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The  Branner  Geological  Library 


IKMm-SMJOHDdVNKJR-TOVEHSnY 


* 


THE 


LIFE    AND    LETTERS 


OF  THE  REVEREND 


ADAM     SEDGWICK 


VOLUME   I. 


ZonDon:     C.  J.   CLAY   and  SONS, 
CAMBRIDGE   UNIVERSITY   PRESS   WAREHOUSE, 

AVE  MARIA  LANE. 


CmmbrOjgt:  DEIGHTON,  BELL  AND  CO. 
ftcittifl:  F.  A.  BROCKHAUS. 


^  j[  \   U\a.  iVi.f/\ 


LIFE    AND    LETTERS 


OF 


THE     REVEREND 


ADAM    SEDGWICK, 

LL>D>t    D«C«L>)     F.R.S., 

FELLOW  OF  TRINITY  COLLEGE,   CAMBRIDGE, 

PREBENDARY  OF  NORWICH, 

WOODWARDIAN   PROFESSOR  OF  GEOLOGY,    1818— 1873. 


BY 


JOHN   WILLIS   CLARK,    M.A.    F.S.A. 

FORMERLY    FELLOW   OF  TRINITY  COLLEGE,    SUPERINTENDENT   OF  THE    UNIVERSITY 

MUSEUM    OF   ZOOLOGY    AND   COMPARATIVE   ANATOMY, 


AND 

THOMAS    MCKENNY    HUGHES, 

M.A.   TRIN.   COLL.      F.R.S.    F.S.A.    F.G.S. 

PROFESSORIAL   FELLOW  OF   CLARE   COLLEGE, 
WOODWARDIAN    PROFESSOR   OF  GEOLOGY. 


VOLUME   I. 


CAMBRIDGE 
AT   THE   UNIVERSITY   PRESS 

1890 

[The  Right  of  Translation  and  Reproduction  is  reserved \] 


ADAM     SEDGWICK.     K.T.     47. 


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PRINTED  BY  C.  J.  CLAY,  M.A.   AND  SONS, 
AT  THE  UNIVERSITY  PRESS. 


•  •• 

•  •    • 


1   • 


•   • 


•  •  • 


TO 

HER    MAJESTY    THE    QUEEN 

THIS   RECORD 

OF 

THE   LIFE    OF   ONE 

FOR   WHOM 

H.R.H.     THE    PRINCE    CONSORT 

HAD    THE    GREATEST  ESTEEM 

IS 

BY   HER    MAJESTY'S    GRACIOUS    PERMISSION 

RESPECTFULLY   DEDICATED. 


PREFACE. 

THE  cause  of  the  delay  in  the  publication  of 
Sedgwick's  Life  and  Letters  demands  a  short 
explanation.  Soon  after  his  death,  in  January,  1873, 
Professor  Hughes,  his  successor  in  the  Woodwardian 
Chair,  undertook  to  become  his  biographer.  No  man 
was  better  qualified,  by  geological  knowledge,  and  by 
affectionate  regard  for  Sedgwick,  to  perform  the  task 
adequately ;  and,  had  he  been  able  to  command 
sufficient  leisure,  he  would  doubtless  have  produced 
a  very  admirable  piece  of  work.  He  carefully  studied 
the  materials  placed  in  his  hands,  and  made  consi- 
derable progress  with  different  portions.  But,  as  time 
went  on,  and  the  duties  of  his  Professorship  increased, 
he  found  himself,  year  after  year,  less  able  to  cope 
with  the  difficulties  of  a  task  which  demanded  a  long 
and  patient  research.  It  became  gradually  obvious 
that  if  the  book  was  to  be  written  at  all,  either  it  must 
be  put  into  the  hands  of  some  one  else,  or  Professor 
Hughes  must  obtain  assistance.  In  1885  Miss  Sedg- 
wick applied  to  me  ;  but,  as  I  was  at  that  time  fully 
occupied  with  my  edition  of  Professor  Willis'  Archi- 
tectural History  of  the  University  and  Colleges,  I  was 


viii  PREFACE, 


constrained  to  reply  that  I  could  not  even  look  at  the 
materials  until  that  work  was  completed.  Finally, 
Miss  Sedgwick  agreed  to  wait ;  and  it  was  not  till 
near  the  end  of  1886  that  I  was  able  to  make  a  start. 
Professor  Hughes,  with  great  generosity  and  kindness, 
handed  over  to  me  all  his  materials,  together  with  the 
portions  that  he  had  already  written ;  but,  after  some 
consideration,  I  decided  to  return  the  latter,  and  to 
begin  afresh.  It  was  then  arranged  between  us  that 
he  should  contribute  the  geological  portion  only, 
leaving  the  rest  of  the  biography  to  me. 

I  have  tried  to  explain,  in  the  opening  paragraphs 
of  my  first  chapter,  the  difficulties  with  which  Sedg- 
wick's biographer  is  confronted.  In  addition  to  what 
I  have  there  written  I  may  now  notice  the  further 
drawback  arising  from  the  deficiency  of  materials. 
Sedgwick  outlived  most  of  his  contemporaries  and 
intimate  friends ;  and,  since  his  death,  many  of  those 
younger  persons  with  whom  he  delighted  to  corre- 
spond have  passed  away.  Hence  a  number  of  inter- 
esting letters,  which  he  is  known  to  have  written,  and 
which  were  long  carefully  preserved,  have  either  been 
destroyed,  or  cannot  now  be  traced.  These  remarks 
apply  specially  to  his  earlier  years;  for  the  letters 
which  he  wrote  in  profusion  to  his  nieces,  and  which 
so  vividly  illustrate  the  last  forty  years  of  his  life, 
have  been  placed  in  my  hands  without  reserve. 

In  dealing  with  the  earlier  portion  of  his  life  I  have 
tried  to  draw  a  picture  of  the  University  of  that  day, 
and  to  bring  out  the  prominent  and  energetic  part 
taken  by  Sedgwick  in  its  studies,  its  controversies,  and 


PREFACE.  ix 


its  reforms.  Further,  I  have  gone  at  length  into  the 
history  of  Dr  Woodward  and  his  foundation,  with 
short  biographical  notices  of  the  Professors  who  pre- 
ceded Sedgwick,  in  order  to  show  what  he  accom- 
plished in  placing  the  study  of  geology  in  Cambridge 
on  a  new  basis,  and  in  getting  together  one  of  the 
noblest  geological  collections  in  England. 

No  task  could  have  been  more  congenial  to  me. 
Sedgwick  was  one  of  my  father's  oldest  and  most 
intimate  friends  ;  and  I  can  remember  his  visits  to  our 
house,  and  his  society  in  our  rides  and  walks,  as  far 
back  as  I  can  remember  anything.  If  I  have  failed  in 
my  attempt  to  delineate  a  singularly  genial  and  loveable 
man,  my  failure  has  not,  at  any  rate,  been  due  to  want 
of  interest  in  my  subject.  I  have  tried  to  set  him 
before  my  readers  as  I  knew  him,  and  as  I  heard  him 
spoken  of,  in  his  best  days,  by  those  who  had  known 
him,  respected  him,  and  loved  him  since  they  had 
been  undergraduates  together. 

The  biography  of  one  who  was  born  so  far  back 
as  1785  involves,  to  some  extent,  an  archaeological 
investigation ;  and  has  compelled  me  to  trouble  a 
large  number  of  persons,  too  numerous  to  mention 
individually,  with  inquiries.  I  must  ask  them,  as  well 
as  those  who  have  allowed  me  to  print  letters  by 
Sedgwick,  to  accept  a  collective  expression  of  my 
gratitude  for  their  assistance. 

I  wish,  however,  specially  to  thank  the  representa- 
tives of  the  Reverend  Joseph  Romilly  for  the  kindness 
with  which  they  placed  his  Diary  at  the  disposal,  first 
of  Professor  Hughes,  and  then  of  myself.     From  the 


PREFACE. 


year  1832  until  his  death,  Mr  Romilly  wrote  down  an 
account,  more  or  less  minute,  of  each  day,  the  names 
of  those  whom  he  met,  and  often  the  subject  of  their 
conversation.  Unfortunately  he  does  not  say  much 
about  what  was  going  on  in  the  University,  so  that  the 
Diary  has  a  personal,  rather  than  a  public,  interest. 
But,  it  is  an  invaluable  record  of  what  Sedgwick  was 
about ;  for  he  never  fails  to  record  his  movements, 
his  employments,  and  his  almost  daily  visits  to  him- 
self. 

Further,  my  best  thanks  are  due  to  Dr  Robinson, 
Master  of  S.  Catharine's  College,  for  writing  a  chapter 
on  Sedgwick's  life  at  Norwich ;  and  to  my  friend 
Dr  Jackson,  Fellow  of  Trinity  College,  for  revising 
and  correcting  the  proof-sheets. 

In  conclusion,  I  have  to  thank  the  Syndics  of  the 
University  Press  for  their  liberality  in  enriching  the 
work  with  numerous  illustrations ;  and  the  staff  of  the 
Press  for  much  kindness  to  myself  personally  during 
its  progress. 


JOHN    WILLIS   CLARK. 


Scroope  House.  Cambridge. 


CONTENTS 


OF  THE 


FIRST    VOLUME. 


CHAPTER   I. 


Introduction.  Sedgwick's  birth-place.  Geographical  position  of  Dent.  Descrip- 
tion of  it  at  the  beginning  of  this  century.  Ancient  manners  and  customs. 
Spelling  of  the  name  Sedgwick.  Origin  and  history  of  the  family.  Imme- 
diate ancestors  of  Adam  Sedgwick.  His  brothers  and  sisters.  His  own 
account  of  his  father.  ........         pp.    i — 44. 


CHAPTER    II. 

(1785—1804.) 

Birth  of  Adam  Sedgwick.  Childhood  and  boyhood  at  Dent.  Love  of  his  native 
Dale.  His  sister  Isabella.  Goes  to  school  at  Sedbergh.  His  master  and 
schoolfellows.  Selection  of  a  College  at  Cambridge.  Reads  mathematics 
with  Mr  Dawson.     Account  of  him.  ....         pp.  45 — 70. 


CHAPTER   III. 
(1804 — 1810.) 

Begins  residence  at  Trinity  College,  Cambridge  (1804).  The  Rev.  T.  Jones. 
Christmas  at  Whittlesea.  College  Examination  (1805).  Summer  at  Dent. 
Fever.  Life  and  friends  at  Cambridge  (1806).  Preparation  for  degree 
(1807).  System  of  Acts  and  Opponencies.  Sedgwick's  first  Act  Univer- 
sity election  for  M.P.  His  Father's  account  of  the  Yorkshire  election. 
Scholarship  at  Trinity  College.  Blindness  of  his  Father.  Senate-House 
Examination  (1808).  Revisits  Dent.  Reading  party  at  Ditton.  Classical 
work  (1809).     Fellowship  (1810) pp.  71 — 100. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

(1810— 1818.) 

ork  with  pupils.  Reading  for  ordination  (18 10).  Visit  to  London.  Society 
at  Cambridge.  Contested  election  for  Chancellor  and  M.P.  for  University. 
Installation  of  Chancellor.  Reading  party  at  Bury  St  Edmunds.  Christmas 
at  Dent  (181 1).  Winter  visit  to  Lakes.  Visit  to  London.  Petition  against 
Roman  Catholic  claims.  Reading  party  at  Lowestoft  Appointed  sub- 
lecturer  at  Trinity  College.  Second  petition  against  Roman  Catholics  (18 12). 
Serious  illness.  Summer  at  Dent  (1813).  Severe  frost.  Visit  of  Marshal 
Blucher.  Summer  at  Dent.  Excursion  in  Yorkshire  (1814).  Projected 
tour  on  the  continent.  Farish's  lectures.  Cambridge  fever.  Goes  home  to 
Dent.  News  of  Waterloo.  Assistant  tutorship  at  Trinity  College  (18 15). 
Tour  on  continent  (1816).  Ordination.  Summer  at  Dent.  Hard  work  in 
Michaelmas  Term  (1817).  Elected  Woodwardian  Professor  of  Geology 
(1818) pp.  101 — 165. 

CHAPTER  V. 

:etch  of  the  life  and  works  of  Dr  John  Woodward.  His  testamentary 
provisions.  Arrival  of  his  cabinets.  A  room  constructed  for  their 
reception.  Sedgwick's  predecessors:  Conyers  Middleton;  Charles  Mason; 
John  Michell;  Samuel  Ogden;  Thomas  Green;  John  Hailstone.  Orders 
and  regulations  sanctioned  in  181 8.  .        .        .         .        pp.  166—198. 

CHAPTER  VI. 

(1818—1812.) 

ccursion  to  Derbyshire  and  Staffordshire  (18 18).  First  course  of  Lectures.  Visit 
to  Isle  of  Wight  with  Henslow.  Foundation  of  Cambridge  Philosophical 
Society.  Visit  to  Suffolk  coast.  Commencement  festivities.  Geological 
tour  in  Devon  and  Cornwall.  Henslow's  work  in  the  Isle  of  Man  (1819). 
Geological  tour  in  Somerset  and  Dorset.  Acquaintance  with  Rev.  W.  D. 
Conybeare.  Death  of  his  mother  (1820).  Visit  to  the  Isle  of  Wight. 
Geological  tour  in  Yorkshire  and  Durham  (1821).  Controversy  respecting 
Professorship  of  Mineralogy  (1812 — 1824).         .        .        .        pp.  199; — 245. 

CHAPTER  VII. 

(1822—1827.) 

sological  exploration  of  the  Lake  District  (1822 — 1824).  Contested  election  for 
University  (1822).  Death  of  his  sister  Isabella  (1823).  Geological  papers. 
Work  in  the  Woodwardian  Museum  (1823 — 1827).  Lecture  to  ladies.  Visit 
to  Edinburgh  with  Whewell  (1824).  Visit  to  Sussex  with  Dr  Fitton  (1825). 
Contested  election  for  University.  Visit  to  Paris  with  Whewell  (1826). 
Elected  Vice  President  of  Geological  Society.  Contested  election  for  Univer- 
sity (1827).  Social  life  at  Cambridge.  Hyde  Hall.  Review  of  Sedgwick's 
Geological  work  (1818— 1827). pp.  246 — 297. 


CONTENTS.  xiii 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

(1827—1831.) 

The  Geological  Society.  First  acquaintance  with  Murchison.  Tour  with  him  in 
Scotland.  Office  of  Senior  Proctor  (1827).  Joint  papers  with  Murchison. 
Summer  in  Cornwall.  Dolcoath  Mine.  Visits  Conybeare  in  South  Wales 
(1828).  Sedgwick  President  of  Geological  Society.  Divinity  Act.  Mr 
Cavendish  elected  University  representative.  Summer  in  Germany  and  the 
Tyrol  with  Murchison.  Joint  paper  on  the  eastern  Alps  (1829).  Address  to 
Geological  Society.  Summer  in  Northumberland.  Contested  election  for 
President  of  Royal  Society  (1830).  Addresses  to  Geological  Society 
(1831) pp.  298 — 371. 

CHAPTER   IX. 

(1831— 1834.) 

The  Reform  Bill.  Contested  election  for  University.  Geological  papers.  Tour 
in  Wales  with  Charles  Darwin  (1831).  Declines  the  living  of  East  Farleigh. 
Mrs  Somerville's  visit  to  Cambridge.  British  Association  at  Oxford.  Summer 
and  Autumn  in  Wales.  President  of  Cambridge  Philosophical  Society. 
Discourse  on  the  Studies  of  the  University  (1832).  British  Association  at 
Cambridge.  The  Beverley  Controversy  (1833).  Dislocates  right  wrist. 
Petition  against  Tests.  British  Association  at  Edinburgh.  Made  Prebendary 
of  Norwich  (1834) pp.  372 — 437. 

CHAPTER  X. 

('835—1840.) 

Cambridge  occupations.  Election  at  Dent.  Presentation  at  Court.  British 
Association  at  Dublin.  Skeleton  of  Irish  Elk.  Visit  of  Agassiz  to  Cam- 
bridge (1835).  Lectures  and  Society  at  Norwich.  Geological  tour  in 
Devonshire  with  Murchison.  Death  of  Mr  Simeon  (1836).  Ill  health. 
Paper  on  Geology  of  Devonshire.  Criticism  of  Babbage.  Death  of  Bishop 
Bathurst.  Foundation  of  Cowgill  Chapel.  Geology  in  Devonshire.  British 
Association  at  Liverpool.  Inundation  of  the  Workington  Colliery  (1837). 
Explorations  at  Bartlow.  Devonian  Paper.  Queen's  Coronation.  British 
Association  at  Newcastle.  Open-air  Lecture  (1838).  The  Silurian  System 
published.  Foreign  tour  with  Murchison  (1839).  Ill  health.  Cheltenham. 
Paper  to  Geological  Society  (1840) pp.438 — 528. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

Geological    work    accomplished    between     1828    and     1838.       The     Devonian 
System pp.  5*9— 539- 


»  .  4 


.  * 

•      »  • 


CHAPTER    I. 

Introduction.  Sedgwick's  birth-place.  Geographical  position 
of  Dent.  Description  of  it  at  the  beginning  of  this 
century.  Ancient  manners  and  customs.  Spelling  of 
the  name  Sedgwick.  Origin  and  history  of  the  family. 
Immediate  ancestors  of  Adam  Sedgwick.  His  brothers 
and  sisters.     His  own  account  of  his  father. 

It  is  proposed,  in  the  following  pages,  to  give  some  account 
of  the  life  and  labours  of  Adam  Sedgwick.  To  the  world  he 
is  best  known  as  Woodwardian  Professor  in  the  University  of 
Cambridge  from  1818  to  1873,  and  as  one  of  the  founders  of 
modern  geology.  But,  eminent  as  he  was  in  the  subject  of 
his  choice,  it  would  be  a  great  mistake  to  suppose  that  he 
was  a  geologist  and  nothing  more.  Geology,  it  is  true,  was 
rarely  absent  from  his  thoughts.  So  long  as  his  health 
permitted,  he  devoted  himself,  with  untiring  energy,  to  the 
investigation  of  some  of  its  least-known  formations ;  to  the 
establishment  of  fixed  principles  for  its  study  ;  to  the  defence 
of  it  against  bigotry  and  ignorance ;  to  the  instruction  of 
students;  and  to  the  extension  of  the  Museum  connected  with 
his  chair.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  his  mind  was  far  too  active, 
his  nature  too  warmly  sympathetic,  to  suffer  him  to  be  content 
with  the  claims  of  a  single  science,  however  attractive.  He 
took  a  keen  interest  in  all  that  was  going  forward,  whether  in 
his  own  University,  or  in  the  world  at  large.     In  his  younger 

S.  I.  I 


>  • 


INTRODUCTION. 


days.hfc  was  an  ardent  politician  on  the  Liberal  side,  and 
played'  a  prominent  part  in  the  reforms,  or  attempts  at 
reforms,  which  distinguished  that  period  of  academic  history; 
/end  in  later  years,  as  a  member  of  the  Royal  Commission  of 
'1850,  he  was  enabled  to  exercise  a  considerable  influence  on 
"••  the  legislative  changes  afterwards  introduced.  To  the  end  of 
•  his  life  he  watched  public  affairs,  both  at  home  and  abroad, 
with  unabated  zeal ;  and  his  letters  will  show  how  heartily  he 
rejoiced  over  a  national  triumph,  how  bitterly  he  mourned  a 
national  disaster.  Nor  did  he  forget  that  there  were  other 
fields  of  research  besides  his  own.  He  was  fond  of  meta- 
physical and  moral  speculations,  as  we  shall  see  when  we  come 
to  speak  of  his  Discourse  on  the  Studies  of  the  University  of 
Cambridge ;  and  no  less  an  authority  than  Dr  Whewell  has 
admitted  that  had  not  Sedgwick's  life  "  been  absorbed  in 
struggling  with  many  of  the  most  difficult  problems  of  a 
difficult  science,"  he  would  have  been  his  own  "fellow-labourer 
or  master"  in  the  work  which  he  was  then  publishing,  The 
Philosophy  of  tlie  Inductive  Sciences*.  History  too — especially 
the  history  of  his  own  country — was  one  of  his  favourite 
pursuits ;  he  took  a  genuine  interest  in  archaeology  and 
architecture,  though  he  had  no  leisure  to  study  either 
thoroughly ;  and,  from  his  earliest  years  to  extreme  old  age, 
no  visits  gave  him  so  much  pleasure  as  those  which  he  paid 
to  English  Cathedrals. 

Again — besides  the  subjects  here  indicated — he  was  an 
omnivorous  reader  of  general  literature.  Nothing  came  amiss 
to  him.  Travels,  biography,  novels,  poetry,  even  contro- 
versial theology,  were  all  at  least  looked  into.  Like  most 
men  born  in  the  last  century,  when  light  reading  was 
comparatively  unknown,  and  the  multiplicity  of  modern 
books  had  not  yet  come  into  being,  he  delighted  chiefly  in 
the  masterpieces  of  our  older  literature.  He  revelled  in 
Chaucer  and   Shakespeare;   he   could   quote  long  passages 

1  Letter  to  Rev.  A.  Sedgwick,  prefixed  to  The  Philosophy  of  the  Inductive 
Sciences,  by  the  Rev.  W.  Whewell,  ed.  1840. 


INTRODUCTION. 


from  Milton,  Cowley,  and  Dryden ;  and  he  was  never  tired  of 
reading  and  re-reading,  till  he  must  have  known  them  almost 
by  heart,  the  novels  of  Walter  Scott,  with  which,  as  he  often 
said,  "  he  had  been  driven  half-mad  as  a  young  man."  The 
amount  of  information  acquired  through  this  incessant  miscel- 
laneous reading,  taken  together  with  a  rich  natural  humour, 
and  a  copious  flow  of  language  and  illustration,  lent  a 
singular  charm  to  his  conversation.  Few  have  ever  told  a  story 
so  vividly  as  he  did,  or  with  such  a  marvellous  combination 
of  the  dramatic,  the  humorous,  and  the  pathetic.  He  knew 
how  to  invest  incidents  which,  had  they  been  told  by  anybody 
else,  would  have  seemed  common-place,  with  the  most  thrill- 
ing interest.  He  placed  himself  in  the  circumstances  of  those 
whose  adventures  he  was  relating ;  he  thought  as  they  did, 
felt  as  they  did ;  and  whether  he  was  speaking  of  an  old 
woman  buried  in  a  snow-drift,  or  a  dog  guarding  a  bag  of 
stones,  his  hearers  were  fascinated  by  the  truth  of  the  picture, 
and  carried  away  by  the  rare  power  of  the  narrator.  One  or 
two  of  his  most  celebrated  stories  will  find  a  place  in  this 
narrative ;  but  it  is  to  be  feared  that  without  his  flashing  eye, 
and  the  passionate  earnestness  of  his  voice,  they  will  hardly 
justify  their  celebrity. 

And  herein  lies  the  principal  difficulty  with  which 
Sedgwick's  biographer  is  confronted.  He  may  well  despair 
of  being  able  to  set  before  a  reader,  who  never  saw  him, 
possibly  never  even  heard  of  him,  his  remarkable  personality. 
Engravings  may  give  a  fairly  accurate  idea  of  his  features  and 
his  figure ;  criticism  may  determine  the  exact  value  of  his 
contributions  to  science ;  his  occupations  from  day  to  day 
may  be  accurately  discovered  ;  and  yet  the  reader  may  still 
be  left  in  ignorance  of  Sedgwick  as  a  man.  Some  effort  must 
be  made — though  the  colours  may  be  faint,  and  the  brush 
unsteady — to  make  posterity  realise  his  rare  originality  of 
character,  which  commanded  the  admiration  of  all  who  knew 
him,  from  the  Queen  to  the  humblest  of  her  subjects;  his 
absolute  sincerity,  which  Mr  Justice  Maule  summed  up  in  the 

i — 2 


INTRODUCTION. 


forcible  remark  :  "  Sedgwick  is  one  of  those  men  who,  if  they 
ceased  to  believe  in  God,  would  tell  you  so  directly;"  his 
kindly  sympathy  with  the  pursuits,  the  sorrows,  and  the  joys 
of  others ;  his  unselfishness ;  his  boundless  liberality ;  his 
enthusiasm  for  all  that  was  good  and  noble ;  his  hatred  of 
wrong-doing  and  oppression  in  whatever  form  they  presented 
themselves ;  his  conscientiousness  in  the  discharge  of  duties 
which  might  at  first  sight  appear  so  incompatible  as  a 
Professorial  Chair  at  Cambridge,  and  a  Prebendal  Stall 
at  Norwich;  and  lastly,  the  firmness  of  his  belief  in  a 
personal  Redeemer,  which  animated  him  through  the  whole 
of  his  active  life,  and  cheered  him  in  the  loneliness  of  his 
declining  years.  Nor  is  this  all.  His  humour  when  he 
told  a  story  has  been  already  alluded  to.  But  it  was  not 
reserved  for  those  special  narratives  which  became  insepar- 
ably connected  with  his  name ;  it  manifested  itself  in  all  his 
occupations,  even  the  most  serious.  His  animal  spirits  rarely 
flagged ;  he  was  the  life  and  soul  of  every  company  in  which 
he  found  himself,  whether  it  were  a  knot  of  children  at  a 
Christmas  party,  or  a  meeting  of  their  seniors  convened  for 
important  business.  If  he  were  present  the  gravest  unbent 
their  brows — the  most  serious  forgot  their  solemnity.  It  was 
impossible  to  resist  the  infection  of  that  boisterous  laugh; 
that  cheerful  geniality;  that  persistence  in  looking  at  the 
bright  side  of  things ;  in  a  word  that  union  of  all  that  was 
cordial  and  generous  and  friendly  which  gained  for  him  the 
appropriate  name  of  "Robin  Goodfellow1." 

Fortunately  he  dearly  loved  writing  letters — not  short 
letters  after  the  fashion  of  the  present  day,  but  long  compo- 
sitions in  which  he  wrote  as  he  talked,  with  that  combination 
of  playfulness  and  seriousness  which  made  his  conversation 

1  A  paper  was  circulated  at  the  Installation  of  the  Prince  Consort  in  1847, 
entitled :  Sporting  Intelligence.  University  Sweepstakes,  Cambridge,  Several  of  the 
most  prominent  members  of  the  University  were  supposed  to  be  running  horses, 
the  names  of  which  were  intended  to  hit  off  their  obvious  characteristics.  We  find 
Dr  Whewell's  Rough  Diamond ;  Prof.  Sedgwick's  Rodin  Goodfellow ;  Mr  W.  H. 
Thompson's  A -don-is;  Dr  Archdall's  Mrs  Gamp,  etc. 


INTRODUCTION. 


so  delightful.  It  will  be  remarked  that  the  best  of  these 
letters  are  usually  those  addressed  to  ladies.  Sedgwick 
compensated  himself  for  the  want  of  children  of  his  own 
by  adopting  those  of  his  intimate  friends ;  and  he  probably 
selected  the  daughters  instead  of  the  sons  as  his  correspon- 
dents, because  he  felt  that  when  addressing  them  he  could 
find  unreserved  expression  for  feelings  which  had  no  other 
outlet — and  which,  had  his  circumstances  been  different, 
would  have  made  him  the  most  tender  of  husbands,  and  the 
most  considerate  of  fathers.  It  is  much  to  be  regretted  that 
some  of  the  most  interesting  of  these  letters  are  known  to 
have  been  destroyed,  while  others  cannot  now  be  traced. 
Enough,  however,  survive  to  show  a  side  of  Sedgwick's 
character,  the  existence  of  which,  without  them,  might  have 
been  wholly  unsuspected ;  and,  it  may  be  added,  to  make  us 
regret  more  bitterly  the  loss  of  the  remainder. 

Another  of  Sedgwick's  most  marked  characteristics  was  his 
attachment  to  his  birth-place,  Dent  in  Yorkshire.  Most  men 
who  go  out  into  the  world  from  a  distant  corner  of  England, 
and  make  themselves  famous  in  new  surroundings,  either  forget 
their  birth-place  altogether,  or  revisit  it  only  at  rare  intervals. 
Sedgwick,  on  the  contrary,  did  not  merely  feel  affection  for 
the  place  where  he  had  spent  the  first  nineteen  years  of  his 
life,  but  he  regarded  it  as  his  home,  from  which  he  might  be 
separated  for  the  greater  part  of  each  year,  but  which  he  was 
bound  to  revisit  at  the  first  opportunity.  "  For  more  than 
three-score  years"  he  wrote  in  1868,  "Cambridge  has  been 
my  honoured  resting-place,  and  here  God  has  given  me  a 
life-long  task  amidst  a  succession  of  intellectual  friends.  For 
Trinity  College,  ever  since  I  passed  under  its  great  portal,  for 
the  first  time,  in  the  autumn  of  1804,  I  have  felt  a  deep  and 
grateful  sentiment  of  filial  regard.  But,  spite  of  a  strong  and 
enduring  regard  for  the  University  and  the  College,  whenever 
I  have  revisited  the  hills  and  dales  of  my  native  country,  and 
heard  the  cheerful  greetings  of  my  old  friends  and  countrymen, 
I  have  felt  a  new  swell  of  emotion,  and  said  to  myself,  'Here 


SEDGWICK'S  BIRTH-PLACE. 


is  the  land  of  my  birth ;  this  was  the  home  of  my  boyhood, 
and  is  still  the  home  of  my  heart1'."  Nor  is  it  a  mere  fancy 
which  traces  a  connection  between  his  rugged  nature  and 
the  crags  of  that  wild  mountain-valley.  To  the  end  of  his 
days  he  was  at  heart  a  Yorkshire  Dalesman. 

On  this  account  it  will  be  a  peculiarly  interesting  task  to 
dwell  at  some  length  on  the  natural  features  of  Sedgwick's 
birth-dale,  and  the  old-world  manners  of  its  inhabitants,  as 
he  remembered  them.  And  here,  fortunately,  he  can  speak 
for  himself;  for,  in  the  supplement  and  appendices  to  his 
Memorial  by  the  Trustees  of  Cowgill  Chapel,  he  amused 
himself  by  setting  down,  for  the  information  of  his  fellow 
dalesmen,  not  only  his  own  personal  recollections,  but  the 
traditions  which  he  had  gathered  from  men  who  were  old 
when  he  was  himself  a  boy. 

The  dale  of  Dent  is  situated  in  the  westernmost  extremity 
of  Yorkshire — a  corner  of  the  county  which  runs  forward, 
wedge-like,  into  Westmoreland,  by  which  it  is  bounded  on 
the  west  and  north.  The  dale  descends,  as  does  the  neigh- 
bouring Garsdale,  from  the  lofty  mountain-range  called  "  the 
backbone  of  England,"  towards  what  Sedgwick  terms  the 
"great  basin  or  central  depression,"  in  the  upper  part  of  which 
stands  the  town  of  Sedbergh.  Five  distinct  valleys  are 
there  united.  Down  four  of  them  the  waters  descend  into 
the  central  basin ;  down  the  fifth  they  make  their  final  escape. 
The  position  of  these  valleys  will  be  better  understood  from 
the  accompanying  map  than  from  any  elaborate  description. 
The  Rawthey,  a  stream  which  rises  in  the  fells  near  Kirkby 
Stephen,  is  joined,  at  a  short  distance  above  Sedbergh,  by 
the  Clough,  or  Garsdale-beck,  which  drains  Garsdale;  and, 
at  an  almost  equal  distance  below  it,  by  the  Dee,  which 
drains  the  dale  of  Dent.  The  united  streams,  still  called 
the  Rawthey,  fall  into  the  Lune  at  about  two  miles  below 

1  A  Memorial  by  the  Trustees  of  Cowgill  Chapel,  with  a  preface  and  appendix, 
on  the  climate,  history -,  and  dialects  of  Dent.  By  Adam  Sedgwick,  LL.D.  8vo. 
Cambridge,  1868.    Privately  printed,     p.  vi. 


I    M    J«    J/    i    tl 


MAP    OF    THE    DALE    OF 


To/ace  pagt  6,  JW.  /. 


SURROUNDING    COUNTRY. 


\ 


THE  DALE  OF  DENT. 


Sedbergh.  From  the  point  of  junction  the  name  Rawthey 
disappears,  and  it  is  the  Lune  which  flows  past  Kirkby 
Lonsdale  into  Morecambe  Bay.  The  whole  district  is 
remarkably  picturesque;  but  it  is  from  the  hills  on  the 
right  bank  of  the  Lune,  just  opposite  to  its  junction  with  the 
Rawthey,  that  the  finest  views  of  the  five  valleys  can  be 
obtained.  Those  who  have  personally  enjoyed  them  can  best 
sympathise  with  Sedgwick's  enthusiasm,  when  he  exhorts  his 
"younger  countrymen  and  countrywomen"  to  scale  these 
heights,  and  then  to  u  warm  their  hearts  by  gazing  over  this 
cluster  of  noble  dales,  among  which  Providence  placed  the 
land  of  their  fathers,  and  the  home  of  their  childhood1." 

At  its  origin  the  dale  of  Dent  is  a  mere  gorge,  leading  to 
a  mountain-pass ;  and,  in  fact,  the  whole  upper  portion,  for  a 
distance  of  between  five  and  six  miles  (all  of  which  is  included 
in  the  hamlet  of  Kirthwaite)  is  narrow  and  contracted,  and 
the  boundary-hills  are  bare  and  rugged.  The  climate  of  this 
part  of  the  dale  is  much  more  severe  than  that  of  the  lower 
part ;  the  rainfall  is  greater ;  and  "  it  is  sometimes  in  the  winter 
season  much  obstructed  by  ice  and  snow,  when  the  roads  in 
the  lower  part  of  the  valley  are  quite  free9."  It  was  in  this 
hamlet  that  a  destructive  avalanche — or,  as  they  would  have 
said  in  Dent,  a  'gill-brack' — took  place  in  January,  1752,  by 
which  seven  persons  lost  their  lives3.  As  a  traveller  descends 
the  dale,  the  ruggedness  gradually  disappears,  the  hills 
become  less  precipitous  and  more  cultivated,  and  when 
the  village  of  Dent,  or,  as  the  dalesmen  call  it,  Dent's  Town, 
is  reached,  they  are  green  to  their  summits,  and  their  sides 
are  dotted  with  homesteads,  divided,  sometimes  by  stone 
walls,  but   more  frequently  by  rows   of  trees,  into  plots  of 

1  Supplement  to  the  Memorial  of  the  Trustees  of  Ccnvgill  Chapel \  with  an 
appendix,  etc.,  printed  in  1868.  By  Rev.  Adam  Sedgwick,  LL.D.,  F.R.S. 
Printed  for  private  circulation  only.     8vo.  Cambridge,  1870.     p.  48,  note. 

*  Memorial \  p.  4. 

*  Ibid.  pp.  36 — 50,  where  a  letter  written  by  one  of  the  survivors  to  his  brother 
is  printed.  This  letter  will  also  be  found  in  the  Philosophical  Magazine  for  1866, 
xxxi.  80;  and  in  the  Cambridge  Chronicle,  9  December,  1865. 


8  SEDGWICK'S  RECOLLECTIONS  OF  DENT, 


pasturage.  Here  the  dale  is  nearly  a  mile  in  width ;  and,  at 
a  short  distance  from  the  village,  it  is  joined  by  a  short 
subsidiary  dale,  called  Deepdale.  This  wider  part  of  the 
dale  is  about  two  miles  long.  Below  it,  through  nearly  the 
whole  of  the  four  miles  which  have  to  be  traversed  before 
Sedbergh  is  reached,  the  boundary-hills  again  converge,  and 
the  river-channel  is  deep  and  narrow,  so  that  "in  ancient 
days,  when  the  hill-sides  were  covered  with  dense  forests, 
Dent  must  have  been  more  retired  from  sight,  and  perhaps 
more  difficult  of  access,  than  any  of  the  other  valleys  within 
the  parish  of  Sedbergh1." 

At  the  present  day,  Dent  is  a  small  picturesque  village, 
with  a  single  paved  street;  but  in  1801,  when  the  first  census 
was  taken,  its  population  was  considerably  larger  than  that 
of  Sedbergh*.  Various  causes  have  contributed  to  this  decay, 
as  Sedgwick's  narrative  will  show;  and,  as  he  mournfully 
admitted,  "  there  is  no  sign  of  hope  that  Dent  may  hereafter 
regain  its  lost  position."  His  reminiscences  have  therefore 
an  historical  importance  quite  independent  of  his  own 
biography. 

"  Dent  was  once  a  land  of  statesmen,  that  is,  of  a  rural  and 
pastoral  yeomanry,  each  of  whom  lived  on  his  own  paternal 
glebe.  The  estates  were  small ;  but  each  of  them  gave  a  right 
to  large  tracts  of  mountain  pasturage;  and  each  statesman  had 
his  flock  and  herd.  A  rented  farm  was  once  a  rare  exception 
to  the  general  rule;  but  now  (1868)  nearly  the  whole  dale, 

1  Supplement^  p.  48. 

9  Sedgwick  makes  the  following  remarks  on  the  diminished  population  of 
Dent  in  the*  Supplement  (1870),  p.  14,  "  In  the  previous  pamphlet  there  are 
several  mournful  notices  of  the  gradual  decay  in  the  prosperity  of  Dent,  and  of 
the  diminution  in  its  population.  To  obtain  a  numerical  test  of  this  fact,  during 
my  short  visit  to  Dent  in  the  summer  of  1 868  I  examined  the  Parish  Register  of 
Baptisms  and  Burials.  Counting  all  the  Baptisms  from  1 747  to  1 766  inclusive,  I 
found  that  they  amounted  to  985  :  but  counting  the  Baptisms  from  1847  to  1866 
inclusive  they  amounted  only  to  529.  In  like  manner,  taking  the  corresponding 
periods  in  the  two  centuries,  I  found  that  the  Burials  amounted  to  671  in  the  last 
century ;  and  in  the  present  century  to  383.  In  both  these  periods  the  Registers 
appear  to  have  been  very  carefully  kept :  and  the  numbers  seem  to  prove  even  a 
greater  diminution  in  the  population  than  I  had  stated." 


MANNERS  OF  THE  STATESMEN 


from  end  to  end,  is  in  the  occupation  of  farmers  with  very 
small  capital,  and  living  at  a  high  rack-rent1." 

The  statesmen,  it  must  be  understood,  were  the  aristocracy 
of  the  dale;  they  stood  somewhat  aloof  from  their  fellow- 
dalesmen,  and  affected  a  difference  in  thoughts,  manners, 
and  dress.  It  used  to  be  said  of  a  lad  who  was  leaving  his 
father  s  home  :  "He's  a  deftly  farrand  lad,  and  he'll  du  weel, 
for  he's  weel  come,  fra  staetsmen  d  baith  sides"  i.e.  "  He  is  a 
well-mannered  lad,  and  he  will  prosper,  for  he  is  well 
descended,  from  statesmen  on  both  sidesV,  But,  though  the 
statesmen  might  be  somewhat  exclusive,  "  they  never  passed 
a  neighbour,  or  even  a  stranger,  without  some  homely  words 
of  kind  greeting.  To  their  Pastor,  and  to  the  Master  of  the 
grammar-school,  they  did  not  grudge  any  known  address  of 
courtesy ;  but  among  themselves  the  salutations  were  at  once 
simple,  frank,  and  kind ;  and  they  used  only  the  Christian 
name  to  a  Dalesman,  no  matter  what  his  condition  in  life. 
To  have  used  a  more  formal  address  would  have  been  to 
treat  him  as  a  stranger,  and  unkindly  to  thrust  him  out  from 
the  Brotherhood  of  the  Dales.  And  were  they  not  right  in 
this  ?  What  name  is  so  kind  and  loving  as  the  dear  Christian 
name,  excepting  the  still  dearer  and  more  revered  names  of 
Father  or  Mother  ?  They  are  the  names  by  which  we  speak 
to  our  brother  or  sister,  or  friend  who  is  near  our  hearts. 

"In  former  times  I  never  returned  to  Dent  without  hearing 
my  Christian  name  uttered  with  cheerful  face  and  rung  with 
merry  voice  by  all  the  upgrown  persons  whom  I  encountered 
on  the  highway.  But  nearly  all  my  old  friends  are  gone; 
and,  to  my  deep  sorrow,  I  no  longer  hear  my  Christian  name, 
but  am  welcomed  by  words  that  pronounce  me  to  be  a 
stranger,  and  no  longer  a  brother  living  in  the  hearts  of  the 
Dalesmen. 

"  I  will  explain  my  meaning  by  two  recent  examples, 
which  were  exceptions  to  the  above  remark ;  but  they  will, 
I    trust,  prove   that   I    am   rightly  interpreting  the   ancient 

1  Memorial,  p.  vii.  2  Memorial,  p.  65,  note. 


io  SEDGWICK'S  RECOLLECTIONS  OF  DENT. 

manners  and  feelings  of  my  countrymen.  There  was  an 
aged  soldier  in  Dent,  poverty-stricken  and  desolate,  having 
neither  wife  nor  daughter  to  cheer  him.  Several  times  I 
gave  him  a  trifle  by  way  of  remembrance  when  I  visited 
Dent;  and  for  a  while  he  had  from  me  a  small  weekly 
allowance  for  tobacco.  When  in  extreme  old  age  he  was 
removed  to  the  Union  Workhouse ;  and  he  then  requested 
me  to  exchange  the  tobacco  for  a  small  daily  glass  of  grog. 
In  the  discipline  of  his  regiment  he  had  learned  a  more  smart 
and  formal  address  than  was  usual  in  the  Dales,  but  all  this 
wore  away  when  he  tried  to  express  his  thanks  to  me, 
whenever  I  called  on  him.  I  was  then  sure  to  hear  my 
Christian  name  sounded  from  his  aged  lips.  The  last  time  I 
saw  him  he  was  above  ninety  years  of  age  and  bedridden,  yet 
apparently  happy  and  in  good  hope  ;  and  when  the  master  of 
the  Union  made  him  understand  that  a  gentleman  had  called 
to  see  him,  he  said,  '  Is  it  Adam  ? '  I  did  not  remain  long  with 
him  ;  and  as  I  left  him  he  pressed  my  hand,  and  said  :  '  Oh, 
Adam,  it  is  good  of  you  to  come  and  see  me  here ! ' 

"  The  other  case  tells  the  same  truth—  that  the  Christian 
name  was  the  name  of  loving  memory — but  it  is  told  in  a 
merrier  tone.  There  were  in  my  childhood  two  well-known, 
cheerful-mannered  women  living  in  Dent — a  mother  and 
daughter  employed  in  the  carrying  trade1 — old  Peggy  Beckett, 
and  young  Peggy  Beckett.  Young  Peggy  won  my  child's 
heart  by  playing  with  me,  and  helping  me  to  leap  over  the 
tombstones  in  the  ehurch-yard.  But  she  married,  and  dis- 
appeared from  Dent ;  and  many  years,  I  think  not  less  than 
seventy,  passed  away  before,  in  extreme  old  age,  she  returned, 
to  end  her  days  at  her  son's  cottage.     The  first  time  I  found 

1  At  the  time  of  which  Sedgwick  is  speaking  all  external  produce  came  into 
Dent,  by  carriers  from  Hawes,  Kendal,  or  Kirkby  Lonsdale.  Women  were 
carriers  as  well  as  men,  and  were  indeed  preferred,  because  they  could  match 
draper's  goods,  and  choose  provisions,  better.  Mrs  Beckett  and  her  daughter 
were  carriers  to  Kendal,  16  miles  distant  from  Dent.  They  used  to  leave  Dent  on 
Friday,  attend  Kendal  market  on  Saturday,  and  get  back  to  Dent  late  on  Saturday 
night. 


MANNERS  OF  THE  STATESMEN  n 

my  way  to  Dent,  after  her  return,  I  went,  along  with  some 
young  nieces,  to  call  upon  her.  She  received  our  party  with 
a  bright  and  respectful  cheerfulness ;  but  perhaps  with  more 
formality  than  was  usual  in  the  Dale ;  and  she  spoke  to  me 
as  a  stranger.  But  when  they  told  her  who  I  was,  her  fine 
old  face  lighted  up.  She  looked  earnestly  at  me  for  about 
two  seconds,  and  then  said  :  '  Oh,  Adam,  it  is  lang  sin'  I 
tought  ye  to  loup  off  Battersby's  trough  ! "  (Oh  !  Adam,  it  is 
long  since  I  taught  you  to  leap  off  Battersby's  tombstone1) ! 
This  address  brought  back  to  my  memory  a  pleasant  passage 
in  the  life  of  my  childhood ;  and  it  proved  that  the  young 
Peggy  Beckett  of  early  years,  by  this  use  of  my  Christian 
name,  no  longer  thought  me  a  stranger,  but  welcomed  me 
again  as  a  brother  of  the  Dale. 

"  Do  not  these  two  examples  prove  what  I  contend  for  ? 
That  the  Christian  name  was  not  used  as  a  word  of  thought- 
less familiarity ;  but  as  a  word  of  confiding,  brotherly,  love1." 

"  Many  of  the  old  statesmen  in  the  higher  parts  of  Kirth- 
waite  were  numbered  in  the  Society  of  Friends.  Excellent 
men  they  were,  and  well-informed  in  matters  of  common 
life ;  lovers  of  religious  liberty ;  of  great  practical  benevolence, 
and  of  pure  moral  conduct ;  and  they  were  among  the 
foremost  in  all  good  measures  of  rural  administration  V 

"  Though  the  population  of  the  dale  has  diminished,  I 
believe,  by  more  than  one-third  since  the  middle  of  last 
century,  yet  the  poor-rates  are  enormously  increased.     It  was 

1  Sedgwick  adds  the  following  note :  u  Battersby  was  an  early  Master  of  the 
Chartered  Grammar  School,  and  had  in  his  day  the  reputation  of  being  a 
"  conjurer."  A  large  and  ugly  monument  had  been  erected  to  his  memory  near 
the  south-west  angle  of  the  new  steeple;  and,  being  partly  in  ruins  when  the 
builders  began,  some  of  its  larger  blocks  of  stone  were  placed  in  the  new  ground- 
works. When  this  desecration  was  discovered,  an  old  man  came  in  terror  to  my 
father,  affirming  that  the  steeple  would  never  stand.  My  father  partly  allayed  the 
old  man's  fears,  and  told  him  it  was  foolish  and  wrong  to  think  that  a  part  of 
God's  bouse  could  not  stand  against  the  power  of  a  dead  conjurer.  For  a  while 
the  old  man  was  pacified,  and  seemed  half  ashamed  of  himself;  but  shortly 
afterwards  he  returned  with  a  blank,  doubting  face,  and  said  :  '  I's  feard,  Sir, 
the  bells  when  put  in  the  new  steeple  'ill  be  ringing  when  they  sud'nt.' " 

*  Supplement^  pp.  44 — 47.  8  Memorial,  p.  xii. 


12  SEDGWICK* S  RECOLLECTIONS  OF  DENT. 


once  a  place  of  very  active  industry ;  well  known  as  a  great 
producer  of  wool,  which  was  partly  carded  and  manufactured 
on  the  spot  for  home-use ;  but  better  known  for  what  were 
then  regarded  as  large  imports  of  dressed  wool  and  worsted, 
and  for  its  exports  of  stockings  and  gloves  that  were  knit 
by  the  inhabitants  of  the  valley.  The  weekly  transport  of 
the  goods  which  kept  this  trade  alive,  was  effected,  first  by 
trains  of  pack-horses,  and  afterwards  by  small  carts  fitted  for 
mountain-work. 

"Dent  was  then  a  land  of  rural  opulence  and  glee.  Children 
were  God's  blessed  gift  to  a  household,  and  happy  was  the 
man  whose  quiver  was  full  of  them.  Each  statesman's  house 
had  its  garden  and  its  orchard,  and  other  good  signs  of  do- 
mestic comfort.  But  alas,  with  rare  exceptions,  these  goodly 
tokens  have  now  passed  out  of  sight ;  or  are  to  be  feebly 
traced  by  some  aged  crab-tree,  or  the  stump  of  an  old  plum- 
tree,  which  marks  the  site  of  the  ancient  family  orchard. 

"The  whole  aspect  of  the  village  of  Dent  has  been  changed 
within  my  memory,  and  some  may  perhaps  think  that  it  has 
been  changed  for  the  better.  But  I  regret  the  loss  of  some 
old  trees  that  covered  its  nakedness  ;  and  most  of  all  the  two 
ancient  trees  that  adorned  the  church-yard,  and  were  cut 
down  by  hands  which  had  no  right  to  touch  a  twig  of  them. 
I  regret  the  loss  of  the  grotesque  and  rude,  but  picturesque 
old  galleries,  which  once  gave  a  character  to  the  streets ;  and 
in  some  parts  of  them  almost  shut  out  the  sight  of  the  sky 
from  those  who  travelled  along  the  pavement  For  rude  as 
were  the  galleries,  they  once  formed  a  highway  of  communi- 
cation to  a  dense  and  industrious  rural  population  which  lived 
on  flats  or  single  floors.  And  the  galleries  that  ran  before 
the  successive  doors,  were  at  all  seasons  places  of  free  air ; 
and  in  the  summer  season  were  places  of  mirth  and  glee,  and 
active,  happy  industry.  For  there  might  be  heard  the  buzz 
of  the  spinning-wheel,  and  the  hum  and  the  songs  of  those 
who  were  carrying  on  the  labours  of  the  day ;  and  the  merry 
jests  and  greetings  sent  down  to  those  who  were  passing 


HOUSES  AND  GALLERIES. 


through  the  streets.  Some  of  the  galleries  were  gone  before 
the  days  of  my  earliest  memory,  and  all  of  them  were 
hastening  to  decay.  Not  a  trace  of  them  is  now  left  I 
regret  its  old  market-cross,  and  the  stir  and   bustle   of  its 


market-days.  I  regret  its  signboards  dangling  across  the 
streets ;  which,  though  sometimes  marking  spots  of  boisterous 
revelry,  were  at  the  same  time  the  tokens  of  a  rural 
opulence1." 

Some  traces  of  this  peculiar  feature  of  Dent  were  still  in 

1  Memorial,  pp.  vii — in. 


14  SEDGWICICS  RECOLLECTIONS  OF  DENT. 

existence  so  late  as  1820,  when  the  water-colour  drawings 
were  made  from  which  our  woodcuts  are  taken.  Both 
represent  the  main  street  of  Dent.  The  first  cut  shows 
one  of  the  external  flights  of  stairs  which  led  up  to  the 
galleries;  and  from  the  walls  on  both  sides  of  the  street 
project  stone  brackets  that  once  supported  similar  structures. 
In  the  second  cut  the  opposite  end  of  the  gallery  ap- 
proached by  the  stairs  of  the  former  drawing  occupies  the 
left  corner  of  the  picture ;  and  facing  it  is  a  conspicuous  row 
of  brackets  on  which  imagination  can  place  another. 

In  the  first  year  of  King  James  the  First  the  principal 
land-holders  of  Dent  obtained  a  royal  charter  for  their 
grammar-school,  the  endowment  of  which  had  been  collected 
by  subscription.  This  school  "has  had  a  very  healthy 
influence  upon  the  education  and  manners  of  the  valley. 
The  leading  statesmen's  sons  attended  it,  and  acquired  a 
smattering  of  classical  learning ;  and  if  a  statesman's  younger 
son,  or  the  son  of  a  cottager,  were  a  lad  of  good  promise,  his 
education  was  pushed  forward  into  a  higher  course,  and  he 
was  trained  for  the  Church.  And  many  so  trained,  and 
without  any  other  collegiate  education,  did  enter  the  Church, 
and  filled  the  retired  curacies  in  the  north  of  England. 

"  The  necessities  of  the  country  soon  led  to  an  extension 
of  the  course  of  teaching  at  the  grammar-school.  It  had 
large  English  classes,  in  which  writing  and  arithmetic  were 
taught  to  young  persons  of  both  sexes ;  and  there  were  also 
itinerant  masters,  of  good  repute  among  the  northern  dales, 
who  visited  certain  schools  in  a  regular  cycle,  and  were 
chiefly  employed  in  teaching  writing,  arithmetic  in  all  its 
branches,  and  the  principles  of  surveying. 

"  Nor  must  I  omit  to  state  that  at  all  the  knitting-schools, 
where  the  children  first  learnt  the  art  many  of  them  were 
to  follow  through  life,  the  Dames  always  taught  the  art  of 
reading1." 

"Trusting  in  the  traditions  of  family  history,  we   may 

1  Memorial^  p.  54. 


t 


EDUCATION,   INDUSTRIES, 


'S 


affirm,  that  after  the  Reformation,  and  down  towards  the 
concluding  part  of  the  last  century,  Dent  was  in  the  enjoy- 
ment of  happiness  and  prosperity;  in  a  humble  and  rustic 
form,  it  might  be,  but  with  a  good  base  to  rest  upon — the 
intelligence  and  industry  of  its  inhabitants.  The  statesmen 
were  long  famous  for  their  breed  of  horses.     The  farms  were 


jfSEl 

B    "^|B   .  JP  Jm^i  I  'l'W 

■•:slfylj:ii  & 

^^^z^^si 

providently  managed  ;  and  the  valley  was  well  known  for  its 
exports  of  butter,  which,  from  defect  of  ready  transport,  was 
highly  salted,  and  packed  in  firkins.  The  art  of  the  cooper 
became  then  of  importance.  Dent  was  supplied  in  abundance 
with  the  materials  and  the  workmen ;  and  the  cooper's  art 
nourished  in  it  for  several  generations,  by  works  both  for 
home  use  and  for  export 


16  SEDGWICK'S  RECOLLECTIONS  OF  DENT. 

"  The  management  and  economy  of  the  good  housewives 
of  our  valley  became  notorious,  and  often  was  the  subject  of 
some  good-humoured  jest  on  the  part  of  the  lazy  lookers  on. 
Jests  seldom  bear  repeating ;  but  I  will  repeat  one  which  I 
have  heard  in  my  boyhood.  A  clever  lass  in  Dent  can  do 
four  things  at  a  time,  was  said  of  old : 

She  knaws  how  to  sing  and  knit, 
And  she  knaws  how  to  carry  the  kit, 
While  she  drives  her  kye  to  pasture. 

"Wool  must  have  been  a  great  staple  produce  of  the  valley, 
from  its  earliest  history.  The  greater  part  of  it  was  exported; 
but  some  of  it  was  retained  for  domestic  use ;  then  worked 
into  form  by  hand-cards  of  antique  fashion  (which,  in  my 
childhood,  I  have  seen  in  actual  use) ;  and  then  spun  into  a 
very  coarse  and  clumsy  thread ;  and  so  it  supplied  the 
material  for  a  kind  of  rude  manufacture,  that  went,  I  think, 
under  the  elegant  name  of  Bump. 

"  But,  as  art  advanced,  our  Dalesmen  gradually  became 
familiar  with  the  fine  material  prepared  by  the  wool-comber; 
and,  before  the  beginning  of  last  century,  Dent  became 
known  for  its  manufacture  and  export  of  yarn-stockings  of 
the  finest  quality.  Some  of  the  more  active  and  long-sighted 
statesmen  of  the  Dales,  taking  upon  themselves  the  part  of 
middle-men  between  the  manufacturers  and  the  consumers, 
used  occasionally  to  mount  their  horses,  and  ride  up  to 
London  to  deal  personally  with  the  merchants  of  Cheapside, 
and  to  keep  alive  the  current  of  rural  industry. 

"  At  a  further  stage  in  the  industry  of  our  countrymen, 
worsted,  that  had  been  spun  by  machinery,  came  into  common 
use ;  and  the  knit  worsted-stockings  were  the  great  articles  of 
export  from  the  Northern  Dales.  Such  became  the  im- 
portance of  this  export,  about  the  middle  of  last  century,  that 
Government  Agents  were  placed  at  Kirkby  Lonsdale,  Kendal, 
and  Kirkby  Stephen,  during  'the  seven  years'  war/  for  the 
express  purpose  of  securing  for  the  use  of  the  English  army 
(then  in  service  on  the  Continent),  the  worsted  stockings  knit 


GEOLOGY  OF  THE  DALE.  17 

by  the  hands  of  the  Dalesmen ;  and  in  this  trade  Dent  had 
an  ample  share. 

"In  the  last  century  there  was  another  source  of  industry 
in  Dent,  which  I  must  not  pass  entirely  over — I  mean  its 
minerals  and  its  coal-works.  All  the  mountains  of  Dent,  to 
the  east  of  Helm's  Knot  and  Colm  Scar,  are  composed  of 
nearly  horizontal  beds  of  limestone,  sandstone,  and  flagstone ; 
and  of  dark  shale,  here  and  there  showing  traces  of  coal. 
And  the  whole  series  is  surmounted  by  a  coarse  gritstone, 
called  the  Millstone  Grit.  The  limestone  beds  are  arranged 
in  six  groups ;  of  which  the  lowest,  called  the  great  Scar 
Limestone,  is  several  times  thicker  than  all  the  other  groups 
put  together.  The  top  of  it  is  seen  just  above  the  village  of 
Flintergill;  and  its  upper  beds  are  finely  exposed  in  the 
river-course  of  Kirthwaite.  Its  lower  beds  are  nowhere  seen 
in  our  valley ;  but  they  are  grandly  exposed  in  Chapel-le- 
Dale,  where  they  rest  upon  the  greenish  slate-rocks.  All  the 
limestone  groups  of  Dent  are  separated  by  thick  masses  of 
sandstone,  flagstone,  and  shale ;  and,  as  the  top  of  the  great 
Scar  Limestone  is  only  seen  near  the  river-course,  the  other 
five  groups  are  to  be  looked  for  on  the  mountain-sides.  The 
lowest  of  the  five  contains  the  black  marble  beds  ;  and  under 
the  highest  of  the  five,  sometimes  called  the  upper  Scar 
Limestone,  is  the  only  bed  of  coal  that  has  been  worked  in 
Dent  for  domestic  use.  The  upper  Scar  Limestone  is  sur- 
mounted by  a  bed  of  shale,  which  is  capped  by  the  lower 
beds  of  the  great  group  called  Millstone  Grit.  This  part  of 
the  Millstotte  Grit  forms  the  flat  top  of  the  hill  called  Crag, 
and  the  top  also  of  Ingleborough ;  and  over  this  grit  (at 
Great  Colme.  Whernside,  etc.)  is  a  shale  with  beds  of  coal 
that  is  too  poor  (in  the  hills  of  Dent)  for  domestic  use,  but 
which  might,  I  think,  be  profitably  employed  in  burning 
lime. 

"These  facts  may  be  seen  by  any  one  who  will  use  his 
senses ;  and  indeed  it  seems  to  have  been  generally  known, 
before  the  beginning  of  last  century,  that  a  profitable  bed  of 
S.  I.  2 


1 8  SEDGWICK'S  RECOLLECTIONS  OF  DENT. 


coal  was  often  to  be  found  under  the  upper  Scar  Limestone. 
At  what  time  the  coal-beds  in  Dent  were  first  opened  I  do 
not  know ;  but  it  is  said  that  they  were  first  considered  an 
object  of  profit  in  Kirthwaite.  Early,  I  believe,  in  the  last 
century  a  small  statesman  called  Buttermere  found  the  bed 
of  coal  under  the  upper  Limestone  of  the  Town-Fell,  just 
under  the  last  rise  of  the  Crag.  The  bed  appeared  at  first 
sight  too  thin  to  be  worked  for  profit ;  but  on  examination  it 
proved  to  be  free  from  sulphur,  and  well  fitted  for  the  works 
of  the  whitesmiths  in  Kendal.  He  therefore  engaged  the 
help  of  the  country  miners,  and  carried  on  his  work  for  years 
— conveying  to  Kendal,  by  a  train  of  pack-horses  (seventeen 
miles  over  the  mountains),  the  coal  which  he  drew  from  a 
bed  not  more  than  six  or  seven  inches  thick.  And,  spite  of 
the  smallness  of  his  produce,  and  the  cost  of  its  primitive 
mode  of  transport,  he  went  on  till  he  had  realised  a  fortune — 
not  small,  according  to  the  humble  standard  of  his  country- 
men— and  he  ended  as  a  public  benefactor  to  his  valley. 
Joseph  Buttermere's  coal,  as  a  matter  of  export,  would  now 
be  scouted  as  a  mere  worthless  mockery.  Yet  I  think  the 
tale  deserves  notice  as  a  curious  record  of  one  of  the  primitive 
modes  in  which  our  old  statesmen  dealt  with  those  who,  to 
them,  were  in  a  kind  of  outer  world.  But  I  will  return  to  the 
craft  more  peculiar  to  our  valley. 

"  It  may  have  seemed,  at  first  sight,  almost  incredible 
that  one  of  our  old  statesmen  should  have  thought  it  worth 
his  while  to  mount  his  little,  tough,  but  active  horse,  and  to 
ride  up  to  London  to  make  bargains  with  the  merchants  of 
Cheapside  for  a  supply  of  goods  manufactured  in  his  Dale. 
Such  however  was  the  fact,  as  I  have  already  stated ;  and  I 
well  remember  that,  in  my  early  boyhood,  there  were  three 
men,  living  at,  or  near,  our  village,  who  had  many  times 
made  these  journeys — some  before,  and  some  more  than 
twenty  years  after,  the  time  of  the  'seven  years'  war.' 
Changes  of  manners  and  of  times  had  put  an  end  to  such  a 
primitive  mode  of  dealing  some  years  before  I  saw  the  light 


NOTEWORTHY  INHABITANTS.  19 

But  I  have  sat  upon  the  knee  of  old  Leonard  Sedgwick  (my 
father's  cousin)  and  listened  to  the  tales  of  his  London 
journeys ;  and  how,  when  his  horse  had  carried  him  nearly  to 
the  great  city,  he  saw  the  dome  of  St  Paul's  standing  up 
against  the  sky,  and  countless  spires  and  steeples  bristling  up 
into  the  air  above  the  houses.  His  homely  pictures  never 
faded  from  my  memory.  He  was  intelligent  and  honour- 
able in  his  dealings ;  a  kindhearted  and  mirthful  man ;  well 
content  to  look  on  the  brighter  side  of  the  things  around 
him  ;  and  (a  blessing  on  his  memory !)  he  made  all  the  little 
children  near  him  right  happy  by  his  Christmas  feasts.  Such 
a  man,  and  so  employed,  can  never  appear  again  in  Dent, 
unless  we  could  undo  the  social  work  of  a  whole  century. 

"  And  there  was  another  man,  old  Thomas  Waddington — 
a  dealer  in  hats,  cloth,  drugs,  and  I  know  not  what  besides — 
who  had  from  time  to  time  ridden  up  to  London  to  obtain  a 
good  stock  of  materials  for  the  use  of  his  countrymen.  He 
was  a  statesman,  and  a  man  of  high  character ;  and  a  great 
favourite  with  the  public,  in  spite  of  a  singularly  crusty  and 
irritable  manner.  Upright  in  person,  with  a  face  glowing 
with  the  signs  of  good  cheer — with  a  dark  wig  decorated  with 
many  curls,  and  with  a  broad-brimmed  hat,  looped  in  a  way 
that  indicated  a  former,  and  more  proud,  condition, — he 
steadily  marched  through  his  walk  of  life.  And  where  is 
there  one  now  to  represent  him?  His  shop  was  the  place 
where  all  the  leading  statesmen  met  to  discuss  the  politics  of 
the  day,  and  the  affairs  of  the  parish. 

"  And  there  was  a  third  man  whom  I  must  not  pass  over, 
if  I  mean  to  give  any  conception  of  what  Dent  once  was.  I 
well  remember  Thomas  Archer,  the  prince  of  rural  tailors, 
with  his  wig  of  many  curls.  In  my  very  early  boyhood  he 
was  what  old  Chaucer  would  have  called  a  '  solempne  man ' ; 
and,  whatever  he  said  or  did,  seemed  to  take  its  tone  from  a 
feeling  of  inherent  dignity.  Ludicrous  as  the  fact  may  seem, 
he  had  been  in  the  habit,  in  his  early  days,  of  going  up  to 
London,  I  know  not  how ;    and  there,  by  the  help  of  some 

2 — 2 


2o  SEDGWIOCS  RECOLLECTIONS  OF  DENT. 

connexions  or  relations,  he  would  work  for  a  few  weeks  on 
a  London  tailor's  shop-board.  And  having  learnt  the  last 
metropolitan  mysteries  of  his  art,  he  would  return — well 
primed  and  loaded — to  discharge  his  duties  in  his  native 
valley.  To  these  mysteries  of  his  skill  the  old  statesmen 
owed  some  of  those  large  decorated  coat-sleeves  and  lapped 
waistcoats  which  were  many  years  afterwards  worn,  in  a 
threadbare  state,  during  Dent's  decline,  by  men  who  had 
been  brought  low  through  poverty. 

"There  is  no  man  among  my  countrymen,  or  in  any 
neighbouring  valley,  to  match  this  enterprising  old  tailor. 
Many  long  measures  he  had ;  but  not  one  so  long  as  that  by 
which  he  measured  his  own  standard.  He  was  made  by 
the  times  in  which  he  lived ;  and  the  change  of  times  has 
made  it  impossible  for  us  to  find  a  recurrence  of  his 
similitude. 

"Certainly  I  have  neither  room  nor  time  for  many 
biographical  notices  of  my  countrymen  ;  but  one  more  name 
I  must  mention — that  of  Blackburne,  the  barber  and  wig- 
maker.  To  me  he  was  historical,  and  only  known  by  his 
works ;  for  he  had  been  called  away  some  years  before  I  was 
counted  among  the  living  inhabitants  of  Dent  But  he  was 
a  man  famed  in  his  generation  through  all  the  neighbouring 
valleys.  From  him  proceeded  the  ample  full-bottom;  and 
the  three-decker  (or  more  rarely  the  four-decker),  so  named 
from  its  splendid  semicircles  of  white  curls  that  girt  the  back 
of  the  wearer's  pericranium ;  and  he  made  also  the  humblest 
of  all  wigs,  the  scratch — fitted  for  a  poor  man's  head.  Nor 
must  I  forget,  in  this  list  of  our  native  artist's  works,  the 
formidable  tie-wig  with  a  tail  like  that  of  a  dragon,  and  with 
winged  curls  at  the  ears.  I  have  heard  this  wig  called,  by  the 
school-boys  of  my  day,  the  flying  dragon ;  and  let  that  be  its 
name,  for  it  well  deserved  it.  All  such  capital  monuments 
of  art  were  turned  out  in  their  glory  by  the  man  who  with 
cunning  hand  and  head  had  built  up  the  crowning  decora- 
tions of  our  countrymen.     The   place   of  his   ancient   shop 


NOTEWORTHY  INHABITANTS.  21 


was  marked  by  a  great  pole,  with  its  symbolical  fillet  and 
basin;  which  I  used,  in  my  childhood,  to  look  up  to  with 
respectful  wonder.  But  the  genius  of  the  place  was  gone; 
and  I  saw  only  the  decayed  monuments  of  the  great  wig- 
maker's  constructive  skill. 

u  I  have  not  stated  such  facts  as  these  that  I  might  hold 
up  our  ancestors  of  a  former  century  to  ridicule ;  but  in  the 
hope  of  giving  my  countrymen  a  graphic  proof  of  the  great 
change  of  manners  wrought  by  time;  and  of  a  sorrowful 
change  in  the  fortunes  of  the  inhabitants  of  Dent,  that  drove 
many  of  them  away  from  their  early  homes,  and  sank  others 
into  a  state  of  depression  against  which  they  knew  not  how 
to  struggle.  I  well  remember  (and  I -first  made  the  remark  in 
my  very  childhood)  that  many  of  the  old-fashioned  dresses, 
seen  on  a  holiday,  were  the  signs  of  poverty  rather  than  of 
pride.  The  coats  were  threadbare,  and  worn  by  men  who 
had  seen  better  days.  The  looped  broad-brim  was  seen,  but 
as  a  sign  of  mourning,  like  a  flag  hoisted  half-mast  high ;  for 
it  was  the  half-fallen  state  of  the  triple  cock  (still  worn  by  one 
or  two  in  the  parish)  with  its  three  outer  surfaces  pointing 
to  the  sky.  And,  in  the  same  days,  old  Blackburne's  full- 
bottoms  had  lost  all  their  crisp  symmetry ;  and  the  lower 
hairs  of  their  great  convexity  were  drooping,  as  if  in  sorrow, 
upon  the  wearers'  necks.  The  three-deckers  showed  broken 
lines  and  disordered  rigging;  and  as  for  the  flying  dragons, 
they  had  all,  like  autumnal  swallows,  taken  themselves  away. 
But  there  were  many  exceptions  to  these  mournful  signs  of 
decay.  There  still  remained  many  Dalesmen  with  old- 
fashioned  dresses,  and  with  cheerful,  prosperous  looks,  among 
the  Sunday  congregations  at  Dent ;  but  the  ancient  fashions 
were  wearing  fast  away1. 

"  Let  me  here  add  a  word  or  two  on  the  domestic  state 
and  habits  of  our  countrymen,  before  their  old  social  isolation 
had  been  so  much  broken  in  upon  by  the  improved  roads  and 
rapid  movements  of  modern  times.     With  the  exception  of 

1  Memorial,  pp.  57 — 64. 


22  SEDGWICK'S  RECOLLECTIONS  OF  DENT. 


certain  festive  seasons,  their  habits  were  simple,  primitive,  and 
economical.  The  cottager  had,  as  his  inheritance,  the  labour 
of  his  own  hands  and  that  of  his  wife  and  children :  and,  in 
the  good  old  times,  that  labour  made  him  quite  as  inde- 
pendent as  one  of  the  smaller  statesmen.  In  manners, 
habits,  and  information,  there  was,  in  fact,  no  difference 
between  them.  Even  in  the  houses  of  the  clergymen  and  of 
the  wealthier  statesmen,  there  was  kept  alive  a  feeling  of 
fraternal  equality;  and,  although  external  manners  were  more 
formal  and  respectful  than  they  are  now,  yet  the  servants, 
men  or  maids,  sat  down  at  the  dinner-table,  and  often  at  the 
tea-table,  with  their  masters  and  mistresses. 

11  The  dress  of  the  upper  statesman's  wife  and  daughters 
was  perhaps  less  costly  than  that  of  the  men  who  affected 
fashion;  and  according  to  modern  taste  we  should  call  it 
stiff  and  ugly  to  the  last  degree,  as  was  the  fashion  of  the  day. 
There  was  one  exception  however,  both  as  to  cost  and  beauty: 
for  the  statesman's  wife  often  appeared  at  Church  in  the  winter 
season  in  a  splendid  long  cloak  of  the  finest  scarlet  cloth, 
having  a  hood  lined  with  coloured  silk.  This  dress  was  very 
becoming,  and  very  costly ;  but  it  was  carefully  preserved ; 
and  so  it  might  pass  down  from  mother  to  daughter. 
Fortunately,  no  genius  in  female  decoration  (like  the  Archers 
and  Blackburnes  of  the  other  sex)  seemed  to  have  brought 
patches  and  hoops  into  vulgar  use  (as  in  the  preposterous 
modern  case  of  crinoline). 

"Among  the  old  statesmen's  daughters  hoops  did  however 
sometimes  appear,  as  one  of  the  rarer  sights  of  the  olden  time; 
and  I  have  heard  an  aged  statesman's  daughter  tell  of  her 
admiration,  and  perhaps  her  envy,  when  she  saw  a  young 
woman  sailing  down  the  Church  with  a  petticoat  that 
stretched  almost  across  the  middle  aisle.  That  decoration 
shut  her  out  from  a  seat  on  any  of  the  Church  forms ;  but,  by 
a  dexterous  flank  movement,  she  won  a  position  among  the 
pews ;  and  then,  by  a  second  inexplicable  movement,  the 
frame-work   became   vertical,  and  found  a  resting-place  by 


MANNERS  AND  CUSTOMS.  23 


overtopping  the  pew-door — to  the  great  amazement  of  the 
rural  congregation. 

"All  the  women,  with  very  rare  exceptions,  learned  to 
read ;  and  the  upper  statesmen's  daughters  could  write  and 
keep  family  accounts.  They  had  their  Bibles,  and  certain 
good  old-fashioned  books  of  devotion;  and  they  had  their 
cookery-books;  and  they  were  often  well  read  in  ballad 
poetry,  and  in  one  or  two  of  De  Foe's  novels.  And  some  of 
the  younger  and  more  refined  of  the  statesmen's  daughters 
would  form  a  little  clique,  where  they  met — during  certain 
years  of  last  century — and  wept  over  Richardson's  novels. 
But  this  sentimental  portion  was  small  in  number;  and  it 
produced  no  effect  upon  the  rural  manners  of  the  valley; 
which  were  fresh  and  cheerful,  and  little  tinged  with  any  dash 
of  what  was  sentimental. 

"While  speaking  of  the  habits  and  manners  of  my  country- 
women, I  may  remark  that  their  industry  had  then  a  social 
character.  Their  machinery  and  the  material  of  their  fabrics 
they  constantly  bore  about  with  them.  Hence  the  knitters  of 
Dent  had  the  reputation  of  being  lively  gossips ;  and  they 
worked  together  in  little  clusters — not  in  din  and  confinement 
like  that  of  a  modern  manufactory — but  each  one  following 
the  leading  of  her  fancy;  whether  among  her  friends,  or 
rambling  in  the  sweet  scenery  of  the  valley ;  and  they  were 
as  notable  for  their  thrifty  skill  as  for  their  industry.  And 
speaking  of  both  sexes,  the  manners  of  our  countrymen  may 
have  been  thought  rude  and  unpolished  from  lack  of  commerce 
with  the  world  ;  and  their  prosperity  in  a  former  century  may 
sometimes  have  roused  the  envy,  and  the  jests  and  satire, 
of  those  who  were  less  handy  than  themselves ;  but  for  many 
a  long  year  theirs  was  the  winning  side. 

"Their  social  habits  led  them  to  form  little  groups  of 
family  parties,  who  assembled  together,  in  rotation,  round  one 
blazing  fire,  during  the  winter  evenings.  This  was  called 
ganging  a  Sitting  to  a  neighbour's  house ;  and  the  custom 
prevailed,  though  with  diminished  frequency,  during  the  early 


**       sEDGmars  recollections  of  dent. 

wars  I  spent  in  Dent  Let  me  try  to  give  a  picture  of  one  of 
these  scenes  in  which  I  have  myself  been,  not  an  actor,  but  a 
looker-on.  A  statesman's  house  in  Dent  had  seldom  more 
than  two  floors,  and  the  upper  floor  did  not  extend  to  the 
wall  where  was  the  chief  fire-place,  but  was  wainscoted  off 
from  it  The  consequence  was,  that  a  part  of  the  ground- 
floor,  near  the  fire-place,  was  open  to  the  rafters;  which 
formed  a  wide  pyramidal  space,  terminating  in  the  principal 
chimney  of  the  house.  It  was  in  this  space,  chiefly  under  the 
open  rafters,  that  the  families  assembled  in  the  evening. 
Though  something  rude  to  look  at,  the  space  gave  the 
advantage  of  a  good  ventilation.  About  the  end  of  the 
17th  century  grates  and  regular  flues  began  to  be  erected ; 
but,  during  Dent's  greatest  prosperity,  they  formed  the  excep- 
tion, and  not  the  rule. 

"  Let  me  next  shortly  describe  the  furniture  of  this  space 
where  they  held  their  evening  Sittings.  First  there  was  a 
blazing  fire  in  a  recess  of  the  wall ;  which  in  early  times  was 
composed  of  turf  and  great  logs  of  wood.  From  one  side  of 
the  fire-place  ran  a  bench,  with  a  strong  and  sometimes 
ornamentally  carved  back,  called  a  lang  settle.  On  the  other 
side  of  the  fire-place  was  the  Patriarch's  wooden  and  well- 
carved  arm-chair ;  and  near  the  chair  was  the  sconce1  adorned 
with  crockery.  Not  far  off  was  commonly  seen  a  well-carved 
cupboard,  or  cabinet,  marked  with  some  date  that  fell  within  a 
period  of  fifty  years  after  the  restoration  of  Charles  the 
Second*;  and  fixed  to  the  beams  of  the  upper  floor  was  a  row 
of  cupboards,  called  the  Cat-malison  (the  cat's  curse);  because, 

1  In  north-country  dialect,  a  low  partition. 

2  Sedgwick  notes :  "  One  or  two  of  the  Belgian  refugees,  who  had  been  driven 
from  London  by  the  great  Plague  in  1664,  are  said  to  have  found,  for  a  while,  a 
home  in  Dent,  and  there  to  have  practised  their  art  of  wood-carving ;  and  one  of 
them  is  said  to  have  settled  in  Kirthwaite.  The  art  of  wood-carving,  at  any  rate, 
flourished  within  the  period  above  indicated ;  and  I  remember  many  good 
specimens  of  it  in  the  old  statesmen's  houses  in  Dent.  The  art  existed,  however, 
in  Dent  at  an  earlier  period.  For  there  was,  in  my  Father's  time,  at  the  old 
parsonage,  a  set  of  oak  bed-stocks,  which  he  had  brought  from  his  birth-place, 
They  were  vigorously  though  rudely  carved,  and  had  the  date  of  1532." 


SITTINGS,  KNITTING.  25 

from  its  position,  it  was  secure  from  poor  grimalkin's  paw. 
One  or  two  small  tables,  together  with  chairs  or  benches, 
gave  seats  to  all  the  party  there  assembled.  Rude  though 
the  room  appeared,  there  was  in  it  no  sign  of  want.  It  had 
many  signs  of  rural  comfort:  for  under  the  rafters  were 
suspended  bunches  of  herbs  for  cookery,  hams,  sometimes  for 
export,  flitches  of  bacon,  legs  of  beef,  and  other  articles  salted 
for  domestic  use. 

u  They  took  their  seats ;  and  then  began  the  work  of  the 
evening ;  and  with  a  speed  that  cheated  the  eye  they  went  on 
with  their  respective  tasks.  Beautiful  gloves  were  thrown 
off  complete;  and  worsted  stockings  made  good  progress1. 
There  was  no  dreary  deafening  noise  of  machinery;  but 
there  was  the  merry  heart- cheering  sound  of  the  human 
tongue.  No  one  could  foretell  the  current  of  the  evening's 
talk.  They  had  their  ghost-tales  ;  and  their  love-tales  ;  and 
their  battles  of  jest  and  riddles ;  and  their  ancient  songs  of 
enormous  length,  yet  heard  by  ears  that  were  never  weary. 
Each  in  turn  was  to  play  its  part,  according  to  the  humour  of 
the  Sitting.  Or.  by  way  of  change,  some  lassie  who  was 
bright  and  tenable*  was  asked  to  read  for  the  amusement  of 
the  party.  She  would  sit  down ;  and,  apparently  without 
interrupting  her  work  by  more  than  a  single  stitch,  would 
begin  to  read — for  example,  a  chapter  of  Robinson  Ctusoe.  In 
a  moment  the  confusion  of  sounds  ceased ;  and  no  sound  was 
heard  but  the  reader's  voice,  and  the  click  of  the  knitting 
needles,  while  she  herself  went  on  knitting :  and  she  would 
turn  over  the  leaves  before  her  (as  a  lady  does  those  of  her 
music-book  from  the  stool  of  her  piano),  hardly  losing  a 
second  at  each  successive  leaf,  till  the  chapter  was  done.  Or, 
at  another  and  graver  party,  some  one,  perhaps,  would  read 
a  chapter  from  the  Pilgrim's  Ptogtess.     It  also  charmed  all 

1  A  less  agreeable  picture  of  this  continual  knitting  is  drawn  in  A  true  story  of 
the  terrible  knitters  e'  Dent,  in  Southey's  Doctor^  Inter-chapter  xxiv.  Vol.  vii.  p.  78, 
ed.  1847.  Miss  Sedgwick  remembers  that  boys  and  old  men  knitted  as  well  as 
women. 

*  Loquacious. 


26  SEDGWICK'S  RECOLLECTIONS  OF  DENT, 


tongues  to  silence :  but,  as  certainly,  led  to  a  grave  discussion 
so  soon  as  the  reading  ceased. 

"  In  all  the  turns  of  life  the  habits  of  our  countrymen  were 
gregarious.  A  number  of  houses  within  certain  distances  of 
one  another  were  said  to  be  in  the  lating  rd  (the  seeking  row), 
and  formed  a  kind  of  social  compact.  In  joy  or  sorrow  they 
were  expected  to  attend,  and  to  give  help  and  comfort.  To 
follow  this  subject  out  would  lead  me  into  details  too  long  for 
my  present  purpose.  But  I  may  mention  how  it  told  upon 
the  customs  of  Dent,  on  occasions  of  great  domestic  joy. 
Before  the  birth  of  a  new  inhabitant  of  the  hamlet,  all  the 
women  of  mature  life  within  the  lating  rd  had  been  on  the 
tip-toe  of  joyful  expectation  :  and  the  news  of  the  first  wail- 
ing (the  crying-out,  as  called  in  the  tongue  of  Dent) — the  sign 
of  coming  life — ran  through  the  home-circle  like  the  fiery 
cross  of  the  Highlanders;  and,  were  it  night  or  day,  calm 
sunshine,  or  howling  storm,  away  ran  the  matrons  to  the 
house  of  promise,  and  there,  with  cordials,  and  creature 
comforts,  and  blessings,  and  gossip,  and  happy  omens,  and 
with  no  fear  of  coming  evil — for  the  women  of  the  valley 
were  lively,  like  the  women  in  the  land  of  Goshen — they 
waited  till  the  infant  statesman  was  brought  into  this  world 
of  joy  and  sorrow,  in  as  much  publicity  as  if  he  were  the  heir 
to  the  throne  of  an  empire.  This  custom  was  upheld  with 
full  tenacity  during  the  younger  years  of  my  life1. 

"There  were  in  ancient  times,  few  observances  in  the 
conduct  of  a  funeral,  which  are  not  known  at  the  present  day. 
Formerly,  however,  they  kept  a  watch  in  the  house,  with 
burning  lights  in  the  room  of  death.  This  passed  under  the 
name  of  the  Lyk-wake:  but  the  custom  had  become  very 
rare,  and  I  believe  entirely  went  out  before  the  end  of  the 
last  century ;  and  at  no  period  of  our  history  were  there 
hired  professional  '  mourning  women,  skilful  in  lamentation/ 
as  among  the  Jews  of  old,  to  give  effect  to  the  waitings  of 
sorrow.     As  a  prevailing  custom,  many  were  '  bidden  to  the 

1  Memorial \  pp.  68 — 73. 


FUNERALS,  FESTIVITIES,  HORSE  RACES.  27 


funeral';  and  there  was  a  peculiar  refreshment  called  the 
arva/,  offered  even  at  a  poor  man's  funeral,  before  they  went 
with  the  coffin  to  the  church  ;  and,  after  the  interment,  if  the 
mourning  family  belonged  to  the  better  class  of  statesmen, 
those  who  had  been  bidden  to  the  funeral  had  a  dinner  pro- 
vided at  one  of  the  inns,  which  the  immediate  mourners  did 
not  attend.  The  fact  is  nothing  new  to  my  countrymen ;  and 
I  only  mention  it  now,  because  I  have  many  times  heard  it 
sneered  at,  and  shamefully  misrepresented.  I  never  knew  a 
single  case  in  which  this  truly  kind  and  hospitable  mode  of 
celebrating  a  funeral  led  to  intemperance  or  abuse.  It  may 
be  better  now  to  conduct  a  funeral  with  more  quiet  simplicity. 
But  so  long  as  there  was  a  large  gathering  of  those  who  had 
been  the  neighbours  and  friends  of  the  deceased,  there  was 
nothing  unseemly  in  giving  a  poor  man  a  dinner,  for  which 
he  was  thankful,  or  in  offering  refreshment  to  friends  who 
had  come  from  afar,  and  stood  in  need  of  it. 

"  The  festivities  of  Christmas,  and  other  holiday  seasons, 
were  kept  up  among  our  countrymen  with  long-sustained,  and 
sometimes,  I  fear,  intemperate  activity.  They  had  their 
morris-dances ;  their  rapier-dances ;  and  their  mask-dances. 
These  grotesque  and  barbarous  usages  of  a  former  age  disap- 
peared a  considerable  time  before  the  end  of  the  last  century. 
I  believe  I  saw  the  end  of  them  full  eighty  years  since,  while 
I  was  in  my  nurse's  arms.  Dent  was  long  famous  for  its 
Galloway  ponies ;  and  its  race-course  had  its  celebrity  in 
former  centuries.  I  believe  I  saw,  in  my  very  early  boyhood, 
the  last  race  ever  run  upon  the  old  course.  Since  then,  the 
old  ground  has  been  so  cut  up  and  changed,  that,  happily,  it 
would  be  impossible  to  re-open  it  as  a  race-course,  were  the 
old  taste  to  come  to  life  again. 

"  I  should  think  myself  ill-employed  were  I  to  dwell  long 
upon  the  by-gone  vices  and  follies  of  my  countrymen  :  but  I 
should  be  disloyal  to  the  cause  of  truth  were  I  only  to  hold 
up  to  the  light  of  day  the  fairer  and  brighter  side  of  their 
character.     Among  the  vulgar  sports  of  England,  especially 


28  SEDGWICK'S  RECOLLECTIONS  OF  DENT. 

during  Shrovetide,  were  matches  of  game-cocks,  which  for 
centuries  had  kept  their  place.  Nowhere  did  this  vile  and 
cruel  sport  flourish  more  than  among  the  Dales  of  the  north 
of  England.  Men  of  character  joined  in  it  without  compunc- 
tion ;  and  so  thoroughly  was  it  ingrained  among  the  habits  of 
society,  that  the  Masters  of  the  chartered  grammar-schools 
received  a  Shrovetide  fee  from  their  scholars ;  and  in  return 
gave  game-cocks  to  the  boys,  to  be  matched  for  the  honour  of 
the  school !  This  fee  (known  by  the  boys  as  the  cock-penny)  is 
given  to  the  present  day1;  and  I  have  paid  it  myself  many 
times.  But,  for  about  a  century  and  a  half,  the  Master  has 
ceased  to  give  any  return  beyond  an  acknowledgement  of 
thanks.  I  have  been  present  during  some  of  these  matches 
as  a  looker-on  in  my  early  days  (what  school-boy  will  not  get 
into  mischief  if  he  can?);  and  I  have  witnessed  their  fruits; 
which  were  reaped  in  gambling,  quarrels,  drunken  riots,  and 
bellowings  of  blasphemy.  Thank  God,  they  have  gone  from 
sight ;  and  will  never  again,  I  trust,  defile  the  light  of  day. 
So  far  as  Dent  is  concerned,  this  form  of  cruel  sport  died 
away  in  the  unhappy  years  that  closed  the  last  century. 

"In  conclusion,  I  will  add  a  few  words  more  upon  the 
social  decline  of  my  countrymen,  which  no  ingenuity  on  their 
part  could  have  averted ;  for  the  gigantic  progress  of  mechan- 
ical and  manufacturing  skill  utterly  crushed  and  swept  away 
the  little  fabric  of  industry  that  had  been  reared  in  Dent. 
Many  of  the  inhabitants  gradually  sunk  into  comparative 
poverty.  The  silken  threads  that  had  held  society  together 
began  to  fail;  and  lawless  manners  followed*. 

"  Through  all  the  years  of  my  boyhood  and  early  manhood, 
the  Magistrate,  nearest  to  Dent,  who  acted  for  the  West 
Riding  of  Yorkshire,  lived  at  Steeton  (in  the  valley  of  the 
Aire),  which  was  about  forty-two  miles  from  Dent,  and  fcyty- 
seven  or  forty-eight  from  Sedbergh.  In  those  years  several 
well-educated  men  of  ample  fortune  lived  within  the  parish 

1  This  was  written,  it  must  be  remembered,  in  1868. 
9  Memorial,  pp.  74 — 77. 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  JUSTICE.  29 


of  Sedbergh,  but  not  one  of  them  was  in  the  Commission  of 
the  Peace.  Whether  from  want  of  patriotism,  or  love  of  ease, 
or  a  too  modest  estimate  of  their  own  powers,  they  refused 
the  office.  My  Father,  through  all  the  vigorous  years  of 
his  very  long  life,  refused  to  act  as  a  Magistrate,  believing 
its  duties  inconsistent  with  those  of  a  Parish  Priest.  My 
brother  John  thought  differently,  and  obtained  his  Com- 
mission soon  after  he  became  Vicar  of  Dent,  to  the  real 
benefit  of  the  country.  For  he  knew  the  people  well ;  knew 
how  to  temper  justice  with  mercy;  and,  without  flinching  from 
his  duty  in  its  sometimes  painful  exercise,  he  was  honoured, 
trusted,  and  beloved ;  and  to  the  end  of  life  was  called  the 
poor  man's  friend — a  character  engraven  on  his  monument  by 
those  who  knew  him  well1.  The  cost  and  trouble  of  seeking 
justice  put  law  for  awhile  in  abeyance ;  or,  if  a  check  were 
put  upon  coarse  manners  and  a  disorderly  life,  it  was  some- 
times done  in  the  way  of  lynch-law,  like  that  which  on 
occasion  has  reigned  in  the  back-settlements  of  America.  I 
could  tell  some  tales  of  this  kind  that  might  raise  a  laugh ; 
but  in  very  truth  they  ought  to  be  called  tales  of  sorrow*. 

"  I  remember,  one  Sunday  evening,  when  I  was  a  young 
school-boy,  seeing  a  man  in  a  brutal  state  of  drunkenness, 
tumbling  and  bellowing  like  a  maniac  among  the  graves  and 
tombstones  of  the  church-yard,  and  challenging  any  one  in 
Dent  to  fight  him.  He  was  a  man  of  very  great  strength,  and 
of  considerable  pugilistic  skill,  which  he  had  gained  in  London, 
where  he  had  resided  for  some  time  with  a  relation,  but  had 
been  sent  back  to  Dent  for  insubordination  and  intemperance. 
When  sober  he  was  a  good-tempered  cheerful  man,  and  a 
(so-called)  'good  companion';  but  he  had  not  one  grain  of 
principle.     He  had  learnt  to  regard  sin  as  life's  jest,  and  good 

1  Supplement ^  p.  30,  note.  The  words  of  his  epitaph,  in  Dent  Church,  here 
referred  to,  are :  "His  manners  and  temper  were  gentle  and  kind,  And  endeared 
him  to  all  who  were  under  his  pastoral  care :  Nor  did  he  forfeit  their  love  while 
Faithfully  discharging  the  duties  of  a  magistrate,  For  he  was  merciful,  as  well  as 
just." 

2  Memorial,  p.  77. 


3o  SEDGWICK'S  RECOLLECTIONS  OF  DENT. 


manners  as  a  mask  or  mockery,  put  on  to  serve  a  purpose. 
When  under  excitement  he  became  fierce  and  dangerous,  and 
for  several  years  he  was  the  terror  of  the  Dale. 

"On  the  occasion  just  alluded  to,  the  constable  of  the 
parish  came  with  a  pair  of  handcuffs  and  one  or  two  assist- 
ants to  secure  the  drunken  maniac.  After  looking  at  the 
formidable  brute  for  a  few  seconds,  the  constable  said, '  If  I 
fix  these  things  on,  I  dire  not  tak  'em  off  without  ganging 
to  th'  Justice,  and  that  will  cost  the  parish  I  kn&  not  what. 
He  is  oer  drunk  to  be  dangerous,  and  I'll  give  him  a  good 
basting.'  So  he  laid  down  the  handcuffs  upon  a  tombstone, 
and  being  himself  a  man  of  activity  and  great  strength,  and 
no  mean  artist,  he  had,  in  less  than  a  minute,  so  pounded  the 
maniac's  face  that  it  lost  all  semblance  of  humanity,  and  the 
monster,  for  a  while,  had  got  his  quietus.  The  constable  then 
walked  home  with  his  handcuffs,  cheered  and  thanked  by  his 
neighbours  for  his  cheap  way  of  doing  justice. 

"Of  this  strange  scene,  acted  in  our  quiet  village  on  a 
Sunday  evening,  I  was  a  witness.  And  on  another  occasion, 
at  one  of  our  annual  Fairs,  I  saw  the  same  drunkard  put  in 
handcuffs  by  the  same  constable.  The  day  following,  the 
constable  and  his  prisoner,  and  an  assistant,  each  well 
mounted,  began  their  journey  towards  Steeton.  The  horses 
required  food ;  the  men  regarded  such  excursions  as  a  kind 
of  holiday-keeping,  and  lived  well ;  and  the  party  could 
not  return  before  the  third  day.  This  was  not  called  cheap 
justice.  The  magistrates  hated  dealing  with  country  brawls, 
and  often  quashed  the  cases  with  the  cheap  benefit  of  some 
good  advice.  And,  if  the  case  led  to  the  prisoner's  committal, 
there  were  two  more  very  long  journeys  for  the  parish  officer, 
and  more  cost  for  the  parish1." 

"  The  great  French  Revolution  seemed  to  shake  the  whole 
fabric  of  society  to  its  foundation  ;  and  the  shock  was  felt 
even  in  the  retired  valleys  of  the  north  of  England.  But  the 
inhabitants  of  Dent,  though  sorely  lowered  in  position,  had 

1  Supplement ',  p.  31,  note. 


DEPRESSION,  IMPROVEMENT.  31 

learnt  no  lesson  of  disloyalty.  They  burnt  Tom  Paine  in 
effigy — a  kind  of  fact  sure  to  fasten  itself  upon  the  memory 
of  a  boy;  and  one  of  the  statesmen,  who  had  inherited  a 
fortune  far  above  any  previously  known  in  the  valley,  engaged 
the  parish  singers,  and  others  with  lungs  that  were  lusty  and 
loyal,  to  make  nocturnal  parades  about  the  parish,  singing 
melodies  like  Rule  Britannia  and  Hearts  of  Oak ;  and  when 
the  parade  was  over,  they  were  allowed  to  crown  the  day 
with  squibs,  crackers,  loud  cheers,  and  deep  potations.  Such 
fooleries  could  do  no  good ;  and  they  did  much  harm  to 
those  who  acted  in  them. 

"  The  war  that  followed  brought  new  taxes,  and  increased 
poor-rates ;  and  no  new  gleam  of  reviving  hope  shone  upon 
our  countrymen.  I  was  still  living  at  the  Parsonage  at  the 
end  of  last  century ;  and  I  well  remember  the  two  years  of 
terrible  suffering,  when  the  necessaries  of  life  were  almost  at 
a  famine  price,  and  when  many  of  the  farmers  and  land- 
owners— before  that  time  hardly  able  to  hold  up  their  heads 
— had  to  pay  poor-rates  that  were  literally  more  than  ten 
times  the  weight  of  what  they  had  been  in  former  years.  It 
was  indeed  a  time  of  sorrow  and  great  suffering.  But  I  will 
not  end  with  notes  of  such  a  dismal  sound. 

"  Dent  has  again  revived,  and  taken  a  new  position. 
Emigration  has  relieved  the  burthen  of  the  five  hamlets. 
Education  has  made  good  progress.  Roads  are  greatly 
improved1.  I  remember  some  roads  in  Dent  so  narrow  that 
there  was  barely  room  for  one  of  the  little  country  carts  to 
pass  along  them  ;  and  they  were  so  little  cared  for,  that, 
in  the  language  of  the  country,  the  way  was  as  '  rough  as 
the  beck  staens/  I  remember  too  when  the  carts  and  the 
carriages  were  of  the  rudest  character;  moving  on  wheels 
which  did  not  revolve  about  their  axle ;  but  the  wheels  and 
their  axle  were  so  joined  as  to  revolve  together.  Four  strong 
pegs  of  wood,  fixed  in  a  cross-beam  under  the  cart,  embraced 
the  axle-tree,  which  revolved  between  the  pegs,  as  the  cart 

1  Memorial,  pp.  77,  78. 


32  SEDGWICK'S  RECOLLECTIONS  OF  DENT. 

was  dragged  on,  with  a  horrible  amount  of  friction  that 
produced  a  creaking  noise,  in  the  expressive  language  of  the 
Dales  called  Jyking.  The  friction  was  partially  relieved  by 
frequent  doses  of  tar,  administered  to  the  pegs  from  a  ram's 
horn  which  hung  behind  the  cart.  Horrible  were  the  creakings 
and  Jykings  which  set  all  teeth  on  edge  while  the  turf-carts  or 
coal-carts  were  dragged  from  the  mountains  to  the  houses  of 
the  dalesmen  in  the  hamlets  below.  Such  were  the  carts  that 
brought  the  turf  and  the  coals  to  the  vicarage,  during  all  the 
early  days  of  my  boyhood.  But  now  there  is  not  a  young 
person  in  the  valley  who  perhaps  has  so  much  as  seen  one  of 
these  clog-wheels,  as  they  were  called ;  and  our  power  of 
transport,  to  be  more  perfect,  only  wants  a  better  line  of 
road,  that  might  easily  be  made  to  avoid  those  steep  inclines, 
which  are  now  a  grievous  injury  to  the  traffic  of  the  valley. 
But,  with  all  our  modern  advantages  of  transport,  Dent  has 
lost  the  picturesque  effect  of  its  trains  of  pack-horses :  and 
many  times,  on  a  Sunday  morning,  I  have  regretted  that  I 
could  no  longer  see  the  old  statesman  riding  along  the  rough 
and  rugged  road,  with  his  wife  behind  him  mounted  upon  a 
gorgeous  family  pillion ;  and  his  daughters  walking  briskly 
at  his  side,  in  their  long  flowing  scarlet  cloaks  with  silken 
hoods1." 

The  ancestors  of  Adam  Sedgwick  have  been  statesmen 
of  Dent  for  more  than  three  centuries,  but  their  origin,  the 
orthography  of  their  name,  and  its  etymology,  have  occasioned 
many  rival  theories.  In  1379  the  name  is  spelt  Sygglieiswyk, 
Seghewyk,  Segheswyk* ;  in  1563  Seeggeswyke ;  between  161 1 
and  1619  the  parish  registers  of  Dent  give  Sidgsweeke ;  in 
1624,  Siddgswicke;  between  1645  and  1696,  Sidgwick  or 
Sidgswick.    Between   1700  and    1737   the   name  is  entered 

1  Supplement,  p.  41. 

8  From  the  rolls  of  the  collectors  of  the  subsidy  granted  to  King  Richard  II.  in 
the  West  Riding  of  Yorkshire  1378 — 79,  printed  in  The  Yorkshire  Archaological 
and  Topographical  Journal^  Vol.  v.  pp.  1  —  51.  These  and  the  succeeding 
references  to  the  spelling  of  the  name  are  due  to  the  kindness  of  Arthur  Sidgwick, 
M.A.,  Fellow  of  Corpus  Christi  College,  Oxford. 


THE  NAME  SEDGWICK.  33 

hirty-six  times.  Of  these  entries,  two  in  1701,  and  one  in 
736,  give  Sidgwkk;  all  the  rest  Sidgswick.  The  earliest 
Sedgwick  at  Dent  appears  on  the  tomb  of  the  Rev.  James 
Sedgwick,  great-uncle  to  Adam  Sedgwick,  who  died  in  1780; 
mt  in  his  register  of  baptism,  30  Sept.  1715,  he  is  entered 
is  son  of  John  Sidgswick.  Adam  Sedgwick  maintained 
hat  the  spelling  of  the  family  name  was  deliberately  changed 
>y  this  James  Sedgwick,  at  the  suggestion  of  the  then  Master 
>f  Sedbergh  school.  On  the  other  hand,  a  branch  of  the 
amily  who  had  settled  at  Wisbech  in  the  Isle  of  Ely  called 
hemselves  Sedgewick  at  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth 
lentury1,  and  they  are  said  to  have  adopted  a  characteristic 
rest,  a  bundle  of  sedge  bound  up  in  a  form  like  that  of  a 
vheat-sheaf.  Hence  it  became  natural  to  seek  for  the  origin 
)f  the  family  in  'a  village  built  on  fenny  ground,  with  an 
ibundance  of  the  water  plant  called  sedge ' ;  and  Sedgwick 
n  Westmoreland,  near  the  head  of  Morecambe  Bay,  was 
ixed  upon  as  the  birth-place  of  the  clan,  from  the  similarity 
>f  sound,  though  it  does  not  fulfil  the  other  conditions. 
\dam  Sedgwick  rejects  these  theories  for  the  following 
easons : 

"  1.  Because  the  word  sedge  is,  I  think,  unknown  in  the 
lialect  of  the  northern  Dales. 

"  2.  Because  the  well-known  village,  Sedgwick,  is  built 
ipon  a  high  and  dry  soil  that  is  washed  by  the  beautiful  waters 
>f  the  Kent,  a  stream  that  runs  brawling  over  the  rocks. 

"  3.  Because  the  word  Sedgwick  does  not  give  the  sound 
>f  the  name  as  it  was  uttered  among  the  ancient  inhabitants 
>f  the  mountains ;  nor  does  it  come  near  to  the  spelling  used 
n  former  centuries.  The  name  is  at  this  time  commonly 
>ronounced  Sigswick  by  the  natives  of  the  Dales*." 

The  same  information  is  cast  in  a  more  humorous  form 
n  the  following  letter : 

1  Visitation  of  Cambridgeshire \  made  16 19  by  Henry  St  George,  Richmond 
erald;  printed  by  Sir  Tho.  Phillips,  Middle  Hill  Press,  1840. 

*  Supplement^  p.  18.  Miss  Sedgwick  informs  me  that  the  name  is  still 
ommonly  pronounced  Sigsick. 

S.  I.  3 


34  THE  NAME  SEDGWICK. 


"The  Sidgwick  you  mention  is  of  the  Dent  stock.  His 
great-grandfather  was  brother  to  my  great-grandfather.  It 
may  be  one  step  higher ;  for  I  am  a  sorry  genealogist.  In 
the  old  Parish  Register  the  spelling  was  always  with  two  is. 
My  father's  uncle  altered  the  spelling,  and  adopted  the 
Cyclopic  form  (at  the  foolish  suggestion  of  an  old  pedant  of 
Sedbergh  School),  when  he  was  a  boy.  He  afterwards 
educated  my  father  and  sent  him  to  College;  and  so  it  came 
to  pass  that  all  my  dear  old  father's  brood  were  born  with 
the  one  i ;  or  at  least  were  so  dockited  on  all  high-ways,  and 
in  all  post-towns. 

"The  name  is  still  pronounced  (except  where  children's 
tongues  have  been  doctored  by  'pupil  teachers')  Siggswick, 
and  has  nothing  to  do  with  Sedge.  Neither  the  name  nor  the 
plant  are  known  among  my  native  hills1." 

The  etymology  of  the  word  Sedgwick  has  been  most 
kindly  investigated  by  Professor  Skeat,  with  the  following 
result.  "There  can  be  no  doubt,"  he  says,  "that  Sedgwick 
was  at  first  a  place-name,  and  then  a  personal  name.  '  Wick ' 
is  not  a  true  Anglo-Saxon  word,  but  simply  borrowed  from 
the  Latin  uicus,  a  town,  or  village.  'Sedge,"  or  'Sedj*  or 
'  Sedg '  is  simply  the  later  spelling  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  secg. 
Two  distinct  words  were  spelt  thus :  (i)  the  modern  'sedge* ; 
(2)  a  word  which  has  now  become  quite  obsolete,  but  was 
once  in  common  use,  like  uir  in  Latin.  It  is  a  derivative  from 
secg-an,  to  say,  and  meant  say-er,  speak-er>  orator y  and  generally 
man,  Jiero,  warrior.  It  could  easily  be  used  as  a  personal 
name,  as  'man'  is  now;  and  Secg-wic  is  therefore  a  town 
built  by  Mr  Secg  or  Mr  Mann,  as  we  should  say  at  the 
present  day  V 

When  Sedgwick  was  making  a  geological  tour  in  Saxony, 
he  met  a  gentleman  who  was  both  a  geologist  and  an 
antiquary.     They  fell  into  conversation  about  the  etymology 

1  To  Archdeacon  Musgrave,  13  March,  1862. 

*  In  the  same  way  Sedgeberrow,  in  Worcestershire,  is  Sccges-bcaruwe,  Le.  Seeg's- 
grove;  and  Sedgeleigh,  in  Hampshire,  is  Secges-leah^  which  means  Seeg's-lea,  not 
a  sedge-lea. 


THE  NAME  SEDGWICK.  35 

of  his  name,  and  it  was  decided  that  it  might  originally  have 
been  sieges-wick,  'village  of  victory';  whereupon,  taking 
into  account  the  position  of  the  village  of  Sedgwick,  they 
amused  themselves  by  inventing  the  following  story  : 

*  Soon  after  the  abandonment  of  England  by  the  Romans, 
the  Anglo-Saxons  invaded  the  valley  of  the  Kent,  and  settled 
there  after  they  had  driven  out  the  ancient  Britons.  Then 
came  successive  crews  of  new  invaders,  Danes  and  Norsemen ; 
and,  during  a  lawless  period,  there  were  many  conflicts 
between  the  earliest  settlers  and  the  piratical  crews,  which 
landed  and  were  engaged  in  the  highly  exciting  work  of 
burning,  plundering,  and  cattle-lifting.  On  one  of  these 
occasions,  the  plundering  sea-rovers  were  repulsed  by  the 
older  Anglo-Saxon  inhabitants,  in  a  battle  fought  on  the 
banks  of  the  Kent ;  and  the  victory  was  commemorated,  at 
first  perhaps  by  a  heap  of  stones,  and  then  by  a  village  built 
near  the  spot,  which  took  the  name  of  Siegeswick,  or  village 
of  victory1." 

Professor  Skeat  rejects  this  etymology,  and  Sedgwick  did 
not  advance  it  seriously ;  but,  even  if  it  be  erroneous,  it  may 
still  be  admitted  that  the  hero  who  gave  his  name  to  the 
village  may  have  established  his  reputation  by  an  achieve- 
ment not  so  very  different  from  that  which  Sedgwick  and 
his  friend  invented ;  and,  in  fact,  there  is  still  to  be  seen  a 
large  cairn  or  tumulus  near  the  village  in  question,  under 
which  those  who  fell  in  some  such  raid  may  have  been  in- 
terred. Moreover  the  presence  of  northern  invaders  in  old 
days  is  amply  attested  by  traces  of  their  language  still  to  be 
met  with  in  the  dales. 

Here,  however,  we  must  leave  these  interesting  specula- 
tions for  the  surer  ground  of  legal  documents  still  in  the 
possession  of  the  Sedgwick  family.  From  these  it  can  be 
ascertained  that  towards  the  end  of  the  reign  of  Queen 
Elizabeth  a  Sedgwick  was  in  possession  of  an  estate  in  Dent 
called    Bankland.     His    son    Leonard,   who    owned,   besides 

1  Supplement,  p.  19,  note. 

3—2 


36  THE  SEDGWICK  FAMILY. 


Bankland,  a  second  property  in  Dent,  called  Gibshall,  had 
twin  sons.  The  elder  of  these  inherited  Bankland,  the 
younger  Gibshall,  of  which,  at  the  end  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  a  John  Sedgwick  was  in  possession.  He  was  a  man 
of  energy ;  and,  having  a  grove  of  oak  trees  on  his  property, 
turned  tanner,  and  realised  a  handsome  fortune  out  of  their 
bark.  He  had  two  sons,  Thomas,  born  1705,  who  followed 
his  father's  trade,  and  James,  born  17 16,  who  took  Holy 
Orders,  and  became  Master  of  the  endowed  Grammar-school 
at  Horton  in  Ribblesdale.  The  former,  grandfather  to 
Adam  Sedgwick,  had  an  only  child,  Richard,  born  7  March, 
1736.  He  was  educated  at  Dent  Grammar  School  until  the 
age  of  fifteen  or  thereabouts,  when  he  was  sent  to  his  uncle  at 
Horton  for  more  advanced  instruction.  After  spending  some 
months  at  Horton,  he  was  removed  to  the  school  at  Sedbergh, 
at  the  suggestion  of  his  uncle,  who  has  the  further  credit  of 
having  persuaded  his  brother  to  give  his  son  the  benefit  of 
a  University  education.  But,  as  he  had  not  enjoyed  that 
privilege  himself,  while  Mr  Wynne  Bateman,  then  Master  of 
the  school,  had  graduated  at  St  John's  College,  Cambridge, 
in  1734,  it  is  surely  more  probable  that  the  step  was  taken 
in  consequence  of  his  advice.  Be  that  as  it  may,  Richard 
Sedgwick,  after  a  few  months  instruction  in  mathematics 
from  Mr  John  Dawson  of  Garsdale  (of  whom  more  below), 
matriculated  at  Cambridge  in  1756  as  a  sizar  of  St  Catharine's 
College,  or,  as  it  was  then  called,  Catharine  Hall.  It  has 
been  recorded  that  before  starting  he  bought  a  horse,  rode 
it  to  Cambridge,  and  there  sold  it  at  a  profit  There  was 
nothing  unusual  in  this  at  that  time.  His  cousin,  another 
Richard  Sedgwick,  went  up  to  St  John's  College,  Cambridge, 
in  the  following  year  in  the  same  manner;  and  when 
Mr  Paley,  Master  of  Giggleswick  School,  took  his  son  to 
Cambridge  in  1758,  he  rode  on  horseback,  with  the  boy  on  a 
pony  beside  him.  The  future  archdeacon  was  a  bad  rider, 
and  at  first  got  a  good  many  falls.  His  father  paid  but  little 
attention  to  his  misfortunes,   merely  turning  his  head   and 


THE  SEDGWICK  FAMILY.  37 

exclaiming:  "What,  William,  off  again!  Take  care  of  thy 
money,  lad ! " 

Richard  Sedgwick  proceeded  to  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of 
Arts  in  1760,  when  he  was  placed  seventh  in  the  second  class  of 
the  Mathematical  Tripos.  He  was  ordained  in  that  year  or  the 
next,  and  from  1761  to  1768  held  the  curacy  of  Amwell  near 
Hoddesdon  in  Hertfordshire.  He  was  also  assistant-master 
in  a  boarding-shool  at  Hoddesdon,  kept  by  Dr  James  Bennet, 
a  gentleman  of  some  distinction  in  the  literary  world,  for  he 
not  only  published  an  edition  of  Roger  Ascham's  English 
works,  but  obtained  the  collaboration  of  Dr  Samuel  Johnson, 
who  is  said  to  have  written  for  him  a  life  of  the  author  and  a 
dedication  to  the  Earl  of  Shaftesbury.  In  1766  Sedgwick 
married  Dr  Bennet's  daughter  Catherine,  and  in  1768  was 
presented  to  the  living  of  Dent  by  the  patrons,  twenty- four  of 
the  leading  statesmen  of  the  Dale — a  strong  proof  of  the 
popularity  of  the  family,  for  they  could  have  known  little  or 
nothing  of  him  personally.  His  young  wife  accompanied  her 
husband  to  Dent,  where  she  died  before  the  end  of  the 
summer  (31  July,  1768),  leaving  one  child,  who  survived  her 
mother  for  some  years.  After  her  death  (28  June,  1777)  her 
father,  married  a  distant  cousin,  Margaret  Sturgis,  by  whom 
he  had  seven  children:  Margaret  (1782),  Thomas  (1783), 
Adam  (1785),  Isabel  (1787),  Ann  (1789),  John  (1791),  James 

(1794). 

The  names  of  Adam  Sedgwick's  brothers  and  sisters  will 

occur  so  frequently  in  the  course  of  our  narrative  that  it  will 
be  best  to  mention  in  this  place  the  leading  events  in  the 
lives  of  each  of  them.  Margaret  married  late  in  life  a  distant 
cousin,  the  Rev.  John  Mason,  Vicar  of  Bothamsall  in  Notting- 
hamshire, and  chaplain  to  the  Duke  of  Newcastle.  She 
became  a  widow,  29  October,  1844,  and  returned  to  Dent, 
where  she  resided  till  her  death,  13  January,  1856.  Thomas 
passed  his  whole  life  in  Dent,  and  died,  unmarried,  19  Sep- 
tember, 1873,  aged  90.  Isabel  died  unmarried,  18  January, 
1823.    Ann  married,  22  September,  1820,  Mr  William  Westall, 


38  SEDGWICK'S  FATHER. 

an  artist  of  considerable  reputation  in  his  day,  and  died  in 
1862.  John  was  admitted  a  sizar  of  St  John's  College  in  1810, 
and  proceeded  to  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts  in  18 14,  but 
without  obtaining  Honours.  He  was  ordained  immediately 
afterwards,  and  became  curate  of  Stowe  in  Lincolnshire. 
Ultimately,  in  1822,  he  succeeded  his  father  as  Vicar  of  Dent, 
an  office  which  he  held  till  his  death,  9  February,  1859. 
James,  like  his  brother,  was  admitted  a  sizar  of  St  John's 
College,  Cambridge  in  18 13,  and  proceeded  to  the  degree  of 
Bachelor  of  Arts  in  18 17.  He  was  not  deficient  in  ability,  and 
it  was  hoped  that  he  might  take  a  good  degree,  and  perhaps 
be  elected  to  one  of  the  Fellowships  then  appropriated  to 
Sedbergh  School.  But  he  lacked  industry ;  was  placed  no 
higher  in  the  Tripos  than  sixth  in  the  third  class,  and  subse- 
quently failed  in  the  Fellowship  Examination.  Soon  after 
taking  his  degree  he  was  ordained,  and  in  March,  1818, 
became  curate  of  Freshwater  in  the  Isle  of  Wight,  where  he 
remained  until  June,  1839.  He  then  removed  to  Downham 
Market  in  Norfolk,  and  in  1840  was  presented  by  the  Dean 
and  Chapter  of  Norwich  to  the  vicarage  of  Scalby  near 
Scarborough.     He  died,  28  August,  1869. 

No  son  ever  spoke  or  wrote  of  his  father  with  greater  love 
and  respect  than  Adam  Sedgwick ;  and,  when  it  is  remem- 
bered that  the  old  man  lived  till  1828,  when  his  son  was 
forty-three  years  of  age,  everything  that  he  says  about  his 
public  character,  his  management  of  the  parish,  and  his 
influence  in  the  dale,  may  be  accepted  as  the  deliberate 
judgment  of  one  man  by  another.  Numerous  allusions  to 
him,  and  anecdotes  illustrating  the  fervid  religious  feeling, 
tempered  by  sound  common-sense,  for  which  he  was  so 
remarkable,  will  be  found  scattered  through  the  letters  printed 
below.  For  the  present  we  will  select  the  following  passages 
from  the  Memorial  and  its  Supplement.  They  are  not  only 
interesting  in  themselves,  but  reveal  the  source  of  many  of 
the  convictions  which  were  most  deeply  engrained  in  his  son's 
character. 


MR   WILBERFORCE.  39 

"  When  in  my  childhood  I  saw,  on  a  Sunday  morning, 
the  ample  convexity  of  my  father's  well-dressed  and  well- 
powdered  wig,  I  thought  it  one  of  the  most  beautiful  sights 
in  the  world.  I  remember  too,  as  he  went,  with  his  usual 
light  step,  towards  the  church,  and  saluted  his  friends  who 
were  come  to  join  in  the  sacred  services  of  the  day,  that  each 
head  was  uncovered  as  he  passed.  They  loved  my  Father, 
because  by  birth  he  was  one  of  themselves,  and  because  of 
his  kindness  and  purity  of  life.  They  were  proud  of  him  too, 
because  he  was  a  graduate  of  the  University  of  Cambridge, 
and  had  been  living  in  good  literary  society  some  years  before 
he  fixed  his  home  in  Dent  Part  of  his  influence  arose,  also, 
from  the  reputation  of  his  skill  in  athletic  exercises ;  and 
from  a  principle  of  action  which  he  carried  out  through  his 
long  life — never  to  allow  his  conception  of  his  sacred  duties 
to  come,  on  questions  of  moral  indifference,  into  a  rude 
collision  with  the  habits  and  prejudices  of  the  valley.  The 
consequence  was  that  he  held  an  almost  unbounded  influence 
over  his  flock.  Of  this  I  will  mention  one  example ;  for 
it  deserves  notice  as  a  fact  of  which  it  would  be  in  vain  to 
look  for  a  match  in  the  present  condition  of  the  Church  of 
England. 

"Some  years  before  I  ever  saw  the  light  there  was  an 
unexpected  contest  for  the  county  of  York.  Mr  Wilberforce, 
a  young  man  of  bright  presence  and  great  eloquence,  was 
then  first  named  as  a  candidate ;  and  he  had  even  then 
become  famous  as  an  enthusiastic  advocate  for  the  abolition 
of  the  Slave  Trade.  This  fact  set  every  chord  of  my  father's 
heart  in  motion.  He  consulted  his  early  friends,  the  good  old 
Quakers  in  Kirthwaite,  and  his  other  friends  in  all  the  five 
hamlets ;  and  he  personally  canvassed  the  valley  from  house 
to  house.  Then  at  least  the  inhabitants  of  the  valley  formed 
an  united  Christian  brotherhood.  At  that  time  the  free- 
holders abounded,  and  every  vote  was  pledged  for  Mr  Wilber- 
force. Soon  afterwards  came  a  solicitor  to  canvass  on  the 
other   side;    but   he   soon   left   his   canvass,  finding  himself 


40  SEDGWIC1CS  FATHER, 

unable  to  advance  a  single  step.  For  wherever  he  asked  for 
a  vote  the  reply  was,  Na2  use  Sir,  we  d  here  gang  wV  tk 
Parson.  So  the  solicitor  left  the  field  ;  mounted  his  horse  at 
the  door  of  the  Sun  Inn ;  and,  uttering  an  anathema,  cried 

out  aloud,  that  Dent  was  "the  Priest-ridden  hole  in 

England1." 

"  Great  injustice  should  I  do  to  the  memory  of  my  Father, 
were  I  to  describe  him  as  turning  his  influence  as  a  Parish 
Priest  to  serve  the  purposes  of  a  political  movement  The 
Slave  Trade  he  regarded  as  a  foul  national  sin,  which  (how- 
ever deep  its  roots  might  be  struck  into  the  policy  of  the 
State)  every  man,  who  believed  in  the  over-ruling  Providence 
of  God,  was  bound,  by  all  lawful  means  within  his  reach,  to 
root  out  and  trample  under-foot.  The  influence  he  had  over 
the  minds  of  his  flock  rested  on  his  humble  teaching  of 
Gospel  truth ;  on  the  cheerful  simplicity  of  his  life ;  and  on 
his  readiness,  at  every  turn  and  difficulty,  to  be  in  true 
Christian  love  an  adviser  and  a  peace-maker. 

"  Were  then  the  inhabitants  of  Dent,  in  any  high  sense, 
religious  men  during  the  old  times  of  their  prosperous 
industry  ?  They  were  honourable  in  their  dealings,  active  in 
their  daily  work,  steady  in  the  external  observances  of  the 
Church  Services,  and  without  the  bitterness  of  controversial 
spirit.  They  had  an  ancient  custom  which  I  may  mention 
here,  (and  many  times  when  I  have  thought  of  it  I  have 
felt  sorrow  that  it  had  ever  been  abandoned),  of  assembling 
and  holding  a  Communion  in  the  Church  at  a  very  early 
hour  on  Easter  Sunday  morning.  The  custom  had  come 
down  to  them  from  ancient  times, — probably  before  the 
Reformation.  There  was  nothing  superstitious  in  such  an 
observance ;  and  it  was  well  fitted  to  touch  the  conscience 


1  This  story  refers  to  the  general  election  of  April  1784,  when  Parliament 
had  been  dissolved  on  the  recommendation  of  Mr  Pitt.  Mr  Wilberforce,  then  a 
young  man  of  25,  successfully  contested  the  county  of  York,  with  Mr  Duncombe, 
in  opposition  to  Mr  Weddell  and  Mr  Foljambe,  the  nominees  of  the  great  Whig 
families.     Life  of  Wilberforce,  by  his  sons.     8vo.  London,  1838:  i.  50 — 64. 


OLD  CUSTOMS  OF  THE  DALE.  41 

of  any  one  who  believed  in  his  heart  that  his  Saviour  had, 
at  an  early  hour,  as  on  that  day,  triumphed  over  the  grave, 
and  opened  to  the  race  of  fallen  man  the  gate  of  everlasting 
life. 

"They  had  some  customs  that  raised  in  their  hearts  no 
reproach  of  conscience,  but  which  in  our  day  would,  by 
many,  be  thought  inconsistent  with  the  conduct  of  a  man 
who  professed  to  be  leading  a  Christian  life.  I  will  mention 
one  notorious  example.  It  had  been  a  custom,  dating  from  a 
period,  I  believe,  long  before  the  time  of  James  the  First,  for 
the  young  men  of  Dent  to  assemble  after  Sunday  Evening 
Service,  and  finish  the  day  by  a  match  at  foot-ball.  My 
father  might  perhaps  have  put  down  this  ancient  custom ; 
but  he  did  not  interfere,  because  he  thought  the  contest,  if 
carried  on  in  good-will,  tended  to  health  and  cheerfulness: 
and  he  knew  well  that  it  was  not  thought  sinful  or  indecorous 
by  the  old  inhabitants  of  Dent.  He  dreaded,  too,  the  acts  of 
intemperance  and  drunkenness  which  might  arise  out  of  the 
sudden  suppression  of  a  generous  and  healthy  exercise  in  the 
open  field. 

"  There  was  often  at  the  old  Parsonage,  on  a  Sunday 
evening,  a  small  tea-party  for  those  whose  homes  were  distant 
from  the  Church ;  and,  later  in  the  evening,  my  Father  read, 
to  a  small  assembled  circle,  from  some  serious  book  (it  might 
be  an  extract  from  one  of  Bishop  Wilson's  sermons) ;  and  the 
little  service  ended  with  a  short  family  prayer.  Now  it  was 
by  no  means  unusual  for  one,  who  had  been  contending 
robustly  in  the  foot-ball  match,  to  come  and  join  in  the  grave 
and  quiet  Sunday  evening  Service  at  the  Parsonage ;  and  the 
only  kind  of  question  the  old  Pastor  ever  asked  was  one 
which  expressed  his  trust  that  the  game  had  gone  on  in 
cheerfulness  and  good-will1." 

"  Athletic  sports  were  held  in  rivalry  by  different  parishes, 
and  were  conducted  with  great  spirit.  Matches  at  leaping, 
foot-racing,  wrestling,  and  foot-ball,  were  all  in  fashion  among 

1  Memorial,  pp.  64 — 68. 


42  FOOT-BALL  MATCH. 

the  Dalesmen.  But  the  victory  of  the  foot-ball  match  was 
regarded  as  the  crowning  glory  of  the  rural  festival.  My 
father  never  opposed  such  games,  because  he  thought 
they  promoted  health,  temperance,  and  good  social  temper. 
The  spirit  of  parochial  rivalry  sometimes,  however,  led  to 
mischief;  and  in  some  rare  instances  the  games  were  carried 
on  with  a  savage  energy. 

"  I  remember  an  occasion,  in  my  very  early  life,  when  one 
of  the  old  statesmen,  John  Mason  of  Shoolbred,  came  in 
great  haste  and  out  of  breath  into  the  Vicarage,  and  wished 
to  see  my  father.  '  I  hope  you  will  kindly  come  and  help 
us/  he  said,  'or  there  will  be  mischief  at  the  field-sports  in 
the  Great  Holm.  At  a  late  parochial  meeting  there  was  a 
sad  accident,  which  led  to  mutual  charges  of  foul-dealing. 
Several  of  us  have  been  asking  them  to  pledge  their  word, 
as  true  men,  that  all  shall  be  done  fairly  and  kindly;  but 
their  blood  is  up,  and  they  refused  with  scorn,  till  one  of 
the  men  cried  out,  'We  will  play  fairly  if  Mr  Sedgwick  will 
come  and  be  the  umpire  of  the  foot-ball  match/  '  I  will  go 
with  all  my  heart/  said  my  Father,  '  that  I  may  be  a  peace- 
maker ;  and  I  should  like  to  see  the  game.  Come,  Adam, 
take  my  hand,  and  you  shall  walk  with  me  to  the  foot-ball 
match/  I  right  willingly  obeyed  the  order;  and  though 
more  than  eighty  years  have  passed  away  since  that  day,  yet 
I  remember  standing  on  the  high  embankment  by  the  river- 
side, and  my  father's  figure  at  this  moment  seems  to  be 
living  before  my  mind's  eye.  I  remember  his  cheerful  coun- 
tenance, beaming  with  kindness,  and  lighted  by  the  flush  of 
health  ;  his  broad-brimmed  hat,  looped  at  the  sides  in  a  way 
that  told  of  a  former  fashion ;  his  full-bottomed  wig,  well- 
dressed  and  powdered  ;  and  his  large  silver  shoe-buckles ;  all 
of  them  objects  of  my  childish  admiration.  But  what  I  wish 
most  to  notice  was  the  respectful  manner  of  the  crowd. 
Many  of  them  came  to  thank  my  Father,  and  each  one 
spoke  with  uncovered  head.  Harmony  and  good-will  were 
restored  to  the  excited  combatants,  and  the  great  foot-ball 


OLD  AGE  OF  RICHARD  SEDGWICK.  43 

vent  on   and  ended   in  joyful  temper  and   mutual 

11V 

hese  reminiscences  may  be  added  another,  told  by 

k  in  the  presence  of  Miss  Lucy  Brightwell,.  daughter 

rightwell  of  Norwich,  and  written  down  by  her  shortly 

ds. 

ing  one  of  the  last  visits  the  Professor  paid  to  my  dear 
en  nearly  blind  from  cataract,  he  was  led  to  mention  his 
;r,  who  had  been  similarly  afflicted.  He  told  us  how  the 
man  was  honoured  and  loved  in  his  old  age ;  and  concluded 
following  story.  ' 

of  his  parishioners,  an  ungodly-minded  man  who  had  no 
the  Scriptures,  called  one  day  at  the  Vicarage ;  and,  being 
to  find  his  way  to  the  study,  came  unawares  upon  the  aged 
toom  he  heard  (as  he  supposed)  conversing.  He  waited 
:ned,  and  found  that  the  converse  was  in  truth  Prayer. 
ier,'  said  Professor  Sedgwick,  'being  absorbed  in  feeling, 
>nsciously  uttering  aloud  the  breathings  of  his  soul  before 
x.  The  man  remained  spell-bound  for  some  minutes,  and 
it  away,  without  saying  a  word.  But  he  had  heard  what 
d  him  of  the  reality  of  religion — he  had  found  true  and 
faith,  and  from  that  moment  ceased  to  be  an  unbeliever.' 
essor,  as  he  told  this,  was  weeping,  and  we  were  ready  to 
h  him." 

ng  the  last  twenty  years  of  his  life  Richard  Sedgwick 
icted  with  total  blindness,  and  was  in  consequence 
to  keep  a  curate.  But  he  knew  the  different  services 
church  by  heart,  and  generally  took  part  in  them, 
who  remember  him  record  that  it  was  especially 
I  to  see  and  hear  him  when  conducting  the  service  for 
ial  of  the  Dead.  Led  by  one  of  his  sons,  or  by  a 
e  would  meet  the  mourners  at  the  gate  of  the  church- 
id  precede  them  into  the  church.  He  had  a  clear 
ery  sweet  in  its  tones,  and  pronounced  the  Lesson 
ne  of  triumphant  exultation,  which  never  failed  to 
deep  impression  on  the  congregation  ;  and,  when  they 
>  the  grave,  the  prayers  were  not  read,  but  prayed. 
:her,"  Sedgwick  wrote  in  1829,  "was  a  very  happy  old 
d  over  and  over  again  said  that  his  blindness  was  a 

1  Supplement \  pp.  42,  43. 


44  DEATH  OF  RICHARD  SEDGWICK. 

blessing,  as  it  made  him  more  religious  and  more  fit  to  die. 
In  the  last  years  of  his  life  he  was,  out  of  all  comparison,  the 
most  perfect  moral  creature  I  have  ever  had  the  happiness  of 
knowing1." 

In  1822  he  resigned  the  Living,  and  went,  with  his  eldest 
son  and  daughter,  to  live  at  Flintergill,  a  small  house  at  no 
great  distance  from  the  Parsonage,  where  he  died,  14  May, 
1828.  His  son  has  recorded  that  "he  was  cheerful  and  happy 
to  his  last  day,  and  died  as  quietly  as  a  child  goes  to  sleep  in 
a  cradle*." 

1  To  Rev.  W.  Ainger,  7  February,  1829. 
*  To  Miss  Kate  Malcolm,  16  April,  1849. 


CHAPTER   II. 

(1785— 1804.) 

Birth  of  Adam  Sedgwick.  Childhood  and  boyhood  at  Dent. 
Love  of  his  native  Dale.  His  sister  Isabella.  Goes 
to  school  at  Sedbergh.  His  master  and  schoolfellows. 
Selection  of  a  College  at  Cambridge.  Reads  mathe- 
matics with  Mr  Dawson.    Account  of  him. 

Adam  Sedgwick  was  born  at  the  vicarage  of  Dent,  early  l785. 
in  the  morning  of  the  22nd  March,  1785.  The  surgeon  who  &t.  1. 
attended  his  mother  was  Mr  John  Dawson  of  Sedbergh, 
already  celebrated  as  a  mathematician,  as  mentioned  in  the 
previous  chapter,  but  still  compelled  by  poverty  to  follow  the 
more  lucrative  profession  of  a  general  medical  practitioner. 
Sedgwick  always  took  a  singular  pleasure  in  recording,  both 
in  conversation  and  in  writing,  the  circumstances  under  which 
he  came  into  the  world,  and  his  letters  contain  several  versions 
of  them.  Of  these  by  far  the  most  graphic  and  humorous 
occurs  at  the  end  of  a  letter  to  Mr  Charles  Lyell  of  Kinnordy, 
father  of  the  geologist.  He  had  been  one  of  Mr  Dawson's 
pupils,  and  had  written  to  Sedgwick  urging  him  to  draw  up 
a  memoir  of  him,  and  asking  for  some  information  respecting 
his  life  and  writings1.  "A  fourth  sheet!  I  had  no  notion 
that  I  had  finished  a  third  till  I  tried  to  find  a  blank  page. 
Well !  as  I  have  a  blank  page,  I  will  tell  you  of  my  very  first 

1  The  rest  of  the  letter,  dated  76  January,  1847,  is  printed  below,  pp.  61 — 69 
A  few  details  have  been  added  from  a  letter  to  Miss  F.  Hicks,  28  March,  1841. 


46  BIRTH. 

1785.  acquaintance  with  our  old  Master,  and  I  will  tell  it  you  as 
iEt.  1.  nearly  as  I  can  in  his  own  words:  'On  the  21st  of  March, 
1785,  I  was  called  to  attend  your  mother.  The  night  was 
tempestuous,  and  I  had  much  difficulty  in  making  my  way  to 
Dent  through  the  thick  snow ;  and  when  I  got  to  the  old 
vicarage  I  found  that  my  difficulties  were  not  over.  The 
moment  was  critical ;  and  though  you  seemed  anxious  to 
show  your  face  in  the  world,  you  were  for  doing  it  in  a 
strange  preposterous  way/  Here  he  referred  me  laughing  to 
an  early  page  of  Tristram  S/tandy.  *  So  I  sent '  said  he  *  your 
Father's  servant  to  knock  up  old  Margaret  Burton  to  help  me 
to  keep  you  in  order.'  She  was  a  celebrated  midwife,  of 
firmer  nerves  than  the  old  mathematician.  Between  them 
the  work  was  done,  and  by  hook  or  by  crook,  I  was  ushered 
into  the  world  at  about  2  o'clock,  a.m.  on  March  22nd,  1785. 
I  was  then  carried  downstairs,  in  old  Margaret's  apron, 
to  the  little  back-parlour,  where  my  Father  was  sitting  in 
some  anxiety,  as  he  had  been  told  that  his  youthful  son  was 
beginning  life  badly,  and  not  likely  to  take  good  ways. 
Margaret  threw  back  the  corners  of  her  apron  and  cried  out : 
'  Give  you  joy,  Sir,  give  you  joy !  a  fine  boy,  Sir,  as  like  you 
Sir,  as  one  pea  is  to  another.'  My  Father  looked  earnestly 
at  me  for  a  moment  or  two,  kissed  me,  and  then,  turning  to 
the  old  midwife  exclaimed :  '  Like  me  do  you  say,  Margaret, 
why  he  is  as  black  as  a  toad  ! '  '  Oh  !  Sir !  don't  speak  ill  of 
your  own  flesh  and  blood,  if  I  have  any  eyes  in  my  head  he 
is  as  white  as  a  lily,'  she  replied,  much  shocked,  while  old  Mr 
Dawson  shook  his  sides,  as  much,  I  dare  say,  as  he  did  when 
he  told  me  the  story.  To  stumble  on  the  threshold  was  of 
old  counted  a  bad  sign,  and  what  I  have  told  you  may  be 
the  reason  why  I  am  sticking  as  a  Senior  Fellow  without 
getting  on  in  the  world." 

Sedgwick's  complexion,  though  not  so  black  as  to  justify 
his  father's  comparison,  was  still  extremely  dark.  He  in- 
herited it  from  his  mother.  Mrs  Burton  acted  as  nurse  to 
young  Adam  for  a  short  time,  but  she  died  when  he  was  still 


CHILDHOOD.  47 


XX.  i—8. 


quite  a  boy,  and  he  lost  sight  of  her  family  for  many  years.    1785  to 
In  1840,  however,  an  accident  made  him  acquainted  with  her  J?*^_ 
great-granddaughter,  and  they  soon  became  sworn  friends  on 
the  strength  of  their  common  obligations  to  the  skill  of  the 
same  person1. 

As  a  child,  Adam  was  active  and  merry,  fond  of  play,  and 
given  to  tearing  his  books  rather  than  reading  them.  When 
he  was  five  years  old,  his  godfather  Mr  Parker,  then  Master 
of  the  Grammar  School  at  Dent,  gave  him  a  new  and 
handsomely  bound  spelling-book,  which  the  little  fellow 
thought  too  good  to  be  torn.  So  he  set  to  work,  and  soon 
learnt  to  read  it.  Like  his  father  before  him,  he  was  sent, 
probably  at  a  very  early  age,  to  the  public  grammar-school, 
to  be  educated  with  the  other  boys  of  the  Dale.  Mr  Parker 
was  much  attached  to  his  godson ;  and  in  the  summer  of  1793, 
when  Adam  was  eight  years  old,  he  took  him,  riding  behind 
him  on  horseback,  to  visit  his  friends  at  Hesket-Newmarket  in 
Cumberland.  The  events  of  this  summer  made  an  indelible 
impression  upon  Sedgwick's  memory.  He  refers  to  it  again 
and  again  in  his  letters,  and  always  with  pleasure.  He  was 
shown  Carlisle,  and  remembered  that  at  that  time  the  old 
walls  were  standing,  and  that  he  had  walked  all  round  the 
city  on  the  ramparts;  and  he  spent  a  few  days  at  Scaleby 
Castle,  an  old  place  of  strength  about  six  miles  from  Carlisle2, 
the  occupier  of  which  was  Mr  Fawcett,  a  distant  cousin. 
But  the  most  delightful  reminiscences  of  all  occur  in  a  letter 
which  he  wrote  in  1853  f°r  the  amusement  of  one  of  his 
nieces,  who  had  just  been  revisiting  her  birthplace,  the  Isle  of 
Wight.  "  We  all  delight,"  he  says,  "  to  revisit  the  scenes  of 
our  childhood.  Such  visits  produce  emotions,  some  cheerful 
and  some  sorrowful,  that  do  our  hearts  good,  and  they 
ought  to  teach  us  healthy  lessons.  I  almost  envy  you 
the  pleasure  of  your  visit  to  the  sweet  Island  of  your  child- 

1  To  Rev.  W.  Ainger,  23  March,  1840. 

*  To  Miss  Fanny  Hicks,  18  April,  1849.     The  walls  of  Carlisle  were  pulled 
down  in  181 1.     Life  of  Isaac  Milner,  8vo.  Cambridge,  1843,  P-  453* 


48  VISITS  CUMBERLAND. 

1793.  life.  When  I  was  a  child  of  eight  years  old  I  spent  the 
jEt.  8.  summer  vacation  at  Hesket,  a  small  village  between  Penrith 
and  Carlisle.  My  schoolmaster  took  me  home  with  him 
during  his  summer  holidays,  and  the  Grand  Turk  does  not 
think  himself  half  so  great  a  man  as  I  then  thought  myself. 
Exactly  thirty  years  afterwards,  I  landed  one  Saturday 
evening  at  Hesket,  during  my  geological  tour  in  1823.  The 
old  man  who  kept  the  Inn  when  I  was  a  child  was  still 
living;  and  I  remembered  him  by  this  token,  namely,  that 
he  had  pulled  my  ears  because  I  had,  with  a  lad  older  than 
myself,  caught  his  turkey-cock,  and  pulled  some  beautiful 
feathers  out  of  its  tail.  I  quite  rejoiced  to  see  the  old  man.  I 
forgave  the  ear-pulling  which  I  had  deserved,  and  he  had  quite 
forgotten  my  theft  of  the  feathers.  Next  day  I  went  to  church. 
A  woman  opened  the  door  of  a  pew,  and  when  I  looked  round 
I  saw  that  it  was  the  very  seat  I  used  to  sit  in  during  my  visit 
in  1793 — the  year  the  king  of  France  was  beheaded,  you 
know.  Of  course  I  knew  no  one,  but  I  observed  that  the 
well-looking  middle-aged  woman  who  had  received  me  into 
her  pew  went  to  the  house  where  my  old  school-master  lived. 
So  I  followed  her,  and  she  proved  to  be  the  sister  of  my 
master — a  young  woman  who  in  1793  was  very  kind  to  me. 
I  was  very  sentimental  all  that  day,  and  in  the  evening  drove 
to  PenrithV, 

When  they  got  home  to  Dent,  Mr  Parker  told  Mr  Sedgwick 
how  much  everybody  had  been  struck  by  his  son's  powers  of 
observation. 

Soon  after  this,  Mr  Parker  left  Dent2,  and  Mr  Sedgwick 
was  solicited  by  the  Governors  of  the  school  to  undertake  the 
Mastership,  with  one  -or  more  under-masters  to  assist  him. 
After  some  hesitation  he  consented,  and  taught  his  own  boys 
along  with  his  other  scholars.  About  Adam's  progress  tradi- 
tion is  silent ;  but  as,  in  after  years,  his  knowledge  of  Greek 


1  To  the  same,  17  July,  1853. 

2  In  1 81 2  Sedgwick  went  to  stay  with  him  "near  Macclesfield".    To  Rev.  W. 
Ainger,  14  February,  18 12. 


BOYHOOD.  49 


and  Latin  was  superior  to  that  of  most  men  as  distinguished  1793  to 
in  mathematics  as  himself,  it  may  be  safely  assumed  that  he  _  "  6 
worked  hard ;  and  that  he  had  been  well  grounded,  in  the 
first  instance  by  his  godfather,  who  was  a  clever  man,  and 
afterwards  by  his  father,  who  is  said  to  have  been  a  very  good 
scholar,  and  whose  early  experience  under  Dr  Bennet  would 
now  stand  him  in  good  stead. 

It  is  an  old  story  that  the  boy  is  father  to  the  man  ;  and 
it  is  interesting  to  find  that  the  portrait  which  family  tradition 
has  drawn  of  Adam  Sedgwick  as  a  boy  would  be  true  had  it 
been  drawn  of  him  when  he  was  grown  up.  He  did  not  give 
any  special  promise  of  future  intellectual  power,  but  he  was 
remarkable,  we  are  told,  for  a  frank,  genial  disposition ;  he 
was  full  of  fun  and  high  spirits ;  he  delighted  in  rambling 
over  the  fells  and  climbing  the  hills  which  bound  his  native 
dale ;  his  powers  of  observation  were  great ;  and  he  had  a 
plentiful  share  of  sound  practical  common-sense.  He  was 
also  distinguished  for  undeviating  truthfulness  in  all  that 
he  said  and  did.  Among  his  brothers  and  sisters  and  school- 
fellows, if  Adam  said  a  thing  was  so,  there  was  no  further 
question  about  the  matter.  "  I  almost  lived  out  of  doors," — 
he  said  in  conversation  with  Mr  J.  W.  Salter1 — "  at  fourteen 
years  old  I  was  trusted  with  a  gun,  and  coursed  over  the 
heathy  moors  the  whole  autumn  day.  I  believe  I  was  a 
tolerably  good  shot  I  was  a  fisherman  too  at  this  age,  and 
was  particularly  careful  to  obtain  the  exact  feathers  which 
were  considered  the  most  killing  flies  for  trout,  grayling,  etc. 
Nor,  though  I  ought  to  confess  it  with  some  reluctance, — 
save  that  I  never  had  an  unworthy  selfish  thought  in  the 
matter  beyond  the  joy  of  sport — was  I  quite  free  from  the 

1  Mr  Salter  accompanied  Sedgwick  to  North  Wales  in  1842  and  1843,  and 
afterwards  prepared  under  his  direction  A  Catalogue  of  the  collection  of  Cambrian 
and  Silurian  Fossils  contained  in  the  Geological  Museum  of  the  University  of 
Cambridge,  4to.  Cambridge,  1873.  While  engaged  upon  this  work  he  persuaded 
Sedgwick  to  dictate  to  him  a  few  reminiscences  of  his  early  life,  apparently  with 
the  intention  of  preparing  a  complete  biography ;  but  ill-health  and  other  en- 
gagements prevented  the  completion  of  the  task. 

S.  I.  4 


50  RECOLLECTIONS  OF  1745. 

1793  to    crime  of  poaching.     Old and  I  were  great  friends,  and 

lSo1,  many  a  night  have  I  met  him  by  appointment  to  try  our 
flies,  and  our  snares  for  rabbits,  hares,  and  pheasants.  I 
believe  he  always  had  the  game ;  the  sport  was  quite  enough 
for  me.  But  to  this  day  I  like  to  hear  the  click  of  a  fowling- 
piece;  and,  as  I  pass  a  mountain  burn,  I  can  scarcely  help 
speculating  in  what  holes  the  trout  may  be  lying. 

"But  I  did  not  quite  forget  the  rocks  and  the  fossils. 
One  of  my  early  employments  on  a  half-holiday  when  nutting 
in  Dent  woods,  was,  as  I  well  remember,  collecting  the  con- 
spicuous fossils  of  the  mountain-limestone  on  either  side  of 
the  valley.  It  was  not  till  many  years  afterwards  that  I 
understood  its  structure,  but  these  early  rambles  no  doubt 
aided  to  establish  a  taste  for  out-door  observations." 

These  geological  reminiscences  must  be  received  with 
a  certain  caution,  partly  because  Mr  Salter  was  not  suffici- 
ently well  acquainted  with  the  district  to  follow  Sedgwick's 
descriptions  of  it,  partly  because  even  the  most  truthful  of 
men  cannot  help  imparting  to  events  which  happened  in  their 
early  years  the  colouring  derived  from  fuller  study  at  a  later 
period ;  still,  as  Sedgwick  could  hardly  have  drawn  upon  his 
imagination,  even  in  extreme  old  age,  for  the  whole  story,  the 
record  has  been  thought  worth  preserving  in  this  place. 

As  might  be  expected  from  the  recollections  of  Dent  in 
former  days  which  have  been  printed  in  the  previous  chapter, 
he  loved  to  talk  with  the  old  statesmen,  and  to  hear  their 
stories  of  the  Scotch  incursions,  and  of  the  rebellion  of  1745. 
Some  of  them,  his  father  among  the  number,  had  been  at 
Kendal  in  that  eventful  year,  and  seen  the  disorderly  retreat 
of  the  remnant  of  the  Pretenders  army.  Two  incidents  of 
the  '45  can  fortunately  be  reproduced  almost  in  the  words 
in  which  Sedgwick  used  to  tell  them. 

"When  I  was  a  boy  there  was  living  at  Dent  a  certain 
Matthew  Potts,  whom  we  lads  looked  up  to  as  a  hero,  because, 
when  he  was  an  apprentice,  he  and  another  lad  ran  away 
from  their  masters,  and  followed  the  fortunes  of  the  Scottish 


BATTLE  OF  THE  NILE.  51 

army  on  their  retreat  northward.     They  were  witnesses  of    1793  to 
the  battle  of  Clifton  Moor  near  Penrith,  which  Scott  has  ^   8  'l6 
described  in  Waverley,  and  Potts  carried  off  from  the  battle-  ' 
field  a  broadsword,  a  target,  and  a  tortoise-shell  comb  stolen 
from   the  body  of  a  young  Highland  officer.     The  young 
scamps   lived   by  milking  the  cows   they  found   upon   the 
moors ;  and  they  grew  so  familiar  with  scenes  of  battle  that 
they  boasted  of  having  set  a  dead  Highlander  astride  of  a 
stone-wall  with  a  pebble  in  his  mouth  to  keep  it  open." 

"When  the  Highlanders  marched  through  Kendal  they 
were  very  badly  shod,  and  laid  hands  on  all  the  boots  and 
shoes  they  could  find.  One  of  them  went  into  the  stables  of 
the  King's  Arms  and  appropriated  a  pair  of  boots  belonging 
to  the  ostler,  who  was  out  of  the  way.  As  the  thief  was 
lagging  behind  his  comrades  to  put  on  his  ill-gotten  spoils, 
he  was  overtaken  by  the  owner  of  the  boots,  a  truculent 
fellow,  who  ran  him  through  with  a  pitchfork  and  killed  him 
on  the  spot.  My  father,  who  was  a  boy  of  ten  years  old  at 
the  time,  knew  the  ostler  well,  and  had  often  heard  the  story. 
I  think  the  histories  record  that  a  soldier  of  the  Duke  of 
Perth's  regiment  met  with  his  death  at  Kendal,  but  say 
nothing  of  the  manner  of  it1." 

The  old  men  of  the  village  were  delighted  to  have  the 
bright  boy  as  a  listener,  and  used  to  speak  of  him  afterwards 
to  his  father  as  *  a  lad  aboon  common  \  We  can  readily 
imagine  that  "Adam  d  the  Parson's,"  as  he  was  called  in 
the  dialect  of  Dent,  soon  became  a  leader  of  the  lads  of  his 
own  age;  but  the  only  records  of  his  youthful  prowess  that 
have  come  down  to  us  are  both  connected  with  bonfires. 
The  first  of  these  incidents  befel  in  1798,  when  Sedgwick 
was  thirteen.  "  I  well  remember,"  he  wrote  in  1863,  "  the  day 
that  brought  to  my  native  valley  the  news  of  the  battle  of  the 
Nile,  and  we  contrived  (for  the  schoolmaster  gave  us  a 
holiday)  to  pile  up  such  a  heap  of  turf,  sticks,  and  tar-barrels, 

1  These  stories  were  told  by  Sedgwick,  about  a  fortnight  before  his  death,  to 
W.  Aldis  Wright,  M.A.  now  Fellow  and  Vice-Master  of  Trinity  College. 

4-2 


52  VISITS  DURHAM. 


1793  to    that  we  had  nearly  set  the  village  of  Dent  on  fire1."     The 

JEt  8—  6  ot^er  was  an  annual  celebration.  In  1871,  having  occasion  to 
write  a  letter  to  Canon  Selwyn  on  the  fifth  of  November,  he 
began  as  follows :  "  This  was,  in  my  younger  days  at  Dent,  a 
day  of  joy — a  holiday,  a  hunt,  and  a  bonfire.  I  was  busy, 
with  my  schoolfellows,  a  good  part  of  the  day  in  gathering 
logs  of  wood,  collecting  turf,  and  breaking  hedges,  with 
loyalty  to  King  George,  and  detestation  of  the  Pope  and 
Jesuits.  We  clubbed  from  our  poor  purses,  and  sturdily 
begged  of  those  who  had  a  little  to  spare,  to  raise  a  stock  to 
purchase  tar-barrels — each  of  which  cost  about  eight-pence — 
and  finally  used  to  put  old  Dent  into  such  a  blaze  that  there 
was  a  serious  risk  of  our  turning  the  village  itself  into  a 
bonfire"." 

An  interesting  anecdote  respecting  this  period  has  been 
preserved  by  family  tradition.  When  Adam  was  about 
twelve  years  old,  the  conveyance  of  a  farm  in  Dent  to  the 
trustees  of  a  charity  had  to  be  executed  by  some  gentlemen 
who  resided  in  the  north  of  the  county  of  Durham.  There- 
upon a  formidable  difficulty  presented  itself.  By  what  means 
were  the  indispensable  signatures  to  be  obtained,  and  the 
deeds  brought  back  to  Dent  in  safety?  Said  one  of  the 
trustees :  "  If  anybody  can  be  depended  upon,  it  is  Adam 
Sedgwick;  and  I,  for  one,  am  quite  willing  to  entrust  the 
deeds  to  his  care,  if  his  father  will  let  him  go."  Mr  Sedgwick, 
to  the  boy's  great  delight,  made  no  objection ;  and  mounted 
on  his  father's  mare  "Bet",  Adam  rode  off  all  alone,  with 
the  precious  deeds  secured  in  saddle-bags.  He  came  back  at 
the  end  of  a  week  with  the  deeds  in  safety,  all  properly  signed 
and  sealed. 

Such  an  expedition  as  this,  taken  together  with  the  sense 
of  importance  conferred  by  it,  would  have  gratified  any  boy 
of  spirit  and  intelligence.  But,  keenly  as  Adam  admired 
new  scenes  and  fresh  objects  of  interest,  we  do  not  hear  that 

1  To  Dean  Trench,  11  April,  1863. 

2  To  Canon  Selwyn,  5  November,  1871. 


LOVE  OF  HOME.  53 


he  was  fired  with  any  special  ambition  to  leave  his  native    179310 
dale,  and  try  his  fortune  in  the  great  world  beyond  it.     A  few  -  Q  \ 

AX*  o — 10. 

years  later,  when  he  had  tasted  the  sweets  of  University  life, 
he  was  apt  to  find  Dent  somewhat  dull ;  and  in  middle  life  he 
had  other  objects  of  interest,  and  perhaps  thought  less  of  his 
home  than  of  those  who  lived  there.  But,  when  he  became 
an  old  man,  all  his  boyish  fondness  for  the  place  returned  to 
him,  and  he  has  left  many  a  charming  description  of  its 
scenery,  and  of  his  own  feelings  towards  it.  Here  is  one, 
written  from  Dent  to  Lady  Augusta  Stanley,  3  July,  1865, 
which  recalls  his  young  days  there  with  singular  vividness. 

"  I  wish  I  could,  for  a  minute  or  two,  transport  you  to  this 
place.  Not  so  much  that  you  might  look  at  my  rugged  old 
face,  as  that  you  might  gladden  your  eyes  by  gazing  over  the 
sweet  scenery  of  this  rich  pastoral  valley.  The  home  scenery 
is  delicious  ;  and  glowing  at  this  moment  (6.30  a.m.)  with  the 
richest  light  of  heaven ;  and  from  the  door  of  this  old  home 
of  my  childhood  I  can  look  down  the  valley,  and  see,  blue  in 
the  distance,  the  crests  of  the  Lake  Mountains  which  rear 
their  heads  near  the  top  of  Windermere.  All  around  me  is 
endeared  by  the  sweet  remembrances  of  early  life.  For  here 
I  spent  my  childhood  and  my  early  boyhood,  when  my 
father  and  mother  and  my  three  sisters  and  three  brothers 
were  all  living  in  this  old  house.  Our  home  was  humble ; 
but  we  were  a  merry  crew ;  and  we  were  rich  in  health,  and 
rich  in  brotherly  love.  Forgive  me  for  going  on  at  this  rate. 
I  think  you  are  a  lover  of  rural  scenery  ;  and  indeed  when  I 
return  to  Dent  I  feel  again  as  if  I  were  in  my  true  home — and 
I  quite  naturally  talk  and  think  of  the  joys  of  boyhood,  and 
begin  '  to  babble  of  green  fields  \" 

Fond  as  Sedgwick  was  of  his  brothers  and  sisters  collect- 
ively, his  chosen  friend  and  companion  was  his  sister  Isabella, 
who,  it  will  be  remembered,  was  just  two  years  younger  than 
himself.  She  died  in  1823,  and  when  we  come  to  that  part  of 
his  life,  we  shall  see  how  passionately  he  mourned  her  loss. 
Nor  did  his  sorrow  diminish  as  time  went  on.     Throughout 


54  HIS  SISTER  ISABELLA. 


1801.  his  life  he  cherished  her  memory  with  the  tenderest  affection, 
Ml  16.  and  his  letters  of  sympathy  to  friends  in  trouble  frequently 
contain  allusions  to  her,  and  to  their  early  days  together.  For 
instance,  in  1849,  twenty-six  years  after  her  death,  he  wrote 
to  a  lady  who  had  just  lost  her  own  sister :  "  I  can  feel  for 
your  great  sorrow.  I  once  lost  a  sister,  the  dearest  of  all  my 
sisters,  and  the  darling  companion  of  all  my  early  years. 
She  was  a  woman  of  most  placid  temper,  yet  of  great  personal 
courage.  We  had  our  little  squabbles  about  our  toys  when 
children  ;  but  after  we  reached  our  teens  I  think  I  never  heard 
so  much  as  a  word  from  her  lips  that  was  not  spoken  in 
kindness.  Her  death  was  a  grievous  blow  to  me,  and  I  never 
visit  my  native  hills  without  being  reminded  of  her  at  every 
turn1."  And  again,  writing  in  1864  to  the  mother  of  one  of 
his  numerous  godchildren:  "My  especial  love  to  my  dear  god- 
child. I  rejoice  to  know  that  she  is  a  jolly  tomboy.  That 
shows  that  she  has  good  spirits,  good  health,  and  the  right 
use  of  her  limbs.  I  had  a  sister,  not  quite  a  year  younger 
than  myself*.  When  a  young  girl  she  was  my  never-failing 
companion;  and  I  taught  her,  in  our  wild  valley  of  Dent, 
all  sorts  of  boys'  tricks.  For  example,  she  would  run  like  a 
monkey  up  a  tree  to  peep  into  a  magpie's  nest.  The  effect  of 
this  training  gave  her  excellent  robust  health — and  it  matured 
her  sweet  natural  temper — and  when  she  grew  up  she  was  a 
mild,  gently  feminine,  unselfish  person,  beloved  by  everyone. 
May  my  dear  god-daughter  have  health  and  temper  like  that 
of  my  beloved  tomboy  and  my  darling  sister,  and  may  God 
bless  her  with  a  longer  life8." 

When  Sedgwick  was  sixteen  he  was  sent  to  the  Grammar- 
School  at  Sedbergh,  the  mastership  of  which  was  then  in  the 
gift  of  St  John's  College,  Cambridge.  At  that  time  the  post 
was  held  by  the  Rev.  William  Stevens,  a  former  fellow  of  that 

1  To  Mrs  Homer,  14  March,  1849. 

9  The  account  of  Sedgwick's  brothers  and  sisters  given  in  the  previous 
chapter,  which  has  been  verified  from  the  parish- registers  of  Dent,  shows  that  his 
memory  was  slightly  at  fault  here. 

3  To  Mrs  Martin,  16  February,  1864. 


SCHOOL  LIFE  AT  SEDBERGH.  57 


house,  who  had  been  fifteenth  wrangler  in  1791.  As  far  as  1801  to 
mathematics  went  he  must  therefore  have  possessed  sufficient  '  , 
knowledge  for  his  position ;  but  the  school  did  not  flourish  19. 
under  his  rule.  Indeed  it  has  been  whispered  that  he  neglected 
his  duties,  and  that  "for  years  together  he  had  the  school 
locked  up,  teaching  in  his  own  house  a  few  boys,  hardly  ever 
amounting  to  ten1."  Mr  Sedgwick,  however,  must  have  had 
confidence  in  his  abilities,  for  he  sent  all  his  sons,  one  after 
another,  to  be  taught  by  him,  and  the  two  families  were  on 
terms  of  close  intimacy.  Adam  describes  him  as  "an  excellent 
scholar,  and  a  good  domestic  and  social  man'."  Perhaps  he 
took  more  pains  with  him  than  he  did  with  others ;  perhaps 
his  social  qualities  endeared  him  to  his  pupils.  For  it  should 
be  mentioned  that  he  had  been  for  a  short  time  a  chaplain  in 
the  Royal  Navy,  and  had  been  present  at  Lord  Howe's  victory 
off  Cape  St  Vincent  in  1794.  In  those  days  of  martial  enthu- 
siasm such  a  man  would  appear  little  short  of  a  hero  in  the 
eyes  of  boys,  especially  if  he  entertained  them  with  stories 
of  his  naval  experiences.  Indeed  it  is  not  improbable  that 
Sedgwick's  lifelong  interest  in  all  things  naval  may  be  traced 
to  the  influence  of  his  old  schoolmaster. 

Discipline  was  not  strict  at  Sedbergh  School.  The  boys 
boarded  at  the  neighbouring  farm-houses,  and  when  their 
work  was  done,  few  inquiries  were  made  as  to  the  employment 
of  their  time.  Half  holidays  were  generally  spent  in  fishing 
in  the  Rawthey  or  the  Lune,  or  in  rambles  over  the  mountains. 
The  farm-house  called  "the  Hill",  where  Sedgwick  boarded, 
along  with  three  other  boys,  stands  a  little  to  the  north  of  the 
town,  just  under  Winder.  As  the  woodcut  shows,  it  has  been 
but  slightly  altered  from  the  aspect  it  bore  in  his  day.  The 
farmer  was  a  quaker  named  Edmund  Foster,  a  near  connexion 
of  the  Fosters  of  Hebblethwaite  Hall,  who  were  great  friends 

1  History  of  the  Parish  and  Grammar  School  of  Sedbergh,  Yorkshire,  by 
A.  E.  Piatt.    8vo.  Lond.  1876,  p.  159. 

2  Supplement,  p.  65.  Writing  to  Ainger,  14  Feb.  181 2,  Sedgwick  speaks  of 
Mr  Stevens'  "zeal  for  the  interest  of  his  pupils";  but  adds  "there  is  something 
about  him  which  I  neither  like  nor  understand  ". 


58 


SEDBERGH  SCHOOL. 


of  the  Sedgwicks.  "  We  were  treated  ",  Adam  has  recorded, 
"with  infinite  kindness  by  the  family,  and  our  happy  freedom 
made  us  the  envy  of  our  schoolfellows'."  The  lodgers  were 
of  course  obliged  to  accommodate  their  hours  to  those  of  their 
host ;  and  it  was  to  this  training  that  Adam  attributed  the 
habit  of  early  rising  which  he  never  abandoned*. 

The   schoolhouse,  erected   in   the   last   century,  has  not 


15?^ 

5> 

w 

r 

_-_ 

r,r,'lS 

r  '  % 

la  '  M 

JA 

Door  of  the  school-In 


been  materially  altered  since  Sedgwick's  time.  It  is  an 
oblong  stone  building  in  two  floors,  about  sixty  feet  long 
by  twenty-two  feet  wide.     The  west  door,  long  disused,  and 

1  Supplement,  p.  55. 

'  To  Dr  Livingstone,  1865. 


SCHOOLFELLOWS.  59 


blocked  by  slabs  of  stone,  is  a  picturesque  example  of  the    1801  to 
classical  style  prevalent  in  the  early  part  of  the  last  century1.   J    ~ 
The  date,   17 16,  probably  indicates  the  completion   of  the       19. 
existing   building.     The   lower  floor  is  now  fitted  up  as  a 
chapel,  and  the  upper  floor 
as   a   library  and    reading- 
room.   The  words  A.  Sedg- 
wick,  1803,  are  cut  on  a 
stone  at  the  south-west  ex- 
ternal  corner.     The   inscription   was  no  doubt  intended  to 
commemorate  his  leaving  the  school,  but  whether  it  was  cut 
by  himself,  or  by  some  other  person,  is  not  now  known. 

Of  Sedgwick's  schoolfellows  at  Sedbergh  two  at  least  must 
be  specially  commemorated,  William  Ainger,  and  Miles  Bland. 
The  former,  who  in  University  standing  was  his  senior  by  one 
year,  was  the  chief  friend  of  his  early  life.  They  lived  in  close 
intimacy  at  Cambridge,  and  afterwards,  though  they  met  but 
seldom,  corresponded  with  tolerable  regularity.  Mr  Ainger, 
after  holding  several  pieces  of  preferment,  became  Principal 
of  the  Theological  College  at  St  Bees,  and  Canon  of  Chester. 
He  died  rather  suddenly  in  1840,  attended  by  his  old 
friend.  Mr  Bland  became  a  Fellow  of  St  John's  College,  and 
during  his  residence  at  Cambridge,  he  and  Sedgwick  probably 
saw  a  good  deal  of  each  other.  On  the  occasion  of  the  death 
of  their  old  Master,  Mr  Stevens,  in  1819s,  they  raised,  by  their 
joint  exertions,  a  large  sum  of  money  for  the  benefit  of  his 
widow  and  children,  for  whom  he  had  neglected  to  make  any 
provision.  But  their  friendship  was  never  very  close,  and 
after  1823,  when  Mr  Bland  accepted  the  living  of  Lilley,  in 
Hertfordshire,  and  left  the  University,  it  ceased  altogether. 

Adam  Sedgwick's  school  days  were  prolonged,  we  do  not 
know  why,  until  a  later  period  than  was  usual  at  that  time, 
for  he  was  not  sent  to  Cambridge  until   1804,  when  he  was 

1  The  beautiful  drawing  from  which  the  woodcut  was  taken  is  due  to  the  kind- 
ness of  Edward  G.  Paley,  Esq.,  of  Lancaster,  Architect. 

2  Mr  Stevens  died  9  November,  18 19,  aged  50. 


60  CHOICE  OF  A   COLLEGE. 

1801  to  well  on  his  way  to  twenty.  In  the  autumn  of  the  previous 
1  4'  year  a  council  was  held  to  determine  the  particular  college  at 
19.  which  he  should  be  entered.  It  was  composed  of  his  father, 
Mr  Stevens,  and  their  common  friend  the  Rev.  D.  M.  Peacock, 
then  Vicar  of  Sedbergh,  who  had  been  Senior  Wrangler  in 
1 79 1,  and  subsequently  a  Fellow  of  Trinity  College.  Boys 
educated  at  Sedbergh  were  usually  entered  at  St  John's 
College,  because  on  that  foundation  there  were  then  three 
Fellowships  and  ten  Scholarships  appropriated  to  the  School ; 
and  Mr  Stevens  urged  that  his  two  cleverest  boys,  Bland  and 
Sedgwick,  should  both  be  entered  there.  But  Mr  Peacock 
held  a  different  opinion.  "Bland",  he  said  to  Mr  Sedgwick, 
"is  a  better  mathematician  than  your  son.  He  will  always 
"  beat  him  in  examinations,  and,  afterwards,  if  it  comes  to  a 
"  question  of  a  Sedbergh  Fellowship,  your  son  will  not  be  the 
"  successful  candidate."  Mr  Sedgwick  assented,  and  suggested 
his  own  college,  Catharine  Hall.  "No!"  said  Mr  Peacock, 
"  Adam  is  a  clever  lad,  let  him  go  to  my  college,  Trinity,  and 
take  his  chance1."  And  so  it  came  to  pass  that  he  was  entered 
as  a  sizar  at  Trinity  College,  18  November,  1803,  under  the 
popular  tutor  Mr  Jones'. 

During  the  summer-months  of  1804  he  became  a  pupil  of 
Mr  John  Dawson,  the  surgeon-mathematician  of  Sedbergh, 
who  had  given  similar  instruction  to  his  father  just  forty-eight 

1  This  account  has  been  communicated  by  Miss  Isabella  Sedgwick,  and  there- 
fore represents  family  tradition.  Sedgwick  himself  gave  a  different  version  of  the 
reason  why  he  was  not  entered  at  St  Catharine's  College,  which  we  find  stated 
as  follows  in  a  diary  kept  by  the  Rev.  George  Elwes  Corrie,  B.D.,  then  Fellow 
and  Tutor  of  that  College,  and  afterwards  Master  of  Jesus  College:  "16  June, 
1843.  I  met  Professor  Sedgwick  in  the  Library,  who,  among  other  things,  told 
me  that  he  was  anxious  to  have  been  admitted  to  our  College,  in  consequence 
of  his  Father  having  been  of  the  Society,  but  that  owing  to  the  disputes  in 
College  at  that  time  the  Master  did  not  allow  any  admissions.1'  A  reference  to 
the  Cambridge  Calendar  for  1803  shows  that  the  offices  of  Tutor,  Bursar,  Dean, 
Lecturer,  and  Steward  were  all  vacant,  and  that  there  was  only  a  single  under- 
graduate on  the  boards.  The  Master  was  the  Rev.  Joseph  Procter,  D.D.  (1799 — 
i845)- 

2  "  18  Nov.  1803.  Admissus  est  sizator  Adamus  filius  Ricardi  Sedgwick  de 
Dent  in  Com.  Ebor.  e  Schola  apud  Sedbergh  in  eodem  Com.  sub  praesidio  Mag. 
Stevens,  ann.  nat.  19.     Mag.  Jones  tutore."    Admission  Book  of  Trinity  College. 


MR  JOHN  DA  WSON.  61 

years  before.     It  has  been  already  related  that  Mr  Dawson      1804. 
had  been  called  upon  to  use  his  skill  as  a  surgeon  to  usher    Mu  ,9- 
Adam  Sedgwick  into  the  world ;   and  now,  by  a  singular 
coincidence,  he  was  to  use  his  skill  in  another  department  to 
fit  him  for  his  entrance  into  the  University. 

This  seems  to  be  the  fitting  place  to  give  some  account  of 
this  remarkable  man,  whose  career  affords  one  of  the  most 
striking  instances  on  record  of  self-help,  of  indomitable 
perseverance  triumphing  over  difficulties  which  could  hardly 
have  been  surmounted  by  anyone,  unless  he  had  belonged, 
as  Sedgwick  said,  "  to  the  very  highest  order  of  intellectual 
greatness." 

Sedgwick  had  a  warm  affection  for  Mr  Dawson,  and  has 
left  two  accounts  of  him :  one  in  the  letter  to  Mr  Lyell,  from 
which  a  single  passage  has  been  already  quoted1;  the  other  in 
the  Supplement*  to  the  Memorial.  These  accounts,  as  might 
be  expected,  travel  over  much  of  the  same  ground,  especially 
when  describing  Mr  Dawson's  early  struggles.  An  attempt 
has  therefore  been  made,  in  the  following  pages,  to  combine 
them  into  a  continuous  narrative,  of  which  the  letter  to  Mr 
Lyell  forms  the  basis. 

"  The  outline  of  Mr  Dawson's  early  life  I  will  try  to  give 
you  in  a  very  few  words.  He  was  the  son  of  a  very  poor 
statesman  in  Garsdale8,  with  perhaps  not  more  than  ^10  or 
£12  sl  year,  and  his  vocation  was  to  look  after  the  paternal 
flock  of  sheep  on  the  mountains.  In  this  situation  he  remained, 
I  believe,  till  he  was  more  than  twenty  years  of  age.  But  he 
was  a  forgetful  shepherd,  and  was  living  in  an  ideal  world  of 
his  own.  He  had  no  money,  no  friend,  and  could  not  there- 
fore buy  books.  But  he  begged  them,  or  borrowed  them,  or 
invented  them,  for  he  actually  worked  a  system  of  Conic 
Sections  out  of  his  own  brain.  Some  small  sums  of  money 
he  gained  by  teaching,  and  in  1756  three  young  men  went  to 

1  See  above,  p.  45.  a  Supplement,  pp.  49 — 54. 

*  He  was  born  at  Rangill  Farm  in  Garsdale,  and, as  he  was  baptized  25  February, 
1734,  was  probably  born  in  January. 


62  MR  JOHN  DA  WSON. 

1804.  read  with  him  before  they  entered  the  University.  My  father, 
iEt-  '9-  who  often  spoke  of  the  Garsdale  summer  as  one  of  very  great 
happiness  and  profit,  was  one  of  them ;  Dr  Haygarth1,  after- 
wards a  physician  at  Leeds,  and  in  his  day  a  man  well  known, 
was  one  of  this  happy  number ;  the  third  took  his  degree  at 
St  John's  College,  Cambridge,  and  afterwards  had  a  living 
in  Leicestershire.  This  was  perhaps  the  first  dawn  of  the 
youthful  shepherd's  fortunes*. 

"Soon  after  this  triumvirate  went  to  the  University, 
young  Dawson  was  taken  as  a  kind  of  assistant — he  was  too 
old  to  be  a  regular  apprentice — by  Mr  Bracker  an  eminent 
surgeon  of  Lancaster,  a  man  of  science  and  good  sense,  who 
had  a  name  among  the  northern  worthies  of  last  century. 
There  he  remained  several  years,  compounding  medicines, 
solving  crusty  problems  on  an  inverted  mortar,  and  learning 
the  duties  of  his  profession  as  a  surgeon.  His  condition  was, 
during  this  time,  much  improved.  He  had  now  no  lack  of 
books,  or  want  of  sympathy ;  and  he  rapidly  made  that  great 
and  generous  progress  which  marks  an  intellect  of  first-rate 
power,  when  urged  onwards  in  its  work  by  a  never-tiring  will. 
Before  long  he  was  capable  of  holding  consultations  with 
good  professional  men,  and  of  measuring  weapons  with  mathe- 
matical analysts  of  the  highest  name  in  England.  But  he 
had  only  stolen  hours  for  his  favourite  studies,  as  his  master 
— I  think  I  may  say  his  master — was  in  great  and  wide 
practice.     As  soon  as  he  thought  himself  fit  for  the  duties 

1  John  Haygarth,  M.D.  of  Leeds,  was  born  in  Garsdale  in  1740.  He  was 
distantly  related  to  Dawson. 

2  Professor  Pryme,  who  read  with  Dawson  during  the  summer  of  1 799,  gives  a 
somewhat  different  account  of  his  early  years  :  "He  was  the  son  of  a  yeoman  in 
Garsdale.  He  had  availed  himself  of  some  books  belonging  to  his  brother,  an 
excise  officer,  to  gain  a  knowledge  of  arithmetic,  and  of  the  rudiments  of  mathe- 
matics, and  then  became  an  itinerant  schoolmaster ;  for  many  parts  of  that 
mountainous  district  were  not  sufficiently  peopled  to  maintain  one  capable  of 
teaching  anything  beyond  mere  reading  and  writing.  He  stayed  two  or  three 
months  at  a  time  in  one  house,  by  arrangement,  teaching  the  children  of  the  family 
and  neighbourhood,  and  then  removing  to  another.  In  the  meantime  he  was 
pursuing  his  own  mathematical  studies."  Autobiographic  Recollections  of  George 
Pryme.     8vo.  Lond.  1870,  p.  29. 


MR  JOHN  DA  WSON.  63 

of  his  profession,  before  he  had  attended  any  regular  aca-  1804. 
demic  medical  course,  and  without  any  medical  diploma,  ^..19. 
he  became  surgeon  and  apothecary  at  Sedbergh.  There 
he  remained  about  a  year — living  on  a  crust,  and  saving 
every  farthing  he  could  scrape  together,  till  he  was  pos- 
sessed of  nearly  £100.  This  sum  he  'stitched  up  in  the 
lining  of  his  waistcoat' — I  am  telling  you  his  own  words, 
which  I  have  more  than  once  heard  from  his  mouth  when  I 
was  a  schoolboy  at  Sedbergh.  Off  he  set,  staff  in  hand,  and 
walked  to  Edinburgh.  There  he  lived,  in  a  cheap  garret, 
upon  a  sum  so  incredibly  small,  that  I  dare  not  trust  my 
memory  with  the  mention  of  it. 

"While  making  way  with  the  medical  cycle,  and  en- 
countering a  formidable  range  of  severer  studies,  he  lived 
with  the  sternest  self-denial.  But  no  economy  could  save  his 
funds  from  wasting;  and  the  external  sinews  of  his  move- 
ments were  on  the  very  point  of  failing,  when  once  again  he 
packed  up  his  whole  stock,  took  his  good  staff  in  hand,  and 
strode  back  to  Sedbergh.  He  had  then  no  difficulty  in  meeting 
the  common  wants  of  life.  The  country  was  longing  for  his 
return,  and  professional  practice  flowed  in  upon  him.  But  he 
still  lived  with  great  self-denial,  and  by  using  all  means 
within  his  power,  both  of  head  and  of  hand,  he  amassed  a  sum 
I  believe  about  three  times  as  great  as  that  with  which  he 
walked  to  Edinburgh. 

44  Again  he  left  his  native  mountains,  and  went,  partly  on 
foot,  partly  I  believe  in  a  stage-waggon,  to  London,  with  all 
his  gold  stitched,  as  before,  in  small  parcels  under  his  waist- 
coat. 4But  I  could  not',  said  he,  'live  as  I  had  done  at 
Edinburgh/  Neither  could  he  live  in  the  same  retirement, 
for  the  sound  of  his  name  had  passed  beyond  the  Dales,  and 
several  men  of  science  sought  his  personal  acquaintance. 
Among  the  rest  he  mentioned,  I  think,  the  late  celebrated  Dr 
Waring,    Lucasian    Professor   at   Cambridge1.      'My   money 

1  Edward  Waring  was  Lucasian  Professor  of  Mathematics  from  1760  to  his 
death  in  1798.     He  proceeded  M.D.  in  1767. 


64  MR  JOHN  DA  WSON. 


1804.  went  from  me',  said  he,  'faster  than  I  wished,  but  I  got 
JEt.  19.  through  one  good  course  of  surgical  and  medical  lectures/ 
In  short,  he  became  a  regular  member  of  his  profession  ; 
obtained  a  diploma ;  and  then  returned  on  foot  to  Sedbergh. 
His  course  was  now  clear,  and  he  had  won  a  good  position  for 
himself.  He  married,  and  had  one  daughter1,  whom  you 
must  well  remember ;  settled  in  his  own  house,  and  had  the 
command  of  the  best  medical  practice  in  all  the  neighbouring 
Dales ;  and  sometimes,  to  his  sorrow,  his  duties  carried  him 
far  beyond  them. 

"  He  still  went  on  with  his  favourite  studies,  and  his  mind 
hardly  seemed  to  have  a  pause.  It  was  said  of  him,  perhaps 
in  jest,  that  he  could  solve  a  problem  better  when  riding  up 
the  Dales  on  his  saddle  than  when  sitting  at  his  private  desk. 
At  any  rate  he  made  himself  master  of  every  standard  mathe- 
matical work  known  to  the  scientific  literature  of  this  country, 
and  was  counted  among  the  very  first  analysts  of  his  day. 
This  was  not  the  mere  admiring  gossip  of  a  country  town ; 
its  truth  is  proved  by  various  profound  essays  on  contested 
points  of  Physical  Astronomy,  into  which  he  was  led,  not 
through  vain-glory,  but  from  the  simple  love  of  truth. 

"  The  rest  you  know,  I  think,  as  well  as  I.  After  several 
years  of  honourable,  and  most  successful,  practice,  in  a  wild 
and  poor  country,  and  amidst  a  thousand  interruptions  to  his 
severer  studies — he  gained  a  small  fortune  and  a  great  repu- 
tation. Cambridge  undergraduates  flocked  to  him  every 
summer.  About  1790  he  entirely  relinquished  his  practice  as 
a  surgeon,  and  devoted  himself  exclusively  to  mathematical 
teaching".     Between  1781  and  1794  he  counted  eight  Senior 

1  The  Sedbergh  Registers  show  that  John  Dawson  married  Ann  Thirnbeck,  3 
March,  1767.  Their  daughter  Mary  was  born  15  January,  1768.  Mrs  Dawson 
died  21  January  181 2 ;  her  daughter,  unmarried,  18  July,  1843. 

8  The  expense  of  attending  Mr  Dawson's  class  was  not  great.  We  have  seen  a 
letter  written  by  Dr  Butler,  Headmaster  of  Harrow  and  Dean  of  Peterborough, 
who  became  his  pupil  in  1 792.  The  letter  is  dated  1 7  June  in  that  year.  The 
writer,  after  describing  his  journey  from  London  to  Sedbergh  (which  began  on  a 
Tuesday  at  7  a.m.  and  ended  on  the  following  Saturday  at  1 1  p.m.),  mentions  that 
Mr  Dawson  charged  5*.  per  week  for  instruction  ;  and  that  he  would  have  to  pay 


MR  JOHN  DA  WSON.  65 

Wranglers  among  his  pupils.     In  1797,  1798,  1800,  and  1807      1804. 
the  Senior  Wranglers  were  also  Dawsonians1.     I  only  knew    &&•  *9- 
him  in  his  decline ;  but  he  continued,  I  believe,  to  have  pupils 
till  about  1810s. 

"  I  became  a  pupil  of  our  late  Master  in  1804,  a  few  months 
before  I  entered  at  Cambridge ;  and  at  that  time  he  was  full 
70  years  of  age.  His  intellect  was  then  as  grand  as  it  had 
ever  been,  but  his  memory  had  begun  to  fail.  I  remember  a 
singular  example  of  this  in  the  vacation  of  1806,  when  I  was 
reading  with  him  some  of  the  later  sections  of  the  first  book 
of  the  Principia,  You  remember  his  '  Peripatetic'  mode  of 
teaching.  He  came  to  the  back  of  my  chair.  '  Here  is  a 
proposition',  said  I,  'but  no  proof,  and  I  think  it  is  by  no 
means  self-evident'  He  looked  at  the  proposition  for  a 
minute,  and  then  took  his  pencil  and  worked  out  a  kind  of 
mongrel  proof,  half  analytical,  and  half  geometrical,  on  a  slate. 
This  was  done  in  about  ten  minutes.  Judge  of  my  surprise ! 
On  turning  over  the  leaf  I  found  Newton's  proof  on  the  next 
page  !  I  called  Mr  Dawson  back,  and  showed  it  to  him.  He 
was  as  much  surprised  as  myself,  and  said,  with  an  expression 
of  sorrow,  that  he  had  gone  over  this  section  many  hundred 
times,  and  ought  not  to  have  forgotten  the  proposition.  *  But', 
he  added,  '  I  am  beginning  to  have  an  old  man's  memory.' 

at  the  King's  Anns  Inn  "the  best  in  the  town"  is.  6d.  per  week  for  an  excellent 
room  ;  for  dinner  lod.  a  day,  and  for  breakfast  id,  "Dinner"  he  says  "consisted 
of  a  leg  of  mutton  and  potatoes,  both  hot ;  ham  and  tongue,  gooseberry  tarts, 
cheese,  butter,  and  bread:  pretty  well  for  iod."  The  letter  is  printed  in  The 
Stdbcrghian  for  December,  1881. 

1  The  Senior  Wranglers  of  these  four  years  were:  1797,  John  Hudson,  Trinity, 
afterwards  Fellow  and  Tutor;  1798,  Thomas  Sowerby,  Trinity,  afterwards  Fellow 
and  Tutor  of  Queens'  College ;  1800,  James  Inman,  St  John's,  afterwards  Mathe- 
matical Professor  in  the  Royal  Naval  College;  1807,  Henry  Gipps,  St  John's. 
The  previous  eight  cannot  all  be  identified,  but  the  following  may  be  safely  claimed 
for  Dawson  :  1786,  John  Bell,  Trinity;  1792,  John  Palmer,  Professor  of  Arabic 
on  Sir  T.  Adams'  foundation;  1793,  Thomas  Harrison,  Queens';  1794,  George 
Butler,  Sidney. 

1  There  is  a  slight  error  here.  Miss  Ann  Sedgwick  writes  to  her  brother  25 
July,  i8n  :  "James  is  attending  Mr  Dawson  during  Mr  Stevens'  vacation.  It  is 
his  last  opportunity,  as  Mr  Dawson  takes  no  more  pupils  after  this  summer.  He 
has  at  present  fourteen." 

S.  L  5 


66  MR  JOHN  DA  WSON, 

1804.  "About  twelve  or  thirteen  years  afterwards,  I  called  on 

iEt-  *9-  him  during  one  of  my  visits  to  my  native  valley  of  Dent  He 
seemed  delighted  to  see  me,  roused  himself,  talked  of  Cam- 
bridge, of  his  own  early  studies,  of  our  change  of  system,  of 
some  new  work  of  analysis,  and  especially  of  the  Calculus  of 
Variations,  with  which,  he  said,  he  had  just  begun  to  be 
acquainted  when  his  mind  began  to  fail,  and  he  was  by  old 
age  made  incapable  of  any  new  and  severe  study.  '  I  have 
sometimes  grieved/  he  said, '  but  perhaps  it  is  ungrateful  of 
me,  that  I  did  not  know  this  powerful  implement  of  discovery 
in  early  life.  I  thought  that  I  might  have  grasped  it,  and 
then  tried  my  hand  with  some  of  the  great  problems  of  physical 
astronomy ;  but  now  I  am  a  feeble  old  man,  and  my  days  are 
nearly  numbered/  While  this  conversation  was  going  on, 
with  no  small  animation  on  his  part — to  the  utter  amazement 
of  his  daughter  and  myself,  for  she  told  me  afterwards  that  she 
had  hardly  heard  him  talk  collectedly  for  many  weeks,  and  I 
expected  only  to  see  a  venerable  intellectual  ruin,  and  bid 
him  a  sorrowful  adieu  for  ever — in  came  some  neighbours  and 
interrupted  him.  He  became  silent  at  once.  They  went 
away  in  ten  minutes,  and  I  then  tried  again  to  arouse  him, 
and  lead  him  back  to  the  subjects  on  which  he  had  dwelt  with 
so  much  energy  and  apparent  delight.  But  all  in  vain.  He 
had  forgotten  every  syllable  of  our  conversation,  and  was 
become  again  a  mere  dotard.  I  left  him  with  most  oppressive 
feelings  of  admiration  and  sorrow,  and  I  never  saw  his  face 
again. 

"  Such  is  my  outline,  but  I  have  given  it  you  in  more 
words  than  I  first  intended.  He  published  one  or  two  good 
mathematical  tracts  in  the  Mancfiester  Memoirs1,  which,  as  you 
well  know,  have  become  famous  as  the  vehicle  of  Dalton's* 

1  This  is  a  mistake.  Dawson  wrote  no  papers  in  the  Manchester  Memoirs. 
Sedgwick  was  probably  thinking  of  some  letters  by  him  in  Hutton's  Miscellanea 
Mathematica,  signed  "Wadson,"  in  which  he  attacked  a  theory  advanced  by  the 
Rev.  C.  Wildbore,  On  the  velocity  of  water  issuing  from  a  vessel  in  motion. 

8  John  Dalton,  of  Manchester,  F.R.S.,  Chemist  and  natural  philosopher, 
born  1766,  died  1844. 


MR  JOHN  DA  WSON.  67 


great  chemical  generalisations.  He  was  engaged  in  a  contro-  1804. 
versy  with  that  strange  but  clever  mathematical  bear  Emerson1.  ^St.  19. 
Thomas  Simpson*  had  shown,  in  an  analytical  investigation, 
that  Newton  had  made  a  slip  in  his  great  problem  of  Precession. 
Spite  of  this  blunder  it  is  one  of  Newton's  very  greatest 
triumphs.  Emerson  worshipped  Newton,  and  abused  every 
other  son  of  man.  So  on  principle  he  opened  a  foul-mouthed 
volley  on  poor  Thomas  Simpson.  Dawson  replied  by  sending 
an  entirely  independent  analytical  investigation  of  the  same 
great  problem,  which  gave  a  result  identical  with  that  of 
Simpson,  at  the  same  time  modestly  pointing  out  the  slip  in 
Newton's  demonstration.  This  produced  a  volley  of  abuse 
and  nothing  better,  from  his  opponent,  and  so  the  matter 
dropped. 

"Ata  later  period  Mr  Dawson  wrote  an  excellent  memoir 
on  certain  problems  in  the  Lunar  Theory,  in  reply  to  a 
geometrical  essay  on  the  same  subject  by  Matthew  Stewart 
(father  of  the  celebrated  Dugald  Stewart),  of  Edinburgh. 
Our  old  tutor  proved  to  demonstration  that  purely  geometrical 
methods  must  in  many  approximations  necessarily  fail,  and  in 
nearly  all  must  be  unsatisfactory,  inasmuch  as  they  do  not 
give  us  any  certain  data  as  to  the  value  of  the  terms  left  out 
in  the  approximation.  This  controversy  was  carried  on  in  the 
pure  love  of  truth,  and  in  a  most  excellent  spirit.  Dawson 
had  the  entire  victory,  and  his  tract  procured  him  the  personal 
friendship  of  some  of  the  leading  Edinburgh  philosophers8. 

1  William  Emerson,  mathematician,  born  1701,  died  1781. 

3  Thomas  Simpson,  F.R.S.,  mathematician,  born  17 10,  died  1761. 

9  In  1763  Mr  Stewart  published  an  essay  on  the  "Sun's  Distance",  which  he 
made  out  to  be  far  in  excess  of  previous  estimations  of  it.  Dr  Chalmers  (s.  v. 
Stewart)  says  that  "even  among  astronomers,  it  was  not  every  one  who  could 
judge  in  a  matter  of  such  difficult  discussion.  Accordingly,  it  was  not  till  about 
five  years  after  the  publication  of  the  '  Sun's  Distance '  that  there  appeared  a 
pamphlet,  under  the  title  of  Four  Propositions  >  intended  to  point  out  certain  errors 
in  Dr  Stewart's  investigation,  which  had  given  a  result  much  greater  than  the 
truth."  After  describing  the  nature  of  these  errors,  Dr  Chalmers  adds:  "  And  it 
is  but  justice  to  acknowledge  that,  besides  being  just  in  the  points  already  mentioned, 
they  [the  Four  Propositions]  are  very  ingenious,  and  written  with  much  modesty 
and  good  temper.     The  author,  who  at  first  concealed  his  name,  but  afterwards 

5-2 


68  MR  JOHN  DA  WSON. 


1804.  After  this,  he  was  visited  at  Sedbergh  by  Playfair1,  Lord 
j£l  19.    Webb  Seymour,  and  Lord  Brougham. 

"  The  pamphlet  you  inquire  after  was  written,  I  believe, 
sometime  between  1780  and  1790,  in  reply  to  some  of  the 
published  doctrines  of  Priestley  in  his  tract  on  Philosophical 
Necessity.  Dawson  thought  the  doctrine  of  immoral  tendency, 
and  not  true.  He  attacked  it  with  firmness,  but  with  his 
usual  calm  temper.  Priestley  replied,  also  in  a  good  spirit, 
and  ever  afterwards  spoke  of  Dawson  in  terms  of  respect 
and  admiration*. 

"  Our  old  master  was  a  firm  believer,  and  a  good  sober 
practical  Christian  of  the  old  school.  His  moral  influence 
was  felt  by  all  near  him,  but  he  loved  a  good  story,  and  told 
his  rough  adventures  among  his  country  patients  with  infinite 
humour.  I  have,  however,  no  time  to  tell  you  any  of  them 
now.  His  sphere  of  usefulness  was  limited.  The  wonder  is 
that  he  could  do  anything,  circumstanced  as  he  was,  to  make 
himself  a  name.  On  the  whole  I  think  him  a  man  belonging 
to  the  very  highest  order  of  intellectual  greatness. 

"  I  knew  him  well  in  his  honoured  old  age,  for  I  was  his 

consented  to  its  being  made  public,  was  Mr  Dawson,  a  surgeon  at  Sedbergh  in 
Yorkshire,  and  one  of  the  most  ingenious  mathematicians  and  philosophers  which 
this  country  at  that  time  possessed. " 

1  John  Playfair,  mathematician  and  natural  philosopher,  of  Edinburgh  :  born 
1749,  died  1 8 19. 

2  Thomas  Priestley  published,  in  1777,  a  pamphlet  entitled  The  Doctrine  of 
Philosophical  Necessity.  Dawson's  reply  was  first  published  anonymously  in 
1 78 1 :  The  Doctrine  of  Philosophical  Necessity  briefly  invalidated,  8vo.  1781.  An 
answer  appeared  in  The  Monthly  Review  or  Literary  Journal  for  July,  1781 
(p.  66),  but  Dawson's  name  is  not  mentioned.  Subsequently  Dawson  published 
a  second  edition :  The  Doctrine  of  Philosophical  Necessity  briefly  invalidated,  by 
John  Dawson  of  Sedbergh.  Second  edition,  to  which  is  now  added  an  Appendix. 
"  And  binding  Nature  fast  in  fate,  Left  free  the  human  will."  Pope.  i2mo.  Lond. 
1803. 

It  should  be  mentioned  that  Dawson  had  paid  a  good  deal  of  attention  to 
metaphysics  and  theology,  as  shown  by  his  correspondence  with  the  Rev.  Thomas 
Wilson,  who  had  been  his  pupil  in  early  life.  The  quotations  in  these  letters  prove 
that  he  had  at  least  a  respectable  knowledge  of  Latin  and  Greek,  though  he 
laments  his  inability  to  read  the  Fathers  in  the  original.  Selections  from  the 
Poems  and  Correspondence  of  the  Rev.  T.  Wilson,  Cheetham  Society,  1857,  pp. 
106 — 135. 


MR  JOHN  DA  WSON.  69 


pupil  during  three  successive  summers  of  my  undergraduate  1804. 
life,  but  it  is  hard  for  me  to  do  full  justice  to  the  head  and  Mu  '9- 
heart  of  my  dear  old  master.  Simple  in  manners,  cheerful 
and  mirthful  in  temper,  with  a  dress  approaching  that  of  the 
higher  class  of  the  venerable  old  Quakers  of  the  Dales,  without 
any  stiffness  or  affectation  of  superiority,  yet  did  he  bear  at 
first  sight  a  very  commanding  presence,  and  it  was  impossible 
to  glance  at  him  for  a  moment  without  feeling  that  we  were 
before  one  to  whom  God  had  given  gifts  above  those  of  a 
common  man.  His  powerful  projecting  forehead  and  well- 
chiselled  features  told  of  much  thought ;  and  might  have 
implied  severity,  had  not  a  soft  radiant  benevolence  played 
over  his  fine  old  face,  which  inspired  his  friends,  of  whatever 
age  or  rank,  with  confidence  and  love. 

"  Happy  were  the  days,  both  to  young  and  old,  when  the 
genial-hearted  philosopher  walked  over  the  hills,  which  he  did 
frequently,  to  spend  a  few  hours  at  the  Vicarage  of  Dent! 
Whenever  he  and  my  father  met,  their  hearts  seemed  to  be 
warmed  with  the  spirits  of  two  schoolboys  meeting  on  a 
holiday.  And  well  might  they  be  happy  in  the  sweet  remem- 
brances of  God's  mercies  so  long  vouchsafed  to  them,  and  in 
those  firm  unflinching  Christian  hopes  that  gave  a  bright 
colour  to  the  days  of  their  old  age1." 

Our  portrait  of  Mr  Dawson  is  reduced  from  a  beautiful 
water-colour  drawing  by  William  Westall — who  married 
Sedgwick's  sister  Ann — dated  18 17,  three  years  before 
Dawson's  death.    It  represents  him  therefore  "in  his  honoured 

1  Mr  Dawson  died  19  September,  1820.  A  few  years  afterwards  a  monument 
was  erected  to  his  memory,  on  the  south  side  of  the  central  aisle  of  Sedbergh 
Church,  by  some  of  his  former  pupils.  It  consists  of  a  black  marble  niche, 
enclosing  a  bust,  inscribed  "Sievier  sculp*.  Aug.  1825."  Beneath,  is  a 
white  marble  tablet  bearing  the  following  inscription:  "In  memory  of  John 
Dawson,  of  Sedbergh,  who  died  on  the  19th  Sept.  1820,  aged  86  years. 
Distinguished  by  his  profound  knowledge  of  mathematics,  beloved  for  his 
amiable  simplicity  of  character,  and  revered  for  his  exemplary  discharge  of 
every  moral  and  religious  duty.  This  monument  was  erected  by  his  grateful  pupils, 
as  their  last  tribute  of  affection  and  esteem."  The  inscription  was  written  by 
Mr  John  Bell,  the  distinguished  leader  at  the  Chancery  Bar,  who  had  been  one 
of  Mr  Dawson's  Senior  Wranglers,  as  mentioned  above,  p.  65,  note. 


1 8c 
/lit. 


^ip 


JOHN     DAWSON,     OF     SEDBERQH. 
Born   1734;   diet/  1810- 

From  a  teattr-eoleur  drawing  by  William  IVtstall,   1 

page  :«,  Vol.  t. 


CHAPTER   III. 

(1804 — 1810.) 

Begins  residence  at  Trinity  College,  Cambridge  (1804). 
The  Rev.  T.  Jones.  Christmas  at  Whittlesea.  College 
Examination  (1805).  Summer  at  Dent.  Fever.  Life 
and  friends  at  cambridge  (1806).  preparation  for 
degree  (1807).  System  of  Acts  and  Opponencies.  Sedg- 
wick's first  Act.  University  election  for  M.P.  His 
Father's  account  of  the  Yorkshire  election.  Scholar- 
ship at  Trinity  College.  Blindness  of  his  Father. 
Senate-House  Examination  (1808).  Revisits  Dent.  Read- 
ing party  at  Ditton.  Classical  work  (1809).  Fellow- 
ship (1810). 

SEDGWICK    went    up    to   Cambridge,   accompanied   by   his     1804. 
friend  Bland,  in  October,  1804.    They  left  Dent,  or  Sedbergh,    ^  l9- 
on  Saturday,  29  September ;  spent  Sunday  with  a  friend  at 
Kirkby  Stephen,  and  on  Monday  joined  the  "  Paul  Jones " 
coach    at    Brough,   in   which    delightful    vehicle,   "  an    old 
six-inside,"  they  passed  three  days  and  two  dismal  nights1. 

The  fear  of  a  French  invasion  was  at  that  time  uppermost 
in  the  minds  of  Englishmen.  As  Sedgwick  often  said  '  England 
looked  like  a  great  camp'1;  and  the  occupation  of  arming 
and  drilling,  which  had  penetrated  even  to  the  University, 
together  with  the  paralysis  of  trade,  and  the  high  prices  of 

1  To  Miss  Sedgwick  (U.S.),  is  October,  1853.      To  Miss  Isabella  Sedgwick, 
1  October,  1851. 


72  ENTERS  COLLEGE. 


1804.  the  common  necessaries  of  life,  had  seriously  diminished  the 
Mt.  19.  number  of  young  men  who  could  afford  a  University  education. 
In  1804  only  128  presented  themselves  for  matriculation,  the 
smallest  number  since  1775,  when  it  had  sunk  as  low  as  121  \ 
More  than  one  of  Sedgwick's  contemporaries  has  been 
heard  to  say  that  when  he  first  made  his  appearance  in 
Trinity  Collegje  he  was  thought  uncouth,  and  that  some  time 
elapsed  before  he  was  properly  appreciated.  -  This  unfavour- 
able judgment  need  not  surprise  us.  It  must  be  remembered 
that  though  he  was  nearly  twenty  years  of  age,  he  had  never 
quitted  his  home,  or  its  immediate  neighbourhood,  for  more 
than  a  few  days  at  a  time.  Carlisle  was  probably  the 
furthest  point  he  had  reached  in  any  of  his  brief  excursions. 
Nor,  in  that  remote  corner  of  England,  could  he  have  had 
any  opportunity  of  associating  with  men  of  the  world.  When 
we  have  mentioned  his  own  father,  the  vicar  of  Sedbergh, 
Mr  Dawson,  and  two  or  three  of  the  neighbouring  country- 
gentlemen,  the  list  of  his  older  friends  is  exhausted.  From 
the  young  men  of  his  own  age,  whose  ideas  of  amusement 
were  confined  to  sport,  wakes,  and  drinking-bouts*,  he  could 
have  learnt  nothing  but  tastes  and  customs  c  more  honoured 
in  the  breach  than  the  observance ',  and  that  he  never  gave 
way  to  such  himself,  to  any  serious  extent,  is  a  proof  either 
of  his  father's  influence,  or  of  his  own  strength  of  will.    On 

1  In  the  first  six  years  of  the  present  century,  1800 — 1805,  the  average  (neglect- 
ing fractions)  was  150:  in  the  last  six  years  of  the  previous  century  it  had  been 
156.    Between  1806  and  181 1  it  rose  to  33a  ;  and  between  1813  and  1817  to  178. 

a  A  friend — a  clergyman — writing  to  Sedgwick  28  July,  1807,  records  the 
following  experiences :  "  I  had  fully  determined  to  write  to  you  immediately  after 
my  return  from  Yorkshire ;  but  a  number  of  Feasts  crowded  upon  me  in  such 
quick  succession  that  I  found  myself  unable  to  devote  a  single  hour  to  correspond- 
ents.    Mr 's  house  was  filled  with  company  on  Sunday,  Monday,  Tuesday, 

and  Thursday,  many  of  whom  never  thought  of  flinching  till  three  or  four  o'clock 
each  morning;  they  then  staggered  home  to  bed.... We  met  with  the  usual 
hospitality  in  Dent.... They  even  kicked  up  a  dance  for  us  in  the  old  school-room 
on  Whit  Friday.  Your  Brother  John  and  I  unluckily  dined  with  Thomas 
Fawcett  on  that  day,  where  we  met  a  set  of  rook-shooting  Bloods  from  Kendal. 
They  all  drank  very  freely,  and  tho*  John  and  I  left  early  in  the  afternoon,  yet  we 
were  far  from  sober.  This  however  did  not  prevent  our  joining  in  the  dance,  and 
frisking  away  as  well  as  the  best  of  them." 


REV.   THOMAS  JONES.  73 

a  young  man  brought  up  as  he  had  b^en,  the  University  1804. 
would  produce  the  sense  of  wonder  and  bewilderment  which  Mt-  *9- 
we  associate  with  the  first  sight  of  a  crowded  capital.  He  must 
have  felt  out  of  his  element  among  scenes  for  which  he  would 
be  less  prepared  than  most  undergraduates  even  at  that  time, 
when  journeys  were  not  lightly  undertaken,  and  when  most 
people  could  say,  with  the  Vicar  of  Wakefield,  that  their 
longest  migrations  were  from  the  blue  bed  to  the  brown.  His 
dress,  his  manners,  and  his  bearing  would  bespeak  him  a  plain 
unsophisticated  Dalesman1. 

Sedgwick's  tutor  at  Trinity  College,  as  mentioned  in  pie 
previous  chapter,  was  the  Rev.  Thomas  Jones.  It  would  be 
difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  name  any  one  man,  who  by  force 
of  personal  character,  vigour  of  intellect,  and  unwearied  devo- 
tion to  his  duties,  was  enabled  to  effect  a  more  enduring 
influence  for  good  on  the  moral  and  intellectual  life  of  his 
college.  He  had  been  Senior  Wrangler  and  first  Smith's 
Prizeman  in  1779,  and  was  elected  Fellow  in  178 1.  A  few 
years  after  his  election  he  took  part  in  a  movement  of  such 
far-reaching  importance,  that  we  must  briefly  notice  it.  For 
some  years  the  examination  for  scholarships  and  fellowships 
had  been  conducted  in  private — candidates  "went  their  rounds 
to  the  electing  seniors*".  This  system  could  never  have  been 
a  good  one,  and  of  late  years  it  had  been  grossly  abused, 
inasmuch  as  it  was  notorious  that  some  of  the  Seniors  had 
voted  at  elections  without  having  examined,  and  others  had 
been  personally  influenced  in  favour  of  particular  candidates. 
In  October,  1786,  an  election  to  Fellowships,  made  "exactly 
in  the  most  improper,  as  well  as  the  most  unpopular,  manner 
possible8",  brought  matters  to  a  crisis.     Ten  of  the  Junior 

1  Unfortunately  none  of  the  numerous  letters  which  Sedgwick  is  known  to 
have  written  to  the  home-circle  at  Dent  have  been  preserved. 

1  Memoirs  of  Richard  Cumberland,  4to,  London,  1806,  p.  106.  The  author 
gives  a  detailed  account  of  the  way  in  which  the  whole  examination  was  then 
conducted,  which  well  deserves  careful  perusal. 

1  Mr  John  Baynes  to  Mr  Romilly,  in  Memoirs  of  the  Life  of  Sir  S.  Romilly, 
e<L  1841,  i.  253.    The  writer,  one  of  the  Junior  Fellows  who  signed  the  Memorial, 


74  REV.   THOMAS  JONES. 


1804.  Fellows — among  whom  was  Jones — addressed  to  the  Master 
-**•  *9-  and  Seniors  a  remonstrance,  which  alleged  that  the  practice 
was  in  opposition  to  the  statutes,  and  tended  to  destroy  the 
objects  of  the  foundation.  The  Master  and  Seniors,  greatly 
incensed,  cautioned  the  memorialists  to  behave  with  greater 
deference  to  their  superiors,  and  entered  an  admonition  to 
that  effect  in  the  Conclusion  Book.  From  this  sentence  the 
Junior  Fellows  appealed  to  the  Visitor.  The  appeal  was 
heard  by  Lord  Chancellor  Thurlow  on  behalf  of  the  Crown. 
His  sentence,  while  condemning  the  form  which  the  action  of 
the  memorialists  had  taken,  condemned  the  practice  com- 
plained of  more  strongly  still.  The  result  was  eminently 
satisfactory.  Not  only  were  the  remonstrance  and  the 
admonition  both  withdrawn,  but  the  Master  insisted  ever 
after  on  each  elector  being  a  bond  fide  examiner;  and,  in 
the  following  year  (1787),  notwithstanding  the  share  which 
Jones  had  taken  in  the  memorial,  he  was  elected  Senior 
Tutor — an  office  which  he  held  until  his  death  in  1807,  at 
the  comparatively  early  age  of  fifty-one1. 

It  must  be  recollected  that  in  those  days  private  tutors 
were  not  commonly  resorted  to,  and  indeed,  during  the  two 
years  which  preceded  the  examinations  for  degree,  were 
forbidden  by  Grace  of  the  Senate".  In  consequence  of  this, 
and  of  the  comparatively  small  number  of  undergraduates, 
the  college  tutors  were  brought  into  closer  relations  with 
their  pupils  than  is  possible  at  present,  for  they  were  not 

takes  credit  to  himself  for  having  originated  it.  As  he  and  Miles  Popple,  another 
of  the  Memorialists,  were  parties  to  the  appeal  to  the  Visitor,  it  is  probable  that 
they  were  the  prime  movers  in  the  whole  matter. 

1  Cooper's  Annals,  iv.  424;  Gunning's  Reminiscences,  ed.  1855,  ii.  100; 
Monk's  Life  of  Btntley,  ed.  1833,  ii.  423. 

8  Grace,  35  February,  1781.  It  is  printed  at  length  in  Whewell,  Of  a 
Liberal  Education,  Part  1.,  p.  110.  The  time  at  the  end  of  a  student's  career 
during  which  reading  with  a  private  tutor  was  prohibited,  was  gradually  diminished. 
By  Grace,  9  April,  1807,  it  was  reduced  to  a  year  and  a  half;  by  a  subsequent 
Grace,  3  July,  181 5,  to  one  year.  Ibid.  p.  221.  The  Grace  of  1781,  it  should  be 
observed,  limits  its  prohibition  to  tutors  engaged  within  the  precincts  of  the 
University  (intra  Academiam).  A  student  was  at  liberty  to  read  with  whom  he 
pleased  during  the  vacations. 


REV.   THOMAS  JONES.  75 


only  advisers,  but  instructors.     In  both  capacities  Mr  Jones     1864. 
was    preeminent.      His    friend    and    biographer,    the    Rev.    JEt-  *9- 
Herbert  Marsh,  has  recorded  that  in  his  duties  as  College 
Tutor 

"he  displayed  an  ability  which  was  rarely  equalled,  with  an 
integrity  which  never  was  surpassed.  They  only,  who  have  had 
the  benefit  of  attending  his  lectures,  are  able  to  estimate  their  value. 
Being  perfect  master  of  his  subjects,  he  always  placed  them  in  the 
clearest  point  of  view ;  and  by  his  manner  of  treating  them,  he  made 
them  interesting  even  to  those  who  had  otherwise  no  relish  for 
mathematical  inquiries. 

"  As  a  companion,  he  was  highly  convivial :  he  possessed  a  vein 
of  humour  peculiar  to  himself;  and  no  one  told  a  story  with  more 
effect  His  manners  were  mild  and  unassuming,  and  his  gentleness 
was  equalled  only  by  his  firmness.  As  a  friend,  he  had  no  other  limit 
to  his  kindness  than  his  ability  to  serve.  Indeed  his  whole  life  was 
a  life  of  benevolence,  and  he  wasted  his  strength  in  exerting  himself 
for  others.  The  benefits  which  he  conferred  were  frequently  so  great, 
and  the  persons  who  subsisted  by  his  bounty  were  so  numerous,  that 
he  was  often  distressed  in  the  midst  of  affluence.  And  though  he 
was  Head  Tutor  of  Trinity  College  almost  twenty  years,  with  more 
pupils  than  any  of  his  predecessors,  he  never  acquired  a  sufficient 
capital  to  enable  him  to  retire  from  office  and  still  continue  his 
accustomed  beneficence  V 


To  this  sober  prose  may  be  added  a  few  lines  from  an 
elegy  by  Robert  Dealtry,  LL.D.,  written  after  Jones'  death. 
The  verse  is  poor,  but  the  sentiments  have  the  true  ring  of 
sincerity : 

"The  wild  unbroken  boy  he  led,  not  drove, 
And  changed  coercion  for  paternal  love. 
By  mildness  won,  youth  found  resistance  vain, 
Bound  in  a  silken,  yet  a  snapless  chain. 
Around  his  sacred  tomb  th'  ingenuous  band 
Of  sorrowing  pupils  oft  shall  pensive  stand, 
Shall  hail  the  Tutor  faithful  to  his  trust, 
Revere  his  memory,  and  bedew  his  dust.'* 

It  is  not  likely  that  Sedgwick  made  many  new  friends 
during  his  first  term  of  residence.  His  two  school-friends 
Ainger  and  Bland  being  both  members  of  St  John's  College 

1  Memoir  of  the  late  Rev.  Thomas  Jones.    Signed,  Herbert  Marsh,  Cambridge, 
Feb.  19,  1808. 


76  WHITTLESEA. 


1804.  he  probably  was  more  frequently  in  their  society  than  at 
Mu  19.  Trinity ;  and  we  shall  find  by  and  bye  that  he  made 
several  friendships  in  their  college. 

Dent  was  far  too  distant  to  be  visited  in  one  of  the  short 
vacations;  so,  when  the  Michaelmas  Term  was  well  over, 
Sedgwick  went,  on  December  the  17th,  1804  (a  date  he  was 
fond  of  recalling),  to  spend  Christmas  with  Ainger  at  his 
father's  house  at  Whittlesea.  From  this  memorable  visit 
dates  his  lifelong  friendship  with  the  whole  Ainger  family. 
He  never  forgot  the  simple  pleasures  which  he  there  enjoyed. 
In  1851,  forty-seven  years  afterwards,  he  could  still  write  to 
Mr  James  Ainger,  his  friend's  brother,  that  "  when  Christmas 
came  round,  I  remembered  the  happy,  genial,  joyful  Christmas 
I  spent  in  your  father's  house  in  1804".  It  was  on  this  occasion 
that  he  made  the  acquaintance  of  Henry  Smith,  son  to  the 
surgeon  of  Whittlesea,  then  a  boy  of  sixteen,  who  afterwards 
became  a  distinguished  Indian  general,  and  is  known  to  fame 
as  Sir  Harry  Smith.  Sedgwick  watched  his  career  with 
affectionate  interest,  and  his  name  will  frequently  recur  in  our 
narrative. 

In  the  College  examination  held  in  June  1805,  Sedgwick's 
name  appears  in  the  first  class,  in  company  with  only  six 
others — a  distinction  which  shows,  to  those  familiar  with  the 
practice  of  Trinity  College  at  that  time,  that  he  must  have 
got  up  the  classical  subjects  with  thoroughness,  as  well  as 
the  mathematical.  The  ordeal  was  in  those  days  specially 
formidable,  for  a  vivd  voce  examination  used  to  be  held  in  the 
Hall  in  the  presence  of  the  Master,  who  sat  in  the  centre  of 
the  dais,  with  the  Seniors  to  his  right  and  left,  as  Byron  has 
recorded : 


u 


High  in  the  midst,  surrounded  by  his  peers, 
Magnus  his  ample  front  sublime  uprears: 
Placed  on  his  chair  of  state  he  seems  a  god, 
While  Sophs  and  Freshmen  tremble  at  his  nod1." 

1  Thoughts  suggested  by  a  College  Examination.  The  lines  were  printed  in 
Hours  of  Idleness )  published  in  1807,  onty  *wo  years  after  Sedgwick's  first 
examination. 


TYPHOID  FEVER.  77 


The  persons  to  be  examined  stood  in  front  of  this  awe-  1805. 
inspiring  assemblage,  and  questions  were  passed  down  the  iEt  *°- 
line  from  one  to  another  by  the  presiding  examiner,  the 
Master  occasionally  interposing  a  word  of  praise  or  reproof — 
more  frequently  the  latter.  Men  have  been  known  to  faint 
with  apprehension  even  before  it  had  come  to  their  turn  to 
be  questioned.  When  the  examination  was  over  the  names 
of  those  only  were  published  whom  the  examiners  thought 
specially  worthy  of  commendation1.  A  place  in  the  first  class 
was  therefore  a  considerable  distinction. 

In  the  summer  Sedgwick  went  down  to  Dent,  accompanied 
by  his  friend  John  Carr,  an  undergraduate  of  Trinity  College, 
one  year  senior  to  himself.  Carr  was  a  distinguished  mathe- 
matician, who  became  second  Wrangler  and  second  Smith's 
Prizeman  in  1807,  and  subsequently  obtained  a  Fellowship. 
Sedgwick's  intimacy  with  him  indicates  that  he  was  by 
this  time  making  his  way  in  the  College,  and  had  got  into 
the  society  of  men  older  than  himself — at  all  times  a  sure 
indication  of  popularity.  The  vacation  was  spent,  as  re- 
corded in  the  last  chapter,  in  reading  mathematics  with  Mr 
Dawson. 

Soon  after  Sedgwick's  return  to  Cambridge,  he  was 
attacked  by  a  typhoid  fever  which  nearly  proved  fatal.  His 
medical  attendants  despaired  of  his  life.  They  had  in  fact 
left  his  rooms,  and  were  walking  up  and  down  on  the  pave- 
ment beside  the  Chapel,  waiting  to  hear  the  last  news  before 
they  left  College.  The  news,  however,  did  not  come,  and  it 
was  at  last  suggested  that  they  should  go  back  and  look  at 
their  patient  again.  To  their  surprise  they  found  him  not 
only  not  dead,  but  apparently  somewhat  stronger  than  when 
they  had  left  him.  One  of  them,  Sir  Busick  Harwood,  said 
to  the  other :  "  This  is  a  very  strong  young  man,  let  us  try  if 
we  can  do  anything  more  for  him."  Accordingly  a  blister 
was  suggested.  The  poor  patient  shrunk  from  the  anticipated 
suffering,  and  asked  what  effect  the  application  would  have 

1  Pryme's  Recollections \  p.  90. 


78  BATTLE  OF  TRAFALGAR. 


1805.  upon  his  flesh.  To  this  very  natural  question  he  is  said  to 
Mi.  «a  have  received  the  somewhat  brutal  answer :  "  Oh !  —  the 
flesh,  if  we  can  only  save  the  life ! "  The  blister  was  applied, 
and  the  patient  survived,  to  tell  the  story  almost  as  it  is  here 
related1.  He  was  nursed  through  his  illness  with  unremitting 
diligence  by  his  friend  Ainger,  and  he  used  to  say  that  he 
owed  his  life  more  to  him  than  to  his  physicians. 

The  date  of  this  fever  is  fixed  exactly  by  an  interesting 
circumstance  which  Sedgwick  recollected  when  the  funeral  of 
the  Duke  of  Wellington  reminded  him  of  the  death  of  Lord 
Nelson.  News  of  the  success  or  failure  of  his  operations 
against  the  French  fleet  must  have  been  waited  for  with  an 
anxiety  of  which  we,  in  these  peaceful  times,  can  form  no 
conception.  If  he  failed,  England  would  almost  certainly  be 
invaded;  if  he  were  successful  her  safety  was  secured.  In- 
telligence of  the  battle  of  Trafalgar  reached  London  on 
Wednesday,  6  November,  1805,  anc*  Cambridge  on  the 
following  day.  The  volunteers  assembled  in  the  market- 
place, and  fired  three  volleys ;  the  bells  of  Great  St  Mary's 
Church  rang  a  dumb  peal ;  and  in  the  evening  the  town  was 
illuminated1.  Sedgwick  resided  at  that  time  in  a  set  of 
garrets  between  the  Chapel  and  the  Great  Gate*;  and,  half- 
delirious  as  he  was,  he  insisted,  as  soon  as  he  heard  the  bells, 
on  being  carried  to  the  window,  that  he  might  see  the 
illuminations4.  In  those  days  the  Sun  Inn  was  opposite  to 
the  College,  and  would  no  doubt  be  conspicuous  for  its 
patriotism. 

Sedgwick's  recovery  was  slow,  and   it  was   not   till   the 

1  This  story  is  taken  from  an  excellent  article  headed  "  Adam  Sedgwick,"  by 
the  Lord  Bishop  of  Carlisle,  in  Mactnillan's  Magazine  for  April  1880. 

3  Cambridge  Chronicle*  Saturday,  November  9,  1805.  "  At  noon  yesterday 
[the  column  is  headed  *  Cambridge,  November  8'],  the  Cambridge  Volunteers  were 
drawn  up  in  the  Market  Place,  and  fired  three  feuxde-joie.  A  dumb  peal  was 
rung  at  Great  St  Mary's,  as  a  testimony  of  respect  to  the  memory  of  the  brave 
Admiral,  and  in  the  evening  a  general  illumination  took  place. " 

8  Sedgwick  told  his  niece,  Miss  Isabella  Sedgwick,  that  his  first  rooms  were  in 
this  part  of  the  College. 

4  To  Mrs  Richard  Sedgwick,  21  November,  1852. 


KIRKE   WHITE.  79 


early  spring  of  the  following  year  (1806)  that  he  was  able  1806. 
to  leave  his  rooms.  He  recollected  this  in  1871,  when  fine  <*t«*'' 
weather  on  the  last  day  of  the  year  had  enabled  him  to  take 
a  short  walk  under  the  shelter  of  the  Chapel :  "  The  bright 
sunshine  ",  he  wrote,  "  has  tempted  me  out,  and  I  have  had  a 
turn  on  the  flags  before  our  Chapel.  I  tried  the  bowling- 
green,  but  it  was  in  the  shade,  and  did  not  suit  me.  While 
walking  I  could  not  but  think  of  the  early  weeks  of  the  year 
1806,  when  I  crawled  out  of  my  rooms,  one  bright  sunny  day 
(about  February  I  think)  after  my  long  confinement  from 
typhus  fever.  I  had  great  difficulty  in  getting  back.  But 
then  I  was  young,  and  my  rate  of  recovery  was  astonishing. 
I  am  not  strong  now,  but  I  mounted  my  staircase  quite 
briskly  on  my  return  today1." 

The  rest  of  the  year  1806  is  singularly  barren  of  informa- 
tion. At  the  examination  in  June  Sedgwick  was  again  placed 
in  the  first  class — which  shows  that  he  had  by  this  time 
entirely  recovered  from  the  effects  of  his  fever — and  when 
term  was  over  he  went  down  to  Yorkshire,  where  he  spent 
the  summer  in  reading  mathematics  with  Mr  Dawson.  We 
get,  however,  a  glimpse  of  his  Cambridge  life  and  interests, 
from  the  following  letter,  which,  though  written  sixty-one 
years  afterwards,  belongs,  by  its  subject-matter,  to  1806. 

To  Rev.  H.  C.  G.  Moule,  Trinity  College. 

Fakenham,  Dec.  16,  1868. 
My  dear  Sir, 

I  wish  it  were  in  my  power  to  give  you  more 
information  respecting  the  two  very  remarkable  persons  (H. 
Kirke  White  and  Robert  Hall),  than  I  have  at  my  command. 
Both  of  them,  in  their  way,  were  men  of  great  genius.  I  did 
not  know  Kirke  White  till  a  little  while  before  his  death — 
that  is,  I  never  met  him  and  conversed  with  him  during  his 
first  academic  year.  But  whenever  I  met  him  in  the  streets 
I  was  impressed  by  his  look  and  bearing.     He  was  a  tall 

1  To  Miss  Isabella  Sedgwick,  31  December,  1871. 


8o  ROBERT  HALL, 


1806.  thoughtful-looking  young  man,  with  fine  features,  and  with  a 
fix.  «i.  complexion  that  seemed  to  indicate  a  life  of  severe  study. 
In  his  second  year,  a  month  or  two  before  his  death,  I  several 
times  met  him  in  society.  His  manners  well  matched  his 
character.  They  were  simple,  earnest,  winning,  and  unaffected. 
He  had  the  look  of  a  man  of  genius.  So  far  as  regards  his 
features,  Chantrey's  medallion  gives,  I  think,  a  good  general 
notion  of  them,  so  far  as  can  be  given  by  a  profile  likeness  in 
low  relief1. 

Robert  Hall  had  ceased  to  live  in  Cambridge  before  my 
Freshman's  year*;  and  of  his  manners  in  society  I  have  no 
right  to  speak,  as  I  do  not  remember  to  have  ever  exchanged 
a  sentence  with  him ;  though,  on  public  occasions,  I  have 
once  or  twice  met  him.  But  he  occasionally  revisited  Cam- 
bridge ;  and  then  he  always  preached  at  the  Baptist  Meeting- 
House  in  St  Andrew's  Street ;  and  whenever  I  could  secure  a 
seat  on  such  occasions,  I  always  attended  the  Meeting.  He 
always  began  with  a  prayer  (sometimes  of  considerable 
length),  uttered  with  great  earnestness  and  simplicity,  but 
injured  in  effective  power  from  an  apparent  asthmatical 
difficulty  of  articulation.  There  was  the  same  constitutional, 
or  organic,  difficulty  in  the  commencement  of  his  sermons. 
But  the  breathing  of  his  sentences  became  more  easy  as  he 
advanced,  and  before  long  there  was  a  moral  grandeur  in  his 
delivery  which  triumphed  over  all  organic  defect  or  physical 
weakness.  While  he  rolled  out  his  beautiful  and  purely 
constructed  sentences  one  felt  as  if  under  the  training  of  a 
higher  nature.  In  occasional  flights  of  imagination,  in  dis- 
cussions of  metaphysical  subtlety,  we  were  for  a  while  amazed, 

1  Henry  Kirke  White  commenced  residence  at  St  John's  College  in  October 
1805;  but  he  did  not  matriculate  (as  a  Sizar)  until  16  May,  1806.  He  died 
19  October  in  the  same  year.  The  medallion  by  Chantrey  is  in  All  Saints'  Church, 
Cambridge. 

'  Mr  Hall  resigned  his  duties  at  Cambridge,  owing  to  ill-health,  in  November, 
1804 :  returned  in  April,  1805  ;  and  resigned  finally  4  March,  1806.  In  1803  he 
had  been  advised  to  reside  at  Shelford,  and  his  biographer  ascribes  the  mental 
affection  of  1804  to  the  loss  of  society  occasioned  by  this  removal.  Works  of 
Robert  Hall,  8vo.  Lond.  1843.  v.  443,  vi.  73 — 75. 


COLLEGE  FRIENDS,  81 


and  almost  in  fear  for  the  Preacher.  And  then  he  woulcf  1806. 
come  down,  with  an  eagle's  swoop,  upon  the  matter  he  had  in  -**.«. 
hand,  and  enforce  it  with  a  power  of  eloquence  such  as  I 
never  felt  or  witnessed  in  the  speaking  of  any  other  man. 
Such  is  my  feeling  now.  Many  a  long  year  has  passed  away 
since  I  last  heard  Robert  Hall.  I  have  listened  with  admira- 
tion to  many  orators  in  the  two  Houses  of  Parliament,  and  to 
many  good  and  heart-moving  preachers ;  but  I  never  heard 
one  who  was,  in  my  mind,  on  the  same  level  with  Robert 
Hall. 

I  am  at  a  friend's  house,  and  I  have  very  little  spare  time 
on  my  hands ;  but  I  have  stolen  away  from  the  party  for  a 
few  minutes,  that  I  might  do  my  best  in  answering  your  letter 
which  has  just  reached  me.  Alas !  I  know  too  well  that  this 
letter  is  not  worth  your  reading ;  but  I  have,  at  any  rate,  en- 
deavoured to  shew  my  goodwill  to  a  brother- Fellow. 

I  remain, 

Very  faithfully  yours, 

A.  Sedgwick. 

Sedgwick's  recollections  of  Henry  Kirke  White,  who  was 
of  St  Johns  College,  confirm  what  was  mentioned  above,  viz.: 
that  his  friendship  with  Ainger,  his  senior  in  University 
standing  by  one  year,  would  readily  introduce  him  to 
Johnian  society.  Two  other  men  of  Ainger's  year  and 
college  became  intimate  with  him,  Robert  Bayne  Armstrong, 
and  James  Tobias  Cook,  who  were  afterwards  both  Fellows 
of  the  House.  In  his  own  college  he  knew  Charles  James 
Blomfield,  afterwards  Lord  Bishop  of  London,  William  Clark, 
afterwards  Professor  of  Anatomy,  Richard  Ward,  and  Edward 
Peacock.  These  were  all  of  his  own  year,  and  distinguished 
for  their  hard- reading  and  academical  success.  Of  those 
senior  to  him,  besides  Carr,  may  be  mentioned  George 
Pry  me,  afterwards  Professor  of  Political  Economy,  who  had 
obtained  his  degree  in  1803,  and  his  Fellowship  in  1805.     He 

S.  I.  6 


82  EXERCISES  FOR  DEGREE. 

1807.     liad  been  a  pupil  of  Mr  Dawson,  and  while  at  Sedbergh  had 

Mt.  «.    played  cricket  with  Sedgwick1,  but  they  could  hardly  have  seen 

much  of  each  other  at  Cambridge  before  1808,  when  Pryme 

gave  up  the  pursuit  of  the  law  in  London,  and  returned  to 

College.     They  then  became  very  intimate  friends. 

At  the  beginning  of  1807  Sedgwick  began  to  prepare  in 
earnest  for  his  degree.  In  those  days  the  University  required 
no  proof  of  a  student's  proficiency  until  his  third  year,  in  the 
course  of  which  he  had  to  keep  two  Acts  and  two  Opponencies, 
as  they  were  called.  Of  the  former  the  first  took  place  in 
the  Lent  Term,  the  second  in  the  Michaelmas  Term.  This 
system  has  been  so  long  completely  obsolete  that  a  descrip- 
tion of  the  way  in  which  it  was  managed  is  almost  indispen- 
sable.    We  will  try  to  make  this  as  brief  as  possible. 

At  the  beginning  of  January  in  a  given  year  the  Moderators 
obtained  from  the  Tutor  of  each  college  a  list  of  his  pupils 
who  aspired  to  Honours  in  January  of  the  ensuing  year. 
Out  of  these  lists — each  name  on  which  was  noted  for  the 
Moderators'  guidance,  reading,  non-reading  hard-readings  as 
the  case  might  be — a  complete  list  was  formed,  and  tran- 
scribed into  a  book.  On  the  second  Monday  in  the  Lent 
Term  the  Moderator  for  the  week — (the  two  Moderators 
divided  the  term  between  them) — sent  a  written  notice  to 
one  of  the  students  on  his  list — who  apparently  was  selected 
quite  arbitrarily — to  the  effect  that  he  was  to  appear  in  the 
Schools  on  that  day  fortnight  as  a  disputant.  Shortly  after 
receiving  this  summons,  the  student,  now  called  a  Respondent, 
waited  on  the  Moderator  with  three  Propositions,  usually 
termed  Questions,  the  truth  of  which  he  was  prepared  to 
maintain  against  any  three  students  of  the  same  year,  whom 
the  Moderator  chose  to  nominate,  and  who  were  called 
Opponents.  The  first  question  was  generally  taken  from 
Newton's  Principia ;  the  second  from  some  other  writer  on 
Mathematics  or  Natural  Philosophy;  the  third  was  called  the 
Moral  Question,  and,  in   connexion  with   it,  Locke,  Hume, 

1  Recolkdions,  p,  30. 


EXERCISES  FOR  DEGREE. 


83 


Butler,  Clarke,  Hartley,  Paley,  were  alternately  attacked  and      1807. 
defended.     During  the  fortnight's  preparation,  it  was  usual    *<■  "■ 
(at  least  at  the  time  we  are  considering)  for  the  Respondent 
to  invite  the  Opponents  to  wine,  or  tea,  or  breakfast,  in  order 
to  compare  arguments,  and  generally  to  rehearse  the  per- 
formance1.    On  the   day  appointed   the  Moderator  entered 


Thr  Moderators  • 


1,  fan 


1  Alma  Mater,  Svo.  Lond.  1817,  ii.  35—38.  The  system  here  sketched  was 
abolished  in  1839,  and  for  about  sixty  years  previous  the  disputations  had  lost 
much  of  their  original  vitality.  Compare  The  Origin  and  History  of  Ike 
Mathematical  Tripos,  by  W.  W.  Rouse  Ball,  M.A.,  8vo.  Camb.  tBBo ;  and  The 
Matktmatiial  Tripos,  by  J.  \V.  L.  Glaisher,  Sc.D.,  F.R.S.,  8vo.  Lond.  1886. 

'  The  seat  here  figured  is  that  in  the  Law  School,  which  was  somewhat  larger 
than  that  in  the  Arts  School,  but  in  all  other  respects  resembled  it  exactly.  The 
photograph  was  taken  in  January  1B86,  just  before  the  Law  School  was  fitted  up 
for  Library  purposes,  as  authorised  by  Grace  of  the  Senate,  17  December,  1885 
\Cambridgc  University  Reporter,  p.  197). 

6—2 


84  EXERCISES  FOR  DEGREE. 

1807.     the  Arts   School   at   1  p.m.,  ascended   the  rostrum   on  the 
Nx.  72.    west  sjde>  an(j   said :    Ascendat  Dominus  respondens.    Thus 

summoned, .  the  Respondent  ascended  the  rostrum  on  the 
opposite  side  of  the  school,  and  read  a  Latin  dissertation, 
which  generally  occupied  from  ten  to  fifteen  minutes,  on 
any  one  of  the  three  questions.  As  soon  as  he  had  finished, 
the  Moderator  called  upon  the  first  Opponent  to  begin 
{Ascendat  opponentium  primus).  He  ascended  a  rostrum 
beneath  that  of  the  Moderator,  and  propounded  his  argu- 
ments in  the  form  of  syllogisms,  which  the  Respondent 
answered  as  best  he  could.  When  the  first  Opponent  had 
finished,  his  place  was  taken  by  the  second  Opponent,  and 
so  on.  The  first  Opponent  was  obliged  to  bring  forward 
eight  arguments,  the  second  five,  and  the  last  three.  "  When 
the  exercise  has  for  some  time  been  carried  on  according  to 
the  strict  rules  of  Logic  " — says  the  authority  from  whom  we 
have  borrowed  this  account — "the  Disputation  insensibly  slides 
into  free  and  unconfined  debate,  the  Moderator,  in  the  mean 
time,  explaining  the  argument  of  the  Opponent,  when  neces- 
sary; restraining  both  parties  from  wandering  from  the  subject; 
and  frequently  adding,  at  the  close  of  each  argument,  his  own 
determination  upon  the  point  in  dispute.  The  three  Opponents, 
having,  in  their  turns,  exhausted  their  whole  stock  of  arguments, 
are  dismissed  by  the  Moderator  in  their  order,  with  such  a 
compliment,  as,  in  his  estimation,  they  deserve  {Domine 
opponens,  bene  disputasti — optime  disputasti — optime  quidem 
dispiitasti)\  and  the  Exercise  closes  with  the  dismission  of 
the  Respondent  in  a  similar  manner1." 

At  the  close  of  the  Act,  the  Moderator  assigned  to  the 
Disputant  a  certain  number  of  marks,  which  he  set  down 
opposite  to  his  name  in  his  book ;  and,  when  all  the  Acts  had 
been  kept,  the  two  Moderators  conjointly  formed  the  students 
into  classes  according  to  the  number  of  their  marks. 

1  Remarks  upon  t/u  present  Mode  of  Education  in  the  University  of  Cambridge. 
By  the  Rev.  John  Jebb,  M.A.,  Ed.  iii.  8vo.  Camb.  1773,  pp.  18 — 20.  Wordsworth, 
Schohc  AcadcmictCy  pp.  32 — 43  :  368 — 376. 


HENRY  B1CKERSTETH.  85 


The  disputations  took  place  on  five  days  in  each  week,     1807. 
and  each  occupied  about  two  hours.     The  language  used  was    JEu  "• 
Latin,  which,  by  the  beginning  of  the  present  century,  had 
degenerated  into  a  strange  jargon ;  and  the  logic  was  little 
better  than  the  language.     Still,  as  a  man's  place  in  the 
classes  depended   upon   the  impression  he  made  upon  the 
Moderator  when  he  kept  his  Act,  it  was  imperative  (at  least 
in  1807)  to  take  pains.     Moreover,  at  that  period,  when  the 
distractions  of  University  life  were  few,  Acts  still  excited 
considerable    interest,    and    were    well    attended,   both    by 
graduates   and  undergraduates.     The  disputant  was   there- 
fore on  his  mettle,  and  anxious  to  distinguish  himself  at  a 
performance   which   he   felt   would   have   a  great    share   in 
determining  his  academical   reputation1.      The    Acts    were 
often  performed  with  great  spirit,  and  tradition  still  preserves 
the  names  of  some  of  those  who  were  specially  successful  for 
their  ingenuity  of  attack  or  defence.     The  system  was  also 
useful  in  a  social  way,  by  making  men  of  the  same  year,  but 
of  different  colleges,  known  to  each  other.     By  this  means 
Sedgwick  "  became  well  acquainted  with  "  Henry  Bickersteth 
of  Gonville  and   Caius  College,   who  was  Senior  Wrangler 
in   his   year.     He  mentions   this   fact   in    a   letter   which    is 
printed  in  Bickersteth *s  Life,  and  adds :  "  He  did  not  quite 
do   himself   justice   in    his    first    public    Act,    in    the    Lent 
Term   of   1807;    but  his  Act  in    the    October  Term  of  the 
same    year    was    the    most    triumphant    I    ever    witnessed. 
He  literally  seemed  to  trample  his  opponents  under  foot2." 
Their  acquaintance,  thus   begun,  ripened    into   a  friendship 
which  was  maintained  after  the  one  had  become  Master  of 
the  Rolls  and  Lord  Langdale,  and  the  other  Woodwardian 
Professor. 

Sedgwick  kept  his  first  Act  in  February,  1807,  an<3  soon 

1  Of  a  Liberal  Education  in  General,  Part  I.  By  W.  Whewell.  Ed.  ii. 
1850,  p.  183. 

*  Memoirs  of  the  Right  Honourable  Henry  Lord  Langdale.  By  T.  D.  Hardy. 
Svo.  Lond.  1852,  i.  232. 


86  CAMBRIDGE  NEWS. 


1807.  afterwards  wrote  to  Ainger  to  record  his  success,  with  other 
^Et.  22.    fragments  of  University  intelligence1 : 

" I  came  off  better  than  I  expected  in  the  schools.     I 

perhaps  might  fairly  say  that  I  came  off  better  than  I  could 
have  previously  wished.  The  honour  I  received  from  Wood- 
house"  was  :  "omni  tuo  officio  tnultd  cum  laude  perfunctus  es." 

"  Since  you  left  Cambridge  we  have  had  a  most  eloquent 
sermon  from  Dr  Milner ;  it  was  delivered  with  that  peculiar 
emphasis  which  you  might  expect  from  a  man  of  his  powers, 
conscious  at  the  same  time  of  the  truth  and  importance  of 
what  he  was  delivering8.  We  have  had  four  sermons  from 
Lemma  Vince4,  the  most  strange  things  ever  preached  in 
pulpit.  The  first  Sunday  he  took  us  thro*  the  three  laws  of 
motion  and  Wood's  chapter  on  projectiles8.  The  2nd  Sunday 
he  got  into  his  complete  system  of  astronomy6.  The  3rd  he 
took  us  through  the  1  ith  section  of  Newton,  and  to  conclude 
gave  us  a  dissertation  on  optical  glasses.  His  pulpit  lectures 
have  now  ended " 

The  Act  over,  Sedgwick  evidently  thought  of  nothing 
but  preparation  for  the  Senate  House ;  and  is  rallied  by  his 
friend  on  his  devotion  to  his  studies : 

" How  possibly  can  you,  deeply  immersed  as  you  are  in  all 

the  sublimities  of  Mathematical  Science,  take  any  interest  in  the 
grovling  concerns  of  one  who,  since  he  left  you,  has  merely  been 
scampering  about  the  Fens  in  order  to  get  rid  of  time  ?     In  truth, 

1  To  William  Ainger,  23  February,  1807. 

'  Robert  Woodhouse,  M.  A.,  Fellow  of  Gonville  and  Caius  College ;  Lucasian 
Professor  1820 — 22;  Plumian  Professor  1822 — 28. 

8  Isaac  Milner,  D.D.,  President  of  Queens'  College,  1788 — 1820.  In  after-life 
Sedgwick  did  not  speak  of  Dr  Milner  in  such  complimentary  language.  The  sermon 
referred  to  must  be  the  one  preached  at  Great  St  Mary's  Church,  30  January, 
1807,  against  the  Emancipation  of  the  Roman  Catholics,  which  produced  a  great 
sensation  in  the  University.  Life  of  Milner,  8vo.  1842,  p.  344.  It  is  printed  in 
Milner's  Sermons,  2  vols.,  8vo.  Lond.  1820,  i.  1. 

4  Samuel  Vince,  M.A.,  Plumian  Professor  1796 — 1822.  He  was  Select 
Preacher  in  February,  1807.  The  Sundays  in  February  1807  fell  on  the  1st,  8th, 
15th,  22nd. 

6  An  allusion  to  a  then  popular  mathematical  work :  The  Principles  of  Mechanics  ; 
designed  for  the  use  of  Students  in  the  University -,  by  James  Wood,  B.D.  1796. 

•  A  Complete  System  of  Astronomy,  by  Rev.  Samuel  Vince,  3  vols.  4to.  1797. 


CAMBRIDGE  NEWS.  87 

Sedgwick,  had  I  anything  more  important  to  acquaint  you  with,  I  !8o7. 
would  not  presume  to  inform  you  that  last  Tuesday  sen'night  I  was  j£tt  22t 
capering  at  Wisbeach  to  the  sound  of  a  Fiddle,  and  that  the  deepest 
speculation  in  which  I  have  engaged,  has  been  an  attempt  to  learn 
the  character  of  an  eccentric  girl  whom  you  may  recollect  I  once 
mentioned  as  the  only  female  likely  to  make  an  impression  on  your 
iron  heart  Positively  I  think  her  as  great  an  oddity  as  yourself; 
and  surely  this  is  saying  enough  to  excite  any  one's  curiosity  who  is 
not  so  much  infected  with  the  Mathematical  Mania  as  to  scorn 
everything  which  is  lower  than  the  stars...."1 

We  do  not  know  what  became  of  this  damsel,  or  whether 
she  was  ever  aware  of  the  honour  destined  for  her ;  but  the 
next  letter  shows  that  the  self-denying  student  could  at  any 
rate  find  time  to  take  interest  in  University  politics  : 

"  Since  you  left  us  we  have  had  a  dead  calm  in  Cambridge, 
which  in  all  probability  would  have  been  of  long  duration  if 
the  King  of  his  great  goodness  had  not  caused  a  dissolution 
of  parliament.  We  are  now  in  confusion  and  uproar.  The 
Johnians  are  exerting  themselves  to  the  utmost  in  grunting 
out  the  praises  of  their  brother  Palmerston.  Lord  H.  Petty's 
interest  is  considerably  diminished  in  consequence  of  Mr 
Jones'  illness.  We  were  under  the  greatest  apprehension  for 
the  life  of  our  old  Tutor,  but  the  last  reports  from  London 
were  more  favourable.  He  is  now  there,  under  the  care 
of  an  eminent  physician,  attended  by  his  friend  Professor 
Marsh.... 

"  As  my  sister  has  now  left  Cambridge,  I  can  begin  a 
system  of  close  reading  to  which  I  hope  to  adhere.  I  have 
finished  the  first  volume  of  Newton,  and  just  begun  to  look  at 
the  second.  In  making  an  attempt,  last  night,  upon  the 
philosophy  of  sound,  I  got  so  completely  fast,  that  after 
retiring  to  rest  I  was  disturbed  with  the  most  horrid  dreams 
you  have  the  power  of  conceiving.  I  intend  to  rise  at  five  all 
this  summer;  if  you  will  do  the  same  I  can  promise  you 
great  advantage  from  it....2" 

Sedgwick  had  been  taught  by  his  father  to   abhor   the 

1  From  William  Ainger,  11  April,  1807. 

2  To  William  Ainger,  4  May,  1807. 


88  UNIVERSITY  ELECTION. 

1807.  slave-trade,  and  he  told  Bishop  Wilberforce  in  1848  that  he 
tet.  **.  had  signed  a  petition  against  it  as  soon  as  he  "  had  learnt  to 
scrawl  his  name  in  childish  characters".  He  had  also  imbibed, 
probably  from  the  same  source,  a  wholesome  horror  of  the 
Church  of  Rome,  and  had  not  yet  become  a  sufficiently 
decided  Liberal  to  see  the  justice  of  removing  the  civic 
disabilities  of  Roman  Catholics,  as  he  did  a  few  years  later. 
He  would  therefore  take  a  peculiar  interest  in  the  University 
elections  of  1806  and  1807,  of  which  the  former  turned  on 
Abolition,  the  latter,  at  least  to  some  extent,  on  Catholic 
Emancipation.  After  the  death  of  Mr  Pitt,  Lord  Henry 
Petty  of  Trinity  College,  afterwards  Marquis  of  Lansdowne, 
then  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  in  the  cabinet  of  Lord 
Grenville,  had  come  forward,  as  an  abolitionist,  at  the  sug- 
gestion of  Mr  Wilberforce1,  who  had  personally  canvassed 
on  his  behalf.  He  was  elected  by  an  enormous  majority, 
his  competitors,  Viscount  Althorp  and  Viscount  Palmerston, 
polling  together  only  273  votes,  while  331  were  recorded  for 
him2.  At  the  same  time  many  of  those  who  usually  agreed 
with  Mr  Wilberforce  were  not  a  little  scandalised  at  his 
support  of  one  who  had  opposed  Mr  Pitt,  and  some,  among 
whom  was  Dr  Milner,  voted  against  his  candidate*.  At  the 
general  election  of  1807  the  feelings  of  the  constituency  were 
no  longer  the  same.  The  Abolition  Bill  had  received  the 
Royal  Assent  on  the  25th  March,  and  therefore  the  slavery 
question  had  passed  out  of  sight  for  the  moment  Lord 
Grenville  and  his  colleagues — better  known  as  the  ministry  of 
"All  the  Talents" — had  been  dismissed  by  the  King  on  a 
point  connected  with  the  relief  of  the  Roman  Catholics ;  and 
their  successors,  the  Duke  of  Portland  and  Mr  Perceval,  had 
dissolved  Parliament.  The  question  placed  before  the  consti- 
tuencies was  partly  the  relief  of  the  Roman  Catholics — partly 
the  vindication  of  the  King's  conduct,  who  had  demanded 

1  Life  of  Wilberforce,  ut  supra,  iii.  255,  256. 

2  Cooper's  Annals,  iv.  484. 

3  Life  of  Milner,  ut  supra,  pp.  316 — 320. 


UNIVERSITY  ELECTION.  89 

a  pledge  from  his  ministers  that  they  would  never  again,  1807. 
under  any  circumstances,  offer  him  advice  on  the  Catholic  ^Etm  "• 
question.  Protestantism  and  loyalty — both  equally  unreason- 
able— were  roused  to  passionate  enthusiasm  in  the  country 
and  in  the  University.  There  were  four  candidates  for  the 
two  seats :  Lord  Euston,  who  had  been  Mr  Pitts  colleague 
ever  since  his  first  election  in  1784,  and  Lord  Henry  Petty 
(whigs);  Sir  Vicary  Gibbs,  Attorney  General,  and  Viscount 
Palmerston  (tories).  "  We  are  all  in  a  flame  for  Church  and 
King"  wrote  Dr  Milner.  "Most  seriously,  I  do  think  that 
the  greatest  constitutional  question,  by  far,  that  has  happened 
in  my  time  is  now  at  issue ;  and  if  the  *  outs '  were  to  get  the 
better,  I  think  that  the  royal  prerogative  would  be  in  im- 
minent danger."  He  concludes  by  urging  his  correspondent 
to  support  "Sir  V.  Gibbs  and  Lord  Palmerston,  who,  at 
present,  represent  the  constitutional  side,  against  Lord 
Euston  and  Lord  Henry  Petty,  the  friends  of  the  ex- 
ministers1." 

The  polling,  then  limited  to  one  day,  took  place  on  May 
the  8th.  At  the  end  of  the  morning's  voting  Gibbs  and 
Palmerston  were  considerably  ahead,  Lord  Euston  was  third, 
and  Lord  Henry  Petty  "  hopelessly  at  the  bottom ".  There- 
upon Mr  Pryme  and  about  forty  of  Lord  Henry's  supporters, 
who  had  promised  to  vote  for  him  only,  called  a  meeting  of 
his  committee,  and  with  his  consent  divided  their  votes 
between  him  and  Lord  Euston2.  In  consequence  the  latter 
headed  the  poll  with  324  votes,  and  Sir  V.  Gibbs  was  second 
with  312,  just  beating  Viscount  Palmerston,  who  polled  310. 
Lord  Henry  Petty  polled  only  265* — a  curious  instance  of  the 
fickleness  of  fortune,  when  compared  with  his  great  majority 
only  fourteen  months  previously.  Sedgwick  was  probably 
right  in  attributing  his  failure  to  the  loss  of  the  active 
assistance  of  so  influential  a  member  of  his  own  college  as 

1  Life  of  Milner,  ut  supra,  p.  349. 

a  Pryme's  Recollections,  ut  supra,  p.  79. 

3  Cooper's  Annals,  iv.  487. 


90  YORKSHIRE  EJECTION. 

1807.     Mr  Jones,  who  must  have  supported  him  on  general  grounds, 
iEt.  S3.    for  he  was  the  pUpil  of  another  tutor,  Mr  Porter. 

An  interesting  glimpse  of  an  election  contest  of  those 
times  is  afforded  by  a  letter  written  to  Sedgwick  by  his 
father  from  Dent,  11  June  1807.  The  candidates  for  the 
county  of  York  were  Mr  Wilberforce,  who  had  been  member 
since  the  memorable  contest  of  1784,  Mr  Lascelles,  and 
Viscount  Milton.  The  polling,  held  at  York,  lasted  for  fifteen 
days,  at  the  end  of  which  Mr  Wilberforce  and  Viscount 
Milton  were  declared  to  have  been  elected1. 

"You  will  naturally  conjecture  what  a  bustle  and  ferment  this 
County  has  been  put  into  by  the  contested  election.  Wilberforce 
had  every  freeholder's  vote  in  this  parish  except  TatterselPs,  who 
gave  a  plumper  for  Lord  Milton.... Dr  Dawson  and  I  with  12  others 
from  Dent  and  Sedbergh  set  forward  from  Kirkby  Lonsdale  at  the 
same  time,  but  were  divided  at  Skipton  for  want  of  immediate 
conveyances.  From  thence  Mr  John  Fawcett  and  Hen.  Hodgson 
were  my  sharers  in  a  chaise  to  York  and  home  again. . . 

"  Mr  Leigh  Bland's  friend  was  a  warm  advocate  for  Lascelles,  but 
very  careful  about  spending  money  for  liquor.  Lord  Milton's  agents 
were  just  the  reverse,  they  spared  no  expence  to  get  a  single  voter. 
Most  of  his  freeholders  returned  home  with  about  five  guineas  clear 
of  all  expences.  The  other  candidates  were  before  him  in  canvassing; 
and  Milton  would  have  got  few  here  had  not  a  report  prevailed  that 
his  Committee  allowed  very  liberally  for  expences.  Indeed  we  were 
all  carried  almost  free  from  expence  by  stopping  at  houses  that  were 
open  for  accommodation/' 

The  same  letter  reports  that  Mr  Dawson  is  anxious  to 
know  "  in  what  Book  or  Section  of  Newton  your  mathemati- 
cal question  was  which  you  kept  your  Act  upon  in  the 
Schools:  he  also  wishes  to  know  upon  what  you  mean  to 
keep  your  next  Act*,  if  you  have  already  determined  that 
point"  This  inquiry  shows  that  the  old  mathematician  was 
watching  with  interest  the  steps  of  his  pupil's  career  at  the 
University.  Mr  Sedgwick,  whose  knowledge  of  the  higher 
mathematics  had  grown  somewhat  rusty,  contented  himself 
with  general  advice:  "You  have  been  engaged   in  lectures 

1  Life  of  Wilberforce^  ut  supra ,  iii.  pp.  315—337. 

3  No  reference  to  Sedgwick's  second  Act,  or  to  either  of  his  Opponencies, 
occurs  in  his  correspondence. 


\ 


TRINITY  SCHOLARSHIP.  91 

out  of  my  sphere.     I  wish  you  to  apply  regularly  to  your     1807. 
studies,  but  at  the  same  time  not  so  closely  as  to  injure  your    ^  "• 
health ;  take  also  regular  exercise  when  you  can  \" 

In  the  Easter  vacation  Sedgwick  was  elected  to  a  scholar- 
ship in  his  college.  As  this  was  his  only  opportunity  of 
competing  for  a  distinction  without  which,  according  to  the 
rules  then  in  force,  he  would  not  have  been  allowed  to  sit 
for  a  Fellowship,  success  was  a  matter  of  vital  importance 
to  him,  and  his  chances  probably  caused  him  the  gravest 
anxiety.  The  election  over,  he  allowed  himself  a  short  pe- 
destrian excursion  by  way  of  holiday,  in  which  he  had  invited 
one  of  his  earliest  Yorkshire  friends  and  schoolfellows  to  join 
him.  The  answer  indicates  how  acutely  he  had  suffered  from 
apprehension  as  to  the  result  of  the  examination : 

"It  would  have  given  me  heartfelt  pleasure  to  have  been  with 
you  in  the  delightful  walk  you  mention,  that  I  might  have  congratu- 
lated you,  while  your  mind  was  filled  with  the  most  agreeable  ideas 
from  the  honour  which  you  had  achieved.  As  your  breast  would  be 
entirely  free  from  those  anxieties  which  you  could  not  but  feel  in 
preparing  for  that  day  on  which  your  reputation  in  a  considerable 
manner  depended,  you  could  not  but  be  in  a  cheerful  mood,  and,  be 
assured,  I  should  have  enjoyed  your  cheerfulness8." 

The  beginning  of  the  Long  Vacation  of  1807,  which 
Sedgwick  spent  in  College,  preparing  for  his  degree,  was 
saddened  by  the  death  of  the  respected  and  beloved  tutor, 
Mr  Jones,  which  took  place  on  the  18th  July.  His  claims  on 
the  affection  of  his  pupils  have  been  already  recorded,  and 
therefore  need  not  be  repeated.  That  he  had  obtained  it  is 
proved  by  a  single  extract  from  a  letter  of  one  of  Sedgwick's 
friends :  "  Poor  Jones !  I  am  sure  there  is  not  a  man  one 
could  have  less  spared,  or  one  who  is  more  lamented  by  our 
College  or  by  the  University  in  general.,,  Sedgwick  no  doubt 
shared  this  common  sorrow ;  but  he  had,  in  addition,  a 
private  trouble  of  his  own.  His  father  was  gradually  becom- 
ing blind,  and  a  letter  from  his  sister  Margaret,  after  giving 
the  sad  news  in  detail,  had  concluded  with  the  ominous  words, 

1  From  Mr  Sedgwick,  18  November,  1806. 
8  From  John  Brown,  10  April,  1807. 


92  FATHER'S  BLINDNESS. 


1807.  u  he  fears  he  shall  not  be  able  to  teach  the  school  next  winter. 
Mt.  22.  My  Mother  says  that  if  they  can  get  over  this  winter,  you  and 
Thomas  may  manage  it  next  summer.  How  will  you  like  to 
be  a  Dent's  schoolmaster?"  Much  as  Sedgwick  loved  Dent 
— much  as  he  might  have  liked  such  an  offer  had  he  never 
left  it — he  now  contemplated  the  possibility  of  enforced 
return  with  infinite  bitterness  of  spirit. 

"  My  Father's  eyes/'  he  wrote  to  Ainger,  "  have  long  failed 
him,  but  he  has  lately  perceived  their  imperfections  so  much 
that  he  fears  a  total  blindness ;  in  other  respects  he  is  as  well 
as  at  his  time  of  life  could  possibly  be  expected.  These 
accounts  for  some  time  produced  such  a  depression  in  my 
spirits  that  I  was  prevented  from  reading;  my  sorrow, 
indeed,  was  in  a  good  measure  selfish  (few  of  our  sorrows 
are  otherwise),  for,  if  my  Father's  sight  should  continue  to 
decline,  a  fixed  residence  in  Dent  must  be  my  inevitable  lot 
This  situation  of  all  others  I  should  dislike.  Little  as  I  have 
seen  of  the  world,  I  have  seen  enough  to  find  that  to  me  no 
pleasures  are  to  be  found  in  illiterate  solitude.    These  thoughts 

are  to  me  too  gloomy  to  dwell  upon Pray  has  Henry 

Smith  escaped  the  fate  which  many  of  our  brave  countrymen 
have  met  in  Egypt  ?  I  believe  his  regiment  was  in  the  expe- 
dition V 

His  friend,  with  many  apologies  for  being  a  bad  cor- 
respondent, for  Sedgwick  had  begun  the  above  letter  with  a 
page  of  abuse  on  that  subject,  lost  no  time  in  replying  : 

Whittlesea,  Aug.  3,  1807. 
My  dear  Fellow, 

...Henry  Smith,  after  whom  you  enquired,  did  not  go 
into  Egypt,  but  to  Buenos  Ayres.  His  father  had  a  letter  from  him 
after  the  engagement.  His  captain  was  killed  by  his  side  in  the 
outset ;  the  command  of  the  company  then,  of  course,  devolved  to 
Henry,  who,  I  believe,  acquitted  himself  very  creditably,  and  did  not, 
to  use  his  own  expression,  get  a  single  scratch.  Last  week  brought 
his  friends  another  letter  from  Monte  Video,  which  acquainted  them 
that  he  was  then  (in  April)  just  recovering  from  the  attack  of  a  fever 
which  appears,  Sedgwick,  not  to  have  been  less  formidable  than 

1  To  William  Ainger,  1  August,  1807. 


LAST  LONG   VACATION.  93 

is.    He  says  he  has  lost  all  his  flesh;  but  I  find  he  retains  all      1807. 

*•  ^t. ««. 

needless  to  say  that  I  am  truly  sorry  for  the  accounts  which 

e  received  from  Dent.     However,  you  are  certainly  right  in 

Hiring  to  banish  gloomy  thoughts.     I  do  not  indeed  think  it 

character  to  indulge  in  them  much,  and  in  the  present 

1 1  trust  the  occasion  is  not  so  serious  as  to  justify  them.     In 

ere  hope,  at  least,  that  it  may  not  be  found  so, 

I  remain,  Dear  Sedgwick,  your  friend, 

W.  Ainger. 

1  can  imagine  that  Sedgwick's  natural  elasticity  of  spirits 
enable  him,  before  long,  to  chase  away  gloomy  antici- 
5,  and  brace  himself  to  his  work  and  his  amusements 
is  future  were  without  a  cloud.  In  1807  a  Long  Vaca- 
fered  few  distractions,  with  the  exception  of  Sturbridge 
vith  its  varied  diversions  and  excellent  theatre,  which 
Dlder  members  of  the  University  did  not  scruple  to 
tit.  To  these  Sedgwick  was  evidently  looking  forward, 
iger  (probably  in  reply  to  an  invitation  to  Cambridge) 

him  "  much  fun  at  it ",  and  regrets  his  own  inability  to 
sent.  In  the  more  important  matter  of  work  he  had 
such  good  progress  that  a  notion  seems  to  have  been 
t  that  he  had  a  chance  of  being  Senior  Wrangler.     His 

Carr,  who  had  been  Second  Wrangler  in  1807,  anc* 
>re  knew  the  Senate-House  examination  well,  had 
1  to  him  soon  after  his  own  degree :  "  Mind  you  read 
ind  I  have  not  the  least  doubt  that  we  shall  have  the 
•  Wrangler  next  year.  You  have  my  best  wishes ;"  and 
r  heard  by  accident  at  the  very  end  of  the  year,  that 
:llows  had  formed  a  very  high  opinion  of  his  powers. 

ICKLEFORD,  Jan.    I,    1808. 

ar  Sedgwick, 

...One  morning  Mr  Professor  Lax1  called  here.  He 
id  of  me  about  the  great  men  who  were  going  out  this  year, 
lame,  of  course,  was  mentioned  He  enquired  whether  you 
►  be  Senior  Wrangler.     This  was  a  question  which  I  could  not 

e  Rev.  William  Lax,  M.A.,  Fellow  of  Trin.  Coll.  and  Lowndean  Professor 

nomy  and  Geometry  1795 — 1836.     It  was  probable  that,  in  virtue  of  his 

might  be  appealed  to  to  settle  the  position  of  the  candidates  in  the  brackets. 


94  DEGREE. 


1808.     positively  answer ;  but  I  took  the  liberty  of  saying  that  you,  without 

Mt.  33.    doubts  would  be  among  those  whom  he  would  have  the  pleasure  of 

examining.     He  said  he  had  heard  a  splendid  account  of  you  from 

some  of  the  fellows  of  Trinity,  among  whom,  I  think,  he  specified 

Hudson1. 

From  a  man  of  your  celebrity,  Mr  Sedgwick,  I  certainly  cannot 
expect  the  honour  of  a  letter  'till  your  expectant  brows  are  finally 
crowned  with  the  laurels  which  at  present  hang  over  them ;  and,  by 
that  time,  I  may,  probably,  be  again  at  Cambridge.  I  shall  assuredly 
be  most  happy  to  make  one  in  the  train  of  your  triumph. 

I  conclude,  Dear  Sedgwick,  by  repeating  my  wish  of  a  happy  new 
year  to  you.  If  benedictions  are  of  any  service,  may  mine  avail  you 
in  the  Senate  House.  Seriously,  however,  Sedgwick,  may  success 
attend  you !  but,  whether  successful  or  unsuccessful,  rely  equally  on 
the  sincere  esteem  and  unaffected  friendship  of  yours  truly, 

W.  Ainger. 

The  Senate- House  examination  began  on  Monday,  t8 
January.  It  was  at  that  time  conducted  partly  vivA  voce, 
partly  by  printed  papers,  each  class*  being  seated  at  a  separate 
table.  At  the  conclusion  of  the  first  three  days  examination 
a  new  classification  was  published  of  those  who  had  passed 
with  the  greatest  credit  This  consisted  of  a  series  of  brackets, 
arranged  in  order  of  merit,  the  names  in  each  being  placed 
alphabetically.  These  brackets  (which  were  hung  up  on  the 
pillars  of  the  Senate  House  at  8  a.m.  on  the  Thursday  morn- 
ing) were  regarded  as  a  first  approximation  to  the  final  list, 
"  and  men  who  were  joined  together  in  the  same  bracket  had 
the  opportunity  of  fighting  the  battle  out  under  the  direction 
of  some  Master  of  Arts  appointed  for  the  purpose.  Sedgwick 
was  in  the  first  bracket,  and  the  battle  was  fought  out  under 
the  direction  of  the  Rev.  George  Barnes,  then  Tutor  of 
Queens'  College,  who  said  that  he  found  no  reason  to 
alter  the  order  in  which  the  names  came  to  him;  that 
the  men  were  so  different  in  their  reading  that  he  could 
have  put  them  in  almost  any  order  by  a  special  choice  of 
questions ;  but  that  the  man  who  impressed  him  most  as 
possessing  inherent  power  was  Sedgwick8."     The  result  of 

1  The  Rev.  John  Hudson,  M.  A.  succeeded  Mr  Jones  as  senior  tutor. 
a  These  classes  were  arranged  by  the  Moderators.     See  above,  p.  84. 
3  Macmillaris  Magazine,  ut  supra,  p.  477. 


95 


this  last  trial  was  published  on  the  Friday  morning,  when 
the  successful  candidates  were  admitted  to  the  degree  of 
Bachelor  of  Arts.  Sedgwick's  name  stood  fifth  in  the  first 
class,  or  Wranglers.  Those  above  him  were:  Bickersteth,  of 
Gonville  and  Caius  College  (Senior  Wrangler)  ;  Bland,  of 
St  John's  College,  his  old  friend  and  schoolfellow,  who  had 
always,  as  we  have  seen,  been  considered  certain  to  beat  him ; 
Blomfield,  of  Trinity  College,  who  used  to  say  that  Sedgwick 
was  a  much  better  mathematician  than  himself;  and  White, 
of  Gonville  and  Caius  College. 

The  next  two  years  were  spent  by  Sedgwick  in  preparing 
for  the  Fellowship  examination  at  Trinity  College.  His  own 
wish  was  to  read  for  the  Bar,  to  which  he  was  stimulated  by 
the  example  of  his  friend  Bickersteth ;  but  he  was  deterred 
by  the  consideration  that  his  father's  health  was  failing,  that 


1  Memoir  of  C.  J.  BlomfitU,  &vo.  I 


96  COUNTRY  PLEASURES. 

1808.  his  two  younger  brothers  had  to  be  educated,  and  that  it 
Mu  «3.  was  therefore  his  duty  to  create  an  independence  for  himself 
as  soon  as  possible1.  Some  relaxation,  after  the  strain  of  the 
preparation  for  the  degree,  was,  however,  indispensable,  and 
in  January,  1808,  he  went  down  for  a  few  months  to  Dent, 
which  he  had  not  visited  since  October,  1806.  The  change 
proved  the  reverse  of  agreeable,  and  his  letters  betray  a  good 
deal  of  disappointment,  not  to  say  ill-humour. 

Dent,  February  19,  1808. 
Dear  Ainger, 

I  hope  you  have  executed  the  commission  which  I 
left  with  you,  viz.  'to  see  my  box  well  fortified  with  a  wrapper, 
cord  &c,  and  set  on  the  right  road  for  finding  its  way  into 
the  North/  The  said  box  contains  all  the  valuable  property 
of  your  humble  servant.  You  need  not  doubt  therefore  that  he 
is  extremely  anxious  for  its  arrival.  I  am  anxious  on  another 
account ;  it  contains  some  books  of  which  I  already  begin  to 
feel  the  want.  Indeed  all  the  last  week  I  have  thought  myself 
a  fish  out  of  water.  I  rise  about  9  in  the  morning ;  come  down 
stairs  in  all  due  form,  and  commence  breakfast,  which  consists 
of  a  large  mess  of  oat-meal  porridge,  to  which  I  drink  about  a 
quart  of  excellent  milk.  This  is  by  far  the  greatest  animal 
comfort  which  I  enjoy,  for  I  no  sooner  have  finished  breakfast 
than  I  become  miserable  for  want  of  employment.  The  weather 
is  so  bad  that  to  walk  is  impossible.  I  have  therefore  nothing 
to  do  all  morning  but  amuse  myself  with  my  own  pleasant  re- 
flections, surrounded  and  perplexed  with  all  the  clamour  of 
domestic  music.  I  hope  next  week  to  find  more  rational  plea- 
sures, for  I  have  procured  an  excellent  grey-hound.  You  may 
depend  on  it  that  dogs  are  the  best  company  a  man  can  have 
with  him  in  the  country.  Your  pleasures,  Ainger,  I  know  are  in 
some  measure  different  from  mine ;  marriage  may  be  all  well 
enough  when  a  man  is  on  his  last  legs,  but  you  may  depend 
on  it  that  to  be  linked  to  a  wife  is  to  be  linked  to  misery. 

1  This  statement  is  made  on  the  authority  of  Miss  Isabella  Sedgwick. 


VACATION  AT  DENT  97 


From  the  horrid  estate  of  matrimony  I  hope  long  to  be  de-  1808. 
livered.  I  arrived  at  Dent  without  any  incident  during  my  Aim  *$- 
journey  which  is  worth  mentioning.  I  found  my  friends  at 
Dent  better  than  I  expected ;  my  father,  though  his  eyes  have 
so  far  failed  as  to  be  of  no  use  to  him  in  doing  the  Church 
service,  still  keeps  up  a  good  flow  of  spirits,  and  his  general 
health  does  not  seem  materially  impaired.... 

Believe  me,  dear  Ainger, 

Yours  truly, 

A.  Sedgwick. 

Dent,  April  23,  1808. 
Dear  Ainger, 

I  merely  write  this  to  be  out  of  your  debt,  for  there 
is  nothing  here  which  I  can  tell  you  totidem  litteris,  but  Bland 
will  be  able  to  tell  you  much  better  totidem  verbis.  As  soon 
therefore  as  you  may  think  convenient  after  the  sight  of  this, 
write  to  me,  write  to  me  about  anything  but  love  and  friend- 
ship. Indeed  a  plain  matter-of-fact  letter  will  be  most  agree- 
able, inasmuch  as  you  are  the  only  person  from  whom  I  can 
expect  to  hear  what  my  old  friends  are  doing  in  Cambridge.... 
Bland  tells  me  you  have  been  lately  on  a  visit,  and  that 
Miss  H — s  has  been  of  your  party.  I  think  your  plan  of  en- 
joyment most  rational.  I  wish  some  blooming  damsel  could 
contrive  to  kindle  a  flame  in  my  breast,  for  then  I  might 
stand  some  chance  of  keeping  up  a  proper  degree  of  animal 
heat ;  without  some  artificial  aid  of  this  kind  I  am  fully  con- 
fident that  my  lamp  of  life  will  be  soon  extinguished.  Indeed, 
Ainger,  such  is  the  inclemency  of  the  season,  that  at  the 
moment  I  am  writing,  most  of  the  farmers  in  the  higher  parts 
of  our  valley  are  busily  employed  in  digging  out  sheep  which 
have  been  covered  up  in  the  snow.  An  "over-drive"  at  this 
time  is  most  unfortunate  as  many  of  the  sheep  are  on  the 
point  of  bringing  forth  lambs.  So  much  for  the  pleasures  of 
a  country  life  and  a  crook.  I  have  now  completely  exhausted 
S.  I.  7 


98  READING  PARTY  AT  DITTON. 

1808.     myself;  love  naturally  led  me  to  talk  of  sheep,  and  sheep  lead 
JEXm  **•    me  to  talk  of  I  know  not  what     I  shall  therefore  only  add 
that  I  am,  dear  Ainger, 

Yours  &c  A.  Sedgwick. 

Sedgwick  returned  to  Cambridge  in  May,  1808.  The 
summer  was  spent  on  a  reading-party  with  seven  pupils. 
That  ingenious  device  for  combining  instruction  with  exercise 
and  pleasure  was  then  in  its  infancy,  and  Sedgwick  went  no 
further  afield  than  Ditton,  a  small  village  on  the  River  Cam 
about  two  miles  below  Cambridge,  where  he  established  the 
head  quarters  of  his  colony,  as  he  called  it,  at  Mr  Bond's  farm- 
house. One,  at  least,  of  his  pupils  lodged  there  with  him ; 
another  established  himself  at  Horningsea,  a  village  about  a 
mile  further  down  the  river,  but  spent  the  day  at  Ditton  ;  the 
others  probably  had  lodgings  in  the  village.  Sedgwick  appears 
to  have  given  himself  up  to  his  tutorial  duties  with  unremitting 
diligence.  Vainly  did  Ainger  try  to  tempt  him  away  to 
Whittlesea  by  the  attractions  of  "a  day's  excursion  on  the 
Mere";  "my  engagements  preclude  the  possibility  of  my 
leaving  Ditton"  was  the  stern  reply ;  and  in  fact  the  only 
amusement  which  he  allowed  himself  was  an  occasional  visit  to 
the  theatre  at  Sturbridge  Fair.  Still  he  and  his  pupils  seem  to 
have  enjoyed  themselves,  for  more  than  one  of  those  who  read 
with  him  refers  in  after  years  to  his  summer  at  Ditton  as  a 
pleasant  experience.  Sedgwick  was  nicknamed  "the  Com- 
missioner", and  his  authority  as  "head  of  the  colony"  was 
successfully  maintained.  All  went  well,  and  the  party  did  not 
return  to  College  until  near  the  end  of  October. 

The  names  of  five  out  of  his  seven  pupils  can  be  recovered 
with  certainty  from  his  correspondence,  viz. :  Robert  Roberts, 
and  Arthur  Savage  Wade,  of  St  John's  College;  Henry 
Rishton  Buck,  of  Pembroke  College ;  Oliver  Hargreave,  and 
John  Bay  ley,  of  Trinity  College.  To  these  should  probably 
be  added  two  other  men  of  the  same  college,  William  Robin- 
son Gilby,  and  Samuel  Duckworth.    None  of  these  gentlemen 


PORSON'S  FUNERAL.  99 

were  specially  distinguished  in  after-life;   unless  indeed  we    1808 to 
except  Gilby  and  Bayley,  who  became  Fellows  of  Trinity  and     ' 
Emmanuel  respectively.     Buck  went  into  the  army  in  1809,      74. 
as  soon  as  he  had  obtained  his  degree,  and  saw  a  good  deal 
of  active  service  in  Flanders  and  Holland.     Ultimately  his 
regiment  took  part  in  the  battle  of  Waterloo,  where  he  was 
killed,  18  June,  181 5.     A  good  many  letters  passed  between 
him  and  Sedgwick,  who  was  evidently  sincerely  attached  to 
him.     He  carefully  preserved  all  Buck's  letters,  and  on  a  slip 
of  paper  dated   22   September,  181 5,  he  recorded   the  last 
events  of  his  friend's  career,  concluding  his  brief  notice  with 
these  words :    "  Peace  to   his  soul.     A   man  of  more  cool 
undaunted  courage  never  existed.     If  he  had  lived  he  would 
have  been  an  ornament  of  his  profession." 

One  interesting  reminiscence  of  the  autumn  of  1808  was 
frequently  recalled  by  Sedgwick  in  conversation.  He  hap- 
pened to  come  over  from  Ditton  to  Cambridge  on  Tuesday, 
4  October,  and  on  reaching  College  found  that  Professor 
Porson  was  to  be  buried  on  that  very  day  in  the  chapel.  As 
may  be  easily  imagined,  his  dress  was  suited  to  the  country 
rather  than  to  such  an  occasion,  but,  being  anxious  to  honour 
the  memory  of  so  distinguished  a  scholar,  he  borrowed  a  black 
coat  from  a  friend,  and  took  his  place  in  the  procession. 

In  October,  1809,  Sedgwick  sat  for  a  Fellowship,  but  was 
unsuccessful.  There  were  but  two  vacancies,  to  which  Charles 
James  Blomfield  and  William  Clark *  were  elected.  The 
former,  it  will  be  remembered,  was  third  Wrangler  in  the  same 
year  as  Sedgwick,  and  had  also  been  senior  Chancellor's 
Medallist;  but  Clark  was  only  seventh  wrangler,  and  had 
obtained  no  University  distinction  in  classics.  On  the  sup- 
position therefore  that  there  was  no  first-rate  candidate  of 
the  upper  year,  Sedgwick  had  a  good  prospect  of  success.  In 
the  examination,  however,  which  was  partly  classical,  partly 
mathematical,  Clark  did  extremely  well  in  classics,  and  gave 
special  satisfaction  to  the  examiners  by  a  translation  of  a 

1  Professor  of  Anatomy  from  181 7  to  1866. 

7—2 


ioo  FELLOWSHIP. 


1810.  passage  from  Pindar  into  English  verse.  Sedgwick  was 
/Et  *5  therefore  compelled  to  wait  for  a  year,  which  he  spent  in  im- 
proving his  classical  knowledge.  "What  are  you  about  now?" 
writes  his  friend  Duckworth,  22  April  1810:  "How  many 
vacancies  ?  What  number  of  books  of  Thucydides,  and  plays, 
&c  perused  ? "  Others  write  in  the  same  strain.  On  the  next 
occasion,  in  October,  18 10,  there  were  four  vacancies,  to  fill 
which  the  Master  and  Seniors  selected  Sedgwick  ;  George  Edis 
Webster  (8th  Wrangler),  Edward  Peacock  (9th  Wrangler),  and 
Richard  Ward  (7th  Senior  Optime,  and  second  Chancellor's 
Medallist),  all  of  the  same  year. 

Sedgwick's  friends  hastened  to  express  their  joy  at  his 
success.  Letters  of  congratulation  have  a  certain  uniformity  of 
style,  and  those  addressed  to  Sedgwick — or  "Sedge  "  as  he  was 
called  for  brevity's  sake — form  no  exception  to  the  rule.  None 
need  be  quoted  at  length — but  from  that  written  by  Samuel 
Duckworth,  more  enthusiastic  than  the  others,  we  will  cite 
a  brief  extract  "Escaped  from  the  clutches  of  x  and  y\ 
no  longer  bounded  by  right  lines,  superficies,  or  solids;  no 
longer  impelled  to  move  in  a  diagonal  by  the  joint  action 
of  ambition  and  lucre  on  the  one  hand,  and  of  indolence  on 
the  other,  you  may  commit  yourself  entirely  to  the  influence 
of  the  latter,  enjoy  otiutn  aim  dignitate,  and  listen  to  the  con- 
gratulations of  your  friends  resounding  from  the  banks  of  the 
Mersey  and  Humber  to  those  of  the  Cam.  I  for  one  sincerely 
congratulate  you,  my  dear  Sedge,"  and  so  forth.  But  of  all 
those  which  he  received  probably  none  gave  him  so  much 
pleasure  as  that  from  his  old  school-master  at  Sedbergh, 
who  added  in  a  postscript:  "Mr  Dawson  begs  to  join  in 
congratulations." 


CHAPTER   IV. 
(1810— 1818.) 

Work  with  pupils.  Reading  for  ordination  (18 10).  Visit 
to  London.  Society  at  Cambridge.  Contested  election 
for  Chancellor  and  M.P.  for  University.  Installation 
of  Chancellor.  Reading  party  at  Bury  St  Edmunds. 
Christmas  at  Dent  (181  i).  Winter  visit  to  Lakes. 
Visit  to  London.  Petition  against  Roman  Catholic 
claims.  Reading  party  at  Lowestoft.  Appointed  sub- 
lecturer  at  Trinity  College.  Second  petition  against 
Roman  Catholics  (181 2).  Serious  illness.  Summer  at 
Dent  (18 13).  Severe  frost.  Visit  of  Marshal  Blucher. 
Summer  at  Dent.  Excursion  in  Yorkshire  (1814). 
Projected  tour  on  the  continent.  Farish's  lectures. 
Cambridge  fever.  Goes  home  to  Dent.  News  of 
Waterloo.  Assistant  tutorship  at  Trinity  College 
(181 5).  Tour  on  continent  (1816).  Ordination.  Summer 
at  Dent.  Hard  work  in  Michaelmas  Term  (181 7). 
Elected  Woodwardian   Professor  of  Geology  (18 18). 

The  long-coveted  distinction  of  a  Fellowship  at  Trinity  1810. 
College  did  not  bring  to  Sedgwick  all  the  pleasure  he  had  no  &u  7$- 
doubt  anticipated  from  it.  He  had  sacrificed  his  own  inclina- 
tions, as  already  mentioned,  to  his  duty  towards  his  father 
and  his  brothers,  and  he  never  repented  of  that  decision. 
But  the  course  which  it  compelled  him  to  follow  was  not  the 
less  distasteful  because  it  was  right.      He  had  never  taken 


> 


102      •.■•:•/  WORK   WITH  PUPILS. 


"*T 


•  • 


•  • 


1810.     any 'deep  interest  in  mathematics,  or  done  any  original  work 

&*•  *5-  .mvthem ;  and  when  it  became  necessary  to  teach  them, 
•  ••   • 
\gferely  for  the  sake  of  money,  to  young  men  of  whom  some 

"■•-.  probably  approached  their  study  with  unwillingness  as  great 

#  >./"  as  his  own,  he  regarded  both  the  subject  and  the  pupils  with 

•     •  • 

'.•*••"  feelings  little  short  of  detestation.  He  worked  hard,  and 
evidently  did  his  duty  conscientiously  and  thoroughly1,  but 
he  was  at  heart  profoundly  dissatisfied  with  himself  and  his 
surroundings.  "  Six  of  these  blessed  youths  I  have  to  feed 
each  day,"  he  exclaims  in  one  of  his  letters ;  in  others  he 
deplores  his  wasted  life,  his  inability  to  find  leisure,  even  in 
the  summer  vacation,  for  the  private  reading  which  he  is 
longing  to  begin ;  and  he  looks  forward,  with  eager  anticipa- 
tion, to  a  future  in  which  he  will  be  able  "  to  have  done  with 
the  system  altogether".  Nor  were  other  causes  wanting  to 
make  his  life  less  pleasant  than  it  had  been. 

In  the  first  place,  his  health  had  become  impaired.  He 
had  been  extremely  anxious  about  the  result  of  the  Fellow- 
ship examination,  and  had  over-worked  himself  in  pre- 
paration for  it  In  fact,  the  chronic  ill-health  from  which 
he  suffered  during  the  rest  of  his  life,  and  which  occupied 
so  large  a  space  in  his  letters  and  his  conversation,  may 
be  traced  to  the  mental  and  physical  strain  of  that  period. 
He  broke  down  completely  in  18 13,  as  will  be  related  below; 
but  even  at  the  end  of  18 10,  though  he  declined  to  allow  that 
he  was  ill,  his  appearance  was  such  that  his  friends  had 
become  solicitous  on  his  behalf.  As  one  of  them  wrote :  "a 
man  who  is  reduced  two  or  three  stone  below  his  standard 
weight  cannot  be  very  well2."  The  state  of  his  purse,  how- 
ever, would  not  allow  him  to  take  the  rest  of  which  he  stood 

1  For  instance,  when  Ainger  was  coming  to  Cambridge  in  the  Easter  Term, 
181  ?,  and  had  suggested  that  Sedgwick  should  meet  him  on  the  road  from 
Whittlesea,  he  received  the  following  reply :  "  I  would  have  met  you  with  a  gig 
with  my  whole  heart  if  I  could  have  done  it  with  a  good  conscience.  But  consider; 
I  have  six  pupils,  and  it  is  now  within  three  weeks  of  the  examination.  An 
absence  of  two  days  would  at  this  time  of  the  year  be  a  great  trespass." 

8  From  Rev.  John  Mason,  3  October,  18  io. 


WORK    WITH  PUPILS.  103 

so  much  in  need,  and  he  was  "driving  on  just  as  usual1".  1811. 
Moreover,  his  determination  to  give  up  the  Bar  entailed  a  ^  *6m 
further,  and  more  important,  step,  namely,  the  adoption  of 
the  clerical  profession,  for  which  he  had  no  very  decided 
inclination.  He  came,  however,  to  the  wise  conclusion  that 
it  would  be  best  to  commence  the  study  of  such  a  subject 
without  delay,  and  before  the  end  of  18 10  he  wrote :  "I  intend 
to  begin  my  theological  labours  in  about  a  fortnight.  I  wish 
I  had  a  better  motive  than  I  have  for  beginning  these  labours. 
I  acknowledge  the  necessity  and  importance  of  them,  but  I 
feel  an  indifference  to  serious  subjects  which  I  shall  find  it 
difficult  to  conquer.  We  must  hope  for  better  times."  We 
shall  see  that  the  commencement  here  announced  was  again 
and  again  deferred:  but  the  feeling  that  he  ought  to  be 
studying  theology  was  constantly  present  to  his  mind,  and 
added  to  his  anxieties.  Lastly,  he  felt  acutely  the  loss  of  his 
old  set  of  friends — all  of  whom,  with  the  exception  of  Carr, 
had  left  Cambridge.  It  was  probably  their  absence,  far  more 
than  ill-health  or  uncongenial  work,  that  made  him  feel  so  ill 
at  ease.  As  usual,  he  poured  his  troubles  into  the  sym- 
pathising ears  of  Ainger,  now  comfortably  settled  in  a 
curacy  at  Beccles  in  Suffolk,  who  had  ended  his  last  letter 
with  these  words :  "  I  conclude  with  earnestly  advising  you, 
and  the  whole  set  of  you,  to  follow  my  example,  and  get  away 
from  College  as  fast  as  you  can." 

Trin.  Coll.     February  n,  181 1. 
Dear  Ainger, 

I  feel  much  obliged  to  you  for  the  circumstantial 
account  you  have  given  me  of  your  situation,  your  prospects, 
and  your  society.  You  know  little  of  my  feelings  if  you  are 
not  convinced  that  everything  relating  to  yourself  must  always 
excite  in  me  the  warmest  interest.  I  am  frequently  gloomy 
when  I  consider  that  in  the  common  course  of  things  I  may 
not  hereafter  have  it  in  my  power  to  spend  many  weeks  in 
that  society  which  for  the  last  six  years  has  contributed  so 

1  To  Rev.  W.  Ainger,  7  December,  18 10. 


io4  HOLIDA  V  IN  LONDON. 

r 

1811.  much  to  my  happiness,  I  might  almost  say  to  my  existence.  If 
&*'  **•  Carr  was  away  I  should  consider  myself  alone  at  Cambridge. 
You  will  recollect  that  I  made  several  resolutions  to  read 
divinity  this  vacation.  I  did  begin,  but  that  was  all,  for  I 
made  no  progress.  Boswell's  Life  of  Johnson  is  the  only 
book  I  have  seen  this  Christmas.  While  the  men  were  in  the 
Senate  House,  I  did  nothing.  The  result  you  will  of  course 
have  seen.  I  should  otherwise  have  sent  you  a  tripos  in  some 
corner  of  this  sheet.  It  has  been  a  noble  year  for  Trinity. 
Armstrong  says  he  fears  the  glory  of  St  John's  is  gone  for  ever1. 
Soon  after  the  degrees  were  conferred  I  set  off  to  Town, 
where  I  spent  a  gay  and  agreeable  week;  indeed  I  was 
engaged  out  to  dinner  every  day  I  remained  there.  Gilby 
and  I  one  evening  left  a  party  early  and  went  to  the  Opera. 
I  was  much  more  astonished  than  pleased  with  the  per- 
formance. Catalanfs  powers  are  certainly  transcendent,  yet  I 
felt  more  surprise  than  delight  at  her  Italian  warblings.  The 
music  was  much  too  refined  for  my  taste;  they  sacrifice 
everything  to  execution :  however  I  have  no  right  to  censure 
what  I  do  not  understand.  After  taking  an  early  dinner 
with  Harrison*,  I  one  evening  went  with  Armstrong  and 
Duckworth  to  Covent  Garden.  Cato9  and  the  new  pantomime 
of  Asmodeus  were  performed.  I  am  Goth  enough  to  acknow- 
ledge myself  more  pleased  with  Grimaldi's  wry  faces  than 
with  Addison's  declamation. 

I  returned  to  Cambridge  last  Tuesday,  and  am  now  lead- 
ing a  life  of  dull  uniformity.  I  am  at  present  almost  prevented 
from  leaving  my  rooms  by  a  violent  cold  which  has  already 
taken  away  three  of  my  senses ;  I  can  neither  hear,  smell, 
nor  taste.     But  while  I  have  one  sense   left   I   shall   ever 

remain 

Yours  sincerely  and  affectionately, 

A.  Sedgwick. 

1  There  were  15  Wranglers,  of  whom  Trinity  had  7 ;  the  1st,  5th,  6th,  7th,  8th, 
9th,  14th:  St  John's  only  1 ;  the  10th  and  12th. 
8  Charles  Harrison,  Trin.  B.A.  18 10. 
3  A  revival  of  Cato  with  John  KeroUe  as  Cato  and  Charles  Kemble  as  Juba. 


UNIVERSITY  SOCIETY.  105 


In  April  181 1,  after  Sedgwick  had  proceeded  to  the  degree  1811. 
of  Master  of  Arts,  he  had  the  right  of  dining  at  the  High  Mt-  *6- 
Table  in  Hall;  but  these  new  surroundings  gave  him  but 
little  pleasure,  at  any  rate  at  first.  For  a  time  he  enjoyed 
Calx's  society  there ;  but  at  the  end  of  181 1  or  the  beginning 
of  18 1 2  he  also  left  College,  and  Sedgwick  remained  alone,  to 
make  new  friends  as  best  he  could.  His  judgment  on  his 
brother  Fellows — at  least  on  those  senior  to  himself — was  not 
favourable : 

"  I  find  a  great  want  of  Carr ;  for,  though  I  am  more  at 
home  among  our  Fellows  than  I  was  formerly,  I  find  none 
amongst  them  to  supply  his  place.  On  the  whole  I  have 
been  rather  disappointed  in  the  society  of  Masters  of  Arts. 
Many  are  gloomy  and  discontented,  many  impertinent  and 
pedantic;  and  a  still  greater  number  are  so  eaten  up  with 
vanity  that  they  are  continually  attempting  some  part  which 
they  cannot  support1." 

The  University  has  changed  so  completely  since  Sedgwick 
wrote  these  words,  that  a  few  remarks  on  University  life  at 
the  beginning  of  the  present  century  will  be  not  out  of  place. 
In  attempting  to  picture  to  ourselves  what  it  was,  it  must  be 
remembered  in  the  first  place  that  foreign  travel  was  impos- 
sible, that  communication  with  other  parts  of  England  was 
slow  and  costly,  and  that  therefore  journeys  were  seldom 
undertaken.  Many  Fellows  made  Cambridge  their  home, 
which  they  rarely  left,  and  died,  as  they  had  lived,  in  their 
college  rooms.  Newspapers — such  as  they  were — travelled 
as  slowly  as  individuals,  and  the  arrival  of  a  letter  was  a  rare 
event.  We  have  often  wondered  what  the  Fellows  conversed 
about  at  dinner  or  supper,  or  at  the  symposia  in  the  Combina- 
tion Room  which  in  winter  filled  up  the  long  interval  between 
the  two  meals.  And  yet  those  gatherings  were  described  as 
cheerful ;  and  Sedgwick  himself  has  been  heard  to  expatiate 
with  delight  on  the  recollection  of  a  certain  Christmas,  when 
they  had  been  so  fortunate  as  to  secure  the  company  of  an 

1  To  Rev.  W.  Ainger,  without  date. 


106  UNIVERSITY  SOCIETY. 

1811.     Irish  Captain,  specially  famous  for  his  comic  songs.     Christ- 

Mt.  16.    mas>  however,  comes  but  once  a  year,  and  the  joviality  of  the 

twelve  days  over  which  its  festivities  then  extended  was  no 

doubt  enhanced  by  the  dullness  of   the    remaining  three 

hundred  and  fifty-three. 

Again,  the  refining  influence  of  ladies'  society  was  almost 
wholly  absent  With  the  exception  of  the  Heads  of  Colleges, 
there  were  very  few  married  men  in  the  University,  and  the 
Heads  were  averse  to  general  society.  Dr  Mansel,  who  had 
daughters  to  establish,  gave  a  few  evening  parties ;  the  other 
members  of  the  oligarchy  thought  themselves  too  important 
to  associate  with  anybody  whose  degree  was  below  that  of  a 
Doctor,  or  who  had  not  achieved  the  dignified  position  of  a 
Professor.  Nor  was  it  the  custom  for  Fellows  of  Colleges  to 
see  anything  of  the  undergraduates.  It  was  rather  the  fashion 
to  ignore  their  existence.  The  old  custom  of  a  Fellow  sharing 
his  room  with  one  or  more  undergraduates  had  died  out  a 
century  before,  and  had  not  been  replaced  by  the  frank  inter- 
course which  has  now  become  usual,  to  the  common  benefit  of 
both.  It  is  evident,  from  what  Sedgwick  says  of  the  Fellows, 
that  he  knew  nothing  about  them  until  he  was  enrolled  among 
their  number.  There  were  Fellow-Commoners  it  is  true,  who 
were  sometimes  numerous ;  but  the  Fellows  saw  very  little 
of  them.  From  the  way  in  which  Professor  Pryme  speaks  of 
the  pleasure  which  he  and  some  of  his  friends  derived  from 
intercourse  with  "the  most  cultivated  of  the  Fellow-Com- 
moners1 ",  it  is  evident  that  such  intercourse  was  as  rare  as 
they  found  it  agreeable. 

Few  Fellows  of  Trinity  College,  except  the  officials,  had 
any  definite  occupation.  With  two  exceptions,  they  were 
bound  to  take  Holy  Orders.  Some  held  small  livings  in 
Cambridgeshire,  tenable  with  their  fellowships ;  others,  who 
had  been  appointed  to  the  office  of  College  Preacher,  held 
more  lucrative  pieces  of  preferment.  But  in  neither  case  was 
residence  compulsory ;  parishes  were  held  to  be  sufficiently 

1  Recollections,  p.  89. 


UNIVERSITY  SOCIETY.  107 

provided  for  by  the  appointment  of  a  curate,  and  the  per-  181 1. 
formance  of  an  occasional  Sunday  service.  With  the  large  &*-  *<*• 
majority  of  the  residents,  the  fact  that  they  were  clergymen 
imposed  upon  them  no  duties,  and  effected  no  difference  in 
their  manners,  habits,  or  language.  Men  of  ambition  went 
out  into  the  world  and  boldly  courted  fortune,  as  soon  as 
they  had  obtained  their  fellowships — some  without  even 
waiting  for  that  assistance.  Those  who  despaired  of  success, 
or  had  no  energy  to  strive  after  it,  remained  behind.  One 
resource,  and  one  only,  remained  to  them,  the  chance  of 
obtaining  a  College  living ;  and  for  this,  and  for  the  marriage 
which  in  many  cases  depended  on  it,  a  man  would  wait,  year 
after  year, 

"Sickening  in  tedious  indolence, 
Hope  long  deferr'd,  and  slow  suspense1;" 

till  not  only  had  he  become  unfit  for  active  work  in  a  parish, 
but  his  hopes  of  domestic  happiness  had  too  often  ended, 
sometimes  by  mutual  consent,  sometimes  in  a  sadder  way, 
by  the  death  of  the  intended  wife. 

No  wonder  that  discontent  and  ill-humour  became  chronic, 
except  with  those  happy  dispositions  whose  natural  gaiety 
can  never  be  checked ;  no  wonder  that  those  who  had  to 
endure  a  life  which  had  all  the  dullness  of  a  monastery 
without  its  austerity  or  its  religious  enthusiasm,  should 
become  soured,  eccentric,  selfish,  if  not  intemperate  and 
immoral. 

We  have  drawn  a  gloomy  picture,  but  one  which  repre- 
sents, we  fear,  a  painful  reality.  Before  long,  however,  a 
great  change  took  place.  The  restoration  of  peace  put  an 
end  to  the  isolation  of  England,  and  the  Universities,  in 
common  with  the  rest  of  the  kingdom,  shook  off  their  torpor, 
and  became  imbued  with  new  ideas.  The  Fellows  of  Trinity 
College  only  a  few  years  junior  to  Sedgwick  were  men  of 
powerful  intellect  and  wide  interests ;  with  whom,  as  it  will 
be  our  pleasing  task  to  point  out,  he  made  common  cause 

1  Ode  to  Trinity  College*  Cambridge.     By  G.  Pryme,  8vo.  Lond.  18 11,  p.  si. 


io8  UNIVERSITY  ELECTIONS. 

1811.     against  the  dullness  of  a  previous  age,  and  inaugurated  the 
Mt.  a6.    modern  development  of  the  University. 

\  At  all  times,  even  the  most  stagnant,  politics  can  rouse 
the  soundest  sleeper ;  and  in  March,  181 1,  the  University  was 
thrown  into  an  unusual  state  of  excitement  by  two  elections, 
both  of  which  were  contested.  The  Duke  of  Grafton,  who 
had  been  Chancellor  for  forty-three  years,  died  on  the  14th ; 
and  the  elevation  of  his  son,  Lord  Euston,  to  the  peerage, 
vacated  one  of  the  seats  in  Parliament  For  the  Chancellor- 
ship the  candidates  were  Prince  William  Frederick,  Duke  of 
Gloucester,  and  the  Duke  of  Rutland.  The  latter  had  ac- 
quired an  almost  paramount  influence  in  the  *  Town  of  Cam- 
bridge, of  which  he  was  High  Steward,  and  on  this  account 
was  opposed  by  several  prominent  tories,  and  notably  by 
Professor  Marsh,  who  considered  that  his  duties  to  the 
Borough  would  clash  with  his  duties  to  the  University.  The 
Duke  of  Gloucester,  as  a  staunch  Abolitionist,  had  the  support 
of  Mr  Wilberforce,  and  Dean  Milner  was  specially  active  on 
his  behalf.  The  Duke  of  Rutland's  supporters,  on  the  other 
hand,  hinted  not  obscurely  that  His  Royal  Highness  was  in 
favour  of  Catholic  Emancipation,  and  called  his  friends 
"enemies  of  the  Church".  This  clever  electioneering  move 
was,  however,  unsuccessful,  and  the  Duke  of  Gloucester  was 
elected  by  a  majority  of  117,  26  March,  181 11. 

For  the  seat  in  Parliament  the  candidates  were  Viscount 
Palmerston,  who  had  been  Under-Secretary  for  War  since 
October  1809,  and  John  Henry  Smyth,  M.A.  of  Trinity 
College.  The  tories  made  the  most  of  "  the  ability  displayed 
by  Lord  Palmerston  in  the  administration  of  the  country,"  and 
he  obtained  a  majority  of  106  over  his  opponent,  a  whig,  who 
had  taken  no  part  in  public  life,  and  was  known  only  as  a 
good  classical  scholar1.     The  election — which  took  place  on 

1  The  Question  Examined,  whether  the  Friends  of  the  Duke  of  Gloucester  in  the 
present  contest  are  Enemies  of  the  Church.  By  Herbert  Marsh,  D.D.,  8vo.  Camb. 
181 1.   Milner's  Life,  p.  450.  Cooper's  Annals,  iv.  495.   Wilberforce 's  Life,  iii.  502. 

*  Mr  Smyth  had  taken  an  ordinary  degree  in  1801,  but  had  obtained  Browne's 
medal  for  a  Greek  and  Latin  Ode  in  1799,  and  for  a  Greek  Ode  in  1800. 


UNIVERSITY  ELECTIONS.  %  109 


the  day  following  that  of  the  Chancellor — excited  compara-      181 1. 
tively  little  interest  beyond  the  walls  of  Palmerston's  own    ^t.  «6- 
College.     Sedgwick,  as  the  next  letter  shows,  was  beginning 
to  take  a  keen  interest  in  politics — and  he  puts  the  objections 
to  the  Duke  of  Rutland  even  more  forcibly  than  Professor 
Marsh  had  done. 

Trin.  Coll.    Tuesday  morning. 

[March,  1811.] 
My  dear  Ainger, 

...The  University  is  already  in  a  ferment;  I  shall 
rejoice  to  see  you  whenever  you  may  come,  tho*  I  fear  many 
of  my  political  lectures  have  been  lost  on  you.  It  would 
be  absurd  in  any  one  to  wish  you  to  vote  against  Lord 
Palmerston ;  he  is  no  doubt  a  highly  respectable  candidate, 
and  deserves  the  support  of  his  college. 

The  candidates  for  the  Chancellorship  are  both  of  our 
college.  The  Johnians  in  general  support  the  Duke  of 
Rutland.  I  am  astonished  at  his  impudence  in  offering  him- 
self. If  we  look  to  his  intellectual  attainments  we  shall  find 
them  beneath  contempt.  He  borrows  his  influence  from  that 
source  which  ought  to  render  him  infamous.  He  is  one  of 
the  greatest  borough-mongers  in  the  kingdom.  It  is  con- 
foundedly provoking  to  the  men  of  our  year  to  be  without  a 
vote.  The  undergraduates  of  St  John's  are  all  about  to  be 
sent  out  of  College  to  make  room  for  the  Masters  of  Arts. 
As  you  will  be  here  before  next  Tuesday,  I  shall  trouble  you 
no  further, 

I  am    Yours  most  affectionately, 

A.  Sedgwick. 

You  must  not  tell  your  friends  what  I  have  written.  I 
shall  be  prosecuted  for  a  libel  if  you  do. 

Notwithstanding  Sedgwick's  good  resolutions,  his  theo- 
logical studies  made  little  or  no  progress.  During  the  Easter 
Term  he  was  occupied  as  usual  with  pupils,  and  with  prepara- 
tions for  his  summer  excursion  to  Bury  St  Edmunds.     When 


1 10  INSTALLA  T/ON. 


1811.  term  was  over,  he  stayed  in  Cambridge  in  order  to  participate 
iEt  *6-  in  the  gaieties  of  the  Chancellor's  Installation,  and  evidently 
forgot  all  his  cares  in  the  bustle  and  excitement.  "Well 
do  I  remember"  he  wrote  in  1864,  "the  tumult  of  joy  with 
which  I  plunged  into  the  festivities  of  181 1,  when  the  Duke 
of  Gloucester  was  installed  6ur  Chancellor.  In  those  days 
I  was  a  dancing  man,  and  found  it  a  most  happy  method 
of  discharging  my  redundant  spirits1." 

The  following  letter  to  Ainger,  written  at  the  end  of  term, 
opens  with  such  an  amusing  burst  of  well-feigned  indignation, 
that  we  are  tempted  to  regret  the  loss  of  the  remonstrances 
against  unpunctuality  in  answering  letters  which  provoked  it. 

Trin.  Coll.    June  10^  181 1. 
Dear  Ainger, 

Your  letter  was  left  in  my  rooms  this  morning. 
When  I  had  read  it  over,  and  found  your  name  affixed  to  it,  I 
could  with  difficulty  persuade  myself  that  I  was  not  deceived 
by  my  senses.  I  am  at  present  a  solitary,  matter  of  fact 
man,  little  accustomed  either  to  give,  or  receive,  the  language 
of  abuse.  Your  letter  is  indeed  couched  in  terms  of  right 
orthodox  scurrility.  You  have  been  reading  books  of  reli- 
gious controversy,  I  presume.  Authors  of  the  description  you 
are  now  studying  I  am  little  acquainted  with,  and  I  therefore 
cannot  be  expected  to  express  the  worst  passions  of  human 
nature  with  the  same  strength  and  propriety  that  you  do.  A 
momentary  irritation  was  the  only  effect  your  impudent  scrawl 
produced  ;  I  resolved  to  throw  it  aside  and  think  no  more  of 
it  I  have,  however,  allowed  my  judgment  to  master  my 
feelings,  and  resolved  to  give  you  an  opportunity  of  explain- 
ing away  this  farrago  of  false  accusations.  I  have  been  since 
endeavouring  to  account  on  rational  principles  for  this  change 
in  your  tone  of  thinking  and  of  writing.  Have  you  become 
so  far  intoxicated  by  the  applause  of  the  gaping  crowds  at 
Beccles  that  you  expected  to  overwhelm  me  with  a  torrent  of 

1  To  Mrs  Hotson,  5  June,  1864. 


CAMBRIDGE  GOSSIP.  in 


eloquent  abuse,  unaccompanied  by  reason  or  truth?    You     1811. 
have  indeed  got  some  egregious  Gospel  Trumpeters  in  your   Mu  **• 
parish.    Your  sermons  make  as  much  noise  in  the  papers 
as  Daffy's  Elixir,  or  Bish's   Lottery  tickets.     I   hate  such 
Pharisaical  blasts;  I  wonder  you  have  not  found  means  to 
stop  them. 

You  begin  by  asserting  that  I  am  a  sad  careless  fellow, 
and  that  you  fear  I  shall  never  mend.  This  from  you  is  too 
much.  On  turning  over  your  letters  I  find  that,  almost  with- 
out exception,  they  begin  with  apologies  for  neglect.  In  one 
you  acknowledge  "  that  the  happiness  you  derive  from  present 
objects  had  filled  up  every  moment  of  your  attention ;  that 
you  had  never  found  time  even  to  think  of  those  who  were 
absent "  (dated  Hertfordshire) ;  in  another  you  with  all  due 
contrition  bewail  your  offences,  calling  yourself  "  a  wretched 
caitiff  and  a  miserable  sinner " ;  in  a  third  you  say  "  that  the 
fulminations  in  my  last  letter  had  roused  you  as  it  were  from  a 
dream,  and  at  length  brought  you  to  your  senses  ".  In  truth, 
Ainger,  out  of  the  six  letters  of  yours  which  I  have  before  me 
I  could  find  more  expressions  of  bitter  remorse  than  you 
could  pick  out  of  all  the  volumes  of  the  Newgate  Calendar. 

I  should  not  have  brought  your  own  words  in  judgment 
against  you  if  you  had  not  set  me  the  example.  I  still  pro- 
fess myself  desirous  of  continuing  a  regular  correspondence. 
If  you  had  been  guilty  of  no  dereliction  of  duty,  you  would 
have  experienced  none  from  me.  You  say  it  was  my  turn  to 
write  because  you  had  paid  me  a  visit  I  recollect  no  such 
visit.  You  did  indeed  just  show  your  face  in  Cambridge  "  to 
do  the  devil's  dirty  work  for  nothing  ".  But  let  me  assure  you 
that  if  the  taking  a  coach,  and  driving  across  the  country  to 
vote  for  a  foolish  fox-hunting  Duke  is  hereafter  to  be  con- 
sidered as  an  answer  to  .my  letters,  I  shall  feel  no  desire  of 
continuing  our  correspondence. 

I  cannot  yet  propound  to  you  any  difficult  questions  in 
divinity,  because  I  have  not  taken  the  trouble  to  look  for 
them.     I  have  had  five  pupils  during  the  whole  of  last  term ; 


H2  CAMBRIDGE  GOSSIP. 

1811.  when  I  was  not  engaged  with  them  I  employed  myself 
Mt.  26.  principally  in  reading  voyages  and  travels.  I  managed  to  get 
through  ten  or  twelve  quarto  volumes.  Besides  these  I  have 
read  Malthus  on  Population  twice  through ;  he  is  a  delightful 
author,  and  has  made  me  a  convert  to  most  of  his  opinions. 
His  maxims  are  too  cold-blooded  for  a  man  of  your  tempera- 
ment My  more  serious  moments  have  been  devoted  to 
Xenophon,  Tacitus,  Virgil,  Berkeley's  Metaphysical  Works, 
and  Paley's  Sermons.  I  am  at  present  engaged  exclusively 
in  reading  Mathematics  by  way  of  preparation  for  our 
summer's  labours.  We  shall  not  remove  to  Bury  till  after 
the  Commencement.  I  have  of  course  regularly  seen  the 
morning  and  evening  papers.  Such  a  tide  of  success  has 
been  flowing  in  upon  us,  as  Perceval  says,  that  even  you, 
dead  as  you  are  to  all  political  feeling,  must  have  joined  in 
the  general  exultation.  The  reappointment  of  the  Duke  of 
York  is  a  cursed  drawback.  "The  Talents"  have  behaved 
infamously ;  they  are  nothing  better  than  the  vile  refuse  of  a 
party. 

Carr  has  left  Cambridge  and  all  its  festivities  behind  him  ; 
he  is  now  in  the  North,  and  will  continue  there  during  the 
summer.  I  almost  envy  him.  At  one  time  I  intended  to 
have  seen  Dent  before  July,  but  I  could  not  raise  the  wind. 
In  truth,  Ainger,  I  scarcely  dare  appear  in  the  streets ;  some 
terrific  gaping  dun  stares  me  in  the  face  at  every  corner. 
Bland  is  now  at  Sedbergh.  I  had  some  conversation  with 
him  before  he  left  us.  When  speaking  of  you  he  seemed 
quite  in  a  pet,  and  muttered  something  between  his  teeth 
very  much  like  an  oath;  he  seems  resolved  never  more  to 
think  of  you,  or  to  write  to  you,  because  you  never  give  your- 
self the  trouble  of  answering  his  letters.  Armstrong  has  sent 
me  a  very  long  and  amusing  letter.  He  was  one  of  the 
Stewards  at  the  John  Port  Latin  dinner.  On  returning  to 
Gray's  Inn  he  was  obliged  to  leave  a  reverend  friend  of  his  in 
the  watch-house.  Armstrong  seems  to  have  made  a  long 
speech  in  defence  of  this  hopeful  divine,  but  his  eloquence 


READING-PARTY  AT  BURY  ST  EDMUNDS.  113 

produced  no  effect  on  the  constable  of  the  night.  He  men-  181 1. 
tions  no  names.  "  The  Parson "  (he  says  in  one  part  of  his  &*-  26- 
letter)  "has  never  written  to  me  since  he  left  town."  He 
complains  of  you  for  your  indolence.  Your  friends,  you  find, 
are  abusing  you  with  one  consent.  Don't  be  so  self-com- 
placent as  to  imagine  that  you  are  right  and  they  wrong.  If 
after  this  prompt  and  vigorous  exertion  on  my  part  you 
make  no  suitable  return,  I  shall  for  the  future  consider  you  a 

monster  of  ingratitude. 

I  am,  dear  Ainger, 

Yours  most  truly, 

A.  Sedgwick. 

The  reading  party  assembled  at  Bury  St  Edmunds  in 
July1,  and,  let  us  hope,  passed  the  summer  both  profitably 
and  agreeably,  but  we  know  neither  the  names  of  the  pupils, 
nor  any  particulars  of  their  doings,  with  this  exception,  that 
Sedgwick,  as  might  be  expected,  made  friends  there,  whom 
he  visited  on  subsequent  occasions. 

Between  October  181 1  and  April  18 12  Sedgwick's  life 
offers  no  variety.  He  worked  on  as  usual ;  denied  himself  a 
holiday  in  London  towards  the  end  of  the  year — "  Five  pupils 
and  an  empty  purse  interpose  difficulties  not  easily  got  over2;" 
— passed  the  Christmas  vacation  at  Dent ;  and  finally,  after  a 
Lent  term  devoted  to  pupils,  and  preparation  for  a  summer  at 
Lowestoft,  allowed  himself  a  hasty  glimpse  of  his  old  set  in 
London.  It  is  painful  to  notice  that  the  tone  of  his  letters  is 
still  depressed.  The  elasticity  of  youth  had  passed  away,  and 
had  not  yet  been  replaced  by  the  cheerfulness  of  a  man  who 
is  doing  work  which  he  enjoys  contentedly  and  resolutely. 

Trin.  Coll.    February  14,  1812. 
My  dear  Ainger, 

I  informed  you  in  my  last  that  I  should  visit  Dent 
during  the  Christmas  vacation.     My  anxiety  to  be  off  was 

1  Miss  Margaret  Sedgwick  directed  a  letter  (31  July)  to  '•  Mr  Sedgwick,  at 
Mr  Crisp's,  Druggist,  Bury  St  Edmunds." 

*  To  Rev.  W.  Ainger,  Bcccles,  Suffolk,  4  December,  181 1. 

s.  I.  8 


H4  VACATION  AT  DENT. 

1811.  such  that  I  left  Cambridge  two  days  before  the  end  of  the 
^*-  *7-  October  term.  You  will  perhaps  be  surprised  when  I  say 
that  I  travelled  outside  all  the  way  from  Alconbury  Hill  to 
Ingleton.  I  had  fortified  myself  with  a  box-coat  of  huge 
dimensions  and  impenetrable  thickness,  so  that,  notwithstand- 
ing a  keen  north  wind  and  hard  frost,  I  found  little  incon- 
venience from  the  weather. 

My  Father  still  retains  that  freshness  of  complexion,  and 
activity  of  limb,  for  which  he  was  remarkable,  and,  though 
deprived  of  his  sight,  he  is  not  cut  off  from  all  communication 
with  books,  for  my  sisters  read  to  him  by  turns  the  greater 
part  of  every  evening.  On  the  whole  there  are  perhaps  few 
men  who  enjoy  a  more  rational,  or  a  more  happy,  existence. 
My  mother  looks  old,  though  she  does  not  complain  of  ill 
health. 

At  Sedbergh  the  empire  of  dulness  is  firmly  fixed.  With 
Stevens  I  spent  some  pleasant  days;  his  hospitality,  and, 
above  all,  his  zeal  for  the  interest  of  his  pupils,  cannot  be 
too  much  admired ;  but  yet  there  is  something  about 
him  which  I  neither  like  nor  understand.  He  has  seven 
daughters  and  a  son,  and  there  is  another  on  the  stocks, 
but  of  its  sex  one  cannot  speak  with  certainty.  Mrs 
Dawson  died  about  ten  days  before  I  left  the  north.  Her 
dissolution  had  long  been  expected.  Mr  D.,  if  one  may 
judge  from  his  appearance,  will  not  be  long  in  following 
her.  He  looks  quite  cadaverous,  and  is  shrunk  into  a 
mere  skeleton. 

I  spent  about  a  week  with  a  man  of  our  college  who  lives 
on  the  borders  of  Windermere.  We  took  many  excursions 
during  my  visit  to  the  different  Lakes  in  the  neighbourhood. 
The  face  of  nature  is  certainly  seen  to  a  great  disadvantage 
during  this  part  of  the  year,  yet  the  excursion — 

I  was  interrupted  about  10  this  morning  by  the  entrance 
of  a  pupil.  It  is  now  late,  the  fumes  of  wine  are  in  my  head, 
and  I  am  drowsy.  It  had  been  my  intention  to  give  you  a 
bombastic  description  of  the  rugged  scenery  in  the  neighbour- 


VACATION  AT  DENT.  115 

hood  of  Coniston,  but  I  am  now  quite  disabled.  I  returned  18 12. 
to  Cambridge  by  Manchester  and  Leicester.  The  road  is  ^Et.  27. 
intolerably  bad,  and  the  distance  about  fifty  miles  greater 
than  by  Leeds.  I  was  induced  to  return  by  this  route  that  I 
might  call  on  a  clergyman  near  Macclesfield1  who  formerly 
had  the  delectable  office  of  teaching  me  A,  B,  C,  and  with 
whom  I  spent  a  month  in  Cumberland  about  twenty  years 
ago.  I  have  only  seen  him  twice  since  that  time  and  after 
long  intervals.  We  soon  became  as  intimate  as  if  our  ac- 
quaintance had  been  uninterrupted;  and  as  he  is  not  tor- 
mented by  that  bane  of  domestic  happiness  a  wife,  we 
contrived,  during  each  of  the  few  nights  I  was  with  him, 
to  keep  up  the  conversation  till  two  or  three  o'clock  in  the 
morning. 

I  forgot  to  tell  you  that  I  went  out  with  a  gun  several 
times  during  the  Christmas  vacation.  I  have  quite  lost  the 
art  of  shooting.  I  had  many  good  shots,  and  literally  killed 
nothing.  Here  I  am  grinding  away  with  six  pupils.  Under 
such  circumstances  it  is  impossible  to  advance  one  step.  But 
I  am  compelled  by  circumstances  to  undergo  this  drudgery. 
When  I  look  back  on  what  I  have  done  since  I  was  elected 
Fellow  I  cannot  discover  that  I  have  made  any  proficiency 
whatever,  or  gained  one  new  idea.  This  is  miserable  stagna- 
tion, but  I  thank  God  that  I  am  not  yet  in  the  "  slough  of 
despond  ".  I  hope  for  better  things.  You  will  undoubtedly 
have  heard  of  Carr's  appointment  to  Durham  School.  I  find 
a  great  want  of  him.  He  was  too  valuable  a  man  to  be 
easily  replaced.  I  think  he  was  in  the  right  to  accept 
the  situation,  though  at  present  the  emoluments  are  but 
small. 

I  am,  dear  Ainger, 

Yours  most  affectionately, 

A.  Sedgwick. 

1  Sedgwick's  godfather,  Mr  Parker.     See  above,  p.  47. 

8—2 


n6  VISIT  TO  LONDON. 

f8**-  Trin.  Coll.  Sunday  Evening, 

Mu  27'  April  19,  1812. 

My  dear  Ainger, 

I  left  Cambridge  on  Monday  week,  and  arrived  here 
last  Thursday,  having  exhausted  my  stock  of  cash  and  curi- 
osity. I  had  no  time  to  yawn  or  flag  during  the  visit,  as  a  suc- 
cession of  delightful  engagements  presented  themselves.  Our 
friends  Armstrong,  Hargreave,  Harrison,  Duckworth,  Gilby, 
&c.  are  all  well ;  with  some  of  these  I  contrived  to  breakfast 
almost  every  morning  during  my  stay,  spent  the  remainder  of 
the  morning  in  spying  farlies1,  and  ended  at  one  of  the 
Theatres,  the  Opera,  or  the  House  of  Commons,  seldom 
finding  my  way  to  bed  before  two  in  the  morning. 

My  resolution  of  spending  the  summer  at  LowestofF*  is 
still  fixed.  We  shall  probably  remain  there  about  sixteen  or 
seventeen  weeks;  as  this  is  a  good  long  time,  perhaps  I  might 
engage  lodgings  cheaper  on  that  account  If  a  comfortable 
sitting-room  and  a  bed-room  could  be  procured  for  a  guinea 
per  week  I  should  feel  quite  happy ;  if  for  less  so  much  the 
better ;  if  for  four  or  five  shillings  a  week  more,  I  should  not 
quarrel  with  them.  Some  of  the  men  may  perhaps  take  a 
house,  as  you  recommend.  I  should  prefer  being  on  my  old 
footing.  As  you  have  proposed  to  look  out  for  me,  I  feel 
disposed  to  accept  your  offer ;  but  should  wish  to  put  you  to 
no  inconvenience,  especially  as  more  than  two  months  must 
elapse  before  I  shall  think  of  leaving  Cambridge.  In  regard 
to  the  formation  of  a  mess,  that  will  be  best  done  after  we 
arrive  at  the  spot,  as  two  or  three  of  us  shall  probably  leave 
Cambridge  together.  At  the  same  time  a  hint  from  you  may 
be  of  good  service. 

Believe  me  yours, 

A.  Sedgwick. 

Sedgwick's  interest  in  the  contested  election  of  181 1,  and 

1  In  North  Country  dialed,  afartey  means  a  wonder,  a  strange  thing. 

2  Sedgwick  always  writes  l/>westoflf,  not  Lowestoft. 


PETITION  AGAINST  CATHOLIC  CLAIMS.  117 

his  regret  that  he  had  no  vote  wherewith  to  oppose  the  tories,  1812. 
as  represented  by  His  Grace  of  Rutland,  have  been  already  ^  27- 
mentioned.  In  the  Easter  term  of  181 2  he  found  an  oppor- 
tunity of  exercising  his  newly  obtained  rights  as  a  member  of 
the  Senate,  under  political  circumstances  of  more  than  ordinary 
interest  Early  in  the  year  the  propriety  of  making  some 
concession  to  the  Roman  Catholics,  in  connection  with  the 
peace  and  good  government  of  Ireland,  had  engaged  the 
attention  of  both  Houses  of  Parliament  The  motions,  each 
of  which  took  the  form  of  a  petition  for  a  committee  on  the 
state  of  Ireland,  were  lost ;  but  it  was  evident  that  much  of 
the  opposition  was  directed  against  the  form  of  the  proposal 
rather  than  against  the  matter,  and  that  the  question  would 
be  brought  forward  again  at  no  distant  date.  Under  these 
circumstances  the  Protestantism  of  both  Universities  took 
fright,  and  it  was  resolved  to  send  petitions  to  Parliament. 
But  it  is  evident  that,  at  least  at  Cambridge,  those  who 
suggested  such  a  course  knew  that  they  were  not  standing  on 
sure  ground.  The  petition  was  certain  to  be  opposed,  and  in 
fact,  as  the  result  proved,  ran  considerable  risk  of  being 
rejected  altogether.  Even  the  all-powerful  Heads  of  Colleges 
were  not  unanimous  in  its  favour.  The  promoters  of  it  there- 
fore determined  to  bring  it  forward  as  secretly  as  possible. 
It  was  presented  to  the  Senate  on  Monday,  20  April;  but,  "it 
was  not  till  Saturday  (18  April)  that  it  was  surmised  in  the 
University  that  such  a  Petition  was  in  contemplation,  and  it 
was  not  till  Sunday,  a  day  usually  devoted  to  other  concerns, 
that  the  promoters  of  the  Petition  formally  promulgated  their 
purposes."  Incredible  as  this  statement  sounds,  it  was  made 
in  the  House  of  Lords  by  the  Marquis  of  Lansdowne,  in  the 
terms  quoted  above,  and  no  one  ventured  publicly  to  contra- 
dict it  The  Earl  of  Hardwicke  (Lord  High  Steward  of  the 
University)  had  already  spoken  in  the  same  sense,  adding 
that  even  the  Master  of  Trinity  College  had  not  been  trusted 
with  the  secret ;  perhaps  because,  as  Lord  Lansdowne  "  had 
authority  to  state  ",  be  would  have  opposed  the  petition  had 


u8  PETITION  AGAINST  CATHOUC  CLAIMS. 

* i ■  i n ■ ii  M-  —in  ■ — r  ~T i 

i8u.  he  not  been  accidentally  absent  The  document  was  drawn 
>£l  n-  Up  by  Dean  Milner1,  and,  from  what  we  know  of  his  character, 
it  may  be  safely  assumed  that  the  measures  for  presenting  it 
to  the  Senate  were  devised  by  the  same  person.  The  petition 
is  not  in  his  happiest  manner,  and  the  main  argument  is 
curiously  fallacious.  It  stated,  with  a  specious  affectation  of 
liberality  intended  of  course  to  disarm  opposition,  that  the 
petitioners  u  have  never  been  adverse  to  liberty  of  conscience 
in  Religious  or  Ecclesiastical  Matters ;  that  they  feel  no 
uneasiness  at  the  Concession  of  any  comforts  or  advantages 
to  their  Roman  Catholic  Brethren" ;  but  that  "the  controul 
of  any  foreign  Power  over  the  Government  of  this  country 
either  in  Church  or  State  is  inconsistent  with  the  first  princi- 
ples of  all  Civil  Government...;  that  the  power  of  the  Pope, 
though  for  various  reasons  lessened  in  the  public  opinion,  is 
notwithstanding  more  dangerous  to  us  now  than  ever,  being 
itself  brought  under  the  control  of  a  foreign  and  most  in- 
veterate Enemy."  As  Sedgwick's  friend  Armstrong  observed: 
"According  to  the  wiseacres  who  framed  that  petition,  the 
Pope's  influence  increases  as  all  external  means  of  doing 
mischief  are  taken  away  from  him ;  if  he  were  only  shut  up 
in  a  dungeon  it  follows  he  would  be  irresistible."  Notwith- 
standing the  precautions  that  had  been  taken,  the  opponents 
mustered  in  considerable  force  in  both  the  Houses  into  which 
the  Senate  was  then  divided ;  and  the  Grace  to  affix  the 
University  Seal  to  the  document  obtained  a  majority  in  the 
Regent  House  of  only  fourteen,  and  in  the  non-Regent  House 
of  only  five*.  That  Sedgwick  voted  in  the  minority  is  evident 
from  the  following  extract  from  a  letter  to  Ainger  (3  May) : 

"  I  had  a  long  letter  from  Armstrong  yesterday  in  reply  to 
a  much  longer  of  mine.  In  truth  I  had  filled  to  the  brim  a 
large  sheet  of  scribbling  paper  with  abuse  of  those  men  who 
were  instrumental  in  sending  that  absurd  petition  to  the  two 

1  Life  of  Milner,  ttt  supra^  p.  500. 

*  The  numbers  were:    Regents;   Placet  34,  N  on- Placet,  20;   Non-Regents; 
Placet  14.  Non-Placet  19. 


READING-PARTY  AT  LOWESTOFT  119 

Houses.  Armstrong  felt  exactly  as  I  did,  but,  in  my  opinion,  1812. 
acted  very  absurdly,  for  he  not  only  shewed  my  farrago  of  Mi-  *7- 
invectives  to  our  common  friends,  but,  by  some  means  or 
other  got  it  conveyed  to  Mr  Whitbread,  who  in  consequence 
fired  off  some  bitter  invectives  in  the  House  against  the 
patchers  of  the  petition.  Fortunately  the  speech  was  not 
reported  ;  I  say  fortunately,  because  if  any  circumstances  had 
transpired  by  which  my  letter  had  been  made  public  in 
Cambridge  I  should  have  found  myself  in  hot  water.  After 
having  committed  my  assertions  to  paper,  the  onus  probandi 
would  have  rested  on  me ;  and  I  might  have  found  it  devilish 
difficult  to  prove  every  thing  I  had  asserted.  But  of  all  this 
mum,  mum1." 

Sedgwick's  summer  residence  at  Lowestoft  was  in  every 
way  successful.  He  frequently  spoke  and  wrote  of  it  in  after- 
years,  with  all  the  pleasure  afforded  by  a  thoroughly  agree- 
able retrospect,  and,  on  several  occasions,  when  prebendary 
of  Norwich,  he  spent  a  few  days  there  in  revisiting  his  old 
haunts.  Of  his  nine  pupils  four  at  least  became  his  intimate 
friends;  and  some  of  the  resident  families,  delighted  to 
welcome  a  set  of  cultivated  young  men  to  their  society, 
showed  him  civilities  which  he  never  forgot.  Among  these 
were  Dr  Smith,  afterwards  Sir  James  Edward  Smith — the 
celebrated  botanist,  founder  of  the  Linnean  Society — and  his 
accomplished  wife.  In  April,  1865,  when  all  but  fifty-three 
years  had  elapsed  since  his  first  visit,  Sedgwick  was  at 
Lowestoft  Saddened  by  a  drive  to  several  country  churches, 
where  he  saw  "the  monuments  of  friends  of  bygone  years", 
he  called  on  Lady  Smith,  "  the  most  wonderful  woman  of  her 
years  that  I  ever  beheld.  She  is  now  ninety-two ;  yet  her 
eyes  are  bright  as  diamonds ;  her  face  is  smooth ;   there  is 

1  Armstrong's  letter  (from  which  a  quotation  has  been  already  made)  is  dated 
May,  181 2.  Sedgwick's  letter  to  him  has  not  been  preserved.  The  petition  was 
presented  to  the  House  of  Commons  (22  April)  by  Sir  Vicary  Gibbs,  M.P.  :  but 
no  debate  is  reported.  The  history  of  the  petition,  as  stated  above,  will  be  found 
in  Hansard,  Vol.  xxii.,  pp.  506,  507,  722.  It  was  presented  to  the  House  of 
Lords  (21  April)  by  the  Duke  of  Gloucester,  Chancellor. 


i2o  LADY  SMITH. 


1812.  a  natural  colour  on  her  cheek  ;  her  voice  is  full ;  her  gestures 
Mi.  27.  active  and  firm ;  her  posture  as  upright  as  that  of  a  young 
woman ;  her  manner  of  address  happy,  kind,  and  cheerful. 
She  is  still  very  good-looking.  When  young  she  was  very 
beautiful,  and  it  was  a  kind  of  beauty  to  last  well — somewhat 
of  oriental  about  it,  for  when  she  was  a  girl  she  sat  to  Opie 
as  a  gipsy,  and  it  was  one  of  the  cleverest  pictures  he  ever 
painted V  The  conversation  naturally  turned  on  their  first 
acquaintance  in  18 12,  and  a  few  days  afterwards  she  sent 
him  a  copy  of  verses  written  on  the  departure  of  the  party 
by  one  of  her  young  friends,  Miss  Ritson.  This  jeu  <T  esprit 
— which  indicates  by  the  way  that  their  time  was  not  wholly 
absorbed  by  the  study  of  mathematics — fortunately  records 
the  names  of  all  Sedgwick's  pupils. 

Whence  comes  the  deep  sigh,  whence  springs  the  fond  tear? 

Why  seems  my  sad  heart  now  so  lonely  and  drear? 

Why  beats  it  so  heavy  that  once  was  so  gay? 

Tis  because  pleasure  flies  me.     The  moralists  say 

Did  you  think  it  would  last? — and  I  answer  them — Nay. 

Yet  a  sigh  of  regret  will  arise  in  my  heart 

When  I  see  that  my  friends  with  my  pleasures  depart. 

At  the  play,  at  the  ball,  in  the  dance,  with  the  song, 

Our  hours  have  sped  gaily  and  swiftly  along. 

******** 

Farewell  then  to  Be/grave*,  good  wishes  attend, 
Good  sport  in  the  field,  and  at  home  a  true  friend. 
And  farewell  to  Sedgwick,  the  Mentor  who  join'd 
With  the  grave  mathematics,  the  life  of  the  mind, 
Who  foremost  in  whate'er  was  gay  or  could  please, 
With  knowledge  join'd  mirth,  and  with  study  mix'd  ease, 
Who  so  justly  the  dulce  and  utile  mingled 
That  the  harp  still  was  soft  and  the  chords  never  jingled 

1  To  Mrs  Atkinson,  18  April,  1865.  Pleasance,  Lady  Smith,  daughter  of 
Robert  and  Pleasance  Reeve,  was  born  1773,  an(^  died  '877,  aged  103.  Her 
husband  died  18*8.  The  picture  was  painted  1797,  soon  after  her  marriage.  It 
is  thus  described  in  Opie  and  his  Works,  by  J.  J.  Rogers,  8vo.  Lond.  1878,  p.  161. 
*•  Canvas,  79b  in.  x  24^  in.  Seen  to  waist,  three  quarters  face  to  right,  dressed  as 
a  gipsy,  her  hat  thrown  back  on  her  neck,  and  hanging  by  a  muslin  scarf  tied  in 
front  under  her  chin  ;  dishevelled  hair  about  her  brow,  both  hands  shown,  her 
right  fore-finger  resting  in  the  left  palm  ;  an  arch  smile  and  pretty  face." 

2  William  Belgrave,  St  John's,  B.A.,  1813. 


LOWESTOFT  PUPILS.  121 

Farewell  too,  to  Musgrave\  polite  and  refined,  18 12. 

Like  a  well-tuned  piano  the  chords  of  his  mind.  ygt.  27. 

Tho*  grave  never  stately,  tho'  wise  n'er  pedantic 

Tho'  devoted  to  music,  yet  never  romantic 

And  farewell  to  Peacock\  to  Lodge*,  and  to  Case4, 

Who  alike  pleased  us  all,  by  each  good-humQured  grace; 

And  though  Adams6  at  dancing  and  Ladies  may  sneer 

Still  we'll  wish  him  success  in  his  learned  career. 

And  to  Cook*  who  to  study  and  books  ever  true; 

To  the  well-bred,  polite,  lively  Holder1  adieu. 

And  farewell  to  Ingle8  of  marvellous  fame, 

By  mighty  comparisons  marking  his  name, 

Who,  fond  of  discussion,  would  oft  raise  the  smile 

And  join  in  the  laugh  the  long  hours  to  beguile. 

His  mind  I  for  once  will  attempt  to  compare 

To  the  great  bird  of  Jove,  to  the  prince  of  the  air, 

For  ever  in  alto  his  thoughts  will  arise 

And  you  must  take  care,  the/re  not  lost  in  the  skies. 

Keep  his  wits  'neath  the  clouds,  for  they're  monstrously  clever, 

If  they  once  soar  above  you,  you've  lost  them  for  ever. 

His  mind  never  free  from  a  thousand  vagaries, 

You  would  think  he  had  lived  in  the  age  of  the  Fairies. 

But  the  gay  tribes  are  flying  and  flitting  away 

And  the  brown  tints  of  Autumn  no  longer  may  stay. 

Stern  Winter  will  come,  bid  his  tempests  to  roar, 

So  Til  give  a  fond  tear  to  the  Summer  that's  o'er, 

And  sweet  retrospection  of  scenes  long  gone  by 

Shall  paint,  and  will  raise,  or  the  smile  or  the  sigh, 

While  poor  Lowestoft  deserted  no  gaiety  knows 

And  hears  nothing  more  than  the  keen  blast  that  blows. 

But  hope  may  to  future  sweet  scenes  look  along 

Through  the  gloom  of  the  winter,  whose  terrors  among 

May  arrest  the  sad  sigh,  make  my  bosom  to  swell 

And  wipe  off  the  tear  that  accords  with  Farewell. 

Lowestoft,  i  October  y  181 2. 

Of  the  nine  gentlemen  here  celebrated,  Case,  Belgrave, 
Holder,  and  Adams  are  unknown  to  fame;  nor  do  their 
names  occur  in  after-years  in  connection  with  Sedgwick's 
history.      With   Cook — who   became   a    Fellow    of    Christ's 

1  Charles  Musgrave,  Trinity,  B.A.  18 14. 
*  George  Peacock,  Trinity,  B.A.  18 13. 
8  John  Lodge,  Trinity,  B.A.  1814. 

4  I  sham  Case,  St  John's,  B.A.  181 4. 

5  Richard  Newton  Adams,  Sidney  Sussex,  B.A.  18 14. 

6  Joseph  Cook,  Christ's,  B.A.  1813. 

7  Robert  Keyse  Holder,  St  John's,  B.A.  181 3. 
6  Charles  Ingle,  Trinity,  B.A.  1814. 


122  LOWESTOFT  PUPILS. 

i8i«.  College — he  maintained  a  correspondence  until  his  death, 
***•  *7-  in  1825,  while  travelling  in  the  Sinaitic  Peninsula.  Musgrave 
(the  future  Archdeacon),  Peacock,  Lodge,  and  Ingle,  were 
all  numbered  among  his  most  intimate  friends.  The  two 
former  became  Fellows  of  Trinity ;  and  though  Musgrave 
left  College  in  1821  to  become  Vicar  of  Whitkirk,  in  York- 
shire, they  still  contrived  to  meet  frequently.  Peacock  resided 
in  College  until  he  was  made  Dean  of  Ely  in  1839.  Lodge 
obtained  a  Fellowship  at  Magdalene  College  in  18 18,  and  was 
University  Librarian  from  1822  to  1845.  Ingle  obtained  no 
University  distinction,  and  left  Cambridge  as  soon  as  he  had 
taken  his  degree.  But  a  very  warm  affection  had  grown  up 
between  him  and  Sedgwick,  and  they  continued  to  write 
letters,  and  to  pay  frequent  visits,  to  each  other.  Ingle  was  a 
brilliant,  impulsive  creature — with  a  warm  heart  and  a  weak 
head — who  clung  to  Sedgwick's  stronger  character  like  ivy  to 
an  oak.  The  friendship,  however,  was  far  from  being  all  on 
one  side.  Sedgwick  had  a  high  opinion  of  his  talents,  de- 
lighted in  his  society,  and  selected  him  as  the  confidant  of  his 
most  private  thoughts  and  feelings.  Few  lives  have  opened 
with  brighter  promise ;  none — as  it  will  be  our  painful  task 
to  tell — have  had  a  more  miserable  close. 

Sedgwick  paid  another  visit  to  Lowestoft  in  1869,  and 
sent  a  charming  description  of  it  to  his  two  American  cousins, 
Mrs  Norton  and  Miss  Sedgwick.  The  letter,  dated  8  July, 
1869,  contains  so  many  references  to  18 12,  that  it  will  be  best 
to  quote  a  considerable  portion  of  it  here : 

"  I  have  no  news  to  communicate  except  what  relates  to 
myself.  I  am  looking  over  the  broad  sea.  The  sands  below 
my  windows  are  covered  by  groups  of  merry  children,  digging 
away  with  their  little  spades,  as  lustily  as  if  they  thought  the 
fate  of  England  was  in  their  hands.  The  waves  are  sparkling 
in  the  bright  sun,  and  a  great  number  of  vessels  are  running 
before  a  side-wind  both  north  and  south,  and  close  in  shore, 
for  this  is  the  most  eastern  point  of  our  Island.  I  ought  to  have 
returned  to  Cambridge  to-day  to  superintend  some  important 


LOWESTOFT  REVISITED.  123 

works  going  on  in  my  Museum ;   but  I  could  not  resist  the     1812. 
temptation  of  a  run  for  a  few  hours  to  the  seaside,  that  I    <**•  *7- 
might  breathe  the  free  air  of  heaven,  and  visit  some  old 
friends. 

"And  I  have  visited  two  or  three  to  my  joy.  Among  them 
was  my  dear  old  friend  Lady  Smith.  She  has  bright  manners, 
bright  eyes,  and  clear  sight ;  a  face  still  handsome,  and  with 
healthy  colour  on  her  smooth,  well-rounded,  cheeks.  She 
hears  well,  and  her  voice  has  a  cheerful  ring  with  it.  All  this 
may  be  said  of  many  English  women.  But  Lady  Smith  is 
one  of  a  million — the  wonder  of  the  county,  and  the  charm  of 
her  old  friends,  for  she  is  now  happily  wearing  her  way 
through  her  97th  year !  I  am  old  and  suffering  from  the  in- 
firmities of  old-age ;  but  my  friend  Lady  Smith,  to  whom  I 
gave  a  true-love  kiss,  is  twelve  years  older  than  myself.  Let 
not  my  two  saucy  American  cousins  laugh  at  the  thought  of 
a  love-kiss  given  between  two  such  aged  remnants  of  old 
Time's  gleanings.  Love  is  the  dearest  attribute  of  God. 
Like  Himself  it  will  last  for  ever.  He  may  plant  it  here ; 
and,  if  we  do  our  part  well,  it  will  have  its  consummation  and 
perfection  after  the  wreck  of  all  visible  worlds. 

"  Well !  to  come  back.  I  am  going  to  have  a  drive,  that 
I  may  revisit  the  pretty  rural  spots  in  this  neighbourhood, 
where  I  spent  many  happy  days  in  my  youthful  life ;  and  to 
which  I  have  often  brought  my  young  relations  during  the 
periods  of  their  visits  to  me  at  Norwich.  I  spent  181 2  at 
this  bright  little  seaport  on  the  Suffolk  coast.  It  was  the 
last  time  I  ever  went  out  with  pupils.  The  whole  summer 
and  autumn  were  seasons  of  intense  excitement.  No  rail- 
roads, and  no  telegrams  then.  So  day  by  day  we  went  out 
to  meet  the  mail-coach,  on  its  first  entrance,  to  catch  the 
first  whispers  of  news  from  Spain  and  Russia.  It  was  you 
know  the  year  of  Napoleon's  invasion  of  Russia,  at  the  head 
of  the  grandest  army  that  ever  mustered  within  the  limits  of 
Europe.  The  issue  of  the  contest  seemed  to  involve  the  very 
life  and  death  of  old  England.     And  in  fits  of  gloom  I  some- 


124  VICTORY  OF  SALAMANCA. 

i8i».  times  fancied  that  she  must  fall  before  the  fortune  of  the 
iEt.  27.  great  conqueror,  as  so  many  other  powers  of  Europe  had 
done  before  her.  But  such  gloomy  visions  had  one  bright 
side.  I  said  to  myself,  if  England  lose  her  freedom  I  will 
pack  up  all  I  have,  and  go  to  settle  along  with  my  relations 
among  the  free-men  of  the  United  States.  We  had  heard 
reports  of  good  news,  and  I  took  my  stand  on  a  little  hill 
that  overlooks  the  London  road  along  with  my  party.  Several 
hundred  of  the  inhabitants  joined  us.  At  length  the  mail- 
coach  came  in  sight,  rapidly  nearing  us.  On  its  top  was  a 
sailor,  waving  the  Union  Jack  over  his  head,  and  gaudy 
ribbons  were  streaming  on  all  sides,  the  sure  signs  of  victory. 
The  guard  threw  down  a  paper  to  me,  and  with  it  I  ran  to 
the  Public  Room.  There,  mounting  upon  a  table,  I  read  to 
the  assembled  crowd  the  Gazette  Extraordinary  of  the  Battle 
of  Salamanca1.  The  cheers  were  long  and  loud,  but  there 
were  sobs  of  sorrow  too,  for  some  of  us  had  lost  those  who 
were  dear  to  us.  Remembrances  of  this  kind  gave  a  quiet 
charm  to  my  sweet  drive." 

When  the  party  had  separated  Sedgwick  took  a  short 
excursion  with  his  friend  Mr  Daniel  Pettiward*  to  Ipswich 
and  Bury  St  Edmunds,  and  then  returned  to  Cambridge.  It 
is  sad  to  learn  that  he  still  found  the  place  distasteful.  At 
the  beginning  of  the  term,  however,  he  was  appointed  a  sub- 
lecturer — an  office  which,  by  requiring  him  to  take  part  in  the 
College  examinations,  brought  him  into  closer  contact  with 
the  undergraduates,  and  also  with  the  tutors.  From  this 
period  may  be  dated  the  commencement  of  the  excellent 
understanding  which  ever  after  subsisted  between  him  and 
the  rest  of  the  society. 

Trin.  Coll.  Oct  i7tJt>  1812. 
My  dear  Ainger, 

I  met  Mr  Pettiward  at  Ipswich  as  I  expected.     The 
day  following  we  commenced  our  excursion.      We  had   not 

1  Wellington  defeated  the  French  at  Salamanca,  22  July,  181 2. 
8  A  member  of  Trinity  College  :  B.A.  1789,  M.A.  1792. 


SUFFOLK  REVISITED.  125 

descended  more  than  three  or  four  miles  when  our  vessel  1813. 
stuck  fast  in  the  mud.  This  accident  I  had  from  the  first  &u  27- 
expected,  as  the  navigation  is  very  intricate,  and  the  whole 
crew  of  the  wherry  was  intoxicated  before  we  started ;  one  of 
the  many  blessed  effects  of  a  general  election.  We  must 
have  remained  in  the  mud  till  next  high-water,  if  a  very 
beautiful  yacht  had  not  most  opportunely  made  its  appear- 
ance. One  of  the  gentlemen  hailed  Mr  Pettiward,  and,  on 
being  informed  of  our  situation,  offered  to  take  us  on  board ; 
we  wished  good  night  to  our  brethren  in  jeopardy,  and  most 
gladly  accepted  the  proposal.  Our  voyage  was  delightful  in 
every  respect ;  indeed  the  accident  we  had  met  with  gave  us 
a  greater  zest  for  enjoyment.  If  you  should  ever  have  an 
opportunity  of  making  the  same  excursion  you  will  find 
yourself  amply  rewarded  for  sacrificing  some  time  to  it. 
After  taking  dinner  on  board  the  yacht,  and  drinking  nearly 
a  bottle  of  Madeira  each,  we  landed  at  Harwich.  Every 
thing  there  was  in  a  state  of  uproar,  as  the  election  had 
taken  place  in  the  morning.  As  we  approached  the  inn  we 
heard  sounds  of  boisterous  conviviality.  All  the  gentlemen 
of  the  town  and  neighbourhood  were  assembled  in  the 
upper  rooms  to  celebrate  a  dinner  on  the  event  of  the 
election.  Mr  Pettiward  knew  many  of  the  party  so  well 
that  he  did  not  scruple  to  introduce  me.  I  flatter  myself 
I  chimed  in  with  considerable  effect.  I  never  was  in  better 
mouth. 

The  next  day  was  well  employed  in  examining  Landguard 
fort,  and  many  other  fortifications  in  the  neighbourhood. 
The  day  following  we  went  a  short  excursion  up  the  Manning- 
tree  river,  landed  at  the  other  side,  and  walked  to  Ipswich, 
where  we  arrived  late  in  the  evening.  I  spent  a  day  with 
Mr  P.  near  Stowmarket,  and  three  at  Bury  St  Edmunds 
most  delightfully,  among  the  friends  I  acquired  there  last 
summer.  "Past  and  to  come  seem  best."  This  I  find 
confirmed  by  my  own  feelings.  I  am  already  beginning  to 
complain   of  Cambridge.     This  may  perhaps  be  accounted 


126  PETITION  AGAINST  CATHOLIC  CLAIMS. 

i8n.     for;    few  of  my  friends  are  arrived,  and  I  am  indisposed  in 
iEt  *7-   consequence  of  the  effects  of  a  severe  cold. 

Your  most  affectionately, 

A.  Sedgwick. 


The  term  was  not  many  weeks  old  before  the  Catholic 
Question  became  again  prominent.  Early  in  November  the 
ruling  party  in  the .  University  determined  to  send  a  second 
petition  to  Parliament.  The  document  used  in  the  previous 
April  was  slightly  altered  and  enlarged,  but  the  arguments 
were  the  same  as  on  the  former  occasion.  It  was  not,  how- 
ever, proposed  to  the  Senate  with  the  same  precautions 
against  discovery ;  though,  when  presented  to  the  House  of 
Lords  (i  December)  Lord  Hardwicke  complained  that  "due 
notice  had  not  been  given  to  the  non-resident  members  of  the 
University  of  the  intention  to  set  on  foot  such  a  petition."  It 
appears,  however,  that  a  notice  of  six  days,  instead  of  the  usual 
notice  of  three  days,  had  on  this  occasion  unquestionably  been 
given.  The  excitement  among  non-residents,  especially  among 
junior  Masters  of  Arts  in  London,  was  prodigious ;  and  Sedg- 
wick became  the  corresponding  member  of  "a  confederacy /'  as 
one  of  them  called  it,  established  among  members  of  Gray's  Inn 
and  the  Temple,  prominent  among  whom  were  Gilby  and 
Armstrong,  for  the  purpose  of  opposing  the  petition.  He 
was  to  send  information  to  four  specified  persons,  who  were  to 
inform  the  rest.  By  this  means,  no  matter  how  late  the 
notice  of  congregation  might  be  issued,  it  was  expected 
that  twenty  voters  would  reach  Cambridge  in  time.  These 
elaborate  precautions  were  rendered  unnecessary  by  the 
length  of  notice  ultimately  given,  but  a  number  of  non- 
residents did  eventually  come  up.  The  voting  took  place  on 
Wednesday,  18  November,  when  the  Grace  to  seal  the  petition 
was  passed  in  the  Regent  House  by  eighteen  votes,  and  in 
the  Non-Regent  House  by  eleven — a  result  which  must  have 


BREAKS  A   BLOOD-VESSEL.  127 

been  singularly  mortifying  to  the  enthusiastic  partisans  of     1813. 
toleration1.  ^  *8- 

At  the  beginning  of  May,  181 3,  Sedgwick  broke  a  blood- 
vessel in  the  course  of  an  excursion  on  the  river.  One  of  his 
usual  colds — as  usual  neglected — had  ended  in  a  violent 
cough ;  and  Anally  inflammation  of  the  lungs,  or  something 
very  like  it,  had  supervened.  The  attack  must  have  been 
serious,  from  the  way  in  which  his  father  wrote  on  receiving 
the  news : 

"Notwithstanding  your  caution  to  the  contrary  we  were  all  a 
good  deal  alarmed  by  your  first  letter.  However  your  last  letter,  in 
which  you  seem  so  much  recovered,  has  made  us  in  better  spirits.  I 
hope  by  this  time  you  are  nearly  well,  and  beg  that  you  will  take  the 
earliest  opportunity  after  you  receive  this  of  letting  us  know  how 
you  go  on,  if  you  have  not,  before  it  arrives,  sent  a  letter  off. 

Your  mother  joins  me  in  requesting  that  you  will  set  off  for  the 
North  as  soon  as  you  think  you  are  able,  and  it  is  safe  for  you  to 
undertake  the  journey.  Perhaps  the  journey  and  change  of  air  may 
be  of  service  to  you." 

That  the  health  of  one  apparently  so  strong  should  break 
down  so  completely  was  a  subject  of  great  surprise,  and 
sincere  regret,  to  all  his  friends ;  and  Ainger  with  his  usual 
solicitude  hastened  to  him.  His  place  as  examiner  in  the 
next  College  Examination  was  taken  by  Mr  Pryme8,  and 
towards  the  end  of  May  he  was  well  enough  to  leave  Cam- 
bridge. Indeed  he  felt  so  strong  that  before  going  away  he 
accepted  the  laborious  office  of  Moderator  for  the  ensuing 
year.  On  his  way  to  Dent,  however,  while  staying  at  the 
house  of  his  cousin  Mr  Mason,  in  Nottinghamshire,  he  had  a 
relapse  which  compelled  him  to  give  up  all  thoughts  of  the 
Moderatorship.  When  he  got  home  his  friends  were  greatly 
shocked  at  his  appearance,  and  despaired  of  his  recovery.  It 
was  thought  that  he  would  become  consumptive.  Complete 
idleness,  however,  did  wonders.     He  provided  himself  with  a 

1  The  numbers  were:  Regents;  Placet  52,  Non-Placet  34;  Non- Regents; 
Placet  53,  Non  Placet  42.  The  above  account  is  derived  from  the  letters  addressed 
to  Sedgwick  by  Gilby  and  Armstrong;  from  Hansard,  Vol.  xxiv.,  pp.  in,  134, 
118 ;  and  from  the  Cambridge  Chronicle,  20  November  18 12. 

*  Recollections,  ut  sufra,  p.  91- 


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*. ,.      w-*>    *r*i,rh  ii*  iamfti    'ti-wrr  fr-.m  xis  airlines*'  warranted 
**    *     ■■•%     vw  ui  Ait  **<?*  -f  i  ^r^:r.ic2  :r  descend  *  swmtain 

rtiK  in-rt  :-  -Jut  --«n  iir.  rcl".  ie  -vas  subject  to  relapses, 
..tit  r  v*«  -r*  r/.".  aear  the  sn.iiile  :f  J-iiy  thai  he  was  well 
•*kvu£i  v,  u«  *r.  *x.::ir*f«-r.  V;  -±e  LaT«s.  A*  he  neqnendy 
viaiu,-:  •**.•.  iitrc  :r.  i.~£f  y*ar*  a.*  i  ?eciogci&  re  »  interest- 

«tf  iv  v&ji  :.'.i  rerrjiffc*  :ar.  :z  ^hen  he  va*  simply  in  scan* 

*»■  » 

*/tV.  ;.»icturt:y:-<:  ar.d  tt -.r.-ierf  :1 

• '  AW;:  5w  *eek*  *:nce.   I  left  Dent  on  an  excorsk* 
which  afforded  me  the   rrs,<z   u-rr.-xed   delight.     My  head- 
quarters were  at  Hawkshead.  in   the   centre  of  die  Lakes. 
The  lady  whom  I  visited  a! '.owed  me  to  pursue  every  scheme 
of  pleasure  my  fancy  could  -ug^e^t.  so  that  during  the  first 
fortnight  not  a  single  day  elapsed  without  my  going  out  00 
smnr   r\|Hulition    from    which    I    generally  returned   in  the 
evening    fatigued    without   being   exhausted.      My  appetite, 
slouch,   f\\u\    nplilK   every   moment   improved:    my  mind 
liiMt<t"U<  wan  in  t\  nUto  above  all  others  suited  for  receiving 
jjiri>j^<     iiiijhi :si:iiniin        Object*    combining    everything   to  j 
iUM{iiii   .hmI   itohiitlnli  weir  each  day  pro<ented  to  my  view, 
j    .i|v,.»y.»    lift    1  In  in    with    reluctance,   and    started   the  day 
Mlov.jjj|<   w|||i   In*  ir,i«;rd   avidity. 

JJjjj'Jjjk  Hi*  hi  il  Imtnight  I  nut  rmly  visited  all  the  principal 
J.;iki.;>  in  Hm    in  li'.ltl  tout  hood,  but   I  aUo  spent  an  afternoon 
amon^  tin.  nijiiii  of   Furnas  Abb*y.  descended  into  the  iron 
mine*  in   that    neighbourhood,  and    explored.  I   think,  more 
than  a  quarter  of  a  milr  under  ground,  the  copper-mines  near 
(JonisLon.     After  the  celebration  of  the  regatta  at  Winder- 
mere I  left  Hawkshead,  and  commenced  my  last  and  longest 
journey.     After  passing  for  twenty-five  miles  through  a  most 
rugged  and  desolate  country  I  arrived  at  the  foot  of  Wastdalc, 
The  day  following  I  ascended  about  three  miles  by  the  side 
of  a  noble  expanse  of  water.    On  the  opposite  side  a  mountain 
entirely  covered  with  rock  rose  abruptly,  to  the  height  of 
2000  feet,  from  the  margin  of  the  lake ;  when  1  arrived  at  the 


tf! 


VISIT  TO   THE  LAKES.  129 

top  I  found  myself  in  an  amphitheatre  of  pyramidal  mountains,  1813. 
all  of  which  terminated  in  sharp  rocks,  Rudge  makes  the  <**•  *8- 
perpendicular  height  of  the  ridge  considerably  more  than 
3000  feet.  I  was  this  day  quite  alone,  and  felt  an  elevation 
of  spirits  infinitely  greater  than  when  I  was  surveying  the 
sweet  country  on  the  shores  of  Windermere.  I  sometimes 
thought  that  the  lovely  scenery  in  that  neighbourhood  made 
me  melancholy.  In  Wastdale  everything  was  rugged  and 
sublime;  about  a  dozen  farm-houses  seemed  to  make  the 
desolation  more  visible.  From  this  place  I  pursued  my  way 
through  a  pass  in  the  mountains  by  a  most  frightful  road, 
which  literally  winds  among  masses  of  rock  which  have  fallen 
from  the  precipice  above.  I  remained  on  horseback  till  I 
became  quite  giddy  ;  then  I  dismounted,  and  led  the  way  to 
the  top  along  a  road  in  many  places  not  more  than  a  foot 
and  a  half  wide.  A  false  step  would  have  been  destruction 
to  my  beast. 

August  19.  I  was  prevented  from  coming  to  a  conclusion 
on  Tuesday,  and  am  now  so  busy  that  I  shall  be  compelled  to 
take  the  remaining  part  of  my  tour  for  granted.  Suffice  it  to 
say  that  I  arrived  from  Wastdale-head  to  Borrowdale  without 
breaking  my  neck.  I  proceeded  through  the  most  romantic 
vale  in  England  to  Keswick,  where  I  met  with  a  Cambridge 
man  with  whom  I  prosecuted  my  journey  for  the  next  four 
days.  We  walked  round  Bassenthwaite,  ascended  Borrow- 
dale, explored  the  lead-mines,  perhaps  a  quarter  of  a  mile 
from  the  surface  of  the  earth :  and  descended  to  Buttermere 
through  a  fine  pass  in  the  mountains.  The  celebrated  Mary 
has  now  no  personal  charms  to  recommend  her,  but  I  must 
recollect  her  with  gratitude,  for  I  was  wet  to  the  skin,  and  she 
spliced  me  with  a  dry  shirt,  and  her  husband's  breeches. 
We  scraped  an  acquaintance  with  the  parson,  who  introduced 
us  to  a  party  of  ladies  who  were  going  on  Crummock  Lake 
on  a  fishing  excursion.  We  caught  few  fish,  but  had  lots  of 
conversation.  We  returned  to  Keswick,  and  went  together  to 
Ambleside,  where  we  parted,  and  where  I  considered  my  tour 

S.  I.  9 


1 3o  EFFECTS  OF  ILLNESS. 

1813.     as  terminating.     I  remained  one  day  near  Windermere,  which 

Mt-  *8*    I  spent  in  sailing,  and  had  I  imagine  very  nearly  been  upset, 

and  in  the  evening  I  dined  with  Wilson,  the  author  of  TJie 

Isle  of  Palms1.     He  is  a  clever  convivial  man,  much  superior 

to  what  I  should  have  expected  from  his  poetry*". 

After  this  he  accompanied  his  sisters  to  Gordale,  near 
Settle,  and  ended  the  vacation  with  a  visit  to  his  friend  Carr, 
whose  appointment  to  the  headmastership  of  Durham  School 
has  been  already  mentioned*.  In  October  he  was  well  enough 
to  return  to  Cambridge4,  whither  he  was  accompanied  by 
his  brother  James,  who  was  entered  as  a  sizar  at  St  Jofin's 
College. 

For  the  moment  Sedgwick  had  recovered,  but  he  felt  the 
effects  of  this  illness  throughout  his  life.  "  I  have  been  liable 
to  attacks  of  congestion  ever  since  181 3,"  he  wrote  in  1864; 
and  he  told  Dr  Hooker  that  he  had  become  "unfit  for 
sedentary  labour  after  181 3."  Fresh  air  and  regular  exercise 
became  indispensable  to  him;  and  frequent  attacks  of  ill- 
health  warned  him  that  he  must  seek  for  a  profession  which 
would  keep  him  out  of  doors  for  several  months  in  each  year. 

1  John  Wilson,  better  known  as  Christopher  North,  published  The  Isle  of 
Palms,  and  other  Poems,  in  181 2. 

9  To  Rev.  W.  Ainger,  17  August,  1813. 

8  The  Rev.  John  Carr  died  in  November,  1833.  Mr  Robert  Surtees,  in  a 
letter  dated  1 5  November  of  that  year,  thus  sums  up  his  character :  ' '  He  was 
eminently  distinguished  as  a  mathematician,  and  was,  perhaps,  not  less  dis- 
tinguished as  a  classical  scholar.  He  peculiarly  excelled  in  pure  Latin  com- 
position, but  his  private  character  was  to  me  his  chief  recommendation.  Kind, 
unobtrusive,  gentle ;  most  pure,  most  blameless,  wrapped  up  in  domestic  feeling, 
and  neither  meddling  with  nor  caring  for  the  world,  I  firmly  believe  he  had  not  an 
enemy.... There  was  a  quiet,  unobtrusive  independence  about  him,  which  I  never, 
perhaps,  saw  equalled  ;  a  purity  and  delicacy  of  mind  and  manners  arising  from 
the  union  of  a  complete  education  and  the  most  perfect  sense  of  honour,  united  to 
the  most  unaffected  simplicity  of  manner.  As  a  schoolmaster,  he  never  looked 
like  one,  but  he  sent  good  scholars  to  Cambridge.  No  boy  ever  left  Durham 
without  loving  him."  A  short  time  before  his  death  Carr  had  been  made 
Professor  of  Mathematics  in  the  newly  founded  University  of  Durham.  A 
monument,  by  Rickman,  was  erected  to  him  in  Durham  Cathedral.  Taylor's 
Memoir  of  Robert  Surtees,  ed.  Raine,  p.  439. 

4  Many  of  the  details  respecting  this  illness  have  been  supplied  by  Miss 
Sedgwick. 


EFFECTS  OF  ILLNESS.  131 

This  conviction,  more  than  any  other  consideration,  deter-  1814. 
mined  him  to  become  a  candidate  for  the  Professorship  of  Mu  *9« 
Geology  in  18 18 ;  and,  after  forty-nine  years  devoted  to  that 
science,  he  could  say  with  thankfulness :  "  Geology  has  been 
a  hard  task-mistress,  but  she  has  paid  me  nobly  in  giving  me 
health,  which  I  had  utterly  lost  before  I  put  myself  under  her 
robust  training1." 

The  immediate  effects  of  Sedgwick's  illness  are  painfully 
apparent  in  the  listlessness  and  want  of  energy  from  which  he 
suffered  during  the  next  two  years.  He  was  evidently  obliged 
to  take  constant  care  of  himself,  and  felt  indisposed  for 
any  intellectual  exertion  that  was  not  absolutely  indispens- 
able. He  performed  his  duties  as  College  examiner  ;  tried  to 
make  his  brother  James  work ;  and  did  some  desultory  read- 
ing, partly  theological,  on  his  own  account  But  the  old 
animation  was  gone,  and  the  letters  which  formerly  he  wrote 
so  frequently,  ceased  altogether.  And  yet  events  took  place 
which  under  more  favourable  circumstances  would  have 
furnished  him  with  subjects  for  long  and  entertaining  narra- 
tives. There  was  the  great  frost  of  January,  18 14,  when  no 
coal-barges  could  get  up  the  river,  and  he  was  obliged,  as  he 
has  been  often  heard  to  say,  to  burn  his  gun-case  and  some  of 
his  chairs*;  and  in  July  the  dinner  in  Hall  to  the  Chancellor 
and  Marshal  Blucher,  on  leaving  which  he  saw  the  old  soldier 
snatch  up  an  attractive  damsel  who  was  pressing  forward  to 
get  a  good  look  at  him,  and  give  her  a  kiss.  But  on  these 
trifles,  and  on  graver  matters,  he  is  equally  silent.  In  the 
summer  months  a  curacy  was  suggested  to  him,  at  a  small 
place  in  Northamptonshire,  where  the  church,  he  was  assured, 
would  not  be  too  much  for  his  lungs8 ;  but  he  had  not  energy 
enough  to  submit  to  even  the  small  amount  of  work  then 

1  To  Mrs  Norton,  17  August,  1867. 

*  Professor  Pryme  records  (Recollections y  p.  113),  that  the  scarcity  of  coal 
was  so  great  and  the  cold  so  severe,  that  some  of  the  trees  in  the  grounds  of 
St  John's  College  were  cut  down  for  fuel,  and  at  all  the  colleges  men  sat  two  or 
three  together  in  one  room. 

8  From  Rev.  W.  Ainger,  1  May,  1814. 

9 — 2 


132        VISITS   YORKSHIRE  AND   WESTMORELAND. 


1814.  required  of  candidates  for  ordination,  and  so  the  proposal  was 
Mu  *9-  declined.  In  the  spring  of  18 15  he  attended  the  lectures  of 
William  Farish,  Jacksonian  Professor  of  Natural  and  Experi- 
mental Philosophy,  probably  more  for  the  sake  of  obtaining 
intellectual  gratification  without  thought  or  trouble,  than  for 
any  more  serious  reason.  But,  listless  as  he  was  at  Cambridge, 
the  moment  he  got  to  Dent  he  became  a  different  man.  In 
September  18 14  Ainger  and  his  brother  James  paid  him  a 
visit  there,  and  they  took  a  pedestrian  excursion  together. 
The  letter  in  which  he  directs  James  Ainger  how  to  get  to 
Dent  shows  how  difficult  it  was  in  those  days  to  reach  remote 
parts  of  England. 

"The  distance  of  our  village  from  Ingleton  is  not  more 
than  eight  miles.  If  the  weather  should  be  very  favourable,  I 
should  be  happy  to  meet  you  there,  and  walk  home  with  you 
over  the  mountains.  On  horseback  we  perhaps  might  break 
our  necks.  If  the  weather  should  be  bad  it  will  be  better  to 
go  on  to  Kirkby  Lonsdale,  which  is  about  eleven  miles  from 
Dent.  The  road  from  thence  is  passable  by  a  carriage,  though 
some  parts  of  it  are  as  steep  as  any  house-roof  in  Whittlesea. 
We  could  easily  contrive  to  meet  you  there  with  a  horse.  At 
all  events  it  will  be  necessary  that  your  portmanteau  should  be 
conveyed  to  Kirkby  Lonsdale  or  Kendal,  and  from  one  of 
those  places  to  Dent  by  a  carriage.  If  your  Reverend  brother 
come  along  with  you  it  will  be  best  to  post  it  from  Kirkby 
Lonsdale,  and  then  you  will  both  arrive  bag  and  baggage." 

During  the  expedition  Sedgwick  was  evidently  better  able 
to  bear  fatigue  than  either  of  his  friends.  Their  melancholy 
experiences  evidently  made  a  deep  impression  on  him ;  for, 
writing  to  one  of  them  thirty-seven  years  afterwards,  he 
laments  that  he  had  then  become  "  a  poor  walker  compared 
with  what  I  was  when  I  took  you  (I  think  in  18 14)  to  the 
Ulverston  slate-quarries,  and  witnessed  on  your  face  an 
expression  of  anything  but  comfort1." 

When  his  friends  had  left  him,  Sedgwick  made  a  short 

1  To  James  Ainger,  Esq.,  19  December,  1851. 


YORKSHIRE  CATHEDRALS.  133 

tour  in  Yorkshire.  He  went  by  way  of  Leeds  to  York,  which  1814. 
he  had  evidently  never  visited  before,  and  was  profoundly  iEt  29- 
impressed  by  the  "vastness,  harmony  of  proportion,  and  rich- 
ness of  execution  of  the  cathedral,"  though  the  exterior  was 
"  miserably  spoiled  by  a  set  of  dirty  houses  which  press  so 
close  upon  it  that  no  situation  can  be  found  from  which  the 
whole  pile  can  be  seen  at  once.,,  Next  morning  he  went  on 
to  Hull,  taking  Beverley  by  the  way.  "The  minster  is  a 
beautiful  specimen  of  the  lighter  gothic,  though  in  some 
places  much  injured  by  certain  modern  improvers.  The  west 
front  is  exquisite,  infinitely  superior  to  that  of  Westminster 
Abbey,  which  was  intended  to  be  an  imitation  of  it.  Hull 
is  a  fine  town  of  the  kind,  though,  I  should  think,  not  a 
very  comfortable  residence.  The  docks  are  beautiful,  and 
the  Humber  is  superb.  As  we  were  crossing  it  the  merchant 
vessels  seemed  almost  to  cover  its  surface.  In  our  passage 
we  met  a  steamboat,  working  its  way  at  a  prodigious  rate 
against  wind  and  tide."  From  Hull  he  travelled  to  Cambridge 
by  Peterborough,  where  he  thought  the  cathedral  "  very  fine ; 
but  whoever  compares  it  with  that  at  York  should  be  stoned 
for  blasphemy1." 

As  soon  as  the  Peace  of  18 14  had  been  concluded,  English- 
men, who  had  been  shut  up  within  the  narrow  limits  of  their 
own  island  for  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century,  felt  a  natural 
anxiety  to  explore  the  Continent,  and  above  all  France,  with 
whose  Government  we  had  been  so  long  at  war.  Several  of 
Sedgwick's  intimate  friends  had  taken  the  first  opportunity  to 
go  abroad — Bland  to  Switzerland,  Charles  Musgrave  to 
France,  whence  he  wrote  exceedingly  interesting  letters. 
He  notes  the  richness  and  the  beauty  of  the  country,  the 
cheapness  of  living,  even  to  a  foreigner,  and  the  efforts  that 
were  being  made,  at  the  sea-ports  and  elsewhere,  to  recover 
from  the  disastrous  isolation  to  which  France,  like  England, 
had  been  so  long  subjected.  The  effects  of  the  war  were  still 
painfully  apparent:  "In  passing  through  the  country  I  have 

1  To  Rev.  W.  Ainger,  31  October,  181 4. 


134  INTENDED   VISIT  TO  FRANCE. 

1815.  seen  few  men  in  the  fields  compared  to  the  number  of  women. 
&t.  30.  The  effective  male  population  of  France  seems  to  have  been 
completely  drained  by  the  war."  English  troops  were  still 
marching  through  France  on  their  way  home  from  Spain,  and 
the  sight  of  them  did  not  increase  the  respect  for  the  restored 
Government,  which  was  on  all  grounds  unpopular,  especially 
with  the  army :  "No  one  endeavours  to  conceal  that  the 
military  are  highly  disaffected  to  the  King,  and  are  panting 
for  a  change."  Nor  were  traces  of  the  Revolution  wanting : 
"  Every  town  on  the  Loire  presents  a  monastery  in  ruins,  and 
the  chapels  of  the  convents  have  been  principally  converted 
into  Diligence-offices  and  stables.  The  men  who  have  con- 
ducted us  down  the  Loire  from  Nantes  remember  to  have 
seen  boats  crowded  with  Royalists  sent  to  the  bottom,  while 
the  Revolutionists  fired  at  them  from  the  shore  if  they  raised 
their  heads  above  the  surface  of  the  water1."  These  and 
other  letters,  similar  in  tone,  though  less  graphically  written, 
were  not  without  their  effect  on  Sedgwick,  and  in  the  early 
spring  of  1815  he  was  planning  not  only  a  tour  in  France,  but 
a  first  essay  in  authorship.  By  way  of  preparation  he  spent 
part  of  the  Lent  Term  in  learning  the  French  language,  and  in 
reading  French  books.  His  projects,  however,  were  overset  by 
Napoleon's  escape  from  Elba;  and  he  was  obliged  to  exchange 
Paris  for  Bury  St  Edmunds,  and  French  literature  for  divinity. 
"My  French  journey  is  quite  hopeless.  If  that  were  the 
only  ill  effect  to  be  expected  from  Bonaparte's  visit  it  would 
not,  perhaps,  be  much  lamented.  So  many  books  of  travels 
have  been  written  that  my  little  volume  could  not  have  con- 
tributed much  to  the  general  stock  of  information. 

"On  Monday  I  shall  begin  to  read  divinity.  I  have  got 
about  twenty  folios  out  of  our  library.  By  the  way,  if  I 
should  go  to  Bury  I  cannot  take  them  with  me.  I  must 
therefore  begin  the  Monday  following.     No  matter*." 

1  From  Charles  Musgrave,  dated  "Paimbceuf,  18  July,  1814." 

2  To  Rev.  W.  Ainger,   30  March,  1815.    Mr  Ainger  was  now  curate  of 
Hackney,  London. 


FEVER  AT  CAMBRIDGE,  135 

In  the  course  of  the  Lent  Term  Cambridge  was  visited  by  1815. 
an  unusually  severe  epidemic  of  typhoid  fever.  At  first  little  ^t.  30. 
or  no  attention  was  paid  to  it,  but  the  deaths  of  several 
members  of  the  University,  and  the  serious  illness  of  others, 
created  so  great  a  panic,  that  on  the  3rd  May — in  deference  to 
public  opinion  rather  than  from  any  conviction  of  the  necessity 
of  such  a  measure — the  Senate  agreed  to  allow  the  term  then 
commencing  to  all  undergraduates,  who,  having  kept  the 
previous  term,  chose  to  absent  themselves.  Such  a  permission 
was  of  course  largely  taken  advantage  of,  and  the  public  life 
of  the  University  practically  ended  on  the  day  the  above 
Grace  passed1.  Even  the  Commencement  was  celebrated  with 
maimed  rites ;  "  not  a  single  fiddle'"  was  heard,  and  the  non- 
resident Masters  of  Arts  who  had  journeyed  to  Cambridge  in 
search  of  pleasure  went  back  to  their  chambers  and  their 
parishes  sorely  disappointed.  Sedgwick,  warned  by  his  own 
experience  of  "the  Cambridge  fever"  in  1804,  had  beaten  a 
hasty  retreat  at  a  somewhat  earlier  period,  and  gone  down 
to  Dent  with  his  brother  James,  and  his  friends  Lodge8  and 
Sheepshanks4. 

Dent,  May  22,  181 5. 
Dear  Ainger, 

The  escape  of  Bonaparte  from  Elba  was  not  more 
sudden  and  unexpected  than  my  flight  from  Cambridge.  I 
had  resolved  to  remain  at  all  events  ;  and  as  I  knew  that  my 
brother  James  was  not  likely  to  read  much  at  home  (for  God 

1  The  exact  words  of  the  Grace  are  worth  quotation :  "  Cum  opinio,  quamvis 
vana  forsan  sit,  late  pervagata  est,  et  multorum  animis  insedit,  earn  esse  hoc 
tempore  loci  hujusce  gravitatem,  ut  Juvenes  Academici  non  sine  vitae  periculo  in 
eo  commorari  valeant ;  Placeat  vobis,  quo  Parentum  potius  medeamur  anxietati, 
quam  quod  rei  necessitas  ita  postulare  videatur,  ut  scholares  in  quacunque  facultate, 
vel  absentes,  hunc  terminum  complevisse  censeantur,  ea  tamen  lege  ut  nemini  qui 
superiore  termino  abfuerit,  haec  Gratia  sit  profutura." 

2  From  Rev.  W.  Ainger,  29  July,  1815. 

8  John  Lodge,  Trin.  Coll.  B.A.  1814;  afterwards  Fellow  of  Magdalene  Coll. 
and  University  Librarian  1822 — 1845. 

4  Richard  Sheepshanks,  Trin.  Coll.  B.A.  1816,  a  distinguished  mathematician, 
afterwards  Fellow,  Secretary  to  the  Astronomical  Society,  and  Founder  of  the 
Sheepshanks'  Fund  and  Exhibition. 


136  FEVER  AT  CAMBRIDGE. 

1815.  knows  his  literary  zeal  is  not  very  great  in  any  place),  I  was 
&\.  30.  resolved  still  more  on  his  account  to  remain  in  College.  The 
death  of  six  or  seven  members  of  the  University  during  the 
latter  part  of  the  Lent  term  excited  so  much  apprehension, 
that  the  walls  of  many  colleges  were  quite  deserted  in  the 
vacation.  About  the  beginning  of  this  term  two  men,  one  of 
Christ's  and  the  other  of  Emmanuel,  died  the  same  morning. 
The  fever  also  began  to  make  its  appearance  in  our  College, 
which  till  then  had  escaped  all  contagion.  These  melancholy 
appearances  excited  so  much  alarm  that  many  members  of 
our  College,  and  among  the  rest  your  present  correspondent, 
were  persuaded  to  scamper  off,  without  having  time  to  give 
notice  of  their  departure.  At  the  time  of  our  departure  we 
expected  to  be  called  back  to  the  University  to  keep  the  latter 
part  of  the  term.  The  death,  however,  of  another  member  of 
Emmanuel  College,  and  one  or  two  new  cases  of  fever,  induced 
the  Senate  about  the  beginning  of  this  month  to  give  the  term 
altogether. 

Since  my  arrival  I  have  as  usual  been  engaged  in  a  variety 
of  employments.  I  have  now  read  the  whole  of  Gil  Bias 
twice  over,  and  am  reading  for  the  second  time  certain  parts 
of  Telemaque.  A  short  analysis  of  certain  chapters  in 
Beausobre's  Introduction  has  employed  part  of  my  time, 
but  the  task  is  a  confounded  dry  one.  Old  Carr  had  the 
kindness  to  lend  me  a  very  elaborate  commentary  on  St  Luke, 
of  which  I  purpose  to  make  myself  master.  I  hope  also  to 
read  the  Bishop  of  Lincoln  and  Burnet  on  the  Articles  in 
course  of  the  summer. 

My  sisters  received  five  or  six  weeks  since  a  second  package 
of  books  for  the  use  of  their  Sunday  Schools1.  Upwards  of  40 
children  attend,  and  many  of  them  have  made  a  highly  satis- 
factory progress  ;  but  more  of  this  in  my  next. 

Yours  ever, 

A.  Sedgwick. 

1  The  school  had  been  established  in,  or  about,  181 3.    Memorial,  p.  xi. 


NEWS  OF   WATERLOO.  137 

This  quiet  life  was  interrupted  by  one  great  excitement —     1815. 
the  news  of  the  victory  of  Waterloo — which  Sedgwick  had  the    &*•  30. 
pleasure  of  bringing  himself  to  Dent.     How  this  came  to  pass 
can  fortunately  be  told  in  his  own  words. 

"  At  that  time  we  had  a  post  three  days  a  week,  and  each  of 
those  days,  to  the  great  comfort  of  the  aged  postman,  I  rode 
over  to  Sedbergh  to  bring  back  the  newspapers  and  the  letters 
to  my  countrymen.  Gloomy  reports  had  reached  us  of  a 
battle  and  a  retreat;  but  another  and  greater  battle  was  at 
hand ;  and  on  one  of  my  anxious  journeys,  just  as  I  passed 
over  the  Riggs,  I  heard  the  sound  of  the  Sedbergh  bells. 
Could  it  be,  I  said,  the  news  of  a  victory  ?  No !  it  was  a  full 
hour  before  the  time  of  the  postman's  arrival.  A  minute 
afterwards  I  saw  a  countryman  returning  hastily  from 
Sedbergh.  "  Pray  what  means  that  ringing  ?"  I  said.  "News, 
Sir,  sich  as  niver  was  heard  before :  I  kn&  lile  about  it ;  but 
the  Kendal  postman  has  just  come  an  hour  before  his  time. 
He  was  all  covered  with  ribbons,  and  his  horse  was  all  covered 
with  froth."  Hearing  this,  I  spurred  my  horse  to  the  Kendal 
postman's  speed ;  and  it  was  my  joyful  fortune  to  reach 
Sedbergh  not  many  minutes  after  the  arrival  of  the  Gazette 
Extraordinary  which  told  us  of  the  great  victory  of  Waterloo. 

"After  joining  in  the  cheers  and  congratulations  of  my 
friends  at  Sedbergh,  I  returned  to  Dent  with  what  speed  I 
could ;  and  such  was  the  anxiety  of  the  day  that  many  scores 
of  my  brother  Dalesmen  met  me  on  the  way,  and  no  time  was 
lost  in  our  return  to  the  market-place  of  Dent.  They  ran  by 
my  side  as  I  urged  on  my  horse ;  and  then,  mounting  on  the 
great  blocks  of  black  marble,  from  the  top  of  which  my 
countrymen  have  so  often  heard  the  voice  of  the  auctioneer 
and  the  town-crier,  I  read,  at  the  highest  pitch  of  my  voice, 
the  news  from  the  Gazette  Extraordinary  to  the  anxious  crowd 
which  pressed  round  me.  After  the  tumultuous  cheers  had 
somewhat  subsided,  I  said :  '  Let  us  thank  God  for  this  great 
victory,  and  let  the  six  bells  give  us  a  merry  peal/  As  I 
spoke  these  words  an  old  weather-beaten  soldier  who  stood 


138  ASSISTANT  TUTORSHIP  AT  TRINITY. 

1815.  under  me  said  :  *  It  is  great  news,  and  it  is  good  news,  if  it 
;Et.  30.  bring  us  peace.  Yes,  let  the  six  bells  ring  merrily ;  but  it  has 
been  a  fearful  struggle,  and  how  many  aching  hearts  will 
there  be  when  the  list  of  killed  and  wounded  becomes  known 
to  the  mothers,  wives,  and  daughters  of  those  who  fought  and 
bled  for  us !  But  the  news  is  good,  and  let  the  six  bells  ring 
merrily  1 1,M 

Just  a  month  after  this  stirring  scene  had  been  enacted 
before  the  public  of  Dent,  private  news  came  to  Sedgwick 
which  must  have  caused  a  nearly  equal  excitement  in  the 
home-circle  at  the  vicarage.  Hudson,  who  had  succeeded 
Jones  as  Senior  Tutor  of  Trinity  College,  had  accepted  the 
vicarage  of  Kendal,  and  the  approaching  vacancy  of  the  tutor- 
ship— which  could  not  be  delayed,  at  the  farthest,  beyond  the 
expiration  of  the  year  of  grace — had  been  taken  advantage  of 
by  the  Master  and  Seniors  to  extend  the  number  of  tutors  to 
three — a  step  rendered  necessary  by  the  increase  in  the  number 
of  students.  Two  of  the  assistant-tutors,  John  Brown,  and 
James  Henry  Monk",  were  promoted,  as  was  usual,  to  be  tutors, 
and  the  offices  thus  vacated  had  to  be  filled  up.  The  selection 
of  assistant-tutors  was  at  that  time  left  to  the  tutors  under 
whom  they  had  to  work,  and  Monk,  with  the  consent  of  his 
colleague,  invited  Sedgwick  to  accept  one  of  the  vacant  posts. 

From  Rev.  y.  H.  Monk. 

Cambridge,  July  15,  1815. 
Dear  Sedgwick, 

You  are  probably  aware  that  J.  Brown  and  myself  have 
been  appointed  to  succeed  Mr  Hudson  as  joint  Tutors.  I  now 
write  to  solicit  your  aid  as  mathematical  assistant  tutor,  and  to 
express  the  earnest  hope  of  my  colleague  and  myself  that  you  may 
find  it  consistent  with  your  views  and  your  feelings  to  accept  that 
office.  We  are  well  aware  of  the  great  advantage  which  would 
accrue  to  the  College  from  your  assistance  in  the  tuition,  and  are 
persuaded  that  the  appointment  would  be  in  the  highest  degree 
gratifying  to  every  person  who  is  interested  for  the  prosperity  of  our 
society. 

It  is,  I  believe,  Brown's  intention  to  take  the  higher  mathematical 
departments  himself,  though  not  exactly  in  the  same  arrangement  as 

1  Supplement^  p.  38.  a  Professor  of  Greek  1808 — 18*3. 


ASSISTANT  TUTORSHIP  AT  TRINITY.  139 

Hudson  has  done.     But  I  am  certain  that  in  this,  as  well  as  in  every      18 15. 
other  respect,  your  wishes  will  be  consulted  as  far  as  possible,  and    jEt.  30. 
nothing  will  be  omitted,  to  make  the  situation  as  agreeable  and  as 
beneficial  to  you  as  circumstances  can  allow. 

It  is  necessary  to  mention  that  the  original  arrangement  made  by 
Mr  H.  for  giving  up  the  tuition  has  been  altered.  He  had  agreed  to 
resign  it  to  us  at  Michaelmas.  This  agreement  he  has  broken,  and 
has  induced  the  Master  to  suffer  him  to  retain  the  pupils  till 
Christmas,  except  the  freshmen,  whom  he  will  give  up  to  Brown 
and  myself  at  Michaelmas.  Though  this  alteration  is  naturally  a 
subject  of  displeasure  to  us,  on  many  accounts,  yet  it  will  make  no 
difference  in  the  department  of  which  you  are  invited  to  accept: 
since  Brown  is  decidedly  of  opinion  that  it  is  desirable  for  the  person 
who  gives  the  mathematical  lectures  to  the  freshmen,  to  begin  with 
them  in  October. 

I  am  aware  that  your  health  has  not  been  strong,  but  I  trust  that 
it  is  now  better,  and  at  all  events  that  there  is  no  fatigue  in  the  office 
alluded  to  which  you  need  apprehend. 

I  shall  leave  College  next  Friday  morning — but  a  letter  directed 
to  me  here  will  follow  me — so  do  not  hurry  in  deciding,  should  you 
hesitate.  But  I  am  sanguine  in  hoping  that  we  may  have  the 
benefit  of  your  valuable  assistance. 

I  am,  dear  Sedgwick,  with  great  regard, 

Ever  your  most  faithful  Servant, 

J.  H.  Monk. 

This  letter  must  have  been  in  every  way  gratifying  to 
Sedgwick.  The  proposed  office  offered  him  a  congenial 
occupation  with  less  wear  and  tear  than  private  tuition,  and 
besides  might  lead  eventually  to  a  Tutorship.  He  did  not, 
however,  accept  it  without  due  consideration.  The  answer 
which  he  finally  wrote — so  modest,  dictated  by  so  nice  a  sense 
of  honour,  and  so  perfectly  straightforward — must  have  con- 
firmed Monk  in  the  belief  that  he  had  made  choice  of  a 
colleague  who  would  do  him  credit. 

Dent,  July  2%,  181 5. 
Dear  Sir, 

Our  communication  with  the  post  town  is  so  irregular 
that  I  have  only  had  your  letter  a  day  or  two,  but  should 
think  myself  unpardonable,  if  I  any  longer  postponed  my 
reply.  I  should  indeed  have  written  sooner  if  I  had  not  been 
desirous  of  first  speaking  to  some  of  my  friends  in  this  neigh- 
bourhood.    They  have  all  earnestly  wished  me  to  accept  the 


Uo  ASSISTANT  TUTORSHIP  AT  TRINITY. 

1815.  mathematical  lectureship.  The  reluctance  which  I  at  first 
&t.  30.  expressed  to  them  did  not  arise,  let  -me  assure  you,  from  any 
dislike  to  the  appointment,  more  especially  when  the  offer  of 
it  was  made  in  terms  so  very  flattering  to  my  feelings ;  but 
from  an  indescribable  fear  of  not  being  able  to  discharge  the 
duties  of  it  properly.  You  are  aware  that  for  the  last  three 
years  my  health  has  not  allowed  me  to  attend  seriously  to  any 
mathematical  subjects.  I  am,  however,  now  much  better,  and 
have  besides  most  solemnly  resolved  within  myself  not  to 
retain  the  office  of  lecturer  unless  I  feel  myself  on  trial  quite 
equal  to  the  duties  of  it  If  I  acted  otherwise  I  should  show 
myself  very  little  deserving  the  good  opinion  you  have  so 
handsomely  expressed,  and  of  which  you  and  your  colleague 
have  given  me  so  substantial  a  proof.  I  hope  you  will  both 
accept  my  thanks,  and  at  the  same  time  my  congratulations 
on  your  appointment  to  the  Tutorship. 

It  will  of  course  be  necessary  for  the  Bishop1  to  confirm  my 
appointment ;  but  you  or  Mr  Brown  will  know  how  to  speak 
to  him  on  the  subject  I  hope  you  will  have  the  kindness  to 
write  again  when  all  is  finally  settled. 

Since  I  left  Cambridge  I  have  been  leading  the  most  retired 
life  possible.  But  even  in  this  corner  of  the  world  we  are  all 
overjoyed  at  the  great  events  which  have  been  passing  on  the 
Continent  Every  individual  in  the  Island  must  have  exulted 
at  the  exploits  of  our  brave  fellows.  By  the  way  I  had  forgot 
that  there  may  perhaps  be  one  or  two  exceptions  in  the  Com- 
bination Room  of  Trin.  Coll.  I  expect  some  friends  when 
the  moorgame  season  commences,  in  whose  company  I  shall 
probably  not  spend  a  very  sedentary  life.  Early  in  September 
I  propose  to  return  to  College.  In  a  few  weeks  after  that 
time  I  shall  hope  to  have  the  pleasure  of  meeting  you. 

Believe  me,  Dear  Professor, 

Your  most  faithful  servant, 

A.  Sedgwick. 

1  William  Lort  Mansel,  D.D.  Master  of  Trinity  College,  was  Bishop  of  Bristol 
from  1808  to  his  death  in  1820. 


OCCUPATIONS  AT  DENT.  141 

Trin.  Coll.  September 23,  1815.  1815. 

Dear  Ainger,  &t.  30. 

I  have  been  leading  a  very  active,  though  perhaps 

not  a  very  profitable,  life  since  I  received  your  last  letter. 

Two  friends  from  Nottinghamshire  spent  the  latter  half  of 

August  with  me  in  Dent     We  were  constantly  out  on  the 

moors,  and  killed  a  good   many  birds.     About  a  fortnight 

after  their  departure  I  turned  my  face  towards  the  South. 

I  had  several  reasons  for  leaving  Dent  so  soon.     In  the  first 

place  I  have  accepted  the  office  of  mathematical   lecturer 

under  our  new  Tutors,  and  I  was  desirous  of  having  some 

time  to  prepare  for   my  new  duties.     In  the  next  place  I 

was  desirous  of  getting  James  up  to  College,  where  he  will,  I 

hope,  adopt  new  habits.     He  has  been  doing  nothing  in  the 

country  this  summer.     Besides,  I  hoped  to  have  some  sport 

in  this  neighbourhood  before  the  confinement  of  lectures. 

I  left  our  friends  well,  and  as  for  myself  I  am  in  better 

health  than  I  have  enjoyed  for  three  years  before.      Bland  is 

returned  from  France.      He  does  not  open  out  freely,  but  he 

looks  well.      My  sisters'  school  flourishes  as  well  as  they  can 

expect.     I  attended  almost  every  Sunday  during  the  summer, 

and  heard  one  of  the  classes.   They  are  desirous  of  instituting 

some  little  rewards  occasionally  among  the  children,  and  have 

petitioned  the  assistance  of  some  of  the  good  folks  in   the 

parish.     I  have  promised  a  guinea,  which  I  mean  to  spend  in 

books.     Can  you  recommend  me  to  any  cheap  shop  ?     Does 

the  National  Society  print  any  books  which  would  answer  the 

purpose  ?     I  intend,  if  they  will  admit  such  a  heretic,  to  be  a 

subscriber  to  the  Society  for  Promoting  Christian  Knowledge. 

Could  you  propose  me  ? 

Yours  ever, 

A.  Sedgwick. 

Trin.  Coll.  November  29,  181 5. 
Dear  Ainger, 

I  fear  you  will  complain  of  me  for  not  having  written 
sooner.     Indeed  I  have  no  excuse  to  offer.      As  Hudson  still 


142  CONTINENTAL   TOUR. 

1816.  continues  in  College,  and  the  labours  of  the  mathematical 
^t.  31.  lecturer  are  consequently  divided  between  Brown  and  myself, 
Euclid  and  the  first  part  of  Algebra  have  fallen  to  my  share. 
If  you  inquire  what  I  have  been  doing,  I  can  hardly  tell  you. 
My  health  has,  however,  been  much  better  than  it  was  last 
year.  The  run  in  the  country  last  summer  has  quite  set  me 
up.  Father  Bland  and  your  other  college  friends  are  I  believe 
well ;  though  I  am  sorry  to  say  that  one  or  two  cases  of  fever 
have  made  their  appearance  in  the  University  during  this  term. 
It  is  now  near  12  o'clock,  and  my  fire  is  almost  out.  You 
must  therefore  allow  me  to  finish  by  assuring  you  that  I 
remain  yours  truly  and  affectionately 

A.  Sedgwick. 

In  the  summer  of  the  following  year  (18 16)  Sedgwick 
spent  four  months  in  France,  Switzerland,  part  of  Germany, 
and  Holland.  Travelling  was  slow  in  those  days,  and, 
though  he  was  so  long  abroad,  he  did  not  see  more  than 
would  now  be  accomplished  in  less  than  half  the  time.  Nor 
has  he  left  any  detailed  account  of  what  he  did  see.  This  is 
the  more  provoking,  as  he  was  a  keen  and  accurate  observer, 
and  was  travelling  at  a  time  of  special  interest.  He  kept  a 
journal,  it  is  true,  but  unfortunately  it  was  only  written  up  at 
intervals — occasionally  very  long  ones — and  therefore  is  little 
better  than  a  record  of  places  visited,  people  met,  and  dis- 
comforts endured  in  the  inns  and  on  the  road.  Page  after 
page,  especially  at  the  commencement,  is  filled  with  dis- 
jointed notes,  which  make  us  suspect  that,  when  he  started, 
he  had  still  some  idea  of  writing  a  book,  and  was  jotting  down 
heads  of  paragraphs,  and  fragmentary  details,  to  assist  his 
memory  on  a  future  occasion. 

He  embarked  at  Brighton  on  June  22nd,  and  reached 
Dieppe  on  the  following  evening  at  9  o'clock.  There  he 
joined  his  friend  Edward  Valentine  Blomfield,  Fellow  of 
Emmanuel   College1,  his  pupil  Lord  Charles  Murray,   and 

1  A  distinguished  classical  scholar  (B.A.   1811),  younger  brother  of  C.  J. 
Blomfield.     He  died,  of  a  fever  caught  abroad,  3  October,  1816,  a  few  days  after 


DISLIKE  OF  THE  FRENCH,  143 

another  Englishman,  and  in  their  company  journeyed  by  way     1816. 
of  Rouen  to  Paris,  which  was  reached  on  the  afternoon  of   ^-  3»- 
June  27th.     Here  we  will  give  a  specimen  of  the  diary : 

"27.  Early  walk  in  Mantes.  Church  injured  by  the  Revolution. 
Churches  in  Normandy  very  beautiful.  Down  the  valley  of  the 
Seine  to  Meulan.  Mons.  Wastel  the  priest.  Destruction  of  his 
church  and  his  sufferings.  Dialect  of  the  Normans.  St  Germain. 
Royal  Palace.  Panorama  from  the  top.  Immense  work  on  the 
Seine  at  Marly.  Enter  Paris.  Palais  Royal.  Dinner  surrounded 
by  [disreputable  characters].  A  general  description  of  the  valley  of 
the  Seine.  Riches  of  the  country — no  appearance  of  depopulation 
or  misery. n 

A  fortnight  was  spent  in  Paris ;  but  bad  weather,  a 
rooted  prejudice  against  the  Roman  Catholic  religion,  and  a 
cordial  hatred  of  all  the  ways  and  works  of  the  French, 
prevented  him  from  enjoying  it  as  much  as  he  did  a  few  years 
afterwards.  Entries  of  this  sort  frequently  occur:  "A  French- 
man will  never  pretend  to  be  ignorant ;  but  he  will  rather  lie 
than  make  that  confession.  Insolence  of  the  soldiers;"  "Con- 
temptible character  of  the  French.  No  display  of  loyalty  on 
this  occasion  (a  review  of  the  National  Guard  by  the  King)"; 
and  in  one  of  his  letters,  though  he  admits  that  "the  beautiful, 
gay,  and  profligate  city  of  Paris  is  a  noble  capital,"  he  adds, 
"  but  the  people  are  so  abominable  and  detestable  that  there 
can  be  no  peace  for  Europe  if  they  are  not  chained  down  as 
slaves,  or  exterminated  as  wild  beasts."  He  took  a  master 
in  the  French  language,  and  worked  hard  at  the  usual  sights, 
among  which  the  method  of  instructing  the  deaf  and  dumb 
pursued  by  the  Abb6  Sicard — successor  to  the  famous  Abb6 
de  TEp6e — seems  to  have  interested  him  more  than  Notre 
Dame  or  the  Louvre.  He  also  visited  the  gaming-houses,  then 
so  numerous,  the  cates,  and  the  principal  theatres ;  saw  Talma 
twice  in  Manlius  Capitolinus1  and  Mile.  Mars  as  Elmire  in 

his  return  to  Cambridge.    An  interesting  memoir  of  him,  by  J.  H.  Monk,  is  in  the 
Museum  Crititum,  of  which  he  had  been  one  of  the  founders,  i.  510. 

1  A  tragedy  in  verse  by  Antoine  de  la  Fosse,  sieur  d'Aubigny  (born  1653, 
died  1708)  a  contemporary  and  imitator  of  Racine.  The  play  is  poor,  with  a 
single  fine  scene,  in  which  Manlius  by  means  of  an  intercepted  letter  discovers  a 


144  FIRST  SIGHT  OF  THE  ALPS. 

1816.  Tartuffe.  This  latter  occasion  was  of  unusual  interest.  The 
&*•  3i-  performance  had  been  commanded  by  the  Due  de  Bern,  on 
whose  entrance,  accompanied  by  his  wife,  there  was  a  good 
deal  of  enthusiasm,  repeated  when  the  famous  lines  were 
spoken,  which  have  been  applied  to  so  many  different  persons, 
and  have  glorified  such  opposite  principles : 

Remettez  vous,  monsieur,  (Tune  alarm e  si  chaude, 
Nous  vivons  sous  un  prince  ennemi  de  la  fraude,  etc. 

About  the  middle  of  July,  accompanied  by  William  Hodge 
Mill1,  then  a  Junior  Fellow  of  Trinity  College,  Sedgwick 
started  for  Switzerland.  A  weary  journey  of  six  days  brought 
them  to  Lyons ;  whence,  after  a  brief  rest,  they  proceeded  to 
Geneva.  The  bad  weather  followed  them,  and,  besides  this 
drawback  to  their  enjoyment,  the  place  was  "filled  with  a  set 
of  lounging  impertinent  English  coxcombs,  who  appear  to  go 
abroad  for  no  other  purpose  than  to  disgrace  their  country." 
There  he  met  by  appointment,  John  Haviland",  Fellow  of 
St  John's  College,  with  whom  he  made  a  tour  through 
Switzerland,  for  the  most  part  on  foot. 

"We  started  from  Lausanne  on  the  second  of  August,  and 
walked  to  Vevay,  a  beautiful  small  town  near  the  head  of  the 
lake.  Next  day  we  proceeded  in  a  voiture  to  Martigny, 
through  a  valley  infinitely  more  beautiful  than  anything  my 
imagination  had  ever  formed.  Of  the  Alps  I  had  formed 
a  good  general  notion.  One  can  conceive  an  outline  varied 
in  every  possible  form ;  a  man  can  imagine  a  mountain  four 
times  as  high  as  any  he  has  seen ;  but  of  that  exquisite 
perfection  of  scenery  which  arises  from  contrast  and  com- 
bination, no  one  can  have  any  perfect  notion  who  has  not 
been  in  Switzerland.     If  I  attempt  to  describe  these  delicious 

conspiracy  against  his  life,  organised  by  his  friend  Servilius.  He  hands  the 
letter  to  Servilius  and  bids  him  read  it  aloud.  When  he  has  finished  Manlius 
exclaims  "Qu'en  dis-tu?"  The  great  success  of  the  revival  is  said  to  have  been 
entirely  due  to  the  expression  of  Talma's  face  while  Servilius  was  reading,  and  to 
the  tone  in  which  he  uttered  the  above  words. 

1  Regius  Professor  of  Hebrew  1848 — 1854. 

2  Professor  of  Anatomy  1 8 1 4 —  1 8 1 7 ;  Regius  Professor  of  Medicine  1 8 1 7 —  1 85 1 . 


CHAMOUNI.  145 


scenes,  I  should  only  use  certain  general  terms  which  would      1816. 
convey  no  distinct  meaning.  ^t.  31. 

"Next  morning  we  started  for  Chamouni,  with  a  guide  and 
three  mules.  After  having  ascended  for  some  time  we  entered 
the  pine  forests.  These  forests  are  constantly  broken  in  upon 
by  small  patches  of  cultivated  ground.  If  the  soil  is  capable 
of  producing  anything,  the  Swiss  are  sure  to  find  it  out.  You 
observe  on  the  very  confines  of  perpetual  snow  small  wooden 
cottages,  many  of  which  are  only  inhabited  during  the  summer. 
They  drive  up  a  certain  number  of  goats  or  cows  sufficient  to 
consume  the  vegetation ;  and  when  that  is  finished  descend 
again  into  the  valleys.  I  was  also  much  pleased  with  observing 
the  mode  in  which  the  Swiss  have  cultivated  some  mountains 
which  in  any  other  country  would  have  been  quite  unproduc- 
tive. They  have  erected  a  number  of  strong  walls  parallel  to 
the  horizon  on  the  sides  of  their  most  rugged  hills,  which  by 
those  means  become  divided  almost  from  top  to  bottom  into 
a  series  of  steps  or  platforms,  the  top  of  each  wall  being  on 
a  level  with  the  field  immediately  above  it.  Each  of  these 
small  slips  of  ground  is  cultivated  with  the  utmost  care  ;  and 
the  whole  mountain-side  presents  the  appearance  of  an  im- 
mense sloping  garden.  With  such  habits  of  industry,  and 
such  a  country,  the  people  can  never  be  uninteresting.  We 
were  much  pleased  with  the  honest  simplicity  and  kindness  of 
this  people,  which  was  rendered  still  more  agreeable  by  being 
contrasted  with  the  unmanly  insolence  of  the  French.  I  find 
I  am  forgetting  myself  and  running  out  into  general  observa- 
tions. I  must  pull  up,  and  proceed  with  my  journey.  After 
having  traversed  the  pines  we  reached  the  forests  of  larch 
trees  which  in  this  country  are  always  found  near  the  extreme 
limits  of  vegetation.  Some  of  them  were  of  an  enormous  size. 
We  could  not  help  observing  the  effects  of  the  winter  storms 
in  these  wild  regions.  Sometimes  several  acres  of  trees  are 
cleared  away  in  one  night.  We  remarked  also  a  passage 
formed  through  the  forest  by  an  avalanche  of  the  preceding 
winter,  which  had  literally  forced  its  way  to  the  bottom  of  the 
S.  I.  10 


146  MER  DE  GLACE. 


1816.  valley.  After  having  traversed  this  second  valley  we  as- 
^u  31-  cended  a  second  and  higher  ridge,  and  at  length  emerged 
from  the  forest,  and  found  ourselves  in  the  regions  of  per- 
petual snow.  We  soon  gained  the  top  of  the  Col  de  Balme, 
and  had  before  us  perhaps  the  most  glorious  mountain 
scenery  in  the  world.  On  the  right  were  a  ridge  of  lofty 
mountains,  whose  pointed  summits  rose  far  above  the  limit 
of  perpetual  snow,  before  us  were  the  beautiful  villages  and 
fields  of  Chamouni,  and  on  the  left  were  the  pinnacles  of 
Mont  Blanc,  rising  to  a  height  of  more  than  twelve  thousand 
feet  above  the  level  of  the  valley.  In  our  descent  to  the 
village  we  passed  three  glaciers.  There  is  a  very  fine  one 
below  the  village,  which  we  visited  that  day. 

"  Early  next  day  we  started  for  the  sea  of  ice.  It  takes 
about  two  hours'  good  work  to  climb  up  to  it.  You  are, 
however,  well  rewarded  for  your  labour.  A  few  stunted 
larches  mark  the  limit  of  vegetation.  After  you  enter  the 
valley,  everything  is  rude,  barren,  and  desolate.  We  de- 
scended on  the  ice,  and  were  amusing  ourselves  with  throwing 
lumps  of  ice  down  the  deepest  crevices  we  could  discover, 
when  the  rain  began  to  fall  in  torrents,  and  soon  drove  us 
among  the  larches.  We  afterwards  descended  by  a  steep 
path  along  the  side  of  the  ice  to  the  bottom  of  the  valley. 
The  lowest  parts  of  these  enormous  glaciers  appear  to  me  by 
much  the  most  interesting.  One  cannot  form  any  perfect 
notion  of  the  depth  of  the  sea  of  ice,  or  of  its  general  magni- 
tude, but  no  one  can  see  without  astonishment  huge  blocks  of 
ice,  some  of  them  coming  down  into  the  even  fields,  piled 
one  upon  another  to  the  thickness  of  some  hundred  feet,  and 
extending  for  many  leagues  in  the  channeled  sides  of  the 
mountain.  In  the  lower  part  of  the  glaciers  large  masses  are 
continually  rolling  down  the  hill  with  a  loud  rumbling  noise, 
which  adds  much  to  the  effect  produced  by  such  savage 
scenery.  We  returned  next  day,  though  not  by  the  same 
route,  to  Martigny. 

"  On  the  7th,  by  the  help  of  our  mules,  we  ascended  in 


MONT  ST  BERNARD.  147 

eleven  weary  hours  to  the  Mont  St  Bernard.     We  were  well     1816. 
rewarded  for  our  exertions.     About  half  way  up  we  met  two    ^Et  31. 
monks,  one  bearing  a  banner  with  a  picture  of  the  Virgin, 
and  another  with  a   crucifix,  heading  about   two  hundred 
people  dressed  in  white.     They  consisted  of  a  set  of  country 
people  who  had  gone  up  to  the  convent  to  kiss  the  image  of 
St  Bernard,  and  to  beg  for  his  interest  to  get  them  some  fine 
weather.     We  travelled   over  snow   for  about   three   miles 
before  we  reached  the  convent.     The  monks  received  us  with 
hospitality,  and  even  with  politeness.     One  of  the   monks 
walked  with  us  over  a  lake,  at  that  time  frozen  four  feet 
thick,  to  the  ruins  of  an  ancient  temple.     We  took  a  peep ' 
into  the  north  of  Italy,  returned,  and  dined,  or  rather  supped, 
in  hall   with  our   new   friends.     The   Prior  was   fortunately 
there — he    does    not    commonly    reside — a    pleasant,   well- 
informed  man  as  I  should  wish  to  meet.     We  retired  early — 
rose  next  morning  at  four,  and  were  much  astonished  and  not 
a  little  pleased  to  find  two  honest  monks  up,  with  some  warm 
coffee  and  toast,  to  see  us  well  off. 

"  I  have  a  great  deal  more  to  say,  but  my  paper  is  nearly 
over,  and  I  have  already  stolen  an  hour  from  my  sleep.  I 
must  therefore  content  myself  with  saying  that  we  got  safe 
down ;  that  we  went  up  the  Valais  ;  crossed  the  Gemmi,  and 
were  nearly  frozen  among  the  sleet  and  snow ;  that  I  had 
nearly  broken  my  neck,  and  that  I  did  break  my  crupper  in 
endeavouring  to  follow  a  mad  English  sailor  across  a  preci- 
pice ;  that  we  have  seen  the  lakes  of  Thun  and  Brientz,  the 
glaciers  of  Grindelwald,  and  the  town  of  Berne ;  that  we 
marched  across  the  country  from  Berne  to  Lucerne  by  the 
help  of  the  sun  and  stars,  inasmuch  as  we  neither  knew  the 
language  of  the  people,  nor  the  names  of  the  towns  we  were 
to  pass  through;  that  we  reached  Lucerne  this  morning1; 
that  we  are  off  for  the  Devil's  Bridge  tomorrow ;  and  lastly 
that  I  am 

Yours  ever,  A.  Sedgwick. 

1  This  letter,  to  the  Rev.  W.  Ainger,  is  dated  Lucerne,  17  August,  181 6. 

IO — 2 


148  HOLLAND  AND  BELGIUM. 

1816.  It  is  worthy  of  remark  that  the  future  geologist,  though 

^t  31.  filled  with  enthusiasm  at  the  first  sight  of  the  Alps,  says  not  a 
word  about  their  physical  structure,  nor  does  he  appear  to 
have  been  more  surprised  than  any  ordinary  tourist  by  the 
novel  spectacle  of  a  glacier.  After  some  further  adventures 
in  Switzerland  the  travellers  proceeded  down  the  Rhine  to 
Cologne,  whence  Haviland  returned  to  England  (10  Septem- 
ber) and  Sedgwick  went  on  alone  to  see  something  of  Hol- 
land.    Writing  from  Leyden  (19  September),  he  says: 

"The  Dutch  I  have  found  a  mighty  comfortable,  sober- 
mannered,  old-fashioned,  people.  In  the  towns  you  see  great 
signs  of  active  industry,  though  there  everything  goes  on  in  a 
quiet  orderly  manner.  It  is  however  in  his  country-house 
that  you  see  the  animal  in  all  his  glory.  By  the  side  of  his 
canals  you  see  him  enthroned  amidst  clipped  hedges,  sedge, 
and  duckweed ;  he  is  so  grave  and  immoveable  that  at 
first  you  might  easily  mistake  him  for  a  smoking  automaton. 
When  you  approach  him  you  find  his  face  the  very  picture  of 
internal  comfort.  I  had  a  deal  of  conversation  with  one  of 
these  comfortable-looking  gentlemen  in  my  way  down  the 
canal  to  Amsterdam.  From  his  appearance  I  should  conjec- 
ture that  he  was  first  cousin  to  a  burgomaster.  He  asked  me 
if  I  thought  the  Swiss  villages  as  beautiful  as  the  Dutch.  I 
answered  that  I  thought  the  Swiss  villages  much  more  beau- 
tiful ;  and  then  proceeded  to  describe  some  of  them.  The 
Dutchman  puffed  the  tobacco  once  or  twice  with  somewhat 
more  violence  than  before,  and  then  observed  that  these  things 
were  well  enough  to  look  at,  but  after  all  Holland  was  the 
country  to  live  in.  The  English  are  in  great  favour  in  this 
country.  I  have  met  with  the  greatest  civility  in  all  the  parts 
of  it  I  have  seen.  The  inns  are  so  excellent  that  I  am  more 
than  half  a  convert  to  the  old  citizen's  opinion." 

Sedgwick  was  always  fond  of  art,  and  his  diary  shows  that 
he  took  considerable  interest  in  the  Dutch  School,  which 
would  of  course  be  quite  new  to  him.  When  he  got  to 
Antwerp,  he  criticises  Rubens  and  Vandyke  with  an  acuteness 


FEVER  AT  BRUSSELS.  149 

which  shows  a  remarkable  natural  aptitude  for  grasping  a     181 6. 
painter's  characteristics  :  -**•  3*- 

"One  striking  character  of  Rubens'  pictures,  is  animation. 
He  always  chooses  a  moment  when  some  great  event  is  taking  place, 
and  represents  it  with  vigour  and  truth.  He  groups  well — but 
there  is  almost  always  a  want  of  delicacy  and  variety  in  his 
female  figures.  He  is  a  great  master  of  colour,  but  often  seems 
only  to  have  painted  for  distant  effect  I  have,  however,  seen  some 
pictures  of  his  finished  to  the  last  degree,  and  which  appear  to  me 
to  equal  anything  I  have  ever  seen  in  the  richness,  the  disposition, 
and  the  harmony  of  the  colours." 

From  Antwerp,  though  he  had  been  unwell  for  some  days, 
Sedgwick  persisted  in  going  to  Brussels,  to  have  a  look  at  the 
field  of  Waterloo.  A  sharp  attack  of  fever — due  to  a  neglected 
cold,  incessant  exposure,  and  hard  travelling — was  coming  on, 
and  by  the  time  he  reached  La  Belle  Alliance  he  was  so  ill 
that  he  could  with  difficulty  hold  up  his  head.  Next  day  a 
Belgian  physician  prescribed  herb-tea,  which  did  more  harm 
than  good ;  and  the  result  might  have  been  serious  had  not 
an  English  physician  been  discovered,  whose  remedies,  though 
severe,  were  efficacious.  After  nearly  a  week's  confinement, 
the  patient,  sorely  enfeebled,  was  allowed  to  travel,  and  pro- 
ceeded by  way  of  Calais  to  Dover,  where  he  landed  in  safety, 
after  a  passage  of  only  five  hours  and  a  half,  on  the   17th 

October. 

Trin.  Coll.    March  16,  [1817]. 

Dear  Ainger, 

Some  months  have  elapsed  since  we  last  parted,  and 
I  have  still  to  reproach  you  for  not  having  written  to  me. 
Pray  what  have  you  been  doing  ?  How  do  you  get  on  with 
your  new  college1?  How  do  you  like  your  curacy,  your 
living,  &c.  &c.  ? 

My  own  history  may  be  written  in  a  very  few  words. 
Since  we  parted  I  have  not  been  a  single  day  out  of  College. 
During  the  Christmas  vacation  I  was  present  at  divers  parties 
of  whist,  in  which  I  did  not  join ;  I  witnessed  the  scaling  of 

1  The  new  Theological  College  of  St  Bees  in  Cumberland,  of  which  Mr 
Ainger  had  just  been  made  Principal. 


150  CAMBRIDGE  GOSSIP. 

1817.  many  pies,  of  which  I  did  not  taste;  and  I  saw  huge  bowls 
Mt-  3*«  of  punch  emptied  without  venturing  even  to  sip  of  them. 
Notwithstanding  this  system  of  mortification,  I  spent  my 
time  pleasantly  enough,  for  my  health  was  better  than  it  has 
been  for  the  four  preceding  years.  During  the  greater  part 
of  this  term  I  have  been  slightly  indisposed,  principally  I 
believe  from  the  fatigue  of  lecturing ;  I  am  beginning  now  to 
see  land,  for  the  Easter  vacation  commences  before  the  ex- 
piration of  next  week.  James  will  this  week  be  very  busy 
with  the  Fellowship  examination.  I  am  of  course  most 
anxious  about  his  success.  John  is  now  here,  but  is  not  able 
to  sit,  as  he  was  unfortunately  elected  to  a  Heblethwaite 
scholarship,  which  prevents  his  being  a  candidate  for  either  of 
the  Lupton  Fellowships  which  are  now  vacant.  Bland  looks 
dismally;  he  has  for  some  time  been  tormented  with  a 
jaundice ;  he  is  now,  I  hope,  convalescent  Carr  was  up  last 
vacation ;  he  had  only  been  married  about  a  fortnight,  and 
was  apparently  quite  happy,  and  most  anxious  to  be  back  to 
his  wife.  He  came  to  take  possession  of  a  small  College 
living1  to  which  he  had  been  presented  a  few  weeks  before. 
The  old  Knight",  I  think,  died  after  you  left  us ;  Haviland 
has  got  the  Regius  Professorship.  The  Anatomical  Pro- 
fessorship will  be  vacant  next  term.  Clark  and  Woodhouse 
are  again  candidates.  There  is,  I  believe,  no  doubt  whatever 
of  Clark's  success8.  If  you  should  be  anywhere  in  this  neigh- 
bourhood about  the  time  of  the  election  I  hope  you  will  come 
up  and  give  him  your  vote. 

Yours  ever, 
A.  Sedgwick. 

1  Hatfield  Broad  Oak  in  Hertfordshire. 

8  Sir  Isaac  Pennington,  M.D.,  Fellow  of  St  John*s  College.  He  was  Professor 
of  Chemistry  1773—93,  and  Regius  Professor  of  Physic  1793  to  his  death, 
3  February,  1817. 

8  William  Clark,  M.A.,  Fellow  of  Trinity  College,  and  John  Thomas 
Woodhouse,  M.D.,  Fellow  of  Gonville  and  Caius  College,  had  been  candidates  for 
the  Professorship  of  Anatomy  in  181 4,  when  Haviland  was  elected.  On  this 
occasion  Woodhouse  retired,  and  Clark  was  elected  without  opposition. 


ORDINATION.  151 


Since  Sedgwick  obtained  his  Fellowship  in  1810  the  study  1817. 
of  Divinity  had  formed  part  of  his  programme  of  work,  as  JEu  3»- 
often  as  he  drew  up  that  record  of  good  deeds  to  come.  He 
was  always  going  to  begin ;  he  intended  to  be  ordained  before 
the  summer  was  out ;  and  the  like.  Now,  however,  it  had 
become  impossible  for  that  procrastinating  spirit  of  his,  which 
furnished  him  with  so  many  jokes  at  his  own  expense,  to 
frame  any  excuse  for  further  delay.  The  stern  voice  of  the 
statutes  under  which  Trinity  College  was  then  governed  pro- 
claimed that  all  the  Fellows  save  two  should  be  in  Priest's 
Orders  within  seven  years  from  the  full  completion  of  the 
degree  of  Master  of  Arts,  under  pain  of  forfeiting  their 
Fellowship.  No  time  was  therefore  to  be  lost ;  and  on  July 
20th,  181 7,  having  obtained  letters  dimissory  from  the  Lord 
Bishop  of  Bristol,  Master  of  Trinity  College,  he  was  ordained 
deacon  by  Bishop  Bathurst  of  Norwich.  His  companions  in 
a  postchaise  thither,  were  Charles  Musgrave,  and  Mill,  his 
fellow-traveller  for  a  portion  of  the  previous  summer.  Mill, 
who  had  already  begun  the  oriental  studies  in  which  he  after- 
wards  obtained  such  distinction,  beguiled  the  tedium  of  the 
journey  by  translating,  for  the  amusement  of  his  companions, 
a  tale  from  an  Arabic  manuscript1. 

The  greater  part  of  the  Long  Vacation  was  spent  in  the 
North,  which  he  had  not  visited  since  181 5.  There  he  began 
to  perform  the  duties  of  a  clergyman,  in  the  shape  of  writing 
and  preaching  sermons  at  Dent.  In  the  course  of  the  summer 
he  found  time  for  an  excursion  to  the  Lakes  with  Charles 
Musgrave ;  paid  a  visit  to  Ainger  at  St  Bees ;  and  later  in  the 
year  visited  Ambleside,  where  he  provokingly  just  missed  the 
pleasure  of  being  introduced  to  Wordsworth,  with  whom  he 
afterwards  became  so  intimate*.  Besides  these  occupations, 
he  got  his  usual  shooting  at  Dent,  for  the  last  time,  as  events 

1  To  Miss  F.  Hicks,  27  December,  1853.  Sedgwick  was  admitted  to  Priest's 
Orders  on  Sunday  15  February,  18 18,  at  Quebec  Chapel,  London,  by  the  Lord 
Bishop  of  Salisbury. 

2  To  Rev.  W.  Ainger,  6  November,  18 17. 


152  WORK  AS  A   COLLEGE  LECTURER. 

1818.  proved — but  he  never  forgot  the  pleasure  he  had  derived  from 
<<Et.  33*  that  sport  In  1866 — forty-nine  years  afterwards — happening 
to  write  to  a  friend  on  the  first  day  of  September — he  said  : 
"  In  early  life  I  used  to  count  much  upon  this  day,  for  I  was 
a  keen  sportsman  till  I  became  a  professed  Geologist.  So 
soon  as  I  was  seated  in  the  Woodwardian  Chair  I  gave  away 
my  dogs  and  gun,  and  my  hammer  broke  my  trigger.  My 
sporting  days  ended  with  the  autumnal  season  of  181 7V  So 
long  as  he  was  employed  in  this  way  we  hear  nothing  about 
his  health ;  but  as  soon  as  he  got  back  to  Cambridge  he 
began  as  usual  to  feel  ill  again.  The  work  was  no  doubt 
severe.  "  I  am  as  usual  employed  two  hours  every  morning 
in  lecturing  to  the  men  of  the  first  and  second  year,  and  every 
other  day  we  are  engaged  about  two  hours  and  a  half  more  in 
examining  the  men  of  the  third  year.  We  are  besides  em- 
ployed at  least  three  hours  in  the  evening  in  looking  over 
their  papers*."  His  relations  had  already  urged  him  to 
resign  his  lectureship,  and  rusticate  for  the  rest  of  his  days. 
To  those  who  knew  him,  idleness  and  Sedgwick  is  such  a 
strange  conjunction,  that  it  sounds  wonderful  that  even 
paternal  solicitude  should  have  suggested  it  It  is  fortunate 
that  he  turned  a  deaf  ear  to  these  admonitions ;  "had  he  not 
done  so  he  might  have  missed  the  golden  opportunity  which 
shortly  presented  itself. 

Early  in  the  Lent  Term  of  181 8  it  was  whispered  in 
Cambridge  that  the  Rev.  John  Hailstone,  one  of  the  Senior 
Fellows  of  Trinity  College,  who  had  been  Woodwardian 
Professor  of  Geology  since  1788,  and  must  therefore  have 
reached  the  ripe  age  of  fifty-eight,  was  proposing  to  take  to 
himself  a  wife — a  step  which  would  ipso  facto  render  the 
Professorship  vacant  by  the  provisions  of  the  Founder's  Will. 
Sedgwick  at  once  made  up  his  mind  to  be  a  candidate,  for 
reasons  which  are  best  stated  by  himself  in  the  following 
letter : 

1  To  Rev.  J.  Edleston,  1  September,  1866. 
*  To  Rev.  W.  Ainger,  6  November,  181 7. 


WOODWARDIAN  PROFESSORSHIP.  153 

Trin.  Coll.,  March  19,  1818.  1818. 

Dear  Ainger,  Mu  33. 

I  sent  a  letter  to  St  Bees  about  five  months  since 
which  most  probably  never  reached  its  address;  I  should  other- 
wise most  assuredly  have  had  an  answer  from  one  of  my  most 
punctual  correspondents.  But  change  of  place,  and  change  of 
time,  and  change  of  circumstances,  are  enough  to  work  stranger 
changes  than  even  this,  and  may,  after  all,  have  broken  in  upon 
those  punctual  business-like  talents  for  which  my  old  friend  was 
most  deservedly  in  good  repute.  But  enough  of  other  people, 
let  us  talk  about  ourselves.  If  thou  art  a  priest,  so  am  I,  and, 
if  thou  art  a  Professor,  so  I  fain  would  be.  I  don't  suppose 
you  have  so  entirely  forgot  Cambridge  as  not  to  feel  some 
interest  in  our  proceedings. 

We  were  very  busy  in  the  October  term  with  the  subjects 
of  lectures :  for,  besides  the  ordinary  course,  we  established 
additional  examinations  for  the  men  who  were  going  out. 
We  have  certainly  reaped  the  fruits  of  our  labours,  for  we 
turned  out  the  Captain  of  the  Tripos  with  eight  other 
wranglers  at  his  heels.  Since  that  time  we  have  got  both  the 
medals,  the  Pitt  Scholarship,  and  the  first  on  Bell's  foundation. 
Notwithstanding  this  blaze  of  honours  I  am  most  heartily 
sick  of  my  connexion  with  the  Tuition,  and  only  wish  for  an 
adequate  motive  for  resigning  all  hopes  in  that  quarter.  Now 
such  a  motive  will  probably  present  itself ;  for  it  is  generally 
expected  in  Cambridge  that  the  Woodwardian  Professorship 
will  be  vacant  by  the  marriage  of  Hailstone.  In  case  that 
event  should  take  place  I  mean  to  offer  myself  as  a  candidate 
for  the  vacant  appointment.  It  would  be  quite  premature  to 
commence  a  general  canvass  ;  I  have  therefore  only  written  to 
my  personal  friends,  requesting  them  to  give  publicity  to  my 
intentions,  in  a  way  too  most  likely  to  promote  my  interests. 
What  do  you  think  of  the  business  ?  If  I  succeed  I  shall 
have  a  motive  for  active  exertion  in  a  way  which  will  promote 
my  intellectual  improvement,  and  I  hope  make  me  a  happy 
and  useful  member  of  society.     I  am  not  such  a  fool  as  to 


154  WOODWARDIAN  PROFESSORSHIP. 

1818.  suppose  that  my  present  employment  is  useless;  and  my 
^l-  33-  pecuniary  prospects  are  certainly  better  than  they  would  be  if 
I  were  Woodwardian  Professor.  Still,  as  far  as  the  improve- 
ment of  the  mind  is  considered,  I  am  at  this  moment  doing 
nothing.  Nay  I  often  very  seriously  think  that  I  am  doing 
worse  than  nothing;  that  I  am  gradually  losing  that  little 
information  I  once  had,  and  very  sensibly  approximating  to 
that  state  of  fatuity  to  which  we  must  all  come  if  we  remain 
here  long  enough.  If  you  were  two  hundred  miles  nearer 
you  might  perhaps  serve  me  with  a  vote.  As  it  is  let  me 
have  your  opinion  of  the  matter  in  the  first  place,  and  your 
good  wishes  in  the  second.  There  will  probably  be  several 
candidates.  Evans  of  our  college  means  to  offer  himself. 
Carrighan  of  St  John's1  has  been  written  to.  He  is  now  at 
Rome,  and  is  expected  back  in  a  month  or  two. 

Yours  ever 

A.  Sedgwick. 

His  friend's  answer  was  rather  lukewarm.  Ainger  approved 
his  purpose,  but  added  :  "  I  should  be  quite  delighted  with  it 
if  I  did  not  find,  on  consulting  the  Cambridge  Calendar,  that 
the  salary  is  only  £100  a  year:  yea,  indulge  me,  as  a  Benedict, 
in  saying  further,  that  I  am  sorry  to  find  you  must,  if  suc- 
cessful, resign  your  honours  whenever  you  follow  your  pre- 
decessor's example !  But,  notwithstanding  these  drawbacks, 
you  have  my  most  hearty  wishes  for  your  success."  The 
conclusion  of  the  letter  is  significant,  as  showing  the  view 
then  taken  of  Geology :  "  I  really  think  the  pursuit  of  miner- 
alogy will  suit  you  to  a  hair,  as  I  take  it  for  granted  that  it 
will  sometimes  lead  you  to  pick  up  stones,  as  well  as  to  range 
them  in  your  lecture-room."  Other  intimate  friends  to  whom 
he  wrote  at  this  early  date  were  more  enthusiastic.  Armstrong 
and  Duckworth  began  to  canvass  Members  of  the  Senate  in 
London,  and  were  successful  in  obtaining  numerous  promises 
of  support  against  all  comers.    Bickersteth  for  instance  pledged 

1  Arthur  Judd  Carrighan,  Fellow  of  St  John's  College,  B.  A.  1 803. 


BECOMES  A   CANDIDATE.  155 

himself  at  once :  "lam  quite  sure,"  he  said,  "  that  Sedgwick     1818. 
would  not  propose  himself  if  he  did  not  judge  himself  to  be    Mi-  33- 
the  proper  person ;  and,  if  that  is  his  opinion,  I  have  no  doubt 
of  the  fact" 

In  the  first  instance  the  only  candidate  who  appeared  to 
have  any  serious  intention  of  going  to  the  poll  was  Robert 
Wilson  Evans,  Fellow  and  assistant-tutor  of  Trinity  College. 
One  of  the  two  Musgraves  had  been  thought  probable ;  but 
there  is  no  evidence  that  he  had  any  such  intention  himself, 
and  the  same  may  be  said  of  Carrighan  of  St  John's  College. 
Evans  was  a  dangerous  opponent.  He  was  a  man  of  high 
character,  deservedly  popular  both  in  his  own  college  and  in  the 
University.  Before  long  a  third  candidate  appeared,  George 
Cornelius  Gorham,  Fellow  of  Queens'  College,  who  afterwards 
became  celebrated  for  his  long  doctrinal  controversy  with 
Bishop  Philpotts  of  Exeter.  He  had  been  third  wrangler  in 
1809,  anc*  could  therefore  show  a  better  place  in  the  Tripos 
than  Sedgwick.  Moreover  he  was  reported  to  have  "been 
studying  Geology  for  a  long  time1"— an  important  point 
of  which  his  friends  did  not  fail  to  take  full  advantage. 
Sedgwick  could  make  no  such  pretensions — nor  indeed  could 
Evans — but  it  was  specially  unfortunate  that  one  of  Sedgwick's 
two  opponents  belonged  to  his  own  college ;  for,  as  one  of 
his  most  active  supporters  observed,  it  "  destroyed  that  cor- 
porate spirit  which  induces  men  to  inconvenience  themselves 
to  attain  an  object  about  which  individually  they  care 
nothing*." 

Professor  Hailstone  having  sent  in  his  resignation  (1  May), 
Sedgwick  issued  a  short  circular,  dated  on  the  same  day, 
addressed  to  those  whom  he  thought  likely  to  support  him. 
After  announcing  the  vacancy,  he  said  : 

"The  kind  assurances  of  support  which  I  have  received  from 
many  Members  of  the  Senate,  have  induced  me  to  declare  myself  a 
Candidate  for  the  appointment.  I  am  at  the  same  time  aware,  that 
I  have  no  right  to  found  my  expectations  of  success  on  support 

1  Pryme's  Recollections,  p.  135.  2  From  R.  B.  Armstrong,  8  May,  181 8. 


Ij6  RIVAL  CANDIDATES. 


tftfft,  derived  from  the  partiality  of  personal  friends.  Let  me  then  assure 
/\tAi  ^  you  that  no  one  can  appreciate  more  highly  than  myself,  the  great 
responsibility  attached  to  the  office  for  which  I  am  now  soliciting.  I 
venture,  therefore,  to  ask  for  the  honour  of  your  Vote  and  Interest 
at  the  ensuing  Election;  pledging  myself,  in  the  event  of  my 
success,  to  use  my  best  endeavours  to  discharge  the  important  duties 
of  the  Professorship,  and  to  carry  into  full  effect  the  intentions  of  its 
Founder. M 

Wc  have  not  seen  the  circular  issued  by  either  of  Sedg- 
wick's opponents,  but  both  of  them  evidently  took  advantage 
of  the  vagueness  of  his  pledges  to  state  explicitly  that  they 
Intended  to  deliver  lectures — a  move  which  created  a  diversion 
to  their  side — for  Armstrong  warns  Sedgwick  (9  May)  that : 
"the  promise  to  lecture  given  by  your  opponents  is  con- 
sidered by  their  supporters  as  greatly  in  their  favour;  and 
perhaps  with  those  that  do  not  know  you  the  maxim  dolus  in 
gitHtr*til)H$  may  do  you  some  disservice."  It  therefore  became 
necessary  to  correct  the  erroneous  impression  which  had  got 
abroad ;  and,  the  21st  day  of  May  having  been  fixed  by  the 
Vice-chancellor  for  the  election,  Sedgwick  issued  a  second 
circular  (14  May)  in  which  he  informed  his  supporters  of  this 
fact,  and  added : 

"t  have  pledged  myself,  in  the  event  of  my  success,  to  use 
my  best  endeavours  to  cany  into  lull  effect  the  intentions  of  the 
t\ttinder  of  the  tac&ssorship*  In  making  that  pledge,  I  more 
especially  wished  to  refer  to  a  clause  in  the  Witi  of  Dr  Woodward, 
by  which  it  is  provided  that  a  Course  of  Lectures  be  anwoaOy  read 
on  some  subjects  connected  with  the  Theory  of  the  Earth.  I  am 
h&WY  in  h*Ytn£  an  oMxwtunity  of  giving  this  additional  expUnaxkn 
of  my  x-iews  re^ctin^  the  imjxwiaat  duties  attached  to  the  o&oc  lor 
wh*crt  I  am  now  $oik*tu^* 

A  )X>£t$Cfipt  tv>  this;  circular  aaiKwnocs  *  that  Mr  Evans 

of  Trinity  CoJk^ye  fe  »o  loader  a  caTk3ida)^e.,',  He  had  restored 
frown  tfoc  oowrxs*  after  a  <>ctt&p*risett  of  w&esv  mikfc  Sodg- 
widlt,  <*  sowic  of  kis  rrktfkk.  h*3  i*3x*«*3  iiittj  to  agree  ta 
Siw»lat  jwijvisak;  m<«  «&*de  to  Mr  Gaduan.  bat  in  vain. 
So^aicfc^  tincais  tkerc&trci,  sbcu^k  riwy  itih  Aai  afeer 
Etatts  Ks^nrttfMfc  ke  was  *vcna  oo  all  i«wu»<3  ",  being  com- 
pdfoi  t»  ^Mtflmwi   the  <o«ftc3k  ^tftcrmsned  to  make  ht< 


MR  GORHAM.  157 


majority  as  large  as  possible ;  and,  in  addition  to  his  resident     1818. 

supporters,  arrangements  were   made    for    twenty   London    Mt'  33- 

voters,  most  of  whom  were  barristers,  and  could  ill  afford  to 

lose  even  a  single  day,  to  travel  to  Cambridge  in  post-chaises 

or  on  horseback,  record  their  votes,  and  return  at  night.    The 

position  of  affairs,  on  the  eve  of  the  election,  is  graphically 

described  by  Gorham  to  his  father : 

Queen's1  College,  Cambridge, 
17  May,  1818. 
My  dear  Father, 

Evans  gave  in  on  Thursday.  I  instantly  got  the  Clare 
and  Bene't  resident  Voters,  but  no  others.  St  John's  is  against  me. 
In  £act,  except  a  few  stragglers,  I  have  only  Queen's,  Catharine, 
Peterhouse,  Clare,  and  Bene't.  You  shall  have  a  note  on  Thursday 
night,  though  the  event  is  not  doubtful.  I  can  only  reckon  on 
50  votes,  and  Sedgwick  has  promises  of  190.  Nevertheless  I  will, 
on  principle,  carry  on  the  contest,  and  go  through  the  disagreeable 
business  of  the  poll.  Sedgwick  is  put  up  by  a  large  College,  merely 
as  a  man  of  talent,  who  can  soon  fit  himself  for  his  office.  For 
myself,  I  feel  a  conviction  that  few  persons  in  the  University  have 
followed  up  the  Science  more  sedulously  than  I  have.  If,  therefore, 
the  Electors  choose  to  dispose  of  Woodward's  funds  upon  the  shame- 
ful principle  of  influence  against  qualification,  I  will  drive  them  to  the 
necessity  (which  I  know  they  wish  to  avoid)  of  recording  their  votes 
at  a  poll,  which  may  be  published  if  I  like  it — not  that  I  intend  to 
take  that  step.  Some  few  (like  our  dear  friend  Farish  *)  were  taken  in 
by  anticipation :  but  the  greater  number  avow  the  precedent  of  Bishop 
Watson. 

It  has  been  clearly  expected  that  I  should  give  in ;  to  obviate 
any  such  rumour  my  notice  in  the  Cambridge  paper  was  worded  in 
the  form  in  which  you  see  it8.  Clarke4,  I  suspect,  has  given  me  his 
name,  but  not  his  interest  The  Trinity  men  employed  him  on  Friday  to 
persuade  me  to  agree  not  to  call  in  out-voters.  I  rejected  any  such 
arrangement. 

You  may  rely  on  the  number  of  votes,  60  to  200,  being  nearly 
correct,  even  if  I  push  my  minority  to  the  utmost.  To  say  nothing 
of  the  prejudices  against  a  small  College,  and  a  methodistical  one — 
and  my  having  little  acquaintance  in  the  University — I  feel  that  I 
have  been  left  to  myself.    While  Sedgwick's  printed  letters  were 

1  Mr  Gorham  always,  on  principle,  wrote  Queen's,  not  Queens',  College. 

9  William  Farish,  Fellow  of  Magdalene  College,  then  Jacksonian  Professor. 
Charles  Farish,  Fellow  of  Queens'  College,  voted  for  Gorham. 

*  Cambridge  Chronicle,  15  May,  18 18.  "  We  are  authorised  to  state  that  the 
Rev.  G.  C.  Gorham,  Fellow  of  Queens'  College,  decidedly  intends  to  continue  the 
contest  for  the  Woodwardian  Professorship." 

4  Edward  Daniel  Clarke,  Professor  of  Mineralogy  1808 — 1813. 


i58 


RESULT  OF  THE  POLL. 


1818.      underwritten  by  friends,  only  one  of  mine  had  that  advantage — and, 
jEt.  33.    excepting  Mr  Holmes  and  Dr  Ingle,  I  do  not  believe  that  one 
member  of  the  Senate  has  canvassed  for  me. 

Your  affectionate  Son, 

G.    C.    GORHAM. 

The  result  showed  the  correctness  of  these  anticipations. 
Sedgwick  polled  186  votes  to  his  opponent's  59,  a  conclusion 
on  which  Gorham  made  the  following  comment  in  the 
promised  note  to  his  Father :  "  In  the  result  I  feel  perfect 
satisfaction,  though  certainly  not  in  the  circumstances  con- 
nected with  it.  The  plain  fact  is  that  Sedgwick  had  all  the 
influence  of  his  College,  and  that  of  St  John's  exercised  their 
influence  against  me  as  being  a  Methodist.  Disagreeable  as 
the  day  has  been,  I  am  glad  I  drove  the  matter  to  a  Poll1/' 

A  summary  of  the  votes  taken  gives  the  following 
results : 


Proxies  . 
Peterhouse     . 
Clare  Hall     . 
Pembroke  Hall 
Caius  College 
Trinity  Hall  . 
Bene't  College 
King's  College 
Queens'  College 
Catharine  Hall 
Jesus  College 
Christ's  College 
St  John's  College 
Magdalene  College 
Trinity  College 
Emmanuel  College 
Sidney  College 
Downing  College 
Commorantes  in  villa 


Toted 


s 

G 

Votes 

4 

1 

5 

4 

7 

11 

1 

9 

10 

5 

0 

5 

7 

2 

9 

5 

0 

5 

2 

2 

4 

8 

0 

8 

0 

19 

l9 

4 

4 

8 

7 

1 

8 

11 

0 

11 

32 

4 

36 

7 

2 

9 

67 

3 

70 

11 

1 

12 

6 

1 

7 

2 

0 

2 

3 

3 

6 

186 

59 

245 

It  was   natural  that  a  disappointed  candidate,  smarting 
under  a  sense  of  undeserved  wrong,  should  call  Sedgwick's 


1  These  letters — extracts  from  which  are  printed  above — have  been   most 
kindly  lent  by  the  Rev.  G.  M.  Gorham,  Vicar  of  Masham,  Yorks. 


RESULT  OF  THE  POLL.  159 

success  "an  instance  of  favouritism  V  An  examination  of  the  1818. 
above  summary,  however,  shows  that  he  not  only  polled  more  ^Et  33- 
votes  in  his  college  than  his  opponent  did  in  the  whole 
academic  body,  but  that  there  was  a  general  feeling  through- 
out the  University  in  his  favour.  The  colleges  of  Pembroke, 
Trinity  Hall,  King's,  Christ's,  and  Downing  voted  "  solid  "  for 
him ;  he  had  a  majority  in  those  of  Caius,  Jesus,  St  John's, 
Magdalene,  Emmanuel,  Sidney ;  those  of  Corpus  Christi  and 
St  Catharine  were  equally  divided,  contributing  respectively 
two  and  four  to  each  side ;  while  Gorham  had  a  majority 
only  in  his  own  college,  in  Peterhouse,  and  in  Clare  Hall. 
Further,  those  who  care  to  go  through  the  names  recorded  in 
the  poll-book  will  find  that  Sedgwick's  majority  was  not 
merely  strong  in  numbers ;  he  had  on  his  side  most  of  those 
who  were  distinguished  in  the  University  by  their  position  or 
their  attainments. 

Gorham  is  probably  right  in  saying  that  his  own  claims 
were  never  fairly  considered.  Nor  is  it  unlikely  that  the 
strong  evangelical  tone  of  Queens'  College  at  that  time, 
taken  in  conjunction  with  Dr  Milner's  personal  unpopularity 
with  Liberals,  and  with  most  of  the  Fellows  of  Trinity 
College,  the  Mastership  of  which  he  had  twice  tried  to  obtain, 
may  have  done  him  some  disservice.  But  we  may  safely  assert 
that  the  election  was  virtually  decided  by  Sedgwick's  personal 
character.  In  the  next  chapter  it  will  be  shown  that  the 
successive  Woodwardian  Professors  had  done  little  or  nothing 
to  justify  their  appointment.  To  this  discreditable  state  of 
things  the  University  not  unnaturally  wished  to  put  an  end  ; 
and  Sedgwick,  with  his  fiery  energy,  and  reputation  for 
thoroughness  in  whatever  he  did,  seemed  to  be  the  man  most 
likely  to  do  this  necessary  work  in  a  completely  efficient 
manner. 

In  attempting  to  form  a  just  estimate  of  the  qualifications 


1  These  words  occur  in  Gorham's  note  to  his  father,  dated  ai  May,  18 18,  from 
which  an  extract  has  been  already  quoted. 


160  SEDGWICK1  S  QUALIFICATIONS. 

1818.  of  the  two  candidates,  we  must  discard  the  ideas  which  we 
iEt-  33-  now  attach  to  the  term  geology,  and  recollect  that  at  the 
beginning  of  the  present  century  it  was  regarded  as  little 
better  than  a  subordinate  department  of  mineralogy,  which, 
from  its  practical  usefulness,  and  the  beauty  of  the  substances 
with  which  it  dealt,  had  become  popular  at  an  early  period. 
It  was  considered  to  be  the  business  of  a  geologist  to  investi- 
gate the  mode  in  which  the  earth  had  originated,  and  the  results 
of  these  speculations  may  be  seen  recorded  in  various  essays 
called  Theories  of  the  Earth,  When,  therefore,  we  find  Gorham 
credited  with  "a  long  study  of  geology",  and  are  told  that 
some  of  Sedgwick's  personal  friends,  among  whom  was  Mr 
Pry  me,  thought  his  claims  so  strong  that  "  it  was  only  just  to 
vote  for  him",  we  are  led  to  suspect  that  an  acquaintance  with 
mineralogy  must  have  caused  this  favourable  opinion.  This 
theory  is  supported  by  the  fact  that  Dr  Edward  Daniel 
Clarke,  Professor  of  Mineralogy,  voted  for  Gorham — though 
in  the  above-quoted  letter  he  makes  light  of  his  support — 
and  that  the  same  person  was  also  proxy  for  Sir  Joseph 
Banks,  President  of  the  Royal  Society,  whose  action  would 
naturally  be  governed  by  the  opinion  of  the  official  repre- 
sentative of  mineralogy  at  Cambridge.  This,  however,  is  mere 
speculation,  and  may  be  erroneous.  On  the  other  hand,  we 
have  Gorham's  own  deliberate  statement,  in  the  letter  quoted 
above,  that  he  had  "sedulously"  studied  geology;  and  we 
have  been  informed  that  he  had  worked  at  the  physical 
structure  of  Scotland,  and  of  parts  of  Yorkshire.  But,  un- 
fortunately for  his  own  reputation,  he  had  never  published 
any  geological  papers  ;  and,  in  the  absence  of  the  direct  proof 
of  his  acquirements  which  these  would  have  given,  the 
worthlessness  of  his  geological  knowledge  has  been  too 
hastily  assumed  from  Sedgwick's  celebrated  account  of  him- 
self and  his  opponent,  which  is  still  remembered  in  the 
University :  "  I  had  but  one  rival,  Gorham  of  Queens',  and  he 
had  not  the  slightest  chance  against  me,  for  I  knew  absolutely 
nothing  of  geology,  whereas  he  knew  a  good  deal — but  it  was 


SEDGWICK'S  QUALIFICATIONS,  161 

all  wrong1 !"  This  remark,  however,  was  not  made  seriously,  1818. 
and  it  would  be  unjust  to  Gorham's  memory  to  quote  it  as  a  ^u33- 
deliberate  judgment,  without  making  a  large  allowance  for 
that  departure  from  literal  truth  which  is  permitted  to  a 
brilliant  antithesis.  That  he  had  a  genuine  love  for  natural 
science  may  be  taken  for  granted,  for  he  was  a  good  practical 
botanist,  and  had  formed  a  valuable  collection  of  plants  in  the 
course  of  an  extended  tour  in  Switzerland  in  1810  and  181 1. 

While  the  contest  was  proceeding  Sedgwick  is  reported  to 
have  said :  "  Hitherto  I  have  never  turned  a  stone ;  hence- 
forth I  will  leave  no  stone  unturned/'  and  his  contemporary 
Mr  Pryme  amplifies  the  idea  of  thoroughness  conveyed  by 
this  sentence  into  the  following  statement : 

"  The  latter  [Sedgwick]  professed  to  know  nothing  of  the  sub- 
ject, but  pledged  himself,  if  elected,  to  master  it,  and  to  resign 
the  assistant  tutorship  in  order  that  he  might  give  the  more  complete 
attention  to  it"." 

This  passage  contains  several  inaccuracies.  If  Sedgwick 
professed  ignorance,  he  had  the  good  sense  to  reserve  such 
professions  for  private  conversation  with  his  intimate  friends ; 
his  public  utterances  contain  no  reference  to  it.  Nor  did  he 
state,  as  we  have  seen,  that  he  meant  to  master  the  science  of 
geology.  All  he  said  v/as  that  he  would  deliver  public 
lectures  "on  some  subjects  connected  with  the  Theory  of  the 
Earth."  Neither  did  he  announce  his  intention  of  resigning 
the  assistant  tutorship  if  elected  :  we  know  that  he  had  long 
been  anxious  to  do  so ;  and,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  he  did  resign 
in  the  course  of  the  following  Long  Vacation,  and  Mr 
Whewell  was  elected  in  his  room.  But  he  never  pledged 
himself  to  such  a  course. 

At  the  same  time  there  is  no  evidence  that  he  had  ever 
troubled  his  head  with  any  cosmical  speculations.     The  word 

1  To  this  story  Mr  G.  M.  Gorham  adds  the  following  delightful  anecdote: 
44  Did  not  such  logic  warrant  an  ancient  inhabitant  of  Dent,  himself  a  stone-breaker, 
in  his  reply  to  my  pilgrim-inquiry  in  1874,  'Have  you  ever  heard  of  a  native  here 
called  Adam  Sedgwick?'"     "What  !  d'ye  mean  the  Perverser?" 

2  Recollections ■,  p.  1 35. 

S.  I.  I  I 


162  SEDGWICICS  QUALIFICATIONS. 

1818.  "  strata "  occurs  in  one  of  his  letters  from  Switzerland,  but, 
&*•  33-  with  that  exception,  there  is  no  evidence  that  he  had  given 
things  of  the  earth  a  moment's  consideration.  It  has  been 
recorded,  on  his  own  authority,  that  he  collected  fossils  at 
Dent  when  he  was  a  child  ;  but,  had  he  lived  on  the  sea-coast, 
he  would  probably  have  picked  up  recent  shells ;  and  the 
former  habit  no  more  indicates  a  future  geologist  than  the 
latter  a  future  conchologist.  The  time  that  he  could  spare 
from  mathematics  he  devoted  to  general  literature.  He  had 
indeed,  as  we  have  seen,  attended  the  lectures  of  William 
Farish,  Jacksonian  Professor  of  Natural  and  Experimental 
Philosophy,  in  181 5.  But  the  object  of  those  lectures  was  to 
exhibit  "  the  application  of  Chemistry  to  the  Arts  and  Manu- 
factures of  Britain/'  by  means  of  a  series  of  models  of  the 
machinery  employed.  The  method  was  novel,  and  we  have 
the  authority  of  Professor  Willis  for  stating  that  the  illustra- 
tions were  ingeniously  contrived,  and  the  lectures  generally 
instructive ;  but,  beyond  the  fact  that  Part  I.  of  the  Syllabus 
is  headed  Metals  and  Minerals,  and  that  such  subjects  as  The 
structure  of  the  Earth,  Strata,  Dislocation  of  the  Strata,  appear 
as  sub-headings,  there  is  nothing  in  the  whole  course  to 
suggest  geology1.  Professor  Hailstone,  Sedgwick's  predecessor, 
did  not  lecture.  An  interleaved  syllabus  of  Dr  E.  D.  Clarke's 
lectures  on  mineralogy,  enriched  with  copious  notes,  shews 
that  he  attended  him  for  at  least  one  course ;  but  Professor 
Clarke  was  no  geologist  Nor  do  any  of  his  friends,  when 
writing  to  him  about  his  chances  of  success,  refer  to  his 
special  knowledge  of  the  subject  as  a  reason  for  supporting 
him.     Mr  Daniel  Pettiward,  for  instance,  says  (May,  18 18) : 

1  A  general  view  of  the  course  is  given  in  the  Camb.  Univ.  Calendar,  1815, 
p.  38.  Farish  had  been  Professor  of  Chemistry,  1794 — 1813,  and,  on  finding  "the 
province  of  reading  lectures  on  the  principles  of  Chemistry  already  ably  occupied 
by  the  Jacksonian  Professor  [F.  J.  H.  Wollaston,  Trin.  Hall,  1792 — 1813]  was 
therefore  obliged  to  strike  out  a  new  line."  When  elected  to  the  Jacksonian 
Chair  he  continued  his  former  course,  as  may  be  seen  by  comparing  the  Calendar 
for  1 8 15  with  that  for  1802,  p.  24.  See  also  :  A  Plan  of  a  Course  of  Lectures  on 
Arts  and  Manufactures,  more  particularly  such  as  relate  to  Chemistry.  By 
W.  Farish,  8vo.,   1821. 


BISHOP    WATSON,  DR  CLARKE.  163 

"It  is  my  Intention  to  Enlist  myself  under  your  Banners,  in  great      1818. 
hopes  that  one  of  my  Favourite  pursuits,  from  your  Activity  of  mind    ,Et.  33. 
and  the  Genius  you  possess  for  General  knowledge,  may  not  be  hid 
in  a  Napkin,  but  that  the  world  may  be  better  for  the  fruit  of  your 
Labours." 

This  is  very  different  language  from  what  he  would  have 
used  had  his  correspondent  been  thoroughly  conversant  with 
even  the  little  geological  knowledge  of  those  days.  Sedg- 
wick's intimate  friend  Carr  too,  writing  a  letter  of  congratula- 
tion (26  May),  says : 


"I  suppose  you  will  be  busily  employed  this  summer  in  the  pursuit 
of  your  new  studies ;  for  this  purpose  I  venture  to  recommend  the 
North  as  the  most  proper  place,  both  as  it  abounds  in  those 
productions  of  nature  which  will  now  more  particularly  engage  your 
attention,  and  as  it  will  at  the  same  time  afford  me  the  opportunity 
of  seeing  you." 

Moreover  Sedgwick  himself,  in  his  first  letter  to  Ainger 
on  the  approaching  vacancy,  dwells  on  the  "  motive  for  active 
exertion,"  and  the  intellectual  stimulus,  which  the  Professor- 
ship would  give  him ;  but  says  not  a  word  about  his  wish  to 
cultivate  a  science  which  he  had  already  begun.  Nor  should 
his  impaired  health,  and  the  fatigue  which  mathematical 
teaching  caused  him,  be  left  out  of  consideration.  His  eager- 
ness to  escape  from  an  uncongenial  occupation  has  been 
already  mentioned  more  than  once. 

Precedents  were  not  wanting  at  Cambridge  for  the  election 
of  a  man  of  ability  to  a  Professorship  in  a  subject  of  which 
he  knew  nothing.  Bishop  Watson,  to  whom  Gorham  refers, 
was  made  Professor  of  Chemistry  in  1764,  and  says  of  him- 
self: 

"At  the  time  this  honour  was  conferred  upon  me,  I  knew 
nothing  at  all  of  Chemistry,  had  never  read  a  syllable  on  the  subject, 
nor  seen  a  single  experiment  in  it ;  but  I  was  tired  with  mathematics 
and  natural  philosophy,  and  the  vehementissima  gloria  cupido  stimu- 
lated me  to  try  my  strength  in  a  new  pursuit  \" 

Dr  E.  D.  Clarke's  knowledge  of  mineralogy  was  thoroughly 
unscientific,  and  in  fact  he  was  only  saved  from  mistakes  by 

1  Anecdotes  of  the  Life  of  Bishop  Watson,  ed.  181 7,  p.  28. 

II — 2 


mmm^^mm^m—mrw^m*mmm*r^m 


164  TESTIMONY  OF  MR  BLOMEFIELD. 

1818.  the  interposition  of  a  friend,  the  Rev.  John  Holme,  Fellow  of 
<&•  33-  Peterhouse,  to  whom  he  submitted  his  syllabus,  and  the 
outline  of  his  lectures1.  Notwithstanding  these  drawbacks 
both  these  gentlemen  filled  their  lecture-rooms ;  Watson 
advanced  his  subject  scientifically ;  and  Clarke  was  successful 
in  creating  a  general  enthusiasm. 

It  is  almost  impossible,  at  a  distance  of  just  seventy  years 
from  the  period  we  are  investigating,  to  obtain  personal 
recollections  of  Sedgwick  at  the  time  of  his  election.  One 
valuable  testimony  has,  however,  been  placed  in  our  hands  by 
the  Rev.  Leonard  Blomefield,  who,  as  the  Rev.  Leonard 
Jenyns,  established  a  high  scientific  reputation  as  a  system- 
atic  naturalist.  He  attended  Sedgwick's  lectures  "  not  more 
than  a  year  or  two  after  his  election  to  the  Professorship,"  and 
is  under  the  impression  "that  he  was  not  a  mere  learner 
himself  at  the  time ;  he  seemed  a  master  of  the  subject,  and 
his  lectures  were  earnestly  listened  to,  as  well  as  earnestly 
delivered."  Mr  Blomefield  is  further  of  opinion  "  that  though 
Sedgwick  had  not  made  Geology  much  of  a  study,  nor  learnt 
its  details  to  any  great  extent  practically  in  the  fields,  before 
he  was  admitted  to  the  Professorship — he  was  fairly  acquainted 
with  the  subject  in  a  general  way,  and  took  a  great  liking  to 
it,  or  he  would  not  have  offered  himself  for  the  chair*." 

Our  own  opinion  is,  on  the  whole,  for  the  reasons  men- 
tioned above,  opposed  to  that  of  Mr  Blomefield,  and  in 
favour  of  the  notion  commonly  accepted  in  Cambridge,  that 
Sedgwick  got  up  his  subject  after  his  election.  It  will 
be  our  business  to  trace,  in  subsequent  chapters,  the 
gradual  development  of  his  geological  knowledge ;  for  the 
present  we  will  content  ourselves  with  quoting  a  passage  from 
his  latest  work,  dictated  only  a  little  more  than  three  months 
before  his  death,  in  which  he  sums  up  the  purpose  he  set 
before  himself  at  the  outset  of  his  career,  and  which  domi- 
nated his  long  academic  life  : 

1  Gunning's  Reminiscences ',  ed.  1855,  ii.  195. 
a  From  Rev.  L.  Blomefield,  20  August,  1887. 


SEDGWICK'S  INTENTIONS.  165 

"There  were  three  prominent  hopes  which  possessed  my  i8r8. 
heart  in  the  earliest  years  of  my  Professorship.  First,  that  I  &*•  33- 
might  be  enabled  to  bring  together  a  Collection  worthy  of 
the  University,  and  illustrative  of  all  the  departments  of  the 
Science  it  was  my  duty  to  study  and  to  teach.  Secondly, 
that  a  Geological  Museum  might  be  built  by  the  University, 
amply  capable  of  containing  its  future  Collections ;  and 
lastly,  that  I  might  bring  together  a  Class  of  Students  who 
would  listen  to  my  teaching,  support  me  by  their  sympathy, 
and  help  me  by  the  labour  of  their  hands1." 

1  Preface  to  A  Catalogue  of  the  Collection  of  Cambrian  and  Silurian  Fossils 
contained  in  the  Geological  Museum  of  the  University  of  Cambridge*  by  J.  W. 
Salter,  4to.  Cambridge,  1873,  p.  xxxi.  The  preface,  by  Professor  Sedgwick,  is 
dated  15  September,  1871. 


CHAPTER  V. 

Sketch  of  the  life  and  works  of  Dr  John  Woodward.  His 
testamentary  provisions.  arrival  of  his  cabinets.  a 
room  constructed  for  their  reception.  sedgwick's 
predecessors  :  conyers  mlddleton ;  charles  mason  j 
John  Michell;  Samuel  Ogden;  Thomas  Green;  John 
Hailstone.    Orders  and  regulations  sanctioned  in  1818. 

We  have  now  reached  a  point  in  our  narrative  at  which  it 
is  desirable  to  sketch  Dr  Woodward's  life,  together  with  his 
intentions  in  founding  a  Professorship,  or,  as  he  would  have 
called  it,  a  Lectureship,  in  the  University  of  Cambridge.  As 
a  supplement  to  this,  we  shall  briefly  record  what  Sedgwick's 
predecessors  did,  or,  we  might  almost  say,  did  not  do,  to  carry 
out  the  founder's  instructions. 

John  Woodward  was  born  in  Derbyshire,  I  May,  1665. 
His  father  is  said  to  have  been  "a  gentleman  of  a  good  family 
in  the  county  of  Gloucester" ;  but,  if  such  were  the  case,  it  is 
strange  that  the  son  should  have  been  apprenticed,  on  leaving 
school  at  sixteen,  to  a  linendraper  in  London.  It  is  true  that 
the  most  original  of  Woodward's  biographers,  Dr  Ward1, 
guards  himself  with  an  "as  is  said,"  while  making  this  state- 
ment ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  it  was  certainly  believed  during 

1  The  Lives  of  the  Professors  of  Gresham  College,  by  John  Ward,  Professor  of 
Rhetoric  in  Gresham  College,  and  F.R.S.  Fol.  Lond.  1740,  pp.  183—301.  It 
will  be  understood  that  the  quotations  in  the  following  sketch  are  from  this 
work,  unless  other  references  are  given. 


WOODWARD'S  EARLY  STUDIES.  167 

Woodward's  lifetime,  and  was  used  to  his  discredit  by  un- 
scrupulous opponents1.  That  he  did  go  to  London,  while  a 
mere  boy,  is  certain ;  and  while  there  had  the  good  fortune  to 
become  acquainted  with  Dr  Peter  Barwick,  physician  to  King 
Charles  the  Second,  who  received  him  into  his  house,  and 
"took  him  under  his  tuition  in  his  own  family." 

To  this  circumstance  the  general  direction  of  Woodward's 
studies  is  obviously  due;  and  it  may  be  further  conjectured 
that  his  interest  in  the  University  of  Cambridge  may  have 
been  inspired  by  Barwick.  Barwick  had  been  educated  at 
St  John's  College,  where  his  elder  brother  John,  the  sincere 
and  courageous  royalist,  afterwards  successively  Dean  of 
Durham  and  of  St  Pauls,  was  already  Fellow.  He  proceeded 
Bachelor  of  Arts  in  1643,  Master  of  Arts  in  1647,  and  Doctor 
of  Medicine  in  1655.  As  a  London  physician  he  had  a  large 
practice  and  a  well-deserved  reputation ;  while  as  a  man  of 
science  he  is  known  as  the  defender  of  Harvey's  theory  of  the 
circulation  of  the  blood.  Barwick  is  also  described  as  a  man 
of  sincere  religious  convictions,  a  strong  churchman,  and  a 
daily  attendant  at  service,  either  at  St  Paul's  or  at  Westminster 
Abbey.  From  him  therefore  Woodward  probably  derived  that 
religious  tone  of  mind  which  led  him  to  devote  most  of  his 
scientific  writings  to  the  support  of  the  Mosaic  history  of  the 
Deluge. 

Barwick  has  recorded  in  a  testimonial  dated  24  September, 
1692,  that  he  had  then  known  Woodward  "for  above  these 
eight  years";  that  he  "had  made  a  very  great  progress  in 
learning"  before  he  came  to  him  ;  that  he  studied  physic  with 
him  for  nearly  four  years ;  and  that  subsequently  he  "  prose- 
cuted his  studies  with  so  much  industry  and  success  that  he 
hath  made  the  greatest  advance  not  only  in  physick,  anatomy, 
botany,  and  other  parts  of  natural  philosophy ;  but  likewise 

1  For  instance,  Dr  Richard  Mead,  in  his  Discourse  on  the  Smallpox  and 
Measles,  calls  Dr  Woodward  **  a  man  equally  ill-bred,  vain,  and  ill-natured,  who, 
after  being  for  some  time  apprentice  to  a  linen-draper,  took  it  into  his  head 
to  make  a  collection  of  shells  and  fossils,"  etc.     Works  *  ed.  1763,  ii.  100. 


1 68  WOOD  WA  RDyS  EA  RL  Y  STUDIES. 

in  history,  geography,  mathematics,  philology,  and  all  other 
useful  learning  of  any  man  I  ever  knew  of  his  age."  It  would 
appear,  therefore,  that  he  became  known  to  Barwick  in  1684  ; 
and,  as  he  was  born  in  1665,  and  remained  at  school  till  168 1, 
when  he  was  sixteen,  there  remain  only  three  years  to  be 
accounted  for,  during  part  of  which — whatever  may  be  the 
truth  of  the  apprentice  story — he  is  said  to  have  pursued  his 
studies  "  with  great  diligence  and  application."  We  are  not, 
however,  told  what  these  studies  were,  nor  is  any  hint  given 
that  he  went  through  the  ordinary  course  prescribed  for 
candidates  for  a  medical  degree.  By  1692,  however,  he  had 
become  sufficiently  well  known  to  obtain  the  Professorship  of 
Physic  in  Gresham  College,  for  which  he  was  recommended  not 
merely  by  Dr  Barwick,  in  the  testimonial  already  mentioned, 
but  "  by  many  gentlemen  of  figure  in  the  learned  faculties." 
It  is  much  to  be  regretted  that  Dr  Ward,  who  had  seen  these 
testimonials,  should  give  no  particulars  of  them,  nor  even 
record  the  names  of  those  who  wrote  them.  Had  he  been 
a  little  more  explicit,  we  might  have  discovered  the  reasons 
which  induced  the  electors  to  choose  a  young  man  of  twenty- 
eight,  who,  so  far  as  we  know,  had  given  no  visible  signs  of 
fitness  for  so  distinguished  a  position;  and  we  might  thus  have 
learnt  the  nature  and  extent  of  Woodward's  early  studies. 

In  the  following  year  (30  November,  1693)  Woodward 
was  elected  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society.  Two  years  later, 
4  February,  1695,  he  was  made  a  Doctor  of  Medicine  by 
Archbishop  Tenison,  and  in  the  same  year  (28  June)  the 
same  degree  was  granted  to  him  by  the  University  of  Cam- 
bridge; on  which  occasion  he  was  admitted  a  member  of 
Pembroke  Hall — as  Pembroke  College  was  then  termed1. 
Here    again    Barwick's    influence    may   have    disposed    the 

1  He  is  so  recorded  in  Dr  Richardson's  List  of  Degrees  preserved  in  the 
Registry  of  the  University.  The  Supplicat  for  his  degree  is :  "  Placeat  vobis 
ut  Johannes  Woodward  sit  eisdem  Gradu  Honore  et  Dignitate  apud  nos  Canta- 
brigienses  quibus  est  per  Literas  Patentes  Domini  Archiepiscopi  Cantuariensis " ; 
endorsed, "Ad.  Lect.  et  Cone.  28  Junii  1695.  Non  subscripsit."  The  records  of 
Pembroke  College  do  not  mention  Woodward. 


WORK  AS  A   PHYSICIAN.  169 

University  to  admit  his  friend  and  pupil ;  but  on  this  point 
we  can  only  form  a  probable  conjecture,  and  as  to  Woodward's 
reasons  for  selecting  Pembroke,  we  are  completely  in  the 
dark.  He  was  admitted  a  candidate  of  the  College  of 
Physicians  25  June,  1698;  and  Fellow  22  March,  1702 — 3. 
He  held  the  office  of  Censor  there  in  1703  and  17 14;  and 
in  January  17 10 — 11  delivered  the  Gulstonian  Lectures  On 
the  Bile  and  its  Uses1. 

It  would  be  beside  our  present  purpose  to  investigate 
Woodwards  claims  to  distinction  as  a  physician,  or  to  do 
more  than  allude  to  his  quarrel  with  Dr,  afterwards  Sir  Hans, 
Sloane,  in  17 10,  which  led  to  his  expulsion  from  the  Council 
of  the  Royal  Society* ;  or  to  his  controversy  with  Dr  Freind 
and  Dr  Mead  on  the  new  treatment  of  the  smallpox  suggested 
in  his  treatise,  The  State  of  Physick  and  of Diseases ',  published 
in  1718*.  For  the  same  reason  we  will  be  silent  about  his 
antiquarian  pursuits,  and  "poor  Dr  Woodward's  shield  V*  by 
which  "he  ingaged  the  attention  of  the  learned  for  a  consider- 
able time."  Those  who  wish  to  enjoy  a  hearty  laugh  at  his 
expense  should  turn  to  the  third  chapter  of  the  Memoirs  of 
Martimts  Scriblerus,  where,  under  the  transparent  disguise  of 
Dr  Cornelius  Scriblerus,  the  misfortunes  of  the  learned  owner 

1  Roll  of  the  Royal  College  of  Physicians  of  London  ;  by  William  Munk,  M.D. 
8vo.  Lond.  1861,  ii.  3. 

2  Weld's  History  of  the  Royal  Society,  8vo.  Lond.  1848,  i.  337  ;  Brewster's 
Life  of  Sir  Isaac  Newton,  Chapter  XX 1. 

3  This  was  the  occasion  of  the  attack  made  on  Woodward  by  Mead. 
According  to  the  account  which  Woodward  sent  to  The  Weekly  Journal  for 
10  June,  1 7 19  (printed  by  Nichols,  Lit.  Anecd.  vi.  641),  Mead  followed  him  to 
the  gate  of  Gresham  College,  and  there  made  a  pass  at  him  with  his  sword  from 
behind.  Woodward  drew,  and  was  defending  himself,  when  his  foot  slipped,  and 
he  lay  at  the  mercy  of  his  adversary,  who  bade  him  ask  his  life.  The  encounter 
was  presently  terminated  by  the  interference  of  other  persons.  "  Had  he  been  to 
have  given  me  any  of  his  physic,"  said  Woodward,  "  I  would,  rather  than  take  it, 
have  asked  my  life  of  him  ;  but  for  his  sword  it  was  very  harmless." 

4  Lord  Castledurrow  to  Dean  Swift,  4  December,  1736.  The  shield,  of  iron, 
14  in.  in  diameter,  is  a  cinquecento  Italian  work.  It  was  bought,  at  the  sale  of 
Woodward's  Collections  (see  below,  p.  186,  nole)f  by  Colonel  King.  After  his  death 
in  1767,  aged  84,  it  was  sold  for  ^40  (Nollekens  and  his  Times%  by  J.  T.  Smith, 
i.  39).     It  is  now  in  the  British  Museum,  Department  of  General  Antiquities. 


i7o  GEOLOGICAL    WORK. 

of  the  shield,  reputed  to  have  once  been  wielded  by  Camillus, 
are  chronicled  with  infinite  humour1.  His  geological  specula- 
tions, on  the  other  hand,  deserve  careful  examination,  for, 
though  they  are  in  many  parts  absurd,  and  warped  throughout 
by  the  necessity  for  making  the  observed  facts  fit  a  precon- 
ceived theory  of  a  universal  deluge,  "he  appears  to  have  had 
some  very  correct  notions  as  to  the  general  structure  of  the 
globe,  and  the  proper  method  of  pursuing  the  investigation 
of  it'." 

The  circumstances  which  led  him  to  these  studies  have 
been  recorded  by  himself  in  the  Preface  to  the  Catalogue 
of  the  English  Fossils  in  his  own  collection. 

It  may  not  be  improper  or  unseasonable,  before  I  proceed  to  the 
brief  Account  I  am  going  to  give  of  the  Bodies  in  the  following 
Catalogue,  to  take  notice  that  I  began  my  Observations  and  Collec- 
tions in  Gloucestershire ;  whither  I  was  invited  by  Sir  Ralph  Dutton, 
along  with  his  Lady's  Father  Dr  Barwick,  under  whose  tuition  I  then 
was,  very  happily,  he  being  a  Man  of  great  Sagacity,  Learning,  and 
an  Encourager  of  all  ingenuous  Studies.  Here  I  had  very  generously 
allow'd  me  all  Conveniencies  and  Assistances  for  the  furthering  of 
Comparative  Anatomy,  in  which  I  took  great  pains ;  and  had  all  the 
several  sorts  of  Brutes,  of  Birds,  of  Fishes,  that  this  noble  and 
plentiful  Country  afforded,  readily  brought  to  me  for  Dissection.  I  had 
here  likewise  opportunity  of  carrying  on  my  Botanic  Studies,  of  which, 
being  then  young,  I  was  very  fond.  Not  that  I  confin'd  myself  so 
much  to  this  part  of  Natural  History  as  not  to  be  ready,  forward,  and 
desirous  to  look  into  any  other ;  and  the  Country  about  Sherborne, 
where  Sir  Ralph  Dutton's  Seat  was,  and  the  neighbouring  parts  of 
Gloucestershire,  to  which  I  made  frequent  Excursions,  abounding 
with  Stone,  and  there  being  Quarries  of  this  laid  open  almost 
everywhere,  I  began  to  visit  these,  in  order  to  inform  myself  of  the 
nature,  the  situation,  and  the  condition  of  the  Stone.  In  making 
these  Observations,  I  soon  found  there  was  incorporated  with  the 
Sand  of  most  of  the  Stone  thereabouts,  great  plenty  and  variety  of 
Sea-shells,  with  other  marine  Productions.  I  took  notice  of  the  like, 
lying  loose  in  the  Fields,  on  the  plough'd  Lands  and  on  the  Hills, 
even  to  the  very  top  of  the  highest  thereabouts.... This  was  a 
Speculation  new  to  me ;  and  what  I  judgM  of  so  great  moment,  that 
I  resolv'd  to  pursue  it  through  the  other  remoter  parts  of  the 
Kingdom ;  which  I  afterwards  did,  made  Observations  upon  all  sorts 
of  Fossils,  collected  such  as  I  thought  remarkable,  and  sent  them  up 

1  Pope's  Works,  ed.  Roscoe,  v.  160. 

2  Edinburgh  Review,  xxix.  316.     The  article  is  by  Dr  W.  H.  Fitton. 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  EARTH  171 

to  London.  Some  others  were  afterwards  given  me  by  such  curious 
and  intelligent  Persons,  as  being  appriz'd  of  the  usefulness  of  these 
Studies,  turn'd  their  Thoughts  to  such  Searches1. 

The  results  of  these  observations  are  recorded  in  An  Essay 
toward  a  Natural  History  of  the  Earth  and  Terrestrial  Bodies, 
especially  Minerals ;  as  also  of  the  Sea,  Rivers,  and  Springs, 
with  an  Account  of  the  Universal  Deluge,  and  of  the  Effects 
that  it  had  upon  the  Earth,  first  published  in  1695,  as  the 
forerunner  of  a  larger  work,  which,  however,  was  never  written. 
The  author  tells  us  that  in  order  to  inform  himself  of  the 
present  condition  of  the  earth,  he  travelled  through  the 
greatest  part  of  England,  enquiring  "for  intelligence  of  all 
Places  where  the  Entrails  of  the  Earth  were  laid  open,  either 
by  Nature  (if  I  may  so  say),  or  by  Art,  and  humane  Industry. 
And  wheresoever  I  had  notice  of  any  considerable  natural 
Spelunca  or  Grotto,  any  digging  for  Wells  of  Water,  or  for 
Earths,  Clays,  Marie,  Sand,  Gravel,  Chalk,  Cole,  Stone,  Marble, 
Ores  of  Metals,  or  the  like,  I  forthwith  had  recourse  thereunto; 
and  taking  a  just  account  of  every  observable  Circumstance  of 
the  Earth,  Stone,  Metal,  or  other  Matter,  from  the  Surface 
quite  down  to  the  bottom  of  the  Pit,  I  entered  it  carefully 
into  a  Journal,  which  I  carry'd  along  with  me  for  that  purpose." 
The  English  tour  being  finished,  Woodward  wished  to  extend 
his  travels  beyond  sea;  but  was  prevented  by  "the  Com- 
motions which  had  then  so  unhappily  invaded  Europe,"  and 
had  to  content  himself  with  the  observations  of  others,  for 
whose  use,  he  says,  "  I  drew  up  a  List  of  Quceries  upon  this 
Subject,  which  I  dispatch'd  into  all  parts  of  the  World,  far  and 
near,  wherever  either  I  myself,  or  any  of  my  Acquaintance, 
had  any  Friend  resident  to  transmit  those  Quceries  unto*." 

1  An  Attempt  Towards  a  Natural  History  of  the  Fossils  of  England ;  in 
a  Catalogue  of  the  English  Fossils  in  the  Collection  of  J.  Woodward,  Af.D. 
2  vols.  8vo.  Lond.  1729.     Vol.  I.  Part  II.  p.  1. 

2  Brief  instructions  for  making  observations  in  all  parts  of  the  world;  as  also 
for  collecting,  preserving,  and  sending  over  natural  things:    Being  an  attempt 

to  settle  an  universal  correspondence  for  the  advancement  of  knowledge,  both  natural 
and  civil:  4to.  Lond.  1696.  An  abridgement,  called:  Brief  Directions  for 
making  observations  and  collections,  and  for  composing  a  travelling  Register  of  all 


172  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  EARTH. 

These  observations  led  him  to  the  following  conclusions : 
that  in  all  parts  of  the  world,  "  the  stone  and  other  terrestrial 
Matter"  was  "distinguished  into  Strata,  or  Layers ;  that  those 
Strata  were  divided  by  parallel  Fissures ;  that  there  were 
enclosed  in  the  Stone,  and  all  the  other  denser  kinds  of  terres- 
trial Matter,  great  numbers  of  Shells,  and  other  Productions 
of  the  Sea;"  that  the  "Shells,  and  other  marine  Bodies,  found 
at  Land,  were  originally  generated  and  formed  at  Sea;"  and 
"that  they  are  the  real  spoils  of  once  living  Animals."  The 
arguments  by  which  he  establishes  this  truth — in  those  days 
a  startling  novelty — show  that  he  had  carefully  examined 
both  recent  and  fossil  forms. 

Unfortunately  for  Woodward's  reputation,  he  felt  obliged 
to  account  for  the  presence  of  these  bodies  where  he  found 
them,  and  therefore  promulgated  the  geological  romance  with 
which  his  name  is  associated.  He  imagined  the  centre  of  the 
earth  to  be  a  spherical  cavity — the  Great  Deep  of  Genesis — 
filled  with  water;  that  when  the  Flood  took  place  these 
waters  burst  forth  ;  that  by  their  agency  "  the  whole  Terrestrial 
Globe  was  taken  all  to  pieces  and  dissolved ; "  that  "  Stone, 
and  all  other  solid  Minerals,  lost  their  solidity,  and  that  the 
sever'd  Particles  thereof,  together  with  those  of  the  Earth, 
Chalk,  and  the  rest,  as  also  Shells,  and  all  other  Animal  and 
Vegetable  Bodies,  were  taken  up  into,  and  sustained  in,  the 
Water ;  that  at  length  all  these  subsided  again  promiscuously, 
and  without  any  other  order  than  that  of  the  different 
specifick  Gravity  of  the  several  Bodies  in  this  confused  Mass, 
those  which  had  the  greatest  degree  of  Gravity  sinking  down 
first,  and  so  settling  lowest ;  then  those  Bodies  which  had  a 
lesser  degree  of  Gravity  fell  next,  and  settled  so  as  to  make  a 
Stratum  upon  the  former ;  and  so  on,  in  their  several  turns,  to 
the  lightest  of  all,  which  subsiding  last,  settled  at  the  Surface, 
and  covered  all  the  rest ;  that  this  very  various  Miscellany  of 

sorts  of  Fossils,  was  printed  after  Woodward's  death  in :  Fossils  of  all  kinds, 
digested  into  a  Method  suitable  to  their  mutual  Relation  and  Affinity,  8vo.  Lond. 
1718. 


SCIENTIFIC  COLLECTIONS.  173 

Bodies  being  determined  to  subsidence  in  this  Order  meerly 
by  their  different  specifick  Gravities,  all  those  which  had  the 
same  degree  of  Gravity  subsided  at  the  same  time,  fell  into, 
and  composed,  the  same  Stratum;  so  that  those  Shells,  and 
other  Bodies,  that  were  of  the  same  specifick  Gravity  with 
Sand,  sunk  down  together  with  it,  and  so  became  inclosed  in 
the  Strata  of  Stone  which  that  Sand  formed  or  constituted : 
those  which  were  lighter,  and  of  but  the  same  specifick 
Gravity  with  Chalk  (in  such  places  of  the  Mass  where  any 
Chalk  was),  fell  to  the  bottom  at  the  same  time  that  the 
Chalky  Particles  did,  and  so  were  entombed  in  the  Strata  of 
Chalk ;  and  in  like  manner  all  the  rest1 : "  in  proof  of  which 
he  maintains  that  the  shells  usually  found  in  sandstone  are 
heavier  than  those  found  in  chalk.  Further,  he  scornfully 
rejects  the  notion  that  there  have  been  "  Changes  and  Altera- 
tions in  the  Terraqueous  Globe"  since  the  Deluge,  except 
such  as  are  due  to  the  agency  of  man. 

While  engaged  in  the  researches  which  led  to  this  theory,  he 
amassed  a  vast  collection  of  specimens,  all  of  which  he  terms 
fossils — though  the  collection  is  partly  penological,  partly 
zoological.  It  is  accompanied  by  an  elaborate  catalogue, 
in  which  the  specimens  are  carefully  described,  and  their 
localities  noted.  Here  again  Woodward  was  far  in  advance 
of  his  age ;  and,  had  not  his  mind  been  predisposed  to  theory, 
he  might  have  anticipated,  by  a  century,  the  discoveries  of 
William  Smith.  Instead  of  this,  as  Sedgwick  pointed  out, 
"he  formed  a  magnificent  collection  of  organic  remains,  and 
he  separated  from  the  rest  a  series  of  fossils  of  the  Hampshire 
coast,  and  was  aware  that  many  of  the  species  were  the  same 
as  those  of  the  London  Clay ;  but  this  fact,  and  many  others 
of  like  kind,  were  with  him  but  sterile  truths ;  and,  being  led 
astray  by  his  theory,  he  knew  nothing  either  of  the  real 
structure  of  the  earth,  or  of  any  law  regulating  the  distribution 
of  organic  formsV, 

1  An  Essay,  etc.  p.  29. 

5  Address  to  the  Geological  Society \  18  February,  1 831,  on  announcing  the  first 
award  of  the  Wollaston  prize. 


174  THE   THEORY  ATTACKED. 

The  Essay  achieved  great  popularity,  passing  through  at 
least  four  editions  in  England  during  Woodward's  life,  besides 
being  translated  into  Latin  at  Zurich,  by  Dr  J.  J.  ScheuchzerV 
After  Woodward's  death  it  was  translated  into  French  (1735) 
and  published  simultaneously  at  Paris  and  Amsterdam ;  and 
subsequently  into  Italian  (1739). 

It  was  not  to  be  expected  that  views  so  novel  should 
escape  attack ;  and  accordingly  we  find  them  controverted, 
"partly  by  occasional  remarks  in  other  writings,  partly  by 
pamphlets  written  directly  against "  the  Essay,  Among  the 
latter  is  a  tract  by  Dr  John  Arbuthnot,  published  in  1697. 
He  fully  admits  "that  though  Dr  Woodward's  Hypothesis 
seems  to  be  liable  to  many  just  exceptions,  the  whole  is  not 
to  be  exploded ; "  but  good-humouredly  hits  him  in  his 
weakest  point  when  he  adds  :  "  I  cannot  forbear  to  wish  that 
People  were  more  diligent  in  observing,  and  more  cautious  in 
System-making.  First,  the  World  is  malicious,  and  when 
they  write  for  an  Opinion  it  spoils  the  Credit  of  their  Obser- 
vations :  They  have  then  taken  their  Party,  and  may  be 
suspected  for  partial  Witnesses.  In  the  next  Place,  Mankind, 
in  these  Matters,  is  naturally  too  rash,  and  apt  to  put  more 
in  the  Conclusion  than  there  is  in  the  Premises;  yea,  some 
there  are  so  fond  of  an  Opinion,  that  they  will  take  Pleasure  to 
cheat  themselves,  and  would  bring  every  Thing  to  fit  their 
Hypothesis8."  The  illustrious  Ray,  though  he  could  not 
make  up  his  mind  as  to  the  real  nature  of  the  "formed 
stones,"  as  they  were  termed,  rejected  the  notion  that  their 
position  had  been  regulated  by  their  specific  gravity,  as  "  not 
generally  true,"  pointing  out  "that  they  are  often  mingled, 
heavy  with  light,  in  the  same  Bed  or  Stratum"  At  the  same 
time   he   shows,  with   much   acuteness   of  observation,  that 

1  His  translation  is  called  :  Specimen  Geographies  Physica  Quo  agitur  de  Terra 
et  Corporibus  Terrestribus  Speciatim  Mineralibus  [etc.].     8vo.  Tiguri,  1704. 

2  An  Examination  of  Dr  Woodward?*  History  of  the  Deluge^  in  Miscellaneous 
Works  of  the  late  Dr  Arbuthnot^  Lond.  1770,  ii.  130.  The  same  collection 
contains  (i.  166),  An  Account  of  the  Sickness  and  Death  of  Dr  W-dw-rd,  a 
satire  on  the  Doctor's  medical  theories. 


TAURONOMACHIA.  175 


many  parts  of  the  earth  had  been  changed  in  comparatively 
recent  times,  and  that  Woodward  was  by  no  means  accurate 
in  maintaining  that  it  was  now  in  the  state  in  which  the 
Deluge  had  left  it1. 

These  authors,  and  others  whom  we  need  not  enumerate, 
treated  Woodward  seriously;  but  he  met  with  not  a  little 
ridicule.  Gay  presented  him  on  the  stage,  in  a  farce  called  - 
Three  Hours  after  Marriage,  as  Dr  Fossile — "  the  man  who 
has  the  Raree-show  of  Oyster-shells  and  Pebble-stones" — ; 
and  the  wrath  of  the  doctors  against  his  medical  theories  ma- 
nifested itself  in  a  plentiful  crop  of  scurrilous  pamphlets.  We 
have  neither  space  nor  inclination  to  recount  the  history  of 
"  Don  Bilioso  de  rEstomacV  as  Woodward  is  called  in  one 
of  these ;  but  in  Tauronotnachia :  or  a  description  of  a  Bloody  s 
and  Terrible  Fight  between  two  Champions,  Taurus  and  Onos, 
at  Gresham  College9,  his  theory  of  the  earth  is  hit  off  so 
happily  that  we  cannot  forbear  transcribing  a  few  lines. 
After  introducing  us  to  Onos,  "a  fam'd  Empirick  of  the 
Town,"  who  knew  how  everything  was  created,  and  who 

"of  Atoms  what,  can  tell 
Echinites  made,  and  Cackle-Shell*" 

the  satire  gives  a  humorous  description  of  the  Abyss,  the 
Deluge,  and  the  struggle  of  the  various  substances  to  get 
to  their  proper  places  as  the  waters  subsided. 

Each  thought  himself  as  good  as  other, 
And  with  confounded  Stir  and  Pother, 
Strove  to  accelerate  his  Pace, 
And  shove  some  other  out  of  's  Place. 
But  cross-grain'd  Levity  combin'd 
With  Fate  to  make  some  lag  behind ; 

1  Three  Physico-Theological  Discourses ■,  by  John  Ray,  ed.  1713,  pp.  165-167, 
106-295. 

8  The  Life  and  Adventures  of  Don  Bilioso  de  FEstomac.  Translated  from  the 
Original  Spanish  into  French;  done  from  the  French  into  English.  With  a 
Letter  to  the  College  of  Physicians,  8vo.  Lond.    1719. 

8  Tauronomachia  etc.  Lond.  17 19.     Small  folio,  pp.  6. 

4  A  note  on  this  word  in  another  line  says,  "By  a  figure  of  speech  peculiar  to 
Onos"  It  was  evidently  intended  to  ridicule  his  affected  pronunciation,  which 
other  writers  allude  to. 


176  DR  CAMERARIUS. 

For  some,  tho'  immensely  large  and  huge, 
Were  Naturally  Centrifuge; 
Whilst  others,  Atoms,  yet  their  Weight 
Inclin'd  them  to  be  Centripete. 
Oh!    had  you  heard  what  dreadful  Moans 
Were  made  by  Marie,  and  Coals  and  Stones, 
And  Seeds  of  Trees ;  that  had  not  Power 
To  sink  themselves  two  Inches  lower; 
How  Chalk  and  Soil  did  curse  and  swear, 
That  they  must  lye  in  open  Air; 
You'd  been  amaz'd,  to  find  this  Worldly 
Frame  in  so  d — d  a  Hurly-burly. 

Thus  IVe  observed,  pro  re  natd, 
A  Kitchin-Wench  of  Bread  lay  Strata, 
Eggs,  Suet,  and  Plums  in  plenteous  store; 
But,  in  a  Moment  of  an  Hour, 
Milk  in  a  Deluge  vast  comes  flowing, 
And  dissipates  all  she'd  been  doing: 
But,  when  the  Streams  began  t'  asswage, 
And  quiet  grow,  and  free  from  Rage; 
Then  to  ray  Sorrow  have  I  spy'd 
Whole  Troops  of  Plums  with  speed  subside. 

Woodward  took  no  notice  of  any  adverse  criticism  until 
1 7 14.  Two  years  before  Dr  Elias  Camerarius,  Doctor  of 
Medicine  in  the  University  of  Tubingen,  had  published  a 
volume  of  essays  on  various  points  of  physic  and  medicine1, 
in  some  of  which  he  had  disparaged  Woodward's  theories, 
but  without  acrimony  or  severity.  There  seems  to  be  no 
special  reason  why  Woodward  should  have  broken  his  silence 
on  this  occasion  in  particular ;  but  perhaps  he  was  glad  of  an 
opportunity  of  addressing  the  learned  world,  and  especially 
the  learned  world  of  Germany,  where  his  own  works  had 
made  many  converts.  Accordingly  he  published,  with  a 
dedication  to  Thomas,  Earl  of  Pembroke,  a  short  Latin  essay, 
in  which  he  examines  the  points  challenged  by  Camerarius, 
and  defends  his  whole  theory,  but,  it  must  be  admitted, 
without  any  great  novelty  of  argument2.   The  essay  concludes 

1  Eliae  Camerarii  Dissertationes  Taurincnscs  Epistolica,  Physico- Medico:  8vo. 
Tubingae,   17 12. 

2  Johannis  Woodwardi  Naturalis  Historia  Telluris  Must  rat  a  et  Aucta.  Una 
cum  Ejusdem  Defensione;  Prasertim  contra  Nuperas  Object iones  D.  EL  Came- 
rarii  Med.  Prof.  Tubingensis.    8vo.  Lond.  17 14. 


WOODWARiyS  BOTANICAL  EXPERIMENTS.         177 

with  a  Classification  of  Fossils,  prefaced  by  an  epistle  to  Sir 
Isaac  Newton,  at  whose  suggestion,  says  the  writer,  the  work 
had  been  undertaken. 

One  other  scientific  work  of  Woodward's  must  be  briefly 
noticed.  In  June,  1699,  he  laid  before  the  Royal  Society 
Some  Thoughts  and  Experiments  concerning  Vegetation1.  This 
remarkable  paper  shows  that  the  author  should  be  ranked  as 
a  founder  of  experimental  plant  physiology,  for  he  was  one  of 
the  first  to  employ  the  method  of  water-culture,  and  to  make 
refined  experiments  for  the  investigation  of  plant-life. 

Woodward's  object  was  to  controvert  a  theory  then 
prevalent,  that  water,  and  not  mineral  matter,  was  "the 
only  Principle  or  Ingredient  of  all  natural  things;"  and 
that  there  was  "  a  direct  transmutation  of  water  into  plants 
and  other  bodies."  The  supporters  of  this  view  had  in- 
vestigated, experimentally,  the  growth  of  various  selected 
plants,  and  had  shown  in  the  first  place  that  "  mint  and  other 
plants  prosper  and  thrive  greatly  in  water";  and  secondly, 
that,  if  a  plant  be  placed  in  a  given  weight  of  earth  and 
allowed  to  grow  for  a  considerable  time,  at  the  end  of  the 
experiment  the  earth  will  be  found  to  have  experienced  no 
loss  of  weight,  thus  proving  that  all  the  nutriment  must  have 
been  obtained  from  the  water.  Woodward  proceeded  as 
follows.  A  number  of  glass  phials  of  fairly  equal  size  were 
filled  with  water,  and  weighed.  Each  was  then  covered  with 
a  piece  of  parchment,  pierced  with  a  hole  just  large  enough 
to  admit  the  stalk  of  a  plant.  Sprigs  of  spear-mint  {Mentfia 
viridis)  and  other  plants,  having  been  carefully  weighed, 
were  inserted  through  the  holes  in  the  parchment,  and  the 
phials  set  in  a  window,  under  the  same  conditions  of  air, 
light,  and  sun.  As  the  water  evaporated,  the  phials  were 
replenished,  account  being  taken  of  the  weight  of  the  water 
added.  He  placed  in  his  phials:  (1)  pure  water;  (2)  water 
containing  soluble  matter  in  varying  proportions ;  (3)  water 

1  Philosophical  Transactions^  1699,  Vol.  xxi.  pp.  193 — 217. 
S.  I.  12 


178         WOODWARD'S  BOTANICAL  EXPERIMENTS. 


artificially  mixed  with  earth.  At  the  conclusion  of  the 
experiment  the  plants  were  weighed  a  second  time,  and 
their  growth  calculated  in  proportion  to  the  weight  of  the 
water  used.  The  most  important  results,  as  stated  in  Wood- 
ward's own  words,  were  the  following : 

i.  "The  Plant  is  more  or  less  nourished  and  augmented  in 
proportion  as  the  Water  in  which  it  stands  contains  a  greater  or 
smaller  quantity  of  proper  terrestrial  Matter  in  it" 

2.  "The  much  greatest  part  of  the  Fluid  Mass  that  is  drawn  off 
and  conveyed  into  the  Plants,  does  not  settle  or  abide  there:  but 
passes  through  the  Pores  of  them,  and  exhales  up  into  the  Atmo- 
sphere." 

The  first  of  the  above  conclusions  was  a  sufficient  answer 
to  those  who  supported  a  contrary  theory ;  the  second  shows 
that  Woodward  had  discovered  what  is  now  called  Tran- 
spiration, which  has  so  important  a  bearing  on  plant-life.  In 
the  light  of  this  result  he  proceeds  to  discuss  the  effect  of 
vegetation  on  climate;  and  concludes  that  "so  continual 
an  emission  and  detachment  of  water  in  so  great  plenty  from 
the  parts  of  plants  affords  us  a  manifest  reason  why  countries 
that  abound  with  trees  and  the  larger  vegetables,  are  very 
obnoxious  to  damps,  great  humidity  of  the  air,  and  more 
frequent  rains  than  others  that  are  open  and  free ; "  and  that 
this  evaporation  is  dependant  on  temperature,  for  "much 
less  quantity  of  water  was  exhaled  in  the  colder  months." 

Woodward  was  not  popular  with  his  contemporaries. 
Thoresby,  the  well-known  antiquary  of  the  last  century,  calls 
him  "very  ingenious,  yet  not  the  best-tempered;"  and,  in 
another  place,  "that  ill-natured  piece  of  formality1."  Nor 
did  foreigners  judge  him  more  favourably  than  his  own 
countrymen.  Dr  Christian  Heinrich  Erndl,  or  Erndtel,  who 
visited  England  in  1706,  says: 

The  said  Doctor  owns  an  inestimable  treasure  of  minerals  and 
petrified  shells,  partly  collected  by  himself  in  Britain,  partly  obtained 
with  much  diligence  from  all  corners  of  Europe,  as  specimens  of  the 
rarer  minerals  and  petrifactions.  He  has  likewise  a  very  choice 
library  of  books  on  medicine  and  philosophy.     It  is  to  be  regretted 

1  Nichols,  Illustrations,  i.  800,  806. 


WOODWARD'S  MANNERS.  179 


that  this  celebrated  man  should  be  very  ignorant  of  Latin,  which  he 
speaks  with  difficulty ;  and  it  is  wonderful  how  chary  and  churlish 
he  is  in  showing  his  cabinet  of  curiosities.  If  you  do  get  a  peep  at 
it,  mind  you  do  not  touch  the  smallest  object  with  so  much  as  the 
tip  of  your  finger.  Nor  may  you  look  into  a  single  volume,  unless  he 
holds  it  in  his  own  hands1. 

His  eccentricity  and  vanity  are  amusingly  described  in 
Uffenbach's  account  of  a  visit  paid  to  him  in  1710;  but 
allowance  must  be  made  for  the  writer's  evident  vexation. 

30  October.  In  the  morning  called  on  Dr  Woodward  for  the  fifth 
time,  and  at  last  found  him  at  home ;  but  were  shown  into  an  ante- 
chamber. When  we  had  stood  there  a  good  quarter  of  an  hour,  he 
first  sent  his  boy  to  ask  our  names  :  after  another  quarter  of  an  hour 
the  boy  came  back,  saying,  '  His  master  was  still  in  bed,  as  he  had 
sat  up  somewhat  late  the  night  before;  it  might  be  half-an-hour 
before  he  got  up,  if  we  could  wait  so  long.'  We  left  our  interpreter 
and  servant  behind,  with  orders  to  summon  us,  when  it  was  convenient 
to  the  man,  and  meanwhile  drank  a  cup  of  coffee  in  the  next  coffee- 
house. When  one  of  them  came  for  us,  we  set  off  at  once,  but  must 
again  wait  some  half-hour  in  the  ante  chamber.  At  last  his  boy 
called  us,  and  led  us  through  two  rooms  to  the  precious  Mr  Doctor. 
He  stood  stiffly  up  in  his  silk  dressing-gown,  and  with  an  affected  air 
and  screwed-up  eyes,  asked  who  we  were,  and  where  we  came  from. 
But  when  we  begged  for  a  sight  of  his  cabinet,  he  excused  himself, 
saying  that  in  half-an-hour  he  had  to  attend  a  consultation,  which  he 
could  not  possibly  put  off,  and  prayed  us  to  come  again  the  next 
afternoon  at  three. 

When  we  were  about  to  take  leave,  he  begged  us  to  stay  awhile, 
and  called  to  his  lad,  '  make  haste/  intending,  as  we  supposed,  to 
offer  us  chocolate,  according  to  his  custom.  For,  as  we  had  been 
assured,  he  presents  it  to  all  strangers,  and  that  with  such  ridiculous 
fuss  and  ceremony,  that  one  can  scarce  refrain  from  laughing.  For 
till  the  chocolate  comes  he  keeps  urging  the  boy  with  every  variety  of 
expression ;  a  shouting  to  which,  much  to  our  disgust,  we  were  forced 
to  listen  some  half-hour.  But  this  time  we  had  not  the  honour  to 
drink  a  cup  with  him ;  for  though  the  boy  brought  a  silver  can  and  a 
cloth,  it  was  only  for  shaving ;  and  we  were  to  be  favoured  with  the 
privilege  of  looking  on.  We  had  heard  already  of  more  than  four 
foreigners,  who  had  received  the  same  treatment.     But  we  excused 

1  C.  H.  E.  D.  De  Itinere  sua  Anglicano  et  Batavo  Annis  MDCCV1  et 
MDCCVII  facto  relatio  ad  amicum  D.  G.  K.  A.  C.  Amsterdam,  17 10,  p.  41. 
A  second  edition,  published  171 1,  omits  the  passage  "It  is  to  be  regretted — own 
hands."  An  English  translation  of  the  first  edition  appeared  in  171 1,  entitled  : 
The  Relation  of  a  yoitrney  into  England  and  Holland  in  the  Years  1 706  and 
1707.  By  a  Saxon  Physician.  8vo.  Lond.  1711.  This  translation  is  badly  done, 
and  has  not  been  exactly  followed  in  the  above  passage. 

12 — 2 


180  WOODWARDS  DEATH. 

ourselves,  and  said  we  would  not  detain  him,  and  got  away,  though 
he  several  times  begged  us  to  stay. 

31  October.  In  the  afternoon  we  drove  again  to  Dr  Woodward, 
and  at  last  attained  our  end,  to  see  his  things.  Yet  he  kept  us 
waiting,  as  his  way  is,  again  a  good  half-hour  in  his  ante-chamber; 
and  then  complained  that  we  were  not  quite  punctual,  and  had  not 
come  half-an-hour  before.  This  is  said  to  be  the  uncivil  compliment 
which  this  affected,  learned  charlatan,  pays  to  all  strangers  that 
come  to  him. 

He  showed  us  first  all  kind  of  precious  stones  found  here  and 
there  in  England ;  then  some  minerals,  and  then  petrefactions,  his 
strong  point.  Not  only  was  the  quantity  amazing,  but  the  specimens 
were  select  and  fine.  Amongst  others  he  showed  us  shells  filled  and 
partly  overgrown  with  stone  of  all  kinds,  even  the  hardest  flint. 
Specially  curious  was  the  collection  in  which  he  showed  us  the  whole 
growth  of  the  conchylia  from  first  to  last.  He  had  also  many  stones 
containing  fossil  plants  of  all  kinds ;  shells  covered  with  metals  and 
ores,  and  partly  also  filled  with  them ;  amongst  the  rest  very  many 
fine  ammonites.  He  had  a  cabinet  filled  with  ancient  urns  and  vases. 
In  another  were  great  fossil  snails  and  ammonites.  In  another  he 
had  a  good  number  of  MSS.,  chiefly  relating  to  the  Natural  History 
of  England,  which,  as  he  professed,  were  mostly  of  his  own  writing. 
Among  these  books  was  a  volume,  in  which  he  had  had  all  his 
conchylia  tolerably  well  drawn.  Again,  a  fine  herbarium  vivum 
anglicanum  of  his  collection,  in  which  the  plants  were  quite  fresh  and 
well-preserved.  Dr  Woodward  showed  us  all  his  things  with  such  an 
affected  air,  and  such  screwing-up  of  the  eyes,  that  one  cannot  help 
laughing;  though  he  suffers  you  to  laugh  as  little  as  to  speak, 
requiring  every  one  to  listen  to  him  as  an  oracle,  approve  and  extol 
all.  You  must  listen  to  his  opinion  de  diluvio  et  generatione  ante- 
diluviana  et  lapidum  post diluv tana,  till  you  are  sick  of  it.  He 
repeats  whole  pages  of  his  works,  accompanying  them  with  running 
panegyrics.  The  maddest  thing  of  all  is,  that  he  has  many  mirrors 
hanging  in  every  room,  in  which  he  constantly  contemplates  him- 
self. In  all  he  does  he  behaves  like  a  woman  and  a  conceited 
fool1. 

Woodward  died  of  a  decline,  in  his  apartments  at  Gresham 
College,  25  April,  1728,  in  the  sixty-third  year  of  his  age. 
His  Will  records  a  wish  that  he  may  be  buried  "in  the 
Abbey  Church  of  Westminster,  with  as  little  Pomp  and 
Expences  as  may  well  be."  On  May-day  following  this 
wish  was  carried  out.     His  grave  is  close  to  that  of  Newton, 

1  Zacharias  Conrad  von  Uffenbach,  Merkwiirdige  Reisen.  Dritter  Theil. 
pp.  128,  235.  The  translation  is  by  the  Rev.  J.  E.  B.  Mayor,  M.A.  St 
John's  Coll.     A  few  lines  have  been  omitted  in  transcription. 


WOODWARD'S   WILL.  181 

on  the  north  side  of  the  entrance  to  the  choir.  No  inscription 
marks  his  resting-place,  but  near  the  west  end  of  the  nave, 
on  the  same  side  of  the  church,  an  elaborate  monument  of 
white  marble,  erected  to  his  memory  by  the  pious  care  of  his 
friend  Colonel  King,  bears  the  following  inscription  : 

M.S. 

JOHANNIS   WOODWARD, 

Medici  Celeberrinti, 
Philosophi  Nobilissinti, 

Cujus 

Ingeniutn  et  Doctrittant 

Scripta  per  Terrarum  feri  orbetn 

Pervulgata  ; 

Liberalitatem  verb  et  Patrice  Caritatem 

Accidentia  Cantabrigiensis, 

Munificentid  Ejus  auctaf 

Opibus  ornata, 

In  Perpetuum  declarabit. 

Natus  Kal.  Maij  A.D.  MDCLXV. 

Obiit  VII.  Kal.  Maij  MDCCXXVIII. 

RICHARD  US  KING 

Tribunus  Militant,  Fabrihnqae  Prcefcctus, 

Amico  optimi  dc  se  merito 
D.  S.  P. 

Our  portrait  of  Woodward  is  taken  from  an  oil-painting  in 
the  Woodwardian  Museum.  Its  history  is  unknown,  but, 
from  the  style,  it  is  evidently  a  contemporary  picture,  and  is 
believed  to  have  been  sent  to  Cambridge  at  the  same  time  as 
the  collection,  or  shortly  afterwards. 

Woodward's  will  is  dated  i  October,  1727.  He  names  as 
his  executors  the  Honourable  Dixie  Windsor1 ;  Mr  Hugh 
Bethell,  of  Swinton  in  Yorkshire  ;  Mr  Richard  Graham ;  and 

1  Of  Trinity  College ;  B.A.  1694,  M.A.  1698,  and  M.P.  for  the  University, 
1705—17*7- 


1 82  WOODWARD'S  FOUNDATION. 

Colonel  Richard  King,  of  the  Office  of  Ordnance  in  the  Tower 
of  London.  They  are  directed  to  convert  into  money  his 
personal  estate  and  effects,  including  his  library,  and  his 
antiquarian  collections ;  to  purchase  land  of  the  yearly  value 
of  one  hundred  and  fifty  pounds,  and  to  convey  the  same 
to  the  University  of  Cambridge.  Out  of  this  yearly  income 
£  IOO  is  to  be  paid,  in  four  quarterly  instalments,  to  a 
Lecturer,  to  be  chosen  in  the  first  instance  by  the  executors, 
and  after  their  decease  by  "the  Lord  Archbishop  of  the 
Province  in  which  the  said  University  is,  who,  it  is  to  be 
presumed,  besides  his  favouring  of  learning  and  all  useful 
knowledge,  will  think  himself  under  obligation  to  have  special 
regard  to  this  University";  the  Lord  Bishop  of  the  Diocese 
in  which  the  said  University  is ;  the  President  of  the  College 
of  Physicians ;  the  President  of  the  Royal  Society ;  the 
two  Representatives  of  the  University  in  Parliament ;  and  the 
whole  Senate.  The  six  persons  first-named,  together  with 
the  Chancellor  of  the  University,  are  to  have  the  privilege  of 
voting  by  proxy. 

The  Lecturer  is  to  be  a  bachelor;  "and  in  case  of  the 
marriage  of  any  of  the  said  Lecturers  afterwards,  his  election 
shall  be  thereby  immediately  made  void,  lest  the  care  of  a 
wife  and  children  should  take  the  Lecturer  too  much  from 
study,  and  the  care  of  the  Lecture."  This  condition  was 
evidently  borrowed  by  Woodward  from  the  statutes  of 
Gresham  College.  In  choosing  the  Lecturer,  a  layman  is  to 
be  preferred  to  a  divine,  "  not  out  of  any  disrespect  to  the 
clergy,  for  whom  I  have  ever  had  a  particular  regard,  but 
because  there  is  in  this  kingdom  better  provision,  and  a  much 
greater  number  of  preferments,  for  the  clergy  than  for  men  of 
learning  among  the  laity";  he  is  to  be  "further  subject  to 
such  rules,  orders,  and  directions,  not  interfering  with  those 
hereinafter  particularly  specified  and  set  forth,  as  the  electors, 
or  a  majority  of  them,  shall  from  time  to  time  think  fit  to 
make " ;  he  is  not  to  hold  "  any  preferment,  office,  or  post, 
whatever,  that  shall  any  ways  so  employ  and  take  up  his  time 


WOODWARDS  FOUNDATION.  183 

as  to  interfere  with  his  duty  herein  set  forth,  and  in  particular 
that  shall  require  his  attendance  out  of  the  University ";  if 
he  accept  such,  his  post  is  to  become  vacant ;  he  is  not  to 
be  absent  from  Cambridge  for  more  than  "  two  months  in  the 
year,  and  those  to  be  in  the  long  vacation  in  the  summer";  he 
is  there  to  "read  at  least  four  Lectures  every  year,  at  such 
times,  and  in  such  place  of  the  said  University,  as  the  majority 
of  the  said  electors  shall  appoint,  on  some  one  or  other  of  the 
subjects  treated  of  in  my  Natural  History  of  the  Earth,  my 
Defence  of  it  against  Dr  Catnerarius,  my  Discourse  of  Vege- 
tation, or  my  State  of  Physick,  at  his  discretion,  but  in  such 
language,  viz.,  English  or  Latin,  as  shall  be  appointed  from 
time  to  time  by  the  Chancellor,  Vice-Chancellor,  Provosts, 
and  Masters  of  the  several  Colleges  and  Halls  belonging 
to  the  said  University ;  the  said  Lectures,  or  at  least  one  of 
them,  at  the  Lecturer's  own  free  choice  and  election,  to  be 
published  in  print  every  year." 

In  the  next  place  he  bequeaths  to  the  University  his 
collection  of  English  fossils,  with  the  two  cabinets  containing 
them,  and  their  catalogues,  copies  of  which  are  to  be 
"  reposited  in  the  publick  Library  of  the  said  University,  for 
greater  security  that  the  said  Fossils  be  preserved  with  great 
care  and  faithfulness."  The  executors  are  to  "  cause  and 
procure  the  same  to  be  lodged  and  reposited  in  such  proper 
room  or  apartment  as  shall  be  allotted  by  the  said  Uni- 
versity"; the  Lecturer  is  to  "have  the  care  and  custody  of 
all  the  said  Fossils  and  the  catalogues  of  them";  he  is  to 
"  live  and  reside  in  or  near  the  said  apartment  so  to  be 
allotted  for  repositing  the  said  Fossils" ;  he  is  to  "be  actually 
ready  and  attending  in  the  room  where  they  are  reposited, 
from  the  hour  of  nine  of  the  clock  in  the  morning  to  eleven, 
and  again  from  the  hour  of  two  in  the  afternoon  till  four, 
three  days  in  every  week  (except  during  the  two  months  in 
the  long  vacation,  wherein  he  is  allowed  to  be  absent)  to  show 
the  said  Fossils,  gratis,  to  all  such  curious  and  intelligent 
persons  as  shall  desire  a  view  of  them  for  their  information 


1 84  WOODWARD'S  FOUNDATION. 

and  instruction";  and  he  is  to  "be  always  present  when 
they  are  shown,  and  take  care  that  none  be  mutilated  or  lost" 

For  the  sake  of  additional  security  the  Chancellor,  Vice- 
Chancellor,  and  Heads  of  Colleges  are  to  appoint  "two 
discreet  and  careful  persons"  before  the  admission  of  every 
Lecturer,  and  also  once  every  year,  "who  shall  inspect  and 
examine  the  said  collections  of  fossils,  and  compare  them 
with  the  catalogues."  These  inspectors  are  to  "give  under 
their  hands  a  report  of  their  examination,"  and  to  receive  "for 
their  care  and  trouble,"  £ 5  a  piece  out  of  the  testator's  estate. 
Besides  these  precautions,  the  Lecturer,  before  his  admission, 
is  to  give  such  security  for  the  safe-keeping  of  the  fossils  as 
the  electors  shall  think  proper ;  and,  further,  he  is  to  receive 
£10  in  ea°h  year,  "to  be  laid  out  and  employed  by  him, 
from  time  to  time,  in  making  observations  and  experiments, 
keeping  correspondence  with  learned  men  on  the  subjects 
directed  to  be  treated  of  in  the  Lectures,  and  in  procuring 
additions  to  the  Collections  of  Fossils... he  rendering  annually 
to  such  of  the  electors  as  shall  be  in  the  University  an  account 
in  writing  of  the  ways  in  which  the  said  sum  hath  been  dis- 
bursed and  employed1." 

Notwithstanding  these  minute  directions  and  limitations, 
Woodward  clearly  intended  his  benefaction  to  be  modified 
from  time  to  time ;  for  he  directs  that  a  further  sum  of  £10 
"be  appropriated  for  a  dinner,  on  the  first  day  of  May,  or, 
if  this  fall  on  a  Sunday,  then  on  the  second  day  of  May," 
for  the  Lecturer,  Inspectors,  Chancellor,  Vice-Chancellor,  and 
Heads  of  Colleges,  "to  the  end  that  they  may  then  confer 
and  consider  of  the  methods  to  improve  the  design  and  use 
of  the  said  donation  by  me  hereby  made.  And  I  greatly 
wish  that  these  things  that  are  of  so  much  use  and  importance, 
and  which  I  have  with  great  diligence  and  expense  collected, 
may  by  this  settlement,  the  care  of  the  electors,  and  the 
diligence  of  the  Lecturer,  be  made  serviceable  to  the  setting 

1  The  addition  of  this  ;£io  virtually  raised  the  annual  salary  to  ^no,  an 
amount  often  mentioned  as  though  it  had  been  specified  by  Woodward. 


WOODWARDS  FOUNDATION,  185 


forth  the  wisdom  of  God  in  the  works  of  nature,  to  the 
advancement  of  useful  knowledge,  and  to  the  profit  and 
benefit  of  the  publick." 

Lastly,  the  balance  left  in  hand  after  the  discharge  of  the 
sums  above  specified,  is  to  be  spent  by  the  University  in  "  the 
payment  of  taxes,  or  any  other  necessary  contingencies " ; 
and  any  further  surplus  "in  such  manner  as  the  said 
University  shall  think  fit ;  but  in  hopes,  that  for  the  honour 
of  the  University,  and  the  benefit  that  will  thence  accrue  to 
the  publick,  if  the  design  of  this  donation  be  rightly  carried  on, 
that  the  said  University  will  be  pleased  to  dispose  of  the  said 
residue  in  making  experiments  and  observations,  in  corre- 
spondence, in  natural  collections,  books,  or  other  things  that 
may  serve  to  the  promoting  the  good  ends  of  this  donation." 

It  is  evident  that  Woodward's  primary  object  in  this 
foundation  was  the  permanent  commemoration  of  himself 
and  his  researches  without  limitation  of  subject.  Geology 
was  not,  in  his  eyes,  more  important  than  Medicine  or 
Botany,  provided  his  collections — the  monument  of  his 
industry  and  sagacity — could  be  preserved,  extended,  and 
displayed  to  the  public.  This  point  having  been  secured,  he 
did  not  bind  his  lecturer  to  their  illustration.  He  might  be 
a  Botanist  or  a  Physician,  provided  he  took  the  Woodwardian 
utterances  on  those  subjects  as  his  text-book,  and  provided 
always  that  he  was  willing  to  act  as  an  honest  and  efficient 
curator  of  the  Woodwardian  cabinets. 

Woodward's  estimate  of  the  value  of  his  works  is  worth 
quotation.  After  directing  his  executors  to  treat  his  un- 
finished writings  as  they  shall  think  fit1,  he  proceeds : 

But  for  such  others  of  my  writings  as  I  have  at  any  time  in  my 
life  caused  to  be  published,  the  property  and  copyright  of  all  which 
is  in  myself,  and  also  all  such  others  of  my  writings  as  my  executors 
may  hereafter  appoint  to  be  printed,  I  say  of  all  those  and  these  I  do 
give  and  devise  one  moiety  of  the  said  property  and  copyright,  and 
the  benefit  and  profit  thence  arising,  to  the  said  University ;  and  the 

1  Notwithstanding  this  it  was  found  that  the  MSS.  had  been  placed  in  a  box 
by  Woodward's  order,  with  a  request,  bearing  a  date  anterior  to  that  of  his  Will, 
that  they  might  be  destroyed,  which  was  accordingly  done. 


186  WOODWARDS  COLLECTIONS. 

other  moiety  to  the  said  Lecturer  and  his  successors  from  time  to 
time,  upon  this  special  trust  and  confidence,  that  the  said  University 
and  the  said  Lecturer  and  their  successors  do  take  care  that  all  my 
said  works  from  time  to  time  be  printed  as  soon  as  the  former  edition 
of  the  same  or  of  any  part  is  sold  off  or  become  scarce,  and  that  they 
and  he  do  not  by  any  contracts  to  be  made  for  the  republishing 
thereof  so  enhance  the  price  as  to  prejudice  the  sale  and  divulgation 
of  any  of  the  said  copies  to  be  reprinted. 

The  executors  lost  no  time  in  carrying  out  Woodward's 
instructions.  He  died,  as  we  have  seen,  in  April,  1728,  and 
by  the  following  September  the  two  cabinets  containing  the 
English  fossils  had  been  sent  to  Cambridge1.  The  University 
seems  to  have  been  fully  aware  of  the  importance  of  the  new 
foundation,  for  at  the  beginning  of  the  following  year 
(26  February,  1728 — 29),  the  Senate  agreed  to  purchase,  for 
a  sum  not  exceeding  one  thousand  pounds,  two  other  cabinets 
containing  "  foreign  fossils,"  and  "  additional  English  fossils  " 
respectively.  These  cabinets  had  at  first  been  included  by 
the  testator  among  the  effects  which  his  executors  were 
directed  to  sell,  but  by  a  subsequent  clause  they  were 
empowered  to  make  any  arrangements  they  thought  proper 
respecting  them,  or  even  to  give  them  away.  They  decided, 
however,  to  dispose  of  them  by  public  auction,  and  the  Grace 
recommending  their  purchase  dwells  at  some  length  upon  the 
importance  of  preventing  a  separation  of  collections  so 
valuable,  and  collected  at  so  great  an  expense. 

There  is  no  evidence  to  show  where  the  cabinets  were 
bestowed  on  their  arrival  at  Cambridge ;  and  it  was  not  until 
1734,  during  the  Vice-Chancellorship  of  Dr  Roger  Long, 
Master  of  Pembroke  College,  that  a  definite  place  was  devised 

1  Grace  of  the  Senate,  17  September,  1728.  "May  it  please  you  that  the 
acquittance  now  read  to  you  be  given  to  the  executors  of  the  late  Dr  Woodward, 
sealed  with  your  common  seal."  This  Grace  can  only  refer  to  the  collections,  for 
the  estate  was  not  bought  until  1731;  and  in  the  University  Accounts  for  the 
year  ending  3  November,  1728,  we  find:  "Paid  Colonel  King  the  carpenters 
bill  and  other  charges  in  packing  Dr  Woodward's  boxes  and  two  cabinets 
;£ii.  15J.  od."  His  Library  and  Antiquities  of  various  kinds  were  sold  by 
auction.  See  A  Catalogue  of  the  Library,  Antiquities ■,  etc.  of  the  Late  learned 
Dr  Woodward,  [etc.]  8vo.  pp.  287.  The  sale  began  11  November,  1728,  and 
occupied  33  days,  28  of  which  were  devoted  to  the  Library. 


A  ROOM  BUILT  FOR   THEM.  187 

for  their  reception.  In  a  letter  dated  13  April,  1734,  the 
executors  express  to  Dr  Long  their  "thanks  for  the  room 
which  you  have  been  so  good  as  to  appoint  for  the  better 
standing  of  the  Cabinets ;  and  hope  you  will  be  pleased  to 
order  the  fitting  it  up  for  that  purpose."  Dr  Long  was 
renowned  for  his  mechanical  contrivances,  and  it  is  probable 
that  he  himself  suggested  the  ingenious  scheme  which  was 
completed  in  1736.  By  dividing  off  from  the  north  end  of 
the  Arts  School  a  space  about  fifteen  feet  in  length,  a  room 
was  contrived,  now  the  Novel-Room  of  the  Library,  of  con- 
venient size,  and  fairly  well  lighted.  The  comfort  of  the 
Lecturer,  who  was  supposed  to  spend  twelve  hours  of  each 
week  in  it,  was  provided  for  by  a  fireplace,  curtains  to  the 
windows,  and  other  luxuries.  The  whole  work  was  super- 
intended by  Mr  James  Burrough,  of  Gonville  and  Caius 
College,  the  popular  amateur  architect  of  the  day1.  So  long 
as  the  geological  collections  belonging  to  the  University  were 
contained  in  Woodwards  four,  or  five,  cabinets,  this  room  was 
probably  not  ill-adapted  for  its  purpose;  but  even  then  it 
was  impossible  for  the  Lecturer  to  "live  and  reside  in  or 
near  the  said  apartment "  as  the  Will  directed.  As  time 
went  on,  and  new  acquisitions  had  to  be  displayed,  it  was 
found  to  be  wholly  inadequate,  and  we  shall  have  to  notice, 
as  we  proceed,  several  abortive  attempts  to  provide  a  proper 
Museum. 

The  acquisition  of  an  estate  of  the  exact  annual  value 
specified  in  the  Will  proved  a  somewhat  difficult  matter,  and 
was  not  effected  until  173 1,  when  a  property  near  Beccles  in 
Suffolk  was  conveyed  to  the  University.  The  annual  value  was 
slightly  in  excess  of  £150,  and  the  proportional  difference  in 
the  purchase-money  was  made  up  partly  by  the  generosity  of 
Colonel  King,  Woodward's  residuary  legatee,  partly  by  a  loan 
from  the  University. 

This  matter  having  been  settled,  the  four  executors  drew 
up  a  formal  document  under  their  hands  and  seals,  dated 

1  University  Accounts  and  Vouchers  for  1735  and  1736. 


1 88  DR  CONYERS  MIDDLE  TON. 

30  July,  1731,  by  which  they  appointed  Conyers  Middleton, 
D.D.,  formerly  Fellow  of  Trinity  College,  to  be  the  first 
Lecturer.  Middleton  was  a  good  scholar,  and  a  distinguished 
man  of  letters.  He  wrote  an  English  style  of  which  it  has 
been  said  that  "for  elegance,  purity,  and  ease,  it  yields  to 
none  in  the  whole  compass  of  English  literature1."  His  love 
of  music  had  gained  for  him  the  epithet  of  "musical  Conyers"; 
which,  as  he  himself  played  on  the  violin,  was  contemptuously 
changed  by  Dr  Bentley  to  "fiddling  Conyers"."  He  was  a 
well-bred,  courteous  man  of  the  world ;  and,  having  married 
a  lady  of  good  fortune8,  his  house  had  become,  to  some 
extent,  the  centre  of  Cambridge  society.  His  pamphlets 
against  Bentley,  and  the  subsequent  degradation  of  his 
opponent  on  a  question  which  he  had  been  foremost  in 
raising,  had  made  him  a  prominent  person  in  the  University, 
and  the  office  of  Protobibliotliecarius,  or  Principal  Keeper  of 
the  University  Library,  had  been  created  for  him  by  the 
Senate  in  172 1  as  a  mark  of  gratitude  to  a  man  whom  they 
regarded  as  their  champion.  But  he  had  no  knowledge  of 
any  department  of  science,  and  he  probably  owed  his  appoint- 
ment either  to  his  general  distinction  as  a  scholar  and  a 
gentleman,  or  to  a  personal  acquaintance  with  Woodward, 
on  which  he  insists  in  more  than  one  passage  of  his  inaugural 
lecture.  This  composition,  an  elegant  piece  of  Latin,  was 
printed  in  17324.  As  might  be  expected,  it  refers  to  science 
only  in  language  borrowed  from  Woodward's  own  writings, 
without  expansion  or  criticism.  It  may  be  described  as  a 
string  of  well-turned  compliments  to  Woodward,  to  the 
executors,  and  to  the  University.  Woodward  had  brought 
science  out  of  the  depths  of  the  earth,  as  Orpheus  brought 
Eurydice ;  Woodward  might  claim  a  place  by  Newton's  side. 

1  Monk's  Life  of Bentley \  ii.  67.  2  Ibid.  ii.  38. 

8  Mrs  Middleton  died  19  February,  1730. 

4  It  is  entitled :  Oratio  de  novo  Physiol ogia  Explicanda  Afunere,  ex  cele- 
berrimi  Woodwardi  testamento  institute,  habita  Cantabrigia  in  Seholis  Publicis  a 
Conyers  Middleton,  S.T.P.  Accidentia  Cantabrigiensis  Protobibliotheeatio  ct 
Lectore  ibidem  IVoodwardiano :  4to.  Lond.  1732. 


MR  MASON.  189 


Newton  had  explained  the  nature  of  light  by  study  of  the 
sun ;  Woodward  had  made  light  shine  out  of  darkness — a 
conceit  which  may  have  been  suggested  by  Dr  Bentley's  well- 
known  lines : 

Who  Nature's  Treasures  wou'd  explore, 

Her  Mysteries  and  Arcana  know, 
Must  high,  as  lofty  Newton,  soar, 

Must  stoop,  as  searching   Woodward,  low1. 

From  the  compliments  to  the  executors,  though  hardly 
less  rhetorical  than  those  to  Woodward,  the  interesting  in- 
formation may  be  extracted  that  the  University  was  princi- 
pally indebted  to  Mr  Richard  Graham  for  Woodward's 
benefaction.  He  had  been  educated  at  Cambridge,  though 
he  did  not  proceed  to  a  degree,  and  actuated  by  love  for  his 
old  University  he  had  constantly  urged  his  friend  to  entrust 
his  collections  to  Cambridge,  as  a  place  of  note  where  they 
would  be  seen  and  valued. 

Middleton  held  the  office  for  rather  less  than  three  years. 
He  resigned,  7  April,  1734,  either  from  a  sense  of  his  own 
unfitness,  or  because  he  was  meditating  the  second  marriage 
which  he  shortly  afterwards  contracted. 

The  executors  next  appointed  the  Rev.  Charles  Mason, 
M.A.,  Fellow  of  Trinity  College,  apparently  at  the  suggestion 
of  the  then  Vice-Chancellor,  Dr  Roger  Long.  Some  passages 
from  their  letter  to  him,  dated  13  April,  1734,  will  be  found 
interesting : 

"  Mr  Vice-Chancellor, 

Dr  Middleton  having  transmitted  to  us  his  Resignation  of 
Dr  Woodward's  Professorship,  in  Form,  dated  the  7th  of  this  month, 
we  proceeded  forthwith  to  the  Nomination  of  a  fit  Person  to  succeed 
him :  and  have  unanimously  made  choice  of  Mr  Mason :  being 
confirm'd  in  the  good  Opinion  we  all  have  of  his  Abilities  and 

1  Johnson  {Life  of  Cowley \  Works,  ed.  1787,  ii.  43)  speaks  of  these  lines  as 
**  the  only  English  verses  which  he  [Bentley]  is  known  to  have  written."  For 
Johnson's  admiration  of  them,  see  Boswell's  Life,  ed.  1823,  iii.  468.  The  whole 
poem  is  printed  in  Monk's  Bentley,  ii.  174,  from  Dodsley's  Collection,  ed.  1765, 
vi.  189.  We  have  followed  an  earlier  text  as  given  in  The  Grove;  or,  a 
Collection  of  original  Poems,  Translations,  etc.,  8vo.  Lond.  1721.  In  the  4th 
line  Dodsley  reads  *  delving '  instead  of  Searching.' 


190  MR  MASON. 


sufficiency  for  that  Post,  by  the  Character  you  have  been  pleas'd  to 
give  him. 

There  is  nothing,  Sir,  we  have  more  at  heart,  than  the  firm 
Establishment  of  this  Professorship.  And  therefore  we  make  it  our 
Request  to  you,  that  as  the  Professor  is  to  receive  his  Salary  by  the 
hands  of  the  Vice-Chancellor  for  the  time  being,  no  part  of  the  said 
Salary  may  be  paid  to  him  till  he  shall  produce  a  Certificat,  sign'd 
by  two  Masters  of  Arts,  that  he  has  duly  read  the  Lectures,  accord- 
ing to  the  Institution  ;  and  at  the  expiration  of  every  year  shall 
present  to  the  Vice-Chancellor  one  of  them  Printed,  giving  him  (at 
the  same  time)  a  particular  Account,  in  writing,  how  the  jQio 
annually  allow'd  for  Correspondence,  Experiments,  etc.,  has  been 
expended  for  the  Year  past ;  as  is  directed  by  the  Founder's  Will.,, 

Two  contemporary  accounts  of  Mason  have  been  preserved. 
The  first  is  by  the  Rev.  William  Cole,  his  "particular  friend ": 

"He  is  looked  upon  as  rather  unhewn,  rough,  and  unsociable.... 
He  is  a  very  ingenious  Man,  an  excellent  Mechanic,  and  no  bad 
Geographer :  witness  a  most  accurate  Map  of  Cambridgeshire,  which 
he  has  made  from  a  personal  Visitation  of  almost  every  Spot  in  the 
County.  He  has  also  large  Collections  for  an  History  of  the  same 
County1." 


The  next  is  by  Mr  Richard  Cumberland : 

"  A  man  of  curious  knowledge  in  the  philosophy  of  mechanics, 
and  a  deep  mathematician;  he  was  a  true  modern  Diogenes  in 
manners  and  apparel,  coarse  and  slovenly  to  excess  in  both;  the 
witty  made  a  butt  of  him,  but  the  scientific  caressed  him ;  he  could 
ornament  a  subject  at  the  same  time  that  he  disgusted  and  disgraced 
Society.  I  remember  when  he  came  one  day  to  dinner  in  the 
College  hall,  dirty  as  a  blacksmith  from  his  forge,  upon  his  being 
questioned  on  his  appearance,  he  replied — that  he  had  been  turning. 
'Then  I  wish/ said  the  other,  'when  you  was  about  it,  friend  Charles, 
you  had  turned  your  shirt V  " 

Mason  was  Woodwardian  Lecturer  for  twenty-eight  years. 
During  that  period  he  printed  a  single  Latin  lecture8  (in  1734). 
Like  Middleton,  he  devotes  the  greater  part  of  it  to  praise  of 
Woodward  and  his  executors ;  and  then,  after  commending 

1  MSS.  Cole  xxxiii.  156  (Add.  MSS.  Mus.  Brit.  5834).     A  full  account  of 
Mason  is  given  in  the  Architectural  History  of  the  University  of  Cambridge \  ii. 

674—677. 

*  Memoirs  of  Richard  Cumberland,  4to.  Lond.  1806,  p.  106. 

8  0 ratio  de  Physiologia  Explicanda:  Afunere,  ex  ce/eberrimi  Woodwardi  Testa- 

mento  Institute     Habit  a  Cantabrigia  in  Scholis  Publicis  a  Carolo  Mason ,  Af.A., 

Coll.  S.  S.  Trin.  Soc.  et  Lectore  ibidem  Woodwardiano.     4to.  Cant.  MDCCXXIV. 

(sic). 


MR  MICHELL.  191 


the  clause  in  the  above  letter  to  the  Vice-Chancellor  which 
makes  the  Lecturer's  stipend  depend  on  his  reading  lectures, 
he  ends  with  a  promise  to  devote  his  best  energies  to  the 
work.  Notwithstanding  this  engagement,  we  believe  that  all 
he  did  was  to  make  a  considerable  private  collection  of  fossils, 
which  was  sold  by  auction  after  his  death.  It  is  noteworthy 
that  he  was  Vicar  of  Barrington  in  Cambridgeshire  from  1742 
to  1747,  and  Rector  of  Orwell  in  the  same  county  from  1747 
to  his  death.  As  no  man  can  be  in  two  places  at  once,  and 
as  Woodward  had  expressly  forbidden  his  Lecturer  to  hold 
any  preferment,  office,  or  post,  which  might  interfere  with  his 
duty  as  set  forth  in  the  Will,  it  is  evident  that  Mason  must 
have  neglected  either  his  parish  in  favour  of  his  lectureship,  or 
his  lectureship  in  favour  of  his  parish.  In  1762,  when  he  was 
between  sixty  and  seventy  years  of  age,  "  he  quitted  Senior- 
Fellowship,  Professorship,  and  Liberty,  for  a  Lady  of  small 
Fortune,  but  of  great  Accomplishments V  and  took  up  his 
abode  at  Orwell,  where  he  died,  18  December,  1770. 

On  Mason's  resignation,  Colonel  King,  Woodward's  last 
surviving  executor2,  appointed  the  Rev.  John  Michell,  B.D. 
Fellow  of  Queens'  College,  a  man  of  talent,  who  had  already 
distinguished  himself  by  his  scientific  writings.  In  1750, 
while  still  a  Bachelor  of  Arts,  he  had  published  a  Treatise  of 
Artificial  Magnets* ;  and  in  1 760  he  read  to  the  Royal  Society, 
of  which  he  became  subsequently  Fellow,  Conjectures  concerning 
the  Cause,  and  Observations  upon  tlie  Pfienomena,  of  Earth- 
quakes*, in  which  'he  advanced  many  original  and  philoso- 
phical views  respecting  the  propagation  of  subterranean 
movements,  and  the  caverns  and  fissures  wherein  steam 
might  be  generated6."    At  the  outset  of  this  paper  he  describes 

1  MSS.  Cole,  ut  supra. 

2  Cambridge   Chronicle,  10   December,   1762.     Mason's  marriage  had   taken 
place  5  November. 

8  A  tract  of  81  pages,  8vo.  Cambridge,  1750. 

4  Philosophical  Transactions,  1 760,  pp.  566 — 634.     It  was  reprinted  in  full  in 
Tilloch's  Philosophical  Magazine,  1818,  Vol.  Hi. 

8  Lyell  :  Principles  of  Geology,  Ed.  1867,  i.  61;  ii.  150,  15a. 


-.* 


192  MR  MIC  HELL. 


the  general  appearance  and  structure  of  stratified  countries 
with  such  remarkable  accuracy  that  so  far  as  principle  is 
concerned,  a  foremost  place  may  be  claimed  for  him  among 
the  founders  of  modern  geology.  That  he  was  acquainted 
with  the  details  also  of  the  beds  in  certain  parts  of  England 
is  proved  by  a  memorandum  in  his  handwriting  discovered 
in  1810  among  the  papers  of  Mr  Smeaton,  then  in  the  posses- 
sion of  Sir  Joseph  Banks.  In  this  memorandum  several  of 
the  principal  beds  are  enumerated,  from  the  chalk  down  to  the 
coal ;  and,  in  two  instances,  detached  portions,  several  miles 
distant  from  each  other,  are  associated  under  the  same  name1. 
On  the  other  hand  "he  was  ignorant  of  the  importance  of 
organic  remains,  and  did  not  use  them  as  a  means  of  identify- 
ing strata"."  Michell  vacated  the  Lectureship  by  marriage, 
in  September,  17648,  having  held  it  for  rather  less  than  two 
years. 

We  have  not  been  able  to  discover  that  he  ever  delivered 
lectures,  much  less  published  any.     Cole  says  of  him: 

"  He  is  a  little  short  Man,  of  a  black  Complexion,  and  fat,  but 
having  no  Acquaintance  with  him,  can  say  little  of  him.  I  think  he 
had  the  Care  of  St  Botolph's  Church  while  he  continued  Fellow  of 
Queens'  College,  where  he  was  esteemed  a  very  ingenious  Man,  and 
an  excellent  Philosopher4." 


After  his  marriage  he  held  more  than  one  piece  of  prefer- 
ment, and  does  not  appear  to  have  revisited  Cambridge.  Nor 
did  he  continue  the  geological  studies  which  he  had  com- 
menced with  so  much  promise.  His  subsequent  communica- 
tions to  the  Royal  Society  are  on  astronomical  subjects.  He 
died  29  April  1793,  atThornhill,  near  Dewsbury,  in  Yorkshire, 
of  which  place  he  had  been  rector  since  1767. 

1  This  estimate  of  Michell's  geological  attainments  is  derived,  in  the  main, 
from  Notes  on  the  History  of  English  Geology,  by  W.  H.  Fitton,  M.D.  in  the 
Philosophical  Magazine,  1837,  i.  268.  The  memorandum  alluded  to  was  first 
published  in  Tilloch's  Philosophical  Magazine,  18 10,  xxxvi.  102. 

2  Sedgwick's  Address  to  the  Geological  Society  of  London,  18  February,  1831, 
on  announcing  the  first  award  of  the  Wollaston  prize,  pp.  4,5,  and  note. 

8  Cambridge  Chronicle,  8  September,  1 764. 

4  MSS.  Cole,  xxxiii.  156  (Add.  MSS.  Mus.  Brit.  5834). 


DR  OGDEN.  193 


The  Lectureship  being  vacant  for  a  fourth  time,  Colonel 
King,  now  a  very  old  man,  appointed  the  Rev.  Samuel  Ogden, 
D.D.,  Fellow  and  President  of  St  John's  College.  Dr  Ogden 
had  been  master  of  the  grammar-school  at  Halifax  from  1743 
to  l753>  when  he  returned  to  Cambridge,  where  he  resided 
until  his  death,  22  March,  1778.  He  held  the  livings  of 
Stansfield  in  Suffolk  and  of  Lawford  in  Essex,  and  was  vicar 
of  St  Sepulchre's,  Cambridge,  from  March,  1759,  to  May, 
1777.    For  his  personal  appearance  we  will  again  quote  Cole : 

"  Dr  Ogden  is  a  bald,  swarthy,  black  Man :  of  a  most  extra- 
ordinary Turn  of  Humour,  great  Vivacity,  odd,  whimsical,  and  like 
no  one  else :  a  great  Epicure,  and  very  parsimonious :  a  very  in- 
genious Preacher,  and  on  that  account  his  Church  of  St  Sepulcre  at 
Cambridge  is  usually  so  thronged  as  to  be  difficult  to  get  a  Place1." 

This  summary  of  Dr  Ogden's  peculiarities  may  be  sup- 
plemented by  the  following  note  by  Gilbert  Wakefield : 

"  I  heard  Dr  Ogden  preach  most  of  those  discourses,  which  were 
afterwards  made  public.  His  manner,  and  person,  and  character  of 
composition,  were  exactly  suited  to  each  other.  He  exhibited  a 
large,  black,  scowling  figure ;  a  lowering  visage,  embrowned  by  the 
horrors  of  a  sable  periwig.  His  voice  was  growling  and  morose,  and 
his  sentences  desultory,  tart,  and  snappish.  His  sermons  are  inter- 
spersed with  remarks,  eminently  brilliant  and  acute,  but  too  epigram- 
matic in  their  close.... He  was  a  good  scholar,  a  liberal-minded 
Christian,  and  an  honest  man. 

His  uncivilized  appearance  and  bluntness  of  demeanour  were  the 
great  obstacles  to  his  elevation  in  the  Church.  He  kept  a  public 
Act  for  his  Doctor's  degree  at  the  Installation  of  the  Chancellor,  the 
late  Duke  of  Newcastle,  in  1749,  with  distinguished  applause.  The 
Duke  was  willing  to  have  brought  our  divine  up  to  Court,  to  prefer 
him ;  but  found,  as  he  expressed  it,  that  the  Doctor  was  not  a 
producible  man*.' 


s  >> 


Ogden  had  a  turn  for  writing  verse,  and  his  name  appears 
in  three  of  those  volumes  which,  in  the  seventeenth  and 
eighteenth   centuries,   the    University    used    to    address    to 

1  MSS.  Cole,  ut  supra  p.  137.     The  account  is  dated  19  June  1770. 

*  Memoirs  of  the  Life  of  Gilbert  Wakefield,  8vo.  Lond.  1792,  p.  95.  Gunning's 
Reminiscences,  ed.  1855,  i.  pp.  215 — 219,  contain  several  amusing  stories  of 
Dr  Ogden.  Sec  also  Sermons,  by  Samuel  Ogden ;  with  Life,  by  S.  Hal li fax.  8vo. 
Camb.  1 8 14:  and  Whitaker's  Loidis  ad  El  mete,  p.  387. 

S.  1.  13 


194  MR  GREEN. 


the  sovereign  on  important  occasions.  In  1760  he  mourned 
the  death  of  George  the  Second  in  Latin  elegiacs;  in  1761 
he  hailed  the  marriage  of  George  the  Third  in  English 
stanzas;  and,  in  the  following  year,  the  birth  of  George 
Prince  of  Wales  in  Arabic.  These  curious  changes  of 
language  were  satirised  in  the  following  lines1: 

When  Ogden  his  prosaic  verse 

In  Latin  numbers  dressed, 
The  Roman  language  proved  too  weak 

To  stand  the  critic's  test. 

To  English  rhyme  he  next  essayed 

To  shew  he  *d  some  pretence ; 
But  ah!  rhyme  only  would  not  do, 

They  still  expected  sense. 

Enraged  the  Doctor  swore  he  'd  place 

On  critics  no  reliance, 
So  wrapt  his  thoughts  in  Arabic, 

And  bid  'em  all  defiance. 

The  extraordinary  caprice  of  choosing  an  eccentric  divine 
to  fill  a  scientific  Lectureship  probably  gave  rise  to  the  story 
that  Ogden  had  obtained  it  by  a  pecuniary  gratification  to 
Colonel  King,  or  to  one  of  his  female  relatives*.  It  is  almost 
needless  to  add  that  the  Woodwardian  Lectureship  was  a 
sinecure  during  the  fourteen  years  that  it  was  held  by  Dr 
Ogden.  For  two  or  three  years  before  his  death  he  was 
"  much  broken  with  Gout  and  other  Complaints8". 

The  next  Lecturer  was  the  Rev.  Thomas  Green,  M.A.  of 
Trinity  College,  elected  by  the  Senate  7  May,  17784.  Our 
information  about  him  is  limited  to  the  solitary  fact  that  he 
was  Librarian  to  Trinity  College  from  1763  to  his  death.  He 
"  added  some  valuable  organic  remains  to  the  Woodwardian 

1  They  were  written,  according  to  Cole  (MSS.  xxxiii.  157.  Add.  MSS.  Mus. 
Brit.  5834)  by  R.  Pepper  Arden,  of  Trinity  College,  B.A.  1766,  afterwards 
Fellow,  created  Baron  Alvanley,  1801. 

2  MSS.  Cole,  ut  supra.  Nichols,  Literary  Anecdotes,  ix.  612.  The  sum 
paid  is  fixed  by  the  former  authority  at  £150,  by  the  latter  at  ^"105. 

s  MSS.  Cole,  ut  supra,  p.  157. 

4  Cambridge  Chronicle*  9  May,  1778. 


MR  HAILSTONE,  195 


cabinets",1  and  at  his  death,  which  took  place  7  June,  1788*, 
when  he  was  still  a  comparatively  young  man,  he  bequeathed 
some  books  for  the  use  of  the  Lecturer. 

On  this  occasion  two  candidates  came  forward:  John 
Hailstone,  M.A.,  Fellow  of  Trinity  College,  and  the  Rev. 
Thomas  Newton,  M.A.,  Fellow  of  Jesus  College.  The  election 
took  place  on  Saturday,  7  June,  1788,  when  the  Senate  selected 
Hailstone  by  one  hundred  and  twenty-seven  votes  to  forty- 
three.  Hailstone  was  then  in  his  twenty-eighth  year — having 
been  admitted8  in  1778,  at  the  age  of  eighteen — and  he  had 
been  second  wrangler  in  1782.  The  University  had,  therefore, 
good  reason  to  expect  that  a  young  man,  who  had  taken  a 
distinguished  degree,  would  apply  himself  with  energy  to  the 
work  of  his  office.     Nor  did  he  wholly  disappoint  their  hopes. 

He  proceeded,  by  permission  of  the  University,  to  study 
the  progress  which  Mineralogy,  as  he  terms  his  science,  had 
made  in  Germany,  where  he  attended  one  or  two  courses  of 
lectures  by  Professor  Werner.  In  1792  he  published:  A 
Plan  of  a  Course  of  Lectures  on  Mineralogy,  to  which  is 
prefixed  an  Essay  on  the  different  kinds  of  Mineral  Collections, 
translated  from  tlie  German  of  Professor  Werner.  In  the 
preface  he  apologises  for  the  defects  in  "the  Geognostical 
part"  of  the  syllabus;  "Geognosy,  or  the  knowledge  of  the 
Earth's  internal  structure",  being  "a  Science  yet  in  its 
infancy,  when  ingenious  Men  may  with  much  more  ease 
fabricate  systems  than  confute  them".  The  syllabus  shows 
that  he  proposed  to  lecture  on  minerals  and  rocks — both 
of  which  he  calls  fossils,  just  as  Woodward  did — and  on 
their  systematic  arrangement.  Under  the  head  Geognosy, 
"the  Strata  of  the  Earth",  divided  into  Primary,  Secundary, 
Alluvial,    Volcanic,  are  treated   according  to   "their  relative 

1  University  Calendar,  1820.  The  article,  by  the  style,  is  evidently  written 
by  Sedgwick. 

9  Cambridge  Chronicle,  14  June,  1788.  Green  had  proceeded  B.A.  1760, 
M.A.  1763.     He  was  admitted  Librarian  of  Trinity  College  12  September,  1763. 

3  He  matriculated  as  a  pensioner  of  Catharine  Hall  17  December,  1778,  and 
removed  to  Trinity  College  in  the  following  year. 


13—2 


196  MR  HAILSTONE. 


Antiquity  and  order  of  Stratification";  and  "Petrifactions" 
are  considered  separately,  without  any  reference  to  the  beds 
in  which  they  occur,  unless  we  except  the  general  statement 
that  "  for  the  most  part  they  appear  to  have  been  generated, 
lived  and  died,  in  the  beds  wherein  they  are  found";  and  that 
"  the  Fossil  Bones  of  Siberia  and  the  Ohio  "  are  noticed  under 
the  heading  "  Alluvial  Strata  ". 

Notwithstanding  this  elaborate  syllabus,  we  believe  that 
Hailstone  never  lectured.  In  fact  its  publication  was  probably 
not  intended  to  serve  any  other  purpose  than  "  to  excite  the 
attention  of  the  University  to  a  Branch  of  Knowledge,  which, 
although  honoured  with  an  establishment  in  this  place  for  a 
considerable  number  of  years,  has  hitherto  been  suffered  to 
languish  in  unmerited  obscurity  ". 

To  the  Museum,  on  the  other  hand,  Hailstone  paid  con- 
siderable attention.  He  held  that  mineralogy  was  neglected 
at  Cambridge  through  "  a  want  of  opportunity  to  consult  and 
examine  the  different  productions  of  Nature ";  an  obstacle 
which  the  "institution  of  a  public  Museum  under  proper 
custody  and  regulations"  would  remove.  "The  Woodwardian 
collection,  which  was  made  near  a  century  ago",  was,  he 
thought,  "ill-calculated  to  promote  the  study  of  mineralogy  in 
its  present  state  of  improvement";  and,  he  might  have  added, 
the  restrictions  imposed  upon  its  inspection  by  Woodward 
himself,  must  always  have  prevented  its  being  generally 
studied.  Accordingly  he  procured  in  Germany  a  typical 
series  of  rocks  and  minerals,  and  on  his  return  home  founded 
a  separate  collection,  assisted  by  "  the  munificence  of  various 
friends  of  the  University",  among  whom  he  gratefully  com- 
memorates the  Duke  of  Grafton,  and  Mr  John  Hawkins  of 
Trinity  College,  both  of  whom  contributed  specimens.  The 
accounts  of  the  Woodwardian  Estate  show  that  during  his 
tenure  of  office  nearly  one  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  were 
spent  on  fossils,  and  nearly  seventy  pounds  on  books  and 
cabinets.  When  Sedgwick  became  Professor  he  found  that 
this  collection  was  "composed  of  many  rare  and  beautiful 


NEW  REGULATIONS,   1818.  197 


simple  minerals,  and  of  specimens  illustrative  of  the  physical 
structure  both  of  the  British  isles,  and  of  some  portions  of  the 
continent1."  Nor  did  Hailstone  omit  teaching  altogether. 
We  are  told  that  though 

"No  systematic  Lectures  are  delivered,  but  the  Professor  constantly 
attends  to  demonstrate  and  explain  the  subjects  of  this  Branch  of 
Natural  History  to  such  curious  persons,  whether  residents  or  strangers, 
as  are  engaged  in  the  study  of  them.  Much  of  his  time  is  of  course 
devoted  to  this  part  of  his  duty,  as  applications  to  this  effect  are 
numerous  and  frequent9." 

On  Hailstone's  resignation  there  was  evidently  a  feeling 
in  the  University  that  Woodward's  bequest  had  not  produced 
the  results  which  might  have  been  anticipated,  and,  as  it  was 
provided  in  his  Will  that  new  regulations  might  be  framed 
from  time  to  time  by  the  electors,  advantage  was  taken  of  the 
vacancy  to  appoint  a  Syndicate  (8  May,  1818),  "to  consider 
what  rules  and  orders  should  be  framed  for  the  development 
of  Doctor  Woodward's  intentions".  The  Syndics  lost  no  time 
in  carrying  out  these  instructions,  for  their  report,  which  they 
call  Statement  and  Resolutions,  is  dated  19  May  following. 

I.  It  appears,  that  the  clear  annual  income  of  the  Woodwardian 
Estates  is  about^43o,  of  which  the  sum  of  ;£io8.  6s.  $d.*  is  paid  to 
the  Lecturer  for  his  own  use,  and  about  fifty  pounds  are  applied  to 
other  purposes,  in  conformity  with  the  Will  of  Dr  Woodward. 

II.  That  there  is  an  accumulation  of  about  ^1200,  which  has 
been  invested  in  the  public  Funds. 

III.  That  the  Room,  in  which  the  Fossils  and  Minerals  are  at 
present  kept  being  too  confined  to  exhibit  them  to  advantage,  or  to 
receive  many  more  with  convenience,  it  is  desirable  that  a  larger 
should  be  built  with  a  contiguous  room  for  the  accommodation  of  the 
Lecturer. 

IV.  It  is  proposed,  that  to  effect  this  object  as  soon  as  possible, 
the  surplus  annual  income  shall  be  added  to  the  above  accumulation, 
with  the  exception  of  such  sums  as  it  may  be  judged  proper  to  apply 

1  Cambridge  Calendar ',  1820.  Compare  also  what  Sedgwick  says,  Commission 
Report*  1852,  Evidence,  p.  116. 

8  Cambridge  Calendar,  1803.  This  passage  is  repeated  annuaUy  until  1820, 
when  the  whole  account  is  replaced  by  a  different  article,  evidently  written,  as 
mentioned  above,  by  Sedgwick. 

3  The  £8.  6s.  $d.  is  the  surplus  of  the  original  rental  (£150),  left  after  paying 
the  other  charges. 


198  NEW  REGULATIONS,   1818. 

to  the  purchase  of  Fossils  and   Books,  and  to   other  necessary 
purposes. 

V.  That  to  entitle  the  Woodwardian  Lecturer  to  the  receipt  of 
his  annual  stipend,  it  shall  be  certified  to  the  Vice-Chancellor,  that 
Lectures  have  been  given. 

VI.  It  is  agreed,  that  the  knowledge  of  Fossil  organized  bodies, 
and  of  the  Constitution  of  the  Earth's  Strata  having  been  very  much 
extended  since  the  time  of  Dr  Woodward,  it  would  conduce  to  the 
diffusion  of  science,  and  to  the  credit  of  the  University,  as  it  would 
certainly  be  in  perfect  conformity  with  the  Will  of  Dr  Woodward, 
that  a  Course  of  Lectures  should  be  read  upon  these  subjects ;  and 
if,  after  a  new  room  has  been  built,  the  Professor,  in  addition  to 
the  lectures  and  duties  prescribed  by  the  Founder,  should  give  such 
a  course,  it  is  proposed  that  his  stipend  be  increased  by  one  hundred 
pounds  a  year,  and  that  all  Members  of  the  University  have  free 
admission. 

This  "good  and  stringent"  report,  as  Sedgwick  terms  it1, 
was  passed  by  the  Senate  without  opposition  two  days 
afterwards.  The  recommendation  that  the  Lecturer's  stipend 
should  depend  on  the  delivery  of  lectures  was  merely  a 
revival  of  what  Woodward's  executors  had  pleaded  for  so 
far  back  as  1734.  The  affirmation  of  such  a  condition  in  18 18 
is  therefore  only  a  proof  that  the  University  had  determined 
to  insist  upon  the  performance  of  so  special  a  part  of  his 
duties.  The  curious  proviso  that  his  stipend  should  not  be 
increased  until  a  proper  building  had  been  erected  was  soon 
rescinded,  as  will  be  related  in  the  next  chapter. 

1  Evidence,  ut  supra,  p.  116. 


CHAPTER    VI. 

(1818— 1822.) 

Excursion  to  Derbyshire  and  Staffordshire  (1818).  First 
course  of  lectures.  Visit  to  Isle  of  Wight  with 
Henslow.  Foundation  of  Cambridge  Philosophical 
Society.  Visit  to  Suffolk  coast.  Commencement  fes- 
tivities. Geological  tour  in  Devon  and  Cornwall. 
Henslow's  work  in  the  Isle  of  Man  (1819).  Geo- 
logical tour  in  Somerset  and  Dorset.  Acquaintance 
with  Rev.  W.  D.  Conybeare.  Death  of  his  mother  (1820). 
Visit  to  the  Isle  of  Wight.  Geological  tour  in 
Yorkshire  and  Durham  (182.1).  Controversy  respecting 
Professorship  of  Mineralogy  (1822 — 1824). 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  amount  of  geological  know-  1818., 
ledge  which  Sedgwick  possessed  when  elected  to  the  Wood-  ^tm  **• 
wardian  chair,  it  must  have  been  derived  from  study,  and 
not  from  experience.  But  he  was  the  last  man  in  the  world 
to  take  facts  at  second-hand,  and  therefore,  so  soon  as  the 
Easter  Term  was  over,  he  set  out  to  use  his  eyes  in  the 
field.  This  excursion  must  not  be  confounded  with  his  sub- 
sequent systematic  explorations.  In  1818,  his  object  was  to 
learn,  not  to  instruct  others ;  and  it  is  not  impossible  that  he 
returned,  as  Darwin  fancied  he  might  himself  return  from 
his  first  geological  expedition,  "  very  little  wiser,  and  a  good 
deal  more  puzzled1,"  than  when  he  started.     We  believe  that 

1  Life  of  Charles  Darwin^  i.  189. 


200  EXCURSION  TO  DERBYSHIRE. 

1818.     this  first  attempt  at  field-work  is  not  alluded  to  in  any  of 

i*t  33-    Sedgwick's  scientific  papers  ;  and  that,  in  fact,  the  only  record 

of  it  is  contained  in  the  following  letter,  the  tone  of  which, 

it  may  be  remarked,  is  very  different  from  the  depression  to 

which  his  correspondents  had  lately  been  accustomed. 

Trin.  Coll.  October  23,  1818. 
Dear  Ainger, 

My  excursion  for  this  summer  is  ended.  I  have 
been  about  twenty  four  hours  in  Cambridge,  during  the  greater 
part  of  which  time  I  have  been  employed  in  packing  and 
unpacking,  till  every  table  and  chair  in  my  room  is  nearly 
filled  with  the  spoils  of  my  labours  this  summer.  I  have  once 
or  twice  thought  of  sending  you  some  account  of  my  opera- 
tions ;  but  I  have  always  been  too  lazy  or  too  busy  to  take  up 
the  pen  for  any  such  purpose. 

I  did  not  leave  Cambridge  before  the  30th  of  July.  The 
weather  had  been  so  dreadfully  hot  the  early  part  of  that 
month  that  I  hardly  ventured  from  under  my  own  roof.  After 
spending  a  day  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Mount  Sorrel,  I 
advanced  to  Matlock,  the  immediate  place  of  my  destination. 
In  that  neighbourhood  I  remained  about  five  weeks.  My 
mornings  were  spent  in  professional  pursuits ;  that  is,  in 
following  the  strata  of  the  different  rocks,  collecting  specimens, 
and  diving  into  the  mines.  The  last  operation  was  often 
attended  with  no  little  fatigue,  for  the  rake  veins,  (i.e.  vertical 
fissures,  filled  with  spar  and  lead  ore),  are  sometimes  excavated 
to  an  enormous  depth.  What  the  miners  call  climbing  shafts 
are  formed  in  these  veins,  by  which  you  descend  to  the 
works  ;  not  in  buckets  as  in  the  coal-mines  in  your  neighbour- 
hood, but  on  cross-bars  of  wood  (called  s temples)  which  are 
placed,  like  two  perpendicular  ladders,  on  opposite  sides  of  the 
pit.  Between  these  you  descend  in  a  straddling  position.  I 
let  myself  down  in  this  way  to  the  bottom  of  several  of  the 
most  remarkable  mines  in  the  county.  In  one  or  two  of  them 
the  works  were  nearly  1000  feet  below  the  surface  of  the  earth. 


MATLOCK.  201 


Matlock  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  spots  under  heaven,  1818. 
and  was  sometimes  during  my  stay  filled  with  very  gay  JEt  33- 
company.  After  being  there  a  day  or  two  I  was  advanced  by 
the  right  of  seniority  to  the  chair,  and  in  right  of  the  same 
office  was  Master  of  the  Ceremonies  at  the  balls  which  took 
place  every  other  evening.  You  see  therefore  that  my  employ- 
ments have  been  not  a  little  diversified.  On  the  whole,  I 
believe  I  got  through  my  most  arduous  duties  better  than 
could  have  been  expected. 

After  leaving  Matlock  I  travelled  on  foot  with  a  knapsack 
to  the  copper-mines  in  Staffordshire,  by  far  the  most  wonder- 
ful excavations  of  the  kind  I  have  ever  seen.  I  afterwards 
made  Buxton  my  head-quarters  for  a  fortnight,  and  finally 
found  my  way  to  Dent  by  the  way  of  Macclesfield,  Chester, 
Liverpool,  and  Lancaster.  I  remained  one  day  at  Northwich 
to  visit  the  famous  salt-mines  in  that  neighbourhood.  But  I 
have  no  time  to  describe  them. 

My  Father  is  becoming  very  thin ;  but  his  health  is  good, 
and  his  spirits  do  not  indicate  any  of  the  infirmities  of  old 
age.  I  have  not  time  for  a  word  more,  as  I  am  off  to  a  supper 
party.  Give  my  best  respects  to  Mrs  Ainger,  and  believe  me 
very  busy,  and  very  truly  yours, 

A.  Sedgwick. 

The  reference  to  Sedgwick's  social  duties  at  Matlock  in  the 
above  letter  is  thoroughly  characteristic.  He  always  contrived 
to  combine  a  large  amount  of  amusement  with  business. 
*  That  lively  gentleman  Mr  Sedgwick/  as  he  was  called  by  a 
stranger  who  met  him  in  a  stage-coach,  had  a  happy  knack  of 
making  himself  agreeable  to  everybody  with  whom  he  happened 
to  be  brought  into  contact,  and  his  geological  tours  gave  him 
a  wide  and  varied  experience  of  mankind.  With  all  sorts  and 
conditions  of  men,  quarrymen,  miners,  fishermen,  smugglers, 
shepherds,  artisans,  grooms,  inn-keepers,  clergy  of  all  denomi- 
nations, squires,  noblemen — he  was  equally  communicative, 
and  soon  became  equally  popular.     He  could  make  the  most 


202  EXCURSION  TO  DERBYSHIRE. 

18x8.  silent  talk,  and  could  extract  information  and  amusement  out 
&•  33-  of  materials  that  seemed  at  first  sight  destitute  of  either  quality. 
It  may  be  questioned  whether  his  adventures  would  have  been 
as  diverting  had  they  happened  to  anybody  else ;  he  had  a 
happy  knack  of  meeting  with  strange  experiences  and  untoward 
incidents;  and  his  return  to  Cambridge,  after  a  summer's 
excursion,  was  eagerly  looked  forward  to  by  his  friends,  for 
the  sake  of  the  budget  of  fresh  stories  with  which  he  was 
certain  to  regale  them. 

The  weeks  spent  in  Derbyshire  may  be  credited  with  at 
least  one  good  result;  they  convinced  Sedgwick  that  in 
selecting  geology  as  the  work  of  his  life  he  had  made  a 
wise  choice.  In  a  letter  to  one  of  his  nieces,  dated  12  August, 
1854,  thirty-six  years  afterwards,  he  gives  some  interesting 
and  amusing  particulars  of  this  then  distant  period  of  his  life : 
"  When  I  was  a  young  man,  this  was  always  a  joyful  day,  the 
opening  day  of  the  grousing  season ;  and  for  a  week  before 
the  1 2th  of  August  I  could  hardly  sleep  for  thinking  of  the 
coming  sport.  Why  we  should  take  such  delight  in  killing 
God's  creatures  is  more  than  I  can  tell  you ;  but  so  it  was, 
and  so  it  is,  and  so  it  will  be.  I  think  it  proves  that  by 
nature  man  is  a  savage  carnivorous  creature.  Is  he  not? 
The  last  time  I  ever  fired  a  gun  at  a  heath-cock  was  August 
1 8 17,  thirty-seven  long  years  since!  The  year  following  I 
threw  down  the  gun,  and  took  to  the  hammer,  and  I  enjoyed 
my  new  sport  so  much,  that  in  18 18  (my  first  year  of  pro- 
fessional geology)  I  heard  the  sportsman's  gun  on  the  heaths 
of  Derbyshire  without  a  thought  of  regret  or  envy.  And  that 
year  I  was  a  dancing-man,  and  I  fell  three-quarters  in  love ; 
but,  as  you  know,  did  not  put  my  head  through  love's  noose. 
But  alas!  times  are  sadly  changed  with  me.  I  am  now  a 
gouty  old  man  in  my  seventieth  year1."  The  bright  parti- 
cular star  of  the  Matlock  assemblies,  whose  charms  had  nearly 
deprived  Cambridge  of  her  new  geological  Professor,  married  a 
goldsmith  in  Glasgow,  and  when  Sedgwick  was  there  in  1848, 

1  To  Miss  Fanny  Hicks,  la  August,  1854. 


FIRST  COURSE  OF  LECTURES.  203 

he  called  at  her  husband's  shop,  in  the  hope  of  renewing  his      1819. 
acquaintance.     But,  as  ill-luck  would  have  it,  the  lady  was    &•  34« 
away  at  the  sea-side,  and  her  former  partner  had  to  content 
himself  with  an  interview  with  her  son  \ 

Soon  after  his  return  to  Cambridge  Sedgwick  delivered  the 
first  of  those  annual  courses  of  lectures  which  became  so 
celebrated,  and  were  never  interrupted — except  for  very  brief, 
intervals — until  1872,  when  he  was  compelled,  by  failing 
health,  and  the  advance  of  old  age,  to  appoint  a  deputy.  It  is 
provoking  that  no  contemporary  reference  to  this  first  course 
should  occur  either  in  his  letters,  or  in  any  other  source  of 
information  to  which  we  have  had  access.  In  later  years 
Sedgwick  was  fond  of  enumerating  the  courses  of  lectures  he 
had  given  ;  and  he  used  to  describe  the  one  on  which  he  was 
engaged  according  to  its  place  in  the  series.  "  I  am  delivering 
my  40th  course,"  or  "my  47th  course,"  and  so  forth.  Had  he 
been  a  man  of  scrupulous  accuracy,  it  would  be  easy,  by  merely 
counting  backwards,  to  discover  in  what  year  he  began  to 
lecture ;  but,  unfortunately,  we  frequently  find  two  different 
courses  denoted  by  the  same  numeral.  On  three  occasions, 
however,  he  tells  his  correspondents  that  he  began  to  lecture 
in  1 8 19,  and  in  two  of  these  letters  he  states  explicitly  that 
the  course  was  delivered  in  the  spring.  In  185 1  he  says: 
"  The  load  of  sixty-six  years  tells  upon  me,  and  I  am  not  so 
fresh  as  I  was  when  I  gave  my  first  course  of  geological 
lectures  in  the  spring  of  1819V'  in  1859  he  describes  himself 
as  "  a  toothless  Professor  who  has  been  lecturing  every  year 
since  he  began  his  first  course  in  the  spring  of  18198"; 
and  in  1861  he  says:  "I  am  trying  to  wind  up  my  last 
course.  It  may  well  be  my  last\  for  I  began  to  lecture  in 
1819V  These  direct  statements  can  hardly  be  erroneous, 
and  we  may  safely  assume  that  his  first  course  was  delivered 

1  To  the  same,  21  August,  1848. 

2  To  Miss  F.  Hicks,  12  December,  1851. 
8  To  Miss  Malcolm,  29  November,  1859. 

4  To  Rev.  B.  P.  Brodie,  29  November,  1861. 


204  EXCURSION   TO  ISLE  OF  WIGHT. 


1819.     either  in  the  Lent  or  Easter  Term  of  1819,  probably  in  the 
<**•  34-    former. 

The  Easter  vacation  of  18 19  was  spent  in  the  Isle  of 
Wight1.  Sedgwick  was  accompanied  by  Mr  J.  S.  Henslow 
of  St  John's  College,  who  became,  in  after  years,  Professor 
first  of  Mineralogy  and  then  of  Botany,  and  who  deserves 
grateful  recognition  as  one  of  the  founders  of  the  modern 
school  of  Natural  Science  at  Cambridge.  As  a  boy  he 
had  achieved  considerable  distinction  in  zoology,  and  while 
still  an  undergraduate  had  found  leisure  to  learn  as  much 
of  chemistry  and  mineralogy  as  was  then  possible  at  Cam- 
bridge. He  had  proceeded  to  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts 
in  the  previous  January,  and  had  therefore  leisure  to  learn 
something  of  the  cognate  science  of  geology.  Mr  Henslow's 
brother-in-law  and  biographer,  Mr  Leonard  Jenyns,  speaks 
of  him  as  Sedgwick's  pupil.  In  a  certain  sense  this  is  un- 
doubtedly true.  Sedgwick  was  his  senior  by  ten  years— and 
therefore  superior  to  him  in  experience,  and  general  know- 
ledge both  of  science  and  of  letters.  As  a  practical  geologist, 
however,  he  could  have  known  little  more  than  Henslow, 
while  in  the  special  subjects  which  the  latter  had  already 
studied  with  success  Sedgwick  had  much  to  learn.  The 
expedition  was  successful  in  more  ways  than  one.  The 
characters  of  the  two  men  were  very  similar:  they  differed 
for  a  time  in  politics,  for  Henslow  began  life  as  a  conservative ; 
but  in  religion,  love  of  truth,  and  hatred  of  wrong,  they  were 
in  exact  agreement ;  and  their  intercourse— begun  almost  by 
an  accident — ripened  into  a  warm  friendship  which  was  termi- 
nated only  by  Henslow's  death.  As  regards  the  special 
science  they  went  out  to  study,  Henslow  learnt  enough  to 
work  out  the  geology  of  another  part  of  England  by  himself 
in  the  course  of  the  following  summer — a  subject  to  which 
we  shall  return  presently — and  Sedgwick  brought  home  his 
usual  practical  result  in  the  shape  of  "a  very  large  collec- 

1  Our  principal  authority  for  this  tour  is  a  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Stevens 
Henslow^  by  the  Rev.  L.  Jenyns,  8vo.  Lond.  1862,  pp.  13 — 20. 


PHILOSOPHICAL  SOCIETY.  205 

tion  "  of  geological  specimens,  intended  for  the  Woodwardian      1819. 
Museum,  but  for  which  at  that  time  it  was  impossible  to  find    &-  34. 
room1. 

This  short  excursion  deserves  an  honourable  place  in 
the  annals  of  Cambridge  for  another  reason.  In  the  course 
of  it  the  two  friends  discussed  the  want  of  some  place  to 
which  those  interested  in  Natural  Science  might  resort,  with 
the  certainty  of  meeting  men  of  the  same  or  kindred  tastes 
with  themselves— and  where  they  might  learn  what  was  going 
forward  abroad.  In  these  days  of  cooperation,  when  there  is 
almost  a. plethora  of  societies  and  associations  more  or  less 
learned  for  the  promotion  of  every  sort  of  object,  it  is  difficult 
to  realise  that  barely  seventy  years  ago  there  was  a  complete 
dearth  of  such  bodies ;  and  that  at  Cambridge,  which  is  now 
taking  the  lead  in  Natural  Science,  there  were  only  two  lecture- 
rooms  for  the  scientific  Professors — the  one  appropriated  to 
chemistry,  the  other  to  anatomy — no  class-rooms,  no  museums, 
no  collections,  except  the  Woodwardian,  and  the  mineralogical 
series  then  the  private  property  of  Dr  E.  D.  Clarke. 

The  project  thus  started  was  eagerly  prosecuted,  after  their 
return  to  Cambridge,  by  the  two  energetic  men  who  had 
originated  it.  At  first  they  proposed  to  establish  a  Corre- 
sponding Society,  and  with  this  idea  they  not  only  consulted 
the  residents  likely  to  favour  such  a  scheme,  but  solicited  by 
letter  the  cooperation  of  men  of  science  at  a  distance.  At  the 
beginning  of  the  Michaelmas  Term  they  laid  their  views 
before  Dr  E.  D.  Clarke,  who  gave  them  such  cordial  support 
that  Sedgwick  always  spoke  of  him  as  one  of  the  founders  of 
the  Society  which  was  presently  established.  At  his  sugges- 
tion the  following  notice  was  issued : 

Cambridge,  30M  Oct.,  18 19. 

The  resident  Members  of  the  University,  who  have  taken  their 
first  degree,  are  hereby  invited  to  assemble  at  the  Lecture  Room 

1  Report  of  the  Inspectors ■,  May  7,  18 19.  It  will  be  understood  that  these  and 
other  similar  documents  are  preserved  in  the  Registry  of  the  University,  unless 
otherwise  stated. 


206  PHILOSOPHICAL  SOCIETY. 

1 819.     under  the  Public  Library,  at  Twelve  o'clock,  on  Tuesday,  Nov.  2,  for 
yEt.  34.    the  purpose  of  instituting  a  Society,  as  a  point  of  concourse,  for 
scientific  communications. 

This  notice  was  signed  by  thirty-three  persons,  among 
whom  were  the  Heads  of  the  following  colleges:  Clare, 
Gonville  and  Caius,  Queens',  Christ's,  Magdalene,  and  Trinity ; 
Professors  Haviland,  Monk,  Cumming,  Sedgwick,  and  Lee; 
and  ten  tutors,  or  assistant-tutors,  of  colleges.  Among  the 
latter  occur  the  names  of  Peacock  and  Whewell. 

The  proceedings  at  the  meeting  were  not  reported,  but  we 
learn  from  a  second  notice,  issued  on  the  day  following,  that 
the  second  Resolution  :  "  That  a  Society  be  instituted  as  a 
point  of  concourse  for  scientific  communication,"  was  proposed 
by  Sedgwick  ;  and  that  he  was  appointed  a  member  of  a 
committee  to  frame  "  such  regulations  as  shall  appear  to  them 
to  be  proper  for  the  proposed  institution."  We  can  easily 
imagine,  from  the  speeches  made  by  him  in  after  years,  when 
he  had  to  commend  to  audiences  either  lukewarm  or  hostile 
some  scheme  in  which  he  was  interested,  the  fire  and  energy 
with  which  he  addressed  the  members  of  the  Senate  assembled 
on  that  November  afternoon ;  and  we  are  not  surprised  to 
learn  that  the  resolution  entrusted  to  him  was  passed  unani- 
mously. 

The  Committee  lost  no  time  in  discharging  the  duties 
assigned  to  them.     Their  first  draft  of  the  rules,  endorsed, 

"  Report  of  the  Committee  appointed  to  form  the  Regulations  of 
a  Society,  to  be  instituted  in  this  University,  for  Philosophical 
Communication,  to  be  read  at  the  first  meeting  of  the  Society,  on 
Monday,  November  15,  at  one  o'clock,  in  the  Lecture  Room  under 
the  Public  Library," 

is  dated  8  November,  and,  at  the  meeting  therein  announced, 
Sedgwick  moved  its  adoption.  This  motion  having  been 
carried,  those  present  voted  themselves  a  Society,  to  be  called, 
TIte  Cambridge  Philosophical  Society,  and  the  officers  and 
Council  were  appointed.  Professor  Farish  was  the  first  Presi- 
dent, Professors  Sedgwick  and  Lee  the  first  Secretaries.     The 


PHILOSOPHICAL  SOCIETY.  207 

first  formal  meeting  of  the  Society  was  held  in  the  Museum     1819. 
in  the  Botanic  Garden,  13  December,  18 19,  when,  by  request    ^  34- 
of  the  Council,  Dr  E.  D.  Clarke  read  an  address,  explaining 
the  objects  of  the  Society. 

The  first  rule  had  originally  run  as  follows : 

"That  this  Society  be  instituted  for  the  purpose  of  promoting 
Scientific  Enquiries,  and  of  facilitating  the  communication  of  facts 
connected  with  the  advancement  of  Philosophy." 

At  this  meeting  the  words  "and  Natural  History"  were 
appended  to  this  sentence.  The  addition  is  important,  because 
it  determined,  for  many  years,  in  fact  so  long  as  Henslow 
resided  in  Cambridge,  the  direction  of  the  labours  of  the 
Society.  We  may  justly  credit  Sedgwick  with  disarming 
opposition,  and  launching  the  Society  so  successfully,  that 
before  the  end  of  the  year  1820  it  could  boast  of  171  members  ; 
but  it  was  Henslow's  patient  devotion  to  zoology  which 
enabled  it  to  form  an  excellent  Museum,  long  the  only 
zoological  Museum  in  the  University,  and  the  legitimate 
parent  of  that  large  family  of  Museums  which  have  grown  up, 
and  are  still  growing  up,  in  the  old  Botanic  Garden1. 

Sedgwick  always  spoke  with  great  delight  of  the  share 
which  he  had  taken  in  the  founding  of  this  Society.  The 
annual  dinner  was  one  of  his  red-letter  days ;  and  no  matter 
how  ill  he  might  be,  or  imagine  himself  to  be,  he  made  a 
point  of  attending  it,  and  of  making  a  speech  after  dinner. 
This  speech  was  one  of  the  events  of  the  academical  year ; 
and  was,  with  most  of  the  members,  the  principal,  if  not  the 
sole,  reason  for  attending  the  dinner.  It  is  no  easy  matter  to 
describe  a  speech — especially  when  it  depends,  as  those 
delivered  by  Sedgwick  did,  on  the  personality  of  the  speaker; 
but  these  particular  postprandial  orations  have  found  a  graphic 
chronicler  in  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Carlisle : 

1  This  account  is  derived  from  the  following  authorities :  a  complete  set  of  the 
early  notices,  etc.,  of  the  Society,  preserved  by  Prof.  Sedgwick :  Henslow's  Life, 
ut  supra,  pp.  17 — 19:  Otter's  Life  of  Dr  E.  D.  Clarke,  ed.  1824,  p.  649:  The 
Cambridge  Chronicle,  5  November,  1819:  The  Cambridge  Portfolio,  pp.  121 — 129; 

Macmillaris  Magazine,  April,  1880,  p.  478. 


208  SEDGWICK'S  SPEECHES. 

1819.  "His  speeches  were  the  most  remarkable  things  of  the  kind  I 

Mt.  34.  have  ever  heard ;  they  sometimes  began  with  a  wild  exuberance  that 
nearly  touched  upon  the  region  of  nonsense,  and  then,  apparently 
without  effort,  they  rose  to  the  solemn  and  almost  to  the  sublime ; 
the  combination,  without  incongruity,  of  lofty  morality  with  almost 
boyish  fun  was  quite  wonderful,  and  almost  Shakespearean.  It  must 
have  been  on  getting  up  at  one  of  these  dinners,  that  he  explained 
the  nervousness  often  felt  on  standing  up  to  speak  by  maintaining 
that  the  vital  spirits  were  very  much  in  the  nature  of  a  fluid ;  as  long 
as  you  were  sitting  all  was  right,  but  the  moment  you  stood  up  they 
left  your  head  and  went  down  into  your  boots.  He  used  to  tell  us 
that  the  first  conception  of  the  Society  was  that  of  an  organisation 
for  the  study  of  natural  history;  and  he  somewhat  regretted  that 
the  overwhelming  mathematical  bias  of  Cambridge  had,  to  a  great 
extent,  changed  the  original  design,  and  that  our  Memoirs  were  so 
exclusively  mathematical  as  they  then  were.  He  was,  however, 
proud  of  Cambridge  mathematics,  and  I  remember  to  have  heard  him 
express  his  satisfaction  thus :  '  I  rejoice  in  the  progress  of  mathemati- 
cal science;  I  measure  it  in  this  way;  I  am  a  stationary  kind  of 
being  with  regard  to  mathematics;  the  progress  of  the  science  may 
be  measured  by  the  small  amount  of  that  which  I  am  able  to  under- 
stand ;  and  I  give  you  my  word  of  honour  that  I  have  not  been  able 
to  understand  a  single  paper  that  has  been  read  before  this  Society 
during  the  last  twenty  years1  \" 

At  the  present  day,  when  the  study  of  Natural  Science  has 
been  so  long  accepted  in  Cambridge,  it  is  amusing  to  find 
Sedgwick  recording  the  alarm  which  the  establishment  of  this 
very  harmless  Society  seems  to  have  aroused. 

To  y.  F.  W.  Herschel,  Esq} 

Trin.  Coll.    February  26,  1820. 

Dear  Sir, 

I   ought  before  this  to  have  conveyed  to  you  the 
thanks  of  our  Society  for  your  communication8.     It  will  be 

1  MacmillatCs  Magazine,  ut  supra,  p.  479. 

3  John  Frederick  William  Herschel,  Fellow  of  St  John's  College,  B.A.  18 13. 
Sedgwick  informs  him,  14  November,  18*0:  "The  first  meeting  of  our  Philo- 
sophical Society  took  place  yesterday  evening.  We  elected  several  new  members, 
and  among  the  rest  the  Rev.  J.  Wood,  D.D.,  Master  of  St  John's.  This  was 
more  than  we  expected,  and  certainly  more  than  Dr  Wood  intended  last  year.  It 
seems  as  if  we  had  risen  in  his  good  opinion.0 

8  On  certain  remarkable  instances  of  deviation  from  Neioton's  scale  in  the  tints 
developed  by  Crystals  with  one  axis  of  Double  Refraction,  on  exposure  to  Polarized 
Light,  read  1  May  1820,  and  printed  Trans.  Camb.  Phil.  Soc.  i.  ai. 


VISIT  TO  SUFFOLK  COAST  209 


read  at  our  next  meeting.  Now  that  we  are  launched  I  have  1819. 
little  fear :  we  shall,  I  doubt  not,  go  on  and  prosper.  Among  ^  34- 
the  senior  members  of  the  University  some  laugh  at  us; 
others  shrug  up  their  shoulders  and  think  our  whole  pro- 
ceedings subversive  of  good  discipline ;  a  much  larger  number 
look  on  us,  as  they  do  on  every  other  external  object,  with 
philosophic  indifference ;  and  a  small  number  are  among  our 
warm  friends.  We  may  count  on  the  zeal  of  our  members 
for  a  sufficient  number  of  communications;  we  may  also 
venture  to  found  some  hopes  on  an  active  spirit  infused  by  a 
new  system.  When  you  visit  Cambridge,  I  shall  hope  to  have 
the  pleasure  of  seeing  you.  Peacock  presents  his  kindest 
regards. 

Believe  me,  Dear  Sir, 

Yours  most  faithfully, 

A.  Sedgwick. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  Long  Vacation — in  June,  18 19 — 
Sedgwick  went  into  Suffolk  to  study  the  geological  structure 
of  the  coast.  Before  he  could  set  to  work,  however,  he  met 
with  a  serious  accident,  the  nature  of  which  has  not  been 
recorded,  but  the  following  extract  from  a  letter,  written  in 
1866  to  the  Reverend  Osmond  Fisher,  then  Vicar  of  Elmstead 
near  Colchester,  shows  that  it  must  have  been  severe.  It  is, 
we  believe,  the  only  record  of  the  occurrence. 

Cambridge.     Good  Friday  Morning. 

[30  March,  1866.] 
"  I  do  hope  within  the  next  two  or  three  months  to  see  the 
Chillesford  beds,  and  to  have  a  look  at  the  beds  near  Orford, 
Aldborough,  etc.,  where  we  have  the  lowest  (so-called)  Coral- 
line Crag.  I  had  just  touched  these  when  I  nearly  lost  my 
life,  and,  instead  of  working  at  Aldborough,  I  was  lying  on  a 
sofa  for  nearly  three  weeks,  and  only  left  the  room  to  move 
away  in  a  post-chaise ;  and  since  then  (i.e.  June,  1819 !)  I 
have  never  seen  these  lower  Crag  beds.  So  bravo  for  a  merry 
meeting,  some  time  hence,  at  Chillesford,  etc." 

S.  I.  14 


210  COMMENCEMENT  GAIETIES. 

1819.  Sedgwick  was  detained  at  Cambridge  until  the  end  of 

^t.  34.  juiy — partly  by  the  aforesaid  accident — partly  by  his  social 
duties  at  the  Commencement,  which  was  attended  by  the 
Chancellor,  the  Duke  of  Gloucester,  accompanied  by  his 
Duchess,  and  his  sister  the  Princess  Sophia  Matilda.  Sedg- 
wick was  appointed  one  of  the  "managers/'  as  they  were 
styled,  of  the  public  breakfast  given  by  the  University  to 
these  distinguished  persons.  It  was  held  in  Nevile's  Court  at 
Trinity  College,  and  Sedgwick  presided  at  a  table  in  the  north 
cloister1.  When  all  was  over  he  started  for  his  summer's 
work. 

This  year,  18 19,  may  be  regarded  as  the  commencement 
of  Sedgwick's  geological  career,  not  only  as  an  academic 
teacher,  but  as  an  original  investigator.  In  the  spring,  as  we 
have  seen,  he  began  to  lecture ;  and  in  the  summer  he  under- 
took the  first  of  those  tours,  to  which,  either  in  England  or  on 
the  Continent,  he  usually  devoted  several  months  of  each  year 
during  the  most  active  period  of  his  life.  These  journeys 
were  undertaken  on  a  regular  system,  for  the  investigation  of 
some  definite  group  of  rocks,  and  the  results — the  most  im- 
portant of  which,  as  we  shall  hope  to  show,  have  been  con- 
firmed, rather  than  shaken,  by  subsequent  research — were 
duly  recorded  in  a  series  of  papers.  In  the  present  chapter 
and  the  next  we  propose  to  consider  the  period  from  18 19  to 
1827,  during  which  he  explored  the  west  of  England  in  the 
first  instance,  and  next  Yorkshire,  Durham,  and  the  Lake 
District 

The  tour  of  18 19  is  described,  in  part,  in  the  following 
letter : 

Tavistock,  August  14,  1819. 
Dear  Ainger, 

It  is  now  nearly  a  month  since  I  left  Cambridge  on 
a  mining  expedition  to  the  West  of  England.     I  have  not  yet 

1  Cooper's  Annals,  iv.  534;  Grace  of  the  Senate,  39  April,  1819 ;  Report  of 
Syndics,  3  July,  18 19. 


TOUR   TO    WEST  OF  ENGLAND.  211 

reached  Cornwall,  the  great  object  of  attraction,  though  I  have  1819. 
now  for  about  a  week  been  hovering  on  its  confines.  Before  ^  34. 
I  proceed  any  farther,  let  me  request  you  to  write  to  me,  at 
Penzance,  by  return  of  post.  I  long  to  know  how  you  all  are, 
and  what  has  been  the  fruit  of  your  last  year's  labours.  I 
shall  probably  be  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Penzance  in 
about  a  fortnight,  and  shall  remain  there  some  time.  If  your 
letter  should  come  after  I  have  left  that  place,  I  may  probably 
miss  it,  though  I  shall  order  the  Postmaster  to  forward  it  to 
some  town  in  the  north  of  Cornwall. 

Half-past  ten  o'clock.  I  am  just  returned  from  a  long  and 
fatiguing  expedition  to  some  mines  on  the  banks  of  the  Tamar. 
A  cup  of  tea  has  so  far  refreshed  me  that  I  think  I  may  have 
it  in  my  power  to  finish  my  sheet  before  my  eyelids  come 
together.  I  started  on  my  western  course  the  week  after  our 
Commencement  festivities.  The  vicinity  of  Bristol  detained 
me  four  days.  I  saw  it  in  the  company  of  Dr  Gilby  to  great 
advantage.  He  has  paid  great  attention  to  geology,  and 
has  published  two  papers  on  the  structure  of  that  neighbour- 
hood \  I  was  therefore  enabled  by  his  assistance  to  observe 
everything  best  worth  seeing.  I  afterwards  rambled  on  foot 
all  over  the  Mendip  and  Quantock  hills,  and  examined  almost 
all  the  cliffs  on  the  north-west  coast  of  Somersetshire.  They 
afford  fine  specimens  of  the  contorsions  exhibited  by  that 
rock  to  which  geologists  have  given  the  name  of  greywacke*. 
What  a  delightfully  sounding  word  !  It  must  needs  make  you 
in  love  with  my  subject.  The  country  I  have  been  just 
describing  wants  some  of  the  grander  features,  but  in  beauty, 
luxuriance,  and  variety,  yields  to  none.  The  rugged  cliffs 
which  rise  perpendicularly  on  both  sides  of  the  Bristol  Channel 
are  in  many  places  exquisitely  contrasted  with  the  fine  lawns 
and  rich  foliage  which  go  sweeping  down  to  the  very  edge  of 

1  W.  H.  Gilby,  M.D.  published  A  Geological  Description  of  the  Neighbourhood 
of  Bristol  in  Tilloch's  Philosophical  Magazine^  Vol.  xliv.  (1814);  and  On  the 
Magnesian  Limestone  and  Red  Marl  or  Sandstone y  of  the  Neighbourhood  of  Bristol ^ 
Trans.  Geol.  Soc.  Lond.  1817,  iv.  pp.  aio — 315;  besides  other  papers. 

14 — 2 


212  PLYMOUTH  BREAKWATER. 

1819.  the  water.  As  for  the  people  of  Somersetshire,  they  seem  a 
Mt-  34-  mighty  stupid  good  sort  of  people,  who  have  not  wit  enough 
to  cheat  a  stranger.  The  men  get  drunk  with  cider,  and  the 
women  make  clotted  cream.  I  remained  a  week  with  an  old 
friend  and  relation  of  my  father1,  and  then  proceeded  to 
Plymouth  by  the  way  of  Exeter  and  Ivy  Bridge. 

Devonshire  has  rather  disappointed  me.  I  had  heard  too 
much  of  it,  and  perhaps  have  not  seen  the  finest  part  of  the 
county.  The  country  about  Plymouth  is,  however,  in  its  way 
of  unrivalled  beauty.  You  of  course  have  often  heard  of 
the  breakwater.  When  completed  it  will  form  a  mound  of 
solid  masonry  a  mile  long,  in  many  places  seventy  feet  high, 
and  more  than  five  hundred  feet  wide.  The  blocks  of  which 
it  is  composed  weigh  from  three  to  nine  tons  each,  and  are  all 
procured  in  the  quarries  of  limestone  which  fortunately 
abound  immediately  on  the  Plymouth  shores.  More  than  six 
hundred  day-labourers,  and  upwards  of  forty  transport-vessels, 
are  employed  in  this  enormous  work.  I  was  greatly  delighted 
in  observing  the  operations  of  the  workmen  in  the  quarries. 
They  commence  operations  by  clearing  away  till  they  have  a 
kind  of  terrace.  They  then  proceed  to  form  a  hole  in  the  rock 
in  the  usual  manner,  but  not  of  the  usual  dimensions,  for  they 
penetrate  to  the  depth  of  five  or  six  feet,  and  run  down  eight 
or  nine  pounds  of  gunpowder  into  one  opening.  One  of  these 
blasts,  when  well-placed,  will  sometimes  bring  down  as  much 
as  forty  tons  of  limestone.  It  is  a  sight  well  worth  seeing  to 
observe  these  masses  rolling  down  into  the  lower  part  of  the 
works  from  the  height  of  1 50  feet  The  number  of  explosions 
adds  greatly  to  the  effect,  for  the  fires  are  communicated  by  a 
signal  through  the  whole  line  of  the  works.  These  masses  are 
elevated  by  cranes  into  low  waggons  which  are  conveyed  by 
machinery  into  the  vessels  moored  close  by.  They  are  in  due 
time  conveyed  away  to  the  breakwater,  and  discharged  upon 
it   by   appropriate   machinery.     You  may   imagine   that  no 

1  The  Rev.  James  Sedgwick,  of  Curry  Rivell  near  Taunton,  a  descendant  of 
the  Sedgwick  of  Bankland.     See  above,  p.  35. 


CORNWALL:  MR  /.  /.   CONYBEARE.  213 

time  is  lost  when  I  tell  you  that  in  this  way  a  mass  of  stone     1819. 
is  daily  deposited  on  the  work  equal  to  the  burden  of  two   ^34* 
of  our  largest  Indiamen. 

I  have  no  time  to  tell  you  how  an  alarm  of  fire  threw  the 
whole  house  in  confusion — how  I  found  my  way  to  Tavistock 
— how  I  mean  to  get  back  again — how  I  purpose  to  proceed 
to  Cornwall — what  I  mean  to  see  there  &c.  &c.  So  no  more 
at  present 

A.  Sedgwick. 

At  Penzance  Sedgwick  fell  in  with  the  Rev.  John  Josias 
Conybeare — of  whom  and  his  brother  we  shall  have  occasion 
to  speak  at  length  in  connexion  with  the  tour  of  1820 — and 
impressed  him  very  favourably,  to  judge  from  the  following 
passage,  which  occurs  in  a  letter  from  Conybeare  to  Buckland, 
written  shortly  afterwards : 

'  In  the  line  of  Geology  the  best  thing  I  have  done  is  to  contract 
a  sort  of  liaison  with  the  new  Woodwardian  Professor  of  Cambridge, 
Mr  Sedgwick,  whom  I  met  here.  He  had  in  his  company  another 
Fellow  of  Trinity  College,  Mr  Gilby,  cousin  to  I)r  Gilby  of  Clifton. 
Mr  Sedgwick  appears  a  remarkably  clever,  active  man,  and  had  done 
all  he  had  gone  over  in  a  very  accurate  and  masterly  manner.  Having 
been  for  some  time  head  Mathematical  Tutor  of  Trinity,  he  brings 
to  the  study  of  Geology  all  the  subsidia  that  a  thorough  knowledge 
of  mathematics  and  natural  philosophy  can  give  him,., 

The  geological  results  of  this  tour  were  communicated  to 
the  Cambridge  Bhilosophical  Society  in  two  papers  in  1820 
and  1 82 1,  and  from  them  we  learn  that  it  concluded  with  a 
thorough  exploration  of  a  great  part  of  Cornwall,  especially 
the  district  adjoining  the  Lizard.  Unfortunately  no  hint  is 
given  of  the  reasons  which  induced  Sedgwick  to  select  this 
part  of  England  for  exploration,  but  it  may  be  conjectured 
that  his  friendship  with  the  Reverend  W.  R.  Gilby,  who  was 
his  companion  throughout,  may  have  had  something  to  do 
with  it.  Mr  Gilby  had  relations  at  Bristol,  and  therefore 
probably  knew  the  West  of  England,  or  part  of  it,  himself; 

1  The  letter  is  dated  Penzance,  35  September,  1819. 


214  HENSLOW  IN  THE  ISLE  OF  MAN 

1810.     and,  besides  this,  he  would  be  able  to  urge  upon  Sedgwick 
^  35*    the  advantages  to  be  obtained  from  his  cousin's  local  know- 
ledge. 

While  Sedgwick  was  thus  employed  in  Cornwall,  Henslow 
was  doing  similar  work  in  the  Isle  of  Man.  His  visit  to  the 
island  happened  to  coincide  with  the  first  discovery  there  of 
the  great  pre-historic  elk — commonly  called  the  Irish  Elk 
(Megaceros  kibernicus).  One  nearly  perfect  skeleton  was 
sorted  out  from  the  mass  of  bones  obtained,  and  passed  into 
the  hands  of  a  local  blacksmith.  Sedgwick  was  eager  to  obtain 
it  for  his  own  museum  ;  and  Henslow,  no  doubt  at  his  sugges- 
tion, returned  to  the  island  in  the  following  March,  in  the 
hope  of  being  able  to  buy  it  After  a  stormy  passage  of  30 
hours  from  Liverpool  he  landed  in  Ramsay  Bay,  and  on  the 
following  day — having  borrowed  a  horse  of  one  man,  and 
a  saddle  of  another — he  rode  to  Bishop's  Court  The  ingenious 
possessor  of  the  elk,  though  ignorant  of  anatomy,  had  put 
the  bones  together  by  comparing  them  with  the  mounted 
skeleton  of  a  horse,  and  had  placed  his  prize  in  a  caravan 
for  exhibition.     After  examining  it  Henslow  wrote : 

"  You  know  I  am  not  much  given  to  the  marvellous,  but  I  really 
think  I  never  saw  a  more  magnificent  sight  of  the  kind  in  my  life, 
and  doubt  if  the  Petersburg  Mammoth1  would  surpass  it.  The  only 
parts  missing  are  half  of  one  hoof,  and  the  end  bones  of  the  tail ;  the 
rest  is  in  the  highest  preservation.  I  could  not  have  conceived  it 
would  have  cut  half  so  good  a  figure,  and  the  fellow  has  really  put  it 
together  with  very  great  ingenuity  V  % 

The  negotiation  to  buy  the  skeleton  failed,  and  it  was 
ultimately  acquired  for  the  Museum  at  Edinburgh ;  but  the 
attempt  to  secure  it  for  Cambridge  forms  an  interesting  epi- 
sode in  the  early  history  of  the  Woodwardian  Museum  and 

1  The  nearly  complete  skeleton  of  a  Siberian  Mammoth,  acquired  by  an 
Englishman  named  Michael  Adams  in  1807,  and  mounted  in  the  Museum  of  St 
Petersburg.  It  is  described  (with  a  complete  history  of  the  discovery)  in  the 
Mhnoires  de  PAcademie  ImpiriaU  des  Sciences  de  St  Pitersbourg,  for  the  year 
181 2,  v.  406.  The  paper,  published  only  four  years  before  Henslow  wrote,  had 
greatly  interested  all  men  of  science. 

9  Henslow  to  Sedgwick,  31  March,  1820.    The  letter  is  dated  18 19,  but  that  it 


SECOND   TOUR  IN  WEST  OF  ENGLAND.  215 

shows  that  Sedgwick  had  already  begun  to  pay  attention  to     i8ao. 
Palaeontology.  •#*•  35* 

In  the  following  summer  (1820),  Sedgwick  resumed  work 
in  the  west  of  England. 

To  Professor  Monk,  T,'in.  Coll.  Cambridge. 

Maidenhead  Bridge,  Monday  Evening, 

[17  July,  1820]. 
Dear  Professor, 

About  the  time  that  we  parted  I  mentioned  to  you 
a  subject  on  which  I  am  now  requesting  your  good  offices.  I 
am  so  much  in  want  of  money  that  without  some  assistance  I 
shall  be  obliged  to  abridge  my  summer's  labours  for  want  of 
funds  to  carry  me  through  them.  By  the  Will  of  Dr  Wood- 
ward, of  blessed  memory,  I  am  entitled  to  a  quarterly  payment 
of  my  salary1.  The  Vice-Chancellor  knows  the  fact  as  well  as 
myself;  and  will,  I  have  no  doubt,  order  twenty-five  or  thirty 
pounds  to  be  placed  to  my  credit  at  Mortlock's  Bank.  That 
sum,  with  what  I  now  have,  will  enable  me  to  pay  my  way 
among  all  the  Oolite  Beds  in  the  south-west  of  this  island. 
I  hoped  before  this  time  to  have  been  fairly  at  work,  but  a 
violent  diarrhoea  has  retarded  my  progress.  I  am  half  dis- 
posed to  rejoice  in  my  misfortunes  as  they  have  induced  me 
to  spend  a  day  (and  God  only  knows  whether  I  shall  ever 
spend  another  day),  with  our  dear  friend  Mill8.  He  rejoices  in 
his  appointment,  because  it  holds  out  to  him  a  rational  expec- 
tation of  being  enabled  to  employ  his  great  talents  in  pro- 
moting the  highest  interests  of  his  fellow-creatures.  He  is 
now  dining  with  his  Rector;  I  excused  myself  on  the  score  of 
bodily  infirmity.  Tomorrow  I  hope  to  be  in  travelling 
condition,  in  which  case  I  shall  endeavour  to  reach  Devizes. 

should  be  1820  is  evident  from  Henslow's  Supplementary  Observations  to  Dr 
Berger's  Account  of  the  Isle  of  Man;  Trans.  Geol.  Soc.  Lond.,  i8ai.  Vol.  v., 
p.  502,  note. 

1  See  above,  p.  182. 

8  The  Rev.  W.  H.  Mill,  Fellow  of  Trinity  College,  was  at  that  time  curate 
of  Taplow.     His  rector  was  the  Rev.  Edward  Neale. 


216  SECOND   TOUR  IN  WEST  OF  ENGLAND. 

1820.     There   I   shall   unpack   old  Thor,  and  commence  a  furious 
^•35-    assault  on   all  the  solid  materials  I  may  meet  with  on  the 
surface  of  the  earth. 

You  will  greatly  oblige  me  by  mentioning  the  subject  I 
began  to  write  about  to  the  Vice-Chancellor. 

Believe  me,  Dear  Professor, 

Yours  ever, 

A.  Sedgwick. 

P.S.  You  fire  your  thunderbolts1 ;  other  men  must  be 
content  with  squibs  and  crackers.  I  have  several  times 
thought  of  getting  up  a  geological  article  for  the  Quarterly. 
Some  interesting  foreign  works  (French  and  Italian)  have 
appeared  on  the  subject,  which  might  be  made  the  foundation 
of  a  dissertation.  My  health  is  never  to  be  depended  on ;  I 
have  no  facility  of  composition;  what  is  more  I  am  much 
engaged ;  still  I  think  that  I  might  be  able  to  bring  together 
some  remarks  not  entirely  undeserving  of  insertion  in  that 
Journal.  Perhaps  you  would  have  the  goodness  some  time  or 
other  to  mention  this  to  the  editor.     Vale. 

Charlton  Mackerel,  September  5,  182a 
Dear  Ainger, 

I  am  now  halting  with  my  old  friend  Sharpe  *,  who 
has  been  married  for  several   months,  and   is  bearing  him- 

1  This  expression  refers  to  the  controversy,  in  18 18 — 19,  between  Professor 
Monk  and  Sir  J.  £.  Smith,  President  of  the  Linnean  Society.  The  latter  had 
been  authorised  by  the  Rev.  T.  Martyn  (who  had  been  Professor  of  Botany  since 
1761,  but  had  not  lectured  since  1796,  nor  resided  since  1798)  to  deliver  a  course 
of  lectures  on  Botany.  The  Vice- Chancellor,  Dr  Webb,  Master  of  Clare  Hall, 
had  given  his  consent,  and  the  lectures  had  been  announced  to  begin  on  Monday, 
6  April;  when  on  Saturday,  4  April,  a  remonstrance  was  forwarded  to  the  Vice- 
Chancellor,  signed  by  eighteen  Tutors  of  Colleges,  who  objected  to  their  "  Pupils 
attending  the  Public  Lectures  of  any  Person  who  is  neither  a  Member  of  the 
University,  nor  a  Member  of  the  Church  of  England."  After  this  Sir  J.  E.  Smith 
declined  to  lecture,  and  wrote  an  indignant  pamphlet,  which  Monk  answered.  In 
July,  1818,  an  article  in  favour  of  the  course  pursued  by  Monk  and  his  fellow-tutors 
appeared  in  the  Quarterly  Review^  Vol.  xix.  pp.  434 — 446.  Smith  wrote  a 
pamphlet  in  answer  to  it,  and  Monk  a  counter-pamphlet.  Here  the  controversy 
ended. 

9  William  Sharpe,  Trin.  Coll.,  B.A.  1807. 


MR    W.  D.   CONYBEARE.  217 

self  with  all  meekness  after  his  exaltation  to  the  Benedictine  1820. 
honours.  Perhaps  your  brother  will  have  informed  you  that  I  &*  35- 
started  on  an  expedition  to  the  West  of  England  in  the  second 
week  of  July.  My  first  object  was  to  examine  all  the  strata 
from  the  foot  of  the  Wiltshire  chalk-downs  to  their  termination 
in  the  ravines  near  Bath.  This  part  of  my  summer's  labours 
employed  me  about  three  weeks.  I  was,  however,  interrupted 
by  a  severe  cold,  which  yielded  immediately  to  the  effects  of 
the  hot  bath.  Though  I  started  alone,  this  part  of  my  expedi- 
tion has  not  been  quite  solitary.  I  was  joined  near  Bath  by 
an  Oxford  gentleman  with  whom  I  formed  an  acquaintance 
on  the  road.  I  also  experienced  the  greatest  possible  kind- 
ness from  Mr  Conybeare,  an  Oxford  Professor  and  a  stone- 
eater.  After  leaving  Bath  I  went  to  the  house  of  Mr  William 
Conybeare,  brother  of  the  aforesaid  Professor  (perhaps  you 
will  like  these  men  better  when  you  know  that  they  are  grand- 
sons of  Bishop  Conybeare)1,  who  accompanied  me  in  my 
expeditions  for  three  weeks,  during  which  time  we  examined 
the  most  interesting  portions  of  the  country  to  the  north  of 
Bristol.  If  I  were  to  give  a  minute  account  of  our  labours  I 
should  be  obliged  to  use  language  which  would  hardly  be 
understood,  and,  if  understood,  would  not,  I  fear,  be  very 
amusing.  I  must  therefore  leave  the  lower  regions  of  the 
earth  and  talk  of  its  surface.  The  whole  face  of  the  country 
north  of  Bristol,  and  up  to  the  banks  of  the  Severn,  is  most 
lovely.  The  hills  are  not  very  lofty,  but  they  are  beautifully 
broken,  and  the  woodland  scenery  is  among  the  richest  in 
the  world.  Part  of  the  country  you  are,  I  believe,  acquainted 
with. 

About  the  time  that  I  purposed  leaving  Mr  Conybeare's 
house  I  was  attacked  by  my  old  enemy ;  after  being  raked 
fore  and  aft  for  eight  and  forty  hours,  I  really  thought  that 
the  whole  vessel  was  going  to  the  bottom  ;  the  internal  hurri- 
cane, however,  suddenly  abated;  a  state  of  calm  for  three  days 
succeeded,  and  after  that  time  I  was  able  to  spread  my  sails, 

1  John  Conybeare,  D.D.,  Bishop  of  Bristol  1750 — 1755. 


2i 8  GEOLOGY  OF  THE  MENDIPS. 

i8ao.  and  steer  with  a  fair  wind  for  the  Mendips.  Mr  Conybeare 
^•35-  accompanied  me  in  that  excursion.  We  spent  five  days  in 
examining  a  most  interesting  mountain  ridge.  We  have 
here  on  a  small  scale  examples  of  every  variety  of  strati- 
fication, and  of  almost  every  species  of  secondary  rock.  The 
great  mass  of  rock  is  the  same  limestone  we  have  about 
Sedbergh,  and  in  the  district  of  the  caves.  The  strata  of 
the  Mendips  are,  however,  much  more  highly  inclined,  being 
in  some  instances  nearly  vertical,  and  are  surmounted  by 
many  newer  strata  which  ride  upon  their  edges  in  an 
horizontal  position.  This  singular  conformation  is  exhibited 
in  many  of  the  deep  glens  which  traverse  the  strata  near  the 
eastern  end  of  the  chain. 

Mr  Conybeare  and  I  parted  on  the  top  of  the  Mendips  on 
Saturday  last  I  descended  to  Wells.  The  Cathedral  is  small, 
but  very  perfect ;  and  the  west  front  is  ornamented  by  a  great 
many  good  examples  of  ancient  gothic  sculpture,  which  the 
fanatical  zeal  of  our  blessed  reformers  has  fortunately  spared. 
All  revolutions  are  accompanied  with  violence,  which  is  an 
evil  great  enough  in  some  instances  to  counterbalance  the 
good  of  change.  It  was,  however,  better  that  our  protestant 
ancestors  should  break  the  heads  of  stone  images  than  of  men 
and  women,  after  the  manner  of  our  neighbours  on  the  other 
side  of  the  water. 

Sharpe  is  coming  down  to  breakfast,  so  that  I  must  cut 

short  my  narration.     My  next  great  move  will  be  to  the  coast 

near  Sidmouth,  from  which  place  I  intend  to  face  about,  and 

trudge   my  way   back  by  the  coast   as   far  as   Portsmouth. 

Thence  to   Cambridge.     Best  respects  to   Mrs  A.  and  the 

young  ones. 

Yours  ever, 

A.  Sedgwick. 

Tuxford,  Notts,  November  io,  1820. 
Dear  Ainger, 

I  wrote  to  you  during  the  labours  of  the  Long  Vaca- 


DEATH  OF  SEDGWICK'S  MOTHER.  219 

tion,  but  from  what  place  I  do  not  at  this  moment  recollect      18*0. 
I  presume  that  I  gave  you  some  account  of  what  I  had  been    &x*  35- 
about,  and  what  I  intended  to  do.      How  uncertain  are  all 
our  expectations  !  I  have  not  yet  reached  the  University. 

After  an  examination  of  some  parts  of  the  country  near 
Taunton,  which  I  visited  last  year,  I  crossed  the  Black- 
downs  to  Sidmouth,  and  there  commenced  a  laborious 
examination  of  the  coast.  The  cliffs  are  on  a  most  magnificent 
scale,  abound  in  organic  remains,  and  are  of  great  geological 
interest  Almost  the  whole  coast  of  Dorsetshire  presents  a 
succession  of  rugged  precipices  of  varied  forms,  arising  from 
the  peculiar  disposition  of  the  strata.  Weymouth  detained 
me  three  weeks.  The  geological  map  of  that  district  is  so 
erroneous  that  I  resolved  to  rectify  it  as  far  as  my  time  would 
allow,  and  I  succeeded  almost  to  the  extent  of  my  wishes. 
From  thence  I  found  my  way  to  the  Isle  of  Wight  by 
Southampton,  and  there  heard,  from  my  brother  James, 
such  an  alarming  account  of  my  mother's  health  that  I  im- 
mediately recrossed  the  Channel,  and  hastened  down  to  the 
North  with  all  the  expedition  which  I  could  command. 

I  should  have  been  very  thankful  had  it  pleased  God  to 
have  allowed  me  to  arrive  in  time  to  receive  my  poor  mother's 
last  blessing  ;  but  that  melancholy  satisfaction  was  denied  me. 
She  died  early  on  Sunday  the  15th,  after  an  illness  of  a  week. 
I  rejoice  to  say  that  she  possessed  her  self-possession  almost 
to  the  moment  of  her  death,  and  expressed  her  entire  resigna- 
tion to  the  will  of  God.  We  have  all  reason  to  thank  Him  for 
His  great  mercy  in  so  long  sparing  our  dearest  friends.  This 
is  the  first  affliction  with  which  our  family  has  been  visited. 
My  father  and  sisters  are  quite  well.  My  father  looks  much 
better  now  than  he  did  last  spring  when  I  was  in  the  North. 
He  is  much  afflicted  at  losing  the  companion  of  his  old  age, 
but  on  the  whole  is  less  weighed  down  than  I  could  have  ven- 
tured to  hope.  It  may  still,  I  hope,  please  God  to  spare  him 
to  our  family  for  some  years. 

I  am  now  resting  on  my  way  to  Cambridge  with  my  old 


220  WILLIAM  HODGE  MILL. 

~^  '  ■■■■■■  ^         -   .  i  ,  ■  I,, 

1820.  friend  Mr  Mason.  I  hope  to  be  in  Cambridge  tomorrow,  and 
Mu  35-  shall  find  abundant  employment  for  the  term  in  my  profes- 
sional duties.  My  spirits  are  not  good,  but  I  hope  to  rally 
sufficiently  to  give  a  few  public  lectures  before  the  Christmas 
vacation.  My  sister  Ann  was  married  about  two  months 
since  to  Mr  Westall  jun.  I  have  no  doubt  you  heard  of  the 
engagement  when  you  were  in  the  north.     God  bless  you  and 

yours. 

Yours  ever, 

A.  Sedgwick. 

The  touching  allusion  in  the  first  of  the  above  letters  to 
the  Reverend  William  Hodge  Mill,  Fellow  of  Trinity  College, 
then  about  to  leave  England  as  Principal  of  the  newly  founded 
Bishop's  College  at  Calcutta,  is  a  proof  of  the  breadth  of 
Sedgwick's  sympathies,  and  of  the  strength  of  his  affections. 
No  two  men  could  have  differed  more  widely — Mill  was  a 
High  Churchman — Sedgwick,  if  he  belonged  to  any  party 
in  the  Church,  an  Evangelical.  Yet  they  exchanged  letters 
frequently  during  Mill's  absence  in  India,  and  after  his  return, 
when  he  resided  in  Cambridge  as  Regius  Professor  of  Hebrew, 
notwithstanding  the  very  decided  attitude  taken  up  by  both 
in  the  religious  controversies  of  that  day,  their  friendship  did 
not  suffer  any  interruption. 

Sedgwick's  meeting  with  the  brothers  Conybeare,  briefly 
mentioned  in  the  second  letter,  is  specially  noteworthy.  With 
John  Josias  Conybeare,  Professor  first  of  Anglo-Saxon,  and 
next  of  Poetry  at  Oxford,  then  rector  of  Batheaston,  close 
to  Bath,  he  had  become  acquainted  while  exploring  Corn- 
wall the  year  before,  as  mentioned  above1 ;  but  his  brother, 
William  Daniel  Conybeare,  afterwards  Dean  of  Llandaff,  who 
then  held  a  lectureship  in  the  church  of  Brislington  near  Bristol, 
seems  to  have  been  unknown   to  him  until  this  occasion8. 

1  See  above,  p.  213. 

*  In  a  letter  written  to  the  Rev.  John  Charles  Conybeare,  second  son  of  the 
Dean  of  Llandaff,  dated  15  October,  1858,  Sedgwick  refers  to  his  first  acquaintance 
with  the  family :  '*  Tell  Mrs  Conybeare  that  I  love  all  ladies  who  pass  under  the 


THE  BROTHERS  CONYBEARE.  221 

The  introduction  led  to  important  results.  Not  only  was  the  1820. 
foundation  laid  of  a  lifelong  friendship,  continued  to  the  iEt  35« 
younger  members  of  the  Conybeare  family  long  after  their 
parents  had  been  laid  in  the  grave,  but  Sedgwick  obtained  so 
large  a  measure  of  geological  instruction  that  he  used  to  speak 
of  Mr  W.  D.  Conybeare  as  his  master  in  the  science.  The 
two  brothers  were  both  fond  of  geology,  and  while  still  at 
Oxford,  in  conjunction  with  Buckland,  had  established  a  sort 
of  club  for  the  study  of  it.  Thus  educated  in  the  methods 
of  the  science,  and,  we  may  be  certain,  well-informed  respect- 
ing the  geology  of  the  district  in  which  they  resided,  they 
would  both  be  eminently  qualified  to  serve  as  guides  to  one 
who  until  he  met  with  them  had  had  little  except  his  natural 
talent  to  help  him.  The  extent  of  his  obligations,  as  realised 
by  himself  at  the  time,  is  forcibly  expressed  in  the  last  letter 
which  he  wrote  to  Conybeare  from  Weymouth,  detailing  his 
discoveries  and  difficulties.  "  My  Long  Vacation  is  now  ended, 
and  I  go  home  with  the  conviction  of  having  completely 
accomplished  the  great  objects  of  my  summer's  tour.  I  may 
add,  with  great  truth,  that  I  consider  the  acquaintance  I  have 
formed  with  you  among  the  most  fortunate  and  agreeable 
circumstances  of  my  vacation.  If  I  had  not  been  under  your 
tuition  for  three  weeks,  I  should,  I  fear,  never  have  been  able 
to  disentangle  the  difficulties  of  this  neighbourhood." 

By  a  strange  coincidence  this  letter — throughout  which 
Sedgwick  expresses  himself  in  a  tone  of  elation  at  his  well- 
merited  success — was  written  on  the  very  day  of  his  mother's 
death.  How  deeply  he  felt  this  sudden  calamity — 'the  first 
deep  domestic  pang  I  ever  endured' — is  shown  by  the  letter  in 
which  he  informed  Ainger — who  must  have  known  her  well — 
of  his  irreparable  loss;  but  the  depth  of  his  sorrow  may  be 


name  of  Conybeare;  and  tell  little  Mary  that  I  mean  to  love  her  as  dearly  as 
I  loved  another  Mary  [the  Dean's  only  daughter]  whom  I  first  knew  at  Brislington 
in  1820,  when  little  Johnny  was  on  the  knees.  It  was  the  year  I  first  became 
acquainted  with  your  Father.  I  knew  his  brother  John  before,  having  been 
acquainted  with  him  in  Cornwall.     But  what  ancient  memories  these  are  nowl" 


222  WORK  IN  MUSEUM. 

i8*oto    estimated  more  truly  still  from  the  casual  references  to  his 

182 1 
_,      '_  mother  which  are  scattered  through  his  later  correspondence. 

36.  Thirty  years  afterwards,  when  one  of  his  friends  was  anxious 
about  her  own  mother,  he  wrote:  "The  word  Mother  has  a 
charm  in  its  sound;  and  there  was  a  blank  in  the  face  of 
nature,  and  a  void  in  my  heart,  when  I  ceased  to  have  one;" 
and  again,  to  the  same ;  "  It  was  my  first  great  domestic 
sorrow,  and  deeply  did  I  feel  it  I  pity  the  man  who  has  no 
remembrance  of  a  mother's  love.  The  memory  of  my  dear 
mother  and  my  dear  old  father  throw  a  heavenly  light  over  all 
the  passages  of  my  early  life1." 

During  the  months  which  elapsed  between  Sedgwick's 
return  from  Dent  in  1820,  and  the  commencement  of  the 
Long  Vacation  of  1 821,  he  was  fully  occupied  with  what  he 
termed  'professional  pursuits.'  Not  to  mention  lecturing — 
digesting  the  information  acquired  in  the  course  of  the 
previous  summer — and  writing  at  least  one  paper  for  the 
Philosophical  Society — he  had  plenty  to  do  in  his  Museum. 
His  report  (dated  1  May,  1821)  speaks  of  three  months  spent 
in  arranging  the  contents  of  seven  large  cases  of  "  specimens 
from  all  the  strata  of  Somersetshire,  Gloucestershire,  and 
Dorsetshire  which  appear  between  the  old  red  sandstone  and 
the  chalk ;"  "the  arrangement  of  a  series  of  specimens  from 
all  the  English  strata,  commencing  with  the  granite  of  Corn- 
wall, and  ending  with  the  alluvial  deposits  of  Suffolk,  which 
the  Professor  has  employed  three  vacations  in  collecting;" 
and  he  gratefully  acknowledges  "the  assistance  of  Mr  Henslow 
in  arranging  the  simple  minerals8." 

It  is  pleasant  to  be  able  to  record  that  Sedgwick's  delivery 
of  a  course  of  lectures — in  excess  of  the  minimum  of  four 
prescribed  by  Dr  Woodward — did  not  pas$  unrewarded.     It 

1  To  Miss  Malcolm,  7  December,  1856;  21  December,  1859. 

3  It  must  be  remembered  that  the  Woodwardian  Audit,  at  which  the  Pro- 
fessor made  his  annual  report,  was  held  on  the  first  day  of  May.  As  Sedgwick 
usually  left  Cambridge  soon  after  the  commencement  of  the  Long  Vacation,  most 
of  the  work  chronicled  in  these  reports  must  have  been  done  between  his  return  in 
October  and  May  of  the  year  following. 


INCREASE  OF  STIPEND.  223 

will  be  recollected  that  on  the  day  of  his  election  the  Senate     1820  to 

i8it 
had  accepted  a  supplementary  scheme  for  the  government  of  ^      ' 

the  Professorship.    In  this  document  three  points  were  mainly       30. 

insisted  upon :  (1)  that  a  Museum,  with  an  apartment  for  the 

Professor  thereto  adjoining,  ought  to  be  built  without  delay ; 

(2)  that  the  payment  of  the  Professor's  stipend  should  be 

contingent  on  his   delivering  lectures ;    (3)  that  if  he  gave 

additional  lectures,  he  ought  to  receive  an  additional  stipend, 

but  only  after  the  erection  of  the  aforesaid  buildings.     Two 

years  had  elapsed,  but  nothing  had  been  done;  nor  was  it 

probable  that  any  building-scheme  would  be   accepted   for 

some   time.     Sedgwick  was   naturally  unwilling  to   see  his 

promised  increase  of  stipend  adjourned  sine  die,  and  therefore 

addressed  a  letter,  dated  22  June,  1820,  to  the  Vice-Chancellor 

and  Heads  of  Colleges.     This  letter  contains  some  interesting 

biographical  details,  and  therefore  we  may  be  excused  for 

quoting  a  considerable  portion  of  it.    After  giving  an  analysis 

of  that  portion  of  Dr  Woodward's  Will  which  dealt  with  the 

annual  income  of  his  estate,  he  proceeds, 

"In  consequence  of  the  great  change  in  the  value  of  money  since 
1727,  the  Woodwardian  estate  now  rents  for  ^430,  but  none  of  the 
specific  payments  have  received  any  augmentation  whatever.  The 
present  Lecturer  does  not  therefore  stand  in  the  situation  intended 
by  the  Founder,  the  stipend  he  receives  being  virtually  not  much 
more  than  one-third  of  the  sum  intended. 

In  the  same  Will  it  is  directed  that  the  Woodwardian  Cabinets 
be  '  reposited  in  a  proper  Room  or  Apartment  allotted  by  the 
University,'  and,  'that  the  Lecturer  reside  in  or  near  the  said 
Apartment.1  When  therefore  the  University  accepted  the  Cabinets, 
they  contracted  an  obligation  to  find  an  Apartment,  suitable  at  the 
same  time  to  the  Collection  and  to  the  accommodation  of  the 
Professor,  out  of  their  own  funds.  It  certainly  does  not  appear  to 
have  been  the  intention  of  Dr  Woodward  that  any  part  of  the  rents 
of  his  estate  should  be  held  back  as  a  building-fund.  As  however 
there  is  at  present  an  accumulation  of  fourteen  or  fifteen  hundred 
pounds  out  of  the  Woodwardian  estate,  the  said  accumulation  might, 
with  the  addition  of  such  sums  as  the  University  shall  think  fit,  be 
employed  in  erecting  a  *  proper  apartment '  for  the  reception  of  the 
Geological  Cabinets,  in  fitting  up  a  Lecture- Room,  and,  if  thought 
expedient,  in  building  rooms  for  the  Lecturer,  contiguous  to  the  said 
Apartment. 


224  INCREASE  OF  STIPEND. 

i8aoto  I*  ls  further  obvious,  from  the  said  Will,  that   Dr  Woodward 

i8ai.      intended  his  Lecturer  to  perform  important  duties1.... In  the  year 

&t.  95 —  1727,  a  salary  of  ;£no  was  a  sufficient  remuneration  to  a  member 

30.       of  the  Senate  for  performing  the  conditions  in  question.     At  present 

the  same  sum  is  not  sufficient. 

The  Woodwardian  Lecturer  wishes  finally  to  observe  that,  since 
his  appointment,  he  has  endeavoured  to  comply  with  the  severest 
clauses  of  the  Founder's  Will. 

1.  He  resigned,  on  his  appointment  to  the  said  Lectureship, 
offices  and  employments  in  College  of  the  yearly  value  of  ^200. 

2.  He  has  read  22  public  Lectures  to  the  University  and 
gratuitously,  and  will  engage  to  give  at  least  that  number  annually. 

3.  He  is  preparing  to  print  the  substance  of  two  of  the  said 
Lectures. 

4.  He  has  been  always  ready  to  exhibit  the  Museum,  and 
during  term  has  spent  more  hours  in  it  than  are  specified  in  the 
Founder's  Will. 

5.  He  has,  at  a  personal  expense  of  between  three  and  four 
hundred  pounds,  made  a  Geological  Survey  of  several  parts  of 
England,  by  which  he  has  been  enabled  to  deposit  large,  and,  he 
believes,  important  additions  to  the  specimens  in  the  University 
Cabinets ;  for  an  account  of  which  he  refers  to  the  report  drawn  up 
under  the  sanction  of  the  Inspectors  and  presented  to  the  Auditors 
on  the  first  of  May"." 

The  persons  addressed  took  six  months  to  consider  this 
letter,  but  early  in  the  following  year  (24  January,  1821),  a 
Grace  passed  the  Senate,  by  which,  after  several  well-turned 
compliments  to  Sedgwick's  energy  and  capacity,  it  was 
provided  that  ^100  should  be  paid  to  him  for  the  extra 
lectures  delivered  in  the  past  year;  and  ;£ioo  in  each  future 
year,  on  the  condition  that  he  delivered  fifteen  lectures,  at 
the  least,  in  each  year,  in  addition  to  the  four  stipulated  for 
by  Dr  Woodward. 

The  next  three  letters  describe  the  employment  of  the 
Long  Vacation  of  1821.  For  once,  it  may  be  remarked,  we 
hear  nothing  of  his  health — perhaps  he  was  too  busy  to 
pay  attention  to  it 

1  In  the  omitted  passage  Sedgwick  enumerates  the  principal  duties  imposed  by 
Dr  Woodward,  as  related  in  the  previous  chapter. 

8  The  only  copy  of  this  letter  which  we  have  seen  is  in  the  rich  collection  of 
University  Papers  formed  by  the  late  Dr  Webb,  Master  of  Clare  Hall  181 5 — 56, 
now  in  the  University  Library. 


BACHELOR  GODFATHERS.  225 

Trin.  Coll.,  April  13,  1821.  i8n. 

Dear  Ainger,  ex.  36. 

Your  letter  was  left  on  my  table  on  Tuesday  last 
When  I  saw  the  direction  I  believe  I  should  have  blushed  if 
my  complexion  would  have  allowed  it.  For  my  conscience 
told  me  that  I  had  been  your  debtor  three  or  four  months, 
both  for  a  letter  and  for  a  small  book  of  goodly  admonition. 
Let  me  thank  you  for  one  or  both  of  them  now,  if  it  be  not 
too  late.  I  have  myself  turned  author  since  we  met  last  I  will 
send  you  a  copy  of  my  paper  in  the  Cambridge  Transactions 
when  I  have  an  opportunity.  Not  that  I  wish  you  to  read  it 
I  will  therefore  give  it  to  Mrs  A.  to  tic  up  sugar-plumbs  for 
my  god-daughter.  But  hold — I  am  quite  out  of  all  order.  I 
must  first  congratulate  you  and  Mrs  A.  on  your  new  accession 
of  domestic  honours,  and  then  express  my  own  joy  in  the 
hopes  of  establishing  this  spiritual  relationship  with  the  young 
stranger.  Both  my  god-fathers  are  old  bachelors,  and  my 
god-mother  (God  be  with  her),  is  as  arrant  an  old  maid  as 
ever  whispered  scandal  round  a  tea-table.  My  own  destinies 
were  therefore  fixed  at  the  font,  and  I  already  feel  myself  fast 
sinking  in  the  mire  of  celibacy.  I  hope  I  shall  bring  no  evil 
on  my  charge.  But  do  contrive  to  have  some  one  joined  with 
mc  who  is  cither  married  or  given  in  marriage,  otherwise  we 
cannot  answer  for  the  consequences.     Experto  crede. 

Geology  has  not,  I  hope,  dried  up  all  the  social  affections ; 
it  has,  however,  left  mc  very  little  time  for  the  exercise  of 
them.  I  am  too  much  engaged  to  be  down  this  short  vaca- 
tion. The  last  week  in  May  and  the  first  week  in  June  I  shall 
be  engaged  with  our  examination  in  Hall.  A  stupid  com- 
panion you  will  find  me  if  here  at  that  busy  time ;  still  let  us 
meet  if  possible.  I  will  promise  to  do  my  best  during  the 
intervals.  Immediately  after  that  troublesome  business  is 
over  I  start  for  the  Isle  of  Wight1,  to  relieve  my  brother  who 

1  Whewell,  writing  to  his  sister,  18  June,  1821,  says:  "  I  am  going  for  a  short 
time  to  the  Isle  of  Wight.  I  expect  to  join  there  Professor  Sedgwick,  a  very 
intimate  friend  of  mine."    Life,  p.  64. 

s.  i.  15 


226  SUMMER  TOUR. 


i8ai.  is  going  down  to  the  North.  In  the  months  of  July,  August, 
Mt.  36.  an(j  September  I  must  make  a  regular  geological  tour,  but  my 
actual  destination  is  not  quite  fixed.  You  may  suppose  that 
my  hands  are  full  when  I  tell  you  that  besides  the  care  of  our 
college  examination  I  have  to  give  public  lectures  four  times 
a  week  during  the  next  term,  and  that  I  am  now  preparing  a 
syllabus  of  my  course  for  the  press.  Present  my  kindest 
remembrances  to  Mrs  Ainger,  and  believe  me, 

Yours  ever, 

A.  Sedgwick. 

Whitby,  September  2,  1821. 

My  dear  Ainger, 

For  the  life  of  me  I  cannot  tell  when  or  where  it  was 
that  I  last  wrote  to  you.  It  must  surely  have  been  since  my 
return  from  the  Isle  of  Wight.  Let  us  now  therefore  take  it 
for  granted — that  I  did  return  from  the  Isle  of  Wight — that  I 
did  sojourn  about  three  weeks  in  the  University  of  Cambridge 
— that  I  then  took  a  tour  through  Coventry,  Kenilworth, 
Warwick,  Birmingham,  and  Lichfield,  where  I  saw  churches, 
ruined  castles,  hardware  manufactories,  and  Cathedrals — that 
I  attended  an  auction  of  old  bones,  of  which  I  bought  enough 
to  fill  fat  Lambert's  coffin — that  I  then  found  my  way  thro* 
Derby,  Nottingham,  and  Lincoln,  to  the  residence  of  my 
brother  John1 — that  after  three  days  I  left  the  lodgings  of  my 
said  brother,  and  was  conveyed  in  a  steam-packet  down  the 
waters  of  the  Humber  as  far  as  Hull — that  I  left  Hull  on  the 
top  of  a  coach — that  I  was  set  down  by  the  said  coach  at  the 
door  of  my  old  friend  Gilby,  who  is  now  married  and  perform- 
*  ing  the  duties  of  a  parson  and  a  magistrate  in  a  small  village 
about  five  miles  from  Bridlington.  All  this  I  give  in  the  way 
of  summary,  because:  1st,  it  is  no  easy  matter  to  give  it  in 
any  other  form ;  2dly,  I  do  verily  believe  that  I  have  given 
you  the  greater  part  of  it  before. 

1  At  that  time  curate  of  Stowe  in  Lincolnshire. 


COAST  OF   YORKSHIRE.  227 

With  Gilby  I  remained  three  or  four  days,  during  which  18*1. 
time  I  made  an  excursion  almost  as  far  as  Spurn  Head.  ^Et.36. 
Holderness  is  well  cultivated  and  well  inhabited,  but  as  dull  as 
the  fens  of  your  native  county.  Its  physical  structure  did  not 
supply  me  with  a  single  new  fact  The  sea  is  making  terrible 
encroachments  on  the  whole  district  In  one  place  the  cliff 
cuts  through  an  ancient  burial-ground,  and  the  upper  face  of 
the  precipice  is  literally  studded  with  human  bones.  Gilby 
accompanied  me  on  foot  almost  as  far  as  Scarborough.  North 
of  Bridlington  the  character  of  the  country  is  completely 
changed.  We  crossed  the  great  chalk  range,  which  at  its 
northern  termination  is  nearly  ten  miles  broad.  As  we  went 
along  the  top  of  the  cliff  we  frequently  had  on  our  right  hand 
a  naked  precipice  of  chalk  more  than  three  hundred  feet  high. 
The  chalk  cliffs  of  the  Isle  of  Wight  must,  I  think,  yield  to 
these  in  grandeur.  But  in  the  wolds  of  Yorkshire  we  entirely 
want  that  combination  of  woodlands  which  makes  the  scenery 
in  the  Isle  so  peculiarly  beautiful.  North  of  the  chalk  range 
the  cliffs  are  of  less  elevation,  but  more  varied  in  form,  and 
perhaps  more  beautiful  than  those  of  Flambro'  head.  The 
bay  of  Scarborough  viewed  from  the  south  is  not  inferior  to 
any  part  of  the  coast  which  I  have  seen.  It  is  bounded  to  the 
north  by  a  fine  mass  of  perpendicular  rock,  which  is  crowned 
with  the  ruins  of  the  Castle.  So  far  I  have  got  on  without 
taxing  your  patience  with  any  account  of  my  peculiar  craft, 
and  I  hope  to  finish  without  doing  so.  I  am,  however,  partly 
disqualified  from  enjoying  the  picturesque  beauties  of  this 
country,  as  I  have  nearly  lost  the  use  of  one  eye  in  my  combats 
with  the  rocks.  A  splinter  struck  it  with  such  violence  that  it 
has  for  the  last  three  or  four  days  been  of  very  little  use 
to  me1. 

I  am  sitting  in  the  travellers'  room,  and  they  are  beginning 

1  Sedgwick's  eye  never  recovered  from  this  accident.  Writing  to  Lady 
Augusta  Stanley,  23  July,  1865,  he  says  :  "My  old  eyes — I  ought  to  say  my  old 
eye,  for  one  of  my  original  pair  has  struck  work  ever  since  1821,  when  I  offended 
it  by  a  splinter  of  rock  which  flew  from  my  hammer  in  Robin  Hood's  Bay — 
work  badly  by  candle-light." 

15—2 


228  WHITBY. 


i8*i.     to  be  so  noisy  that  I  really  hardly  know  what  I  write.     Let 

Mt.  36.    me  then  tell  you  at  once  that  I  have  paced  my  way  to  this 

place  along  a  most  rugged  coast,  and  that  I  hope  to  proceed 

with  my  tour  on  Tuesday  next     Whitby  is  a  dirty,  stinking, 

town  in  a  very  picturesque  situation,  but  I  have  no  time  to 

describe  it.     Pray  write  to  me  Post  Office,  Sunderland.     Give 

my  best  respects  to  Mrs  Ainger. 

Yours  ever, 

A.  Sedgwick. 

P.S.  Monday  morning.  I  concluded  last  night  rather 
bluntly.  Wine  and  tobacco  seemed  to  excite  some  of  my 
companions  above  all  measure.  Among  the  rest  an  old,  fat, 
deep-mouthed  Scotsman  became  so  enthusiastic  in  his  admira- 
tion of  the  native  genius  of  his  country,  that  he  roared,  ranted, 
or  sung,  whole  pages  of  Burns.  The  entrance  to  the  harbour 
of  Whitby  is  by  a  narrow  opening  in  the  cliff.  It  winds  up 
two  or  three  miles  into  the  country  flanked  on  both  sides  by 
very  steep  hills.  The  town  is  disposed  on  both  sides  of  this 
estuary  just  at  its  entrance  into  the  sea.  St  Hilda's  domain 
was  on  the  south  side  of  the  estuary.  The  ruins  of  the  abbey 
are  still  very  imposing,  and  in  a  very  beautiful  style  of 
architecture.  The  choir  and  transept  are  nearly  perfect,  and 
in  the  Early  English  order ;  the  nave  is  more  ruinous,  yet  has 
some  exquisite  arches  of  the  more  modern  Gothic.  About 
two-thirds  of  the  great  tower  is  standing1.  The  old  Scotsman 
is  again  come  into  the  room  coughing,  and  breathing  hard,  so 
I  must  conclude.  I  hope  to  emerge  from  this  district  to 
Stockton  in  about  a  week.  I  shall  then  go  up  the  coast  of 
Durham.  The  greater  part  of  the  expedition  must  be  per- 
formed on  foot.     Vale. 

Dent,  October  16,  1821. 
Dear  Ainger, 

My  memory  does  not  improve,  for  I  am  as  much 
abroad  as  I  was  before  in  regard  to  the  place  from  which  I 
directed  my  last  letter.     It  was  I  suppose  from  some  place  or 

1  These  remains  of  the  great  tower  fell  at  1  p.m.  25  June,  1830. 


TEESDALE.  229 


other  on  the  Yorkshire  coast.  My  sisters  and  Miss  Davoren1  i8«. 
are  so  noisy  that  my  poor  confused  brain  is  not  much  aided  in  iEt  &* 
its  recollection.  I  will  not  give  you  any  details  respecting  the 
cliffs  of  alum-shale,  and  the  mode  of  extracting  the  salt,  lest 
I  should  bore  you  with  a  second  edition  of  what  I  told  you  in 
my  last.  These  cliffs  in  some  places  rise  to  the  elevation  of 
600  feet,  and  then  take  a  sweep  round  into  the  interior, 
forming  a  magnificent  natural  terrace  overlooking  the  fine  flat 
district  of  Cleveland  and  part  of  Durham.  From  Stockton  I 
made  a  two  days'  excursion  up  the  Tees,  and  called  upon  our 
old  friend  Wallace*.  He  looks  charmingly  for  a  man  of  fifty, 
and  is  as  much  alive  as  ever.  Old  time,  that  unmerciful 
scratcher  of  faces,  has,  however,  worn  a  few  lines  in  his  face 
since  you  were  of  his  household.  The  coast  of  Durham,  in  a 
picturesque  point  of  view,  is  very  inferior  to  the  north-east 
cliff  of  Yorkshire.  The  rocks  prevailing  in  that  district  are 
composed  of  a  magnesian  limestone  which  performs  more 
freaks  in  its  mode  of  aggregation  than  any  mineral  substance 
I  have  yet  examined.  The  mouth  of  the  Tyne  has  an 
interest  peculiar  to  itself.  The  river  finds  its  way  into  the  sea 
through  a  chasm  in  a  rock  which  on  the  Northumberland  side 
is  of  great  elevation,  and  crowned  by  a  very  picturesque  ruin 
of  an  old  abbey.  The  eternal  bustle  on  the  river,  which  a 
little  above  Tynemouth  is  wider  than  the  Thames,  reminds 
one  of  the  scene  fcelow  London  Bridge.  I  found  my  way  up 
this  river  to  Newcastle  in  a  steam-boat;  and  in  getting  out  of 
it  had  my  ribs  nearly  staved  in  by  a  fall  in  the  hatchway.  Old 
Robert  Foster  now  lives  there,  and  is  very  hoary.  I  returned 
by  Durham,  and  spent  a  day  or  two  with  Carr,  who  has  now 
three   children,  and  will  soon  (d.  v.)  have  a  fourth.     From 

1  Miss  Jane  Davoren,  niece  to  Mrs  Brownrigg,  a  lady  who  had  resided  for 
several  years  at  Broadficld  in  Kirthwaite,  married  the  Rev.  John  Sedgwick  in 
April,  1822. 

2  Dr  Wallace,  a  physician  who  lived  at  Sedbergh  when  Sedgwick  was  a  boy, 
and  was  a  great  friend  of  his.  Ainger  boarded  in  his  house.  A  few  years  before 
the  date  of  this  letter  Dr  Wallace  removed  to  the  neighbourhood  of  Barnard 
Castle. 


230  TEESDALE. 


i8ii.  there  I  went  to  Darlington,  to  take  possession  of  a  horse 
Ml  36.  which  the  Doctor  had  bought  for  me ;  on  this  beast  I  went  up 
the  higher  part  of  Teesdale.  It  is  perhaps  more  beautiful 
than  any  valley  in  the  North  of  England.  I  had  before 
examined  the  country  on  the  borders  of  the  river  near  Rokeby, 
which  has  been  so  well  described  by  Scott  In  the  highest 
part  of  the  valley,  which  is  ornamented  with  foliage,  the  whole 
river  is  precipitated  over  a  fine  mass  of  columnar  basalt,  and 
forms  a  fall  not  inferior  to  any  in  the  Lake  district  The 
columnar  basalt  is  also  found  on  both  sides  of  the  valley  for 
some  miles  above  the  High  Force,  and  is  arranged  in  magnifi- 
cent clusters  of  pillars.  I  was  driven  from  this  interesting 
district  by  the  most  incessant  rain  with  which  I  was  ever 
persecuted,  and  found  my  way  to  Dent  by  the  way  of  Brough 
and  Kirkby  Stephen.  When  I  reached  Sedbergh  I  was 
soaked  with  wet  like  a  piece  of  blotting-paper. 

My  friends  here  are  all  well,  but  complain  of  the  shortness 
of  my  visit  I  arrived  last  Friday  morning  and  intend  to 
start  for  Cambridge  the  day  after  tomorrow.  Under  the 
circumstances  of  my  visit  you  will  see  that  it  was  impossible 
for  me  to  reach  St  Bees.  I  shall  be  happy  to  assist  in  the 
procession  when  you  keep  your  Act1.  The  ladies,  who  are  as 
noisy  as  ever,  now  desire  their  kind  regards.  For  the  last 
quarter  of  an  hour  I  have  not  been  able  to  see  a  word  that  I 
am  writing,  and  Miss  D.  is  just  beginning  to  rattle  the  keys  of 
the  piano,  so  I  must  needs  conclude.  My  best  regards  to  Mrs 
Ainger  and  my  love  to  my  god-daughter.     Yours  ever 

A.  Sedgwick. 

Mr  Robert  Foster,  whom  Sedgwick  met  at  Newcastle,  was 
a  friend  of  his  boyhood  at  Sedbergh,  and  he  has  sketched  his 
portrait  with  singular  vividness  among  his  reminiscences  of 
those  early  days. 

"  The  next  person  who  rises  before  my  mind's  eye  is  Mr  Foster 
of  Hebblethwaite  Hall,  a  beautiful  property  a  little  more  than  two 

1  Mr  Ainger  proceeded  to  the  degree  of  B.D.  in  i8«. 


ROBERT  FOSTER.  231 


miles  above  Sedbergh.  He  was  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  and  some-  i8«. 
times  when  he  drove  over  to  visit  the  brotherhood  in  Kirthwaite,  or  mu  36. 
at  other  times  when  tempted  by  the  bright  weather  to  make  a  short 
cut  over  the  hills  to  the  old  vicarage  of  Dent,  he  would  halt  a  few 
hours  in  friendly  intercourse  with  my  father.  I  remember  his 
presence  well,  when  I  was  but  a  little  boy :  his  dark  complexion 
which  had  been  made  darker  by  a  tropical  sun ;  his  small  and  regular 
features ;  his  dark  and  bushy  eyebrows  ;  his  earnest  and  grave  look, 
which  at  first  sight  gave  me  an  impression  of  sternness.  But  all 
that  feeling  went  off  when  he  began  to  speak;  for  his  voice  was 
pleasant,  and  his  discourse  at  once  earnest  and  genial.  Even  in  my 
childhood  I  felt  joy  whenever  he  came  to  the  vicarage ;  and  I  used 
to  creep  behind  his  chair  that  I  might  hear  him  talk.  He  wore  a 
broad-brimmed  hat,  and  a  grave  outer  garb  of  a  quaker  cut ;  but  I 
never  thought  that  he  looked  quite  like  a  quaker.  He  had  not  the 
soft,  bland,  expression  of  a  good  old  quaker  statesman ;  and  he  had 
a  confirmed  habit  of  slovenliness,  which  was  utterly  unlike  the 
precise  and  perfect  neatness  of  all  other  men  of  his  grade  in  the 
Society  of  Friends. 

While  at  Sedbergh  School  he  soon  outstripped  all  the  boys  of  his 
class  in  making  his  way  through  the  standard  authors  in  Greek  and 
Latin ;  and  he  outstripped  them  quite  as  much  in  audacious  deeds  of 
eccentric  waggery.  His  mind  became  inflamed  by  dreams  of  foreign 
lands,  and  thoughts  of  enterprise ;  and  while  in  such  moods,  spite  of 
the  beautiful  scenery  of  his  native  home,  his  yearnings  were  little 
satisfied  by  the  thoughts  of  settling  down  into  the  placid  life  of  a 
leading  quaker  statesman.  So  he  one  day  packed  up  bag  and 
baggage,  and  walked  off  to  seek  his  fortune ;  and  a  few  days  after- 
wards (I  think  at  Liverpool)  entered  himself  in  a  foreign-bound  vessel 
as  a  common  sailor.  He  set  to  work  in  his  new  life  with  all  the 
energy  of  his  ardent  will ;  and  the  master  of  the  vessel,  who  was 
a  man  of  good  sense  and  humanity,  marked  the  boy's  style  and 
manner,  took  him  to  his  cabin,  and  drew  from  him  his  secret.  'You 
have  done  wrong  in  leaving  your  parents,'  said  the  captain ;  '  but 
spite  of  that  I  like  your  spirit,  and  I  give  you  the  choice  of  two 
things :  If  you  have  the  heart  to  go  on  with  this  profession  you  must 
leave  this  ship,  and  be  rated  as  a  midshipman  in  a  man-of-war,  and  I 
have  a  friend  in  the  royal  navy  to  whom  I  will  send  you,  and  you 
will  be  put,  as  a  young  gentleman,  in  a  right  position.  If  this  do 
not  suit  you,  I  have  no  choice  left  but  to  put  you  under  arrest,  and 
send  you  back  to  your  father.' 

There  could  be  no  doubt  which  alternative  the  boy  would  choose. 
He  was  rated  as  a  midshipman  in  a  man-of-war;  and  by  an 
enthusiastic  devotion  to  all  the  duties  and  studies  of  his  profession, 
he  gradually  became  an  accomplished  sailor ;  and  during  one  of  the 
early  wars  of  the  reign  of  George  III.  performed  in  the  West  Indies 
such  acts  of  well-timed  and  daring  courage,  that  he  obtained  the 
commission  of  lieutenant  much  sooner,  I  believe,  than  would  be 
compatible  with  the  rules  of  modern  service. 


232  ROBERT  FOSTER. 


1811.  Once  or  twice  during  the  intervals  of  active  service  he  came  down 

Mt.  36.  to  Hebblethwaite  Hall ;  and  it  is  said  that  he  appeared  at  Briggflatts 
Meeting-house,  with  his  laced  cocked-hat  on  his  head,  and  a  cutlass 
by  his  side;  perhaps  to  the  suppressed  admiration  of  the  younger 
Sisterhood,  but  certainly  to  the  horror  of  the  venerable  and  peaceful 
Fathers  of  the  Society.  Every  effort  was  made  to  win  him  back  to  a 
peaceful  life.  He  loved  his  friends,  and  he  loved  the  Dales ;  but  he 
resolved  to  continue  in  that  profession  in  which  he  had  already  won 
some  glory. 

At  another  interval  in  the  service  he  again  came  down  to 
Sedbergh,  and  mingled  once  more  with  the  tried  friends  of  his  early 
youth :  and  then  it  was  that  he  proved  in  his  own  person — what  he 
had  read  of  in  the  poets  of  antiquity — that  love  is  in  conflict  mightier 
than  fire  and  sword.  He  was  smitten  by  one  of  the  youthful  Sister- 
hood, as  by  a  fire  from  a  masked  battery,  and  brought  to  the  ground, 
never  again  to  rise  in  his  former  strength.  His  courage  was  gone, 
for  no  heart  was  left  in  him.  His  dearest  friends  seized  the  oppor- 
tunity; and  by  every  entreaty  of  duty,  by  the  power  of  youthful 
passion,  and  by  the  prospect  of  realising  new  dreams  of  happiness  in 
the  immediate  possession  of  the  family  estate  and  the  lady  of  his  first 
love — by  the  might  of  all  these  motives  acting  together,  he  was 
conquered,  and  struck  his  flag  for  ever.  His  visions  of  future  glory 
vanished  like  the  colours  upon  an  air-bubble,  and  he  collapsed  into 
the  condition  of  a  country  gentleman,  much  honoured  in  the  Dale, 
and  of  a  leader  in  that  Society  in  which  fate  had  first  placed  him. 

These  events  happened  long  before  I  was  counted  among  the 
inhabitants  of  the  Dales ;  and  after  the  lapse  of  many  years,  while  I 
boarded  with  a  kind  quaker  family,  we  often  saw  Mr  Foster ;  and 
greatly  rejoiced  when  we  were  invited  to  spend  a  half-holiday  at 
Hebblethwaite  Hall.  He  loved  the  society  of  boys  who  had  risen  to 
the  upper  classes  of  the  school ;  and  he  had  resumed  his  studies  of 
the  classics,  and  become  a  very  accomplished  Latin  scholar.  Some- 
times he  half  alarmed  us,  when  he  took  down  some  ancient  classic, 
and  began  to  discuss  a  point  of  criticism.  We  thought  we  had 
enough  of  such  matters  when  before  our  schoolmaster.  But  our  fears 
were  of  short  duration ;  for  he  was  soon  carried  on  by  his  love  of  the 
author ;  and  then,  in  a  way  peculiar  to  himself,  he  would  roll  out  a 
noble  translation  of  some  favourite  passage.  It  might  be  from  one 
of  the  orations  of  Cicero,  or  some  pregnant  and  pithy  chapter  out  of 
the  works  of  Tacitus ;  or  it  might  be  some  burst  of  indignant  scorn 
and  mockery  out  of  one  of  the  old  Roman  Satirists.  These  were 
days  of  delight  to  the  schoolboys  who  had  the  honour  of  being 
admitted  to  such  genial  and  healthy  visits. 

Sometimes,  but  rarely,  he  and  my  father  had  discussions  at  the 
vicarage  on  subjects  of  religious  ordinances ;  but  I  think  I  may  say 
with  full  assurance  that  no  word  of  bitterness  ever  escaped  from  the 
tongue  of  one  or  the  other.  They  agreed  in  many  of  the  great 
essentials  of  Christian  truth :  and  they  agreed  that  the  end  of  all 
religious  ordinances  was  to  bring  the  heart — the  fountain-head  of  all 


GEOLOGICAL    WORK.  233 

true  religious  emotion — into  conformity,  both  in  thought  and  outward      i8«. 
act,  with  the  revealed  will  of  God.  ^t>  -« 

The  last  time  I  saw  Mr  Robert  Foster  was  at  Newcastle,  I  believe 
in  the  year  1821,  while  I  was  upon  a  geological  tour.  The  load  of 
years  had  then  been  resting  upon  him :  but  his  heart  had  not 
become  cold;  for  the  old  man  received  me  with  the  warmest 
welcome ;  and  then  he  walked  with  me  (no  longer  with  his  firm  step 
of  former  years),  and  shewed  me  some  of  the  neighbouring  establish- 
ments on  the  river  Tyne.  He  seemed  to  be  again  in  his  own 
element ;  and  all  the  persons  connected  with  the  shipping  interests 
of  the  river  treated  him  with  marked  respect  and  confidence.  After 
a  while  he  said,  '  We  will  go  and  rest  ourselves  at  the  study  of  one  of 
my  friends.  You  will  like  to  know  him,  for  he  is  a  man  of  genius, 
and  a  great  humourist. '  It  was  Bewick,  the  well-informed  naturalist, 
and  celebrated  engraver  upon  wood ;  and  we  had  a  long  and  delight- 
ful interview  with  that  great  artist1." 

The  geological  work  of  the  next  four  months — as  well  as 
the  results  of  the  tour  of  1821, — are  well  described  in  Sedg- 
wick's report  to  the  Woodwardian  auditors  dated  1  May, 
1822. 

"  The  Professor  spent  the  month  of  June  and  the  early  part  of 
July  in  examining  the  structure  of  the  Isle  of  Wight,  the  coast  of 
Hampshire,  and  part  of  Oxfordshire.  The  spoils  obtained  during 
this  excursion  were  conveyed  to  the  University  in  four  large  cases. 

"  He  afterwards  went  to  Lichfield  for  the  purpose  of  attending  an 
auction  of  fossils,  and  was  fortunate  in  obtaining  some  very  valuable 
specimens  at  what  he  considered  a  reasonable  price.  They  were 
conveyed  to  the  University  in  one  very  large  case. 

"  He  then  employed  between  two  and  three  months  in  a  geologi- 
cal survey  of  the  coasts  of  Yorkshire,  Durham,  and  Northumberland. 
During  this  excursion  (the  greatest  part  of  which  was  necessarily 
made  on  foot)  he  collected  many  illustrative  specimens,  which  were 
sent  off  from  Whitby,  Sunderland,  and  Newcastle,  in  four  large 
packing-cases.  He  also  succeeded,  through  the  assistance  of  a 
clergyman  at  Whitby,  in  purchasing  some  valuable  spoils  of  the 
Ichthyosaurus,  which  have  been  conveyed  to  Cambridge  in  three 
large  cases.  On  his  return  from  the  coast  of  Northumberland  in  the 
month  of  October,  he  examined  the  basaltic  and  mining  districts  of 
High  Teesdale,  and  collected  many  interesting  specimens. 

"  Of  the  preceding  collections  a  part  is  at  present  in  the  progress 
of  arrangement.  The  remaining  specimens  must  be  returned  to  the 
packing  cases  until  some  more  accommodation  is  found  for  their 
reception  :  as  there  is  at  present  hardly  a  single  drawer  in  the 
Museum  which  is  unoccupied. 

1  Supplement  to  the  Memorial y  ut  suf>ra,  pp.  54 — 59.  The  passage  has  been 
slightly  compressed  in  transcription. 


234  SEDGWICK'S   VARIED  INTERESTS. 

i8aa.  "The  Museum  has  also  received  a  very  valuable  accession  in  a 

iEt.  37.  collection  presented  by  Mr  Henslow,  which  consists  of  nearly  1000 
specimens  carefully  selected  during  a  geological  survey  of  the  Isle  of 
Anglesea,  and  illustrated  by  a  memoir  and  sections  which  will  be 
published  in  the  next  number  of  the  Cambridge  Transactions1.  Mr 
Henslow  has  undertaken  the  arrangement  of  this  collection,  which 
occupies  twenty-four  drawers. 

"  The  Woodwardian  professor  begs  finally  to  add  that  he  has  this 
year  read  twenty-eight  public  lectures  to  the  University,  and  that  he 
is  endeavouring  to  comply  with  a  clause  in  the  Founder's  Will  in 
preparing  for  the  Press  the  substance  of  two  of  the  lectures'." 

Most  men  in  the  position  which  Sedgwick  now  held,  with 
an  annual  course  of  lectures  to  deliver,  the  value  of  which  had 
received  a  substantial  acknowledgment  from  the  University — 
a  Museum  to  maintain — and  the  almost  boundless  field  of 
geology  before  him — a  terra  incognita  of  which  he  had  just 
commenced  the  exploration — would  have  devoted  themselves 
to  their  new  duties  with  a  singleness  of  purpose  which  would 
have  excluded  most  other  interests.  But  this  was  what 
Sedgwick  never  could  bring  himself  to  do.  He  had  no 
intellectual  self-control ;  he  could  never  shut  his  eyes  and  ears 
to  what  was  going  on  around  him ;  and  we  shall  continually 
find  his  geological  work  laid  aside  for  long  intervals,  because 
he  had  allowed  himself  to  be  carried  away  by  something 
foreign  to  what  ought  to  have  been  the  real  purpose  of  his  life 
— something  which  others  less  occupied  than  himself  would 
have  done  as  well,  or  better,  than  he  did.  At  one  time  he 
appears  as  a  member  of  a  Syndicate  appointed  to  provide 
temporary  accommodation  for  Viscount  Fitzwilliam's  collec- 
tions, and  to  consult  and  report  to  the  Senate  on  the  erection 
of  a  permanent  Museum,  pieces  of  business  which  led  those 
who  took  them  in  hand  into  long  and  tedious  negotiations ; 
at  another  we  find  his  name  on  The  University  Branch  Com- 
mittee for  promoting  a  subscription  in  Aid  of  the   Greeks*, 

1  Mr  Henslow's  Geological  Description  of  Anglesea  was  read  to  the  Cambridge 
Philosophical  Society  26  November,  183 1,  and  is  published  in  their  Transactions ; 
Vol.  I.,  pp.  359—452- 

*  These  lectures  were  never  published. 

8  Address  of  the  Committee,  20  Nov.,  1823.  The  Rev.  G.  A.  Browne,  Fellow 
of  Trinity  College,  was  specially  active  in  this  matter,  and  it  was  probably  through 


PROFESSORSHIP  OF  MINERALOGY.  235 

whose  'holy  cause/  as  it  is  termed,  was  no  doubt  specially  i8m. 
dear  to  so  true  an  Abolitionist  as  Sedgwick,  and  occupied  a  iEt  37* 
proportionate  space  in  his  time  and  thoughts.  The  conse- 
quences of  these  distant  excursions  may  be  easily  imagined. 
Geological  memoranda  which  ought  to  have  been  arranged 
when  the  subject  was  fresh  in  his  mind  were  laid  aside; 
specimens  remained  for  months — sometimes  for  years — un- 
determined, or  even  not  unpacked ;  promised  papers  were 
not  finished — perhaps  not  begun.  These  remarks,  which 
apply  to  his  whole  life,  have  been  suggested  by  what  took 
place  in  1822.  Hardly  had  his  report  been  laid  before  the 
Woodwardian  auditors  when  he  felt  it  his  duty  to  plunge 
into  a  University  controversy,  which,  between  discussions  with 
friends,  and  pamphlets  against  opponents,  must  have  occupied 
a  considerable  portion  of  his  time  for  nearly  two  years.  The 
matter — especially  Sedgwick's  share  in  it — is  of  sufficient  im- 
portance to  demand  a  brief  notice  in  this  place. 

On  the  death  of  Dr  Edward  Daniel  Clarke,  Professor  of 
Mineralogy,  9  March,  1822,  there  was  some  difference  of 
opinion  as  to  the  expediency  of  continuing  a  Professorship  of 
Mineralogy  in  the  University.  The  title  of  Professor,  it  should 
be  remembered,  had  been  conferred  on  Dr  Clarke  in  1808, 
but  no  Professorship  had  ever  been  formally  established. 
Meanwhile  Sedgwick's  intimate  friend,  Mr  Henslow,  had 
announced  his  intention  of  becoming  a  candidate,  should  the 
Professorship  be  continued  ;  and  it  soon  became  apparent 
that,  if  he  had  a  chance  of  coming  forward,  he  need  have  no 
fear  of  the  result.  At  last,  15  May,  a  Grace  passed  the 
Senate  which  may  be  thus  translated  : 

"  Whereas  by  the  death  of  Edward  D.  Clarke,  late  Professor  of 
Mineralogy,  that  office  is  now  vacant :  may  it  please  you  that  another 

his  influence  that  Sedgwick,  together  with  his  friends  Pryme,  Romilly,  Whewell, 
and  Lodge  were  all  induced  to  join  the  Committee.  In  1824  Pryme  invited  two 
of  the  Greek  deputies,  who  had  come  to  England  to  negotiate  a  loan,  to  stay  with 
him  at  Cambridge  for  the  Commencement,  and  Sedgwick  met  them  at  his  house. 
Recollections )  p.  143. 


236  PROFESSORSHIP  OF  MINERALOGY. 

18a*.      Professor  be  elected  by  you  to  discharge  the  duties  of  the  said 
Mt.  37.    office1." 

As  this  Grace  was  copied,  verbatim,  the  name  only  being 
altered,  from  a  Grace  passed  23  January,  1732,  for  continuing 
the  Professorship  of  Botany  (which,  like  that  of  Mineralogy, 
had  become  vacant  by  the  death  of  the  first  Professor), 
Members  of  the  Senate  assumed  that  the  election  of  a  Profes- 
sor to  succeed  Dr  Clarke  would  be  conducted  in  the  same 
manner  as  the  election  of  the  Professor  of  Botany  had  been, 
namely,  by  open  poll.  It  was  with  great  surprise,  therefore, 
that  they  learnt,  a  few  days  after  the  Grace  had  passed, 
that  the  Heads  of  Houses, — at  the  instigation,  as  it  was 
believed,  of  Dr  Webb,  Master  of  Clare  Hall,  and  Dr  Chafy, 
Master  of  Sidney  Sussex  College* — intended  to  conduct 
the  election  in  the  mode  observed  at  the  election  of  Vice- 
Chancellor — in  other  words,  to  nominate  two  persons,  one 
of  whom  the  Senate  would  obviously  be  constrained  to 
elect  Alarmed  at  what  was  certainly  an  innovation,  and 
apprehensive  that,  if  it  were  acquiesced  in,  a  similar  claim 
would  be  made  respecting  all  Professorships  founded  by  the 
University,  a  large  number  of  members  of  the  Senate  met 
at  the  Red  Lion  Inn,  and  'organised  a  very  pretty  rebellion'8. 
The  sense  of  the  University  was  evidently  with  them,  for 
seventy-four  signatures  were  immediately  affixed  to  a  dignified 
Representation  to  the  Vice-Chancellor  and  Heads  of  Colleges 
(24  May),  praying  them  to  abandon  a  position  which,  as  the 
memorialists  clearly  shewed,  was  contrary  to  all  precedent 
To  this  Representation,  though  those  who  signed  it  were 
among  the  most  distinguished  men  in  the  University,  and 
represented,  in  numbers  alone,  at  least  three-fourths  of  the 
resident    academic    body8  —  no    reply   was   vouchsafed,   but, 

1  As  the  subsequent  controversy  turned,  in  great  measure,  on  the  wording  of 
this  Grace,  it  shall  be  cited  in  the  original  Latin :  *  Cum  per  mortem  Edwardi  D. 
Clarke  nuper  Professoris  Mineralogice  munus  istud  iam  vacans  existit ;  Placeat 
vobis  ut  alius  ad  idem  munus  exequendum  a  vobis  eligatur.' 

*  Whewell's  Life,  p.  76. 

8  Professor  Christian,  from  whose  Explanation  of  the  Law  of  Elections  in  the 
University  of  Cambridge,  8vo.  Camb.  i8?a,  many  of  the  facts  here  recited  have 


PROFESSORSHIP  OF  MINERALOGY.  237 

three  days  afterwards  (27  May),  a  notice  was  issued  by  the  i8m. 
Vice-Chancellor,  Dr  French,  Master  of  Jesus  College,  to  the  &x*  37- 
effect  that  at  the  congregation  on  the  ensuing  day,  a  Grace 
would  be  offered  to  rescind  the  previous  Grace — or,  in  other 
words,  to  discontinue  the  Professorship.  It  is  strange  that 
the  Heads,  who  are  said  to  have  been  by  no  means  unani- 
mous in  favour  of  the  claim  to  nomination,  should  have  taken 
so  high-handed  a  course  when  the  Senate  was  so  deeply 
irritated.  As  might  have  been  expected,  the  Grace  was  re- 
jected by  forty-three  votes  to  seven.  Thereupon  the  Heads 
at  once  nominated  Mr  Henslow  and  Mr  Lunn,  both  of  St 
John's  College,  and  the  Vice  Chancellor  announced  that  the 
election  would  take  place  on  the  day  following,  at  two  o'clock. 
In  the  interval  the  members  of  the  Senate  who  had  drawn  up 
the  Representation  met  again  to  consider  their  position.  It 
was  determined  to  select  a  candidate  of  their  own ;  and, 
in  the  event  of  their  votes  for  him  being  rejected,  to  take  legal 
measures  for  the  vindication  of  their  rights. 

This  conflict  reveals  a  state  of  things  so  different  from  that 
to  which  we  are  now  accustomed  to  in  the  University,  that 
a  few  words  of  explanation  are  necessary.  By  the  statutes  of 
the  1 2th  year  of  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth  it  was  provided, 
that  when  certain  offices  were  vacant,  the  Heads  of  Colleges 
should  nominate  two  persons,  one  of  whom  was  subsequently 
elected  by  the  Senate.  Among  the  officers  so  nominated  was 
the  Vice-Chancellor.  By  statute  the  Heads  might  nominate 
whom  they  pleased,  but  in  practice  they  invariably  chose  one 
of  their  own  body,  who  was  only  too  glad,  on  all  occasions  of 
difficulty,  to  shelter  himself  behind  the  other  members  of  his 
own  order.  Gradually,  therefore,  the  Heads  had  acquired  the 
position  of  assessors  to  the  Vice-Chancellor,  and  were,  practi- 
cally, the  rulers  of  the  University.  Whether  they  executed 
these   high   functions  moderately,  or  tyrannically,  need  not 

been  borrowed,  has  the  following  passage  (p.  25):  "The  whole  number  of  a 
different  opinion  could  not  probably  be  25,  for  the  whole  number  who  voted  for 
and  against  the  petition  against  the  late  Catholic  Bill  were  66  to  33. " 


238  PROFESSORSHIP  OF  MINERALOGY. 

j  83i.     here  be  discussed ;  all  that  need  be  pointed  out  is  that  they 

&L  37*    were  regarded  with  jealousy  by  the  Senate,  as  an  oligarchy 

anxious  to  retain  privileges  which  depended  on  custom  rather 

than  on  statute,  and  eager  to  embrace  every  opportunity  of 

extending  them. 

Through  the  whole  course  of  the  dispute  Sedgwick  was  a 
prominent  member  of  the  opposition.  Que  diable  allait-il 
/aire  dans  cette  galkre  f  is  naturally  the  first  question  of  every 
one  interested  in  his  more  important  pursuits.  The  answer  is 
not  far  to  seek.  In  the  first  place,  before  the  controversy 
began  he  had  had  an  interview  with  Dr  French,  on  Henslow's 
behalf,  which  seemed  friendly  enough  at  the  time,  but  which, 
as  events  proved,  brought  him  into  the  very  front  of  the  con- 
troversy. Secondly,  as  has  been  already  stated  more  than 
once,  Sedgwick  had  a  horror  of  wrong,  or  even  the  semblance 
of  wrong,  and  he  had  succeeded  in  persuading  himself  that 
the  Heads  were  making  an  unjustifiable  attempt  to  deprive 
the  Senate  of  one  of  its  privileges.  It  is  impossible  to 
approve  the  whole  of  his  subsequent  conduct— especially  his 
personal  controversy  with  Dr  French;  but  in  the  initial  stages 
of  the  affair  he  showed  an  independence  of  spirit  combined 
with  a  courteous  demeanour  towards  those  who  differed  from 
him,  which  cannot  be  too  highly  praised,  and  which  is  the 
more  striking  when  contrasted  with  the  uncompromising  de- 
fiance of  his  opponents. 

Every  effort  was  made  by  the  opposition  to  avoid  a  con- 
flict After  their  last  meeting,  a  deputation  waited  on  the 
Vice-Chancellor,  urging  him  to  assemble  the  Heads,  and 
devise  some  plan  of  conciliation.  He  replied  that  it  was  now 
too  late  to  get  them  together  before  the  election,  but  that 
on  the  following  day  he  would  consult  those  who  might  be 
present  in  the  Senate  House.  Six  Heads  only  came  to  the 
Congregation,  and  after  a  long  discussion,  the  Vice-Chancellor 
decided  to  proceed  with  the  election,  with  the  proviso,  it  is 
said,  that  if  no  member  of  the  Senate  voted  for  either  of  the 
candidates  nominated,  the  election  should  be  adjourned  to 


PROFESSORSHIP  OF  MINERALOGY.  239 

that  day  fortnight  The  Senior  Proctor  having  read  out  the  i8«. 
names  of  the  persons  nominated  by  the  Heads,  Sedgwick  and  ^t.  37. 
Mr  Carrighan  of  St  John's  College  handed  in  a  written  pro- 
test against  the  form  of  the  election  about  to  take  place.  A 
single  vote  was  then  recorded  for  Henslow,  and  a  considerable 
number  for  a  third  person.  These  were  disallowed.  At  the 
close  of  the  election  the  Vice-Chancellor  declared  Henslow 
duly  elected,  and  admitted  him  with  the  usual  formalities. 

The  Heads,  as  well  as  their  opponents,  must  have  known 
that  the  matter  could  not  end  in  this  unsatisfactory  fashion. 
Two  days  afterwards  (30  May)  a  committee  of  their  oppo- 
nents met,  and  decided  that  any  legal  measures  which  they 
might  resort  to  against  the  Heads  should  be  conducted  'in  the 
spirit  of  the  utmost  amity  and  courtesy  \  Sedgwick  does  not 
state  explicitly  that  this  proposal  emanated  from  himself,  but 
the  tone  of  his  Letter  to  the  Cambridge  Chronicle,  and  some 
expressions  in  his  first  pamphlet  against  Dr  French,  warrant 
us  in  assuming  that  such  was  the  case.  At  a  subsequent 
meeting,  held  15  June,  Sedgwick,  Mr  Carrighan,  and  Mr 
Lodge  were  deputed  to  wait  on  the  Vice-Chancellor,  in  order 
to  propose  that  the  question  should  be  tried  by  a  joint  appli- 
cation to  the  Court  of  King's  Bench.  The  answer,  however, 
was  not  conciliatory,  and  therefore  the  Court  was  moved  by 
the  committee  alone,  who  obtained  a  Rule  (21  June)  calling 
on  the  Vice-Chancellor  to  show  cause  why  a  Mandamus 
should  not  issue  for  the  admission  of  their  nominee  to  the 
Professorship.  In  these  proceedings  Sedgwick  took  a  pro- 
minent part,  with  some  unwillingness,  as  would  appear  from 
what  he  himself  says : 

"  In  the  commencement  of  the  legal  proceedings,  I  expected  to 
be  called  upon  to  make  an  affidavit  on  the  intention  of  the  party 
which  proposed  the  Grace  (of  May  15,  1822),  and  on  the  construction 
put  upon  it,  at  the  time,  by  the  Senate.  But  the  affidavit  connected 
with  the  general  merits  was  prepared  for  another  Member  of  the 
Senate.  In  consequence  of  an  unlooked-for  delay  in  his  arrival  in 
London,  it  was  re-modelled  and  sworn  by  myself.  Thus,  by  mere 
accident,  I  was  placed  in  the  position  of  plaintiff;  and  in  all  the 
future  proceedings  I  have  watched  the  progress  of  the  cause  with 


240       DR  FRENCHES  ADDRESS  TO   THE  SENATE. 


1833.      deep  interest,  but  with  no  feelings  of  ill-will  towards  those  who  were 
&x.  38.    opposed  to  the  Senate1/' 

The  hearing  of  the  case  was  not  concluded  until  the  end  of 
April,  1823;  and,  for  reasons  into  which  it  is  needless  to  enter, 
judgment  was  neither  given,  nor  applied  for.  At  the  moment, 
however,  when  the  University  seemed  on  the  point  of  hearing 
the  last  of  a  painful  controversy,  a  personal  conflict  broke  out 
between  Sedgwick  and  Dr  French,  which,  though  it  extended 
through  1823  and  into  1824,  had  better  be  disposed  of  in  this 
place.  In  May  1823,  shortly  after  the  conclusion  of  the  case 
in  the  Court  of  King's  Bench,  Sedgwick  unfortunately  thought 
proper  to  address  a  long  letter  to  the  Cambridge  Chronicle^ 
with  the  view,  as  he  said,  of  supplying  some  omissions  in  his 
affidavit  In  this  letter,  which  had  better  have  been  never 
written,  he  gave  his  own  version  of  his  conversation  with 
Dr  French  at  Jesus  College  Lodge ;  urging  particularly  that 
no  hint  of  doubt  as  to  the  mode  of  election  had  then  been 
dropped,  that  the  Senate  had  accepted  the  Grace  of  1 5  May, 
1822,  under  the  belief  that  it  would  be  followed  by  an  open  poll, 
and,  this  being  the  case,  that  Dr  French  ought  not  to  have 
joined  those  '  who  endeavoured  to  force  upon  the  University  a 
construction  of  his  Grace  which  was  at  variance  with  his  own 
meaning  when  he  proposed  it,  and  with  the  understanding  of 
the  Senate  when  they  accepted  and  ratified  it*.  In  reply  to 
this  letter  Dr  French  issued  (18  June)  An  Address  to  tJie 
Senate.  This  curious  composition  is  written  in  the  third 
person,  as  though  the  author  was  in  so  exalted  a  position 
that  he  could  not  even  use  the  same  pronouns  as  the  rest  of 
the  University — an  assumption  of  dignity  which  becomes 
ridiculous  when  it  is  remembered  that  he  was  Sedgwick's 
junior  by  three  years.  At  the  same  time  the  pamphlet  is  not 
deficient  in  ability.  But,  clever  as  the  author  certainly  showed 
himself  in  handling  a  bad  case,  he  made  one  very  damaging 
admission : 

1  A  Reply  to  an  Address  to  the  Senate,  published  by  the  Master  of  Jesus  College, 
8vo.  Camb.  1823,  p.  78. 


DR  FRENCH'S  ADDRESS   TO   THE  SENATE.        241 

"Dr  French  neither  intended  that  his  Grace  should  give  the  1823. 
right  of  Election  more  durgensium,  nor  did  he  intend  the  contrary.  >£t.  38. 
Aware  that  a  difference  of  opinion  existed  as  to  the  proper  mode  of 
Election  in  such  cases  as  this  of  the  Professorship  of  Mineralogy,  he 
intended  simply  to  ascertain,  without  prejudice  to  the  claims  of  any 
party,  whether  the  Senate  were  desirous  of  continuing  the  office. 
When  a  Grace  to  this  effect  had  passed,  he  determined,  under  these 
circumstances,  not  to  proceed  further  without  the  sanction  of  the 
Heads.  And,  accordingly,  as  soon  as  there  was  a  majority  of  the 
Heads  of  Colleges  in  the  University,  Dr  French,  as  Vice-Chancellor, 
called  a  meeting,  for  the  express  purpose  of  asking  their  deliberate 
judgment  upon  the  proper  method  of  proceeding1." 

This  paragraph  granted  all  that  Sedgwick  was  contending 
for,  namely,  that  he  had  been  allowed  to  carry  away  the 
impression  that  the  Grace  to  continue  the  Professorship  of 
Mineralogy,  being  in  the  same  form  as  that  used  on  a  similar 
occasion  for  Botany,  would  be  followed,  as  that  was,  by  an 
open  poll.  Had  Dr  French  been  more  cautious,  or  more 
candid,  he  would  have  taken  good  care  to  avoid  a  mis- 
understanding on  so  important  a  question;  and,  above  all, 
he  would  not  have  selected  a  form  of  words  for  his  Grace 
with  which  the  very  meaning  he  did  not  wish  to  convey 
would  infallibly  be  associated. 

Sedgwick's  feelings  on  reading  Dr  French's  pamphlet  will 
be  best  understood  from  the  following  letter,  addressed  to  Dr 
Monk,  then  Dean  of  Peterborough,  one  of  those  who  had 
signed  the  Representation. 

Trin.  Coll.,  October  23,  1823. 
Dear  Mr  Dean, 

I  am  just  returned  to  the  University  after  an  absence 
of  more  than  five  months.  You  will,  I  doubt  not,  have  seen 
Dr  French's  reply  to  the  letter  which  I  addressed  to  the 
Senate.  I  am  about  to  commence  my  reply  to  it  this  morning. 
My  opponent  has  come  out  with  a  bold  tone,  and  has  taken 
a  lofty  flight.  Unless  I  am  most  egregiously  mistaken  I  can 
easily  bring  him  down  from  his  perch — not  by  swaggering 
invectives  and  solemn  asseverations,  but  by  a  plain  unvarnished 

1  An  Address  to  the  Senate,  p.  10. 
S.  I.  16 


242  SEDGWICICS  ANSWER   TO  DR  FRENCH. 

18*3.  tale  which  he  will  have  reason  to  remember  to  the  last  day  of 
Xx.  38.  his  life.  I  now  formally  accuse  him  of  mental  reservation 
towards  myself,  and  of  unfair  and  disingenuous  dealing 
towards  Henslow  and  the  Senate.  I  am,  however,  resolved 
not  to  let  the  strength  of  my  phrase  go  "  beyond  the  staple  of 
my  argument",  and  to  conduct  the  controversy  with  proper 
forbearance.  On  the  abstract  merits  of  the  question  in  liti- 
gation I  shall  not  be  able  to  speak  at  length,  but  I  shall 
endeavour  to  notice  them  some  way  or  other.  Have  you  any 
information  to  communicate  on  the  subject?  Would  you 
have  the  goodness  to  give  me  a  synoptical  view  of  the  proofs 
by  which  the  rank  of  Professors  is  established,  and  their 
distinction  from  the  Lectores  of  the  40th  Chapter  of  Elizabeth's 
statutes  is  made  out1  ?  I  am  now  very  anxious  to  get  forward 
with  my  pamphlet.  You  will  therefore  greatly  add  to  the 
obligation  by  sending  your  information  as  soon  as  you  can 
possibly  make  it  convenient  Did  I  not  know  your  zeal  in  a 
good  cause  I  should  not  have  ventured  to  trouble  you. 

Present  my  best  remembrances  to  Mrs  Monk,  and  believe 
me,  Dear  Mr  Dean, 

Yours  ever, 

A.  Sedgwick. 

Sedgwick  was  as  good  as  his  word.  Before  the  end  of 
term  he  had  produced  a  pamphlet  of  eighty-six  closely-printed 
octavo  pages,  which  may  still  be  safely  recommended  to  the 
perusal  of  those  who  care  for  University  history.  It  is  a  straight- 
forward, dignified,  composition,  with  here  and  there  some  nobly 
eloquent  passages  ;  contrasting  very  favourably,  on  the  whole, 
with  the  strut  and  swagger  of  Dr  French's  laboured  periods. 
There  may  be  a  few  errors  of  detail,  but  the  main  arguments 
against  the  claim   of  the   Heads  are  learned  and  accurate. 

1  This  Statute  directs  that  the  election  of  lectores,  bedelli,  and  other  specified 
officers  shall  be  conducted  in  the  same  manner  as  that  of  the  Vice-Chancellor — i.e. 
by  open  poll  after  nomination  by  the  Heads.  It  was  Sedgwick's  object  to  prove 
that  these  lectores  were  quite  different  from  the  Professores^  whose  offices  had  not 
been  created  when  the  Statute  was  framed. 


DR  FRENCH'S  REPLY.  243 

The  personal  question  is  ably  managed.  No  railing  accusation  1834. 
is  brought  against  Dr  French,  but  the  c  plain  unvarnished  tale '  -***•  39* 
which  Sedgwick  tells  leads  irresistibly  to  a  conclusion  most 
unfavourable  to  his  reputation  as  a  man  of  honour.  But,  on 
the  other  hand,  the  whole  pamphlet  is  far  too  long.  This 
defect  is  partly  due  to  the  fact  that  it  was  written  in  the 
intervals  of  the  author's  lectures.  As  soon  as  the  materials  of 
one  sheet  were  brought  together,  he  tells  us,  they  were  sent  to 
the  printer ;  and  during  their  passage  through  the  press,  he 
was  employed  in  preparing  matter  for  the  next  sheet1.  But 
this  is  a  defect  which  detracted  from  all  Sedgwick's  writings, 
except  his  scientific  papers.     He  never  knew  when  to  stop. 

Dr  French  promptly  published  Observations  upon  Professor 
Sedgwick's  Reply  (21  January,  1824),  but  prudently  refrained 
from  comment  on  the  personal  question.  His  pamphlet  is 
almost  wholly  devoted  to  the  legal  difficulty,  which  depended, 
in  great  measure,  on  the  interpretation  of  the  fortieth  chapter 
of  the  Statutes  of  Elizabeth.  Sedgwick  replied  (25  February, 
1824),  in  another  pamphlet  of  considerable  length2,  confining 
himself,  like  his  opponent,  to  law  and  precedent  Neither  of 
these  works  need  be  examined  in  detail,  and  our  account  of 
the  controversy  shall  be  closed  with  a  single  quotation  from 
Sedgwick's  first  pamphlet — partly  as  a  specimen  of  his  style, 
partly  from  the  intrinsic  value  of  what  he  says. 

"Some  one  may,  perhaps,  contend,  that  the  bustle  of  public 
elections  but  ill  accords  with  the  tranquil  habits  of  this  seat  of 
science ;  and  that  the  question  ought  to  be  conceded  to  the  Heads, 
out  of  regard  to  the  peace  of  the  University.  Words  of  peace  are 
always  to  be  suspected  when  they  are  accompanied  with  acts  of 
aggression.  By  conceding  this  question,  we  part  with  our  own 
privileges  without  finding  any  remedy  for  the  evil  complained  of 
For  it  is  notorious  to  the  Members  of  the  Senate,  that  no  ordinary 
academical  elections  have  been  contested  with  more  warmth,  than 
those  in  which  the  Heads  have  nominated  the  two  candidates. 

"  Had  there  existed  any  flagrant  abuse — had  there  been  a  con- 

1  A  Reply  to  an  Address  to  the  Senate,  p.  79. 

*  It  is  called :  Remarks  on  the  observations  of  Dr  French :  with  an  argument 
on  the  Law  0/  Elections  to  offices  created  by  the  Senate,    8vo.  Camb.  1824. 

l6—2 


244  SEDGWICICS  SECOND  PAMPHLET. 

1814.  spiracy  on  the  part  of  certain  colleges,  to  exclude  others  from  their 
Mt.  39.  fair  share  of  academical  distinctions,  there  might  have  been  some 
plea  for  introducing  new  customs  into  the  University.  But  in  the 
present  case,  no  abuse  was  even  pretended ;  we  were  on  the  point  of 
electing  the  very  man,  who  was  afterwards  chosen  by  our  opponents. 
And  the  lists  of  those  who  have  filled  our  Professorships  undeniably 
prove,  that  the  Senate  has,  from  time  to  time,  selected  out  of  its 
ranks  the  man  who,  by  his  zeal  and  his  talents,  was  best  qualified  to 
promote  the  true  interests  of  science,  and  to  support  the  credit  of  our 
establishment 

"It  was  on  this  principle  that  Martyn,  Watson,  Milner,  Wollaston, 
and  Tennant,  were  elected ;  and  on  the  same  principles  their  succes- 
sors have  been,  and  will  continue  to  be  elected,  as  long  as  the 
privileges  of  the  Senate  are  unextinguished. 

"Had  the  Professorship  of  Mineralogy  been  the  first  office  created 
by  a  Grace  of  the  Senate,  I  should  not  have  hesitated  to  pronounce 
an  election  by  nomination,  the  worst  form  which  was  sanctioned  by 
the  usage  of  the  University.  It  has  all  the  evils  of  an  open  poll, 
with  very  little  of  the  good.  For  it  virtually  gives  the  election  to  a 
few  individuals,  and  what  is  worse,  it  gives  it  to  them  indirectly. 

"  Were  these  individuals  led  by  their  known  habits  of  life,  and 
their  high  official  duties,  to  watch  the  progress  and  to  examine  the 
refinements  of  modern  science;  we  might,  perhaps,  be  content  to 
surrender  our  privileges  into  their  hands,  and  to  repose  with  confi- 
dence on  their  wisdom.  Collectively,  they  are  entitled  to  all  respect, 
as  the  Heads  of  our  venerable  establishments — as  the  guardians  of 
our  discipline — and  as  the  directors  of  the  studies  of  our  younger 
members.  Still  more  they  are  entitled  to  our  veneration  for  their 
virtues,  and  for  their  talents,  by  which  alone  many  of  them  have 
reached  the  greatest  academical  elevation.  But  this  very  elevation 
removes  them  from  direct  sympathy  with  the  Senate,  and  imposes  on 
them  such  high  and  important  duties,  that  they  have  but  little  time 
for  the  elaborate  investigations  of  Physiology,  of  Botany,  of  Che- 
mistry, and  of  Mineralogy.  Nay,  some  of  them  may  even  think,  that 
these  subjects  are  unfit  for  a  course  of  public  lectures — and  that  the 
Professors'  chairs  are  nothing  better  than  an  academical  incumbrance. 

"  Let  the  Senate  look  well  to  it,  before,  in  any  case,  it  surrenders 
the  power  of  election  into  the  hands  of  those  who,  to  say  the  least 
of  it,  may  be  indifferent  to  the  office,  and  therefore  can  have  no 
deep  interest  in  selecting  an  active  candidate. 

"  I  am  not  now  warning  the  Senate  against  an  ideal  danger.  My 
opponent  has  publicly  told  us,  that  he  thought  the  continuance  of  the 
Professorship  of  Mineralogy  unnecessary.  I  may  tell  him  in  reply, 
that  the  Senate  thought  differently — that  the  republic  of  science 
allows  no  such  thing  as  official  wisdom — and  that  his  own  opinion 
will  be  of  little  weight,  unless  it  be  founded  on  a  deeper  knowledge 
of  the  subject,  than  that  which  is  possessed  by  his  opponents.  As 
for  myself,  I  am  well  contented,  on  this  question,  to  have  acted  with 
the  majority. 


SEDGWICK'S  SECOND  PAMPHLET.  245 


"Individuals  there  are,  at  all  times,  who,  not  considering  that      1824. 
improvement  is  innovation,  oppose  themselves  to  every  change,  and    Mt.  39. 
think  every  new  appointment  unnecessary.     But  the  University  of 
Cambridge  has  not  acted  on  such  heartless  suggestions  during  the 
last  century;  and  as  long  as  her  constitution  remains  unimpaired  she 
will  never  act  upon  them  V 

One  word  more  is  necessary  before  we  dismiss  this  tedious 
affair.  Three  years  after  the  publication  of  Sedgwick's  last 
pamphlet — in  which  a  decision  favourable  to  the  views  of 
himself  and  his  friends  was  confidently  anticipated — the  con- 
troversy was  closed  by  an  award  of  Sir  John  Richardson, 
to  whom  the  matter  had  been  referred  by  the  Senate.  His 
decision  may  be  fairly  described  as  a  verdict  for  the  defen- 
dants— the  Vice-Chancellor  and  the  Heads — for  he  directed 
that  future  elections  to  the  Professorships  of  Anatomy, 
Botany,  and  Mineralogy,  should  be  conducted  according  to 
the  method  prescribed  in  the  40th  Chapter  of  the  Statutes. 

1    Reply,  etc.,  pp.  75—78. 


CHAPTER  VII. 
(1822 — 1827.) 

Geological  exploration  of  the  Lake  District  (1822 — 1824). 
Contested  election  for  University  (1822).  Death  of 
his  sister  Isabella  (1823).  Geological  papers.  Work 
in  the  Woodwardian  Museum  (1823 — 1827).  Lecture 
to  Ladies.  Visit  to  Edinburgh  with  Whewell  (1824). 
Visit  to  Sussex  with  Dr  Fitton  (1825).  Contested 
election  for  university.  vlsit  to  paris  with  whewell 
(1826).  Elected  Vice  President  of  Geological  Society. 
Contested  election  for  University  (1827).  Social  life 
at    Cambridge.      Hyde    Hall.      Review    of    Sedgwick's 

GEOLOGICAL  WORK    (l8l8 — 1827). 

Sedgwick's  first  geological  work  in  the  north  of  England1, 
briefly  noticed  in  the  last  chapter,  was  succeeded  by  a 
thorough  examination  of  the  Lake  District.  "I  spent  the 
summers  of  1822,  1823,  and  1824,"  he  says,  "entirely  among 
the  Lake  Mountains,  and  I  made  a  detailed  Geological  Map 
of  that  rugged  region — including  a  considerable  portion 
of  Westmoreland  and  Cumberland,  and  a  small  portion  of 
Lancashire8."  The  scientific  value  of  these  explorations 
may  be  estimated  from  the  papers  read  to  the  Geological 
Society  between  1826  and  1828,  and  from  the  five  letters 
addressed  long  afterwards  to  Wordsworth,  of  which  the  first 
three  embody  the  results  of  the  work  done  between   1822 

1  In  that  year,  182 1,  he  began  the  researches  into  the  relations  of  the  Magnesian 
Limestone  which  were  continued  during  1822  and  1823.  Trans.  Geol.  Soc.  Lend. 
Ser.  2.  iii.  37. 

2  To  Archdeacon  Musgrave,  5  October,  1856. 


EXPLORATION  OF  LAKE  DISTRICT.  247 

and   18241.     But  of  personal  details  the  record  is  almost  a    i8aato 
blank.     A  brief  but  pleasant  glimpse  of  Sedgwick  at  his  work      '  *4* 
is  afforded  to  us  in  one  of  Whewell's  letters,  written  from       39. 
Kendal  in  1824:  'I  got  here  on  Thursday  last,  and  next  day 
saw   Wordsworth   at   Rydal,   and   Southey   at   Keswick,   by 
whom  I  was  informed  where  to  look  for  Sedgwick.     I  found 
him  on  Saturday  at  the  base  of  Skiddaw,  in  company  with 
Gwatkin8,  as  I  had  expected8/  but  after  this  the  writer  passes 
on  to  other  subjects.     This  dearth  of  information  is  the  more 
provoking,  as  we  know  that  many  agreeable  memories,  both 
of  adventures  and  of  friends,  clustered  round  these  months  in 
Lakeland. 

It  was  then  that  Sedgwick  formed  an  intimate  friendship 
with  Wordsworth,  at  whose  house  he  was  always  welcome, 
and  who,  to  a  certain  extent,  directed  and  assisted  his 
explorations.  Wordsworth  has  been  credited  with  a  cordial 
dislike  for  men  of  science,  who  looked  upon  Nature  with 
other  eyes  than  his ;  and  the  first  of  Sedgwick's  letters  opens 
with  a  sort  of  apology  for  writing  on  geology  to  one  who  had 
uttered  "  a  poetic  ban  against  my  brethren  of  the  hammer  " : 

He  who  with  pocket-hammer  smites  the  edge 
Of  luckless  rock  or  prominent  stone,  disguised 
In  weather-stains  or  crusted  o'er  by  Nature 
With  her  first  growths,  detaching  by  the  stroke 
A  chip  or  splinter,  to  resolve  his  doubts; 
And,  with  that  ready  answer  satisfied, 
The  substance  classes  by  some  barbarous  name. 
And  hurries  on  ;    or  from  the  fragments  picks 
His  specimen,  if  but  haply  interveined 
With  sparkling  mineral,   or  should  crystal  cube 
Lurk  in  its  cells — and  thinks  himself  enriched, 
Wealthier,  and  doubtless  wiser,  than  before ! 4 

1  These  three  letters  On  the  Geology  of  the  Lake  District,  addressed  by  Sedgwick 
to  Wordsworth  in  May,  1842,  were  published  in  A  complete  Guide  to  the  Lakes... 
with  Mr  Wordsworth's  description  of  the  scenery  of  the  country,  etc.,  edited  by  the 
publisher,  John  Hudson  of  Kendal.  A  fourth  letter  was  added  in  1846,  and  a 
fifth  in  1853. 

2  The  Rev.  Richard  Gwatkin,  Fellow  of  St  John's  College,  B.A.  1814. 

3  Whewell's  Life,  p.  96. 

4  The  Excursion,  Book  the  Third. 


248  WORDSWORTH  AND  SOUTHEY. 

i8m  to  This  denunciation  of  a  class  did  not  prevent  the  poet  from 

1824.  taking  an  interest  in  the  pursuits  of  individual  geologists; 
39.  and  the  gratitude  and  admiration  which  Sedgwick  felt  for 
him  can  fortunately  be  recorded  in  his  own  words.  In  the 
third  of  the  above  letters  he  says:  "Some  of  the  happiest 
summers  of  my  life  were  passed  among  the  Cumbrian  moun- 
tains, and  some  of  the  brightest  days  of  those  summers  were 
spent  in  your  society  and  guidance.  Since  then,  alas,  twenty 
years  have  rolled  away;  but  I  trust  that  many  years  of  intellec- 
tual health  may  still  be  granted  you ;  and  that  you  may  continue 
to  throw  your  gleams  of  light  through  the  mazes  of  human 
thought — to  weave  the  brightest  wreaths  of  poetic  fancy — and 
to  teach  your  fellow-men  the  pleasant  ways  of  truth  and 
goodness,  of  nature,  and  pure  feeling ;"  and  again,  in  the  last 
of  the  series,  written  in  1853,  when  Wordsworth  was  no  more, 
after  some  regretful  musings  on  his  own  enfeebled  powers, 
should  he  ever  revisit  Lakeland,  he  is  led  to  speak  of  the 
friends  of  whom  the  district  would  remind  him :  "  It  was  near 
the  summit  of  Helvellyn  that  I  first  met  Dal  ton1 — a  truth- 
loving  man  of  rare  simplicity  of  manners ;  who,  with  humble 
instruments  and  very  humble  means,  ministered,  without 
flinching,  in  the  service  of  high  philosophy,  and  by  the 
strength  of  his  own  genius  won  for  himself  a  name  greatly 
honoured  among  all  the  civilized  nations  of  the  earth. 

"  It  was,  also,  during  my  geological  rambles  in  Cumberland 
that  I  first  became  acquainted  with  Sou  they,  that  I  some- 
times shared  in  the  simple  intellectual  pleasures  of  his 
household,  and  profited  by  his  boundless  stores  of  knowledge. 
He  was,  to  himself,  a  very  hard  task-master:  but  on  rare 
occasions  (as  I  learnt  by  happy  experience)  he  could  relax 
the  labours  of  his  study,  and  plan  some  joyful  excursion 
among  his  neighbouring  mountains. 

"Most  of  all,  during  another  visit  to  the  Lakes,  should 
I  have  to  mourn  the  loss  of  Wordsworth ;  for  he  was  so  far 
a  man  of  leisure  as  to  make  every  natural  object  around  him 

1  See  above,  p.  66. 


DETAILS  OF  LAKE  DISTRICT.  249 

subservient  to  the  habitual  workings  of  his  own  mind  ;  and  he    182a  to 
was  ready  for  any  good  occasion  that  carried  him  among  his   J  *4" 
well-loved   mountains.     Hence   it  was  that  he  joined  me  in       39. 
many  a   lusty  excursion,  and  delighted  me  (amidst  the  dry 
and  sometimes  almost  sterile  details  of  my  own  study)  with 
the  outpourings  of  his  manly  sense,  and  with  the  beauteous 
and  healthy  images  which  were  ever  starting  up  within  his 
mind  during  his  communion  with  nature,  and  were  embodied, 
at  the  moment,  in  his  own  majestic  and  glowing  language.'1 

Sedgwick  frequently  visited  the  Lakes  again,  sometimes 
for  geological  study,  sometimes  for  the  pleasure  of  looking  at 
scenes  in  which  he  had  taken  so  much  delight,  or  of  showing 
them  to  others.  Many  opportunities  of  recording  his  im- 
pressions of  the  district  will  therefore  occur,  and  it  might 
seem  unnecessary  to  remove  letters  referring  to  it  from  their 
proper  chronological  position.  On  the  whole,  however,  having 
regard  to  the  dearth  of  contemporary  information  respecting 
the  visits  of  1822 — 1824,  it  seems  best  to  print  the  two  following 
letters  in  this  place,  as  they  give,  incidentally,  so  many  details 
respecting  those  years.  Both  were  written  for  the  instruction 
of  geologists  who  were  anxious  to  explore  the  Lake  district 
for  themselves. 

To  Rev.  P.  B.  Brodie\ 

Cambridge,  September  10,  1854. 
My  dear  Brodie, 

First  of  all,  find  out  my  old  good  friend  Jonathan  Otley, 
the  author  of  the  best  guide  to  the  Lakes  that  ever  was  written*. 
Tell  him  you  are  my  friend,  and  that  I  wished  you  to  call  on  him ; 
and  you  may  read  to  him  this  letter.  He  will  show  you  maps,  &c. 
He  knows  the  physical  geology  of  Cumberland,  and  all  the  Lake- 
land, admirably  well.  He  was  the  leader  in  all  we  know  of  the 
country.  I  wish,  with  all  my  heart,  that  my  letters  to  Mr  Words- 
worth on   the  Geology  of  Lakeland  had  been  printed  in  Otley's 

1  Rev.  Peter  Bellenger  Brodie,  Trinity  College,  B.A.  1838,  M.A.  1842. 

2  A  descriptive  guide  to  the  English  Lakes  and  adjacent  Mountains:  with 
notices  of  the  Botany,  Mineralogy,  and  Geology  of  the  district.  By  Jonathan 
Otley.  Eighth  edition.  Keswick,  1849.  In  earlier  editions  (the  second  was 
published  in  1825)  it  was  caUed :  A  concise  description  of  the  English  Lakes ;  etc. 


250  DETAILS  OF  LAKE  DISTRICT. 

i8Mto  Guide;  but  I  promised  Mr  Wordsworth  in  1822,  before  I  knew  Mr 
1824.  Jonathan  Otley.  Ask  for  a  loan  of  my  Letters  to  Mr  Wordsworth ; 
Mt.  37—  but  they  are  printed  in  Hudson's  Guide — see  last  edition,  which 
39*  contains  a  5th  Letter.  Secondly:  find  out  Charles  Wright — a  guide 
formerly ;  and  now,  I  am  told,  a  guide  director.  You  must  take  what 
he  says  cum  grano  salts,  for  he  is  a  bouncer.  All  Otley  tells  you,  you 
may  take  for  Gospel ;  for  he  only  tells  what  he  knows.  He  is  a  very 
clever  truth-loving  old  man.  Look  at  the  mining  operations  at  the 
back  of  Skiddaw.  About  Hesket  Newmarket  you  have  good 
Mountain  Limestone,  and  a  touch  of  the  Old  Red.  N.B.  Old  Red 
Sandstone  above  Kirkby  Lonsdale  bridge,  at  bottom  of  Ulswater, 
near  Shap  Wells  &c.  &c.  &c.  If  you  visit  it  look  for  fish-scales.  I 
had  good  eyes  when  I  worked  Lakeland ;  but  at  that  time  we  knew 
not  of  the  Old  Red  fishes ;  and  I  therefore  never  looked  for  them. 
No  fossils  in  the  Skiddaw  slate,  except  a  few  graptolites  and  fucoids. 
Ruthven  found  them  for  me,  and  Otley  will  tell  you  the  localities. 
If  you  could  give  me  a  list  of  the  minerals  turned  out  at  the  mines 
on  both  sides  of  Carrock  Fell  I  should  be  obliged  to  you  for  it.  It 
might  be  of  great  use  to  me.  Also  I  should  greatly  thank  you  for  a 
good  account  of  the  cleavage  planes  of  the  slates  in  Binsey,  at  the 
bottom  of  Bassenthwaite  Lake.  Thirdly:  my  old  heart-of-oak 
friend  John  Ruthven  lives  at  Kendal.  See  him  by  all  means.  He 
has  all  Westmoreland  at  his  fingers'  ends,  and  will  tell  you  of  all  the 
fossil  localities  between  the  Coniston  Limestone  and  the  Old  Red 
and  Mountain  Limestone  of  Kirkby  Lonsdale.  No  fossils  have,  as 
yet,  been  seen  in  the  slates  &c  which  alternate  with  the  porphyries 
between  the  Skiddaw  slate  and  the  Coniston  limestone ;  but  if  you 
cross  them  keep  your  eyes  open ;  and  possibly  you  may  find  some 
rare  fossil.  For  when  I  crossed  them  again  and  again  (30  years 
since)  I  was  looking  for  sections  rather  than  for  fossils.  And  it  is  a 
good  rule  to  keep  a  good  look-out,  and  never  to  take  for  granted 
that  no  fossils  are  to  be  had.  If  Mr  Gough1  (the  surgeon)  be  at 
Kendal,  you  ought  to  see  him,  but  I  think  he  is  now  away  in  bad 
health.  You  ought  to  see  the  Kendal  Museum.  I  am  President  of 
the  Society ;  and  this  letter  will  secure  you  an  introduction  and  all 
needful  attention. 

There !  I  have  done  my  best,  in  a  rough  way,  to  answer  your 
questions,  and  I  must  now  complete  my  dress  and  prepare  for 
morning  Chapel. 

Ever  truly  yours 

A.  Sedgwick. 

To  Professor  Harkness. 

Scalby  near  Scarborough,  August  29,  1856. 
My  dear  Sir, 

Your  letter  has  been  long  in  reaching  me,  so  I  fear  the 
information  I  can  send  you  may  come  too  late  to  be  of  any  use. 

1  Thomas  Gough,  of  Kendal,  an  intimate  friend  of  Sedgwick's. 


DETAILS  OF  LAKE  DISTRICT.  251 

(1)  I  advise  you  to  go  to  Kendal  and  to  call  on  John  Ruthven — the  i8«  to 
well-known  collector  of  the  northern  palaeozoic  fossils.  He  knows  1824. 
the  country  well,  and  is  the  only  person  (so  far  as  I  know)  who  has  JE\.  37— 
found  fossils  in  the  Skiddaw  slate.  (2)  You  may  procure  Hudson's  39« 
Guide  to  the  Lakes',  and  in  some  letters  published  in  an  appendix  to 
it  you  may  see  a  general  account  of  the  several  formations,  tho*  I  am 
not  sure  that  there  is  any  notice  of  the  Skiddaw  slate  fossils  and 
their  localities.  (3)  If  old  Jonathan  Otley,  author  of  an  excellent 
little  book,  be  still  living  (I  saw  him  last  year  when  he  was  turned 
ninety)  he  can  give  you  good  advice  as  to  localities,  and  so  can 
Charles  Wright,  one  of  the  Keswick  Guides,  who  went  with  me  in 
some  of  my  excursions  in  1824.  Since  that  year  I  have  hardly 
looked  at  the  Skiddaw  slates.  You  should  look  at  the  new  black- 
lead  works  somewhere  behind  Saddle  Back,  and  see  the  manufactory 
at  Keswick.  I  do  not  remember  the  name  of  the  locality,  though  I 
saw  it  (in  1823)  along  with  Mr  Otley.  These  works  are,  I  suspect, 
not  in  a  vein,  but  in  a  variety  of  anthracitic  slate.  So  they  will  give 
you  the  term  of  comparison  you  are  looking  for.  I  found  black 
slates  in  the  great  Skiddaw  Group,  from  which  the  dark  carbonaceous 
colours  were  discharged  by  heat.  Hence  I  concluded  that  such 
beds  very  probably  would  contain  fossils  ;  so  I  set  Ruthven  to  work, 
and  he  found  fossils — graptolites  and  fucoids — not  far  from  the  spots 
I  pointed  out  to  him.  But  he  found  no  shells  or  crustaceans. 
Since  then  I  have  had  some  doubts  about  the  age  of  the  Skiddaw 
Group.  It  is  of  enormous  thickness,  and  may  well  contain  one  or 
two  groups  of  very  distinct  epochs  both  physically  and  palaeontologic- 
ally.  (4)  When  you  are  seeking  Skiddaw  slate  fossils  I  recommend 
you  to  take  up  your  quarters  at  Scale  Inn,  at  the  foot  of  Crummock 
Lake.  Hammer  well  the  gritty  rocks  which  appear  in  the  several 
deep  ravines  which  run  up  the  mountains  on  the  left  side  of  the  road 
from  Scale  Inn  to  Buttermere ;  they  promise  well  for  fossils.  I 
never  examined  them  for  fossils  in  1823  and  1824,  because  I 
foolishly  thought  that  they  were  all  below  the  region  of  animal  life. 
At  that  time  I  had  not  quite  learned  to  shake  off  the  Wernerian 
nonsense1  I  had  been  taught.  (5)  Visit  Black  Coomb  in  the  S.  W. 
corner  of  Cumberland.  It  is  of  Skiddaw  slate,  brought  up  by 
enormous  dislocations,  and  its  ravines  are  of  good  promise.  To  the 
south  it  is  overlaid  by  the  green  slate  and  porphyry  zone — well 
marked,  but  of  degenerate  thickness ;  and  over  the  green  slate  you 
have  in  the  S.  W.  extremity  of  Cumberland  the  Coniston  limestone, 
&c,  and  some  appearances,  in  the  cleavage  planes,  which  I  think 
defy  the  mere  pressure  theory.  That  there  has  been  enormous 
compression,  along  with  cleavage  planes,  no  one  can  doubt,  when 
the  fossils  are  flattened  and  distorted.  But  they  are  not  always 
distorted  and  flattened.  You  have  to  account  for  unflattened  con- 
cretions, marking,  though  rarely,  the  average  direction  and  dip  of  the 

1  In  a  letter  to  Lyell,  written  in  1845,  Sedgwick  speaks  of  himself  as  having 
been,  in  1819,  "eaten  up  with  the  Wernerian  notions— ready  to  sacrifice  my  senses 
to  that  creed — a  Wernerian  slave  ". 


252  JOE  AND  THE  GEOLOGIST. 


i8i*  to    cleavage  planes.     You  have  to  account  for  the  frequent  change  of 
1824.     cleavage  dip  when  there  is  no  change  of  conditions  of  pressure 
Hxm  37_  indicated  in  the  sections ;  and  you  have  to  account  for  a  second 
39-       cleavage    plane  among  beds   that  are  by  no   means    crystalline. 
(6)  Visit  Coniston,  and  look  at  the  enormous  dislocations  &c.     You 
have  there  (as  also  at  Broughton  in  Furness,  which  you  pass  through 
on  your  way  from  Black  Coomb  to  Coniston)  the  Coniston  lime- 
stone, the  Coniston  flags,  and  the  Coniston  grits  which  form  the 
boundary  between  a  lower  and  an  upper  system — by  whatever  names 
you  choose  to  call  them.     If  these  hints  be  of  use  I  shall  rejoice. 

Yours  very  truly 

A.  Sedgwick. 

It  will  be  readily  conceived  that  a  man  so  prominent  as 
Sedgwick,  and  one  endowed  with  so  keen  a  sense  of  humour, 
became  the  subject  of  many  jokes,  both  literary  and  artistic. 
His  early  visits  to  Lakeland  recall  one  of  the  former,  a 
humorous  sketch,  called  Joe  and  the  Geologist.  The  author 
has  preserved  a  strict  incognito,  and  mentions  no  names ; 
but  Sedgwick's  numerous  friends  in  the  north  recognised  the 
accuracy  of  the  portrait  at  once,  and  he  himself  laughed 
heartily  over  it,  though  he  denied  the  accuracy  of  certain 
details,  as,  for  instance,  the  white  neckcloth  and  the  "  specks  ". 
"  I  never  wore  such  things",  he  wrote,  "while  I  was  holding  a 
hammer  in  Cumberland1."  It  should  be  mentioned  that  the 
tale,  like  other  legends,  is  sometimes  told  with  a  different 
ending.  This  second,  and  probably  later,  version  states  that 
the  geologist,  before  he  had  travelled  many  miles,  discovered 
the  fraud  that  had  been  perpetrated  upon  him,  and  travelled 
back,  in  furious  anger,  to  catch  Joe  and  make  him  tell  what 
he  had  done  with  the  contents  of  the  leather  bags.  The  boy 
took  good  care  not  to  be  found,  but  the  stones  he  had  thrown 
away  were  discovered  in  a  heap  by  the  wayside. 

Ya  het  foorneun,  when  we  war  oa*  gaily  thrang  at  heam,  an  oald 
gentleman  mak*  of  a  fellow  com*  in  tul  oor  foald  an'  said,  whyte 

1  To  Rev.  G.  H.  Ainger,  2  September,  1866.  Mr  Ainger,  son  of  his  old 
friend,  had  sent  him  a  copy  of  the  sketch.  In  writing  to  acknowledge  it,  Sedgwick 
says:  "Thanks  for  your  very  amusing  specimen  of  the  Cummerland  tongue,  and 
the  twit  against  the  knights  of  the  hammer." 


JOE  AND   THE  GEOLOGIST.  253 

nateral,  'at  he  wantit  somebody  to  ga  wid  him  on't  fells.     We  oa'    181a  to 
stopt  an*  teuk  a  gud  leuk  at  him  afoor  anybody  spak ;  at  last  fadder      l8*4« 
said,  middlin'  sharp>-like — (he  ola's  speaks  that  way  when  we're  owte  ^t.  37— 
sae  thrang,  does  fadder) — "  We've  sum  mat  else  to  deu  here  nor  to       39« 
ga  rakin  ower  t' fells  iv  a  fine  day  like  this,  wid  neabody  kens  whoa." 
T'gentleman  was  a  queerish  like  oald  chap,  wid  a  sharp  leuk  oot,  grey 
hair  and  a  smo'  feace — drist  i'  black,  wid  a  white  neckcloth  like  a 
parson,  an'  a  par  of  specks  on  r/top  of  a  gay  lang  nwose  'at  wasn't 
set  varra  fair  atween  his  e'en,  sooa  'at  when  he  leuk't  ebbem  at  yan 
through  his  specks  he  rayder  turn't  his  feace  to  t'ya  side.     He  leuk't 
that  way  at  fadder,  gev  a  lal  chearful  bit  of  a  laugh  an'  said,  iv  his 
oan  mak'  o'  toke,  'at  he  dudn't  want  to  hinder  wark,  but  he  wad 
give  anybody  'at  ken't  t'  fells  weel,  a  matter  o'  five  shillin'  to  ga  wid 
him,  an'  carry  two  lal  bags.     "  'Howay  wid  tha,  Joe,"  sez  fadder  to 
me,  "it's  a  croon  mair  nor  iver  thou  was  wurth  at  heam  !"     I  mead 
nea  words  about  it,  but  gat  me-seP  a  gud  lump  of  a  stick,  an'  away 
we  set,  t'oald  lang  nwos't  man  an'  me,  ebbem  up  f  deal. 

As  we  wa^  climmin'  t'fell  breist,  he  geh  me  two  empty  bags  to 
carry,  mead  o'  ledder.  Thinks  I  to  my  me-seF,  "  Fse  gan  to  eddle 
me  five  shillin'  middlin  cannily."  I  niver  thowte  he  wad  finnd  owte 
on  t'  fells  to  full  his  lal  bags  wid,  but  I  was  mistean ! 

He  turn't  oot  to  be  a  far  lisher  oald  chap  nor  a  body  wad  ha* 
thowte,  to  leuk  at  his  gray  hair  and  his  white  hankecker  an'  his 
specks.  He  went  lowpin'  ower  wet  spots  an'  gurt  steans,  an' 
scrafflin  across  craggs  an'  screes,  tul  yan  wad  ha'  sworn  he  was 
summat  a  kin  tul  a  Herdwick  tip. 

Efter  a  while  he  begon  leukin'  hard  at  oa't  steans  an*  craggs  we 
com'  at,  an'  than  he  teuk  till  breckan  lumps  off  them  wid  a  queer 
lal  hammer  he  hed  wid  him,  an'  stuffin  t'bits  intil  t'bags  'at  he  geh 
me  to  carry.  He  fairly  cap't  me  noo.  I  dudn't  ken  what  to  mak' 
o'  sec  a  customer  as  t'is  !  At  last  I  cudn't  help  axin  him  what  mead 
him  cum  sea  far  up  on  t'fell  to  lait  bits  o'  steans  when  he  may'd 
finnd  sea  many  doon  i't  deals  ?  He  laugh't  a  gay  bit,  an'  than  went 
on  knappin'  away,  wid  his  lal  hammer,  an'  said  he  was  a  jolly  jist 
Thinks  I  to  me-sel'  thou's  a  jolly  jackass,  but  it  maks  nfca  matter  to 
me  if  thou  no'but  pays  me  t'  five  shillin'  thou  promish't  ma. 

Varra  weel,  he  keep't  on  at  this  feckless  wark  tul  gaily  leat  at 
on  i't  efter-neun,  an'  be  that  time  o'  day  he'd  pang't  beath  o't  ledder 
pwokes  as  full  as  they  wad  hod  wid  bits  o'  stean. 

I've  nit  sfca  offen  hed  a  harder  darrak  efter  t'  sheep,  owther  at 
clippin  time  or  soavin  time,  as  I  hed  followin'  that  oald  grey  heidit 
chap  an  carryin'  his  ledder  bags.  But  hooiver,  we  gat  back  tul  oor 
house  afoor  neeght.  M  udder  gev  t'  oald  jolly  jist,  as  he  co't 
his-seF,  some  breed  an'  milk,  an'  efter  he'd  tean  that  an  toak't  a  lal 
bit  wid  fadder  aboot  sheep  farming  an*  sec  like,  he  pait  me  ^tt 
shillin'  like  a  man,  an'  than  tel't  ma  he  wad  gie  ma  udder  five 
shillin'  if  I  wad  bring  his  pwokes  full  o'  steans  doon  to  Skeal-hill  be 
nine  o'clock  i't'  mwornin'. 

He  set  off  to  walk  to  Skeal-hill  just  as  it  was  growin  dark ;  an' 


254  JOE  AND   THE  GEOLOGIST. 

1811  to  neist  mwornin',  as  seun  as  I'd  gitten  me  poddish,  I  teuk  t'  seam 
1814.  rwoad  wid  his  ledder  bags  ower  me  shoolder,  thinkin'  tul  me-sel'  'at 
ALt  37—  yan  may'd  mak'  a  lal  fortune  oot  o'  thur  jolly  jists  if  a  lock  mair  on 
39*       them  wad  no'but  come  oor  way. 

It  was  anudder  het  mwornin',  an'  I  hedn't  wok't  far  till  I  begon 
to  think  that  I  was  as  gurt  a  feul  as  t'oald  jolly  jist  to  carry  brocken 
steans  o't  way  to  Skeal-hill,  when  I  may'd  finnd  plenty  iv  any  rwoad 
side,  clwose  to  t'  spot  I  was  tackin'  them  tul.  Sooa  I  shack't  them 
oot  o'  t'  pwokes,  an*  then  step't  on  a  gay  bit  leeter  widout  them. 

When  I  com  nar  to  Skeal-hill,  I  nlnd  oald  Aberram  Atkisson 
sittin  on  a  steul  breckan  steans  to  mend  rwoads  wid,  an'  I  ax't  him 
if  I  med  full  my  ledder  pwokes  frae  his  heap.  Aberram  was  varra 
kaim't  an*  tell't  ma  to  tak  them  'at  wasn't  brocken  if  I  wan  tit  steans, 
sooa  I  tell't  him  hoo  it  was  an'  oa'  aboot  it  T'  oald  maiziin  was 
like  to  toytle  off  his  steul  wid  laughin',  an'  said  me  mudder  sud  tak 
gud  care  on  ma,  for  I  was  ower  sharp  a  chap  to  leeve  varra  lang  i' 
this  warld ;  but  I'd  better  full  my  pwokes  as  I  liked,  an'  mak'  on 
wid  them. 

T  jolly  jist  hed  just  gitten  his  breakfast  when  I  gat  to  Skeal-hill, 
an'  they  teuk  ma  intil  t'  parlour  tul  him.  He  gurned  oa't  feace 
ower  when  I  went  in  wid  his  bags,  an'  tel't  me  to  set  them  doon  in 
a  neuk,  an'  than  ax't  ma  if  I  wad  hev  some  breakfast.  I  said  I'd 
gittan  me  poddish,  but  I  dudn't  mind ;  sooa  he  tel't  them  to  bring  in 
some  mair  coffee,  an'  eggs,  an'  ham,  an'  twoastit  breed  an'  stuff,  an' 
I  gat  sec  a  breakfast  as  I  niver  seed  i'  my  time,  while  t'  oald 
gentleman  was  gittan  his-sel  ruddy  to  gang  off  in  a  carriage  'at  was 
waitin  at  t'  dooar  for  him. 

When  he  com  doon  stairs  he  geh  me  tudder  five  shiilin'  an' 
paid  for  my  breakfast,  an'  what  he'd  gittan  his-sel.  Than  he  tel't 
ma  to  put  t'  ledder  bags  wid  t'  steans  in  them  on  beside  t'  driver's 
feet,  an'  in  he  gat,  an'  laugh't  an'  noddit,  an  away  he  went. 

I  niver  owder  seed  nor  heard  mair  of  t'  oald  jolly  jist,  but  I've 
offen  thowte  ther  mun  be  parlish  few  steans  i'  his  country,  when  he 
was  sooa  pleas't  at  gittin  two  lal  ledder  bags  full  for  ten  shiilin',  an' 
sec  a  breakfast  as  that  an'.  It  wad  be  a  faymish  job  if  fadder 
could  sell  o'  t'  steans  iv  oor  fell  at  five  shiilin'  a  pwokeful — 
wadn't  it? 

Sedgwick  capped  this  imaginary  narrative  with  an  equally 
amusing  experience  of  his  own  : 

"  Two  or  three  times  I  went  with  Mr  Hunter  (a  statesman 
at  Mosedale)  to  break  the  syenites  of  Carrock  Fell.  On  my 
second  visit  I  found  his  old  fashioned  chimney-piece  decorated 
with  specimens  of  syenite.  '  Do  you  think  these  curiosities ', 
I  said.  'Not  a  bit',  he  replied,  'they  are  as  common  as 
cow-muck.    But  I  put  'em  here,  aboon  the  chimlay,  to  tell  my 


DETAILS  OF  LAKE  DISTRICT. 


255 


nebbers  what  mak  o'  things  a  Cambridge  skoller  will  laed    i8m  to 
his  hors  we.'     But  old  Hunter  played  no  tricks.     He  fed  me     *  *4'_ 
and  my  horse  well ;  and  he  went  with  me  and  carried  a  great       39. 
sledge-hammer  to  break  the  hard  syenites.    The  last  time  I 
drove  to  Mosedale,  he  spied  me  before  I  reached  his  house, 
and  roared  out :  '  fain  to  see  ye  again ;  how  do  ye  cum  on  wi 
yer  cobbles  ? ' " 

A  suitable  pendant  to  these  anecdotes  is  a  pen-and-ink 
sketch  of  't'oald  jolly  jist',  just  as  Joe  might  have  seen  him 
sitting  in  his  carriage,  with  the  bag  of  fossils  at  his  feet.  It  is 
believed  to  have  been  drawn  by  Mr  J.  E.  Davis,  and,  if  so, 
belongs  to  a  period  long  subsequent  to  that  we  are  now  con- 


Sedgwick  on  a  geological  excursion,  reduced  from  a 
pen-and-ink  sketch. 


sidering.  Fashions,  however,  did  not  alter  rapidly  in  those 
days,  and  it  may  well  represent  Sedgwick,  hat  (generally  a 
white  one),  coat,  and  all,  as  he   appeared  when   exploring 


256  SEDGWICK  AT   WASTWATER. 

i8«to    Lakeland  in  1822.     It  was  on  one  of  these  expeditions  that 
1  *4'     the   following  experience  occurred,  which  shall  be  told,  as 
39.       Sedgwick  used  to  tell  it,  in  a  dramatic  form : 

Scene.     A  room  in  a  small  wayside  inn  near   Wastwater.     Enter 
Professor  Sedgwick,  dressed  as  in  the  above  sketch,  very  hungry, 
calling  for  the  landlady. 
S.    What  have  you  got  to  eat  ? 
Z.     There's  nothing  in  the  house. 
5.     Nothing !    What  did  you  have  today  for  dinner? 
Z.     Potatoes  and  bacon. 

S,     Very  well.     You  didn't  eat  it  all,  I  suppose.     Warm  me  up 
what's  left. 

Exit  Landlady,  returning  presently  with  the  remains  of  the  potatoes  and 

bacon,  and  a  pot  of  ale.     Sedgwick  eats  heartily. 
S.  {having finished  his  dinner.)     What's  to  pay,  missus? 
Z.     Happen  eight  pence  wouldn't  hurt  ye  ? 
S.     Nay,  here's  a  shilling  for  ye. 
Landlady  takes  the  shilling,  and  produces  four  greasy  pennies  from  her 

pocket,  which  she  lays  on  the  table. 
S.  {pushing  them  back.)     Nay,  nay,  you  may  keep  them. 
Z.  {after  a  long  and  earnest  look  at  him.)    I'm  thinking  that  you've 
seen  better  days. 

On  returning  to  Cambridge  after  the  first  of  the  above- 
mentioned  tours  Sedgwick  was  fully  occupied  for  a  time  with 
lectures  and  geological  work  generally.  But  before  the  end 
of  October  a  serious  interruption  occurred,  in  the  shape  of  a 
contested  election  for  the  University1.  It  was  not  natural  for 
him  to  keep  long  out  of  any  political  contest,  and  this  par- 
ticular occasion  offered  irresistible  attractions.  The  burning 
question  of  the  day  was  Catholic  Emancipation,  in  favour  of 
which,  as  related  in  the  third  chapter,  he  had  already  taken  a 
prominent  and  decided  line  in  the  University.  The  excitement 
in  the  country  was  so  great  that  a  complete  settlement  of  this 
important  matter  could  not  be  much  longer  delayed ;  but  the 
conservatives  had  no  intention  of  yielding  without  an  obsti- 
nate struggle,  and  a  constituency  such  as  that  of  Cambridge, 
composed  in  the  main  of  clergymen,  was  easily  roused  to 
enthusiastic  action  by  the  cry  that  the  Church  and  the  Protest- 

1  John  Henry  Smyth,  M.A.  of  Trinity  College,  who  had  been  M.P.  for  the 
•University  since  1812,  died  20  October,  i8ai. 


CONTESTED  ELECTION  FOR   UNIVERSITY.         257 

ant  ascendency  were  both  in  danger.  Several  candidates  1811. 
presented  themselves,  but  these  were  presently  reduced  to  ^Et.  37. 
three :  Mr  Manners  Sutton,  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Commons, 
Lord  Hervey,  and  Mr  Robert  Grant1.  The  success  of  the 
Speaker,  a  conservative,  was  considered  certain,  when  he  felt 
himself  obliged  to  retire  (2  November),  in  consequence  of  an 
unexpected  difficulty  respecting  his  office.  Two  days  after- 
wards Mr  Scarlett*  came  forward.  At  this  juncture  it  seemed 
probable  that  the  University  would  find  itself  in  an  anomalous 
position.  The  three  candidates  now  in  the  field  were  all  in 
favour  of  Catholic  Emancipation,  as  was  the  sitting  member, 
Viscount  Palmerston.  Unless  therefore  a  conservative  could 
be  found,  and  returned,  a  body  which  annually  petitioned  the 
House  of  Commons  against  the  Catholic  claims  would 
be  represented  by  two  members  voting  against  its  own 
petition.  Before  long,  however,  Mr  William  John  Bankes* 
came  forward,  as  determined  an  opponent  of  concession  as 
could  be  desired ;  and,  before  the  day  of  election  Mr  Grant 
retired.  The  three  candidates  left  after  these  various  changes 
were  all  of  Trinity  College.  Mr  Scarlett,  whom  the  whigs 
seem  to  have  specially  adopted,  and  for  whom  Sedgwick  and 
his  friends  exerted  themselves  to  the  utmost,  was  already 
a  distinguished  advocate,  and  had  had  three  years  experience 
of  Parliament  as  member  for  Peterborough.  But  he  was  not 
popular,  and  besides,  he  had  not  come  forward  until  most 
votes  were  already  pledged.  Lord  Hervey,  who  had  pro- 
ceeded to  his  degree  as  a  nobleman  only  a  few  months  before 
the  election,  was  called  a  whig,  but  could  have  had  no  recom- 
mendation whatever  except  his  relationship  to  Lord  Liverpool, 
and  this  accident,  it  is  whispered,  caused  several  influential 
whigs  to  support  him  '  for  private  and  personal  reasons/  As 
one  of  the  pasquinades  of  the  day  put  it : 

1  Fellow  of  Magdalene  College,  third  wrangler  and  second  Chancellor's 
Medallist  in  1801.  After  a  distinguished  career  at  the  bar  and  in  parliament 
he  was  knighted  and  made  Governor  of  Bombay,  where  he  died  in  1838. 

3  James  Scarlett,  created  Lord  Abinger  1835,  of  Trinity  College,  B.A.  1790. 

3  B.A.  1808,  M.A.  181 1. 

S.  I.  17 


258  WILLIAM  JOHN  BANKES. 

1811.  Hervey,  pushed  forth  by  Bury  School 

&t.  37.  And  backed  by  noble  Liverpool, 

First  made  his  bow  to  Heads  of  Houses 
And  canvassed  all  their  lovely  spouses; 
The  Ladies  smirked,  the  Doctors  smiled  : 
"What?  give  a  vote  to  a  mere  child?" 
"A  child " — quoth  Blomfield — "mark  me,  Sir, 
He's  nephew  to  the  Minister1." 


Mr  Bankes,  immortalised  by  Macaulay  on  a  subsequent 
occasion  as  "our  glorious,  our  Protestant,  Bankes" — was  a 
well-known,  witty,  popular,  man  of  the  world,  and  at  that 
time  specially  interesting  as  a  traveller  in  the  little-known 
regions  of  the  East  His  personal  canvass  has  been  described 
as  irresistible.  "  What  could  I  do,  Sir?  He  got  me  into  the 
centre  of  the  great  pyramid,  and  then  turned  round  and  asked 
me  for  my  vote,"  was  an  unwilling  supporter's  description 
of  the  way  in  which  a  promise  had  been  extorted  from  him. 
These  pleasantries  might  suit  the  study  of  a  college  dignitary; 
but  for  the  main  body  of  the  electors  he  provided  more  sub- 
stantial fare.  He  had  no  particular  claims  to  represent  the 
University,  and  therefore  wisely  presented  himself  as  "an 
appendage  to  the  anti-catholic  idea*."  His  printed  circular 
announced  "the  most  steady  and  decided  opposition  to  any 
measures  tending  to  undermine  or  alter  the  established 
Church";  a  well-selected  phrase  of  no  uncertain  meaning, 
the  value  of  which  became  evident  at  the  close  of  the  poll 
(27  November,  1822),  when  the  numbers  were:  Bankes,  419; 
Hervey,  281  ;  Scarlett,  219.  Sedgwick's  views  on  the  contest 
and  the  result  are  summed  up  in  the  following  passage  from  a 
letter  written  two  months  afterwards : 

"You  wanted  to  know  something  about  our  election. 
Bankes  was  principally  brought  in  by  the  interest  of  the 
country  clergymen,  who  came  up  from  all  parts  of  England  to 

1  Lord  Hervey  was  eldest  son  of  the  fifth  Earl  of  Bristol,  created  first 
Marquess  of  Bristol  1826.  His  aunt  married  the  second  Earl  of  Liverpool.  The 
family  seat  is  at  I ck worth,  near  Bury  St  Edmund's. 

*  This  phrase  occurs  in  a  long  and  ably*  written  article  on  the  election  in 
The  Times,  29  November,  1812. 


WILLIAM  JOHN  BANKES.  259 

vote  for  the  anticatholic  candidate.  Undoubtedly  all  this  was  1811. 
the  operation  of  principle  (though  I  think  a  mistaken  one),  Mi'  37» 
because  all  the  Government  influence  was  exerted  for  Lord 
Hervey,  the  nephew  of  the  Premier.  The  highest  of  our 
Cambridge  high-church  men  (such  as  Rennell1,  Tatham1, 
Calvert8,  Wood4,  etc.  etc.)  all  went  for  Hervey,  and  thereby, 
in  my  humble  opinion,  did  themselves  no  honor.  If  Lord 
Liverpool  supported  a  relation,  though  favourable  to  Catholic 
concession,  they  ought  not  to  have  left  their  avowed  principles 
to  follow  him.  The  whig  candidate  was  not  a  popular  one, 
and  was  not  heartily  supported  by  the  staunch  men  of  his  own 
party.  Our  representative  Bankes  is  certainly  a  very  extra- 
ordinary man,  and  possesses  a  wonderful  fund  of  enter- 
taining anecdote.  When  an  undergraduate  he  was  half  sus- 
pected of  being  a  Papist:  and  he  almost  frightened  Dr 
Ramsden5  to  death,  by  building  in  his  rooms  an  altar  at  which 
he  daily  burned  incense,  and  frequently  had  the  singing-boys 
dressed  in  their  surplices  to  chant  services.  For  a  long  time, 
while  in  the  East,  he  wore  a  long  beard,  and  passed  as  a 
faithful  follower  of  the  law  of  Mahomet.  I  don't  think  we  can 
depend  on  him  as  a  man  of  business,  though  as  a  literary 
character,  and  a  man  of  large  fortune,  he  is  a  very  proper 
person  to  represent  us  in  parliament.  For  several  years  he 
had  four  artists  in  his  pay  in  Asia  Minor,  and  even  now 
he  has  men  employed  in  his  service  in  Upper  Egypt,  exca- 
vating tombs  and  temples,  etc6." 

The  year  1823  opened  gloomily  for  Sedgwick.     He  was 
spending  the   Christmas  vacation   in  Cambridge,  arranging, 

1  Thomas  Rennell,  Fellow  of  King's  College  ;  B.  A.  18 10,  Christian  Advocate, 
1816 — 21. 

a  Ralph  Tatham,  Fellow  of  St  John's  College;  B.A.  1800,  Public  Orator 
1809 — 1836,  and  Master  1839  t0  n*s  death  19  January,  1857. 

3  Thomas  Calvert,  B.A.  1797,  Fellow  of  St  John's  College,  and  Norrisian 
Professor  of  Divinity  18 15 — 24. 

4  James  Wood,  B.A.  1782,  Master  of  St  John's  College  1815 — 39. 

5  Richard  Ramsden,  one  of  the  Senior  Fellows  of  Trinity  College ;  B.A.  1 786, 
D.D.  1807. 

6  To  Rev.  W.  Ainger,  1  February,  1823. 

17 — 2 


260  DEATH  OF  HIS  SISTER  ISABELLA. 

1813.  with  Henslow's  assistance,  the  collection  which  the  latter  had 
^t-  38-  formed  in  Anglesea,  when  he  was  hastily  summoned  to  Dent. 
His  favourite  sister  Isabella  had  been  for  some  time  in  a 
declining  state  of  health,  but  no  immediate  danger  was 
anticipated.  Perhaps  Sedgwick  was  not  told  the  full  truth. 
At  last,  towards  the  middle  of  January,  he  learnt  that  she 
was  sinking  fast. 

"I  left  Cambridge  without  delay,"  he  wrote  to  Ainger, 
"  but  in  consequence  of  the  great  quantity  of  drifted  snow, 
which  detained  us  one  day  on  the  road,  I  did  not  reach  home 
till  Friday  afternoon.  Nor  could  I  even  then  have  completed 
my  journey  had  I  not  left  the  coach  behind,  and  pushed 
through  the  snow,  for  the  last  three  stages,  on  post-horses.  I 
did  not  reach  home  in  time  to  see  my  poor  sister,  but  I  had 
the  mournful  satisfaction  of  accompanying  her  remains  to 
the  grave  the  day  after  my  arrival.  She  was  blessed  with  a 
quiet  and  affectionate  temper  which  greatly  endeared  her  to 
every  one  of  us  ;  and  during  her  painful  illness  she  exhibited 
a  humble  resignation  to  the  will  of  God ;  bearing  with  patience 
her  afflictions  here,  in  the  Christian  hope  of  being  received 
with  favour  by  her  Maker  in  a  place  where  there  is  neither 
sorrow  nor  suffering.  The  shock  produced  by  poor  Bell's 
death  had  such  an  effect  on  our  sister  Jane  that  she  was 
delivered  of  a  daughter  on  the  day  following.  She  and  the 
child,  I  am  happy  to  say,  are  both  doing  well.  The  young 
one  is  to  have  the  name  of  Margaret  Isabella  after  my  mother 
and  sister,  and  I  hope  to  take  upon  me  the  duties  of  sponsor 
before  my  return  to  Cambridge.  My  Father,  who  has  now 
almost  completed  his  87th  year,  has  borne  his  late  affliction 
with  that  patience  we  all  expected  from  him.  His  mind  is 
better  regulated  than  that  of  any  man  whom  I  have  ever  had 
the  happiness  of  knowing ;  and,  so  far,  he  is  enjoying,  even 
in  this  world,  the  fruits  of  a  well-spent  life l ". 

1  To  Rev.  W.  Ainger,  1  February,  1813.  The  dates  given  in  the  letter  shew 
that  Sedgwick  left  Cambridge  on  Tuesday  1 1  January,  and  reached  Dent  on  Friday 
74  January. 


DEATH  OF  HIS  SISTER  ISABELLA.  261 

Sedgwick  says  nothing  about  his  own  feelings  in  the  above  1813. 
letter ;  but  we  know  from  other  sources  how  bitterly  he  «**•  3& 
deplored  the  loss  of  a  sister  who  had  been  the  companion 
of  his  childhood,  and  for  thirty  years  in  after-life  the  object  of 
the  best  affections  of  his  heart1.  To  him — with  his  tender 
and  affectionate  nature — her  almost  sudden  death  was  one  of 
those  calamities  under  which  a  strong  man  does  not  break 
down,  but  which  he  can  never  forget  Sedgwick's  affection  for 
his  sister  was  transferred,  so  to  speak,  to  the  child-niece 
whose  birth  coincided  with  her  death,  and  who  became,  as  she 
grew  up,  his  chosen  friend  and  indispensable  companion. 
After  the  death  of  her  own  father  and  mother,  she  resided 
with  her  uncle  whenever  it  was  possible  to  do  so,  and  made 
his  declining  years  happy  by  her  tenderness  and  care.  She 
might  well  have  been,  as  he  was  fond  of  calling  her,  his  own 
child. 

After  this  long  digression,  which  the  sequence  of  events 
has  rendered  necessary,  we  must  return  to  Sedgwick's  geo- 
logical work.  In  1823  and  1824,  as  mentioned  above,  he 
continued  his  exploration  of  "  the  most  intricate  portions  of 
Cumberland,  Westmoreland,  and  LancashireV,  but  he  did  not 
commit  any  of  his  conclusions  to  paper  until  1831.  In  1825 
and  1826  he  made  no  fresh  geological  explorations — unless  we 
class  under  that  head  a  very  brief  excursion  in  Sussex  with 
Dr  Fitton.  During  these  four  years,  moreover,  he  worked  out 
the  information  gathered  in  the  period  preceding  his  length- 
ened exploration  of  Lakeland,  and  was  continually  employed 
in  writing  papers8,  either  for  the  Cambridge  Philosophical 
Society,  the  Geological  Society  of  London,  or  the  Annals  of 
Philosophy. 

Nor,  while  engaged  upon  these  works  in  his  study,  did 
he  forget  his  Museum.     His   own  reports,  or  those  of  the 

1  These  words  are  used  with  reference  to  his  own  sister  in  a  letter  (dated 
5  November,  1855)  to  Mr  Lyell,  whose  sister  had  just  died.     See  above,  p.  53. 

2  Report  to  the  Woodward ian  Auditors,  I  May,  1823. 

8  A  detailed  list  of  Sedgwick's  works,  which  we  have  tried  to  make  complete, 
is  given  at  the  conclusion  of  this  Biography. 


262  ADDITIONS  TO  MUSEUM. 

1812-1815.  inspectors,  chronicle  in  each  year  some  important  work  done, 
^t.  37-4°-  or  some  valuable  specimens  added.  Among  these  additions 
should  be  specially  mentioned  Mr  Henslow's  Anglesea 
collection,  arranged  by  himself,  as  before  mentioned,  during 
the  Christmas  Vacation  of  1822 — 23 ;  a  palaeontological  series 
from  the  bone-caves  of  Yorkshire ;  and  a  cast  of  u  one  of  the 
finest  fossils  preserved  in  the  Museum  of  the  Jardin  des 
Plantes,  Paris,"  presented  by  Mr  Chantrey1.  Unfortunately 
the  University  was,  for  the  time,  but  little  the  better  for  these 
treasures,  on  account  of  want  of  space  in  the  miserable  room 
in  which  the  Woodwardian  collections  were  then  stowed — it 
would  be  absurd  to  say  displayed.  This  subject  is  dwelt 
upon  again  and  again  in  the  reports  of  the  Inspectors  to 
the  Vice-Chancellor.  We  select,  by  way  of  illustration,  a 
single  passage  from  their  report  for  1825  : 

"  While  we  request  your  notice  of  the  valuable  additions  which 
continue  to  be  made  to  this  Collection  by  the  indefatigable  labours 
of  your  learned  Professor,  and  regret  that  the  Museum  should  be 
incapable  of  containing  them,  we  cannot  forbear  expressing  our 
hopes  that  the  result  of  the  Syndicate  appointed  to  treat  for  the 
purchase  of  the  buildings  adjoining  the  Public  Library  will  be 
favourable  to  that  enlargement  of  the  Museum  which  has  been  so 
long  desired 

"  Of  the  disadvantage  arising  from  the  present  crowded  state  of 
this  place  it  would  be  needless  for  us  to  remind  you ;  but  we  feel  it 
our  duty  to  advert  to  an  inconvenience  which  the  Professor  is 
suffering  from  the  necessity  laid  upon  him  of  receiving  in  his  private 
rooms  those  specimens  which  have  lately  been  received  or  collected 
by  himself." 

Sedgwick's  other  occupations  during  these  years  are  best 
introduced  by  the  following  letters.  Unfortunately  none  of 
those  written  in  1824  have  been  preserved.  His  work  in 
Lakeland  in  the  summer  of  1823  prevented  his  presence  at 
the  ceremony  of  laying  the  foundation-stone  of  The  King's 
Court  of  Trinity  College — better  known  as  The  New  Court — 
which  took  place  on  Tuesday,  12  August,  in  that  year.     His 

1  Sedgwick*s  Report  to  the  Woodwardian  Auditors,  i  May,  1813.  Un- 
fortunately this  is  the  only  report  by  Sedgwick  for  those  years  that  has  been 
preserved,  but  the  series  of  those  by  the  Inspectors  is  complete. 


LECTURE   TO  LADIES.  263 

name,  however,   appears   in   the  list  of  subscriptions  as   a     1815. 

donor  of  twenty-five  guineas ;  and  we  learn,  on  the  autho-    &•  4©« 

rity  of  Professor  Pryme,  that  he  wished  the  name  to  be  St 

Michael's   Court1,  obviously  in  commemoration  of  Michael 

House,  which  had   owned   the   ground   on  which  the  new 

buildings  were  to  stand. 

Trin.  Coll.,  February  19,  1825. 
Dear  Ainger, 

I  am  really  for  once  ashamed  of  myself,  and  acknow- 
ledge that  I  ought  to  have  written  to  you  some  months  since. 
One  who  has  so  often  offended  in  the  same  way  must  needs 
be  a  merciful  judge;  I  therefore  venture  to  anticipate  your 
forgiveness,  and  even  to  request  that  you  will  show  your 
Christian  temper  by  sending  me  ah  immediate  answer.  Pray 
tell  me  what  you  have  all  been  about  in  the  parsonage  of 
St  Bees.  The  young  ones  are  now,  I  hope,  all  well.  Give 
my  very  kindest  remembrances  to  Mrs  Ainger  and  every  one 
of  them. 

Now  for  my  own  adventures.  In  about  ten  days  after  we 
parted  I  bent  my  way  to  Dent  and  spent  a  quiet  week  with 
my  father.  I  then  proceeded  direct  for  Cambridge,  and  only 
reached  my  chambers  about  two  days  before  I  commenced 
my  course  of  lectures.  I  had  a  very  large  class,  and  as  usual 
was  very  busy  during  the  term.  Just  when  I  thought  my 
labours  were  happily  terminated  I  found  that  the  whole 
University  was  likely  to  be  thrown  into  the  greatest  conster- 
nation by  the  sudden  appearance  of  a  kind  of  philosophical 
mania  which  broke  out  among  the  Cambridge  Blues.  Un- 
fortunately for  me  their  madness  took  a  geological  turn,  so 
that  I  was  obliged,  out  of  pure  compassion,  to  administer 
to  them  a  sedative  dose  in  the  form  of  a  three  hours  lecture. 
Peacock  tells  me  that  you  were  greatly  scandalised  at  the 
news  of  this  event;  and  that  the  electrical  horror  at  this 
academical  innovation  caused  your  hair  to  stand  erect,  and 
your  shovel  to  unfold  itself. 

1  Recollections,  p.  143. 


264  VISITS  EDINBURGH   WITH  WHEWELL. 

1825.  A  day  or  two  after  this  act  of  homage  to  the  Blues, 

*&-  40.  Whewell  and  I  started  by  the  mail  for  Edinburgh.  No  words 
of  mine  can  convey  to  you  any  notion  of  the  pleasure  which  I 
experienced  when  I  first  saw  this  magnificent  capital.  The 
imposing  flutter  of  the  old  town,  which  rises,  in  utter  defiance 
of  all  regularity,  along  the  sides  of  a  steep  declivity  terminating 
in  a  perpendicular  rock  crowned  by  the  battlements  of  the 
Castle;  the  beautiful  symmetry  and  neatness  of  the  new 
town ;  the  happy  grouping  of  great  masses  of  building  with 
natural  features  of  gigantic  magnitude ;  the  beautiful  glimpses 
of  the  Firth  of  Forth  which  from  every  elevated  point  is  seen, 
like  a  great  inland  lake,  winding  between  the  shores  of 
MidLothian  and  Fifeshire ;  these  are  the  elements  which  go  to 
the  composition  of  a  picture,  at  least  in  its  kind,  unrivalled 
in  the  whole  world.  I  will  say  no  more  of  dead  things,  but 
I  will  speak  of  the  living.  We  had  excellent  introductions, 
and  in  two  days  after  our  arrival,  were  so  completely  in 
society  that  we  had  not  a  moment  to  call  our  own.  We  often 
went  out  to  breakfast,  and  always  found  the  tables  covered 
with  beefsteaks,  ham  and  eggs,  divers  varieties  of  salt  fish, 
marmalade,  jellies  &c.  &c  In  a  corner  of  the  table  you  might 
indeed  see  a  tea-urn  and  coffee-pot ;  but  these  things  are  non- 
essentials in  a  Caledonian  fast-breaking.  Having  out  of  such 
materials  contrived  to  lay  a  good  foundation,  we  sallied  out, 
and  spent  the  morning  in  running  about  the  different  lectures, 
examining  the  different  institutions,  making  excursions  &c 
&c  At  six  o'clock  we  returned  to  some  of  our  new  friends, 
and  had  a  second  experience  of  Scotch  hospitality,  and  a 
most  sumptuous  report  I  must  give  of  it  Our  labours  did 
not  always  end  here,  as  we  not  unfrequently  went  out  to 
evening  parties,  where  we  met  Belles,  Beaux,  Advocates, 
Savans,  and  Craniologists.  In  short  we  saw  everybody  and 
everything.     Of  the  Savans,   Leslie1  and  Brewster*  are  the 

1  Mr,  afterwards  Sir  John,  Leslie,  then  Professor  of  Natural  Philosophy  at 
Edinburgh.     He  died  1833. 

1  Mr,  afterwards  Sir  David,  Brewster :  born  1781 ;  died  1868. 


VISITS  EDINBURGH  WITH  W HE  WELL.  265 

most  distinguished.  The  former  is  a  short  fat  butcher-like  1815. 
figure  with  a  red  nose,  and  may  be  considered  as  a  singular  ^Et  40. 
pachydermatous  variety  of  the  human  species.  He  is,  however, 
a  man  of  very  original  powers,  and  possesses  a  great  mass  of 
curious  information.  Brewster  is  in  many  respects  the  converse 
of  this.  He  is  a  thin  gentlemanlike  figure,  and  is  so  sensitive 
and  thin-skinned  that  you  cannot  touch  him  without  making 
him  wince.  The  two  philosophers  hate  each  other  most 
cordially.  Jeffrey  we  met  over  and  over  again.  He  is  on  the 
whole  a  very  agreeable  man ;  but  you  may  perceive,  in  most 
things  he  says,  the  tartness  and  causticity  of  the  Edinburgh 
critic.  Walter  Scott  was  unfortunately  away  during  the 
greater  part  of  our  visit :  what  we  saw  of  him  made  us  long 
for  his  better  acquaintance.  He  talks  exactly  as  he  writes, 
and  before  you  have  been  two  minutes  in  his  company  he 
begins  to  tell  good  stories.  Several  of  his  portraits,  and  above 
all  the  bust  by  Chantrey,  convey  a  most  correct  notion  of  his 
person.  The  advocates  are  a  very  agreeable  set  of  men,  not 
half  so  much  the  slaves  of  their  profession,  and  on  that 
account  infinitely  better  informed  on  subjects  of  general 
interest,  than  our  lawyers.  But  of  all  the  people  we  met,  the 
Craniologists  afforded  us  the  most  amusement  They  are 
perfectly  sincere  in  their  faith,  tho'  I  confess  I  could  only 
regard  them  as  a  set  of  crazy  humourists.  We  met  many  of 
the  Edinburgh  Belles,  Blue,  Red,  and  White.  The  Blues, 
like  the  Blues  of  other  countries,  remind  one  of  the  Blue  Boar. 
But  among  the  Reds  and  Whites  are  many  delightful  persons, 
of  whom  I  have  no  time  to  write. 

On  leaving  Edinburgh  we  proceeded  by  the  mail  to  Carlisle 
and  Kendal.  From  Kendal  I  posted  to  Dent,  and  only  re- 
mained a  day  or  two,  as  I  found  by  a  letter  that  I  was  pre- 
sented by  the  College  to  a  small  living  near  Cambridge1,  which 
I  can  hold  with  my  Fellowship.  A  few  hours  after  I  reached 
Cambridge  I  went  up  to  London  to  be  instituted.     Tomorrow 

1  Shudy  Camps,  a  village  in  the  S.E.  comer  of  Cambridgeshire,  15  miles  from 
Cambridge.     The  population,  in  183 1,  was  418  ;  the  value  of  the  vicarage,  ^146. 


266  WITH  DR  FITTON  IN  SUSSEX. 

18*5.     I  read  in.     Such  is  the  history  of  my  life  and  adventures  for 
Mt.  40.    the  last  five  months.     Now,  my  good  Doctor,  I  have  sent 
you  a  long  letter  which  you  must  answer.     Let  me  repeat  my 
kindest  remembrances  to  Mrs  Ainger  and  your  family. 

Yours  ever, 

A.  Sedgwick. 

P.S.  I  have  accumulated  so  many  materials  that  I  must 
remain  at  home  the  greater  part  of  this  year  to  digest  and 
write.  I  have  no  less  than  four  memoirs  on  the  stocks.  One 
of  these  will  run  out  almost  into  a  volume.  I  fear  I  shall  not 
have  much  time  for  sermons,  but  I  have  hired  a  curate. 

Trin.  Coll.,  August  16,  1825. 
Dear  Ainger, 

I  reached  College  on  Friday  evening,  and  since  that 
time  have  been  employed  in  settling  my  last  quarter's  bills, 
reading  Scott's  last  novels,  and  writing  letters.  It  has  long 
been  a  custom  with  me  to  answer  all  my  friends'  letters 
immediately  on  my  return  to  College  from  my  vagabondizing 
expeditions.  The  task  must  be  performed  some  time,  and  in 
this  way  it  fills  up  a  day  or  two  in  which  otherwise  I  might 
not  be  employed  in  anything,  for  after  rambling  about  in  the 
open  air  one  always  sets  very  reluctantly  to  work  in  a  dull 
college  room. 

A  day  or  two  after  we  parted  I  proceeded  towards  the 
coast,  and  on  my  way  passed  thro*  Canterbury,  where  we  had 
the  good  luck  to  fall  in  with  Metcalfe,  who  looks  charmingly, 
and  has  a  fine  family  about  him.  He  conducted  Dr  Fitton 
and  myself  over  Becket's  tomb,  and  the  other  ecclesiastical 
buildings,  which  in  general  have  more  historical  than  archi- 
tectural interest  On  the  whole  I  was  rather  disappointed 
with  them.  From  Shakespeare's  cliff  we  worked  our  way 
westward,  examining  the  successive  cliffs,  hammer  in  hand, 
and  making  short  excursions  up  the  country  wherever  it 
seemed  to  promise  anything  good  to  our  geological  eyes. 


WITH  JAMES  SEDGWICK  AT  FRESHWATER.      267 

The  weather  was  beautiful,  but  so  intolerably  hot  that  Fitton  1815. 
took  fright,  and  ran  home  to  take  shelter  under  his  wife's  ^*.  4a 
petticoats.  I  had  no  wife  to  spread  out  her  nether  garments 
over  me,  so  I  was  compelled,  like  my  old  namesake,  by  the 
sweat  of  my  brow  to  go  thro*  my  daily  work.  An  account  of 
my  labours,  would,  I  know,  be  devoid  of  interest  to  the 
uninitiated.  Suffice  it  therefore  to  say  that  I  sweated  my 
weary  way  as  far  as  Bognor  in  Sussex,  where  the  rocky  cliffs 
have  entirely  disappeared,  and  are  succeeded  by  nothing  but 
sand  and  shingles,  which  offer  but  little  scope  for  the  exercise 
of  the  hammer.  This  induced  me  to  hire  a  boat,  and  make  a 
run  direct  for  the  Isle  of  Wight  The  weather  was  delightful, 
and  the  wind  so  favourable  that  we  did  not  shift  the  sails 
during  the  whole  day.  I  shall  never  forget  the  glowing 
beauty  of  the  shores  of  the  Isle  of  Wight  as  we  swept  up 
the  channel.  The  ships  of  war  at  Spithead  were  firing  the 
evening  gun  just  as  we  reached  the  pier  head  at  Ryde. 

Next  morning  I  pounded  forward  to  Freshwater,  and  took 
up  my  quarters  with  my  brother,  where  I  remained  a  month. 
Between  dinner-parties,  water-parties  with  the  ladies,  and 
geological  expeditions  to  every  corner  of  the  Isle,  I  contrived 
to  pass  the  month  most  deliciously,  and  I  left  the  place  with 
infinite  regret  this  day  week.  As  it  blew  a  stiff  breeze  from 
the  right  quarter  I  was  induced  to  hire  a  boat,  in  which  James 
accompanied  me  to  Portsmouth.  At  first  we  bounced  over 
the  waves  right  merrily,  but  a  heavy  swell  from  the  west 
turned  our  mirth  into  sadness,  and  produced  such  internal 
qualms  that  our  stomachs  almost  came  out  thro*  our  teeth. 
We  therefore  made  for  Cowes  harbour,  and  "spliced  our 
main  braces  "  with  a  glass  or  two  of  brandy,  which  acted  like 
oil  on  the  troubled  waters,  and  produced  a  dead  calm  in  the 
peristaltic  regions.  The  rest  of  our  voyage  was  performed 
pleasantly  enough. 

The  following  evening  we  spent  in  the  dock-yard  with  Dr 
Inman1,  who  kindly  showed  us  everything  in  his  power.     I 

1  One  of  Mr  Dawson's  senior  wranglers.     See  above,  p.  6$  note. 


268  VISIT  TO  PORTSMOUTH. 

1815.  have  seen  this  great  naval  arsenal  two  or  three  times  before  ; 
JE,U  4°*  but  I  rejoice  to  say  that  I  am  as  much  alive  to  its  interest  as 
ever.  My  bedroom  windows  looked  over  the  harbour,  and 
the  old  Victory  with  an  Admiral's  flag  at  the  main-top  was  at 
anchor  within  200  yards  of  the  house.  As  I  rose  very  early 
to  see  my  brother  off,  and  the  coach  for  London  did  not  start 
till  ten,  I  had  an  opportunity  of  hiring  a  boat,  and  rowing 
about  the  harbour  for  an  hour  or  two,  during  which  time  I 
flew  off  into  a  fit  of  heroics  which  it  would  be  impossible  to 
describe  in  less  than  another  sheet  of  paper.  The  state  of  the 
elements  kept  up  this  fit  for  the  rest  of  the  day;  for  we 
travelled  to  Town  in  the  midst  of  claps  of  thunder  and  flashes 
of  lightning.  Near  Petersfield  a  house  which  had  been  set  on 
fire  by  lightning  was  blazing  as  we  passed. 

I  only  remained  one  day  in  Town,  and  here  I  am  with 
plenty  of  employment  for  the  next  month.  If  I  can  finish  a 
paper  which  I  have  on  the  stocks  in  a  reasonable  time  I  shall 
try  to  be  at  the  York  Meeting1,  and  from  thence  I  shall  (D.  v.) 
proceed  by  Leeds  to  Dent  My  kindest  remembrances  to 
Mrs  A.  and  my  young  friends. 

Yours  ever, 

A.  Sedgwick. 

Lord  Palmerston's  Committee  Room. 

December  29,  [1825]. 

Dear  Ainger, 

Strange  things  come  to  pass.  I  am  now  in  the  Com- 
mittee room  of  a  Johnian,  a  Tory,  and  a  King's  Minister;  and 
I  am  going  to  give  him  a  plumper.  My  motives  are  that  he 
is  our  old  Member,  and  a  distinguished  Member,  and  that  I 
hate  the  other  candidates — I  mean  with  public  and  political 
hate,  without  private  malice.  Bankes  is  a  fool,  and  was 
brought  in  last  time  by  a  set  of  old  women,  and  whenever 
he  rises  makes  the  body  he  represents  truly  ridiculous. 
Copley  is  a  clever  fellow,  but  is  not  sincere,  at  least  when 

1  The  Musical  Festival  which  took  place  at  York,  September  13 — 16. 


SUPPORTS   VISCOUNT  PALMERSTON.  269 

I  pass  him  I  am  sure  I  smell  a  rat  Goulburn  is  the  idol  1836. 
of  the  Saints,  a  prime  favourite  of  Simeon's,  and  a  subscriber  iEu  4*< 
to  missionary  societies.  Moreover  he  squints.  Now,  my 
good  fellow,  though  I  believe  you  have  the  liberality  of  a 
great  Inquisitor,  yet  I  think  you  will  hardly  vote  against 
your  own  college,  your  own  friends,  and  the  cause  of  common 
sense. 

Yours  ever, 

A.  Sedgwick. 

P.S.  If  you  don't  give  at  least  one  vote  to  Lord  Palmer- 
ston,  I  shall  think  you  have  rusted  in  the  country,  and  lost 
your  wits1. 

Dent,  February  18,  1826. 
Dear  Ainger, 

When  we  last  parted  I  had  no  thought  of  finding 
my  way  so  soon  to  Dent,  but  here  I  am  act  the  corner  of  a 
breakfast-table  in  the  old  Parsonage,  and  the  Pastor  and  his 
wife  are  making  such  a  noise  that  my  powers  of  attention 
must,  I  fear,  be  suspended,  and  my  language  incoherent  I 
will,  however,  do  the  best  I  can  in  making  my  way  through 
three  pages  of  this  sheet.  After  I  returned  to  College  my 
whole  time  was  taken  up  with  a  dull  geological  paper8  which 
I  was  endeavouring  to  bring  to  a  close,  in  order  that  it  might 
appear  in  the  Annals  of  Philosophy  for  next  month.  But  my 
operations  were  interrupted  by  a  letter  from  my  sister,  which 
informed  me  that  my  Father  was  much  debilitated,  and  that 
he  exhibited  some  symptoms  of  an  incipient  dropsy.  I 
showed  the  letter  to  Haviland,  and  he  advised  me  to  come 
down,  as  a  complaint  of  that  kind  would  probably  carry  off  a 
man  of  my  Father's  very  advanced  age  in  a  few  weeks.  In 
consequence  of  this  advice  I  met  the  Leeds  coach  at  Alcon- 
bury  Hill  on  Saturday  last ;  spent  the  following  day  with  my 

1  The  poll-book  shows  that  notwithstanding  Sedgwick's  efforts  Dr  Ainger 
voted  for  Sir  J.  S.  Copley  and  Mr  Bankes. 

3  On  the  classification  of  the  strata  which  appear  on  the  Yorkshire  coast. 


270  VISITS  PARIS   WITH  WHEWELL. 

i8«6.     old  pupil  Charles  Musgrave  (who  resides  on  his  living  near 

iEt-4I-    Leeds),  and  on  Monday  night  reached  my  Father's  house. 

He  is,  I  am  happy  to  say,  very  much  better  than  I  expected, 

and,  on  the  whole,  looks  nearly  as  well  as  he  did  when  I  left 

him  in  the  autumn.     His  legs  are  a  good  deal  enlarged,  but 

the  disease  makes  very  slow  progress,  and,  thank  God,  he  is 

quite  free  from  pain.    He  is,  however,  languid  and  drowsy,  and 

sometimes  for  a  minute  or  two,  even  when  awake,  inattentive 

to  what  is  about  him.     On  the  whole,  however,  there  is  no 

sign  whatever  of  any  sudden  change,  and  if  he  should  not  get 

worse  in  course  of  next  week  I  shall  return  to  Cambridge  and 

finish  my  lectures.     Indeed  I  never  expected  that  he  would 

live  over  the  year,  and  the  only  wish  which  his  dearest  friends 

have  now  any  right  to  express  is,  that  it  may  please  God 

to  preserve  the  faculties  of  his  mind,  and  release  him  from 

a  life,  now  only  of  labour  and  sorrow,  without  the  additional 

burden  of  much  bodily  suffering. 

After  the  illumination  your  mind  received  at  Cambridge, 

not  to  mention  a  conversation  one  evening  at  your  Father's 

house,  you  will,  I  am  sure,  rejoice  to  hear  that  Lord  Palmer- 

ston's  success  at  the  next  election  is  now  quite  certain.     My 

best  regards  and  love  to  all  your  family.     My  sister  says  she 

will  cross  the  first  page  of  my  letter.     She  shall  have  her 

mind  :  but  it  is  a  dangerous  thing  to  drive  fresh  sentences 

over  my  rugged  text 

Yours  ever, 

A.  Sedgwick. 

[Trin.  Coll.,  February,  1827.] 
Dear  Ainger, 

Whewell  and  I  left  Cambridge  the  day  after  our 
commemoration  (the  17th  December),  and  went  as  far  as  Hyde 
Hall,  where  we  spent  the  evening  with  Sir  John  Malcolm.  Next 
morning  we  posted  to  town  with  the  old  General  in  time  for 
breakfast;  procured  our  passports,  and  went  by  the  night 
coach  to  Dover.     As  soon  as  the  tide  served  we  embarked 


CUVIER,  HUMBOLDT,  LAPLACE.  271 

in  a  steamer,  and  in  two  hours  and  a  half  were  at  the  pier  1837. 
head  of  Calais.  In  two  more  days  the  diligence  conveyed  us  Mt-  4*« 
to  the  place  of  our  destination.  I  intended  to  have  written  to 
you,  and  I  thought  about  it  every  day  I  was  at  Paris,  but 
I  never  had  time.  With  the  exception  of  two  short  letters  to 
my  Father  which  I  regarded  as  a  matter  of  positive  duty,  I 
did  not  write  a  line  to  any  one. 

My  time  was  spent  in  the  French  capital  delightfully,  and 
I  hope  profitably.  I  attended  public  lectures,  examined 
public  institutions,  and  became  in  some  measure  acquainted 
with  several  men  whom  I  before  knew  only  by  reputation. 
Many  of  the  leading  literary  and  scientific  men  give  soir/es, 
that  is  evening  parties,  once  a  week,  at  which  any  one  may 
attend  who  has  been  introduced.  Three  of  these  I  regularly 
attended :  on  Wednesday  evenings  at  the  old  Marquis  de 
Laplace's,  on  Thursday  evenings  at  Professor  Arago's  at  the 
Observatory,  and  on  Saturday  evenings  at  Baron  Cuvier's. 
These  parties  were  delightful.  They  assemble  about  nine, 
and  break  up  about  twelve.  You  meet  there  the  first  literary 
men  of  France,  and  you  may  talk  or  not  as  you  like,  for  there 
is  no  restraint  or  ceremony  whatsoever.  Baron  Humboldt  is 
perhaps  the  most  interesting  character  I  have  met,  and  I 
rejoice  to  think  that  I  have  in  some  measure  formed  his 
acquaintance.  We  have  exchanged  one  or  two  letters,  and  I 
will  endeavour  to  keep  the  ball  up.  He  gave  me  up  two 
mornings,  which  I  considered  a  great  compliment  from  one 
who  is  so  much  engaged.  The  day  before  I  left  Paris  I 
called  on  old  Laplace  and  had  a  long  talk  with  him.  He 
is  thin  and  emaciated ;  but  posessses  great  mental  vigour 
for  a  man  of  78  years.  He  asked  a  great  many  questions 
about  Cambridge,  and  then  began  to  talk  of  the  CatJwlic 
Question.  'A  Roman  Catholic  priest/  said  he,  'cannot  be 
a  good  man,  for  he  is  cut  off  from  the  rights  of  manhood, 
has  no  sympathy  with  other  men,  and  only  plots  for  the 
aggrandizement  of  his  own  order.  He  cannot  be  a  good 
subject,  for  he  acknowledges  an  authority  which  is  external 


272  LAPLACE,  BISHOP  LUSCOMBE. 

i8«7-  and  superior  to  the  executive  of  his  own  country.  You  have 
^•4*«  these  fellows  down — keep  them  down — if  you  admit  them 
to  power  they  will  only  endeavour  to  destroy  those  who  lifted 
them  up'!!  What  do  you  think  of  this  from  a  French  Peer, 
and  a  nominal  Roman  Catholic  ?  I  talked  to  him  in  French, 
but  I  have  translated  what  he  said  as  literally  as  possible. 
I  found  many  more  men  in  Paris  in  the  same  mind.  I  also 
saw  some  good  English  society,  and  received  very  great 
civilities  from  Bishop  Luscombe1.  Pray  what  is  the  exact 
history  of  his  consecration,  and  of  his  objects?  I  did  not 
exactly  make  them  out.  I  have  many  other  things  to  tell 
you,  if  I  had  time  and  paper-room,  but  I  must  leave  some- 
thing till  we  meet    When  must  that  be  ? 

On  my  return  from  Paris  to  London  I  was  three  successive 
nights  on  the  road  without  being  able  to  rest  myself  for  a 
single  hour.     The  cold  in  France  was  horrible9. 

Give  my  affectionate  remembrances  to  your  family.  Take 
care  of  yourself8.  I  don't  however  think  that  writing  a  short 
letter  would  do  you  much  harm. 

Yours  most  affectionately, 

A.  Sedgwick. 

It  is  provoking  that  this  letter  should  be  the  only  detailed 
account  of  the  six  or  seven  weeks  which  Sedgwick  spent  in 
Paris.  He  always  spoke  of  the  visit  as  having  been  not  only 
agreeable,  but  also  extremely  profitable.  He  learnt,  at  least 
to  some  extent,  what  continental  men  of  science  were  doing 
and  thinking — for  at  that  time  Paris  was  unquestionably  the 
scientific  centre  of  Europe — and  so  paved  the  way  for  the 

1  An  English  clergyman  consecrated  (ao  March,  1835)  by  the  Primus  of 
Scotland,  as  '  a  missionary  Bishop  for  the  superintendence  of  such  of  the  English 
clergy  and  congregations  in  France,  Belgium,  and  Holland  as  were  willing  to 
acknowledge  his  episcopate.1  He  also  acted  as  chaplain  to  the  British  Embassy 
at  Paris. 

9  The  Rev.  Joseph  Romilly,  Fellow  of  Trinity  College,  whose  diary  will  be 
frequently  quoted  in  subsequent  years,  notes  under  5  February,  1827  :  *  Sedgwick 
came  alone  in  the  malle-poste  from  Paris,  with  hay  twisted  round  his  legs.' 

*  Dr  Ainger  had  just  recovered  from  a  severe  illness. 


RECOLLECTIONS  OF  LAPLACE.  273 

researches  into  continental  geology  which  he  undertook  soon      1827. 
afterwards.    Moreover  he  added  to  the  Woodwardian  Museum    &u  *r 
"  a  considerable  geological  series  from  the  neighbourhood  of 
Paris,  collected    partly  by   his   own   hands,  partly  by  the 
kindness  of  his  friends,  and  partly  by  purchase.1 " 

The  above  letter  may  be  supplemented  by  a  few  details 
derived  from  conversation : 

"  Laplace  was  a  rather  small  man,  with  a  white  neck-tie, 
looking  very  like  a  parson,  though  he  was  reputed  to  be 
almost  an  atheist,  as  indeed  was  the  case.  He  was  then  very 
old,  and  used  an  old  man's  privilege,  retiring  to  bed  at  about 
nine  o'clock.  Arago  was  a  fine-looking  man,  with  a  very  fine 
wife,  and  a  staunch  republican.  Laplace  on  the  contrary 
was  weak,  and  always  shifting  his  politics  according  to  the 
time.  This  led  at  last  to  such  a  quarrel  between  him  and 
Arago  that  it  was  not  usual  for  persons  to  attend  the  soirees 
of  both.  When  Laplace  was  near  his  end  Arago  saw  a  man 
at  his  own  soiree  who  usually  went  to  his  rival,  and  re- 
marked '  Ah !  he  sees  old  Laplace  is  going,  and  so  he  has 
come  to  me.'  It  was  usual  for  a  visitor,  when  once  introduced, 
to  go  regularly,  and  it  was  considered  rude  to  cut  many 
soirees  consecutively.  Laplace  gave  only  tea  and  coffee, 
but  Cuvier,  after  his  soiree  was  over,  would  sit  down  with  a 
few  friends  to  tea  and  apple-pie. 

"  I  believe  that  I  was  the  last  person  (not  of  his  own 
family)  who  ever  saw  Laplace2.  I  called  on  him  before  my 
departure,  and  sent  in  my  card,  as  a  formal  leave-taking.  To 
my  surprise  he  received  me,  and  I  saw  that  he  was  in  the 
humour  for  a  good  talk.  He  looked  very  ill,  his  voice  was 
broken,  sounding  shrill,  like  a  whistle,  and  his  chin  rested  on 
his  breast.  He  said  he  had  desired  above  all  things  to  visit 
Cambridge,  the  scene  of  Newton's  discoveries,  but  that  first 
want  of  means,  and  then  the  Revolution,  had  prevented  him. 

1  Report  to  the  Woodwardian  Auditors \  May,  1827. 

3  Pierre- Simon,  Marquis  de  Laplace,  was  born  33   March    1749,   and  died 
5  March,  1827,  aged  78. 

S.  I.  18 


274  RECOLLECTIONS  OF  LAPLACE. 

i8«7.  €  Are  you  a  clergyman  ? '  he  inquired.  '  Yes.'  '  A  Protestant 
Mt.  42.  clergyman  ? '  c  Yes/  '  Is  there  any  objection  to  clergymen 
marrying?'  'On  the  contrary,  a  clergyman  who  does  not 
do  so  is  thought  rather  unwise/  Then,  after  some  remarks 
about  priests  who  could  not  marry,  and  therefore  could 
not  be  good  men  in  relation  to  humanity,  and  who  obeyed 
a  foreign  despot  and  therefore  could  not  be  good  citizens, 
he  proceeded :  '  I  wish  I  could  see  your  education  at  Cam- 
bridge. I  am  convinced  that  you  are  right  in  entrusting  it 
to  protestant  clergymen.  English  clergymen  can  be  good 
members  of  society  and  good  citizens,  and  I  have  found  out 
late  in  life  that  it  is  impossible  to  govern  without  the  help 
of  some  religion/  He  referred  to  Catholic  Emancipation, 
then  occupying  the  attention  of  Parliament,  and  said  it  would 
be  an  unwise  measure :  '  You  have  your  foot  on  the  Catholic 
priests,  and  you  should  keep  it  there ! '  This  was  called 
being  '  liberal '  in  those  days.  After  a  long  and  earnest  talk 
he  said  'Good  bye/  and  that  night  or  the  next  day  I  left  Paris. 
On  arriving  in  London  I  heard  that  he  was  dangerously  ill. 
The  news  had  probably  travelled  in  the  same  coach  as  I  had. 
He  died  soon  afterwards1/' 

Sedgwick  used  to  tell  several  other  stories — about  Cuvier 
and  his  daughter  Clementine — Humboldt — and  other  scientific 
men  whose  acquaintance  he  had  the  good  fortune  to  make, 
and  very  amusing  and  characteristic  they  were;  but  un- 
fortunately no  one  took  the  trouble  to  write  them  down. 

Trin.  Coll.,  March  3,  1827. 
Dear  Ainger, 

Your  letter  reached  me  this  morning,  and  I  do 
most  heartily  congratulate  you  on  your  new  elevation  in  the 
Church".    When  I  mentioned  the  circumstance  in  Hall,  every 

1  This  account  is  derived  from  notes  of  a  conversation  held  in  Sedgwick's  rooms 
on  the  evening  of  Sunday,  6  November,  1870,  written  down  immediately  after- 
wards by  Dr  Glaisher,  Fellow  of  Trinity  College,  through  whose  kindness  it 
is  printed  here. 

1  Dr  Ainger  had  just  been  made  Canon  of  Chester. 


V 


GENERAL  ELECTION.  275 

one  who  remembered  you  was  quite  delighted  :  and  all  agreed  1817. 
that  the  manner  of  the  appointment  did  the  Bishop1  the  Mt-  4*- 
highest  honour.  May  you  long  live  to  enjoy  this  and  still 
higher  dignities.  A  thousand  times  greater  than  these  things 
is,  however,  the  blessing  of  health,  and  I  rejoice  to  hear  that 
now  it  is  no  longer  withheld  from  you.  Give  my  affectionate 
remembrances  to  your  sister  and  all  your  children.  I  hope 
they  do  not  forget  me.  I  must  try  to  come  down  in  course  of 
the  year  to  rub  up  their  memories. 

On  Saturday  I  finished  my  lectures  and  immediately  came 
to  Sir  John  Malcolm's  to  spend  a  day  or  two.  I  only  returned 
yesterday,  and  am  now  looking  forward  to  a  good  spell  of 
hard  work.  By  the  way,  I  was  made  Vice-President  of  the 
London  Geological  Society  at  the  last  annual  meeting'.  But 
this  honour  brings  no  grist  There  is  no  manger  in  my  stall, 
so  that  notwithstanding  my  V.P.G.S.  at  the  tail  of  my 
signature,  I  may  die  of  hunger.  You  plainly  see  I  have 
nothing  to  write  about  so,  my  dear  fellow,  let  me  once  more 
congratulate  you  and  wish  you  a  very  good  night 

Yours  ever, 

A.  Sedgwick. 

The  General  Election  of  1826,  when  Sedgwick  was  a 
member  of  Lord  Palmerston's  committee,  was  fought  on  the 
same  general  lines  as  the  bye-election  of  1825.  The  con- 
servative victory  on  that  occasion  had  inspired  hopes  that  the 
second  seat  might  be  won  for  the  anti-catholics,  and  every 
nerve  was  strained  to  effect  not  only  the  return  of  Mr  Bankes, 
but  the  defeat  of  Lord  Palmerston.  "  This  once  liberal  Uni- 
versity/' said  a  writer  in  TIte  Times,  "  is  seized  at  this  moment 
with  such  a  violent  horror  of  the  Pope  that  in  its  panic 
it  forgets  the  services  of  an  old  and  tried  member,  and  would 

1  Charles  James  Blomfield,  D.D.,  a  former  Fellow  of  Trinity  College,  was 
Bishop  of  Chester  1824 — 1828.  He  and  Sedgwick  were  godfathers  to  Dr  Ainger's 
son.  a  7  February,  1827. 

l8—2 


276  BANKES  AND  GOULBURN. 

1826.  fling  him  away  with  as  much  unconcern  as  an  old  glove  V  In 
iEt  4*-  addition  to  the  sitting  members,  Mr  Bankes  and  Lord  Palmer- 
ston,  two  new  candidates  presented  themselves:  Sir  John 
Singleton  Copley,  then  Attorney-General,  and  Mr  Goulburn. 
It  soon  became  evident  that  Copley,  from  his  brilliant  legal 
reputation,  added  to  an  explicit  declaration  that  he  was,  and 
always  had  been,  "  decidedly  adverse  "  to  the  claims  of  the 
Catholics9,  was  certain  to  be  returned,  and  it  became  a 
question  whether  Bankes  or  Goulburn  would  do  well  to  retire. 
As  the  former  wrote  :  "  by  our  both  standing  it  is  obvious  to 
everybody  that  we  are  weakening  the  Anti-Catholic  Interest, 
and  frittering  away  the  strength  of  our  great  cause  V  There- 
upon he  authorised  his  Committee  to  institute  "a  fair  com- 
parison of  strength,  upon  the  understanding  that  whichever  of 
the  two  should  prove  to  be  the  weakest,  should  give  way  to 
the  other,"  but  the  suggestion  was  declined,  as  Goulburn  had 
pledged  himself  under  any  circumstances  to  go  to  the  poll. 
This  episode  inspired  a  clever  ballad4,  a  few  stanzas  of  which 
are  still  worth  reading  : 

Bankes  is  weak,  and  Goulburn  too, 

No  one  e'er  the  fact  denied; 
Which  is  weakest  of  the  two, 

Cambridge  can  alone  decide. 
Choose  between  them,  Cambridge,  pray, 
Which  is  weakest,  Cambridge,  say. 

Goulburn  of  the  Pope  afraid  is, 

Bankes  as  much  afraid  as  he; 
Never  yet  did  two  old  ladies 

On  this  point  so  well  agree. 
Choose  between  them,  Cambridge,  pray, 
Which  is  weakest,  Cambridge,  say. 

Each  a  different  mode  pursues, 
Each  the  same  conclusion  reaches; 

Bankes  is  foolish  in  Reviews, 
Goulburn  foolish  in  his  speeches. 

Choose  between  them,  Cambridge,  pray, 

Which  is  weakest,  Cambridge,  say. 

1  The  Times,  13  June,  18*6.        f  Sir  John  Copley's  address,  19  Decembci,  1825. 

*  Mr  Bankes  to  Mr  Goulburn,  10  June,  1836. 

4  It  is  printed  at  length  in  The  Times,  16  June,  1826. 


PAYMENT  OF  OUT-VOTERS.  277 

Bankes,  accustomed  much  to  roam,  1826. 

Plays  with  truth  a  traveller's  pranks ;  ^t.  41. 

Goulburn,  though  he  stays  at  home, 

Travels  thus  as  much  as  Bankes. 
Choose  between  them,  Cambridge,  pray, 
Which  is  weakest,  Cambridge,  say. 

Sedgwick  never  did  anything  by  halves,  and  the  few  letters 
from  friends  which  he  thought  worth  preserving  show  that  he 
left  them  no  peace  till  they  came  round  to  his  views.  The  most 
liberal  were  evidently  not  a  little  scandalised — complained 
of  being  obliged  to  a  pick  the  best  out  of  a  bad  pack  " — and 
the  like ;  but  in  the  end  they  voted  as  he  had  suggested. 
The  result  showed  the  unwisdom  of  divided  counsels,  for, 
though  Copley  headed  the  poll  with  772  votes,  Palmerston 
was  second  with  631,  while  Bankes  and  Goulburn  had  re- 
spectively 508  and  437 \  The  poll-book  shows  that  Sedgwick 
ultimately  voted  for  Copley  as  well  as  for  Palmerston,  as  did 
a  large  proportion  of  the  members  of  Trinity  College. 

Another  matter  connected  with  this  election  must  be 
briefly  noticed,  as  it  made  a  great  stir  in  the  University, 
and  Sedgwick's  name  appears  in  connection  with  it  For 
some  years  the  expenses  of  non-resident  electors  had  been 
defrayed  by  the  candidate  for  whom  they  voted.  It  was 
notorious  that  the  last  election  had  cost  a  vast  sum,  and 
several  stories  were  current  of  the  way  in  which  the  liberality 
of  the  candidates  had  been  abused.  It  soon  became  apparent 
that  the  practice  would  not  be  discontinued  on  the  present 
occasion ;  indeed  some  leading  members  of  one  of  the  com- 
mittees had  been  heard  to  say,  with  cynical  frankness,  that 
"  whatever  might  have  been  the  expenses  of  the  last  election, 
they  were  nothing  compared  with  those  which  would  probably 
be  incurred  at  this."  It  was  manifest  that  if  such  usage  were 
not  stopped,  not  only  would  grave  scandals  arise,  but  the 
choice  of  University  representatives  would  be  limited  to  men 
of  large  fortune.  Under  these  circumstances  an  attempt  was 
made  to  induce  the  four  committees  to  agree  in  refusing  to 

1  The  poll  was  taken  13 — 16  June,  1826. 


278  PAYMENT  OF  OUT-VOTERS. 

i8*6.  pay  any  expenses.  The  committees  of  Sir  John  Copley,  Lord 
Ml  41.  Palmerston,  and  Mr  Goulburn  agreed  to  do  this,  but  that 
of  Mr  Bankes  declined  even  to  discuss  the  subject.  Some 
further  negotiations  were  entered  into,  but  without  effect,  and 
the  subject  would  probably  have  dropped,  had  not  Mr  Lamb, 
Master  of  Corpus  Christi  College,  and  Mr  Henslow,  drawn  up 
a  "  recommendation  "  to  the  following  effect : 

"A  very  general  expression  of  regret  having  manifested  itself 
among  the  Members  of  the  University  at  the  practice  of  out-voters 
receiving  their  expenses  from  the  respective  Candidates  for  whom 
they  voted ;  the  undersigned  resident  Members  of  the  Senate 
earnestly  recommend  that  this  practice  should  not  be  renewed  at  the 
ensuing  election." 

This  document  was  signed  by  102  members  of  the  Senate, 
among  whom  were  seven  Heads  of  Colleges,  the  Proctors,  ten 
Professors  (including  Sedgwick),  several  Tutors,  and  generally 
most  men  of  consideration  in  the  University.  It  was  therefore 
easy  to  see  on  which  side  the  opinion  of  residents,  without 
distinction  of  party,  had  been  enlisted  :  but  with  non-residents 
the  case  was  far  different,  to  judge  by  the  literature  which  the 
movement  called  forth.  Nor  was  their  wrath  appeased  by 
the  extraordinary  conduct  of  two  members  of  the  Senate,  who 
on  the  day  of  election  insisted  that  the  oath  against  bribery 
should  be  administered  to  each  voter  as  he  came  to  the  Vice- 
Chancellor's  table1. 

It  was  not  long  before  Sedgwick  had  another  opportunity 
of  voting  against  Mr  Bankes.  The  elevation  of  Sir  J.  S. 
Copley  to  the  peerage  as  Baron  Lyndhurst,  in  April,  1827, 
rendered  one  seat  once  more  vacant  The  candidates  were 
Mr  Bankes,  Mr  Goulburn,  and  Sir  N.  C.  Tindal,  but  Goulburn 

1  The  history  of  this  question  will  be  found  in :  Remarks  upon  the  payment  of 
the  expenses  of  out-voters  at  an  University  election :  in  a  tetter  to  the  Vice- 
Chancellor  of  Cambridge.  By  the  Rev.  John  Lamb,  Master  of  Corpus  Christi 
College,  and  the  Rev.  J.  S.  Henslow,  Professor  of  Botany.  8vo.  Camb.  18*6: 
Observations  upon  the  payment  of  the  ex  pence s  of  out-voters  at  an  University 
election,  occasioned  by  remarks  upon  the  same  subject,  by  the  Rev.  the  Master  of 
Corpus,  and  the  Rev.  Professor  Henslow.  By  a  non-resident  Master  of  Arts. 
8vo.  Camb.  1816;  and  several  letters  in  The  Cambridge  Chronicle,  28  April — 
16  June,  in  the  same  year. 


DEFEAT  OF  BANKES.  279 

retired  before  the  day  of  election.  Both  the  remaining  candi-  1817. 
dates  professed  the  same  principles  on  the  question  in  which  Mi'  ♦*• 
the  electors  were  most  interested,  and  therefore  all  they  had 
to  do  was  to  choose  the  best  man.  Tindal,  a  former  Fellow  of 
Trinity  College,  was  personally  popular,  and  had  a  brilliant 
forensic  reputation;  Bankes,  now  that  the  interest  in  his 
travels  had  worn  off,  had  lost  the  favour  of  residents,  and  in 
his  own  college  polled  only  78  votes  against  191  recorded  for 
his  opponent  The  country  clergy,  however,  were  still  faithful 
to  him,  and  it  was  on  this  occasion  that  Macaulay  wrote  The 
Country  Clergyman 's  Trip  to  Cambridge.    An  Election  Ballad1. 

As  I  sate  down  to  breakfast  in  state, 

At  my  living  of  Tithing-cum-Boring, 
With  Betty  beside  me  to  wait, 

Came  a  rap  that  almost  beat  the  door  in. 
I  laid  down  my  basin  of  tea, 

And  Betty  ceased  spreading  the  toast, 
"As  sure  as  a  gun,  Sir,"  said  she, 

"  That  must  be  the  knock  of  the  post" 

A  letter — and  free — bring  it  here — 

I  have  no  correspondent  who  franks. 
No  !     Yes  !     Can  it  be  ?    Why,  my  dear, 

Tis  our  glorious,  our  Protestant,  Bankes. 
"Dear  Sir,  as  I  know  you  desire 

That  the  Church  shall  receive  due  protection 
I  humbly  presume  to  require 

Your  aid  at  the  Cambridge  election. 

It  has  lately  been  brought  to  my  knowledge, 

That  the  Ministers  fully  design 
To  suppress  each  Cathedral  and  College 

And  eject  every  learned  divine. 
To  assist  this  detestable  scheme 

Three  nuncios  from  Rome  are  come  over, 
They  left  Calais  on  Monday  by  steam 

And  landed  to  dinner  at  Dover. 

But,  amusing  as  the  whole  poem  is,  we  have  no  space  for 
further  quotation.  The  result  of  the  election  was  decisive: 
Mr  Bankes  polled  only  378  votes  against  479  recorded  for  his 
opponent,  and,  as  TJie  Times  anticipated,  he  did  not  again 
offer  to  represent  the  University. 

1  Miscellaneous  Writings  of  Lord  Macaulay,  8vo.  Lond.  i860,  ii.  413.  It  appeared 
originaUy  in  The  Times,  14  May,  1827.    The  Poll  was  taken  9 — 11  May,  1827. 


280  COLLEGE  FRIENDS. 

1827.  Amidst  the  bustle  and  excitement  of  the  election  Sedg- 

Mt.  4a.  yyick  did  not  neglect  his  Museum.  His  next  report  (dated 
I  May,  1827)  records  the  acquisition  of  "a  large  collection 
of  very  magnificent  fossils,  (chiefly  the  property  of  the  late 
Mr  Parkinson,  author  of  a  work  on  the  organic  remains  of  a 
former  world1)  which  were  purchased  during  last  month  at  a 
public  auction  ;"  and  "a  collection  consisting  of  more  than  a 
thousand  specimens  of  fossil  shells,  collected  in  the  Isle  of 
Wight  by  the  Woodwardian  Professor,  and  arranged  by  Mr 
Sowerby  of  London." 

It  will  be  remembered  that  when  Sedgwick  first  became  a 
Master  of  Arts  he  found  the  society  of  the  Fellows  somewhat 
uncongenial.  There  is  happily  no  evidence  that  such  feelings 
were  of  long  duration,  nor  do  his  subsequent  letters  betray 
any  hint  that  he  was  otherwise  than  happy  in  his  college 
surroundings.  Besides,  in  no  place  does  society  change  so 
rapidly  as  in  a  University ;  and  in  the  years  which  intervened 
between  18 12  and  1827  the  Fellowships  at  Trinity  College 
had  been  filled  by  a  succession  of  very  remarkable  men.  Most 
of  them,  when  their  worth  became  known,  attained  to  high 
distinction  in  the  University,  in  the  Church,  or  in  the  world ; 
but,  while  they  remained  in  Cambridge,  they  formed  a  society 
whose  social  charm  and  intellectual  brilliancy  has  never  been 
surpassed.  They  differed  widely  in  tastes,  in  politics,  and 
in  intellectual  pursuits;  but  they  were  united  by  common 
interests,  by  a  common  devotion  to  their  College  and  their 
University,  and  not  only  lived  together  harmoniously,  but  in 
many  instances  formed  intimate  friendships.  Some,  like 
Sheepshanks,  Thirlwall,  Macaulay,  Airy,  stayed  for  only  a 
short  time ;  others,  like  Robert  Wilson  Evans,  Peacock,  Hare, 
Thorp,  gave  many  of  their  best  years  to  College  and  Uni- 
versity work ;  while  Romilly  and  Whewell  devoted  their 
whole  lives  to  the  same  objects. 

1  Organic  Remains  of  a  former  World:  an  examination  of  the  mineralized 
remains  of  Vegetables  and  Animals  of  the  antediluvian  World,  generally  termed 
extraneous  Fossils.     By  James  Parkinson.    3  vols.  4to.  Lond.  1804 — 11. 


COLLEGE  FRIENDS.  281 

Among  the  Fellows  here  named  Sedgwick's  dearest  friend  1827. 
was  undoubtedly  Romilly,  whose  diary  is  nearly  as  full  of  iEt  **• 
Sedgwick  as  it  is  of  himself1.  Next  to  him  we  would  place 
Whewell,  whose  insatiable  love  of  knowledge,  especially  scien- 
tific knowledge,  led  him  to  add  geology  to  the  other  depart- 
ments of  his  omniscience.  He  therefore  entered  heartily 
into  Sedgwick's  pursuits,  and  for  many  years  they  were 
inseparable  friends — not  only  seeing  a  great  deal  of  each 
other  during  term,  but  travelling  together  in  vacation.  After- 
wards, when  Whewell  became  Master,  they  drifted  apart,  and 
their  friendship  was  interrupted  by  more  than  one  misunder- 
standing ;  but  it  is  pleasant  to  be  able  to  record  that  their 
quarrels  were  not  of  long  duration,  and  that  in  any  serious 
difficulty,  or  grave  sorrow,  Whewell  always  turned  to  the 
ready  sympathy  of  his  old  friend.  But  Sedgwick  could  be 
approached  from  many  other  sides  than  geology ;  he  was  no 
specialist,  in  the  modern  sense  of  the  word,  and  those  we 
have  mentioned  had  no  difficulty  in  finding  a  large  space  of 
common  ground  on  which  to  build  their  friendship.  He  was 
probably  the  most  popular  man  in  the  college,  and  his  rooms 
the  chief  centre  of  attraction.  Intimate  friends  were  glad, 
when  their  own  work  was  over,  to  enjoy  his  original  conver- 
sation, and  not  seldom  his  extravagant  fun :  while  strangers 
delighted  to  make  the  acquaintance  of  a  learned  Professor 
who  could  talk  on  general  subjects  as  well  as  they  could 
themselves,  and  who  was  always  ready  to  lay  aside  his  own 
occupations  for  a  while  for  the  sake  of  their  profit  and 
amusement.  It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  of  the  leading 
men  in  Cambridge  sixty  years  ago,  no  one  made  so  lasting  or 
so  favourable  an  impression  on  all  who  were  brought  into 
contact  with  him  as  Sedgwick. 

Genial  as  he  was  to  all-comers,  his  special  pleasure  was  to 
entertain  ladies  and  children,  whom  he  amused  in  all  manner 
of  quaint  ways,  and  sent  home  with  a  store  of  memories  that 

1  An  account  of  the  diary  kept  by  the  Rev.  Joseph  Romilly  has  been  given  in 
the  Preface. 


282  FONDNESS  FOR   YOUNG  PEOPLE. 


1817.  never  faded  from  their  minds.  One  of  the  first  of  these 
^  4*-  incidents  which  has  been  recorded  befell  in  1825.  Mr 
Leonard  Horner,  the  geologist,  had  come  with  his  family 
to  Cambridge,  and  the  whole  party,  including  the  children, 
breakfasted  with  Sedgwick.  It  was  his  first  meeting  with 
Miss  Frances  Horner,  afterwards  Lady  Bunbury,  then  a 
pretty  child  of  ten.  When  breakfast  was  over,  he  declared 
that  she  should  be  made  a  Master  of  Arts.  So  she  was 
decorated  with  a  cap  and  gown,  which  of  course  trailed 
far  behind  her  on  the  ground,  and  thus  attired,  ran  across 
the  college  grass-plots.  Forty  years  afterwards  Lady  Bun- 
bury  reminded  him  of  the  incident,  and  quoted  a  passage 
from  her  childish  journal :  "  We  got  a  most  delicious  break- 
fast— muffins,  tarts,  all  sorts  of  nice  things.  Mr  Sedgwick 
was  so  kind  as  to  give  us  some  minerals."  Another  wel- 
come, in  which  Sedgwick  took  part,  equally  warm-hearted, 
though  less  boisterous,  has  been  commemorated  by  Lord 
Macaulay's  sister,  Lady  Trevelyan.  She  went  to  Cambridge 
in  1 83 1  with  her  sister  and  brother:  "On  the  evening  that  we 
arrived  we  met  at  dinner  Whewell,  Sedgwick,  Airy,  and 
Thirlwall :  and  how  pleasant  they  were,  and  how  much  they 
made  of  us  happy  girls,  who  were  never  tired  of  seeing,  and 
hearing,  and  admiring !  We  breakfasted,  lunched,  and  dined 
with  one  or  the  other  of  the  set  during  our  stay,  and  walked 
about  the  colleges  all  day  with  the  whole  train1." 

What  has  been  said  of  Sedgwick's  college  friends  leads  us 
naturally  to  Hyde  Hall,  and  its  hospitable  tenant,  Sir  John 
Malcolm,  who  has  been  already  alluded  to  in  a  letter.  Sir 
John,  after  a  distinguished  career  as  a  soldier  in  India,  and 
a  diplomatist  in  Persia,  had  returned  to  England  in  1822, 
and  for  a  time  fixed  his  abode  at  Hyde  Hall,  a  large  and 
commodious  mansion  near  Sawbridgeworth.  During  the  five 
years  that  he  inhabited  it  it  was  the  favourite  resort  of  Hare, 
Whewell,  and  Sedgwick,  who  have  all,  in  different  language, 
sung  the  praises  of  the  master  and  mistress,  and  of  the  society 

1  Life  of  Lord  Afacaulay,  ed.  1881,  p.  129. 


SIR  JOHN  MALCOLM.  283 

they  gathered  round  them.  Hare,  speaking  of  what  conversa-  1817. 
tion  ought  to  be,  described  Hyde  Hall  as  "  a  house  in  which  I  Mi-  4*« 
hardly  ever  heard  an  evil  word  uttered  against  anyone.  The 
genial  heart  of  cordial  sympathy  with  which  its  illustrious 
master  sought  out  the  good  side  in  every  person  and  thing, 
seemed  to  communicate  itself  to  all  the  members  of  his 
family,  and  operated  as  a  charm  even  upon  his  visitors1;" 
Whewell  spoke  of  his  acquaintance  with  the  Malcolms  as 
one  of  the  bright  passages  of  his  life*;  and  Sedgwick,  as 
might  be  expected,  was  even  more  enthusiastic  and  out- 
spoken.    After  one  of  his  early  visits  he  wrote  : 

"  Sir  John  has  more  of  the  elements  of  a  great  character 
than  any  other  man  I  have  had  the  happiness  of  knowing. 
As  a  mere  author  his  rank  is  high,  but  with  all  this  he  is  a 
great  oriental  scholar,  has  been  three  times  ambassador  at  the 
Persian  Court,  has  ruled  empires  with  wisdom,  and  com- 
manded victorious  armies ;  and,  what  is  of  more  consequence 
in  his  own  house,  he  is  one  of  the  most  rationally  convivial 
men  that  ever  sat  at  a  table,  or  romped  with  a  family  of 
smiling  children  V 

It  is  not  improbable  that  in  Sedgwick's  eyes  the  smiling 
children  were  not  the  least  attraction  that  Hyde  Hall  had 
to  offer.  He  at  once  established  an  intimacy  with  all  of 
them ;  but  his  particular  friend  was  the  third  daughter 
Kate.  He  won  her  affection  in  the  first  instance  by  carrying 
her  on  his  back,  and  as  she  grew  up  he  established  a  cor- 
respondence with  her,  which  was  carried  on  regularly  until 
his  death.  His  letters  were  all  carefully  preserved,  and  it  is 
from  this  series  that  some  of  the  gravest,  as  well  as  some 
of  the  most  amusing  that  he  ever  wrote  will  be  selected. 

In  the  next  chapter  we  shall  describe  the  geological  work 
which  Sedgwick  undertook  in  conjunction  with  Murchison, 
first  in  Scotland,  and  then  in  Germany ;  but,  before  entering 

1  Guesses  at  Truth,  ed.  187 1,  p.  528. 

2  Life,  p.  239. 

8  To  Rev.  W.  Ainger,  27  October,  1826. 


284  GEOLOGICAL  PAPERS,   1818 — 1827. 

upon  this  new  field,  it  will  be  well  to  review  what  he  had 
accomplished  alone  in  the  nine  years  which  had  elapsed  since 
he  was  elected  Woodwardian  Professor. 

When  Sedgwick  began  to  work,  geology  was  still  in  its 
infancy.  Until  recently,  theory,  rather  than  induction  based 
upon  the  observation  of  facts,  had  held  undisputed  sway ; 
and,  after  the  publication  of  such  works  as  Woodward's 
Theory  of  the  Earth,  the  rival  opinions  of  the  Wernerians  and 
Huttonians  had  divided  so-called  geologists  into  opposing 
camps.  While  these  profitless  battles  were  proceeding, 
William  Smith,  whom  Sedgwick  rightly  termed  "  the  Father 
of  English  geology1/'  had  shown  that  the  proper  sequence 
of  the  strata  might  be  readily  ascertained  by  observation  of 
the  fossils  characteristic  of  each,  and  that  by  this  means  the 
composition  of  the  crust  of  the  earth  might  be  arrived  at — a 
pursuit  likely  to  lead  to  more  valuable  results  than  theories  of 
the  forces  by  which  that  composition  had  been  moulded.  This 
discovery — the  importance  of  which  it  is  difficult  to  realise  at 
the  present  day — worked  a  revolution.  Theory  was  aban- 
doned— the  mineral  composition  of  rocks,  together  with  the 
whole  science  of  mineralogy,  ceased  to  be  studied  by  geo- 
logists pure  and  simple — but,  instead,  a  number  of  accurate 
and  painstaking  observers  set  to  work  in  different  parts  of 
England  to  note  the  sequence  of  the  strata,  their  relations 
to  each  other,  and  above  all  their  characteristic  fossils. 
Sedgwick  became  an  ardent  member  of  this  band  of  ex- 
plorers. His  earlier  papers,  and  some  of  his  admissions 
in  conversation  or  at  lecture,  show  that,  like  many  of  his 
predecessors,  he  had  once  been  a  mineralogist,  and  a  staunch 
Wernerian.  In  his  first  paper,  for  instance,  several  pages  are 
devoted  to  an  enumeration  of  the  mineral  constituents  of  the 
Cornish  rocks ;  but  this  does  not  reappear  in  any  subsequent 
treatise,  and  as  for  Werner,  we  find  him  dismissed  with  a 
jest:  "For  a  long  while  I  was  troubled  with  water  on  the 

1  In  his  eloquent  Address  on  handing  him  the  first  Wollaston  Medal,  18  Feb- 
ruary, 1 83 1. 


GEOLOGICAL  PAPERS,   1818— 1827.  285 

brain,  but  light  and  heat  have  completely  dissipated  it ;"  and 
on  another  occasion  he  spoke  of  "  the  Wernerian  nonsense  I 
learnt  in  my  youth."  The  first  of  these  utterances  might  be 
understood  to  imply  an  allegiance  to  the  rival  views  of 
Hutton;  but  such  was  by  no  means  the  case.  Throughout 
his  geological  life  Sedgwick — thanks  no  doubt  to  his  mathe- 
matical training — was  no  theorist.  He  held  firmly  to  induc- 
tive observation,  and,  if  he  did  advance  a  view,  he  took  care 
to  avoid  the  dangerous  position  of  those  who  "view  all  things 
through  the  distorting  medium  of  an  hypothesis1." 

It  must  not  be  thought,  from  what  has  been  here  advanced 
respecting  the  changes  in  geological  methods,  that  geology 
had  been  made  an  easy  study.  The  right  road  had  been 
pointed  out,  but  there  remained  many  a  tangled  forest  to 
pass  through,  many  a  steep  mountain-side  to  scale.  And,  as 
we  review  Sedgwick's  share  in  geological  progress,  it  will  be 
found  that  he  always  aimed  at  that  which  was  most  difficult, 
and  that  he  did  not  often  stop  until  he  had  reached  a  point 
beyond  which,  even  at  the  present  time,  our  data  do  not 
warrant  us  to  advance. 

Sedgwick's  first  paper,  On  the  Physical  Structure  of  those 
Formations  ivhich  are  intimately  associated  with  the  Primitive 
Ridge  of  Devonshire  and  Cornwall,  recording  the  observations 
made  during  the  summer  of  18 19,  was  read  to  the  Cambridge 
Philosophical  Society  20  March,  1820,  and  published  before 
the  end  of  that  year. 

He  begins  with  a  short  notice  of  the  New  Red  Sandstone, 
a  deposit  with  which  he  was  no  doubt  already  familiar  in  the 
Eden  Valley.  He  points  out  that  these  New  Red  conglomerates 
and  sandstones  are  distinct  from  those  which  underlie  the 
Mountain  Limestone  on  the  Banks  of  the  Avon  ;  but  he  does 
not  deny  that  sandstones  of  this  earlier  age  occur  among  the 
schistose  rocks  of  Devonshire ;  thus,  seventy  years  ago,  sug- 
gesting, contrary  to  the  opinion  of  all  previous  writers,  the 
equivalence  of  some  of  the  Devonian  Rocks  with  the  Upper 

1  Letter  to  Ed.  Annals  of  Philosophy,  11  March,  1825.     Vol.  IX.  p.  350. 


286  GEOLOGICAL  PAPERS,   1818— 1827. 

Old  Red.  He  collected  fossils  from  the  Devonian  limestones, 
and  from  their  character,  and  from  a  consideration  of  the 
stratigraphical  position  of  the  beds  in  which  they  occurred,  he 
arrived  at  the  conclusion  that  they  might  be  referred  to  a 
formation  distinct  from  the  Mountain  Limestone,  and  be- 
longing to  an  earlier  epoch. 

It  would  be  hard  to  find  a  better  description  of  the  physical 
geography  and  general  structure  of  the  part  of  Cornwall 
examined  than  that  given  by  Sedgwick.  He  points  out  that 
the  surface  of  the  moors  where  the  granite  rocks  predominate 
is  covered  "  by  granite  boulders,  the  remains  of  larger  masses 
of  the  same  kind  which  have  gradually  disappeared,  through 
the  corrosive  action  of  the  elements,"  and  explains  the 
Loggan-stone  as  one  of  such  spheroidally-weathered  masses. 
Then,  after  describing  the  granite  as  a  crystalline  aggregate 
of  quartz,  felspar,  and  mica,  he  points  out — with  reference  to 
some  of  the  elvans  which  often  resemble  outwardly  a  fine 
sandstone — that  "varieties,  arising  from  the  loss  of  one  of 
these  ingredients,  or  from  the  addition  of  some  other  mineral, 
are  by  no  means  uncommon ;"  notices  and  comments  on  the 
microliths  in  the  felspar  crystals,  and  the  doubly-terminated 
crystals  of  quartz  from  other  similar  rocks;  and,  lastly, 
contests  the  opinion  of  De  Luc  that  the  great  divisional 
planes  of  the  granite  represent  lines  of  bedding.  Having 
enumerated  the  different  varieties  of  granite,  he  concludes 
in  general  that  the  granite  of  Cornwall  "is  a  true  granite, 
the  oldest  primitive  rock  of  the  Wernerian  series" — an  ex- 
pression that  does  not  convey  any  very  clear  idea  to  a  modern 
geologist 

When  he  comes  to  the  question  of  the  relation  of  the 
granite  to  the  overlying  rocks,  he  is  hampered  by  the  then 
prevalent  views  of  both  Wernerians  and  Huttonians.  The 
position  Sedgwick  takes  up  is  this.  The  granite  is  the  most 
ancient  rock,  because  the  killas,  and  other  rocks,  rest  on  it 
The  granite-mass  and  its  veins  cannot  have  been  thrust  into 
the  killas  because  there  is  no  displacement  along  the  junction, 


GEOLOGICAL  PAPERS,   1818— 1827.  287 

such  as  would  necessarily  result  from  protrusion  of  the  granite. 
The  killas  seems  to  have  been  deposited  on  the  granite  mass, 
and  the  dykes  must  be  contemporaneous  with  the  killas — 
that  is,  must  represent  some  portion  of  it  If  he  had  ex- 
plained that  the  only  way  in  which  this  was  possible  was 
by  the  dykes,  or  some  of  them,  being  portions  of  the  killas 
assimilated  to  the  granite  by  alteration  along  the  more  open 
divisional  planes,  he  might  have  gained  much  support  for  his 
views  at  the  present  day.  But  he  has  left  this  not  very  clear, 
for  it  is  impossible  to  imagine  that  he  could  have  supposed 
that  the  killas  was  laid  down  among  a  number  of  preexisting 
protruding  dykes. 

His  description  of  the  mode  of  occurrence  of  the  granite, 
the  elvans,  the  killas,  and  all  the  associated  phenomena,  can 
hardly  be  improved  as  far  as  it  goes. 

The  relations  of  the  rocks  known  as  the  Old  Red  were  not 
clearly  understood  seventy  years  ago — it  can  hardly  be  said 
that  they  are  beyond  controversy  at  the  present  time — and 
sufficient  data  had  not  yet  been  collected  for  establishing  or 
refuting  the  various  explanations  suggested  by  Sedgwick.  But, 
whatever  may  be  thought  of  the  results  of  the  paper,  everyone 
who  reads  it  must  be  struck  by  the  author's  familiarity  with 
the  methods  of  field  geology,  with  mineralogy,  and  with 
the  general  literature  of  the  subject.  It  was  written  too  with 
no  external  help,  so  far  as  we  know,  except  what  he  might 
have  obtained  from  Mr  Gilby  and  his  cousin,  and  before 
he  had  had  the  benefit  of  Mr  Conybeare's  experience.  We 
are  fully  prepared  to  admit  that,  taken  by  itself,  this  paper 
throws  considerable  doubt  on  the  truth  of  the  story  that 
Sedgwick  knew  no  geology  when  he  was  appointed  to  the 
Woodwardian  Chair  in  18 18 ;  but,  when  we  consider  it  by  the 
light  of  the  evidence  which  we  have  collected  in  favour  of 
that  view,  it  proves  that  by  steady  application  a  man  of 
talent  may  be  able  to  make  observations  of  the  first  order 
in  the  field  two  years  after  commencing  the  study  of  the 
subject. 


288  GEOLOGICAL  PAPERS,   1818— 1827. 

The  memoranda  which  Sedgwick  made  on  this  expedition 
supplied  him  with  materials  for  a  second  paper,  On  the 
Physical  Structure  of  the  Lizard  District \  read  to  the  Cam- 
bridge Philosophical  Society  2  April  and  7  May,  1821.  It 
discusses  the  relation  of  serpentine  to  the  adjoining  rocks, 
and,  it  should  be  noted,  suggests  that  its  origin  may  be  meta- 
morphic,  but  without  expressing  any  definite  opinion  on  the 
subject — a  position  he  would  have  been  justified  in  taking 
up  even  after  much  fuller  investigation  than  he  was  able 
to  bring  to  bear  upon  it — as  may  be  inferred  from  the 
fact  that  the  origin  of  serpentine  is  still  considered  a  matter 
of  such  doubt  and  difficulty  that  at  the  International  Geo- 
logical Congress  held  at  Bologna  in  1881  it  was  the  subject 
set  apart  for  special  consideration. 

In  1 82 1  Sedgwick  published  a  Syllabus  of  a  Course  of 
Lectures  on  Geology,  for  the  use  of  his  pupils.  The  older 
palaeozoic  rocks  had  not  been  yet  worked  out — he  was 
himself  the  first  to  put  them  in  order  some  ten  years  later — 
but  he  gives  a  classification  of  the  sedimentary  rocks  which 
holds  good  in  all  essential  points  at  the  present  day.  It  is 
very  interesting  to  compare  the  syllabus  of  1821  with  the 
second  edition  of  1832. 

Both  commence  with  an  introductory  chapter,  dealing 
with  the  history  and  progress  of  Geology — the  distinction 
between  Natural  Philosophy  and  Natural  History — ancient 
speculations  on  the  Theory  of  the  Earth — and  the  connection 
between  Geology  and  other  branches  of  Natural  History.  In 
the  first  syllabus  it  struck  him  as  more  important  to  empha- 
size the  connection  of  Geology  with  Mineralogy,  in  the  second 
their  separation.  In  1821  the  views  of  Werner  and  Hutton 
were  still  subjects  for  difference  of  opinion,  and  consequently 
in  the  first  syllabus  prominence  is  given  to  the  old  cata- 
clysmic theories,  but  in  the  second  they  are  very  briefly 
noticed  under  the  heading  "  Ancient  Theories,"  and  the  first 
chapter  ends  with  "  True  mode  of  conducting  geological 
speculations."    This  is  succeeded   by  seven  pages  of  notes 


GEOLOGICAL  PAPERS,   1818— 1827.  289 

which  might  form  a  rough  index  to  Lyell's  Principles.  A 
section  headed :  "  The  great  inequalities  presented  by  the 
surface  of  the  earth,"  is  succeeded  by  another :  "  On  the  great 
agents  by  which  the  earth's  surface  is  modified,  and  on  the 
effects  which  have  been  produced  by  them  during  known 
periods."  Among  the  examples  of  such  agents  it  is  interesting 
to  find  "Coral  Reefs"  enumerated,  when  it  is  remembered  that 
in  this  very  year  Darwin  began  to  work  in  South  America, 
where,  as  he  tells  us1,  he  first  thought  out  his  theory  of  their 
formation.  The  last  division  of  this  introductory  portion  is 
headed  :  "  Ancient  alluvion  ("  Diluvial  detritus  ") — including 
all  superficial  transported  aqueous  deposits  which  are  un- 
connected with  the  present  mechanical  action  of  the  waters." 
It  is  obvious  that  alluvium  could  not  be  considered  without 
some  notice  of  the  organic  remains  contained  in  it;  and, 
having  regard  to  the  very  decided  attitude  taken  up  by 
Sedgwick  afterwards  in  the  discussions  relating  to  the  An- 
tiquity of  Man,  the  following  headings  are  worth  transcription, 
as  shewing  that  even  at  this  period  of  his  scientific  life  he  had 
begun  to  pay  attention  to  this  question. 

Organic  remains.  (1)  In  rolled  masses  derived  from  older 
formations.  (2)  Land  and  marine  shells.  (3)  Bones  of  mammalia 
of  extinct  and  living  species,  &c,  &c.     No  human  bones  (?). 

Description  of  some  remarkable  species. 

Great  local  deposits  of  bones,  formed  before  or  during  the  period 
of  the  ancient  detritus.     Examples. 

Ossiferous  caverns,  osseous  breccias,  etc. 

Sedgwick  always  paid  great  attention  to  palaeontology,  and 
we  find  him  recurring  to  the  subject  of  organic  remains  in  the 
same  syllabus,  Part  II.  (p.  13),  concluding  with  "Importance 
of  organic  remains — in  the  identification  of  contemporaneous 
deposits — in  determining  the  successive  conditions  of  the 
earth."  He  fully  recognised  the  value  of  palaeontological 
evidence.  As  early  as  1822  he  insisted  upon  the  importance 
of  an  intimate  acquaintance  with  certain  branches  of  natural 
history.     "Without  such  knowledge  it  must  be  impossible  to 

1  Life  of  Charles  Darwin,   i.    70.     The  theory  was  communicated   to   the 
Geological  Society  31  May,  1837.    Proceedings,  ii.  552. 

S.  I.  19 


290  GEOLOGICAL  PAPERS,   1818— 1827. 

ascertain  the  physical  circumstances  under  which  our  newer 
strata  have  been  deposited.  To  complete  the  zoological 
history  of  any  one  of  these  formations,  many  details  are  yet 
wanting1."  He  always  carefully  collected  fossils,  and  referred 
them  to  the  best  authorities  he  could  find  on  each  special  group 
for  determination  ;  but,  while  he  appealed  to  palaeontological 
evidence  whenever  he  could,  he  always  maintained  that  the 
first  thing  was  to  get  the  rocks  into  the  right  order  in  the  field. 
Sedgwick's  arrangement  of  stratified  rocks  in  the  two 
syllabuses  shews  his  gradual  emancipation  from  the  theories 
of  Werner.  In  the  first  the  term  "transition  rocks''  stands  as 
the  heading  to  a  chapter ;  in  the  second  he  discusses,  at  the 
end  of  a  chapter:  "Origin  of  the  term  Transition — with  what 
limitations  it  is  applicable  to  the  upper  series — no  clear  line 
of  separation  between  the  two."  Again :  in  the  first  he 
worked  up  from  the  transition  rocks  through  the  stratified 
series  in  ascending  order.  It  is  true  that  while  treating  them 
he  pointed  out  the  "great  variety  of  fossil  species ",  and  taught 
the  "  principles  of  classification  of  organic  remains  founded  on 
the  classes  of  recent  species",  and  dwelt  upon  the  "connection 
of  fossil  species  with  particular  strata8;"  but  it  is  a  very 
suggestive  fact  that  in  the  second  syllabus  he  reversed  the 
order,  and  worked  down  from  the  better  known  to  the  more 
obscure,  shewing  that  he  now  more  fully  realised  the  truth 
that  the  history  of  the  earth  must  be  deduced  from  a  study 
of  the  operations  of  nature  which  we  see  going  on  around  us 
at  the  present  time.  A  sketch  pasted  into  his  own  copy  of 
the  second  syllabus  shews  that  among  other  illustrations  he 
cited  in  his  lectures  the  floating  island  of  Derwentwater,  and 
the  sources  of  springs  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Cambridge. 
The  execution  is  better  than  that  of  the  sketches  which 
ornament  some  of  his  letters  in  later  life,  the  rudeness  of 
which  he  used  playfully  to  deplore. 

1  Letter  On  the  geology  0/  the  Isle  of  Wight,   17  March,  i8«.      Annals  oj 
Philosophy,  N.  S.  Hi.  339. 

*  Syllabus,  ed.  18*1,  Chapter  IV.     Transition  Rocks,  §  2. 


GEOLOGICAL  PAPERS,   1818— 1827.  291 

It  is  pleasant  to  read  a  good  practical  paper  founded  on 
original  observation  in  which  the  character  of  dykes  is  so  well 
discussed  as  in  the  paper  on  the  Association  of  Trap  Rocks 
with  the  Mountain  Litnestone  Formation  in  High  Teesdale 
which  Sedgwick  read  to  the  Cambridge  Philosophical  Society 
in  1823 — 24.  He  points  out  that  dykes  are  of  all  ages, 
and  refers  them  to  an  igneous  origin  in  the  following  passage : 

"  It  is  a  matter  of  fact,  which  is  independent  of  all  theory,  that 
an  enormous  mass  of  strata  has  been  rent  asunder;  and  it  is 
probable  that  the  rent  has  been  prolonged  to  the  extent  of  fifty  or 
sixty  miles.  If  we  exclude  volcanic  agency,  what  power  in  nature  is 
there  capable  of  producing  such  an  effect?  By  supposing  such 
phenomena  the  effects  of  volcanic  action,  we  bring  into  operation  no 
causes  but  those  which  are  known  to  exist,  and  are  adequate  to 
effects  even  more  extensive  than  those  which  have  been  described. n 

In  describing  the  columnar  structure  it  did  not  escape  his 
notice  that  the  prisms  were  arranged  at  right  angles  to  the 
cooling  surfaces.  He  mentions  also  the  common  mode  of 
weathering  into  great  balls  by  the  exfoliation  of  successive 
layers  from  the  joint  faces. 

Sedgwick  contributed  a  paper  to  the  Annals  of  Philosophy 
for  April  and  July,  1825,  on  the  Origin  of  Alluvial  and 
Diluvial  Formations,  in  which  he  distinguishes  the  older 
formations,  which  we  should  now  call  "  drift ",  from  the 
generally  newer  alluvial  deposits.  He  points  out  the  anoma- 
lous position  and  irregular  distribution  of  the  boulders  which 
occur  in  the  drift ;  but  that  glacial  conditions  had  once  been 
prevalent  in  our  island,  and  over  extensive  tracts  throughout 
the  northern  part  of  our  hemisphere,  had  not  at  that  time  been 
recognised.  There  is  still  much  difference  of  opinion  as  to 
whether  the  "drift"  of  certain  districts  is  due  to  land-ice,  or  to 
icebergs  ;  and,  if  we  translate  the  views  of  those  who  hold  the 
iceberg  theory  into  the  language  of  Sedgwick's  time,  we  shall 
find  that  the  observations  which  he  records  are  not  far  wrong 
as  to  the  direction  of  the  currents  which  distributed  the  "drift". 
That  he  did  not  recognise  the  exact  mode  of  transport  is  only 
to  say  that  he  had  not  that  familiarity  with  glaciated  districts 

19 — 2 


292  GEOLOGICAL  PAPERS,   1818 — 1827. 


which  enabled  Agassiz  to  suggest  the  agency  of  ice.  He 
referred  the  accumulation  of  the  diluvial  detritus  to  the 
action  of  water ;  he  concluded  that  the  floods  which  produced 
it  "  swept  over  every  part  of  England — that  they  were  put  in 
motion  by  no  powers  of  nature  with  which  we  are  acquainted 
— and  that  they  took  place  during  an  epoch  which  was  pos- 
terior to  the  deposition  of  all  the  regular  strata  of  the  earth." 

As  this  question  has  acquired  fresh  importance  from  the 
recent  invocation  of  a  flood  of  waters  as  the  sole  agent  in  the 
deposition  of  the  drift,  the  following  passage,  written  it  will 
be  remembered  sixty-three  years  ago,  will  be  read  with 
interest.  Sedgwick  maintained  that  while  the  evidence  for  the 
truths  of  revealed  religion  was  of  a  totally  different  character 
from  that  by  which  physical  laws  are  established,  still  the  con- 
clusions at  which  we  arrive  in  the  two  cases  should  not  be  con- 
tradictory ;  and  his  statements  on  these  questions  are  always 
fair  and  liberal,  and  far  in  advance  of  the  age  in  which  he  lived. 

"  As  we  are  unacquainted  with  the  forces  which  put  the  diluvian 
waters  in  motion,  we  are  also,  with  very  limited  exceptions,  unable  to 
determine  the  direction  in  which  the  currents  have  moved  over  the 
earth's  surface.  Many  parts  of  the  north  of  Europe  seem  to  have 
been  swept  over  by  a  great  current  which  set  in  from  the  north.  In 
some  parts  of  Scotland  there  has  been  a  great  rush  of  water  from  the 
north-west.  The  details  given  above,  show  that  the  currents  which 
have  swept  over  different  parts  of  England  have  not  been  confined  to 
any  given  direction.  It  may,  perhaps,  be  laid  down  as  a  general  rule, 
that  the  diluvial  gravel  has  been  drifted  down  all  the  great  inclined 
planes  which  the  earth's  surface  presented  to  the  retiring  waters. 
******* 

"The  facts  brought  to  light  by  the  combined  labours  of  the 
modern  school  of  geologists,  seem,  as  far  as  I  comprehend  them, 
completely  to  demonstrate  the  reality  of  a  great  diluvian  catastrophe 
during  a  comparatively  recent  period  in  the  natural  history  of  the 
earth.  In  the  preceding  speculations  I  have  carefully  abstained  from 
any  allusion  to  the  sacred  records  of  the  history  of  mankind ;  and  I 
deny  that  Professor  Buckland,  or  any  other  practical  geologist  of  our 
time  has  rashly  attempted  to  unite  the  speculations  of  his  favourite 
science  with  the  truths  of  revelation1. 

1  Professor  Buckland 's  Reliquiae  Diluvianae;  or,  Observations  on  the  Organic 
Remains  contained  in  Caves,  Fissures,  and  Diluvial  Gravel,  and  on  other  Geological 
Phenomena,  attesting  the  Action  of  an  Universal  Deluge,  had  been  published 
in  1823. 


GEOLOGICAL  PAPERS,  1818—1827.  293 

"  The  authority  of  the  sacred  records  has  been  established  by  a 
great  mass  of  evidence  at  once  conclusive  and  appropriate;  but 
differing  altogether  in  kind  from  the  evidence  of  observation  and 
experiment,  by  which  alone  physical  truth  can  ever  be  established. 
It  must,  therefore,  at  once  be  rash  and  unphilosophical  to  look  to 
the  language  of  revelation  for  any  direct  proof  of  the  truths  of 
physical  science.  But  truth  must  at  all  times  be  consistent  with 
itself.  The  conclusions  established  on  the  authority  of  the  sacred 
records  may,  therefore,  consistently  with  the  soundest  philosophy,  be 
compared  with  the  conclusions  established  on  the  evidence  of 
observation  and  experiment;  and  such  conclusions,  if  fairly  deduced, 
must  necessarily  be  in  accordance  with  each  other.  This  principle 
has  been  acted  on  by  Cuvier,  and  appears  to  be  recognized  in  every 
part  of  the  "Reliquia  Diluviance".  The  application  is  obvious. 
The  sacred  records  tell  us — that  a  few  thousand  years  ago  "the 
fountains  of  the  great  deep  were  broken  up  " — and  that  the  earth's 
surface  was  submerged  by  the  waters  of  a  general  deluge ;  and  the 
investigations  of  geology  tend  to  prove  that  the  accumulations  of 
alluvial  matter  have  not  been  going  on  many  thousand  years ;  and 
that  they  were  preceded  by  a  great  catastrophe  which  has  left  traces 
of  its  operation  in  the  diluvial  detritus  which  is  spread  out  over  all 
the  strata  of  the  earth. 

"  Between  these  conclusions,  derived  from  sources  entirely  in- 
dependent of  each  other,  there  is,  therefore,  a  general  coincidence 
which  it  is  impossible  to  overlook,  and  the  importance  of  which  it 
would  be  most  unreasonable  to  deny.  The  coincidence  has  not 
been  assumed  hypothetically,  but  has  been  proved  legitimately,  by  an 
immense  number  of  direct  observations  conducted  with  indefatigable 
labour,  and  all  tending  to  the  establishment  of  the  same  general 
truth1." 

At  the  end  of  the  paper  is  an  appendix,  giving  an  account 
of  some  changes  in  the  channels  which  drain  the  fen-land  :  an 
account  full  of  interest  to  those  familiar  with  the  Humber 
and  its  tributaries,  and  all  the  phenomena  of  silting-up  and 
warping.     Sedgwick  concludes  as  follows : 

"  If  such  extraordinary  effects  as  those  described  in  this  note  be 
produced  by  the  accumulation  of  alluvial  matter  in  course  of  a  few 
hundred  years,  we  may  be  well  assured  that  the  whole  form  of  the 
neighbouring  coast  must  have  been  greatly  modified  by  the  same 
causes  acting  without  interruption,  and  without  any  modification 
from  works  of  art,  for  3000  or  4000  years." 

The  letter  On  the  Classification  of  the  Strata  which  appear 
on  the  Yorkshire  Coast,  which,  like  the  last,  was  addressed  to 
the  editors  of  the  Annals  of  Philosophy,  20  February,  1826, 

1  Annals  of  Philosophy \  N.  S.  1825,  x.  pp.  33 — 35. 


294  GEOLOGICAL  PAPERS,   1818-1827. 

must  not  be  wholly  passed  over  in  silence.  It  is  based  on 
observations  made  in  1821,  but  which,  after  Sedgwick's 
fashion,  were  not  worked  out  for  five  years.  His  object  in 
writing  it  was  to  connect  the  phenomena  observed  in  York- 
shire with  those  observed  in  other  parts  of  England ;  and  it 
contains,  parenthetically,  a  good  deal  of  information  on  the 
geology  of  Weymouth  and  its  neighbourhood. 

The  value  of  the  work  done  in  Yorkshire  appears  again 
in  the  splendid  monograph  On  the  Magnesian  Litnestone  and 
lower  Portions  of  t/ie  New  Red  Sandstone  Series,  which  was 
read  to  the  Geological  Society  at  various  intervals  between 
November,  1826,  and  March,  1828.  Whatever  turn  geolo- 
gical research  may  take,  this,  with  some  other  papers  which 
followed  it  in  quick  succession,  must  always  be  referred  to  as 
standard  works,  which  settled  some  of  the  disputed  questions 
of  English  geology.  It  is  at  once  broad  and  minute :  broad 
in  its  generalisations — for  it  places  in  order  a  complex  group  of 
rocks  which,  until  it  was  written,  were  in  complete  confusion  ; 
and  minute  in  working  out,  through  the  whole  of  the  district 
selected,  from  Nottingham  to  the  southern  extremity  of  North- 
umberland, the  boundaries  of  the  different  formations,  and  their 
relations  to  each  other.  The  labour  which  this  research  implies 
is  almost  incredible ;  the  whole  district  appears  to  have  been 
gone  over,  probably  on  foot,  and  compass  in  hand.  Every 
quarry,  cliff,  and  scar  is  made  to  bear  its  part  in  the  general 
result.  In  carrying  out  these  researches  it  must  be  remem- 
bered that  hardly  any  help  was  at  that  time  available.  Mr 
Smith's  geological  map  of  Yorkshire  had  been  published  and 
is  constantly  referred  to,  but  Sedgwick  notes  that  "  geological 
maps  of  the  other  counties  through  which  the  magnesian 
limestone  passes  were  not  published  at  the  time  the  observa- 
tions were  made  on  which  the  greatest  part  of  this  paper  is 
founded1."  Moreover,  the  Ordnance  Survey  was  not  yet  in 
existence.     On  this  account  it  will  be  interesting,  we  think,  to 

1  On  the  Geological  Relations  and  Internal  Structure  of  the  Magnesian  Lime- 
stone, etc,  p.  43,  note. 


I,    1- 


It  .  I.    .'' 


/. — ■-,. 


iT> 


sp.-t   /'/»». v   /.\"    rifh:     inure  y/M.v    «^      ////'  List.,  ah  M.\r  .v-j. 

MAP    OF     PART     OF    YORKSHIRE. 

To  illustrate  Sedgwick's  paper  on  the  (jtvlogieal  Relations  and  Structure 

of  the  Alagnesian  Limestone. 

{Trans.  Geol.  Soe.   lend.  Sit.   II.  Vol.   iii.   Hate  4.) 


To  face  page  195.  Vol  I. 


GEOLOGICAL  PAPERS,   1818— 1827.  295 

reproduce  one  of  the  maps  which  Sedgwick  drew  and  mea- 
sured for  himself.  Difficult  as  his  task  must  have  been — for 
he  could  hardly  have  known  much  about  practical  surveying 
— it  will  be  found  that  in  accuracy  of  detail  his  unaided 
efforts  have  only  been  superseded  by  the  elaborate  work  of 
the  Geological  Survey. 

The  paper  opens  with  the  following  prefatory  sentences : 

"After  the  production  of  the  rocks  of  the  carboniferous  order,  the 
earth's  surface  appears  to  have  been  acted  on  by  powerful  disturb- 
ing forces,  which,  not  only  in  the  British  Isles,  but  through  the 
greater  part  of  the  European  basin,  produced  a  series  of  formations 
of  very  great  extent  and  complexity  of  structure.  These  deposits, 
known  in  our  own  country  by  the  name  of  new  red  sandstone  and 
red  marl,  and,  when  considered  on  an  extended  scale,  comprising  all 
the  formations  between  the  coal-measures  and  the  lias,  notwithstand- 
ing their  violent  mechanical  origin,  have  several  characters  in 
common,  which  enable  us  to  connect  them  together,  and,  for  general 
purposes  of  comparison,  to  regard  them  as  one  group.  Great  beds 
of  conglomerate,  coarse  sand,  and  sandstone,  frequently  tinged  with 
red  oxyde  of  iron ;  and  of  red  marl,  associated  with  innumerable  beds 
and  masses  of  earthy  salts,  constitute,  in  many  countries,  the  principal 
portion  of  the  group  we  are  considering.  Many  of  these  salts, 
though  of  almost  constant  occurrence  among  the  rocks  of  this  epoch, 
have  been  developed  with  so  much  irregularity,  that  the  attempts  to 
arrange  them  in  distinct  formations  (when  used  for  any  purpose 
beyond  local  description)  have  sometimes,  perhaps,  served  to  retard 
rather  than  to  advance  our  knowledge  of  the  earth's  history.  The 
great  calcareous  beds  which  were  produced  during  this  period  form, 
however,  an  exception  to  the  last  observation.  They  appear  to  have 
been  chiefly  developed  in  the  upper  and  lower  portions  of  the  system 
we  have  been  considering;  and,  though  possessing  some  characters 
in  common,  are  sufficiently  distinguished  by  their  position  and  their 
fossils  to  be  separated  into  two  distinct  formations.  The  higher  of 
these  (the  muschcl-kalk  stein  of  the  continental  geologists)  has  no 
representative  in  the  series  of  rocks  which  have  hitherto  been 
observed  in  our  island ;  the  lower  is  represented  by  the  great  terrace 
of  magnesian  limestone  which  ranges  from  Nottingham  to  the  mouth 
of  the  Tyne." 

In  the  next  place,  after  noticing  the  "general  want  of 
conformity  to  all  the  inferior  formations"  observable  in  the 
magnesian  limestone  series,  he  cautions  his  readers  against 
pushing  this  kind  of  evidence  too  far : 

"  We  have  no  right  to  assume,  nor  is  there  any  reason  to  believe, 
that  such  disturbing  forces  acted  either  uniformly  or  simultaneously 


296  GEOLOGICAL  PAPERS,   1818— 1827. 

throughout  the  world.  Formations  which  in  one  country  are  uncon- 
formable, may  in  another  be  parallel  to  each  other,  and  so  intimately 
connected  as  to  appear  the  production  of  one  epoch." 

Throughout  the  paper  we  find  great  care  bestowed  upon 
the  determination  of  the  fossils  found  in  the  different  deposits, 
and   a  good   many  of  the  most   characteristic   are  figured. 
Sedgwick  was  of  course  very  much  excited  by  the  discovery 
of  fossil  fish  in  the  marl-slate ;  and  he  hunted  up  the  spec? 
mens  and  fragments  of  specimens  which  had  found  their  w 
into   private   collections  all  over  the  country.     When  < 
mitted  to  De  Blainville  it  was  decided  that  they  were  a1 
identical    with  the  celebrated  fish  from  the  copper- s! 
Germany.     At  the  end  of  the  paper  we  find  a  short  desci 
tive  notice  of  three  species,  Palceothrissum  magnum,  P.  macro- 
cephalum,  and  P.  elegans,  illustrated  by  some  excellent  figures, 
one  of  which  is  here  reproduced,  to  shew  the  care  with  which 
he  elaborated  his  papers.     Sedgwick  followed  up  the  study  of 
fossil  fish  in  subsequent  researches,  and  succeeded  in  getting 
Alexander  Agassiz,  the  Cuvier  of  ichthyology,  to  come  to 
Cambridge  and  examine  his  collection. 

The  following  classification  of  the  rocks  investigated,  in 
descending  order,  is  given  at  the  end  of  the  paper : 

1.  Upper  red  marl  and  gypsum. 

2.  Upper  red  sandstone. 

3.  Upper  thin- bedded  limestone. 

4.  Lower  red  marl  and  gypsum. 

5.  Yellow  magnesian  limestone. 

6.  Marl  and  thin  beds  of  magnesian  limestone. 

7.  Lower  red  sandstone. 

Sedgwick's  account  of  the  lowest  beds  of  the  group,  as 
thus  arranged,  is  not  always  clear,  but  it  may  be  explained, 
we  think,  in  the  following  manner. 

The  Lower  Magnesian  Limestone  passes  down  into  red 
or  yellow  sandy  beds  at  Pontefract.  So,  in  the  Eden  Valley, 
the  brockram  or  basement  conglomerate  of  the  Poikilitic 
series  rests  on  red  and  yellow  sandstones.     But  these  are  of 


PAL*OTHRISSUM     M  ACROCEPHALUM. 
{Tram.  Geol.  .Hoc.  Land.  Ser.  II.  Vol.  m.  Ittttt  ^ 


GEOLOGICAL  PAPERS,   1818-  1827.  297 

totally  different  age.  In  the  sandy  beds  of  the  roadside  cliff 
near  the  great  quarries  just  outside  Pontefract  Schizodus 
obscurus  has  been  found.  These  beds  undoubtedly  belong 
to  the  Magnesian  Limestone  series.  In  the  Eden  Valley,  on 
the  other  hand,  it  was  found  by  boring  near  Appleby  that  the 
red  colour  did  not  extend  farther  into  the  rock  than  a  little 
over  one  hundred  feet.  The  colour  was  obviously  a  stain 
produced  by  infiltration  from  above.  Again,  there  is,  in  the 
Woodwardian  Museum,  a  collection  of  fossil  plants  from  the 
north-west  margin  of  the  same  area,  obtained  from  red  beds 
formerly  referred  to  the  Poikilitic  series,  but  which  contain 
nothing  but  carboniferous  species.  These  facts  obviously 
account  for  the  difficulties  which  have  arisen  from  some 
observers  recording  that  the  base  of  the  Poikilitic  series 
graduated  into  the  carboniferous,  while  others  saw  a  strong 
discordancy  between  the  two.  The  confusion  has  been 
increased  by  an  attempt  to  force  the  English  classification 
into  harmony  with  the  as  yet  unestablished  sequence  of 
Germany,  or  the  still  less  known  deposits  of  Russia.  On 
this  point  Sedgwick  makes  the  following  admirable  remarks : 

"  Each  country  ought  to  be  described  without  any  accommodating 
hypothesis,  according  to  the  type  after  which  it  has  been  moulded. 
But,  in  comparing  the  unconnected  deposits  of  remote  countries,  we 
must  act  on  an  opposite  principle;  learning  to  suppress  all  local 
phenomena,  and  to  seize  on  those  only  which  are  coextensive  with 
the  objects  we  attempt  to  classify. " 

Whatever  therefore  may  be  convenient  in  respect  of  the 
Dyas  of  Germany,  or  the  Permian  of  Russia,  all  attempts  to 
bracket  the  Magnesian  Limestone  of  England  and  its  asso- 
ciated red  marls  with  the  carboniferous  rocks,  instead  of 
making  them  the  beginning  of  a  new  series,  forming  the  base 
of  the  Secondary  rocks,  have  been  founded  on  stratigraphical 
mistakes,  and  tend  to  perpetuate  an  unnatural  classification. 
Sedgwick's  grouping  of  the  New  Red  rocks  of  Britain,  which 
brackets  the  whole  Poikilitic  series  together,  will  undoubtedly 
stand  the  test  of  time. 


CHAPTER   VIII. 
(1827— 1831.) 

The  Geological  Society.  First  acquaintance  with  Mur- 
chison.  Tour  with  him  in  Scotland.  Office  of  Senior 
Proctor  (1827).  Joint  papers  with  Murchison.  Summer 
in  Cornwall.  Dolcoath  Mine.  Visits  Conybeare  in 
South  Wales  (1828).  Sedgwick  President  of  Geological 
Society.  Divinity  Act.  Mr  Cavendish  elected  Uni- 
versity representative.  Summer  in  Germany  and  the 
Tyrol  with  Murchison.  Joint  paper  on  the  eastern 
Alps  (1829).  Address  to  Geological  Society.  Summer 
in  Northumberland.  Contested  election  of  President 
of  Royal  Society  (1830).  Addresses  to  Geological 
Society  (1831). 

SEDGWICK  had  been  elected  a  Fellow  of  the  Geological 
Society  of  London  in  November,  18 18.  He  could  not  have 
attended  the  meetings  regularly — at  any  rate  at  first — but 
when  he  did  go  he  thoroughly  enjoyed  them.  In  those  early 
days  of  the  Society's  existence — it  was  but  eleven  years  old 
in  18 18 — it  was  composed,  as  he  has  himself  recorded,  "of 
robust,  joyous,  and  independent  spirits,  who  toiled  well  in  the 
field,  and  who  did  battle  and  cuffed  opinions  with  much  spirit 
and  great  good  will.  For  they  had  one  great  object  before 
them,  the  promotion  of  true  knowledge ;  and  not  one  of  them 
was  deeply  committed  to  any  system  of  opinions1."     In  such 

1  A  Synopsis  of  the  Classification  of  the  British  Palaozoic  Rocks ■,  p.  xc. 


GEOLOGICAL  SOCIETY.  299 

an  assemblage  Sedgwick  was  sure  to  take  a  foremost  place, 
and  we  are  not  surprised  to  learn  that  some  of  his  "most 
honoured  and  cherished1"  friendships  originated  in  the  Society. 
Before  long  the  value  of  his  cooperation,  from  a  scientific 
point  of  view,  came  to  be  recognised;  in  1824  he  became  a 
member  of  the  Council;  and  in  1827  a  Vice-President.  His 
friend  Dr  Fitton,  then  President,  in  announcing  his  election  to 
the  latter  office,  assures  him  that  he  feels  "  no  small  gratifica- 
tion in  the  prospect "  of  having  him  as  a  colleague ;  and  that 
he  will  be  most  happy  "to  receive  any  suggestions  for  the 
advancement  of  the  subject  or  the  welfare  of  the  Society*." 
This  language  affords  conclusive  evidence  of  the  favourable 
judgment  which  capable  men  of  science  had  by  this  time 
passed  on  Sedgwick ;  before  long  the  Society  accepted  him 
as  a  leader,  and  much  of  "  the  generous,  unselfish,  and  truth- 
loving  spirit  that  glowed  throughout  the  whole  body"  was 
probably  due  to  his  influence. 

Sedgwick  soon  became  on  excellent  terms  with  the 
fathers  of  the  Society ;  but  it  was  with  Roderick  Impey 
Murchison,  then  one  of  the  junior  members,  that  he  con- 
tracted the  closest  alliance.  The  origin  of  this  alliance,  like 
the  origin  of  many  great  things,  is  shrouded  in  obscurity; 
but  before  we  proceed  much  farther  we  shall  find  them 
taking  long  geological  expeditions  together,  and  collaborating 
in  the  Transactions  of  the  Society.  Murchison  says  that 
"  from  his  buoyant  and  cheerful  nature,  as  well  as  from  his 
flow  of  soul  and  eloquence,  Sedgwick  at  once  won  my  heart, 
and  a  year  only  was  destined  to  elapse  before  we  became 
coadjutors  in  a  survey  of  the  Highlands,  and  afterwards  of 
various  parts  of  the  Continent8."  Mr  Geikie,  on  the  other 
hand,  while  fully  admitting  that  his  hero  admired  and 
respected  Sedgwick,  gives  a  more  practical  reason  for  the 
selection  of  him  as  a  travelling-companion.     Murchison  was 

1  Ibid.  p.  xcii. 

1  From  W.  H.  Fitton,  M.D.,  8  February,  1827. 

8  Geikie's  Life  of  Murchison y  i.  124. 


CHAPTER   VIII. 
(1827— 1831.) 

The  Geological  Society.  First  acquaintance  with  Mur- 
chison.  Tour  with  him  in  Scotland.  Office  of  Senior 
Proctor  (1827).  Joint  papers  with  Murchison.  Summer 
in  Cornwall.  Dolcoath  Mine.  Visits  Conybeare  in 
South  Wales  (1828).  Sedgwick  President  of  Geological 
Society.  Divinity  Act.  Mr  Cavendish  elected  Uni- 
versity representative.  Summer  in  Germany  and  the 
Tyrol  with  Murchison.  Joint  paper  on  the  eastern 
Alps  (1829).  Address  to  Geological  Society.  Summer 
in  Northumberland.  Contested  election  of  President 
of  Royal  Society  (1830).  Addresses  to  Geological 
Society  (1831). 

SEDGWICK  had  been  elected  a  Fellow  of  the  Geological 
Society  of  London  in  November,  18 18.  He  could  not  have 
attended  the  meetings  regularly — at  any  rate  at  first — but 
when  he  did  go  he  thoroughly  enjoyed  them.  In  those  early 
days  of  the  Society's  existence — it  was  but  eleven  years  old 
in  18 1 8 — it  was  composed,  as  he  has  himself  recorded,  "of 
robust,  joyous,  and  independent  spirits,  who  toiled  well  in  the 
field,  and  who  did  battle  and  cuffed  opinions  with  much  spirit 
and  great  good  will.  For  they  had  one  great  object  before 
them,  the  promotion  of  true  knowledge ;  and  not  one  of  them 
was  deeply  committed  to  any  system  of  opinions  V     In  such 

1  A  Synopsis  of  the  Classification  of  the  British  Palaozoic  Rocks  %  p.  xc. 


GEOLOGICAL  SOCIETY.  299 

an  assemblage  Sedgwick  was  sure  to  take  a  foremost  place, 
and  we  are  not  surprised  to  learn  that  some  of  his  "most 
honoured  and  cherished1"  friendships  originated  in  the  Society. 
Before  long  the  value  of  his  cooperation,  from  a  scientific 
point  of  view,  came  to  be  recognised;  in  1824  he  became  a 
member  of  the  Council ;  and  in  1827  a  Vice-President.  His 
friend  Dr  Fitton,  then  President,  in  announcing  his  election  to 
the  latter  office,  assures  him  that  he  feels  "  no  small  gratifica- 
tion in  the  prospect "  of  having  him  as  a  colleague ;  and  that 
he  will  be  most  happy  "to  receive  any  suggestions  for  the 
advancement  of  the  subject  or  the  welfare  of  the  Society*." 
This  language  affords  conclusive  evidence  of  the  favourable 
judgment  which  capable  men  of  science  had  by  this  time 
passed  on  Sedgwick ;  before  long  the  Society  accepted  him 
as  a  leader,  and  much  of  "  the  generous,  unselfish,  and  truth- 
loving  spirit  that  glowed  throughout  the  whole  body"  was 
probably  due  to  his  influence. 

Sedgwick  soon  became  on  excellent  terms  with  the 
fathers  of  the  Society ;  but  it  was  with  Roderick  Impey 
Murchison,  then  one  of  the  junior  members,  that  he  con- 
tracted the  closest  alliance.  The  origin  of  this  alliance,  like 
the  origin  of  many  great  things,  is  shrouded  in  obscurity; 
but  before  we  proceed  much  farther  we  shall  find  them 
taking  long  geological  expeditions  together,  and  collaborating 
in  the  Transactions  of  the  Society.  Murchison  says  that 
"  from  his  buoyant  and  cheerful  nature,  as  well  as  from  his 
flow  of  soul  and  eloquence,  Sedgwick  at  once  won  my  heart, 
and  a  year  only  was  destined  to  elapse  before  we  became 
coadjutors  in  a  survey  of  the  Highlands,  and  afterwards  of 
various  parts  of  the  Continent8."  Mr  Geikie,  on  the  other 
hand,  while  fully  admitting  that  his  hero  admired  and 
respected  Sedgwick,  gives  a  more  practical  reason  for  the 
selection  of  him  as  a  travelling-companion.     Murchison  was 

1  Ibid.  p.  xcii. 

9  From  W.  H.  Fitton,  M.D.,  8  February,  1827. 

8  Geikie's  Life  of  Murchison,  i.  124. 


3Q2  ISLE  OF  ARRAN. 


1827.  interrupted  fine  weather.  We  have  fairly  done  the  island,  and 
JEi.  4*.  have  found  a  complete  series  of  the  Old  Red,  coal  measures, 
and  Young  Red.  The  details  have  cost  us  some  hard  labour. 
I  hoped  to  have  run  across  to  the  coast  of  Ayr,  but  it  was 
quite  impossible.  Tomorrow  we  are  off  for  Bute — thence  to 
Oban  and  Mull,  where  we  shall  remain  about  a  week.  Then 
we  shall  start  for  Portree  in  Skye.  On  this  island  we  shall 
remain  a  week  or  ten  days.  If  you  have  a  notion  of  joining 
us,  you  may  find  your  way  by  steamers  from  Glasgow  to  any 
of  these  places  with  as  much  ease  as  you  travel  from  London 
to  Liverpool;  and  indeed  with  much  greater  ease.  All  the 
lochs  and  arms  of  the  sea  are  covered  with  steamers  plying 
in  all  directions. 

I  am  delighted  with  what  I  have  seen  of  the  Highlanders. 
They  are  good-humoured,  high-minded,  well-informed,  racy, 
and  dirty.  The  day  before  yesterday  at  Loch  Ranza  I 
asked  a  fine  dark-eyed  lass  for  a  pair  of  slippers.  She 
immediately  pulled  off  her  own  shoes  and  offered  them  to  me, 
saying :  "  I  dinna  want  'em.  You  may  wear  'em  yoursel 
while  I  clean  your  ain."  On  returning  yesterday  over  the 
mountains  we  passed  two  fine  lasses ;  one  had  a  green  veil, 
and  the  other  a  velvet  reticule.  Yet  both  were  walking 
without  shoes  and  stockings.  Our  guide  is  a  fine  old  man 
whose  mind  is  stored  with  traditions  respecting  all  the 
families  in  the  Highlands.  He  told  Murchison  many 
circumstances  respecting  his  family  history  which  quite 
astonished  him.  He  (Mr  M.)  said  that  he  did  not  believe 
any  man  in  the  world  had  known  them  except  himself,  and 
he  had  only  learned  them  from  an  old  manuscript  of  his 
grandfather's.     My  best  regards  to  every  body.     Yours  ever, 

A.  Sedgwick. 

Ullapool,  August  11,  1827. 
Dear  Whewell, 

We  are  waiting  at  a  small  inn  on  the  north-west 
coast  of  Ross,  in  hopes  of  better  weather.     Should  it  clear 


ISLE  OF  MULL.  303 


up,  in  a  quarter  of  an  hour  we  are  off.  I  have  only  time  for  1827. 
a  few  lines  which  may  give  you  some  notion  of  our  intended  &u  4*- 
motions.  Tomorrow  and  the  next  day  we  shall  probably  be 
at  Assynt ;  Wednesday  or  Thursday  we  shall,  if  possible, 
spend  at  Tongue  (the  seat  of  Lord  Reay),  from  whose  house 
we  mean  to  make  an  excursion  to  Cape  Wrath.  Afterwards 
we  turn  to  the  north-east,  and  shall  probably  be  at  Thurso  in 
ten  days  from  this  time  (on  the  21st).  From  Thurso  we 
propose  to  coast  by  John  o*  Groat's,  and  to  walk  along  the 
shores  of  Caithness,  Sutherland,  and  Rosshire,  to  Inverness. 
This  place  we  hope  to  reach  in  the  second  week  of  September. 
If  you  have  any  disposition  to  join  us  we  shall  rejoice  to  see 
you,  and  I  can  promise  you  a  most  hospitable  reception  from 
the  Highland  Lairds.  I  will  also  promise  you  fair  weather ; 
for  I  am  quite  sure  that  all  the  rain  must  fall  on  the  west 
coast.  We  have  so  much  here  that  the  clouds  can  have  none 
to  spare  for  the  east  coast. 

I  have  neither  time  nor  space  for  any  description  of  what 
we  have  been  about ;  but  I  will  give  you  our  track,  and  it  may 
serve  as  a  text  for  some  talk  when  we  meet.  We  spent  nine 
active  days  at  Arran,  and  from  thence  found  our  way  through 
the  Kyles  of  Bute  to  Loch  Fyne.  We  then  crossed  the  Mull 
of  Cantyre,  and  coasted  up  to  Oban  and  Ballachulish ;  and 
from  the  latter  place  we  made  an  attack  upon  the  primitive 
chain,  but  were  driven  back  by  bad  weather,  and  obliged  to 
take  shelter  in  a  steam-boat,  which  took  us  down  Loch  Linnhe 
to  Oban.  From  Oban  we  proceeded  by  the  same  conveyance 
to  Tobermory,  on  the  north  point  of  Mull.  The  weather  then 
cleared,  and  we  had  three  or  four  glorious  days  at  Staffa, 
Iona,  and  the  south  coast  of  Mull.  If  ever  you  come  among 
the  western  Isles  be  sure  to  see  the  south  coast  of  Mull. 
The  basaltic  cliffs  are  most  gorgeous.  They  are  more  than 
equal  to  Staffa  piled  ten  times  upon  itself.  From  Carsaig 
Bay  we  crossed  through  the  centre  of  Mull  in  a  most  dirty 
condition  ;  the  two  shirts  I  had  with  me  would  have  fetched 
a   good  price  from  a   tallow-chandler:    but  at  Torliusk  we 


3<M  ISLE  OF  SKYE. 


1827.  again  embraced  our  portmanteaus,  and  found  a  stock  of  soap. 
&*•  42-  After  spending  two  days  with  Lord  Compton  we  started  by 
the  Maid  of  Islay  up  the  magnificent  Sound  of  Skye,  waiting 
for  a  few  minutes  by  the  way  under  the  lofty  Scuir  of  Eig. 
We  landed  at  Portree,  and  proceeded  forwards  along  the  north 
coast  of  Skye  to  the  utmost  limit  of  the  great  basaltic  chain. 
The  character  of  the  coast  is  this :  a  base  of  lias  and  oolite, 
sometimes  forming  a  cliff  five  or  six  hundred  feet  high  ;  over 
them  great  stacks  of  basalt  rising  several  hundred  feet  above 
the  horizontal  beds.  The  tops  of  these  form  a  kind  of  table- 
land, at  the  back  of  which  is  a  great  basaltic  chain  rising 
about  a  thousand  feet  above  the  plateau.  From  some  points 
you  take  in  at  a  single  view  from  a  boat,  the  stratified  rocks, 
the  superincumbent  columns,  and  the  bristling  top  of  the 
chain,  and  the  effect  is  glorious.  This  is  a  dreadful  country 
for  storms;  you  have  such  howling  blasts  along  the  coast 
that  you  might  fancy  that  the  gigantic  columns  of  basalt 
were  organ-pipes,  and  that  the  devil  was  blowing  a  tune 
through  them.  We  examined  the  islands  of  Raasay,  Scalpa, 
etc,  and  made  some  excursions  to  the  south-west  coast  of 
Skye.  Our  attempt  to  cross  the  Cuchullins  almost  ended 
fatally.  Lord  Macdonald's  forester  was  our  guide ;  but  in  a 
dreadful  storm  of  wind  and  rain,  accompanied  with  the  usual 
mists,  he  lost  his  way.  After  wandering  many  hours  in  a 
state  of  great  misery  we  at  length  escaped  from  a  labyrinth  of 
precipices  by  the  help  of  my  needle,  and  found  our  way  to  a 
farm-house.  Since  leaving  Skye  we  have  been  working  our 
way,  hammer  in  hand,  up  the  west  coast  of  Ross.  The 
country  is  magnificent,  and  the  weather,  till  this  morning, 
has  been  highly  favourable.  Fish  is  so  abundant  that  we 
have  nothing  to  do  but  light  a  fire  and  put  on  a  frying  pan, 
and  the  salmon  find  their  way  into  it  without  help.  My 
paper  is  out     My  best  regards  to  all  Trinitarians.     Yours 

ever>  A.  Sedgwick. 

P.S.     Dear  Hare,  I  will  direct  to  you  in  case  Whewell  is 


COAST  OF  ROSS.  305 


off.     How  goes  on  the  Translation1?     Murchison  is  walking     1827. 
about  with  a  cigar.    He  sends  you  his  regards  between  the    ^  4»- 
puffs.     Yours,  A.  S. 

A  third  letter,  written  to  Ainger  three  days  later  from 
Assynt,  where  they  were  detained  by  bad  weather,  gives  a  few 
additional  particulars.  Sedgwick  was  evidently  thoroughly 
happy.  Everything  was  new,  and  strange,  and  delightful. 
He  enjoyed  the  geology,  he  enjoyed  the  scenery,  we  might 
almost  say  that  he  enjoyed  the  bad  weather  and  the  rough 
travelling.  "Arran,"  he  says,  "is  a  geological  epitome  of 
the  whole  world,  and  is,  moreover,  eminently  picturesque.  I 
was  greatly  delighted  with  it  as  the  first  place  in  which  I  saw 
the  Highlanders  in  their  native  habitations.  These  indeed 
are  none  of  the  best.  Those  of  the  lower  orders  have  often 
neither  chimney  nor  window,  and  from  the  distance  of  two 
hundred  yards  might  be  mistaken  for  peat-stacks."  In  Mull 
they  experienced  some  striking  contrasts.  One  night  they 
"  slept  at  a  whiskey-shop,  and  breakfasted  in  the  same  room 
with  the  pigs";  the  next  they  dined  with  a  laird,  who  gave 
them  venison  and  claret.  Rosshire  they  found  "  very  wild,  no 
roads,  and  what  to  us  is  of  much  greater  moment,  no  bridges. 
The  mountain-streams  have  become  torrents,  and  some  of  the 
rivers  impassable,  so  that  we  have  been  exposed  to  much 
fatigue,  delay,  and  vexation  ;  and,  what  is  worse  than  all,  we 
have  in  one  or  two  instances,  after  walking  twenty  or  thirty 
miles,  returned  without  effecting  the  purpose  for  which  we 
started.  One  day  we  crossed  upwards  of  forty  streams,  some 
of  which  took  us  up  to  the  middle;  and  several  times 
yesterday  our  horses  were  nearly  off  their  legs."  Such  were 
some  of  the  difficulties  which  a  geologist  had  to  encounter  in 
the  Highlands  sixty  years  since. 

Mr  Geikie,  in  his  account  of  this  journey,  points  out,  as 
indicative   of  Sedgwick's   power  of  acute   observation,  that 

1  In  1828  Mr  J.  C.  Hare  and  Mr  Thirl  wall  published  the  first  volume  of  their 
translation  of  Niebuhr's  Geschichle  Rom's. 

S.  I.  20 


306  CLEAVAGE. 


1827.  he  had  already  recognized  the  peculiar  structure  of  rocks 
JEt.  47.  caned  «  cleavage  ",  as  distinct  from  stratification.  When  the 
travellers  were  examining  the  slate-quarries  of  Ballachulish 
they  fell  in  with  two  German  geologists,  K.  von  Oeynhausen, 
and  H.  von  Decken,  whom  Sedgwick  tried  in  vain  to  convince 
on  this  point.  The  argument  was  long,  and  the  rain  heavy, 
but  the  Germans  could  not  be  made  to  see  that  there 
was  any  difference  between  the  two  classes  of  phenomena. 
This  accidental  meeting  was  the  beginning  of  much  agree- 
able intercourse,  which  was  continued  in  Germany  two 
years  later. 

Having  seen  as  much  of  the  west  and  north-west  of  Scotland 
as  the  weather  would  allow,  the  geologists  explored  the  coast 
of  Caithness,  and  thence  made  their  way  down  the  east  coast, 
according  to  their  original  plan.  On  their  way  home  Sedgwick 
at  least  paid  a  visit  to  Lyell  at  Kinnordy1,  and  then  went  for 
three  days  to  Dent,  before  returning  to  Cambridge  for  the 
Michaelmas  Term. 

Trin.  Coll.  October  28,  1827. 
Dear  Murchison, 

I  received  your  letter  on  Monday  last,  and  was 
greatly  delighted  with  the  account  you  have  given  of  your 
proceedings.  In  return  I  have  no  news  to  tell  you.  My 
father  I  found  in  a  state  of  extreme  debility,  and  worn  to  a 
perfect  anatomie  vivante,  but  still  without  pain,  and  I  might 
perhaps  say  in  good  health. 

After  remaining  with  him  three  days  I  posted  up  to  Cam- 
bridge with  all  the  expedition  I  could  command,  and  only 
arrived  just  in  time  to  be  enthralled  in  my  new  office.  Behold 
me  now  in  a  new  character,  strutting  about  and  looking 
dignified,  with  a  cap,  gown,  cassock,  and  a  huge  pair  of 
bands;  the  terror  of  all  academic  evil-doers — in  short  a 
finished  moral  scavenger.  My  time  has  been  much  taken 
up  with  the  petty  details  of  my  office,  and  in  showing  the 

1  Life  of  Sir  C  Lyell,  i.  199. 


OFFICE  OF  SENIOR  PROCTOR.  307 

lions  to  divers  Papas  and  Mammas  who  at  this  time  of  the  1827. 
year  come  up  to  the  University  with  the  rising  hopes  of  their  ^  **■ 
family.  Dr  Greville  and  Co.1  spent  two  days  in  Cambridge 
on  their  way  to  the  south  coast,  where  the  Doctor  means  to 
settle  for  the  winter.  Oeyenhausen  and  Decken  have  also 
been  here  for  two  days,  and  seemed  much  pleased  with  their 
visit  I  wish  I  had  been  more  perfectly  disengaged  for  them ; 
but  Henslow  helped  me  out.  This  week  I  have  to  make  a 
Latin  speech  to  the  Senate,  not  one  word  of  which  is  yet 
written ;  I  mean  to  write  a  new  syllabus  of  my  lectures,  which 
commence  in  about  a  week — in  short  my  hands  are  as  full  as 
they  well  can  be.  I  will,  however,  do  the  best  I  can  for  our 
joint-stock  work,  and  indeed  I  should  not  be  afraid  of  what  is 
before  me  were  it  not  for  the  weakness  of  my  eyes.  They 
have  been  much  worse  since  we  parted,  and  have  almost 
entirely  prevented  me  from  doing  anything  by  candle-light. 
For  some  days  I  have  abstained  from  wine,  and  have  dined  in 
my  own  rooms  in  order  to  avoid  the  temptations  of  a  College 
Hall.  In  consequence  of  strict  regimen,  and  cooling  medicines, 
I  am  now  much  better,  but  I  am  obliged  to  read  and  write  as 
little  as  I  can  help.  Fitton  wishes  me  to  write  a  kind  of 
notice  (I  suppose  in  form  of  a  letter)  of  what  we  have  seen. 
What  do  you  think  of  this  ?  It  might  be  put  in,  in  our  joint 
names,  as  the  harbinger  of  our  joint-stock  papers.  In  the 
present  state  of  my  eyes,  and  with  my  1001  engagements,  I 
fear  you  will  find  me  a  bad  helper.  I  can  only  promise  to  do 
my  best,  and  this  promise  I  make  quite  honestly. 

I  fear  you  will  have  a  long  bill  against  me,  but  I  must 
cash  up  out  of  the  profits  of  my  new  office.  It  was  sheer 
poverty  which  drove  me  into  harness.  My  eyes  ache  with 
what  I  have  been  writing ;  and  from  the  way  in  which  I  have 
written  I  fear  your  eyes  will  be  as  bad  as  mine,  before  you 
make  out  my  hieroglyphics.    Give  my  kindest  regards  to  Mrs 

1  Robert  Kaye  Greville,  LL.D.,  of  Edinburgh,  author  of  The  Scottish  Crypto- 
gatnic  Floray  and  other  works. 

20 — 2 


308  OFFICE  OF  SENIOR  PROCTOR. 

1827.     Murchison,  and  my  congratulations  on  the  good  work  she 
Ax"  4*-    has  done  during  the  summer1. 

Dear  Murchison, 
Yours  ever, 

A.  Sedgwick. 

The  laborious  office  of  Senior  Proctor,  to  which  Sedg- 
wick refers  in  the  above  letter,  had  been  offered  to  him  by 
Trinity  College ;  and  moreover  he  had  been  specially  solicited 
by  the  Master,  Dr  Wordsworth,  to  accept  it*.  A  certain 
amount  of  unruliness,  not  to  say  dissipation,  had  made  itself 
apparent  among  the  undergraduates,  which  could  only  be  put 
an  end  to  by  severe  measures  carried  out  with  discretion  and 
strict  impartiality.  It  was  felt  that  Sedgwick,  with  his  peculiar 
geniality,  and  known  sympathy  with  the  younger  members  of 
the  University,  had  special  qualifications  for  such  a  task. 
Proctorial  stories  have  a  strong  family  resemblance,  and  there- 
fore we  need  not  repeat  any  of  those  which  still  survive 
respecting  his  administration.  We  will  only  say  that  he 
fully  justified  the  hopes  that  had  been  formed  of  him.  He 
detected  several  evildoers,  flagrante  delicto,  and  had  them  re- 
moved from  the  University,  without  either  losing  his  personal 
popularity,  or  imperilling  the  dignity  of  his  office.  With 
Sedgwick,  however,  even  serious  duties  had  their  comic  side, 
and  many  were  his  jokes  at  his  own  expense.  Let  us  quote, 
as  a  specimen,  the  following  description  of  his  personal  appear- 
ance, which  he  sent  to  Murchison  at  the  end  of  a  string  of 
reasons  for  not  attending  a  particular  meeting  of  the  Geo- 
logical Society:  "You  and  Mrs  Murchison  would  have  laughed 
had  you  seen  me  enter  the  Senate  House  this  morning  at 
eight.  I  had  a  cap,  bands,  gown,  and  cassock — so  far  all  was 
regular — but  under  my  silk  petticoats  appeared  an  enormous 

1  Mrs  Murchison  took  a  keen  interest  in  her  husband's  pursuits,  and  frequently 
gave  him  considerable  help  by  collecting  fossils,  and  making  drawings. 

1  This  statement  is  made  on  the  authority  of  W.  H.  Thompson,  D.D.,  late 
Master  of  Trinity  College. 


JOINT  PAPERS   WITH  MURCHISON.  309 

pair  of  mud  boots,  and  I  had  a  great  woollen  ruff  about  my  1827. 
neck  as  big  as  the  starched  cravat  of  my  Lord  Bacon.  At  nine  ^  4*« 
the  Examiners  adjourn  to  breakfast,  and  I  provided  a  large 
pitcher  of  true  old  maris  tnilJP,  which  operated  delightfully,  and 
took  the  frost  out  of  all  our  noses.  We  had  kippered  salmon, 
and  many  other  good  things,  which  will  make  my  Proctorate 
quite  celebrated ;  and  the  remembrance  of  it  will,  for  ages 
unborn,  continue  to  rise  like  a  sweet  odour  in  the  nostrils  of 
our  Alma  Mater.  I  am  sitting  at  the  top  of  the  Senate  House 
in  an  elevated  arm  chair,  looking  like  an  Inquisitor  General, 
and  scowling  down  on  two  hundred  and  fifty  poor  devils  who 
are  squeezing  their  brains  to  get  out  a  few  drops  of  mathe- 
matics V 

Would  that  one  of  the  two  hundred  and  fifty  victims  had 
occupied  a  few  spare  moments  in  executing  a  pen-and-ink 
sketch  of  the  Grand  Inquisitor,  that  posterity  might  have 
realised  more  vividly  the  truth  of  the  above  description !  As 
it  is,  we  must  be  content  with  a  silltouette  of  Sedgwick  taken 
during  his  year  of  office8.  It  gives  a  good  general  notion  of 
his  dress  and  figure,  as  he  may  have  stood,  watch  in  hand,  to 
announce  to  those  who  were  being  examined,  that  the  clock 
was  about  to  strike,  and  that  they  must  fold  up  their  papers. 

The  joint  labour  of  Sedgwick  and  Murchison  in  the  field 
was  to  be  succeeded  by  a  joint  labour  at  the  desk, — the  "joint- 
stock"  work  alluded  to  in  the  letter  of  October  28th — by  which 
they  were  to  put  the  results  of  their  tour  into  shape  for  presen- 
tation to  the  Geological  Society  at  as  early  a  date  as  possible. 
It  was  decided  to  write  two  papers:  the  one  on  the  structure  of 
the  Isle  of  Arran  ;  the  other  on  the  Old  Red  Sandstone  of  the 

1  Sedgwick's  name  for  the  then  popular  combination  of  port  wine,  spice,  etc., 
commonly  known  as  "Bishop". 

1  To  R.  I.  Murchison,  15  January,  1828.  At  that  time  the  Senate  House  was 
not  warmed. 

3  The  Cambridge  Chronicle  for  19  February,  1828,  records:  "Monsieur 
Edouart,  whose  arrival  we  announced  last  week,  has  already  met  with  a  con- 
siderable patronage  from  the  gentlemen  of  the  University."  The  silhouette  from 
which  our  copy  was  reduced  was  given  to  the  Registry  of  the  University  by  the 
Rev.  J.  Romilly. 


3io 


JOINT  PAPERS   WITH  MURCHISON. 


i8»7-     north  of  Scotland.    This  proved  a  tedious  and  difficult  matter. 

**•  **•    If  the  two  writers  could  have  retired  together  to  some  lonely 

spot,  at  a  distance  from  all  interruptions,  their  work  might 

have  proceeded  smoothly  and  rapidly  to  its  conclusion.     This, 

however,  they  could  not  do,  and  therefore  it  had  to  be  got 


Sedgwick  in  iBi!;  reduced  fro 


through  by  snatches,  with  the  result  that  the  summer  of  1828 
was  far  advanced  before  the  second  paper  could  be  read  to  the 
Society,  This  long  delay  was  quite  unavoidable,  partly  from 
causes  personal  to  the  two  writers,  partly  from  the  complexity 
of  the  subject  with  which  they  had  to  deal.  Murchison,  as 
will  be  seen  presently,  was  not  a  little  annoyed  at  it.  He  had 
no  distractions  to  take  him  away  from  geology.  He  was  ten 
years  younger  than  Sedgwick ;  he  was  the  fortunate  possessor 
of  a  strong  constitution ;   he   was  ambitious,  and  eager  for 


JOINT  PAPERS   WITH  MURCHISON.  311 

distinction  in  his  new  pursuit.  Had  he  been  left  to  himself  1837. 
he  would  probably  have  written  both  papers  in  a  very  short  iEt-  **• 
space  of  time.  But  it  must  be  recollected  that  he  had  not 
Sedgwick's  experience;  he  had  as  yet  published  only  one 
paper — and  that  not  a  long  one ;  and  he  could  have  had  but 
little  idea  of  the  labour  of  reducing  extensive  field-observa- 
tions. It  is  perhaps  fortunate  for  his  reputation  as  a  geologist 
that  he  had  to  submit  to  an  enforced  delay  in  coming  before 
the  public. 

Sedgwick — as  our  readers  know  already — worked  under 
very  different  conditions  ;  and  it  was  only  when  he  was  away 
from  Cambridge  that  he  could  give  undivided  attention  to 
geology.  In  this  year  too  he  was  more  than  usually  occupied. 
His  duties  as  Proctor ;  his  lectures ;  his  museum ;  his  parish  ; 
his  ailments ;  were  all  so  many  barriers  to  a  speedy  completion 
of  his  share  in  the  joint  task.  Moreover,  his  own  paper  on 
the  Magnesian  Limestone,  begun  (as  we  have  seen)  in  1826, 
had  yet  to  be  finished.  This,  however,  he  generously  laid 
aside,  and  proceeded  as  fast  as  he  could  with  the  paper  on 
Arran.  The  series  of  letters  he  wrote  to  Murchison  while  it 
was  proceeding  is  tolerably  complete,  and  affords  a  more 
graphic  illustration  than  will  again  occur  of  the  way  in  which 
Sedgwick's  work  used  to  be  hampered  and  impeded  by  in- 
cessant demands  upon  his  time.  The  letters  are  valuable  too 
for  another  reason.  They  show  how  cordial  the  relations 
between  him  and  Murchison  were  at  that  period ;  and  how 
anxious  he  was  to  give  full  credit  to  his  friend  for  his  share  in 
the  field-work.  The  first  extract  refers  to  what  Murchison 
calls  "a  tiff  I  had  with  our  warm-hearted  but  hot-headed 
President  Fitton,  who  had  suspected  that  I  was  not  doing 
justice  to  Sedgwick1." 

Trin.  Coll.  November  3,  1827. 

"Your  letter  both  vexed  and  surprised  me... In  one 
respect  I  am  almost  certain  that  you  are  labouring  under  a 

1  Note  by  Murchison  on  the  back  of  the  letter. 


312  MURCHISON' S  SHARE  OF  THE   WORK, 


18^7.  false  impression.  I  have  again  looked  at  Dr  Fitton's  letter, 
iEt.  42.  and  I  cannot  persuade  myself  that  anything  unfair  was  in- 
tended towards  yourself.  He  merely  wished  to  give  me  a 
nudge  on  the  elbow,  knowing  my  habits  of  delay.  At  all 
events  you  may  depend  upon  me,  that  nothing  shall  be  done 
by  myself  without  consulting  you.  Indeed,  were  I  so  disposed, 
you  have  me  on  the  hip;  as  all  notes,  sections,  and  indeed 
everything  from  which  our  future  papers  must  be  compiled, 
are  in  your  possession.  You  worked  harder  in  many  respects 
than  I  did  myself;  and,  till  we  reached  the  east  coast,  and 
indeed  there  also,  you  were  my  geological  guide.  I  should 
therefore  be  an  ass  indeed  if  I  thought  of  anything  beyond 
what  we  meditated.  On  the  whole,  perhaps  it  is  better  to  put 
in  our  papers  one  by  one,  and  leave  the  results  to  the  end, 
which  may  be  exhibited  in  the  form  of  a  rteume*  generate.  I 
shall  rejoice  to  see  you  here ;  perhaps  I  may  be  in  town  next 
week  to  consult  the  cunning  eye-man  you  mentioned.  My 
eye  is  however  much  better.  I  have  been  water-drinking, 
and  dephlogisticating,  and  certainly  have  reduced  the  inflam- 
mation.    My  kindest  regards  to  Mrs  Murchison." 

Senate  House,  Tuesday  morning. 

[13  November,  1827]. 

"  Last  week  my  eyes  were  in  such  a  state  that  it  was 
quite  impossible  for  me  to  look  over  your  penmanship1.  Our 
Professor  of  Physic  ordered  me  to  abstain  from  strong  drink, 
which  I  most  religiously  avoid,  like  a  true  Rechabite.  He 
also  recommended  me  to  use  animal  food  very  sparingly ;  and 
not  content  with  this  he  put  twelve  leeches  on  my  left  temple. 
This  treatment  has  produced  a  good  effect,  and  if  properly 
followed  up  will,  I  hope,  put  out  the  fire  of  my  eye.    I  think  I 

1  A  sentence  in  the  earlier  part  of  the  letter  shows  that  Sedgwick  here  refers  to 
the  MS  of  Murchison 's  Supplementary  remarks  on  the  Strata  of  the  Oolitic  Series, 
and  the  Rocks  associated  vrith  them,  in  the  Counties  of  Sutherland  and  Ross,  and  in 
the  Hebrides,  read  to  the  Geological  Society  16  November,  1827.  It  is  a  con- 
tinuation of  the  paper  On  the  Coal-field  of  Brora,  read  5  January  and  2  February, 
1817. 


ACADEMIC  ENGAGEMENTS.  3*3 

told  you  in  my  last  that  I  don't  look  in  a  book  by  candle-  1818. 
light,  and  as  my  mornings  are  sufficiently  taken  up  with  lee-  ^u  ♦* 
tures,  and  various  other  academic  employments,  I  have  truly 
very  little  time  for  many  things  about  which  I  wish  to  employ 
myself.  The  whole  of  yesterday  I  was  employed  in  attending 
certain  formal  academic  meetings.  Today  I  had  just  com- 
menced, under  the  genial  influence  of  the  tea-pot,  to  read  over 
your  notes,  when,  to  my  great  horror,  I  was  summoned  to  the 
cold  marble  pavement  of  our  Senate  House,  to  administer  the 
matriculation  oaths  to  the  freshmen  of  this  year.  The  men 
are  brought  up,  about  twenty  at  a  time,  and  swear  in  volleys. 
While  a  fresh  set  are  signing  our  books,  paying  fees,  and 
priming  for  the  next  broadside,  I  dip  my  pen  in  the  inkstand, 
and  try  to  write  a  word  or  two ;  in  this  way  I  have  got  so  far 
over  the  sheet  at  a  rather  hobbling  pace;  but  still  I  make 
way. 

As  soon  as  these  swearing  manoeuvres  are  over  I  will  get 
one  of  my  friends  to  read  over  your  paper  to  me,  for  I  fear 
my  eye-sight  will  not  bear  the  work,  if  I  am  obliged  to  put 
it  off  till  the  evening.  I  will  add  tomorrow  morning  a  few 
notes  if  necessary,  and  forward  it  by  "The  Telegraph1"  at 
10  o'clock." 

Senate  House,  Monday  morning. 
[13  January,  1828.] 

"  It  is  not  from  want  of  inclination  that  I  keep  away  from 
town ;  but  of  all  the  days  of  the  year  1828,  Friday  is  the  one 
on  which  I  shall  be  most  completely  nailed  down  by  engage- 
ments. Our  annual  examination  is  going  on,  and  does  not 
end  till  Friday  night,  when  the  Moderators,  and  other  exami- 
ners, will  meet  at  my  rooms  to  give  in  the  final  result  which  I 
shall  have  to  publish  in  my  capacity  of  Senior  Proctor.  On 
Saturday  the  degrees  are  taken,  and  I  shall  again  have  to 
officiate.  I  am  truly  sorry  that  I  was  not  at  the  last  meeting 
from  the  account  you  give  of  it ;  besides,  I  was  doing  no  good 

1  One  of  the  coaches  which  then  ran  between  Cambridge  and  London. 


3H  PAPER  ON  ARRAN  FINISHED. 

i8a8.  here.  My  cold  is  better,  or  rather  I  am  now  going  on  with  a 
&t-  43-  second  edition,  which  is  not  so  voluminous  as  the  first  My 
eyes,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  are  no  better,  and  plague  me  sadly. 
I  set  to  work  the  evening  of  the  day  I  last  wrote  to  you  and 
finished  the  peroration  of  our  Arran  Paper.  It  is  cram-full  of 
hypotheses,  and  truly  may  want  defending;  but  you  must 
stand  up  for  me.  I  really  think  we  shall  between  us  set  the 
coast-section  at  rest  I  was,  however,  severely  punished  for 
my  exertions ;  for  my  eyes  were  so  enraged  at  this  treatment, 
that  they  gave  me  no  rest  for  nearly  a  week  after.  Since  I 
recovered  I  have  written  a  few  pages  of  the  concluding  part 
of  my  Magnesian  Limestone  paper ;  and  I  can  have  some- 
thing ready  against  next  Friday  fortnight,  when  I  will,  if 
possible,  attend  in  proprid  personA.  Can  you  contrive  to  find 
a  corner  that  evening  for  my  gab  ?  I  truly  hope  Mr  Pentland 
will  not  have  left  London,  as  I  want  very  much  to  talk  with 
him  about  the  fish1.  Don't  prepare  any  map,  as  I  have  a 
beautiful  one  by  Decken,  which  he  made  at  my  rooms  ex- 
pressly for  our  Arran  paper. 

I  wish  I  had  been  at  your  soiree  to  have  had  a  fight  with 
Buckland  ;  at  the  same  time  I  can't  help  saying  that  the  fight 
against  the  footsteps  is  almost  to  destroy  the  evidence  of  our 
senses ;  and  this  is  going  a  long  way.  In  plain  truth  I  don't 
in  this  case  know  any  better  argument  than  that  clencher  of 
my  uncle  Toby,  viz. — "  By  G —  they  are  not  footsteps"." 

Senate  House,  Tuesday  evening. 

[14  January,  1828]. 

Dear  Murchison, 

I  am  greatly  obliged  to  you  for  your  kind  invitation, 
and  truly  mortified  that  I  have  it  not  in  my  power  to  avail 

1  Mr  J.  B.  Pentland  was  a  travelled  gentleman  of  scientific  and  antiquarian 
tastes,  who  made  himself  useful  to  geologists  by  helping  them  to  determine  their 
collections.  He  knew  Cuvier,  and  took  the  fish  in  question  to  France  for  his 
examination. 

1  Endorsed  by  Murchison:  ••  Alludes  to  an  experiment  I  made  at  a  soirb  with 
live  tortoises  on  paste." 


SECOND  PAPER  BEGUN.  315 

myself  of  it.  But  my  letter  of  yesterday  will  have  informed  1828. 
you  how  I  am  circumstanced.  It  is  literally  impossible  for  me  &u  *3- 
at  this  time  to  leave  Cambridge.  I  fear  you  will  think  me  a 
sorry  coadjutor ;  for  all  the  work  is  left  to  yourself.  This  Is 
not  as  it  ought  to  be ;  but  I  am  at  present  almost  a  lame 
soldier ;  at  least,  till  my  eyes  are  better,  I  shall  only  be  fit  for 
invalid  duty.  You  see  I  am  trying  to  revenge  myself  for  the 
unlucky  blow  you  gave  me  in  Carsaig  Bay1.  It  must  be  rather 
a  queer  spot  this  weather.  I  wish  I  could  transport  myself 
there  for  half  an  hour,  and  then  come  back  again.  The  rust 
of  a  spear  is  said  to  have  healed  the  wounds  inflicted  by  it 
Perhaps  the  sight  of  the  Carsaig  pitchstone  would  set  my  eyes 
right.  If  you  don't  write  sooner  pray  let  me  know  how  all 
goes  off  on  Friday  night.  I  only  ask  this  on  the  supposition 
that  you  have  five  minutes  to  spare,  and  that  you  don't  think 
writing  a  bore. 

The  next  thing  for  us  to  do  is  to  give  the  structure  of 
Caithness,  and  the  coast  of  the  Murray  Firth,  and  then  to  add 
some  general  details  on  the  conglomerates  of  the  west  coast. 
The  paper  need  not  be  very  long ;  at  the  same  time  it  cannot 
be  very  short,  for  it  will  be  a  sort  of  omnium  gatfierum,  in  which 
it  will  be  necessary  to  speculate  de  omnibus  rebus  et  quibusdam 
a  His.  And  surely  on  such  a  text  we  may  fairly  be  allowed  to 
preach  our  sand  out  I  started  with  a  good  pen,  and  through 
the  first  page  contrived  to  make  a  fair  fist ;  but  I  am  getting 
worse  and  worse.  My  ink  is  thick,  my  brains  are  frozen,  and 
my  time  is  up.     So  no  more  at  present  from  yours  till  death 

A.  Sedgwick. 

The  first  part  of  the  Arran  paper  was  read  18  January, 
1828,  and  concluded  1  February.  Sedgwick  then  set  to  work 
to  finish  his  own  paper  on  the  Magnesian  Limestone,  but  here 
again  ill-health  stepped  in,  and  March  came  before  it  could 
be  read,  and  even  then  it  could  hardly  be  called  finished.    But 

1  On  the  south  coast  of  Mull. 


316  PAPER  ON  MAGNESIAN  LIMESTONE. 

1818.     for  this,  and  his  delay  in  beginning  work  on  the  second  Scotch 
^Et.  43.    paper,  he  shall  make  his  own  excuses  to  Murchison. 

Trin.  Coll.  Monday  morning. 

{February,  1828.] 

"  Many  thanks  for  your  last  parcel.  I  will  use  it  as  soon 
as  I  can,  but  I  am  out  of  sorts,  and  really  dare  not  work  at 
present  Since  we  parted  I  have  had  a  short  visit  from  an  old 
and  very  unwelcome  acquaintance,  which  has  affected  my 
arterial  system,  and  produced  a  throbbing  in  my  head  which 
I  must  get  rid  of  before  I  can  fairly  set  to.  Yesterday  I  did 
duty  about  sixteen  miles  from  hence ;  and  on  my  return  I  was 
frequently  obliged  to  pull  up,  because  my  head  would  not  bear 
the  motion.  The  only  radical  cure  for  such  feelings  is  exer- 
cise and  abstinence,  which  I  must  practice  forthwith.  Your 
account  of  Mull  delights  me  above  measure.  Mrs  Murchison's 
picture  is  now  framed,  and  looks  magnificent.  When  will  she 
do  me  the  honour  of  coming  to  see  it  ?  My  lectures  begin  on 
Wednesday  next  Of  course  they  will  take  up  a  considerable 
portion  of  my  time." 

March,  1828. 

"  I  send  you  the  end  of  the  paper :  and  those  parts  which 
you  may  omit  in  reading  I  have  marked  at  the  side  with  a 
pencil  line.  You  will  probably  on  looking  it  over  see  other 
matter  which  may  be  left  out  When  you  have  finished,  just 
say  to  the  Society  that  the  sections,  and  one  or  two  small 
maps,  are  not  finished ;  but  that  a  description  of  them,  together 
with  a  list  of  minerals  and  fossils  in  the  formation,  will  be 
given  in  an  appendix,  not  of  course  of  a  nature  to  be  read. 
If  I  can  get  a  drawing  out  of  the  hands  of  the  man  who  was 
to  do  it  for  me  I  will  send  it  up  by  the  mail  tonight  directed 
to  the  Society's  rooms,  Bedford  Street  If  I  send  the  abstract 
in  a  day  or  two  I  hope  it  will  be  in  time1." 

1  The  paper  was  read  7  March,  1818.  The  Proceedings  of  the  Geological 
Society  record  under  that  date:  "A  sketch  of  the  subjects  contained  in  this  paper 
was  laid  before  the  Society  in  1826  (Nov.  17).  They  were  resumed  in  a  more 
systematic  and  detailed  form  during  two  meetings  in  1827;  and  are  now  terminated 
by  the  observations  read  at  the  present  meeting." 


ACADEMIC  ENGAGEMENTS.  317 

This  work  off  Sedgwick's  hands,  his  friend  naturally  1818. 
expected  that  he  would  find  leisure  to  attack  their  second  ^  43« 
paper.  But  by  this  time  he  was  immersed  in  the  work  of 
the  Lent  term,  and  moreover  the  President  of  the  Geological 
Society  had  set  apart  the  16th  May  for  the  joint  production — 
an  unfortunate  step  when  he  had  one  so  dilatory  as  Sedgwick 
to  deal  with,  for  it  doubtless  gave  him  a  further  excuse  for 
delay. 

[Trinity  College,  12  March,  1828]. 
"  I  have  received  a  letter  from  the  President,  who  sends 
me  the  following  programme  of  the  order  of  papers  to  the 
end  of  the  session.  March  21.  Dr  Richardson.  April  4. 
Blank.  May  2.  Buckland  and  Clift.  May  16  and  June  6. 
Murchison  and  Sedgwick.  June  20.  Tag,  rag,  and  bobtail  &c, 
&c.  I  am  not  sorry  for  this  delay,  except  on  your  account 
It  will  give  us  time  enough,  and  I  shall  be  much  more  dis- 
engaged. My  Proctorial  duties  and  lectures  have  pressed 
rather  hard  upon  me,  and  left  me  for  the  last  three  weeks 
hardly  a  spare  hour.  This  week  I  hoped  to  have  made  some 
progress  with  our  joint  papers,  when  to  my  dismay  I  found 
that  I  had,  in  right  of  my  present  dignity,  to  dance  attendance 
upon  my  Lord  Judge.  I  am  off  to  church  with  him  this 
morning,  and  then  I  go  in  the  tail  of  his  robe  to  hear  him 
address  the  Grand  Jury,  &c.  &c. ;  and  as  for  my  poor  lectures 
they  are  for  the  time  sent  right  about.  But  I  hope  to  resume 
on  Friday  morning.  By  the  way  I  gave  our  men  a  platoon 
fire  about  Scotland  after  one  of  the  meetings  of  our  Philo- 
sophical Society.  I  don't  care  one  farthing  how  my  paper 
went  off  when  it  was  read,  provided  it  read  well  when  it  is 
printed.  It  is  necessarily  dry,  being  so  much  in  detail ;  but  I 
think  that  the  facts  are  important,  and  at  least  some  of  them 
are  new.  Pray  did  you  get  your  friend  Pentland  to  look  at 
Mr  Witham's  big  fish1?    Does  he  consider  it  a  Palceothrissum? 

1  A  fossil  fish  from  the  Magnesian  Limestone,  sent  by  Henry  Witham,  Esq.,  of 
Edinburgh.  He  had  already  supplied  Sedgwick  with  other  specimens  from  this 
same  locality.     Trans.  Geol.  Soc.  Lond.  Ser.  «,  iii.  1 16. 


318  MURCHISONS  IMPATIENCE. 

i8a8.      It  seems  to  me  to  be  a  distinct  species,  but  of  the  same  genus 
^t.  43.    with  the  Palaotkrissum  magnum  of  De  Blainville. 

My  abstract  is  as  short  as  possible,  at  least  so  I  think.  It 
will  serve  to  convey  a  general  notion  of  the  whole  paper,  and 
that  is  what  it  ought  to  do.  No  abstracts  were  made  of  the 
parts  read  last  year,  because  it  was  thought  better  that  the 
whole  of  it  should  appear  together.  I  have  scribbled  it  in  a 
hurry ;  pray  make  any  verbal  correction  you  see  fit 

Yours  ever, 

A.  Sedgwick. 

Trin.  Coll.  15  March,  1828. 

"  I  have  not  been  lazy,  but  I  have  really  had  no  time  for 
our  joint  work.  As  soon  as  I  get  quit  of  the  engagements  of 
the  term  I  can  set  to  work  in  good  earnest ;  for  my  health,  I 
am  happy  to  say,  is  just  now  very  good,  and  I  think  that 
my  eyes  are  getting  quite  well.  I  will  very  carefully  look 
over  all  the  papers,  and  make  a  string  of  notes ;  we  can  then 
divide  our  labours,  and,  though  separate  from  each  other, 
shall,  I  doubt  not,  get  our  separate  columns  into  position,  so 
that  they  may,  at  word  of  command,  be  made  to  deploy  into 
line,  and  be  ready  for  action.  By  the  way,  I  am  to  blame  to 
think  of  using  military  tropes  to  a  soldier,  as  I  shall  thereby 
only  show  my  own  ignorance." 

The  term  came  to  an  end,  but  still  Sedgwick  was  not 
ready.  Murchison  was  then  planning  a  journey  to  France 
— his  first  attempt  at  continental  geology — and  not  unnatu- 
rally wished  to  see  the  paper  completed  before  he  set  out.  A 
stronger  appeal  than  usual  to  Sedgwick  elicited  the  following 
answer;  a  gentle  rebuke  which  may  be  profitably  laid  to 
heart  by  anybody  who  advocates  speed  without  making 
proper  allowance  for  difficulties. 

Trin.  Coll.    April  7,  1828. 
Dear  Murchison, 

You  call  upon  me  "  for  my  own  reputation,  and  your 
peace  of  mind,  to  make  ready."     I  promise,  if  God  spare  my 


PROCTORIAL  DIFFICULTIES.  3 '9 

health,  and  preserve  me  of  sane  mind,  to  have  all  in  good  18*8. 
state  before  the  reading ;  but  to  expect  that  our  documents  iEt-  *3« 
should  exactly  tally,  so  that  we  have  only  to  stitch  them 
together,  is  to  expect  impossibilities.  One  is  making  a  key, 
and  the  other  a  lock,  which  never  can  fit  till  the  wards  are 
well  rasped  and  filed.  To  rasp  and  file  will  be  a  part  of  my 
office,  as  well  as  to  fit  on  a  head  and  tail.  All  the  specimens 
we  mean  to  exhibit  must  be  arranged  before  any  good 
description  can  be  given  of  the  several  sections.  The  general 
facts  may  be  stated,  but  the  skeletons  must  be  clothed  with 
flesh  by  the  help  of  the  specimens.  I  have  tried  my  hand  at 
the  description  of  the  Tarbet  Ness1  coast-section,  but  I  cannot 
satisfy  myself  without  the  specimens — the  subject  seems  to 
elude  the  grasp.  I  find  the  introduction,  or  discours  pr£- 
liminaire,  excessively  difficult — not  from  want  of  matter, 
but  from  having  too  much.  If  I  could  make  up  my  mind 
what  ought  to  be  said  I  could  take  it  at  a  canter. 

My  mind,  ever  since  we  parted,  has  been  in  a  muddy 
state,  for  I  have  been  living  in  a  troubled  atmosphere.  A 
most  painful  case  of  ungentlemanlike  profligacy  has  come 
under  my  official  notice,  and  worried  me  almost  out  of  my 
senses.  For  the  soul  of  me  I  cannot  take  matters  of  this 
kind  calmly.  Till  last  Saturday  night  I  had  for1  a  week 
hardly  an  hour  of  refreshing  sleep.  Three  men  have  been 
expelled  from  Trin.  Coll.  Two  or  three  of  other  colleges  will 
be  sent  away  from  the  University.  These  are  the  bitter  fruits 
I  have  been  gathering  during  the  week.  Thank  God  this 
harvest  is  over !  and  I  hope  we  shall  have  no  second  crop  of 
this  kind  during  the  season  of  my  Proctorate.  My  head  is, 
however,  beginning  to  cool,  and  my  sight  to  become  more 
clear,  so  that  I  in  some  measure  see  my  way  through  my 
work,  and  hope  to  lick  it  into  form  before  we  meet  Be 
therefore,  my  good  fellow,  in  good  cheer,  and  rejoice  with  me 

1  A  promontory  in  Ross-shire,  forming  the  north  side  of  the  Moray  Firth. 
The  section  in  question  is  described  by  Sedgwick  and  Murchison,  Trans.  Geoh  Soe. 
Ser.  2,  iii.  150.     Plate  14,  fig.  4. 


320       BABBAGE  ELECTED  LUCAS/AN  PROFESSOR. 

1828.     that  my  wits  have  not  been  scared  away  for  ever  from  their 
<**•  43-   domicile. 

During  the  few  hours  we  spend  together  in  Town  we 
must  devote  one  or  two  to  the  final  arrangement  of  the 
specimens — both  with  a  view  to  the  Society  and  also  to  the 
systematic  descriptions  of  the  paper.  As  for  the  tail,  it  ought, 
like  a  spider's  web,  to  be  spun  out  of  the  body ;  it  therefore 
can  have  no  real  existence  before  your  work  has  assumed  a 
substantial  form.  At  present  I  can  hardly  form  a  guess 
about  its  length,  curvature,  or  joints.  When  we  have  once 
determined  what  the  head  and  body  are  to  be  there  can  then 
be  no  difficulty  about  it  This  morning  I  have  made  a  few 
notes  upon  the  sandstones  of  the  western  coast ;  but  I  cannot 
make  up  my  mind  where  to  introduce  them.  At  present  I  am 
disposed  to  throw  them  into  the  latter  portion  of  the  paper. 
I  have  no  more  time  to  tell  you  what  I  am  doing,  or  what  I 
am  not  doing,  for  in  a  minute  or  two  the  post  closes.  It  is 
quite  impossible  for  me  to  think  of  France  for  the  present. 
My  kindest  regards  to  Mrs  M. 

Yours  ever, 

A.  Sedgwick. 

Another  matter,  more  agreeable  than  proctorial  duties, 
had  occupied  Sedgwick  during  part  of  the  Lent  Term.  The 
Lucasian  Professorship  of  Mathematics  had  become  vacant, 
and  some  of  the  friends  of  Mr  Charles  Babbage  considered 
that  he  was  the  most  proper  person  to  fill  it  The  matter 
required  very  delicate  handling;  for  Babbage  was  on  the 
continent,  and  could  not  be  communicated  with.  It  was 
obviously  impossible  to  announce  him  as  a  candidate  unless 
it  could  be  ascertained  privately  that  his  election  would  be 
certain.  The  electors  were  the  Vice-Chancellor  and  Heads  of 
Colleges — a  body  whose  opinions  it  was  not  easy  to  discover. 
Babbage  however  was  elected,  and  it  appears  that  Sedgwick 
had  had  no  small  share  in  bringing  about  this  result.  Dr 
Fitton  writes,  8  March,  1828  : 


SECOND  PAPER  READ.  321 

I  congratulate  you  very  cordially  on  Babbage's  election ;  which      1838. 
is   not  less  creditable  to  the  University  than  to  him.     And  you    je\.  43. 
certainly  must  have  great  satisfaction  in  feeling  that  your  own  efforts 
have  so  much  contributed  to  the  spirit  that  has  produced  this  event. 

The  next  letter  describes  the  favourable  reception  of  the 
long-expected  paper,  the  first  part  of  which  Sedgwick  read 
to  the  Geological  Society  on  the  16th  May. 

Cambridge.    25  Juney  1828. 
My  dear  Murchison, 

If  you  have  thought  me  worth  thinking  about,  I  will 
venture  to  say  that  you  will  have  accused  me  of  breaking  my 
promise.  In  this  instance,  however,  I  have  not  to  plead 
guilty  to  any  great  offence ;  as  I  have  been  much  harassed  in 
mind,  and  somewhat  also  in  body,  by  circumstances  over 
which  I  have  had  no  control.  Our  paper  on  the  conglomerates 
increased  to  such  a  size  that  it  was  obviously  too  large  to  be 
taken  in  at  one  meeting.  When  all  the  details  were  left  out, 
and  almost  every  portion  of  the  two  coast-sections  of  Caithness, 
there  was  enough  remaining  to  produce  that  peculiar  oscilla- 
tory motion  in  Fitton's  lower  extremities  which  you  have 
often  marked  on  like  occasions.  All  went  off  well,  and  ended 
with  the  dish  of  Caithness  fish,  which  were  beautifully  cooked 
by  Pentland,  and  much  relished  by  the  meeting.  Greenough, 
Buckland,  Conybeare,  and  all  the  first  performers  were  upon 
the  boards.  The  account  of  the  conglomerates  of  the  Murray 
Firth  and  the  Old  Red  of  the  north-west  coast,  together  with 
certain  speculations  and  corollaries,  were  put  off  till  the 
following  meeting. 

A  most  delightful  party  was  next  day  organized  at 
Greenough's.  Pentland  was  about  the  middle  of  the  week 
following  to  come  from  Oxford  with  Buckland,  and  Greenough 
at  the  same  time  was  to  start  with  Conybeare  from  London, 
and  the  party  was  then  to  bear  down  upon  Cambridge,  and 
spend  three  or  four  days  with  me.  Our  plans  were,  however, 
defeated  by  a  melancholy  event  which  we  have  long  been 

S.  I.  21 


322  DEA  TH  OF  HIS  FA  THER. 

1828.  looking  forward  to.  Before  my  return  to  College  I  received 
iEt  *3«  the  news  of  my  Father's  death,  and  in  consequence  hurried 
down  to  the  North  with  all  the  expedition  I  could  command. 
I  felt  a  great  pang  at  being  separated  from  so  old  and  dear  a 
friend ;  but  the  blow  fell  upon  us  as  lightly  as  it  could  fall. 
For  he  was  in  his  93rd  year,  and  died  without  any  pain 
or  illness  whatsoever,  of  pure  exhaustion ;  and  retained  his 
intellects  till  within  a  few  minutes  of  his  dissolution.  I  never 
knew  a  man  of  purer  principles  and  warmer  heart ;  and  since 
the  time  I  was  a  boy  I  never  have  heard  a  word  pass  his  lips 
which  implied  a  want  of  confidence,  or  was  addressed  to  me 
in  anger.  But  enough  of  this — I  have  no  right  to  obtrude  my 
own  feelings  on  a  subject  like  the  one  of  which  I  have  been 
speaking. 

I  remained  about  a  fortnight  in  the  North,  and  returned 
to  London  in  time  to  attend  the  next  meeting  of  June  6th. 
Our  paper  was  concluded,  and  Buckland  had  a  short  paper 
on  the  fossils  of  the  Isle  of  Portland.  I  had  theory  enough 
for  a  long  discussion,  and  fairly  threw  down  the  gauntlet  to 
old  Mac1.  No  one,  however,  thought  of  taking  it  up  for  him. 
In  short,  the  meeting  was  thin,  and  the  discussion  meagre. 
Greenough,  however,  spoke  very  handsomely  of  our  labours.... 

I  shall  be  extremely  busy  till  the  4th  of  July,  after  which 
I  shall  start  for  Cornwall,  and  join  Whewell  and  Airy,  who 
are  going  to  repeat  their  pendulum  experiments.  After  they 
are  over  we  shall  visit  the  granite  veins,  and  make  one  or  two 
transverse  sections.  On  my  return  I  shall  cross  to  South 
Wales,  and  visit  Conybeare,  make  arrangements  for  our  joint 
work  (I  think  I  told  you  we  were  going  to  scribble  in  com- 
pany), and  try  to  have  a  run  through  a  part  of  North  Wales. 
I  must  be  in  Cambridge  by  the  beginning  of  October  to  resign 
the  keys  of  my  office,  and  I  shall  hail  that  day  with  rapture. 
During  the  Commencement  festivities  the  Duke  of  Gloucester 


1  John  Macculloch,  M.D.  author  of  A  Description  of  the  Western  Islands  of 
Scotland,  including  the  Isle  of  Man.    8vo.  Lond.  181 9. 


DEATH  OF  HIS  FATHER.  323 

is  coming  down,  so  I  fear  I  shall  be  half  killed  with  hard-work      1818. 
and  hard-eating.     I  wrote  the  other  day  for  three  bucks.  &u  *3- 

Believe  me,    Dear  Murchison, 

Yours  to  the  earth's  centre, 

A.  Sedgwick. 

In  writing  to  Ainger,  who  knew  well  what  the  home-life  at 
Dent  had  been,  Sedgwick  was  naturally  less  reticent  about  his 
own  feelings : 

"In  that  humble  but  useful  station  in  which  God  placed 
him,  he  has  enjoyed  an  unusual  share  of  health  and  happi- 
ness. If  I  could  feel  as  I  ought  to  do,  I  should  rejoice  and 
not  mourn  at  this  event,  for  surely  no  man  could  be  better 
prepared  for  this  great  change.  His  mind  was  spared,  and 
his  kindly  affections  remained  warm  to  the  last ;  and  by  the 
operation  of  pure  Christian  principle  he  seems  for  years  past 
to  have  triumphed  over  all  the  moral  infirmities  of  his  nature; 
so  that  he  became  an  admirable  example,  and  an  endearing 
motive  for  virtuous  life,  to  all  those  who  were  nearly  con- 
nected with  him.  In  this  respect  I  feel  as  if  I  had  sustained 
an  irreparable  loss.  For  years  past  I  have  never  visited  the 
old  man  without  feeling  better  for  it1." 

Sedgwick  has  sketched,  in  a  letter  to  one  of  his  nieces,  his 
father's  personal  appearance  on  that  momentous  evening  when 
he  himself  came  into  the  world :  "  He  was  then  about  fifty 
years  of  age,  of  robust  frame,  and  of  a  rosy  and  cheerful 
countenance.  He  sat  on  the  right  side  of  the  fire,  wore  his 
large  well-powdered  wig,  his  white  cravat  fixed  behind  with  a 
large  silver  buckle,  and  he  had  a  pair  of  large  bright  silver 
buckles  to  his  shoes.  The  chair  in  which  he  sat  was  the  very 
chair  represented  in  the  lithographic  drawing  taken  about 
forty  years  after,  which  I  dare  say  you  have  seen,  so  I  need 
not  describe  it8."  Mr  Sedgwick  had  been  blind  for  many 
years  before  his  death,  and  his  frame  had  shrunk  a  little  as  he 

1  To  Rev.  W.  Ainger,  4  June,  1828. 

2  To  Miss  F.  Hicks,  28  March,  1841. 

21 — 2 


324  INTENDED   WORK  WITH  CONYBEARE. 

1818.  grew  older ;  but  in  other  respects  (save  the  wig),  Mr  Westall's 
&•  43-  drawing — a  copy  of  which,  slightly  reduced,  is  here  given — 
coincides  exactly  with  the  above  description.  In  the  year 
after  his  death  a  monument  was  erected  to  his  memory  on 
the  south  side  of  the  chancel  of  Dent  Church.  The  inscrip- 
tion, written  by  his  son  Adam,  recounts  the  leading  points  of 
that  character  which  has  already  been  so  graphically  set 
before  us  by  the  same  hand1.  One  sentence  will  fitly  close 
this  portion  of  our  narrative :  "  He  lived  among  his  flock  for 
fifty-four  years,  revered  as  their  pastor  and  loved  as  their 
brother." 

Sedgwick's  allusion  to  a  project  for  writing  a  geological 
work  in  conjunction  with  Mr  W.  D.  Conybeare  deserves  more 
attention  than  such  projects  usually  do;  for  though  it  was 
never  really  begun,  yet  for  some  years  Sedgwick  was  always 
intending  to  begin  it,  and  we  believe  that  the  needful  pre- 
paration determined  the  direction  of  several  of  his  geological 
tours.  The  scope  of  the  proposed  volume — a  continuation  of 
the  Outlines  of  t/te  Geology  of  England  and  Wales,  published 
by  Mr  Conybeare  in  conjunction  with  Mr  William  Phillips  in 
1822 — will  be  best  explained  by  the  following  letter": 

Bath,  April  24,  1828. 
Dear  Sedgwick, 

Your  letter  gave  me  sincere  pleasure.  Nothing  would  be 
more  agreeable  to  me  than  embarking  in  a  joint  voyage  with  you ; 
and  indeed  nothing  but  some  proposal  of  this  kind  would  have  held 
out  to  me  the  prospect  of  accomplishing  a  second  volume. 

The  materials,  as  sketched  out  in  my  own  mind,  comprised  these 
divisions.  I.  A  description  of  the  older  rocks,  throwing  the  transition 
and  primitive  classes  together.  The  arrangement  to  be  similar  to 
that  of  the  former  books  :  first,  a  general  account  of  the  formations ; 
secondly,  the  topographical  detail  of  their  distribution.  All  this 
part  must  principally  devolve  on  you,  and  if  more  assistance  could 
be  had,  more  would  be  desirable — especially  De  la  Beche,  if  he 
would  undertake  any  portion  of  the  unexamined  districts,  would  be 
a  very  useful  ally.    We  ought  also  to  make  a  push  to  urge  Aikin8  to 

1  Chapter  1.  pp.  38 — 44. 

1  The  letter  has  been  slightly  compressed  in  transcription. 
8  Mr  Arthur  Aikin,  a  distinguished  mineralogist,  and  one  of  the  founders  of 
the  Geological  Society. 


i 


*4 


•4/ 


■:  i  "*-  V 


**4 

•    * 


.4 


»» 


'•"-v 


.«.  • 


*• 


i 


*.'HB    iij".'»  K.  .  'JK3^J'Vr;'K.  «.  -1  . 


"*  /d«  /tof*  314.  Vol,  I. 


INTENDED  WORK    WITH  CONYBEARE.  325 

publish  his  Shropshire  materials,  which  would  be  very  important.      1828. 
He  means  to  do  so  in  our  Transactions^  but  wants  stirring  up.  j^t,  43. 

I  consider  our  materials  at  present  as  standing  thus.  The 
Cumbrian  district  you  have  done,  the  Cheviot  you  will  do;  of  the 
insulated  Midland  districts  enough  has  been  said  of  Malvern; 
Charnwood  requires  doing,  but  might  be  accomplished  in  a  fortnight; 
of  Cornwall  there  exists  a  great  quantity  of  scattered  information, 
and  your  next  visit  may  easily  put  it  all  together.  Wales  is  the  most 
unknown,  and  from  all  its  local  circumstances  the  most  difficult. 
One  ought,  like  Chalmers,  to  adopt  the  district  plan.  If  Henslow 
would  take  the  Caernarvonshire  range,  and  indeed  the  whole  ground 
north  of  Aikin's  observations  in  Shropshire,  you  and  I  and  De  la 
Beche  might  easily  accomplish  the  southern  part;  but  I  shall  not  be 
very  efficient  in  the  field,  for  I  have  not,  from  the  demands  of  a 
large  family,  either  time  or  funds  for  much  touring. 

II.  The  second  division  of  my  volume  respects  the  collection  of 
those  phenomena  which  are  perhaps  more  important  as  to  the 
foundation  of  geological  theory,  comprising  all  the  heads  of  my 
Introduction  from  §  6  to  §  1 2.  This  would  be  more  closet  work  than 
any  other  part  of  the  subject,  and  I  should  sit  down  to  it  con  amore, 
because  I  feel  it  easy  to  assemble  such  a  mass  of  facts  mutually 
illustrative  of  each  other  as  I  conceive  must  materially  tend  to 
establish  on  more  positive  bases  the  theory  of  our  science. 

III.  The  third  division  would  be  the  corrections  and  additions 
to  the  former  volume.     Here  I  should  principally  depend  on  you. 

You  see  therefore,  from  this  general  outline,  that  you  would  have 
a  large  half  of  the  labour,  and  of  course  ought  to  have  of  the  credit, 
such  as  it  might  be,  which  would  result.  But  I  fear  that  the  work 
would  hardly  hold  out  a  commensurate  prospect  of  repayment  in 
this  way;  for  while  you  would  deserve  most,  I  should  probably,  from 
the  earlier  connection  of  my  name  with  the  work,  get  most.  I  do 
not  know,  however,  that  either  of  us  can  be  more  usefully  employed 
for  the  advancement  of  our  science,  and  I  don't  think  we  are  either 
of  us  likely  to  quarrel  for  our  slices  of  praise.     Very  sincerely  yours, 

W.    D.    CONYBEARE. 

We  have  now  reached  a  point  at  which  it  will  be  well  to 
pause  for  a  moment  and  examine  the  first  joint  work  of 
Sedgwick  and  Murchison  more  closely. 

The  paper  on  Arran  is  a  good  example  of  the  old  strati- 
graphical  methods — a  well-kept  diary  of  excursions  made  in 
a  very  interesting  district;  and,  as  an  examination  of  the 
island  from  a  new  point  of  view  by  observers  trained  in  other 
fields,  it  is  a  useful  contribution  to  Scotch  geology.  The 
authors   begin   with   a   description   of  the   sequence   of  the 


326  VALUE  OF  THE  SCOTCH  PAPERS. 

rocks  observed ;  this  is  followed  by  a  determination  of  the 
fossils  by  the  best  authorities  on  the  subject ;  and  from  these 
data  they  attempt  a  correlation  of  the  deposits  with  those  of 
other  areas  already  examined.  It  would  be  out  of  place  here 
to  go  into  details  and  criticise  the  succession  inferred  in  each 
case,  or  to  point  out  the  corrections  shown  by  later  work  to  be 
necessary  in  the  determination  of  their  fossils.  Such  modifi- 
cations are  necessary  from  time  time  in  the  progress  of  all 
such  descriptive  work.  This  paper  is  a  fine  example  of  the 
way  to  set  about  the  examination  of  a  district,  and  is  full 
of  wise  observations.  The  Islands  of  Scotland  did  not, 
however,  offer  new  ground.  That  shrewd  observer  Macculloch1 
had  been  over  it,  and  had  clearly  recorded  the  results  of  his 
work,  though  his  credit  was  damaged  by  his  too  blind  ad- 
herence to  the  tenets  of  the  Wernerian  school.  He  did  not 
take  in  quite  good  part  the  work  and  criticism  of  Sedgwick 
and  Murchison,  for  he  was  a  man  whose  health  and  tempera- 
ment made  him  impatient  of  contradiction,  and  inclined  to 
resent  as  a  personal  injury  any  attempt  to  trespass  upon 
ground  which  he  had  come  to  regard  as  his  peculiar  province. 
Sedgwick  and  Murchison  recognised  that  in  this  outlying 
fragment  of  a  continental  area,  which  once  extended  further 
west,  they  might  find  a  key  to  the  phenomena  observed  on 
the  mainland,  and  rightly  thought  that  their  work  would  "  not 
only  assist  in  completing  the  natural  history  of  Arran,"  but 
would  help  "to  fix  the  true  epoch  of  all  those  interrupted 
fragments  of  secondary  formations"8  which  are  found  along 
the  West  and  North  of  Scotland. 

The  reader  of  these  early  papers  must  be  cautioned  that 
he  will  meet  with  some  old-fashioned  phrases,  now  changed, 
though  not  perhaps  in  all  cases  for  the  better.  According 
to  the  old  nomenclature  the  Primary  Rocks  included  the 
Archaean,  and,  speaking  generally,  the  great  masses  of  crys- 


1  See  above,  p.  311,  note. 

1  Trans.  Geo/.  Soe.  Lond.  Ser.  2,  iii.  21. 


VALUE  OF  THE  SCOTCH  PAPERS.  327 


talline  schist  of  unknown  age1.  Flanking  these  "Primitive 
ridges"  were  the  rocks  of  intermediate  character,  in  those 
days  called  "Transition  Rocks,"  including  the  series  which 
Sedgwick  and  Murchison  afterwards  made  so  well  known 
under  the  names  Cambrian  and  Silurian.  Resting  upon  the 
upturned  edges  of  these  older  rocks  comes  the  Old  Red 
Sandstone,  which  forms  the  base  of  what  were  then  called  the 
Secondary  Rocks,  and  to  this  their  attention  was  chiefly 
directed. 

The  local  importance  (for  purposes  of  classification)  of  such 
an  unconformity,  as  indicating  lapse  of  time,  is  of  course 
recognised,  but  the  authors  insist  upon  the  fact  that  such  phe- 
nomena are  of  limited  geographical  extent,  and  clearly  state 
that  they  "do  not  think  that  a  want  of  conformity  is  one  of 
the  elements  which  will  much  assist  us  in  grouping  together 
or  in  separating  contemporaneous  deposits  in  distant  parts  of 
the  earth."1 

The  second  paper  is  a  continuation  of  the  first,  and,  like" 
it,  refers  chiefly  to  the  Lower  Secondary  Rocks;  that  is,  in 
the  nomenclature  of  the  day,  to  the  Old  Red  Sandstone  and 
overlying  deposits. 

They  noticed  among  the  older  rocks  the  fan-shaped 
arrangement  of  which  we  have  heard  so  much  lately.  They 
also  distinguished  the  Old  Red  Sandstone  from  the  Red  Sand- 
stone of  Cambrian  age,  and  drew  attention  to  the  fragments 
of  older  deposits  which  were  found  imbedded  in  the  intrusive 
rocks.  They  considered  that  the  Old  Red  beds  had  been 
accumulated  between  ancient  ridges  of  crystalline  schist, 
and  pointed  out  that  the  basement  beds  were  made  up  of 
fragments  of  the  nearest  Primary  rocks.  Above  this  lower 
conglomeratic  stage  they  placed  a  middle  flaggy  stage,  with 
fish  remains.  When  wandering  along  the  shore  among  these 
flags   with   their  fish   scales   and   bituminous   patches,   they 

1  It  is  worthy  of  note  that  the  age  and  genesis  of  these  rocks  formed  the 
principal  subject  of  discussion  at  the  International  Geological  Congress  held  this 
year  in  London.  f  Ibid.  p.  33. 


328  VALUE  OF  THE  SCOTCH  PAPERS. 

thought  at  first  that  some  one  had  dropped  tar  here  and 
there  on  the  rocks.  The  occurrence  of  fish  remains  in  these 
Caithness  flags  had  been  already  recorded  from  one  locality, 
but  they  found  that  they  were  far  less  uncommon  than  had  been 
supposed,  and  traced  the  fish-bearing  strata  right  across  the 
country,  and  even  into  the  Orkneys.  Some  of  the  specimens 
were  referred  to  Cuvier,  and  his  description  is  given  verbatim. 
Some  good  figures,  with  a  restoration  by  Cuvier,  are  published 
with  the  paper.  Sedgwick's  old  work  among  the  fish-bearing 
beds  of  the  Magnesian  Limestone  must  have  made  him 
take  a  special  interest  in  this  successful  search  for  fossil  fish 
of  another  and  older  type.  In  the  middle  flaggy  stage  they 
saw  a  connection  with  the  Carboniferous  System — a  view  not 
now  accepted  in  the  sense  in  which  they  understood  it,  namely 
that  these  rocks  were  the  equivalents  of  rocks  known  as  car- 
boniferous further  south.  Their  view  has,  however,  an  element 
of  truth,  in  that  the  beds  they  were  examining  undoubtedly 
form  a  basement  to  the  carboniferous  rocks  of  Scotland,  and 
exhibit  the  incoming  of  the  characters  by  which  they  are 
distinguished.  It  was  an  interesting  observation  of  theirs  that 
the  pholas-borings  followed  the  calcareous  bands  everywhere 
along  the  shore. 

They  did  not  attempt  to  map  the  district  in  detail,  but  only 
proposed  to  indicate  the  distribution  of  the  beds  described. 
When  we  recollect  this  the  map  they  give  will  compare  not 
unfavourably  with  others  published  half  a  century  later,  after 
the  country  had  been  well  worked  out.  They  did  not  attempt 
to  trace  the  "faults,"  but  realised  the  probability  of  the 
occurrence  of  many  lines  of  disturbance  which  had  escaped 
detection  in  the  rapid  survey  which  they  were  making. 
They  suspected  their  existence,  among  other  reasons, 
because  the  thickness  of  the  series  would  be  so  enormous 
were  the  beds  in  true  geological  sequence  all  along  the  sec- 
tions examined. 

Sedgwick's  employments  during  the  summer  of  1828  are 
described  in  the  following  letter : 


DOLCOATH  MINE.  329 


London,  October  8,  1828. 
Dear  Murchison, 

Your  letter  of  August  18th  reached  me  in  South 
Wales  about  ten  days  since.  No  one  knew  how  to  forward 
it  from  Cambridge  before  Whewell's  return.  He  started  it  on 
a  venture ;  and  when  I  received  it,  it  had  been  doubling  in  so 
many  directions  that  it  was  blackened  from  one  side  to  the 
other  with  addresses.  When  it  did  come  it  was  most  welcome, 
and  made  me  almost  envy  you  for  the  delightful  work  which 
you  have  gone  through.  Give  my  best  regards  and  con- 
gratulations to  Mrs  M.  and  to  Lyell,  on  the  discoveries  they 
have  made,  and  on  the  dangers  they  have  escaped.  God 
preserve  you  all  from  the  fury  both  of  fire  and  water  till  you 
are  by  your  own  fire-sides  in  this  murky  capital ;  and  I  will 
contrive  to  join  you  as  soon  as  I  can  find  a  moment's  leisure, 
in  order  that  I  may  have  a  vivd  voce  narrative  of  the  news 
you  bring  from  the  lower  world.  But  what  account  have  I  to 
give  of  myself?     Not  I  fear  a  very  satisfactory  one. 

Immediately  after  the  business  of  the  Cambridge  Com- 
mencement was  over  (during  which  festival  I  was  figuring  in 
processions,  creating  Doctors  of  Divinity,  and  going  through 
many  ancient  monastic  evolutions)  I  started  pell-mell  for 
Cornwall,  and  about  the  8th  of  July  contrived  to  join  the 
pendulum  party.  I  think  you  have  heard  of  our  expedition 
for  the  purpose  of  swinging  pendulums  at  the  bottom  of  the 
Dolcoath  mine.  Had  I  imagined  what  time  the  experiments 
would  have  taken  I  should  certainly  have  kept  far  away  from 
them  ;  we  remained  nearly  two  months  at  Camborne,  during 
which  time  I  indeed  contrived  to  make  a  few  interesting 
excursions,  re-examined  the  principal  junctions,  and  settled 
some  of  my  notions :  but  all  the  work  I  did  in  the  county 
might  have  been  completed  in  ten  days.  After  all  we  had  a 
good  deal  of  amusement  out  of  the  pendulums.  Our  ups  and 
downs  upon  the  ladders,  which  between  the  higher  and  the 
lower  station  amounted  to  more  than  fifty  in  number,  and 


1828. 

&t.  43« 


330  DOLCOATH  MINE. 


1828.  extended  to  a  length  of  nearly  one-third  of  a  mile;  our  young 
&*•  43-  attendant  with  a  great  belt  stuffed  with  chronometers ;  the 
dirt  and  the  tallow ;  the  uncertainty  of  the  result ;  the 
speculations  of  the  mining-men  and  mining-women ;  these 
were  the  materials  out  of  which  we  extracted  our  share  of 
amusement.  We  had  two  beats,  continued  without  inter- 
ruption night  and  day  for  more  than  a  week  each — during 
which  two  of  Kater's  pendulums  were  running  against  each 
other  for  more  than  600,000  beats.  Whewell  and  Airy  out  of 
these  materials  hoped  to  have  reached  a  result  against  which 
it  would  have  been  impossible  to  take  any  exception.  I  am, 
however,  sorry  to  say  that  in  consequence  of  an  unlooked  for 
fault  in  the  instrument,  which  is  called  "  invariable''  the 
successive  results  have  been  in  some  measure  variable.  We 
have  therefore  after  all  only  gained  an  approximation. 

Whewell  visited  with  me  some  of  the  finest  junctions,  and 
has  sketched  some  of  the  magnificent  granite  veins  which  are 
found  on  the  coast.  I  was  very  much  surprised  to  observe, 
what  had  before  escaped  me,  that  several  of  the  metalliferous 
deposits  of  Cornwall  are  true  Stockworks.  The  great  mass  of 
granite  north  of  St  Austell  is  traversed  by  innumerable  con- 
tetnporaneous  veins,  some  of  which  bear  oxide  of  tin,  and 
where  they  abound  the  metal  is  extracted,  as  far  as  I  under- 
stand the  case,  exactly  in  the  manner  of  the  German  Stock- 
works. 

As  soon  as  the  pendulum-party  broke  up  I  turned  my 
face  towards  the  east ;  just  looked  at  the  Exeter  conglomerates; 
then  ran  down  to  Ilfracombe,  and  crossed  by  a  packet  to 
Swansea.  From  Swansea  I  ran  down  to  Sully,  the  rectory 
where  our  friend  Conybeare  has  incarcerated  himself.  The 
situation  is,  however,  most  delightful,  and  he  has  about  him 
the  society  of  a  charming  family.  I  contrived  to  poke  him 
out  of  his  den,  and  had  a  run  of  about  three  weeks  with  him 
through  a  part  of  the  South  Wales  coal-basin.  It  is  a  highly 
interesting  region,  and  exhibits  the  secondary  rocks  of  the 
older  series  in  every  variety  of  combination.     After  doubling 


DOLCOATH  MINE.  331 


out  of  the  coal-field  I  visited  one  or  two  friends  with  whom  I  1818. 
have  been  eating  and  drinking  to  my  heart's  content,  and  I  -**•  43- 
am  now  in  admirable  condition  for  the  winter  work  at 
Cambridge.  Yesterday  I  visited,  for  about  an  hour,  the  noble 
collection  at  the  Bristol  Institution,  and  last  night  I  came  by 
the  mail  to  this  place.  I  have  all  day  been  doing  a  great 
deal  of  little  business,  and  among  other  persons  contrived  to 
see  Greenough.  He  says  that  our  Scotch  paper  wants 
rasping,  and  has  reported  to  that  effect ;  but  he  says  that  the 
authors  must  do  it  themselves.  I  have  no  doubt  he  is  right, 
for  it  was  a  cobbled  business.  I  will  take  it  down  and  try 
my  hand  at  docking  and  cropping.  But  really  it  must  all 
be  written  over  again,  or  we  shall  drive  the  printer's  devils  to 
despair.  Tomorrow  morning  I  return  to  my  den  in  Trin. 
Coll.  It  is  time  for  me  to  retire,  and  make  up  for  my  loss  of 
sleep  last  night.  As  good  a  repose  to  you  and  Mrs  Murchison 
as  I  am  myself  looking  for. 

Yours  to  the  centre  of  the  earth, 

A.  Sedgwick. 

The  experiments  at  the  copper-mine  of  Dolcoath,  in  which 
Sedgwick  bore  a  somewhat  reluctant  part,  had  been  com- 
menced by  Whewell  and  Airy  in  1826.  "The  object  was  to 
determine  the  density  of  the  earth,  and  the  essential  part  of 
the  process  was  to  compare  the  time  of  vibration  of  a 
pendulum  at  the  surface  of  the  earth  with  the  time  of 
vibration  of  the  same  pendulum  at  a  considerable  depth 
below  the  surface.  The  experiment  failed  to  lead  to  a 
satisfactory  result1,"  because,  as  Sedgwick  says,  the  pendulum 
could  not  be  trusted ;  and  also  because,  on  each  occasion,  a 
serious  accident  occurred.  In  1826  Whewell  and  Airy  had 
conducted  the  experiment  alone;  but  in  1828  it  was  thought 

1  William  JVheivell,  by  I.  Todhunter,  8vo.  Camb.  1876,  i.  37.  The  only 
printed  record  of  what  Mr  Todhunter  calls  "a  very  arduous  experiment,"  is 
contained  in  an  anonymous  pamphlet,  known  to  be  by  Mr  Whewell :  Account  of 
Experiments  made  at  Dolcoath  Mine,  in  Cornwall,  in  1826,  and  1828,  for  the 
purpose  of  determining  the  density  of  the  Earth.     8vo.  Camb.  1828. 


332  DOLCOATH  MINE. 


1828.  desirable  to  enlarge  the  party,  so  as  to  carry  on  the  observa- 
nt- 43-  tions  without  intermission  day  and  night.  By  this  means 
some  members  of  the  party  could  take  an  occasional  holiday, 
and  Sedgwick  was  probably  absent  when  the  accident  of  this 
year — a  subsidence  of  a  portion  of  the  mine — took  place. 
His  account  of  the  experiments,  as  given  in  the  above  letter, 
may  be  supplemented  by  what  he  told  Mr  J.  W.  Salter : 

"This  mine  had  a  great  advantage  for  our  purpose. 
Besides  being  one  of  the  deepest  in  Cornwall,  it  is  overhung 
by  a  steep  hill  700  feet  high,  so  that  we  got  the  means  of 
measurement  to  a  greater  extent  than  would  have  been 
possible  elsewhere. 

"  We  went  down  in  summer-time,  and  enjoyed  ourselves 
very  much.  The  weather  was  propitious ;  the  company 
excellent.  But  the  natives  evidently  thought  us  no  better 
than  we  should  be,  bringing,  as  we  did,  strange  instruments, 
and  strange  earnest  faces  to  such  a  spot,  and  taking  down 
uncouth-looking  packages  and  baskets  to  all  the  deepest  and 
most  dangerous-looking  places.  We  often  overheard  their 
remarks.  One  morning  I  listened  to  two  men  who  had 
watched  our  descent  the  day  before :  '  I  think  they're  no 
good.  There  must  be  something  wicked  about  them — the 
little  one  (that  was  Airy)  especially.  I  saw  him  stand  with 
his  back  to  the  Church,  and  make  strange  faces.' 

"We  gave  them  some  cause  for  their  suspicions.  Our 
lamp-box,  marked  outside  '  Deville,  Strand,'  stood  well  for 
a  formal  address  to  his  infernal  majesty.  We  were  clamber- 
ing down  one  day,  when,  to  keep  up  the  joke,  I  asked  a 
sturdy  miner  who  was  guiding  us,  '  How  far  is  it  to  the 
infernal  regions  ?'  He  was  a  match  for  me — for  he  replied — 
1  Let  go  the  ladder,  Sir,  and  you'll  be  there  directly.' " 

The  party  were  most  hospitably  entertained  by  the  neigh- 
bouring gentlemen — with  some  amusing  results.  On  one 
occasion  Sedgwick,  Whewell,  and  Airy  presented  themselves 
at  the  front  door  of  a  house,  where  they  had  been  invited  to 
dine  and  sleep,  in  their  working-dress.     The  butler  thought 


PRESIDENTSHIP  OF  GEOLOGICAL  SOCIETY.        333 

that  they  were  real  miners,  and  had  just  exclaimed,  somewhat  1828. 
gruffly,  "You  go  round  to  the  back-door,"  when  their  host  Mt-43> 
came  forward  to  greet  them.  At  another  house  the  host 
himself  is  said  to  have  mistaken  the  same  party  for  agricul- 
tural labourers  in  distress,  and  was  just  intimating  to  them,  by 
a  shake  of  the  head,  and  a  wave  of  the  hand,  that  it  was  no 
use  begging  of  him,  when  his  friends  revealed  themselves  by  a 
loud  burst  of  laughter.  We  do  not  vouch  for  the  absolute 
accuracy  of  these  stories.  Sedgwick  always  found  Cornwall 
a  land  of  humorous  adventure,  and  other  tales  will  have  to 
be  related  in  connection  with  his  subsequent  visits  to  it. 

In  the  autumn  of  this  year,  while  Sedgwick  was  tranquilly 
lecturing  at  Cambridge,  Dr  Fitton,  whose  term  of  office  as  Presi- 
dent of  the  Geological  Society  was  drawing  to  a  close,  came  to 
the  conclusion  that  the  Woodwardian  Professor  was  the  proper 
person  to  succeed  him.  A  certain  amount  of  difficulty  seems 
to  have  been  anticipated  in  persuading  one  so  full  of  engage- 
ments elsewhere  to  accept  an  office  which  would  entail  regular 
attendance  in  London  at  stated  intervals;  and  the  task  of 
sounding  Sedgwick,  and  of  obtaining,  if  possible,  a  favourable 
reply  was  entrusted  to  Whewell.  His  letter  is  endorsed  To 
be  opened  immediately,  an  amusing  indication  of  Sedgwick's 
habitual  carelessness  with  regard  to  his  correspondence. 

8  October,  1818. 

Dear  Sedgwick, 

Fitton  will  come  to  you  on  Friday  to  try  to  persuade  you 
to  be  President.  Pray  do  not  refuse.  Make  it  possible,  somehow 
or  other,  for  the  thing  is  every  way  in  the  highest  degree  desirable. 
It  is  clear,  from  what  he  says,  that  he  has  spoken  of  it  to  so  many 
people  in  London,  that  it  will  be  generally  known  that  the  offer  has 
been  made  you;  and  after  Buckland  had  found  it  possible  in  his 
case  it  will  not  be  easy  to  make  them  comprehend  that  it  is  not 
ungracious  in  you  to  reject  the  proposal.  Fitton  is  very  earnest  on 
the  subject  for  the  sake  of  the  Society,  and  with  great  reason.  He 
says  that  having  just  received  favors  from  government1  it  is  very 

1  "The  Society,  at  a  special  Meeting  on  the  18th  of  April,  1838,  was  informed 
of  the  grant  from  the  Lords  Commissioners  of  His  Majesty's  Treasury,  through  the 
mediation  of  the  President  and  Council  of  the  Royal  Society,  of  apartments  in 
Somerset  House."    Report  of  Council,  20  February,  1828:  Proceedings,  i.  m. 


334       PRESIDENTSHIP  OF  GEOLOGICAL  SOCIETY. 

1828.  desirable  and  important  to  have  a  person  at  your  head  who  is  sure 
ALt.  43.  to  be  independent  and  straight-forward  He  adds  too  that  a  new 
era  of  the  Society  requires  a  leader  who  can  fill  his  place  with 
distinction.  All  this  is  very  right — but  /  am  very  anxious  that  you 
should  take  the  office  for  our  sake  and  yours.  It  will  undoubtedly 
give  a  degree  of  prominence  and  attraction  to  the  science  at 
Cambridge  which  you  cannot  give  it  in  any  other  way,  and  will  add 
weight  and  popularity  to  all  your  sayings  and  doings  on  the  subject. 
Without  this  we  are  hardly  on  a  level  with  the  Oxford  men,  which 
we  have  a  right  to  be,  and  which  it  is  your  business  to  make  us. 

You  will  tell  me  of  your  lectures,  but  I  am  persuaded  they  will 
gain  more  in  effect,  than  they  will  lose  by  any  curtailment  or 
inconvenience.  Then  consider ;  this  business  will  not  interfere 
with  the  course  of  this  term.  You  have  often  made  your  second 
term  somewhat  irregular;  it  must  be  possible  by  some  contrivance  of 
time  or  place  to  manage  it  again.  Consider  too  that  every  such 
inconvenience  is  a  practical  argument  for  new  rooms,  and  will  I 
hope  soon  produce  its  impression. 

I  do  not  think  the  expense  is  a  very  formidable  consideration. 
Fitton  says  he  shall  suggest  to  Gilbert1  the  advisableness  of  trans- 
ferring his  parties  to  Sunday  night  This  would  make  them  a 
continuation  of  Fitton's,  and  might  be  very  good. 

Find  the  will,  and  make  the  way.  I  am  sure  you  will  not  repent 
it,  and  it  will  be  an  excellent  thing  for  all  of  us. 

Ever  yours, 

W.  Whewell. 

These  excellent  arguments  did  not  have  the  immediate 
effect  intended  by  their  writer ;  others  had  to  try  their  hands 
at  persuasion,  before  Sedgwick  yielded.  At  last,  18  November, 
he  wrote  to  Murchison :  "  My  reluctance  in  accepting  the 
office  of  President  is  by  no  means  affected.  I  value  the 
honour  as  I  ought  to  do,  and  I  should  delight  in  it  if  I  had 
all  the  accomplishments.  But  I  am  an  absentee,  and  I  am 
poor.  These  are  sad  drawbacks.  My  friends  here,  however, 
will  not  hear  of  a  refusal.  So,  if  you  appoint  mc,  I  must 
promise  to  do  my  best.  It  will  be  a  sad  falling  off  after 
Fitton,  who  has  done  the  thing  magnificently."  We  do  not 
know  what  verdict  was  passed  by  Sedgwick's  contemporaries 
upon  his  performance  of  the  duties  of  President ;  but  it  is 
clear,  from  various  allusions  in  his  correspondence,  that  he 

1  Davies  Gilbert,  Esq.,  then  President  of  the  Royal  Society. 


VISIT  TO  MILTON  HOUSE.  335 

was  not  himself  displeased  with  the  work.    He  grumbled  now     1828. 
and  then,  and  vowed  that  he  was  "  nearly  ruined  "  ;  but  when    ^  43- 
it  was  over  he  admitted  that  he  had  found  the  employment 
agreeable,  and  had  liked  the  friends  to  whose  society  he  had 
been  introduced. 

Christmas  was  spent,  in  company  with  Whewell,  at  Viscount 
Milton's  house  near  Peterborough.  At  that  time  many  of  the 
Fellows  of  Trinity  used  to  find  their  way  to  that  hospitable 
mansion,  and  Whewell  spent  his  Christmas  there  for  many 
years  in  succession.  On  one  of  these  occasions — possibly  in 
1828 — he  was  asked  if  he  would  like  to  go  out  hunting.  Of 
course  he  said  "Yes".  Mounted  on  a  first-rate  horse,  well 
up  to  his  weight,  he  inquired  how  he  could  see  most  of  the 
run.  "  Keep  close  to  Sebright  (the  huntsman) "  was  the 
reply.  Whewell  did  as  he  was  bid,  and  followed  that 
splendid  rider  over  everything.  They  had  an  unusually 
good  run,  over  a  difficult  country,  in  the  course  of  which 
Sebright  took  an  especially  stout  and  high  fence.  Looking 
round  to  see  what  had  become  of  the  stranger,  he  found  him 
at  his  side,  safe  and  sound.  "That  was  a  rasper,  Sir",  he 
exclaimed,  in  admiration  at  his  pluck.  "  I  did  not  observe 
that  it  was  anything  more  than  ordinary,"  answered  Whewell. 
Sedgwick  was  either  less  inquisitive,  or  more  prudent,  and 
while  the  rest  of  the  party  were  out  hunting,  rode  quietly 
over  to  Whittlesea  to  have  a  chat  with  the  Aingers.  The 
Tory  sympathies  of  his  particular  friend  in  that  family  were 
so  strong  that  he  could  not  be  persuaded  even  to  write  to 
Sedgwick  so  long  as  he  stayed  with  so  pronounced  a  Whig  as 
Viscount  Milton1 — an  amusing  illustration  of  the  strength  of 
political  convictions,  not  to  say  prejudices,  at  that  time. 

The  Lent  Term  of  1829  opened  with  an  event  which  must 
have  given  Sedgwick  unmitigated  satisfaction.  As  soon  as 
it  became  known  that  the  Duke  of  Wellington  and  his 
colleagues  intended  to  introduce  a  bill  for  the  relief  of 
Roman   Catholics,  the  University  decided   to   petition   par- 

1  To  Rev.  W.  Ainger,  10  May,  1819. 


336  CATHOLIC  EMANCIPATION. 

1829.  liament  against  it.  In  former  years,  as  already  related,  the 
JEt.  44.  opposition  which  liberal  members  of  the  Senate  offered  to 
such  petitions  had  been  defeated;  but  on  this  occasion  it 
achieved  a  signal  success,  and  the  Grace  to  affix  the  Uni- 
versity seal  to  the  petition  was  rejected  by  fifty-two  votes 
to  forty-three1.  As  the  Cambridge  Chronicle  naively  records: 
"the  result  appears  to  have  been  principally  owing  to  the 
somewhat  unexpected  arrival  of  several  members  of  the  Inns 
of  Court,  who  came  down  for  the  express  purpose  of  voting 
upon  the  occasion ;  two  Paddington  coaches  with  full  com- 
plements of  inside  and  outside  passengers  arrived  between 
one  and  two  o'clock,  and  returned  to  London  the  same 
afternoon."  The  writer  should  have  added  that  they  dined 
in  Trinity  before  they  started.  The  fact  was,  that  the 
Cambridge  Liberals,  chiefly  Fellows  of  Trinity  College,  had 
written  to  their  London  friends ;  among  whom  Macaulay, 
then  resident  in  the  Temple,  had  energetically  exerted 
himself  in  marshalling  a  number  of  barristers9.  That  Sedg- 
wick would  be  among  the  promoters  of  these  tactics  might 
be  guessed  without  evidence;  but  a  contemporary  ballad 
supplies  distinct  proof  of  his  activity : 

Oh  Sedgwick,  Oh  Peacock,  Oh  Whewell,  Oh  Romilly, 

I'll  preach  you  a  ballad,  I'll  sing  you  a  homily; 

Come  hear  the  prophetical  words  of  a  Daniel, 

They  were  uttered  at  Clare,  they  were  heard  at  Emmanuel. 

When  devils  to  Cambridge  shall  Paddington  marry 
And  St  Pancras  shall  send  an  express  to  St  Mary, 
When  the  Bank  shall  go  down  with  four  horses  to  meet  her, 
Then  down  goes  St  Paul,  and  up  goes  St  Peter. 

The  cat's  in  the  larder,  the  wolfs  in  the  fold, 
The  rat's  in  the  garner,  the  thief s  at  the  gold; 
Oh  Journal,  and  Standard,  and  John  Bull,  and  Age, 
The  lawyers  are  come  in  the  Paddington  stage. 

Come  down  to  the  Senate,  come  up  to  the  vote, 

From  fen,  and  from  dyke,  and  from  ditch,  and  from  moat; 

Come  darker  and  blacker,  and  thicker  and  faster, 

Come  web-footed  parson,  come  well-landed  master. 

1  Cooper's  Annals  ^  iv.  559.  The  Grace  was  offered  to  the  Senate  1 1  February, 
1849. 

*  Trevelyan's  Life  of  Lord  Macaulay,  ed.  1881,  p.  106. 


CATHOLIC  EMANCIPATION.  337 

Oh !  were  there  no  powers  to  check  the  Iscariots,  1829. 

To  hamstring  their  horses,  to  shatter  their  chariots  ?  j£U  ^ 

There  sprung  not  a  spring,  and  there  split  not  a  spoke, 
Though  the  Journal  protested  the  compact  was  broke. 

All  Cambridge  crowds  round  them,  both  gentle  and  simple: 
"Now  are  ye  for  Church,  Sirs,  or  are  ye  from  Temple? 
What  sort  of  beast  are  ye,  or  what  kind  of  vermin? 
Is  it  wig,  is  it  mitre,  is  it  lawn,  is  it  ermine?" 

"We  come  not  for  Church,  and  we  come  not  for  stall, 
But  we  come  for  a  dinner  in  Trinity  hall; 
We  come  not  for  King,  if  your  commons  you'll  dish  up, 
We  come  not  for  Church,  but  we'll  thank  you  for  Bishop." 

This  victory  in  the  restricted  arena  of  the  Senate  House 
proved  only  a  foretaste  of  the  pleasure  which  those  who 
sympathised  with  the  Catholics  had  in  store  for  them.  In  the 
following  month  the  House  of  Commons  accepted  Catholic 
Emancipation  by  large  majorities  at  each  stage  of  the  mea- 
sure ;  nor  did  the  Lords  offer  any  serious  opposition.  Sedg- 
wick was  present  when  the  Duke  of  Wellington  introduced 
the  second  reading  in  a  speech  which  has  become  historical1 ; 
and  listened  with  natural  enthusiasm  to  the  brilliant  debate 
that  followed.  "  I  have  hardly  yet  come  to  my  sober  senses," 
he  wrote  on  his  return  to  Cambridge,  "after  the  stimulus  of 
my  last  visit  to  London.  Lord  Grey's  speech  seems  still  to 
be  ringing  in  my  ears8."  Sedgwick's  convictions,  one  would 
have  thought,  hardly  needed  stimulating ;  but,  possibly,  the 
general  acceptance  of  principles  which  had  hitherto  been 
held  by  a  minority  may  have  urged  him  to  advocate  with 
even  greater  earnestness  than  heretofore  the  removal  of 
similar  restrictions  at  Cambridge.  At  any  rate  we  shall 
find  him,  a  few  years  later,  taking  a  prominent  part  in  the 
great  controversy  respecting  the  admission  of  persons  to 
degrees  without  regard  to  their  religious  opinions. 

On  February  20,  1829,  Sedgwick  was  formally  installed 
President  of  the   Geological    Society.     At   the   anniversary 

1  To  Mrs  Norton,  5  September,  1863. 

2  To  R.  I.  Murchison,  April,  1839. 

S.  I.  22 


338  PRESIDENT  OF  GEOLOGICAL  SOCIETY. 

1829.  dinner,  which  then,  as  now,  succeeded  the  general  meeting, 
iEt.44.  there  was  a  full  attendance  of  members,  and  the  new 
President,  according  to  Lyell,  who  was  present,  "quite 
astonished  them.  Among  innumerable  good  hits,  when  pro- 
posing the  toast  of  the  Astronomical  Society,  and  Herschel, 
their  President,  then  about  to  be  married,  he  said :  *  May  the 
house  of  Herschel  be  perpetuated,  and  like  the  Cassinis,  be 
illustrious  astronomers  for  three  generations.  May  all  the 
constellations  wait  upon  him;  may  Virgo  go  before,  and 
Gemini  follow  after1.'" 

How  singularly  pleasant  the  meetings  of  the  Geological 
Society  must  have  been  when  it  was  still  a  coterie  of  brilliant, 
enthusiastic  men,  who  knew  each  other  intimately ;  and  how 
mortifying  it  is  that  we  should  have  to  be  content  with  far-off 
glimpses,  and  faint  echoes  of  what  they  said  and  did  !  Would 
that  we  could  recall,  not  merely  Sedgwick's  post-prandial  fun, 
but  his  mode  of  delivering  one  of  his  scientific  papers,  or  of 
handling  the  discussion  which  it  was  sure  to  elicit.  Mr  Geikie 
tells  us  that  "by  a  few  broad  lines"  he  could  "convey  even  to 
non-scientific  hearers,  a  vivid  notion  of  the  geology  of  a  wide 
region,  or  of  a  great  geological  formation.  Embalmed  in  the 
Society's  Transactions,  the  paper,  as  we  read  it  now,  bears 
about  as  much  resemblance  to  what  it  must  have  been  to 
those  who  heard  it,  as  the  dried  leaves  in  a  herbarium  do  to 
the  plant  which  tossed  its  blossoms  in  the  mountain-wind. 
Brimful  of  humour,  and  bristling  with  apposite  anecdote,  he 
could  so  place  a  dry  scientific  fact  as  to  photograph  it  on  the 
memory,  while  at  the  same  time  he  linked  it  with  something 
droll,  or  fanciful,  or  tender,  so  that  it  seemed,  ever  after,  to 
wear  a  kind  of  human  significance.  No  keener  eye  than  his 
ever  ranged  over  the  rocks  of  England;  and  yet,  while  noting 
each  feature  of  their  structure  or  scenery,  he  delighted  to  carry 

1  Life  of  Sir  C.  Lyell,  8vo.  Lond.  1881,  i.  251.  There  were  four  Cassinis,  not 
three,  who  were  successively  Astronomers  Royal  at  Paris.  The  last,  John  Dominic 
Cassini,  succeeded  his  father  in  1784.  Sedgwick  had  probably  met  him  in  Paris 
in  1816. 


DIVINITY  ACT.  339 


through  his  geological  work  an  endless  thread  of  fun  and     1839. 
wit1."  *L  44- 

While  Sedgwick  was  President  he  did  his  best  to  attend 
the  meetings  of  the  Society  with  regularity,  but,  as  he  said 
when  his  two  years  of  office  were  over,  his  had  been  "an 
interrupted  service."  The  next  letter  enumerates  the  inter- 
ruptions in  a  single  month,  April,  1829 : 

"  My  hands  at  present  are  sufficiently  tied.  I  am  in  the 
first  place  reading  the  Fathers  and  School  Divines  by  way  of 
preparation  for  my  Divinity  Act,  which  I  must  keep  on  the 
30th  of  this  month.  In  the  meantime  I  have  a  rascally 
examination  to  superintend  which  will  nail  me  down  for  a 
whole  week".  Lastly,  we  shall  soon  have  a  contested  election, 
and  they  have  already  requested  me  to  become  chairman  of 
the  Committee  which  will  sit  at  Cambridge.  I  shall  not 
refuse  if  they  come  to  the  scratch,  tho'  it  will  be  a  tiresome 
business.  It  is  a  strange  thing  that  good  Christians  can't 
keep  out  of  troubled  water1." 

At  that  time  Divinity  Acts  were  held  every  fortnight 
during  Term.  Every  Master  of  Arts  of  four  years  standing 
complete  was  obliged,  under  rather  severe  penalties,  to  be 
a  Respondent,  that  is,  to  maintain  a  thesis  against  three 
Opponents.  The  proceedings  were  similar  to  those  which 
preceded  the  Bachelor  of  Arts  Degree,  and  therefore  need  no 
further  explanation.  If  the  regular  days  appointed  for  the 
keeping  of  Acts  happened  to  be  all  engaged,  a  private  Act 
was  allowed,  at  which  some  Doctor  in  Divinity,  other  than 
the  Regius  Professor,  might  preside.  A  letter  to  Mill  shows 
that  Sedgwick  had  adopted  the  latter  course. 

Trin.  Coll.  April  15,  1829. 

"  I  expected  from  what  you  said,  when  we  last  met  in 
the  Athenaeum,  that  you  would  have  been  in  Cambridge 

1  Life  of Murchison,  i.  pp.  138,  195. 

2  The  scholarship  examination  at  Trinity  College. 

8  To  R.  I.  Murchison,  without  date,  but  endorsed  by  him  "April,  1819." 

22 — 2 


340  FOREIGN  TOUR   WITH  MURCHISON. 

1829.     before  this.     My  Act  comes  on  on  the  30th  of  this  month. 
^.  44.    if  yOU  cannot  conveniently  preside,  Dr  Lamb1  has  under- 
taken to  perform  the  task  for  me.     Pray  write  to  tell  me 
what  you  intend  to  do.     My  questions  are : 

1.  The  Divinity  of  Christ. 

2.  A  denial  of  the  Millennium  ;  perhaps  in  the  words  of 
our  expunged  Article. 

By  opposing  me,  and  pronouncing  a  determination,  you 
will  get  over  two  of  your  exercises,  which  will  be  some 
advantage.  In  regard  to  arguments,  you  may  bring  as  many 
or  as  few  as  you  please.  In  case  of  a  private  Act  it  is  not 
however  customary  to  bring  many. 

Pray  let  me  hear  what  is  your  final  determination.  If  you 
can't  come  I  must  settle  with  Dr  Lamb.  Though  I  have  not 
the  honor  of  knowing  her,  I  hope  Mrs  Mill  will  accept  my 
kindest  wishes." 

Murchison  had  found  his  foreign  tour  of  the  previous  year 
so  instructive,  that  before  he  had  been  many  weeks  abroad 
he  had  urged  Sedgwick  to  come  and  do  likewise.  Writing 
from  Nice,  he  describes  what  he  had  seen,  and  adds : 

We  left  various  things  undone,  consoling  ourselves  with  the 
parting  reflection  that  such  a  case  was  to  be  worked  out  by  Sedgwick 
next  year.  And  here  let  me,  by  way  of  parenthesis,  invoke  the 
philosophical  spirit  of  inquiry  which  prevails  at  Cambridge,  and  urge 
you,  who  are  really  almost  our  only  mathematical  champion,  not  to 
let  another  year  elapse  without  endeavouring  to  add  to  the  stock  of 
your  British  Geology  some  of  the  continental  materials.  Pray  do  it 
before  you  many  and  settle  for  life;  pray  even  do  it  before  you 
bring  forth  that  long-expected  second  volume  on  the  Geology  of 
England  and  Wales*.  Your  comparisons  will  then  have  a  strength 
and  freshness  which  will  quite  electrify  us1. 

These  arguments,  enforced  by  conversation  after  his 
return,  had  convinced  Sedgwick,  and  he  agreed  to  accom- 
pany Murchison  on  a  second  journey,  so  soon  as  he  could 

1  John  Lamb,  D.  D.  Master  of  Corpus  Christi  College. 

*  The  work  which  Sedgwick  and  Conybeare  were  supposed  to  be  writing 
together.    See  above,  p.  334. 

'  Murchison  to  Sedgwick,  18  August,  1828. 


CONTESTED   UNIVERSITY  ELECTION  341 

get  away.  They  were  to  leave  England  towards  the  middle  1829. 
or  end  of  June,  and  explore  the  northern  flanks  of  the  Alps,  &u  44- 
with  the  central  parts  of  Germany,  Bohemia,  and  Saxony — 
"a  glorious  field  for  a  knight  of  the  hammerV,  Meanwhile, 
Sedgwick  had  plenty  of  work  to  do  in  presiding  over  the 
Geological  Society,  and  in  putting  the  final  touches  to  the 
three  papers  read  the  previous  year — "the  rasping  and 
trimming  of  which,  before  they  were  finally  delivered  over 
to  the  devils,  was  no  small  labour*."  But  other  matters  were 
soon  to  interfere  with  his  preparations  for  his  journey.  Be- 
fore May  was  over  Sir  N.  C.  Tindal,  one  of  the  University 
representatives  in  Parliament,  was  made  Chief  Justice  of  the 
Court  of  Common  Pleas,  and  his  seat  had  of  course  to  be 
filled  without  delay.  No  burning  question  was  agitating  the 
country,  and  it  was  hoped  that  some  distinguished  person 
might  be  found,  who  would  satisfy  both  parties,  and  a  contest 
be  thus  avoided.  This  hope  proved  delusive.  Two  candi-  ' 
dates  appeared  in  the  field  on  the  same  day:  Mr  E.  H. 
Alderson,  of  Gonville  and  Caius  College;  and  Mr  George 
Bankes,  of  Trinity  Hall1.  Alderson  had  been  senior  wrangler, 
first  Smith's  prizeman,  and  senior  Chancellors  medallist  in 
1809;  Bankes  had  taken  an  ordinary  law  degree  in  1825. 
Alderson,  moreover,  besides  his  brilliant  degree,  could  show 
a  distinguished  career  at  the  bar.  Bankes  had  had  some 
parliamentary  experience  as  member  for  the  family  borough 
of  Corfe  Castle,  and  had  filled  a  subordinate  post  in  the 
government  of  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  which  he  had  re- 
signed when  Catholic  Emancipation  became  a  government 
measure.  After  that  measure  had  been  passed,  however,  he 
had  resumed  his  place — a  step  which  said  but  little  for  his 
consistency.  Meanwhile  a  feeling  had  gradually  spread 
through  the  University,  that  it  would  be  well  to  elect  Mr 
Cavendish — now    our    honoured    Chancellor — who    in    the 

1  To  Rev.  W.  Ainger,  4  June,  1829. 

*  To  the  same,  20  May,  1829. 

3  Their  circulars  are  dated  29  May,  1829. 


342  MR  CAVENDISH  BROUGHT  FORWARD. 

1819.  previous  January  had  been  second  wrangler  and  first  Smith's 
^Et.  44-  prizeman  ;  and  besides,  had  won  general  admiration  "  by  his 
superior  talents,  by  his  studious  and  reflective  habits,  and  by 
the  unimpeached  regularity  of  his  University  life1."  But  an 
unexpected  difficulty  presented  itself.  Mr  Cavendish,  though 
himself  willing  to  come  forward,  was  for  nearly  a  week  pre- 
vented from  entering  the  field  by  the  head  of  his  family, 
whose  objections  were  only  overruled  by  "  a  public  address, 
signed  by  many  distinguished  members  of  the  University." 
Mr  Alderson  then  retired  ;  and  a  canvass  commenced  for 
Mr  Cavendish  "unexampled  for  the  energy  and  heartiness 
of  those  who  were  engaged  in  it*."  That  he  was  supported 
by  the  liberal  party  cannot  be  denied.  The  chairman  of 
his  Cambridge  Committee  was  Dr  Lamb,  well-known  for 
his  liberal  opinions,  and  in  consequence  one  of  the  tory 
organs  nicknamed  him  "  Lamb's  adopted";  but,  on  the  other 
hand,  many  of  the  most  decided  tories  voted  for  him.  That 
Sedgwick  was  foremost  in  the  fight  will  readily  be  believed. 
He  "personally  worked  day  and  night  so  as  almost  to  destroy 
his  health1";  he  marshalled  the  supporters  who  could  be 
relied  on ;  he  stimulated  the  lukewarm ;  he  exposed  and 
controverted  the  tactics  of  the  other  side  with  a  headstrong 
energy  which  in  some  cases  lacked  discretion.  It  was  soon 
found  that  Mr  Bankes  had  obtained  numerous  pledges  of 
support  before  the  resignation  of  Sir  N.  C.  Tindal  had  been 
made  public;  and  moreover  the  whole  influence  of  the  govern- 
ment was  exerted  on  his  behalf.  "  Not  one  member  of  the 
Senate,"  we  are  told,  "who  was  placed  directly,  or  indirectly, 
within  a  minister's  influence,  escaped  an  official  canvass4." 
Not  only  did  his  brother,  once  member  for  the  University, 
write  to  his  former  supporters ;  but  Mr  Goulburn,  now  Chan- 

1  From  A  Utter  to  a  Member  of  the  Senate  of  the  University  of  Cambridge,  by 
Robert  Grant,  M.A.,  M.P.,  Fellow  of  Magdalene  College. 

*  These  quotations  are  from  an  article  in  The  Times,  19  June,  1829,  which  is 
known  to  have  been  written  by  Sedgwick. 

8  To  Dean  Monk,  1  November,  1829. 

4  The  Times,  ut  supra. 


LETTER   TO  MR  GOULBURN.  343 

cellor  of  the  Exchequer,  wrote  to  many  resident  members  of  ,8*9. 
the  Senate  on  his  behalf.  These  tactics  were  controverted  by  ^Et.  44* 
Sedgwick  in  a  letter  to  Goulburn  which  was  printed  and 
circulated  in  the  University.  It  is  signed  A  resident  member 
of  the  Senate,  but  there  could  never  have  been  any  doubt 
about  the  authorship.  It  was  evidently  written  under  the 
influence  of  strong  excitement,  and  had  it  been  merely  an 
ephemeral  composition  dashed  off  to  serve  the  purpose  of 
the  hour,  the  obvious  course  would  have  been  to  leave  it  in 
the  oblivion  into  which  it  has  long  since  fallen ;  but  it  is  so 
vigorously  written,  and  throws  so  much  light  on  the  Uni- 
versity politics  of  that  day,  that  it  has  been  decided,  after 
much  hesitation,  to  reproduce  it. 

To  tlie  Right  Honourable  Henry  Goulburn. 
Sir, 

I  expected  before  this  time  to  have  seen  you  at  Cambridge ; 
and  when  I  at  length  found  that  a  reluctance  to  meet  your  old 
partisans,  or  some  other  motive  well  understood  by  yourself, 
prevented  you  from  again  being  a  candidate  for  the  vacant  seat 
in  the  University,  I  took  for  granted  that  you  would  at  least  know 
what  was  due  to  your  former  supporters,  and  that  you  would  preserve 
a  dignified  neutrality.  In  this  expectation  I  have  been  disappointed. 
You  have  condescended  to  become  the  bustling  advocate  of  Mr  G. 
Bankes ;  and  in  a  position  so  unnatural,  the  result  has  been  what 
you  ought  to  have  anticipated.  Your  letters  from  Downing-street  to 
certain  resident  members  of  the  Senate,  have  done  no  good  to  the 
cause  of  which  you  have  so  unexpectedly  become  the  advocate,  and 
have  been  received  only  with  expressions  of  contempt  and  resent- 
ment. Your  personal  elevation  prevents  you  from  hearing  at  all 
times  the  language  of  truth ;  but  it  is  well  that  it  should  sometimes 
be  spoken,  and  so  loudly  too,  that  even  those  who  sit  in  high  places 
should  not  find  themselves  exalted  above  its  influence.  I  beg  leave, 
Sir,  to  remind  you  that  you  have  twice  been  a  candidate  for  the 
representation  of  our  University, — that  you  stood  forward  as  the 
champion  of  the  Protestant  ascendancy, — and  that  you  received  on 
that  ground  the  support  of  many  high-minded  and  honourable  men. 
There  is  a  vulgar  proverb  of  very  obvious  application,  which  may, 
perhaps,  explain  the  rancorous  bitterness  which  existed  between 
some  of  your  friends  and  the  party  which  supported  Mr  W.  Bankes. 
Your  person  and  your  conduct  were  assailed  by  that  party  with 
long-sustained  invectives,  conveyed  in  language  such  as  English 
gentlemen  are  not  often  in  the  habit  of  giving  or  of  receiving.  You 
received  these  assaults  with  exemplary  calmness,  and  endured  them 


344  LETTER   TO  MR  GO  U LB  URN. 

1829.  with  a  patience  which  was  the  admiration  of  your  friends,  and  was 
Mu  44.  worthy  of  the  high  religious  ground  which  you  had  then  taken.  I 
may,  however,  remind  you,  that  although  our  religion  commands  us 
to  forgive  our  enemies,  it  never  enjoins  us  to  be  the  patrons  of  those 
by  whom  we  have  been  vilified,  or  the  champions  of  those  whose 
principles  are  in  open  hostility  with  our  own.  Mr  W.  Bankes  is  not, 
indeed,  in  the  field ;  but  his  brother  professes  (how  consistently  is 
not  now  the  question)  to  be  the  representative  of  the  same  party, 
and  of  the  same  opinions,  and  on  this  ground  alone  comes  forward 
to  ask  for  our  support. 

During  the  last  session  of  Parliament  your  opinions  underwent 
one  of  those  sudden  revolutions  which,  whether  they  happen  in  the 
physical  or  the  moral  world,  astonish  and  confound  us.  I  was  not 
among  the  number  of  those  who  made  an  unfavourable  analysis  of 
your  motives.  I  believe  you,  and  I  still  wish  to  believe  you,  sincere. 
If  you  were  not  sincere  in  the  line  of  conduct  which  you  have 
recently  adopted  during  the  agitation  of  one  of  the  gravest  questions 
which  ever  came  before  Parliament,  you  must  be  content  to  find 
your  name  written  in  the  list  of  those  men  who  barter  themselves 
and  their  faculties  for  office  and  emolument,  and  who  hold  to  no 
principle  with  a  grasp  which  does  not  relax  at  the  approach  of  a 
vulgar  temptation.  Of  this  baseness  I  dare  not  and  I  cannot 
accuse  you ;  but  if  you  escape  from  this  imputation,  I  would  tell 
you,  in  the  language  of  our  schools,  that  you  are  still  on  the  horns 
of  a  dilemma ;  and  I  would  ask  you,  in  the  name  of  the  Senate,  by 
what  new  metamorphosis  you  are  become  the  champion  of  Mr  G. 
Bankes,  whose  only  pretension, — I  repeat  it,  whose  only  pretension 
is,  that  he  opposed  you  and  your  colleagues  on  that  great  question 
to  which  I  have  alluded,  and  who,  had  he  succeeded,  would  have 
contributed  to  thrust  you  out  from  that  office  which  you  now  fill 
through  the  kindness  of  your  Sovereign.  If  you  were  in  the  right, 
Mr  Bankes  was  in  the  wrong ;  and  for  this  wrong  he  is  to  have  your 
support,  and  appear  among  us  backed  and  recommended  by  your 
autographs  from  Downing-street.  But  Mr  G.  Bankes  has  returned 
to  the  party  which  he  once  vilified  and  opposed,  and  he  must  be 
treated  with  the  afFection  of  a  brother,  because  he  also  now  wears 
the  semblance  of  an  apostate.  Whether  I  am  right  in  this  conjecture 
I  know  not ;  but  I  do  know  that  the  members  of  the  Senate  are 
justly  indignant  at  any  direct  interference  with  the  freedom  of  their 
elections;  that  they  believe  themselves  to  be  the  proper  judges  of 
who  is  the  best  person  to  represent  them,  and  that  they  are  not  yet 
reduced  so  low  as  to  supplicate  at  a  Government  office  for  the 
nomination  of  a  candidate. 

In  what  you  have  done,  you  have  not  appreciated  our  character 
or  our  sentiments.  The  resident  members  of  the  Senate,  by  their 
votes  on  a  late  occasion,  did  good  service  to  the  Government ;  and 
by  way  of  return  for  this,  you  now  endeavour  to  force  upon  us  a 
representative  who  does  not  himself  stand  upon  the  high  ground  of 
political  consistency, — who  is  almost  unknown  to  us, — who  is  not  a 


LETTER  TO  MR  GO  U LB  URN.  345 

member  of  our  Senate,— who  is  decorated  with  no  academic  honours,  1819. 
— whose  name  is  associated  with  no  pleasant  recollections, — and  j^x.  44. 
who,  by  his  only  public  acts  connected  with  our  body,  encouraged 
and  vindicated  a  combination  of  the  Undergraduates,  avowedly 
made  in  a  violation  of  all  discipline,  and  in  contradiction  to  our 
existing  authorities1.  I  do  not  wish  to  speak  harshly  of  Mr  G. 
Bankes,  because  I  think  that  he  does  not  deserve  it :  but  I  am  bold 
to  say  that  he  comes  forward  with  no  high  pretensions,  and  that  he 
has  done  nothing  to  entitle  him  to  the  honour  of  being  thrust  upon 
us  by  all  the  forcing  power  of  Government  influence.  If  he  consults 
his  own  honour  and  the  dignity  of  the  University,  he  will  imme- 
diately withdraw :  and  you,  Sir,  if  you  have  any  regard  for  your  own 
consistency,  and  the  good  opinion  of  those  distinguished  and  honour- 
able men  by  whom  you  were  once  supported,  ought  to  be  among  the 
very  first  to  recommend  this  measure  to  him. 

Mr  Cavendish  is  this  moment  arrived  amongst  us.  He  is  urged 
forward  by  no  party  and  no  faction.  He  was  put  in  nomination 
(without  his  own  knowledge  or  participation,  and  against  the  wishes 
of  the  highest  members  of  his  family)  by  many  distinguished  resident 
members  of  the  Senate,  who,  however  they  may  differ  on  other 
questions,  think  it  for  the  honour  of  our  establishment  that  on  this 
they  should  be  united.  They  come  forward  to  support  Mr  Cavendish 
because  he  is  a  young  man  of  modest  and  amiable  temper,  and  of 
unsullied  life, — because,  during  the  years  he  lived  among  us,  he 
conformed  himself  in  the  purest  and  highest  sense  to  the  true  spirit 
of  our  institutions, — because  he  has  proved,  by  his  academic  dis- 
tinctions in  literature  and  in  science,  that  he  possesses  talents  of  no 
ordinary  kind,  and  habits  of  application  which  even  in  early  life 
have  resisted  extraordinary  temptations.  I  have  now  lived  more 
than  twenty  years  in  the  University.  I  can  assert  without  the  risk 
of  contradiction,  that  during  this  long  lapse  of  time,  no  young 
nobleman  has  appeared  amongst  us  who  could  have  been  brought 
before  the  Senate  with  such  high  and  unsullied  pretensions.  If, 
from  his  youth,  he  has  been  hitherto  prevented  from  exhibiting  his 
powers  as  a  senator,  at  least  he  has  been  saved  from  error  during 
times  of  no  ordinary  difficulty,  and  comes  before  us  without  any 
tarnish  of  inconsistency.  He  has  reaped  his  first  laurels  amongst 
us ;  they  sit  fresh  upon  him,  and  they  will  wear  well,  and  they  will 
for  ever  be  associated  with  the  ardent  recollections  of  early  life. 
Under  these  circumstances,  we  may  safely  count  upon  his  lasting 
attachment  to  us  and  to  our  venerable  institutions,  and  upon  that 
consistent  and  dignified  exercise  of  his  great  talents  which  will  be  for 
his  honour  and  for  our  own. 

With  such  qualities,  I  cannot  for  an  instant  doubt  the  success  of 
Mr  Cavendish.     All  the  high  aristocracy,  belong  to  what  party  they 

1  Mr  George  Bankes  presented  to  the  House  of  Commons,  23  March,  1829,  a 
petition  signed  by  about  600  Bachelors  and  Undergraduates,  against  any  further 
concessions  to  the  Roman  Catholics.     Cooper's  Annalst  iv.  560. 


346  CANVASS  FOR  MR  CAVENDISH. 

18^9.      may,  are  interested  in  his  success :    for  he  stands  forward  as  the 

JEx.  44.    representative  and  the  ornament  of  their  order,  and  has  assisted  to 

keep  alive  in  a  great  public  body  that  constitutional  respect  for 

dignity  and  for  rank,  in  the  absence  of  which  the  highest  privileges 

would  lose  all  their  grace  and  much  of  their  importance. 

I  cannot  believe  that  the  illustrious  individual  who  is  now  at  the 
head  of  administration  can  have  given  his  sanction  to  a  canvass  from 
the  Treasury,  which  is  so  plainly  against  the  best  interests  of  his 
own  order.  Be  this  as  it  may,  the  University  of  Cambridge  can  and 
will  judge  for  themselves;  and  are,  notwithstanding  your  humble 
opinion  of  them,  placed  far  above  the  reach  of  improper  influence, 
however  high  the  quarter  from  which  it  may  descend. 

I  have  now  performed  the  task  I  have  undertaken.  I  could 
have  wished  to  have  had  more  time  for  its  performance,  but  I  hope 
I  have  made  myself  understood.  I  believe  I  have  fairly  represented 
the  motives  of  a  great  body  of  the  Senate,  and  the  feelings  which 
your  unexpected  canvass  has  excited.  I  therefore  leave  this  homely 
expression  of  truth  to  its  proper  influence ;  and,  notwithstanding  the 
strange  revolutions  I  have  witnessed  in  the  conduct  of  others,  I 
venture  still  to  subscribe  myself,  with  great  respect,  Sir, 

Your  most  obedient  and  humble  servant, 

A  Resident  Member  of  the  Senate. 

Cambridge,  June  3,  1829. 

A  few  extracts  from  letters  to  private  friends  show  better 
than  any  description  Sedgwick's  feverish  condition  during  the 
first  fortnight  of  June — divided  as  he  was  between  the  election, 
preparations  for  his  journey,  and  his  duty  to  the  Geological 
Society. 

To  R.  I.  Murchison,  Esq. 

Trin.  Coll.     Tuesday  Morning, 

2  June,  1829. 

"  We  are  up  to  the  ears  in  politics.  Bankes  has  started 
for  the  University,  and  we  have  pitted  Cavendish  against 
him.  I  hope  to  God  we  shall  succeed.  I  shall  take  care  to 
be  up  in  time  for  the  Council  on  Friday  ;  but  in  our  present 
disturbed  state  I  don't  know  that  I  can  be  with  you  sooner. 
I  am  sorry  for  it ;  as  I  should  have  rejoiced  to  meet  your 
party  of  Wednesday.  This  hurly  burly  at  this  time  is 
unfortunate,  but  I  can't  help  it.  Pray  can  you  do  us  any 
service?     If   you    know  any  voter,  or    any   one   who   can 


CANVASS  FOR  MR  CAVENDISH.  347 

influence  a  vote,  at  him  by  all  means.     Our  cause  is  good     1839. 
in  both  ways.     Cavendish  is  a  man  who  would  do  us  great    iEt*44- 
honor  —  Bankes   is   nobody,  and  wishes   to  ride  upon   the 
shoulders  of  the  ultras.    No  Popery  was  a  grand  stalking- 
horse  ;  but  I  hope  it  has  now  broken  its  knees,  and  will  not 
carry  weight." 

During  this  visit  to  London  Sedgwick  tried  to  secure  Mill, 
who  had  returned  from  India  for  a  short  holiday,  and  was 
staying  at  an  hotel.  Mill  was  out  when  he  called,  but  he  intro- 
duced himself  to  Mrs  Mill,  and  left  with  her  the  following  note, 
endorsed,  "  From  Adam  Sedgwick,  Professor,  canvassing  for 
Cavendish.  Written  with  his  heart's  blood."  The  pollbook 
shows  that  the  appeal  was  successful. 

Geological  Society. 
Dear  Mill, 

By  your  love  of  virtue — of  Trinity  College — and  of 
literature,  and  of  science,  come  and  vote  for  Cavendish.  He 
has  committed  no  political  sin.  If  this  will  not  do — by  your 
friendship  for  myself  and  for  the  other  residents  who  were 
the  academic  companions  of  your  early  life,  do  not  vote 
against  him.  I  wish  I  had  time  to  see  you,  but  I  am 
engaged  here  from  three  till  half-past  eleven. 

Yours  ever, 

A.  Sedgwick. 

To  Rev.    William  Ainger. 

Trin.  Coll.,  June  4,  1829. 

"  I  dare  not  canvass  you  for  Cavendish,  because  I  know 
that  you  see  things  with  eyes  so  different  from  mine  that  we 
hardly  on  some  matters  can  find  a  starting-point  from  which 
we  may  begin  an  argument.  He  is  one  of  the  most  amiable 
and  accomplished  young  noblemen  whom  we  have  had  among 
us  in  this  last  century,  and  has  been  started  by  men  of  all 
parties,  purely  on  his  personal  merits.  I  dare  say  you  don't 
like  his  name,  and  think  it  sounds  Whiggish.     Bankes  has  no 


348  CANVASS  FOR  MR  CAVENDISH. 

18*9.  merit  that  I  know  of  except  that  he  pretended  to  go  out  on 
&u  44-  the  Catholic  question.  It  was  all  mockery,  he  never  was  out 
or  he  would  not  now  be  in.  The  cast-off  rags  of  No  Popery 
won't  cover  his  nakedness.  But  enough  of  this.  If  Cavendish 
come  in  the  University  will  have  an  honourable  rest  All  I 
ask  is  that  you  do  not  come  against  us/' 

To  R.  L  Murchison,  Esq. 

Committee  Room,  June  11. 

"I  have  not  one  thought,  word,  or  deed,  except  for 
Cavendish.  Pray  do  what  you  can  in  the  way  of  preparation 
for  our  tour.  The  election  ends  on  Thursday  week.  On 
Friday  morning  following  I  shall  come  up  to  Town  to  attend 
the  meeting  of  the  Geological  Society.  But  I  fear  it  will  be 
impossible  for  me  to  be  ready  by  the  Wednesday  following. 
By  Saturday  I  should  be  able  to  start.  Coddington1  means 
to  accompany  us  up  the  Rhine.  His  German  will  be  of 
great  use  to  us.  I  don't  think  he  will  go  very  far.  Whewell 
will  if  possible  join  us  in  the  Thuringerwald.  Excuse  this 
hurry." 

To  the  same. 

Cambridge,  15  Jun*%  1829. 

"  Good  God !  you  will  have  to  do  everything  for  me.  To 
start  at  six  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  Friday,  immediately 
after  the  election,  and  to  be  off  on  Wednesday !  But  I  will 
do  my  best.  Pray  look  out  some  papers  for  me  to  read,  e.g. 
Bout's  &c. ;  enquire  about  maps,  and  other  geological  neces- 
saries. If  these  be  in  readiness,  I  hope  I  may  be  ready 
myself  by  Wednesday.  How  abominably  unprepared  I  shall 
be.  My  mind  will  be  like  white  paper — ready  for  any  im- 
pressions. Be  it  so.  The  election  is  horribly  inconvenient. 
I  am  sitting  on  the  edge  of  a  razor.  At  8  o'clock  tomorrow 
we  start     Both  sides  are  confident." 

The  Poll  closed  on  Thursday,  18  June,  when  Mr  Cavendish 
was  elected  by  609  votes  to  462 — a  majority  of  137.     When 

1  Rev.  Henry  Coddington,  M.A.,  Fellow  of  Trinity  College. 


CONTINENTAL   TOUR.  349 

the  result  was  declared  an  undergraduate  in  the  gallery  shouted :     1839. 
u  Farewell,  a  long  farewell  to  all — the  Bankeses ! "    The  day    iEt*  44* 
ended,  according  to  Mr  Romilly,  with  "  a  huge  dinner  "  in  the 
Hall  of  Trinity  College,  at  which  Sedgwick  "  spoke  finely." 

The  next  morning  Sedgwick  was  off  to  London,  hurried 
through  his  preparations,  and  started  with  Murchison  for  the 
continent  on  the  appointed  day.  The  route  followed  up  to  the 
middle  of  September  is  described  in  the  next  letter1. 

Gmunden  near  Salzburg,  September  14,  1829. 

My  dear  Ainger, 

I  have  for  some  hours  been  twirling  my  thumbs  and 
watching  the  weather ;  but  there  is  no  longer  a  gleam  of 
hope.  The  spirits,  under  such  circumstances,  undergo  a 
kind  of  recoil.  When  a  man  cannot  move  his  body  forward, 
he  casts  his  thoughts  backward,  and  thinks  of  those  who  are 
behind  him.  If  this  letter  deserves  thanks,  you  must  thank 
the  weather  and  not  me.  In  some  respects  I  am  still  to  be 
envied.  While  I  wield  a  pen  in  my  right  hand,  I  hold  a 
German  pipe  in  my  left,  and  the  images  of  past  scenes  are 
floating  before  my  mind's  eye  among  the  fumes  of  Hungarian 
tobacco.  If  the  elements  were  less  turbid,  I  should  have 
before  me  one  of  the  most  lovely  lakes  in  the  world,  backed 
by  peaks  of  the  Saltzburg  Alps.  I  am  too  much  a  man  of 
business  to  write  much ;  but  I  always  intended  to  send  you 
one  sheet  full  of  such  matter  as  I  could  scrape  together.  So 
here  I  take  up  my  parable. 

I  left  England  on  June  24th,  steamed  to  Rotterdam,  and 
after  a  delay  of  a  few  hours  not  ill  employed  in  that  truly 
Dutch  city,  continued  my  journey  up  the  Rhine,  by  the  same 
conveyance,  to  Bonn.  There  we  halted,  and  took  in  a  quantity 
of  geological  ballast  from  sundry  German  Professors.  We 
again  embarked,  and  landed  at  Andernach ;  and  made  an 
excursion  on  foot  up  the  country  to  visit  some  very  interesting 

1  Our  account  of  this  tour  should  be  compared  with  that  in  Geikie's  Life  of 
Murchison,  i.  157 — 162. 


35©  NORTH  GERMANY. 

18*9.  extinct  volcanoes.  We  traced  lava-currents  to  their  craters, 
^t-  44«  and  travelled  for  miles  upon  pumice,  scoria,  and  ashes.  I  was 
bewildered  and  confounded  at  the  sight,  for  these  fires  have 
never  smoked  within  the  records  of  mankind.  We  then 
travelled  along  the  lovely  banks  of  the  Rhine  to  Maintz,  and 
crossed  to  Frankfort,  where  Murchison  and  myself  purchased 
a  carriage ;  and  since  that  time  we  have  been  travelling  by 
post,  always  excepting  excursions  over  hill  and  dale,  above 
ground  and  under,  in  places  where  horses  have  never  trodden. 
Our  first  excursion  was  to  Cassel,  a  beautiful  capital ;  from 
thence  we  walked  over  some  of  the  Hessian  mountains,  and 
met  our  carriage  on  the  south  edge  of  the  kingdom  of 
Hanover.  We  halted  one  day  at  Gottingen,  and  were  above 
all  measure  delighted  with  old  Professor  Blumenbach.  Thence 
we  posted  to  the  Hartz  mountains.  They  detained  us  some 
days;  but  I  will  not  torment  you  with  geology.  We  then 
posted  to  Eisleben,  famous  for  fossil  fish  and  copper,  and 
after  angling,  or  more  properly  haggling,  for  these  fish,  we 
went  to  Halle,  and  again  rested  one  day,  and  smoked  with 
German  Professors.  From  Halle  we  posted  across  the  sandy 
plains  of  Prussia  to  Berlin.  It  is  a  fine  modern  capital,  but 
is  devoid  of  any  venerable  monument  of  former  times ;  and, 
after  the  first  flash  which  astonishes  you,  ceases  to  give  any 
pleasure.  We  found  some  very  well-informed  persons  there, 
who  gave  us  the  kind  of  information  we  wanted,  and  after  a 
halt  of  four  days  we  started  for  Saxony.  I  do  wish  that  I  could 
take  you  by  the  skirts  of  your  coat  and  place  you  upon  the 
Bastei,  a  perpendicular  rock  on  the  banks  of  the  Elbe,  and  I 
would  show  you  one  of  the  finest  views  in  the  world.  From 
thence  we  would  walk  over  the  field  of  battle,  pause  at  the 
spot  where  Moreau  fell  (marked  now  by  a  small  granite 
pillar)1;  thence  we  would  track  our  way  through  the  defiles 
of  the  Bohemian  mountains;  sleep  at  a  small  inn  close  by 

1  Moreau,  the  celebrated  French  republican  general  who  joined  the  Allies  after 
Napoleon's  defeat  in  Russia,  was  fatally  wounded  at  the  battle  of  Dresden, 
a  7  August,  181 3. 


VIENNA.     THE  ARCHDUKE  JOHN  351 

Culm,  where  Vandamme  was  defeated1 ;  and  next  day  we  18*9. 
would  visit  Toplitz,  a  broiling  hot  city  where  the  streets  ^^44- 
during  the  season  are  filled  with  German  Barons  and  Counts, 
Bohemian  and  Polish  princes,  and  where  you  might  walk  in 
the  public  rooms  cheek  by  jowl  with  the  King  of  Prussia. 
All  this  I  cannot  do ;  I  must  therefore  be  content  to  tell  you 
that  this  was  my  track :  that  from  Toplitz  I  went  to  Prague, 
one  of  the  most  magnificent  cities  I  ever  beheld ;  and  from 
thence  posted  through  southern  Bohemia  and  Moravia,  a 
dull  and  dismal  long  journey,  to  Vienna.  We  were  rather 
unfortunate,  as  the  most  eminent  men  of  science,  at  least  in 
our  way,  were  gone  out  of  the  city.  A  few  Professors  were, 
however,  left ;  and  our  ambassador  very  politely  invited  us 
to  his  country-house,  and  we  spent  a  delightful  day  with  him. 
His  house  stands  upon  the  site  of  the  old  Turkish  camp 
occupied  during  the  siege  of  Vienna.  It  commands  a  view 
of  the  Danube,  the  fatal  plains  of  Aspern  and  Wagram,  the 
city,  the  Hungarian  mountains,  and  the  Styrian  precipices 
which  form  the  eastern  termination  of  the  Alpine  chain. 

On  leaving  Vienna  we  took  the  road  towards  Trieste, 
and,  after  crossing  a  corner  of  the  Alps,  descended  by  the 
banks  of  the  Mur,  and  spent  about  ten  days  in  lower  Styria. 
It  is  full  of  interest,  moral  and  physical;  a  most  lovely 
country  peopled  by  a  most  beautiful  race,  who  are  simple 
and  kind-hearted  beyond  anything  I  have  ever  seen.  We 
had  some  excellent  introductions,  and  saw  everything  we 
wanted,  with  one  exception.  We  had  letters  to  the  Emperor's 
brother,  the  Archduke  John,  the  Governor  of  Styria,  and  he 
was  unfortunately  absent.  He  is  one  of  the  most  extraordinary 
men  in  Europe;  accomplished  as  a  man  of  science,  kind- 
hearted,  liberal,  and  of  extraordinary  simplicity  of  manners. 
He  was  unfortunate  in  the  wars  against  Napoleon,  and, 
perhaps  in  some  disgust  with  a  court  life,  retired  to  his 
government ;  adopted  a  simple  style  of  living ;  visited  every 
corner  of  his  extensive  province,  and  almost  every  family, 

1  At  the  second  battle  near  Culm,  30  August,  18 13. 


352  TRIESTE. 


18^9.     often  travelling  on  foot  without  a  single  servant.     He  has 

-**•  44-    established  museums  and  scientific  institutions,  encouraged 

everything  good  and  liberal,  and  has  gained  such  influence 

that  in  case  of  need  he  could  raise  up  the  whole  population 

by  a  motion  of  his  finger. 

We  crossed  the  desolate  mountains  of  Carinthia,  and  at 
length  reached  their  southern  limit  and  found  ourselves  in 
one  moment  looking  over  the  blue  waters  of  the  Adriatic.  I 
dare  not  attempt  to  describe  my  sensations  when  the  rocky 
shores  of  Idria,  the  plains  of  Italy,  and  the  great  wall  of  the 
Alps  burst  upon  the  view ;  I  should  fly  into  heroics  which 
would  be  out  of  keeping  for  a  geologist  who  travels  with 
stones  in  his  pockets,  and  is  therefore  kept  from  soaring. 
We  spent  a  day  at  Trieste,  among  surly  English  captains, 
sleepy  Dutchmen,  and  Levant  merchants  in  oriental  dresses. 
We  crossed  the  sultry  plains  of  Italy  among  olive-groves  and 
vineyards,  and  then  plunged  into  the  defiles  of  the  Taglia- 
mento,  and,  after  wandering  several  days  among  the  southern 
flanks  of  the  Alps,  crossed  the  axis  of  the  chain  at  the  Tauern, 
a  pass  which  is  at  the  elevation  of  about  6500  feet  above  the 
level  of  the  sea.  We  then  descended  by  some  gorgeous 
defiles  to  Salzburg,  and  here  I  am,  as  I  before  said.  My 
pipe  is  out  and  my  eyes  are  nearly  out... 

I  am  now  going  to  zigzag  along  the  north  flank  of 
the  Alps,  and  sometime  in  October  hope  to  hammer  my 
way  to  Paris.  In  the  meantime  I  wish  you  a  very  good 
night  My  kind  regards  to  your  sister,  and  my  love  to  your 
children. 

Yours  most  affectionately, 

A.  Sedgwick. 

On  entering  the  Tyrol  from  Italy  they  fortunately  fell  in 
with  the  Archduke.  Already,  though  they  had  not  seen  him, 
they  had  profited  by  his  presence  in  the  country ;  for,  writes 
Sedgwick,  "wherever  we  went  in  the  valleys  of  Styria  with 


THE  ARCHDUKE  JOHN.  353 

our  hammers,  we  were  set  down  at  once  as  odd  fellows  who     1819. 
were  friends  of  the  Archduke  John1."  ■**•  44- 

"  We  first  saw  him  at  a  little  village  of  the  higher  Alps 
called  Bad  Gastein ;  and  in  five  minutes  found  ourselves  as 
much  at  home  with  him  as  if  we  had  known  him  twenty 
years.  He  had  received  the  letters  we  intended  to  have 
presented  to  him,  and  therefore  knew  our  objects  of  search 
and  who  we  were.  He  proposed  an  excursion  to  the  glacier 
and  waterfalls  [at  Nassfeld],  to  which  we  of  course  joyfully 
assented ;  and  added  most  courteously  that  it  would  give 
us  an  occasion  of  talking  of  many  things  by  the  way,  and 
this  would  be  the  only  opportunity,  as  the  day  following  he 
was  going  to  cross  the  great  chain  on  foot  to  visit  a  friend  in 
the  southern  Carinthian  Alps.  We  started  in  a  machine 
with  two  seats,  but  in  every  other  respects  like  a  Dent's 
shandery-dan;  and,  after  going  as  far  as  this  machine  would 
go,  we  scaled  the  precipices  on  foot,  and  traversed  one  of 
those  magnificent  amphitheatres  of  ice  and  snow  of  which 
no  written  language  can  convey  any  adequate  description. 
We  descended  in  the  evening  to  a  little  tidy  alehouse  [at  the 
village  of  Bockstein]  where  we  supped  upon  trout  and  bottled 
ale,  and  we  finally  tracked  our  way  by  the  light  of  a  lantern 
to  the  village  from  which  we  started. 

"  Everything  we  had  heard  of  this  excellent  man  was 
more  than  realised.  He  is  sensible,  liberal  to  a  degree  which 
offends  the  despotic  Emperor,  accomplished  as  a  man  of 
science,  of  most  amiable  temper,  and  wonderful  simplicity  of 
manners.  The  moment  the  girls  of  the  little  alehouse  knew 
who  he  was,  I  thought  they  would  have  gone  into  fits  through 
joy.  They  seized  his  hands,  kissed  them  a  hundred  times, 
and,  if  he  would  have  allowed  them,  would  have  gone  down 
on  their  knees  before  him.  He  talked  with  great  freedom  ; 
spoke  of  the  partition  of  Poland  as  an  iniquity  which 
he  feared  would  some  day  bring  down  a  great  national 
punishment,  and  frankly  pointed  out  many  existing  evils  in 

1  To  Rev.  John  Sedgwick,  10  August,  1829. 

s.  i.  23 


354  THE  ARCHDUKE  JOHN. 

1829.  the  system  of  government.  I  before  told  you  of  the  way 
^•44*  in  which  he  passes  his  time  among  the  people  whom  he 
governs.  Everybody  seems  happy  under  him,  and  all  insti- 
tutions flourish.  There  was  one  subject  on  which  I  dared 
not  speak  to  him,  and  that  was  religion.  He  is  a  catholic, 
and  assuredly  is  a  liberal  one.  Where  the  people  wanted 
ministers  and  chapels  he  has  built  them,  in  several  parts  of 
Styria.  All  this  is  right,  for  the  country  is  entirely  catholic ; 
but  about  matters  of  faith  he  did  not  seem  inclined  to  speak. 

"The  morning  after  our  excursion  I  called  on  him  just  as 
he  was  about  to  start.  He  was  dressed  in  worsted  stockings, 
hob-nailed  shoes,  and  jacket,  with  a  little  green  hat  and 
feather,  the  costume  of  Styria.  Three  men  in  a  kind  of 
uniform,  with  rifles,  followed  him,  for  the  purpose  of  shooting 
chamois,  wild-deer,  or  other  animals  they  might  meet  with. 
His  parting  was  like  the  rest  of  his  manner ;  simple,  kind- 
hearted,  and  unceremonious.  We  saw  him  start,  and  ascend 
towards  the  higher  Alps  on  foot1." 

The  travellers  next  made  a  rapid  exploration  of  the  Salz- 
kammergut,  with  which  Sedgwick  was  delighted.  "The 
whole  region,"  he  wrote,  "is  of  exquisite  beauty,  and  the 
inhabitants  have  the  same  honest,  simple,  kind-hearted 
character  which  I  praised  and  admired  so  much  among  the 
StyriansV  Letters  from  the  Archduke  gave  them  ready 
access  to  the  salt-mines ;  and  at  Berchtesgaden  they  came  in 
for  the  close  of  a  grand  hunting-party  given  by  the  King  of 
Bavaria  to  some  foreign  princes. 

1  To  Rev.  John  Sedgwick,  31  August,  1829.  The  Archduke  John  was  the 
sixth  son  (born  20  January,  1782)  of  the  Emperor  Leopold  II.  He  commanded 
the  Austrians  at  Hohenlinden,  where  he  was  defeated  by  Moreau  (3  December, 
1800),  and  his  subsequent  military  career  was  equally  unfortunate.  Throughout 
his  whole  life  he  took  great  interest  in  the  Tyrolese  and  Styrians.  The  former 
were  incited  by  him  to  the  unsuccessful  revolt  under  Hofer  (1809).  In  after-life 
he  resided  in  Styria,  chiefly  at  Gratz,  where  he  married  the  daughter  of  a  postmaster. 
He  had  no  official  post  in  Styria,  but  employed  himself,  as  Sedgwick  says,  in  the 
improvement  of  the  people.  In  1848  he  became  vicar-general  of  the  Empire,  an 
office  which  he  held  for  only  a  few  months.     He  died  in  1859. 

'  To  Rev.  John  Sedgwick,  26  September,  1829. 


ROYAL  SPORT  AT  BERCHTESGADEN.  355 

"The  sport  was  nearly  over  before  we  arrived,  but  we  saw  1819. 
the  company,  and  the  manner  of  the  chase,  which  was  all  we  ^t-  *4* 
wanted.  The  scene  altogether  reminded  me  of  some  of  Sir 
Walter  Scott's  finest  descriptions,  but  was  upon  a  scale  more 
grand  than  Scotland  could  ever  boast  of.  For  some  weeks 
before  the  visit  of  the  royal  party  many  hundred  persons  are 
employed  in  driving  the  deer,  chamois,  and  other  wild  animals 
into  a  particular  part  of  the  Bavarian  forests  just  under  the 
snowy  Alps.  They  form  two  great  lines  on  the  opposite 
extremes  of  the  great  forests,  at  the  distance  of  twenty  or 
thirty  miles  from  each  other,  and  by  means  of  dogs,  horns, 
etc.  drive  the  affrighted  beasts  towards  the  central  region. 
It  is  so  contrived  that  these  central  forests  are  under  a 
long  succession  of  precipices,  through  which  there  is  no  escape 
to  the  Alpine  summits,  except  by  a  few  ravines  and  narrow 
gorges.  On  an  appointed  day  the  king  and  his  attendants 
place  themselves  in  these  ravines  accompanied  by  soldiers 
armed  with  rifles ;  and  on  an  appointed  signal  thousands  of 
persons,  some  employed  by  government,  others  led  by  curiosity 
and  love  of  the  sport,  rush  into  the  forests,  and  drive  out  the 
wild  inhabitants  from  their  hiding-places.  The  poor  animals, 
thus  beset  on  all  sides,  become  frantic,  and  rush  out  of  the 
forest,  sometimes  singly,  sometimes  in  large  herds,  and,  having 
no  means  of  escape  except  through  the  narrow  defiles  I  have 
mentioned,  scores  of  them  are  brought  to  the  ground  before 
they  can  get  out  of  the  reach  of  the  riflemen.  The  different 
ranks  and  costumes  of  the  assembled  multitude,  the  shouts 
of  the  hunters,  the  echoes  of  the  guns  among  the  great 
precipices  of  the  Alps — produce  a  combination  of  circum- 
stances well  fitted  to  excite  the  imagination1." 

From  Salzburg  they  went  to  Munich,  and  thence  by 
Ulm,  Stuttgart,  and  the  Lake  of  Constance  to  Strasburg.  A 
letter  from  the  latter  place  to  Whewell,  who  had  been  dis- 
porting himself  in  Switzerland  with  Mr  Coddington,  enters  so 

1  To  Rev.  John  Sedgwick,  from  Stein  on  the  Lake  of  Constance,  26  September, 
1829. 

23—2 


356  GEOLOGICAL  DETAILS. 

1829.     much  more  into  geological  detail  than  any  of  the  other  letters 
^t-  44-    of  this  year,  that,  at  the  risk  of  some  repetition,  we  will  give 
a  few  extracts  from  it.     After  describing  their  visit  to  the 
Hartz,  Eisleben,  Halle,  etc.  Sedgwick  proceeds : 

"This  is  the  focus  of  Wernerian  geology,  and  to  my 
infinite  surprise  it  is  the  most  decidedly  volcanic  secondary 
country  I  ever  saw.  The  granite  bursts  through  on  one  side, 
sends  out  veins,  and  along  the  whole  eastern  flank  the 
secondaries  are  highly  inclined  and  often  absolutely  vertical. 
Near  Goslar  they  are  absolutely  heels  over  head.... 

"  In  Styria  we  found  a  great  deal  of  good  tertiary  geology. 
Our  Styrian  tertiaries  led  us  down  into  the  edge  of  Hungary, 
from  which  we  doubled  to  the  great  road,  and  beat  our  way 
down  to  Trieste.  Dull  geology,  but  the  finest  caverns  in  the 
world....  From  Trieste  we  crossed  the  plains  of  Italy  to  the 
Tagliamento,  by  which  we  entered  a  great  gorge  in  the  Julian 
Alps.  We  emerged  from  these  gorges  at  Bleiberg,  and  began 
to  ascend  the  primary  axis.  To  our  great  surprise  found  the 
oldest  rocks  of  the  calcareous  zone  full  of  gryphites,  and  not 
older  than  our  lias,  though  crystalline  as  white  as  sugar ! 
We  crossed  the  axis  at  the  top  of  the  great  Tauern  Alp 
amidst  mica-schists  and  crystalline  marbles,  serpentines,  etc., 
etc.,  and,  what  do  you  think  ?  in  this  series  we  found  beds 
top-full  of  encrinites.  I  could  hardly  believe  my  eyes.  Thence 
down  the  high  road  to  Werfen,  from  which  place  we  again 
doubled,  and  ascended  to  the  primary  axis  by  a  parallel 
valley....  On  our  return  to  Werfen  we  set  off  to  Salzburg, 
and  afterwards  threaded  our  way  among  the  links  of  the 
great  southern  calcareous  zone.  And  how  shall  I  describe 
the  wonders  we  here  saw  ?  The  tertiary  deposits  resting  on 
the  outskirts  of  this  calcareous  zone  are  thicker  than  all  our 
secondary  formations  put  together.  For  scores  of  miles  they 
are  in  a  vertical  position.  In  many  places  the  Alps,  in  rising 
through  them,  have  lifted  great  rags  of  them  into  the  regions 
of  snow.  Some  of  these  rags  are  3000  or  4000  feet  thick,  and 
stuck  on  like  great  poultices  on  the  bruised  pates  of  the  older 


GEOLOGICAL  DETAILS,  357 

rocks.  From  Salzburg  to  Innspruck.  Thence  once  more  1829. 
over  the  calcareous  chain — top-full  of  fish,  and  stinking  of  ^  44« 
fish-oil,  which  in  many  places  trickles  out  like  tar.  From  the 
fish-beds  to  a  bed  at  Munich.  Pictures  and  antiques  one 
day — off  to  the  great  tertiaries  on  the  Bavarian  flanks — so 
to  the  Lake  of  Constance.  Two  noble  sections  linking  in 
our  work  with  the  tertiaries  of  Switzerland.  Thence  to 
Oeningen,  Murchison's  fox-cover1.  Thence  to  the  Danube — 
Ulm.  N.B.  Freshwater  hills  all  around  the  city.  From  Ulm 
we  visited  the  famous  field  of  Blenheim  on  our  way  to 
Solenhofen  ;  a  wonderful  place  for  lithographic  stone  and 
fossil  fish.  From  this  d^pot  we  crossed  the  Jura  limestone, 
through  some  beautiful  freshwater  basins,  to  Stuttgart,  and  so 
down  the  Neckar  to  Heidelberg.  This  outline  will  give  you 
some  notion  of  what  we  have  been  about.  I  think  we  have 
done  some  good  work.  I  am  anxious  to  be  home  again,  but 
we  must  go  by  Paris.  We  have  some  work  by  the  way,  and 
may  not  be  there  before  the  17th  or  18th.  My  kindest 
regards  to  all  who  regard  me*." 

Lyell  tells  us  that  Sedgwick  returned  "full  of  magnificent 
views;  throws  overboard  all  the  diluvian  hypothesis;  is  vexed 
he  ever  lost  time  about  such  a  complete  humbug ;  says  he 
lost  two  years  by  having  also  started  as  a  Wernerian,  etc.8" 
He  did  not  himself  admit  that  his  conversion  was  so  complete 
as  this  report  of  his  conversation  would  imply ;  but  no  doubt 
his  views  had  been  greatly  modified  and  extended  by  what 
he  had  seen  on  the  continent,  and  by  his  intercourse  with 
foreign  geologists. 

On  this  occasion  Murchison  had  no  cause  of  complaint 
against  Sedgwick  on  the  ground  of  delay  in  getting  their 
joint  work  ready  for  publication.     In  about  a  fortnight  after 

1  In  the  previous  year  Murchison  had  obtained  from  this  celebrated  quarry  a 
unique  skeleton  of  a  fossil  fox  (Galecynus  oeningensis)  now  in  the  British  Museum. 
He  described  it  in  the  Transactions  of  the  Geol.  Soc.  iii.  277.  Compare  also  his 
Life,  i.  154. 

2  To  Rev.  W.  Whewell,  10  October,  1829. 
8  Life  of  Sir  C,  Lyell,  i.  256. 


358  SCIENTIFIC  RESULTS  OF  TOUR. 

1829.  their  return  (6  November,  1829)  their  first  paper  On  the 
sSt-  44-  Tertiary  Deposits  of  the  Vale  of  Gosau  in  tlie  Salzburg  Alps, 
was  read  to  the  Society ;  and,  wonderful  to  relate,  in  spite  of 
Sedgwick's  occupations  and  ailments,  which  appear  to  have 
been  unusually  severe,  it  was  succeeded,  at  the  two  following 
meetings  (20  November  and  4  December)  by  a  second,  On 
tlie  Tertiary  Formations  which  range  along  tfie  Flanks  of  the 
Salzburg  and  Bavarian  Alps.  The  method  of  setting  about 
the  work,  and  the  value  of  the  results,  do  not  call  for  much 
comment.  It  was  not  a  new  and  unexplored  district,  such  as 
Sedgwick  loved,  and  yet  it  was  an  area  where  great  problems 
were  suggested,  and  it  formed  a  fine  field  for  a  holiday  tour. 
Murchison,  as  was  his  very  useful  custom,  "got  the  subject  up" 
before  starting ;  he  read  what  had  been  written  on  the 
district,  corresponded  with  the  authors  and  authorities  upon 
it ;  and,  thus  furnished,  the  colleagues  started  to  examine  for 
themselves,  and  to  criticise  the  interpretation  of  the  geological 
structure  of  the  country  given  by  Bou6  and  others. 

In  the  summary  given  by  Sedgwick  in  his  presidential 
address  to  the  Geological  Society,  we  have  as  clear  an 
account  as  we  can  desire  of  what  was  proposed  and  what  was 
done.  It  was  a  question  of  identification  and  correlation,  and 
Sedgwick  and  Murchison  were  among  the  great  host  of 
explorers  and  authors  who  have  treated  of  the  bands  of 
calcareous  and  arenaceous  rocks,  with  nummulites  in  the 
newer  beds,  and  hippurites  in  the  older,  which  flank  the 
Alpine  ridges  from  the  Rhone  to  the  Danube.  They  did  not 
collect  materials  for  a  minute  classification — indeed  it  would 
have  been  impossible  for  them  to  do  so — but  they  gave  a 
good  account  of  the  district,  with  much  new  work  ;  and  they 
brought  the  whole  subject  before  English  geologists  for  the 
first  time. 

The    principal    points  established    are    thus    stated    by 
Sedgwick  : 

"  We  have  shewn  that  several  transverse  sections  from  the 
central  axis  of  the  Alps  to  the  basin  of  the  Upper  Danube 


SCIENTIFIC  RESULTS  OF  TOUR.  359 

would  present  a  succession  of  phenomena  in  very  near  accord-  1829. 
ance  with  those  of  other  transverse  sections  from  the  same  ^  44< 
axis  to  the  tertiary  formations  at  the  other  base  of  the  chain 
in  the  North  of  Italy.  On  both  sides  of  this  chain,  after 
passing  over  the  great  secondary  calcareous  zones,  we  meet 
with  the  lower  tertiary  strata — always  highly  inclined,  some- 
times vertical,  and  occasionally  conformable  to  the  beds 
of  the  older  system.  We  contend  that  this  remarkable 
symmetry  confirms  the  hypothesis  of  a  recent  elevation 
of  the  Eastern  Alps ;  and  makes  it  probable,  independently 
of  arguments  derived  from  organic  remains,  that  the  tertiary 
deposits  of  the  Sub-Apennine  regions  and  of  the  basin  of  the 
Upper  Danube  belong  to  one  period  of  formation. 

"Thick  masses  of  strata  full  of  organic  remains,  and  often 
occurring  at  low  levels  near  the  northern  foot  of  the  chain, 
are  sometimes  also  found  (e.g.  in  the  valley  of  Gosau)  in 
unconformable  positions,  caught  up  among  the  serrated  peaks 
of  the  Alps,  four  or  five  thousand  feet  above  the  level  of  the 
sea.  Such  a  disjunction  of  corresponding  strata  is  inexplic- 
able on  any  hypothesis  which  rejects  the  theory  of  elevation. 
We  have  concluded,  chiefly  on  zoological  evidence,  that  the 
unconformable  beds  of  Gosau  are  more  recent  than  the  chalk. 
We  believe  that  they  contain  neither  ammonites  nor  belem- 
nites,  nor  any  other  known  species  of  secondary  fossils ;  and 
on  the  whole  we  regard  them  as  a  term  of  that  unknown 
series  of  formations  which  may  hereafter  close  up  the  chasm 
between  the  lowest  beds  of  the  Paris  basin  and  the  chalk. 

"  We  have  pointed  out  the  limits  of  the  old  chain  of  the 
Salzburg  and  Bavarian  Alps,  and  traced  the  direction  of  its 
valleys  anterior  to  the  tertiary  epoch :  and  we  have  described 
a  great  deposit  of  lignite  far  up  the  valley  of  the  Inn,  contain- 
ing fresh  water  and  marine  shells,  which  seem  to  connect  it 
with  the  period  of  the  London  clay.  We  have  further  shewn 
that  there  are  within  the  basin  of  the  Upper  Danube  two  or 
three  higher  zones  of  lignite  separated  from  each  other  by 
sedimentary  deposits  of  enormous  thickness. 


360  SCIENTIFIC  RESULTS  OF  TOUR. 

1829.  "The  tertiary  system  of  Bavaria  is  shewn  to  pass  into, 

iBt#  44«  and  to  be  identical  with,  the  molasse  and  nagelflue  of  Switzer- 
land. The  higher  part  of  this  series  must  therefore  be  of  the 
same  age  with  some  of  the  formations  of  the  Sub-Appennines. 
We  have  proved  that  enormous  masses  of  sandstone  and 
conglomerate  many  thousand  feet  in  thickness,  stretching 
from  the  base  of  the  Alps  to  the  plains  of  the  Danube,  are 
chiefly  derived  from  the  degradation  of  the  neighbouring 
chain — that  many  of  these  masses  cannot  be  distinguished 
from  the  newest  detritus  which  lies  scattered  on  the  surface 
of  the  earth — that  in  their  prolongation  into  Switzerland 
they  sometimes  contain  bones  of  mammalia — that  they  are 
regularly  stratified,  and  alternate  with  beds  containing  marine 
shells — and  that  they  cannot  have  been  caused  by  any 
transient  inundation. 

"Finally,  we  point  out  the  probable  effect  of  debdcles 
which  took  place  when  the  basin  was  deserted  by  the  sea. 
We  shew  that  the  excavations  produced  by  the  retiring 
waters  have  been  augmented  by  the  bursting  of  successive 
lakes,  of  which  we  found  traces  in  all  the  upland  valleys 
of  Bavaria;  and  that  these  excavations  have  been  since 
carried  on  by  the  erosive  power  of  the  streams  which  roll 
down  from  the  sides  of  the  Alps  to  the  plains  of  the  Danube1." 

To  read  an  elaborate  paper  is  one  thing;  to  make  it  fit 
for  publication  is  another ;  and  it  was  soon  found  that  some 
very  hard  work  had  yet  to  be  done.  When  the  abstracts 
appeared  in  the  Proceedings  of  the  Society,  the  views  therein 
advanced — especially  those  relating  to  the  Valley  of  Gosau — 
were  combated  both  in  England  and  abroad,  notably  by 
Dr  Ami  Bou&  It  became  therefore  necessary  to  test  con- 
clusions by  a  second  visit  to  the  ground.  Sedgwick,  ap- 
parently, had  no  wish  to  leave  home  again  so  soon  ;  and  the 
task  therefore  devolved  on  Murchison,  who  devoted  the 
summer  of  1830  to  it,  with  complete  success.     On  his  return 

1  Address  to  the  Geological  Society,   19  February,  1830,  p.  9.     Proceedings, 
i.  193. 


PRESIDENTIAL  ADDRESS.  361 

he  read  a  separate  memoir  to  the  Geological  Society,  in  1830. 
which  the  old  conclusions  were  fortified  with  fresh  facts.  ^Ms- 
After  this  the  Council  of  the  Society  decided  that  it  would 
be  more  instructive,  and  save  repetition  and  correction,  if  the 
whole  subject  were  treated  in  a  single  memoir.  This  was  no 
doubt  a  wise  decision,  but  it  entailed  the  re-writing  of  both 
memoirs,  so  as  to  weld  them  properly  together.  A  good  deal 
of  this  labour  fell  to  Sedgwick's  share,  and  occupied  him, 
conjointly  with  other  work,  for  several  months  in  1831.  The 
volume  in  which  the  paper  appears  in  its  final  form  was  not 
published  until  1835. 

At  the  beginning  of  1830  it  became  Sedgwick's  duty  to 
deliver,  as  President  of  the  Geological  Society,  the  customary 
address  at  the  Anniversary  Meeting.  Perfunctory  work  of 
this  sort  rarely  repays  careful  analysis.  Questions  which  the 
author  weighs  in  the  balance  of  a  good-natured  criticism 
have  long  since  been  settled,  or  forgotten ;  and  praise  or 
blame  when  delivered  from  the  Chair  is  apt  to  lose  in 
sincerity  as  much  as  it  gains  in  authority.  Sedgwick — 
always  honest  and  straight-forward — avoids  these  defects  as 
far  as  the  nature  of  the  case  permits.  He  passes  in  review 
what  had  been  accomplished  during  the  previous  year;  the 
papers  by  Lyell  and  Murchison;  by  Murchison  and  himself; 
by  Dr  Fitton,  and  others ;  and  these  works  lead  him  to 
discuss  the  action  of  river-currents,  with  his  own  views  there- 
on ;  the  true  sub-divisions  of  the  tertiary  strata ;  the  import- 
ance of  the  study  of  organic  remains,  etc.;  so  that  the  speech 
is  lifted  above  the  accidents  of  the  moment,  and  possesses 
permanent  value.  These  diverse  subjects  are  not  only  clearly 
and  eloquently  treated,  but  what  in  other  hands  would  have 
been  a  dry  discussion  is  enlivened  with  graphic  similes — 
humorous  touches — inspiriting  appeals  to  unwearied  labour, 
especially  in  the  field  of  English  Geology — and  hints  at  the 
true  method  of  correlating  facts,  and  establishing  a  correct 
induction  from  them — in  a  manner  well  worthy  of  the 
"  mathematical   geologist."     The  concluding  paragraphs  are 


362  PRESIDENTIAL  ADDRESS. 

1830.  devoted  to  a  piece  of  criticism  as  severe  as  anything  that 
&*-  45-  Sedgwick  ever  penned.  A  member  of  the  Society,  Andrew 
Ure,  M.D.  had  lately  published  A  New  System  of  Geology, 
"  in  which  the  great  revolutions  of  the  earth  and  of  animated 
nature  are  reconciled  at  once  to  modern  science  and  to  sacred 
history."  This  "  monument  of  folly,"  as  Sedgwick  calls  it,  is 
pulled  to  pieces  without  mercy,  and  some  of  its  worst 
blunders  exposed.  Into  these  we  need  not  enter — indeed  the 
subject  would  not  have  been  alluded  to  at  all  had  it  not  given 
occasion  to  a  passage  so  noble,  and  of  such  general  applica- 
tion, that  we  cannot  resist  the  pleasure  of  quoting  it. 

Laws  for  the  government  of  intellectual  beings,  and  laws  by 
which  material  things  are  held  together,  have  not  one  common 
element  to  connect  them.  And  to  seek  for  the  exposition  of  the 
phenomena  of  the  natural  world  among  the  records  of  the  moral 
destinies  of  mankind,  would  be  as  unwise,  as  to  look  for  rules  of 
moral  government  among  the  laws  of  chemical  combination.  From 
the  unnatural  union  of  things  so  utterly  incongruous,  there  has  from 
time  to  time  sprung  up  in  this  country  a  deformed  progeny  of 
heretical  and  fantastical  conclusions,  by  which  sober  philosophy  has 
been  put  to  open  shame,  and  sometimes  even  the  charities  of  life 
have  been  exposed  to  violation. 

No  opinion  can  be  heretical  but  that  which  is  not  true.  Con- 
flicting falsehoods  we  can  comprehend,  but  truths  can  never  war 
against  each  other.  I  affirm,  therefore,  that  we  have  nothing  to  fear 
from  the  results  of  our  inquiries,  provided  they  be  followed  in  the 
laborious  but  secure  road  of  honest  induction.  In  this  way  we  may 
rest  assured  that  we  shall  never  arrive  at  conclusions  opposed  to 
any  truth,  either  physical  or  moral,  from  whatsoever  source  that 
truth  may  be  derived :  nay  rather,  (as  in  all  truth  there  is  a  common 
essence)  that  new  discoveries  will  ever  lend  support  and  illustration 
to  things  which  are  already  known,  by  giving  us  a  larger  insight  into 
the  universal  harmonies  of  nature1. 

The  first  half  of  1830  was  fully  occupied  with  the  pre- 
paration of  the  above  address  (delivered  19  February) — with 
journeys  to  London  on  the  business  of  the  Society,  and  other 
matters  which  his  recognised  position  as  one  of  the  first  of 
English  geologists  imposed  upon  him — as,  for  instance,  exami- 
nation before  a  Committee  of  the  House  of  Commons  on  the 
Coal  Measures,  and  attendance  at  "a  Committee  appointed 

1  Address,  p.  23. 


WOODWARDIAN  MUSEUM.  363 

to  direct  a  Survey  of  the  Thames1."     In  the  midst  of  all  this      1830. 

he  found  time  to  congratulate  his  friend  Dean  Monk  on  being    Mim  45< 

promoted  from  the  Deanery  of  Peterborough  to  the  Bishopric 

of  Gloucester.    "  We  all  rejoice  at  this  event/'  he  wrote, "  from 

feelings  of  personal  regard,  founded  in  a  long  experience  both 

of  your  unwearied  kindness  and  of  your  great  services  rendered 

to  ourselves  and   our   Society  while  you   were   one   of  our 

resident  members:  we  all  rejoice  on  public  grounds,  for  we 

see  in  yourself  an  instance  of  honourable  distinction,  founded, 

as  it  ought  to  be,  not  on  party  interest,  but  on  high  literary 

claims2." 

May  brought  the  usual  preparations  for  the  Woodwardian 
audit.  This  year  he  had  plenty  of  additions  to  record : 
"specimens  from  the  extinct  volcanoes  near  Bonn;"  from 
nearly  every  district  visited  in  1829,  including  "a  very  fine 
series  of  organic  remains  from  Solenhofen,"  and  several 
geological  maps  purchased  at  Berlin.  As  usual  he  laments 
"  that  want  of  room  prevents  him  from  having  the  pleasure  of 
exhibiting  many  of  these  additions,"  but  "  hopes  that  before 
long  he  snail  have  an  opportunity  of  unpacking  them,  and  of 
arranging  them  in  a  Museum  of  the  University8" — a  sanguine 
aspiration  which  was  not  realised  for  more  than  eleven  years 
after  this  report  was  written. 

Murchison  had  started  early  in  the  summer  to  "riddle  the 
Alps  in  all  directions,,,  as  he  said ;  and  he  kept  Sedgwick 
constantly  informed  of  all  that  he  was  doing — of  the  help 
he  obtained  from  continental  geologists,  and  of  the  new  facts 
he  was  ascertaining  in  support  of  their  common  position. 
His  letters,  interesting  and  valuable  as  they  are,  are  too 
technical  for  a  biography;  and  indeed,  would  be  hardly 
intelligible  without  the  maps  and  sections  to  which  they  refer. 
Of  Sedgwick's  letters  to  him  one  only  has  been  preserved — 
perhaps  only  one  was  written.     It  is  occupied  chiefly  with  a 

1  To  R.  I.  Murchison,  May,  1830. 

2  To  Dean  Monk,  14  February,  1830. 

3  Report  to  the  Woodwardian  Auditors ,  1  May,  1830. 


364  STARTS  FOR   THE  CHEVIOTS. 

1830.  very  severe  criticism  on  the  abstract  of  their  joint  papers 
iEt-45-  which  Murchison  had  sent  to  the  Annals  of  Philosophy,  and 
which  Sedgwick  had  fortunately  intercepted  before  it  was 
printed  off.  Murchison  calls  the  letter  "very  cross,"  and 
declares  that  Sedgwick  must  have  been  "  in  a  mathematically 
exact  humour"  when  he  wrote  it;  but  he  concedes  all  that 
was  wanted  when  he  speaks  of  the  paper  in  question  as  "  my 
very  careless  abstract1."  This  matter  despatched,  Sedgwick 
proceeds  to  tell  him  that  he  had  stayed  in  London  for  some 
time,  "  being  in  daily  expectation  of  the  commencement  of  a 
canvass  for  a  new  contest  in  the  University;"  that  "fortu- 
nately the  storm  had  blown  over,"  and  that  he  was  then  "  in 
all  the  press  and  confusion  of  a  man  who  is  going  to  desert 
his  quarters.  Tomorrow  morning  I  am  off  on  my  way  to 
Northumberland.  I  shall  halt  at  Newcastle,  and  try  to  lay 
in  a  stock  of  information ;  and  then,  as  soon  as  possible,  bear 
down  upon  the  Cheviots.  If  I  knew  how  to  hit  you  I  would 
send  a  fly-leaf  after  you  when  I  had  properly  pounded  the 
porphyries.  I  am  delighted  with  your  account  of  the  Low 
Countries;  you  have  done  some  excellent  work  there.... Lyell 
has  been  off  about  three  weeks,  and  has  not  been  since  heard 
of.  His  book*  has  a  hard  delivery  ;  it  is  not  yet  out.  This  is 
very  vexatious,  as  I  wanted  to  take  it  with  me.  The  King's 
death ;  speeches  in  the  House  of  Commons ;  the  fear  of  a 
contested  election;  these  have  been  the  chief  topics....  Give 
my  best  regards  to  Mrs  Murchison.  How  does  she  bear  the 
fatigues  of  your  campaign8?" 

A  letter  to  Mrs  Murchison  (21  October)  records  a  few 
particulars  of  the  summer's  work,  which  had  proved  some- 
what disappointing:  "Among  the  Cheviot  hills  I  worked 
hard  for  about  ten  days ;  and  I  did  some  good  work  in  a 
small  way  on  the  Scotch  borders.  Soon  after  I  was  attacked 
with  indisposition ;   and  in  a  great  measure  driven  off  the 

1  From  R.  I.  Murchison,  Ischl,  15  August,  1830. 
1  The  first  volume  of  his  Principles  of  Geology. 
8  To  R.  I.  Murchison,  Cambridge,  15  July,  1830. 


ROYAL  SOCIETY.  365 


field.  After  making  one  or  two  vain  efforts  among  the  1830. 
Cumberland  mountains  I  finally  took  shelter  in  my  native  iEt-45- 
valley."  There  he  was  detained  by  a  long  spell  of  bad 
weather:  "all  the  powers  of  the  air,"  he  says,  "  were  in  league 
against  me."  He  was  therefore  obliged  to  give  up  a  projected 
excursion  to  North  Wales  and  Ireland,  and  content  himself 
with  Ingleborough.  In  that  district  he  "  ransacked  the  hills 
from  the  ridge  of  Stainmoor  to  the  heart  of  Craven."  By  the 
end  of  October,  as  usual,  he  was  back  at  Cambridge. 

Towards  the  close  of  this  year  certain  Fellows  of  the  Royal 
Society  let  it  be  known  that,  in  their  opinion,  His  Royal 
Highness  the  Duke  of  Sussex  was  a  fit  and  proper  person  to 
be  President ;  that  he  was  willing,  not  to  say  anxious,  to  accept 
the  office ;  and  that  he  did  so  with  His  Majesty's  approval. 
Thereupon  the  actual  President,  Mr  Davies  Gilbert,  retired. 
The  scientific  section  of  the  Fellows,  indignant  at  what  they 
regarded  as  an  interference  with  their  independence  on  the  part 
of  the  Court,  persuaded  Mr  Herschel  to  allow  himself  to  be 
nominated  in  opposition  to  the  Duke.  Murchison  took  an 
active  part  in  getting  up  the  requisition  to  Herschel,  which  was 
signed  by  Sedgwick  and  most  of  his  Cambridge  friends.  He 
had  been  for  some  years  anxious  to  see  Herschel  President1, 
but,  being  out  of  London,  did  not  work  himself  up  to  the 
white  heat  of  anger  that  seems  to  have  been  there  prevalent. 
At  the  same  time  he  did  what  he  could  to  stop  the  Duke's 
pretensions  in  his  usual  straightforward  fashion.  He  wrote 
to  Murchison  (21  November):  "  I  did  sign  a  paper  requesting 
Herschel  to  come  forward.  What  this  new  paper  is  I  don't 
exactly  know,  and  I  don't  intend  to  take  any  more  public 

1  In  1827,  when  he  had  heard  of  a  suggestion  to  elect  Sir  R.  Peel,  he  wrote  to 
Murchison  (25  November) :  "  The  republic  of  science  will  indeed  be  degraded  if 
the  Council  of  the  Royal  Society  is  to  become  a  mere  political  junta,  and  we  are 
to  sit  under  a  man  who  condescends  to  be  our  patron.  The  Institute  of  France 
have  not  yet  learned  to  degrade  themselves  by  placing  in  the  chair  a  man  who  has 
no  other  recommendation  than  that  of  having  been  a  King's  Minister.  Why  don't 
some  of  you  propose  Herschel?  He  is  by  far  the  first  man  of  science  in  London, 
and  would  do  the  work  admirably."    Sedgwick  became  F.R.S.  in  1820. 


366  PAPER  ON  LAKE  MOUNTAINS. 

1830.  steps.  But  I  intend  to  take  a  private  step,  and  a  very  strong 
&*-  45«  one.  By  this  post  I  shall  write  to  the  Duke  of  Sussex,  and 
explain  my  views  to  him  very  plainly.  I  shall  then  have 
liberated  my  conscience.  In  case  of  a  contest  I  cannot  come 
up.  Whewell  and  some  others  will  come  up — Coddington, 
Willis,  &c.  Whewell  wishes  me  to  impress  upon  you  the 
very  great  importance  of  inducing  Herschel  to  come  forward 
as  a  candidate.  Many  men  will  tail  off  if  they  have  an 
excuse,  and  Herschers  unwillingness  is  a  good  apology  for 
weak  minds.     Indeed  it  is  no  bad  apology  for  any  one." 

At  that  time  the  Duke  was  a  frequent  visitor  to  Cambridge, 
where  he  greatly  enjoyed  the  hospitalities  profusely  laid  at  his 
feet  by  the  Fellows  of  Trinity  College,  two  of  whom,  Sedgwick 
and  G.  A.  Browne,  had  been  appointed  his  chaplains1.  On 
these  occasions  he  would  breakfast  with  one,  dine  with  an- 
other, sup  with  a  third,  and  in  general  behave  as  if  he  were 
one  of  themselves.  He  was  evidently  not  displeased  with 
Sedgwick's  boldness,  and  wrote  in  reply:  "I  thank  you  for 
your  candour,  and  whether  our  opinions  may  differ  on  this  or 
any  other  subject,  I  know  how  to  respect  the  talents  as  well 
as  the  motives  of  any  individual" — but  he  persisted  in  his 
candidature,  and  was  elected  by  1 19  votes  to  in. 

At  the  beginning  of  January,  1831,  Sedgwick  read  to  the 
Geological  Society  his  first  paper  On  the  General  Structure 
of  the  Lake  Mountains  of  tJie  North  of  England,  the  materials 
for  which  had  been  collected  several  years  before.  For  the 
present,  we  merely  note  the  fact,  reserving  for  a  subsequent 
chapter  an  account  of  his  views  on  the  geology  of  Lakeland. 

In  the  following  month  he  concluded  his  two  years  of 
office  as  President  of  the  Geological  Society;  but,  before 
retiring  from  the  chair  (18  February,  1831),  he  had  a  singu- 
larly agreeable  duty  to  perform.  Three  years  before,  Thomas 
Hyde  Wollaston,  M.D.  had  transferred  one  thousand  pounds 
to  the  Society,  the  dividends  on  which  were  to  be  applied 
after  his  death,   "in   promoting  researches  concerning  the 

1  Sedgwick's  patent  is  dated  10  May,  1819. 


WILLIAM  SMITH.  367 


mineral  structure  of  the  earth,  or  in  rewarding  those  by  whom  1831. 
such  researches  may  hereafter  be  made."  Dr  Wollaston  died  ^  *6- 
22  December,  1828,  just  a  fortnight  after  executing  the  above 
transfer.  The  first  year's  income  was  devoted  to  the  purchase 
of  a  die,  designed  by  Chantrey,  "  bearing  the  impress  of  the 
head  of  Dr  Wollaston"  ;  in  order  that  a  commemorative  gold 
medal,  value  ten  guineas,  might  form  part  of  the  annual 
donation ;  and  it  was  not  until  early  in  1831  that  the  Council 
met  to  decide  upon  the  first  award.  They  resolved  unani- 
mously that  the  medal  should  "be  given  to  Mr  William  Smith, 
in  consideration  of  his  being  a  great  original  discoverer  in 
English  Geology  ;  and  especially  for  his  having  been  the  first, 
in  this  country,  to  discover  and  to  teach  the  identification 
of  strata,  and  to  determine  their  succession,  by  means  of 
their  imbedded  fossils." 

The  conscience  of  any  other  President  than  Sedgwick 
would  probably  have  been  satisfied  by  declaring  this  award 
in  a  few  well-selected  phrases  at  the  begining  or  the  end  of 
his  own  address ;  for,  he  might  well  have  argued,  the  merits 
of  "  Strata  Smith "  are  by  this  time  fully  recognised  by 
geologists.  But  Sedgwick  was  too  generous,  too  warm- 
hearted, to  adopt  so  selfish  a  course.  "  I  for  one,"  he  said 
"  can  speak  with  gratitude  of  the  practical  lessons  I  have 
received  from  Mr  Smith:  it  was  by  tracking  his  footsteps, 
with  his  maps  in  my  hand,  through  Wiltshire  and  the 
neighbouring  counties,  where  he  had  trodden  nearly  thirty 
years  before,  that  I  first  learnt  the  subdivisions  of  our  oolitic 
series,  and  apprehended  the  meaning  of  those  arbitrary  and 
somewhat  uncouth  terms,  which  we  derive  from  him  as  our 
master,  and  which  have  long  become  engrafted  into  the 
conventional  language  of  English  Geologists."  He  determined 
to  publish  to  the  world,  with  all  the  authority  of  the  position 
he  then  held,  the  wonderful  story  of  that  humble  land- 
surveyor  who,  in  the  course  of  his  professional  work,  had 
discovered  the  key,  if  we  may  so  speak,  to  the  geological 
cipher.      The   result   is   a   rapid,   but   singularly   clear  and 


368  PRESIDENTIAL  ADDRESS. 

1831.  appreciative  sketch  of  a  remarkable  life,  interspersed  with 
Mt.  46.  Some  nobly  eloquent  passages,  the  effect  of  which,  as 
originally  delivered,  with  all  the  force  of  Sedgwick's  energy 
and  enthusiasm,  may  be  measured  by  that  which  they  still 
produce  upon  a  reader.  Towards  the  close  of  his  speech  he 
demanded  from  his  hearers  their  approbation  of  the  Council's 
award :  "  I  would  appeal "  he  said  "  to  those  intelligent  men 
who  form  the  strength  and  ornament  of  this  Society,  whether 
there  was  any  place  for  doubt  or  hesitation  ?  whether  we 
were  not  compelled,  by  every  motive  which  the  judgment  can 
approve,  and  the  heart  can  sanction,  to  perform  this  act  of 
filial  duty,  before  we  thought  of  the  claims  of  any  other  man, 
and  to  place  our  first  honours  on  the  brow  of  the  Father  of 
English  Geology. 

"  If  in  the  pride  of  our  present  strength,  we  were  disposed 
to  forget  our  origin,  our  very  speech  would  bewray  us ;  for 
we  use  the  language  which  he  taught  in  the  infancy  of  our 
science.  If  we,  by  our  united  efforts,  are  chiseling  the 
ornaments,  and  slowly  raising  up  the  pinnacles  of  one  of  the 
temples  of  Nature,  it  was  he  who  gave  the  plan,  and  laid  the 
foundations,  and  erected  a  portion  of  the  solid  walls,  by  the 
unassisted  labour  of  his  hands1." 

In  the  evening  of  the  same  day  Sedgwick  delivered  his 
own  address  as  President.  As  in  that  of  the  previous  year, 
he  reviews  the  progress  of  stratigraphical  geology,  with  even 
more  than  his  former  felicity  of  treatment,  and  clearness  of 
exposition ;  while  the  publication  of  Herschel's  paper  On 
the  Astronomical  Causes  which  may  influence  Geological 
Phenomena,  of  the  first  volume  of  Lyell's  Principles  of 
Geology,  and  of  the  papers  contributed  by  M.  Elie  de  Beaumont 
to  the  Annates  des  Sciences  Naturelles,  gave  him  an  opportunity 
of  dealing  with  the  fundamental  theories  of  the  science. 

Of  Lyell's  work  he  spoke  with  genuine  admiration. 
"  Were  I  to  tell  him,"  he  said,  "  of  the  instruction  I  received 

1  Proceedings  of  the  Geological  Society,  i.  no,  270 — 279.    Memoirs  0/  William 
Smith,  LL  J).,  by  John  Phillips,  8vo.  Lond.  1844. 


LYELL!  S  PRINCIPLES  OF  GEOLOGY.  369 


from  every  chapter  of  his  work,  and  of  the  delight  with  which  1831. 
I  rose  from  the  perusal  of  the  whole,  I  might  seem  to  flatter  <**•  4<>- 
rather  than  to  speak  the  language  of  sober  criticism ; "  but, 
when  the  criticism  came,  it  struck  at  the  very  foundation  of 
the  authors  theory.  He  " could  not  but  regret "  that  Lyell 
seemed  to  stand  forward  as  "  the  champion  of  a  great  leading 
doctrine  of  the  Huttonian  hypothesis",  and  that  "in  the 
language  of  an  advocate  he  sometimes  forgets  the  character 
of  an  historian."  Sedgwick  had  not  time  to  deal  with  the 
whole  of  even  the  single  volume  then  published ;  but 
addressed  himself,  in  the  main,  to  the  theoretical  portion. 
The  following  paragraphs  are,  we  think,  of  especial  value, 
as  the  truth  of  the  doctrine  of  Uniformity  has  again  been 
called  in  question. 

According  to  the  principles  of  Mr  Lyell,  the  physical  operations 
now  going  on,  are  not  only  the  type,  but  the  measure  of  intensity,  of 
the  physical  powers  acting  on  the  earth  at  all  anterior  periods :  and 
all  we  now  see  around  us  kfonly  the  last  link  in  the  great  chain  of 
phenomena,  arising  out  of  a  uniform  causation,  of  which  we  can 
trace  no  beginning,  and  of  which  we  can  see  no  prospect  of  the  end. 
And  in  all  this,  there  is  much  that  is  beautiful  and  true.  For  we  all 
allow,  that  the  primary  laws  of  nature  are  immutable — that  all  we 
now  see  is  subordinate  to  those  immutable  laws — and  that  we  can 
only  judge  of  effects  which  are  past,  by  the  effects  we  behold  in 
progress.... But  to  assume  that  the  secondary  combinations  arising 
out  of  the  primary  laws  of  matter,  have  been  the  same  in  all  periods 
of  the  earth,  is  an  unwarrantable  hypothesis  with  no  a  priori 
probability,  and  only  to  be  maintained  by  an  appeal  to  geological 
phenomena. 

If  the  principles  I  am  combating  be  true,  the  earth's  surface 
ought  to  present  an  indefinite  succession  of  similar  phenomena. 
But  as  far  as  I  have  consulted  the  book  of  nature,  I  would  invert 
the  negative  in  this  proposition,  and  affirm,  that  the  earth's  surface 
presents  a  definite  succession  of  dissimilar  phenomena.  If  this  be 
true,  and  we  are  all  agreed  that  it  is ;  and  if  it  be  also  true,  that 
we  know  nothing  of  second  causes,  but  by  the  effects  they  have 
produced;  then  "the  undeviating  uniformity  of  secondary  causes ", 
the  "  uniform  order  of  physical  events ",  "  the  invariable  constancy 
in  the  order  of  nature",  and  other  phrases  of  like  kind,  are  to 
me,  as  far  as  regards  the  phenomena  of  geology,  words  almost 
without  meaning.  They  may  serve  to  enunciate  the  proposi- 
tions of  an  hypothesis;  but  they  do  not  describe  the  true  order 
of  nature. 

S.  I.  24 


37o  ALTERED   VIEWS  ON  DILUVIUM. 


1831.  We   are  not  surprised  that  Lyell  should  have  written : 

Mt.  46.  "  Sedgwick's  attack  is  the  severest,  and  I  shall  put  forth  my 
strength  against  him  in1"  the  second  volume. 

But,  cautious  as  Sedgwick  was  in  expressing  agreement 
with  Lyell's  theory,  he  accepted,  almost  without  hesitation, 
the  startling  views  of  M.  Elie  de  Beaumont  on  the  elevation 
of  mountain-chains,  and  exhausted  the  vocabulary  of  praise 
on  his  "noble  generalisations,,,  "admirable  researches",  and 
so  forth — because  "his  conclusions  are  not  based  upon  any 
a  priori  reasoning,  but  on  the  evidence  of  facts ;  and  also, 
because,  in  part,  they  are  in  accordance  with  my  own 
observations."  It  is  only  just,  however,  to  mention,  that 
Sedgwick  warned  his  hearers  that  even  these  generalisations 
had  been  "  already  pushed  too  far." 

This  careful  study  of  M.  de  Beaumont's  work  led  Sedgwick 
to  one  important  conclusion,  which  has  by  no  means  lost  its 
interest  at  the  present  time,  namely :  "  that  the  vast  masses 
of  diluvial  gravel,  scattered  almost  over  the  surface  of  the 
earth,  do  not  belong  to  one  violent  and  transitory  period." 
And  then  he  had  the  courage  to  proceed  as  follows : 

It  was  indeed  a  most  unwarranted  conclusion,  when  we  assumed 
the  contemporaneity  of  all  the  superficial  gravel  on  the  earth.  We 
saw  the  clearest  traces  of  diluvial  action,  and  we  had,  in  our  sacred 
histories,  the  record  of  a  general  deluge.  On  this  double  testimony 
it  was,  that  we  gave  a  unity  to  a  vast  succession  of  phenomena,  not 
one  of  which  we  perfectly  comprehended,  and  under  the  name 
diluvium,  classed  them  all  together. 

To  seek  the  light  of  physical  truth  by  reasoning  of  this  kind,  is, 
in  the  language  of  Bacon,  to  seek  the  living  among  the  dead,  and 
will  ever  end  in  erroneous  induction.  Our  errors  were,  however, 
natural,  and  after  the  same  kind  which  led  many  excellent  observers 
of  a  former  century  to  refer  all  the  secondary  formations  of  geology 
to  the  Noachian  deluge.  Having  been  myself  a  believer,  and,  to 
the  best  of  my  power,  a  propagator  of  what  I  now  regard  as  a 
philosophic  heresy,  and  having  more  than  once  been  quoted  for 
opinions  I  do  not  now  maintain,  I  think  it  right,  as  one  of  my  last 
acts  before  I  quit  this  Chair,  thus  publicly  to  read  my  recantation. 

We  ought,  indeed,  to  have  paused  before  we  first  adopted  the 
diluvian  theory,  and  referred  all  our  old  superficial  gravel  to  the 

1  Lift  of  Sir  Char  Us  Lydl,  i.  318. 


ALTERED    VIEWS  ON  DILUVIUM.  371 

action  of  the  Mosaic  flood.  For  of  man,  and  the  works  of  his  1831. 
hands,  we  have  not  yet  found  a  single  trace  among  the  remnants  of  ,£t.  46. 
a  former  world  entombed  in  these  ancient  deposits.  In  classing 
together  distant  unknown  formations  under  one  name;  in  giving 
them  a  simultaneous  origin,  and  in  determining  their  date,  not  by 
the  organic  remains  we  had  discovered,  but  by  those  we  expected 
hypothetically  hereafter  to  discover,  in  them ;  we  have  given  one 
more  example  of  the  passion  with  which  the  mind  fastens  upon 
general  conclusions,  and  of  the  readiness  with  which  it  leaves  the 
consideration  of  unconnected  truths. ! 

It  is  strange  that  so  cautious  a  writer  as  Sedgwick  should 
have  written  the  last  paragraph,  even  in  1 831.  But  he  lived 
long  enough  to  make  a  second  recantation,  and  to  admit  that 
Man  had  appeared  upon  the  earth  at  a  period  long  anterior 
to  that  for  which  he  had  previously  contended. 

1  An  interesting  account  of  the  way  in  which  Sedgwick  was  led  to  change  his 
views  on  diluvium  occurs  in  a  letter  to  Murchison,  dated  17  November,  1831. 
"If  I  have  been  converted  in  part  from  the  diluvian  theory  (which  by  the  way  I 
never  held  to  the  same  extent  with  Buckland,  as  you  may  see  if  you  read  the  last 
page  of  the  only  paper  I  ever  wrote  on  the  subject)  it  was... by  my  own  gradual 
improved  experience,  and  by  communicating  with  those  about  me.  Perhaps  I 
may  date  my  change  of  mind  (at  least  in  part)  from  our  journey  in  the  Highlands, 
where  there  are  so  many  indications  of  local  diluvial  operations.... Humboldt 
ridiculed  [the  doctrine]  beyond  measure  when  I  met  him  in  Paris.  Prlvost 
lectured  against  it." 


24 — 2 


CHAPTER   IX. 

(1831— 1834). 

The  Reform  Bill.  Contested  election  for  University. 
Geological  papers.  Tour  in  Wales  with  Charles  Darwin 
(1831).  Declines  the  living  of  East  Farleigh.  Mrs 
Somerville's  visit  to  Cambridge.  British  Association 
at  Oxford.  Summer  and  Autumn  in  Wales.  President 
of  Cambridge  Philosophical  Society.  Discourse  on  the 
Studies  of  the  University  (1832).  British  Association 
at  Cambridge.  The  Beverley  Controversy  (1833).  Dis- 
locates   RIGHT    WRIST.      PETITION    AGAINST    TESTS.      BRITISH 

Association  at  Edinburgh.    Made  Prebendary  of  Norwich 
(1834). 

When  Sedgwick  ceased  to  be  President  of  the  Geological 
Society,  and,  as  he  put  it,  "exchanged  dignity  for  liberty," 
he  probably  looked  forward  to  a  spell  of  leisure,  during  which 
he  might  work  at  geology  without  interruption.  Such  hopes, 
however,  if  he  ever  entertained  them  seriously,  were  doomed  to 
disappointment;  and  we  shall  find  that  during  1831  and  the 
three  succeeding  years  he  was  more  than  ever  absorbed  in 
University  and  College  occupations. 

In  less  than  a  fortnight  after  the  annual  general  meeting  of 
the  Geological  Society  at  which  Sedgwick  delivered  his 
farewell  address,  Lord  John  Russell  introduced  the  Reform 
Bill  into  the  House  of  Commons.  A  man  of  letters  or  of 
science,   whichever  side   he   took  in   the  controversy  which 


THE  REFORM  BILL.  373 

thenceforth  divided  England,  might  well  have  exclaimed,  183 1. 
'  O  now  for  ever  farewell  the  tranquil  mind,  farewell  content* ;  Mi-  4& 
and  therefore  it  need  not  surprise  us  that  Sedgwick  should 
complain  shortly  afterwards :  "  I  am  sadly  out  of  sorts,  and 
involved  in  politics,  which  are  dividing  old  friends,  and 
playing  the  devil  amongst  us1."  More  than  half  a  century  has 
elapsed  since  these  words  were  written,  and  few  are  left  in 
Cambridge  who  can  remember  the  state  of  feeling  which 
justified  them.  But  there  are  still  some  who  can  recall 
the  after-effects,  and  can  truthfully  describe  the  Reform  Bill 
as  the  nightmare  of  their  childhood.  It  appeared  to  them, 
from  the  way  in  which  they  heard  their  elders  speak  of  it,  to 
have  been  a  maleficent  influence — an  embodiment  of  the 
spirit  of  evil — which  had  brought  discord  into  a  peaceful 
society,  and  had  left  to  the  next  generation  an  inheritance 
of  sundered  friendships  and  bitter  feuds.  When  a  child 
inquired,  "Who  is  that?"  he  was  not  unfrequently  answered, 
"  That  is  Mr  So  and  So ;  we  used  to  be  very  intimate  before 
the  Reform  Bill,  but  we  never  speak  now."  But  nothing  of 
this  sort  could  be  said  about  Sedgwick.  He  was  an  ardent 
reformer;  but  his  high  personal  character,  his  great  popularity, 
and  his  uniform  kindliness  and  good  humour  towards  those 
who  differed  from  him,  enabled  him  to  pass  through  the  ordeal 
unscathed.  It  has  been  often  said  that  he  and  Mr  Pryme 
were  the  only  liberals  in  the  University  who  took  a  prominent 
part  in  favour  of  reform,  and  yet  neither  made  an  enemy  nor 
lost  a  friend. 

Soon  after  the  introduction  of  the  Reform  Bill,  the 
University  sent  a  petition  to  the  House  of  Commons  against 
it.  The  promoters  were  evidently  by  no  means  sure  of  their 
ground,  for  a  contemporary  fly-sheet  records  that  the  petition 
"  was  carried  through  with  a  haste  extremely  indecorous  and 
reprehensible ;  the  notice  to  the  Senate  having  been  barely  of 
the  legal  extent,  and  given  on  a  day  on  which  the  post  did  not 

1  To  R.  I.  Murchison,  24  March,  1831. 


374  THE  REFORM  BILL. 

1831.  leave  Cambridge;  the  previous  meetings  of  the  Heads  having 
Ex.  46.  5een  held  with  the  shortest  possible  notice ;  some  of  their 
deliberations  having  taken  place  on  a  Sunday;  and  the  petition 
having  been  agreed  to  by  them  in  the  two  hours  preceding 
the  congregation  at  which  it  was  offered  at  the  Senate1/1 
Under  these  circumstances  it  was  of  course  impossible  to  give 
notice  to  non-residents ;  and  the  grace  to  affix  the  University 
Seal  to  the  document,  though  opposed,  was  carried  in  each 
of  the  houses  into  which  the  Senate  was  then  divided. 

The  petition  having  been  carried,  Sedgwick  tells  us  that 
he  and  his  friends  are  setting  to  work  "to  remedy  the  evil 
of  it  as  well  as  we  can,  by  getting  a  Declaration  up  in  favour 
of  the  sitting  candidates8."  This  Declaration  was  supported 
by  some  of  "the  original  promoters  of  the  recent  petition 
to  the  House  of  Commons  against  certain  provisions  in 
the  Reform  Bill ; "  and  was  probably  suggested  by  the 
knowledge  that  the  success  of  the  petition  would  be  followed 
by  an  attempt  to  unseat  Lord  Palmerston  and  Mr  Cavendish, 
in  the  event  of  a  dissolution  of  Parliament8.  The  Declaration 
is  dated  23  March,  and  is  signed  by  thirty-six  members 
of  the  Senate,  among  whom,  in  addition  to  Sedgwick, 
are  Smyth,  Cumming,  Whewell,  Henslow,  Airy,  Worsley, 
J.  C.  Hare,  and  Thirlwall.  It  was  promptly  succeeded  (28 
March)  by  a  counter-declaration,  the  signatories  to  which, 
forty-two  in  number,  bound  themselves  "to  promote  the 
return   of  two  representatives  entertaining  more   moderate 

1  Reasons  for  regretting  the  University  Petition  of  March  ii.  This  fly-sheet 
is  dated  "Trin.  Coll.  March  23,  1831,"  and  is  believed  to  have  been  written 
by  the  Rev.  W.  Whewell.  Notice  was  given  on  Saturday,  19  March,  for  a  Con- 
gregation to  be  held  on  Monday,  21  March,  at  1 1  a.m.  A  letter  from  Cambridge 
printed  in  The  Times  of  23  March  says :  "If  two  days'  notice  had  been  given,  we 
should  have  had  twenty  or  thirty  Masters  of  Arts  from  London,  who  would  have 
thrown  the  petition  out,  as  we  did  in  the  case  of  the  Catholic  Petition  [in  1829]." 
See  above,  p.  336. 

9  To  R.  I.  Murchison,  24  March,  1831. 

*  Sedgwick  says,  in  the  last-quoted  letter:  "The  petition  will,  I  fear,  create  a 
contest  at  Cambridge,  in  case  of  a  dissolution,  and  such  an  event  would  be  almost 
the  death  of  me.'* 


CONTESTED  ELECTION  FOR  UNIVERSITY.         375 

views  than  those  of  the  present  representatives  of  the  Uni-      l83i- 
versity  upon   the  vital  question  of  Parliamentary  Reform."        ' 4  ' 
It   became  evident,  therefore,  that,  whenever  a  dissolution 
should    occur,   there   would   be   a   contest,  and   probably  a 
severe  one,  for  the  honour  of  representing  the  University 
in  Parliament. 

When  the  dissolution  took  place  (22  April)  the  con- 
servatives brought  forward  Mr  Goulburn  and  Mr  William 
Yates  Peel,  who  declared  themselves,  in  the  most  unqualified 
language,  opposed  to  the  Bill,  though  not  averse  to  the 
consideration  of  reform  in  general.  Neither  said  a  word  on 
any  subject  except  reform — an  omission  of  which  Sedgwick 
was  not  slow  to  take  advantage.  He  printed  a  short  address 
(2  May),  signed,  like  his  letter  to  Mr  Goulburn,  A  Resident 
Member  of  tlie  Senate.  After  pointing  out  that  the  two 
candidates  had  rested  their  claims  to  election  solely  on 
their  opposition  to  the  Reform  Bill,  he  proceeds : 

And  why,  may  I  ask,  have  they  reduced  the  question  within 
these  narrow  limits?  because  that  they  are  well  aware  they  have 
nothing  else  to  produce  as  a  recommendation  to  any  part  of  the 
University,  except  their  pledges  in  opposition  to  the  Bill  brought 
forward  by  Ministers. 

How  far  these  pledges  are  likely  to  be  fulfilled,  I  will  not  now 
stop  to  inquire ;  but  I  wish  to  put  this  question  to  every  Member  of 
the  Senate,  "whether  it  is  consistent  with  the  dignity  of  the  Uni- 
versity to  select  two  Members  to  represent  them  in  Parliament, 
on  account  of  the  Vote  which  they  may  give  upon  a  particular 
question,  without  considering  their  general  qualifications  for  defining 
the  interests,  and  maintaining  the  character,  of  this  Learned  Body?" 

With  regard  to  the  measure  of  Reform,  the  result  of  the 
Elections  which  have  already  taken  place,  must  convince  every 
impartial  mind  that  its  success  is  no  longer  doubtful.  The  ground, 
therefore,  upon  which  the  new  Candidates  lay  claim  to  your  favour, 
is  fast  crumbling  beneath  their  feet,  and  when  the  Reform  Bill  has 
passed,  I  defy  the  most  zealous  Anti-Reformer  to  point  out  a  single 
advantage  which  the  University  can  derive  from  this  change  in  its 
Representatives. 

This  appeal  to  what  might  happen  in  the  future  met,  we 
may  well  suppose,  with  but  little  consideration  in  those  stormy 
times.     A  large  majority  of  the  electors  were  satisfied  with 


376  GEOLOGICAL  PAPERS. 

1831.  the  knowledge  that  Lord  Palmerston  and  Mr  Cavendish  were 
jEt  46.  both  reformers.  The  former,  as  Secretary  of  State  for  Foreign 
Affairs,  was  a  member  of  the  Government,  the  latter  had 
voted  for  the  Bill.  The  non-residents  flocked  to  the  Poll, 
and  at  its  close  Mr  Goulburn  had  polled  805  votes,  Mr  Peel 
804,  Mr  Cavendish  630,  and  Lord  Palmerston  6101.  When 
the  election  was  over,  Sedgwick  wrote :  "  I  was  extremely 
fatigued  with  last  week's  work,  and  mortified  at  the  result 
more  than  I  can  find  words  to  express ;  and  it  certainly  does 
not  take  away  from  the  painful  feelings  when  I  reflect  that 
the  defeat  was  courted  by  the  vacillation  of  our  own  party*. n 

Amidst  this  excitement  Sedgwick  found  time  to  write  a 
second  paper  in  continuation  of  his  work  on  the  Cumbrian 
Mountains — a  Description  of  a  Series  of  Longitudinal  and 
Transverse  Sections  through  a  Portion  of  the  Carboniferous 
Chain  beween  Penigent  and  Kirkby  Stephen,  read  to  the 
Geological  Society  in  March,  1831.  With  this — and  his 
usual  share  in  the  Scholarship  Examination  at  Trinity 
College,  he  was  fully  occupied  till  the  middle  of  April,  when 
he  set  to  work  on  the  revision  of  the  paper  on  the  Eastern 
Alps,  which,  as  previously  explained,  had  now  to  be  recast, 
and  almost  re-written.  He  had  hoped  to  get  this  work 
rapidly  off  his  hands,  and  to  be  ready  to  start  for  Wales  at 
the  beginning  of  the  Long  Vacation.  But,  when  June  came, 
he  was  out  of  sorts,  his  time  had  been  cut  up  by  a  succession 
of  visitors,  and,  as  he  went  on  with  his  work,  he  found  it 
increase,  rather  than  diminish. 

Early  in  June  Murchison  started  to  commence  those 
investigations  into  the  then  little  known  Transition  Rocks, 
as  they  were  called,  which  ended  in  the  publication  of  T/ie 
Silurian  System.     Sedgwick  had  been  invited  to  accompany 

1  The  poll  was  taken  3—6  May,  1831.  An  analysis  at  the  end  of  the  Poll- 
book  shews  that  the  number  of  voters  was  1450 — a  strong  proof  of  the  excitement 
of  the  hour — for  it  exceeded  by  157  the  largest  number  polled  on  any  previous 
occasion. 

9  To  Mrs  Murchison,  11  May,  1831. 


TOUR  IN  NORTH  WALES.  377 

him,  but  his  plans  were  made,  and  he  declined  to  alter  them.  1831. 
As  events  turned  out  it  was  an  unfortunate  decision.  Had  he  ^  *6- 
said  "  Yes  "  instead  of  "  No,"  how  different  the  future  of  the 
two  men  might  have  been !  They  would  have  commenced 
their  exploration  of  Wales  from  the  same  point,  instead  of 
from  opposite  sides  of  the  principality;  they  would  have 
worked  out  the  proper  sequence  of  the  rocks  together  instead 
of  separately;  Siluria  might  never  have  had  an  existence 
independent  of  Cambria ;  and  no  misunderstanding  need  ever 
have  arisen  between  the  two  explorers. 

The  next  letter  describes  Sedgwick's  difficulties  with  the 
paper,  and  at  the  commencement  of  his  survey  of  North 
Wales. 

Llanllyfni,  near  Caernarvon, 

September  itfh,  1831. 
Dear  Murchison, 

Had  the  elements  been  more  favourable  you 
might  have  waited  long  for  an  answer.  But  I  was  driven 
by  stress  of  weather  to  Caernarvon  on  Saturday,  and  on 
Sunday  morning  found  a  packet  of  letters  waiting  for  me, 
and  yours  among  the  rest.  Yesterday  was  fine  and  I  did 
some  work  here ;  today  everything  is  wrapped  in  mist, 
and  the  rain  is  falling  in  buckets.  I  did  not  get  from 
Cambridge  before  the  1st  of  August.  The  Alpine  paper  was 
infinitely  more  troublesome  to  reduce  than  I  expected.  The 
fossils,  I  took  for  granted,  would  fall  into  their  right  places, 
and,  as  their  determination  was  not  a  part  of  my  labour,  I 
hoped  simply  to  have  the  trouble  of  writing  out  the  lists. 
You  may  therefore  judge  of  my  vexation  when  I  tell  you 
that  I  was  stopped  by  the  fossils  over  and  over  again  ;  that  I 
had  two  journeys  up  to  London,  and  that  Lonsdale  had 
one  down  to  Cambridge  arising  out  of  them.  This  was  not 
as  it  ought  to  have  been.  The  lists  ought  to  have  been 
settled  for  better  for  worse  sooner.  And,  after  all,  the  result 
is  far  from  satisfactory.  I  last  year  actually  bullied  Bou6 
about  the  lowest  strata  in  Styria,  assuming  that  the  fossils 


378  TOUR  IN  NORTH  WALES. 

1831.     were  those  of  the  London  clay.    Now  it  turns  out,  after  the  final 

JEu  46.    revjsjOIlj  that  in  the  lowest  Styrian  clays  there  is  not  a  single 

London  Clay  fossil  ascertained.     There  is  one  with  a  query, 

and  that  is  all :  in  fact,  I  do  not  believe  now  that  the  London 

Clay  is  found  in  Styria.     But  enough  of  this. 

I  spent  one  day  at  Dudley  and  two  days  at  Shrewsbury, 
and  finally  entered  North  Wales  on  the  5th  August.  As  the 
Prince  of  the  Air  would  have  it,  I  was  almost  drowned  in  a 
thunderstorm  the  very  morning  I  commenced  my  labours. 
As  the  greywacke  hills  continued  in  cloud  I  crossed  to  the 
vale  of  the  Clwyd,  hoping  at  least  to  do  some  work  among 
the  secondaries1.  It  would  have  delighted  me  to  have 
attacked  the  Mold  district,  but  I  knew  that  I  had  no  time, 
so  I  confined  myself  to  the  vale.  The  day  following  was 
beautiful,  and  I  worked  my  way  down  to  Denbigh.  Next 
day  I  made  a  traverse,  and  descended  to  St  Asaph,  thence 
in  my  gig  to  Conway.  The  Old  Red  all  round  by  Orm 
Head  &c.  &c.  is  a  pure  fiction.  At  least  I  can't  see  a  trace 
of  it.  There  is  not  a  particle  of  it  between  Denbigh  and 
the  Isle  of  Anglesea.  There  are,  however,  some  red  beds 
(which  may  pass  for  Old  Red  for  want  of  better)  in  a  ravine 
west  of  Ruthin,  and  in  one  or  two  places  near  Llangollen 
under  the  Mountain  Limestone  escarpment.  The  band  of 
limestone  on  the  east  side  of  the  vale  of  Clwyd  is  not,  I 
believe,  continuous — there  are,  if  I  mistake  not,  several 
interruptions  in  it.  I  spent  some  days  in  the  Isle  of  Anglesea 
in  the  hopes  of  learning  my  lesson  for  Snowdonia.  Henslow's 
paper1  is  excellent,  but  the  lesson  is  worth  next  to  nothing ; 
for  Anglesea  is  almost  as  distinct  in  structure  from  Snowdonia, 
as  if  they  had  been  separated  by  the  Atlantic  sea  rather  than 
the  straits  of  Menai.  I  have  now  been  at  real  hard  work, 
cracking  the  rocks  of  Caernarvonshire  for  rather  more  than 
three  weeks,  and  can  report  progress.  My  health  is  much 
better,  but  I  am  liable  to  rheumatic  attacks  at  night,  after 

1  This  term  includes  the  carboniferous  rocks,  as  was  usual  at  that  time. 
9  See  above,  p.  334. 


CHARLES  DARWIN.  379 


the  fatigues  of  the  day,  and  truly  fatiguing  work  it  is  to  climb  1831. 
these  mountains  ;  but  nothing  can  be  done  without.  Already  -**•  4& 
I  have  been  upon  all  the  most  elevated  summits  in  this 
county.  This  is  pretty  well  considering  the  many  inter- 
ruptions from  mist  and  rain.  If  my  health  continue,  and  my 
limbs  are  not  jostled  out  of  their  sockets,  I  shall  remain  here 
as  long  as  the  weather  will  let  me,  or  at  least  till  I  have 
finished  this  county.  I  can  then  quit  the  country  with  a  good 
conscience,  and  if  I  live  till  next  year,  can  come  back  to  the 
Principality  in  good  hope  of  finishing  my  work  in  another 
summer. 

Under  these  circumstances  York  is  quite  out  of  the 
question.  I  should  be  a  traitor  to  quit  my  post,  now  that  I 
am  keeping  watch  among  the  mountains.  It  would  be  very 
delightful  to  meet  the  philosophers,  and  commence  deipno- 
sophist,  but  it  would  be  very  bad  philosophy  in  the  long  run. 
You  may  tell  Mr  Vernon1  that  keeping  away  is  a  great  act 
of  self-denial  on  my  part,  and  that  I  am  in  fact  doing  their 
work  by  staying  away.  I  shall  rejoice  to  meet  you  and 
Mrs  M.  at  Cambridge  on  your  return ;  you  may  then  tell  me 
all  about  it.  If  you  write,  address  me  still  at  Caernarvon.  I 
consider  it  my  head  quarters,  though  I  may  not  be  there 
again  for  a  fortnight  or  three  weeks.... I  have  no  room  for  a 
Snowdonian  transverse  section.  The  structure  is  on  the  whole 
regular,  and  the  strike  longitudinal ;  I  have  nearly  completed 
one  base  line  to  work  upon;  the  rest  must  be  done  by 
traverses.     My  best  regards  to  Mrs  M. 

Yours  ever,  A.  Sedgwick. 

For  two  or  three  weeks,  at  the  commencement  of  this  tour, 
Sedgwick  was  accompanied  by  Charles  Darwin,  then  a  young 
man  of  twenty-two.  It  is  provoking  that  neither  should  have 
written  down  his  impressions  of  the  other  at  the  time ;  for 

1  The  Rev.  William  Vernon  (afterwards  Vernon  Harcourt)  third  son  of  the 
Archbishop  of  York,  zealously  promoted  the  first  meeting  of  the  Association. 
Geikie's  Lift  of Murchisony  i.  185. 


380  DARWIN'S  RECOLLECTIONS. 

1831.  it  is  evident  that  from  this  time  forward  Sedgwick  took  a 
Mu  46.  keen  interest  in  him.  In  1835,  while  Darwin  was  absent  on 
board  TJie  Beagle,  Sedgwick  wrote  to  Dr  Butler  of  Shrews- 
bury :  "  His  [Dr  Darwin's]  son  is  doing  admirable  work  in 
South  America,  and  has  already  sent  home  a  collection 
above  all  price.  It  was  the  best  thing  in  the  world  for  him 
that  he  went  out  on  the  voyage  of  discovery.  There  was 
some  risk  of  his  turning  out  an  idle  man,  but  his  character 
will  be  now  fixed,  and  if  God  spares  his  life  he  will  have  a 
great  name  among  the  Naturalists  of  Europe1."  In  after  life, 
though  they  differed  widely,  Sedgwick  always  spoke  of  his 
geological  pupil,  as  he  may  be  termed,  with  cordiality  and 
kindness;  and  Darwin,  replying  to  a  note  received  from 
Sedgwick  not  very  long  before  his  death,  could  write  :  "I  am 
pleased  that  you  remember  my  attending  you  in  your 
excursions  in  1831.  To  me,  it  was  a  memorable  event 
in  my  life:  I  felt  it  a  great  honour,  and  it  stimulated  me 
to  work,  and  made  me  appreciate  the  noble  science  of 
geology.,,  In  1875,  in  answer  to  an  inquiry  from  Professor 
Hughes,  Darwin  wrote  down  all  he  could  remember  about 
the  tour  of  183 1. 

Down,  Beckenham,  Kent, 

May  24,  1875. 

My  dear  Sir, 

I  understand  from  my  son  that  you  wish  to  hear  about 
my  short  geological  tour  with  Professor  Sedgwick  in  North  Wales 
during  the  summer  of  1831 ;  but  it  is  so  long  ago  that  I  can  tell  you 
very  little. 

As  I  desired  to  learn  something  about  Geology,  Professor  Henslow 
asked  Sedgwick  to  allow  me  to  accompany  him  on  his  tour,  and  he 
assented  to  this  in  the  readiest  and  kindest  manner.  He  came  to 
my  father's  house  at  Shrewsbury,  and  I  remember  how  spirited  and 
amusing  his  conversation  was  during  the  whole  evening;  but  he 
talked  so  much  about  his  health  and  uncomfortable  feelings  that  my 
father,  who  was  a  doctor,  thought  that  he  was  a  confirmed  hypo- 
chondriac 

We  started  next  morning,  and  after  a  day  or  two  he  sent  me 
across  the  country  in  a  line  parallel  to  his  course,  telling  me  to 
collect  specimens  of  the  rocks,  and  to  note  the  stratification.     In 


1  To  Dr  S.  Butler,  7  November,  1835. 


DARWIN'S  RECOLLECTIONS.  381 

the  evening  he  discussed  what  I  had  seen;  and  this  of  course  1831. 
encouraged  me  greatly,  and  made  me  exceedingly  proud ;  but  I  jgt.  46. 
now  suspect  that  it  was  done  merely  for  the  sake  of  teaching  me, 
and  not  for  anything  of  value  which  I  could  have  told  him.  I 
remember  one  little  incident.  We  left  Conway  early  in  the  morning, 
and  for  the  first  two  or  three  miles  of  our  walk  he  was  gloomy,  and 
hardly  spoke  a  word.  He  then  suddenly  burst  forth :  "I  know  that 
the  d — d  fellow  never  gave  her  the  sixpence.  I'll  go  back  at  once;" 
and  turned  round  to  return  to  Conway.  I  was  amazed,  for  I  never 
heard  before,  or  since,  anything  like  an  oath  from  him.  On  inquiry 
I  found  that  he  was  convinced  that  the  waiter  had  not  given  to  the 
chambermaid  the  sixpence  which  he  had  left  for  her.  He  had  no 
reason  whatever,  excepting  that  he  thought  the  waiter  'an  ill-looking 
fellow.'  On  my  hinting  that  he  could  hardly  accuse  a  man  of  theft 
on  such  grounds,  he  consented  to  proceed,  but  for  some  time  he 
grumbled  and  growled.  At  last  his  brow  cleared,  and  we  had  a 
delightful  day,  and  he  was  as  energetic  as  on  all  former  occasions  in 
climbing  the  mountains.  We  spent  nearly  a  whole  day  in  Cwm 
Idwal  examining  the  rocks  carefully,  as  he  was  very  desirous  to  find 
fossils. 

I  have  often  thought  of  this  day  as  a  good  instance  of  how  easy 
it  is  for  any  one  to  overlook  new  phenomena,  however  conspicuous 
they  may  be.  The  valley  is  glaciated  in  the  plainest  manner,  the 
rocks  being  mammillated,  deeply  scored,  with  many  perched  boulders, 
and  well-defined  moraines;  yet  none  of  these  phenomena  were 
observed  by  Professor  Sedgwick,  nor  of  course  by  me.  Never- 
theless they  are  so  plain,  that,  as  I  saw  in  1842,  the  presence  of  a 
glacier  filling  the  valley  would  have  rendered  the  evidence  less 
distinct  \ 

Shortly  afterwards  I  left  Professor  Sedgwick,  and  struck  across 
the  country  in  another  direction,  and  reported  by  letter  what  I  saw. 
In  his  answer  he  discussed  my  ignorant  remarks  in  his  usual 
generous  and  frank  manner.  I  am  sorry  to  say  that  I  can  tell  you 
nothing  more  about  our  little  tour. 

I  find  that  I  have  kept  only  one  letter  from  Professor  Sedgwick, 
which  he  wrote  after  receiving  a  copy  of  my  Origin  of  Species9.  His 
judgement  naturally  does  not  seem  to  me  quite  a  fair  one,  but  I  think 
that  the  letter  is  characteristic  of  the  man,  and  you  are  at  liberty  to 
publish  it  if  you  should  so  desire. 

Believe  me,  my  dear  Sir, 

Yours  sincerely, 

Charles  Darwin. 

1  These  phenomena  are  described  in  a  paper  by  Darwin  in  the  Philosophical 
Magazine  for  1842,  xxi.  180.     See  Life  and  Letters  of  Charles  Darwin,  i.  57. 

2  This  letter,  written  in  1859,  will  appear  when  we  come  to  speak  of 
Sedgwick's  attitude  towards  Darwin's  great  work.  It  has  already  been  printed 
in  Darwin's  Lifey  ii.  247. 


382  DR  MILL. 


1831.  Sedgwick  got  home  sooner  than  he  had  intended,  driven 

Ml  46.  out  of  Wales  by  bad  weather.  His  letter  to  Murchison, 
announcing  his  return  to  Cambridge,  indicates  a  certain 
amount  of  disappointment. 

Trin.  Coll.  October  20,  1831. 

"  I  came  here  the  night  before  last.  The  weather  be- 
came so  bad  that  I  was  driven  out  of  Caernarvonshire  before 
I  had  quite  finished  my  work ;  but,  God  willing,  I  hope  to  be 
in  North  Wales  next  year  before  the  expiration  of  the  first 
week  in  May,  and  with  five  months  before  me  I  shall  perhaps 
be  able  to  see  my  way  through  the  greater  part  of  the 
Principality.  If  I  live  to  finish  the  survey  I  shall  then  have 
terminated  my  seventh  or  eighth  summer  devoted  exclusively 
to  the  details  of  the  old  crusty  rocks  of  the  primary  system1. 
What  a  horrible  fraction  of  a  geological  life  sacrificed  to  the 
most  toilsome  and  irksome  investigations  belonging  to  our 
science!  When  I  finished  Cumberland  I  hoped  some  one 
else  would  have  done  North  Wales — but  I  have  been  dis- 
appointed.   N'itnporte.     I  am  now  in  for  it,  and  must  go  on  ! 

Many  thanks  for  your  account  of  the  York  meeting.  I 
suppose  I  must  enrol  myself  one  of  your  body  corporate, 
though  I  shall  certainly  not  be  able  to  attend  the  next 
meeting  at  Oxford.     But  we  will  talk  of  it  when  we  meet." 

Before  the  Michaelmas  Term  was  over  it  fell  to  Sedgwick's 
lot  to  urge  the  claims  of  his  friend  W.  H.  Mill  to  be  chosen 
the  first  Boden  Professor  of  Sanscrit  at  Oxford.  Mill  had 
written  to  him  from  Calcutta  expressing  his  anxiety  to  obtain 
an  office  which,  while  it  took  him  away  from  a  noxious 
climate,  would  enable  him  to  "prosecute  the  Indian  studies 
I  most  like  in  an  academic  retirement  which,  though  not  the 
abode  of  my  mother,  is  that  of  her  venerable  sister " ;  and 
in  a  style  not  unlike  Sedgwick's  own,  proceeded  to  claim  his 
good  offices : 

1  He  told  Lyell  that  their  investigation  was  like  "rubbing  yourself  against  a 
grindstone."    Lift  of  Sir  C.  Lye//,  i.  367. 


LIVING  OF  EAST  FARLEIGH.  383 

"Now  I  do  not  suppose,  my  dear  Professor,  that  your  ad eundemx  1831. 
degree  gives  you  a  vote  in  Convocation ;  nevertheless  I  do  canvass  &.  47. 
you,  and  implore  you,  if  I  have  appeared  to  you  one  on  whose 
behalf  such  things  may  be  done  or  attempted  without  unjust 
partiality,  and  acceptation  of  persons  such  as  Scripture  and  sound 
reason  do  condemn — by  the  memory  of  old  times,  and  our  several 
meetings  and  crossings  in  France,  Switzerland,  and  Alsace — by  the 
canvassing  scenes  of  1818  and  1829,  diverse  though  they  be  in  many 
material  respects  from  this — that  you  will  wisely  bethink  yourself 
how  you  may  befriend  me  in  this  affair.  Perhaps  your  friends 
Professor  Buckland  (to  whom  you  introduced  me  at  Somerset  House), 
and  Mr  Lyell,  and  other  scientific  men  of  the  other  University  might 
be  induced  to  lend  me  their  powerful  aid  by  your  mentioning  my 
name  to  them*". 

Sedgwick  did  as  Mill  suggested,  and  at  once  wrote  to 
Professor  Buckland,  who  entered  warmly  into  his  views.  His 
letter  "  transcribed  in  a  fair  hand  " — a  preliminary  step  which 
was  doubtless  necessary  if  it  was  to  have  any  effect  upon  the 
University — was  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  Vice-Chancellor, 
together  with  the  testimonials  of  the  other  candidates ;  and  at 
first  Buckland  seemed  sanguine  of  success ;  but,  when  the  day 
of  election  came,  an  Oxonian  was  preferred  to  a  member  of 
another  University,  and  the  Professorship  was  conferred  upon 
Horace  Hayman  Wilson. 

In  March  1832,  Lord  Chancellor  Brougham  invited  Sedg- 
wick to  accept  the  living  of  East  Farleigh  in  Kent.  The 
offer  was  probably  prompted  by  personal  feeling  as  much  as 
by  the  wish  to  reward  a  political  supporter,  for  Brougham 
had  sought  Sedgwick's  cooperation  in  his  schemes  for  the 
diffusion  of  knowledge,  and  we  believe  that  the  correspond- 
ence had  led  to  more  than  one  interview.  Sedgwick  declined, 
apparently  without  hesitation ;  a  refusal  which  was  much 
deplored  by  several  of  his  friends,  and  especially  by  Lyell, 
who  records  in  his  diary  (16  March)  his  own  conviction  that, 
were  Sedgwick  to  leave  Cambridge  and  marry,  "  he  would  be 
much   happier,   and   would   eventually   do   much    more    for 

1  Sedgwick,  Peacock,  Whewell,  Airy,  Henslow  were  all  admitted  ad  eundem 
gradum  at  Oxford,  17  June,  1830. 

2  From  Dr  Mill,  6  June,  1831. 


384  LIVING  OF  EAST  FARLEIGH. 

1831.     geology1."     Lyell  states  that  it  was  Murchison  who  advised 
-^  47-    Sedgwick  to  decline ;  but,  had  this  been  the  case,  Sedgwick 
could  hardly  have  written  the  following  letter : 

To  R.  I.  Murchison,  Esq. 

"  I  returned  this  morning  from  the  little  living  of  Shudy 
Camps,  from  which  I  used  to  derive  £40  or  £50  per  annum, 
but  which  now  is  worse  than  nothing.  Under  such  circum- 
stances you  will  think  it  strange  that  I  have  been  mad 
enough  to  refuse  the  living  about  which  you  wrote,  but  so  it 
is.  I  cannot  accept  it  without  my  Professorship  being  vacant, 
and  breaking  off  my  work  in  the  middle.  I  do  not  think 
this  would  be  to  my  honour,  or  that  it  would  add  to  my 
happiness.  Many  thanks  for  your  kind  note.  I  have  written 
to  Le  Marchant*,  and  also  to  the  Lord  Chancellor ;  to  the 
former  yesterday  between  services,  to  the  latter  to-day.  I 
fear  they  will  both  set  me  down  for  an  egregious  fool8." 

If  Sedgwick  was  serious  in  thinking  that  the  Chancellor 
would  ridicule  him  for  saying  "  No,"  the  answer  which  he  was 
not  long  in  receiving  must  have  caused  him  considerable 
pleasure. 

My  dear  Sir, 

I  read  both  your  letters  to  the  Chancellor  yesterday. 
He  more  than  once  interrupted  me  to  express  his  warm  approbation. 
When  I  had  done,  I  asked  him  what  I  was  to  say  to  you.  "Say  to 
him,"  the  Chancellor  answered,  "all  that  is  kind  and  respectful  on 
my  part";  and  he  then  proceeded  in  very  forcible  terms  to  eulogise 
your  disinterestedness.  He  also  descanted  upon  your  claims,  and 
trusted  something  would  turn  up  that  would  enable  him  to  prove 
that  they  had  not  been  overlooked.  I  have  seldom  heard  him  more 
warm  in  his  commendation,  and  I  only  regret  I  cannot  tell  you  all 
he  said.  I  hope  however  that  I  have  recollected  enough  to  satisfy 
you  that  you  have  been  dealing  with  a  person  capable  of  appre- 
ciating merit 

Yours  very  truly, 

D.  Le  Marchant. 

1  Life  of  Sir  C.  Lyell,  i.  374.         a  The  Lord  Chancellor's  principal  secretary. 
*  This  letter  bears  neither  date  nor  postmark. 


LIVING  OF  EAST  FARLEIGH.  385 

Soon  afterwards  Sedgwick  had  an  interview  with  Lord      183*. 
Brougham,  and  it  was  probably  in  consequence  of  what  was    &tm  47- 
then   said   that  he  wrote  with  even   more   than   his   usual 
vivacity  to  Ainger : 

London,  March  17,  1832. 

"What  strange  things  are  in  the  womb  of  Time! 
Who  would  have  thought  that  the  Lord  Chancellor  would 
ever  offer  me  a  living  worth  perhaps  ^1000  a  year,  and  that 
I  should  refuse  it?  But  this  very  event  has  come  to  pass 
within  the  last  week.  You  may  well  think,  as  some  of  my 
other  friends  have  done,  that  I  am  raving  mad.  No  matter. 
The  Chancellor  thinks  me  in  my  sober  senses,  and  has 
promised  me  one  of  the  very  first  stalls  which  is  vacant — 
which  I  can  hold  both  with  my  Fellowship  and  Professorship, 
and  make  my  hammer  ring  more  merrily  than  ever  against 
the  rocks.... 

On  Monday  I  return  to  Cambridge,  where  I  have  some 
geological  papers  to  finish,  and  about  the  first  week  in  May 
I  hope  to  be  off  for  North  Wales,  when  I  shall,  I  hope,  be 
following  my  vocation  for  five  months.  On  my  return  I  shall 
begin  to  write  a  book  with  which  I  have  been  pregnant  for 
seven  or  eight  years." 

It  was  to  be  expected  that  the  high  spirits  which 
prompted  this  letter  would  not  be  maintained  for  long  at  the 
same  level.  On  the  very  next  day  a  reaction  had  set  in, 
as  Lyell  tells  us.  His  estimate  of  Sedgwick  is  severe,  but 
events  proved  him  to  have  been  right. 

"  Sedgwick  asked  me  to  walk  home  with  him.  I  found  a  gloom 
upon  him,  unusual  and  marked.  I  most  carefully  avoided  all 
allusion  to  the  rejected  living,  but  now,  when  the  first  excitement 
of  the  declining  the  boon  is  over,  and  that  others  have  expressed 
their  wonder  at  it,  and  that  he  finds  himself  left  alone  with  his  glory, 
he  is  dejected.  He  told  me,  Thursday  last,  that  he  wished  before 
he  left  Cambridge  to  do  something,  'Now  if  I  take  a  living  instead 
of  going  to  Wales,  I  abandon  my  Professorship,  and  cannot  get  out 
the  volume  on  the  primary  rocks  with  Conybeare/  etc.  Then  he 
hinted  that  in  a  year,  when  this  is  done,  he  may  retire  on  some 

S.  1.  25 


386  LIVING  OF  EAST  FARLEIGH. 

1832.  living,  and  marry.  But  I  know  Sedgwick  well  enough  to  feel  sure 
fix,  47.  that  the  work  won't  be  done  in  a  year,  nor  perhaps  in  two ;  and  then 
a  living,  etc  won't  be  just  ready,  and  he  is  growing  older.  He  has 
not  the  application  necessary  to  make  his  splendid  abilities  tell  in  a 
work.  Besides,  every  one  leads  him  astray.  A  man  should  have 
some  severity  of  character,  and  be  able  to  refuse  invitations,  etc. 
The  fact  is  that  to  become  great  in  science  a  man  must  be  nearly  as 
devoted  as  a  lawyer,  and  must  have  more  than  mere  talent1." 

On  reviewing  the  whole  case — with  the  help  of  what  we 
know  of  Sedgwick  in  the  closing  years  of  his  life — we  are 
inclined  to  agree  with  Lyell,  and  to  decide  that  he  was  wrong 
in  refusing  Farleigh.  No  doubt  he  would  have  regretted 
Cambridge  at  first ;  but  he  had  a  happy  capacity  for  accept- 
ing new  surroundings  and  new  occupations.  In  a  few  months 
the  rector  of  Farleigh  would  have  been  as  much  at  home 
there  as  the  Prebendary  of  Norwich  became  afterwards  in 
the  Cathedral  Close.  Nor  would  he  have  found  the  duties  of  a 
parish  clergyman — especially  as  those  duties  were  understood 
fifty  years  since — incompatible  with  the  pursuit  of  geology. 
His  best  geological  friends,  the  brothers  Conybeare,  were 
both  beneficed  clergymen,  and  we  believe  that  they  did  not 
neglect  either  parish  or  science.  Lastly,  Sedgwick  made  a 
fatal  mistake,  when  he  cut  himself  off,  irrevocably,  from 
marriage ;  and  that  he  deliberately  chose  a  bachelor  life  is 
evident  from  what  he  says  about  his  readiness  to  accept  a 
stall  which  he  could  hold  with  his  Professorship  and  Fellow- 
ship. We  are  not  aware  that  he  ever  owned  to  regrets  for 
Farleigh;  but  in  the  loneliness  Vhich  is  inseparable  from  old 
age  within  the  precincts  of  a  college  he  not  seldom  dwelt 
upon  what  might  have  been,  had  he  been  blessed  with  a  wife 
and  children. 

Sedgwick  must  have  needed  some  distraction  after  the 
excitement  of  such  a  decision  as  has  just  been  recorded  ;  and 
he  found   it  in   the  entertainment  of   the   celebrated    Mrs 

1  Life  of  Sir  C,  Lyell,  i.  375.  The  above  extract  is  from  Lyell's  diary  for 
Tuesday,  20  March.  The  passage  immediately  preceding  the  extract  speaks  of  a 
party  at  Murchison's  on  the  previous  Sunday,  i.e.  18  March. 


MRS  SOMERVILLE  AT  CAMBRIDGE.  387 

Somerville  and  her  husband,  whom  he  persuaded  not  only  to     1831. 
spend  a  week  with  him,  but  to  occupy  rooms  in  College.  &u  47- 

To  Dr  Somerville. 

Tuesday  morning, 

[3  April,  1832]. 
My  dear  Sir, 

Your  letter  delighted  me,  and  I  am  sure  you  have 
decided  wisely  not  to  rusticate  at  the  Observatory1. 

The  time  you  have  fixed  is  the  best  of  all  possible  times, 
and  I  hope  you  will  write  as  soon  as  possible  to  finally  fix 
the  hour  of  your  arrival.  I  have  a  plan  in  my  eye  which  I 
think  quite  excellent.  Mr  Sheepshanks'  rooms,  on  my  stair- 
case*, are  now  empty,  and  I  believe  he  does  not  return  into 
residence  next  week.  In  that  case  we  will  mount  a  regular 
matrimonial  four-posted  bed,  and  try  to  domesticate  you  and 
Mrs  Somerville  within  the  College  walls.  This  experiment 
was  tried  and  approved  of  by  Mr  and  Mrs  Murchison.  The 
rooms  in  question  are  very  good ;  have  a  dressing-room  with 
a  fireplace  attached  to  them,  and  a  small  mathematical 
library  in  which  Mrs  S.  may  disport  herself  when  she  is  tired 
of  duller  subjects.  The  day  you  arrive  I  can  either  give  you 
a  quiet  dinner,  or  ask  a  few  friends  to  meet  you.  I  mention 
this  alternative  because  Mrs  Somerville  may  perhaps  antici- 
pate fatigue,  and  not  wish  to  meet  a  party  the  first  evening. 
Only  express  your  wishes  on  this  matter,  and  they  shall  be 
law.  I  shall  write  by  this  post  to  Sheepshanks,  and  if  by 
any  mischance  I  should  be  disappointed  in  my  present  plan 
I  will  secure  rooms  for  you  opposite  Trin.  Coll.     Give  my 

• 

1  Then  occupied  by  Geo.  Biddell  Airy,  M.  A.,  Plumian  Professor  of  Astronomy 
1828 — 1836.  He  and  his  accomplished  wife  were  intimate  friends  of  Dr  and  Mrs 
Somerville. 

3  At  this  time  Sedgwick  occupied  the  rooms  in  the  Great  Court,  on  the  upper 
floor  of  the  building  between  King  Edward's  Gate  and  the  Master's  Lodge, 
which  he  held  till  his  death.  He  succeeded  Professor  Clark,  who  accepted  a 
college  living  in  1825.  Sedgwick's  rooms  as  an  undergraduate  were  between  the 
Chapel  and  the  Great  Gate,  as  mentioned  above  (p.  78).  We  do  not  know 
where  he  lived  between  his  degree,  when  he  would  probably  change,  and  1825. 

25 — 2 


388  MRS  SOMERVILLE  AT  CAMBRIDGE. 


183^.     kindest  greetings  to  Mrs  Somervillc  and  your  family,  and 
&-  47-    believe  me  most  truly  yours, 

A.  Sedgwick. 

Dr  Somerville  replied  that  he  and  his  wife  had  "no 
habits  in  hours,  food,  or  in  any  other  circumstances.  Dispose 
of  us  as  you  list;  we  are  ready  to  feed  in  seclusion,  petit 
comity  or  in  any  party  you  like  to  form  on  Monday,  meaning 
not  to  be  fatigued  by  the  journey,  which  rather  recruits 
Mrs  Somerville."  To  this  communication  Sedgwick  promptly 
replied : 

To  Dr  Somerville. 

Trin.  Coll.  Thursday  evening, 

[5  April,  1832]. 
My  dear  Sir, 

Your  letter  delighted  me.  I  have  ordered  dinner  on 
Monday  at  half-past  six,  and  shall  have  a  small  party  to 
welcome  you  and  Mrs  Somerville.  In  order  that  we  may  not 
have  to  fight  for  you  we  have  been  entering  on  the  best 
arrangements  we  can  think  of.  On  Tuesday  you  will  I  hope 
dine  with  Peacock — on  Wednesday  with  Whewell — on  Thurs- 
day at  the  Observatory.  For  Friday  Dr  Clark,  our  Professor 
of  Anatomy,  puts  in  a  claim.  For  the  other  days  of  your 
visit  we  shall  (D.V.),  find  ample  employment.  A  four-posted 
bed  (a  thing  utterly  out  of  our  regular  monastic  system)  will 
rear  its  head  for  you  and  Madame  in  the  chamber  immediately 
under  my  own;  and  your  handmaid  may  safely  rest  her  bones 
in  a  small  inner  chamber.  Should  Sheepshanks  return  we 
can  stuff  him  into  a  lumber-room  of  the  Observatory ;  but  of 
this  there  is  no  fear,  as  I  have  written  to  him  on  the  subject, 
and  he  has  no  immediate  intention  of  returning.  You  will  of 
course  drive  to  the  great  gate  of  Trinity  College,  and  my 
servant  will  be  in  waiting  at  the  Porter's  Lodge  to  shew  you 
the  way  to  your  academic  residence.  We  have  no  Canons  at 
Trin.  Coll.  others  (sic)  we  would  fire  a  salute  on  your  entry. 


MRS  SOMERVILLE  AT  CAMBRIDGE.  389 

We  will  however  give   you  the  warmest  greeting  we  can.      183*. 
Meanwhile  give  my  best  regards  to  Mrs  S.  and  believe  me    ^-47- 
most  truly  yours,  A.  SEDGWICK. 

The  visit  lasted  for  a  week,  and  though  Sedgwick  un- 
fortunately was  "sadly  out  of  sorts"  during  part  of  the 
time,  he  evidently  enjoyed  himself  thoroughly.  Whewell, 
whose  health  and  spirits  were  always  in  good  order,  was  quite 
as  enthusiastic  in  his  commendation  of  the  lady.  Before  she 
came  to  Cambridge,  he  had  probably  known  her  only  as  the 
authoress  of  The  Meclianism  of  tfie  Heavens,  and  was  somewhat 
surprised  to  find  her  not  only  accomplished  in  music,  drawing, 
and  various  languages,  but  "a  very  feminine,  gentle,  lively 
person,  with  no  kind  of  pretence  to  superiority  in  her 
manners  or  conversation V  In  consequence,  she  soon  be- 
came a  great  favourite  with  the  ladies  of  Cambridge,  and  a 
tradition  of  her  grace  and  affability  long  survived  among 
them.  When  the  week  was  over  Sedgwick  and  Whewell 
escorted  their  friends  to  Audley  End,  where  they  enjoyed 
their  society  for  four  days  more,  and  then,  as  Sedgwick  put  it, 
"  they  moved  to  London,  and  we  returned  to  our  respective 
dens  in  College."  A  few  days  afterwards  Mrs  Somerville 
expressed  her  satisfaction  by  letter : 

Chelsea,  April  35,  1832. 
My  dear  Sir, 

Fruitless  as  the  endeavour  would  be  to  express  how 
highly  we  have  been  gratified  with  the  delightful  week  spent  within 
the  hospitable  walls  of  Trinity  College,  I  still  feel  it  to  be  due 
to  you,  and  all  our  kind  friends,  to  assure  you  in  language  as 
rigorously  true  as  ever  was  conveyed  by  x,  yt  that  our  reception  has 
made  an  impression  upon  us  not  to  be  forgotten.  Our  anticipations 
were  sanguine,  but  they  were  surpassed  by  the  reality,  and  you  will 
only  do  us  justice  by  believing  that  the  attentions  so  liberally 
bestowed  are  duly  appreciated.  That  my  studies  should  merit  the 
notice  of  such  men  as  adorn  your  University,  it  would  have  been 
presumption  to  expect ;  their  approbation  therefore,  so  handsomely 
given,  is  the  more  gratifying.  The  two  acts  of  our  little  drama,  the 
first  at  Cambridge,  and  the  second  at  Audley  End,  form  a  very 
agreeable  episode  in  our  life. 

1  \V  he  well's  Life,  by  Mrs  Stair  Douglas,  p.  142. 


39©  BRITISH  ASSOCIATION  AT  OXFORD. 

!83i.  I  trust  you  have  completely  recovered  from  the  cold  which  I  fear 

JEu  47.  vou  caught  while  kindly  devoting  your  time  to  me,  and  that  we  shall 
soon  have  the  pleasure  of  seeing  you  in  town.  I  beg  you  will  let  me 
know  of  your  arrival  before  you  have  made  engagements  among  the 
numerous  friends  who  are  so  desirous  of  your  society,  for  I  can  assure 
you  there  is  no  one  who  will  value  the  privilege  of  being  included 
among  them  more  than  yours  very  sincerely, 

Mary  Somerville. 

Sedgwick  started  for  Wales  towards  the  end  of  May,  as 
he  had  proposed ;  but,  anxious  as  he  was  to  complete  his 
work  there,  he  allowed  himself  a  week's  holiday  in  June  at 
Oxford,  where  the  British  Association  held  its  second  meeting. 
He  had  rather  sneered  at  the  notion  of  such  a  gathering  when 
it  was  first  started,  and  had  protested  that  he  would  not  leave 
Wales  for  either  York  or  Oxford.  Murchison,  however,  made 
him  break  his  resolution  in  favour  of  the  latter  city,  and 
Buckland  clenched  the  matter  by  a  humorous  invitation 
which  nobody  could  well  have  refused.  "  I  exhort  you,"  he 
wrote,  "by  all  your  love  for  Professorial  Unity  and  the 
eternal  fitness  of  things,  to  locate  yourself  in  a  fraternal 
habitat  within  my  domicile  during  the  orgies  of  the  week 
beginning  on  the  3rd  of  June1,"  and  then  went  on  to  tell  him 
of  the  arrangements  that  Mrs  Buckland  had  made  for  his 
comfort,  and  the  friends  whom  he  would  probably  meet. 
Still  he  went  unwillingly,  and,  not  many  days  before  the 
meeting  assembled,  wrote  to  Murchison  : 

Caernarvon,  Juru  5,  1832. 

...I  shall  be  glad  to  make  myself  of  use  [at  Oxford], 
but  in  the  bustle  of  the  meeting,  and  among  friends,  philo- 
sophical reporters,  blue-stockings,  and  big-wigs,  I  shall  not 
find  much  time.  If  I  say  anything  it  must  be  extrutnpery, 
and  I  suppose  about  Snowdonia,  which  I  now  know  something 
about.  It  is,  however,  a  terrible  hard  crust  for  sucking  geo- 
logists to  mumble,  and  as  for  the  ladies  (God  bless  'em !)  it 
will  I  fear  turn  their  stomachs.     I  am,  in  short,  willing  to  be 

1  From  Rev.  W.  Buckland,  19  April,  1832. 


BRITISH  ASSOCIATION  AT  OXFORD.  391 

of  use,  but  I  have  not  good  cards  in  my  hand  ;  and  if  other     183*. 
people  are  there  who  are  better  prepared  (and  I  defy  them  to    &u  47* 
be  worse)  I  shall  be  very  glad  to  have  an  excuse  for  sparing 
my  breath.... Yours  to  the  top  end  of  his  hammer, 

A.  Sedgwick. 

Sedgwick's  reluctance  vanished  in  the  congenial  society 
he  found  at  Oxford.  The  Report  of  the  meeting  shews  that 
he  not  only  took  an  active  part  in  the  business  of  the  geological 
section,  but  accepted  without  a  murmur  the  office  of  President 
for  the  following  year,  when  the  Association  was  to  meet  at 
Cambridge,  saying  in  a  public  speech  "  that  it  would  be  at  all 
times  and  in  all  situations  one  of  his  greatest  pleasures  to 
contribute  his  assistance  to  the  British  Association1."  Six 
weeks  afterwards,  writing  calmly  and  deliberately  to  a  friend, 
he  admitted  that  the  meeting  had  "  gone  off  admirably."  As 
soon  as  the  meeting  was  over  Murchison  hurried  back  to  his 
work  in  Wales,  and  Sedgwick,  after  a  short  excursion  with 
Whewell  *cto  Stratford  on  Avon  and  other  not  distant 
places',"  followed  his  example.  He  was  evidently  anxious 
that  their  separate  investigations  should  become  part  of  a 
common  whole,  and  therefore  kept  his  friend  informed  of  his 
whereabouts  and  his  plans,  while,  with  indomitable  energy, 
he  followed  the  strata  over  hill  and  dale,  principally  on  foot, 
through  a  wide  extent  of  rugged  country.  The  rough  pen- 
and-ink  sections  which  illustrate  the  first  of  the  next  two 
letters  are  of  especial  value  as  exhibiting  the  views  which 
he  held  when  it  was  written. 

Barmouth,  July  23,  1832. 
Dear  Murchison, 

On  Saturday  the  30th  of  June,  I  had  from  Rodney's 
pillar  a  glimpse  of  you  and  the  Colonel  on  the  summit  of 
Moel-y-Golchfa.    I  landed  that  evening  at  Llanymynach,  and 


1  Second  Report  of  the  British  Association,  p. 

2  Whewell's  Life.  d.  hi. 


2  Whewell's  Life,  p.  141. 


102. 


392  GEOLOGY  OF  NORTH  WALES. 

1832.  spent  next  day  with  my  friend  Evans  in  a  proper  clerical 
&x*  47-  manner.  I  did,  however,  after  church,  go  up  on  the  hill  north 
of  the  town,  and  enjoyed  what  I  think  one  of  the  very  finest 
views  I  ever  beheld.  I  was  certain,  at  the  first  glance,  that 
there  was  a  great  deal  of  work  before  me  in  Montgomeryshire 
which  I  had  very  little  expected.  The  porphyritic  system  of 
Snowdonia  is  there  told  over  again,  as  I  made  out  from  the 
look  of  the  country,  and  the  information  I  obtained  from 
Evans.  The  next  day,  July  2,  very  early,  we  started  for 
Llanrhaidr,  where  we  breakfasted ;  then  visited  the  celebrated 
Pistill  Rhaidr,  which  is  caused  by  great  ribs  of  porphyry 
passing  through  the  greywack^,  which  it  binds  together  and 
saves  from  degradation.  The  water  tumbles  over  the  grey- 
wack6  and  porphyry  through  a  perpendicular  height  of  about 
230  feet.  It  is  a  gorgeous  fall  for  a  geologist,  though  the 
artists  think  it  formal  and  unpicturesque.  We  then  scaled 
the  Berwyns,  and  went  along  the  top  as  far  as  the  highest 
point  (Gaderferwyn),  and  descended  by  a  tributary  valley  to 
Llanrhaidr.  Thence  I  drove  to  Llangynog  late  in  the  evening. 
The  Berwyns  for  many  miles  N.  and  S.  dip  to  the  W.  or 
W.N.W. ;  there  must  therefore  be  an  anticlinal  line  in  Mont- 
gomeryshire ranging  somewhere  N.E.  and  S.W.,  and  probably 
passing  near  Llanfyllin.  E.  of  that  town  the  beds  again  roll 
over  to  the  S.E.  so  as  to  bring  in  the  newer  rocks  between  the 
Vernwy  and  the  Severn  which  form  the  base  of  the  system  in 
which  you  are  working.  Before  the  end  of  the  summer  I  shall 
endeavour  to  make  traverses  on  the  line  of  Llanidloes,  New- 
town, (perhaps  Pool  and  Montgomery),  Llanfair,  Llanfyllin, 
and  Llangollen  ;  and,  if  I  have  time,  I  shall  then  make  a  long 
run  towards  the  south,  so  as  to  make  one  or  two  long 
traverses  in  South  Wales.  In  this  way  our  work  will  link 
together. 

Next  day,  July  3,  I  crossed  the  Berwyns  to  Bala.  Through 
the  whole  ascent,  and  nearly  to  the  base  on  the  W.  side  of  the 
chain,  the  dip  is  about  W.  by  N.,  working  gradually  to  N.W. 
in  the  prolongation  of  the  chain  towards  Corwen.     On  the 


GEOLOGY  OF  NORTH   WALES.  393 

western  side  of  the  chain  an  anticlinal  line  strikes  through  the  1831. 
region  about  N.N.E.  and  W.S,W.,  in  consequence  of  which  Mx-  47- 
some  bands  of  black  shelly  limestone  I  found  at  the  top  of  the 
Berwyns  are  brought  out  again  with  an  opposite  dip,  viz. 
E.S.E.  These  bands  of  black  limestone  are  absolutely 
identical  with  the  transition  lime  which  separates  the  greywack6 
of  Westmoreland  from  the  great  system  of  greenslate  and 
porphyry  of  the  central  mountains  of  Cumberland.  They  form 
a  very  grand  base-line,  which  I  have  now  traced  from  Glyn- 
Diffws  (five  miles  N.W.  of  Corwen)  to  Dinas  Mowddy,  a 
distance,  as  the  crow  flies,  of  about  30  miles. 

From  Bala  I  examined  the  range  of  the  limestone,  and 
made  excursions  to  the  Arenig  chain,  extending  my  rambles 
almost  to  the  great  Bangor  road.  The  whole  region  forms  the 
side  of  a  great  saddle,  dipping  about  E.S.E.,  much  interrupted 
by  vast  unstratified  masses  of  porphyry,  which  are,  however, 
more  or  less  tabular,  and  range  with  the  strata,  without 
altering  their  dip.  A  little  to  the  W.  of  Penmachno  the  great 
Merioneth  anticlinal  strikes  in,  ranging  N.N.W.  and  E.S.E. 
(i.e.  geometrically  parallel  to  the  four  Caernarvon  anticlinals, 
and  also  to  the  beds  of  shell  limestone  above  mentioned). 
This  line  I  have  traced  into  the  sea  near  Barmouth,  and  I 
have  examined  all  the  country  on  the  W.  side  of  it.  In  short, 
I  have  toiled  like  a  slave,  and  have  made  myself  ill,  so  that  I 
am  now  almost  confined  to  the  house.  Tomorrow  I  hope  to 
be  in  working  condition  again.  There  are  no  porphyries  on 
the  W.  side  of  the  great  Merioneth  saddle  between  Festiniog, 
Harlech,  and  Barmouth,  but  an  enormous  fault,  which  cuts  slap 
through  Caernarvonshire  from  Llanllyfni  to  Tremadoc,  strikes 
in  three  miles  N.  of  Harlech,  and  may  be  traced  into  the  sea 
two  miles  from  Barmouth.  It  is  a  very  grand  geological 
phenomenon,  connected,  as  I  believe,  with  the  vast  eruptions 
of  syenite  in  the  S.  parts  of  Caernarvonshire.  The  country  S. 
of  the  Barmouth  river  I  hardly  know  anything  about,  having 
for  the  two  last  days  been  laid  up  by  a  very  feverish  cold  and 
sore  throat.    This  is  very  provoking,  as  the  weather  is  glorious, 


394  GEOLOGY  OF  NORTH   WALES. 

183^.     and  the  porphyritic  peaks  are  glittering  in  the  sun  as  if  in 

Ai%  47-    mockery  of  my  infirmity.    I  have,  however,  once  scaled  Cader 

Idris.     It  forms  a  portion  of  the  eastern  side  of  the  great 

Merionethshire  saddle,  and  differs  in  no  essential  respect  from 

other  parts  of  the  county.     The  crater  on  its  southern  side  is 

nothing  more  than  a  deep  pool  of  water  in  soft  calcareous 

grey  wack6 ! ! 

I  did  not  intend  to  make  you  pay  for  a  double  letter,  but  I 

have  already  scrawled  over  the  last  page  before  I  once  thought 

of  the  direction.     You  must  see,  by  what  I  have  written,  that 

I  have  had  a  good  harvest;    its  reaping  is,  however,  most 

laborious,  as  the  tracing  the  geological  parallels  compels  me  to 

climb  almost  every  mountain.     When  I  have  worked  down 

through  the  Cader  Idris  region  to  Machynlleth,  my  labours 

will  become  more  light,  as  the  hills  are  much  lower,  and  there 

are  great  uninteresting  tracts  I  shall  not  be  compelled  to  look 

at.     I   now  understand  what  formerly  I  was  puzzled  with ; 

the  transition  or  primary  system  of  North  Wales,  though 

enormously  thick,  is  not  one  tenth  part  the  thickness  one 

might  at  first  imagine.    In  consequence  of  the  anticlinal  lines, 

the  system  of  rocks  three  or  four  miles   S.E.   of  Bangor 

reappears   in   the  centre  of  Merionethshire ;    and  the  shell 

limestone  E.  of  Bala  lake  reappears,  if  I  mistake  not,  near 

Meifod  in  Montgomeryshire.   Pray  write  to  me  at  Machynlleth, 

and  tell  me  what  you  think  of  this  notion,  and  how  far  it 

agrees  with  what  you  have  seen.     The  dark  calcareous  beds 

near  Meifod  &c,  &c,  I  have  not  yet  seen ;  so  I  am  arguing 

on  an  imperfect  case.    I  will  fill  up  this  sheet  with  one  or  two 

sections  for  your  amusement. 

Most  truly  yours, 

A.  Sedgwick. 

Machynlleth,  August  10. 
To  the  same. 

"I    am    just  arrived   here,   and   have  got   your   letters, 

which  I  have  read,  or  rather  tried  to  read,  with  much  interest. 

You  must  see  at  once  it  is  impossible  we  should  meet     I  am 


7&* 

A 


u> 


-w/Ji, 


GEOLOGY  OF  NORTH  WALES.  395 

off  for  Towyn,  and  hope  in  two  days  to  finish  Merionethshire.  1832. 
I  shall  then  work  into  Cardiganshire  as  far  as  Plinlimmon  and  ^  4?- 
the  Devil's  Bridge.  For  this  I  will  hypothetically  allow  a 
week.  Then  I  double  back,  and  make  traverses  in  Mont- 
gomeryshire, partly  to  work  out  the  anticlinals,  partly  to  lock 
my  work  into  yours.  I  don't  quite  twig  your  sections ;  indeed 
I  can't  read  'em,  but  I  see  you  have  done  excellent  work. 

I  find,  as  a  general  rule,  that  the  moment  I  get  into  a  low 
country  the  strata  begin  to  roll  and  reel  about,  but  while  they 
are  in  elevated  ridges  they  keep  their  strike,  and  dip  beauti- 
fully, the  changes  being  produced  by  parallel  anticlinals.  I 
hope  before  this  sun  is  down  to  trace  the  great  Merionethshire 
anticlinal  into  the  sea,  north  of  Towyn.  I  shall  then  have 
followed  it  over  hill  and  dale  for  more  than  50  miles." 

To  Ainger,  as  usual,  he  wrote  in  more  general  terms. 
After  describing  himself  as  "burnt  as  brown  as  a  pack- 
saddle,  and  a  little  thin  from  excessive  fatigue,"  he  proceeds : 

"  I  have  been  rambling  in  various  parts  of  North  Wales, 
for  days,  and  almost  for  weeks,  together,  as  much  secluded  as 
if  I  had  been  in  the  centre  of  New  Holland.  Now  and  then 
I  stumbled  on  a  struggling  Cantab,  with  whom  occasionally  I 
also  contrived  to  spend  the  evening.  These  were,  however, 
rare  occasions.  North  Wales  is  Cumberland  over  again, 
only  on  a  rather  larger  scale,  and  expanded  over  a  wider 
surface.  The  valleys  of  North  Wales  are  many  of  them 
glorious ;  but  they  want  the  beautiful  lakes  of  your  county. 
After  all,  the  Lake  Mountains  for  my  money.  The  Welsh 
are  a  kind-hearted,  but  rather  dull  set  of  people ;  just  made  to 
be  beaten  by  the  Saxons.  It  is,  however,  wrong  to  judge  of 
a  people  whose  language  one  does  not  speak.  I  like  to  talk 
to  country  people,  and  to  see  their  humours,  but  from  this  I 
am  shut  out  among  these  children  of  Caractacus.  This  it  is 
which  has  made  my  solitude  doubly  solitary.  As  soon  as  the 
weather  changes,  for  it  is  now  detestable,  I  shall  look  again 
towards  the  south,  and  endeavour  to  effect  a  series  of  long 


396  CAMBRIDGE  PHILOSOPHICAL  SOCIETY. 

1832.  traverses  in  South  Wales ;  but  in  what  direction,  you  know 
ALu  47-  at  this  time  pretty  nearly  as  much  as  I  do  myself.  In  short, 
I  shall  hoist  sail,  and  sail  before  the  wind.  Before  my  final 
return  I  hope  to  spend  a  week  with  my  friend  Conybeare  in 
Glamorganshire;  this  will,  however,  depend  on  the  cholera, 
which  is  raging  not  far  from  him,  and  may  frighten  me  from 
my  present  purpose1." 

Sedgwick's  share  in  the  foundation  of  the  Cambridge 
Philosophical  Society  has  been  already  related.  His  sanguine 
anticipations  of  success  had  been  more  than  realised  in  the 
thirteen  years  which  had  elapsed  since  18 19.  The  members 
were  numerous ;  the  meetings  well  attended ;  the  papers 
valuable,  and  of  varied  interest.  Moreover  the  Museum, 
begun  in  the  very  first  days  of  the  Society's  existence,  had 
assumed  respectable  proportions,  through  the  exertions  of 
Professor  Henslow,  Mr  Leonard  Jenyns,  and  their  friends ; 
and  the  reading-room — which  was  not  restricted  to  Fellows 
of  the  Society — had  become  a  place  of  popular  resort  This 
rapid  development  might  of  itself  have  warranted  a  new 
departure  in  the  position  of  the  Society,  even  if  an  accidental 
circumstance  had  not  rendered  immediate  action  necessary. 
The  meetings  were  held,  for  the  first  few  months,  "in  the 
Museum  of  the  Botanic  Garden,"  and  afterwards  in  rooms  in 
Sidney  Street,  facing  Jesus  Lane.  These  were  commodious, 
and  well-suited  to  the  purposes  of  the  Society;  but  their 
tenure  of  them  was  limited,  and  early  in  1832  it  became 
known  that  the  owner  declined  to  extend  it.  Thereupon,  at 
a  special  General  Meeting  held  7  April,  1832,  it  was  decided, 
on  the  motion  of  Mr  Peacock,  to  be  "expedient  that  the 
Society  should  possess  a  house  of  their  own,  built  expressly 
to  suit  the  objects  of  the  institution ; "  and,  as  a  preliminary 
step,  that  a  charter  of  incorporation  should  be  obtained8. 

It  happened  that  these  important  measures,  amounting 

1  To  Rev.  W.  Ainger,  dated  "Llansilin,  near  Oswestry,  29  August,  1832." 

2  We  believe  that  the  Cambridge  Philosophical  Society  was  the  first  Society, 
out  of  London,  that  obtained  the  distinction  of  a  charter. 


CAMBRIDGE  PHILOSOPHICAL  SOCIETY.  397 

almost  to  a  second  foundation  of  the  Society,  were  adopted  1832. 
during  Sedgwick's  tenure  of  the  office  of  President,  to  which  ^  47- 
he  had  been  elected  in  May,  1831  ;  and  further,  his  name 
appears  alone  upon  the  charter.  As  President,  he  was,  for 
the  moment,  the  head  of  the  Society ;  and  the  adoption  of  a 
single  petitioner,  in  lieu  of  several,  diminished  the  fees  exacted 
by  the  Stamp  Office.  But,  whatever  may  have  been  the 
reason,  it  must  be  esteemed  a  fortunate  circumstance  that 
he,  who  took  so  deep  an  interest  in  the  Society,  should  be 
for  ever  associated  with  its  permanent  establishment  It  is 
almost  needless  to  add  that  he  was  himself  especially  delighted 
at  being  placed  in  such  a  position.  Writing  to  Murchison, 
7  November,  1832,  he  says: 

"Yesterday  after  lecture  I  presided  at  a  public  meeting 
held  by  our  Society  for  the  purpose  of  accepting  a  Charter. 
We  afterwards  adjourned  to  an  Inn  and  had  a  blow-out. 
Finally  three  or  four  of  my  friends  came  to  my  rooms  and 
kept  me  up  till  two  this  morning — for  which  I  do  not  now 
much  thank  them." 

We  can  readily  imagine  Sedgwick's  enthusiasm  on  this 
occasion,  probably  the  first  of  those  annual  celebrations  in 
which  he  bore  so  jovial  a  part ;  and  among  the  reminiscences 
with  which  he  used  to  amuse  the  company,  none  recurred  so 
frequently  as  the  story  of  the  charter,  when,  as  he  used  to 
say,  "  I  was  the  Society." 

Two  other  matters,  of  very  diverse  nature,  occupied  much 
of  Sedgwick's  time  and  thought  during  the  Michaelmas  Term 
of  1832.  The  first  was  a  movement — as  we  should  now  call 
it — to  call  forth  "some  expression  of  national  gratitude  to  the 
memory  of  Sir  Walter  Scott."  Sedgwick  became  a  member 
of  a  committee  appointed  for  that  purpose,  and  did  his  best  to 
rouse  the  enthusiasm  of  his  Cambridge  friends — but  without 
success.  The  scheme  proposed,  to  purchase  Abbotsford,  and 
to  secure  it  to  Sir  Walter's  children,  did  not  commend  itself 
to  the  common-sense  of  those  to  whom  he  tried  to  recommend 
it.     It  was  in  fact,  as  he  himself  said — "  a  strange  round-about 


398         CONTESTED  ELECTION  FOR   UNIVERSITY. 

1832.     way  of  shewing  respect1" — and  before  long  he  found  that  a 
&•  47-    few  very  modest  subscriptions,  given  probably  more  out  of 
regard  to  himself  than  from  any  other  motive,  would  represent 
the  generosity  of  Cambridge. 

This  was  succeeded,  after  a  brief  interval,  by  a  contested 
election  for  the  University,  in  which  Sedgwick,  Thirlwall,  and 
a  few  other  ardent  spirits  made  an  energetic  but  unsuccessful 
effort  to  persuade  the  constituency  that  Mr  John  William 
Lubbock,  Vice-President  of  the  Royal  Society,  as  "  a  man 
distinguished  for  his  literary  and  scientific  attainments,"  would 
be  a  more  suitable  representative  for  a  learned  body  than  a 
mere  politician.  Sedgwick  became  chairman  of  the  Cambridge 
Committee,  and  an  active  canvass  was  set  on  foot.  But  the 
"  vehemence  of  some  of  his  Whig  friends","  and  the  lukewarm- 
ness  of  others,  who  agreed  to  vote  but  declined  to  canvass, 
boded  ill  for  the  success  of  the  attempt.  After  a  ten  days' 
struggle  Mr  Lubbock  withdrew,  and  Mr  Goulburn,  with  the 
Right  Hon.  Charles  Manners  Sutton,  late  Speaker  of  the 
House  of  Commons,  were  duly  elected.  The  following  letter 
from  Dr  Samuel  Butler  reached  Sedgwick  soon  afterwards : 

Shrewsbury,  December  10,  1832. 
My  dear  Professor, 

It  is  better  to  retire  in  time  than  to  give  a  great  many 
friends  an  expensive  and  hopeless  journey  at  such  a  season  of  the 
year,  and  when  many  of  them  have  their  votes  and  interests  pre- 
occupied elsewhere.  I  had  written  this  morning  to  bespeak  chaises 
all  along  the  road,  especially  for  the  night  hours,  which  I  was  very 
anxious  about     By  to-morrow's  post  I  can  rescind  the  order. 

I  am  almost  sorry  that  Lubbock  offered.  I  am  no  cynic ;  I  hate 
to  snarl  and  not  to  bite ;  a  grin  and  a  growl  does  nothing  but  make 
one  laughed  at.  Another  thing  which  I  have  observed  in  the  course 
of  this  canvas  was,  that  people  did  not  like  to  be  called  upon  for  so 
long  and  expensive  journies  with  apparently  so  little  prospect  of 
success.  It  is  an  unwise  waste  of  strength  and  interest.  I  should 
not  be  surprised  if  some  of  our  well-wishers  took  their  names  off  the 
boards  to  avoid  such  frequent  solicitations,  especially  when  they  find 
themselves  on  the  losing  side.  I  say  this  because  I  hope  that  on 
some  future  occasion  time  and  man  may  be  well  chosen,  and  that  we 

1  To  R.  I.  Murchison,  7  November,  1832. 
a  Whewell's  Life,  p.  149. 


COMMEMORATION  SERMON.  399 

shall  act  with  good  hope  of  success,  and  not  without  at  least  a  fair  183*. 
chance  of  it.  Nothing  should  have  kept  me,  or  any  persons  whom  je\.  47. 
I  could  influence,  from  the  poll  on  this  occasion,  but  physical 
impossibility ;  but  wavering  or  luke-warm  persons  will  not  be  equally 
zealous,  and  the  oftener  they  are  called  upon  without  any  prospect 
of  success,  the  less  inclined  will  they  be  to  serve  us.  Therefore,  I 
say,  look  for  influential  candidates,  and  magna  notnina. 

To  all  that  can  be  said  of  Mr  Lubbock's  merits  I  most  willingly 
subscribe.  But  look  at  the  array  against  him.  All  the  force  of  Eton 
from  attachment  to  the  Speaker ;  all  his  family  connections ;  and  all 
the  Speaker's  parliamentary  friends.  He  was  a  well-chosen  opponent, 
whom  no  private  person,  however  high  in  character  for  talents  or 
virtues,  could  hope  to  conquer,  and  I  have  no  doubt  he  would  have 
headed  the  poll.  We  could  not  conquer  even  Goulburn,  who  has 
a  powerful  party  among  the  Saints,  and  whose  interest  is  increased 
by  the  talents  of  his  son.  Now  look  at  the  last  election.  Many 
voted  for  Lord  Palmerston  from  old  connections,  who  would  not 
have  voted  for  us  now.  The  high  connections  of  Mr  Cavendish 
were  all  on  the  alert,  and  stood  him  in  more  stead  than  his  own  high 
merits,  and  made  many  take  the  trouble  of  coming  to  serve  him, 
especially  among  the  aristocracy,  who  would  not  stir  a  step  for  any 
individual  of  private  family. 

All  this  I  say,  that  you  may  ponder  it,  and  either  keep  to  your- 
self, or  communicate  to  the  confidential  friends  of  our  party,  as  you 
may  judge  best.  But  I  repeat  my  exhortation  that  you  will  carefully 
look  out  for  highly  connected,  and,  if  you  can,  highly  popular,  as  well 
as  highly  gifted,  candidates.  Let  us  give  them  no  possible  advantage 
that  we  can  help.  There  is  time  to  look  about  before  the  next 
election.  Let  those  of  our  friends  who  can  be  depended  on,  be 
prepared  in  time,  and  be  secret 

My  dear  Professor,  I  have  one  grand  article  of  faith :  that  no 
speech  of  four  hours  in  either  House  ever  did  good  to  the  cause  it 
presumed  to  advocate ;  and  that  no  sermon  should  be  above  half  an 
hour  long  if  the  preacher  means  to  carry  with  him  the  good  will  and 
attention  of  his  congregation.  Now  I  am  afraid  my  preachment  to 
you  is  thirty  one  and  a  half  minutes.  God  bless  you.  We  shall 
meet  triumphant  yet.     Truly  yours,  S.  Butler. 

Before  the  year  ended,  it  fell  to  Sedgwick's  turn  to  preach 
the  sermon  at  the  annual  Commemoration  of  Benefactors  in 
Trinity  College,  on  Monday,  17  December.  It  seems  at  first 
sight  impossible  that  such  a  sermon,  preached  every  year  in 
the  same  place  on  the  same  subject,  could  ever  be  treated  with 
any  marked  originality ;  and  in  fact,  allusions  to  the  founders, 
benefactors,  distinguished  members  of  the  college,  and  those 
who  have  passed  away  since  the  last  occasion,  with  the  obvious 


400  COMMEMORATION  SERMON, 

1831.     lessons  to  be  drawn  from  such  occurrences,  form  the  staple  of 
-**•  47-    these  discourses,  which  vary  only  with  the  rhetorical  power  of 
the  writers.     Sedgwick,  however,  struck  out  a  new  line,  and 
produced  a  work  which  not  only  made  a  sensation  at  the 
time,  as  is  proved  by  the  fact  that  it  ran  through  four  editions 
in  two  years,  but  which  still  possesses  an  historical  interest, 
not  merely  as  evidence  of  the  breadth  of  his  own  studies  and 
speculations  beyond  the  range  of  his  particular  science,  but  as 
a  protest  against  the  metaphysical  and  ethical  doctrines  then 
commonly  accepted.     Unfortunately  it  is  now  presented  to  us 
in  a  form  so  different  from  that  in  which  it  was  originally 
delivered,  that  it  is  impossible  to  realise  the  effect  produced 
on   those  who   heard   it.     The   subject,   Tlie  Studies  of  tJie 
University,    had    probably    occupied    Sedgwick's    thoughts 
for    a    long    while ;    but,    with    more   than   usual    procras- 
tination, he  did  not  put  pen  to  paper  until  the   Thursday 
preceding  the  day  of  delivery1.     In  consequence,  when  asked 
to  publish,  he  found  himself  in  a  considerable  difficulty.     As 
he  says  in  the  preface :   "  having  animadverted  with  much 
freedom  on  some  parts  of  the  Cambridge  course  of  reading, 
[the  author]  felt  himself  compelled,  before  he  dared  to  give 
what  he  had  written  to  the  public,  to  enter  at  more  length  on 
a  justification  of  his  opinions.     On  this  account,  his  remarks 
on  the  classical,   metaphysical,  and    moral    studies  of  the 
University  were  cast  over  again,  and  expanded  to  at  least 
three  times  their  original  length."     In  fact,  only  one-third  of 
the  work  remains  as  it  was  originally  written ;  and  this,  it 
must  be  reluctantly  confessed,  is  not  in  Sedgwick's  happiest 
vein.     The  style  is  heavy  and  laboured,  and  there  are  none  of 
those  eloquent  passages  which  made  his  speeches  so  animated 
and  so  delightful.     The  matter,  therefore,  rather  than   the 
manner,  must  have  caused  those  who  heard  it  to  wish  to  read 

1  To  R.  I.  Murchison,  8  December,  1831.  **  I  cannot  be  up  in  Town  on 
Monday  the  17th,. ..when  I  have  to  preach  the  Anniversary  Sermon.  How  I  shall 
get  through  I  don't  know,  as  I  have  not  yet  written  it,  and  till  next  Thursday 
night  shall  not  have  much  time  to  think  about  Divinity." 


COMMEMORATION  SERMON.  401 

it   quietly  at   home.     This   wish,  expressed   to  Whewell  as     1831. 
Senior  Tutor,  reached  Sedgwick  in  the  following  letter :  -^t.  47. 

From  Mr  Whewell. 

Trinity  College,  December  23,  183*. 
My  dear  Sedgwick, 

When  you  had  scribbled  down  the  last  sentence  of  your 
sermon  after  the  bell  had  stopt,  and  had  succeeded  by  a  sort  of 
miracle  in  reading  your  pothooks  without  spectacles,  omitting  how- 
ever half  the  sentences,  and  a  quarter  of  the  syllables  of  those  which 
remained,  I  daresay  you  thought  you  had  done  marvellously  well, 
and  had  completed,  or  more  properly  had  ended,  your  task.  In  this, 
however,  you  were  mistaken,  as  I  hope  soon  to  make  you  acknow- 
ledge. 

The  rising  generation,  who  cannot  err,  inasmuch  as  they  will 
discourse  most  wise  and  true  sentences  when  you  and  I  are  laid  in 
the  alluvial  soil,  declare  that  their  intellectual  culture  requires  that 
you  should  print  and  publish  your  sermon.  I  will  give  you  a  list  on 
the  other  side  of  the  names  of  the  persons  who  have  joined  in 
expressing  this  wish.  I  undertook  very  willingly  to  communicate 
this  their  desire  to  your  reverence,  inasmuch  as  I  thought  your 
sermon  full  of  notions,  as  the  Americans  speak,  which  it  will  be  very 
useful  and  beneficial  to  put  in  their  heads;  or  rather  to  call  them 
out,  for  a  great  number  of  those  good  thoughts  are  already  ensconced 
in  the  excellent  noddles  of  our  youngsters,  like  flies  in  a  bookcase  in 
winter,  and  require  only  the  sunshine  of  your  seniorial  countenance 
to  call  them  into  life  and  volatility.  I  do  not  know  anything  which 
will  more  tend  to  fix  in  their  minds  all  the  good  they  get  here  than 
to  have  such  feelings  as  you  expressed,  at  the  same  time  the  gravest 
and  the  most  animating  which  belong  to  our  position,  stamped,  upon 
a  solemn  and  official  occasion,  as  the  common  property  of  them  and 
us.  And  I  also  think  it  of  consequence  that  when  they  on  their  side 
proffer  their  sympathy  in  such  reflexions,  we,  on  ours,  that  is,  in  the 
present  case,  your  dignified  self,  should  not  be  backward  in  meeting 
them,  by  giving  to  all  parties  the  means  of  returning  to,  and  dwelling 
upon,  these  reflexions. 

Such  is  my  thinking  about  this  matter,  and  therefore  I  have 
undertaken  to  urge  their  request;  and  I  hope  you  will  be  able  to 
extract  from  some  abysmal  recess  your  manuscript,  and  to  place  it 
before  the  astonished  eyes  of  the  compositor.  It  is  probable  that  he 
will  look,  as  Dante  says  the  ghosts  looked  when  they  peered  at  him, 
like  an  old  cobbler  threading  his  needle,  but  never  mind  that.  The 
fronts  of  compositors  were  made  to  be  corrugated  by  good  sentences 
written  in  most  vile  hands ;  so  let  him  fulfil  his  destiny  without  loss 
of  time.... 

Yours  ever, 

W.  Whewell. 
S.  I.  26 


402  COMMEMORATION  SERMON. 


1831. 
jEt.  47. 


Petitioners  for  the  printing  of  Professor  Sedgwick's  sermon : 

Ld  Lindsay 

Monteith 

Cator 

R.  Morgan 

Blakesley 

Forsyth 

Childs 

Whiston 

Spedding 

Merivale 

English 

Seager 

Kemble 

Campbell 

Phelps 

Potts 

Garden 

Brook  field 

Good 

Scratchley 

Tennant 

Wright 

E.  Morgan 

Newton. 

Alford 

To  this  cordial  request  Sedgwick  no  doubt  gave  an  equally 
cordial  assent,  and  prepared  to  print  without  delay.  But  ill- 
health  (as  usual),  and  other  occupations,  intervened,  and 
November,  1833,  came,  before  the  Discourse,  as  it  was  then 
termed,  saw  the  light.  It  will,  however,  be  best  to  complete 
our  account  of  it  while  noticing  its  first  delivery ;  though,  on 
some  grounds,  we  should  have  preferred  to  wait  until  we  had 
reached  the  publication  of  the  last  edition  in  1850.  By  that 
time  the  modest  octavo  of  one  hundred  and  nine  pages  had 
swelled  into  a  ponderous  tome,  in  which  four  hundred  and 
forty-two  pages  of  preface,  and  two  hundred  and  twenty- 
eight  of  appendix,  include  between  them  ninety-four  pages  of 
discourse :  "  a  grain  of  wheat  between  two  millstones,"  as 
Sedgwick  himself  admitted.  In  conversation  he  has  been 
heard  to  describe  the  publication  as  "the  wasp,"  because  it 
had  so  small  a  body,  and  so  large  a  head  and  tail.  But, 
whether  he  spoke  seriously  or  in  jest  about  it,  it  was  the  pet 
child  of  his  brain ;  and,  as  is  the  way  with  indulgent  parents, 
he  perhaps  found  virtues  in  it  which  others,  especially  at  this 
distance  of  time,  may  fail  to  discover. 

A  detailed  criticism  of  the  Discourse  would  lead  us 
into  discussions  unsuitable  for  a  biography.  We  will 
therefore  content  ourselves  with  a  very  brief  sketch  of  the 
subject-matter.  It  must  be  remembered  at  the  outset  that 
the  studies  of  Cambridge  are  approached  from  the  moral 
rather  than  from  the  intellectual  side ;  that  the  author  is 
speaking  as  a  clergyman  from  the  pulpit,  not  as  a  philosopher 
from  the  desk.  To  him  Cambridge  was  a  place  not  merely 
of  sound   learning,  but   also  of  Christian   education.     This 


COMMEMORATION  SERMON.  403 

obvious  limitation  of  his  survey  has  sometimes  been  lost  sight  1831. 
of,  and  in  consequence  an  erroneous,  not  to  say  an  unjust,  ^  47* 
conception  has  been  formed  of  his  work.  The  studies  of  the 
University  are  reviewed  under  a  threefold  division  :  (1)  the 
laws  of  nature ;  (2)  ancient  literature  and  language ;  (3)  ethics 
and  metaphysics.  Under  the  first  of  these  divisions  natural 
science  is  considered  in  the  light  of  the  results  to  which  a 
reverent  study  of  it  ought  to  lead ;  and  it  is  pointed  out  that 
its  various  branches,  Astronomy,  Anatomy,  Geology1,  minister 
to  natural  religion,  and  "  teach  us  to  see  the  finger  of  God  in 
all  things  animate  and  inanimate.,,  In  other  words,  this  part 
of  the  discourse  may  be  described  as  a  rapid  but  forcible 
exposition  of  the  argument  from  design.  Under  the  second 
head  ancient  languages  and  ancient  history  are  briefly 
considered.  Sedgwick  was  no  scholar,  though  fond  of  classical 
reading,  and  he  does  not  seem  to  understand  the  necessity  of 
thoroughness  in  the  study  of  ancient  literature.  When  he 
deplores  the  time  wasted  in  "straining  after  an  accuracy 
beyond  our  reach,"  he  loses  sight  of  the   fact   that  without 

1  In  the  portion  of  the  Discourse  devoted  to  Geology  the  following  passage 
occurs  :  "By  the  discoveries  of  a  new  science  (the  very  name  of  which  has  been 
but  a  few  years  engrafted  on  our  language),  we  learn  that  the  manifestations  of 
God's  power  on  the  earth  have  not  been  limited  to  the  few  thousand  years  of 
man's  existence.  The  geologist  tells  us,  by  the  clearest  interpretation  of  the 
phenomena  which  his  labours  have  brought  to  light,  that  our  globe  has  been 
subject  to  vast  physical  revolutions.  He  counts  his  time  not  by  celestial  cycles, 
but  by  an  index  he  has  found  in  the  solid  framework  of  the  globe  itself.  He  sees  a 
long  succession  of  monuments,  each  of  which  may  have  required  a  thousand  ages  for 
its  elaboration.  He  arranges  them  in  chronological  order ;  observes  on  them  the 
marks  of  skill  and  wisdom,  and  finds  within  them  the  tombs  of  the  ancient  inhabitants 
of  the  earth.  He  finds  strange  and  unlooked-for  changes  in  the  forms  and  fashions 
of  organic  life  during  each  of  the  long  periods  he  thus  contemplates.  He  traces  these 
changes  backwards  and  through  each  successive  era,  till  he  reaches  a  time  when 
the  monuments  lose  all  symmetry,  and  the  types  of  organic  life  are  no  longer  seen. 
He  has  then  entered  on  the  dark  age  of  nature's  history ;  and  he  closes  the  old 
chapter  of  her  records."  These  remarks,  and  others  of  a  similar  kind,  so  shocked 
the  Rev.  Henry  Cole,  "  late  of  Clare  Hall,"  that  he  attempted  to  refute  them  at 
length  in  :  Popular  geology  subversive  of  divine  revelation  I  A  letter  to  the  Rev. 
Adam  Sedgwick... being  a  scriptural  refutation  of  the  geological  positions  and 
doctrines  promulgated  in  his  lately  published  Commencement  Sermon.  8vo. 
Lond.  1834. 

26 — 2 


4<H  COMMEMORATION  SERMON. 

1832.  accuracy  no  work,  whether  in  language  or  science,  can  be 
^l-  47-  satisfactorily  carried  out.  At  the  same  time  he  cordially 
approves  the  cultivation  of  Greek  and  Latin  authors  with 
certain  limitations;  pleads  for  the  further  study  of  their 
philosophical  and  ethical  works ;  and  in  justification  of  this 
points  out  that  "the  argument  for  the  being  of  a  God,  derived 
from  final  causes,  is  as  well  stated  in  the  conversations  of 
Socrates,  as  in  the  Natural  Theology  of  Paley." 

The  third  part  of  the  discourse  contains  a  severe  criticism 
of  Locke,  and  of  "the  utilitarian  theory  of  Morals"  as 
expounded  by  Paley.  In  this  Sedgwick  anticipated  the 
views  which  Whewell  subsequently  set  forth  in  his  Philosophy 
of  the  Inductive  Sciences  (1840),  and  in  his  various  writings  on 
Moral  Philosophy.  In  the  letter  dedicating  the  former  work 
to  Sedgwick  he  says :  "  the  same  spirit  which  dictated  your 
vigorous  protest  against  some  of  the  errors  which  I  also 
attempt  to  expose,  would  have  led  you,  if  your  thoughts  had 
been  more  free,  to  take  a  leading  share  in  that  Reform  of 
Philosophy,  which  all  who  are  alive  to  such  errors,  must  see 
to  be  now  indispensable."  It  is  not  improbable,  having 
regard  to  the  intimacy  between  Whewell  and  Sedgwick  at 
that  time,  that  the  views  set  forth  in  the  Discourse  may  be  the 
result  of  conversations  between  them.  Moreover  there  was  a 
strong  taste  for  metaphysical  speculation  in  Trinity  College 
in  those  days;  and  Thirlwall,  Hare,  and  their  friends,  who 
were  Sedgwick's  friends  as  well,  would  "tire  the  sun  with 
talking"  on  these  subjects.  In  heading  a  reaction  against 
Locke  and  Paley,  Sedgwick  merely  gave  expression  to  opinions 
deliberately  arrived  at  by  the  most  thoughtful  men  with 
whom  he  was  associated.  One  passage  from  his  criticism  on 
Locke,  though  it  has  been  often  quoted,  is  so  graphic,  and 
illustrates  so  well  his  position,  that  it  may  find  a  place  here : 

If  the  mind  be  without  innate  knowledge,  is  it  also  to  be  con- 
sidered as  without  innate  feelings  and  capacities — a  piece  of  blank 
paper,  the  mere  passive  recipient  of  impressions  from  without  ?  The 
whole  history  of  man  shows  this  hypothesis  to  be  an  outrage  on  his 


COMMEMORATION  SERMON.  405 

moral  nature.  Naked  he  comes  from  his  mother's  womb;  endowed  1833. 
with  limbs  and  senses  indeed,  well  fitted  to  the  material  world,  yet  fix.  4gg 
powerless  from  want  of  use ;  and  as  for  knowledge,  his  soul  is  one 
unvaried  blank:  yet  has  this  blank  been  already  touched  by  a 
celestial  hand,  and  when  plunged  in  the  colours  which  surround  it, 
it  takes  not  its  tinge  from  accident  but  design,  and  comes  forth 
covered  with  a  glorious  pattern. 

Interest  in  the  Discourse  was  not  confined  to  Cambridge. 
The  Quarterly  Review,  though  it  did  not  devote  an  article  to 
it,  called  it  "the  most  remarkable  pamphlet  since  Burke's 
Reflections  ;"  and  John  Stuart  Mill  said  all  that  could  be  said 
against  it  in  an  elaborate  article  which  he  afterwards  reprinted 
in  his  Dissertations  and  Discussions1. 

After  this  digression  we  will  return  to  Sedgwick's  own 
proceedings.  He  had  been  more  than  usually  unwell  during 
the  Michaelmas  Term,  and  therefore,  as  soon  as  the  Com- 
memoration was  over,  went  down  to  Wensleydale  in  York- 
shire with  Mr  Lodge,  and  thence  proceeded  to  Dent,  which 
he  found  a  good  deal  altered.  "The  architectural  beauties 
of  this  metropolitan  city/'  he  wrote,  "  are  sadly  on  the  wane, 
which  makes  me  rejoice  in  the  icon  I  have  at  Cambridge  of 
Dent  in  its  glory.  In  rambling  about  among  the  scenes  of 
my  childhood  I  sometimes  fancy  I  am  a  young  man  again. 
The  delusion  however  passes  away  when  I  look  about  me,  and 
see  the  young  fry  playing  about  the  old  parsonage  the  very 
antics  I  was  myself  playing  forty  years  since8."  During  his 
visit  he  gave  himself  a  complete  rest,  and  when  he  returned 
to  Cambridge  at  the  end  of  January  he  was  able  to  announce 
that  "my  Christmas  in  the  North  has  given  me  most  ram- 
pagious  health,  but  has  put  me  most  dreadfully  in  arrears8." 

Among  these  arrears  was  the  delivery  of  a  short  course  of 

1  Dissertations  and  Discussions,  by  John  Stuart  Mill,  8vo.  Lond.  1859, 
i.  95.  There  is  a  curious  article  in  The  Phrenological  Journal  for  September 
1834,  in  which  Sedgwick  is  reproved  for  not  alluding  to  Phrenology  in  his 
Discourse.  The  writer  is  known  to  have  been  the  celebrated  phrenologist, 
Mr  George  Combe. 

2  To  Rev.  W.  Ainger,  15  January,  1833. 

3  To  R.  I.  Murchison,  5  February,  1833. 


406  PRESIDENT  OF  BRITISH  ASSOCIATION. 

1833.  lectures,  to  make  up  for  some  which  he  had  been  compelled 
iEt.  48.  to  omit  through  ill-health  in  the  Michaelmas  Term  of  1832. 
Then  came  the  revision  of  proofs  of  papers  for  the  Geological 
Society's  Transactions ;  a  correspondence  with  Murchison  on 
the  speech  which  he  would  have  to  deliver  as  President  in 
February,  and  which  Sedgwick  evidently  revised  and  cor- 
rected1; and  lastly,  arrangements  for  the  visit  of  the  British 
Association  to  Cambridge  in  June.  But  the  year  was  barely 
three  months  old  when  a  fresh  attack  of  illness — evidently  a 
severe  one — put  an  end  to  all  work,  and  very  nearly  rendered 
the  President  elect  incapable  of  meeting  the  Association. 

Early  in  June  he  tells  Murchison  :  "  I  returned  home  on 
Thursday  from  Walton-on-the-Naze  very  much  recovered. 
Indeed  I  consider  myself  now  fairly  off  the  sick  list.  Perhaps 
I  ought  more  properly  to  say  that  I  am  restored  to  my  senses  ; 
for  during  the  last  seven  or  eight  weeks  I  have  been  under  a 
strange  mental  obscuration,  unable  to  do  a  stitch  of  work 
requiring  thought  or  attention*." 

But,  when  the  Association  met,  on  Monday,  24  June,  his 
ailments  were  forgotten  in  the  excitement  of  welcoming  an 
overflowing  assemblage  of  men  of  science,  not  merely  from 
England,  but  from  various  parts  of  Europe.  The  importance 
of  the  Association  was  becoming  recognised,  and  the  meeting 
was  in  every  way  memorable ;  not  merely  from  the  numbers 
gathered  together,  but  from  the  importance  of  the  work  done. 
And,  whatever  was  going  forward,  whether  a  general  meeting 
in  the  Senate  House,  or  the  more  private  business  of  the 
geological  section,  or  a  dinner  in  the  Hall  of  Trinity  College, 


1  After  the  serious  discussion  of  various  important  topics,  the  following  amusing 
passage  occurs  in  a  letter  dated  5  February :  "In  regard  to  the  animating  para- 
graph you  talk  of,  you  ask  for  what  is  almost  impossible.  You  cannot  take  a 
flying  leap  in  cold  blood,  you  must  lead  up  to  it  by  the  animation  of  the  chase. 
Anything  I  could  write  would  be  flat  as  ditch-water,  and  certainly  would  be  out  of 
tone  and  keeping.  Put  your  own  notions  in  black  and  white,  and  before  they  are 
printed  or  spoken  I  will  look  them  over  and  purge  them  if  I  think  they  want  it, 
and  you  will  endure  the  treatment." 

*  To  R.  I.  Murchison,  4  June,  1833. 


PRESIDENT  OF  BRITISH  ASSOCIATION.  407 

Sedgwick  was  the  animating  spirit,  delighting  everybody  by  1833. 
his  geniality,  or  thrilling  them  by  his  unpremeditated  eloquence.  ^*t*  *8, 
Had  he  prepared  his  speeches,  he  said,  "  the  intensity  of  present 
feelings,  would,  like  a  burning  sun,  have  extinguished  the 
twilight  of  a  remembered  sentiment."  Probably  on  no 
occasion  in  his  life  did  he  speak  so  often  and  so  effectively. 
Dr  Chalmers,  who  was  present,  spoke  of  "the  power  and 
beauty "  of  part  of  his  farewell  address  to  the  Association ; 
and  is  reported  to  have  said  in  conversation  afterwards  that  he 
had  never  met  with  natural  eloquence  so  great  as  that  of 
Sedgwick.  But  this  excellence,  so  delightful  to  his  con- 
temporaries, prevents  us  from  enjoying  more  than  a  very 
faint  reflexion  of  his  brilliancy.  The  reporters  could  not 
follow  him  ;  and  he  was  himself  too  indifferent  to  fame  to 
correct  their  travesties  of  what  he  really  said  as  fully  as  we 
could  wish1.  The  official  Report  is  of  course  a  better  authority 
than  the  Cambridge  Chronicle,  but  even  there  we  have  to 
content  ourselves,  for  the  most  part,  with  dry  bones.  One 
passage  from  his  opening  address,  in  which  he  announced  a 
grant  from  the  Civil  List  to  the  great  chemist  Dalton,  will 
bear  quotation,  not  merely  from  his  personal  interest  in 
Dalton2,  but  because  it  has  the  true  ring  of  authenticity : 

There  is  a  philosopher  sitting  among  us  whose  hair  is  blanched 
by  time,  but  possessing  an  intellect  still  in  its  healthiest  vigour;  a 
man  whose  whole  life  has  been  devoted  to  the  cause  of  truth ;  my 
venerable  friend  Dr  Dalton.  Without  any  powerful  apparatus  for 
making  philosophical  experiments,  with  an  apparatus,  indeed,  which 
many  might  think  almost  contemptible,  and  with  very  limited  external 
means  for  employing  his  great  natural  powers,  he  has  gone  straight 
forward  in  his  distinguished  course,  and  obtained  for  himself  in  those 
branches  of  knowledge  which  he  has  cultivated  a  name  not  perhaps 
equalled  by  that  of  any  other  living  philosopher  in  the  world.  From 
the  hour  he  came  from  his  mother's  womb  the  God  of  nature  laid  His 
hand  upon  him,  and  ordained  him   for  the  ministration  of  high 

1  Sedgwick,  writing  to  Murchison  7  July,  1833,  says:  "I  have  now  been 
working  four  days  at  it  [the  Report],  till  my  head  is  almost  in  as  much  confusion 
as  the  short-hand  notes.  You  never  read  such  a  chaos.  Our  reporter  was  not  up 
to  the  work,  and  what  he  has  done  is  almost  worse  than  nothing." 

2  See  above,  p.  248. 


4o8  CHARNWOOD  FOREST. 

1833.  philosophy.  But  his  natural  talents,  great  as  they  are,  and  his 
ALt.  48.  almost  intuitive  skill  in  tracing  the  relations  of  material  phenomena, 
would  have  been  of  comparatively  little  value  to  himself  and  to 
society,  had  there  not  been  superadded  to  them  a  beautiful  moral 
simplicity  and  singleness  of  heart,  which  made  him  go  on  steadily  in 
the  way  he  saw  before  him,  without  turning  to  the  right  hand  or  to 
the  left,  and  taught  him  to  do  homage  to  no  authority  before  that  of 
truth.  Fixing  his  eye  on  the  most  extensive  views  of  science,  he  has 
been  not  only  a  successful  experimenter,  but  a  philosopher  of  the 
highest,  order ;  his  experiments  have  never  had  an  insulated  character, 
but  have  been  always  made  as  contributions  towards  some  important 
end,  as  among  the  steps  to  some  lofty  generalisation.  And  with  a  most 
happy  prescience  of  the  points  to  which  the  rays  of  scattered  obser- 
vations were  converging,  he  has  more  than  once  seen  light  while  to 
other  eyes  all  was  yet  in  darkness ;  out  of  seeming  confusion  has 
elicited  order ;  and  has  thus  reached  the  high  distinction  of  being  one 
of  the  greatest  legislators  of  chemical  science1. 

The  rest  of  the  year  1833  was  very  uneventful.  Sedg- 
wick's exertions  to  entertain  the  philosophers  brought  on  a  fit 
of  the  gout,  and  when  that  had  passed  away  the  reports  of  the 
meeting  had  to  be  corrected  and  made  ready  for  press.  This 
business  despatched,  the  season  was  too  far  advanced  for  a 
campaign  in  Wales;  so,  after  a  week  at  Leamington,  he 
attacked  Charnwood  Forest,  accompanied  by  Whewell  and 
Airy,  and  "made  out  its  structure  in  considerable  detail  V  An 
amusing  note,  written  from  Leicestershire  to  Mrs  Murchison, 
indicates  his  difficulties  there,  and  his  subsequent  intentions : 

Mont  Sorrel,  August  nth,  1833. 
My  dear  Mrs  Murchison, 

You  offer  me  most  provoking  temptations,  but  it 
is  quite  in  vain  for  me  to  try  to  meet  you  and  Mr  Murchison. 
It  will  be  the  end  of  the  month  before  I  reach  Cumberland, 
where  I  want  to  make  a  few  sections  on  the  spot,  especially 
some  on  the  coast  near  Whitehaven ;  and  by  the  time  they 
.  are  over  it  will   be  high  time   for  me   to   face  about  for 

1  Report  of  the  Third  Meeting  of  the  British  Association,  p.  x. 

1  Salter's  Catalogue,  p.  xviii ;  WhewelTs  Life,  p.  155.  Charnwood  Forest  was 
one  of  the  places  of  which  Mr  Conybeare  had  suggested  the  investigation.  See 
above,  p.  3*5. 


WHITE  HA  VEN.  409 


Cambridge.  The  last  motive  you  mention  would  operate  1833. 
rather  as  a  repulsive  than  as  an  attractive  force,  for  the  lady  iEt-  *8- 
you  talk  of  is,  as  I  have  been  told,  a  most  formidable  and 
cruel  tyrant,  who  has  slain  her  tens  of  thousands  without 
pity.  I  should  not  like  to  be  offered  up  as  a  burnt  offering 
before  the  shrine  of  any  woman  sprung  from  Eve,  only  to  be 
told  that  I  was  suffering  in  good  company,  and  without  being 
permitted  to  take  a  single  cup  from  the  living  fountain  of 
hope. 

But  in  the  name  of  wonder  what  have  I  to  do  with  love 
and  hope  and  such  flimsy  matter  ?  I  am  wedded  to  the  rocks, 
and  Mount  Sorrel  (does  not  the  word  set  your  teeth  on 
edge?)  is  my  present  mistress.  By  the  way  she  is  a  little 
coy  and  hard-hearted,  and  refuses  to  tell  me  her  pedigree, 
and  to  introduce  me  to  her  old  relations.  But  I  am  going 
with  Professors  Whewell  and  Airy  to  knock  at  one  of  her 
back  doors  tomorrow  morning,  and  perhaps  we  may  make  an 
entry,  and  establish  ourselves  in  one  of  her  larders.  Should 
that  be  the  case  we  shall  dish  her  up  to  some  tune.  But 
talking  of  love  has  made  me  run  into  figurative  language, 
which  you  know  is  quite  out  of  place  in  geology ;  so  leaving 
all  figures  let  me  again  tell  you  how  much  I  thank  you,  and 
how  miserable  I  am  that  I  cannot  join  your  party,  and  how 
delighted  I  shall  be  to  meet  you  all  again  in  London.  Yours, 
my  dear  Mrs  Murchison,  to  the  bottom  of  Lyell's  Hypogene 
rocks, 

A.  Sedgwick. 

At  Whitehaven  Sedgwick  met  with  a  kindred  spirit  in 
Mr  Williamson  Peile,  manager  of  Lord  Lonsdale's  collieries, 
and  he  frequently  revisited  Whitehaven  in  subsequent  years. 
Mr  Peile's  duties  had  naturally  led  him  to  study  geology  . 
from  its  practical  side;  but  with  Sedgwick's  help  his  know- 
ledge was  largely  developed,  and  in  1835  a  joint  communi- 
cation was  made  to  the  Geological  Society :  On  the  range  of 
the  Carboniferous  Limestone  flanking  tfie  primary  Cumbrian 


410  MR  R.  M.   BEVERLEY. 

1833.     Mountains,  and  on  the  Coalfields  of  t/te  N.  W.  coast  of  Cumber- 
Mt.  48.    land. 

On  returning  to  Cambridge  in  October,  Sedgwick  was 
engaged  in  writing  the  appendix  to  his  Discourse,  which, 
as  mentioned  above,  was  published  in  November.  "Just  as 
the  last  term  was  waning  to  its  end  "  he  wrote  in  February, 
1834,  "my  sermon  broke  its  shell;  and  in  consequence,  no 
doubt,  of  the  long  incubation,  turned  out  to  be  six  times  the 
orthodox  stature.  Whether  it  deserves  to  be  sent  to  the 
flames,  for  being  of  these  most  heretical  and  monstrous 
dimensions,  you  will  best  judge  for  yourself  when  you  see 
it1."  Later  in  the  year,  when  the  third  edition  had  appeared, 
he  could  announce:  "It  has  been  very  well  received,  and  will, 
I  hope,  be  the  means  of  doing  some  good  to  our  young 
men  . 

While  Sedgwick's  Discourse  was  passing  through  the 
press,  a  slanderous  pamphleteer  named  Beverley  was  pre- 
paring an  elaborate  attack  on  the  University;  and,  by  a 
curious  coincidence,  the  two  works  appeared  in  the  course  of 
the  same  month.  The  pamphlet  and  its  author  were  equally 
worthless,  and  the  whole  question,  though  it  created  a  pro- 
digious excitement  at  the  time,  might  well  be  allowed  to 
rest  in  the  oblivion  to  which  it  has  long  since  been  consigned, 
had  not  Sedgwick  devoted  much  time  and  energy  to  exposing 
and  refuting  the  malicious  calumniator.  On  this  account  the 
matter  cannot  be  passed  over  ;  but  our  account  of  it  shall  be 
as  brief  as  possible. 

In  October,  18 16,  Robert  Mackenzie  Beverley,  a  native 
of  the  town  of  the  same  name  in  Yorkshire,  was  admitted 
a  pensioner  of  Trinity  College.  He  did  not  proceed  to  the 
degree  of  Bachelor  of  Laws  until  1821,  and  he  continued  to 
reside  in  Cambridge  for  some  months  afterwards.  If  his  own 
account  of  himself  could  be  believed,  he  was  a  virtuous,  hard- 
reading,  student ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  whenever  he  has  a 

1  To  Rev.  Charles  Ingle,  16  February,  1834. 
9  To  Bishop  Monk,  1  November,  1834. 


MR  R.  M.  BEVERLEY.  411 


particularly  disreputable  story  to  tell,  the  experience  of  one  1833. 
of  his  own  friends  is  given  as  the  authority  for  it  He  could  &im  48* 
not  therefore  have  known  the  best  set  either  in  his  own 
college,  or  in  the  University  at  large.  He  seems  to  have 
been  chiefly  remarkable  for  personal  vanity,  which  shewed 
itself  in  the  set  of  his  cap,  and  the  carriage  of  his  gown  ;  and 
for  an  effeminate  delight  in  dress.  "  For  chains  and  chitter- 
lings, for  curls  and  cosmetics,  for  rings  and  ringlets,  no  man 
was  like  him.  He  was  indeed  a  finished  and  a  fragrant 
fop — a  very  curious  coxcomb.1" 

In  those  days  he  professed  to  belong  to  the  Church  of 
England,  but  after  taking  his  degree  he  became  a  dissenter, 
and,  with  the  ardour  of  a  convert,  set  himself  to  the  task  of 
vilifying,  and,  if  possible,  of  pulling  down,  the  body  of  which 
he  had  once  been  a  member.  He  began  with  A  Letter  to  his 
Grace  t/te  Archbishop  of  York,  on  the  present  corrupt  state  of 
the  Church  of  England.  This  was  written  in  September,  1830, 
and  published  early  in  1831.  Coarse  and  vulgar  as  the  pro- 
duction is,  it  was  evidently  suited  to  the  taste  of  those  for 
whom  it  was  intended,  for  before  the  end  of  the  year  it  had 
reached  a  sixth  edition.  Beverley  was  delighted  at  his  unex- 
pected success.  "  Though  it  becomes  not  me  to  say  so,"  he 
writes,  "yet  it  cannot  be  concealed  that  my  'Letter  to  the 
Archbishop  of  York '  has  produced  a  practicable  breach  in  the 
walls  of  the  Establishment/'  He  therefore  lost  no  time  in 
publishing  The  Tombs  of  the  PropJiets,  a  Lay  Sertnon  on  the 
Corruptions  of  the  Church  of  Christ  Both  these  publications 
were  indited  with  the  avowed  object  of  effecting  "a  total 
separation  of  the  Church  from  the  State,  and  a  speedy  con- 
fiscation of  that  which  is  falsely  called  Church  Property." 
The  success  of  the  sermon  was  fully  equal  to  that  of  the 
letter.     It  was  largely  sold,  and  honoured  by  more  than  one 

1  Sedgwick's  Four  Letters  to  the  Editors  of  the  Leeds  Mercury  in  reply  to 
R.  M.  Beverley,  Esq.  8vo.  Camb.  1836,  p.  55.  See  also  Remarks  upon  Mr 
Beverley's  Letter  to  the  Duke  of  Gloucester.  By  a  Member  of  Trinity  College. 
8vo.  Camb.  1833,  p.  37. 


412  BEVERLEY'S  LETTER  TO  THE  DUKE  OF  GLOUCESTER. 


1833.  reply.  Beverley,  fond  as  ever  of  display,  and  perhaps  not 
iEt  48.  insensible  to  the  pleasure  of  making  money  by  the  sale  of 
pamphlets  which  must  have  been  easily  written,  began  to 
give  himself  the  airs  of  a  Luther.  His  exposure  of  the 
corruptions  of  the  Church  had  awakened  the  nation ;  his 
efforts  must  next  be  directed  against  the  Universities  from 
which  the  Church  draws  "its  mischievous  strength."  As 
even  he,  with  all  his  presumption,  could  not  affect  a  know- 
ledge of  Oxford,  he  confined  his  operations  to  Cambridge, 
and  in  November,  1833,  brought  out  A  Letter  to  his  Royal 
Highness  the  Duke  of  Gloucester,  Cfiancellor,  on  tJie  present 
corrupt  state  of  the  University  of  Cambridge. 

With  affected  candour,  Beverley  begs  to  be  allowed  to 
instruct  the  "illustrious  Prince "  whom  he  is  addressing  on 
certain  important  matters.  "It  is  not  to  be  supposed,"  he 
says,  "that  you  can  be  acquainted  with  the  arcana  of  that 
mother  and  nurse  of  arts  and  wickedness."  He  then  passes 
in  review  the  morals,  the  religion,  and  the  learning,  of  the 
University.  All  the  scandalous  stories  which  he  had  heard 
while  in  residence,  or  with  which  his  correspondents1  had 
supplied  him,  are  gathered  together.  His  ignorance  is  only 
equalled  by  his  falsehood  and  his  malignity.  Silly  tales, 
such  as  no  one  but  a  freshman  would  credit  for  an  instant, 
are  gravely  set    down    as    undisputed    facts.     Exceptional 

1  The  way  in  which  his  evidence  was  collected  is  shewn  by  the  following  notice 
"To  Correspondents,"  at  the  end  of  his  Reply  to  Professor  Sedgwick's  letter: 
"I  take  the  opportunity  of  thanking  my  correspondents  whose  letters  are  not 
yet  answered.  Two  letters  received  the  first  week  in  December  may  be  of 
service. 

"  One  correspondent,  however,  should  remember  that  it  is  impossible  to  rely  on 
any  anonymous  information.  As  the  Revelations  of  Verax  might,  if  properly 
authenticated,  be  useful,  it  is  the  more  to  be  lamented  that  he  withholds  his  name 
and  address.  He  may  with  confidence  venture  his  name,  which  will  never  be 
disclosed. 

"  The  testimony  from  Emmanuel  College  is  not  forgotten.  All  communications 
must  be  directed  to  the  care  of  the  Publisher,  and  the  postage must be  paid ;  for  want 
of  attending  to  this  established  rule,  some  letters  and  notes  have  been  refused 
admission."  Well  might  Sedgwick  term  him  "the  hucksterer  of  scandal,  the 
advertising  broker  of  impurity."    Four  Letters,  p.  37. 


BE  VERLE  VS  LETTER  TO  THE  DUKE  OF  GLOUCESTER.  413 

instances  of  folly  and  depravity  are  assumed  to  be  the  rule.  1833. 
Rioting,  drunkenness,  gambling,  immorality,  extravagance,  ^u  *8- 
are  stated  to  be  universal ;  the  Fellows  are  as  bad  as  the 
undergraduates ;  religion  is  a  farce ;  even  learning  is  a  thing 
of  the  past.  Lastly — for  Beverley's  real  object  in  writing  his 
Letter  is  artfully  concealed  until  near  the  end — the  Dissenters 
are  excluded  from  a  place  "  which  should  not  be  styled  a  Uni- 
versity, but  a  Particularity,"  by  an  iniquitous  system  of  tests. 
But,  before  it  can  be  made  fit  for  the  education  of  their  sons, 
Reform  must  have  reached  the  root  of  the  whole  mischief. 
The  only  practicable  course  is  "  to  confiscate  all  the  Univer- 
sity property,  to  declare  it  lapsed  to  the  Crown,  and  to 
remodel  it  de  novo." 

This  farrago  of  blunders  and  misrepresentations  had  an 
immense  circulation.  Three  editions  appeared  before  the  end 
of  1833,  and  the  author's  friends  among  the  dissenters,  who 
had  read  his  previous  works  with  satisfaction,  probably 
accepted  his  accusations  against  the  University  as  true. 
Those  who  knew  better  were  not  slow  in  replying.  Ten 
pamphlets,  most  of  them  written  by  indignant  undergra- 
duates, appeared  as  rapidly  as  the  editions  of  the  libel. 
Some  of  these  take  the  letter  to  pieces,  paragraph  by  para- 
graph, and  point  out  that  the  picture  there  drawn  of  Cam- 
bridge is  a  gross  caricature ;  others  hold  the  author  up  to 
ridicule  in  satiric  verse.  One  of  the  former  says,  with  much 
truth : 

"You  have  wilfully  and  deliberately  belied  the  Undergraduates 
of  Cambridge.  You  have  taken  particular  exceptions  and  built 
generalities  upon  them.  You  have  gloated  over  the  recollections  of 
your  own  College  intemperance  till  the  foul  corruption  has  quickened 
into  life,  and  your  imagination,  drawing  its  stores  from  the  scenes 
of  debauchery  in  which  you  once  revelled,  has  presented  as  the 
general  portrait  of  Cambridge  what  forms  the  rare  and  disgraceful 
exception1." 

1  A  Letter  to  R.  M.  Beverley \  Esq.,  from  an  Undergraduate  of  the  University 
of  Cambridge.  8vo.  Cambridge  and  London  1833,  p.  6.  The  writer  is  known  to 
have  been  William  Forsyth,  B.A.  1834,  afterwards  Fellow  of  Trinity  College. 


416  REPLY  TO  BEVERLEY. 

1834-  "  Our  opponent  I  believe  I  have  effectually  silenced  ;  and 

^t.  49.  many  years,  must,  I  think,  elapse  before  any  party  will  dare 
to  bring  forward  Beverley  as  an  implement  of  mischief.  I  had 
a  most  revolting  task  to  perform,  such  as  no  man  can  go  through 
without  dirtying  his  own  fingers.  If  you  saw  my  letters,  I 
hope  you  remembered  that  I  was  not  writing  for  gentlemen 
or  scholars,  but  for  the  instruction  of  a  multitude  of  bitter 
blackguards  in  the  shape  of  Yorkshire  dissenters1." 

The  following  letter  is  specially  interesting  as  shewing 
that  all  dissenters  were  not  prepared  to  agree  with  their  self- 
constituted  champion. 

From  Mr  T.  M.  Ball. 

61  Coleman  St.,  London, 
10  February,  1834. 
Sir, 

I  am  a  dissenter.  In  common  with  thousands  of  all 
creeds  I  read  Beverley's  Letter  to  the  Duke  of  Gloucester.  Of 
Cambridge  and  its  noble  University  I  know  but  little,  but  by 
common  report.  The  picture  drawn  of  its  condition  by  the  writer  of 
that  Letter  was  indeed  horrible,  but  I  for  one  could  not  and  would 
[not]  believe  all  he  had  written;  it  bore  evidently  the  stamp  of 
malice,  and  hatred,  and  every  unchristian  feeling.  You  may  suppose 
then  that  it  was  with  much  pleasure  I  read,  and  I  did  every  word  of 
your  excellent,  eloquent,  and  convincing  reply  copied  into  The 
Times  from  a  Leeds  paper.  I  have  also  this  morning  read  another 
in  the  same  Journal,  and  I  write  now  for  the  purpose  of  expressing 
my  hopes  that  your  promised  letters  will  appear,  not  in  a  country 
paper,  but  as  pamphlets,  for  I  should,  for  one,  wish  to  possess  them, 
and  you  may  be  sure  that  I  am  not  the  only  person  who  feels  this 
desire.  Although  a  dissenter  I  am  no  enemy  of  the  Church,  no 
dishonest  longer  to  grasp  what  is  her's  by  right  and  law.  Trusting 
you  will  excuse  this  intrusion,  which  only  a  love  of  truth,  and  strong 
admiration  of  your  admirable  replies  prompts  me  to  venture  thus 
addressing  you,  and  claiming  your  attention,  and  ardently  hoping 
it  is  your  intention  to  do  as  I  have  expressed  my  hope, 

I  am,  with  great  respect, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

T.  M.  Ball. 

Early  in  January,  1834,  while  staying  at  Milton  Park, 
Sedgwick  met  with  a  severe  accident,  by  which  his  right  arm 

1  To  Bishop  Monk,  1  November,  1834. 


DISLOCATES  RIGHT  WRIST  417 


was  disabled  for  several  months.  "  The  day  after  I  arrived  at  1834. 
Milton,"  he  says,  "  I  started  with  a  party  of  ten  for  Croyland  -**•  49- 
Abbey,  and  in  passing  carelessly  under  one  of  the  branching 
trees,  whether  by  the  swerving  of  my  horse,  or  by  incautiously 
raising  my  head  too  soon,  it  was  caught  among  the  extreme 
branches,  and  I  was  pulled  off  my  horse1."  The  extent  of  the 
injury  was  unsuspected  at  the  time,  and  the  patient  was 
treated  for  a  severe  sprain.  On  his  return  to  Cambridge  he 
sent  for  the  celebrated  surgeon  Mr  Okes,  "who  saw  the  whole 
extent  of  the  mischief  in  an  instant,  and  pointed  out  the 
existence  of  a  great  transverse  faulty  throwing  down  the 
metacarpal  bones  in  such  a  way  as  to  bring  one  of  them  to 
the  end  of  the  radius,  and  thrust  the  thumb  below  the  palm 
of  the  hand."  The  bones  were  soon  put  into  their  right 
places,  while  Sedgwick  "howled  loud  enough  to  shake  all 
the  windows  in  the  Great  Court;"  but  his  recovery  was  slow, 
and  for  several  months  any  work  that  entailed  legible  writing 
had  to  be  done  by  one  of  his  friends.  Even  the  letters 
against  Beverley  were  dictated  to  either  Romilly  or  Kemble1. 
His  efforts  at  lefthanded  penmanship  did  not  go  beyond  a 
letter  to  a  relative  or  an  intimate  friend,  nor  could  it  be  said 
of  him,  as  of  a  celebrated  Puritan  divine, 

"  though  of  thy  right  hand  bereft, 
Right  well  thou  writest  with  the  hand  that's  left." 

Such  a  condition  was  ill-suited  to  a  man  of  his  bodily  and 
mental  activity,  and  he  likened  himself,  no  doubt  most  truth- 
fully, to  "  a  chained  bull-dog." 

Before  long,  in  despite  of  his  maimed  condition,  and  the 
advice  of  doctors  to  avoid  excitement,  he  became  the  central 
figure  in  an  agitation  which  threw  the  University  into  confu- 
sion for  more  than  six  months,  having  for  its  object  the 
abolition  of  tests  on  proceeding  to  degrees.  For  the  moment 
he  and  his  friends  were  unsuccessful,  and  thirty-seven  years 

1  This  and  the  following  extracts  describing  the  accident,  are  from  a  letter  to 
R.  I.  Murchison,  8  February,  1834. 

2  John  Mitchell  Kemble,  of  Trinity  College,  B.A.  1830. 

s.  1.  27 


418  MOVEMENT  TO  ABOLISH  TESTS. 

1834.  elapsed  before  tests  were  completely  swept  away.  In  the 
^  49-  interval,  whenever  an  occasion  presented  itself,  Sedgwick 
shewed  unflagging  interest  in  the  cause,  and  one  of  the  last 
occasions  on  which  he  spoke  in  public  was  a  meeting  at 
St  John's  College  Lodge,  to  assist  the  movement  which 
resulted  in  the  Test  Act  of  187 1. 

The  movement  of  1834,  in  which  Sedgwick  bore  so  promi- 
nent a  part,  began  with  a  petition,  drawn  up  under  the 
following  circumstances.  In  December,  1833,  Professor  Pryme 
had  offered  Graces  to  the  Senate  suggesting  the  appointment 
of  a  Syndicate  to  consider  the  abolition  or  modification  of 
subscription  on  proceeding  to  a  degree.  These  were  rejected 
by  the  Caput.  In  February,  1834,  Dr  Cornwallis  Hewett, 
Downing  Professor  of  Medicine,  offered  a  similar  Grace,  with 
special  reference  to  the  faculty  of  medicine.  This  also  was 
rejected  by  the  Caput,  on  the  veto  of  the  Vice  Chancellor,  Dr 
King,  President  of  Queens'  College.  Finally,  12  March,  1834, 
the  Senate  petitioned  to  be  heard  by  counsel  in  respect  of  the 
charter  of  the  London  University1.  Thereupon  several 
members  of  the  Senate  met  at  Professor  Hewett's  rooms, 
Sedgwick  was  called  to  the  chair,  and  it  was  resolved  to  draw 
up  a  petition  to  both  Houses  of  Parliament — not  as  coming 
from  the  body  at  large,  but  as  expressing  the  opinion  of  cer- 
tain individuals,  who,  from  the  tactics  of  their  opponents,  had 
no  other  mode  of  recording  their  opinions9.  After  expressing 
their  attachment  to  the  Church,  and  the  University,  and  their 
conviction  that  "no  system  of  civil  or  ecclesiastical  polity  was 
ever  so  devised  by  the  wisdom  of  man  as  not  to  require,  from 
time  to  time,  some  modification,  from  the  change  of  external 

1  It  is  difficult  to  understand  why  this  demand  should  have  given  so  much 
offence,  but  Sedgwick  himself  enumerates  it  among  the  reasons  for  the  action  of 
the  petitioners  in  his  letter  to  The  Times,  dated  8  April,  1834.  The  University  had 
merely  prayed  to  be  heard  by  Counsel  in  support  of  the  insertion  of  a  clause  in 
the  Charter,  "declaring  that  nothing  in  the  terms  of  the  Charter  should  be 
construed  as  giving  a  right  to  confer  any  Academical  distinctions  designated  by 
the  same  titles,  or  accompanied  with  the  same  privileges,  as  the  degrees  now 
conferred  by  the  Universities  of  Oxford  and  Cambridge." 

1  Sedgwick's  Letter  to  TAe  Times,  ut  supra. 


PETITION  TO  PARLIAMENT.  419 

circumstances,  or  the  progress  of  opinion,"  the  petitioners  make      1834. 
the  following  statement :  ^tm  & 

"  In  conformity  with  these  sentiments,  they  would  further  suggest 
to  your  honourable  house  that  no  corporate  body  like  the  University 
of  Cambridge  can  exist  in  a  free  country  in  honour  or  in  safety  unless 
its  benefits  be  communicated  to  all  classes  as  widely  as  is  compatible 
with  the  Christian  principles  of  its  foundation. 

Among  the  changes  which  they  think  might  be  at  once  adopted 
with  advantage  and  safety,  they  would  suggest  the  expediency  of 
abrogating  by  legislative  enactment  every  religious  test  exacted  from 
members  of  the  University  before  they  proceed  to  degrees,  whether 
of  bachelor,  master,  or  doctor,  in  Arts,  Law,  and  Physic  In  praying 
for  the  abolition  of  these  restrictions,  they  rejoice  in  being  able  to 
assure  your  honourable  house  that  they  are  only  asking  for  a  restitu- 
tion of  their  ancient  academic  laws  and  laudable  customs.  These 
restrictions  were  imposed  on  the  University  in  the  reign  of  King 
James  I,  most  of  them  in  a  manner  informal  and  unprecedented, 
and  grievously  against  the  wishes  of  many  of  the  then  members  of 
the  Senate,  during  times  of  bitter  party  animosities,  and  during  the 
prevalence  of  dogmas,  both  in  Church  and  State,  which  are  at  vari- 
ance with  the  present  spirit  of  English  Law,  and  with  the  true 
principles  of  Christian  toleration." 

As  it  was  thought  desirable  to  get  the  petition  presented 
before  the  Easter  recess,  time  was  precious.  Accordingly,  it 
was  not  circulated  publicly,  but  lay  for  signature  at  the  rooms 
of  Mr  Thomas  Musgrave1  in  Trinity  College,  from  Friday 
14  March,  to  Monday  17  March,  while  those  interested  in  its 
success  solicited  support  by  private  canvass.  It  received  the 
signatures  of  sixty-two  resident  members  of  the  Senate. 
Among  them  were  two  Masters  of  Colleges,  Dr  Davy  of 
Gonville  and  Caius,  and  Dr  Lamb  of  Corpus  Christi ;  nine 
Professors,  Hewett,  Lee,  Cumming,  Clark,  Babbage,  Sedgwick, 
Airy,  Musgrave,  Henslow ;  several  Tutors  of  Colleges,  and 
distinguished  Masters  of  Arts.  Some  of  these  were  either 
conservatives,  or  very  moderate  liberals.  It  was  presented  to 
the  House  of  Lords  (21  March)  by  Earl  Grey,  at  Sedgwick's 
personal  instance;  and  to  the  House  of  Commons  (24  March) 

1  Fellow  of  Trinity  College,  B.A.  1810.  He  was  Lord  Almoner's  Reader  in 
Arabic  from  1821 — 1837,  when  he  was  made  Dean  of  Bristol.  He  became  Bishop 
of  Hereford  a  few  months  afterwards,  and  Archbishop  of  York  in  1847. 

27 — 2 


420  LETTER   TO    THE    TIMES. 

1834.     by  Mr  Spring  Rice,  member  for  the  town  o(  Cambridge.     By 
^l-  49-    both  houses  it  was  received  with  respect,  and  became  the 
subject  of  animated  debate. 

As  might  have  been  expected,  it  was  succeeded,  after  about 
ten  days,  by  a  Declaration,  signed  by  101  residents.  "We  do 
not  admit,"  said  this  laconic  document,  "  that '  the  abolition 
of  the  existing  *  restrictions '  would  be,  as  alleged,  'a  restitu- 
tion1 of  the  'ancient  laws  and  laudable  customs'  of  the  Univer- 
sity: neither  do  we  acknowledge  that  any  of  'these  restrictions 
were  imposed  in  a  manner  informal  and  unprecedented  V 
As  these  words  directly  controverted  the  statements  of  the 
petition,  Sedgwick,  as  "  chairman  of  a  party  of  the  resident 
members  of  the  Senate  who  agreed  to  the  words  of  the 
petition  lately  presented  in  parliament,"  addressed  a  long 
letter  to  The  Times  (8  April)  in  vindication  of  himself  and  his 
friends,  which  may  be  taken  as  an  official  statement  of  their 
position.  It  deals  chiefly  with  the  historical  question,  and  it 
is  only  towards  the  end  that  he  gives  a  short  account  of  the 
motives  by  which  the  petitioners  had  been  actuated,  and  the 
circumstances  under  which  the  document  had  been  drawn 
up. 

By  this  time  the  excitement  in  the  University  had  become 
very  great.  As  the  number  of  resident  members  of  the  Senate 
did  not  exceed  one  hundred  and  eighty,  sixty-two  of  whom 
had  signed  the  Petition,  and  one  hundred  and  one  the  Declara- 
tion, nearly  every  resident  was  directly  interested  in  the 
question.  The  promoters  of  the  Declaration,  elated  at  their 
success,  gave  notice  of  a  Grace  at  the  next  congregation 
(16  April),  to  affix  the  University  seal  to  a  petition  to 
both  Houses  of  Parliament  praying  for  the  maintenance 
of  existing  tests.  Non-residents  came  up  in  considerable 
numbers,  but  only  to  find  that  Dr  Hewett  had  availed 
himself  of  his  right  of  veto  as  a  member  of  the  Caput,  and 
thrown  out  the  Grace.  This  manoeuvre,  however,  could 
scarcely  be  called  successful,  for  the  petition  was  imme- 
diately deposited  in  the  hall  of  Queens'  College,  and  before 


LETTER  TO  BISHOP  BLOM FIELD.  421 

long  received  two  hundred  and  eighty  signatures.     On  the     1834. 
following    day    it    was    taken    to    London    by    the    Vice    ^  49. 
Chancellor,  and  within  a  week  presented  to  the  House  of 
Lords  by  the  Chancellor,  and  to  the  House  of  Commons  by 
Mr  Goulburn. 

Professor  Hewett's  action  was  eloquently  defended  by 
Sedgwick  in  a  letter  to  The  Cambridge  Chronicle  (16  April), 
the  publication  of  which,  taken  in  conjunction  with  his  previous 
letter  to  The  Times,  and  his  Seventeen  Reasons  for  adopting 
t/te  prayer  of  t/te  Petition  signed  by  sixty-two  Resident  Members 
of  the  Senate,  involved  him  in  further  controversy,  notably 
with  a  correspondent  of  The  Cambridge  Chronicle  who  signed 
himself  A  Member  of  tlie  Senate,  a  designation  which  concealed 
his  old  antagonist,  Dr  French.  From  these  ephemeral  publi- 
cations we  will  pass  on  to  a  letter  written  to  Bishop  Blomfield, 
as  containing  a  dispassionate  statement  of  the  whole  question 
from  the  point  of  view  of  himself  and  the  petitioners1. 

Trinity  College,  April  27,  1834. 
My  Lord, 

I  have  this  moment,  under  your  Lordship's  frank, 
received  a  copy  of  your  speech  delivered  in  the  House  of 
Peers  on  April  21st*,  and  sit  down  at  my  breakfast  table  to 
reply  to  one  or  two  paragraphs  in  which  you  seem  to  misap- 
prehend the  wishes  of  the  sixty-two  petitioners  who  first 
moved  the  question.  In  my  present  condition  I  am  com- 
pelled to  write  with  my  left  hand,  and  have  consequently  a 
mechanical  difficulty  in  expressing  myself.  I  must  be  as 
plain  and  short  as  I  can... 

Your  Lordship's  speech  seems  constructed  on  the  supposi- 
tion that  Dissenters,  under  the  contemplated  Act,  would  have 

1  This  letter  is  printed  from  a  copy  taken  by  the  Rev.  J.  Romilly,  and 
preserved  by  him  in  the  Registry  of  the  University.  A  few  paragraphs,  not 
specially  important,  have  been  omitted. 

2  Hansard's  Parliamentary  Debates,  Ser.  3.  xxii.  994.  The  occasion  was  the 
presentation  of  the  petition  signed  16  April  against  any  removal  of  tests. 


4ii  LETTER  TO  BISHOP  BLOMFIELD. 

1854.  the  right  of  admission.  What  Mr  Wood's1  intentions  were  I 
iEt  49-  know  not — I  wish  heartily  the  getting  up  of  the  Bill  had  not 
been  with  a  Dissenter — but  our  intentions  were  to  give  no 
such  right,  and  I  have  in  two  letters  written  some  time  since, 
pressed  this  very  strongly  on  Lord  Grey.... We  wish  no  man 
to  be  forced  on  the  University ;  and  if  Mr  Wood  adopts  the 
suggestions  sent  up  last  night  and  agreed  to  at  my  rooms, 
the  Bill  will  not  touch  the  rights  of  the  admitting  officers  in 
the  several  colleges.  A  man  is  not  to  come  up  as  a  Dissenter; 
he  is  not  to  be  considered  as  such  by  any  official  college  act ; 
he  must  conform  to  discipline,  and  we  give  him  a  degree 
without  exacting  subscription.  A  moderate,  well-informed 
Dissenter  will  come  up  under  such  a  system  (this  is  not 
conjecture  but  fact)  and  he  will  take  a  degree.  A  bigot — a 
man  who  would  haggle  about  organs  and  surplices — will  and 
must  keep  away,  and  we  do  not  want  him.  A  right  to  a 
degree  without  signing  a  test  does  not  do  away  with  the 
necessity  of  discipline,  or  of  conforming  to  college  rules  ;  nor 
does  it  give  (as  far  as  our  wishes  are  concerned)  any  right  of 
admission  which  is  not  sanctioned  by  the  voluntary  acts  of 
the  admitting  officers.  If  Dissenters  were  to  come  up  as  such, 
and  allowed  to  force  themselves  on  the  several  colleges,  I 
should  then  agree  with  every  syllable  in  the  speech  I  have 
before  me.  But  we  look  to  no  such  result ;  and  if  it  come  at 
all  it  will  come  as  a  future  consequence  of  the  exclusive  policy 
which  is  now  maintained.  The  Universities  cannot  maintain 
their  old  position  and  continue  Universities.  This  your 
Lordship  seems  in  part  to  admit,  as  you  contemplate  the 
lopping  off  of  the  Medical  Faculty.  I  may  be  mistaken,  but 
I  cannot  bear  the  thoughts  of  this,  and  I  think  the  policy  that 
suggests  the  possibility  of  it  perfectly  suicidal. 

1  Mr  G.  W.  Wood  obtained  leave  (17  April)  to  bring  in  a  Bill  to  grant  to  His 
Majesty's  subjects  generally  the  rights  of  admission  to  the  English  Universities, 
and  of  equal  eligibility  to  degrees  therein,  notwithstanding  their  diversities  in 
religious  opinion — degrees  in  Divinity  alone  excepted.  It  passed  the  House  of 
Commons  by  large  majorities  at  its  different  stages,  but  \yas  rejected  by  the  House 
of  Lords.     Hansard,  ut  supra,  901;  xxiv.  492,  632,  1087;  xxv.  815. 


LETTER  TO  BISHOP  BL0MF1ELD.  423 

You  say,  my  Lord,  that  when  Dissenters — but  be  it  1834. 
remembered  only  after  having  been  admitted  and  having  ^  49- 
kept  terms  like  other  men — have  a  legal  right  to  academic 
honours  they  will  not  long  consent  to  be  subject  to  college 
rules  relating  to  chapel,  lectures,  etc.  I  am  compelled  to 
say  that  I  do  not  see  the  force  of  this.  A  Dissenter  knows 
our  organization  when  he  comes  up,  and  if  the  advantages  of 
our  education  have  induced  him  to  conform  during  years 
past,  a  fortiori  he  will  be  willing  to  conform  when  he  can 
thereby  have  also  the  advantage  of  a  degree.  This  appears 
to  me  perfect  demonstration.  Dissenters  may  have  some 
foolish  expectations  from  the  operation  of  the  intended  Bill, 
but  we  cannot  help  this.  Again,  I  affirm  with  perfect  con- 
fidence that  the  operation  of  the  Bill  implies  no  change 
whatsoever  in  the  college  lectures.  We  have  had  amongst  us 
during  the  last  twenty  years  Roman  Catholics,  Methodists, 
Presbyterians,  Quakers,  Congregationalists  of  every  shade, 
and  they  all  attended  lectures,  and  never,  I  believe,  made  a 
single  objection  to  a  lecture  given  in  College.  Let  me  appeal 
to  your  own  experience,  and  to  that  of  your  friends  the 
Bishops  of  Gloucester  and  Lincoln.... 

I  feel  so  confident  in  the  truth  of  what  I  am  now  saying 
that  I  have  not  in  my  heart  been  able  to  acquit  of  a  charge 
of  insincerity  some  of  those  who  have  accused  the  sixty-two 
petitioners  of  attempting  to  destroy  root  and  branch  the 
system  of  religious  education  in  this  University.  Were  our 
wishes  carried  into  effect  I  verily  believe  we  should  be  com- 
pelled to  compromise  nothing  on  which  a  good  and  charitable 
churchman  ought  to  make  a  stand.  No  man  is  now  forced  to 
attend  the  sacrament.  The  attendance  at  chapel  would, 
I  think,  be  better  after  the  proposed  change  than  it  is  at 
present,  and  the  public  Professors  of  Theology  would  probably 
be  called  to  renewed  and  more  effective  exertions  in  behalf  of 
the  doctrines  of  our  Church.  In  parochial  instruction  it  is,  I 
doubt  not,  impossible  to  blend  together  men  of  different 
persuasions.     But  may  it  not  probably  be  far  otherwise,  or 


424  LETTER  TO  BISHOP  BLOMFIELD. 

1834.     rather,  I  ought  to  say,  has  it  not  been   far   otherwise  in    a 
Mt.  49.    system  of  academic  instruction  ?    The  two  cases  are  so  dis- 
similar, that,  with  all  deference,  we   cannot,  I    think,  argue 

from  one  to  the  other. 

****** 

You  say  that  the  proposed  Bill  would  be  an  infringement 
of  our  privileges.  In  which  respect?  To  give  degrees  in  the 
faculties  is  our  privilege :  the  tests  with  which  these  degrees 
are  clogged  are  no  privileges,  and  we  want  to  wipe  them  out 
as  worse  than  nothing.  This  is  our  prayer.  We  may  be 
right,  or  we  may  be  wrong,  but  we  want  to  preserve  our  privi- 
leges. And  those  who  resolve  to  keep  these  tests  at  all 
hazards  know  that  they  are  supporting  that  which,  if  upheld, 
will  lead  to  an  infraction  of  our  privileges,  and  virtually  cut 
off  from  us  the  medical  faculty.  Your  Lordship  does  not 
know  the  enormous  injury  this  amputation  would  inflict  on 
us.  Our  Professor  of  Physic  gives  an  admirable  course 
of  lectures,  and  his  pupils  attend  the  Hospital.  The 
Professor  of  Anatomy  gives  a  new  and  extended  course. 
We  have  built  a  Museum  and  purchased  specimens  and 
anatomical  models  at  the  expense  of  thousands.  We  have 
an  extended  course  of  Chemical  and  Botanical  lectures  with 
reference  to  the  Anatomical  Class.  Are  all  these  things 
to  vanish  away?  Yes!  say  those  who  oppose  the  sixty-two 
petitioners:  Perish  Science  and  live  the  Tests!  We  will 
not  allow  even  so  much  as  a  Syndicate  of  inquiry!  And 
yet  the  same  persons  would  enter  on  a  negotiation  with 
Sir  Henry  Halford  which  would  virtually  swamp  our  whole 
medical  faculty,  as  well  as  the  lectures  which  have  risen  in 
consequence  of  it! 

Since  your  time,  my  Lord,  Cambridge  has  improved  in 
vitality.  We  have  a  chartered  Philosophical  Society  which 
has  produced  five  large  volumes  of  Tratisactions  rivalling  in 
original  matter  the  first  scientific  memoirs  in  Europe.  We 
have  a  noble  Observatory  in  full  action,  and  in  honourable 
correspondence  with  all  the  other  public  Observatories  in  the 


LETTER   TO  BISHOP  BLOMFIELD.  425 

world.  And  who  first  started  and  set  afloat  these  noble  4834. 
monuments  of  Cambridge  zeal  and  learning  ?  Some  of  those  Mu  49- 
who  took  a  leading  part  among  the  sixty-two  Petitioners. 
And  yet  they  are  to  be  set  down  as  innovators,  lovers  of 
movement,  and  disturbers  of  the  consecrated  institutions  of 
their  country !  So  far  they  are  men  of  movement  that  when 
they  see  everything  about  them  stirring  they  know  they 
cannot  remain  immovable  without  being  left  in  helpless 
solitude.  They  believe  that  the  scientific  character  of  Cam- 
bridge is  not  only  its  honour  but  its  security.  As  a  great 
learned  and  scientific  University  giving  degrees  in  all  the 
learned  faculties — incorporated  as  a  lay  body,  and  only 
regarded  as  such  in  the  eye  of  the  law  of  England — ...Cam- 
bridge may  stand  firmly.... But  if  she  once  be  considered  as  a 
mere  school  for  the  Church  Establishment  her  endowments 
will  be  thought  out  of  all  reasonable  dimensions,  and  before 
many  years  are  over  we  may  see  our  noble  edifices  beginning 
to  crumble  about  our  ears. 

When  the  Act  of  Uniformity  was  in  force,  with  all  its 
terrific  train  of  penalties,  and  all  who  refused  the  injunctions 
of  the  Test  and  Corporation  Acts  were  excluded  from  offices 
of  trust  and  honour,  our  exclusive  system  was  in  harmony 
with  the  law.  Now  it  is  not  so.  And  we  wish  to  put 
ourselves  right  with  the  actual  constitution  of  our  country, 
so  that  we  may  still  be  the  nurseries  and  fountains  not  merely 
of  the  Church  but  also  of  the  Commonwealth, 

*         *        *         * 

Pray  excuse  this  formidable  visitation ;  accept  my  best 
thanks  for  your  speech ;  and  believe  me,  my  Lord, 

Your  most  faithful  servant 

A.  Sedgwick. 

Before  long  Sedgwick's  attention  was  engaged  by  another 
matter  arising  directly  out  of  the  same  agitation.  The 
strength  of  public  feeling  on  the  question  of  tests  had  mani- 


426  MR   TH1RLWALLS  RESIGNATION. 

1834.  fested  itself  in  a  number  of  pamphlets,  of  which  Dr  TurtonV 
JEt.  49.  Thoughts  on  the  Admission  of  Persons,  without  regard  to  their 
Religious  Opinions,  to  certain  degrees  in  the  Universities  of 
England,  was  perhaps  the  ablest,  and  certainly  the  most 
widely  read.  It  was  promptly  answered  by  Connop  Thirlwall, 
at  that  time  an  Assistant  Tutor  of  Trinity  College.  He  was 
one  of  Sedgwick's  intimate  friends,  and  had  cordially  co- 
operated with  him  in  the  matter  of  the  petition,  though  there 
is  no  evidence  that  he  had  taken  any  very  active  part  in 
promoting  it.  In  the  course  of  his  reply  to  Dr  Turton  he  was 
led  to  inquire  whether  colleges  might  be  held  to  be  schools 
of  religious  instruction;  and,  having  answered  this  question  in 
the  negative,  went  out  of  his  way  to  denounce  the  existing 
system  of  compulsory  attendance  at  chapel  as  a  positive 
evil.  Within  a  week  after  the  appearance  of  this  pamphlet, 
the  Master,  Dr  Wordsworth,  called  upon  the  author  to 
resign  his  office,  and  Thirlwall,  almost  without  hesitation, 
complied.  An  exercise  of  authority  so  despotic,  and  so 
unprecedented,  added  to  the  unpopularity  of  the  Master 
with  many  of  the  Fellows,  was  received  with  a  loud  out- 
burst of  indignation.  Sedgwick,  who  happened  to  be  in 
London,  was  promptly  informed  by  Whewell  of  what  had 
taken  place.  After  briefly  recording  the  facts,  and  his  own 
disapproval  of  the  Master's  conduct,  he  went  on  to  say : 

"  What  will  happen  next  I  have  no  guess,  for  I  have  talked  with 
none  of  Thirlwall's  friends  about  the  case,  but  I  much  fear  they  may 
attempt  some  violent  and  rash  measure ;  and  what  I  wish  to  beg  of 
you  is  that  you  will  be  our  good  genius,  and  moderate  instead  of 
sharing  in,  our  violence. ...  You  have  more  influence  in  the  College 
than  any  other  person,  and  have  perhaps  the  power  of  prevent- 
ing our  present  misfortunes  being  followed  by  any  fatal  conse- 
quences*...." 

Sedgwick  hastened  back  to  Cambridge,  and  did  all  that 
could  be  done,  under  the  circumstances,  in  conjunction  with 

1  Thomas  Turton,  D.D.,  Regius  Professor  of  Divinity  from  1817 — 1845,  when 
he  was  made  Bishop  of  Ely. 

*  From  Rev.  W.  Whewell,  37  May,  1834. 


LETTERS  FROM  SOUTHEY  AND    WORDSWORTH.    427 

• 

Musgrave,   Sheepshanks,   Romilly,  and    Peacock1.     But,   as     1834. 
Thirlwall   had   resigned,   their   efforts   could    effect   nothing    &*•  49- 
except  a  dignified  submission  to  the  inevitable.     From  our 
point  of  view  the  matter  is  chiefly  interesting,  as  shewing  the 
position  which  Sedgwick  had  attained  in  College,  and  which 
he  kept  throughout  the  rest  of  his  long  life. 

The  following  letters  furnish  an  appropriate  conclusion 
to  the  busy  episodes  in  Sedgwick's  life  which  have  just  been 
narrated. 

From  Mr  Robert  Southey. 

Keswick,  10  February \  1834. 
My  dear  Sir, 

I  am  much  obliged  to  you  for  your  discourse,  and  for 
the  pleasant  letter  that  accompanied  it.  It  is  indeed  most  gratifying 
to  see  you  employing  your  sledge-hammer  against  the  Utilitarians ; 
and  counteracting  the  mischief  which  has  been  done  by  Locke  and 
Paley.  Heavy  as  the  hammer  strikes,  your  name  and  character 
carry  with  them  equal  weight ;  and  I  do  not  think  any  other  person 
could  at  this  time  have  done  so  much  good. 

This  too  I  can  truly  say,  that  in  these  dark  times,  nothing  has 
cheered  me  so  much  as  the  part  which  you  have  thus  taken. 

Believe  me,  my  dear  Sir, 

Yours  with  sincere  respect  and  regard, 

Robert  South  ey. 

From  Mr  William   Wordsworth. 

Rydal  Mount, 

May  14M,  1834. 

"  My  dear  Sir, 

I  am  much  indebted  to  you  for  a  Copy  of  your  discourse 
on  the  Studies  of  the  University ;  and  which  has  been  read  to  me 
twice.  It  is  written  with  your  usual  animation,  and  I  hope  will  in 
the  course  of  time  prove  of  beneficial  effect,  if  the  Universities  are  to 
continue  to  exist ;  which  from  some  late  proceedings  in  your  own,  I 
am  disposed  to  doubt. 

In  every  part  of  your  Discourse  I  was  interested,  but  was  most  nearly 
touched  by  your  observations  on  Paley's  Moral  Philosophy,  which, 

1  Mr  Romilly  records  in  his  diary,  99  May,  "Sedgwick  and  Sheepshanks 
arrived  from  town  to-day  to  look  into  Thirlwall's  case.  Sedgwick  and  Musgrave 
drew  up  a  Paper,  and  took  it  to  the  Master:  'We  the  undersigned  resident 
Seniors  request  you  to  call  a  Seniority  to  inquire  into  the  proceedings  which  led 
to  Mr  Thirlwall's  resignation  of  the  Tuition. '  Signed  by  Sedgwick,  Musgrave, 
Peacock,  Romilly,  Sheepshanks." 


428  WOODWARDIAN  MUSEUM. 

1834.  tho'  like  all  his  works  a  Book  of  unrivalled  merit  in  certain  points,  is 
ALU  49.  deplorably  wanting  in  essentials.  In  fact  there  is  no  such  thing  as 
Morals  as  a  Science,  or  even  as  Philosophy,  if  Paley's  system  be 
right  You  and  I,  I  remember,  talked  upon  the  subject  when  I  had 
last  the  pleasure  of  seeing  you — so  that  I  need  not  say  more  than 
that  I  heartily  concur  with  you  in  what  your  Discourse  contains 
upon  it. 

Thank  you  for  the  drubbing  you  have  given  that  odious  Slanderer, 
Beverley.  I  was  sorry  to  learn  from  those  letters  that  you  had  had 
so  severe  an  accident  You  have  the  best  wishes  of  all  this  family 
for  your  entire  and  speedy  recovery. 

Should  I  be  silent  upon  the  part  you  have  taken  as  the  Public 
Leader  of  the  62  or  63  Petitioners,  I  should  not  be  treating  you  with 
sincerity,  or  in  the  spirit  of  that  friendship  which  exists  between  us. 
This  is  not  the  place  for  me  to  discuss  the  subject,  and  tho*  I  feel  that 
my  opinion,  as  an  opinion  merely,  may  not  be  entitled  to  much 
respect,  as  your  personal  friend  I  cannot  hold  back  the  declaration 
of  my  conviction  that  the  Petitioners  are  misguided  men, — that  part 
of  them,  at  least,  who  have  signed  this  Petition  with  a  hope,  that  by 
so  doing,  they  are  contributing  to  the  Support  of  the  Institutions  of 
the  Country,  the  Church  included. 

Farewell !  God  bless  you,  and  be  assured  that  whatever  course 
you  pursue  either  in  public  or  private  life,  there  is  no  likelihood  that 
I  shall  ever  have  occasion  to  doubt  that  you  act  from  pure  and  con- 
scientious motives.  At  the  same  time  allow  me  to  say,  that  I  have 
no  dread  of  being  accused  of  presumption  by  you,  for  not  having 
bowed  to  the  scientific  names  which  stand  so  conspicuous  upon  this 
ill-omened  Instrument. 

"Ever  faithfully  yours, 

"Wm.  Wordsworth." 

The  history  of  the  Woodwardian  Museum  during  the  four 
years  comprised  in  the  present  chapter  must  now  be  briefly 
noticed.  The  unfitness  of  the  room  for  the  purposes  of  a 
Museum,  occupies,  as  heretofore,  a  considerable  space  in  the 
reports  of  the  Inspectors.  In  1830  they  extend  their  observa- 
tions to  the  Professor's  college  rooms,  where  they  find  not 
only  cabinets  belonging  to  the  University,  but  "  ten  or  twelve 
packing-cases  from  Germany  and  other  parts  of  the  continent, 
as  yet  unopened,  for  which  the  Professor  cannot  find  room 
either  in  the  Museum  or  in  his  chambers."  In  1833  these 
defects  are  remedied  to  some  slight  extent  by  the  acquisition 
of  the  two  rooms  at  the  west  end  of  the  Divinity  School, 
(now   the   Music   Room  and   the  Newspaper   Room  of  the 


IN  SOUTH  WALES   WITH  MURCHISON.  429 

Library)  hitherto  used  by  the  Registrary  ;  but  Sedgwick  "  is  1834. 
compelled  to  state  that  this  addition  is  by  no  means  adequate  &u  49- 
for  the  reception  of  the  present  collection,  much  less  for  its 
proper  exhibition,  or  for  such  augmentations  as  the  present 
state  of  geological  science  requires.,,  Meanwhile,  thanks  to 
Sedgwick's  own  exertions,  important  additions  were  being 
made  in  nearly  every  year.  We  read  of  casts  of  Plesiosaurus 
and  Ichthyosaurus  presented  by  Viscount  Cole  and  Mr 
Chantrey  (1832)  ;  of  a  collection  lately  the  property  of  Dr 
E.  D.  Clarke,  removed  from  the  cellars  in  the  Botanic  Garden 
after  his  death,  and  of  specimens  collected  in  North  and 
South  Wales  by  the  Professor  (1833);  and  lastly,  of  a  bust 
of  Cuvier  presented  by  his  widow  (1834). 

Sedgwick's  plans  for  the  summer  had  been  settled  early 
in  the  year.  "  I  propose,"  he  wrote  in  April,  "  to  spend  the 
early  part  of  the  Long  Vacation  in  Wales,  thence  to  find  my 
way  by  steam  to  Glasgow,  to  mount  up  to  and  batter  the 
Grampians,  to  descend  by  the  west  coast  of  Ayrshire,  and 
then  to  thread  my  way  among  the  hills  of  the  Lammermuir 
chain,  so  as  to  end  my  work  in  September  in  time  for  the 
meeting  of  the  British  Association  at  Edinburgh,  where  I 
shall  have  to  resign  my  office  of  President  of  the  Philosophical 
afial;6/3toil" 

This  programme,  in  its  main  outlines  at  least,  was  faith- 
fully carried  out.  Early  in  June  he  started  for  Wales  with 
Murchison.  On  this  visit  he  began  work  on  the  south  side  of 
the  Principality,  instead  of  on  the  north,  for  the  purpose  of 
examining,  under  his  friend's  guidance,  the  ground  he  had 
already  gone  over,  and  thus,  as  he  said  afterwards,  learning 
the  alphabet  of  the  Silurian  tongue8.  The  excursion  was 
specially  gratifying  to  Murchison,  who  parted  from  Sedgwick 
under  the  firm  conviction  that  he  was  fully  convinced  of  the 
accuracy  of  his  determination  of  the  sequence  of  the  rocks 
examined.     "  Although    I    think    and    hope,"    he    wrote    to 

1  To  Rev.  W.  Ainger,  2  April,  1834. 

2  Salter's  Catalogue^  p.  xix. 


430  BRITISH  ASSOCIATION  AT  EDINBURGH. 

1834.  Whewell,  "  that  he  endeavoured  to  pick  every  hole  he  could 
&L  49-  in  my  arrangement,  he  has  confirmed  all  my  views,  some  of 
which,  from  the  difficulties  which  environed  me,  I  was  very 
nervous  about  until  I  had  such  a  backer1."  After  six  weeks 
spent  in  "  marches  and  countermarches  in  Hereford,  Brecon, 
Caermarthen,  Montgomery,  and  Salop,'*  the  friends  parted  at 
Ludlow  (10  July).  Sedgwick  hastened  back  to  his  old  ground 
in  North  Wales,  where  he  probably  spent  most  of  the  time 
until  claimed  by  the  Association. 

Sedgwick  has  unfortunately  left  no  account  of  his  pro- 
ceedings at  Edinburgh,  where  he  was  the  guest  of  Dr  Alison, 
father  of  the  historian.  We  know  from  the  Report  of  the 
Association  that  he  resigned  the  office  of  President  in  an 
eloquent,  though  not  specially  noteworthy  speech,  but  that 
he  did  not  himself  contribute  anything  to  the  geological 
section.  Before  leaving  Edinburgh  he  had  the  pleasure  of 
making  the  acquaintance  of  Professor  Agassiz,  who  had  just 
come  to  Great  Britain  for  the  first  time.  A  life-long  friendship 
between  the  two  geologists  was  the  result  of  this  interview. 

After  the  meeting  Sedgwick  and  Murchison,  according  to 
previous  arrangement,  started  together  for  the  south.  From 
this  point  the  story  can  be  told  in  his  own  words : 

Trin.  Coll.,  November  15,  1834. 
My  dear  Mrs  Alison, 

The  day  I  left  you  I  had  a  delightful  drive  along 
the  banks  of  the  Esk,  which  contrast  so  finely  with  the 
country  on  both  sides  of  them.  Straight  furrows  and  rotation 
crops  may  gladden  the  farmer's  face,  but  they  had  few  charms 
for  my  companion  and  myself.  We  halted,  however,  at  the 
cliffs  of  Dunbar  (they  are  very  curious  and  if  you  have  not 
seen  them  pray  look  at  them  the  next  time  you  pass  that 
way),  and  we  were  overjoyed  at  the  sight  of  the  noble  glen  of 
Dunglass. 

1  Murchison  to  Whewell,  18  July,  1834,  quoted  in  Geikie's  Life  of  Murchison, 
i.  «3- 


EXCURSION   TO  ST  ABETS  HEAD.  431 

Perhaps  your  brother1  has  told  you  of  our  expedition  to  1834. 
St  Abb's  Head.  Nothing  could  turn  out  better — the  geology  ^  49- 
most  instructive — the  scenery  grand  and  varied — the  sea  as 
smooth  as  glass — the  cliffs  sublime,  and  every  headland  re- 
flecting the  lights  of  a  glowing  sun.  We  were  all  excited  to 
the  highest  pitch;  sometimes  speculating  on  the  strange 
frolics  dame  Nature  had  loved  to  play  thousands  of  years 
before  strathspeys  were  thought  of;  then  talking  of  Walter 
Scott,  the  Master  of  Ravens  wood,  and  the  Middle  Ages ; 
and  ever  and  anon,  as  conversation  seemed  to  flag,  plying 
Sir  John  Hall's  bottles,  not  so  much  from  the  love  of 
wine,  as  in  the  hope  of  seeing  the  embers  of  imagination 
blaze  out  afresh.  The  day  after  our  sea-trip  Murchison 
went  helter-skelter  after  the  foxhounds,  and  had  the  good 
luck  to  come  back  with  a  fox's  brush,  and  an  unbroken 
neck. 

On  the  Saturday  we  were  again  under  way,  and  continued 
together  to  Newcastle,  where  we  parted ;  but  I  had  the  good 
fortune  to  pick  up  another  friend  and  knight  of  the  hammer, 
with  whom  I  struck  up  a  league  offensive  and  defensive,  and 
we  forthwith  commenced  an  action  of  assault  and  battery 
against  the  ribs  and  shoulders  of  the  mountains  which  range 
in  a  lofty  unbroken  chain  from  Stainmoor  through  Cross  Fell 
to  the  frontier  of  Scotland.  I  will  not  torment  you  with  any 
narration  of  our  battles  and  victories ;  sufficient  to  say  that 
we  parted  at  Carlisle — that  I  found  my  way  to  another 
friend's2  house  near  Whitehaven — that  I  joined  some  young 
people  in  a  pedestrian  tour  to  the  Lakes,  and  contrived  to 
reap  a  rich  harvest  of  joy  from  the  exuberant  spirits  of 
my  youthful  companions — that  I  talked  a  day  and  a  half 
with  Wordsworth,  who  is  the  best  talker  I  have  the  happiness 
of  knowing,  and  who  talked  in  his  best  fashion — that  I  found 
my  way  to  my  native  valley,  which  will  bear  looking  at  after 

1  Duncan  Farquharson  Gregory,  afterwards  Fellow  of  Trinity  College,  B.A. 
1838,  M.A.  1841. 

2  Probably  Mr  Williamson  Peile.     See  above,  p.  409. 


432    •  MADE  PREBENDARY  OF  NORWICH. 

1834.     the  fairest  prospects  of  the  Lake  region — that  my  friends 
&*-  49*    were  all  well,  my  nephews  and  nieces  springing  like  mush- 
rooms, and  the  old  vicarage  house  about  as  noisy  as  it  used 
to  be  when  I  was  myself  a  child. 

But  my  sheet  is  ending  and  it  is  high  time  for  me  to  end 
with  it.  Give  my  kindest  remembrances  to  everybody  at 
Woodville  and  Heriot  Row,  and  to  your  brothers  and  sister, 
and  believe  me,  Dear  Mrs  Alison, 

Your  obliged  and  affectionate  friend, 

A.  Sedgwick. 

By  the  end  of  October  Sedgwick  was  back  in  Cambridge, 
restored  to  good  health  and  spirits  by  his  summer  in  the  open 
air,  busy  with  his  lectures,  and  with  preparations  for  a  visit 
from  Professor  Agassiz  early  in  November.  In  order  to  lay 
before  the  "  famous  foreign  fishmonger,"  the  fare  he  specially 
fancied,  Sedgwick  had  been  for  some  time  in  correspond- 
ence with  his  friend  Gwatkin,  through  whose  good  offices  his 
own  meagre  table  was  to  be  garnished  with  "a  dish  offish" 
from  Barrow  in  Leicestershire.  "  A  Yorkshireman  hates  to 
buy  a  pig  a  poke,"  he  added  "  but  I  am  sure  I  may  trust  my 
old  fellow-hammerer  to  make  a  good  bargain  for  me1."  The 
fish  in  question  did  justice  to  Gwatkin's  discrimination,  and 
were  duly  added  to  the  Woodwardian  collection  ;  but,  at  the 
last  moment,  to  Sedgwick's  great  annoyance,  Agassiz  was 
prevented  from  coming. 

Soon  afterwards  an  event  occurred  which  gave  Sedgwick 
a  new  position,  and,  for  a  part  of  each  year  at  least, 
diverted  the  current  of  his  thoughts  into  a  new  channel. 
In  the  middle  of  November  Lord  Melbourne's  ministry  broke 
up,  and  just  as  Lord  Chancellor  Brougham  was  lamenting 
that  Sedgwick  and  Thirlwall  were  the  only  clergymen  who 
had  deserved  well  of  the  liberal  party  for  whom  he  had  been 

1  To  Rev.  R.  Gwatkin,  3  October,  1834.     Mr  Gwatkin  was  then  vicar  of 
Barrow  on  Soar,  Mount  Sorrel,  Leicestershire. 


MADE  PREBENDARY  OF  NORWICH.  433 

unable  to  provide1,  came  the  news  that  a  stall  at  Norwich,  and  1834. 
a  rectory  in  Yorkshire,  were  vacated  by  the  death  of  the  iBt«  49- 
gentleman  who  had  held  them  both.  Brougham  gave  the 
stall  to  Sedgwick,  and  the  rectory  to  Thirlwall.  The  pre- 
ferment, as  Sedgwick  said,  "  was  saved  as  from  the  fire,"  for 
it  was  only  presented  to  him  formally  on  the  day  before 
Brougham  gave  up  the  Great  Seal.  Sedgwick  accepted  without 
a  moment's  hesitation,  and,  as  the  next  letter  tells  us,  hurried 
through  the  formalities  of  induction  with  equal  rapidity. 

Close,  Norwich, 

Dec.  15,  1834. 
My  dear  Ainger, 

My  poor  brain  is  turned  topsy-turvy,  and  my 
memory  has  fled  so  far  from  me  that  I  cannot  tell  to 
whom  I  have  written,  and  to  whom  I  have  not,  since  I 
became  Prebendary  of  Norwich.  Here  however  I  am,  in 
my  own  Residence,  as  good  a  Prebendary  as  you  can  see 
on  a  winter's  day,  though  still  without  a  shovel  hat.  My 
friends  in  College  have  been  putting  about  a  shilling  sub- 
scription to  buy  me  a  gorgeous  shovel  hat.  I  shall  receive 
it  with  due  gratitude,  and  hang  it  on  a  peg  to  be  looked 
at,  but,  as  to  putting  it  on  my  nob,  that  is  another  question. 
I  doubt  not  you  have  heard  of  my  appointment.  Perhaps  I 
informed  you  of  it  myself.  If  I  did,  I  have  forgotten  it. 
One  of  the  last  acts  of  the  ex-chancellor  was  to  put  the 
great  seal  to  my  presentation.  The  very  day  I  received  the 
notification  of  this  act,  I  heard  from  a  friend  at  Norwich 
who  told  me  that  the  Chapter  had  heard  of  Lord  Brougham's 
intention,  and  that,  if  I  received  the  presentation  in  time,  it 
would  be  very  agreeable  to  them  that  I  should  take  my  pre- 
decessor's turn,  which  commenced  on  the  1st  of  December. 
By  so  doing  I  should  secure  all  the  domestic  arrangements 
of  the  Chapter.     There  are  six  Prebendaries,  and  each  resides 

1  Lord  Houghton  in  The  Fortnightly  Review,  February,  1878.  At  the  end 
of  1833  Lord  Brougham  had  induced  Sedgwick  to  revise  the  MS.  of  his 
Discourse  on  Natural  Theology. 

S.  I.  28 


434  INSTALLATION  AT  NORWICH. 

1834.  two  months.  Now  December  and  January  just  suit  me,  as 
&*•  49-  the  greater  part  of  these  two  months  falls  in  our  Christmas 
vacation.  Partly  therefore  on  account  of  my  Brethren  of 
the  Chapter,  and  partly  on  my  own  private  account,  I  lent 
a  willing  ear  to  this  suggestion — went  up  to  Town  without 
an  hour's  delay — procured  my  presentation  from  the  Chan- 
cellor s  office — took  an  early  coach  to  Norwich — arrived  on 
Saturday,  November  29,  in  time  for  the  Dean's  breakfast — 
took  the  oaths  and  signed  the  books — presented  my  deed 
with  the  great  seal  affixed  to  the  Dean  after  the  First  Lesson 
in  the  morning  service — was  formally  installed  in  the  pre- 
sence of  the  congregation — read  in  on  Sunday  the  30th — 
and  commenced  Residence  in  my  own  house  on  Monday,  the 
1st  inst.  Is  not  this  doing  business?  My  servant  arrived 
after  a  day  or  two,  Lady  Jane  Wodehouse  (the  wife  of 
one  of  my  Brother  Prebendaries)  provided  me  two  excellent 
maid  servants.  I  have  taken  my  predecessor's  furniture  and 
wines  at  a  valuation,  and  am  gradually  settling  down  into 
my  proper  place.  Our  Residence  while  it  lasts  is  severe. 
We  are  not  permitted  to  be  away  from  our  houses  for  a 
single  night.  Attending  service  regularly,  and  preaching 
generally  once  each  Sunday,  are  duties  which  are  looked  for. 
We  have  also  to  give  certain  dinners  of  ceremony  to  the 
officers  of  the  Cathedral.  Giving  and  receiving  dinners  con- 
stitutes a  formidable  service  in  a  city  like  this. 

What  my  stall  may  do  for  me  in  the  end  I  cannot  say, 
but  I  am  quite  sure  that  for  the  first  year  it  will  make  me 
poorer  than  I  have  been  since  I  knew  how  to  spell  my 
own  name.  My  fees  and  furniture  will  run  me  into  debt 
to  the  tune  of  six  hundred  pounds  at  the  very  least  I 
wish  some  good  Christian  would  just  now  give  me  a  thou- 
sand pounds,  it  would  just  make  a  poor  body  comfortable. 
If  my  life  be  spared  the  stall  will  I  doubt  not  turn  out  a 
very  comfortable  thing.  I  hope  I  may  count  upon  its  pro- 
ducing me  nearly  ^600  a  year.  This,  together  with  my 
Senior  Fellowship  and  Professorship,  must  surely  enable  me 


OLDEST  FRIEND  IN  NORWICH,  435 

soon   to   lift   my  head   above  water.     My  clerical   employ-     1834. 
ment  here  is  a  good  thing,  and  I  mean  not  to  flinch  from    ^  49* 
it.     The  preaching  I  spoke  of  is  not  compulsory;  but  has 
been  commenced  of  late  years  by  some  of  the  new  comers. 
Pray  write  to  me  soon. 

Yours  ever, 

A.  Sedgwick. 

An  amusing  incident  respecting  Sedgwick's  first  visit  to 
Norwich,  deserves  to  be  recorded.  He  called  on  Dean  Pellew, 
as  the  above  letter  shews,  in  time  for  an  early  breakfast ;  and, 
on  being  shewn  into  the  drawing-room,  found  there  his 
daughter  Minna,  aged  three,  playing  at  bricks.  Sedgwick 
at  once  went  down  on  his  knees,  and  assisted  her  to  build 
a  tower  of  Babel,  in  which  occupation,  the  Dean,  to  his  great 
amusement,  found  his  new  Canon  busily  engaged.  Sedgwick 
never  forgot  either  the  child,  or  the  incident,  but  maintained 
a  close  friendship  with  her  until  his  death,  writing  to  her 
frequently,  and  generally  sending  her  a  present  on  her  birth- 
day. These  letters  invariably  contained  either  some  allusion 
to  the  "  early  lessons  in  architecture  which  you  gave  me,"  or 
some  such  passage  as  the  following  :  "  Perhaps  you  think  me 
wrong  in  calling  you  my  oldest  friend"  he  says  in  1850;  "at 
any  rate  yours  is  the  oldest  friendship  which  I  formed  in 
Norwich ;  and  it  has  never  been  interrupted  since  I  began  to 
build  castles  with  you  on  your  carpet  on  the  29th  November. 

1 834V 

The  following  letter,  though  written   two  months   later, 

completes  the  history  of  Sedgwick's  first  experience  of  his 

new  dignity. 

1  Among  the  congratulations,  humorous  and  serious,  which  were  showered 
thick  upon  Sedgwick,  may  be  quoted  an  epigram,  by  C.  V.  Le  Grice.  Lord 
Brougham  is  supposed  to  have  presented  the  Stall  with  the  following  couplet : 

41  Dear  Adam,  if,  as  I  believe, 
You'll  one  day  wish  to  have  an  Eve, 
Then  on  the  Eve  of  such  event, 
At  Norwich  snug  I've  pitched  your  tenL" 

28—2 


436  NORWICH  EXPERIENCES. 

,834-  Sunday  Evening,  ii  p.m.  8  February,  1835. 

*  My  dear  Ingle1, 

After  chapel  I  went  to  drink  tea  with  Pryme,  our 
City  Member,  and  have  had  a  very  long  talk  with  him  ;  and 
on  returning  to  my  den  I  just  looked  in  upon  Thirlwall,  who 
starts  for  Yorkshire  tomorrow,  at  an  hour  when  I  shall  pro- 
bably be  recumbent,  and  between  a  pair  of  sheets.  He  tells 
me  that  he  shall  halt  at  York.  I  am  therefore  seated  at  the 
desk  scribbling  a  page,  and  perhaps  two,  which  he  promises 
to  convey  for  me  as  far  as  York,  and  perchance  to  your  door. 
You  don't  know  him,  it  seems ;  but  it  is  clear  that  you  ought 
to  know  him ;  and  I  hope  this  act  of  great  benevolence  on  his 
part  will  move  your  bowels,  and  make  you  friends  as  long  as 
you  both  last 

I  only  returned  to  College  yesterday.  My  Cathedral 
Residence  ended  indeed  on  Saturday  the  31st  January  ;  but  it 
took  me  five  days  to  pay  bills,  pack  up  odds  and  ends,  and 
unhook  myself  from  a  hundred  little  engagements.  I,  how- 
ever, moved  off  the  stocks  on  Thursday  night — halted  a  day 
with  Dr  Bayne  at  Bury,  arrived  in  Cambridge  yesterday, 
and  here  I  am  to-day  (Sunday).  Your  letter  delighted  me  ; 
not  because  of  the  grease  and  butter  which  covered  its  first 
page,  but  because  it  convinced  me  that  you  were  enjoying 
your  oldest  and  best  flow  of  animal  spirits,  and  that  you 
could  receive  some  pleasure  from  the  recollection  of  old  and 
good  days  when  Charles  Ingle  was  a  burly  school-boy  begging 
salt  at  a  sizar's  door.  My  residence  at  Norwich  forms  a 
strange  episode  in  my  history.  Now  that  I  am  once  again 
in  my  old  haunts,  I  can  hardly  believe  that  I  have  not  been 
dreaming.  While  there,  I  was  in  the  position  of  Vice  Dean. 
In  the  absence  of  the  Dean  I  was  the  official  representative  of 
the  dignity  of  the  Chapter — called  upon  to  practice  a  series  of 
formal  hospitalities  in  a  queer,  old-fashioned,  in-and-out,  ugly, 
old,  house.     Several  times  I  was  afraid  of  being  on  my  beam 

1  The  Rev.  Charles  Ingle  was  then  vicar  of  Osbaldwick,  near  York. 


NORWICH  EXPERIENCES.  437 

ends  ;  but  by  some  special  providence  I  was  saved  from  ship-  1834. 
wreck,  and  am  at  last  safe  in  port.  Everybody  was  kind  and  Mt"  49- 
hospitable ;  indeed  I  have  been  almost  killed  with  kindness ; 
and  all  the  good  old  Tory  inhabitants  of  the  rookery  seemed 
mightily  anxious  to  see  how  such  a  monster  as  a  Whig 
Prebendary  would  behave  at  meals;  and  you  may  depend 
upon  it  they  have  all  been  much  built  up  with  the  sight  I 
did,  however,  contrive  to  bring  together  more  heretics  and 
schismatics  within  my  walls  than  ever  had  been  seen  before 
in  a  Prebendal  house  since  the  foundation  of  the  Cathedral. 
Independents  and  Highchurchmen  were  seen  licking  out  of 
the  same  fleshpots,  and  Quakers  crossed  my  threshold  without 
fear  and  trembling.  By  the  way  some  of  the  Quakers  are  my 
delight.  J.  J.  Gurney  is  an  excellent  and  learned  man, — 
brother  of  Mrs  Fry  and  Mrs  F.  Buxton, — reads  Hebrew,  and 
spouts  the  Greek  Fathers  by  the  hour  together.  I  don't 
believe  there  is  a  better  man  living.  Friend  Amelia1  you 
know  well.  I  like  her  much;  but  I  never  dared  to  rumple 
her  cap  in  the  way  you  mention.  I  have  also  been  much 
given  to  preaching,  holding  forth  twice,  and  sometimes  thrice, 
on  a  Sunday.  But,  if  I  begin  to  preach  now,  Thirlwall  will  be 
asleep.    So  good  night  and  God  bless  you. 

Yours  always 

A.  Sedgwick. 

1  Mrs  Opie. 


CHAPTER   X. 

(1835— 1840.) 

Cambridge  Occupations.  Election  at  Dent.  Presentation 
at  Court.  British  Association  at  Dublin.  Skeleton 
of  Irish  Elk.  Visit  of  Agassiz  to  Cambridge  (1835). 
Lectures  and  Society  at  Norwich.  Geological  Tour 
in  Devonshire  with  Murchison.  Death  of  Mr  Simeon 
(1836).  Ill  Health.  Paper  on  Geology  of  Devonshire. 
Criticism  of  Babbage.  Death  of  Bishop  Bathurst. 
Foundation  of  Cowgill  Chapel.  Geology  in  Devon- 
shire. British  Association  at  Liverpool.  Inundation 
of  the  Workington  Colliery  (1837).  Explorations  at 
Bartlow.  Devonian  Paper.  Queen's  Coronation. 
British  Association  at  Newcastle.  Open-Air  Lecture 
(1838).  The  Silurian  System  published.  Foreign  Tour 
with  Murchison  (1839).  Ill  Health.  Cheltenham. 
Paper  to  Geological  Society  (1840). 

Sedgwick  was  evidently  much  gratified  with  his  first  term 
of  residence  at  Norwich.  He  was  conscious  of  having  won  a 
dignified  piece  of  preferment  by  his  own  merits,  without 
interest  or  favour ;  he  was  pleased  with  his  new  friends,  and 
did  not,  at  first,  find  his  duties  irksome.  Before  long,  it 
must  be  confessed,  as  the  novelty  of  the  situation  wore  off, 
he  became  less  enthusiastic,  and  for  a  while  was  listless  and 
ill  at  ease. 

This  can  surprise  no  one  who  reflects  for  a  moment  on 
what  his  previous  life  had  been.     When  he  became  a  Preben- 


NORWICH  EXPERIENCES.  439 

dary  of  Norwich  Cathedral  he  was  fortynine  years  of  age,  1835. 
and  had  resided  in  Trinity  College  for  just  thirty  years.  His  ^  5°- 
pursuits,  his  habits,  his  affections,  were  all  bound  up  with  the 
interests  of  the  College  and  the  University.  His  intimate 
friends,  with  the  exception  of  Ainger  and  Murchison,  were  all 
working  with  the  same  objects  in  view.  The  duties  entailed  by 
his  position  as  a  Fellow  and  a  Professor  were  not  onerous, 
even  in  term-time;  and,  had  he  been  a  better  economist  of 
time,  he  might  have  devoted  almost  as  many  hours  as  he 
pleased  in  each  day  to  his  own  pursuits.  But  at  Norwich 
he  could  not  call  a  moment  his  own.  He  had  to  lead  an 
essentially  public  life ;  to  submit  to  incessant  interruptions ; 
to  be  at  the  beck  and  call  of  anybody  who  chose  to  ring  his 
bell.  Even  the  services  in  the  Cathedral — so  different  from 
those  to  which  he  had  been  accustomed  in  the  college  chapel — 
were  exceedingly  distasteful  to  him.  "  These  long  services/'  he 
writes,  "cut  my  time  to  shreds,  and  destroy  the  spirit  of 
labour.  We  have  the  shadow  of  Catholicism  without  a  grain 
of  its  substance,  for  not  one  of  the  Chapter  thinks  himself 
better  for  these  heartless  formalities,  or  nearer  heaven.  A 
cold  empty  Cathedral,  and  a  set  of  unwilling  hirelings  singing 
prayers  for  an  hour  together.  The  bell  tells  me  I  must  be 
off.... I  am  just  returned,  after  a  full  hour  and  a  half  of  shiver- 
ing. And  what  the  congregation  ?  One  single  old  woman  in 
addition  to  the  officials.  As  soon  as  my  fingers  are  warm  I 
have  to  go  a  mile  to  the  County  Hospital  to  read  morning 
prayers;  for  this  month  I  am  chaplain.  On  my  return  I 
shall  have  time  barely  for  a  short  walk  (or  ride  if  the  horrid 
weather  take  up)  and  then  another  long  Cathedral  service 
from  which  I  shall  come  home  dog-tired  and  unfit  for  work1." 
These  expressions,  and  many  others  that  might  be  quoted 
from  letters  written  in  1836  and  1837,  must  not  be  taken  too 
literally.  Still  it  can  hardly  be  doubted  that  for  some  time 
he  was  out  of  his  element  at  Norwich.  Gradually,  however, 
like   a   tree   that   has  been  transplanted  into  genial  soil,  he 

1  To  R.  I.  Murchison,  15  January,  1837. 


440  FIELD  LECTURE  AT  CAMBRIDGE. 

1835.  became  thoroughly  happy  in  his  new  surroundings;  he  re- 
jEt.  50.  garded  his  old-fashioned  house  in  the  Close,  especially  after 
it  became  filled  with  his  nephew's  children — as  a  second 
home ;  and  probably  no  member  of  the  Chapter  performed 
his  duties,  whether  public  or  private,  with  so  much  regularity, 
heartiness,  and  success.  In  a  subsequent  chapter  we  shall 
throw  together  some  reminiscences  of  his  life  in  Norwich 
which  have  been  collected  by  those  who  knew  him  and  loved 
him  well.  These,  however,  will  be  more  intelligible  after 
some  of  the  principal  persons  with  whom  he  was  there 
associated  have  appeared  in  the  general  narrative  of  his  life. 

Sedgwick  was  back  in  Cambridge  by  the  end  of  January, 
1835.  "Since  my  return,"  he  writes,  "I  have  been  almost 
driven  off  my  feet:  lectures,  college  business,  arrears  of 
correspondence,  disagreeable  domestic  news  involving  me 
in  the  botheration  of  lawyers'  consultations,  etc.,  etc.  and 
more  than  all  together  the  oppressive  consciousness  of  having 
more  work  before  me  than  I  have  any  chance  to  get  through : 
all  these  causes  have  driven  me  out  of  my  sensesV,  Of  the 
above-mentioned  lectures  one,  towards  the  end  of  the  course, 
was  delivered  in  the  field,  a  mode  of  instruction  which  under 
Sedgwick's  guidance  became  exceedingly  popular,  even  with 
those  who  cared  nothing  for  geology.  On  this  occasion  a 
cavalcade  of  seventy  horsemen  started  from  Cambridge,  and 
rode  across  the  fens.  Before  the  day  was  over  Sedgwick  had 
given  five  distinct  lectures;  the  last,  on  fen-drainage,  from  the 
top  of  Ely  Cathedral*. 

In  the  course  of  this  term  the  Senate  determined  upon 
a  step  which  must  have  given  Sedgwick  great  satisfaction, 
inasmuch  as  it  held  out  a  prospect,  at  last,  of  providing 
decent  accommodation  for  the  geological  collections.  A 
scheme  for  providing  a  new  Library,  with  Museums  and 
Lecture- Rooms  beneath  it,  after  being  under  consideration  for 
six  years,  had  been  abandoned  for  want  of  funds.    A  Syndicate 

1  To  R.  I.  Murchison,  17  February,  1835. 
1  Diary  of  Rev.  J.  Romilly,  9  April,  1835. 


NEW  GEOLOGICAL  MUSEUM.  441 

was  now  appointed  to  do  what  ought  to  have  been  done  in  1835. 
the  first  instance,  namely,  to  solicit  subscriptions.  Of  this  ^  5o» 
Syndicate,  which  included  all  the  Professors,  Sedgwick  was 
a  member  in  virtue  of  his  office.  It  is  hardly  likely  that  he 
would  busy  himself  very  actively  in  work  which  would  have 
been  singularly  uncongenial  to  a  man  of  his  temperament; 
but  his  correspondence  shews  that  he  successfully  solicited  a 
few  of  his  friends  at  a  distance,  while  he  himself  contributed 
the  substantial  donation  of  one  hundred  guineas. 

Notwithstanding  the  distraction  of  these  diverse  occupa- 
tions, he  found  time  to  prepare  one  of  his  most  important 
papers,  On  tlie  Structure  of  large  Mineral  Masses,  and  to  read 
it  to  the  Geological  Society  (11  March),  before  he  was  called 
to  Dent  by  an  election  for  the  West  Riding  of  Yorkshire.  The 
contest  ended  in  the  return  of  the  liberal  candidates,  Viscount 
Morpeth  and  Sir  G.  Strickland,  to  Sedgwick's  great  satisfac- 
tion and  amusement.  To  Dr  Ainger,  whose  son,  then  at 
Sedbergh  School,  was  of  the  same  politics  as  his  father,  he 
wrote  triumphantly :  "  Well !  have  we  not  worked  the  Tory 
noodles  of  the  West  Riding?     Why  in  the  name  of  wonder 

• 

have  they  disturbed  our  fraction  of  the  county  ?  I  turned 
mob-orator,  and  had  unbounded  success,  so  that  all  the  music, 
fun,  and  noise  was  on  our  side ;  and  in  keeping  my  stiff- 
necked  Dalesmen  from  drinking  and  fighting  I  really  think  I 
did  something  little  short  of  a  miracle.  Before  I  came  they 
had  (though  in  a  good  cause)  shewn  a  little  over-zeal ;  and 
your  son,  who  came  as  flag-bearer  of  the  blues  in  Fawcett's 
carriage,  went  away,  I  fear,  in  a  rather  dirty  envelope1."     To 

1  To  Rev.  W.  Ainger,  18  May,  1835.  It  was  on  this  occasion  that  Sedgwick 
was  accused  of  having  delivered  "a  political  harangue  from  the  pulpit."  The 
truth  was  that  he  had  told  the  congregation  that  giving  a  vote  was  a  solemn  duty, 
to  be  discharged  "as  unto  God  and  not  as  unto  man;"  and  that  above  all  they 
must  avoid  the  sin  of  intemperance.  His  brother  John  writes  to  a  friend  (37 
November,  1835):  "I  am  happy  to  say  his  exhortations  seemed  to  produce 
the  effect  of  raising  the  standard  of  morality  amongst  the  people;  for  it  is 
a  striking  fact  that  not  a  drunken  man  was  to  be  seen  during  the  two  days' 
contest,  amongst  more  than  1000  people  gathered  together,  with  about  two 
hopeless  exceptions." 


442  POLITICAL  OPINIONS. 

1835.     Canon  Wodehouse  he  explained  his  political  opinions  in  more 
&t-  50-   sober  language  : 

"  Our  party  came  in  at  a  canter ;  and  why  were  the  Tories 
so  foolish  as  to  start  the  race  ?  If  the  country  is  to  be  saved, 
it  must  be  by  the  union  of  such  men  as  Morpeth  and  Wortley. 
Contests  such  as  I  have  witnessed  put  off  indefinitely  any 
reasonable  hopes  of  a  broad  and  firm  coalition  of  good  men. 
And  who  is  to  gain  in  the  mean  time  ?  The  tories  ?  Certainly 
not  The  radical  party  gain  a  cog  at  every  movement  of 
the  state  machine.  Tory  domination,  in  any  sense  of  the 
words,  is  gone  for  ever.  Yet  your  party  can't  see  that ;  and 
think  it  a  goodly  triumph  if  they  can  ruin  a  whig  in  any 
corner  of  the  land.  Do  you  think  it  possible  that  the  men 
who  were  joined  with  Sir  R.  Peel  in  the  late  Ministry  could 
go  on  with  him  in  the  measures  he  contemplated  without 
utterly  ruining  their  characters?  I  think  not:  and  this  at 
least  we  know,  that  some  of  them  started  with  a  direct  viola- 
tion of  pledges  that  they  had  given  on  the  hustings.  I  don't 
think  the  Whigs  a  strong  party ;  yet  I  hope  they  will  be  strong 
enough  to  get  through  both  Houses  a  good  drastic  measure 
respecting  the  Irish  Church.  Till  that  is  on  some  resting 
place  no  Ministry  can  stand  six  months.  After  two  or  three 
tumbles,  we  may  perhaps  live  to  see  a  coalition :  but  it  may 
come  too  late1. 

Early  in  June  he  was  called  to  Yorkshire  again  by  the 
sudden  demise  of  Miss  Sill,  an  old  lady  of  fortune,  who  had 
made  him  her  executor,  and  as  it  turned  out,  one  of  her 
residuary  legatees.  "  For  the  first  time  in  my  life,"  he  wrote, 
"  I  am  to  be  well  paid  for  my  work  ; "  and  in  fact,  when  the 
accounts  were  made  up,  he  found  himself  the  fortunate 
possessor  of  the  thousand  pounds  which  a  short  time  before 
he  had  wished  some  good  Christian  would  give  him.  Before 
leaving  Cambridge  he  had  made  up  his  mind  to  attend 
a  Levee  and  a  Drawing  Room,  as  in  duty  bound,  but,  with 
characteristic  carelessness,  he  had  neglected  to  take  the  steps 

1  To  Canon  Wodehouse,  25  May,  1835. 


PRESENTATION  AT  COURT.  443 

prescribed  by  etiquette.  In  this  dilemma  he  made  a  diverting  1835. 
appeal  to  Murchison :  "A  card,  or  notification,  is  to  be  left  ^••5©- 
with  some  person  at  some  place,  to  convey  some  information 
about  my  courtly  intentions,  and  without  these  things  I  cannot 
be  received.  Will  you  then  do  this  unknown  operation  for 
me  ?■  As  I  am  coming  up  partly  on  purpose,  it  would  be  folly 
to  fail  in  mere  forms1."  The  next  letter  shews  that  he  did 
not  journey  in  vain  : 

Trin.  Coll.,  June  30,  1835. 
My  dear  Ainger, 

Now  be  it  known  to  you  that  I  reached  London  on 
Tuesday,  that  I  kissed  hands  at  the  Levee  on  Wednesday, 
and  that  I  exhibited  my  handsome  face  at  the  Drawing  Room 
on  Thursday.     In  short  I  am  now  a  finished  courtier. 

We  are  already  beginning  to  hear  the  cry  of  the  Installa- 
tion*. Four  and  twenty  years  since  I  enjoyed  the  festivity 
intensely.  My  capacity  for  certain  noisy  robust  enjoyments 
is  certainly  less  now  than  it  was  then ;  but  on  the  whole 
I  am  full  as  happy  now  as  I  was  then  ;  at  least  so  I  think, 
and  I  ought  to  know  best.  Yet  Shakespeare  says  "  past  and 
to  come  seem  best,  things  present  worst,"  does  he  not  ?  and 
have  not  poetical  generalities,  like  other  generalities,  their 
exceptions  ?  Let  me  then  remain  an  exception  on  the  right 
side.     My  love  to  your  household. 

Yours  ever, 

A.  Sedgwick. 

Sedgwick  had  determined  to  do  no  field-geology  this  year 
until  after  the  meeting  of  the  British  Association  at  Dublin 
in  August,  and  therefore  remained  at  Cambridge  until  it  was 
time  to  start.     On  reaching  Liverpool  with  the  intention  of 

1  To  R.  I.  Murchison,  17  June,  1835.  He  was  presented  by  the  Lord 
Bishop  of  London. 

2  H.R.H.  the  Duke  of  Gloucester,  Chancellor  of  the  University,  had  died 
30  November,  1834;  and  John  Jeffreys,  Marquess  Camden,  had  been  elected  in 
his  room  without  a  contest,  12  December,  1834. 


444  BRITISH  ASSOCIATION  AT  DUBLIN. 

1835.  crossing  by  the  ordinary  night  steamer,  he  found  that  a  special 
Mu  50.  steamer,  the  William  Penn,  had  been  placed  at  the  disposal 
of  the  Association  by  her  owners,  and  was  to  start  early 
on  the  following  morning,  Sunday,  9  August.  He  therefore 
agreed  to  wait,  and  to  officiate  as  chaplain.  As  they  pro- 
ceeded down  the  Mersey,  along  a  new  channel  discovered  and 
laid  down  a  short  time  before  by  Captain  Denham,  it  was 
suggested  that  his  infant  son,  who  happened  to  be  on  board 
with  his  mother,  should  be  baptized  by  the  chaplain  before 
morning  service.  This  was  accordingly  done;  and,  says  an 
eye-witness,  "  by  one  of  those  strange  and  fortuitous  accidents 
which  often  lend  an  air  of  romance  to  the  realities  of  life,  it 
happened  that  just  as  the  service  began,  the  vessel  arrived 
close  by  a  newly  invented  iron  boat,  bearing  an  apparatus 
and  a  bell,  which  rings  constantly  as  the  boat  is  rocked  by 
the  waves,  and  warns  mariners  of  their  position  when  fogs  are 
so  thick  that  they  cannot  discern  guides  of  any  other  kind  ;  it 
now  fairly  rung  the  inmates  of  the  William  Penn  into  church, 
and  Annesley  Turner  Denham,  aged  three  months,  was  made  a 
Christian  almost  within  its  sound."  When  prayers  were  over 
Sedgwick  preached  on  a  text  from  one  of  the  Psalms.  The 
peculiarity  of  the  occasion  gave  a  spur  to  his  eloquence  ;  and 
the  assembled  passengers,  together  with  the  crew,  listened  to 
him  with  rapt  attention  while  he  enforced  the  true  end  of  all 
scientific  and  philosophical  pursuits  ;  and  from  the  least  as  well 
as  the  greatest  discoveries  of  man,  traced  the  whole  to  a  Being 
of  infinite  power,  wisdom,  and  goodness.  A  Roman  Catholic 
gentleman,  who  described  the  scene  to  Miss  Edgeworth,  had 
tears  in  his  eyes  as  he  spoke  of  the  effect  the  sermon  had 
produced1. 

Sedgwick  was  Vice-President  of  the  Geological  Section, 
and,  conjointly  with  Murchison,  read  a  paper  On  t/ie  Silurian 
and  Cambrian  Systems,  exhibiting  the  order  in  which  t/ie  older 

1  From  Miss  Edgeworth,  33  November,  1836.  The  rest  of  the  account  is 
taken  from  The  Literary  Gazette  for  1835,  p.  513,  and  from  a  letter  written  by 
Sedgwick  to  his  brother  John,  11  August,  1835. 


BRITISH  ASSOCIATION  AT  DUBLIN.  445 

Sedimentary    Strata    succeed   each    other   in    England   and     1835. 
Wales.     The  other  incidents  of  the  meeting,  and  Sedgwick's    ^  5<>- 
proceedings  afterwards,  are  related  in  the  following  letters ; 
but  he  omits  to  record  that  while  he  was  clambering  along  a 
steep  slope  near  the  Giant's  Causeway  he  lost  his  he^d,  and 
nearly  fell  into  the  sea1. 

To  Rev.  John  Sedgwick. 

Florence  Court,  Enniskillen, 

August  21,  1835. 

"  We  had  a  glorious  passage,  and  such  a  reception 
as  has  eclipsed  the  remembrance  of  all  former  meetings.  All 
the  public  bodies  vied  with  each  other  in  hospitalities.  There 
were  no  drawbacks ;  the  week  was  uninterruptedly  fine,  and 
every  face  seemed  to  be  suffused  with  happiness.  More  than 
all  this,  all  the  philosophical  sections  were  most  actively  and 
successfully  employed  in  the  work  for  which  they  were  called 
together. 

Tuesday  I  left  Dublin  and  went  as  far  as  Cavan,  through  a 
most  wretched  and  beggarly  country.  I  had  no  notion  of  the 
external  misery  of  this  strange  people  before  I  saw  it  with 
my  own  eyes ;  and  it  contrasted  painfully  with  the  splendour 
I  had  witnessed  during  the  preceding  week.  Wednesday 
brought  me  to  Lord  Enniskillen's,  where  I  am  spending  the 
remainder  of  the  week8.  It  is  a  noble  domain,  surrounded 
with  mountains,  and  from  the  windows  we  have  a  view  of 
three  magnificent  lakes ;  but  when  you  quit  the  confines  of  the 
park  filth  and  misery  are  again  seen  on  the  wayside,  though 
certainly  in  a  less  offensive  form  than  in  the  county  of 
Meath." 

1  Geikie's  Life  of  Murchison,  i.  331. 

2  It  was  on  this  occasion  that  Lord  Enniskillen  ' '  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing 
Murchison  and  some  other  guest  glorious,  and  Sedgwick  comfortable."  (Lyell  to 
Sedgwick,  15  October,  1835,  Lyell's  Life,  i.  457).  Lyell  proceeds:  "  Depend 
upon  it  the  building  of  the  Museum  [by  Viscount  Cole]  and  subsidies  for  what  the 
old  Lord  once  condemned  as  'damned  nonsense'  will  go  on  with  good  spirit, 
after  his  finding  that  the  hammer-bearers  are  such  a  jolly  set." 


446  BRITISH  ASSOCIATION  AT  DUBLIN. 

1835.       To  Mr  LyelL 

j£x.  50.  Dent  near  Kendal,  September  20,  1835. 

I  received  your  letter1  in  Dublin ;  but  as  for  writing, 
I  had  not  a  moment's  time ;  at  least,  during  the  ten  days  I 
was  there.  The  hot  weather,  close  packing,  and  perpetual 
festivities,  not  to  mention  the  serious  labours  of  the  sections 
and  general  meetings,  were  almost  the  death  of  me ;  so  that 
during  the  week  after,  which  I  spent  with  Lord  Cole  at  his 
father's  seat,  I  was  almost  confined  to  the  house  by  English 
and  Irish  cholera. 

Let  me  tell  you  that  I  read  certain  extracts  from  your 
letter  in  one  of  our  sectional  meetings,  and  that  the  questions 
you  started  were  discussed,  not,  however,  with  much  power, 
as  there  was  no  one  present,  except  Phillips,  who  had  a  suffi- 
ciently specific  knowledge  of  the  subject.  He  doubts  Des 
Hayes*  conclusion,  to  say  the  least  of  it ;  and  makes  fight  on 
the  crag  species.  I  was  not  present  when  the  discussions 
took  place  last  spring  at  the  Geological  Society ;  but  I  do 
not  believe  a  word  about  the  different  epochs  of  the  crag.  It 
is  all  of  one  epoch,  and,  geologically  speaking,  not  a  long  one, 
at  least  so  I  think. 

I  was  much  amused  at  your  discussions  on  elevation 
craters  etc.  etc.  with  the  geological  conclave  at  Paris.  I  don't 
care  one  fig  about  the  question,  and  am  disposed  to  think 
that  more  fuss  is  made  about  it  than  it  deserves.  This  may, 
however,  only  arise  from  my  ignorance  of  the  phenomena 
exhibited  by  modern  volcanos.  I  suspect  the  truth  is  between 
the  two  parties.  All  the  protruded  masses  of  igneous  rock 
(granite,  porphyry  etc.)  constantly  produce  that  collocation 
of  stratified  masses  which  is  presented  by  the  so-called  craters 
of  elevation.  Why  should  not  the  local  elevatory  forces  do 
over  again  what  they  have  formerly  done  ?  I  have  of  course 
read  your  paper*  published  in  the  Philosophical  Transactions, 

1  The  letter,  printed  in  LyelPs  Life*  i.  450,  gives  an  account  of  some  shells 
from  a  bed  in  the  Suffolk  Crag,  supposed  of  older  date  than  the  upper  Crag. 

1  On  the  Proofs  of  a  gradual  Rising  of  the  Land  in  certain  parts  of  Sweden  : 
Phil.  Trans.  1835,  pp.  1 — 38. 


BRITISH  ASSOCIATION  AT  DUBLIN.  447 

and  was  by  no  means  surprised  at  the  fact  of  the  travelled  1835. 
blocks  of  the  north  of  Europe  belonging  to  a  very  recent  ^tm  5°- 
period.  This  is  what  I  should  have  expected.  Your  ice 
theory  will,  I  think,  only  let  you  slip  into  the  water,  and  give 
you  a  good  ducking.  Erratic  blocks  are  diffused  in  latitudes 
where  there  are  no  icebergs,  and  never  were.  How  do  you 
get  your  icebergs  to  shove  the  Shap  Granite  over  Stainmoor  to 
the  Yorkshire  coast;  or  the  Wastdale  Granite  across  More- 
cambe  Bay,  over  the  plains  of  Cheshire,  to  the  Derbyshire 
hills,  and  the  outskirts  of  the  Welsh  mountains  ?  I  think  I 
have  ascertained  this  summer  that  the  greatest  part  of  the 
erratic  blocks  in  the  south  of  England  have  passed  over  marl 
beds  full  of  recent  marine  species.     But  of  this  by  the  way. 

Agassiz  joined  us  at  Dublin,  and  read  a  long  paper  at  our 
section.  But  what  think  you  ?  Instead  of  teaching  us  what 
we  wanted  to  know,  and  giving  us  of  the  overflowing  of  his 
abundant  ichthyological  wealth,  he  read  a  long  stupid  hypo- 
thetical dissertation  on  geology,  drawn  from  the  depths  of 
his  ignorance.  And  among  other  marvels  he  told  us  that 
each  formation  (e.g.  the  lias  and  the  chalk)  was  formed  at 
one  moment  by  a  catastrophe,  and  that  the  fossils  were  by 
such  catastrophes  brought  from  some  unknown  region,  and 
deposited  where  we  find  them.  When  he  sat  down  I  brought 
him  up  again  by  some  specific  questions  about  his  ichthyo- 
logical system,  and  then  he  both  instructed  and  amused  us. 
I  hope  we  shall  before  long  be  able  to  get  this  moonshine  out 
of  his  head,  or  at  least  prevent  him  from  publishing  it.  His 
great  work  is  going  on  admirably  well,  and  we  voted  another 
hundred  pounds  in  promotion  of  it.  I  think  it  is  by  far 
the  most  important  work  now  on  hand  in  the  geological 
world. 

Griffith1  exhibited  a  geological  map  of  the  whole  of 
Ireland,  coloured  from  his  own  observations.  It  is  a  thousand 
pities  he  did  not  publish  it  fourteen  years  since.     As  far  as  I 

1  Mr  (afterwards  Sir  Richard)  Griffith.     Report  of  British  Association,  1835, 
p.  56. 


448  BRITISH  ASSOCIATION  AT  DUBLIN. 

1835.  have  examined  the  demarcations,  they  appear  to  be  very  well 
iEt-  so-  laid  down — much  more  correctly  I  think  than  in  our  friend 
Greenough's  first  edition1.  The  description  and  discussion 
of  this  map  took  two  mornings.  The  only  new  zoological 
fact  brought  to  light  was  the  existence  of  fossil  fish  in  the 
New  Red  Sandstone  of  the  north  of  Ireland.  Murchison 
threw  off  one  morning  on  his  Silurian  System  ;  and  I  followed 
on  the  lower  division  of  the  Cambrian  rocks.  Phillips  read 
two  elaborate  papers  on  the  distribution  of  the  Astacidce  and 
Belemnites  in  our  secondary  strata.  That  on  the  Astacida 
was,  as  far  as  I  was  able  to  judge,  admirable.  The  paper  on 
Belemnites  was  not  perhaps  quite  so  well  worked  out.  There 
were  several  papers  on  local  details  connected  with  Irish 
Geology — some  of  them  good  of  the  kind.  We  had  one 
ignorant  and  impudent  paper  by  a  Mr  Williams  on  the  coal 
deposits  of  North  Devon*,  which  he  refers,  like  De  la  Beche, 
to  the  greywackd  Murchison  is  gone  to  have  a  brush  at  it, 
and  I  suspect  strongly  will  succeed  in  turning  it  out  of  the 
older  system,  and  putting  it  where  it  ought  to  be.  I  am  the 
more  inclined  to  this  belief  now,  as  he  has  proved  De  la 
Beche  to  be  wrong  in  a  part  of  Pembrokeshire  where  he  has 
coloured  a  part  of  the  undoubted  coal-measures  as  grey- 
wack£. 

Since  I  left  Florence  Court  I  have  had  (along  with  Mr 
and  Mrs  Murchison,  Lord  Cole,  Colonel  Montgomery,  and 
Mr  Griffith)  a  delightful  ramble  along  the  coast  of  Antrim  ; 
and  on  my  return  to  this  place  halted  a  few  days  with  Sir 
Philip  Egerton8.  The  weather  has  been  glorious  though 
terrifically  hot;  but  now  it  is  both  wet  and  cold,  and  will 
continue  so  among  the  mountains  till  these  equinoctial  blasts 
pass  over. 

1  Geological  Map  of  England  and  Wales  ^  with  a  Memoir.  By  G.  B.  Greenough. 
Lond.  1 8 19. 

*  On  certain  Fossil  Plants  from  the  opposite  Shores  of  the  Bristol  Channel.  By 
the  Rev.  David  Williams.    Brit.  Ass.  Report  1835,  (Sections)  p.  63. 

8  Sir  Philip  de  Malpas  Grey- Egerton,  Bart.  F.R.S.,  a  distinguished  geologist, 
resided  at  Oulton  Park,  Tarporley,  Cheshire.     He  died  5  April,  1881. 


SKELETON  OF  IRISH  ELK.  449 

In  this  year  Sedgwick  succeeded  in  obtaining  for  his  1835. 
Museum  an  almost  complete  skeleton  of  the  extinct  Elk  *&•  5°- 
(Cervus  tnegaceros)  commonly  called  the  Irish  Elk.  In  the 
autumn  of  1834  he  had  heard,  through  Lord  Cole,  of  a  fine 
skeleton  which  had  been  discovered  in  a  bog  near  Ennis- 
corthy.  It  had  passed  into  the  possession  of  Dr  Macartney, 
a  medical  man  of  that  town,  but  it  was  understood  that  he 
might  be  persuaded  to  part  with  it.  Sedgwick,  who  was  then 
at  Edinburgh,  lost  no  time  in  ascertaining  what  help  he 
might  expect  from  the  Woodwardian  trustees,  and  then  wrote 
to  Lord  Cole : 

"  I  have  heard  from  our  Vice-Chancellor  about  the  great 
Irish  fossil,  and  he  wishes  me  to  say  that  he  will  help  me  to 
the  tune  of  £100,  provided  it  be  not  the  skeleton  of  an  Irish 
Bull.  With  this  encouragement,  I  wish  you  to  consider  me 
as  a  customer,  but  every  farthing  beyond  ;£ioo  will  probably 
have  to  come  out  of  my  own  pocket,  including  expenses  and 
carriage.  Therefore  pray  have  mercy  on  a  poor  body,  and 
don't  screw  him  to  death.  If  I  can  do  no  way  else  (for  by 
the  powers  I  don't  think*  I  can  raise  the  wind  myself)  I  must 
raise  a  subscription  among  my  friends  to  lift  me  out  of  the 
bog.  I  hope  your  correspondent  will  think  ;£no  a  good 
offer.  As  a  good  Yorkshireman,  I  hate  to  buy  a  pig  in  a 
poke,  but  I  trust  to  the  faithfulness  of  the  account  given  by  a 
person  whom  you  consider  of  a  respectable  character,  and 
incapable  of  imposing  on  us  by  a  false  description1." 

In  the  course  of  1835  several  letters  passed  between 
Sedgwick  and  Dr  Macartney,  whose  reluctance  to  part  with 
his  prize  increased  as  the  time  for  packing  it  up  drew  near, 
and  it  was  finally  settled  that  the  price  to  be  paid  should  be 
£140,  inclusive  of  the  cost  of  packing  and  carriage  to  Dublin. 
In  justification  of  this  large  sum  Dr  Macartney  urged  that  the 
skeleton  was  an  exceptionally  fine  one,  and  that  as  the  bones 
had  been  found  close  together  there  was  "  reason  to  conclude 

1  To  Viscount  Cole,  11  September,  1834. 

s.  1.  29 


SKELETON  OF  IRISH  ELK. 


%%*i.  they  all  belong  to  the  same  individual8"  As  the  Wcod- 
ALt,  *o.  wardian  Museum  of  that  day  was  too  small  to  contain  so 
large  a  specimen,  the  bones  were  confided  to  the  care  of 
Frofesvsr  Clark.  Sedgwick  was  still  absent  when  the  cases 
arrived  at  Cambridge,  and  on  his  return  was  horrified  to  find 
the  animal  tailless.  On  this  defect  he  wrote  "  a  doleful  letter 
of  inquiry  "*  to  Lord  Cole : 

Florence  Court  [erased\ 
Trdc.  Coll,  Cambridge, 

October  iyd,  1835. 

Dear  Lord  Cole, 

What  a  scatterbrain  I  must  be  to  begin  my  date 
with  Florence  Court !  Expunge  the  two  first  words,  and  you 
will  find  me  where  I  really  am,  in  Trinity  College,  Cambridge. 
But  why  am  I  troubling  your  Lordship?  I  will  tell  you. 
I  reached  Cambridge  yesterday,  and  went  to  our  Anatomical 
Professor,  to  whose  care  the  Enniscorthy  Bog  beast  was 
committed.  It  has  turned  out  most  beautifully — horns,  head, 
legs,  and  body,  but,  horrible  to  tell,  the  tail  is  wanting!  The 
straw  in  the  packing-cases  was  examined  with  the  utmost 
care,  and  not  one  single  caudal  vertebra  was  found  skulking 
in  it  This  has  put  me  at  my  wits  end.  The  very  sight  of 
my  stump-tailed  beast  has  given  me  a  sympathetic  sciatica — 
a  horrible  tic  in  the  regions  of  the  rump  which  wrings  groans 
from  me  enough  to  melt  the  heart  of  a  flint!  Perhaps 
Dr  Macartney  can  administer  a  sedative.  In  plain  English 
then,  had  the  beast  a  tail?  if  so,  where  is  the  tail  now? 
When  the  second  question  is  answered,  how  am  I  to  get  the 
said  tail  ?  These  are  grave  questions,  and  I  should  be  greatly 
obliged  to  you  to  put  them  gravely  to  the  Doctor.  His 
honour  is  concerned  in  seeing  that  my  beast  is  not  funda- 
mentally at  fault.  If  I  knew  his  address  I  might  try  to  put 
salt  on  his  tail  myself,  but  he  told  me  he  was  about  to  quit 

1  From  Dr  Macartney,  6  May,  1835.    The  Woodwardian  trustees  paid  £130 ; 
the  rent  was  probably  paid  by  Sedgwick. 
s  To  Sir  Philip  Egerton,  33  October,  1835. 


VISIT  FROM  AGASSIZ.  451 

his  old  den,  and  I  wish  not  to  send  my  salt  to  a  wrong     1835. 
market.     Do  therefore  lend  me  a  helping  hand  in  my  hour  of   Mu  so- 
need.     My  lectures  begin  on  Monday,  so  for  the  next  month 
I  shall  be  fixed  down  in  this  place,  and  shall  hope  to  hear 
from  you,  and  that  you  will  have  the  humanity  to  pity  my 
case,  and  give  me  my  cue  {queue). 

Present  my  best  remembrances  to  your  father,  whose  hospi- 
tality and  kindness  I  must  ever  remember  with  gratitude. 

Ever  most  truly  yours, 

A.  Sedgwick. 

In  answer  to  this  letter  Lord  Cole  undertook  to  do  what 
he  could ;  and,  as  the  skeleton  can  now  boast  of  a  proper  tail, 
it  may  be  concluded  that  either  the  requisite  number  of 
vertebrae  were  found  in  Dr  Macartney's  possession,  or  ex- 
tracted from  one  of  the  numerous  bogs  in  Ireland  where 
these  gigantic  stags  are  still  plentiful. 

Early  in  the  Michaelmas  term  Sedgwick  had  the  pleasure, 
so  long  deferred,  of  receiving  Agassiz  in  Cambridge.  Soon 
after  his  return  he  had  written :  "  I  am  once  more  settled 
in  the  University,  and  have  buckled  on  my  harness;  and 
my  fish  are  all  gaping  in  expectation  of  seeing  their  great 
law-giver."  At  last,  2  November,  the  famous  ichthyologist 
arrived.  No  account  of  the  visit  has  been  preserved,  but  it  is 
interesting  to  know  that  the  collection  of  fossil  fishes  which 
Sedgwick's  energy  had  got  together  in  the  Woodwardian 
Museum  was  laid  under  contribution  for  the  Recherches  sur 
les  Poissons  fossiles,  on  which  Agassiz  was  then  engaged. 
That  such  was  the  case  is  evident  from  a  subsequent  letter, 
undated,  in  which  Sedgwick  enquires  :  "  When  are  my  fossils 
to  be  drawn  ?  My  fish  are  gaping  for  the  artist,  and  scolding 
him  for  his  long  neglect  of  their  beauteous  faces." 

In  December  Sedgwick  left  Cambridge  for  his  second 
term  of  residence  at  Norwich.  Some  months  previously  the 
authorities  of  the  Museum  had  asked  him  to  deliver  a  course 
of  geological  lectures  during  the  winter,  and  he  had  acceded 

29 — 2 


452  LECTURES  AT  NORWICH. 

1836.  to  their  wishes,  without  due  consideration  of  the  difficulties  of 
iEt-  5'-  the  task  "  I  wish  very  much  you  would  come  to  my  first 
lecture  this  evening,"  he  writes  to  Canon  Wodehouse,  "  if  you 
can  do  so  conveniently.  I  shall  want  your  advice  on  more 
points  than  one ;  about  the  length,  topics,  points,  etc  etc.  of 
my  pattern  lecture.  I  don't  know  my  audience,  and  therefore 
I  want  to  feel  my  way.  Geology  introduces  some  tender 
topics  which  require  delicate  handling.  I  must  speak  truth, 
but  by  all  means  avoid  offence  if  I  can.  Above  all  I  must 
try  not  to  make  my  lecture  a  bore,  which  may  be  done  easily 
in  two  ways — by  firing  over  their  heads,  or  by  running  out  to 
an  unwarrantable  length."  We  shall  recur  to  these  lectures 
in  a  subsequent  chapter ;  for  the  present  it  is  sufficient  to  say 
that  the  dangers  enumerated  in  the  above  letter  were  avoided, 
and  that  the  interest  shewn  by  everybody,  and  especially 
by  the  ladies  of  Norwich,  was  so  great  that  at  the  end 
of  the  course  he  could  report :  "  I  have  had  a  merry 
time  of  it  at  Norwich.  Among  other  amusements  I  gave  a 
course  of  geological  lectures  to  a  class  of  three  or  four 
hundred.  Half  the  stockings  in  Norwich  are  turned  blue 
in  consequence1."  These  sentences  were  written  after  the 
event,  when  distance  was  lending  enchantment  to  the  view 
of  a  successful  achievement.  But,  while  the  course  was  still 
proceeding,  Sedgwick  was  in  a  very  different  frame  of  mind. 
His  anxiety  may  be  measured  by  the  ill-humour  of  the 
following  passages  from  a  letter  to  Murchison : 

Norwich,  January  15,  1836. 

"  I  am  looking  forward  to  my  return  to  my  old  den  and 
old  habits  with  some  anxiety,  as  I  am  almost  worked  off  my 
legs  in  this  place,  and  tired  of  the  life  I  am  leading,  but  it 
is  not  a  life  of  mere  eating  and  drinking,  as  you  seem  to 
fancy.  Each  Sunday  I  have  to  attend  three  services,  and  to 
preach  twice.  My  sermons  cost  me  some  trouble,  and  towards 
the  end  of  the  week  I  have  to  rise  at  six  in  order  to  find  two 

1  To  Rev.  W.  Ainger,  19  February,  1836. 


SOCIETY  AT  NORWICH.  453 

or  three  hours  I  may  call  my  own.  Besides,  I  am  giving  a  1836. 
short  course  of  lectures  which  cost  me  much  trouble.  I  state  ^  5«« 
these  things  as  an  explanation  why  I  have  not  looked  over 
your  MS.  I  have  not  done  your  work,  solely  because  I  have 
not  had  time ;  and  for  the  same  reason  I  have  not  done  my 
own  work.  I  don't  think  I  am  a  selfish  person.  Last  year  I 
did  nothing  for  myself,  but  I  was  working  (a  considerable 
part  of  it)  very  hard  for  other  people.  If  you  knew  the  time 
I  had  given  up  to  my  friends  I  believe  you  would  be  disposed 
to  set  me  down  for  a  fool.  With  such  convictions  on  my  mind 
I  felt  both  hurt  and  angry  at  some  expressions  in  your  letter. 
You  say  if  I  won't  do  your  wishes  'you  must  pocket  the 
affront  \  Now  you  have  no  right  to  talk  of  being  affronted 
because  I  have  not  time  to  do  all  you  wish.  If  I  am  to  see 
this  or  any  other  MS.  on  such  conditions,  I  must  formally  and 
positively  decline  the  task.  You  sent  me  work  enough  for 
three  or  four  entire  days.  Had  they  been  at  my  disposal  I 
should  have  given  them  to  the  task  with  very  great  pleasure ; 
but  they  have  not,  and  so  there  is  an  end  of  the  matter.  I 
will  look  over  the  preface  as  soon  as  I  can  and  return  the 
bundle." 

The  hardworked  Canon  had,  however,  some  compen- 
sations. About  ten  days  after  the  above  letter  was  written 
Mr  Romilly  spent  a  week  with  him,  and  his  diary  affords 
us  some  charming  glimpses  of  Sedgwick  in  his  lighter 
moments,  when  he  threw  lectures  and  sermons  to  the  winds, 
and  surrendered  himself  unreservedly  to  the  company  in  which 
he  took  especial  delight — that  of  ladies  and  young  people. 
We  have  already  heard  of  his  introduction  to  the  Dean's 
daughter,  his  "  oldest  friend  in  Norwich,"  and  now,  thanks  to 
Mr  Romilly,  we  make  the  acquaintance  of  Miss  Clarke,  who, 
down  to  nearly  the  close  of  Sedgwick's  life,  held  a  foremost 
place  among  his  lady  friends.  In  after  years,  as  Mrs  Guthrie, 
she  was  widely  known  for  her  beauty,  her  wit,  and  her  active 
benevolence;  but  in  1836,  when  she  was  barely  twenty-one, 


454  SOCIETY  AT  NORWICH. 

1836.     with  her  naturally  high  spirits  unchecked  by  sorrow  or  respect 
Mt.  51.    for  convention,  she  was  evidently  the  spoilt  child  of  Norwich 
in  general  and  of  Sedgwick   in  particular.     Her  sister  had 
married    Captain    Willoughby    Moore    of   the    Enniskillen 
Dragoons,  and  when  the  regiment  was  quartered  at  Norwich, 
Sedgwick,  as  Canon  in  residence,  called  upon  the  officers.     It 
is  conceivable  that  in  Miss  Clarke's  eyes  the  Woodwardian 
Professor  might  have  been  more  amusing  than  the  Bishop  or 
the  Dean ;  and  that  he  in  his  turn   found   more  congenial 
relaxation  in  her  natural  gaiety  than  in  the  more  artificial 
courtesies  of  the  matrons  of  the  Cathedral  precincts.    What- 
ever their  common  ground  for  friendship  may  have  been  in 
the  first  instance,  they  were  on  a  footing  of  close  intimacy 
when  Mr  Romilly  arrived.     His  first  visit  was  to  "  Mrs  Moore 
and  her  charming  sister  Miss  Caroline  Clarke  (Sedgwick  calls 
her  Cara,  or  Carissitna)  who  is  a  most  fascinating  creature. 
She  does  not  look  above  eighteen,  but  she  comes  of  age  next 
February ."     Presently  it  was  time  to  go  out  riding,  then  a 
matter  of  almost  daily  occurrence,  and  some  officers  joined 
them.    "Sedgwick"  we  read,  "was  in   tearing  spirits.     By 
their  noise  and  laughter  they  attracted  a  great  crowd,  who 
shouted  on  seeing  them  charge  down  the  street"     During 
the  rest  of  the  visit  Miss  Clarke's  name  constantly  recurs : 
in  the  evening  she  draws  caricatures  of  Sedgwick's  figure 
on  horseback;   next  morning  she  comes  to  breakfast  with 
him  dressed  as  a  Quakeress,  and  plays  her  part  admirably, 
to  the  "infinite  delight"  of  her  host  and  his   friend;  on 
another  occasion  she  dons  a  gown  and  cassock,  and  per- 
sonates,  first  Sedgwick,  and  then   an  old  shuffling  canon. 
"It    was    vastly   comical,"    says    the   narrator.     Lastly,    he 
describes  a  gathering  in  Sedgwick's  house,  with  Lady  Jane 
Wodehouse  and  her  children,  who  were  dressed  up  as  a  Turk 
and  his  hareem  by  Miss  Clarke,  while  Sedgwick  exhibited 
a  magic  lantern. 

Amid  these  diversions  Sedgwick's  residence  came  to  an 
end,  and  he  soon  after  returned  to  his  Professorial  duties  at 


JOURNEY  TO  DENT,  455 

Cambridge.    But  his  lectures  had  hardly  begun  before  he  was     1836. 
compelled  to  adjourn  them  sine  diey  and  hurry  down  to  Dent    ^  5*- 
to  discharge  his  duties  as  executor1. 

Dent,  February  2^thy  1836. 
My  dear  Murchison, 

I  have  been  here  ever  since  Saturday  week ;  up  to 
the  ears  in  papers,  and  muddling  my  poor  brain  in  accounts, 
some  of  them  of  thirty  years  standing.  At  first  I  was  in 
despair ;  but  by  working  very  hard,  ten  or  eleven  hours  a  day, 
I  begin  to  see  light,  and  to  comprehend  the  nature  of  the  task 
that  has  fallen  on  me.  My  poor  co-executor  is  on  his  death- 
bed, unable  to  put  pen  to  paper,  and  may  die  any  hour.  I 
am  lingering  from  day  to  day,  waiting  the  event  which  will 
enable  me  to  transact  some  very  important  business  by  my 
single  signature.  My  position  is  most  uncomfortable,  as  my 
lectures  ought  at  this  very  time  to  be  going  on  in  Cambridge. 
Could  you  send  me  a  single  line  ?  How  are  you  getting  on 
with  your  book?  How  did  the  Anniversary  go  off?  Was 
our  President  [LyellJ  very  eloquent  ?  etc.  etc. 

My  adventures  during  the  last  stage  before  I  reached  Dent 
were  laughable  enough.  I  took  a  post-chaise  from  Kirkby 
Lonsdale  and  was  deluded  to  attempt  the  high,  rugged, 
mountain-road ;  but  it  was  so  dark  and  misty,  accompanied 
with  sleet  and  wind,  that  the  driver  twice  got  off  the  road, 
and  the  post-chaise  was  once  on  its  side,  though  easily 
righted.  This  I  did  not  like,  so  I  mounted  by  the  side  of  my 
Jehu,  and  before  ten  minutes  were  over  we  again  missed  the 
road,  and  were  within  an  ace  of  rolling  neck  and  crop  into  a 
hollow  made  by  one  of  the  mountain-streams.  With  some 
difficulty  we  got  the  horses  again  into  the  old  wheel-tracks, 
for  there  was  hardly  the  appearance  of  a  formed  road.  I 
then  took  out  one  of  the  lamps,  and  walked  for  seven  miles 
with  a  hairy  cap  on  my  head,  and  a  boa  about  my  neck, 
all  bespattered  with  sleet  and  snow,  and  looking  like  an  old 
grizzly  watchman.     The  driver  followed  my  light,  and  I  led 

1  See  above,  p.  442. 


456  VISIT  FROM  MISS  CLARKE. 

1836.  him  safely  to  the  top  of  the  pass  which  overhangs  my  native 
Xx.  51.  valley.  All's  well  that  ends  well.  My  friends  gave  me  a 
hearty  welcome  and  a  blazing  fire.  With  them  I  have  re- 
mained ever  since,  with  the  exception  of  two  walks  to  Sed- 
bergh,  for  the  purpose  of  talking  with  a  solicitor,  and  bringing 
home  a  cart-load  of  papers.  I  never  thought  this  calamity 
would  have  befallen  me.  I  was  intended  for  the  sleeping 
partner ;  all  I  meant  to  do  was  to  come  down  to  sign  papers 

and  receive  money. 

Yours  ever, 

A.  Sedgwick. 

Early  in  March  Sedgwick  was  back  in  Cambridge,  and 
announced  the  continuation  of  his  lectures ;  but  before  many 
days  were  over  the  gaieties  of  Norwich  were  resumed  in 
Trinity  College.     Here  again  Mr  Romilly  is  our  guide : 

Wednesday,  9  March,  1836.  At  two  o'clock  arrived  from  Norwich 
Captain  Moore  and  the  fascinating  Miss  Clarke.  I  was  not  present 
at  the  arrival,  but  came  a  few  minutes  after  to  Sedgwick's  rooms  to 
lunch.  I  found  the  brilliant  "  young  person,"  as  she  sometimes  calls 
herself,  sparkling  with  joy.  After  no  long  time  Whewell  came  in, 
and  we  proceeded  to  the  Senate  House  and  King's  Chapel  We  went 
to  the  top  of  the  chapel,  and  between  the  roofs.  At  six  we  dined  with 
Sedgwick ;  a  small  party  of  six — Sedgwick,  Cara,  Moore,  Whewell, 
Lodge,  and  I.     It  was  very  delightful. 

Thursday,  10  March.  Breakfasted  with  Whewell  to  meet  Sedg- 
wick and  his  guests.  Then  to  our  Library,  and  afterwards  to 
Sedgwick's  Museum.  At  six  we  dined  with  Sedgwick  to  meet  a 
large  party.  When  Sedgwick  took  the  ladies  into  the  drawing-room 
after  dinner  they  locked  the  door  upon  him,  and  would  not  let  him 
out  till  he  had  sung  them  a  song.  He  sang  an  odd  one :  An 
Alderman  lived  in  the  City  ;  omitting  however  the  most  objectionable 
verse.  Heard  afterwards  that  Carissima,  while  with  the  other  ladies, 
won  all  their  admiration  by  her  charming  conversation.  She  sang 
them  two  songs. 

Friday,  n  March.  Breakfasted  with  the  Marchesa1  to  meet 
Sedgwick  and  his  guests;  Worsley8  and  Whewell  also  there.     We 

1  The  Marquis  Spineto  was  at  that  time  Teacher  of  the  Italian  Language  to  the 
University.  He  and  his  wife,  a  Scotch  lady  of  good  family,  were  extremely  popular 
at  Cambridge  fifty  years  ago. 

8  Thomas  Worsley,  Trin.  Coll.  B.A.,  1810.  In  1824  he  became  Fellow  of 
Downing,  and  in  1836  Master,  an  office  which  he  held  till  his  death  in  1885.  He 
was  intimate  with  many  of  the  Fellows  of  Trinity,  but  especially  with  Whewell. 


VISIT  FROM  MISS  CLARKE.  457 

then  lionized  Jesus  Chapel,  the  Mesman1  and  Fitzwilliam'  galleries.  1836. 
After  this  there  was  a  grand  cavalcade  consisting  of  Miss  C,  Moore,  jsx.  51. 
Sedgwick,  Whewell  and  Worsley.  On  Parker's  Piece  a  dog  barked  at 
Miss  C.'s  horse,  and  flew  up  at  her  habit  which  was  waving  in  the 
wind.  Moore  dismounted,  and  lashed  the  poor  dog  severely,  at 
which  our  tender-hearted  fascination  cried  bitterly.  The  party  dined 
with  me. 

Saturday,  12  March.  Breakfast  with  Sedgwick  and  his  two 
guests — a  partie  quarrke.  Today  Sedgwick  had  to  lecture,  so  Miss 
C.  spent  an  hour  in  the  Public  Library,  and  then  paid  a  second  visit 
to  the  Fitzwilliam  Museum  to  admire  Claude's  Liber  Veritatis  under 
the  exhibition  of  Worsley.  Sedgwick  joined  us  on  our  road  to 
Worsle/s,  where  we  all  lunched. 

Sunday,  13  March.  We  breakfasted  with  Whewell.  Sedgwick, 
Miss  C,  and  Moore  went  to  church  at  Simeon's,  and  heard  a  good 
and  characteristic  sermon  from  him.  Dined  with  Sedgwick  at  four. 
Whewell  was  the  fifth  person.  We  went  to  Chapel,  and  heard  that 
beautiful  anthem  Plead  thou  my  cause,  from  one  of  Mozart's 
Masses.  After  the  service  Sedgwick  had  desired  Walmisley  to  play 
the  Dead  March  in  Saul,  the  Minuet  in  Ariadne,  etc.  We,  of 
course,  stayed  these  out.  After  tea  Whewell  exhibited  some  books 
of  the  architecture  of  the  Alhambra,  and  of  some  churches  in 
Germany,  and  gave  us  a  capital  lecture  on  Saracenic  and  Gothic 
architecture.  In  spite  of  this,  however,  the  evening  went  off  languidly, 
as  we  knew  to-morrow  morning  came  the  parting. 

Monday,  14  March.  Breakfast  with  Sedgwick— partie  carrhe. 
Our  fair  visitor  was  out  of  spirits,  and  we  most  sorry  to  lose  her. 
She  and  Moore  went  away  to  London  by  the  Telegraph.  The 
departure  of  so  fascinating  a  creature  has  left  a  sad  blank  in  our 
existence. 

The  next  three  months  were  taken  up  with  work  which 
needs  no  special  comment — the  examination  for  scholarships 
in  Trinity  College,  geological  business  in  London,  Chapter 
business  at  Norwich,  and  a  hasty  visit  to  Dent  for  the  marriage 
of  his  sister  Margaret. 

Towards  the  end  of  June  Sedgwick  and  Murchison  broke 
ground  together  in  a  new  field  of  geological  exploration.  For 
several  seasons  in  succession  they  had  been  at  work  contem- 

1  A  collection  of  pictures  formed  by  Daniel  Mesman,  Esq.  They  came  into 
the  possession  of  the  University  in  1834,  the  donor's  brother,  the  Rev.  Charles 
Mesman,  having  renounced  his  life-interest  in  them.  They  were  hung  in  the 
large  room  of  the  Pitt  Press,  now  the  Registry  of  the  University,  from  1834  to 
1848,  when  they  were  removed  to  the  Fitzwilliam  Museum. 

2  The  Fitzwilliam  Collections  then  occupied  the  old  Perse  School  in  Free 
School  Lane. 


458  WITH  MURCHISON  IN  DEVONSHIRE. 

1836.     poraneously  but  independently  among  the  older  rocks,  and 

^t.51.    though  Whewell,  when  President  of  the  Geological  Society, 

had  spoken  of  their  labours  as  "on  all  accounts  to  be  considered 

as  a  joint  undertaking,"  they  had,  in  fact,  started  from  wholly 

different  points,  and  employed   different   methods.     Nor  is 

there  any  evidence  that  they  themselves  considered  that  they 

were  working  with  a  common  end  in  view.     Now,  however, 

they  combined  their  forces,  and  brought  them  to  bear  on  a 

disputed  question  outside  the  special  fields  in  which  each 

had  been  engaged.     Their  labours  ended  in  the  establishment 

of  the  Devonian  System,  but,  when  they  began,  they  had  no 

such  ambitious  views.     They  proposed  to  themselves  to  settle 

the  age  of  the  carboniferous  deposits  of  central  Devon,  known 

as  the  Culm-Measures.     These  rocks  had  been  referred  to  the 

grey-wack6  by  Mr  De  la  Beche  in  1834,  and  again  by  Mr 

Williams  at  the  Dublin  meeting  of  the  British  Association 

in   18351.     Murchison  therefore  suggested   to   Sedgwick,  or 

possibly  Sedgwick  suggested  to  Murchison,  that  they  should 

take  this  work  in  hand  conjointly,  and  get  the  question  settled. 

The  matter  had  probably  been  often  discussed  in  conversation ; 

and  soon  after  Sedgwick's  return  to  Cambridge  from  Norwich 

in  February  1836  he  drew  out  a  geological  itinerary  for  the 

next  summer : 

Trin.  Coll.  6  February,  1836. 

"I  am  anxious  to  talk  with  you  on  many  things.... 
Whewell  tells  me  you  have  ratted  to  the  iceberg  theory. 
I  give  you  joy  of  your  conversion ;  but  the  sooner  you  turn 
back  the  better;  or  rather,  scamper  round  the  hypothetical 
ring  and  come  again  to  the  grand  stand,  and  you  will  be 
where  you  were  before. 

"  I  want  to  talk  about  a  plan  for  next  summer.  What  do 
you  say  to  an  early  start  (middle  of  May?)?  First:  Quan- 
tocks  and  Horner's  country,  with  plenty  of  calcareous  beds 
and  organics.     Secondly:   South  Devon  and  a  few  points  in 

1  See  above,  p.  448.  Murchison  appears  not  to  have  gone  to  Devonshire  in 
1835  as  Sedgwick  expected.  Geikie's  Life  of  Murchison,  i.  331.  The  above 
account  is  borrowed  from  Mr  Geikie's  work,  p.  348. 


WITH  MURCHISON  IN  DEVONSHIRE.  459 

Cornwall,  working  the  Plymouth  beds  well  by  the  way.  In  1836. 
Cornwall  I  could  put  you  into  cover,  and  we  could  floor  all  -**.  5*< 
the  cross  points  in  a  week  or  two,  and  we  might  meet  De  la 
Beche  and  Boase  at  a  point  or  two.  Thirdly:  return  by 
North  Devon,  see  the  Ilfracombe  calcareous  beds  and  ...  grey- 
wack6  coalfield  ...\  Fourthly:  cross  and  meet  Griffith  in 
the  south  of  Ireland,  and  touch  up  a  Silurian  point  or  two. 
Fifthly:  make  a  long  scud  and  go  to  Scotland  about  the 
Mull  of  Galloway,  and  run  up  the  west  coast  examining  the 
coalfield  and  Red  Sandstone,  and  so  working  up  to  the  Old 
Red  through  the  part  we  left  unfinished  in  1827.  All  this  we 
might  finish,  and  find  good  matter  for  one  or  two  general 
papers.     I  think  this  a  good  plan.     What  say  you  to  it  ?" 

It  is  almost  needless  to  say  that  this  very  comprehensive 
scheme  was  not  carried  out  The  two  friends  started  in  June, 
and  approached  their  work  by  way  of  Somersetshire,  Ilfra- 
combe, and  Barnstaple2.  What  had  been  accomplished  up  to 
the  middle  of  July  is  pleasantly  touched  upon  in  the  following 
letter  to  Canon  Wodehouse. 

Plymouth,  July  20,  1836. 
My  dear  Wodehouse, 

To  catch  a  letter  from  a  geologist  when  under  way 
is  about  as  easy  as  to  catch  a  spark  from  the  tail  of  a  rocket 
Our  lights  are,  however,  quenched  by  a  pelting  shower,  and 
here  we  are  in  shelter,  with  a  tea  urn  hissing  on  the  table, 
and  some  broiled  fish  within  nostril  scent  How  long  they 
will  remain  in  their  present  position  before  they  pass  down 
the  Gulf  Stream  remains  to  be  seen.  To  leave,  however, 
such  sensual,  epicurean,  topics  let  me  tell  you  that  I  have 
been  zigzagging  through  the  N.  W.  coast  of  Somerset ;  pound- 
ing the  sides  of  N.  Devon,  and  burrowing  through  Dartmoor 
to  this  place.  Murchison,  whom  you  know  by  name,  is  my 
fellow-labourer.     As  you  care  less  than  nothing  about  things 

1  A  piece  of  the  letter  has  been  unfortunately  cut  out,  for  the  sake  of  the  sig- 
nature. 

3  Geikie's  Life  of  Murchison^  i.  150. 


460  WITH  MURCHISON  IN  DEVONSHIRE. 

1836.     under  the  earth  I  will  not  torment  you  with  any  account  of 
iEt  5I#    our  excursions  to  the  earth's  centre  (a  right  merry  region,  for 
there  you  know  the  operations  of  gravity  are  suspended),  or 
our  traverse  to  the  antipodes. 

Suffice  it  then  to  say  that  on  passing  through  Ilfracombe  I 
tapped  at  the  Post  Office  window  and  found  a  letter  from  the 
Dean  of  Norwich,  which  told  me  many  things,  and  among  the 
rest  informed  me  that  you  were  out  of  health.  Now,  my  dear 
Brother,  though  it  be  quite  true  that  geologists  get  very  crusty 
on  the  outside,  don't  suppose  that  their  bowels  are  ever  petri- 
fied. I  was  very  sorry  to  hear  the  news  of  your  illness,  and  I 
avail  myself  of  the  first  moment  of  leisure  (and  it  is  but  a 
moment)  to  tell  you  so,  and  to  beg  of  you  to  write  to  me — 
above  all  to  tell  me  you  are  quite  well  again.  Any  tit-bit  of 
Norwich  news  will  be  delightful,  and  any  fireside  news  will  be 
most  welcome.  How  is  little  Boppity?  How  is  William? 
How  Mrs  Bunch  ?  and  how  all  the  rest  in  the  ascending 
order,  till  we  mount  to  Charles  the  First  ?  Lady  Jane  is,  I 
hope,  quite  well.  What  a  charming  thing  to  have  such  a 
kind  nurse!  If  I  had  a  wife  I  would  sham  ill  now  and  then 
in  order  that  she  might  make  a  pet  of  me. 

It  is  raining  worse  than  ever,  but  I  must  finish  this  sheet 
in  order  that  I  may  finish  my  breakfast,  and  go  with  my 
impatient  friend  to  a  Museum,  the  keeper  of  which  is  waiting 
for  us.  My  kindest  remembrances  to  Lady  Jane,  and  my 
love  to  all  your  children. 

Your  affectionate  friend 

A.  Sedgwick. 

No  further  information  respecting  their  route  or  their 
proceedings  has  been  preserved,  but  when  the  British  Associa- 
tion met  at  Bristol  in  August  they  were  able  to  present  to 
the  Geological  Section  A  classification  of  the  old  Slate  Rocks 
of  the  North  of  Devonshire,  and  on  ttie  true  position  of  the 
Culm  deposits  in  the  central  portion  of  that  County.  In  this 
communication  they  shewed  that  the  Culm-Measures  lay  at 


VISIT  TO  MR  CROSSE.  461 

the  top  of  the  rocks  afterwards  named  by  them  Devonian,  1836. 
and  belonged  to  the  carboniferous  system.  The  work  they  Mt'  **' 
had  accomplished  so  far  made  them  desirous  of  undertaking 
a  more  extended  research  into  the  structure  of  Devonshire; 
and  Murchison  being  called  away  by  the  state  of  his  mother's 
health,  Sedgwick  set  out  for  Devonshire  alone,  much  exhausted 
by  the  week's  work  at  Bristol,  and  eager  for  fresh  air1. 

On  his  way  from  Bristol  to  Exeter  he  stayed  a  night  at 
Broomfield  with  Mr  Andrew  Crosse,  who  had  made  a  com- 
munication to  the  Association  "on  the  effect  of  long-continued 
galvanic  action  of  low  intensity  in  forming  crystals  and 
other  substances  analogous  to  natural  minerals9."  Sedgwick 
writes  of  this  visit:  "Spent  the  morning  in  Mr  Crosse's 
laboratory ;  splendid  experiments ;  but  in  two  respects  dis- 
appointed— neither  the  variation  in  diurnal  intensity,  nor  the 
effect  of  light  on  the  galvanic  process  of  making  crystals,  are 
I  think  proven.  For  the  variation  of  intensity  Crosse  depends 
on  his  sensations — a  bad  mode  of  measuring,  as  the  effect  may 
depend  on  a  variation  of  nervous  susceptibility.  I  hope  some 
better  test  may  make  the  fact  out ;  but  it  is  not  yet  proven8." 

After  leaving  Exeter  he  was  joined  by  Mr  Austen4,  a  young 
geologist  whom  he  describes  as  "  a  clever,  good,  independent, 
workman ; "  and  in  his  company  made  further  investigations 
into  the  extent  and  relations  of  the  Culm-Measures.  This 
necessary  work  despatched,  Mr  Austen  returned  home,  and 
Sedgwick  went  alone  into  Cornwall,  chiefly  examining  the 
coast-line.  The  letters  in  which  he  informed  Murchison  of 
what  he  was  doing  are  too  technical  for  reproduction  here ; 
and  the  results  will  be  best  noticed  when  we  come  to  speak 
of  their  scientific  value.  A  single  letter  to  Whewell,  whom 
he  had  met  last  at  Bristol,  gives  a  graphic  resutnt  of  his 
personal  discomforts. 

1  To  Canon  Wodehouse,  29  August,  1836. 

1  Report  of  British  Association,  1836,  p.  47. 

8  To  R.  I.  Murchison,  September,  1836. 

4  Robert  Alfred  Cloyne  Austen,  afterwards  Godwin-Austen. 


462  COAST  OF  CORNWALL. 


1836.  Camelford,  October  y/A,  1836. 

JD\       mm 

"  Here  I  am  on  my  way  homewards ;  but  I  have 
still  much  work  to  do,  and  I  have  very  little  time  to  effect 
it     What  is  worse,  I  have  the  prospect  of  broken  weather. 
Could  I  engage  ten  fine  days  I  could  then  leave  the  country 
with  clean  hands.... Since  we  parted  I  have  been  very  busy. 
One  day  with  that  lightning-monger  Crosse;  a  day  among 
the  whetstone  pits;  many  days  on  the  east  side  of  Dartmoor, 
where  I  traced  the  Culm-Measures  as  far  as  Newton  Bushell. 
Then  I  passed  along  the  south  coast  of  Devon,  retouching 
points  Murchison  and  I  had  touched  before.     From  Devon  I 
went  to  the  coast  of  Cornwall,  and  paced  my  way  through  the 
wild  and  rugged  cliffs  in   the  old  fashion,  with  horse  and 
panniers.... The  rain  disagrees  with  me,  and  I  have  twice  been 
laid  up,  and  forced  to  call  in  a  doctor.     I  traced  organic 
remains  almost  all  the  way  from  Plymouth  to  the  Lizard. 
They  abound  on  the  north  coast,  and  such  raised  beaches! 
they  are  enough  to  make  your  mouth  water.     The  sea  has 
changed  its  relative  level  in  some  places  by  30  or  40  feet,  and 
old  waterworn  strands  may  be  seen  up  in  the  cliff  as  plain  as 
the  nose  on  your  face.    To-morrow  I  take  a  peep  at  the  point 
on  the  coast  (about  five  miles  from  this  place)  where  the 
Culm-Measures  abut  against  the   Cornish   slates.      Having 
made  good  the  demarcation  in  this  county  I  hope  to  move 
on   to  Devonshire,  and  track  my  way  along  the  northern 
skirts  of  Dartmoor." 

On  the  day  before  Sedgwick  wrote  this  letter,  Whewell 
had  put  to  him  the  important  question,  Should  he,  or  should 
he  not,  agree  to  become  President  of  the  Geological  Society  ? 
The  question  and  the  answer  are  as  follows  : 

London,  October  6,  1836. 
My  dear  Sedgwick, 

I  have  just  seen  Murchison,  who  has  given  me  such 
notice  of  your  whereabouts  as  he  thinks  will  enable  me  to  hit  you  at 
a  long  shot.  He  tells  me  that  you  go  on  setting  the  strata  of 
Devonshire  to  rights,  which  is  good ;  but  he  tells  me  that  you  have 


CORRESPONDENCE   WITH  W HE  WELL.  463 

had  bad  health,  which  I  grieve  much  to  hear.     Pray  take  care  of     1836. 
yourself,  and  avoid  hard  work,  bad  weather,  and  Dr  Sedgwick's    &.  5I< 
physic.     Consider  that  the  two  former  cannot  be  expected  to  agree 
with  a  rosy  prebendary,  as  they  did  with  a  lean  geologist,  and  that 
the  doctor  in  question  knows  too  much  of  other  things  to  make  his 
prescriptions  good  for  anything. 

I  want  very  much  to  have  your  advice  and  opinion  on  a  point  on 
which  it  will  have  great  weight  with  everybody,  and  with  me  will  be 
decisive.  Your  leading  geologists  think  they  see  strong  reasons  for 
not  taking  Buckland  for  their  president  next  year,  and  are  at  a  loss 
whom  to  pitch  upon.  Now  it  appears  to  me  that  if,  in  this  embarass- 
ment,  they  are  tempted  to  turn  their  eyes  to  a  person  who  is  not  a 
geologist,  and  who  cannot  be  supposed,  by  any  one  acquainted  with 
the  subject,  to  have  any  detailed  geological  knowledge,  they  will  lose 
that  eminence  and  respect  which  has  hitherto  belonged  to  the  office 
in  the  geological  world  of  Europe.  And,  if  they  were  likely  to  do 
this,  I  think  that  no  private  regards  would  prevent  your  giving  your 
opinion  against  such  a  step.  The  case  in  short  is,  that  Murchison 
and  Lyell  have  proposed  the  office  to  me ;  and  the  extreme  pleasure 
which  I  cannot  but  feel  at  finding  it  possible  that  such  a  proposition 
should  have  entered  anybod/s  head,  is  dashed  by  my  own  conscious- 
ness of  my  want  of  the  qualifications  which  I  think  are  requisite.  I 
am  not  going  to  trouble  you  with  disqualifying  speeches,  nor  need  I 
tell  you,  I  think,  what  I  think  of  the  Society  and  the  office.  I  hold 
it  to  be  a  dignity  much  superior  to  that  of  President  of  the  Royal 
Society.  And  I  want  to  fortify  myself,  by  your  authority,  that  it 
demands  a  person  more  professedly  and  notoriously  versed  in  geology 
than  I  am.  I  should  be  very  much  obliged  to  you  to  write  to  me 
about  this  as  soon  as  you  can ;  and  if  you  think,  as  it  appears  to  me 
that  you  must  think,  that  I  am  not  the  proper  person  for  your 
generalissimo,  you  will  of  course  make  no  scruple  of  saying  so,  and  I 
will  then  put  an  end  to  all  further  thoughts  of  this  scheme.  You  need 
not  fear  hurting  my  vanity  by  telling  me  that  I  ought  not  to  have 
the  presidentship ;  for  I  am  quite  sufficiently  gratified  by  the  opinion 
which  the  proposal  implies  in  such  men  as  Murchison  and  Lyell  to 
need  no  humouring  in  the  mode  of  telling  me  what  I  know  to  be 
true.  So  there  is  my  case  for  you,  and  now  let  me  have  your 
advice. 

Always  yours  truly 

W.  Whewell. 

Launceston,  October  12M,  1836. 
My  dear  Whewell, 

Here  I  am,  and  when  I  shall  be  able  to  budge  I 
know  not,  for  the  elements  are  in  most  dreadful  disorder. 
Thank  God  !  I  am  now  well,  though  I  have  had  one  or  two 
severe  attacks  brought  on  by  fatigue  and  bad  weather.     By 


464  CORRESPONDENCE    WITH  WHEWELL. 

1836.  working  hard  between  showers  and  storms  I  have  done  a  great 
-<£*.  5i-  deal  of  good  work,  and  fixed  many  geological  land-marks,  which 
will,  I  hope,  stand  all  weathers.  Were  the  sky  to  clear  I  could 
rub  off  my  score  in  about  three  days ;  and  it  would  vex  me  to 
the  very  marrow  of  my  bones  to  quit  this  country  without 
settling  the  boundary  of  the  Culm  basin.  But  to  business,  for  it 
is  rather  late,  and  I  am  very  much  tired,  having  been  twice 
half-drowned  since  I  started  in  the  morning. 

Don't  hesitate  one  instant,  Mr  President  elect  Did  you 
not  pick  geological  rubbish  out  of  my  eyes  in  1820  ?  Have 
you  not  figured  in  the  mines  of  Cornwall  ?  Have  you  not 
drawn  the  granite  veins  in  a  way  that  would  do  honour  to 
Michael  Angelo1  ?  Have  you  not  been  Professor  of  Mineralogy  ? 
Have  you  not  given  the  only  philosophical  view  of  that  science 
that  exists  in  our  language9?  Have  you  not  written  the 
best  review  of  Lyell's  system8  that  has  appeared  in  our 
language  ?  etc.  etc.  ?  You  are  just  the  man  we  want  Again, 
some  great  questions  connected  with  the  theory  of  electric 
currents ;  the  existence  of  joints  in  given  directions  in  crystal- 
line rocks  (e.g.  the  granite  of  Cornwall  and  Devon,  where  also 
the  major  axes  of  the  felspar  crystals  are  arranged  on  given 
lines,  and  the  master-joints  are  nearly  Mag.  N.) ;  the  mechanics 
of  the  theory  of  elevation ;  and  many  etceteras,  want  your  hand 
to  guide  them,  and  your  back  to  bear  them.  So  you  must  for 
your  own  honour  and  our  good  stand  in  the  gap  for  us.  In 
short  you  are  made  for  the  office,  and  the  saddle  must  be 
guided  to  your  back.  I  rejoice  much  that  Lyell  and  Murchison 
have  turned  their  thoughts  to  you.  Again,  I  think  it  will  do 
us  honour  to  link  ourselves  with  men  of  exact  science,  and  I 
dream't  last  night  that  I  saw  you  riding  into  the  Geological 

1  See  above,  pp.  330,  331. 

9  An  Essay  on  Mineralogical  Classification  and  Nomenclature.  By  W. 
Whewell,  8vo.  Camb.  1828.    He  was  Professor  of  Mineralogy  1818 — 32. 

8  Whewell  reviewed  the  first  volume  of  Lyell's  Principles  of  Geology  in  The 
British  Critic %  No.  17,  publ.  in  January,  1831;  and  the  second  volume  in  The 
Quarterly  Review,  No.  93,  publ.  in  March,  1834.  Todhunter's  William  Whewell, 
i.  51,  60. 


THE  CULM  MEASURES.  465 

Society  on  the  back  of  a  great  tidal  wave  as  high  as  the  top  of     1836. 
Somerset  House.  &u  si- 

Tell  Murchison  that  in  the  quarries  a  mile  and  a  half  south 
of  this  place  there  are  fossils  without  number,  that  the  Culm- 
Measures  make  a  great  plunge  to  the  south  (I  have  this  day 
during  a  most  pelting  storm  traced  them  to  the  foot  of  Brent 
Tor),  and  abut  against  Dartmoor,  getting  well  frizzled  at  their 
edges.  I  can  find  plenty  of  Culm  beds,  but  unfortunately  not 
much  thicker  than  this  paper — just  enough  to  soil  the  fingers, 
but  not  enough  to  warm  the  tip  of  your  toe.  By  the  way  I 
saw  this  morning  a  quaternary  formation  of  ink.  In  a  yellow 
pyritous  soil,  containing  sulphate  of  iron,  there  was  a  copious 
black  precipitate,  wherever  the  roots  of  the  oak-tree  passed 
through  the  soil,  and  you  might  have  fancied  that  some  one 
had  upset  one  of  Day  and  Martin's  blacking-pots.  What 
shall  we  call  this  new  geological  deposit  ?  Melanoune  ?  no, 
that  will  not  do.  What's  the  Greek  for  ink  ?  My  best  regards 
to  my  Cambridge  friends.     I  hope  to  be  trundling  in  among 

you  about  the  time  I  mentioned. 

Yours  ever 

A.  Sedgwick. 

When  the  observations  made  hastily  in  Devonshire  in 
June  and  July  were  communicated  to  the  British  Association, 
the  authors  announced  that  they  proposed  to  lay  a  more 
complete  paper  before  the  Geological  Society.  This  had  now 
to  be  prepared ;  but,  as  might  have  been  expected,  the 
difficulties  which  had  occurred  in  1827,  and  to  which  col- 
laboration must  be  always  exposed,  were  repeated,  but  in 
an  aggravated  form.  Sedgwick  had  now  more  calls  upon 
his  time.  At  the  beginning  of  this  particular  term  he 
wrote:  "My  lectures  begin  the  day  after  to-morrow,  and  I 
have  three  papers  on  the  stocks.  My  hands  were  never  so 
full  before.  I  wish  the  days  were  forty-eight  hours  long, 
or  that  I  could  find  some  patent  mode  of  getting  through 
the  term  without  eating  or  sleeping  V     In   the  next  place, 

1  To  S.  Woodward,  16  October,  1836. 

s.  i.  30 


466  RAISED  BEACH  AT  BARNSTAPLE. 

1836.  he  could  never  count  upon  being  well  enough  to  work, 
iBt  5*«  especially  when  under  pressure.  "  Could  I  command  my 
stomach,  I  could  clear  off  my  work  easily  enough ;  but  the 
moment  I  try  to  employ  my  pen,  all  the  inner  man  gets  out  of 
order,  and  then,  as  for  brain,  my  head  might  just  as  well  be 
filled  with  brick-dust1."  His  position  too,  as  prebendary  of 
Norwich,  had  given  him  a  new  set  of  duties,  and  exposed  him 
to  be  called  away  from  Cambridge  when  absence  might  be 
specially  inconvenient.  For  instance,  when  Murchison  was 
crying  out  for  substantial  help  towards  his  Description  of  a 
raised  Beach  in  Barnstaple  Bay  (read  to  the  Geological 
Society  14  December)  Sedgwick  was  executing  "a  shuttle- 
cock movement "  between  Cambridge  and  Norwich,  and  it 
was  only  at  the  eleventh  hour  that  he  could  seize  a  brief 
interval  in  which  to  scribble  a  peroration,  which  his  friend 
managed  to  tack  on  to  his  own  work.  This  paper,  however, 
dealt  with  only  a  single  special  point,  and  Sedgwick's  short- 
comings in  the  way  of  collaboration  were  comparatively 
unimportant  What  happened  when  the  general  essay  on 
the  structure  of  Devonshire  was  announced  was  far  more 
serious,  as  will  be  narrated  directly.  Meanwhile  the  follow- 
ing letters,  in  which  the  serious  and  the  jocose  are  blended  in 
Sedgwick's  happiest  manner,  will  fitly  conclude  our  account 
of  the  year  1836. 

To  Canon   Wodehouse. 

Trin.  Coll.,  November  4,  1836. 
My  dear  Wodehouse, 

Many  thanks  for  your  kind  letter,  which  I  should 
have  answered  sooner  had  I  not  been  called  up  to  Town  on 
unexpected  business.  I  am  only  just  returned ;  and,  as  I 
have  much  lecture-work  on  my  hands,  I  will  try  to  come 
point  blank  to  business.  Your  orders  appear  admirable,  and 
I  must  of  course  abide  by  them.  Touching  the  dining-room  I 
will  implicitly  follow  your  advice,  especially  as  you  say  you 

1  To  Rev.  W.  Ainger,  20  November,  1836. 


fc 


DOMESTIC  PLEASANTRIES.  467 

have  consulted  the  learned  Barnesius1.  I  should  have  called  1836. 
her  Barnesia;  but  I  dare  say  you  were  right,  as,  in  spite  ^-t1- 
of  her  petticoats,  she  is  certainly  a  being  of  right  masculine 
understanding.  In  the  wake  of  such  a  learned  upholsteress 
one  cannot  go  far  wrong.  Again,  what  you  and  she  condemn  I 
will  execute.  As  for  the  spots  on  \hz  paper,  I  care  naught  about 
them.  The  only  fear  I  have  is,  that  if  they  remain,  Barnesia 
may,  like  Lady  Macbeth,  become  a  sleep-walker.  What  a 
horrible  thing  it  would  be  to  see  her  every  night  about  two 
o'clock  sliding  into  my  bed-room,  with  a  lamp  in  her  left  hand 
and  a  mop  in  her  right,  and  muttering  through  her  chattering 
teeth:  "Out  damned  spot!  out  I  say!  one,  two;  why  then 
'tis  time  to  do't.  Fie  Mr  Prebendary!  a  Parson  and  be 
afear'd  !  what  need  we  fear  who  knows  it,  when  none  can  call 
our  paper  to  account  ?  Wash  your  hands ;  put  on  your 
night-gown,  look  not  so  pale,  I  tell  you  yet  again  your  paper 
must  be  cleansed  " ! ! !  Repeated  scenes  like  this  would  be 
bad  discipline  for  a  nervous  man  like  myself.  So,  having  given 
you  such  formal  and  intelligible  directions,  I  may  be  content  to 
leave  the  question  of  paper  currency  with  your  wisdom.  I  can 
easily  bring  a  MegatJierium  or  Dinotherium  to  cover  the  spots. 
I  have  had  a  letter  from  the  Dean,  who  seems  to  wish  us 
to  begin  our  residence  as  if  our  members  were  now  reduced 
to  four,  i.e.  each  of  us  to  take  three  months.  With  my 
present  engagements  here  such  an  arrangement  would  be 
impossible,  at  least  for  this  year.  It  would,  I  believe,  compel 
me  to  resign  my  Professorship — a  move  I  am  by  no  means 
inclined  to  take.  Pray  excuse  the  trouble  I  am  compelled 
to  give  you.  My  kind  remembrances  to  Lady  Jane,  and  to 
all  your  children,  whom  I  hope  to  find  at  home  well  and 
right  merry  during  the  Christmas  vacation.  This  fickle 
weather  puts  my  old  crazy  machinery  a  little  out  of  order. 
Always,  my  dear  Brother,  Most  truly  yours 

A.  Sedgwick. 

1  Mrs  Barnes,  Sedgwick's  housekeeper.    She  hod  been  engaged  for  him  by 
Lady  Jane  Wodehouse. 

30—2 


468  PERSONAL  NEWS. 


1836.      To  Rev.  W.  D.  Conybeare. 

'  °  *  Trin.  Coll.  December  5,  1836. 

My  dear  Conybeare, 

I  am  trying  to  steal  a  few  minutes  during  the 
intervals  of  swallowing  my  breakfast  And  why  in  such  an 
hour?  Because  my  servant  is  occupied  in  packing  up  my 
outward  garniture,  not  to  mention  a  thousand  odds  and  ends 
necessary  to  my  comfort  during  a  three  months'  incubation  in 
the  cathedral  rookery  at  Norwich.  Because  (driving  hard,  as 
they  say  in  the  north)  I  am  looking  out  for  sections,  and  other 
materials,  for  my  concluding  lecture  at  12  o'clock.  Because, 
after  the  said  lecture,  I  have  to  return  to  the  audit ;  after  the 
audit  to  eat  a  great  audit-dinner ;  after  the  dinner  to  put  my- 
self into  a  fly,  and  by  aid  of  its  wings  to  pass  Newmarket 
Heath  in  time  for  the  night-coach  to  Norwich.  Any  one  of 
these  reasons  would  be  enough  to  put  me  on  the  move,  but  all 
together  they  make  me  stir  about  like  Whewell's  anemometer1 
during  the  late  gales.  How  deep  then  must  be  my  regard  for 
my  friends  at  Axminster  to  think  of  them  and  write  to  them 
in  such  a  whirlwind  !  But  it  is  with  memory  as  with  a  muddy 
ditch,  and  with  thought  as  with  air-bubbles  rising  therefrom. 
You  must  stir  the  water  to  make  them  rise  rapidly,  and  poke 
the  mud  to  have  them  in  plenty. 

Since  my  return  I  have  often  intended  to  send  you  my 
best  greetings,  but  good  intentions  are  often  our  worst  stumb- 
ling blocks.  A  thousand  times  in  my  life  I  have  broken  my 
shins,  and  soiled  my  manners,  over  them.  But  I  have  been 
very  busy  with  my  lectures,  and  not  in  very  good  health.  One 
entire  week  I  was  almost  laid  up  with  dyspepsia.  The  dull 
round  of  my  mill-horse  life  was  broken  in  upon  last  week  by 
a  trip  to  London  to  the  anniversary  of  the  Royal  Society. 
Had  I  time  I  would  tell  you  all  about  it,  but  I  have  not 
During  the  past  term  Simeon's  death  and  funeral  have  been 

1  Mr  Whewell  described  an  anemometer  invented  by  himself  at  the  meeting  of 
the  British  Association  held  at  Dublin  in  1835;  and  more  fully  at  that  held  at 
Bristol  in  1836.    Report  of  the  Association,  1835,  p.  39;  1836,  p.  39. 


SIMEON'S  FUNERAL.  469 

by  far  the  most  exciting  events  that  have  passed  amongst  us.  1836. 
The  greatest  part  of  the  University — graduates,  and  under-  Mu  5*- 
graduates — assembled  to  do  his  memory  honour,  and  while 
the  procession  moved  down  the  magnificent  chapel  to  the 
grave,  and  while  its  vaulted  roof  was  reverberating  the  almost 
supernatural  notes  of  Handel's  Dead  March,  I  do  not  think 
there  was  one  person  (including  many  hundred  spectators) 
who  was  not  for  a  while  almost  carried  away  by  a  powerful 
emotion1.  William "  and  your  friends  here  are  all  well. 
Whewell  is  printing  his  great  book8,  which  will  be  out  early  in 
the  spring,  perhaps  before  I  return  from  Norwich.  Among 
other  events,  I  may  mention  that  last  week  a  lioness  had  four 
cubs  at  Cambridge,  and  a  sensible  undergraduate  suggested 
four  names  for  the  said  cubs  which  have  been  adopted, 
and  they  are  accordingly  called,  Whewell,  Peacock,  Sedgwick, 
and  Simeon,  to  the  no  small  amusement  of  some  people  who 
don't  look  deep  for  pleasure.  Should  "  Sedgwick  "  ever  be 
brought  in  a  cage  to  Axminster,  tell  Mary  to  poke  him  gently. 
Buckland's  book4 1  have  of  course  read  carefully,  and  must 
read  again.  The  natural  history  is  excellent,  though  of  course 
not  equal.  But  some  of  the  best  parts  of  it  ought  to  have 
appeared  in  separate  memoirs,  and  not  in  a  book  of  Natural 
Theology,  which  has  to  do  with  laws,  and  not  with  minute 
details.  The  part  on  belemnites  pleased  me  most,  it  is  quite 
perfect.  Trilobites  very  good,  and  views  in  part  very  original. 
Concamerated  shells  in  general  excellent,  but  he  refines  too 
much,  and  some  of  the  illustrations  (e.g.  from  gothic  architec- 
ture) are  false.     The  siphon  theory6  puzzles  me  ;  it  is  at  least 

1  The  Rev.  Charles  Simeon,  Fellow  of  King's  College,  died  on  Sunday, 
13  November,  1836;  and  was  buried  in  the  College  Chapel  on  the  following 
Saturday. 

8  William  John  Conybeare,  then  an  undergraduate  of  Trinity  College,  B.A. 
1837,  and  afterwards  Fellow. 

8  History  of  the  Inductive  Sciences,  3  vols.,  8vo.  Camb.  1837. 

4  Geology  and  Mineralogy  considered  with  reference  to  Natural  Theology :  the 
Sixth  Bridgewater  Treatise,  2  vols.  8vo.  Lond.  1836. 

5  Proofs  of  design  derived  from  the  structure  of  the  siphuncle  in  Nautilus 
pompilius.     Vol.  i.  pp.  314 — 33a. 


47o  BUCKLANnS  BRIDGEWATER  TREATISE. 

1836.     ingenious.     The  account  of  the  Megatfterium  disappoints  me. 

tet.  51.    Some  remarkable  peculiarities  are  overlooked.     The  account 

of  the  teeth,  however,  is  in  his  best  manner.    Pentland  tells  me 

that  he  is  quite  wrong  in  putting  it  in  armour  ;  that  the  coat 

of  mail  belongs  to  another  beast.     Let  them  fight  it  out 

I  wish  I  had  not  filled  up  the  first  page  with  mere  padding, 
as  I  want  to  tell  you  more  about  this  book.  The  moral  and 
theological  part  is,  I  think,  a  great  failure.  In  showing  unity 
of  design  he  is  good ;  but  the  argument  is  broken  up  too  much 
into  fragments.  He  ought  to  have  had  one  grand  sweeping 
chapter  on  that  head  instead  of  500  corollaries ;  several  direct 
arguments  fail  of  their  aim.  They  ought  to  have  appeared  at 
the  end,  by  way  of  removing  objections.  We  can  establish 
wisdom  and  benevolent  design  from  the  happy  tendency  of 
laws ;  so  far  the  argument  is  direct.  But  in  the  working 
of  the  laws  we  find  much  particular  and  individual  evil.  If 
we  argue  directly  we  lead  to  the  conclusion  that  God  wants 
benevolence,  or  wants  power.  But  if  we  argue  indirectly,  we 
show  (and  this  Buckland  has  done,  though  he  has  not  put  the 
argument  well,  and  has  overstrained  it),  that  much  good  comes 
out  of  apparent  ill,  and  that  the  evil  on  the  surface  of  things 
may  be  resolved  into  something  connected  with  our  own 
imperfection  and  shortsightedness.  I  have  not  room  or  time 
to  explain  further.  The  concluding  chapter  is  not  good. 
Instead  of  a  grand  outpouring  of  his  own  soul,  pregnant  with 
high  thoughts  and  bursting  for  their  delivery,  he  gives  us  a 
mere  mosaic,  without  coherence,  and  a  discontinuous  string  of 
quotations.  I  cannot  bear  such  writing  on  such  a  grand 
occasion.  By  the  way  the  chapter  on  Mineralogy  is  decidedly 
bad  and  jejune.  Had  he  read  WhewelPs  philosophical  Report* 
he  must  have  seen  where  Mineralogy  was  among  the  sciences, 
and  what  argument  it  might  supply.  Instead  of  that  he  has 
been  dabbling  among  mere  chips  and  fragments.  You  must 
not  tell  Buckland  what  I  am  now  writing,  for  he  would  not 

1  On  the  recent  progress  and  present  state  of  Mineralogy.    Brit.  Ass.  Report, 
1831— 3a,  pp.  3*a— 365. 


BUCK  LA  NHS  BRIDGEWATER   TREATISE.  471 

forgive  me.  As  a  book  of  Palaeontology  it  is  very  good,  in  1836. 
many  parts  admirable ;  as  a  book  of  Natural  Theology  it  is  •**•  5»< 
not  good.  It  exhibits  a  want  of  power,  and  a  want  of  skill. 
The  descriptive  style  is  very  good,  but  the  moral  and  didactic 
parts  are  sometimes  mouthy  and  turgid.  When  I  read  the  end 
of  one  of  his  chapters  where  he  compares  the  footsteps  of  a 
tortoise  on  the  Corn  Cockle  sandstone  to  the  footsteps  of  a 
conqueror,  I  thought  the  whole  passage  in  such  bad  taste  that 
I  almost  threw  the  book  down  in  a  passion1.  I  must,  however, 
have  done ;  and  once  more  do  not  tell  Buckland  one  word  of 
what  I  am  writing,  I  am  certain  he  would  not  bear  it.  With 
all  his  faults  he  is  most  kindhearted,  and  a  most  valuable 
friend ;  and  in  his  own  way  he  is  perhaps  the  cleverest  man  I 
have  had  the  happiness  of  knowing. 

Ever  yours, 

A.  Sedgwick. 

To  Rev.  Charles  Ingle. 

Norwich,  December  13,  1836. 
My  dear  Ingle, 

Another  year  has  rolled  away,  and  I  am  once 
again  fixed  in  the  monotonous  round  of  a  Cathedral  residence. 
One  of  my  brother  Prebendaries  died  since  you  and  I  parted, 
and  our  respective  terms  of  servitude  now  extend  over  one 

1  "The  Historian  or  the  Antiquary  may  have  traversed  the  fields  of  ancient  or 
of  modern  battles ;  and  may  have  pursued  the  line  of  march  of  triumphant  Con- 
querors, whose  armies  trampled  down  the  most  mighty  kingdoms  of  the  world. 
The  winds  and  storms  have  utterly  obliterated  the  ephemeral  impressions  of  their 
course.  Not  a  track  remains  of  a  single  foot,  or  a  single  hoof,  of  all  the  countless 
millions  of  men  and  beasts  whose  progress  spread  desolation  over  the  earth.  But 
the  Reptiles  that  crawled  upon  the  half-finished  surface  of  our  infant  planet,  have 
left  memorials  of  their  passage,  enduring  and  indelible.  No  history  has  recorded 
their  creation  or  destruction ;  their  very  bones  are  found  no  more  among  the  fossil 
relics  of  a  former  world.  Centuries,  and  thousands  of  years,  may  have  rolled  away 
between  the  time  in  which  these  footsteps  were  impressed  by  Tortoises  upon  the 
sands  of  their  native  Scotland,  and  the  hour  when  they  are  again  laid  bare  and 
exposed  to  our  curious  and  admiring  eyes.  Yet  we  behold  them,  stamped  upon 
the  rock,  distinct  as  the  track  of  the  passing  animal  upon  the  recent  snow ;  as  if  to 
show  that  thousands  of  years  are  but  as  nothing  amidst  Eternity,  and,  as  it  were, 
in  mockery  of  the  fleeting  perishable  course  of  the  mightiest  Potentates  among 
mankind."    Buckland,  ut  supra,  i.  162. 


472  PERSONAL  NEWS. 


1836.     fifth  part  of  the  year.    The  consequence  has  been,  that  my 
iEt  51-   turn  commenced  this  morning  instead  of  the  1st  of  December, 
and  will  end  on  the  23rd  of  February  instead  of  the  last  day 
of  January.    You  now  know  the  limits  within  which  you  may 
be  sure  to  find  me,  as  far  as  anything  is  sure  in  this  world  of 
changes ;  for  within  the  limits  I  have  given  you  I  am  com- 
pelled by  our  Chapter  Rules  (so  far  like  the  Rules  of  King's 
Bench)  to  sleep  in  my  own  house  every  night.     Pray  then 
come  and  see  me,  and  cast  a  light  over  the  deep  shades  of  our 
cloisters.     Some  of  the  stars  that  shone  last  winter  are  away; 
but  some  are  left ;  with  kind  hearts  too,  and  ready  to  give  you 
a  hearty  welcome.    You  owe  me  a  visit ;  and,  you  graceless 
dog>  you  have  never  written  to  me,  as  you  promised,  since  your 
continental  tour.     Come  then,  and  make  us  all  laugh,  as  you 
made  Lyttelton,  when  you  spent  your  last  day  in  Trinity;  or, 
make  us  laugh  a  little  less,  as  he  tells  me  his  ribs  were  sore 
for  a  month  after  he  met  you,  and  that  his  intercostals  have 
not  forgotten  it  to  this  day. 

As  for  myself  I  spent  a  very  laborious,  and  I  hope  not  an 
unprofitable,  summer,  in  rambling  through  the  cliffs  of  Devon- 
shire, Cornwall,  and  Pembrokeshire.  Eleven  packing-cases 
(heavier  far  than  the  gates  of  Gaza)  have  been  the  fruits  of 
this  toil ;  and  from  them  are  to  germinate  other  fruits  in  the 
shape  of  Memoirs  for  the  Geological  and  Cambridge  Philo- 
sophical Societies.  But  these  are  dull  things  to  write  about, 
especially  to  one,  like  yourself,  who  is  almost  stone-blind  to 
the  beauties  that  lie  concealed  beneath  Dame  Nature's  outer 
garments.  But  the  mouth  speaketh  of  the  heart's  fulness,  you 
know ;  so  I  must  needs  talk  of  things  inanimate  and  under- 
ground. To-morrow  is  the  anniversary  of  the  Norwich 
Museum ;  which  finishes,  like  other  good  things,  with  a  good 
dinner,  intended  to  cement  friendship,  and  to  set  tongues,  as 
well  as  teeth,  in  active  movement.  At  this  symposium  I  am 
to  preside ;  and  before  my  hinder  parts  are  permitted  to  reach 
a  position  of  stable  equilibrium  on  the  cushion  of  an  armchair, 
I  am  to  be  presented  with  a  splendid  silver  inkstand,  as  a 


PERSONAL  NEWS.  473 

token  of  thanks  for  lectures  given,  and,  I  suspect  also,  as  a     1836. 

retaining-fee  for  lectures  to  be  given  hereafter.     You  remember   &i%  5  *■ 

the  scene  got  up  last  winter  after  my  concluding  exhibition, 

and  the  formidable  mass  of  melted  butter  that  was  spilt  on  my 

head   by  a  little  dapper  gentleman,  one  of  the  progeny  of 

iEsculapius.    After  having  stood  that,  I  am  prepared  to  stand 

everything ;  but  I  am  resolved  to  be  as  informal  in  my  reply 

as  is  compatible  with  the  rules  of  courtesy ;  and  in  telling 

them  that  I  feel  most  kindly  towards  them  and  heartily  wish 

them  well,  I  shall  truly  only  tell  them  what  I  both  wish  and 

feel. 

Your  friends  in  Cambridge  are  all  well,  and  several  of  them 

are  I  hope  coming  this  winter  to  see  me.     Peacock  is  the  new 

Lowndean  Professor  in  the  place  of  Lax ;  and  promises  to  do 

his  duty  in  a  less  lax  manner  than  his  predecessor.     He  is  in 

great  force,  and  the  stars  in  his  astronomical  tail  shew  most 

gloriously.     The  Cathedral  bell  has  just  tolled  midnight,  so  I 

must  to  bed.     Good  night  then,  my  dear  old  friend ;  write  to 

me  by  return  of  post,  and  tell  me  you  are  coming,  and  believe 

me, 

Affectionately  yours 

A.  Sedgwick. 

P.S.  So  our  friend  Charles1  is  now  the  Venerable  Arch- 
deacon of  Craven — a  craven  Christian  soldier  in  name  only, 
and  not  in  deed. 

The  paper  on  the  raised  beach  at  Barnstaple  had  contained 
a  sufficient  quantity  of  geological  heresy  to  arouse  some  slight 
opposition  from  the  orthodox;  and  Murchison  began  to  be 
exceedingly  nervous  as  to  what  would  happen  when  the  still 
more  heretical  views  respecting  the  Culm-Measures  were  laid 
before  the  Society.  The  correctness  of  Mr  De  la  Beche's 
inferences  respecting  the  structure  of  Devonshire  would  have 
to  be  impugned;  he  had,  as  he  told  Sedgwick,  "toiled  day 
after  day  for  months,  in  the  district,  examining  every  hole  and 

1  Rev.  Charles  Musgrave,  whose  intimacy  with  Sedgwick  has  been  frequently 
mentioned. 


I 

I 

*  474     JOINT  PAPER   WITH  MURCHISON  ON  DEVON. 

i 

■'  1837.     cranny  in  it1,"  and  was  not  likely  to  submit  to  the  expos 

iEt.  5*.    0f  a  serious  error  without  making  a  vigorous  attempt  to  j 

I  tify  himself;  his  friends  were  numerous  and  powerful,  1 

were  certain   to  rally  round  him.     Sedgwick  was  away 

Norwich,  and  in  his  absence  a  joint  paper  would  be  read  2 

discussed  at  a  great  disadvantage.    For  a  time  Murchison  v 

in    favour  of    an   adjournment;    but,  after  discussion    w 

common  friends,  he  concluded  that  it  would  on  the  wh< 

f ,  be  best  to  place  what  he  called  a  our  whole  view  "  before  t 

public  at  once,  in  order  to  secure  priority  for  it      So  strong 

did  he  feel  this,  that  he  persuaded  himself  that  Sedgwi 

-,  ■  must  be  of  the  same  opinion,  and  wrote  as  follows  : 
1 

I  *  "I  presume  you  are  rapidly  preparing  the  concern.     Now  what 

J*  propose  is  this.     That  the   present  communication   be   rigorous 

j  restricted  to  a  clear  general  view  of  the  classification  and  successic 

;  which  we  intend  to  adhere  to  ' per fas  et  nefas.'     Such  a  condense 

j .  sketch,  I  mean,  as  would  be  fit  for  publication  in  the  Transaction 

and  yet  such  a  one  as  might  this  very  spring  be  followed  by  detai 

j  {pieces  justificatives)   the  production  of  which  would  give  you  1 

\  •  opportunity  of  coming  out  vivd  voce  in  defence  of  the  grand  positioi 

}  ■  provided  they  were  attacked.     Lonsdale  and  Lyell  both  agree  in  tl 

I  wisdom  of  this  arrangement.    Let,  therefore,  the  forthcoming  bolt  t 

[  ■  ringing,  clear,  and  sharp,  but  not  encumbered  with  the  hundrei 

• '  weight  of  culm  and  sandstone  which  I  could  ornament  it  with"." 

J  Sedgwick  was  much  occupied  with  clerical  and  domesti 

engagements,  and  unwilling  to  be  disturbed:  "My  servanl 
are  ill  of  the  influenza"  he  wrote,  23  January  1837,  "and  fc 
the  last  ten  days  I  have  myself  been  out  of  sorts,  thoug 
never  quite  laid  up,  and  should  I  have  no  new  access  of  th 
malady,  I  will  do  my  best  during  the  hours  of  leisure  I  hav 
this  week  to  write  out  something  for  our  meeting  on  Wednei 
day  the  1st.  What  we  say  on  that  occasion  can  only  be  th 
prelude  of  larger  details.... I  have  for  this  week  refused  ever 
engagement,  and  hope  to  send  my  work  off  about  next  Frida 
or  Saturday.  In  the  meantime  I  will  think  of  some  materia! 
for  the  sections  south  of  Dartmoor,  and  send  them  whe 


1 

1 1 


1 


i 


1 


f 


I 


1 


¥ 


I 


1  From  H.  T.  de  la  Beche,  11  December,  1834. 

1  From  R.  1.  Murchison,  without  date,  but  evidently  written  early  in  Januar 


SEDGWICK'S  DELAYS.  475 

ready."  Two  days  later  he  proceeded:  "My  house  is  a  1837. 
hospital ;  but,  thank  God,  I  am  almost  well,  and  yesterday  &Xm  *a- 
made  a  start  If  the  influenza  don't  shed  again  its  baneful 
influence  on  me  I  shall  have  matter  enough  for  our  next 
meeting.  Your  book  you  will  find  in  the  parcel.  Your  maps 
shall  follow  soon,  but  I  cannot  yet  part  with  them,  as  I 
mean  to  write  with  the  map  spread  before  me,  and  without 
consulting  my  MSS.,  which  in  a  synopsis  would  only  bother 
me."  But,  before  the  day  was  over,  the  draughts  in  the 
huge  empty  cathedral  had  given  him  a  chill,  and  he  ended 
with  the  ominous  words:  "I  will  send  your  book  and  this 
note  by  the  mail  to-night.  I  am  wretchedly  out  of  sorts, 
but  after  tea  I  hope  to  write  a  few  pages.  I  really  can't 
make  out  a  section  to-day."  On  the  same  day  Murchison 
reported  progress,  but  sent  some  queries  which  shewed 
Sedgwick  that  his  colleague  was  not  yet  quite  sure  of  his 
ground.  On  the  day  he  received  this  missive  (26  January) 
he  sent  three  sections  roughly  coloured,  with  a  few  notes, 
concluding  with  what  he  intended  to  be  an  intimation,  as  he 
said  afterwards,  that  he  had  4< struck  work."  "Under  all 
these  circumstances  we  should  be  mad  to  bring  on  our  paper 
before  we  have  made  our  minds  up.  Throw  the  blame  on  me 
as  much  as  you  like,  or  blame  the  influenza.  My  stomach  is 
sadly  out  of  order,  and  for  the  last  two  days  I  have  been 
tormented  by  a  palpitation  of  the  heart,  which,  though  not 
acutely  painful,  is  very  distressing.... Though  I  think  we 
ought  not,  in  our  present  misty  state,  to  bring  on  our  paper, 
yet  we  might  put  in,  along  with  the  sections,  a  kind  of 
resumt,  just  enough  to  explain  our  views  of  the  classification. 
This  might  be  done  in  five  or  six  pages,  and  best  of  all  vivd 
voce.  I  read  prayers  myself  in  the  Cathedral  this  morning. 
All  the  minor  Canons,  and  most  of  the  singers,  are  laid 
up  in  bed/1  In  the  interval  between  this  letter  and  the 
meeting  Sedgwick's  ailments  increased.  A  last  appeal  from 
Murchison1  reached  him  on  Saturday,  28  January,  and  "then", 

1  This  letter  has  not  been  preserved. 


t  » 


476  SEDGWICK'S  DELAYS. 

1837.  he  says,  "  I  was  unable  to  work."  Finally,  on  the  day  befi 
«<Et.  5*.  the  paper  ought  to  have  been  read,  he  was  well  enough  to  se 
a  long  letter  containing  an  outline  of  the  speech  he  wish 
Murchison  to  deliver.  It  is  evident  that  he  was  conscic 
that  he  had  used  him  hardly,  for  he  begins  by  a  confessio 
"  Had  I  not  been  in  a  miserable  condition  from  the  effects 
this  malady  which  is  raging  in  the  heart  of  Norwich,  I  shou 
be  ashamed  of  myself  for  failing  you  in  the  hour  of  nee 
;  But  the  influenza  destroys  all  feeling  for  others."     Murchisc 

meanwhile,  had  convinced  himself  that  a  paper  to  be  re; 

1 

'  would  accompany  the  sections  to  be  exhibited.     These  latt 

he  got  ready,  and  then  "  waited  patiently  like  a  lamb  for  tl 

J  sacrifice."     The  misadventure  of  the  next  day,  vexatious  ; 

!  it  must  have  been  to  Sedgwick's  unfortunate  colleague,  wea 

;  a  comic  rather  than  a  tragic  aspect.     Murchison  shall  rela 

it  in  his  own  words.     All  things  considered  he  wrote  vei 

good-humouredly : 
1. 

J  3  Bryanston  Place,  a  February -,  1837. 

My  dear  Sedgwick, 


*'  The  part  of  Hamlet  being  omitted,  the  play  was  n< 

. '  performed,  and  all  the  scenic  arrangements  which  I  had  laboured 

=  I  were  thrown  away,  though  the  room  looked  splendid.     The  mor 

,  f  ing's  arrivals  certainly  surprised  me ! !     Ten  o'clock  brought  me  yoi 

.  ■  double  letter ;  eleven  o'clock  by  the  same  mail  the  maps,  and  a  litt 

; '  note  to  Lyell,  but  in  vain  I  looked  through  the  parcel  for  the  doc 

j  ment  to  be  read.     I  read  and  re-read  your  letter,  and  still  I  cou 

not  understand  it     One  thing  I  clearly  perceived,  and  with  gre 
I  regret,  that  you  were  seriously  out  of  sorts,  and  had  been  suffering 

*  so,  after  waiting  till  two,  I  journeyed  down  to  the  Society,  st: 

thinking  that  a  third  package  with  the  paper  might  be  sent  to  Some 
set  House — not  so  however.  These  things  going  on;  the  who 
room  decorated  for  the  fight;  Buckland  arrived;  Fitton  presen 
and  a  large  meeting  expected ;  what  was  to  be  done  ?  Fitton  ar 
Lonsdale,  considering  what  had  been  said  and  done  covertly  c 
the  other  side,  and  looking  to  the  fact  of  the  non-arrival  of  tl 
despatch,  counselled  me  to  give  up  the  thing,  which  I  resolved  : 
do,  to  the  very  great  annoyance  of  the  President1,  and  of  all  tl 
others  who  came  to  hear. . . . 

I  am  mortified  that  the  memoir  did  not  come ;  of  course  I  blan 
yj  myself  somewhat  for  having  thrown  in  doubts  on  some  poini 

;  l  Mr  Lyell. 


1  1 


I 


SEDGWICK'S  DELAYS.  477 

because  I  see  that  ill  as  you  have  been  and  without  the  power  on     1837. 
my  part  of  talking  the  case  over,  we  mutually  misapprehended  each   j£t.  5a. 
other.     But  enough  of  what  is  past.     The  thing  now  to  consider  is 
when  to  have  this  paper  out.     I  should  certainly  not  wish  to  have  it 
done  till  you  were  present,  because  we  must  have  a  fair  stand-up 
fight... 

Ever  yours, 

Rod.  I.  Murchison. 

Sedgwick's  answer  gives  no  hint  of  contrition.  Evidently 
he  had  been  too  ill  either  to  remember  what  he  had  written, 
or  to  care  very  much  what  happened.  "Your  letter  this 
morning  M  he  writes,  *  astonished  me  as  much  as  the  want  of 
my  paper  surprised  you.  I  was  very  much  out  of  sorts  at  the 
time  I  received  your  letter  (last  Wednesday  week),  and 
instantly  struck  work.  I  thought  I  had  said  as  much  in  a  P.S. 
to  the  letter  with  the  sections.  Soon  afterwards  I  was  in- 
capable of  writing  to  any  good  purpose;  and  for  the  last 
three  days  I  have  been  almost  confined  to  my  bed.  This 
morning  I  am  beginning  to  take  up,  and  have  taken  a  short 
walk  in  the  sunshine.  But  I  have  still  a  pain  in  my  brow, 
and  a  swimming  in  my  head,  and  am  still  slightly  feverish.... 
On  the  whole  it  is  well  our  Devonshire  affair  stands  where  it 
is1." 

Sedgwick  had  constantly  deprecated  Murchison's  notion  of 
organised  opposition  to  their  Views  respecting  Devonshire,  and 
had  urged  him,  on  more  than  one  occasion,  to  avoid  any  personal 
controversy  with  De  la  Beche.  In  the  interest  of  peace  he 
now  laid  the  whole  matter  before  Lyell  in  a  letter  which 
contains  besides  a  good  deal  of  valuable  information  respect- 
ing himself. 

Close,  Norwich,  February  4M,  1837. 
My  dear  Lyell, 

A  long  letter  I  received  yesterday  morning  from 
Murchison  gave  me  great  uneasiness.  It  seems  you  had  a 
warm  altercation  in  the  Council  of  Wednesday  when  our 
conduct  and  motives  were  taxed  in  no  measured  terms.     I 

1  To  R.  I.  Murchison,  3  February,  1837. 


478        MISUNDERSTANDING    WITH  DE  LA   BECHE. 

1837.     fear  these  repeated  sparring  matches  will  end  in  ill  blood,  a 
■*'■  5*-    ruin  the  harmony  of  our  Society.     Fortunately  I  have  be 
away  during  the  late  exhibitions  of  them,  and  therefore  a 
not  be  responsible  for  their  consequences. 

Unfortunately  De  la  Beche  has  published  a  map  of  Dew 
bad  in  its  details,  (at  least  bad  for  an  Ordnance  survey,)  a 
destitute  of  any  principles  of  classification.  Murchison 
monstrated  against  some  parts  of  it  so  loudly,  that  during  r 
first  Residence  here  (December  1834)  De  la  Beche  sent  1 
a  caricature  of  him,  in  which  he  was  represented  as  argui 
against  the  existence  of  his  (De  la  Beche's)  nose.  The  m 
was,  however,  published  I  believe,  in  spite  of  Murchiso 
most  urgent  remonstrances.  Again,  I  know  that  Murchis 
intended  over  and  over  again  to  go  to  Devonshire  and  wc 
out  the  Culm  case  for  himself;  and,  had  the  time  served, 
purposed  to  have  undertaken  the  task  together  after  our  Iri 
tour  in  the  autumn  of  [835.  Independently  of  the  Cu 
question  (which  was  brought  before  the  British  Associati 
at  Dublin  in  1835  by  Mr  Williams,  who  treated  the  G* 
logical  Society  with  very  little  ceremony),  I  always  intend 
to  spend  a  summer  in  Devonshire  and  Cornwall  before 
attempted  to  publish  my  general  views  of  the  relations  of  c 
older  British  formations.  My  first  paper  was  on  the  structi 
of  those  countries.  I  read  a  second  paper  on  the  sai 
subject  early  in  1830  to  the  Cambridge  Philosophical  Socie 
which  was  never  published  ;  and  finally  I  read  a  supplant 
to  the  second  paper  in  November  last,  which,  if  I  live,  will 
published  this  coming  spring.  Are  all  these  labours  to  st< 
because  an  official  person  has  had  the  misfortune  to  publi 
a  bad  map  ?  The  map  ought  to  be  withdrawn  without  I< 
of  time.  It  cannot,  by  any  tinkering,  be  brought  into  ord 
It  must  start  on  new  principles.  Many  of  the  details 
doubt  may  stand,  but  even  the  details  are  very  far  inde 
from  what  they  ought  to  be.    But  is  it  not  a  piece  of  gn 

(stupidity  to  call  our  memoir  on  the  physical  structure 
Devonshire  an  attack  on  De  la  Beche  ?     It  might  just  as  w 


MISUNDERSTANDING   WITH  DE  LA   BECHE.       479 

be  called  an  attack  on  Greenough,  Buckland,  and  Conybeare.     1837. 
De  la  Beche  complains  that  Murchison   does   not  wish  to    -**•  5*« 
cooperate  with    the  Trigonometrical    Survey.      How   is    it 
possible  to  cooperate  ?  In  our  opinion  Devonshire  is  radically 
wrong,  as  it  is  now  published.    Are  we  to  shut  our  mouths, 
and  let  the  error  continue  to  be  propagated  ? 

But  you  may  ask  why  I  did  not  send  up  my  paper  for 
Wednesday.  In  truth  I  was  not  well  when  I  started  with  it ; 
and  a  letter  I  received  from  Murchison  on  Wednesday  week 
disgusted  me  with  my  task,  so  that  I  struck  work.  Two 
posts  after  he  wished  and  urged  me  to  go  on  and  finish  my 
work  :  but  I  was  then  so  much  out  of  sorts  that  I  was  unable 
to  hold  up  my  head,  and  all  the  early  part  of  this  week  I 
have  been  almost  confined  to  my  bedroom.  On  the  whole  I 
am  glad  our  paper  did  not  come  forward.  We  have  a  good 
case,  and  want  to  steal  a  march  on  no  one.  In  my  opinion 
De  la  Beche  will  be  disgusted  when  he  hears  the  paper  has 
been  put  off,  because,  when  we  produce  it,  in  a  few  weeks, 
fortified  by  sections,  fossils,  and  details,  no  one  can  then 
throw  out  any  sneer  of  indecent  hurry,  of  attacking  a  man 
behind  his  back,  etc.  etc.,  and  thus  turn  the  attention  of  the 
meeting  from  a  geological  to  a  personal  question. 

Murchison  tells  me  you  mean  to  allude  to  the  Devonian 
case  in  your  speech.  We  could,  either  of  us,  easily  give  you 
a  condensed  synopsis  of  our  general  idea  of  the  structure  of 
the  county  so  as  to  bring  it  into  comparison  with  the  other 
parts  of  England.  But  on  this  matter  I  can  give  you  no 
advice;  you  must  act  for  yourself.  Thank  God  I  am  now 
very  much  better ;  two  days  since  I  could  not  have  written 
so  long  a  letter.     My  best  regards  to  Mrs  L. 

Yours  ever, 

A.  Sedgwick. 

P.  S.  Let  me  hear  from  you.  My  friend  R.  I.  M.  was  at 
a  white  heat  on  Wednesday,  if  I  mistake  not.  A  very 
flippant  and  ill-mannered  letter  from  De  la  Beche  seems  to 


480  ILL  HEALTH. 


1837.     have  nettled  him  not  a  little.     I  was  far  more  amused  than 
iEt.  5*.    vexed  with  it,  when  I  saw  it ;  it  was  so  very  characteristic  of 
its  author.     What  was  the  provocation  I  don't  know. 

The  difficulties  with  which  the  production  of  this  unfor- 
tunate paper  were  beset  by  no  means  ended  with  Sedgwick's 
illness  at  Norwich.  On  his  return  to  Cambridge  in  February 
he  was  at  first  hopeful  of  being  ready  by  the  end  of  March. 
Then  came  "  paralysis  of  one  half  of  the  optic  nerve  of  the 
left  eye1,"  which,  though  it  passed  away  in  a  few  hours,  left 
the  eye  weak,  and  as  he  said  "  the  loss  of  one  side  of  my  only 
eye  would  be  no  joke."  This  was  succeeded  by  a  fresh  attack 
of  influenza  with  the  usual  result.  Indeed  he  vowed  that  he 
had  never  been  so  ill  since  he  was  an  undergraduate.  His 
spirits,  however,  survived  the  general  wreck  of  his  intellectual 
powers,  to  judge  from  the  letter  in  which  he  described  his 
condition  to  Ingle. 

Good  Friday  Evening,  24  March,  1837. 
My  dear  Ingle, 

Did  ever  mortal  see  such  a  Good  Friday?  The 
weather  is  cold  as  Christmas,  and  the  Great  Court  of  Trin. 
Coll.  is  literally  mid-leg  deep  with  snow.  That  old  hoary 
brute  winter  has  come,  like  a  Proctor,  when  little  looked  for 
and  less  welcome,  with  his  two  bull-dogs  Pain  and  Pestilence; 
and  many  civil  gentlemen,  besides  myself,  have  been  sorely 
mouthed  by  them.  In  plain  Yorkshire,  I  have  had  a  sore 
relapse  of  the  influenza,  and  for  ten  days  have  been  confined 
to  my  sittingroom  and  bedroom  ;  in  both  of  which,  by  Havi- 
landV  order,  there  is,  and  has  been  for  the  last  ten  days,  a 
great  roasting  fire.  Under  such  treatment  I  ought  before 
this  to  be  well  done  on  both  sides,  and  to  want  nothing  but  a 
good  kitchen  basting  to  make  me  fit  to  serve  up.  But  alas ! 
instead  of  a  roaster  I  am  still  a  very  starveling,  and  fit  for 
nothing  in  the  world  except  to  stop  a  cracked  pane  of  glass. 

1  To  R.  I.  Murchison,  6  March,  1837. 

8  John  Haviland,  M.D.,  Regius  Professor  of  Physic. 


PROMOTION  OF  PROFESSOR  MUSGRAVE.  481 

Thank  God  I  am  a  little  better  than  I  was.  For  a  whole  1837. 
week,  even  old  Shakspeare  and  Walter  Scott  acted  only  as  &*■•  5*« 
sounding-lines  for  the  depth  of  my  intellectual  vacuity.  But 
now  I  can  read  them  for  an  hour  together,  and  fancy,  at  least, 
that  I  am  refreshed  and  built  up  by  them.  Should  Haviland 
be  able  to  draw  me  from  my  hole  by  Wednesday  I  shall  then 
have  to  corroborate  my  faculties  among  thousands  of  scholar- 
ship examination  papers ;  and  if  they  won't  cure  me  I  must 
be  out  of  the  reach  of  physic.  So  much  for  my  case  ;  having 
reached  the  utmost  limits  of  the  ablative,  it  is  high  time  for 
me  to  turn  back  and  get  into  a  better  case.  When  I  was  in 
the  dumps  before,  you  told  me  I  described  my  symptoms  well. 
Having  then  a  good  diagnosis,  pray  prescribe  for  me  forth- 
with. A  long  letter  from  you  will  do  all  my  inwards  good ; 
therefore  in  mercy  send  me  one,  and  soon.  This  request  is 
the  main  object  of  my  handling  the  pen,  while  my  head  is 
ready  to  split,  and  my  lungs  wheezing  like  the  cracked 
bellows  in  the  organ  of  St  John's  Chapel.  A  cup  of  tea  has 
produced  and  is  producing  a  partial  thaw  among  the  hydraulic 
pipes  of  my  thoracic  regions  ;  and  the  boheasian  vapours 
have  even  reached  some  of  the  lower  organs  of  my  peri- 
cranium. 

What  think  you  ?  Charles  Musgrave  was  here  this  morn- 
ing, looking  all  glorious  to  behold  in  a  new  shovel-hat,  and 
his  little  sweet-looking  boy  was  with  him.  He  has  been 
brought  here  by  the  promotion  of  his  brother1,  the  Bursar, 
Professor,  and  Baron.  Before  long  he  may  become  a  Baron  in 
more  senses  than  one,  for  even  now  he  is  a  Dean — Dean  of 
Bristol  to  wit,  with  all  the  appurtenances  thereunto  belonging. 
For  his  sake  I  rejoice,  but  for  my  own,  I  sorely  lament.  He 
is  a  friend  of  thirty  years  standing,  for  whom  I  have  always 
felt  great  kindness ;  and  I  only  say  the  truth  when  I  add  that 
an  unkind  word,  or  an  unkind  thought,  never  passed  between 
us  since  we  were  first  acquainted.  Such  a  friend  is  not  to  be 
replaced.     Still  I  rejoice,  and  so  will  you.     But  when  are  you 

1  Thomas  Musgrave.     See  above,  p.  419,  note, 
S.  I.  31 


^ 


482  PAPER  ON  DEVON  READ. 

1837.  to  mount  a  shovel  ?  How  well  would  it  set  off  those  ve 
*t-  $'■  able  locks,  and  that  grave  visage  of  thine.  By  the  wa 
meant  to  have  asked  a  question  or  two  at  you,  as  they 
over  the  Tweed,  touching  that  false  varlet  who  gave  you  s 
a  lying  account  of  my  hustings  speech  at  Dent ;  but  I  havi 
room  for  so  big  a  subject  So  I  will  conclude  by  tel 
you — a  work  of  supererogation  as  you  know  it  already — 
I  am  your  sincere  and  affectionate  friend 

A.  Sedgwick. 

The  influenza  cured,  and  the  Scholarship  Examina' 
despatched,  Sedgwick  was  beginning  to  feel  in  working  or 
when  a  fresh  mishap  occurred.  "On  Friday"  he  wrote 
took  a  short  ride ;  and  though  I  returned  from  it  m 
fatigued,  I  was  certainly  refreshed  by  the  exercise.  Yester 
I  again  started  on  my  horse ;  and  unfortunately  (whel 
from  my  own  fault  or  not  I  hardly  know)  he  fell  with  me. 
face  is  a  good  deal  cut,  and  much  disfigured,  and  my  k 
received  a  severe  contusion.  Two  University  men  were  nea 
the  time,  and  one  of  them  very  kindly  galloped  to  Cambrit 
and  sent  a  fly  to  bring  me  home.  My  bruises  were  sev 
and  I  was  much  shaken  by  the  shock  of  the  fall.  Last  ni 
I  was  very  miserable,  and  did  not  close  my  eyes  in  soi 
sleep.  But  to-day,  thank  God,  I  am  much  better;  all  ft 
has  left  me... You  never  saw  a  more  extraordinary  phis  t 
mine  is  at  this  moment.  I  have  a  great  black  patch  runr 
horizontally  across  my  face  under  my  eyes,  and  my  n 
is  as  red  as  flame,  and  my  chin  and  cheeks  scarified1." 

Towards  the  end  of  May,  after  a  week  at  the  seas 
he  was  able  to  announce :  "  I  am  almost  myself  again  ; " 
finishing  touches  were  put  to  the  long-expected  paper,  On 
Physical  Structure  of  Devonshire,  and  on  the  Subdivisions  1 
Geological  Relations  of  its  older  stratified  Deposits,  and  it  > 
read  to  the  Geological  Society,  31  May  and  14  June.  It  • 
followed  by  a  discussion  which  was  evidently  lively,  but 

1  To  R.  I.  Murcbison,  iti  April,  1837. 


CRITICISM  OF  B ABB  AGE.  483 

few  words  that  Sedgwick  wrote  about  it  do  not  convey  the     1837. 
impression   that  it  was   at   all  hostile.     On   the  following   iEt-  5* 
day  he  told  Canon  Wodehouse:  "We  had  a  grand  battle 
at  the  Geological  Society  last  night,  in  which  I   bore  the 
brunt  on   our  side;   but,  though   well   banged,  I  was   not 
beaten1." 

A  few  words  must  be  bestowed  on  the  pains  with  which 
Sedgwick  criticised  Mr  Babbage's  Ninth  Bridgewater  Treatise 
in  the  spring  of  this  year.  The  proofs  had  been  shown  to  Mr 
Lyell  and  Dr  Fitton,  who  both  praised  the  work  generally 
but  advised  the  omission  of  certain  passages.  To  this  the 
author  would  not  consent,  and  when  other  friends  were 
suggested  as  referees,  he  objected  to  all  except  Sedgwick9. 
The  proofs  were  accordingly  sent,  and  Sedgwick — who 
appears  to  have  had  a  genuine  regard  for  the  eccentric 
inventor  of  the  calculating  machine — went  through  them 
carefully,  and  returned  them  to  Lyell  with  the  following 
criticism :  "  I  have  gone  over  the  slips,  except  the  last  page, 
with  some  care;  and  I  think  what  I  have  thrown  out  may 
be  of  some  use.  Don't  show  the  paper  to  Babbage  if  you 
think  he  will  be  offended  at  my  freedom.  But  he  ought 
not,  I  am  sure ;  for  I  do  to  his  sheets  precisely  what  I  do  to 
Whewells,  or  those  of  any  other  friend,  whenever  they  fall  in 
my  way.  If  I  can  be  a  means  of  preventing  Babbage  from 
publishing  any  of  the  expunged  passages  I  shall  have  helped 
you  in  doing  him  a  service.  The  whole  is  too  ambitious 
in  its  style  of  writing,  and  the  condemned  passages  I  think 
in  dreadful  taste,  and  also  quite  out  of  place.  In  the  whole 
there  is  too  much  attempt  at  swell  and  amplification.  But 
in  that  respect  the  author  must  of  course  have  his  own  way. 
Only  his  proof-men  must  try  to  make  him  reef  a  few  of 
his  studding  sails,  spankers,  and  sky  scrapers!' 

Lyell's  next  letter  shows   that   Babbage   had   the   good 
sense  to  take  Sedgwick's  advice : 


1  To  Canon  Wodehouse,  15  June,  1837. 

2  From  Charles  Lyell,  5  April,  1837. 


31—2 


484  CRITICISM  OF  B ABB  AGE. 

,837-  My  dear  Sedgwick,  "  A*a*  l837' 

When  I  saw  the  outside  of  your  letter,  I  said  at  once, 
that  I  ought  before  to  have  thanked  you  for  having  so  immediately, 
and  when  out  of  sorts,  complied  with  my  wishes.  Had  I  not  fully 
expected  to  see  you  last  meeting  I  really  should  have  written  to  say 
that  Babbage  had  prized  the  two  capital  pages  of  critique  as  they 
deserved,  and  I  hardly  know  anything  else  which  would  have  induced 
him  to  leave  out  the  most  offensive  passages,  on  which  you,  Fitton, 
and  myself  had  vented  our  chief  displeasure.  The  coincidence 
outweighed  the  flattery  of  a  certain  popular  preacher,  I  forget  his 
name,  and  some  others  (John  Murray !  included),  who  thought  those 
very  flights  the  finest  things  in  the  whole.  Samuel  Rogers,  at  whose 
house  we  were  last  night,  told  us  he  had  kept  back  the  said 
Bridgewater  two  months,  and  observed  that,  as  usual,  the  author  was 
most  attached  to  the  most  far-fetched  and  extravagant  parts  in  the 
whole.  I  told  Babbage  the  critique  was  by  you.  He  took  it  all  in 
excellent  part,  and  had  you  been  much  more  severe,  as  Fitton  was, 
he  would  not  have  been  out  of  humour,  though  it  would  have 
influenced  him  less.  B.  told  me  that  when  he  had  left  out  much  of 
what  you  had  cut  out  all  he  could  get  from  Fitton  was,  that  "  he 
then  believed  the  book  would  not  disgrace  him ; "  which  B.  thought  a 
marvellous  relaxation  of  his  former  sentence.  It  has  been  a  great 
want  of  tact  in  Fitton  that  he  has  been  so  unmerciful,  and  has 
scarcely  done  justice  to  the  good  parts  which  preceded  what  you  saw. 
If  your  letter  had  come  two  months  earlier,  before  Fitton's,  every 
sentence  struck  out  by  you  would  have  been  omitted,  but  I  dread 
still  to  see  the  thing  in  print,  as  he  has  grown  obstinate  by  too  much 
sweeping  contradiction. 

I  suppose  you  read  my  Anniversary  Address,  and  I  hope  you 
approved  of  what  I  said  of  the  Devon  affair.... I  wish  much  you  were 
more  and  oftener  in  town.  It  is  rare  even  in  one's  own  pursuits  to 
meet  with  congenial  souls,  and  Darwin  is  a  glorious  addition  to  my 
society  of  geologists,  and  is  working  hard  and  making  way,  both  in 

his  book  and  in  our  discussions.     I  really  never  saw  that  bore so 

successfully  silenced,  or  such  a  bucket  of  cold  water  so  dexterously 
poured  down  his  back,  as  when  Darwin  answered  some  impertinent 
and  irrelevant  questions  about  S.  America.  We  escaped  fifteen 
minutes  of  a  vulgar  harangue  in  consequence.  Whewell  does 
famously  in  the  chair.  He  will  tell  you  of  Owen's  paper  on  Darwin's 
Toxodon, . . . 

We  were  very  sorry  to  hear  of  your  fall,  and  have  every  day  since 
had  news  of  you  from  Whewell,  Murchison,  and  others.  Pray  write 
again  if  disposed,  and  believe  me,  Yours  most  truly, 

Cha.  Lyell. 

Another,  and  a  very  different,  matter,  which  occurred  at 
about  the  same  time,  gave  Sedgwick  no  little  anxiety.  When 
he  first  went  to   Norwich  the  see  was  occupied   by  Bishop 


DEATH  OF  BISHOP  BATHURST.  485 

Bathurst.  He  was  then  ninety  years  of  age,  and  could  have  1837. 
taken  but  little  part  in  the  affairs  of  the  city  or  diocese.  &•  5*- 
Moreover,  for  some  time  before  his  death  he  had  resided 
almost  continuously  in  London.  In  fact,  though  much 
respected  for  his  personal  character  and  amiable  disposition, 
Bishop  Bathurst  had  been  throughout  life  a  Bishop  of  the  old 
school,  a  man  of  letters  and  a  politician  rather  than  a  church- 
man, and  a  devoted  whist-player.  A  good  story  is  still 
current  respecting  Sedgwick's  first  dinner  with  his  diocesan. 
The  whist-table  was  set  out  as  usual  in  the  drawing-room,  and 
Sedgwick  was  asked  to  take  a  hand.  He  regretted  his 
inability  to  do  so,  protesting  his  complete  ignorance  of  the 
game.  The  Bishop  said  nothing,  but  afterwards  lamented 
his  melancholy  position  in  the  following  pathetic  words:  "I 
have  consistently  supported  the  Whigs  all  my  life — I  believe 
I  am  called  the  only  liberal  Bishop — and  now  in  my  old  age 
they  have  sent  me  a  canon  who  does  not  know  spades  from 
clubs !"  The  Bishop  died  in  April  1837,  anc^  some  of  Sedg- 
wick's friends  were  anxious  that  he  should  be  his  successor. 
One  gentleman  let  him  know  that  he  had  pressed  upon  the 
government  "  the  benefits  which  would  accrue  to  this  diocese, 
the  Church  at  large,  and  the  Ministry,  by  appointing  you" 
Sedgwick  was  much  annoyed.  "  I  found  by  a  letter  yester- 
day "  he  said,  "  that  a  friend  of  mine  had  made  a  move  as  he 
supposed  in  my  behalf.  But,  unknown  to  himself,  he  was 
trying  to  do  me  as  great  an  injury  as  he  could  inflict  upon 
me1."  Before  a  week  was  over  he  was  relieved  by  the  news 
that  his  friend  had  failed,  and  that  the  Rev.  Edward  Stanley 
had  accepted  the  Bishopric.  He  was  not  at  first  quite 
satisfied  with  the  appointment;  but,  before  many  months 
were  over,  the  Bishop  and  all  his  family  became  his  most 
intimate  friends,  and  the  palace  was  quite  as  much  his  home 
in  Norwich  as  his  own  residence. 

By  the  middle  of  May  Sedgwick  had  left  Cambridge,  and 
for  the  next  five  months   led   an   unusually  wandering   life. 

1  To  R.  I.  Murchison,  9  April,  1837. 


486  PLANS  FOR  THE  SUMMER. 

1837.  When  he  was  back  again  at  the  end  of  October,  he  wrote: 
&t.  5*«  "  Since  I  last  saw  you  I  have  had  no  resting-place  for  my  feet. 
From  Norwich  to  London,  from  London  to  Westmoreland, 
from  Westmoreland  to  Cornwall,  from  Cornwall  back  again 
to  Westmoreland,  from  Westmoreland  to  Yorkshire,  from 
Yorkshire  to  Cumberland,  from  Cumberland  to  Liverpool 
(where  I  halted  one  week  among  the  flesh-pots  and  sections 
of  the  British  Association),  from  Liverpool  to  the  Warwick- 
shire and  Leicestershire  coal-fields,  out  of  which  I  finally 
emerged,  and  once  again  am  enjoying  the  light  of  the  sun  in 
the  atmosphere  of  Cambridge.  Is  not  this  enough  to  make  a 
man's  head  turn  round1?"  These  journey ings  to  and  fro  are 
further  described  in  the  following  letters : 

To  Canon  Wodehouse. 

Trin.  Coll.,  July  8,  1837. 
My  dear  Wodehouse, 

I  only  reached  Cambridge  (on  my  way  back  from 
Dent)  about  the  middle  of  the  day  yesterday ;  and  I  should 
endeavour  to  leave  it  this  afternoon  were  it  not  for  the  King's 
funeral,  which  prevents  all  work  from  being  done.  Now  a 
man  starting  on  a  tour  in  Cornwall  has  need  of  certain 
sartorial  and  sutorial  helps,  which  put  me  in  some  perplexity, 
and  the  end  of  it  will  be  that  I  shall  not  be  off  the  stocks 
before  Monday.  Should  you  ask  why  I  am  in  such  a  hurry, 
I  should  reply  that  I  have  much  work  to  do,  and  little  time  to 
do  it  in.  I  have  to  examine  a  corner  of  Cornwall,  and  to  be 
in  Yorkshire  in  time  for  the  contest  for  the  West  Riding.  In 
short  I  have  to  do  things  which  require  a  40-horse  steam- 
power  to  be  done  well.  This  is  a  power  much  beyond  my 
muster ;  but  I  must  do  my  best,  and  many  a  time  and  oft 
shall  I  have  to  wipe  my  brow  if  I  do  all  I  hope  for  during  the 
next  three  weeks. 

I  left  you  in  a  very  husky  condition,  and  I  continued  so 
till  the  weather  fairly  changed,  when  my  sweet  voice  came 

1  To  S.  Woodward,  26  October,  1837. 


t 


FOUNDATION  OF  COW  GILL  CHAPEL.  487 

back  again.  After  attending  the  Geological  and  Royal  1837. 
Societies,  I  scampered  down  to  Manchester  by  the  break- neck  ^-  5*- 
day-coach  in  eighteen  hours,  and  the  day  following  found  my 
way  to  Dent.  The  country  on  the  way  looked  most  charm- 
ingly, and  the  crops  among  my  native  mountains  were 
almost  as  forward  as  I  had  left  them  near  London.  This 
never  happens  except  when  a  very  severe  spring  destroys  the 
difference  of  climates,  and  makes  them  all  start  together. 
You  would  have  laughed  at  my  solemnity  had  you  seen  me 
for  three  days  looking  over  papers,  casting  up  accounts, 
and  making  dividends  among  a  set  of  legatees  who  were 
anxiously  waiting  my  arrival,  and  meanwhile  solacing  them- 
selves  by  deep  and  long  potations  in  the  beershops.  After 
emancipating  myself  from  this  bondage,  I  was  detained  a 
great  part  of  another  week  in  order  that  I  might  have  the 
happiness  of  laying  the  foundation-stone  of  a  little  chapel  in 
the  upper  part  of  the  valley  of  Dent.  The  day  was  glorious, 
the  face  of  nature  beautiful,  and  all  parties  in  good  humour 
and  charity.  About  seven  hundred  mountaineers,  including 
nearly  two  hundred  Sunday-school  children  and  about  one 
hundred  strangers,  some  of  whom  came  from  the  distance  of 
twenty  miles,  made  a  curious  mixed  procession  in  the  wild 
glen  where  the  little  chapel  is  now  rising  from  the  ground. 
It  is  built  upon  the  solid  rock  which  forms  the  bed  of  a 
mountain  stream  that  washes  the  churchyard  side,  and  over 
which  the  waters  descend  in  a  long  succession  of  rapids  and 
falls ;  and  it  will  be  surrounded  by  birch,  mountain-ash,  and 
other  wild  trees  of  the  country.  I  trust  God  will  bless  the 
undertaking  which  begins  so  smilingly.  We  began  by  making 
the  rocks  echo  back  the  old  hundredth  Psalm ;  my  brother 
read  one  or  two  short  prayers  from  our  liturgy ;  Mr  Wilson 
of  Casterton  made  a  short  address  ;  I  handled  the  trowel,  and 
laid  the  stone,  and  then  addressed  my  countrymen,  after 
which  we  again  uncoiled  ourselves  into  a  long  string  to  the 
tune  of  God  save  tlie  King;  and  the  strangers,  school-children, 
and  some  others  went  down  to  Dent  and  had  cold  meat  and 


488  FOUNDATION  OF  COWGILL  CHAPEL. 

1837.     coffee  at  the  old  parsonage.    My  sister  made  thirty-six  gallons 

^t-  5»-    of    coffee   in    a    brewing-vessel.      Among    the    unexpected 

strangers   was  that   strange,   wild,   but   very   clever    person 

Hartley  Coleridge.     I  must  honestly  say  that  I  was  a  little 

afraid  of  him,  for  he  not  only  possesses  the  poetic  powers  of 

his  father,  but   he   is   an   incomparable   mimic.     I   believe, 

however,  the  impression  produced  on  him  by  the  whole  scene 

was  such  as  to  save  us  from  all  risk  of  mockery.     With  all  his 

faults,  and  strange  wild  habits,  he  is  a  kind-hearted  man,  and 

I  believe  by  no  means  devoid  of  religious  feeling,  however 

imperfectly  it  may  in  some  instances  have  influenced  his  life. 

On  Monday  I  hope  to  be  in  town,  and  in  two  days  more 

to  be  set  down  in  Cornwall.     My  best  address  for  the  next 

fortnight  will  be  Launceston,  and   if  you   or  any  of  your 

young  people   would   only  take   up   the   pen,  it   would   be 

charity.    About  the  end  of  this  month  I  shall  probably  be 

facing  about  to  the  north  again.     The  British   Association 

meets  this  year  at   Liverpool  on   the    nth  of  September. 

When  the  hurly-burly  is  over  I  hope  to  spend  a  week  or  two 

in  Cumberland. 

Yours  ever 

A.  Sedgwick. 

To  Mrs  Lyell 

Trinity  College, 

October  16th,  1837. 
My  dear  Mrs  Lyell, 

I  returned  to  my  den  this  day  week  ;  having  been 
absent  (with  the  exception  of  one  day  in  passing  from 
Yorkshire  towards  Cornwall)  ever  since  the  middle  of  May... 
In  June  I  ran  down  to  Yorkshire  and  paid  away  ^8000  one 
morning  among  some  countrymen  of  mine  for  whom  I  have 
been  made  trustee.  *  I  also  laid  the  foundation-stone  of  a  little 
chapel  in  a  wild  part  of  my  native  valley,  and  for  the  first 
time  in  my  life  turned  field-preacher,  as  I  addressed  about 
eight  hundred  wild  people  for  more  than  an  hour,  having  a 
large  rock  of  mountain-limestone  for  my  pulpit,  and  the  vault 


BRENNAN'S  GALLANTRY.  489 

of  heaven  for  my  sounding  board.  Then  I  turned  my  face  to  1837. 
the  south,  halted  in  London  just  long  enough  to  take  in  water  -**•  5*- 
and  get  up  my  steam,  whence  by  another  move  I  was  trans- 
ported to  the  eastern  flank  of  Dartmoor.  I  spent  a  delightful 
week  or  two  in  battering  its  sides  and  cracking  its  crown,  and 
then  I  made  an  attack  on  Rough  Tor  and  Brown  Willy,  and 
might,  for  aught  I  can  tell,  have  reached  Land's  End  but  for 
the  abominable  election.  But  I  had  promised  to  return,  and 
head  my  radical  countrymen  against  a  combination  of  the 
rural  squires.  So  I  packed  up  bags  and  hammers,  and 
(halting  only  one  day  with  Conybeare)  went  back  almost  with 
the  speed  of  the  wind  to  my  native  valley.  A  few  hours  after 
myself  arrived  a  cousin  of  mine  at  my  brother's  house,  bent  on 
the  same  purpose.  He  heard  of  the  election  while  in  the 
northern  extremity  of  the  Highlands,  and  moved  southward 
with  the  same  speed  as  I  had  done  northwards.  Does  not 
this  prove  a  little  good  whig  leaven  to  be  lodged  in  the  blood 
of  the  Sedgwicks  ? 

Having  dotie  the  Squires  to  their  hearts  content,  I  went  to 
Cumberland — a  country  of  charms  to  every  one  who  has  a 
germ  of  feeling,  and  a  thousand  times  more  charming  to  me 
from  being  associated  with  the  recollections  of  early  life.  I 
dare  say  you  have  heard  of  the  incursion  old  ocean  made  last 
summer  into  Mr  Curwen's  collieries.  He  became  indignant  at 
the  thought  of  their  lighting  fires  under  his  lower  extremities  ; 
so  he  took  a  most  effectual  way  of  putting  them  out  for  ever. 
By  the  way  an  old  Irishman,  ycleped  Dan  Brennan,  acted  a 
most  gallant  part  during  the  rush  of  waters,  and  saved  the  lives 
of  four  fellow-labourers.  I  told  the  story  in  the  geological 
section  at  Liverpool  in  so  moving  a  way  that  I  brought  a 
shower,  not  of  tears,  but  of  half-crowns,  shillings,  and  sixpences 
amounting  to  £37,  which  I  sent  as  a  solace  to  the  old  hero.  I 
should  never  have  succeeded  so  well,  but  for  my  previous 
lesson  in  field-preaching.  But  I  will  not  torment  you  any 
more  with  the  dismal  atmosphere  of  a  coal-pit.  Let  me  then 
transport  you  to  Liverpool,  among  mountains  of  venison  and 


490  FIELD  GEOLOGY. 


1837.  oceans  of  turtle.  Were  ever  philosophers  so  fed  before 
JEt.  53.  Twenty  hundred-weight  of  turtle  were  sent  to  fructify  in  tt 
hungry  stomachs  of  the  sons  of  science  !  Well  may  they  bod 
forth,  before  another  returning  festival,  the  forms  of  thing 
unknown !  but  I  will  not  anticipate  the  monsters  of  philosoph 
which  such  a  seed-time  portends.  The  crop  no  doubt  will  h 
of  vast  dimensions. 

5  After  a  very  laborious  week,  a  large  party  adjourned  t 

!  Sir  Philip  Egerton's.     We  had  one  glorious  day  in  one  of  th 

Northwich  salt-mines.     Conceive   a  chamber  of  twenty-si 
'  acres,  with  a  flat  roof  supported  by  rows  of  rude  pillars  of  sa 

.  arranged  in  perfect  symmetry;  conceive  this  monstrous  an 

almost  interminable  perspective  traced  by  2500  candles 
conceive  all  this  represented  to  the  sense  of  sight  by  a  kin 
of  darkness  visible,  converted,  ever  and  anon,  into  actual  ligl 
by  the  coruscations  of  fireworks;  lastly  conceive  my  attemptin 
to  get  upon  stilts  to  describe  such  wonders,  and  then  falling  fte 
on  my  face  and  breaking  the  nose  of  my  imagination.  Whe 
you  have  done  all  this  you  will  know  so  little  about  th 
matter  that  it  will  be  better  for  us  both  to  shift  the  subject. 

I  have  only  time  to  say  that  I  started  with  Greenough1  an 
two  Cambridge*  friends  for  the  Warwickshire  coal-field.  G.  I 
G/s  paces  and  mine  did  not  suit ;  so  we  parted  with  mutu< 
good-will,  after  going  one  day  in  the  same  harness.  Te 
Mr  Lyell  that  I'have  also  been  working  in  the  Leicestershii 
coal-pits  and  in  Charnwood  Forest  The  poor  miners  ai 
really  to  be  pitied.  At  one  place  they  are  soused  in  ol 
Ocean's  watering-pots  ;  at  another  they  are  broiled  by  Pluto 
kitchen-fires.  I  descended  one  pit  about  1 100  feet  deep,  an 
in  two  hours  was  baked  to  the  very  marrow  of  my  bone 
NHmporte  I  here  I  am,  with  vigour  enough  to  torment  yo 

with  a  very  long  rambling  letter.     I  have  just  room  for  m 

• 

1  George  Bellas  Greenough,  one  of  the  founders  and  first  President  of  tl 
Geological  Society. 

3  Sedgwick  tells  Murchison,  9  February,  1838,  that  one  of  these  friends  w 
Mr  J.  B.  Jukes,  of  St  John's  College,  B.A.  1836.  He  was  one  of  Sedgwick 
geological  pupils. 


t 


LEICESTERSHIRE  COAL-FIELD.  491 

kind  remembrances  to  all  your  family  and  to  assure  you,  with      1837. 

a  long  face,  and  a  penitent  heart  \  that   I   am   most  truly    -**•  5*- 

yours 

A.  Sedgwick. 

To  R.  I.  Murchison,  Esq. 

Trin.  Coll.,  Oct.  29,  1837. 

"Pray  what  news?  where  are  you  in  your  book  ? 
I  think  I  told  you  that  Greenough  and  I  separated  amicably 
after  the  first  day.  His  paces,  and  mode  of  working,  did  not 
suit  me.  I  made  out  all  the  tricks  of  the  Nuneaton  field. 
The  coal-field  passes  into  the  New  Red  series  ;  has  beds  of 
limestone  (fresh-water  I  suppose)  near  the  separation;  and  the 
lower  part  of  the  New  Red  has  calcareous  portions  that  are 
burnt  for  lime. 

The  Leicestershire  coal-field  astonished  me,  but  it  is  very 
obscure.  By  the  way,  we  found  the  Warwickshire  coal-field 
brought  out  by  a  synclinal  dip  several  miles  to  the  S.  W.  of 
the  line  marked  on  the  maps.  Greenough,  by  his  precipita- 
tion, overran  this  phenomenon.  And,  what  delighted  us,  we 
found  a  single  patch  of  the  old  slate  rock  tangling  out  by  a 
riverside  to  the  west  of  this  western  flap ;  and  just  where  it 
showed  itself  it  set  the  coal  strata  so  much  on  edge  that  in  one 
place  they  had  been  worked  in  a  vertical  position  by  gallery 
under  gallery,  like  a  lead  vein.  Charnwood  Forest  I  knew 
before  ;  but  was  delighted  with  a  second  visit. 

They  got  up  a  dinner  for  me  at  Leicester2,  and  I  tried  to 
pay  them  by  a  kind  of  evening  lecture  on  the  structure  of  the 
neighbourhood,  endeavouring  to  prove  that  the  money  they 
are  spending  near  the  town  in  sinking  for  coal  is  so  much 
thrown  away.  Some  of  them  did  not  thank  me  for  this 
damper  ;  but  honesty  is  the  best  policy  in  geology  as  in  every 
other  thing/' 

The  chapel  of  which  Sedgwick  joyfully  records  the  foun- 

1  Mrs  Lyell's  last  letter  was  dated  21  April,  and  had  lain  unanswered  in  a 
drawer  during  Sedgwick's  summer  excursion. 

*  The  dinner  was  given  by  the  Philosophical  Society. 


492  FOUNDATION  OF  COWGILL  CHAPEL. 

1837.  dation,  and  in  which  he  ever  afterwards  took  the  livelie 
&*•  5*«  interest,  is  situated  in  the  upper  and  contracted  part  of  the  da 
of  Dent  called  Kirthwaite.  The  ancient  name  was  Cogill 
Coegill,  but  this,  by  long  usage,  has  become  Cowgill,  thouf 
the  correct  pronunciation  still  survives.  The  circumstanc 
which  led  to  the  building  of  the  chapel,  have  been  narratt 
by  Sedgwick  in  the  Memorial  from  which  we  have  alreac 
made  long  quotations.  After  describing  how  it  had  come 
;  pass  that  the  inhabitants  of  Dent  had  sunk  into  "  a  state 

i  comparative  poverty ,"  he  proceeds :  "  the  hamlet  of  Kirthwai 

\  partook  of  this  change,  and  of  the  unhappy  moral  consequeno 

which  gradually  followed.     In  the  first  quarter  of  this  centui 

■  many  of  the  poorer  inhabitants  of  the  hamlet,  especially  tho< 
;,  in  the  remoter  parts  of  it,  were  without  instruction,  of  reckle 
*                                 life,  and  without  the  common  comfort  and  guidance  of  soci; 

worship  in  the  house  of  God.     To  meet  these  evils  Mrs  Joh 

-  Sedgwick,  the  wife  of  the   incumbent  of  Dent,  personal! 

■  devoted  the  best  efforts  of  her  life.'    Year  after  year  she  worke 

on  in  good  hope ;  and  her  pious  work  had  its  blessing.     Fc 

■  she  gradually  drew  together  an  united  body  of  Christian 
j  who  were  ready  to  sink  out  of  memory  all  points  of  dissent  < 

-  difference,  and  with  true  hearts  to  join  in  common  worshi 

and  in  prayer  for  the  erection  of  a  chapel  to  be  lawful! 

I  consecrated  to  the  services  of  the  Church  of  England. 

'  "A  site  for  a  chapel  and  a  chapel-yard  was  the  first  obje< 

of  inquiry ;  and  Mr  Bannister  of  Cowgill  gave  generous  help  i 
the  hour  of  need.  For  he  offered  to  convey  to  trustees  th 
materials  of  an  old  chapel1,  with  such  addition  from  his  famil 
freehold  as  would  form  a  beautiful  and  convenient  site  an 
burial-ground  for  a  new  chapel,  which  might  become  for  ever 

1  Sedgwick  says  in  a  note  (Memorial,  p.  34)  that  the  older  chapel  had  be* 
j  built,  so  far  as  he  had  been  able  to  ascertain  by  tradition,  "  by  a  member  of  tl 

I  family  of  Cowgill,  who  had  while  in  Scotland  adopted  the  doctrine  and  disci plii 

i  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.     For  some  years,  while  he  lived,  the  chapel  w 

;  zealously  attended,  and  the  yard  in  which  it  stood  was  used  as  a  burial-ground  f 

j  the  congregation."    After  his  death  the  congregation  melted  away,  and  the  chap 

became  a  ruin. 


IN  WORKINGTON  COLLIERY.  493 

chapel-of-ease  to  the  old  church  of  Dent.  This  offer  was  met  1837. 
with  heartfelt  gratulations  on  the  part  of  the  inhabitants  of  ^  5*« 
Dent.  In  conformity  with  such  feelings,  and  in  good  hope,  a 
circular  letter  was  published  in  July,  1836,  calling  upon  all 
who  had  a  pious  interest  in  the  spiritual  and  temporal  well- 
being  of  the  valley  of  Dent,  to  subscribe  for  the  erection  of  a 
chapel,  to  be  called  Cowgill  Chapel.  The  public  generously  re- 
sponded to  the  call,  and  on  June  30th,  1837,  the  foundation 
stone  was  laid  amidst  demonstrations  of  joy,  which  everyone 
in  Dent,  whatever  might  be  his  name  or  form  of  worship, 
seemed  with  a  full  heart  to  share1." 

At  the  Liverpool  meeting  of  the  British  association  Sedg- 
wick was  President  of  the  Geological  Section.  He  protested 
that  he  was  almost  worked  to  death,  but  his  various  letters 
show  that  he  did  not  find  the  work  disagreeable.  His  only 
paper  was  a  Notice  of  an  Incursion  of  the  Sea  into  the  collieries 
at  Workington.  It  was  at  the  close  of  this  paper  that  he 
told  the  tale  of  Brennan's  intrepidity.  His  narrative  is  said 
to  have  been  extraordinarily  dramatic — a  happy  combination 
of  humour  and  pathos — often  expressed  in  the  language  of 
the  man  himself9.  A  few  days  afterwards  he  sent  the  money 
subscribed  to  Mr  Williamson  Peile,  Lord  Lonsdale's  agent, 
with  the  following  letter8 ; 

Liverpool,  September  iZth,  1837. 
My  dear  Peile, 

We  have  had  a  glorious  week  at  Liverpool.  .  On 
Wednesday  last  I  described  before  the  Geological  Section  the 
geological  position  of  the  great  main  band  in  the  sub-marine 
portion  of  the  Workington  colliery,  and  the  circumstances 
that  led  to  its  submersion.     Before  I  sat  down  I  also  stated 

1  A  Memorial  by  the  Trustees  of  Cowgill  Chapel*  pp.  4 — 6.  Sedgwick  sent 
one  hundred  guineas  to  the  building-fund. 

3  Report  of  the  British  Association,  1837,  p.  75.     The  Athetueum,  p.  697. 

8  This  letter,  of  which  the  original  cannot  now  be  traced,  was  fortunately  printed 
in  The  Cumberland  Racquet  f  for  26  September,  1837.  Our  copy  is  due  to  the 
kindness  of  J.  H.  Kendall,  Civil  Engineer,  of  Whitehaven. 


494  SUBSCRIPTION  FOR  BRENNAN. 

1837.  the  facts  you  and  I  heard  from  the  mouth  of  Daniel  Brenna 
iEt.  52.  The  account  produced  such  a  sensation  in  the  room  that 
subscription  was  instantly  set  on  foot,  and  hats  were  hande 
round  for  the  brave  fellow,  who,  under  Providence,  has  bee 
the  means  of  saving  the  lives  of  four  of  his  fellow-creature 
The  fact  of  his  turning  back  to  save  the  old  man  in  the  stab! 
(after  he  himself  and  the  three  others  whom  he  had  conducte 
safely  through  the  air-course  were  out  of  danger)  excited 
loud  burst  of  admiration.  I  now  enclose  a  bill  for  the  sum  0 
£$7.  2.  o,  which  I  request  you  to  pay  over  to  Daniel  Brennan 
being  (with  the  exception  of  £2  or  £3  since  received)  th< 
amount  of  the  subscription  raised  on  the  spot,  and  handec 
over  to  me  in  the  Chair. 

I  am  sorry  to  write  in  such  a  hurry,  but  the  glad  tidings  1 
send  you,  with  my  own  hearty  good  wishes,  are  better  thing! 
by  far  than  a  more  formal  letter.  I  should  have  written  to  th< 
man  himself  had  I  known  how  to  address  him.  Pray  give  hiir 
good  advice ;  tell  him  to  do  again  what  I  hope  he  has  don< 
already,  to  thank  God  for  the  deliverance,  and  for  this  furthei 
good  that  has  come  to  him.  Tell  him  also  that  those  whe 
subscribed  hope  he  will  not  spend  on  folly  and  sin  this  over 
flow  of  Christian  charity  on  his  behalf. 

Make  what  use  of  this  letter  you  please.  The  substance  o 
it  should  appear  in  the  papers,  as  the  fact  it  states  is  a  lessor 
of  kindness,  and  may  do  good. 

Believe  me,  my  dear  Peile, 

Very  truly  yours, 

A.  Sedgwick. 

Mr  Peile  lost  no  time  in  assembling  his  workmen,  am 
informed  Brennan  of  his  good  fortune  in  their  presence,  "  tc 
his  great  joy  and  indescribable  astonishment  V  The  monej 
was  not  wasted,  as  such  gifts  too  often  are  ;  it  was  prudentl] 
given  to  Brennan  as  he  wanted  it,  so  that  his  debts  were  paid 
and  his  position  substantially  bettered.  Six  months  afterward 

1  To  Professor  Agassiz,  5  March,  1838. 


LEICESTERSHIRE  COAL-FIELD.  495 

Sedgwick  could  write :  "  I  am  happy  to  hear  that  the  gift  has     1837. 
improved  both  his  fortune  and  his  morals.     How  much  good   Ax-  5*- 
may  be  done  by  kindness !  and  alas !  how  seldom  men  even 
think  of  it.1 " 

In  a  summer  so  fully  occupied  there  was  but  little  time 
left  for  geology.  In  Devon  Sedgwick  was  joined  by  Mr 
Austen,  but  they  did  not  complete  any  part  of  their  survey, 
both  being  unexpectedly  called  away.  In  Cumberland  we  do 
not  know  that  he  did  more  than  examine  the  drowned  shafts  at 
Workington.  The  explorations  in  Leicestershire  are  described 
with  some  detail  in  a  letter  to  his  brother.  From  Coventry, 
he  writes,  "I  walked  to  a  small  village  near  Bedworth,  and  next 
morning  commenced  work  along  with  three  companions.  In 
the  course  of  five  days  we  worked  our  way,  through  a  very 
interesting  country,  as  far  as  Tamworth.  It  is  highly  beautiful 
to  look  upon  ;  and  we  did  not  shut  our  eyes  to  its  loveliness ; 
but  the  vast  beds  of  coal  underneath  the  surface  (some  of 
them  12  feet  thick)  occupied  the  greater  share  of  our  attention. 
From  Tamworth  we  removed  our  head-quarters  to  Ashby  de 
la  Zouche  in  Leicestershire ;  and  again  began  to  dive  under- 
ground, descending  one  pit  more  than  350  yards  deep.  The 
temperature  at  the  bottom  made  the  perspiration  run  off  in 
streams.  To  reward  our  toil  we  found  them  working  a  magni- 
ficent coal-bed  full  12  feet  thick.  After  experiencing  much 
kindness  at  Ashby,  we  again  removed  our  quarters  to  the 
skirts  of  Charnwood  Forest,  and  gradually  worked  our  way 
to  Leicester.  Finally  we  reached  Cambridge  on  Monday 
the  9th  October*. 

During  the  summer  of  1837  the  condition  of  Sedgwick's 
house  at  Norwich  had  given  him  much  trouble.  The  drains 
had  made  themselves  so  unpleasant  that  he  declared :  "People 
cross  the  street  to  avoid  me,  and  hold  their  noses  when  I  pass 
them."     In    consequence    certain    indispensable    alterations 

1  Ibid.  Mr  Peile  wrote,  17  February,  1838:  "The  poor  fellow  is  extremely 
grateful,  and  frequently  asks  after  the  Purfessor.     He  is  sober  and  industrious." 

2  To  Rev.  John  Sedgwick,  16  October,  1837. 


496  SERMONS  AT  NORWICH. 

1837.  were  carried  out  under  the  direction  of  Canon  Wodehouse, 
^t.  5*.  and  many  letters  passed  between  him  and  Sedgwick  re- 
specting them.  The  first  paragraph  of  the  next  letter  refers 
to  this  subject ;  the  rest,  on  a  more  delicate  matter,  explains 
itself.  Sedgwick's  reply  reads  like  a  fragment  of  an  autobio- 
graphy, and  explains  much  that  without  it  appears  contra- 
dictory and  almost  unintelligible  in  the  detailed  history  of 
his  life. 

From  Canon   Wodehouse. 

Norwich,  October  ioM,  1837. 
My  dear  Sedgwick, 

I  had  better  tell  you  at  first,  for  fear  of  forgetting  it  at 
last,  that  your  house  is  well  nigh  finished  in  every  respect :  that  it 
looks  respectable,  if  not  beautiful,  without,  and  promises  much 
comfort  within. 

I  hope  you  will  open  this  letter  in  a  quiet,  sit-still,  leisurely, 
contemplative  mood,  because  I  want  you  not  only  to  read  patiently, 
but  to  digest  it  properly,  not  like  a  Heron  with  an  Eel  (as  the  fable 
goes)  but  "  more  ruminantium"  I  have  not  forgotten  a  conversation 
we  had  in  this  house  somewhere  about  midnight,  on  the  subject 
of  some  sermons.  You  gave  me  a  sketch,  or  rather  a  bold  clear 
outline,  of  a  short  course,  which  was  to  be  printed,  and  preached  at 
Norwich  Cathedral.  Now  I  have  strongly  set  my  mind  upon  your 
realizing  this  excellent  scheme,  and  in  your  approaching  Residence, 
and  the  only  object  of  this  letter  is  earnestly  to  beg  you  not  to 
disappoint  me.  You  have  now  time  before  you  to  do  this  in  a 
manner  worthy  of  yourself.  Your  lectures  exact  no  toil  as  to 
preparation,  you  have  only  therefore  to  throw  aside  other  matters  for 
a  few  weeks,  and  devote  some  spare  hours  to  this,  and  the  thing  is 
done.  I  have  many  reasons  to  urge  in  behalf  of  this  proposition.  I 
persuade  myself  that  you  are  not  only  a  lover  of  truth,  but  will  give 
me  credit  for  being  the  same,  and  that,  when  I  assure  you  that  I 
write  very  much  from  a  jealous  regard  for  your  reputation  here,  you 
will  not  find  fault  with  me  for  speaking  openly.  You  have  done 
much  for  us  here  as  a  Geologist.  I  am  now  most  anxious  you  should 
give  us  some  good,  well-considered  Theology  from  the  Prebendal 
Chair.  "  Sedgwick  won't  take  the  trouble  to  compose  sermons,"  say 
some.  "He  can't",  say  others.  "He  gives  us  nothing  but  a  few 
scraps  of  paper  written  with  a  pencil  in  church,  and  he'll  teach 
all  the  young  ones  to  do  the  same."  "  If  he  really  has  not  time 
to  prepare  properly  a  few  sermons,  why  was  he  made  a  Prebendary  ?" 
"  How  much  good  might  he  do  if  he  would  turn  his  talents  this  way, 
and  give  us  every  Residence  a  good  course  of  good  sermons  ?  " 

Now  I  should  not  detail  these  waspish  speeches  to  you,  but  that, 
professing  to  have  within  me  a  few  sparks  of  friendship,  never,  I 


k 


SERMONS  AT  NORWICH.  497 

trust,  to  be  extinguished,  I  am  considerably  nettled  by  them,  and      1837. 
want  you  to  furnish  me  with  the  best  answer  to  such  of  them  as  may    /Et.  53. 
be  in  any  degree  true.     It  is  not  however  merely  on  such  grounds 
that  I  write.    "  How  much  good  might  he  do  6r*c."  is  a  motive  of  a  very 
different  kind ;  one  which  you,  I  am  assured,  will  not  refuse  seriously 
to  consider  and  respond  to. . . . 

I  will  not  add  any  apologies  or  explanations  to  what  I  have 
written,  because  I  am  assured  that  to  you  any  such  expletives  are 
unnecessary.  I  rather  expect  to  be  called  to  London  for  a  few  days 
before  very  long,  and  shall  try  to  look  in  upon  you  going  or  returning. 
All  here  are  well,  and  Alice  has  not  forgotten  you.  With  every  kind 
wish  from  the  whole  party,  always  most  sincerely  yours, 

Charles  N.  Wodehouse. 

Trin.  Coll.  October  \2th9  1837. 
My  dear  Wodehouse, 

I  have  to  thank  you  for  the  letter  which  reached  me 
yesterday  morning,  though  some  of  its  sentences  made  me 
wince  a  little.  As  to  the  waspish  speeches  you  mention  I  care 
not  for  them  ;  but  the  other  remark  How  much  good  might  he 
do  &c.  &c.  &c.  I  agree  with  you,  I  ought  to  respond  to  as  far 
as  I  am  able.  And  were  I  to  give  myself  up  to  theological 
studies  exclusively  no  doubt  I  might  do  more  than  I  have 
done.  But  it  is  at  present  impossible  for  me  to  do  so.  And 
were  the  alternative  given  me  this  day  of  resigning  my  pro- 
fessorship or  my  stall,  because  I  could  not  do  the  duties  of 
both  properly,  I  should  instantly  give  up  the  latter,  and  not 
the  former.  For  I  have  a  great  accumulation  of  original 
matter  piled  up  during  observations  directed  to  one  main 
point,  and  not  to  turn  this  to  use  and  profit  would  I  think  be 
a  shame  and  a  sin.  In  a  few  years  I  may  perhaps  be  eman- 
cipated from  the  rubbish  which  surrounds  me.  A  museum  is 
rising  from  the  ground  *;  were  my  collection  once  arranged, 
and  my  geological  books  and  papers  written,  I  should  wash 
my  hands,  and  try  to  pass  my  office  to  a  younger  and  lustier 
person.  And  when  is  this  to  be  done  ?  Perhaps  in  three  or 
four  years,  if  it  please  God  to  spare  my  life  and  faculties.  At 
this  very  moment  I  have  no  less  than  five  papers  on  the  stocks: 

1  The  present  Geological  Museum,  part  of  the  new  Library  begun  1837. 

s.  i.  32 


498  APOLOGIA  PRO   VITA  SUA. 


1837.  two  for  the  Cambridge  Philosophical  Society,  and  three  for 
&u  S2'  the  Geological ;  and  of  these,  three  are  joint  works  in  which 
the  reputation  of  others  is  concerned.  These  arrears  arise 
partly  from  my  own  procrastinating  temper,  and  partly  fron 
last  year's  long-continued  indisposition,  which  prevented  me 
from  putting  pen  to  paper  during  the  spring  months.  Under 
these  circumstances  I  have  assuredly  no  time  to  prepare  a 
course  of  sermons  for  the  press  during  the  coming  winter. 
But  pray  come  here,  and  talk  over  this  and  a  hundred  other 
things.  Illnatured  things  are  seldom  said  without  some 
semblance  of  foundation.  Have  I  then  neglected  my  clerical 
duties  at  Norwich  ?  In  answering  this  question  I  ought  to  be 
the  last  person  appealed  to.  But  in  my  first  year's  Residence 
I  had  during  the  greater  part  of  the  time  a  double  duty  in  the 
Cathedral,  and  during  three  or  four  successive  Sundays  I  did 
duty  thrice, — which  was  fair  hack  work.  During  my  second 
Residence  I  worked  hard  at  the  Museum  lectures,  and  preached 
on  every  occasion  on  which  I  was  apparently  called  on.  The 
Dean  was  away,  and  I  was  called  on  at  least  six  or  seven  times. 
Last  winter  I  was  direly  out  of  sorts  for  six  or  seven  weeks, 
and  utterly  incapable  of  much  intellectual  labour.  This  is  all 
the  apologetic  matter  I  dare  muster  in  my  defence  My  en- 
deavour always  was  to  avoid  everything  like  rhetoric  or  fine 
writing,  and  above  all  to  fly  from  that  which  always  tempts 
me — metaphysical  disquisition,  of  which  I  was  passionately 
fond  when  a  young  man.  In  short  I  tried  to  be  off"  the  stilts, 
and  to  speak  truth  plainly  and  practically.  Whether  I  hit  the 
mark  I  aimed  at  I  hardly  know ;  but  I  used  to  think  that  the 
people  listened  well  to  what  I  said.  As  to  tickling  people's 
ears  with  fine  sermons,  I  never  could  condescend  to  do  it  were 
it  in  my  power.  Some  of  my  friends  expect  more  from  me 
than  I  can  do.  Because  on  some  occasions  I  speak  fluently, 
it  by  no  means  follows  that  I  write  readily.  Experience  tells 
me  the  very  contrary.  I  write  with  pain  to  myself  in  every 
sense  of  the  word,  for  a  very  few  hours'  writing  will  generally 
bring  on  a  fit  of  indigestion  and  swimming  in  the  head,  which 


APOLOGIA  PRO   VITA  SUA.  499 

puts  an  end  to  all  rational  continuity  of  thought.  I  was,  ever  1837. 
since  my  childhood,  utterly  incapable  of  doing  more  than  one  ^t.  5*. 
thing  at  a  time  to  any  purpose.  To  pass  from  one  thing  to 
another  frequently  makes  me  utterly  worthless.  This  peculia- 
rity of  my  mind  (and  I  believe  it  is  what  I  might  almost  call 
an  organic  peculiarity)  has  sometimes  led  me  into  dire  mis- 
conduct, and  once  or  twice  in  my  life  brought  me  nearly  into 
a  condition  of  monomania.  I  think  I  have  more  than  once 
hinted  to  you  about  the  melancholy  depression  of  my  mind 
before  I  was  appointed  to  the  Woodwardian  Chair.  My 
summers'  rambles,  more  than  any  other  thing,  brought  me 
round  ;  and  I  very  much  doubt  whether  even  now  I  could 
long  hold  my  head  up  without  them.  This  consideration  has 
naturally  had  some  influence  with  me  in  determining  my  choice 
in  one  or  two  rather  trying  occasions.  But,  after  all,  many  of 
my  friends  expect  more  from  me  than  I  have  the  power  of 
doing  were  I  to  try.  I  know  that  much  of  my  life  has  been 
dreamy  and  worthless ;  but  I  am  constitutionally  incapable  of 
much  sedentary  exertion.  My  friends  also  think  me  a  thou- 
sand times  better  than  I  am.  For  my  conscience  tells  me,  in 
language  my  soul  cannot  misinterpret,  that  in  the  hourly 
conduct  of  my  thoughts,  and  in  the  daily  actions  of  my  life  I 
have  not  only  much  to  repent  of,  but  that  which  ought  to  sink 
me  to  the  earth,  and  fill  me  with  humiliation  and  shame.  I 
am  now,  at  least,  writing  seriously.  And,  if  it  torments  you, 
you  must  blame  yourself  for  writing  so  frankly  to  me ;  and  I 
am  sure  I  am,  and  ought  to  be,  deeply  thankful  to  you  for  what 
you  have  done.  How  different  the  tone  of  your  letter  from  the 
doses  of  nauseous  flattery  I  received  at  some  of  the  public 
meetings  this  summer!  Their  quantity  was  an  antidote  to 
their  quality,  as  no  human  stomach  would  hold  them,  and 
they  acted  as  an  emetic.  I  bear  that  about  with  me  which 
ought  to  make  me  humble,  whatever  persons  may  say  flatter- 
ing to  my  face,  or  waspish  behind  my  back.  This  letter  is  not 
fit  to  be  seen.  Therefore  after  reading  it  (and  I  don't  call  on 
you,  as  you  do  on  me,  to  ruminate  on  it)  pray  burn  it.     First, 

32—2 


5oo  REVISES  MURCMSON'S  SILURIA. 


1837.     however,  give  my  kind  remembrances  to  your  family,  begin- 

^l-  5»-    ning  with  Lady  Jane,  and  ending  with  Boppity.     My  dear 

Wodehouse, 

affectionately  yours 

A.  Sedgwick. 

During  the  Michaelmas  term  Sedgwick  tried  the  experi- 
ment "  for  the  first  time  in  my  Professorial  life,"  of  giving  six 
lectures  in  each  week — but  the  strain  was  too  great,  and  brought 
on  palpitation  of  the  heart,  and  sleepless  nights.  In  addition 
to  this  labour  he  was  reprinting  his  Syllabus,  and  bringing  it 
up  to  date.  "  I  want  to  be  correct  in  my  synopsis  of  the 
Silurian  System/'  he  writes  to  Murchison,  "  have  you  one  of 
your  printed  outlines  or  synopses  ?  If  you  have  such  a  paper, 
don't  fail  to  send  it  me  by  return  of  Post;  for  remember  I  am 
in  the  Press."  The  following  letter  shows  that  Murchison 
was  asking  his  advice  on  the  elaborate  description  of  his  own 
peculiar  domain  which  he  was  now  beginning  to  print  In  the 
previous  year  Sedgwick  had  criticised  the  Introduction  with 
some  severity,  but  his  opinion  on  the  body  of  the  work  was 
evidently  far  more  favourable. 

My  dear  Murchison, 

I  send  you  the  three  sheets,  which  I  looked  over  last 
night  as  carefully  as  I  could.  It  is  a  good  joke  for  you  to  tell 
me  to  just  give  half  an  hour  to  your  three  sheets.  Three  sheets 
like  yours  are  three  honest  hours'  work,  and  so  I  found  them 
last  night.  I  have  altered  as  little  as  possible.  One  or  two 
sentences  I  did  not  understand.  After  all,  your  revises  seem 
to  want  no  rasping.  My  suggestions,  small  as  they  are,  are 
perhaps  changes  for  the  worse,  and  I  will  venture  to  say  that 
not  one  man  in  a  thousand  would  mark  any  difference.  After 
all  your  book  is  only  a  book  for  geologists.  Natives  of  the 
country  will  read  and  pick  out  parts  of  it,  as  Jack  Horner  ate 
Christmas  pics ;  but,  as  a  whole,  it  is  far  too  good  and  deep 
for  any  but  a  true  geologist.     And  what  geologist  will  care, 


HOUSEHOLD  AT  NORWICH  501 


one  grain  of  trap,  how  a  sentence  is  written  provided  he  un-      1838. 
derstands  it.     Yours  in  a  hurry,  *&-  53- 

A.  Sedgwick. 

Many  thanks  for  your  Silurian  papers1. 

Sedgwick's  occupations  at  the  beginning  of  1838  are 
described  in  the  following  letters : 

To  tlie  Rev.  John  Sedgwick. 

Norwich,  January  6th,  1838. 
My  dear  John, 

It  is  too  late  for  this  day's  post,  but  still  I  will  try 
to  put  myself  out  of  your  debt  before  to-morrow.... 

On  the  1st  of  December  I  began  my  Residence,  and  a  day 
or  two  afterwards  I  was  elected  President  of  the  Norwich 
Museum  for  the  next  two  years.  At  the  time  of  my  appoint- 
ment I  undertook  to  give  a  few  public  lectures.  My  second 
was  given  on  Thursday  to  an  audience  of  about  400,  and 
I  hope  to  give  two  more.  My  friends  here  received  me  with 
their  usual  kindness,  and  I  was  delighted  to  come  again 
among  them  ;  and  really  my  new  house  is  quite  charming.  I 
have  one  very  good  bed-room  fit  for  a  married  couple ;  and 
three  spare  beds  for  bachelors.  One  Cambridge  friend  is  with 
me  now ;  and  before  long  I  am  expecting  three  more.  I  have 
a  capital  housekeeper  who  provides  and  cooks  for  me — the 
same  person  whom  Lady  Jane  Wodehouse  recommended  to 
me — a  housemaid,  and  a  young  lass  to  help  her.  My  own 
servant  comes  and  acts  as  my  butler  and  waiter  and  factotum  ; 

1  This  letter  is  undated,  but  docketed  by  Murchison,  "November,  1837." 
He  further  notes :  "  Revision  of  the  three  sheets  (the  only  ones)  of  my  work 
which  he  undertook.  R.  I.  M."  This  statement,  as  Mr  Geikie  observes  in  a 
pencilled  sentence  appended  to  the  above  note,  "  is  not  quite  accurate.  Sedgwick 
revised  the  Introduction  to  the  Silurian  System^  and  expressed  great  dissatisfaction 
with  the  original,  making  many  alterations  and  suggestions,  most  or  all  of  which 
Murchison  seems  to  have  adopted.  Probably  the  three  sheets  above  referred  to 
were  the  only  three  in  the  body  of  the  work."  To  this  may  be  added  the  fact  that 
in  the  spring  of  the  following  year  (7  March,  1838)  Murchison  writes  to  Sedgwick  : 
•'  I  send  you  the  concluding  chapter  of  my  Part  I.,  and  a  portion  of  the  opening 
chapter  of  Part  II.,  which  must  be  seen  by  you  before  they  see  the  light."  It  is 
of  course  possible  that  Sedgwick  returned  these  proofs  without  looking  at  them. 


502  BISHOP  STANLEY. 


1838.  and  I  have  an  assistant  and  occasional  waiter  to  rub  down  my 
<**.  53-  horse.  Such  is  my  establishment.  Before  long  I  hope  some 
of  your  family  will  come  to  see  me.  When  Isabella  and 
Emma  are  out,  they  must  come  their  first  winter  and  keep 
house  for  me  during  a  two  months'  Residence.  It  will  be 
a  good  start  for  them :  and  I  shall  be  able  to  show 
them  excellent  society.  Indeed  I  have  more  of  it  than  I  like. 
The  Bishop's  family  is  an  admirable  addition  to  us.  The 
Bishop  I  knew  before  I  came  hither.  His  wife  is  a  charming 
and  sensible  woman.  His  eldest  son  was  frozen  up  in  the 
North  Sea  with  Captain  Back,  and  is  just  appointed  com- 
mander of  a  gun-brig  going  out  to  the  South  Seas.  The 
second  son  took  a  very  distinguished  degree  at  Oxford,  and 
the  youngest  son  has  just  joined  the  Engineers  at  Woolwich — 
all  of  them  have  been  here.  The  two  daughters  are  also  very 
clever  and  agreeable  young  ladies.  One  of  them  is  not  yet 
come  out.  The  whole  family  dined  with  me  one  day.  But 
the  most  noisy  party  I  have  had  consisted  of  about  twenty 
children,  whom  I  made  very  happy  for  a  few  hours.  Don't 
suppose  that  I  have  been  quite  idle  in  my  profession.  I  have 
been  preaching  almost  every  Friday,  and  often  sitting  up  very 
late  at  night,  and  rising  very  early  in  the  morning,  to  write 
my  sermons.  I  preached  last  Sunday  week  in  the  Cathedral 
for  the  benefit  of  the  County  Hospital.  I  rise  very  early, 
and  read  prayers  to  my  servants  frequently  by  candle-light. 
I  then  breakfast  about  eight... A  happy  new  year  to  your 
wife  and  children. 


To  Professor  Agassis. 


Affectionately  yours, 

A.  Sedgwick. 


Trinity  College,  Cambridge, 

March  5#,  1838. 


My  dear  friend, 

After  an  absence  of  three  months  I  only  returned 
to  Cambridge  last  week.  My  winter  has  been  spent  in 
Norwich ;   and  many  of  my  letters  were  detained  in  Cam- 


THEORY  OF  ERRATIC  BLOCKS.  503 

bridge  for  a  long  time,  and  yours  among  the  rest.  This  will  1838. 
explain  my  long  delay  in  replying  to  your  very  kind  and  Mt-  53* 
delightful  letter.  In  one  respect,  however,  it  gave  me  pain,  as 
it  deprived  me  of  the  hope  of  seeing  you  in  England  next 
summer.  But  I  rejoice  that  Mr  Dinkel  is  coming,  as  he  is  a 
very  kind-hearted  man,  as  well  as  a  very  accomplished  artist, 
and  will  I  believe  do  your  work  better  than  any  other  person. 
I  will  give  him  every  facility  in  my  power  in  making  drawings 
from  the  specimens  in  the  Cambridge  Museum.  Some  I  will 
with  great  pleasure  convey  to  town  for  him  ;  others  he  will 
have  to  copy  at  this  place,  and  I  will  procure  lodgings  for  his 
use.  In  short  I  will  assist  him,  and  you,  in  every  way  I  can, 
and  more  I  cannot  promise.  The  specimens  of  Agostino 
Scilla  shall  also  be  put  at  his  disposal. 

I  only  reached  Cambridge  on  Friday,  when  I  found  your 
eighth  and  ninth  Livraisons  on  my  table,  and  I  cannot  tell  you 
how  much  I  am  delighted  with  them.  The  engravings  speak 
to  the  senses  like  the  originals;  and  they  have  a  great 
additional  interest  to  an  English  geologist,  in  being  chiefly 
derived  from  the  formations  with  which  he  is  familiar  in  his 
own  country.  Pray  put  me  down  as  a  subscriber  to  your 
work  on  Echinoderms,  the  successive  parts  of  which  may 
be  sent  me  through  Bailli&re  along  with  the  Livraisons  of 
your  great  work  on  fossil  fish. 

Till  I  see  your  memoir  on  the  erratic  blocks  of  the  Alps  I 
don't  know  how  I  can  offer  any  opinion,  as  I  don't  at  present 
know  exactly  what  is  your  hypothesis.  Where  has  it  been 
printed  ?...On  the  subject  of  the  erratic  blocks  of  Switzerland 
it  strikes  me  that  no  one  can  possibly  account  for  them 
without  the  aid  of  the  carrying  power  of  ice.  Without 
knowing  what  it  is,  I  am,  therefore,  favourably  disposed 
towards  at  least  a  part  of  your  hypothesis.  A  great  deal  of 
evidence,  both  positive  and  negative,  has  been  advanced 
in  favour  of  the  iceberg  theory.  For  example,  Mr  Darwin 
has  shown  that  throughout  South  America  erratic  blocks  are 
found  within  the  limits  of  latitude  where  glaciers  are,  or  may 


/ 


5<H  THEORY  OF  ERRATIC  BLOCKS. 

1838.     have  been,  down  to  the  level  of  the  sea ;  and  that  they  are 
^  53-    wanting  in  the  tropical  latitudes,  where  ice  could  never  have 
existed  near  the  sea  level.     In  England  (where  everything  is 
on  so  small  a  scale,  yet  where  we  have  such  a  fine  succession 
of  phenomena,  illustrating  almost  every  important  point  in 
the  geological  history  of  the  earth),  we  have  a  most  interesting 
series  of  erratic  blocks.     I  don't  think  the  iceberg-  theory  can 
be  applied  to  them,  because  they  go  in  almost  all  directions, 
and  not  towards  any  prevailing  point  of  the  compass,  and 
because  they  follow  the  exact  line  of  waterworn  detritus  and 
comminuted   gravel.     Such    blocks   I   attribute    to    currents 
produced  during  periods  of  elevation  and  unusual  violence 
There   are   many   instances  of   rocks   grooved    deeply,   and 
partially  rubbed  down,  by  the  currents  of  what  we  formerly 
called  diluvium,  a  word  which  is  passing  in  some  measure  out 
of  use  in  consequence  of  the  hypothetical  abuse  of  the  term 
by  one  school  of  geologists.     There  are  very  fine  examples  of 
this  kind  near  Edinburgh.     Stones  transported  in   this  way 
are  always  rounded  by  attrition,  and  in  every  question  about 
the  origin  of  erratic  blocks  we  ought  to  regard  their  condition 
(viz.  whether  rounded  or  not),  as  well  as  their  geographical 
relation  to  the  parent  rock. 

Since  I  had  the  pleasure  of  meeting  you  in  Ireland  I  have 
not  published  any  memoirs.  In  the  spring  of  1836  I  was  out 
of  health  and  spirits.  In  the  summer  of  1836  I  had  a 
laborious  and  successful  tour  in  Devonshire,  Cornwall,  and 
South  Wales,  partly  with  my  friend  Murchison,  and  we  tried 
to  reduce  the  stubborn  old  formations  to  some  order,  and 
I  think  they  were  a  little  more  obedient  when  we  left  them. 
Our  labours  have  caused  much  discussion  in  the  Geological 
Society.  The  winter  and  spring  of  1837  I  was  again  sadly 
out  of  health,  and  literally  confined  to  my  chamber  for  more 
than  a  quarter  of  a  year.  The  sad  consequence  was  that  all 
my  intellectual  labours  were  suspended.  I  turned  out,  how- 
ever, again  last  summer,  finished  my  observations  on  the  S.W. 
counties   of  England,  and   ended   the  vacation    in  a  survey 


THEORY  OF  ERRATIC  BLOCKS.  505 

of  the  coal-field  of  Cumberland.  Thank  God  I  am  now  well,  1838. 
and  before  my  summer's  tour  hope  to  pass  four  memoirs  &u  53* 
through  the  press.  All  this  will,  however,  depend  on  my 
health,  which  generally  gives  way  under  sedentary  labour. 
We  had  a  glorious  meeting  of  the  British  Association  at 
Liverpool,  and  did  ourselves  the  great  pleasure  of  voting 
a  hundred  pounds  in  aid  of  your  work.  I  wish  other 
societies  would  follow  so  good  an  example. 

So  now,  my  dear  Professor,  I  have  sent  you  a  very  long 
letter,  which  I  hope  you  will  be  able  to  read.  Most  heartily 
do  I  wish  you  health  and  happiness,  and  a  rich  harvest  of 
honour. 

Believe  me,  your  sincere  and  affectionate  friend, 

A.  Sedgwick. 

We  see  from  this  letter  that  Sedgwick  accepts  the  theory 
of  transport  by  ice  to  account  for  the  position  of  erratic 
blocks.  At  the  same  time,  like  many  geologists  at  the 
present  day,  he  doubted  whether  the  ice  in  question  was 
floating-ice,  or  land-ice  (except  in  certain  particular  cases); 
and  further,  whether  stranding  icebergs,  or  the  passage  of 
glacier-ice,  ought  to  be  invoked  as  the  cause  of  the  striation 
of  rocks.  Agassiz  had  stated  his  own  views  on  the  subject  of 
erratic  blocks  in  the  following  passage  : 

Neuchatel,  30  November,  1837. 

"  II  est  une  autre  question  sur  laquelle  je  d&irerais  ardemment 
connaitre  votre  opinion.  Cest  la  question  des  blocs  erratiques 
r^pandus  sur  les  flancs  du  Jura.  Depuis  plusieurs  ann&s  je  me 
suis  appliqud  k  observer  avec  le  plus  d'exactitude  possible  ce 
ph£nomfcne  si  remarquable,  et  si  diversement  expliqu^  par  les 
g£ologues.  Aucune  des  explications  qui  en  ont  6t6  donn^es  jusqu'k 
ce  jour  ne  me  parait  r&oudre  le  probl£me,  les  unes  &ant  en 
contradiction  avec  une  foule  de  ph^nomfenes  non  moins  g£n&aux 
et  importants  que  les  blocs  eux-memes,  les  autres  les  passant  sous 
silence.  Au  nombre  de  ces  ph&iomfenes  il  en  est  un  surtout  dont  on 
n'a  tenu  aucun  compte  dans  toutes  les  theories,  et  dont  vous  avez 
constat^  la  presence  dans  le  nord  de  TAngleterre ;  je  veux  parler  des 
surfaces  polies  sur  lesquelles  reposent  en  partie  les  blocs  erratiques. 
J'ai  tachd  de  rattacher  ce  ph£nomfene  ainsi  que  plusieurs  autres,  au 


506  OPENING  OF  THE  BARTLOW  BARROWS. 

1838.  transport  des  blocs,  en  supposant  qu'ils  sont  le  r&ultat  de  masses  de 
^t#  53-  glace  qui  auraient  comble'  a  une  certaine  e'poque  la  grande  vallee  de 
la  Suisse,  et  sur  lesquelles  les  blocs  auraient  6t6  charries,  depuis  le 
sommet  des  Alpes  jusque  sur  les  flancs  de  nos  montagnes.  Je  fis  de 
cette  question  le  sujet  de  mon  discours  d'ouverture  au  congres  des 
naturalistes  Suisses  a  Neuchatel.  Mon  opinion  fut  vivement  combatrue 
par  MM.  de  Buch  et  Elie  de  Beaumont,  qui  assistaient  a  notre  reunion, 
et  je  ne  doute  pas  qu'elle  ne  sera  encore  plus  amerement  critiquee 
lorsqu'elle  sera  livr^e  au  public.  J'attendrai  votre  response  avec 
impatience,  heureux  si  je  puis  voir  mon  opinion  appuyee  par  le 
ge'ologue  illustre  en  la  science  duquel  j'ai  le  plus  de  con/iance." 

In  April  we  find  Sedgwick  on  a  visit  to  Lord  Braybrooke, 
at  Audley  End,  to  witness  the  opening  of  one  of  the  four 
large  barrows  situated  on  the  estate  of  Viscount  Maynard, 
near  Bartlow  in  Essex.  Popular  belief  had  ascribed  the 
erection  of  these  conspicuous  artificial  mounds  to  the  Danes, 
in  commemoration  of  a  battle ;  but .  when  three  smaller 
mounds,  distant  about  eighty  feet  from  the  former,  were 
opened  in  1832,  the  discovery  of  Roman  antiquities,  with  a 
coin  of  the  Emperor  Hadrian,  shewed  that  they  at  least 
belonged  to  the  Roman  period.  In  1835  the  largest  and 
loftiest  barrow  was  explored  under  the  superintendence  of 
Mr  John  Gage,  Director  of  the  Society  of  Antiquaries.  As  the 
sepulchral  chamber  was  probably  in  the  centre  of  the  mound, 
which  was  144  feet  in  diameter,  and  formed  of  chalk  and  soil 
in  alternate  layers,  of  the  firmest  consistency,  it  was  pierced 
by  a  gallery.  After  ten  days  labour,  the  central  chamber  was 
reached,  and  a  large  party  of  visitors  from  the  neighbourhood 
and  friends  from  Cambridge,  among  whom  were  Sedgwick, 
Lodge,  and  Whewell,  assembled  to  see  the  contents  removed. 
They  proved  to  be  Roman,  like  those  of  the  smaller  mounds, 
and  were  presumably  of  the  same  period.  On  this  occasion 
Whewell  wrote  An  Eclogue  >  in  which  Sedgwick  is  supposed 
to   maintain   that   the  tumuli  were  due  to  natural  causes. 

April  2 1  sty  1835. 

Mr.  Gage.     My  antiquarian  bosom  burns  to  explore 
These  relics  of  the  art  of  men  of  yore. 

Professor  Sedgwick.     Stay,  my  good  sir ;  control  your  zeal,  or  lose  it 
This  is  no  work  of  art;   'tis  a  deposit. 


OPENING  OF  THE  BARTLOW  BARROWS.  507 

Gage.     Geologist,  avaunt !  and  hide  your  head :  1838. 

Ne'er  was  deposit  thus  deposited.  ^t#  -, 

Sedgwick.     I  hold,  despite  your  antiquarian  pride, 
That  Bartlow's  tallest  hill  is  stratified. 

Gage.     Your  theory  of  strata,  sir,  is  rickety : 
'Tis  a  Romano-Dano-Celt  antiquity. 

Sedgwick.     Sir,  your  antiquity's  a  joke  to  me : 
'Twas  left  here  by  "the  last  catastrophe." 

Gage.     I  tell  you,  sir,  that  Queen  Boadicea 
Killed  fifty  thousand  men,  and  put  them  here. 

Sedgwick.     Sir,  throw  your  queens  and  battles  to  the  dogs: 
'Twas  when  the  Deluge  made  the  Gogmagogs. 

Lady  Braybrooke.     O  gentle  swains !   be  for  a  moment  mute, 
For  here  is  that  will  settle  your  dispute. 
The  spade  proceeds,  the  earth  is  outward  thrown, 
And  now  at  last  we  find  a  bit  of  bone. 

Gage.     Ha!  give  it  me.     It  is,  upon  my  word, 
A  British  heel  chopped  by  a  Roman  sword. 

Sedgwick.    No ;  with  your  idle  tales  no  longer  weary  'em : 
'Tis  a  new  fossil  beast — the  Bartlotherium. 

Dr.  X.     Now,  gentlemen,  since  bones  are  my  affair, 
I,  as  anatomist,  the  truth  declare : 
The  bone  is  a  heel-bone — observe  it  thus — 
The  beast,  the  Asinus  domes  tints. 
No  theorist  is  safe  from  trifling  ills : 
So  to  the  I,ord  and  Lady  of  these  hills 
Pay,  as  becomes  you,  thanks  and  reverence  due, 
And  then  proceed  to  theorize  anew. 

In  1838  the  explorations  were  resumed,  and  a  second 
barrow,  situated  next  to  the  largest  on  the  south,  was  investi- 
gated in  the  presence  of  the  same  party,  with  the  addition  of 
Professor  Henslow.  Mr  Romilly  has  preserved  an  account  of 
what  then  took  place : 

"19  April.  Sat  a  long  while  with  Lady  Cotton,  hearing  Lodge's 
account  of  the  opening  of  the  second  of  the  Bartlow  Barrows,  which 
took  place  last  Tuesday.  He,  Sedgwick,  Whewell,  and  Henslow  went 
from  Audley  End  with  a  large  party.  They  found  a  box  (some  four 
feet  long,  three  broad,  and  three  high)  in  which  were  sundry  Roman 
glass  bottles,  pateras,  bronze  jugs,  and  a  lamp;  also  some  small 
bones  (supposed  to  be  chicken  bones).  The  urn  containing  the 
dead  man's  bones  was  not  yet  found.  Sedgwick  exhibited  to  the 
mob  a  pot,  which  he  declared  had  belonged  to  Julius  Caesar. 
Whewell  wrote  a  copy  of  humorous  verses  on  the  occasion,  viz.  a 
complaint  of  the  dead  man  for  being  disturbed." 

Whewell's  verses  have  no  special  connexion  with  Sedg- 
wick's  life;   still,  as   they  are  amusing  in  themselves,  and 


5o8  OPENING  OF  THE  BARTLOIV  BARROWS. 


1838.     besides   were   written   to   commemorate    an    exploration 
^  53-    which  Sedgwick  took  an  active  part,  we  may  be  excused 
printing  them. 

April  ijth,  1838. 

Where  Bartlow's  barrows  of  wondrous  size 

Stand  side  by  side  to  puzzle  the  wise, 

In  a  certain  year,  on  a  certain  day, 

A  voice  was  heard  in  the  morning  grey: 

'Twas  a  grumbling,  growling,  muttering  din, 

Like  a  man  who  talks  a  box  within; 

And  it  seemed  to  come,  to  the  standers  by, 

From  the  center  of  one  of  the  tumuli. 

The  language,  as  well  as  the  ear  could  take  it, 

Was  Latin, — but  such  as  a  Briton  would  make  it 

And  this  is  a  close  translation,  penn'd 

For  Carolus  Neville  of  Audley  End : 

"  Brother  Icenius  Crispus  Caius ! 
Close  together  our  friends  did  lay  us, 
Seventeen  hundred  years  ago, 
And  our  two  cousins,  all  in  a  row: 
Tell  me  Caius,  how  do  you  lie? 
Do  you  find  any  change  as  the  years  go  by? 
Are  you  still  in  your  quarters  narrow, 
Snug  in  the  mould  of  the  tall  green  barrow, 
With  the  tears  of  your  friends  around  you  lying 
In  tiny  jars,  to  console  you  for  dying? 
I've  an  awkward  feel  that  the  outward  air 
Is  making  its  way  to  my  bones  so  bare; 
It  seems  as  if  the  sharp  north-west 
Were  somehow  getting  within  my  chest: 
And,  if  the  cold  very  much  increases, 
I  shall  sneeze  my  barrow  all  to  pieces. 
Are  you  cold  too  ?     I  feel,  by  Bacchus ! 
An  epidemic  disease  attack  us: 
And  I  really  fear,  as  learned  men  say, 
'  A  touch  of  a  tumular  influenza.' " 

And  another  voice,  from  another  hill, 
Replied  in  a  hoarser  grumble  still : 

"What!     O  Jupiter!  cousin  Verus, 
Haven't  you  heard  what  pass'd  so  near  us? 
Poor  Icenius !   don't  you  know 
They  carried  him  off  three  years  ago  ? 
Certain  robbers,  call'd  antiquaries, 
Came  and  disturbed  his  quiet  Lares; 
Bored  his  barrow,  and  stole,  alas! 
His  urns  and  bottles,  his  bronze  and  glass : 


OPENING  OF  THE  BARTLOW  BARROWS.  509 


His  worship's  chair,  that  he  used  to  sit  in  1838. 

At  the  quarter-sessions  for  Eastern  Britain ;  j£t.  53. 

His  handsome  funeral  proefericulum ; 

His  wife's  new-fashion'd  enamel  ridiculum1 ; 

Bagg'd  the  whole! — it  did  not  matter  a 

Pin  whether  vase,  or  lamp,  or  patera. 

Even  his  bones,  though  stript  of  their  clothing, 

They  took  away,  and  left  him  nothing. 

All  are  gone, — and  the  world  may  see  'em 

Making  a  show  in  the  Maynard  Museum. 

"And  now  I  fear  these  folks  intend 
To  rob  you  too,  my  respected  friend; 
And,  following  up  their  barbarous  custom, 
They've  dug  a  hole  to  your  very  bustum ; 
And  thafs  the  reason,  or  I'm  mistaken, 
You  feel  so  bored,  and  so  sadly  shaken. 

"  It  is  really  hard  that  one's  very  great  age 
Can't  save  one  from  prying  Fellows  like  Gage9; 
When  one  comes  to  ones  teens  of  centuries,  clearly 
One  should  not  be  treated  so  cavalierly. 

"But  since  it  is  so,  and  the  move's  begun, 
I  trust  we  shall  meet  when  all  is  done. 
So,  when  near  Caius  you're  set  on  the  shelf, 
Tell  him  I  hope  to  be  there  myself; 
And  say  the  thing  which  I  doubt  the  least  on 
Is  our  coming  together  again  at  Easton*? 


Before  starting  on  his  summer  excursion  Sedgwick  read  a 
very  elaborate  paper  to  the  Geological  Society  (23  May) 
entitled  A  Synopsis  of  the  English  Series  of  Stratified  Rocks 
inferior  to  the  Old  Red  Sandstone,  with  an  attempt  to  determine 
the  successive  natural  groups  and  formations.  In  this  communi- 
cation he  linked  together  most  of  his  previous  work,  in 
the  Lakes,  in  Wales,  in  Devonshire,  and  in  Cornwall,  and 
ended  with  a  tabular  arrangement  of  the  classes  and  sub- 
divisions into  which  the  rocks  might  be  conveniently  sorted. 

1  Resembling  the  modern  reticule* 

2  John  Gage,  Esq.  F.S.A. 

8  Easton  Lodge,  the  seat  of  Viscount  Maynard,  the  proprietor  of  the  Bartlow 
Hills.  [These  poems  are  printed  in  Sunday  Thoughts  and  other  Verses,  a 
collection  of  poems  on  various  subjects  printed  for  private  circulation  in  1847, 
according  to  Mr  Todhunter  ( William  Whewell,  p.  167).  The  successive  explora- 
tions of  the  Bartlow  tumuli  are  described  in  Archaologia,  xxv,  xxvi,  xxviii.] 


510  DINNER   TO  SIR  JOHN  HERSCHEL. 

1838.  The  occupations  of  the  summer  are  described  in  the  mr! 

^l-  53-    letters.     The  first  was  written  from  Mr  Conybeare's  house. 

To  Miss  Emma  Sedgwick. 

Axminster,  July  6th,  1838. 
My  dear  Emma, 

I  sent  a  short  note  to  your  father  a  day  or  tw 
since ;  but  had  no  time  to  tell  him  what  I  had  been  aboa 
for  the  last  month.  Nor  indeed  have  I  time  now ;  but  I  wC 
do  my  best  before  the  dinner-bell  rings  to  give  you  a  kind  d 
outline  of  my  movements. 

On  the  14th  of  last  month  I  left  Cambridge,  and  the  day 
following  attended  a  great  public  dinner  given  to  Sir  John 
Herschel  on  his  return  from  the  Cape.  He  has  been  spending 
five  years  there,  making  discoveries  in  the  southern  hemisphere, 
and  has  returned  laden  with  astronomical  treasures.  I  was 
called  on  to  make  a  speech,  a  rather  nervous  business  among 
so  many  distinguished  strangers1.  The  day  following  (16th) 
I  went  with  Professor  Henslow  to  St  Albans  to  visit  his 
father's  family.  It  was  a  long-promised  visit,  made  partly  for 
the  purpose  of  seeing  my  friends,  and  partly  for  the  purpose 
of  examining  the  interesting  antiquities  of  the  neighbourhood. 
On  the  outskirts  of  the  town  is  a  pretty  little  church  with  the 
vault  of  the  Verulam  family,  and  the  statue  of  Lord  Bacon. 
Tradition  says  that  it  is  an  admirable  likeness,  and  assuredly 
it  is  an  exquisite  work  of  art ;  indeed  it  was  this  monument 
(of  which  I  had  seen  a  drawing)  which  first  induced  me  to 
think  of  visiting  St  Albans.  I  also,  during  this  pilgrimage, 
visited,  as  you  may  well  suppose,  the  ruins  of  Lord  Bacon's 
house,  among  which  I  rambled  for  an  hour  "  chewing  the  cud 
of  sweet  and  bitter  fancy,"  as  Shakspeare  says  in  quaint 
phrase,  pregnant  however  with  meaning. 

After  this  charming  visit  I  returned  to  town  in  time  to 
attend  the  Queen's  levee  on  Wednesday  the  19th.     It  was  a 

1  Sedgwick  proposed  the  health  of  the  chairman,  H.  R.  H.  the  Duke  of  Sussex. 
There  is  a  full  account  of  the  dinner  in  The  Athentcum^  16  July,  1838. 


PRESENTATION  TO   THE  QUEEN  511 

splendid  show,  as  all  the  foreign  ambassadors,  who  had  come  1838. 
to  grace  the  Coronation,  were  present.  When  it  was  over,  ^t#  53- 
a  party  of  the  Royal  Society  were  introduced  to  the  Queen 
in  her  private  closet.  We  had  an  excellent  opportunity  of 
seeing  her,  and  hearing  her  speak,  as  she  received  the  Duke  of 
Sussex  without  any  of  the  formality  of  a  Court,  and  seemed 
only  to  remember  that  he  was  her  uncle.  After  presenting  the 
Statutes  of  the  Royal  Society,  and  obtaining  her  signature  to 
the  book,  he  offered  to  bend  his  knee  and  kiss  her  hand  (which 
is  the  regular  form  on  such  occasions) ;  but  she  immediately 
stopped  him,  put  her  arm  round  his  neck,  and  kissed  his 
cheek.  He  afterwards  presented  us  all  in  turn,  and  we  had  a 
most  gracious  reception.  So,  my  dear  Emma,  when  I  next 
give  you  a  kiss  I  dare  say  you  will  find  my  lips  all  the 
sweeter  for  having  touched  our  youthful  Queen's  hand. 

The  day  following  (the  21st)  I  went  to  Oxford  to  stand 
godfather  to  Dr  Buckland's  youngest  son.  He  was  christened 
Adam  Sedgwick ;  so  you  see  my  name  is  to  be  perpetuated, 
though  as  yet  I  have  no  child  of  my  own.  My  visit  to  my 
friends  at  Christ  Church  was  delightful ;  and  though  I  have 
now  seen  Oxford  so  very  often,  yet  I  think  I  can  say  that  I 
see  it  each  succeeding  time  with  renewed  and  increasing 
pleasure.  It  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  cities  in  the  world, 
and  so  full  of  historical  interest.  The  whole  party  one  day 
made  a  trip  of  about  six  or  seven  miles  down  the  Thames,  and 
then  had  an  alfresco  dinner  in  the  park  of  the  Archbishop  of 
York. 

On  Monday  the  26th  I  returned  to  London  by  the  line  of 
the  Birmingham  railroad;  and  such  streams  of  population 
were  floating  into  London  along  the  lines  of  all  the  great  roads, 
to  see  the  festivities  of  the  Coronation,  that  even  the  steam- 
engines  could  hardly  drag  them  along  the  tram-roads.  The 
train  by  which  I  reached  town  conveyed  numerous  carriages 
and  horses  besides  900  passengers,  and  was  dragged  along 
the  rails  by  three  engines  which  puffed  and  groaned  most 
piteously  under  their  extraordinary  load.     But  what  can  I 


512  THE  CORONATION. 

1838.     say  of  the  Coronation  week  ?     The  papers   are  all  full  of  it 
JEu  53-    and  the  accounts  you  have  been  able  to  read   are  infinitely 
more  in  detail  than  anything  I  can  tell   you.     All   London 
seemed  to  be  mad,  and  half  of  England  seemed  to  be  packed 
in  the  streets  of  London.     I  was  in  the  Abbey  during  the 
grand  and  solemn  ceremonial ;  and  in  what  place  think  you? 
In  the  Queen's  private  box.     I  know  Colonel  and  Lady  Isa- 
bella Wemyss  very  intimately,  and  one  of  them  is  Queens 
Equerry,  and  the  other  a  Lady  of  the  Bedchamber.    So  the  night 
before  the  Coronation  they  sent  me  a  Queens  private  ticket 
I  wish  you  and  your  sister  could  have  been  with  me.     It  was 
the  best  place  in  the  whole  Abbey,  just  on  one  side  of  and 
overlooking  the  two  thrones.     I  certainly  never  saw  before 
so  grand,  dazzling,  and  solemn  a  ceremonial,  and   I  trust  in 
Providence  that  I  shall  never  have  an  opportunity  of  seeing  it 
repeated.     The  little  Queen  performed  her  part  with  grace, 
dignity,  and  good  feeling ;  and  all  hearts  seemed  to  swell  with 
delight.     In  the  evening  there  was  in  the  parks  the  finest 
display  of  fireworks  I  ever  beheld.     You  may  judge  of  the 
scale   when    I   tell   you   that   850   large   rockets   were    shot 
vertically  into  the  air  at  one  single  explosion.     When  they 
began  to  burst  it  seemed  as  if  a  regiment  was  giving  a  platoon 
fire  a  quarter  of  a  mile  above  our  heads  ;  and  the  instant  after, 
the  whole  sky  was  lighted  up  with  red,  green,  and  blue  lights ; 
which  gradually  descended  in  the  form  of  a  gorgeous  canopy 
towards  the  surface  of  the  earth.     There  were  seven  other 
discharges  of  300  or  400  rockets  at  a  time,  besides  many  other 
gorgeous  displays  of  different  kinds. 

The  Sunday  after  the  Coronation  I  went  with  the  Sub- 
Dean  to  the  Chapel  Royal.  He  introduced  me  through  the 
vestry,  so  I  got  in  without  any  press.  Hundreds  were  waiting 
at  the  door  without  being  able  to  find  a  place.  The  chapel  is 
small  and  plain.  The  Bishop  of  London  preached  a  good 
plain  sermon ;  and  the  young  Queen,  the  Queen  Dowager, 
and  the  Duchess  of  Kent  sat  in  front  of  the  Royal  pew.  They 
were  all  dressed  as  plain  as  plain  could  be,  stopped  to  receive 


SUMMER  JOURNEY.  513 


the  Sacrament  together,  and  seemed  anxious  to  throw  away  1838. 
all  the  pomp  and  pride  of  greatness  as  much  as  they  could.  ^l-  53- 
I  was  now  anxious  to  get  away  from  London.  But  how  was 
this  to  be  effected  ?  Every  coach  and  means  of  conveyance 
were  engaged  for  several  days  to  come.  Last  Wednesday 
evening,  however,  I  succeeded  in  securing  a  place  in  one  of  the 
night  coaches,  and  in  course  of  the  following  day  found  my 
way  to  this  place,  where  I  am  halting  a  day  or  two  before  I 
fairly  set  to  work  upon  the  rocks.  Mr  Conybeare's  family, 
whom  you  have  often  heard  me  speak  of,  now  live  at  this 
place.  The  country  is  delightful.  Now  have  I  not  sent  you 
a  long  gossiping  letter,  my  dear  Emma  ?  I  seldom  have  time 
to  write  such.  Ever  my  best  love  to  my  brother  and  sister 
and  your  sister.  Believe  me,  with  prayers  for  your  health 
and  happiness,  your  most  affectionate  uncle 

A.  Sedgwick. 

Alnwick  Castle,  September  tfh,  1838. 
My  dear  Isabella, 

I  am  beginning  a  letter  which  I  fear  I  shall  not 
have  time  to  finish,  as  I  expect  to  be  called  off  by  a  party 
going  to  start  for  Chillingham  Castle ;  but  I  will  do  my  best 
during  the  few  minutes  they  allow  me. 

Since  the  letter  I  sent  to  Emma  I  have  been  in  almost 
continual  movement.  First  I  went  round  the  greater  part  of 
the  south  coast  of  Devonshire.  It  is  a  most  smiling  and 
lovely  country,  and  full  of  interest  connected  with  my  own 
favourite  pursuits.  I  then  cut  through  the  eastern  extremity  of 
Cornwall  and  passed  along  the  north  coast  of  Devon.  The 
cliffs  along  that  part  of  the  coast  are  perhaps  the  finest  in  all 
England,  reaching  in  some  places  the  height  of  eight  or  nine 
hundred  feet,  and  they  are  here  and  there  ornamented  with 
foliage  among  all  the  broken  ledges,  which  gives  great  richness 
and  picturesque  effect  to  the  rugged  elevations.  From  North 
Devon  I  tracked  my  way  through  some  exquisite  country  in 
Somersetshire,  and  from  thence  went  up  the  Bristol  Channel 

S-  I.  33 


514  BRITISH  ASSOCIATION  AT  NEWCASTLE. 

1838.  to  Clifton,  where  I  met  my  friend  Professor  Whewell 
*<•  S3-  spent  the  Sunday  there  with  a  Cambridge  friend,  and  the 
through  a  most  delicious  country  to  Gloucester,  Cheltc 
and  Tewkesbury.  The  last  place  was  very  famous  durf 
wars  of  York  and  Lancaster  ;  and  you  may  perhaps  rem1 
that  the  battle  which  finally  decided  the  fortunes  of  ( 
Margaret  and  her  son  was  fought  close  to  the  town.  A 
some  exquisite  monuments  of  the  Middle  Age,  is  a 
marble  slab  to  the  memory  of  the  unfortunate  young  I 
who  was  murdered  soon  after  the  battle ;  and  a  shrii 
exquisite  tabernacle-work  to  the  memory  of  Clarence,  wfa 
buried  there  after  his  murder  by  Richard  the  Third.  I 
house,  and  every  field,  seems  to  savour  of  the  poeti 
Shakspeare. 

Tuesday  Evening.  Let  me  see.  I  left  off  at  Tewkes 
and  Shakspeare,  but  let  them  pass,  and  in  imagination  ti 
with  me  first  to  Birmingham,  and  thence  by  the  railroa 
Liverpool,  where  I  arrived  almost  in  the  dark,  and  whil< 
rain  was  descending  in  torrents.  But  for  these  unfortu 
circumstances  I  should  have  gone  across  to  Woodside1  or 
chance  of  seeing  you,  though  I  had  not  heard  of  your  re 
from  Dent.  Next  day  at  7  a.m.  I  started  by  coach 
Preston,  and  thence  by  the  canal-boat  to  Burton  in  Kei 
from  which  I  posted  to  Dent.  They  were  all  excellently 
and  very  happy  to  see  me.  After  remaining  in  Dent  abo 
week,  I  went  over  Stainmoor  to  Newcastle,  where  I  air 
last  Saturday  fortnight,  to  attend  the  meeting  of  the  Br 
Association.  Our  reception  was  truly  noble,  and  our  num 
have  increased  enormously,  so  that  I  fear  before  long  no  p 
will  be  able  to  hold  us.  The  Duke  of  Northumberland 
President,  and  went  through  all  the  formal  business  with  g 
dignity  and  good  temper,  keeping  a  rather  ungovernable  b 
in  excellent  order,  without  seeming  to  press  hard  on  any 
I  had  no  office  this  year;  at  which  I  greatly  rejoiced 
it  left  me  free  to  amuse  myself.     I  found  a  nice  quiet  !od; 

'   Sedgwick's  nieces  were  at  school  at  Woodside. 


SPEECH  AT  TYNEMOUTH.  515 

in  a  good  central  situation,  and  my  landlady  procured  cold  1838. 
fowls,  tongue,  and  two  or  three  bottles  of  white  wine  for  me ;  &tm  53 
so  I  became  a  snug  housekeeper,  and  had  several  parties 
to  eat  luncheon  with  me  during  the  intervals  of  the  week's 
turmoil.  On  the  Friday  of  the  Association  week  I  went 
to  the  mouth  of  the  Tyne  with  a  geological  class  of  several 
hundreds,  and  nearly  all  the  population  of  Tynemouth  turned 
out  to  join  us.  You  would  have  been  amused  at  the  pictu- 
resque group,  clustering  among  the  rugged  precipices  of  a 
noble  sea-cliff,  or  congregating  on  the  sand  below,  while  I 
addressed  them  at  the  utmost  stretch  of  my  voice  six  different 
times,  from  some  projecting  ledge  that  served  as  a  natural 
pulpit.  Every  one  was  in  high  spirits,  the  day  was  glorious, 
and  we  all  returned  up  the  river  in  steam-boats,  so  as  to  join 
in  the  work  of  the  evening  meetings.  I  must  conclude — the 
bell  has  rung  five  minutes  since. 

Ever,  my  dear  Isabella, 

most  affectionately  yours 

A.  Sedgwick. 

Sedgwick  would  have  us  believe  that  he  played  a  very 
subordinate  part  at  Newcastle;  but  Sir  John  Herschel,  in  a 
letter  to  his  wife,  gives  a  vivid  impression  of  his  eloquence : 

Newcastle,  August  7,  1838. 

"  All  the  show  here  is  over.  It  has  been  by  far  the  most  brilliant 
meeting  of  the  Association,  and  in  all  the  public  proceedings  perfect 
good  taste  has  reigned.  Sedgwick  wound  up  on  Saturday  with  a 
burst  of  eloquence  (something  in  the  way  of  a  sermon)  of  astonishing 
beauty  and  grandeur. 

"  But  this,  I  am  told,  was  nothing  compared  to  an  out-of-door 
speech,  address,  or  lecture,  which  he  read  on  the  sea-beach  at 
Tynemouth  to  some  3000  or  4000  colliers  and  rabble  (mixed  with 
a  sprinkling  of  their  employers),  which  has  produced  a  sensation 
such  as  is  not  likely  to  die  away  for  years.  I  am  told  by  ear  and  eye 
witnesses  that  it  is  impossible  to  conceive  the  sublimity  of  the  scene, 
as  he  stood  on  the  point  of  a  rock  a  little  raised,  to  which  he  rushed 
as  if  by  a  sudden  impulse,  and  led  them  on  from  the  scene  around 
them  to  the  wonders  of  the  coal-country  below  them,  thence  to  the 
economy  of  a  coal-field,  then  to  their  relations  to  the  coal-owners  and 

33—2 


516  ALNWICK  CASTLE. 


1838.     capitalists,  then  to  the  great  principles  of  morality  and  happiness,  and 
,Et.  53.    last  to  their  relation  to  God,  and  their  own  future  prospects.... 

"  And,  by  the  bye,  though  one  should  not  tell  one's  own  good 
things,  here  is  one  so  good,  that  you  must  have  it !  Sedgwick,  in  his 
talk  on  Saturday,  said  that  the  ladies  present  were  so  numerous  and 
so  beautiful  that  it  seemed  to  him  as  if  every  sunbeam  that  had 
entered  the  windows  in  the  roof  (it  is  all  windows)  had  deposited 
there  an  angel.  Babbage,  who  was  sitting  by  me,  began  counting 
the  panes,  but,  his  calculation  failing,  he  asked  me  for  an  estimate  of 
the  numbers.  *  I  can't  guess '  was  my  answer,  *  but,  if  what  Sedgwick 
says  be  true,  you  will  admit  that  for  every  little  pane  there  is  a  great 
pleasure ! ' " 

The  next  three  letters  carry  us  to  the  end  of  1838 : 

To  Rev.  John  Sedgwick. 

St  Bees,  September  14M,  1838. 

I  remained  at  Newcastle  over  Monday  the  26th  to  attend 
the  anniversary  dinner  of  the  Natural  History  Society,  of 
which  I  am  a  member,  and  the  day  following  went  to  Belsay 
Castle  to  meet  a  son  of  Sir  Charles  Monk,  who  was  an  old 
pupil  of  mine ;  after  remaining  two  nights  I  moved  on  to 
Sir  John  Trevelyan's,  and  thence  to  Alnwick  Castle,  where  I 
remained  till  Thursday  the  6th  of  this  month.  Nothing  could 
be  more  kind  than  the  reception  I  had  from  the  Duke  and 
Duchess,  who  live  in  their  magnificent  old  feudal  fortress 
in  almost  regal  state.  It  stands  on  nearly  six  acres,  in 
the  centre  of  which  rise  the  clustering  towers  of  the  great 
keep,  in  which  are  the  family  apartments.  They  form  two 
circular  suites,  arranged  one  above  the  other,  round  the  central 
court;  and  you  approach  them  through  three  great  gothic 
portals,  each  communicating  with  a  separate  court ;  and  you 
emerge  into  the  streets  by  a  vast  gateway,  imposing  from 
its  mass,  and  in  ancient  days  most  formidable  for  its 
defences. 

While  I  was  at  Alnwick  Whewell  joined  the  party,  and  we 
made  a  day's  expedition  to  Lord  Tankerville's  Castle,  mainly 
for  the  purpose  of  seeing  his  celebrated  wild  bulls — the 
legitimate  descendants  of  the  old  inhabitants  of  the  Cale- 
donian forests.     Like  all  wild  animals,  they  are  all  exactly 


THE  CH1LLINGHAM  HERD.  517 

alike ;  they  are  white  as  snow,  with  black  hoofs,  and  black  1838. 
eye-lashes,  and  horns  tipped  with  black.  We  approached  RXm  53* 
very  near  them  by  the  shelter  of  a  wood  which  was  to 
leeward ;  had  it  been  to  windward  they  would  have  smelt  us, 
and  been  off  long  before  we  came  in  sight.  On  leaving 
Alnwick  I  returned  by  coach  to  Newcastle,  and  from  thence 
found  my  way  to  the  house  of  my  old  pupil  Mr  Wharton,  who 
lives  close  to  Durham.  The  weather  was  so  dreadful  that  for 
two  days  I  could  not  stir  from  his  door.  Sunday  was  fine, 
and  on  Monday  and  Tuesday  we  effected  our  purpose  of 
visiting  the  new  harbours  of  Hartlepool  and  Seaham,  and  of 
examining  some  coal-works  in  the  southern  part  of  the 
county  of  Durham.  On  Wednesday  I  left  Wharton's,  and 
yesterday  worked  my  way  to  Whitehaven,  passing  from 
Newcastle  to  Carlisle  by  the  railroad  in  two  hours  and  fifty 
minutes.  We  came  the  first  four  miles  in  six  minutes  exactly 
by  my  watch.  The  country  was  lovely,  especially  along  the 
Tyne ;  but  the  objects  seemed  literally  to  fly  past  us.  Ainger 
is  not  looking  well,  though  better  than  he  was  last  year. 

To  R.  L  Murchison,  Esq. 

Dent,  October  nth,  1838. 

I  spent  several  days  delightfully  with  my  friend  Wharton, 
in  rambling  along  the  coast  of  Durham,  and  examining  the 
enormous  excavations  which  have  been  made  through  the 
magnesian  limestone  since  my  former  visits  to  the  county. 
Nothing  can  be  more  beautiful  than  the  sections  made  by 
the  railroads,  laying  bare  the  Lower  New  Red  and  the  fish- 
beds,  which  in  some  places  are  mineralogically  identical  with 
the  copper-slate  of  Germany.  The  want  of  conformity  be- 
tween the  coal-measures  and  the  overlying  series  is  also 
most  strikingly  exhibited  in  several  of  the  new  sections. 

From  Durham  I  went  to  Whitehaven,  where  I  spent  ten 
days  in  collecting  materials  for  the  Whitehaven  paper.  They 
accumulate  so  much  upon  me  that  I  am  afraid  of  being 
overlaid  by  them.... 


518  COMPLETION  OF  COWGILL  CHAPEL. 

1838.  From  Whitehaven   I  went  by  Lowther  Castle  (where  I 

&*•  53-    halted  two  days)  to  Kendal,  and  there  I  collected  some  mag- 
nificent mountain-limestone  fossils. 

To  Rev,  W.  Ainger. 

Trin.  Coll.  October  27th,  1838. 
My  dear  Ainger, 

I  only  reached  this  place  on  Wednesday  evening. 
The  day  following  I  met  George1  in  the  street.  This  morning 
I  have  been  calling  on  him,  and  giving  him  good  advice — to 
read  hard  and  walk  hard.  There  is  no  fear  about  the  former ; 
and  I  hope,  for  health's  sake,  he  will  follow  the  latter.  If 
there  were  any  meaning  in  the  proverb  about  cutting  the  coat 
to  the  cloth  (a  proverb  by  the  way  quite  a  propos  to  a  tailor's 
box)  I  ought  to  send  you  a  very  long  epistle,  but,  to  tell  the 
truth,  I  don't  use  scribbling-paper  because  of  my  fulness  of 
matter,  but  because  I  have  no  other  just  now  in  my  room. 
George  tells  me  he  is  going  to  send  off  a  box  to  St  Bees  with 
furniture  for  your  outer  man.  So  I  mean  to  instruct  him  to 
stuff  this  sheet  into  the  pocket  of  your  new  pair  of  breeches ; 
and  scribbling-paper  will  do  quite  well  enough  for  such  a 
roosting-place. 

We  parted,  if  I  remember  right,  at  Shap  Wells1;  and  soon 
after  I  started  with  a  batch  of  the  Kendal  magistrates.  The 
following  morning  was  spent  in  packing  fossils.  They  ought 
to  be  precious  things,  as  the  carriage  of  the  box  comes  to 
more  than  two  pounds  sterling.  I  then  went  on  to  Dent  and 
found  them  all  quite  well.  Jane  talks  of  nothing  but  Cowgill 
Chapel.  I  think  she  has  a  right  to  be  proud  of  it  It  is  a 
very  pretty,  correct,  building,  and  admirably  fitted  for  its 
purpose.  The  consecration  is  to  take  place  on  Tuesday  next, 
a  day  unfortunately  too  late  to  allow  of  my  being  present.     I 

1  George  Henry  Ainger,  of  St  John's  College,  B.A.  1841,  afterwards  Fellow. 

2  Dr  Ainger  had  accompanied  Sedgwick  to  Lowther  Castle,  on  leaving  which 
they  went  together  to  Shap  Wells  "  to  take  another  look  at  the  granite  hills." 
To  Rev.  John  Sedgwick,  26  September,  1838. 


EXPLORATION  OF  INGLEBOROUGH.  519 


spent  a  day  or  two  with  Mr  Farrer  of  Clapham,  who  has  been      1838. 
making  great  discoveries  under  Ingleborough.     He  has  blown    -**•  53 
away  a  great  deal  of  rock  with  gunpowder,  and  so  formed 
communications  between  a  succession  of  very  beautiful  caverns 
richly  adorned  with  stalactites,  some  of  which  reach  the  ground, 
and  form  beautiful  white  pillars.     We  endeavoured  (at  the 
distance  of  about  three-quarters  of  a  mile  from  the  entrance  of 
the  cave),  to  make  some  new  advances.     But  to  effect  this  we 
were  forced  to  use  our  abdominal  muscles  as  sledges,  and  our 
mouths  as  candlesticks.     On,  however,  we  went  (serpent-wise, 
though  not  perhaps  wise  as  serpents),  and  wriggled  our  way 
about  two  hundred  yards,  when  the  roof  became  more  lofty, 
and  the  water  more  deep.     We  were  provided  with  a  cork 
jacket,  which  one  of  the  party  mounted,  anxious,  like  Hotspur, 
"  to  pluck  up  drowned  honour  by  the  locks ; "  and  so  equipt 
(and  over  and  above  provided  with  a  long  cord  fixed  to  said 
jacket)  ventured  on  a  voyage  where  man  had  never  before 
floated.     Meanwhile  we  sat  on  a  low  ledge  of  rock,  each  of  us 
in  the  very  position  of  Law's  man  when  he  was  stitching,  on 
his  board,  the  back-seam  of  your  new  breeches ;  and  we  solaced 
ourselves  with  a  cigar,  a  luxury  our  floating  friend  could  not 
enjoy  while  he  held  a  large  candle  in  his  mouth  to  light  his 
way  over  the  waters.     After  running  out  100  yards  of  rope 
the  chamber  closed,  and  the  water  seemed  to  escape  through 
many  narrow  sink-holes.     So  the  voyager  came  back,  and  we 
all  returned  as  we  could,  with  our  clothes  almost  peeled  off 
our  bodies,  and  our  knees  and  elbows  the  colour  of  damaged 
indigo.     I  halted  a  day  or  two  on  my  way  back  with  our  old 
school-fellow  Welsh.     He  gave  a  sort  of  al  fresco  party  one 
day  in  Ingleton  fells  ;  which  I  enjoyed  much,  for  its  own  sake, 
and  from  the  remembrance  of  past  days  that  it  stirred  up. 
After  halting  a  few  days  more  at  Dent  I  was  at  length  forced 
to  run  away  by  my  Cambridge  engagements ;  but  I  halted  a 
day  at  Liverpool,  partly  to  see  my  nieces,  and  partly  to  see 
the  footsteps  of  a  preadamite  beast  that  used  to  walk  over 
the  sands  of  Cheshire  between  high  and  low  water  mark.     The 


520  THE  SILURIAN  SYSTEM. 

1838.  rock  with  the  impressions  is  as  old  as  St  Bees  Head.  By  the 
&im  53-  way,  next  year  the  lasses  will  have  left  school,  and  I  will  try 
to  give  them  a  run  through  the  Lakes,  and  bring  them  as  fa- 
as  St  Bees.  Will  you  take  us  in  ?  If  so,  Done !  And  the 
word  '  Done '  is  d  propos ;  for  my  sheet  is  done,  and  I  hav? 
done  wonders,  considering  that  this  is  the  28th  letter  I  have 
scrawled  since  my  return.  Thank  God  I  have  now  broker 
the  neck  of  my  arrears  in  the  way  of  letter-writing.  It  always 
takes  me  a  good  part  of  a  week  to  work  myself  right  after  my 
return,  as  no  one  knows  my  address  while  I  am  away  for  the 
summer. 

Yours  ever, 
A.  Sedgwick. 

Sedgwick's  enforced  absence  from  the  consecration  of 
Cowgill  Chapel  gave  him  much  annoyance.  "  Is  it  not  a 
pity,"  he  wrote  to  his  brother,  "  after  being  so  often  dragged 
to  the  North  by  odious  money  transactions,  that  I  cannot 
now  attend  when  it  would  gladden  my  heart  to  be  with  you  ? 
But  it  would  not  do  for  me  to  be  away  from  College  at  this 
time  of  year1."  It  was  some  consolation  to  him  to  learn  that 
the  ceremony  was  favoured  by  fine  weather ;  that  the  congre- 
gation was  large  and  sympathetic ;  and  that  his  own  absence 
had  been  generally  regretted.  He  testified  his  unabated 
interest  in  the  good  work  by  a  further  donation,  by  which 
the  whole  amount  of  his  subscriptions  was  raised  to  two 
hundred  guineas. 

Murchison's  great  work  The  Silurian  System,  on  which 
he  had  been  so  long  engaged,  was  published  in  the  first  days 
of  1839.  It  was  dedicated  in  the  most  cordial  terms  to 
Sedgwick,  and  one  of  the  first  copies  was  sent  to  him  at 
Norwich.  The  gift  was  promptly  followed  by  a  request  that 
he  would  write  a  "  little  article,  if  only  half  a  column,"  in  The 
Times,  to  which  he  returned  the  following  decisive  answer : 

1  To  Rev.  John  Sedgwick,  34  October,  1838. 


THE  SILURIAN  SYSTEM.  521 

8  a.m.  January  10,  1839.  l839- 

My  dear  Murchison,  ^t#  $* 

I  am  very  deeply  in  your  debt.  First,  your 
magnificent  present,  for  which  I  know  not  how  to  thank  you. 
Then  two  letters  to  answer,  and  no  time  to  answer  them  at 
any  length.  Accept,  however,  my  best  thanks,  and  warmest 
congratulations  on  the  new  birth,  full-grown  and  strong,  as 
it  ought  to  be,  after  so  long  a  period  of  gestation.  And  now 
I  hope  you  are  doing  as  well  as  can  be  expected  ! 

In  regard  to  your  second  letter  and  its  request,  I  cannot 
comply  with  it,  for  two  or  three  reasons.  First,  I  have  not 
time  to  write  to  newspaper  editors  any  letters  fit  to  be  read. 
Secondly,  I  have  not  time  (while  here)  even  to  skim  the  book, 
and  yet  I  ought  to  do  that  if  I  dare  to  sit  in  the  reviewer's 
chair.  Thirdly,  I  will  not  condescend  to  write  in  a  paper 
which  I  think  calumnious  and  dishonest,  though  very  clever. 
Fourthly,  you  have  the  assistance  of  Mantell,  who  having  a 
little  followed  the  trade  of  puffing  can  blow  a  better  blast  than 
myself.  Fifthly,  because  I  think  your  work  of  such  solid 
merit  as  not  to  need  any  artifice  of  publication ;  and  in  my 
own  case  I  had  much  rather  the  means  you  point  out  were  not 
used  at  all.  Reasons  !  why,  I  have  sent  you  reasons  enough 
to  sink  a  three-decker  ! 

I  am  very  busy  as  usual,  and  in  addition  to  a  great  many 
gastronomic  labours,  I  have  day  after  day  been  sitting  on 
committees  of  the  Norwich  Museum.  After  morning  service  I 
have  one  to  attend  to-day,  so  I  now  am  writing  by  candle- 
light. Pray  how  are  you  all  going  on  in  London  ?  Have 
you  heard  anything  about  Jukes,  who  is  willing  to  go  to 
Newfoundland  as  surveyor  ?  I  think  he  will  do  the  work  very 
well,  and  that  we  are  fortunate  in  having  so  good  an  offer. 
Pray  give  him  a  shove  if  you  can.  I  have  written  about  him 
to  Lonsdale  and  Darwin.  Yours  always, 

A.  Sedgwick. 

But,  though    Sedgwick   declined  to  take  up  his  pen  in 


522       JOINT  PAPER  ON  DEVON  AND  CORNWALL. 

1839.  commendation  of  Tfu  Silurian  System,  his  admiration  of  it 
Mx-  54-  was  cordial  and  sincere.  Even  at  the  close  of  his  life,  after  long 
estrangement  from  the  author,  he  could  say  that  this  year 
"  formed  an  epoch  in  the  history  of  European  Geology ; "  and 
that  whatever  assistance  might  have  been  rendered  by  others, 
"the  chief  honour  will  ever  be  given  to  the  author  of  the 
System,  who  brought  the  materials  together  and  arranged 
them  in  that  manner  in  which  they  are  seen  in  his  splendid 
work.  Under  his  hands  the  older  Palaeozoic  Geology  had 
assumed  a  new  and  a  nobler  type1/' 

During  the  winter  and  early  spring  Sedgwick  and  Murchi- 
son  were  busy  with  a  second  joint  paper  on  Devonshire  and 
Cornwall.  On  this  occasion,  though  Sedgwick's  working-days 
were  clouded,  as  usual,  by  business,  lectures,  and  illness,  the 
work  proceeded  more  smoothly  than  might  have  been 
expected,  and  just  before  the  date  appointed  for  the  reading 
of  the  paper  (24  April)  the  weather  cleared  up,  if  we  may 
use  such  a  metaphor,  and  he  could  write :  "  Yesterday 
I  had  my  field-lecture,  and  a  scamper  (often  at  full  gallop)  of 
thirty  five  miles  did  me  a  great  deal  of  good,  so  that  my  head 
is  clearer,  and  my  gouty  symptoms  are,  for  the  nonce,  almost 
gone9."  The  paper,  when  read,  "excited  some  pugnacity, 
and  we  had  a  debate  upon  it  that  lasted  nearly  to  midnight8 ; " 
but  the  result  was  evidently  satisfactory,  for  Sedgwick  good- 
humouredly  passes  on  in  the  next  sentence  to  lighter  topics. 
The  passage  is  interesting  as  shewing  the  affection  he  had 
already  begun  to  feel  for  the  Stanley  family : 

"On  Friday  morning  I  called  at  Brook  Street  on  the 
Bishop.  All  well.  K.  T.  [Miss  Catherine  Stanley]  all 
glorious  to  behold,  with  a  gorgeous  plume,  just  going  to  be 
presented  at  the  Drawing-room.  So  she  is  now  fairly  out — 
no  longer  a  mere  chrysalis,  a  creature  without  sensibility, 
having  neither  organs  of  nutrition,  nor  wings,  nor  legs.    But, 

1  Preface  to  Salter's  Catalogue%  etc.  p.  xxii. 

2  To  R.  I.  Murchison,  10  April,  1839. 

1  To  Canon  Wodehouse,  30  April,  1839. 


THE  DEVONIAN  SYSTEM.  523 


on  the  contrary,  she  has  glorious  antennae  waving  over  her  1839. 
head,  organs  of  sense  to  discourse  sweet  music,  arms  for  offence  ^l-  54- 
and  defence,  and  wings  glittering  like  sunbeams  on  a  May 
morning.  I  hope  in  this  transformation  she  has  not  acquired 
a  sting,  as  some  winged  creatures  have.  Be  this  as  it  may,  I 
shall  hereafter  treat  her  with  great  deference,  now  that  she 
is  transformed,  by  the  magical  touch  of  the  royal  hand,  into 
a  young  lady." 

We  have  in  the  next  place  to  speak  of  Sedgwick's  joint 
labours  with  Murchison  on  the  Continent,  which  occupied  four 
months  of  the  summer  and  autumn  of  1839.  Their  object  in 
undertaking  this  tour  can  fortunately  be  stated  in  a  passage 
from  their  subsequent  paper,  read  to  the  Geological  Society 
in  May,  1840 — a  passage  which,  from  internal  evidence,  we 
feel  inclined  to  ascribe  to  Sedgwick : 

"When  we  entered,  during  the  summer  of  1836,  upon  an  exami- 
nation of  the  structure  of  North  Devon,  our  sole  aim  was  to  determine 
the  position  and  relations  of  the  culmiferous  strata,  about  which 
there  had  been  much  controversy.  Before  our  task  could  be  com- 
pleted, we  were  led  to  an  examination  of  the  lower  groups  of  strata 
both  in  North  and  South  Devon,  and  to  follow  them  in  their  prolon- 
gation into  Cornwall ;  and  we  at  length  arrived  at  the  conclusion 
that  nearly  all  the  older  stratified  rocks  of  both  counties  belonged  to 
one  epoch,  and  must  be  included  under  one  common  designation. 
We  proposed  the  name  of  Devonian  System  for  this  great  series  of 
deposits,  and  we  placed  it  in  a  position  intermediate  between  the 
Lower  Carboniferous  and  the  Upper  Silurian  groups ;  and  therefore  on 
the  exact  parallel  of  the  Old  Red  Sandstone,  of  which  it  was  assumed 
to  be  the  equivalent  under  a  new  mineral  type.  We  need  not 
inform  the  Society  that  this  classification  was  strenuously  opposed  at 
the  time  it  was  first  brought  forward,  and  that  it  has  been  combated 
in  some  public  journals  since  the  appearance  of  our  abstracts;  nor  do 
we  now  deny  that  it  was  encumbered  with  great  difficulties.  To 
believe  that  a  limestone  (like  that  of  South  Devon)  overlaid  by  many 
thousand  feet  of  slate  rocks  almost  devoid  of  fossils,  was  of  the  date 
of  the  Old  Red  Sandstone,  and  that  the  greater  part  of  the  slates  of 
Cornwall  (heretofore  regarded,  from  their  crystalline  structure,  as 
primary  formations  of  great  antiquity),  also  belonged  to  the  same 
epoch,  required  no  common  confidence  in  the  weight  of  evidence 
offered  by  groups  of  fossils.  With  good  hopes,  but  not  without 
considerable  anxiety,  we  therefore  resolved  to  examine  some  of  the 
continental  'localities  which  seemed  likely  to  throw  light  on  our 
proposed   classification ;   conscious   that   it  could  never  meet  with 


524  CONTINENTAL  PLANS. 

1839.     general  acceptance  unless  confirmed  by  some  analogous  development 
Mt.  54.    °f the  upper  transition  rocks  of  France  and  Germany l." 

It  was  at  first  intended  to  begin  with  Brittany,  **'  which 
from  its  geographical  position,  might  be  expected  to  offer 
some  analogies  of  structure  with  Devonshire  and  Cornwall/ 
In  consequence  we  find  Sedgwick  corresponding  with  M.  Elie 
de  Beaumont  and  other  French  geologists,  with  the  result 
that  Brittany  was  presently  abandoned,  on  learning  from 
them  "  that  the  connexion  between  the  carboniferous  system 
and  the  inferior  strata  was  obscurely  exhibited  in  that  region, 
and  that  the  evidence  offered  by  the  fossils  of  the  lower  groups 
was  meagre  and  unsatisfactory*." 

Murchison,  meanwhile,  was  suggesting  more  distant  fields 
of  exploration  ;  and  urged  Sedgwick  "to  shake  off  Norwichian 
trammels,"  and  start  with  him  for  Norway  about  the  middle  of 
May.  To  this  tempting  proposal  Sedgwick  replied :  "  I 
should  delight  in  a  tour  in  Norway  and  the  country  round  the 
Baltic.  My  only  fear  is,  that  my  engagements  in  our  Chapter 
(and  remember  I  am  junior)  may  make  the  tour  impossible  at 
the  early  time  you  fix  on.  The  tour  you  mention,  and 
another  tour  among  the  old  rocks  of  France  and  the  corre- 
sponding rocks  of  the  South  of  Ireland,  I  am  very  anxious  to 
effect ;  and  then,  as  far  as  hard-working  geology  is  concerned, 
I  will  shut  up  shop8."  Finally,  they  tell  us,  "  We  resolved  to 
begin  with  the  transition  rocks  of  the  Rhenish  provinces, 
knowing  that  on  both  banks  of  the  Rhine  we  should  be 
conducted  through  a  true  carboniferous  series,  based  on 
mountain  limestone,  into  still  lower  groups  of  strata." 

Murchison,  eager  to  begin  his  holiday  as  soon  as  possible, 
started  alone  at  about  the  time  originally  suggested.  His 
colleague  departed,  Sedgwick  set  to  work  to  prepare  their 
joint  papers  on  Devonshire  for  the  press.  This  labour 
brought   on   "gout,   mental   prostration,  and   entire   loss   of 

1  Transactions  of  the  Geological  Society,  Second  Series,  vi.  333. 

2  Ibid.  p.  333. 

1  To  R.  I.  Murchison,  4  February,  1839. 


WITH  MURCHISON  IN  GERMANY,  525 

intellect,"  a  condition  which  Chapter  business  did  not  im-  1839. 
prove.  At  last,  however,  in  the  middle  of  June,  he  too  'Et-  54- 
effected  his  escape,  and  joined  Murchison  at  Bonn.  They  set 
to  work  at  once,  ailments  vanished,  and  before  a  fortnight  was 
over  Murchison  could  report  that  "  Sedgwick  is  as  well  as 
ever  I  knew  him — eats,  drinks,  and  digests  like  a  Hercules, 
and  is  in  great  force1."  If  he  wrote  letters  during  his  long 
exploration  of  Rhineland  and  its  neighbourhood,  they  have 
not  been  preserved ;  and  for  the  route  followed  we  must 
content  ourselves  with  a  brief  summary  sent  to  Ainger  after 
his  return. 

"We  threaded  our  way  through  all  the  country  on  the 
right  bank  of  the  Rhine  between  Westphalia  and  the  Taunus 
inclusive,  then  we  crossed  the  plains  of  Hessia  to  the  Hartz, 
where  we  disported  ourselves  as  in  duty  bound  among 
goblins  and  witches,  with  whom  you  know  all  that  region  is 
peopled.  Afterwards  we  crossed  through  the  dominions  of 
the  Prince  of  Sondershausen  (did  you  ever  hear  of  him 
before  ?),  and  so  to  Gotha  and  Weimar.  From  the  latter 
place  we.  plunged  into  the  vast  forests  of  Thuringia,  and  so 
through  Coburg  (the  breeding-ground  of  kings)  and  on  by 
the  Franken  Wald  to  Hof  and  Bayreuth,  the  old  capital  of  the 
Margraves  of  Anspach.  From  the  last-named  place  we 
doubled  back  to  the  Rhine  by  the  great  road  of  Bamberg  and 
Wartzburg,  halting  a  day  or  two  at  Frankfort  What  I  have 
written,  though  you  trace  my  route  on  a  map,  will  give  you  a 
very  inadequate  notion  of  the  extent  of  our  tour,  as  all  our 
way  was  made  in  traverses  and  zigzags  after  the  manner  of 
geologists.  After  we  reached  the  Rhine  again,  we  performed 
similar  evolutions  on  its  left  bank,  working  all  the  country 
between  the  Hundsruck  and  the  southern  portion  of  Belgium  ; 
and,  while  my  companion  was  away  for  a  month  in  England1, 
I  extended  my  traverses  to  the  very  limit  of  the  forest  of  the 

1  Geikie's  Life  of  Murchison^  i.  276. 

8  Murchison  went  to  England  to  attend  the  Meeting  of  the  British  Association 
at  Birmingham. 


526  DEVONIAN  DIFFICULTIES. 


1839.  Ardennes,  and  threaded  my  way,  partly  on  foot,  through  the 
^*-  54-  gorges  of  the  Meuse  between  Mezi&res  and  Namur.  When 
Murchison  rejoined  me  we  had  a  second  run  through  West- 
phalia, and  finally  crossed  from  Dusseldorf  to  Aix-la-Chapelle, 
and  so  to  Li&ge.  We  then  went  on  a  visit  of  three  days  to 
Baron  d'Halloy,  a  geological  friend  in  Belgium.  From  his 
house  we  found  our  way  to  Brussels,  where  we  sold  our 
carriage.  A  railroad  gave  us  a  ready  run  to  Antwerp,  and  a 
steamer  conveyed  us  to  Tower  Stairs  about  the  end  of 
OctoberV, 

These  laborious  investigations  did  not  at  first  lead  to  any 
clear  result.  In  fact  Sedgwick  felt  inclined  to  doubt  whether 
the  rocks  he  had  been  studying  on  the  Continent  could  be 
classed  as  Devonian  at  all.  "  To-day,"  he  wrote,  soon  after  his 
return  to  Cambridge,  "  I  began  my  lectures ;  and  as  I  had 
last  year  stated  my  views  of  the  Devonian  case  to  my  pupils, 
and  told  them  that  I  was  going  to  join  you  in  Brittany  (for  so 
I  thought),  to  put  our  new  views  to  the  test,  I  felt  obliged  to 
explain  to  them  the  results  of  our  summers  work,  of  which  I 
gave  them  a  brief  abstract.  This  was  quite  necessary,  and  it 
can  do  no  harm,  as  there  is  no  report  of  what  I  say  in  my 
lecture-room.  I  told  them  plainly  that  I  gave  up  the 
Devonian  case,  and  that  I  considered  the  whole  of  the  old 
rocks  of  Devon  and  Cornwall  (excepting  the  Culms)  as  inferior 
to  the  Derby  limestone ;  but  I  added  that  the  matter  was  still 
sub  judice,  and  that  our  fossils  had  not  been  examined.  My 
class  was  a  good  one ;  two  Heads  of  colleges,  many  Masters 
of  Arts,  and  about  sixty  undergraduates;  and  many  who 
attend  me  are  not  yet  come  up  for  the  term1." 

While  Sedgwick  was  lecturing  at  Cambridge,  Murchison 
was  examining  with  Sowerby  and  Lonsdale  the  fossils 
collected  on  their  tour,  and  corresponding  with  M.  de 
Verneuil,  who  had  accompanied  them  for  a  portion  of  their 
journey.     Fortified  by  these  authorities,  he  made  up  his  mind 

1  To  Rev.  W.  Aingcr,  18  February,  1840. 

2  To  R.  I.  Murchison,  a 8  October,  1839. 


DEVONIAN  DIFFICULTIES.  527 


more  rapidly  than  Sedgwick,  and  before  the  end  of  January,  1839. 
1840.  we  find  him  pleading  for  an  interview  with  his  collabo-  ^  54- 
rator,  "  when  I  might  explain  in  words  what  it  would  require 
volumes  to  write  V  Soon  after  this  the  interview  took  place, 
and  in  February  he  was  able  to  announce  "  the  identity  of  the 
uppermost  greywack6  of  the  Continent  and  the  Devonian  as 
defined  by  Sedgwick  and  myself.  I  have  arrived  at  this 
conclusion  for  many  months,  and  only  waited  the  coming  to 
town  of  my  colleague  to  open  the  campaign.  Now  that  he  has 
been  here,  and  that  we  are  all  agreed,  the  course  is  clear,  and 
we  shall  soon  give  a  grand  memoir  to  shew,  etc.1"  The 
production  of  this  memoir  was,  however,  retarded,  as  usual, 
by  Sedgwick's  ailments,  the  catalogue  of  which  we  know  by 
heart.  This  year  he  had  more  than  common  difficulty  in 
shaking  them  off,  and  during  the  early  months  of  the  year 
was  quite  unable  to  work.  He  could  still,  however,  joke  over 
his  sufferings.     Writing  to  Mrs  Lyell  he  says : 

"  Should  you  think  it  worth  while  to  ask  me  what  I  am 
doing,  I  can  describe  all  my  most  active  employments  by  the 
word  grumbling.  All  winter  I  have  been  a  cross,  crusty, 
crabbed,  careworn,  caitiff.  In  outer  looks  I  am  sour,  and 
ill-favoured  ;  and,  as  I  used  to  be  rather  vain  of  my  person,  I 
have  been  ashamed  of  my  ill-looks,  and  have  not  called  on 
any  one,  otherwise  I  might  before  this  have  tapped  at  your 
door.  My  daily  bread  is  made  of  calomel  and  colchicum  ;  and, 
besides  Medea's  drugs,  they  have  given  me  every  day  a  stew  in 
her  caldron.  It  would  melt  your  heart,  could  you  see  me  sitting 
for  half  an  hour  each  day  in  brimstone  vapour  at  a  tempera- 
ture of  1  io° !  And  to  crown  all  my  misfortunes  I  have  lost  my 
favourite  dog8.    The  very  beasts  you  see  run  away  from  me ! " 

Towards  the  end  of  April  he  was  ordered  to  Cheltenham. 
The  waters  agreed  with  him,  and  he  was  soon  able  to  report 
some  slight  improvement. 

1  From  R.  I.  Murchison,  23  January,  1840. 

2  Geikic's  Life  of  Murchison^  i.  286. 

8  Enclosed  is  a  hand-bill  offering  £1.  os.  od.  for  the  restoration  of  Shindy,  a 
Spitzhund  brought  from  Germany. 


528  JOINT  PAPER  READ. 

1839.  "I    am- better   than    I    was,"   he   writes,   "but    far   from 

^t-  54-  good  working  condition.  All  I  can  say  is,  I  will  do  my 
best.  Alas !  during  this  winter  and  spring,  my  best  has 
been  bad  indeed.  I  have  lately  been  taking  a  shower-bath 
against  some  very  uncomfortable  symptoms  in  the  nerves 
of  my  left  side  ;  but  on  this  subject  mum1.91 

Meanwhile  Murchison  was  preparing  to  start  for  Russia, 
and  could  only  be  present  on  the  evening  when  their  paper 
was  begun  (13  May).  It  fell  to  Sedgwick's  share  to  complete 
it.  This  he  did,  coming  up  from  Cheltenham  on  purpose 
(27  May).  The  interest  shewn  when  the  new  classification 
was  first  propounded  had  now  died  away,  and  all  that  he  had 
to  tell  Murchison  was,  "  Our  paper  went  off  well.  Nobody 
made  any  fight."  A  summary  of  the  conclusions  arrived  at 
will  fitly  close  this  chapter: 

"An  examination  of  our  fossil  evidence  has  now  led  to  a 
satisfactory  conclusion,  viz.  that  there  is  a  group  of  rocks,  charac- 
terized by  an  appropriate  group  of  fossils,  in  a  position,  geologically 
as  well  as  zoologically,  intermediate  between  the  Carboniferous  and 
Silurian  systems.  The  supposed  *  Ludlow  rock '  of  Belgium  passes 
into  the  mountain  limestone,  and  even  in  its  lower  portions  does  not, 
as  far  as  we  know,  contain  a  single  Silurian  fossil :  and  our  Eifel 
mollusca  (about  which  we  were  most  anxious,  and  of  which  we  had 
procured  a  fine  series)  were  pronounced  by  Mr  Sowerby,  the  moment 
he  saw  them,  to  form  a  group  analogous  to  that  of  South  Devon.... 
At  the  same  time  we  submitted  the  Eifel  corals  to  Mr  Lonsdale,  who 
with  equal  confidence  pronounced  them  Devonian  V 

In  the  next  chapter  we  shall  review  the  geological  work 
accomplished  by  Sedgwick  between  the  year  1828  and  the 
year  which  we  have  now  reached. 

1  To  R.  I.  Murchison,  1  May,  1840. 

3  Transactions  of  the  Geological  Society,  Second  Series,  vi.  *i6. 


CHAPTER   XI. 

Geological  work  accomplished  between  1828  and  1838. 

The  Devonian  System. 

When  we  last  interrupted  the  general  narrative  of 
Sedgwick's  life  to  discuss  the  value  of  his  geological  work1, 
it  happened  that  the  papers  reviewed  had  appeared  during 
the  ten  years  which  succeeded  his  election  to  the  Wood- 
wardian  Chair  in  18 18.  In  the  present  chapter  it  will  be 
convenient  to  consider  in  the  first  place  those  covering  the 
next  decade,  from  1828  to  1838. 

This  second  decade  is  certainly  not  the  least  important  in 
the  history  of  Sedgwick's  work.  In  the  first  he  had  travelled 
far,  and  often  ;  had  examined  on  the  ground  the  work  of 
many  of  the  pioneers  of  geology;  had  discussed  the  inter- 
pretation of  many  difficult  structures  with  the  leading 
physicists  of  the  age ;  had  made  excursions  with  Conybeare 
and  Murchison,  of  whom  the  first  taught  him  much,  the 
second  learnt  much  from  him  ;  and  had  met  many  good 
local  observers  who  oqe  and  all  record  the  keenness  of  his 
observation,  the  shrewdness  of  his  generalisation,  and  the 
inspiring  charm  of  his  enthusiasm. 

His  first  syllabus,  drawn  up  early  in  his  first  decade,  shows 
how  clearly  he  realised  even  then  the  problems  to  be  solved. 
His  second  syllabus,  published  at  the  beginning  of  his  second 
decade,  has  on  it  the  impress  of  his  own  observations  made  in 
the  interval. 

1  See  above,  pp.  284 — 397  ;  3*5 — 3*8. 
S.  I.  34 


53o  GEOLOGICAL  PAPERS,   1828— 1838. 


In  the  same  way  we  find  in  the  first  decade  but  one  great 
original  paper,  that  on  the  Lower  New  Red  and  Magnesian 
Limestone  Series  t  with  several  notes  of  less  importance,  such 
as  those  on  Devon  and  Cornwall,  the  Isle  of  Wight1,  the 
Trap  dykes  of  the  north  of  England,  Alluvial  and  Diluvial 
deposits,  and  the  strata  of  the  Yorkshire  coast  The  larger 
papers  of  this  period  are  those  which  give  an  account  of  his 
tours  with  Murchison  in  Scotland  and  its  Western  Islands, 
and  in  the  Alps.  These,  as  we  have  seen,  were  important 
contributions  in  their  way,  and  added  much  to  what  was 
already  known  of  the  structure  of  the  districts  examined. 
When,  however,  these  papers  are  carefully  analysed  it  will 
be  found  that  the  chief  value  of  those  on  Scotland  consists  in 
the  development  and  extension  of  the  work  of  Macculloch ; 
of  that  on  the  Alps  that  it  brings  to  the  notice  of  English 
geologists  for  the  first  time  the  work  of  Bou6,  criticised  and 
epitomized  by  two  such  skilful  handlers  of  the  hammer  and 
the  pen  as  Sedgwick  and  Murchison.  But,  after  all,  the 
principal  result  of  all  this  exploration  is  to  be  sought  in  its 
effect  upon  Sedgwick's  own  subsequent  work. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  second  decade  we  find  him 
President  of  the  Geological  Society,  and  his  two  addresses 
tell  us  what  new  matter  he  thought  of  greatest  importance 
and  interest  to  bring  before  the  Fellows  at  their  anniversary 
meetings  in  1830  and  1831.  But  he  was  now  taking  in 
hand  a  far  larger  task,  and  within  the  next  ten  years  he 
had  laid  before  the  world  sketches  of  the  structure  of  the 
Cumbrian  and  Cambrian  mountains  which  have  formed  the 
foundation  of  all  subsequent  work,  not  only  in  those  districts, 
but  wherever  Cambrian  rocks  occur  throughout  the  world. 

1  His  observations  in  the  Isle  of  Wight  were  of  considerable  value,  though  he 
did  not  himself  fully  realise  their  bearing  till  some  years  afterwards.  We  know 
from  the  collection  of  fossils  made  by  him  in  1820,  and  still  preserved  in  the 
Woodwardian  Museum,  that  he  had  discovered  the  marine  beds  at  the  top  of  the 
Hampstead  Cliff  which  are  characterised  by  Voluta  geminata  Sow.  [  V.  RcUhuri^ 
Heb.],  Potamites  plicatus  Sow.  [Cerithium  plicatum  Sow.].  Corbula  rugosa  Lam. 
\Corbula  pisum  Sow.]. 


GEOLOGICAL  PAPERS,   1828— 1838.  531 

Although  it  might  appear  from  a  glance  down  the  list  of 
papers  written  by  Sedgwick  in  his  second  decade  that  his 
work  was  very  desultory,  closer  examination  reveals  that 
there  was  method  in  it,  and  that  he  was  grappling  with  some 
of  the  greatest  problems  of  stratigraphical  and  dynamical 
geology.  The  older  rocks,  among  which  nestle  most  of  the 
lakes  of  the  north-west  of  England  and  which  form  the  central 
part  of  the  Lake  District,  are  wrapped  round  by  newer 
deposits,  and  stand  out  like  a  huge  boss  protruding  through  a 
lawn.  Sedgwick  set  himself  to  work  to  make  out,  first,  what 
were  the  outside  newer  rocks,  and  how  they  behaved  with 
regard  to  the  ancient  central  mass  round  which  and  over  which 
they  had  been  thrown  down  as  shingle  and  sand  upon  the 
shore  of  an  encroaching  sea.  All  the  while  he  was  watching 
the  fragment  of  a  still  more  ancient  world  which  is  revealed  in 
the  central  part  of  the  district,  after  having  been  buried  up  for 
ages,  and  comparing  the  character  and  structure  of  the  older 
rocks  with  those  observed  in  the  newer  beds ;  and  in  fact  we 
find  his  papers  on  the  North  of  England  of  this  date  beginning 
with  an  Introduction  to  tlie  General  Structure  of  the  Cumbrian 
Mountains.  In  this  there  is  a  short  sketch  of  the  ancient 
central  mass,  but  the  principal  part  of  the  paper  is  taken  up 
with  a  description  of  the  great  dislocations  by  which  the 
surrounding  Carboniferous  rocks  are  now  separated  from  it. 
Then,  to  make  sure  that  the  character  and  succession  of  the 
newer  rocks  was  clearly  established,  in  order  to  understand 
how  they  behaved  when  they  crept  up  to  and  round  the 
central  mass,  he  made  traverses  across  them  in  various  direc- 
tions, and  published  the  results  in  a  paper  read  before  the 
Geological  Society  in  March,  1831.  In  this  he  gave  sections 
across  the  highest  mountains  of  the  Yorkshire  moorlands, 
carrying  them  over  Penyghent  to  the  Craven  district,  and 
over  the  Pennine  Range  into  the  Eden  Valley  near  Kirkby 
Stephen. 

In  the  Eden  Valley,  however,  there  was  evidence  of  another 
great   interruption   in   the   continuity  of   deposit.      As    the 


532  GEOLOGICAL  PAPERS,   1828— 1838. 

Carboniferous  rocks  had  been  thrown  down  upon  the  ancient 
land-surface  seen  in  the  central  Lake  District,  so  here  in  the 
valleys  that  surround  it  there  is  clear  evidence  that  the 
Carboniferous  Series  in  its  turn  had  been  uplifted  from  the 
depths,  and  moulded  by  rain  and  rivers  into  an  irregular 
land-surface,  which  had  again  in  its  turn  gone  down  to 
receive  the  debris  of  the  wasted  land,  the  shingle-beach  made 
up  of  pebbles  from  the  coast,  and  the  sand  and  mud  with 
drifted  plants  which  we  see  along  the  river-cliffs  and  hillsides 
of  the  beautiful  Eden  Valley.  This  called  for  a  separate  paper, 
which  was  read  before  the  Geological  Society  on  Feb.  1st,  1832. 
Sedgwick  was  here  on  the  equivalents  of  the  Lower  New  Red 
Sandstone  which  he  had  so  well  worked  out  on  the  other  side 
of  the  backbone  of  England  and  described  six  years  before. 
In  the  same  year,  1832,  he  read  before  the  Society  a  paper 
on  the  Geological  Relations  of  tJie  Stratified  and  Utistratified 
groups  of  Rocks  composing  the  Cumbrian  Mountains.  This  was 
a  further  step  in  the  prosecution  of  the  work  of  which  he  had 
given  what  he  called  the  introduction  in  January  183 1.  In 
this  there  is  more  about  the  pre-Carboniferous  rocks.  He 
describes  the  structure  of  the  district  more  in  detail,  and, 
with  full  acknowledgment  of  the  excellent  work  done  by 
the  local  guide  and  fossil-collector  Jonathan  Otley,  gives 
a  general  classification  of  the  rocks  composing  the  central 
mass.  The  opening  words  of  the  introduction  explain  the 
place  of  this  paper  in  his  great  plan  for  working  out  the 
district.     In  it  he 

"first  shews  that  the  limits  of  the  region  to  be  described  are 
defined  by  a  zone  of  Carboniferous  limestone  based  here  and  there 
upon  masses  of  old  red  conglomerate.  This  zone  is  described  as 
entirely  unconformable  to  the  central  system,  and  for  the  phenomena 
presented  at  the  junction  of  the  two  great  classes  of  rocks,  he  refers 
to  previous  memoirs  read  before  the  Society." 

In  1832,  the  4th  year  of  his  second  decade,  he  had  given 
a  very  good  sketch  of  the  sequence  of  rocks  in  and  around  the 
Lake  district 

Seeing  the  advantages  of  this  mode  of  treatment,  Sedgwick 


GEOLOGICAL  PAPERS,   1828— 1838.  533 

now  worked  out  more  of  the  details  and  subdivisions  of  the 
newer  series  as  they  approached  close  up  to  the  Lake  district, 
and  described  the  rocks  which  generally  lie  at  the  base  of  the 
Carboniferous  Series  in  that  country,  immediately  above  the 
old  shingle  which  is  found  collected  in  the  deeper  hollows  all 
round  the  ancient  pre-Carboniferous  mountain-land.  In  the 
same  paper,  which  was  read  before  the  Geological  Society 
10  November,  1835,  he  gave  a  description  of  some  of  the 
coal-bearing  strata  on  the  N.W.  coast  of  Cumberland,  having 
been  assisted  in  the  examination  of  that  district  by  Mr 
Williamson  Peile.  This,  however,  required  further  working 
out,  so  they  returned  to  it,  and  in  June  of  the  following  year 
Sedgwick  read  another  paper  giving  the  results  of  their  work. 
As  soon  as  he  had  touched  any  district  he  was  of  course 
likely  to  feel  an  interest  in  all  scientific  questions  connected 
with  it,  whether  they  bore  directty  upon  the  original  object  of 
his  investigation  or  not;  and  so  we  find  him  in  1837  reading 
a  note  before  the  British  Association  on  the  incursion  of  the 
sea  into  the  colleries  of  Workington. 

In  the  midst  of  all  this  work  in  the  North  of  England,  and 
well  prepared  by  it  to  grapple  with  the  difficulties  of  a  compli- 
cated district,  Sedgwick  plunged  into  the  heart  of  North  Wales 
in  183 1.  We  have  seen  that  in  1821  he  had  sketched  out  in 
his  first  syllabus  how  he  would  set  to  work  on  the  classification 
of  the  Transition  Rocks,  or  Greywack6.  He  had  done  much 
among  them  during  the  ten  years  that  had  elapsed  since 
that  was  printed,  so  it  was  as  no  novice  that  he  undertook  the 
task  of  disentangling  the  folded  and  crumpled  masses  that  lie 
in  the  wild  mountain  region  of  North  Wales,  where  he  set  to 
work  in  such  a  masterly  manner  that,  "before  the  working- 
season  was  over  (in  183 1)"  he  had  "  completed  an  approximate 
Geological  Map  from  actual  survey  of  the  whole  of  Caernarvon- 
shire V  In  the  following  year,  1 832,  he  returned  to  the  district, 
and  undertook  what  proved  to  be,  in  his  own  words,  "the 
severest  summer's  task  of  my  Geological  life,  namely,  the 

1  Preface  to  Salter's  Catalogue,  4I0.  Camb.  1873,  P*  xv** 


534  GEOLOGICAL  PAPERS,   1828— 1838. 

interpretation  and  partial  delineation  of  the  order  and  principal 
flexures  of  all  the  older  deposits  of  the  counties  of  Merioneth, 
Montgomery,  and   Denbigh1."     Notwithstanding   the  diffi- 
culties of  the  task,  he  was  prepared  with  "a  brief  synopsis, 
illustrated  by  sections,"  of  what  he  "  had  effected  in  Caernar- 
vonshire," by  the  time  the  British  Association  met  at  Oxford 
in  June,  1832.     The  meagre  account  of  this  synopsis  in  the 
Report  of  the  Association  does  not  enable  us  to  understand 
his  mode  of  procedure,  or  what  were  the  results  arrived  at, 
but  fortunately  we  are  not  dependent  upon  that   alone  for 
our  information.     He  constantly  wrote  long  letters  when  out 
on  such  excursions,  put  down  his  first  impressions,  and  dis- 
cussed all  his  difficulties.     "  I  never  had  a  geological  secret  in 
my  life  "  he  once  exclaimed  in  his  later  years.    He  very  often 
made  a  rough  sketch  of  what  he  saw,  sometimes  to  amuse  a 
child,  sometimes  to  explain  a  point  to  a  scientific  friend,  and, 
though  he  much  decried  his  own  sections,  they  always  give  a 
very  good   notion   of  the  really  important  features  in  the 
structure   of  the  country.     So  we   learn  from  his  letters  to 
Murchison,  and  from  Darwin's  all  too  short  recollections  of 
the  trip,  how  Sedgwick  tackled  a  new  bit  of  country  in  those 
days.     From    peak    to  peak,   in   traverse   after   traverse,  he 
always  sought  some  more  easily  recognised  strata  as  base 
lines  on  which  to  build  up  the  succession,  and  with  which  to 
correlate  adjoining  sections.     The  amount  of  work  he  did  was 
marvellous. 

Even  the  unscientific  reader  will  see  that  if  Sedgwick  is 
right  in  the  sketch  of  what  he  afterwards  called  the  Cambrian 
System  which  he  made  in  1832,  and  sent  to  the  British 
Association  and  to  Murchison  in  the  same  year,  the  question 
of  priority  of  discovery  of  the  succession  of  the  rocks  of  North 
Wales  is  very  much  simplified.  So,  with  the  view  of  fixing' 
the  date  upon  the  minds  of  our  readers,  we  have  already 
printed  the  letter  which  Sedgwick  wrote  to  Murchison  from 
North  Wales,  soon  after  he  had  begun  work  there,  together 

1  Preface  to  Salter's  Catalogue,  .fto.  Camb.  1873,  p.  xvii. 


£>4  OhOlSSsS'-AL  PAr£*-i?  -fcsi— zi^L 


fbez/r+*  'A  *^  the  '*A*r  <4ep#>ife*  of  tie  o: 

c«>i^  'A  the  tvik,  he  «u  prepared  widi  ~a 
iV.ixUkXrA  by  vxAif/ruf  of  what  be  -had  esecssd  =: 
vofttfcire/  by  the  time  the  British  Asrxsatkc  act  2?  Ojljj- 
in  J'ine,  f#$2.    The  meagre  account  of  this  syaowcf  ri  ±e 

l<*p</rt  (A  the  A*»ociatson  does  not  enabue  -zs  st> 
hit  %wAe  of  procedure,  or  what  were  the  results  arrrr 
fcwt  fortunately  we  are  not  dependent  upon  that  alooe  for 
our  information.  He  constantly  wrote  long  letters  when  act 
on  *u/,h  excursions,  put  down  his  first  impressions,  and  dis- 
tM%wA  nil  \\\%  difficulties.  "I  never  had  a  geological  secret  in 
my  life  "  he  once  exclaimed  in  his  later  years.  He  very  often 
made  a  rough  sketch  of  what  he  saw,  sometimes  to  amuse  a 
child,  ftorrietirnei  to  explain  a  point  to  a  scientific  friend,  and, 
though  he  much  decried  his  own  sections,  they  always  give  a 
very  good  notion  of  the  really  important  features  in  the 
structure  of  the  country.  So  we  learn  from  his  letters  to 
Murchinon,  and  from  Darwin's  all  too  short  recollections  of 
the  trip,  how  Sedgwick  tackled  a  new  bit  of  country  in  those 
day*.  From  peak  to  peak,  in  traverse  after  traverse,  he 
a! way*  *ought  *omc  more  easily  recognised  strata  as  base 
line*  on  which  to  build  up  the  succession,  and  with  which  to 
correlate  adjoining  sections.  The  amount  of  work  he  did  was 
marvellous, 

Kven  the  unscientific  reader  will  see  that  if  Sedgwick  is 
right  in  the  sketch  of  what  he  afterwards  called  the  Cambrian 
System  which  he  made  in  1832,  and  sent  to  the  British 
Association  and  to  Murchison  in  the  same  year,  the  question 
of  priority  of  discovery  of  the  succession  of  the  rocks  of  North 
Wales  is  very  much  simplified.  So,  with  the  view  of  fixing 
the*  date  ujxm  the  minds  of  our  readers,  we  have  already 
printed  the  letter  which  Sedgwick  wrote  to  Murchison  from 
North  Wales,  soon  after  he  had  begun  work  there,  together 

1  ih-tjoet  to  Salter's  Catalogue,  4to.  Camb.  1873,  p.  xvii. 


t 


GEOLOGICAL  PAPERS,   1828— 1838.  535 


with  a  reproduction  in  facsimile  of  the  pen-and-ink  section 
across  the  district  which  accompanies  it1,  and  in  this  chapter 
we  give  a  part  of  the  index-map  of  the  Geological  Survey, 
which  happens  to  be  on  about  the  same  scale  of  distances  as 
Sedgwick's  section.  From  this  it  will  be  seen  that  the  Survey 
thirty  years  afterwards  gave  no  more  subdivisions  of  the 
stratified  rocks  of  this  area  than  Sedgwick  had  made  in  1832, 
and  that  their  principal  sections  were  drawn  approximately 
along  the  very  same  lines  as  Sedgwick  had  then  suggested  to 
Murchison. 

Though  Sedgwick  did  not  dwell  much  upon  Cosmogonies 
and  Theories  of  the  Earth,  except  so  far  as  they  had  to  be 
explained  in  his  educational  work,  yet  such  enquiries  as  those 
upon  which  he  was  engaged  forced  him  to  give  attention 
to  some  of  the  important  questions  of  dynamical  geology. 
He  could  hardly  have  passed  years  in  endeavouring  to  unravel 
the  gnarled  and  twisted  Cambrian  rocks,  and  in  trying  to 
make  out  the  dip  where  there  were  all  sorts  of  divisional  planes, 
and  the  bedding  turned  out  to  be  the  least  obvious,  without 
enquiring  into  the  causes  of  those  superinduced  structures 
which  obscured  the  original  simplicity  of  the  sedimentary 
rocks.  Hence  we  find  him  towards  the  end  of  his  second 
decade  putting  together  his  notes  On  the  Structure  of  large 
Mineral  Masses,  and  especially  on  the  chemical  changes 
produced  in  the  aggregation  of  stratified  rocks  during  dif- 
ferent periods  after  their  deposition.  The  explanations  given 
of  these  obscure  phenomena  were  considered  of  such  im- 
portance for  the  right  understanding  of  Sedgwick's  paper  on 
the  origin  and  structure  of  the  older  stratified  rocks,  that  the 
Council  of  the  Geological  Society  wisely  decided  to  publish 
this  memoir  before  its  turn,  because  they  considered  it  to 
be  introductory  to  other  papers  by  Sedgwick,  some  of 
which  were  already  printed.  In  this  paper  Sedgwick  was 
evidently  drawing  upon  his  own  original  observations,  for  we 
find  many  references  to  districts  on  which  we  know  he  had 

1  See  above,  pp.  391 — 394. 


536  THE  DEVONIAN  SYSTEM. 

been  at  work,  as  for  instance  to  the  concretions  in  the 
Magnesian  Limestone  of  Durham,  and  the  nodular  felsites 
of  North  Wales,  while  in  illustration  of  the  cleavage  and 
other  divisional  planes  his  sections  are  all  taken  from  North 
Wales.  New  and  better  theories  as  to  the  cause  of  cleavage 
may  have  been  put  forward,  but  the  facts  connected  with  its 
mode  of  occurrence  were  once  for  all  clearly  established  by 
Sedgwick,  whatever  he  may  have  understood  by  the  polar 
forces  which,  according  to  him,  played  so  large  a  part  in  the 
production  of  the  phenomena.  The  columnar  structure  of 
basalt  he  rightly  referred  to  shrinkage,  and  showed  that  some 
of  the  curious  forms  produced  among  the  Granite  Tors 
should  be  referred,  not  to  concretionary  action,  but  to  the 
peeling  off  of  the  exposed  surfaces,  urging  in  illustration  the 
fact  that  "ancient  pillars  of  granite  have  been  known  to  ex- 
foliate in  cylindrical  crusts,  parallel  to  the  axes  of  the  pillars ; 
and  even  pillars  of  oolitic  limestone,  which  unquestionably 
have  no  spheroidal  structure,  sometimes  exfoliate  (e.g.  in 
the  second  court  of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge)  in  crusts 
parallel  to  the  axes  of  the  several  pillars."  There  is  no 
doubt  that  this  paper  of  Sedgwick's  is  a  grand  classic  work, 
treating  of  questions  which  must  be  grappled  with  by  any  one 
who  would  work  profitably  among  the  older  and  altered  rocks. 

About  the  close  of  this  period  (1828 — 38),  Sedgwick,  in 
conjunction  with  Murchison,  commenced  those  investigations 
in  England  and  on  the  continent  which  resulted  in  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  Devonian  System.  The  course  of  Sedgwick's 
biography  has  already  indicated  the  steps  by  which  they 
were  gradually  led  to  lines  of  enquiry  beyond  their  first 
intentions,  and  to  inferences  very  different  from  their  first 
impressions ;  but,  as  even  those  conversant  with  the  history  of 
geology  have  probably  forgotten  the  details  of  the  subject, 
and  the  controversy  which  arose  over  it,  some  further  ex- 
planation is  necessary. 

Looking  back  it  does  not  seem  difficult  to  explain  how  such 
men  as  Sedgwick  and  Murchison  on  the  one  hand,  and  De  la 


THE  DEVONIAN  SYSTEM,  537 


Beche  on  the  other,  should  have  so  long  differed  as  to  the  inter- 
pretation of  the  geology  of  a  district  like  Devon  and  Cornwall. 
Neither  side  had  as  yet  all  the  data,  and  the  facts  which 
had  been  forced  on  the  notice  of  one,  were  not  the  same 
as  those  that  had  come  under  the  observation  of  the  other. 
It  is  a  controversy  very  characteristic  of  a  certain  stage 
of  geological  enquiry.  In  the  crumplings  that  have  been 
going  on  in  the  crust  of  the  earth,  large  areas  that  were  once 
uneven  land-surfaces  have  been  submerged,  and,  more  than 
that,  one  side  of  a  country  has  often  gone  down  sooner,  or 
more  rapidly,  than  another;  so  that,  although  the  debris  of 
the  land  may  have  been  continuously  deposited  all  the  while 
it  of  course  gathered  more  quickly  and  more  thickly  in  the 
hollows,  and  formed  vast  accumulations  in  one  place,  while, 
not  far  off,  it  may  not  have  begun  to  be  laid  down  at  all. 
So  the  basement-bed  in  one  district  is  much  newer  than  the 
basement-bed  of  what  seems  to  belong  to  the  same  age  of 
submergence  and  deposition  in  an  adjoining  area.  Sand  and 
shingle  gathered  in  one  place,  silt  in  another ;  here  the  water 
was  turbid,  and  creatures  that  loved  the  mud  enjoyed  their 
life ;  while  round  the  headland  there  was  clear  and  perhaps 
deep  water,  and  creatures  abounded  that  loved  the  deep  blue 
sea,  or  the  crisp  white  breakers.  If  in  after-ages  we  were  to 
come  upon  isolated  patches  of  deposits  accumulated  under 
such  various  conditions  it  is  obvious  that  there  might  be 
great  difficulty  in  placing  them  in  chronological  order.  This 
is  the  difficulty  which  lies  at  the  bottom  of  the  Devonian 
Question. 

The  rocks  of  the  northern  part  of  the  Devon  promontory 
lie  in  a  trough-like  fold  running  east  and  west,  so  that  the 
older  rocks  turn  up  along  the  Bristol  Channel,  and  again  on 
the  south  along  a  line  running  roughly  west  from  Exeter  to 
the  sea.  The  newer  rocks,  therefore,  lie  in  the  middle  of  this 
trough.  Neither  of  these  two  series  was  found  to  be  exactly 
like  the  rocks  which  occurred  on  the  other  side  of  the  channel 
about  the  horizon  where  these  might  be  expected.    The  older 

S.  I.  35 


538  THE  DEVONIAN  SYSTEM. 

and  the  newer  were  supposed  at  first  to  be  of  the  age  of  some 
part  of  the  Cambrian  or  Silurian  of  Wales  deposited  under 
somewhat  different  conditions,  and  like  them  were  spoken  of 
as  greywackd  ;  yet  they  were  different  from  the  greywacke  of 
Wales.  Moreover  the  upper  series  contained  plants  and  coal, 
but  was  not  like  the  rocks  of  the  South  Wales  coal-field,  nor 
was  the  lower  series  like  what  was  there  found  below  the  coal. 
It  therefore  became  necessary  to  consider  whether  any  of 
these  Devon  beds  were  the  geological  equivalents  of  deposits 
thrown  down  under  different  conditions  in  the  adjoining  area 
of  Wales,  and,  when  there  was  a  likeness,  whether  some  of 
them  might  after  all  have  only  an  accidental  resemblance  to 
the  strata  with  which  they  had  been  hitherto  identified. 

Sedgwick  and  Murchison  first  removed  the  upper  series 
from  the  greywack£,  and  identified  it  with  the  coal-measures. 
At  this  stage  De  la  Beche  objected,  as  he  could  not  see  such 
a  strong  line  of  separation  between  the  upper  and  lower  series 
of  Devon  as  this  implied,  either  palaeontological  or  strati- 
graphical.  Sedgwick  and  Murchison  urged  the  similarity  of 
the  fossils  of  the  Culm  beds  to  those  of  the  Carboniferous 
Rocks,  and  showed  how  the  coal-measures  of  South  Wales 
changed  as  they  were  traced  west,  and  the  coal  of  the  South 
Wales  Field  passed  into  the  Culm  of  Pembrokeshire  ;  while 
De  la  Beche  pointed  out  that  plants  similar  to  those  of  the 
culmiferous  beds  are  found  also  in  the  subjacent  rocks  into 
which  the  Culm  Measures  passed  down  in  Devonshire. 
Whewell  in  his  presidential  address  to  the  Geological  Society 
(1838)  states  the  case  very  fairly,  and  expresses  the  opinion 
that,  whatever  views  with  regard  to  the  correlation  of  the 
rocks  of  Devonshire  might  eventually  prevail,  they  had 
then  sufficient  clear  and  positive  knowledge  to  separate  the 
culmiferous  from  the  subjacent  strata  in  their  lists  and  on 
their  geological  maps. 

But  there  was  something  in  De  la  Beche's  contention 
that  the  lower  set  of  beds  in  Devonshire  also  contained  some 
plant   remains,   and    that   the   newer  beds  were   for  various 


THE  DEVONIAN  SYSTEM.  539 

reasons  more  closely  connected  with  them  than  the  true  coal 
measures  were  known  to  be  with  the  greywacke  in  any  area 
which  had  been  worked  out.  The  next  step  in  the  enquiry 
therefore  was  to  make  out  whether  even  the  lower  set  of  beds 
of  Devonshire  were  greywackd ;  and  when  they  had  been 
re-examined,  and  their  fossils  had  been  submitted  to  Lindley, 
Sowcrby,  and  Lonsdale,  and  the  Devon  rocks  and  fossils  had 
been  compared  with  those  which  occurred  on  the  continent  in 
a  corresponding  position,  it  was  found  that  the  lower  series 
of  Devon  rocks  must  also  be  taken  out  of  the  greywack^, 
and  considered  as  something  older  than  the  carboniferous 
beds,  but  much  newer  than  any  beds  of  greywack£  age. 
When  this  view  had  been  clearly  formulated,  and  Murchison 
had  given  up  his  identification  of  part  of  the  Devonian  with 
the  Caradoc  sandstone,  no  further  serious  opposition  was 
offered.  The  work  had  grown  gradually.,  De  la  Beche, 
Austen,  Weaver,  and  Williams  had  helped  with  facts  or 
useful  criticism ;  and,  as  far  as  the  points  then  in  dispute 
are  concerned,  the  question  was  finally  settled,  and  the 
now  received  classification  of  the  Devon  rocks  remains  as 
Sedgwick  and  Murchison  left  it :  Culm  Measures  above, 
and  Devonian  below :  the  base  of  the  Devonian  being  there 
unknown. 


END  OF   VOLUME   I. 


Cambridge:  printed  by  c.  j.  clay,  m.a.  and  sons,  at  the  university  press. 


660.92  .8446c  ^P  C.I 

Stanford  UnlwrattyUbrariM 


3   6105   032   204    146 


I