n ;0^J>^^ 'V^ '>7i^^^. 'o. Presented to Princeton Theological Seminary By the ^e^f. Wendell Prime, D.D. 7^0 be Kept Always as a Separate Collection. ^^:vK ^m^^ %-afe lan fo?' lighting the streets with gas — Academical Society — Mr Copley — -John Bowdler — ^777;/- cis Horner — Political Economy — Lincohis Inn Hall — Mr Sugden — House of Commons — Pitt — Fox — Windham — Canning — Block- ade of the French Fleet — Nelson'' s promptness — Latin Prose Essay Prize — Elected Fellow of Trinity College — Mr Atkinson, Special Pleader — Mr Hope Vere — Rev. Sidney Smith — Lord Ellen- borough — Lord Kenyon — Mr Tate's Letter — Nelson's death — Death of Mr Pitt — Grenville Administration — "All the Talents" — Cambridge University Election — Statue to Mr Pitt — Mrs Siddons — Miss ONeill — Ranelagh — Vauxhall — The Invisible girl — Dress of the time — Fox and Brummell — Death of Air Fox — Lord Grenville— Junius — Call to the Bar — Mr Campbell— Journey to Ventnor — Cambridge University Election — Lord Byron — Miss Chaworth — Scarborough — Exmouth — Return to Town — Old- fashioned public coiiveyances — Resolution to quit London. TN October, 1804, I migrated to Lincoln's Inn, took cham- -*- bars in Stone Buildings, and began to study Law. The state of travelling was then such that we reached London in the course of one day, i.e. in about eight hours, the coach stopping when half way that we might take luncheon. In my uncle's time it stopped all night. Some years before that again it took two whole days to perform the journey with the 62 Autobiographic Recollections. same horses, staying all night at Epping. When they went through in one day there was one change. I have heard a person, much older than myself, say that she used to start at six A.M. and get into town between nine and ten P.M. -When the Telegraph was announced to do it in seven hours, people anticipated that it would never last, and that the horses would shortly break down from fatigue. The coaches went very slowly : a man walking between Bury St Edmund's and Newmarket was offered a lift on one as it passed him. He had been in the habit of accepting it, but on this occasion said, " No, thank you, I'm in a hurry to-day." I myself have travelled with my uncle from Nottingham to Hull by coach, when it took two days to perform the journey (72 miles), and have witnessed two men, who spoke to the coachman as he left Newark, arrive on foot at the half-way house between that and Lincoln, a distance of 16 miles, just as we drove out of it after baiting the horses. Some years ago there was found at the back of a drawer in an inn at York an old hand- bill, stating that a stage coach would run between York and London, doing the distance, 200 miles, in four days. It men- tioned the places where it would stop for the night, and added the positive assurance that the journey should be accomplished in tJiat time. The landlord who discovered this relic very sensibly framed it, and hung it up in his com- mercial room. The originator of mail-coaches was one Palmer of Bath, and they were started in 1784^ It is within my me- mory that one was commenced from Hull to York. Before that time letters were conveyed on horseback, and I have ^ The first was at Bristol. Gen. Palmer is said to have received ^T 100,000 for his father's introduction of the Mail-Coach system. The late Lord Campbell mentions going by one from St Andrew's, Scotland, to London, and being three nights and two days on the road. Riding Post, 63 seen the post-lad with a portmanteau strapped behind him on his horse, of which he could so easily have been robbed, riding between Newark and Nottingham. Pack-horses were used for conveying goods, and I have seen long strings of them with their panniers in the North of Yorkshire and in Devonshire. A gentleman of olden time travelled, when alone, by "riding post," that is, hiring for eightpence a mile at each stage two horses, with a post-boy, who carried the port- manteau behind him, and took the tired horses back when fresh ones were had. Every gentleman visited London at least once in his lifetime\ Pillion was the usual mode of conveyance for women among farmers, and even the gentry. I have seen hundreds riding so. When I first saw Lincoln's Inn Fields, the centre, which is now enclosed by palisades, was a mere grass field sur- rounded by posts and rails, and sheep were feeding on it'^. Many of the great lawyers of the time had houses there, among them Lords Kenyon and Erskine, and Sir Frederick Morton Eden. This last proposed making it into an orna- mental garden, and Erskine said, " If so, it must be called tlic Garden of Eden." London was in fact very different from what it is now, even in the parts that seem to us at this time quite old- The P'oundling Hospital stood nearly alone, Hunter Street ^ Lord Clarendon says in his Lifo " that few gentlemen made journeys to London, or any other expensive journey, but upon important business, and their wives never ; by which providence they enjoyed and improved their estates in the country, and kept good hospitality in their house, brought up their children well, and were beloved by their neigh- bours." * Pennant says that "In the centre of this square Lord Russell was beheaded (1683), being the nearest open space to Newgate, where he was imprisoned." 64 Autobiographic Recollections. and those other streets now around it being unbuilt. At its back were green fields and crooked lanes. I kept my horse in Gray's Inn Lane ; within half-a-mile of it, on the north side, were fields and rural rides. Islington was a village. In the Strand, near to Catherine Street, was a block of build- ings, similar to Middle-Row, Holborn ; this was the once famous Exeter Change. The wild beasts were in rooms up- stairs, the shops below had casement windows. By North- umberland House the way was so narrow that I witnessed an accident to a small cart, which was overturned there from that cause. Portland Place was bounded on the North by a wooden railing with a stile in the middle, beyond it were fields. At the other end (the south) was the Duke of Gloucester's house in a garden. Portland Place was therefore at that time scarcely a thoroughfare. Two small streets led into it at either side of the duke's house. In the centre of Portland Place, on the left-hand side, was Lord Mansfield's residence, which was larger than the others, and still preserves something of its ancient aspect. The present Regent Street was com- posed of several small streets, the pulling down of which I saw. It was then re-named, in compliment to the Prince of Wales, whose regency lasted a decade, as did also his reign. I have a map of the year J 770, bought by my father when he visited London, in which Portman Square is repre- sented as complete only on the south side, the other three are blank ; Baker Street did not exist, and between the Square and the New Road were fields. My mother went once or twice before she was married to visit a cousin who had been domestic chaplain to George II., and had apart- ments in Kensington Palace, and she has told me that the road between Kensington and London was so dangerous at night that there was a horse patrol. Academical Society. 65 Modern Belgravia I remember as a set of swampy meadows, called St George's Fields. The streets were lighted by lamps fed with whale oil. A scheme was just at that time started, and I among others received a circular, by a man named Winsor, proposing that London should be lighted with gas. It met with no approval, and fell to the ground. But at a later time it was tried on one side of Pall Mall, and the contrast between the two modes of lighting was then so forcibly illustrated, that its success was established. Soon after my arrival in town I became a member of a debating society, called " the Academical," from the rules requiring a candidate to be a member of an University or Inn of Court. We met once a week at a room in Bell Yard, between Lincoln's Inn and the Temple, for debate. Recent politics, or allusions to living statesmen, Avere excluded. Modern History and Political Economy were occasionally touched on, and were subjects wherein I felt my deficiency. Brougham, Copley {Lord Lyndhurst), Charles Grant, after- wards Lord Glenelg, and his brother Robert, Francis Horner, Bowdler and Clason (both of these latter died young), were dis- tinguished speakers. Campbell, afterwards Lord Chief Justice, was also a member. Bowdler was a very eloquent and a very religious man. Dr Baten^iin was our President. He was a rising physician, and we chose him for the speaker, as it were, of our little parliament, because we had so many law- yers among us. The first night on which I joined I remem- ber Copley opening the debate by a motion to this effect : ''That the reign of Charles the Second was favourable to civil liberty." " This," said he, " may seem a paradox, but I care not for the character of the Sovereign, and shall dwell only upon the measures and political acts of the time." 5 55 Autobiographic Recollections. Francis Horner was four or five years senior to me. When I first saw him at the "Academical," he spoke di- rectly after my maiden speech there. I forget the subject of the evening, but remember that I was very timid and nervous. In his speech Horner very kindly alluded to "the gentleman whom they had just heard with pleasure for the first time, and whom he, and he doubted not the rest of the company, would have much pleasure in hearing again." Doubtless he saw my nervousness and wished to reassure a timid young man. His character for statesmanlike views stood so high, that Lord Carrington, who owned two close boroughs, placed him, without expense of any kind, in one of them. When in Parliament he took a very active and effective part respecting the orders in Council which im- posed considerable restrictions on foreign trade\ I must here mention my first acquaintance with Political Economy. I had heard, even when a boy, of Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations, a book much seen on University shelves, but seldom read. I now bought it, and devoted every Thurs- day to its perusal, always going over a second time what I had read on the preceding week. In this year, 1805, when on a visit to Mr Lomax of Netley Place, Surrey, I met Mr Malthus, author of the celebrated work on Population. He said that his theory was first suggested to his mind in an argumentative conversation which he had with his father on the state of some other countries. I dined daily in hall during term-time. It was not usual for the fellow-students to converse without previous introduction. We therefore arranged our parties before 1 Mr Horner died early. "A life too short for friendship, not for fame," for his death was admitted to be a public loss. Sidney Smith said of him, " There was in his look a calm, settled love of all that was honourable and good, an air of settled wisdom and sweetness." Mr Siigden. 67 taking our seats at tabic. Among my acquaintances was Mr Sugden, now Lord St Leonards, who was practising as a conveyancer under the Bar, and therefore ranked only as a student. He had published an able and acute pamphlet, showing that the usury laws had only increased instead of limiting the rate of interest, by means of evasions which legislation could not prevent. I soon discerned his acute and vigorous mind. At that time conveyancers scarcely ever went into court, and never attained to the honours of the profession. One day I suggested to him whether, with his abilities, he had taken a right course, and whether he should not practise in the Court of Chancery } He answered me that he was not anxious for the honours of the profession, and sought only an income, which he was taking the surest course to obtain. Since then conveyancers have sometimes ap- peared as counsel in cases touching wills or conveyances which they themselves had drawn ; and on such occasions as these Mr S.'s superior powers of arguing were manifested, and led to his becoming in succession Solicitor and Attorney General, and Lord Chancellor both of Ireland and England \ I saw Pitt, Fox, Sheridan, and Windham in the House of Commons : but I never heard a debate of any consequence at that time. I heard Pitt speak, but shortly, and Fox more at length both in the House, and on the hustings at Covent Garden, in a general election. Windham was not splendidly but soundly eloquent, clear, sensible, fluent, and to the point. He was the introducer of that most valuable measure " the Limited Enlistment Bill." Canning was pointed out to me, but I do not remember hearing him speak. He was good-looking, though not handsome, with a great appearance ^ Edward Burtenshaw Sugden was born in 1781, called to the bar in 1807, went into the Court of Chancery in 18 17. 5—2 68 Autobiographic Recollections. of intelligence in his face. The Anti-Jacobin had not long come out. Davys and I read it together with exceeding interest. I was present one day in Westminster Hall at the im- peachment of Lord Melville. Erskine was Chancellor and presided. Suddenly (May 3, 1805) the news came that the French Fleet had escaped our blockade, and that Nelson had fol- lowed them to the West Indies. A cousin of mine, who commanded a small vessel, was under orders to sail some- where, but hearing of this event came instantly to England with the news. Instead of being blamed he was given an- other step in the navy. People were great martinets in those days. On his way Nelson stopped at a principal island, and asked for troops. The governor promised them, and said they could be ready in a week or ten days. " I must be under weigh at sunset," replied Nelson, and he took the men as they were. Having again obtained the first prize for the Latin Prose Essay, the subject being "On the Researches and Disco- veries made by the French in Egypt, during the expedition of Napoleon there," I returned to Cambridge in June, 1805, to read it in the Senate House, and remained there till the examination for Fellowships, when I was elected on the first of October, along with my friends. Monk and Coltman. I now gave up my rooms in college and went back to Lincoln's Inn, and there applied myself more exclusively to my legal studies, and became one of five pupils in the office of Mr John Atkinson, an eminent Special Pleader, where we drew declarations, pleas, &c., which were filed among the records of the court previous to trial, and also gave opinions. These were matters of much more tech- nicality and nicety than at present. Improvements had Loi'd Kenyon. 69 indeed begun, as parties were often allowed by the Courts a judge's order to amend an error on paying the extra cost occasioned by such amendment. Subsequent acts of par- liament have done much to diminish the expense of liti- gation, and to prevent a case being decided upon a legal quibble. One of my fellow-pupils at Mr Atkinson's was Mr Hope Vere : with him I formed an intimate friendship, which con- tinued through life'. In later years we used to breakfast at each other's rooms every Sunday morning, when I was in town, and afterwards attend divine service. Sometimes we went to hear Sidney Smith, who used pointed and forcible expressions in his sermons. I used to frequent the students' box in the Court of King's Bench, in order to hear Lord EUenborough's (Chief Justice) judgments. I think he succeeded Lord Kenyon, whom I remember, when a little boy, as a judge at Not- tingham. K. was not a very educated man, and made many mistakes in a habit he had of quoting Latin upon every occasion. He was once happier in a translation. Some one was applying " abiit, evasit, erupit." "Yes," said Kenyon, " that means over the hills and far away." An unusual thing occurred in the fact of Lord Ellen- borough's joining, as a cabinet minister, Addington's short administration, which concluded peace with France in the autumn of 1801. Such a thing had not occurred for two or three hundred years, nor has happened since ; it being thought undesirable to join the high judicial functions with 1 James Joseph Hope Vere, M.P. for Newport, Hants., of Craigic Hall, CO. Linlithgow, and Blackwood, co. Lanark, Scotland. He died May 19, 1843. I regret that my father has not given any sketch of Mr Hope Vere, whose elegant manners, refined yet vigorous mind, and delightful conversation, charmed all who knew him well. 7o Autobiographic Recollections. those of the administration \ Addington was a feeble well- meaning man, and had never committed himself against the peace with France as Pitt had, who, it was said, stood aside for this purpose. [My father's change from College to legal life elicited the fol- lowing letter, which I showed to an old pupil of the writer, who honours his memory and on whose judgment I can rely, and he approved of my publishing it, adding, in reference, I suppose, to its quaint pedantry, " he wrote better Greek than English." Mr Tate was a great scholar, and a most simple and kind- hearted man. He was master of the school at Richmond, York- shire, and had many pupils who distinguished themselves at Trinity, among them Dean Peacock. He was afterwards Vicar of Edmonton, and Canon of St Paul's. Sidney Smith described him as " one of the kindest and best men that ever lived."] " Richmond, Sattirday, 1 1 yan. 1 806. "Dear Sir, " Your very valuable and magnificent, as well as most gratifying, present of the three volumes of Suidas, boundy I dare say, exactly to your wish, came safe to hand on Thursday, but too late for acknowledgment by the post of that day. •^'I take the earliest opportunity therefore of assuring you, that you could not have devised a more delightful method of obliging me. Indeed^ so handsome a gift could not fail to demonstrate the respect and good-will of the munificent giver : and I am only desirous that you should believe your ^ See some very judicious remarks of Mr Wilberforce in his Life, Vol. III. p. 258. Mr Tates Letter. 71 purpose has been most completely answered, if you wished to convince me, that any little service I may have been fortunate enough to render, was not ungraciously received. May your relinquishment of classical amenity for legal toil, as you share it with Blackstone and Jones, so turn ultimately (as it did with them) to your own honor and the good of your country. You have met with the former's most beautiful Laivyer's Fai'cwdl to his Miisc ; and of the latter you need not be told how much he realised the Attic image of that most beautiful strophe which ends Ta 2o0/« irapeSpov; HifXTretu "Epcora? — the amenities and graces of literature, UavTola^ aperafc>" [Swift wrote '•'■upon a window where tJicrc nkis no writing before'''' these lines : "Thanks to my Stars, I once can see A window here from scribbling free."] Bath was still a fashionable resort, but the race of i'ne people who in Walpole's and Mr Pitt's time had fre- quented it had passed away, and there was no one of any note there when I visited it. Beau Nash was gone, and with him the spirit of gaiety. There was a public ball at "the Upper Rooms" every Monday and Thursday, and another at " the Lower Rooms" on Fridays. The best people however would not dance there, and private balls were be- ginning to injure them. Minuets were out of fashion, although they were still danced at the court balls. The master of the ceremonies at Bath always opened his own ball with one. In the morning people drank the waters, and afterwards attended auctions " to cheapen silks and satins." Sheridan frequented Bath for some years, and of course mixed in the best society; old Lady Cork, among other Anecdote of Sheridan. 97 anecdotes which she told my wife, said that they (the Sheri- dans) found it difficult to get acquainted with the Duke of Devonshire and his family, but that some time after when they had become so, these latter in writing to her declared that they found the S.'s so agreeable, that they were staying at Bath longer than they intended on their account. I knew a little of Matthews, who had fought a duel with Sheridan. It took place in some meads near to Bath, the Cathedral bells of which were ringing at the time. Sheridan has been reputed to have constantly avoided the payment of his debts. I can state on good authority one instance of his right feeling and honourable conduct. Mr Alley, a young Irish gentleman, came to London to study for the Bar. A considerable sum of money was due from Sheridan to some deceased relative of his, the payment of which had been often promised. Mr A. obtained an interview with S., and stated that without it he could not complete his legal education. S. said that he expected on a certain day to receive a large sum, and would positively pay what was owing. Believing this as- surance, Mr A. told it to some of his friends, who ridiculed his reliance on any pecuniary promise of Sheridan. He there- fore did not call for it on the day appointed. After two or three weeks, an acquaintance to whom he mentioned it advised him to ask for it, as the application would cost him nothing but the trouble of making it. He resolved to call again, and was received by Sheridan with a burst of indig- nation. "Why didn't you come at the time appointed.-* you know not," said he, " the temptations I have had to com- bat in keeping this money for you. As you told me that your prospects in life depended on it, I scaled it up and have kept it for you in my bureau ;" so saying he took out the packet and put it into Alley's hands, who made such 7 98 Autobiographic Recollections. a good use of it that he attained great eminence as a lawyer in the Criminal Courts. This anecdote was told me by Mr Benjamin Hart, afterwards Mr Thorold of Harmstone, near Lincoln, who had it from Alley himself On my return to Cambridge early in this year, 181 1, my health being improved, I meditated resuming my profession as a provincial barrister, and put on my wig and gown for the first time at the spring assizes at Cambridge. In the course of two or three years I gradually joined the Norfolk Circuit at all the assize towns ; and in due time I acquired a larger professional income than is, I believe, now attainable by a provincial counsel under the altered laws. When I got my first wig the bill described it as a " tie-peruke." The bar- rister's wig is but the dress wig of a gentleman of the old time. I remember on circuit at the Judge's dinner at Cam- bridge and Norwich, it was the custom for all to be in their wigs and gowns. Serjeant Frere got up a petition to the judges to ask them to permit their discontinuance, which they agreed to on the condition that they themselves should not be expected to wear them*. In March, the Duke of Grafton, Chancellor of the Uni- versity, died. The Duke of Gloucester (Prince William), nephew to the King, who had graduated at Trinity College many years before, was a candidate for the vacant office. His hostility to West Indian Slavery gave him many sup- porters among those who, for political reasons, would have preferred his opponent, the Duke of Rutland, and he was elected by a majority of 117. The Installation which followed was extremely grand, for there had never been one in any one's recollection ^ The 1 Lord Eldon, while Chancellor, wore his wig whenever he appeared in general society. 2 For a curious account of it see Camb. Univ. Calend. for 181 2. Duke of Gloucester chosen Chancellor. 99 Duke of Grafton had been elected in 1768, and had therefore filled the office during forty-three years. He was one of the King's ministers at the time of his election, and one of those statesmen against whom the letters of Junius were directed. He never had the good taste or feeling to come down to Cambridge during the long period in which he held office there. Mansel was master at the time that the Duke of Gloucester was elected, who had been in the habit of coming occasionally to Trinity Lodge. On these visits Mansel used to ask some of the resident fellows (myself among the num- ber) to supper. The Duke was a very simple-minded man. I remember his quoting an epigram which had been lately made, and asking who was the author of it } ON DR DOUGLAS' MARRIAGE WITH MISS MAINWARING. " St Paul has declared that persons though twain, In marriage united one flesh shall remain : But had he been by when, like Pharaoh's kine pairing, Dr Douglas of Bene't espoused Miss Mainwaring, The Apostle no doubt would have altered his tone, And said these ' two splinters shall make but one bone.' " I must now mention that Mansel was fond of writing epigrams, and that he used to repeat them in hall, prefacing them with " that wicked man Vince has made another epi- gram !" Vince was a dull matter-of-fact man, I mean so far as esprit in conversation was concerned, though a first-rate mathematician, a Senior Wrangler, and author of the Trea- tises which the undergraduates read and studied. He heard The Duke arrived on Friday, June 28th, in his coach and six, and left after witnessing a balloon ascent from the great Court of Trinity, on Wednesday, July 3rd. 7—2 lOO AtUobiographic Recollections. of this particular epigram being attributed to him, and actu- ally called on Dr Douglas to assure him that he did not write it. D. was quite a gentleman, and said that he never suspected that he did\ When the Duke of Gloucester enquired as to the authorship of this epigram. Greenwood, who was sitting opposite to him gravely said, " I believe Prof Vince, it was always attributed to him." The Duke was quite satisfied with this answer. I watched Mansel, who had great command of countenance, and I thought he seemed relieved to have the matter over. I have lately read an article in the Quarterly Revieiv on Epigrams, and thought it written in a high and good tone. My own feeling has ever been that epigrams are perfectly fair on deformity of conduct, but not on personal deformity. The vacancy in the University Representation made by Lord Euston was again contested by Lord Palmerston, then still a tory, and by John Henry Smyth, of Heath in York- shire, a whig, who had obtained three Browne's Medals. The numbers were P. 451, J. H. S. 345. 18 1 2. Mr Spencer Perceval was assassinated May 11. I was staying in town at the Tavistock Hotel. On that evening Perronet Thompson came to me and told me that Perceval was shot. Within the hour he had gone down with his father (M.P. for Midhurst) to attend the debate, and had heard this news. I said, " Let us go and see what is doing," so we walked about the town, and saw people standing at their doors, discussing this strange event. The excitement 1 The late Sir Astley Cooper told me that he had asked Prof. Vince to call upon him, giving him his address in Square, and that he had promised to do so. Meeting him some time after, Sir A. C. enquired of the Professor why he had never been to see him ? "I did come," said v., " but there was some mistake ; you told me that you lived in a square and I found myself in a parallelogram, and so I went away again." Mr Perceval assassinated. loi was intense, and it was thought that this might be the com- mencement of a concerted plan for revolution. Perceval was a bad minister and very unpopular, but a man of consider- able talent, and who had avowed strong religious feeling. I think it was in this year, or thereabouts, that Mr Pigott, Rector of Gilling, Yorkshire, and formerly Fellow of Trinity College, communicated to Hailstone, our Bursar, his intention to bequeath to the college, as he had no near relations, his advowson of Gilling, and to give immediately £\2,Q)QiQ) for the purchase of two other livings. All matters requiring the college seal are administered by the Master and the sixteen resident Senior Fellows, which number just included Professor Monk and myself. He proposed to rtle, and I thoroughly agreed with him, that as the College had many livings in its gift of too small a value to induce any fellows to take them, it would be better instead of pur- chasing more livings to appropriate this sum to augmenting five of them, thereby quickening the succession, which was often delayed till long past the prime of life. We privately proposed, and gradually persuaded others among the six- teen to accede to this plan, which also contemplated, with a view to a more prolonged residence, and a better observance of religion, to augment those livings only, the population of which exceeded eight hundred, and to make the extra pay- ment for each year conditional upon residence for a certain number of months, unless leave of absence should be granted by the bishop on account of the ill-health of the incumbent. When the proposal came before us officially, the Bursar, who was a native of Yorkshire, was commissioned to see Mr Pigott and obtain his consent. This was readily given, and Hitchin, Ware, and Masham were among the livings so dealt with. The slowness of the succession to livings may be illus- 102 Autobiographic Recollections. trated by the following instance. The Rev. John Davies, Vice-Master, told me that he had long wished to marry a lady who was a distant relation of his, but had never ven- tured to declare his sentiments to her ; that he lingered on in "hope deferred" till in his fifty-second year, when the offer of a living came to him. But he thought it too late in life to make the change, and resolved to die in college. This was the person to whom I have alluded in my " Ode to Trinity College." " He deemed too much of life gone by : Fate had dissolv'd each early tie, And left no wish, but here to die." CHAPTER VI. 1813 — 1815. Marriage — Toivii ajfairs — First brief at Cambridge — Sir IVm. Gar- rota — Severity of the Law — Circuinstaiitial Evidence — Curious trials — Madness of Criminals — Judge Richardson — Lord Tenterden — Lord Erskine — Derivation of the zuord Chancellor — LLenry Crabb Robinson — Great Frost — War with France — Burke's Speeches — Lord North — Warren LLastings — Professor Smithso?i Tennant — Mr Whishaio — His opinion of Madame de Stael — Clubs at Cam- bridge — True Blue — Speculative — Union Society — County CI id). TN August, 18 1 3, I was married to Miss Jane Townley -■- Thackeray, daughter of the late Thomas Thackeray, Esq., an eminent consulting surgeon at Cambridge, and sister to Dr Frederick Thackeray, physician in the same town. We at first resided at Barnwell Abbey \ We had only two chil- dren, and they were baptised by the christian names of Charles and Alicia, and were entered in the parish register under the ancient surname (de la.Pryme) of my forefathers. I have hitherto only spoken of my University life ; I will now attempt to trace the beginning of my social and political relations with the Town of Cambridge, which increased with advancing years, till they culminated in that point which it ^ It had belonged to the Augustine Canons, and Richard II. when he held a Parliament at King's Hall (Trin. Coll.) took up his abode there. I04 Atttobiographic Recollections. has ever been my pride and pleasure to look back upon, my being chosen to represent the Borough of Cambridge in three pariiaments. Not long after I quitted college I attended some public meeting which took place, and made a short speech, apologising for myself, as a member of the University, for taking part in the affairs of the Town, but hoping that as I had become a householder it would not be deemed im- proper. This remark was greeted with approbation by some of the principal inhabitants of the Town, who said they wished that such participation by University men in their affairs was of more frequent occurrence. I was soon after elected a Paving Commissioner, and took an active part in all local matters. I now steadily pursued my profession. One of my first briefs at Cambridge was in defence of an undergraduate, charged with wilfully setting fire to his College. Sir William Garrow, Solicitor General, was specially retained ; Mr Best and I were his juniors. I had to see Garrow three or four times in London, and give him particulars of the case, as I had attended every deposition of witnesses before the committing magistrates. He was very kind to me, and gave me many valuable hints for the conduct of cases, more especially as to a cautious discretion in examination, which I afterwards found of the greatest use. My client was ac- quitted. Verdicts sometimes turned upon curious technicalities. I remember being counsel for the prosecution in a murder case at Ely. Two men had been in the habit of poaching. One night one of them called the other out from his bed, and he was never seen more. The former had murdered and buried him in a little grove of trees not far from his house. Yet, though the guilt was cleariy proved, there was some fear lest the murderer should escape on the technical objec- Severity of the Law. 105 tion that the boundary of the county ran through tJiat grove, and it could not be strictly proved in which county the murdered man was found. It was however stated that it (the boundary) was on one side of a crooked ditch. Seeing Mr Page in court, who had a great knowledge of the Isle of Ely, I appealed to him, though he was not called as a witness. He agreed to be sworn, took his place in the witness-box, and gave evidence as to which side of the crooked ditch the county was. This decided the matter, and but for this the murderer would have escaped. He was hung and left on the gibbet. As the law stood, a pri- soner could not be indicted in one county for an offence which took place in another. There was practical and substantial justice in this, as a poor man might be unable to bear the expense of bringing his witnesses from a distance. But after a time the difficulty was removed by an Act of Parliament, which provided, that it should be sufficient if it were proved that the crime occurred within 500 yards of the boundary between the two counties. The amount of punishment by death was awful ; horse- stealing, burglary, and highway-robbery were all capital offences, and even smaller crimes, such as trying to injure animals. Daniel Dawson was a rider at Newmarket. He was tried before Judge Heath for poisoning the water of which some horses, intended for the races, drank. There was a drinking-trough for them on the race- course, and in order to prevent an injury of this kind it was enclosed and locked. Dawson bored a hole, and poured in some injurious liquid intended to make them ill. It so happened that the horses did not drink as he expected they would, and he added more and more, supposing that he had not made it strong enough. When, at last, the cover was taken off, the water was so poisoned that one of the horses who drank io6 AtUobiographic Recollections. of it died. I heard him tried. He was found guilty and actually executed \ Passing flash notes was another capital offence. A man named Bird was tried for offering one to a woman at Coton, Cambs., in payment for a looking-glass, which he pretended to have taken a fancy for, receiving the change ; and he was executed. A man could suffer death for stealing from a dwelling-fiouse any article worth Afis., or from a shop worth 5J-. In a robbery at Nottingham, where two men entered a hosiery warehouse and stole £'jo worth of goods, it was made a capital offence, because a door communicated be- tween the warehouse and the dwelling, which was ruled to make it a burglary. They were convicted and sentenced to death. One of them had committed two or three slight offences previously ; the other was quite a young man of seventeen years, and this was his first offence, but the judge made no distinction. Such distinctions were, however, after- wards made when public opinion changed, because a man so committed might have been previously guilty of other offences. On one occasion when five men were tried for a serious crime, I was counsel for the prosecution. All were found guilty. Garrow, who was a very humane man, re- prieved two of them, and consulted me as to whether he should sentence three or one of the rest. Of course I was in favour of mercy ; and only the worst, who appeared to have been the chief instigator of the others, suffered death. ^ " A case of poisoning a race-horse came before the Recorder of Barnstaple last week. The prisoner, George Woolacoit, groom, was indicted for administering poison to a mare called ' Little Sally,' before the Barnstaple races. Immediately after the prisoner left the mare she grew very sick and vomited, dying in great agony on the morning of the race-day. The jury found him guilty, and the Recorder said he could not pass a lighter sentence than penal servitude for five years." — Guardian, July 8, 1868. Circumstantial Evidence. 107 I remember an instance of Richardson's humanity. A man was tried at Cambridge before him, and sentenced to seven years' transportation. Immediately were heard shrieks and cries which proceeded from his wife, who was present. The judge enquiring from whence they came, observed to her, " You are well rid of such a man." "My Lord," she said vehemently, "he was always a kind and good husband to me." "Well," replied Richardson, "there is some good in him then." A sentence is never irrevocable while the judge remains in the assize town. The next day R. said in court that he had looked over the depositions, and on re-con- sideration should change the punishment to two years' im- prisonment with hard labour. Romilly and others endeavoured to soften the penal code, and very wisely attacked only one or two of its severest enactments, as for instance, the law which inflicted capital punishment for stealing goods of the value of five shillings from a shop. When Romilly tried to repeal this, Lord Ellenborough effectually opposed it in the House of Lords. While I am upon the subject of trials I will mention a few more which also came within my own knowledge, and turned upon circumstantial evidence, which is not always to be depended upon, I will give an instance of this related to me some time ago by a magistrate in Bucks., and con- firmed by another, both having been present at the inves- tigation. A woman disappeared from a village, and about ten days after a body was found murdered in a wood not far off. Decomposition had begun ; yet there was form enough left in the features to point them out, together with the clothing and general appearance, as those of the missing woman. But all doubt was set at rest by a peculiar trans- verse scar on one arm which she was known to have had. A man was taken into custody, and evidence was given io8 AtitobiograpJiic Recollections. that he had been seen walking with the deceased on the London road, and towards this wood, on the day of her being missed. He was on the point of being committed by the Coroner for wilful murder, when a villager came forward and said, " That is not the body of ," naming her, " for she is still alive and in London." When asked how he could prove it, he answered, " Give me some money for the jour- ney and I'll go and fetch her." The inquest was adjourned, the real woman produced, and it was never discovered who the one murdered was, I remember also a curious trial at Norwich when Parke was judge. A highway robbery had been committed, and two weavers were accused of the crime. They were remark- able looking persons of different height. The prosecutor who had been robbed, and several witnesses who had met them near the spot, swore to them ; the jury, however, ac- quitted them, and the judge said that they left the court with unimpeachable characters. The explanation is this. There were two more weavers, exactly resembling the others in appearance and relative height and dress, who had really been the robbers, and the guiltless couple were proved to have been only walking near the spot, and within an hour or two of the time when the robbery was committed. There was a clergyman named Waterhouse, of St Catha- rine's College, Cambridge, who held the living of Little Stukeley, Hunts. His servants were, one day, all out in the field, and he was murdered in his own house in open day-light, A man was apprehended and condemned to death on circumstantial evidence. He had been seen to cross the Huntingdon road by a tunnel, through which a water- course ran, soon after the murder, and in his possession was found a bill-hook with some blood and snow-white woolly hairs upon it. The deceased was remarkable for snow-white Curious Trials. 1 09 woolly hair. The judge, Garrow, told us at the dinner at Ikiry St Edmund's, that he was not quite satisfied with the evidence, and had sent a fortnight's respite. At that time the execution of a murderer took place on the third day after sentence was passed ; the more dreadful the offence the less time given to repent of it\ When the respite reached the under-sheriff (Mr Margetts), a curious circumstance had hap- pened, and with his, what I call, strong and accurate sense, he told the gaoler not to inform the man of the respite. He then himself set off to tell the judge what had occurred. The prisoner being taken by the turnkeys to walk in the prison yard,, and looking up while there, saw at a window another man, confined for debt, a man with snow-white hair, and so much resembling Mr Waterhouse that he believed it was his ghost, and immediately confessed his crime. When Garrow heard of this he decided that the respite, having been granted, should continue, but that the culprit should be executed at its termination. The remarkable fact, as bearing on cir- cumstantial evidence was, that in his confession he said that he did not commit the murder with the bill, but with a sword belonging to Mr W., which he threw away in a wood near the house, and that the blood and white hairs were those of a sheep ! On searching the wood the sword was found as he had described. I never knew a criminal executed for murder who was afterwards found to be innocent, but I remember hearing of a man who suffered capital punishment at York about thirty years ago, and that it was afterwards supposed to be a case of mistaken identity. It is a fashion now to excuse criminals ^ Sentence of Death. An Act passed, July 14, 1836, repealing those parts of the Statute which ordered execution in three days, the pro- nouncing of the sentence immediately after conviction, and the feeding of the culprit on bread and water only. no Atitobiographic Recollections. on account of madness. I believe that this is often simulated. I remember a man being tried for the murder of his wife. He was acquitted on the ground of insanity, and confined as a lunatic. My own opinion at the time was that the lunacy was assumed. Some years after, in a trial in which I was engaged as counsel, I had occasion to call this very man as a witness. I said to the keeper, in whose charge he was, " How lately has he shown symptoms of insanity.?" and he answered me, " Never since the trial." [I asked my father who was the best Judge he ever knew.'' After some consideration, he said,] Richardson was most to my mind. Heath was severe, but inclining to admit technical objections. Lord Tenterden was a very able judge. He came our circuit as Mr Justice Abbot, and I saw a good deal of him at Thetford, which is, curiously enough, at the very edge of the county, so that a few houses are not in Norfolk at all. Only one judge came there, and remained a week, from Saturday to Saturday. On these occasions Abbot would ask some of us to dine at his lodgings ; the parties were of six, and after dinner we played two rubbers each, and sat out two. He afterwards succeeded Lord Ellenborough as Chief Justice of the King's Bench. He was a classical scholar, and had obtained the only two prizes given at that time at Oxford. [My father added to me, "I have a grateful recollection of him, for he paid me a high compliment once in the Court of King's Bench. I had gone up to argue some case, which had been trans- ferred to it from the Norfolk Circuit. Scarlett was first, and 'did not say much; I followed, and Parke, who was my junior, was next proceed- ing to say, 'after the case has been ably argued by Mr Pryme,' when Lord Tenterden interposed, ^very ably argued'." I hope I may be excused adding this testimony to my father's Derivation of the zvoi'd Chancellor, 1 1 1 ability as a lawyer, which, with many other gratifying circumstances, it never occurred to him to dictate himself. My father lived in the times of fourteen Chancellors, commencing with Lord Thurlow and ending with Lord Cairns. Three of them were twice over in office, and Lord Eldon held the great seal more than twenty-four years. I asked him which of them he considered the best? He said, " Eldon would have been but for his indecision." He was inclined to think Pepys (Lord Cottenham) the best, but doubted between him and Wilde (Lord Truro)\" "It was against Erskine that he had not prac- tised in Chancery. I heard him often, both as counsel and Chancellor. Once in an appeal he showed his surprise at an act of bankruptcy having been declared differently before the masters and before the commissioners. ' Can this be so?' he said, and he had to be assured that it was the practice"." My father then mentioned some humorous lines on the deriva- tion of the word Chancellor, quoting the four last. I have met with a copy among his papers and will give them all.] THE DERIVATION OF CHANCELLOR. The Chancellor, so says Lord Coke^, His title from cancello took ; And every cause before him tried It was his duty to decide. Lord Eldon, hesitating ever, Takes it from chanceler, to weaver, And thinks, as this may bear him out. His bounden duty is to doi/bt. On the Northern Circuit there was an appointment of a poet laureate, who was expected to make and recite an- ^ Lord Kingsdown says, in his Recollections of the Bar, that " Lord Cottenham was certainly as long as I remained at the Bar one of the best Judges I ever saw on the Bench." * " Lords Erskine, Lyndhurst, Brougham, and Campbell, all under- took the highest judicial office in Chancery, without ever having had the slightest practice there.'' — Edinburgh Review, No. 263. ^ 4 Inst. 88. 112 Autobiographic Recollections. nually, at the barristers' dinner, a set of verses connected with matters interesting to the Bar; and also of an Attorney- General, who was to bring forward any transgressions of the understood rules of the society. This plan was adopted on the Norfolk Circuit, and I was appointed poet laureate, which office I retained for many years, and on my resignation of it Mr Raymond was elected. The small pieces were collected and written in a volume. I cannot quote any of them, for I lent it to Mackworth Praed, who was a member, and after his death I tried, but in vain, to get it back. [Barristers on circuit were thrown together in those days for a' much longer time than at present, and consequently there was a greater necessity for intimacies between those whose tastes were in accordance, and of courteous civility towards others. My father made many pleasant acquaintances in this way, of whom, I regret to say, he has only left a solitary record. The names of Sergeants Blosset and Storks, of West, Maltby, Andrews, and Austin, all recall the friendliness. of days gone by.] Among my brother circuiteers was Henry Crabb Robinson, who came to the bar when he was nearly forty years old. We made a permanent compact for travelling together in my carriage with post-horses, the expense of which we shared. He showed considerable powers of mind in his ad- dresses to juries. He told me that when he had augmented his small private property to a certain amount he should quit the profession and return to a literary life. Some of our brother barristers thought it good in intention but impro- bable in execution. He acquainted me every year with his progress towards this intellectual enjoyment, and so strictly did he adhere to his resolution that when he had attained his point he abandoned his practice in the middle of a circuit. He is now (1865), at the age of 90, indulging his social and Burke s Speeches. 1 1 3 literary tastes. He had the rare good fortune of being inti- mate with Goethe,Wordsworth, Coleridge, Lamb, and Southey. In 1 8 14 the frost was so sharp and the scarcity of coals so great, there being no land-carriage for them, and the rivers all frozen, that some of the trees in St John's College were cut down for firing, and at all the colleges two or three men sat together in one room. I gave a very high price for a sack of coals, to fetch which I sent a man and horse to Bottisham. We were still at war with France, though the end was approaching. The splendid victories of Lord Wellesley in Spain, Nelson's battles, and now the allied armies, were all against Napoleon. I differ from Burke about France. His writings, which I have been lately re-reading, advised nothing less than its complete subjugation. I think it may be said of him, and others who supported his policy of intermi- nable war with France, " Dum obstare vellent promovebant." Sir James Mackintosh took the other side, in a book called Vindicice Galliccs. In his views of America and India I concur. With judicious policy I think we might have kept the former as we have kept Canada; but would this have been expedient or permanent .-' The speeches of Burke would not be endured now, they are so diffuse ; there is not one of them which might not have been spoken in half the words. They fill two thick octavo volumes, and show the ju<5tice of those lines in Gold- smith's Retaliation : * " He went on refining, And thought of convincing while they thought of dining." He was a man of splendid talents, and had a command of fine language, but was wanting in judgment; that pas- sage in his speech about Marie Antoinette, that in the age 8 114 ^ iitobiographic Recollections. of chivalry a thousand swords would have leapt from their scabbards to avenge even a look that had offered her insult, is splendid nonsense, unworthy of a college declamation \ There is a traditional anecdote in the House of Commons that Burke, in making a speech in favour of economy and retrenchment, quoted against Lord North the line of Tacitus, " Magnum vectigal parsimonia est." Lord North interrupt- ed him to say, "The honourable member should have pro- nounced it vectigal ;" whereupon Burke continued, " I thank the noble Lord for his correction, as it gives me the opportu- nity of repeating the line ' Magnum vectigal parsimonia est'." Lord North was minister when I was born. He had a refined taste in literature, but was hardly of the calibre for a Prime Minister, and did not manage the American war well. He had a habit of sleeping in the house ; a member making a dull speech against the government, thought to give point to it by saying, " and there is its head fast asleep on the treasury bench." Lord N., who was not really asleep, roused himself and said, " Would that I were." Burke died before I went to town^ He was the con- ductor of the impeachment of Warren Hastings. He had a pension in the latter part of his life, and it was thought that he was never so independent afterwards. [Of Hastings my father said, " There could be no doubt what- ever that Hastings acted in a very tyrannical manner, and the only excuse, if excuse there could be, was that he might mean to support the British government." Cowper thus defends him : " While young humane, conversable and kind ; Nor can I well believe thee, gentle then, Now grown a villain, and the worst of men."] 1 Burke was told by Sir Philip Francis that the celebrated passage in his Reflections in praise of Marie Antoinette was " pure foppery," and urged by him to suppress its publication. 2 July 8th, 1797. Professor SmitJison Ten nan t. 115 181 5, In February I lost a relative and intimate friend in Smithson Tennant, M.D., F.R.S., Professor of Chemistry at Cambridge. He was known throughout Europe by several important discoveries, among others that the diamond is the purest form of carbon, which he explained in the Philosophi- cal Transactions. He was killed at Boulogne as he was riding over a drawbridge in company of General Bulow, having been to see Buonaparte's Pillar. General B. was only a little hurt, as he had nearly crossed the drawbridge, which was insecurely fastened, before it fell, having called out to his friend when he saw the danger, but in vain, to bid him. stop. He died in half-an-hour, having fallen into the trench below and fractured his skull. General B. soon re- covered, and afterwards commanded a detachment of the Prussian army at Waterloo. Prof Tennant's desk and papers were immediately seized and put under seal by the French police. Enquiries were made in England for his relatives by Messrs Adams, bankers at Boulogne. We believed that he died intestate, and before letters of administration could be obtained the news arrived of Buonaparte's landing from Elba and again making himself Emperor of France. We urged the sending over his papers, &c. lest war should break out, and were informed by Messrs Adams that they could not be obtained before administration was granted, but that the delay was immaterial, as in any case his effects would be sent over to us. We accordingly received them, after war had been declared, by a neutral vessel, without any charge being made by the police, I mention this circumstance to show the gradual progress of liberality in the Law of Nations. Tennant was buried in the cemetery at Bou- logne. Hayes, a Lay Fellow of Trinity, wrote his epitaph in Latin, and Whishaw revised it. Whishaw was of Trinity, a great friend of Tennant, and a very learned man ; he 8—2 ii6 Autobiographic Recollections. had a private fortune, and therefore did not sit for a fellow- ship. He wrote a short Biographical Memoir of Tennant, which was privately printed for distribution. A copy is in the University Library. [Mr Whishaw was of the Chancery Bar, and one of the commis- sioners for auditing the public accounts. Francis Horner speaks of him as " a very particular friend of mine, a most excellent critic and accurate in his opinions of characters." If so, there may be some value attachable to his description of a very distinguished woman, which I have found in a letter from him to Professor Tennant, preserved among my father's papers. "Since I wrote last I have seen Madame de Stael several times. She has seen and read a good deal, and is very lively and flowing in her conversation. ' Satis eloquentiae, sapi- eiiticc paruin.' She is about to publish a Pamphlet on Suicide, a trite, common-place subject, fit only for a College exercise, or a sermon ; and afterwards some letters on the manners and literature of Germany." In my father's library is a miniature copy of Boethius, a Dutch edition, date cbbcxxxiiL In it is written "Smithson Tennant's Book given to him for reading the first Chapter of St John's Gospel out of English into Greek 1769, when he was eight years and one month old."] Henry Warburton, M.P. for Bridport, was also a great friend of Tennant. He said that he should do what the administrators could not do, i.e. buy some of his valuable books and present them to his friends, which he was sure he would have wished done. S. T, had a farm of 500 acres at Cheddar, in Somerset- shire, where he experimented in connexion with agriculture. He was very well read in Political Economy, and we used to discuss that subject before I gave my lectures ; for we were, besides being relations, so intimate that he used to say when I came to town, " There is always breakfast at nine o'clock " (at his chambers in the Temple), and we also, when not Chibs at Cambridge. 117 otherwise engaged, dined together at the Grecian Coffee- House in the Strand. I often met in his company a learned chemist, with whom he shared the expense of certain great experiments. I also had the advantage of meeting scientific men at the house of my wife's relative, Major Rennell, F.R.S., among others Sir Humphry Davy. It shows the necessity of not disregarding slight discoveries, that the fact of D.'s ascer- taining that gas would not ignite through a tube was at first laughed at. When he came to determine what length the tube must be, he found the safety lamp (18 16). Tennant was succeeded in his Professorship at Cambridge by Gumming; a kind as well as truly learned man, who but for weak health and want of ambition might have been in the foremost rank of discoverers. June 18, for ever memorable as the day on which the battle of Waterloo was fought. I was in London when the news came. An address was voted by the University. In my early days the " Cambridge Union" did not exist. The only clubs that I can recollect were "The True Blue," said traditionally to have existed from the time of the revolution of 1688, and to have taken its colour in opposition to the Orange of King William, An especial dress, including a blue coat, was worn by the members, who were few in number, and it was confined to Trinity College. It was re- puted to be a hard-drinking club. The other, called " The Speculative," after a great debating society at Edinburgh, met once a week in term time, and consisted of twenty members ; Pattison (afterwards Judge), Sumner (Bp. of Winchester), and Pearson (aftenvards Archdeacon, and son of the eminent surgeon of that name), and I, belonged to it. The present "Union" was formed in 181 5, as its name implies, by the junction of two rival societies. It first met in a small room at the back of the Red Lion Inn, ii8 Autobiographic Recollections. and afterwards removed to premises in Green Street, which had been formerly used as a dissenting chapel. Dr Wood, Master of St John's, when Vice-Chancellor, in 1817, came (like Cromwell to the House of Commons,) with his two Proctors to the " Union," and commanded its dissolution on the ground that it was political. One of these told me that he did not like it, but felt obliged to obey orders. Some years later {1820), when Dr Wordsworth, Master of Trinity, was Vice-Chancellor, he sent for two or three of the leading men of the dissolved " Union," and proposed that if they would frame a set of rules prohibiting discussion on the character of any living politician, or debates on modern politics, and submit these to him, they should be permitted to re-assemble. This was accordingly done. Modern politics are now allowed. [How are times changed ! This Society, which at its origin was contained in a small room, now numbers between 4 and 5,000 sub- scribers, and possesses a valuable library of about 8,000 volumes. It moved into a new building behind St Sepulchre's church on Oct. 30, 1866, which was opened by the Earl of Powis. There was a debate on that evening; the subject being, "that this house views with regret the late substitution of a Conservative for a Liberal Government." After putting satisfaction for regret, the motion was carried by a majority of 120. Dr Wood, were he living, might reasonably complain now of discussions concerning, not the politics, but the manners of^ the period.] I was invited to become one of the members of the Cambridge County Club, and I have remained so for more than fifty years, being now (Oct. 1868) the senior member \ The number was at t/iat time limited to forty members, who met at a social dinner five times a year at the Red ' His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales (while residing at Mading- Icy) was elected an Honorary Member, April 1861. County Club. 1 1 9 Lion Inn ; it was understood that political discussion was excluded. Such clubs formerly existed in every county, but now survive in only two or three. We were a most harmonious body, though including men of very different opinions in religion and politics. It consisted of the prin- cipal gentlemen and clergy of the county, two among the former being Roman Catholics ; and such was the kindly feeling, that it was intimated to them that, if tJicy would wish it, the day should be changed when it fell upon a Friday to some other ; but they declined this, saying that there was always an abundance of fish and such things as they might eat. [The members of this club enjoyed the feast of reason as well as that other excellent one which "mine host" of the Red Lion pro- verbially sets before his guests. One of them wrote down for my father, during dinner, these lines, which may be new to some ; they were made by the Chancellor, Lord Hardwicke, on sending a hare to a friend who was a poet : " Mitto tibi leporem — vestros mihi mitte lepores, Sal mea commendat munera — vestra sales — ."] CHAPTER VII. 1816. Establishment of Lectures on Political Economy — Dr Kaye — Professor Sfnyth — First auditors — W. M. Thackeray — French Economists — Letters from M. Say and Mr McCulloch. 1 8 16. T3EFORE I left college I meditated giving a ^ course of lectures on Political Economy, and had continued my reading in reference to this object, for I deeply felt the importance of making that science, which has since influenced to so great a degree the legislation of Great Britain and its treaties with other countries, a part of a liberal education. Hitherto no lectures had been given upon it in any University of the United Kingdom ; but Dugald Stewart, Professor of Moral Philosophy at Edinburgh, had in 1806 added to his own lectures for two or three years a supernumerary, supplemental course on that study, and Professor Smyth, in his lectures on Modern History, had explained some points regarding it. I apprehended con- siderable opposition to so novel an attempt, and I waited till Dr Kaye, master of Christ's College, and afterwards bishop of Lincoln, became Vice-chancellor in 18 15. I knew that he was a man of generally liberal views, for he had been private secretary to Lord Henry Petty, when Chan- cellor of the Exchequer. He expressed himself at the first Lectures on Political Economy. 121 mention of my wishes highly favourable to them, but said he wished to consult the Heads. A few days afterwards he sent for me, and stated that on mentioning it to them they granted my request, but expressed a wish, which he thought reasonable, that I should not give my lectures at an earlier hour than twelve o'clock, lest they should inter- fere with college lectures, to which I instantly assented. Dr Kaye added, " some of them wished me to withhold my consent altogether ; I of course treated such a suggestion as it deserved." I am reminded here of a change which Professor Smyth effected. His predecessor in the chair of modern history, Symonds, had been restricted in the number of his pupils by the Heads, who were afraid of any interference with the regular studies of the University, to twenty-six (I speak from memory only), nominated by themselves. When Smyth was appointed by the Crown, he refused to abide by this plan, and admitted all who chose to come. I now set myself to compose a course of lectures in my leisure hours, which I commenced delivering in March 18 16. They were elementary and eclectic, but contained somewhat not exactly to be found in any books. [Those at Oxford, which were not commenced till long afterwards, were on a totally different plan.] [" They attempted to analyse the original and efficient causes of national prosperity — to shew by what measures of the legislature, and by what conduct of individuals in private life, it is augmented or diminished — and to assist the reader of history in explaining the phaenomena of the strength or weakness, the rise or fall, of States. They were of an elementary and popular nature, requiring no previous knowledge of the subject. They were intended to facilitate the study of a science hitherto inaccessible without the most arduous perseverance; to simplify the order, explain the 122 Autobiographic Recollections. obscurities, and point out the errors of Adam Smith's Enqtiiry into the Wealth of Nations ; to combine with his discoveries what the experience of subsequent events, and the researches of subsequent authors have taught, and to place some part of the subject in a point of view different from what any writer had done. Their plan was — first, to trace the history of national wealth from the rudest to the richest state of society, and to examine each change as it naturally arises in the progress of opulence and civilization ; secondly, briefly to explain the systems of the ancients, of Dr Paley, of the French Economists, and what is called the commercial system; and thirdly, to explain the principles of taxation and finance'." The science had in fact at that time to be made, to be culled from different authors, and arranged in one comprehensive and, as far as could be, popular scheme. And this my father did for his Cam- bridge Lectures, collecting a quantity of books in different languages on Currency, Commerce, Manufactures, Population, Prices, &c., ex- tracting their information, and harmonising it into a whole, with the addition of his own viewsl] My first audience consisted of about 45 persons, some of whom were graduates and fellows of colleges. I give their names as showing their liberality, and out of gratitude to them that they assisted me by their presence in this first introduction of the new science to the University of Cam- bridge. Professor Monk, M.A. Trinity. Rev. R. Jefferson, M.A. Sidney. Professor Clarke, LL.D. Jesus. Rev. P. P. Dobree, M.A. Trinity. Professor Smyth, M.A. Peterhouse. — Graham, Trinity. Rev. G. C. Renouard, M.A. Sidney (prevented from attending by illness). 1 Camb. Calendar, 1862. 2 These books (more than 700) arc bequeathed to the University Library at Cambridge, for the use of his successors. First Auditors. 12 Rev. J. Brown, M.A. Trinity. Mr Hodgson, - Trinity. Sir R. Ferguson, Trinity, H. Gunning, M.A. Christ's. G. Stevenson, B.A. Trinity. F. Thackeray, M.B. • Emmanuel. Mr F. P. Montague, Peterhouse. Samuel Grove Price, A.B. Downing. — Sperling, Trinity. Rev. J. D. Hustler, M.A. Trinity. Marchese di Spineto, Cambridge. Rev. T. Bradburne, M.A. Christ's. — Crowther, Trinity. Thomas Jas. Thackeray, John's. Charles Finch, Cambridge. Martin Thackeray, M.A, King's, E, Valentine Blomfield, M.A. Emmanuel. One of my auditors in later years was Wm, Makepeace Thackeray, and I have the syllabus which he used, with some of his pencilled sketches in it. Then, and ever after, I carefully abstained from any political allusions, and had the gratification of being told by Mr Price of Downing College, afterwards M.P, for Harwich, with whom I was well acquainted, a man of extreme tory opinions, that he had tried in vain to discover any indication of a political bias ; that he thought that he certainly should do so when I came to the concluding subject of taxation, but that he had watched in vain\ 1 " It was hard to prevent those to whom the science was new from imagining that it had something to do with party poHtics, which, in his own words, had about as much to do with PoHtical Economy as they had with manufactures or agriculture." — Life of Archbishop Whately, Vol. I. p. 143. 124 AiUobiographic Recollections. In my early courses I vindicated Brutus from an accusa- tion of an usurious transaction preferred against him by Adam Smith in his Wealth of Nations. On its being sug- gested to me that this might induce a supposition of poHtical bias on my part, I expunged the passage. I may here men- tion that the whole of the French economists who flourished in the beginning and middle of the i8th century, expressed themselves in their works as adverse to any restriction on the power of the Sovereign. Sir James Stuart and Adam Smith, the only eminent English writers on the subject at the time I commenced my lectures, were, the one an exiled Jacobite, the other an extreme tory. It was the French economists who first traced the natural progress of industry in civilised society, taught us what were the objects in which wealth consisted, and demonstrated the superior value of agriculture, the advantages of internal over foreign commerce, the mischief of restraints on the freedom of trade, and the necessary connection which sub- sists between the prosperity of states and the liberty of the subject. The- great business of the political economist is to ascer- tain on what the general riches and prosperity of a country depend, and what laws and lawgivers can do to promote it. It is taken for granted that in doing so they will promote its happiness at the same time. Moralists and divines have sometimes thought otherwise, but the fact seems to be that their labours and those of the political economist must assist each other. Men are not in fact capable of moral and religious instruction when they are only anxious how to provide the necessaries of life for them- selves and their families ; and they seem best fitted, perhaps only fitted, for intellectual improvement, while not merely the necessaries but the comforts of life are enjoyed. Letter from M. Say. 125 [In this place I may not inopportunely insert a letter from a French Economist.] "J. B. Say to G. Pryme, Esq. " Monsieur, "J'ai re^Li il y a seulemcnt une quinzaine des jours votre Syllabus et Fobligcante lettre dont il etait accom- pagne. Ouoique je n'y sois nomme qu'une seule fois, j'ai vu avec plaisir dans I'analyse des le9ons, que vous aviez adopte quelques parties essentielles de ma doctrine. "Vous me demandez si j'ai fait un Syllables dans le genre du votre : non, Monsieur, parcequ'il n'y a encore en France aucune ecole publique ou I'Economie politique soit enseignee. II peut etre remplacee jusqu'a un certain point par VEpi- tonie que j'ai place a la fin de m.on Traite, et qui a ete tres perfectionne dans I'edition qui va paraitre. "Notre gouvernement parait avoir enfm sentir I'importance de cette etude. II a fonde dernierement une chaire d' Econo- mic politique a la Faculte de Droit. Le Ministere m'ayant fait demander avant de la creer, si je consentirais a remplir cette chaire, il est possible quelle me soit destinee. Je me flatte que cet enseignement fera des rapide progres en tous lieux; et ce n'est pas avec une mediocre satisfaction que j'ai vu qu'il avait penetre dans une des vieilles Univer- sites d'Angleterre. II est impossible qu' Oxford ne suive pas bientot I'exemple donne par Cambridge. Chez nous cette science est moins g^neralement comme que dans votre ile; cependant a voir la maniere dont ellc se propage, on peut predire que dans un petit nombre d'annees, personne n'osera se montrcr dans la carriere administrative et judiciaire, sans en possedcr au moins les 61cmens. Et comme de semblables 126 AtUobiogr'aphic Recollections. progres se font partout en meme terns, I'influence qui en resultera sur la politique en I'administration des Etats, est veritablement incalculable. "Je m'occupe en ce moment de la publication de la 4^ edition de mon ' Traite.' Elle sera plus ample, et j'espere qu'on la trouvera plus complete et mieux liee que toutes les precedentes. Les critiques de M. Ricardo m'ont ete fort utiles, Elles m'ont oblige a approfondir la doctrine des valeurs comme mesure des richesses, et a r^soudre, parmi beaucoups d'autres, cette importante question : Comment le has prix des pro duits fait it la RieJiesse des Nations f J'ai fait mon possible pour que I'Economie politique ne presentat aucune difficulte qui ne peut etre resolue a I'aide de cette 4™^ Edition. "J 'attends avec impatience le Traite elementaire de- puis longtems annonce par M. Malthus. Agreez, Monsieur, en meme tems que mes remercimens pour votre interessante programme, I'assurance de ma haute consideration et 1' expres- sion de mon desir sincere de cultiver votre honorable amitie. "J. B. Say." " Paris. Rue du Faubourg St Martin, N''"- 92. "/^27 Aout 1 819." [A curious foretaste of the readiness of the French government to co-operate with us in relaxation of restrictions is to be found in the following extract from the Star, which my father has dated January, 1 8 18. " Some weeks ago we announced that the French merchants had presented memorials to the government, recommending the establishment of a system of free-trade, and that the French Cabinet had taken the proposed measure into serious consideration; we have every reason to believe that such are the enlightened views entertained by that cabinet on the subject, that the impediments which seem to prevent its adoption are considered as matters of great regret. The desire of the French merchants to establish a free transit of goods, is founded in wisdom. Let us hope it will Letter from Mr M'Culloch. 12 be listened to, and that all governments will bend their labours towards the establishment of a general system of free-trade as speedily as possible." Colonel Torrens says, " It is for the economist to propound principles true in abstract — it is for the statesman to propose measures attainable in practice'." A letter from a Scotch Economist may fitly close this portion of the volume.] "35, Frith Street, Soho, London, 26 May^ 1823. " Sir, "An inflammatory sore throat has kept me from visiting this place three weeks longer than I intended. On my arrival here I found your letter, and perceiving you were to be here so early as the thirtieth, I do not think it worth while to send you the article on Political Economy, in the expectation that I should be able to give it to you personally when here. "From the statements in your letter I have the satis- faction to perceive that we very nearly agree on the principal points of Political Economy. My Lectures were pretty well attended, at least I had about sixty effective students. This I consider a good beginning; but whether it will be sup- ported time must decide. I should think that the growing importance of the science would secure you a constant increase of Students. The time cannot be far distant when a know- ledge, or at least some little attention to. Political Economy will be considered as necessary for a legislator as a know- ledge of Greek. " I shall be most happy to receive your Introductory Lecture and Syllabus, from the perusal of which I promise myself great pleasure. *' I return you many thanks for your kind invitation to ^ Torrens' Financial Tracts^ i — 20. 128 Autobiographic Recollections. visit you in Cambridge. I should like much to see an English University, but in this case I am afraid that I must take the straightest road home to Edinburgh. " I hope you will have the goodness to call on me when you are here, and that you will allow me the pleasure of making your acquaintance. " I am, with much respect, "Very faithfully yours, "J. R. MCCULLOCH." " To G. Piyine, Esq:' CHAPTER VIII. 1817 — 1824. Dr Chalmers' Serjtion — Anecdote of Curran — Note from Mr Wil- berforce — Princess Charlottes death — Wager of Battel — Church Missionary Society — Counter Protest of a Layman — Adam Sedg- wick chosen Woodwardian Professor — Visit from Dr Parr — His editioji of Bellendenus — His pronunciation of Latin — Dr Maltby — Old Palace at Buckden — Death of King Geojge III. — University Address to the ne^v King — Cato Street Conspiracy — Dissolution of Parliament — Borough of Cambridge — Change of Residence — Rev. Charles Simeon — University Election — Mr Scarlett — New Court of Trinity — Greek Deputies — Bedford Level Corporation — Ely — A Witch burnt — A voyage on the river Ouse — Changes effected by the drainage of the Pens — The Bishop of Ely a Lord Lieute- nant — Chief Justice of the Isle — Bill passed to abrogate those offices — The Soke of Peterborough — Lord FitzwilUam. 18 1 7 AA/'^^''"^ *^" ^ ^'^^^"^ ^*^ London this year I heard ^ ^ Dr Chalmers preach at Rowland Hill's Chapel. It was for the benefit of the Scottish Hospital, and such was his celebrity and the desire to hear him, that it was fixed for eleven o'clock on a Thursday (May 22), lest the concourse of a Sunday congregation should be too numerous ; each governor of the Scottish Hospital was allowed to take in a friend, and Mr Clason, who was one, took me. We went early, before ten o'clock. When the doors were opened every seat and nearly the whole of the standing room was immediately occupied. The text was, "It is more blessed to give than to receive." He preached extempore. When 130 AtitobiograpJiic Recollections. Dr Chalmers had finished the first part of his discourse (the giving), he said, " I am exhausted, sing a few verses of a hymn." Rowland Hill stepped forward from his seat beside him in the pulpit and gave one out, after which Dr C. went on with the other portion of his sermon. The whole of it lasted an hour and three quarters, and my only feeling was a regret at its termination. Clason told me that on the Sunday following, when Dr Chalmers preached at the Scotch Church, Mr Wilberforce came too late, and being a slight man, was taken in at an open window, and so got to a seat reserved for him. [Another person speaking of this sermon says, " Probably no congregation since the days of Massillon ever had their attention more completely fixed, their understandings more enlightened, their passions more agitated, and their hearts more improved'.] I was staying at this time with my friend Vincent Thompson, in his chambers at Lincoln's Inn, and he wished to take me one evening with him when he was going to Mr Wilberforce's house at Kensington, but I declined, partly because I had voted against him (a plumper for Lord Milton) at the Yorkshire election. But it was a needless and over- strained feeling on my part, for he was not the man to have considered that. [I have read a remark in Mr Wilberforce's life exactly confirm- ing this estimate of him. Some years later my father must have taken an interest in a bill which Mr Wilberforce was concerned in, and have sent him some agenda, for I find this note respecting it ; which also shows how kindly he would have been received at the ever-hospitable Gore House, had he availed himself of his friend's proposal.] ^ Quoted in Memoirs of T. Chalmers, D.D., LL.D., by the Rev. Wm. Hanna, LL.D. 2 Afterwards Mr Serjeant Thompson, of Upper Belgrave Street. He Anecdote of Ciirran. 131 " Kensington Gore, 7 Mar. 1 82 1. "Dear Sir, " I return you many thanks for your obliging com- munication, on the subject of which however I need not trouble you, as the bill in question is withdrawn. I will only therefore express the pleasure with which I correspond with the descendant of an old Hull friend, and I remain, " Dear Sir, "Your faithful Servant, " W. WiLBERFORCE." " To G. Pryinc, Esq." Curran died this year. He was one of those men of genius who, from time to time, have been conspicuous in Ireland. His eloquence was remarkable. In one of his speeches he pointed at Lord Clare, who had been most arbitrary, in his very presence, but the allusion was so care- fully veiled that it could not be called a libel. C. was an insignificant looking man and dressed shabbily, so that he was not always recognised as a gentleman. On one occasion, just before starting in a stage-coach, he was accosted in the inn-yard by one of the passengers, who asked him to brush his coat for him, and offered him sixpence to do it well. Curran brushed the coat, took the money, and then, to the surprise of his fellow-traveller, assumed his place inside the coach. Presently he said, " I shan't return you the six- pence, for I did the work, but I shall give it to the first beggar I see." and his brother, General Perronet Thompson, were my father's early and intimate friends. They were sons of Thomas Thompson, Esq. F.A.S. of Cottingham Castle, near Kingston upon Hull, and both Fellows of Queens' College, Cambridge. Mr V. Thompson was a man of cultivated mind and great kindliness. He had a fine taste in art, of which he was a liberal patron. 9—2 132 Autobiographic Recollections. [The Princess Charlotte died Nov. 6, 181 7. The lamentation throughout the country was extreme — induced by pity, regret, and even poHtical ambition, as the following extract from a letter will show. It was written by the same gentleman, afterwards Mr Thorold, who told my father the anecdote of Sheridan and Mr Alley.] "Benjamin Hart, Esq. to Mr Pryme. "* * I am told that all the friends of reform are genuine mourners of the Princess. They expected much from her principles when she came into power, not recol- lecting that power more frequently changes former princi- ples than tJicy regulate power. You, I hope, are not incon- solable. In that wish " I remain, "Truly yours, "B. Hart." 18 18. I was present in the Court of King's Bench this year, and heard the argument before Lord Ellenborough and the other judges on a very singular case. A man had been tried for murder at Warwick assizes and acquitted, as all thought, improperly. A culprit cannot be tried again for the same offence, but in cases of murder certain near rela- tions had the power to " appeal the murder." The brother of the deceased, William Ashford, did so. Abraham Thornton was again arrested and tried in the Court of King's Bench in Nov. 18 17. When asked by the officers of the court whether he were guilty or not guilty .-* he answered, " Not guilty, and this I will prove by my body:" as he said this, he threw down a gauntlet on the floor. The brother would have taken it up, but was prevented by his friends, he being a man very inferior in strength to his adversary. Mr Reader was the counsel Wager of Battel. 133 for the prosecution, and said, " Can this obsolete proceeding be allowed in the nineteenth century?" To which Lord Ellenborough answered, " It is the law of the land." It was then suggested that in cases where the proof was very strong against a prisoner, the trial by "wager of battel" could not be allowed, and it w^as the argument on this which I heard in the following spring, when it was decided that, though obsolete, this mode of trial must be permitted^ [Mr Crabb Robinson when he was 91 years of age told me that he had been present when the prisoner was appealed^ and that he saw him " put his hand in the breast-pocket of his coat and draw forth a gauntlet, which he flung down at the feet of the brother. The king's -ancient Serjeant called out, 'What! would you add the mur- der of the brother to that of the sister?' Lord Ellenborough gravely rebuked him, saying, ' AVhat the law permits cannot be murder.' The gauntlet was taken up, and the case was argued, and all manner of curiosities of law produced from term to term, till at last it was got rid of But had the court decided it otherwise, the lists would have been put up in Westminster, and the Judges of the Court of Common Pleas must have been present to witness the battle, and if the brother could have escaped being killed till sun-down then the prisoner would have been hanged." Mr Crabb Robinson added, " You will find the whole account of this barbaric custom in Shakespeare's King Richard II."] I received a letter one day from the editor of the Courier, an ultra-tory and chief paper, asking permission to reprint in its columns a small pamphlet which I had written in an- swer to a protest by Archdeacon Thomas, against the forma- tion of a Church Missionary Society at Bath. Mine was entitled The Counter-Protest of a Layman. I did not belong to the Church Missionary Society at that time, but I could 1 In 1774 Edmund Burke defended this Law of Appeal. In 1819 Lord Eldon proposed and carried a Bill to abolish Trial by Battle and Appeals of Murder. 134 AMtobiographic Recollections. not help writing to defend it from such a violent attack upon it. The pamphlet went through three editions, besides its circulation in the Courier. [A copy of the Christian Observer for this month, August 1869, has been sent me by a friend just as this book is going to press, in order that I might see what is said, concerning my father's protest, in an article entitled " Fifty Years Ago." I venture to transcribe a portion of it. "At a meeting, under the presidency of the Hon. and Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of Gloucester, the Archdeacon pulled out a roll of paper and read his protest. * * ' As Archdeacon of Bath, in the name of the Lord Bishop of this diocese — in my own name — in the name of the rectors of Bath, and in the name of nineteen-twentieths of the clergy in my jurisdiction, I protest against the formation of such Society in this city.' "Such a performance of * archidiaconal functions' did not, even in those days, pass without animadversion. From Bath in the west, to Cambridge in the east, and Yorkshire in the north, the conflict raged. It is a curious sign of those times, that the late Professor of Political Economy at Cambridge, a Fellow of Trinity, who took part in the controversy, thought it well to state that during the sixteen years he had resided in the University, he had only been four times in the church frequented by Evangelical Christians, and that he was not a member of the Church Missionary Society, and had no present intention of becoming one. Having thus purged himself of all com- plicity with fanaticism, the keen lawyer proceeded to dissect the Archdeacon's protest. He could not see how ' compassing sea and land to gain proselytes' applied in such a case, for on referring to Matt, xxiii. 15, he found the answer directed against those who made a man 'twofold more the child of hell than themselves.' 'Was then the conversion of a heathen to any sect of Christianity to make him the child of hell?' Nor could he see that if one half of Bath subscribed for missions, and the other did not, this would necessarily create discord any more than if one half should subscribe to the Bath Infirmary, and the other should not. Upon the charge against the Society, of calling forth the contribution of small sums Visit from Dr Parr. 135 from the lower classes, the future Professor of Political Economy could discern that ' it elevates while it softens the heart of the donor. A man feels that it is more blessed to give than to receive, and beginning to save (which he never thought of before) a penny for the Society, he saves perhaps a shilling for himself, and becomes more economical, prudent and moral.' How amply this remark has been justified by the annals of our religious societies, time and space would fail to tell." It may not be uninteresting to add that the Courier of that time, which I found among my father's papers, was just about the size (the whole of it) of one i)age of our present Times, and that the price was sevenpence (the stamp being fourpence).] The Woodwardian Professorship of Geology became vacant this year by the marriage of Professor Hailstone. There were two candidates for it, Mr Gorham of Queens', and Adam Sedgwick of Trinity. The latter professed to know nothing of the subject, 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. Some of his friends however, myself among the number, voted for Mr Gorham, feeling that it was only just to do so, as he had been studying Geology for a long time. I need hardly say that Sedgwick, who was elected, completely redeemed his promise, and that his eloquent Lectures have been the de- light of all who have heard them. Mr Gorham's fate was different. He took a curacy, and was afterwards famous for his controversy with the bishop of Exeter (Philpotts). About this time I received a visit from Dr Parr. He said to me frankly, " I don't know you, and I don't know your wife, but I owe a great deal to her grandfather, and therefore I have called upon you." He was the son of an apothecary at Harrow, and Dr Thackeray, head master of Harrow school, perceiving his great talent, urged his father, who meant him for his own business, to send him to college, 136 Autobiographic Recollections. which he very reluctantly agreed to. Parr was a pedant, but then he was what all pedants are not, a very learned man, and of considerable natural talent. He edited a Latin book, written in the Mediaeval times, and with peculiar idiomatic elegance called Bcllendemts de statu, &c. He added to it a long Latin preface, in which he gave an eulogy on the characters of Burke, Pitt, and Lord North, with a sort of apology for the latter. He speaks thus of him in reference to the American war, " Bellum Americanum spe lentius gessisse." Pitt, Sheridan, Wilkes, Lansdowne, and Richmond are also alluded to. It was very good modern Latin, and every classical scholar in my day read it. The undergraduates who were trying for honours also used to read it, thinking it likely to be given in examination. [The exact title of the book, which is scarce, is Guglielmi Belkn- deni magistri suppUcium Libellorum Augusti Regis Magnce Britamiice, &=€. de statu, libri tres, 1787. My father's copy has the addenda to the preface, which many have not. The first piece in the book itself is an Epithalamium on the most august nuptials of Charles I. and his queen. It is adorned with prints of Burke, Lord North, and Charles James Fox.] Dr Parr was particular about pronunciation, and hearing Monk once say " eloquentia," pronouncing the / as sfi, he called out, " Monk, Monk, ever say eloquentia" sounding the t as in tear. Our perverseness in pronunciation is odd, we making some Latin words longer than the original, as St Helena, and some shorter, as academia and Alexandria. Parr, and Maltby (who had been his pupil) were once in the com- pany of , a clever man whom Parr disliked. en- quired how Samaria should be pronounced .'' Parr answered, " Ned (meaning Maltby) and I call it Samaria, but you may as well go on calling it Samaria." Dr Maltby was a pupil of Dr Parr. He was examining chaplain to Tomline, bishop Death of King George III. 137 of Lincoln, who though of different politics, Maltby being an avowed whig, gave him the living of Buckden in Hunts, Lord Grey, who had never seen him, made him bishop of Chichester, from whence he was translated to Durham. He was very hospitable, and I and two or three other barristers often dined with him at Buckden when on circuit. This place was theji in the diocese of Lincoln, which at one time extended from the Humber to the Thames, including a part of Herts. An alteration of the law has since taken the county of Hunts, from it, and given it to Ely. The bishop's palace was formerly at Buckden^ ; there are remains of an old palace at Lincoln, instead of restoring which, the ecclesi- astical commissioners made the mistake of buying a country house some miles from the city, and so separating the bishop from his Cathedral and his clergy. 1820. Early in this year King George HL, after long bodily as well as mental illness, died. A University Address being voted to George IV., I attended with it. The King's manner seemed to me more reserved and less easy than that of his father. The levee was held at Carlton House, on the south side of Pall Mall, now Carlton Gardens. An unpleasant event soon occurred in the Cato Street conspiracy. A number of men bound themselves together against the arbitrary proceedings amounting almost to tyranny of the Castlereagh administration, during which prosecutions and arrests were made, and the Habeas Corpus Act suspended. One evening there was a cabinet dinner at Lord Harrowby's. A man presented himself at the door and said, "I must see Lord Castlereagh." The ser- vants refused admittance until he exclaimed, " Life and ^ "The Bishop's (Sanderson) chief house at Buckden, in the Co. of Huntingdon, the usual residence of his predecessors, — for it stands about the midst of his Diocese" (temp. 1660). — Izaak Walton's Lives. 138 Autobiographic Recollections. death depend upon my seeing him." Lord C. saw the man, who said, " I belong to the Cato Street Confederacy, but I cannot go the length of murder ; there is a plan to attack this house to-night, and kill you and all the cabinet ministers." Prompt measures were taken, and police accom- panied by soldiers were conducted by this man to the place where the plotters were assembled. The ringleaders were taken into custody, tried, found guilty, and some of them hung. The informer was indicted as belonging to them, but no evidence was forthcoming, and he received an acquittal. It was thought best tJins to free him from the chances of any future prosecution. I do not know how he was rewarded \ Informers were employed very much at one time when plots and treason were apprehended. One instance I have given in another place, in the anecdote of Lord Nelson's fleet capturing and detaining the Danish fleet. ^{^ 10,000 a year is (or was) allowed for secret service money, and Lord Melville, on his trial, said that nothing should ever induce him to divulge how that money had been spent, though he could say that it had been spent on the public service. A dissolution of Parliament following on the old King's death, occasioned an event which I must preface by some account of the mode in which the borough of Cambridge was at that time represented. The election for Members had been confined to the freemen, about eighty in number, most of whom were resident, and who, up to the year 1780 1 Thomas Haydon Green, who murdered his landlord and then com- mitted suicide (Oct. 1869), was stated by his wife at the inquest to have originally kept a milk-shop in Cato Street. The accounts say that he it was who betrayed the conspirators. The Government rewarded him with a place in Somerset House, and a retiring pension, and he changed his name from Edwards. Borough of Cambridge. 139 inclusive, had usually returned two of the neighbouring country gentlemen. Soame Jenyns, author of the Internal Evidences of Christianity, had been one of them. He was elected in 1774. Soon afterwards Mr Mortlock, a banker in the town, prevailed upon the freemen, who had the power of adding to their number, to bestow the freedom upon about fifty of the tenants and friends of the Duke of Rutland. One of these latter was Crabbe, the poet, whom I saw for the first time in the year 18 18, on occasion of a vain attempt of Mr Adeane, of Babraham, to oppose the Rutland interest^ At the general election in 1784 two friends of the Duke, General Manners and the Hon. General Finch, were re- turned, and sat for many years. These were succeeded in 1820 by Mr Madrille Cheere of Papworth, Cambridgeshire, and Colonel Trench of Co. Limerick, Ireland. This new influence of the Duke of Rutland had caused great dissatis- faction, even among persons of the same politics as himself, especially as he had no property within twelve miles of Cambridge. The two leaders of a little party among the freemen hostile to his interference were Mr John Finch, a private gentleman of moderate means, and Alderman Bot- tomley, both of avowed tory principles. After the unsuccessful attempt of Mr Adeane in 18 18, the Rutland party attempted to introduce another batch of freemen, about half of whom were non-residents ; the re- forming party were strong enough then to reject the non- residents, but they admitted the others. At the time of the general election, after the king's death, it was resolved, though success seemed hopeless, to keep alive the feeling of independence which I have spoken of as arising among the 1 Crabbe was appointed, through the influence of Mr Burke, domestic chaplain to the Duke. 140 Atitobiographic Recollections. freemen of Cambridge, by the nomination of Mr Adeane and myself for the borough. The numbers were for Trench and Cheere 37 each, Adeane 18, Pry me 16. [The householders of Cambridge were beginning to move to- wards a reform of the old and exclusive system, for thirty-two most respectable men sent at this time a requisition to the Mayor requesting him " to call a public meeting of the householders for the purpose of taking into consideration the general state of the Borough, and for the discussion of the question relative to the right of Voting; which right we believe to be vested in the householders of the said Borough of Cambridge." In consequence of the Mayor declining to call a meeting, the householders were requested to assemble at the Shire-Hall to con- sider the subjects mentioned in the requisition. Three years afterwards my father wrote and printed "^ Letter to the Freemen and Inhabitants of the Town of Cambridge on the state of the Borongh." In this he took a survey of the charters and records of the corporation from the time of Henry I. to that at which he was writing, and of the gradual loss of freedom under its different masters. He commended the manly feeling of inde- pendence lately shown by the corporation in the choice of Mayors, and in resisting the introduction of strangers among them; and reminded them that steady perseverance " must succeed and bring the corporate rights to be vested in those hands where alone they ought to be, in a num.erous and respectable body of inhabitants of the town."] 1820. In the spring of this year I purchased and went to reside in a house in Sidney Street, opposite Trinity Church. It was a large remnant of the Trinity Hostel, which, with many others of the like kind, were superseded by colleges. In making considerable alterations I preserved as much as I could the remains of the internal arrangement, keeping one long low room for my library, which now amounted to several thousand volumes. At first it seemed as RezK Charles Simeon. 141 if it would be impossible to remain there, for our servants believed in a rumour that the house was haunted, and for some time we had a difficulty in persuading them to remain, till at length the ghost was laid by ourselves occupying the room in which " the black lady" was said to walk. [The foundation of the belief was that a skeleton had been dug up in former years in the garden, but this was easily accounted for by the fact of the house having been once occupied by Sir Busick Harwood, Professor of Anatomy.] I now attended Trinity Church, in which parish my house was situate. Mr Simeon, the vicar, called upon us, and some- times invited us to his rooms in King's College. He was a celebrated extempore preacher, and was the founder and head of the Evangelical party at Cambridge. I entertained similar views on some points of doctrine which I had learnt from Dr Milner, but I ventured to differ from him as to the impropriety of theatrical entertainments and card-playing, which latter was then still a general custom. He candidly argued the matter with me ; I maintained them to be ob- jectionable only in their abuse, when the play was immoral or the stakes were high. Mr Simeon's opinions on one point have been, I think, imperfectly understood. He positively dis- claimed to me a belief in particular predestination as under- stood by Calvinists. I cannot give my own views on that point more conclusively than is expressed in the second collect of our Morning Service. Prof Lee had not then shown in one of his sermons that the words in the New Testament implying predestination, applied to congregations of early Christians, not to individuals. In 1822 a vacancy occurred in the representation of the University. There was a contest between William John Bankcs, Esq., an anti-catholic tory, Lord Harvey, a pro- 142 Autobiographic Recollections. catholic tory, and James Scarlett, a whig, of whose com- mittee at Cambridge I was chairman. He polled only 219, and Bankes 419 votes. The whig cause appeared tJien so hopeless that Lords Tavistock and Althorp withdrew their names from the boards of Trinity College in consequence, and thereby lost their right of voting. That we ought never to despair of future success in political affairs was shown by the fact that within eight years from that time two whigs were returned for the University, Lord Palmerston and Mr Cavendish. Scarlett was an eminently successful barrister. He told me that one reason of his great success in addressing juries was his habit of watching their countenances, and if he found that the topic which he was urging did not make the impres- sion he wished, he proceeded to other points of the case, and then returned to it again, and argued it from a somewhat different point of view. His quickness and clearness in ac- quiring a knowledge of a case were also remarkable. In one to be argued in the King's Bench, Mr Fitzroy Kelly and I, having been engaged in it on the Norfolk circuit, were his juniors. He appointed a consultation on the morning for which the argument was fixed. When we met he said that he had not had time to read his brief, and requested K. and myself to state our respective views of the case. A few hours later, during which he had been otherwise oc- cupied, it was called on ; he showed himself completely master of the subject, and had almost exhausted it when we followed. In private life I found him kind and hos- pitable, and possessed of great conversational powers \ In the summer of 1823 the first stone was laid by Mr Manners Sutton of the new court of Trinity College, which ^ Afterwards created Lord Abinger. He died April 7, 1844, during the Assizes at Bury St Edmunds. New Court of Trinity. 143 was built, partly by subscription, on ground formerly occu- pied by the dwelling-houses of the college baker and cook. There was a large baking-office there also, at which all the college bread was baked, a custom now disused. The court was intended to be of stone, but when it was partly built a fire consumed it, and the money (^40,000) destined to complete it, was much of it spent in repairing the losses thus caused. So it was finished off shabbily with stucco, except the river front, which is of stone. The name of Kings Court was given to it by the then Master, Dr Wordsworth, but Professor Sedgwick wished for St MicJiacVs Court. It is nothing more now than New Court. [1824. With a view to interest the University in the movement of sympathy with the Greek patriots, a committee had been formed at Cambridge, holding its meetings — to save expense — at my father's house. This summer he invited, through Mr Hobhouse, the Greek Deputies, who had come over to England for the purpose of ob- taining a loan, to stay with him at the Commencement in July'. Their cause had been supported by Lord Erskine in a letter to Lord Liverpool, and Lord Byron had himself gone to Greece "with considerable resources of his own, and was willing to lend himself to the cause with all his energy." But his death at Misso- longhi in this year (April 19), was a heavy blow to the sanguine hopes which had been formed of his presence effecting a change. Committees were formed in London and elsewhere, and above 5,000/. was collected. Lords Lansdowne and Fitzwilliam, and Mr Wilberforce, gave largely. The "Society of Friends" also raised a handsome subscription. My father took great interest in these efforts, and not only subscribed, but purchased some of their bonds, which he kept as long as there was a hope of their being serviceable to the cause. 1 Sir John Cam Hobhouse, afterwards Lord Broughton, born June 27, 1786, died June 3, 1869. "A persevering advocate of Parliamentary Reform half a century back." 144 Autobiographic Recollections. None, my mother says, could be more agreeable than these Greeks. Many guests were invited to meet them, of whom, I believe, Lord Berners and Professor Sedgwick alone survive. Or- lando was extremely stout, and Luriottis slender. They wore black frock coats, richly braided with silk, and a small crimson cap (not a fez). They were very abstemious, and when offered cake and wine at bed-time preferred black-currant jelly dissolved in water, as they said, the most refreshing drink in summer.] In this year I was elected one of the Conservators of the Bedford Level Corporation. It was instituted in the time of Charles I. for the drainage of the fens in Cambridgeshire and adjacent counties, but went almost to ruin during the wars of the Commonwealth. It was revived by Act of Parlia- ment in the reign of Charles II., and took its name from the then Earl of Bedford, who was the earnest promoter of it, and by far the largest proprietor. Its operations ex- tended over nearly 300,000 acres of fen, out of which rose occasional elevations, on the largest of which the city of Ely, with its fine cathedral, stands. The Isle of Ely was separated in the time of King Henry I. from any county, and was literally an island, being inaccessible except by water. It often formed a secure retreat for the defeated party in civil war. There is a tradition which was related to me by the late Mr Bevill, registrar to the Bedford Level Corporation, of the time when many of the Saxons took refuge there after the Norman Conquest. The army of King William I. at- tempted to pursue the fugitives by making a causeway through the waters to the" N. W. of Ely, on a foundation of dry sedge, and in order to defend it, engaged a witch of great celebrity to prevent by her incantations the attacks of the besieged on it. But the Islemen contrived to come in their boats and set fire to the sedge, and she was literally burnt Bedford Level Corporation. 145 without the formality of a trial. Possibly the names of Witch- ford and Witch-ham are derived from this incident\ The Corporation consisted of a Governor, (to which office a Duke of Bedford was always elected,) six Bailiffs, and twenty Conservators, who all met at Ely twice a-year for a few days. These were elected by every person who was the owner of ico acres. It had been decided that the word "person" applied to women as well as men, and the former voted when a poll took place. The first Adventurers, 'as they were called in the Act, were recompensed by the allot- ment of one-third of the {(iw land, which was also burthened with an annual tax for the requisite repairs of the works. They made several cuts or artificial rivers from 16 to 100 feet wide, with strong banks, into which the water from the land was thrown by windmills (many of which have since been removed as unnecessary), and of late in some parts by steam. Two subsequent Acts of Parliament for additional works have rendered the drainage so complete that this Cor- poration has now but little to do, and the Adventurers' tax has ceased. At the first board-meeting after I was elected a Conser- vator we made a voyage by the river Ouse from Ely to Littleport. It was ten miles in length, whereas the road by land was only five miles. The tract through which it passed, called the Padnals, was one swamp, on which there was no building except two cottages, for the foundation of which ^ Macaulay describes the state of this part of the country in 1689, as " a vast and desolate fen, saturated with the moisture of thirteen counties, and overhung during the greater part of the year by a low grey mist, high above which rose, visible for many miles, the magnificent tower of Ely. In that dreary region, covered by vast flights of wild fowl, a half-savage population, known by the name of the Brecdliiigs, then led an amphibioiis life, sometimes wading, and sometimes rowing from one islet of firm ground to another." — History of England, Vol. ill. p. 41. 10 146 Autobiographic Recollections. earth had been carried thither by boats ; and the inhabitants of them gained their Hvelihood, as many others did at that time, by catching fish in the summer, and wild-fowl in the winter. One of these men who was examined as a witness at Cambridge assizes being asked, as usual, what he was ? said, " I follow fowling and fishing." On another occasion a poor man, a witness in court, said in answer to the same question, *' a banker." The judge, I think it was Alderson, remarked, "We cannot have any absurdity." The man replied, "I am a banker, my lord." He was a man who repaired the banks of the dykes, so peculiar were the local callings. The result of our " view" was the making a new bed to the river Ouse by cutting off a great part of the bend, and this tract of barren acres now produces excellent crops of corn instead of reeds and rushes. The surface of the fens consists of peat, beneath which, at a depth of from five to ten feet, is the clay, with rare inter- vals of gravel, on the top of which lower stratum have been found the horns of deer, prostrate trees quite black, and in one part a gravel road, a portion of a boat, and other marks of human habitation. It has been supposed that some irruption of waters deluged these low lands, on which the peat was gradually formed from the decay of moss and aquatic plants. A simi- lar formation of peat is found in most of the hollows of the rocky hills in the North of England. I was cautioned against it when shooting grouse, and told that where I saw a green spot I should be up to the knees. [The following interesting statement is from one who is a great authority in the botany and geology of the fens*. ^ William Marshall, Esq. of Ely. Drainage of the Fens. 147 "The changes which the fen country has undergone since the first serious attempt at drainage by the Adventurers, now two hundred years ago, must have been very great, but they have chiefly occurred within the last half century. It should never be for- gotten that the original scheme of drainage was simply to shut out the highland waters and the tides by means of banks and sluices, and then to drain off the fen waters hy gravitat'uvi only. Windmills for lifting of the fen waters from a lower to a higher level came in afterwards, and were at first regarded (indeed they were indicted) as nuisances, and it is a question whether (notwithstanding the vast expenses which had been incurred), the Bedford Level, 100, or even 150 years after the general drainage, was not in nearly as bad a state as at the commencement. Three causes only have produced the vast change which has come over the fen country within the last fifty years, viz. the improvement of the outfall by the making of the Eau Brink Cut (opened in 182 1), the substi- tution of the certain help of steam for the uncertain aid of the fickle wind (which it was notorious refrained from blowing during great falls of rain), and the practice of claying the land. It should be obvious that the last two causes of improvement were sub- stantially dependent on the first, and it is therefore to the im- provement of the outfall that the present results are mainly attributable. Windmills have now nearly disappeared, and the complete control over the water Avhich steam has given the fensman (aided by claying) has enabled him to substitute wheat for oats, and made the Bedford Level the granary of England. Indeed the drainage of the land has been carried so far that forecasting fenmen look forward with anxiety to the consequences which may hereafter ensue from the subsidence of the surface, the -wasting of the vegetable soil, and a w^ant of water in summer-time. The drainage of the fens has necessarily produced a vast destruction of the indige- nous marsh plants and of the insects which fed upon them, and many plants which were once very common have now become rare, others linger only in small patches of primitive fen, as yet innocent of the labours of the drainer, while a few are probably extinct'."] ^ A list of 49 plants classed under the above heads is given in the Appendix. 10—2 148 Autobiographic Recollections. The Isle of Ely had a separate jurisdiction under the Bishop of Ely, Avho had power as a Lord Lieutenant over everything except the militia. He appointed the magistrates absolutely, instead of the Lord Chancellor. The assizes were holden at Ely in the spring, and at Wisbeach in the summer, and presided over by a Chief Justice, appointed by the Bishop, who had his trumpeters and little state. The Quarter-sessions were also divided between the aforenamed two places. I remember Christian, the Downing Professor of Laws, and subsequently Serjeant Storks, being Chief Justices. Ely was the last place in the kingdom where a man was hung on a gibbet — the very man who was tried for murdering a brother poacher, and who had nearly got off owing to the doubt about the boundary \ Durinsf the time of Lord Melbourne's administration a Bill passed to take this great civil power from the Bishop on the first vacancy. The assizes were given up and amalga- mated with those at Cambridge. The sessions also would probably have been lost to the Isle too ; for, strange to say, the County members took no part, but I (being then in the House) moved an amendment, which was carried, '' that the sessions remain as heretofore." They were very pleased at this in the Isle, and I received soon after, through the Clerk of the Peace, a vote of thanks for the part which I had taken. In place of transferring the power of appointing the magistrates hitherto wielded by the Bishop to the Lord Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire, as had been suggested, it was proposed to have a Custos Rotulorum of the Isle itself, and the Marquis of Tavistock was appointed to be the first. The Soke of Peterborough, being in some respects an ^ Above, page 104. Lord FitzwilliaDi. 149 exclusive jurisdiction from the rest of Northamptonshire, has also a Gustos Rotulorum. When William IV. was to be proclaimed at Peterborough, the County magistrates &c. being all assembled for the ceremonial, the late Lord Fitz- william entered the room. As for political reasons he had not been invited, the company were rather taken aback, and the Chairman began to apologise for there having been no place appointed for him. " There is no difficulty about it," he replied with that dignity which belonged to him, " the Custos Rotulorum of the Soke of Peterborough knows his oivn place: follow me." Then, turning to the Clerk of the Peace, he said, " Give vie the proclamation," took it in his hand, led the way, and read it to the public. CHAPTER IX. 1825— 1828. Death of Ff'ofcssor Dobrec — Dr Jcrcviie — His prtrait of Professor Dobree — The Panic — Mr Nassau Senior's description of it — Dr Herbert Marsh, Bp. of Peterborough — Epigram on three Preachers — Critical Review — Masters of Arts' Reading Room — Dissolution — Cojitest for the Borough of Cambridge — Huntingdonshire Elec- tion — Mr Daniel Sykes — Mr Canning Premier — Attitude of the Whigs — Vacancy for the University — Sir Nicholas TindaVs Address — Two Anecdotes respecting him — Annual dinner of Trin. Coll. members — Dr Davy — Curious Signboards. 1825. TN the latter end of September the Greek Pro- ■^ fessor, Peter Paul Dobree, died in College after a short illness. I had formerly, when a resident fellow, been with him almost constantly during a similar attack, in which his life had been despaired of by Dr Davy and Mr Okes, but from which he completely recovered. In this illness, when his death was hourly expected, I passed the last night with him. Dr Bayne, who had just graduated in medicine and was then a resident fellow, kindly volunteered to sit up with me, which I accepted. Professor Dobree expired the next forenoon ; he had requested me to be his executor. He bequeathed his MSS. and books containing MS. notes to the University, directing that Dr Hollingworth, the Norrisian Professor of Divinity, and I should use a discretionary power Professor Dobree. 151 in cancelling whatever passages we chose. Also he left a thousand volumes to the library of Trinity College, and the remainder to his nephew, Mr Peter Carey of Guernsey. Dr Hollingworth and I availed ourselves of the power thus given us, and we cancelled any severe or sarcastic observa- tions on living authors. Professor Dobree Avas a native of Guernsey, and was edu- cated at the grammar school of Reading, the head master of which was that eminent Greek scholar, Dr Valpy. He had there acquired a taste for Greek criticism, and applied it chiefly to adjusting the doubtful readings of those authors, the MSS. of whose works varied. When he came to the Uni- versity he gave much attention to this line of study, some- what neglecting that which was more connected with college examinations, resisting the arguments of myself and other friends, who urged him, after taking his B.A. degree, to compete for the Chancellor's Medal or some other clas- sical honour. He however obtained a fellowship, which he thought desirable, not merely for its emoluments but for the opportunities which a college residence afforded him of pursuing his researches. He and Porson had a taste for any neat mathematical problem which their limited knowledge (both having been Senior Optimes) enabled them to appreciate. I recollect Dobree showing me some curious little problem that Porson had devised \ On the death of Porson, Dobree was a candidate for the Greek Professorship, but the seven electors bestowed it upon Monk, who had graduated in the same year and had ob- tained one of the Chancellor's medals. Dobree now suf- fered for his omission to compete for one of them, and Dr ^ For an Algebraical problem and its solution by Prof. Porson, see Appendix to the Reminiscences of Charles Butler, Esq. \"ol. I. Note 3. 152 Aiitobiographic Recollections. Barnes, Master of Peterhouse, alleged this as a reason for withholding Ids vote from him. Dobree soon afterwards most ably edited some of Porson's MSS., entitled Ricardi Porsoni Aristophanica, which so completely established his reputation for Greek scholarship, that when Monk resigned the professorship, on being appointed Dean of Peterborough, he was elected to it without any one venturing to oppose him. He meditated an edition of Demosthenes, and left remarks on many other Greek authors which were afterwards edited in a work entitled Dohrcei Adversaria, by Professor Scholefield, his successor. In addition to this deeper learning he possessed much general knowledge, which he often manifested in humorous remarks. His acquaintance was very limited, as he preferred the society of a small number of intimate friends. He was buried in the chapel, Oct. 3rd. [I can remember my awe, as a child, at seeing, for the only time in my life, my Father weep. Dr Jeremie has since told me that at the funeral he was quite overpowered and wept like a child, and that his great emodon left a deep impression on his mind. Dr Jeremie has given Professor Dobree's portraiture more at length in one of his Commemoration Sermons, from which he has permitted me to borrow the following portion. " I would pause for a moment at the nam^ of him who filled the chair of Porson, and who now rests by the side of his grave — similar, alike, in his affections and pursuits; in the peculiar cast and power of his genius; in the nobler features of his moral character ; and but too similar in his untimely death. The memorial which adorns these walls. was traced by a friendly hand ; but with singular precision and fidelity. It has touched upon his distinguishing qualities — his modesty, his candour, his gentleness, his inflexible love of truth, his unfeigned contempt for all which bordered upon artifice and meanness, and, above all, that childlike simplicity of heart, of which ' the noblest natures are ever found to have the largest share.' If ever it could be said of any Dy Jcremie. 153 man, it might indeed be said of him, that he loved learning /t?^ It was by Professor Dobrec's introduction that I became acquainted with Mr James Amiraux Jeremie, now the Regius Professor of Divinity. He was also from Guernsey. We were much brought together in Dobree's illness, during which he shewed great kindness and tenderness of heart, and we have been real friends ever since. I cannot let this oppor- tunity pass without some mention of his amiability and learning and eloquence, as exemplified by his constancy as a friend, his excellence as a professor, his admirable sermons as a preacher. We two were the last, or nearly so, of the Dons who regularly attended the Sunday morning sermon at Great St Mary's, since given up, where we sat together in the place, which, now that the church has entirely lost its peculiar and dignified arrangerhent, shall know us no more. I voted in a small minority in the Senate-House in favour of retain- ing it, and also, equally in vain, against the abolition of the morning sermon. [My father lamented the removal of the gallery in which the Vice-Chancellor sat, facing the pulpit, supported on either side by the Heads, Doctors, and Professors. Dr Whewell deprecated the change also, and printed some reasons against it. Yet he was not so wedded to old usages but that he could say, " I highly approve of the division now made in the services in our chapel on Sunday morning. Their exceeding length had a very bad effect on my mind when an undergraduate; and Lord Derby once intimated the same thing respecting those at Oxford to me in conver- sation in the House. I quite agreed with Bishop Thirhvall in the view he took in his letter to the master (Wordsworth) on the subject when he was resident Fellow of Trinity."] ^ Dr Jeremie's Sermon preached in Trin. Coll. Chapel, Dec. 16, 1834. 154 AzUobiographic Recollections. In the same autumn the greatest monetary panic and run on banks that was ever known took place. This was occa- sioned partly by a great number of wild schemes for joint- stock speculations, as stage-coach, washing, tea-companies, &c., &c. One bank had actually been lately commenced by a mercantile firm at a time when they knew themselves to be insolvent. The extensive issue of one- and two-pound bank-notes had facilitated such speculations. After the panic became general the legislature of that day forbad the future issue of notes below £^, but permitted those already in existence to be circulated for three years longer. I then acted as Commissioner of Bankruptcy, the number of which occupied me so much that on being asked to give two consecutive days in Bedfordshire for the winding up of an old bankruptcy, I was unable to do so till nearly three months afterwards. Among them were two banks, Messrs Hollick and Nash of Cambridge, and. Messrs Rix and Gor- ham of St Neots, who stopped payment on account of some imprudent advances which they could not immediately meet ; but they paid 2Qs. in the pound \ ^ So little was this Panic of 1825 foreseen, that in the King's Speech of that year his Majesty said "there never was a period in the history of the Country when all the great interests of Society were at the same time in so thriving a condition." Mr Nassau Senior has given so graphic a description of the con- sequences which might have ensued that perhaps I shall be pardoned for transcribing it : " Then followed that dreadful week which has been called 'the panic,' in which the question every morning was not who has fallen? but who stands ? in which nearly 70 banks suspended their payments, a state of things which if it had continued only 48 hours longer, would, according to Mr Huskisson, have put a stop to all dealings between man and man, except by barter ; in which, in fact, nothing but the unexpected arrival of about 200,000 sovereigns from France, the discovery, in the cellars of the Bank of England, of 800,000 one pound notes, long before condemned to be burnt, and the intervention of a Dr Herbert Marsh. 155 In passing through Peterborough on my way to one of those Bankruptcy Commissions I dined with the Bishop, Dr Herbert Marsh, from whom I had a general invitation. He took me into his garden, and Showed me a tortoise which had been there beyond the memory of man ; and said that he supposed him to be about 200 years old. Though we dif- fered widely in political sentiments, and with regard to the Bible and Church Missionary Societies, to the Committees of which I 1I0ZV belonged, yet our friendly relations re- mained the same as when he had been fellow of St John's College. He had previously filled the See of Llandafif (a very poor bishoprick), and I remember his calling just after- wards and saying, in answer to my congratulations, "You had better call me Bishop of Aff, for the land is gone." His amiability and benevolence in private life attracted the ad- miration of all who had opportunites of observing him. When he was elected Lady Margaret's Professor of Divinity, so many persons were desirous of hearing his early Lectures, that he obtained leave to give them from the pulpit of Great St Mary's, and his audience, including some ladies, nearly filled the church \ One of his theological works was severely assailed in the Critical Rcviczv, and it was proposed at the Masters of Arts' reading-room to discontinue taking iti that periodical, but Professor Monk said that there was every rea- Sunday, prevented the manifest failure of an establishment which we have been accustomed almost to consider a part of the constitution." Lectu7-e on the Morantite Theory of Wealth by William Nassau Senior. ^ Among my Father's papers I find this Epigram. On three Preachers of St. Mary's in Cambridge attacking Calvin. ***** ^'Butler in clearness and in force surpass'd : Maltby with sweetness spoke of ages past : Whilst Marsh himself, who scarce could further go, With criticism's fetters bound the foe." 156 Autobiographic Recollections. son for the contrary, as unless we saw what was written against the Church, we should be unable to answer it; and his enlightened view obtained the assent of all. This Master of Arts' reading-room was a kind of Club, which was holden at a private house in Green Street, where tea and coffee might be had, and newspapers and pamphlets were taken in. Members were elected by ballot. The in- stitution of the Philosophical Society, which may be said to have been formed upon it, occasioned it gradually to die a natural death. Previously to its being in Green Street, it was held at a house in Sidney Street, opposite to Sidney College; it was called familiarly "the Drum." 1826. The old Parliament having nearly expired, a Dis- solution took place in this year. The Election for Cambridge Borough was fixed for May 6th, when a similar attempt to that in 1820 was made to open it. The numbers were, Mar- quis of Graham, eldest son of the Duke of Montrose, 24, Trench 23, Pryme 4. I must account for the falling off in my votes by saying that the resident freemen on our side were not requested to vote, and we agreed not to bring in non-resident voters, as the form of an opposition and the opportunity of speeches were all that was required. There was a sharp contest for the County of Huntingdon. As there had been no one of the Duke of Manchester's family ready to be a Candidate in 1820, they had allowed Lord John Russell, who was related to them, to be re- turned without opposition; but Lord Mandeville, the eldest son of the Duke, having now attained his majority, ap- peared as a Candidate, along with Mr Fellowes of Ramsey Abbey, who had sat during the three preceding Parlia- ments. This caused a contested election, and Lord John lost his seat, being in a minority of 53. I took a very active part in this Election, and was one of the Counsel for Huntingdonshire Election. 157 Lord John^ The late Mr Dover was the other. Mr Dover was a barrister, a friend of Lord Byron, of Mr Adeane, and of Sir Robert Rolfe, afterwards Lord Cranworth. At that time, and previously to Parliamentary Reform, there was no registration of Electors, and votes were objected to at the hustings by the Agents of the Candidates, and sent to the Sheriff's room, where the Assessor sat to decide, and the Counsel examined witnesses, and argued on the validity of the votes. This lasted several days. Previously to the Pol- ling day at Huntingdon I went down to Nottingham, the freedom of which Borough had been voted to me, to record my vote for Lord Rancliffe and Mr Birch. This was my last opportunity of doing so, as the Reform Bill disfranchised those who did not reside within seven miles of a Boroucfh. Besides the political interest which induced me to take this prominent part in the Huntingdonshire election, I had 'recently acquired a right to do so by the purchase of pro- perty in the County. While the Country was in the fervour of Election, my friend Mr Daniel Sykes, of whom I have before incidentally spoken, passed some days with me at Cambridge, a place which he delighted frequently to visit, and to revive his Academical recollections. It is time I should speak of one with whom I had an intimate and most valuable friendship. [At this point something occurred to hinder my Father dictating any more, and a return to the subject was postponed until too late. I therefore make a few extracts instead from a little memoir which he wrote of this very dear friend*. Mr and Mrs Sykes used fre- ^ My Father refused the Fee, which was probably 200 guineas, as I find that sum marked on a Retainer for Counsel at another Hunts Election (1830), on which my Father has written "Retainer accepted but fee refused". 2 Memoir of the Life of Daniel Sykes Esq., M.A. and M.P. by George Pryme Esq., M.A. and M.P. &c. Svo, 1834. 158 AtUobiographic Recollections. quently to visit us either on their way to or from London. Both were deHghtful people. He dignified, clever, sincere; one whose every word and look bespoke the upright man.] "Mr Sykes, after being 14th Wrangler in 1788, became a Candidate for a Fellowship (at Trinity). As his health was then very indifferent, his Father, who was not only a wealthy Merchant but a Classical Scholar, wished him to desist, and offered to make up to him the pecuniary advantage which he might sacrifice. His answer was, 'Ten thousand pounds a year would not make it up to me.' He persevered and was elected. He was called to the Bar in 1793, was Re- corder of Hull, and then its Member, residing near it at Raywell, a beautiful domain, where he exercised great hos- pitality. He was the friend of Henry Brougham and Wil- liam Wilberforce. In the House of Commons he was listened to with great attention ; his speeches being sometimes marked by keen irony, and strong, though not illnatured, sarcasm. He had the rare quality of viewing a subject in all its bearings before he formed an opinion or drew an infer- ence. His knowledge of Classical and modern literature was considerable, and he was well acquainted with the best au- thors of France and Italy, where he had travelled much. He was fond of English poetry, the reading and discussion of which formed part of the evening's amusement at Raywell. Of the abstract and experimental Sciences he had that gene- ral knowledge which marks the well-educated man ; but on the Moral Sciences, especially Political Economy and Modern History, he had bestowed deep attention, and formed com- prehensive views. "He had a great abhorrence of anything bordering on meanness or insincerity, and would only just tolerate the society of those in whom he noticed such defects. This feel- ing, together with his desire of deriving from social inter- Mr Cannincr Premier. 159 "ii course something more than mere amusement, made him cautious in forming intimacies, and somewhat difficult of ac- cess, beyond what the courtesies of hfe required. He may be classed among those who hide beneath a cold exterior the strong glow of feeling, and a heart warm with affection. But the magic circle once passed, there was no man with whom friends were more at ease, and might be more familiar without fear of offence. It was with difficulty he could be induced to think less favourably of those whom he had once liked. He viewed their errors with sorrow; their foibles with good nature; and apologised for them when others con- demned or ridiculed." 1827. This Parliament was marked by incidents and measures, the full bearing of which w^ere not then distinctly seen. When the broken health of Lord Liverpool occasioned his retirement from office in the Spring, Mr Canning became Premier. Many of his Tory coadjutors declined to act under him : the Cabinet was broken up, and a new one was formed, composed of the more liberal part of his late colleagues, and of some of the more aristocratic Whigs. A different course of foreign and domestic policy was now pursued. Many of the Tory statesmen went into opposition; while most of the Whigs, though declining to hold office, hailed the change as, on the whole, beneficial, and took their places on the minis- terial benches. Some of them however still doubted as to this course, and expressed their belief that the new Premier was in heart the same as when, in 18 19, he spoke against Reform. Mr Sykes was inclined to adopt the former course, and thus wrote : " I cannot make up my mind on the late changes. I believe that I must go with the rest of my friends ; but still my old opposition feelings stick to me ; and strongly disliking Canning, I cannot cordially support his adminis- i6o AtUobiographic Recollections. tration. However there are cases in which what is strictly right must give wa.y to what is strongly expedient. * * * At Wentworth there seemed to be a good deal of diversity of opinion between the bending and the unbending Whigs. I incline to think that the former are right, though if my personal convenience only were consulted, I should greatly prefer being in opposition. What you say about the effect of education is quite agreeable to my own views, and I am convinced that we cannot spread liberal opinions more widely, or inculcate them more strongly, than by encour- aging the literary education of the mass of mankind. In confirmation of this, I was pleased to hear from a very in- telligent friend of mine, who has lately been visiting me after a tour through the populous parts of Lancashire and Yorkshire, that whatever diversity of opinion existed on other points, he met few well instructed persons who were not anti-tories. Blessed with the light of knowledge, they are opposed to those who would shut it from their eyes." In April a vacancy in the representation of the University took place by Sir John Copley's being created Lord Chan- cellor. He was succeeded by Sir Nicholas Tindal, afterwards Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, who was returned by a majority of loi votes over Mr Wm. J. Bankes, a former member. [The style of Sir N. Tindal's address is so unlike that of one which a candidate for the University would now send forth, that I print it as a curiosity. He gratefully refers all his success to Alma Mater, and does not promise to alter and reform her.] " Bedford Square, 19th April, 1827. " Sir, " I take the liberty of offering myself to your Notice as a Candidate for the high and distinguished Honor Sir A'icko/as ThidaVs Address. i6i of representing the University of Cambridge in Parliament, on occasion of the Vacancy in that Representation, made by the appointment of Sir John Copley to an important office in the State. "Having been educated in that University, and feeling that I owe all that I enjoy in life, to the Habits of thinking and acting which I formed, and to the Studies which I began, under the discipline of that learned Body, I shall feel it no less a Debt of Gratitude, than the impulse of my Inclination, to watch over, and to promote the Interests of the University of Cambridge to the utmost of my power. " I beg to assure you, Sir, that the Principles upon which I have hitherto acted, and to which I shall adhere through Life, in all questions of Religion and of Policy, are those which have placed, and which I doubt not will ever pre- serve, the present Illustrious Family, on the Throne of these Realms. " I trust I shall have the Honor of your support at the ensuing Election, and I beg to assure you that I re- main, Sir, " Your very faithful "and obedient Servant, "N. C. TiNDAL." " G. Pryme, Esq." Tindal had been fellow of Trinity College, and, when called to the Bar, chose the Northern Circuit. Not having seen a mountainous country before, he walked with a guide from Newcastle-upon-Tyne to Carlisle. His foot slipped on a hill-side, he fell but was not much hurt, and asked his guide the name of the hill, who answered, Tyncdale Fell. He thought the guide was jeering him, but no, it was the I [ 1 62 Autobiographic Recollections. real name. Fell in the North means a high hill. The poet laureate of the Circuit in his next Ode mentioned "The way which Tindal came, And by his falling gave the Fell a name." I never knew any one on the Circuit ride it on horseback, as' was formerly the custom, but Tindal and some other Judges had their groom with two horses, and rode, except in and out of Circuit towns, for which they entered the Sheriff's carriages. Tindal once, when thus riding, talked with a woman at a turnpike-gate, who expressed a great desire to see the Judge, and asked for a description so that she might know him when he passed through ; soon after the Sheriff's carriage came up, into which he entered, saying to her, " Now you have not only seen, but talked with a Judge." I may here mention regarding Sir John Copley, that partly by his instrumentality an annual dinner of the mem- bers of Trinity College had been established in London. It was attended by many of the eminent men who had been educated at the College, but after some years it languished, and finally ceased to exist. About this time I spent a few days with Dr Davy, Master of Caius College, at his country house at Heacham in Norfolk. He had been a fellow of Caius College, and a physician in extensive practice, which he relinquished on being made master. His acute mind led him to give much attention to metaphysics. On this and other literary sub- jects he had written a good deal, but he directed in his will, and with almost his dying words earnestly requested, that all his MSS. should be destroyed \ I have reason to believe ^ We happened to be visiting Caius College on the day on which the destruction took place. It was done by boiling them in the great copper of the College kitchen, as the most effectual mode. Dr Davy — Cnrio2is Signboards. 163 that he had been sceptical up to middle age, and afterwards becoming, as I know, a sincere behever, dreaded lest there should be some taint of his former opinions in his writings which might be injurious to others. As an instance of his remarkable acumen I would mention that he contended, when the news of the battle of the Nile (Aug. ist, 1798) arrived, that the English ships ought to have been placed not parallel with, but obliquely to the French ships which were anchored in Aboukir Bay. This notion was thought so presumptuous in the University that his acquaintances sometimes amused themselves with alluding to the sub- ject in his presence that they might draw out his theory. Some years afterwards a Biography, with numerous letters of Lord Nelson was published, from which it appeared that he had directed the ships to be stationed in this manner, but that through a mistake of those to whom he gave the directions they were not properly placed. Dr Davy was fond of discovering meanings for curious signs, and he told me some of his interpretations. " The Green Man and Still," he considered was the green-man, or one who sold herbs for the distiller. Formerly gamekeepers were dressed in green; I have seen one so dressed myself at Bunny, and Dr D. supposed that in the sign such an one was represented, the original meaning being lost sight of. On Lincoln Heath there was a small inn called the Green Man, and doubtless it had reference to a gamekeeper or ranger\ This reminds me that Lincoln Heath was in my younger days a large tract of unenclosed land, chiefly rabbit- warrens. I have passed over it since in a mail-coach, and 1 This explanation differs from those given in Hottcn's entertaining book on Signboards, nor are the other two signs which my Father goes on to describe mentioned in the latest edition (the fifth) I have met with. II— 2 164 Autobiographic Recollections. found the desolate waste I knew to be fields waving with corn. I have seen a singular sign in Wisbeach at a public-house called " The Three Goats ;" we may be certain that no goat was ever naturally in that part of the country. Mr Jackson of Wisbeach, who was something of an antiquary, told me that gote was in that part of the country a word for an outlet, a corruption of go-out, and that there were three outlets, or, so to speak, sluices there for the water, and thence the name. I remember seeing an Inn with this device : in place of the usual painting on a board at the top of a post, there was a small gate, and on the four bars were painted these lines : " This gate hangs well, And hinders none, Refresh and pay And then pass on." CHAPTER X. 1828— 1829. Title of Professor conferred — George Peacock — Letter from Mr Justice Parke — University Election — Mr Cavendish — Robert Hall — The Test Act — HaWs preaching — Christopher Benson — Hugh Rose — Dr Mill — Curious Texts — Robertson's Sermon. 1828. T T AVING given a course of Lectures for twelve ^ ^ successive years, with three exceptions, caused by illness and unavoidable professional engagements, which had been attended not only by students but by several M.A.'s, a grace was proposed in the Senate (May 21st, 1828) to confer upon me the title of Professor of Political Economy. It was opposed by that class of persons who are averse from any thing new. Dr Johnson observes that "there are some men of narrow views and grovel- ling conceptions, who without the instigation of personal malice, treat every new attempt as wild and chimerical ; and look upon every endeavour to depart from the beaten track as the rash effort of a warm imagination, or the glittering speculation of an exalted mind, that may please and dazzle for the time, but can produce no real or lasting advantage. Such have been the most formidable enemies of the great benefactors to mankind; for their notions and discourse are so agreeable to the lazy, the 1 66 Autobiographic Rccollectiojis. envious, and the timorous, that they seldom fail of becoming popular and directing the opinions of mankind." The Caput of this year was composed of Martin Davy, D.D., Caius Vice-Chancellor, John Lamb, D.D., Corpus Divinity, William Frere, D.C.L., Downing .... Law, Fred. Thackeray, M.D., Emman Physic, Thos. Musgrave, M.A., Trin Senior non-regent, Hamnet Holditch, M.A., Caius Senior regent; any one of whom might have rejected the grace, but did not. After passing this ordeal it was offered to the Senate : " Cum Georgius Pryme, M.A., Collegii S.S. Trinitatis nuper Socius, publicas Lectiones de principiis CEconomiae Politicae instituerit, et per multos annos perlegerit : Placeat vobis, ut idem Georgius Pryme titulo Professoris Q^conomiae PoliticjE vestris suffragiis cohonestetur." Placets 1 8, non-placets 9, in black-hood house\ I was not, of course present, but the gratifying news was brought to me immediately by George Peacock, after- wards Dean of Ely. It was like one of his fine acts. I must add that he Avas soon followed by Musgrave, who became in after years Archbishop of York. I was very intimate with both. I had perhaps done Peacock a little service when he was a young man. I was one of the examiners in his first year at Trinity ; I sent for him afterwards, and ^ "It was at Naples that the first Professorship of Political Economy in Europe was established in 1754, by the munificence of the Fioren- tini Intieri." Mr Nassau Senior was appointed first Professor of Political Economy at Oxford in 1826. It was founded by Mr Drummond of Albury, Surrey, and is only retained for a few years. Dr Whately founded that at Dublin in 1832. George Peacock. 167 told him that he ought to try and make his handwriting more easily legible, that I and the other examiners had made it out because our time was not limited, but that it would not be so when he should go up for his degree in the Senate-House, and his papers might be thrown aside as illegible. He thanked me and profited by the hint, as I observed to him in the next year's examination. At the time of his degree Herschel was Senior Wrangler, and he, Peacock, was bracketed with Fallows of St John's. They were of course examined again, and Peacock was second wrangler. The Trinity undergraduates were so pleased that they chaired him round the great court at night ; Mansel, hearing the noise, opened his window and enquired the reason of it, on being told he said, "Well, well, I'm very glad to hear it, but make a little less noise." I was in the Court at the time. [Another College friend, Mr Parke, was congratulated this year on his promotion by my Father, and as they were rivals in academic distinction, it is pleasant to record how friendly were their rela- tions towards each other, in a letter which does honour to both of them.] "London, Nov. 25, 1S28. "My dear Pryme, "Many thanks to you for your kind congratula- tions on my promotion : which however I cannot persuade myself to attribute to anything but my good fortune. Though circumstances have disabled you from joining in the race, where I have been a winner, you have had the advantage of being free from its anxieties, and have hitherto enjoyed and I hope will long continue to enjoy, a happy life, uniting with those studies which have almost absorbed my atten- 1 68 Aiitobiographic Recollections. tion, the successful pursuit of other sciences. I think your condition by no means unenviable. " I have now had my office a week, and feel tolerably comfortable, but have much to learn, " I doubt whether I shall be able to come to Cambridge soon : but I hope I shall, and shall, of course, see you. " With my kind remembrances to Mrs Pryme, in which Mrs Parke unites, believe me, '' My dear Pryme, "Yours very sincerely, "J. Parke V 1829. In June of this year a vacancy occurred in the representation of the University by the promotion of Sir Nicholas Tindal to the Chief Justiceship of the Common Pleas. The candidates were Wm. Cavendish, Esq., present Duke of Devonshire, and Mr George Bankes ; the former was returned by a majority of 147. He was selected as a candidate on account of his having been recently (1829) second wrangler, a thing unusual for one who was heir presumptive to a peerage. This election was remarkable as returning a whig member for the first time since Lord H. Petty's defeat in 1807, which might be partly attributed to the academical distinction won by Mr Cavendish, and partly to the political re-action which was taking place here as elsewhere. At the general election in the following year he was again returned with Lord Palmerston, who had gradually come to embrace whig principles. Later on, in 1831, at the dissolution upon the question of Parliamentary Re- ' He succeeded Mr Justice Holroyd in the Court of King's Bench, being previously called to the degree of Sergeant, and giving rings with the motto " Jiistiticc tt'tiaxP The Test Act. 109 form, both were defeated by a large majority, and replaced by Messrs Goulburn and Yates Peel. In the autumn of this year Robert Hall, the celebrated Baptist preacher of Leicester, came to Cambridge, where he had formerly ministered. On a previous visit I had requested Mr Ebenezer Foster (Senr.), at whose house he was staying, to introduce me to him. At that time the Test Act had not been repealed. His first words to me were, " Mr Pry me, is this true which I have heard of you, that for some years you held an office which required con- formity to the Test Act, and though a member of the Church of England you would not conform.?" I answered, "Cer- tainly, I did not comply technically, though substantially, with its provisions." As a fellow of Trinity I was in the habit of receiving the Sacrament, and on my call to the Bar I had taken the oaths at Westminster which the Test Act required, but did not present a certificate of having received it, and thereby subjected myself to a penalty. This was from dissatisfaction, though I was then a Tory, with the intolerant enactments of the Test Act, which extended not merely to the fellowships of colleges, but also to the most trifling offices under government, custom-house officers, &c. This Act was passed in the 25 th Charles H., and was entitled "An Act for preventing dangers which may hap- pen from Popish Recusants." It required any one holding any office, or receiving any pay, salary, or fee, by reason of any patent or grant from his Majesty, or from any of his Majesty's predecessors (which Parke considered to in- clude a fellowship at Trinity College), and residing within, thirty miles' distance from Westminster, should receive the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper in some parish-church, and deliver a certificate of it under the hands of the respective minister and churchwarden, and bring two credible witnesses 170 Autobiographic Recollectio7is. to prove it on oath, under several penalties for neglect or refusal, among which were, being unable to be guardian to any child, or executor or administrator of any person, or to receive any legacy or deed of gift, or to bear any office, and the forfeiture of j^SOO. Barnewall, afterwards writer with Alderson of TJie Reports, was called on the same day as I was, and said, "■ I take a different oath." Charles Butler was the first Roman Catholic called to the Bar under the relaxation of the act. [Miss Berry, writing in 1810, speaks of 300 Communicants at St James's church, Piccadilly, " accounted for by the number of people obliged to qualify, as it is called, for offices, and commonly doing so at this church'." Lord John Russell brought a Bill into the House of Commons in the Session of 1828 to repeal the Test Act, by which the Sacra- mental Test was exchanged for a Declaration, The Duke of Wel- lington supported it in the House of Lords, where it passed by a majority of 102. Bishop Blomfield and all his Episcopal brethren were in favour of the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts, maintaining " these exclusive measures to have been defensible at the time of their enactment, but that they had failed of the object for which they were intended, had become unnecessary in an altered state of things, and tended to bring religion and the Church into discredit by the profanation involved in the use of the Sacramental Testl"] On this latter visit of Mr Hall to Cambridge he said to me, " I rejoice that the Test Act has been repealed, be- cause its enactments pressed grievously on many of my religious friends, but I believe it (the repeal) has been in- jurious to the dissenting cause, for it has removed a bond of union among different classes of dissenters which the grievance had ..cemented." ^ Miss Berry's Journal, Vol. ll. p. 412. ^ Bishop Blomfield's Life by his Son, Vol. I. p. 137. Robert Hair s preaching. 171 The powerful impression left by Mr Hall's preaching was not the result of an uninterrupted eloquence, for at the commencement of his sermons a considerable hesitation was apparent, till, as he gradually became animated with his subject, it disappeared in the resistless flow of his forcible language, aided by his fervid manner \ He published a sermon in the year 1800, upon the French Revolution and the atrocities which followed upon it. It was much admired, even by men whose religious principles were most opposed to his ; and he was personally complimented on it by the Vice-Chancellor, Like some other men of intellectual eminence, he did not disbelieve in apparitions, and I once heard him distinctly say that he felt confident he had seen one^ While on the subject of eminent preachers I may men- tion two or three others, Churchmen, with whom I had personal acquaintance. Christopher Benson had obtained celebrity at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and was therefore invited to become one of the select monthly preachers at St Mary's Church, Cambridge. He had been little known while at Trinity College, as bad health and deficient energy conse- quent thereon, had prevented his distinguishing himself then. His manner was mild, persuasive, and impressive, and he had a way of looking very much to his audience. In one of his sermons he addressed the students, strenuously urging 1 It was a frequent remark of Bishop Blomfield's that the Divine whose style of composition he should most hkc to have was Robert Hall. In him, he used to say, "there was the force of Johnson without his stiffness, and the richness of Burke without his redundance." Bishop Blomfield's Life by his Son, Vol. II. p. 193. ' Izaak Walton relates with every circumstance of truth in his life of Dr John Donne the apparition to him in Paris of his wife who was in England at that time and very ill. 172 Autobiographic Recollections, the useful employment of their time while in the University, and closed the subject by saying, "for myself, I can only speak the language of regret." As he said so he paused for a minute, during a dead silence of the congregation, and the effect upon their minds was, I believe, far more complete than if he had been known to have obtained academic distinction. He afterwards became Master of the Temple, where his excellence as a preacher attracted a congregation much more numerous than the one naturally belonging to the Temple Church \ Hugh Rose's sermons and manner of preaching resem- bled Benson's ; he had obtained high University honours. I had the pleasure of his intimate acquaintance, and I recall some delightful parties at the rooms of Professor Dobree, which never exceeded the number of eight, where he and other friends met, and at which he showed his great social and in- tellectual qualities. But there was a more peculiar charm in his tetc-a-tcte conversations, which I sometimes enjoyed at my own house. One monthly course of his sermons, which he afterwards published, was devoted to an examination of the German Neology, then first attracting attention, and was deemed by all who heard him a triumphant refutation of it. An asthmatic complaint terminated in middle age his efforts, at a time when the Church apparently most ^ "The time was when his name was a household word in the country and in London ; when the scholars at the Universities, and the magnates in the Metropolis, were to be seen in crowds, both at St Mary's and at the Temple, to hear one of the most impressive and effective preachers that had been known within the memory of man. * * * We would remark in passing that he whose memory is for- gotten, who flits from us like any other man, was, in 1825, well known to our Statesmen, and well reputed of in the Church, and though now passing away in silence, would then have been generally mourned as a great man falling in our land." St James's Magazine, May 1S68. Dr Mill. 173 needed them. It is difficult to convey the full effect of his eloquence to those who never heard his sweet deep-toned voice, or saw his tall and dignified figure, his calm yet ear- nest manner \ Dr Mill, on his return from India, where he had been head of the College of Calcutta, answered Strauss in a course of learned and abstruse Sermons, which were therefore not so popular as Rose's. He was a man remarkable for his great simplicity of mind and manners as well as for his great learn- ing ; and was on the next vacancy after his arrival in Eng- land elected Professor of Hebrew. I had been one of the examiners at the annual examinations of Trinity College in his first year. He was first in his year. One of the subjects was the sixth book of Herodotus, which recounted the ex- pedition of Xerxes King of Persia into Greece. I gave the following among the printed questions, " State what account the native Persian historians give of their wars with Greece." I myself knew not the language, and expected no one to an- swer it, but thought it desirable to call attention to the sub- ject, which might be found treated of in the Universal Ancient History. Mill gave a complete answer, I asked him if he had at all studied Oriental languages. He answered that he had begun to do so, but that he had got this information from the Universal Ancient History. [Dr ]\Iill was 6th Wrangler in 18 13. He turned his Oriental learning to good account. He accompanied Bishop Wilson in one of his Indian journeys, who relates of him that "his knowledge of Sanskrit served him well. The delight of the native priests on hear- ^ Rev. Hugh James Rose, born 1795, died 1839. — First Chancellor's Medallist, 14th Wrangler, Editor of the British Magazine, Principal of King's College, London. Christian Advocate at Cambridge in 1829. Domestic Chaplain to Dr Howley, Archbishop of Canterbiuv, 174 Autobiographic Recollections. ing him converse in it was indescribable '." He also says, " Dr Mill's Sanskrit work, called the Christa Saiigita, is an epic poem in Sanskrit verse, containing the History of Christianity, and the evi- dences on which it rests. It is a wonderful proof of genius and learning, and a most valuable gift and legacy to India. So much were these learned Brahmins struck with the poem, as the pundit read it, that they continually asked for more and more ; and it was not till day dawned, and the camp began to move, that they released him^" Dr Mill had attended Daily Service all his life. First at Trinity College Chapel, then at the College in India, again during his residence at Cambridge in his own parish Church, afterwards at his living of Brasted, Kent, and lastly during his canonical residence at Ely. There he lies buried, and a recumbent statue with folded hands, placed in it by his friends, gives some idea of one who had the most saintly countenance I ever beheld.] While on the subject of Sermons I may mention some curious texts which were, and were not, preached upon. When a new Master of Trinity is chosen, the custom is to close the gates at the time when he arrives to take posses- sion. He knocks, and is admitted. Dr Bentley of St John's was so unpopular with the Fellows of Trinity that when pro- moted to be their Head the gates were kept shut against him. The tradition is that he got into the Lodge by means of a wall which divided its garden from St John's, and that he preached his first sermon from the text, " With the help of my God I shall leap over the wall^" But the fact is that he merely replied to a friend's congratulation in the words of the Psalmist. It was said jocularly on Mr Hailstone's succeeding Mr Raine, head master of the Charter House School, as vicar of Trumpington, he ought to preach on, " He gave them hail- stones for rain." 1 Bateman's Life of Dr Wilson, Vol. i. p. 413. 2 Ibid, Vol. II. p. 121. ^ 1 8th Psalm, 29th verse. Curiotcs Texts. 175 Mr Pitt became Premier in his 24th year ; he usually when he came down to Cambridge had a Deanery or some preferment in his pocket. Paley the philosopher remarked on one of these occasions, " If I were to preach before him I think I should select for my text, ' There is a lad here which hath five barley loaves and two small fishes, but what are they among so many ?'" A story grows by going, and it has been said that he did so. Sterne was fond of choosing sin- gular texts. I have heard that he once preached on " Is there any taste in the white of an egg^ ?" Robertson, the historian, wrote a Sermon on the appropri- ate and prepared locality of Palestine for our Lord's coming, and showed that had he come to the Greeks or Heathens they could not have received him, as did the Jews, who had been taught to expect a Messiah. This was the only Sermon that he ever published. [The title of this sermon is, " The situation of the World at the time of Christ's appearance, and its connection with the success of his Religion considered." Edinburgh, 181 8. It was preached in the year 1755, before the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. Mr Dugald Stewart, writing in 1801, says of it, "This Sermon, the only one he ever published, has long been ranked, in both parts of the Island, among the best models of pulpit eloquence in our lan- guage. It has undergone five editions ; and is well known in some parts of the Continent in the German translation of Mr Ebeling."] ^ 6th Chapter of Job, 6th verse. CHAPTER XL 1830 — 1832. Death of George IV.— Resignation of Ministers — Earl Grey — Call frcm Lord Pahnerston — His change of political opinions — Mr Hob- houses proposal—Sale of Close Boroughs — Payment of Voters — Cambridge Town Meeting — Reform Bill introduced by Lord John Russell— Its Provisions and Progress — Dissolution of Parliament — General desire of Reform throughout the country — The Village Politician— Letter from Frederick Pollock, M.P. — New Parliament —Reform Bill passed — Shortenifig time of Elections — Yorkshire Election in 1807 — Requisition from the Electors of Cambridge — Prof Prymds Address to them — Mr Spring Rice — Sir Edward B. Sugden — Refusal to give Pledges — Dissolution — Election for the Borough — The Chairing. 1830. f^\^ June 26 George IV. died, and was succeeded ^-^ by the Duke of Clarence as William the Fourth. He kept for a while the existing Ministry under the Duke of Wellington. A dissolution of course took place (July 24th) and in most of the Counties and open Boroughs members in some degree favourable to Parliamentary Reform were returned. There was an Autumn Session, and on the 15th Nov. Ministers were left in a minority on a question con- nected with the Civil List, and immediately resigned. Well do I remember dining at the annual Philosophical dinner at Cambridge on the i6th Nov., and Peacock coming in and saying to me, " Ministers have resigned, and now we shall Call fi-oni Lord Pahuerslon. 177 have the whigs in." The Kinq,- sent for Earl Grey, who was considered the leader of the whig party, to form an Adminis- tration, and he undertook to do so, but only on the princi- ples of " Peace, Reform, and Retrenchment." Lord Pal- merston became Foreign Secretary. This of course vacated his seat. When he came down to Cambridge for re-election he called upon me to ask me to join his committee, and we had a long conversation. I expressed to him some surprise at the late Ministry going out on so slight a question. He said it was be- lieved in the House that they would be in a minority on Parliamentary Reform, which might afford a prestige to that measure, and they therefore preferred to be in a minority on a question of less importance, and made no effort to secure the attendance of their usual supporters. Lord Palmerston had gradually adopted whig principles, and it has been said that he was more years in office under various Administra- tions than political consistency allowed. It is true that he passed most of his life in some office of Administration, and on that account his political change was concluded by per- sons of hasty judgment to have been the result of interested motives. I have through life carefully watched his conduct, and am convinced that it was quite the reverse. His first avowed change was in favour of Roman Catholic Emancipa- tion, which lost him, as might have been expected, the repre- sentation of the University at the next election. His next avowed change was while he was a member of the Duke of Wellington's administration, when he gave an anti-ministe- rial vote in the House of Commons on the disfranchisement of the Borough of Grampound, and sent in his resignation the next morning. I think I may say that there was a general desire for Reform throughout the country. A slight measure had already 12 178 AtUobiogTapJiic Recollections. been attempted by Mr Hobhouse. An unexpected payment from Austria of a debt incurred on a subsidy during the last war with France somewhat perplexed the Parliament as to the mode of its disposal. A small portion of the money was applied to the improvement of Carlton House with its garden, the palace of George IV. Mr Hobhouse proposed to pur- chase close Boroughs, which were frequently sold, vest the funds in the hands of trustees, and transfer the franchise to some of the great unrepresented towns ; but the proposal for the appropriation of the rest was rejected with some- what of derision. Had it been carried out many of the great towns might have petitioned in favour of further reform, but most probably would not have joined in that vehement agitation which carried so abrupt and extensive a change as the measure of 1832. [Mr Hobhouse's plan was not new. In 1785, Mr Pitt, being Prime Minister, made a third and last attempt to amend the repre- sentation. His plan was to purchase from thirty-six boroughs of small population their right of sending members, and to transfer the seats thus acquired to counties or populous places. It was re- jected by 248 to 174. The really radical reformers were, after all, the old tories, who unfortunately resisted all change, even when rendered necessary by the progress of time, proposed by such a Minister as Mr Pitt, and supported by such a citizen as Mr Wilber- force.] Great corruption having been proved in the Borough of Grampound, it was proposed to disfranchise it, and transfer its members to Leeds. This plan was successfully opposed by Lord Liverpool's Government, and instead of that, two mem- bers were added to the two alone representing Yorkshire up to 1826. This was like putting a dam across a river to make it flow back ; the only consequence of which would be that Mr Hobhonses proposal. 1 79 the accumulation of waters would at length burst the barrier and deluge the country around. Spring Rice told me that it was said on tJiat occasion among a few of his friends, " Re- form is iioiu carried." [Lord Palmerston, speaking 20 years later, describes as revolu- tionists, "men who, animated by antiquated prejudices, dam up the current of human improvement until the irresistible operation of accumulated discontent breaks down the opposing barriers and overturns and levels to the earth those very institutions which the timely application of renovating means would render strong and wholesome \"] I have seen an advertisement, before Grampound was dis- franchised, offering a Borough for sale (Westbury), as not only to be sold, but to be sold by order of the Court of Chan- cery. A short time before the Reform Bill Lord Monson paid ;^ 100,000 for Gatton, which contained about twenty-five houses, and rather more than one hundred inhabitants. Mr Aubrey, fellow-commoner of Trinity College, and nephew of Sir J. Aubrey, told me that his uncle, whose heir he was, thought that he could not spend ;^I000 a year more pleasantly than in buying a borough and sitting in Parliament. He sat for Aldborough in Yorkshire, by arrangement with its proprietor, Mr De Crespigny, and on the understanding that he was to vote as he pleased^ He did not pay ;^IOOO annually for the privilege, but calculated that it cost him that. ^5000 was the sum usually paid for a seat. Previously to the Reform Bill of 1832 pecuniary influ- ence had operated upon the electors of many boroughs to ^ Lord Palmerston's Speech on Mr Roebuck's Motion on Foreign Policy June 25, 1850. " Sir John Aubrey, Bart, M.P. for Wallingford 1768. Lord of the Treasury 1783. Lord of the Admiraky 1802. 12 — 2 i8o Autobiographic Recollections. an extent scarcely now to be imagined\ At Hull and Beverley, and probably at many other places, it was cus- tomary after the election to give four guineas for a single vote or two for a divided one. At Hedon, a small Borough and sea-port on the Humber, now disfranchised, it was usual to give twenty guineas for a single vote, and ten for a divided one. Before an election there was no actual pro- mise made, but the voter would say on being canvassed, " You will do what is usual after the election, Sir, I suppose," and the candidate would reply in the affirmative. Many of the poor electors did not wait for an election but bor- rowed of the member sums of money, for which they gave a promissory note. When an election came ten or twenty guineas was receipted upon the note, the residue of which still gave the candidate a hold upon the elector for a future occasion. This was told to me by Mr Chaytor, of Spenni- thorne, in Wensleydale, w^ho long represented the Borough. To show the extent to which corruption prevailed, I may mention that when the Reform Bill was spoken of to some electors in Stafford, they expressed their pleasure at it, and hoped that there would be introduced into it some plan for the better payment of jDOor voters ! St Alban's was on the Great North Road, which gave the town prosperity by its posting ; and it was said of its inhabitants, when the great Inn was given up, that they remarked, "We have nothing now left to sell but our votes." 1831. On Jan. 31st a Town-meeting was held at Cam- bridge, to petition for Parliamentary Reform, at which I attended and took an active part. The new cabinet ar- ranged a plan of parliamentary reform, and to Lord J. ^ This was written some few years before the late Bribery Com- missions were thought of. Refonn Bill inlrodiiced by Lord J. Russell. i8i Russell, though not then a Cabinet minister, its introduc- tion was committed (on March ist), because he had been chairman of the election committee which had occasioned the disfranchisement of the little corrupt borough of Gram- pound. The Measure now proposed took every one by surprise by its extent and thoroughness. It is true that what would have contented the reformers of a preceding generation would not have satisfied them in this, yet even the radicals had formed no notion of the sweeping clauses which would be introduced. Many people objected to it as going too far, and so did I ; but I thought it a choice between that and revolution. This Bill was not to aftect Ireland. I remember the Irish Parliament, and the sensation caused by the Union in iSoi, which may be said to have been a commencement of Par- liamentary Reform. It had been composed of 300 ]\Iem- bers. Some Boroughs were disfranchised, some that had previously sent two were reduced to one member. In this way the members were compressed into one hundred, and those who were excluded received compensation in money. Twenty-eight representative Peers were elected for life by the others. The Scottish Parliament came to an end in Queen Anne's reign, and members were elected ever after to serve in the English Parliament. On the old system (that is since the union) the voting was confined to the Corporations. Forty-five places sent members, and there was this anomaly in counties, that no one could vote who did not hold lands from the Crown, so that a man might have had thousands a year in landed property, and have no voice in the repre- sentation. The Boroughs were arranged in classes of four or five, each of which elected a delegate, and these met and 1 82 Autobiographic Recollections. elected the member. Much of this was now to be altered ; borough members were no longer to be elected by town- councillors or delegates, but by ^^lo householders, and the qualification for voting in counties was to consist in owner- ship of land or houses worth ^lo a year with residence, or holding as tenant in actual possession. Several Counties were to be joined together, and the rest (22) to return one member each. The second reading of the Reform Bill passed on the 22nd of March by a majority of one. General Gascoyne, M.P. for Liverpool, moved, on April 18, an Amendment adverse to the proposed reduction of the numbers (upwards of 90), and on a division put Ministers in a minority of eight. This occasioned a 'dissolution of Parliament on the 22nd of April. There was now a general cry throughout the country of " The Bill, the whole Bill, and nothing but the Bill." Such was the feeling that only seven County members were returned who were adverse to Reform, and General Gascoyne was rejected by his constituents. [I have heard my Father relate an amusing anecdote in refer- ence to this. A friend of his, a barrister, was dining alone at a country inn. The waiter, an intelligent nmn, was so interested in politics that while attending to the guest he could not refrain from discussing the events of the time. " And," said he by way of climax, "what I say, Sir, is the bill, the whole bill, and nothing but the bill." When the reckoning was brought the visitor paid it, but gave nothing to the waiter. He demurred to this, and was met by the answer, " Why you yourself told me you was in favour of the bill, the whole bill, and nothing but the bill." The " village politician," however, was not unwilling to accept an amendment to his bill. Mr Sykes in one of his letters, wrote, " It is quite gratifying to me, an old reformer, to hear no other cry but 'reform, reform' from London to Barton." But while rejoicing over this success he was not hastening his New Parliament. 183 own election. Though he had received invitations from various parts of the West Riding to stand for the County, he declined, say- ing, '^ There is a time for all things, and the time is come when I ought to retire." My father now received a requisition to stand for Huntingdon, which he thought proper to decline, and thence this letter in answer to one he wrote to an old college friend, and which he has given me permission to insert.] Wednesday, May 4, 1831. "My dear Pryme, " I cannot pass through Cambridge without en- deavouring to see you — but as I am unsuccessful — I beg in this way to express my thanks for your note. I am glad (with you) that we were not opposed to each other — but with you I feel that the present occasion is one where great duties may interfere with private sentiments. I shall be most happy to see you in town. I am going there in haste, and remain, " Sincerely yours, " Fred. Pollock." In the new Parliament, which met June 21, a Bill with some alterations, but leaving the numbers of the House as they were, was again introduced, and with a few changes passed the Commons by a large majority (109) in September. But it was known that a majority of the House of Lords was still adverse to it, and accordingly it was rejected by them on Oct. 8th by a majority of 41. Parliament was prorogued on the 20th, to re-assemble on the 6th of Dec. A fresh Bill was brought forward in the Commons, and passed on March 23rd. But there was still the opposition in the Upper House to be overcome. Lord Grey proposed to the King to create a number of new Peers, which he was unwilling to do. 184 AiitobiograpJiic Recollections. The second reading passed by only nine, a majority insuf- ficient to secure success in the third reading. This, with the result of Lord Lyndhurst's hostile motion on May 7, caused Lord Grey to tender his resignation. The King tried to form another Administration, but such was the state of agitation throughout the country that no statesman would attempt it. As a proof of the excitement, many persons informed the tax-gatherer that they declined payment, and one of the great whig noblemen stated in his place in Parliament that he had done the same. Lord Grey was of course recalled by the King, who instructed his private secretary to intimate to several of the Peers the expediency of their absenting themselves from the House of Lords. They did so, the Bill passed, with some amendments to which the House of Com- mons agreed, on June 4th, 106 Peers voting for it and 22 against it, and the Royal Assent was given by commission on the 7th. Besides the vast changes comprehended in the transfer- ence of representative power from small and close Boroughs to the large centres of industry, as Manchester, Birming- ham, Leeds, Sheffield, &c., the Act of Parliamentary Reform altered the whole system within the towns which retained the franchise, and gave it to every occupier of a ten-pound house, continuing it to the freemen of the Corporation who resided within seven miles of the town-hall. This last Avas an addi- tion of the Lords, to which the Commons assented. Among the benefits conferred by the Reform Bill was the shortening the duration of elections. The time for keeping the poll open in Boroughs was unlimited. I remember Lord Milton's contest with Lascelles in 1807. The polling lasted 15 days. Lord M. was in a minority for some days (Wilber- force heading the poll), but then he gradually gained, and at 3 o'clock on the 15th day was elected by a majority of 188. Requisition from the Electors of Cambridge. 185 Above 23,000 persons voted. Lord P^itzwilliam's steward in- formed me that that election cost upwards of ;^ 90,000. Wil- berforce's expences were subscribed for and were above ;^ 40,000. There were but two members for Yorkshire then, and York was the only polling place. Some voters had to go 90 miles. To those who could not afford the journey mileage was given \ In June 1832, a general meeting of the electors of the Borough of Cambridge was called, at which a requisition was adopted and signed, inviting me to become a candidate for the representation. I accepted the proposed honour and issued the following Address. "To THE Electors of the Town of Camisridge. "GENTLEAHiN, "The return of any real Representatives of the Town of Cambridge will soon, for the first time, take place. But the Enfranchisement which has just been accomplished does not so much confer benefits on the nation as give it the means of obtaining them. The work is yet to be done. It remains with the next Parliament to plan, to discuss, and to adopt such temperate measures as may gradually remedy our present evils. It remains for the Electors to send to the House of Commons men who may execute this task care- fully, impartially, and honestly. " I have been called forth by a Requisition numerously signed by my fellow-townsmen, to assist in this difficult ^ The contest for the Westminster Election (1784) lasted 40 clays and ended in a majority of 235 in favour of Mr Fox. A scrutiny was demanded by Sir Cecil Wray and lasted through part of two sessions till it was quashed and !\Ir Fox declared to be elected. i86 AtUobiographic Recollections. task, and I obey that call, unconnected with any other candi- date. Whether I possess the qualities requisite for this pur- pose or not you have had full opportunities of observing during the twenty years which I have passed among you. The course, which I should pursue in Parliament, if honoured by your choice, may be judged of by that, which I have hitherto taken in public affairs, better than by any declaration which I now could make. But my sentiments about West India Slavery may not be so well known, though I expressed them some time since at a Town Meeting holden for that purpose. I have ever been anxious for measures to improve the condition of the Slave, with a view to the early and complete abolition of Slavery. I regret that my duties at Ely, as a Member of the Bedford Level Board, must pre- vent my waiting immediately upon each of the Electors, but I shall take the earliest opportunity of doing so. "I am, Gentlemen, "Your obedient, faithful servant, " George Pryme." '■'Cambridge, nth June, 1832." Some doubt was entertained as to who should be the other Whig candidate. Mr Edward Ellice, one of the secre- taries to the Treasury, was applied to. He declined, saying that he felt secure of his re-election at Coventry, but that his colleague at the Treasury, Mr Spring Rice, would be willing to exchange his seat at Limerick for one at Cambridge, as he was uncomfortably situated at the former place on acccJunt of the agitation for the Repeal of the Union. This selection was very agreeable to me. Mr Spring Rice had been a fellow-commoner of Trinity College while I was a resident fellow, and we had had much Sir Edivard B. Sugden. 187 social intercourse. When he first came down to Cambridge on this invitation, he had, previously to accepting it, asked me in the kindest terms whether his being a candidate would interfere with my probable success, and said that if I thought it would do so, he should immediately retire. And during the seven years of our parliamentary connection I ever expe- rienced from him the greatest courtesy and kindness^ Our opponent in the tory interest was to be Sir Edward Burten- shaw Sugden, now Lord St Leonards. One day we acci- dentally met, when he said to me, "Suppose we forget our electioneering, and that you let me drink tea with you and talk over old times .-*" To this I gladly acceded, and I asked him in our evening's tctc-ct-tcte if he remembered my sugges- tion about his practice as a conveyancer .'^ He answered that he had often thought of it, and of the change in his career which he had then so little anticipated. I was sometimes asked during my canvass to pledge my- self to a particular question. I positively refused to do so, and answered that my promise would render a debate useless, but that I would tell them what was my present opinion ^ I and many of my constituents endeavoured to conduct the Election on principles of perfect purity. Four solicitors offered their gratuitous services on my committee. After the election a tradesman who had acted as a check-clerk' called on me to inform me that payment had been offered to him for his services which he had refused with indignation, and he said that many like himself would willingly have acted ■^ Mr Thomas Spring Rice, afterwards Baron Monteagle. 2 Dr Johnson says that " a true Patriot is no lavish promiscr ; he undertakes not to shorten Parhaments ; to repeal Laws ; or to change the mode of representation transmitted by our Ancestors. He knows that futurity is not in his power, and that' all times arc not alike favourable to change." A u tobiog raph ic Recollections. gratuitously if the opportunity had been given them. My whole expenses were under ;^400. At my two subsequent contests there was a subscription towards the expenses of myself and my colleague, the amount and application of which I never knew, and to which each of us contributed. The dissolution which was to give efifect to the Reform Bill took place in December. The two late members, the Marquis of Graham and Lieut-Colonel Trench, retired from the representation of Cambridge, and the latter was returned, under the altered state of things, for Scarborough, where his friend the Duke of Rutland had much political influence. The election took place December 13th, and the numbers were, Pryme 979 Rice 799 Sugden 540 [The Chairing took place the next day, and it may be worth describing as the first variation in Cambridge from the literal carry- ing out of the term. I can remember, when a child, seeing from a window Lord Francis Godolphin Osborne' and Mr Adeane borne down St Andrew's Street, sitting on wooden chairs, which were fastened to poles and supported on men's shoulders. The chairs were covered with bows of orange, and green and white satin ribbon — the colours of the two members. Every now and then, when the populace pleased, the procession stopped, and the chairs were tossed up as high as the bearers could reach, amid loud huzzas. I recollect the look of discomfort at such times on Lord F. Osborne's face, as he sat in his peculiar, stiff, stately manner, dressed in a green coat and top boots. On this occasion the two members were seated in a handsome car covered with blue silk, and adorned with rosettes of crimson and blue and buff, their respective colours. It was drawn by six grey 1 Afterwards Duke of Leeds. Election for the BoroiigJi of Cambridge. 189 horses, ridden by postilions dressed in blue silk jackets and caps. This cortege, headed by a marshal and tliree trumpeters on horse- back, and followed by a band of music and a numerous cavalcade of horsemen, had a most imposing effect, and paraded the town (Barn- well included) for many hours. Mr Spring Rice, with that perfect courtesy which marked all his actions, insisted on my father's taking the place of honour, and handed to him first the silver goblets of copas and mulled wine which, as they passed by some of the col- leges, were generously brought out to refresh the members, who sat, bareheaded, through a long winter's day to receive the congratula- tions of the delighted people. I doubt if such a thing occurred again, and certainly there is no ceremony now. As may be supposed, my Father was intensely gratified by the position of trust and honour in which he was placed by his fellow- townsmen, and he looked forward with pleasure to a future sphere of usefulness and mental activity in the House of Commons. But there is always something to remind us that these earthly triumphs are incomplete. He felt it keenly that the friend with whom he was accustomed to " take sweet counsel," and who would have rejoiced in his rejoicing, was gone, "and never must return'."] ^ Mr Sykes of RaywcU died in January of this year. CHAPTER XII. 1833. Meeting of Reformed Parliament — Election of Speaker — Old acquaint- ance — Petitions — Abolition of West Indian Slavery — Irish Church Temporalities Bill— Mr T. B. Macaulay— Rare Book — Note frojn Mr Macaulay — Lord Palmerston — Municipal Reform — First Speech — Bishop Watson^ s Apology for the Bible — Committees of the House — Lord Ashley's Factory Bill — Casting Vote — Bill for the Relief of Separatists — Mr Goulburn — The Duke of Wellington — Mr Grotis motion for Election by Ballot — Major Cartwright — Lord Fitzwilliam^s views on the Ballot — Cobbett — Corporal punish- ment — The Stamp Act. 1S33. 'T^HE Reformed Parliament met on the 5th of •^ February. Our first business was the election of Speaker, Joseph Hume having proposed Mr Lyttelton in opposition to Mr Manners Sutton, who had occupied that position during many years. The ministers, though ap- proving personally of Mr L. and differing from Mr M. S. politically, yet supported him, thinking that his experience, combined with that courtesy and tact for which he was remarkable, would be better able to regulate the probable turbulence of an assembly containing so many new mem- bers. I found in the house several of my old college acquaint- ances — Messrs Rolfe, Ralph Bernal, Hon. George Lamb, Henry Warburton, Sir Fred. Pollock and Mr Stuart Mack- Old Acquaintance — Petitions. 191 enzie. I did not remember this latter when he said, " Won't you recognise an old college acquaintance ? " till he told me his name. Among those who kindly welcomed me was the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Lord Althorp). He came down from his place, and said, " Mr Pryme, you and I have met before at Trinity." Shortly after he asked me to dinner. I soon made many more acquaintances, the usage being that no personal introduction is requisite between members in the house. Petitions were in this first session very numerous, as if every grievance could at once be remedied, and every reform or improvement immediately effected. It was at first almost impossible to transact business, as five or six members would start up to speak on almost every petition. At that time any member might speak to a petition, but it was soon found in a reformed parliament, that the mass of them was so great that the custom interfered with busi- ness, and therefore a standing order was made, that no one should speak to a petition except the person who presented it, and that he should merely describe from whence it came and its purport \ For myself, I made it an inflexible rule never to give the slightest interruption to a speaker, never to assist in counting out the house, and never when present at a debate to abstain from voting, or, as I termed it, pair off with myself, merely because there seemed to be reason on both sides of the question. I remember once on an important motion, respecting the affairs of Greenwich, feeling uncertain how to vote, being unacquainted with the place. I consulted 1 The late Sir Robert Heron, M.P., complains in his "notes" that "there are men who waste time day after day till 8, 9, or even 10 o'clock P.M. in foolish speeches on petitions, often without any general im- portance." This was in the Session of 1836. 192 AiUobiograpIiic RccollectiGus. a Tory admiral (Lord Hardwicke) and a Whig one. They both took the same view, and I therefore voted in accord- ance with it, and was surprised to receive from the Mayor and Corporation of that town a vote of thanks for my conduct in supporting the bill. I attended constantly in my place, securing it after prayers, and carefully observed the various traits of cha- racter in leading men on minor as well as on great occa- sions. The Ministers introduced only two measures of importance, one of which was for the abolition of West Indian slavery. Before its introduction I attended a meeting (such as is usual on great occasions) of members favourable to the Government, whichwas convened by a private circular, to be held in the great room in the Foreign Office ; Mr Stanley, late Lord Derby, and then a Cabinet minister, propounded the heads of the measure. Several observations were made and alterations suggested, some of which he adopted when he afterwards brought forward the Bill, which with various emendations passed into law. The planters were to receive as compensation twenty millions sterling. The other Measure, called the Irish Temporalities Bill, passed at the close of the Session. It abolished several Irish Bishoprics, imposed a per-centage tax upon the larger bene- fices, took the whole revenue from those livings where no Protestants resided, and provided for the building and re- pairs of churches and glebe-houses, by abolishing the church cess, which had been a great grievance both to the Roman Catholic and Presbyterian portion of the population ; but previously to this measure the Irish Coercion Bill was in- troduced in restraint of the turbulence of meetings which had been frequent in Ireland, notwithstanding Roman Catholic Emancipation. I first heard Lord Macaulay, then M.P. for Leeds, speak on this question, which seemed to tax his Mr T. B. Macaiday. 193 ingenuity in vindicating it\ One of his arguments was that the very severity of some of its enactments made it the less likely to be drawn into a precedent. I had met him a few days before at Lord Althorp's (Feb. 23). He was personally known but to few of the company, and a murmur of " Who is he?" ran round among the rest, who were struck by the powers of his conversation. Macaulay held the office of Secretary to the Board of Commissioners for the affairs of India, not having a seat in the Cabinet, and spoke frequently in support of Minis- terial measures. His eloquence had the fluency and clear- ness of Burke without his exceeding diffuseness. His judg- ment was rapid, I would not call it hasty, though his quickness in grasping at results might sometimes make it appear so. The following is an instance : in a speech (made some years after the time I am speaking of) in opposition to Serjeant Talfourd's Copyright Bill, which nearly tended to perpetuate copyright in the family of an author, he urged that the fancies of his descendants might induce them to sup- press works of general estimation, and he instanced as a fact, that the grandson of Richardson (the novelist) would not suftcr his novels to be read in his family. In the year 185 1, while I was travelling on the Continent, I was men- tioning this argument in conversation, when a gentleman, Rev. Mr Temple, who overheard me, apologised for inter- fering, but wished to state that he was the son of tliat grand- son, and that his father had excluded only Clarissa Harloive, the details of which he thought, and so must every careful father think, unfit for his daughters to read. 1 (.i •Sixty murder.s, or attempts at murder, and not less than 600 bur- glaries, or attempts at burglaries committed in one County alone, and in comparatively a few weeks ! Why this was far worse than Civil war— a loss of life and property equal to the sacking of three or four Towns." 13 194 Atttobiographic Recollections. Macaulay accepted a judicial office in India, partly with a view of improving the administration of justice, in which to a certain extent he succeeded. On his return he began to write his History of England. I am possessed of an exceedingly rare volume, TJie Memoirs of Captain Peter Drake, Dublin, 1755, which had been suppressed, and was so scarce that Thorp, the noted bookseller of Bedford Street, Covent Garden, who dealt chiefly in old books, had never heard but of one other copy. It contains an account of many strange and surprising incidents which happened to him through a period of sixty years and upwards, many of them connected with King William's and Queen Anne's wars with Louis XIV. of France^ I offered Macaulay the perusal of it upon condition that he personally returned it into my own hands. He called on me in London with it on the third day afterwards. I asked, as he returned it so early, if he had not found it worthy of his attention } He told me that he had read through it, and extracted all that he thought might be useful to him for his history. [My Father had at one time designed writing a History of Eng- land himself in continuation of Smollett, who he said was "a very good annalist, but very little of a philosophic historian." For this purpose he had made a valuable collection of pamphlets and tracts; but, business of all kinds pressing on him, he gave up his intendon. He told me that he offered the use of them to another writer who was engaged on an English history, but he declined borrowing them, as he was writing for his booksellers and against time. Macaulay ^ This person, my Father told me, is supposed to be the original of Captain Dalgetty in the Legend of Montrose. The name gave rise to a pleasant mot by Baron Alderson which should not be forgotten. He and Lord Campbell were differing at a dinner party about its pronunciation ; the latter saying Dalgetty. It was settled by Baron Alderson remarking, " I thought that you Scotsmen always laid the emphasis on geiP Note from Mr Macau lay. 195 lost no opportunity of increasing his stores. A friend of mine told me, at the time it happened, that M. met a boy in St Giles' sing- ing, and with a collection of ballads, all of which he bought for a shilling. Turning round after a time he saw the boy following him, and asking him why he did so, was answered, " I wanted to hear how you would sing them."] "Albany, London, Nov. 4, 1848. "Mv DEAR Sir, " I am much obliged to you for your kind sug- gestion, of which I will hereafter avail myself. The two volumes which I am now about to publish must, I am afraid, stand as they are. " I hope and believe that few important pamphlets re- lating to the times of which I have hitherto treated have escaped me. I have rummaged the British Museum, and the Pepysian Library, and have during some years carefully examined the catalogues of those booksellers who deal in such works. The greater part however of my materials has never yet been printed. "I occasionally see Mr Hartwell Home. I will speak to him about the Queens' College Collection. " Believe me, •' My dear Sir, "Yours very faithfully, "T. B. Macaulay." Lord Palmcrston also invited mc two or three times to dine with him at his house in Hertford Street. I fancy it must have been owing to College recollections. At these parties the guests were expected to go punctually at the hour named, and there was a pleasant talk on rather higher 13—2 iq6 Autobiographic Recollections. subjects than mere dinner conversation for twenty minutes or half-an-hour before dinner was announced. [Speaking of Lord Palmerston at another time, my Father said,] His capacity of mental labour was great : one night after a very late division we were walking up Parliament Street together, when just opposite Downing Street he said to me. " I must leave you here, for I have a dispatch to revise at the Foreign Office." I expressed some surprise at his continuing his labours so far into the night, and he replied that he fre- quently did so. One of the measures much petitioned for and really re- quired was Municipal Reform. The Ministers thought it too difficult and important a thing to be undertaken without careful enquiry, and proposed a select Committee to investi- gate the subject by examination of witnesses, &c. Of this Committee I had the honour to be nominated a member. We selected for our examination Boroughs of wholly distinct characters. While we were still sitting it was found difficult to make our enquiries sufficiently extensive, and that it would be desirable to send Commissioners to enquire on the spot into the state of every Corporation, so that it was not till two years afterwards that the present Act was passed. The first speech which I made in Parliament was on occa- sion of a petition being presented (Feb. 14th) by a member in favour of some men who were imprisoned for selling works written against the Christian religion. I said that I rose as a member of two missionary societies to protest against our legally prosecuting such men ; that they were only doing in tlieir way what we were doing in our way in heathen coun- tries, and that the Christian religion had in itself its own defence, and did not require to be supported by force. This speech was much cheered from all parts of the House, and a Roman Catholic member came up to me and thanked me. Committees of the House. 197 Dr Watson, Bishop of Llandafif, wrote in answer to Tom Paine's Age of Reason the Apology for the Bible, Scholars are aware that apology means in this sense vindication. George III. said of it, "Apology for the Bible! I didn't know that it needed one." I think that the Bishop mistook the true line of defence, for he quoted from the Bible, in which Tom Paine did not believe, to verify the truths which he had assailed \ I began to write an answer myself, taking another mode. Paine disbelieved the Pentateuch, saying that it professed to be wTitten by Moses, and yet contained an account of his death, which he could not have described himself. I would have quoted from a Greek book, the name of which I now forget, a similar relation, where the death is, as in the Pentateuch, added by another. Again, to T. P.'s objection that Moses always speaks in the third person, I should have urged that Xenophon in his Anabasis speaks likewise of himself as " Xenophon." Caesar does the same in his Commentaries. But before I could finish the little pamphlet. Hone and others were tried and imprisoned, and there was an end of the matter. A great change for the better gradually took place in the mode of arranging Committees on local bills. Formerly Members went in and out of any Committee, and sat and voted or not as they liked. I remember being for a short time on a Brighton railway committee, and leaving it to attend a Cambridge one, which I was bound to do as its representative. One day whilst sitting on this latter, I re- ceived a pencilled note from a great London merchant, say- ing, "We are just going to a division, come and vote." I ^ Mr Charles Knight says in his Passages of a Working Life," I fear that I acquired a sceptical humour from such defences of the faith as Watson's Apology for the Bible, and Lyttelton's Conversion of St Paul. They attempted to prove too much to satisfy my reason, which they addressed exclusively." 198 Autobiographic Recollections. wrote back, " Not having heard the evidence I should not know how to vote." The old feeling of favouritism was not quite extinct. Since the Reform Bill a Committee of selec- tion has been appointed which regulates the others. I said to Sir R. Inglis, M.P. for Oxford, who was Chair- man of it in my time, " If you think of putting me on any Committee, I wish you would choose one where a knowledge of Civil engineering or mathematics would be useful." He answered that he should be very glad to do so as those were subjects that members generally avoided. I was accordingly placed on one about the navigation of the Severn\ It so happened that a question of pure mathematics arose. God- son, M.P. for Kidderminster, (a Wrangler) of Caius College, Cambridge, and a Scotch member who was a good mathema- tician were, as well as myself, requested to discuss it, and the Committee agreed to abide by our decision, so impartial were they. Lord Ashley, now Lord Shaftesbury, introduced his Bill for regulating the hours of employment in factories, and when the details of the Bill were to be considered, moved that I should take the Chair in the Committee of the whole House. The discussion occupied some hours, and a division took place on one point. It passed into law, and was perhaps hardly less important in its humanity than the abolition of slavery. It forbad children under nine years old being em- ployed at all, and provided that no child should work more than nine hours a day. It has been sometimes termed " the nine hours Bill." After this, during my stay in the House, I Vv^as ^ The Severn Navigation Improvement Association passed a special resolution expressing "the deep obligation they are under to George Pryme, Esq. for his unremitted attendance in the Committee on the Bill." Mr James, M.P. for Carlisle, told me that my Father was esteemed in the House to be the best Chairman of Committees, Bill for the Relief of Separatists. 1 99 frequently placed in the same position on Bills introduced by- private members ; and on one occasion I gave the casting vote. On a clause of the Highway Act, prohibiting the plough- ing up of any footpath which ran across a cultivated field, it was moved to omit it. On a division the votes were equal. I, as Chairman of the Committee, had to give the casting vote, and I gave it against the clause, stating my reasons, as is usual. They were, that as such footpaths often run diago- nally across a field, if left untouched by the plough, every ridge and furrow {land is the technical term) must have been interrupted, and a space left waste and divided unequally, whereas if ploughed, the track would soon be restored by persons passing along it. This will be apparent to every practical agriculturist. For those Bills which were proposed by Government there was a regular Chairman of ways and means, with an annual vote of ^1200 per annum. Mr Bernal, M.P. for Rochester, held that position in our first Parliament, and for many succeeding ones. One day Lord John Russell called me aside and told me that he had been requested to introduce a Bill to enable a new religious sect, called Separatists, to affirm, as the Quakers might, instead of taking an oath ; he said that his position and official duties prevented his doing so, and as he knew that I was a friend to Religious Liberty he asked me to undertake it, and said that he would give mc what assistance he could. I assented, and he added, " I '11 send the deputa- tion to you." They stated to me many practical grievances, one of which was that a member of their persuasion was then in prison for a contempt of the Court of Chancery, because he could not, according to his tenets, put in his answer upon oath. I introduced a Bill to relieve them, and after a deal of tedious and vexatious opposition succeeded in getting it passed to the Lords. One of its opponents in the 200 AutobiograpJiic Recolleclious. House of Commons was my esteemed friend, Mr Goulburn, who afterwards shewed his great financial judgment as Chan- cellor of the Exchequer. He objected to granting a privilege to so small a sect to save them from the consequences of their own perverseness. I answered that the advantage was not merely to the witness, and asked if my Right Hon. friend was a party in a cause which could only be established by the evidence of a Separatist, which of them would suffer the greatest grievance by the exclusion of the testimony .'' to which answer the house showed its approbation. It met with very little opposition in the Upper House, where it was expected to be thrown out, and became the law of the land. I was present in the Lords as a spectator at its introduction there. The Duke of Wellington immediately rose and spoke in its favour, which probably occasioned its success. After all my pains I received no thanks from any of these Separa- tists, except a most fervent letter from a surgeon in Ireland \ The Duke's manner was dignified and stately, and his speeches concise and clear. He was a very independent man, and the value of this was felt when a late nobleman, having had a dispute with the Lord Chancellor respecting the appointment of some magistrates who were dissent- ers, wrote some angry letters, and in consequence was in- formed that the King had no further occasion for his ser- vices as Lord Lieutenant. He intended bringing the matter before the House of Lords, but refrained from doing so when it was intimated to him that if he did, the Duke of Wel- lington would support the Lord Chancellor. It was curious that the first time I heard Lord Grey speak, he mentioned ^ On some other occasion the Wesleyans sent my Father their thanks for ParHamentary services he had rendered them accompanied by a Life of Wesley, with a special inscription to him engraved on the cover. Election by Ballot. 201 me by name as supporting the removal of some disabilities under which the Jews were at that time labouring. In April of this year, Mr Grote, M.P. for London, com- menced his annual motions for election by Ballot. The Ballot was first proposed in 1795 by Major Cartwright ; he was a retired officer on half-pay, and I sometimes met him when I dined out as a boy with my uncle in Nottingham- shire. He seemed to my childish views a man of considerable ability, but I have since thought that his ideas were chi- merical. I thrice voted against the Ballot, but being gra- dually convinced by the speeches of two or three members of its affording some remedy against bribery and intimi- dation, I with ten other members, also formerly adverse, voted three times for it. But since I have talked with those likely to know how it would work, and reconsidered it, I am again opposed to it. I had thought then only of its effect in Protestant Great Britain, but I have been told by a Roman Catholic gentleman possessing large estates in Ireland, that he believed that if the Ballot were introduced into that country, the priests, who have immense influence over the people, would use it to return members. In regard to Counties I think it would be of little avail ; the landlord would still ask the tenant the questions if he would vote, and if he had voted for so and so } In Boroughs it might be better, but the tradesmen would be still under political influences. I will give an instance that occurred in one of my own canvassings. I called on a tradesman, and said, "I know what your former vote was; I don't ask you to vote for me now, but that you would not vote at all." He answered, "I dare not; I have been looking over my books, and I find my returns are ^^ 1,500 a year; about ;^ 1,200 is from Tory customers. They do not ask me to vote for their Candidate, but if I were not to do so, I know 202 AiUobiograpJiic Recollections. . that they would withdraw their custom." A higher tone of moral feeling is gradually diminishing those evils which it was thought the Ballot would remedy. I have always wished my own tenants to vote according to their conscientious opinions, and during a contested election for the County of Huntingdon I published a letter with my name, condemn- ing any coercion as contrary to this maxim in the New Testament, " Do unto others as you would they should do unto you." [My Father's candour in mentioning the fluctuations of his views on the Ballot are borne out by the remarks of the late Lord Fitz- william. I am kindly permitted by his son to insert two letters in this volume, which exhibit his high principles and excellent judg- ment. Speaking of one whom he calls " the neophyte," he says,] "Gradual changes of opinion upon particular questions are what may, I had almost said, must, take place in the mind of every man who thinks; but sudden changes with respect to the whole course of politics, and the relations which men bear to one another in public, do not very much recommend the turner to the favour of those who reflect and observe. "With respect to Ballot, I have no political objection, but my moral objection is invincible — if your electors are not sufificiently independent, the true remedy is not in sccrcsy, a very near relation to falsehood ; — but in striking off the de- pendent or corrupt classes — corrupt and dependent electors there will always be ; but when they are in such numbers as to amount to classes, amputation is the true remedy. " Believe me, "Yours most faithfully, " FlTZWILLIAM. " To G. Pryjne, Esq. " I hope we shall see you at Milton in the winter. "Went WORTH, Sep. 14, 1839." Cobbett. 203 Cobbett sat in the first Reformed Parliament for Oldham. He looked like a better sort of farmer ; he had been, I believe, a common soldier, and lived a good deal in America. He was a very able man, but his career in the House was a complete failure. Though bold in public assemblies he was timid and overav/ed in Parliament, and was never able to say more than a few sentences. One of his chief objects was to abolish corporal punish- ment in the army. He had been tried for a libel on this subject and imprisoned. It is probable that every one would now agree with him. At that time 500 lashes Avere some- times given, and even 1000, though not all at once. If, by the advice of the surgeon present, the flogging was stayed before the due number had been given, then the rest were inflicted at a future timc\ The first modification was made by the Duke of Wellington, as Commander-in-chief, who made the rule that no more than 50 lashes should be given. I was deeply impressed with the dreadfulness of this punishment when a boy, by meeting a soldier sobbing bitterly, supported by two women. I asked them how it was .'' and they told me what he had undergone. This merciful cliangc in flogging, and his wise rules about duelling, were the two great features of the Duke's policy while Commander-in-chief: had he tried to abolish either he might have failed, but his great tact and wisdom made him stop short of this, and enabled him to effect a very great reform in both". Cobbett was said to have " a good face for a grievance." I remember one trait which shows it. He moved to bring in a Bill to modify the Stamp Act, more especially that part of ^ Such a sentence was ordered in 181 1, and 75c administered. 2 McDxh 26, 1868. In Committee on the Mutiny Bill a motion was carried prohibiting corporal punishment in the Army in the tune of Peace. 204 Autobiographic Recollections. it which obliged every one to give a twopenny stamp on payment of any sum between £2 and £^. Lord Althorp said that it would require great time for modification, and that it should be taken into consideration, but that meantime the Member for Oldham might, if he liked, have that parti- cular grievance of the twopenny stamp redressed at once. We all who were opposite to him were amused to observe that Cobbett looked quite disappointed, as if feeling that the sting was taken out of his complaints. Mr Orde, one of the Lords of the Treasury, set to work to do all the rest, and so assiduously that it impaired his health, and he died. The House adjourned on the 24th of August. CHAPTER XIII. 1834. Session of 1834 — New Poor Law — Mr Nassau Senior — Sir James Graham — The Derby Dilly — Dr Darwin — Lord Grey resigns — Houses of Parliament burnt — The Ventilator — Lo7'd Winchelsed s prophecy — Ministers dismissed by the King — Miss Berrfs account of it — Lord Althorp — his wise measures of Finance — his dis- tinction at Cambridge — Ministerial interregnum — Sir Robert Peel — his Bank Act — his conduct about the Test Act — The Duke of Wellington's advice — Dissolution of Parliament — Mr D. W. Har- vey's motion on the Pension List — Mr Edward Strutfs measure for reducing it. TN the Session of 1834 several useful and economical -*- Acts of minor importance were passed, among others the consolidation of different Boards of Revenue. But the only measure of public importance was the New Poor Law Act, introduced by Lord Althorp. The chief griev- ance of the old poor law was that the usual rate of wages was so low that able-bodied men had parish relief ac- cording to the number of their families; and the certainty of this assistance occasioned a careless habit of working, and an indifference towards their employers. In some parishes if able-bodied men had no work they were set by the overseers to the most frivolous employment, as emptying water from one pond into another, and then taking it back 2o6 Aiitobiographic Recollections. again. There was also a great parochial expenditure in poor-law removals and appeals to the Quarter Sessions thereon. In the year 1833 a Commission of Inquiry into the Poor-laws had been appointed, of which Mr Nassau Senior was Chief Commissioner. It was a subject which interested him more than any other. He issued questions to me and many other persons who were known to care about it, as the best means for obtaining useful information. The Report, written entirely by him, was delivered in 1834, and on this was founded the Bill. Lord Althorp privately showed some of the details of this Bill to a few men whom he thought were practically acquainted with the subject. Among them were Mr Miles, M.P. for Somersetshire (Tory), Sir Edward Knatchbull, M.P. for Kent (Tory), Dr Whately, afterwards Archbishop of Dublin, and one of the Chairmen of Quarter Sessions in Notts.\ Mr Nassau Senior, and myself. Mr Nassau Senior was the first Professor of Political Economy at Oxford. He was the chief of us all in his energy and practical acquaint- ance with the subject, and knew all that passed in the Cabinet Councils respecting it. I breakfasted with him two or three times that we might have a conference together. The Measure met with great opposition, chiefly from the Tories and Radicals, but passed by great majorities in both houses. Three Commissioners were appointed to carry this Act into execution, Mr J. Frankland Lewis, Mr J. G. S. Lefevre and Mr George Nicholls. 1 Most likely the Rev. J. Becher, of Southwell. " He was noted for his knowledge of, and work in Benefit Societies and Clubs. Valuable suggestions were derived also from the Rev. R. Lowe (father of the present Chancellor of the Exchequer), Rector of Bingham, who had introduced very successfully the workhouse test into his own large parish." — Extract from a private letter. Sir James Graham. 207 It may be remembered that I have described a conflict between a Prcssgang and the crew of a Greenland Whaler which took place in 1797, in the Humber. Mr Silk Bucking- ham, M.P. for Sheffield, on introducing a Bill to prevent naval impressment, alluded to that occasion and stated the fact that several of the imprcssers had been wounded and one of them killed. Sir James Graham, then First Lord of the Admiralty shook his head and said, " No, no," on which Mr B. replied that there was a Member present who saw it, and appealed to me, and I arose and said, " I and Colonel Thompson saw that very conflict." How little did I foresee when, as a boy, I beheld that encounter, that I should be called upon to speak of it thirty-seven years later as a Member of the House of Commons. [Sir James Graham probably only doubted for the sake of eliciting truth. He could have had no hostility to a measure of relief, or, if he had, his candour and readiness to acknowledge himself mistaken, if he were so, showed itself in his carrying an Impressment Bill in the Session of 1835. As a boy he exhibited the future bent of his life. When other boys were choosing what they would be, he would say, " I will be a Statesman." A stone is still shown in the village on which the youthful politician stood and harangued his playmates.] Sir James Graham was a man of great abilities, but per- haps too hasty. After he quitted office he brought in a Bill for the better regulation of the Medical Profession. Wakley had one also. I carefully compared the two, and was convinced that Sir James Graham's Bill was the better. When we voted he expressed to me his pleasure at seeing me on his side, and asked mc to be Chairman in Com- mittee. Sir James Graham was one of the celebrated seceders 2o8 AutobiograpJiic Recollections. on the Irish Church Temporalities measure, which had been recommended in the King's Speech of this year. After the Bill had been amended both by Lords and Commons, Mr Ward moved a resolution which proposed appropriating a part of the sequestered funds of the Irish Church to pur- poses of education. This not being opposed by the Ministry, occasioned the secession (May 27) of Lord Stanley, Sir James Graham, the Duke of Richmond, and the Earl of Ripon from the Cabinet, and nothing more was enacted on that subject during this Session. There is a complete collection of H. B.'s caricatures in the upper library of the Reform Club. One of the cleverest was The Derby Dilly. O'Connell had repeated the two lines from the Anti- Jacobin, which had parodied Darwin's rather far-fetched illustrations in his Loves of the Plants : " So down thy vale, romantic Ashbourne, glides The Derby Dilly with its three insides." O'Connell altered it to six insides to suit Lord Stanley and his adherents. The Derby Dilly alluded to was a chaise holding three persons inside, called a diligence, which in former days was established in country towns, and in which your place was booked as in a Coach. Dr Darwin was a writer of the most harmonious verse of any poet, more so even than Pope, but there is a good deal of twaddle in his poems. He began life as a Physician at Lichfield, and afterwards removed to Derby. He and Dr Storer of Nottingham, and Dr Vaughan^ of Leicester, were three famous Doctors who were sent for to great dis- tances. Darwin was a Jacobin, and the writers in the Anti- Jacobin Newspaper parodied his similes. He is said to have ^ Father of Sir Henry Halford, who changed his name. Lord Grey resigns. 209 composed his poetry as he went to his more distant patients, and that for this purpose he built a carriage, the first of its kind, to hold only one person, in order that he might not be expected to ask any one to go with him. It was nick-named a sulky \ At the end of the Session, Lord Grey feeling himself unequal to the fatigues of the Premiership, and the great object of his life — Parliamentary Reform — having been ac- complished, recommended the King to send for Lord Mel- bourne, who had held Office under him, and who now suc- ceeded him as Prime Minister. In the autumn of this year the hasty burning of the Exchequer tallies occasioned a fire in the palace of West- minster, and destroyed St Stephen's Chapel, where the House of Commons sat, the interior of the House of Lords, and the Speaker's residence. Against the meeting of the Par- liament next session, the House of Lords was fitted up for the use of the Commons, and the Peers assembled in the Painted Chamber, where they sat till the present buildings were ready. [Only the lower half of St Stephen's Chapel had been used by the Commons. The upper part, with its vaulted roof and unglazed windows, was a large vacant chamber. In the centre of this was a wooden lantern called "the ventilator." This had eight small openings in it, just large enough to admit a head, and was sur- rounded by a circular bench. By this means ladies who were privi- leged to go there could catch a glimpse of speakers within a certain radius. When tired of peering through these pigeon-holes we roamed about our prison, and it was very refreshing to look out on a summer's evening upon the Thames. We were locked up, and every now and then our custodian came to tell us who was " on his ' Sterne speaks of a carriage in France to hold one, called a Dcsobligcante. 14 2IO AtitobiograpJiic Recollections. legs." Sometimes members came up ; Mr Stanley, now Lord Derby, often when Mrs Stanley was there. The present gilded cage which is so complained of is a paradise to the draughty dusty room I speak of, but we liked it nevertheless, and it was a great treat to have tea in a Committee-room. I remember Mr T. B. Macaulay joining our party there on one of the evenings of an anti-slavery debate.] When the Reform Bill passed, the Earl of Winchelsea, who had been the vehement and sincere opponent of it, and also of Roman Catholic emancipation, uttered a pro- phecy, that within ten years there would be neither King, nor House of Lords, and that Mass would be sung in West- minster Abbey. This prophecy was fulfilled in every point, though not exactly in the sense in which he had intended it. Within the time specified there was no House of Lords, for the interior of it was burnt ; no King, for a Queen occupied the throne ; and Mozart's Requiem was sung in the Abbey \ Lord Spencer died in November, and Lord Althorp succeeded to his title. He could of course be no longer Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Leader of the House of Commons. The King availed himself of this circumstance to dismiss the Ministry, and sent for Sir Robert Peel to form one on Tory principles. [Miss Berry gives the following account of the change of Ministry. " It seems that when Lord Melbourne was with the King at Brighton, and began to propose talking of affairs, the King stopped him, saying, 'Come, we are going to dinner, and won't talk of business till afterwards.' When the 'afterwards' came, and Lord Melbourne wished to take his orders about filling up Lord Althorp's place, he cut him short by saying that he, Lord Mel- 1 On occasion of a Musical Festival held there while the decorations for the Coronation remained. Lord Althorp — his wise measiircs of Finance. 21 1 bourne, had always told him that it was impossible the Government could go on without Lord Althorp in the Commons; that therefore he considered it dissolved by Lord Spencer's death, and they had better all resign." The messenger, Mr Hudson, who was sent for the new Premier, was twelve days in reaching Rome.] I would wish to say a few words here in reference to Lord Althorp as Chancellor of the Exchequer, in which office he propounded most ably, and clearly, and candidly his mea- sures of finance, without much eloquence or embellishment of language. His calmness and sagacity were of the greatest use in breaking the force and subduing the impetuosity of those reformers who, in the excitement of the times, and the energy of their newly-found power, would have made, per- haps, dangerous financial alterations. He reduced the stamp duty on newspapers from '^\d. to \d., and the advertisement duty from 4^-. 6d., and so much more for each line beyond a certain number, to 2s. 6d. and no more. The manufacture of paper made from hemp was liable to only half the duty {i^d. the lb. weight) for that upon the sort made from linen and other materials. This difference had frequently given rise to disputes between the manufacturers and the Excise officers. Lord Althorp reduced the duty to \\d. for all kinds. The tax on the tanning of skins rendered it necessary, for the prevention of fraud, to require their being not less than a certain time in the tanpit, which injured the quality of many of them ; this tax he abolished. I give these three instances out of many wise alterations which he proposed and carried \ Lord Althorp was of the same year and under the same College tutor as myself. From his answers in the Iccture- ^ He died, Oct. i, 1845. 14 — 2 212 Autobiographic Recollections. rooms, both classical and mathematical, we anticipated that he would distinguish himself at the College examinations at the close of each academical year, and he was accordingly in the first class of both. At that time noblemen could not compete for University honours (they might have got a Browne's Medal, but they never did), and obtained their degree without examination, under an erroneous view of the letters of King James I. This mistake has since been reme- died, and the privilege requested by him is now held to relate only to the number of terms to be kept, and that Noblemen and eldest sons of Baronets should have their M.A. degree at the end of six terms. The same restriction had formerly extended to Fellow-Commoners. Sir James Scarlett (B.A. 1790) told me that he had, when a Fellow- Commoner of Trinity College, paid much attention to mathe- matics, and was desirous to compete for honours in the Tripos, but that the authorities of that time objected so strongly that he felt obliged to relinquish the intention. The present Duke of Wellington was, I believe, the first Noble- man obliged to undergo examination. Lord A. soon came into Parliament, where he fully justi- fied any expectations which had been formed of him. Sitting next his nephew (Lord Althorp) in the hall of Trinity one day we talked about his deceased uncle, and he was asto- nished to find that he had been in the first class. I took pains to get a copy of the list^ for the year 1801, and sent it ^ The names are arranged alphabetically (the usual method at this College, Trinity), without any regard to their superiority of merit. Junior Sophs. Lord Althorp Parke Brandreth Pryme Hon. H. Cust Rose Garratt Wiles Cambridge Calendar for 1802. Sir Robert Peel — Jiis Bank Act. 213 to him, and he expressed himself to me afterwards as much gratified by it. During the Ministerial interregnum the Duke of Wel- lington took the seals of several Offices. H. B., the cele- brated caricaturist of the time, published a sketch of the different Ministers sitting in consultation round a table, every- one of whom bore a slight variation of the Duke's features. On Sir Robert Peel's return to England, he was asked what course he would pursue } he answered, " I am sent for, hke the doctor to a patient, and I must make myself fully acquainted with the symptoms before I can prescribe." Peel's intellectual vision seemed to me clear and powerful, but confined to what lay immediately before him, instead of taking in large views of future consequences. This was strongly the case with regard to Roman Catholic Emancipa- tion, and the Repeal of the Corn Laws, which had long been imminent to the minds of others before the light flashed upon his own. But when he at last resolved on those measures he carried them through with energy and sincerity. This is fully shown by the two volumes of posthumous correspond- ence published by Lord Mahon. I have read them, and they confirmed my previous impressions. His subsequent mea- sures on Paper Currency seemed to indicate the same limita- tion of views. In Oct. 1844 he brought in a Bill which passed into law, familiarly called " Peel's Bank Act." To explain the necessity for this I must go back to the year 1797, when the demand for payments in gold out of the country occasioned such a diminution of metallic currency, and such an extensive issue of Bank of England notes for supplying the deficiency, that the Bank was unable to meet the great demand of those who required payments in coin, and stopped payment. This was owing to two causes, political disturbance and scarcity of money. Adam Smith said a Banker need keep only a 214 Atctobiographic Recollections. fourth part of the money for which he is answerable in gold ready to rrieet demands. The Government of that day ventured upon giving a tem- porary order for suspending the compulsory payment of notes by gold, which was afterwards prolonged by Act of Parlia- ment, for a time practically indefinite, and this depreciation continued till a Bank-note was worth only three-fourths of its nominal amount in gold. This might have proceeded to an utter depreciation, like the Assignat for a Louis d'or, which passed in common currency for a franc, as a friend of mine who was in Paris in the days of the Revolution of 1789 told me. But this tendency was somewhat checked in England by the Government taking Bank-notes in payment of taxes, and by the Bank of England being obliged to receive them in payment of the bills of exchange for which they had issued them. After the Peace with France there was a less necessity for the exportation of gold, and a general anxiety to return to cash payments, and this was secured by legisla- tion in 1 8 19. Peel's subsequent Act of 1844 limited the Bank of England's issue to the sum (about fourteen millions) which it had previously lent to the Government, and to the amount of gold in its coffers; and that of country Bank- notes to their then existing amount. It seems to me that the compulsory diminution of Bank of England notes, as the quantity of bullion in its vaults should diminish, would contract the currency of the country precisely at the time when the exportation of gold and silver would require a supply of paper money to f 11 the vacuum. The inconve- nience of this must become more aggravated on the gradual diminution of local Bank-notes, which another branch of the same measure is occasioning. [In a book of extracts which my father has made I find a remark of his against one from Lord Lytton. '"While a writer should be in The Duke of Wellingtons advice. 215 advance of his time, a Statesman should content himself with march- ing by its side. A nation could not be ripened, like an exotic, by- artificial means; it must be developed only by natural influences.' Most Statesmen lag after their time through not making themselves acquainted with the feelings and thoughts of the people. G. P."] Sir Robert Peel was once exceedingly taken by surprise at a majority in favour of a motion for the Repeal of the Test Act, which had been formerly passed for the purpose of excluding Dissenters from place and power under severe penalties. Many Tories, partly from religious motives, voted for it, among others, Lord Mandeville told me that he did so. An Opposition Member (who afterwards became a Cabi- net Minister) said to me, that he never saw consternation so visibly depicted in any human countenance as in Peel's, when the Tellers announced the numbers on the division. Instead of staying, as usual, to move the adjournment of the House when the business should be concluded, he requested another Member to do it for him. It was said, that he drove immediately to the Duke of Wellington, who was at his own house waiting to hear the result, and enquired of him what should be done.'' and that the Duke, with that military calmness and prompt decision which he ever showed, said, " Our course is obvious ; wc must take it out of their hands, and you must state to-morrow that, as you unexpect- edly found the feeling to be so extensive, you will introduce a Bill for the desired relief." He did so, and it passed into law. Parliament was dissolved Dec. 30. I was again returned Avith Mr Spring Rice for Cambridge, but b}' a majority of five votes only over ]\Ir J. L. Knight, afterwards Sir J. L. Knight Bruce, Vice-Chancellor of England. I had twenty- one Tory split votes, one of which was given me by a man named Preston, a retired publican and rate-collector, with 2i6 Autobiographic Recollections. whom I had occasionally some good-humoured talk. When I called upon him I found him sitting by the fire reading the Bible with his wife and daughter. He said, "As long as you offer, Mr Pryme, I have always one vote for my politics, and one for you." I had offended some of my constituents by my vote on the motion of Mr Daniel Whittle Harvey for the revision of Pensions from the Crown, some of which were alleged by him to have been granted to improper persons. But I and many others considered ourselves bound in good faith to maintain the List, as it was part of the usual compact on the accession of a Sovereign, who gave up to the nation some of his hereditary revenues. The Radicals voted with Mr Harvey. He was of course in a minority; but later Mr Edward Strutt, M.P. for Derby, brought forward, with the consent of Government, a measure which diminished the pensions by one half as persons died off; and, which was of more importance, required that it should be stated annually to the House of Commons on what grounds any new ones were granted. In consequence of that vote I was hard run at this election, and with one man I argued for an hour, trying to make him understand my view of it as a matter of good faith, and as a bargain with the new King, but I could not; and instead of voting for me, as he had done previously, he only abstained from voting against me. Some instances of bribery on the part of my opponents were afterwards proved at the Cambridge Assizes, and more were suspected. CHAPTER XIV. 1835. New Speaker — Amendment to the Address — Dress worn hi the House — Anecdote of County Members — Mr J. Pease — A Quakers dilemma — The pleasantest Club in Lo>idon — Joseph Hume — Mr Sheil — His prophecy — Change of Ministry — The Leader of the House — Lord Broughain — His famous Speech at Liverpool — Bill for regulating English and Welsh Corporations — Bill for substituting Declarations i?i lieu of Oaths — Visit to Bearwood — ■ Extension of '■^ The Times" — Daily Papers of old times. /^N the Meeting of the New Parliament (Feb. 19), the ^-^ Right Hon. James Abercromby, M.P. for Edinburgh, was proposed as Speaker in opposition to Sir C. Manners Sutton, and chosen by a majority of 10 in a House of 622 Members. A Meeting of Members friendly to the late Administration was convened at a large room lent by the Earl of Lichfield in his house. Lord John Russell proposed to move an Amendment to the Address, in answer to the King's speech, gently censuring the late dissolution of Parliament as un- necessary. Joseph Hume objected to it as being a feeble (the term was "milk-and-water") proposition, and proposed one more spirited, to which it was answered that Hume's Amendment was certainly the better of the two, but that 2i8 Atitobiographic Recollectio7is. as there was no probability of its succeeding, it was better to adopt the milder one. Hume and his supporters gave way, and the result showed the wisdom of this course, as the Amendment of Lord John was only carried by a majority of 7. I am not aware of any Amendment in answer to a Sovereign's Speech being carried since the time of King William the Third. [My Father said to me, in speaking of Mr Hume's Amendment, that he was always going too far, and that the wisdom of other men who succeeded better, lay in the moderation of their reforms.] The Address was presented, as usual, by Members of the House in a body. His Majesty on his Throne received it with calm dignity, but his countenance evidently shewed a feeling of mortification. The Mover and Seconder of the Address in answer to the King's speech, always appeared in Court-dress, but the rest stood in a semicircle before the Throne in their ordinary morning dress. On this occasion one honourable Member chose to appear in Court-dress, and seeing himself, when we were assembled previously, differently habited from the others, enquired if he were correct } to which the Speaker answered, ^^ Singularly correct, Sir\" ^ It is said in Timbs's Century of Anecdotes, that Members wore in 1782 Court-dress in the House, but no authority is given. I am indebted to a friend well acquainted with the traditions of former etiquette for the following ; " With respect to the costume of Members of Parliament, I have always understood that they were in Court, that is, I believe more properly speaking, full dress, bag-wig and sword, at that time worn by all gentlemen. An anecdote which confirms it is told of David Hartley, the dinner-bell of the House, getting up to speak. Sir Robert Walpole took the opportunity of taking his ride, and went home, changed his dress for riding costume, rode to Hampstead, returned, put on full dress and came down to the House, when he found D. Hartley still on his legs, not having finished his speech." Dress tvorn in the House. 2 1 9 Barristers often appeared in the house in wig and gown, and Members in uniform or Court-dress on the nights of state parties. There were three Members who wore top- boots and leather breeches, Colonel Windham, Mr Byng and another, whose name I forget\ It had been the fashionable morning dress thirty years before. Sir R. W. Vaughan, an old Welsh baronet and Country gentleman, wore shorts and gaiters. There was formerly a singular privilege regarding the dress of County Members. An anecdote concerning it which I have heard from one to whom Lord Leicester related it, affords besides a curious illustration of the men and manners of an older time. " Of all political subjects the one on which Lord Leicester most prided himself was the part he took in the debates on the American War. He told me that on nearly the last occasion when it was debated in the House of Commons, and when the resolution for an Address to the King to make peace was carried by the Opposition by a very small majority^, in a very excited House, he called out to Sir George Saville (Member for Yorkshire), to move that the Address be carried up to the Throne by the whole House, thinking that they should be strong enough to carry that motion by the same number as had just voted ; and that he (Lord Leicester) undertook to stand at the door of the House, so as to prevent any of the Members leaving it while the motion was rapidly made, which was carried by the barest possible majority. It was well known to the Opposition that this would be very disagreeable to the King, and in order to mark their sense of the treatment they had been receiving from the Court, the County Members went ^ Probably Sir Francis Burdctt, who always wore them. 2 Feb. 22, 17S2. An Address hostile to the Government was moved by General Conway, and carried by one vote. 220 Autobiographic Recollections. up to the Throne — according to their privilege — in leather- breeches and top-boots, instead of Court-dress, a privilege of course very seldom exercised. Lord L. said that this was the then temper of the Opposition on this sore subject ; and the Court was not behind hand with them ; for as a marked and well understood insult to the Opposition, General Arnold was placed conspicuously on the King's right-hand, where he was visible to the whole body of the MembersS" A curious difficulty occurred in last Session which I omitted to mention. A Quaker (J. Pease, Junr.) was re- turned in 1832 as the Whig member for the Southern division of Durham. When he came to the table to be sworn, pre- viously to taking his seat, he claimed to affirm instead of taking the oaths. The Speaker requested him to withdraw, and Lord Althorp moved that a Committee be appointed to consider whether the Act of Parliament permitting af- firmation in certain cases extended to this one. Their Re- port, presented a few days after, was in favour of it, and the motion was agreed to unanimously. But another difficulty presented itself It was a rule that the hat might be kept on when a Member remained sitting, but must be taken off when moving in the House, and this dilemma was certain to occur daily. Some friend of Mr Pease, to obviate this, instructed the door-keeper gently to remove his hat and retain it till he quitted the House. In the course of a year or two he put it on and off for himself It might have been thought that an individual of these peculiar habits would not have felt at home in such an Assembly, but this was not the case, and the feeling of bonhonuiiie which generally pre- vailed in this "best and pleasantest Club," as my friend Hope Vere designated it, placed him perfectly at his ease. As a 1 General Arnold came to England a short time previously. yoseph Hume. 221 proof of it I will relate the following anecdote. After the termination of Peel's short Administration, when several of us were in the library of the House, writing letters or con- versing on the formation of Lord Melbourne's Ministry, one of those present jocosely asked Mr Pease what place Jic was to have ? he answered, " There is but one place that I could think of taking, and it has not been offered to me." " What is that.^" we exclaimed, and he replied, "Of course the Secretary at War." To return to Hume, he had been a surgeon in India, and had made a fortune. He had an office and kept a clerk at his own cost, in order to examine the Estimates and accounts of public monies, and to prejoare his statements and facts ; and by his attention to economy effected a con- siderable reduction in the National Expenditure. He had his faults, which produced political errors, for he looked rather to what in his mind was desirable than to what was practicable. That kind of feeling predominated throughout. He suggested even the smallest economies. Gilt-edged paper was, I take it, given up in consequence of his observation on the extravagance of using it for Parlia- mentary notices. Parker, Secretary to the Treasury, brought up some reports. Hume remarked, "I think that splendid gilt-paper is unnecessary." P., nettled at this, replied, " Perhaps the honourable Member may think the margins are too wide;" but it had its effect, and in a short time the paper in the library and writing-rooms, as well as all the future reports, had no gilt edges. Soon after it went out of fashion altogether. This reminds me of a little anecdote of Monk. I had a dis- like to books being printed on hot-pressed paper, and I ad- vised him not to have his ^schylus so published. Shortly afterwards he presented me with a copy on plain paper, say- ing he had ordered the printer to have one so printed on pur- 2 22 Autobiographic Recollections. pose that he might give it me. It was partly done as a Httle quiz, and partly to please me. March 28. I attended a dinner which was given to Lord John Russell in honour of his public conduct by a large number of Members who voted in the two majorities on the Speakership and the Amendment. Mr Sheil was distinguished, like O'Connell, by his advo- cacy of a Repeal of the Union, and was one of the most eloquent and impressive speakers in this Parliament. On a motion respecting Ireland, during this short Administration, he said, that the grievances of that country had been fatal to several Governments, and "even now," pointing with bended form to that space of the floor which lies before the Treasury Bench, "have dug the grave that is yawning before the pre- sent one." The sensation which his action and his figure created was so intense that we were almost tempted to look if there were not a chasm in the place he pointed to. He spoke with prophetic lore; for not long after the three Resolutions respecting Irish Education completed the list of minorities with which, as in the case of the Election for Speaker and the Amendment to the Address, the Peel Ad- ministration had begun. Mr Stanley and Sir James Graham had kept aloof from it, and did not take Office for a long time afterwards. March 26. The Ministerial dinner at the Mansion House took place. The Lord Mayor was Mr W. T. Copeland, and he did me the favour of sending an invitation, which I ac- cepted. [This preceded by a very few days the Ministerial defeat. " On Monday, the 30th of March 1835, Lord John Russell in his place in the House of Commons moved, ' That this House resolves itself into a Committee of the whole House, to consider the Temporalities of the Church of Ireland ; ' and a little before three o'clock in the TJic Leader of the House. 223 morning of the following Saturday the motion was carried by 322 against 2S9 votes'."] Oil the accession of Lord Melbourne to Office (April 8th) Lord John Russell became the Ministerial Leader of the House of Commons. The proposal of this was not palatable to several of the supporters of Government with whom I usually acted, and I was deputed to represent our objections to the Right Hon. Edward Ellice, formerly Secretary to the Treasury, who in some degree admitted the force of them, but showed that he was less objectionable than some others whom he named to me. Lord J. R.'s manners were cold and indifferent and the exceeding self-confidence which he ma- nifested rendered him unwilling to consult the opinions of others. This was more strongly shown after he was Leader, by his not calling together the supporters of Government previously to the introduction of important Parliamentary measures, which had been usual. One instance was on the proposal for a grant to Railways in Ireland. Some of the supporters of Government disapproved of this application of the public money; but, not having been consulted about it, had no opportunity of representing their objections. When Lord John explained his measure in the House many inde- pendent Members withdrew. Soon after I rose from my seat behind the Treasury Bench, and was retiring for a time, when the Secretary to the Treasury, Mr John Parker, M.P. for Sheffield, whispered to mc his hope that we would not by our absence incur the risk of leaving the Ministers in a mi- ^ Times Nov. 30th, 1868. "On the 30th of March 1868, after an interval of precisely ■^■}, years, or more than the lifetime of a generation, Mr Gladstone rose to propose a motion almost identical in its terms with that of Lord J. Russell in 1835 ; * * and it is not a little remarkable that the leader of the attack on this occasion both voted and spoke against Lord Russell's earlier motion.'' — Idem. 2 24 Autobiographic Recollections. nority. Acceding to this I joined the others in the Library, and we agreed to return to the House, and vote with the Government for the introduction of the Bill, but that we should beg them to understand that we should vote against it in its future progress. By so doing Ministers had a small majority on that occasion, and nothing more was heard of the intended Bill. Had a preliminary meeting of Members taken place, Ministers would have been spared the mortifica- tion of bringing forward a measure, which they were obliged to abandon. [In speaking thus of Lord John Russell it is of the course of action which he chose to take as a Minister. As a patriot and a man of letters my Father always admired him, as will be seen elsewhere.] Brougham was not made Chancellor again, and when the reason for it was privately questioned among a few members in the House, I heard Lord give, "his flighty conduct." Brougham was a man of splendid talents, and vehement feel- ings, but injudicious. His speech at Liverpool was much admired. Aubrey came to me one day — it was at Brighton — with a newspaper in his pocket containing it, and read it to me with admiration, saying, "What ^o yoiL think of it.'*" I remember the passage which was thought so magnificent, spoken as it was, before the real cause of the burning of Moscow was known; Mr Canning had been praising Mr Pitt, calling him " the immortal statesman." [My Father then repeated to me, with all the animation of his younger days, several sentences of this speech commencing, " Im- mortal in the misery of his devoted country ! Immortal in the wounds of her bleeding liberties ! Immortal in the cruel wars which sprang from his cold, miscalculating ambition ! Immortal in the intolerable taxes, the countless loads of debt which those wars have flung upon us, and which the youngest man among us will not live Lord Bronghams Speech at Liverpool. 225 to see the end of! Immortal in the triumphs of our enemies, and the ruin of our alHes — the costly purchase of so much blood and treasure ! Immortal in the afflictions of luigland, and the humilia- tion of her friends, through the whole results of his twenty years' reign, from the first rays of favour with which a delighted Court gilded his early apostasy to the deadly glare which is at this instant cast upon his name by the burning metropolis of our last ally. But may no such immortality ever fall to my lot ! Let me rather live innocent and inglorious, and when at last I cease to serve you, and to feel for your wrongs, may I have an humble monument in some nameless stone, to tell that beneath it there rests from liis labours in your ser^■ice, an enemy of ' the immortal statesman,' a friend of peace and of the people." ■ It is only just to Lord B.'s memory to say that 23 years after the above speech was delivered, when he was Ex-chancellor, being again at Liverpool, he admitted with an admirable candour, that Mr Pitt was a great Minister, a great Orator, and a man of misullied public virtue, as far as freedom from mean, sordid, despic- able views could make him such.] Brougham was very witty. Some Barristers on one oc- casion wished, rather unnecessarily, to be made Serjeants, and it being usual on taking the Coif to present rings with a motto on them to the Queen and Lord Chancellor, Brougham was asked what it should be.' and answered, "Oh! nothing can be more appropriate than the old legal word Scilicet!' He must be nearly ninety years old now; for I remember that when I first saw him he was leaving the Academical ^s I was entering it, and that I thought him much older than my- self, and I am now eighty-five. In consequence of this change of Ministry taking place in the middle of the Parliamentary Session, little progress could be made in practical reforms. The only measure of this kind introduced was one for regulating English and Welsh Corpo- rations, founded on the results of the Commission which I have before mentioned. It displaced the whole of the cxist- 15 2 26 AtUobiographic Recollections. ing Corporations, and replaced them with persons elected by popular suffrage. It was in this year that Mr Greene (Tory), M.P. for Lan- caster, moved to introduce a Bill for substituting Declarations in lieu of Oaths in certain cases, some of which he mentioned. I rose to express the hope that he would include oaths on ad- mission to the freedom of a Corporation, and said that I had sometimes been present at Huntingdon when the quaint words of the oath, among which was that of swearing to " be buxom to the Mayor," invariably occasioned a laugh among the persons present\ Mr G. answered that he intended it, and then came across the House to ask me if I would second the motion, in which request I willingly acquiesced. The Bill passed into a law. Parliament sat late this year, and was not prorogued till Sept. 9. I knew Walter, the Editor of the Times, and he invited me to pay him a visit this Summer during some " interval of business" at his country house. Bearwood, Berks. He de- scribed to me the cause of the large extension in the circula- tion of that Journal. He was the first to establish a Foreign Correspondent. This was Mr Henry Crabb Robinson, whom I have previously mentioned, at a salary of ^300 a year, which though not amply remunerative to him, sufficed, as he wished to reside in Germany. Mr Walter also established local reporters, instead of copying from Country papers. His Father doubted the wisdom of such a large Expenditure, but the Son prophesied a gradual and certain success, which has been realised. I can remember the Times occupying only four pages, and those of a size much smaller than at present ^ ^ Buxom ( = Germ. biegsam), from Sax. buzan, to bend. John de Trevisa, a clergyman, tells his patron that he is " obedient and buxom to all his commands." '■^ The first publication of the Tunes with that name was on Jan. ist, Daily papers of old times. 227 I remember seeing it when a Schoolboy, and that I was re- buked for calling it "Ti-mes." I said, in answer, " Tivuv, ti-i)ics" not knowing better. When I was a young man there were only three or four daily Papers — the Times and Morning Post among them. Monk and I took in together the latter, there being at that time no reading room for Undergraduates. We afterwards changed it for the British Press. The Aiiti-Jaeobiii was a weekly Paper, and the pre- decessor of John BulP. It was said that it did no good, as it was taken in only by those who were of the same opinions; but the Newspaper must have been serviceable, as other people seeing it lie on a table would occasionally read it. Canning was a great contributor to it. The verses were collected together in one volume, called TJie Poetry of the Anti-yacobitt. 1788. A writer in the Leisure Hour calculates that a copy noiv with its supplement is equal to an 8vo volume of 500 pages. ' "The celebrated Anti-Jacobin, the object of which was to ridicule and refute the theories of religion, government, and social economy, pro- pounded by the revolutionary leaders in France. Its first appearance was on Nov. 7, 1797, its last on July 9, 1798." — Cornhill Magazine for 1867. 15—2 CHAPTER XV. 1836. Commutation of Tithes — Grand Juries — Daniel O'Connell — Conversa- tio7i with him — Mr Warburton — Sir Andrew Agnew — Bill for the better Observance of the Lord's Day — Mr B. Hawcs's Amend- ment — Bill to J>revent Duelling — Captain Gronow — His Duel ttdth a Frenchman — C J. Fox's Duel with Mr Adam — Its pleasant termination — The Byron Duel — Lord Camelford — Scene in a Coffee-house — Home Tooke — Mr Addingtojis Bill — Motion for its repeal — Clergymeti in Parliament. 1836. TDARLIAMENT met Feb. 4th. Among the prac- -^ tical Reforms in this Session was that for the Commutation of Tithes in England and Wales, in adjusting the details of which I took an active part as it passed through the House. The exaction of Tithes in kind, whe- ther actually, or by annual valuation, or sometimes by a Lease on the Incumbency, which might be cut short by its termination at any moment, had been a practical grievance, and a check to Agricultural improvement ; for the Farmer who might expend any sum upon improving his land was only entitled to nine-tenths of the additional produce occa- sioned by his outlay. This pressed so strongly on the minds of occupiers of land as to influence materially their conduct at County Elections. In those of Cambridgeshire, where there was a numerous body of Yeomen who owned no Commutation of Tithes — Grand Jnries. 229 Landlord, the grievance was predominant, and they had looked to Parliamentary Reform as the only means of effecting a Commutation of Tithes. In some few Parishes indeed this had taken place on the passing of an Enclosure Bill, by giving to the Incumbent an allotment of land instead of the Tithes in kind. At a Cambridgeshire Election in the year 1826, the Tory member, the Honourable Charles Yorkc, who had vacated his seat by taking a sinecure Office, came down for re-election. A Whig Candidate, Lord Francis G. Osborne, though supported by only two of the County Gentlemen, had so decided a support of the Yeomanry that the original Member retired without coming to the poll, and at the election in 1830 two Whig Candidates were returned. The Bill, which passed into Law, enacted that the right to Tithes in kind should be commuted for a money pay- ment which should fluctuate according to the average prices of corn for the seven years preceding the payment. A Board of Tithe-Commissioners was instituted, to whom there was to be an appeal when the Parson and the Landowners could not agree on the precise terms. The change was disliked at first by the majority of the Clergy, but a feel- ing of satisfaction has since prevailed among them by the removal of a great source of discord with their parishioners. Among minor Bills proposed this Session I moved for leave to introduce a Bill for the abolition of Grand Juries. Their function had been useful, perhaps necessary, before the power of committal was given to Justices of the Peace by the Statute of Philip and Mary. I had observed in my professional practice that Grand Juries, who heard in their own room witnesses for the Prosecution only, some- times, through their deficiency of legal knowledge, occa- sioned a failure in justice, and, at the best, intervened super- fluously between the committing Magistrate and the judicial 230 A2itobiog7'aphic Recollections. trial. I will give one among many instances. Two men were indicted as principals for the crime of arson. I was Counsel for the prosecution. The Grand Jury threw out the Bill against one of them, considering him to be, not a principal but an accessory. I learnt this through the Clerk of the Arraigns. One of the Judges at Westminster had said in a former case — a case of Burglary in which two men were actively concerned, and the third stood at the corner of the street where the house was, in order to give an alarm if necessary — that " it was as good as if his arm had been in the house " — so the point had been already decided as between accessory and principal, only the Grand Jury had not read the Law Reports, and did not know of it. I then sent up a bill against the prisoner as acces- sory, which they found. At the trial, when the nature of his participation in the offence appeared in evidence, the Judge interposed, and asked me if I could contend from these facts that the prisoner was not a principal but an accessory t I, of course, felt the insuperable difficulty ; the Judge directed an immediate acquittal, and the man escaped with impunity, though the proof of his guilt was indis- putable. It might have been expected that many Members of the House of Commons who were usually summoned as Grand Jurymen in their Counties would be unwilling to lose that dignity, and that the general reluctance which Englishmen feel to interfere with ancient institutions would be fatal to my motion, and it was accordingly negatived. In Scotland a Petty Jury is composed of fifteen men, twelve of whom make a majority. I talked with Campbell and other Lawyers on the subject, and suggested that in our Juries composed of twelve men nine should make a majority. I suppose it is a made story that a man said he had served Daniel GCotmell — Conversation with Jiim. 231 on many Juries and always found that there were eleven obstinate men. I had frequent opportunities of conversing with O'Connell, both in the House and at the Reform Club, He agitated for the Repeal of the Union, but he once said to me, " I am not anxious so much for Repeal in itself, but I feel that the agitation about it may be the means of obtaining a good and mild Government for Ireland." And I think they had a large share of it in lesser taxation. As an instance of this the Salt- tax was then 15^-. a bushel in England, 6s. in Scotland, and only 2s. in Ireland. That country was also exempt from Income-tax. He shewed me in the library of the House of Commons, as an illustration of the name of Tory, an Irish Act of Parlia- ment for the suppression of " Rapparees, Tories, and other Robbers." The appellation of Whig as well as Tory was also a nickname, and given by the opposite party in allusion to sour milk. On one occasion I was engaged with O'Connell and Jeffrey and Warburton in earnest talk in the Library of the House. Peacock told me not long after, that we had been observed, and that some persons in Cambridge to whom an eye-witness mentioned it, were uneasy at my being one of the party. I related to him the subject of our conversation, at which he was much amused. Wc were arguing whether the Gaelic Language had a Scottish or Irish origin, and trying to settle its migrations. Jeffrey held that Ireland was peopled from the North of Scotland. I also am inclined to this view. I had known Warburton (M.P. for Bridport) when wc were Undergraduates together. I remember Lord John Russell, at a dinner at his own house gently rallying W. on his having been called by the Examiner, "the Nestor of the 232 Autobiographic Recollections. Radical camp;" and he %vas that; for though he was far more Radical than any of us Whigs, there was a kind of temper and judgment about him which moderated what otherwise might have been extravagant in his views. When some one moved for a Committee to enquire into a point, " What," said Warburton, "is there not a Committee of inquiry always sitting — his Majesty's Government?" On another occasion he made the best speech I ever heard in the House on tJiat subject ; it was on my friend Sir Andrew Agnew's wild Bill for the better Observance of the Lord's Day. Warburton urged the necessity of a day of rest of body and mind for the artisan and labourer, and observed what a national ad- vantage, apart from any religious view, a day of entire relaxation would be. I once said to Sir A. A. " How can a man of your good sense bring in such a Bill ?" He answered, " It's not mine, but I am in the hands of a body of religious men who wish it." " Why then," I rephed, " don't you eman- cipate yourself.^" He said, "I quite agree with you as to the absurdity of some of the enactments, but it is the Bill of 'tlie Society for the better Observance of the Sabbath,' and I can't help it." It was lost of course, because it went too far, but the discussion produced great good throughout the kingdom in leading people of all classes to attend to the sub- ject, and improve the observance of the Lord's Day. The last time that Sir A. Agnew brought forward his Bill, Mr B. Hawes M.P. for Lambeth and two or three other members succeeded in, I may say, quizzing it out of the House. We were in Committee of the whole House, and I was in the Chair. When we came to that clause which enacted that it should be unlawful for any Cab or public Carriage to be let out upon a Sunday, Hawes moved as an Amendment, " or for any private carriage to be used." Before putting it to the vote Sir A. A. appealed to me not to do so. I answered Bill to prevent Duelling. 233 that as it had been moved and seconded gravely, I had no option. The clause was carried by a majority, and no more was heard of the Bill. But to return to O'Connell. He was not sufficiently guarded in his language when speaking of other men, and on one occasion some one opposite to him said " Such lan- guage might provoke a duel." " Oh no," remarked O'C, pointing to one of his hands with the other, " there's too much blood upon this hand already." I heard him say this, and the effect, as he suited the action to the word, was very great. I was told by a medical man who attended me as well as him during a prevailing Influenza that he took the Sacra- ment every week, and was a sincerely religious Roman Catholic. I remember Mr Silk Buckingham bringing in a Bill to prevent duelling. It was very impracticable in its enact- ments, and a small Committee was formed, of which I, and Gronow, and O'Connell were members, to try if we could shape it into a good measure. We found such great difficulties in the way that we could not, and it was given up. O'C. and G., who had both fought fatal duels, spoke, but without mentioning themselves, as earnestly as possible against the practice. Gronow sat only in one Parliament, for the Borough of Stafford. I had frequent conversations with him, and found him an extremely pleasant man. I have heard the account of his concern in a singular duel from my friend Mr Henry Crabb Robinson, and I will give it as nearly as I can in his words. "I was travelling after the Peace in 18 14 in the South of France, towards the Pyrenees, and I rested at Toulouse. A gentleman at the Hotel there said to me, ' I advise you not to go to the Pyrenees, the country people there are very superstitious, and a circumstance has happened 2 34 Atitobiographic Recollections. lately which makes it unsafe for the English to go to , naming one of the famous watering places.' He then told me that there had been a French Officer there, who, con- scious of his own skill in arms, insulted every Englishman who came in his way, and never failed in killing whosoever challenged him. Gronow heard of this and resolved to check his insolence. He (Gronow) had the knack of shoot- ing without raising his arm ; had the Frenchman shot first G. must have been killed, so certain was his aim, but, as he did not, it made the difference of about two seconds, and G. shot liivi dead." Mr Fox was once engaged in a duel, which had a pleasant termination given to it by his good humour. He had made a violent attack in the House upon the Ordnance Depart- ment, in consequence of some severe calamities which had occurred to a body of our troops, arising from the scan- dalous badness of the ammunition supplied to them. Mr Fox imputed not merely jobbery in the Department, and g-ross misconduct in the Contractors, but insinuated some- thing like corruption in the Master-General, and made also a personal attack on Mr Adam. He was in the House, and after replying to Mr Fox, thought it incumbent on him to send him a challenge. They were to fight next morning in Kensington Gravel Pits — now, like duels themselves, a thing of the past — Mr Fox with the Duke of Devonshire and Lord Leicester, who related the anecdote to my informant, played cards at Brookes's until it was time for the meeting. Mr Fox fired a second time and in the air, but his antago- nist's bullet hit him on the edge of his waistband, and lodged without much m.ischief to him in the belt of his thick lea- thern breeches. Mr Fox immediately turned round to his opponent and said with an indescribable smile, "By Jove, if you had not used Ordnance Powder, I should have been The Byron Duel. 235 a dead man." The effect was irresistible, his adversary immediately tendered his hand to Mr Fox, and in later life they were excellent friends \ Duelling was a capital crime ; the severity of the law, as is usual, had counteracted its punishment, and jurors de- clined to bring in " wilful murder." The only conviction which I can recollect was of a man named Fitzgerald, who was thought not to have been quite honourable towards his antagonist. Lord Byron's great uncle fought a duel with Miss Cha- worth's grandfather, and killed him. That was supposed to be one of the reasons which impeded the Poet's suit. The quarrel originated at a dinner of the Nottinghamshire Club, holden at the Star and Garter Tavern, Pall Mall. All gentlemen then wore swords. They withdrew into a private room without seconds, and Mr Chav/orth was immediately killed ^ The thrust which caused the fatal wound being found upwards, it was conjectured that there had not been fair play, and that Lord B. had grappled with his opponent. He was tried by his Peers in Westminster Hall, and found guilty of manslaughter ; he however claimed the benefit of the Statute of Edward VI., and was discharged on paying his fees. Lord Camclford's death in a duel^ made a great sensa- tion, the more so that he was considered the best shot in England. In connexion with that reputation I remember an anecdote. He was in a Coffee House and while sitting 1 A duel was fought between Mr C. J. Fox and Mr Adam, Nov^ 30th, 1779. 2 Jan. 26, 1765. The duel is said to have originated in a dispute whether Mr Chaworth who preserved his game, or Lord Byron who did not, had more game on their estates. ^ Mar. loth, 1604. 236 Autobiographic Recollections. at one of the tables reading, a stranger entered, seated him- self at the next table, and took the candle from Lord C.'s, calling out in an affected tone, "Waiter, bring me ." Lord C. directly said, imitating the accent, "Waiter, bring me a pair of snuffers ;" and when brought he rose up and snuffed out the candle that had been removed ; the stranger, very much ruffled, said, "Waiter, who is that?" "Lord Camelford, Sir," was the answer, whereupon he demanded his bill and got off as quickly as he could. There were two duels in the old Borough times between Candidates. One of them was prevented by a slight noise in the wood near which it was to take place. It turned out to be only a pheasant. Soon after there appeared in one of the periodicals of the day a letter signed " The Cock Pheasant," against Duelling, and saying that for Jiis part he disliked to be shot at. [I remember when I was a child my Father passing a whole night away from home. He had been dining in the Hall of one of the Colleges, and a quarrel had arisen between two of the party, which led to a Challenge. Towards morning he came back for a few minutes to relieve my Mother's anxiety, and then returned, and did not leave the persons till they were fully reconciled. Mr Wilberforce enumerated among his blessings of every kind, " My never having been disgraced for refusing to fight a duel \"] The Duke of Wellington's wise order, as Commander-in- Chief, that before any Challenge could be accepted by one Officer from another, the causes which led to it should be investigated, checked duelling in the Army, and led to its discontinuance elsewhere. Lord Camelford once took a freak to cross in a boat from ^ Wilberforce's Life, Vol. V. p. 113. Clergy 77ten in Parliament, 237 Dover to Calais, while we were at war with France. The police, hearing of his design, apprehended him. Mr Pitt, who was his kinsman, instituted an enquiry, and in a few days ordered his release. Lord C. was so angry at his not giving, on hearing who it was that had been arrested, an in- stant order for his discharge, that he said to Home Tooke, with whom he was well acquainted, " How can I avenge myself?" He answered, that he could do it very well by putting his black servant, Mungo, into his Borough of Old Sarum. Lord C. agreed; but the next day thought better of it, and told Home Tooke so; "Well," said he, "then the next best thing you can do is to put me in." This was done, and H. T., who had in early life taken holy orders, sat till the end of that Parliament. Addington, then Prime Minister, timidly dreading his eloquent attacks, to get rid of him had a Bill brought in to prevent Clergymen being returned as Representatives. In one Session (1834), thinking it a hardship that Clergy- men without cure of souls, might not be in the House when there was the grievous inequality of Dissenting Ministers and Roman Catholic Priests being admitted, I moved a re- peal of Addington's Bill, and Baring, afterwards Lord Ash- burton, seconded it. I forget if it went to a division ; but the majority against it was so great, that if not, I withdrew it. I thought that many men were hardly kept out of the House, such, for instance, as younger sons who had taken orders, *and then succeeded to their family estates. My own friend, Mr JoUifife, of Ammerdown Park, Somersetshire, was such an one, Le Grice, of Cornwall, was another. While I was in Par- liament a Dissenting Minister, named Fox, sat for Oldham. He was a very eloquent man, and Hope Vere took me once 238 Autobiographic Recollections. to hear him preach. It was said, too, that there was a Monk in the House named Romaine^ ^ Five or six Clergymen have seats at present (1869) in the House of Lords, and one, Lord O'Neill, "came not to his place by accident;" but was created, being previously the Rev. Wm, O'Neill. CHAPTER XVI. 1836. Visit to Chester — Dr T/iaekerafs Woods — Visit to Ireland — Dublin — Courts of Justiee — The Recorder — Drogheda — Illustration of Adam Smith — Dnndalk — Rev. Elias Thackeray — Mr Mannion — Visits to the poor — A Model Farm — First journey on a Railway — Mr Huskisson — His early efforts for Free Trade — Cobden — Archdeacon Wra7igham — His distinguished career — His reflection in the Magic Mirror — Return to Cambridge — Funeral of the Rev. Charles Simeon. 1836. 'T^HIS Summer I paid a visit to my Brother-in-law, -^ Dr Thackeray of Chester. When there I went to see his Welsh farm and woods in Fhntshire. He had pur- chased a barren waste in 1804 many years before and planted it, chiefly with Oak and Larch, and he lived to see a forest arise, chiefly from acorns which he himself had sown. His method of thinning and pruning was so excellent that he three times obtained the thirty guinea gold medal of the Society of Arts, for planting Forest Trees. Curiously enough, his friends had all thought him mistaken in planting Larch, a tree for which there was no demand at such a distance from land or water carriage, but the event proved him accidentally, if not intentionally wise. The Railroads came, and Larch was in such request for the Sleepers, that many of the trees soon found their way from the Welsh Mountains. His woods 240 Autobiogi^aphic Recollections. were the admiration of the neighbourhood, and Professor Lindley came all the way from Town to inspect them. His mode of training was to select a leading shoot in each tree, when about two or three feet high; he then cut off with a sharp knife, and as close to the tree as possible, four or five of the shoots immediately bclozv those he had pruned the year before — thus beginning at the top, and contrary to the usual practice, working downwards. He also paid great attention to draining his woods deeply. [In order to see the plantations we drove to Nerquis, and then mounted ponies. The cottage where they were waiting for us was inhabited by a tenant of my Uncle's, and she afforded us a specimen of genuine Welsh sentiment. We noticed a very simple barometer which the country people use — an inverted phial. The inside of it was beaded, as if with dew-drops. " Ah ! " said the good woman in Welsh, " they are the tears of the morning." The tears were soon dried however, for we had a charming sunshiny day on the Mountain, which was carpeted in the open spaces with gorse and heather in full bloom ; and amidst all the soft blue forms around us Mod Vamma, the Mother of Mountains^ was con- spicuous.] Dr Thackeray was a great benefactor to the Hospital and Charity Schools of Chester. The Townspeople presented him, through the Marquis of Westminster, with the freedom of the City, and erected, after his decease, a fine monument to his memory in the Cemetery ; he having previously had a Public Funeral when he was buried in the Cathedral \ Having a few days to spare I accompanied the Rev. Elias Thackeray, Vicar of Dundalk, on his return to Ireland; my object being to get more accurate and practical knowledge of the state of that country than I could collect from books and ^ William Makepeace Thackeray, M.D. Cantab, born at Cambridge 1769. Died at Chester 1849. Visil to Ireland. 241 speeches. We landed at Kingstown, and proceeded in a jaunting Car to Dublin, along a road studded with pretty- Country Houses, and passed a few days at the Gresham Hotel in Sackville Street. To my surprise we were less assailed by beggars than in London. I looked of course at and into the fine public buildings, but felt a far deeper interest in exploring the ruinous district behind the Castle. It abounds with roof- less houses, the upper floors of which were unoccupied, and the lower ones, pervious, of course, to the rain, were inhabited by people in a most destitute condition, I conversed with many of them, and with the little shop-keepers in the neigh- bourhood, all of whom readily gave me what information they could. Want of employment, and their own disregard of ap- pearances, were the prevailing causes of their wretchedness. I wished to hear while at Dublin some Criminal trials, and I had enquired the time of holding the Sessions of Mr Shaw\ the Recorder and Member for the University, with whom I was on courteous terms, notwithstanding the wide difference in our politics, he being an Extreme Tory and Orangeman. Mr Thackeray took me into Court, and introduced me to one of the Sheriffs, who placed me be- side him, and to several of the Corporation. The Recorder in the first interval of business beckoned to me, and entering into conversation, invited me to name a day to dine with him at his Country Seat. I observed in the Irish Court a usage different from that in an English one. The witness, instead of standing in a box, was seated on a Chair in the middle of the central table, which conspicuous situation seemed to me more likely ^ Sir Frederick Shaw (Recorder of Dublin), though an old man, made " an eloquent and effective speech," which was loudly cheered at the Great Conference of the " Irish branch of the united Church of England and Ireland" held in 1869. 16 242 AtUobiograpJiic Recollections. to impress his mind with the responsibility of giving correct testimony than being in the witness box in our EngHsh Courts; and on the whole I thought Justice was as admirably administered as I had ever seen it. From Mr Shaw's evident friendship towards me I found it was supposed that my Politics were in accordance with those of the Orangemen. In Dublin and elsewhere I listened quietly to political remarks, deeming that controversy would be useless, and wishing not to argue but to observe accurately the feelings and sentiments of the people I was amongst. We next proceeded to Drogheda, a neat Seaport Town, where we stayed all night and part of the next day. I found there a curious instance of manufacturing process in the fabri- cation of that article (pins), which Adam Smith instances as an illustration of the division of Labour at the beginning of his work on the Wealth of Nations. Some of the interme- diate stages of the manufacture require very little manual strength, it was therefore found profitable to send unfinished pins from a manufactory in Lancashire to Drogheda, where rent and labour were cheaper, and to have these intermediate processes performed there by young girls. The pins, still unfinished, were sent back to be completed in Lancashire. Thence we proceeded to Dundalk, of which place my Brother-in-law was Vicar \ We visited the School where Children of all religious beliefs were being educated together. Portions of scripture, agreed upon by both Protestant and Roman Catholic Clergy (of whom Archbp. Whately was one), were printed on separate slips, and read aloud by the several classes. Instruction in the respective tenets of Roman ^ In the Irish Sketch Book, Vol. 11. p. 187, Mr Thackeray has drawn his kind and venerable cousin to the life, and in another work he alludes to him as " the gentle Elias." The Primate of Ireland (Lord John Beresford) had sirch regard for him that he held his Pall. Dundalk. 243 Catholicism, the Church of England, and Presbyterianism was left to their several Pastors. We went to see the burying-ground of the Parish, where I observed a crowd of persons. I enquired of the Vicar what it was, and he said he believed it was a Roman Catholic funeral, I asked if such took place in the same ground as the Pro- testants ? he seemed rather surprised at the question, and answered that of course they did. It appeared in another conversation with him that his man-servant was a Roman Catholic. I asked how it was that he attended the family prayers .-* He answered that when the man first came into his service it was mentioned to him that he need not join in their devotions, but he said, "I'll come and see," and after- wards, finding nothing to offend him, continued to attend. Having shown me the habitations and modes of life of some of his own Protestant parishioners, the Vicar then introduced me to the Priest, Mr Marmion, a courteous intelli- gent man, and left me with him. He said to me, " Now what do you wish to see.''" I requested him to take me to some of the best and some of the worst dwellings of his own poor. In the former we found a very neatly-furnished cottage of a brother and sister, who by their industry maintained their bed-ridden Father, and who expressed their satisfaction at being able to do so without any charitable assistance. We then visited one abode where dirt and discomfort were obvi- ous, and the furniture was scanty and broken. I enquired of Mr Marmion if he thought that intemperance was the cause of the disorder of this home and of others like it, and he said that he believed that it was. I found the state of Agriculture in Ireland for the most part very indifferent, so far at least as regarded the abund- ance of weeds, especially that large succulent plant called the Ragwort, which the small occupiers seemed too indolent 16 — 2 244 Autobiographic Recollections. to eradicate. There were some exceptions. A Farm about a mile from Dundalk was in excellent condition, but then the Farmer (named Campbell) was a Scotchman. I was invited to pass a day with Mr Booth, the owner and occupier of a Farm about three miles from Dundalk on the road to Louth, in order that I might inspect it, and I thought it superior both in cultivation, and in plain useful buildings, to anything I had seen in the (at that time) few well-cultivated districts of England. The day after I left Dundalk (to my regret) a circumstance occurred which showed the liberal Irish hospitality. My Brother-in-law received a letter from the Archbishop of Armagh, saying that he had heard that an English Member of Parliament was his guest, and inviting him to bring him on a visit of some days to the Palace. On my return to Chester I visited Liverpool and travelled from thence, for curiosity, a few miles towards Manchester on that then novel mode of conveyance, a Railroad. It seems to me extraordinary that it had not been discovered long before. While I w^as at School tramways were used at Hull between the Docks and Warehouses, whereby one horse dravv'ing a cart did the work of three or four. Within a mile of them were steam Engines for grinding wheat, or crushing seed for oil, and yet no one till nearly 40 years afterwards thought of combining the two. Dr Darwin predicted a change, both in prose and verse. "There is reason to be- lieve it (the Steam Engine) may in time be applied to the rowing of barges, and the moving of carriages along the Road\" " Soon shall thine arm, unconquered Steam, afar Drag the slow barge, or drive the rapid car." ^ Darwin's Economy of Vegcf-a'tion, Vol. i. p. 31, 4th Ed. 1799. First yotirftey on a Railway — Mr Huskisson. 245 Stuart Mill says, "hitherto it is a question if all the inven- tions yet made have lightened the day's toil of any human being." Perhaps so; but then men for their toil get greater comforts which are the result of such inventions. This was the first and then the only railway in existence. It had been formally opened by Ministers Sept. 15th, 1830, at Liverpool. One of the party, Mr Huskisson, lo.st his life by getting out of the train too hastily. My friend Daniel Sykes was with him, and told me the particulars. Mr Huskisson made early efforts in the cause of Free- trade, and had a triumphant success about the Silk-trade. No manufactured silk was admitted into this Country, not even from India, and as the heat of that climate renders the silk more pliable it was much sought after, and people were thankful to obtain in some indirect way a few India handkerchiefs. At the time Mr Huskisson mooted the subject there was an absolute prohibition against importing French silks. He obtained an alteration of the Law, and they came in, as well as the raw silk, at a duty of 30 per cent. Even with this the English manufacturer contrived to improve upon them, so that ours were in time made superior to the Foreign, Fox, who understood nothing of Political Economy, opposed the commercial treaty which Pitt had made Vv'ith France pre- vious to the Revolution, and which as far as it. went wa^ favourable to Free-trade \ I have a high opinion of Cobden. He had clear ideas oC Political Economy when he effected the treaty of Commerce between France and England ; and he proved his disin- terestedness by declining office, as if he wished to show that he had only his Country's good at heart, not his own aggran- disement. 1 " Of that generation of Statesmen (Erskine, Sheridan, Grey and Fox) Pitt alone had studied Adam Smith." 246 Attiobiograpkic Recollections. I found at Chester an old friend in one of the Canons, Archdeacon Wrangham. He was a native of East York- shire, and one of the many excellent scholars educated by Joseph Milner. He came up to Magdalene College in 1786, and in October of the following year, on the suggestion of Dr Jowett, then, I believe. Fellow and Tutor of Trinity Hall, removed thither, as holding out far better academical prospects. He obtained one of the Browne's Medals for the Greek and Latin Epigrams, was 3rd Wrangler, 2nd Mathe- matical Prizeman, and 1st Classical Medallist, though the distinguished Tweddell was his competitor. After this extraordinary career of eminence in University honours, his election to a clerical fellowship, to which a share in the tuition was usually attached, seemed a matter of course in itself, and of great importance to the prosperity of the College. A vacancy soon occurred, he was rejected, and a Mr Vickers, who had been 4th Wrangler, but was in every way inferior in talents and attainments to Wrangham, was brought from another College to supplant him. The astonishment of the University was great. A sufficient, or any real reason, was in vain sought for. No moral objection was alleged or existed ; nothing was suggested except dis- pleasure at a severe epigram (which he did not write about a garden made by Dr Jowett) and his political opinions. Young Wrangham was a Whig, and therefore, according to the usage of those troubled times, was accused of being a favourer of the bloody excesses of the French Revolution. He had put up in his rooms the table of the French Revo- lutionary Calendar. This was quoted as a proof of his approbation of their whole proceedings, while the motto which he had written upon it was not mentioned or thought of: Archdeacon Wrmighani. 247 " utinam his potius nugis tota ilia dedissent Tempora sasvitia2\" (Would in such trifles they had spent that time Disgrac'd by bloodshed and ferocious crime.) His prospects at his College were now closed ; he shook the dust from off his feet against its walls, and migrated, previously to taking his M.A. degree, to Trinity College, not with any hope of a fellowship, to which he was not then eligible, but from admiration of its literary character and of its high-minded exemption from the taint of political prejudice in the disposal of its offices and emoluments. " Thebes did his rude unknowing youth engage ; He chooses Athens in his riper age." But his merits were appreciated elsewhere. The valuable rectory of Hunmanby, on the East coast of Yorkshire, was given to him by the Osbaldiston family, and the Archbishop of York appointed him his examining Chaplain, gave him a Prebendal Stall in that Cathedral, the Arch- deaconry of Cleveland in 1820, and that of the East Riding in 1828. A few years after this visit of mine to Chester he made a gift to Trinity College of one thousand volumes, containing from 8 to 10,000 tracts. The Archdeacon amid his severe studies and laborious duties made the formation of a large library his chief amusement. Sydney Smith when on a visit to him at Hunmanby, once said to Mrs Wrangham, "If there be a room which you wish to preserve from being completely surrounded with books, let me advise you not to suffer a single shelf to be placed in it, for they will creep around you like an Erysipelas till they have covered the whole." ^ Juv. Sat. IV. 150. 248 Atitobiographic Recollections. The Epigram was made on Dr Jowett's fencing in a small angle of the College from the public way and con- verting it into a garden. I give the correct version : "A little garden little Jowett made, And fenced it with a little Palisade ; A little taste hath little Dr Jowett, This little garden doth a little show it !" Wrangham told me at Chester that _ he did not write these lines, but only, thinking them clever, repeated them. They have been also attributed to Porson, as composed extempore. Jowett having turned the little garden into a gravelled plot, the author, whoever he was, added two more lines by way of P. S. : " Because this garden made a little talk, He changed it to a little gravel walk." [I remember Archdeacon Wrangham and my Father talking together in the Summer of 1836. The foraier was much interested in Lord Prudhoe's account of the magic he had lately seen prac- tised at Cairo. He told us that Lord P. asked the boy, who was the clairvoyant and who held some ink within the hollow of his hand, to describe Archdeacon Wrangham. The boy contemplated the dark mirror for awhile, and then said, " I see a mild (or gentle) looking Frank, walking in a garden, reading on a little book." This was a true description both of his person and his habit, and the Archdeacon was so pleased with it that he was inclined to beUeve a little in the sorcery. He was a most courteous refined gentleman, as well as an elegant Scholar. I asked him to write something in my Album, and he returned it to me with some lines which would fill a corner in the Arimdhics Cami. I have placed them in the Appendix, unwilling that such graceful verse should perish.] Soon after my return to Cambridge, I attended in King's College Chapel the funeral of the Rev. Charles Simeon, the Funeral of the Rev. Charles Simeon. 249 celebrated Evangelical Preacher, who had ministered for more than fifty years in the Church of the Holy Trinity. The procession assembled in the Quadrangle of King's Col- lege, and included nearly all the Heads of Colleges and leading Members of the University, who were desirous of showing respect to the deceased. And this was the man whose early ministry had met with such vehement oppo- sition, who could with difficulty draw a congregation, and whose first Administration of the Sacrament was attended by only four persons! [" Nearly 700 members of the University assembled to join in the solemnity. The whole Town throughout the day partook of the general feeling; the shops were closed, and a silent awe per- vaded the streets." Mr Simeon had lived down all hostility, had gained the devoted regard of his adherents, the respect even of his opponents, and now "Honour's voice" would "provoke his silent dust," but "All life long his homage rose To far other shrines than those ; And the Prize he sought and won Was the Crown for duty done."] CHAPTER XVI. 1837- Progression of Reforjn — Mitigation of the Penal Code — Punishment of Death for Forgery abolished — Alteration of Law respectijig Wills — Scottish Law- — LLon. J. A. Murray — Motion for University Commission— Letter from Dr Arnold — Mr Monckton Milnes — Baron Bunseji — Mr DLsraeWs Maiden Speech — Mr Gladsto?ie's — Lord Derby s Eloquence — Queen Victoria — Dissolution of Par- liament — Re-election for Cambridge. 1837. PARLIAMENT met Jan. 31st, and the Session -*- was opened by Commission. Reform continued to progress, though not in any extensive measure. Some improvements in the Law had taken place already. The mitigation of the Penal Code was effected step by step through many Sessions. In this year the punishment of Death was abolished for Forgery and the uttering of forged notes, and for several other offences, thereby preventing acquittals from a reluctance in juries to inflict the severest penalty. In some cases punishment might take place where guilt was doubtful ; the having forged bank-notes in pos- session with the intent of uttering was punishable with transportation. The Bank of England generally offered a culprit to abstain from the charge of uttering if he would yoJin Archibald Murray. 251 plead to the minor offence, and it was thought that some persons who really had not a guilty intent accepted this compromise from the dread of an ignominious death. The disposal of Landed Property by Will required three Witnesses ; that of personal property did not even require one. Lord Langdale, in the House of Peers, was the author of an Act requiring two witnesses, and two only, for the testamentary disposal of any property whatever. Various other valuable emendations of the Laws respecting Wills were included in this Act, which passed the lower House all but unopposed. ■ Several Acts also passed in Amendment of Scottish Law. The Right Hon. John Archibald Murray, M.P. for Leith, twice previously Lord Advocate of Scotland, and afterwards a Judge under the title of Lord Murray \ was the only Scot- tish Lawyer on the Ministerial side. Having, of course, opened the debate at each stage of the proceedings he was not, by the rules of the House, permitted to reply to the ob- jections of Sir George Clerk and other Scotsmen. I had formerly acquired a popular knowledge of Scottish Law in order to compare it with the English; and Mr Murray gene- rally instructed me in the merits of the particular measure which enabled me, though an Englishman, to give some an- swer to his opponents. I can recollect at this moment the surprise of Sir G. Clerk when I first did so. Mr Murray was the friend of Francis Horner, and a most delightful per- son in private life. I met at his house the famous Pole, Czartorysky, ^ "John Archibald Murray who was so beloved by Francis Horner, and by a multitude of persons who never saw him, for Horner's sake. Various honours fell to him in the course of his life, but the highest was unquestionably the place he fills in Horner's Mciitoirs." He was born in 1780. Died in 1859. 252 A^itob'iographic Recollections. In this Session I brought forward a motion for appointing a Commission to enquire into the state of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. Among the errors of the then ex- isting state of things that always pressed strongly on my mind was the limitation of some of the Fellowships in every College in Cambridge, except Trinity and King's, to par- ticular Counties or Districts, which often amounted to exclu- sion, as in some Colleges there could not be more than one or two born in a particular County eligible to Fellowships. It might have been reasonable Centuries ago, when there was much less travelling intercourse between different parts of the Kingdom, and a kind of Clanship arose which might gradually have excluded all Candidates for Fellowships ex- cept those born in a particular neighbourhood. But this could not possibly happen in the 19th Century. As an in- stance of the evils of exclusion I may mention that Mr Inman of St John's College, Cambridge, who was Senior Wrangler in the year 1800, could never obtain a Fellowship, being born at Sedbergh in Yorkshire, and educated at its School, to which two Fellowships were attached; these and two others of that County generally were filled b}^ men of far inferior merit. The whole of Wales also was considered as one County, This was a great hardship. Dr Wood, Master of St John's, Cambridge, was the author of one good thing. He opened the Foundation Fellowships. This reform did not, of course, affect such as had been founded by Bequest. The celibacy of Fellows, arising chiefly from the slow succession to livings, was another evil of the older Statutes which I wished to see abolished, as regarded those who did not hold any College office. [Although the Motion made by my Father for a University Commission was many years in advance of that which was eventually Motion for University Commission. 25 _ issued, and was deemed by the then Administration premature, yet, whether it were really so or not, it was received with sympathy and approval by many, and represented the feeling of others as well as his own. Prof. Sedgwick wrote to him in 1833, "Our University wants a Visitation," and Mr Spring Rice told the presenter of a Petition on this subject in 1837 (this very year), that " those bodies and their whole system required a searching investigation." Many letters were written to my Father pointing out gmvaviina of which the writers were specially cognisant, among them the following may justify insertion. I have retained the Capitals wherever Dr Arnold wrote them after the German custom.] Dr Arnold to Professor Pryme. Rugby, Mivch Wi, 1837. "Sir, " I thank you much for your Letter. I had regarded your intended Motion respecting the Universities with the deepest Interest, and feel therefore Extremely obliged to }'ou for allowing me to express some of my Views on the Matter to you. As to the great Question of all, the Ad- mission of Dissenters, it is so mixed up with the still greater Question of the Church, that I hardly know how to separate them ; — and besides I imagine that nothing on this Point could be carried now. But there are three points at Oxford, which, though of very different Importance, might all I think be noticed with Advantage. "First, the System of Fines; I do not mean as regards the Tenant, but as regards those Members of the College Foundations who do not belong to the governing ]]ody. It is the Practice, I believe, to divide the Corn Rents either equally, or in certain fixed Proportions, fixed by the Founder, among all the Members of the Foundation; but the Fines, which form always a large Proportion of the gross 2 54 Autobiographic Recollections. Income of the College, are divided exclusively by the go- 'verning Body amongst themselves. Where this governing Body includes all the Fellows, as at Oriel, Corpus, and New College, then those who do not share the Fines are only the Scholars and Probationer Fellows: but where it consists of what is called a Seniority, — seven or whatever number it be, of the senior Fellows, — then all the Fellows not on the Seniority are excluded; and this is the case at Brazenose. Now the Question is, — whether this is according to the Founder's Intentions, or whether it has been legalised by any subsequent Statute, — of the Realm, I mean, not of the University. The Fines originally were a direct Bribe, paid by the Tenant to the Bursar or Treasurer of the College, for letting him renew on favourable Terms: subsequently the Bursars were«,not allowed to keep it all to themselves, but it was shared by all those with whom lay the Power of either granting or refusing the Renewal. But still if the College Property be notoriously underlet, because a great part of the Rent is paid in the Shape of Fines, those who are en- titled to a certain Share in the Proceeds are manifestly de- frauded, if they are not allowed their Proportion of the Fines also. This Question only affects the Members of the several Foundations as Individuals; still it has always struck me as a great Unfitness, that a System should go on with such a prima Facie Look of direct Fraud about it. " Secondly, — All Members of Foundations are required to take an Oath to maintain the Rights of the College, &c.; and, amongst other things, they swear that if expelled by the College, they will not aj^peal to any Court of Law. This Oath is imposed at Winchester College, or was in my Time, on every Boy as soon as he was fifteen. I object utterly on Principle, to any private Society administering an Oath to its Members at all. Still more so to Boys: but even Letter from Dr Arnold. 255 if it were a Promise or Engagement, the Promise of not ap- pealing to the King's Courts is monstrous, and savours com- pletely of the Spirit of secret Societies, who regard the Law as their worst Enemy. The University has lately repealed some of its Oaths; but it still retains far too many. "Thirdly, — The University should be restored, — that is, the Monopoly of the Colleges should be taken away, — by allowing any Master of Arts, according to the old Practice of Oxford, to open a Hall for the Reception of Students. The present Practice dates, I think, from the Age of Elizabeth, when the old Halls had fallen into Decay; and then the Gift of, the Headship of the existing Halls was placed in the Chancellor's Hands, and every Member of the University was required to be a Member of some College, or of one of these recognised Halls. The Evils of the present System, combined with a Statute passed, I believe, within the present Century, obliging every Undergraduate under three years' Standing to sleep in College, are very great. The number of Members at a College is regulated therefore by the Size of its Buildings, and thus some of the very worst Colleges have the greatest number of Votes in Convocation, and consequently the great- est Influence in the Decisions of the University. I am obliged to be brief; but this Point is, I am sure, of the greatest Im- portance, and might open the Door to much Good. I am not at all able to answer for all the Details of the Matters which I have mentioned, and you know how readily the Enemy would exult if he can detect the slightest Inaccuracy in De- tail, and how gladly he will avail himself of such a Triumph to lead away Men's minds from the real Question. But I think all the three Points which I have named are of Import- ance. I am delighted that you take up this Question. No man ought to meddle with the Universities who does not know them well and love them well ; they are great and noble 256 Autobiographic Recollections. Places, and I am sure that no Man in England has a deeper affection for Oxford than I have, or more appreciates its in- imitable advantages. And therefore I wish it improved and reformed; though this is a therefore which men are exceed- ingly slow to understand. "Will you thank Mr Robinson for his Letter, which I hope to answer by Mr Wordsworth, who is now staying with us. I think he has not quite understood my meaning; he may be assured that I shall not hastily leave the London University, — though I do not wish it to be in all Things the Antipodes of Oxford, — I would far rather of the two that it should be its exact Counterpart ; and yet I am very far from wishing that. " Believe me, to remain, with very sincere Respect and Esteem, " Your very faithful and obedient Servant, "T. ARNOLD." After a short debate on my Motion, it was privately inti- mated to me that Lord John Russell wished me to withdraw it, thinking that the time for it was not yet come, and saying, that he would bring it forward as soon as he thought he could do so with a probability of success. It was not till thirteen years afterwards that the Cambridge Commission was issued\ It was during this year that Mr Monckton Milnes, after- wards created Baron Houghton, entered the House as Mem- ^ Lord Palmerston said on one occasion, " The great mistake made by all Governments, not only in this country, but everywhere, is to be too late in the measures which they adopt. Goverrment comes down with its measure when the time of proposing it with effect is gone by, and a measure which may be the result of conviction and the spon- taneous offering of modified opinions, and a concession to a sense of justice wears to the public all the appearance of a surrender to fear." Mr Monckton Milnes. 257 ber for Pontefract. 1 remember his Grandfather being M.P. for Yorkshire. His Father, who was a great friend of, and contemporary with, Lord Pahiierston, was a first Classman in College Examinations. He represented Pontefract, and made an admirable speech on the Address, in favour of con- tinuing the war against France. He was between twenty- three and twenty-four years of age when Mr Perceval, in forming his Administration, offered him either the Chancel- lorship of the Exchequer, or (if he preferred not to have a seat in the Cabinet) the Secretaryship for War. On his de- clining to take Office, from a dislike to giving up his political an(d social independence, the same offer was made to Lord Palmerston, and he accepted the latter place, Mr Perceval himself retaining the former. Not long afterwards Mr Milnes retired into the private life of a Country Gentleman. At a later period he was offered a Peerage by Lord Palmerston, which he declined. Mr Monckton Milnes had not .published his Poems when he entered the House. But without that /rr.y/^''^- his speeches were listened to respectfully, and he was usually much cheered. He once introduced Baron Bunsen to me at Cam- bridge, and we had half an hour's talk on Political Economy. Though I admired Bunsen's fine intellect, I did not think his views on that Science very enlightened. He advocated Free Trade in Germany, but only between the different States. It was an understood rule in the House of Commons to give a patient and attentive hearing to the maiden speech of a new Member. On the other hand it was expected that he should comport himself modestly. I remember but two exceptions. One was the case of Mr D'Israeli, who entered Parliament as the Tory Member for Maidstone in this year. It was said that lie had formerly professed Radical principles, '17 258 Autobiographic Recollections. but this, I think, by itself would not have occasioned an unfavourable reception, had not his too confident and pre- sumptuous manner offended his audience. When he found that he could not get a hearing, he threw himself down on the Bench behind him, exclaiming with vehemence, " The time will come when you shall hear me." [My Father saw this prediction more than verified. He said to me while dictating the preceding passage, " I see him in my mind's eye now. I remember once paying him a compliment for which he gave me a smile and a bow. He had remarked in a speech, ' Al- though the honourable member for Cambridge thinks slightingly of my plan,' I rose for a moment and said, ' I never could have thought slightingly of anything said by the Author of Vivian Grey' "] This was an exceeding contrast to the graceful, harmo- nious, modest, and almost timid maiden speech of Mr W. E. Gladstone^ ; a manner that I never saw excelled except by Lord Derby's when he was in the House of Commons. The speaking of these two was like a stream pouring forth ; or it might be described as if they were reading from a book. I have heard Pitt, Fox, and other great speakers, but never any to equal Lord Derby, when Mr Stanley, for elegance and sweetness of expression. His manner was most graceful and his voice harmonious. I never missed a debate, and observed his speeches and his conduct on every occasion ; and I could not help thinking rather that his object was to become Prime Minister than that he was actu- ated by any definite political principle. Of Mr Gladstone 1 "A foreigner once remarked that until he had heard Mr Gladstone speak some few years ago, he never believed that the English was a musical language ; but that after hearing him he was convinced that it was one of the most melodious of all living tongues."— T/;//,?i-, Jan. 28, 1867. Queen Victoria. 259 we all agreed in saying, " This is a young man of great promise." On the 20th of June Queen Victoria succeeded to the Throne by the decease of her Uncle, William IV. We took the Oath of Allegiance to her that afternoon by her bap- tismal name of Alexandrina Victoria. A few days after- wards she consulted some of her Cabinet Ministers (I had it from one of them) individually, who recommended the more euphonious name of Victoria to be used only. Parliament, by the Statute of William III., dies a natural death at the end of six months after the decease of a Sove- reign, the reason for which I never could comprehend. The Dissolution took place, however, sooner than it need have done, and the third and last Parliament of William IV. was prorogued by the youthful Queen in person, July 17. The silvery tones of her voice as she read her speech were pecu- liarly attractive. Mr Spring Rice, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, and I were again returned for the Borough of Cambridge ; I by a majority of 64 over my former opponent, Mr J. L. Knight. The Hon. H. T. Manners Sutton was now the second Candi- date on the Tory side. [There was a short Autumnal Session in November, which was opened by her Majesty. The Address was carried in the Lords without a division, and in the Commons by a majority of 509 to 20. The only debates of any importance were on the Pension List, and on the Affairs of Lower Canada. A great dinner was given at Cam- bridge in December to the Whig Members, at which 450 persons were present.] 17- CHAPTER XVII. 1838. The tiezv Parliament — Act to abridge Pluralities in t/ie Church — Instances of them — Anecdote of Dr Parr and Mr Basil Montagu — Non-resident Bishops — Sporting Clergymen — Anecdote of one — Pro- visions of the neiv Act — Alteration of the Lazv of Arrest for P)ebt — Presentation at the Levee — Contrast between Queen Victoria and hir Grandfather — Evening party at Kensington Palace — Duke of Sussex — Freemasonry — The Coronation — Sir James Graham — Prince Esterhazfs Jewelled Dress — The Queen's grace arid kindness — Gold Coronation Medals — State Ball — Visit to Lord Hardwicke — Poetical recreation — Criticism of the '•'■Afhenceum.'" 1838. 'T~^HE new Parliament re-assembled on Jan. 16, •*- and the Debates on Canada were renewed with increased anima:tion on account of the recent Insurrection there ; but the interest felt in them is now become a thing of the past, and it would be as useless as impossible for me to follow in detail the work of each Session step by step. One great measure passed in this is one entitled to special notice ; it was the Act to abridge Pluralities, and to make better provision for the residence of the Clergy. This was greatly needed, for Beneficed Clergy frequently held two or three Livings. I have heard my Uncle speak of one who held eleven pieces of preferment. Curates also were Plttralities in the Church — Instances of them. 261 pluralists, having often two or three Curacies to serve, and they passed the Sunday in riding about from one to the other. In a village near Cambridge there is an Obelisk (whose history I could never learn), and it is related that the Parish Clerk stood by it on a Sunday and waved a handkerchief if there was a congregation in the Church ; if not, the Curate rode on. Most of the Curacies in that neighbourhood were served by Fellows of Colleges, and so much the custom was it, that there was a Curate's Club formed, in order that they might sup at each other's rooms after the labours of the day. Three out of the four Chap- lains at Trinity College never resided in my time, but en- gaged the fourth to take their share of the service for them. He was called Pontius Pilate, because he was said to- offer to give any man as far as that name in the Service and beat him ! Dr Parr had a Curacy in Warwickshire, and resided on it, although his living was in Huntingdonshire. On a visit to Cambridge he once said, " There happened to be a County Election as I came along, and so I dropped a vote at Hunt- ingdon\" In my younger days some of the Bishops even did not reside in their Dioceses. Dr Mansel, Master of Trinity, was Bishop of Bristol, and usually resided at his Lodge, visiting his Diocese occasionally. It was a small Bishoprick. He told 1 Dr Parr was however a good Churchman. His friend Mr Basil Montagu and his step-daughter were on a visit to Hatton. On the Sunday when the Creed was being said Dr P. noticing that Mr B. M. did not rise with the rest of the congregation, called to him from the reading desk " Basil, stand up." It was not that Mr B. M. was disin- clined to do so, but rather that he was in a reverie, and had not noticed when the others stood up. Dr Parr said to him afterwards " You know 1 could not have a fine Lawyer like you coming down from Town and setting my poor people a bad example." 262 Atttobiographic Recollections. me that when he had deducted all necessary expenses, and those charities which he felt obliged to support, his net income was only ^800 per annum. Dr Watson, Bishop of Llandaff, also resided in Cam- bridge, and towards the end of his life had a country-house at the Lakes, and lived there entirely. He kept his Regius Professorship of Divinity, appointing, with the consent of the University, a Deputy with a salary of ;^200 per annum. Drs Kipling and Ramsden were successively his Deputies, both learned men. He was said to have had thirteen pieces of preferment, and not to have lived within a hundred miles of any one of them. Certainly he never resided in his Diocese during an Episcopate of thirty-four years. The Bishop of Elphin had a house at the Hills, near Cambridge. Attending a Levee one day, George HI. said to him, " I think, my Lord, your Bishoprick is in Ireland." " Yes, your Majesty." "You are very often in England," was the royal rejoinder. The Bishop took the hint, and retired to his Diocese\ The Clergy had, generally speaking, no schools to super- intend ; the Village children went to a Dame-School, paying 3 rate of \d. per letter 270 Atttobiographic Recollections. After Easter the Right Hon. James Abercomby resigned the Speakership, feeling himself unequal to sustain the fatigues of his office. He was the son of Sir Ralph Aber- cromby, who commanded our forces in Egypt, to which the French army, deserted by Napoleon, had surrendered. He was a Barrister, and had practised at the English Bar with success. Ele united much courtesy with that plainness of manner which we often see in Scottish gentlemen, and his judicious and impartial conduct as Speaker had secured for him a general admiration. He was called, as is usual, to the House of Lords by the title of Baron Dunfermline, and was succeeded in his office by Mr Charles Shaw Lefevre. An Act was also passed in this Session for further im- proving the Metropolitan Police. A separate one was pro- vided for the City with similar clauses as to regulations, officers, &c., but with a Commissioner appointed by the Common Council, and some different provisions. The very imperfect state of the old Metropolitan Police, if Police it could be called, and the confused state of our criminal Law, forced itself upon Sir Robert Peel's attention, when he became Secretary of State for the Home Department, under the Duke of Wellington, in 1828. He has not perhaps had all the credit due to him for his introduction of the New Police, but one reason for it is, that crime has increased with the increasing population, and therefore the benefit is not so obvious ; but it is a great improvement on the old system, especially at night, when a few superannuated men, who cost less than younger ones, called watchmen, were was tried as an experiment, came into operation Dec. 5, 1839, the uniform rate of \d., Jan. 10, 1840. 1839. Last year of the heavy postage, £2,522,495. 1840. First year of the low rate £471,000. Haydn^s Did. of Dates. Inefficient state of the old Police. 271 appointed and paid by the Parishes to saunter through the streets with a lantern and staff. They disturbed the rest of the inhabitants by proclaiming aloud the hour, that it might be known that they were at their duty : " Past one o'Clock, and almost two, . ■ My Masters all, good day to youM " They had a little box to retire to in bad weather, and were supposed to be often in collusion with thicvxsl Sir Wm. Pepys had his house (in Gloucester Place, Portman Square) robbed. The Burglar entered Sir William's room. After the trial he had an interview with him. A Culprit would often tell particulars in hope of mitigating his pun- ishment. Sir Wm. Pepys, who on the night of the robbery had been ill and was lying awake, asked the man how it was that he had not heard the ladder put against the win- dow-sill } he answered that he could not, for the Watch knew of it and called the hour at that precise moment. This I had from Sir William's son, the late Bishop of Wor- cester. In addition to these old men, a few officers of higher grade were attached to the Bow Street Office, and known by the name of "Bow Street Runners;" they exercised a general superintendence, visiting occasionally the houses of resort frequented by thieves, and holding some intercourse with them. It was understood between them that a thief when wanted was to offer no resistance, and in return was 1 Herrick. 2 Capt. Gronow speaking of George IV.'s Coronation says "There was no police in those days, and, with the exception of a few constables and some soldiers, there was no force to prevent the Metropolis from being burnt to the ground, if it had pleased the mob to have set it on fire." The Metropolitan Police Force in 1866 comprised 6882 persons. 272 Autobiographic Recollections. not to be treated with any violence, or unnecessary restraint. Many of these Runners showed great ingenuity in detecting the perpetrators of offences. A friend of mine, a Barrister, told me that he had the following relation from Townshend, who was one of the most noted among them. A robbery was committed at a country-house in Essex, and one of these men (I think it was Townshend himself) was sent for. He detected on the drive near the house a little hay, which convinced him that a Hackney Coach had been there. He went to the nearest turnpike and enquired if one had passed through it about such a time .-' The man said, "Yes," but could not remember the number. " It was 45," said a boy at play near ; " I'm certain of it, for I shouted as it passed, Wilkes and Liberty \" The Runner immediately returned to Town, found out No. 45, and summoned the Driver of it before a Magistrate. The man acknowledged that he had been out of Town, but asserted that it was elsewhere that he had gone. The Magistrate said, " Turn down his sleeves," knowing the custom of these men to place the turnpike tickets there, and that there w^as just the chance that he might not have given up the one that freed him back. It was so, and the ticket proved to be for the Essex route. The man peached and the other robbers were taken. The same friend told me another curious anecdote of the ingenuity of these Detectives of former days. A friend of his was invited one evening to meet M'^Manus, who had ^ The mob required Gentlemen and Ladies of all ranks as they passed in their carriages to shout these words. An old writer says, "This day, July 23, 1772, paid my maidservant her wages, and would not let her lodge in my house as she refused to stay with me till Michael- mas, though very inconvenient to me, as I don't know where to provide myself of one in her room: but 'Wilkes and Liberty' have brought things to that pass, that ere long we shall get no one to serve us."— Cole's Register dc Vicaria de Spalding, p. 12,^. Anecdotes of M'^M anus. 273 gone down to the North on business, and from his own lips he had. the following recital. He (M'^M.) was sent for to inspect a house which had been entered by Burglars. After careful examination of the locks he pronounced that it was so clev^crly done, that it could only have been effected by one of three or four men who were skilled in such work. Thereupon he returned to Town, and visited one of the houses where thieves resort. Entering into conversation with those he found there, he asked casually, " Where's such a man.''" and "I don't see ," and presently it came out that one man, whom he knew by name, had not been seen since the day of the robbery. His next step was to visit the different Coach-offices, and after some enquiries made in vain, he at last discovered that a man, like the one in question, had gone down with luggage to Oxford the day after the robbery. He took his place for the next day, and when arrived at Oxford set about tracing him in this way. He dressed himself very shabbily and visited the different little Inns in the outskirts of the Town, saying at each, " I want a pot of beer for ," naming the man he wished to find. He was met with, "We dont know such a person here," to which he replied, " Oh ! its a mistake then, no matter," and so on, till at last the answer was, "We'll send it." " No," says he, " that wont do, he's in a hurry, and I'm to go with you." He went, and found his man, and some of the stolen property in his possession. A very perfect system of Police had been instituted in Paris during the latter part of the reign of the Bourbons (previous to the Revolution), of which a description has been given in an interesting work on the Police of our Metropo- lis, by one of its Magistrates, Patrick Colquhoun, though some of the details were said to be exaggerated. Sir R. Peel proposed, in 1829, and carried into eficct the 18 2 74 AtUobiographic Recollections. present system of Police, which is too well known to render any description requisite. There is another boon which we owe to him. By his "Six Acts" of Parliament he simplified and adapted to the altered state of society several depart- ments of criminal Law. On the renewal or extension of the Metropolitan Police Act, which included a circuit of ten miles from Whitehall, I moved for altering the hours of closing Public Houses on Sundays. They had hitherto been shut during Divine Service in the morning, i.e. from eleven till one o'Clock. I proposed that they should not be opened on Sundays till one o'clock. One of the Middlesex Magistrates had sug- gested it to me, and I advised that a formal resolution to that effect should be passed at a meeting of Magistrates. It was done and placed in my hands, which so strengthened my argument that the motion was agreed to, and the rule found to work so well that it has since been extended to the Kingdom generally. Some little time after I met with a person who, having no idea of my being connected with the matter, told me what a remarkable change as to drunkenness that particular clause had effected in his District ; for practically (which the Publicans could hardly understand at first) it closed their houses at midnight on Saturday. At Whitsuntide I went on a visit to Dr Goodall, Provost of Eton College. I was connected by marriage with his wife, and beyond this family tie, there was the pleasure of enjoy- ing his company as a Scholar. He won the Browne's Medals for the Greek Ode and Epigrams in 1781, the year of my birth, and also in 1782. Among the latter was one of the shortest ever written, and It was very happy. Vestris was at that time attracting great audiences by pirouetting on one foot, while the other was raised at a right angle to the Visit to Dr Goodall — Jiis Epigrams. 275 body. The Vice-Chancellor, somewhat oddly I thuik, chose for the subject of the Epigrams, " Stans pcde in ?///^." Goodall took for his own motto part of a line of Horace, " Sumite materiam Vestris." The Epigram ran thus : "IN STATUAM MERCURII. " Sum tibi Mercurius. Quseris cur sto pede in uno ? Scilicet hoc hodie contigit esse lucrum." In the Greek he turned it thus. To a person boasting of his skill in standing on one leg, another replies, " There is nothing in that, for any goose of my flock can do the same." I alluded in this visit to these epigrams, and, old man as Goodall was, he was gratified by my praise. [I can remember Dr G.'s fine and pordy form entering my Fa- ther's Library, a long, low room filled with books, some of which were always in use and scattered on tables, chairs, sofas, even the floor. " Well Mr Professor," said the Provost of Eton after the first greetings, " this is a literary, I won't say a littered, room." Mr iJ'Is- raeli has described him in Co/ii/igsby as " the courtly Provost, the benignant Goodall'."] The Epigrams of the Ancients M'ere sententious rather than witty, and were more properly Inscriptions. Porson was constantly consulted about the Browne's Medals. In my year, when Gretton was Vice-Chancellor, who was no Scholar, it was so. I myself have been called in twice to help to decide upon them. The late Provost of King's (Thackeray) once consulted me as to a case of conscience, whether a man wdio had sent in several Epigrams on the same sheet of paper to select from, instead of only one pair, should be ' He died March 25, 1840. 18—2 276 Autobiographic Recollections. entitled to the prize ; I advised that a man is not the best judge of his own composition, as for instance in my own case when I had sent in two pair, and those which I had thought inferior were selected. The subject of mine was " Nugce Canorcel^ sounding trifles. For one of them I took my own Epigram. It is but a trifle, but if I gain the prize it will be a sounding trifle. They are now separated, and a prize may be given for each to two different men. In the debate which occurred in the Schools previously to the Grace to that effect passing (Sept. 1865) I took a part, and spoke against their division. Mr Serj. Frere, late Master of Downing College, Cam- bridge, gained the Epigrams twice (in 1796 and 1797). They were excellent, and the Greek was beautiful. " Qua; doctus Roscius egit" part of a line from Horace of the Augustan age, was the subject once given for the Epigrams (1805), and, as I think, very improperly. It was at the time of, and in allusion to the celebrated actor. Master Betty, the young Roscius, who at the age of twelve years played the most celebrated tragic characters in imitation of Garrick, who had himself been called the English Roscius \ Churchill, who was esteemed a fine satiric writer, wrote a poem called the Rosciad, which praised Garrick, and abused all other actors. I have read his poems lately, and w^as much disappointed. Instead of Satire I found little but virulent abuse. A few of the lines are impressive, as those two which Monk used to quote : "With that low cunning which in fools supplies, And amply too, the place of being wise." I fancy that his fame partly arose from delineations of the ' Horat. Ep. ll. i. 82. Master Betty when not quite thirteen got 100 guineas for each of 25 nights. Epigrams of local interest. 277 principal Dramatic Actors in his f.rst work {TJic Rosciad), of which we cannot now judge'. While on the subject of Epigrams I may add a few of local interest. The following was told me by Selwyn (Father of the Professor), as one written by Gray the Poet, on Smith (Master of Trinity before Postlethwaite), who had published a celebrated book on Optics, when nearly blind, and cut down a row of Chostnut-trees : " Do you ask why old Focus Sylvanus defies, And wont suffer a Chestnut in being .'' 'Tis not for the prospect, because he's no eyes, But because he has writ about seeing." ON THE MARRIAGE OF DR WEBB AND MISS GOULD. "Tela fuit simplex; cupiens decus adderc Tclae, Fecit Hymen geminam, puroque intexuit Auro." " Single no more, a double Webb behold. Hymen embroidered it with Virgin Gould." Englished by the Author, the Rev. James Chartres, of King's College, Cambridge. EPIGRAM. Poetis nos lactam ur tribus : Si vis, amice, scire quibus .■* Pye, Peter Pindar, parvus Pybus Et forsan si ulterius pergis Habemus etiam James Bland Burgess. STATUE OF CERES SPEAKS. " Nay flout not. Girls, 'tis not more strange than true, I once was lovely and admired as you. Transported now to Beauty's happier shore, I feel abashed, and show my face no more." ^ My Father wrote this in 1862. 278 Autobiographic Recollections. This was written by Mr Lambert, Senior Fellow of Trinity, on the fragment of a colossal Statue of Ceres, pre- sented by Dr Edward Daniel Clarke to the University of Cambridge, of which, though the head and bust remain, the whole surface of the face is completely cut or worn away. Dr Clarke received ten guineas a sheet, free of all deductions, for his Travels, an instance of fleeting celebrity. [He was the first of modern Travellers, who went abroad in the short time of the Peace, and described what he saw in Countries all but inaccessible at that time.] On Spray, a bad singing man in Trinity College Chapel, appointed by Bishop Hinchliffe, because he had a vote in the County of Northampton': " A singing-man and yet not sing ! You ill requite your Patron's bounty." " Excuse me, you mistake the thing, My voice is in another County ! " Attributed to Bishop Mansel. ^ This Epigram was communicated by one of the Seniors of Trinity. My Father thought it hkely that the man had been recommended by the old Lord Sandwich, and that the vote was in the County of Huntingdon. Another version is that the man was " deaf and dumb," and made a lay- Clerk of Ely because he voted for the Rutland interest in Cambridgeshire, but I have reason to believe that the former of these two accounts is the right one. A friend suggests that he remembers hearing it, and that the second and third lines ran " Come, justify your patron's bounty." " Excuse me. Sir : that's quite another thing !" &c. &c. CHAPTER XIX. 1840. Announcement in the Qtieen^s Speech of her intended Marriage — Grant of income to Prince Albert — Division concerning it — The Royal Marriage — Cathedral Reform — Sir Robert Inglis — a note from him — Lotteries — Snow Hill — Sir Fitzroy Kellfs Bill for lessening Capital Punishment — Attempt on the Quce?is life — The courage of the Guelphs — Manifestation of it by George III. — Additional verse to the National Anthem — Political Economy Club — After dinner Debates — Note from Count Pollon — Origin of the Reform Club — Opening of the Railway bettccen Bath and Bristol. 1840. PARLIAMENT met Jan. 16, the Queen read- -'- ing her Speech, in which she announced to us her "intention of allying" herself ''in marriage Avith Prince Albert of Saxe Coburg and Gotha." It now became the Country to provide an income befitting her future husband. A motion was made by Ministers for a grant of ^50,000 per annum to the Prince. An amendment was moved by Mr Hume, proposing ^21,000 as amply sufficing\ This being almost unanimously rejected by a large majority, Colonel Sibthorp, a Tory, M.P. for the City of Lincoln, moved an Amendment for ^30,000, which was carried by ^ Mr Hume said, "The noble Lord (J. Russell) must know the danger of setting a young man down in London with so much money in his pockets." 28o AutobiograpJiic Recollections. a majority. I voted for the larger sum, partly because it was the same as had been given to Prince George of Den- mark when he married Queen Anne, when, too, money was more valuable, and would buy more of the necessaries of life. As we went into the Lobby, I said to the Secretary of the Treasury, "Why have you forced us to this.?" and he answered, " We could not help ourselves." I expected that my vote would have been unpleasing to my Constituents, but on subsequent enquiry was told that it had been gener- ally approved. I was travelling soon afterwards outside the Mail-coach to Yorkshire, and I enquired of the Coachman, v»'ho lived in Lincoln and was a Freeholder of the County, if Colonel Sibthorp had not gained in popularity with the Electors by his motion. He answered, " Quite the contrary, they thought it a shabby act." I am convinced that the love of Royalty is deeply rooted in the lower middle classes, and this story is a proof of it. How little did those who thus reduced the Prince's income foresee the admirable mianner in which he would spend it, by encouraging Arts and Manufactures, and Agriculture. The marriage took place on the tenth of February, I had two tickets sent me for the Colonnade in St James's Palace, through which the Processions passed, but I did not care to go as my wife was away. Every thing was done on a magnificent scale, and all went well, but the day was unfortunately extremely wet. The Sun came out, however, just as the Queen and Prince started for Windsor Castle, in time to fulfil the good old adage, " Happy is the Bride that the Sun shines on." The Queen held her first Levee afterward on March 6 ; I went to it, and saw Prince Albert for the first time. He stood on her Majesty's left side, and was of course quite passive. All that one could tJien Cathedral Reform. 281 say of him was that he was a man of graceful form and pleasing countenance. [Two important measures were suggested by the Speech this Session. One had regard to the Municipal Corporations in Ireland, the other — the result of the Ecclesiastical Commission which had been appointed during Sir Robert Peel's short Administration in 1835 — was a proposal for modifying the constitution of Chapters, re- ducing the revenues of Cathedral Establishments to a large amount — nearly ^300,000 a year — and applying this surplus to the aug- mentation of small livings, and provision of additional Churches and resident clergymen. This latter measure was introduced by Lord John Russell, and cordially supported by Sir Robert Peel, the Arch- bishop of Canterbury (Howley), and the Bishop of London (Blom- field). My Father took an active part in this Bill, but has only left the following short comment on it.] It equalised the incomes of all the Bishops except those of London, Durham, Ely, and Winchester. It abolished some of the Canonries, and appropriated, and placed the surplus revenues of these last, and of the larger Bishoprics, in the hands of an Ecclesiastical Commission in aid of small Endowments. I was asked to present a petition from the Minor Canons of Canterbury, by one of them. My answer induced him to request that I would become the advocate of the claims of the Minor Canons generally, and I had com- munications with, and deputations from, other Cathedral Cities. I succeeded in establishing, on discussion of the Clauses, a claim on their part to be presented to certain Benefices in the Patronage of the Chapter, which might not be tenable by any of the Canons, and which had often pre- viously been given to their relations and even to strangers ; also to the houses not occupied by the remaining Canons, or by the Chancellor of the Diocese. This Act did not extend 282 Autobiogj'aphk Recollections. to Ireland. It was opposed by Sir Robert Inglis and Mr Gladstone. Sir R. Inglis was a thorough Churchman, and had such a repugnance to Dissent that he longed for none to exist. He was very good-humoured, so much so, that once when he had spoken, objecting to a certain line of Railway, that " there were so many dissenters from it," I made an Epigram, and asked him if he would look at it. The turn of it was that it was strange to hear him advocating the cause of the Dissenters, and he enjoyed the joke as much as any of those to whom I , showed it. Inglis being a religious man, felt that Lotteries, which tempted all sorts of people to speculate in them, led to loss of health and a love of gambling, he therefore brought in a Bill which procured their yf/^^;/ abolition. [Sir R. Inglis was an elegant Classic Scholar, and according to Mr D'Israeli " a man of very ceremonious manner, and an English Gentleman." From a note which I have found from him, it would seem that it was my Father who called his attention to the subject, and that at a period later than the date of the present Chapter. It is pleasant to observe in it the writer's thoughtful care not to lead others into temptation.] Sir Robert Inglis to Professor Pryme. 7, Bedford Sq. 2 March, 1847. " Dear Mr Pryme, " I am very glad to have the pleasure of agreeing with you; and trust that such pleasure is not confined to our condemnation of Lotteries, the immediate subject of the letter with which you have favoured me by this morning's Lotteries. 283 Post. I lia\'e myself received several letters similar to that which you enclosed to me : — lest they should tempt our servants by lying about, I have always at once destroyed them ; but have done no more. I will now however speak to the Solicitor-General about the matter. " Believe me, Dear Mr Pry me, " Very faithfully yours, "Robert H. Inglis." Pitt, who had been at his wit's end to carry on the war for which the taxes did not suffice, had availed himself of them. The Shares were ;^ 10 each, and the Government sold them to a Contractor, Bish, for £2 or ^3 more. He again sold them to the Public for ^17. By this means the Exchequer was enriched to the amount of two or three hundred thousand pounds each year. Dr Mansel, Master of Trinity College, gained a Prize of ^1250; Mr Beales, a Merchant in Cambridge, won ^^ 10,000, which stimulated many others to try. The Drawing was conducted very im- partially ; and to assure the public of this, two Christ's Hospital Boys were selected to draw the numbers from one wheel and the prizes and blanks from the other. There were many private Lotteries. I can just remember Snow Hill, where the Branghtons in Evelina lived. It being so narrow as scarcely to allow two carriages to pass, it was pulled down and widened and converted into Skinner Street (1802). The houses in it were apportioned as Prizes in a Lottery, and people took shares'. ^ I have seen a Scheme which offered six prizes of more than ^20,000 each ; .^337,760 to be distributed among 17,000 members, no blanks, and every number to have ^6 at least. 284 AiitobiograpJiic Recollections. Sir Fitzroy Kelly attempted to introduce in this Session a Bill for confining capital punishment to Murder and High Treason. The minds of many others besides my own were not then prepared for so great a change, and his motion was negatived. My vote on that occasion was one of three erroneous ones which I consider that I gave in the House of Commons. The gradual consideration of the subject would long since have induced me to assent to such a proposition, and the practice of the present time (1865) has for a good while been in accordance with it. [In his speeches, Mr Kelly said, that within the recollection of many Members there had been nearly 200 capital offences, and in the early part of the last Century nearly 300. The Bill went through the usual stages, till on the third reading it was thrown out by a ma- jority of 27, or 78 against 51. In the following year Mr Kelly again introduced the Bill, but it did not get beyond the Committee, for on some unfavourable divisions he withdrew it. Twenty years after the Criminal law consolidation Acts passed, leaving treason and wilful murder as the only offences punishable by death. Both Lord John Russell and Sir Robert Peel abolished capital punishment in a great number of cases.] June 10. Addresses were voted in both Houses of Par- liament on occasion of the attempted Assassination of the Queen by a young man named Oxford \ A form of thanks- civine was also used at all the Churches. [I was in London at the time, and the excitement was immense. Everyone was delighted with the Queen's presence of mind and ten- 1 Edward Oxford, who had been a servant in a pubHc-house, dis- charged two pistols at Queen Victoria and Prince Albert as they were proceeding up Constitution Hill in an open Phaeton from Buckingham Palace, June 11, 1840. He stood within a few yards of the carriage, but fortunately neither her Majesty nor the Prince was injured. He was adjudged insane and sent to V>&\\\\t\\.zvciP— Animal Register, 1840. Attempt on tJic Qucois life. 285 derness in going instantly to her Mother to re-assure her, lest she should hear of it before she could be certain of her daughter's safety. The next day we were walking up Constitution Hill and met her near the same spot where the attempt was made. She sat with Prince Albert beside her in a light open carriage holding only two. The courage of the Guelphs is proverbial. I have heard the i)erfect self- possession of the Queen's Grandfather on a similar occasion graphi- cally related to my Father by one of his intimate friends, who from his family connexions had the best means of knowing the details. " When George the 3rd," he said, " was shot at by Hadfield in Drury Lane Theatre, the Prince of Wales was dining with Lord Mel- bourne. The news was brought there in hasted The Prince said to Lord ]\L, 'What should I do, William?' Lord Melbourne an- swered, 'As your Royal Highness asks my advice, I should recom- mend that you take a Hackney Coach and go to the Theatre.' It must have been a fine sight to see old George with his courage, first turning to his wife, and saying, ' Its only a squib, Charlotte,' then bending forward to show himself unhurt to the people, directing how the man should be dealt with; and, finally, the curtain drawing up, all the Princes of the blood present, and the National Anthem sung^ Hadfield was only mad on that subject. He had property and lived under surveillance with every comfort, and his friends were allowed to visit him. No one could have told that he was a lunatic, unless the King was mentioned, when he would put his hand to his head and say, 'the Crown is here^'."] 1 By Mr Jefferys, ALP. for Coventry, who instantly left the Theatre, to inform the Prince of the King's safety. " " The following stanza (originally composed improinpiii at Quebec) was sung as the concluding verse : ' From ev'ry latent foe, From the Assassin's blow, God shield the King I O'er him Thine arm extend, For Britain's sake defend Our Father, Prince, and Friend : God save the King!'" ' Hadfield died Jan. 23, 1841. 286 Autobiographic Recollections. During my Parliamentary residence in Town I frequently dined by invitation at the Political Economy Club, of which the Oxford Professor of that Science and I were Honorary Members. It was instituted on a plan proposed by Ricardo, who wrote a work on Political Economy, propounding some new points. It consisted of a limited number of members, who dined together several times a year, and discussed after- wards, somewhat on the plan of a debate, subjects connected with the Science, of which previous notice had been given. For instance : 1. To what extent are considerations of justice and morality admissible in the discussions of questions of Poli- tical Economy } — Lord Overstone. 2. Was Ricardo correct in stating that "The same rule which regulates the relative values of commodities in one country, does not regulate the relative value of the com- modities exchanged between two or more countries.-'" — Colonel Torrens. I was well acquainted with this last debater, and he told me the origin of his introduction to the Science ; that being appointed to the command of some lonely place, he took with him the Wealth of Nations, and a few other books on Political Economy, and there mastered the subject. Sydney Smith became a member of this Club in the latter part of his life, and sometimes took an active part in the debate ; though not profound, he argued with his usual witty force and novelty of illustration. I was so for- -tunate as frequently to hear and converse with one whom I had so much admired as the author of Peter Ptyinleys Letters. There also I used to see Lord Lansdowne, M. Van der Weyer, and Count PoUon. This latter presented me with an Italian work, " DelT Econoviiste Politiee del Medio E.vo, da L^iigi Cihrarioy Note frovi Count Polio ii. 287 [I have found the note that accompanied the present from the Sardinian Ambassador, who was ecjually sanguine, witli M. Say and Mr M^Culloch, of the final triumph of the new Science.] Count Pollon to Professor Pryme, II, Grosvenor St. March 21, 1844. "Dear Sir, " I hasten to acknowledge the receipt of your note of yesterday's date. I have read with much pleasure and infinite interest the copy of your letter on the subject of the Corn Laws, which you were pleased to forward to me in- closed. The principles you set forth and maintain therein with a most prudent and becoming moderation, must, like all other truths, prevail generally in the end, and I hope soon. " I send this day the Italian Book I mentioned to you, and remain, dear Sir, " Yours truly, " Pollon." [My Father dictated to me an account of the origin of the Reform Club, but unfortunately that leaf of my MS. is missing. He pointed out to me a mistake in Mr Tom Buncombe's life, which he was anxious to rectify. He said that the Club in Gxeat George Street, Westminster, had nothing to do (as said ther^) with it. The one was a Radical Club, and died a natural death about the same time that the other came into existence. Some, however, of its members were invited to belong to "the Reform Club," which had its first beginning at Gwydir House, Whitehall, in 1834. The present House in Pall Mall was built for it in the Italian style by Sir Charles Barry, the Architect of the House of Commons, and cost, with its furniture and fittings, above ;^93,ooo. While speaking of this Club in its political aspect as a reunion of Whigs, and something more, I suggested to my Father the Avord " Liberal." "No," said he, "it is an ofiensive expression, as if the Tories were 288 Autobiographic Recollections. not liberal. The only thing in politics in which Serjeant Frere and I agreed was, in a preference for the words Whig and Tory."] The Great Western Railway was opened this Summer \ As a curious contrast I may mention that little more than lOO years ago (1734), a Coach was advertised to go from Gloucester to Bristol in one day, and from Bristol to Bath on the second day, " if God permit^" ^ Two thousand pounds is said to have been taken on the first day. " A new hne was opened in 1867, by which Bath is reached in an hour and a half from Gloucester. CHAPTER XX. 1841. Visit to Milton — Sir Robert Adair- — His excelletice as an Ambassador — Bishop Davys — The Princess Victoria — Meeting of Parliament — Bill for Release of Freehold Estates — Bill for Enfra/ichising Copy- hold Tenures — Lords Worsley and Redesdale — Act to commute Manorial rights — Soirees at the Marquis of Northampton's — His political views as Lord Compton — Bishop Blonif eld's Prize Essay — Public Dinner at Lambeth Palace — Bishop Bowstead — Ministers in a njinority— Dissolution of Parliament — Retirement — Return of two Tories for Cajnbridge. 1 841. T N January of tljiis year I wei;it on one of my oc- ■^ casional visits to Lord Fitzw.illiam at Milton. I mention it because a rather curious thing occurred. There was in every week, during Lord 'F.'s residence, a Public day, on which any of the neighbouring gentry, who chose, came to dinner without invitation j one occurred while I was there at this time, and Dr Davys, Bishop of Peterborough, was one of the company. I said to him in the course of the evening, "Do you remember our reading in the Anti-Ja- cobin about Baivb-adara in your rooms at Christ's .'' " " To be sure I do," he answered. "Well," replied I, "there he is!" He was much interested, and said, "Is that indeed the real Bawb.?" One of the pieces in the Anti-Jacobin was on Sir Robert Adair. To hide his name a little, and 19 290 AiitobiograpJiic Recollections. in allusion to his having been in India, he was called Baivb- adara. He was one of the visitors in the house, and was very old (78) ; but he was active and cheerful, and took the part of a Robin-Redbreast in some Charades which the Ladies Fitzwilliam kindly acted for our amusement one evening. He w^as in no way ridiculous as the Anti-Jacobin en- deavoured to make him out, but on the contrary, when the Whig Ministry went out while he was at Vienna, and, ac- cording to custom, the Embassies changed hands, lie was the only exception to the rule. The Tories asked him to remain, and his answer was, " I am the Ambassador of the Country and not of the Ministry, and I shall be happy to stay and do my best." He made no great show of talent, but conducted the diplomatic affairs committed to him with considerable ability. [It is singular that it was Mr Canning himself who selected Mr Adair, the intimate friend of Mr Fox, as " the fittest person to unravel the tangled web of our diplomatic relations with the Otto- man Court'." At the termination of his successful mission there he was made G.C.B. He wrote the account of his Embassy to Vienna in consequence of an attack on his conduct. The present Lady Al- bemarle asked him how long he had taken to compose his book? He answered, "Three months." " How quickly you wrote it!" she said. " Quickly," he replied; " it was time to write quickly, for I was 80 when I began it." He died in 1865 at the great age of 92.] On my return home I visited the Palace at Peterborough. I found the same old tortoise that Bishop Marsh had in- troduced to me fifteen years previously, but now transferred from the garden to a glass-case in the HalP. Dr Davys was 1 My Father once spoke of Mr Canning as having "a deep and master knowledge of human nature and affairs." ^ Having died in 1831. He was " believed to be 2:0 years old." BisJiop Davys — the Princess Victoria. 291 Tutor to the Princess Victoria, and had so excellently ful- filled his office that he was not only promoted to a Bishop- ric after her Accession to the Throne, but his eldest dauj^hter was made Resident Woman of the Bedchamber ; an office created in order to include her in her Majesty's Household. It is said that he was the first to inform the Princess of the future greatness which awaited her, [I have learnt on good authority that this is not quite correct, and I am enabled, by the kindness of my informant, to give the true version of a circumstance which, like everything else pertaining to the history of our Queen and Royal F'amily, has a peculiar interest for her subjects. The Princess, in studying the Peerage, found out by herself her grand future, and told her discovery to the Baroness Lehzen. She quietly took the first opportunity of mentioning the fact to the Duchess of Kent — who acknowledged to her daughter the truth of the discovery, and pointed out the great responsibility of such an office — and hov,- diligent and careful the Princess should be, in qualifying herself for such a position. Bishop Davys had the highest opinion of Baroness L., and used to say that he thought the Princess derived very great good from her instructions ; and as for the Duchess of Kent, he thought her the best and wisest and most judicious person and Mother in existence.] Parliament met on Jan. 26 in this year. Several minor measures of legal and commercial reform were brought forward, and most of them passed into Law. I took part in the details of a Bill for rendering Release alone effisctual to convey Freehold Estates. Previously conveyances of Land could only be made, according to the practice of Feudal times, by feoffment, which required the personal attendance of Seller and Purchaser upon the land in the presence of two witnesses, who made a written memorandum thereon. To avoid this inconvenience, the course had been generally adopted of granting a Lease of a year to the 19 — 2 292 Atttohiographic Recollections. Purchaser, which legally put him in possession ; and then a deed, dated the following day, which released for ever the possession of the Land. It was now enacted that the Lease for a year need not be made, but that the Deed of Convey- ance should be liable to both Stamp duties. I don't know who first mentioned the subject to the other, but Lord Worsley, M.P. for North Lincolnshire, and I agreed in the desirableness of enfranchising all Copyhold tenures. We were aware that there was not the slightest probability of so comprehensive a Measure passing through either House of Parliament; but we hoped by degrees a change might be effected. Lord W., who was well ac- quainted with Lord Redesdale, then the Chairman of Com- mittees in the House of Lords, -conferred with him as to the kind of Bill which there was a reasonable probability of passing into a law, and we did not venture to propose more than this ; which was that a certain large proportion both in number and value should bind the remainder for an enfranchisement of all within the Manor, by consent of its Lord. That the Trustee or Guardian of Infants should be able to consent for them, and that the Committee of a Lunatic might do the like. This passed both Houses without a division. It remained, as we expected, nearly a dead letter on the Statute-Book, yet still we felt that the thin end of the wedge was inserted. Subsequently (after I ceased to be in Parliament) two other steps were taken towards the same object, enabling either party, the Lord or the Copyholder, on a succession or sale, to compel the other to immediate enfranchisement, and providing that if they could not agree on the pecuniary terms. Valuers should be called in to decide\ ^ 15 and 16 Y. c. LT. — 21 and 22 V. c. xciv. All these Acts may be properly described as " the Copyhold Acts." The Marquis of Northa7npton. 293 Another Bill, with which I had much concern, was en- titled, " Au Act to commute certain Manorial rights as to Copyhold, &c." It related to the last unrepealed restriction of Feudal times upon Landed Property. The powers of the Lord of the Manor in former times over the owners of any land was excessive. An instance of which is, that on the death of one such leaving Children under age, he became their Guardian, and received their rents to his own use, providing only their maintenance and education out of them. Even to their marriage his consent was requisite. May 25. I saw Mr T. Buncombe's monster petition presented ; it was so large that it was wheeled up to the table on a kind of barrow. It w-as said to be signed by 1,300,000 people, praying for the adoption of the People's Charter, a document then beginning to be talked about, which proposed Universal Suffrage, Vote by Ballot, Annual Parliaments, the abolition of all Property Qualifications by Members, and their payment instead. From this arose the name of " Chartists," not yet quite extinct. During this Session, and in several following years, I attended the Soirees given by the Marquis of Northampton, as President of the Royal Society, to which he invited me, though not an F.R.S. We had known each other at Trinity College; he came up to it as Lord Compton, in Oct. 1808, just when I returned into residence as a Fellow. The Col- lege Prize Essay on King William III., for Bachelors of Arts, was in that year awarded to C. J. Blomfield (after- wards Bishop of London), and recited in the College Chapel on the 4th of November. Lord Compton, who had been brought up in extreme Tory principles, expressed afterwards, during the dinner in Hall, some surprise at the Whig opi- nions which that Essay displayed ; when, to his astonishment, Mr Lambert, the venerable Senior Fellow, said, " I observed 294 Autobiographic Recollections. no sentiments therein which did not seem to me perfectly constitutional." After taking his degree, Lord Compton travelled for some time on the Continent ; on his return he said that he had observed the state of things under the abso- lute Governments of the Countries which he had visited, and that in consequence, although he left England a Tory, he came back a Whig. He paid much attention to Scientific pursuits, and when the British Association met at Cambridge for the first time in the year 1833, he was its President. May 22nd. I went with the Bishop of Lichfield (Bov/- stead) to one of the Archbishop of Canterbury's Public dinners, several of v/hich were given in each year, according to custom, previously to the diminution of the Archiepiscopal income occasioned by one of the Ecclesiastical Reform Bills. We assembled in Court-dress, and had a short service in the Chapel, which opens out of the Lollard's Tower, read by the Chaplain, the Rev. Wm. Mill, of whom I have previously spoken. We then passed through a gallery hung with por- traits of former Archbishops to the dining-room, where we were waited upon solely by his Grace's numerous retinue of Servants. The dinners of the Speaker, to which each M.P. was annually invited, were on a similar plan, though not equal in stateliness and magnificence to those given in Lambeth Palace. Although it was only Spring-time there were at the dessert Peaches and Nectarines in abundance. [In a letter, bearing date 23 May, 1841, my Father described to me more in detail this grand Archiepiscopal hospitality, which, though small compared to Wolsey's in his age, has passed away as too large for ours. " Yesterday I dined at Lambeth Palace. The Dukes of Cambridge and Rutland were present, Lord Normanby, four Bishops, Sedgwick, French, Mill, &c., in all about 65. I sat between Sir Frederick Pollock and a College contemporary whom I slightly knew, Colonel Sir Hercules Pakenham. Prayers, /. e. Litany, were Bishop Bow stead. 295 read in Chapel by Dr Mill. The effect of this just previous to dinner is good. Turtle and excellent dinner — wines ditto — Dessert, superb — Ices, strawberries, peaches, nectarines, grapes, &c., and everything handed. Coffee, tea, and liqueurs. We dispersed about 10. The Palace is venerably magnificent, and the Archbishop kind and gentlemanly. Yet I could not help thinking it too much for a Minister of the Gospel."] Bishop Bowstead had been preferred by a Whig Ministry to Sodor and Man, and was translated a few years afterwards to Lichfield. We missed him much from his place at Cam- bridge (he was Fellow and Tutor of Corpus Christi College), for his mildness and excellence and consistent character had endeared him to every one. He lived but a few years after his removal to Lichfield. In Parliament nothing important occurred till in the month of June, when the Government was left in a minority of otie on Sir R. Peel's motion of want of confidence. Ac- cording to the modern Parliamentary usage, a resignation of Office or a Dissolution would take place. The intention of Ministers to adopt the latter course became immediately obvious by their hastening the requisite measures of financial arrangement. The habit of resigning, on the defeat of a measure, takes away from the supporters of the Government, unless they have been previously called together and con- sulted upon it, the power of forming and acting upon their own opinions, and renders them the mere registers of the Premier's. It now was with me a matter of doubt whether I should contest the Borough of Cambridge for a fourth time. My health was befrinning; to suffer under the strain of a constant attendance, for I very seldom left the House till it rose, nor ever omitted a division on any subject of importance. My Family urged upon me the necessity of retiring if I would not 296 Autobiographic Recollections. absolutely shorten my life, and I therefore yielded, though unwillingly, to this consideration. The Tory interest at Cambridge had latterly become more predominant. I know not how it would have been had I as a Townsman stood, but as it was, Sir Alexander Cray Grant and Mr Manners Sutton were returned by a majority over the two Whig Candidates when the Election took place at the end of June. Sir A. C. Grant had latterly been my colleague, having been elected on a single vacancy when Mr Spring Rice was called up in 1839 to the House of Lords, by the title of Baron Monteagle. Mr Milner Gibson, who had retired from Ipswich, was the unsuccessful Whig Candidate on that occasion. The Ministry met the New Parliament, but not for long ; while I was at Harrogate in September I heard of Lord Melbourne's resignation in consequence of a hostile vote on the Address. Sir Robert Peel then became again Prime Minister, and remained in Office five years. CHAPTER XXI. 1842 — 1846. Return to a quid life — N'orfolk Circuit — Agriculture — Mr Coke of ■ Norfolk — Lord Erskine's lines on Drill Husbandry — Installation of the Duke of Northumberland — Visit of the Queen to Cambridge — Agitation for Repeal of the Corn Laws — County Meeting in Huntingdonshire — Letter from Lord Fitzwilliam — Middle Level Drainage Act — Whittlesea Mere- — Curious relics found in it — The Norfolk Estuary — Its origin and progress — The British Associa- tion at Cambridge — Opening of Lincoln s Inn Hall by the Queen — Prince Albert called to the Bar — Lectures to the Cambridgeshire Mechanics' Institute — Prince Albert dines as a Bencher on Grand Day — Mr Babbage's Soirees — Friendly Dinner Parties — Words- worth — Sir George Rose's witty sayings — Ter-Ce7itcnary at Trinity College — Periodical return of its Stars — Dr Jeremids Sermon. 1842. T NOW enter on a period of my life which has -'- in it but little that is eventful to record ; but I shall note down anything of more than private interest which took place during the remainder of my days, and which my memory may suggest. I partially resumed my Profession, and still continued to attend two or three of the principal Assize Towns. I had a general Retainer from the Mint, and had been nominated by the Attorney-General Counsel for the Bank of England. This was an excuse for continuing on the Norfolk Circuit, but my real object was 298 Autobiogi'aphic Recollections. that I might be enabled, as a Barrister still practising, to plead exemption from being High Sheriff for Hunts, which office would have involved an expense and trouble that I should have greatly disliked. When my age released me from this liability, I retired from a Society which had brought me into pleasant inter- course with the Judges, some of whom, as Pollock, Coltman, Parke, had been my College friends, and in which I had passed many happy hours with a variety of clever and genial companions. I continued to interest myself in the affairs both of the Town and University, and I also paid frequent visits to my Farms. I had long since studied a little of Chemistry, which I now applied to the culture of my land. Mr Coke was the first improver of Agriculture. He was followed by Mr Pelham, (afterwards Lord Yarborough), by Lord Spencer, and others. Mr Coke was also the first to introduce turnips as a food for Cattle. Hitherto they had been cultivated in gardens only'. He adopted drill-hus- bandry, and he waged war against weeds. It seems almost fabulous to say that I have more than once seen samples of wheat sworn to in Court by witnesses recognising amongst them the seed of a peculiar weed that grew in the same field. Mr C. was so v/ell known that he was always called Mr Coke of Norfolk, not of Holkham ; I met him in the Plouse before he was created Earl of Leicester. Lord Erskine was on a visit at Holkham when he saw a field of w^heat sown by the new method of drilling. He mistook the young wheat in blossom, standing up in regular rows, for lavender, and on being told that it was the new mode ^ " We saw a turnip-field for the first time. These farms (near Ramsey, Hunts), seemed to be cuUivated in the Norfolk method of husbandry," Lord Orford's Voyage round the Fens in i77~\. Lord Erskines lines on Drill-Husbandry . 299 of Drill-husbandry, he wrote some lines, which may perhaps be found in a book called The Spirit of the Public Joitnials^. This was a reprint of the political squibs and jeux d'esprit which appeared in the public papers in the early part of the century, and was published annually in a Duodecimo volume. Jekyll was the Editor. [I am indebted to the kindness of Lord Erskine (Grandson of the Chancellor) for a copy of these verses, which I sought for in vain in many collections of Ephemera. They are transcribed by himself from his Grandfather's original IMS., and he reminds me that it must be remembered, as partly accounting for the mistake, that the stamens of wheat at the time of flowering have a purple hue somewhat resembling Lavender. The mistake was both natural and fortu- nate, since it served to exhibit Lord Erskine's geniality, and his versatility in transforming it into a subject of amusing interest to his friends.] Copy of Verses, by Thomas, first Lord Erskine, (the Chancellor), AT THE HoLKHAM Sheep-Shearing. To Thos. William Coke, Esq. lavender, or the wonders of the drill. When first in Holkham's rich domain My eyes explored the verdant plain, 'Twas strange, I thought, that in my view Not e'en one blade of corn there grew, 1 Lord Campbell relates this story in his Lives of the Chancellors^ Vol. VI. p. 619, giving the words " What a beautiful piece of Lavender ! ! ! " but not the verses. In Vol. VI 1 1, p. 547, the anecdote is transferred to Lord Brougham, in apparent forgetfulness of its having been related before of Erskine. After the lapse of nine years Lord C's memory was probably failing, and perhaps this little circumstance may account for some other notices that were thought strange in that last volume. 300 Autobiographic Recollections. And thus to Holkham's Lord I spoke, Much moved and far too sad to joke : " Why with such skill and amplest room Is all here wasted on perfume, For man or beast no provender, Nor aught around but Lavender?'' In vain I waited for reply, \ Loud bursts of laughter shook the sky, I From the whole world of husbandry. J The cause was plain — 'Twas wheat I saw, In leaf the same, by Nature's law, But sown and reared with matchless skill, Transformed by wonders of tJie Drill. Just so in human kind we see Some clumsy lout with bended knee. And shoulders round and neck awry ; But set up straight with chin on high, By Serjeant's cane at breast and toe. No man alive this lout could know. Fathers and mothers stare in vain. To find their shapeless cub again ; The lad is Tony Lumpkin still. Transformed by wonders of the Drill. Go on. Great Teacher of us all. Repeal the curse of Adam's fall. Awake in Earth long dormant powers To glad our hearts with fruits or flowers, And corn, until we scarce believe The Applish prank of Mother Eve. Erskine, July II, 1 8 19. In July of this year the Duke of Northumberland came to Cambridge for his Installation as Chancellor (succeed- Visit of the Qiiccn to Cambridge. 301 ing Lord Camden), and was a guest at St John's Lodge, being a member of that College. A magnificent Fete was given to him in its grounds, which were temporarily con- nected with those of Trinity by a rustic-bridge built across the intervening stream. A grand dinner in the Hall of Trinity the next day was followed by a Ball (of which I was a Steward), in the new Fitzwilliam Museum, which was then only just completed, and to which the collection of Pictures, &c., from the old Museum in Free-School Lane was not yet transferred. 1843. In October of this year (the 25th) the Queen visited Cambridge ; she was of course accompanied by Prince Albert. This was the first visit of a reigning Sove- reign since that of Queen Anne. The Heads of Colleges presented Addresses, but there was no great ceremonial or pomp exhibited. The heartiness and simplicity of Queen Victoria's reception formed a remarkable contrast to the elaborate magnificence and cold pedantry of Elizabeth's \ Dr Whewell was Vice-Chancellor, and the Queen was of course at the Lodge of Trinity, which alwaj^s is a Royal Resi- dence for the time being. Among other buildings visited the next day by the Queen was the University Library ; I was one of a few selected from the Library Syndicate, ^ Queen Anne came over for the clay from Ely. But Queen Elizabeth (in 1564) paid a much longer visit. She rode in on horseback, dressed in a black velvet habit, from Haslingfield, and went directly to King's College Chapel, which she entered "under a canopy borne by the 4 Senior Doctors in Divinity ; and the Provost met her arrayed in a rich Cope of needlework and began the ' Te Deum,' after which Even-song was solemnly sung, every man standing in his Cope." She was afterwards entertained with plays in the same Chapel, the Provost himself acting; and with Latin Disputations in Great St Mary's Church. Before taking leave she visited the various Colleges on horseback, and talked with divers scholars in Latin. See Cooper's Annals of Cambridge. ^02 Autobiographic Recollections. and appointed to conduct her over it. We had much to show that was vakiable and curious, especially the MS. of the Gospels, known as the Codex Beza^, and an Anglo-Saxon MS. of the Gospels. Prince Albert lingered over these with great interest. The Queen went on to Wimpole, the seat of Lord Hard- wicke, where she passed two nights. A Ball was given there on the 27th, at which I was present, with many other guests from Cambridge, [Repeal of the Corn Laws now began to be extensively agitated. An Anti-Corn-Law League had been formed at the close of the year 1838 in Manchester. Edinburgh took the lead in holding a Meeting, which was presided over by the Lord Provost. Li Parlia- ment, Lord Brougham proposed that all petitions for abolition of these laws should be referred to a Committee of the v/hole House, and that evidence should be heard at the Bar. This was negatived without a division; and Mr Villiers's annual motion in the Commons on the subject was defeated by a majority of 371 to 172. Mr Cob- den took a part, and made an address to a Conference of 700 Clergy at Manchester vv^ho approved of the abolition. It could not in point of fact be called a Radical scheme, for the Chartists certainly op- posed it at first, and interrupted several meetings by their hostility. It was not till 1842 that Legislation commenced. Sir Robert Peel then proposed to the House of Commons a sliding scale, commenc- ing with a duty of 20^-. and descending to one of \s., which passed in 1842, notwithstanding an Amendment to the contrary by Lord John Russell. But this was not acceptable to the Anti-Corn-Law Dele- gates, Avho were determined on nothing less than total Repeal. Lord Melbourne proposed a resolution asserting the principle of a fixed duty instead of a fluctuating one, but this was defeated by a large majority. Meanwhile the League w^ent on with its agitation, and resolved to raise ^100,000 to pay Lecturers on the subject; ■• This is the MS. usually known in the Greek Testament Collations as D ; it was printed in fac-simile type at the expense of the University by Dr Kipling in 1793. The Corn Laws. 303 and the Times in 1S43 declared it to be a great fact, and urged con- cession. In that year a County Meeting was held at Huntingdon, at which my Father took a part; but before describing it he dictated to me a short dissertation on the whole subject, which I trust I may not have written down inaccurately.] This Country had in the last Century grown more wheat than was required for our own consumption, and as an en- couragement to the Farmer, a bounty of 5^'. a quarter was given by Government to the exporter. In the time of the great scarcity (a kind of disease having attacked the wheat being one cause of it) the Pitt Ministry issued a Proclamation withholding this bounty, and when Parliament met obtained without difficulty a Bill of Indem- nity. We had been at war with France since the Spring of 1793, which occasioned a much higher freightage (from the risk of capture both by Privateers and ships of war) on exportation and importation of all commodities. The popu- lation of the Country was gradually increasing, and the price of wheat rose greatly, so that the old bounty was never re-imposed, and died a natural death. This state of things continued till the Peace with France in 181 5, when, from the freedom of importation, the price of wheat became ex- ceedingly reduced. The Corn Laws were then enacted, but by the dilatorincss of the Government of that time in not pressing immediately forward some measure of Agricultural protection, vast quantities of corn were imj^orted on the speculation of a rise in price, which of course contributed to a great depression, and many persons were ruined \ The duty on its importation varied almost inversely as the price, estimated by the averages of the principal markets 1 ls\x Robinson's Act passed in 1S15 permitting importation when wheat should be 8o.>'. per quarter. Serious Riots took place at this time. 304 Autobiographic Recollections. of the Kingdom. It was therefore the interest of the Im- porters to have the grain released from the Bond-warehouses at a low duty, and fictitious sales at a fabulous price were arranged to affect the averages. One method was told me by a leading merchant who knew it well, though he was too conscientious to practise it himself A in London sold a large quantity of wheat to B in Hull by letter at an enormously high price ; B resold it to C at Wakefield, who sold it back to A in London, where it was quietly lying all that time in warehouses, of which the Custom- House officers had a key as well as the owners. Each of these transfers being returned to the Inspectors, thereby raised the nominal averages, and of course reduced the duty on the Foreign Corn on its release for Consumption. At the time when the Corn Laws were repealed, and for some years before and afterwards, I held in my own occupa- tion about 500 acres of my Huntingdonshire property. In every year I realised a profit beyond the estimated Rent and interest of Capital, except in the two immediately following the Repeal, which I attributed to the abruptness of that extreme measure. [In answer to a correspondent in a local journal (in 1852) on the subject of Free Trade, my Father preferred " the general interest of the kingdom" to private consideration, and said, "Suppose that my farming balance-sheets for the last year or two were unfavourable, this would no more show the expediency of restraining or taxing the importation of the food of the people, than the unfavourable balance- sheets of manufacturers seven or eight years ago, would have shown the expediency of laws artificially raising the price of manufactured commodities."] I had always thought that certain burthens (the Poor and Highway Rates, .&c.) falling exclusively upon land County Meeting in Huntingdonshire. 305 required, according to the strictest principles of Free Trade, some compensating duty on the import of Foreign Corn, and when in Parliament made a speech to that effect, which I published. Joseph Hume's motion, made some years previously, of a \2s. duty, diminishing \s. every year, which was indignantly negatived by the Landed Gentry, would doubtless have prevented any sudden loss to the Farmers, and Lord Derby's proposal of a fixed duty of ^s. a quarter would have sufficiently compensated the Home-grower, whereas the present duty of \s. per quarter does little more than effect a record of our importations. Previous to the Repeal a County Meeting to petition in favour of Protection was called at Huntingdon. It was nume- rously attended, and four dissentients only, of whom I was one, appeared. One of us thought that it would be useless to address the meeting, but the others considered that it would do some little good to our cause if the mass of Protectionists refused to hear us. Lord Fitzwilliam made the first attempt, but his voice was soon lost in clamour. I and the Rev. E. Baines (Rector of a large Parish in the County) followed, and met the same fate. This latter published soon after a little pamphlet entitled "A Speech which was not per- mitted to be spoken." Lord Fitzwilliam had always advocated immediate repeal without any counter\^ailing duty, as I well knew from fre- quent correspondence and conversations when visiting him at Milton. His very large estates in Ireland, Yorkshire, North- amptonshire, and Huntingdonshire, never made him swerve in that or any other course from what he thought for the interest of the Country. [I insert here a letter which is not only interesting as shew- ing the commencement of a popular word, but also as evidencing 20 3o6 AiUobiographic Recollections. the private charities of one whose whole Hfe and bearing exhibited the true meaning of the word nobleman. Happily there are still many such.] "Lord Fitzwilliam to Professor Pryme. "Milton, Feb. 28, 1844. " My Dear Sir, " I will write on the other side a draft for £10, which I see has hitherto been my contribution towards our poor old friend's support — I hope the present arrangement is sufficient to provide amply for his comfort, but, if not, I shall willingly add to it. I see you are in town, so I do not propose a visit here now, but perhaps at Easter I may have the pleasure of seeing you. I am glad to see you have been giving your mind to the protectionists as they are now called, though I do not think it a good name to have given them, as I fear it will be rather a popular title. " Believe me, " Yours very faithfully, " Fitzwilliam." [Feb. 17, 1844. A Society was established "for the Protection of Agriculture," in order to counteract the Anti-Corn Law League. The Duke of Richmond was chosen Chairman. Petitions against repeal were presented to Parliament in great numbers. I have before me a copy of one, and of the printed address that accompanied it when sent for signature, which says, "For while the prowling wolves from the Cotton Forests are howling around us, and our timid shepherd, * Sir Robert,' has left us to our fate, it behoves us to come forward firmly, fearlessly, and energetically, to resist a bill fraught with so much mischief to the agriculturist and the country in general." Towards the close of 1845 the failure of the potato crop and the prevailing distress assisted the Anti-Corn Law movement^ and in June 1846 the Seven Years' war against Protection was ended. Sir Robert Middle Level Drainage Act. 307 Peel's second measure, by which the duty was reduced to 4^., wlien corn was imported at or above 53J. until Feb. 1849, after which xs. per qr. only was to be levied, went further even than Mr Hume's, and was supported, though unwillingly, by the Duke of Welling- ton. It was the old story of the Sibyl's books over again.] 1844. After much local agitation a measure was sub- mitted to Parliament for greatly improving the Drainage and Navigation of the Middle Level. I being no longer a Member of the House of Commons was able to act as one of the Counsel for the Bill. Numerous were the parties interested, and various were the grounds of opposition to this comprehensive measure. We had days of strenuous contest before the Parliamentary Committee. But we suc- ceeded in obtaining the important Act for the Middle Level. There then existed near Whittlesea a Mere of about 1500 acres in extent \ This was so completely drained soon after this Act passed that we (the Committee of Management) were able on one of our Views to take luncheon in a tent erected in the middle of it. The soil was exceedingly fertile, being the alluvium of ages from rivers and streams which flowed into it. But an unexpected difficulty in its cultivation arose. The wide and deep fissures which took place, as it became dry, at first rendered it dangerous for horses to plough. [" These cracks resulted merely from the desiccation of the soft soil, and are renewed in dry seasons to some extent. But another ^ A Fleet of 7 vessels was fitted out by Lord Orford in 1774, which was able to anchor here. A journal kept during the voyage says, " Whittlesey Meer is somewhat more than two miles from the points we sailed between. The water rolls with great force, and in high winds the waves swell five or six feet high, being very much exposed by the lowness of the neighbouring grounds, which afford no defence against them." See Lord Orford's Voyage round the Fens in 1774. Edited in i860 by J. Walbanke Childers, Esq. Published by Edwin White, Doncastcr. 20 — 2 5o8 A2itobiographic Recollections. phenomenon is the subsidence of the soil. This has been very great, and is gradually going on — a circumstance which adds of course to the difficulty of draining the land, the water being lifted from 7 to 12 feet by a centrifugal pump (worked by steam power) into the higher level of the Rivers which convey it to the Outfall near Lynn. Within a few hundred yards of the Mere, the boggy soil has gone down upwards of 7 feet from its original level, and the bed of the Mere has also subsided in a great degree, although not quite to the same extent. Many curious things were found in the Mere. Among them was a beautiful relic, a 'Thurible' of the middle ages — or what is popularly known as a Censer for burning Incense. The vessel was of silver gilt, and of most elaborate workmanship of the date of the 14th century. Attached to it was a massive silver chain by which it was swung. With it was found a vessel for containing the Incense called a ' Navis,' also of silver with gold chasings, and the figure of a Ram's head at each end. This latter emblem clearly indicates that the vessels belonged to the monks of Ramsey. There were also some plates and other articles bear- ing the same insignia. When found all these relics were encrusted over with bivalve shells, which no doubt had tended to preserve them from the corroding action of the water. They are in posses- sion of Wm. Wells, Esq. M. P. Lord of the Manor of Holme, and owner of four-fifths of the Mere\"] Before quitting the subject of these Levels I may mention a kindred one, the Norfolk Estuary. My practical acquaint- ance with them drew my attention to the possibility of reclaiming a large tract of land in the wide Estuary between the Counties of Lincoln and Norfolk, through which the river Ouse falling in at Wisbeach, and the Cam at Lynn, found their devious course to the Sea. Sir William . Faaike«yr 6 and Mr Hamond of Westacre, who both had large estates in Norfolk, and three or four other gentlemen, entertained the same idea, and we met in London in 1846, and resolved 1 For this information I am indebted to John Laurence, Esq., of Elton, Hunts. The Norfolk Estuary. 309 on endeavouring to obtain an Act of Parliament for the purpose. A much smaller tract of land than we proposed to obtain had been successfully embanked from a curve in the Humber, of which the Government was sole pro- prietor ; for the Sovereign claims to be the owner of the Sea-shores. But this Norfolk Estuary Scheme of adding so large a portion of Land to our Island seemed so bene- ficial to the country that the right was conceded on the payment of five per cent, on the outlay of drainage. The Scheme involved a large expense beside, as we had to give considerable compensation to the owners of frontages, who claimed the right of gradually extending them as the Sea receded. We began by embanking a channel in the middle of the Estuary of two miles in length, and then making small embankments from the land extending nearly to the other, leaving a small orifice through which the high- water tide flowed, and, being thus made stagnant, left a deposit of soil when it retired. This Channel has improved the navigation to Lynn, for which the Shipowners are obliged by the Act to pay a small tonnage on each voyage of their ships. It was ques- tioned at a Middle Level meeting upon whom this small payment should fall .'' whether on the owners of the Ship or of the freight .'' It was answered by me in a letter in the Cambridge paper, signed " Paul Progress," that the Ship- owner should pay for the saving caused by the diminished risk of the navigation, upon the same principle that a hosier gives ;irio for a stocking-loom to enable him to undersell those who knit stockings with a set of needles costing \od. Speaking of the Great Level, King James is reported to have said, "that he would not suffer any longer the land to be abandoned to the use of the waters." A Royal speech, 310 Autobiographic Recollections. but there is no royal road to these great works. The reclamation has proceeded very slowly. Some of the land is now very good pasture, but it is feared that it will by no means repay what has been expended on it \ 1845. The British Association visited Cambridge this Summer for the second time — Lord Northampton was the President. I read a paper in the Statistical Section, of which I was one of the Vice-Presidents, "on the different methods employed to estimate the amount of Population." Lord Sandon, Sir Charles Lemon and Colonel Sykes were the other Vice-Presidents. Soon after the Railway from London to Cambridge was opened I went by it in October to Town to be present at the opening by the Queen of our new Hall in Lincoln's Inn. I was one of the four senior Barristers who were presented to the Queen in the Library. A Grand Ban- quet which was honoured by her presence took place before three o'clock. The Society had now become very rich owing to the expiration of the long building Leases of a range of houses in the neighbourhood, and it applied a part of its increased revenues to building a new and splendid Hall. The old one was very small, and as a proof of it there was only room for a Bar-table of six messes, (each mess consisting of four) besides the Benchers' table. The new Hall has two Bar tables which accommodate six- teen messes. Wine is now given to the Students in addition to beer. Prince Albert was elected a Member of our Society 1 " Last year the Norfollc Estuary Company handed over to the Prince of Wales a tract of 90 acres of reclaimed Wash-land ; this the Prince detemiined upon farming himself, and it was sown with oats. Without any assistance from artificial or other manures it has yielded a very prolific crop." I\Iorinng Post, Dec. 1869. Prince Albert called to the Bar. 311 on this " opening day." He was called to the Bar a month after, and to the Bench in January following. [1846. In March of this year my Father, whose activity and energy were unabated, though he was approaching seventy years, ofifered to give a course of four Lectures to the Cambridgeshire Mechanics' Institute "On the Progress of Nations from rudeness and poverty towards civilization and opulence." This was accepted, and a kind vote of thanks sent to him through the Honorary Secre- tary, Mr Hemington Harris.] June 10. Prince Albert dined with us at Lincoln's Inn as a Bencher on Grand Day. I was present, and with two or three others of the Senior Barristers who were not Benchers, honoured by an invitation to join the party at the high table. [My Father always regretted that the rules of his Inn prevented his being a Bencher, as he would have been, had he belonged to the Temple. He lived to be the Senior Member of Lincoln's Inn, yet it was only by invitation that he could join the higher table. It was well and kindly said after his decease, " Perhaps the mistaken policy of the Benchers of that society, in conferring the honours in their gift almost exclusively on those who, whether by accident or other- wise, had been appointed Queen's Counsel, is at once illustrated in the case of Mr Pryme, who was condemned year after year to see those who might have been his children elevated to positions of dig- nity and honour, while he remained seated in the lower and less noble place'."] While in Town I attended two of Babbage's Saturday evening reunions, to which he had kindly given me a gene- ral invitation. There I found again my former friend, Lord Murray, who happened to be in London — our pleasure on meeting was, I think, mutual. On these occasional visits to London, I enjoyed ex- ' Daily News, Dec. loth, 1868. 312 Autobiographic Recollections. tremely the hospitality of a few old friends — Lord Wensley- dale, Sir George Rose, Kenyon, &c. At the house of the last I met Wordsworth. We were both staying in Park Street, Westminster, he at Mr Joshua Watson's, and we agreed to walk together to the dinner in Harley Place. As we went along I mentioned Scott's poetical eminence. Wordsworth simply remarked, "Scott's eminence is in de- scription." [I remember my Father pointing out Lord Murray to me, and their gratification at meeting. He was a fine portly man, with a handsome, genial face. His last words to my Father were, " You must come and see me in Scotland," but they never met again. These Soirees were charming — unique — the rooms so well lighted, and apparently multiplied by a j-^;;«-magical Lamp of Mr Babbage's own invention — the Host so clever, and so kind to his guests, and they the finest company in London. Of Sir George Rose's witty sayings I can only relate two. A third, which my Father re- peated to me, I have since seen in print. Some one was going up in a balloon, on a peculiarly hazardous ascent. He was a rich man, and his friends, who knew he had not made a Will, play- fully speculated on what would become of his property if any acci- dent happened to him. " Of course," said Sir George Rose, " his heirs would take it by descent." He was entertaining a party when one of the Servants in carrying out a tray full of glass let it fall. Sir G. R., seeing his wife look uneasy, remarked to her, " Don't dis- tress yourself, Dame ; its only the Coachman gone out with the Brcakr December 22. The Ter-centenary of the foundation of Trinity College was kept as a great Festival. The Com- memoration Service with a Sermon preached by Dr Jeremie took place in the Chapel at four o'clock \ I dined in Hall 1 In this eloquent Sermon a contrast was drawn between the close of each Century. The first ending with an imprisoned Monarch, and his people at variance, — the shadow of a still greater calamity advancing. Ter-centcnary at Trinity College. 313 as one of the numerous guests, and spent the evening at the Master's Lodge after leaving the Combination Room. Our College has long been celebrated for the number of eminent men whom it has produced, and these have gene- rally appeared — as elsewhere in all departments, in all Coun- tries — in clusters, with intervening periods of rest. The cause of this was given as a subject for the Prize Essay of Bachelors of Arts in 1801 ; when H. Vincent Bailey ob- tained the first Prize, and printed a few copies of his admi- rable essay on the subject. We boast the names of Lord Bacon, Sir Isaac Newton, Dr Barrow, Dr Bentley, Roger Cotes, and John Dryden — luminaries of a former age. After a gloomy interval the splendid light again dawned upon us, and within my own time I remember Blomfield, who in learning was nearly equal to Bentley, and Monk, who was his Biographer; Porson, Sedgwick, Airy, Whewell, Bishop Thirl wall, and Babbage. The second while the country was in anarchy, and divided between the love and hatred of a lost dynasty. The third happily concluding in Peace and Plenty. CHAPTER XXII. 1847— 185 1. Election of Chancellor — Change of Residence — Features of Huntingdon- shire — The Poet Coiuper — JVar3oys' Witches — Lingering belief i?i Witchcraft — Trial in consequence — The Rector of Warboys— Ram- sey Abbey — Mr Fellowes — The Monks of Sawtry — Wistow — Oliver Cronnvell Lord of the Manor — Lnstallation of Prince Albert — 77^1? Queen^s Reception at Trinity Lodge — University Election — Mr Goulburn — Letter from Colonel Perronet Thompson — Llis Brothet^s Epitaph — The third French Revolution — ^'■Coming Events" — Great Chartist Demonstration in London — Memorial for a University Commission — Letter to Lord John Russell — Harro- gate — Sir Frederick Trench — His plan for embankifig the Thames — Bolton Abbey — A Centenarian — Establishment of the Moral and Natural Science Triposes. 1847. TZTEB. 25. The Duke of Northumberland, our ^ Chancellor, having died, Prince Albert was pro- posed as his Successor, The Johnians persuaded the Earl of Powis to contest the election. He had opposed the amalgamation of two Welsh Sees, Bangor and St Asaph, and was in consequence much supported by the Clergy ; he had also manifested on several occasions extreme High Church opinions, which induced many electors to withhold their votes from him, although he had been a Student and Graduate of the University, which Prince Albert was not. I doubted between the two, and ultimately voted for the Prince, who had a great majority. Change of Residence. 3 1 5 In the Spring of this year I went to reside at Wistow in Huntingdonshire. I wished to lead a more tranquil life than I could do in Cambridge, and to look more after my property. I therefore added to one of my Farm-houses such additional rooms as I and my wife required, and resided there henceforth, except when I returned annually to Cam- bridge in order to give my Lectures during the Lent Term. I thus fell into an altered way of life, not less busy perhaps, but certainly less exciting, and could truly say when set- tled in this simple abode where I could calmly pass away my age, "O blest retirement, friend to life's decline \" I became a Magistrate for the County, and was glad to bring my legal knowledge to the assistance of my Brother Justices. There is much that is interesting in this County, both in natural features and in old associations. It is well wooded, indeed there was once a vast Forest of many miles in extent, traces of which still remain in various woods, and in the names of villages — Woodwalton, Upwood, Woodhurst, Old Hurst, Warboys (bois) ^ The name of Huntingdon denotes still the same sylvan character. It is now a pretty small country Town, but was in the time of King Edward I. a place of some im- portance with its Castle and a mansion within its precincts ; with its 274 Burgesses paying dues to the King and the Abbot of Ramsey. It is said to have had fifteen Churches, ^ Cowley's desire was to be " Master at last of a small house and large gardens, and there dedicate the remainder of his life only to the culture of them, and the study of nature." " It appears to have been a Forest till Henry II. Lcland says, " Huntingdonshire in old times was much more woddy than it is now, and the dere resortid to the fennys : it is full long sins it was deforestid." Itinerary, Vol. iv. p. 31. fol. 48. 3i6 Autobiographic Recollections. but now they are reduced to two\ It is celebrated as the birth-place of Oliver Cromwell. Cowper the Poet resided here for two years ; the house he lived in is now a School, and for many years it was advertised as " Cowper's House," I remember reading his Task, which now seems so com- pletely a thing of the past, a very few years after it first came out. There is a curious trait of him which I met with long ago in a Cambridge Paper. Among his earlier poems were some strong lines against the Roman Catholics. He went afterwards to live in Berkshire, and became friendly with the Tlirockmortons. From regard to their hospitality and kindness he omitted these lines in the later editions of his poems. [My Father had the lines, but of course he would not quote them, as he said, " not to do what Cov/per wished undone." Since then I have seen the lines published, and a different version of the suppression given as an excuse for doing so, namely, that Cowper probably cancelled them on account of a wish not to aid in rekind- ling the flames of the Gordon riots.] A fine group of old trees is visible from the high road near Somersham ; they stand alone in a wide plain and excite attention by their solitariness. Here there was a Summer Palace of the Bishop of Ely ^ Warboys wood is one of those I spoke of. The hand- 1 Huntandene in the old Saxon chronicle ; " surpassing all the neigh- bouring towns both in pleasantness of situation, beauty of buildings, nearness to the fens, and plenty of game and fish." Henry de Huntingdon, Archdeacon and Historian. 2 It was a turreted mansion, and there are many traces of what it has been, but no buildings are left. Bp. Stanley, brother to the then Lord Derby, lived there. Bp. Heater made a bargain with O. Elizabeth and gave it up to her. It was a part of Henrietta Maria's dowry, and Colonel Waller, the Regicide, got it after Charles the First's death. It was pulled down later because it was being used for granaries and pigsties. " The Mayor and Corporation of Cambridge visited Nicholas West, Bp. of Ely, Warboys Witc/ics. 317 some spire of its church is a landmark for many miles around, " The Witches of Warboys" are traditionally known for bewitching, as was supposed, the families of Mr Throck- morton and Sir Henry Cromwell, in the i6th Century. A Father, Mother^ and daughter named Samwell, were found guilty (the mother confessing, the others maintaining their innocence) and executed. In years long past a Sermon was preached annually at Huntingdon against the sin of witchcraft by a member of Queens' College, Cambridge, but it has long been discontinued \ Within this century the belief as far as Hunts is concerned partially re- mained. An old woman, supposed to be a witch, was tor- mented in consequence, and finally ducked in a pond. Sinking or swimming was one of the ordeals of witchcraft, but that was probably forgotten though the custom remained. The rude assaulters were to be prosecuted, and the trial must of necessity be in the County where the offence was committed, but such was the prevalence of the superstition in Hunts that affidavits were sent up to the King's Bench, and sufficient cause was shown that there could not be an impartial Jury. The Judges were satisfied and changed the place of trial, or "venue" as it is technically called, from the old Norman French. The men were found guilty and sentenced to imprisonment. I had this relation from Mr William Hunt, a Barrister on the Norfolk Circuit "^ at Somersham, in 15 18, when they presented him with a salmon, six ca- pons, and a gallon of Ipocras." Annals of Cambridge, by C H. Cooper. 1 Sir Henry Cromwell, Grandfather of Oliver, being Lord of the Manor of Warboys, received the forfeiture of the Samwell goods ; " But he, unwilling to possess himself of them, gave them to the Corporation of Huntingdon conditionally on a Sermon being preached every anniversary of the Annunciation of the B. V." Noble's Cro}n. Vol. I. p. 25 — 6. 2 About the year 1825 there was a woman at Great Paxton, Hunts, Nanny Izzard, whom the people tormented for a witch by sticking pins into her. 3i8 Autobiographic Recollectiojis. Warboys is about two miles from Wistow, and has pleasant associations for me. I have the gratification of being intimate with the Rev. William Finch, its Rector, and, I may say, Squire, for there is no other. His father was a younger son of the 3rd Earl of Aylesford. I was once mentioning to him the Statue of the Duke of Somerset in the Senate -House at Cambridge (he himself is an Oxonian), when he quietly added, "my great Grandfather \" His literary knowledge is extensive, and his conversation abounds in acute remarks on men and manners, and agree- able anecdotes. We agree upon almost every topic except Politics, on which we widely differ, and only mention them occasionally in a playful hit at each other. Abbeys and religious houses were numerous. Besides two principal Towns dedicated to Saints (St Ives and St Neots), we have the remains of a Monastery of the Do- minican order at Ramsey, or Ramesey, as it was spelt This is a small cheerful Town about three miles distant from Wistow. It had a Mere once, which was navigable as well as Whittlesea, though on a smaller scale. The Abbot of Ramsey sat in the House of Lords, and had also a residence at Broughton. The remains of the Abbey have been mo- dernised, and are inhabited by Mr Fellowes, who has large estates in this County, which he represents, as well as in Norfolk I His judicious activity as a Magistrate and Country 1 Charles, 6th Duke, K.G., commonly called " The proud Duke of Somerset," was present at the Coronation of James II., William and Mary, Anne, George I., and George II. He filled high offices in the Courts of Charles II., William III., and Queen Anne. 2 Very old and curious muniments are still preserved in the Abbey. Quite lately the Duke of Manchester sent experts to examine them in reference to a dispute about the Tolls on a quaint old bridge at St Ives which belonffs to him. The Monks of Saw try. 319 gentleman, and his estimable private character, have made him valued by all parties. Of his kindness as a neighbour, though our politics differ, I must speak with gratitude; and it has always been with regret that I have felt obliged to vote against him. No Abbey-lands, indeed no Church-lands, pay tithes. There are fifty acres on a farm of mine at Sawtry that pay no tithe; thence I infer that there was an Abbot there, for the maxim in law is " Ecclesia non solvit Decimas Ecclesiae." [On reference to old books I find that there was a Monastery of the Cistercian order at Sawtry St Judith. There are old moats still remaining, and it is said that the bye road to the Farm spoken of above was made of stones from the Abbey. The Monks of Sawtry, or Saltrey as it was anciently spelt, were very charitable, as some old rhymes which have been repeated to me tell : " Ramsey the rich, and Peterborough the proud; Little Saltrey, a poor Abbaye, Gave more alms than them all awaye."] I must now speak of my own little village, which lies quite in a hollow beneath a hill which retains the ancient name of Schilhow\ From it, on a fine clear day, are plainly discernible the Cathedrals of Peterborough and Ely, the great tower of the latter looming far above the distant horizon. These, together with the fine spires of Yaxley and Whittle- sea, carry the eye over an area of vast extent. The sunsets in these level plains are of remarkable beauty. Oliver Cromwell was Lord of the Manor of Wistow, and conveyed his property to the Pedley family, one of whom was a Fellow of Trinity in my time. I have heard that a ^ Howe signifies a hill (the German hohe). 320 Autobiographic Recollections. part of my land belonged to Oliver Cromwell, but it is only traditional. Although the village lies low and in such a sheltered spot it is extremely healthy. We have few deaths, and in one year had none; and it has been noticed in the Registrar's returns for this happy infrequency. A portion of my land is in the Fens, or lowlands, once liable to inundations, but now arti- ficially drained \ The drainage of the Middle Level has made them almost too dry. At the depth of several feet in Wistow Fen, of peat formation, were found prostrate trees (the wood of which was black), bones and horns of deer. July 1st. I went to Cambridge to be present at the Installation of Prince Albert. The Queen and Chancellor arrived on Monday July the 5th, received the Address of the University in the Hall of Trinity, and dined with the Vice-Chancellor (Dr Philpott). The next day the Ceremony of Installing took place in the Senate-House, her Majesty being present. Wordsworth, as Poet Laureate, wrote the Installation Ode. A grand banquet was given at 6 o'Clock in the Hall of Trinity, at which Ladies were present ; after- wards the Queen held a Reception at Trinity Lodge, when all the chief University Officers, their wives and daughters, were presented to her. They entered by the great staircase into what is called King Henry the 8th's Drawing Room, and passed out by a Turret stair — through a private entrance which had been made by Bishop Mansel — into the Great Court. 1 There were many objections formerly made against the draining of the fens. " The savans of Cambridge urged that the Cam would have its stream dried up by it, and as Cambridge is concerned in its river, so the well-being of the whole country, yea, of the whole kingdom, is concerned in Cambridge and its University, and the stream of know- ledge would be dried up with the stream of the Cam." Mr Gouldjtm. ^21 On the 7th the Chancellor received the Heads, Doctors, and Professors, at a Levee at 9 A.M. at Trinity Lodge, [1847. There was a general Election in this Summer. The Candidates for Cambridge University were The Hon. Charles Evvan Law, Mr Goulburn, and Mr Shaw Lefevre. My father voted on this occasion for the two latter. Mr Goulburn said to him laughingly, " I know you only vote for me because you consider me the least bad;'' and he was very near the truth. My Father had a very great regard for Mr Goulburn, which was returned, as I find by several letters addressed to him by Mr G. I once asked him this question, " Do you think he was as good a Chancellor of the Ex- chequer as Gladstone.^" The answer was, " I have no hesitation in saying he was better, though I think Gladstone exceedingly good." In reference to this general Election Colonel Perronet Thompson wrote my Father a letter which I have selected out of many, all characteristic of his great ability, his energy, his genial humour, and his advanced politics. To these last I may here say there were bounds. He took his stand last year on the Irish Church, when his faculties were as perfect, and his political insight as keen as ever. The Country may possibly have cause to lament some day that there are younger Politicians who only commence their race starting from the goal at which the older ones think it wise to stop.] "Blackheath, 9 A»g. 1847. "Dear Pryme, "At the time you were voting for Goulburn and Lefevre, I was engaged in the course of dinners, &c. which accompany an election as a sort of accomplices after the fact. We were on the whole very fortunate, seeing that a fortnight before we were all broken in pieces by the effect of running against one of those walls which the Whigs are proverbially said to build up for themselves to run against — to wit the Education question. Without this, there would have been no contest; and it is odds whether the Tories would have presented themselves at all. 21 322 Autobiographic Recollections. " Les choscs marchent, and you Whigs will end in being carried like St Peter in your old age whither you would not. It was observable that at Bradford scarcely a word was said about either Corn Laws or Free Trade. "The leading questions brought forward were the 'Dis- senters,' and the necessity of extending the suffrage. This last question walks in good clothes at Bradford; even the Tories being obliged to admit upon the Hustings that they were ready to extend the Suffrage when the people were fit for it. "With kind remembrances to all, "believe me, "Yours very truly and sincerely, "T. Perronet Thompson." " G. Pryme, Esq!' [I regret that my Father, who was much attached to General Thompson as well as to his brother Vincent, left no distinct notice of this his oldest and well-loved friend. But the mutual regard that existed between these political veterans, who agreed in differing, will be evident from many passages. Colonel Thompson had written in 1842, "the desire is strong upon me, to be allowed to ask your acceptance of a publication somewhat of the nature of * JVo/-ks\' Though I cannot expect to carry with me your approval in all things, I have a sort of satisfaction in thinking you will find some matters therein redolent of ancient community of scenes," to which my Father replied, " Your Works are more voluminous than I expected. So much the better, there is a raciness and spirit about all you write which delights me even when I differ in opinion. I had read several papers in the Westminster Review, some which I knew to be yours, and others which I recognised by their style, as I do S. S. in the Edinburgh. My views on the Corn Laws tend to a total re- ^ Exercises, Political and others. 6 vols. Published by Effmgham Wilson in 1842. Colonel Perronet Thompson. 323 peal by degrees, coupled with relief from those burthens which press on the production of Corn. Your plans are more imposing and splendid. I deem mine more practicable." There was a third Brother, who would have been also a dis- tinguished man if he had lived. In speaking of General Thompson's recent decease, the Journals stated that he and his two Brothers were all fellows of Queens' College, Cambridge. This is incorrect; the two who have been spoken of by my Father were so, but the third, Charles William, only graduated there. He became a soldier, and was killed in action with the French, near St Jean de Luz and Bidart, and was buried, with two others, in the garden of the country- house of the Mayor of Biarritz. A Tombstone was erected over them by some kind and unknown hand. It bore this Inscription : Ci + Gisent Le Lieut«= Colonel J. C. Martin, Les Capitaines Thompson et Watson, De la Garde Royale De S. M. Britannique, Tues sur le Champ de Bataille le 12 Decembre 18 13. Mrs Opie, who was intimate with the Thompson family, wrote some lines on the sad event, beginning "Weep not, he died as heroes die," which, after she became a Quaker, she toned down into *' Weep, though he died as heroes die."] 1848. In February of this year another phase of the old French Revolution occurred. Louis Philippe was obliged to abdicate in consequence of a tumult produced by his preventing a popular meeting. Nearly every Monarchy in Europe was shaken to its centre by Revolutionary outbreaks. Some years ago I went over again the History of the first Revolution, and also read collateral evidence, and I feel convinced that had Louis taken the advice of Necker and Lafayette the only Revolution would have been his summoning a Convention of the States, an old Institution 21 — 2 324 Autobiographic Recollections. reduced to a shadow and a name, and that he would have died quietly on his Throne. He did summon it, but too late, and it fell, at discord within itself, whether it should be one Chamber or three. The three great grievances were, (i) the different rates of taxes on salt, so as to require a Cordon of Revenue Officers in some Provinces which created a vast expense. (2) The farming of the Revenue, and (3) the exemption of the Nobles from all taxation. The invasion of the Western side of France by Austria and Prussia on an understanding with Louis, was intended to support his ab- solute power. Necker wanted to be in the Cabinet, but he was a Protestant, and not liked by the Catholic party, and was sent away. Within a year he was recalled as Prime Minister, but it was then too late. Lord Chesterfield fore- told the French Revolution many years before it happened in a passage of his works which is little remembered \ Louis Philippe had always professed liberality towards the people, but he became more and more absolute till the French would no longer endure it. I foresaw clearly in my own mind the Revolution of 1848, and acted on it, and persuaded two other men to act on it. I was left with them, in June 1847, Co-trustee to a large Property, and by the direction of the Will every portion of it was 1 This is probably the passage, " By the last account of the present state of France, the domestic discords are so great, and promise to be so much greater. The King is both hated and despised, which seldom happens to the same man. The Clergy are implacable, upon account of what he has done; and the Parliament is exasperated because he will not do more. A spirit of licentiousness as to all matters of religion and government is spread throughout the whole kingdom. If the neighbours of France are wise, they will be quiet, and let these seeds of discord germinate, as they certainly will do, if no foreign object checks their growth, and unites all parties in a common cause. May 19, O. S. 1752." The third French Revohition. J-'D within a year to be vested in Consols. There was a good deal of it in the French Funds, and seeing, as I thought, a cloud in the horizon, I urged our selling tJiat at once ; rather against the wishes of one of them, who regretted the loss of the higher interest. We sold out in July or August. In February following came the outbreak in Paris, and my Co-trustee had the candour to tell mc that he had calculated that though we had lost some interest we had saved ;^ 10,000 of the principal ^ [" How fortunate," said I to my Father as I wrote down this, "that you saw the shadow of the coming event!" "Yes," he an- swered, "how fine are those lines of Campbell which express the foresight that age may bring : ' 'Tis the sunset of life gives me mystical lore, And coming events cast their shadows before.' " "Without forethought there is no foresight," a learned Judge remarked to me lately, in lamenting the many mistakes and mishaps arising from the want of it.] I have said that nearly every throne in Europe was shaken by the events then happening in France. Hanover was an exception, and England. But we were not without our alarms. In April of this year the Chartists decided to send a deputation to the House of Commons with a monster petition'''. Every preparation was made by the ^ Speaking of Lord Brougham's visit to Paris only one month before the Revolution (Jan. 1848), Lord Campbell says, "Paris was a little agitated by the coming political banquets which the Government had prohibited; but although there was a considerable outcry about the Spanish marriages, no serious apprehension was entertained, and the Orleans dynasty seemed firmly fixed upon the throne of France." ' It was said to be signed by five millions, which on Examination proved to be less than two, and among the names were those of the 326 Autobiographic Recollections. Governrxicnt to prevent a disturbance of the peace. The Duke of WelHngton was consulted, and his wise counsels probably averted the danger. Special Constables were sworn in. Gentlemen — among whom was Louis Napoleon — offered themselves in great numbers as such, and were concealed on the day (the lOth), in places from whence they could easily be summoned. Soldiers and Cannon were stationed out of sight near London and Westminster Bridges, and the deputation attended by thousands of people began their march from Kennington Common. Dissension with each other had however weakened their strength, and the whole affair passed off without any vehement demonstrations. Peo- ple in the country who trembled for the issue were rejoiced to hear next morning that all was quiet. [" A Memorial praying for a Royal Commission of Enquiry into the best methods of securing the Improvement of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge," signed by nearly 300 Graduates and former Members of those Universities, was presented to Lord John Russell in Downing Street, on the loth of July. Lord J. R., in reply, stated "that he would take the subject into his serious con- sideration, that his attention had been already drawn to it, — and that he found that a great variety of opinions were entertained as to the best method of effecting reforms, but that he agreed with the MemoriaHsts as to the existence of defects in the present system." My Father did not sign this Memorial, and his reason is shown in the following letter, written two days before the Memorial was presented.] Queen, Prince Albert, Duke of Wellington and Sir Robert Peel ; besides imaginary and absurd names. Letter to Lord John Riissetl. 327 Professor Pryme to The Right Honourable Lord John Russell. Reform Club, 8 July, 1848. My Lord, I am informed that a Memorial from Members of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, praying for a Commission of Inquiry, is to be presented to your Lordship on Monday. It will probably be in your recollection that I made a motion in the House of Commons (4 May, 1837) on the same subject, which after a debate I withdrew on the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr Spring Rice) express- ing a wish to have the measure left to the consideration of the Government. As my wish for such Commission is unchanged, I think it right to state why I have declined signing this Memorial. It is because the first paragraph contains a charge against the Universities, which I think is incorrect. That Cambridge has been steadily endeavouring to im- prove its courses of study and examinations, I know to be the case from forty years' residence there ; and I believe that Oxford has in some degree done the same. But there are many and great defects, some of which I then stated to the House, beyond their internal power to remedy. Some of these were not originally inherent, but introduced in conse- quence of a Royal Commission during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and I beg leave to state my strong opinion in favour of such a Commission, though I could not sign a Memorial so worded. I have the honour to be Your Lordship's Faithful Sei-vant, George Pryme. 328 Autobiographic Recollections. In the Autumn I went, as I occasionally did, to Harro- gate; not the gay place of former years when no German Spas were accessible, yet still having its Balls and Coteries. Here I usually met some old Parliamentary friends, among which this year was Sir Frederic Trench, who gave me the startling news of Lord George Bentinck's strange death. Colonel Trench was a most polished and amiable man. He was the original author of the plan for embanking the North side of the Thames, which he illustrated by a book of en- gravings, privately distributed among his friends. Referring to the date of the one he gave to me — though I was his political opponent — -I find it to have been in 1825, so that it has taken nearly forty years to convince the public of the desirability of such an undertaking\ One day w^e made an excursion to Bolton Abbey, a few miles distant, the fine ruins of which are kept in preservation by the Duke of Devonshire, who owns the greater part of the small valley in which it is situated. " The stately Priory was reared" by a Mother whose Son failed in the leap. "And Wharfe as he moved along, To matins joined a mournful voice, Nor failed at Even-song." The course of Wharfe which runs down to it is obstructed by two rocks, between which the channel is so narrow that it has been leaped over by adventurous visitors, despite its sad tradition^ ^ Mr Crabbe Robinson says in his Diary, "Feb. nth, 1825, went to Covent Garden Theatre. A Panoramic view of the projected improve- ment of the Thames, by the erection of a terrace on arches along the Northern shore, is a pleasing anticipation of a splendid dream, which not even in this projecting age can become a reality." 2 "The famous Strid" where the boy is said to have been drowned is not so named from its being possible to 'stride' across it, but from the A.- S. Siryth, tumult. Quarterly Review, Oct. 1868. The Moral ajid Natural Science Triposes. 329 "This striding place is called the Strid, A name that it took of yore; A thousand years hath it borne that name, And shall a thousand more." Not far off dwelt a curiosity, a Centenarian. This man had been a Gamekeeper, but had many years retired hither, the Duke, in whose service he had been, still giving him the liberty of shooting. The old man had his faculties quite perfect, except some feebleness of sight. He said to me, "I can't see your features, but I can see you're a man and have shoes on," From Harrogate I went to Wensleydale to visit some relations who were still living there. One, recently deceased, had bequeathed a small property to me, which linked me again with this charming valley, [In October of this year a Grace was passed which effected a very important change in the Studies at Cambridge. The University Commission was not issued until two years later, so that this change was not recommended from without, but entirely proceeded from within. A Syndicate, appointed in the beginning of the year, had recommended certain Regulations tending to this, and these had been favourably reviewed by Dr Philpott' in a pamphlet. In it he also vindicated the dignity, and at the same the progress of the University, which, said he, " has not been accustomed to shew itself backward in exhibiting a proper regard for the preservation of ex- isting systems, and in watching with a careful and scrutinizing eye the proposals which have been made for alteration of them. But neither, it must be said on the other hand, has the University shewn itself indisposed to accept suggestions for improvements, or to carry into effect with hearty good will the changes of its system, whicli its judgment has approved. It would be an unjust reproach to our Senate to assert that it has the inclination to reject proposals for change, either without examination altogether, or without the full and candid consideration which the desire of improvement dic- tates. Experience has abundantly proved that its attachment to ex- 1 Then IMaster of St Catharine's Collese. 530 AiUobiographic Recollections. isting systems is not of that blind character which prevents its per- ceiving the difference between the rash proposals resulting from a restless desire of change, and the well-considered measures devised in a friendly and cautious spirit for enlarging the sphere of its use- fulness, and adding to its influence. During the last quarter of a century, the history of the University records an almost continued succession of improvements introduced with the best effect into our course of studies." My Father entirely approved of the proposed alteration, and under the signature which he sometimes used of " Ex-Socius," examined and commended Dr Philpott's pamphlet in the Cambridge paper thus: "A Senior Wrangler cannot be supposed to be averse or indifferent to mathematical studies; nor would he support further encroachments than the Classical Tripos has made upon their exclusive reign, unless potent reasons had forced con- viction upon his mind. The advocacy of a measure introducing new studies into our academical career comes, therefore, with peculiar force from such an individual. Prejudice would naturally bias his mind to a different direction, instead of taking, as he has done, a calm, comprehensive, and statesman-like view of the proposed in- fringements on mathematical monopoly." By the Grace alluded to all Candidates for the ordinary B.A. Degree were required to have attended the Lectures of certain Pro- fessors, including Political Economy, and to produce a Certificate of having passed an Examination by one of them. Thus were the Moral and Natural Science Triposes established. Alluding to this change my Father says :] I still gave my Lectures annually to an audience much increased by the alterations which had taken place in the studies and regulations of the University. \\\ the yearly examinations I was now assisted — as were other Professors in their departments — by one whose ability and kindness were of great use to me, and with whom, whether in the Schools or in Society, association was always pleasurable. Mr Birkbeck, who is the son of the late Dr Birkbeck, a Phy- sician well known for his philanthropy and as the Founder of Mechanics' Institutes, has since been chosen to be the Downing Professor of the Laws of England, CHAPTER XXIII. 1850— 1860. Dinger at the Reform Club to Lord Palmaston — Funeral of the Provost of King^s College — His pursuits — Dr Whcwell — Butler's A?ialogy — Visit to Ypres — Paris — Rouen — University Commission issued — Their recommendations — Trinity College not needing them — : Letter to the University Commissioners — Letter to their Secretary — Letter to the Bishop of Chester — Lord Macaulay elected High Steward of Cambridge — Banquet to the Duke of Bedford, his successor — PresentatioJi to the Prince of Wales — Sir Frederick Pollock's Anecdote. 1850. T DINED at the Reform Club with a large party- July 20. -^ who had invited Lord Palmerston to a splendid dinner. It was given to celebrate his recent triumph in the House of Commons, where in defending his foreign Policy he had spoken for five hours : an oration which Sir Robert Peel in speaking for the last time (a few days before his fatal accident) characterized, although he took the opposite side, as " a speech which made us all proud of the man who delivered it." Oct. 29. I attended the funeral (in the Chapel) of my wife's relative Dr George Thackeray, Provost of King's College. His handsome person, genial disposition, and great powers of conversation made his company delightful. He took particular interest in the text of Shakespeare's plays, 332 Autobiographic Recollections. and the derivation of words used in them. He added many learned and ingenious MS. notes to Narcss Glossary, which have been useful in a recent edition (the Globe) of Shakespeare. He was also a naturalist, and M. Audubon, with whom he was intimate, said that his collection of stuffed birds at King's Lodge was "one of the finest he had ever seen." 185 I, Feb. 8. A Moral Science Tripos meeting at Trinity- Lodge. Whewell, though a Conservative, was ever foremost in advocating real improvements for his College and Uni- versity. We had had many Professorial meetings at the Lodge to discuss the range of our new examinations, and much correspondence with him on the subject. I examined him when a Freshman at the annual College Examinations, and he was the best in his year, which did not appear on the list, as each class is arranged alphabetically. I soon became well acquainted with him, and my admiration of his powerful mind and extensive knowledge was blended with a strong feeling of personal regard. It is to be regretted that from the paucity of his publications the full extent of his know- ledge was not revealed. Among them I would name a quarto pamphlet on the application of Algebra to Political Economy, and two excellent ones on the Cambridge studies. The Professorship of Casuistry, now usually called that of Moral Theology, was of small value, and always given as a sinecure. Dr Whewell was the first who gave Lectures on the subject, which he continued after he became Master of Trinity College till he ascertained that he could have an active successor in Mr Grote. They both ignored the prin- ciples of Moral Philosophy, laid down by Paley in his work on that subject, which had been adopted as an Examination book throughout the University, and built anew a system founded on the existence of a moral sense, as supposed by Visit to Yprcs. 333 Bishop Butler, author of the yi;/^/^^/. If that foundation be granted his (Whewell's) pubHshed treatise is clear and forci- ble, and powerfully expressed, but there is no attempt at a refutation of Paley's principle of general expediency; and I never yet met with any one who could tell me where such an attempted refutation was to be found. I put the question to Whewell and to his successor. Professor Grote; the latter candidly answered that he knew of none, and Whewell referred me to an edition of Butler's four Sermons with Jiis notes. I read them, and found that he assumed the existence of the moral sense without attempting to prove it. I then pressed him for a further proof, but he never gave me one, and it therefore rests, if I may coin the word, on their ipse dixitisin \ 185 1. Having a little spare time this Summer I went in August with my Family by way of Antwerp, to visit Ypres, whence my Father's family had come. It was with deep interest that I approached the old fortified town, and crossed its drawbridge. It is of considerable size, and has a clean and airy appearance from its wide and paved streets. The Hotel de Ville is one of exceeding beauty, with a tower in the centre. I had got an introduction from our Foreign Office to the English Embassy at Brussels, whence I ob- tained another to the Burgomaster of Ypres, in order to be allowed an inspection of the Records of the City. I found several of the name of Priem who had holden this office before our name was changed to that of de la Pryme, and some of their names we discovered also on monuments in the Cathedral, but I could find no living representative. After I had left Ypres I met accidentally with one of its ^ Mr Pitt declared to Mr Wilbcrforce that " Bishop Butler's work raised in his mind more doubts than it had answered." VVilberforcis Life, Vol. I. p. 94. 334 Autobiographic Recollections. residents who told me that there v/as one old widow Lady- surviving who bore the name of Madame Rix-Priem. On my return to England I wrote to her and sealed my letter with my arms. She sent me an answer couched in very civil terms, — though the ancestor who was the link between us had been ignored as a heretic. — Her seal bore the same arms as mine disposed in a lozenge. I next visited Paris. It was during the period of the Republic, which was formed after the expulsion of Louis Philippe, and the present Emperor was then only its President. We saw several buildings which had been in- jured in the time of the Barricades, — and observed the words Liberie, Egalite and FraternitJ still remaining over some of the Public Offices — the Boulevards were much injured by the loss of their trees, in the place of which young ones were planted. Paris was more than usually empty at this time owing to the great Exhibition in England being open. I was shewn the Institut by Professor Blanquin, the Professor of Political Economy, to whom I had an introduction, being absent. I found among such Parisians as I conversed with a great freedom of speech in regard to Politics, and that they considered that Louis Napoleon was trying to con- ciliate the Clergy, v/hich I afterwards thought might have been in order to obtain their support for the Empire which he contemplated even while affecting to refuse it. It was with great interest that I visited Notre Dame, the Hotel de Cluny, and Pere la Chaise. The ancient streets of Paris are now fast disappearing under the vast alterations made by the Emperor, in order to make way for others wide and magnificent indeed, but possessing no Historical associations. I returned to England by way of the ancient Norman University Commission issued. 335 Capital (Rouen). We saw there in antique 'perfection the Rue de la Grosse Horloge, in which the curious old clock remained, and the Place de la Pucellc, where the Maid of Orleans was burnt, and in the S. W. corner of which is the Hotel de Bourgthcroudc, a sculptured mansion of one of the Norman Nobles, now converted into public offices. Some of the other old streets leading to the Quay had been dis- placed by a wide and splendid one called Rue de la Ri'pub- liqiic, which had been commenced by Louis Philippe, and which was then styled in honour of him Rue Royale. Since I was there I hear that it has been re-named Rue IvipMale. After a Aveek's stay at Dieppe we returned to England, a few weeks before the Coup d'etat by which, on the eve of a re-election, the President suppressed what freedom remained in France. I think of the future of that Country (now in 1864), that Louis Napoleon will gradually relax his iron rule, and give it more liberty ; and that he will die upon his Throne. [In 1850 the Comnriission was issued for inquiring into the State, Discipline, Studies, and Revenues of the University and Colleges of Cambridge. The Commissioners were the Bishop of Chester (Gra- ham), Dean of Ely (Peacock), Sir J. F. Herschel, Sir John Romilly, and Adam Sedgwick. Mr Bateson (now Master of St John's College) and Mr Edward Bunbury were Secretaries. Their first care was to address questions to University Officers (my Father among them) intended to call forth their views. Their report was published in about two years, and filled a bulky blue book of 685 pages. Speak- ing of a part of their recommendations my Father said :] I have often regretted that Lord John Russell had not been educated at either of the Universities. The disad- vantage of this appeared, among many other things, in his proposing Commissioners of whom all were not intimately acquainted with the state and spirit of these Institutions. 336 AiitobiograpJiic Recollections. [My Father, while regretting this "disadvantage," had a great admiration for what he termed " Lord John Russell's honest and straightforward, and continued self-education of himself as a States- man." To the following extract in his own handwriting, " No error can be more fatal, than the belief that education terminates with School or College discipline. A wise, a truly great man, will con- tinue to improve himself to the latest period of lifeV he has added, ^'' e.g. Lord John Russell." And he quotes elsewhere "the noble speech of Lord John Russell in June 1834."] The Commissioners recommended the formation of ten new Professorships, three of which I venture to designate as fantastical. But they made no mention in any way of a Professorship of Political Economy. In respect to marriage the Commissioners adopted an exactly opposite course to the one which I suggested in my answer to their questions, deeming the celibacy of Fellows who did not hold College Offices undesirable. In Trinity College there was little for the Commissioners to remedy or reform. The Fellowships and Scholarships were tJicre completely open. Mr Tavel one day on coming into Hall told us that he had received a letter from a Military Officer enquiring whether his Son, who was born in India but within the British dominions, would be eligible to a Fellowship .-' " To which," Mr Tavel added, " I replied, * I think I cannot give a better answer than to state I am myself a Swiss by birtli and family, and that I am Fellow and Tutor of the College ^'" The Commissioners however recommended the alteration of the emoluments of our Scholarships. These have con- ^ Essays on Professional Education, by R. L. Edgeworth, Esq., p. 337. ' Whosoever hath one English parent, although he be born in another country, shall be esteemed as if born in that County to which his English parent belonged. But if both parents were English, he shall be reckoned of that County to which his Father belonged. Stat. Acad. p. 268. Letter to the Univc7^sity Commissioners. 337 sisted of free Commons in the Hall at a tabic appropriated to Scholars of whatever standing-, and a small sum of money. They suggested converting the whole into a mere pecuniary stipend. The College authorities refused assent to this change, showing therein a better knowledge of human nature ; for I well recollect that we (as Scholars) felt far more gratification from the gratuitous hospitality of the dinner provided for us than we should have done from a payment of even greater value. It possessed another ad- vantage too in being a slight encouragement to longer residence. [The Commissioners, although they had published their Report, seem to have been sitting en peivnaiie/ice, for I find my Father writing to them some years later.] Professor Pryme to The Honourable the University Commissioners. Cambridge, 8 Dec. 1857. Sirs, Allow me, as Professor of Political Economy, to suggest for your consideration the expediency of adopting some plan to perpetuate a Professorship. I began to give Lectures as a Master of Arts with the consent of the Vice-Chancellor, in 18 16. The title of Pro- fessor was conferred upon me in 1828 by a vote of the Senate. But this is merely personal to me. There is no foundation, nor any emolument whatever, except a Dividend of Lecture and Certificate fees among certain Professors, which amounts to about ^30 a year. The Anatomical, Mineralogical, and I believe other Pro- fessorships, originated in the same way; on tlic first vacancy 338 Autobiographic Recollections. a Grace of the Senate voted them perpetual. And the Go- vernment made for each a vote of ^loo annually from the Civil Estimates. None such (though I applied for it the first year) was granted to me. My zeal for the Science induces me to continue my ex- ertions in this department; but I much doubt if so trifling an emolument would ensure a successor. I hear that it is contemplated at Trinity College to ap- propriate a Fellowship to such a Professorship; but unless the restriction of Celibacy were removed a privation for life would be inflicted, or a vacancy, by perhaps a fit Professor, be occasioned. I am, Sirs, Your obedient Servant, George Pryme. Professor Pryme to Edward Bunbury, Esq. Secretary TO THE Cambridge University Commission. Cambridge, 30 Jivi. 1858. Sir, I am honoured by your letter inviting communica- tions from me as Professor of Political Economy. I am strongly impressed with the opinion that the Collegiate sys- tem is far preferable to that of Hostels, inasmuch as by the mixture of Students from different Counties and Schools, it tends to remove prejudices and give a knowledge useful in life, which mere Book-learning cannot bestow; while Hostels would probably become appropriated to particular tenets or districts, and thus strengthen instead of removing prejudices. The latter plan (of domicile in houses of Professors) in the sister University is said to have worked well, but this is Lettei'' to the Bishop of Chester. 339 in contrast not to Colleges, but to the insulated state of out- door Students. I am strongly adverse to the opening of Fellowships to general competition by examination, for the reasons urged in Mr Latham's (Tutor of Trinity Hall) Con- siderations on the Snggestio7is of the University Commissioners, I am equally adverse to the limited duration of Fellow- ships. I understand that it has worked ill in Wadham College, Oxford. I beg leave to repeat what I stated in an early commu- nication to the Commissioners — the want of attention to the English language and style; which I find in the sermons and publications of many men eminent for Classical and Theo- logical knowledge. I then suggested the institution of a Professorship of English Literature. With regard to the Professorship of Political Economy, I took the liberty of making a voluntary communication lately to the Commissioners. I am, Sir, Yours truly, George Pryme. [The communication of Dec. 1857, addressed to the Commis- sioners, seems to have been disregarded, for two years later my Father wrote again on the subject.] Professor Pryme to the Lord Bisiioi* of Chester. CAMRRiDfiK, 20 March, 1859. My Lord Bishop, Permit me to request your Lordship's attention as an University Commissioner to the state of matters as to a Professorship of Political Economy. I have twice sent a Representation through the present Secretar)', who answered 340 Autobiog7^apkic Recollections. that he would lay my letter before the Board, but I am apprehensive that it may be overlooked unless one of the Commissioners calls attention to it. There exists no endowment whatever nor any Profes- sorship of Political Economy. The Senate by Grace in 1828 conferred on me the title of Professor. The Professorships of Chemistry, Botany and Mineralogy arose in the same way ; and on the first vacancy the Senate passed a Grace for per- petuating them. I never had the ;i{^ioo from the Government which those others had, nor any emolument except my share of the Certificate fees, which average about ^30 a year, and I fear that at my decease no one will be found to undertake the duties of a Professorship in this Science of great and growing importance^ unless the Commissioners institute and provide for the endowment of one. I have the honour to be, My Lord Bishop, Your faithful Servant, George Pryme. [There were no visible results from these letters and appeals of my Father to get his Professorship established on a firmer base, in which case he would have immediately resigned it. But perhaps his ^ "Just notions of Political Economy are absolutely necessary to just notions of History; and I should wish those young gentlemen who may attend my Lectures to go first, were it possible, to my more learned brother, the Professor of Political Economy, and get from him not merely exact habits of thought, but a knowledge which I cannot give, and yet what they ought to possess." One present in the Senate-House told me that this Sentence was followed by a ringing cheer from the Under- graduates in the gallery. Extract from Professor Kingsleiy's Inaugural Lecture delivered before the University of Cambridge. Lord Macaiilay, High Steivard of Cambridge. 341 ill-success prepared the way for a conclusion to his anxiety, which will be related in the next Chapter.] 1858. Lord Macaulay was elected (May nth) High Steward of the Borough of Cambridge, and was enter- tained at a Breakfast at the Town Hall, when he made a splendid speech upon the occasion. He did not hold the office long, dying at the close of the following year. He was succeeded by the Duke of Bedford, a very shy retiring man, who did not like the publicity attending his inaugura- tion into Office. He had known me in the House of Com- mons, and did me the honour to request as a favour that I would meet him at the house of the Mayor before pro- ceeding to the Guildhall, in order to introduce him to the Aldermen, &c. I did so, and had the pleasure of sitting next him at the banquet which followed (April 11, i860), I was presented to Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, who was now a Student in our University, at a party this winter at Trinity Lodge. I ventured to tell him that I had been at his Great Grandfather's Court, and I was probably the only person in the College who could have said so. I thought him a most pleasing, unaffected young man, and very like the old King in countenance. [If my Father was observant, the Prince was no less so. I have the kind permission of Sir Frederick Pollock (the late Chief Baron) to relate a remark made by the Prince to him, which evinces a tact and discernment quite remarkable in one so young as he then was; qualities that will be of inestimable value to himself and the Country hereafter. "When I was at Cambridge, at Trinity Lodge, as Judge of Assize with Vaughan Williams, in March 1861, I had the honour, according to custom, to entertain the Noblemen of Trinity and the Heads of Houses. The Prince of ^^'ales sat at my right hand, and made enquiries about Professor Pryme, whose countenance, he said, 342 Atitobiographic Recollections. had much impressed him, as indicating by its expression the high quahties of mind, and the right use of them, which ought to belong to a Professor; adding 'he has, to my mind, the true University- Professor look '. ' "] ^ I have met with a copy among my Father's papers of the qualifica- tions required in a Professor at Melbourne. I have placed it in the Appendix as an interesting evidence of the care with which a young University selects its officers, and also because in many points it corre- sponds with the same standard of excellence which uniformly guided my Father in all his Votes. CHAPTER XXIV. i860— 1863. Letter to the Vicc-Chaucellor — Syndicate appointed for augmenting the Sahxries of Professors — Letter to the Master of Trinity proposing resignation — A Syndicate appointed to consider it — Letter to the Master of Trinity — Dr WheiveU's answer — Notice issued by the Vice- Chancellor — Four Candidates for the probable vacancy — An- s7C>er to a cajivassing letter — G^-ace passed to establish and endow the Professorship — Letter to the Vice- Chancellor — LLis reply — Letter to an Editor defining the word Political as applied to Eco- nomy — The Contest for the Chair — Farewell to Cambridge — Let- ter from Professor Sedgwick. 1861. r T NOW enter upon the last Chapter of my Father's pubHc ■- hfe. He had failed to induce the University Commis- sioners to establish and endow the Chair of that Science of which he had himself, nearly 60 years previously, foreseen the importance, and of which most Ministers and Countries were now recognising the necessity in their Measures and Treaties of Commerce. Although it might perhaps seem at first sight unnecessary that, devoid as Political Economy is of the charm of Classic association and wholly utilitarian, an acquaintance with it should commence at the University, yet that is in truth the place where the model of the future Statesman is formed. It was already one of the accepted studies at Cam- bridge, and my Father's hope was to see its Professorship firmly established and endowed before he resigned it. His next attempt was on the Council of the University, and he therefore addressed the following letter to the Vice-Chancellor.] 344 AtLtobiographic Recollections. Professor Prvme to the Rev. the Vice- Chancellor. Trinity College, 4 Dec. 1 86 1. Sir, I beg leave to make a representation to the Council of the position in which the study of Political Economy is placed in this University. A Syndicate being lately appointed for augmenting the Salaries of Professors inadequately endowed, I addressed a letter to the then Vice-Chancellor stating the case, and my apprehension that no successor would be found to undertake the office without a pecuniary augmentation. He answered that he Vv'ould lay my letter before the Syndicate. I v/as afterwards told by one of the Syndicate that an objection was taken of there being no Professorship of Poli- tical Economy ; but only that the title of Professor had been conferred by Grace of the Senate upon me. This Grace was passed in 1828, after I had lectured twelve years, with per- mission of the Vice-Chancellor. The Professorship of Mineralogy in my own time had its origin in the same way — by Dr E. D. Clarke first lec- turing as M.A. ; then having the title of Professor con- ferred upon him by Grace ; and on his death by the insti- tution of a Professorsliip. I have understood that the Pro- fessorships of Chemistry, Botany, and Anatomy had similar origin. Since I began to lecture Professorships have been founded at Oxford, Dublin, Edinburgh and Glasgow ; and have been added to those of Moral Philosophy in Aberdeen and St Andrew's. Syndicate for atigmcnting the Salaries of Pi^ofessors. 345 Of the progress and importance of this study it is un- necessary in the middle of the nineteenth century to dilate, though it is comparatively recent at Cambridge. But it is more recent in the other Universities, which I mentioned. In making these remarks I disclaim being actuated by any prospect of personal advantage. In contemplating my past career in life nothing affords me more satisfaction than the having been able to draw the attention of our Uni- versity to the study of Political Economy — important in every country — and especially in ours, so connected with the commerce of the whole world. But I cannot expect to have strength to continue my Lectures much longer ; and I am unwilling to imagine that the study of Political Eco- nomy, though not ignored, is not attempted to be established and perpetuated in the University of Cambridge. I am, Sir, yours faithfully, George Pryme. The Syndicate recommended to the Senate the aug- mentation by one or two hundred a year of the Salaries of the aforesaid Professorships, but omitted any recognition of mine. This was the more surprising as the Science being now recognised and included in the Moral Science Tripos, there was real work in the Examinations, and my Successor, if one were intended, could not have undertaken it on such conditions. But for this I would have resigned at once, but in the hope that some permanent basis might still be arranged I continued to lecture and to examine till ad- vancing age and declining health rendered me unequal to the exertion. 1863. I communicated my wish to withdraw to the 346 AtLtobiographic Recollections. Master of Trinity (Whewcll), who had always taken a strong interest in promoting the cultivation of the Science. Professor Pryme to tJic Rev. the Master OF Trinity. Sidney Street, Cambridge, 23 Feb. 1863. My dear Master, As I have always considered you as the chief promoter of the study of the Moral Sciences in this Uni- versity, I address this letter to you on the subject of a Professorship of Political Economy. As it is 47 years since I began to lecture with the sanction of the University, and 35 since the title of Professor was conferred upon me by the Senate, I now feel myself less equal to the exertions required for the proper per- formance of that Office, and wish to retire from the duties of it. The absence of any endowment for a Professorship has made me hesitate as to offering this resignation, but as I have a confidence in the desire of the University not to let so important a study be neglected (and this would be the only University in the Kingdom where it would be so), I have no right to suppose that the Council and the Senate would not give effect to this feeling by making an adequate provision for the continuance of the Professorshii^'s duties. May I beg of you therefore to communicate to the Council my wish to retire, and to consider myself as only holding Office until the appointment of my Successor ? Yours, most sincerely, George Pryme. [I have not found the answer which was sent to this letter — a kind one doubtless — but the best practical answer was in the Report Notice issued by the Vice-Chaiicellor. 347 (sent by Dr Whewell) of a Syndicate which was appointed soon after the Resignation was made known to consider it, and which is here reprinted from the original.] Clare College Lodge. May i, 1863. The Syndicate, appointed by Grace of the Senate, 20th INIarch, 1863, to consider what steps should be taken by the University in consequence of the proposed resignation by Professor Pryrae of the office of Professor of PoHtical Economy, beg leave to recommend to the Senate : 1. That on the resignation of Professor Pryme there shall be established in the University a Professorship to be called the Pro- fessorship of Political Economy. 2. That it shall be the duty of the Professor to explain and teach the principles of Political Economy, and to apply himself to the advancement of that science. 3. That the Professor shall be chosen and appointed from time to time by those persons whose names are on the Electoral Roll of the University. 4. That the stipend of the Professor shall be two hundred jjounds per annum, to be paid out of the University Chest, and that this stipend shall be increased to three hundred pounds per annum, so soon as the Lucasian Professor shall become entitled to receive the share of the income of Lady Sadler's benefaction allotted to the Lucasian Professorship under the provisions of the New Statute, confirmed by the Queen in Council, 7 March, i860. 5. That the above-named Stipend shall be payable out of the University Chest so long as the person who shall first be appointed under these regulations shall continue to hold the Professorship, and that it shall be open to the University to deal with the Stipend of the Professor as it may deem fit on the occurrence of a vacancy in the Professorship. 6. That the Professorship shall be governed by the regulations of the Statute for Sir Thomas Adams' Professorship of Arabic and certain other professorships in common, and the Professor shall com- ]tly with all the provisions of the said Statute. 348 Autobiographic Recollections. 7. That it shall be the ordinary duty of the Professor to reside within the precincts of the University for eighteen weeks in every year between the ist of October and the end of the following Easter Term. 8. That the fees to be paid by Students attending the Lectures of the Professor shall be the same as those settled in the case of the Professor of Botany by Grace of the Senate, 20 Nov. 1862. Edward Atkinson, Vice Chancellor. W. Whewell. W. H. Bateson. John Fuller. Joseph B. Mayor. J. Lempriere Hammond, Leslie Stephen. C. B. Clarke. 21ie Vice-Chancellor invites the attendance of Members 0/ the Senate /// the Arts' School on Wednesday, May iT^th, at Two d Clock, for the discussion of the above Report. Professor Pryme to the Rev. the Master OF Trinity. WiSTow, Huntingdon, II May, 1863. My dear Master, I have received your Report of the Syndicate re- specting a Professorship of Political Economy, and feel grati- fied to find not merely that they recommend its establish- ment, but that Article 2 is in accordance with my practice and views instead of being, as at Oxford, on some particular branch which supposes a previous knowledge of the prin- ciples. I am also satisfied as to the mode of Election. The late Professor Tennant had meditated the foundation of a Pro- Proposed Gj'ace to establish the Pi^ofessorship. 349 fessorship of Political Economy, and consulted mc about the mode of Election, on which we agreed as to resident M.A.s. His intention was not carried out, as he was killed by an accident at Boulogne a few months after, and died intestate. I am uncertain whether any further declaration of my discontinuance of Lectures and Examinations be expected from me. If it be so may I ask the favour of your inform- ing me of it. With thanks for your kindness in the matter. Believe me, Yours most sincerely, George Pryme. " London, ''May 13, 1863. " My dear Professor, " The result of the recommendation of the Council is yet uncertain. It will probably be offered in the Senate. Till the Grace is passed I shall think it not prudent for you to take any steps. You see probably that the matter is to be discussed in the Schools to-day. " Yours very truly, " Wm. Whewell. ''Professor Pryniey [The debate was favourable, and on May 18 the Vice-Chan- cellor (Dr Atkinson) issued a notice that the Grace for the establish- ment of the Professorship would come before the Senate on Oct. 29. The reason for the delay was that the Long Vacation was shortly to begin. It would have been too soon to have brought forward so important a measure during the May Term, and therefore it could not be submitted to the Senate till the October Term had fairly begun, and all were in residence Thus was achieved (virtually) one of the great aims of my Fa- ther's life, and which had been to him a hope too long deferred. 350 AtUobiographic Recollections. But it is only fair to the University Authorities to say, that until lately they had not the means to endow new Chairs, that even now their power is far behind their wishes, and that considering their means they have done a great deal. Those who knew my Father well understood for what purpose he had so long — so far beyond the usual time of man's health and strength — continued to discharge his Professorial duties. This cannot be better shown than by an extract from a note addressed to me at this time (May 23, 1863) by the pre- sent Master of Trinity. " We are all very sorry to think that Pro- fessor Pryme's periodical visits are likely to be further apart in future. He has however done the University a real service in in- sisting on its appointing a successor to his Chair. I for one shall always feel grateful to him for this act of firmness. Now I think the Grace will certainly pass, and the University will no longer be served gratis." Four Candidates announced themselves for the vacant office, Mr J. B. Mayor, Tutor of St John's, Mr H. Fawcett, Trinity Hall, Mr Macleod, Trinity, Mr L. Courtney, St John's. Even before the Professorship was established my Father was can- vassed by influential people in favour of certain Candidates. To one of them he returned this answer.] Cambridge, \ April, 1S63. Dear Sir, I well remember your former communications on Political Economy subjects, and the satisfaction which I felt on perusing them. I feel some delicacy as to much inter- fering in the appointment of a Successor. A Syndicate is appointed to consider the permanent institution of a Profes- sorship and report thereon before the end of next Easter Term. The Election will probably be in the Electoral Roll. In giving a vote I have always adopted the rule of not making Grace passed to establish the Professorship. 351 a promise till I knew who all the Candidates were, and then voting for him whom I thought best qualified. I can only say that I place great confidence in your opinion, and will on every fair opportunity communicate it to others. I am, dear Sir, Faithfully yours, George Pryme. [In the following October a Grace passed the Senate establishing the Professorship of Political Economy, and endowing it with a sti- pend of ^300 a year. It was carried by 98 to 40'. My Mother was in the Senate-House, and as soon as the Grace passed Dr Whewell went up to her, and in his earnest warm manner congratu- lated her. She told him she was extremely glad that her husband, who was now too old for work, had waited to such good i)urpose. " I was a proud woman that day," she said to me, " when I thought how disinterestedly your Father had acted."] Professor Pryme to the Rev. the Vice-Chancellor. 29 Oct. 1863. Dear Mr Vice-Chancellor, In consequence of the Vote of the University Senate establishing a Professorship of Political Economy I beg leave to state, in pursuance of the notice which I previ- ously gave, that I now intend to discontinue my Lectures and Examinations therein, which will of course be continued by the Professor to be elected according to the Report of the Syndicate now confirmed by the Senate. I have the honour to be, Dear Mr Vice-Chancellor, Yours respectfully, George Pryme. ^ " Placcat vobis ut relatio Syndicorum vcstrorum de Professore (Eco- nomiae Politic-e in Academia constitucndo data 1'"" Mail 1863, suffragiis vcstris comprobetur." ;52 Autobiographic Recollections. The Vice-Chancellor to Professor Pryme. " Clare College Lodge, ''Oct. 30, 1863. "My Dear Sjr, " I beg to acknowledge the due receipt of your letter of this morning in which you announce your intention of discontinuing your Lectures and Examinations in con- sequence of the establishment of a Professorship of Political Economy by the Votes of the Senate yesterday. I think it will be necessary to refer to the Council the question whether any, and if so what, steps should be taken for mak- ing your intentions publicly known. And I will take care to place your letter in the hands of my Successor for that purpose, since there will be no further meeting of the Council during my year of Office. " I feel in common, I believe, wath every other member of the Senate that the University is under deep obligations to you for the manner in which you have for so many years gratuitously discharged all the duties of a Professor of Poli- tical Economy ; and I have no doubt that it is to your services and exertions that the foundation of a permanent Professorship of that Science is due. I trust that you will still live in health and happiness to see the fruit of your exertions for many years to come. " Believe me, my dear Sir, "Yours very faithfully, " E. Atkinson, K T." Letter to an Editor. 353 [My Father was always very desirous that his favourite Science should be kept distinct from Politics, He therefore, perceiving that there was a risk of their being confused in some minds on this oc- casion, addressed the following letter to the Editor of one of the local Journals.] Sir, The person who signs himself "A Conservative" in your last week's Chronicle seems to imagine from the name that Political Economy has some connexion with party politics. The word " Political " has been used merely to distinguish it from " Private Economy." It is true that Ouesnay and his followers in the reign of Louis XIV. mixed their bygone system with approbation of absolute govern- ment ; probably because they did not then venture to discuss subjects of national wealth without it. But Adam Smith, and I believe every other English writer, have not mixed any party politics with their investigations. For myself, though a decided Whig, I have scrupu- lously done the same ; and I have been told by at least two high Tories that they could not discover by my lectures what political sentiments I held. Yours, &c. George Pryme. 12 Nov. 1863. [" The Contest'^for the Professorial Chair in Political Economy took place Nov. 27 th in the Senate-House, and created more inte- rest than has attached to any Election of late. The real struggle lay between Mr Fawcett and Mr Mayor, but it is not too much to say that the friends of each of the Candidates strained every nerve to ensure the success of their favourite. The Senate-House was a scene of busy excitement throughout the day. At the close of the Poll the numbers were, 23 354 Autobiographic Recollections. Fawcett 90 Mayor 80 Courtney 19 Macleod 13'." My Father went over from Wistow in order to vote for Mr Fawcett, having, after much deliberation, thought him to be the fittest man. He now finally quitted Cambridge, resigning the pleasant apart- ments in a private house, which by the kindness of a fellow-Towns- man (Mr Ellis of Sidney Street) had always been specially reserved for his use. Before he left he sent a note of farewell to Professor Sedgwick, who was absent, asking him to visit him at Wistow. I insert the answer as a beautiful picture of a friendship which had lasted from youtli.] To Professor Pryme. " Norwich, ''Dec. 14, 1863. "My Dear Pryme, " On Saturday I came hither on business. The Dean has called me into Residence to attend a Chapter summoned this day. Before we meet I will endeavour to answer the kind letter you left at my rooms before you went away from Cambridge, The only sheet of paper I can find is one they call ''foreign post, " so thin that it will hardly hold the ink I can place upon it. But I hope you will be able to read my greetings. A thrice happy Christmas I send to you and Mrs Pryme — May God bless you both ! and may He bless and preserve those who are most near and dear to you. I read your kind letter with an emotion of sorrow. For it sounded like a farewell letter ; and few are the old friends now left to me at Cambridge. You and I, my dear Pryme, have not long to live in this world. In course of Nature we must go before long, and the decline of life would indeed be cheerless were it not ^ Abridged from the Cambridge Chronicle, Nov. 23, 1863. Letter from Professor Sedgzvick. 355 lighted up by Christian hope. God grant that this hope may brighten our dechning days with Heaven's best hght. I believe that you have the Hope given us through Faith in the power and love of our Redeemer. God grant that this Faith and Hope may cheer us, and those we love, to the last moments of our sojourn on Earth. The year of 1863 has been to me a year of very deep sorrow. But, thanks be to God, that my health has been better than during two or three preceding years. It will be a happiness to me if during next Spring I can pay you a visit at Wistow. You are one of my oldest friends, and I have generally agreed with you in opinion : and even in points in which we differed I have always honoured you as a man of prin- ciple. I was happy at the last Election of a Professor^ to vote at your suggestion. " Ever your true-hearted friend, "Adam Sedgwick. " P. S. I am sure you will be glad to hear that the Royal Society have this year awarded me the Copley Medal. ' It is the highest honour they have in their power to offer, ' as the President told me in his Address." ^ Of Political Economy. CHAPTER XXV. Earliest Reminiscences of my Father — His Educational Theory — His patience in instructi?ig — His energy — Accurate k?iowledge and memory — Republic of St Marino — Patriotistn — Life at Cam- bridge — Anecdote of Sir John Campbell — Diversity of friendships — Tenderness to opponents — Anecdote of Baron Parke and Dr French — Resolution of the Cambs County Club — Visits to London — Lincoln'' s Lnn Chapel — Lord Brougham'' s daughter — Dr Pusey's Sermon — Private Charities — Letters askifig for advice — A legal Curiosity — Courtesy to itiferiors — Their appreciation of it — Great power of illustration. ' I ^HE Chronicle is now ended. Henceforth my Father -^ had nothing more to do with pubHc life. He retired to his farms and country occupations, but I trust I may be forgiven if, with a daughter's affection, I linger over the lineaments of his character. It was a very peculiar one, unlike, as a whole, any other that I have known. It was not at all a type of a class, but singularly indepen- dent, and not likely to be reproduced in its entirety in this or any other age. For his manners and his mind were fashioned in the formal mould of the last Century, yet he entered thoroughly into the progress and energy of this one. Deliberate in thought, and slow to generalise, he was, perhaps for that very reason, before his time, and had Educational Theory. 357 not unfrequently to be overtaken by quicker and more en- thusiastic spirits. He always kept sincerity and directness in view, avoiding all kinds of exaggeration, and speaking of " the delicious delight of reposing one's mind upon truth." His habit was — like the Ancients — to meditate and con- verse in the open air. My earliest recollections of him are of saying my Latin Lesson to him in his garden, and of his sauntering in it with Professor Dobree. No sooner was he returned home from one of his frequent professional journeys than he was to be seen there, attended by a favourite Cat, examining his flowers and fruit-trees, which last he always pruned himself His books, and his garden, with sometimes a day's fishing at Grantchester, were his principal recreations. However busy, he could still find time to hear his Children's lessons, and his patience was unwearied. My Father entertained a theory that up to a certain pe- riod (about 16 years of age) the capacity of girls to learn is quite equal to that of boys. Of the mental difference be- tween the two sexes he remarked that, "Though an Edin- burgh Reviewer has instanced the want of any first-rate Poet as a proof of the inferiority of women, yet the lesser oppor- tunity of observing events and characters arising from their more secluded education withholds the materials for poetry — while attention to needlework and household affairs narrows the mind," He put this theory into practice, and taught me Latin and Italian, not in a slight and elementary manner, but going deep down into the roots of these Languages, so that I was, through his kindness and perseverance, able to read with him the best Authors, Every place mentioned in them we looked out both in Ancient and Modern Maps, and after a lesson in Virgil or Tasso, he always read to me the trans- lations of Dryden, Hunt, and sometimes quaint old Fairfax. He would mark fine pieces of English Poetry to be got by 358 Occupation of time. rote during his absences, and of Prose to be translated into Latin, and immediately on his return would hear and correct them. He also instructed me in Algebra and Euclid. He taught my Brother Greek and Latin till he went to School, and it was delightful to sit by and listen to his fine reading of Homer. In the evenings he read aloud to us Gibbon's Decline and Fall of Rome, some of Shakespeare's Plays, and Scott's Novels. How he found time for all he did surprises me\ Not only had he to attend to his Profession, but when at home his time was much taken up by claimants on it who had no real business, but made the plea of consulting him an excuse for moving his pity and obtaining money. He never seemed to weary of listening to their affairs, or of relieving their wants. One secret must have been that he rose early, and never wasted a moment. If he were not writing he was reading, and he was wont to have a book in his hand even while driving himself in his open carriage with the other. And he read " not to contradict and confute, not to believe and take for granted, not to find talk and discourse, but to weigh and consider." I have often seen him close a book and meditate in silence. His incessant activity in business, and his abso- lute leisure for reading and teaching, remind me of one of the men of the Elizabethan age, of whom it was said that " he was so contemplative you could not believe him active, and so active that you could not believe him contemplative." Thus he accomplished a great deal in the course of his life, but he did all in a quiet way as the occasion arose, not seeking for or making it. His power of fixing attention to one subject at a time, 1 I find a note in his pocket-book for 1821. "Wrote 240 letters" (this was in the days of heavy postage and long epistles) ; "travelled Post 1360 miles. By Coach 744. Total 2,104." The Republic of St Marino. 359 (though he was so versatile that nearly every thing engaged his thoughts from the drainage of the Fens to the Govern- ment of the Country) explains my Father's varied and accu- rate knowledge. He never relinquished a subject that he thought it worth while to take up till he had mastered and exhausted it, and this, aided by a remarkable memory, ac- counted for what Boswell calls " a precision in conversation." He never embellished a story, nor ever related it differently. Whilst dictating to me these " Recollections," he told me an anecdote, which I afterwards found that I had written down a year or two previously, and in precisely the same words. He forgot nothing worth recalling, and could quote and supply information on the instant to others who wanted it. He was staying in a Country house, and on the first evening mention was made of the Republic of St Marino in some book which was being read and discussed. "Who can tell us anything about it.?" asked the noble host. No answer was made, and then my Father said, "If you will look in the second volume of Addison's Travels you will find an account of it." The other guests were superior people and strangers to him, and he felt during the rest of the visit the advantage this readiness had given him\ My Father took such a deep interest in the welfare and Government of the Country, and the times in which he lived 1 The description is, like the Republic itself, a miniature. I met with it lately in an Annual Register of the last Century without a name, but who could fail to recognize in the opening sentences the hand of the great old master? "I have been visiting the smallest of all Republics. I distinguished at some distance, and not without difficulty, at the top of a very high mountain, a town, the houses and larger buildings of what seemed to be rather a fairy vision than anything in reality. Venice appears, as one advances towards it, as if rising out of the sea ; St Marino seems built among the clouds." 36b Anecdote of Sir yohu CampbelL were so singular and transitional, that of course Politics and the proceedings of Parliament were a chief topic in our house. But I never once heard them spoken of in relation to self- aggrandisement ; and I remember being rather surprised when the invitation to represent Cambridge arrived. Patriot- ism was really the mainspring of all my Father's political exertions ; he " referred everything habitually to principles," and never allowed himself to be led on by partisans a step further than his own judgment and conscientiousness allowed, weighing every question involving a right or a wrong decision, not by the opinions of others, but by a standard of his own. I think it might be truly said of him, "his end was public liberty; his regulating principle was usefulness\" Our life at Cambridge was a very pleasant one, for my Father entertained many strangers of note who came to see the place. At all University Elections he kept open house, and at the Assizes generally gave a dinner to the Bar. I remember one such being made for his friend Sir John Camp- bell, which brought out an illustration of Miss Martineau's remark, that he delighted in telling his friends that he was only "plain John Campbell." He had gone down Special to Huntingdon Assizes while Attorney-General (July, 1836), and afterwards came on to Cambridge to dine with us. He arrived in the forenoon, and called directly on my Father. Our house was recessed in a garden, and had two doors, one for Visitors and one for Servants. Sir J. C. came to the latter, and was answered by a maidservant, who, taking him for a farmer, informed him with little ceremony that he could not see her Master, as he was in Court. Sir John, wishing to join him, requested that some one might go with him to point out the way, to which the maid, as all the Servants ^ From Sir James Mackintosh's description of Lord Somers. Diversity of friendships. 361 were busily preparing for a great party, demurred. Sir John pressing the matter, she retired into the Offices to enquire, followed by him; here he found the Men Servants cleaning their plate, but one of them, after much pressing, agreed to go, saying, however, that he must first wash his hands. This was done in the presence of Sir John, who was afraid to lose sight of his guide, and then they set off. Not long after my Father returned with his guest, and of course he rang at the front door; the man Servant who answered it (the same who had attended Sir John to the Court) was surprised ; but when he found, on his third appearance in the evening, that this was the very person for whom the party had been made, and whom he had treated so unceremoniously, his consterna- tion was extreme. Sir John Campbell told my Mother the story, and enjoyed the joke. It will have been seen that my Father's friendships took a wide range among men of very different political and theological views. His sympathies were also extended to those who were not his friends. And he often went out of his way to do a kindness to such. There could hardly, per- haps, be any one differing more from him in every way than Dr Turton, the late Bishop of Ely, yet I have before me a note from the latter couched in the warmest terms; he says, " I feel myself more obliged to you than I can express for the interest and trouble you have taken on my account. Nothing can be better than the manner in which you have stated the facts of the case. There is not too much of it, and in a small space you have brought forward all that is requisite. Pray accept my thanks for your kindness." This was, no doubt, in allusion to some little service such as my Father was always glad to render, as well to an opponent as to a friend. Those were days, happily past away, when men of strong 362 Anecdote of Baron Parke and Dr French. political opinions were drawn up in opposing lines, and, in small societies, felt and spoke with bitterness of each other. Dr French, late Master of Jesus College, was one with whom my Father had no private acquaintance, and was always in public opposition, in the Senate House, and on the Hustings, yet only so that each, I am sure, could say of the other, "For though mine enemy thou hast ever been, High sparks of Honour in thee have I seen." I remember Baron Parke calling one day, when, a Bishopric being vacant, the probable appointment to it was discussed. Parke mentioned that Dr French might not improbably be chosen, unless indeed his failing health should be a barrier. "Well," said my Father, whom we expected to be horrified, " if it would do him good, I should like to see him made a Bishop." "Ah!" rejoined his friend, "you think that the air of the See would benefit him." As a young man he had a strong hostility to certain Statesmen, Lord Castlereagh and others, whom he thought tyrannical; but after they were dead, he only mentioned them with kindness. To quote his own printed words, in speaking of some of them, " I therefore pass them by; for I am unwilling, without urgent necessity, to accuse so many individuals who can no longer defend them- selves before the earthly tribunal of public opinion." As he grew older, Seneca's line would well apply to him, " Lenior et melior fis nccedente senecta;" or, as Mr Browning has beauti- fully, and probably unconsciously, rendered it, " Yes, every- body that leaves life sees all softened and bettered." My Father's old age came slowly on him, *'An age that melts in unperceived decay;" and he retained his faculties perfectly for 17 years more than man's allotted time. But if his life were calculated by his healthy days it was still longer, for, with the exception of one Visits to London. 363 illness lasting a month, I never knew him take his breakfast in bed until a {q.\v days before his death. I almost think that there is a health of the body which accompanies that of the mind. His medical attendant told me that in all his practice he had never met with a pulse so regular. It was in 1852 that my Father had his severe illness, and for some time after he was not equal to his usual exertions. Two years later he gave up farming himself, and sold his stock. He was now past seventy, and wc wished him in other ways to curtail his occupations, but he could not be persuaded. A life of mere repose was dis- tasteful to him notwithstanding his absorbing love of books, and he vv'ould take long journeys to transact various business connected with different Trusts and Societies to which he belonged. In 1854, he did resign the Hon. Treasurership of the Cambs County Club, after having proposed to do so some years previously, and withdrawn his proposal on an appeal from the members. This tin;e it was accepted, but with a resolution, which gratified him much, as the greater part of this Club consisted of Conservatives. " This meeting has received with sincere regret the re- signation of George Pryme, Esq. their much respected Trea- surer — "^J years' acquaintance justifies this unanimous feel- ing. The President has the sanction of this meeting to express to him how sincerely they deplore the necessity which has led to such a conclusion as his resignation." In going to live at Wistow my Father did not give up his visits to London, which he arranged to be in Term time, as he so much liked dining in Lincoln's Inn Hall and meeting his old friends. He continued this practice to the last year of his life. He used to attend the Chapel too, having a seat there as a Member of the Inn. He particu- larly liked the Services, and alwa}-s, if he could, heard the 364 Lord Brougham s daughter. Warburtonian Lectures : I remember once going with him there on a Sunday afternoon to hear Mr F. D. Maurice preach. It was soon after the decease of Lord Brougham's daughter, and he pointed out to me where she was buried in the Cloister at her Father's earnest entreaty to the Benchers, and with a promise to be also himself interred there. I may not be quite correct in saying Cloister, some call it a Crypt. It is upon a level with the road, and over it is the Chapel upon low heavy pillars, and groined arches, with a sort of fan tracery, open to the light on every side except the West, where the entrance to the staircase and vestibule are. It was formerly used as a promenade or meeting-place, but is now shut in by iron railings between the pillars. There is on the Chapel staircase a mural slab in memory of Miss Brougham, containing some lines in Latin written by Lord Wellesley. Far away lies her cele- brated Father under the blue sky of France. How different are their resting-places ! Hers with a company of ancient Lawyers, and close to " the busy hum of men." His where the air is scented by the sweetest flowers, and musical with the soft murmur of a tideless sea. While in Parliament my Father Avent regularly to St Margaret's Westminster or to Whitehall Chapel. At this latter place he happened to see two great Poets. He said to me, " I saw Walter Scott only once, when in Whitehall Chapel he sat together with Southey. After the Service a friend pointed them out to me as they walked away." I may mention here a circumstance which shows the candour of my Father's mind, and his readiness to hear both sides. In the latter years of his life, when in Town, he generally passed his Sunday afternoons with me, and it was agreed on one very hot day that we should have an early dinner and go to Church in the evening. I told him Letters asking for advice. 365 that Dr Pusey was to preach at St Mary Magdalene in Munster Square, and proposed that we should go there. He evidently did not like this idea, being very much op- posed to what was called " Tractarianism," so I pressed it no more. By and bye he said, that he thought he would go and not give way to a prejudice. He expressed to me afterwards the pleasure it had given him to hear " that admi- rable discourse," and said how glad he was that he had not persisted in his objection. The number of people whom he assisted during his life was very great. Some by money, of which he was too pro- fuse to those whose claims lay rather in their persistency in asking than in their merit. His ear was ever open to a tale of distress, and bank-notes were frequently enclosed in his answers to such appeals. Political Economy was for- gotten in his charities, which were secret and unobserved, and of which we have found abundant proof since his death in grateful letters. But he gave also what was to him of more value than money, his time. He was always ready to help others by counsel or by exerting in their favour such influence as he possessed. This very day on which I write this page is brought a letter to my Mother from a Clergyman who speaks of having been "honoured by the friendship of your beloved and universally respected husband. You know, and perhaps you only, how much I was indebted to him for counsel and encouragement for the long period of five and forty years at least." Among the numerous letters which tell the same story we find those of a German Professor asking how to set about giving Lectures, a Civil Engineer wishing for a list of all the published descriptions of Scotland during the last 200 years, which he understands he has been lately (he was then 82) reading, a Doctor of Divinity about to become a 366 A legal cw'iosity. Magistrate, a youth going to College, a Lord Lieutenant consulting him in reference to County Meetings, and people of every sort and kind to whom his name was (as kindly said in the Cambridge Conservative Journal after his death) " a household word ". One day, when he was past 84, he received a letter from a man who used to see him in Court when he went the Circuit, and who had not long before walked 40 miles to consult him, preferring his opinion he said before all others. As it is quite a legal curiosity I subjoin it. "7?///^ 25, 1866. "Dear Friend, " I hope this will find you well and yours as it leaves me at this present, bless God for it. I have another favour to ask you Another friend of mine is dead and left no Will and he have 270 pounds in the bank and his Father died in the French Prison and his Mother married again to another Man and is dead also and had Children but this Man that is now dead have his oldest brother's Son living and other Children living now will this second husband's Children have any claim with his Oldest Brother's Son would you have the kindness to give me your opinion weather the second Husband's Family have any Claim with the Oldest Brothers Son.^ " And I wish you to send me word what your Charge is and I will send you it if spared for we rise in the Morning and now not what may befall us before Night. "Yours respectfully, " P.S. This man that is now dead had no Children." My Father answered the letter but declined a fee. Not long after this person, who was quite an original and a Courtesy to inferiors. 367 worthy, good man besides, walked the distance again to see him, and was accompanied by " the oldest Brothers Son;" after which he sent a basket of fish so large that it feasted nearly all the Parish. This accessibility was a re- markable feature in my Father's character, for no man could enjoy his leisure more than he did; and he was not naturally of a yielding or passive temperament. I have not yet mentioned, (though it must have been inferred,) my Father's great courtesy of manner to every one. More especially was it noticeable in his behaviour towards his inferiors. However humble or ignorant the persons, he put them at their ease directly by the gentleness of his demeanour and his studious consideration of their feelings and convenience. I have known him to be called from his books or writing many times in the day without a complaint, to listen, with " a courteous and invincible patience," to all the petty details that the humblest peasants brought before him as a Magistrate. They appreciated this, for some would say to his Servant, " I wish we could do something to keep Mr Pryme alive." " He is always ready with his pen and a helping hand." " Pie's such a gentleman, what shall we do without him.^" Although his own feelings on Politics and Religion were so strong that they might almost be said to amount to prejudices, yet he had great consideration for those of others. As a Magistrate he had often to administer an Oath, and a small Bible was constantly at hand for the purpose, but one day he came to my Mother and asked her for a beautiful little inlaid Crucifix she possessed, brought by Prof. Tennant from Italy. A poor Irishman, a Roman Catholic, was about to take the oath, and my Father respected his feelings so much as to wish to administer it in the way that he thought was most pleasing to him. 368 Great power of ilhistratio7i. My Father had a great dislike to talking for the sake of talking. He would say, " I don't see the use of speaking unless we have something worth saying." Yet he was very kind in letting his family talk on the merest trifles while he was absorbed in reading. If asked whether it disturbed him he would answer, " Not at all, if you do not expect me to listen." He was always ready to be interrupted if it was to give information, and would take down Dictionaries and search for quotations even in the last few weeks of his life, rather than let a doubt remain in our discourse. The least question reminded him of something higher than the thing touched upon ; as, for instance, to one enquiring the meaning of Quidjutnc, he answered, "A man who asks, What now? Demosthenes said so finely, and so severely to the Greeks, , You ask what is new.-* can there be anything more new than that Philip of Macedon should ride rough-shod over Greece?'" His power of quotation was unfailing. Some persons praising Alliteration, he remarked, " The best I know is in two lines in the Rolliad, written of Tomline, sometime Bp of Peterborough: ' Prim preacher, Prince of Priests, and Princes' Priest, Pembroke's pale pride, in Pitt's praecordia placed.' " Once, when in penning these " Recollections," I proposed digressing to some subject not quite akin to the matter in hand, he said, " No, it is wandering out of the way, like Atalanta pursuing the apples." I needed no better proof of the richness and fulness of his learning than his absence from his earthly home gave me this summer. His Library remained, but the key to it was gone, and many of the illustrations and quotations I required in editing this book had to be sought for with patience and much trouble Great power of illustration. 369 instead of coming immediately on my asking from the treasury of his great knowledge. With all his love of solitude my Father was never more in his element than when in Society. He used to say of himself that he could never lead in conversation ; but if that were so, and I am not sure that it was, no one could follow a lead better. A subject, no matter what, if within his own range, once started he was full of anecdote and information. Of this power I shall give some specimens in the next Chapter. 24 CHAPTER XXVI. 1863 — 1868. The Evening of Life — Lord CampheWs death — LLarvest ILome — 83/7/ Birthday — Presejiting a Student at Lincoln's Lnn — Lord Broug- ham's last appearance there — Lord Denman — Chief Justice Cock- burn — Speech of Colonel Perro net Thompson — Elections on a fixed day — The Vicarage of Wakefield — Reversions of Places — Cobbetfs sarcasm — Cattle Plague — Making a Mark — Merchants doing so at Buenos Ay res — Opinion of New Reform Bill — The rathe Primrose — Note to his Daughter— Obsolete words — Local Designa- tions — Bolingbroke — Pope's translation of LLomer — Junius — Old friends — Preparation for the End — 86//? Birthday — Pleasant Drives — Burn's Justice — Llawkijig — Cambridgeshire unenclosed — Petition for the Abolition of Univerity Tests — Letter from Pro- fessor Sedgwick — Meeting of two old friends and schoolfellows — 87/// Birthday— A disused expression and custom — Village Floiver Show — Autumn stillness — A fareiucll greeting — Parting tuords. MY Father's country life gave him increased leisure, and he partly employed it in re-reading the Classics and the best Authors of the 17th and i8th Century. He also read many modern books, but all in relation to each other or with a definite purpose. When engaged on a book of Travels he had always a map by his side, and he was thus in his old age as conversant with Geographical disco- veries as any younger man could be. As he grew older he read books of Devotion more frequently. He had felt a great Lord Campbell's death. 371 desire to read Cicero dc Senectiite again, but on finishing he turned to Jeremy Taylor's Holy living and dying, say- " Saltern daretur in sacris literis tranquille consenescere." Time, too, was now beginning to give him many warn- ings, not in the failure of his own health or faculties, but in the withdrawal of his Contemporaries. One of the most distinguished of them died in 1861. My Father went to Town as usual that year in the month of June to transact business. On these occasions, though he declined invitations, he used to call upon some of his old friends. An interview between him and Lord Campbell was arranged for one Sunday. My Father, how- ever, not being very well on that day, wrote a note regretting his inability to go to him, and postponing the visit to another time. Within a fortnight the Chancellor, shortly after en- tertaining some guests, was " beckoned away" by the unseen Hand. We were afraid that, as they were born in the same year and month, it would have distressed him much. He felt certainly great regret at having missed that last possible interview, but was not otherwise affected. Thus a shield seems to be mercifully interposed to prevent the hearts of the aged from being wounded by the threatening dart. In this Summer we had a Harvest Home at Wistow, the first of the kind in that part of the Country. My Father took a great interest in it; and, in order to set it well a-going, invited the older Farmers to dine with him after Church at an Upper table. He was now 80 years of age, but he pre- sided and made the necessary speeches with a quiet ease and dignity which was natural to him. The years that I have still to traverse I shall take in order, giving extracts from a Journal of my visits to Wistow, 24 — 2 372 Eighty-third Bii'th-day. which I began to keep in 1864 for the purpose of noting down in it some portions of my Father's conversations. ' Aug. 5, 1864. Yesterday was my Father's 83rd birthday. When I wished him many happy returns of the day he said, " It is httle source of congratulation now, I must be thinking of another world;" and he rather objected to the Servants drinking his health, till my Mother said, " We may be glad that we have kept you so long." In the evening we gave an Amateur Concert in the School-room to the Villagers. My Father was present and enjoyed it extremely. Several of the Farmers were there, and one of them, know- ing that it was his birthday, made a short speech, saying, that he hoped that they should keep him among them many more years ; he answered, that he hoped so too, if it pleased God. He is in the full possession of all his faculties, and his memory is as clear as ever. He never hesitates for a date, and is rarely at a loss for a name. We have recommenced the Autobiography, and I am reading it over again to him from the beginning, in order that he may add to or correct it. We progress but slowly. On some days he feels bodily fatigue, on some the heat makes him incapable of more mental exertion than reading requires, and on others he is too much occupied with letter- writing or magisterial business.' I have said that my Father continued his custom of dining in Lincoln's Inn Hall to the last year of his life. Two of these occasions are perhaps worth noting. In 1863 he had a pleasure which cannot fall to the lot of many. It is the usage at Lincoln's Inn that before being called to the Bar the Students — three times during their Studentship — should go up after dinner and be introduced by the Steward to the Senior Barrister at the head of the Bar table. Bows are Loi'd B yoiigJiarn s last appearance at Lincoln s I) in. 373 interchanged, and the Student signs his name in a Register, and walks away between the two Bar tables, which stand parallel to each other across the Hall, so as to be seen by all the Barristers present \ It happened one day, that his Grandson, coming up to be presented when my Father, not knowing of it, was dining in Hall, it became his duty as the Senior to receive him. This he did very gravely, saying, with a quiet humour, " I think, Mr Bayne, that I have had the pleasure of seeing you before." My Father described to me his seeing Lord Brougham for the last time. " He sat as a Bencher on the Dais. After the Grace was said, and when he moved to go, a low mur- mur of * Brougham, Brougham,' went through the Hall, in acknowledgment of which he bowed three or four times as he passed through us, and was seen no more^" My Father delighted to talk with his Grandson about the Norfolk Circuit, and to hear from him about his old friends still remaining on it. He would enquire especially about the Chief Baron (Pollock), and, when told that his summings up were still so admirable and so distinguished for good sense, he remarked, " It is not always that a Senior Wrangler attains such distinction in after life." He was interested also to hear of Lord Cockburn. He said, " I re- member Chief Justices Kenyon, Ellenborough, Tenterden, Denman, Campbell, Cockburn. Denman was a distinguished man, a Johnian, and Classical Scholar. He took his degree 1 This custom once proved a valuable safeguard, a Student having been recognized as a person who had formerly been convicted in a Court of Justice. " Lord Brougham's last appearance in Lincoln's Inn Hall was on the 6th of June, 1864. A similar tribute was paid at the Middle Temple to Lord Eldon when 82 years old. He says in a letter, "As I walked down the great Hall in which we dined there was a general sort of acclamation of kindness from them all, which cheered an old gentleman." 374 Chief yustice Cockburn. in my Freshman's year, and therefore I saw nothing of him at Cambridge, but we became acquainted when I was in Parhament. Cockburn I knew when he was at College as an Undergraduate, introduced to me, long after I had left it, by his Father. Every one approved of his appointment to the Chief Justiceship. The Times made an excellent remark about him in describing a speech of his in the House of Commons, to the effect that, it was not so much the speech of a Lawyer exhibiting political knowledge as of a Politician shewing legal knowledge. He was quoted, in a company where I was, as an instance of a clever man occupying a high legal position without a University Education. I said in answer to that, ' He is a Fellow of his College at this moment' " This reminds me of a similar thing. Mr Heywood, late M.P. for Manchester, speaking at the British Association of distinguished men who owed nothing to a University Edu- cation, instanced Colonel Perronet Thompson, who wrote the Catechism of the Corn Laws. Mr Campion, of Queens' College, Cambridge, interrupted him, saying, ' He was a Fellow of my own College.' A greater mistake still was made about him when he was standing for Hull. The oppo- sition Candidate was the London Agent of some Merchants in the Town, and in his speech on the Hustings he said, ' Gentlemen, what connection has this officer in the army with your Town.'' He has been in India, in Arabia, in South America, but that can give him no claim on you\' ^ Colonel Thompson had served in all the four quarters of the Globe. Very early in his career he was taken prisoner in General Whitelock's unfortunate Expedition to Buenos Ayres. He was some years in India with the 17th Dragoons, during which time he was with one if not two Expeditions to the Arabian coast of the Persian Gulf, acting in alliance with the Imaum of Muscat ajrainst the Wahabees. Elections on a fixed day. 375 " Colonel Thompson said nothing till his turn came, and then observed, ' My opponent enquires what connection I have with this Borough? I will answer him that in such a house in High Street where my Father, who was a Banker in this Town, then lived, was I born, and that within a stone's throw of these Hustings is the Grammar School where I was educated till I went to Cambridge. Has the honourable gentleman any closer connection on his part with the Town?' " While on the subject of Elections my Father went on to say, " Certain Elections were ordered by Act of Parlia- ment to take place on a fixed day, so that if they fell on a Sunday it followed that they must be carried out, no mention being made of exception in the Act. I remember the Election of Vice-Chancellor, which is always on the 4th of November, being on a Sunday. The M.A.s assembled in the Senate House, but no other business was done, and they did not accompany him, as was usual on week-day Elections, back to his Lodge to partake of dessert. This custom of giving refreshments on those occasions is now disused. It is perhaps forgotten that the V.-C.'s weekly dinner used to be on Sunday. It was early, and he went afterwards, attended by his guests, in procession to Great St Mary's at three o'Clock. The dinner-hour was subse- quently changed to four o'Clock\ Elections of Mayors and Sheriffs took place also under similar conditions to those I have spoken of I remember being at the Charter-House Chapel at Hull one Sunday morning, and seeing the Clerk go out before the Sermon. I heard afterwards that he was a freeman of the Town, and went to vote for the Sheriff. 1 These Sunday dinners were continued so late as 1833—4, during Dr King's Vice-Chancellorship. I believe it was Dr French who changed them to a week-day. 376 The Vicarage of Wakefield. An Act has since been passed making it legal to alter the day to Monday if it fall on a Sunday\" 1865. I found my Father, when I visited him in July, sitting under his Walnut-trees, reading Bolingbroke's letters, I had brought him Lord Derby's Homer, which he directly commenced reading and comparing with the original. He was then 84, He was also reading this Summer Voltaire's work, Precis du Siecle de Louis Quinze. Speaking of it he said, " He gives a very just picture not only of the state of France at that time, but of Europe also." I read to him an anecdote in the Newspaper of some Germans calling this Summer at the Vicarage at Wakefield, and asking to see the house and grounds, in the full belief that it was really the scene of Goldsmith's famous story. My Father was much amused, and said, " Dan Sykes told me that a Frenchman once said to him, ' I am happy to make your acquaintance, more especially as you come from the same port from which Robinson Crusoe sailed.' There was a family living at King's Lynn of that name (Crusoe), and they had one of their sons christened Robinson." I drew my Father's attention to the announcement which I have put in a note below^ He said, " Well, it was no fault of his, the times were different from ours. To go as 1 Although the day on which the death of George III. was announced was on a Sunday, according to the requisition of the Statute, 6 Anne, c. 7, both Houses of Parliament met.— Campbell's Life of Lord Eldon. 2 " The death of the Rev. Robert Moore, Rector of Hunton, who had been principal Register of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury almost from his boyhood, and drew for about 60 years an income averaging ;^io,ooo from his office." Bishop Spencer (of Jamaica) told me that he was once shown a cheque for ^2,000 for a quarter's payment to Mr Moore. He was a son of Archbishop Moore, who had been tutor to his (the Bishop's) relative, a former Duke of Marlborough. It is right to add that Mr M. was "a most liberal and generous man, and made a good use of his wealth." Cobbctfs sarcasm. 377 far back as to Sir Robert Walpole, he was corrupt, in so far that it could be said of him traditionally that he believed that ' every man had his price.' It has been asserted that money was given in his time to secure votes in Parliament; but there were many things besides money to offer. Pen- sions without limit, Sinecures, and even these reversions of Places, which were often given to Children, and continued to a later time. So that Cobbett, who had a deal of sarcasm in him, writing in his Weekly Register, said, ' If you want to see the Master of the Pells you will find him playing marbles at Eton.* The fact being that some death had happened earlier than was expected, and the reversion of a place, given by Addington to a friend, had come to a School- boy. I remember a motion being made, when Spencer Perceval was Prime Minister, to alter this. He spoke, and brought all his influence to bear against it, and it was lost. My impression is that these reversions could not be given away to more than three persons. It was not altered until Lord Grey's time\ As to bribes in money it was even said that at the Ministerial dinners to which Members of the House of Commons are invited, a Bank note was sometimes found under the plate. I mentioned this once, when dining at Bernal's, and said, I concluded it was gone by. Kaye, who was of the party, and private Secretary to Lord H. Petty, replied, ' Not altogether so completely as you think.' " The Cattle Plague broke out this year all over the country, commencing in the Dairies near London^ A Royal 1 The office of Clerk of the Pells was abolished in 1834. » From June 1865 to Feb. 1866 it appeared from the second Report of the Cattle Plague Commissioners that there had been 120,740 cases of disease reported, and of these I7,97i had been in Cheshire alone. 16,742 had been killed, 73,750 died, 16,986 had been under treat- ment, and 14,162 recovered. 378 Cattle Plague. Commission was appointed to enquire into it, and orders in Council were issued forbidding Cattle to be moved from one place to another without an order from a Magistrate. This gave very great trouble, especially to my Father, on account of the paucity of Magistrates in his part of the County, and of his always being at home ; but he never excused himself, and went through all the tedium of it till the last year of his life, when it ceased. This, of course, brought him into contact with a variety of characters, some of whose peculiarities he did not fail to notice. He said, "I observe in my office of Magistrate that of the Foremen and better Labourers who come to make a declaration about their Master's Cattle only about one half can sign their names. At first I used to say, 'Can you sign.?' but finding how many could not, to save their feelings I now ask if they will sign or make their mark.-* Mr Henry Okes, brother to the Provost of King's, who was a Merchant at Buenos Ayres, told me that the Merchants there did not sign their names, but had each of them a peculiar flourish of his own which did instead \ His name brings to my mind another thing that he told me. A quantity of skates and a large bale of hearthrugs were once shipped to him ; with the former he could do nothing, but of the latter he made some use, by spreading one over his horse and riding on it through the Town, which set the fashion and brought him purchasers. I used this anecdote in my Lectures, to show how necessary it is in Political Economy to understand the wants of a ^ In England individual marks were in use from the 14th to the mid- dle of the 17th Centuries, probably much earlier, and when a yeoman affixed his mark to a deed, he drew a sigmem, well known to his neigh- bours, by which his land, his cattle and sheep, his agricultural imple- ments, and even his ducks were identified." — A^ooks and Corners of Eng- lish Life. opinion of the New Reform Bill. 379 people, and adapt the commodities offered to their tastes as well as their needs." 1866. I went down to Wistow for a short visit at Easter this year, and one of my first questions to my Father was, "What do you think of the new Reform Bill?" He an- swered, "I do not altogether approve of it; but I think that it should pass to allay the agitation throughout the Country. The old one went further than I wished. It went quite low enough in the Franchise, even though the people are better educated now, and would understand questions of Policy better. Spring Rice and I found tJiat on the canvass for our second election. The Poor law Bill had passed previously, and there was a great prejudice against it among the lower orders. Perceiving this, S. R. and I determined to take the bull by the horns, and, at a large meeting at the Hoop Hotel, where we met our constituents, I said, ' I believe some of you are dissatisfied with certain pro- visions in the new Poor law Bill' — there was a murmur of assent — ' I have heard that you believe that there is no relief for the aged Poor but in the Workhouse. I have the Bill in my pocket, and I will read the 17th Clause,' which pro- vided that every poor person above sixty years might receive out-door relief. On the meeting breaking up, I said to a man, named Pryor, 'Are you satisfied.-'' and he answered, ' Perfectly.' Some days after we attended a meeting at New Town (a suburb), and again referred to the Poor law. This man Pryor was present, and called out, 'Read the 17th Clause.' But although these men were satisfied, the lower orders were still prejudiced; so much so that, as we passed by narrow streets and lanes, we were hooted. Spring Rice and I agreed that had the Franchise been lower than ;^ 10 we should have lost our Election." My P'ather was extremely fond of flowers, and liked 380 The rathe Primrose. me to gather them for him \ The morning on which I left I gave him some primroses. He smiled and said, "the rathe primrose." I asked if rathe were a word found in Shake- speare ? He answered, " I only remember it in an old song, * Life let us cherish While yet the taper glows. And the rathe primrose Pluck ere it close.' " He then looked in Bailey's Dictionary for the word, but it was not there. A few days later he sent me the following little note — such was his accuracy. WiSTOW, 24 April, 1 866. My Dear Alicia, I found the mislaid volume of Todd's Edition, en- larging Johnson's two volumes into three. " Rath, adj. early, soon, coming before the usual time." Comparative " Rather." Superlative " Rathest." Quotations : " The rather^ lambs bene starved with cold." Spenser, Shepherd's Caleiidar, Feb. " Bring the rathe primrose that forsaken dies, The tufted crow-toe, and pale Jessamine." Milton's Lycidas. Yours affectionately, G. P. It is singular that my Father had forgotten that the word was in Milton, for he must have been as well ac- 1 My Father seldom spoke of his feelings, but when he did it was most touching. In a letter to me, dated Feb. 23, 1867, he says, " I have, and looked at yesterday ; a flower which you gave me when you were thought to be on your death-bed. I have it with ray Mother's last writing and a lock of her hair." 2 Although rather is now used adverbially, it still retains its relation to the Saxon word soon. Obsolete Words. 381 quainted with Lycidas as with Comus, from which latter it will be seen later on that he quoted a line so little remem- bered that I asked two or three fine Scholars in vain whence it came. My Father was very fond of studying the genealogy of words. He remarked that " Editors of Shakespeare might derive much assistance from consulting some one conversant with the dialect of the Hills of N. W. Yorkshire and West- moreland. Many of the phrases and words in use there are merely Archaisms. My own knowledge is but imper- fect, but in reading Malone's notes I have often found the meaning of obsolete words or the different acceptations of existing ones attempted to be proved by quotations from old writers, which I can recollect to have heard used as Shakespeare uses them. In Yorkshire they pronounce every word with the same termination alike, and my Relative quotes in his Diary an Epigram in which two lines rhyme that end respectively in gj-ow and sow, adding in a note that in the S. Eastern Counties grow is pronounced like sow ; whereas in Yorkshire it would be sounded like now. In the Norfolk Peninsula, as I may call it, prove is pronounced like rove." This mention of the old country reminded him to say, " The habit still lingers in the Yorkshire Dales of calling people by their local designation. I can give an instance of my own knowledge. ' Will by the fence.' I had occasion before the Reform Bill was passed to examine some of the Returns of Members to Parliament in the reigns of the early Henrys and Edwards. These Returns were always signed by a few Freeholders, and they had put their Christian names only, with the name of the place they lived in, thus, ' Richard by the Brook of Alconbury Lane ; ' ' William of Swaffham Lane.' " ' 1866, July 27. I find that my Father in his daily 382 Bolingbroke . reading begins with a Chapter in the Bible. He then goes to a foHo work of Nicholas Bacon on the Rise and Origin of the EnglisJi Constitution. " I like to read collaterally," he says, "and chose it, having just finished Bolingbroke's Essays on the same subject. He is an elegant and forcible writer but I think there is too much repetition of the same idea. It is said that he was an Infidel \ I am readingf his letters to a Roman Catholic Peer, and I find nothing in them to confirm that notion. I should rather call him a Unitarian." ' My Father was of Socrates' opinion that it is well to repeat and consider beautiful things twice and even thrice ; so he liked to read again and again works of Classic and Historic interest. He said to me one day in this visit, " I am going to read the Odyssey, which I have not done since I was a boy. (He was now past 85.) Pope's trans- lation is a paraphrase ; Cowper's is the literal one. Pro- fessor Thompson ^ advised me to read the latter with the original. Blair in his criticisms mentions that Pope often introduces words and phrases which are not in Homer, as 'When the Moon, refulgent lamp of night.' The last four words are not in Homer at all. Pope with his fine style is yet appreciable by humbler minds. A man, who farmed his own land of 100 acres near Whittlesea, quoted from Homer once to me, and when I enquired how he became acquainted with it, he replied that he was a great admirer of the Translation and knew it well, 'although,' said he, ' my schooling never cost 3^-^^ T^yiy ^. -5 ^^MyX j/y"'s' ^^^^v? SO ■^fvjpm s% m:$mi t%y>\ ^^-^^;^r;\'^ ^^Wy ^\'^-^ r//i./\^vi iymw^ ■^^■> .'^^, \ »>. \^ V c. .• fN';.'^;.'^r-^ f*--,^?N^'- (^ T>,^ r r