:.;:.- pGwUp^k : A aV c 1W I THE HISTORY OF LEICESTER EIGHTEENTH CENTUBY. By the same Author. THE HISTORY OF LEICESTER, FKOM THE TIME OF THE ROMANS TO THE END OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. Royal Svo. Cloth. — Price 21s. THE HISTORY OF LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. BY JAMES THOMPSON, AUTHOR OF A HISTORY OF LEICESTER FROM THE TIME OF THE ROMANS TO THE END OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. LEICESTER: CROSSLEY AND CLARKE. LONDON: HAMILTON, ADAMS, AND CO. MDCCCLXXI. 1-ST5 « LEICESTER : PRINTED BY CROSSI.EY AND OLARKE. LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS. His Grace the Duke of Rutland (two copies). The Right Honourable Lord Berners, Keythorpe Hall. The Venerable the Archdeacon of Leicester. Sir Geoffrey Palmer, Bart., Carlton Park. Sir Henry Dry den, Bart., Canons Ashby. Sir G. H. Beaumont, Bart., Coleorton Hall. The Hon. Sir John Mellor,Knt., 16, Sussex Square, Hyde Park, London. John Dove Harris, Esq., m.p., Ratcliffe Hall (two copies). J. Stafford, Esq., Mayor of Leicester, Stonygate, Leicester. Adcock, Rev. H. H., Brighton. Agar, Mr. T., 48, Lower Hastings Street, Leicester. Allen, T., Esq., Thurmaston. Baines, Mr. G. H., 53, Princess Street, Leicester. Barfoot, Mr. W., Welford Place, Leicester. Barrs, Mr. J., High Street, Leicester. Barwell, Mr. Thomas, 17, Cank Street, Leicester. Bates, Mr. W. H„ Narborough Road, Leicester. Bellairs, G., Esq., The Newarke, Leicester. Bennett, J., Esq., The Woodlands, Kir by Muxloe. Billson, A., Esq., Cavendish Road, Birkenhead. Billson, W., Jun., Esq., New Walk, Leicester. Bland, Mr. T., Redcross Street, Leicester. Brook, C, Esq., J.P., Enderby Hall (two copies). Brookhouse, Miss, London Road, Leicester. Bruxner, Rev. G. E., Thurlaston. Burdett, Mr. Charles, Lutterworth. Burgin, Rev. W. Roby, Shardlow (two copies). Burley, W., Esq., Rutland Street, Leicester. Caswell, Mr. C, Evington, Leicester. Charlesworth, Mr. T., The Hollow, Leicester. Checkland, G., Esq., Knighton, Leicester. Clarke, I. P., Esq., De Montfort Square, Leicester. Clarke, Mr. R. J., 23, Gallowtree Gate, Leicester. Clephan, E., Esq., South Fields, Leicester. Coleman, W., Esq., Loughborough. 801046 VI LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS. Colston, John, Esq., Little Hampton. Coltman, Mr. T., Jim., King Richard's Road, Leicester. Cooper, A., Esq., J. P., Welford Place, Leicester. Cooper, Rev. T., Clayton Parsonage, Accrington. Cooper, Mr. T., Hanover Street, Leicester. Cox, Mr. W. P., Market Place, Leicester. Crick, Mr. S., 14, London Road, Leicester. Crossley, C. R., Esq., J.P., Granby Street, Leicester. Crow, Mr. J., New Street, Leicester. Dabbs, W., Esq., Rothley Grange. Deakins, Mr., Superintendent, Lutterworth. Dicks, Mr. W., Belgrave, Leicester. Donisthorpe, A. R., Esq., Oadby. Ellis, A., Esq., Belgrave, Leicester. Ellis, E. S., Esq., J. P., The Newarke, Leicester. Else, Mrs., De Montfort Square, Leicester. Farmer, Rev. J., Croft. Fenwicke, Rev. G. C, Blaston Manor House. Firn, Mr. J., Midland Street, Leicester. Fox, R. W., Esq., Lutterworth. Glasgow, Mr. G., 80, Granby Street, Leicester. Goddard, Mr. J., Stonygate, Leicester. Goodacre, R. J., Esq., Friar Lane, Leicester. Goodyer, F., Esq., Hotel Street, Leicester. Harris, Joseph, Esq., Westcotes, Leicester. Harris, R., Esq., J. P., Stonygate. Harvey, J., Esq., London Road, Leicester. Haxby, J. B., Esq., Bel voir Street, Leicester. Herrick, W. Perry, Esq., Beau Manor Park. Hewitt, Mr. F., Granby Street, Leicester. Hill, Rev. J. H., Cranoe Rectory. Hind, Robert, Esq., Whetstone Grange. Hind, William, Esq., Narborough. Hodges, T. W., Esq., J. P., Mayfield, Leicester (two copies). Hollingworth, Mr. J., De Montfort Square, Leicester. Holyoak, Mr. John, Peatling House, Belgrave (two copies). Hunt, W., Esq., J. P., Knighton, Leicester. Hutchinson, W. E., Esq., Oadby Hill, Leicester. Irwin, Dr. W. C, Belvoir Street, Leicester. Johnson, Mr. H., 56, Lower Hastings Street, Leicester. Jones, Mr. C, 3, Fosse Road Terrace, Leicester. LIST OF SUBSCBIBEBS. VU Kelly, W., Esq., 130, London Road, Leicester. Kemp, Mr. Henry, Highfield Street, Leicester. Kempson, W., Esq., Southfields, Leicester. Kendall, Mrs., Humberstone (two copies). King, Miss, Thurnby. Knight, Major, Glen Parva Manor. Latham, W., Esq., Melton Mowbray. Lawton, Miss, London Road, Leicester. Leicestershire Architectural and Archaeological Society. Leicester Permanent Library. Lockwood, Miss C, Prebend Place, Leicester. McAlpin, Mr. J. W., Gallowtree Gate, Leicester. Marshall, Mr., Highcross Street, Leicester. Marriott, C. H., Esq., M.D., 7, Welford Place, Leicester. Martin, Rev. R., Anstey Pastures. Moore, Rev. W, B., Evington. Moore, W., Esq., 11, De Montfort Square, Leicester (two copies). Moore, Mr. H., Market Street, Leicester. Morley, Mr. John, Cheapside, Leicester. Mott, Mr. F. T., 1, De Montfort Street, Leicester. Musson, W„ Esq., Welford Road, Leicester. Neale, G. C, Esq., Skeffington. Nedham, Miss S. S., St. Martin's, Leicester. Nevinson, G. H., Esq., Southfields, Leicester. Nichols, John Gough, Esq., 25, Parliament Street, Westminster. Noon, C, Esq., Stonygate. Norman, Mr. T., 76, Highcross Street, Leicester. North, T., Esq., High Street, Leicester. Ord, Mrs. J. E., Langton Hall (four copies). Paget, Thomas, Esq., Queniborough. Paget, T. T., Esq., Humberstone (three copies). Palmer, P., Esq., Withcote Hall, Oakham. Pares, T. H., Esq., Hopwell Hall. Paul, Mr. J. Dennis, Humberstone. Payne, H. T., Esq., Clapham. Perry, Mr. W., New Walk, Leicester. Plant, Mr. J., 40, West Street, Leicester. Pochin, R. G., Esq., Braunstone House. Price, Mr. George, St. Martin's, Leicester. Reeve, W. N., Esq., Prebend Street, Leicester. Richardson, Rev. H. K., Leire. Vlll LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS. Roberts, Mr. Jos., Jun., Ivanhoe Villa, Leicester. Robinson, A., Esq., Gas Works, Leicester. Sarson, Mr. T. F., St. Nicholas Street, Leicester. Scampton, Mr. R., 39, King Street, Leicester. Shuttlewood, Mr. S., 24, Princess Street, Leicester. Spencer, Messrs. J. and T., Market Place, Leicester (three copies). Spencer, Mr. J., Humberstone Gate, Leicester. Stevenson, G., Esq., De Montfort Square, Leicester. Stone, S., Esq., Town Clerk, Stonygate. Stretton, C, Esq., Fosse Road House, Leicester. Swain, Jos., Esq., De Montfort Square, Leicester. Thirlby, Mr. J., 45, Friar Lane, Leicester. Thomas, Mrs. L., 56, Wood Street, Cardiff. Thompson, Mr. W., Fosse Road, Leicester. Thorpe, Mr. James, Waterloo Street, Leicester. Toller, G., Esq., De Montfort Square, Leicester. Toller, R., Esq., Stonygate House. Vaughan, Rev. C. J., D.D., Master of The Temple, London. Vaughan, Rev. D. J., St. Martin's Vicarage, Leicester. Vice, Mr. J., Market Place, Leicester (six copies). Wale, Mr. H., Bel voir Street, Leicester. Walker, W. H., Esq., Birstall. Wall, W., Esq., The Crescent, Leicester. Warner, Mr. T., The Abbey, Leicester. Webster, Mr. T., East Bond Street, Leicester. Whitmore, J., Esq., Stonygate. Widdowson, Mr. R. W., Applegate Street, Leicester. Williams, J. H., Esq., Stonygate. Willson, T., Esq., Knaptoft Hall. Wright, Mr. A., Hobart House, Leicester. PREFACE. A few sentences of explanation are required to introduce this volume to the puhlic. As it may fall into the hands of readers who have not seen the History of Leicester by the same author, published in the year 1849, it is necessary to state that this work is in continuation of that history, which brought the narrative down to the year 1700. In this book an endeavour has been made to trace the various changes in society, local manners, political in- stitutions, and popular customs, effected in the course of a century in a provincial town which may fairly be taken as an example of the class of similar places in England. It will thus contribute to a knowledge of the growth of the middle classes of the country during the reigns of Queen Anne and the three first Georges, and in this respect it has a more than merely local interest. In addition, many events and incidents, spoken of by elderly inhabitants as almost within their direct knowledge, in consequence of their having heard of them from elderly predecessors, and which have now become traditional, are here recorded in an authentic manner, after proper investigation of the evidence on which their relation is based. Several chapters have also been added ; embodying new and interesting information concerning the Town Estate, the Stocking Manufacture, the Parliamentary Representation, and the Religious Denominations, which the Author hopes will not fail to prove acceptable to many persons. X PEEFACE. The sources of this History are few but trustworthy : first, the Hall Books and Records of the Town have always been left open to the examination of the Author by Samuel Stone, Esq., the Town Clerk, their custodian, and no restriction whatever has been placed on the making of such extracts from them as were needed in the composition of the work ; second, the file of the Leicester Journal, which commenced its issues in 1753, has been freely placed at the disposal of the Author by its proprietors, Messrs. Jackson and Foster, and has furnished a large proportion of the material given in the volume ; thirdly, the local historians, Nichols and Throsby, have been consulted, though they have not yielded so much information as the Town Records and the file of the Journal ; and, lastly, con- temporary magazines have occasionally been laid under contribution in the preparation of the book. To Mr. Stone and to Messrs. Jackson and Foster my grateful acknowledgments are specially due, and are hereby tendered, for the courtesy they have manifested in the way already described ; and to all others who have rendered me occasional help my thanks are also cordially given. James Thompson. Leicester, November, 1871. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. PAGE Leicester at the commencement of the Eighteenth Century — its Population and Architecture — Dress of the Inhabitants — Review of its History in the reign of William and Mary — The Earl of Stamford and the Corporation — The Non- jurors — Alderman Wilkins and the Water Supply — Introduction of Brick Houses — Complimentary Presents of the Earls of Rutland and Stamford to the Corporation — Sir Nathan Wright's connection with Leicester — Sale of " Reynold's Place" to pay Town Dehts — Death of William the Third . . 1 CHAPTER II. Queen Anne Proclaimed in Leicester — Political Consequences of Anne's Acces- sion — Local Rejoicings on the Victories of the English over the French — Visit of the Earl of Denbigh — The Duke of Marlborough's successes at Blenheim and elsewhere celebrated — The Woolcombers' admission to the Freedom of the Borough — Further Rejoicings on the Triumphs of the English Army abroad — Appointment of Nightly Bellmen — The Rules of Debate at Corporation Meetings — Provision of a Town Workhouse — Corporation Address to the Queen — The Enclosure of the South Fields — Rebuilding of the Conduit — Murder of Captain Farnham — Quarrels among the Aldermen — Mr. Alderman Wilkins and the Corporation — Peace concluded with France — Shops and Sheds in the Market Place — Displacement of Aldermen and Common-Councilmen — The end of Alderman Wilkins — Death of Queen Anne . . . . . . . . 16 CHAPTER III. Accession of George the First — Its celebration in Leicester — The popular feeling Jacobite — The Mayor a Public Defaulter — Local Anniversaries — The Easter Hunting — Corporation Resolutions against Canvassing for Public Offices — Death of a Mayor on the day of his Election — Murders in Leicester — Extensive Hosiery Robberies — discovery of the Thieves — their Execution — Corporation Petition against the South Sea Company's Scheme — Public Balls in the Town — Churchill's Dragoon's stationed in Leicester — New Shambles provided — Baron Carter congratulated on his promotion — Death of George the First . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Xll CONTENTS. CHAPTER IV. PAGE George the Second's Accession — its Proclamation — The Corporation and Oath- taking — The Coronation — Non-attendance at the Hall Meetings — Visit of Grecian Princes to Leicester — The Struggle for Town Freedom — Visit of the Prince of the Muscovites — Birth of a Prince of Wales — Dispute respecting the appointment of Gaoler — The Bowling-green finished — Visit of the Corporation to Bradgate — The trick of the Resurrectionist — The Races in St. Mary's Field — The Freemen and the Ahhey Meadow — Origin of the Three Crowns Inn — A Fire Brigade instituted — A celebrated Horse Race . . . . 48 CHAPTER V. The Jacobites and the Election of 1738 — The Treasonable Papers attributed to the Whigs — Printed controversy on the subject — Corporation Address to the King — Proclamation of War with France — Invasion of England by the Young Pretender — Preparations of the Loyal Party — The Drilling of the Whigs and Dissenters in Leicester — The Pretender at Derby — The excitement and terror in Leicester — The retreat of the Rebels — Their defeat at Culloden — Loyal Addresses of the Jacobite Corporation — The outburst of the disaffected at the Election in 1754 — Gradual disappearance of Jacobitism . . . . 60 CHAPTER VI. The Day of Thanksgiving — The Erection of the Exchange — Piesumption of the struggle by the Non-Freemen — their success against the Corporation — Proposed Lighting and Watching Act — Erection of the Assembly Rooms, East-gates — An Earthquake felt in Leicester — The Mayor's Dinner — Turnpike Improvements — The Establishment of the " Leicester Journal " . . 75 CHAPTER VII. Narrative of the Freemen's resistance to the Enclosure of the South Fields between 1752 and 1757 .. .. .. .. .. .. ..83 CHAPTER VIII. Cases of Premature Interment — French Prisoners in Leicester — Loyal Address of the Corporation on the French War — Scarcity of Corn — Gratuitous Distribution of Bread — Another Address to the King on the War — Coming of age of Prince George, afterwards George the Third — Early Flower Shows in Leicester — Threatened Invasion of England by the French — Public Subscription to find Funds for Resistance — Resolutions adopted by the Corporation — The Freedom of the Borough voted to William Pitt — An Address to the King — 'The Town Water Supply — The Suffolk Militia in Leicester — Theatricals in the Hay- market — Distinguished Visitors to the Town — A Convivial Party — A contrast : Earl Ferrars in the County Gaol — Mr. Meynell's Ball in the Town Hall — The Stage Coach to London — A Flower Show — Mr. Lambert, the benevolent Gaoler — The leading Aldermen of 1700 and their descendants . . . . . . 90 CONTENTS. Xlll CHAPTER IX. PAGE Proclamation of George the Third — Address of Congratulation hy the Corporation — The Murder of a Pedlar in Leicester — detection of the Murderers — their Execution in Church Gate — Refusal to serve on the Corporate Body — The King's Birthday — Remarkable Addresses to the young King and Queen — Movements of the Leicestershire Militia — Messrs. Durravan's Company of Players — Mr. Boulton's Concert — Military Movements — The Messiah performed in Leicester — Birth of George the Fourth — A Loyal Address — The Races — A Friends' Wedding — Minor Events — An old-fashioned Mayor's Feast — Disem- bodiment of the Militia — An Inclement Winter and Public Subscription — Passage of Troops through the Town — Establishment of the Wednesday Market — Conclusion of Peace with France . . . . . . . . 100 CHAPTER X. A Chase and a Capture — A Robbery at Coventry — The " Foys" Gang — Apprehen- sion of some of its Members at Leicester — John Douglas, the landlord of the Bell Hotel, tried, condemned, and executed for Robbery — Local Deaths and Marriages — Mrs. Linwood's School — The First Bankers in Leicester — Deaths from Drunkenness — The Leicester Flying Machine — The Mayor's Feast — The " March of Intellect" — Death of Lord Rollo in Leicester — Death of Mr. Wigley of Scraptoft — Another Mayor's Feast — Birth of the Sixth Earl of Stamford — A Great Fire — Proposed Foundation of the Infirmary — Cheese Riots at Leicester and Cavendish Bridge — Meetings of Infirmary Promoters — A Jacobite Mayor — Refusal to " Slope the Mace " . . . . . . . . . . 115 CHAPTER XI. Establishment of Leicester Infirmary — Names of its Original Promoters — Selection of the Site — Minor occurrences — The Bath Gardens — Public Amusements — Advertisements in the "Journal" — Visit of the King of Denmark — The Break- down near Harborough — The Races — The ground set out for the Infirmary — Oil Lamps first used in the Town — Nicholas Richmond, the Miser — The Leicester Fly stopped by Highwaymen — Winter Amusements in 1769 — The Singers' Feast held by St. Margaret's Choir — Mr. Hesilrige's Equipage and Procession in 1770 — John Wesley's visit to Leicester — The general Lighting of the Town with Oil Lamps — Flogging in the Leicestershire Militia — Rules prepared for the Infirmary by Dr. Vaughan — Framework-Knitters' Grievances — Opening of the Infirmary for the reception of Patients — Mr. Cradock's Tragedy performed — Display of Fireworks — An Eagle captured near Leicester — Musical taste in the Town — The Leicestershire Militia — Infirmary Musical Meetings — A most alarming Fire — Another Sheriffs " Turn-out" — The In- firmary Anniversary, with its Religious Service and Concert — The Swearing-in of the Mayor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131 CHAPTER XII. Destruction of Machinery by Framework- Knitters — A runaway Marriage in Lei- cester — An Infirmary Anniversary — Erection of Organs in St. Martin's and St. Margaret's Churches — Mrs. Siddons the Actress in Leicester — The Shrievalty xiv CONTENTS. PAGE of Mr. Winstanley — The old Town Gates taken down — Primitive aspect of the Town — Removal of the Beast Market — A Tea Party at the Vauxhall — The celebrated Infirmary Anniversary — Omai, the Prince of Otaheite — The Death of Viscount Wentworth . . . . . . • • • • • < 146 CHAPTER XIII. The American Revolution — Corporation Address to the King — Recruiting in Leicester — General Washington's Origin — Subscription for the Soldiers — A Severe Winter — Counterfeit Coin introduced — Mr. Kemble in the Town — A Freemason's Funeral — Coach communication with Manchester — A Meteor — A Daj of Humiliation — Noticeable Deaths — Events in 1777 — Framework-Knitters' Movements — Murder of a Townsman by Soules, a Frenchman — Epitaph upon the Murdered Man — The Militia march to Liverpool . . . . . . 158 CHAPTER XIV. Former dangers of Birstall Sands — Return of the Militia from Liverpool — The Framework-Knitters' Court of Assistants — A Duel between Militia Officers at Plymouth — French Prisoners in Leicester — Rejoicings for Rodney's victories — Minor Events — Mr. and Mrs. Kemble in the Town — Newspaper Reading in Leicester — A Volunteer Movement — Dutch Prisoners— Town Improvement — Parliamentary Reform agitated — Condemned by the Corporation — Movements of the Militia — Establishment of the Cross Market in Belgrave Gate — The Races — The Coalition Ministry and East India Company — A Masquerade on the Soar — Establishment of the Revolution Club — Mail-Coaches to the North of England — Baptisms and Funerals in 1784 . . . . . . . . 169 CHAPTER XV. Formation of the New Walk — Proposed Canal Communication with the Trent — Establishment of Sunday Schools — The Ducking-Stool — Prize-Fighting — The Coventry Cricket Match — The Revolution Club Meetings — Howard, the Phi- lanthropist, in Leicester — The Militia Training under a new Act — Destruction of Mr. Whetstone's Machinery . . . . . . . . . . . . 179 CHAPTER XVI. Agitation against Negro Slavery — Proposed Chamber of Commerce — The Militia Staff in 1788 — The Revolution Club — Rozzell's Ode to Freedom — Address to George the Third on recovering his Sanity — The French Revolution — Forma- tion of a Constitutional Society — Meetings of Dissenters — Demonstrations of the Constitutional Society and the Independent Interest — Reorganization of the Revolution Club — List of its Members . . . . . . . . 190 CONTENTS. XV CHAPTER XVII. PAGE Erection of the Borough Gaol — Local Improvements — The Sunday Schools — The Loughborough Canal — Revival of Freemasonry — Party feeling — Mr. Phillips and the Permanent Library — The Slave Trade — A House of Industry in Leicester — The Hosiers' Association — Political excitement — Local reaction — The Loyal Victuallers of Leicester — The Constitutional Society — Tory Meetings — The Prosecution of Mr. Phillips — his Sentence — The Leicester Militia — The Mayor's Feast .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 199 CHAPTER XVIII. First Ari'ival of Canal Boats at Leicester — Expectation of French Invasion — Pro- posed formation of Volunteer Yeomanry Cavalry — Peace Movement — The Persecution of Harley Vaughan — his Trial — his Suicide — Apprehension of Mr. Bown — Additional Fairs — The " Anti-Gallican" — The Adelphi Society — The Cap of Liberty — Loyal Demonstrations — Volunteer Movements — The Leicester Fencibles in Action — Famine Riots — The " Barrow Butchery" — Suppression of the Races — Fire at Mr. Phillips's — The Relief Committee in a Dilemma — Sale of the Vauxhall — Peace Petitioning — The Provisional Cavalry — Death of Capt. Heyrick — George Davenport and his Adventures and Execution . . . . 209 CHAPTER XIX. Admiral Duncan's Victory — Subscription Fund to carry on War — Arrest of Mr. Pares the Printer — Meeting for National Defence — The Leicester Militia offer to march to Ireland — An Asylum for Girls — The Duke of Rutland's Address to the Militia — Opening of a Catholic Chapel — A Local Tradition — An Escape from the Gallows — Scarcity of Bread — The Erection of the Assembly Rooms 221 CHAPTER XX. Origin and Growth of the Town Property . . . . . . . . . . 230 CHAPTER XXI. The Parliamentary History of Leicester in the Eighteenth Century . . . . 245 CHAPTER XXII. The Hosiery Manufacture in Leicester . . . . . . . . . . 252 CHAPTER XXIII. The Religious Denominations in the Eighteenth Century . , . . . . 258 LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CHAPTER I. leicester at the commencement of the eighteenth century its population and architecture dress of the inhabitants review of its history in the reign of william and mary the earl of stamford and the corporation the nonjurors alderman wilkins and the water supply introduction of brick houses complimentary presents of the earls of rutland and stamford to the corporation sir nathan Wright's connection with Leicester — sale of " Reynold's place " to pay town debts death of william the third. At the commencement of the eighteenth century the town of Leicester did not contain more than six thousand inhabitants. The houses in which they lived were in general constructed of wood and plaster ; for bricks were not in common use ; and the appearance of the place had not altered for two or three centuries. The streets were either badly paved or not paved at all, and in the dark evenings of winter they were neither lighted by oil nor by any other artificial means. Down the middle of the streets ran the gutters. Rows of venerable fabrics presented their gable ends and overhanging storeys, ornamented with carved woodwork, to the public ways ; and the old gates yet idly guarded the main entrances. In the centre of the town was the Market Place, surrounded by quaint houses of timber, without shop windows, and near the south-eastern side stood the public building called the " Gainsborough." How long it had been standing, it is impossible to say ; but we know that part of it had served as a place of confinement early in the sixteenth century, when it was used for B ... . • « • • • ' * "ai LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. pin poses connected' with the administration of justice.* It was a two-storey building, of which a chamber in the upper part was devoted to public business. There were shoemakers' shops below, and a balcony with piazza at the side nearest the Cornwall, with a dungeon beneath the adjoining level. Among the inhabitants were old men, probably, who remembered the day when the artillery of Prince Eupert had thundered in their ears, and whose eyes had beheld the streets running with the blood of the parliamentarians, who had defended the walls against the royalist besiegers. The ramparts were in parts unlevelled, and the fosse was still empty ; fragments of the walls yearly crumbling away being left to silent and unhindered decay. The same men who had witnessed the entrance of the cavaliers after the storming of the town had often seen George Fox in their midst, and listened to John Bunyan's quaint discourses. Through many a change of costume, also, had they lived ; but the dress with which they were familiar would amuse, and perhaps startle us, their descendants. The gentlemen wore hats with upturned brims, the low crown of which was surmounted by feathers. Beneath the hat fell an enormous wig, the extravagant folds of which flowed upon the shoulders, and resembled those now worn by barristers in courts of law; the "dandies" being wont to kill time by combing out their perukes. No man who could afford to indulge in a "mountain of hair" denied himself the pleasure. The coats, of a claret colour, were usually decorated with lace ; their sleeves terminating in large open cuffs, and the seam and edges being embroidered. To a long neckcloth were appended ends of rich Brussels lace. A high-heeled shoe, fastened with buckles, was a marked feature in the costume ; while no gentleman appeared in public without his small sword. The ladies wore their hair combed upwards, and covered by rows of lace and ribbon ; above which was seen a kerchief or laced scarf. Among the working-classes, the men wore broad-brimmed hats — being invested in capacious coats, buttoned to the chin and descending to the knees ; while over their coats they had cloaks, and on their feet they had high-heeled and long-toed shoes. The women of the same class were clothed in lace bodices, with small sleeves and cuffs ; a bunch of gay ribands being appended to the waist where the apron was fastened, and smart bows being fixed upon the insteps of the high-heeled and sharp-pointed shoes. The head was covered with a hood and a plain hat, the brim being turned slightly upwards. There was a marked distinction in dress a See History of Leicester (1840), p. 250, for a description of "the most vile prison called the Gainsborough," written by Robert Broughton to Mr. Conyngsby, in the reign of Queen Mary (1553, 1554). LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 3 between persons having any pretension to gentility, and those whose position in life was humble and laborious. It is with Leicester, when it presented such an aspect to the spectator, and amid such a population, that this history commences ; though it may be desirable briefly to retrace our steps to a date when local events were influenced by a great historical change — the accession of William and Mary. William, Prince of Orange, and Mary, his Queen (the eldest daughter of the King who had abdicated), were crowned in April, 1689. The nation felt — especially the Presbyterians and the Dis- senters — that they had in this monarch a protector and deliverer; but the High Church and Tory party soon manifested their dislike to his government, although they had acquiesced in the opposition offered to that of his father-in-law, James II. In Leicester, it was resolved to celebrate the coronation with every demonstration of rejoicing. At a meeting of the body, held on the 11th, it was agreed that on that day they should dine at the Angel Inn, and that the costs should be paid by the Corporation — all the gentlemen and "persons of good quality and fashion" to be enter- tained at the public expense. In the Common Hall it was debated whether the diners should be regaled gratuitously or not ; when thirty-two members of the Corporation voted in favour of the measure, and nine (probably discontented friends of the runaway King), wishing to play the part of the dog in the manger, voted against the proposition. This was a period of bounteous hospitality and epicurean indul- gence, as a bill of fare for a Mayor's feast of the time amusingly bears witness. Along the old hall, on such occasions, we learn, extended two tables, called the first and the second : in the Mayor's Parlour, also, were a first and a second table : and in the chamber upstairs was another table. The first course at the principal table in the hall consisted of three "messes." When they are enumerated, it will be seen the boards groaned beneath a load of substantial dishes and rich viands, while they exhaled odours most grateful to the perceptions of the Mayor, the Twenty-four, the Forty-eight, and their invited guests, and streams of savoury fumes rose to the timbers of the ancient fabric. These three " messes " of the first course consisted of a collar of brawn, a dish of fish, venison pasty, chine and turkey, ham and pullet, mince pies, grand salad, roast geese, venison pasty (again), and tongues and elders. These were served at every table. The second course shows that the jovial Corporators found it necessary to stimulate the jaded appetite with lighter fare as they proceeded. It was composed of a dish of wild fowl, a dish of lobsters, a dish of 4 LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. pullets, wardens and puffs, sturgeon, collared pig, ducks, ham and tongues, tarts, rabbits, and custards. The ruins at Bradgate, which now attract holiday-makers in summer, and impress the visitor by their associations with Lady Jane Grey and her early history, are those of the mansion inhabited in the reign of William III. by the family of which she was in a previous century a member. Its head was at this date Thomas, the second earl, the grandson but immediate successor of Henry, the first earl, who was the chief of the Parliamentarian party, and whose blue banner had been unfurled in many a deadly skirmish in this district, during the Civil War. The representative of the Greys in the reign of William III. was avowedly a friend of that monarch, and of the principles of civil and religious freedom with which he identified himself. It was this sympathy which induced the Earl of Stamford to cultivate friendly relations with the Corporation of Leicester. In September of this year a second civic feast was held at the Angel, in honour of the Earl. The Common Hall met to deliberate on the subject on the 11th of the month. At such a meeting, one subject was quite sufficient to engross the attention of the collective wisdom of the assembly, and the result was an order which evidently corresponds to the importance of the occasion. " Ordered," says the manuscript record, " that the Earle of Stamford shall be enter- tained at a feast at the Angel, and that the Companies that dyne there be free and paid for at the Corporation's charge ; and such gentlemen as he shall bring with him, and such other gentlemen and others shall be allowed every person sixpence a piece in wine." This entertainment, it must be understood, was not designed to supersede the Mayor's feast in November, when the two courses in all their variety and redundancy afforded the customary delight to the Corporation, after the newly-chosen Mayor (Mr. Bent) had attended the Castle, accompanied by the macebearers, and there taken the oath of obedience to the Duchy of Lancaster in the usual manner. The accession of William, and his virtual election by Parliament, instead of a succession by hereditary pretension, were directly at variance with the convictions and sentiments of the advocates of the "right divine" of sovereigns. Several of the temporal and spiritual lords on this account refused to take the oaths of allegiance and supremacy, and they and others who pursued a similar course were designated "Nonjurors." It would appear from the petitions of various members of the Corporation, praying to be dismissed from their positions, presented at this time to the Mayor and his colleagues, that there were several persons of this party in Leicester. They LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 5 assign some other reason than that of disaffection for desiring to secede, but the real motive was probably that here stated. One of this class of politicians thus wrote to the Mayor : " The humble request of John Burdett to the Worshipfull Mr. Mayor and the rest of his bretheren, and to all whome this may conserne. I having heretofore bene one of the Coman Counsell for this burow, and whilest my contience [conscience] could sarve me to act in my place I am shuer never a one that did belonge to the same sosiatey did give theare Attendance more than I did, and I am very sartin never a one more carefull in doeing of Busenes with the best Judgment and skill that I had ; and now for sume resons here, and for sume resons I have given heretofore, I hope with your serious consideration of this you will be plesed for to dismis me ; for trewley I am not a fitt person to come amonkest you upon so publick a busenes. And this I must make bould to tell you, that I doe beleave that thare hath not bene the like presedent maide upon anny man in England before, as hath beene made upon mee by this Corporation ; and shuerly K. [King] William will never give any man thanks for chusing sutch men in this sort of publick offis no more, but hoping you will be pleased to pardon my bouldness and grante mee my request, rest your servant, "John Burdett." "June the 2d. 1690." The Nonjurors found themselves placed as awkwardly under the new order of things as were the Presbyterians and others, who in the reign of Charles II. had been called on to take oaths to which they objected, or otherwise been subjected to disabilities. In this town the system continued in operation until the Corporation adopted a very stringent measure, which was thus recorded on the minutes of their proceedings (July 9, 1691) : " Whereas of late, divers persons who have been elected into the office of a Common Councilman of this Borough have contemptuously refused to take upon themselves the said office or place into which they have been so elected ; or, having accepted the said place, have refused to take the oaths and subscribe the Declaration appointed to be taken by several Acts of Parliament for that purpose ; by reason of which neglect the said persons do cease to be members of the said Company, to the great hindrance of the good government of this Borough. For the prevention whereof, for the time to come, and to the end that every person who shall be elected to be a member in this body Corporate may be compelled to take upon him the said office, and to qualify himself for the holding thereof, it is ordained and enacted by the Mayor and Aldermen, with the advice of the Common Councilmen, now assembled, that such person or persons, so neglecting or refusing, shall forfeit to the Mayor, Bailiffs, and Burgesses of this Borough, and their successors, the sum of one hundred marks of good money of England; or such greater or lesser sum as it shall seem meet to the said Mayor or Aldermen to impose upon such person or persons so neglecting or 6 LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. refusing ; to be levied by distress of tbe goods and chattels of such person or persons, or to be recovered by action of debt, bill, or plaint, in any of their Majesties' Courts of Record. It is agreed that the bye-law above written shall be put in execution when, and as often as, any member of the body corporate of the Borough shall offend in the premises." In this way the Tories were caught in a trap like that which they had set for the Whigs, when, after the Restoration, they were in undisputed ascendancy. 1 * At this time an ingenious watchmaker, named Wilkins, was living in Leicester. He was a man of many schemes, and to a certain extent a mechanical genius. Among other things, he invented a machine to sow and harrow, if not plough, at the same time. He employed many journeymen in different kinds of skilled labour. One of these, was the external decoration of houses, and some of those which are still standing bear testimony to the talent of Wilkins' workmen. But the grandest scheme of which he was the author was the attempt to provide Waterworks for Leicester. Mr. Wilkins was an Alderman of the Borough ; and in the year 1692, on the decease of Mr. Geo. Beckett, the Mayor, during his year of office, was chosen as Mr. Beckett's successor. It is recorded that the Corporation generally were jealous of Mr. Wilkins' abilities, and therefore placed him in the Mayoralty merely as a supplementary Mayor, instead of electing him for a whole year, as was usual in the case of other persons. He, however, found a patron in Mr. Carter, a resident of high respectability — the father of Mr. Baron Carter — who advanced £2,000 to enable the enterprising Alderman to make his experiment. The water was to be supplied from the Soar, in leaden pipes, which were laid from the Castle Mill to the locality of the Peacock Inn, in Southgate Street ; and thence it was intended to convey the water in other pipes to all quarters. The pump used in the operation stood near the Consanguinitarium, and was long called the Water House Pump. In the year of his Mayoralty, £124 4s., was paid to Mr. Wilkins for 940 yards of new leaden pipes, and therefore he proceeded to a considerable extent in carrying out his proposals. Still, very little is now ascertainable respecting the ultimate issue of b In referring to the list of Aldermen who remained in the Corporation after this ordinance had heen passed, and who must in consequence have been sworn adherents to the Orange dynasty, we find they were as follows : — Mr. John Goodall, Mayor, Mr. George Beckett, Mayor Elect, Mr. William Southwell, Mr. William Deane, Mr. Philip Abney, Mr. John Eoberts, Mr. George Bent, Mr. Thomas Ludlam, Mr. Walter Hood, Mr. Joseph Cradock, Mr. William Bentley, Mr. John Bent, Mr. John Wilkins, Mr. John Brookesby, Mr. Edmund Johnson, Mr. Thomas Palmer, Mr. John Pares, Mr. Henry Pike, Mr. Edmund Cradock, Mr. William Springthorpe, Mr. John Cracroft, and Mr. Godfrey Barrowdale. c Throsby's History of Leicester, p. 170. LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 7 his undertaking ; though it appears that the plan of deriving the water from the Castle Mill was abandoned, and that a spring or springs in the fields on the south-east side of the town were converted into the fountain-head of the supply. It was in reference to this arrangement that, at a Common Hall held on the 9th of June, 1696, it was ordered " that Mr. John Wilkins shall repair the pipes that are laid from the Conduit in the field to the Conduit in the town at the charge of the Corporation, and maintain the common decay that shall happen to the said pipes for 5s. per annum, at his own charge ; and that Mr. John Wilkins shall mend the Conduit in the field at the charge of the Corporation. 4 Towards the close of the year 1694, Queen Mary, the wife of William III, died, shortly after the decease of her favourite prelate, Archbishop Tillotson. On the occurrence of this event, the friends of Bang James (who were commonly known as "Jacobites") renewed their efforts to promote his restoration ; a scheme of insurrection being framed, and a plan of assassinating the King resolved on, by the desperate partizans of the exiled monarch. The failure of the former, and the detection of the latter, induced both Houses of Parliament to draw up an Association, binding themselves to assist each other in the support of the King and his Government, and to revenge any violence that should be committed on his person. In Leicester this Association was signed at a Common Hall in January 1696. In the reign of which we are here treating, the coin of the country was so deteriorated by clipping that its state became a national griev- ance. On, the proposition of an eminent statesman (Mr. Montagu) the recoinage of the current money was accordingly resolved upon. Certain conditions concerning the clipping of money accompanied the carrying out of the measure — one of which was that the loss accruing to the revenue from such money should be borne by the public. In this state of affairs, it was resolved at a Common Hall that two persons be sent up to London to "solicit for some new money" for the use of the poor of the Corporation as small money ; and a petition to the Lords' Commissioners who managed the new currency, praying for £6000 in new money to be exchanged for clipped money, was adopted. The police management of the borough was at this date entrusted to the parish constables, who were instructed to attend to their duties by the precept of the Mayor, couched in the phraseology of the following exact copy : " Buvgus Leic. To Joseph Large, Constable of Mr. William Southwell's Ward, or to his lawful Deputy. These are, in his Majesties name, to d See the Hall Book of this date. 8 LEICESTEE IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTUBY. command you to make diligent search after all Rogues, Vagabonds, and Idle wandring Beggars within your Ward, and you shall enquire if Huy and Cry have been duly pursued as the Law requires, And what strangers are come into your Ward, and endeavour to settle themselves there, not being duly qualified as the Law directs, and if any persons sell Ale without License or keep disorderly houses or suffer unlawful Games to be used in their houses, yards, or backsides ; and all other Offences committed or done within your Liberty, contrary to the Lawes and Statutes of this Realme, You are to present unto me and the rest of the Justices of this Burrough on Friday next, at two of the clock in the Afternoon, of the same day, at the Guild Hall of the said Burrough, and that you yourself be then and there personally present to make returne of this Precept. And hereof fail not at your perrill. Dated the 27th day of August, Anno. Dni. J 696. John Pares, Maior." 8 In this year, Christmas Day fell upon Friday, and St. Stephen's of course on the day after. It appeared impossible to the Churchmen of the Leicester Corporation to neglect the observance of so important a day in the calendar. The Mayor therefore met the contingency by this public notice: "John Roberts, Esq., Mayor of this Burrough and Clark of this Markett hath thought good to give notice to all persons whatsoever in regard that Saturday next being the usuall Markett day for this Towne happeneth to fall upon St. Stephen's day in Christmas, That the Markett usually kept on that day be kept on Thursday next at the accustomed places for Markett Daies, when and whither all persons are desired to resort, as upon the accustomed Markett Day, to buy and sell as heretofore. God save the King." ' The arrangement made with Mr. Alderman Wilkins in respect to the Water Supply was not permanent or satisfactory; for in March, 1697, the Corporation entered into a bargain with him, of which the principal object was to sever the connection between him and them- selves. They agreed to give him <£40 if he would deliver up both the engines and leave the water-courses and the Conduit in good repair ; binding himself, if any repairs were found to be necessary, to make them at his own expense. Towards the close of the seventeenth century many of the old houses of Leicester were destined to be swept away and replaced wholesale by new edifices. The circumstance to which this change was attributable was the discovery, or at least the general excavation, of the beds of clay surrounding the town, and the making of bricks in large quantities, which were used in the building of new or the rebuilding of old dwellings. In the latter part of this year, it was ordered at a Common Hall that Edward Broughton should have leave e See the Hall Papers, 1695-1700, preserved in the Town Museum. LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 9 to exchange the piece of land held of the Corporation to make bricks of (it being ground not fit for grazing), for the like quantity of ground with Mr. John Wilkins, or any other of the tenants of the Southfields that lay near his ground, paying the same rent. As this entry on the Hall proceedings is the first which mentions brick- making, it suggests the time when the process was first carried on near Leicester. At the end of the year, the war in Europe, which had been long, bloody, and ruinous to England, was terminated by the peace of Byswick. King William (who had been present at the negociations) returned to this country in November. Everywhere the intelligence of the peace was received with rejoicing. In this town a bonfire was made in the Market Place, near the building called "the Gains- borough," and a hogshead of ale was ordered for the populace at the public expense. As Christmas Day happened to be on Saturday in 1697, the Mayor gave notice that the weekly Market would be held on Friday. Among other abilities possessed by the Corporation at this time, was that of pensioning impoverished Aldermen. A case of this sort occurred in July 1698, which is best described in the application of the writer himself. It runs thus : - " To the Right Worshipful Henry Pate, Mayor of the Borough of Leicester, and the Worshipful the Aldermen, his Brethren, assembled. The humble petition of Thomas Palmer, one of the Aldermen of the said Borough, sheweth, That your petitioner, having to the utmost of his power and ability faithfully served you in the several stations, qualities, and degrees of Common Councilman, Alderman, and Mayor of this Borough, as in duty he was bound to, but being now seized with a great infirmity in his body and very much weakened in his estate, and thereby rendered utterly incapable of serving this Corporation as he ought and is in duty bound to do, in the place of an Alderman or Company of the Four and Twenty — your petitioner therefore prays your worships' tender consideration of the premises, to grant him a dismission from his place and future attendance as one of the Aldermen or said Company of the Four and Twenty. And your petitioner shall ever pray, &c." "Thomas Palmer." The Corporation acceded to Mr. Palmer's request, by dismissing him from the Aldermanship, at their meeting held on the 13th of June ; and at the next meeting they resolved to make him a weekly allowance of 4s. towards his maintenance, during pleasure. We have already noticed the compliment paid to the Earl of Stamford by the Corporation, in inviting him to a public banquet held in his honour. It would seem that the Earl's popularity was 10 LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. maintained unimpaired for many years in succession. The Earl of Eutland, also, was on terms of friendship with the civic authorities. Residing at Belvoir Castle, he was not so near a neighbour as Lord Stamford, but the ties of political amity between him and the Cor- poration were probably as strong as those which bound the Leicester Whigs to the Lord of Bradgate. The Earl of Rutland was the father of Lord John Manners, who married Catherine, the second daughter of Lord William Russell — the martyr of political liberty, who was beheaded in the reign of Charles II. As a leader of the popular party, the Earl of Rutland cultivated the friendship of the Leicester Liberals. To assuage the wounded feelings of the Russell family, and their connection, the Earl of Rutland, he was elevated to a dukedom in 1703. Exchanges of complimentary presents between the Earl of Stamford and the Corporation, and the Earl of Rutland and the Corporation, were frequent at this period. The memoranda of these interchanges of friendship come down to us — not with all the living interest of being transmitted orally, but in the dry entries of the Chamberlain's Accounts. A present of sack and claret to one or both of the Earls was reciprocated by them with a fat buck, and the noblemen some- times feasted with the Mayor and Aldermen, and all grew merry together at the " Venison Feasts. " f The Earl of Rutland sends a fat buck to the Corporation, which serves as the chief dish in a civic banquet, to which gentlemen resident in the neighbourhood are invited. Copious draughts of ale are drunk, pipes of tobacco are smoked, the waits play their liveliest tunes, and the town servants and the gentlemen's servants are regaled on the occasions f In the year 1698 these items in the accounts point to the occasions in question : £. s. d. Item, for 10 gallons of sack, a present to the Eai'l of Stamford - 4 Item, to Mr. Walker for a rundlet for the sack - - - - 3 Item, paid for a Horse hire for the Cryer to carry the sack - - 1 8 At the end of the year the accountant thus places on record these details : Item, paid the Earl of Rutland's keeper for bringing a buck, and the messenger, by order of Mr. Mayor - - - . -010 Item, paid Mr. Mayor for a hogshead of ale spent at eating the Earl of Rutland's venison - - - • - - - -4 10 Item, for Sir William Villiers, Mr. Babington, Mr. Wood, and two Mr. Gee's Ordinaries - - - - - - - - -050 For Town Clerk and Mace-bearers' Dinners - - - - 2 Item, for Dinners for the four sergeants, four waits, and cryer, and beadle, and the man that drew the ale - - - - - - 7 4 Item, for pipes and tobacco - - - - - . -060 Item, paid the man that drew the ale - - - - - 1 LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 11 The Corporation has scarcely finished the banquet on Lord Rutland's venison, before the Earl of Stamford supplies another buck to grace its tables. b It was not only at these Venison Feasts and the Mayor's Feast that the members of the Corporation indulged in mirth and jollity ; as we find the Races occurred every year, when there were doubtless ordinaries and other social gatherings, equally convivial. 1 It was absolutely necessary at this time that the Mayor should in his own house entertain noblemen and gentlemen who visited Lei- cester; but in so doing he was assisted out of the town funds, as all things being considered, his wine bills were rather heavy . k The age was characterized by its bacchanalian habits and love of feasting. At this time, it is almost needless to state, there was very £. s. (1. 4 10 Item, paid for six gentlemen's servants .... Item, paid the Waits for playing at the eating the said huck h The matter and its concomitants are thus particularized in the accounts of the Chamberlains : Item, paid Isaac Brookes for going to Bradgate to bespeak the buck - 10 Item, paid the Earl of Stamford's keeper and messenger for a buck and two haunches - - - - - - - - -0150 Item, paid Mr. Mayor for a hogshead of ale at eating the said buck - 4 10 Item, paid for the Ordinaries for the Earl of Stamford, Sir Wm. Villiers, Mr. Hodges, a French gentleman, Mr. Allsop, Mr. Godsman, Sir William Villiers' gentleman, Mr. Rogers and Mr. Wood - - - 10 Item, paid for the Town Clerk and Mace-bearers' Ordinaries - - 2 Item, paid for the Ordinaries of the Gentlemen's Servants at that time, at 8d. a piece - - - - - - - -094 Item, paid for the Ordinaries of the four sergeants, four waits, crier, and beadle, and the man that drew the ale - - - - 7 4 Item, paid for tobacco and pipes at the same time - - - 6 Item, paid the Waits for playing at the same time - - - 10 Item, paid Mr. Fish for two dozen bottles of claret and twelve bottles of canary at the eating of the said buck - - ' - - - 3 1 In the year under notice, the Races are thus mentioned in passing : Item, paid Mr. Bowler towards the plate run for at the Abbey Meadow - 2 k For this reason such items as these occur in the Chamberlains' Accounts : Item, paid Mr. Fish for a bottle of canary and three bottles of claret, when the Earl of Stamford and other gentlemen were at Mr. Mayor's - 6 6 Item, paid him more for three bottles of canary, and three bottles of claret when the Bishop of Durham was in town - - - 10 6 Item, paid more for a bottle of canary and two bottles of claret, when Sir Edward Abney was at Mr. Mayor's as by bill - - - - 5 Item, paid to Mr. Fish for a bottle of canary and two of claret, when Archdale Palmer, Esq., came to visit Mr. Mayor - - 5 Item, paid to him more for a bottle of canary and two bottles of claret, when Dr. Foster visited Mr. Mayor - - - - - 5 Item, paid Mr. Fish more for a bottle of canary and two bottles of claret, to treat Sir Nathan Wright - - - - - - - 5 12 LEICESTEE IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. little love of literature to be found among the inhabitants. Except in the Town Library, which was visited probably by the clergy, and now and then by a layman of studious habits, there were few books, if any, to be met with in the town. The Corporation defrayed the expenses of binding the ponderous volumes in the Library, as the accounts show; and of the few copies of newspapers which found their way here, the cost was paid in like manner. No private person, it is to be presumed, then subscribed to a journal in Leicester: those papers which did penetrate the dulness of the locality were regarded as luxuries for the especial use of the Mayor and the more influential men among his compeers. Towards the close of the seventeenth century, the inhabitants of Derby made various attempts to render the Derwent navigable as far as the Trent ; but the project was always so vigorously opposed by the people of Nottingham, Chesterfield, Bawtrey, and other towns, that its execution was long postponed. In the year 1699, at a Com- mon Hall held in January, the Corporation of Leicester resolved by thirty to twelve votes to oppose the measure and to petition Parliament against it — a result which puts on record the narrow-mindedness of the municipal body, but which did not prevent the success of the proposal twenty years after. At a second Common Hall, held in January, a letter was read from the Earl of Stamford, privately acquainting the authorities of his having received a request from the town of Market Harborough to obtain the right to hold a fair there. The Corporation thanked his lordship for his kindness in giving them notice of the application, and unanimously resolved to oppose the attempt — in the same spirit of illiberality which was shown in the opposition to the navigation of the Derwent. The town at this date maintained a Bridewell, in which offenders against the law were punished. There being a vacancy in the post of keeper, a person named James Kichmond was appointed to fill it ; being first required to take up his freedom. In June, the Corporation resolved that he should be allowed to do so on paying for it £20; of which sum £7 was to be paid into the Chamberlain's hands : the remaining £13, with £5 more, he was to give a bond to the Corpora- tion to expend upon the Bridewell house, within the ensuing six months ; and when he had given a true account of the expenditure of that amount on the house, the bond was to be returned to him. He was also to undertake the payment of all local and state taxes. He was to be allowed five nobles a year for his salary as Bridewell keeper. In November, the Corporation had so far modified their opposition LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 13 to the proposal of holding a fair at Market Harborough, as to petition that it might not be holden before the 24th of May, nor after the 10th of Jane. The petition was forwarded to the Earl of Stamford. In the early part of the year 1700, the Corporation were brought into collision with one of their Chamberlains, Mr. George Bent, who neglected the execution of the duties of his office, and whom they therefore suspended. It is to be inferred, from the records of the resolutions adopted at Common Halls, that the Chamberlain's re- sponsibilities were onerous, and the liabilities to which he was exposed unfair ; as he was not merely treasurer and accountant, but was sometimes called on to advance money for the town out of his own pocket. Proposals were made for Mr. Bent's restoration to office, which, however, were unacceptable, either to one party or the other, and finally he was expelled from the Chamberlain ship. The proceedings arising out of this dispute were followed by a closer inspection of the accounts by the Corporation, and by the adoption of a resolution to economize expenses, to this effect, which (among others) was carried : " Ordered, That the £3 allowed Mr. Mayor for the Sessions dinners, and 24s. for the dinners to the Grand Jury, and 12s. for the Constables, for the future be taken off, and no dinner allowed." Among the notable men whose names are identified in some degree with this town, once stood Sir Nathan Wright. He was a native of Barwell, in this county, and was brought up to the bar. In the year 1680 he was elected Recorder of Leicester, and continued in office for five years ; the Earl of Huntingdon being then appointed under the new Charter. In 1688 he was rechosen Recorder, and a few years after took the degree of Sergeant-at-law, being made king's sergeant and knighted in 1696, when his connection with the borough ceased. He retained a very friendly feeling for the Corporation, by whom he was often entertained, and to whom he made a present of a silver bowl, in token of his regard, after he had resigned his appoint- ment. When King William had peremptorily demanded the seals of Lord Chancellor Somers, " the most active leader of the Whig party," he placed them temporarily in commission, and then bestowed them on Sir Nathan Wright — "a man," says Smollett, "but indifferently well qualified for the office to which he was preferred," though in the estimation of the Tories, " he was deservedly advanced to the highest pinnacle of state preferments." At this point in his career, the Corporation of Leicester despatched to the Lord Keeper the following address, with the common seal appended : — 14 LEICESTEK IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. "To the Right Honourable Sir Nathan Wright, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England, " My Lord, " We, the Mayor, Bailiffs, and Burgesses of the Borough of Leicester, having always preserved a just sense of the many favours which for several years we have received from your lordship, when we had the honour to have your lordship a member thereof, do unanimously beg leave of your honor that we may congratulate you on your accession to that high place of trust and honor which his majesty has been graciously pleased lately to confer upon you, we being entirely satisfied that the Great Seal of Justice could not be lodged with more safety than in the hands of your lordship (of whose justice and protection we have had so long experience), which that your lordship may long enjoy to the benefit of the public, and the particular honor which will redound thereby, both to our Corporation and Country, is the hearty desire of all." The Lord Keeper held this post until the year 1705. On his retirement from the Court of Chancery, he passed the remainder of his days at his seat at Caldecote in Warwickshire. The disposition to cut down expenses which followed Mr. Bent's refusal to act as Chamberlain, was prompted, it would seem, by necessity; as in the same year the Corporation ordered the town house, called the " Lord's Place," to be sold, in order that the proceeds might be applied to the payment of the debts of the Corporation. This building (of which one turret still remains, in some part at least, in the High Street) was originally called " Keynold's Place," having probably been erected early in the sixteenth century by a member of the Reynold family, which, like other town families — as the Wigstons, the Heyricks, and the Gillots, — had risen to opulence in the course of the fifteenth century. Among the list of Aldermen of wards, in the reign of Richard III, John Reynold's name occurs in connection with the seventh ward, in which the upper part of High Street was included ; and therefore it may be presumed he was then living either in the building known as "Reynold's Place," or on its site. Other persons of the same name were elected Mayors in the reign of Henry VIII. ; so that the family had attained wealth and distinction in the period to which reference is here made. As the mansion of burgesses of Leicester, living from three hundred to four hundred years ago, it was more extensive in its proportions and more stately in its architecture than it would be generally considered, in modern days, such an edifice was likely to be — the rank and position of its builders being regarded. Its front was ornamented with two lofty towers, between which was placed the LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 15 principal gateway : behind was an extensive court-yard : and the staircase in the turrets conducted to one large state chamber, and to smaller apartments. The facade was probably not unlike that of the ruined house in Bradgate Park, and of nearly the same date. Its first owners were doubtless wealthy merchants, whose household staff enabled them to live in lordly state and to maintain a bounteous hospitality. From the Reynolds, the house passed to the possession of two gentlemen named Eaton, resident at Ravenstone and Leicester, who sold it early in the reign of Elizabeth, to Henry, the third Earl of Huntingdon, who made it his regular town house, and then it acquired the name of the " Lord's Place." From a descendant of the Earl, the house went into the hands of the Sherards of Stapleford ; from them to two persons named Warburton and Bradley ; and from them it was purchased by the Corporation in the year 1647. Forty years after, it was occupied by Lawrence Carter, gent., who had it on lease ; and when that expired the Corporation resolved on selling it, as before stated. It was finally purchased by Simon Barwell, gent., for £400. Such is a brief account of this edifice, in which Queen Mary was lodged while in the care of the Earl of Huntingdon, as already related, shortly before she was beheaded at Fotheringhay ; in which King James, her son, was lodged when he visited Leicester ; in which King Charles slept on various occasions : and though all that is left of it is the turret which still breaks the monotony of a row of shops, that relic suggests a theme worthy of romance and poetry still remaining amid the commonplace realities of the busy present. The decease of the exiled monarch, James II., took place at St. Germains, in September 1701. Before the event he was visited by the French king, who declared that, in case of his death, he would own James's son as king of England ; and accordingly, when James died, the pretended Prince of Wales was proclaimed King of England, at St. Germains, and treated as such at the Court of Versailles. All England was filled with indignation at Louis, for thus presuming to declare who ought to be their sovereign, and the city of London presented an address to the lords justices, expressing the deepest resentment of the French king's conduct ; assuring William that they would at all times exert the utmost of their abilities for the preservation of his person, and the defence of his just rights, in opposition to all invaders of his crown and dignity. Addresses of the same nature were sent up from all parts of the kingdom. At a Common Hall of the Corporation of this town, held on the 10th of October, it was ordered, nemine contradicente, that an address in 16 LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. similar terms should be forwarded to his majesty. But William did not long survive these expressions of loyalty to his person and crown, for on the 8th of March following he was numbered with his fathers. CHAPTER II. queen anne proclaimed in leicester political consequences of anne's accession local rejoicings on the victories op the english over the french visit of the earl of denbigh the duke of Marlborough's successes at blenheim and elsewhere celebrated the woolcombers' admission to the freedom of the borough — further rejoicings on the triumphs of the english army abroad appointment of nightly bellmen the rules of debate at corporation meetings provision of a town workhouse corporation address to the queen the enclosure of the south fields — rebuilding of the conduit murder of captain farnham quarrels among the aldermen mr. alderman wilkins and the corporation peace concluded with france shops and sheds in the market-place — displacement of alder- men and common-councilmen the end of alderman wilkins death of queen anne. William III. died on the 8th of March, 1702. He was one of the greatest but one of the least popular of our English monarchs. By the Tories and Jacobites he was held in especial aversion. They, however, were delighted when Anne, Princess of Denmark, ascended the throne as his successor. She was the sister of Queen Mary, William's wife, and of James Stuart, "the Pretender;" and it was expected (as she in all probability would leave no heirs of her own body) that she would be induced to alter the succession in favour of her brother. Anne was extremely partial to the Tories, whom she regarded as firm monarchists and thorough-going churchmen ; but her party predilections were greatly controlled by the Duchess of Marlborough, who obtained over her a peculiar ascendancy. Queen Anne was immediately proclaimed in Leicester, when ale was distributed and bonfires blazed in the Market Place. At her LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 17 coronation, the local rejoicings were still more general and hearty. A public dinner was provided, ale was again given away among the populace, drums were beaten, and bonfires were lighted in the public places. 1 In her speech to both houses, delivered on the 11th of March, the queen promised her subjects there was nothing they could expect or desire from her which she would not be ready to do for the happiness and prosperity of England. The assurances made by her Majesty were considered to be so satisfactory that all the public bodies sent up addresses to her — among the others, the Corporation of Leicester, who resolved upon so doing at their meeting held on the 16th of March following the inaugural address. On the accession of Anne, the Tories in Leicester seem to have derived encouragement from the circumstance, and the Whigs to have been proportionately discouraged. This may be explained by the fact that the Court and the Government invariably influenced, more or less, the composition of the municipal body. Hence, while William the Third ruled, the Dissenters were protected, and the friends to the Protestant succession were in the ascendant, and therefore the Corporations were more politically Liberal. When Anne succeeded, it was anticipated the High Church party and the Jacobites would bear sway ; the latter party, in fact, almost openly drank the health of " Sorrel " — the horse which threw king William over a mole-hill, and thus caused the accident terminating in his decease ; and toasted the " Little Gentleman in Velvet " — the mole which threw up the hill over which the horse stumbled. In Leicester, the Whig Corporators now kept away from the Hall meetings, hoping thus to evade any partici- pation in proceedings of which they might disapprove ; but in order to enforce their attendance, the Tories who attended passed this 1 The Chamberlains' Accounts for the year thus testify to the nature of the festivities indulged in on the occasion : Paid Mr. Bradley for an hogshead of ale on the Coronation day Five clergymen's ordinary for dinners .... Town Clerk and Macebearer's dinners - Ten servants' dinners .... . . Paid for a hundred and one bottles of wine . . . - A flask of Florence wine ...... Two bottles of canary ...... Four pints of claret and white wine - Paid to the drummers on the Coronation day Paid to Mr. Lord for 52 gallons of ale on the Coronation day Paid to Mr. Pare for wine, &c, as by his bill appears at the same day Paid to Mr. Pate for 27 gallons of ale at the same time Paid to Edward Biddle for drawing the hogshead of ale at Mr. Bradley's Paid to John Colson for 30 kids on the Coronation day C £. s. d. 2 10 5 2 6 8 7 11 6 2 4 3 7 2 12 13 14 6 1 11 1 7 18 LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. resolution: "It is ordered, according to a former order, that every person neglecting to appear at any meeting upon summons, or days which they are appointed to meet on, without summons, and have not ' spareing ' [query, excuse ?] , every Alderman shall forfeit two shillings, and every Common Councilman shall forfeit and pay for the same default one shilling, according to the said Order, and the said Order to continue." The passing of this Order was followed by a secession from the body of several of its members, and the appointment of fresh persons in their places. Mr. Nicholas Allsop, one of the Aldermen, was dismissed on his own petition, and his place filled by Mr. Edward Hood, one of the Common Councilmen. At the same meeting as that on which this change was made, Mr. Symon Martin, bookseller, Mr. Wm. Hammond, Mr. Wm. Miles, and Mr. Robt. Gamble, hosier, were elected members of the Common Council. The fines for non- attendance were levied, and are thus recorded in the Chamberlains' Accounts : " Received for fines of the members in the Hall, 17s." The warlike continental projects of William were prosecuted by Anne ; one of these being the reduction of Cadiz, with a view to act afterwards against the Spanish settlements in the West Indies. Admiral Rooke commanded the fleet and the Duke of Ormond the land forces destined for the expedition, and in October they jointly captured the fort of Vigo, with the French fleet lying in the harbour. At home, the victory was celebrated with great rejoicings. In this town, the popular exultation manifested itself in the accustomed manner. m A day of special rejoicing was appointed, which is thus recorded in the Hall Book : " Thursday the 3rd day of December next, being by her Majesty appointed for a Day of Thanksgiving for the success of our forces by sea and land, it is therefore ordered by this Hall, that, in order to the greater solemnity of the day, the Company of the 24, and the Company of the 48, appear at the Guildhall on the same day, by nine of the clock of the forenoon, to go to church with Mr. Mayor in their formalities ; and ordered that all dine together with whom and where Mr. Mayor pleaseth, at Is. per piece for their m The items in the Town Account make the style of rejoicing manifest: £. s. d. Paid the drummers for heating, upon the news of taking Vigo by the Duke of Ormond - - - . . . . . -026 Paid for twenty kids for bonfires then - - - - - 5 Paid for ale drunk upon that occasion - - - - 15 9 Paid to Mr. Pate at the Thanksgiving Day for the victory at Vigo, when the feast was, as per bill - - - - - - - 5 7 LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 19 ordinary, and that an hogshead of ale, and tobacco and pipes, be allowed by the town, and paid for by the Chamberlains." In the year 1703 very little occurred locally to interest the reader. At this time, Basil, fourth Earl of Denbigh, was Lord Lieutenant of the County, having been so appointed on the accession of Queen Anne ; and having been previously Master of the Horse to George, Prince of Denmark. Great respect being paid at this period to public officers of distinction, when the Earl paid a formal visit to Leicester, in July, all the members of the Common Hall attended in the Guildhall, at eight o'clock in the morning of the 13th, in order to meet his lordship. Wine and biscuits were provided, to entertain him and his friends with, on the occasion. At a subsequent date, when the queen's arms and the other armorial bearings placed on the Gains- borough were blazoned afresh, the Corporation ordered the Earl of Denbigh's heraldic insignia to be put up with them on the building, probably as those of the Lord Lieutenant of the County. In the year following, on the 6th of March, there was a meeting of the Common Hall, at which it was resolved, that as the 8th of March was the day of the Queen's inauguration to the Crown, such a treat and rejoicing should be made as Mr. Mayor should think fit, to be paid for by the Chamberlains. The year 1704 was more notable for public demonstrations than the transaction of local business, being the period of the Duke of Marlborough's great successes over the French and Bavarians, when the joy of the people of this country was unbounded. On the 2nd of July, the Duke, with the assistance of the Dutch and Prince Louis of Baden, routed the army under the Elector of Bavaria, at Schellen- burg, near Donauwerth. When the report reached Leicester on the 5th of July, the Corporation, being in Common Hall, ordered "that if the news of the Earl of Marlborough's success be confirmed to- morrow, such a collation and treat be made to-morrow night, at the Gainsborough, as Mr. Mayor shall think fit, the charges to be paid by the Chamberlains." The intelligence being confirmed, bonfires were lighted, and ale was given away to the people. 11 The battle of Schellenburg was, however, a small affair compared with the gigantic struggle at Hochstedt, or as it is more commonly called, " the battle of Blenheim," when Marlborough and Prince Eugene engaged the French and Bavarians under Marshall Tallard n See the Chamberlains' Accounts : £. s. d. Paid for twenty-two kids at the rejoicing for the victory over the Bavarians - 5 6 Paid Mr. Pate for ale at the same time - - - - - 5 8 Paid the drummers at the same time - - - - - - 3 20 LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. and the Elector, on the 13th of August, the day terminating in the utter defeat of the latter. On the arrival of the news in Leicester, there was a two days' feasting and jubilee. The people were mad with exultation. Again the bonfires were piled in the Market Place, again ale was supplied freely to the populace, again the bells of the churches pealed, again the drummers roused the town with their discordant echoes, and again the Corporation feasted. It needs scarcely to be remarked that this was an age of low debauchery and of popular ignorance ; though it must be added that a demand for commercial freedom now arose in the borough. Up to this time, the law requiring all persons to be freemen of the town in which they settled, before commencing any kind of business, was rigidly enforced, and none dare to dispute its propriety. A change, however, began to manifest itself. Strangers and others attempted to carry on their trades and callings without taking up their freedoms, in defiance of ancient usages and the authority of the Corporation. In order to resist these efforts of the insubordinate portion of the inhabitants, the Corporation set in motion all the machinery at their command. At a Common Hall, held on the 5th January, 1705, they ordered that Mr. Recorder, Mr. Steward, and Mr. Solicitor be con- sulted as to the best method of forcing all those who exercised any trade, art, mystery, or occupation, within this Borough, not being freemen, to take up their freedom: and "what they should advise, the Hall ordered and agreed to should be forthwith prosecuted at the charge of the Corporation." What success attended the proceedings of. the legal functionaries, the meagre memoranda of the body do not enable us to relate ; but they were disposed to effect a compromise, in the first instance, as their resolution, adopted on the 30th day of August, was as follows : " Whereas, by an Order of this Hall, here- tofore made, no stranger, or other person or persons whatever, should buy or have the freedom of this Corporation under the sum of twenty pounds, which said order has hitherto been duly observed, and is intended still to be continued, only [except] in the occupation of the Woolcombers, who, being pretty numerous, and it appearing to this All this is only feebly suggested in these items : Paid for twenty-five kids at the rejoicing at the battle of Hockstet - Paid the drummers at the same time ------ Paid Mr. Goadby for ale at the Duke of Marlborough's victory Paid to John Dawson at the day of rejoicing for ale - - - - Paid to Mr. Pate for ale at the day of rejoiciDg - Paid to Mr. Coats for ale at the day of rejoicing for the Duke of Marlborough's victory ......... Paid to Mr Pare, as by bill (for wine) ------ £. s. d. 6 3 3 1 1 2 15 3 2 2 8 9 8 LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 21 Hall to be an employment of a very considerable profit and advantage to the Corporation in general, and there being a great many of the said employment or business of Woolcombers that are not free of this Borough, and are thereby liable to have actions brought against them ; therefore, this Hall, for the encouragement of the said manufacture and the workers thereon, do agree and it is hereby ordered and agreed, that all those Woolcombers that are not freemen of this Borough, and are willing and desirous to become freemen of the same, shall be admitted and have their freedom, upon paying the sum of ten pounds at the time of their freedom taking, to the Mayor for the time being, for the use of the Corporation ; any order to the contrariwise notwith- standing." It will be perceived, as this history proceeds, how this concession operated. The annals of this borough, in the reign of Queen Anne, present a record of almost yearly rejoicings on the triumphs obtained by British arms over foreign enemies. It is one continuous story of bacchanalian orgies, occasioned by the victories of the great general of the age. In 1706 the Corporation, at a Common Hall, agreed to address her Majesty by way of congratulating her upon the glorious successes obtained in Spain, and by the Duke of Marlborough in the Netherlands and Brabant ; desiring Sir Geo. Beaumont, Bart., and James Winstanley, Esq., to be pleased to present the address. The document itself was prepared at Davies's Coffee House, where the Corporation met for the purpose. An entertainment suitable to the event was also ordered to be provided by Mr. Mayor (to be paid for by the Chamberlains) ; Thursday the 27th of June having been appointed as a " Day of Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the great and glorious victories obtained by her Majesty's forces and her allies over the common enemy." Again, in September, it was ordered that on the evening of St. Matthew's Day (the 21st) so much ale, and wood for bonfires, be ordered for rejoicing for the victory obtained by Prince Eugene in Italy, as Mr. Mayor shall think proper. In the upper room of the Gainsborough, the stout, ruddy-faced Alder- men, their heads buried in huge wigs, sat with long pipes, amid clouds of tobacco smoke, descanting upon the despatches which Mr. Mayor read out of the newspaper, and about which they grew vain- glorious the more rapidly the ale was circulated. Outside, the populace huzzaed round the bonfires ; being allowed a share, pro- portionate to their station, in the potations indulged in by their superiors. On the 31st of December a Thanksgiving Day for the battle of Ramilies was celebrated, when a hogshead of ale, three gross of pipes, and two pounds of the best tobacco, were ordered at the public expense for the benefit of the revellers. 22 LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. It was found necessary to institute a night-watch in this age of ale and tobacco. Whether the measure was called for by the brawls incident on the nocturnal revelries so frequently indulged in does not appear, though it is very likely it was so occasioned. It is thus minuted in the Hall Book : " It is ordered at this Hall that Nicholas Swingler and John Yates shall be bellmen, to go nightly through this borough from ten of the clock at night till six of the clock in the morning ; to be removable at the pleasure of the Mayor for the time being. And that the Corporation shall provide bells to be paid for by the Chamberlains, and to be allowed in their accounts. And that each of the said bellmen shall have a coat bought for them by the Mayor for the time being ; the price not to exceed 4s. per yard, and a small badge of silver, with the town arms put upon the sleeve of each coat, and two staves ; the said bells, coats, badges, and staves, to be taken away, and bellmen removed, by the Mayor and Justices for the time being, or the more part, or the greater part of them, upon any misdemeanour." The year 1707 was in incidents like its predecessors, except that a fresh cause of thanksgiving was provided for the Mayor, Aldermen, and Common Councilmen, in the ratification of the articles of the Union with Scotland ; the first of May having been selected as the day on which the event was to be celebrated. In Leicester, thirty kids furnished bonfires, four drummers dealt out their sheep-skin melodies, ale was served round, and Mr. Mayor with a select few finished the day with wine at "the Angel"; as the Chamberlains' accounts testify. In 1708 the Corporation held many meetings ; and as those of previous dates had doubtless been disorderly, it was found expedient to adopt certain standing orders at the very beginning of the year. These were the regulations here referred to : " That when a matter to be debated is proposed by the Mayor, every member shall keep his place during the debate, except he withdraw. " That when any member would move on the debate, he stand up in his place, and direct himself to the chair. " That no member break in upon another while he is speaking ; and if it happen that two or more members stand up to speak at the same time, the senior be admitted to speak first. " That the fine for the breach of any of the abovesaid Orders be sixpence, to be paid to the Chamberlains immediately." In January, the Corporation came to the conclusion that a Work- house would be very useful and necessary for employing therein the poor of the town, and would " tend to the breeding up of the poor in good principles of religion, and be an advantage to all the parishes, LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 23 in respect of the charges they were then paying to the poor." A bill was thereupon introduced into the House of Commons to provide a Workhouse for Leicester; upon which the Corporation met to con- sider it, and adopted the following amendments on the measure, at a meeting held in March : "That instead of eleven members [as guardians] out of this body they be reduced to six. " That appeals be allowed (to such parts of the parishes that be out of the Borough) to the County Sessions. " That the sum of two thousand pounds be altered to one year's levy of the respective parishes to the poor. " That the gross sum to be levied on the parishes be appointed by the Guardians, and the respective parishes to assess on particular persons according to the usual way of raising the poor's rates in the several and respective parishes." Towards the latter end of February, the Government had intelli- gence of an extraordinary armament in Dunkirk, which ultimately proved to be that of the French fleet, commanded by M. Forbin, with the Pretender, who had assumed the name of the Chevalier de St. George. A fleet under Admiral Byng was as early as possible despatched to attack the invading force, and took one of the men- of-war in Edinburgh Frith, on board of which were several noblemen, officers, and others, partizans of the Pretender; the attempted landing being thus frustrated. The Corporation of this town (many of whom were strongly suspected of Jacobite principles) met on the 19th of March ; and, whatever might be their secret sympathies, adopted the following address : " To the Queen's most Excellent Majesty. "The Humble Address of the Mayor, Bailiffs, and Burgesses of your Majesty's ancient Borough of Leicester, in the County of Leicester. " May it please your Majesty, " We humbly approach your Royal Throne witb the deepest sense of our Duty and Allegiance to your Sacred Person, and with the utmost detestation and abhorrence of the Traitorous purpose of invading your Dominions by the Pretended Prince of Wales, assisted by a French Power. " We doubt not but the same Divine Providence (concurring with your Majesty's Vigilant Care), which has so often baffled the pernicious Designs of your Majesty's most inveterate Enemy, the French King, will frustrate this most injurious and violent attempt. " We humbly beg leave to assure your Majesty, that we shall readily devote all that is dear to us in defence of your Majesty's just and rightful Title to these your Imperial Realms, against all Pretenders whatsoever." 24 LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. The petition was presented to Queen Anne by Sir George Beau- mont and Mr. James Winstanley, who were introduced by the Vice Chamberlain. In this year a measure was originated which created a bitter feud between the local authorities and the poor freemen ; of a duration and followed by effects little anticipated, perhaps, by its promoters : the Corporation resolved on enclosing the South Fields. Before entering into the details of the affair, it may be proper to observe, that perhaps the most ancient of popular rights are those possessed by the freemen of boroughs, especially those of pasturage upon public lands. During the Roman occupation of this island, it would seem probable a portion of the lands lying round the stations was allotted for the use, in common, of a privileged portion of the inhabitants. "With the pertinacity which adheres to custom, especially when interest combines to render it acceptable and profitable to a large class, the system of common pasturage was continued during the sway of our Saxon ancestors. On the conquest of England by the Normans, the feudal barons of that race extinguished for a time the prescriptive usages and traditional rights of the burgesses of the boroughs, and assumed that such were vested in them alone, as the lords of the soil and the country. For several generations, the English people struggled against these lawless assumptions and groundless preten- sions, which were based on the claim of might alone ; and partly by purchase, partly by force of agitation, ultimately regained the rights of which they had been robbed, but of which the memory had always been transmitted from father to son as a precious heritage. When the authority of the Norman usurpers had waned away, a simple and equitable form of local government was gradually re-established in many towns, like Leicester, which prevailed during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries ; and then the mass of the townspeople enjoyed undisputed their common customs. But when the Tudor Henry the Seventh succeeded to the throne, by means of an armed invasion, the borough councils were superseded by self-elected bodies, and the consequence was that the members of such bodies began to form designs of their own, for the purpose of self-aggrandizement ; and they contrived to sacrifice the general interests to their selfish schemes, conspiring together to achieve their dishonest objects. In- stead of protecting the rights of the poor freemen in the town-lands, they manoeuvred by mutual consent to get the land enclosed, and to obtain parcels of it on long leases, at low terms, for themselves. With this preliminary explanation, what follows will be better under- stood. Late in the reign of Elizabeth (1601) under the profession of a LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 25 desire to better the Cow Pasture, and to make it " sounder " for cattle, the municipal body agreed to let it from November until a fortnight before Lady Day, to Michael Thornton, for 40s., to be paid before St. Andrew's Day. Three years later, the Town Commissioners (appointed by the Corporation for settling and leasing the public lands) resolved that before letting the Grange Farm the Cow Pasture should be enlarged. In January, 1605, at a Common Hall, the authorities decided that no townsman should put into the Cow Pasture any more beast or sheep than they were entitled to, under a penalty of forfeiting 2s. for every beast, and the farmers of the Grange 6d. for every sheep ; and none that kept teams (except the farmers) should put their draught horses into the meadows, or South Fields, at any time of the year, under a penalty of 2s. for every horse turned in, in violation of the order. Twenty years subsequently, the freemen petitioned the Mayor, the Commissioners, and the other Corporators, for the "compassing" and enlargement of the higher town pasture from Sutton's close to Bridge ; to promote which object many of the inhabitants had charitably contributed, and an almost general consent had been obtained. They prayed that the Cow Pasture might be enlarged for " the general benefit of the poorer sort," which (they said) " in all men's judgment is lawful;" but the Corporation returned for answer that the petition could not be granted, though they professed an intention to maintain the freemen's ancient privileges in the South Fields. p Again, in 1675 — when two generations had passed away — a body of freemen addressed the Mayor and his colleagues concerning their grievances. They set forth that their ancient privileges were partly destroyed or taken away by the improper conduct of the farmers who rented the town land. They complained that the farmers drove their cattle through the drift, instead of along the high road ; that, contrary to ancient usage, they watered and layered their cattle in a place called "Bull Nook," to the damage of the Pasture; that they either kept no bull or boar for the freemen's use (as they were bound to do) or such as were not serviceable ; that they put their sheep in the meadows soon after Lammas, instead of Michaelmas (as they were entitled to do) ; that they (the freemen) were discharged from turning their horses into St. Mary's fields according to ancient usage ; and they expressed a hope that they might not be compelled to use other than legal means to obtain a remedy for the evils of which they complained. No record informs us of the success of this memorial ; though, in the year 1686 it was ordered that if any steers or bullocks were put into the high town pasture they should be impounded — a p Some of these particulars do not appear in the Hall Books ; thej are copied from " Throsb/s History of the Borough," pages 155 and 156. 26 LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. proof that, while the upper burgesses were always prone to encroach on the rights of the lower, they were very ready to resent any irregu- larities committed by the latter. The system of corporate self-election being now in operation, the aggrieved had no remedy. We now arrive at the time when a course of proceeding was taken by the Corporation in systematic violation of the rights, real or sup- posed, of the freemen. This was the enclosure of the South Fields, which had theretofore been unenclosed. The first step was taken at a Common Hall, held on the 9th of July, 1708, when Mr. John Wilkins, Mr. Thomas Ayers, sen., Mr. Foxton, Mr. Bradley, Mr. Lewin, Mr. Denshire, Mr. Pratt, Mr. Headley, and Mr. Willows were appointed to attend the Mayor, whenever he should appoint, to consider the best measures to improve the South Fields, and to report their opinion at the next Hall meeting. In consonance with this order they appear to have reported on the 16th of July ; for at the Common Hall on that day, it is recorded, it was the opinion of the majority of the members that it would be to the great improvement of the estate belonging to the Corporation in particular, and the benefit of the freemen in general, to enclose the South Fields. The question was put thus : — Query — Whether it be the opinion of the members now present that it will be to the great improvement of the estate of the Corporation in particular, and to the benefit of the freemen in general, to enclose or lay down to herbage the South Fields lying in the parish of St. Mary ? YEAS. John Ludlara, Mayor. Humph. Chapman. John Wilkins. John Newton. Samuel Woodland. Robert Headley. James Annis. Thomas Gamble. Arthur Noon. John Dawson. Joshua Goodrich. Ed. Bracebridge. Wm. Bunney. John Guthridge. Francis Lewin Henry Treen. John Cooper, Aid. Symon Martin. Roger Lee. Benj. Guthridge. Will. Topp. Henry Smith. Tho. Helmsley. Thos. Ayre, jun. John Denshir. Tho. Topp. William Wells. Robert Brewin. Matthew Judd. John Payn. Wm. Hammond. Sam. Sympson. Edward Palmer. Tho. Ludlam. LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 27 NOES. Mr. Wm. Southwell. Mr. Edm. Cradock. Mr. John Pratt. Thus far the party in favour of the enclosure of the South Fields were in almost unopposed supremacy. But they did not proceed precipitately ; as it was not until September that they prosecuted their plans further. On the 20th of that month, however, they carried a series of resolutions as follows : " That (whereas there are Leases of the several farms in South Fields, in the Parish of St. Mary, granted by this Corporation to divers persons, yet unexpired,) from and after the expiration of the said leases, the said farms or South Fields shall be laid down to pasturage, and not be any longer employed in tillage. " That the said South Fields shall have one General Enclosure. " That all proposals for taking the whole or parcels of the said South Fields, or other the lands of the Corporation, shall be made in writing, and delivered into the Commissioners, to be by them considered of. " That no lease or leases shall be absolutely granted at the time they are proposed, but that they shall be then considered of, and determined at the next meeting of the Commissioners. " That there be immediately an account taken of all the leases of the lands and tenements of this Corporation ; to be drawn out into a table and set up in the Hall." The freemen being unable openly to resist the doings of the Cor- poration, some among them had recourse to that kind of opposition which is usual in such cases : they secretly posted up written papers reflecting on the proposed enclosing of the land in question, broke locks, and destroyed posts and rails.* 1 Here, for the present, we leave the subject of the freemen's rights, and the Corporation's treatment of the question, to notice the other local occurrences of the year. On the 11th of July, the Duke of Marlborough and Prince Eugene beat the French with great slaughter, at Oudenarde. Again were all the customary rejoicings enacted in this town, preceded by an address to the Queen, congratulating her majesty on the victory ; and a Day of Thanksgiving was fixed (the 19th of August) on which a public feast was provided, to grace which and Sir George Robinson, Barts., with many other gentlemen of rank and fortune. In the evening, the ball was opened by Captain Lewis and the Hon. Miss Bett Noel. The javelin men and train of servants in attendance were clothed in green and crimson, and were freeholders of Market Harborough, who, as a mark of honour to the High Sheriff (Lebbeus Humfrey, Esq.), offered their services to complete his suite. On Thursday, September the 24th, the anniversary meeting of the opening of the Infirmary was celebrated with every demonstration of pleasure and distinction. The Governors met at the Assembly Room, Coal Hill, and thence proceeded in order to St. Margaret's Church ; where the Hon. and Rev. Dr. Noel (by request) preached a sermon from the first epistle of Peter, chapter 4, verse 10: "As every man hath received of the gift, even so minister one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God." The Rev. Mr. Haines read the service ; during which certain songs and choruses from the " Messiah " were performed. In the evening a grand concert Was given at the Assembly Room, the principal parts in which were taken by Mr. Giardini, Mr. Cervetto, Mr. Norris, Mrs. L 146 LEICESTEB IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. Weichell, Mr. Sharp, Miss Greatorex, and others. The Harpsichord Concerto by Miss Greatorex was accompanied by Giardini. After- wards there was a ball, opened by Miss Noel and Sir George Robinson, Bart. In money received at the church doors, and in church and concert tickets, a total was forthcoming of £326 lis. 8|d. At a meeting of Governors held on the following day, the Earl of Sandwich, first Lord of the Admiralty, the Countess Dowager of Harborough, Viscount "Wentworth, and many other persons of distinction were present. After the swearing-in of the Mayor, Robert Peach, Esq., at the Castle this year, there was an old-fashioned grand entertainment at the Town Hall ; when the Earl of Denbigh, the Hon Mr. Noel, the Hon. and Rev. Dr. Noel, Sir Charles Halford, and others of the county magnates honoured the banquet with their presence. The usual loyal toasts were drunk; and among them, "Prosperity and Independence to the Corporation of Leicester." CHAPTER XII. DESTRUCTION OF MACHINERY BY FRAMEWORK-KNITTERS — A RUNAWAY MARRIAGE IN LEICESTER AN INFIRMARY ANNIVERSARY ERECTION OF ORGANS IN ST. MARTIN'S AND ST. MARGARET'S CHURCHES MRS. SIDDONS THE ACTRESS IN LEICESTER THE SHRIEVALTY OF MR. WINSTANLEY THE OLD TOWN GATES TAKEN DOWN PRIMITIVE ASPECT OF THE TOWN REMOVAL OF THE BEAST MARKET A TEA- PARTY AT THE VAUXHALL THE CELEBEATED INFIRMARY ANNI- VERSARY OMAI, THE PRINCE OF OTAHEITE — THE DEATH OF VISCOUNT WENTWORTH. The early grievances of the framework-knitters and the low wages they received have been before noticed. In the winter of this year, the workpeople felt all the effects of dearness of provisions, and want of employment; and, in consequence, forty-four of the principal hosiers agreed not to lower wages below the rates at which they stood at Christmas 1772, for three months after February the 27th 1773. Soured by privations, and misled by ignorant advisers, the stocking- LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 147 makers made an indefensible attack upon the rights of property in the month ensuing. > The circumstances were briefly these : x A frame had been constructed by an ingenious mechanic from Scotland, and offered for sale by him to several of the hosiers in this town, who were soliciting a patent for the invention. The prejudices of the workpeople were roused by reports of the powers of the new machine ; for it was said that one man upon this frame could perform as much work as sixty men could do upon a common frame, in the same time, — that, in fact, it was capable of making a dozen pairs at once ! Other reports, still more extravagant, were current — all tending to produce an impression upon the mind of the stocking- maker that the value of his labour, now lower than he could bear to contemplate, would be rendered still lower — would, indeed, be utterly destroyed. The newly-invented frame had been set up on the premises of its owners (Messrs. Simpson and Goode), and was known to be there by the populace. To destroy the hateful machine seemed to the stockingers a certain way of preventing its introduction into the staple manufacture. In the county as well as in the town this idea was speedily ventilated; so, on the morning of Monday, March the 12th, crowds of country workmen, leaving their village homes, thronged the roads leading to Leicester, for the avowed purpose of breaking up the new frame. About ten o'clock, they assembled in the Market Place (their numbers being swollen by additions from every nook and alley in the place), and, soon after, a football was thrown up, and then the multitude grew riotous. The interference of the authorities now becoming necessary, Robert Peach, Esq., the Mayor, very early appeared, and demanded the cause of the disturbance. One of the hosiers, who was trying to get a patent for the frame, also came out among the people, and desired to be heard. He said he understood that the cause of their meeting in that manner was the uneasiness they felt on account of the probable effects of the invention : he begged leave to assure them that the reports concerning its probable operation, of making their labour useless, were wholly untrue ; that it was calculated to serve them ; that every workman would find advantages in using it ; and that he would put his word to the test by permitting any number of them to examine it and see it work, and, if it were found to have any property tending to injure the stocking-maker, he would freely give it up to be broken in pieces ; . though, he added, he was certain it would prove very much to the contrary. For a short time, the mob was pacified by this appeal, and the x Leicester Journal, March 20, 1773. 148 LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. frame was ordered immediately to be taken to the Exchange and there set up, in order that all who chose might examine its con- struction. However, before it was made quite ready for working, the ringleaders forced themselves into the building, seized upon the frame, removed it into the Market Place, carried it round the town in triumph, and then pulled it in pieces, throwing them among the disorderly multitude. On their return into the Market Place, the hosiers met the rioters, and then adjourned to the Exchange ; where they promised the frame -breakers that they would neither seek to obtain any patents for any newly-invented stocking-frame, nor cause to be made any such machine as might occasion any reduction in the number of workmen then employed; but, on the contrary, would do all they could to prevent the realization of such a result. This assurance being signed, the stocking-makers dispersed quietly, with- out offering any insult to any person. It is worthy of notice that not only did the unenlightened work- people resist the procuring of patents for the working of the new frame, but that some of the hosiers themselves united in the un- reasoning opposition to the invention. The Press (to its credit be it said) did not join in the outcry against improvement ; for the Journal permitted a correspondent to point out the merits and probable consequences of the adoption of the new frame. This person, writing temperately and sensibly, said the whole of the invention consisted in making a frame much simpler in .construction than the common one, and capable, at the same time, of being adapted to a greater variety of work. He thus pursued his argument : "Of course it must be cheaper, less liable to be out of order, and more extensively useful than the old ones. All these are surely advantages to the workman. It would cost him less to buy a frame ; and if he hires (as is generally the case) he would have less frame-rent to pay, and could make both fine and coarse work in the same frame. It is true the hosier would share part of the advantage with the workman : if the same work could be afforded vastly cheaper than at the present, the hosier would not give quite the old wages, but still the workman would gain more than before. The English merchant would be enabled to meet the foreigner on equal or superior terms, and the whole of the trade be drawn into our hands. The pretence that fewer workmen would be employed is vain ; unless the English already possessed the trade of the whole world ; nor even then unless new fashions in the mode of work could be no longer invented. Those who keep a number of frames of the old construction to let out may possibly be alarmed ; but their fears much outgo their reason. Whoever is acquainted with the very slow progress of all LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 149 arts, must know, that in spite of the pretensions of the projectors, no new invention can be suddenly brought into use. It requires universal experience to discover and remedy all the faults of a new invention." In this way did the advocate of improved machinery strive to allay the apprehensions of its opponents ; but for a long time all arguments were fruitless in this respect; as the invention was driven from Leicester to another part of the kingdom. Bell-ringing was practised at this time with considerable zeal, a complete peal of 5040 ** gransire triples " having been rung at St. Margaret's in three hours and eighteen minutes ; the party having begun in the morning and proceeded half way through when one of the ropes failed. Among the incidents of the year which furnished the gossips of the town with food for conversation was a runaway marriage, the parties to which paid a hurried visit to Leicester. On Tuesday, May the 18th, Lord Townshend, accompanied by a gentleman and several servants, came to the Cranes Inn, and remained there all that day and the day following. Lord Townshend sent expresses in different directions, and numerous were the conjectures as to the motives of his lordship's visit to Leicester. On Wednesday four post-chaises arrived at the inn, bringing several ladies and two gentlemen ; one of the former being young and exceedingly beautiful. After dining at the Cranes, they all set out for the metropolis. In a day or two, the London Evening Post cleared up all the mystery, by making the following announcement : " Yesterday, Lord Townshend was married to Miss Montgomery. She is said to be about 17 and his lordship about 50 years of age." y On Monday, May the 24th, the Leicestershire Militia were em- bodied, in order to be trained and exercised for twenty-eight days, pursuant to act of parliament. The Races were this year signalized by good running. In the evening, the ball at the Haymarket Assembly Room was opened by Lady Craven and the Hon. Mr. Noel ; on Thursday, by Miss Packe and the Hon. Mr. Booth Grey. Lord Granby (the son of the renowned Marquis of that name, and the great-grandfather of the present duke), then in his twentieth year, was present at the second day's race, dined at the ordinary, and was present at the assembly. He was spoken of as a very promising young nobleman, of great accomplish- ments. He died comparatively a young man, while holding the post of Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland. y George, first Marquess and fourth Viscount Townshend, m. secondly, 19 May 1770, Anne, da. of the late Sir William Montgomery, Bart., and by her had issue four daughters and two sons. (See Debrett's Peerage revised by Collen, published in 1810.) 150 LEICESTEE IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTUBY. In September, the Infirmary Anniversary was celebrated with great spirit and by a large concourse of its friends and promoters. From the returns made up to the previous 18th of June, it seems 107 patients had been admitted into the House, and 106 out-patients had been recipients of the advantages of the charity. Of these 213 persons, 71 were discharged cured. On the 24th of September the Archdeacon (Bickam) preached a sermon in St. Margaret's Church, and during the service a grand band of music performed several selections from the Messiah. The principal performers were Mr. Giardini, Mr. Crosdill, Mr. Norris, Mr. Champness, Mr. King, and Mr. Adcock. The various collections made on this occasion amounted to £378 13s. ll^d. The company consisted of an assemblage of nobility and gentry from the different counties of Northampton, Warwick, Eutland, and Derby, as well as this county. The church services of St. Martin's and St. Margaret's this year derived additional solemnity from the erection of organs in them by public subscriptions. The example was set by the liberality of St. Martin's parishioners. The organ was opened in St. Margaret's Church on the occasion of the Infirmary Anniversary in September. In the winter of the year 1774 the theatrical performances in the town were under the management of Mr. Robert Chamberlain, an in- habitant. They took place on the sufferance of a local association, which had avowed its determination to enforce the laws against dramatic entertainments. Mr. Chamberlain, pleading the distressed condition of his company, had deprecated the opposition of the associators ; promising only to play for six weeks after the date of his advertise- ment in the Journal of January the 15th, 1774, if they would allow him to do so. In the same paper he announced for Monday, January the 17th, the performance of the " West Indian," in which Mr. Siddons was announced to play the part of Belcour : Mr. Chamber- lain himself played Varland. The actresses were Mrs. Monk, Mrs. West, Mrs. Crump, and Miss Farrell. On the 31st of January, the performances were under the patronage of Sir Charles and Lady Halford, when "As you Like It" was presented, Mr. Siddons taking Orlando on the occasion. Mrs. Siddons does not seem to have had any part in these performances. As the usual announcements do not appear regularly in the Journal (owing probably to the limited resources of the company), we are unable to say when the great tragedienne was on the boards ; but the local paper of February the 19th publishes the following gratuitous announcement : "We hear that on Monday next will be performed at our Theatre, All for Love or The World well Lost, with the Irish Widow ; for the Benefit of Mr. and Mrs. Siddons." It is thus evident the lady took LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 151 her part occasionally in the performances ; but she who was subse- quently designated the "Queen of Tragedy" was now only an obscure provincial actress, in her nineteenth year, and had to pass through an ordeal of eight years of unappreciated toil in her profession, before her great powers became recognized in the metropolis. At the Spring Assizes the rivalry among the county gentry, in their displays, when chosen to fill the shrievalty, had another manifestation. Clement Winstanley, Esq. held the office this year, and it is recorded that upwards of thirty gentlemen paid him the compliment of attending upon him, clothed in a uniform of blue, with crimson collars, white waistcoats, and white breeches. Four hundred horsemen also went out in his train. The crowds of common people assembled to witness the procession were also very great — nothing equal to them in number having been seen before, except in 1748, when Mr. Winstanley 's father was High Sheriff. Both father and son were happy in the esteem of all who knew them, says the Leicester Journal of the day; which adds that uncommon and voluntary testimonies of regard were shown to the son by all degrees of people. The attention of Parliament having been turned to the state of the woollen manufactures of the kingdom, Sir Thomas Cave and Sir John Palmer, the members for the county, addressed a letter to the Mayor (R. R. Drake, Esq.), requesting him to publish the heads of subjects on which information was desired, by a General Meeting of Members of Parliament and others, in " Mr. Gregory's Journal. " The questions were numerous : they related to the prices, the kinds, and the quantities of wool, known to the locality — the state of the woollen manufacture — the foreign demand — the distress experienced in the district — and so forth. The Mayor convened a meeting of all inhabitants of the Town and County interested in the matter, to be held at the Three Crowns, on Monday, March the 21st ; but as no account of the meeting is furnished in the Journal, the results of the movement are not on record. Some inconvenience was at this time occasioned by the deficient weight of the gold coinage, which induced the principal tradesmen of Leicester to take action in the matter. Messrs. Jno. Mansfield, Thos. Lockwood, Robert Dowley, James Nutt, W. and E. Hodges, John Nichols, S. Taylor, and Wm. Lamb, accordingly advertised their willingness to take any guinea coined previous to the reign of George HI. (not manifestly diminished unlawfully) that would draw in good scales 5 dwts. 3 grains, or that weighed 5 dwts. 4 grains standing weight — in short, old guineas not wanting more than a shilling, and half-guineas more than sixpence, they agreed to accept in the course 152 LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. of trade ; expecting that all who took cash of them would receive what they took from others. The coincidence may be noted that in this year, in which Mrs. Siddons made her appearance in the town, John Wesley paid to it a second visit — probably less than a month after the actress's departure. Wesley preached in the " Tabernacle " in Millstone Lane, to a crowded congregation, on Thursday, March the 24th, and on the following morning, at five o'clock, he again addressed a numerous audience. Up to this time, the four old town-gates, erected in the Middle Ages, were still standing. They were square fabrics, not unlike the Magazine which forms the entrance to the Newarke. They were probably constituted of gateways, over which pointed arches extended their curves, with paths on each side for foot-passengers. At one or other of the angles of each building rose a turret-staircase, leading to the stories above the ground-floor, and to a flat roof, on which, when need was in former times, the protectors of the place posted themselves for the defence of the town-entrances. They were also provided with portcullises to bar the entrance of intruders, and the roofs were furnished with embattled parapets and machicolations. A century before the date at which this narrative has arrived, and even until a more recent period, the only mode of entering the town was through these gates, and they were closed at a certain hour every evening ; as I remember to have found, nearly thirty years ago, were the gates of the ancient city of Nuremberg, having been almost late enough to have been excluded, and left to find a lodging for the night in a suburban village. The lowness of the arches of the old town -gates prevented the ingress of waggons laden high with produce, and thus arose the necessity of finding a site close to the outside of a gate for the sale of field-produce, coal, and other articles brought for sale from the country to the town. The growth of a Hay Market near the East Gates in this town, is in this way accounted for, and the sale of corn on the town wall, which extended from the East Gates to the south- eastern angle of the Saturday Market Place, was probably required by the inability to bring the waggons laden with the grain through the gateway. At this time, the external appearance of Leicester still retained traces of its ancient architecture. It is thus described by an in- habitant who, when a child, saw the town in its simple and early aspect : " The Church Gate was the town ditch, full of mire, with a few houses standing on the eastern bank. The houses were made of wood and plaster, not more than two stories high. The varieties of roof and gable lunging upon one another, gave the old place a LEICESTER, IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 153 picturesque appearance. The chief street was Highcross Street, where stood the building of the Old Cross, which left scarcely room for a carriage to pass. A very enlivening feature were the trees scattered through the town. Opposite to the Borough Gaol (which was made out of St. Peter's Church) were the elm trees, two gigantic fellows, who stretched their arms completely across the street. In summer time they formed a pleasant shade, where many a pot of stout October regaled the idlers of that day. Near to King Eichard's house, stood a remarkably tall holly. Its smooth silver stem, with bushy top, mounted greatly above the houses. Just below the Confrater's house, was a row of massive chesnut trees, hiding some wretched buildings. "In the Market Place was the Pigeon Tree, under which country- women sat to sell pigeons, a great article of food brought from the open corn-fields that surrounded Leicester in all directions. Opposite the Post Office 2 there was a grove of trees, under which stood the small thatched inn called the Jolly Miller. Between this and the coal-yard, at the corner of Rutland Street (now occupied by the Wellington Hotel) was a horse pond, where the porters from the Crowns and the Cranes washed their horses. All these rural features have disappeared." The thought probably occurred to Mr. Drake, the Mayor — an auctioneer — that a public improvement and a little private business might at the same time be effected ; and he therefore proposed the entire removal of the ancient fabrics. In pursuance of his recom- mendation, doubtless, an advertisement was inserted in the Leicester Journal, stating that on the 28th of March the building materials of the four gates would be sold by auction at Mr. James Bishop's, the Three Crowns Hotel, in Leicester. The East, West, North, and South Gates, were to be sold in four lots ; to be removed at the buyer's expense. The Journal of April the 9th mentions the proceeding in this manner : " The great attention of our present Chief Magistrate, not only to the discharge of the principal duties of his office, but also to accommodating the public, and adding ornament to the town, is so remarkable, that we cannot but mention some instances to his honour. The order of Common Hall for taking down the four gates of this town, we are assured, was complied with at His particular motion, and has been executed under his immediate inspection. The East Gate has already been cleared away, and a commodious passage opened, which, when completed, we are told, will measure 54 feet wide, and the West Gate is now likewise taking z Mr. Gardiner here refers to the former Post Office standing on the north side of the Leicestershire Bank in Granby Street. 154 LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. down. Unaccountable as it may appear to a stranger, in this im- proved age, yet it is a fact that Leicester, a flourishing town of trade, situated in the middle of England, had her antique gates — those monuments of Gothic barbarism ! — remaining, till this very period, so narrow, that a foot-passenger meeting a carriage went in danger of his life, and so low that a high loaded waggon, or a load of hay, could not pass under them into the Market Place, or other inner parts of the town. And, what is more extraordinary, we had no other passage but upon sufferance (through one yard only) by which such loaded carriages could pass." One improvement often leads to another; and thus we are led to infer that the removal of the Town Gates suggested the alteration of the custom of holding the Beast Market near the East Gates to the holding of it in Horsefair Street, between the Three Crowns Hotel and the top of the street. We may be assured there would be local opposition to the proposal; but it was all useless, as Mr. Mayor's direction, publicly made known, was found sufficient to carry the measure, without recourse to private Act of Parliament or any foreign aid whatever. Here is the all-sufficient ordonnance under which the removal was effected : "Leicester, July 9, 1774. "The Beast Market, which hath been usually kept near the East Gates, in the Borough of Leicester, having been found inconvenient both to the Inhabitants and Owners of Cattle, — It is ordered by Mr. Mayor and the Justices, that the said Beast Market be removed, and is now removed, and •directed to be held for the future from the wall adjoining the Three Crowns Inn, and to extend straight along the Millstone Lane, in the said Borough of Leicester. " Richard Roberts Drake, Mayor. " N.B. All persons are discharged from laying any Dirt, Rubbish, Coals, Wood, or to set any Waggons, Carts, &c, in the above-mentioned Market. Any so offending will be punished as the law directs." The Militia having been embodied in May, the officers gave a tea party to a large number of ladies and gentlemen at the Vauxhall, on Tuesday, the 14th of June, when the regimental band, in the pleasure- boat upon the river adjoining the garden, played a variety of tunes with pleasing effect ; thus rendering the summer night melodious. On the day but one succeeding, the officers of the regiment were in their turn invited to a similar entertainment by the ladies and gentlemen. On the opposite side of the river then, there were well- wooded fields, and the noble elms around Danett's Hall ; so that, to quote the local paper, " the music from the river resounding in the groves, aided by the stillness of the night, produced uncommon LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 155 harmony." In the evenings, the gardens were illuminated, and the ladies and gentlemen danced upon the green. Now, the constant din of machinery is heard on the self-same spot where the music of the dance and the joyous voices of happy merrymakers were often heard a century ago. Unusual preparations were made to celebrate the Infirmary Anni- versary in September. An announcement of the programme was made a month beforehand. The new organ in St. Martin's Church was to be opened on Wednesday, the 21st. The anniversary was a grand day for the " dowagers," the belles, and the " eligible " young gentlemen of the county. Never was such an assemblage seen before in Leicester ; all that was distinguished in rank, brilliant in fashion, and fascinating in beauty, being represented in the New Assembly Rooms, the Church, and the Castle. There was the popular young Marquis of Granby, in his twenty-first year, his heart probably still free, and not a few beauties anxious to capti- vate the future lord of Belvoir. There were the Earl and Countess of Denbigh, the Earl and Countess of Harborough, the Earl of Stamford and the Hon. Mr. Grey, the Earl of Sandwich and the Hon. Mr. Montagu, Lord Geo. Sutton and lady, Lord Dudley and Ward, the Hon. Mr. Noel, the Rev. Dr. Noel and lady, the Hon. Miss Noels, Mr. Cave and lady, the Misses Cave, Miss Dixie, the Hon. Mr. Cockayne, Lord John and Lady Palmer, Sir Harry Gough and son, Sir John, Lady, and Miss Danvers, Sir George Robinson, Lady Hewitt, and many others. Among the company also was Mr. Banks, with Omai, prince of Otaheite, who had been brought to this country by Capt. Cooke, the celebrated circumnavigator. At ten o'clock on Wednesday morning, the company met at the New Assembly Room, Haymarket, and thence went in procession to Saint Martin's Church, where, when the company entered the venerable fabric, their arrival was announced by a grand overture, to produce which one hundred musicians contributed their skill, and with a surprising effect." Then followed the services of the Church, in which were performed the Dettingen Te Deum and the Jubilate. The Psalms of the day were chanted, and, after prayer, a very solemn musical movement was introduced, during the pause ensuing between the prayers and the clergyman's ascending the pulpit. The Rev. Mr. Burnaby of Greenwich preached the sermon, which, it is reported, was rational, manly, and devout ; appealing to the social affections and charitable feelings of the congregation. It was heard with the closest attention ; and while it touched the heart, a See Leicester Journal, September 24, 1774, containing an account written by a gentleman present, and intended to be given in a private letter to a friend. 156 LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. it indicated in the preacher the scholar and the gentleman. After the sermon, the Coronation Anthem dismissed the assembly. While the assembly was passing out, plates were held at the doors by the Countess of Denbigh, assisted by the Earl and Countess of Harborough, and a large collection was the result. The principal persons in the company then sat down to an ordinary in the Town Hall, where the tables were provided with venison by the nobility and gentry in the neighbourhood, and a choice dessert consisting of pines and a variety of fruits followed. Here, as throughout the day, Omai received the fullest share of notice, and behaved with the greatest politeness. He sat at perfect ease among the visitors, conversed with his friends familiarly, and it was said was by no means insensible to the attractions of the beauties by whom he was surrounded. In the evening, the Castle — then open from one end to the other — was filled with an assemblage such as had never before been seen within its walls. It was in every way striking — the mingling of ranks and classes, the varieties of costume, and the unwonted display constituting a spectacle that could not fail to impress the imagination. The orchestra was placed over the part usually assigned to the crown bar — the company occupied the space usually allotted to the nisi prius bar. The first piece was the Ode composed by Joseph Cradock, Esq., for the occasion, and set to music by Dr. Boyce. These are the words : " Lo ! on the thorny bed of care, The trembling victim lies — Deep sunk his eye-balls with despair — What friendly hand his wants supplies ? " Deplore his fate to woes consign'd — Deplore the fate of human kind ! Forbear to murmur at Heaven's high decree, Nor swell the bulk of human misery. " Think not in vain the pitying tear To thoughtless man was given, Sweet as the morn its dews appear — A balmy incense in the sight of Heaven. " Here shall soft Charity repair, And break the bonds of grief, Down to the flinty couch of Care, Man to man must bring relief. " Why lingers, then, the generous flame ? Awake a high enraptured strain I Breathe louder yet — not yet refrain — Again repeat — and yet again I " To hail the Work the full-voiced Choir we raise, And all unite to sing Jehovah's praise." LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 157 The effect (we are told) which this had upon the hearts of the hearers was visible in their countenances, and spoke more in its commendation than anything which could be said on the subject. There was only one drawback to the performance — Miss Davies (who had a principal part in the Ode, and two favourite songs to sing,) was taken very unwell. She, however, appeared in the orchestra, and went through the first air with difficulty, and then retired to her carriage. Signor Giardini and Mr. Norris, the former on the violin and the latter by his voice, completed the programme of the evening. Next morning, the Sacred Oratorio of Jephtha was performed in St. Martin's Church. Lord Sandwich appeared in the orchestra and played the kettle-drums, and assisted with part of his own band. Mr. Commissioner Bates sat at the organ, and there exhibited his musical abilities. Giardini led the band, and Dr. Howard had the conduct of the music. The new organ (by Snetzler) was much admired. Among the company, and standing up, was the black man, Omai, attired in his strange costume, who attracted the notice of everybody; and particularly of a boy, or child, four years of age, with rosy cheeks, bright teeth, wavy hair, and animated countenance — the son of one of the musicians, then in the orchestra, and who, in after life, remembered the scene and wrote an account of it and of himself. The child was "William Gardiner. Altogether, the receipts from all sources during the two days amounted to £819 19s. 0£d. The death of a distinguished resident in the county took place on the last day in October. Among the few old families of Leicester- shire, the Noels take a high position. Their representative at this period was Viscount Wentworth, who had married Judith, daughter of William Lamb, Esq. He succeeded his father in 1733, and in the course of these chapters his name has often appeared in connection with the establishment of the Infirmary and other public movements — in fact, he took a leading part in county affairs. The Journal of the date, in recording his decease, pronounces a eulogy upon his character, descriptive of the Viscount's merits as " a benevolent good man," who bore " the pains of a tedious and distressing illness with exemplary fortitude," and whose "chief support was built in the hopes of a happy futurity." The Viscount was succeeded by his only son, Thomas, and left issue, besides, three daughters — Judith, Elizabeth, and Sophia Susannah. b b The family is now represented by Lord Wentworth, the grandson of the late Lady Noel Byron, and by the male descendants of the last Viscount, who (it is believed) duly contracted a marriage on the Continent with Catherine Louisa Van Loo — a Belgian lady — but not according to the rites of the Church of England. The offspring of this 158 LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CHAPTEK XIII. THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION CORPORATION ADDRESS TO THE KING — RECRUITING IN LEICESTER — GENERAL WASHINGTON'S ORIGIN SUB- SCRIPTION FOR THE SOLDIERS A SEVERE WINTER COUNTERFEIT COIN INTRODUCED MR. KEMBLE IN THE TOWN A FREEMASON'S FUNERAL — COACH COMMUNICATION WITH MANCHESTER A METEOR A DAY OF HUMILIATION NOTICEABLE DEATHS EVENTS IN 1777 FRAMEWORK-KNITTERS' MOVEMENTS MURDER OF A TOWNSMAN BY SOULES, A FRENCHMAN EPITAPH UPON THE MURDERED MAN THE MILITIA MARCH TO LIVERPOOL. The attention of the people everywhere was now turned to the state of affairs in North America, where the colonists, who had disputed the right of the British Parliament to tax them, and had therefore refused to import tea because a slight levy was imposed upon it, were arming themselves to resist the troops sent over from this country. In April 1775 the first skirmish occurred between the King's troops and the Americans at Lexington; and in June was fought the Battle of Bunker's Hill. As the year advanced the inhabit- ants of the large towns held meetings to address the King, condemning the American rebellion. On Friday, the 8th of September, the Mayor of Leicester (Mr. Oliver) convened a meeting of the Corporation, and proposed for their consideration the propriety of addressing the King on the state of affairs in regard to the American Colonies. The result of the meeting was the adoption of an address, in which the Cor- poration said : " Your Majesty's clemency and justice we are fully impressed with ; and do not entertain a doubt that the Colonists will receive those terms, whenever a proper opportunity occurs, that it may be consistent with the dignity and welfare of the Mother Country to offer ; and such as may be accepted with security and advantage by those who have shown a disposition to oppose with the utmost violence the Legislative Power of Great Britain ; but we cannot refrain from union was Thomas, afterwards the Rev. Thomas Noel, Rector of Kirkby Mallory, who married Catherine, the daughter of Holled Smith, Esq., of Normanton Hall, and who had issue four sons, namely, Thomas, Robert Ralph, Charles, and Edward Henry. LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 159 expressing our wishes that if their present contumacy should continue, your Majesty may adopt such measures as will convince them that the 1 Sword is not borne in vain,' and that inclination, not means, has hitherto been wanting, to ensure that attachment and obedience to this country which might reasonably have been expected as the fair result of gratitude and interest. To accomplish this necessary end, and in defence of our happy Constitution, your Majesty may at all times be assured of our best assistance." At the same time, the recruiting sergeants were active in the town ; Sergeant Edmond giving notice, in the columns of the Leicester Journal, to " all young men of martial dispositions and a figure fit to serve the King's (or 8th) Regiment of Foot," measuring five feet six inches, and under twenty-five years of age, that if they were willing to serve His Majesty, they would meet with " extraordinary encour- agement " from him (the Sergeant) on applying to him at his quarters, at the Crown and Thistle, Loseby Lane. In the Leicester Journal of this period "Libertas" informs the reader that the American General, Washington, was a native of Coventry, where he is said to have been born about 1709, his father having settled there early in Queen Anne's reign. His mother was niece to the celebrated General Monk, afterwards Earl of Albemarle. Several of Washington's relations were then [1775] living at Coventry; a nephew of his being a member of the Corporation there, and a friend to the re-establishment of peace on constitutional principles. Early in December, at a meeting of the Corporation, a proposal was made by the Mayor, and unanimously agreed to, in favour of opening a subscription "towards the relief of the soldiers who are, or may be, in his Majesty's service in America, and for succouring the distressed Widows and Orphans of those brave men who have fallen or may fall in defending the Constitutional Government of the country." The Corporation headed the subscription with a contri- bution of fifty guineas, and Mr. Joseph Chambers and Mr. John Gregory were appointed to receive such further sums as might be offered. On the 16th of the month, £134 8s. had been raised, the names of the contributors being — Mrs. Wigley, Scraptoft, Richard Cheslyn, Esq., Langley, and Anthony James Keck, Esq., £10 10s. each ; Joseph Johnson, Esq., Mayor, and Thomas Vowe, Esq., Hallaton, £5 5s. each ; Mr. Alderman Oliver, £4 4s. ; Mr. W. Vann, of Belgrave, Mr. Alderman Chambers, of Leicester, and Mr. Alderman Fisher, <£3 3s. each ; a Gentleman unknown, Mr. H. Watchorn, Mr. John Herrick, Mr. Alderman Peach, Rev. Mr. Sim- mons, Mr. Gregory, Rev. Mr. Kerchevall, Rev. Mr. Mc.Kinnon, Claybrook, and Mr. Tilley, £2 2s. each ; and a gentleman unknown, 160 LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. Mr. Holmes, Mr. Mansfield, T. W., and Mr. Bassett, Newfound Pool, £1 Is. each. Robert Haymes, Esq., of Glenn, subsequently gave £5 5s., and Mr. Oldersbaw, £3 3s. All these persons were of course known as High Tories. The winter of 1776 was uncommonly severe. A heavy fall of snow began on Saturday, January the 6th, and continued several days without intermission, rendering the cross-roads to the county town in many places quite impassable and extremely dangerous. - The roads to London were closed many days against the passage of stage-coaches, waggons, and other vehicles; and the mails in consequence so delayed, that Friday night's mail from the metropolis did not arrive at the Leicester Post Office until the Tuesday night following; and business was altogether checked for some time. In March, a discovery Was made of the introduction of counter- feit coin on an extensive scale into Leicester. A box full of bad half-pence, directed to a tradesman of the town, was unloaded from a carrier's waggon and laid before his door in the street. An investigation was instituted, when the box was found to contain counterfeit copper tied up in 5s. papers, to the nominal value of £19. No bill of parcels was enclosed, but the tradesman to whom they were addressed said if a bill of parcels came to him he would acquaint the magistrates with the matter. More than a ton weight of this base coinage, it is supposed, had been surreptitiously imported into Leicester. The Magistrates of the Borough convened a meeting of the tradesmen, at the Three Crowns, on March the 5th, to consider of the most effective means of stopping the circulation of the base coin, and gave notice of their intention of prosecuting all who might be convicted of buying or selling it — a proceeding that had become absolutely necessary, as the practice of making payments in such kind of coin had long prevailed. d On the day appointed for the meeting the tradesmen assembled in considerable numbers, and passed a resolution affirming their resolve thereafter not knowingly to receive or pay any counterfeit half-pence, and to use their utmost endeavours to stop their circulation. About one hundred and fifty manufacturers and tradesmen signed the resolution ; among whom were J. Gregory, S. Coleman, J. Nichols, John Jarvis, John Brown, James Bishop, Alex. Forester, William Simpson, Edward Webb, Mears and Co., Cooper and Co., Thomas Johnson, John Eames, J. Burgess and Co., John Parsons, Coltman and Hackett, Edward Harris, E. Price, Lovell and Farmer, John Billings, J. Mansfield, Thomas Cotchett, Richard Phillips, John Slater, Thomas Berrington, John Richards, John c Leicester Journal, January 20, 1776. d See the Order of the Magistrates in the Leicester Journal, March 2, 1776. LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 161 Harrison, John Throsby, William Wood, J. and K. Stephens, Nicholas Throsby, and others whose names are not now generally known in this town. At the Theatre, on the 18th of March, the " Gamester" was acted, when another of the great names in dramatic history was introduced to a Leicester audience ; Mr. Kemble (a brother of Mrs. Siddons) playing Beverly. Mrs. Burden took the part of Mrs. Beverly. Mr. Kemble on subsequent occasions impersonated Alonzo in the "Tem- pest," Barbarossa in the play of that name, Lovewell in " the Clan- destine Marriage," and Orestes in " the Distressed Mother." A correspondent of the Leicester Journal, in reference to his success in the part last named, says, "His figure was manly, graceful, and striking ; majestic as would become the son of Agamemnon. . . . The delivery of his embassy showed him a master of declamation." The Militia performed their annual exercise in June. On Thurs- day, the 13th, at five o'clock in the morning, they were assembled on parade in the Market Place, and under arms. They marched thence to Blower's Hill, near Bradgate Park, where they were drawn out to the north-east of the hill, and went through their manoeuvres and firings, greatly to the satisfaction of an immense concourse of specta- tors. The day was afterwards occupied in a variety of entertainments; the regiment returning to Leicester at eight o'clock in the evening, in good order. In a previous chapter, the existence of freemasonry in Leicester has been noticed. 6 It appears to have extended, and to have kept up its observances in full masonic style. When a brother died, the Order attended his funeral; as in the case of Mr. Thomas Brown, worsted maker, who was buried in All Saints' Church, in the month of August, on which occasion the brethren, dressed in deep mourning, adorned with their jewels, and in uniform, formed in procession before the coffin on its way to the church. The Tyler, two Wardens, two Senior Brethren, the Master, two Past Masters, and the Secretary, all carrying the emblems of their respective offices, with the remainder of the Lodge, walked two and two according to seniority, and, followed by the Deacons with their black wands, constituted the procession. The pall was supported by six Master Masons. No coach communication had hitherto existed with Manchester. 6 On the 7th of December, 1739, a Lodge of Freemasons was constituted in Leicester, which held its meetings at the Wheat Sheaf. It was known as No. 170. The date of the commencement of another lodge (No. 197) is recorded to have been August 21st, 1754. In the later period of the century, the names of Shirley, Noel, Keck, Fowke, and other county families, were associated with high offices held in the craft ; showing it to have stood high in public estimation. Vide " History of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Leicestershire," by William Kelly, Esq., Provincial Grand Master (1870). M 162 LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. In the Journal of August the 24th first appears an announcement by Messrs. Barlow, Kendall, and Co., of their ** Manchester and London New Diligence," which set out every morning at four o'clock (Sunday excepted), from the Blossoms Inn, Lawrence Lane, London, and from the Lower Swan Inn, Market-street Lane, Manchester, for the Swan- with-Two-Necks in Leicester, where it lay each night, arriving in London and Manchester the next evening. From Leicester the Diligence ran through Welford to Northampton. The proprietors would not undertake to be accountable for money, plate, or any other valuable article, unless entered and paid for accordingly — a precau- tionary notice which the constant occurrence of highway robberies at this period seems to have rendered necessary. A very remarkable meteor was observed to fall in Leicester and this district on October the 27th. It seemed to issue from behind the moon, and was apparently much larger than that luminary. It descended to the earth with great velocity, falling to the eastward of all who watched it, and apparently not far distant. It lighted up the whole hemisphere with its brightness, and a rumbling notice accom- panying it, like that preceding an earthquake, was said to have been heard by many persons. The last local event of this year which we notice was the observance of a Day of Solemn Fast and Humiliation, for imploring the blessing of the Divine Majesty on the British arms by sea and land. The Mayor, Aldermen, and Common Council attended divine service in St. Martin's Church. The officers of the Militia, with the sergeants and drummers, were also present. A sermon was preached from the ninth verse of the 26th chapter of Isaiah, which was considered excellent and impressive. The other churches were crowded, and all ranks of people evinced becoming seriousness and the feeling which the importance and solemnity of the occasion were said to demand. The Dissenters of all denominations united in the observance of the Fast Day, by paying religious regard to it in the same way as Churchmen. During the year several deaths were recorded, which should not be passed over unobserved. In January, Mr. Mansfield Gregory, steward to James Wigley, Esq., of Scraptoft; in June, Thomas Babington, Esq., at Rothley Temple — a "generous, humane, charitable, and honest man;" in September, Mr. John Ireland, bookseller and printer, of the Market Place — " a very honest man, much respected by friends and acquaintances;" and in September also, Mr. Alderman Ogden, aged 96, who had been chosen on the Corporation in 1719, who in his long life had scarcely known sickness or felt pain, until gored by a bull in his own pasture — were all gathered in Death's Harvest. LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 168 The year 1777 was barren in events for the local historian ; for, beyond the round of municipal ceremonies and celebrations (with the nature of which the reader is already familiar), nothing seems to call for special mention. In the course of the year, the Marquis of Granby succeeded to the colonelcy of the Militia, in the room of the Hon. John Grey, who had died a short time previously. The parishioners of St. Mary, imitating the examples of those resident in St. Martin's and St. Margaret's, set up an organ (by Snetzler) in their church, in the month of June. At the conclusion of the year, Mr. Astley visited Leicester with his troop of horsemen, and astonished the inhabitants beyond precedent. About the same time, the "New Theatre" in the Vauxhall Gardens was the resort of the play-goers : the Leicester Company of Comedians performing there on various dates. Visitors were lighted to and from the place by torches. A movement was made in 1778 by the framework-knitters, to better their condition. The first step taken was to publish in the Leicester Journal an address to the body, calling upon them to sub- scribe money towards a fund for defraying the expenses of obtaining an Act for the regulation of their business. Already, it seems, subscriptions had been forthcoming in Nottingham, Derby, Hinckley, Sheepshead, and other places. On Thursday, February the 3rd, the stockingmakers presented their petition to the House of Commons. It set forth that the petitioners had served regular apprenticeships to, and always employed themselves in, the art or business of frame- work-knitters, in the making of stockings, mitts, gloves, and other goods, usually made and manufactured in the stocking-frame in silk, cotton, thread, and worsted, and, notwithstanding their utmost care and industry, were not capable of providing for themselves and families the common necessaries of life — not only on account of the small wages paid to them for such their work and labour, but also on account of the paying of frame-rent and other incidental charges in keeping their frames in working order ; and therefore praying that leave might be given to bring in a bill to settle and regulate the wages of persons employed in the art or business of framework-knitters in such manner as to the House should seem meet. It was ordered that the petition should be referred to the consideration of a Committee, to report upon the matter ; and a Committee was accordingly appointed. At this time, the framework-knitters had an able and eloquent champion of their own class, named Charles Eozzell, who was the clerk or secretary of their local committee. He knew how to write forcibly, and he appealed to them to persevere in their endeavour to obtain legislative redress of their grievances. " If any spark of that greatness of soul which characterizes the Freeman and distinguishes 164 LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. him from the Slave remains in your breasts," said Rozzell: "if you bear any reverence towards those Worthies who have laid down their lives to crush despotism and secure the inalienable privileges of their country : if you would avoid the black imputation of entailing the most abject poverty upon your offspring,, by neglecting to exercise that right which nature and the constitution have given you ; we conjure you, by all these weighty considerations, to persevere ' unmoved, unshaken, unseduced, unterrified,' in that honourable and necessary undertaking in which ye are embarked." The hosiers, however, were inimical to the proposed measure : one of their number (in the Journal of March the 7th) arguing that prices had not been lowered in the years preceding the application to parliament, and that the opening of the trade, by the abolition of the apprenticeship system, had increased the foreign demand, had brought ingenious men into connection with the manufacture, and had afforded employment to all the members of the workman's family — to his wife, and to his child, "almost as soon as it had dropped its leading-strings." A Framework-knitter answered the hosier : he said that wages bore no proportion then to what they had been, relatively to the prices of provisions and the necessaries of life, thirty years before. " Were you in the stockingmakers' situation and circumstances," he retorted, "you would be inspired by the same motives as they are, for advancing the prices of labour. But you feed on the fatted calf, while the marks of poverty are seen on their backs, and in many of them the signs of .horrid famine in their countenances : they have bones and skin, it is true ; but they ought not to be made fiddle-cases of, for their masters' fancies." In the month of March, a meeting of the framework-knitters was held at the Great Room in the Bath Garden, to organize the workmen, with a view to the agitation of their case ; and in April the Committee of the Associated Company resolved that General Meetings of the Fraternity should be held at Leicester, Sheepshead, Hinckley, Narborough, Wigston, Ullesthorpe, Syston, and Mountsorrel, at which the " celebrated orator," Mr. Hallam, was announced as the person who was to give a full account of the proceedings adopted relative to some new regulations in a Charter to be obtained by the framework- knitters to prevent frauds and abuses, and to limit the number of apprentices to be taken by members of the fraternity. We infer that the workmen were partially successful in their movement ; since in October the Committee invited their Brethren of the Town and County to be present in Leicester, on the 10th of that month ; when Mr. Reynolds, clerk to the Worshipful Company of Framework- knitters, was to hold a sitting, in order to admit Brethren Frame- work-knitters to their freedom, under the sanction of the royal charter. LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 165 The Committee exhorted all interested in the manufacture to attend, hoping they would consider the regulation of the trade by law and rule to be as necessary as it was for the State to be so managed. An event happened, however, in May, which engrossed public attention far more powerfully than a trade dispute or an industrial struggle — stirring the feelings of the townspeople to their lowest depths and rousing their most vindictive passions. The event to which we refer was the alleged murder of a townsman by a foreigner. In the year previous, a Frenchman named Soules — an officer, and a prisoner of war, on parole — came to the town, and announced himself to be a teacher of his native language, and of fencing. In his advertisements he pursued an original course of writing ; depre- cating national prejudices, and the suggestion that no encouragement should be given to the "natural enemies" of the country, on account of the differences between the courts of London and Versailles. Like the young men of his class and nation, he was fond of gambling and pleasure, and frequented the billiard-room at the Lion and Dolphin Inn, Market Place. On Friday, May the 15th, he played with Mr. James Fenton, and lost 6s., but was unable to pay the amount to the winner, who abused him as a defaulter; and, in consequence, angry and insulting words were freely exchanged between the two young men. Next day (Saturday) Soules went again to the billiard-table, where Fenton was engaged in playing with another townsman, when Soules told Fenton that the night before he had insulted him with much abuse, that he now demanded satisfaction for it, and that he (Fenton) might choose to fight him either with swords or pistols, or, otherwise, apologize for his conduct. Fenton replied that he would do neither, and continued playing for nearly two hours, until almost all the company had left the room. Soules waited all the time, and then went up to Fenton, and said he was determined the business should be there and then settled. Fenton, however, laughed at the French- man ; and taking up the cue which he was using, threatened to run the butt-end of it down his throat if he offered to strike ; Soules meanwhile holding up his cane in a menacing manner. Fenton then said, " Come, let me see that the pistols are fairly loaded, and pay me the 6s. you owe me, and then I do not care if I shoot one off with you." The pistols were produced for examination ; one of which Mr. T. Nedham, a bystander, unscrewed, and found loaded with powder and ball, giving the stock of it to Fenton, who ran out of the room with it, and took it to the Mayor. It was now six o'clock. Fenton's mother was the landlady of the Green Dragon Inn (which not many years ago stood in the Market Place), and his brother John was apparently employed in the management of the business. In order " ■ ■ 166 LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. to avoid the rencontre, James Fenton went to his mother's, and while there related the particulars of his quarrel with Soules, who had followed him there while he had been to the Mayor's with the pistol. Soules then returned and entered the kitchen, and Fenton, in order to avoid him, slipped unperceived into the back-kitchen. Upon Soules enquiring for James Fenton, he was told the latter had gone up into the dining-room, and thither he proceeded. Not finding his antagonist there, Soules returned ; and as he was leaving the house, John Fenton either struck him or made a lunge at him and turned him out of doors. Soules returned to the kitchen, and was again turned out of the house by John Fenton. While standing at the kitchen-door in the street, he perceived James Fenton approach the parlour-door, which also opened into the street, and instantly went to him and said he "had an action against him for a robbery." As before, Fenton ran through the parlour-door into the yard, in order to escape from his pursuer, and there saw his brother John, to whom he said, "the Frenchman is come again." John Fenton then directly seized Soules, and blows passed between them ; and while Fenton was grappling with Soules, the latter drew a pistol and shot Fenton through the neck; the wounded man instantly dropping to the ground. His assailant escaped without his hat, his face bespattered with blood ; the cry of "murder" being raised by the people who followed him into the Market Place and through the streets. He ran to the Three Crowns, and sought refuge in a closet in one of the garrets, whence he was taken by the constables ; after which, the same evening, he was committed to gaol by the Mayor. The people were so exasperated that they would have torn him limb from limb as he passed through the street, had he not been protected by the authority of the Magis- trates. The bullet had entered the back of the head and passed out at the lower part of the chin of the unfortunate Fenton, and thus made a mortal wound, under which he languished till Sunday evening, when he died. A sentiment of universal horror was created by this tragedy in the minds of the inhabitants, which was mingled with one of deep compassion for a wife suddenly made a widow, and for two children left fatherless. At the Summer Assizes, the trial of Soules took place in the Guildhall, on the 14th of August, when he was charged on the verdict of the coroner's inquest with the Wilful Murder of John Fenton. The evidence (of which the substance has already been stated) was fully given before Sir William Henry Ashurst, Knight, one of the Judges of the Court of King's Bench, and a jury, whose foreman was Mr. Coltman, a highly intelligent and accomplished townsman. The LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 167 prisoner wished to be tried by a jury composed of an equal number of his own countrymen and Englishmen ; but this proposition was overruled. The prisoner's counsel, upon the conclusion of the case for the prosecution, moved to his lordship to have the question reserved, and left to a more solemn decision ; expressing a hope that his lordship would be pleased to give directions to the jury to give a special verdict ; observing that it must be the intent and motive which constituted the crime of murder. Soules' notions of honour as a foreigner, argued the learned counsel, were natural ; and he referred to the various proposals made by him to James Fenton, to show that Soules was willing to abandon every kind of advantage his skill as a swordsman gave him, and therefore that there was to a certain degree an absence of malice in his proceeding. There could be no impropriety, further reasoned the counsel, in his going in search of the pistol, and there had appeared no proof of his seeking additional relief other than the recovery of his property. He did not know the deceased when he attacked him, and showed no malice to him when he had turned him (Soules) out of the house. On the third time of his being attacked, no words followed, nor could malice prepense exist. The law did not measure acts by so nice a scale when abuse and irritation were reiterated, but made allowance for the infirmities of men in cases of passion and resentment. The learned Judge readily consented that if the prisoner were found guilty, the verdict should be made special ; and, after summing up the evidence, he proposed three questions to the consideration of the jury, as necessary to be answered before the determination of the Court of King's Bench could be obtained. 1st. Whether the jury agreed to the representation the evidence for the prosecution had given of the introductory facts at the billiard-table ? 2nd. Did the prisoner fire the pistol designedly, or did it go off by accident ? 3rd. Did the prisoner go to the Green Dragon only to recover his property, or with an intention to excite James Fenton to fight a duel, or to do him some mischief? The finding of the jury was that the first question must be answered in the affirmative, and that the prisoner fired off the pistol designedly ; but that he went to the Green Dragon with the intention only to recover his property. The Judge, then addressing himself to the jury, said the evidence in the Record should be laid before the Court of King's Bench ; together with their verdict as to the facts ; and if that Court brought in the fact under the second enquiry, then the verdict of the jury would be that the prisoner was guilty of Murder; but, if otherwise, only of Manslaughter. The trial occupied six hours. The case excited much notice. Soules was not content to abide 168 LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. by the trial ; but before its occurrence he wrote a pamphlet, entitled, "An Appeal to Gentlemen of all Nations," and Mr. Gregory, of the Journal Office, published a verbatim report of the evidence in a separate form. Soules also issued a defence of himself subsequently to the trial. The result of the appeal to the Supreme Court was their decision, made known at the next assizes, that Soules was guilty of murder ; but a special messenger also appeared at the same time with the King's pardon. Bitter dissatisfaction was expressed at the result ; and when the body of John Fenton was laid in the grave, on the stone recording his decease the following epitaph (from the pen of Charles Rozzell) was inscribed : — Enquiring Mortal, whoe'er thou art, ponder here on an incident which highly concerns all the progeny of adam ! near this place lteth the body of john fenton, who fell by violence, may 17, 1778, and remains a sad example of the incompetency of juridical institutions to punish a murderer ! he left, to mourn his untimely fate, a mother, a widow, and two children. THESE, BUT NOT THESE ALONE, ARE GREATLY INJURED J PERSONAL SECURITY RECEIVED A MORTAL WOUND WHEN VENGEANCE WAS AVERTED FROM HIS ASSASSIN BY THE SOPHISTICAL REFINERS OF NATIONAL JUSTICE. OBHT ANNO .ETATIS SUI 39. The grave-stone still stands near the south doorway of St. Martin's Church. Soules left the town, and it was once thought fell beneath the guillotine during the Reign of Terror in Paris ; but in 1802 — twenty- four years after the date of his trial — the late Mr. William Gardiner encountered him on board ship, on his (Soules) return to France, when Napoleon was Consul. It remains to be recorded that in this year the Leicester Militia marched to Liverpool ; they left this town on the 10th, and reached their journey's end on the 19th of June. LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 169 CHAPTEK XIV. FORMER DANGERS OF BIRSTALL SANDS RETURN OF THE MILITIA FROM LIVERPOOL THE FRAMEWORK-KNITTERS' COURT OF ASSISTANTS — A DUEL BETWEEN MILITIA OFFICERS AT PLYMOUTH FRENCH PRI- SONERS IN LEICESTER REJOICINGS FOR RODNEY'S VICTORIES MINOR EVENTS MR. AND MRS. KEMBLE IN THE TOWN NEWSPAPER READING IN LEICESTER A VOLUNTEER MOVEMENT DUTCH PRI- SONERS TOWN IMPROVEMENT PARLIAMENTARY REFORM AGITATED CONDEMNED BY THE CORPORATION MOVEMENTS OF THE MILITIA ESTABLISHMENT OF THE CROSS MARKET IN BELGRAVE GATE THE RACES THE COALITION MINISTRY AND EAST INDIA COMPANY A MASQUERADE ON THE SOAR ESTABLISHMENT OF THE REVOLUTION CLUB MAIL-COACHES TO THE NORTH OF ENGLAND BAPTISMS AND FUNERALS IN 1784. There is considerable sameness in the record of local events of this and a few succeeding years, and those which varied the even tenor of men's lives were not such as presented interest enough to justify their lengthy notice. The Leicester Journal tells frequently of footpads and highwaymen stopping solitary travellers and coaches on the roads near the town ; and the late Mr. William Gardiner (who was at this time a boy) relates in his Music and Friends (vol. 3) with what nervous apprehensions he left home on horseback before the dawn, one morning, to ride to Derby, passing on his way "Bir stall Sands," formerly the "Hounslow Heath" of Leicester. "It was dark," he says, " when I set off in the morning, and by the time I had reached Belgrave it occurred to me that the road passed close to the gallows, where I had lately seen a woman hanged for murder. As it was not yet light, my spirits were fluttered at the thought of passing that place. Luckily, I perceived a light on the road before me — it was the driver of Clarke's broad-wheeled waggon, who carried a lantern in his hand. As we passed the gallows I could not help, now and then, glancing my eye towards it, expecting to see some spirit flitting through the dark firs that surrounded it. When we were clear of 170 LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. this horrible place, I was about to trot off; but we were just entering the Birstall Sands — a noted spot for highwaymen — and I thought it better to submit to the snail-like pace of the waggon till we had got clear of this second danger." The militia returned from Liverpool in the last week of December, 1778 ; one hundred men, under Captain Buckby, arriving in the town before the main body, which was under the command of Lieu- tenant-Colonel Pochin. To the credit of the regiment, it is recorded that not a man was punished while it was absent, and none were charged with any misdemeanour requiring the intervention of a magistrate. They were welcomed home with the affectionate greet- ings of friends and relations, from whom they had been some months parted. In the year 1779 an agitation among the framework-knitters, to procure legislative interference in their manufacture, absorbed the attention of the working-classes. By virtue of a royal charter a "Court of Assistants" was established, to which the stockingmakers were summoned, to be admitted to their freedoms ; the Court holding its sitting at the White Hart, Coal Hill, in the month of April. The workmen complained of the existence of frauds, abuses, and the exaction of frame-rents. On the 5th of May, leave was asked to bring in a bill into the House of Commons, to redress the grievances complained of; Mr. Smith, the member for Nottingham, Mr. Coke, the member for Derby, and Sergeant Adair speaking in its favour. In the committee on the bill, Mr. Northage of London, and Mr. Groode and Mr. Rawson of this town, were examined. The measure was rejected, and disturbances took place in consequence at Notting- ham, where the riot act was read. In Leicester, a disposition to create tumult was manifested on Monday evening, June the 14th ; chiefly by strangers to the place — the resident workmen being peace- fully disposed, and many of them distrustful of the proposed enact- ment. On the Tuesday morning, the Mayor swore in all the principal inhabitants as special constables, and a party of the Koyal Horse Guards (Blue) was in readiness to act ; but no necessity was found to call upon either constables or soldiers to interfere for the preservation of the peace. The Leicestershire Militia marched to Bristol in May, where they were stationed till August the 21st, when they were ordered off to Plymouth ; and, while there, were joined by their colonel, the Duke of Kutland. They broke up their camp in December. A tragedy occurred when the regiment lay at Plymouth, which naturally at the time produced a great sensation. One of the officers (Lieut. Brown), having spoken disrespectfully of Surgeon Pack, Ensign Burslem took LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 171 the part of the latter ; and in so doing used very opprobrious language to Lieutenant Brown. This took place in the Duke of Rutland's marquee, on the 8th of October. Within two or three hours after the occurrence of the quarrel, the two officers met in an adjoining field, armed with pistols — Brown attended by Lieutenant Farmer and Burslem by Lieutenant Grundy. After firing a brace of pistols each, Burslem received a bullet in his right breast, which lodged in his body. He lingered of the wound between two and three days, and then died. A coroner's inquest was held upon the unfortunate man, when the jury returned a verdict of murder against Brown and the two seconds, who were afterwards placed upon their trial at Exeter, before Mr. Baron Perryn. A verdict of manslaughter was returned against the principal (who was fined 6s. 8d. and discharged), but the seconds were acquitted. A number of French prisoners were brought to the town in September, from Tavistock, in Devonshire. They were principally officers of various ranks taken on board of merchantmen. The Mayor was appointed Commissary to distribute the King of England's bounty to them, and the French King's allowance. They were all on parole ; but attempts were frequently made by them to escape. If possible, there were fewer events of importance to record in 1780 than in the year preceding. The French prisoners still continued in the town, and made agreeable impressions upon the inhabitants by their light-hearted and amiable manners. They behaved well, and were very civilly treated. On the 3rd of February they left here for Dover; singing and dancing on departing from this place. They were free from boasting, temperate and even plain in living, and paid the debts they had contracted while here resident. The Leicestershire Militia were encamped at Plymouth in June this year, and volunteers from this district had offered themselves to serve in the army ; and much need had the country of their services, for England was now at war with France, Spain, and America, sixteen Russian men-of-war lying in the Channel, with numerous transports to convey stores to our enemies. Great rejoicings took place on the 15th of March, 1781, on account of Admiral Rodney's capture of the island of St. Eustatia, in the West Indies, belonging to Holland. A handsome cold collation was given at the Exchange, and a party met at the Sir Thomas White, where a transparent painting of Sir G. B. Rodney, in his naval uniform, and encircled with laurels and trophies of war, was exhibited. A storm of thunder and lightning, which in sharp and forked flashes ran along the ground like liquid fire, and was accompanied with symptoms of an earthquake, happened on the 30th of August, in 172 LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. this locality. Another natural phenomenon was observed on the day following the storm, that may be noticed in this place, not merely on account of its curious nature, but in exemplification of the village-like state of Leicester at this period. About five o'clock in the morning, an immense number of swallows assembled upon Mr. Reed's house in the Market Place, and upon the houses adjoining. "After hopping about for some time," says the Leicester Journal, "and forming them- selves into regular order, as if regimented and under discipline, they flew off in three divisions, taking their course westward ; not a single bird seeming out of place, but flying in its exact station." The Militia returned home in November, from Roborrow Downs in Devonshire, after an absence of two years and nearly six months. Crowds met them near the Dane Hills, where the companies halted for the last time before entering the town. Towards the close of the year, Mr. and Mrs. Kemble and Miss Kemble made their appearance on the boards of the Theatre, in the Haymarket, when the former played John Moody in the "Provoked Husband," the second lady taking the part of " Lady Wronghead," and the last impersonating Lady Townley. They performed here on a few occasions in December and the January following. The excitement created before this date by foreign news, and the war with France, had led to the establishment of news-rooms in this town ; and it may serve to record the state of the arrangements for the diffusion of intelligence, if we mention that W. Simpson, of the Wheat Sheaf, Gallowtree Gate, advertised in the Journal of April 27, 1782, that he had two evening papers for use every day at one o'clock, besides the Sunday Monitor which arrived on Monday. Being clerk to the stage-coaches, he announced that he could procure the London papers twenty hours sooner than any other news-room keeper. The Earl of Shelburne having communicated to the Lord-Lieu- tenant a plan for strengthening the hands of government, by raising volunteers in the different towns of the country, a meeting was held in the Castle to consider the proposal, when Sir Thomas Fowke read a proposal to the assembly ; but, after some discussion, it was negatived. At the same time, the great victory of Admiral Rodney over the French fleet commanded by Count de Grasse excited great enthu- siasm in the town, which was generally illuminated — pictures of the brave Admiral being placed, with devices and decorations, in many windows; and before the year was concluded, the freedom of the borough was presented to the hero of the time, accompanied by a letter from Mr. John Heyrick, the Town Clerk, which was duly acknowledged by the Admiral. As one of the incidents arising out LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 173 of the war, fifty-nine Dutch prisoners passed through the town in July. They were part of the crew of the Hercules and Mars privateers, commanded by the Huggerboomes of Flushing — the elder of whom (nicknamed " Hard -apple ") was a stout, resolute man, and was quite "lionized" by some of the inhabitants. The Mayor (T. Barwell, Esq.) gave them a dinner at the Exchange. Town improvement was not neglected at this unpromising period of local history, as a measure now adopted proves. A row of poor, wretched huts, known as the " Cockmuck-hill houses," had stood for a century in the middle of Belgrave Gate, a nuisance and discredit to a flourishing town like Leicester. With considerable public spirit, the parish officers of St. Margaret's set on foot a subscription for the purpose of removing the buildings — one gentleman giving .£50, and the Corporation another £50, in promotion of the object — and the result was thus obtained. Complaints were at the same time raised, that the footway leading from the town-end to the Welford Koad, was impassable by pedestrians in winter; all because the "old rampart" needed repairing, and some gravel throwing upon it. Such was the condition of one of the principal approaches to the town, almost within the memory of " the oldest inhabitant." The winter of this year was one of unusual severity, and the dis- tress endured by the poor very great, in consequence of the high price of provisions. A subscription was therefore opened by the Mayor and Corporation, to aid in alleviating the condition of the sufferers. At the close of the year, the first movement for a Eeform of the Parliamentary System of this country was begun in Yorkshire ; cer- tain preparatory resolutions having been adopted by gentlemen of that county, which were forwarded by the Rev. C. Wyvill to the Corporation of Leicester. The Yorkshire Reformers proposed to introduce a bill into Parliament for the abolition of fifty of the most obnoxious boroughs, but enabling the electors resident therein to vote as freeholders in the counties ; to repeal the Septennial Act ; and to admit proprietors of copyhold lands, with fine certain, of the yearly value of 40s., to vote for county members. The Corporation of Leicester, having received the propositions, and deliberated upon them, resolved : " That all Committees and Associations (other than Parliamentary ones) for the purpose of altering the Constitution, to speak favourably of them, tend to create, at least, anarchy and confusion. " That Instructions be sent to the Representatives of this Borough to strenuously oppose such propositions, if they shall be brought into the House of Commons. " That these resolutions be printed in the public papers, and a 174 LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. copy be sent to the Rev. Mr. Wyvill, to lay before the Yorkshire Committee." These decisions of the governing body of this town, signed by Mr. John Heyrick, its Town Clerk, were accordingly sent to Yorkshire ; but they did not stem the tide then fast setting in, favourable to Parliamentary Reform. Another presentation of the freedom of the borough was made this year — in the second instance Earl Cornwallis being selected for the honour, on account of his "very gallant and meritorious services in America." The Common Hall agreed to the vote at a meeting held on the 5th of December. Early in the year 1783 the Reform movement again came under the formal condemnation of the Corporation of Leicester, who, at a Common Hall, held on January the 17th, resolved unanimously that the Constitution of the country stood " unparalleled in excellence, owing to the equilibrium which is preserved throughout its grand component parts," and that an alteration might destroy the balance, and therefore confuse if not overturn the whole. The Corporation further deprecated the agitation of such a measure as unseasonable, as well as unnecessary and impracticable ; as the Government was then braving a world in arms, and its undivided attention was required to secure a peace at once safe and honourable. The autho- rities accordingly agreed to send instructions to the Hon. Booth Grey and Mr. Darker, the Borough Members, strenuously to oppose " any alterations" which might be attempted to be made "in the present Representation of the People in Parliament." The Militia (which in the year preceding had been stationed at Hull) left Scarborough for Leicester in February, marching in three divisions. Their route lay by York, Tadcaster, Doncaster, Worksop, Mansfield, Nottingham, and Loughborough, and they were fourteen days on the road. The corps was disembodied in the third week in March. The barbarous practice of throwing at cocks on Shrove Tuesday, once pursued in this neighbourhood, had in 1783 been almost entirely abolished; but a stupid custom known as the "Whipping Toms," had been long observed in the Newarke. The editor of the Journal informs his readers, this year, that it was intended to lay it aside, and that the proper officers would exert themselves to prevent any attempts to renew it on the following Tuesday. It would seem, how- ever, that this well-intentioned proceeding had no permanent effect; for the custom was maintained until a comparatively late period. Among civic dignitaries, as well as higher functionaries, many vicissitudes of fortune have been recorded. An example on a small LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 175 scale is afforded in the case of a townsman who died this year. Elected an alderman in 1767 and Mayor in 1771, Mr. John Cart- wright, in consequence of adverse circumstances, was glad to accept the position of mace-bearer a few years afterwards. He died on April the 27th, and was followed to the grave by the Mayor and five of the Aldermen who had passed the chair. The reader has already been informed of changes made by the local authorities, without the aid of Acts of Parliament, in connection with fairs and markets. It appears that this year another alteration of a similar nature was carried out. It consisted in the Mayor and Justices ordering that all Beast Fairs, held usually in Millstone Lane, should not extend nearer to Gallowtree Gate than from the south-east part of the passage leading from the Market Place by the Lion and Lamb back stables to the opposite corner of the Three Crowns Inn — should continue along Millstone Lane down the South Gate to the Horse Pool, and also along the Welford Road to St. Mary's Work- house, or across Hangman Lane, if necessary. By permission of the Magistrates, weekly meetings, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, for the convenience of the sellers of butter, eggs, poultry, and garden stuff, were encouraged ; the site chosen being the open space in Belgrave Gate, where the miserable tenements already alluded to as removed, had been standing. The idea entertained was evidently, to hold poultry and vegetable markets on the spot where a great nuisance had formerly existed ; and in order still further to render it conspicuous, a cross was erected. The steps were those which had formed a portion of the high cross, and the principal portion of the column was made of the old Roman milestone found near Thurmaston in 1771. James Bishop, Esq., the Mayor, suggested the plan, and the cross was erected under his direction. Great rejoicings took place on Monday, August the 10th, to cele- brate the event of the Prince of Wales (afterwards George IV.) attaining his majority. The morning was ushered in by the ringing of bells, and a grand entertainment was provided by the Mayor. In the evening a large bonfire was made in the Market Place, and several hogsheads of ale given to the populace. Earl Ferrers also invited the Corporation to an entertainment at Staunton Harold, and sent half a buck, a brace of carp, a pike, with pines, melons, and so forth, as presents to the authorities. At the Races, in September, a contest of speed, memorable in the annals of sporting, was witnessed. The £50 plate for four-year-olds was run for by the Duke of Grafton's Duster, Mr. Edward's Marcus, and Mr. Napier's Gamester. The horse last named won the first heat, Duster the second, Martus the third, and Duster the fourth. 176 LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. The competition was so near and doubtful, almost every heat, that violent quarrels and hard blows ensued among the spectators, respect- ing the steward's decision. The poor horses were so exhausted that they could scarcely move from the running-ground when the race was over. On Monday, October the 5th, Peace with America was proclaimed at the usual places in the town; but not a member of the Corporation, not a single leading inhabitant, attended the ceremony : not a bell rang in any of the church-towers, not a bonfire blazed, not a festive dinner was anywhere given, to rejoice over the return of peace ; for it was one which was considered humiliating to the nation. At the commencement of 1784, the country was in a state of great political excitement, owing to the proceedings of the " Coalition Ministry" in supporting a measure of which the object was to destroy the privileges of the East India Company, and whose policy had occasioned their dismissal. The Corporation of this town used their influence to sustain the cause of the Company and the Tory party ; and with this view adopted an address to the King, at a Common Hall, held on the 19th of January, expressing their utmost satisfac- tion that his Majesty had been pleased to dismiss from his councils men who had attempted to enforce such arbitrary measures, and, as in duty bound, thanked his Majesty for a proper exercise of his authority on such an alarming occasion. The Corporation regarded the bill as calculated to excite a new power unknown to the country and constitution, and to form a precedent dangerous to the safety of every charter and grant within the King's dominions. The inhabit- ants of the town also held a separate meeting at the Exchange, when a similar address to the King was resolved on unanimously. The former address was entrusted to Mr. Hungerford, the latter to the Hon. Mr. Grey for presentation ; Mr. Darker, his colleague, being too unwell to undertake the commission. Early in February, indeed, the latter-named gentleman died. In a month after, the Corporation presented Mr. Pitt with the freedom of the borough ; the reason assigned being their admiration of "his firm and manly support of the Constitution, in this time of imminent danger, when daring and ambitious men would wrest from the best of kings his just right to the appointment of his own ministers." Mr. Pitt acknowledged the honour, for which he expressed his warmest thanks in a letter to the Town Clerk (Mr. John Heyrick). The winter had been bitterly severe, the rivers being frozen all over the country. The Soar was so thoroughly set with ice that a masquer- ade was held upon it near the Vauxhall Gardens, on Monday, February the 2nd, when Harlequin, Columbine, Pantaloon, and Clown were LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 177 represented, and thousands of spectators assembled upon the banks and West Bridge to witness the performances. All the characters wore skates, and it was thought the affair was the first of the kind ever attempted in this country. Another aspect of the season was its effect upon the condition of the poor, who were in great distress, and who were relieved by means of a public subscription. More than ,£400 was raised, which was applied in disposing of bread at half price, and retailing coals at 4d. per hundred. Of the results of the effort, the Leicester Journal said: "Upwards of 2,000 families have been relieved with bread and coal ; and will be again relieved with bread until the whole is exhausted. The wretched cottages of distress have been everywhere searched to give their occupiers all possible help — the prisons, the hospitals, the fatherless, the widow, the needy, under every description, have also been sought for in their dwellings, to have their calamities in some degree softened, and to partake of the temporary assistance ; and which, we have the pleasure to learn, has been received with humility, gratitude, and thanks to their benefactors." In April, Charles Loraine Smith and John Macnamara, Esqrs., were elected without opposition to represent the borough. They gave a public ball in the Assembly Room, Haymarket, in celebration of the event, and Mr. and Mrs. Macnamara presented liberal donations for charitable purposes. Although the Corporation of this town set its face against the movement in favour of Parliamentary Reform at the close of the year 1782, and at the commencement of that following, its authority was not absolute ; as the friends to political progress in this town and neighbourhood proved, by forming themselves into a society, in the month of September, for the purpose of asserting their principles. They designated their society the "Revolution Club;" in reference to that great epoch in the annals of our country which is identified with the abdication and flight of the last of the Stuarts, and the accession of William Prince of Orange, by whom the Bill of Rights was granted, and in whose reign the principles of popular freedom and the rights of conscience were recognized. Clement Winstanley, Esq., was appointed the President, Edward Davie, Esq., the Treasurer, Lieut. Farmer the Chairman of the Committee, Mr. Edward Webb the Secretary, and William Knifton the Messenger of the Club. It was established for the purpose of "uniting the independent interest of the town and county of Leicester ; preserving the freedom of election ; and maintaining the other rights and franchises of the burgesses and others ; and supporting and defending them against any oppression or invasion they might suffer from the undue exertions N 178 LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. of misplaced power, or the venal influence of the enemies to freedom." Fully sensible of the importance of such an institution and of the good effects which must arise therefrom, and animated by the spirit of patriotism, which venerates and seeks to preserve inviolate the " Eights of Man," the subscribers to the Rules engaged to promote the purposes of the institution to the best of their power and ability. A yearly meeting was appointed to be held on every 4th of November. Fortnightly meetings were also held, the place of meeting being the Lion and Lamb Inn. On the 4th of November, this year, general meetings of the members were held at that house and at the Bear and Swan Inn, at which Mr. Winstanley presided. Two hundred and forty members dined together, and liberal subscriptions were entered into on the occasion. The list of toasts at the dinner in- cluded the King, the Prince of Wales, the Queen and Eoyal Family, the Constitution, Prosperity to the Revolution Club, Absent Members, "May the Independent Electors of the Borough never want Friends to Support their Cause," and the Lord Lieutenant, Lord Stamford, Lord Huntingdon, Lord Harborough, the Members for the County, Mr. Grey, and Mr. Ashby. All was order and conviviality, and the meetings broke up peaceably. Hitherto, no mail-coaches had commenced running from Leicester northward — those which were in use were merely stage-coaches. In order, therefore, to obtain the advantages of this mode of communica- tion, a meeting was convened by the Mayor, to consider the propriety of sending a Requisition to the Postmaster- General on the subject, in connection with the people of Northampton, Nottingham, and Derby. The step was accordingly taken by the townsmen in the month of October. When the new mails were first put on the roads, a few months after, their arrival in the town stirrecf up all the curious and those who were fond of sight-seeing. As the new carriages rattled along the streets at a great speed, the discharge of fire-arms announced their approach ; the coachmen and guards wearing the royal livery of scarlet and gold, and having blunderbusses thrown over their shoulders, with pistols thrust into their belts. Crowds collected round the vehicles in admiration ; being fully impressed with the arms richly emblazoned on the panels, and viewing with considerable reverence the king's gaudily-attired servants. The mail from London arrived at the Post-office about nine o'clock in the morning, and the mails from Leeds and Manchester about six in the evening. In the course of this year, the Rev. W. Bickerstaffe prepared a kind of return of the baptisms and funerals in Leicester during the year preceding. From this document, it appears that in St. Margaret's LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 179 parish, there was an increase of one only in the baptisms, and five in the burials. For the other parishes the figures stood as follows : — St. Leonard's - St. Mary's St. Martin's All Saints' St. Nicholas's - The Presbytery Other Dissenters Increase Decrease Increase Decrease Baptisms. 6 Baptisms. Burials. Burials. 2 4 11 16 6 1 7 4 9 3 7 7 CHAPTER XV. FORMATION OP THE NEW WALK PROPOSED CANAL COMMUNICATION WITH THE TRENT ESTABLISHMENT OF SUNDAY SCHOOLS THE DUCKING- STOOL PRIZE-FIGHTING THE COVENTRY CRICKET MATCH THE RE- VOLUTION CLUB MEETINGS — HOWARD, THE PHILANTHROPIST, IN LEICESTER THE MILITIA TRAINING UNDER A NEW ACT DESTRUCTION OF MR. WHETSTONE'S MACHINERY. Eighty-five years ago, the inhabitants of Leicester had no suburban walks, other than the ill-paved or miry roads, or the footpaths to the neighbouring villages. When ladies wished to take walking exercise, they had to encounter all the inconveniences of the undertaking ; in so doing they had often (as a writer in the Journal said) to " scuttle through a gang of coal-teams." On festive occasions the townspeople went in chaises, sedan-chairs, and on horses to Scraptoft groves, which, by the permission of Mr. Wigley, were open to the public, and, on the fine days, crowds of visitors frequented the spot, looking with pleasure on the scenery of the Forest and in other directions, and enjoying the change from the stir of the streets to the country. But the distance was far too remote for a place of habitual resort ; and therefore the Corporation resolved on providing a public promenade. For this purpose, at a Common Hall it was unanimously resolved to set apart a piece of ground, ten yards wide, from the north end of St. Mary's field next to the town to the gate opposite the turnpike 180 LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. leading for London. The whole length was announced to be more than a mile, and was intended to be planted on each side with elms. The first part of the walk was designed to be a vista, seen from the Recorder's Garden (then occupying the site now covered with a ware- house and other buildings, at the upper end of Belvoir Street), and continuing to the corner of the fields opposite the windmill. The Corporation also allowed the gravel to be got from its pits to cover the walk. As the probable cost of its formation was estimated at <£250, a public subscription was commenced to raise the amount; Messrs. Gregory, Mansfield, Nichols, and Cart, undertaking to receive contributions. Before the close of the year, the "Queen's Walk" (as it was at first called) was opened to the enjoyment of the public. It is now called the "New Walk," and is incorporated in the town limits. Between the year 1760, when the first stage-coach ran through Leicester, and the year 1785, the coach communication between Leicester and other towns had greatly increased ; there being evening coaches from the Three Cranes, and morning coaches from the Bell Inn, to the Bull and Mouth, and Swan-with-two-Necks, London. Besides these, coaches ran from the Cranes, daily, to Nottingham, Sheffield, and the North ; to Derby, Manchester, Lancaster, Kendal, and Carlisle ; and from the Bell to Derby, Buxton, and Manchester three times weekly. In addition to this mode of transport, per- severing efforts were made to establish canal communication between Leicester and other places. In June, a meeting of the inhabitants was held in the Exchange, when ^613,500 was subscribed towards the proposed navigation from Leicester to the Trent. Some delay was occasioned by the neglect of the appointed surveyor ; but it was resolved, should he report favourably of the scheme, to call a meeting of the proprietors of land interested in it, and, with their consent, to make an application to Parliament for a bill. In the year 1737 a similar attempt had been defeated, in consequence of the narrow- minded opposition of the same class of gentlemen. Mr. Jessop was engaged on the survey in August, and in September a general meeting of the subscribers was held at the Castle, when Lord Rawdon opened the discussion by asking for information respecting the project. Charles Morris, Esq., then' ably advocated its merits and advantages ; Lords Rawdon and Ferrers opposing the scheme. The Earl of Denbigh was in part friendly to it, and spoke with more candour than the other peers, who declared their intention of opposing the bill in Parliament. One fact remained unanswered at the meeting, namely, that 2d. per hundred, upon an average, would be saved in the purchase of coals consumed in the town and neighbour- ing country ; exclusive of the great saving to the public in all other LEICESTEB IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 181 heavy goods. Another meeting was held at the Castle in October (the High Sheriff in the chair), when Mr. Heyrick, jun., made a speech of considerable length. He showed the economy in carriage and other respects to which the proposed measure would conduce, and was followed on the same side by the Earl of Harborough, Mr. Thoroton, Mr. Morris, Mr. Edwards, and Mr. Babington. A petition to Parliament in favour of the bill was accordingly adopted unanimously. In November, a second meeting was held at the Castle — Gerard Noel Edwards, Esq., in the chair — and a resolution agreed to without dissent, to forward a petition to Parliament for a General Navigation from Coleorton to Loughborough and thence to Leicester. The Earl of Harborough, Lord Rawdon, Sir John Danvers, Bart., Chas. Loraine Smith, Esq., Charles Morris, Esq., Thomas Thoroton, Esq., William Farrell Skeffington, Esq., Leonard Fosbrooke, Esq., J. F. Turner, Esq., William Reeve, jun., Esq., and many other gentlemen, were present. The "Revolution Club" held its annual dinner in November at the Lion and Lamb, White Lion, and Bear and Swan Inns, at which Sir John Danvers, Bart., presided. Three hundred members dined on the occasion. Among the toasts drunk were these : " The Immortal Memory of William the Third," " The Cause of Civil Liberty throughout the World," " His Grace the Duke of Rutland and other absent Members." The year 1786 was one unmarked by any event of great local importance. In connection with it, however, the death of the Mayor (Mr. Jno. Parsons) in his year of office, may be placed on record. He was a silversmith and hardwareman, much esteemed as an honest and worthy inhabitant, in his private and public capacity. His remains were interred in St. Martin's Church, to which they were conveyed by a public procession, composed of aldermen, attended by the maces covered with crape, and followed by mourners. The occurrence had few precedents : in 1658, Samuel Wanley, Esq. ; in 1720, Robert Winfield, Esq. ; and in 1769, John Westley, Esq., died in their years of mayoralty. JSarly in May, the Leicester and Loughborough Navigation bill was introduced into the House of Commons ; when Mr. Graham, the opposing counsel, set forth that the meadows lying between the two places would be injured in a very high degree, as the banks of the canal would be too low to prevent their being overflowed, and poor Sir William Gordon was pictured as likely to become a pitiable victim to the ruthless undertaking, for the water from three brooks passing through his estate would be entirely absorbed by the canal ! — The bill was lost by a majority of nine. 182 LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. Up to this date no Sunday Schools, either in connection with churches or chapels, were in existence in Leicester. The children of the poor were therefore left untaught on the only day when religious instruction could be imparted to them. The principal mover in the establishment of the system was H. Coleman, Esq., who was chairman of a meeting the inhabitants held on June the 14th, in the Exchange, when several resolutions were adopted, of which this was the principal : — " That the general plan of this Institution be upon the same liberal principles with those of the Society established in London for the support and encouragement of Sunday Schools ; and that this charity shall extend to the child- ren of the poor of every denomination." Churchmen and Dissenters cooperated in the work of extending the system, which from that day to the present has been sustained without intermission, and with increased usefulness. On Sunday, the 23rd of July, eleven schools were opened, and the children were conducted twice in the day to their respective places of worship. A subscription list, ultimately amounting to £133 9s., was commenced, to raise funds for defraying the necessary expenses incurred in the outset of the proceeding. Again the Revolution Club held its annual dinner on its Anniver- sary day in November. Four hundred members sat down to the feast, and the usual toasts were duly honoured. It was this year, we believe, that the Ducking-stool was made use of in this town, for the last time, as an instrument of punishment for common scolds and termagant women. The fact was related on the testimony of a person until lately a survivor, who witnessed the scene and was cognizant of the circumstances. There was then living in Redcross Street a woman whose " unruly member " made her the terror of her neighbours. She was the wife of a sergeant in the Militia. Being taken before the Justices of the Borough, charged with some offence, she behaved so violently and used her tongue so scurrilously, that the bench ordered her to be placed in the Ducking-stool. In accordance with the sentence, she was taken by the constables to the West Bridge ; there fastened to a chair attached to one end of a pole passing over an upright beam ; suspended in this position over the river in the spot where the " Horse- water " formerly existed ; and then let abruptly down into the depths below, amid the jeers of the spectators. The operation was repeated a few times, and after this experience the offender's violence was supposed to be cooled. The eye-witness who related the story remembered seeing the assembled crowd, and the woman raised above their heads, on her elevation in the chair after the ducking. Prize-fighting was at this time a popular practice. Mendoza was LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 183 now in all the questionable glory of his reputation. Everywhere, the chief of the "noble art of self-defence" (as it was styled) had admirers and imitators among the humbler classes, and patrons among the sporting gentry. In Leicester, pugilistic encounters were not uncommon, and the local paper records their occurrence with all the gusto of connoisseurship. On the 22nd of May, 1787, a "set-to" took place in a field near St. Sunday's Bridge, between Loydall, the noted Whitwick collier, and Dore of this town. In order to be truthful, and to show the spirit of the age and class interested, it must be recorded by the author that the wife of one of these rude gladiators thus addressed him, when stripped ready for the combat : " D n thy soul, lad, if thou dost not beat him, thou hadst better not come home any more." Thus encouraged, the collier entered the ring, and for fifty minutes he and Dore fought desperately; many falls occurring, and Loydell's head being beaten until, swollen and bloody, it was unrecognizable. The fortune of the day then changed; for thirty minutes more the collier fought on with bull-dog obstinacy, till, by one furious blow, he drove the Leicester champion to the ground, entirely disabled. The fight was for five guineas a side. More than five thousand people witnessed the display, and all agreed that both men " fought fair." The collier's wife, who held his clothes, won a guinea upon her husband, taking the long odds freely offered against him in the outset. When the battle was over, Jacomb (Dore's second) flung his hat in the air, and, extending his brawny fist, "challenged the whole field," but none accepted the glove thrown into the arena by so sturdy an athlete. In illustration of the rough chivalry which animated the victor, it may be added that when Dore was on crutches for a fortnight after the battle, his family being in distress at the same time, through the incapacity of its head to work, Loydell gave him a shilling out of his scanty earnings, and, when the beaten man wanted coals, unloaded his ass for him, laying the burden at his door, saying with an oath, " Thou shalt never want coals while I live." t Foot-racing and cricketing were also at this time much in fashion, and "Nick's roughs" (as some of the parishioners of St. Nicholas were called) won laurels at Hinckley, by there defeating the players of Coventry. The bowlers were Mr. Mark Graham and Mr. C. Wilkinson, and they acquired local celebrity in consequence of this match. The Coventry players were so mortified by their defeat that they incited a party of colliers to mob the Leicester players; but when the latter approached their homes, they were met at the entrance of the town by an incredible concourse of the inhabitants, on horse and ' Leicester Journal, May 25, 1787. 184 LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. foot, and at night some of the streets of Leicester were illuminated in honour of the victory. The Leicester cricketers received, in fact, a complete ovation on the occasion : they might have been winners in the Olympian games of classic story. The " Revolution Club " held two meetings this year — one on June 14, when Edward Dawson, Esq., took the chair ; and another on the 5th of November. On the second occasion, the stewards were Sir W. C. Farrell Skeffington, Bart., and Walter Raiding, Esq. The annual dinner took place at the Lion and Lamb, Bear and Swan, and White Swan Inns. Upwards of five hundred persons dined together, and several hogsheads of ale were distributed to the populace. The recent decease of the Duke of Rutland — one of the Club's chief patrons — depressed the convivial spirit of the members at their meeting in 1787, an effect which was thus alluded to in Rozzell's Revolution Ode : — " How shall the Muse of Freedom tune her Song, Now Belvoir's Tow'rs are all with Cypress hung ? " On these occasions odes of his own composition were recited by Charles Rozzell, whose name has already been introduced in con- nection with the Framework-knitters' Committee. Rozzell was the son of Irish parents, who settled and died in Leicester. When a boy, be began to write verses, and at twelve years of age, unassisted by a master, he commenced the study of the Latin language ; becoming acquainted with Horace and Virgil in a few years. He was endowed with a graceful and captivating eloquence. His forte lay in satire, his favourite author being Churchill, on whose style he modelled his compositions. He greatly needed prudence and temper- ance in association with his brilliant talent, and the temptations of festive society were more than he could withstand. He was the poet laureate of the Revolution Club, among whose members his produc- tions elicited much applause. 8 In October, Howard the Philanthropist visited the town. The officers of the Militia invited him to one of their grand entertain- ments ; but being previously engaged to dine with Dr. Arnold, he was obliged to decline the invitation. While here, he visited the town prison, with which he found great fault, describing it as unwholesome and unsafe ; and he severely condemned the custom of allowing the keeper to sell ale. He next visited the County Bridewell, which he highly commended for its neatness and cleanli- ness. In like manner he complimented the keeper of the County Gaol upon its cleanliness, and suggested alterations to be made b Charles Rozzell died in the month of July, 1792, aged 36. LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 185 by the justices. He afterwards visited the Infirmary, with the management of which he found great fault, particularly with the situation of the Asylum, and pointed out some amendments he considered necessary. In the last instance, Mr. Howard's visit was productive of immediate attention to the matters complained of; the governors calling in Mr. Johnson, architect, to their assistance, and ordering various changes to be effected in the ventilation and drainage, and limewashing to be done and other improvements made, which were adopted at their meeting held on the 12th of November. Among the portraits still preserved in the old Town Hall, is one of James Wigley, Esq., formerly of Scraptoft. He represented this borough in five successive Parliaments, and remained member until his decease in 1765. In November of 1787, his great nephew and heir-at-law, Edward Hartopp Wigley, Esq., of Little Dalby, presented the Mayor and Corporation with the picture. It was from the pencil of Highmore, who was the master of Gainsborough, and was considered to be an excellent likeness. On Monday, October the 15th, the Militia assembled for the first time under the Act of Parliament passed a short time previously. The regiment was stated to be the best ever before raised ; not one of the new men being above twenty-one years of age. Their clothing was said to be good, and the band equal to any in the service. The Duke of Rutland was Colonel ; George Pochin, Esq., Lieutenant- Colonel; and — Cheselden, Esq., the Major. On Friday, November the 2nd, the officers announced a Ball and Supper to ladies and gentlemen resident in County and Town, to whom cards were forwarded ; but the decease of the Colonel, at the Vice-regal Lodge, Dublin, prevented the assembly from taking place, and cards were circulated to recall the invitations. The twenty-eight days' training terminated on the 9th of November, and the delivery of arms and clothing was made as usual. The behaviour of the men was pronounced to have been attentive, and greatly laudable ; not a single complaint having been heard of since their arrival ; and their expertness in duty was also an object of special remark. An event is now approaching which denotes an epoch in our local manufactures, and also indicates the intelligence of the working classes of the present age, as compared with the want of it more than eighty years ago. Up to the year 1785 the process of spinning worsted for the Leicester trade was performed by the farmers' wives in the county, and by the domestic servants in the town (whose spare time was employed in this primitive manner to the profit of their masters), as well as by the workmen regularly engaged in the manufacture. The 186 LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. whirr of the two-handed wheel was then a familiar noise at the family hearth, and in the long evenings of winter it was a busy, if not cheerful, scene. But at the date we have named, Mr. Joseph Brookhouse of Church Gate, a skilful and ingenious man, after much thought conceived that worsted might be spun by machinery. Arkwright's invention for spinning cotton in like manner was then known, but whether Mr. Brookhouse was acquainted with it or not we are unable to say ; at all events, he was the first who proposed to spin worsted by machinery. As, however, he had not the requisite capital to carry out the plan, he made proposals to Mr. Joseph Whetstone of Northgate Street (grandfather of the late Joseph Whetstone, Esq.), and Mr. Coltman of St. Nicholas Street (grand- father of Mr. John Coltman, lately deceased), to enter into partnership with him ; those gentlemen possessing, in addition to the requisite capital, the former a large connection as a spinner, and the latter as a manufacturer of hosiery. It may be here necessary to add, that Mr. Whetstone was originally a native of Bulkington, in Warwickshire, where he was born about the year 1730. Being energetic and clever in business, he entered into the spinning trade when not more than twenty-one years of age ; in which he was so successful that he regularly employed from 1,000 to 1,500 persons in that department of manufacture at the date of Mr. Brookhouse's discovery. Mr. Coltman was a man of high classical and antiquarian attainments, and devoted to intellectual pursuits ; he had been educated at Kibworth Beauchamp, under Dr. Aikin, the father of the celebrated doctor of the same name ; but his habits were those of a recluse, though, as a well-known friend to literature, he was generally visited by most persons of talent who came to Leicester. Mr. William Gardiner (from whose "Music and Friends" this estimate of Mr. Coltman's character is taken) relates that Dr. Priestley, when visiting Mr. Bobert Brewin, in this town, called upon Mr. Coltman, with whom he visited and examined the Jewry Wall. These, then, were the three men who undertook the introduction of machinery into Leicester, in connection with the spinning of worsted. Their enterprise was not destined, however, at first to succeed ; for, not long after, it became generally known that worsted was about to be spun by machinery, and the workpeople, uneducated and unre- flecting as they were, came to the conclusion that their labour would thereby be rendered valueless. Their feelings were also worked upon by their leaders to a high pitch of indignation, and they were taught to look upon Messrs. Coltman and Whetstone as their enemies. In fact, those gentlemen were openly threatened with loss of life and the destruction of their property, if they persisted in the prosecution LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 187 of their purpose. As party spirit was then violent and bitter, the populace were not slow to raise outcries against them also on account of their being well-known and decided Whigs and Dissenters. In order to show the systematic way in which the workmen were allowed to organize their plan of revenge, it may be noticed that an advertisement appeared in the Leicester Journal of November the 30th, 1787, in which the committee of the workmen, or "worsted manufacturers," announce that a meeting of the master tradesmen had been held, at which, after thanking one of their leaders for his manly conduct in supporting " the old mode of trade in opposition to all detrimental innovations," they recommended the following mode of proceeding to those who were in any way interested in the matter : " That they apply either to the White Lion Inn, or to Mr. P. Davies, at the Red Lion Inn, in Northgate Street, at either of which places a deputation of the committee will attend them betwixt the hours of twelve and four in the afternoon, on Saturday, Dec. 1, to inform them of particulars in a manner perfectly constitutional." This dark hint, as may readily be supposed, was not without its effect ; though, it should be added, the possessors of the machinery, in an advertisement following the foregoing in the columns of the Journal, made a conciliatory proposition to the workpeople. All was of no avail, as the sequel will show. Mr. Whetstone, from his being an active principal in the under- taking, and from residing on the spot where the business was carried on, was especially singled out as the mark of popular vengeance. He applied to the borough magistrates for assistance, in anticipation of the menaced outbreak, and named the day on which it was intended it should occur; but they neglected to take any precautions, or to make any preparations for its prevention. He was then living in Northgate Street, in an old timber building of the early Elizabethan style, of which the upper story projected over the lower, thus leaving the space beneath sheltered. Having no help to expect from the local magistracy, or from any person except his own friends and workmen, he assembled a few of the latter, with his sons, on the eve of the expected riot, and resolved to defend his life and property to the last. Some of the party were armed with fowling-pieces, loaded with shot, and they were all stationed in the upper story of the house, ready for the defence of Mr. Whetstone and his property — the females of the family having been first committed to the care of friends. At eleven o'clock on the night of Saturday, December the 1st, a few hours after the precise time at which the workmen were requested to assemble at the White Lion and Red Lion inns, a mob of drunken 188 LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. and infuriated people, some furnished with torches and others with missiles, who had been for hours drinking at certain inns, gathered near the house, and commenced the assault amid hideous yellings and uproar. At first they broke all the windows with volleys of large stones. Mr. Whetstone and his companions retaliated by discharges from their fire-arms, and wounded several of the assailants. But, owing to the construction of the building the more active of the latter were enabled to shelter themselves beneath the overhanging gables, and therefore, seeing that he could not reach them, while the dis- charges might injure the multitude of merely idle spectators on the opposite side of the street, Mr. Whetstone discontinued the fire. The mob then obtained possession of the lower story, and destroyed all the furniture it contained. They attempted to ascend to the upper story, but failed. Fearing, though, that they might succeed, Mr. Whetstone was let down by a rope from a back-window, by one of his sons ; and escaped, through the window of a summer-house in his garden, to the ground behind his premises. After obtaining a horse from a friend, he left the town in the middle of the night. The riot had continued two hours uninterrupted by the local authorities, and Mr. Whetstone had been driven from his home, when the Mayor (Mr. Dickenson) arrived on the spot, accompanied by the Town Servants, and a few constables carrying flambeaux. His worship then said to the crowd, tapping some of the men on the back, " Come, my lads, give over — you've done enough — quite enough : come, give over, there's good lads, and go away." They were not disposed to take this courteous advice from the Mayor, but began to press upon him, and hustle him and his men : he therefore proceeded to read the Riot Act, and while in the act of so doing, received so serious an injury on the head from a stone, that his death ensued a few months afterwards. Having completely sacked the premises, broken the oil-cisterns, and destroyed everything they could, the mob proceeded to Mr. Colt- man's, where they broke the windows and did other damage. They also committed a similar outrage at the houses of several Dissenters who were known to be personal friends of Mr. Whetstone. On the day following (Sunday) a meeting of the Mayor and Magis- trates was held at the Exchange, when a series of resolutions was passed, pledging the authorities to commit for trial all who had been apprehended on suspicion of joining in the riot, to suppress any future attempts to injure the persons or property of the sufferers, to swear in additional constables, and so forth. These formed the sub- ject of an advertisement in the Journal, which was followed by a second, in which a reward of one hundred guineas was offered to any LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 189 person who would bring to conviction the person who threw the stone at the Mayor, and of fifty guineas to any person who would bring to conviction the persons who wounded Mr. John Nedham and Mr. Smith, two of the constables ; but no reward was offered for the apprehension of any of the rioters, or their leaders. A riotous disposition was manifested among the populace a day or two after the outbreak, and a party proceeded to Market Harborough on the ensuing Wednesday, where they found a machine, which they took away from the place where it was deposited, and burnt in the Market Place. On the Friday morning they went to Melton, where they had been informed another machine was kept ; and the suspected owner was so terrified by the visit that he publicly announced that he not only had no machine, but never intended to have one. Mr. Whetstone afterwards advertised, week after week, in the Journal, his readiness to give a reward of sG10, over and above £40 allowed by Act of Parliament, to any person who would afford him such information as would enable him to prosecute to conviction any one of the individuals concerned in breaking into and plundering his dwelling-house and warehouses. " Being conscious," he added, "that he has not deserved that ill-treatment he has met with, he is determined to bring to justice, if possible, those lawless plunderers who have so shamefully destroyed his property." The effect of these riots was well pointed out by the Journal, which remarked that "two of these machines are said to have been already demolished, but the invention is not destroyed ; and from what appears at present, cannot be so easily accomplished. Violence and intemperate riot may prevent its operation, but may also drive away the whole manufacture, and transplant it to another place — from hence a most dangerous con- sequence." £ The result was exactly what the Journal predicted — worsted-spinning was driven from Leicester for more than twenty years. The manufacture was carried on in large factories at Broms- grove, Warwick, Bedworth, Arnold, Bristol, Kettering, Nottingham, and elsewhere ; the inhabitants of Leicester meanwhile losing all the advantages which would have accrued therefrom, had it remained here during that interval. } mmm 190 LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CHAPTER XVI. AGITATION AGAINST NEGRO SLAVERY PROPOSED CHAMBER OF COMMERCE THE MILITIA STAFF IN 1788 THE REVOLUTION CLUB ROZZELL's ODE TO FREEDOM ADDRESS TO GEORGE THE THIRD ON RECOVERING HIS SANITY THE FRENCH REVOLUTION — FORMATION OF A CONSTI- TUTIONAL SOCIETY— MEETINGS OF DISSENTERS — DEMONSTRATIONS OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL SOCIETY AND THE INDEPENDENT INTEREST REORGANIZATION OF THE REVOLUTION CLUB — LIST OF ITS MEMBERS. About this period the agitation for the overthrow of the negro- slavery system was initiated in this locality. A subscription had been com- menced in promotion of an application to parliament for abolishing the slave trade, which was liberally encouraged, and a requisition was forwarded to the High Sheriff of the County, soliciting him to call a general meeting for the purpose of petitioning the House of Commons that effectual measures might be adopted to bring about the desired result. The names of the requisitionists were C. Winstanley, T. Babington, E. Hartopp Wigley, E. Cradock Hartopp, R. Marriott, T. Dicey, M. Babington, H. Coleman, T. Greaves, and S. Hunt. The meeting was held at the Castle, on the 7th of February, 1788, when Jos. Cradock, Esq., was called to the chair, and resolutions condemnatory of the slave trade, and calling for the adoption of remedies, were unanimously adopted. The petition received about five hundred signatures. The clergy of the county also met, with the Archdeacon at their head, and adopted an anti-slavery petition. It seems somewhat strange to modern thinking (which is apt to infer that seventy or eighty years ago the inhabitants were in a very backward condition) that the Leicester Journal called for the estab- lishment of a Chamber of Commerce in the year 1788, in these sentences : "It has been long a matter of surprise that a Chamber of Commerce has not been erected in this place — a circumstance highly necessary in a large and flourishing manufacturing town. The single event of the present alteration of Spinning of Wool by Machines may have an effect of transporting the manufactory entirely from hence : — its tendency should therefore be well considered and in due LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 191 time." Nearly at the same date the formation of an Agricultural Society for the county, under the presidency of Lord Kawdon, was announced. Among the subscribers were Lords Huntingdon, Harborough, Winchelsea, Gainsborough, and Rawdon, and Sir John Palmer,- Col. Hastings, and Messrs. Abney, Bakewell, Buckley, Burgess, R. Carver, R. Cresswell, John Cave Brown, Joshua Grundy, T. Paget, W Pochin, T. Pares, T. Pares, jun., C. Winstanley, Dr. Kirkland, Rev. W. Gresley, and others. The first meeting was held on April the 2nd ; on which occasion subscriptions were entered into of one guinea each, and Mr. Mansfield's bank was appointed to be the place for payment. The Militia were called out on Monday, the 5th of May. On the 27th they were reviewed by their colonel in presence of a large concourse of people. Their appearance and expertness were pro- nounced unexceptionable, and not a single complaint against any of the men was lodged during the period of training. The following is a list of the corps of officers : Geo. Pochin, Esq., Colonel. Charles James Packe, Esq., Lieut.-Colonel. Edward Cheselden, Major. CAPTAINS. John S. Brown, Esq. Sir Thos. Cave, Bart. John Dodd, Esq. James Phelp, Esq. Thos. B. Parkyns, Esq. Jos. Farmer, Esq., by brevet. CAPT. LIEUT. Nat. Cooper, gent. LIEUTENANTS. Robert Farrer, gent. Robert Hall, gent. Joshua Grundy, gent. Wm. Melland, gent. Chas. E. White, gent. Thomas Freer, gent. Rd. Turner, gent. ENSIGNS. Richard Tatham, gent. Chas. Davie, gent. T. B. Sleath, gent. Nat. Burslem, gent. John Cooper, gent. Joseph Farmer, Esq., Adjutant. T. Freer, gent., Surgeon. This year the Revolution Club made an unusual demonstration, which they called a "Jubilee," to celebrate the hundredth anniversary of the memorable landing of William, Prince of Orange, " who pre- served the liberties of this country, and secured a free constitution to every Briton." At the dinner (held at the Lion and Lamb, White 192 LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. Swan, and Bear and Swan inns) 672 persons feasted. The names of the principal persons were: — Sir Geo. Kobinson, Bart., in the chair, Sir John Danvers, Bart., Sir Wm. F. Skeffington, Bart., William Pochin, Esq., M.P., Col. Pochin, Lieut.-Col. Packe, Major Cheselden, Clement Winstanley, Esq., Willoughby Dixie, Esq., Edmund Cradock Hartopp, Esq., "Walter Kuding, Esq., Henry Coleman, Esq., Ed. Davie, Esq., Thomas Pares, Esq., John Pares, Esq., Dr. Hamilton Kelso, Dr. Arnold, Dr. Bree, and many others. The usual toasts were given and duly honoured, including the "glorious and immortal memory of William the Third," "The Friends of Civil Liberty throughout the World," "The Cause for which Sidney bled on the scaffold and Hampden in the field," "The Houses of Stamford, Devonshire, and Harborough," and so forth ; and Colonel Pochin read a resolution adopted by the Committee, "that it is the opinion of this meeting that this town is improperly represented in Parlia- ment," and informed the meeting that a gentleman, a member of the club, would offer himself as a candidate on the occasion of the occurrence of a vacancy in the representation — an announcement received with an outburst of applause. The following ode, written by Charles Bozzell, was recited on the occasion : — " Old Time has with unerring hand A hundred times revolv'd his wheel Since Albion's highly-favour'd land Did freedom's genial influence feel : And as the time-describing god The azure vaulted system trod, With trumpet of setherial make He thus proclaim'd to ev'ry passing sphere ; ' The next to Venus from the sun, Behold a radiant planet run ; Within this orb an isle is found, Envy'd by all the nations round, For liberty has rear'd her temple there.' " Let passive bigots ask how freedom reigns, Or where the place that gave her birth : — Twas heav'n ! — the blessings which she deigns Belong to all the sons of earth. What tho' the tyrant and the priest By fraud enslav'd the hapless East, When on the banks where Tygris flows Nimrod the first of despots rose, Still liberty inherent is in all I O ! Albion 'twas thy better fate This glorious truth to prove tho' late; When, by collected fire and might, Thy sons asserted nat'ral right, With blood cementing what shall never fall. LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 193 " Let tyrants causeless war provoke, And deluge half the world in blood ; Let vassals smart beneath the stroke, And tamely think it public good : Britannia can a sovereign boast, Belov'd, obey'd, but not from dread, Who, when the god of war, his host Calls out, sees freedom's legions led. And O, historians I as you're free, be bold, Impress the sera with a type of gold; When reason scorning threats of power Took courage with a guiding hand, And in a dark tremendous hour, From vilest slavery sav'd the land ; Rethron'd fair liberty by gen'ral choice, And guaranteed her by a people's voice. " Then let this choral throng To heaven's high arches raise the song, And whilst we pity nations round, Fast in the chains of slav'ry bound, Let ev'ry Briton teach his son, What his great sires for him have done, And show his progeny that all their blood, Is nobly spilt, if spilt for Public Good." A kind of counter-demonstration to the Jubilee, it may be assumed, was the Mayor's Feast, held in November ; when Henry Watchorn, Esq., gave a grand entertainment, served up in two courses. The king had by this time become afflicted with symptoms of insanity, which occasioned this toast from the chair : "A speedy re-establish- ment of the health of our beloved Sovereign." When " God save the King " was sung, every voice joined in the strain, and re-echoed its prayer with energetic feeling. Forty years after the Jacobite rebellion, politics had insensibly undergone a great change. The Jacobites in that interval had become Tories, and Pitt was now their idol. In Leicester, they began the year 1789 (through their leaders on the Corporation) by resolving that the thanks of that body be given to the Right Hon. William Pitt, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and to the Borough and County Members, for their support of "the important right of the Lords and Commons of this Realm to provide the means of supplying the defect of the personal exercise of the Royal authority, arising from his Majesty's indisposition." The King had become insane, and the Tories wished to confer the Royal authority on the Prince Regent, while the Whigs were desirous of postponing the measure, in the hope of the King's early recovery. In April, however, George had so o 194 LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. far recovered that addresses were forwarded to him and his Queen, congratulating them on the King's restoration to health. The annual exercising of the militia took place in June, under the command of Col. Pochin. The Rev. Henry "Woodcock, of Barkby, was appointed the chaplain of the regiment. In the same month also, the Worshipful Master, Wardens, and Brethren of Lodge No. 91 of Freemasons resident in Leicester, held a meeting on St. John's Day, and walked in procession from the Pelican in Gallowtree Gate to St. Martin's Church, where a sermon was preached for their benefit. After divine service, they went in procession to Brother Joseph Smith's, the Crown and Thistle, in Loseby Lane, where they dined and the greatest harmony prevailed, enlivened by toasts of the craft, suitable to the occasion. But while the townsmen of Leicester were conversing only about the militia muster or the last freemasons' dinner, events of surpassing interest were transpiring across the Channel. In July, forty thousand people of Paris rose in arms, and a day or two after captured the Bastille, beheading its Governor and the Archbishop of Paris, and carrying their heads on poles through the thoroughfares ; the House of Representatives thereupon declaring itself the National Assembly, and the Revolution being fully inaugurated. These events were followed in October by an unfortunate incident at Versailles, on the occasion of a public banquet, when the troops trampled underfoot the tricoloured cockade and replaced it with a white one ; and the populace, fierce with hunger and infuriated with resentment, acquired the mastery in the French capital. The startling news of these proceedings reached this town but slowly ; yet the Conservatives of Leicester soon bestirred themselves in the formation of a " Constitutional Society," whose beacon-light was Mr. Pitt. They held a first meeting late in October, and a second on the 9th of November. At the latter they adopted a number of resolutions, and appointed Messrs. Boultbee and Mansfield their treasurers. Their object was obviously to counteract the efforts of the Revolution Club, who, undeterred by the appearance of affairs in France, held their customary anniversary meeting on Wednesday, November the 4th, at the Lion and Lamb, the White Swan, and Bear and Swan inns — the stewards being E. C. Hartopp, Esq., and Lieut. Col. Packe : in addition to whom many gentlemen of the county and town were present, with upwards of five hundred freemen of the borough. Several loyal and constitutional toasts were drunk, and Wm. Pochin, Esq., (one of the members of the county) and Robert Abney, Esq., of Lindley, were unanimously chosen stewards for the year ensuing. LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 19.5 At the close of 1789, a meeting of importance, marking the position assumed by the Dissenters of this district, was held at the Lion and Lamb inn, to consider what measures were proper to be pursued to procure the repeal of the Corporation and Test Acts, and other penal statutes in respect to matters of religion. The different town congregations requested that every congregation in the county would appoint a delegate or delegates to attend their ministers on the business. Accordingly, on the 20th of November, a large number of ministers and delegates met at the place appointed, and called Dr. Thomas Arnold to the chair. They adopted twelve resolutions, of which the main purpose has been already suggested ; but two are here copied entire : — "That they (the meeting) deem it an act of injustice in the Civil Magistrate to inflict penalties on men for their religious principles, on a presumption that they are erroneous or hurtful ; because men's Actions alone, and not their speculative Opinions, are properly subject to his interference, and liable to the restriction of human laws. " That, neither heated with party zeal, nor biassed by any unfriendly views to the Established Church, they only claim a participation in the privileges of a free people — the subjects of an equal government — a claim which not merely affects them as Protestant Dissenters, but with which they conceive the national honour, prosperity, and happiness to be connected." A committee was appointed to carry out the resolutions, consisting of Thomas Arnold, M.D., Chairman, Mr. Robert Brewin, Mr. Joseph Chamberlin, Mr. Wm. Chamberlin, Mr. John Coltman (the Newarke), Mr. Matthew Keed, Mr. Thomas Richards, Mr. Robert Ward, Mr. Francis Pick, Mr. Wm. Oram, Mr. John Coltman, Mr. Goode, Mr. Francis Burgess, Mr. Wm. Lamb, Mr. James Nutt, and Mr. Thomas Bankart ; with the Ministers of the Congregations. The effects of the French revolution were felt in this island by the stimulus imparted to political action everywhere. The Conservatives of Leicester held frequent meetings in connection with the Constitu- tional Society, when Charles Loraine Smith, Esq., took the chair. They resolved to hold their Annual Feast on the 10th of March, 1790, to celebrate the day on which the king's restoration to health was announced to Parliament. At the same time, the Protestant Dissenters were roused to renewed exertions on behalf of religious freedom. Their second general meeting was held at the Lion and Lamb Inn, Leicester, on the 13th of January, Dr. Thomas Arnold presiding. Their only aim, under the circumstances of the period, was to obtain the repeal of such parts of the Corporation and Tests Acts as affected Protestant Dissenters. They therefore resolved on sending delegates to a general tmmmnmmrt 196 LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. or national meeting, to be held in the Metropolis, and they appointed as delegates the following gentlemen : — William Hood, Esq., Henry- Coleman, Esq., Rev. John Atchison, Thomas Paget, Esq., John Lovewell, Esq., and Mr. Royce. They further resolved on raising by voluntary subscription the sum of one hundred and fifty pounds, among the members of each congregation of Dissenters in the counties of Leicester and Rutland. Mr. Robert Brewin (who had acted as Treasurer) was also thanked for his services and asked to continue them. On the same day, a meeting of Dissenting Deputies of the three Denominations, resident in Derby, Nottingham, Lincoln, Warwick, Worcester, Salop, and Stafford, was held at Leicester, Samuel Shore, Esq., in the chair, when a long series of resolutions was passed, filling more than a column of the Leicester Journal. The object of the meetings was to promote the agitation in Parliament in favour of their claims, by means of a national gathering in London. The groundwork of the Dissenters' position was thus expressed in one of their resolutions : " That all subjects of the State, conducting themselves in an equally peaceable manner, are equally entitled, not only to protection in the possession of their peaceable rights, but also to any civil honours or emoluments which are accessible to other subjects, without any regard to their religious opinions or practices." A warm local controversy ensued ; and the Corporation met to consider the proper course to pursue in reference to the agitation. At a Common Hall they assumed a very high tone towards the Dissenters; one of their resolutions asserting " That the admission of Dissenters into civil offices would give them perpetual opportunities of injuring the State, by applying the powers with which they would be intrusted to the support of their own party;" another resolution quietly informing Dissenters that all they urged respecting their own "Moderation" was "absurd," as "no men gave themselves bad characters." Thus the Corporation swept the Dissenters away with a brush, as they would have done the cobwebs and spiders in the Guildhall. In accordance with their announcement, the Constitutional Society held their Great Feast on the 10th of March, under the auspices of the Stewards, Charles Loraine Smith, Esq., and Thos. Babington, Esq., at the Three Cranes and the Three Crowns Inns. Upwards of nine hundred persons dined together on the occasion. The Earl of Winchelsea, Sir Thomas Cave, Bart., and Eliab Harvey, R. Grosvenor, Edward Farnham, Thomas Farnham, J. Foster, Thomas Fisher, John Clarke, and Shirley Steele Perkins, Esq., with the Mayor and Alder- men of the Borough, and many of the clergy of town and county, were present, and took part in the proceedings. The toasts were of LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 197 the usual description. After the King and Queen and Royal Family, and the Society, came Mr. Pitt — the idol of the Society; in fact, the dinner was as much an ovation in his honour, as it was a celebration of the king's mental restoration to sanity. It was hardly to be supposed the friends of Liberalism would lie down idly while their political opponents were thus active and demonstrative ; we find therefore that they, too, held their meeting. They designated themselves the "Independent Interest." They dined on the 23rd of April, to celebrate the National Thanksgiving Day for His Majesty's Recovery. Their Presidents were Col. Pochin and Thomas Boothby Parkyns, Esq. ; their Vice-Presidents, Clement Winstanley and Mayor Cheselden ; and their Stewards, Sir John Danvers, Bart., Sir George Robinson, Bart., Sir W. C. F. Skeffington, Bart., C. Morris, Esq., C. J. Packe, Esq., Lieutenant- Col. Packe, Robert Abney, Esq., Walter Ruding, Esq., E. C. Hartopp, Esq., J. Suff. Brown, Esq., Henry Coleman, Esq., and John Pares, Esq. Upwards of fifteen hundred persons sat down to dinner, and the meeting was attended by leading gentlemen of the town and county. The principal toasts were the King, the Prince of Wales, and the Queen and Royal Family, and others ; but not, of course, Mr. Pitt — against whom and the Corporation the dinner was intended to be a counter-demonstration. The Leicestershire Militia was out, this year, for its annual exercise, and was disembodied on the 7th of May. Great preparations being now made to fit out the fleet, orders to press all straggling seamen and seafaring men into the service were issued by the Privy Council, and carried out in Leicester. For some reasons not apparent on its minutes of proceedings, the Revolution Club this year reorganized itself. It was declared to be founded for the purposes of uniting the Independent Interest of the Town and County of Leicester ; preserving the freedom of election ; and maintaining the other rights and franchises of the burgesses and others ; and supporting and defending them against any oppression or innovation they might suffer from the undue exertions of misplaced power, or the venal influence of the enemies to freedom. "Fully sensible of the importance of such an institution, and of the good effect which must arise therefrom, and animated by the spirit of patriotism, which venerates and seeks to preserve inviolate the Rights of Man," said the subscribers, "we engage to promote the purposes of this institution to the extent of our power and ability." The names of the subscribers were recorded in the Minute Book. h They were : h Now in the possession of the author. man 198 LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. T. B. Parkyns, Esq. [afterwards elevated to the peerage by the title of Baron Rancliffe.] John Simpson, Esq. [of Launde Abbey, father of the late John Finch Simpson, Esq.] Clement "Win Stanley, Esq. [of Braunstone Hall, who married a sister of Lord Rancliffe.] Wm. Pochin, Esq. [a kinsman of Geo. Pochin, Esq., father of William Ann Pochin, Esq.] Robert Abney, Esq. [great-uncle of the late W. W. Abney, Esq.] E. C. Hartopp, Esq. [afterwards created a baronet, and father of the late Sir William Edmund.] Thomas Pares, Esq. [uncle of the late Thomas Pares, Esq., of Hopwell Hall.] Sir John Danvers, Bart, [maternal grandfather of the late Lord Lanesborough.] John Pares, Esq. [father of the late Thomas Pares, Esq., of Hopwell Hall.] Major Cheselden. Walter Ruding, Esq. [formerly of West Cotes, near Leicester.] Thomas Paget, Esq. [grandfather of T. T. Paget, Esq., of Hum- berstone.] J. Chamberlin, Esq. Henry Coleman, sen., Esq. [grandfather of H. F. Coleman, Esq., of Evington Hall.] E. Davie, Esq. Among the remaining subscribers occur the names of Messrs. Jno. Bankart, Edward Bankart, William Ball, Jos. Bennett, Robert Biddle, Davis Black, E. Blower, Thomas Bown, sen., Thomas Bown, jun., Edward Bracebridge, Geo. Bracebridge, Francis Burgess, T. Bell, Wm. Carver, J. E. Carver, Robt. Cloudsley, Jos. Dumelow, Geo. Dawson, Robt. Freer, James Froane, Richard Flint, W. Grundy, John Goode, Joseph Hopewell, Edward Hodges, — Inkersole, Henry King, Wm. Keightley, John Kettleby, C. Langdon, J. Lawton, Francis Lomas, Thos. Lockwood, Jno. Marshall, Wm. Oram, James Poynton, Wm. Peet, Richard Phillips, — Prentice, — Proudman, Henry Richards, Thos. Richards, Thos. Swinburne, — Wallis, Ed. Webb (Secretary), Robert Whittle, Jas. Wightman, Thomas Wood, and Henry Wood. One clergyman only was on the list — the Rev. Mr. Woodcock, of Barkby. The foregoing persons constituted the avowed Whig or Liberal Party of this locality eighty years ago. At their meeting on the 4th of November, the members celebrated their Anniversary at the Lion and Lamb and other inns ; five hundred sympathizers sitting down to dine together, including (says the LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 199 Leicester Journal J the " principal gentlemen of the town and county." CHAPTER XVII. ERECTION OF THE BOROUGH GAOL LOCAL IMPROVEMENTS THE SUNDAY SCHOOLS THE LOUGHBOROUGH CANAL REVIVAL OF FREEMASONRY PARTY FEELING MR. PHILLIPS AND THE PERMANENT LIBRARY THE SLAVE TRADE A HOUSE OF INDUSTRY IN LEICESTER THE HOSIERS' ASSOCIATION POLITICAL EXCITEMENT LOCAL REACTION THE LOYAL VICTUALLERS OF LEICESTER THE CONSTITUTIONAL SOCIETY TORY MEETINGS THE PROSECUTION OF MR. PHILLIPS HIS SENTENCE THE LEICESTER MILITIA THE MAYOR'S FEAST. The year 1791 was comparatively uneventful in Leicester. Some facts, however, will hear recording, to connect the year with its predecessors. Among these may he mentioned the erection of the Gaol, now used for the detention of borough prisoners, but then in the possession of the county authorities. The interior arrangements were said to be on the plan of Howard, and the front was pronounced to be " awfully magnificent." Daily postal communication between Leicester and Melton was established in April, by the Postmaster General. Street improvements were also carried out : in the main street at the South Gate footways were formed on each side, which had not existed before, and a "crown causeway" was laid out in the middle for carriages. But it was not extended to the North Bridge, and it was not lighted by oil-lamps as High Street was; so the Journal expressed a hope that the public spirit of the town would be equal to the emergency. The establishment of Sunday Schools having proved to be of advantage, they were carried on for five years ; but this year the zeal of their promoters began to relax, and therefore an effort was needed to maintain them in a state of efficiency, and the original advocates of the system were exhorted not to desert the cause. At a meeting of the Special Committee of Subscribers, held in St. 200 LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. Martin's Vestry, on the 28th of April, resolutions were passed em- bodying this appeal, as the expenditure incurred had exceeded the income. Subscription lists were published, in which (as is observed in later days) the names of the contributors were those of inhabitants who had already given, and which regularly recurred in connection with benevolent proceedings — the regular absence from the list of others, equally competent to give, being as " conspicuous." The Militia were called on to assemble on the 11th of April, for twenty-eight days' training, by the notice of the Deputy Lieutenants — C. Winstanley, E. C. Hartopp, E. Cheselden, and H. Coleman, Esqrs. The men went through their exercises, and concluded the last annual meeting of the regiment on May the 7th, having earned a commendatory report. A matter of more general interest than any other to the towns- people, was the passing of the bill for canalizing the Soar from Leicester to Loughborough. It received the royal assent on Friday, May the 13th. The measure had been long and anxiously desired by the public. On the 1st of June, a meeting of the proprietors of the Leicester Navigation was held at the Three Crowns, to consider on the proper methods of facilitating the plan. Several resolutions having that object in view were passed, and contracts for the works were advertised for in the Journal. Freemasonry, like other institutions, has to tell its story of flux and reflux, and its periods of prosperity and depression, and this year had its revival in Leicester. For some few years in languid operation, the Craft became again active ; the occasion of its manifestation being a procession on June the 27th, from the Lodge-room at the Lion and Dolphin, to St. Martin's Church, where a sermon was preached by the Eev. Brother Jeremiah Bigsby of Nottingham. An immense concourse of people witnessed the pageant ; the Brethren of St. John's, with others from neighbouring counties, adorned with their insignia, with banners displayed, and music playing, constituting the procession. Political feeling began now to acquire a bitterness and a strength here and elsewhere, which had not for many years been displayed. The progress of events in the French capital helped to bring into strong relief the principles of the two existing parties. On the one side, the Whigs to a great extent sympathized with the revolutionary movement, which they saw had been attended with the overthrow of an insolent and profligate aristocracy, and a monarch identified with a selfish and autocratic policy ; on the other, the Tories viewed the movement with dread and aversion, believing it to be the precursor of a period of anarchy and bloodshed, in which the Church, the LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 201 State, and every national institution, would be swept away by the terrible current of popular frenzy. In this town, Mr. Phillips, the bookseller — then carrying on his business at the corner of Gallowtree Gate and" Humberstone Gate — was particularly prominent as the advocate of French political principles. He opened a pamphlet-room, in which Thomas Paine's works were provided for perusal, and week after week the Journal announced in its advertising columns the titles of the books in which the cause of the French democrats was warmly espoused and defended ; all to be seen at Phillips's. When the King of France fled from Paris, on the 20th of June, the two countries were in a fever of excitement. In this state of the public mind, the Liberals of Birmingham met to dine together at the Hotel, Temple Row, on the 14th of July, to celebrate the second anniversary of the French Revolution. A " Church and King " mob collected round the Hotel, and demolished the windows, and then went to Dr. Priestley's new meeting, to the old meeting house, and to the Doctor's residence. The two former they burned down, with several houses in the town and country, the residences of the leading Liberals, and the valuable philosophical apparatus, books, and manuscripts of Dr. Priestley. Many of the rioters were either suffocated or burnt in the flames. Dr. Priestley quitted Birmingham in consequence of the outrage, and finally settled in America. The leading Conservatives of Birmingham were blamed for having incited the populace, by having in public frequently drunk confusion and damnation to the sympathizers with the French Reformers. Mr. Phillips's exertions were not merely of a political nature : he devoted himself with considerable assiduity to exciting a taste for literature and scientific enquiry in Leicester. One of his special efforts was the origination of a Literary Society, which was instituted for the purpose of establishing a Permanent Library, still existing. Dating from July the 31st, 1789, it held its annual dinner at the Three Cranes, on the 26th of August, this year, and the following gentlemen constituted its Committee : — The Rev. John Achison, Dr. T. Arnold, Mr. John Brooke, Mr. Robert Burnaby, Mr. Robert Brewin, Dr. Bree, Mr. H. Carter, Mr. John Carter, Mr. H. Coleman, Mr. Coltman (the Newarke), Mr. Coltman (Shambles Lane), Mr. Copson, the Rev. John Deacon, Mr. J. Foster, Mr. Paget (surgeon), and Mr. M. Read. Mr. Mansfield was the Treasurer, Mr. Phillips the Secretary, of the Permanent Library. Undeterred by the prevalence of an animosity which was un- equalled in intensity by any feeling in more modern times, the Revolution Club held its annual meeting on the 4th of November, when upwards of four hundred dined together as usual ; though the 202 LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. growing predominance of the ultra-Eevolutionists had begun to alarm many Liberal politicians. The stewards of the club appointed for the succeeding year were Edward Abney, Esq., and Mr. Buxton. A meeting of the inhabitants of Leicester was held on February the 1st, 1792, to consider the propriety of petitioning parliament for the abolition of the slave trade. The business of the meeting was opened by Thomas Babington, Esq., in a speech of considerable length, in which he exposed the horrid means employed in carrying on the iniquitous traffic, and urged in a very forcible manner the necessity of making national exertions to procure the overthrow of the system. Mr. Neal, the Mayor, was in the chair, and the meeting was addressed by several gentlemen. Among the resolutions adopted was one of warm thanks to Mr. Wilberforce, who had moved the abolition of the slave trade in the House of Commons, and those gentlemen who ably supported him by their convincing eloquence. The late Mr. Wm. Gardiner relates in his Music and Friends that " The great champion, Mr. Wilberforce, found an ardent fellow- labourer in Mr. Babington. It was in the groves of Rothley Temple that these philanthropists drew up a statement, extending to two thousand pages, of the cruelties practised in the inhuman traffic." It is very remarkable that, at this time, the arrangements for the relief of the destitute in Leicester were so deficient, that it was found necessary to call a meeting of the inhabitants to consult together concerning the establishment of a House of Industry for the relief, employment, management, and care of the necessitous poor of the several parishes. On the 28th of February the meeting was held, when resolutions to the following effect were adopted: " That it was the opinion of the persons present that such a House of Industry was needed, as would be productive of a reform in the manners and principles of the poor, and would diminish the rates, which had been oppressive ; that it would be proper to apply to parliament in the existing session, for an act to furnish the inhabitants with power to execute the plan of union and maintenance ; that a petition on the subject be prepared ; and that a committee be appointed, with directions to carry the plan into effect, by framing a bill containing the requisite powers to establish the institution — the committee to consist of the Mayor and Justices of the Borough of Leicester, Dr. Bree, John Pares, Esq., Mr. Deakin, W. Ruding, Esq., Mr. Dabbs, Mr. H. Cooper, Mr. Gr. Dawson, Mr. Joseph Wheatley, and the Ministers of all the parishes in the town of Leicester." The com- mittee took for their model the House of Industry at Shrewsbury, and in an address to the public showed how the system operated in LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 203 that town, 1 where, it was stated, the rates were reduced one-third — the economy consequent upon placing and supporting the poor of Leicester in one building, instead of five, being insisted upon by the committee. The hosiers of the town this year bestirred themselves to check the embezzlement of goods, the disposing of stolen goods, the failure to return materials given out for manufacture, and other frauds or offences of like nature. They held a general meeting in the Exchange, for these objects, and there opened a subscription for securing the formation of an association. The persons present were Dalby, Gopson, and Co.; W. Dabbs ; J. and E. Bankart; Samuel Markland; J. Saywell ; Goode, Kichards, and Hartshorn ; Astle and Froane ; Samuel Towndrow; Freer and Thompson; Harris, Leach, and Harris; W. Simpson ; W. Scott and Sons ; Burgess, Goodrich and Sons ; J. Coltman and Son ; Oram and Hillhouse ; W. Proudman; Clement Dumelow; G. and A. Carr; Francis Burgess; and J. and T. Coleman. Other hosiers subsequently joined the association. A complete code of rules was drawn up and adopted at a meeting held at the Three Crowns, on the 19th of April. Mr. Wm. Heyrick was the solicitor to the society. This was a year of excitement in England not precedented, perhaps, since the great Civil War of the preceding century. It was created by the proceedings of the French Revolutionists, which met with enthusiastic approval, up to a certain point, among the Reformers of this country. The meeting of the "Friends of the People" in London, in May, was held to express sympathy with the revolutionary movement in France ; and the Corresponding Society, the Revolution Clubs, and other Societies, forwarded addresses of congratulation on their success to the National Assembly. This proceeding aroused the king and the Government to opposition ; and in consequence George the Third issued a proclamation, dated May 24, for the suppression of seditious correspondence with people abroad and of seditious publications at home. In June, the mob of Paris compelled King Louis to wear the bonnet rouge — the red cap of liberty. In August, having withdrawn into the Tuileries, with his family, he was besieged there by the populace, and his Swiss guards slain in his defence. From that moment his royal functions were suspended, and his family incarcerated in the Temple. Red Republicanism was now in the ascendant. The streets of Paris witnessed the murder of twelve hundred persons, and among the rest that of the Princess de Lamballes, whose head was severed from her body and carried in brutal triumph, on the point of a pole, through the thoroughfares. 1 Inserted in Leicester Journal, March 2, 1792. 204 LEICESTEE IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. At home the effects produced on the public mind were various. In Leicester, the Corporation in Common Hall met in June to address the king in response to his proclamation ; and, within a week after, the county gentry also assembled in the Castle for a like purpose. Among those who took part in the latter occasion, were some of those gentlemen who had in previous years shown themselves at the anni- versaries of the Kevolution Club ; and, indeed, English Eeformers generally were alienated from the French Revolution after the sanguinary events occurring in the month of September ; those who still adhered to the principles of Liberalism being called "Jacobins," by way of opprobrium. In November, when the Revolution Club of Leicester should, according to usage, have held its anniversary, no chairman's name was announced as that of the president at the dinner; though the friends of the Club were invited to attend at the Bear and Swan Inn, and ordinaries were provided elsewhere. The reactionary tide had set in, and its strongest indication in this town was an assembly of the inhabitants, held at the Town Hall, on December 17, when a resolution was adopted expressing their solemn and firm determination to support the Constitution of Great Britain, and their sincere and steady attachment to the king's person and family. This was moved by Edmund Wigley Esq., and seconded by John Pares, Esq. The point insisted upon, was the necessity for men of all descriptions uniting in that hour of danger and alarm, and declaring their attachment to the Constitution of King, Lords, and Commons. A large portion of the Liberal party everywhere seceded, who were designated "Alarmists" by those who remained in con- nection with the party. Locally, the latter were known as the "Constitutional Society;" but they published no list of the names of members, which induced a writer in the Journal to challenge them to come forth into publicity. Their Secretary wrote in their defence, and they issued a kind of manifesto ; though Mr. Phillips (who had commenced a Liberal journal called the Leicester Herald on the 5th of May) seems to have been extremely cautious in his expression of opinion, at a period when the public mind was so highly inflamed. Everybody was now wishful to be considered " loyal," and joined in the cry of "mad dog" against every other person who did not pronounce the shibboleth of the high Tory party; and there were also some politicians who, without doubt, heartily approved of the overthrow of the French monarchy and aristocracy. Even the licensed victuallers of Leicester (by whom purely political demonstra- tions are but rarely made) joined in the demonstration against the "Jacobins." They held a meeting (Mr. Francis Hayes in the chair) at which they resolved : — LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 205 " That we will suffer no Person or Persons to hold any Society in our respective Houses, or to make use of any Expressions, which have a tendency to subvert or to disturb the Government, without giving immediate Notice to the Mayor or other Magistrates. " And, being assembled together, we think it a fit Occasion to pass another Resolution, though not applying particularly to the Subject, which has lately occupied so much of the public Attention. " We therefore unanimously bind ourselves to the Public and to each other, — That, at any future Time, should Riots take Place in the Town, on any occasion whateveb, we will use every Precaution in our Power to prevent the Assembling of any of the Rioters in our Houses : and will give the earliest Information to the Magistrates of the first Appearance of any Tumult, and of the Names of all those who attempt to excite it, and will pursue every other Measure which becomes Men earnestly anxious for the Peace and Welfare of their Country and their Town." About one hundred and fifty signatures appeared to the advertisement containing the resolutions. The " Constitutional Society" of Leicester (which held a meeting on the last day of the year 1792) felt called upon to raise its voice, however feebly, in opposition to the storm which had been raised by the Conservative nobility, gentry, and clergy, all over the county, in denunciation of all Liberals and Eeformers. Its manifesto (signed by Mr. George Bown, the Secretary) declared that the letter of the Duke of Richmond conveyed its sentiments on the subject of Parliamentary Reform ; that the happiness of the people and the security of the constitution depended on the maintenance of peace ; that Mr. Fox's manly and independent conduct deserved the warmest thanks of the society and the whole nation ; and that the society assented to the resolutions lately passed at the Town Hall, but regarded all such meetings as mere manoeuvres of placemen and courtiers, and would cooperate with the noblemen and gentlemen of the county in support- ing peace and order, and in preventing the circulation of seditious writings. The last clause of the sentence related to an advertisement signed by Clement Winstanley, Wm. Pochin, Chas. James Packe, Henry Coleman, jun., John Simpson, Wm. Bentley, and Thos. Buxton, Esqrs., and others, who had been known as Whigs before the outbreak of the French Revolution, but who had taken fright at the excesses committed by the rouges of Paris, and had united with the Tories in adopting resolutions in condemnation of seditious assem- blies and publications. The Committee of the Association for pro- moting the king's proclamation were provoked by the advertisement of the Constitutional Society into a counter-demonstration, and they accordingly delivered their opinion to the public concerning that 206 LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. Society, which they called a "factious club," whose object in urging petitions to the throne that the nation might not be plunged into all the horrors of a destructive war, they declared to be, to make the unwary disaffected to the government and discontented with the necessary measures it might take. But the opposition to the Liberals of Leicester was not confined to the adoption of resolutions condemnatory of their principles ; as it also took the form of legal prosecution. The Government selected as the object of their persecution Mr. Phillips, the proprietor and conductor of the Leicester Herald, and by their instructions three separate bills of indictment were found against him, at the Borough Sessions held in January 1793, for selling a publication called the Jockey Club, and two of the works of Paine. Mr. Phillips considered that hard measure was dealt out to him ; seeing that the first of these had not then been found to be a libel, and at that time was upon sale in every bookseller's shop, while of the two last he had not sold a single copy after the verdict had been delivered against Paine, nor for sometime previous. About this time also, a second paper advocating Liberal principles, called the Leicester Chronicle, had been commenced by Mr. Thomas Combe, and was carried on for a few months ; but it succumbed on being threatened with a Government prosecution. In reference to the war with France, it was perfectly idle in the English Reformers to take any proceedings by way of protest, as events took place on the 17th and 21st of January which rendered a conflict with the French universally popular : these were, the sentence to death and execution of Louis the Sixteenth. When Louis was dragged to the scaffold, to suffer an ignominious and bloody death, a thrill of horror was felt all through England. All professions of Liberalism, however consistent and moderate, were then regarded as identical with the ferocious fanaticism of Danton and Robespierre ; and while the fever of mingled terror and abhor- rence lasted, it was dangerous to avow any sympathy whatever with the principles of Reform ; for all government officials and local authorities confounded them, either intentionally or ignorantly, with the tenets of the French Revolutionists. The war with France was therefore hotly demanded. Mr. Fox, however, had the courage to deprecate it when the warlike furor was at its height. Towards the close of the month of March, the County Grand Jury forwarded a Requisition to the High Sheriff, asking him to convene a meeting of the Nobility, Clergy, Freeholders, and others, for the purpose of taking into consideration the propriety of addressing his Majesty on the position of public affairs at that crisis ; and the High Sheriff, in accordance with the request, called a meeting for the 9th of LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 207 April ; but four Whig gentlemen — John Simpson, Chas. James Packe, Clement Winstanley, and Walter Euding — expressed, in an advertisement in the Journal, their disapprobation of the Sheriff's announcement and their opinion that the meeting was unnecessary. It was held, however, in pursuance of the announcement ; when Lord Ferrers moved an address to the king in approval of the war, which was seconded by Sir Charles Cave, and carried ; there being only two dissentients present. The Rev. Mr. Burnaby, Mr. Hungerford, Mr. Loraine Smith, Sir Justinian Isham, and Mr. Herrick, of Beaumanor, took part in the proceedings. The day after this meeting, Mr. Phillips was placed on his trial at the Town Hall. The Hon. Spencer Percival and Mr. Vaughan were engaged to conduct the prosecution, and Mr. Dayrell the defence. The defendant was not allowed to challenge any of the jurors. The three indictments were proceeded with, and twelve hours were occupied in the trial. Mr. Phillips was convicted of selling the " Rights of Man," on the simple evidence of a sale of it on the 6th of December. He was found guilty in a special verdict of selling the "Jockey Club," which constituted the nature of the second indict- ment. He was acquitted of the third indictment. Judgment was respited until next day (Saturday), April the 13th, to allow Mr. Phillips time to present to the Court affidavits in extenuation of his conduct. These were presented, and amounted chiefly to this — that Mr. Phillips was not aware that the books he had sold were of a libellous or seditious nature until the middle of December, and that then he immediately discontinued the sale, ordering his shopman to sell no more of the copies ; but that, after the verdict was delivered against Paine, various applications were made for these books, which were refused, and, among others, one made by a brother of the informant (Jackson), who used entreaties to induce him (Mr. Phillips) to part with a copy, but did not succeed. The defendant also alleged that he sold the books in the usual course of business, as he had done Burke's works, and all the others arising out of the controversy. But all these representations were thrown away, as the Recorder sentenced Mr. Phillips to eighteen months' imprisonment in the Borough Gaol ! In his paper Mr. Phillips complained bitterly and justly of the proceedings and sentence. He said : — " The only Evidence called upon to prove the facts contained in the three indictments was James Jackson a Journeyman Shoemaker, who stated that he was employed to purchase these Books, on account of the Prosecution, by the particular directions of Mr. Wm. Heyrick, the Town Clerk. He acknowledged that he purchased the Books of Mr. Phillips's Shopman, — 208 LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. readily admitting, at the same time, that he believed they might be had at any of the other Booksellers' Shops, but his order was to apply for them at Mr. Phillips's. This is in fact the substance of the Evidence on which the Foreman of the Jury pronounced Guilty, with a recommendation to the Candour and Mercy of the Court. On account of Prejudices arising from Party Politics, in local jurisdictions, it was recommended to Mr. Phillips, by his Counsel, and indeed his Friends in general, to take advantage of that most inestimable Privilege (sacred to Englishmen) of challenging his Jury. This right was claimed and asserted on the part of Mr. Phillips, but peremptorily objected to, by the Counsel for the Prosecution, and after much altercation it was at length ordered by the Court, that the Jury should be accepted and sworn in, in the same order as they were at first nominated." This year, the Leicestershire Militia, commanded by Col. Pochin, marched from Leicester to Norwich. While in Leicester, the conduct of officers and men secured the approbation of the inhabitants of town and county. Nothing showed the estimation in which the regiment was held, more than the fact of the officers being obliged to decline the offer of more than forty men who volunteered to serve in the body after the numbers were complete. A letter received from Norwich, in June, stated that the four companies took part in the celebration of the King's birthday, and much praise was accorded to them for their steady and military appearance. They were then expected to be shortly encamped at Hoptun, near Lowestoft. The military spirit of the nation was now roused to its highest pitch of zeal, and the non -military part of the public in Leicester testified ' their participation in it, by subscribing to a fund for supplying the British soldiers on the Continent with flannel under-waistcoats, caps, and stockings. A list of subscriptions, headed by John Mansfield, Esq., the Mayor, and containing the names of all the principal townspeople, appeared in the Journal, week after week, and proved how extensive was the feeling in support of the war with France. The Eevolution Club never met again after the year 1792. The revolting deeds of the sans-culottes of Paris and the execution of the French king entirely stopped the meetings of the Club ; and few were they who dared to avow, that in spite of the follies and iniquities enacted in the name of Liberty, they still cherished her in their hearts, and remained her firm and sincere votaries. An ardent spirit, here and there (like Mr. Geo. Bown), defied public opinion, and did not hesitate to proclaim themselves admirers of most of the deeds of the National Assembly and the Convention. But it was the fashion generally for the time, among politicians, to sink minor differences, and to meet in public as if there were no other feeling in existence than one of attachment to the Constitution and hatred of LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 209 the Red Republic. When, therefore, the Mayor's Feast took place in November, and Mr. Mansfield gave a venison dinner, with a rich and varied dessert, consisting of pines, pomegranates, and all the choicest fruits, he was honoured with the presence of Earl Ferrers, Viscount Wentworth, Lord Tamworth, and the Rev. Sir Charles Cave, Bart. ; William Pochin, Esq., and Penn Asheton Curzon, Esq. (members for the County) ; and John Peach Hungerford, Esq., Chas. James Packe, Esq., Charles Loraine, Esq., John Simpson, Esq., Wm. Heyrick, Esq., John Foster, Esq., Thomas Fisher, Esq., Joseph Boultbee, Esq., Charles Humfreys, Esq., Dr. Vaughan, Dr. Bree, and a great number of the clergy. Many loyal and constitu- tional toasts were drunk, and the following was received with repeated bursts of applause : " May the British Constitution be never infected with the French Disease." Such, in the presence of the gentry and clergy of Leicestershire, the exclusive friends of the Altar and the Throne, was the height to which public sentiment was exalted and refined ! CHAPTER XVIII. first arrival op canal boats at leicester expectation of french invasion proposed formation of volunteer yeomanry cavalry peace movement the persecution of harley vaughan his trial his suicide apprehension of mr. bown addi- tional fairs the "anti-gallican" the adelphi society the cap of liberty loyal demonstrations volunteer move- ments the leicester fencibles in action famine riots the "barrow butchery" suppression of the races fire at mr. phillips's — the relief committee in a dilemma — sale of the vauxhall peace petitioning the provisional cavalry death of capt. heyrick george davenport and his adven- tures and execution. The attention of the people of Leicester was much occupied in the year 1794 with the projected canal communication to Loughborough, Melton, and other places. On Monday, the 6th of January, the 210 LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. proprietors met in considerable numbers, to receive the report of the committee, from which it appeared that the line was already navigable several miles above Loughborough, and that, in a few days, it would be open to the junction of the Melton navigation, by which means the trade might pass up the Wreake as far as Rearsby. In the same time, it was expected the passage would be free to Thurmaston, and thence to the town in two months, or even sooner, when a communication would be made with the Union Canal. On Saturday, February the 22nd, two boats, the property of Messrs. Ella, Douglas and Poynton, and Messrs. Coleman, Burbidge and Co., arrived at their respective wharves in Leicester from Gainsborough, laden with merchandise, freighted from that place. Each returned with cargoes of wool ; but the hope of the inhabitants was that coal would soon be forthcoming in considerable quantities from Derbyshire. While, at home, plans of internal communication were occupying the public attention, abroad the successes of the French revolutionary armies were spreading terror among the upholders of the ancient monarchies ; and in this country an expectation of invasion was generally entertained. In Leicester, the young men of all classes were invoked to enrol themselves in a public book, as ready to serve in defence of the country on the landing of the French. A general meeting of the County of Leicester was also held at the Castle, to take into consideration the propriety of opening a subscription for augmenting the Militia, at which George Moore, Esq., High Sheriff, occupied the chair, and Sir Charles Cave, Bart., Mr. Pochin, Mr. Penn Asheton Curzon, and Mr. Hungerford, supported the proposal. A considerable sum was immediately subscribed, the Duke of Beaufort, the Lord Lieutenant, heading the list with £500. At a second meet- ing having the same object, held on April the 10th, Earl Ferrers presided ; when it was resolved that a number of men be added to each company in the Leicestershire Militia, and forthwith raised, to the extent of eighty-eight, including sergeants and corporals, and that Captain Farmer of the Militia be appointed to levy men ; and, further, that a number of men, not fewer than one hundred, be formed as cavalry ; agreeably to the third article in the Secretary of State's recommendation, dated Whitehall, March the 14th, 1794, inclosed in the Lord Lieutenant's letter to the High Sheriff. Other resolutions, subsidiary to these, were passed. Between £7,000 and £8,000 were raised in consequence at these meetings. On the 28th of April, a special meeting was held, under the auspices of Penn Asheton Curzon, Esq., M.P., to promote the formation of the Leicestershire Volunteer Yeomanry, to consist of six troops, each containing not fewer than fifty men, officers included. The Duke of Beaufort at this time made LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 211 various promotions and appointments in the Militia — Major Cheselden to be Lieutenant-Colonel in place of Charles James Packe, resigned ; Lieutenant T. B. Buxton to be Captain in place of John Suffield Brown, promoted ; Ensign John Wilkes to be Lieutenant in place of Joseph Broughton Sleath, resigned; Ensign B. Robinson to be Lieutenant in the place of T. B. Buxton, promoted ; Charles Garner to be Ensign in place of Thomas Green, resigned ; Benjamin Hands to be Ensign in place of B. Robinson, promoted ; and Geo. Vowe, to be Ensign. A subscription for the purchase of shoes for the non- commissioned officers and privates of the Militia was also carried on, most of the principal townsmen contributing to the fund. But while the Tory party was urging on war with France with vehemence and passion, the Reformers — at least, those who were not under coercion — called out for peace. The Marquis of Lansdowne moved an Address to the king, requesting that his Majesty would establish peace as soon as he conveniently could to his own honour, and the safety and advantage of Great Britain ; but Lord Grenville insisted that the proposition meant nothing less than this — Shall the horrors of France be introduced into England ? The state of feeling in the provincial towns was signally exemplified in Leicester, where every professor of Liberalism was hunted down like a mad dog or a felon. At this time the venerable Sergeant Vaughan, a family connection of the Earl of Oxford, was residing in this town. Having been compelled through age and infirmity to relinquish all professional emoluments, he was living upon narrowed means, with his son, Harley, the god-son of the fourth Earl of Oxford, a high-bred and accomplished young gentleman. The latter was under the necessity of accepting the second mastership of the Free Grammar School, at a yearly salary of £30, and he also gave lessons in the French language. He lectured occasionally on moral philosophy to the members of the Adelphi Society, then including Mr. Phillips, the late Mr. Paget (the surgeon), the late Mr. Wm. Gardiner, and other young Reformers of that day. Mr. Harley Vaughan was seen reading a handbill, which he had received from a coachman, the purport of which was to call a meeting in favour of Peace and Reform at Manchester. This he gave to a person who was then a supporter of the Tory Corporation, who passed it on to the local authorities. They arraigned Mr. Vaughan, at the Quarter Sessions in April, on the charge of distributing seditious papers, tending to inflame the minds of the people and render them dissatisfied with the Government. A jury of ignorant townsmen, all of them bitter partisans of the high- handed system of administration then in operation, found Mr. Harley Vaughan guilty; and the Recorder sentenced him to three months' 212 LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. imprisonment in the Borough Gaol. Deprived of his meagre appoint- ment by this act of judicial cruelty, and degraded in his own eyes by an incarceration with malefactors in a common prison, on his release the unfortunate gentleman, brooding over his wrongs and the persecution to which he had been subjected, walked into the fields until he reached a pond of water, when, tying his legs together, he threw himself in, and was drowned. The melancholy death of " Harley Vaughan " as he was commonly called, was remembered not many years ago, by a few aged people, and it served only to strengthen the aversion felt for the Corporation and the party then in the ascendant. He was, indeed, the martyr of Leicester Liberalism. Mr. Harley Vaughan's conviction was followed, about a month afterwards, by the apprehension of Mr. George Bown, by a warrant of the magistrates, on a charge of pursuing seditious practices. It was proved that he was the chairman of a meeting of fifty or sixty persons, who assembled on Monday evenings in a room to which no new member was admitted without a cheque from a door- keeper, who asked each person what were his principles ; to which the initiated replied " Revolution principles," or "Right principles." It was alleged that Mr. Bown kept the books and received the sub- scriptions; that the members addressed each other as "citizens;" and that " citizen" Bown had been heard to wish the French success. A proposal having been made at several meetings of the graziers, farmers, butchers, and others, for the establishment of an additional number of fairs for fat and lean cattle and sheep, in Leicester, the Corporation was asked to give its sanction to the measure. The days named were January the 4th, June the 1st, August the 1st, Sep- tember the 13th, and November the 2nd, and on them the Common Hall agreed the additional fairs should be held — the cattle to stand in Millstone Lane, the sheep in the usual places. In May, the Mayor, (John Mansfield, Esq.) invited such gentle- men as were favourable to co-operation with the county, in the formation of the Cavalry, to assist in raising a part of the force among the inhabitants. At a meeting held on the 15th of that month, it was resolved that a book should be opened for receiving the names of volunteers into the cavalry, and another of volunteers into a corps of infantry; the books to be kept at the Post Office. On the 22nd, it appeared fifty persons had enrolled themselves to serve in the cavalry, and several respectable persons had volunteered in the infantry. By way of counteracting the spread of " French principles," a party which did not deem the Leicester Journal sufficiently zealous, commenced a paper in June called the Anti- Galilean, which appears LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 213 to have been personal and virulent beyond precedent ; so much so, in truth, that Mr. Gregory, the editor of the Journal, felt it necessary to say that he did not doubt that its promoters, as gentlemen, would discover, on a moment's reflection, they had exhibited more spirit than propriety. Mr. Phillips, in the Leicester Herald, treated the publication with contemptuous allusions. Between flank-fires, there- fore, the Anti-Gallican speedily fell to the ground. The prejudice of the local authorities against the principles of parliamentary reform and popular progress were only equalled by their intellectual obtuseness, as the following incident will serve to illustrate. The Adelphi Society (as Mr. Gardiner relates in his Music and Friends J met once a week in Mr. Phillips's schoolroom in Bond Street ; and as electricity was then not generally understood, the young Adelphians entered into a variety of experiments. In making them they erected on the top of their rooms a high pole, in the form of a spear, to draw the electric fluid downwards. The first cause in which Robespierre distinguished himself was in defending Mr. Vessery, who was prosecuted for erecting a conductor to protect his house from lightning. The Corporation, thus prepared, therefore gave the society an intimation that its meetings had a dangerous character ; electricity being evidently considered to have a seditious tendency. But rather more ludicrous than this was another circum- stance which happened during the period of Revolutionary alarm. Two bachelor brothers, named Ludlam, lived together in Leicester ; the one a philosopher, the other a theologian. They were economists of time as well as money. They did everything in the shortest way. When, therefore, they wished the milkwoman to call, their practice was to hang out of an upper window an old red nightcap. It was then reported in the newspapers that the Ludlams of Leicester were such Republicans that they exhibited in front of their house the cap of liberty ! The " Jacobins " of Leicester had probably helped to alarm the county gentry and local Tories ; for rumours were current of the former having met by hundreds in different parts of the town, having assembled by the side of Stocking Wood to learn the use of arms, and having applied to a gunsmith in Leicester to furnish them with a large number of stands of arms. Meanwhile, Mr. Pitt moved and carried in the Commons the Suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act ; by virtue of which any suspected person could be arrested and imprisoned without ceremony. On the King's birthday, the Cor- poration and its supporters made a grand demonstration of loyalty. In the morning the church bells rang, and afterwards a bonfire was lighted in the Market Place. A sheep was roasted whole, and 214 LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. distributed, with ale, among the populace. A number of gentlemen who dined at the Three Crowns, proceeded with.a band of music to the bonfire, and there sang " God Save the King," and drank his Majesty's health ; being then followed round the town by the people. On the same day, Messrs. Firmadge and Towndrow, the Chamberlains of the Corporation, gave a handsome entertainment at the Three Crowns Inn, when the guests drank loyal toasts, and " Success to their friends abroad, and confusion to their enemies at home." For the rest of the year, nothing but volunteering was thought of by the townsmen. Early in July, the newly-raised Cavalry met on the Kace Ground for the first time, and afterwards proceeded to the Market Place, "where all the beauty of Leicester," said the Journal, "was assembled at the windows, and seemed to express their entire confidence in the protection afforded them by so respectable a corps." Before the close of the month, the Leicester Volunteer Infantry, "formed for the defence of the town," numbered more than one hundred. They ballotted for their officers (subject to the approval of the Lord Lieutenant), determined upon their uniform, and adopted various regulations. In August a Ball was given in honour of the Cavalry, and they received their standards in the following month ; Miss Linwood presenting them with a banner which she had worked, and Lady Charlotte Curzon the Royal Banner, both being consecrated by the Rev. Mr. Gresley, the chaplain. The Loyal Leicester Infantry were drawn up in the Market Place on Sunday, September the 14th, and accompanied the Mayor and Aldermen to St. Margaret's Church, and afterwards escorted his worship to his own house. Local patriotism shown in soldiering was never before nor since so demonstrative. The inclemencies of the winter were aggravated in their effects by a scarcity of food, which occasioned a feeling of deep discontent among the working classes, and led to disturbances in this neighbour- hood. The "Leicester Fencibles" were called on to suppress a riot at Kibworth, arising out of the rescue of two deserters by the men employed on the line of the Union Canal. The news having reached Leicester, on Monday, March the 30th, 1795, the Mayor gave instructions to Captain Heyrick to act in the emergency. The bugle sounded to arms, and in about ten minutes the loyal Leicester troop of Volunteer Cavalry appeared in the Market Place fully armed and accoutred. The loyal Leicester Volunteer Infantry, at this time on parade, being informed of particulars, immediately marched off for Kibworth, with fixed bayonets. The Cavalry rode to Newton Harcourt, where they found a body of the rioters at the Recruiting Sergeant public house, several of them appearing at the LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 215 door with long pikes, apparently ready to offer resistance. Four of the most desperate among the rioters were secured, and brought to Leicester ; the rest being dispersed. A subscription was entered into in July, to reduce the price of corn to the poor, and in other ways to diminish the distress consequent on the high price and deficient supplies of wheat. Still, the sufferings among a large class of the inhabitants were very great ; and unable to repress their discontent, they foolishly had recourse to violent proceedings. The disturbance began with an insult offered to the Leicester Volunteer Infantry, on their return from exercise. It seems a number of men sheltered themselves behind some houses in Church Gate, for the purpose of throwing stones and missiles of various kinds. The greater part of them were apprehended; but almost immediately after the Infantry had retired, the mob collected in large numbers and broke the windows of several of the inhabitants ; and it was not until a late hour that the Cavalry and Infantry restored order. The tumultuous feeling extended to Barrow-on-Soar on the 6th of August. A waggon loaded with corn was stopped there, and conveyed to the church by the populace, who refused to give up the corn. The Rev. Thomas Burnaby proceeded with the Leicester Troop of Cavalry to the scene of disorder, and the Riot Act was read. It was proposed to leave eight quarters of the grain and take away the remainder ; but no sooner did the escort move on with the waggon, than they were assailed with brickbats, and shots were fired at them from the adjoining houses. The Cavalry then made a stand, and discharged their carbines at their assailants. Eleven persons fell in consequence — three dead and eight dangerously wounded. The waggon was brought on to Leicester by the Cavalry, with two prisoners. A profound sensation was created by this event, which was always popularly known afterwards as the " Barrow Butchery." Owing to the prevalent distress, the Races were not held this year. It was felt to be no time to make holiday, when on two Saturdays in succession not a sample of wheat was exhibited in Leicester Market, and on the third the enormous price of £8 per quarter was asked for the article. While the cry was for " bread," and starvation in gaunt proportions confronted the multitude, it would have been a cruel mockery of human pangs to ask people to enjoy sport on the Race Course. About two o'clock, on Wednesday morning, the 18th of November, a fire broke out in the dwelling-house of Mr. Billings, clothier, Gallowtree Gate, which extended to the premises of Mr. Phillips, the proprietor of the Leicester Herald. The flames spread so rapidly 216 LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. that scarcely a single article was saved, and the occupants of the houses escaped with difficulty from the conflagration. Both houses were burned down. A subscription was made for Mr. Billings by his friends. Mr. Phillips being insured, was not under the necessity of receiving similar assistance. He was, however, subject to the sus- picion, among his political opponents, of having set fire to his own premises — a suspicion which the Fire Office in which he insured did not share, as its officers gave him a cheque, shortly after the fire, for the full amount of injury he had sustained. All his books and papers, with the Permanent Library and contents of his pamphlet-room, were destroyed. He shortly after this date removed to London, where he commenced the Monthly Magazine* At the beginning of the year 1796, an address was circulated by the Committee appointed the previous year for the purpose of administering relief to the poor, showing in what difficulties they had been placed. They stated that they had no sooner received their appointment, than they were assured by persons whose information could not be doubted, that the whole stock of bread-corn and flour in the neighbourhood would be exhausted in a few days, and that their efforts to alleviate distress would be totally in vain, unless they could succeed in immediately procuring wheat, and such other grain as might be mixed with it, and substituted for it, from distant markets. The Committee therefore made very large purchases of grain in places remote from Leicester, securing for the supplies thus obtained a regular and safe conveyance at considerable expense. Not long after, however, the scarcity ceased, owing to a plentiful harvest; and the apprehensions of famine being removed, the Committee had in hand a large quantity of dear corn which they had to dispose of at rates much lower than they had given for it, and which it was found necessary to sell by auction on market-days. In consequence of the unexpected abundance of the supply and the reduction in prices, the Committee had to sustain a loss of about two thousand pounds, which they called on the public to share with them : as it had been incurred in a charitable undertaking. But their appeal (signed by Walter Buding, Esq., their chairman) was not generally responded to; so that eventually the responsibility, amounting to £1,550, fell upon twenty-three townsmen, who, in the hour of danger, were induced to become sureties for such sums of money as might be advanced for the purchase of corn from distant districts. The county, which had k " In 1807," Mr. Gardiner says in his Music and Friends, " The persecuted printer of Leicester was chosen one of the Sheriffs of London. Tn carrying up a city address to the throne, upon constitutional principles, which he constantly maintained, he received the honours of knighthood from George the Third." LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 217 reaped the advantage of the sale of the surplus corn, left the town to scramble out of the difficulty as well as it could ; for, as was remarked at the time, by a public journal, " Though few counties contained more gentlemen of large estates and great property, yet the expecta- tions founded on the liberality of those gentlemen proved delusive." The places of resort which one generation frequents, and associates with many a reminiscence of early life and youthful delight, another entirely forgets, or perhaps never knew. Such scenes of amusement become antiquated, or are superseded by the novelties of some enterprising caterer for public amusement, and then they linger only in the memory of the aged. The "Vauxhall" at Leicester, so long the favourite spot for recreation, thus passed out of public notice this year, when it was offered for sale by auction, as a site suitable for a wharf and warehouses. 1 Among the political movements of the time was one having for its object the restoration of peace with France. The Reformers or " Jacobins " (as their opponents called them) were its constant advocates. In the month of April the members of that party in Leicester issued a handbill, addressed to the inhabitants, in which they published a copy of a petition to the king, condemning the conduct of his ministers and urging their immediate dismissal, as the only means of saving the Constitution and restoring peace to Europe. All who exerted themselves to promote the success of the petition were recommended to meet in small numbers and separate immedi- ately after signing, in order that all appearance and apprehension of confusion might be avoided. Upon this proceeding the Leicester Journal offered a severe comment, observing that " There never was a period that called for the exertion of men of property more than the present." "A desperate faction," it went on to say, "Notoriously partial to French principles, are attempting, as much as possible, to raise a popular clamour for peace, and, at the same moment, try everything in their power to thwart all the measures which alone can tend to secure to us such a peace as the dignity of this country has a right to expect. Yet such men dare hope that the people will contentedly submit to see the national affairs entrusted to their discretion." Within a month or so after the date of this notice, the king had concluded a treaty of peace with the French Republic, and an additional duty on advertisements, and one of three halfpence on newspapers, were laid, to defray the taxation caused by the war — a duty which the Editor of the Journal strongly deprecated. At the close of the month of May, the loyal Leicester Corps of 1 Mr. Gamble, of Willoughby Waterless, was the proprietor, and Messrs. Harrison and Sheppard were the attorneys employed to negociate the sale of the premises. 218 LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. Volunteer Infantry were reviewed by Major Grey, Inspecting Field Officer for Nottingham, and highly complimented on the excellence of their firing, and their state of discipline. At the same period, the commissions in the Provisional Cavalry for the County were announced ; when the names were as follows : — Colonel, the Duke of Rutland; Lieutenant Colonel, James Phelps, Esq.; Major, Thomas Boultbee, Esq., Tooley; Captains, W. T. Maior, Esq., Harborough, P. A. Lafargue, Esq., J. Foster, Esq.; Lieutenants, E. Maior Stokes, Esq., Melton, J. Neale, Esq., Skeffington, J. Goode, Esq., Normanton, and J. Price, Esq. The lovers of literature are familiar with the name Heyrick as that of one of our best lyrical poets, and the inhabitants of this district recognize it as that of a family for ages identified with the town and county of Leicester. At the close of the last century it was borne by a gentleman who played a very considerable figure in the society of this town. Under the name of " Lionel," the late Mr. Gardiner, in the third volume of his Music and Friends, has minutely described his appearance. " I remember well the coat of the gay Lionel," said the author, " was a light grey mixture, approaching to white, with a black silk collar and silver cord buttons ; black satin small clothes, with sky blue ribbed silk stockings, that showed a handsome leg. At the knee band was a small diamond buckle, and a more large and costly one ornamented the toe of the shoe. Rich lace ruffles set off the hand, and a cocked hat surmounted a head of hair dressed in the height of the French fashion." Mr. John Heyrick, jun. (for his father John Heyrick, Esq., was then living) was designated the Apollo of the town ; being " a high-born gentleman of engaging manners." He married a daughter of John Coltman, Esq., a manufacturer whose scholastic attainments had secured for him the name of " Hebrew John ; " but the union proved unhappy for both parties, and they soon separated. Mr. Heyrick had held a com- mission in one of the Volunteer corps, which he gave up in order to enter the King's Own Regiment of Light Dragoons. His service in this was, however, brief, as he was seized with illness, and died suddenly at his father's house, when only thirty-five years of age. His abilities as a scholar and his demeanour as a gentleman had ensured for him a considerable reputation ; the former being exemplified in a volume of poems, published shortly after his decease, under the title "First Flights." The widow of Mr. Heyrick long survived him, and became known in connection with the anti- slavery cause as the zealous advocate of immediate emancipation. The local annals of this year were also associated with the name of a character of another description, once the terror of the pathways LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 219 and highways of this and neighbouring counties — a kind of Dick Turpin of Leicestershire. For many years this man (we speak of George Davenport) led a life of lawless and reckless, but neither cruel nor altogether hardened profligacy. He was born at Great Wigston about the middle of the last century, and was brought up as a stocking-maker. The companionship of an old and incorrigible offender influenced Davenport to leave the ways of honesty and industry to enter on the downward paths of vice and crime. Being of a sociable, adventurous, light-hearted nature, he was a great favourite with the working classes everywhere; for he never plundered them, but sometimes gave them a share of his booty. Like Kobin Hood, in fact, he " robbed the rich to give to the poor." Being of a good figure, well-made for a soldier, he often deceived the recruiting- officers. When asked to enlist, he took the " smart," went to the public-house to carouse, and, as he sang a good song and told a capital story, he was an immense favourite in every convivial party ; and while drinking temperately himself, contrived to intoxicate the sergeant. Early in the morning, when the latter was sleeping off the fumes of the previous evening's debauch, Davenport would awake, steal down stairs quietly, escape from his quarters, take a horse out of the nearest field, and ride away with it for twenty miles (turning it up when he had gone thus far) ; so that later in the morning, when the sergeant sought out his recruit, he was away in another county. Or it might be that he and his companions would, on other occasions, throw a rope across a high road leading from Leicester, on the Saturday evenings, which would bring to a halt one or two farmers riding home from market with their purses well laden, who found the muzzle of a horse-pistol abruptly thrust close to their heads with a command to "stand and deliver." The belief that it was George Davenport and his gang who stopped the way, ensured an instant surrender. Warrants were out against him in every direction ; but the village constables were unable to capture him. If he were drinking at the Bull's Head Inn, Belgrave, and the officers of justice thought they were certain to take him, in a a moment he had fled, and had scaled the high wall opposite with cat-like agility. If a party of dragoons rode over to Wigston, to secure him as a deserter, and caught sight of him, in an instant he was running down the narrow lanes, his intended captors after him, their carbines flashing one after another at the fugitive ; but he escaped by leaping walls and rushing through hedges, defying pursuit. If the parish constable knowing he was at home went to his house, and forced open his door, Davenport had meanwhile climbed up the wide chimney, and by dropping upon the roof 220 LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. and down the walls, evaded all possibility of apprehension. But the dexterous and daring footpad knew that in the end the long arm of the law would reach him : his acquaintances often told him so ; and one of them (the landlord of the Three Cranes) said he knew he should see George Davenport hanged some day. This person kept a chaise (the first introduced into Leicester) for hire. The reply of Davenport was characteristic : " Well, then, B , when I go to be hanged, I shall ride to the gallows in your chaise." "Done, George, it's a bargain" was the rejoinder. On another occasion, Davenport was drinking at a public house in Syston ; he was showily dressed, his waistcoat being remarkably fine with embroidery. Among the company present was Woolridge, then the regular hang- man. "Aye, George," he said, "I shall have that smart waistcoat some day," alluding to the custom which allowed the executioner to appropriate all a malefactor's clothing in which he was hanged, outside the shroud. "You shall not," replied Davenport with an oath, and a secret resolve to cheat the hangman. But the unhappy man's own forebodings were fulfilled. One day he stopped a country butcher on the highway, and found in him an antagonist he had not expected to encounter. The butcher belaboured the footpad with his cudgel so lustily that he mastered him and made him prisoner. At the Assizes held on the 10th of August, 1797, Davenport was tried for the robbery, convicted, and sentenced to death. From his own confession he had been a highwayman for eighteen years, and had deserted from different regiments forty times. The interval elapsing between his trial and execution was passed by the criminal in a manner which proved him not to have lived without compunction, and not to be about to die without sincere repentance. While in prison he reminded the chaise proprietor of his promise, and he was accordingly allowed to have the use of the vehicle to carry him to the gallows at Ked Hill. At the same time, he did not forget his declaration to the hangman ; so he asked for the shroud in which his body was to be buried, and this being handed to him, he drew it over his clothes (including his fine waistcoat), and thus there was nothing left outside the shroud, and nothing, therefore, for the executioner ! The remainder of the story we copy from the Leicester Journal: "His deportment, on the morning of his fatal exit, was manly and decisive ; nor did his fortitude for a moment forsake him. Dressed in his shroud, and surrounded with all the paraphernalia of death and judgment, he acquitted himself as a humble and penitent sinner, looking anxiously forward towards another world for that consolation which his devotional exercises had given him reason to expect. He fully acknowledged the justness of his sentence, as well LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 221 as the crime for which he suffered. After remaining some time in prayer, he dropped the fatal signal and was launched into eternity about one o'clock. He went to the gallows in a post-chaise, accom- panied by his brother, and after hanging the usual time was taken to Wigston, the place of his nativity, and decently interred among his relatives. He was thirty-nine years of age, very personable, and extremely well made, and possessed more than a mediocrity of natural abilities." CHAPTER XIX. admiral duncan's victory — subscription fund to carry on war — arrest of mr. pares the printer meeting for national defence THE LEICESTER MILITIA OFFER TO MARCH TO IRELAND AN ASYLUM FOR GIRLS THE DUKE OF RUTLAND'S ADDRESS TO THE MILITIA OPENING OF A CATHOLIC CHAPEL A LOCAL TRADITION AN ESCAPE FROM THE GALLOWS — SCARCITY OF BREAD THE ERECTION OF THE ASSEMBLY ROOMS. All England rang with acclamations on receipt of the news of Admiral Duncan's great victory over the Dutch fleet, on the 11th of October, 1797, obtained in an action fought off the coast of Holland. When confirmation of the intelligence reached Leicester, the mass of the inhabitants manifested their joy with every variety of demonstration ; for it was thought that thus the great maritime ally of France was effectually crushed. An entertainment was pro- vided at the Three Crowns, when Mr. Mayor, attended by Wm. Pochin, Esq., member for the county, G. A. L. Keck, Esq., C. Winstanley, Esq., James Phelp, Esq., Major Gillon, and the officers of the Royal Regiment of Scots Greys, passed the day with the utmost conviviality ; and in the evening the whole town was illumi- nated. The Leicester Infantry assembled in the Market Place, and paraded the principal streets with their band, firing volleys at intervals, to demonstrate their exultation. The Government of France being still unsettled (although the Reign of Terror had passed away), and being assailed by the Royalists 222 LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. on one hand and the Jacobins on the other, fostered the national love of martial glory by undertaking the subjugation of Switzerland, and permitting an expedition to the East under Napoleon Buonaparte. After the peace of Campo Formio the French had no formidable enemy to encounter : therefore, all throughout the winter, had been preparing for an invasion of England. Their transports in large numbers were afloat in the Channel, and troops were assembled on the opposite coast ; and, in consequence, the British Government took the most active and energetic measures to prepare for the emergency — this island never, either before or since, having been placed in such a formidable position of defence. Early in February, 1798, the proprietors of the Bank of England subscribed £200,000 to the fund raised by voluntary subscription for the support of the war, and this was the commencement of a national movement. In Leicester it was begun early in March. The Corporation contributed to the fund £525, the Mayor £21, the Mansfields (father and son) £50 each, Messrs. Bentley and Buxton £50, Messrs. Gregory and Price £25, and others in like proportion — servant men and maids, school-boys, and children, giving their mites to the object. The Committee issued an earnest appeal to the public to come forward, irrespective of party, to swell the list, and thus testify to the univer- sality of the patriotic resolve of the people to help, in person or purse, to repel the invader. John Vaughan, Esq., Barrister-at-Law (son of Dr. Vaughan), who was unanimously elected Recorder of the Borough, early in the year, in an inaugural address to the Grand Jury of the Borough fanned the flame of loyalty and patriotism, averring that this country was at issue with its enemy "on this awful point — whether at last we are to have any laws, any morals, or any religion at all. They are all," continued the Recorder, " embarked in one common danger, and must stand or fall together." At this time, suspicion fell upon every person professing Liberalism that he was in disguise an ally of the French Republicans. A Mr. Pares (no relative of the well-known family of that name), a printer, living in Belgrave Gate, was apprehended on April the 25th, by a king's messenger, on suspicion of treasonable practices, and the next morning sent to London. His house was searched, and all his papers seized. A tinman named Gilbert was also immured in the Borough Gaol, and other persons left the town to avoid capture. These were called " Radical Reformers " for the first time, this year ; they accepted the term supplied them by the Tory Minister Pitt, who accused the Opposition of an intention to obstruct the supplies till "they had obtained a Radical Reform in Parliament to an in- definite extent." LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 223 On the 18th of May a general meeting of the inhabitants was convened by the Magistrates to take into consideration the act of Mr. Dundas, relating to the defence of the country and the protection of the town in case of. invasion. The business was opened by the Mayor (Mr. Jeffcutt), a committee was appointed, and several resolutions adopted. The latter showed how imminent everybody believed the peril to be — the first of them affirming that as the Volunteer Corps already in the place had so honourably offered to extend their services beyond the limits of their engagement, it was possible the town might be left without any military provision at a time when it might most stand in need of it ; and the second urging that an armed association be immediately established for the preserva- tion of the peace in Leicester, and within five miles of the town — the members holding themselves ready at all times to act under the direction of the Commanding Officer for the time being at the town, or within five miles of it, but not undertaking to act in a military capacity beyond that limit. The inhabitants of the villages, within the distance, were to be invited to join the association, and regu- lations for the choice of officers and the management of the corps were agreed upon. The members of the association were to serve without pay, and find their own uniform, but the Government was to be applied to for arms. During the discussion on the resolutions, it was suggested that it would more effectually conduce to the service of the country if the Volunteer Corps already established were augmented ; though it was admitted, at the same time, that the infantry of the town in particular had been " very ill-supported." Mr. Alderman Dabbs was of opinion, if proper provisions were made for that loyal and respectable Corps, that their number would soon increase to five hundred, and he had no doubt, from the high spirit and loyalty manifested in the Hall, there were many present who were anxious to add their services — a remark which was received with loud applause. A considerable number instantly adjourned to another room and enrolled themselves. The Committee appointed was composed of the following gentlemen : — Mr. Mayor, Mr. Win- stanley, Mr. Alderman Dabbs, Mr. Thomas Pares, Mr. Alderman Clark, Dr. Arnold, Mr. W. Walker, Mr. John Pares, Mr. J. King, Dr. T. G. Arnold, Mr. W. Heyrick, Mr. Stockdale, Mr. R. Stephens, Mr. Alderman Mansfield, Mr. H. Wood, Mr. Thomas Buxton, Mr. Peake, Mr. Lowdham, Captain Farmer, Mr. Barratt, and Mr. T. Wood. This proceeding does not seem to have terminated in any marked result ; but considerable additions were subsequently made to the Volunteer Corps. In Ireland, the discontents of the people had increased to such a 224 LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. magnitude that they formed plans like those of the Fenians of our own day for the expulsion of the English and the overthrow of their authority. The Lord-Lieutenant had recourse to frightful acts of torture to extort confessions from various persons ; but the schemes of the malcontents were thereby discovered. The cruelty shown, and the knowledge that their designs were known, determined them to appeal to arms, and they resolved upon a general insurrection. In May they attacked several towns, and obtained possession of Wexford and Enniscorthy. On the 19th of June, several Militia regiments having volunteered to serve in Ireland, a bill was introduced into Parliament, empowering the King to accept the offer of such regi- ments, and it was ultimately carried. The Leicestershire Militia were not behind their fellows elsewhere in patriotic manifestations, as the following letter, sent from its non-commissioned officers and privates, attests : " Yaxley Barracks, June 16, 1798. " Sir, " We, the non-commissioned officers and privates of the Leicestershire Regiment of Militia, commanded by Colonel His Grace the Duke of Rutland, being desirous of showing our attachment and loyalty to our King and country, do hereby volunteer our services to march immediately for Ireland ; and we desire our Sergeant-Major to lay our request before Lieutenant-Colonel Cheselden as the sense of the whole, requesting him to transmit the same to Colonel His Grace the Duke of Rutland. Signed in behalf, and at the request of the whole of the non- commissioned officers and privates. " Alex. Dudgeon, Sergeant- Major. " To Lieutenant- Colonel Cheselden, Norman Cross Barracks." On Wednesday morning, the 5th of September, 550 of the Militia having marched from Norman Cross to Leicester, set out hence on their route to Ireland. They only rested two hours in the town, and then marched forward with thirty-six waggons and two pieces of artillery (six-pounders). At the moment of departure the men were surrounded by wives, brothers, sisters, sweethearts, and children ; and there was a bitter parting for many, but the fire of patriotism burned in their hearts, and the sacrifice of domestic and social affections was held to be a duty. For the time, it cannot be doubted, the people of all ranks and parties were inspired with a noble senti- ment, which raised them above their ordinary selves, and united them in the sacred bonds of national affection. The Duke of Rutland, then in his twentieth year, arrived in time to join his regiment. One half of it took Coventry in its way, to form a LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 225 junction at Chester with the other portion. When they reached Chester, they were drawn up on the Rood Eye, where they were informed hy their Colonel that the object of their assembling was to give those who wished an opportunity of volunteering to serve in Ireland. More than half of the division at once stepped forward ; the remainder being immediately marched off to Holyhead, about eighteen miles distant. On Saturday morning, the 15th, the volun- teers, to the number of 1000, went on board the transports in high spirits, and full of military ardour. When the men who refused to volunteer, marched through this town on their way back to Yaxley Barracks, the women did not fail to mark their sense of the conduct of the defaulters, by hissing and hooting at them as they passed through the streets ; thus showing the contempt and indignation they felt in regard to the stay-at-home warriors. Amid the din of military preparations, the claims of benevolence were not forgotten by the ladies of Leicester ; some of whom, early in September, established an Asylum for young girls who were in a neglected and destitute situation. The principal object was to train them for domestic service, under the management of a prudent, diligent woman. Among the promoters of the Society were Mrs. Pares, Mrs. Paget (Scraptoft), Mrs. John Heyrick, sen., Mrs. John Heyrick, Mrs. S. Coltman, Miss Anne Coltman, Mrs. Jas. Bankart, Mrs. Miles, Miss Miles, Mrs. Garle, Mrs. J. Buxton, Mrs. W. Ludlow, Mr. Paget (surgeon), Mr. Coleman (Birstall), and others whose names are no longer known in Leicester. The successes of British seamen this year enkindled a feeling of enthusiasm throughout the country which, in the present day, can only be imagined. The threats of the French to subjugate the English people, and annex this island as a dependency to the Republic, had aroused a passion for arms among the people unusual to their temper, and hence in Leicester there was scarcely a healthy youth among the middle and working classes who was not serving or had not served among the Volunteers or in the Militia. The whole people rose to arms. At this exciting period, the news of Nelson's great victory off the mouth of the Nile spread like a flame of living fire over the land ; warming the people into a fever of defiance and hatred of their neighbours across the Channel, and imparting to them an exultant feeling probably never before experienced. In Leicester, the inhabitants were wild with joy and triumph. It was quite possible at such a time for the young Duke of Rutland to speak as follows, when he addressed the Leicestershire Militia in Ireland, on the 2nd of December : — " When Ireland was proclaimed in danger, the Leicestershire regiment, which it is my pride to boast I have the honour to command, was one of the Q 226 LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. first to volunteer its services in her defence. The act was your own ; myself and the other officers of the regiment only followed your wishes : — all the merit is yours. You have been received with gratitude, and although it has not been in the nature of things possible, in a time of trouble like the present, to provide at so short a notice all the comforts and accommo- dation for you which it is intended, and to which you are so justly entitled : yet you have the satisfaction to see, that the universal voice of the kingdom resounds in expressions of thanks and gratitude, and that they consider you as one of the principal instruments in the safety and peace of the country. It surely must be needless for me to add, that whilst any danger exists, I trust the Leicestershire regiment will not be disposed to quit their post. " You are now called upon, in your King's name, to continue for a time the exertion of those services which have been essentially useful. You have heard from the highest authority the present distracted state of many parts of this kingdom. You have heard that we are again threatened with an invasion by the common enemy of mankind ; I hope, therefore, you will empower me to inform his Majesty, that in a trying crisis like the present, he may depend upon the Leicestershire regiment, and that you are disposed to continue your services in this kingdom a little time longer. " As for myself, it is well known by every one here, that indispensable business will shortly oblige me to leave you ; but I pledge my word and honour, as a soldier, and as a man, that if I am alive, I will return to my brave fellow -soldiers in Ireland, which I think will be at the end of a very few weeks ; if after this public declaration of my sentiments, any soldier in the regiment shall still desire to leave me, I promise that he shall not be prevented. " This is my opinion, which I have committed to writing, as the record "of those sentiments from which I will never depart." In 1799 very few incidents occurred in Leicester worthy of notice in this chapter. It was a year noted in European history ; but in the quiet country towns of England, enjoying the security afforded by insular position and a powerful Government, nothing noticeable happened. The news of foreign battles was heard month after month, and the reports of bloody struggles between Euss and Gaul and Teuton, in Italy and Switzerland, frequently reached this town ; but within its precincts the flow of life was even and regular. Beyond the periodical musters of volunteers and militiamen, and regular-recurring Corporation festivals and popular holidays, there was little to record. Perhaps the only subject worthy of mention, in connection with this year, is the reintroduction, for the first time after the Eeformation, of the Catholic worship in Leicester. A chapel having been erected in . the neighbourhood of Causeway Lane, it was opened on Sunday, October the 13th, when the Rev. Mr. Sharpe of Coventry delivered a discourse to a numerous congregation. LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 227 The afternoon service was conducted by the appointed priest, the Rev. H. Chappell. One or two remarkable events took place in 1800 which are entitled to mention. The first of these has become a local tradition. At this date, a physician named Alexander was residing at Stonygate. One Saturday evening in April, about nine o'clock, he was on his road to Leicester, midway between his residence and the turnpike- gate, when he was stopped by four footpads. They discharged two pistols at him, and attempted to discharge a third, which flashed in the pan. They then struck him, and took from him his watch and some silver, and prevented him walking on to Leicester. As three of the men wore caps and regimental cloaks, and a fourth was in the stable-dress of a horse-soldier, suspicion fell upon four privates in a regiment of Light Dragoons then quartered in the town, as likely to prove the culprits. A woman who had seen in their hands a watch, which she had noticed in Dr. Alexander's possession when he attended her husband, gave information of the fact to the magistrates, and accordingly the four men were apprehended, and underwent a strict examination. Three of them were liberated; but a fourth, James Murray (in whose possession the watch was found), was committed to gaol. He was tried at the Summer Assizes, convicted, and sentenced to be hanged on Wednesday, August the 20th. While lying under sentence of death in the County Gaol (now used as the Gaol for the Borough), his conduct being uniformly good and decorous, he dis- armed the vigilance of the turnkeys, who do not seem to have thought he needed close watching. The prisoner awaited his opportunity to escape. Soon after six o'clock, on the Saturday morning previous to the day on which his execution was fixed to take place, he knocked at the door of his cell, desiring permission to go to another part of the prison. The turnkey accordingly admitted him into the felon's-yard with that view, and having no idea of his intention to escape, left him there alone. Murray immediately, with the assistance of a stool placed on the top of the pump, jumped to a window above, thence to a spout, and thence to the roof of the building — making springs of several feet in his efforts to grasp at projecting parts, and incurring the risk of being dashed to pieces in case of failure in any one of his efforts. From the roof he descended into the yard of a house outside the Gaol ; and the servant having gone out to milk her master's cows, and having left the key under the street-door, the road was so far clear for the fugitive. He walked down the High Street with great self-possession, and passed three or four persons who recognised him, but who, in the moment of surprise, allowed him to 228 LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. pass unobstructed. He was manacled, and when he had turned from the High Street into the Swines Market, the chains attached to him were observed ; but it was singularly enough supposed he had been sent upon an errand and was returning to the prison. Meanwhile, one person who saw him in High Street told the gaoler (Mr. Simons) of the circumstance, and he instantly raised an alarm and instituted enquiries for his discovery. Murray made his way by the back streets to the outskirts of the town, and he fled, not knowing whither, until he reached the village of Peckleton, where he took refuge in an outhouse. While there, a party of boys found him concealed, and he offered them a shilling to bring the blacksmith to knock off his irons. Fearing the alarm his appearance would create, he hid himself in some standing corn when the boys left him on their errand. As he had expected, they spread the intelligence of a man in fetters having been discovered, and a crowd of villagers hurried to the spot to see the strange spectacle. He heard them return ; and, exhausted with his exertions, panting from loss of breath, and in despair of eluding apprehension among so many foes (as he thought the villagers would prove to be) he came forward, saying that since death was certain, he would surrender to them without offering any resist- ance. But the people of Peckleton were smitten with compassion for the runaway malefactor ; instead of seizing upon him, with stern purpose to carry him back to the gallows (from which it may be said he had escaped), they struck off his chains, gave him food, provided him with a change of dress and money, and speeded him on his flight from ignominy and death. It only remains to be said he escaped, and was never heard of again. An attempt to shoot the King from the pit of Drury Lane Theatre was made by a maniac named Hadfield on the 15th of May. A feeling of horror and indignation was created everywhere in consequence. In Leicester, a meeting of the inhabitants was called to congratulate the King on his preservation from the hand of an assassin, and an address was agreed upon to be presented to his Majesty by the Borough Members. A great scarcity of bread and corn existed during 1799, which continued during the year following. It was now considered an offence to buy up wheat for the purpose of selling it again ; the practice being called " regrating." An announcement was made by the Borough Magistrates of their intention to suppress it; and, in order to keep down prices, the principal farmers attending Leicester market published their intention not to demand more than five pounds per quarter for their wheat, and recommended others to follow their example ! On the first Saturday in September LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 229 a riot took place in the Market Place, which might have been attended with serious consequences, had not the Riot Act been promptly read, and a party of dragoons under Major Teesdale been on the spot. A meeting of noblemen and gentlemen, with the Duke of Rutland in the chair, was held in the middle of September, to take into consideration the means of alleviating the existing distress, and resolutions were passed with that view. The farmers were by them exhorted to bring to market proper and regular supplies of wheat, barley, and other grain ; and to thresh out their barley got in without damage and sell it to their poorer neighbours, for the purpose of converting it into bread. Other suggestions were thrown out of a similar nature. The Leicester Journal attributed the popular dis- content to the spread of Jacobinism, saying, " an artificial scarcity of wheat was one of the instruments employed by the French revolutionists to overthrow their lawful government," and so forth. An addition was made to the public buildings in Leicester, in the previous year, which was opened for public purposes in 1800. This was the new Assembly Rooms in Hotel Street. It was erected by a proprietary, who found some difficulty in raising the necessary funds. They met in August, John Peach Hungerford, Esq., in the chair; there being present Sir John Palmer, Sir E. C. Hartopp, G. A. L. Keck, Esq., C. Winstanley, Esq., Edward Dawson, Esq., T. Pares, Esq., J. Pares, Esq., Mr. J. Farmer, Mr. Mansfield, Mr. J. King, Mr. Willows, Mr. Johnson, and Mr. E. Harrison. It appeared £3,300 was required to complete the Hotel and Assembly Rooms (as the structure was called) and to finish its details and outbuilding. It was resolved, " That such sum be raised by mortgage of the whole of the said buildings, in shares of £100 each, by the proprietors, and that an advertisement be inserted in the Leicester Journal, stating that the sum of £2,500 is already offered, and requesting the names of such others of the proprietors who may be willing to advance one hundred pounds to make up the above sum ; and further stating, that unless the whole of the said sum of £3,300 be raised, in the course of a month, the whole of the property must be sold." It was also resolved, M That a subscription be entered into for furnishing the public rooms, in order to their being opened at the ensuing races ; and that the ladies and gentlemen of the county and town be requested to contribute for such purpose." A general meeting of the proprietors was fixed for the 8th of Sep- tember. Lists of subscribers to the loan, of £100 each, and the furnishing fund, were published. The names of the lenders were the Duke of Rutland, the Earl of Stamford, Lord Rancliffe, Sir. J. Palmer, Sir E. C. Hartopp, J. P. Hungerford, G. A. L. Keck, 230 LEIOESTEE IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. C. Winstanley, E. Dawson, S. Smith, C. J. Packe, T. Paget, J. King, R. Stephens, J. Mansfield, J. Farmer, J. Willows, E. Harrison, jun., J. Johnson, T. Miller, J. E. Carter, T. B. Buxton, and David Harris. As the Race Balls were advertised to take place in the New Assembly Rooms, it is to be inferred the money had been raised in the interim, to ensure the appropriation of the building to its intended purpose. With the notice of these circumstances, the annals of Leicester in the Eighteenth Century close ; but I have added chapters which seemed to be called for, in order to complete the knowledge of our local history up to the year 1800. One of these traces the origin and growth of the Town Property, another the Parliamentary Representation, another the Hosiery Manufacture, and another the Religious Denominations during the Eighteenth Century. CHAPTER XX. ORIGIN AND GROWTH OP THE TOWN PROPERTY. In its corporate capacity, the town possessed property to a very limited extent, and collected but a very small income, in the middle of the thirteenth century. At first, its accounts were so unimportant that the items were loosely entered upon a Guild roll by the Mayor's clerk, the Mayor keeping the purse, which literally held all that was received from all sources. In the year 1257, this total was derived from the payments of new members entering the Guild, and from the rental of one house which belonged to the borough : the items being respec- tively 31s. 8d. and 19d., altogether 33s. 3d. Between forty and fifty years after, the person (not the Mayor) to whom the treasurership was entrusted gave an account of his receipts and expenses : they were, for the year 1297, respectively £7 16s. 7d. and £8 10s. 8d. In 1298, they were £10 3s. 2d. and £10 2s. 9d. In 1299, they were £8 9s. 8d. and £14 2s. 8d. — the balance being due by the Guild to Adam of Braunston, the treasurer. In the year 1318, the expenses had LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 231 increased to £31 lis. 5d., exceeding the receipts by 4s. lid. At this time, Hugh the town sergeant and the Mayor's clerk received each half a mark (6s. 8d.) yearly for their services. When, however, the town-income improved (as it did in the reigns of Edward the Second and Edward the Third) the Mayor was allowed to hold an annual feast, which generally followed upon the presentation of the Mayor in the Earl's court, held in the Castle, in recognition of the Earl's feudal authority over the townsmen. At this feast the Earl's steward was entertained as the principal guest. In the year 1360 the Mayor was allowed 40s. for his feast, 13s. 4d. for salmon, 40s. for his clerk's table, and 13s. 4d. for his clerk's and sergeant's fees. Five years after, an additional 10s. 6d. yearly was allowed to the Mayor. In 1376, £6 was paid to William Taillard, the Mayor, to include the expenses of his feast, and the remuneration of his clerk and servant. 01 An additional cause of augmented income, probably, was a fresh arrangement entered into by the burgesses with Henry, Duke of Lan- caster, n in relation to the town-tolls. It seems that in the year of his decease, the burgesses made a contract with him to convey to him and his heirs the manor of Wrangle in Lincolnshire, upon condition that he should release the inhabitants of the town, and strangers visiting its markets and fairs, from tolls, stallages, and pickage. The property of the town in the middle of the fourteenth century consisted of a tenement at the West Gate, a chamber over the East Gate, and a place near the South Gate — the gates being, in truth, in the possession of the Mayor and Burgesses ; but in the last quarter of the century they acquired property at Whetstone, which raised the amount of rental from about 9s. yearly to 27s. 3d. yearly. In Kichard the Second's reign the yearly receipts had grown under these heads to nearly £6, namely, 36s. from rents in Leicester and £4 Is. from rents in Whetstone. In addition to this, about the same time the Duke of Lancaster made a transfer of nearly all the payments he levied by his bailiffs upon the townsmen, and all the sums they collected usually under the names of ancient customs, to the Mayor and Burgesses, for a yearly payment to him in gross of £20. These payments and levies were those which accrued in the bailiwick of the town, suburbs, and fields of Leicester, with all executions and other profits ; the profits of the portmote courts, of the fairs, markets, and all other courts, rents, farms, goods, and chattels ; of fugitives, felons, forfeitures of waste, deodands, and treasure trove, with the keeping of all manner of prisoners. The Duke excepted from the bargain the Castle of m These items are taken from Guild Kolls and Compotuses preserved among the Borough Records. n The Nephew of Thomas, Earl of Lancaster. 232 LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. Leicester, the mill near it, the rents and services levied by the Castle porter, and the court of the Castle. In this way, also, the towns- people were relieved of the exactions and always officious interference of the Earl's bailiffs, and probably realized by the contract a consi- derable surplus for the common advantage ; while the ancient baronial connection of the lords with the townspeople was thus reduced to a mere shadow — to the occasional visits of John of Gaunt in the Castle, and an annual contribution by the burgesses of a round sum to his exchequer. But another consequence was, that the Mayor and Town Council and townspeople felt it necessary formally to institute a new class of borough functionaries, named Town Chamberlains, upon whom de- volved very important duties. The event is recorded in a parchment record still extant, which states that the Mayor (Henry of Clipston), the bailiffs (John Norman and Eichard Martyn), the jurors (that is, the Town Council), and the community, being assembled in the Guildhall, on the Friday after the feast of St. Denis the Martyr, in the third year of Eichard the Second, made certain ordinances, to be observed for ever, under the forms then recited. First, the Mayor was not in future to be held accountable for the town moneys : he was to be paid ten pounds of silver yearly, on three days stated, of which 40s. was to be allowed for his feast, 40s. for the wages of his sergeant, 20s. for his clerk, and the remainder for his charges and expenses. Secondly, it was ordained that if any costs should be incurred " on account of our lord the King, the lord of the town, or any other lord or lady whatsoever, or any other man, in the name of the said town, that the said expenses should be ordered by the Mayor for the time being, the Mayor with the jurors and twenty-four of the commons, or by the whole of the community." Thirdly, it was ordained that the two Chamberlains, annually chosen, should repair, maintain, and mend, the gates, walls, ditches, pavements, and houses belonging to the town, on view of the Mayor for the time being, and at the expense of the whole community. Fourthly, it was ordained that the two Chamberlains should annually collect all rents and other payments belonging to the community and to the Merchant Guild, and render their accounts yearly before the Mayor and certain auditors, to be chosen by the Town Council and community. And, fifthly, it was ordained that the Chamberlains should receive yearly 40s. of silver from the town, to be paid to them on three certain days, every year, for their services. Occasionally, a public-spirited townsman (who, perhaps, had no surviving relatives) made a gift to the town of some property which he had accumulated in the course of his life by the prosecution of trade, LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 233 and thus enriched the place in which he had prospered. At this time, also, there was a legal difficulty in the way of property being held by public bodies like the Mayor and Burgesses ; so that if the community were rich enough to purchase lands and tenements it could not do so directly. The case was met probably by a fictitious proceeding, in which the conveyance was made to assume the form of a gift. In the month of September, 1392, William Mercer and William Spencer gave to the Mayor and Burgesses lands and tene- ments in Leicester, Whetstone, and Great Glen, towards the amend- ment and reparation of the six bridges within the town of Leicester, and for other charges within the said town arising. Before this donation became valid, however, an inquiry took place to ascertain how far the interests of the Crown would be affected by the transfer ; and the result was, that in consideration of a payment of £20 to the King he granted his license to his "beloved Mayor and Community" that William Mercer and William Spencer might assign to them, to hold for themselves and successors the property in question. In the report made by the jurors who instituted the inquisition they described the property to be eight messuages, fifteen cottages, two shops, one toft, six virgates and nine acres of land, six acres and one rood of meadow, and twenty-five shillings and ninepence and one farthing rent, and the rent of a cock and two hens in Leicester, Whetstone, and Great Glen ; the greater part of the houses and land being situate in Whetstone. Whether this conveyance was a gift in pure benevo- lence, or an arrangement made to overcome legal objections, does not appear ; but the town thus obtained a very considerable addition to its revenue. Within seventy years of the date of this example of public spirit, John Frysley entered the court of Portmanmote — which would be better known to the legal antiquary as the " Court Leet" — and there, in presence of John Reynolds, the Mayor, and his brethren, made a solemn declaration of his conviction concerning the instability of human affairs ; of the reverence and regard he entertained for the local authorities ; and of the uncertainty attendant on the ministra- tion by executors of man's affairs after his decease. Following upon which, he there and then granted to the Mayoralty certain rents and tenements, on condition that the mayors of Leicester, in succes- sion and perpetually, should find a priest to sing masses for the souls of his wife, his father, his mother, and of the Mayor and his brethren at that time, and of all their successors, in the church where he (the testator) would be buried. The example of Frysley was contagious. Three years after (1461) John Reynolds (who had been mayor four times) gave to the mayoralty, from a feeling of "goodly 234 LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. zeal" which he entertained for the "honourable and worshipful office " he had held, a house near the High Cross, to be held under the same conditions as those connected with the donation of John Frysley. Very probably, the Church allowed no merely secular bequests to be made, and therefore the religious service was imperatively associated with the civic benefaction. The house given to the mayors in succession appears to have been intended for a mayor's residence, like the Mansion House in London. By royal grants and by private bequests the town became, in its corporate capacity, well endowed with income and property. It is on record that in the mayoralty of John Eeynolds (1478) there were in Whetstone, belonging to the borough, 354^ acres of land, ten messuages, and other tenements, which brought in yearly £4 5s. lOd. Among the tenants of the town was Lord Hastings. Thomas Bodicoat also held by knight's service. The Mayor and Chamberlain held their Manorial Court in the village, and their tenants therein did them suit and service. Many expedients were resorted to by the Corporation to raise funds, in order to meet the various demands made upon them by the state, and the municipal obligations in which they were involved, in the middle of the reign of Elizabeth. The town was then very poor. The Earl of Huntingdon rendered assistance to the Corporation in the year 1584 by giving them £100, which he desired to see employed in various ways ; as, for example, in continuing the cloth manufacture, in purchasing coals wholesale and selling them to the poor at the same rate, and in maintaining the preacher and the schoolmaster. But a new charge was now laid upon the town by the county magistrates — the charge of keeping post-horses for the queen's use — to which the Corporation demurred ; requesting the earl (through Mr. Eobert Heyrick, the Mayor) to procure their exemption from it, particularly assigning as reasons for so doing the fact of the pastures round the town being in the hands of certain gentlemen who would not let them at any reasonable rent, and of the queen making no allowance for the service rendered. It was therefore imperative that the town income should be in- creased, in some way or other. There seemed no way of effecting this purpose so feasible, as that of procuring for the public advantage a portion of the property of the dissolved religious houses, which then lay in the town itself and in the suburbs. There were houses scattered about the place which, in dying, the devotees of earlier times had bequeathed to the guilds and the churches and the monasteries ; there were portions of land in the adjoining fields which had in a similar manner been transferred to the monks and LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 235 priests; — all in the hope that the prayers said by those persons would be effectual in releasing from purgatory the souls of the tes- tators. But on the establishment of the Reformation, prayers for the dead were no longer offered up ; they were condemned as superstitious ; and the property which had been left to remunerate the clergy for their supposed services, was transferred in the first instance to the Crown. And perhaps there was a rough equity in the ultimate return of this property to the descendants of the townsmen who had originally possessed it, to be used in promoting and sustaining objects of secular utility. Principal among these possessions, formerly, was the Grange Farm, now known as the South Fields, near this town. In the Catholic times it was the property of the College of St. Mary in the Newarke ; having been conferred upon that institution by the founder. Near to the church was the Grange itself, in which was stored the corn, the produce of the estate, entrusted to the care of the Granger ; and the locality is indicated even in the present day, in the designation of the street lying near to the site of the building, known as Grange Lane. At a Common Hall held on the 23rd of April, 1585, five of the Twenty Four and five of the Forty Eight — thus constituted a committee of ten — were empowered to act for a year in the sale or exchange of any lands, tenements, woods, and so forth, belonging to the Corporation, and to buy or take on lease any others of which they might consider the purchase or leasing expedient. They made arrangements for the purchase of the Grange Farm for the town, and of a reversion of one moiety in it procured by Mr. Francis Hastings from the queen for himself. The cost of the moiety was £600 ; towards which amount it is worthy of notice two townsmen (Mr. Robert Heyrick and Mr. Thomas Clarke) jointly contributed £160. By writ under the seal of her Duchy of Lancaster, dated July the 30th, 1587, the queen empowered Francis Hastings, Esq., Edward Stanhope, Esq., (one of the surveyors of the Duchy), William Agard, Esq. (receiver of the Honour of Tutbury), Francis Beaumont, Esq., George Purefey, Esq., and Roger Bromley, Esq., to repair to Leicester, to perambulate the town, and to call to their aid skilful men, with a view to ascertain the state of her majesty's tenements there, which had belonged to the various dissolved colleges, hospitals, guilds, and chantries — to inquire what quantity of timber would be required to restore the tenements in question ; what the timber would cost exclusive of carriage ; whether the queen was bound by any covenant to do the repairs ; what yearly charges they would involve ; 236 LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. and whether the persons who had taken the property to farm might not conveniently find the timber, as well as do other reparations, at the same rents as they had paid hitherto. The commissioners were called on to make their report at the Michaelmas following the date of the precept. The result of these inquiries is instructive to the reader of local history. It was recorded by the commissioners that there were 235 of her majesty's tenements in Leicester, which had belonged to the recently dissolved colleges, hospitals, guilds, and charities, and that they were in great decay ; that there were 406 bays of houses in a state of ruin, their timber, plaster, and slates, having been wholly " wasted and carried away ; " and that the houses belonging to the queen situate in the principal streets were in a dilapidated condition, giving to the place a forlorn aspect, and being a great "defacing" of the town. They estimated the cost of repairs in slates, plaster, and timber, for the 406 bays, to be £2,436 ; the amount of timber per bay required being eight tons, which at 10s. per ton (exclusive of carriage) would cost £1,624 for the entire number. They calcu- lated that the timber needed to repair the 235 tenements would cost £465. As timber could not be procured from any place nearer to Leicester than the queen's woods at Hinckley, they stated that the carriage of it from the latter place would cost £598. The total amount of the outlay required to repair and rebuild the tenements in question would be therefore £5,123. The commissioners could not ascertain clearly what repairs the tenements were charged with, but they found that the yearly cost of repairing such of the buildings as were in good condition would be £390 ; that the collectors, bailiffs, and farmers of the various buildings were justly chargeable with various repairs, many of them being dead, and the remainder not to be found ; and that some of the tenants were too poor to be able to defray the cost of repairing their buildings. It is not very difficult to perceive that the queen's commissioners went back to court with a very discouraging representation of the state of affairs in Leicester, and it is still less difficult to perceive that as they were in the main dependent for their information on townspeople who had an interest in making such a representation, they could not expect to make a very favourable report. But the sequel shows how the movement operated. Immediately on the completion of the inquiry, the Corporation made an application to the queen for a grant of the buildings, and the reversion of the whole of the Newarke Grange in fee-farm. In support of their petition they made use of every argument which they thought would promote its success ; not always mindful of the LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 237 exact truth of their statements, and very adroitly basing their appeals on the report of the commissioners, which they themselves had in reality suggested, and of which they had furnished the principal materials. They drew a gloomy picture of the state of the borough : It was a "piteous thing" they said, "to behold the great gaps and ruins — yea, even in the principal streets of the town — certified by the said commissioners ; thirty parishes were come to six, and four- and-twenty wards to ten." But in these statements the inhabitants departed from the truth ; for there never were thirty parishes, nor four-and-twenty wards, in the town. They also underrated the value of the houses they asked the queen to give to the borough — they were now, the petitioners said, only yielding a candle rent, and two hundred of them were so much decayed that £5,000 would not be sufficient to put them in a tenantable condition. Her majesty had no timber near these parts to repair the houses, and the tenants were too poor to repair them ; so that in the end they would all fall into ruin, and the rents be irrecoverable. This was the dark side of the question to present to Elizabeth: the bright side showed the advantages to the queen of granting the tenements in fee-farm to the Corporation. They would pay so much annually, and would give her majesty a fine every twenty-one years in addition. At the same time, the yearly charge to the Crown of <£13 18s. 7d., occurring in collector's fees and in reparations, would be in future saved. Then the Corporation touched upon the public good they would be enabled to effect were the grant made as desired. They would, they continued, be enabled to support a public school (meaning thereby the Free Grammar School) and a preacher ; to maintain the manu- facture of cloth and caps, and thus profitably employ the poor ; to pave the streets and to repair the bridges ; and, indeed, to effect other public improvements. And, in conclusion, they hinted that the Crown had done an injustice to the townspeople, which it was under obligation to repair — not many years before, they urged, the town had pasturage for cows and horses (at a penny a week for a cow, and at twopence for a horse) at Beaumont Leys, which Henry VIII. by a demise of the land on lease to one Richard Humfrey, and her majesty by a more recent grant to Mr. H. Skipwith, had deprived them of, to the great loss of the inhabitants generally ; and in con- sequence the Corporation had been forced to buy a lease of the Grange Farm for thirty-seven years, in order to provide the necessary pasturage for the townspeople. Up to this period the borough, although it had been governed from the Norman Conquest by a Mayor and Council, or by a Mayor, Aldermen, and Councillors, to whom the administration of local 238 LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. affairs had been intrusted, had never, in the strict legal sense of the term, been incorporated — had never been endowed with power to buy and sell lands, and to use a common seal, in its corporate capacity. It had held property by special licenses from the Crown, granted at successive periods ; but when, through masses of church property falling into the hands of the government, it found itself unable to manage them, and made grants to this and other Corporations of the houses and lands, at certain rents called fee-farm rents, which were not much more than nominal ; and the municipalities everywhere virtually succeeded to a large share of the possessions of the monas- teries and guilds ; they then required to be erected into what are legally considered Corporations, and to be thus invested with ample authority to dispose of their property, to inherit it, to sue and to be sued, and to exist as perpetual individualities. When, therefore, the application of the inhabitants above explained was successful (as it proved to be) the Incorporation of the Borough was necessarily effected. By the powerful influence of the Earl of Huntingdon, and by the active exertions of Mr. Parkins (the Recorder) and of Richard Archer (the Town Bailiff and Rent Collector), a Charter of Incorporation was procured from Queen Elizabeth, dated in the thirtieth year of her reign [1587-1588] , which, while it con- firmed all existing rights and privileges, conferred upon the borough all the powers already described as needful to the Corporation, under the new circumstances arising out of its acquisition of ecclesiastical property. The Charter also conveyed in fee-farm to the Mayor, the Burgesses, and their successors, the week-day shambles, the lands formerly belonging to the four colleges or guilds in Leicester, and the lease in reversion of the whole of the Newarke Grange. The yearly rent payable in return by the Corporation was £137 13s. 7d. — an amount much below what its equivalent would be in the present day. Under an irresponsible system of local government, abuses are certain to develop themselves earlier or later. In this respect time makes no difference among mankind : for whether in the reign of Elizabeth or of Victoria, false principles will bear evil fruit. The charter of incorporation, and the great addition to the town property, had scarcely been obtained two years, before symptoms of mismanage- ment and peculation began to manifest themselves in the Corporation affairs. On the 21st of January, 1590, the Common Hall desired of the Mayor (Mr. John Hind) that all the lands and tenements given by her majesty's letters patent might remain to the use of the Mayor and Burgesses, according to the Queen's grant ; that the town might be put in possession of them all ; and that none might be sold but by the permission of a Common Hall. They added, that they were LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 239 grieved that Mr. Noryce, " the late Mayor," had set the town seal to sales without consent of a Hall ; and that the Commissioners had bought and sold parcel of the said lands and tenements among themselves, without consent of the body. In November 1591 a kind of committee was appointed to examine the accounts of the Commis- sioners, and take a survey of the lands granted in fee-farm ; and on July 28, 1592, it was agreed that Mr. Archer, who had been so useful in obtaining the grant of fee-farm, should have a lease of certain of the lands and tenements for twenty-one years on advantageous terms. Shortly afterwards, a bitter feud appears to have arisen among the aldermen, respecting the sales of the town estates and the dealings with Archer ; for on the 18th of August Mr. William Norton stated, in presence of several of the Twenty-four, that Mr. Stanford had said to him, when they were coming from Hathern together a few days previous, that Mr. Mayor and the rest of them had so dealt with Archer that it should not stand. Mr. Mayor was not a fit man for his place, he said, and the recorder, " like a lame knave as he was," had behaved like a knave, and had no doubt "had a finger in the pie" about Archer. He (Mr. Stanford) added, he would have some of them by the heels. Meanwhile, two townsmen named Tusser and Layton, on behalf of the commonalty, forwarded a complaint to the queen that her majesty's grant of fee-farm had been so perverted that — owing to the corporation selling the lands and disposing the money to their own benefit — not five poor people were any the better for the grant, nor was the town improved ; but the poor were more hardly used than ever, and were more racked for the tenements they held than ever they had been. They therefore prayed her majesty would allow her honourable council to examine into the affair. The Mayor, the Recorder, Mr. Heyrick, Mr. Clarke, and a few others declared that the allegation of the petition was most untrue ; and at a meeting it was stated that one of the petitioners (Tusser) told a Mr. Rowes, who was an alderman, that one of his brethren had offered him (Tusser) 40s. if he would make a supplication to the queen against the commissioners and would also obtain five hundred signatures to the document. In the month of March following, a communication was received from the Privy Council (signed Jo. Cant, Jo. Pickering, W. Burleigh, Essex, Howard, Buckhurst, and Cecyll), directed to Mr. Justice Beaumont, to the Mayor of Leicester, and to the Recorder, stating that the Council had heard that some evil-disposed persons, having been put in trust for the management of her majesty's lands, then held by the town in fee-farm, had employed the greater part thereof to their own private uses. The parties to whom the com- munication was addressed were ordered to call before them all such 240 LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. persons as were supposed to have been guilty of the offence mentioned in the letter ; to examine them as to what estates they had made away, to whom, and for what consideration ; and to deal with the parties so that they might be compelled to release the estates they had become unjustly possessed of, and make full restitution for the same, so that her majesty's gracious intentions might not be frustrated. An examination was made accordingly into the complaint ; but no record remains of the results of the commission of enquiry. That the corporation had not been proceeding very honestly may be inferred from the fact that the Common Hall enacted, in the month following the date of the letter, that no man should disclose any of the secrets of the Hall, under payment of a penalty of £5 ; and several of them admitted, during the enquiry, that they had made use of "private seals." It is probable the misdeeds of the Corpora- tion were hushed-up and some compromise thus effected. A considerable increase was made to the rental of the Corporation in the years 1605 and 1606, occasioned by the falling-in of leases which had been granted by the Crown to various persons ; of which the reversion fell to the municipal body on the expiration of the leases. The property in most cases was that which had formerly belonged to the religious houses and fraternities in Leicester, but which in the first instance, after their suppression, had been granted to private individuals, with a view to becoming ultimately the town possessions. From an ancient document, the following is shown to have been the various rents and lands and tenements in this way transferred to the borough : — £ s. d. Lands and tenements, held in fee farm, formerly part of the pos- sessions of the hospitals of St. John and St. Leonard, afterwards pertaining to the college in the Newarke - - - 49 12 8 Chief rents belonging to the said late hospitals of St. John and St. Leonard - - - - - - 18 4 Other lands and tenements, formerly demised to Hawkes and Bate, by indenture expiring about this date - - - 20 18 4 Other rents demised to Shingleton, granted to the mayor and burgesses ------- Other rents, parcel of the possessions of Corpus Christi guild Chief rents belonging to the same guild - Other rents, parcel of the possessions of St. Margaret's guild and town obit lands - Chief rents formerly belonging to St. Margaret's guild - Rents received from the land of the college of St. Mary of the Castle ------- More of the same rents - Other rents, belonging to the collegiate church of the Newarke 3 1 15 16 6 6 15 1 21 6 2 55 6 12 16 6 7 12 6 16 8 LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 241 While thus acquiring a larger rent-roll, the Corporation was not wholly free from the troublesome incidents to which the possession of property sometimes subjects mankind. There was at this time in progress an action brought against the Corporation by John Okes and John Lister, who claimed by royal letters -patent to be entitled to col- lect tolls and stallages in the markets. The details of this action are still extant ; but they would not interest the modern reader. The Corporation resisted Okes's and Lister's claim, denying the legality of their pretensions, and adducing in support of their claim ancient charters granted by the Dukes of Lancaster to the borough. From these, it appeared that a bargain had been formerly made between the Dukes and the townspeople ; according to which the latter were entitled to take the tolls, on condition of conveying to the former the manor of "Wrangle in Lincolnshire. This case was some time in litigation in the Court of the Duchy of Lancaster ; but finally it was decided that Okes and Lister were entitled to collect the tolls and stallages. It was argued, curiously enough, on behalf of the plaintiffs, that "Leicester was sometyme a Cittie, consisting of 32 parishes, begonne by King Leir (long before Christ), from whom the name is derived — as truly pronounced, Leircestr, or Leir's Cittie. It is to be inferred that this Cittie had a markett appendaunt to it. It was twise rased, last in king Hen. 2, at wha't tyme it lost the name Cittie. About 30 or 40 yeares after k. John made it a Towne Corporate by the name of Maior and Comonality. Since that tyme they were incorporated by the name of Maior and Burgesses ; and, since that, The origin of the connection of the Manor of Wrangle with the Town of Leicester, above-mentioned, is thus stated in an old manuscript : — " Thomas (the sonne of the aforenamed Edmond Croochhack, the sonne of King Hen. 3) married Alice, the sole daughter and heir of Henry Lacy, Earl of Lincoln, by which marriage the mannor of Wrangle (being part) came with the whole Earldom of Lincolne to the howse of Lancaster, and so descended to Henry Duke of Lancaster fitz Henry frere Thomas. " It appeareth by an ancient Record that the said Henry Duke of Lancaster enfeoffed the Maior and Comonality of Leicester of the said Mannor. " That the said Duke's will was that neither he nor his heirs or any other by him should become enfeoffed of the same if not by the said Maior and Comonality upon cer- taine condicons comprised in Indentures between the said Duke and the said Maior and Comonality. " That those covenants were not performed in the life of the said Duke. " By which Record it appears that the said Mannor of Wrangle continuewed in the possession of the Towne, at the Duke's death, and albeit it was the Duke's will that the same should have been so condiconally reconveyed to him, yet the Record shewed that it was not done in the Duke's life-tyme. " And more strongly to confirme this : — Where the Towne plead that by virtue of their guifte the said Duke entred and thereof died seized, there is a Record that shewes that the Duke did not die seized of that Mannor : this hath been pleaded by the Towne, but never by any Evidence shewed to approve the same." R 242 LEICESTEB IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. altered, consisting now of the Maior, Bailiffs, and Burgesses. Hereby it is conceived that the Markett is appended to the Towne by prescription." In August 1614 King James paid the town a second visit; but the year was more memorable to the inhabitants as that in which the authorities purchased the Newarke Grange with all lands and tene- ments, mills and meadows, thereto belonging. The vendor was Sir William Smith, knight, and the purchase money £1,000. In the reign of William and Mary, the property of the town was very extensive. The Chamberlains' Accounts for the year 1699-1700 show the particulars relative to its extent, position, and annual value. The insertion of the rent-roll at full length would occupy too many of these pages to justify its appearance. It contains the items of sums received yearly from portions of the " Grange Estate," comprising those which here follow : — Rents of the whole Granges, with the Appurtenances and the Four Yard and Two Yard Land thereof known by the name of Weightmari s Land, called Archer's Land, and a half Yard Land the Town purchased of the Lord Spencer in fee simple, as followeth : — £. s. d. Item. Of Mr. William Southwell, for part of the Newark Grange and four Yard Land in the Southfields of Leicester, and the Grange Barn, and part of the yard by lease, per annum - 28 Item. Of Henry Colson for three Yard Land there per lease, per annum - - - - - - - - -19 14 Item. Of Mr. More for the Grange yard and barn, per annum - 3 Item. Of Mr. John Abney for four Yard Land there and part of the Grange yard, per lease per annum - .- - - 25 16 9| Item. Of Mr. John Pratt for three Yard Land, per lease per annum - - - - - - - - - -19 7 5| Item. Of Mr. John Wilkins for three Yard Land and a half there, per lease per annum - - - - - -23 00 Item. Of Thomas Ward for three Yard Land there, per lease per annum - - - - - - - - -20 00 Item. Of Edward Broughton for four acres of land out of their several farms to dig clay to make bricks, per lease per annum 5 Item. Of Mr. Joseph Cradock for the Newark Mills and Wind- mill thereto belonging, per lease per annum - - - 15 Item. Of Mr. Richard Townsend for Gosling Close, per lease per annum - - - - - - - - -16 00 Item. Of Mr. Thomas Hartshorne for the three acres of land lying and being in the South Fields of the said borough, lately purchased of Simon Barwell, gent., and late Mr. Cot- ton's land, and now in the occupation of the said Mr. Richard Townsend, per annum 200 LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 243 Then occur the rents derived from the Bead House Meadows ; from property in the North Gate, Sanvy Gate, Soar Lane (anciently called Walker Lane), within the North Gates, in the South Gates, in Burges' Meadow in Swine's Market (now called High Street), in the Saturday Market, in Loseby Lane, in Gallowtree Gate on the west side, in Belgrave Gate, and in the country ; and from property in the South Gate, in the Swine's Market, in or near Belgrave Gate, in Sanvy Gate, in Cank Street, and in St. Nicholas' and St. Mary's parishes, "parcel of the Town Obit Lands of St. Margaret's Guild, and parcel of the Fee Farm Rents heretofore demised by Queen Elizabeth to Mr. Hawks and Bates by indenture expressed." In addition to the rents already detailed, a large number of others, placed under general heads, are enumerated in the account. The heads are as follow : " Other Rents of Land and Tenements, parcel of the town and manor of Leicester, heretofore amongst other things given and granted to the Mayor, Bailiffs, and Burgesses and their successors, in fee farm, for ever;" "Other Rents of Corpus Christi Guild in Leicester, heretofore in Mr. Archer's collection, and now parcel of the Lands and Tenements which the Mayor, Bailiffs, and Burgesses purchased of queen Elizabeth, to them and their successors for ever;" " Other Rents, part of the Possession of the late Guild in Leicester, parcel of the Town Obit Land, heretofore collected by Mr. Arthur Tatam ;" " Other Rents, part of Mr. Wild's Rents ;" " Other Rents, part of Mr. Wild's Second Lease;" "A Rental of the Lands and Possessions belonging to the late College of the Blessed Virgin Mary, over-against the Castle of Leicester, heretofore demised by Queen Elizabeth to Edward Holt, Esq., and by her Majesty granted to the Mayor, Bailiffs, and Burgesses, and their successors, amongst other things, in fee farm;" " Rents payable at the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary belonging to the Newark of Leicester;" "Other Rents of the Town and Manor of Leicester, and Parcel of the Lands and Possession of the Duchy of Lancaster, part thereof lying and being in the County of Leicester " (including £15 received of Mr. Wm. Southwell and Mr. Wm. Deane for the Shambles and Drapery) ; "Other Rents received of new;" "Other Rents for Certain Lands purchased by the Corporation and other new Rents ; and, finally, " Rents given to the School and other charitable uses." At this date, there were shops and stalls in the Saturday Market, let to the shoemakers, the mercers, the chandlers, and the glovers, also paying yearly rents to the Corporation. The names of the various tradesmen thus accommodated are recorded. From the lists these are copied as the principal shoemakers : Thomas Miles, John Rayner, Richard Foxton, George Hartshorne, John Berridge, John Stretton, 244 LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. John Weston, Thomas Huffin, William Burstall, Ralph Ward, Robert Warburton, and Isaac Harris. The mercers were — Mr. Thomas Lud- lam, Mr. Simon Thorp, Mr. Thomas Laurence (Silver Street), Jonas Davis, and Mr. John Scampton. The chandlers and others were — Mr. William Harris, Jane Biggs, widow, John Worthington, John Newton, Gilbert Fawsitt, Jonas Dentshire, Elias Hartell, John Ad- cock, John Mitchell, John Townsend (for his mill-shop), Widow Coker (for her kitchen), Thomas Webster, Executors of Geo. Steeres, Executors of John Dan, Thomas Beaumont, Arthur Noon (baker), and Executors of Geo. Beckett. The glovers were — John Browne, Samuel Holden, Thomas Blower, George Holden, John Bennett, Isaac Burridge, Edward Raphin, Samuel Sheffield, and Richard Kirke. Besides the Fee Farm Rents already mentioned, there were Chief Rents belonging to the hospital of St. John and St. Leonard payable to the Corporation at Michaelmas, others belonging to Corpus Christi Guild payable at Christmas, and others belonging to St. Margaret's Guild ; Lammas Tithes and Herbage due yearly to the Mayor and Burgesses ; and Fines and accidental Receipts. At the commencement of the eighteenth century (1701), the re- ceipts from the town property were £1078; the expenditure £1249. Towards the middle of the century, these amounts had respectively increased, being as follows : — 1743 to 1744 1744 to 1745 1745 to 1746 1746 to 1747 1747 to 1748 The financial year ran from Michaelmas to Michaelmas. It does not appear that in the closing years of the century the figures underwent any great alteration ; nor is it evident that any gross mismanagement occurred before the year 1800. Subsequently, it would seem, numerous malversations occurred ; but the description of them does not fall within the purpose of this volume. Receipts. Expenditure £ £ 1739 1150 1708 1035 1726 1069 1705 1106 1766 1695 LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 245 CHAPTER XXI. THE PARLIAMENTARY HISTORY OF LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. In the thirteenth chapter of the " History of Leicester " (1849), I have noticed the commencement of the representative system in connection with the borough ; mentioning the fact that in the year 1295 Ralph Norman and Robert of Scharnford were elected to serve the burgesses in Parliament, and stating that they and their imme- diate successors were all townsmen (usually tradesmen and sometimes tavern-keepers), members of the Guild Merchant, who were paid 2s. per day for the whole time they were absent from their homes and occupations while engaged in parliamentary business. The gradual growth of the authority of the House of Commons is also traced in the twenty-sixth chapter of the same History ; where it is shown that during the reigns of the Lancastrian monarchs the popular power in the Lower House became greatly extended. The mode of elections in Leicester, previously democratic, became modified in Edward the Fourth's reign, and the reactionary tendency under the Tudor dynasty is minutely but impressively demonstrated in the civic struggles of the latter part of the fifteenth and the sixteenth centuries ; the direct interference and dictation of the Crown in the reigns of Henry the Seventh, Henry the Eighth, Mary, and Elizabeth, being openly mani- fested in the borough elections. In 1593 the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster distinctly told the mayor he alone should make choice of the two members ; but the inhabitants resented the attempt at dicta- tion, and met at a Common Hall and elected the mayor himself (Mr. Stanford), with Mr. James Clarke, an innkeeper (landlord of the Blue Boar), in opposition to the nominees of the Chancellor, Mr. Tamworth and Mr. Brockas. During the Commonwealth, on the dissolution of the Long Parliament, the Puritan corporation chose the representatives of the borough. On the Restoration, all "the freemen and commons" claimed a right to vote in the election, and returned Sir John Pretty- man and Sir William Hartopp, knights. A double return having been made, the House of Commons decided that Prettyman and Hartopp 246 LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. were elected, chiefly through the exertions of the former. In the closing years of Charles the Second's reign, the attempt was made to substitute a Town Council chosen by the Crown for that then in existence in Leicester, and to vest in it the choice of the borough representatives. James the Second persisted in the same infatuated policy, which, however, was abandoned on the accession of William the Third and Queen Mary. After the deposition of the Stuarts, the inhabitants were left more freely to exercise their choice ; and at the commencement of the eighteenth century the local representatives of the two great parties in the State appear to have agreed upon a compromise. In 1701, Laurence Carter, jun., Esq., recorder, a friend of high " Church and King " principles (who had previously been elected), was chosen to serve the town in Parliament with James Winstanley, Esq., of Braunston (a whig). In 1702, Sir George Beaumont, of Coleorton, was substituted for Mr. Carter ; and the baronet and Mr. Winstanley sat together in the six parliaments of Queen Anne's reign and the first of George the First's in 1714. Mr. Winstanley dying in 1719, George Noble, Esq., was elected in his place. In 1722, Sir George Beaumont was chosen with Sir Laurence Carter ; and on the latter being made a baron of the Exchequer in 1726, Thomas Boothby Skrymsher, Esq., was put in the vacant seat. The great question dividing politicians at that time, and underlying all others, was that relating to the succession. A large party in the country thought the Stuarts had been unfairly deprived of their legiti- mate right to rule these realms, and among them were ranged many persons of aristocratic feeling and zealous temperament — the political descendants of the loyal cavaliers of the previous century. Their oppo- nents were the supporters of the reigning family of the Guelphs of Han- over ; and this party steadily maintained their allegiance to the Georges ; for they considered the Stuarts had entirely and deservedly forfeited the confidence of the nation, by tampering with its Protestant liberties and with its parliamentary and municipal franchises. The friends of the Stuarts, known as " Jacobites," were found in the two opposite orders of society — the higher and the lower. The old aristocracy and gentry were mainly to be found, either openly or secretly, ranged on the side of the two Pretenders ; and the populace in the towns shared largely in their sympathies. The middle classes — the substantial yeomen in the agricultural districts and the tradesmen in the boroughs — were attached to the reigning family, whose rule they considered to be identified with the extension of civil and religious liberty. They were therefore Reformers, and were known as " Whigs." With the LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 247 aristocracy and populace adverse to them, they strenuously held to their principles in times of extreme difficulty. In Leicester, the Corporation was thoroughly 'and notoriously Jacobite. It appears probable that this attachment to the Stuarts, begun at the Restoration, when the reaction from a previous parlia- mentarian bias had taken place, had been continued uninterruptedly to the reign of George II. To such an extent was this feeling carried, that the Corporation was charged with strong disaffection to the reign- ing family, and with choosing as its members men of mean character and ability, overlooking persons possessing fortune and reputation who were loyal to the Sovereign. Disastrous, however, as the campaign of 1745 proved to the Pretender's friends, they did not desert his cause ; for the Corporation persisted in returning members favourable to his interest. One of these about to be named was the son of Sir Nathan Wright, the Recorder of Leicester in the reign of Charles II., afterwards Lord Keeper. This was George Wright, Esq., a Tory and Jacobite. With him was united James Wigley, Esq., of Scraptoft, a gentleman of humane, amiable, and benevolent disposition, but also a Jacobite. These were the members for Leicester from the year 1737 to 1765 ; in 1738 they were unsuccessfully opposed by Mr. Ruding, a resident Whig. It appears to have been the policy of the whig party to propose one candidate only at the contests in 1737 and in 1754. In the latter instance, Robert Mitford, Esq., better known as " Major" Mitford, was the whig candidate. He was opposed with all the interest of the Corporation. The polling took place on Friday, Saturday, Monday, and Tuesday, the 19th, 20th, 22nd, and 23rd of April, 1754. In the course of the contest the well-remembered lines were sung in the streets : — " As I was going to the Blue Bell, I met Major Mitford going to hell; I gave him a kick and hade him get in, To make room for his d — Hanoverian king." The streets also resounded with cries of " D — King George !" "No Hanoverian king !" " Prince Charles for ever !" " Wright and Wigley for ever !" To show their contempt for the king and the royal family, the mob, in allusion to his farmer-like character and that of his rela- tives, would also hum, as they walked along the streets, the following snatch : — " We'll give them hoe and spittle, And send them big and little, To hoe their turnip lands again." The election terminated in the triumph of the Corporation and of Jacobitism. The numbers were — Wright, 1,238; Wigley, 1,295; 248 LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. Mitford, 986. The entire number of electors appears to have been nearly 2,300, the population being at this date about 10,000. There were, however, many non-resident electors, and the poll-book shows many names twice over. The fury of partisan zeal following this con- test did not cease for months afterwards, as in December of the same year the verse about Major Mitford was sung in the Market Place and the High cross Street by various persons ; and at the Horse and Trum- pet inn it was not uncommon for people to drink " D n to King George and Mitford." The poll-book of this election (printed by John Gregory) is extant ; and it is remarkable to find on enquiry many of the same names then ranged on the sides of Toryism and Whigism as in our own day. A few examples will show the reader the truth of this observation : — Joseph Cradock, gent. John "Wood - John Burgess - Joseph "Whetstone John Parsons - Nicholas Higginson Mark Graham ... Joseph Johnson - Edward Loseby - Andrew Burnaby, clerk - Samuel Miles - Thomas Martin, Ansty Thomas Johnson, do. Simeon Iliff ... Edward Simpkin, Oadby John Paget, Leicester Wm. Herrick, do. Clement Stretton Robert Flower - John Flower - John Burley, New Parks John Harrison, Stocking Wood - Hugh Worthington Joseph Gregory - Simeon Brewin - - - Arthur Hesilrige, gent. - John Miles, gent. Thomas Jee, gent. Jonathan Brookhouse Thomas Pares, jun., gent. James Winstanley, Esq., of Braunstone Samuel Bankart - Abraham Bankart Wright & Wigley. W. W. Mitford. Mitford. W. W. w. w. w. w. Mitford. Mitford. W. W. W. W. W. W. W. W. Mitford. W. W. Mitford. Wigley & Mitford. W. W. Mitford. Mitford. W. W. Mitford. Mitford. W. W. Mitford. Mitford. W. W. Mitford. Mitford. Wright & Mitford. W. W. Mitford. Mitford. LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 249 Thus, one hundred and seventeen years ago, was the community divided into parties, members of which polled as their descendants would now probably poll, with some few exceptions. Messrs. Wright and Wigley were again returned in the year 1761, unopposed ; but on the death of Mr. Wigley, five years afterwards, Anthony James Keck, Esq., of Stoughton, formerly of Twickenham, was elected in his place. Mr. Keck became possessed of that lordship through his marriage with the niece of Mrs. Arabella Beaumont, the last member of that family settled at Stoughton, who died a few years previous ; and in consequence of this alliance he acquired con- siderable local influence. In the year 1766, Mr. Wright dying, his successor was John Darker, Esq., a London merchant of large fortune, whose ancestors were residents of Stoughton. He was a Tory ; but he had the reputation of being independent in spirit and honest in prin- ciple. The Whig party being still unrepresented, though composed of an influential and respectable class of townsmen, being allied with some noblemen and gentlemen in the county, made preparations for a contest in the year 1768, and resolved to nominate two candidates professing their political sentiments. These were the Hon. Booth Grey, second son to the Earl of Stamford, and Colonel Eyre Coote, of West Park, Southampton. The Tories brought forward Mr. Darker again, with Edward Palmer, Esq., of Withcote. The polling began on the 22nd of March, continuing until the 6th of April. In this con- test the Duke of Rutland and the Earl of Stamford, on the Liberal side, employed their influence to counteract that of the Corporation. Mr. Grey's manners, associated with an affable and generous behaviour, are said to have rendered him eminently and universally popular. In consequence of this, and the course pursued by the magistracy, no riot or disturbance occurred during the protracted period over which the polling extended. It terminated in the following result : — Grey .... 1,366 Coote ... - 1,334 Darker - - - , - 1,284 Palmer - 1,260 Adding together the two highest numbers, it seems the total of elec- tors was 2,650. The triumph obtained by the Whigs was considered to be great ; and at the chairing a larger assemblage was seen in the town than ever before noticed in the memory of the oldest man living. During the remainder of the week the public-houses were kept open for the friends of the members, and the festivities were general. In the poll-book the same names are found ranged on the same sides as at the election in 1754. 250 LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. At the next election, Mr. Grey was returned with Mr. Darker — probably by way of compromise, to avoid a contest. After this date the old party-cries of "No Hanoverian King," "D — King George," and others, entirely ceased. At another succeeding election, in 1780, the Hon. Booth Grey and Mr. Darker were again returned. Four years subsequently, on the death of the latter, Shuckburgh Ashby, Esq., was chosen to fill up the void. In the same year (1784), both seats became vacant; John Mac- namara, Esq. (a Liberal), and Charles Loraine Smith, Esq. (a Tory), being elected without a contest. The system of compromise was once more interrupted in the year 1790, when all the embers of party strife were lighted up into a flame by an opposition between Parkyns and Montolieu, Smith and Hallad. On this occasion, an unusually severe struggle took place. " The fury of the electioneering spirit was then at its height. Bribery and cor- ruption, drunkenness and disorder (says the late Mr. W. Gardiner) continued for nearly three weeks." Thomas Boothby Parkyns, Esq., was the eldest son of Sir Thomas Parkyns, Bart., and a descendant of Mr. Parkyns, Recorder of this borough in the reign of Elizabeth. Of Mr. Montolieu little appears to be known, except that he was a Whig, and the colleague of Mr. Par- kyns. Samuel Smith, Esq., resided at Wilford — being, we believe, a banker at Nottingham. Mr. Hallad was a man of large fortune, acquired in the East Indies : he was what is sometimes called a "Nabob;" and it is related he brought bags of guineas with him to Leicester, with a view of corrupting the electors. After blood had been spilt and many thousands of money spent, it was agreed that each party to prevent further mischief should withdraw a candidate. A compro- mise, therefore, took place, in favour of Parkyns and Smith. This proceeding greatly excited the popular party ; and Rozzell, their mouthpiece, wrote an indignant poem in its condemnation. Their rage knew no limits. " They broke into the Exchange, and threw the books and corporate papers out of the windows ; another party attacked the Assembly Room, where the committee escaped by concealing themselves in the roof of the building. The concert library of music books and instruments were thrown out of the windows, and torn into pieces. I (says the late Mr. Gardiner) was near the place at the time, and saw the kettle drums roll out of the cases when they fell to the ground. For a time they played upon them, till a fellow cut one of them in two, when they were presently beat to a mummy. The whole of the Market Place and all the way to Coal Hill appeared as if the ground had been covered with snow ; for the Corporation papers thrown out of the Exchange, and the music books from the Assembly LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 251 Booms on the Coal Hill, torn into small pieces, met at the East Gates, and in some places were ankle deep." It was impossible to allay the spirit of vehement partisanship now evoked ; and, besides, as the French Revolution was in progress, the effect of the horrible scenes enacted by the followers of Robespierre, united with the disgust created among sober and temperate Reformers, on witnessing the burlesques performed in the name of Liberty, pro- duced a reaction in favour of the Tory party which for the time was irresistible. Hence, when the next election occurred in 1796, it took place under peculiar and unforeseen circumstances. Mr. Parkyns (created Lord Rancliffe in the year preceding) had now become a supporter of Pitt's administration. Mr. Smith was already pre- disposed in that direction. These two gentlemen therefore offered themselves as candidates in alliance with each other in the year under notice. To them were opposed Walter Ruding, Esq., of West Cotes, near Leicester, and Bertie Greatheed, Esq., of Guy's Cliffe, near Warwick, who as frankly and zealously opposed the Government as the rival candidates avowed themselves in its favour. In this trial of public feeling, the old distinctions of Whig and Tory were less regarded than the question whether the existing administration should be supported or opposed. By a large majority the constitu- ency decided on the election of Lord Rancliffe and Mr. Smith, who polled respectively — Smith 1,029, Rancliffe 993 ; against 556 for Greatheed, and 537 for Ruding; though the two latter gentlemen held highly respectable social positions, and were in every respect unexceptionable. This concludes the electoral history of Leicester during the eighteenth century. One feature must have arrested the notice of every reader : we allude to the fact that the principle of compromise, either constrained or voluntary, principally prevailed through the era over which this narrative extends. From the reign of Charles II. to that of George II., Tory influences, whether reflected in adherence to the slavish maxims fostered by the high prerogative party of the Court, or in a blind attachment to a dynasty which had perished through its own folly and imbecility, predominated in this borough ; the only exception to be taken to this remark being warranted by the election of Mr. James Winstanley in 1701, and his continuance in the representation for fourteen years. But after Major Mitford's opposi- tion, the Jacobite influence received a blow from which it never entirely recovered ; for the victory gained by Grey and Coote was followed by the agreement to take " one and one," even down to the year 1826, when Mr. Pares (Whig) and Mr. Mansfield (Tory) jointly represented the borough. The election of 1795 does not disprove the 252 LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. general statement ; for (as it is above remarked) it happened under unusual circumstances. So evenly balanced were the two great parties in Leicester in the eighteenth century. CHAPTER XXEL THE HOSIERY MANUFACTURE IN LEICESTER. The district of which the town of Leicester is the centre has always been adapted to the feeding of sheep and cattle. Its meadows and fields have ever been productive of rich herbage, supplying flocks and herds with the nutriment fitted to sustain and fatten them. In the nature of things, therefore, this has been a wool-growing county ever since it has been the residence of a civilized and settled population. The townsmen, by collecting the wool from their neighbours in the villages, or inviting them to sell it in the town markets, have accumu- lated the raw material of manufactures, which they have worked up into fabrics of rude fashion and homely use, suited for clothing and cover- ing the person. Early in the thirteenth century, in Leicester, the wool was spun in the household, and then taken to the weaver, in whose loom it was woven into blankets, or a coarse scarlet cloth, which were sold here and elsewhere, as at Stamford and Boston. Woolfells and wool were also carried there and sold to tradesmen coming from other parts of the country, on certain fixed days every year. The records of the ancient government of the town/called the Guild Merchant, abound in references to the usages of the weavers of blankets and scarlet cloth, and the dealers in woolfells and wool ; to their visits to Stamford and Boston ; and to their dealings with each other. It would also appear that in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries some among the townsmen acquired what would to them appear to be riches ; enabling them to purchase local privileges from the kings and earls of the period, and exemptions from servile and degrading obligations. In the fifteenth century, the long continuance of civil war was attended with disastrous effects to the commerce and manufactures of LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 253 this and other populations. In consequence, the operations of in- dustry were checked, the interchange of commodities was paralyzed, the security of person and of property was shaken, all orders of people became impoverished, and the buildings in the towns consequently fell into dilapidation and decay. Still, a trade in wool was carried on in Leicester in the century under notice, as several generations of the Wigston family, and other persons named Dalton, Newton, Lichfield, Feneys, and Wade, were members of the Staple of Calais resident in the town — there collecting the wool of the district, in order to trans- mit it in large quantities for sale at Calais ; but we have no evidence that the raw material was then worked up on the spot by weavers. Various " Occupations" were established in Leicester in the fifteenth century ; for example, that of the Tailors in 1450, and subsequently those of the Smiths, the Shoemakers, the Bakers, and the Butchers. After the early date first alluded to, it is not, however, until the middle of the sixteenth century, that anything in the shape of manu- factures is distinctly mentioned in local documents. It was in the reign of Edward the Sixth that, in order to find work for the unem- ployed, the members of the Corporation (spoken of as the Twenty Four and the Forty Eight) are said, in the old Common Hall Book, to have been individually called on yearly to require coarse woollen cloth, called " kersey, " p to be made in pieces, each kersey to be eighteen yards long, and to be taken to the Mayor's Hall to be sealed. This plan does not seem to have been very successful for any long period ; as in 1574 an attempt was made to establish a cloth manufactory by the agency of Thomas Bradgate of Gloucester, to whom the Corporation lent 100 marks for seven years, by way of encouragement. This effort was carried on for thirteen or fourteen years without any very satisfactory result, and then continued by Henry Bradgate, the successor of Thomas. He was again subsidized in 1592 by the Corporation. It was not until the close of the century that stockings were made in Leicester ; the Corporation, in 1597, by the appointment of the Earl of Huntingdon, lending £10 to Thomas Moseley to set poor chil- dren to work in knitting "Jersey" stockings. It seems that these articles were made of the finest portion of the wool, separated from the rest by combing. But the stocking was probably not the same kind of thing as that known to us in modern days. " The stocking is not a garment of high antiquity," says Mr. John Gough Nichols, " either in name or substance. Our ancestors clothed their lower limbs with hose, of which the stock or stocking was a part only. At first the name was not stocking, but stock. The second syllable is a p Kersey — " Coarse woollen cloth." — Bailey's Dictionary 254 LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. corruption of the old plural en ; and the phrase — a pair of stocken — was gradually altered to a pair of stockings * * * Hose were a combination of what we now term drawers and stockings, such as in more recent times have been named pantaloons. They covered all the lower part of the body as the doublet covered the upper part. * But these stocks, stockings, or hose, were all alike made of linen or woollen cloth, cut into shape and sewn together. * * Before the term stocking was finally adopted in its modern sense, the coverings of the leg were called stocks of hose or nether stocks ; whilst what we now call breeches were termed upper stocks." When the great Earl of Leicester, as a knight of St. Michael of France, cele- brated the feast of that order in the year 1571, at the town of Warwick, he appeared in " stocks of hose of knit silk" and in "upper stocks" of white velvet, slashed with cloth of silver. Knit stockings, particularly those of silk, were in high estimation in the reign of Elizabeth ; but they are believed to have been made with needles worked with the hand. q It is universally admitted that William Lee invented the stocking- frame as early as 1589, at Woodborough or Calverton, in Nottingham- shire ; but the machine was not introduced into Leicester for many years afterwards-^-the hand-knit stockings being used and considered very valuable, as Mr. Nichols shows in the paper already referred to. There is, in fact, no definite evidence as to the date of the first weav- ing of stockings by machinery in Leicester. I have searched the ancient books of the Corporation for the purpose of ascertaining what testimony they furnish on this head, and present the result in the following pages. It may be premised, however, that a statement or tradition appeared in the Leicester Journal, some years ago, on the authority of the Bev. Mr. Boss, a resident clergyman, to the effect that a Nicholas Allsop brought a frame to Leicester and settled in the Northgate Street, about the year 1680, and that he found it necessary to work secretly in a cellar, and had some difficulty in vending the productions of his frame/' This story Mr. Gardiner repeats in the second volume of his Music and Friends (p. 811), altering the date to 1670, and adding that, as the opposition wore away, Allsop ventured to take James Parker, a native, as an appren- tice. Upon the death of Allsop, Parker took Samuel Wright, a quaker, in the same capacity ; these persons being the only weavers of hose in Leicester for many years afterwards. Allsop is said to have come from Northamptonshire. Six years i These and other statements will he found in a paper written hy John Gough Nichols, Esq., entitled " Notes on Ancient Hosiery," read at the Meeting of the Leices- tershire Architectural and Archaeological Society held at Hinckley, in July 1864. LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 255 before the date at which he is alleged to have introduced the frame into Leicester, a petition was presented from the woolcombers of the town to the Corporation, wherein it is represented that eight hundred tods of wool were yearly wrought up by them, in order that the same might be spun and knit up into stockings. It was further represented that the combers kept constantly at work about two thousand poor people, of various ages, of the town of Leicester and neighbouring villages. It is thus seen that the manufacture of stockings was very extensive in this town in the year 1674 ; but if Gardiner's statement be correct as to the number of workers of frames, they were made by hand, not by machinery; since the proprietors of two or three frames could not employ two thousand persons. Various facts in relation to Allsop himself are directly contradic- tory to the tradition. It appears that, instead of being a stranger, he was originally an apprentice with Edward Noone, mercer, and that he was made free on the second of February, 1655, when he paid the usual entrance fee of ten shillings, and was duly sworn as a freeman. r He was therefore not brought up to the occupation of a framework- knitter ; though, by a subsequent entry in the town books, it appears he had entered upon a new trade in the year 1680. The entry is as follows : — Edward Allsop, eldest son of Nicholas Alsop, of the burrough of Leices- ter, silkeweaver, made free the twenty-first day of February, 1680: his fine a pottle of wine." A few years subsequently his name is mentioned in another way in the following entry : — " Joseph Parker, apprentice with Nicholas Alsop, of the burrough of Leicester, mercer, made free the eight and twentieth day of May, 1687, and paid for his fine -_------ x$. etjur." Allsop, so far, appears to have been known as a silk- weaver and mercer. As we proceed in the enquiry we find he is differently desig- nated. For example, in the following entry : — " John Lewin, apprentice with Nicholas Alsop, hosier, made free June 10, 1693, and paid for his fine ----- xs. etjur." In the next entry occurs, for the first time in our local records, the mention of any person as a framework-knitter : — " Samuel Alsop, second son of Nicholas Alsop, of the burrough of Lei- cester, framework-knitter, made free the 18th of July, 1698, and paid for his fine ---------- v*. etjurT r 1655 [old style]. "Nicholas Alsop, appntice with Edward Noone, Mercer, made free the second of February, 1655, his fyne is. etjur." Town Book. 256 LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. A similar entry in the same year may also be adduced : — " John Alsop, son of Francis Alsop, of Onelep, in the county of Leicester, yeoman, apprentice to Nicholas Alsop, of the burrough of Leicester, frame- work-knitter : made free the twentieth day of July, 1698, and paid for his fine .----«.-... x *. etj'ur." One more entry, in illustration, will show that by this time Allsop had become settled in his trade of a framework-knitter : — 8 " Arthur Noone, eldest son of Arthur Noon, of the burrough of Leicester, baker, and apprenticed to Nicholas Alsop of the same burrough, framework- knitter, made free the 22nd day of June, 1700 : his fine a pottle of wine." The first manufacturer of stockings had now, therefore, had five apprentices — his second son, another relative, and three others — who must have been with him during the active prosecution of his, business ; and this inference carries us back to the year 1690, when he was only known as a "hosier," or simply a dealer in stockings; though there is every reason to believe he regularly manufactured stockings. The tradition informs us he was compelled to employ his apprentices secretly, owing to the popular hostility to the introduction of machi- nery, so that his being designated a "hosier" may have been intended to disguise his real occupation. His business appears to have proved profitable ; sufficiently so to have entitled him to be made an alderman at the latter end of the year 1700. He did not, however, long continue in this office ; as, in three years afterwards, in a record of the proceedings of the Corporation, we meet with this memoran- dum : — • " Ordered at this meeting, that Mr. Nicholas Alsop be dismissed from serving in the company of the Twenty Four." Unfortunately little is known concerning this person, who, as the introducer of framework-knitting into Leicester, laid the foundation of a manufacture which has become so extensive and so important as that of hosiery. All we can gather from the foregoing extracts is, that as he was made free in the year 1655, when he had completed the term of his 8 Other entries in the Freemen's Apprentice Books belonging to the Corporation are as follow : — 1656. — " Sampson Pougher, Jersey comer, made free by consent of a Comon Hall held the last day of October 1655 : his fyne £3 6s., and sworn." 1684. — " Francis Arnold, apprentice to John Daire of the Borough of Leicester, hosier, made free and paid his fine xs.etjur." " John Hercourt, son of John Hercourt, of the said Borough, apprentice with Robert Worth of the said Borough, hosier, made free and paid for his fine x*. etjur. " July 7. Wm. Hawser apprentice to Richard Hill, hosier, made free." In 1695, Robert "Worth, Hosier, was made free ; and in 1697, — Topp, Hosier, was also enfranchised. Joseph Alsop, eldest son of Thomas Alsop, of the Borough of Leicester, Hosier, was made free in April 1698. LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 257 apprenticeship with Mr. Noone, the mercer, he must have been born about the year 1634 ; in which case he was far advanced in middle age when he began the framework-knitting. He lived to be an old man ; as appears from his having been dismissed from the company of the Twenty Four when sixty-nine years of age. It is seen that he had sons and relatives engaged with him in the business, and that he acquired a considerable amount of property, and the tradition is he lived near the North Gate ; but all beyond this — the history of his struggles and his difficulties, and even the date of his decease — is at present unknown. He left behind him, however, a number of successors, from whose hands the manufacture received an impulse which carried forward its development at the opening of the eighteenth century, and the names of Pougher, Parker, Noone, and Lewin, were among those most conspicuously identified at this date with the progress of framework-knitting. They are said to have been materially helped in their businesses by the capital of Mr. Watts of Danett's Hall, the builder of that once well-known mansion. C In 1727 the borough of Leicester contained a larger number of framework-knitters than the town of Nottingham ; it having been variously estimated at from five hundred to seven hundred ; while at Nottingham not more than four hundred were engaged in the manufacture. ' The total number of frames in the Midland Counties is said then to have been more than three thousand five hundred. 1 In a description of England published in 1769, the town of Leicester is stated to have returned annually to the Hosiery Manufacture as much as £60,000. In 1790 there were about three thousand frames employed in Leicester. After the lapse of half a century, some of the names associated with Allsop's in the introduction of the stocking-frame into Leicester, were still retained in connection with the Hosiery Manufacture. Mr. Gardiner (Music and Friends) says that in the year 1750 the principal manufacturers were — Mr. Lewin. Richard Garle (with whom was Barns, Chamberlain and Burgess. Sir Arthur Hazlerig). Cradock and Bunney. Joseph Cradock. Thomas Pougher. John Willows. Mr. Miles. As it is not the purpose of this chapter to follow up in detail the various inventions and improvements made in connection with the Stocking Frame, I do not enter upon those subjects ; contenting myself merely with stating, that during the eighteenth century the plain frame was but little altered after its first construction, though * Henson's History of the Framework-Knitters, 1831. S 258 LEICESTEE IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. a great number of new effects were produced by means of a separate contrivance to act upon the looping-needles. Alterations were made in the frame in 1758 (by Mr. Jedediah Strutt of Derby), in 1761, in 1763 (by Mr. Morris), in 1774 (by Horton, Marsh, and Wright), in 1778 (by Mr. Hayne of Nottingham), in 1781 (by Mr. Dalby of Leicester), in 1782 (the Warp Frame), in 1786 (by Mr. Webbe of Birmingham), in 1790 (by Mr. Hague), and in 1791 (by William Dawson of Leicester). The invention of the last-named person was called the Dawson Wheel : it enabled the workmen to form any kind of figure or pattern upon the surface of the work. Some among the manufacturers became opulent, and laid the foundations of fortunes for their families, which are still resident in the district. In some cases, the immediate descendants acquired considerable social position for a generation or two, and then dis- appeared below the surface of public observation. Of these John Lewin, probably one of the apprentices of Alsop mentioned on page 255, was the most conspicuous. He was distinguished by the courtesy-title "Esquire," and assumed armorial bearings; and on his decease in 1775 was buried in the graveyard of St. Mary's Church, under a costly monument, which still remains, though in a state of dilapidation. Abstinence Pougher, probably the son of Sampson Pougher, the Jersey comber, was another of the successful hosiers who rose above his fellows to a rank in the social scale similar to that of Mr. Lewin, and was honoured with a monument on his decease. The extended History of the Hosiery Manufacture by Mr. W. Felkin of Nottingham comprises all that is known on the general subject up to the latest period ; and to it the reader, who desires more minute and complete information, may be referred. CHAPTER XXIII. THE RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. No reader acquainted with local history can fail to have learnt that preceding generations of townsmen have had special and uncommon experiences in connection with ecclesiastical affairs. We can scarcely LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 259 go back to the earliest centuries of the Christian era, in illustration of the truth, because all that relates to the state of religion in this locality, during those remote periods, is wrapped either in oblivion or obscurity. A local historian (quoting Speed") states that during the persecution by Diocletian, two Christians named Julius and Aaron, were subjected to martyrdom in Leicester. If this representation were true, we should have reason to believe the votaries of the Cross were known in the Roman town at the close of the third century ; but we may be certain that heathen temples then stood within the walls, where the false Gods in which the age believed were worshipped. It may be inferred one of these buildings stood on the site of St. Martin's Church — the foundations of Roman masonry and the bases of columns having been there discovered when the new tower and spire were erected. It was the advice of Pope Gregory that Christian worship should be conducted on spots where Pagan rites had been observed, in order to draw the people from the old super- stition to the new faith ; and therefore, in so central a position as that occupied by St. Martin's, it is very probable the wise policy of the head of ancient Christendom may have been pursued in con- nection with this locality. At what dates between the withdrawal of the Romans from this island (circa 450), and the Norman Conquest (1066), the parishes were formed, and the first churches built in them, is a matter of conjecture. All we know is that when the Doomsday Survey was taken (circa 1086), Hugh de Grantmesnil was recorded to be the possessor of four churches in the town, which were evidently those erected before the Conquest ; and would probably be St. Martin's, St. Nicholas', All Saints', and St. Margaret's — for St. Mary's was originally within the precincts of the Castle and a mere chapel for the use of its inmates. Even as early as the thirteenth century the surface of ecclesiastical uniformity was broken by the influence of Robert Grossetete, the bishop of the diocese, who, originally rector of St. Margaret's, and then archdeacon of Leicester, raised his voice alike against priestly corruptions and papal assumption. That the sentiments of such a man would be widely known among the inhabitants of Leicester can hardly be doubted, and may have aroused the first aspirations in favour of religious freedom and church reform, which were rendered deeper in the succeeding century by the preaching of Wickliffe, and his disciple, William of Swyndurby ; made irrepressible by the appeals of Latimer of Thurcaston ; and acquired permanent power on the success of the Reformation under Henry the Eighth. For u Speed refers to Bede, who may intend Caer Leon upon Usk — not Caer Lerion (Leicester). 260 LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. successive centuries, therefore, the people of this locality were under the influence of great minds — of minds in advance of the ages in which they lived; and their teachings, however much forbidden, cannot fail to have been handed down traditionally by individuals and in families, from the day when Robert Grossetete raised his voice against the malpractices of pope and priest, down to the date when the son of the yeoman of Thurcaston bravely gave up his spirit in the flames at Oxford. But in the time of Henry the Eighth true religious freedom and the rights of conscience were little understood. In his reign, and that of his imperious daughter Elizabeth, Nonconformity was con- sidered to be a crime, punishable by death, fine, and imprisonment. It was not until the Commonwealth liberated religious opinion, that men openly professed varieties of faith and practised observances different from those of the State Church ; and then there was an exhibition of differences, not to say eccentricities, in these respects, which contrasts remarkably with the state of ecclesiastical affairs in any preceding epoch. In Leicester, Baptists, Independents, and Presbyterians, all appear to have co-existed, and openly worshipped according to their own ideas, as soon as the rule of Charles the First had been superseded by that of the Parliament. We obtain a vivid insight into the religious state of the place from the record which the first Quaker made of his visit to Leicester. From his description (given in his Journal) we learn that early in the year 1648 a great meeting was held in Leicester for the discussion of religious subjects, to which he was "moved" to repair. The assembly was held in a " steeple-house " (which it seems probable was St. Martin's Church), where the people were in the pews and the " priest" in the pulpit. Presbyterians, Baptists, and Independents were present, as well as Episcopalians. A discussion arose upon what constituted a " church," George Fox explaining it to be "a spiritual household, of whom Christ is the head " — not " a mixed multitude, or an old house made up of lime, stones, and wood." This definition set all the congregation "on fire," says George Fox: the "priest" left the pulpit, the people deserted the pews, and the meeting broke up in confusion. The discussion was continued at an inn, to which the Friend went with the "priest" and professors of all kinds, and there, finally, all his opponents gave in, and at last fled away. When the Independents gained the ascendancy in 1652, they filled the pulpits of the parish churches with ministers of their own persuasion. This state of things did not, however, last long ; for after the restoration of Charles the Second grievous restrictions were placed LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 261 upon all Dissenters from the Church of England. In the year 1670, the Conventicle Act was passed, which rendered Nonconformist preachers and hearers, meeting in houses, alike liable to heavy fines with the persons in whose houses they assembled. John Bunyan had a license to preach as a congregational " parson," and was in Leicester on Sunday, the 6th of October, 1672, probably to address his friends of the Baptist denomination. Several inhabitants of Leicester were charged with having been present at a conventicle early in the year 1683, and were fined for the offence by the borough justices/ Four years afterwards, James the Second published a declaration allowing liberty of conscience to all his subjects, under cover of which he hoped to reintroduce the Roman Catholic religion; and in May 1688 the declaration was ordered to be read in all churches and chapels. But no faith was placed in the last of the Stuarts by the English people ; so he lost his crown and fled the country. In April 1689 the Toleration Act was passed for the relief of Dissenters, by virtue of which they were exempted from penalty for non-attendance at the established places of worship, and their meeting-houses were protected from insult and damage. The Pres- byterians of Leicester formed a congregation about the year 1680, w and assembled at a place in Oxford Street ; the site of which is no longer remembered. In 1708 they erected the Great Meeting. Nicholas Kestin, M.A., of Crumley, after having been silenced in that place came to Leicester, and also became pastor of a congregation, subsequently to the passing of the Act of Uniformity. George Fox rejoiced that he made a convert (a female) when he held his dispute with the people of Leicester in 1648, and in 1699 a Joseph Smith, a Quaker, was made a freeman of the borough. It was in the following century that Dissent fairly established itself in Leicester. At its commencement (1705), Mr. Cart, one of the churchwardens of St. Martin's, found sixty-five Independents or Presbyterians, six "Anabaptists," thirteen Quakers, and two "Papists," living in the parish. In 1709 another parochial return was made to the Bishop of the Diocese, when the numbers seem to have decreased ; there being then forty-two Independents or Presbyterians, eight Quakers, two Baptists, and one Roman Catholic. In both cases the persons spoken of were of adult age. At the date of the last return a Baptist meeting-house existed in St. Martin's parish, at which persons named Treen, Davy (Leicester), and Stanton (Belgrave), preached on Sundays. v See History of Leicester (1819), p. 436. w Gardiner's Music and Friends, Vol. 1., p. 23. 2G2 LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. The Church now meeting in the Friar Lane Chapel is supposed to have originated during the time of the Commonwealth. There is a tradition that on one of his visits to Leicester, John Bunyan preached in their little Meeting-house, then situated down a yard, and on part of the site of the present chapel. In the month of August 1719, Elias Wallin the elder conveyed to twelve trustees the two cottages or tenements, with their appurtenances, situated in the " Freer " Lane ; also, all that yard, piece, or parcel of ground adjoining and belonging to the said cottages; and also, all that newly-erected edifice or building containing three bays of buildings, with the appurtenances standing on the said yard or parcel of ground, and used as a place for divine worship. The names of the trustees were — Henry Greene, Zacharias Stanton, Thomas Davye, Thos. Storer, Zakaniah Read, John Iliffe, Thos. Stanton, John Cave, William Arnold, Joseph Coltman, George Keslin, and Elias Wallin the younger. Thomas Davye is probably the person mentioned in the return of 1709 to the Bishop of the Diocese, as one of the preachers at the Baptist Meeting-house in St. Martin's parish; and one of the Stantons would doubtless be the other, there being two persons of that name among the trustees. There is lying before the writer x "A register of the names of the Members of the Church of Christ, in and about Leicester, of baptized believers, who profess the faith of Christ as delivered in Heb. vi. 1, 2, &c, Anno Domini 1750, and who belong to the Church meeting in Leicester." The wording of the above seems to imply that, at that time, the Friar Lane Church was the only Society of Baptists in the town; and that they were simply Baptists, unassociated either with the Particular or the General Baptist de- nomination. William Arnold was the Elder or Minister ; perhaps the same person whose name occurs in the list of Trustees. The register contains a list of forty-three names of members then united in the fellowship of the Church. For several years subsequently there were no additions. One person was baptized in 1756, seven in 1757, one in 1758, and twenty-one in 1759. From that time the Church declined in numbers. Only six were added during the following eleven years, and apparently none from 1770 to 1782, when the Church had become almost extinct, and only fourteen members remained on the list. Mr. John Deacon of Barton Fabis was invited in that year to become the Minister, and the Church agreed that in the event of his complying with the invitation, they would propose themselves the first convenient opportunity to join that body of General Baptists with which Mr. Deacon was united, in order that they * I am indebted to the courtesy of the Eev. J. C. Pike, Minister of Friar Lane Chapel, for the account of the Baptists given in the paragraph in the text. LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 263 might belong to the same Connexion. Under Mr. Deacon's ministry the Church and Congregation rapidly increased. The meeting-house of 1719 became too small, and after a few years it was agreed to rebuild it " upon a larger and more commodious plan." This Chapel was also built in the yard, behind the Cottages. It was not till November 1804 that the following resolution was passed at a meet- ing of the members of the Church. " Agreed that the houses belonging to the Meeting be taken down next spring, and that the tenants have notice to quit next Lady-day." It is an interesting circumstance that a Mr. Thomas Stevenson was engaged to do the work ; but whether the father or the grandfather of the present respected Pastor of the Archdeacon Lane Church is not certain — probably the former. There were two Thomas Stevensons, senior and junior, members of the Church at the time. The resolution on the subject was as follows : — " 17th February, 1805. It is agreed that Mr. W. Sykes and Mr. Thos. Stevenson shall have the materials of the old houses, and fill up the present cellar with soil, cover the soil with gravel, making the road ready for paving, and every thing cleared away ready to begin to build a front wall, paying to the Church the sum of ten guineas, to be paid by the 25th of April next, by which time the whole shall be cleared away." Iron palisades were subsequently placed in front of the Chapel. Other interesting facts in reference to the same Church might be mentioned ; but as they belong to the present century, they do not come within the scope of the present work. The only denomination which refused to pay Church Rates was the Society of Friends, concerning whom the following entry is made in the parish book of St. Martin's : — "1707. " May 8. The Quakers refusing to pay anything to Church levies, it is agreed that they shall be charged so much more to the poor's tax as will balance what they ought to pay to the Church." Up to the middle of the century the Presbyterians, the Indepen- dents, and the Baptists, appear to have been the only Nonconformist denominations established in Leicester. The earnest minds of the community were chiefly attached to one or other of the Dissenting bodies, of which the Presbyterian occupied the chief position. Shortly after the century was half completed a great stimulus was imparted to religious feeling — more particularly among the classes living by labour, and not reached by the efforts of existing religious organizations — by the propagandist zeal and eloquent appeals of John Wesley. In a previous chapter, some notice has appeared in the course of the 264 LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. narrative of the early visits of that remarkable man to Leicester. A mis- take has, however, been made in stating that he was present here for the first time in 1770. One of the earliest scenes of his itinerant labour, which may be called the " mother church " of these parts, was the village of Markfield. According to his Diary, he rode to the place on Friday, June 8, 1753. y On the following Sunday (being Whit- Sunday) the church contained the congregation tolerably well. After dinner, a gentleman who had ridden from Leicester (who, it is believed, was a Mr. Coltman, the inhabitant of the house in which John Bunyan had preached about eighty years before) invited the venerable Wesley to visit this town. About eight o'clock in the evening he addressed an assembly in an open space, near the Great Meeting, called the Butt Close. High and low, rich and poor, came running from all parts to hear him ; and it is creditable to the people of that day to record that " their behaviour surprised " the preacher — " they were so serious and attentive," he says, " not one offering any interruption." After the lapse of about four years, Mr. Wesley again visited Leicester, and found a small society gathered together, under the care of John Brandon, a dragoon, who then acted as Leader and Preacher to the little flock, and who subsequently itinerated for some years under Mr. Wesley's direction. There was then living in High Street a Mr. William Lewis, a hosier, in whose house was a spacious room licensed for public worship, which was the first place used by the Leicester Society. 2 In the evening of April 14, 1757, at seven o'clock, Mr. Wesley preached to an assembly estimated by him at a thousand in number, among whom were forty or fifty soldiers, and "all heard as for life." Mr. Lewis had purchased an antiquated building in Millstone Lane, called the "Old Barn," in the year 1753. It had been used as a tithe-barn, a play-house, a riding-school, and even as a store- house for coals. It was entered by two clumsy folding-doors, in one of which was a smaller door, used on ordinary occasions. The in- terior was lofty; the thatched roof being supported in the middle by wooden props, and open to the summit ; and the windows high up in the walls. In the hours of evening service, the building was lighted by a three-branched wooden chandelier. In this chamber so dreary in the y The particulars in the text are compiled from an account of " Methodism in Lei- cester," written by the Rev. William W. Stamp, which appeared in the Wcsleyan Methodist Magazine for February 1834. A copy of the number was obligingly lent to the Author by Mr. J. EL Rowe, Granby Street. z The portrait of this Mr. Lewis is still preserved in the Vestry of Bishopgato Street Chapel. LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 265 daytime, so sombre and comfortless at night, tho early Methodists of Leicester, men and women sitting on opposite sides, according to apostolic practice, were wont to worship. The "Old Barn" had been converted into a place of worship and generously given to the Society by Mr. Lewis, who, though a warm supporter of Methodism in its infancy, was a Presbyterian. Even here, however, they were not un- molested, for Mr. Lewis's son, taking advantage of a flaw in the deed of conveyance, on his father's decease claimed the premises, and before dying himself, shortly after, bequeathed them to a friend ; thus far frustrating his father's liberal intentions. At this juncture, how- ever, Mr. Lewis's widow, from motives of affectionate veneration for his memory, repurchased the property, and thus secured its appro- priation for the purposes for which it was designed by her deceased husband. The sum of ,£81 was given for the building. By a deed bearing date December 23, 1768, it was then, as a Methodist Chapel, vested in the following trustees : — Samuel Matthews, John Coltman, Stephen Pick, Thomas Prestin, William Goodrich, Zechariah Siday, Joseph Whittle, Peter Jacques, Thomas Price, William Weewall, John Beals, of Leicester ; Henry Fosbrook, of Hoton ; Nicholas Lowe, of Hathern ; Joseph Calladine, of Diseworth ; and Stephen Wood, of Loughborough. The meeting-house now received the name of the Tabernacle. At this time the Society did not include more than twenty mem- bers, mostly poor persons. It was not until some years after, their contribution to the Quarter-day Board amounted to sixteen shillings. Among their number were Zechariah Siday, Joseph Whittle, Peter Jacques, John Beals, John Wright, Mary Siday, Mary Hartram, Thomas Gamble, Sarah Taylor, Thomas Price, and Jenny Sykes. Zechariah Siday was a tailor and schoolmaster, and the leader of the little band. Jenny Sykes was a gatherer of rags, and sold laces, buckles, and similar articles. For many years she entertained the preachers, who used in a facetious style to boast that " in Leicester their hostess was a linen-draper ! " She became the second wife of Zechariah in 1778, and she and her husband were buried near the pulpit in the Tabernacle. Sarah Taylor (who became Mrs. Clough), and Thomas Gamble (living in 1884), were well-known members of the infant society — the latter-named having been connected with it upwards of sixty-five years. In the beginning it was exposed to in- sult and persecution, and had to appeal to the law for protection. Several of the offenders were for a time imprisoned ; and it was then allowed to worship God in comparative quiet ; but, says the historian of the body, "These were not the days of silken professorship; principle and profession were not unfrequently severely tested." 266 LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. In the summer of 1770, Mr. Wesley preached in the Castle Yard. a A feeble and unsuccessful attempt was made to disturb him ; Mr. Gamble being present distinctly recollected the circumstances, and the text he expounded (Luke c. xix., verses 41, 42). When Mr. Bardsley preached in the Market Place, in the year 1772, he was seized by one of the constables, and taken before Mr. Cartwright, the Mayor ; but, on remonstrating with his Worship, was simply repri- manded and dismissed with the remark, " Come, come, you are not to preach here." Mr. Cartwright, the son of the Mayor, kept the Cherry Tree Inn, and was the host of Mr. Bardsley when he next visited Leicester. In the spring of the same year (March 20, 1772) Mr. Wesley once more ministered to the Society : in the morning he rode to Markfield; in the evening he preached to a large congregation, when (he says) " all seemed willing to receive that important truth, ' Without holiness no man shall see the Lord.' " From the formation of the Society until the year 1776, Leicester was included in what was then termed the "Derbyshire Round." It comprised, in addition to several circuits northward of Derby, what subsequently became the Nottingham, Leicester, Loughborough, Hinckley, and Ashby circuits. At the Conference held in the year last-named, Leicester was separated from the " Derbyshire Round," and constituted the head of a circuit. In 1787, although the local Society had received but little augmentation, either as to numbers or pecuniary resources, the Tabernacle was taken down, and a com- modious chapel, capable of accommodating upwards of four hundred persons, was erected on its site. The late Dr. Coke officiated at the opening ; and the chapel being too small to contain the congregation which assembled in the morning, the Unitarians kindly offered the use of their chapel for the service of the evening. The offer was accepted, and the doctor preached with unusual animation from the text commencing " the Word was made flesh." For some years after its erection the chapel was supplied with travelling preachers only once a fortnight. It was regularly settled on the undermentioned trustees : — John Coltman, William Weewall, Samuel Matthews, Joseph Whittle, Samuel Fosbrook, William Wise, Francis Rayns, John Beals, of Leicester ; Stephen Hood, of Loughborough ; Joseph Sowter, of Castle Donington ; Benjamin Scattergood, of Syston ; William Cooper, of Rotherby ; and John Iliffe, of Humberstone. For the last time, Mr. Wesley preached in this town in the year 1790, when he was the guest of Mr. John Rawson. His subject was the first verse of the thirty-third Psalm : " Rejoice in the Lord, O ye righteous : for praise is comely for the upright." The sermon » See ante, pp. 140 and 141. LEICESTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 267 was extemporaneous, plain in its phraseology, and interspersed with frequent ejaculatory prayer for the immediate blessing of God upon the Word. In his discourse, alluding to persons who were deemed righteous, and who said of themselves, " I have done no harm ; I have paid every one his own ; I have done as I would be done by, I must be righteous," he exclaimed with peculiar energy, " Then the birds of the air are righteous ! " At this time, Mr. Wesley was sustaining with unusual vigour the weight of more than fourscore years ; his hair was white as snow ; his eye, notwithstanding his advanced age, was bright and piercing ; and his countenance peculiarly placid and benignant. Every one contemplated him with regard and reverence, and people and groups of persons saluted the venerable and saintly man with respect as he passed along the streets. In the simple language of the Apostle whom he is said to have much resembled, he acknowledged these greetings by saying "Little children, love one another." From the year 1782 the preachers had occupied a small house in Castle Donington ; but when that place became the head of a circuit, in 1793, a house was appropriated in Leicester for their residence. It was in Southgate Street, opposite Bakehouse Lane. As this history relates only to the events of the eighteenth century, those of a succeeding period are left for narration hereafter. In the year 1791, the Society of Friends had a Meeting-house, standing near the North Gate, on the site still occupied by a chapel. They were not then numerous ; they were said to retain more of the original simplicity of dress and manners, characteristic of their body, than was seen in other towns. The Roman Catholics carried on their worship privately, at the same date, in a room of a house, in a lane near the Town Gaol. The priest (the Rev. Mr. Chappell) was a gentleman of education and suavity of manners ; but he made no proselytes. Not a family or a person had been added to the congregation for fifty years previous to 1791. A few years after, a place of public worship was provided ; as, it will have been perceived, has been stated at page 226. In volume 1, part 2, at page 547, of Nichols's History of Leicester- shire, published in 1815, other denominations are mentioned as existing in Leicester ; but their establishment in the town seems to have been after the commencement of the present century. FINIS. CROSSLEY AND CLARKE, PRINTERS, LEICESTER. AN ESSAY ON ENGLISH MUNICIPAL HISTORY, BY JAMES THOMPSON, Author of a " History of Leicester from the time of the komans to the end of the seventeenth century," and other works. NOTICES OF THE PRESS. The Saturday Revieiv concluded a lengthy criticism with these remarks : — "A very useful little book. * * We cannot part from it without hoping that the reception of this little essay may encourage Mr. Thompson to pursue the very useful and almost untrodden path on which he has entered." The London Guardian : — " Among the merits of Mr. James Thompson's Essay on English Muni- cipal History (Longmans) is that of answering very accurately to its title. * * Mr. Thompson's modest work does not profess to be exhaustive, but it contains much valuable information, and affords abundant materials for thought." The Morning Star : — " Mr. James Thompson, of Leicester, has written a most interesting Essay on English Municipal History (Longmans). The subject is one of great importance, and it has been treated by Mr. Thompson most ably. The book is one which every one who desires to know what our municipal institutions really are, and from what they sprang, ought to possess." The Pall Mall Gazette :— '•' The history of local self-government in this country is a subject which would amply repay a closer study than has yet been given to it. Just now, moreover, when we are all talking about ancient municipal franchises, and matters of that sort, in connection with the Reform Bill, it possesses a special interest. Those who feel inclined to pursue it will read with pleasure Mr. James Thompson's ' Essay on English Municipal History.' " — (Longmans). The Notes and Queries : — "If the reader supposes that this volume, issued at a moment when public attention is specially directed to municipal institutions, has been got up for the purpose of supplying the temporary desire for information upon the subject, he will do great injustice to the learned author of the History of Leicester. The work is the result of careful and long-continued researches in the records of several of our most ancient boroughs, and, as 2 a consequence, contains a mass of new materials, and throws much new light on the origin, constitution, and development of the vaiious forms which municipal government has assumed among us. It is a well-timed publica- tion, but one of far more than temporary interest." The Neivcastle Daily Chronicle : — " "We have followed Mr. Thompson with great interest through his illustrations of municipal life in bygone times. His little volume is a valuable contribution to the history of our country, and will be a welcome addition to the public and private libraries of our own and other lands." The Sheffield Independent : — " The volume which Mr. Thompson modestly entitles ' An Essay ' is a most able inquiry into the origin of municipal government, and a sketch of its history. His intimate acquaintance with the ancient records of Leicester and other places has enabled him to throw an amount of light on the subject that is not only interesting but highly instructive." The Derby Reporter : — " Mr. James Thompson, the able and much- respected Editor of the Leicester Chronicle and Mercury, is well known in the literary world for his History of Leicester from the time of the Romans to the end of the 17th Century. In addition to his many literary qualifications, he has now given to the public an Essay on English Municipal History, which displays great research, and is an acceptable contribution as regards the past, as well as the present. The work itself is so valuable that we shall take an early opportunity of giving interesting extracts." The Northampton Mercury : — " Mr. James Thompson, of Leicester, has just published an Essay on English Municipal History of great interest and value to enquirers into the origin and history of our local government. ******* Very much curious matter illustrative of mediaeval town life is included in Mr. Thompson's interesting essay. * * * Of such curious and instructive matter Mr. Thompson's most agreeable little volume is full. Leicester does not monopolize his attention. He has information about St. Alban's, Preston, Norwich, Yarmouth, Hinckley, Melton Mowbray, and other towns not interesting merely, but practically useful." The Bedford Times : — " The history of the origin and progressive development of Municipal Government iri*this country has, in modern times, afforded a fruitful theme for the researches of the archaeologist and the dissertations of the learned. In the absence of established facts and authentic ancient documents it has been found extremely difficult, however, to arrive at a conclusion having more than a remote degree of probability to recommend it. Hence it is only natural to suppose that varied and conflicting theories should have been advanced by some of our eminent jurists, a supposition which is amply borne out by facts. These theories, although plausible enough in some instances, were nevertheless inadequate to the solution of the great question of which they treated. Based on imperfect data, for the most part, they could never be relied upon to establish an inductive conclusion ; and hence, when brought to the test of patient criticism, they have been found untenable, and in fact little better than mere unsupported conjecture. To the painstaking inquirer such a result is no doubt disheartening in a high degree ; but, thanks to the spirit of antiquarian research so characteristic of the present age and pre-eminently of our own country, these obstacles no longer appear to be insuperable. In the admirable treatise before us — a volume which is as modest and unassuming as it is lucid and argumentative — the results of minute inquiries extending over a number of years are embodied by the author with singular force and clearness of judgment. In arriving at these conclusions Mr. Thompson has relied solely upon well-authenticated facts. These are derived from original documents handed down by our ancestors themselves, and which on that account must contain the germs at least of historic truth ; and for this reason they must be accepted as the ground- work for any probable account which can be given of the origin and progress of our Municipal Freedom. Premising these few observations, we come to examine the essay before us ; and considering how much of interest the subject has for the inhabitants of boroughs especially, our readers will probably be desirous of having an extended notice of the work placed before them. The first chapter is devoted to a brief but compre- hensive notice of the Roman Municipalities in Britain, the large cities being classified according to the arrangement given by Richard of Ciren- cester, viz, Colonies, Municipia, towns endowed with the Latian Right, and Stipendiary Towns. After the reign of Caracalla (ob. circiter a.d. 217) the freedom of the city was given to the inhabitants of all the Roman British stations alike, and these communities, after payment of the imperial taxes, were left the privilege of independent self-government in municipal affairs. No written record of this period has descended, however, to modern times ; but the chapter is no less interesting, for without it there would be a disagreeable hiatus in the chronological order in which the sub- ject of Municipal Government in Britain necessarily requires to be treated. We now come to the Saxon invasion, the success of" which was accelerated by the complete disintegration of the political system of the island which ensued on the conclusion of the Roman domination. The British towns, no longer confederated even for defensive purposes, became a prey to anarchy and petty dissensions. It is probable, too, that fresh immigrations of the Teutonic element took place, so that as the fierce Saxons and other tribes pressed inland in successive swarms the great cities either were forcibly taken by or were betrayed to the resistless invaders. Two questions here met the author : — 1st. Did the Saxons ultimately become the inhabitants of the Roman-British towns ? and 2nd, Did they introduce into them, for purposes of government, their own local institutions ? The substitution of the language of the invaders for that of the Latin tongue spoken in the British towns leads us naturally to the inference that the conquerors swept away all the existing institutions and supplanted them by Saxon forms of local government. It is to this transition period the author traces the origin of our municipal institutions. The chiefs amongst the new owners became in their own domains the rulers — or, as we say, the " lords of the manors " — and held Courts Leet, presided over by the steward or deputy of the manorial lord, in which criminal laws were administered and civil suits determined, the power of appeal to higher courts being reserved to litigants in matters of grave importance. In process of time, when the towns became populous, they sought to procure a similar authority for themselves in their communal character, and this led to another important institution, known as the Merchant's Guild, which was to be found in most of the ancient boroughs in the Saxon period. In developing the subject the author has illustrated the principles already laid down by going in detail into the histories of several towns and showing the actual operation of the elementary systems of local government. His conclusions are based principally upon the ancient documents to which he has had access. An interesting chapter at the close of the volume is devoted to a critical comparison between the French communes and the English boroughs, after which Mr. Thompson offers some practical sugges- tions as to the general enfranchisement of English towns by a general Act constituting Local Boards of Health Corporations, on the same principle as that on which the Municipal Reform Act erected the old boroughs of England into new boroughs, without calling for the concession of royal charters. Such is a brief outline of the work before us. The author is throughout consistent and logical ; and the research which is manifested in every page must command attention from even the most superficial reader. The theory which he has advanced seems highly probable ; and indeed its adoption is fatal to many fantastic speculations which have been, in the absence of authentic documentary evidence, hitherto currently accepted as historical conclusions. The language is terse and vigorous ; some of the descriptions of ancient life and social customs are ornate, and cannot but be attractive to the general masses of the reading public ; while the extreme accuracy of the inductive arguments used from beginning to end is such as to ensure for the theory advanced by the author an attentive consideration at the hands of the learned. The volume em- bodies an amount of rare and invaluable information never previously offered to the public, and we have no doubt that it will meet with that appreciation which genuine merit seldom fails of receiving in this en- lightened country. Mr. Thompson's Essay is a valuable addition to our standard literature, and we cordially commend it to the attention of every class of the lovers of Municipal Freedom." The Stamford Mercury : — " The study of the ancient municipal office is of great importance in a country where precedent weighs with so much force as it does in England, and in this respect Mr. Thompson's essay is a valuable guide to those who take delight in comparing the present with the past. The notice of the borough of Leicester is a concise history of that important town ; and similar notices of St. Alban's, Preston, Norwich, and Yarmouth, furnish interesting facts with regard to those places. The peculiar jurisdictions of towns not incorporated, suoh as Melton Mowbray and Hinckley, are set forth, and a comparison is instituted between the French communes and English boroughs. The author highly commends the reformed municipal system, and as a practical conclusion contends that the Municipal Reform Act should be extended to all communities capable of self-government." May be had of Messrs. Crossley and Clarke, Gallowtree Gate, Leicester ; Messrs. 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