> % ^| Hf^l %4^| %4**^' 
 
 
 Bi^sa^^ 
 
THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 PRESENTED BY 
 
 PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND 
 
 MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID 
 
TURVEY AND THE 
 MORDAUNTS, 
 
 WITH 
 
 SOME ACCOUNT OF LEGH RICHMOND AND HIS 
 CONNECTION WITH TURVEY. 
 
 G. F. W. MUNBY, M.A. 
 
 n 
 
 RECTOR OF TURVEY ; 
 
 THOMAS WRIGHT, 
 
 AUTHOR OF "THE LIFE OF WILLTAM COWPER," ETC. 
 
 LONDON : F. KIRBY, BOUVERIE STREET. 
 1893. 
 
 «m-M 
 

 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 i. The Village. By Thomas Wright . . . . 9 
 
 it. The First Viscountess Mordaunt. By the Rev. 
 
 G. F. W. Munby, m.a. .. .. .. 16 
 
 in. Charles Mordaunt, Earl of Peterborough. 
 
 By Thomas Wright . . . . . . 27 
 
 iv. Legh Richmond. By Thomas Wright .. 41 
 
 v. Iona and Legh Richmond. By the Rev. G. F. 
 
 W. Munby, m.a. .. .. .. .. 46 
 
 =r=o^i OOO* 
 
f&xxvxmj atib tije plor^aunt^ 
 
 i. 
 
 THE VILLAGE 
 By Thomas Wright. 
 
 It is astonishing how little we know of our immediate 
 surroundings. Their names are so familiar to us, and we 
 sc often pass by or through them that we are apt to 
 under-rate their importance. Many a Londoner has 
 never entered Westminster Abbey ; many a Warwickshire 
 man has never stood by Shakspere's tomb. But are not 
 our own shortcomings equally glaring ? Have not we 
 neglected some of the shrines, even those of the greatest 
 sanctity, among which it has been our privilege to spend 
 a considerable portion of our lives ? Some, perhaps, will 
 plead guilty to never having made a pilgrimage to 
 Turvey, one of the most interesting of Bedfordshire 
 villages — the residence, to commence with, for twenty-two 
 years, of the famous Legh Richmond. 
 
 My last visit to this village was made only a short 
 time ago. The first building of interest, after leaving the 
 station and the new almshouses, is, "The Abbey," a 
 handsome irregular structure with an elegant porch, 
 numerous gables, clipped hedges and trees, and stonework 
 
to THE VILLAGE. 
 
 balustrade. In the Abbey, into which, thanks to kind 
 permission, I was able to enter, I had the pleasure of 
 seeing many of the valuable and interesting objects 
 collected by its late owner, Mr. C. L. Higgins, and among 
 them the poet Cowper's shoe-buckles, and the chest of 
 drawers (readers of his poems will remember the incident) 
 in which the poet's cat was imprisoned. In the village 
 proper the visitor should not forget to notice the three 
 tenements (one of which is the Post Office) that stand 
 on the site of the ancient hostelry called " The Tinker 
 of Turvey," a hostelry in the old coaching days of 
 considerable importance. Its signboard, still preserved at 
 the Abbey, represents a man and woman, and a dog ; and 
 accompanying it is the inscription, known perfectly by 
 every man, woman, and child in the parish : — 
 
 The Tinker of Turvey, his dog, and his staff, 
 Old Nell with her Budget will make a man laugh. 
 
 In the library of the British Museum is preserved a 
 very rare pamphlet bearing the following title, " The 
 Tincker of Turvey, his merry pastime from Billingsgate 
 to Gravesend. The Barge being freighted with mirth, and 
 mann'd with Trotter the tincker, Yerker a cobble, Thumper 
 a smith, &c, and other u.ad merry fellowes, every one 
 of them telling his tale." (London, 1630, 4to\ The 
 pamphlet is extremely coarse, but part of the preface will 
 bear quoting. " The Tinker," it runs, " hammers out an 
 epistle to all gentlemen that love Latin, to all strolling 
 tinkers ; and to all the brave mettle men that travel on 
 the hoof with a dog, and a doxie ** (wife) " ats tayle. Be 
 you all, then, (my brother strowlers and padders on the 
 highway) as jovial as I am. Lives not a merry man longer 
 
THE VILLAGE. 
 
 than a sad ? Has not a tinker less care than a Tamberlaine 
 the Great ? Is not an hour of honest mirth worth a 
 vinter's hogshead (that has no doings) full of melancholy ? 
 Here's a gallimawfry of all sorts : The wayting wench 
 has jests to make her merry ; and clownes, plaine Dunstable 
 dogrell for them to laugh at till their leather buttons fly off." 
 Only three copies of the original of this curious book are 
 known to exist. It was reprinted in 1859 by J. O. Halliwell 
 (Phillipps), the edition being limited to twenty-six copies. 
 
 In another part of the village is a spring of water, long 
 famous for its supposed virtues, and according to popular 
 tradition that, too, is in some way connected .with the 
 Tinker and his wife ; but, however that may be, it has 
 gone, time out of mind, by the name of "Nell's Well." 
 Over it is now a neat arch of stone, with the following 
 inscription placed there by the late Colonel Higgins, of 
 Picts Hill :— 
 
 Nell's Well. 
 O fountain pure, whose spiing so sure 
 
 Has never yet run dry; 
 Thy water tells of deeper wells 
 
 Which living streams supply. 
 Thy spring, though pure, no thirst can cure, 
 
 Who drinks will drink in vain : 
 Go, neighbour, try that deep supply ; 
 
 Thou ne'er shalt thirst again? 
 
 Restored, 1875. 
 
 The picturesqueness of the houses and cottages cannot 
 fail to arrest the visitor's attention, but he may not be 
 aware of the great contrast between the present appearance 
 of the village, and the appearance it presented within the 
 memory even of middle-aged men. The Turvey of Legh 
 Richmond's day was utterly unlike the Turvey of to-day» 
 
12 THE VILLAGE. 
 
 Instead of comfortable and picturesque cottages erected with 
 that charming irregularity yet studied uniformity that makes 
 Turvey such a model village, you would have seen for the 
 most part a collection of thatched, tumble-down, and in 
 every way wretchedly-conditioned abodes. The present 
 happy state of affairs is owing to two gentlemen — Mr. 
 Charles Longuet Higgins of the Abbey, and Mr. Thomas 
 Charles Higgins of Turvey House, a mansion at the other 
 end of the village. Mr. C. L. Higgins, when a young man, 
 made the resolve that when he should come into possession 
 of his father's property, he would effect three things — i, 
 Restore the church ; 2, Re-build the cottages on the estate ; 
 3, Provide schools. And he kept his word. About the 
 same time Mr. T. C. Higgins too, effected considerable 
 improvements. The Rectory, a modern residence, occupies 
 the site of Legh Richmond's parsonage. In one of the 
 windows may be seen a pane of glass (taken from the old 
 house) on which Mr. Richmond scratched his name. 
 
 From the Rectory we walked towards the church, and as 
 we approached the lych-gate, our attention was called to the 
 fact that in the midst of the triangular space before it, stood 
 the ancient village cross. The church tower is now 
 surmounted by a pyramidal roof, with a gilt cross. Entering 
 the edifice though the porch, which, as is usual, is on the 
 south side, we notice first the thick oaken doors with curious 
 ancient ironwork ; and then the massive Norman font, which 
 in Mr. Richmond's time (and as figured in illustrations) stood 
 in the chancel just in front of the Communion Table. The 
 appearance of the edifice from the wes.t end of the nave is 
 most impressive. The large stained-glass window of the chancel 
 was inserted in 1852 when the church was restored and beauti- 
 fied by Mr. (afterwards Sir) Gilbert Scott. On the left of the 
 
THE VILLAGE. 
 
 chancel is the large and handsome organ ; and on the right, 
 between the pillars of the nave, we can see, in the portion of 
 the south aisle called " The Lady Chapel," the monument 
 to Sir John Mordaunt (time of Henry VII.) and his wife 
 Edith, the sedilia, and the arch containing a fresco of the 
 Crucifixion. The tomb of John, the first Lord Mordaunt, 
 under a circular canopy in the south wall of the chancel, was, 
 at the spot were we stood, hidden from view ; but between 
 the octagonal pillars on the north side, could be seen the 
 magnificent tomb of another Mordaunt, John, the second 
 Lord (of Elizabeth's day) and his two wives. The tomb of 
 Lewis, the third Lord, one of the judges of the unfortunate 
 Mary Queen of Scots, is without an effigy. At the fourth pillar 
 on the left stood the pulpit of Legh Richmond (the present 
 pulpit is in the usual place on the north side of the chancel 
 arch) ; and about the middle of the north aisle are tablets to 
 Mr. Richmond, and his wife Mary (who died in 1873, aged 95), 
 their sons Nugent and Wilberforce, and two other 
 children who died in infancy. There is also a brass comem- 
 oratingthe names of the rest of Legh Richmond's children, with 
 the dates of their deaths. On the right, above the pointed 
 arches of the nave, can be seen the narrow rounded arches of 
 the original Saxon church. From the ceiling are suspended 
 handsome chandeliers ; and the beauty of the windows (of 
 the decorated style most of them) with their coloured lights, 
 adds to the effectiveness of the scene. In the middle line of 
 the pavement of the nave is a quarry of brass engraved E. M. 
 (Erasmus Middleton, the distinguished evangelical clergyman 
 who preceded Mr. Richmond), and in the chancel a similar 
 one with L. R. (Legh Richmond), which mark the spots 
 where these two remarkable men were interred. Charles 
 Mordaunt, the great Earl of Peterborough, is also buried in 
 
THE VILLAGE. 
 
 this church, and is comemorated by a brass in the north 
 aisle. 
 
 Turvey Old Hall, the residence of the Mordaunts and the 
 Peterboroughs, stood at a short distance from Turvey 
 village ; and the farm-house (Turvey Hall farm) which 
 occupies its site, may be seen from the railroad — On the left 
 in passing from Bedford to Northampton. What this old 
 place was like we cannot tell ; for, unfortunately, no one has 
 yet been able to come across drawings of it. The mote, 
 however, the bowling-green, and the gardens are clearly 
 indicated by the configuration of the ground. 
 
 Descended from a brave soldier of the Conqueror's time, 
 who took his name from what may be styled his chief 
 occupation, that of giving, death to, or slaying his enemies 
 (Dare Mortem), the Mordaunts were during many reigns 
 a conspicuous family ; and thanks to their abilities as 
 soldiers and courtiers, and their persistency in taking unto 
 themselves heiresses, each head of the family for many 
 generations was considerably richer both in estate and 
 influence than his predecessor ; until the time of Lewis, the 
 third Baron, who was one of the wealthiest gentlemen in 
 England. The family had held property in Turvey almost 
 from the Conquest. They became possessed of the 
 magnificent mansion and estate of Drayton (Northants.) in 
 the reign of Henry VII. Of the first Sir John Mordaunt, of 
 his successor, Sir John (created Lord Mordaunt in 1532), and 
 also of the second Lord Mordaunt, there are, as we have seen, 
 fine effigies in Turvey Church. Lewis, the third Lord, was 
 succeeded by Henry, who, though innocent, was imprisoned 
 and fined for supposed complicity in the Gunpowder Plot. 
 John, the fifth Lord, was made Earl of Peterborough. 
 Adjoining the southern wall of Turvey Church (exteriorly) is 
 
THE VILLAGE. 15 
 
 an altar-shaped tomb placed there to preserve the memory of 
 a domestic who had served the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Lords, 
 as page and servant, with fidelity and zeal. The monument 
 bears upon it a brass plate, with the following inscription : — 
 
 M Here lyeth John Richardson under this wall, 
 A faithful true servant at Turvey Old Hall, 
 t*age to the first Lord Mordaunt of fame, 
 Servant to Lewis, Lord Henry, and John : 
 Payneful and careful and just to them all, 
 Till death toke his lyfe, 
 God have mercy on his soule. Amen." 
 
 John, fifth Lord Mordaunt and first Lord Peterborough, 
 had two sons : the elder, Henry, second Lord Peterborough, 
 was with Richard Rands, Rector of Turvey, co-author of 
 11 Halstead's Succinct Genealogies," published in London, 
 1685, which gives an account of the origin and history of 
 the Mordaunts and the families with which they intermarried, 
 a curious and valuable work of which only twenty-four copies 
 were printed ; the younger, (the Hon. John Mordaunt), 
 married the beautiful Elizabeth Carey, the subject of the 
 next sketch, and their eldest son, was the celebrated Charles 
 Mordaunt, afterwards third Earl of Peterborough. 
 
16 THE FIRST VISCOUNTESS MORDAUNT. 
 
 II. 
 
 THE FIRST VISCOUNTESS MORDAUNT* 
 By the Rev. G. F. W. Munby. 
 
 There are few more conspicuous characters in the reigns of 
 William III. and Queen Anne than Charles, the third Earl 
 of Peterborough, the hero of the siege of Barcelona, and 
 of many other thrilling incidents in the Spanish War. This 
 distinguished general was known not only for his 
 extraordinary skill and energy in the art of war, but for his 
 singular vivacity and love of adventure, and throughout his 
 life for his sparkling wit and humour. Like most great 
 men, he had a remarkable mother. His mother was 
 Elizabeth, the first Viscountess Mordaunt, and it was 
 chiefly from her that he inherited the talents which 
 distinguished him. This lady deserves to be remembered 
 for her own sake, as well as for the sake of her illustrious 
 son. 
 
 The father of Charles, the third Earl, was — like his 
 brother, the second Earl — an ardent supporter of the Royal 
 cause in the struggle between Charles I. and his 
 Parliament ; and, after the death of the King, he was one 
 of the chief promoters of the efforts which followed, to 
 place Charles II. upon the throne. He was known at this 
 time as the Hon. John Mordaunt, and, as such, was married 
 to the future Viscountess, Elizabeth, daughter and heiress 
 of Thomas Carey, second son of Robert, Earl of Monmouth. 
 * Reprinted from " The Churchman," May, 1889. 
 
THE FIRST VISCOUNTESS MORDAUNT. 1 7 
 
 This lady was remarkable for her wit, her beauty, and 
 her loyalty in the subsequent court of the " merrie 
 monarch ; " but she was far more remarkable still for the 
 beauty of her personal piety and for her devotion to God, 
 and to the duties of religion, in the midst of a court where 
 all thoughts of God were far too often forgotten. Of her 
 it is that Lord Clarendon says, " She concurred with her 
 husband in all honourable dedications of himself," and that 
 she was " a young and beautiful lady, of a very loyal spirit, 
 and notable vivacity of wit and humour," Of her it was 
 that these lines were written, 
 
 ♦ Betty Carey's lips and eyes 
 Make all hearts their sacrifice. 
 
 But her personal beauty never proved to her a snare in that 
 gay court, and her ready wit and humour never drew away 
 her mind from higher things and holier. Little though 
 she is known, there are few more beautiful characters than 
 hers to be found in all the history of the time. Her life 
 was one of singular holiness, purity, and unobtrusive piety, 
 shining with a brilliance all the more remarkable by contrast 
 with the tone and character of the court in which she moved. 
 That her distinguished son, " whose eccentric career," as 
 Lord Macaulay says, " was destined to amaze Europe," should 
 have inherited from such a mother her talents and her 
 courage without her piety, must be a subject of regret to 
 all who read the story. 
 
 This remarkable woman kept a diary in which, with great 
 minuteness, she relates the most interesting evtnts of her 
 life, and her reflections upon them, and which extends, 
 more or less continously, from 1656 (four years before the 
 Restoration) to her own death in 1678. The manuscript, 
 
1 8 THE FIRST VISCOUNTESS MORDAUNT. 
 
 which is all in her own handwriting, is in the possession 
 of the Earl of Roden, at Dundalk House, one of his 
 residences in Ireland. The late Earl of Roden published 
 it in the year 1856, with a very interesting preface written 
 by himself, in which he describes the principal incidents 
 in Lady Mordaunt's career, and relates how the manuscript 
 came into the possession of his family. He describes 
 the manuscript as " originally bound in vellum, and closed 
 with a silver lock," and as having been concealed " behind 
 some books for nearly two centuries " in the library at 
 Dundalk House, until the period of its publication. Dundalk 
 House was purchased by Anne, the youngest daughter of 
 Viscount and Viscountess Mordaunt, who was married to 
 Jas. Hamilton, Es'q., of Tullymore Park, County Down. It 
 was purchased as a residence for her son James, afterwards 
 Viscount Limerick, whose daughter was the wife of the first 
 Earl of Roden. As to the contents of the diary, Lord Roden 
 thus writes: ''In it this gifted lady gives an interesting 
 account of her feelings, with a strict examination of them, on 
 the various events, both public and private, which happened 
 during her life, with her prayers and thanksgivings on those 
 occasions." She describes with much feeling " the trial and 
 acquittal of her husband in the High Court of Justice ; " 
 " his differences and his lawsuit with his brother," the 
 second Earl of Peterborough ; her thankfulness for the 
 "King's most happy and miraculous Restoration " in 1^60, 
 for which she indites a special thanksgiving to be repeated 
 every year on the anniversary of that event. The diary 
 contains very touching descriptions of her intense anxiety 
 during the time of the great Plague in 1665, and of the Fire 
 of London in 1666, with the outpouring of her thankful 
 heart, expressed both in prose and verse, when " these 
 
THE FIRST VISCOUNTESS MORDAUNT. IQ 
 
 calamities were over-past." The expressions she uses are, 
 throughout, of the most natural and unstudied description ; 
 and it is clear that the pages were intended for no eye but 
 her own. 
 
 The following are some of the striking utterances in which 
 this accomplished person gives expression to her ardent 
 affections and desires. 
 
 On the 29th of May, 1660, she resolves that this shall 
 always henceforth be her hymn of thanksgiving : 
 
 What praises can I render unto Thee, my God, worthy Thy acceptance 
 at any time ! . . . O what praises, then, can I now render upon this day, 
 on which Thou hast shpwered such multitudes of mercies upon me as I 
 partake in the public good, upon me as being a member of Thy Church, 
 upon me in the particular and personal comforts that my dear husband 
 and I have received by the King's most happy and miraculous restoration 
 upon this day, a miracle past expectation ! . . . O give unto our prince, 
 and to the rulers of this Church and nation, to me and to my dear 
 husband in particular, so true a sense of Thy mercies, as that we may not 
 dare to offend Thee, that hast so highly blest us. O pardon our sins past, 
 and let this day, as it is a renewing of our praises, become an increase of 
 our devotions, and a means of our repentance and amendment. . . . O 
 Lord and Saviour, who art full of mercy and goodness, turn our hearts 
 from all our wicked ways, and so fix them upon Thee, as that we may be 
 accepted by Thee, both here and eternally hereafter. Amen. 
 
 It will be remembered that in the last year of the 
 Commonwealth, after the death of Oliver Cromwell, several 
 attempts were made to effect a Royalist reaction, before the 
 successful advance of General Monk from Scotland in the 
 following year. In many counties a resolution was taken to 
 rise in arms. The plans of the Royalists were, however, 
 betrayed before they were ripe ; and it would seem that the 
 only rising which was even partially successful was that of 
 Sir George Booth, who attempted the capture of Chester for 
 the King in 1659. In this attempt, as in every other of the 
 
20 THE FIRST VISCOUNTESS MORDAUNT. 
 
 kind, Lord and Lady Mordaunt appear to have taken the 
 warmest interest. When Sir George Booth was subsequently 
 defeated, and taken prisoner by General Lambert, the person 
 who had been the chief opponent when the Protector was 
 offered the dignity of king, Lady Mordaunt does not fail to 
 pour out her heart to God in behalf of the defeated general. 
 And then follows the form of prayer her loyal heart intended 
 ever afterwards to use : 
 
 When I was in trouble I called upon the Lord, and He heard me. I 
 lifted up mine eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my help. In the 
 Lord was my trust. For when nothing but blood and destruction could 
 be expected, when Sir George Booth was taken, and the business 
 destroyed which was designed for the good of the nation, of the Church 
 and King, and when the lives of my friends and relations and of many 
 honest people were in danger to be devoured by the enemy, I then 
 humbled myself before Thee, my God, and unto Thee I made my 
 supplications and vows, for the lives of all those Thy distressed people . . . 
 Thou hast turned my heaviness to joy, by granting me the request of my 
 lips. For Thou hast not only most miraculously preserved the lives of all 
 these Thy servants, but Thou hast restored to them their liberties and 
 estates. O ever praised be God, that hast not given us over for a prey 
 
 unto our enemies, but hath set our feet in a large room O my soul, 
 
 trust thou in the Lord, for with my God there is mercy, and with Him is 
 plenteous redemption, and to Him for ever be the glory.. 
 
 And again 
 
 How infinitely merciful beyond expression hath thy most glorious 
 majesty appeared to me, the most unworthy of creatures, and to my dear 
 husband ! Lord, continue these Thy mercies, and so sanctify them to us 
 as to better us by them, and make us entirely Thine, that we may spend 
 our whole lives in Thy service. Lord, glorify Thyself by us, giving us 
 grace to glorify Thee both here and eternally hereafter. Amen. 
 
 The diary is filled with prayers and meditations and 
 thanksgivings of this description. Some, like these, referring 
 to events of general and national interest, others, more 
 frequently, relating to the domestic events in her own family. 
 
THE FIRST VISCOUNTESS MORDAUNT. 21 
 
 Fourteen pages are occupied by a very touching and tenderly 
 worded meditation on the successive clauses of the Sermon 
 on the Mount. This was written during the temporary 
 sojourn of the family at Montpellier in the year 1669 ; it ends 
 with the devout prayer that she and all hers might learn the 
 lesson of the Sermon, as follows : 
 
 Let me be like unto the wise man that built his house upon a rock, and 
 that rock Christ Jesus, upon which foundation, Lord, evermore let me 
 build ; that when persecutions and afflictions come I may stand firm and 
 immovable, and not perish with simple people that have laid their 
 foundation on the sandy vanities of this world, for great will be their fall. 
 Dearest Lord, from that dismal fall preserve, I most humbly beseech Thee 
 both me and mine, my dear husband, my children and family, all Thou 
 hast been graciously pleased to give unto me ; make us Thine, dearest 
 Lord, and then preserve us so ; and at the last day present us to the 
 Father, cleansed and purified in Thy blood, that we may behold Thy 
 presence in righteousness, and sing hallelujahs to the glory of Thy name. 
 
 But the diary is chiefly occupied with what concerns her 
 family life. There are several references to her eldest son 
 Charles, as there are to almost all her children. She tells 
 of her thankfulness to God for his recovery from sickness in 
 1667, of her prayers for him on his going as a student to 
 Oxford in 1 6*74, on his commencing a journey in France in 
 1675, and on his entering the Navy in 1677. Those who 
 remember the skill which that son displayed in the writing of 
 smooth and melodious verses, and which contributed to make 
 him the friend and ally of Alexander Pope, will not be 
 surprised to find that the mother had no mean skill in the 
 same art too. The diary contains, as has been said, verse as 
 well as prose. The following are given as samples of the 
 way in which this excellent woman loved to versify her 
 thoughts, and thus to commune with her own heart and in 
 her chamber and be still ; no alteration is made in the lines, 
 
22 THE FIRST VISCOUNTESS MORDAUNT. 
 
 except that the spelling is modernised : 
 
 My Birthday, March i, 1674. 
 O let that day which gave me breath 
 
 Be spent in praise to Thy great name ; 
 Let it a new and joyful birth 
 
 Become, of grace, of love, of fame — 
 A birth of all that's good and just, 
 
 Of all that may make me Thy own ; 
 And make me on Thy mercies trust, 
 
 That I henceforth may joy in none 
 But Thee— 
 Thee, who alone canst make me what I ought to be. 
 
 The family seem to have left London, and so escaped 
 
 danger, during the plague ; and on their return, she thus 
 
 expresses her gratitude, July 1st, 1666 : 
 
 Thanksgiving after the Great Plague. 
 How great, my God, Thy mercy did appear, 
 That we in safety all returned were, 
 Free from those frights and ills that sent us hence, 
 Preserved safe, by Thy most sure defence; 
 Whilst the destroying pestilence rag'd here, 
 Then great and small did fall, both far and near. 
 
 In the autumn of the same year occurred the memorable 
 fire of London. Breaking out in a baker's shop near London 
 Bridge, the fire extended itself with such rapidity that no efforts 
 could arrest it. For three days and nights it continued to 
 advance, and it is calculated that four hundred streets and 
 thirteen thousand houses were destroyed. Lady Mordaunt 
 thus describes her feelings when at last it had subsided : 
 
 It is to Thee, my dearest Lord, that I 
 For help and safety in distress did cry ; 
 To Thee 'tis fit I should all praise return, 
 That when the City great in flames did burn, 
 My husband, children, self, and all that's mine, 
 Were safely guarded by Thy power Divine. 
 
THE FIRST VISCOUNTESS MORDAUNT. 23 
 
 But by far the most interesting part of the diary is the 
 account the writer gives of the State Trial of her husband, 
 which is minutely described, and is followed by the most 
 fervent expressions of her gratitude to God on the occasion 
 of his acquittal. The whole of the circumstances of the trial are 
 so peculiar, and so characteristic of the times when they 
 occurred, that they are worth relating. The following 
 summary is mainly taken from the brief memoir, already 
 referred to, by the Earl of Roden. 
 
 In 1658 Mr. Mordaunt, as he then was, was brought to 
 trial for High Treason against the Commonwealth and 
 Cromwell, then Lord Protector. The charge against him 
 was that of conspiracy for the restoration of the Monarchy, 
 and holding communication with the exiled King. Two 
 other persons were involved in the same trial, both of whom 
 were, by the same judges, and on similar evidence, 
 condemned to death and executed. These were Sir Henry 
 Slingsby and the Reverend Dr. Hewitt. The Duke of 
 Ormond, who had been Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, would 
 have been brought to trial at the same time, but he had 
 escaped from the country. A full account of the 
 
 trial is given in the " Thurloe State Papers," and also in 
 " Howell's State Trials." From these it would appear 
 (though we should not have known it from the diary) that it 
 was mainly to the intelligence and dexterity of the future 
 Lady Mordaunt that her husband was indebted for his 
 acquittal. The Protector, it would seem, was not able to 
 trust to an unbiased jury, and a High Court of Justice had 
 been constituted, consisting of — according to Lord Clarendon 
 — twenty judges without any jury. Lady Mordaunt's account 
 in the diary gives the number of judges as forty. Among 
 such a number, says Clarendon, there were generally some 
 
24 THE FIRST VISCOUNTESS MORDAUNT. 
 
 who "out of pity, or for money, were inclined to do good 
 offices to the prisoners," or at least to "communicate such 
 secrets to them " as would guide them in their trial. Of 
 these " Mr. Mordaunt's lady had procured some to be very 
 propitious to her husband." By the private advice of these 
 persons, the prisoner, who, at his first appearance, had 
 refused to acknowledge the jurisdiction of the Court, was 
 prevailed upon to submit to its authority. He was so strictly 
 guarded in the Tower that to communicate with him there 
 was impossible ; but, on his next return to the Court, a note 
 from his wife was conveyed to him, which induced him to 
 withdraw his refusal. The trial then proceeded. The 
 principal witness was a certain Colonel Mallory. By the 
 management of a friend, Mallory was persuaded to make his 
 escape from the hall — into which he had been reluctantly 
 taken — before he was called upon to give his evidence. This 
 was sufficiently gratifying. But, more surprising still, one 
 of the Judges, Colonel Pride, who would have voted 
 against the prisoner, was suddenly taken ill, and obliged to 
 leave the Court. Colonel Pride only returned after the 
 verdict had been taken, and too late to reverse the decision. 
 The result was that nineteen of the Judges voted " guilty," 
 and twenty, including the President, John Lisle, voted " not 
 guilty," the prisoner obtaining a verdict of acquittal by a 
 majority of one vote. We are not surprised, after this, to 
 read in the diary, '* Praised be the Lord for ever, for He 
 hath preserved the life of my husband ; " " Thou hast heard 
 the voice of my supplication, and hast considered my 
 complaint ; Thou hast granted my heart's desire, and not 
 refused the request of my lips, when I begged the deliverance 
 of my husband from the hand of his enemies." " Thanks be 
 to the Lord, for He hath shewed us marvellous great kindness 
 
THE FIRST VISCOUNTESS MORDAUNT. 25 
 
 in this strange deliverance." 
 
 Though acquitted, the accused did not at once regain his 
 freedom ; he was remanded to the Tower by order Of 
 Cromwell. When the truant Mailory had been discovered, a 
 second trial was contemplated ; but a second trial for the 
 same offence, even upon new evidence, was so repugnant to 
 the public feeling that Cromwell dared not encounter the 
 reproach of it, and was prevailed upon to set the prisoner at 
 liberty. In the next year, 1659, Mr. Mordaunt was, by letters 
 patent, created Baron Mordaunt of Reigate, and Viscount 
 Mordaunt of Avalon ; in 1660 he was among the first to meet 
 the King on his return from exile, and to welcome his 
 restoration to the throne. Soon afterwards the new 
 peer was made Constable of Windsor Castle, and Lord 
 Lieutenant of Surrey. Alas ! however, his troubles and those 
 of Lady Mordaunt did not end with the restoration of the 
 monarchy. In 1666, he was impeached before the House of 
 Lords, " evidently," says Lord Roden, "for no greater crime 
 than a literal and lenient enforcement of a warrant of the 
 King, and prosecuted with a degree of virulent determination 
 for which it is scarcely possible to account." That he 
 escaped from any ill effects of this impeachment appears to 
 be due more to the "jealousy of the House of Lords and 
 Commons in respect to predecents, privileges and forms, 
 than to the relenting of his enemies." In reference to this 
 happy deliverance from the undeserved " persecution of our 
 enemies," the diary contains a " Prayer of thanksgiving to my 
 God, to be said every Monday in the year, so long as I live," 
 which, Lord Roden well says, " breathes the very spirit of 
 the Psalmist," and which ends with the well-chosen words, 
 " As for us and our family, we will serve the Lord our God." 
 Viscount Mordaunt died on the 5th of June, 1675. The 
 
26 THE FIRST VISCOUNTESS MORDAUNT. 
 
 Viscountess, who survived her husband only about three 
 years, appears to have resided with her children at the 
 Bishop of London's house at Fulham. Among the 
 Additional MSS. in the British Museum is preserved her 
 "Account Book," containing particulars of her later years, 
 from which several extracts are given by Mr. Harvey in his 
 " History of Willey Hundred." In addition to Charles, her 
 eldest son, who succeeded to the Earldom of Peterborough 
 and the Barony of Turvey, several others of her children 
 distinguished themselves in the subsequent history of the 
 nation. Henry, the second son, became a member of 
 Parliament, a Lieutenant-General in the army, and Treasurer 
 of the Ordnance ; Lewis, the third son, rose to the rank of 
 Brigadier- General in the army ; and Osmund, the fourth son, 
 died fighting at the battle of the Boyne. There are portraits 
 of both the Viscount and Viscountess in the possession of the 
 Earl of Roden ; that of the Viscountess was painted, in 1665, 
 by Louise, Princess Palatine, daughter of the Queen of 
 Bohemia. Both the date and the name of the artist are 
 stated, by Lord Roden, to be inscribed on the picture. 
 
27 
 
 III. 
 
 CHARLES MORDAUNT, EARL OF 
 PETERBOROUGH. 
 
 By Thomas Wright. 
 
 I. FORTY-SEVEN YEARS. 
 
 Of the boyhood, of Charles Mordaunt little is known. In 
 1674, at the age of 17, he joined the navy, and some years 
 later he entered the army. In the meantime (1675) when 
 about eighteen years of age, he succeeded his father as Lord 
 Mordaunt. Returning to England in 1677 he fell in love 
 with and married the daughter of Sir Alexander Fraser, 
 of Durris in Mearns, Scotland. Shortly after his 
 marriage he embarked on a frigate bound for the 
 Mediterranean, and took part in the operations against the 
 Barbary pirates. In 1680 he was at the relief of Tangiers, but 
 from this date to 1705, with the exception of service in the 
 Low Countries in 1693 when he commanded the Royal 
 Horse Guards, his life was of a civilian character. In 
 politics he was a Whig, and hostility to the House of Stuart 
 was one of the few things to which he was consistent through 
 life. He had contracted an early friendship with Lord 
 Russell and Algernon Sidney, whose principles he had 
 imbibed, and it is a matter of surprise that he did not share 
 their fate, or, at least, suffer some kind of punishment ; for at 
 the time of their execution, he took no pains to shield 
 himself, but on the contrary fearlessly expressed his opinions. 
 
28 CHARLES MORDAUNT, EARL OF PETERBOROUGH. 
 
 As a soldier and a sailor Mordaunt had already attained 
 distinction ; he was also well-known as a wit and a scholar ; 
 and now he was to become prominent on account of his 
 parliamentary eloquence. The question at issue just then 
 was whether or not England should have a standing army. 
 Mordaunt argued fiercely against the court party, maintaining 
 that the only purpose of a standing army was " for subverting 
 our laws, and establishing that arbitrary power which is so 
 justly abhorred by Englishmen." He had the nation to back 
 him, for the English had received too severe a lesson from 
 the despotic actions of Cromwell's officers not to dread a 
 permanently embodied armed force. Added to this was the fact 
 that the officers of the small standing army then in existence 
 were Roman Catholics, also the assumption of the time that 
 these officers were ever ready to carry out the wishes of their 
 arbitrary master (James II.) 
 
 Being in open and declared hostility with the court party, 
 all chance for public employment in England was at an end ; 
 so in 1686 he asked and obtained leave to serve abroad. 
 The same year he set out for Holland, and it is stated that he 
 was the first Englishman of any position or note who openly 
 invited William of Orange to England ; though William was 
 far-seeing enough to know that affairs were not then ripe for 
 a revolution. Mordaunt, however, became the prince's most 
 trusted friend, and when at last (October 1688) the 
 invasion took place, rendered him most important services. 
 Soon after William's accession Mordaunt was raised to the 
 peerage by the title of Earl of Monmouth, but though he 
 at first enjoyed much royal favour, his influence with the 
 King gradually declined, and finally William became 
 totally estranged from him. One of the causes ot this 
 estrangement was the extraordinary part Mordaunt played in 
 
CHARLES MORDAUNT, EARL OF PETERBOROUGH. 29 
 
 what is known as the " Fenwick Plot." This affair is too 
 complicated for us to enter into, so we shall content ourselves 
 with recording that the result of the investigations into it in 
 so far as they affected Mordaunt was that he was "turned out 
 of all his places, his name was struck out of the Council 
 Book, and he was imprisoned until the end of the session in 
 the Tower." 
 
 Nothing, however, could subdue the elasticity of his nature. 
 It is true that he endured his imprisonment with little 
 patience, but it never entered his mind (as it would into the 
 minds of many) to regard the ruin of his fame and fortunes 
 as irreparable. He was one of those spirits " on whom the 
 deepest wound leav*es no scar." 
 
 In 1697 on the death of his uncle, Mordaunt had 
 succeeded to the title of Earl of Peterborough — along with a 
 portion of the family estates. Unfortunately, however, the 
 greater part of the property, including the beautiful place of 
 Drayton, was left to the old Earl's only daughter, the Duchess 
 of Norfolk (afterwards the wife of Sir John Germaine) ; which 
 alienation proved to Peterborough k for many years a source of 
 the most bitter mortification. 
 
 II. COMMANDER IN SPAIN. 
 
 William of Orange died in 1702. Anne succeeded. And 
 now we arrive at the most eventful epoch in Peterborough's 
 life. The war of the Spanish succession had commenced, 
 the object of which on the part of the allies (England, 
 Holland, and the Empire) was to place on the throne of 
 Spain the Archduke of Austria, to the exclusion of 
 Philip, grandson and nominee of Louis XIV. of 
 
30 CHARLES MORDAUNT, EARL OF PETERBOROUGH. 
 
 France ; by which means they hoped to preserve the balance 
 of power in Europe. In 1702 occurred the affair of Vigo 
 Bay, which resulted in the capture by the English of a 
 number of Spanish treasure ships. Marlborough in 1704 
 crippled the power of France at the great battle of Blenheim. 
 In 1705 the English Government decided to send an 
 expedition to Spain, and Mordaunt was appointed to the 
 leadership. His troops, Dutch and English, numbered in all 
 five thousand. After touching at Lisbon, where he took on 
 board the Archduke Charles, he proceeded to Valencia ; and 
 hence, "but for the opposition of the Archduke, who 
 considered the scheme too daring, would have marched 
 straight to the capital in the hope of finishing the war at one 
 blow. From Valencia they proceeded to Barcelona, and then 
 occurred one of the most brilliant actions in warfare. To 
 enter properly into this affair, and to record Peterborough's 
 stratagems and valorous deeds, would take too much space ; 
 but we strongly recommend those who desire to be 
 acquainted with the particulars of this famous exploit, to 
 consult the pages of Colonel Russell. Briefly then, in spite 
 of the wretched incompetency and the contemptible 
 behaviour of the other leaders, and in spite of other 
 difficulties, seemingly insuperable, he succeeded in making 
 himself master first of the fortification of Monjuich, and 
 afterwards of the town itself. In the words of Macaulay, 
 "The genius and energy of one man supplied the place of 
 forty battalions," and " Peterborough had the glory of taking 
 with a handful of men one of the largest and strongest cities 
 of Europe." From Barcelona he marched to Valencia, taking 
 towns and fighting battles on his way ; then, a few days 
 after his arrival, hearing of the near approach of a body of 
 reinforcements to the Spanish general, he set out against 
 
CHARLES MORDAUNT, EARL OF PETERBOROUGH. 31 
 
 them in the dead of night, and with only one thousand 
 two hundred men, defeated an army of four thousand. 
 
 A large army of Spaniards now arrived in Catalonia, and 
 Barcelona was attacked at the same time by land and sea. 
 Peterborough marched after them, but it would have been 
 madness for him to give battle to such numbers, especially as 
 they were under the conduct of a Marshal of France. To 
 many, indeed, it seemed that Peterborough's outlook was 
 exceedingly desperate. But times of danger were those in 
 which he exhibited his finest qualities, 
 
 And most his fortune and success were seen 
 With means the most inadequate and low; 
 Most master of himself, and least encumbered, 
 When overmatched, entangled and outnumbered. 
 
 After harassing the enemy as much as he could with incessant 
 alarms, by cutting off* stragglers, and by introducing supplies 
 into the town, Peterborough put himself on board one of the 
 ships of the English Squadron, and by a clever movement, which 
 almost resulted in the capture of the French fleet, relieved 
 Barcelona. Having accomplished this, he returned to 
 Valencia. The Earl of Galway, the leader of the Allies on 
 the western portion of Spain, a sluggish man and an 
 incapable general, inspired with emulation by Peterborough's 
 successes, marched towards the capital, took several towns 
 on his way, entered Madrid in triumph, and in its streets 
 proclaimed the Archduke king of Spain. " It seemed that 
 the struggle had determined in favour of the Archduke, and 
 that nothing remained for Philip but a prompt flight into the 
 dominions of his grandfather." The sequel, however, was 
 otherwise. The conquerors discovered that the country, 
 which they thought they had subdued, was all in 
 
32 CHARLES MORDAUNT, EARL OF PETERBOROUGH. 
 
 arms behind them. Their communications were cut off, and 
 the people of Castile were rallying with enthusiasm round 
 Philip. Once again Peterborough would have marched to 
 Madrid, but his proposals were rejected by the foolish Charles. 
 As a consequence, Peterborough remained in Valencia 
 trifling away his time, and getting what pleasure he could out 
 of that beautiful city. In the meantime, the enemy had com- 
 pelled Galway to retreat. Peterborough then laid before the 
 Archduke a plan for regaining the city. The plan was rejected. 
 This was the last straw. Peterborough could stand it no 
 longer. Disgusted with the whole affair, he quitted the army, 
 leaving the Archduke to do as he could, and set out for Italy. 
 " From that moment to the end of the campaign the tide of 
 fortune ran strong against the Austrian cause." In January, 
 1707, Peterborough returned once more to Spain, this time 
 merely as a volunteer. His advice was asked. It was, as 
 usual, freely and unreservedly given. But, as usual also, and 
 to the utter ruin of the Austrian cause, it was rejected. 
 Peterborough had now received formal letters of recall from 
 the Home Government, and, before the new campaign had 
 opened, he departed for England. In his summary of 
 Peterborough's conduct in Spain, Lord Macaulay remarks — 
 " Scarcely any general had ever displayed equal originality 
 and boldness." The supreme command in Spain was given 
 to Lord Galway, which incapable general, in 1707, 
 encountering the Duke of Berwick on the field of Almanza, 
 lost in a few hours eighteen thousand men, one hundred and 
 twenty standards, and all his artillery— a battle that decided 
 the fate of Spain. 
 
 We may here fitly pause a moment and say something of 
 Lord Peterborough's character, or rather quote Lord 
 Macaulay's admirable summary of it. After calling him the 
 
CHARLES MORDAUNT, EARL OF PETERBOROUGH. 33 
 
 most extraordinary character of his age, and describing him as a 
 polite, learned and amorous Charles XII. (Sweden), he says : " His 
 courage had all the French impetuosity, and all the English 
 steadiness. His fertility and activity of mind were almost 
 beyond belief. They appeared in everything that he did — in 
 his campaigns, in his negotiations, in his familiar correspon- 
 dence, in his lightest and most unstudied conversation. But 
 his splendid talents and virtues were rendered almost useless 
 to his country, by his levity, his restlessness, his irritability, 
 his morbid craving for novelty and for excitement. Repose 
 was insupportable to him. He loved to fly round Europe 
 faster than a travelling courier. He was at the Hague one 
 week, at Vienna the next. Then he took a fancy to see 
 Madrid : and he had scarcely reached Madrid, when he 
 ordered horses and set off for Copenhagen." In the words 
 of his friend Dean Swift, written after 1707 — 
 
 Mordanto fills the trump of fame, 
 The Christian world his deeds proclaim, 
 And prints are crowded with his name. 
 In journeys he outrides the post, 
 Sits up till midnight with his host, 
 Talks politics, and gives the toast. 
 Knows every prince in Europe's face. 
 Flies like a squib from place to place, 
 And travels not, but runs a race. 
 From Paris gazette a la main 
 This day arrived, without his train, 
 Mordanto in a week from Spain ! 
 A messenger comes all a-reek, 
 Mordanto at Madrid to seek; 
 He left the town above a week. 
 Next day the post-boy winds his horn, 
 And rides through Dover in the morn : 
 Mordanto's landed from Leghorn ! 
 
34 CHARLES MORDAUNT, EARL OF PETERBOROUGH. 
 
 ____ __ — _ . t 
 
 Mordanto gallops on alone, 
 The roads are with his followers strown, 
 \ This breaks a girth, and that a bone : 
 A skeleton in outward figure, 
 His meagre corps, though full of vigour, 
 Would halt behind him were it bigger. 
 
 " He was," continues Macaulay, the last of the knights- 
 errant, brave to temerity, liberal to profusion, courteous in his 
 dealings with enemies, the protector of the oppressed, the 
 adorer of women." Even the Duchess of Marlborough, 
 though for the most part his enemy, was unable to resist the 
 fascination of his wit and the charm of his manner. No man 
 of his time was better known. He was ever indulging in 
 some wild freak or other, a spirit of fun and malicious 
 humour frequently held the mastery over him, his eccentrici- 
 ties were proverbial, and his wild freaks, adds one of "his 
 biographers, " were funds of frequent trouble to himself and 
 amusement to his contemporaries." 
 
 III. LOVE AND LITERATURE. 
 
 Upon Peterborough's return from Spain he was received 
 coldly, many of his proceedings, especially his retiring to 
 Italy without orders, having given displeasure to the 
 Ministry; and his conduct was the subject of protracted 
 inquiry in both Houses of Parliament. The discussion lasted 
 ten days, but in the end the charges against him fell to the 
 ground. Subsequently, a charge of ministry having taken 
 place, he was complimented and thanked, and, in addition, 
 substantially rewarded. 
 
 The years 1709 and 17 10 were sad ones, In the former 
 
CHARLES MORDAUNT, EARL OF PETERBOROUGH. 35 
 
 the Earl lost his wife, and also his second son Henry ; and 
 in the latter occurred the death of his eldest son John, a 
 Colonel in the Grenadier Guards. Lady Peterborough and 
 both these sons are buried in the family vault at Turvey. 
 
 Subsequent to this, although Peterborough acted at 
 different times as ambassador to various European States, 
 there is little of interest to record in his public life ; we shall 
 therefore pass over it, and endeavour to get some glimpses of 
 him at Parson's Green, Fulham, where he had a charming villa 
 (Peterborough House) surrounded with pleasure-grounds and 
 gardens ; at Bevis Mount, a romantic cottage which he 
 owned on Southampton Water ; and at those resorts of the 
 wits and scholars of the day— the famous coffee-houses. 
 
 First, however, a word about his second marriage. The 
 Earl's fondness for the fair sex certainly did not decline as he 
 grew advanced in years. About 17 17 he was united to 
 Anastasia Robinson, a young and charming woman, and a 
 celebrated stage singer, at whose shrine he had for years 
 been a worshipper ; giving her, as Colonel Russell puts it, 
 " what there yet remained of his battered old heart." But 
 the marriage was not made known to the world until a short 
 time previous to his death. Fond as he was of his new lady 
 (and his devotion to her to the last no one can doubt), it was 
 not in Peterborough to restrain himself from tender feelings 
 towards other ladies also. His letters to one with whom 
 he coquetted, Mrs. Howard (afterwards Countess 
 of Suffolk), have been published, and are a most curious 
 mixture of earnest and acting— "high flown compliments, 
 profound bows, vows, sighs, and ogles." " Henrietta 
 Howard accepted the noble Earl's philandering, answered the 
 queer love-letters with due acknowledgment, made a profound 
 courtesy to Peterborough's profound bows, and got John Gay 
 
36 CHARLES MORDAUNT, EARL OF PETERBOROUGH. 
 
 to help her in the composition of her letters in reply to her 
 old *knight." And this was when Peterborough, " that 
 indomitable youth " as Thackeray calls him, was seventy 
 years old. In one of his letters the Earl acknowledges in verse 
 the susceptibility of his heart— and he could throw off 
 very good lines when in the mood :— 
 
 I said to my heart between sleeping and waking, 
 Thou wild thing, that always art leaping or aching, 
 What black, brown, or fair, in what clime, in what nation, 
 By turns has not taught thee a pit-a-patation ? 
 
 From love we turn to literature, and it is in connection 
 with his friendship with the leading men of letters of the day 
 that Peterborough appears in one of his most favourable 
 lights. After his return from Spain he was very much in the 
 company of Pope, Swift, Bolingbroke, Gay, and other well- 
 known authors, and his correspondence with the first two 
 extends over a large number of years. It is in the midst of 
 his remarks on this literary coterie, and their meetings at the 
 coffee-houses and Parson's Green, that Thackeray takes 
 occasion to deliver himself of the following admirable 
 counsel to the young :— " Try," says he, " to frequent the 
 company of your betters. In books and life, that is the most 
 wholesome society ; learn to admire rightly ; the great 
 pleasure of life is that. Note what the great men admired ; 
 they admired great things : narrow spirits admire basely and 
 worship meanly. I know nothing in any story more gallant 
 and cheering than the love and friendship which this 
 company of famous men bore towards one another. There 
 has never been a society of men more friendly, as there never 
 was one more illustrious." Peterborough's letters to Pope 
 
 *Thackeray. 
 
CHARLES MORDAUNT, EARL OF PETERBOROUGH. 37 
 
 overflow with wit, and his letters to Swift are equally good. 
 It was a letter-writing age : and Peterborough, like some of 
 his contemporaries, bestowed as much care upon his 
 epistolary compositions as an author does now-a-days in 
 writing a book. In a letter dated Jan. 10th, 1 7 1 3, Swift 
 writes:-— "At seven this evening, as we were sitting after 
 dinner at the Lord Treasurer's, a servant said Lord Peter- 
 borough was at the door. The Lord Treasurer and Lord 
 Bolingbroke went out to meet him, and brought him in. . . . 
 He is at least sixty, and has more spirits than any young man 
 I know of in England. He has got the old Oxford Regiment 
 of Horse, and I believe will have a garter. I love the hang- 
 dog dearly." , 
 
 Good as may have been the talk at the coffee-houses— and 
 Peterborough was a great frequenter of them-— we like best 
 to think of the Earl in his place at Parson's Green, or at 
 Bevis Mount. At the former, especially, things went 
 gloriously. The dinner parties given there were among the 
 the most memorable occurrences of the day. The Earl 
 himself was head cook, and that circumstance alone was 
 sufficient guarantee for the excellence of the dishes, for 
 during his Spanish campaign he had made himself thoroughly 
 acquainted with the art of cooking— his knowledge of which, 
 on more than one occasion, in his journeyings, he had had good 
 reason to be thankful for ; and though he did not parade his 
 culinary knowledge, he was never ashamed of it, nor of the 
 cook's dress in which he superintended operations. But the 
 viands, though delectable, were not the chief source of 
 pleasure. The guests were entertained with the finest music 
 that the most gifted artists of the day could produce, 
 Peterborough delighted everyone with his witty conversation, 
 and his amusing anecdotes of his adventures ; and the Earl's 
 
38 CHARLES MORDAUNT, EARL OF PETERBOROUGH. 
 
 brilliant guests were not the men to allow conversation to flag 
 that had once been well started, nor to hold by the reins 
 their piquant talk or their hilarity. Then there were the 
 grounds. On September ist. 171 1, Swift speaks of the fruit 
 garden as the finest he had ever seen in London, and says 
 there were "abundance of hot walls for grapes, which were 
 ripening fast. " We have spoken of Peterborough's intimacy 
 with Pope, Swift, and other men of letters ; but it should be 
 pointed out, too, that he was something of a writer himself. 
 Little that he wrote however is now in existence. Horace 
 Walpole, who includes him among " Royal and Noble 
 Authors," speaks of him as " one of those men of careless wit 
 and negligent grace who scatter a thousand bon-mots and 
 idle verses, which we painful compilers gather and hoard till 
 the owners stare to find themselves authors." 
 
 Peterborough, it appears, always had a hankering after the 
 fame of an author ; and in connection with his remarks on 
 this trait in his character, Col. Russell tells a tale concerning 
 the Earl's dealings with Voltaire, who was at the time his 
 guest— a tale which reveals the latter in great odiousness, and 
 which, when we reflect also on the treachery with which 
 Voltaire behaved to other of his benefactors, we are not very 
 likely to disbelieve. The Earl wished to publish a book, and 
 he '* commissioned his guest Voltaire, who was more or less 
 connected with literary work, to act as an intermediary 
 between himself and the publisher. With this object he 
 supplied Voltaire from time to time with various sums of 
 money, intended to defray the cost of publication as it went 
 on. The publisher received the first instalment only, and on 
 the strength of this put a portion of the book in type. No 
 more money, however, was forthcoming, and he was told by 
 Voltaire that Peterborough objected to advance him anything 
 
CHARLES MORDAUNT, EARL OF PETERBOROUGH. 39 
 
 further until the book actually came out. The publisher 
 consequently was obliged to stop the publication for want of 
 funds, which it had been agreed that he should receive ; till 
 at last, justly thinking that he had been hardly treated, he 
 determined to brave an interview with the Earl himself, and 
 to remonstrate with him personally on his breach of 
 agreement. Then it all came out. It appears that Voltaire 
 had appropriated the money, which had been given him 
 regularly according to promise, while he had accounted for 
 the delay in the publication of the work by blaming the 
 publisher for his slowness and procrastination. It may be 
 supposed that Peterborough, whose naturally quick temper 
 had not softened by age, on learning the treachery and 
 dishonesty of his guest, became perfectly frantic. As bad 
 luck would have it, Voltaire happened to come in while the 
 interview was taking place and narrowly escaped with his life, 
 as Peterborough drew his sword and rushed at him. Voltaire, 
 however, managed to escape from the house, and concealed 
 himself in a neighbouring village during the night. The 
 next day he returned to London, and almost immediately 
 afterwards left England for the Continent." 
 
 At Bevis Mount, " his little Amoret " as he called it, Peter- 
 borough arranged some of his old guns, flags, and other 
 spoils from Spain ; and it is to these Pope makes allusion in 
 his first epistle to Lord Bolingbroke :— 
 
 Our generals now, retired to their estates, 
 Hang their old trophies o'er the garden gates. 
 
 In 1735 Peterborough, who for several years had been a 
 martyr to a most painful disease, submitted to a dangerous 
 operation ; and in order to receive benefit from the warmer 
 climate, he was advised to visit Lisbon. He reached his 
 
40 CHARLES MORDAUNT, EARL OF PETERBOROUGH. 
 
 destination, but no improvement in his health took place, and 
 on October the 25th of the same year he passed away. His 
 remains were brought to England and interred in the family 
 vault at Turvey church. Over the vault is a brass with the 
 following brief inscription to his memory: — 
 
 " Quod mortale fuit Caroli Comitis de Peterborough et sex suorum 
 avorum hoc sepulchro jacet." 
 
 In 1852, whilst alterations were being made in the chancel, 
 two vaults belonging to the Mordaunt family were opened. 
 They contained six coffins of lead and two leaden cysts. The 
 coffin of " The Great Earl " was found to be inscribed thus :— 
 " The Right Honble. Charles, Earl of Peterborough and 
 Monmouth, General of the Marines and Knight of the most 
 noble order of the Garter, died at Lisbon, Oct., 1735, aged 
 78." The vaults were again carefully closed, and strong 
 arches of stone were thrown over them. The portion of the 
 church above them is now the organ chamber. The title of 
 Earl of Peterborough and most of the honours of the family 
 became extinct in 1814. 
 
 Excellent portraits of Peterborough are still in existence, 
 but even without them we should be able to picture with 
 tolerable accuracy the famous man who was so well known 
 and so often described by his contemporaries, the " meagre, 
 thin, wasted, little man," who, in spite of his eccentricities, 
 his weaknesses, and his numerous short-comings, will ever be 
 regarded as one of England's greatest sons. 
 
4» 
 
 IV. 
 
 LEGH RICHMOND. 
 By Thomas Wright. 
 
 Legh Richmond was born at Liverpool in 1772. In his 
 childhood he accidently injured his left foot, and was lamed 
 for life. In 1^97, shortly after quitting Cambridge, where 
 his amiable natyre had gained for him many friends, he 
 proceeded to the Isle of Wight, where he entered upon the 
 curacies of the adjoining parishes of Brading and Yaverland. 
 Shortly after, an important change took place in his religious 
 views, the result of his perusal of Wilberforce's " Practical 
 View of Christianity," a work which just then was making 
 very great stir in the religious world. Heart and soul, 
 thereupon, he surrendered himself to God ; and the spiritual 
 advancement of his little flock and all connected with him 
 became the great aim of his life. More than one spot in the 
 island is instinct with the memories of Legh Richmond. At 
 Brading are to be seen the cottage and the grave of " Little 
 Jane ; " and its churchyard brings to mind the scene of the 
 good pastor watching the little ones committing to memory 
 the verses on the stones. Shanklin Chine and its mimic 
 cascade are also in a manner Legh Richmond's, reminding 
 us of his references to them in " The Young Cottager." If 
 in pilgrim mood we wend through Yaverland, his reflections 
 on contemplating its church must of necessity present them- 
 
42 LEGH RICHMOND. 
 
 selves, including his remarks about the " Three Houses" — 
 one of the most beautiful portions of "The Dairyman's 
 Daughter": "The House of Prayer," " The House for all 
 living," and " The House not made with hands eternal in the 
 heavens." At Arreton is Elizabeth's cottage, and its church- 
 yard contains her grave. And, lastly, there is Sandown with 
 its memories of "The Negro Servant." In 1805, after 
 residing about eight years at Brading, Mr. Richmond accepted 
 the appointment of Chaplain to the Lock Hospital in 
 London. This place, however, retained his services for a 
 very few weeks. In the summer of that year he removed 
 to Turvey, of which he was Rector twenty-two years. Whilst 
 at Brading, as far as we know, he published nothing, except 
 a couple of sermons and a few long-forgotten reviews. 
 
 Notwithstanding the great revival in religion that had so 
 recently stirred up the country, and put life into the 
 Church, Evangelical preachers of ability were still rare. It 
 took very short time for Mr. Richmond's popularity to be 
 established, and great numbers from the neighbouring towns 
 and villages regularly swelled his congregation. The people 
 of North Bucks and Beds, had already drunk deep at the 
 fountain of Evangelicalism, and now, instead of flocking to 
 Olney, as they did in the days of Newton and his immediate 
 successors, they flocked to Turvey ; and all day every Sunday 
 a long row of carriages and other conveyances, whose owners 
 had put up at the " Tinker of Turvey," might have been seen 
 in the village street. Cottage lectures, Sunday-school work, 
 and the numerous other duties that employ a conscientious 
 minister of the Gospel, occupied much of his time. His 
 Work, however, did not lie entirely in Turvey. On 
 account of urgent solicitation he travelled about the 
 country during certain parts of the year preaching in aid of 
 
LEGH RICHMOND. 43 
 
 the Church Missionary Society, the Society for promoting 
 Christianity among the Jews, and other Christian institutions. 
 At Manchester, at Leeds, at Mellor among the Derbyshire 
 hills, in the Lake District, or wherever he happened to be 
 preaching, multitudes flocked to hear him, and his sermons 
 proved a lasting blessing to thousands. His visit in 1820 to 
 the famous island of Iona, in Scotland, is especially 
 noteworthy, and forms the subject of the next sketch. Mr. 
 Richmond's success in these travels was marvellous, and the 
 amount of work he got through day after day was a wonder 
 to everybody. His acceptance of one of the secretaryships of 
 the Religious Tract Society and his appointment as Chaplain to 
 the Duke of Kent, the father of Her Majesty Queen Victoria. 
 (18 14) had also greatly enlarged his sphere of usefulness. 
 His three remarkable narratives, " The Dairyman's 
 Daughter," "Little Jane," and "The Negro Servant," 
 appeared first in The Christian Guardian (1809, 18 10, 
 181 1) and afterwards in the form of tracts. The 
 volume in which they were united and in which were 
 considerable additions to the first of the narratives, received 
 the name of " The Annals of the Poor," and it is on this work 
 that the reputation of Legh Richmond chiefly rests. The 
 popularity of the tracts, for it was as tracts that they first 
 attracted general notice, was instantaneous. " The Dairy- 
 man's Daughter" was an especial favourite. It found its 
 way into cottage and palace, and sold by thousands, even by 
 millions. The cause of this popularity is easy to understand* 
 "To a style," as Grimshawe says, "simple, elegant, and full 
 of pathos," there is a united spirit of Christian love which 
 transfuses its sweetness into every thought and expression. 
 The beautiful imagery of his descriptions also attracted 
 attention, but to quote Grimshawe again, "The stamp of 
 
44 LEGH RICHMOND. 
 
 truth and reality which marks the details of the story, and 
 the expression of feelings which find a response in every 
 awakened mind constitute its principal charm." The first is, 
 without doubt, the masterpiece. Few, who have read it, will 
 easily forget the account of the death of the Dairyman's 
 Daughter : the mother that sighed, but could not weep ; the 
 big tear on the brother's cheek ; the old man gazing fixedly 
 at his child ; the closed eyes and wasted face of Elizabeth ; 
 the old soldier silently reaching out his Bible and pointing 
 with his finger to the passage in Corinthians ; the pastor 
 breaking the silence with the solemn words " O death, where 
 is thy sting ? O grave, where is thy victory ?" It is a sad, 
 but beautiful scene. " The Fathers of the English Church," 
 (1807-12) a work which embodied the substance of the more 
 important, writings of Tindal, Ridley, Latimer, Cranmer, Hooper, 
 and others, caused him great anxiety. Though its merit was 
 acknowledged on all sides, the sale was at first insufficient to 
 defray the expense of publication — owing chiefly to the 
 voluminousness and consequent expensiveness of the work — 
 and he only escaped from his troubles through the very great 
 exertions of his friends. His latter days were saddened by 
 the loss of his sons — Wilberforce and Nugent ; but his health 
 had long been on the decline, and he died on the 8th of May, 
 1827. His funeral sermon was preached by his old friend, 
 Mr. Fry of Emberton, who took for his text Romans vii., 24, 
 25, which had been chosen by Mr. Richmond a short time 
 previous. 
 
45 
 
 IONA AND LEGH RICHMOND* 
 By the Rev. G. F. W. Munby, m.a. 
 
 I recently visited the beautiful Island of Iona, one of the 
 Hebrides or Western Islands of Scotland, separated from 
 the Island of Mull by the Sound of Icolumbkill, and from 
 the Scotish mainland by the Sound of Mull. The situation 
 of the Island, with its shining, white shore, with the blue 
 water rippling round it, and the red granite crags of Mull 
 behind it, and the sea birds hovering over it, was sufficiently 
 beautiful to make one forget all else ; but the history of this 
 jittle sea-girdled spot of earth, reaching back as it does for 
 thirteen centuries, to the days when Christianity was young, 
 threw even the beauty of its situation into the background, 
 and seemed to rivet the beholder to the spot. 
 
 For what is the spot ? Why it is the very cradle of 
 Christianity of Scotland and Northern England, and of large 
 portions of the Continent of Europe. Here it was that 
 Columba came from Ireland in the sixth century, with his 
 little band of faithful disciples, in his rude boat of wicker- 
 work. Here it was that that holy man established his humble 
 oratory for praise and prayer and the study of God's Word, 
 from which, as time went on, issued forth that noble band 
 of missionaries whose labours spread the light of Christ's 
 * Reprinted from " The Fireside," Sep. 1885. 
 
4 6 IONA AND LEGH RICHMOND. 
 
 Gospel all through the British islands, and far beyond them. 
 Every inch of it is consecrated by the memory of the piety, 
 and the labour, and the sufferings of men of whom, as the 
 Bible says, the world is not worthy. For the faith they held 
 was pure, and Scriptural, and true, and the zeal they showed 
 was Apostolic zeal. Cold indeed must be the heart that is 
 not grateful to them. 
 
 A poet of our own day has written of this island — 
 
 u I landed on Iona's holy isle, 
 
 And wandered through its ancient ruins bare, 
 
 And felt the great Columba's self was there. 
 
 Thirteen long centuries seemed < a little while' 
 
 Before the unchanging sea and sky, whose smile 
 
 He knew. He trod these paths ; he breathed this air ; 
 
 These waves once rolled responsive to his prayer, 
 
 Whose murmuring ripples now mine ear beguile. 
 
 Nor to the saint alone, closer I stand, 
 
 Nearer the Lord I seem, upon this shore ! 
 
 The solid rock of this historic strand 
 
 Helps me to bridge time's waste of waters o'er, 
 
 And grasp His feet, and feel His loving hand, 
 
 In whom all saints are one for evermore ! "* 
 
 And it was of lona that Dr. Johnson wrote more than a 
 century ago: "We are now treading that illustrious island 
 which was once the luminary of Caledonian regions : whence 
 savage clans and roving barbarians derived the benefit of 
 knowledge and the blessings of religion. To abstract the 
 mind from all local emotion in such a place would be im- 
 possible if it were endeavoured, and would be foolish if it 
 were possible. Whatever withdraws us from the power of 
 our senses, whatever makes the past, the distant, or the 
 future predominate over the present, advances us in the 
 dignity of thinking beings. Far from me and my friends be 
 * Rev. R, Wiltou, 
 
IONA AND LEGH RICHMOND. 47 
 
 such frigid philosophy as may conduct us indifferent and 
 unmoved over any ground which has been dignified by 
 wisdom, bravery, and virtue. The man is little to be envied 
 whose patriotism would not gain force upon the plains of 
 Marathon, or whose piety would not grow warmer among 
 the ruins of Iona." 
 
 Such are the sentiments which naturally come into the mind 
 in a place like this. But other thoughts besides these 
 occurred to me when I gazed upon the white sand and trod 
 the shell-strewn beach of Iona. It was impossible for me to 
 stand on the shores of this historic island without thinking 
 of Turvey. It was in the year 1820 that Mr. Richmond, of 
 Turvey, and his friend Mr. Pitcairn landed in Iona to explore 
 its ruins and to benefit its people. Those who have read — 
 and we all ought to read — the memoir of Legh Richmond, will 
 remember the effect which that visit had upon his mind. It 
 was the most interesting event in all his interesting life ; it 
 produced a lasting effect upon his own mind and character 
 and feelings, and it issued in results which have permanently 
 benefited the people of Iona. The memoir shows us the 
 influence which Iona and its associations had upon Legh 
 Richmond, but we must go to Iona itself to see the influence 
 which Legh Richmond has had upon Iona. 
 
 I was in no way prepared for what I found as to this. Let 
 me refer to the former first. Legh Richmond had just 
 visited, as no traveller now can fail to do, the wonderful 
 basaltic caves of Staffa, some seven miles away — the great 
 cavern called Fingal's Cave, some 230 feet long and 60 feet 
 high, the giant columns all around it and above it, arid the 
 deep blue sea rolling, echoing, dashing, making ceaseless 
 music within it ; and then he came to Iona. 
 
 " No words," he says, " can express the astonishing 
 
48 IONA AND LEGH RICHMOND. 
 
 sublimity, beauty, grandeur, and majesty of the former, or 
 the deep and affecting interest excited by the ruins and 
 association of the latter island." " When I entered the Cave 
 of Fingal, I knew not whether to burst out into one unceasing 
 cry of astonishment, or to meditate in unbroken silence of 
 overwhelming wonder, or fall down upon my knees in devout 
 adoration of Him who formed such a scene of sublime 
 beauty." " Iona is delightful in another way. Here, amid 
 the ruins of ancient grandeur, piety, and literature, I slept 
 four nights in a little hut, surrounded by the graves and 
 mouldering gravestones of kings, chieftains, lords of the isles, 
 bishops, priests, abbesses, nuns, and friars, — the scene 
 decorated with the fine and romantic remains of cathedrals, 
 colleges, chapels, and oratories. I locked myself in for 
 affecting meditation, amidst the ruins of the once grand 
 cathedral of Columba ; I walked upon the graves of 
 numberless Kings of Scotland, Ireland, and Norway, who lie 
 here in wild confusion, mingled with the poor forefathers of 
 the present islanders. By day the sun shone— -and by night 
 the moon illuminated a splendid panorama of ocean islands, 
 innumerable mountains, vast rocks, ruins, huts, ships, boats, 
 and countless other groups of interest. Never did I see such 
 sights, or feel such feelings before." 
 
 Such was the influence of Iona on Legh Richmond. What 
 has been the influence of Legh Richmond on Iona in return ? 
 The answer is — You have only to mention his name in the 
 island, to see that it is to every one there household word. 
 "The memory of the just is blessed." When I put the 
 question, " Is Legh Richmond still remembered here ?" the 
 answer was, " Oh, yes ! Legh Richmond will never be 
 forgotten in Iona." One person, to whom I put this 
 question, answered me, " My father, sir, who died this spring, 
 
IONA AND LEGH RICHMOND. 49 
 
 was one of the boatmen who rowed him to Staffa ; on his 
 return he asked the boatmen what he had to pay them, and 
 the answer they gave him was, ' You shall pay us nothing, 
 sir ; love has brought you here, and love shall find you a 
 boat.' " 
 
 Every one who can possesses a boat on these islands ; and 
 the late minister of the Established Church, residing in the 
 island, for many years had a boat which was called the 
 " Legh Richmond." I was very sorry to find that this boat 
 was at last no more, from use and age. 
 
 One other proof I will give of the hold which his name has 
 on the place. During my visit, a festival was held at Iona, in 
 honour of Legh Richmond's memory, in which a feast was 
 given to the 56*0 inhabitants of the island, followed by 
 addresses and singing, at which the children of the island 
 sang Mr. Richmond's verses, composed on the island sixty- 
 five years before, beginning, — 
 
 " Thou God of all Grace, omnipotent Lord, 
 
 Fill our hearts with the power of Thy soul-saving Word ; 
 Have mercy, Jehovah, and be it Thy will, 
 To save the poor children of Icolumbkill." 
 
 Icolumbkill is another name for Iona, meaning the island 
 of the cell of Columba. They were preparing for this festival 
 and practising this hymn, when we were there. 
 
 But now it may be asked, What did Legh Richmond do for 
 these humble islanders to merit that his name should be 
 loved and remembered so ? The answer is — When he went 
 to them in 1820, surrounded though they were by the ruins of 
 cathedrals and churches, they had no church of any kind in 
 which to worship God ; they had no Christian minister to 
 teach them ; they had the memory of holy days long past, 
 
50 I0NA AND LEGH RICHMOND. 
 
 and that was all. They had, it is true, an excellent school- 
 master, but he had the merest hovel for his schoolroom ; and 
 all the public means of grace they had, was a service in 
 this schoolroom four times a year, when the Presbyterian 
 minister came over to them from Mull. No wonder that the 
 fountains of the good man's love and pity were opened. Mr. 
 Richmond gathered them together in the open air, and, as he 
 says, " with a rock for his pulpit, and with the heaven for his 
 sounding board," he preached to them by the side of the sea 
 where their cottages stood, with the ruins behind him. 
 Three times in one day, it seems, he thus addressed 
 them, the schoolmaster interpreting his words into the Gaelic, 
 language. Before he left them he gave them a feast, also on 
 the sea shore, every countenance, says the memoir beaming 
 with delight and with thankfulness to their benefactor. 
 
 But the chief boon he gave them, was an earnest appeal 
 which he put forth for funds to help them to provide them- 
 selves with a suitable building to be used both as a school 
 and a place of worship. The result of this appeal has been, 
 that now they have an excellent schoolroom with a 
 schoolmaster's house, a good house for a resident minister, 
 and two substantial churches in excellent repair. And, 
 strange to say, these buildings have been erected without 
 touching the fund which Mr. Richmond raised. Public 
 attention seems so to have been called to the subject by the 
 appeal, that separate funds for these purposes were raised. 
 The then Duke of Argyll, who owned the island, himself 
 erected the school, the manse, and (it seems) one of the 
 churches; and the fund raised by Mr. Richmond, after lying 
 by and accumulating for several years, was at last expended 
 in purchasing and establishing a free library for the island, to 
 be called for ever by his name, the " Legh Richmond 
 
IONA AND LEGH RICHMOND. 51 
 
 Library." Every book in this library is labelled with Legh 
 Richmond's name, and some ;£ro a year is expended in 
 the purchase of new books from the remainder of the fund 
 which has been invested. Truly "The memory of the just is 
 blessed." Sixty-five years is a long time. How many of us 
 will be remembered sixty-five years after we are gone hence, 
 and seen no more ? After all these years, Legh Richmond's 
 name is still held in reverence and in honour, as it always 
 will be, in Turvey ; and it is equally loved and honoured in 
 that far distant island in the Western Ocean. Oh ! that we 
 all might try to learn from this to live so as to do some good 
 in our day, by which we may be remembered when we are 
 gone. It is only the memory of the "just" which is blessed, 
 and the memory of none others beside. The same verse of 
 the Book which says, " the memory of the just is blessed," 
 says, "the name of the wicked shall rot." How will it be 
 with each of us when our lives are over ? Blessed indeed are 
 they to whom the words shall be spoken, " I was an 
 hungred, and ye gave Me meat ; I was thirsty, and ye £>ave 
 Me drink ; I was a stranger, and ye took Me in ; naked, and 
 ye clothed Me ; I was sick, and ye visited Me ; I was in 
 prison, and ye came unto Me ; for inasmuch as ye have done 
 it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it 
 unto Me." These who have acted so, are the just, and "the 
 memory of the just is blessed." 
 
 Ratcliff, Printer, Olney. 
 
BY THOMAg WRIGHT. 
 
 THE CHALICE OF CARDEN. 
 
 Mr. Wright's Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire Story. 
 
 Cr. 8vo., illustrated, handsomely bound, price 6/- 
 
 LONDON : SKEFFINGTON AND SON, 1 63, PICADILLY. 
 
 eojqTEjqTs. 
 
 1, Corby Lodge, and the Story of the Mysterious Chalice. 2, The Village of 
 Carden, near Newport Pagnell. 3, Carden Hall. 4, The Chalice. 5, Love- 
 making at Newport Pagnell. 6, "A True and particular Account, of a sur- 
 prising and wonderful Noise, that was heard in the Steeple of the Church at 
 Olney, in the Night." 7, The Poplars. 8, The Shagreen case at Lathbury 
 Hall, near Newport Pagnell, and the Astrologer, Dr. Richard Napier. 9, 
 The Sequel, or what Gilbert did. 10, From Bedford to Newport Pagnell, 
 or " The Titled Cart." II, At the " Old George," Bedford, and The Three 
 Knocks. 12, The will is Read. 13, " Qui veut vaincre" or the search for 
 the Red Morocco Book. 14, The Red-hot Poker. 15, Sophie. 16, In the 
 Skeleton Kitchen, and the Strange Tale about the Miller with the Three 
 Thumbs. 17, Mrs. Symes spends a Night in the Priest's Hole at Lathbury. 
 18, The Duke of Cumberland at Newport Pagnell. 19, Ursula's Troubles. 
 20, The Affair of the Toolhouse. 21, The Mutilated Book. 22, Dr. Grey 
 lends Assistance. 23, " When thou makest a feast." 24, The Tinder Box. 
 25, The Battle of Drummossie Moor. 26, Sir John's Diary, and what it re- 
 vealed. 27, The White Stone. 28, Goody Bell. 29, The Calefactorium, or 
 what Bennet saw in the Sanctum of the Mysterious Dr. Napier. 30, The 
 Stranger. 31, In Tim's Castle. 32, At Geordie's. 33, Brawling in Church 
 34, Bennet Discovers the Secret Drawer. 35, Geordie's Well and what he ex- 
 pected to find in it. 36, The dreadful 29th of March-Bennet remembers the Three 
 Knocks at Bedford. 37, " Authentic Copies," or the execution of the Rebels. 
 38. Margaret's Lantern. 39, The Bramble Bush — the Secret oozes out. 40, 
 The Two Cains, or the Tragic Scene in the Skeleton Kitchen. 41, " $}* tbut 
 fgnireilj nu." 42, St Andrew's Day, or High Jinks at Corby Lodge. 43, 
 Christmas Day in the Morning. 44, Conclusion. 
 
 " The Chalice of Carden " is a faithful study of Buckinghamshire and its 
 ■ways in the time of the '45, set forth in admirable and attractive style 
 as we have a right to expect from the learned and accomplished author of 
 " The Town of Cowper." — The Athenceum 
 
 It does for Buckinghamshire very much the same service which the late W. 
 Barnes did for Dorsetshire, in his " Poems of Rural Life." Few readers 
 will find the story too long, so pleasant is the country through which Mr. 
 Wright conducts them, so skilfully are his descriptions woven into the story 
 and so humorous are the sketches of character. Parts of these are as 
 amusing as Pickwick* * *Mr. Wright has written a very clever story. — 
 Literary Churchman. 
 
 To be had through any bookseller, or direct from the author. 
 
BY THOMAg WRI&HT. 
 THE LIFE OF WILLIAM COWPER 
 
 (With 2 1 illustrations). 
 
 Large Demy 8vo., 742 pp., 21/- ; Edition de Luxe, 30/- 
 
 LONDON : T. FISHER UNWIN, PATERNOSTER SQUARE. 
 
 No previous writer has shown us so fully what the poet's life really was. * * * 
 Mr. Wright's book will unquestionably take rank as the standard biography 
 of Cowper— Daily News. 
 
 Mr. Thomas Wright's Life of William Cowper puts, in exhaustiveness and 
 careful arrangement, all former lives of the poet in the shade. — Saturday 
 Review. ' 
 
 It supersedes all former accounts of Cowper's life. — Glasgow Herald. 
 
 Mr. Wright has given us a better picture of Cowper at home than has been 
 drawn by any other biographer. — Standard. 
 
 Mr. Wright is able to add much that is new and deeply interesting. — Daily 
 Telegraph. 
 
 This loving and minute record of the poet's life * * * To the student and 
 the scholar it is full of interest.— Daily Chronicle. 
 
 Mr. Wright*has pursued a new method in reading Cowper's correspondence 
 in consecute order, and claims thereby to have discovered " what may be 
 described as the central incident of the poet's life." This incident was a 
 dream * * * Mr. Wright's zeal and patience in research are laudable. — 
 Times. 
 
 One of the most ambitious works of the kind * * * It bears not only ample 
 evidence of laborious and painstaking research, but unmistakable indications 
 that the preparation cf the work has been one in which the accomplished 
 author found congenial employment.— Scotsman. 
 
 Thanks are due to Mr. Thomas Wright for his pains-taking, intelligent, 
 sympathetic and unbiassed account of one of the most interesting figures in 
 the literary history of England — Article entitled " Maddest Saint, Sanest 
 Poet " in the— Christian World. 
 
 To be had through any bookseller, or direct from the vuthor. 
 
BY THOMAS WRI&HT. 
 THE MYSTERY OF ST. DUNSTAN'S. 
 
 Two vols., Cp. 8vo., 21/- 
 
 A Realistic and Sensational Story of Fleet Street in 1724. 
 
 LONDON : SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON AND CO. 
 
 I, At Trent's Coffee House in Bolt Court. 2, The suspicious Disappearance 
 of the Coachman. 3, The Inch of Flanders Lace. 4, The Milch Cow. 5, 
 The spare Man with a Hooked Nose, and a large Mole near his mouth. 6, 
 Over Mr. Dodson's Counter. 7, At Vauxhall. 8, Mrs. Moyle is followed. 
 9, The Blacksmith of Fetter Lane. 10, Doll calls on Mr. Chesney. II, 
 Mrs. Moyle is arrested in St. James's Park. 12, Before a Justice of the 
 Peace. 13, The Trial. 14, Mr. Dodson tells his story. 15, Lady Fuller- 
 stone. 16, At Mr. Defoe's. 17, Doll visits the Cellar. 18, In the Arbour. 
 19, At the Folly on the Thames. 20, The Highwayman. 21, A night in 
 the Watch-house. 22, The Three Men's Song. 23, The Stained Porringer. 
 24, I would I were poor Shepherd. 25, The Death of Sir Euseby. 26, 
 Dr. Cotta's Opinion. 27, An Astounding Revelation. 28, Conclusion. 
 
 The scenes of the story are laid round about the old church of 
 St. Dunstan's, whose famous clock with moving figures of 
 savages was one of the sights of bygone London. The story, 
 in the main, is a perfectly true one, being founded on the 
 account of a " Remarkable Trial for Murder," recorded in the 
 new London Magazine for 1785. It reflects the lights and 
 shadows of London life, and the coffee-house gossip of the 
 period ; and amongst the personages introduced is the disting- 
 uished writer Daniel Defoe. 
 
 To be had through any bookseller, or direct from the author 
 
BY TH0MS2 WRIGHT. 
 
 THE TOWN OF COWPER; 
 
 Or, The Literary and Historical Associations of Olney 
 
 and its Neighbourhood. 
 
 (second edition). 
 Illustrated with Photographs and Wood Engravings. 
 
 Crown 8vo., cloth extra, 6/- 
 LONDON : SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON AND CO. 
 
 eojqTEjiTs. 
 
 I, Cowper's House and the Market Place. 2, Olney Bridge at the time of 
 Cowper. 3, The Ancient Church of Olney, and the Legend of the Lordship 
 Close. 4, Olney Church. 5, The Vicarage. b, The Poet Cowper. 7, 
 The Rev. John Newton. 8, The Rev. Thomas Scott and his Commentary. 
 9, The Second Earl of Dartmouth. 10, " The Three-Fold Cord," or Lady 
 Austen at Olney. 11, " Kilwick's Echoing Wood." 12, Olney Courts and 
 Hugh the Wolf. 13, The Fight at the Bridge, or the Capture of Olney by 
 Prince Rupert. 14, Two Old Meeting Houses. 15, The Rev. John SutclifF 
 m.a. 16, Dr. Carey and the Baptist Mission. 17, Weston Underwood, and 
 the Throckmortons. 18, The Mansion of Gotehurst (Gayhurst). 
 19, The Tragic Story of Sir Everard Digby and the Gunpowder Plot. 20, 
 Sir Kenelm Digby, and the Beautiful Lady Anastasia. 21, Tyringham 
 House and Grounds. 22, Lavendon Castle and the Peyvres. 23, Lavendon 
 Grange and the Abbey of Saint John the Baptist. 24, The Wrought Stone 
 of Ravenstone. 25, Clifton Reynes and the Ancient Effigies. 26, The 
 Camp at Emberton ; an incident in the Wars of the Roses. 27, The Perish- 
 ed Churches of Ekeney, Petsoe, and Filgrave. Appendix and Index. 
 
 Mr. Wright's pleasant -melange of antiquities and history. — Saturday Review. 
 
 A delightful volume. — Daily News. 
 
 A pleasantly written volume. — Illustrated London News. 
 
 A model volume* * *The pupils of Mr. Wright's school are especially to be 
 congratulated on having what few, if any, of our public schools can boast, a 
 competent and sympathetic teacher of English history.— Pall Mall Gazette, 
 
 All lovers of the gentle, unobtrusive Cowper will hail this volume with 
 delight* * *This ably-written book. — Court Journal. 
 
 Mr. Wright's book is not one to be read through steadily as duty, but to be 
 lingered over as a pleasure. — Manchester Examiner. 
 
 His labours have been accomplished in an admirable spirit, and the recollec- 
 tion of his book will long abide in the memory. — The Academy. 
 
 To be had through any bookseller, or direct from the author. 
 
£Y THOMAS WRIGHT. 
 
 Mr. Thomas Wright's Northamptonshire Story. 
 
 THE BLUE FIREDRAKE, 
 
 Or, The Wonderful and Strange Relation of the Life and 
 
 Adventures of 
 
 NATHAN SOULDROP: 
 
 Showing how he was forspoken by that terrible Sorceress Elinor Shaw, the 
 which for her various and abominable Crimes was brought to Tryal at North- 
 ampton in the year 1 705 ; together with Particulars of her Amazing Pranks 
 and remarkable Actions both before and after her apprehension, the like 
 never before heard of : Written by Himselfe, and set forth by 
 
 THOMAS -WMG-HT. 
 
 Cr. 8vo., beautifully bound, 3/6; in paper covers 2/6. 
 
 LONDON : SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, & CO., LIMITED. 
 
 eojqTEjqTs, 
 
 1 , The Home at Yardley Hastings — My Father warns me against the sin of 
 Witchcraft. 2, The Pawning of Elinor Shaw. 3, Nathan's Adventures at 
 Castle Ashby. 4, My first day at Northampton. 5. The Hermit of Sheep 
 Street (Northampton). 6, The Black Hole. 7, The Mynchery Ring. 8. 
 Mr. Cultry falls in Love. 9, Of the cheery bright-eyed Ancient Man who was 
 sitting on the Steps of Queen Elinor's Cioss. 10, My aunt takes a House at 
 Wellingborough. II, The Transformation of Elinor Shaw. 12, On the 
 Mound of Northampton Castle. 13, My Aunt's Letter. 14, A Woman's 
 Arm. 15, The Weapon Salve. 16, Of the Magic Pictures in the Under- 
 croft, and the " Court Parlour " at Yardley. 17, O Sathan, give me my 
 purpose ! 18, How they beat the Bouuds at Yardley, and Of the Dish which 
 Elinor Shaw gave to widow Stiff for a Handsel. 19, The Attack on Elinor's 
 Cottage. 20, I become an Apothecary. 21, Sathanas. 22, How John 
 Bayles kept his 124th birthday. 23, In which Robin Wagstaff his Bible is 
 found in the Ashes, the paper side being downwards. 24, Of the two red 
 and glaring Eyes that, something about midnight, were for several moments 
 fixed steadily upon Nathan, he lying still in Bed. 25, At St. Sepulchre's 
 Church (Northampton). 25, Of the Unholy Rites in Danes' Camp (Near 
 Northampton). 27, To Fail is to Succeed— the Motto on the Ring. 28, Of 
 the Dreneh that Nathan should have drunk at the Black Angel. 29. Eltha 
 and the mysterious Anchorite. 30, The man with the Birthmark, or the 
 Extraordinary Appearance in the Still Garden. 31, The Chalk Coffin. 32, 
 The Parable of the Oak Tree. H, In the County Jail (Northampton). 34, 
 The Burning of Elinor Shaw (At Northampton, on what is now the Race- 
 course). 35, Of the rent charge on the meadow called the Patches in the 
 Parish of Weston Underwood; and what took place in St. Giles's Churchyard 
 36, The other Nephew. 37, How we wetted the Candleblock. 38, 
 Conclusion. . 
 
 The incidents are most stirring, and they are told in such an attractive fashion 
 as to rivit the attention of the reader.— Northampton Herald. 
 
M313261