laecollections. VOL. I. LONDON : Printed by A. & R. Spottiswoode, New- Street- Square. SLtterarg Eewllerttons ; THE REV. RICHARD WARNER, F.A.S. HON. MEMBER OP THE IMPERIAL C^ES. SOCIETY OF NATURAL HISTORY AT MOSCOW J AND OF THE DUTCH SOCIETY OF SCIENCES AT HARLEM; ANI> RECTOR OF GREAT CHALFIELD, WILTS. JUVABIT MEMIMSSE. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON: PRINTED FOR LONGMAN, REES, ORME, BROWN, AND GREEN, PATERNOSTER-ROW. 1830. ,/ ^ ^-v^^-v^-~X - ^ v/^V^V-tj * ' s(i Q ^u^x^t $refatorj> i&emarfc. Laudatus abunde, si fastiditus non era. IT may not, perhaps, be an injudicious step, in order to prevent disappointment, or anticipate objection, if I apprise the reader of what he has to expect in the following sheets ; that he may close the volume, as soon as he has read this little premonition, should he see reason to be- lieve, that its contents would not gratify his curiosity and taste ; or, that his criticism may be softened down, if not altogether obviated, should he be well pleased to travel through all its pages, from the beginning to thejinis. I would remark, then, that the earlier por* tion of the work consists of " recollections" of what I would call my own literary life ; and of incidents, connected with the suggestion or pub- lication of my various printed productions- With these are mingled " biographical sketches," more or Less comprehensive, of those deceased learned, ingenious, or remarkable persons with whom I had formed an acquaintance, or enjoyed an in* VOL.1. B '^ 1127SC6 f/": 2 PREFATORY REMARK. timacy, during a part of their respective lives ; together with traits of singular characters, now no more, whom I have encountered, at various times and places, in private society, within the last half century. An apology for the hetero- geneous nature of the work follows the " recol- " lections and sketches;" and the whole is concluded by an Appendix, consisting of not incurious papers, and of interesting unpublished correspondence. With respect to the eccentric or peculiar cha- racters to which I have occasionally afforded a place among my sheets, it may be observed that, though they filled no large space in society, and were little known beyond the contracted orbits in which it was their lot to move j yet, the cu- rious habits or singular incidents of their lives appeared to me to promise a chance of enter- tainment to the reader, sufficient to form an excuse for their introduction. The exhibition of contrasted characters, indeed, is always amu- sing, and, not unfrequently, improving. Laud- able curiosity delights in the contemplation of moral opposites ; and lessons of the soundest wisdom, and most valuable experience, may oft- times be deduced from biographical notices of those who had passed their days in the shades of retirement, or amid the humble intercourse of middle life. Before I throw aside my pen, I would express PREFATORY REMARK. 3 my thanks generally to those who have obli- gingly furnished me with several original papers for my Appendix : and offer my particular ac- knowledgments to my honoured friend, the present Lord Bishop of Bath and Wells, for his kind communication of some curious letters, written by the justly celebrated Dr. Hartley, Laurence Sterne, Dr. Jortin, and Andrew Bax- ter, the metaphysician. As my work was intended to be devoted ex- clusively to the mention of departed friends, and by-gone events, the laudatory notice of living characters would appear to be what law- yers emphatically call '< travelling out of the " record," or, in common language, deviating from its purposed plan : I should not, therefore, have here introduced the following quotation from the Berkshire Chronicle, written I know not when, nor by whom, had I not considered it in the light of a tribute (rather than an eulogy) due, in the strictest justice, to the judicious zeal, well-directed energy, and extensive usefulness, of a distinguished prelate ; who, after having conferred many public and private blessings on a distant diocese, has, for the last five years, been pursuing the same pious, discreet, and exemplary conduct in that of Bath and Wells. 4 PREFATORY REMARK. BISHOP OF BATH AND WELLS. We have repeatedly expressed our sincere belief, that at the present moment there exists a foul conspiracy, the great object of which is to destroy the fences of the Established Church, preparatory to a formal attack being made upon it in order to accomplish its final over- throw. That similar meetings to the " Lay " Convocation," lately held at Cork, will have that tendency, we cannot for one moment doubt ; and that Lord Mountcashel, perhaps, however, with the best intention, is lending himself to the design, we have fearful appre- hensions. Under such circumstances, it is con- solatory to reflect^ that the Church has yet left many pious and uncompromising champions, amongst whom we may especially particularise, as the leading members of the English orthodox hierarchy, the Bishop of Salisbury and the Bishop of Bath and Wells. The course of the latter venerable prelate (and we speak of him from our own knowledge), since his elevation to the episcopal bench, has afforded one continued dis- play of that unceasing devotion to the duties of his high calling, which is the best eulogy on his character and conduct as a Christian bishop. His lordship was appointed to the see of Chester in 1812, and his accession to the chief pastoral authority in that extensive diocese was marked PREFATORY REMARK. 5 by an active devotion to the interests of the church, and to the duties which devolved upon him as one of its bishops. He instituted an enquiry into the actual state of every parish ; personally visited all the churches and depend- ent chapelries within the counties of Chester, Lancaster, part of Yorkshire, and in remote and secluded districts of Cumberland and Westmore- land. Where the sabbath and parochial atten- tions of the incumbents had been neglected, owing to too great a laxity of discipline, his lordship immediately remedied the evil, and rendered all his clergy really efficient members of " Christ's church militant on earth." The excellent prelate then directed his attention to the dilapidated state of his cathedral, obtained the royal permission to raise public collections, contributed bountifully out of his own private purse, and in less than twelve months obtained nearly GOOD/, for the pious and benevolent pur- pose of repairing that venerable structure. The bishop infused new spirit into the declining in- fluence of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, and the sister institution for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, by his own active energies and liberal subscriptions, and had the delight of beholding its revenues more prosperous than they had ever been in that populous district of England. The spread of public schools, founded on the principles of the B 3 PREFATORY REMARK. Church of England, was not forgotten ; they were established in all the principal towns ; and Dr. Law's eleemosynary kindness was effectually illustrated by his liberal contributions to all the public charities j by his sermons, each of them a model of simple but persuasive eloquence, in their behalf j and by the numerous thanks which his lordship received from the trustees or com- mittees of management. It was in the midst of these labours, so consonant with his sacred calling, that the worthy Bishop, to the great sorrow of his clergy (who evinced it by their addresses), and the no less sincere regrets of the people at large, was translated to Bath and Wells, leaving behind him an example which was not overlooked by his successor, Dr. Blom- field, and which has also stirred up the present Bishop of Chester to emulate it. The see of Bath and Wells, since 1824, has largely par- taken of the advantages of his spiritual super- vision, and the indigent there have been blessed with a liberal benefactor. In order to relieve the public burdens, and more especially the poor-rates, his lordship was the first to set the example of apportioning small pieces of land to such tenants of the humbler classes who resided on the diocesan estates, and the result was most gratifying, there not being, we believe, an in- stance hitherto of any one individual so situated applying 'for parochial relief. To all these pleasing PREFATORY REMARK. 7 traits of high individual worth, and true Christian kindness, may be added another, which will immor- talise Dr. Law's name as a bishop of the Church of England. His lordship has been sincere and undeviating in the most active opposition to the measures unhappily, we fear lately intro- duced for equalising the religious and political rights of his Majesty's Roman Catholic subjects, with those of the established and peculiar Protestant Church of these essentially Pro- testant realms. It is upon such men that the Church of England must rely in her struggles with potent enemies for her well-being, her su- premacy, and, probably, her very existence. To these few and feeble testimonies to the excellent bishop's public character we may add, that since his accession to the episcopal bench, he has dis- tinguished himself by an uniform and immove- able consistency, and by all those other features of superior merit which entitle him to the ho- nourable appellation of a just and good man. B 4 SUteratp Recollections, UIDENTENf DIC ERE VERTJM QUID VETAT? CHAP. I. MR. HUME, in the neat specimen of autobio- graphy prefixed to his " History of England," has observed, that, " it is difficult for a man to " speak long of himself, without vanity ; " " therefore," says he, " I shall be short." Now, it being quite out of my power to be as brief as the philosophical historian (seeing that my materials are much more copious than his appear to have been), the reader may, natu- rally enough, anticipate, that, in the subsequent numerous sheets, I shall fall into the error which the modest and humble Mr. Hume was so desirous to avoid. I beg leave, however, to assure him or her, in limine, that there is no reasonable foundation for such a notion : since it is my grave resolve, that I will show no undue par- tiality to myself) or my literary productions, in the ensuing " recollections j " but, treat them both with the freedom of intimate friendship ; VOL. i. *B 5 10 LITERARY RECOLLECTIONS. and " nothing extenuate," though I refrain from setting down " aught in malice." My " recollections," vivid as they are, do not, I confess, retrograde to that period of my life, when my mind first imbibed those elements of all literature the four and twenty letters. But, it has been related, that, at this epoch, whenever I obtained an occasional donation of ginger- bread ; the article which I appeared most to prize, and last devoured ; was that which bore upon its surface, in high relief) the mystic cha- racters of the alphabet. Certain destruction, it is true, always awaited this portion of my pre- sent in the end : but, it was the firm opinion of my sagacious Scotch nurse, that this long reservation of the devoted piece, and my final reluctant dispatch of it, clearly evinced a very creditable love of letters, mingled with a very natural passion for " sweet cates." This goodly matron (by name M'Clanny), to whom, in the period of early childhood, it was necessary to entrust me, for certain hours in the day, was herself not deficient in literature. She had acquired, in her own native land of bannocks and education, a competent know- ledge of " the art of reading," as well as a pro- pensity to exercise it, whenever she could snatch a minute for the purpose. Even at this far distant time, I have her venerable form, and picturesque appearance, clear " in my mind's LITERARY RECOLLECTIONS. 11 tragic powers of HENDERSON ; the vis comica of DONOVAN : the drollery of ELLISTON : the naive humour of BISSET ; the broad farce of the younger EDWIN ; and the pathos and beauty of the interesting Miss WALLACE. But, here again, an alteration has taken place in the public habits and character of the city of Bath, to the full as great, as those we have already noticed. Other, and less vulgar pleasures, (but, who dare doubt, more innocent and rational,) have super- seded the ancient customary attendance on the Bath drama ; and, as a natural consequence, its corps is shrunk ; and its bills no longer pro- mise the rare talents, by which they formerly attracted notice. Who, however, can marvel at their diminution and deterioration ; since, the means of their vigour and support have been almost entirely withdrawn ? If it be true, that players " live to please," it is most unquestion- able, also, that they must " eat to live ;" and the necessary pabulum can never be afforded them by galleries, naked of gods: pits, defi- cient in the dii minores gentium : and " a beg- " garly account of empty boxes /" But, amoto ludo To have done with balls, concerts, and plays. Nothing contrasts more strongly in the condition of former and modern Bath ; than, its intellectual character, at the period of my settling therein ; and the state of letters, in VOL. II. *B 6 12 LITERARY RECOLLECTIONS. the same place, at the present time. Not that I would be thought, (for a moment,) to suppose or assert, that this elegant city has not its full com- plement of learned, ingenious, and scientific gentlemen ; whose literary taste, and scholastic acquirements, would throw a lustre over any society, among which they might mingle.* But, it may be truly said of it, that its race of " giants" has passed away. The phalanx of literati, whom it was my good fortune to alight among, in 1794, have disappeared ; nor, would it now be easy to find, a cluster of enlightened men, comparable with those, who then and there, threw into our mass of national literature, works which will be as imperishable as the English language; and either delighted, or improved the public, by their diversified productions, in almost every department of taste, erudition, and science. * The LITERARY INSTITUTION, which sits in classical beauty on the ruins of the Lower Rooms, bids fair, not only to encourage a general taste for letters, among the Bathonians ; but to add to the stock of our published litera- ture. Many are the able men, among its members and supporters ; and none more so, than my learned and accom- plished friends, the Rev. John Hunter, the Historian of Hallamshire, &c. : Sir George Gibbes : the Rev. T. Falconer, M.D. : J. and P. Duncan Esqrs. : Dr. Parry : Dr. Davis : the Rev. E. Mangin : Hastings Elwyn Esq. &c. The papers read before the Society, have been philosophical or inge- nious : and the lectures ; appropriate, luminous, and im- proving. LITERARY RECOLLECTIONS. 13 become, when I entered upon authorship, far better qualified for a romance writer than a biographer ; and approached much nearer, in after life, to the coward than the hero. From the former degradation, however, I was happily saved by the solemn and frequently-repeated admonitions of my excellent and upright pa- rents to the love and observance of stern, un- compromising truth ; and from the latter, by the powerful influence wrought upon my fancy by a book, with which I became acquainted before I had quite completed my fifth year. Ere I apprise the reader, however, of the name of this wonder-working volume, I would just remark, that, fortunately, " the grizzly troop " of witches and fiends, ghosts and goblins, are now utterly banished from the nursery ; other- wise, the above little recital would not have been without its important moral. At the period of which I speak, I was already familiar with the adventures of Tom Thumb, Jack the Giant-killer, and the redoubtable Hickathrift : but, naught of " the lofty Epic" had come within my reach ; when some pro- pitious circumstance either accident, or kind- ness, certainly not purchase put into my hands the SEVEN CHAMPIONS OF CHRISTENDOM. If the courteous reader have ever glowed over the puissant deeds of England's patron saint; and admired the constancy, and pitied the fate, of 14> LITERARY RECOLLECTIONS. the beauteous Salra ; he is qualified to form some faint idea of the panting pleasure with which I read the interesting story. Thrice I thumbed it o'er from end to end ; and each successive time, with fresh and increased delight. But it was not merely the feast of Fancy in which I revelled. Every repeated perusal seemed to invigorate, more and more, my nervous system (as we should now express it), to elevate my conceptions, and qualify me for bold and generous deeds : and ere I parted with my " Champions," I had im- bibed so much of their hardihood, that I could venture, alone, into every room in the house, in the dark ; and felt myself to be capable (for the experiment was never tried) of even walking through the church-yard, without a companion, when the clock struck the solemn midnight hour. * Shortly after this happy confirmation of my good principle and manhood, a great event occurred to me, which opened a fresh and a better field, than the " Tales of the Nursery," for the exercise of my imaginative faculty. As the circumstance was connected with "the march of intellect" in the subject of these * My partiality for " The Seven Champions" was sanc- tioned by the example of Dr. Parr. In a copy of this popular romance contained in the doctor's library was written the following note " It was a favourite book with " me when a boy." Bib. Parr. p. 5 1 28. LITERARY RECOLLECTIONS. 15 " recollections," its introduction into my volume will not be out of place. The kindness of my father would fain treat me with a play : and that the impressions made upon my mind by so great a novelty might be of the most pleasing character, it was deter- mined that we should go to see " The Clandes- tine Marriage," and some popular Pantomime, advertised for a certain evening at the theatre in Drury-Lane. The wished-for hour at length arrived, and to the playhouse we proceeded ; but, unfortunately, as the night chanced to be one of Garrick's last appearances, we found the house crammed even beyond "squeezing room," and all ingress to be utterly impossible. At the suggestion of my godfather, however, who made one of the party, it was arranged, that I should not be disappointed of my play : and, in a short time, the trio found themselves commodiously seated in the pit at Covent Garden. A tragedy and farce formed the evening's entertainment " Macbeth," &c. if I mistake not, and " High Life below Stairs." A quick succession of vary- ing, but intense, emotions rushed through my mind, as the business of the tragedy proceeded; but, though I alternately wept with pity, and fired with indignation, yet, I well remember that I did not tremble with alarm, even when the substantial witches stirred their magical cauldron, and the ghosts of flesh and blood rose from 1C) LITERARY RECOLLECTIONS. beneath the stage, with such undauntedness luul I been inspired by " the Seven Champions of " Christendom." My enjoyment upon the whole, however, must have been, as Dominie Sampson says, "prodigious;" for traces of it are detected by me even at the present hour, in the more than common pleasure which I now derive from the perusal of this sublime dramatic composition of the immortal Shakspeare. But, it was an enjoy- ment of a solemn, silent character, felt and not expressed ; for, to the astonishment of my father and his friend, not a single exclamation of ecstasy or wonder escaped my lips during the whole performance. The only evidence, indeed, which I afforded (as long as the play lasted) of possessing the faculty of speech, was a remark, between the first and second acts, respecting the great cost of the innumerable candles that blazed around me : an observation hailed by my god- father (a man of careful spirit) as a certain pre- sage of a future prudential and economical turn of mind. The deep impression, however, struck upon my spirit by the tragedy, was not long without its practical manifestation. Solitary declamation soon became my most delightful recreation j or, perhaps, I may more properly say, my most serious employment. In every hole or corner which afforded an opportunity of indulging my newly-acquiied taste, unseen and unheard, I LITERARY RECOLLECTIONS. 17 spouted and " strutted my little hour ;" creating incidents, inventing speeches, and personating characters ; nor is it at all unlikely, that, at this period, and by these exercises, was sown the first germ of a predilection (strengthening as time rolled on) for that profession, which, for forty years, has been my happy lot in life. One characteristical circumstance, however, ^hat grew out of this histrionic mania, must have its place in these "Recollections" of my early days. A short time after my introduction to the drama, the usual summons to our dinner, wont to be obeyed with the utmost promptitude, did not bring me to the table till after the com- mencement of the meal " Where have you " been, Richard ? " said my father. I was mute. " Why is your jacket so closely buttoned " this hot day ? " My colour changed ; but still I spoke not. " What's the matter with the " boy? Why don't you answer me ? Open your ' coat immediately, child." The tone of the command forbade all delay. I " blushed celes- "tial rosy red" unloosed the garment and down dropped a naked carving knife, with which I had been enacting the heroic character of Macduff; and inflicting on an empty barrel, the vengeance justly due to the foul murderer of the " gentle Duncan." It may be violating the order of strict chro- nology, perhaps, but at the same time it will VOL. i, c 18 LITERARY RECOLLECTIONS. preserve the unity of sulyect, if I mention instead of further on, a trifling incident, to which, though it occurred before I was six years old, I cannot cast a retrospective eye, without a strange and mixed emotion of pleasure and of melan- choly. My elder sister, whose pure and gentle spirit has, I trust, been long in blessedness ; and whose heart to its last beat, throbbed only with kindliness and love j contrived a little plan for the indulgence of my propensity to dramatic recitation, which afforded a delight both to the performers and their audience, as perfect in kind, and as high in degree, as was, perhaps, ever experienced or expressed, in any of the grown-up theatres of ancient or modern times. A short and pleasing dramatic pastoral called Lindamira, of one act ; three scenes ; and as many characters, personated by my two sisters and myself; was the piece chosen for this memor- able purpose. Pathos, with an utter exclusion of the terrible, characterised the composition ; but, as I was to figure on the boards both as a lover and a hero, this double personification amply consoled me for the absence of every thing strictly tragic in the representation. A room in the house to which my father had recently removed his family, suited admirably for the performance of our pastoral, which was entirely got up without the knowledge of any human being save those who composed its dra- LITERARY RECOLLECTIONS. 19 matts persona?. The deep bow-window at the extremity of this parlour, served the double pur- poses of the green-room and the stage : the cur- tain that stretched across it (divided as it was in the middle), on being partially undrawn, disclos- ing "ample room and verge enough" for exhibition ; and the undrawn half, concealing another portion of the bow, for attiring, change of dress, the entrances and the exits. No sooner had the tea and its accompaniments disappeared, than, to the surprise of our parents, the perform- ers withdrew behind the curtain ; but how did their marvelling swell into astonishment, when on the removal of the half-drapery, they saw and heard the hero Anselmo (enacted by myself), in loud and long soliloquy, pouring forth and ges- ticulating every impassioned expression of jea- lousy, rage, and despair ! The principal actor was, I conclude, most ably supported, for (let the reader smile if it please htm so to do) never did a crowded house on a benefit night, feel or evince more unalloyed pleasure and genuine sympathy, than glowed in the hearts, and glis- tened in the eyes, of our enchanted father and mother. After a lapse of more than fifty years I took a transient survey of the dwelling, which had been the scene of this, and many other of my early joys. The mansion itself was recollected, from its central situation in one of the streets of c 2 <30 LITERARY RECOLLECTIONS. Marylebone, and from the pyramidal termination of its front ; but I looked in vain for those ac- companiments, which had rendered it so inter- esting to my careless childhod. The memorable bow-window was no where to be found ; a flat wall and modern casement occupied its place. The neat little garden into which it opened, at whose further end, was anciently the spot de- voted to the exercise of my horticultural skill, appeared to have been covered with unseemly workshops: and the noble meadow immediately behind it (a part of Wellan's farm), where the kite had wont to fly, the cowslip to be gathered, and better than all, the bowl of milk to be quaffed, pure, warm, and foaming from the udder, was covered with a long succession of gigantic streets and gorgeous mansions, in comparison with which, my residence in times of yore, whose front I used fondly to regard as the most comely in the neighbourhood, was a diminutive hovel ! The incident, however, just related, is, as I before remarked, an anticipation, it having oc- curred (during my holidays) some months after I had been initiated into the mysteries of syste- matic education ; or, in other words, sent to a boarding-school, on the completion of my fifth year. Ill betide the fame of that poet, who could transgress so grossly against common sense and common experience, as to sing, LITERARY RECOLLECTIONS. 21 ** Happy ! thrice happy ! is the school-boy's lot ! " His cares how few ! how soon those cares forgot !" disguising, in a mendacious couplet, some of the sorest miseries of human life. Assuredly he must have been some hapless orphan, to whom the Limen amabile matris et osculum were utterly unknown ; or some more miserable varlet, who had endured, at his own wretched dwelling, all the capricious tyranny of an iras- cible stepmother : for, independently of those " ills to come," which Gray so pathetically enumerates as " awaiting" the schodl-boy in after life ; the present sufferings of a little Tyro, like myself, of only five years' standing in the world, suddenly severed from a home of peace, and a circle of love ; from countless tender offices, and well-timed soothing caresses ; and thrown among a tumultuary rabble of seventy or eighty stranger-lads (like all other crowds), rude, insolent, and inhuman : the state of feel- ing, I repeat, excited in such a tiny exile from home, by so sad a reverse in circumstances, is as unlike a state of happiness, as the condition of the writhing toad, under the sharp teeth of the scarifying harrow. To experience this miserable contrast, how- ever, an imperious propriety demanded that I should now be called ; and on one murky c 3 22 LITERARY RECOLLECTIONS. Monday morning, I started from my home, with heavy heart and tearful eye, accompanied by a trusty domestic, to a large boarding-school in the immediate vicinity of London, which was not then without " a name of honourable note." A celebrated facetious clerk, who far excels most of his brethren of the cloth in the brilliant talent of conversational "wit, and is fortunate in the possession of the two-fold faculty, of melting a congregation into tears, and " setting the table " in a roar*" in speaking to a friend of mine, of one of his acquaintance who had determined to devote himself to the profession of a player, observed, that the plan of this gentleman's debut was greatly conceived ; * 4 for," said he, " he made his first step on the stage, in the leg of an elephant"* My entrance, however, on the * Another instance of the same gentleman's tioitty par- lance, which occurred in the conversation above alluded to, is too good to pass unrecorded. Mr. * * * * * had just taken possession of a country living. " How is it possible," said my friend, " that you, * * * * *, should ever be able " to endure a rural life ? You, who have hitherto consorted " only with the gay, the sparkling, and the great ? You, " who have basked for years in the sunshine of popular " favour, and been perfumed with the incense of admiratiom " even to satiety. Oh ! you'll die the first year of your rus- " tication with ennui." " Pardon me, my dear sir," returned the wit; " you quite mistake the matter. I am passionately " fond of the country. 1 had always a little green spot in " my heart ; and long tired with being a tvhite-pocket-hand- " kerchief-preacher, I have, for years, been anxiously looking * forwards to \hefuture in rus." LITERARY RECOLLECTIONS. 23 proscenium of a numerously-peopled school, was by no means of such an imposing description : for, being somewhat short in stature, and crest- fallen in mien, I neither felt, nor appeared (though clad in my Sunday's suit} likely to ex- cite the admiration, or ensure the respect, of the uproarious crowd by which I was immedi- ately surrounded. In fact, my utter inability to participate in, or relish their boisterous mirth, entirely prevented, on their part, the slightest sympathy in my too visible sorrow. The older boys regarded my tears with an eye of silent scorn ; the younger ones with a quizzing or malicious grin. Various nicknames, neither of the most courteous nor creditable signification, were speedily applied to me. My being the youngest and the shortest boy in the school was made a matter of reproach : divers impertinent liberties were taken with my person and best clothes ; and I know not to what extent these petty persecutions might have reached, had not a fine youth, of the first form, pitying my forlorn condition, voluntarily become the champion of the mannikin in the sky-blue coat ; dispersed the nest of hornets that infested me; and declared himself to be my protector and avenger, both in present and in future : a pledge which, from that moment, he conscientiously fulfilled. The name of George Jackson, the first friend whom I found when fairly launched 24 LITERARY RECOLLECTIONS. on the sea of life, will never fade from my re- collection, 'while memory " holds its seat" within my brain. His after-lot well became the noble- ness of his character. He entered into one of the most generous of all professions, the naval service ; and, in rank of lieutenant, fell, bravely righting the battles of his country, in a desperate action which occurred with a French ship of war, towards the close of our first contest with America. There are, perhaps, few establishments in our country, which have more improved in their respective systems of management, within the last fifty years, than our private boarding-schools; for the public seminaries of the empire have, with little variation, been always regulated by the same excellent principles, and conducted according to the same judicious arrangements, as those on which they were originally instituted. To say nothing of the frequent incompetency of those who undertook the direction of such places of juvenile instruction, at the period alluded to; their domestic economy was then, too often, of a character by no means calculated to provide for the reasonable comfort ; to invigorate the good principles ; or improve the lesser morals of the urchins received under their roofs. The diet was, generally speaking, coarse and scanty; sometimes offensive and unwholesome: frequently three, and never less than two unfortunate lads, LITERARY RECOLLECTIONS. 25 were condemned to stew together in one wretched pallet: personal cleanliness formed no part of scholastic duty; and those decencies in language, and courtesies of behaviour; those honorable sentiments, and gentlemanly manners ; which are now so much insisted on, and so generally prevalent in all our respectable academies, held no place in the opera operanda, of too many of the private boarding schools in former times. I might enumerate many instances of the de- fective regime of the seminary wherein it was my lot to spend between four and five years of my early boyhood; but will content myself with mentioning two facts, illustrative of the truth of the remarks which I have just made, and of the little attention paid at this place of education, to the personal comfort and health of its juvenile inmates. The bill of fare for the day formed so striking a contrast with the plain, but wholesome and palatable mode of living at my father's dwelling, as made a most painful impression upon all my organs of taste and smell at the time ; and stamped upon my mind so vivid and indelible a recollection of it, as will se- cure me from any mistake in describing its particulars. A breakfast, consisting of a slice of bread, coarse and dry, and a porringer of that delectable fluid mixture called London milky so invitingly described by Matthew Bramble, Esq. formed 26 LITERARY RECOLLECTIONS^ our first meal for the day ; at one o'clock the dinner succeeded, less meagre, indeed, than its precursor, but by no means more relishing ; for, what miserable wight who ever tasted it, can recollect without a shudder, the first dish that appeared upon the table, a portion of which was to be despatched before "the meat might be touched ? No : never shall I forget the abo- minable compound, hideous in its form, that of a huge human leg deprived of its foot ! and disgusting in its materials, brown flour, studded with lumps of unpicked suet ! denominated, from its quotidian appearance, the DAILY PUDDING ! to be washed down with a beverage that Tom Wharton would have called " small acid tiff;" but which the domestic brewer humorously honoured with the name of " beer." Not a lad in the school, I believe, ever cast an eye on this most execrable of all puddings, with- out a sensation at his stomach something resem- bling sea-sickness ; and on no occasion did he exert more ingenuity, than in devising plans to rid his plate of its nauseating load. The pockets, full often, received a portion, to be dis- posed of, at convenient seasons, in the ditches of the play-ground ; while, ever and anon, a large lump was jerked under the table so adroitly, as to fall far from the seat of him who had dis- charged the shot ; and worse than all, the little boys, of whom I was the least, were frequently LITERARY RECOLLECTIONS. #7 compelled, under the penalty of a severe pum- melling, to cram down those masses of the hor- rible DAILY PUDDING, which the larger lads, in their immediate neighbourhood, could, or would not themselves despatch. The supper; at six o'clock, made no amends for the scantiness of the breakfast, or the abo- mination of the dinner ; as it consisted of rations of bread and cheese, discreetly small, to pre- vent nightly indigestion ; and a hornful of the beverage, which I have just above so deservedly lauded. But, distasteful and scanty as our food might be, the junior members of this numerous fra- ternity, suffered far more severely from a dearth of fluid, than from any restrictions on the satis- fying or pampering of the appetite. To them, the grateful and commonly-enjoyed pleasure, of slaking the thirst when it became oppressive, was altogether prohibited ; as neither water nor the aforesaid " small acid tiff" could be pro- cured, save at the stated hours of breakfast, dinner, and supper. The pumps, situated in the lower regions, or on the kitchen-floor, were to them unapproachable : the interdicted spot being guarded by a very she-dragon ; a crabbed old dame Leonarda ; who had the strictest orders, not only to prevent any boy frojn entering upon this terra incognita, but also, on no account, to dispense any refreshing draughts, either from 28 LITERARY RECOLLECTIONS. the cistern or the barrel orders which she conscientiously observed, except with regard to those fortunate elder youths, who could either fee, or frighten, her, into a violation of them. Were I to live to the age of " the wandering " Jew," I should not lose sight of the misery, which this terrible regulation occasionally in- flicted on me, and my school-mates of the lowest form. The sailor, who, on a tropical ocean, has been restricted to half a pint of water in the four-and-twenty-hours ; or the traveller across the Great Desert, " Where no fresh springs in murmurs break away ; " Or moss-clad fountains mitigate the day ;" who has seen his water-skins burst, and his camels perish around him; sufferers of this cast, I repeat, may imagine, with sufficient correct- ness, the agonies which were frequently endured by the little victims of this horrid prohibition : but, surely, " The gentlemen of England who live at home at ease ;" who may quaff their tankard; empty their bottle; or drain their tea-pot, at their own free will and pleasure ; these happy beings can never form an adequate idea (as Locke has it) of the tor- ture endured by an active little boy, whose fauces, parched with the heat of the dog-days, with violent exercise, and a large consumption LITERARY RECOLLECTIONS. 29 of animal fluid, were denied a draught of water to cool, moisten, and unpucker them. I will not wound the feelings, or offend the delicacy, of the reader, by recounting the various strange contrivances to which the gasping lads resorted, to allay their intolerable thirst; but, merely remark, that, for some years after this season of suffering had passed away, I was wont, occa- sionally, to be visited, in my dreams of the night, with an ideal revival of the privation, and its painful effects : and so dread was the fanciful creation, that I always tossed with agony during the vision, and awoke from it in the hor- rors ! * It is but common justice, however, to the academy of which I am now speaking, to ac- knowledge, that, scant and unrelishing as our diet, and cruel as the prohibition of fluid might have been, a very praiseworthy attention was paid in it, to the scholastic improvement of the boys. The monitory line which meets the * I have understood from a friend who was educated at the Charter House, that, thirty years ago, an admirable practice was regularly exercised at that noble public semi- nary, to save the lads from the sufferings of severe thirst, after a day of active exercise. At the hour of nine in the evening, one of the boys passed through the passage of the dormitory, bearing a flagon of water, and crying out, occa- sionally, Quis bibat? The youth who happened to be in want of the fluid responded bibam, and was immediately supplied with the necessary refreshment. 30 LITERARY RECOLLECTIONS. eye, on entering the school-room of Winchester College, " Aut disce, out decede, manet sors tertia cadi? was the judicious rule of our discipline : and study, departure, or condign punishment, the only alternatives of every boy who became a member of our establishment. The old process of gaining knowledge had not then ceased to be fashionable : and tasks were to be performed ; exercises elaborated; and languages acquired; not by the tricks and facilities resorted to in modern education ; but, by fagging, doggedly, at the grammar ; and turning over, incessantly and unweariedly, the dictionary and the lexicon ; the wandering attention, in the mean while, being called back to its proper business, and the flagging industry invigorated, by a wholesome occasional application of the ferula and the birch. The pedagogue had not, as yet, given up a plan of teaching, sanctioned by the practice and experience of nearly three hundred years ; nor applied to mind, the same principle of rapid manufacture, which has been recognised (and carried into effect by machinery} in our woollen, cotton, and silk establishments. Our ancestors knew nothing of the present popular systems of Lancaster, Bell, Pestalozzi, Fallenberg, Hamil- ton, &c. which, though they may make the sparkling sciolist, will never form the solid and LITERARY RECOLLECTIONS. 31 accomplished scholar. They were aware, that there is " no royal road to the mathematics ;" no contrivance to bring, suddenly, into full foli- age, those buds of intellect, which nature in- tended should gradually expand. They knew it to be a law of our present condition, that, as all physical advantages are to be obtained only at the price of labour and toil ; so, mental ac- quirements must be the result and the reward, of patient and long-continued industry : and that, in proportion to the diligence to be exercised, and the difficulties to be overcome, in the master- ing of any branch of knowledge ; in the same ratio, would be its clearness to the understand- ing, and its fixedness in the mind. The irksome drudgery of this part of my life, and the severities occasionally associated with it, were, I confess/ exceedingly obnoxious to me at the time ; but, they have been since amply repaid : for, I may truly say, that, whilst much of the classical information obtained in my maturer age, is now but imperfectly retained, the humbler branches of scholastic knowledge, which were thus labori- ously acquired at my first place of regular in- struction, are, for the most part, present to my mind at this moment, in all their original freshness. I cannot quit this never-to-be-forgotten scene of suffering and learning, without relating one incident of a very striking nature 5 a circum- 32 LITERARY RECOLLECTIONS. stance which made such a forcible impression on me at the period of its occurrence, as time has not, hitherto, been able to obliterate. It may be considered, also, as in some measure con- nected with my literary life : for, who shall say (so mixed are human motives) that it might not have had a secret influence, in colour- ing my view of the CATHOLIC QUESTION ; and producing my pamphlet against CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION ? * In the immediate vicinity of our school was a large seminary, for the education of youths of the Roman Catholic persuasion. Our respective play-grounds did not, indeed, adjoin each other; but were separated merely by a long field, which (though its steep ditches, and strong hawthorn hedges, precluded all hand-to-hand fighting,) was so narrow, as to allow the two schools (eternal and inveterate foes) to reciprocate, like the heroes of old, constant abuse and defiance ; and, * I am waiting with impatience to congratulate my fellow- protestants of his Majesty's United Kingdoms, on those happy results, which were to invalidate all my arguments, and put to shame all my ratiocinations, by the complete tranquillisation of Ireland, and the perfect satisfaction of the British papists, in consequence of CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. O prceclara dies ! but when, alas, will it arrive ? The pam- phlet alluded to, is, " CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION incom- " patible with the Safety of the established Religion, Laws, " and Protestant Succession, of the British Empire : an " Address, &c. London: Rivingtons, 1829." LITERARY RECOLLECTIONS. 3 occasionally, to engage in actual warfare with stones, shards, and other dangerous missiles. On one of these memorable occasions, I, toge- ther with several of my compatriots, (who were as yet too young either to bear a commission, or even to be admitted into the ranks,) were com- pelled to employ ourselves, like powder-monkies on board a ship of war, in supplying the com- batants with ammunition for the conflict. I was in the act of presenting to our commander- in-chief, my hat, brimming full of stones and broken slates, when a shot, from the adverse party, suddenly descended on my unprotected head, penetrated my organ of combativeness, levelled me with the turf, and covered me with blood. The mark of the disastrous wound still remains ; and the tumour occasioned by it, has never been entirely reduced to its natural size : so that, should I now submit this characteristical bump to the inspection of any one of the psy- chological, physiological, phrenological, and all but philosophical disciples of the celebrated Dr. Spurzheim, he would instantly pronounce me to be afflicted with as strong a pugnacious pro- pensity, as the Grecian Achilles of old ; the re- doubted Tom Belcher of modern times j or the present pugilistic champion, whoever he may be, of that portion of his majesty's dominions called " all England." My fearful accident silenced the Protestant VOL. I. D 34 LITERARY RECOLLECTIONS. battery. I was led in by my astonished com- panions, shaking my " gory locks," to the master; severely objurgated by him for my capital offence ; sent off, supperless, to bed ; and the Jiext morning, in that spirit of pure equity, which then regulated the proceedings of most of our boarding-schools, was summarily tried, condemned, and flagellated, for a sheer misfortune, which had befallen me, when engaged in a service, embarked in with much the same feeling of " free-will and pleasure " as a lands- man experiences, when pressed on board a man of war. LITERARY RECOLLECTIONS. 35 CHAP. II. I HAD already mastered the perplexities of Lilly ; run through the dialogues of Corderius ; become familiar with the fables of Phsedrus ; read the first book of Ovid ; peeped into Virgil ; and formed a slight acquaintance with the Greek alphabet, when a new scene of life was unfolded to my mind, by a change in our family residence. My father had, for some time, determined on a removal from London ; and, after much de- liberation, Lymington, in Hampshire, was fixed on as the place of our future abode; a migration, followed by consequences, to me, of singular importance ; as it gave a new character to my studies ; a new turn to my tastes ; directed my attention to other pursuits than had hitherto occupied it; and greatly influenced the events of all my subsequent years. Of the country I had often read and heard, but never seen it, unless the immediate dusty environs of the metropolis deserve that sacred name ; for, as Cowper truly sings, " God made the country, but man made the town." It may readily be imagined, therefore, how impatient I was to become acquainted with "an D 2 30 LITERARY RECOLLECTIONS. order of things" so entirely novel to my ex- perience ; and with what pleasure I beheld the vehicle drive up, which was to convey us to that Paradise, in which my fancy had been dis- porting, ever since the grand project of our bidding adieu to London, had been communicated to me. My heart dilated at the sight of the equipage. I had never entered a carriage so completely appointed : a commodious coach, with four bay-horses j a driver and postilion ; and I greatly fear, that a feeling of rank and unpardonable pride, was the predominant emo- tion of my bosom, when I stepped into the vehicle, and " Look'd contempt on little folks below." Our journey, divided by a halt at Basingstoke, occupied two days ; for, so far removed, at that time, was the condition of the public roads from the state of perfection to which they have at- tained, since the great reformer, M'Adam, has mended our ways, that the distance between London and Lymington, little more than ninety miles, which might now be travelled in ten short hours, would then have occupied full double that space of time. So nicely, however, are advan- tages balanced against their opposites, in all human affairs, that the rate of postage, at the period alluded to, did not exceed eight-pence per mile ; and I have often heard my father repeat, LITERARY RECOLLECTIONS. 37 that the sum which he engaged to pay to the coach-master, for our smart equipage and two conductors (who were out four whole days and three nights), was only Jive guineas ; the propri- etor taking upon himself, every expence incurred by the horses and their drivers during their absence from home. Lymington (in the outskirts of which we were settled very shortly after our arrival there) might then be considered as one of the most cheerful, genteel, and sociable borough-towns in the south of England. Its localities are still beautiful. Partly spreading itself over the higher level ground, while another moiety descends a gentle hill, it is, at all times, clean and dry, airy and healthy. A tide-river washes its quays ; flowing from the woody recesses of Brocken- hurst, and losing itself in the strait which sepa- rates the isle of Wight from the main land. This sheet of water, together with the island, form its view to the south and west j while a scene of a different character (the sloping grounds and groves of Walhampton, the seat of Sir Harry Neale, Bart. ; Vicar's Hill, the former residence of the accomplished and excellent Rev. William Gilpin Boldre ; Buck land- rings, &c.) completes the panorama on the east and north. The attractions of Lymington, however, in the year 1776, were of a better description than D 3 38 LITERARY RECOLLECTIONS. those of local scenery. It had a moral and social beauty, which, though not then exclusively its own, was generally acknowledged to be more conspicuous there, than in most other places. The town, being no thoroughfare, was secure alike from the contamination of imported vice ; the introduction of novel crime ; and the ever- shifting absurdities of an unnatural and unhealthy refinement. In its small and steady population, the circumstance of every individual being known to his neighbour, was a sufficient guarantee for the general security ; while the friendly and cordial manners of the respectable inhabitants of the town and neighbourhood ; their generous, though inexpensive hospitality, and free recipro- cation of courtesies and kindnesses, ran no risk of being annihilated or diminished, by those wandering " felicity-hunters," who now swarm like locusts over the land, and in the search of that, which they never can attain, are sure to alter for the worse, the habits and manners of those amongst whom they unhappily alight. Lymington had, indeed, its humble baths ; but they .were resorted to, in the summer season, merely by quiet invalids, or by such as sought a temporary escape from fashionable life, or pub- lic business, in its calm, but cheerful retreat. Visitors of this cast, added only a wholesome gaiety to the town, without infringing upon its established system of social intercourse. They LITERARY RECOLLECTIONS. 39 stood not aloof from the respectable families of the place, and its vicinity, as if they were beings of a superior kind, or higher grade in the scale of creation ; but accommodated to the habits, and interchanged the civilities, which they per- ceived to be customary amongst those with whom they sojourned. In short, they wisely adopted that trait of national character in a neighbouring kingdom, which might be advantageously imi- tated by our own too-proud and unsociable coun- trymen : for, however demoralizing or ridiculous French manners may generally be regarded, yet, surely, in our customary intercourse with society, it would be neither unamiable, nor un- dignified, to follow the example of those, " Who please, are pleased ; who give, to get esteem ; " Till seeming blest, they grow to what they seem." I throw back, with the purest satisfaction, a retrospective eye to the earlier years of my sojourn in the interesting vicinity of Lyming- ton ; and would fain flatter myself) that my gentle reader will pardon the introduction of a slight sketch of those habits of social life, which, in a former generation, characterised, not only this little town, but many others also, situated, like Lymington, at a distance from the metro- polis. The picture will be different, indeed, from what now meets our observation whereso- ever we direct it a view of a state of society D 4? 40 LITERARY RECOLLECTIONS. in England, which exists, at present, only in dim recollection, but, it may not perhaps be uninteresting, as the representation of zbye-gone thing : and, haply too, may awaken in the con- templative mind, a rational doubt, whether our improvement, as it is called, in the forms of social life, has been accompanied by a proportionate increase of social enjoyment j and whether we are not become too refined to be happy. I may, I think, safely say, that at the time of our settling at Lymington, the far greater num- ber of its houses were inhabited by what are usually denominated independent families : in other words, such as were in no ways connected with trade : and I may as truly add, that, al- though few of these families possessed an income larger than three hundred pounds a year, yet the exercise and pleasures of a free hospitality, were more universally practised and enjoyed by them, than we now perceive to be the case, where the means of such rational gratification are of four- fold greater extent. A few old, respectable, and long-established families, of ampler, though moderate fortunes, were scattered through the neighbourhood, where more plentiful boards, and larger esta- blishments might be seen, than in the adjoining town ; but this superiority in income by no means separated these Hidalgos from their less affluent neighbours. A mutual interchange of cor- LITERARY RECOLLECTIONS. 41 dial visits subsisted between " the cloth of gold," and " the cloth of frieze :" and while the squires. refrained from dazzling or overwhelming the town-folk, by a sumptuous fare, with which the latter could not compete, they thought no scorn of the plain hospitality of their humbler friends, seasoned, as it ever was, with a hearty and honest welcome. " 'Tis only day-light that makes sin," says the gay wassailer, Comus : and if we advert to the present hours of refection and amusement in fashionable life, we may fairly conclude, that they who fill this caste in society, regulate their feasts and fetes, with a view to this sage and edifying maxim : since their dinner at eight, necessarily drives off the sipping of Bohea till midnight, and their breaking-up to the rising of the glorious sun ; thus effectually securing their revels, (upon the principle of the son of Circe,) from the slightest imputation of moral offence. The harmlessness, however, of this conversion of night into day, physically considered (that is, as it regards the vigour and spirits of those who adopt it,) does not appear to quadrate exactly with the innocence to which the adage of Comus would seem to attribute the practice j for, if we may reason from the general aspect of the gay world (as it is egregiously mis-named), their state of health, and condition of mind ; 42 LITERARY RECOLLECTIONS. from the sallow countenance, lack-lustre eye, and dead-alive carriage of the exquisite ; from the faded cheeks, debilitated forms, dissatisfied spi- rits, and nervous affections, of the youthful female victims to late hours ; and from the " Convulsions, epilepsies, fierce catarrhs, " Intestine stone and ulcer, colic-pangs, " Dropsies and asthmas, and joint-racking rheums," " the painful family of death," which afflict the more mature votaries of fashionable dissipation ' we must come to this inevitable conclusion that the modern application, among our higher grades, of the hours for repose to the purposes of pleasure, though (according to Comus) it may strip revelry of sin, is, most assuredly, by no means productive of constitutional robustness ; intellectual vigour ; mental hilarity ; or of that enjoyment which pleases on reflection. The hospitalities of Lymington were con- ducted upon a different plan, and regulated by far more rational and salutary principles, than those which we have been considering. The hour of two was that generally appointed for dinner; and, among the higher classes, it seldom exceeded three, even when the expectation of company rendered it polite to defer the time of repast. At six o'clock, the refreshing odour of the then unadulterated tea, invited the gentlemen into the parlour (as it was called), LITERARY RECOLLECTIONS. 43 and associated them again with the females of of the party. A merry round game for the younger guests, and a sober pool of quadrille for the elder ones ; diversified, occasionally, by those humble exercises of wit, riddles, conun- drums, and charades, succeeded this refreshment. These, and other divertisements of a like cheerful character, gaily occupied the time, till the im- portant hour of nine, when the supper once more brought the company into closer contact, and employed them in the discussion of those substantial dainties, which, in such good times, were wont to smoke upon the board at this sociable and agreeable meal. Two or three hi. larious hours, rendered not less festive by the ample bowl of well-mixed punch which reeked in the centre of the table, followed the removal of the cloth ; and the room echoed, for the re- mainder of the evening, with the song and the duett, the catch and glee, the good-humoured sally and contagious laugh. Before the hour of midnight, all had retired to their respective homes, without having made perhaps any great proficiency in " the school of fashion," or con- siderable advance in " the march of intellect ;" but, certainly, with some improvement in the virtues of the heart in kindliness of feeling j in suavity of temper ; and in good-humour with themselves and others. Still more frequent than these stated visits, 44 LITERARY RECOLLECTIONS. were the schemes of social pleasure which grew out of accident, or were " got up " on the spur of the moment, and put into execution as soon as suggested. Full often have I known parties of this unpremeditated description, consisting of fifteen or twenty young persons of both sexes, properly chaperoned, (among whom, I, as a sprightly and not disobliging boy, generally gained admittance,) starting together for a walk to some rural spot, or clean farm-house, three or four miles distant from the town ; and, after re- galing on tea and biscuits, sent thither for the purpose, and on a foaming syllabub, manufac- tured on the spot returning under the light of the moon ; and, by the way, " charming night's " dull ear " with the solo strain, or choral song ; and not less seldom have I made one in a waggon, loaded with youth and beauty, and with the material necessary for the satisfaction of the one, and the preservation of the other, destined either to an umbrageous oak in the contiguous New-Forest, or to the interesting ruins of Beaulieu Abbey ; where the day was spent, and the repast enjoyed, with a relish, which the gorgeous galas of modern times rarely, if ever, impart. The attractions of these festive parties, frequently induced the high-bred sojourners in the town, to join the happy groups; and I have known the bands of pedestrians, or the riders in the waggon, accompanied by lordly LITERARY RECOLLECTIONS. 45 beaux, and titled dames, who, at another season of the year, have been resplendent in a box at the opera-house, or have glittered in the circle at St. James's. It is in my recollection (for the notice he obligingly bestowed upon young people made a strong impression on my mind), that on more than one occasion, a personage, even of royal bloody honoured these little schemes of rural enjoyment with his presence. The gen- tleman I allude to was a Mr. Dunkerly, who bore a commission in some militia regiment, and was universally asserted, and as generally be- lieved, to be an illegitimate son of George the vSecond, and consequently an uncle of our late excellent and venerable monarch. The extra- ordinary resemblance, indeed, which he bore to George the Third, was a sufficient confirmation of the truth of this report. His early life and manhood had been passed in obscurity, and his education neglected. In scholastic acquirements, therefore, he was deficient ; but his natural ta- lents were far above par : and while his " high " bearing " and polished manners, evinced that he sprang from no common stock, the pleasantry of his wit, and the charms of his conversation, were strong evidences, of a mind, rich in original powers ; of an acute and attentive observation of mankind ; and of a comprehensive experience, applied to the accumulation of practical wisdom. It was not till the period of advanced life, that