make a living, both for herself and family, but un-
fortunately, the proceeds of her industry went to swell the
river of our calamity. London soon became too small for her
reckless husband. During the time we were in town, he had
wantonly, and repeatedly, abused the kindness and generosity
of Colonel Cook. During some of his escapades there, I had
the honour of three nights' confinement with him in the old
guardhouse ; of course he was put there to keep him from a
worse place. During these small events, which went to make
INFLUENCES OF EARLY IMPRESSIONS. 2/
up the history of McNamee's life, my own years were increas-
ing, and impressions were being made upon my undeveloped
sensibility, which stamped themselves upon my memory, or
passed like shadows.
I was a thing without a mind, and might be said to have
had neither body nor soul of my own ; that plastic part of my
nature, which was shortly to become my only patrimony, was
moulded under influences too frequently of a degrading
character, and subject to examples anything but fit to be
followed.
It is true, and strangely so, that whether McNamee was
drunk or sober, he never forgot to offer up his morning and
evening prayers to his Creator ; and it was a good trait in his
otherwise wayward character, that whether in prosperity or
adversity he never forgot the duty he owed to his family, in an
endeavour to impress upon their minds their dependence upon
God, and the necessity of leading virtuous lives. I never
think of him but with the most kindly feelings. I know that
with him there must have been frequent hard struggles be-
tween duty on the one hand and the fiery cravings of his
stomach on the other !
The difference in physical organization between a fool and
a philosopher is often very small ; if my stepfather's duplicate
bumps of caution had been a little more developed, he
certainly would have been a very excellent character. The
want of this single element was the cause of all the other
faculties of his mind living together in a state of continued
disorder. This insubordination among the servants of his
system set his judgment at naught ; so, poor fellow, he had
to march through the Coventry of life with a pack of real
ragamuffins.
CHAPTER II.
SEVENTY-TWO summers, and as many winters, have
cast their broad lights and deep shadows over the face
of the earth, and millions of human beings have performed
their parts upon the stage of life and made their exits, leaving
room for others to run the same routine, since my first
sojourn in London. The irresistible logic of time is change.
To-day only is ! Yesterday has passed into the greedy gulf
of eternity, and all our futures will rapidly burn* to the
same goal. While time whirls past with surprising velocity,
and man pushes forward on the highway to the outer
boundary of both time and space, the endless chain of cause
and effect continually keeps unfolding new combinations in
the magic kaleidoscope of Nature. Amid the universal
transformation of things in the moral and physical world, my
own condition has been a good deal like a dissolving view ;
the fact is, I have been tossed in the blanket of Fate to such
an extent that my life is a mystery to myself, and often a
puzzle to my friends.
In looking back from my present position, I have only a
very faint recollection of London in 1810. Still, there are
many circumstances and places which yet live fresh in my
memory. The character of the locality in which we resided,
and the many strange scenes there, will ever retain their hold
upon my recollection. The St. Giles's of my youth, with its
stirring memories, huge sufferings, savage life, and innumer-
able crimes,* is now a respectable locality of comfortable-
* There is still a small part of Church Lane left standing, and it is true
to its old character for the moral and social condition of its people.
RECOLLECTIONS OF LONDON IN 1810. 29
looking houses and civilized inhabitants ; .while the dark
deeds of the past are only to be found pictured in works of
fiction, or recorded in the exciting narratives of the Newgate
Calendar. Change has, therefore, swept over this once
living hive of heterogeneous humanity like a mighty wave,
and washed away all traces of its very existence. St. Giles's
is not the only place in Modern Babylon that has been
sacrificed to the levelling genius of progress. St. Catherine's
was another of these dark spots in the wilderness of London
where vice and crime flourished in tropical luxuriance. I
have often been taken through Swan-alley, which was then
looked upon as being one of the most consummate sinks of
iniquity in London, and I have frequently feasted my juvenile
eyes upon the savage male and female patrons of the " Black
Boy and Tankard," where the first gentleman of the age was
wont to enjoy himself in the refined society of coal-heavers
and other amphibious denizens of that ultima thule of civiliza-
tion. One of the principal differences between these two
saintly localities was to be found in their respective vernacu-
lars ; in the one you had the blackguard slang of landsmen
of all nations, mixed up with the technicalities of prigs and
professional beggars ; while in the other you had the benefit
of the jargon of salk junk and the " Fo' -castle," refined with
coal-dust and the elegant vocabulary of Billingsgate. This
modern Gomorrah has been changed into pools of water ; St.
Katherine's Docks and a range of huge warehouses now
cover the site of the whole locality. In those days Tower-hill
was honoured with the title of Rag-fair, and the traffic of
dilapidated garments, impressed with the fashions of a pre-
ceding age, was divided between the Jews of the stock of
Jacob and those of St. Patrick. And at that time Rosemary
Lane held much the same character as a market for handme-
downs and the produce of prig industry, as Petticoat Lane
now enjoys.
I can well remember the Tower Moat then lay stagnant
and green, sending up its sweet effluvia as a sanitary offering
30 MODERN METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS.
to the surrounding district ; at that time the roar of the lions,
the glittering tinsel, rubicund faces, and party-coloured
dresses of His Majesty's showmen in the Tower were well
calculated to fill a young mind with awe, wonder, and admir-
ation. There are still a few of these gentlemen, who were
formerly known as His Majesty's beef eaters, and they cer-
tainly did look as if they were well acquainted with the
Bovine family. The poor fellows who yet remain, like living
fossils, seem as if they were ruined by the luxuriant rankness
of their pasture and the onerous smallness of their duties.
I remember the tidal industry of the water-wheel at the
north-west end of London Bridge. The present London
Bridge is like a young colony, it has not seen sufficient
human misery to have a history! Waterloo and South wark
Bridges were then snugly sleeping in their quarries about
Aberdeen and Falmouth. The two sturdy blacksmiths in
front of St. Dunstan's, in Fleet Street, hammered the passing
hours with equal industry, to the amusement of the green
family from the rural districts. The Post Office, the British
Museum, the National Gallery, the Holborn Viaduct, the
Thames Embankment, the new palace in St. James's Park,
and the Parliament House, have since then become national
monuments, and indicate our growing prosperity. Several
men who were then climbing the slippery hill of fame have
long since gone to the home of silence, but I observe that
their names and their country's gratitude have in several
instances been perpetuated in marble or bronze, and calf
or russia.
Many of the old-fashioned narrow streets, with their dingy
and dropsical-looking wooden frame houses, have been dis-
placed by spacious streets and palatial places of business.
In my time London slept and had its food at home, but now
the city may be said to live out of town, that is, when it is
not commercially employed, or amusing itself at the opera, or
one of its thirty theatres.
In 1810 the mail-coaches, stage-coaches, and stage-
INCREASED MEANS OF LOCOMOTION. 3 I
wagons were the only means available for the great majority
of His Majesty's subjects by which they could have them-
selves transported from one locality to another, if we except
a few lumbering hackney-coaches, sedan-chairs, and the
boats on the river. A few years ago there were one thousand
omnibuses, and somewhere about eight thousand cabs, with
steamboats plying between London Bridge and Westminster
every two or three minutes. During the period intervening
between 1866 and 1873, a great portion of London has been
undermined, and railways formed by which hundreds of
thousands of people of all classes travel daily beneath the
city and its ever-bustling activity. And in addition to cabs
and omnibuses the street travelling appliances have been
enlarged by the introduction of tramways and cars upon the
American plan.
During the last forty-five years, centralization has been the
means of entirely changing the old order of things. The
numerous modern facilities for travelling must have greatly
contributed to swell London into its present gigantic pro-
portions. The continual multitudinous ingress and egress of
strangers must have been the means of producing a gradual
change in the social condition of the people, as well as con-
tributing to the general prosperity of the town. In the early
part of the present century travelling was a thing of rare
occurrence among the great body of the people. I have
known scores of respectable country people who were never
fifty miles from home in their lives ; among the same class of
people in the present day, it would be difficult to find men
who had not visited the principal towns in the kingdom,
either upon business or pleasure. Within the last forty years
the rail has set the whole world in motion ; from this state of
human locomotion, it must be evident that a large portion of
the London people must be continually employed in minister-
ing to the wants of their country cousins. Amongst the
numerous changes which have been effected by the innovat-
ing march of progress, I find that the Cockney phraseology of
32 BARBARITY OF OUR OLD CRIMINAL LAW.
my young days has lost much of its primitive simplicity ; a
married lady is now no longer a vife, and the osses eds have
generally become embellished with Hs ; a wessel now veighs
anchor after the W has relieved the V from the dog watch ;
but it must be remembered that times were then werry ard,
and weal, vine, and winigar not werry comeatable, still the
good people swilled their arf and arf, whether ot or cold.
The natives of London have also been divested of much of
their one-sided views of men and things, and the conse-
quence is, that they have left much of their old-fashioned
prejudice behind. When I was a boy, a north countryman
was sure to be branded with the title of a Scotchman, which
then implied half savage, half knave ; and all Scotchmen
were supposed to have been fed upon brose, braxy, and
oatmeal. Our growing commercial relations, and the con-
sequent fusion of the people, have done much to effect a
revolution for the better in these matters ; and if we are 'not
more religious, we are at least more charitable, which is
certainly a move in the right direction.
While my stepfather was endeavouring to pass the Board
at Chelsea, he learned that an old comrade was encamped
with his regiment down somewhere near the town of Woolwich.
In those good old times there were neither steamboats, rail-
ways, nor omnibuses. A walk was no joke for such a trifling
specimen of humanity as I was. When we got below Green-
wich, the old soldier relieved the monotony of the way by
showing me certain decorations on the embankment of the
river on the south side; the objects in question might be
pleasing or otherwise, according to the frame of mind of the
beholder. There is an old proverb which says that " dead
men tell no tales ; " but, like many of the other wise sayings
of the ancients, this may be either true or otherwise ; one
thing is plain, the decorations mentioned above told of certain
practices in connection with our criminal law which could
only be tolerated in a barbarous age. I do not now remember
how many gibbets there were with subjects dangling from
PESTILENTIAL STATE OF THE THAMES MARSHES. 33
their arms, but I fancy there must have been more than a
dozen. There is no doubt that these dead men did tell tales.
I saw their bodies swinging to and fro, and heard the grating
sounds from the rusty hinges on which the chains were hung.
Gibbets at that time were not new to me ; those, however, I
had seen before were of a solitary character ; here they formed
a little colony, and when occasion offered they danced in
concert to the music of their own ^Eolian harp ! I wonder
if the people in those days, who sniffed the putrid air from
these bodies, were inspired with a higher respect for the law,
and a more exalted veneration for the judges who consigned
these bodies to gibbets, than if they had been quietly laid in
the bosom of mother earth.
Much of that journey is now a blank to me. I have hazy
recollections of seeing a forest of ship masts, mingled here
and there with trees, and vessels sailing up and down among
the green meadows. It must have been out of a due con-
sideration for the sanitary condition of the men who were
sent to camp in the nice malarial marshes below Greenwich,
rather than that they should be exposed on any of the breezy
downs in the neighbourhood of London. That was the age
of pigtails and leather inexpressibles ; the one was calculated
to generate a breed of parasites, and the other to promote
rheumatic affections of the limbs. The good people in those
days were not so sacrilegiously presumptuous as to try and set
aside the laws of God by boards of health and that sort of
thing. If men died by inhaling noxious vapours, they died
by the visitation of God ; and those who died by their own
hands in many cases had their bodies interred at cross roads.
The Government in those days got a large number of men
for the army at a very reasonable rate ; it is true that not a few
of them were second-hand soldiers, but, like the Jew's old
watches, they were "better than new." I have known as
much as a hundred pounds paid for a substitute for a man
who was drawn for the militia ; and when it is known how
humanely the men in the service were treated, the large bounties
3
34 THE BRUTALITY OF THE PRESS-GANG SYSTEM.
given to avoid it will not appear strange. According to law,
a militia regiment could not be sent out of the country.
This law, however, was comfortably evaded by having the
men so unmercifully drilled that they were glad to find relief
from their slavery by volunteering into regiments of the line.
That was one of the methods by which the British army was
recruited ; but the naval authorities had a more direct method
of getting men for the service. I have witnessed several in-
stances in which press-gang crews furnished proof that their
patriotism was a long way in advance of their humanity.
While lodging in a cellar in one of the slums beside George's
Dock in Liverpool, I saw a working-man dragged out of his
bed from his wife and family, and I can never forget how
that poor frantic woman clung to her husband in an agony of
desperation, and how the savages beat her off and mocked
her womanly sufferings.* My stepfather, too, would have
been carried off if his discharge from the army had not been
forthcoming. Britain, in those days, was said and sung to
be " the land of liberty, and the home of freedom." If the
people were satisfied with the liberty they had dealt out to
them, that was their business ; but I think such statements
were merely poetical, and that we now know better what is
due to ourselves and our country than the people did sixty
years ago.
I cannot say what understanding was come to between my
stepfather and mother before leaving London ; it is certain,
however, that some arrangement was made, which I believe
was in no friendly spirit, in consequence of his continual
dissipated conduct while in town. My mother took the whole
of the children into her own charge, and made application at
the Mansion House for a pass as a soldier's wife, which she
had no difficulty in obtaining. This official document was
* The members of press-gang crews, with very few exceptions, were
mere professional ruffians, and always ready for any act of brutality
connected with their detestable service, in fact, they were civilized
savages.
ENTICEMENTS OF A JEW A7 IPSWICH. 35
made out to obtain us relief at the various parishes in our
route between London and Hexham in Northumberland ; and
with it we visited nearly all the towns on the east coast of
England.
It is interesting to observe how the most unlikely things
come to pass in the lives of some men. While in the ancient
town of Ipswich, we lodged in the house of a Jew, who as far
as I can remember was a man of venerable appearance, and
from what I witnessed he was in very comfortable circum-
stances. This old man took a very decided liking for me ;
he frequently got me to walk out with him ; and upon more
occasions than one he showed me some of his valuables, which
consisted of jewellery, among which were two gold watches,
one of which was ornamented with diamonds ; and he told
me if I would remain with him the whole of what I had seen
should be my own. He had several consultations with my
mother, in which he used all the persuasion he was master of
to induce her to turn her eldest son over to his keeping, in
which he pledged himself to be more than a father to me ;
but his pleading was of no avail. It was in this town I had
the pleasure of seeing the first chairing of a newly-elected
M.P., and a savage exhibition it was ; the opposing parties,
inspired with beer and patriotism, belaboured each other with
the most praiseworthy gallantry, and the business of the day
was wound up by the chair and its gaudy decorations being
torn into pieces, and carried off in triumph by the victors.
The principal reason why I mention this place here is, that
sixty-three years after that time I had become a resident there,
and held a comfortable situation in the town in connection with
the Great Eastern Railway Company.
During the time we were afterwards, on this same journey,
in Scarborough, I had another chance of being transferred
into the keeping of a stranger. While disporting myself on
the sands of this pleasant watering-place, I was engaged in
conversation by a little hump-backed gentleman, who
seemed to take a great interest in me by treating me to
36 KIDNAPPED BY A SCARBOROUGH SWEEP.
sweetmeats, and he eventually persuaded me to accompany
him to his residence, a very handsome isolated house in a
garden. I was treated by my new friend with the greatest
possible kindness ; the day wore away without note being
taken of it by myself ; and such being the case, I was induced
to remain all night by a promise that my mother should know
where I was. This promise was not intended to be kept ; the
consequence was that my poor mother was in a sad way about
me ; both herself and several of the people who were lodging
in the same house sought me late into the night, but could
hear nothing about me. Yet I was a conspicuous object, in
consequence of my neat-fitting dress with the pretty bell-
shaped buttons. Two days passed away, and no tidings
could be had of me, and all this time I was pleasantly situated
in the house of my new friend, who continued to treat me as
if I had been a beloved son. I was made easy in my mind by
being told that my mother knew where I was, so the time
passed by almost unheeded. My mother, after having used
almost every available means to find me, was at last told to
send the town bellman about with a description of her lost
son. The advertisement by the town crier was sent out by
the authority of the mayor ; during the whole time this func-
tionary was out on his mission my mother was in a condition
of the most painful excitement ; and the matter caused a most
interesting subject of gossip both among the lodgers and
the people in the immediate neighbourhood. I think the
bellman's mission would have been fruitless if it had not been
for a girl who saw me taken into the house of my new friend.
It turned out that this little man was a master sweep, a
bachelor and well-to-do in the world ; and having taken a
fancy to me, he had a desire to appropriate my little person
to himself. He made an offer to adopt me, give me a suitable
education, and make me his heir ; and at last, when he found
these inducements were not sufficient to make my mother part
with me, he offered her a hundred pounds down if she would
turn me over to him and forfeit all claim to me ever after ;
OUR FAMILY TRANSFORMED INTO PEDLARS. 37
but my mother spurned his offer and his money too. It is
said, " There is a tide in the affairs of men, which taken," etc.
If there be any such thing in the affairs of boys, my affec-
tionate mother in three recent instances evidently stood
between me and the flood which leads on to fortune. Be
that as it may, it appears that I was neither destined to be
the pet of Colonel Cook, the companion of the Ipswich Jew,
nor the heir of the lonely but loving hunchback Scarborough
sweep.
Our vagrant journey thus far must have been very profit-
able, and I believe my father's to have been equally so. I
do not remember what plan he adopted, but I believe he
operated upon the charitably disposed with his discharge,
and the certificates he had obtained to enable him to pass
the Board while in London ; however, a re-union between
him and my mother took place while we were in Yorkshire.
After they had compared notes, and agreed upon their plan
of future arrangements, we proceeded to Newcastle-upon-
Tyne. The begging trade, with its gross deceptions, to say
nothing of its dangers, I believe was somewhat repugnant
to the feelings of my parents ; whether they left the business
from conscientious scruples, or from a feeling of inde-
pendence, I really do not know, but after our arrival in
Newcastle, we became transformed into respectable travelling
merchants, or what were then regularly termed " pedlars."
Our stock-in-trade was composed of a medley of hardware
and small ware goods. For a considerable time we made
Hexham our chief rendezvous, and travelled, as it were, in
a circle ; in the course of a short time we cultivated a very
general acquaintance, and we also obtained no small share
of confidence and respect. While we travelled in the rural
districts our expenses were very small ; the inns we put up
at were the farmhouses, where our quarters were free, and
we invariably had our victuals into the bargain.
Before our journey to London, I had been the constant
companion of my stepfather. Whether he was drunk or sober,
38 LIFE ENDANGERED BY MY GUARDIANS KNIFE.
like Sancho Panza I was sure to be at his heels, and if the
Don was honoured by being tossed in a blanket, I was sure
to come in for my share. My brother Robert was now grown
to be a fine active boy, but at the same time a very head-
strong one. Affections are things, I believe, people have
very little power over ; be that as it may, any little hold I
formerly had upon McNamee's good graces seemed to be
waning, and a transfer to be gradually taking place. This
change was daily being facilitated by Robert and myself
always being in each other's way. In consequence of this
unfortunate change of things the house became divided
against itself ; the childish quarrels of my brother and myself
were magnified into matters of importance ; every offence
was deemed an act of malice ; and I was always made the
scapegoat for both his sins and my own. My mother, there-
fore, took me under the wings of her kindly protection, and
every quarrel between the young ones was sure to cause a
rupture between the old ones.
Some little time after we left Newcastle, my brother and
I happened to quarrel about some trifling matter. I had
bled his nose, whether by accident or otherwise I do not
now remember, but he had sufficient tact to make the most
of it in representing the matter to his father, as he knew
I should be well punished ; the consequence of this little
escapade was likely to be rather a serious affair, inasmuch
as I escaped with my life almost by a miracle. My step-
father was in the habit of carrying a pocket knife, with a
long Spanish blade, as a life-preserver: in his passion he
stabbed at me with this weapon three times in succession ;
how the blade missed finding its way into my body, con-
sidering the power with which it was wielded, I cannot
imagine, but the only injury I received was a slight cut on
my side little more than skin deep. The first stroke cut
the side of my jacket open, and the second severed the
waistband of my trousers, while the third cut open the
brim of my little felt hat ; any one of these blows, if rightly
A CRUEL AND UNMERITED PUXSIHMENT. 39
directed, would have spoiled my music, and precluded this
biographic sketch.
It was only a short time after this, while we were at
home in Hexham, I had been plagiarising time, and making
use -of it for my own special amusement, by bathing in the
river Tyne. I had been absent without leave from seven
o'clock in the morning until five o'clock in the afternoon ;
I remember I was sporting in the water like a young dolphin,
when I beheld the gaunt form of McNamee, with a smile
of satisfactory vengeance curling about his mouth, coming
towards me with giant strides ; like a lamb in the presence
of a wolf my little soul felt all the alarm of the coming
danger. As he neared me, I observed that he had a new-
cut switch in his right hand, which he endeavoured to
conceal behind his back. I lost no time in making for the
river bank as speedily as possible ; I knew if I could only
clear the water before he came upon me, I could soon
enlarge the distance between us on the land, in consequence
of his short-windedness. Notwithstanding my good inten-
tions, however, before I got fairly landed I had half-a-dozen
welts between my head and my hips, each as thick as an
ordinary finger, and as lively in the colour as a ripe cherry.
Before I could reach home I had to run fully three-quarters
of a mile, and to make my journey pleasantly exciting, one-
half of the distance was through the leading street in the
town. It was somewhat amusing to the natives to see me
scampering naked along the public street, like a young
American Indian, with my back scalped instead of my head,
and my merciless tormentor following behind with my
toggery under his arm. I imagined that when I should
gain the citadel of home, I would escape all further punish-
ment ; but this was an idea I did not realize, inasmuch as
I received satisfaction in full. I will leave you to judge
whether my punishment was anything like proportioned to
the offence, when I inform you that I could not suffer my
clothing to be put on for nine days, and during the greater
4O THE BUOYANCY OF JUVENILE SPIRITS.
part of this time was confined to my bed. These little
things would not be worth notice, only in as far as the severe
treatment to which I was subject might have a certain
influence over my own conduct in after life. I know that
my stepfather never used me with cruelty without regretting
it afterwards ; in the whole course of my life, I never knew
any man who was more a creature of impulse : I have
known him to kick and caress me in almost the same
breath. One hour he would be all sunshine, and the next,
his whole being would be swelling with rage ; this storm
would very likely be caused by some trivial circumstance ;
and if he was depressed by small things, he was equally
liable to be comfortably excited by mere childish matters.
McNamee sober, and McNamee under the influence of
drink, was like Philip, he was not the same man ; but it
happened very unfortunately for me, that whether he was
drunk or sober, I had no appeal from his authority, and
the punishment he awarded me when under the maddening
influence of drink could not be repealed when he was
sober. Although I was continually subject to capricious
severity and unmerited suffering, still my life was not
without its sunshine ; every storm is succeeded by a calm,
and the smaller our power of reflection the more transient
our sufferings.
During the time we were engaged in travelling, my duty
was to carry the rags, horsehair, and other articles which
we received in barter for our merchandise ; when our bags
were made up of these materials, I have often laboured
under my burthen until my heart was like to break, yet with
the buoyancy of youth, when the day's labour was ended
I have enjoyed myself in the very fulness of soul ; if in the
summer season, by wandering by some wimpling burn, or
through the woods and dells, where nature revelled in her
own wild beauty. I can now, after the lapse of seventy
years, call to remembrance many of the occasional haunts
of my boyish days. I knew every farm-house from Hexham
THE RENOWNED COMET OF THE YEAR 1811. 41
to Keelder Castle, at the head of North Tyne, and from
Redsmouth to the Carter Bar. While travelling our rounds,
we had certain farm-houses we honoured by taking up our
lodgings in, where there were children of my own age, and
I was as much at home with them as if I had been one of
the family, and of course entered freely into all their
juvenile sports and pastimes. When I was a pedlar-boy,
I received as much real kindness, and found myself as
much on terms of equality with the sons and daughters of
respectable farmers' children, as if I had been one of them-
selves. Amid all my sorrows and sufferings, I cannot look
back upon my wanderings in Northumberland without feel-
ings and emotions of real pleasure ; and I can never forget
the hospitality, and in some instances the more than
parental kindness, I experienced from the unsophisticated
natives. I have eaten many a whang of barley-bannock,
buttered with the gude wifes thumb, and I have been fre-
quently consoled with the application of the homely adage,
"That nae body could tell what a rugged cout (colt) or a
ragged callant wad come to."
In the winter of 1811, when lodging in a place a short
distance from Keelder Castle, I was honoured for the first
time with a sight of the great comet which was to be the
precursor of the end of the world. The night on which I
saw this celestial wanderer was cold, clear, and frosty, and
innumerable worlds in the dark blue firmament sparkled with
diamond lustre ; and amid these lamp-like globes a little to
the north of the zenith, the meteor, with its superb tail, sailed
along his own highway in the immensity of space in fiery
majesty !
A circumstance occurred a short distance from Keelder, at
a farm-house near the junction of the Liddel and the Hermit-
age, which furnished proof of the strong hostile feeling
which then existed among the people on the Scotch side
of the border against anything savouring of Catholicism.
My mother and her family had taken up their lodgings in an
42 SCOTTISH INTOLERANCE OF CATHOLICISM.
empty stall in the byre belonging to the farmer, by per-
mission, on the Saturday evening, after having been sadly
drenched with rain. We were served with a plentiful supper
and breakfast of porridge and milk, and were seemingly in a
comfortable way until Monday. After breakfast, on Sunday
morning, my stepfather went into the kitchen to get a light
for his pipe ; and during the time he was there the farmer
came in and got into a conversation with the old soldier, and
in a short time appeared to become pleasantly interested.
While thus engaged in a friendly chat together, the farmer
asked my stepfather " if he ever gaed to the kirk ? " " Yes,"
he replied, " he never missed going when there was one near
at hand." "Weel," responded the pious farmer, " ye'r no
far frae yin the day ; " but my stepfather observed that being
a Catholic he only worshipped in his own church. The
word Catholic transformed the farmer from a kindly, good-
hearted man into a petty tyrant. " So ye'r a Papisher, ir ye ?
Awa wi' ye, bag an' baggage ! I'm no gaun te hae ony o' the
followers o' scarlet baggage aboot my hoose." The conse-
quence was we had to shift our quarters, and find lodgings
as best we could elsewhere. I have no doubt the farmer was
in the main a very good and amiable man, but he had sadly
mistaken notions of the religion of Christ.
I may here relate another case of Sunday travelling, which
was attended with serious consequences. Our family on one
occasion had late on a Saturday night left our quarters, one
of the outbuildings of a farm in the upper ward of Teviot-
dale. We crossed the high moorland that divides the valleys
of the Teviot and the Esk. For many miles there was neither
ro'ad nor habitation ; and it was far on in the evening when
we arrived in the upper part of the valley of the Esk. In
going down the vale towards Langholm, the turnpike road
lies along the side of the moor, and at that time neither side
of the way was fenced ; indeed we had some considerable
distance to travel before we should reach the cultivated part
of the valley. When we struck into this road it would be
FEARFUL ENCOUNTER WITH A HIGHWA YMAN. 43
somewhere between ten and eleven o'clock at night. We
had not gone more than a mile, when we were joined by a
man who seemed to have come out of his way to keep us
company. Neither my stepfather nor my mother seemed
pleased with the attention of their new travelling companion;
he was a great strong, ruffianly-looking fellow, and carried a
formidable stick, which appeared to constitute his sole stock-
in-trade. Both parties had measured each other, and my
stepfather and my mother had mentally concluded that the
fellow had an intention to relieve them of their property.
The old soldier had been on the sober tack during several
months, and having been both frugal and industrious he had
saved a few pounds, and at that time we were on our way to
Carlisle, where he could renew his stock of small wares at
Mrs. Sewell's. After having travelled with our new com-
panion for about half-an-hour, and getting near the habitable
part of the valley, he turned sharply round, and with a savage
blow of his staff he floored my stepfather. Both himself and
my mother were heavily laden ; they had each a large square
basket, as well as a wallet, in which they carried their
articles of barter. From these circumstances I have no
doubt the highwayman had calculated upon doing his busi-
ness in a very off-hand manner. The blow had scarcely been
struck which floored my stepfather, when my mother let her
basket fall from her arm, and with the agility of a tigress
seized the ruffian by the lower extremities and hurled him
upon the broad of his back in a deep ditch which skirted
the lower side of the road. Before the fellow could recover
himself she caught her husband's good blackthorn staff, with
which she so belaboured the rascal that he roared a thousand
murders, and by the time the old soldier had gathered
himself up, she had pretty well squared accounts with the
prostrate robber. If a neutral person could have witnessed
that strange moorland scene, it would not readily have passed
from his memory. After the blow was struck, my mother
was like an enraged lioness defending her young; the
44 HOSPITABLE RECEPTION A 7 A FARM-HOUSE.
children, myself among the rest, were squalling in concert,
and the highwayman bellowed like a bull as the blows were
rained upon him by the aid of my mother's strong right arm.
When it is known that my mother was five feet eight inches
in height, and that she would weigh not less than fifteen
stone, it will be seen that with a will and determination equal
to her strength, she would be a dangerous person to en-
counter in anger. The fact is, this was not the first time she
had handled a stick to good purpose. When a young woman
in service she saved the life of her master's eldest son,
who had been attacked by three men on his way home from
Downpatrick fair. Upon that occasion she floored two of
the young man's assailants, and the third took to flight in
consequence of two men coming upon the scene who were
returning from the fair.
If the robber's action had not been so sudden, McNamee
was well prepared for him, inasmuch as he carried in his
right hand a long-bladed Spanish knife ready for use. The
blow he received kept the right side of his head uncomfortably
warm for several weeks ; and if the fellow had not been so near
his victim, it is very likely he would not have required another
to have finished him.
After having gathered up the scattered contents of the
baskets, which strewed the ground, and leaving the scene of
victory, we made our way to the nearest farmhouse, which
was at least a mile distant. Although I have never been in
that locality since that eventful night, I could yet find the
isolated farmstead in the hollow of the valley by the side of
the river Esk, and about a hundred yards down from the
road. When we arrived at this house, the inmates must have
been in bed from two to three hours, and for a considerable
time there was nothing to be heard but the disagreeable noise
of an army of dogs barking in chorus. After considerable
waiting, the farmer came to the door, and having heard the
cause of our travelling on the Sabbath day, and our encounter
with the robber, he showed us into the barn, in which there
SAVINGS OF INDUSTRY LOS7 BY INTEMPERANCE. 45
was plenty of clean straw, a winnowing sheet, and a number
of sacks. On the following morning McNamee and the
farmer went to the scene of the previous evening's engage-
ment, to look after the dead or wounded ; but the beaten foe
had been able to retire from the field. The place where he
had got the pounding was easily discovered, by the marks of
blood he had left behind ; this was so much the case, that the
farmer was fully convinced of the rough work which had taken
place on the spot.
In the early part of the present century robbery on the
highway was a matter of common occurrence ; at that time
the protection afforded to life and property was not like
what it is now ; Sir Robert Peel had not then organized his
police force, and a county constabulary had not then been
dreamed of.
About the time of this occurrence/ a pedlar boy had been
murdered on a moor on the English side of the Border. The
fellow who took the lad's life must have been a mean, petti-
fogging scoundrel, inasmuch as the boy's whole stock-in-
trade was not worth more than a few shillings.
It was about this time, too, that Richardson, the Dumfries
detective, identified the then far-famed David Haggart in a
jail in Ireland, and brought him back to Scotland to answer
for having murdered the governor of Dumfries jail with a
stone in a stocking. This man was the most daring and
clever, but at the same time the most brutal and heartless,
highwayman of modern times.
Up to 1812, we had travelled over nearly the whole of
England, Wales, and Scotland, sometimes in the capacity
of beggars, and at others as itinerating dealers, and in conse-
quence of McNamee's unsteady habits, continually exposed
to ever-changing vicissitudes. While we were in North-
umberland, there was only one thing to prevent him from
saving as much money as would in a short time have enabled
him to open a shop ; but after we had obtained a comfortable
standing, and a good^stock of merchandise, he opened the
46 LOST IN A SNOW-STORM ON THE MOOR.
greedy trough of his stomach and swallowed all ; and after
the wreck of our fortune, we removed over the border to the
Scotch side. During the next two years we continued to
travel in the valleys in the south of Scotland, but our circuit
was chiefly confined to Eskdale, Liddesdale, and Teviotdale ;
and when we required to renew our little stock of goods, we
had to go either to Dumfries or Carlisle. After our removal
from Northumberland, McNamee once more put the rein upon
his intemperance, and we were again upon the highway to
prosperity.
During the severe winter of 1813 and 1814, we were located
at a little town in the south of Scotland of the name of Lang-
holm. Although travelling was both a dangerous and difficult
business during that memorable stormy winter, yet we were
able to turn our industry to good account ; hare skins were
then in great demand, and it was generally admitted that the
skins produced in these vales were the best in the kingdom.
At that time the article had obtained its maximum price ; the
skin trade was then regulated by the Backend Fair, which was
held annually in Dumfries, and at that time full skins were
bringing thirty-six shillings per dozen. In consequence of
the severity of the winter, the poor hares had little chance of
escaping with their lives, and it was no unusual thing for a
farmer to have two or three dozen skins hung up in his
chimney corner. The trade-manner of casting skins was by
arranging them into whole, half, quarter, and pelts. Of course,
the country people had little knowledge of these technicalities
of the trade, and the dealers were sure to have the advantage.
During the course of this winter, McNamee and my mother
made a good deal of money, but in doing so they encoun-
tered no small amount of hardship.
While travelling with my stepfather across the moorland
country which lies between Langholm and Newcastleton,
then better known by the name of Copshawholm, we were
overtaken by a severe snowstorm, accompanied by a blinding
drifting wind. The houses in this wild district are few and
A SECOND ENVELOPMENT IN A SNOW-WREATH. 47
far between, and as the moor was trackless we had nothing to
guide us in the way we should go. After floundering on the
moor for a considerable time, we had the good fortune to
stumble upon a walled-in sheepfold. It was somewhere about
three o'clock in the afternoon when we found this place of
refuge, and we battled with the drifting snow and the cold in
this roofless fold until a little after daylight on the following
morning. In consequence of the snow filling up the more
exposed parts, we had several times to change our positions
in the fold. We both suffered severely, but as I covered my-
self up with the tails of his coat I was less exposed to the
cold than he was. It was a fortunate thing for us that we
were discovered by a shepherd's dog early in the morning,
and when we found where we were, we discovered that we
were within less than half-a-mile of a moorland farmhouse.
I was so benumbed with the cold that I had to be carried to
the house, and it was as much as poor Mac could do to get
his limbs to carry his body that short distance. The people
in the house did everything which kindness could dictate to
bring us round. It would be a difficult matter to describe our
sufferings during the long dreary hours of that stormy night ;
the fact is, McNamee did not think that we should be able to
weather it, and when the dog discovered us in the morning
he hailed him as an angel sent to rescue us. We were storm-
stayed in this house during three days, and were all that time
most hospitably entertained. While we were thus absent
from Langholm, my mother was in a condition of the most
painful suspense ; indeed she had concluded that we must
have perished in the snow.
Shortly after this event, I was out with my mother in
Eskdale, a few miles above Langholm, when we had a very
narrow escape from being swallowed up in a snow wreath ;
indeed, if it had not been for the timely assistance of a
shepherd we should both have passed out of sight, and
when found could only have been of use for anatomical
purposes. I remember having seen several cottages com-
48 I HE VILLAGE OF BELLINGHAM THE CHURCH.
pletely blocked up with snow, the inmates having to cut
their way out in the morning ; and during that unprecedented
stormy winter, there were several lonely houses on the
borders where the inmates had to burn no inconsiderable
part of their furniture to keep themselves from perishing with
cold. Although McNamee and my mother were very suc-
cessful in their bartering business during this severe winter,
it was at the expense of much suffering both from cold and
fatigue, and not unfrequently from the pain of hunger.
We were better known in the valleys of North Tyne, Reed,
and Coquet, than any other part of the Border country ; and
while we travelled in the district we made both Bellingham
and Hexham centres of our trading operations, and looked
upon either place as a home when there.
People who may have seen Bellingham seventy years ago,
if there are any such, may wonder what any sane man can
have to say about a place so unmistakably uninteresting ; or
about its inhabitants, whose primitive rusticity must have been
their only recommendation to notice ! It is true the village
was wanting both in the arrangement of order and in archi-
tectural beauty ; the houses were rude in their construction,
and in many instances had been erected by their proprietors
without consulting the taste, comfort, or convenience of their
neighbours. In one place a shop might be seen with osten-
tatious presumption sticking its gable end . and little bow
window into the street ; while a neighbouring house with
some pretension to respectability was left in the background.
Then, again, two rows of houses had been built in the open
space, as if for the laudable purpose of throwing those
previously erected into the shade.
But though the village was in reality as unpicturesque as
any old Border hamlet might be expected, yet it possesses
one building worthy a passing notice. The little unassum-
ing plain Gothic church, which stands upon a rising ground
overlooking the river, is not only interesting as a house of
prayer, but it is highly so from its peculiarity of structure.
RESTORA TION OF BELLINGHAM CHURCH. 49
The roof of this church is formed of a number of stone slabs
overlapping each other, and resting upon a series of slender
ribbed arches about three feet apart, and abutting on the
side walls. There are no records of the age in which this
little unpretentious temple was erected, but from repairs
which have lately been made, the effects of fire have been dis-
covered on the walls ; originally there had been two side aisles ;
these, no doubt, have been destroyed by the sacrilegious
raiders who burned the building. The gentleman who is
the incumbent, the Reverend P. Powell, is deserving of
much credit for the pains he has taken in restoring the
church to something like its original character, after it had
been allowed to become unsafe from decay. Like many of
the old ecclesiastical edifices in the country, this church had
undergone a process of vandalism by having its interior
decorations plastered and daubed out of sight by a system of
whitewashing ; these barbarisms have been removed by Mr.
Powell's instructions, and the weak parts in the walls have
been strengthened by buttressing. The history, too, of
some of the Bellingham people, in my time, was not without
interest. The Rev. Mr. Smith, who officiated in that little
church, was like him of the " Deserted Village."
"A man he was to all the country dear,
And passing rich with forty pounds a year.
Remote from towns he ran his godly race,
Nor ever changed, nor wished to change his place."
The contrasts which frequently constitute both the beauty
of a picture and mark the phases of character in men, existed
in the very fulness of opposites between Mr. Smith and his
clerk. The one was a large John Bull-looking man who
seemed always on good terms with himself and in good
fellowship with all the world beside. His voice when doing
duty was full, clear, and sonorous. Mr. Baty, his ecclesias-
tical factotum, was a tall, slim, wiry-made man, and his voice,
as heard in the responses of the Church service, when com-
4
5<D HISTORY OF A NOTEWORTHY PARISH CLERK.
pared to that of the parson, was like the attenuated sound
of a child's whistle to the deep full sound of an organ.
Mr. Baty, however, was no ordinary man ; he was master
of several useful professions ; and when he passed away he
left a blank behind him which neither time nor circumstances
are ever likely to fill up. During considerably more than
a quarter of a century he taught the young men and women
of the district the graceful art of disposing their limbs to the
action of music. He had the misfortune to lose his practice
in this business, by having taught a young girl, the daughter
of a Tyneside herd, to excel himself as a teacher of the
Terpsichorean art.
The farmers' wives for many miles round Bellingham were
unco sib with Mr. Baty. Like the Gaberlunzie man of old,
he amused them with his harmless gossip, and excited their
curiosity by retailing stray scraps of small scandal during the
time he was engaged whipping the cat in their moorland
homes.
In consequence of his twofold official character in con-
nection with the church, being both clerk and sexton, he
was in at all the christenings of the undeveloped sprigs of
humanity, the hymeneal knot-tyings, and the final consign-
ments of both old and young who made their demise in the
parish. During many years Mr. Baty and his fiddle were
part and parcel of all the fairs and hirings, merry meetings,
and kirn suppers, which were held in that part of the country.
There seemed to have been a peculiar appropriateness in Mr.
Baty's last official act, for he literally made his own grave.
While he was excavating the last resting-place for the remains
of some parishioner, the earth gave way, and he was entombed
alive. He thus yielded up a life which had been long sin-
gularly useful, and he left behind a character free from even
the whisper of reproach.
During many years in the early part of the present century,
there were three clergymen in Bellingham two were Church
of England parsons, and the other a Catholic priest who
A TRIO OF RIGHT WORTHY CLERGYMEN. 51
were quiet, amiable men, good citizens, and exemplary Chris-
tians. The Rev. Mr. Harrison was a man over whose head
the bleaching influence of many winters had left a snowy
impress. He did the duty of a curate in the little isolated
church of Corsonside, near Woodburn in Redsdale. This
place is at least five miles from Bellingham, and in those
days could only be arrived at by a scarcely visible beaten
horse track over a wild open moor. There was something
exceedingly ludicrous in the contrast between the sage and
venerable appearance of Mr. Harrison and his travelling
companion. His horse belonged to the Highland Sheltie
breed, and though he looked as wild, ragged, and dirty as a
Leith carter's pony, he was as quiet, docile, and subdued as a
pious slave. It mattered not how the seasons changed,
or whether he travelled in fair weather or foul; that trusty
servant of the pious pastor was never known to alter his
pace ! I daresay there may have been a sympathy of feeling
between the two ; the easy equable pace of the pony may
have been in harmony with the quiet temperament of the
good parson. As a general thing, the winters in the morning
of the century were much more stormy than they are now ;
yet I do not think Mr. Harrison ever missed a single journey
in consequence of inclement weather. Many a time when
he opened the sacred volume in his wee muirland Kirk there
would not be half-a-dozen worshippers present. He resided
in a modest dwelling in the row, which was kept for him by a
silent old lady. I never knew any person who visited either
the parson or his maid ; in fact, each seemed to live in
noiseless worlds of their own, the master in the front ground
floor parlour, and the maid in the culinary department.
The Rev. William Turner is the second of our clerical
trio. I can imagine now when I have called him to mind,
that I can'see him before me as I was in the habit of seeing
him between sixty and seventy years ago, with his black, well-
fitting inexpressibles, long gaiters to match, strong, well-
rounded limbs, healthy florid complexion, and full manly
52 THE ORDINARY ROUND OF VILLAGE LIFE.
frame. When Squire Charlton of Hesleyside, to whom he
was chaplain, was from home with his family, Mr. Turner's
duties were light, being confined to his small flock in the
village. At that time there were not more than some nine or
ten Catholics in Bellingham ; these were occasionally rein-
forced by pedlars and vagrants, who made the village a sort
of Sunday home. His time was therefore much at his own
disposal. In order, however, that he should not be without
profitable employment, he farmed a little ground, kept a
couple of cows and a pony, and when he tired of out-door
labour he said his office, attended the confessional, or occupied
his head and hands by spinning yarn for his own sheets and
shirts on the wee wheel.
When first he went to the village to reside, he made an
effort to avoid the occasion of scandal by his choice of a
housekeeper ; the lady who filled that situation was all but
repulsive from the manner in which her face had been dis-
figured by the small- pox. Nancy, though thus terribly dis-
figured in the face, possessed a well-formed body, a good heart,
and an amiable mind, and was both a good and faithful
servant.
But notwithstanding Nancy's unattractive appearance, sly
insinuations occasionally went the round of the maids and
matrons of the village concerning the undisturbed repose of
certain kitchen utensils, where no such utensils should have
been ! Everybody knew Mr. Turner ; he was affable, kind,
and courteous to all, but he could scarcely be said to be
familiar with anybody.
The Rev. Mr. Smith I have already alluded to ; he was less
reserved than either of the others ; in fact, though he was a
clergyman, he was to all intents one of the people; good-
natured, free and familiar with all sects and conditions, he
was at home with everybody, whether rich or poor. I believe
he did duty in the village church over a period of forty years.
In those days, when steam horses and telegraphic genii
were not dreamed of, the every-day life in Bellingham was
PUNISHMENT FOR JUVENILE NEGLECT. 53
made up of a dull round of industry, a little tippling, a little
card-playing, a little cock-fighting, a little idle tittle-tattle,
some quarrelling, and a little small scandal. But these foibles
were wedded to a people who possessed warm hearts, large
benevolence, cheerful hospitality, and an easy frankness.
During the fairs and hirings the every-day life of both
Bellingham and its inhabitants was thoroughly changed.
Upon these occasions the almost death-like stillness of the
village gave place to the noise, bustle, and confusion con-
sequent upon such gatherings, and both young and old from
the moorland districts of the Tyne and the Reed water held
happy carnival. The rustic swains in their holiday clothing,
at the hirings with their half year's wages in their pockets, be-
came inspired by the exhilarating influence of rum punch, and
won the affections of the moorland maids by softening their
hearts with drops of brandy, lumps of gingerbread, nuts,
candy sugar, and oranges. The village was thus enlivened
with a life which was none of its own, and the three dancing
rooms were made to vibrate to the measured motion of many
scores of pairs of willing limbs. The sound of music died
away late, or rather early on the mornings after the fairs or
hirings ; the old calm settled down on the village, and the
world again wagged as it had done before.
There are many reasons why I should remember Bellingham ;
among the rest I may relate the following little serio-comic
incident. When I was a little fellow, I had occasion to be sent
to a farmhouse called the Blakelaw, at a distance of better than
a mile, for a halfpenny worth of skim milk. In going to this
farmhouse I had to pass a lone cottage, which was occupied by
a working man, his wife, and a family of young children. I was
at that time full of play, and sufficiently thoughtless for anything.
In going past the cottage, I had the questionable fortune to
meet with a posse of Mrs. Mason's children, who were playing
close by the wayside; and with the freedom of youth, and
my usual want of prudence, I became one of themselves. The
milk I was sent to get was for the family's supper, and I
54 AN UNWARRANTED CHARGE OF THEFT.
should have returned in the course of little more than an hour;
but as I was highly interested in the company of my young
playmates, I neither "thought of home nor duty." It was only
when I was on my way back with the can of milk that I was
brought to a state of reflection ; it then became a matter of
unpleasant speculation as to whether my sin of disobedience
would be punished by my stepfather or by my mother,
or whether I should not have to run the gauntlet of them
both.
When I arrived at old Margaret Seaton's lodging-house, I
soon learned more than I wanted to know. I was quickly
flogged to everybody's satisfaction but my own; that sort of
thing, however, was a matter of common occurrence, and
when my eyes were dried the storm was past. But there
were other consequences to result from my milk journey,
which I could not have anticipated. After the flogging, and
having dispatched a basin of crowdy, like Richard I was my-
self again ; but while the lodgers were communicating their
day's experience to each other, or spinning yarns, a noisy mob
was heard at the outside of the door. Before they had time
to think of what was going to happen, the woman with whose
children I had been playing rushed into the house perfectly
foaming with rage, and all the lazy-corner people of the
village as a bodyguard at her heels, and ready for any amount
of lynch law the circumstances of the case might demand.
The poor woman was so much excited by the violence of her
passion, and the idea of the great wrong she had suffered,
that it was some time before she could make the inmates of
Mrs. Seaton's hotel understand the cause of her trouble ; it
turned out at last that she charged me, in the most un-
measured language she could command, with having stolen a
pair of clogs " belanging te yin o' her callants." Some of
Mrs. Mason's bodyguard were satisfied "that laddies like me
wad steal onything that cam i' their way." My stepfather
and my mother knew that I had brought nothing home with
me but the milk, and the lodgers bore similar testimony, but
JUSTICES JUSTICE MIGHT AGAINST RIGHT. 55
this denial of my guilt seemed only to make her more violent
and determined for justice ; the members of the mob on
hearing the matter discussed by my stepfather became divided
in opinion. Some of the judges, after having thoroughly
inspected me, said they " wor sure that the callant didna look
as if he wad steal onybody's clogs; " others said they "wadna
lippen other clogs or shuin te me." One old lady, who
seemed to possess a greater amount of judicial discrimination
than any of the rest, said that " if the laddie had stealt the clogs
they wad hae been o' nae use to him, as they wad hae been
far ower big." The boy to whom the clogs belonged being
present, it was soon clear that one of his clogs would have
held both my feet. After a number of opinions had been
advanced on both sides of the question, Mrs. Mason left with
a full determination to have me before a magistrate on the
following day.
I had been pretty familiar with the insides of jails, but my
incarcerations had always been in the character of a com-
panion to my stepfather ; and I had no desire to become
the inmate of one on my own account. Being a member of
the vagrant fraternity, my denial before a magistrate of the
woman's unsupported charge would not have saved me, and
if she had carried her threat into practice I certainly should
have been consigned to the limbo of a prison. At that
time the magistrates were more impressed with the idea of
inflicting punishment upon such poor people as were brought
before them, than in rendering impartial justice between the
accused and the accuser. It was not long before this event
that my stepfather had been made to feel the salutary effects of
a justice's justice. While lodging in the little border town
of Lochmaben in the summer of 1807, a rough, raw-boned, ill-
conditioned lad, much older and bigger than myself, took a
fancy to exercise his pugilistic powers on my little person ;
my stepfather, who, though he occasionally gave me the
benefit of a warming, took very good care that nobody else
should enjoy the same privilege, took me from the young
56 THE SIX FIGHTING MASONS CARLYLE.
fellow's .grasp and gave him a blow with his open hand.
I was streaming with blood, and several of the natives said
" it was a shame to ill-use the laddie i' that fashion."
It happened that the father of the boy, a big burly mason,*
saw McNamee rescue me from his son ; this was the cause of
another match as unequal as mine had been. The great
cowardly fellow beat my stepfather most unmercifully,
knocked him down several times, and otherwise maltreated
him, and to add to his brutality gave him in charge to a con-
stable for having ill-used his laddie ; and the result was that
my poor ill-treated protector got six days in the black hole.
To return to Mrs. Mason's charge against me. The
following morning had changed the whole of her intended
plans. She had found the missing clogs covered up under
some straw beside a pool of stagnant water close to the
cottage. It was at this pool I had spent my time with her
boys swimming bits of wood and some kitchen utensils
about. I was in a fit condition to carry out my navigation
purposes by the freedom of my nude understandings ; the
boys, seeing my advantage in the sport, had cast aside their
clogs ; hence my trouble and poor Molly's great excitement.
As soon as the missing clogs were found she lost no time
in making the amende honorable by coming down to the
village and stating the fact, as well as apologizing for her
hasty rudeness.
Mrs. Mason was quite a character in her way; at home
she was in every sense a drill sergeant, and managed her
domestic duties with a masculine authority. She was gifted,
too, with an amazing volubility of tongue ; and it only re-
quired a very small cause to set her lingual machinery in
motion. She possessed other qualifications, however, which
contrasted pleasantly with these. She was untiringly indus-
* This man was one of the six brothers Carlyle, known over the whole of
Annandale as the "Six fighting masons of Ecclefechan." The oldest of
these men was father to the Tub Philosopher of Chelsea, Thomas Carlyle ;
himself probably the hero of the story !
KINDL Y DISPOSITION OF BORDERLAND FARMERS. 5 J
trious, frugal, and cleanly in her habits, honest in her
dealings, and both generous and good-hearted. The little
incident of the clogs was a second edition of " All's well
that ends well " ; for Mrs. Mason became my fast friend ever
after, and I believe if I really had done a dishonest act she
would have been the last to have credited it. Poor woman !
she had a hard battle to make ends meet with her large
family and small means ; but with all her difficulties she
aye managed to keep her bairns' backs and bellies in healthy
order. Peace to her shade !
Up to the period I am treating of, my mother had given
birth to five children, two of whom died while on our
journeyings in the south of England ; one dear and pretty
little girl found a last resting-place in the quiet and
sequestered churchyard of Staindrop in the county of
Durham ; and the remains of the other, a little boy, lie in
Gainsborough in Lincolnshire. The time is now drawing
nigh when my own condition in life is about being
materially changed ; but before leaving this part of my
history, I cannot help making a few remarks, or rather
reflections, upon the state of society on the Border in the
early part of the present century. I can still look back,
through the somewhat hazy vista of over seventy years, to
the happy days I spent among the primitive but kind and
hospitable natives. The inhabitants of the numerous seques-
tered valleys on both sides of the Border were then really
an unsophisticated class of people. Almost every house on
the border at that time was a welcome home for the way-
farer ; the beggar was treated kindly, and bountifully supplied
with food ; he had his bed for the night comfortably made
up in the barn or the byre ; and in many farm-houses bed-
clothing was specially kept for this class of wanderers. The
pedlar, or travelling dealer, was treated somewhat differently ;
he was lodged in the house, and generally took his meals
with the family, and found himself as much at home as if he
had been at his own fireside. In these times the farmers
58 WAR STORIES POPULAR BEFORE NEWSPAPERS.
were content to dispose of their produce at the market
towns which were most easily come at, and they occasionally
sold their stock to factors, who paid them periodical visits
from the large towns : this was the manner in which the
sheep farmers disposed of nearly the whole of their wool.
In the Lowlands, travelling merchants purchased the butter
and cheese in the same way, others bought up the poultry
and eggs, and the butchers of Newcastle and Carlisle were
wont to scour the country for calves and such cattle as they
could not obtain at the regular markets.
Travelling, among the country people in these secluded
districts, was then a thing of rare occurrence, and they knew
little of what was passing in the busy world, except what
they obtained from hearsay. The times were then quite
as exciting as they are now. The French war was then
carrying desolation over a large portion of Europe, and there
were few of the people even in these lonely and sequestered
valleys who had not occasion to mourn some dear relative
who had fallen in the service of his country. If these people
had not heard the martial sound of the bugle, or the roar of
the murdering cannon, many a loved one was missed from
the family circle, and the homely but social board, and many
a tender loving heart was left with an empty void which
might never be filled. There were few newspapers in these
days, and it was a thing of rare occurrence for any of them
to find their way into these regions. The various classes of
people who made their living by travelling among these
wilds were then the real newsmongers, and, of course, were
always welcome guests at the ingle of the farmer or the
cotter. When my stepfather kept himself sober, no man in
his position ever found a more hearty welcome, or could
receive kindlier treatment from the country people upon
whom he was in the habit of calling. The fact was, his
information was generally looked upon as good change for
their hospitality. His knowledge of the seat of war, and the
operations of the contending parties, with the general intelli-
COMMON SUPERSTITIONS OF A PAST AGE. 59
gence he brought to bear upon his subjects, caused him to
be looked up to as no mean authority. He was equally au
fait upon religious subjects ; his mind was well stored with
historical gleanings, and in polemical debate he rarely found
his match. When he was sober he was cool in argument,
and patient as a listener. I am aware that much of his
knowledge was of a very superficial character, yet the manner
in which he used it made him frequently pass as an oracle.
Oft has he
" Talked o'er his tales of sorrow done,"
and if he did not
" Shoulder his crutch and show how fields were won,"
many a time he has held the farm circle in breathless sus-
pense, while delineating the havoc of the battle, or the
dreadful carnage of the siege, the clash of arms, and the
horrors of the sacked town.
In the course of my vagrant wanderings on the Border,
I had learned much of its legendary lore and romantic his-
tory. Often while we occupied the chimney nook of a moor-
land farm-house in a winter's nicht, the daring deeds of some
border reiver would be related in the broad vernacular of the
district, or tales of ghosts, witches, and fairies would go
round until bed-time. Many a time my hair has been made
to stand erect at the recital of some tale of blood and murder ;
and often has my young imagination been filled with wonder
at the fairy legend of a by-gone age. At that time the people
on the Border were proverbial for their superstitious notions.
I have known scores of people whose illness was caused by
supernatural means. Such complaints as were not common,
or where the causes could not be probed by the limited
understandings of the natives, were sure to be produced by
evil eyes. Children were then said to be cured of the whoop-
ing-cough by being passed nine times under the belly and
over the back of an ass, or being dipped nine times in a south
60 FAIRIES IN THE GLEN WITCHES IN THE BYRE.
running stream. In these times, the poor innocent cattle
were frequently made to surfer for the sins of their owners.
Some people were proof against the power of the evil one in
their own persons ; when such was the case, their live stock
were sure to suffer. I remember we were once lodging at a
moorland farm-house between Moss Paul and Hawick, where
we were to stay over Sunday ; on the Saturday one of the
cattle belonging to the farmer had been bewitched, and the
poor animal went mad it was in such a rabid state that it
was found necessary to kill it. The farmer was quite aware
to whom he owed this act of devilry. The old lady who had
used her spell lived in the neighbourhood but the best of
the matter is yet to come. On the Sunday we had a part of
the identical cow served to us along with broth for dinner. I
don't know whether McNamee and my mother were too saucy
to partake of this fare, or that they were afraid of the sanitary
consequences; however, be that as it may, we made our
dinner of the potatoes, and the beef and broth were destroyed.
The most noted places for witches and fairies that I remember,
and where they lingered longest in the face of civilization,
were Canobie and Bewcastle ; the latter place is a wild moor-
land district in the most northerly part of Cumberland, and
I believe has been famed from time immemorial for the
honesty of its cattle dealers, and the superstition of its rude
Saxon natives. At the time I am writing of, there was not a
glen, a homestead, a mountain-stream, or a valley, but had
its ghost story, or some attendant genius in the shape of a
good or evil-disposed fairy. In those days, it was quite a
common thing for one of the wee folk to assist in doing the
necessary work of a farm-house ; and in order that they
might perform their labour without interruption, it was
always done when the inmates were in the arms of Morpheus.
One of the common methods in which the witches were in
the habit of exercising their infernal art was by casting their
glamour over the kirn of ^the farmers' wives to whom they
owed any little debt of revenge. When the spell rested upon
STORY OF A GHOST NEAR ROBIN HOOD'S BAY. 6 1
the milk, all the churning in the world would not produce
butter. This species of credulity very frequently led to
serious consequences. I have known several instances where
females who were suspected of being witches were all but
sacrificed to the godly fury of innocent believers ; the fact
was, that to be sceptical upon this subject was tantamount
among the country people to disbelieving the Bible. The
Witch of Endor, and the command that a witch should not
be suffered to live, were looked upon as unquestionable
authority upon the subject, and there were few at that time
who had the hardihood to call these divine truths in question.
The people for many miles round Whitby were, I recollect,
once kept in a feverish state of alarm in consequence of
a hideous ghost that was said to haunt the road leading to
Robin Hood's Bay. In the course of a few weeks a
number of people had not only been frightened out of their
senses, but in all cases those who had any property in their
possession were relieved of it in a way they could not tell
how. The superstitious fears of the people for a time
prevented proper steps being taken to learn the true cha-
racter of the ghost ; but some of the wiseacres, after due
deliberation, came to the very rational conclusion that a
spirit could really have no use for all the property which
had gone a-missing. Those people who had seen the
thieving ghost, through their fears were convinced that it
was no other than the devil himself. They saw his horns,
his tail, and the sulphurous fire issuing from his infernal
jaws ; it was therefore no wonder that the people were
alarmed when they heard such descriptions related by eye-
witnesses. Ultimately his ghostship fell into a trap ; a
fellow of determined character had himself made up as a
female with a good-sized bundle, and set out on his journey
after nightfall on the road to Robin Hood's Bay. He was
not long before he encountered the ghost ; he let his bundle
fall and bolted ; instead, however, of running away, as the
self-confident ghost imagined he would, he watched the
62 STRUGGLES BETWEEN JMAGINA TION AND REASON.
demon-looking object seize the bundle and march off with
it ; but before his ghostship had moved many paces, the
seeming lady was by his side holding the muzzle of a pistol
close to his bovine head, with a demand that he should
divest himself of his upper garment without a moment's
delay, on pain of instant death. The ghost found himself
in a fix, and though it was a delicate thing to undress before
a lady, he complied with the demand as a case of necessity.
That was worse than doffing a lion's skin and covering his
recreant body with an ass's hide. When the fellow was un-
masked, he turned out to be a well-known indolent ruffianly
scamp, and his covering was a cow's hide with large horns,
and, in order to sustain the Satanic character, he had used
brimstone lights, which were so fixed that they seemed to
issue out of the devil's mouth.
Having received a considerable part of my education in
such a romantic school, it would be strange indeed if I could
have escaped without being subject to the impressions conse-
quent upon such a course of training. Since I have attained
to manhood, I can assure you it has frequently required all
the little philosophy I possessed to keep the invisible agents
of the other world from regulating my affairs, and directing
my conduct to suit their caprice or convenience, and many a
sturdy battle my reason has had with my fears upon their
account. I think, on the whole, I have been able to overcome
the numerous busy tormentors of my youth, and whenever my
fears become alarmed, judgment is sure to come to the rescue ;
however, I must confess that the battle is sometimes little
better than a drawn one. I am not sufficiently master of
psychology to understand how the lingering impressions of
supernatural agencies should continue to alarm us after the
reasoning faculties of the mind have passed judgment upon
them, and found them mere creatures of the imagination,
unless it be that Mr. Imagination, who acts the part of a
vigilant sentinel, by being always upon guard, and easily
alarmed, should be necessary to keep Mr. Reason in healthy
NEW SUPERSTITIONS OF THE PRESENT. 63
employment, by lending Fear the use of his aid and counsel
in all cases of real or imaginary danger. I believe there are
very few men who are not less or more liable to be acted
upon by supernatural fears, and yet they are conscious that
such feelings are mere dreams. When ghosts, fairies, and
witches cease to live in the belief of a people, the character
of such a people must lose much of its poetry. The age of
superstition is one of ideality, in which imagination takes the
lead of reason. The mind of a nation is in a continual state
of transition, and the farther it flies off from the superstitious
element, the more utilitarian and the more sceptical it becomes.
A few centuries ago criminals were tried by ordeal ; in the
early part of the last, respectable females were roasted for
witchcraft, and the age of ghosts is only just passed away.
It must not be supposed, however, that because we cannot
believe in these things, imagination has ceased to hold its
empire over us. The loss we have sustained has been of
late partially compensated for in other supernatural and
electrical agencies. We have now our table turning, spirit
rapping, and mesmeric clairvoyance. It is said by sensible
people that the devil is the agent in these things ; but if people
are pleased to have the aid of the devil in ministering to their
amusements, I really don't see why any one should find fault :
for my own part, I think that his majesty might be much
worse employed.
CHAPTER III.
THE first two chapters in the history of my life can be
of little interest to the reader, except in so far as they
show the character of my monitor, and the sort of teaching
I received. Their principal value will be found in their
connection with after events. Every man's life is made up
of a chain of causes, some of which produce direct or imme-
diate effects, while others would seem to act upon us in
remote periods of our existence, and exercise an influence
over our very destinies. I am not a fatalist, at least I think
not, yet I have often found myself led and acted upon by
feelings and influences which I could not account for by any
little philosophy I possess. This short-sightedness may arise
occasionally from attributing certain acts and circumstances in
our lives to proximate, rather than to distant causes, or vice
versa. As the reader proceeds he will observe that my life has
been one of epochs, or, more properly speaking, I have been
carried forward by a succession of trade winds, without any
seeming directing power of my own. I may here advert
again to my father, and though the circumstance is trivial
in itself, it will prove that we frequently labour under feelings
and impressions and hold ideas which we cannot account
for upon any rational principle ; at least, such was my case.
From my earliest recollection I was imbued with a feeling
of the most unmitigated hatred against my own father : when,
how, or where such a feeling took hold of my mind I have
not the most remote idea. I therefore knew not what sort
of a man he was. I had never seen him, rarely heard his
name mentioned, and yet hated him with -a downright honest
EMPLOYED AS A CAULDRIFE COWHERD. 65
hatred. It is said that " coming events cast their shadows
before." Whether this be the case or not, the reader will
learn by the sequel this was intensified by after events,
events which could not have been foreseen.
In a beautiful warm day in the latter end of May 1815,
while travelling in the valley of North Tyne, between False-
stone and Thornyburn, our family being all together at the
time, we were resting a little past the middle of the day by
the river side, my brother Robert and myself were amusing
ourselves in the water, when a young man on horseback
came up and introduced himself without any ceremony, by
requesting to know if they would allow the auldest callant to
gang wi' him to herd nowt for twa or three months. A short
palaver was held between my stepfather and mother ; I was
recalled from my aqueous sports and was requested to dress,
not for dinner, but for a journey. I had a second shirt folded
up in a piece of paper, was told my mission, helped on to
the horse behind the young man, and away we went. Our
destination was a shepherd's cottage near the head of Warks-
burn : the distance from where we set out might be some-
where about twelve miles as the crow flies. The name of
my new home was Cauldrife, and no name could possibly
have been more appropriate. The house stood upon a wild
moor, completely isolated from the civilized world. I had
my instructions that night, next morning was called up at
four o'clock, and while I took my breakfast my new mistress
packed my dinner up ready for me to "gang to the hill."
My dinner consisted of barley bannocks, a whang of skimmed
milk cheese, facetiously denominated Peg Walker, from the
peculiar cohesive character of its particles. This, with a tin
flask of milk, was a sample of my stereotyped dinners. After
breakfast I went off to the hill, which was distant about a mile
and a half; my charge was a large herd of oxen, which were
sent up to graze from the low country in the summer months,
and were returned at the end of the season, in order to be
fed for the winter market at Morpeth. I west on pretty well
5
66 A CURIOUS CASE OF SOMNAMBULISM.
in my new avocation, until the novelty of the thing was past.
After I began to reflect upon my position, my lonely and dull
monotonous employment was like to break my heart. I
rarely ever saw a human being from one week's end to
another, except the inmates of the cottage when I went home
in the gloaming, which was generally about nine o'clock at
night during the time I was there.
I endured this monotonous life for three months, and
during the whole time I never either saw or heard of McNamee
or my mother. While I was in this place my mind was con-
tinually rilled with all sorts of uncomfortable reflections, and
as the term of my servitude drew near, I had made up my
mind that I was cast adrift upon the world, and my childish
prospects were, as you may imagine, anything but cheering.
During my sojourn in Cauldrife, I witnessed a little incident
of rather a peculiar nature : one night I was lying awake in
my bed, there being other two beds in the same room ; one
of these was directly opposite mine, and contained two men
who were mowing for the season. About two o'clock on the
morning of the night in question, both these men simul-
taneously arose in their bed, and sat upright, and carried on
a regular conversation for nearly half-an-hour concerning the
French war, which was about being brought to a close ;
during the whole of the time the men remained asleep.
After they had thoroughly discussed the question, they both
lay down as if by mutual consent. What was very singular,
neither of the men knew anything of the matter when
questioned about it in the morning.
A herd's life, such a one as I endured for three months, is a
dull monotonous round of existence ; it may be that the minds
of some people who are engaged in this solitary business
become inactive, and that they pass through life with few
cares or troubles ; such, however, was not my case, for my
little mind was continually in action. While at Cauldrife, I
had a faithful friend constantly at hand, my collie dog, who
shared my meals and lightened my duties. We had one
SOBRIETY AND SUCCESS. VISIT TO IRELAND. 6?
inconvenience to put up with, whether the weather was
foul or fair we had no shelter ; and both were glad when
the hour of supper-time came, after which my companion
took up his quarters by the ingle, and I was shortly off to
my comfortable oblivion !
At the expiration of my time I bade adieu to Cauldrife and
travelled over to Bellingham, which was about nine miles
distant ; as good fortune would have it, I found my step-
father and mother, and my clothing being in a sad state of
dilapidation, he took me down to Newcastle and rigged me
out with second-hand toggery, upon which he spent the whole
proceeds of my three months' servitude, which amounted
to fifteen shillings. If I could have torn the veil from the
future, it would have humbled my innocent pride ; these
same garments covered me when I was frequently steeped to
the very soul in grief. It is often well for us that " sufficient
unto the day is the evil thereof."
My stepfather had by this time continued a faithful disciple
to the cause of temperance for two years, the consequence of
which was, that my mother and he had accumulated a con-
siderable amount of property ; and instead of carrying their
packs, as they were wont to do, they had wisely enlisted the
services of a pair of asses, so that they had really become
respectable pedlars.
McNamee, as I observed before, had left home when he was
very young ; he had left several brothers and sisters behind
him, and had never heard anything of them during all the
years he had been away. Finding that he was in compara-
tively comfortable circumstances, he made up his mind to
visit the land of his birth. Whether he had any idea of
remaining in Ireland or not I never learned ; however, every-
thing was prepared for the journey, and in due course we
arrived in ould Ireland without any incident worthy of notice.
As we journeyed to the residence of my stepfather's rela-
tions, we required to pass through Killyleagh, in the county
of Down, and while in this place my mother learned that my
68 TRANSFER FROM A STEP-FATHER TO A FATHER.
own father was married and living there. Here then I am
on the eve of another change in the wheel of my capricious
fortune. My mother had an interview with my father, after
which I was duly consigned to his care. I cannot describe
my feelings at this sudden unlooked-for change. My step-
father, with all his faults, on the whole had been a kind and
not unfrequently an affectionate mentor to me ; on the other
hand, my own father was an utter stranger, and I went to him
with my mind surcharged with a living hatred of his very
name. I have observed that he was married he had a
family of three children, the oldest of which was a boy about
five years of age, and the two younger were girls. I therefore
lost my own mother and a stepfather, with three brothers as
dear to me as if we had all owed our being to one father. In
place of these I found a stepmother, by whom I must
naturally be looked upon as an unwelcome intruder. My
new-found brother and sisters were strangers to me, and from
the peculiar circumstances of our left-handed relationship,
and the unlooked-for nature of my introduction, it was very
likely we should remain strangers to each other, at least in
feeling. If you will imagine to yourself a number of people
obliged to live upon short allowance of food, and forced
to receive an additional member without a corresponding
provision, you will be able to form a pretty correct idea of my
reception in the ungenial home of my father. My stepmother
was certainly placed in a very unpleasant position ; before my
unlooked-for appearance she was not aware that any other
duplicate of her dear husband existed except her own loved
boy. After I was introduced, the poor woman did not know
how to treat me, and I knew she never could love, if even
she could bring her mind to tolerate me.
From the peculiar sensation my presence created, I could
observe that my father found himself in no very comfortable
position ; I was there as a living memento of his perfidy, and
while under his roof, I was a standing reproach to him for the
faithlessness of his conduct. My stepmother was a very
THE NEW PARENTS CONDITION AND CHARACTER. 69
quiet, easy, thriftless sort of a person ; when she was ill-
natured, or in a passion, she told the object of either the one
or the other the nature of her feelings through the medium
of her eyes instead of her tongue. My father was a peaceable,
industrious, sober, and well-meaning person ; he had nothing
marked in his. character, if I except a strong hatred of popery.
At this time, he was in humble circumstances, and his young
family required all his industry for their support. His trade
was that of a corduroy weaver, and in consequence of the
deranged state of business arising from the peace, which had
then recently been concluded between England and France,
employment in this branch of industry was both scarce and
badly paid for. I was then fifteen years of age, but I was
small in make and low in stature; however, as a set-off to these
natural deficiencies I was both sharp and active. As may
readily be supposed, I was not likely to be allowed to eat the
bread of idleness, so I was set to the business of winding
pirns (bobbins) for my father; and as he had no accommodation
for me to sleep at home, it was arranged that I should lie
with my uncle John, who had then only returned from the
army, where he had seen some service ; he was lodging with
my paternal grandfather and grandmother, whose dwelling was
next door to my father's. The old man rented a small piece of
land, by the cultivation of which he contrived to earn a scanty
living. The proceeds of his early industry had been swallowed
up by rearing a large family, who were all married except
one young woman then living at home, and my uncle, who,
like all the rest of his brothers, had learned the weaving
business.
The first out-door employment I had was in gathering
potatoes for my father when he went out to dig by the day,
which he was in the habit of doing in the season; his wages
were not such as a man could get fat upon; he was paid at the
rate of tenpence per day, and I was rewarded with a five-
penny piece that was nine years before the assimilation of
the currency.
70 A WINTER OF INTENSE SUFFERING.
When my father settled down to his loom again, I was
honoured with a new employment ; in addition to winding
bobbins, I was made caterer for fuel for the house. Some-
times I was sent to the Moss for turf; this place was fully
three miles from Killyleagh, and what turf I got I brought
home in a bag ; it may therefore be imagined the quantity of
this material I could carry such a distance. When I did not
go to the Moss, I was sent into the fields and woods to gather
sticks. By this time the winter had set in, and I was neither
inconvenienced with shoes or stockings ; the pair of brogues
my stepfather had purchased for me on coming into the
country had long ago been worn out. In consequence,
therefore, of frequent rambles through woods and fields, my
clothes were reduced to a very ragged condition, indeed no
young urchin could have had a better suit for ventilation, and,
what was more, I had numerous live stock that made a hunt-
ing ground of my body, and in addition to this I was kept
warm with the itch ! In those good old times there were very
few of the humble classes in Ireland who were free from one
or other of these inflictions, if not both.
During the winter my feet were hacked into innumerable
fissures, from which the blood was continually starting ; when
I washed them at night before going to bed (which was as
seldom as possible), my sufferings were intense; added to this,
my heels were as elongated as any black man's, with the action
of the frost, which caused me either continual pain or an
itching, which was nearly as bad to bear. Notwithstanding
my hard lot, neither my father nor step-mother ever noticed
me, unless to do their bidding ; the fact was, I was a complete
stranger in my father's house, and continually treated with
marked coldness and neglect. Had it not been for my grand-
father and grandmother, and my uncle and aunt, who always
treated me with uniform kindness, I should have frequently
suffered from hunger. My uncle was at that time rather a
rakish young fellow; he occasionally broke the dull monotony
of my existence, by taking me with him to some of the rustic
THE IRISH THEIR OWN CHIEF ENEMIES. 71
dancing parties he was in the habit of attending. The only
Irish wake I ever had the pleasure of seeing was in his com-
pany. I believe the Irish character is nowhere to be seen to
better advantage than at a wake or a fair, for in both cases
the whiskey brings it into bold relief. The peculiarly excitable
nature of the Irish temperament seems to know no medium,
the transition from fun to fighting is often instantaneous.
At that time it was no uncommon thing to see men shaking
hands one minute, and industriously breaking each other's
heads the next.
During my sojourn in Killyleagh, I had frequent oppor-'
tunities of witnessing those outbursts of feeling which arise
from party spirit. This infatuation has been a national curse
to Ireland ; the idea of men killing each other for the love
of God has something in it so extremely repugnant to
common sense, that did we not know the weakness of human
nature when labouring under strong prejudice, we could not
believe in such a state of things among people who were
even half civilized. I am aware that Ireland has suffered
much from English misgovernment arising from an illiberal
and short-sighted policy. Until lately, our rulers have uni-
formly endeavoured to keep alive a spirit of antagonism
among the people ; in this conduct they have evinced a very
small philosophy, and a still smaller Christianity. But how-
ever much the English have been to blame, the Irish people
have ever been their own greatest enemies ; there are few
countries blessed with, so many natural advantages ; and I
am certain that no civilized people could have done less to
develop its numerous resources. Instead of extending the
commerce of their country, cultivating the soil, and adding
to their social comforts, their time and energies have been
wasted in party feuds, and savage forays upon each other.
From this state of things, the Irish character had become a
problem to the rest of the civilized world, and neither states-
men nor philosophers could find a key to its solution. There
is another trait in the Irish character which has ever been a
72 NATURAL RESULTS OF UNFEELING TREATMENT.
drag upon her prosperity; I mean the want of national
independence. Her people, instead of depending upon
their own energies, courage, and industry, have vainly looked
forward to their country being redeemed by Acts of Parlia-
ment. O'Connell had frequently edified his countrymen by
quoting Byron's saying,
" Who would be free themselves must strike the blow ; "
but had he impressed upon them the truth, that a nation
that would be great must be united and industrious, it would
have been more applicable to their condition. In my opinion
"the love of savage justice" which has always characterized
the Irish people, would long since have died a natural death,
had it not been for the religious feuds which so long
continued to divide the nation against itself.
In the early part of the spring of 1816, my father went
out to the herring fishing, with a party of men who, along
with himself, were joint proprietors of a boat and net. The
party had been at sea all night, and early in the morning it
came on to blow a gale ; the weather continued so stormy
that great apprehensions were felt for their safety. The
friends and relations of the boat's crew were in dreadful
alarm, and by break of day the beach was covered with a
crowd of the townspeople, anxiously looking out to sea.
During the whole of my life I cannot say that I ever felt a
feeling of revenge ; on the contrary, such a state of mind
seems foreign to my nature. What I am going to state may
seem both unnatural and unholy; yet, upon that occasion
the only fear I had was, that my father should not be
drowned. The chance of escape from bondage such an
event would give me was the all-pervading feeling of my
soul. If the half of the world must have been wrecked along
with him, the feeling would have been the same. The
dreadfu^ consequences to the families of the men who formed
the boat's crew never entered into my mind; my only thought
was to be free. During the fearful suspense and the vacil-
GRO WING HA TRED TO WARDS MY FA THER. J 3
lating hopes and fears of those interested in the safe return
of the party, my condition of mind was a solitary exception
to that of every being in that anxious crowd. The circum-
stance was just one of those which was well calculated to
bring charity to the post of duty, but all my best feelings
were covered as it were by a mountain of selfishness. Until
the boat reached the beach in safety, my hope was against
every other hope, and when the hope of the people was
realized, mine was blasted. Up to that time my feelings
had never suffered with such intensity ; if they had been
steeped in the devil's molten furnace they could not have
been more hellish. His safe return kept me in chains, and
restored my anxious stepmother her husband !
I have often thought if my father had treated me with
even a small amount of kindness, he might have been able
to subdue my hatred. My young heart yearned for some-
thing to love, but that feeling required to be drawn out by
a kindred one. I knew my stepmother could not love me
it was not in the nature of things for her to do so ; my father
had deceived her in hiding my existence, it was therefore
no wonder that she treated me with so much coldness. My
father's harshness and want of duty to me may have been
greatly regulated by the opinion she would form of his
conduct to me, and the favourable contrast she might be
able to draw of his fatherly treatment of her own children.
During the whole time I was with him, he never once
called me by name ; his uniform manner of addressing me
was by the withering and degrading title of "sir!" Had
he but known how truly I hated him, and his unmannerly
term, he might have acted more in accordance with the
character of a father. The affections of young people cannot
be outraged with impunity ; it is true they may be trampled
upon, but duty never can supply the place of affection and
gratitude. I have reason to think that my father has often
reflected in the bitterness of his heart on his cruel conduct
to me.
74 CAMERON/AN BIGOTR Y.MY SOL1TAR Y FRIEND.
Had he done his duty to me as a father, I might have been
able to repay him when he most required the dutiful atten-
tions of a son. If he had sent me to school, which he could
have done, and assisted me to go into the world with only
an ordinary education, he would have saved me from being
the football of fortune, and leading the life of a wandering
vagrant for years. He was frequently in the habit of taunting
me with the old soldier, as he was pleased to call my step-
father; had he known how immeasurably he fell in my
estimation in the comparison, he would have been more
cautious in his observations. He had learned that McNamee
was a Catholic ; this of course with him was an unpardon-
able sin, and he frequently told me, with much bitterness of
feeling, that if he thought there was a particle of Popery in
my body he would cut it out ! Poor man ! from what I could
observe, his hatred of Catholicism, like that of many of his
countrymen, constituted no small part of his own religion.
The progenitors of my family were originally an importation
from Scotland, and being Cameronians, the deep hatreds
and strong prejudices of that sect seemed to cling to them
through their generations.
The opinion I had formed of my father was a distorted
one ; he was known to be an honest, sober, industrious, and
thoroughly domesticated man, but as I had hated him before
I had seen him, that feeling was not subdued, or even
modified, while I was with him.
I often think it strange, when I reflect upon the matter,
that during the whole time I was in Ireland I had never
cultivated a boyish acquaintance, nor had a single playmate,
if I except a little girl, the daughter of one of my father's
neighbours I was drawn to her by pure kindness. We never
met but she had a smile and a kind word of greeting for me ;
she was first drawn to me by pity, and then she loved me.
This dear little creature was like a good angel to me, and I
loved her with the fondness of a brother. We often met
when going errands, and upon such occasions we were never
A BLISSFUL IGNORANCE OF GEOGRAPHY. J$
at a loss for conversation. I frequently told her of my travels
and the strange sights I had seen, until her little innocent
mind was filled with wonder. Even now, after the lapse of so
many years, 1 can picture her little dumpy form, red face with
the dimple in her chin, and the sweet pleasing smile playing
about her small mouth, as if we had only parted yesterday. I
remember upon one occasion, while we were upon some mes-
sage together, I was reciting some of the tales of my travels
to her, when she interrupted me by inquiring, What sort of a
town England was ? Since then I have had similar questions
asked by older heads than hers. Some time ago I was in
Aberdeen, where I lodged with a very kind and amiable old
lady. One evening I was making inquiry of her as to the
position of Nairn and its distance from Aberdeen, at the
same time wishing I had a map of Scotland to refer to. She
observed that she could sune gie me ane. The dear old lady
was as good as her word, for she presently supplied me with
a map or lithographed plan of the seat of war in the Crimea!
I laughed at her good-natured simplicity, and observed that
her geography was confined to the latitude of the teapot.
" 'Deed," quoth she, " ye may say dat, for in my young days
there was nae 'sic new-fangled things thoucht o' ! "
The winter of 1816 had passed away, and spring with its
glorious train of vernal clothing, sunshine, and flowers, had
once more decorated the face of nature. But in the face of
returning gladness to the earth, my spirits were steeped in
sadness, and summer and winter were all the same to me.
When I have been in the fields gathering my daily load of
firewood, I have often envied the joyous lark, as he poured
forth his full flood of song, his glorious freedom. A being
in my situation could have very little sympathy with external
nature : my sores made me savage, and my isolated condition
turned all my thoughts upon myself. Since then, I have
often thought that the man must be callous indeed who can
listen to the joyful strain of these sweet warblers, as they hail
the early morn, without feeling in his soul emotions of
76 MUSIC OF THE LARK. LAMED BY A HORSE.
heaven-born pleasure. That is a beautiful poetic fancy of
Tannahill's, where he describes the " Laverock fanning the
snaw- white clouds." I have often thought that the delightful
warblings of this prima donna of the feathery choir was well
calculated to draw men's souls from earth to heaven : many a
time I have felt their music act like a soothing charm upon
my troubled mind. I sometimes think when men's souls are
not in harmony with the love and sympathy of nature, that
they cannot feel the true enjoyment of life. There is many an
honest John Bull to whom a daisy is just a daisy, and nothing
more : this, however, is the bliss of ignorance. In bringing
this reflection to a close, I am obliged to admit that there is
one condition necessary to those enjoyments which spring
from a proper appreciation of the beauties of nature. I con-
fess it is a vulgar one, but not the less necessary I mean an
orderly stomach.
In the middle of April, 1816, my father took me with him
to assist some neighbouring farmer in making his turf. It
seems to be a regular practice in that part of the country for
the neighbours to assist each other in getting in their winter's
fuel ; this operation always takes place in the early part of
the season, in order that the turf may be thoroughly dried
through the course of summer. Two little circumstances
occurred to me upon this occasion, which would not be worth
notice but for the after consequences of one of them. The
one was having enjoyed a good dinner, and the other having
my right foot severely wounded on the instep, by the tramp
of a horse. I have already observed that my feet were in a
very bad condition in consequence of being always exposed
to the weather ; my new wound was therefore a very unaccept-
able addition to my catalogue of sorrows.
As the season advanced, my yearnings for liberty increased,
arid my resolves began to assume something like a tangible
form. One day in the early part of May, I was sent to the
Moss for a bag of turf; this was after I had done winding
bobbins for the day ; the wound on my foot was extremely
ESCAPE FROM IRELAND TO SCOTLAND. 77
painful, and what made it more so, I had no commiseration
shown me, and no one seemed to care whether I felt pain or
pleasure, so long as I could perform my tasks. I had got to
the Moss, had filled my bag and got my load resting on the
highway ; this was the direct road from Killyleagh to Belfast.
After standing reflecting with the mouth of the bag in my
hand for a few minutes, my final resolve was made ; I tumbled
the turf out on the road, put the bag under my arm, and
turned my face towards Belfast, and my back to a friendless
home. I had no such feeling as Jacob experienced when he
left his father's house ; my mind was made up that whatever
might be my lot in life, no consideration should induce me
to return. From the moment I made up my mind, I threw
myself boldly upon the world, and for ever broke asunder
every tie that connected me to the name I bore. I had
neither staff nor scrip, nor money in my pocket. I commenced
the world with the old turf-bag. It was my only patrimony.
Thus I wandered forth into the wide world a fugitive from
kindred and from home. I had no fear but one, and that was
of being followed, and taken back. I travelled sixteen Irish
miles that afternoon. The excited state of my feelings kept
down the pain I otherwise must have suffered from the
wounded foot. That night I found an asylum in a cow-house
in a suburb of Belfast, and the next morning I was off by
daylight for Donaghadee. My reason for going there was
that it was the port I landed at when first coming to Ireland.
On my way I called at a farmhouse and begged a little food.
I reached Donaghadee about ten o'clock in the morning, and
found that the packet was not to sail till late in the evening.
For fear I should be discovered, I hid myself among the rocks
on the sea-shore until the sailing of the vessel. When that
time arrived (which I thought would never come), I stowed
myself in the forecastle until the vessel was a good way out
to sea. I cannot express the joy I felt when I found myself
safe. The captain badgered me when he found I could not
pay my fare, but this was soon over. We arrived in Port-
78 A SNUG LODGING. STARTING ON A LONG TRAMP.
patrick harbour about two o'clock in the morning, where I
had the honour of another good blowing up from the boat-
men who put me ashore that, too, passed by without giving
me any trouble. I thus landed in Scotland a penniless
wanderer, but with a mind full to overflowing with real joy
at my escape from bondage. No officious porter importuned
me to carry my luggage ; nor did any cringing lodging-house
keeper invite me to accept of his hospitality. After looking
about me for a few minutes, I observed a gentleman's travel-
ling carriage standing before the head inn ; with a light heart
I took up my quarters in this comfortable abode, where I
slept soundly until I was unceremoniously pulled out by a
servant in livery about half-past six in the morning.
The reader may be curious to learn what were my future
plans and prospects when I had got thus far. To tell the
truth, I had no definite idea of what was to become of me,
only that I was determined to fly to England. All my
happiest childish associations were centred in the valley of
North Tyne, in Northumberland, and I was, therefore, con-
tinually attracted in that direction. The distance from Port-
patrick to Bellingham, which I looked upon as my destination,
would be about 150 miles. The distance gave me no trouble
indeed, if it had been 1000 miles it would have been all the
same to me. I took the road for Dumfries, and travelled
about twenty miles the first day. I begged my way with as
good a grace as possible ; all I required was food and lodging,
and I had very little trouble in obtaining either the one or the
other. The day after I landed, I went into a farm-house on
the way side to solicit a little food. The good woman observ-
ing my bag, naturally imagined I was one of a family, and
kindly gave me a quantity of raw potatoes, which I could not
refuse. These potatoes gave me no small trouble, as I could
not make up my mind to throw them away ; so I carried them
to the end of my second day's journey, and gave them to an
old woman in Ferry Town of Cree, for liberty to lie before
her fire all night. Poor old creature ! she gave me share of
RENEWED EXPERIENCE OF HUMBLE KINDNESS. 79
her porridge in the morning, seasoned with sage advice.
Next day being Sunday, I took my time on the way, and
travelled until nine o'clock in the evening. Seeing a farm-
house a little off the road, I went and asked for lodgings.
At the time I called the inmates were engaged in family
worship ; as soon as they had finished I was inundated with a
shower of questions, to which I had to reply by a volley of
answers. The gudeman thoucht I had run awrf frae me place,
saying " it was an unco like thing to see a laddie like me
stravaging about the kintra on the Sabbath-day ; he was shere
I belanged to somebody, and it was a pity, for I was a weel-
faured callant, he wad warrant I was hungry." After this he
ordered the gudewife to gie me some sipper ; I had, therefore,
an excellent supper of sowans with milk, and bread and
cheese. After my repast, the good farmer made me up a bed
in the barn, with the winnowing sheet for a cover. In the
morning I had a good breakfast, and before leaving, the good
man gave me a world of advice. Up to this time I had been
so elated with my escape that I had not had time to feel the
wound on my foot ; but the novelty was now beginning to
wear away, and my foot began to assert its right to attention
as a useful member of the body corporate, and to make me
feel smartly for my neglect of it. A great part of the instep
was festered, and the pain became so great that my whole
limb was affected. I had, therefore, to limp along, and nurse
it as I best could.
On the morning of the day I arrived in Dumfries, and just
as I was leaving a farm-house, where I had lodged all night,
in the neighbourhood of Castle Douglas, I fell in with a man
who was driving a herd of cattle to Dumfries market, which
was held on the following day. Seeing that I was going in
the same direction, he invited me to assist him in " driving
the nowt, and whan we gat te the toun he wad gie me a sax-
pence te me seF /" I was certainly in a bad condition for such a
task ; the money, however, was a tempting inducement, so I
accepted his offer. It would be impossible for me to give
80 A SAVAGE CONTRASTED WITH A SAMARITAN.
you anything like an adequate idea of my sufferings in per-
forming the duty of a dog over eighteen miles of a partially
fenced road. When we arrived in Dumfries I was fairly
exhausted, and like to faint from sheer pain. To mend the
matter, the heartless savage discharged me without a farthing
of recompense. The monster excused himself by saying he
had nae bawbees. There I was ; hungry, lame, broken down
with fatigue, and- without a place to lay my head. The toll-
keeper, at the entrance of the town, who had witnessed the
brutal conduct of the drover, and heard my statement, tried
to shame the wretch into a sense of his duty, but he was just
one of those animals, in the form of a man, who could afford
to put up with any amount of abuse if he could save anything
by it.
The toll-keeper being a man who could feel for the suffer-
ings of others, kindly invited me into his house, where he
not only supplied me with a hearty meal, but he also got his
wife to wash and dress my wounded foot. This man was a
Good Samaritan indeed. On leaving him I endeavoured to
express my grateful sense of his kindness in the best manner
I could.
I had some idea that there was a person living in Dumfries
with whom my stepfather had been on terms of intimacy ; I
therefore sought this man's residence, in order that I might
obtain a night's lodging. After making inquiry, however, I
found that he had left his country by authority ! So I had to
seek quarters elsewhere, and after some little time I got a lair
in a hay-loft belonging to one of the inns.
The man above referred to was for a considerable time a
porter in the leading grocer's establishment in the town.
Both himself and his wife were from the wilds of Galway,
and they had scarcely half-a-dozen English words between
them. They had both got to love whiskey, and in order to
pander to their vitiated taste he had made free with his
master's property, and paid the penalty by being expatriated.
This good old border town is associated in my mind with
EARL Y ASSOCIA TIONS WITH DUMFRIES. 8 1
many childish amusements. When a wee fellow I have often
admired the three coloured glass globe-shaped bottles in the
window of the chemist's shop under the Mid Steeple ; many
a time I have played at pitch-and-toss with buttons (when
their relative value was regulated by the number of times
they were gilt) under the shade of the Haymarket ; and
many a thoughtless hour I have spent with other youngsters
among the logs of wood at the saw-pits on the sands, and
revelled in the enjoyment of laving my little limbs in the
clear waters of the Nith beneath the auld Brig.
CHAPTER IV.
THE man who has made up his mind to push his way
through the world must be content to take men as he
finds them. I am glad to say that the conduct of the heart-
less ruffian I described in my last chapter is an exception to
the humanity of my experience. This man's humanity was a
thing of pure selfishness, which he could no more help than
he could fly. In some natures there is a living feeling of
generosity, which is easily called into action at the sight of
human misery ; and if it cannot afford relief, it at least
sympathises with the sufferings of the victim ; while, on the
other hand, there are men whose feelings are doomed to dwell
in the frozen regions of uncharitableness, and no amount of
misery can set them free. Although I have had to fight my way
through a busy world, where all classes of society were con-
tinually engaged in looking after their own affairs, I am happy
to bear my humble testimony to the general diffusion of that
God-like feeling which so closely allies man to his Creator.
The next morning after my arrival in the gude town o' Dum-
fries, I went down to the sands, where the cattle-market is
held, and I soon got engaged to tend a herd of oxen for the
day ; my remuneration for this service being twopence and
a bawbee scone. In consequence of the restlessness of the
animals, I suffered very much with my foot during the day ;
and as the herd was unsold, I was kept on the sands until late
in the evening. When I got my liberty I took the road to
Carlisle. As I went limping along, numbers of people were
returning to their homes from the market, and among the rest,
I observed a man with an empty cart, who appeared to be
HERDING CATTLE AMONG THE HEATHER. 83
going in my direction. I requested this person to oblige me
with a ride, which he readily complied with. After we had
travelled a distance of three or four miles, the man stopped
his horse and went over a stone fence into a field ; and in
the course of a few minutes afterwards he nearly filled his
cart with new-cut clover, and there is no doubt that he had
made up his mind to the appropriation in the morning. For
some time before this, I had been driving the horse ; he now
took the reins in his own hand, and bade me lie down among
the clover, which I was very glad to do, and, being much
wearied, I was scarcely down before I was sound asleep.
When the fellow arrived at home, he left me in the cart all
night. In the morning, he invited me to breakfast, which
was by no means unwelcome. On the previous evening,
during our journey, he had made himself master of my history,
and therefore knew my condition. This man was a small
farmer in Dumfriesshire, and the greater part of the land he
rented was uncultivated moor, while here and there a patch
was being reclaimed. After breakfast, he asked me if I wad
bide wi' him and herd the kye through the simmer. The fact
was, that I was very glad of the offer, and at once made an
unconditional tender of my small services. I had little idea
of the nature of my duties : otherwise I should have walked
on.
I have observed that his cultivated plots of land were laid
out in patches on a moor. These little sunny spots were
invitingly open to the cattle, as none of them were fenced. I
may observe that cows are just like other animals, whether of
an inferior or a superior class: when they once taste for-
bidden fruit, they are sure to have a desire to repeat the dose.
The ground I had to travel over in the performance of my
duty was thickly covered with stunted heath. If I could
have carried my unfortunate foot in my pocket, I might have
got on swimmingly ; but, as it was, every move I made was
attended with the most excruciating pain, and, while the
stolen bites of green corn were sweet to the cattle, like the
84 TERRIBLE DEATH-BED OF A DRUNKARD.
story of the boy and the frogs, the exercise was death to me.
Frequently, when I had to run after the beasts, my very heart
was like to break with the painful sensation caused by the
heather rubbing against my wounded foot. After I had been
at this place a few days, the mistress of the house hunted out
a pair of old clogs which she said wad keep the heather frae
my fit. These clogs were a world too large for me, and the
very weight of the one on my wounded foot was an aggrava-
tion of the evil I was enduring : I had therefore to dispense
with these wooden understandings. On the eighth or ninth
day of my servitude in this place, when in the act of coming
home to dinner, I observed the Dumfries mail coming up on
its way to Carlisle : in an instant I made up my mind to a
second run away. With much difficulty I caught hold of the
hind part of the coach, and hung on by it for a distance of
more than a mile : when I let go my hold I was fairly ex-
hausted, and had to rest a considerable time before I could
resume my journey.
That night I slept in Annan, in a house where there was
a beautiful but heart-broken young wife. Her husband
was then lying on his death -bed in the last stage of delirium
tremens. I have witnessed many cases of human suffering,
but I think this was the saddest and most distressing I ever
beheld. Poor unfortunate fellow ! his bed, which ought to
have been a couch of ease and a place of comfortable
relaxation, was to him a living hell, full of tormenting devils !
I know of no more truly melancholy sight in nature, than
that of seeing a strong man suffering the pains of the
damned through his own folly. I believe this dreadful
scourge to be the severest infliction the law of nature can
impose upon those who wantonly violate it. I can never
forget that poor heart-stricken woman : in her sorrow she
was willing to forget the past and cling to hope for the
future. The fervour of her love made her oblivious of her
own sufferings, and she was willing to go through the
world with her wrecked husband in beggary, if he could
CHANGING COATS WITH A SCARECROW. 85
only be restored to her. God help her, poor woman !
her hopes were vain ; his madness and his pain would
soon be over! When I left, he was sinking into the arms
of death.
On the evening of that day I had got hirpled as far as
Langtown : there I had a horse for my bed-fellow at least,
we occupied neighbouring stalls in the same stable. It may
well be said that poverty sometimes gives us strange bed-
fellows. The next day I took the road for Newtown, and
on the way I offered a trifling sacrifice at the shrine of
cleanliness by washing my ragged shirt in the river Liddel,
and I had also the pleasure of exchanging my jacket with
a customer who gave me all my own way in the transaction.
The odds were not much on either side ; however, the
scarecrow had the worst of the bargain.* That night I
travelled until about ten o'clock, when I arrived at one of
those old-fashioned feudal keeps, or castellated buildings,
which were common on the Border at one time. When I
had rapped at the door, a young lady came out whose
features were an index to a kind and amiable disposition.
After I told her my tale she invited me into the house.
The only other inmate was a venerable-looking old man,
with hair as white as flax. When she introduced me, the
good old gentleman, putting a speaking horn to his ear,
heard my tale with much seeming interest. Soliloquising
to himself he said, " Poor bairn ! poor bairn ! One-half
of the world does not know how the other lives ! " And
looking at me he observed, " Wha kens but this poor ragged
laddie may be a braw chiel yet ? " After this he requested
the young lady to prepare me some supper, and while this
'1?as being done he addressed me in the most kind and
fatherly manner. " Mind, my little mannie" said he, " aye
put your trust in God, and be sure and keep yourse? honest,
and never tell lees. If you do these things God will love
* That little exchange was effected in a field at a short distance from
Netherly Hall, the residence of Sir James Graham.
86 HOSPITABLE ENTERTAINMENT, WITH ADVICE.
you, and be your Helper and Protector, and you will gain
the esteem o' a' that ken you." I was served with a really
comfortable supper, after which the young woman dressed
my foot with as much care and tenderness as if I had been
her own brother. How true it is, that in our hours of illness
women are our ministering angels ! I lay with the old man,
and slept as soundly, and rose as happy, as if I had been a
lord's son. What a truly happy provision in nature it is that
our capacity for the enjoyments of life are to a great extent
regulated by our condition. With a little kindness, a belly-
full of food, and a good night's rest, my mind was as much
at ease as if I had no earthly want to provide for. In the
morning I received the same kindly attentions ; and when I
was preparing for my journey both the old gentleman and
his daughter pressed upon me to remain with them for two
or three days, until my foot should be healed. I thanked
them sincerely, and would gladly have remained, but I knew
I could only have a short time to stay with them ; so I bade
them adieu. As I left, I wished in my heart that the young
woman had been my sister; I thought in my mind how I
should have loved both her and her father. The wish was
a selfish one ; but it must be remembered that many of our
best actions spring from selfish motives. The desert of life
has many bleak and barren passages, over which numbers
of the human family must pass ; yet there are many sunny
spots, where the virtues spring up like beautiful flowers to
make our hearts glad. The gall we drink by the way is
too often the produce of our own folly, and the real honey
of life is a firm reliance upon the goodness of God, and a
kindly regard for all His creatures.
The following night I slept in a farm-house at the junction
of the Liddel with the Hermitage, and the next morning I
crossed the ideal line which divides the two kingdoms. The
day was warm, clear, and beautiful, and smiling Nature was
in her loveliest mood ; the sheep were listlessly feeding on
the fell, and the valleys below were filled with a thin, trans-
HAPPY DAYS WITH THE DAG FAMILY. 8/
parent haze. The lofty hills of Keelder were standing out
in the warm sunshine, and throwing their shadows far over
the valleys where the Tyne and the Keelder were creeping
along in summer indolence. On a jutting promontory be-
tween the Tyne and the Keelder I could see the turrets and
embattlements of Keelder Castle peeping out from among the
rich foliage of the surrounding trees. As I cast my eyes over
the landscape before me, my heart was filled with unspeakable
emotions of joy. I knew every hill and dell from this place
to Hexham, a distance of about thirty miles. I had enjoyed
the hospitality of nearly every house between the one point
and the other, and Keelder Castle had always been a kind
home to my mother's family. If I had been going to my
own home, from which I had been absent for years, my
feelings could not have been inspired with a more lively hope
in the warmth of my reception. It may be asked what
interest these people could have in me, or what claim I could
have upon their kindly regard ? My answer is, that they
could have no interest in me, excepting what was dictated
by the innate goodness of their generous natures, and my
claim was founded upon the knowledge of such goodness.
During the time that the elder John Dag kept Keelder
Castle, there was no house on the Border whose portals were
so open to the stranger and the wayfarer. There the poor
were kindly bid to stay, and the rich man found a congenial
home. I drew near to the castle with a palpitating heart,
and I was full of contending emotions, hope, joy, and fear
alternately filled my breast. Since I had been there before,
I had navigated many of the bays and creeks of the stormy
sea of life, and I knew the harbour I was sailing into could
only be a temporary one, but still I had much cause to hail
it with delight. Mr. Dag's family received me with their
usual kindness, and their first care was to unrobe me, after
which I was put into a full suit of young Mr. Dag's clothes.
My old dress, even to the shirt, was consigned to the dunghill,
and my unfortunate foot soon grew well under their tender
88 JOURNEY RESUMED.
care. For five weeks I continued a playmate to the younger
members of the family, during which time all my misery was
buried in oblivion, and the present time was full of joy, with
no cankering thoughts for the future. One little incident
will prove the familiar terms I was on with the family. One
day when I was out in the hay-field, while some of the young
men were romping with the girls and bearding their rosy
faces, I too held an innocent gambol with one of the Misses
Dag, her brother holding her down while I performed the
manly operation of bearding her face with a hay wisp in my
mouth ! Keelder Castle was a paradise to me while I remained,
and when I left it was with a sad and sorrowful heart. I was
again lonely in the big world, and as I journeyed on my way
my mind frequently became a mere blank. Oh, how gladly
I could have bid adieu to the busy world, and spent my days
in the bosom of that quiet secluded glen. I think if I had
been desired to have remained, I would never again have
wished to roam beyond its peaceful retirement. I daresay
Mr. Dag's people would have willingly given me the home I
so ardently desired, but they knew too well the wandering
life I had led, and like many others who would gladly have
served me, they had no confidence in one who had been
tossed about the world under so many changing phases.
They imagined that there would be no possibility of taming
my wild nature. This impression followed me like an evil
genius, and made me the victim of circumstances over which
I had no power. It is rather a curious fact, that notwith-
standing my lonely condition, I never felt any desire or had a
thought of meeting with my mother and stepfather ; the only
reason which I can assign for this want of feeling in their
regard is, that when they parted with me I must have been
impressed with the idea that it was for life.
On the evening of the day I left Keelder Castle, I arrived
at a farmhouse in the neighbourhood of Bellingham, called
Riding. This place had been one of my mother's friendly
places of call ; the farm was occupied by a family of the name
FARM LIFE WITH THE RICHARDSONS. 89
of Richardson, which was composed of Mr. and Mrs. Richard-
son, an unmarried son and daughter, and a bachelor brother
of Mr. Richardson's. This gentleman was about seventy-six
years of age, and must have made a serious mistake in allow-
ing himself to be dragged into the nineteenth century.
According to his own ideas of the fitness of things, he had
out-lived the age of rationality, and all things were changed
for the worse. The new fashions were then unco like sights,
and the warld was getting fou' o' pride ; blacking shoon was
just the way to wear the leather, there was nae sic' tomfoolery
when he was a young man. Tea and sugar were abomina-
tions, and he couldna? tell what the warld wad come to !
John was not the only man I have known who had the
misfortune to live beyond his time. Notwithstanding these
peculiarities, few men could button a coat over a better or
a kinder heart. The whole of this family could not have been
cast in better moulds for real benevolence of disposition if
they had been made to order. Mr. Richardson was one of
those men who could do half-a-dozen good actions before
he had time to describe one; and his wife was not only a
mother to her own family, but she was also one to all who
stood in need of her assistance. When I made my case
known, I found a welcome home at the Riding, and was
employed in doing all the little messages, and such matters
as I could manage on the farm. My mind was once more
at ease, and I had no longings as to the future ; I was also
in the only part of the world I had any desire to be in. I
may fairly say that while I was with Richardson's people, my
life was like a pleasant dream. I may mention two or three
little circumstances which in some measure varied the pleasing
routine of my existence. In the first place, I narrowly escaped
losing my life by the running away of a young horse, while
I was in the act of riding him home after watering. I only
missed having my brains knocked out against the stable door
by tumbling off the animal's back the moment before he
reached it. My next little escapade was in driving a pair
9O " TAPPING THE ADMIRAL:" VICIOUS EXAMPLE.
of horses home in an empty cart the above young horse
being the leader; after passing through a gateway, I was
standing in the cart when the leader suddenly shied off the
road, and the counteraction being so quick, the cart was
turned upside down, and I was, like the turkey, whomalhd
under a tub. When I was relieved my memory and senses
were in the land of nod.
Mr. Richardson's oldest son was the Bellingham carrier,
and he went once a week to Newcastle, with three, and
sometimes four horses ; I was allowed to go with him at his
request as an assistant in a small way. During one of these
journeys, on our way home we required to come up a very
steep bank out of a ravine named Houxsty, and in coming up
this ascent the horses had to take the road at angles, and
required to rest frequently. Upon this occasion Mr. Richard-
son had a hogshead of rum for his brother-in-law, a Mr.
Charlton, who kept the head inn in Bellingham, and there
were several carriers in company belonging to other villages.
In sailor phraseology, the admiral was tapped, which was a
usual thing when any of them had spirits aboard. After each
of the party had had a draw through the quill, I was invited to
have my share ; being green in paying my addresses to Bacchus,
either in that or any other form, like Paddy at the gallows, I
had my whack. Before we got to the top of the hill, we had
all three pulls a-piece. After walking about a hundred yards
after my last draw, I fell down on the road as if I had been
shot, and I knew no more about the history of the world for
forty-eight hours, and all the parties interested but myself
imagined that my rum-drinking was over. However, the
doctor being anxious to prevent a coroner's inquest, pulled
me back from the world of spirits.
While I was at the Riding, an incident occurred to me
which had some little influence over my mind in reference to
ghosts. My master's young son, who was at home, was very
fond of card-playing, which was then one of the leading vices
of the country people. Upon the occasion in question, he
SCARED BY A GRAVEYARD APPARITION. 9!
had been from home much beyond his usual hours, and I
was sent down to the village, which was distant rather better
than a mile, to see if I could find him : I left home about
eleven o'clock at night. Before getting into the village, I
had to pass through an avenue of trees, whose branches
nearly covered the road for about three hundred yards. I
had called at the various houses where I knew my young
master was in the habit of putting up, but was unsuccessful
in finding him. The night was both dark and windy, and
on leaving the village for home, I felt some symptoms of fear
rising about the region of my stomach. The road I had to
pass along was a first-rate place for restless spirits to patrol in.
The church, with its graveyard, stood at the entrance of the
avenue, the bell hung suspended in a little open arch, and
in case of high winds, it did not require the aid of the sexton
to bring forth its melancholy notes, and on this eventful
night its unmusical tongue was sounding in fitful ding dongs.
As I re-entered the avenue, the branches of the trees were
lashing each other as if in sport, and the whole covering of
the avenue was dancing to the rude music of the gale. The
unnatural sound of the bell, the hoarse noise of the wind
the proximity to the graveyard, and the darkness of the
night with the witching hour, were well calculated to inspire
me with fear. I endeavoured to keep a good look-out, so
that I might not be seized unawares, and tried to whistle my
waning courage into a feeling of defiance. When I got about
half way down the avenue, I became virtually petrified with
horror, by seeing the devil standing in the middle of the
road. The hair on my head partook of the general alarm of
my whole system and stood erect, my knees smote each
other, and every part of my body seemed alive and on the
watch but one my heart was drowned in terror. At last,
when I had power to reflect, my first thought was to run back
to the village ; my second was, that the devil could beat me
at that game ; and my third was, the magnanimous resolve
to pass on. With a large amount of determination dragging
92 AN EXCISEMAN'S EXPERIENCE ON THE BORDER.
my fears along, I encountered his satanic majesty in the shape
of a cow quietly pulverizing her food, and apparently in-
different to the howling of the wind or my fears. As I made
the best of my way home with my scattered senses, I gave
many a suspicious glance over my shoulder for fear that the
cow should assume some other shape. When I came to
reflect upon the matter in something like a rational way, I
could not help thinking that my conduct was extremely
childish in converting a poor innocent cow into the devil.
I therefore made up my mind to be very sceptical about
seeing the devil in future.
A short time after this I was witness to one of those
serio-comic circumstances which is sufficient to supply a
whole countryside with gossip for at least nine days !
About three miles from Bellingham, at a place of the name
of " The Carritith," lived a person who went by the name
of Johnny o' the Carritith ; this man was a small farmer, and
he occasionally employed himself as a common carrier.
Report, which is at all times a very reliable authority, said
that Johnny did a little in the smuggling way. I may mention
that smuggling was then a very common practice along the
whole of the English Border, and was looked upon as a
very venial offence by the people. Salt was then salt indeed,
and if the farmers could not obtain the article, their pork
and winter's beef would have to go uncured. Some weel
disposed freed o' Johnnie's laid an information against him
to the village exciseman. This gentleman made a goodly
seizure at the Carritith, and the whole spoil was put on one
of John's own carts. While the exciseman and the smuggler
were bringing the cargo down to the village in order to have
it placed under his Majesty's broad R, they had to ford the
river Tyne ; before coming to the ford they had to pass
down a steep embankment which ran parallel with the river.
The road down this bank was composed of a light gravelly
soil, and was full of springs. At the time of the occurrence
there had been a very severe frost for some weeks, the
A SAD AND DISGRACEFUL VILLAGE DEBAUCH. 93
consequence of which was, that the river had been frozen
over, and was at the time sufficient to bear almost any
amount of weight. The road down the embankment was
also one sheet of ice. Now, the gauger was a man whose
height was at least six feet and a half; like one who knew
his duty, and was not ashamed to do it, he led the way, and,
like a drum-major, walked in front of the horse, while John,
with canny caution, kept hold of it in order to prevent the
animal from slipping. They had only commenced the
descent of the hill when the exciseman measured his full
length in front of the horse's head, in consequence of
which the animal stumbled, and the wheels going off the
straight line, the horse and cart and Johnny tumbled down
over the precipice, a distance of some ninety feet, and
landed on the ice on the river. In the descent the whiskey
casks were stove in, and somewhere about 100 gallons of
gude peat reek was left to find its level on the ice. In the
course of ten minutes after the accident taking place, all
the shoemakers, doggers, tailors, blacksmiths, cartwrights,
and lazy-corner supporters of the village were on the river.
It was seldom that the villagers had such an opportunity of
getting a surfeit of whiskey at so cheap a rate. Some went
upon their knees and lapped the nectar dog-fashion, others
shovelled it into them with the palms of their hands, some
used the heels of their clogs, and others used such vessels
as they could most readily lay their hands on. There was
no time for the social ceremony of drinking each other's
healths, so they made the most of their time in saving as
much of Johnny's whiskey as the circumstances would admit
of. In about half-an-hour after this exciting event, the little
quiet village of Bellingham presented a scene at once
ludicrous and disgusting young and old were rolling about
like as many maniacs let loose from some lunatic asylum.
If any of the parties who were on the ice had had a particle
of common sense, poor John Turnbull might have been
saved eighteen months' confinement in Morpeth Jail. Along*
94 THE REVENUE OFFICER CAUGHT IN A TRAP.
with the whiskey which had been seized there was a large
bag of salt ; the penalty for smuggling this article was
much greater than that on whiskey ; I suppose the reason of
this would be that it was an article of common use. When
the cart came in contact with the ice, it made a consider-
able indentation, and during the whole exciting scene the
salt lay upon the very edge of the water, and only required
a friendly hand to put it in.
I could almost fill a volume with the numerous smuggling
incidents I have witnessed : the following, however, will give
a pretty good idea of the dangers consequent upon this
calling, and the reckless daring character of those who
were engaged in it. When I was in Bellingham there were
two families who ostensibly made their living by carrying
coals into Scotland from the neighbouring pits, upon pack-
horses. One of the parties had as many as thirty of these
animals. This business could only be followed in the
summer season, in consequence of there being no regular
roads ; the country over which they had to travel was all
moorland, and the horses were allowed to feed by the way.
One of the men who followed this business was named
Turnbull, and it was pretty well known to the initiated that
he made more by smuggling than coal-carrying. Mr. Gash,
the exciseman, had long had his eye upon this person, but
never could catch him in the act. Turnbull knew his kind
intentions towards him, and determined to give him an
opportunity of serving his master. In order to carry out
his laudable purpose, Turnbull got one of his friends to lay
an information against him. Upon a specified day and
hour Turnbull was to be found in a certain locality, in the
act of bringing his cargo into the village. Gash swallowed
the bait, and acted upon the information. The place where
Turnbull was to be found was in a secluded lane, rather
better than two miles from the village. According to the
advice in the information, Gash met his man with a five-
gallon cask slung over his shoulder in a sack ; he made the
FUTILE CHASE OF A CUNNING SMUGGLER. 95
seizure in due form, after which he invited Turnbull to carry
the prize to its destination ; the smuggler, however, was too
much a man of the world to comply with the exciseman's
good intentions ; he therefore allowed him the honour of
bearing the prize home upon his own Herculean shoulders.
The day was very warm, and when Gash arrived in the
village the perspiration was raining off him. They were
met by a number of the inhabitants, who were always ripe
for a row. In passing to his own house the exciseman had
to go close by the door of Turnbull' s ; when they arrived at
this point Turnbull very civilly requested Gash to prove his
prize before giving himself any more trouble ; he was
morally certain as to the contents of the cask, but as a
mere matter of courtesy he laid down his load, and taking
a gimlet from his pocket, he spiled the keg; the result of
this kindly compliance was perhaps the most mortifying to
him of any circumstance during his whole life. Instead of
a stream of pure mountain dew following the perforating
instrument, one of unreduced buttermilk met his astonished
gaze. The laugh and the cheers which followed were loud
and long. That stream of buttermilk sealed poor Gash's
fate in Bellingham, and I have no doubt but it would cling
to him through life.
I remember being witness to a very exciting race between
a smuggler and a supervisor. There was a person in Hexham
who followed the business as a regular profession. The
excise had long watched his movements, but he had always
contrived to evade them. This person kept a splendid horse,
both strong and fleet of foot. Upon the occasion I allude
to, he was coming into town, on a fine summer's evening,
with two five-gallon casks slung over his horse's back, and he
was snugly seated between them. About half-a-mile before
he came to Tyne Bridge, he observed the supervisor close
behind him. The officer was quite sure of his man ; however,
it will be seen that he calculated without his host. The
smuggler gave his horse the spur, and when he crossed the
g6 TRICKS PL A YED ON SUPERVISORS OF EXCISE.
bridge, instead of taking the high road into the town, he
turned sharp round to the right and took a footpath along the
side of the river. This path led to Hexham Green ; but
before he could arrive at this place, he required to clear a
stone wall and a deep ditch on the other side of it. The
officer was a very short distance behind, and he knew the
wall would check his career, and imagined he had his man too
in a regular cul de sac. Never was any man more mistaken in
his calculations. The smuggler cleared both the wall and
the ditch at a bound. The officer had no alternative but to
wheel round and make for the town by the regular road ; and
he still imagined that it was next to impossible for the smug-
gler to escape. When he got half way down Gilligate, he
met his man riding quietly up the street, as if nothing had
occurred in which anybody could be interested. The fellow
coolly asked the officer if he was gaun to seek the howdie, he
was in sic' a hurry ? I need not say that the whiskey was non
est by that time ! The ride cost the exciseman many a joke,
which he would much rather had been cracked upon anybody
else as he piqued himself upon being a sharp fellow. In
those days nothing could please the people better than to see
an excise-officer outwitted.
The life of an officer of the excise on the Border was both
precarious and full of danger, as the smugglers were generally
a determined set of fellows ; the fact was, they cared very
little for the value of life. They looked upon their calling, in
a moral point of view, as legitimate as any other ; and in this
they were borne out by the opinions of many who had no
interest in the matter. About as smart a trick as any I know
of, took place in the neighbourhood of Kirkwhelpington, and
not far from Cambo. A smuggler was quietly riding along
with a load of two ten-gallon casks. Each side of the road
was lined with a plantation, and it was quite a lonely place.
As he came up to a sharp angle of the road he met an excise
officer full in the face. The smuggler was a known fellow :
he took the matter quite coolly. He observed to the officer
BORDER SMUGGLERS, SUCCESSFUL OPERATIONS. 97
that it was the first time he ever met with a loss, and he
could verra weel afford to let him taK it, an' welcome ! The
officer lost no time in proving his prize, and when this was
done the smuggler requested that he might be allowed to
hae a mouthfou\ as it wad be the last he should see o' it.
The officer seeing that he had met with such a condescending
sort of a fellow, readily complied. After the smuggler had
taken what he wanted, he observed that it was just a drap o'
as gude whusky as ere cam' o'er the Border ; at the same time,
he blandly invited the officer to taK a sook, saying it was na
money o' the trade that bought whusky at the price he gied
for 't. The innocent exciseman stooped down to try the
flavour of the spirits, but it was late in the evening of that
day when he was removed from the spot, and it was more
than nine months before he was again fit for duty. The
smuggler sold his cargo in Newcastle the same night, and oft
related his friendly meeting wi' the exciseman to his com-
panions o'er a wee drappie o't.
There was often a good deal of ingenuity displayed by the
smugglers in evading the vigilance of the excise. I have
seen a company of melancholy mourners following a rude
country hearse, filled with aqua vitce instead of a dead body.
I knew a gentleman who carried on a very profitable business
in the smuggling line, in the guise of a commercial traveller.
His turn-out was really splendid, and he had all the appear-
ance of being the representative of some first-rate London
house. His vehicle was so contrived that he could carry
forty or fifty gallons, and in order to disarm suspicion he
varied his route each journey. I believe he carried on this
business successfully for several years. At that time Scotch
whiskey was not admissible into England under any con-
ditions. This unnatural prohibition was to protect the pro-
ducers of our colonial rum, which was then made by slaves !
CHAPTER V.
A NOTHER change is now about taking place in the
XJL eventful drama of my chequered life. Shortly after the
occasion of my rum dose, a Mr. Turnbull, who was then pro-
prietor of Hesleyside Mill, wanted a young lad to ride round
the neighbourhood to bring the farmers' batches to be ground
and take them home when made into meal. As Richardson's
people had no real use for me, they advised me to accept the
situation on their recommendation. While I had been with
this family I knew no care, and was perfectly happy. Such
was the serene state of my mind that I rarely ever thought of
the past, unless it was called to my recollection by some joke
of my young master, who occasionally made merry at my
expense. The future I seldom thought of, and my mind was
fairly made up to a country life. I accepted the miller's
situation, and left my benefactors with mingled feelings of
pleasure and regret. I liked my new berth very well, but as I
had not had much experience in the management of horses, I
was very likely to get into some awkward dilemmas. The
pony I had charge of was both a cunning and a stiff-necked
animal. The most of my journeys were over moors, and in
many places the houses lay very wide apart. About a fortnight
after I had entered my situation I was sent to an isolated farm-
house for two sacks of corn. In coming home I had to cross
a moor, over which there was no road, and the distance was
better than four miles. I was seated comfortably on the top
of the corn-sacks, and was getting on very quietly, but before
I arrived in the middle of the moor, my Bucephalus spilled the
sacks and myself among the heather. My companion, when
REJOINED BY MY MO THER ; MA CNAMEE DEAD. 99
he found himself free, kicked up his heels and set off for home.
Supposing he had remained I could not have lifted the sacks
on his back, so I was forced to follow him home with the tear
in my e'e, and get one of the servant men to return with me
for the grain. Upon another occasion, my tormentor took it
into his head, while fording the Tyne, to lie down with me
and his load in the middle of the stream. This brute was my
bublie jock, and often gave me much annoyance ; but on the
whole I continued to like my situation, and as I grew stronger
I felt better able to manage my companion.
I had only been in my new situation about four months,
when on coming home one evening, I was nearly surprised
out of a year's growth by the unlooked-for appearance of my
mother. She was now a widow, having buried my stepfather
about three months before this, at Doncaster, in Yorkshire.
She had also the addition to her family of another boy, who
was then about nine months old. She had learned where I
was when in Bellingham, and could not believe the fact until
she could see me with her own eyes. In spite of all I had
suffered since she handed me over to the tender mercies of
my father, I was much improved. Whether her affection was
resuscitated on again seeing her firstborn, or whether she
thought she could turn me to her advantage, I cannot say,
but she strongly pressed me to leave my situation and go with
her. At first, I had little notion of leaving, but on being
pressed, my heart once more warmed to her, and the evil star
of my life was again in the ascendant. I was again a vagrant,
and continued so against my will for years. When I joined
my mother, she had only a few shillings' worth of small-ware,
in a basket, and for six months after this we lived a sort of a
scrambling existence.
The year 1817 was one of peculiar hardship for the lower
orders of the people ; the cereal crop was a failure over the
whole of the United Kingdom. I remember that much of
the corn had to be cut in December, and of course was only
fit to feed cattle. At this time, and for several years subse-
I OO POLITICAL EXCITEMENT. THE BLA CK D WA RF.
quenlly, the people were in a very uncomfortable state of ex-
citement. The six acts of Sidmouth and Castlereagh were in
full force, and the Magna Charta may be said to have been
virtually suspended, as far as the rights of the people were
concerned. I am firmly convinced, that if the conduct of the
British people had' not been characterised by the greatest
forbearance, this country might have witnessed many of the
sanguinary scenes which disgraced the French Revolution.
Notwithstanding the rigid character of the laws that were
passed to keep down the expression of public opinion, the
government did not pass without being exposed. The French
war had fairly crippled the energies of the people, and its
effects hung like a deadly incubus upon the commerce of the
nation. At that time the pension list was filled with the
names of both men and women whose conduct, instead of
being an honour to the nation, was a disgrace to humanity,
and the court of the Prince Regent had become a reproach to
the country, in consequence of its licentiousness and brutality.
The Black Dwarf was then being published, and widely
circulated ; this periodical found its way into almost every
town, village, and hamlet in the kingdom, laden with the sins
of the aristocracy. I cannot give a better illustration of the
strong antagonistic feelings which then existed between rich
and poor, than by relating a little circumstance which came
under my own observation : There was a young man in
Bellingham, named George Seaton, who had served his
apprenticeship with a Mr. Gibson, a saddler. Seaton was a
person of studious habits, and an enquiring turn of mind :
he was also a very good public reader. For some time after
the Black Dwarf made its appearance in the village, Seaton
was in the habit of reading it to a few of the more intelligent
working people, at the old-fashioned cross which stood in the
centre of the village. It must be borne in mind that this
Seaton was a person of unblemished character, and both sober
and industrious in his habits. Notwithstanding these moral
qualifications, when it came to be known that he had imbibed
IN THE SERVICE OF MR. PETERS AT HEXHAM. IOI
a spirit of radicalism, there was scarcely a farmer in the
district would employ him. This person was a lineal de-
scendant of Seaton, Earl of Winton, who had to fly his
country for his loyalty to the Pretender in 1715; and he
made some little stir a few years ago in certain circles, when
he laid claim to the title and estates of his family, and though
he was unsuccessful, I have reason to believe that he was the
lawful heir. The title is now in the keeping of the Eglinton
family.
While my mother and family continued to travel in the
valleys of the Tyne and Redwater, we made Hexham our
home. We occupied a small house on the Battle -hill, but
in consequence of spending so much of our time in the
country, we were seldom in Hexham more than a few days
at a time. Upon one occasion when we were at home, I
accidentally met with a gentleman of colour, called Peters
I believe he was a native of India. He was living at that
time in a lonely cottage, rather better than a mile from
Hexham. This eccentric gentleman took a fancy to me, and
invited me to go and live with him as his servant. There
was a novelty about the situation that suited me, so I accepted
his offer, much against my mother's wishes. Mr. Peters was
quite a gentleman, but full of strange eccentricities. I be-
lieve Mr. James, of Newcastle, was his guardian ; whatever
property he may have possessed at a former period, he must
have got pretty well through it when I went to him. I lived
with him in his solitary mansion for nearly six months, and
acted the part of cook, slut, butler, page, footman, and
valet de chambre.
One fine morning, when I was in the act of making ready
to go to town upon some message, a pair of suspicious-
looking gentlemen inquired if my master was at home,
stating at the same time that they wanted him upon parti-
cular business. I knew the men, and was fully aware that
any business they could have with him was sure to be parti-
cular ! The consequence of this to me unlooked-for visit
1 02 SEPARA TION FROM PE TERS. HA WKING RESUMED.
was the loss of my situation and the removal of my strange
but really kind master upon a warrant for debt. While I was
in his service, I had been much benefited in more ways than
one. I was improved in my manners, and considerably
polished by having the rusticity rubbed off me, and my
clothing was such as I had never worn before. A few days
after Mr. Peters' removal, I paid him a visit in gaol, where
he received me in the most kindly manner and made inquiry
as to my future prospects. His altered condition seemed to
make no difference in his general buoyancy of temperament,
and he appeared as happy as if he enjoyed the most perfect
freedom. Poor fellow ! I never learned what became of
him. With all his peculiarities, he was really a kind,
generous, and warm-hearted man. He was an excellent
scholar and a most accomplished gentleman : indeed, there
seemed to be nothing wanting to fit him for the highest rank
in society, so far as his manners and education were con-
cerned.
When I returned home, I had to begin my old trade of
hawking, which I did with much reluctance. Since my
mother had settled in the district, she had regularly con-
tinued to increase her property, and by this time she pos-
sessed a large stock of goods. In the beginning of the year
1819, my mother took it into her head to visit Ireland once
more. What were her motives, I never could truly learn ;
but, in my opinion, it was just one of those false steps
frequently taken by people who are well off and don't know
it. How long she had been preparing for the journey I
cannot say ; but there is no doubt she must have been con-
cocting the scheme some considerable time.
I am now about relating another of those mysterious im-
pressments which were doomed to exercise an extraordinary
influence over my life for several years, and, in all probability,
over my destiny itself. At this time there was a little girl
who resided on the Battle-hill in Hexham, who was some-
where about my own age. She was not pretty, nor was she
MY FIRST LOVE, PLAIN KITTY DA WSON. I 03
particularly good-looking, and she had nothing attractive
either in shape or dignity of mien : her eyes were inclined
more to the grey than the blue ; her make was decidedly
dumpy, and, to all intents and purposes, she was a very plain
and commonplace-looking little lassie. No matter, she
was perfect mistress of my soul, and, what is more, she never
knew it. I loved her in all the purity of my young and unso-
phisticated nature. We had never exchanged words ; but, un-
observed and in silence, I have looked volumes of my heart's
best affections at her. She, too, was in humble circumstances ;
but her relations were honest working-people, and I was a
strolling vagrant. Even then, with our bettered condition,
I felt the deep degradation of my situation. My feeling in
this girl's regard, which was pure, holy, and lasting, has been
to me as great a paradox as my hatred of my father before I
knew him. In a psychological view of the case, the subject
may be looked upon as a mere matter of human sympathy.
I am aware that people are frequently drawn to each other
by kindred feelings. But this is one of the common laws
of affinity ; whereas in my case, the attraction was all on her
side, and I have no doubt but that the repulsion would have
been in myself, if it had been tested. As to what may have
been the cause of the impression I laboured under, I am
fairly lost when I come to reason with myself upon the
subject : all I know is, that I was chained by an invisible
power, and wherever my destiny led me during three years,
her idea never ceased to operate upon my mind, and where-
ever I wandered her image was with me, sustaining me under
my trials and attracting me towards her.
In due course of time, everything was prepared for our ill-
advised journey. Like Paddy O'Leary in love,
" The place where my heart was you might roll a turnip in ! "
We passed many of the scenes of my happiest earthly associ-
ations, and, as we travelled on our way, I took many a long
lingering look behind. Had my mother continued in Hexham
1 04 AGAIN I PART COMPANY WITH MY MO THER.
and proceeded with her usual industrious habits, she would
soon have been able to have placed both herself and family
in really comfortable circumstances. I had often wished her
to put me to some trade ; but she obstinately refused, nor
would she even allow me to go to school. In consequence
of her folly, both my brothers and myself were allowed to fit
ourselves to play our respective parts on the stage of the
world without the incumbrance of education. When we
arrived at.Portpatrick, my mother took a lodging for us, where
she left us in charge of each other while she went over to
Ireland. She came back in the course of a fortnight ; but
after her return, I observed that she was much altered in her
conduct to her family, and more particularly to myself. I was
satisfied in my own mind that I was an uncomfortable incon-
venience to her in some way. Six days after her return from
Ireland, I made up my mind to leave her, and when I
communicated my determination to her, she seemed relieved,
as it were, from a heavy burden. If I had had sense, I might
have known that a lad of my years could be no pleasant
incumbrance to a widow not much past the prime of life. My
brother Robert, seeing my determination to leave, requested
me to take him along with me ; which I readily consented to
do. We were fitted out with a few goods from the stock, to
the amount of three pounds, and with this little fortune we
sallied forth into the world. I would gladly have gone back
to Northumberland, but my mother had left a stigma behind,
in the shape of certain unpaid accounts. We made the best
of our way into England, and wandered like a pair of pilgrims
following a blind destiny. In the course of about six weeks
we arrived in Yorkshire. Robert was not able to lend me
any assistance, and I was a very poor man of business ; either
my pride or my dislike to the trade totally unfitted me for
making a living by it ; and the consequence was, that our
stock of goods became small by degrees and uncomfortably
less. At the end of six months our little pack was totally
perished. At this crisis of our affairs Robert got home-sick.
EMPLOYED BY A SCOUNDREL CHEAP JACK. 105
Seeing, therefore, that he was anxious to return to his mother,
I gave him the only money I had, which was three shillings
and sixpence ; and with this small sum he set out for Scotland,
where he arrived safe, as I learned afterwards. I was once
more alone in the world without friends or money. I made
application to a gentleman in the hardware business in Bea-
dale, from whom I had made some little purchases while
about that place ; he very kindly lent me assistance, and
employed me to go with him to the fairs and markets in the
North Riding of Yorkshire. As this gentleman did not require
my services, I was only upon sufferance ; however, one day
while I was attending Ripon Market, I met with a gentleman
who offered me a situation to travel with him at a salary of
five shillings a-week and my board and lodging. No offer
could have been more welcome, and I therefore engaged
with him on the spot.
I had now entered upon a dangerous career, and had my
good fortune not saved me, the consequences might have
been of a very serious character. This man's name was John
Rooney, but he was better known by the title of Cheap John ;
he was a native of the north of Ireland, and one of the most
consummate vagabonds ever manufactured into the shape of
humanity. In height, he stood five feet seven inches ; well
built, broad shoulders and a little round ; strong, well-shaped
limbs ; his complexion was fair and ruddy, and he was slightly
marked with the small pox. His usual dress was a blue coat
with gilt buttons, cord smalls, and quarter boots, and he in-
variably wore a parti-coloured silk handkerchief about his
bull-like neck tied in sailor fashion. In temper he was a
savage, and he knew honesty only by name ; he was as illite-
rate as a boor, but what he wanted in education was fully
compensated for in low cunning, and he possessed a most
retentive memory. I have been particular in describing this
man in order that you may fully comprehend the danger of
my position. When I went into his service, he had a large
quantity of goods, chiefly composed of linen and silks. After
IO6 INSTANCE OP DISHONOUR AMONG THIEVES.
I had been with him a short time I learned the whole of his
history. The fact was, he made no secret of his knavery, and
I learned from himself that he had had to flee his country for
killing a man in some party row. His assumed title of Cheap
John was not without being well founded, inasmuch as he
could dispose of his goods at thirty per cent, below cost
price, and have the remaining seventy per cent, as a small
profit to himself. The goods he had on hand when I went
to him were the residue of property he had bolted with from
Newcastle-upon-Tyne. His manner of victimising wholesale
houses was carried out upon a regular systematic plan ; he
was never without plenty of cash, and took every opportunity
of exposing it to advantage. When he had an intention of
honouring a house with his patronage, his first essay was to
feel the pulse of the proprietor, and if he found the party
suitable to be operated upon, he would make a few goodly
purchases from time to time, and after he had disarmed his
man of all suspicion, he would write for a small parcel of
goods as it were to sort his stock upon credit; the payments
for these goods were sure to be punctually made ; having
paved the way in this manner, he made his final haul and
sloped.
I believe there are few counties in England where there
were so many pickpockets as in Yorkshire ; the reason of
this, I believe, is, or was, to be found in the numerous
markets and fairs which are held in the different divisions
of the county. Rooney was upon terms of intimacy with a
number of these free-and-easy gentlemen; I remember a
very smart trick being done by a highwayman upon one
occasion while in Beadle. We were lodging in a house
which was a general rendezvous for travellers, and while
there three highwaymen made their appearance late one
evening ; the fellows formed a trio of nationalities, one was
Yorkshire, another Scotch, and the third Irish. The follow-
ing morning was Beadle Fair ; during the course of the day,
these three worthies disagreed about the division of the spoil
ACQUAINTANCE WITH A MYSTERIOUS IRISHMAN. IO/
of a robbery they had committed the day before in West-
moreland ; in the arrangement of the booty, the Irishman
conceived that he had not had justice done him ; the conse-
quence was, that he made up his mind to teach the honest
Yorkshireman and the canny Scot a lesson. About eleven
o'clock at night, a posse of constables came to the lodging-
house with a search warrant ; they walked straight into the
bed-room occupied by the highwaymen, and found a large
bundle of clothing which had been taken from the head inn
a few hours before ; the Yorkshireman and the Scotchman
were both sent off to York Castle next morning. The Irish-
man, in order to gratify his revenge, had stolen the articles,
and lodged information where they were to be found, and at
the same time implicated his two companions as the thieves.
What became of them I never learned, but I saw the Irish-
man afterwards skinning the natives aboard of the Hull and
Gainsborough steam-packet.
After I had been with Rooney about six weeks, he picked
up two other stray sons of misfortune ; one of them was a
fine intelligent and good-looking young man who had fled
from his apprenticeship in a draper's shop, in Shrewsbury ;
he must have been very respectably brought up, he was an
excellent scholar, and in every way a genteel young fellow.
From his own statement, he had got into bad company, and
in order to keep up his unlawful wants had robbed his em-
ployer. The other was in every way a most extraordinary
person ; his name was Thomas Evans ; however, I imagine it
was only assumed for the occasion. He was a native of the
south of Ireland ; in age he might be twenty-four, and in his
person he was as fine a looking man as ever I beheld ; he
must have had a first-rate education, and it was evident from
his, manner that he was accustomed to society of a very dif-
ferent character to such as he was then in. No one could
ever draw from him a single syllable, either about himself or
his connexions. There was evidently a mystery about him ;
when he was in repose he seemed continually talking to
IO8 ROONEY^S PROFICIENCY IN BLACKGUARDISM.
himself, as his lips were seen moving rapidly. Immediately
after his joining us, I was drawn towards this man as it
were by a spell, and as long as I remained with Rooney we
clung to each other like brothers ; he was as honest as the
day is light, and perfectly sober in his habits, and as simple-
minded as a child. Rooney frequently used these young
men very badly ; when he was in his cups, which was by no
means seldom, he was in the habit of giving them practical
demonstrations of his pugilistic proficiency. I have often
seen him battering them about for his amusement for half-
an-hour at a time, in the most brutal manner. It may be
asked why they did not leave him rather than suffer such
tyranny ; my answer is, that he had them in his toils, and
they were both much afraid of him, as they knew his reckless
character. I believe my diminutiveness saved me many a
beating, for he really never used me ill in this manner, with
the exception of twice. The life I was then leading was in
every sense repugnant to my feelings: when I had a few
shillings due to me in wages, he always contrived to rob me
of them by getting me to play at cards with him ; the fact
was, I had neither taste to learn nor inclination to play, but
upon such occasions he forced me into the game, and as a
matter of course won my money. I have no doubt he used
this policy in order to keep me in his power.
Hand selling was a very common practice at that time, and
Rooney was quite a proficient in the business; the fellow could
talk a horse blind, and he could string nonsense together by
the mile ; * but a great portion of his language was entirely
without shame, and he was completely regardless of the con-
sequences of his conduct. The class of hawkers I was in the
habit of meeting when I was with Rooney was very different
from the primitive strollers on the Border. As a specimen
of the former, I cannot illustrate their character better than
by a little anecdote. One day, after I had been standing in
* At a sort of mock auction, where the auctioneer reduces the price to
suit the purchaser.
THE PROFESSIONAL HAWKER'S INGENUITY. 1 09
Richmond market, and had just completed the packing of my
goods, a fellow came up to me, and in the most bland and
familiar manner asked me how I was. I had never spoken to
the man in my life, but had often seen him with Rooney ; he
insisted that I should go and have a drop of the crater. I did
not like to be rude with him, so I went and had a glass of ale,
and he had one of rum ; after we had finished, he insisted we
should have another go. I positively declined having any
more ; when he found how the land lay, he slapped me on
the shoulder in a friendly way, and said, " My boy, you'll
have to stand this, for, by jaspers, I hav'n't a meg, and I'll stand
the next budge"
While I was paying for the drink, a number of farmers came
into the room; he speedily introduced himself to a group of
them, who were seating themselves together in one company.
He said his brother was a merchant in India, who occasionally
consigned large quantities of rich and costly silks to his care,
in order that he might dispose of them. In the meantime he
pulled out a five-quarter checked and twilled cotton handker-
chief, with gaudy colours, such as were then selling at nine
shillings per dozen wholesale. " Now, gentlemen," he observed,
" if any of you wish to have eternal sunshine at home, here is an
article whose magic will produce the so-much-desired effect.
You observe these colours, gentlemen, these living shades
and glorious tints were produced by the fabric being steeped
three months in the Ganges, after which they were passed
through a succession of rainbows ! You must remember,
gentlemen, that this article cannot be purchased in the regular
market, as all such goods are prohibited ; of course I have
them under the rose ! The value of this Thibet shawl in India
is ninety rupees; which means six pounds in our money. The
fact is, gentlemen, I am a wild devil-may-care sort of a fellow,
and have been on the fly and am a little short of cash ; if,
therefore, any of you want a bargain, here it is. I have plenty
of money, but you know it is not always convenient to be
counting the hours in waiting for a remittance from London."
I IO IN DANGER AS AN INNOCENT SMASHER.
After this peroration, he quietly slipped the handkerchief into
the hands of one of the gentlemen, telling him at the same
time to expose it as little as possible, as he did not wish to
come in contact with His Majesty's Exchequer, and whisper-
ing into the gentleman's ear, "You can take it for thirty
shillings." Suffice it to say, he sold the ninepenny handker-
chief for ten shillings. I have frequently seen simple-minded
and credulous people done out of their money in this manner.
At that time it was a common trick for a fellow dressed as a
sea captain to carry a sample bottle of French brandy, passing
it off as smuggled and selling it at a pound a gallon ; the
article was generally made up in five gallon casks, and when
the stock and the sample were compared, the transaction
seemed all right ; these casks were made with tubes to fit
through the centre, and only contained about a quart of
brandy the rest of the contents being water ; and as the
buyers were as bad in the eye of the law as the disposers,
these acts of swindling were kept pretty quiet.
Rooney had done a good deal of business with base money;
however, I never knew anything about this matter until one
day we were standing in Lincoln Market ; when we were going
home to our lodgings he gave me two shillings to purchase
beef-steaks with. I thought it somewhat strange at the time
that he should give me money when he knew I had plenty of
change in my pocket. In paying the butcher, I gave him two
shillings which proved to be both bad ; the man looked at
the money, and then he carefully examined me from head to
heel. I could almost have wished the earth to have swallowed
me alive ; he sent for a constable immediately; when the officer
arrived, I told him what appeared the truth to myself, namely,
that I must have taken the money in the market, and to
convince the people of my innocence I turned out all the
money I had upon me, which amounted to four pounds some
shillings, and all proved to be good ; this, with my innocent
manner, enabled me to get clear off. Had I been detained,
the consequence would have been serious to me, as I would
COMMERCIAL DEPRESSION. FETTERS ON INDUSTRY. 1 1 1
have told who I was with, and I learned that Rooney had a
large quantity in his possession; nothing could therefore have
saved me from being punished as an accomplice. After this
I was in continual dread of some impending evil; he had used
all his endeavours to initiate me into his own roguish prac-
tices ; the reason why I did not comply with his hellish desires
was, not that I was so much guided by principle, as that I had
a natural dislike to the barefaced character of his dishonesty,
and perhaps fear had no little to do with my conduct in the
matter ; besides this, I hated the man for his blackguardism,
and however long I should have remained with him, there
never could have been anything like congeniality of feeling
between us.
The time I am now writing of was towards the end of the
year 1819; during that year the whole country was in a state
of feverish excitement. The Prince Regent had used every
exertion to blast the character of his wife, and hand down
her name to posterity with infamy. This event called forth
one universal feeling of indignation in the public mind
. against the Prince and his sycophantic abettors. I am not
aware of any circumstance in my time wherein the English
people gave such unequivocal and unanimous proof of their
love of justice. The fact was that the more thoughtful
members of the community saw that the national character
was being compromised, and I believe their unmistakable
protest was the means of saving the honour of the nation.
From this date up to the year 1832, the country was in a
dangerous state of transition. Commerce was crippled in
almost every possible way, and the taxes hung like a dead
weight upon the industrial energies of the people. The
legislative functions were solely in the hands of men who
were wedded to aristocratic notions, and government patron-
age flowed in one muddy and corrupt channel, while the
members of Parliament, instead of representing the feelings
of the nation, continued to serve their own sinister ends at
the expense of the people.
112 EFFECT OF THE INTRODUCTION OF MACHINERY.
The introduction of machinery was then creating a panic
among the working classes, especially in the manufacturing
districts. Men who had spent their time and wasted their
energies in the various occupations, were doomed to see
their labour superseded by an entirely new power. The
working men had not then learnt the science of political
economy ; and even if they had, it would have afforded them
little or no relief. Men with hungry bellies have small
thought to spare upon abstract principles of speculative
philosophy. Under all circumstances, and in all countries,
the necessities of the time among the great industrial masses
must produce the ruling feeling of the hour. To live has
ever been, and ever will be, the great battle of the people.
In reviewing the critical position of the country at that
time, and reflecting upon the severe ordeal through which
the people have passed, we have much reason to be thankful
that the national barque has weathered the storm. It is true
that the people were occasionally guilty of trifling excesses,
but it must be borne in mind that in many instances they
were goaded into acts of insubordination by the greatness
of their sufferings. The manner in which the unoffending
and defenceless people were treated at Peterloo, in Man-
chester, in 1819, afforded a melancholy proof of the utter
disregard of the men in power to the feelings and wants of
the industrial classes. The circumstances connected with
this cold-blooded event will remain like so many foul stains
upon the page of England's history.
I may observe that in the early part of the nineteenth
century the middle class element was only in its infancy,
and it was not until the wonderful discoveries of Watt, Cart-
wright, and Stephenson were brought into operation that this
useful body in the State began to assume its proper position.
During the last thirty years, the extraordinary energy and
directing power of this body have attained for it a moral
force unprecedented in the history of the country; and I
think it may be justly said, that whatever social advantages
BUSINESS INCAPACITY OF THE ARISTOCRAT. 113
we now enjoy over those of the preceding age, are in a great
measure due to the well-timed exertions of this now powerful
class. If the signs of the times are to be interpreted by their
own manifestations, I certainly think we are upon the eve
of one of those social changes which will entirely alter the
political aspect of affairs in this country. After repeated
trials, the aristocracy have been found wanting in the
management of the State ; as business men, they are proved
to be not up to the mark ; and it would appear, from the
broad expression of public opinion, that John Bull, while
he is both able and willing to pay his servants, is determined
to put his affairs into the hands of men who can manage
them in a business-like manner. In all cases where men are
invested with power, it necessarily follows that a good deal
of it must be discretionary and irresponsible ; in State affairs
this is particularly so, and I think the more such a condition
of things can be narrowed within the limits of a responsible
system, the better for the nation. A system may be made
to approximate perfection, though it be not in the nature of
man to arrive at such a state.
CHAPTER VI.
MY time with Rooney was now drawing to a close ; the
affair at Lincoln caused me to be continually in fear
for the ungodly transaction, and from that time I had made
up my mind to leave him whenever a fitting opportunity
offered. I knew quite well that he was a dangerous fellow
to break with. For some time I took the precaution to
retain my salary in my own hands. I communicated my
purpose to Evans, who warmly entered into my feelings and
seconded my views. When we got down to Hull, Rooney
went on the fly, and continued so for some days, during which
time I made my escape. When I left I had twenty-five
shillings to begin the world again with ; many a one would
have made a fortune out of that sum ; the case, however,
was very different with me. Although I had been accus-
tomed to a wandering life from my infancy, nobody could
more heartily despise the calling than I did. My great
desire was to learn a trade, whereby I could be looked upon
as an honest member of society, but my great difficulty was
to find a person who would venture to take one who had
led such a vagrant life.
When I regained my liberty, Kitty Dawson's image invited
me to Hexham ; but my better feelings opposed my going
there, so, after much reflection, I made up my mind to visit
my mother, I had neither heard of her nor my brothers
since leaving them. I therefore purchased a few small
articles and set out on my journey. While I travelled on
my solitary way, my mind was frequently filled with the most
conflicting feelings, longing to see my mother and my
MY MOTHER TAKES A SECOND HUSBAND. 115
brothers, but having no certainty of finding them where I
left them. After an uninteresting journey of some twelve
days I arrived in Portpatrick, and had the mortification to
find that my mother had removed to Girvan in Ayrshire ;
and when I reached that place, I had a second disappoint-
ment in being introduced to a second stepfather. This little
family arrangement made me a stranger in what should have
been a home to me. I think if ever a poor wretch was the
football of crooked circumstances, such was my fate. I had
been blessed with three fathers and two mothers, and I was
then as comfortably situated as if I never had either one
or the other, excepting that I was a living monument of the
folly of both father and mother. I knew little or nothing
of Fitzsommons, the name of my new pa : from what I could
learn he was a very decent man, but there was a certain
mercenary meanness in the connection which I could not
digest ; he was then a young man in the prime of life, and
my mother had passed the rubicon some years. I think
there can be nothing more contemptible than a young
man allying himself by matrimony to a female much above
his own years for the sake of her property ; the lion and
the lamb may lie down together in harmony, but age and
youth can never be bound together by affection. My mother
was then trading between Ireland and the west of Scotland,
and her husband occasionally worked at the hosiery business ;
I was induced to take two trips to Ireland with the old
woman ; but I only remained three weeks at home, and when
I left, I took my brother Robert with me at his own request.
I was now being carried along by one of those tidal
currents whereon my frail barque was in continual danger
of being shipwrecked. You may suppose that I was im-
pelled by a restless desire for change ; such, however, was
not the case, I had already seen too much of that ; instead,
therefore, of wishing to see new scenes, I was anxiously
looking for a resting-place that I might become a recog-
nisable member of society. My brother and myself went to
1 1 6 WANDERING A 7 TEMPTS A T SUNDR Y OCCUPA TIONS.
Glasgow, where I purchased a few shillings' worth of goods
to renew our small stock. From this place we travelled to
Galashiels, Peebles, Kelso, and on till we crossed the
English Border. Our little fortune had vanished a second
time, when, by good fortune, I got Robert into a situation
with a small farmer. Although I was my brother s senio^
by several years, he was much bigger than I was. After
this, I got employment in a coal-pit, during the time a boy
who had filled the situation was confined by an injury he
had received by the falling in of a part of the roof. My
wages for this sub-soil labour were hard work and eightpence
a day. I continued at this employment until I was super-
seded by the return of the convalescent puffer. My next
employment was hoeing turnips for a farmer, at a place
called Monkridge in the neighbourhood of Elsdon ; I had
only been in this place a week, when I had a most agreeable
surprise by meeting with my old friend Tom Evans. He
was still the same quiet, self-communing, and mysterious
being I had left him. We were both happy at the meeting.
Poor fellow, he was something like myself, as poor as a
church-mouse. He said he could raise twenty shillings
from an acquaintance in Morpeth, and if I would go with
him, we would try the smuggling. I agreed to his proposal,
and he returned in the course of a few days with the cash
for our venture. We went up to Carter Bar, and made a
purchase of five gallons of Scotch whiskey. We carried this
load between us a distance of forty miles, and as we
required to avoid the high roads, we had to travel the
whole distance over trackless moors, and a great part of
the way by night. Before we could dispose of our mountain
dew, we were both heart-sick of it, and all the time we had
it in our possession we continually laboured under the
apprehension of capture. If either of us had been known
in the places where we offered it for sale, I have no doubt
we could easily have disposed of it ; as it was, the people
were afraid to buy the article from strangers, who might
HAR VES TING SHEARING RE TURN TO HEX HAM. \ \ /
take their money and lodge an information against them
immediately afterwards. I found that Tom's visions of
making a fortune were not to be realized ; besides, neither
of us were fitted for the business. After vainly pressing
upon me to give it another trial, I left him and went back
to Elsdon, where I got employment in making hay.
Shortly after this, I met with a person, a native of York-
shire, who was then residing in that part of the country : this
man persuaded me to go with him to the harvest, to which
I readily agreed ; so, when the hay season was finished, I
went down with him to see a farmer for whom he had worked
the previous season. The farmer engaged Smith (which was
the person's name) ; but he demurred to employing me, as
I looked so very unlike the work. However, Smith made
this all right by kindly offering to take me as his partner.
Our journey that day was the hardest day's work I ever had
in my life : when we got back to Elsdon, we had travelled
sixty-two miles. When the grain was ready for reaping we
went to fulfil our engagements. I had never cut corn before,
and suffered most dreadfully during the first week : however,
with the assistance of my kind and good-natured partner, I
managed to give satisfaction. We were employed for three
weeks, and had our board and lodging in the house, both of
which were excellent in quality. We had each a guinea
a-week, and had the good fortune not to have a single
broken day. When the harvest was finished we went to
Newcastle, where I spent a good part of my money in clothes.
When I went back to Elsdon, I got employment during
another week in shearing ; after which I went to Hexham,
in the expectation of meeting with some tradesman who
would take me as an apprentice. On arriving there, I went
to a person of the name of Ralph Dodd, whom I had known
when we resided in the town. This person allowed me to
job about his place of business for a few weeks, for which he
gave me my food. During the time I was with him I studi-
ously avoided being seen by the little angel of my adoration.
Il8 ACCEPTED TO SERVE IN THE MILITIA.
I was still ashamed of my position, and was afraid, if she
should see me, that I should lose what I never had, namely,
her affections ! a blind and a stupid fellow is love !
I daresay Dodd would have readily taken me as an
apprentice, but he had no confidence in me ; he could not
bring his mind to believe that I would allow myself to be
chained so long to one place. This misfortune of having
been kicked about the world was, therefore, held as a reason
that, like Van Wooden Block's cork leg, I should continue
to wander on.
After I had been in Hexham a few weeks the Northumber-
land militia was about being raised. At that time the men
required were balloted for. Several militia societies were
then in existence, and when any of the members were drawn
substitutes were paid for out of the funds. Some of my
acquaintances persuaded me to take the bounty ; I was then
beneath the standard height, which was five feet six inches.
This, to me, apparent difficulty was got over by a young
man, a tailor, who made me all right by padding my stocking-
soles. I daresay I am not the first who has been elevated
to the army by fictitious means. I passed the doctor, and
was duly attested to serve my king and country according to
the conditions. My bounty was nine pounds. The first
thing I did was to purchase a few shirts and other necessaries
I stood in need of. I then laid out six pounds in the purchase
of tea: I had been advised to this step by several of my
friends. With this stock I was on a fair way to become a
regular travelling merchant. I was then certainly in a better
position than I had ever been during my whole life : I was
full of hope, and saw before me a bright future ; and in all
my calculations my sweet little mistress came in for her ideal
share. The fortune and pleasures which I had conjured up
in my sanguine imagination were doomed to share the same
fate as those of the young man in the Arabian Nights. Just
as I was about tasting of the sweets of fortune's cup, it was
ruthlessly dashed from my lips. I took my cargo of tea upon
SPECULA TION IN TEA LOSS OF BOUNTY MONE Y. 119
my back, only dreaming of the pleasant reception I should
meet with from my old acquaintances among the country
farmers. I was respectably dressed, and was sure of having
my honest endeavours well supported. When I had got
about two miles on the road, I met a gentleman going into
the town. He inquired what I had in my bundle. Without
the least suspicion I told him. He then asked me to let
him see my permit. I did not so much as understand the
nature of such a document : so, seeing that I could not oblige
him in this matter, he said he would be under the necessity
of seizing it in the name of the king. The truth of the
matter now flashed upon my mind like a death-knell. My
poor heart became full, and I felt a choking sensation about
my throat. For some moments I could not speak. When I
had time to think I thought I was doomed to misery. Again
desolation stared me in the face. I mentally resolved that
I had better been struck dead by some invisible power, than
be ever thus the sport of a wild and hapless fortune. What-
ever I thought, I said nothing : the fellow asked me to carry
the parcel back into the town, for which act of condescension
he gave me a shilling.
Never was there a wretch more innocent of the sin of
smuggling than I then was. I had no idea that tea bought
in a regular market required in the first place a permit to
remove it, and in the second, that I required a license to
be allowed to sell it. I therefore lost my all and had no
redress, and was again thrown penniless upon the world.
To console me for my loss, several of my friends said that
I must have been informed against, and that the person who
sold me the tea knew the necessary conditions, and that if
he had been an honest man he would have given me proper
information how to act. This of course was making my
case no better, and I could not believe that any person
could have been so heartless as to do me such a gratuitous
wrong : I had never injured any one, and therefore no
person could harbour revengeful feelings against me.
1 20 UNS UCCESSFUL EFFOR TS A F7ER EM PL YMEN7 .
Once more I had a stormy pilgrimage before me, and
like a vessel at sea without a rudder, I was cast adrift to
steer my course upon the ocean of life. I could see nothing
before me but a dreary wilderness, nor could I tell which
way to fly from my impending doom. It is a fearful thing
for a human being to stand alone in the world ; cut off from
all sympathy and fellowship with his kind. Such was my
sad and cheerless condition. I know there have been
thousands placed in similar circumstances ; but I also know
that many have suffered shipwreck under the pressure of
their misfortune ; while only those who have been buoyed
up by hope have been able to weather the storm. If my
mind had not continually aspired to something above my
lowly condition, I should have sailed down the stream of
life in my vagrant craft, until I was eventually brought to in
a jail or at the hulks. After this sad misadventure, I could
not remain in Hexham ; so I made up my mind to push my
fortune elsewhere.
A few days after my commercial shipwreck, I went down
to Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and offered my services to several
tradesmen as an apprentice. I found two parties who would
have taken me, if I could have got any person to become
security for the faithful discharge of my duties, but this,
of course, with me, was out of the question. After wander-
ing about for some days without either food or a resting-
place, I made application for employment to a gentleman
who had charge of a large stone-quarry in the neighbourhood
of Bishop Auckland. When I presented myself before this
person, he looked at me with a good-natured smile, and
asking me a few questions as to my previous employment,
he said, "My lad, you look more like standing behind a
counter than working in a quarry, you would be no use
here." He gave me sixpence, and advised me to look for
employment more suitable to my condition. From this
place I went down to South Shields, where I called upon
a small hat manufacturer, whose relations I knew in Hexham.
CHAPTER OF ACCIDENTS WALK TO LIVERPOOL. 121
I found I had no chance there, as he was just parting with
a young man who had been some time at the trade. I
remained in Shields two days. The young man who was
leaving was going to Liverpool, and advised me to go with
him, and depend upon the chapter of accidents. This lad
was a native of Frome ; his father was a retired navy-
lieutenant ; his name was Bird. He was a very fine young
man, but I believe he had been very wild. As drowning
men catch at straws, I embraced his offer, and we set out
together, like a pair of young pilgrims. We were both
without cash, but as my partner had served two years at
hat-making, he was enabled to call upon the apprentices in
the towns we passed through where the trade was carried
on ; and we managed to box our way as far as Oldham, in
Lancashire, without any mishap. Before going into that
town, Bird requested me to lend him my bundle, in which
were my shirts and other necessaries. These things were
tied up in a blue and white spotted silk handkerchief. The
reason why he wanted my bundle was, because he had
nothing but what he stood in, and he remarked, what I
knew to be correct, that he would look very unlike being
on tramp without some change of clothing. I therefore
readily gave him my bundle, and we agreed that I should
wait for him at the end of the town leading to Manchester.
We parted about ten o'clock in the morning, and neither
of us had had any breakfast. I went to the place appointed,
fully expecting that he would not be more than two hours.
I waited patiently until four o'clock in the afternoon ; after
that time, the hours crept slowly and sadly away. I lingered
on until eleven o'clock at night, hungry in both mind and
stomach ; still the " Bird " of hope did not arrive. I knew
it was of no use to go in search of him ; and I had therefore
no alternative but to move on. The distance to Manchester
was seven miles ; and when I got to Market-street it was
one o'clock. You may well imagine my situation was not
a comfortable one. I really did not know what to do. In
122 ACTS OF CHARITY TOWARDS THE WAYFARER.
going down Market-street, I met with a tradesman who was
finding his way home. I inquired of him the road to Liver-
pool ; this person was curious to know what I wanted with
the road to Liverpool at such a time of night. I told him
my situation, and he kindly took me home with him to his
lodging ; saying he could give me a share of his bed, but
as he had been out of employment for a considerable time,
he could afford me nothing more. The fact was, the poor
kind-hearted fellow had no food for himself. As it was, I
was very grateful for his generous conduct.
Next morning I took the way for Liverpool. I had not
lost hope of meeting with Bird, as I had every confidence in
his honesty ; and I made up my mind that he had been de-
tained by some circumstance over which he had no power.
I therefore lingered the whole of the day between Manchester
and Warrington, and enquired of every person I met on the
way if they had seen a young man dressed in sailor's clothes
with a bundle, which I described. The day was beautiful for
the season, but there was a heavy cloud upon my mind, and
whichever way I turned my restless thoughts, my prospect
for the future was cold and cheerless. Late in the evening, as
I was going into Warrington, I fell in with four working-men,
and as they were going in the same direction as myself, I got
into conversation with them, and told them my circumstances.
These poor fellows gave me all the money they had upon
them, which was twopence, and told me where I could have
supper and a bed free of charge. They directed me to the
Mendicity Office, where I was treated as they foretold.
If I had not thought I should meet Bird, either on the road
or in Liverpool, I had no business there. Indeed, it was quite
immaterial to me where I wandered ; for whatever might
turn up in my favour, I knew must be a mere matter of acci-
dent. However, I made up my mind to push on, and rose
early in the morning with the intention of being in Liverpool
by mid-day. When I had got about half-a-mile out of
Warrington, I observed a cottage in a garden on the wayside,
A JOYFUL MEETING DIALECT OF OLD HAM. 123
with a sign over the door, on which there was labelled, " Bread
and milk sold here." I had the twopence that the labouring
men had given me, and I made up my mind to have a break-
fast, if I should never have another. Going into that house
proved a fortunate circumstance. The first object which
caught my attention was my bundle, lying on a table before
me as I went in ; and I found my " Bird " making himself
comfortable over a breakfast of boiled milk and bread by the
fire. Our surprise was mutual, and we were glad to see each
other again. He explained the cause of his delay quite
satisfactorily to me. Oudham rough Yeads had made him
drunk, which would not be difficult to do upon an empty
stomach, and after leaving there he had used his best
endeavours to find me.
Apropos of Oldham. This town was at one time, and that,
too, not very long ago, one of the most uncultivated places in
England. The following anecdote will give a very fair idea
of the character of the town. Upon a certain occasion, a pair
of married ladies happened to have a social quarrel, which
resulted in their being cited before the sitting magistrate.
When the case came on for hearing, the worthy magistrate
could not make out which of the dears was in fault; however,
one of their husbands being in court, and being known by
the bench, the magistrate said, "John, yaw con tell us au
abeawt it." " I," he said, " a con. Yo segn Jon tfth Top dth
Loan's wife thrut a stone at ma wife, and if odd it hur as ard
as oo it hur, oo'd other killed her or hur hur ! ! " " I," said the
magistrate, "that's plain eneuf."
Bird had raised four shillings in Oldham and Manchester,
so we set out for Liverpool with light hearts, and we arrived
there early in the day. Our four shillings soon found their
way into other hands ; and we spent several days in searching
for employment, but all our endeavours were vain. In the
meantime, I had to dispose of most of my little wardrobe
to pay our lodging and keep our jaws in something like
healthy exercise. On the morning of the fifth day Bird was
124 ENLISTMENT THE LUXURY OF A CRUST.
shipped aboard of a vessel bound for New York, and as the
vessel was to sail by the afternoon tide, we bid each other
adieu. As we parted my heart was full, and the tears started
into my eyes. Short as our acquaintance had been, I felt a
warm regard for him ; he was really a good-hearted, amiable,
and intelligent lad. He had been at sea before, and I think
he was inclined to make the ocean his home, and I have no
doubt but he would rise in the profession.
Once more I was alone and in the wilderness of a large
town ; my case was almost a hopeless one ; and I felt the
sadness of despair creeping over my feelings. I wandered
about for two days after I parted from Bird, with my mind
almost a blank. By that time all my little things had been
disposed of. About the middle of the third day, I found
myself staring at a large handbill posted on a wall somewhere
about London-road ; and during the time I was gazing at
the bill, a soldier came up and tapped me on the shoulder
and requested to know if I would 'list. The friendly voice of
any human being was welcome to me. I said I had no objec-
tion. This was certainly a cheering ray of hope, from a
quarter where I least expected it. I gladly went with my
military friend to a public-house. Like a man who knows
his duty, he opened up his military budget, and pointed out
the fame and fortune which awaited me when I should join
the Royal 5th Queen's Own. While he was running over his
splendid catalogue of inducements to a life of glory, my mind
was with my little angel in Hexham ; but I suppose this was
in consequence of the connection which has always existed
between love and fame. I took the magic shilling which
was to cut my civilian tie with a world which had been very
uncivil to me. After this I had as much bread and cheese
and ale as enabled me to drive the horrors from rny empty
stomach. Eating is certainly one of the most vulgar occu-
pations in life. But, O ye gods, what divine luxury there is
in even a crust of dry bread to a hungry stomach ! Poets
have sung of love and glory, and all those feelings which
FAILING TO PASS THE DOCTOR. 125
prompt men to noble and generous actions ; but I have found
that the love of the stomach outlives all other love ! Taking
the shilling, and eating his Majesty's bread and cheese, was
only a preliminary step to two others I was taken to pass
the doctor. You will see that although I had taken the token
I was not a soldier yet : it so happened at that time that my
skin under my clothes was covered with something like a
scorbutic eruption from what cause I am not aware. After
the disciple of ^Esculapius had examined me, he quietly put
me to one side, while he passed three other young men.
The doctor had made up his mind that though I could eat
bread and cheese and drink beer, I should not do for a
fighting man ! Since then I have often thought he was a
very sensible fellow. The sergeant who 'listed me was a good
deal piqued, as he thought me a very likely lad. Notwith-
standing my forlorn condition, I looked upon this escape
from the army as a providential interposition in my favour.
The food I had got dispelled the gloom from my mind, and
lent me fresh energy.
As I found that I would not do for the army, I made up
my mind to try the navy ; so I went down to the Docks and
offered my services to several sea-captains. At last, I was
fortunate in finding a vessel bound for London, and the
captain agreed to take me on a trial-trip. We cleared out of
the port on the afternoon of the following day. In the course
of a few days I could make myself pretty useful aboard. We
had plain sailing until we were off the Land's End, when a
fearful storm set in and continued to blow a very heavy gale,
accompanied by thunder, lightning, and rain, and during the
night we had our decks nearly swept clear. About midnight,
I had a narrow escape from being cut in two : the lightning
cut one of the chain topsail sheets, and the loose end, which
was attached to the sail, swept past me, so near that I felt
the wind from its motion. About daylight, in the morning,
I had a hydropathic immersion, which was nearly being my
last : the vessel shipped a heavy sea upon her quarter which
1 26 NEARL Y KNOCKED O VERBOARD STROLL IN SCILL Y.
would have carried me over, had it not been for a counter-
plunge that she made. The only injury I sustained was
being severely stunned : the mate had me carried below,
where I soon recovered. In the morning, the Fame was
rolling about like a drunken man. As the vessel had sus-
tained a good deal of damage, the captain found it necessary
to put into Stilly roads. As we entered the mouth of the
bay, we received a pilot on board. The captain of the Fame
was a cross-grained, stupid, dogmatical, ruddy-faced old tar ;
instead of giving the vessel in charge to the pilot, he would
not leave the wheel. Headstrong men generally get more
than they bargain for, and such was the case in this instance :
there were several vessels lying in the roads, that had put in
through stress of weather, and as we were making for anchor-
ground, our jolly old captain ran the Fame foul of a brig,
carrying away a considerable portion of her running rigging,
as well as her jib-boom : our own vessel being nothing the
better of the collision. This little act of seamanship cost
our self-willed commander more than a month's wages.
After we had got snugly moored, the captain required to go
ashore for repairs ; he took seven men and myself in the boat
with him. We landed at St. John's, and, as the captain had
to remain a considerable time, the boat's crew had plenty of
time to indulge their curiosity in looking over the island.
While in the act of strolling about the town, we came to the
garrison gates, at the entrance of which there was a large
board of caution, warning strangers not to trespass on the
garrison grounds. The place termed "the grounds" was a
sort of barren wilderness, mostly covered with furze or whins.
Seeing the nature of the ground, we paid no attention to the
caution. After we had been strolling about for some time,
one of the party saw a duck quietly waddling out of the whin-
bush close beside him. As soon as he had an opportunity of
examining the place, he found a nest of some fourteen or
fifteen eggs. I was the only person near him, but did not pay
any attention to what he was about, until he asked me if I had
A NARROW ESCAPE FROM SCALDING. I2/
a pocket-handkerchief. I gave him one, and inquired what
he wanted with it. He replied that he had found a wild
duck's nest. I observed that I thought the wild ducks had
more sense than to build their nests within the range of the
garrison guns. Immediately above the garrison grounds there
were a number of people engaged in planting potatoes. Some
of these people observed my companion bagging the eggs,
and before we well knew where we were, we had about a
hundred of the natives down upon us, like so many Philistines.
The poacher was soon made to redeposit the unlucky ducks
in embryo. The day was both cold and raw ; but before the
boat's crew got clear of the garrison yard, we had the satis-
faction of being as well warmed as any set of Christians could
desire. The rabble pelted us with stones and mud until our
personal identity was out of the question : during the whole
of the time we were thus doing penance, the mob poured a
continual round of the most unmeasured Billingsgate into us.
This was the first time I was honoured with Lynch Law, and
I assure you I have never longed for a repetition of it. After
being shuttle-cocked about for some time, we at last found
refuge in a public-house. The excitement had been too
good for the mob to give us up so easily ; so a large number
of the more unruly continued to howl before the house we
were in.
We remained in the Roads until our repairs were completed,
which took us four days. Our voyage to London was now
plain sailing, as we had very fine weather. As we were pass-
ing through the Downs, one of those little circumstances
occurred which are calculated to distinguish individual cha-
racter. The man who had signalized himself in the egg affair,
requested me to put his pannikin on the caboose fire to be
ready for his breakfast when he required it my own breakfast
being getting ready at the same time. While the pans were
warming I was going about my duty. When I went to see if
they were ready, the first salute I got was the contents of my
mate's pan on the under part of my face. The fellow when
128 SECOND ARRIVAL IN THE GREAT METROPOLIS.
he went into the caboose saw that my pan was boiling, and he
imagined that his had not had fair play. The fact was, his
was just on the point of boiling, but being covered with fatty
matter it kept the steam down. I was very much scalded.
This unmanly act of cruelty brought the fellow's vindictive
character into bold relief; the crew were indignant at the
brutal outrage, and the captain threatened to have him
punished when we arrived in London. I would not have
noticed this little incident had it not been for this man's
previous conduct towards me. I was a sort of a favourite
with the whole of the crew, for I had never failed to serve
them when desired ; but with this man I was a special
favourite. I believe he was an excellent seaman, and had
seen a good deal of the world, both in the merchant service
and the navy, and I had not been aboard of the Fame three
days, when he seemed to take a strong liking to me ; if I had
had any education he would have taught me navigation, in-
deed, there was nothing he knew but he would willingly have
taught me. One thing is evident, he must have been a man
with a most ungovernable temper ; and I have no doubt that
if he had had a knife in his hand at the time, instead of the
pannikin, he would have used it, even if I had been his own
brother. This vindictive spirit may have been a part of his
education : he was a native of the North Highlands, where
the idea of passing over an injury, or an insult, without being
revenged, was looked upon as an unmanly act of cowardice,
not so many years ago.
Before we left Liverpool, the captain had picked up a pair
of lads who had each been at sea for some considerable time.
They were both Toms by name ; the one being a tall red-
haired bony rascal, and the other a stiff dumpy little fellow ;
they were much about the same age, which might be seven-
teen. I think there never was a pair of more consummate
young vagabonds afloat in the same ship. They were both
lazy as sloths, and crammed full of every species of black-
guardism. When we arrived in London we were moored
TEMPTATION TOWARDS A SEAFARING LIFE. 129
alongside of some wharf in Horselydown. On the second
day the captain went ashore early in the morning, and did
not return until late in the afternoon. After he had been
down in the cabin he inquired for the boys ; but no one had
seen them since they had left in the morning, on the pretence
of going to a washerwoman with some clothes. The mate
inquired if there was anything wrong ; and the captain
answered by saying that the young scoundrels had robbed
him of his money, clothing, and ship's papers. Every means
were taken to get hold of them, and parties were sent in the
evening to the different theatres. On the second day after
the robbery, the captain learned that they had booked for
Liverpool with one of the heavy coaches. One consideration
prevented him from pursuing them, which was, if he should
get hold of them through the means of the criminal officers,
he would be bound over to prosecute them, and his vessel
had to be cleared out in a fortnight. They were, therefore,
allowed to escape in consequence of the very law which
existed for preventing criminals escaping from justice.
The following day, when the captain had had time to cool
down, I asked him if he would allow me money for an outfit,
as he was going a voyage to the Baltic, and I could not think
of going there without at least some clothing fitting for the
climate ; his answer was, if I thought proper to go, he would
allow me ten shillings a month until we came home again ;
after which, if I behaved myself, he would introduce me to
the owners, who would not only give me the necessary outfit,
but would also give me an opportunity of learning navigation,
and under these conditions he seemed wishful that I should
go ; but from the state of my clothing I found it would be
madness for me to undertake such a voyage. I cannot say
that I had any objection to the sea, but I certainly had no
predilection for the forecastle. If the sailors who are aboard
of the same ship are not agreeable with each other, they are
continually in one another's way, and consequently lead a
regular dog-and-cat life as long as they are together. Humble
9
I 30 AN ATOM IN A HUGE MOUNTAIN OF HUMANITY.
as my own lot was, I possessed a spirit of independence which
could not succumb to the unmanly system of repaying one
injury by the infliction of another. And although my poverty
could scarcely sink me lower without degrading myself by
crime, my ideas of what I considered right were as dignified
as those of any lord ; and I think I may safely say that w'hat-
ever good fortune I have had in life has been entirely owing
to this species of manly independence.
I left the vessel on the sixth day after her arrival, with
fourpence in my pocket, and two ship biscuits. The captain
was ashore at the time, otherwise I believe he would have
given me some small trifle. My case was hopeless enough.
It was true I had a small quantity of brains, but the fact was
my head was not screwed on right to enable me to turn them
to my advantage. The first night after leaving the vessel I
slept in a common lodging-house. When the landlady was
showing me to bed, she very kindly cautioned me to take
care of my money and clothes, for that a young man who
had lodged there the previous night had been stripped to
the shirt by his bedfellow. Neither the good woman's
caution, nor the occurrence, gave me much trouble : when
a man is without property it sometimes saves him a world of
anxiety. I soon found out a mystery which has been solved
by thousands before me ; namely, that London was far too
large for me. I was fairly lost in a wilderness of human
beings ; I was a mere atom in a huge mountain of humanity ;
and, as it were, an unclaimed particle of animation a thing
that belonged to nobody. In fact, I looked upon myself as
one of the outside links in the chain of civilized society. If
I could have become a part of the monument, somebody
would have looked at me, and have set their wits to work
to find out my use.
My remaining biscuit, and the pump, served the second
day. As night came on I felt my spirits sinking with the
declining day. I seemed to fall into that hopeless state
when the mind becomes benumbed, and loses its action over
IMPELLED NOR THWARD B Y KITTY DA WSOWS IMA GE. 131
the system. The first houseless night in London passed
away, and still I strayed about like a ghost without a home.
When the morning was breaking I was wandering along the
dull hazy streets. Through the course of the second day I
continued walking on, and sometimes unconsciously found
myself at the same place from which I set out. I had no aim,
and I must have been looking for a miracle. The second
night came, and I shivered along the long, cold, dreary
streets. I passed men who were reeling along after having
left their senses and their money in the taverns. I saw
scores of females who had graduated down to the lowest
depths of human misery ; and young men haggard, and
prematurely old, creeping along the streets like shadows in
genteel rags. No man can form the most distant idea of the
misery and human suffering that wanders the streets of
London in silence during the cold, dark hours when the
provident and fortunate members of society are enjoying
the sweets of calm repose, unless, like me, he has had to
commune with his own feelings while wandering to leave
time behind him in the loud silence of the night in the
largest city of the world !
On the morning of the third day, I made up my mind to
leave London. My good mentor seemed to draw me to the
north. Kitty Dawson's image came to my relief, and by an
invisible power dre-w me in that direction. Somewhere about
ten o'clock I found myself in Islington ; I inquired the road
for Barnet, and left the huge piles of brick and mortar behind
me. When I had got about three miles clear of the town I
came to an aqueduct where there was a toll of a penny to
pay : when I told the man I had no money he let me pass
on ; if the fellow had used his eyes, he might have easily
seen that I was perfectly valueless in point of cash. After I
had passed the toll about a mile, I had the good fortune to
meet a miracle at last. There are few men who have passed
through life, but have met with some good angel in their dark
hours of adversity ; and such was my fate upon this, to me,
132 A GENEROUS STRANGER A HEARTY REPAST.
memorable occasion. As I was going along the road (which
was a bye one), I met a clerical-looking gentleman coming
in the opposite direction. I inquired if he could oblige me
by directing me the nearest way to the Great North Road :
he very readily gave me the proper directions, and while
doing so seemed to take an interest in me. He inquired
where I was going. I told him to Hexham. He then
named several gentlemen who lived in the neighbourhood of
that place, and asked me if I knew any of them. I informed
him that I knew the whole of them by name, and their places
of residence. He seemed satisfied with my answers, and as
I was leaving he gave me half-a-crown. I expressed my
gratitude to him in the fulness of my heart, and with tears in
my, eyes. As I passed on I inwardly thanked God ; for if
ever there was an angel of peace came across the path of any
human being in distress, that man was one to me. Before I
met him I was sinking into despair, I was weak with hunger,
and both my mind and body were in a state of miserable
dejection. This noble and generous act of an entire stranger
dispelled the dark clouds which were brooding over my
spirits, and filled me with hope, bright, elastic, and cheering.
As I went on my way with renewed vigour, I had only one
drawback to my complete happiness, and that was the
degradation of my situation, which required to live on the
bounty of others instead of my own industry.
I shortly arrived in Barnet, and my first care was to pro-
pitiate my gnawing stomach. I bought a twopenny loaf of
bread, after which I went into a small public-house, and
called for half a pint of porter, which cost me another penny.
While I was feeding in the tap-room, there was a solitary
individual seated in a corner opposite to where I was ; this
. man was evidently amused at my industry with the loaf, and
my economy with the half-pint. I may observe that I only
used the liquid to send down the partially masticated solids
in what the Scotch call bite and sup fashion. Whatever the
fellow thought, he had the good sense to remain silent until
ZEST OF HUNGER WARMTH OF S YMPA THY. 1 3 3
I finished my labour of love. I really believe that eating is
the only positive pleasure a man can enjoy alone, and it is
not surprising that it should be so, when we know that the
vital part of the food becomes a part of our existence. All
other pleasures would seem to require a species of co-partnery,
and feed upon sympathy, which makes its way to his heart
through some of his greedy feelings. When I had finished
my repast, I was as contented in mind as if the house had
been my own. Since then I have had my limbs under
mahogany covered with the most delicious viands, and the
choicest wines, but the accumulation of three days' sauce gave
that humble meal a zest I have rarely enjoyed. When my
sleeping partner saw that I had finished, he observed that I
appeared to have been hungry, and inquired if I was on
tramp. I answered him in the affirmative ; he then said that
he, too, had been on tramp, and that it was no pleasant
business, unless a man had sufficient money to make himself
comfortable with. I agreed to this proposition ; he continued
his observations by saying he had been on the fly for a fort-
night, and had spent all his money, and now the landlord
would not trust him a pint of beer ; but he said it is the way
with the whole of them, when they get your money you
may go to the devil ! After asking me a number of questions,
such as only a half-drunken man would ask, he put his hand
into his pocket, and, with a solemnity fitting the greatness of
the occasion, he put a good old-fashioned farthing into my
hand. " Here," said he, " my lad, take this, it is all I have,
but if it had been more you should be welcome to it." I
could not help appreciating the man's kindness ; his farthing
was like the widow's mite it was his all. I knew a circum-
stance, wherein a political acquaintance of mine had a five-
pound note sent to him while in jail, by a gentleman holding
a political creed of an opposite character ; he was so much
gratified with the generous act, that had his pecuniary wants
not been greater than his gratitude, he would have had that
note framed. In this instance, the case was similar with my-
134 STILL FOR WARDS GRIEF AT MY FORL ORN STA TE.
self; if I could have afforded it, I would have retained the
farthing as a memorial of the poor fellow's kindness. These
Jwo events were the preludes to a turn in my fortune for the
better.
When I left Barnet, I had three hundred miles before me,
and even when I should arrive at the place I had in view, I
had nothing more to depend upon there than any other place
in the wide world. My going in that direction was a thing I
seemed to have no power over, for I felt as if I were impelled
by an irresistible influence ; so I allowed myself to drift down
the stream of fate. With the two shillings and threepence
farthing in my pocket, my heart was as light as a strolling
player's with the proceeds of half a benefit in his possessi6n,
and his bills unpaid. I went down the country by the way of
Cambridge. As I was going into that town, it was on a
Sunday evening, and beautiful spring weather ; I met a number
of young men and their sweethearts enjoying each other's
society during their evening's walk. The sight of so much
human happiness, which ought to have gladdened my heart,
plunged me into profound grief; the contrast of my own
unhappy condition stared me full in the face, and I felt my
mind full of wild thoughts as I hurried on. I was determined
to husband my small stock of money; so I found quarters
generally in some farmer's out-house. I remember the day I
passed between Cambridge and Ely. After having crossed
one of the Cambridgeshire flats or marshes, I observed some-
thing like a sign- board fixed on the gable-end of a small
cottage ; the inscription on this board, instead of being
"Licensed to retail tea and tobacco," was, "Therefore the
name of this place is called Golgotha unto this day." I could
not imagine what that little old-fashioned house could have
to do with skulls; perhaps some dark deed had given it
historical significance.
In Ely I slept in a common lodging-house, and while there
I had a very flattering invitation to join two genteel young
men in the regular cadging trade, both of whom had success-
FORD THE WASHNEARL Y LOS TIN THE CURRENT. 1 3 5
fully passed their probation in the profession. After we had
gone to bed (there being some fourteen or fifteen persons in
the same room), the two youths fully initiated me into the
mysteries of the business, and each of them told me his
history. One had been an apprentice to a cabinet-maker,
and having been entrusted by his master to lift a twenty-
pound account, he cut with the money, and when it was all
spent he took to begging ; he had often been in quod (gaol),
and could make plenty of tin ; when one dodge failed he tried
another. This hopeful young man was a native of London,
and the son of a respectable tradesman. According to his
own showing, he had often skinned the old cove ! The other
young man had robbed his father of thirty pounds, and
bolted ; he had tried the prigging, and had been nabbed four
times, and had been twice on the mill : he didn't care any-
thing about it. I have no doubt but both these poor lads
had been induced to acts of theft by parties older than them-
selves.
The second day after this, as I was travelling between
Lynn and Boston, I had to cross long Sutton Wash. I was
told that this place could be forded by foot-passengers at
low water. Immediately before I got to the Wash, I met a
countryman on horseback, and inquired of him if I could
ford it ; his answer was, he thought I might. When the tide
is in, this place is crossed by a ferry-boat ; and at low water,
foot passengers are carried over on horseback, the price
charged in either case being sixpence. I had no such sum
to spare, and therefore tucked up my trousers and took to the
water. I got on quite smoothly until I arrived about the
middle of the stream, when I was carried away with con-
siderable violence. I thought my journey was about being
ended ; however, I struck out and swam in a slanting direc-
tion with the current. I was swept down the river for a
considerable distance, and was pulled out by two of the ferry-
men quite exhausted. These men took me up to the ferry-
house, and after I got round a little, they gave me a glass
136 MY FIRST INTRODUCTION TO THE HAT TRADE.
of hot brandy and water. After my bath I travelled fourteen
miles, and lay in a barn among straw all night.
Before I could get to Hull there was another difficulty
before me ; I required to cross the Humber from Great
Grimsby, and the fare was then two shillings and sixpence.
On the morning when the packet was to sail there was not
a breath of wind sufficient to fill a lady's glove. The want
of Boreas' bellows was a god-send to me. I got my passage
on the condition that I should assist at the oar ; this I gladly
embraced. The distance we had to sail was twenty miles ;
there were several passengers on board, among which there
was one gentleman who kindly gave me a shilling, another
followed his example and gave me sixpence, and during the
time I was aboard the boat, the men supplied me with plenty
of food. This was a most timely and fortunate supply.
Little better than a day's journey from Hull there was a
sunny spot before me, where I was sure of a day's rest and
good treatment. I therefore lost no time in making for
Helmsley. This is a small market town in the East Riding
of Yorkshire, about thirteen miles from Malton. At that
time there was a Mr. Thomas Corbitt, who . was head
gardener to Mr. Buncombe. I was upon most intimate
terms with Mr. Corbitt's family, who resided in the neigh-
bourhood of Hexham. When I arrived in Helmsley I was
kindly received by Mr. Corbitt, although he had never seen
me before. The fact was, he treated me more like a brother
than a stranger. I was very badly off for clothing, and my
shoes were in the last stage of decrepitude : the latter he
kindly replaced by a new pair, and he supplied me with
several necessaries I stood most in need of. When he found
I had a desire to learn the hat-trade, he introduced me to a
gentleman in town, who was then a small manufacturer.
My new master was a kind, quiet, and good-hearted man,
and while I was with him he treated me more like a father
than an employer. I had not been in my new situation more
than about five weeks, however, when I told my benefactor
REVIEW OF PAST TROUBLES AND ESCAPES. 137
that I had resolved to leave and go to Hexham. I had never
been in any place I liked better than Helmsley, nor had I
ever been so well treated by strangers. I was therefore
extremely sorry in leaving my kind employer, but was im-
pelled to go forward and could not do otherwise.
The little insight I got into the business while in Helmsley
was sufficient to introduce me into the trade. I took the
road for the north, and called upon the trade as I went along.
The morning I left Darlington I had a very hard day's work,
having travelled fifty-four miles. On the evening of the third
day after leaving Helmsley I came in sight of Hexham. I
can never forget the thrill of delight which ran through my
whole system as I looked down upon the town from a rising
ground. I imagined that the dream of my life was about
being realized. The only being in the world I cared for was
there ; for three years her very name had been a charm to
me, and her secret influence had never ceased to draw me
like a magnet of attraction. The sad history of my past life
became a blank, and I looked forward to the future with the
high-charged feelings of a slave in the hope of obtaining his
liberty. I cannot express how I hated the life I had led.
Up to this period I had been the slave of circumstances, and
my whole life had been a continual round of strange vicissi-
tudes. The Fates had tossed me about in the blanket of
adversity and bodily suffering, until I was frequently sick of
my existence. I had narrowly escaped going to the other
world by water no less than six times, and also from being
killed by a fall from the top of a high laden waggon in
crossing Shap Fell. I had been more than once lost and
kidnapped. Twice I had been within an inch of death
by accident, twice by violence, besides the chance from
McNamee's knife, and twice nearly frozen in the snow.
It may appear somewhat strange to those who have not
studied human nature, and observed the various idiosyncracies
of men's minds, when I say that I was often the victim of a
natural bashfulness ; but such was the case. This feeling
1 38 THE INFLUENCE OF EDUCA TION ON CRIME.
has frequently been a serious drawback to me, but I have no
doubt that it has also saved me from much evil. My bash-
fulness was pretty well compensated for in a large stock of
pride, and no little ambition : the latter feeling frequently
prompted me to action when supineness must otherwise have
existed. I had also a sufficient amount of self-esteem to
inspire me with a proper regard for my person ; and my love
of approbation enabled me to value the good opinion of
others. I feel satisfied, from my experience of human nature,
that men owe much of this to their peculiar organization, as
well as the directing influence brought to bear upon their
opening passions.
When I was with Rooney, if I had had a strong, or even
an ordinary tendency to dishonesty, he would have been the
very man to have directed and matured it. If I had been
naturally inclined to gambling, he would have drilled me
into its mysteries with all the care of a father: and if my
combativeness had been large, he would have given me
frequent opportunities of exercising myself in the delightful
science of pugilism. It was, therefore, so far fortunate that
the peculiar combination of my own moral and physical
elements saved me from the destruction which otherwise
must have been the consequence of my connection with that
unmitigated knave ! Although I have worked my way up
from the substratum of society, and have been enabled to
take my place among the industrious members of the com-
munity, I know that my life was frequently upon the turning-
point, when the merest accident would have made me a
vagabond witKout redemption. There are many thousands
of human beings in this country whose destinies to all ap-
pearance have been cast for them at their births ; and I am
aware that in numerous instances, if they had had the desire
to change their positions, there could scarcely have been a
possibility of their being able to effect it. You will therefore
observe, that it is an easy thing for men to fall in society,
but a very difficult matter to rise.
GOOD APPEARANCES SOMETIMES A DRAWBACK. 139
I may here mention, that I had two little circumstances
connected with my person which were often opposed to my
interest, whereas they should have been in my favour. I
always carried an air of gentility in my personal appearance
when I was young ; my address was good, and my tongue
was free from anything in the shape of provincialism. The
consequence was, that these little things, which under
different circumstances would have told in my favour, were
only calculated to raise an unjust suspicion against me. In
many instances, I have been taken for the son of respectable
parents, and was supposed to have had a good education,
and therefore must have bjeen a scapegrace. I need not tell
you that we are generally liable to judge from appearances,
but in doing so we very frequently make serious mistakes.
CHAPTER VII.
I HAVE now arrived at what may be termed the second
grand crisis of my life. I had floundered through
nonage in a manner somewhat strange, and in some instances
not without being tinged with a sprinkling of romance. I
am now, however, upon the eve of entering upon the real
voyage of life with something like a man at the wheel !
The little I learned of the hat-making business in
Helmsley I knew would be sure to procure me a situation
as an apprentice. When I arrived at Hexham I learned
that there was a young man just about out of his apprentice-
ship : I therefore made immediate application for the
opening, and was accepted. I entered upon trial, and
remained so for three weeks. My new employer very un-
fortunately laboured under the sin of poverty. By the rules
of the trade I required to be bound at the end of a month
from my first entering. The stamp for my indenture would
cost a guinea, not to mention the filling it up with the
conditions ! Here, then, was a serious difficulty at the very
onset ; and if I had been turned inside out I was not worth
two shillings in the world. I believe when a man has fairly
got into the stream of fortune there is no staying his onward
progress. While I was on my probation month there was
a young lady, who was then verging into that equivocal
age where fove lingers between hope and despair. This
maiden had formed a sort of forlorn attachment to my
humble person. Being a near relative of my master's, she
kindly aided me in riveting my chains without compromising
her maiden delicacy. Poor girl ! I was obliged to her both
A SAGE OLD LADTS PREDICTION FALSIFIED. 141
for her cash and affection ; the first I hoped to be able to
repay, but the latter was just one of those things I had no
power over.
On the evening when I was bound there was an old lady
present, the widow of a late hat-manufacturer. She was then
carrying on the business by the assistance of two of her
sons. She had known me for a long time, and was there-
fore fully aware of the sort of life I had led. While my
indenture was being filled up she said, " Noo, feamie,ye > raboot
entering into an engagement ytll never fulfil. Tatf my word
for^t, ye'll never see the end of a seven years' apprenticeship
as shere as I'm a leeving woman ! I ken" said she, " ye've
seen ow'er muckle o' the warld, an 1 been ow'er muckle your
ain master to undergo the drudgery of a hatter's apprentice.
But," she continued, " if ye be a gude lad, and stick to yer
wark t I'll do any thing for ye that lies in my power." The
good old lady fulfilled this promise whenever I gave her the
opportunity of serving me. I had the pleasure of falsifying
her predictions, but she did not live to see the end.
I have mentioned that this sort of feeling continually
opposed my settling down in life. There was not one in a
thousand who knew me but would have expressed the same
opinion. This sentiment was strengthened materially by
my age ; and when you reflect upon the drudgery and menial
duties of a hatter's apprentice at that time you cannot feel
surprised. Being the only apprentice in the house for two
years, I had all the water to carry from a considerable dis-
tance. Twice a week I had to collect stale lant from a
number of places where it was preserved for me : I carried
this fragrant liquid on my head, and had often the agreeable
pleasure of having it stream down my face. When I was
bound I knew all my duties, but I had firmly made up my
mind under every trial to conquer, and I may say, that
firmness was not the least prominent trait in my character.
About a fortnight after I had entered upon my new duties
the harvest set in, and as my master was not busy, I got
142 POLITICAL AGITATIONS DANIEL 0' CONN ELL.
liberty to spend a fortnight in reaping. The money I earned
at this employment enabled me to purchase such clothing
as I stood most in need of. When I tell you that my salary,
after being boarded and lodged, was only one shilling a-week
for the first year, with a rise of an additional sixpence each
year, you will agree with me, that the produce of my harvest
labour was a very acceptable relief. Small as this sum was,
I could have managed with it very well ; but poor Rutherford
(my master's name) could very seldom afford to allow me to
be cashier of my own money.
It was in this year (1822) that that exemplary monarch,
George the Fourth, paid his Scotch subjects a royal visit ;
and while the natives of Auld Reekie were bowing their loyal
knees before their virtuous king, the unsettled state of the
monetary system was crushing and paralyzing both the
commerce and industry of the nation. About this time,
too, Castlereagh had quietly given himself a passport to the
other world ; and there were some, among the people who
thought there was something like retribution in the act.
From this date up to 1832, the working men of Great Britain
continued to take a lively interest in all the great political
questions of the day. George the Fourth had broken faith
with his Irish subjects upon the Emancipation question ;
after which Dan O'Connell formed the Catholic Association.
This combination rallied to its standard some of the most
brilliant talent which Ireland could boast of, and many of
the peals of thunder which shook the walls of Conciliation
Hall vibrated throughout the length and breadth of the
nation. The artillery of the association continued to pour
the red-hot balls of its eloquence into the camp of the
enemy ; and such was the efficiency of its practice, that the
Government required, upon more occasions than one, to
fortify the State garrison by special Acts of Parliament.
Notwithstanding these precautions, O'Connell continued to
demolish both the entrenchments and the batteries of the
enemy as fast as they were formed. At one time the
I RESOLVE TO SURMOUNT DIFFICULTIES. 143
Government imagined that the wily lawyer was completely
hemmed in by a line of circumvallation : even then he slipped
through their meshes, and set their power at defiance, and,
as a consequence, rose higher in the estimation of his
countrymen. From this time forward, for many years,
Cobbett continued to expose the shortcomings of the
Government, and point out to the people the numerous
abuses which were allowed to exist. His terse Saxon style
of language appealed to the sense and understandings of
all classes. Blackwood, then in the zenith of its Tory power,
tried to put the plebeian down, but the Corinthian lance only
" dirled on the bane." The Black Dwarf, too, thundered
away at the State paupers, and made the character and con-
dition of a large portion of the proud aristocracy pass in
review before the people. About this time the British press
was beginning to assume a tone of something like indepen-
dence. The trial of Muir, Palmer, and Skirving, combined
with the Peterloo affair in Manchester, had roused a feeling
of indignation in the minds of many men who were not of
any party or political creed, against the tyrannical conduct
of the governing party; indeed, it seemed evident to the
minds of a large portion of the thinking community, that
corruption and misrule had become intolerable, and that it
was time the nation should be allowed to breathe the air of
freedom !
So far as my new condition was concerned, I may say that
my existence was just as unvaried and monotonous as that
of any ploughman. I certainly had to put up with many in-
conveniences, and suffer much hardship; butl knew that
most of the difficulties I had to encounter were the common
lot of all the apprentices in the trade ; I knew, too, that the
battle of life was before me ; and I had firmly made up my
mind to overcome every difficulty. My conduct made me
many warm and generous friends, who really took a pleasure
in serving me ; and when I had a holiday to spend, I never
wanted a home in the most pleasant meaning of the term.
1 44 THE IMPELLING SPIRIT VANISHES L OVE AND HA TE.
You will agree with me, that there is something strange
and unaccountable in what I am going to relate. After I
returned to Hexham, the being who had exercised such a
mysterious influence over my life and actions for such a
length of time passed from my memory like an indistinct
shadow in a dream. It seems to me now, when I reflect, that
her guardian spirit had fulfilled its mission, and quietly with-
drew ! When I had frequent opportunities of both seeing
and speaking to her, I passed her as I would an utter stranger.
How this cold insensibility in regard to her took possession
of my mind I never could say. For three years she had held
me in the most delightful bondage. For her, I had aspired
to the position of a free and independent member of society,
and when I was about realizing the glorious dream of my life,
the magic of her mysterious power vanished ; the sweet spell
was broken by some strange power, and she faded from my
memory like a thing that had never rested there ! Twice I
had been the subject of strong embodiments of unaccountable
thought : the one was pure and unalloyed hatred, and I never
knew the cause ; the other seemed love in its most dreamy
and holy sense, indeed, there was not a particle of dross in
the desire. Before I had seen my father I knew not what sort
of a man he was, either in person or character, and yet I hated
him as if he had been my most deadly enemy. It was cer-
tainly a strange idea for one so young to have been possessed
with an ill-will against a person he never knew, and more
particularly when that person was his own father. There was
something in my love, too, if I can call it by such a name,
which was equally unaccountable ; and the vanishing of that
feeling without any apparent cause was a crowning mystery.
When men begin to analyze their thoughts, I believe they will
find many feelings, and even lasting impressions, which are
calculated to exercise powerful influence over their actions,
baffle all their philosophy to account for them by the ordinary
rules of investigation. It may be, that there are certain occa-
sions when we are liable to receive impressions from invisible
ANOTHER KITTY CHANGE OF MASTERS. 145
agencies, or perhaps such things may arise from the peculiar
idiosyncracies of our nature : there is also a possibility that we
are sometimes acted upon by sympathetic susceptibilities, the
origin of which lies veiled in the impenetrable arcana of the
Divine will !
The time is nigh at hand when my suspended affections are
again to be brought into action. When I had been in Hexham
about twelve months' I was accidentally introduced to a young
woman whose name was also Kitty. We shortly became
mutually attached to each other, and all the feeling I had had
for the other returned, with its train of pleasing anxieties, and
were concentrated in my new love. After this I continued to
do my duty, and perform my ordinary avocations, minus my
heart, for nearly three years. This young woman was a
servant to a maiden lady in the same street in which I lived ;
her parents were honest, industrious people ; and as to
herself, never a more single-hearted, amiable, and virtuous
woman adorned the home of a working man. The first Kitty
may be said to have been an ideal creature of my affections ;
but in the other I found the realization of my most sanguine
dreams.
After I had been with Rutherford between three and four
years, he was compelled to relinquish his business. For some
time he had manfully struggled against a strong spring-tide of
pecuniary difficulties, and at last was fairly stranded upon the
lee shore of insolvency. For about three months before he
yielded up the commercial ghost we were frequently without
food, or the means of obtaining any, so that we may be said
to have been regularly starved out. On leaving, or rather
having been left, I obtained another employer in the town
without loss of time, and one whose position was very
different to that of my late employer. When I entered upon
the duties of my new situation I found my condition materi-
ally altered for the better, and I had no cause to complain
either of lack of work or scarcity of food.
In the year 1826, the Northumberland militia was called out
10
146 GROTESQUE OUTFIT AS A MILITIA MAN.
for a month's drill. Mrs. Ritson (my employer's wife), with
the regard and affection of a mother, sent me to my military
probation with every necessary, both for my comfort and
personal appearance.
My first appearance in the character of a soldier was
certainly the most ridiculous you can well imagine. The
clothing for the men was served out to them without any
regard to the principle of adaptation. At that time I was
very slender in form, and of course did not require any
great quantity of material to cover my person. I had my
wardrobe bundled into my arms sans ceremony from the
regimental store. The shoes were so capacious that, with
a little enlargement, and a Siamese union, I might have
gone on a voyage of discovery in them ! The chapeau,
instead oj being a fit, was an extinguisher, and when I put
it on I required to bid the world good-night ! The longitude
of the trowsers was of such a character that I could not find
my bearings in them, and the coat was of such ample
dimensions that if I had had a family it would have made
a cover for the whole of us. I daresay you have some idea
how an ordinary sized man requires to be made up for the
representation of Sir John Falstaif; my case was some-
thing similar. The hat was flattered to remain on my head
by being padded to such an extent that it looked like a
capital accidentally placed on a wrong pillar, and I was
obliged to hold my head as if I was balancing a pole on
the top of it. The coat required two or three others as
companions to keep it from collapsing and burying me in
its folds ; and the trowsers put me in mind of two respect-
able towns in France, being Too-loose and Too-long! The
shoes were the only part of my uniform I could discard
without a violation of military rule, so I studied economy
for the State by wearing my own. When I found myself
fairly encased in my new military costume, my identity was
completely non est. In this guise I made my debut on
parade, in the character of a defender of my country. So
SPECIMEN OF ELECTIONEERING CORRUPTION. 147
far as appearance was in question, I think you could almost
have made a better-looking soldier out of a bundle of
parti-coloured rags, with a monkey stuffed into the middle
of it.
During the first week of my sojourn in Alnwick, nearly
the whole of the men might be seen running to and from
each other's quarters, changing coats in one place, hats in
another, and trowsers where counterparts were to be found.
On the whole, I never remember to have seen such a set
of grotesque figures and truly fantastic-looking beings.
The tall, raw-boned fellows were moving about with their
wings protruding through the sleeves of their coats, and
their legs a full day's march beyond the natural boundaries
of their Utruncated hose. Many of the stout men were like
big boys pressed into little boys' cast-off clothing, and the
little fellows were like babies dressed in their fathers' gar-
ments. By the end of the first week most of the men got
themselves bartered into something like soldier fashion.
I then passed muster as a front-rank man during the four
weeks of my peaceable duties, and returned somewhat im-
proved in the use of my understandings.
I may mention that the summer of 1825 was both the
warmest and the dryest in the memory of man. The grain
crop was very good ; but there was little straw, and in some
cases the oats had to be pulled up by the root. During this
year one of the severest parliamentary election contests
ever witnessed in England took place in Northumberland.
The county was then represented by two members, and upon
this occasion there were four candidates two Tory and two
Whig. Matthew Bell and the Honorable Thomas Liddle
were the exponents of the good old stand-still principle ;
and the Whig, or Liberal creed, was supported by Lord
Howick (now Earl Grey) and Thomas Wentworth Beaumont.
The election cost the contending parties somewhere about
^190,000. Mr. Beaumont's share in the expense of this
foolish contest amounted to upwards of ^90,000. A very
148 RIOTOUS SCENES A T ELECTIONS IN 1825.
large portion of the money spent upon this memorable
occasion was paid to tavern-keepers for brutalizing the
people ! Many of the bacchanalian scenes I witnessed were
a disgrace to all the parties connected with the affair.
During the fourteen days which the polling continued, the
county remained in a state of feverish excitement : the
constant and unlimited use of intoxicating liquors kept the
mad passions of a great number of the people up to the
boiling point. Religion, too, was dragged in to sanctify
the unholy proceedings, and strengthen the claims of the
two gentlemen who had the honour of supporting the
Church and State. This was the good old system by which
our virtuous legislators gained the portals of St. Stephen's,
through the stomachs of their moral and religious sup-
porters. It is true, we are not much better in the manage-
ment of these things yet; but it is so far satisfactory to
know, that some of our modern legislators have either got
ashamed of the beer-barrel, or they have been seized with
the " damnation o' the expenses ; " so it is just possible we
may have our elections conducted upon a more rational
principle in future. I sometimes think that nothing could
afford a better proof of our real English love of liberty than
a contested parliamentary election. During these patriotic
occasions the people were allowed the humane privilege of
breaking each other's heads to their hearts' content. I
have often seen bodies of men as industrious at this sort
of employment as if it was the only real concern of their
lives. It is true, the opposing parties were paid for their
labours. I merely mention this to show that however con
amore the unwashed went to their work, the honourable
candidates were no less interested in the brutal conduct of
their partisans.
At this time the pocket boroughs existed in all their
accommodating usefulness, for the special protection of certain
landowners, and the support of the Church and glorious
Constitution ! There were numbers of men in those days who
MY PRUDENT RESOLUTION TO TAKE A WIFE. 149
were so innocently green, that they imagined the equilibrium
of the world depended upon the inviolability of these sacred
vested rights. To have removed one rotten stone from the
State, in their estimation would have brought the whole fabric
of the Constitution to the ground, and reduced the world to
chaos once more. Since that time the machinery of the State
has been tinkered a good deal, and on the whole I think
has been considerably improved. Nevertheless, old Mother
Church holds on by her golden connection, and the Consti-
tution, though it occasionally requires patching, is something
like the Jew's old watch " Better than new."
When I had been about five years at my trade, I began to
have certain notions of manhood. During three years I had
been labouring under a continual state of counter-irritation.
The fact of the matter was, that I was ten thousand fathoms
deep in the indescribable regions of love, and I had some
vague idea that matrimony would be the only legitimate cure.
My prospects for keeping a wife were certainly of a very hazy
character ; but I had a world of hope, and my intended had
an unlimited confidence in me. My firmness had frequently
dragged me through the mire of difficulty, while poor helpless
Caution, instead of being a leader, was left to follow in the
wake of her more reckless neighbour. Indeed few men with
so much experience could have been Blessed with a smaller
amount of calculation, or a better stock of real sanguine
dreamy speculation. If ever there was a man who should
have realized a fortune by building castles in the air, I am
that man ; but I shall have more to say upon this subject by-
and-by. Suffice it to say, that I made up my mind to merge
the lover in the responsible character of a husband. For this
purpose, I went through the dutiful ordeal of obtaining the
consent of all the parties who were interested in the matter,
and I became the happy husband of a good and virtuous wife.
My employer allowed me ten shillings a week, and with this
sum we were " surpassing rich ; " if not in worldly gear, we
certainly were in the best affections of the heart. If we
150 FIRST LEARN TO WRITE TASTE FOR READING.
could have lived upon love, we could have gladly left the dull
insipid world behind us. We soon found out the disagreeable
fact, that those who are yoked in the traces of humanity, how-
ever much they may seem spiritualized, must continue to draw
their earthly vehicles along the highway of time, during which
the machinery must be carefully oiled. Love is no doubt a
very pretty poetical passion, but unless it be fed upon some-
thing more substantial than mere sentiment, and dreamy hope,
like a wick without oil it soon loses its sweet flame. After I
had been married a short time, I had a quarrel with 'my
master's son, and having been put on my defence by his
unmanly treatment, I returned him payment in kind such as
he had not anticipated. Had I remained longer, after having
humbled the principal manager in the business, I knew my
position would have been anything but corhfortable ; I there-
fore demanded my indenture. I never regretted this step,
and I was fully borne out in the act by the whole of my friends.
The young man I quarrelled with was an ignorant, presuming,
petty tyrant, and as long as he kept his hands off me, I could
very well afford to put up with his empty declamation.
Up to this time I was not able to write my own name, and
while I was serving my apprenticeship in Hexham I had no
opportunities to learn. Thanks to my stepfather, I could
read a little, and never failed to turn it to account when I had
the opportunity. During my stay in Hexham I had no means
of seeing anything in the shape of literature ; neither of the
families in which I had lived possessed the most distant taste
for reading, and as far as my memory serves me, I am not
aware of having seen a book read in either of their houses.
In the latter end of the year 1826^ a friend made me a present
of an old edition of Chevalier Ramsay's Life of Cyrus. This
little volume opened up to my enquiring mind a rich field of
useful knowledge. The appendix to the work contained the
heathen mythology : this part of the work completely fascinated
me, and for a considerable time became my constant com-
panion. I had now a continual craving to pry into the mysteries
VISIT TO DUBLIN SKETCH OF THE IRISH BEGGAR. 1 5 I
ofJiterature ; heretofore the glorious world of man's thought
had been a sealed book to me, and I longed most ardently
to hold communion with those master-minds who had scat-
tered the beautiful flowers of their intelligence in the garden
of humanity. My mind had a decided intellectual bias, but,
unfortunately, it was firmly chained down in the dungeon of
ignorance, and I had none to assist me in breaking the fetters.
I believe there have been many men who have become
ornaments to society, and benefactors of their kind, whose
difficulties were greater than mine ; but if I ever possessed
the capacity, it was never properly directed, and, on the
whole, I think I had more taste than talent.
After I had made suitable arrangements as to my future
line of conduct, I left the home I had so long sighed for.
After my wife was properly cared for in my absence, I made
up my mind to go to Dublin ; so I travelled to Whitehaven,
and took my passage aboard of a collier, and had the pleasure
of being tossed about in the Irish Channel for seven days, and
as many nights. When I arrived in the city where " O'Connell
was spouting, and Lady Morgan making tay," I found there
was no opening for a turnover apprentice. I spent three
days in seeing the Dublin lions, and was much pleased with
the public buildings and the general features of the city.
The population of Dublin was certainly the most extraordinary
I had ever witnessed. From the beggar to the peer, all was
animation, and I certainly never had been in any place where
a piously disposed person could procure blessings at so cheap
a rate ; a few coppers were sufficient to bring down a shower
of the choicest benedictions upon the astonished donor ; but,
on the other hand, a crooked look, or a word of reproach,
would be sure to inundate the imprudent wight in a torrent
of imprecations ! The Dublin beggars, in their unmitigated
rags, are a unique specimen of the genus homo ; amid their
mountains of motley rags there is a world of devil-ma-care,
light-hearted fun and humour, and their ready wit sparkles in
exuberance from the fountain of originality.
152 DROLL CHARACTER OF THE IRISH CARMAN.
The cabmen in all countries are a peculiar race of men,
but the Dublin carmen exceeded all that I had ever seen,
both as to their manners, habits, and dress. The furniture
of the horses, and the clothing of these fellows, were of such
a character that it was really dangerous for a man whose
risible faculties were easily excited to look at them ; and
their mellifluous brogue and soft blarney were irresistible,
when used in pumping the feelings of their patrons.
I remember a very good anecdote of one of these men
while driving a gentleman past the Bank ; the day was both
cold and foggy ; the gentleman looked up to the Bank, and
observed to the carman that he thought there had been
figures on the top of the Bank. " An' sure, your honour, so
there are, when the weather is fine ; but, bedad," said he,
" they would be great fools to come out sich a could day as
this is any how." In these times a tinpinny piece would
bring forth the exclamation of " may your honour niver doie
until I wish it." While a fippinny would produce an arch
lear, full of the most bewitching roguery, with an inquiry at
the end of it, wishing to know if the donor was the only one
of his family, or if it was the first time his honour had " iver
been in the company of a gintleman ? " The warmth of
Irish feeling is surprising ; but it entirely depends upon the
direction it takes, whether it be pleasant or otherwise ; the
difference between a smile of affection and the blow of an
enemy is often as transient as a flitting moonbeam.
On the whole, I was delighted with my Dublin trip. On
the fourth day I took my passage aboard of a steam vessel
for Liverpool. This tub of a ship was freighted with one of
the most heterogeneous cargoes of men and brutes I ever
witnessed. The evening on which we sailed was cold and
somewhat stormy; it was in January 1828. After we had
cleared the bar it came on to blow a heavy gale from the
north-east. Among the deck passengers there was a man
and his wife with seven children ; the whole of this family
were like living mummies enveloped in rags. Before the
I OBTAIN WORK AS A TURNO VER AT TLE Y. 153
vessel had got out to sea, they had taken up their quarters
in the front of the raised quarter-deck, which was nearly
amid-ship. When the old lumbering vessel began to smell
the strong head wind, he tumbled through the waves as if
she did not care a devil for them, and she washed her living
decks as if delighted at the misery she was causing. I think
I shall never forget the truly ludicrous, and at the same time
melancholy scene I witnessed with this poor family ; the
steamer had shipped a heavy sea, which rolled along her
deck in all the fury of water seeking its level : when the
rolling wave reached the quarter-deck it rebounded with
violence, and ingulfed the poor hapless family in its boiling
yeast. After the poor man had regained his breath, he
addressed himself to some of the sailors, with a look and
voice of the most profound melancholy : " Och, boys ! " said
he, " can't ye take this wather away from us ? " At the time
the whole of the family were prostrated in sea-sickness. The
sailors were too much accustomed to such scenes of human
misery to feel for the sufferings of deck-passengers. Had
the family been well dressed there might have been a little
commiseration shown them ; but as they were in rags, it was
quite sufficient to shut the bowels of mercy against them.
After some trouble, I got two passengers to lend a hand, and
we placed the poor creatures aft the funnel, where they were
partially sheltered from the storm.
After I arrived in Liverpool, I continued my journey until
I came to Yorkshire. When I got as far as Bradford, I
learned that there was an opening for a turnover in Otley.
I, therefore, lost no time in making application, and was
fortunate in being engaged with a Mr. Edward Walmsley,
to complete the remainder of my time. The nature of my
engagement gave me strong motives to industry. I was paid
half journeyman's wages ; and during the remainder of my
apprenticeship, I made as much money as any journeyman
in the place. Of course I had to work both late and early.
I was only in Otley a short time when I was enabled to send
154 BIRTH OF A SON THE CATHOLIC CLAIMS.
for my wife. I may look upon the time I spent in this little
town as by far the best applied portion of my whole life. I
had a kind and generous master, plenty of employment, good
health, and a willing mind ; and I was blessed with a loving
wife, and was without care or anxiety for the morrow.
During the first twelve months I was in Otley, I read all
the historical works in the only circulating library in the
place, which was then kept by a Mr. Walker. I also greedily
devoured all the information I could obtain from the news-
papers, by which means I became familiar with the leading
topics of the time. On the Saturday evenings, I generally
spent an hour or two in the bar-parlour of the New Inn.
This room was regularly attended by a number of respect-
able tradesmen of the town. The consequence was, that I
became easy in my manners, and improved my conversa-
tional powers in no small degree ; and I can say without
egotism, that, while I frequented that house, I was looked
up to as an authority upon many of the leading questions of
the day. On the last day of 1828, I gave a hostage to the
State in the birth of a son, and if anything was calculated to
increase my happiness, this event could not fail to do it.
The year 1829 may be looked upon as one of the most
eventful in the history of the first half of the nineteenth
century. During a great portion of this year, the whole
country was in an alarming state of excitement. The labours
of the Catholic Association were about producing their
desired effect. The Duke of Wellington and Sir Robert Peel
had opposed the Catholic claims with all the moral force
they could bring to bear upon the question ; but at length,
seeing those claims could be no longer resisted with
safety to the State, they made a virtue of necessity, and
carried the measure, in the face of taunts and volleys of abuse
from their former colleagues. During six months, the Anti-
Catholic spirit was in a continual state of effervescence ; and
petitions and counter-petitions were poured into the Houses
of Parliament in wagon-loads. All the trickery of low
LEGISLATIVE IMPROVEMENTS OF THE CENTURY. 155
cunning, and the malignancy of sectarian zeal, with no small
portion of honest hatred, were brought to bear against the
passing of this measure.
The first scene in the opening drama of religious tolera-
tion and social equality was enacted ; and what is worthy
of special notice, the leading performers were men who had
all their lives strongly opposed everything in the shape of
progress. The Test and Corporation Act, as a prelude, had
been abrogated, by which means the national stigma was
wiped away from the Dissenters, and men once more began
to breathe the atmosphere of rational freedom. From this
time forward, the Legislature received an infusion of new
members, I mean such as were not bound hand and foot
to the aristocracy ; but it was not until four years after that
the House of Commons fairly began to be inoculated with
the middle-class element. The Reform Bill, although it was
only an instalment of the people's rights, produced a new
era in our national history. When we take a quiet, retro-
spective view of the state of affairs in Great Britain in the
early part of the present century, and compare it with the
latter, I think it will be admitted, that as a nation we have
much cause to feel grateful. The criminal code, which was
a disgrace to us as a Christian people, has been revised and
greatly ameliorated, by being purged of its sanguinary
character. The fiscal regulations have also been modified,
by which means many of the unnatural restrictions which
crippled the commerce and industry of the nation have been
wisely removed. It may be remarked, that every step the
Legislature has taken in the right direction has resulted in
the renewed energy of the people, and the extension of our
commercial operations. Of all the men in existence, states-
men are the last to leave the beaten track of routine; and it
may be affirmed with truth, that our law-givers have been
dragged up to their duty, rather than prompted to it by a
sense of justice.
CHAPTER VIII.
I AM now about entering an entirely new phase of life. I
have broken the chain which bound me for seven years.
In the early part of my apprenticeship I had much to surfer ;
a great deal of which was made more poignant by my age.
But I bore all without a murmur, and found consolation in
hope, and a bright future. After I had been little better
than twelve months in my situation, I got my brother Robert
bound apprentice to the same business, with a hatter in the
same street where I resided. This relieved my mind a good
deal, as I considered myself responsible, in a great measure,
for his well-being. By that time Robert was a big, raw-
boned lad. For some time he continued very diligent and
attentive to his work ; but after he had served twelve months
he left hat-making to those who were more disposed to the
business than he was, having enlisted into the Twenty-fifth,
or King's Own Borderers. When I learned what he had
done, my first impression was, that he had been taken advan-
tage of, and I was determined to have him off. However,
when I saw him I found my mistake : he had fully made up
his mind to the profession of arms. In the course of a few
days he was sent off to the depot, which was then in Edin-
burgh, and I saw no more of him for several years. From
the time I left my mother in Girvan, I had never learned
whether she, and the rest of the family, were living or dead.
I might therefore say that all my family ties were severed.
My apprenticeship expired in November of 1829, and I
remained in Otley until the 3rd of January, 1830, when I
removed my wife and child to Sandhoe, where she was to
STRANGE RECOGNITION OF A CANTING HYPO CRITE. 1 5 /
remain with her father and mother until I should be able to
send for her. I travelled direct to Edinburgh, and reached
there in a few days after leaving Hexham. When I arrived
in Auld Reekie, business was in a very dull state. However,
I obtained employment, and was able to send for my wife in
less than six weeks. During the month of May, while in
Edinburgh, we had an addition to our family, in the birth of
our eldest daughter.
About this interesting and memorable period two little
circumstances occurred, which were matters of gossip for
the time being. The one was the coronation of William
the Fourth, and the other was the death of Sandy McKay,
in a prize-fight between him and Simon Byrne. Just twelve
months after this, Byrne was repaid in the same coin by
being killed in a pugilistic encounter with Deaf Burke.
In the early part of the year 1827 I had occasion to go
to Morpeth upon business, and while there (which was from
Saturday to Monday morning) I put up at a small public-
house. I had for a bedfellow a little Scotchman, who was
then carrying on business as a draper in a place on the
east coast called Bamborough. On the Saturday night I
could scarcely get any rest for the loquaciousness of this
person ; but on the Sunday evening we had a rather warm
discussion upon a religious subject. The man was full of
strong prejudices, and altogether evinced an unmanly and
contracted disposition. During our argument, I had treated
him with a feeling of pity for his peculiar littleness of mind.
When we went to bed on the Sunday night, he never opened
his ungodly jaws ; having to rise early in the morning, I
bade him farewell, but such was the vindictive character
of the creature that he took no notice of me. This person
was about the most self-righteous animal I ever met with.
I had not long been in Edinburgh when there was a most
brutal murder perpetrated in Haddington. The victims of
the murderer were his sister-in-law and his niece. After he
had committed the foul deed, he covered the body of the
158 A LONG TRAMP FOR WORK TO SHERBOURNE.
young woman with a carpet, and threw that of her mother
into a pig-sty alongside of the swine. The murderer
suffered the extreme penalty of the law while I remained in
Edinburgh. When Hemans came out on the drop, what was
my astonishment at recognising, in the condemned felon,
my Morpeth bed-fellow ! He died as he had lived, a canting
hypocrite.
I remained in Edinburgh until the first week in August,
when I removed to Glasgow, in consequence of the slackness
of trade. Those who can remember 1830 will know that
commerce was in a miserable state through the whole of
the United Kingdom. I obtained employment in Glasgow,
where I worked until the i8th of October; having lost my
work a second time through the slackness of business, I left
my family, and went on tramp in search of employment. I
travelled 1400 miles upon this occasion ere I could obtain
work. At last I got shopped in Sherborne, in Dorsetshire.
I remained in this place for rather better than two months,
during which time I sent ten pounds to my family, and pur-
chased myself a suit of clothes. My employer in this place
was a very kind gentlemanly person, and was anxious that
I should send for my family, and remain with him ; however,
I had made up my mind to go to London.
Before I left the west of England, the working classes were
in a fearful state of suffering and excitement in that part of
the country. During my short sojourn, the condition of the
country was alarming in the highest degree ; vast numbers of
the agricultural labourers were in a state bordering upon
starvation. When large bodies of men are reduced to suffer-
ing from the want of even the common necessaries of life, it
cannot be supposed that they are in a condition to be reasoned
with by men whose stomachs are well lined. These poor
people had no clear idea of the cause to which they owed
their misery ; and what was still worse, they did not know
where to seek a remedy. The consequence of this unfortunate
state of things was, that the people did what they often do
A GRA RIA N DIS TURBA NCES IN SO M ERSE T. I 5 ^
under similar circumstances, namely, took revenge upon those
who were more comfortably situated than themselves, by
destroying their property.
In 1 8 30 a very large quantity of farm produce was destroyed
by the torch of the midnight incendiary. Of course, such
conduct was worse than madness, and in the end was sure to
rebound upon themselves. In passing through Devonshire,
Somersetshire, and Dorsetshire, I frequently observed threaten-
ing notices posted upon public places. While I was in
Sherborne there was likely to have been a fearful tragedy
enacted. An agrarian disturbance had taken place in a
neighbouring village about three miles from the town. This
village being in Somersetshire, while Sherborne was in Dorset-
shire, it required some special routine on the part of the
authorities of the latter place ere they could send assistance
into a neighbouring county. The road from Sherborne to
the village in question passed through a deep cutting, and
left a perpendicular wall of many feet on each side. The
rioters had learned the time that a large posse of special con-
stables were to set out, and they made up their minds that
not a man of them should return to tell the tale of the result
of their expedition. In order to carry their diabolical plan
into execution, somewhere about a hundred of them posted
themselves upon each side of the embankment with a quantity
of large stones ready to hurl down on the heads of the' con-
stables. Somehow the infernal plot was discovered in time to
save the lives of the men, and prevent the infamy of such a
dreadful proceeding. I believe if the matter had not been
discovered in time, that it would have been next to impossible
for a man to have escaped.
These agrarian outrages were a sort of second edition to
the disturbances which took place in Yorkshire and Lanca-
shire in 1819, when the poor factory operatives were driven to
acts of madness in destroying the machinery which was then
being introduced into the manufacturing of textile fabrics.
Some simple-minded people imagine that such lavvlestf.
160 MY THIRD EXPERIENCE OF LONDON LIFE.
aggression could not take place now, in consequence of the
improvement of the moral condition of the working classes.
I am free to admit that the people, on the whole, have been
considerably improved in an intellectual point of view ; but it
must be remembered that the necessities of human nature are
as urgent now as ever they were ; and that philosophy and
hungry bellies are as uncompanionable as they were at the
siege of Jerusalem ! Let us suppose either the middle or the
upper classes in society exposed to the pangs of hunger, with-
out the means of relief, while surrounded by abundance, I
would ask what would they do ? It is the simplest thing in the
world for men in comfortable circumstances to moralize upon
the sins and weaknesses of human nature, herein lies the
difference between theory and practice. I feel satisfied that
man's nature will ever remain the same, and that his conduct
will be regulated by the various circumstances of his position.
I left Sherborne with some little reluctance, inasmuch as I
both liked the place and my employer ; but I found there was
no dependence upon a continued regular employment. Im-
mediately on my arrival in London I got shopped in Messrs.
Mayhew and White's. After I had been in town a few weeks,
I found that either the foggy atmosphere or the close con-
finement did not agree with my health ; I therefore only
remained between two and three months. The world of
London has seen a few changes since then. At that time the
new bridge was finished to the approaches, and I believe it
was opened to the public about two months after I left.
While I was in town, Mr. Hunt, the member for Preston in
Lancashire, had a narrow escape of being lynched by a
London mob, for the part he took on the Reform question ;
his life, however, was saved by the then new police, a body of
men he had denounced only a short time before in no very
measured language. The poor old Duke of Wellington dis-
played some uneasy feelings about this time, relative to the
active character of the London unwashed, and, for fear they
should pay him an unwelcome visit, he had his house
AGITATION FOR REFORM OF HOUSE OF COMMONS. l6l
ornamented with barricades, which I observed have outlived
his Grace.
When I left town I took my passage in a steam vessel for
Leith ; after which I went direct to Glasgow. I had been
away from my family about eight months, my return had
been anxiously looked for, and it was not without feelings
of the most profound pleasure that I again returned to the
bosom of my family. I have often realized the truth of the
sentiment that " there is no place like home." Since I had
become a loyal and independent journeyman hatter, my career,
up to the time of my arrival at home, had only been so-so.
Before I went to the trade my life had been like a feather on
the stream, and I was being continually whirled along from
one eddy to another. My own impulses had little or nothing
to do in producing the various colours in the ever-changing
views of my living kaleidoscope. Notwithstanding my altered
condition, when you might suppose that judgment, matured
by experience, should have taken the helm, and quietly
steered me along the ocean of life, avoiding the quicksands
of dissipation, and the misty headlands of speculation, I am
sorry to say you will find that my life still continued to
be the mere sport of fate, and instead of regulating my feel-
ings by the rule of reason, my passions dragged me headlong
through the by-ways of folly. I do not wish you to under-
stand that I was guilty of such conduct as would affect my
character or position in society by indolence, roguery, or
dissipation; on the contrary, I was both temperate and
industrious, and I can say with the confidence of truth that
I never lost half a day from my employment through drink
as long as I continued the servant of another man. My
follies were of quite a diiferent character, which the reader
will observe as he proceeds with my narrative.
I obtained employment as soon as I arrived at home, and
for some time diligently applied myself to my work. In this
year (1831) the agitation for a reform in the House of
Commons was gathering strength over the whole of Great
ii
1 62 AN ENTHUSIASTIC POLITICIAN AND DELEGA TE.
Britain, and all the manufacturing towns were beginning
to show unmistakable symptoms of a determination that
would not submit to a denial. Meetings were being held
in Birmingham, Manchester, Sheffield, Leeds, Glasgow, and
Edinburgh. These meetings, though generally composed of
the working-classes, were supported by several members of
the aristocracy, many of the Liberal gentlemen, and more
especially by large numbers of the influential merchants and
manufacturers.
A short time after I returned home meetings were being
held by the working-men in all the districts of Glasgow.
The hatters, as a body, had never made themselves con-
spicuous by identifying themselves with any political move-
ment; however, upon this occasion they became infected
with the common feeling, and a general meeting of the trade
was held in order to co-operate with the other public bodies.
By this time the Radicals of the west of Scotland had
appointed a central committee. This body of men had the
power of calling general meetings of the combined trades,
and also of organising large meetings of the whole working
population; they also suggested the rate of the levies,
which were made from time to time, in order to carry on the
war. At the meeting of my own trade I was appointed to
represent the hatters at the general meetings of the delegates
from the various bodies in the west of Scotland. My maiden
speech at the first general meeting I attended got me elected
a member of the Central Committee. Here, then, I got into
the gulf-stream of political agitation, and was carried onward
with amazing velocity. I was seized with a wild, enthusiasm,
and for the time became politically mad ; my pride, too, was
flattered by being made a leader in the camp of the people.
From this date I took an active part in all the proceedings
of both the Whig and the Radical parties in Glasgow for
several years.
The Trades' Committee was entirely composed of working-
men, and many of them would have done honour to the
REPRESENTATIVES OF THE TRADES COMMITTEE. 163
highest rank in society. Among them were several very
excellent public speakers, who could acquit themselves in
a becoming manner upon almost any subject. The fact was,
the Committee was an excellent school for young beginners
in the science of oratory and public debating, and many of
the members made no small proficiency in the art. The
gentleman who was chairman for this Committee for several
years (Daniel Macaulay), was a small man with a large mind ;
he was both fluent in speech and quick in debate ; and he
possessed most excellent tact in keeping order in public
meetings. There was also a Mr. John Tait, brother-in-law to
the chairman, who was looked upon as the Moses to the Radical
camp. This gentleman drew out all the petitions, attended
to the literary department, and exercised a general directing
superintendence over the whole business of the Committee.
Some of this man's literary compositions were an honour both
to his head and his heart. His style was chaste, easy, and
fluent, and he was quite at home upon almost every subject
within the range of our business. Mr. Tait conducted the
Trades' Advocate newspaper for many years, and during the whole
time he stood deservedly high in the estimation of all classes
in the community. The Committee had also its Poet
Laureate, in the genial, honest, warm-hearted Sandy Rogers.
This gentleman's political squibs frequently went the round
of the British press. The social qualities of Mr. Rogers were
of the most pleasing nature, and the amiability of his mind
was happily reflected in his broad sonsie face. Though some
of his satirical effusions were exceedingly pungent, they were
entirely free from the gall of personal bitterness. His well-
timed squib upon the Edinburgh gentry, during the visit of
George the Fourth, will still live in the memory of those who
were in the country at the time.
There was also another gentleman of no mean poetical
talent, a member of the Committee. This person's name
was Mr. George Donald. I think it could scarcely be pos-
sible for any two men to be more dissimilar in their moral
1 64 ELECTED MEMBER OF THE REFORM ASSOCIATION.
and social characteristics ; poor Donald's very soul seemed
to dwell in the dark regions of misanthropy, and to look at
his doubting, snarling face, one would have imagined that
his mind had never been enlivened by a single ray of hope.
Poor fellow ! he became a moral wreck, and an outcast
among his kind. During the time I was a member of the
Trades' Committee several highly talented young men became
moral shipwrecks ; such was the nature of the temptations
they were exposed to, that not one in a hundred could bear
up against them for any length of time. The social habits of
the Scotch people are, in my opinion, much more calculated
to lead young men astray than those of the English ; and as
the general beverage is whiskey, it soon makes an inroad upon
the nervous system sufficient to unfit men for business. I am
not conscious of more than four members, out of all those
who were actively engaged as committee-men, who did not
become victims to the accursed vice of intemperance.
From the time I became a member of this body, until long
after the passing of the Reform Bill, my mind was continually
directed to some business connected with it. Indeed, there
was rarely a single night in the week that my time was not
occupied, either in sub-committees, or on the general committee.
The most dangerous feature connected with these meetings
was the everlasting adjournments to the taverns after business
hours. In this little political squad every man was as full of
self-consequence and legislative importance as if each were a
political Atlas, and the battles of the committee were fre-
quently fought a second time o'er the gill stoup. After I had
been a member of the Trades' Committee about six months,
I was also elected a member of the standing committee of
the Reform Association. This body was composed of the
resident gentry, merchants, and manufacturers of the Whig
party. You may well imagine that if I was not a person of
importance, I thought myself so. I know that nothing great
can be attained by man without the salutary spur of ambition,
and that he who would honestly serve his fellow-men must be
EXCITED MANIFESl^A TIONS IN FA VO UR OF REFORM. 1 6 5
self-sacrificing. I dare say I was a good deal actuated by a
true spirit of patriotism ; but if I had done the same duty,
with anything like the amount of zeal, to my family, I could
now have looked back upon the past with a feeling of satis-
faction very different to what I possess. In looking at my
political career from my present position, I have reason to be
thankful that I passed through the dangerous ordeal without
sustaining greater loss. It was so far fortunate for me that I
never indulged in drinking habits, and I never lost time from
my employment.
During the year 1832, several open-air meetings were held
on the Green of Glasgow. Some of these gatherings I
believe to have been the largest political meetings ever held
in Great Britain. The manifestation of public feeling dis-
played at some of these meetings produced no small effect
upon the Legislature. The meeting which took place during
the time the Duke of Wellington held the seals of office, and
had the whole of the administrative power vested in his own
person, gave such a demonstration of outraged feeling and
disappointment, that the country became greatly alarmed, and
the Sovereign was obliged to recall Earl Grey. During the
whole of my life I never witnessed such a display of self-
possessed determination. Many of the flags and emblems
indicated the feelings of the people in the most unmistak-
able language. The portraits of the King and Queen were
turned upside down, and burned amid the execrations of
above 200,000 people. There was no boisterous mirth among
that vast assemblage of human beings; all feeling of levity
was checked by the serious symbols which were so numerously
displayed. In various parts of the meeting brawny arms were
seen to cling to weapons of death, and death's-heads and
cross-bones gave the meeting a solemn import. I had the
marshalling of the whole of these out-door displays, and in
all cases they passed off with the utmost order ; but upon the
occasion of the one above alluded to, I was somewhat afraid
that the leaders had raised a power they could not subdue.
1 66 MY ACQUAINTANCE WITH DR. JOHN TAYLOR.
During the latter end of the Reform agitation, Sir D.
Sandford had made a favourable impression upon the working
classes in the west of Scotland, and the members of my own
trade were quite enthusiastic in his regard. In order to give
a tangible manifestation of their feeling, the men decreed
that he should wear their approbation in the shape of a
superfine beaver drab hat. The chapeau was made, a com-
mittee appointed to wait upon him, and I was selected to
present it, in the name of the members of the trade. Upon
this mighty small occasion, the expounder of Thucydides, like
a second Hannibal, swore upon the altar of his country never
to cease from fighting the battle of liberty as long as a foe
should remain. Since then the country has had frequent
opportunities of being amused at the Jim Crow gyrations of
high-sounding politicians.
In the year 1832, I made the acquaintance of a gentle-
man who had made himself conspicuous during the Reform
agitation, and who afterwards obtained no little notoriety
from his questionable advocacy of the Charter. This was
Dr. John Taylor. The first time I was introduced to him
was at a large out-door meeting, held on the green of Glas-
gow, to receive the late Earl of Durham. There was a
considerable degree of eccentricity in the doctor's conduct,
which gave him an air of romance. At that time he wore a
sailor's dress, with a sort of brigand hat, and the collar of
his shirt turned down in the Byron style ; in height he stood
about five feet ten inches, his complexion was more of the
Italian than British, his hair was jet black and hung upon his
shoulders in graceful curls, and his eyes were large, and dark
as coal. On my first acquaintance with Taylor, I was quite
charmed with him ; indeed, there was a fascination in his
manner that was quite irresistible. Few men were better
calculated to make a favourable impression upon a public
meeting : he was not only a good speaker, but he possessed
a large store of general information, and was therefore quite
aufait upon every subject that came before him as a public man.
A HAT MANUFACTURER IN GLASGOW. 167
In 1833 the hatters of Great Britain found it necessary
to remodel the constitution of their association. A delegate
meeting of the trade was appointed to be held in Man-
chester. Scotland was represented by two members, one
from Edinburgh and the other from Glasgow. I had the
honour of being elected member for the latter place, and
acted the part of vice-chairman to the meeting. At that
time there were many tyrannical rules in the trade, which I
was instrumental in having altered. While I was on this
meeting, which lasted fourteen days, I had ten shillings
a-day and my expenses paid.
During the time I was in Manchester, acting the part of
a legislator upon a small scale, my memory more than once
wandered back to my previous visit, when my friend Bird left
me to run under the close-hauled topsail sheets of poverty,
without a shot in my locker to balance my empty stomach.
The difference between prosperity and adversity is only like
that of sunshine and shower the traces of our joys and
sorrows are soon swept away by the brush of time, and thus
the world wags. Men who sail down the ocean of life with
their canvas filled before the trade-winds of affluence only
know humanity in part. It is true they have their own little
demons to battle with, in the character of their perverse
passions ; but it is very different with the numerous host who
have to double the Cape Horn of poverty in vessels which
are scarcely seaworthy at the beginning of the voyage ; and
it is still worse for those who are sent to sea without chart
or compass to guide them on the voyage of life.
In the early part of the following year I was delegated on
a similar mission to a meeting which was held in Liverpool.
Shortly after this event I commenced business in Glasgow
upon my own account. My capital was but small, but I had
a large round of acquaintances, and had no fear of not
succeeding. Strict application and industry were all I re-
quired to insure my getting on in my new calling. For the
first two years I did very well, and would have continued to
1 68 A RETAIL HATTER THE HATTERS' ARMS TAVERN.
have done so ; but I was for ever running in the face of my
own interest by dabbling in politics. The fact was, I had
been too long a leader in the ranks of radicalism to think of
retiring. The consequence of this folly very soon told upon
my business, and by my egregious stupidity I allowed dull
plodding men to distance me in the race of enterprise ; like
every other man who is blinded by self-conceit, I was sur-
prised to see men who had neither the energy, talent, nor
apparent aptitude I had succeed in business. It was
certainly an uncomfortable reflection to one who was so
full of self-importance to find that he was wanting in the
commonplace ability of conducting his own business but
so it was. In 1836 I opened a retail shop in Nelson Street,
and continued to manufacture my own goods. I soon found
that this business was totally unsuited for me in more ways^
than one. I was troubled with a conscientiousness, or what
will be looked upon as a false independence. I could not
bear the idea of higgling with my customers. At that time
it was a general custom in Glasgow for people in the retail
trade to ask more for their goods than the legitimate price ;
such being the case, no one thought of paying the price
asked in the first instance. I looked upon this system as
not only dishonest, but there appeared to me something in
it highly contemptible and unmanly.
In the spring of 1837, "- was engaged on Mr. John
Dennistoun's committee, while he was standing for the
representation of the city. This was the only time I had
ever received anything in the shape of remuneration for
my political labours : at that time the parliamentary agent
made me a very handsome present. As the season advanced
I found that I could not proceed with my business ; I there-
fore wound it up and entered upon a new line of life, perhaps
the most dangerous of any I had ever been engaged in. I
opened a tavern in King Street, under the auspices of the
" Hatters' Arms." For some time after I opened this busi-
ness, all " went as merry as a marriage bell." You will
TRAD UCED B Y ELECTIONEERING DISHONESTY. 1 69
shortly see that my want of business habits, and thorough
independence of all calculation, made me the scape-goat
of my own imprudence, as usual. At this time Dr. John
Taylor was joint proprietor and editor of The Liberator
newspaper (formerly The Trades' Advocate], and as the
country was upon the eve of a general election, the little
political bodies and cliques were in a state of lively excite-
ment. The Radical Association held meetings in order to
look out for a suitable member to represent their interests.
After. much canvassing, it was found that that body could
not find a man with sufficient funds to come up to the mark.
Several gentlemen of well-known liberal opinions were
applied to, among whom were Mr. Aytoun, of Edinburgh,
and a manufacturer belonging to the town, whose name has
escaped my memory. I think Mr. Roebuck was one, and I
also wrote to Colonel P. Thompson.*
When the time for the general election arrived, there
were five candidates in the field, one of whom was Dr. John
Taylor: I was a good deal surprised when I learned the
circumstance. At that time the poor Doctor was bankrupt
in fortune and character ; I knew that he had no means of
paying the election expenses ; however, I soon found out
where the money came from. Among the rest of the candi-
dates there was Mr. Monteith the younger, of Carstairs, who
came into the field under Conservative colours. This gentle-
man's friends, who were aware of the nakedness of the Radical
land, and the hungry condition of some of the leaders, had made
overtures to the Doctor, to cause a diversion in the Liberal
camp by his standing, and procuring all the votes he could,
which were ultimately to be handed over to Monteith. On
the evening when this ruse was concocted, there was a
meeting of the Radical Association, held to learn the result
of the Election Inquiry Committee, and during the meeting
* Afterwards Lieut. -General Perronett Thompson, the prime mover in
the repeal of the Corn Laws. He had served many years in India and
Sierra Leone ; was a vegetist, and became a nonagenarian.
1 70 DR. TAYLOR IN PRISON, VISITED BY DR. BO WRING.
there was a motion passed that the Radical Association
should not lend its support to either of the Liberal members.
As I was secretary pro. tern, at the meeting, of course I was
required to insert the motion.
I know much interest cannot be found in this matter, nor
would I have noticed it, if it had not been for the after
consequences. The gentlemen who had entered into the
dishonourable plot to play into the hands of the Tories by a
side wind, on learning that I had declared in favour of the
Liberal candidates, had my name posted over the whole of
Glasgow, coupled with the resolution which was passed at the
meeting above alluded to. Both my pride and honesty were
at stake ; I therefore lost no time in calling a meeting of the
Liberal party for the following evening. This meeting was
held in the Bazaar ; I got a gentleman to preside who was
well known to all those in the Liberal interest, both for his
sterling honesty and straightforward character.* When Dr.
Taylor had learned that I had convened this meeting, he called
upon me and endeavoured to dissuade me from attending ;
he laid much stress upon the consequence which would result
to my business, and when he found he could not move me,
he appealed to my wife. I attended the meeting, where there
were upwards of 5000 people, and cleared my character from
the aspersion intended in the broadsides which had been so
freely circulated. I also damned the Taylor party, and such
was the indignant feeling of the meeting after my explanation,
that neither the Doctor nor any of his party were allowed a
hearing. On the following morning Dr. Taylor was taken
upon a warrant for debt, and lodged in jail, where he remained
until some short time after the election. I certainly was sorry
for the Doctor ; for I was aware that he was made the victim
to the cupidity of a set of cormorants who had long lived
upon the public. On the third day of his incarceration I
went down to see him, and as I was entering the prison I met
Dr. Bowring coming out from paying him a visit. During the
* David Walker, Esq.
BUSINESS RUINED LOSS OF MY WIFE AND CHILD I/ 1
time I was in Dr. Taylor's room a little circumstance occurred
which is worthy of notice. A messenger delivered a small
packet to him, and after he had examined its contents he
unfolded a five-pound Bank of England note. " Here," said
he, " gentlemen " (there were three of us present), " you see
I am not altogether forsaken by the world ! " The gentleman
who sent that note was a Mr. Samuel Hunter, who was then,
and had been for many years, editor of the Glasgow Herald,
and, of course, was a decided opponent to the Doctor in
politics. The delicate manner in which he sent it, requesting
Dr. Taylor to drink his health during his short captivity, was
honourable both to his feelings as a man and a Christian.
Now again comes the winter of my discontent. The very
party I had quarrelled with had been my principal supporters
in my new business. Instead of the turmoil, noise, and bustle
of a busy tavern, my house became as quiet and orderly as
any private establishment in the town. By this time my
family had increased to a goodly responsible charge, being
five in number, which was composed of three boys and two
girls. The old adage was being verified in my experience,
that misfortunes never come singly. My wife was seized
with typhus fever, and in the short space of seven days she
left myself and young family to mourn her loss. This was
both a serious and unlooked-for calamity. In her I lost a
faithful and affectionate wife. In her temper she was quiet
and gentle ; she possessed a very passive character, with a
very small amount of energy ; but no woman could have a
greater reliance upon a husband than she had upon me, and
while we lived together I never abused her confidence. At
the time of her death my youngest child was only eight
months old, I had therefore to send it to nurse ; the loss of
its mother's breast, and probably the change of milk, so far
affected its health, that in little more than two months he
followed his mother to his silent home. The dark clouds of
my fortune still lowered upon my devoted head. My brother
Robert had returned from Demerara, and shortly after he came
1 72 THE CAREER AND DEA TH OF MY BROTHER ROBER T .
home he took the same trouble of which his father died. Poor
fellow ! he lingered only a short time upon the threshold of
death, until he too paid the debt of nature. Of course I had
the whole of the expenses to sustain. These successive shocks
rapidly altered my position, and cast a gloom over my hope
for the time being.
My brother Robert's career was full of uncomfortable inci-
dents. It was his misfortune to be ruined by kindness.
Before he was nineteen years of age he was made sergeant,
and intrusted with the charge of a recruiting party.. While on
this duty he was quartered at Banff, in Aberdeenshire, where
he became acquainted with a young woman; shortly after
which he deserted, and appropriated the money with which
he should have paid the men in his charge. He was only
absent about a fortnight when he was retaken; all the punish-
ment he received for such a glaring breach of discipline was
being confined to barracks for a month. He had no sooner
regained his liberty than he repeated the misconduct in a
second desertion ; he was again brought up, and received
similar punishment ; and repeated the same conduct a third
time, with the same result as to punishment. The reason why
he was treated in this lenient manner was in consequence of
Colonel Chambers having taken a strong liking to him. I
certainly never saw a finer-looking soldier ; in height he was
fully six feet, he was also well made, and possessed a thorough
military bearing. After all his wild escapades, his wife was
allowed to go out to Demerara with the regiment. After they
had been out about twelve months, upon an occasion of his
coming off duty, he had the mortification to find an officer
insulting his wife. He took summary revenge upon the man
on the spot. After some little time he was brought to a court
martial ; the case was so fully brought home to the officer
that he was cashiered. Colonel Chambers knew that Robert
would not have much peace in the regiment after such an
event, he therefore purchased his discharge ; after which he
paid both his and his wife's passage, and sent them home.
THE SOLE SURVIVOR OF MY MOTHERS FAMILY. 173
I never knew an instance where a young man had such a
bright future opened up to him in the army, and sure I am it was
not possible for any person to take more effectual means to
damn his prospects. In every particular he was a facsimile of
his father ; he was a creature of impulse, and allowed his
passions to hurl him headlong to destruction. Such was his
life and such was his end.
By this time my brothers Thomas and William, whom I
had not seen since they were mere boys, had got tired of
living with my mother, and both enlisted into the Twenty-fifth.
Thomas died while the regiment was at the Cape of Good
Hope ; and the other fell a victim to the cholera in India.
They were both fine young men, and good soldiers. Thus,
out of the whole of my mother's family, I was the only one
left to toil on in the journey of life. And at the time of my
writing I have outlived the youngest by over forty years ; yet
to have seen us when boys, the lives of any of them would
have been taken for more than double the value of my own.
CHAPTER IX.
I DARESAY the reader will wonder in whatnew phase of
existence he will find me next. He will see that my lot
is somewhat like that of the Wandering Jew doomed to
wander on through continual changes. It is written that
" Man never continueth in one stay;" and that he is " born
to trouble as the sparks fly upward." I know not whether I
have had my full share of these accompaniments to frail
humanity, but in my own mind I think I could have spared
some of my sorrows, to help to balance the joys of others who
have not been similarly tried with adversity.
In the year 1838 I again bound myself in the hymeneal
noose. The young woman I married was a native of Carlisle,
and was of a highly respectable family. I think no man was
ever more fortunate in the choice of his partners. In marrying
the second time I felt the emotions of love even stronger than
the first ; and in this case, as in the first, I was perfectly free
from any mercenary feeling. In the whole of my experience
I never knew a single instance where a young woman was
brought in to do the duties of a mother to another woman's
children, who so faithfully, so ardently, and so affectionately
performed her part. The fact was, the children never knew
what it was to have lost a mother. I was fully aware of my
wife's warmth of affection for myself; but she bound me to
her by the double ties of love and gratitude. I am aware
that many of the discomforts of married life entirely arise from
the imprudence of the men. When a man allies himself to a
wife, it is both his duty and interest to make her condition as
comfortable as his circumstances will admit of. When a
A SPIRIT-CELLAR KEEPER IN GREENOCK. 175
married woman sees her husband begin to treat her with
coldness and neglect, she must necessarily feel, that if ever
her husband had any affection for her, it has ceased to live in
her regard ; if, therefore, she forgets the duties of her position
he has himself to blame. I have frequently observed that
many men, after being married some time, have the mis-
fortune to find that their wives are not quite the angels they
thought them, and they have neither the sense nor the good
feeling to put up with their little weaknesses. This is a
grievous error in more ways than one. There is no human
being free from imperfections ; and those men who are the
first to discover sore spots upon the character of their wives
are generally the last who should " cast the first stone." One
of the most common causes of matrimonial unhappiness
in this country arises from great numbers of men spending
their time in public-houses, instead of their own homes.
When the society of pipe-and-pot companions is preferred to
the sacred comforts of the home fireside, there can be no such
thing as matrimonial happiness ; and, as Huddleson Wynn
says, such marriages are " not matches, but bundles of
matches, filled with claws and scratches." I hold the man
who spends his money and time in a public-house instead of
his own to be one of the most selfish animals in existence,
and unworthy the holy name of either husband or father.
I continued to struggle on in the Hatters' Arms until 1839,
when I found that my business had become so hopelessly
irredeemable that I was obliged to give it up. At that time
I had some political acquaintances in Greenock, who got me
persuaded to hang out my sign in that amphibious town.
This was another of my false steps, which was purely caused
by want of calculation. I removed my family to that place,
after having taken a spirit -cellar in one of the low streets in the
town. I very soon found that I had made a serious blunder
in coming to this town. I know of no business in the whole
catalogue of commerce so utterly contemptible and truly de-
grading as that of keeping a spirit-cellar in a poor locality ; and
1/6 ADVICE AS PRESIDENT OF A CHARTIST MEETING.
before I had been in this place a month I was heartily sick of
it, and felt myself humbled to the lowest degree. The tavern
business is sufficiently bad in all conscience ; but when com-
pared with the other, in a moral point of view, it is immeasur-
ably superior. There is something truly revolting to every
right feeling of humanity, to live, as it were, upon the degrada-
tion of the unfortunate members of society. It is true that this
infamous traffic is legalized by the law of the country ; but it
is equally true that the law is one of blood, murder, and
crime, which stains the black catalogue of our social condition.
I could not for the soul within me apply myself to this loath-
some business ; and in my endeavour to make it somewhat
select I tried to weed the wheat from the chaff of my customers,
but in doing so ruined the business entirely.
While I was in Greenock I had in some measure identified
myself with the Charter movement, but up to that time the
agitation had been conducted upon something like rational
principles, if I except the mad conduct of a few of the leaders.
About this time the People's Parliament was holding its
sittings, and its sage members, in the abundance of their
wisdom, had propounded the sacred month.* If the devil
had been legislating for the people, his satanic majesty could
not have devised a better plan for their destruction. A
meeting was held in Greenock, in order to carry this hellish
suggestion into execution ; and I was not only invited to attend,
but was pressed to take the chair. At this meeting I told the
working men of Greenock that if they wished to cover them-
selves with infamy, by assisting in bringing the industry of
the nation to a stand, they would do well to proceed. I told
them also that one of the immediate consequences of their
conduct would be, to let loose the whole vagabondage of the
country, who would rob, plunder, and murder the innocent
* The entire working population were to stand idle for a month, to force
the six points of the Charter, viz., the Ballot ; Universal Suffrage ; Annual
Parliaments Payment of Members; No Property Qualification, and
Electoral Districts. This sacred project, however, was found impracticable.
CHARTIST INCITEMENTS TO REBELLION. 177
and defenceless members of society, and that the honest and
well-conducted would have the credit of it. Such, however,
was the infatuation of the more unthinking, that I had the
pleasure of being branded with the character of a renegade
and a traitor to the cause. I did not blame the working
classes, who were then paying men to think for them, and in
whose wisdom and prudence they had trusted the manage-
ment of their affairs ; but I certainly felt disgusted with the
mercenary horde, who were not only deceiving them, but
were also guilty of the treachery of misleading them. Perhaps
there never was a greater farce played off upon the credulity
of the working classes of Great Britain than that of the
People's Parliament. I grant that there were a few honest
men amongst the members of that august body, but I certainly
think their judgment was of a very questionable character.
On the other hand, the great majority of the members were a
set of hungry knaves, who embraced the opportunity of turning
their spouting qualifications to their own mercenary account.
From what I knew of the character of some of these would-be
leaders of the people, I had always been impressed with the
idea that poor John Frost was a victim of treachery ; in this
idea, however, I was mistaken.
I was personally acquainted with many of the men whose
names figured in these exciting times. My friend Dr. John
Taylor, whether from some infatuation or design, identified
himself with all the madness of the Chartist movement, and
was among those emissaries who endeavoured to get the
people to rise, and rush upon their own destruction. When
these men were in Manchester and Birmingham, they told
the people that the men of the west of Scotland were all
armed and ready to rise in rebellion, and only awaited the
co-operation of their brethren in the south ; and while in
Glasgow the same story was told of the people in the manu-
facturing districts south of the Tweed ! ! All I can say is, if
these men were honest they must have been mad, and if not
mad, no conduct could have been more infamous.
12
1 78 MORAL SHIPWRECK OF CHARTIST LEADERS.
While Julian Harney, Bronterre O'Brien, M'Dowall, Taylor,
and others, were inflaming the minds of the people, Feargus
O'Connor was amusing the world, disgusting sensible men,
and bringing scores of poor people to misery by his memorable
land scheme ! I am convinced that O'Connor was perfectly
honest in his intentions, and that he was sanguine of the en-
tire success of his strange abortion of a plan for the redemp-
tion of the people ; and there can be no doubt that if he
could have made his scheme a practicable one, it would have
been the means of bettering the condition of a large portion
of the population. The idea of possessing land, if it were only
six feet by three, is a pleasing one. When we know that
Sir Walter Scott plunged both himself and others into irre-
deemable difficulties from an insane desire to possess landed
property, we cannot wonder at the alacrity with which numbers
of the people seized upon the agrarian bauble, and it is well
known how many of them have suffered for their honest cre-
dulity. I think I may affirm, without fear of contradiction, that
not one in ten of the Chartist leaders escaped moral shipwreck.
It is only a very short time ago that one of these gentlemen,
whose matrimonial connection was surrounded with a tinge of
romance, left his wife and family in a state of helpless destitu-
tion, and made his way to the diggings, where I believe he is
existing as a wandering outcast. The great misfortune which
befell many of these men was their falling into intemperate
habits. Besides this, some of them, after leading lives of indo-
lence,and assuming the character of gentlemen, could not lower
their pride, nor allow themselves' to return to their ordinary
avocations. I believe John Collins of Birmingham, and Lovett
of London, to have been two well-meaning honest men, and
with them I may class Mr. Vincent : the two latter I knew
more by report than experience, but I was intimately acquainted
with Mr. Collins. Like every other respectable man who had
passed through the trying ordeal of public agitation, he was
a decided loser, both in a pecuniary point of view and in his
domestic comforts. After John had retired^ into private life,
INCAPACITATED FOR WORK BY SCIATICA. 179
and was beginning to make a comfortable living for his family,
some of his foolish friends carried him into the Birmingham
town council, where he had not been long when he became
divested of his reason !
The intended emute of 1848 is scarcely worth a passing
notice, were it not that the Government made such a fuss about
it. The leaders upon that occasion were utterly contemptible,
and are not worthy a place in the history of small political
events, or even to be named with the insane but honest leaders at
Bonny Muir. At all events, they were not like Ossian's heroes,
" Who never court the battle, nor shun it when it comes."
I had only been about eight months in Greenock when I
was fairly stranded on the lee-shore of poverty ; and to crown
my misfortunes I was afflicted with a most terrible malady in
the shape of sciatica. My family, which had increased by one
in Greenock, I now removed back to Glasgow ; when I got
there I intended applying myself to my trade. I knew I never
could be badly off while I could work at my business. This
hope soon vanished, and left myself and family in desolation.
I got employment with Mr. Thomas M'Gregor. When I went
to make an essay at my work, I utterly broke down, and was
not able to stand on my limbs five minutes at a time. I shall
never forget the crushed state of my feelings on leaving
the shop, with the assistance of a staff: I had the greatest
possible difficulty in getting along the street. While I was
in the act of limping along, and enduring the most intense
suffering, I met a gentleman with whom I had been on terms of
intimacy, who, on seeing my unfortunate condition, exclaimed,
" My God, Jamie ! what is the matter with you ? " I told him I
was like to faint with pain ; he took hold of my arm, and
assisted me into a public-house close by. Before we left, I
had buried all my infirmities and the cares of life in whiskey.
My friend and I had finished our imperial pint each ; and I
went home in a state of comfortable oblivion, and my
sufferings were non est until the following morning. You
ISO INTRODUCTION OF ODD FELLOWS TO SCOTLAND.
may imagine that my prospects were sufficiently gloomy for
any Christian man. However, my hopes became brightened
once more ; for while I was in the act of sinking , a friendly
hand was extended to me. Several of my old acquaintances,
when they learned my circumstances, subscribed the sum of
twenty pounds, and made me a present of the money at a
dinner-party. With this sum I bought the license of a public-
house from a person who was leaving town. This transaction
turned out very unfortunate ; when I obtained the license, I
found it was not worth a farthing, in consequence of the
previous holder not having procured a magistrate's certificate
for the current year. I purchased the license in May, and the
certificate should have been renewed in April, in order to make
it available. Here, again, I was in a dilemma, of a very un-
comfortable character, and I did not know which way to turn
for relief. I was obliged to leave the house, where I was
not allowed to carry on the business. I therefore took a
couple of rooms for my family ; and as I was totally unfit for
any employment, in consequence of my disordered limb, I
made up my mind to go into the infirmary, where I was sure
to have first-class medical assistance. The superintending
physician ordered me to be put under a course of mercury,
by which means he anticipated a cure from a change in
the system. In the course of little more than a week I
was reduced to the weakness of an infant ; after this I was
plied with neuralgic medicines. I remained in the house for
five weeks, and came out no better than when I went in. At
this time no man with his neck clear of a halter could have
been in a more uncomfortable position. If my own fate had
only been at stake, it would scarcely have given me a thought,
but the idea of the condition of my wife and family pierced
my heart with the daggers of burning reflection.
Before I had left the " Hatters' Arms," a lodge of Odd
Fellows of the Independent Order of the Manchester Unity
was opened in my house. This was the first introduction of
the society into the west of Scotland, and in a short time it
LECTURER ON ADVANTAGES OF ODD FELLOWSHIP. l8l
spread its branches over the whole of that part of the country,
which was in a great measure owing to my labours, as you will
learn by-and-bye. I had paid a good deal of attention to the
character of this institution, and was satisfied that if it was
conducted properly it would be of signal service to the working
classes, as it offered them the advantages of mutual assistance
in case of sickness or death. I knew that many futile attempts
had been made during the whole of the beginning of the
nineteenth century, by the working men of Great Britain, to
institute Friendly Societies, whereby they could make suitable
provision against the hour of trouble. In nine cases out of
every ten, these praiseworthy efforts ended in failure, in con-
sequence of the societies being founded upon a wrong basis.
The fact was, that in all these attempts the men were work-
ing in the dark, inasmuch as they had no data to direct them.
Indeed, it is only within the last thirty years that public
attention has been directed to this branch of political economy.
Daring that time the labours of Neisom, and other actuaries,
have furnished statistical tables, which are now used as infalli-
ble charts both for Friendly Societies and Insurance Companies.
I took it into my head to give a lecture upon the character
and objects of Odd Fellowship. After having arranged the
hfads of my subject, I delivered a lecture both in Glasgow
and Greenock ; after which I published it in the form of a
pamphlet. I realized a few pounds from this labour, but during
the whole time I suffered the most excruciating pain, so much
so that in a very short time the hair of my head had changed
from black to grey.
In the latter end of the year 1839, I was sent for by the
Odd Fellows of Edinburgh, to deliver a lecture in the Free-
masons' Hall there. I went as requested, but owing to my
trouble it was with the greatest possible difficulty I was enabled
to perform the duties of my mission. When I returned home,
I was seized with typhus fever of the. most virulent character;
and to fill the cup of my bitter sorrow, my whole family, with
the exception of my wife, were prostrated at the same time. t
182 SICKNESS SUPPORT FROM ODD FELLOWS' LODGES.
I never was the man to repine under affliction. The dif-
ference between life and death with me has always been a
thing of small moment, inasmuch as I have always had an
unlimited confidence in the goodness of God, and a just appre-
ciation of my own infinite littleness. Upon this occasion,
I owed my life to the medical skill, and unwearied attention,
of my friend Dr. Archibald Johnston ; and while I am writing
this I feel an inward satisfaction in thus giving expression
to the lasting and grateful sense I feel of his never-to-be-for-
gotten kindness.
I have often had opportunities of witnessing the untiring
zeal, anxious solicitude, love, and devotion of women, when
ministering at the couch of sickness. But in all my experience
I never knew a case of so much heroic devotion, self-abnega-
tion, unwearied attention, and self-sustaining love, as that
exhibited by my own wife upon this occasion. During nine
days and nights she never had her clothes off, and she was the
only nurse we had to wait upon six patients. The younger
members of the family soon recovered, but I lingered for two
months. When I was just sufficiently recovered to move about
the house, the over-strained system of my wife gave way, and
she, too, became prostrated. It certainly was a very fortunate
circumstance, that she was blessed with strength and courage
to see us all through our illness, before she was seized with
the disease herself. I feel called upon in this place, both as
an act of duty and gratitude, to state, that as soon as my
calamity became known to the Odd Fellows' Lodges, several
of them sent me various sums of money. " The Banks of
Clyde," in Greenock, of which I was a member, cleared me
on their books, and sent me three pounds ten shillings. I
may here remark that I had long been out of benefit, in con-
sequence of not being able to pay my contribution. One of
the lodges in Edinburgh sent two pounds. One of the country
lodges also sent the same sum ; and two of the town lodges
sent five pounds between them. My sufferings, and those of
my family, are very common -place things in the abodes of
FOREMAN IN A PA ISLE Y HAT MANUFA CTOR Y. 183
poverty. My condition was therefore by no means singular ;
but the manifestation of generous feeling, and the substantial
proof of friendly regard I received from a large body of my
fellow-men, was certainly something to feel proud of. You
will therefore perceive, that though I have had my small
troubles in passing along the rugged highway of the world, I
have frequently had my path smoothed by the generous con-
duct of my fellow-men. Believe me, the choicest blessing of
heaven to man is the truly godlike feeling of kindness. How-
ever unbounded our knowledge, the magnitude of our thoughts,
or the profundity of our genius, if we have not the electricity
of love in our hearts, sufficient to make us feel for the suffer-
ings of others, the chief end of our creation is unfulfilled.
The man who dries the tears of sorrow, and relieves the wants
of suffering humanity with acts of charity, is the greatest
among the sons of men.
After I had sufficiently recovered from my weakness, I was
engaged as foreman to Mr. Robertson, hat-manufacturer in
Paisley. It is a matter worthy of mention, that when I re-
covered from the fever my sciatica had also made its escape ;
and the hair on my head, which had been bleached grey with
pain, came forth on my recovery in all its pristine blackness !
The fever had, therefore, produced the effect which the medical
men in the Infirmary failed in doing ; and I can assure you
that I was much obliged to it for its valuable service. Ever
since, my right limb has been a pedesternating monument to
its profound skill in the healing art. It is said, that there can
be no positive good without a partial evil. I am of opinion
that the axiom might be reversed, and be equally true.
I found my situation in Paisley very comfortable ; and my
family were as pleasantly settled as any working man could
wish. While I was with Mr. Robertson, numbers of my old
associates from Glasgow were in the habit of calling upon me ;
among the rest, there was one very intimate acquaintance, who
was a dashing, dare-devil, good-hearted fellow; when he came
to Paisley I had much difficulty in being able to mind my
1 84 AGATN A MASTER HATTER IN GLASGOW.
employment for him, for he sometimes remained four or five
days at a time. After I had been in Paisley eight months,
my friend offered to lend me money to go into business in
Glasgow. After some reflection I accepted of his genercxus
offer. This little step once more altered the future tenor of
my life, and plunged me into a train of circumstances as varied
as it is almost possible to imagine. When I went into busi-
ness upon this occasion, the commercial affairs of the country
were in a critical state, and business in general was extremely
dull. I therefore soon found that the capital I had borrowed
was not sufficient to carry me through the difficult season. In
the meantime my kind and generous friend had unfortunately
got involved in a serious law-suit, the result of which com-
pletely changed his position in society. Seeing, therefore,
that it was a very doubtful question whether I should be able
to weather the storm if I should proceed, I concluded, under
the circumstances, that it would be better to retire from the
dubious contest. I at once sold off the property, and turned
the proceeds over to my friend ; and after our account was
balanced, his loss amounted to about twenty pounds.
At this time my circumstances were again down to the
freezing-point of poverty, and the trade to which I had served
my time was in process of being virtually changed into a new
business, so far as the workmanship was concerned. Since
that time the whole character of the business has been trans-
formed, and as it exists at the present time, is as unlike the
old stuff-hat system as the difference between making wigs
and ladies' bonnets. I must say that the public have got the
only advantage by the change. Hats are not only much
cheaper, as well as better in point of durability, but they are
infinitely superior in the look as an article of dress ; and
what is a matter of no small consequence, the silk hat will
retain its colour, which is more than can be said of the stuff
one. I think the revolution which has been effected in the
hat trade has tended in a great measure to diffuse it among
a much greater number of manufacturers ; by which means
ONCE MORE A TAVERN KEEPER. 185
the respectability of the profession has been greatly reduced.
For instance, large numbers of men are continually getting
into the business who possess little or no capital ; and the
consequence is, that so soon as they are enabled to get goods
ready for the market, they must be sold at whatever price can
be got for them. Of course, when men do a business with the
profits on the wrong side of the ledger, somebody is sure to
be the loser ! In consequence of this state of affairs, many of
the wee manufacturers are continually passing through the
insolvent courts, where they are enabled to obtain absolution
from their commercial sins. One anomaly has arisen out of the
change in the trade, which is, that the journeymen are not
able (I speak generally) to make half the wages they could do
in the good old fuddling times of short /urns, maiden garnishes,
and a hundred other little imposts ; and yet they are now
decidedly a more respectable body of men than formerly in
their general conduct ! During my apprenticeship, many of
the elder journeymen were little better than half savages ; one
part of their time was spent in working like slaves, and the
other in drinking like madmen. I have seen as many as seven
stand-up fights among a shop of men before noon in one day.
After I wound up my short-lived business, I scarcely knew
what to do ; and I was reduced to that state of lethargy that I
depended more upon the accident of chance than on my own
energy. I had been going about in this truly uncomfortable
condition for nearly three weeks, when I met an old acquaint-
ance, who offered to give me the chance of a new trial in the
world by again furnishing me with the means of going into the
tavern business. This gentleman thought that I had been the
victim of circumstances, and he imagined that I had all the ele-
ments of success in my character and capabilities ; with the folly
of self-conceit I was of the same opinion, but you will see how
egregiously we were both disappointed. I accepted of my
friend's generous and truly disinterested offer, and readily
obtained a house in the Trongate, which I opened under the
sign of the " Manchester Tavern. " This place was favoured
1 86 GRAND MASTER OF ODD FELLOWS, AND LECTURER.
with no very happy prestige, inasmuch as the three previous
occupants had been starved out, merely for the want of
customers. This little matter did not deter me from the venture.
The day before I went into this house I did not possess a
sixpence in the world, and the only decent coat I had was
in the care of mine uncle.
Before I left Greenock I had run the gauntlet of political
folly, and while in that town I had got completely cured
of my monomania. I was now on the eve of being infected
with another species of insanity, in the shape of Odd-
fellow-phobia. When I was in private life the members of
the Order did not trouble me much ; but the case was now
very different, inasmuch as my business made me patent to all.
I was delegated to all the grand quarterly committees of the
district, was appealed to in all cases of dispute, either between
members or members and their lodges. I became Grand
Master of the district, and was required to superintend the
opening of all new lodges,and the formation of new districts.
I believe many of the members in the country thought I had
nothing else to do, while others conceived I was making a
fortune.
At that time there was a wild enthusiasm among the whole
of the members both in town and country, and there was a con-
siderable rivalship among the lodges as to which should have
the greater number of members. In consequence of this
peculiar state of excitement my small services were constantly
in requisition : I was sent for to all parts of the country, to
lecture upon Odd Fellowship. The following list of towns
will give you a good idea of my labours in this way : Kilmar-
nock, Troon, Stranraer, Maryhill, Kirkintilloch, Greenock,
Dunfermline, Edinburgh, Crieff, Auchterarder, Dunning,
Perth, Dunkeld, Stanley, Blairgowrie, Cupar, Angus, etc. In
the end you will see to what advantage I turned all this
popularity.
The members of the Odd Fellows' lodges in the Perth dis-
trict had frequently written to me, requesting that I would go
VISIT TO PERTH SCENERY OF THE TAY. l8/
down and give a lecture upon the character and objects of the
institution. At last, when I found leisure to comply with
their desire, I went, and was not a little surprised on my arrival
to find that the Committee of Management had planned work
for me which would have detained me at least fourteen days.
In going for only two or three days I had put myself to a
good deal of inconvenience ; it was therefore quite out of the
question for me to remain so long from my place of business ;
however, I met the committee half-way, and continued with
them a week. I went down in the second week in June,
when lovely nature was decked out in all her luxuriance ; the
season of the year was therefore the most pleasant for enjoy-
ing the varied beauties of that really delightful district.
" The fair city" is charmingly situate on the southern banks
of the river Tay, between her two Inches, which form, as it
were, a pair of lungs, thereby contributing both to the health
and recreation of the inhabitants. The bold and rugged
scenery round Kinfauns forms a really beautiful and romantic
landscape to the background of the view from the southern
side of the city ; while a little to the north-west the royal
palace of Scone is seen sweetly situate in its quiet sylvan retreat,
amid its wide-spreading lawns. The road from Perth to Dun-
keld leads through a most delightful country. About two miles
before the stranger arrives at Dunkeld, the character of the
scenery changes, as if by magic, from that of an undulating
and highly-cultivated country to one of bold romantic
grandeur. On the right-hand side of the road the clear
winding Tay rolls along over precipitous rocks, or quietly
meanders beneath a number of umbrageous arcades. The
scenery in this locality is historically associated with many
stirring events in Scottish lore. It was here that the " Thane
of Cawdor" learned the truth of the prediction of the
''coming wood." The last tree of " Birnam wood" may
still be seen, like the last rose of summer, alone ; and as
the " fairies dance o'er heroes' graves " in the mirk hour,
the lonely traveller may hear the wind sighing through its
1 8 8 TO WN OF DUNKELD ARCHITECTURAL BE A UTIES.
branches, and keeping time to the murmuring of the stream
below. On the left-hand side of the way a mountain rises
in lofty grandeur, and as the stranger winds along the road
its geological formation is frequently brought to view in a
series of huge quarries of blue slate, which have been
worked since heather went out of fashion as a covering for
houses in that part of the world.
The town of Dunkeld is delightfully situate in the loving
embrace of the surrounding mountains, and when viewed
from any of the neighbouring heights, appears like a fairy
town in the arms of its guardians. The principal objects of
attraction to the stranger in Dunkeld are the church, the
residence of the Duke of Athol, the pleasure-grounds be-
longing to his Grace, the Hermitage a delightful romantic
retreat, embosomed in the deep recesses of the forest, above
the town about a mile the inns, and last, though not least,
the auld half-ruined cottage where Neil Gow was born,
" The man that played the fiddle weel."
I should think, from the style of architecture, that the church
is at least seven hundred years old : much of the ornamental
work is yet in good keeping, and I believe that there are
few better specimens of the florid style of architecture to be
found amid the Gothic remains in the kingdom. Dunkeld
is divided into the auld and new touns. The new town
stands on the north side of the river ; nearly all the buildings
in this place are of modern date, and of course in keeping
with the taste and requirements of the age. On the other
hand, the Old Town, with the exception of Birnam Inn, is
composed of a few heather-thatched cottages, which seem
struggling with Time, and scowling upon the innovations of
modern improvement. The road through the Old Town
leads to the Hermitage and the North Hielands. As the
stranger wends his way up the hill in the direction of the
Hermitage, he is sure to be solicited by a number of persons
of both sexes, who keep stalls by the way-side, to purchase
HISTORICAL ASSOCIATIONS OF DUNKELD. 189
a bicker, a quaigh, a drinking caup, or twa three horn spunes
as souvenirs of his visit to Dunkeld. The grounds belonging
to the Duke of Athol are well worthy of being seen by
strangers, and are, like Mr. Wyld's great Globe, open to all
who can afford to pay. Every visitor to these grounds must
have the attendance of a guide, for which he must pay the
demand made upon me when there was one shilling. It is
said that his Grace has the lion's share of the money ob-
tained by his showmen. Dunkeld stands in the mouth of
the North Highlands, and I know of no more delightful
place in Scotland, for those who can appreciate the beauties
of nature, where rude grandeur revels in wildness blended
with the improvements made by the genius and industry of
man, to spend a few days in. For my own part, I am not
aware that I was ever in any place which appeared to me so
full of poetical objects. The variety and sublimity of nature
in this sequestered vale are well calculated to fill the mind
with the most pleasing emotions. Burns's description of
Aberfeldy seems to be peculiarly applicable to much of the
scenery round Dunkeld, where he says
" The hoary cliffs are crowned wi' flowers,
While o'er the linns the burnie pours,
And rising weets wi' misty showers
The birks of Aberfeldy."
The whole of this district is full of historical associations.
Dunkeld formed at one time the ancient barrier to the Roman
army under Agricola ; beyond this mountain pass the daring
and hardy Gael was safe in the fastness of his Alpine retreat.
Between Perth and Auchterarder there is still to be seen a
Roman fortification which must have been next to impreg-
nable ; its form is that of a crescent, and the rear is protected
by the Ochill Hills ; the name of this place is Auchtertyre.
A few miles to the south of Crieff, there is the most entire
Roman encampment in the kingdom ; * and between this
* Ardagh.
LTONIZED AS A MAN OF CONSEQUENCE.
place and Dumblane, to the left hand coming south, lies the
battle-field of the Shirra Muir. This memorable battle was
fought between the Earl of Mar for the Chevalier, and the
Duke of Argyle for the Government, in 1715. The contest
seems to have been of a rather dubious character, which is
pretty well described in the old song Shirra Muir,
" There's some say that we wan,
Some say that they wan,
Some say that nane wan at a', man ;
But one thing I'm sure,
That at the Shirra Muir,
A battle there was, which I saw, man ;
And we ran, and they ran, and they ran, and we ran,
And we ran, and they ran awa, man."
After I had done the duties assigned me by the committee,
the members of the Order of Odd Fellows of the Manchester
Unity in Perth district did me the honour of presenting me
with a very handsome purse, in which were deposited a goodly
number of sovereigns, at a public dinner given upon the
occasion. My first visit to Perth was in the character of a
wee ragged beggar laddie, on which occasion I lodged in a
common Padden Kane* in a dirty close in the High ; after
the lapse of nearly forty years, I was the honoured guest of
some of the first men of the city, when I put up at one of
the first-class inns, and was lionized as a person of no small
consequence ! Such are the ups and downs of life.
I remained in my new place of business for two years,
when I removed to a larger house. After I had been in this
place about twelve months, the Odd Fellows of Glasgow
were honoured with the meeting of the Grand Annual Move-
able Committee being held there. Upon the occasion of
this meeting, I furnished another convincing proof of my
great capacity for making blunders. It has always been the
practice at these meetings that the members of the district
in which they are held should have the opportunity of
* Common lodging-house.
ELECTED A DELEGATE, AND MEMBER OF BOARD. 191
meeting the officers of the Order at a public dinner. The
Committee of Management for the district did me the honour
of proposing that I should provide the dinner; the charge
was to be five shillings each for dinner, including a pint of
wine. I was requested to prepare accommodation for 600.
Now you will mark my simplicity. The providing for such
a large number of people involved not only a considerable
outlay of cash, but also a great deal of personal labour ; and
instead of acting as any man with his head screwed on in
a proper manner would have done, I proved that my credulity
was a long way in advance of my judgment, in acting on the
advice of the committee without requesting any security for
the fulfilment of their part of the engagement. In order
that the dinner should pass off with eclat, I waited upon
Sheriff Alison (the late Sir Archibald Alison), to request
that he would do the members of the Order the honour of
presiding at the dinner, which he very readily consented to
do. I may mention that, while the meeting lasted, I per-
formed the duties of a delegate as well as having the busi-
ness of my house to attend to. The dinner came off with
much credit to the Society, and a clear loss of thirty pounds
to me, with all my labour as a set off ! The following year
I was elected to attend the G. A. M. C. which was held in
Bristol, at which meeting I was elected a member of the
board to superintend the general business of the Society for
the ensuing year. The meetings of this body were held in
Manchester four times a year. I am almos't sick of relating
my own folly ; but the record of my strange life would not
be complete if I withheld it.
My new place of business was a very out-of-the way sort of
a house, and therefore only fitted for a sort of customer trade.
Now this, above all others in the profession, is the most
dangerous. If a man would .succeed in this business, he
would require an indestructible stomach, in the first place ;
and in the second, he should be able to put up with any
amount of insolence, bullying, blackguardism, and insult,
IQ2 PUBLICANS RUINED BY THEIR CUSTOMERS.
which men in the act of ruining themselves at their own
expense think they are entitled to confer upon the person
they patronise. This characteristic of the business is decidedly
worse in Scotland than in England, in consequence of the
difference in the social habits of the people. If two or three
Scotchmen go into a public-house to have a social glass
together, one of the party is sure to pay for what has been
called for ; the consequence is, that the rest stand treat as a
matter of course, and thus they injure themselves through
their mistaken kindness. Whereas in England each man
calls for what he drinks, and pays for what he calls.
You can well imagine the case of a poor landlord who has
the smallest possible respect for his health. The first
customer who makes his appearance speers for the gude man,
and if he is in, " Send him ben" says he. Now this person
in all probability is some neighbouring tavern-keeper, who
has made this call in order to relieve himself of the dry bock
before he can meet his own customers ; one glass, however,
is not sufficient to bring his relaxed nerves into working
order, so the two have a pair of gills. In a few minutes
some other flying customer pops in, and as he is by far too
independent to call for a glass for himself, he tells the lassie
to bring a bit gill. These flying shots very likely continue
the whole day, and when the evening arrives the landlord's
face is distorted by Mr. Alcohol pulling the muscles in
different directions, so he is ripe for anything except attend-
ing to his own business, and if he be a married man the
duties fall upon his wife, whence she becomes exposed to
every species of licentiousness.
While I was in this business I knew many well-meaning
and sensible men, who were imperceptibly led away by
moderate indulgence in the first instance, which gradually
increased upon them until premature death was the result ;
and I have known scores of my own immediate acquaintances
become the victims of delirium tremens, and tumble over the
edge of the world, in all the appalling horrors of that sad
TEMPTATIONS AND DANGERS OF TA VERN-KEEPING. 193
disease. So far as I am concerned, it was a very fortunate
thing that I had a constitutional dislike to taking spirits in a
morning, and I also flattered myself that I had an excellent
command over my feelings in reference to improper indul-
gence in drink ; however, I am bound to confess that for
some short time before I left the business, I began to feel an
uneasy sensation about the stomach when I was not getting
whiskey regularly. I looked upon this as the most uncom-
fortable symptom I had ever laboured under, as it was most
assuredly the forerunner of destruction if not arrested in
time.
Since I had commenced the tavern a second time, my
business had never been what may be called a paying one,
inasmuch as it was full of uncertainty. Occasionally I was
as busy as it was possible to be, and at others in the dead
calm of neglect. But the truth of the matter is, I was not
fitted for the calling. In the first place, I was above it, and
hated it for its debasing character. In the second, I could
not bear to see my friends franking themselves to ruin,
without remonstrating with them for their imprudence. Had
I been made of suitable materials for the profession, I would
have acted differently, and my wife might have been a widow
and my children fatherless.
I think it was in the year 1848 when Mr. John Dixon
stood for the representation of Glasgow. At that time there
were four candidates, viz., Messrs. Dixon, Dennistoun,
McGregor, and Hastie. The two first of these gentlemen
occupied my house for their committee-rooms for the
district in which it was situated. When I made the agree-
ment with the agents, they requested me to give the com-
mittee all suitable refreshments, and when the committees
were in active operation, the agents dined at my house daily.
Mr. Dennistoun' s account was paid as soon as it was pre-
sented ; on the other hand, Mr. Dixon's agent offered me
thirty pounds for my forty-one pound bill. I was so incensed
at the insult offered to my honesty, that I immediately put
1 94 MY BUSINESS IS FORTUNA TEL Y RUINED.
the account into the hands of an agent. About this time I
borrowed eleven pounds from an acquaintance, a gold-beater
in Glasgow, and handed over Mr. Dixon's account to him ;
he was to sue for it in his own name, and pay me the ^balance
when he brought the suit to a close. Mr. Dixon's agent
litigated the suit as long as he could make a single reply.
In the meantime the gold-beater had purchased a large
quantity of stolen property, which had been taken from a
jeweller's shop in the Arcade, twelve months before. The
gold-beater was incarcerated, but got out upon bail to the
amount of two hundred pounds. Shortly after which he
became a fugitive, and fled to the United States. Two days
after he left, my lawyer brought the suit to a favourable
issue ; but as the person in whose name it was prosecuted
had become an outlaw, I lost the whole amount. This would
have been a matter of little consequence had my business
been in a healthy condition ; but unfortunately it was just
the reverse : so my reign as a publican came to a close, I
was going to say an inglorious one. But this was one of my
seeming misfortunes, which I now look upon as one of the
most fortunate events in my life ; and I think you will agree
with me in the expression, when you know of my improved
condition.
CHAPTER X.
I NEXT removed to our modern Athens, where the philo-
sophy of Dr. Chalmers in some measure smoothed down
the savage theology of John Knox. I was not far from the
apartments where the Nodes Ambrosiance, was manufactured,
amid the exhilarating fumes of mountain dew, vulgarly called
whiskey toddy. A short distance from where I was located,
the printer's devils handled the doubly interlined proof-
sheets of the Great Magician of the North, who amused
the present generations of the world by the resurrection of
their forefathers, whom he commanded to act and speak in
the language of ages long gone by. If I could see Habbte's
Howe, I could observe the hill above it made warm by the
rays of the sun. Down beneath me Sir Walter Scott sat in
marble glory, under his canopy of pinnacled flying buttresses;
and above me were the pedestrian statues of two men who
hold very different positions in history the one that of
William Pitt, and the other George the Fourth of blessed
memory. Auld Reekie has been the home of the muses
from the time that George Buchanan offered false incense
before their holy shrine, until Wilson tuned his lyre in
" The Isle of Palms." It was here too that Hogg had his
small ambition and smaller egotism flattered by two of the
literary lions of the day ; and it was here that the immortal
ploughman bard, like a rustic meteor, became the observed
tof all observers for the time being. He stripped himself
of the gown of his living fame, and went back to his
plough ; but since the days of old Homer no man has
ever found a more lasting monument in the hearts and
1 96 FIRST PUB LIC A TION OF CHEAP LITER A TURE.
sympathies of his countrymen. In looking- to the south, I
could observe the building where the Messrs. Chambers
throw off weekly their tens of thousands of sheets of cheap
literature, by which means they amuse and instruct hundreds
of thousands of human beings in all parts of the civilised
world. I think it is more than probable that I was in
Edinburgh at the time when these enterprising publishers
must have received the first idea of commencing their
glorious career. In the year 1829, or early in 1830, a small
periodical made its appearance in Edinburgh, under the
very pretty and appropriate name of the Cornucopia ; it was
printed in a folio size, being the same as Messrs. Chambers'
first series of Information for the People, and it was also the
same in price. This little pioneer in the field of cheap
literature contained many excellent original articles both in
prose and verse ; there was, however, one serious drawback
to its success it was printed by some person who was only
possessed of old worn-out founts of type, and the impression
was sometimes so bad that it was unreadable ; besides this,
it was printed upon wretched paper. I cannot vouch for the
fact that the Messrs. Chambers took the idea from this work,
but I do think it. was very likely to have suggested it. I
may mention, however, that the Cornucopia was not the first
attempt made to supply the people with cheap and useful
literature. As far back as 1827 there was a very neat little
publication, octavo size, brought out in Newcastle-upon-
Tyne, and I believe it was published by McKenzie and
Dent, of that place : the price was twopence. Since
Chambers' people have been in the market, there have been
many attempts to divide the public favour, or perhaps it may
be more correct to say, to speculate in the same useful field
of labour with themselves. In my opinion the Penny
Magazine issued by the Society for the Diffusion of Useful
Knowledge, published first in the same year with Chambers'
Information for the People, and the Dublin Penny Magazine,
were the only periodicals of the time that at all came up to
LITERARY GIANTS OF THE CENTURY HOLY ROOD. IQ/
their standard of excellence either as to talent in the general
character of their articles, or in the high tone of their
morality.
Edinburgh has long held the proud position of being the
first literary city in the United Kingdom, and her press
continually sends forth to the world the living thoughts of
men upon every conceivable subject in the round of human
knowledge.
The first half of the nineteenth century had just passed
away, and with it a whole host of men whose genius shed
a halo of glory round their native land. When Walter Scott
was composing his Lay of the Last Minstrel, Jeffrey, Brougham,
and others were lashing poor Byron into poetical madness ;
but since the time Pope first steeped his pen in gall, never
were critics more cruelly flogged with the instruments of
their own punishment, and instead of crushing the rising
genius, they called forth the latent powers of his master-
mind. The muses have now to mourn the men who ere-
while scattered their beautiful flowers in the paths of
humanity, and offered their acceptable incense before the
shrine of intellectuality. He who tuned his lyre to the
Pleasures of Hope, is gone to realize its blessings in another
world. The bards of the lake have crossed the dark ferry,
and the bright scintillating author of Lalla Rookh has hung
his harp on " Tara's walls." The author of the Isle of Palms
has thrown off his humanity, and left his chair to put on
immortality. The Border minstrel has left his Legendary
Lore to amuse succeeding generations of men ; Hogg, too,
has laid aside his moorland reed, and Rogers' lyre is
unstrung.
I have had a stroll through Holyrood Palace, once the seat
of Scottish royalty. I passed through the suite of rooms
which were occupied by poor Mary, and looked upon the
bed where her repose must oft have been disturbed by the
midnight visions of her sad fate. Poor Mary ! I cannot help
opening the fountains of my heart to shed a tear to thy
198 PROGRESS OF EDINBURGH AND GLASGOW.
unfortunate memory. Thou wert cast among thy country-
men when their little civilization was all but extinguished
in the madness of religious zeal, and there was not a man
in all Scotland to be found that could pilot thee through the
storm ; and he who should have been thy protector was the
miserable creature of an imbecile mind. Thy dear royal
cousin was like the Turkish monarch she could bear none
other near her throne. She ended thy suffering career by
murder, and covered the sin with the mantle of hypocrisy !
The dilapidated state of those rooms, with their decayed
memorials of an unfortunate family, forcibly impresses the
mind with the truth, that man's power and greatness is all
a dream.
I remember very little of my first visit to Edinburgh ; but it
was then half of a century since I worked in it as a journeyman
hatter. The swiftly sweeping power of progress had made
a complete transformation in several parts of the Auld Toun.
The West Bow, with its oak-ribbed buildings, projecting
gables and overhanging attics, quaint device's and curious
designs, have all been swept away. The Canongate had also
been much modernized ; here and there a new building had
been introduced between a pair of old tenements, like a
young man supporting two old ones. The Grass Market was
still honoured with the quaint architecture of three hundred
years ago. Some of these old veteran houses looked down
upon their modern compeers as if in scorn at their upstart
presumption. The Tolbooth yet graced the [Cod] Cowgate
with a few frowning bars, which here and there ornament its
gloomy front.
Amongst the various towns in Great Britain that have gone
through a rapid state of change within the last sixty years,
I think Glasgow may be placed at the head of the list. I
remember quite well when the High-street, and the Salt-
market, with a part of the Trongate, were embellished with
piazzas and pillars, half Gothic and half Norman. The town
was then bounded on the east by the Cattle Market, on the
GROWTH OF TOWNS IN SCOTLAND AND ENGLAND. 199
west by Jamaica-street, on the north by the Old Thorn-tree,
and Laurieston and Hutchieston were all green fields. The
miles of splendid quays which have been erected of late were
then sleeping quietly in their silent quarries. In my time
several towns in Scotland which have since become places
of consequence were but mere villages. When I passed
Galashiels in 1821, it was, in Scotch phraseology, a mere
clachan, in which there were a few small makers of coarse
wad, blue-dyed cloth. Since then it has become one of the
most thriving manufacturing towns in the country. Fifty
years ago Hawick was a place of note for its hosiery ; it is
now a first-class manufacturing town for shawls and tweeds.
When I knew Langholm first, the only manufacturing done
there was in a paper-mill, about a quarter of a mile below
the town. This building is now a whiskey distillery, and the
town is kept alive by several large manufactories of shawls,
tweeds, and hosiery. Sixty years ago the Prince's Dock in
Liverpool was its boundary on the west. I should think
there are docks now extending two miles below it. How
many new ones there are on the upper side of George's Dock
I cannot say. In my time Birkenhead has been conjured
into a stately town by the magic of progress, and the town
of Liverpool has swelled itself into more than double its
former size. Manchester, too, has kept pace in the race of
commercial enterprise. In 1822, when I wandered in lone-
liness, and almost in despair, down Market-street, it was
only a narrow lane, full of old Elizabethan buildings, and
the town was not then half its present size. When I was in
Bradford, in 1819, it was little better than a village. It is
now a first-class town ; and Leeds has immensely extended
itself. And such is the case with several other towns in the
manufacturing districts.
In my opinion there is a comfortable idea in again renew-
ing an acquaintance with an old town after the lapse of sixty
years, and finding it unchanged. One of the beauties of
this statu quo state of things is, that you are sure to find the
200 IMPROVEMENTS AT NEWCASTLE AND GA7ESHEAD.
people equally primitive as their dwellings. By this means
you are enabled to consult the living history of a bygone
age, in the manners and habits of a people, who quietly allow
the rest of the world to leave them nearly half a century
behind. For my own part, I am always pleased when I can
visit the little by-nooks of the world, where the people live,
as it were, out of the stream of revolution. In 1854 I visited
Dumfries, and had it not been for the innovation of the
Railway- station, and the removal of the saw-pits from the
sands, I should have found the town as unchanged, in all
its physical aspects, after fifty years, as it was possible for
a good old-fashioned people to have kept it. Carlisle, too,
retains a good many of its old characteristics ; but the stream
of humanity has been turned from the centre of the town
to the west side of the Castle, where the railway forms the
means of transit between the two divisions of the kingdom.
The Watling-street of the Romans is fast becoming obsolete
as a highway of commerce, and ere long it will bloom as
verdant as the surrounding hills.
There are very few towns that have undergone a more
complete transformation in character than Newcastle-upon-
Tyne. It is true the Side remains in all its ancient glory,
being the most upright street in Europe. The Castle con-
tinues to frown like a hoary- headed cynic upon the sur-
rounding innovations, and the lang stairs yet try the puff of
many a valetudinarian. Mr. Grainger, up to 1848, had
nearly modernized the whole of the upper part of Newcastle ;
new streets were laid out in all directions, and he designed
and built one of the most splendid and capacious Market-
places in the United Kingdom. The new Corn-Exchange
was without a rival ; this building has been converted into a
Reading-room and a Commercial Exchange. But the railway
acted the part of the great magician in its wonderful trans-
formations. The high level bridge which spans the Tyne, in
the novel character of a pair of bridges, is one of the greatest
undertakings of the age. The old brig, which unites New-
LEAMINGTON, CLIFTON, BRISTOL, AND MALVERN. 2OI
castle and Gateshead, looks like an ancient pigmy beneath
its modern rival. The fearful explosion which took place in
Gateshead in 1854 was the means of opening up Pipergate
and Millgate ; these two streets were called into existence
before carts and carriages were fashionable. On the whole,
the Newcastle of 1855 was a very different place to what it
was in 1809, when I was in it for the first time. Middles-
borough, in the neighbourhood of Stockton-upon-Tees, has
been conjured into a thriving commercial town within the
last sixty-five years. Whitby remains in statu quo ; but
Scarborough has more than doubled its old proportions.
Leamington is the production of the go-ahead principle, and
though an infant it has attained the proportions of townhood.
The Cliff at Bristol was ornamented with a few straggling
mansions forty-five years ago ; it is now a magnificent town,
with streets, squares, and crescents, all laid out in accordance
with the taste of the age. If Clifton continues to progress
as it has done during the last twenty-five years, Durdom
Downs will be a place only to be found in history, and the
old Folly on the cliff will have given place to some new one,
without a legend* The members of the old corporation of
Bristol had grown so great, in their own estimation, over the
slave-trade, that they imagined Bristol would continue to
keep the lead as a maritime port ; but while they flattered
themselves in their power, the glory of their ancient city was
transferred to Liverpool, where commerce flourished under
more liberal treatment. During the time some of our large
commercial towns were opening up their improvements, the
old-fashioned standstill corporation of Bristol commenced
a splendid chain-bridge suspended from two towers, which
remain as monuments of the industry and enterprise of the
projectors of this wonderful undertaking. Malvern, with
sunny slopes, isolated mountain in miniature, and hydro-
pathic establishments, is fast rising into a goodly town.
* "Cook's Folly" is a tower built on the top of the cliff, with a very
pretty improbable legend attached to it.
202 NOTTINGHAM, DERBY, MANSFIELD, ABERDEEN.
This is one of those delightful places where the dilapidated
in health can be washed, dried, and mangled at pleasure, and
returned to their friends regenerated members of society.
The Harrogate of my young days, though it stood A i in the
world of fashion, was only a fraction of what it is now.
In the march of improvement, Nottingham has been trans-
formed in no small degree. Forty years ago, the business
of this place was solely confined to lace-making by hand.
Since the introduction of machinery to the purpose of manu-
facturing textile fabrics, the character of Nottingham has
undergone an entire change. In almost every department
of the lace business, the article can now be purchased at
considerably less than the price formerly paid for the labour.
Several new branches of industry have been added, such as
hosiery, gloves, shoes, and a variety of fancy trades. The
town has expanded in its physical aspect greatly beyond its
old proportions. The park has been laid out upon a modern
plan for a new town ; and a splendid pleasure-ground added
to the town where the inhabitants both find health and
pleasant recreation. Derby has also been much improved
both in its social and physical character. This town was
once famed for its manufacture of fancy articles in alabaster,
the material for which is found in abundance in the neigh-
bourhood. This business has been superseded to a great
extent by the introduction of ornaments in Parian marble, or
rather an imitation of that article. The leading business in
Derby is now, and has been for some years, the manufacture
in silk of various articles. This place has also greatly
extended its ancient boundary, and the town has been embel-
lished with a beautiful Arboretum. When I was in this part
of the country first, there were a great number of houses both
in Nottingham and Mansfield excavated out of the sandstone
rock, and it was no unusual thing to see cows feeding on the
tops of the houses. These primitive habitations have all
been swept away by the rolling flood of modern progress.
In my recollection, Aberdeen has been ornamented with
GROWTH OF BIRMINGHAM CATHEDRAL CITIES. 2O3
one of the most handsome streets in the United Kingdom,
and I am certain that it will be the most durable, as all the
houses are built of granite.* During the last sixty-five years,
Birmingham has undergone the process of an entire change
in its physical aspect : the railways have disembowelled it
with their subterranean passages and gigantic stations ; while
its proportions as a town have been more than doubled.
During the last thirty years towns have been springing into
existence at intervals along the whole of the trunk-lines, and
the old towns and villages along the great highways of the
nation are crumbling into decay.. The great north road is
becoming an elongated desert, and the glory of Learning-
lane is now no more. There is one class of towns which
seem to set the laws of progress at defiance. Time may
crumble them into decay, and their inhabitants may succeed
each other like vegetables in their seasons ; but the innovation
of what is called modern improvement can never reach them
I mean the cathedral towns. How these relics of antiquity
are preserved from the inroads of modern Vandalism I cannot
say ; but I am glad they are allowed to remain : in my mind
they are invested with a melancholy grandeur, and as they
battle with old time, they increase my veneration. I have
always observed that there is a coincidence between the
inhabitants of these towns and the sombre character of their
old temples, which form, as it were, a bond of sympathy. It
may be that these venerable piles, with their gloomy magni-
ficence and stately grandeur, exercise a species of tranquil
contentment over the minds of the inhabitants, that bids
defiance to all ideas of change in their notions of the order
of things. As the headlong current of change rushes on,
and the mania of progress rages in its thousand forms, these
old towns will continue to stand like as many castles seated
on rocks in the ocean, defying the winds and waves. I
would ask, who is there that has any feeling or respect for
the memorials of the past, that would wish to see the old
* Union Street.
2O4 EM PL YED B Y AN ENGRA VER AND LITHOGRAPHER.
piazzas and the galleries " above the rows " removed in the
venerable city of Chester, or the old "gates" in York or
Norwich substituted by modern streets ? In my mind, the
modern wise men of Carlisle have destroyed one of the
principal beauties of that ancient city, by removing the north
or Scotch gate, which in my time stood like a landmark
between civilization and barbarism.
When I retired from business, it was into the private life
of poverty. After having disposed of the tavern-property,
and paid my debts as far as the proceeds would admit of, I
was left without a shilling to commence the world in some
new line. The poet has sung that " man never is, but always
to be blest ;-" if rapid changes in condition of life, and
strange transformations in my social position, were at all
conducive to such a happy state of existence, I should have
b^en doubly blest. However, I have proved the falsehood of
poor Burns's misanthropical idea, that " man was made to
mourn." My hope has at all times been greater than my
misfortunes, and in my storms I have cheerfully anticipated
the coming calms. A few days after descending from my
inglorious throne in the unhallowed temple of Bacchus, I
obtained a temporary engagement with an old friend, who
carried on the business of an engraver and lithographer. I
remained with this gentleman for twelve months ; at the
expiration of which time, in consequence of a number of
unfortunate circumstances, his business had all but bid him
adieu. Shortly after this, I entered into an agreement with
another person in the engraving business who was bringing
out a system of book-keeping for the use of schools ; he
wished me to introduce his new work in the midland counties
of England, and to be in keeping with myself, I undertook to
push an untried article into the market at my own expense,
by taking the business on commission ! If I had had the
sense of the merest tyro in business affairs, I would certainly
have allowed the person who was likely to have received the
benefit of the speculation the honour of paying for its intro-
FRIENDS IN GLASGOW MENTAL INTROSPECTION'. 2O5
duction. You will therefore see that this engagement is
another of my blunders, and one which completely turned
the future current of my life into new channels.
During the time I was in Glasgow, which was close upon
twenty years, I can confidently affirm that no man was ever
blessed with a larger round of friends, and what is of still
greater importance, they were not of that class of people
who will eat a man's dinner, drink his wine, and give him
the cold shoulder when he is without a dinner himself. I
know it is impossible for a man in comfortable circumstances
to steer clear of sycophants, who, as long as the sun of
prosperity shines upon him, will ply him with the base coin
of friendship, and when the tide of fortune ebbs, will fly
from him like rats from a falling house. This class of people
have their use in the social economy, and when fortune
changes their conduct carries with it a useful moral lesson.
I could name many gentlemen whose generous and dis-
interested conduct to me will hold a fresh place in my memory
as long as that index of the past continues to exist.'- I do
believe that no man ever disappointed his friends more
than I have. I have always been an intelligent man, but
my Mends took me for what neither God nor nature intended
me to be, namely, a clever one. This is the very subject
upon which I misled my own feelings. I really imagined
that I was a clever man ! I may, therefore, say that my
character through the best part of my life has been a living
lie, and at the .end of fifty years I was more disappointed in
myself than I have been in all the world beside. I never
had any trouble in analyzing my own mind, and could there-
fore put my hand on my weak points ; but strange as it may
appear, I have ever allowed my pride and confidence to retain
the whip hand of my judgment. With all my numerous im-
perfections, I know that I am not without many of those
feelings and virtues which lend a charm to our nature. Few
men have a better appreciation of right and wrong, more
enlarged views of the God- like principles of civil and reli-
2O6 REMOVAL TO YORK- AFTERWARDS TO LEEDS.
gious liberty, a greater toleration for'the weaknesses of other
men, or can feel for the sufferings and misfortunes of their
fellows more sensitively. This may be called egotism, but
you will remember that I am endeavouring to give you a
true history of my life; and if I did not show you the
numerous springs in the machinery of my mind, which have
from time to time prompted me to action, you might fre-
quently arrive at wrong conclusions. I am aware that the
great bulk of men give themselves no trouble in inquiring
into their peculiar organizations, or the causes of their
various impulses, and therefore they leave themselves as they
are ; but I certainly think it is a wise proceeding for a man
frequently to examine the state of his own mind, and balance
his little accounts. He will find, in commercial phraseology,
that short reckonings make long friends.
I am now about entering upon an entirely new career, and
the next five years became, perhaps, the most eventful in the
whole of my chequered life. The gentleman I had entered
into the engagement with buoyed me up with the flattering
expectation that the commission on his business would be
worth at least three hundred pounds a-year. " The gude
forgie me to believe him." I therefore sold off my household
furniture, and removed my family direct to York, where I
took a house with the laudable intention of making that city
the centre of my operations. I went to work like a man
who had made up his mind to be in earnest. I was full of
hope, notwithstanding the advice and prognostications of
many of my friends before I left Glasgow. My first essay
was a failure, but that did not dishearten me : I imagined"
that I had not got on the right ground. I then swept the
country in a goodly circle, when I had the cheering satis-
faction to find that my undertaking was a dead failure. I
had spent all my money in removing my family and paying
railway fares, and in the course of two months I was brought
to a dead lock. Towards the end of April, 1850, I removed
my family to Leeds, where I took a small unfurnished roon>,
LECTURE ON BURN MOVE TO LIVERPOOL. 2O/
and all we had to put in it was our bedding. The first night
we occupied this place was during a severe frost, and as our
bed-clothes had not arrived, having been sent by rail, we
were obliged to lie upon the bare floor; and to make the
matter worse, my wife was within a short time of her confine-
ment. For some days after being in Leeds, I really did not
know what to do ; there were five pair of jaws to find employ-
ment for, and I could see no possible way in which it could
be done. In my worst times I have generally found some-
thing to fall back upon in my own resources ; so after
steeping my brains in reflection, I hit upon a scheme which
relieved us for the time being. I remembered that I had
an old friend in Bradford, so after I had arranged the heads
of a lecture upon the character and poetry of Robert Burns,
I went over to that place, and got my friend to lend me his
assistance in disposing of a number of tickets, which he
readily complied with. With his assistance, too, I took a
hall for the purpose of delivering my lecture. The event
came off at the appointed time, and I realized four pounds
after paying the expenses. While in Glasgow I had pub-
lished a small volume, being " A Historical Sketch of the
Independent Order of Oddfellowship of the Manchester
Unity." At this time I had one hundred copies of the work
in my possession. I was personally known to most of the
leading men in Leeds connected with the Society ; so I
made application to the district officer to purchase my stock
of books. This gentleman brought the subject before the
district committee, who readily agreed to give me one
" shilling a-copy for the whole I had on hand. I was there-
fore in clover once more.
After this I spent a few days in Leeds, in an endeavour to
find some employment, but was unsuccessful. I left Leeds,
and took my family with me to Liverpool. I had no more
business in going there, than to other places I could have
made choice of; and I can scarcely say now what motive
prompted me in the selection of that place, in preference to
208 EMPLOYMENT AS A SHIPPING LABOURER.
others more come-at-able. Whatever we may think of our
free-will, there can be no doubt but we are often impelled
forward in our careers by a directing power over which we
have no control ; and such seems to have been my case in
this instance. I was therefore carried headlong into a
stream of contending circumstances, and like a chip of wood
amid the boisterous waves of a stormy sea, I was dashed
hither and thither without any controlling power of my own.
I knew several people in Liverpool who were in comfortable
circumstances, but as they were only holiday acquaintances
I did not make my case known to any of them. There was
one gentleman, however, to whom I had rendered some little
services while he resided in Glasgow. He was then holding
the situation of a warehouseman to a large shipping firm,
and he had the employing of the men who were required to
do the work of the establishment as daily labourers. This
gentleman offered me employment upon the same condition
as others, which was, to take my chance for the work when
there was any to do. This offer was coupled with a condi-
tion that I could scarcely ever account for, namely, that I
should never speak back to him ! Before he left Glasgow,
he held a very comfortable, and at the same time a some-
what responsible situation, but like many others he had
committed himself by abusing the trust reposed in him.
The matter, however, was not serious, but being humbled
in hiS own estimation he left the town. Like every other
man who had not been used to hard labour, and unencum-
bered with a character, he had to pass through a severe
ordeal before he could obtain a fresh standing in the world.
This, however, he accomplished by dint of industry and
steadiness. I am therefore led to suppose, that he was
afraid that I might expose his previous conduct, which
certainly would have been the last thought in my head. I
was too glad to know that he had recovered his character to
think of doing him an injury; indeed, I looked upon his
conduct as worthy of all praise. I was well pleased to
LABORIOUS WORK OF TURNING GRAIN. 209
accept his offer, as my finances were again exhausted, and
my wife on the eve of her confinement.
The first work I was put to was that of turning grain, and
I was kept at this for four weeks in succession. Now,
turning grain, like any other manual labour which a man
may be accustomed to, is very simple work. With me it
was anything but simple. During the first three weeks I
was at it I thought I should have virtually fallen in pieces.
My loins and back were in a state of open rebellion, and
every muscle in my body was in arms against the employ-
ment, and my spirits required to exert all their influence to
keep the mutinous crew in order. During the first week I
could not sleep in my bed at night, in consequence of a
legion of aches and pains pulling at me in all directions.
If I could have thrown off twenty years, which I found an
actual incumbrance to me, I daresay I should have felt no
inconvenience after the first few days. Age certainly has
its advantages, but I found by experience that they were
not to be realized in turning corn. It is one of the misfor-
tunes of humanity, that men cannot keep the barometer of
their minds up to the degree of equanimity under the
pressure of different circumstances. One evening, as I was
shuffling home, with spirits almost crushed, and my body
in the most intense state of suffering/ while I was passing
along Lord-street, and going through a passage where there
was a scaffold, erected for the repair of some house, I felt
an irresistible desire that it should fall upon me and bury me
in the ruins. I have more than once felt life a burden, but
I never knew the desire to shuffle off the mortal coil so
strong as upon this occasion. A few minutes brought a
holier reflection ; I knew that there were more deserving
men than myself exposed to sufferings much greater than
mine, and a hasty examination soon proved to me my own
littleness, and I went home with the gloom off .my mind.
The second evening after this, on my way home, I met a
gentleman I had known intimately while in Glasgow. This
14
210 ILLUSTRATION OF THE UPS AND DOWNS OF LIFE.
person had been the shuttlecock of the fates to a surprising
degree ; a few years before this time, he was lessee and
proprietor of the Adelphi Theatre in that place, and had
been favoured while there with the sunshine of popularity
in no small degree. It was nothing strange to see Mr.
David Prince Millar at one time bounding over the waves
of fortune, in all the buoyancy of happiness, comfort, and
affluence, as if he were in his usual element ; and at another,
holding on by some wreck in the stormy sea of poverty.
His difficulty in life was precisely that of my own, he had
talent for everything but business ; and carried on his
shoulders a world of experience, which was the same to
him as a miser's gold, being neither of use to himself nor
anybody else. Men seem to be created for all kinds of
pursuits, but it frequently happens, that great numbers of
them get into the wrong places, and therefore lose the
opportunities of turning their peculiar talents to advantage.
A short time before I met Mr. Millar, he had made a
successful hit in Liverpool, by giving a series of entertain-
ments in the Music Hall, in reciting "The ups-and downs
in the life of a showman." With the money he realized
upon that occasion, he went a-starring into the surrounding
villages, and, as usual with him, he came back to town
penniless. We made mutual inquiries concerning each
other's condition and prospects, and at the same time,
neither of us were blessed with the most humble represen-
tation of majesty !
It would appear that Mr. Millar was cast upon the world
when he was a mere boy, the consequence of which was, that
he had to struggle through it as best he could. One little
anecdote will suffice to show how the lives of certain classes
of people hang upon the chapter of accidents. During his
early peregrinations, while putting up at a common lodging-
house in the city of Norwich, he met with a man who was
making an excellent living by one of those little fortunate
secrets which men occasionally get hold of who exist by their
A NOTABLE EXAMPLE OF " JUSTICES' JUSTICE. 211
wits. This man's secret was the precursor of the now
universal lucifer match ; he dealt in little boxes rilled with a
composition of phosphorus and resin, which, by a little fric-
tion, produced an illuminating effect ; these boxes he sold at
two shillings and half-a-crown each. Millar, although only
a boy, was sharp enough to know that the material of which
these boxes were made could only be trifling ; he therefore
made up his mind to obtain the secret. With this idea in his
head, he watched the man when he was going to purchase
his materials at a chemist's shop, and shortly after he called
at the same shop, as if he had been sent by that person to
purchase a shilling's worth of the stuff, stating that he had
forgotten the name ; the material was readily supplied, and
without further instructions he commenced operations in his
new business. Not having the means to purchase tin boxes,
he procured wooden ones, and he disposed of his new un-
patented illuminators for twopence each. It happened, as
he was hawking his boxes through the public-houses one
evening, he met with a person who belonged to that nonde-
script class of men who live by the honourable profession of
assisting the magistrate in suppressing vagrancy, and other-
wise supporting the laws. This gentleman made an attempt
to pilfer one of Mr. Millar's boxes, but being caught in the
act, he immediately had the lad up before a magistrate on a
charge of selling a highly dangerous article ; he affirmed that
the illuminating boxes were made for the express purpose of
house-breaking, and other midnight robberies. The sapient
magistrate required no further proof of Millar's guilt, and he
characterized the crime as being one of a most heinous nature,
and to mark his sense of it, and at the same time vindicate the
outraged laws of his country, he sent poor Millar to improve
his morals and his muscles on the tread-mill for fourteen days.
In those days, common jails and houses of correction were
the best of all possible schools for improving the morals of
young men, and expanding their ideas in the principles of
professional roguery! If Millar was not benefited by his
212 THE ORIGIN OF THE LUCIFER MATCH.
fourteen days' training, it was no fault of the worthy magi-
strate.
I have often observed that there is a species of old womanism
about many of the provincial magistrates that is really quite
refreshing. In the discharge of their very important duties,
they wisely take care never to err on the side of mercy ! The
peculiarly happy manner in which some of these gentlemen
frequently apportion the punishment to the offence, is a proof
that their virtuous feelings are more in keeping with the
letter than the spirit of the law ! ! I have frequently been
puzzled, while listening to some of these sage dispensers of
justice, and have been confounded by their matchless wisdom,
when moralizing upon some twopenny crime against property,
by a juvenile tyro in roguery. Men who are filled with the
importance of their office have a right to expose their dignity
to the best advantage, whether they are adjudicating upon
large or small matters ; with them it is of the utmost conse-
quence that their own feelings should be satisfied in vindicating
the law. I have no doubt but the worthy Mr. Shallow, of
Norwich, went home after consigning Millar to the house of
correction with the self-satisfaction of a man who had per-
formed a highly meritorious action ! I have introduced
this little incident to show you how much some men are the
mere sport of fortune ; if Mr. Millar had not been fully
initiated in the principles of roguery before he was sent to
the mill, I certainly think it must have been his own fault if
he did not learn many useful lessons while there; and there
can be no doubt but he returned to the world with pleasant
notions of magisterial justice!
In reference to the phosphorescent boxes above alluded
to, I have no doubt but the idea of our present lucifer match
may have had its origin in that simple contrivance. I have
heard it asserted that Jonathan Martin was the first who
conceived the idea of a metallic pen, by having used a piece
of tin instead of a quill. By-the-bye, I had the honour of
being acquainted with this gentleman. My first introduction
WITNESS TO THE BURNING OF }ORK MINSTER. 21$
to him was in 1825, shortly after he had made his escape
from a lunatic asylum in or near Bishop Auckland ; at that
time he was selling an historical sketch of his life. Four years
after this, I was a witness to the conflagration that immor-
talizes his name, and consigned his diminutive person to
St. Luke's Hospital, where he ended his career.*
A few evenings after this, I met another old Glasgow
acquaintance, who had jumped the Jim Crow of life under
a number of phases ; poor fellow! at that time he was culti-
vating an acquaintance with the last friend to suffering
humanity! About five years before this occasion, he had
gone out to the United States upon a commercial specula-
tion, and while in that country he had the sad misfortune
of nearly losing his eyesight ; and, after spending all his
money in an endeavour to have his vision restored, he
returned to his native country, bankrupt in both health and
fortune. Mr; Barlow was one of those men who carry with
them a large amount of individuality ; he possessed a bundle
of the most kindly feelings imaginable, and his heart had
room in it for any amount of affection ; but I never knew a
man who could hate with such an amazing number of horse-
power. He possessed two ideas, which were to him the
Alpha and Omega of his inborn affection, his country had
no equal, and his religion was without a rival ! Like Paddy
with his honour, a person might as well touch his life as
disparage either of these subjects. We were equally sur-
prised, and, after condoling each other for our misfortunes,
in parting his last words were " Keep up your heart, my
boy, ' the darkest hour is nearest the light.' "
* Jonathan Martin imagined that he was deputed by Almighty God to
pull down the Established Church, and reform the religion of the country.
In order to carry out these views, he set fire to York Minster, in 1829, by
which a great portion of the building was destroyed. He was brother to
the late Mr. Martin, the celebrated painter and engraver, who held the
same position among painters Milton does among poets. This gentleman
died a few years ago in the Isle of Man.
214 HARD STRUGGLES OF POVERTY UNDER DISEASE.
Before the end of the month I had got pretty well inured
to my new employment, but I found that my friend was
anything but easy with me in the situation. I could under-
stand that he was afraid of me as a rival ; he knew that I was
a steady man, and he took it into his head that if I were
continued in the employment that I might supplant him.
This was just the very last idea in my mind ; moreover, if I
had been desirous of doing so, I had not the capacity to fill
his situation ; and under any circumstances, I only looked
upon my employment as one of a temporary character ; how-
ever, he had become thoroughly embued with the thought.
When the first month passed, instead of employing me
regularly he only gave me a day or two occasionally. Three
weeks after we arrived in Liverpool -my wife was confined,
and having caught cold, she was unfortunately afflicted with
gathered breasts. This circumstance entailed upon us an
amount of misery which it would be impossible for me to
describe.
There are a number of circumstances connected with the
life of working men, which people in an independent sphere
cannot feel the smallest accident in the machinery of a
family dependent upon labour is frequently sufficient to
turn the current of life from one of comparative happiness
to irredeemable misery. I have often seen the truth of this
observation confirmed in others, and I have, also felt the
serious consequences of having my own resources dried up
under the hand of affliction, which was laid heavy upon me.
My wife daily became worse, her breasts continuing to
gather and burst in painful succession. Seeing we could not
afford a nurse, I had to do the duties of one myself. There
were six of us, and out of this number I was the only one
that could wait upon myself. During eight weeks I had to
nurse my wife, who was as helpless as an infant, to wash and
cook for the family, and the most difficult task of all I had
to nurse the infant. If we had had wherewithal to obtain
the necessaries of life during this time, our case would not
DIRTY COMPANIONS TEMPORARY EMPLOYMENT. 2 1 5
have been so entirely hopeless, as my own health was good,
but we had nothing to defend us from the overpowering
storm, and thus it swept over us in unbroken violence. All
our little necessaries of clothing, and other things which we
could spare, went, one after another, into the hands of the
obliging relation of the unfortunate and the improvident.
I was often sick to the very soul to behold the sufferings of
my prostrate but patient wife ; her condition was almost
hopeless. When our home was blessed with food, the
sunshine of happiness was on the innocent faces of my
children, but the gloom of melancholy was on my own
heart. I did not repine at the fate that had overtaken us
I was satisfied that God knew best what was for our good,
and was willing to bear whatever infliction He might send
with becoming resignation ; but I certainly did repine at
my own folly, for having allowed so many opportunities of
providing for my family to pass without taking advantage
of them.
This dark passage of my existence passed away, and I
entered upon life once more with chastened feelings. I may
here mention a circumstance connected with the house we
occupied in Liverpool. I have been in many places where
a colony of bugs held joint possession with the human
occupiers, but I never witnessed such innumerable swarms
as infested that house ; every place was living with them, and
the very air was permeated with bug animation they fell
into our food, crawled in lazy iiidifference over our bodies,
and, like vampires, sucked our blood. At night they made
processions over our naked faces travelled upon voyages of
discovery round the orbits of our eyes marched into our
ears, and held revel in the groves of our hair, and became
joint partners in our clothing. I don't know that I was ever
out of temper with any of the lower animals before ; but these
vile insects certainly did try my patience.
Shortly after I was able to leave my charge, I was so
fortunate as to obtain a temporary engagement with a gentle-
2l6 DELIVERING SERIALS IN THE BOOK TRADE.
man who was selling off his stock of hats, previous to retiring
from business. My salary was only small, but I contented
myself with the adage that " half a loaf was better than no
bread." I remained with this gentleman until the expiration
of his term with his shop, which was in November, when my
small services were again in the market. Before the end of
the month, I had the good fortune to be again engaged with
a gentleman in Liverpool, who was an agent for a Scotch
house in the book-trade. My new duty was that of a
deliverer, and the field of my operations was to be in Man-
chester and the surrounding country. At first I found this
work pretty laborious, but I soon became used to it.
Delivering serial works is by no means a pleasant business ;
and a man, to be at all successful in the profession, must be
careful, and leave both honour and honesty at home if he
possesses such property. At the end of nine months, I was
superseded by a gentleman who was sent up to Manchester
by the firm in Scotland. So I was once more shackled with
freedom ! and, to add to the comforts of my position, the
addition of another young one to my family.
CHAPTER XL
BEING without money in civilized society is just about
the same as a man in a savage state of existence being
divested of his arms. There certainly are some men who can
turn their wits to profitable account ; but in nine cases out of
ten, their operations tend to the injury of other members of
the community. The man who is always on the watch to
take advantage of the weakness, credulity, or want of attention
of his fellow-men, must frequently have opportunities of
carrying his plans into action. The class of people, however,
who live by chicanery and swindling by profession, are only
few, when compared with the entire population of the
country, and, under any circumstances, their lives never can
be happy, inasmuch as they require to be continually on the
watch. Morally speaking, I know that such people as these
sustain no uneasiness from anything in the shape of con-
science. Men who give themselves up to the violation of all
principles of right, can have no check from such a monitor,
and their lives are in continual antagonism to honour and
virtue. Amid the struggle for existence in the ever- changing
condition of the commercial population of Great Britain,
there are to be found a very numerous class of people who
have been plunged into difficulties by those little mishaps, or
accidents, which are continually taking place in the social
machinery. Many of these people have been accustomed to
not only the comforts, but also the elegances of life, and
when they find their level at the bottom of society, where
men elbow each other without the politeness of an apology,
in order to live, their condition is melancholy in the extreme.
2l8 TRY THE BOOK CANVASSING BUSINESS.
Yet it is pleasing to know, that in humanity there is an energy
which accompanies struggling nature, and, as it were, assists
the sons and daughters of misfortune to adapt themselves to
their new conditions. This is certainly a wise provision in
providence; it may be looked upon as suiting the back to
the burden.
After I lost my situation as a deliverer, I did not know
what to do next, and my late situation was just of that
character that I could not save a single shilling ; so I was
once more steeped to the lips in poverty, while my prospect
for the future was full of gloom. With a mind ill at rest I
made application to a Register Office in town, and paid the
keeper the only two shillings I possessed. I was requested
to call in a few days. In the meantime the wants of my
family .were beginning to be uncomfortably urgent. I com-
menced and wrote a series of puffs, and submitted them to a
pushing house in Manchester, and was so fortunate as to
receive fifteen shillings for them. After this I called several
times at the Register Office, and was as often put off with
false promises. I would not have ventured my two shillings
in this place, had it not been for an advertisement the fellow
had upon his board, which I thought would suit me. When
I saw that the scoundrel was living upon what he could
obtain from the most destitute members of society, I called,
and in a very authoritative tone demanded my money back ;
he tried to shuffle me for a minute or two, but when I
threatened a public exposure he returned me my cash. I
know the infamous tricks of these leeches, and have not been
backward in exposing them, which any one may find in my
"Language of the Walls," etc. For the space of two or
three months I tried the book-canvassing business. This
trade may be looked upon as the last resource of fallen
gentility. The man who embarks in it should have the
following requisites, namely, a clean face, a suit of clothes
sufficiently respectable to insure the wearer a passport into a
tradesman's counting-house, an amount of cool confidence
ENGAGED IN COMMERCIAL DIRECTORY MAKING.
that will take no denial, a temper which can put up with any
amount of insult, and the smaller the stock of honesty the
better. I am aware that if I could have given my mind to
this business, I could have made a comfortable living by it,
but I candidly confess, that I never went out to do a day's
work in it but I felt myself degraded by the occupation.
Although turning grain was a very laborious business, I
certainly preferred it a thousand times to the other.
On the yth of January, 1852, I was introduced to another
new trade. I dare say you will think by this time that I have
been truly " Jack of all trades and master of none." Should
you do so, you are not far wrong in the conclusion. My
pliability, I can assure you, was so far in my favour. If I
had adopted the motto of Ne sutor ultra crepidam, I should
certainly have stuck fast in the world, and you would not
have had the benefit of my enlarged experience. My next
essay in the battle of life was in assisting in making a Com-
mercial Directory for the good people of Manchester. I was
employed at this business from January until September, with
the exception of one month in the interval, during which I
was employed upon Mr. John Bright's Parliamentary Election
Committee, for which service I was both complimented and
well paid. In September 1852, I was sent up to Guildford,
in Surrey, upon another Directory-making expedition, in
order to assist in taking the home counties. This specula-
tion, however, turned out a failure, in consequence of Mr.
Kelly, of London, having just completed and delivered a'
Directory for these counties. When the mistake was found
out, I got the route, with seven others, for Hull, in Yorkshire.
I remained in this business until January 1853, when I was
fairly starved out. My wages were so small that I could not
manage to maintain myself and family. And what was still
worse, I could not get my money when it was due. Having
made myself au fait in this business to a certain extent, I
felt pretty confident of meeting with a better engagement in
some other house in the line* At the time I was leaving my
22Q RECOLLECTIONS OF EARL Y DAYS AT DUMFRIES.
Directory situation there was a gentleman in Leeds upon the
eve of bringing out a commercial magazine. I got the offer
of an engagement with this person to assist in obtaining
subscribers for the work among the commercial and manu-
facturing community. My first journey in this new business
was down to Glasgow. From January to May I had intro-
duced the magazine into all the principal towns in Scotland
and the Midland counties of England.
In the month of May 1853, I was offered employment by
Mr. Hill, a gentleman to whom I had been recommended by
a mutual friend. The conditions of the engagement offered
were more liberal than I had been accustomed to for some
time ; I was therefore not slow in accepting the offer. The
character of the business was perfectly new to me ; but I had
every confidence in being equal to it, and soon both justified
my own anticipations and the expectations of my employer.
While in the business, I travelled over most of England and
Scotland, and therefore passed over many of those scenes
that were once familiar to me, and had many opportunities
of comparing the past with the then state of things.
In September of 1854 I travelled from Newton- Stewart to
Dumfries. This was within a few months of forty years after
my runaway exploit. The old widow's house that sheltered
me at the ferry-town of Cree had disappeared ; but the farm-
house on the wayside where I slept on the Sunday evening
was still unchanged. In several places, as I passed along, I
found that the highway had been completely altered. Modern
improvement was everywhere visible. I found villages where
formerly there was not the vestige of a house ; and in other
places ruins where I had formerly seen cheerful dwellings.
I could see no greater change in that part of the country than
was observable in the condition of the soil ; everywhere the
hand of industry was abundantly visible in the improved s.tate
of the land. In one place, hundreds of acres of moorland
were reclaimed ; and in another, what had been a deep bog
was drained, and bearing a rich harvest of grain. The cha-
THE HARDIHOOD OF NORTHERN FISHWOMEN. 221
racter of the modern dwellings in all the country districts is
highly indicative of the improved taste and condition of the
people. When I was journeying from Lockerby to Langholm,
I saw several relics of a primitive age. Amid the ruins of one
old moorland farm-house I found an old corn-mill in a state
of excellent preservation. I allude to the hand-mill, which,
I believe, was used in Scotland within the last hundred years.
I also observed several spinning-wheels, both great and small :
the large wheel was used for making yarn for stockings,
blankets, plaids, etc., while the small one was used for pro-
ducing yarn for the sarks and sheets.
The strength and hardihood of the northern fishwomen is
remarkable. The burthens these lasses can carry " would
make a chairman stare." I have seen a creel of fish, which
required two men to place it on the back of a young woman ;
it is true she had only about a mile and a half to carry it, but
I verily believe that not one man in ten could have stood
under it over that distance. That was in a little fishing village
called Fittie by the natives ; it contains a small colony, and is
rather better than a mile from Aberdeen, but the proper name
is Dee Foot.
A number of females belonging to this colony are employed,
from March to October, in trawling for bait along the shore.
This occupation seems to be very unsuitable for females.
There are two to a net, and their method of working is by
going into the sea until they are up to the chest, each having
hold of one end of the net with which they are trawling, and
as many as engage in this way spread themselves along the
shore, and it is not a little interesting to see them bobbing
up and down to save themselves from being submerged by
the heavy seas, which come rolling in from the northern
ocean. With all their vigilance, they are frequently under
water ; but the force of habit enables them to treat these
submersions as things of no consequence.
When I was informed that these women, in nearly all kinds
of weather, during eight months in the year, were employed
222 MODERN IMPROVEMENTS, HA WICK, SELKIRK, ETC.
in this unpleasant, dangerous, and laborious occupation, I
could scarcely conceive how they could endure it without
sacrificing either their health or their lives.
I was on the beach one cold morning when these sea
nymphs were disporting themselves, reminding me of so
many mermaids holding a saraband. Two of the fishermen
being present, I expressed a feeling of surprise that females
should be employed at what appeared to me such an unsuit-
able occupation. One of the men replied that the work could
only be done by females, inasmuch as the men could not
continue in the sea for any length of time with the water up
to their chests. From this it would appear that the adipose
lining of the muscles in women being more abundant than
in men, from its non-conducting property it arms them
with a defence against the cold which is wanting in men.
A great change has come over Hawick since poor McNamee
and myself were inmates of the Tolbooth,- between sixty and
seventy years ago. At that time there were a number of French
officers (prisoners of war) quartered in Hawick and its neigh-
bourhood. The Rubers Law and the Eildon Hills cast their
deep shadows over the adjacent landscapes, as they did fifty
years ago ; but the physical aspect of their respective locali-
ties is strangely altered. The sweet little town of Melrose,
in consequence of the beauty of its position, the salubrity of
its air, and the magnificence of its abbey in ruins, has become
a summer haunt of the invalid, and a place of attraction to
the student of nature. Abbotsford has become a shrine
before which the lovers of genius delight to bend the knee.
This strange conglomeration of all the real and imaginary
styles of architecture is shaded in eternal gloom, inasmuch as
the Eildon Hills stand like three giants between it and the
sun. The din of machinery now resounds by Galla's stream,
where erewhile all was still, save the murmuring of the limpid
brook. Selkirk, too, has gone with the age, and become a
manufacturing town. I observed when there, that Mr. Brown
had erected one of the most splendid woollen mills in Scot-
SCOTCH PROGRESS SINCE THE ROYAL RESIDENCE. 22$
land. When I was a boy, these valleys were as quiet as
seclusion from the busy haunts of men could make them, and
it was then an uncct thing to see a stranger within their
border. How true it is that " time works wonders ! "
On my journey from Galashiels to Lauder, I crossed
Watling-street, the old Roman road, which formed the line
of communication from London to the wall which divided
the Friths of Forth and Clyde. Before steamboats and
railways came into use, this road formed the common high-
way for the numerous herds of cattle which were then sent
in droves to England. From my own experience and obser-
vation, I would sa'y that the progress of transition has been
more rapid in Scotland than in any other .part of the United
Kingdom. The social condition of the people is as different
from what it was sixty years ago, as it is possible to imagine.
The annual visits of Her Majesty within the last thirty years
have made that part of her kingdom the regular resort of a
large portion of the higher and middle class English. At
one time, I could flatter myself that I was one in five
hundred thousand, if not a million, of old George the
Third's subjects who had made the grand tour of England
and Scotland ! Sixty years ago, a journey from Scotland to
London was a very important undertaking, and the prepara-
tion for such an event was greater than would be now
necessary for a journey to Hong Kong. I dispute that your
modern traveller would manifest so much curiosity on wit-
nessing the frowning batteries of Malta, the heterogeneous
mixture of Eastern races in the dark dingy streets of Grand
Cairo, the little old-fashioned dirty town of Aden, with its
noise and bustle of landing and embarking passengers, or
the tropical luxuriance of Ceylon with its herds of hill coolies,
as your traveller of sixty years ago would have done upon
his first visit to Berwick-upon-Tweed, with its crumbling
walls and narrow Gothic bridge ; Newcastle-upon-Tyne,
with its " Side" resting on a comfortable travelling declivity,
at an angle of forty-five degrees ; the quiet town of Durham,
224 THE AGE OF TELEGRAPHY AND LOCOMOTION.
with its zigzag streets and sombre cathedral ; and the good
city of York, with its narrow streets, double- ribbed houses,
and splendid minster. But we must remember this is the
age of the rail, electric telegraph, and a general desire for
everybody to be everywhere.
I do not know what other people think, but I cannot help
respecting men who evince a veneration for the past. All
our antecedents are made up of so many yesterdays, and the
morrow never comes !
CHAPTER XII.
FOR some time past my situation had been every way
agreeable. I had my employer's entire confidence, and
was treated more like an equal than a servant ; and until
within the last six weeks I felt my position perfectly secure ; but
I now learned that Mr. Hill's business had then unfortunately
got into difficulties, and found, too, that he had made up his
mind to dispose of it as soon as an opportunity should offer.
In the month of March 1857, I went upon a journey to
collect accounts in Scotland, and during the time I was in
Glasgow I was introduced to a gentleman who was engaged
in publishing a bi-monthly journal, chiefly devoted to the
interest of women. He was then in want of an agent for
the sale of the paper and collecting advertisements in
Dublin. This situation was offered to me, and being un-
certain as to when Mr. Hill's business might be disposed of,
I entered into an arrangement without consulting any one
on the matter. The salary was an advance upon what I had
been receiving, but what was of more consequence to me,
the situation seemed to offer a permanency, as well as ulterior
advantages. Under the ordinary circumstance of a mere
business arrangement, the transaction, so far as I could view
it, appeared to square with common prudence, and I had
no reason to have any misgivings as to the result. But there
is nothing more certain in human affairs than uncertainty !
If I could have seen before me a few months, I would have
allowed some other speculator, as a pioneer to a literary
periodical, to have tried his fortune arxl his patience in the
capital of Ireland.
15
226 PASSAGE TO DUBLIN FELLOW VOYAGERS.
After having sold off my furniture to the advantage of the
broker who bought it, we sailed for Dublin in one of the
line of steamers then plying between London and that port.
I left London not only without regret, but with a lively con-
fidence in .my new undertaking. My wife 1 , however, was im-
pressed with feelings of a very opposite nature ; whether it
was that she did not like going to Ireland, or some other
cause unknown to me, she insisted that the speculation would
turn out disastrous. The following little circumstance will
tend to show how much men are the creatures of passing
events. In the male department of the second cabin there
was a poor man whose passage had been paid for him by
the parochial authorities in the district where he had been
residing ; he had been booked for his last journey for some
time, as he was then in the last stage of consumption. We
had been two days at sea, and he had not been able to leave
his berth ; but as my own berth was next to his, I had ren-
dered him any little assistance in my power, and while con-
versing with him I learned that, should he reach Dublin, he
had then eighty miles before him ere he could reach home.
I had noted that my fellow-passengers were all something
like myself, people in humble circumstances. The poor man's
condition was so exceedingly helpless, and his wants of such
an urgent nature, that, notwithstanding the seeming poverty
of my fellow-voyagers, I made up my mind to appeal both to
their feelings and pockets by sending a hat round among
them. The collection turned out much better than I
possibly could have anticipated, having realised seventeen
shillings and sixpence. There was one man among the
passengers I had frequently noticed for his quiet gentlemanly
manner, who, while I was making the collection, modestly
slipped a half-crown piece into the hat, evidently afraid any
one should see the amount of his donation. From that time
I felt a friendly feeling towards him, with a warmth equal to
a brother's love.
I merely mention this little circumstance to show how
NARROW SECTARIAN FEELINGS IN IRELAND. 22/
causes and their effects become linked together, and silently
operate for good or evil in the fortunes of men.
When settled down in Dublin, and having got a few neces-
sary articles of furniture into the house, I opened an office
in Grafton Street, one of the principal thoroughfares in the
city. I may here mention that a considerable part of the
journal was devoted to the discussion of all those social
questions which affect the moral and physical condition of
women in Great Britain and Ireland ; it was also made in-
teresting to the general reader by containing original poetry,
treatises upon art, social science, and literary gossip. These,
however, were not found suitable to the taste of the Dublin
people ; the journal was therefore like the noble lord
O'Connell characterised as of no commercial value, being
" unmarketable."
There is no doubt plenty of religion in Ireland, but the
people are so exceedingly susceptible about their theological
views being meddled with, that it is a dangerous matter for
a stranger to open his mouth upon the subject. From this
state of things I soon learned that the Ladies' Journal was
much in the same situation with the old man and his ass
in the fable ; though it was entirely free from both religious
matter and questions of a sectarian nature, it was found, by
both the parties who so amicably stand out in relief from
each other on the road to heaven, to be inimical to both their
notions of right and wrong.
One day a lady was induced to venture into the office,
from having seen the heading of an article which took her
taste, and purchased a copy. The article in question was a
description of a juvenile reformatory under the management
of certain ladies in the neighbourhood of Bristol ; the females
who had charge of this very valuable establishment were
" Sisters of Mercy," and it was very evident from the writer
of the article (a Protestant) that they had rendered no little
service in the cause of humanity, by having rescued a number
of young girls from lives of sin, misery, and suffering. In a
228 THE GERMAN KINDERGARTEN SYSTEM RONGE.
case like this the girls were not only saved themselves, but
by withdrawing their contaminating influence from others, so
much vice, if not crime, would thereby be prevented. My
customer was evidently a person of superior education, and
according to her own showing had travelled much both at
home and abroad, and had taken considerable interest in
the religious, moral, and social condition of the humbler
classes. Notwithstanding the fact that she moved in what is
termed first-class society, and had seen a good deal of life
under its various phases, the rust of narrow-minded bigotry,
like a deadly parasite, clung to her and distorted the more
generous feelings of her nature. Getting her eyes on the
paragraph in the article referring to the noble exertions of
the ladies in this institution, she said she "was afraid the
journal had a Popish bias ; and that such being the case it
would never succeed in Dublin." " The Protestants in Ireland,"
she observed, " were the only real benefactors of the country,
and of course the only people who can support a journal of
this kind ; but before they will do so, they must be certain
that it is free from Popish tendencies ! " I replied that the
paper was perfectly free from anything in the shape or
character of sectarianism, and if the articles contributed to it
were morally sound, the proprietors did not make it any part
of their business to enquire whether they were written by
Protestants, Catholics, or Hindoos.
On the following day I had the pleasure of having a lesson
on the other side of the question. Two ladies, apparently
mother and daughter, were attracted by the title of an article
in the journal ; this was rather a racy description of a new
system of infant education of German importation, entitled
Kindergarten (Child's Garden). The principal feature in this
institution consisted in teaching the children through their
expanding desires, so that when they were engaged in
amusing themselves they were learning the rudiments of
their education. This new institution was under the manage-
ment of a lady and gentleman in London, of the name, of
FAILURE OF THE AGENCY IN DUBLIN. 229
Ronge ; they were said to possess ample means, and having
no family of their own, they took a lively interest in bringing
the system into active operation by superintending a Kinder-
garten of their own, and teaching their little pupils at their
own expense. Scanning over the pages of the paper, and
seeing the name of Ronge associated with the Kindergarten
in London, the elder lady said, " If the names of people like
those you have here are to be associated with the edu-
cational institutions of the country, and allowed to figure in
your journal, I am afraid, sir, it is not likely to succeed in
Ireland; perhaps, sir, you are not aware that this man,
Ronge, is an apostate priest of the worst character ? and that
he is therefore both morally and religiously unfitted for the
duty of teaching children." I replied by saying that I was
afraid she was allowing her prejudices to cause her to judge
the man harshly. " Not at all," she replied ; " the man who
has violated his vows to his God, broken his faith with men,
and outraged public morality, cannot be judged too harshly
when speaking of him as a public instructor." I had heard of
Ronge, but knew little of his history, and whatever might
have been the reforming tendencies of his character while
in Germany, I believe he had lived quite retired while
in London.
In speaking of this class of men, I must confess that I
never knew an apostate priest, who became a public cha-
racter, who was not really a bad man ; during my time I have
known a good many, and some of them were among the most
unmitigated scoundrels within the pale of civilised society.
After the first month, my position in Dublin was one of
continual anxiety and struggle with difficulties ; I had gone
with the view of bettering my condition, and more especially
that I should be enabled to do justice to the younger
members of my family ; but I soon found that I had made a
grievous mistake. The money I obtained, both from the sale
of the journal and advertisements, was not sufficient to pay
the rent of the office ; and as to receiving supplies from the
230 ACQUAINTANCE WITH A NEW FRIEND, MR. WALSH.
proprietor, that was out of the question ; he had only recently
purchased the paper, and had done so under the impression
that he had made a good investment, but he soon found that
he had been cruelly victimised.
While on my way home from the office one evening, I
accidentally met the gentleman I have already alluded to as
my fellow-passenger. When we parted on landing, it was with
a feeling that we might in all probability never meet again.
We were therefore mutually pleased, and adjourned to a
house of refreshment in order to compare notes since our
parting. Mr. Walsh had spent twenty years in the West
Indies, in the Civil Service ; and having lost his wife when
up in years he returned to his native country, in the hope of
finding a quiet home among some of his surviving relations.
But in this expectation he was sadly disappointed ; during
two years before I met him he had been wandering about
from one place to another in search of a quiet resting-place,
and had only met with disappointment. When a man is cast
adrift upon the world, with no other responsibility than that
which his head covers, and no other sympathy from his fellow-
men but that which is commanded by his pocket, his condi-
tion is not likely to be an enviable one. In my mind neither
riches, power, nor fame can compensate for the loss of that
duty and affection which end in the death of a beloved wife.
Before leaving London I had letters of introduction to
several gentlemen in Dublin, and among these was one to
a retired Dragoon Officer, who had lately figured as an
author. His speculation in this way was anything but . a
profitable one; indeed, he made no secret that his pleasure
of authorship was more than counterbalanced by the loss he
had sustained in printing and publishing at his own expense.
He damned the publisher because he could not dispose of
his book, and he damned the public because it had not sense
enough to estimate the merit of the work and the genius of
the author. This gentleman was a first-rate specimen of an
educated half-civilised Irishman. When conversing upon the
AN ECCENTRIC IRISH DRA GON A UTHOR. 23 1
most ordinary subjects the choicest adjectives were poured
out in a rich Irish brogue ; his patriotism was manifested
in bursts of virtuous indignation against all the enemies,
open and covert, of his country ; he characterised the Irish
Members of Parliament as a set of sneaking, place-hunting
rascals, who like Esau would sell their birth-rights for so
many messes of pottage. He gave the Dublin people credit
for " pride, poverty, and dirt." Speaking of Scotchmen, he
said " they were a disputatious set of whiskey-drinking hypo-
crites ; " his opinion of the Bull family was equally flattering.
" The fellows," he said, " had more honesty than the wily
Scot, but they were so cursedly inflated with the pride of
self-importance, that they looked down upon all the other
offshoots of humanity with haughty contempt." It was quite
a treat to listen to his words as they flowed from him, and
though his vituperation was unmercifully severe, no person
could hear his amazing volubility, and charming blarney,
without being delighted ; his blarney, be it remembered, was
specially reserved for people with whom he happened to be
in conversation. While in company with this gentleman,
it would have been the height of madness to have attempted
to discuss even the most trifling subject ; in fact, there was
not the shadow of a possibility of getting the thin edge of a
word into an argument with him. But with all his eccentri-
city he possessed a rich fund of wit, and a mind well stored
with the most varied information. If, however, he ever had
anything in the character of logic, it must have deserted him
before I made his acquaintance.
Before I parted from Mr. Walsh, after our chance meeting,
he proposed to make one of my family upon conditions
stipulated by himself. His terms were readily agreed to ; he
was highly pleased with his new home, and all the members
of my family became warmly attached to him, both for the
amiability of his character, and the uniform kindness of his
disposition. With us, as he said, he found a genial home,
and in him we found a warm and sincere friend ; he was not
232 TREA TMENT OF THE IRISH B Y ENGLAND.
only ready to serve us, but was annoyed when he could not
anticipate our wants. If I had had the means of making
even a humble living in Dublin, my home would have
contained a happy family, in every sense of the term, but
the genii of my erratic fate decreed it otherwise.
As a place to reside in, I liked Dublin very much ; keeping
off polemical matters, the people are open-hearted, free and
easy in their manners ; and in their hospitality they are
warm and generous to a fault. As a general rule the people
have no great love for the English ; indeed I do not see
how they can feel otherwise disposed to the Bull family.
England has been a hard task-master, and has frequently
exhibited a mean spirit of jealousy, by preventing Irishmen
from manufacturing goods, even for their own use. Up to
the time of Elizabeth, the Irish were not only deprived of
the protection of the law, but the life of an Irishman, if
taken by a Saxon of the pale, was valued at a trifling sum
in the current coin of the time. The English conquerors
had neither the humanity of the Egyptians to the Israelites,
nor the magnanimity and toleration of the Romans to
themselves. As long as English history continues to be
read, the penal laws passed against the Irish people by the
British legislature will continue a lasting reproach to the
country. Until lately the English Government always
treated the Irish as a conquered but unsubdued people.
Why did they not leave Ireland, like Scotland, with her own
laws, and Church government at her disposal ? The answer
will be found in the robbery and spoliation which have been
effected in the country by the parties in power. It is only
a few years ago when the Protestants, who were thinly
scattered over the country, filled every post of honour and
emolument, from the Lord Lieutenant down to the petty
constable. It may easily be conceived how the favoured
satellites of a corrupt government would lord over the
despised and insulted race, who, though branded for their
religion, adhered to the creed of their forefathers.
SCENERY IN AND AROUND DUBLIN. 233
Mr. Smyth, who wrote of the condition of Ireland in 1273,
says : " Subsequent to the English invasion the condition of
Ireland exhibits little more than a rude account of the
dispossession of the native chiefs by the English adventurers,
who threw themselves fiercely upon the country, in quick
succession, for many years after the event. A gradual course
of systematic encroachment, at times insidious, but more
frequently violent, enabled a few leaders to fix themselves to
the land, and seize extensive tracts of it, with various rights
and privileges, some real and others assumed, which may
shortly and not inaptly be summed up as a general licence
for unlimited oppression. Intermixed with the narrative are
intricate details of inveterate rivalries, and exterminating
feuds among the despoilers : for in proportion as the pre-
datory knights succeeded in their attacks upon the inhabitants,
they grew jealous and sought to overturn each other ; hence
the contests, as desperate and disastrous as were any of those
which the English carried on against the Irish, sprang up
among themselves."
I know every town of importance in the United Kingdom,
and a few elsewhere, and have no hesitation in saying
that Dublin, both for the morality and the temperate habits
of the people, will rank above any of them ; crime against
property is of very trifling extent, and burglaries of rare
occurrence.
Much of the scenery round the city is unrivalled for beauty
and variety in landscape picturesqueness. The Dublin moun-
tains, with their charming green slopes and dark woods, form
a pleasing background to the city on the south ; and the
Phoenix Park, on the west, is teeming with natural beauties.
The plains are covered with soft carpets of nature's weaving,
and dyed in emerald ; the fairy dells are fringed with ferns
and wild flowers ; here and there are shady groves and
tangled wildernesses in which the furze, the yellow broom,
and the sweetbriar are entwined. In one place you meet
with an army of hawthorn trees, whose grotesquely-distorted
234 THE HILL OF KILLINEY, AND PORT OF EBLANA.
limbs seem to have been formed by Nature in one of her
merry moods. Some of the foot-walks may be seen running
round clumps of trees, and anon losing themselves in little
woody ravines. The park, too, is intersected with handsome
drives ; these are often alive with jaunting cars, freighted
with sightseers and pleasure-seekers. The Park and the
Strawberry-beds were in those days places in which to see
the Dublin people enjoy themselves in the full exuberance
of that light-heartedness in which the cares and anxieties
of working-day life are buried in oblivion. The man would
be a cold-hearted cynic who could witness the Dublin people
decked in their holiday clothing, and roaming with uncon-
trolled freedom through the park, or rollicking in innocent
glee at Knockmaroon, or the Strawberry- beds within the
sound of the Palmerston Cascade, without in some measure
being infected with the pervading hilarity !
I know of no more charming walk than that which leads
by the curving shore of the Bay of Dublin in going down to
" Dollymount ; " the view, as seen along the south side of the
estuary, is made up of a number of delightful scenes, ranging
from the Pigeon House to the base of Killiney Hill, over a dis-
tance of ten miles. The " Dunleary " of my time, but which
became Kingston after the visit of the last of the Georges,
is a delightful watering-place ; and the little romantic village
of Dalkey is a sweet retreat, either for health or pleasure-
seekers. I do not know any place that commands such a
series of really beautiful landscape scenes and sea views
as the Hill of Killiney. On a clear day the whole panorama
is magnificently grand. To the east, south, and north the
ocean may be seen swelling in gentle undulations, or lashed
into foam by the breath of Boreas. Beneath the eye on the
north side of the hill the little rocky " Cove" is seen, which
at one time had the honour of being the Port of " Eblana,"
and the three ruins which yet remain of the seven castles,
which in the olden time formed the storehouses of the
Dublin merchants. Away to the south, over a level plain,
REMOVAL FROM DUBLIN, AIDED BY MR. WALSH. 235
the prettily-situated town of Bray is seen nestling under the
Wicklow mountains, whose cones rise in the air like huge
sugar-loaves. It is among these hills in the " Vale of Avoca"
where the " bright waters meet," and where the ruins of the
seven churches remain, the silent historians of the time when
Ireland was famed among the civilized nations for her piety
and learning.
I do not know how it is that such a comparatively small
number of tourists visit Ireland. So far as my experience
and taste lead me, I think it contains more natural beauties,
in the extent and variety of its scenery, than either of the
other two divisions of the United Kingdom, and I am sure
there is no more interesting specimen of humanity to be
found, between the Poles, than the Irish Celt, his ready
wit, generous nature, and flow of animal spirits, even under
adverse circumstances, make him superior to most other
men.
I lingered in Dublin, between hope and fear, until I could
hold out no longer ; and, to make my case all the more
trying, there was nothing for me there to do by which I
could make a living. I had no means of removing my family
out of the country, and whichever way I turned beggary
stared me in the face. I had not told my friend Mr. Walsh
how we were situated ; seeing, however, that we were obliged
to leave the house, in consequence of our furniture being
attached for rent, I found it necessary to give him notice.
That man was to us a good angel. As soon as he learned
the state of my affairs, he offered to pay the rent due ; I could
not accept his truly generous offer, as it involved a respon-
sibility I had not the shadow of a prospect of repaying. To
live and end his days with us was to him a happy thought ;
and he dreaded parting with us as much as a bride would
the being separated from her new-married husband. His
friendship had nothing sordid or selfish in its nature ; it was
not exacting, nor had it any whims or niceties to mar its
beauty or cool its genial warmth. I have known many men
236 LANDED FOR THE FOURTH TIME IN LONDON.
in my time whose friendship I had much reason to value
highly, but I am not aware of ever having met a man in
whose friendship there was mingled such a small amount
of human dross !
When Mr. Walsh found that there was no alternative for
us but to leave, he lent me a sum sufficient to pay our
passage to London, and we shipped on board of one of the
London and Dublin steamers on the 22nd of December, he
remaining with us until the last moment. Our voyage in this
vessel was soon ended ; we had scarcely got across the Bar
when a violent storm of wind forced her on a sand-bank,
where she lay at the mercy of the waves during twelve hours,
with her bottom thumping on the sand. Ultimately we were
taken off the vessel by one of the Company's tugs, and landed
a second time on the quay of Dublin. As the vessel was
considerably injured by having a part of her bottom stove in,
we were obliged to take the Liverpool route, which involved
a large additional expense. Our watchful friend had learned
of the ship's disaster, and he was on the quay ready to receive
us ; and with his usual foresight he pressed me to accept a
further sum of money, but as I did not see how I could meet
the obligation, I refused the generous offer of another advance,
with grateful expressions of a sense of his great kindness.
On the 24th we made a final effort to leave the country by
having taken a deck-passage on board of one of the Liver-
pool steamers. After a stormy voyage, during which my
wife and daughters suffered greatly, both from cold and sea-
sickness, we landed in the Pool, in time for the parliamentary
train for London. We might "hope for the good time
coming," if that was any consolation to us, but there was not
much of a cheering character in our Christmas Day's journey
to London to inspire us with pleasant feelings, yet we did
not make our condition worse by useless repining.
Our first night in London was spent in a coffee-house
opposite the Euston station, and when we discharged the
little bill for our beds and breakfasts I had just one shilling
THE STREETS AND PUBLIC BUILDINGS OF DUBLIN. 237
and sixpence with which to begin life in London, and when
this sum was divided into equal parts, it amounted to three-
pence per head !
Before leaving Dublin, it was so far fortunate that we were
allowed to retain a considerable part of our bed-clothing
and with these and an empty room we managed to make a
shift until the wind of our fortune should again set in in our
favour.
The reader may be sure that under the circumstances my
mind was ill at ease, or rather that it was not at ease at all ;
during three days I continued to build castles in the air, a
business I had been well accustomed to. I grew hungry in
the mind and wearied in the body, in that time, by wandering
about in a fruitless search for employment.
On the morning of the fourth day, the temperature of my
spirits rose from below zero to a genial summer heat, by a
favourable turn in the wheel of my strange fortune. Mr.
Hill, my old friend and employer, having learned that I was
in town, and how I was situated, sent for me. He had quite
as many hands in his establishment as his business required,
but feeling for my position he made an opening for me,
though against his own interest.
Here then was an end to my seemingly unfortunate Dublin
speculation ; I say seemingly for it is hard to say what act
in our lives, that is not done for an immoral purpose, is in
itself fortunate or otherwise. I had looked forward, however,
to the results of the Dublin situation with a lively hope that,
if my salary had been paid, a certain amount of it would
have been saved, and I flattered myself that in the course of
a few years I would be able to go into business upon my own
account. That dream, like many others which have visited
my waking thoughts, vanished but it still left me a dreamer.
Before taking leave of Dublin, I may remark that there
are many things well calculated to produce reflection in the
mind of an enquiring stranger in the city and its neighbour-
hood. It may be fairly presumed that the Custom House
238 CAUTIOUS COMMERCIAL CHARACTER OF THE IRISH.
(which is by far the finest building of the kind in the United
Kingdom) was erected to be a thing of commercial utility,
instead of what it is, a mere architectural ornament. The
Linen Hall, with its vast number of apartments, and silent
corridors, has long been a stranger to even the echo of a
human voice ; and, with the exception of that wing of the
building which has lately been converted into barracks, it is
a place of desolation.
In my rambles in the vicinity of Dublin I was frequently
struck with the number of manufacturing places of business
I saw in ruins ; at first I imagined them to be the monu-
ments produced by reckless speculation, but upon more
mature reflection I found that could not have been the cause.
It is a somewhat curious fact, when taken in connection with
the idea Englishmen attach to the unbusiness character of
Irishmen, that in commercial speculation the men of busi-
ness are decidedly more cautious than their neighbours,
either on the south or the north side of the Tweed. In
J 857, when the banks and large commercial houses were
exploding in platoon order, both in England and Scotland,
there was not a single failure of a bank or commercial house
of business of any note in Ireland.
It is, therefore, not the reckless trading character of the
people that will account for the ruined workshops and
factories in the neighbourhood of Dublin ; neither will this
cause give us the means of solving the mystery which hangs
about the lonely and all but deserted docks and ship-basins,
whose stagnant waters are covered with a living vegetation.
If, however, the reader wishes to know why this strange and
anomalous state of things exists in Ireland, I would refer
him to the Acts of Parliament which the British Legislature
in its wisdom and magnanimity passed during the eighteenth
century, by which the people in Ireland were prohibited from
degrading themselves and bringing ruin upon their country,
by cultivating art, manufactures, and becoming merchants
and traders, instead of tillers of the soil.
ENGLAND'S GENEROSITY TOWARDS IRELAND. 239
It was surely very magnanimous on the part of the English
lawgivers, when they insisted, with a friendly admonition
which could not be gainsaid, that Paddy, instead of making
money by the vulgar method of trade and manufacture,
should mind his pigs, potatoes, and morals. This, however,
is quite in keeping with John Bull's character ; he is both
willing and able to make knives, spoons, spades, and forks
for everybody who can afford to pay for them : but he is
too honest and kindly in his nature to allow Irishmen to
injure themselves by competing with him, either in trade or
manufacture.
In his own way he has been a wonderfully generous friend
to Ireland ; he gave the people a religion, with all the
machinery for working it, which they did not want ; and as
a further boon made them pay for it out of their own pockets.
In consequence of the many obligations which Ireland owes
Mr. Bull, there is a curious bond of sympathy existing be-
tween him and Paddy ; the fact is, the one never seems to
tire in forcing benefits upon the other, which the other is
always endeavouring to avoid receiving.
CHAPTER XIII.
I HAD often been impressed with the idea that my future,
if I should have one, would be true to the antecedents of
my past life that as it had been, so it would continue, a thing
of change. As previously recorded, I had escaped death in
many ways. But the novelty of my position is that which arises
from its transformations, and the escapes I was ever making
from seemingly insurmountable difficulties. It would appear
that I had a natural tendency to sink, and that I had only
been saved in my downward career by some guiding Power
beyond the influence of my own will. The only merit I
possessed, if it may be called such, is that of a good and
unfailing stock of hope, I was therefore seldom troubled
with the gloomy forebodings of despair. I know there are
thousands of men, who, if they had to pass through the
same trying ordeals which have fallen to my lot, would
flounder by the way ; but on the other hand, there are num-
bers of others who would have turned many of the fortunate
circumstances which I have allowed to pass to a lasting
advantage. Sir Walter Raleigh's hesitation has been mine ;
the fact is, I possessed too much of the earth's dross to be a
climber, and yet was too volatile to be a mere clod.
I often tried, I suppose, like the most of men when thinking
about themselves, to analyse my own character, and as often
failed. I had plenty of firmness, but being full of self-confidence,
and with an insufficient amount of caution, I was continually
being made the dupe of my own emotions and miscalculations.
I was not of a particularly excitable temperament, but I
frequently had a good deal of trouble to keep my judgment
JOURNEY TO SCOTLAND MODERN GLASGOW. 241
on the whip-hand of my feelings. I sometimes think if men
could wind up their mental machinery in the same way they
do their timepieces, and thereby regulate their feelings to
suit all sorts of contingencies, the journey of life would be
comparatively plain sailing. If that, however, were the case,
we should lose much of that surprising variety of character
which now gives light and shade to human life, as well as
those idiosyncratic traits which distinguish both men and
families from each other.
It would be a difficult matter to describe the state of my
feelings on the 2gth of December, 1857, and the altered
condition of both mind and body on the following day. On
the first date I walked the earth as if I had been pressed
to the ground with some dead weight. Upon the following
day, my whole system had undergone a complete change ;
my mind became exhilarated, my body buoyant ; and the
pride of my nature was restored by my altered circumstances.
I was now about making a four years' voyage on, to me,
the tranquil waters of the Pacific. During that time all my
canvas would be spread before kind Fortune's gentle breeze;
and my barque glide over life's untroubled stream under
easy sail.
In the early part of January 1858, I went on a journey
to Scotland for Mr. Hill, chiefly to collect accounts, and
after doing business in Edinburgh I passed to Aberdeen,
through Dundee, Arbroath, Montrose, and Brechin. Many
changes had been effected in the Granite City since the
time I was fished out of the harbour, and saved from
drowning the fourth time. From Aberdeen I made my way
to Glasgow, by Perth and Stirling.
Glasgow is a very different place now to what it was
between fifty and sixty years ago. At that period a few
Jamaica merchants and eight or a dozen cotton manufac-
turers, principally spinners, ruled the civic roast, and divided
the municipal places of trust and emolument among them-
selves, like decent respectable Tories of the " olden time."
16
242 ONCE MORE ESTABLISHED IN EDINBURGH.
The queen of the west is now full of merchant princes, who,
like the Tyrian traders of old, send their merchandize to
all parts of the world. The city itself is now one of the
finest in Europe. Edinburgh owes much of her fame to the
natural beauties of her situation ; but though the site of
Glasgow is comparatively tame, she possesses, in her noble
river and estuary, some of the most delightful scenery in
Great Britain. The fact is, the city now, instead of being
bounded by the barracks in Gallowgate on the east, and
Jamaica Street on the west, may be said to extend over a
distance of forty miles down the river, in consequence of
large numbers of her traders, professional men, men who
have filled their flour sacks at Fortune's mill, and merchants,
who have their princely halls, mansions, and villas scattered
along the banks of the Clyde, or on the margin of the
estuary. Within a few years, towns, villages, and hamlets
have been called into existence by the rapidly-growing
prosperity of the city.
In journeying up some of the lochs, not more than three
hours' sailing from Glasgow, a stranger could have the
pleasure of seeing some of the relations of the Mc'Callum
More occupying huts inferior in their domestic accommoda-
tion to the wigwams of the Dogribbed Indians. Many of
the families who are raised in the wild glens and mountain
districts of Argyleshire are as well, if not better smoke-dried
than the Findon Haddies in Aberdeenshire, by the peat
reek preferring to make its escape by the doors of their
cabins, instead of by the apertures in the roofs called
" Lums."
In April 1858, my employer made a venture upon a new
branch of business in Edinburgh, and proposed that I
should take the management of it ; an offer which I gladly
accepted. After having my family brought from London,
we entered upon the duties of housekeeping in "Auld
Reekie " in a very humble way. Our furniture consisted of
two chairs whose constitution would not have passed a
REPAYMENT OF MR. WALSH HIS DEATH. 243
medical inspection, a 'deal table which was not our own ;
four wooden boxes, and, not having a bedstead, we found
our level on the floor. The small quantity of furniture we
possessed gave us little trouble ; we knew we could enjoy
the luxury of three meals a day, and that was a blessing to
be thankful for. The only thing at that time which gave
me
