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YALE
UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

RALPH ALLEN.

THE

LIFE AND TIMES OF RALPH ALLEN
OF PRIOR PARK, BATH, INTRODUCED BY
a g>t)ort account of JLpncombe ann caiiticombe,
WITH NOTICES OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES, INCLUDING
BISHOP WARBURTON, BENNET OF WIDCOMBE
HOUSE, BEAU NASH, Etc.
WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS.

R. E. M. PEACH,

Author of Bath, Old and Ne-w; Historic Houses in Bath ; History of the Bath Abbey Church;
The Hospital of St. John Baptist; Street-Lore of Bath; Annals of Swains-wick;
Rambles about Bath; History of Freemasonry in Bath; &'c.

'Quick and improved correspondence is the life of trade."

LONDON:
D. NUTT, 270-271, STRAND.
CHAS. J. CLARK, 4, LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS, W.C.
1895.

" / would the great world grew like thee;
Who growest not alone in power
And knowledge, but by year and hour
In reverence and in charity.''

TO
RALPH E. ALLEN, ESQUIRE,
OF HAMPTON MANOR, BATH,
COLONEL OF THE 2ND BATTALION EAST YORKSHIRE REGIMENT,
THIS LIFE
OF HIS DISTINGUISHED RELATIVE,
RALPH ALLEN, ESQUIRE, OF PRIOR PARK, BATH,
IS DEDICATED,
WITH THE MOST CORDIAL FEELINGS OF RESPECT
AND ESTEEM BY
THE AUTHOR.

CONTENTS.

Preface .

PAGE ix

Introduction : —
The Roman Period . . i
The Saxon Period . 7
The Norman Period . . .19
The Norman and Pre-Reformation Period . . .25
The Reformation Period . . . -39
Life and Times of Ralph Allen . . . 45
Combe Down . . . .81
Bathampton and Batheaston . . 83
Allen's General Characteristics . 86
"Low-Born" and "Hmnble" . 90

Prior Park ...
Stables and Pavilion
Central Mansion
The Royal Mineral-Water Hospital
Postal Organization ....
Social and Private Life of Ralph Allen at Prior Park
Social Life at Prior Park
Bishop Warburton
The Rev. Richard Graves and Warburton .
Claverton Manor
Politics, Party, and Pitt
Correspondence in Relation to the Contemplated Vacancy by
the Advancement of Henley
The One-Headed Corporation Caricatures .
Allen's Retireraent from Public Life

97
106108
114121 126
129
135150151
IS4159180
185

vi Contents.
Correspondence with Mr. Strah an . '^
Local Postal Arrangements following Allen's Death ^°3
Pedigree of the Bennet Family ^'-'
Beau Nash . 214
Appendix : —
Will of Ralph Allen . . 226
Prior Park at the Present Day 242
Index . . 243

ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE

Portrait of Ralph Allen .... Frontispiece
Linkman's Torch Extinguisher in Rivers Street, Bath . . vii
Gateway and Carriage Drive, Prior Park . • xvi
Map shewing Course of Wansdike, near Bath 3
Allen's House, North Parade, Bath . 69
Sham Castle . . 7'
" The Dry Arch", Warminster Road . 77
Bathampton Manor . 84
Hip Knob, at Bathampton ... 96
Carriage Entrance, Prior Park, within second Lodge Gate 97
Prior Park and Tramway, from a Print of the Period . 105
The Mansion, Prior Park ... . 109
The Palladian Bridge, Prior Park 112
Pope's Walk . . . . • 1 1 5
Monument erected to the Memory of Ralph Allen by Bishop
Warburton . . . -143
The Terrace, Claverton Manor 152
Caricature — " The One-Headed Corporation" . 181
Do. Sequel to " The One-Headed Corporation" 183
Mausoleum of Ralph Allen ... 188
Linkman's Torch Extinguisher in Russell Street, Bath 206
Widcombe Old Church and House . . .212
Brook at Batheaston .... 247

PREFACE.

E have thought, in pondering for some
years over a Biography of Ralph
Allen, more complete than any yet
published, that such a biography
would be imperfect unless it were
preceded by a short historical sketch
of the ancient manor of Lyncombe,
to the latter annals of which Allen
lent a unique interest. Concerning
Lyncombe — known only by that
name from the earliest Saxon down
to the Norman period, but in later
times subdivided into the parishes
of Lyncombe and Widcombe — we have endeavoured to supply
merely such information as the general reader would care to
possess without much trouble or research ; and limited as
that information may be, it is not to be found succinctly
stated in any one book with which we are acquainted.
The Biography of Allen may fairly claim the attention of
the general reader. Starting life very young under every
kind of disability, pecuniary and social, Allen honourably
amassed an ample fortune, which he dispensed in princely

viii Preface.
fashion, and attracted to his mansion at Prior Park some
of the foremost " men of light and leading" during one of the
most stirring epochs of English history ; and the mere
narrative of such a life, passed in such times, cannot be
otherwise than interesting. Allen, however, has claims not
only on our interest, but as a Postal Reformer he has claims
on our gratitude ; for — if we estimate his work with a due
consideration of his opportunities and of the age in which he
lived — it is scarcely too much to say that he was perhaps the
most distinguished servant ever employed in the Post Office.
An enormous capacity for work, extraordinary powers of
organization, an almost unrivalled mastery of details, a readi
ness to sink himself in his work, an unruffled temper, a serene
patience, winsomeness in attracting the well-disposed, and tact
in dealing with rogues in such a way as to disarm them and
yet secure their allegiance at the same time ; — surely all these
rare qualities were never so severely tested at the Post Office
as they were in the case of Allen, who found the postal
system in such a chaotic condition, faithfully reflecting the
folly of the government and the knavery of many of the
subordinate officials, that none but a genius of the most
resolute and commanding type would have dared to grapple
with it.
Our admiration is kindled, as we follow the poor Post
Office boy, with no advantages but those of a clear brain and
a resolute and energetic temperament, skilfully and honorably
surmounting great difficulties on his road to personal suc
cess ; and our gratitude is excited, when we think of the
conspicuous benefits which he conferred on the nation by his
postal reforms ; but, after all, the greatest charm connected
with Allen is the marvellous charm of his personal character

Preface. ix
as established by a large and varied body of competent and
independent witnesses. Pope has immortalised Allen as one
who would " Do good by stealth, and blush to fmd it fame".
Bishop Warburton wrote : — " He (Allen) is, I verily believe,
the greatest character in any age of the world. ... I have
studied his character even maliciously, to find where the
weakness lies, but have studied in vain." Fielding, in To-m
Jones, speaks of Squire AUworthy {j,.e., Allen) as walking on
his terrace one morning, when, " in the full blaze of his majesty,
up rose the sun, than which only one object in this lower
creation could be more glorious, and that Mr. AUworthy
presented, — a human being replete with benevolence, medi
tating in what manner he might prove himself most acceptable
to his Creator by doing most good to his creatures." Bishop
Hurd, not a man likely to be carried away by an excess
of generous emotion, on publishing a new edition of his
Moral and Political Dialogues, prefixed to it a portrait of
Allen, with the following words from Seneca : " Si nobis
animum boni viri liceret inspicere, o quam pidcliram faciem,
quam sanctam, quam ex magnifico placidoque fulgentem videre-
mus ! Nemo ilium amabilem qui non simul venerabilem
diceret" How highly esteemed Allen was by the elder Pitt
(Lord Chatham), the correspondence contained in this Bio
graphy will show ; it is sufficient here to quote this one
sentence from Pitt's letter to Mrs. Allen on the occasion of
her husband's death : " I fear not all the examples of his
virtues will have power to raise up to the world his like
again." If the Biography of Allen can rouse the interest, the

X Preface.
gratitude, and the affection of the general reader. Aliens
special claim on Bathonians should assuredly never be for
gotten by us ; for it was from Bath that his light shone forth,
first to the ends of the Kingdom, and afterwards to every
part of the world where English History and English Litera
ture are read ; and no one man ever so signally benefited and
.glorified our city. He founded the Mineral-Water Hospital ;
he gave a fresh and enduring impetus to the Bath stone
trade ; he infused a purer spirit into the Bath Corporation,
which he rescued from the corruption into which it had
fallen during the generations and the century that preceded
him ; he took the lead in all good works, and lavished his
hospitality and his wealth on all those who, possessed of
talent or of merit, were brought to his notice ; but not
I the least pleasing trait in his character was the helpful
sympathy which, as our local annals abundantly prove,
he was ever ready to extend to interesting or deserving
persons whom he himself sought out and found "any way
afflicted or distressed — in mind, body, or estate". The
marvel is how Allen found time to cultivate the graces and
courtesies of private life amidst the exacting demands of
business and public work. The superintendence of the
building of his mansion, the management of his estates at
Hampton, Claverton, and Combe Down, the direction of a
vast stone business, the anxieties and labour connected with
the execution of the Government postal contracts, and a
predominant share in municipal duties, did not exhaust his
time or his energies ; he seemed to be always fresh, always
calm, never in a hurry, and found ample leisure for the
occupations and duties of a hospitable and benevolent pnvate
gentleman.

Preface. xi
Allen's position as the foremost citizen of Bath, in his
own or any age, was clearly recognised at the time ; and the
wonder is that historical justice and proportion have been sub
sequently so far lost sight of and ignored that the popular mind
associates the renaissance of Bath with Beau Nash. Yet the
relative proportions of Allen and Nash were forcibly stated,
at a time when both of them were living, by Burton in his
Iter Bathoniense. Nash's everlasting white hat and his
black morals were happily hit off by Burton, who saw in
Nash nothing but a frivolous and an unprincipled rake ;
while Allen is described in these glowing words : " Tandem
invent virum; instar mille unu7n .... virum inter
Bathonienses suos facile principem, quem undequaque prce-
senteni parietes ipsi loquuntur!'
If Bath had depended for her popularity solely on the
capricious favours of the merely fashionable and pleasure-
seeking world, her questionable prestige might well have
departed with Nash ; but Bath owes her continued import
ance to causes more enduring than fickle fashion — to the
interest excited by her venerable antiquity, to the perennial
efficacy of her springs, to the salubrity of her climate, to her
geological conditions, to the beauty of her surroundings, to
the general air of cultivated repose which pervades the place,
and, in later times, to her convenient position on two great
railway systems (Great Western and Midland). In such a
city the two Woods, contemporaries and protegis of Allen,
saw a suitable field for the execution of noble architectural
designs ; educationalists recognised an appropriate scene for
" the still air of delightful studies", which should raise Bath
to the foremost place amongst the educational centres of the
Kingdom ; and a large number of the cultured classes have

xii Preface.
found pleasant, convenient, and economical quarters for a
permanent home ; and it is to these and other stable ele
ments, not to changing fashion, that Bath must ever look for
all-round benefits and for her continued prosperity and
importance. Seeing that Allen was so greatly esteemed, not only by his
fellow-citizens, but by men of the highest rank and influence in
the land, we may well be astonished that there is no record
of royal honours offered to him, especially as he was a staunch
Hanoverian ; but, of course, honours may have been offered to
him, though there is no record of the fact, and Allen's refusal
to accept them would not surprise us, nor should we expect
to hear a word on the subject from his lips — his unostenta-
tiousness and his dignified reserve being remarkable traits in
his remarkable character. In illustration of this point, we
would draw special attention to Allen's short letter (p. 203)
in reply to Mr. Strahan.
It is pathetic and even melancholy to reflect that the days
of such a man were darkened at their close ; but so it was,
and the result came about in a way familiar to most readers.
When George III acceded to the throne in 1760, Newcastle
and Pitt were co-ordinate leaders of a remarkably strong
Whig Ministry, which had achieved a rapid succession of
brilliant victories abroad and suppressed faction at home ;
but the new King, resolved to take the reins of government
into his own hands, contrived by the agency of a reptile class
of politicians — called "King's Men" — to oust first Pitt and
then Newcastle, in the midst of the Seven Years' War, and to
patch up, in 1763, what Pitt considered an inglorious peace.
The peace, however, was acceptable to a large class of people,
and numerous addresses of congratulation were sent to the

Preface. xiii
King, and amongst other places from Bath ; and in the Bath
address, inspired by Allen, who was the leading spirit in the
Corporation, the King was thanked " for an adequate peace".
The word adequate turned out to be unfortunate, and there is
no doubt that Allen, if he could have foreseen the conse
quences, would have avoided the word, though it faithfully
represented his opinion. Pitt, who was at that time Member
for Bath, and owed his seat there to Allen's influence, took
offence at the term adequate, " so repugnant to my unalterable
opinion, . . . and fully declared by me in Parliament",
that he resolved to resign his seat at the next dissolution
of Parliament ; and thus the two friends parted, with
expressions of sincere esteem on both sides and regretting
their honest differences of opinion. But Pitt, who still
retained over the people that ascendency which he held at
the time ofthe accession of George III (when Macaulay says
that " in the House of Commons not a single one of the mal
contents durst lift his eyes above the buckle of Pitt's shoes"),
had given a serious rebuff to the Bath Corporation and,
through the Corporation, to Allen, the leading member of it.
Simultaneously with this, Allen's health, undermined by
cancer, began to break down. Then came the old story ; the
lion was sick, asses kicked him, and Allen became the subject
of caricature (pp. 179-185), originating, it is believed, from
Pitt's worshippers in London and circulated in Bath. It is
only reasonable to suppose that Allen smarted under these
caricatures, for
" Of all the griefs that harass the distressed.
Sure the most bitter is a scornful jest ;
Fate never wounds more deep the generous heart,
Than when a blockhead's insult points the dart" ;

xiv Preface.
but whatever Allen's feelings may have been, he never
expressed them. Not only did no word of murmur or
complaint escape his lips, but he confirmed by an additional
codicil the codicil which he had appended to his will in
1760 — the codicil of 1760 running as follows: "For the
last instance of my friendship and grateful regard for the
best of friends, as well as the most upright and ablest of
Ministers that has adorned our country, I give to Right
Honble William Pitt the sum of one thousand pounds",
etc. In a month or two afterwards he was forced by ill-
health to retire from the Corporation ; and happily his
dark days were shortened, for before the close of the year
following the untoward address he had breathed his last.
The Great Commoner was not so fortunate ; he gradually lost
his hold on the country, and completely so when he ceased
to be the Great Commoner and became the Earl of Chatham
in 1766, about which time his intellect (and, some think, his
character) began to deteriorate, and he entered upon dark
days, from which the cloud was rarely, if ever, wholly lifted,
down to the time ofhis tragic death in 1778.
The caricatures to which we have referred are responsible
for the idea entertained in some unreflecting quarters that
Allen was dictatorial, and this idea has been hastily appro
priated by superficial readers, who have not gone beyond the
caricatures and studied Allen's character all round. Another
idea, the exact contradictory of that just mentioned, is that
Allen, while overflowing with the milk of human kindness
was deficient in the stronger elements of character ; and for
this notion Fielding is largely answerable, but we must bear
in mind that it would have been inconsistent with Fielding's

Preface. xv
general plan to portray anything beyond the softer and more
amiable qualities of his model ; and, moreover, it is absurd to
wholly identify a novelist's representation of character with
his model, just as it would be absurd to wholly identify the
domestic scenery amidst which Squire AUworthy moves with
the scenery of Prior Park.
These apparently contradictory ideas are easily reconcilable.
Allen could be firm and resolute on supreme occasions, when
he maintained it was " the duty of every honest man, after he
has made the strictest inquiry, to act pursuant to the light
which the Supreme Being has been pleased to dispense to
him" (p. 179) ; and Allen was also conspicuous for all the gentle
and amiable attributes of humanity ; but those who study his
character in its totality, and have eyes to see, find no difficulty
in realising the conception of gentleness and strength har
moniously blended in a beautiful character, set off and adorned
by " the white flower of a blameless life".
" His life was gentle ; and the elements
So mixed in him, that Nature might stand up
And say to all the world : ' This was a man'."
To such a man the author is conscious of having done but
scant justice, and it would have been very gratifying to him
to have handed the results of his own labours and researches
to more competent men, who might have been found willing
to undertake the task ; but this opportunity has not presented
itself, though the author still hopes that some one may yet
arise, who, animated with the same love for the subject, but
endowed with a larger measure of literary skill, will utilise all
the available materials and throw them into a more artistic

XVI

Preface.

and pleasing form. Meanwhile, the author tenders his sincere
thanks to Colonel Allen for permission to consult the family
archives, and to Mr. Austin King, Colonel Allen's courteous
and accomplished solicitor, for facilitating the examination of
these archives.

INTRODUCTION.

THE ROMAN PERIOD.
T may be well to give a brief summary of
the origin of names appertaining to this
very beautiful part of our city. One of the
most remarkable characteristics of historic
cities is the vitality of ancient names, and
this fact is signally illustrated in the case
of Bath, and more especially in Lyncombe
and Widcombe. Four of the most remarkable objects of anti
quity round or near our city are the Wansdike, Via Badonica}
Via Julia^ and the Fosse. The first of these is unquestionably
the most ancient work, being possibly executed some three
^ The Via Badonica in its construction was similar to the Fosse.
Whilst the latter extended northward, the former extended from London,
and formed a junction with the Fosse at Bathford. Upon this road, in
fact, the London Road, via Devizes and Marlborough, ofthe last century,
was made.
^ The Via Julia was constructed by the Romans as a strategic road to
enable them to get into Wales from Bath. They found the British
station between them and the Severn — the almost impregnable station of
Stoke — a stockaded defence on the scarp of the village now called
Northsioke. The Romans got round it from Lansdown, from which they
made a detour. They had penetrated to the Severn when they evacuated
the country, but the road was used for centuries. B

2 Introduction.
centuries before the arrival of the Romans. The aborigines
or earliest historic inhabitants of Britain, are supposed to hav(
been Celts, once, no doubt, the dominant race in Europe, whc
migrated from Gaul several centuries previous to the Christiai
era. For a considerable time they seem to have continuec
in peaceable possession of their acquisitions, till a fresh bod}
of adventurers from Gallia Belgica (thence called Belgce), o
Celtic origin, pushed across the Channel, and made a landing
on the south-western parts of England. But the prio
possessors of the coast were not easily to be driven from it
the numerous earthworks and barrows in Cornwall, Devon
shire, Somersetshire, Dorsetshire, Hampshire, and Wiltshin
prove that the success of the invaders was very gradual, anc
that many a bloody battle was fought ere they gained ;
permanent settlement in this island. At length, fatigued anc
perhaps exhausted by this contest, the two tribes agreed to ;
compromise, by which a certain allotment of territory was t(
be made to the Belgse, who should thereafter cease to disturl
the possessions of the old inhabitants of the country. Tc
mark the limits of this district, the immense and extendec
ditch and mound called Wansdike were constructed ; th<
term, which sufficiently explains its nature and design, bein^
derived from the Celtic word GwaJian, or separation. Thi;
ditch is still in many places sixteen feet deep, the vallun
being placed on the south side. This work (which left all th(
western counties in possession of the Belgae) commences a-
Andover in Hampshire, and passes from thence nearly in £
straight direction to Great Bedwin. From thence it crosse;
the forest of Savernake and the Downs of Marlborough
These downs remain in their ancient condition, and the
Wansdike, therefore, is still seen in its pristine condition
It then visits Tan Hill, Sheppard-Shord, Heddington
passes through Spye Park, appears on the lawn at Lacock
Abbey, and may be traced on Whitley Common, neai

The Roinan Period.

Monks' House. At Bathford we again meet with a bank,
which tradition asserts to be the Wansdike. This may be
pursued for a considerable distance, making an intermediate
line between Hampton Manor House and Church ; but at the
row of elms, below the canal, half a mile from Hampton, it

disappears. From this point till it enters Smallcomb Wood,
on Bathwick Hill, its course seems to be through the bottom,
a district which has been ploughed up and otherwise
interfered with, so that the traces are less perceptible, the
dorsum (or ridge) being almost obliterated. When, however,
we come to the uncultivated steep of Sniallcomb Wood, it
. becomes again sufficiently conspicuous not to be mistaken ;
B 2

4 Introduction.
crossing the Claverton road, it proceeds through the firs to
the enclosure at Prior Park, and crosses the lawn above
the house in a diagonal line and south-western direction.
On reaching the wall that separates the park from the
road, it forms the basis of the fence for 200 yards. Issuing
from the park at the upper lodge gate, and crossing the road
to Bath, it follows the course of a halter-path or bridle-road,
and becomes the right-hand bank of the same, appearing very
lofty, and bearing on its summit several fine beech and oak
trees. The nicest investigation cannot now detect it till we
reach the ancient Warminster road, vid Entry Hill and
Combe Down, just at the point opposite the intersection of
the South Stoke Lane, and that leading from Newton to
Warminster. These two public ways it crosses, and then
forms, for half a mile, the bold basis of a stone wall of
separation between arable fields, which is reared so high, by
availing itself of this ridge, as to be seen at a considerable
distance. At Burnt-House Gate it crosses the Wells Road,
and, pursuing a lane for a short distance, takes the brow of
the hill which curves through the middle of an arable field.
For a short distance its progress is again obscured, but we
soon perceive the ridge once more, in the foundation of a
hedge, which drops down a descent towards Englishcombe
Wood,i having a coppice on the left hand. The next meadow
discovers it in great perfection. Having crossed and ascended
the western side of it, Wansdike penetrates into English
combe Wood, and follows the brow of the rock entirely
through its shades. Thence it intersects a farmer's barton, a
few yards to the south of the church ; and pushing on to the
westward through an orchard, enters a meadow, where it
appears in its original grandeur, exhibiting a mound twelve
feet high, and a deep trench on the south side. A quarter of
' The most perfect and characteristic example of this interesting
relic iu this locality.

The Roman Period. 5
a mile to the westward of the church it makes a sudden bend
to the southward, and is lost for some time, but presents
itself again at Stanton Prior, Publow, Norton, and Long
Ashton, and at length loses itself in the Severn sea near
Portishead, after having pursued a course of nearly ninety
miles in length.
We shall have occasion to speak of the Fosse Road when
we refer to the excavation of the oolite in early times, and the
part that that great Roman work played in Bath in relation
to the Norman city and vast Abbey raised by de Villula.
Now, interesting as are these records, it must be observed
that later history reveals the fact that the two sections of the
Celts were assimilated, and ultimately became as one people,
and during the Roman occupation were known as the BelgcB.
After the departure of the Romans from Britain, moreover, it
is clear that this people had made great advances in civiliza
tion and in the art of government. The departure of the
Romans in the fifth century encouraged them to attempt the
government of England and Wales ; but with equal certainty
it excited the Picts and Scots — i.e., Caledonians of the Celtic
race — to renew those attempts which the Romans had kept in
check by the Cumberland Vallum, or Picts' Wall. With more
or less success the Belgse struggled against these formidable
and rapacious foes. It was during this struggle that the
Roman city of Bath gradually became a scene of desolation.
The magnificent buildings which the Romans left behind them
fell, partly by unavoidable neglect, partly by violence, into
ruins. In the early part of this struggle the Belg« invited the
Saxons into Britain to help them. They came, drove back
these Picts and Scots, and formed themselves into small
States, leaving the Belgs in possession of Bath, as well as
other cities and territory.
In the year 557 it was that, after earlier futile attempts, the
Saxons, under Ceaulin and Cuthwin, advanced to and en-

6 Introduction.
trenched themselves at Sodbury ; and it is curious here to
note that they were assisted materially by one of the minor
roads made by the Romans connecting this portion of
Gloucestershire with Cirencester by way of Birdlip Hill.
They then advanced to meet the British, under their chiefs
Commail, Candidan, and Farinmail, whom they utterly
defeated ; and Bath, with all dependent upon it, fell for the
first time under Saxon rule.
It is necessary, in order to understand Bath history, and
more especially as it concerns Lyncombe and Widcombe,
to state, if only in the briefest manner, the part played by
the Roman road called the The Fosse, signifying Artificial
Way. " For arts,i military and civil, that become a wise
government, the Romans beyond compare exceeded all
nations, but in their roads they have exceeded themselves.
 It is altogether astonishing to consider how they
begirt the whole globe, as it were, with new meridians and
great circles, all manner of ways.
" Magnorum fuerat solers haec cura Quiritum
Constratas passim concelebrare vias."
It has been said that the Romans, " as well as use, studied
eternity in all their works"; and the truth ofthe saying is con
spicuously illustrated by their wonderful works in the city of
Bath. Their prescience, not less than their constructive genius,
strikes us with wonder to this day. Bath manifestly was the
object of their special, perhaps their supreme care, and for
obvious reasons. There was an exhaustless supply of stone
and coal, and the great Fosse road they constructed was made
to intersect their city so that it should pass close to those coal
fields with which the district abounds, as well as those vast
stone quarries, which were not only to meet all the wants of
early civilisation, but which, in a measure, are to this day
evidences of the scientific skill and the industry of the
Romans. ' Iti?i. Cur., vol. i, p. 75.

The Saxon Period.

THE SAXON PERIOD.
The British period after the departure of the Romans, we
have already partly referred to. It was a period of violence
and bloodshed, which did not cease with the early Saxon
occupation. The efforts of Arthur and successive chief
tains, whose valour and achievements, it may be, pass under
his name, for a time kept the Saxon " hordes from the
shores of the Baltic" in check, but only for a time. The
first Saxon conquerors were not more civilised, but perhaps
more cruel, than the British whom in the sixth century they
overcame at Dyrham. We can trace to them no superior
policy, no apparent desire to organize and develop the
resources of the country, no wise and systematic toleration of
the British, who were by this time materially weaned from their
isolated habits and rude savage camp life by the influence of
the Belgse. In this the Saxons exhibited a marked contrast to
the Romans, of whose power and organizing genius they had
at that period ample evidence before them, but were unable to
imitate. Warner, in the chapter on the " Saxon and Danish
History of Bath", gives a picture, a hundred years after the
Saxon conquest, of what he calls " the new reUgious rites, less
elegant [than those of the Romans and more disgusting],
poured into the temples of Aquce Solis; and the fanes and
altars of Minerva, Apollo, Jove, Hercules, and Diana beheld
themselves polluted and deformed by the monstrous mixture
of Celtic worship with their own classical ceremonials." The
distinguished historian is here indulging in one of those fits of
absurd exaggeration to which he was so prone, and of which he
gives us another example in his description of the corrupt state
of Christianity, almost before the sound of it had been heard in
the Kingdom of Wessex. The first picture is simply a carica-

8 Introduction.
ture, the Roman temples having for the most part, during the
prolonged internecine contention, fallen into partial ruin, from
which the Saxons rescued many of those altars and those
wonderful examples of Roman art which we possess to this
day. In the second instance he indulges in the language of
the modern fanatic in condemning the terms used by Osric'
in d^G^ in granting one hundred manentes to Bretana to found
1 Osric was not originally a Wessex chief He was King of the Huiccii,
who occupied Worcestershire, Warwickshire, and part of Gloucestershire.
He was an absolute and wise ruler. The Saxons in this part of Wessex
had, for loo years after the battle of Dyrham, been subject to frequent
attacks by the Belgse, and had become weak and demoralised. This
period, indeed, was one of bitter humiliation to Bath ; and the accession of
Osric to power here, with the consent of Kentwin, King of Wessex, was,
in fact, the beginning of Saxon rule, Saxon laws, and Saxon civilization.
^ The Very Rev. H. Donald M. Spence, D.D., Dean of Gloucester, the
custodian, claims to have made the very important discovery that the
actual remains of Osric, King of Northumbria, who was buried a.d. 729,
lie beneath the beautiful shrine erected to his memory, which stands on
the right hand of the high altar in the choir of Gloucester Cathedral.
This shrine is the work of Abbot Malvern, Abbot of Gloucester in the
days of Henry VIII, and it has been generally supposed to be merely a
memorial — simply a cenotaph, or empty tomb. This supposition probably
arose from the distance back to which the interment dates — namely
1,162 years. Britton speaks ofthe memorial as a " cenotaph, or empty
tomb", and all local guide-books repeat what is now believed to be a
mistake. It was certainly a natural thing to doubt that the remains of
one who had passed away in the eighth century were preserved, and that
the dust ofthe bones ofthe founder ofthe Abbey still reposed beneath its
sacred roof It seems incredible (as the Dean remarks in a short history
of the discovery he has had printed for private circulation) that the
hallowed dust of Osric could have escaped the ravages of war, time, and
neglect, the forays of the Vikings and Norman pillage, the confiscations
of Henry VIII, and the yet more dangerous guardianship of Cromwell's
Ironsides. Thus it was that successive historians spoke of the memorial
as simply an empty tomb, and that the statement until now has never
been questioned.
Dean Spence adopted the tradition of his predecessors in the Deanery

The Saxon Period. g
a nunnery, merely because Osric uses the pious language of that
and a later period, in that he performs the good deed for the
redemption ofhis soul, a formula of almost universal adoption
of Gloucester Cathedral, until quite recently. It is stated in Leland's
notes, which he made in the course of his official visit to Gloucester
Abbey, by the desire of Henry VIII, shortly after the dissolution in 1540,
that "Osric, founder of Gloucester Abbey, first laye in St. Petronell's
Chapell, thence removed into our Lady Chapell, and thence removed of
late dayes and layd under a fayre tombe of stone on the North side of the
High Aultar. At the foote of the tombe is this, written on a Norman
pillar, ' Osricus rex primus fundator hujus monasterii, 681.'" There is no
reason to suppose that Leland's " memory" was inaccurate, since it was
probable that he had heard it from an eye-witness of the translation of
the founder's remains from the Lady Chapel. It was reasoned, therefore,
that the memorial tomb marked the actual resting-place of the remains of
the great Northumbrian King and founder of the Abbey. Two panels
were taken out of the stone loculus, and a long leaden coffin was disclosed,
lying exactly beneath the King's effigy. The contents of the coffin dis
closed the remains of a very ancient interment. Much of the cement
which had once fastened down the stone effigy of Osric had fallen into
the end of the coffin, broken by the weight of the superincumbent figure,
and a few small bones were discovered mingled with the cement. No
attempt was made to discover Royal insignia or fragments of vesture, and
the remains were left untouched. Dr. Spence claims that by this search
he has verified beyond all doubt the statement of Leland in 1540-41,
concerning the translation of the remains of the Royal founder of
Gloucester Cathedral, and that the beautiful tomb, known as Osric's
tomb, is no mere monument raised in pious memory of the King, but the
actual resting-place of the founder's remains.
The importance of this discovery lies in the fact that it is believed that,
in the tomb of Osric, Gloucester may claim the guardianship of the oldest
known remains of the Saxon kings. Fragments are known to exist in
other minsters. Winchester possesses some of the ashes of Kynegils,
King ofthe West Saxons, who died a.d. 643 ; and at Durham the skull of
King Oswald rests with the bones of St. Cuthbert. But beyond these it
is not known that the remains of any Saxon kings have been preserved.
The fact of the remains of King Osric being found in a leaden coffin is
thus of almost unique interest. The lead coffin probably replaces a more
ancient stone loculus.

I o Introduction.
then and centuries after in similar documents. This grant by
Osric was one of many others of that period. As Mr. Grant
Allen says —
" Before the conversion to Christianity we have not a single written
document upon which to base our history ; from the moment of Augus
tine's landing we have the invaluable works of Baeda, besides a vast
number of charters or royal grants of land to monasteries and private
persons. These grants, written at first in Latin and afterwards in Anglo-
Saxon, were preserved in the monasteries down to the date ofthe Disso
lution, and then became the property of various collectors.
" Those who judge monastic institutions only by their later and worst
days, are apt to forget the benefits which they conferred upon the people
in the earlier stages of their system. The state of England during the
first Christian period was one of chronic and bloody warfare. With such
a state of affairs as this, it became a matter of deep importance that there
should be one institution where the arts of peace might be carried on in
safety ; where agriculture might be sure of its reward ; where literature
and science might be studied, and where civilising influences might be
safe from interruption or rapine. The monasteries gave an opportunity
for such an ameliorating influence to spring up. They were spared eyen
in war by the reverence of the people for the Church : and they became
places where peaceful minds might retire for honest work, and learning,
and thinking, away from the fierce turmoil of a still essentially barbaric
and predatory community. At the same time, they encouraged the
development of this very type of mind by turning the reproach of
cowardice, which it would have carried with it in heathen times, into an
honour and a mark of holiness. Every monastery became a centre of
light and of struggling culture for the surrounding district. They were
at once, to the early English recluse, universities and refuges, places of
education, of retirement, and of peace, in the midst of a jarring and
discordant world."
Now it must be mentioned here that in reference to the
development of the various physical resources, from Osric to
Eadgar, the Saxons did little. They found one road and they
left one road — the Roman Fosse. The Romans had long
before discovered those vast oolite beds whence they derived
their supplies to construct those magnificent temples and
other edifices which, in their fall, through neglect during the

The Saxon Period. 1 1
later Belgae and the early Saxon rule, fell near and into those
baths, the ruins of which a happy accident revealed in 1755.^
Then, it must be observed, not only did the Romans con
struct this celebrated way, the Fosse,'' but they also constructed
three other primary fundamental ways — Icening Street,
Waiting Street, and Hermen Street ; and this vast system
traversed the kingdom from south-west to north-east. Besides
these, there were many subordinate or subsidiary ways in
Britain connecting various stations, besides the Via Badonica.
[See note on page i.J
The importance of the Fosse passing through the steep
ascents at Lyncombe will be understood when it is shown
that throughout the ages, from the earliest times of the
Romans until the beginning of the last century, every stone
used in building and every bit of coal consumed in the city
and suburbs came from the Down quarries in Lyncombe, and
from the coalfields in the country in a direct line beyond ;
all being brought with comparative facility, by means of
sledges, down the road which we now call Holloway.
That now despised road or way, dating from the Christian
1 Those who desire to study the whole question of this discovery in
1755 will need no other authorities than Dr. Lucas and Dr. Spry, both of
which are cited by the author in the work (The Thermal Baths of Bath)
which he edited for H. W. Freeman, Esq., in 1888, pages 17 to 25, which
citations are accompanied by the artist Hoare's beautiful plan.
It was in 1878 that the portion now open was uncovered. The masonry
and dibris which had fallen into this Roman work about the early part of
the seventh century had in the next four centuries become so consoli
dated that, towards the close of the eleventh century, the first Norman
bishop, John de Villula, built his palace immediately over it, the remains
of which were still standing in the sixteenth century, and are described
by Leland. After de Villula it was never occupied by Bishop or Prior.
An ancient record, quoted by Bishop Hobhouse, states that it was let for
I OS. per annum and fell into decay.
2 The Celto-Saxon name is used to describe nearly all the Roman
works, and the same remark applies to much of the Norman period to
this day.

1 2 Introduction.
era, is, beyond all doubt, not only the most ancient one we
possess, but is, moreover, the road identified with much of the
ancient greatness of our city, and with the promotion and
preservation of its prosperity for centuries. We forget all
this when we enter that squalid suburb. If, half-way up the
" Holloway", we turn to the left, we see the origin of the com
paratively modern name ; there are the denudations which
indicate whence much of the oolite was hewn of which
mediaeval Bath was built. Ascending, still on the line of the
Fosse, we pass the ancient " Repway"^ until we come to the
" steppe'' (if it may bc so called) opposite Westfield, and there
on the left we see the exhausted quarry whence all the stone
required for completing our revered Abbey was obtained.^
Proceeding, we come to those sites to the right and left, on
Odd Down,^ where the Romans, with their almost instinctive
foresight, perceived not only stone, but stone possessing all
the qualities they needed for structures which were to have
lasted for all time, as the existing Roman baths attest. Their
vast basilica and temples were for the most part built with
le^stone hewn with scientific skill from the quarries close to
the site of the grand city they raised.
It has been said, with absolute truth, that the Saxons were
\ } Rope Way or Rope Walk. It signified also a public way or walk ;
a^d, in fact, was the field at the rear of Beechenclifif, and opposite Elm
Place. 2 Much of the stone of de Villula's Cathedral was worked in from the
walls of the ancient Roman buildings.
' Odd Down. Collinson, who was a careful antiquary, says the name is
derived from Woden. The early Saxons appear to have regarded the
Wansdyke with some superstition, and hence they called it Vodenerdic.
The dyke passed close to this down, and therefore would be called Woden
Down, of which Odin or Odd is the corruption. Wood gives a similar
origin, but he adds two or three absurd suggestions.
The early Saxon kings were in the habit of tracing their descent to
Woden, " father of victory, wisest of gods and men." Woden, in fact,
was their " bogie" man, before they became enlightened by Christianity.

The Saxon Period. 13
neither road-makers nor architects. We cannot, in any part
of the beautiful and historic domain of Lyncombe, from the
time of Osric to the death of Harold, find a trace of a road
or a building attributable to them. Every local name that
was known from the time of Osric, or before, until now, is
Saxon, or Celto-Saxon ; and yet we can only form a conjecture,
founded on historic analogy, it is true, that the ancient Saxon
chiefs palace and wie, or village, stood on or near the site of
the old Widcombe Church. It is more than probable that
Osric, by whom the nunnery was founded, built a small church
near it. But the only ecclesiastical edifice of which we have any
account is that built by Offa in the eighth century on the site
of the present Abbey, and which survived to be the scene of
the most important event of the Saxon rule, the crowning of
Eadgar. Much that preceded that event savoured of violence
and bloodshed ; but, so far as Bath is concerned, amidst all
this there was a progressive advance in civilisation, and in the
development of constitutional forms of legality and municipal
order. With the final triumph of Christianity all the forma
tive elements of Anglo-Saxon Britain are complete. We see
it, even at this time, a rough conglomeration of loosely-
aggregated principalities, composed of a fighting aristocracy
and a body of unvalued serfs ; while interspersed through its
parts are the bishops, monks, and clergy, centres of nascent
civilisation for the seething mass of noble barbarism. The
country is divided into agricultural colonies, its only wealth
being land. We want but one more conspicuous change to
make it into the England of the Augustan Anglo-Saxon
age — the reign of Eadgar — and that one change is the con
solidation of the discordant kingdoms under a single loose
overlordship. To understand this final step we must glance
briefly at the dull record of political history. King Eadgar
succeeded Eadwig in 958 as King of all three provinces, then
finally uniting the whole of Teutonic England into one king-

1 4 Introduction.
dom. Eadgar was not crowned till years after being called
to the throne ; this has been to some a matter of surprise,
but it must be remembered that Eadgar and his great adviser
Dunstan had good reason for delay, and that was the complete
supremacy of Eadgar's power. The oft-repeated tradition,
that Dunstan delayed the ceremony to punish Eadgar for his
sins, is nonsense. Dunstan knew when to use pious terrors,
and when to exercise the wisdom of the statesman.
When that great ceremonial took place it was in the
Cathedral of Offa,^ in the " ancient West Welsh Royal City of
Bath", by St. Dunstan, probably the first Englishman who
seriously deserves the name of statesman. He was, says Mr.
Allen, born in the half-Celtic region of Somerset,^ beside the
great Abbey of Glastonbury, and a good deal of the imaginative
Celtic temper ran probably with the blood in his veins. But
he was above all the representative of the Roman civilisation
in the barbarised England of the tenth century. He was a
painter, a musician, a reader and a scholar, in a world of fierce
warriors and ignorant nobles.
The Saxons were simple, and, even in their rudest state,
not without domestic virtues. They were unaccustomed to
state and ceremony. They were " skilful in the use of the
sword and the spade, of the oar and the sail". They were
brave and warlike, and were, in their perpetual incursions
upon British soil, the dread of the Britons and almost a terror
to the Romans. The remarkable quality about these Saxons,
however, was their innate sense of order and the power they
possessed of ruling themselves in their village communities,
and their inability to grasp those great principles in the
1 The story of Offa's church having been destroyed by the Danes is a
fiction, resting upon much the same evidence as that which o-oes
to show that de Villula's cathedral at a later period was destroyed by
fire ; both stories are baseless.
' We, Bathonians, claim him as a native of Weston, close to our city.

The Saxon Period. 15
growth and development of cities which so peculiarly
characterised the Romans and the Normans.
It was, however, not only in architecture, but in all the arts
demanding genius, taste, and execution, that the Saxons
signally failed. Nor does it seem to have been the result of
indifference ; on the contrary, it is clear that they aimed at
excellence, for the coins that have been found of the seventh
to the tenth centuries are distinguished for the excellence and
purity of their metal and the utter meanness of their design
and execution. It is singular that a people and a government
such as the Saxon, roughly speaking, in whom the organizing
and governing faculty seemed to be innate, should have lacked
the faculty referred to.'
With all the disturbing elements, from the earliest Saxon
times down to the Conquest, we trace that distinguishing
characteristic, the recognition of legal principles ; and out of
this instinct gradually were developed those municipal regula
tions which in time became the basis of our national laws and
liberties. Our own city is, perhaps, the most notable illustra
tion of the truth of this statement, and there would be special
reasons for it. If Bath had occasionally been the focus of
rebellion and violence, it was favoured by successive chiefs
and kings. It was a royal city, with all the privileges and
immunities which its rank conferred ; and these advantages
grew and attained to that comparatively complete state of
municipal government which the Normans found in force, and
1 Of Saxon antiquities we are unable in Bath to boast of a single
example. This is the more remarkable, seeing that Bath was, probably,
more closely associated with Saxon rule than any other city. Since the
publication, in 1807, of Ducarel's HistoricE Anglicance, only one perfect
example of Saxon architecture has been discovered, viz., the church at
Bradford-on-Avon, which is eminently characteristic of Saxon faults and,
in a measure, of Saxon merits. The old church of Saxon architecture,
St. Peter's, at Oxford, built by St. Grymbald in 886, is well known. (See
Leland's Collectanea, vol. vi, and Archceologia, )

1 6 Introduction.
which, to their honour be it said, they fostered and encouraged,
until it assumed that complete corporate form in the thirteenth
century which lasted until the reign of Queen Elizabeth.
The Manor of Lyncombe was ecclesiastical property from
the time of Osric in the seventh century down to the Con
quest ; nor is it too much to say that it was in its compactness,
fruitfulness, and beauty, and from its contiguity to the capital
city, the gem of all the Church's possessions in Wessex. And
again this supremacy was maintained, in spite of waste and
mismanagement, from the time of John de Villula down to
the Dissolution. But there was another advantage which the
city derived from the domain of Lyncombe. The resources
of this large range of fertile land were enormous. Cattle were
fed on its plains and in its combes. The corn-fields lay to the
south of what, after the Conquest and the Domesday Survey,
was called the Wide Combe,^ and on the south-east slope of
Beechen Cliff, and the corn was made into flour in the two
ancient mills deriving their water-power from that stream
which still retains its Celtic name of Lyn. This stream, with
its occasional pools, formerly wider and with greater volume
than now, taking its rise in the hills to the west, flowed down
the combe at the foot of those slopes which it watered and
enriched. This was and is the Lyn proper ; but there is
another stream, whose watershed is at the top of the wide-
combe, and which originally flowed down the centre. This
stream formed a dam at the bottom of the manor fields, and,
having turned the mill wheel, passed through a culvert and
joined its sister stream near the end of the combe, flowing on
together towards the second mill,^ turning its rude wheel,
and then gently retiring into the Avon.
On the southern slopes, at the western end of Greenway
1 This is a term first employed in Domesday to denote its character
and its separation from Lyncombe, for local convenience.
^ These mills are referred to in Domesday, each being gelded at los.

The Saxon Period. \j
Lane, there were splendidly cultivated fig-groves and vine
yards, the latter producing wine in abundance, and of a quality
something like that of a thin dry port ; while every species of
vegetable was cultivated then (as now) on patches here and
there throughout the various vills or farms, by the villeins,
who, more highly favoured than that class in general under
feudal law, held the land by the modified tenure of the law of
socage. The ancient village was scattered about the sides of
the combe, but besides this there were other houses in dififerent
parts of the manor, especially on the slope of Beechen Cliff;
and there is little doubt that on Akerland, on the eastern side
of the cliff, the chief cultivators or villeins resided. From Odd
Down a pleasing view may be seen of the vale of South
Lyncombe, but to see it in all its varied and extended beauty
the spectator must descend some distance, and enter the
grounds near Westfield, whence it may be seen from the true
picturesque point of view. There is no possibility of classify
ing valleys, but this landscape is perfect in its calm repose
and picturesque beauty. " To be beautiful is enough," said
Thackeray ; but to beauty and grace must be added its variety
of scenery and remarkable richness of soil and productiveness.
On the south it is bounded by the Barrow ridge.^ An
1 Near this ridge is the }nound or barrow, which has been the subject
of much controversy. Doubtless, this arose from Wood's absurd descrip
tion of it, first published in 1749. He says : " This mound seems to me to
have been King Bladud's sepulchre, for it stands within half-a-mile of a
place called Hakim — a name expressive not only of a wise and learned
philosopher, but the very title given to Zoroaster — and it is so situated as to
make the angle of a triangle with Hakim and the Castle of Inglescomb."
This theory, even supposing that Bladud was a real personage, is not only
absurd, but is based, archaeologically, upon an erroneous theory. "Barrow"
is an Anglo-Saxon word, beorh, signifying a hill, and is liable to be con
fused with the names derived from " burgh", an earthwork. Some forty
years ago the mound was examined, and found to be stone from base to
summit. C

1 8 Introduction.
adequate description of the rest of the scene would be difficult.
Turning from the west to the east we are in Mid-Lyncombe,
near the site of the Priors' Park, the most historic portion of
the manor before us.
" Straight mine eye hath caught new pleasures,
Whilst the landskip round it measures."
This scene appears to have been the centre of interest in
ancient as well as in modern times. Where now stands the
venerable sixteenth-century church, there formerly, as early as
the ninth century, stood the Saxon church ; and on that
same site was erected its Norman successor, which was super
seded by the present. On the site of, or near, the Widcombe
House stood the ancient thane's or chief's manor house, around
which were grouped the dwellings of the freemen or en
franchised citizens.
From the time of Eadgar, through the Danish epoch
and the restored Saxon rule, little occurred to affect the
interests of the city or the development of Lyncombe. Fresh
taxation was imposed by Edward the Confessor, but although
the same terminology was employed as under the Domesday
Survey to describe its import, yet it differed essentially,
from the fact that in the Saxon system the admeasur-
ment was by rule of thumb, whereas the Norman .system was
approximately accurate. Hide, carucate, and many other
terms were all Anglo-Saxon, but they are all perpetuated in
Domesday. During the Saxon period in the City of Bath we really
know little of the ecclesiastical governmant and policy. The
entire manor of Lyncombe, as we have seen, was Church
property, and all that concerned its management and Church
government was under the direction of an ecclesiastical digni
tary, subordinate to the ancient see of Sherborne. This see
comprehended the whole of Wessex (Dorset, Somerset Wilts

The Norman Period. 19
Devon, and Cornwall) until 704. King Ina in that year
divided the province into two portions — Winchester and
Sherborne. It was in 1075 that Sherborne was removed to
Salisbury. Again, in or about 905, the county of Somerset was
taken out of Sherborne to form the diocese of Wells, and
finally the see of Sherborne was wholly dismembered to form
two sees, which ultimately were recorded under the see of
Exeter, now again separated nearly upon the ancient lines in
the see of Truro.
The see of Wells was created about 905, the first bishop
being Athelm, between whom and Giso (1059) there were
thirteen bishops. Giso was a native of Lorraine, and was
chaplain to Edward the Confessor. He experienced much of
the ill usage which honest prelates in those days received from
such monarchs as Edward, having been banished the country.
Singular as it may seem, Giso was recalled from banishment
and reinstated in his see by the Conqueror, after which he
continued to preside over his diocese until his death in 1087;
and then began a new regime.

THE NORMAN PERIOD.
It is evident that so far as the Conquest affected Bath, its
influence and general effect were by no means prejudicial.
All the traditions and customs of the later Saxon times were
respected. The local government was carried on upon the
old lines without interference or arbitrary check of any kind ;
indeed, it is evident that all that was capable of expansion
and development in the Saxon municipal system was con
tinued after the Conquest. Warner says :
" That the English [however] were rather surprised into submission
than completely conquered, Willifim soon discovered from the general dis-
C 2

20 Introduction.
contents which growled around him, and the many plots and insurrections
which succeeded each other on every side. The attempts of enemies, foreign
and domestic, kept him in continual anxiety, and at length induced him to
adopt measures so severe against his English subjects as justify all the
censures passed upon his conduct, and all the execrations with which
they have loaded his memory. But amidst regulations the most un
justifiable, exactions the most unconscionable, and laws the most
tyrannical, the Conqueror occasionally exhibited specimens of sagacity
which mark him at least for a discerning politician, if not an amiable
character." This, perhaps, was the general estimate formed of William
up to Warner's time. Mr. Freeman, however, gives us a very
different picture of the Conqueror. He gives a vivid descrip
tion of William's character, his genius and statesmanship : —
" Now that the Norman duke has become an English king, his career
as an English statesman strictly begins, and a wonderful career it is. Its
main principle was to respect formal legality wherever he could. All
William's purposes were to be carried out, as far as possible, under cover
of strict adherence to the law of the land of which he had become the
lawful ruler. He had sworn at his crowning to keep the laws ofthe land,
and to rule his kingdom as well as any king that had gone before him.
And assuredly he meant to keep his oath. But a foreign king, at the
head of a foreign army, and who had his foreign followers to reward,
could keep that oath only in its letter, and not in its spirit. But it is
wonderful how nearly he came to keep it in the letter. He contrived to
do his most oppressive acts, to deprive Englishmen of their lands and
offices, and to part them out among strangers, under cover of English
law. He could do this. A smaller man would either have failed to carry
out his purposes at all, or he could have carried them out only by reckless
violence. " When we examine the administration of William more in detail, we
shall see that its effects in the long run were rather to preserve than to
destroy our ancient institutions. He knew the strength of legal fictions ;
by legal fictions he conquered and he ruled. But every legal fiction is
outward homage to the principle of law, an outward protest against
unlawful violence. That England underwent a Norman conquest did in
the end only make her the more truly England. But that this could be
was because that conquest was wrought by the Bastard of Falaise, and by
none other.''

The Norman Period. 2 1
Nothing, perhaps, in that early age marked more distinctly
the instinctive wisdom and statesmanship of William than the
great Domesday Survey. In its general results it not only
led to a- more accurate knowledge of property, but it formed
an approximately correct basis, on which assessment for
taxation, local and general, was to rest. It was a measure,
moreover, which enabled him to ascertain the number and
state of his own demesne lands, and, what was equally im
portant, to obtain a clear knowledge of the estates held by
the tenants in capite, i.e., estates held in direct tenure from the
Crown. Another result followed, namely, it enabled the king
to obtain an exact knowledge of those estates which he had
lavished upon his nobles, and thus to take care that they
should be subject to equitable taxation. In a sense, this great
measure was the first great step towards the settlement of real
property, founded upon a definite law and a definite method
of levying. The Saxon method was arbitrary and ill-defined.
The tenures were more or less uncertain, and the holdings,
according to Saxon customs, often insecure. The Domesday
Commissioners appointed for every shire made their inquisi
tions upon the oath of juries empanelled on the occasion to
ascertain the quantity of land in every county, rape} lathe^
hundred^ liberty,^ etc., together with the number of freemen,
socmen, villeins, slaves, cattle, sheep, hogs, horses, which each
estate contained ; to take an account of the cities, towns, vills,
and hamlets ; the quantity of arable and pasture land, wood,
1 Rape, a division of a hundred or shire ; a geographical expression.
2 Lathe, a part or large division of a county.
' An indefinite expression, a territorial or.administrative district, peculiar
to Southern and Central England. In the North it is called a Wappen-
take. In earHer times it represented loo hides, the hides differing in
extent in various counties.
* A district exempt, as a community, from certain legal conditions and
taxation of county government.

2 2 Introduction
and meadow. There is no doubt, says Hearne, that the
Norman Survey was one of the greatest strokes of policy
ever accomplished.
" The Burgh of Bath we account to have been at the date of the Con
quest the capital of Somerset. By ' capital' we mean the seat of the
Summa Justicia, of the highest, though by no means the only, Crown
Court which existed in the county.
" Bath, previous to its constitution as a burgh, which was towards the
end of the tenth century, was but a member, however valuable, of an estate
of Royal Demesne. . . .
" The Burgh of Bath, together with whatever pertained to it of royal
estate, came to the hands of King Edward at his accession. Whether by
way of dotation, or by subsequent gifts, the king seems to have bestowed
the whole upon his wife, Edith. The estate, thus passing from the Crown,
was then subject to hidation, and so became geldable. ^ On the other
hand, it retained one great note mark of royalty. It continued to be a
seat of high justice. Queen Edith herself exercised the function of a high
justiciar. She paid the Tertius Denarius of the crown-pleas of Bath to
her brother Harold, while Earl of Somerset. Queen Edith retained Bath,
and her office as a high justiciar, after the Conquest. Surely it was in
that capacity that on February 28th, 1072, she presided in the Church of
Wilton over that memorable contract, whereby the Saxon Thane, Alsor,
sold the Somerset manor of Combe to Giso, Bishop of Wells. This
Combe was Monkton Combe, with Combe Down, the former consisting
of 720, and the latter 173 parochial acres. Such a transaction could have
had no validity save by warranty of the King or his vicegerent."
^ That is, it became subject to the ordinary laws of taxation, based
upon hidation or admeasurement, the hide differing in extent in different
counties ; in Somerset it was about 249I acres. Originally, in its essence,
it was a tencmc7tt or occtipatioii of uncertain area calculated to bear
a certain weight of taxation. When such property ceased to belong to
the king, it became geldable, that is, to accurate measurement or hidation
and taxation. At the death of .Queen Edith the Burgh of Bath reverted
to the Crown, and King William dishidated the Burgh. This process
of dishidation involved no benefit to the tenant, the king in such a case
simply remitting all taxes and royalties due to himself There were other
meanings of the word hide in connection with the lands ; but we confine
ourselves strictly to its accepted meaning in relation to Domesday.

The Norman Period. 23
On the death of WilUam, the Burgh reverted to Rufus, by
whom it was sold to John de Villula of Tours, Giso's successor
in the see of Wells. The sale purported to convey the Burgh
and its local privileges and all its appurtenances as previously
enjoyed by the King's father, but the justiciarship did not
pass by the grant of William to the Bishop, but was entrusted
to Edward of Salisbury, then Sheriff of Wiltshire, who was
filling the said office at the date of Domesday. At the same
date the Burgh and Manor of Batheaston was being farmed
of the King by the burgesses as a body corporate, Edward of
Salisbury now paying the Tertius Denarius of the Crown-
pleas of Bath to the King, as Comes.^
It was in 1086 that John de Villula succeeded Giso as
Bishop of Wells ; and shortly afterwards Rufus sold the Burgh
to the Bishop,'-^ the sale purporting to convey the said borough,
its local privileges and all its appurtenances, as previously
enjoyed by the King's father. The estate thus acquired did
not include the external territory, as is shown by the fact that
the Tertius Denarius, the "third penny", brought only £\\,
whereas the Crown Pleas of that jurisdiction realised;^ 33 per
annum. The local territory within the borough comprised
the Abbey-fee inBath, Bade Caput AbbaticB, consisting of twelve
acres of meadow (the King's Mead), and a further area being
in the old burgh within the walls, Lyncombe and Widcombe
{Lincuma), Walcot and Bathwick. This last district was then
1 In ancient Rome a companion of, or attendant on, a great person.
The corporate body paid the tax to the Earl of Salisbury, the King's
Comes or representative.
' It is curious to note the construction put by all the guide writers and
many others upon this transaction. They seem to have thought it meant
literally that William sold, ancl the Bishop bought, Bath bodily, and was
able to rule and govern it as he pleased. It simply meant that de Villula
acquired the King's legal rights in property subject to the laws then in
force ; the justiciary being Edward of Salisbury as representative of the
Crown.

24 Introduction.
called Wicke or Wica ; and the late Mr. Eyton, in his most
valuable work on Somerset Domesday Studies, implies that
the Wica was divided into three. He says : " Alured, a Saxon
Thane (a term signifying a member of a rank above that of a
freeman, but below that of a noble), appears in Domesday as
tenant-in-capite of two hides in Wica, one of which he held in
demesne. The name given to him in 1084 was from his estate
in Wick (now Bathwick)." This is one of the few slips made
by the accomplished author. There were two Wicks. Bath
wick, distinct altogether from Lyncombe, was Wick or Wica
proper ; the Wick held by Alured was on the western part of
Lj'ncombe, known as Berewyke or Berwick^ (prefix Bere or
Ber, signifying water, from its contiguity to the small stream
which runs just below it), the tithes of which were assigned
to St. Mary de Stall in Bath. There is no trace of any other
ancient village in Bathwick than the one which stood on the site
of Bathwick Street. At the northern extremity of this village,
near the bank of the river, stood the small Early Norman
church, within a quaint little churchyard. This church had
been patched up in every conceivable style of architecture
until it would no longer hold together, and was pulled down
in 1 8 14.
The aggregate acreage sold to the Bishop was 3,348 statu
tory acres, to which must be added Woolley (Wilega or
Heorleia) as an integral part of Wica, with an area of 366
acres, thus making an aggregate of 3,714.
^ The modern corruption of the word is " Barracks".

The Norman and Pre-Reformation Period. 25

THE
NORMAN AND PRE-REFORMATION PERIOD.
From the death of Giso in 1087, and the accession of John
de Villula to Wells in 1088, the city of Bath seems to have
undergone no change in relation to the Church. The Saxon
church of Offa was still standing, and the rites of the Church
were still carried on therein.
By whom or under what dignitaries the ecclesiastical
affairs of Bath had been directed under Saxon rule there
is little or nothing to show. It is certain that some sort
of state and pomp was maintained, under a deputy prelate,
or one subordinate to the Bishop. Formerly the heads of
religious houses and certain other dignitaries were deemed
prelates.^ •' A prioure that is a prelate of any church Cathedralle
Above abbot or prioure with-in the diocise sitte he shalle."
The Abbot's dwelling before 1092 was called the Manerium,
and belonged to the see. Of such houses, besides that in
Bath, there were thirteen in the diocese.
It was, no doubt, in 1087, and before the death of William I,
that John de Villula was appointed to the see of Wells, in
succession to Giso. This fact effectually disposes of the state
ment that he practised medicine in the city of Bath, whatever
he may have done in Tours, in which city he received Holy
' Professor Earle reminds us that there used to be in the garden of
Weston Vicarage a coffin slab incised with the name of a priest who is
entitled " Antistes", a name equivalent to prelate. Prior is an official in
the monastic Orders next in dignity and rank to an abbot. Before the
thirteenth century he was called provost, and prior seems to have meant
any superior or senior. If in an abbey, and an assistant ofthe abbot, he
is called a claustral prior ; if in a priory, he is called a convejitual prior.
There were many other kinds of priors.

26 Introduction.
Orders. When de Villula was invested with the Bishopric
of Wells, Bath would have been under his jurisdiction.
Whatever the preferments and privileges may have been
which he obtained from Rufus for the 500 marks could have
made no difference in his ecclesiastical status. He seemed
for some reason to have preferred Bath to Wells, and to have
transferred the seat of his episcopal power and administration
to the former city in 1091, four years from the time of his
investiture at Wells.
This transfer of the see from Wells to Bath led to important
and immediate changes in Bath, and in Lyncombe and
Widcombe. De Villula was a man of the type of St. Dunstan,
only with less of that great man's fiery reUgious zeal and
temperament. He found the mean Saxon church still standing,
and this he pulled down. The great prelate showed that if he
and his countrymen could not make roads, he and they could
conceive and carry out magnificent designs. De Villula's
cathedral was one of the most stately in the land. The
monastery at the south-west end, and the palace immediately
in front over the Roman Bath, and the baths he constructed,
one for the Bishop and one for the monks, all point to a
completeness and a grandeur surpassing all others before and
after. The level of the site, as the foundations show, was
raised very much above that of the Saxon building. Even its
ruins bore witness to that beauty and dignity and grand
construction which had been allowed in successive ages, by
shameful neglect, and in spite of episcopal remonstrance and
censure, to fall into premature neglect and utter ruin.i
1 The details of these particular facts are all given in Britton's History
ofthe Abbey, edited by R. E. M. Peach, 1887. The bases of the pillars
on the north side are preserved. Gratings are placed above them, and
these, on being removed, admit of a personal descent. Taking the
position of these pillars themselves, and their relative distances, the length
and breadth of the ancient structure is shown to have been double the
length of the Abbey.

The Norman and Pre-Reformation Period. 27
The great work carried on by de Villula in this city was
only a part of his achievements during the thirty-five years of
his episcopate. He developed the episcopal domain of Lyn
combe and Widcombe, which by the great Domesday survey
had been brought more under equitable and judicial authority
and management. Above the Wide Combe, which we now call
Prior Park, the Bishop built the Grange and such offices as
were necessary in the cultivation and development of all
those higher tracts which extended eastward, southward, and
westward. In the lower parts of the estate he also did all
that was known in his day to foster the cultivation of the
slopes, with their vineries, fig groves, and orchards, which the
Saxons had promoted. But as early as Bishop Jocelyn in
the thirteenth century, the prior and monks brought upon
themselves episcopal censure for their neglect and mismanage
ment of all the resources placed under their control. At the
Reformation the Grange and the group of minor buildings
on the estate were little better than the dilapidated buildings
on a sixth-rate farmstead. But this was not the worst, for the
timber had suffered, so that all the umbrageous beauties of the
hills and the combes had disappeared. We must recur
however, to de Villula.
Professor Earle says, no doubt with much truth, that " a
person who reads through the history of Bath does, in effect,
read a history of England in small, because there is no im
portant epoch that is unrepresented in the history of our
immediate locality, and that from the very earliest times."
Most people who have given any attention to the annals of
Bath, recognise the force of the Professor's remarks. He
likewise calls attention to some of the remains of Norman
architecture, etc., to be seen in various churches near Bath,
and makes especial reference to St. Michael's intra muros,
which, he says, was near the present St. Michael's. This is a
misconception. St. Michael's intra muros was near the site

28 Introduction.
of the Cross Bath; and at the period when Mr. Lansdown made
a sketch of it, partly real, partly ideal,^ more of the structure
was in existence than at present. The church in question
enters partly into this history at a later period. Besides this
early Norman church, dedicated to St. Michael, there was
another beyond the walls, which stood on the site of the old
bowling-green^ in Green Street. This was succeeded by
the curious little sixteenth- century structure which stood
on the spot occupied by the present church, and was
surrounded by a quaint churchyard.
There was another Norman church, to which we shall
briefly refer, St. Mary Magdalen. This church was not
only Norman in its character, but in its historical associa
tions, especially in connection with the Hosate or Hussey
family. The first of the Hosate family was Walter, a knight
who came over with the Conqueror. He had various possessions
near and around Bath. His son, likewise Walter, was con
temporary with de Villula ; and whilst the great prelate was
raising his vast cathedral, Walter was erecting that little
Norman church near the Fosse in Holloway, in Lyncombe.
It was saved from destruction by Prior Cantlow in 1495.
Hosate designed the church for the Lepers' Hospital, of which
at that time there were two others in the city in connection
with the mineral springs. The Hussey family were long
associated with Bath and the neighbourhood, their seat having
been at Shockerwick.^
1 More than sixty years ago.
^ When this old bowling-green was built over in the last century many
human graves and bones were discovered, not merely indicative of an
ancient, churchyard, but of an ancient church.
' Shockerwick derives its name from Adam de Socherwicke, who lived
as early as the reign of Henry II. He held of the Bishop of Bath as part
of a knight's fee. Under the feudal system this tenure signified a /^r«-
quiste or ownership ofa certain amount of land, and bound the owner to
definite military service and other obligations —

The Norman and Pre-Reformation Period. 29
In 1322 there is a curious decree of Bishop John de
Drokensford with regard to the vicarial endowment of St.
Mary in Bath [with Widcombe Chapel], hitherto undefined
and so leading to strife between the Priorj^, the Appropriator,
and the Vicar, J. de Did marton. The Vicar was to have manse,
etc., tithe of wool and hay in Widcombe, Lyncombe, and
Berwick, with milk and smaU tithes, obituary services, legacies,
and all customary dues, and to find a resident Chaplain at
Widcombe. Prior to have great tithes of the villeinage and
of other parishes in Lyncombe, of lands of John de Weston,
and the Brethren of St. Mary Magdalen ; to bear all "onera".
One copy to be kept in Priory, one by Bishop's registrar.
"For that dangerous fight
The great Armenian King made noble Bevis Knight."
After passing from the Socherwicke family the manor, with Batheaston,
Bathford, and much besides, came into the possession of the Hosate (now
softened into Hussey) family, whose principal seat was called Husei and
then Hussey Court, standing on or very near the present mansion. The
Husseys, during the reign of Edward III, sold the manor to Sir Walter de
Creyk, whose family continued to occupy the old mansion until the manor,
with Batheaston and Bathford, in the reign of Richard 1 1, passed to the
family of WilHam Brien. Sir Guy, his son, left two daughters, Philippa
and Elizabeth. From PhiHppa, the elder, the manors passed to her
husband, John Devereux ; from him to the Scroops ; thence to Boteler,
Earl of Wiltshire, through his wife Avicia, whose heir was Humphrey
Stafford. In the reign of Edward V the manors were held by Edmond
Blunt, then by Simon, who lived at the aforesaid Hussey Court. In the
reign of Philip and Mary the manors were held by Thomas Earl of
Northumberland. Hussey Court then suffered from neglect, until in
1667 Shockerwick was sold, with Batheaston, to James Lancashire ; and
from that time until about eighty years after, when Shockerwick passed
into the possession of the Wiltshire family, not much can be recorded
of it.
The Court had become a ruin, scarcely one stone standing upon another,
and the Park little better than open fields. Then, with the Wiltshires,
came the great transformation, the revival of all that was picturesque and
beautiful in the charming domain.

30 Introduction.
Another reference should be made here. In the first map
of Bath extant, 1568 or 1572, by Smith ofthe Heralds' Office,
by whom a general survey of the large towns and cities of the
kingdom was made, he represents, on the south bank of the
Avon, close to the entrance to the bridge, a small Early
English Church, which has been a puzzle to antiquaries.
Mr. Emanuel Green inclines to the opinion that it was not
intended to represent an ecclesiastical edifice at all. It must,
however, be remembered that the early maps were very
reaUstic ; and, moreover, there exist tangible grounds for
believing that an ecclesiastical edifice did stand near that
spot. Mr. Austin King thinks it is the Church of St. Mary
extra muros, or that, inasmuch as it is not mentioned by
Leland, it may have been a second Oratory. We do not
think so, but incline to the belief that it was a small church
or chapel-of-case to St. Mary Magdalen.
One of the interesting aspects of early local history is the
growth or evolution of early names, early local laws, and early
customs. Now when we speak of Lyncombe we are too apt to
think the term itself is as old as, and no older than, the Con
quest, whereas the name is very ancient, and, in fact, older than
Bath itself It is as old as the Saxon rule in Bath. The name
of Bath has changed with every dynastic change of govern
ment, and this was in a sense a necessity. Names, however, of
ordinary and general detail used by the Saxons were preserved
in the local nomenclature for centuries after the Norman Con
quest. The value and importance of this fact in relation to
local historical investigation, as well as in itself, cannot be over
rated, and it constitutes an especial interest in this ancient
part of our city.
But what is so remarkable to note in our own history is the
gradual process of legal evolution — to observe how, amidst
internecine contentions and occasional violence, the municipal
or .self-government system, as opposed to the centralizing or

The Norman and Pre-Reformation Period. 3 1
bureaucratic, was gradually taking root. In this respect we
may claim even more than Professor Earle, inasmuch as these
municipal rules were administered in a popular form as early
as the tenth century,i and after the Conquest the system grew
and assumed more popular and definite proportions.
We, moreover, from time to time get clear and interesting
aspects of legal procedure. We had in the twelfth century
achieved the '' Reign of Law" — i.e., the recognition of those
principles of human government in their appUcation to pro
perty and conduct ; those general rules of external human
1 From the Conquest until the thirteenth century, the chief officer was
called the Prepositor, or bailiff, and the place of meeting the burg-mote
or moot-court. [The word is A. S. motian, cite to a meeting ; mot gemot,
a meeting.] The earliest mayor referred to by Warner is John Savage,
'n 1412, but the name is much more ancient, as will be seen by the follow
ing document, which is a copy translation by the late Mr. H. Riley of a
Deed belonging to the Bath Corporation : —
" Know present and to come, that 1 Walter, Son of Serle, in my lawful
power have given to Juliana, daughter of William Springod one seid to
the south of the Stalls of Bath which I bought of Robert Prither for
4 marks and a half mark of Silver ; to hold and to have to himself and to
whomsoever he shall wish to give or assign it ; rendering for it yearly to
the Lords of the fee at the Feast of St. Michael 7 pence, and at Heck day
5 pence for Land gable (Land tax) for all service exaction and demand.
And that this my gift may have the strength of perpetual security, this
present charter I have corroborated with the impression of my seal.
These being witnesses, Caskil de Westone, John Duport, at that time
Mayor of Bath, Andrew the clerk, Geoffry Wissi, Hugh de Aystone,
Thomas Sweyn, Walter Cabbell and many others."
[It will be seen by this document that surnames at this date were
beginning to be used.]
(" Date about .\.D. 1230. It contains perhaps the very earliest mention
of a Mayor of Bath. The device of the Seal has much of the appearance
of an ancient gem.") — H. R.'s note.
The first Mayor of London was in 1208. " This yere began the names
of Mayers and Sherefs" {Arnold's Chronicle). Bath, therefore, was not far
behind the capital.

3 2 Introditction.
action which are enforced by a sovereign political authority ;
rules of human conduct presented by established usage or
custom. Henry II had bruised the heel of feudalism, and in
our small way we were soon to see and feel some of its effects
in Somersetshire and our city of Bath, of which some examples
may be cited, chiefly relating to Lyncombe and Widcombe.
Mr. Emanuel Green, who has done so much for Bath history,
has recently edited for the Somerset Record Society a volume,
Pedes Finium, commonly called "Feet of Fines", from 1196
to 1307, a work of unusual interest. Roughly rendered, it
may be said to mean an account of fines paid to the King for
licences to alienate lands, for freedom from knight's service,
for pardons, wardships, and ordinary justice. Nor is this all,
for it also shows the manner in which surnames were first
acquired. Several cases are quoted, all of which are highly
interesting ; but one instance will suffice to illustrate the
manner in which law and justice were administered, and how
in its administration it tended to fix names^ on individuals, to
perpetuate and explain ancient nomenclature in localities.
Feet of Fines. Somerset. 44 Henry III.
At Westminster in the quinzaine of Easter ; between William de
Berewyk, querent ; and Thomas, Prior of Bath, deforciant ; for common
of pasture which William claimed to have in the lands of the Prior in
Lincumb and in the wood of Horscumb by fine made at Exeter between
David de Berewyk father of William, whose heir he is, querent ; and the
aforesaid Prior, deforciant ; for the said common of pasture : and whereof
William complained that by the said fine he ought to have common for
all his cattle in Lincumb in all the hill of Lincumb and in all the fields of
the Prior^ in the said vill of Lincumb, and in a meadow called Sydenham

1 With reference to the history of surnam.es, those acquired by reason of
legal decisions, or by ownership of distinctive estates, were of a much
earlier date than those of the dwellers in cities and towns, who, early in
the fourteenth century, were called after their professions and their various
callings. 2 The Prior here referred to was Prior Thomas, who was a litigious

The Norman and Pre-Reformation Period. 33
after the hay is lifted and the corn carried : the Prior contrary to the said
fine deforced him of the common of pasture. The Prior acknowledged
that William in future should have pasture throughout all the manor of
Lmcumb, and the wood and pasture of Horscumb,^ for ten oxen with the
o.xen of the Prior, and likewise pasture in the said places for beasts at grass
(otiosa), with the Prior's beasts at grass, according to the free tenement
which William held in Berewyk the day this concord was made ; except
the enclosures and closes underwritten, namely, Dolemede, the vineyard,
garden, grove next the court, park, Akeriond, Mellecroft, and Bicchenclyve,
in which William shall have no common. If it happen that the Prior re
move his oxen or beasts at grass from any cause, William by this fine, may
keep his oxen or beasts at grass to feed in the said pasture without
hindrance from the Prior. Further, the Prior gave and granted to
WilHam a messuage in Berewyk and four acres and a half of meadow in
the manor of Lincumb, namely, an acre on the hill near the quarry (quarry
opposite Westfield), an acre under Repwey (or rope-walk), towards the
Fosse, two acres in the tilled ground called Clyves, half an acre of
meadow in Charlemede near the Brodecroft (Broad Field, above the
park), and the messuage under the garden of the said William,
ecclesiastic, between whom and the civil powers and the citizens frequent
misunderstandings occurred. In this contest with William and David de
Berewyk, the Prior doubtless wanted to wrest from them the " pasture''
referred to, to add to the Prior's Park, which was immediately adjoining. At
the same time, Prior Robert was a man of considerable energy, which
in the main was well directed. Edward I assigned Bath, with its barton
and appurtenances, to his consort Eleanor in dower for her life. The assign
ment was speedily retracted, and the rights were granted by Bishop
Burnell to the churches of Bath and Wells, " except the berton of Bath
which the prior and convent hold of us in fee-farm." This act of justice
was no doubt due to the sagacity of Robert and his successor, Walter de
Aona (Avon), who was the receiver of the monastery. Prior Thomas died
in 1 26 1, and was succeeded by Walter. Thomas de Winton was Prior in
1301, and was succeeded by Robert de Cloppecote in 1303. In 1321
Bishop John de Drokensford addressed to him the following remon
strance : — " Has heard of scandalous waste of revenues, and consequent
stinting of monks' diet, etc., exhorts him by most sacred motives to be a
careful steward and a kindlier ruler in word and deed."
1 Most of the local names quoted in this reported judgment we have
dentified. They are all pre-Norman. D

34 Introduction.
which messuage Master John Teyke once held ; to hold to William
of the Prior, doing therefor the regal services to the said tenements
belonging : and the Prior warranted against all men. Further the
Prior quit claimed all the right he had to demand or to have com
mon of pasture in the meadows of WilHam in Lincumb and Berewyk,
namely, in la Brodecroft, Wychegenemed (the Wyke Mead), and Cher-
mesmed (Cherrymead, now Perrymead), so that William may enclose,
ditch, or hedge, and cultivate and take profit from, the said meadows at
his will, without hindrance from the Prior. For this William remitted all
the damages which he was said to have suffered by reason of the Prior
not having held to the aforesaid fine, to the day this concord was made ;
and be it known that the fine first made between the said David and the
Prior for the said common of pasture, by this fine is annulled."
Somerset Fiftes. 41 Henry III, a.d. 1256-7.
At Exon in the octave of St. Martin ; between William de Berewyk,
querent ; and Robert de Atterbere, impedient ; for fifteen acres of land,
excepting one rod, in Berewyk and Lincumb. Plea of warranty of deed
was summoned. Robert acknowledged the right of William as being by
his gift, to hold of him, rendering yearly one clove gillyflower at Easter,
and doing to the chief lord ofthe fee all services belonging ; and Robert
warranted against all men : for this William gave one sore sparrowhawk.
At Exon in the morrow of AH Souls ; between WiUiam de Berewik,
claimant ; and Adam, Master of the Hospital of St. John of Bath, tenent ;
for a messuage in the suburb of Bath. William acknowledged the right
of the Master and Brethren, to hold of him, rendering per annum five
shillings, half at Easter and half at Michaelmas, and doing to the chief
lord of the fee all services belonging ; and William warranted against all
men ; for this the Master gave William one sore sparrowhawk.
These ancient references cast a very vivid light upon ancient
legal and local nomenclature, many of the names referred to
in the document being retained until this day ; for instance,
the wood and pasture of Horscumb, now called Horsecombe
Bottom, at Midford ; the meadow called Sydenham, situate
near the Midland Railway Station ; the Dolemeads, now a
familiar locality in Widcombe parish, near the river, was no
doubt in times even previous to the reign of Henry III the
scene of charitable doles, made from time immemorial by the

The Norman and Pre-Reformation Period. 35
various religious orders. Here the ancient vineyard and
garden grove next the court are again referred to. The
reference, moreover, to Bicchenclyve establishes beyond all
controversy the origin and meaning of the name. Wood
affected a far-fetched and learned derivation. He, for instance,
without any apparent authority, calls it Blakeleigh, and as an
alternative meaning, the CUff near the Beech Avenue, and
the latter only as a modern invention of his own time.
The name is a very natural one. The south bank of the
Avon, even as late as 1700, was a shelving beach, which was
embanked in the early part of the century, when the Avon
was " canalized" and Claverton Street built. Beechenclyve is
manifestly a form of Beachenclyve, or Cliff near the Beach.
The term clyve is used by many of the old authors —
" And romying on the clyve by the sea."
Chaucer, Good Women.
" Here es a knyght in theis klevys, enclosside with hilles."
Morte Arthure.
Another form of the word is clough or cleugh, applying more
especially to a cleft or rift.
" Into a grisly clough
This and that maiden yod."
In our edition of Britton's History of the Bath Abbey we
have endeavoured to trace the history of the Priors in relation
to the property and their dealings with the Cathedral. It was
in the time of Prior Cloppecote that the Lyncombe and Wid
combe estate began to be neglected, the Grange and granaries
to fall into disrepair. Episcopal remonstrance was useless;
and this strange anomaly occurred: the Prior obtained per
mission to establish two fairs annually, the one in Lyncombe^
and the other on their manor of Barton ; both having been
1 This fair was held for many years at the foot of Holloway, and until
recently, i.e., from the sixteenth to the eariy part of the present century.
That of Barton came to an end at a much earlier date.
D 2

2,6 Introduction.
a source of great profit to the Prior. The monks complained
of oppressions, so that the bishop, Drokensford, interfered on
their behalf ; and it was at this period, about 1324, that, partly
by the neglect of some of his predecessors, but especially
of Cloppecote himself, de Villula's cathedral fell so much into
dilapidation, that a general collection was made throughout
the diocese towards its repair.
It is clear from historical evidence that Bishop Jocelyn
of Wells, in the thirteenth century, was the last Bishop who
systematically exercised a vigorous and personal supervision
over the Bath prior, monastery, and the domain ; and further,
from the end of that century the fact appears to be certain
that although men like Cantlow, Bird, and Holway^ (or Gybbs)
were men of holy lives and good intentions, the state of things
was such as to defy their best efforts to improve them ; so
that when the great crisis came a general wreck ensued. The
rhonks were not only too numerous, but nothing could be said
for them ; they were drones, and ate up the honey — more
honey than the estate could produce. Bath was not in a posi
tion to make a successful stand at the Reformation. Some of
the Church estates had been well managed — for instance,
Montacute, Bruton, and Waltham — hence, so far as the pen
sions, gratuities, and compensations were concerned, better
terms were awarded than to the Bath community. The func
tions of the three Somersetshire Royal Commissioners, of
whom Layton acted for Bath, were to report to Cromwell on
the state of the woods and lands, and on the internal adminis
tration of the finances generally. Layton, although a lawyer,
must have been, even for those days, very illiterate. This man,
1 The pension to Holway is set forth as foUows : " ffurst to William
Holewey, prior, for his yerely pencon in mone, xxx/."
" More is appoynted to hym for his dwelling howse, one tenement sett
and lying in staUes strete wiin the Southgate of bathe, wherein one
Jeffrey Stayner lately dwellyd, being ofthe yerely rente of xxj."

The Norman and Pre-Reformation Period. 37
in writing to Cromwell, gives a horrible account of the monks,
and, it would seem, of the utter helplessness of the Prior :
" Hit may please yo'' goodness to vnderstande that we haue visits bathe
wheras we fownde the priour (Holloway) a ryght vertuose man and I suppos
no better of his cot (cloth) a man simple and not of the gretesteste wite, his
monkes worse than I haue any fownde yet both in ... . and adulterie,
sum one ofthem haueying X women sum VI I Ith and the rest so fewer.
the howse well repared but foure hundredth poundes in dett."
This was not edifying, and the estate at " Wydcomb" might
well be impoverished, its grange, its granaries, and its cattle-
sheds dilapidated, and its woods cut down, and a "^^^^ of foure
hundredth poundes" ! One is reminded of Chaucer's quaint
lines : "A monk, when he is reccheles,'-
Is likned to a fissch that is waterles.
This to seyn,^ a monk out of his cloystre."
Kennet says that the poverty of the surrounding clergy was
so great that most of them in Henry VIII's time took to
farming, and were very much alarmed when the statute,
21 Hen. VIII, seemed to prevent them from leasing land of
the convents any longer. But one finds it difficult to believe
this. Kennet was a man with a case to prove, and, as far as
Somerset is concerned, there seems evidence to the contrary
from the Survey, where the values of the livings are often
enumerated. Further, we have the evidence of the Valor
which shows that the vicar had enough for a single man to
live on. Not a large income, but more than Kennet would
have us believe, or else, in the stagnation period of rent which
followed, and the small improvements in agriculture, the vicar
could never have paid his first-fruits and tenths at all, more
particularly as he was deprived by statute of part of a small
augmentation often accruing. All the historians of the time
considered the parson to have been fairly well off. In the
1 Reckless. - Say

38 Introduction.
Survey we find a vicar keeping two curates. From the Valor,
a vicar would appear to get some six pounds a year, but he
often got more than that, and sometimes, as appears from the
survey, he had his food or wood as well. Fish laments the
wealth, rather than the poverty, of the clerics. In the diocese
of Bath and Wells there were 125 rectories appropriated
before the Dissolution. Most of these were in the hands of
the convents, an example of which may be seen in the
Taunton accounts, the Austin canons there having the rectory
of Dulverton. But others besides convents were in possession
of impropriated rectories before the Reformation. It was a
very favourite method of paying a man a salary, to make him
a non-resident rector of a country living. He put in a vicar,
and drew the difference between the whole tithe, and whatever
the vicar had to live on, generally the small tithe. The
chancellor of the diocese, the prebendaries, the archdeacon,
and others received money in this way, and sometimes lay
men. Also, when the visitations were in progress, and during
the troubled years between the various stages of the sup
pression, the convents, in order to bribe or please certain of
their friends, made grants of rectories to laymen, but the
practice was not at all common, and was considered illegal.
But when the monastic property changed hands a very different
state of affairs presented itself
The laity who held land in manors, formerly the property
of a convent, very naturally objected to pay large sums of
money (amounting in our values almost always to several
hundred pounds) to other than religious persons; and it appears
that they did not pay until admonished so to do by the Act
32 Hen. VIII on the subject. One computation assigns
3,335 as the number of rectories which passed into lay
hands.i ' Archbold, Religious Houses in Somersetshire.

The Reformation Period. 39

THE REFORMATION PERIOD.
The statute referred to portended the great measure which
was to come. If we refer to the Reformation here, it is
because in its relation- to Lyncombe, and its bearing upon the
destinies of the Abbey, it furnishes us with a chapter in our
ecclesiastical annals of which we have no reason to be proud.
If the monks had erred, and if Henry VIII could not, with
the consent of the Pope, follow their evil example with that
celerity which he desired, it was a bad reason for depriving
Bath of all her endowments ; the " carcase" of the Abbey
being left to be carted away like an old barn. If it was saved,
it was saved partly by Colles,^ by whom it was purchased,
together with the larger portion of Church property in
Lyncombe, Widcombe, and other parts of the city. The
enumeration of the various items of the property, if not
edifying, is curious.
It will be observed that within this " ambit" there was
much scope for evasion and nepotism, not to say great roguery.
The opportunity was not neglected ; but what added to the
turpitude of the transaction was the fact that it was done
ostensibly to preserve some endowment for the Abbey — in
a word, to make a provision to maintain and perpetuate
the Church and public worship in the oldest and most
important city in the county.
The original document, after the preamble, goes on as
follows : —
" And also all that site Sept circuit ambit and precinct of the late
Monastry or Priory of Bathe in our said county of Somerset, and all and
singular houses, edifices, Gardens, Orchards, Kitchen Gardens, Barns,
Dovecotes, Pools, Vivacies, Waters, Fisheries' and Fishings, Land and

1 See Bath, Old and New, by R. E. M. Peach.

40 Introduction.
Soil within the same site being sept circuit ambit or Precinct of the said
late Monastry or Priory. And also one Close or Meadow caUed the Ham
and two Closes or Meadows called Amebrye Meades, with all and singular
their appurt's lying and being near the Site aforesaid and in the Parish of
St. James in our said County of Somerset, to the said late Priory or
Monastry of Bathe lately belonging and appertaining. And also all and
singular Messuages, Lands, Tenements, Meadows, Feedings, Pastures
and other our hereditaments whatsoever known by the name or names of
Beechingclyft, Brodecrofts, Brodemede, Wrogsmede, Horselease, Belle-
mede, and Priours Park, with all and singular their appurt's lying and
being within the Manors or Parishes of Lyncomb, Widcombe, Holloway,
and Walcot, or any of them, in our said County of Somerset, and to the
said late Monastry or Priory of Bath lately belonging and appertaining,
and also all that our Messuage or capital Mansion of Combe, situate,
lying and being within the Parish of Combe in our said County of
Somerset, and all and singular houses and edifices, structures, Gardens,
Orchards, Kitchen Gardens, Dovecotes, Pools, Vivacies, Lands and Soil
within the site and Precinct of the same Capital Mansion being to the
said late Monastry or Priory of Bathe late belonging and appertaining."
Previous to and at the time of the Dissolution, the Wid
combe manor and estate included " Lyncombe, Widcombe,
and Holway", and are so described in the schedule, a copy of
which was published by the Society of Antiquaries, Valor
Ecclesiasticus, Henry VIII, page 175. After the Dissolution,
the Commissioners, for reasons to be stated hereafter, sepa
rated the Prior's Park from the other portion of the eccle
siastical manor. It was (with other large estates) sold to
Humphrey Colles, from whom it passed to Matthew Colthurst ;
and after a lapse of time it was acquired by purchase by
Fulke Moriey, from whom, in the early part of the last century
it descended to the Duke of Kingston, whose representatives,
as is well known, sold it to Ralph Allen.
Then we come to what is commonly called Widcombe
Manor, which, it is enough to say, included the manor house
and surrounding estate ; in other words, that portion of the
ecclesiastical domain separated from the Prior's Park. Now,

The Reformation Period. 41
then, comes the reason for that separation. The Commissioners,
two of whom were local gentlemen, were not authorised to
assign funds for the completion of the half-finished Abbey,
nor to make any sort of provision for the continuity of
any kind of public worship in the church. It is needless to
enter upon the history of the danger which followed to the very
existence of the Abbey, as every intelligent person knows it
only too well. But, perhaps, the incident that followed is very
interesting, as illustrating some of those evils to which refer
ence has been made, and against which no provision whatever,
at any rate in portions of Somerset, Bath more especially,
had been made.
The Commissioners, prompted by laudable zeal, were
anxious to preserve a portion of the ecclesiastical revenues
for the future sustentation of the church and public worship.
To this end they proposed to grant a portion of the Widcombe
estate in trust to the Mayor, Richard Chapman, and the
Corporation, for the use of the churches in Bath. The Mayor,
with a refined distinction in honesty, suggested that the trans
action might be too open to be safe, and that a covert grant
of the property (he taking the lion's share) should be made to
him and the Corporation, the better to achieve the objects of
the Commissioners in securing an endowment for the churches
in perpetuity. This Richard Chapman was in reality from
that moment the owner of the Widcombe estate. But here
follows another quiet piece of rascality, equal to, though per
haps dififering in its nature from, modern accomplishments of
that character. The chief actor in the later refined combination
of sacrilege and vulgar iniquity was also a Chapman, as well as
Mayor — John Chapman. Shortly after R. Chapman's deed of
plunder — that is, about 1557 — the Vicar of St. Mary de Stalls^
1 There is an exceUent account of the Norman church by Mr. Austin
King, in vol. vi. Field Club Proceedings, p. 283. It should be known
that some forty years ago a part of the crypt of the church was discovered.

42 Introduction.
died, and from that time until 1 584 no successor was appointed
and there were no systematic public ministrations in the city.
In that year the said Mayor, John Chapman (who succeeded
to his father's property and virtues), and the Corporation, by
whom the patronage had been secured, appointed the Rev.
Sir R. Meredith to the Rectory of the Abbey and Vicarage
of Stalls (which retained certain properties in the precincts
of the Abbey and churchyard). With this unprincipled cleric
the Mayor and members of the Corporation entered into an
unholy compact. Sir Richard was to grant leases of sites for
building around the Abbey and on the said precincts, which by
that time had acquired a value. It was at this time that every
foot of available ground was built upon up to the very walls
of the Abbey, on the site of the old Stalls Church, the church
yard thereof, and any nook and cranny these vampires could
appropriate, nearly all those buildings remaining until they
were pulled down between 18 19 and 1832.^
Between the period of the Dissolution and the advent of
Ralph Allen to Prior Park, Lyncombe and Widcombe expe
rienced unfavourable vicissitudes. The land was let to the
butchers, dairymen, and jobbers, all of whom naturally got as
much out of it as they could. The slopes, and the valleys,
and the combes were denuded of as much of their beauty and
loveUness as seemed needful to those whose business was
profit. Enclosures were destroyed, the coppices cut down, the
approaches badly kept, except near and about the Manor
House. When Allen, therefore, about 1730, purchased Prior Park
and its contiguous surroundings, he began with a clear course
and no favour, and he was soon to prove to the city that he
understood his position and appreciated his opportunities.
1 Of the Chapmans we shall have more to say in connection with the
Bennets and Widcombe House.

LIFE AND TIMES OF RALPH ALLEN.

LIFE AND TIMES OF RALPH ALLEN.

ESIDES the difficulties inherent in the
postal system itself at the beginning of the
eighteenth century, the roads and means of
locomotion presented tremendous complica-
tions,in dealing with which Allen had neither
Government help nor much experience to
guide him. He was left to his own unaided
resources in devising practical means to ensure regularity of
transmitting the mails by the shortest, the most practicable,
the safest, and cheapest routes. Up to Allen's day the Post-
Office was one of the worst managed and most abused
departments under the Government control. Two Post
masters-General appear to have been prompt and efficient in
nothing except receiving each a large salary, paid quarterly.
With some exceptions, few attempts (as we learn from
Mr. Herbert Joyce's able and valuable work, and others, on
the Post-Office) were ever made to work out with the genius,
energy, and determination afterwards displayed by Allen, a
postal system adequate to the growing needs and the resources
of the nation.^ Nor was this the only consideration.
1 Even now it needs the penetration and wisdom of a Postmaster-
General to say why printed matter may go at the cheap rate, whilst type
written matter cannot. The matter may be identical, but only the in
telligence of a P. M. G. can see why the poor type-writer is to pay a
penny for an open letter and the printer a halfpenny.

46 Life and Tiines of Ralph Allen.
The acceleration of postal arrangements, and the adaptation
of means to that end, especially involved the question of roads.
It will be well to give a slight description of the Roman roads,
all of which were, as far as possible, roughly adapted to the
growing needs of commerce and the public service. These
roads had become little better than rough tracks, wholly unfit
for any kind of vehicle to traverse in winter, and very difficult
for horses on which were laid very heavy loads. The Fosse
and Icening Street traversed the kingdom from south-west to
north-east, parallel to one another ; Waiting Street crossed
them quite the contrary way, with an equal obliquity; and the
Hermen Street passed directly north and south. We need not
describe these roads more minutely,' but it may be well to state
that the roadways, with the exception of being here and there
cobbled, were not " made" ^ — tnade being a technical word,
signifying the distinction between a road which has undergone
the scientific process of being metalled by broken stone, etc.,
and a mere path or track from one point to another, which
really the ancient roads had become.*
The Fosse begins at Seaton, thence passes to Ilchester, Bath,
Cirencester, through Warwickshire to Cleybrook in Leicester
shire, thence to Lincoln, and ends at Saltfleet on the sea
coast. The Via Badonica was from London to Batheaston,
where it formed a junction with the Bath line, and is almost
on the identical lines of the London road by Devizes, while,
1 The two books by which these roads are most clearly depicted are
Ogilby's Kingdom of England and John Owen's Britannia Depicta.
2 The Roman roads were originally paved with flints, Roman bricks,
and large flagstones ; but few examples were left when these roads were
incorporated with the "made" roads in the last century.
' The laugh excited by the clumsy epigram on Marshal Wade's Scotch
roads was without point or wit : —
" Had you seen these roads before they were made.
You'd have lift' up your hands and bless'd Marshal Wade."

Early Days. 47
as above mentioned, the Fosse and Icening Street traversed
the kingdom from south-west to north-east, parallel to one
another, the Watling Street crossed them quite the contrary
way with an equal obliquity, and Hermen Street passed
directly north and south.
The early part of the eighteenth century may be re
garded, especially in relation to Bath, as the beginning of
that great transition which was soon to effect a new epoch
in the national habits. New energies were brought into
action, and the vast inherent resources of the nation were
about to be developed. In Bath this fact was to be illus
trated in very many ways. Not a few of the old walled
cities had been for some time emancipated from their fetters
— their walls — which had not merely become anachronisms
in themselves, but were impediments to progress in every
sense of the word. Many towns and cities there were that
still loved and clung to the old order of things, apparently
for no other reason than because they were venerable. Bath,
however, clung to its old city and its old walls for reasons
dififerent from these. In the previous century the uselessness
of the city walls as a defence had been proved more than
once, and no pretence whatever could be or was urged by the
authorities for maintaining a cordon of walls around it to
protect any interest, curious enough, except their own. The
marvel to us in these days is how a city, badly ventilated, ill-
drained, lying, too, at that period on the lowest levels, with no
means of expeUing foul air by the admission of fresh, could,
as it certainly did, maintain its reputation as the healthiest
city in the kingdom.
Bath was, at this period, under a very paternal corporation ;
and these city fathers had, by this time, become masters of
the city. The city fathers, as we know, drew the parental
ties a little too close ; their power was, locally, very great,
indeed, almost absolute within the walls ; they elected one

48 Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
another, and the ties of brotherhood or fatherhood were
deeply laid in the foundations of self-interest. The time had
come, however, when, if the breath of heaven were not per
mitted to blow into and purify their city, public policy, public
opinion, and public necessity, had become too strong for
them, and their walls were soon to fall down like the walls of
Jericho before the trumpets of the priests and the shouts of
the people.
The removal of the walls' opened up the streets and let in
the fresh air ; public dust-heaps were no longer allowed to
accumulate around the walls ; the various other abominations
were rigidly removed from certain localities, which were then
converted into beautiful sites, on which now stand some of
the most dignified and beautiful groups of buildings in the
world. The resistance to change and progress is to be looked
for in one of those exceptional features which were at that
time peculiar to Bath.
The corporate body, from the time of Queen Elizabeth
down to the beginning, and some time after, of the last
century, had consisted chiefly of the professional men of the
city — lawyers, doctors, apothecaries, and a few moneyed
nondescripts, to whom the gains of corruption and pecu
lation were always sweet. These men began, as we have
often shown, by robbing the Church, the charities, and the
public institutions, and they ended by robbing the citizens
generally. The peculiarity of Bath consisted in this. From the middle
of the sixteenth to the close of the seventeenth century, and a
little later, not only was the whole municipal power in the hands
^ It by no means follows that we can approve the barbarous methods
employed. The gates and walls were simply knocked down and carted
away, no systematic effort having been made to protect and preserve the
interesting historical and traditional figures which ornamented' the north
and south gates etc.

Transition Days in Bath. 49
of this class of men, but individually they possessed all the
best houses,' some of which (notwithstanding Lord Macaulay
and Wood^} were fine, stately old mansions, affording ample
accommodation for their own private wants, and capacious
state rooms for wealthy cripples and delicate valetudinarians.
These privileges manifestly constituted profitable monopo
lies, which they knew must vanish in the face of open
competition and healthier abodes. It is an axiom that no
reform is so effectual as that which proceeds from within, and
in this case it proved so. The man who had the courage
to risk the displeasure of his colleagues was George Trim,
who, after gaining his point, was the man by whom the first
street was built outside the walls, which bore, and still bears,
his name.*
At a little later period [1720*] began the great work of the
first Wood, by whose genius, enterprise, and energy arose,
within a period of thirty years, a city (even before the noble
continuation of the work by his son) without an equal, or at
that time a rival, in the kingdom.
The corporate body of Bath, as has been shown, from the
time of Queen Elizabeth to the close of the seventeenth
century, if not a scrupulous body, possessed perhaps what
1 See Gilmore's map.
' The I2J. -a-week lodgings, of which Wood speaks, and to which Lord
Macaulay refers, as the average character of Bath lodgings, were such as
the needy fortune-hunter or the low gambler was glad to get in the minor
houses in the minor streets.
5 It contains some fine houses, but has long been superseded by the
later and nobler streets of Wood, Chambers, Baldwin, Harcourt Masters,
and others. The house in which General Wolfe was Hving, with his
father, when he was summoned to take charge of the Quebec expedi
tion, was a beautiful mansion ; but as one passes it now, with its war
emblems over the door, there placed in honour of the gallant soldier after
his death, it is difficult to suppress a sigh.
He became a resident in 1727. E

5o Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
they deemed to be the utilitarian virtue of economy, especially
when the exercise of that virtue failed to touch their own
pockets. There were two Norman churches within the city,
built immediately after the Conquest — St. Michael's and St.
Mary's. The former occupied a site close to Westgate Street,
at the termination of St. Michael's Place ; the latter was
placed just within the North Gate. St. Michael's was used as
a church until 1590, and St. Mary's until 1553, the last rector
having been presented in 1541. Both churches fell into dis
repair, but such portions as could be utilised were pressed
into the public service. St. Mary's Tower was used as the
city prison, whilst the nave was appropriated to the use of
King Edward's Grammar School, so that very opposite ideas
were " shooting" under the enlightened auspices of the Bath
corporation. St. Michael's fell into decay, the tower having
been removed late in the seventeenth century, and only the
nave and an aisle remained ; and it would be difficult to say to
what uses this comparative ruin had not been put. Early in
the eighteenth century, however, on the appointment of
Quash as Postmaster, what was left of the place was used as
the local post-office.' The condition of the English Post-
1 Since 1730 the building has been used, first, for many years, as a
tavern, then as a printing-office, then as a warehouse, 'then as the office
of The Bath Herald, and since that period again as a warehouse under
various forms. On one of the old windows (all of which have now been
removed) various lines were written, and on one, curiously enough, the
autograph of Cowper : —
" Bath for distinction may cope with old Rome,
But sulphur and fire are reserved for both's doom."
" If thy good-spoken tongue thy bosom shows,
Then let the secrets of my heart repose."
" Oh, ye gods, what have I done ?
Spent all my money and had no fun."
Farewell to Bath, April 22, 1730.

Old Post Office, Roads, etc. 51
Office at this period seems to have been most unsatisfactory
in every respect ; in fact, it seems not to have grown with the
growth and public wants of the country, and the Postmasters-
General never seem to have risen to a due sense of the
importance of their department. Public roads' there were
none, and the local offices were allowed to drift into sad
disorder. No post-office out of London could have been
" Heavy and strong is the delightful chain
By which Clarisda does my heart retain."
" No tongue my pleasure or my pain can teU,
'Tis heaven to have you, but without you, hell."
" If to her shame some trivial errors fall.
Look on her face and you '11 forget them all."
" I will love for ever,
But ne'er shall have her."
1 In spite of some precautions, roads were often neglected, so that
those who were not obliged to go on foot travelled almost entirely on
horseback, women almost always riding astride like men. It was only
at the end of the fourteenth century that a few ladies rode sideways.
Kings and queens and exceedingly great people occasionally used lumber
ing but gorgeously ornamented carriages ; but this was to enable them
to appear in splendour, as this way of travelling must, at least in fine
weather, have been far less agreeable than the ordinary ride. The only
other wheeled vehicles in existence were the peasants' carts on two wheels,
roughly made in the form of a square box, either of boards or of a Hghter
framework. It was one of the grievances of the peasants that, when the
king moved from one manor to another, his purveyors seized their carts
to carry his property, and that, though the purveyors were bound by
frequently-repeated statutes to pay for their hire, these statutes were
often broken, and the carts sent back without payment for their use. —
Rawson Gardiner.
Every great personage who has visited Bath before 1720 rode on horse
back, except Queen Anne, who travelled in a chariot, and nearly came to
grief. Queen Elizabeth had an enormous retinue of horsemen and
horsewomen in making her journey westward. Nearly all the eminent
personages who visited our city as late as 1710, and even later, rode on
horseback. See Hon. Miss Fiennes's account of her westward journey.
E 2

52 Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
much worse managed than that of Bath. Quash either could
not deal, or did not care to make the attempt of dealing,
with the disorders, which were of every sort and kind. But,
as Mr. Herbert Joyce says, "there was one who realised
not less fully than the Postmasters-General themselves the
difficulties by which they were beset. He knew well, even
better than they, how letters were being kept out of the
post and transmitted clandestinely, and how, even on letters
which fell into the post, the postage was being intercepted.
But while the Postmasters-General regarded the evil as in
curable, he thought that it might, at all events, be mitigated.
This was Ralph Allen" ; and he was soon to show, not only
that he possessed the capacity to conduct the local Bath
post-office, but the foresight and the ability to devise and
carry out a system which was of incalculable importance
nationally, both in its immediate and future results.
The Rev. R. Graves of Claverton, author of the Spiritual
Quixote} writing about the year 1800, says : "An ingenious
young gentleman, who has lately made a tour of the west,
showed me a drawing of the house where Mr. Allen was born,
which is still shown to strangers, not merely as an object of
curiosity, but by many of those who had partaken of his
bounty and are still living, with a kind of religious veneration.
The house," he continues, "seems to have been the residence
of a gentleman's family, and though now converted into a
farmhouse, by no means warrants Mr. Pope's epithet of
low-born Allen. "^
From an entry in the Registry of St. Blazey there is, under
the year 1686, an imperfect entry, the legible parts of which
are : "WUl. All ... . and Grace was mar .... 24th August."
And then, in 1687, a John Allen and Mary Elliott were married.
' For many years Rector of Claverton, occupying the old manor house
[now destroyed] above the beautiful terraces.
'^ A subject on which more will be said as we proceed.

Parentage. 5 3
Neither of these couples, however, were the parents of Ralph.
This would be tolerably clear from the fact that, as Ralph was
the first-born ofthe family, and his birth took place in 1693 or
1694, his parents must have been married after the dates given.
But we find in a deed, dated 1724, that the name of Ralph
Allen's father was Philip, and that he was the owner of the
property he occupied at St. Blazey, upon which he was raising
a mortgage from his son, Ralph, of £206.
Many entries of births, marriages, and deaths of the Allen
family occur in the Registry of St. Blazey even as late as the
year 1810, but these may be passed over as foreign to the
present design, even if these Aliens were of the same family,
which is doubtful. Of Ralph Allen himself the baptismal
register does not appear, and it seems probable that Ralph
was born before his parents came to St. Blazey. The name
of Allen is now no longer known in the parish.
Mr. Allen's father seems, from the brief records that have
come down to us, to have borne a high character for honesty
and straightforwardness. Mr. Polwhele gives the following
anecdote of him : —
" In a severely-contested election for the county (Cornwall),
in which the candidates were Edgcumbe, Boscawen, Granville
(of Stowe), and Trevanion, Mr. Boscawen called upon Mr.
Allen and asked him for a pint of his beer, requesting Mr.
Allen to drink with him. Mr. Allen, being naturally obliging,
had no hesitation in complying with the request of the
stranger. Mr. Boscawen (who was incog!) took occasion to
inquire the news of the neighbourhood and day, and the
election being then most prominent, the subject was immedi
ately introduced. After conversing in a mere cursory manner,
Mr. Boscawen began to inquire into the general opinion of the
private characters of the candidates, which Mr. Allen as freely
gave him. Mr. Boscawen then inquired who this Boscawen
was, and what Allen thought of him ? Allen observed, ' He

54 Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
is much respected, I believe, in his neighbourhood ; but in his
public capacity we all suspect him to be unsound.' The con
versation having proceeded thus far, several of Mr. Boscawen's
attendants came up and addressed him in his proper form.
Mr. Allen felt abashed, and apologised for the freedom which
he had ignorantly taken. ' Give me your hand, my honest
friend,' cried the gentleman ; 'you have given me no offence ;
here is your money for the beer. I hope soon to undeceive
the county, and prove that Boscawen is not unsound.' " This
anecdote is given for what it is worth. We confess we should
have thought more of Allen if he had displayed a Uttle more
independence by sticking to and defending his opinions. The
" dropping-down-deadness", on learning the dignity and im
portance of his visitors, detracts from the sturdy independence
which the freedom of his criticism implied.
The first mention of Ralph Allen is his having been
placed under the care of his grandmother (whether paternal
or maternal does not appear), who kept the post-office at St.
Columb. " He there discovered", says Mr. Graves, " a turn for
business, a cleverness in arithmetic, and a steadiness of
application, which seemed to indicate his future eminence.
The Inspector of the post-office having come into Cornwall,
and among other towns having visited St. Columb, was highly
pleased with the uncommon neatness and regularity of young
Allen's figures and accounts, and expressed a wish to see the
boy in a situation where ingenuity and industry might have a
wider scope and more encouragement. Not long afterwards
Allen's friends consented to his leaving Cornwall, and he
appears to have come to Bath." Graves further said : " In
what I am going to relate in these few anecdotes I do not
pretend to great accuracy as to time and other circumstances ;
but they are what were generally known and circulated fifty
years ago (about 1750). when I first came to reside in the

His early Duties and Zeal. 55
vicinity of Bath,' as facts of which few people in the neigh
bourhood could be ignorant." Graves then goes on to say :
"In the year 1715, Mr. Allen was one of the clerks in the
post-office in this city. In this situation, having got intelli
gence of a waggon-load of arms coming up from the West
for the use of the disaffected in this part of England (who
were supposed to have projected an insurrection in order to
co-operate with that in Scotland and in the North of England),
he communicated this to General Wade, who was then
quartered at Bath with troops ; ¦ and who finding him a
sensible, prudent young man, got him advanced after the
death of Mr. Quash, who was then Postmaster, to that
station, and afterwards married him to Miss Earl, his natural
daughter." We give this story for what it is worth. The incident was
said to have happened in the year when Graves was born,
and was not related by him until eighty-four years after.
At that time Graves, after a long, interesting, and exem
plary career, was enfeebled by age and infirmities. Mr.
Herbert Joyce, C.B., briefly refers to the supposed incident,
which, if it rested upon any trustworthy evidence — evidence
surely would have been found in the archives of the Post
Office, and quoted. We doubt the truth of the story alto
gether. In the first place, Marshal Wade never was quartered
with troops in Bath ; in the second place, no rising in the
West was at any time imminent; and in 1715 a waggon
was a vehicle unknown, and if it had been, there was not
a road at that period on which it could have travelled
at the rate of a mile a day ; and lastly, from whence could
arms have been procured in the West to have supplied the
disaffected ? It is a romance ; and we need not go far for
' As Rector of Claverton, about a year before AUen acquired that
estate,

56 Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
other and more legitimate reasons for the rapid advancement
of Ralph Allen in the postal service.
Tradition says that Ralph Allen was born in 1693 or 1694,
at St. Blazey. His father was Philip Allen,' the landlord ofa
roadside inn in that parish known as " The Duke William",
now converted into private dwelling-houses. This was one
of the old-fashioned inns of those days which were
models of comfort and respectability ; and Philip Allen was
one of the typical landlords of the roadside posting-houses
of that day. He was, from a few glimpses we get of
his character, a clear-headed, well-educated man, who wrote a
good hand, and who, if we may judge from his two sons,
Ralph and Philip, and his several daughters, took infinite pains
' " It is no uncommon popular fallacy in estimating the dispositions
and characters of self-made wealthy philanthropists, to regard them as a
simple, easy-going class of men who repose in easy chairs, spread a
napkin over their knees, into which Providence pours His bounteous
gifts, without an effort on their part, or the exercise of brains, or fore
thought of any kind whatsoever. Such creatures — the recipients of such
bounty — there may have been, and such easy-come, easy-go beings may
have dispensed freely that which cost them nothing, and of the value of
which they never had a just conception ; but such people are not philan
thropists, they are pauper-makers. Of such was not Ralph Allen. He
was a true philanthropist. The wealth he acquired was through a keen
and observant sagacity ; there were no means consistent with honour and
strict integrity, no vigilance compatible with upright dealing he did not
exercise in the pursuit of the fortune he accumulated. Hence he knew
its real value. He gave not of that which cost him nothing ; but he gave
with an open hand, a willing heart, and a noble spirit, when the object
was worthy and the occasion opportune. His perception of what was
good was quickened and enlarged by a never-ceasing desire to increase
human happiness, and in his employment of labour he exhibited the
keenest solicitude for his men in their workshops and their dwellings.
He sought to improve their moral and material welfare, and so far
recognized the obligations he felt towards those through whom he
amassed no little of his fortune. If he obtained wealth he conferred
happiness." — Author's Preface to another little work.

Death of Quash — Allen succeeds hhn. 57
to train them practically, wisely, and well. In after life Allen
received his sisters at Hampton and Prior Park, and corre
sponded with them kindly and affectionately. Of his younger
brother, PhiUp, frequent mention will be made in these
pages. Ralph Allen as a lad was unusually grave, thoughtful,
and intelligent, but without the least conceit or moroseness.
When AUen came to Bath in 1715, it is clear that he had
given, and was soon to give, further evidence of those pecuUar
qualities — personal and official— -which were to inspire confi
dence and respect. His personal appearance at this period
was impressive rather than striking. About the middle height,
with well-knit frame, head well set upon his shoulders, with very
fine features— large mouth, and nose well-formed, clear large
dark eyes, well-chiselled but rather too small a chin. But
with this comely person he never, even in his salad days,
seems to have had the least vanity. He was always plainly
dressed in the style of the period, and his manner and address
were set off by an inbred courtesy and a grave self-possession.
" Hail, ye sweet courtesies of life, for sweet do ye make the
road of it." At this time he laboured as few men laboured,
but his duties and responsibilities increased, and none can tell
how in those days he accomplished the official duties he
had to perform whilst simultaneously carrying on the vast
self-imposed duties in relation to the social and philanthropical
work of the city.
The earliest glimpse we got of him in his official career is
from the pen of Mr. Herbert Joyce, C.B., in his most in
teresting and able History of the Post Ofiice. He says,
speaking of Allen at an early age : " Allen's experience in
postal matters was probably unrivalled. He had, it might
almost be said, been cradled and nursed in the post-office.
He had, at eleven years of age, been placed under the care
of his grandmother, who, on the post-road being diverted
from South to Mid-Cornwall, was appointed Post-mistress of

58 Life and Ti^mes of Ralph Allen.
St. Columb. Here the regularity and neatness with ¦which
he kept the accounts gained for him the approval of the
District Surveyor when on a tour of inspection ; and shortly
afterwards, probably through the surveyor's influence, he
obtained a situation in the post-office at Bath. When Quash,
the old Postmaster, died, Allen was appointed in Quash's
room." In 1719, Allen' offered to take in farm the bye and
cross-post letters, giving as rent half as much again as these
letters had ever produced. It was a bold offer, and, coming
as it did from a young man only twenty-six years of
age, and presumably without capital, not one to be accepted
precipitately. Allen proceeded to London and had frequent
interviews with the Postmaster-General. The earnestness of
his convictions, and the modest assurance with which he
expressed them, invited confidence, and on April 12th, 1720, a
contract was signed, the conditions of which were to come
into operation on the Midsummer Day following.
" Much as we desire to avoid the employment of technical
terms, it is necessary here to explain that letters, exclusive of
those passing through the penny post, were technically divided
into four classes — London letters, country letters, bye or way
letters, and cross-post letters. For purposes of illustration we
will take Bath, the city in which Allen resided. A letter
between Bath and London would be a London letter, and a
letter from one part of the country to another which in course of
1 After Quash's death, Allen continued to conduct the postal business
in the old church nave until about 1727, and even a little later. This old
church at that period was closely surrounded by houses and dwellings of
the most objectionable character, and the neighbourhood infested by the
" post-office hangers-on", who were the terror of the honest, and the
" pals" of the dishonest officials within. The Cross Bath, near it, was at
this time in a " tumble-down" condition. At a later period the Royal
Baths were erected by Wood II, but at this time they were not much
better than a wash-house.

Cross-posts Organization. 59
transit passed through London would be a country letter. A
bye or way letter would be a letter passing between any two
towns on the Bath Road and stopping short of London — as, for
instance, between Bath and Hungerford, between Hungerford
and Newbury, between Newbury and Reading, and so on ;
while a cross-post letter would be a letter crossing from the
Bath Road to some other — as, for instance, a letter between
Bath and Oxford. It was onl)' with the last two classes of
letters that Allen had to do. The London and country
letters were outside the sphere of his operations.
'' On the bye and cross-post letters the postage for the
year 17 19 had amounted to ^^4,000. Allen was to give £6,000
a year ; and in consideration of this rent he was for a period
of seven years to receive the whole of the revenue which
these letters should produce. Some letters, indeed, were
excepted, namely, Scotch letters, Irish letters, packet letters,
and 'all Parliament men's letters during the privilege of
Parliament', and such letters as usually 'goe free', that is,
letters for the High Officers of State, or, as we should now say,
letters on His Majesty's service. No post under Allen's con
trol, whether a new or an old one, was to go less than three
times a week ; and the mails were to be carried at a speed of
not less than five miles an hour. He was also to keep in
readiness a ' sufficient number of good and able horses with
convenient furniture' not only for the mails, but for expresses
and for the use of travellers. One condition of the contract
may seem a little hard. Allen's own officers were to be
appointed and their salaries to be fixed by the Postmasters-
General, and to these officers he was to give no instructions
which had not been first submitted for the inspection of the
Postmasters-General. Allen, by his sterUng qualities, had
won the confidence of his fellow-townsmen at Bath, and there
can be little doubt that they now gave him a practical proof of
the estimation in which he was held."

6o Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
This period was, no doubt, the turning point of Allen's
career. From the last sentence quoted from Mr. Joyce, that
gentleman evidently thinks Allen received pecuniary help
from the citizens. " It is difficult", he says, " to understand
how else he can have raised the funds necessary, for the pur
poses of his undertaking. In the very first quarter, between
the 24th June and the 29th September 1720, he expended in
what may be called his plant as much as ;£'i,500, and made
himself responsible for salaries to the amount of ;£'3,ooo a
year." The citizens of Bath, at that time, were not at all likely
to have helped Allen ; they, with a very few exceptions, "cared
for none of these things".' It was about 171 8 that Allen's
marriage with Marshal Wade's natural daughter, Miss Earl,
took place ; that beautiful lady receiving from her father a large
fortune. Marshal Wade was, even at that period, not only
very rich, but he was also a very prudent, generous, and far-
seeing man. No one in those early days was likely to under
stand and appreciate the sterling qualities of Allen better
than Wade, between whom a lifelong friendship subsisted ;
nor to have been more impressed with the vigilance, sagacity,
and foresight of Allen. The Marshal could not have failed
to observe the disorder which prevailed in the old Bath
Post Office, and the disgusting scenes that took place within
and around it. After the arrival of every mail a large
proportion of the letters arriving were handed over to the
hangers-on for delivery, and on every letter an extra penny,
and sometimes twopence, was charged by these men to the
receiver. The serious minor difficulty, with which Allen in his early
official days had to contend, doubtless was the disorganised
1 Seeing by the official evidence before him what manner of man
AUen was, and what he had achieved in connection with the post-office,
Mr. Joyce might well have formed such an opinion, but it was without
foundation.

Disorders of the Post-Office. 6i
state of the staff which he found in the Bath Post Office.
Quash had been for years entirely at the mercy of the clerks
and the sorters, who were in league with the outside irregulars.
When Allen entered upon his duties in Bath it is difficult to
conceive a state of things more discouraging or more difficult
to deal with ; and the locality of the office at the bottom of
that narrow, dirty, and loathsome street (as it then was),'
whilst it aggravated the special irksomeness of postal organi
zation, increased the difficulties of applying an efficient
remedy. Another source of perplexity to a Bath Postmaster
was the perpetual fluctuation of the population. In 1715, and
from that time almost until the death of Allen, the houses were
not numbered ; and this, as may be imagined, facilitated the
operations of the outside " hangers-on". There was some
check afforded in that a large number of the distinguished
visitors to Bath took up their abode at some of the "lodgings"
distinguished by the names of the owners upon the houses^ ;
these owners were the big men of the city, and realised very
large incomes by this means. For instance, a careful corre
spondent, writing from Bath, would write thus : " From Mr.
More's Lodgings in the Churchyard", or, " From the Royal
Lodgings by the Abbey Church", and so on. This method
usually ensured a reply to such address. This, no doubt, was
a special feature in the social life of Bath ; and therefore it
would to a great extent be less liable to the confusion to
which London and other large cities were subject from the
absence of specific addresses.
Of course, the first duty imposed upon Allen as Postmaster
was to deal with the disorders of the local office. In this he
' The old one (Bath Street) was pulled down early in this century, when
the present street was erected.
^ These houses, with the names of the owners, the leading men of the
city, were illustrated in Gilmore's Map, recently republished by the
Bath bookseUers, with a History, by Mr. R. E. M. Peach.

62 Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
showed on a smaller scale what in course of years he was to
display on a larger. He knew that if he dismissed a rogue he
would get a bigger one in his stead. The process he adopted
was to make the rogues see that in the long run honesty
would pay them best. It is needless to say that this process
demanded the exercise of all the patience, beneficence, and
firmness even of Allen. This great moral duty was rendered
the more difficult by reason of its having to be carried on in
the locality of which mention has been made, with all the
hindrances and impediments of which the " outsiders", over
whom he had no control, were capable. If an irregularity, or
a theft, or any sort of violation of post-office rules was com
mitted, the culprit was " carpeted", and Allen, with a calm,
kind smile would chide the wrongdoer in his own impressive
manner, and at the same time would show him that no false
pretence or evasion could deceive that calm and clear-headed
employer. No man who was susceptible of moral impressions
could resist appeals thus made to his sense of right, and faU
to conform to the principle of duty. Allen knew if the appeal
failed the case was hopeless. Be this as it may, the staff"
of local clerks and other employes in Bath was transformed
from a nest of rogues into a respectable body of men.
There were great difficulties at that period in obtaining a
suitable post-office ; and notwithstanding the unfitness of the
Bath Street office and the serious objections to the locality,
the business, with all its vast accession <from the cross-post
system, was conducted there until 1728 ; and then, entirely
through the enterprise and public spirit of Allen, a hew era in
all that concerned the policy and post-office business, not
merely in Bath but throughout Great Britain, was to be
instituted. It was about 1722' that Allen lost his first wife, and it was
' We are here bound to admit that we have been unable to trace

Wade, Allen, and the Corporation. 63
in that same year Allen was elected a member of the Bath
Corporation. It has been the fashion on the part of local
writers to attribute to Allen, as a member of that body, the
exercise of an undue share of power ; that, in truth, he was
dictator of the assembly. We shall have more to say on this
head when we come to deal with the later period of his life.
All that need be said here is, that whatever influence he
exercised upon the policy and proceedings of the corporate
body was done without any effort or ostensible desire of his
own. It is probable that no important measures affecting the
interests of the city were passed or contemplated without the
bulk of his colleagues consulting him and deferring to his
judgment. As a matter of fact he was not a regular attendant
at the council meetings, and never given to much talking.
During his mayoralty -in 1742 he was frequently absent from
the council. No one was less of a busybody than Allen, and
we repeat here, what we have already said in Historic Houses,
that there was a calm, dignified reserve about Allen which he
seldom or never broke through. Nor was this incompatible
with that courtesy and kindness which during his whole life he
never forgot. At this period, 1722, Allen would have been
twenty-nine years of age.
From the beginning of the eighteenth century there was a
great improvement in the tone and character of the corporate
body. Public opinion to some extent had something to do
with this ; but doubtless that improvement was chiefly attri
butable to the class of men who were chosen on that body.
Certain it is that direct corruption and misapplication of
public property may be said to have ceased. Still there was
a little quiet nepotism. The good things going were not
the date of this lady's marriage with Allen, or the place or date of
her death ; and further, we cannot find in any of the local registers
when and where his marriage with Elizabeth Holder of Hampton took
place.

64 Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
allowed to go out of the municipal circle ; there were always
professional uncles, sons, nephews, and friends amongst whom
to distribute the good things of which these fatherly citizens
were the patrons. The Corporation was deeply imbued with
Hanoverian principles, and it is clear that this was due to the
influence of Wade and Allen. Although Allen always exer
cised the most prudent control over his opinions, and expressed
them with wise moderation, we think there is little doubt that
on public questions he felt stronger on politics, so far as the
subject affected the dynasty, than on any other ; and we have
as little doubt that he was partly induced by this motive to
enter the council, in order to serve the interests of Marshal
Wade, who for some years had been wooing the Corporation
— the then elective body of the city. Nor is this surprising,
seeing the close relations which existed between the two men.
It was in 1726 that the Marshal began his Highland roads,
five hundred soldiers being employed in the work at sixpence
a day extra pay, and it was well advanced in 1729. He treated
his men, whom he called his highwaymen, liberally and
humanely, and the qualities which made him so popular in
Bath, shown in a dififerent manner, made him the idol of his
men. For a long time Wade had spent a portion of each year in
Bath, and by his general manners, affability, and generosity
had become very popular in the city. In 1722, William Bush
being Mayor, there was a general election, and Trotman, who
in conjunction with, first William Blathwayt of Dyrham, and
then with John Codrington of Dodington, represented the
city from 1702, retired, and Wade was elected, with Codrington
as his colleague. At the following election, in 1727, Robert
Gay' was Wade's fellow-member; in 1734, Codrington again,
with Wade, was chosen. In 1741, Philip Bennet of Widcombe
1 R. Gay was a considerable landowner in Bath, near Queen Square and
Gay Street ; hence the name of the latter.

Marshal Wade. 65
House, whose sister, Jane Bennet, was the wife of Philip
Allen, became the colleague of Wade in the next Parliament,
when both retired.
During the whole of this period, i.e., from 1722 to 1747,
Wade maintained the closest friendship with Allen, and the
most cordial relations with the Corporation and the citizens
at large. His popularity was maintained during the fifty
years he was connected with the city. His urbanity and
friendly manner, his love of Bath, and his activity, made him
a familiar figure ; and his unbounded hospitality tended very
much to endear him to, and to keep him in touch with, all
classes. No appeal was ever made to him in vain, and he
often gave, in the spirit of Allen, to deserving cases ; and his
liberality to public institutions in the city was very great.
The Abbey Church experienced his bounty ; St. Michael's
Church' received a large contribution towards its erection.
At his own cost he made a passage through that odious pile
of buildings which disfigured the north front of the Abbey,
to enable the public to get from the churchyard to the Grove,
and at the same time to cleanse the odious den from
its detestable impurities.^ The whole block was removed'
in 1823-34.
' The church before the present.
2 To remove these buildings, the sites of which were originally granted,
or rather dishonestly appropriated, by the Corporation after the Reforma
tion to members of its own body, cost the city ;^io,ooo. Just before
these houses were erected the Abbey itself was imperilled, the question
of selling the " carcase" thereof having been seriously discussed.
^ These buUdings really surrounded the Abbey, but those on the north
side blocked up the .avenue from the west to the east, i.e., at this time,
into the " Orange Grove", so that the only public way thither and back
was through the north aisle of the Abbey. The clergyman officiating
sometimes seemed to be offering thanks for "all the blessings of this
life", in the shape of mutton-chops and beefsteaks (and such-like creature
comforts) on the butcher-boys' trays, which were being carried through
to the classic pipings of those refined youths. Not infrequently these
F

66 Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
An old epigram runs thus : —
"The citizens of Bath, with vast delight,
To hide their noble church from vulgar sight,
Surround its venerable sides with shops,
And decorate its sides with chimney tops."
One curious fancy seized the Marshal, and that was to have
the portraits of the members of the council, as well as his
own in uniform, painted to adorn the council (of the former)
chamber. A few of these portraits were good, and are still
to be seen. The larger portion are consigned to the lumber-
room of the Guildhall. The Marshal's is to be seen on the
landing as you approach the banqueting room, and he was a
dignified, soldier-like-looking man ; another was of Allen, by
Hoare [see frontispiece].
About 1730, the Earl of Cork and Burlington designed two
houses in Bath, one for himself in the Orange Grove, and the
other for Wade in the Abbey churchyard. The latter, with
others, formed on the north front one side of Cheap Street ;
and when this street (long since the Marshal's death) was
widened, it was necessary to get the extra space from this
side of the houses, which were very handsome structures. The
Marshal's mansion on the south (now used as the Depository
of the Tract Society) retains some of its architectural beauty.
The Earl also designed the Marshal's house in Cork Street,
London. Marshal Wade was a gambler, and Walpole tells a
good story of him. Wade, being at a low gaming-house, and
having a very fine snuff-box, he suddenly missed it. One man
only in the company refused to be searched, unless the
Marshal would go into another room with him. There the
man told him that he was born a gentleman, was reduced,
youths were followed by their favourite dogs, and then ensued a " woful
battle" in the nave with the turnspits, an army of which, " in the intervals
of business", took shelter there.

Marshal Wade. 67
and lived by what little bets he could pick up there, and by
fragments which the waiters occasionally gave him. " At this
moment I have half a fowl in my pocket, I was afraid of being
exposed. There it is ; now, sir, you may search me." Wade
was so much affected that he gave the man a hundred
pounds, and afterwards found the snuff-box in his own inner
pocket. When Wade was in Bath he sometimes could not resist
Wiltshire's Rooms, but he was a more constant frequenter of
Lord and Lady Hawley's.' There was little to choose between
these gambling-shops and between those by whom they were
respectively kept — "the trail of the serpent was over them
all." Now, essentially different as were Ralph Allen and the
Marshal in almost every respect, there were points of contact
between them which led to the most cordial and sympathetic
relations. Decided as were the Marshal's political opinions
and obligations, he was free from all rancour and bitterness ;
and if his methods of dispensing his generosity were eccentric
and oftentimes imprudent, he was actuated by warm, kind,
and generous impulses. These qualities would have endeared
him to a man like Allen, and made him gentle to the failings
ofhis friend and relative.
The Marshal died on the 14th March 1747, in his eightieth
year, and his memory is still cherished in the city of Bath.
It was in the year of Marshal Wade's first election, 1722, that
his daughter, Allen's wife, died ; and it is, we are constrained
to admit, a source of mortification to us that we are unable
to discover where or when. We think it probable that on his
marriage Allen and his wife resided in one of the adjacent
1 Lady Hawley was Miss Hayes, the successor of Harrison as the
lessee of the rooms, now, with some alterations, the Literary Institution.
These rooms were opposite Wiltshire's Rooms {vide Nash), and the two
estabUshments were known as the Lower Rooms. F 2

Allen's House.

Disorders of the Post-Office. 69
villages, and that after her death her body was buried in
London, at the wish of her father.
The seven years, 1720 to 1727, must have been the most
trying period in Mr. Allen's official experience. The inherent
difficulties involved in carrying out his contract, which under
the most favourable conditions would have taxed his resources
to the utmost, were aggravated by the general disorder which
prevailed throughout the post-office generally. Mr. Joyce
shows that many of the postmasters received no salaries, and
others very little, and therefore the Government were delibe
rately encouraging such officials to help themselves. It was
not surprising, therefore, that these men robbed Allen wherever
they could ; but seeing also that if his plans and policy were
successful, as they bade fair to be, their nefarious habits must
come to an end, they withheld all co-operation, and obstructed
him by every means in their power.
There is no doubt that Allen, apart frorri his contract and
his personal interest in its success, was an earnest postal
reformer. He foresaw that, compatible with the then state
of the public service, the state of the roads, and the Umited
means of transmission, the cheaper the rate of postages the
greater would be the revenue to the nation. The result of
his first contract, which was dissolved by the demise of the
Crown a fortnight before its legal expiry, was to open the eyes
of the nation. The upper and middle classes began to under
stand something of the inherent vitality of that branch of the
public service which had been so flagrantly neglected and
abused, and which was opening up to them and the country
at large new ideas and enlarged views of the capacity of the
nation. It was in the year 1727, and after the contract with the
General Post Office was renewed, that the old quarters in
Bath Street were to be given up, and Allen's private residence
so enlarged as to afford accommodation for the conduct of the

70 Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
cross-posts branch of the business, the local postal business
being carried on in a house at the south-west entrance .of
Lilliput Alley.' The basement and first stories were used
for the local postal business, whilst the upper portion was the
residence of Philip Allen, who, though not officially connected
with the post-office, was in this, as in all other operations, his
brother Ralph's worthy coadjutor.
,The house now represented was Allen's private residence,
to be enlarged by Killigrew. The centre was originally
surmounted by a low, plain attic story above the first floor.
This story was removed, and the present double story, uni
form with the original work, substituted. The right wing
was enlarged for Allen's private use. The left wing was
the office for the clerks and secretaries employed exclusively
in the cross-posts business, and formed the north side of
Lilliput Alley. The house, or rather group of buildings,
is, no doubt, somewhat idealized, although its general effect
was very picturesque. From the centre a sloping terraced
walk led down to Harrison's Walks, opposite, and the house
commanded a view of the bare Hampton Down, on the
brow of which, some few years later, in order to break the
monotony, Richard Jones erected what is now called Sham
Castle. The group of buildings was associated with the post-
office and Ralph Allen until his death in 1764, and there
the postal business, we believe, was conducted by his nephew,
Philip Allen, until his death in 1785 ; then the place was
' This house was just within the city waUs, a portion of which may still
be seen in the area. It is now a part of the North Parade, and is used as
a printing-office. Forty years ago the original panelling of the peculiar
square-shaped front was to be seen, having on one of the centres the
usual kind of slit, and the words Post Office painted above it. This
locality of Lilliput was the residence of the famous Sally Lunn, the
immortal inventor or originator of the tea-cake caOed after her name.

Aliens Office and Private House.

71

neglected. At the beginning of this century the right
wing was pulled down to make way for the new street
(York Street), the sloping path was levelled up, houses
and offices were built in front of the centre and left wing,
which now are hemmed in on every side, and are approached
only by a narrow passage. The sight of what remains of the
buildings is not pleasant. The ornate centre is still whole,
but dirty within and without, whilst the other portion is still
worse. It was, so far as we can ascertain by various comparisons

and allusions, about 1727 that Allen's second marriage, with
Elizabeth Holder, of Hampton Manor House, took place.
This lady was the daughter of Richard Holder, and sister of
Charles Holder, who at this time was the nominal owner. It
is evident from the numerous deeds relating to mortgages,
etc., that the Holders were in much pecuniary trouble, and
that Allen, in respect of considerations not explained, had
acquired the right of exercising the privileges of ownership for
many years before he purchased the property in 1742. There
js no doubt that Allen's generosity was called into full play

72 Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
both here and at Claverton, which was also in the possession
of a Holder, where also Allen possessed certain recognised
rights long before he became the owner ofthe estate about 1752.
In Hampton, it is probable that Allen took upon himself the
full responsibility of meeting all claims in respect of mort
gages, for we find that in 1735 such mortgages were consoli
dated, and a sum of i^i 5,000 advanced by Elizabeth Baker,
the deed of conveyance to Allen being dated 1742. Charles
Holder continued to live in the village, chiefly upon the
bounty of Allen, dying one year before him, in 1763, aged
eighty-nine. Bathampton is one of the most picturesque and interesting
villages near our city. The Domesday manor and the modern
parish' are in exact coincidence. The Domesday measures
were as follows, namely, 720 acres of ploughed land, 100
acres of woodland, 28 acres of meadow, 60 acres of pasture,
and 24 acres of waste, and we have the modern parish of 932
acres. The manor was a part of the possessions of the Church of
Bath, and has been held by many of the local historic families.
In the reign of Henry III, Bishop Button obtained a charter
of free warren here, as well as Claverton, of the Church lands.^
In the reign of Edward IV the manor was held by the family
1 The Liberty of Hampton cum Claverton constituted the Hundred of
Bada. 2 In a small garden in the village is a very curious ecclesiastical relic
of the fourteenth century. It is the remains of a monkish cell, which
would have been in connection with and attached to the monastery of
Bath. The arch of the doorway is almost perfect. On the buttress of
the waU, which skirted the road in the village, was a hip knob. This was
in imminent danger of being injured by boys throwing stones at it.
About eight years ago this finial, to ensure its safety, was removed from
this building and placed on the gable of the chancel of the church. The
drooping form is somewhat remarkable, typifying, by the inchnation of
the fohage, the drooping head of the Crucifixion,

Hampton Manor. 73
of Blunt under Bishop Barlow, who, in 1548, exchanged the
manor of Bathampton with the King for other lands late the
property of the Prior of Bath ; but it did not long continue in
the Crown, for, 7 Edward VI, both the manor and the hundred
or liberty, appear to be the property of WilUam Crowch,
Gent., in whose name and family the same continued to
36 Elizabeth, when Walter Crowch had a licence for alienat
ing his possessions here to Thomas Popham.' From this
family the manor passed to the Hungerfords, and from them
tothe Bassets. Sir WilUam Basset was lord thereof in 1688,
of whose heirs and executors it was purchased in 1701, under
a decree of Chancery, by Richard Holder.
Mr. Joyce has given us information to which local historians
have never before had access. As in his private affairs, so in
his official relations, Allen was prudent, cautious, and reserved.
He always seemed impressed with the importance of keeping
the counsels of the Government as well as his own. In the
exercise of his private beneficence he seems to have guarded
himself against the slightest charge of ostentation. When he
gave openly, it was as an example to others ; when he did
good by stealth, he did so as few others ever did ; and an
illustration will be cited which in this respect is a summary of
the practice of his life. It is not meant to imply that Allen
was cold and wanting in sympathy in his intercourse with the
various classes of Bath society ; on the contrary, he was
never out of touch with either — frank, cordial, cheerful, kind.
One of his best beloved friends was Leake, the publisher and
1 After the Dissolution the vicarage and advowson were granted to the
Dean and Chapter of Bristol (consolidated with that of Bathford about
1770, and again separated in 1835). The great tithes, however, with
other property, were conveyed to Robert Fisher, a citizen of Bath. The
chancel of the church was also assigned to him. Beneath the chancel is
a vault in which Fisher and others of the family are buried, and on the
walls are several memorials of the family. The family have sold all
rights to the Allen family.

74 Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
bookseller. In that well-known citizen's cheerful, vaulted-
roofed reading-room' on the " Walks", close to Lilliput Alley,
Allen daily read what there then was to read in the way of
newspapers and the literature of his day.
We do not know the result of Allen's first contract, so far
as profits and loss concerned him. In itself, however, it was
not simply a success, but promised the full realization of
Allen's most sanguine expectations. Nationally, it meant
more than this. Allen's system was not merely extending
throughout the length and breadth of the land, but his work
was far better done than that of the Government. Great
officials had been vapouring, formulating, and indulging in
dignified proclamations, but all to little or no purpose. The
department was infamously managed, the rogues unchecked,
and the public service neglected. Great "statesmen" knew
how to set the &'g^ on its end when they had been taught the
way ; and when Allen had elaborated a series of efficient
checks, proved them, and carried them out, the statesmen saw,
apparently for the first time, that organization was not the
exclusive gift of Allen. We must do these " statesmen" the
justice to admit that, whilst they thought it well to show
their peculiar wisdom in pompously making now and then a
few needless, but harmless, conditions, they treated him con
siderately, not to say generously, and wisely picked up and
appropriated the best of his ideas and his methods, and then,
with transcendent condescension, imparted to him their
superior wisdom on the manner in which he should conduct
postal affairs.^
^ At a later day, in the same room, Sheridan was said to have written
The Rivals, of which the locality forms the scene. The room is still to
be seen almost unchanged, and is a worthy soHcitor's office. The build
ings have been shorn of their fair proportions in front to obtain a wider
public road.
2 From the time of Allen to the present, Postmasters-General have

Aliens Policy and Plans. 75
Gradually Allen extended his labours, devising an effec
tive code of regulations and checks, and bringing the whole
system into perfect subjection. Mr. Joyce bears testimony,
not merely to Allen's diligence, but to his local knowledge,
and to the further fact that in all "post-office matters affecting
the provinces" the initiative came from Bath. As an example
of Allen's methods in all that concerned the obstructions, the
roguery, and deceptions practised by the old officials in their
attempts to arrest progress and reform, Mr. Joyce says :
" Allen was better qualified, probably, than any other man living for
the task he had set himself to perform. Of a temper which nothing could
ruffle . . . and possessed of an amount of local knowledge which even
at the present day is perhaps unrivalled, he enjoyed a combination of
advantages which might have been sought elsewhere in vain. His
patience, indeed, was inexhaustible. No subterfuge, not even a trans
parent attempt at imposition, would call forth more than a passing
rebuke : "Tis faulty,' "tis blameable'; and then, perhaps, would peep out
a gleam of merriment at the clumsiness ofthe contrivance."
It may be inferred that with the second contract the full
success of Allen's enterprise was assured. What the income
derived at that or any subsequent period was, has never been
known, and never will be. So long as he fulfilled his obliga
tions to the country and to the Government, he considered in
always been a curious study. The universal acceptation of certain funda
mental principles is nothing to them. The process of conviction has
always to be worked out in their minds, and if it be possible (as it always
is) for a new Postmaster-General to interpose a vexatious and irksome
regulation, it becomes a most pleasing duty at the beginning of his reign
and at occasional intervals thus to display his idiosyncrasy. If a new
privilege is to be introduced for the public good, the Postmaster-General
invariably deems it his religious duty, for the good of humanity, to mix
up with the benefits a due proportion of blister ointment. There was once
a philanthropist who occasionally gave doles of bread and meat, and he
indulged always in the peculiar luxury of saving a little in the shape of
short weight !

76 Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
this, as in the vast stone trade which he opened up on his own
estates, that it was his own business, and that he was account
able to One only for the righteous use of that which was
righteously gained. The income from the national sources,
and from his estates and quarries, averaged large sums; no
doubt more than has ever been conjectured.
It may have been two or three years after his second
marriage, with Elizabeth Holder, i.e., 1730, that Allen took
up his residence at Hampton Manor House. The mansion at
that time consisted of the centre, without western and eastern
annexes, which are quite modern. The doorway and the
rest of the front have been much altered. Over the door
way or hall was a small belfry, and the country adjacent
was rough and unenclosed. The low-lying lands near and
around the house were cultivated as kitchen gardens, from
which Bath derived a considerable supply ; the whole scene
was monotonous and deficient in the picturesque. Alien was
a man of taste, and to remedy this defect he built a haw-
haw, and laid out the lawn ; removed the belfry, and made
the centre what it now is. To the east and to the west may
be seen extending, each way, an avenue which he planted,
of great beauty. Allen also made roads to the Down and
about the estate. It was also about this time that he began
to develop the stone works on Hampton Down, which, as we
shall show, he carried on with the same energy and the same
humanity as he did shortly after on Combe Down, above
Prior Park. The machinery used in this earlier work for
bringing down the dressed stone from the quarries to the
banks of the Avon differed from that referred to later as to
Combe Down. Nearly all the beds of oolite on the former
were hewn in the open, dressed with much care, and laid by
for seasoning. A series of short trams were laid on to a
centre, where was constructed a large drum worked by some
kind of machinery, but we cannot quite tell what. A tram-

The Dry Arch."

n

line or way was constructed, extending from the drum along
the Down, then descending the slope to the edge of a rather
steep gorge. The stone was here unladen and conveyed to
Allen's stoneyard and basin, but what was the precise mode
of conveyance is not clear.
In 1810, or a little earlier, the old quarries were again
worked by the Directors of the Kennett and Avon Canal for
the construction of the locks, but the quality of the stone
left was very inferior. The old tram-road was used to the
edge of the gorge, and then passed over a bridge and down

an inclined embankment to the canal bank. Since the
Warminster Road was made, which passes under the bridge,
it is called " The Dry Arch".
There were two things to be done by Allen when he
acquired Prior Park, namely, to get into and out of the estate
on the north-east and north-west sides of it. He made a
private carriage-road down the former, and the stone tramway
down the other [see illustration]. The document quoted is
characteristic. Only two strips were wanted of the adjoining
property, of which Bennet was the owner. The tram itself
was not to emerge beyond the Prior Park boundary.

78 Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
" This Indenture made the twentieth day of March in the fourth year
ofthe Reign of our Sovereign Lord George the Second by the Grace of God
of Great Britain France and Ireland King defender of the faith &c.
Anno D'm' One thousand seven hundred and thirty Between Philip
Bennet of Lyncomb and Witcomb in the county of Somerset Esq. and
Jane his wife both dec'd which said Jane was the sole daughter and heir
of Scarborough Chapman late of Lyncomb and Witcomb aforesaid
Gentleman also dec'd of the one part and Ralph Allen of the City of
Bath in the said County of Somerset Esq. and EHzabeth his wife of
the other part Whereas the said Ralph Allen hath lately made and
cut a certain Waggon-way or road for the carriage of stone from the
quarries of him the said Ralph Allen in and through a certain piece or
panel of ground called the Mill Ground late belonging to the said Scar
borough Chapman (which among other lands) by the last will and testa
ment of the said Scarborough Chapman stands charged with the payment
of a debt of Two Thousand Pounds or more due by Mortgage on the
Joynture Estate made to the said Jane the Daughter which according to
agreement ought to have been paid of long since the greatest part thereof
having been raised out of his said daughter's estate which was settled to
that Interest And the said piece of Ground called the MiU Ground is by
the said Will inter alia devised to Trustees of whom or of whose Under
tenant or lessee the said Ralph Allen hath rented the same to protect the
said Jointure Estate from the same debt and from any other dormant
incumbrance as by the said will may more fully appear And whereas a
bill is shortly intended to be brought by the said PhUip Bennet in the High
Court of Chancery (amongst other things) for the due execution and per
formance of the said Will and for such releise as he the said Philip Bennet
shall seek and pray therein Now this indenture witnesseth that the said
PhUip Bennet for and in Consideration of the Grant and Covenant of the
said Ralph Allen hereinafter mentioned and expressed and of five
shiUings of lawful money of Great Britain by the said Ralph Allen to
the said Philip Bennet in hand paid at or before the sealing and delivery
hereof and for diverse other good causes and considerations him the said
Philip Bennet thereunto moving Hath granted releesed ratified and con
firmed unto the said Ralph AUen All that the aforesaid waggon-way or road
so by him made and cut in and through the said ground called the MiU-
Ground together with the ground and soyle of the said road to have
hold and enjoy the same to him the said Ralph Allen and his heirs and
assigns for ever And the said Philip Bennett doth hereby for himself
and his heirs and assignes Covenant promise and agree to and with the

Tramway and Mansions. 79

said Ralph Allen his Heirs and Assignes that he the said Philip Bennet
shall will as soon as conveniently may be make and execute a cause and
procure to be made and executed a good and sufficient conveyance and
assurance in the law unto him the said Ralph Allen and his heirs of the
aforesaid waggon-way or road so by him made and cut in and through
the said ground called the Mill-Ground and of the Ground and soyle of
the said Road for and in consideration of the summe of Thirteen pounds
nine shillings and sixpence of good and lawfuU money of Great Britain to
be paid to the said PhUip Bennet his heirs and asignes by the said Ralph
Allen his heirs or assignes at the time of making and executing of such
conveyance or assurance But in case the said Philip Bennet should not
recover the said ground by the said intended bUl in Chancery so as
to make or procure such conveyance or assurance to be made thereof
unto the said Ralph Allen and his heirs aforesaid And in case the
said Ralph Allen his heirs or assignes shall at any time hereafter be
Evicted Ejected dispossessed or deprived of the Use Benefitt and enjoy
ment of the said waggon-way or road so made and cut in and through
the said ground cSlUed the Mill-Ground by any person or persons
claiming or to claim the same under the said Scarborough Chapman
That then the said Philip Bennet his heirs or assignes make and execute
or cause and procure to be made and executed a good and sufficient
conveyance and assurance in the law to him the said Ralph AUen and
his heirs of aU that part and so much of the said PhUip Bennet's
Orchard lying in Lyncomb and Whitcomb aforesaid at the lower end of
his Garden there belonging to his New Mansion as contains forty-four
leeygs in length and one leeyg in breadth to be measured from the high
way leading from Witcomb Church to hanging land on the south side to
the bounds or hedge at the lower end of the Orchard there belonging to
Mary Wiltshire Widow or her son William Wiltshire for and in con
sideration of the said summe of Thirteen pounds nine shUlings and
sixpence of like lawfuU money of Great Britain to be paid by the said
Ralph Allen his heir or assignes unto the said Philip Bennet his heirs or
assignes at the time of making or executing such last-mentioned con
veyance and assurance And this indenture further witnesseth that the
said Ralph Allen and Elizabeth his wife for and in consideration of the
grant and covenant of the said Philip Bennet before mentioned and
expressed and of five shiUings of lawfuU money of Great Britain to the
said Ralph AUen and EHzabeth his wife by the said PhiHp Bennet in
hand also paid before the sealing and delivery hereof the receipt whereof
is hereby acknowledged and for diverse other good causes and con-

8o Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
siderations then the said Ralph Allen and Elizabeth his wife thereunto
especially moving Have and each of them hath given and granted and
by these presents Do and each of them doth give and grant unto the
said PhiHp Bennet his heirs and assignes the full and free use liberty
and priviledge from time to time and at all times hereafter with his and
her family friends & servants with His and their horses coaches chariots
chairs chaises to ride pass and repass in upon and through his the said
Ralph AUen's new made waggon-way or road so far as the same extends
from the gate called Dolemead Gate to the way or road newly made
by the said Philip Bennet from the waggon-way or road of him the
said Ralph Allen up to the mansion-house of him the said . . . PhUip
Bennet at Whitcomb aforesaid and to his estate and lands there
provided the same be not made use of by him the said PhiHp Bennet
his heirs and assignes or any of his friends or servants in any wise
with any carts cars drags waggons or any other heavy carriages
To Have hold use exercise and enjoy the said waggon-way or road
of him the said Ralph Allen hereby granted in the manner before
mentioned and expressed unto him the said Philip Bennet and his
heirs And the said Ralph AUen for himself and for the said Elizabeth
his wife and for their and for either of their heires or assignes doth
covenant promise and agree to with the said Philip Bennet his heirs and
assignes by these presents That he the said Ralph Allen and Elizabeth
his wife and their heirs shall and will from time to time and at all times
hereafter at the reasonable request costs and charges of the said Philip
Bennet make do and execute or cause and procure to be made done and
executed any further or other lawfull and reasonable act device convey
ance or assurance in the law for the better moveyure and absolute
granting assuring and confirming the full and free use liberty and
privUedge of his the said Ralph Allen's said waggon-way in the manner
herebefore mentioned and intended to be hereby given and granted unto
him the said Philip Bennet and his heires as the said Philip Bennet his
heirs and assignes or his or their councell learned in the Law shall be
reasonably advised or devised and required so as the person or persons
required to make the same be not compeUed for the doing thereof to
have further than his or her or their respective place or places of abode
In Witness whereof the said parties have hereunto interchangeably sett
their hands the day and year first above written. "Philip Bennet.
" Sealed and delivered (being first duly stampt in the presence of Ann
Bennet) — John Noble.

The Tram, and Carriage Way. 8 1
" A true copy of the original deed examined therewith by us this
twenty-eighth day of May One Thousand eight hundred and fourteen.
" WilHam Merrick Gent.
Endorsed:— " WiUiam Merrick Junr."
" 20 Mar. 1730. Agreem't between Mr. Bennet and Mr. Allen about
the waggon-way. — Attested Copy.
" The original deed is now in the hands of Mr. Dan'l Clutterbuck, the
parish of Witcomb House, and to be produced by him to Mr. John Thomas
[the purchaser of the estate] for inspection when desired. — 28 March
18 16."
Combe Dcwn.
The Combe Down tram-road was constructed in 1731, and
consisted of two narrow lines, of which distinct traces remain.
The frame and machinery were fixed upon the Down. The
lines were so adjusted that the down laden tram drew up
the empty one ; starting, stopping, and speed being regulated
by it. The small square waggons were very strong, and
were mounted on small wheels, running on a low platform.
In cases of contract the blocks of stone were sometimes
dressed upon the down, having been long seasoned by ex
posure in the rough ; in ordinary cases the blocks were
brought down in the rough. When the trams reached the
level at the bottom of the hill, the waggons, after emerging
from the road proper, were unloaded on to an ingenious sledge
(invented by Richard Jones), and the stone was conveyed
either to the boats at the basin or deposited on the quays.
The method of excavating the stone on the Combe Down
was dififerent from that pursued on Hampton Down. For the
greater part a boring was made, the operations being carried
on as in a coal mine, though nearer the top, which mostly was
supported by cross-beams in the workings ;' and this arrange
ment, whilst preserving the surface for pasture, at the same
1 The circular openings, protected by low walls, are still to be seen on
various parts of Combe Down. G

82 Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
time concealed the unsightly exhausted open pits, except in
a few localities about the village.
As a proof of Allen's kind consideration for his fellow-
citizens, it may be well to refer to some special features in the
tram-road. It was constructed some years, apparently, before
he contemplated building the great mansion in the park,
and was evidently intended not only for the tramways, but
for ordinary public business vehicles running between the city
and the Down. The road entered at the bottom of the hill,
and went almost in a straight line from north to south, up to
the Down, right through the estate. The west side of the road
was embanked with protecting masonry ; whilst on the east
ward, parallel with the tram lines, a low wall was built, from
which the land sloped towards the valley, a footpath being
made for the pubHc use. A stranger now looking at the four
lodges in this road is puzzled by their peculiar arrangement,
but the matter becomes perfectly clear when it is seen that
they were built to suit the road, long after the latter was con
structed. The opening up of these sources of industry, especially at
such a juncture, was of incalculable advantage to Bath. Wood
was carrying out his great building projects in the city and
all around, so that in addition to the vast market for the
stone created in London, the home consumption was very
large ; hence a demand for skilled industry was developed in
and around the city, which more or less continues to this day.'
Now, it will be seen, began that part of Allen's career
which, no doubt, was the most trying period of his life. The
post-office difficulties, though practically overcome, still in
volved responsibility and anxiety, whilst the organization of
these new fields of labour and enterprise added largely to his
' Extensive new quarries have from time to time been discovered ;
and recently excellent stone has been found over the Box Tunnel, at
Bathford, and elsewhere, and worked with enterprising energy.

Bathampton and Batheaston. 83
daily toil and mental task. True, in all his vast and com
plicated duties he was largely assisted by his brother Philip ;
but there was no part of the details appertaining either to
his official or private business, from the supervision of his
labourers' cottages and their social and moral welfare to the
most important official correspondence with the Government,
which does not more or less bear the impress of his own
careful hand ; and yet he was always calm, cheerful, and
hospitable. It has been already shown that, as an employer
of labour on his estate, he had effected improvements in
the interests of the labourer, and especially of the quarry-
men ; but in addition to this his solicitude for his large staff
of clerks and superintendents was quietly shown in all his
dealings with them. In return he was served by men who
loved him. From 1731 until his death, his clerk-of-the-works,
one Richard Jones,' served him with rare ability and inde
fatigable zeal. This man was wholly untrained and almost
uneducated, but displayed an amount of natural aptitude and
knowledge in relation to building, architecture, and engineer
ing, which amounted almost to genius ; and he was one only
ofa large number of equally devoted servants.
Bathampton and Batheaston.
From about 1731 until 1733 Allen was engaged in improving
his Bathampton estate, especially the Manor House.^ It was a
small, old-fashioned house, which had been much neglected,
standing on the south bank of the Avon. Near it were the
"old mill and the sparkling weir". The river was crossed by
a ferry to Batheaston, through which ran, and still runs, the
old Roman fosse road. By this road and the ford Bathampton
1 After Allen's death Jones was elected by the Corporation one of the
City Surveyors of Works, a post he filled with satisfaction to the City.
^ The estate being mortgaged by his wife's father, Allen purchased
he equity of redemption. G 2

Bathampton Chtirch. 85
could alone be approached, except on foot. Vehicles and
horses were conveyed across on a ferry-bridge, and this con
tinued long into the present century. It was at the Manor
House from 1732, or about, that Allen received many of his
distinguished visitors.
The church of Bathampton is dedicated to St. Nicholas,
and now consists of a low square battlemented west tower,
open at its lowest stage ; eastward, the church comprises nave,
north and south aisles, south porch, chancel ; organ chamber
on the north, and vestry on the south, sides of the chancel.
The original church had the tower, nave, and chancel only,
the roof of the latter being higher than the nave. To meet
the expansion of the village, the church has been from time
to time altered and enlarged, as occasion required.
At the present east end of the south aisle, before its recent
westward elongation, was a square attached mortuary chapel,
under which sleep many of the dead members of the Allen
family, its walls bearing their respective tablets.
The tower was erected in the Perpendicular era ; and, with
the exception of the nave roof, hardly any part of the older
church remains.
The cross on the chancel gable is of unique design ;
formerly it was the hip knob or finial of a fourteenth-century
building (see tail-piece, p. 96).
The remains of stone effigies of a cross-legged knight and
lady are carefully preserved in the window-sills, internally,
of the south aisle.
Opposite Hampton Manor, sloping down to the road, were
the pretty grounds in which stood the far-famed villa of Lady
Millar at Batheaston, and the
" Urn, an antique, as I think I 've been told,
Stood in TuUy's fam'd Tusculan villa of old,
And, a thousand years after and more, was here brought,
And long may it stand in this favourite spot."

86 Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
The villa, with additions, stiU survives in all its pristine
beauty. In the grounds are the pavilions, but the urn, cram
med under a canopy too small for it, adorns the Bath Park.
Batheaston abounds with an interest all its own. Near and
around it are some beautiful old houses, with St. Catherine's
Valley, exquisitely wooded, on the summit of the south side
of which stands the romantic and interesting mansion of St.
Catherine's Court, with its Elizabethan garden, both the work
of the famous wit, Sir John Harington of Kelston.
In a memorandum, Allen says he has on The Wasted at
Batheaston twenty houses, of which he gives the names of
the tenants, with a note at foot, in his own writing : —
" Memorandum, that the late Widow Bushell's husband (Mayor 1718)
kept count for Sir W. Bassett^ at Hampton, and 'tis probable Mrs. Ann
CoUibee (whose husband was Mayor 1719), now Dalamore, may have some
ofthe Court Rolls which wiU explain the Waste, &c., at Bath Easton."
Allen's General Characteristics.
We should like to add a few sentences expressive of our
conception of Allen in certain other aspects than that of a
philanthropist. He was a high-minded Christian, gentleman ;
and, in a sense, that summary may seem to leave Uttle more to
be said.
There was, however, another side to Allen's character
besides that presented in his domestic relations, and in his
bearing as a citizen and a public benefactor, on which many
writers have descanted. A man may be, as Allen was, sym
pathetic, generous, and clear-sighted, and yet lack certain
qualities which Allen possessed, but with which he is not
usually credited. We might almost think that he was sub-
' The tradition as to the term seems to be lost, but the locality, we
opine, was at the east end of the village on the left. We beliexe Allen
made overtures, which were not accepted, to become Lord of the Manor
of Batheaston. ¦> of Claverton Manor,

General Characteristics. 87
missive to the point of weakness ; that his " humility" was an
infirmity rather than a virtue to be admired ; that, indeed, he
was lacking in manly dignity, and that independence of spirit
which is the natural result of it. Emerson says : " It is the
mark of nobleness to volunteer the lowest service, the greatest
spirit only attaining to humUity." As Bishop Hurd said of him,
" He comes up to the notion of my favourites in Queen
Elizabeth's reign : good-sense in connection with the plainest
manners — simplex et nuda Veritas!' This was precisely the
humility which adorned Allen's life and character — not the
humility which, like that of Uriah Heap, was always proclaim
ing itself There was in AUen a quiet reserve, a calm subdued
dignity and courtesy, and the self-possession which indicates
the well-bred gentleman. Then there was another quality
possessed by Allen which has been almost entirely overlooked,
we mean his instinctive aptitude for business, and his keen
sagacity in the pursuit of it. It is a mistake to suppose that
Allen opened his mouth and the good things fell into it. He
had many a hard fight with the Government of the day, and
his correspondence at each successive development of his
great national work reveals the conscious power and self-
reliance of the man.
We shall endeavour to show, moreover, that in Allen's local
enterprises he was not simply the easy-going philanthropist of
the come-easy, go-easy type. He was a man of large con
ceptions, full of resources ; and being rewarded by com
mensurate fruition, so he dispensed his hospitality and his
bounty with an unsparing hand. The story' that Allen's
' The story, in short, is this : When Allen described the character ot
the mansion he proposed to build in Prior Park, Wood, in astonishment,
asked him if he had counted the cost thereof Allen, by way of answer,
showed him a series of boxes filled with gold. To those who know
anything either of Wood or Allen the story needs neither explanation
nor denial-

88 Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
notions as to the mansion he proposed to erect at Prior Park
utterly confounded his friend and architect, John Wood, may
be partly true. The error underlying this statement, how
ever, is typical of many others relating to Allen : it im
putes to him a kind of recklessness, whereas Allen was
especially circumspect and vigilant in all his schemes and
expenditure. In this particular instance, so far from Wood
being " confounded", he first had to prepare the plans from
Allen's instructions ; and having done so, and submitted
them for his approval. Wood proceeded to carry them out.
Wood was a man who knew his own mind, and he had
elaborated his designs not merely to secure unity of archi
tectural grandeur, but also certain features which should
realise several unique characteristics, especially in the roof
and portico' (see illustration). Here, again, Allen's conduct
illustrated the quality to which we have referred. When
it came to the point of carrying out certain features in the
roof of the stables, Allen resolved upon a modification of
them ; Wood remonstrated, but to no purpose. Allen had
his own way ; the relations between the two men became
strained, and, on the completion of the first portion of the
work, Wood's direct connection with Allen ceased. The
eastern wing, the Palladian bridge, planting, etc., were en
trusted to other hands, a year or so before Wood's death.
Warburton's Introduction to Allen.
The following extract, written in 1856, from the Rev.
Francis Kilvert's Essay on Allen, whilst describing the in
cident which led to the introduction of Warburton to Prior
Park, will also, to some extent, show the footing on which
Pope stood in 1736: —
" Mr. Allen lived in so noble and hospitable a manner, that no one
distinguished by rank, learning, or eminence in any profession or public
' When built (and we believe still), the largest in England.

Kilvert's Essay. 89
employment came to Bath, but was either invited to or introduced at
Prior Park. Mr. Pope was almost a constant inmate in thefamUy during
the Bath season, for many years. This intimacy commenced previous to
the vear 1736,' and originated in the high opinion of Pope, formed by
Mr. Allen on reading his first volume of letters, which led him to off'er to
print a second volume at his own expense. To these circumstances
attestation is borne by Pope's letter to Allen ( Works, vol. vi, p. 320,
edit. 1770). During one of his visits, Mr. Pope, being one day at dinner,
had a letter dehvered to him by the servant, on which, having inspected
it, he shook his head ; and on Mr. Allen asking what was the matter, he
answered that a Lincolnshire clergyman, to whom he had \ery great
obligation, was coming to make him a visit at Twickenham. ' If that be
all', said Mr. Allen, ' invite him to come hither. Let him come to
Chippenham in the stage-coach, and we will send our carriage to meet
him and bring him to Prior Park.' The Lincolnshire clergyman was
Warburton, then the simple Incumbent of Brand Broughton, in that
county. In a letter to Warburton, dated from Prior Park, Nov. 12th,
1 74 1, Pope says : — ' My third motive of now troubling you is my own
proper interest and pleasure. I am here in more leisure than I can
possibly enjoy, even in my own house, vacare literis. It is at this place that
your exhortations may be most eff'ectual to make me resume the studies
I had almost laid aside by perpetual avocations and dissipations. If it
were practicable for you to pass a month or six weeks from home, it is
here I could wish to be with you ; and if you would attend to the con
tinuation of your own noble work, or unbend to the idle amusement of
commenting upon a Poet who has no other merit than that of aiming, by
his moral strokes, to merit some regard from such men as advance truth
and virtue in a more eff'ectual way ; in either case this place and this
house would be an inviolable asylum to you from all you would desire to
avoid in so pubHc a scene as Bath. The worthy man who is the master
of it invites you in the strongest terms, and is one who would treat you
with love and veneration, rather than with what the world calls civility
and regard. He is sincerer and plainer than almost any man now in this
world, antiquis moribus. If the waters of the Bath may be serviceable
to your complaints (as I believe, from what you have told me of them),
no opportunity can ever be better. It is just the best season. We are
told the Bishop of Salisbury (Dr. Sherlock) is expected here daUy, who,
I know, is your friend ; at least, though a Bishop, is too much a man of
learning to be your enemy. You see I omit nothing to add to the
' In Bath 1734, afterwards continued at Hampton Manor until 1740.

go Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
weight in the balance, in which, however, I will not think inyself light,
since I have known your partiality. You will want no servant here.
Your room will be next to mine, and one man will serve us. Here is a
library, and a gallery 90 feet long to walk in, and a coach whenever you
would take the air with me. Mr. Allen tells me you might, on horseback,
be here in three days. It is less than 100 miles from Newark, the road
through Leicester, Stowe- in-the- Wolds, Gloucester, and Cirencester, by
Lord Bathurst's. I could engage to carry you to London from hence, and
I would accommodate my time and journey to your conveniency.' Again,
Nov. 22nd: — 'Yours is very full and very kind : it is a friendly and a
very satisfactory answer, and all I can desire. Do but instantly fulfil it.
Only I hope this will find you before you set out. For I think, on aU
considerations, your best way will be to take London in your way. You
will owe me a real obligation by being made acquainted with the master
of this house, and by sharing with me what I think one of the chief
satisfactions of my Hfe — his friendship.' Of this invitation Warburton
did not fail to avail himself On the 3rd March 1742, we find him
writing, as follows, to Dr. Doddridge : — ' In Nov. Mr. Pope sent me so
pressing an invitation to come to him at Mr. Allen's, near Bath, seconded
by so kind an in\'itation of that good man, that I could not decline a long,
tedious winter journey by London. I stayed at Widcombe in the most
agreeable retired society with two excellent persons, so very dear to me,
till after the Christmas holidays.' This was the ' tide in the affairs' of
that remarkable man, which he ' took at its flood', and which ' led him on
to fortune'. So successfuUy did he cultivate this advantageous introduc
tion that, in 1746, Mr. Allen gave him in marriage his favourite niece,
Miss Gertrude Tucker. In 1757, through Mr. Allen's influence with
Mr. Pitt, he was appointed to the Deanery of Bristol ; and in 1760,
through the same interest, became Bishop of Gloucester."
It might be added that Allen repaired the Deanery at considerable
cost, and subsequently the Palace at Gloucester.
"Low-born" and "Humble".
It was in 1735 that the famous couplet was written —
" Let low-born Allen with an awkward shame
Do good by stealth and blush to find it fame,"
and in 1738 that the epithet low-born was changed tolmmble;
and the incidents that followed illustrate the independence
and dignity of Allen's character,

"Low-born" and " Humble'. 91
Pope's alleged aim in changing " low-born" to "humble"
was to divert attention from the lowly origin to the modest
and unpretentious character of Allen ; but the change of
epithet makes no difference, as Pope must have foreseen.
The general reader, not knowing the literary history of Pope's
famous couplet, interprets humble with reference to birth ;
and connoisseurs who do know the history and recollect the
original reading, low-born, are not likely to interpret the word
humble in the non-natural sense which Pope (a master of
subterfuge) alleged to be his meaning, but will rather exclaim :
" Who dares think one thing, and another tell,
My heart detests him as the gates of hell.''
fPope's Iliad, Book I, x.)
Let us reverse the case, and suppose that Allen, ex hypothesi
a master of language, had first of all stamped Pope in litera
ture as a disreputable person, and then changed the epithet
disreputable to low, declaring at the same time that he meant
low to have reference to Pope's stature ; would Pope's dis
pleasure at the original epithet have been appeased by the
second one, it being clear, under the circumstances, that
neither the general reader nor the connoisseurs would be
diverted by Allen's non-natural definition ofthe word low?
There is no record, however, that Allen felt hurt or remon
strated' about the allusion to his humble parentage, which a
man ofhis native nobility could well afford to treat with lofty
disdain ; in fact, the only reputation injured by the allusion
is Pope's.
It is said that Warburton remonstrated with Pope before
' The story has been told so often, Hke the story about Queen
Elizabeth's visit to Harington, and some of the Sherston fables, that it
has got into the warp and woof of our local Histories and Guides Warner,
Tunstall, and others give it as an indisputable fact, without any investi
gation of their own.

92 Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
he changed the epithet from low-born to humble. No such
remonstrance can be traced, either in express terms or im
plied. Nor is it likely, seeing that Warburton did not know
Allen until three years after the later version was written.
The history of this famous couplet is altogether independent
of the quarrel between Pope and Allen, of which much was
told us by Mr. Dilke in his Papers of a Critic ; and Mr.
Elwin and Mr. Courthope made quite clear what remained to
be told. We believe both Allen and Warburton quite under
stood and appreciated Pope's motive in writing the couplet.
They could not impute to him an offensive intention, because
both versions appeared some years before the fatal quarrel
took place. We will endeavour, as simply as possible, to relate
this curious and interesting literary episode as affecting our
local Maecenas.
The couplet first appeared in the Epilogue to the Satires,
which was pubUshed in " the folio" edition in 1735. In 1738,
three years before Allen and Warburton had met, Pope writes
to Allen :—
" Pray tell me if you have any objection to my putting your name into
a poem of mine (incidentally, not at all going out of the way for it),
provided I say something of you" (which, by the way, he had already said
three years before, using low-born instead oi humble) "which most people
will take ill, for example, that you are no man of high birth or quality ?
You must be perfectly free with me on this, as on any, nay, on every other
occasion." In the November following he writes again to Allen : —
" I am going to insert in the body of my Works my two last poems in
quarto. I always profit myself of the opinion of the public to correct
myself on such occasions ; and sometimes the merits of particular men,
whose names I have made free with, for example, either good or bad,
determine me to alterations. I have found a virtue in you more than I
certainly knew before, till I had made experiments of it, I mean humihty.
I must, therefore, injustice to my own conscience of it, bear testimony to
it, and change the epithet I first ga\'e you of low-born to humble. I shall

Pope s Duplicity. 93
take care to do you the justice to teU everybody this change was not
made at yours, or at any friend's request for you, but my own knowledge
you merited it."
This letter appeared in Warburton's edition of Pope's
Works (9 vols.), 1751, seven years after Pope's death, without
animadversion or comment. It is more than probable that
.•\Uen and Warburton perceived the bad taste by which such
a letter was dictated. The tone of patronising condescension
could not have escaped the observation of either of them, but
they quite understood the little great man.' It is not likely
that Allen, with his proud reserve, even if either of the epithets
had given him pain, would have condescended to complain, or
that he at a later date would have sanctioned any remon
strance on the part of Warburton. Besides, the letter of Pope
surely would have elicited an expression of disapprobation
if such feeling had existed.
We do not presume to deal with Pope, except so far as it may
affect his relations with Alien ; and it affords some ground for
amusement to find a man like Warner, if he did not invent it,
accepting such a story as he relates, without any sort of
reserve or qualification, as to the cause of the breach between
Allen and Pope : —
"Amidst this consteUation of geniuses, Pope shone the distinguished
star ; he had become intimate with Allen from the personal advances of
the latter, in consequence of an esteem he had conceived for him on
reading the surreptitious edition of his letters in 1734. But the friend
ship of a wit is not to be depended upon. Pope, who visited -much at
Prior Park, and found the house so comfortable as to be desirous of
being there more, requested Mr. Allen to grant him the mansion at
Bathampton, in order that he might bring Martha Blount thither (with
whom Pope's connection was somewhat equivocal) during the time of
his own residence at Prior Park. This request AUen (whose delicacy
was extreme) flatly refused, which so exasperated the little wasp, that he

^ Pope was himself the son ofa llnendraper in the Strand.

94 Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
quitted his house in disgust, and never afterwards expressed himself in
terms of common civility with respect to his old host and former friend."
There is not one word of truth in this statement. All
traditions affecting Pope and Allen associate the former with
Prior Park. We have shown in an earUer chapter that Prior
Park was not ready for occupation until Nov. 1741, and, there
fore, Pope could have visited Allen there only twice. This
alone would suffice to refute the foregoing silly statement ;
the ground of quarrel not being between Allen and Pope at
all,, nor is there any reason whatever for the imputation of
immoral motives. The truth is that both Martha Blount and
Mrs. Allen were women of high temper. Little is known of
the merits of this dispute ; but it appears that Martha Blount
being towards the end of 1743 on a visit with Pope, at Prior
Park, a difference arose between her and Mrs. Allen, of which
the poet was in some way the cause, and they at once left
Prior Park and proceeded to Lord Bathurst's at Cirencester.
Another explanation ofthe mystery was that Martha Blount,
after her quarrel with Mrs. Allen, insisted that Pope should
cancel his obligations to Allen, and refund the sums he had
received from him. Pope yielded to her demand, and after
bequeathing his books to Allen' and Warburton conjointly, he
went on to say: " In case Ralph Allen, Esq., should survive
me, I order my executors to pay him the sum of .^150,
being to the best of mj' calculation the amount of what I
have received from him, partly for my own, and partly for
charitable uses. If he refuses to take this himself, I desire
him to employ it in any way I am persuaded he will not
dislike, to the benefit of the Bath Hospital."
Allen aUowed the money to go to the hospital, remarking
' Lord Orrery, writing from Marston, July 14th, 1744, to Mallet, a friend
and (in Bath) a neighbour of Allen's, on the North Parade, says : "It
is reported that Mr. Allen is extremely enraged at his share of money,
not of books, or rather at the manner in which it is given."

Allen visits Pope al Twickenham. 95
that " Pope was always a bad accountant, and that if to ^^150
he had put a cypher more, he had come nearer to the truth."
Warburton received all the printed books and copyrights of
the poet's own works.' At Warburton's death he bequeathed
his library to Bishop Hurd.
Allen was hurt that his generous friendship should, coupled
by a misrepresentation, be flung back to him with disdain ;
and the indignation he expressed was natural. The public
joined their censure, and Johnson says that Pope " brought
some reproach upon his own memory by the petulant and
contemptuous mention of Allen, and the affected repayment
of his benefactions." Allen, in a sense, cared not for the
money or for the books, any more than he cared for being
called loiv-born and humble. He knew his own motives, and if
he expressed any sense of disappointment it was because he
had less to bestow upon the hospital he loved so well. The
moiety of the books he surrendered to Warburton, not be
cause he was indifferent to books and literature, but simply
because he did not wish to divide so precious a collection.
Overtures for a reconciliation were made by Allen,- and in
reply to his letter, Pope (March 6th, 1744) writes : " I thank
you very kindly for yours. I am sure we shall meet with the
same hearts we ever met ... I must see you here (Twicken
ham) or nowhere. Accordingly, Allen went to Twickenham,
and there the reconciliation took place.
It was between the time of the quarrel and Allen's visit to
1 Many ofthe calumnies touching Pope and Martha Blount, arising out
of the quarrel at Prior Park, were promulgated immediately after Pope's
death. Warburton ha'd a perfect knowledge of the facts, and, as a
gentleman and a bishop, ought to have given the true version on the
opportunity afforded him in the edition he issued of Pope's works in 1751.
He not only did not do this, but he suppressed many documents which,
in justice to Martha Blount, he ought to have pubhshed.
2 A fact in itself sufificient to refute the silly calumny of Warner and
others.

96

Life and Times of Ralph Allen.

Twickenham, on the 17th March, that Pope altered his will,
inserting the offensive clause ; and, whether urged by Miss
Blount, or by his own petulant and vindictive temper, to
insert the offensive clause, he might, and probably would
have altered it before he died, but his last illness came
upon him too suddenly. It is at any rate reasonable to sup
pose that, after his letter, he would have done so. Martha
Blount very earnestly declared that when Pope told her his
intentions with regard to the mention of Allen, she in vain
tried to dissuade him from it ; and there is no reason to
doubt her word.

Hip Knob. (See page 85. )

PRIOR PARK.

[Three events were to happen in 1742 : namely, the election of Allen
to the Mayoralty ; the opening of the General Mineral Water Hospital ;
and the completion ofa portion of Prior Park.]
T may be well to introduce the sub-
^ ject by quoting Thicknesse's' bitter
but amusing description : —
"A noble seat, which sees all Bath, and
which was built, probably, for all Bath to
see. The Founder of this House and Family
was Ralph Allen ; of low Birth, but no
mean Intellects. It is said, the Postmaster
of Exeter, being caught in a Storm upon a
dreary Heath, in Cornwall, took shelter in a
poor Man's Hut, the property of Allen's
Father, and being kindly received by the
humble Host, and seeing some Marks of
Genius in this Boy, proposed taking him
under his Care and Protection ; a Proposal
very acceptable to all Parties. He was
accordingly taught to read and write, and
then employed in the Post-Office, to re
ceive and deliver Letters ; during his Resi-
the Postmaster, had formed a Scheme in

, 1)....'., ., V

Carriage Entrance, within
second Lodge Gate.
dence there, Mr. 

' Prose Guide, 1788. Thicknesse was not a favourite of Allen's, and
this explains the animus displayed by the former towards the latter on
every occasion. The statement above quoted may, in the main, be
regarded as an invention.
^ The Postmaster's name, as we have shown, was Quash, of which the
writer seemed in ignorance. H

98 Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
which young Allen's Pen and Head were employed, of establishing a
Cross-Post all over England ; but Mr.  was unable to carry it into
Execution. Mr, Allen, however, possessed of some Materials for so
great an Undertaking, and a much better Head, leaving his Master soon
after, carried this great National Convenience into Execution ; and
while he was supposed to be gaining a Princely Fortune by digging
Stones from the Bowels of the Earth, he actually picked it off the
Surface,' by traversing the whole Kingdom with Post-Horses. He was
said to bear his great Prosperity with Humility, and to conduct all
Business with the utmost Probity. That he affected a Simplicity of
Manners and Dress, we can testify ; but we can by no Means allow that
be was not a Man deeply charged with Pride, and without address
enough to conceal it. His plain Quaker-co\ov,rt.d Suit of Cloaths, and
Shirt Sleaves with only a Chitterlin up the SHt, might, and did deceive
the vulgar Eye ; but he could not bear to let POPE (who was often his
"Visitor) call him what was true (low-born Allen), but made him substitute
in its Place, that which was false^ (humble Allen). He was not, however,
mean, for we once ate a most magnificent Dinner at his Table, served to
thirty Persons, off Dresden China, and he seemed to take infinite Pains
to shew his Munificence in every Respect. He left behind him, however,
a Nephew and Namesake, whom we lately followed to the Grave, amidst
the unaffected Tears and Sorrows of all, but those who might profit by
his untimely Death. For he was one ofthe noblest works of God !"'
For centuries the quarries, of what is technically called
Bath stone or oolite, had been more or less worked, and the
stone wrought for facing noble buildings, as well as being
largely used for small ornamentations in courtyards, gardens,
1 The insinuation meant to be conveyed by the writer is, that Allen
needed a plausible pretext to cover his excessive gains by his postal con
tracts. If the reader has perused the notice of the Hampton and Combe
Downs machinery, their nature, and extent of the works, the personal
labour and anxiety which they both involved to Allen ; if, again, it be
considered that the postal contracts were carried on eleven years previous
to Allen entering upon those estates, the ill-nature which prompted
Thicknesse's malignant suggestion will be only too obvious.
^ A statement we show to be untrue.
^ This was Philip AUen's younger son, Ralph, who died unmarried
August 30th, 1777, aged 40.

The Stone Quarries. 99
etc. These smaller articles found their way to all parts of
the kingdom, the stone being soft and easily worked into the
most ingenious forms and patterns, while, after exposure,
it proved as durable as the hardest stone known, and con
sequently admitted of little competition ; whilst the larger
blocks were principally used only in the district.
One of the most enterprising of the ornamental stonecutters,
early in the last century, was Thomas Greenway ; and for forty
or fifty years the art continued to develop and flourish in the
hands of many others, some of whom had been taught their
business by Greenway. The house now known as the " Gar
rick's Head" was built by Greenway,' ostensibly to display
the elaborate Bath-stone ornamentation. This is the house
in which Beau Nash lived before he removed into the "next
door", the house in which he died, and in which Mrs. Delany
and the then Miss Berry afterwards respectively resided.^
The stone business in Allen's hands increased so rapidly
that, about six years after he became possessed of the quarries
at Hampton Down, he acquired the entire estate of Prior
Park and Combe Down, with a single exception, as will be
seen, with all the quarries and royalties ; and the first thing he
did was to construct two tramways, one connecting the works
on Combe Down with the basin and the river in the Dolemeads,
and the other, which we have described, in connection with
Hampton Down. .A.t this time modern Bath was springing
up ; Queen Square^ was already built, the Parades were in
progress,* and all these were built of Bath stone ; but still
Allen had to contend with the prejudices, the professional
1 Whom we have already noticed. " Greenway Lane" is so called
after this ingenious person.
2 The house is stiU standing in Gascoyne Place, next to the theatre.
The entrance doorway is exceedingly fine, but is obscured by the atrium
of the theatre.
' Begun December 10, 1728. * Finished in 1735.
H 2

IOQ Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
opposition of architects, and every species of difficulty by
which interested persons could and did impede the sale and
use of Bath stone for important buildings remote from Bath.'
He seemed to have exercised all his faculties in the develop
ment of the stone trade ; he built cottages for the workmen
to be near their work ; he erected sheds to protect them while
dressing the stone ; and in thus saving time he saved the cost
of production, and also very greatly increased the " out-put" ;
he established the principle of piece-work, and he did also
what seems to have been unusual in those days, he paid his
men weekly, and treated them humanely.
The exception, to which reference has been made at the
beginning ofthe last paragraph, was the quarry of Milo Smith,^
one of the promoters of the navigation of the Avon. He, it
appears, opposed Allen on his own ground. But there was
another opposition from the master-masons, who were deter
mined, if possible, to get the control of the business into their
own hands; Allen dealt equitably with Milo Smith, whose
quarry he purchased, and soon convinced the masons that he
was too just to act oppressively towards them. Allen also
proved to them that, in the matter of the domestic trade, he
was their best friend. The London architects, as early as
1728, set their faces against the Bath stone. They were
interested in other quarries, and refused to look at the product
of those at Bath. They compared it to Cheshire cheese, not
only in its colour and texture, but in its Uability to breed
maggots, which would soon devour it. They said it would
not bear any weight, and was wholly unfit for London work.
At a meeting held in the presence of the Governors of
Greenwich Hospital, Mr. Colin Campbell, their architect, being
' Block stone in the rough at this period was delivered at the Avon
side for 7^. bd. per ton, and, as Wood asserts, " stone fit for the walls of
a palace for the greatest prince in Europe."
'^ Mayor of Bath in 1732.

The Stone Quarries. loi
present. Wood, with a Bath stonemason, attended to submit
specimens of the Bath stone, and to compare it with other
stone, all of which was laid upon the table. Campbell by
mistake took up the wrong stone, and pointing to the defects,
vvhich he alleged were peculiar to the Bath stone, opened the
eyes of the Governors to the unprincipled opposition to its
use, the direct consequence of which was that they effected a
reduction of thirty per cent, on the Portland stone for the
work then to be added to the hospital. One of Mr. Allen's
purposes was thus attained. He had exposed the selfish
objects of those who opposed the use of the Bath stone, and
opened the eyes of many whose minds had been prejudiced
against it. Many men would have been discouraged by the
great difficulties by which his efforts to bring Bath stone into
the London market were met ; but, having so far succeeded,
he continued for some time to persevere, though he did not
attain complete success. In this spirit, as we show, he resolved
to exhibit the Bath stone in a mansion " near his works to
much greater advantage, and in much greater variety of uses
than it had ever appeared in any other structure".
When Prior Park was built the fame of Bath stone spread
everywhere, and contracts were sought for public and private
buildings — in some cases en bloc, in others in detail ; and
these contracts were entered into under the personal super
vision of Wood. This arrangement with Wood lasted for
five years ; and although it terminated amicably, and a clerk
of the works,' together with a stafif of competent persons,
was appointed to conduct Allen's business. Wood evidently
thought himself inadequately paid for his services.
At the time Ralph Allen purchased the Priory Estate it
was of comparatively little value, as has been shown. The
1 Richard Jones, to whom Allen bequeathed one year's salary. In The
'45 Rebellion, Allen at his own cost raised a company of volunteers, of
which Jones took the command.

I02 Life and Times of Ralph Allen._
situation was noble, and the configuration admirably adapted
for a grand mansion. In the " olden time", before the Dis
solution, it would seem that the Priory lands were laid out
tastefully, and with some degree of grandeur ; but even as
early as Leland's visit to Bath, during Prior Holeway's time,
the " wauUes" were neglected and the " dere" sold, and there
were other symptoms of neglect and decay. The presage of
coming troubles seems to have cast a gloom over the capitular
executive, who, though anxious to build a new cathedral or
abbey, had allowed their estates to fall into decay, apparently
because exhausting demands had been made upon their
financial resources for the building of the present Bath Abbey.'
It may fairly be questioned whether it was a righteous act
' The Cathedral of John de "Villula, especially the eastern portion of it,
even as early as 1400, was in a hopeless state of dilapidation ; but at the
close of the century little more than the bare walls were standing. The
first effort made to build the Abbey was begun by Prior Cantlow in 1491,
by the clearing of the site, the preparation of the stone, etc. ; and at that
period this was a work of time, patience, and cost. In 1496 Bishop OHver
King was translated from Exeter to Bath and Wells, and immediately
began that great work in his diocese which has made his name so
venerated. He had no power to command with regard to the building
operations, but he had the power to exhort, to help, to infuse courage
and zeal into those by whom the great work was to be accomplished ;
and this he did from the time of his accession to the time of his
death in 1503. Cantlow died in 1499, and .at that time much progress had
been made. The Bishop, in proceeding to appoint a successor to Cant
low, whilst holding Birde in high estimation for his general qualities and
his personal piety, hesitated in his choice because he distrusted Birde as
to his qualifications in directing and carrying on the great work of build
ing the sacred edifice. It is a notable fact that, whether Birde was aware
or not aware of the good Bishop's distrust, he devoted his whole life, zeal,
and energies, to the work of his office and the raising of the sacred pile;
and this care, seeing what was to follow from neglect and indiff'erence,
saved the buUding from destruction. By this we mean that the work he
left completed was so done as to survive even the neglect to which it was
exposed during the Reformation as well as at a later period,

The Priory Lands. 103
on Henry's part to reduce the Church to beggary ; to allow
this Prior, by whom the Bath Monastery was surrendered, to
starve on ";^30 a yere" in a "dwellyng at 20s. per annum",
whilst nearly the whole ofthe Church lands were bestowed on
his illegitimate daughter, who married the first Harington of
Kelston.' Holeway's last days were spent in Sowter Street,
within the South Gate,^ and the fair work of his and his
predecessors' hands (the Abbey) was sold with remorseless
disregard as to its sacred character, and without the smallest
provision being made for the clergy of Bath and all within
its jurisdiction. The Royal Reformer thought the Bathonians
had no souls ; and it is pretty clear that the members of the
Corporation had very small ones, if it be true, as there is little
reason to doubt, that the Commissioners offered them the
"carcass" ofthe Abbey, which they declined, on the ostensible
ground of their distrust of the Royal Commissioners, but
really because they shirked both expense and responsibility.
After the Reformation, many of the benefices that had been
confiscated at the time of the Dissolution were repurchased
and restored by the lord and the squire. The Priory lands at
the time of the Dissolution originally comprised the Wid-
comb^ of Camalodunum,* the Lyncomb,^ the Smsillcomb,
Bathwick, and certain properties within the precincts of the
walls or liberties of the city.
It was in the year 1728 that the incident connected with
the Greenwich Hospital Governors occurred as to the rela
tive qualities of Bath and Portland stone, which no doubt
decided Allen to build a large mansion with Bath stone, though
^ The father of Sir John Harington, by his second marriage.
^ Removed bodily when the walls and gates were pulled down about
1755- ' The wide combe, or valley, extending from the road bounding Wid
combe House to the head ofthe Dunum, or hill, as the word signifies.
* This, so called by W^ood, must not be confounded with the Camalo-
dunum of Colchester. '' Lyncombe signifying the watery valley.

I04 Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
it was not until some years afterwards that he carried his
resolution into efifect. When the ground was broken and
prepared for the foundation is not clear from any authority to
which we have access ; but from the nature of the soil, and
some natural difficulties that had to be overcome, it is probable
that the site was not ready until 1737. Some idea may be
formed of the nature of the preparatory work from the fact .
that for the foundation, or stereobata, of the central mansion
alone,' 800 tons of freestone, in large blocks, were required, so
that for the whole work it may be assumed that the founda
tion walls required in the aggregate not less than 30,000 tons
of stone. The conception of the general plan by Wood was
on a larger scale, and the building itself more ornate than
that which was finally determined upon and carried out. Nor
was this the only important modification of the design. In
the first dream of this big house — in the exuberance of his
fancy to " exhibit the Bath stone in a seat he had determined
to build for himself near his works" — Allen had pictured a
mansion in which the " Orders of Architecture were to shine
forth in all their glory". But ultimately this ideal yielded to
a style less elaborate in principle and detail. Writing some
seven years after the completion of the house, Wood says
(vol. i, p. 96, 2nd edit.) : " The Seat consists of a Mansion
House in the center, two Pavilions, and two Wings of Offices
^ We do not know, but we suppose the site was chosen by Wood, inas
much as he is silent on the subject. It appears to us, as it has appeared
to others better qualified to judge, to be too low down, occupying, in fact,
the watershed of the East Lyn, one consequence of which was seen in
the difficulty of getting good foundations and a safe outlet for the water.
For, besides the enormous cost, provision had to be made by the con
struction of immensely strong permanent culverts under the foundations
for its escape. If a higher site had been chosen all these evils would
have been obviated, "and the position would have admitted of an open
south front, which is now " cribbed, cabined, and confined " under the
excavated bank.

East.

Prior Park and Tramway.
(From a Print of the Period.)

West.

io6 Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
All these are united by low buildings ; and while the chief
Part of the whole Line fronts the Body of the City, the rest
faces the summitt of Mar's Hill."'^ It is probable that the
adoption of the less magnificent and costly design was due to
Allen's own desire, because Wood says, in reference to the
grander design, " the warmth of this resolution at last abating,
an humble simplicity took its place".
Stables and Pavilion.
In pursuance of the modified design, the west wing was
begun, but again some deviation from the design was made
before its completion. This wing consisted of a principal
and half-storey, extending 172 ft. 8 in. in front by 34 ft.
4 in. in depth on the plinth course of stone. In the centre
there was the hay-house, 20 ft. high, with a pigeon-house
over it of the same altitude, four six-horse stables, three
coach-houses, with a harness-room behind them at one end,
a barn at the other end, and proper granaries in so much
of the half-storey as was to be over the stables, coach
houses, and harness-rooms. The stables and hay-houses were
arched or vaulted over with stone, which was so intended
from the first by the architect, who borrowed the idea from
the stables of Mr. Hanbury of Pontypool. The rest of the
floorings and roof of the whole were intended to have been of
timber, covered with Cornish slate. But in the execution of
the building Allen resolved to make use of nothing but stone
for a covering for this wing of offices. This substitution of
stone for timber disarranged the architect's plan, and the
changing of the material for the roof not only interfered with
the altitude of some of the offices, but also greatly interfered
1 Applied to that part of Mons Badonica, or Mount Beacon, which
we now distinguish as Lansdown. Wood says the name is so called
from Lan, signifying. temple, and Dunum, a hill. A mere fanciful theory.
Lansdown simply signifies Lan, Celtic for land, and Down, a hill.

Building of the Mansion. 107
with the essential characteristics of the building itself Of the
external walls, only that which fronts the south was faced with
wrought freestone ; and this was to have exhibited the Doric
order in its plainest dress, but so high as to include a principal
and a half-storey above it, separated by a fascia or band. A
tetra-style frontispiece in the middle of the whole line, before
such an advanced part of the building, was to have contained
two of the staircases, one on each end of the hay-house, and at
the same time appear as a proper basement of the pigeon-
house, which was to have crowned the edifice with magnifi
cence and beauty ; for the basement extends 50 ft., and a
square of that size in the middle of the building was to have
been covered with a pyramidal roof, divided into two parts,
and to have discovered the body of the crowning ornament.
It will be seen, therefore, in what respect the change affected
the edifice. The joists intended for the timber roof had such
a projection given them in the design as would have afforded
protection in wet weather to persons walking from one part
of this wing of offices to the other. When, however, the ends
of the joists came to be represented in stone, they were con
tracted to small corbels, of little use and less beauty, when
considered as part of the crowning ornament to columns of
the Doric order.
The stables were divided into six recessed stalls on every
side, arched, and lined with dressed stone. Allen treated his
horses like gentlemen. They were richly caparisoned, and he
always had four to his coach,' in which his guests drove out
with much state. Wood was not quite satisfied, however, with
the stables ; he wanted a little more magnitude, and would
have preferred a recess at each stall to contain a bin for each
horse. This wing was finished about 1736 or 1737.^
' Alien seldom used a carriage, unless he went beyond Bath.
^ It may be well to state that the domain, as well as the mansion,
during the occupancy of Mr. Thomas, from 1817 to 1827, suffered very

io8 Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
After the completion of the west wing, the pavilion was to
serve as an arch for coaches to drive under, and as a poultry
and pigeon-house. This structure was built and finished with
wrought freestone. The lower part of it was composed of
four hollow legs, each 9 ft. square by 1 3-5- ft. in length, every
front containing an aperture of \6 ft. in breadth, all arched
over. The body of the building was crowned at the altitude
of 22^ ft. with a cornice, surmounted by a plain attic, 6 ft. in
height, supporting a pyramidal design, terminating in an
octagonal pedestal turret, 10 ft. in diameter, covered with
a dome, the whole being finished with an ornament, con
sisting of a base, ball, baluster, and vane, making the
extreme height 59 ft., or 39 ft. above the vaulted arch for
coaches. The cells for pigeons were made of wrought
freestone. The poultry were similarly provided for in the
low building by which the west wing was united with the
pavilion. It consisted of three rooms, facing southward, with
three apertures to every room, arched over.
Central Mansion.
Some deviation from the general plan was rendered neces
sary by the addition of a closet, which destroyed the con
tinuity of the original basement lines of the central mansion,
from the necessity it involved of placing the pavilion lower than
was intended. Another consequence was that the line having
thus been broken, the architect felt no scruple in laying
the foundation of the main central structure higher than
was originally intended ; and the bottom of the plinth was,
much from parsimonious neglect. In 1829, Bishop Baines, of honoured
memory, purchased the estate, and repaired, as far as possible, the mischief
done ; and we believe it was he who built the stately flight of steps on
the north side of the central mansion. Of this part of the history
Monsignor Shepherd has written an interesting account.

g
a. •7-

I IO Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
therefore, 15 in. higher than that of the west wing.' The
building thus elevated stood upon the plinth course of
stone, 147 ft. in length by 80 ft. in breadth, inclusive of the
projections in front and rear, and consisted of basement,
principal and chamber stories, with garrets taken out of the
altitude of some of the rooms of the latter.
The mansion was constructed of solid blocks of very large
dimensions, in equal courses both within and without, with
a course of brick between ; so that the walls were equally
strong on both sides, and were able to bear the superin
cumbent masonry without being liable to " buckle" under the
weight. The rooms in the basement storey were 12 ft. high,
but a narrow passage, running through the middle of the
house from end to end, was lower by i foot. The chimneys
in the several rooms were dressed with architraves, some of
which were crowned with their proper friezes and cornices,
all in freestone ; and with the same material the door-cases
next the passage were made, architraves being worked upon
the external faces as the proper dress for the apertures.
This passage being divided into five equal parts, regularly
finished with freestone ornaments, became the beauty of
the inside of the basement story, the rooms of which re
ceived their light from square vs^indows in the north front,
but those on the south from oblong windows. It should
be added that not only were the walls of the entire house
outside and inside built of Bath stone of the best quality,
carefully wrought in the sheds, every stone for its place, but
the floors of the basement rooms were laid with the hard,
calcined, shelly ragstone, which is the first bed or stratum, or
as Wood further says, " the roof of the subterraneous quarries",
the next stratum being the " picking bed", which is not so
hard and durable. On this basement storey were a servants'
hall, a housekeeper's room, a butler's pantry, and a room for
' The general Ulustration distinctly shows this.

Building of the Mansion.

I II

the footmen, a small-beer cellar, a strong-beer cellar, wine
vault, laundry, bakehouse, kitchen, scullery, larder, and pantry
There were also a dairy and milk-room, with scullery, and an
apartment set aside for W.C.'s should " any such conveniences
be wanted within the body of the house". The several rooms
were arched, or vaulted over by stone, and the stairs also
made of stone, so that the defects peculiar to plaster were
effectually avoided in this almost uniquely - constructed
house. On the first floor the hall extended from the front to the
rear of the house, and to the eastward of the hall there were
a parlour, study, store-rooms, chapel, and back staircase ;
to the westward a dining-room, drawing-room, bedchamber,
dressing-room, and principal staircase ; and to the northward
a portico or grand pavilion. The altitude of this pavilion, as
well as that of the chapel, was determined by the base of the
roof; but all the other rooms were covered over at i6 ft. of
height, the whole of the architectural ornamentations being of
Bath stone, though these were afterwards removed from the
parlour and dining-room, which, to the disgust of Wood, were
then lined with oak, the irate architect denouncing it as a
"depredation". Some compensation, however, was vouch
safed to him by his being permitted to finish the whole ot
the upper stories, passages, and gallery (20 ft. high), as well as
the chapel, with dressed stone. The chapel was of the Ionic
order, sustaining the Corinthian. The parlour was finished in
the Ionic order, and the dining-room, hall, principal staircase,
and gallery were completed in the Corinthian order.
The portico, already mentioned, on the north front was a
hexastyle ; and it seems that, although divested of some of its
beauty for the convenience of the garret windows, it was
designed by Wood to excel in grandeur that which had been
just executed at Wanstead by his old rival, Colin Campbell.
The portico consisted of Ionic columns supporting a Corinthian

The Lawn and Palladian Bridge. 113
entablature. The columns were 3 ft. i^ in. in diameter,
which exceeds the Wanstead column by i^ in. ; the inter-
columnation being what is called a systylos or systyle — i.e., the
space between the columns equalling two diameters of the
shaft at the bottom, whilst the distance between each of the
plinths on which the column or shaft rests is equivalent to its
own diameter. The entablature was carried all round the
house, with the exception of the west end, where it was sacri
ficed to the exigencies of the windows. Each front was
crowned by a handsome balustrade.
The east wing was designed by Richard Jones, and the
object was chiefly to provide bedroom accommodation. It
contains a hall and a picture-gallery ; and this wing is connected
with the centre by an open corridor. In the midst of the grove
was a fine lawn, sloping down from the house ; near the
summit of this lawn rose a plentiful spring, gushing out
of a rock covered with firs, and forming a constant cascade
of about thirty feet, not carried down a regular flight of
steps, but tumbling in a natural fall over the broken and
mossy stones till it came to the bottom of the rock, then
running off in a pebbly channel, that, with many lesser falls,
winded along till it fell into a lake at the foot of a hill,
about a quarter of a mile or less below the house on the south
side (facing north-west).
The lake was (and still is) in the midst of a grove, and the
cascade gushed out of a rock ; but we have shown that the
site of the mansion was the watershed of the south-east
branch of the Lyn ; and after issuing from the rock, the water
passed through the culverts constructed under the foundations,
then formed the cascade, passed into the small lake in the
grove, then entered an open channel, and passed into the
pretty lake at the bottom ofthe park. Richard Jones designed
the exquisite Palladian bridge by which it is spanned, and of
which Allen, in 1751, laid the foundation stone. There is a
I

114 Zi/"^ and Times of Ralph Allen.
full-length portrait of Garrick, painted by Gainsborough, one
of that master's greatest works, done at Prior Park. We wish
we could give a more circumstantial account of the local asso
ciations which connect it with Prior Park. The figure of
Garrick is very characteristic, and the attitude seems intended
to represent Genius ; the right arm is carelessly thrown round
the base of a bust of Shakespeare resting upon a plinth,
whilst in the distance, to the left, the Palladian bridge is the
conspicuous object.
Besides the east wing, Jones erected near it a small, but
very pretty cottage for the gardener. After Allen's death
this cottage was called The Priory, and has recently been
enlarged and transformed into a lovely residence.
Within a few yards westward of the upper lodge gate is
the entrance to what once was a very pretty and well-kept
private walk, traditionally known as Pope's Walk. This walk
runs parallel with the carriage road, and leads down to a
picturesque old arch, which forms a roadway over a narrow
chasm, and was manifestly intended in former times for, and
used as, a path for the use of the shepherds to cross with their
flocks. This walk was not laid out until ten years after Pope's
death. On each side is a quickset hedge, and at intervals
there are lovely peeps of the distant scenery to right and left.
The Royal Mineral-Water Hospital.
In Bath the institution of and for which the city has most
reason to be proud and thankful is the " General Hospital ",
as it was originally called. It had its origin in, perhaps, one
of the greatest evils that ever affected the city, an evil arising
out of a crude Act of Parliament passed in 1597, giving a
right to the free use of the baths of Bath to the diseased and
impotent poor of England. Each parish was authorised to
grant a limited sum to a suffering parishioner, and all such

i'vsu.¥--'"r

1 16 Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
sufferers were forbidden to beg. Some of these people were
impostors, feigning illness, whilst others soon became de
moralized ; and even those who were honestly disposed,
after getting here, had no means of returning to their homes ;
and the result of all this was " the beggars of Bath".' The
streets for a century were infested with these " beggars",
who were insolent, vociferous, and dangerous ; the evil, in
fact, was so great that in 17 14 the Act referred to was
repealed. About two years after (1716), Lady Elizabeth Hastings^
and Mr. Henry Hoare proposed the founding of a " Water
Hospital" for the benefit of proper objects of relief. Sir J.
Jekyl and Mr. Nash and the famous Dr. Oliver^ being also
amongst its earlier supporters. Later, many others joined in the
laudable attempt to raise funds to promote the object. Many
difficulties had to be overcome, and in the year 1724 the
project was far from being regarded as a success. A sum
of £9,172 had been received ; but it was obvious that little
would be left out of this sum for an endowment fund after
the expenses of erecting a hospital had been met, and so it
proved. From this time until 1727 the scheme was in abey
ance. In 1734 an Act of Parliament was obtained, when an
accession of gentlemen, including Ralph and Philip Allen,
joined the committee ; and then, besides the pecuniary diffi-
1 The expression, " Go to Bath", arose from the reception of these
" beggars" at " The Bath" The importunate beggars in distant localities
were sometimes met with the unwelcome advice, " Go to Bath". — Fuller's
Worthies, co. Somerset; M.&c]s.a,y's Journey through England, Letter VIII,
P- 413-
2 Lady Elizabeth was the younger daughter of the seventh Earl
of Huntingdon, and resided in Bath. She was devoted to charity
and acts of kindness ; and, what is more, she was a woman of great
judgment. ' He was famous as a physician, as a philanthropist, as a beloved
citizen ; and he was the inventor of " Oliver's Biscuits"-

Water Hospital. 1 1 7
culty, that of obtaining a suitable site' proved a serious
one. Two conditions were indispensable, namely, its com
parative openness and its proximity to the springs. These
obstacles frustrated the efforts of the committee until 1737.
Wood, the eminent architect, then came to the rescue, and
by his energy, business aptitude, and judgment every diffi
culty was obviated. At the corner of what is now Union
Street, near the famous old " Bear Inn", immortalised by
Smollett,^ stood some old buildings, one of which had been
used as a theatre, in which at this time plays could not
legally be enacted. Wood purchased the whole of the ground
1 Wood says : " Years were spent in this pursuit, in obtaining a suit
able site, and several new designs, attended with great incidental ex
penses, were made by me to answer various situations and various pur
poses of the Trustees. At length the suppression of play-houses by the
Act of Pariiament, which took place the 24th of June 1737, and the death
of Mr. Thayer the 9th of the following December, determined the matter
in one week's time. For the Trustees, meeting on the 22nd of December to
consider of a new Treasurer, after admitting Mr. Farquhar into their
number, Dr. OHver made them an offer of some land belonging to him,
to build a hospital on, and it was accepted. But great opposition arising
instantly against the Agreement, the Trustees at a 2nd meeting, on the
29th of December, declared it void ; and resolved to accept of a new
off'er that was made them of the theatre erected in the year 1705, as
above, together with two dwelling-houses, some out-houses, and stable
belonging to it, the estate of one Mrs. Carne, for £^io more than it stood
engaged for to the above-mentioned Mr. CoUibee."'*
^ " The communication (from Queen Square) with the Baths is through
the yard of an inn, where the poor trembling valetudinarian is carried
in a chair, betwixt the heels of a double row of horses, wincing under
the curry-combs of grooms and postillions, over and above the hazard
of being obstructed or overturned by the carriages which are con
tinually making their exit or their entrance." The landlord was Phillott,
one of whose sons was Rector of Bath ; another son was a banker, while
another son was an officer in the Army.
* Mayor of Bath in 1785.

1 18 Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
for ;^892 lOi-., with an annual ground-rent of ;^io 6s. 3^. ;'
and this ground was prepared for the great work.
The first stone of the building was laid on July 6th, 1738,
by Sir William Pulteney (afterwards Earl of Bath), by whom
the Bathwick estate had recently been acquired. It should be
mentioned that, as the hospital was for the benefit of all
patients throughout the country, except Bath^ suffering from
certain disorders, a general appeal was made throughout the
country for support, by Mr. Hoare, the treasurer and banker,
and this appeal was fairly successful.
Almost the nrst public example of Allen's bounty, after he
had successfully organized all his public undertakings, was in
connection with this " National Institution'\ Wood prepared
the designs free of cost ; and as soon as the site was cleared,
Allen contributed and delivered all the freestone, wrought
stone, paving stone, wall stone, and lime (valued at ;£'i,ooo),
to build and complete the walls ; and afterwards he presented
all that was needed for doorways and structural fittings of
every kind, duly prepared under the care of Wood, each part
ready for its place ; and to the capital account he added
;^ 1,000. Perhaps it should be stated that the building of his
own mansion, at Prior Park, was proceeding at the same time.
From October 1724 to 1742, when the hospital was com
pleted, £9,172 was received from all sources ; the cost of
building (not including Allen's material) was a7,330, thus
leaving ;£'2,042 for investment.
In May 1742, the institution was completed and opened for
130 patients.3 In October, a sermon in further promotion of
^ Since redeemed by the governors.
^ An exception since abolished.
^ To avoid the old evils of making paupers and leaving them in our
city, the Governors in all cases received a deposit, which defrayed the
travelling expenses each way of a patient, or covered the funeral expenses
in case of death. This condition is still in force,

Water Hospital. 1 1 9
its interests was preached by Warburton' at the Abbey
Church, from the text, " Let your light so shine before men,
that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father
which is in Heaven." The sermon was an admirable and
effective explanation of the design and objects of the institu
tion, the preacher dwelling with force upon the comprehensive
character of its constitution. It was open to the nation, it
appealed to the nation.
The list of contributors from 1724 to 1742 is an interesting
one, and contains some well-known historic names ; Allen,
in 1741, adding .^500 to his previous donation, and becoming
an annual contributor of .;£^2i.
In 1758 a sermon was again preached in the Abbey Church
by the Rev. R. Olive, in promotion of the capital fund of the
hospital, and resulted in the sum of ^^"1,366 being collected
generally. This and other sums, in addition to various
endowments from time to time, if they have not altogether
obviated the annual appeals for support, have preserved the
hospital from that painful urgency which occasionally charac
terizes the appeals in support of similar institutions. From
the first, there is little doubt that this valuable institution
has been conducted with admirable firmness and prudence,^
and with every regard to kindness and humanity.
Allen, doubtless, was deeply attached to and proud of this
1 Besides this and the Thanksgiving Sermon preached in the chapel
at Prior Park on the Suppression of the Scotch Rebellion, in 1746,
Warburton preached a series of sermons at the Abbey, published in two
small volumes at the cost of Allen. These and two small volumes of
sermons preached in the chapel at Prior Park are all that he published
in connection with Bath.
^ Shortly after its establishment, a charge was made against a member
of the medical staff An inquiry, under the presidency of Philip Allen,
showed an amount of care, combined with a judicial regard for truth and
justice, which' rendered the inquiry a model for all such painful investi
gations.

I20 Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
hospital, in the successful promotion of which he had borne
his honourable share. In a document now in our hands,
written by Allen himself for his private use, he has noted
down, apparently for personal reference, " An account of my
money to be apply'd to good purposes, from Midr. 1744
to do. 1745: The General Hospital, Bath, ;^4So; St. Bar
tholomew's, London, .^300." Then follow sums to parishes, to
initials; one to the quarry surgeon, £^0 ; one to Mrs. (Sarah)
Fielding, .^20, and so on ; the whole amounting to upwards
of ;^i,5oo. The document is endorsed, " Mem. of the Applica
tion of Charity Money for the year ending with Midr. 1745.
If I should Live so Long."'
From this time until his death there was the same quiet
energy, the same business-like earnestness, and the same
" doing good by stealth" for the gratification of his own heart
and feelings, and the same steady open support for the sake
of precept and example. "Bath, July 8, 1842.
" Last Thursday being the Day appointed for laying the Foundation
Stone of the intended General Hospital of this City, above twenty of the
Trustees and Contributors met at the ' Rummer Tavern' and proceeded
from thence to the Place appointed for erecting the Hospital, when the
first stone was laid, on which was the following Inscription :
" ' This Stone was the first which was laid in the Foundation ot
the General Hospital at Bath, July 6, a.d. 1738. God prosper the
Christian Undertaking.'
" When the Ceremony was completed, the Gentlemen return'd to the
' He, lived for twenty-one years to witness the success of the hospital,
and it may be confidently affirmed that from that period, 1764, until now,
there has been no breach in that honourable record. If Allen could now
look down upon the work of his own age he would see, on the site of
what then was the Rectory House of Bath, the duplicate of the unique
institution which he did so much to foster and establishj and which
enables the hospital to receive 171 patients. It needs but one feature
to render it complete, and that is the statue of Allen in the hall.

Postal Organization. \ 2 1
'Rummer', when His Majesty's Health, and that ofthe Prince and
Princess of Wales, General Wade, and other absent Benefactors, were
drunk, and aU the Demonstrations of Joy possible shown on the Occasion,
everyone appearing pleas'd with a Design so excellently well calculated
for the good of Man in General and the Welfare and Happiness of the
People, Wretched and Miserable, in particular. An handsome Present
was made to the Workmen, and the Bells rang on this happy Occasion."
— London Evening Post. POSTAL Organization.
During the period when he was building his noble palace,
developing his vast stone quarries, and promoting the Water
Hospital and other benevolent undertakings in and at a dis
tance from his own city, Alien was at the same time devoting
his energies to the discovery of all the weak points in the post-
office, devising new safeguards, and constructing new, quicker,
and permanent methods. Every obstacle was thrown in his way
by the indifference of the Postmasters-General; and when his
well-considered plans became irresistible, these generous and
almost useless officials sanctioned and adopted them as their
own.' Allen's knowledge of localities, trade, and manufac
tures was marvellous. He seems, however, almost to the
close of his second contract, to have encountered more
difficulty in dealing with and extirpating deliberate roguery
and obstruction in certain districts, than in carrying out his
practical schemes generally, and thus founding a system.
Of the character of the postal business in itself, at that time,
we have now little conception. The non-stamping of letters,
the difficulty of getting vouchers, and the ingenious methods
adopted by the local postmasters for writing and sending
sham letters, and then obtaining from the post-office a rebate
of the postage of such letters — these, and similar evils, were
no small difficulties to deal with. The great object, next to the
' See Mr. Herbert Joyce's valuable History of the Post-Office, pp. 136,
137, 138.

122 Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
practical advantages of postal reform and its enormous import
ance to the country, was to purge the local post-offices of all
their corrupt, dishonest, and obstructive abuses, and transform
the officials into honest, rational men.' To this end Allen used
ever}' means ; his patience, his forbearance, his simple but
impressive remonstrances, were in the end successful ; but it
should be especially observed that every rogue perceived that
he was " spotted", that he had been weighed in the balance
and found wanting, and that it rested with him by risking all
to lose all. In a word, Ralph Allen achieved a twofold good ;
he successfully devised a great national reform, and trans
formed, ultimately, a whole department of rogues into honest
men ; and truly he could say, " Alone I did it."
The chapter on Allen in Mr. Joyce's book is by far the
most interesting in his valuable work. It is the record of a
1 " At this time, 1735, and for many years subsequently, the mails were
carried on horseback by post-boys, most of whom were sad rogues. In
the year quoted a surveyor wrote : ' At this place {Salisbury) found the
post-boys to have carried on vile practices in taking the bye letters,
delivering them in this city, and taking back answer, especially the
Andover riders. On the 15th found on Richard Kent, one ofthe Andover
riders, 5 bye letters, all for this city. Upon examining the fellow, he
confessed he had made it a practice, and persisted to continue ijt it,
saying he had no wages from his master. He was taken before the
magistrates, convicted, and elected Xo be whipped rather than imprisoned.
Inspector ordered him to be dismissed ; without effect. Next day Post-
Office authorities sent same fellow post, who was insolent, took up letters,
resumed the postage charges, and then, with two other fellows, rode off"
with three of the Government horses.' The inspector had his revenge,
and Allen suffered no more from the delinquent, Richard Kent. This
anecdote illustrates the general condition into which the Government
had allowed the department to drift. Mr. Lewins says, in Her Majesty's
Mails, p. no : ' Mr. Allen not only reaped golden harvests, but deserved
to do so. His energy and careful organizing powers are worthy of all
praise, and, inasmuch as he laid the foundation for the future improve
ment of the Post-Office, and carried out schemes over which officialdom
had failed, he deserved the gratitude of posterity.' "

Postal Organization. 1 2 3
new era, the working out of a new system, and the opening
up by energy, indomitable pluck, and a rational intelligence,
of a system of national communication, on which the future
commercial supremacy as well as the social happiness of the
nation were chiefly to depend.' The Government methods, as
late as 1741, even with Allen's example before them, were
vicious beyond description. When Allen showed these states
men how to set the egg on its end, they thought it was too
simple for men so transcendently perverse as they were to
adopt.^ In 1741 began the fourth septennial period of Allen's
contract. Mr. Joyce tells us that " in consideration of his
contract being renewed there was an important condition,
which Allen undertook to carry out. This was to convert the
tri-weekly posts into posts six days a week, and to take the
whole expense upon himself" Accordingly, in 1741, the post
began to run every day of the week, except Sunday, between
London and Bristol, between London and Norwich, and
between London and Yarmouth, all the intervening towns
participating in the benefit. When the distance (about 120
miles) is considered, which had to be accomplished on bad
' At the time Allen entered into his first septennial contract he was
only 26 years of age, and when the first three years of that contract had
expired he was a loser by the transaction of .£270. That fact neither
deterred him from persevering, nor in the least diminished his confidence
in ultimate success. /-^ \
2 Lord Lovel and yr.) Carteret (afterwards Lord Carteret and Earl
GranviUe) were men of ^reat ability, but too indolent to grapple with a
great practical question, involving endless detaUs, on the carrying out of
which the success of the whole system depended.
Mr. Joyce describes the cross-posts system as foUows : " A bye or way
letter would be a letter passing between any two towns on the Bath road
and stopping short of London — as, for instance, between Bath and
Hungerford, between Hungerford and Newbury and Reading, and

124 L^f^ ^^^ Times of Ralph Allen.
roads on horseback, great weight having to be borne, with
many stoppages, this was a great feat. Gradually this privi
lege was extended over the whole country.
It must here be observed that Allen had to encounter not
simply the inherent difficulties of his own responsible duties,
but he had to deal with the unpopularity and distrust resulting
from the sins of the Government. There was scarcely an
abuse, or any kind of espionage and treachery, of which the
Government at this time was not guilty through the private
office, which was independent of the Postmaster-General, for
opening and inspecting letters. The head of this office was
"Willes, Dean of Lincoln, who, on this iniquitous office being
abolished, was gazetted Bishop of St. David's, and in 1743
was translated to Bath and Wells. The office of a spy seems
to have been a very strange training for the duties of a bishop.
The House of Commons abolished this shameful office in
1742, but the Bishop continued to flourish from 1742 until
his death in 1774.
It may be said that Allen's official duties consisted in
the extension and perfecting the system which, under every
conceivable disadvantage, he had established ; and in this
arduous work he had to encounter, not simply the ordinary
difficulties and complications of postal business in itself,
but the perverse, obstructive, and reactionary tactics ot
the Government, out of which had sprung the evasion,
the dishonesty, the delays, the trickery, and the rapacity of
the officials employed, from the post-boys to the postmasters
and the higher officials. These officials, it seems, had little
to fear from detection, for they usually escaped with impunity,
except in most glaring cases. Allen, on the contrary, never
permitted a misdemeanant to escape — unless he chose to
escape by becoming honest and amenable to authority and
order. There was not an evil, not an abuse, of which succes
sive Governments were not guilty. The Postmasters-General,

Postal Distances and Progress. 125
from the earliest times down to the passing of the several
Turnpike Acts, 1707, 1721, and 1739, seemed to be guided by
no trustworthy computation of measurement. Bristol, which
by road was 105 miles 3 furlongs, was reckoned by " vulgar
computation" at 94 miles' ; Bath, 103 miles, by " vulgar
computation" 82 miles^ ; and these were only two examples
of the many which generally prevailed. Out of this strange
error, which involved the whole system of mileage, Allen ot
course had everywhere to bear the odium resulting from the
alleged injustice to his employes ; but the real injustice was
to himself, the Government, having the most complete know
ledge of the facts, denying him freedom of judgment and
action. In this, as in other questions affecting the welfare of
the people — commerce, literature, and art — the Government in
relation to them had one aim and one alone, that was, to get as
large a revenue as they could, without regard to increasing
population, advancing civilisation, or political necessity.
Allen understood all this. He knew that unrestricted inter
change of correspondence meant national progress in art, in
literature, in commerce ; and of this policy he laid the founda
tions. Where officialdom had failed he succeeded, and we owe
to him ungrudging thanks and gratitude. So far as we can
judge, he was the only man of his time who possessed all the
personal faculties and remarkable qualifications to deal with a
question of this nature. First, by his perfect knowledge of
the subject and his unique powers of organization ; next,
by his personal sympathies and never-failing self-command
and equable temper ; and lastly, by his indomitable courage,
^ Ogilby's work, Britannia ; or, the Kingdom of England and ttie
Dominion of Wales, actually Surveyed, etc., by John Ogilby, Esq., etc.,
1728. 2 The lines of road differed from the present, but the relative distances
were identical. Bristol, for instance, was approached by way of Marsh
field and by the road we now caU Tog HiU.

126 Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
combined with a never-failing courtesy which, amid all the
difficult and complex nature of the system, secured to him
the esteem and respectful co-operation of his vast staff
scattered throughout the land. Allen it was who initiated
the great postal reform ; he it was by whom the foundation
was laid for future improvements, and to him and such as him
we owe, in great measure, one of the greatest luxuries and
blessings of modern times — a quick, a cheap, and an effective
postal system.
Social and Private Life of Ralph Allen at
Prior Park.
In dealing with the private and social life of Ralph Allen,
we are bound to confess that we are wholly at a loss to tell
our readers how he got through such a prodigious amount of
difficult labour. There were two large stone quarries, in
volving not simply a close inspection and careful supervision,
but all the trading details which of necessity followed. There
were all the complicated details of the postal business, with
its ramifications, extending over England and Scotland, with
stafifs of clerks and executives spread over the land.' There
was a considerable home estate, much of which, having been
neglected for a century, was denuded of its timber, its fencing
destroyed, and its population demoralized. There were houses
he was building in the city needing much care and. supervision,
besides the constant additions to, and alterations in, his large
mansion ; and from first to last, on his plantations, Jones tells
us he expended ;^S 5,000. Yet, withal, nothing escaped his
observation or his careful inspection. He was always calm
and collected, always finding time for works of kindness,
whether in relation to institutions or individuals; and at
' The staff in the Bath Office, under Allen's own direction, by whom
the supreme orders were issued, consisted of only four or five clerks.

Social Life at Prior Park. 1 2 7
the head of his own hospitable and princely board not a
guest failed to receive his courteous notice and kindly smile.
We do not mean to say that Allen could work impossibilities ;
but, in all cases, he was able to accomplish so much by reason
of his clear and rapid perception of what was best to be done,
and by an equally clear and concise method of giving his direc
tions, whether orally or in writing. Mr. Joyce quotes many
illustrations of this peculiar and valuable gift. Allen knew
his own mind ; and if he did at any time make mistakes, he
did not waste time by grieving over them, thus adding to the
loss. He never seemed to allow his mind to be oppressed,
and in all his intercourse with citizens or strangers, he left
the impression that the subject matter of conversation alone
occupied his mind.
When Ralph Allen, in 1742, entered into possession of Prior
Park there was no " society" in Bath ; none, as Burke has it,
amongst whom " the sentiments which beautify and soften
private society were to be found." There was no sympathy •
no bond of union, amongst the various classes that then came
to Bath. Every person who visited Bath, from the highest to
the lowest rank, i.e., from the wealthy aristocrat to the low
born adventurer, cared nothing about society in the ordinary
sense of the word. The assemblies were characterized by
intrigue, libertinism, and vulgar gossip.
As Smollett wrote: "We have music in the pump-room every
morning, cotillions every forenoon in the rooms, balls twice a
week, and concerts every other night;" and later, he adds,
" this place, which Nature and Providence seems to have in
tended as a resource from distemper and disquiet, is become
the very centre of racket and dissipation .... Instead of that
peace, tranquillity, and ease, so necessary to those who labour
under bad health, weak nerves, and irregular spirits, we have
nothing but noise, tumult, and hurry, with the fatigue and
slavery of maintaining a ceremonial, more stiff, formal, and

128 Life and Times of Ralph Alkn.
oppressive than the etiquette of a German Elector!' Here was
the pith of the whole matter. This was the formality under
the shadow of which the gambling was organised, the victims
" spotted", and the modus operandi arranged. There was
literally no such thing as social intercourse — the confidential
intermingling of persons to cultivate the "exercise of those
graces which adorn the sociable life", which was really the
ideal at which Allen aimed at Prior Park for upwards of
twenty years.

SOCIAL LIFE AT PRIOR PARK.

HE period from 1742 to 1763 in Bath
abounds with an interest all its own.
The social life at Prior Park was unique,
giving to it a special and pecuUar histori
cal significance. Allen effaced all the
IM^^^^C stiff and preposterous barriers and con
ventionalities by which society was kept asunder. The
gambler of the highest social rank of either sex would meet
the most disreputable knave at Lady Hawley's or Wilt
shire's Rooms, to lose a fortune ; but they had not learned
to tolerate the faintest distinction of social rank in ordinary
life.' Allen brought together men and women of various
ranks and grades —
" And so, in grateful interchange
Of teacher and of hearer,
Their Hves their true distinctions keep
While daily drawing nearer.''
In this, Allen displayed -all his tact, and showed no little
knowledge of mankind. At Prior Park he never lost or
desired to lose touch with his old middle-class friends. States
men, lawyers, " lords and ladies of high degree", met members
1 It may also be remarked that, in the Assemblies, the same absurd
exclusiveness prevailed. There were benches for the duchesses, benches
for ladies of lower rank, and benches for the commonalty. K

130 Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
of the corporation, and others, on all occasions ; and if, like
Philip Thicknesse, they fed from off Dresden china, they did not
afterwards, like that gentleman, vilify the master of the feast.
All Bath guests invited to Prior Park for concerts or to dine,
or for any other social purpose, were expected to sleep at
the mansion ; but in the winter, if for special reasons any of
them desired to return home, they were accompanied by
private watchmen and link-boys. Allen was an early riser,
always ready to welcome his guests. Fielding speaks of
him, " as walking forth on his terrace in the morning, when
the sun was rising in the full blaze ofhis majesty," than which
he says, " one object in the lower creation could be more
glorious, and that Mr. AUworthy presented ; a human being
replete with benevolence, meditating in what manner he
might prove himself most acceptable to his Creator by doing
most good to his creatures." The domain offered temptations
of pleasure and gratification to some ; the picture gallery to
others. There was no stately, repelling, ostentation towards
guests, who saw and felt the hearty welcome of their host.
It was in 1728 that the Princess Amelia, when she was
quite a young woman, visited the city. In 1752 she revisited
Bath, staying with the Duke and Duchess of Bedford in
Queen Square, and afterwards resumed her old quarters at
the Westgate House. On this occasion she was accompanied
by her brother, the Duke of York.' They, with the Duke of
Bedford, and many other distinguished guests, were enter
tained at Prior Park. The visit ended by Allen offering his
mansion and establishment to the royal pair, which offer was
accepted, he and Mrs. Allen, Warburton, and Mrs. Warburton,
going for the time down to Weymouth, where Allen had a
house. Gainsborough and Garrick often met at Prior Park; and
1 Princess Buildings (corrupted into Prince's Buildings), and York
House and Buildings, were respectively called after these two personages.

Gainsborough, Garrick, Quin, Yorke, Potter. 1 3 1
here it was that the famous artist painted one of the portraits
of Garrick. It was at Allen's table that Quin (a frequent
guest after the "old cock" came to Bath to "roost", first at
Mrs. Simpson's,' in Pierrepont Street,^ and then in the Abbey
Yard, where he died), also met Gainsborough -^ and it was at
Allen's table that the incident occurred between Quin and a
noble lord. Quin, having uttered one of his irresistible
witticisms, the nobleman observed : " What a pity 'tis, Quin,
my boy, that a clever fellow like you should be a player !"
" Why, my lord, what would you have me be, a lord ?"
Warburton was nearly always of the party, and he was
wisely permitted to do as he pleased ; and what he pleased
to do was usually acceptable to those present. He afifected
humility by selecting the stupidest person at the table by
whom to sit, and with whom to converse, which may have
been a way of manifesting his arrogance towards the more
distinguished guests.
Charles Yorke, in his earlier manhood, was a frequent
and most popular guest at Prior Park. He was the second
son of the second Earl of Hardwicke, who occupied the house.
No. I, Wood Street, where Charles sometimes resided with
his father. Charles Yorke was a lawyer of distinguished
ability, marred sadly by habits of intemperance, but, withal, a
man of charming manners, and much beloved at Prior Park.
At the moment when (six years after Allen's death) he had
attained to the Lord Chancellorship in 1770, he died by his
own hand.
Thomas Potter (who was a close friend and adherent of Pitt,
succeeding him as M.P. for Old Sarum, when the latter resigned
the representation to accept that of Bath in 1757), second son
' He left Mrs. Simpson ;£ioo at his death (see below).
^ The house referred to in Pierrepont Street was, at a later period, the
residence of Lord Chesterfield.
' JJe bequeathed Gainsborough ^^50.

132 Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
of Archbishop Potter, was an ardent friend of AUen's, and
a most popular visitor at Prior Park.' Potter was a tall,
well-formed, courtier-like man ; and perhaps, in some measure,
this fact gave rise to the rumour that Mrs. Warburton's
admiration was not purely platonic. She was much younger
than her husband, and was a woman of great beauty, witty,
high-spirited, full of mirth, and very attractive.
William Pitt had been an occasional resident in Bath for
some years before he was elected M.P. for the city in
1757, and before the Circus was built, in which he pur
chased No. 7, about 1760 (that side being first completed).
He was sometimes the guest of a friend, and occasionally
an independent visitor, and a constant attendant at the
Baths. The incident which separated the political con
nection of Pitt with the city was a source of deep and
painful regret to Allen, of which the details are fully given
in another chapter. Apart from Allen's admiration for
Pitt's splendid abilities and character, a great friendship and
mutual affection existed between the two men. We have no
doubt that Allen paid Pitt's election expenses, both in 1757
and 1761.
Writing from Prior Park to Mr. Pitt in 1756, Potter says :
" The scenes at Prior Park change every hour, but the worthy
owner has a heart that cannot change. The present joy at
the birth of an heir [Ralph Allen Warburton, son of the
bishop], does not respite the labours of the gardener. Half
the summer will show the bridge ; the dairy opens to the
lake [it is still standing, but sadly changed] ; vast woods have
taken possession of the naked hills [already referred to], and
the lawns slope uninterrupted to the valley."
1 Potter was a firm adherent of Pitt, and evidently on most intimate
and cordial terms with him. Potter was appointed Secretary to Frederick,
Prince of Wales, which post he held until his death in 1751. He also
held the appointment of Vice-Treasurer of Ireland, and died in 1759.

Sarah and Henry Fielding. 133
A constant guest at Allen's Bath residence, Prior Park,
(before her brother knew Allen) was Sarah Fielding (the
author of David Simple, etc.). This lady resided in a small
house in Church Lane, Widcombe, called Yew Cottage, close
to Widcombe House, and within sight of Prior Park. She
was a handsome, well-bred lady, and the recipient of Allen's
chivalrous attention, kindness, and bounty' Allen daily passed
her door on his way to and from the city, and cheered her
somewhat dull existence by a kindly word. She was seldom
omitted as a guest at his table, and was conveyed to Prior
Park in his own carriage. She continued to live at the
Cottage until the death of Allen in 1764, when she removed,
for economy's sake, to the old village called Wick [now Bath
wick Street] where she died in 1768. Her brother Henry,
except during his brief residence at Twerton, lived with his
sister at Yew Cottage, and was an honoured guest at Prior-
Park. Hurd, who met him only once there, described him
physically as " a poor, emaciated, worn-out rake, whose gout
and infirmities have got the better even of his buffoonery."
Fielding, it appears, at this time was in an enfeebled state of
health. He had lost none of his intellectual genius, but his
strength and fire had departed, and perhaps he did not care
about roasting a cold-blooded bishop. The impression still
prevails that Fielding was a resident at Twerton. This
belief arises from the fact that over the door of the cottage,
in which he was only a lodger for, at most, ten days, there is
a crest supposed to be that of the Fieldings. No man was
less likely than Henry Fielding to have indulged in such a
preposterous piece of vanity. The house, after Fielding's
' It would be impossible to tell, even approximately, the extent of
AUen's pecuniary help and liberality either to Henry Fielding or to his
excellent sister. No two writers agree, and not one quotes any trust
worthy evidence. We have referred to Allen's private papers, and we give
his Will verbatim [Appendix].

134 Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
period, was occupied by a Mr. Williams, the founder of a
large firm of brewers ; and he it may have been who put up
the heraldic bearing in honour of the great novelist.
The Rev. Richard Graves, rector of Claverton, was, for fifty
years or more, one of the best-known and most esteemed
neighbours of our city. He was a wit, and a voluminous
writer. His best-known work was the satire, entitled The
Spiritual Quixote, in 3 vols. Graves was a peculiar- looking
man, with a singular gait. He dressed in the clerical style
of the period, i.e., black-and-all-black, even to the low-crowned,
three-cornered black hat. Graves always carried a black, baggy
umbrella, which he held before him, hanging on his open hand.
His features, whilst pleasant and intellectual, wore an eager
expression ; and he never walked, but trotted. He was a
great favourite with Allen and all his guests. With his friend,
the poet Shenstone, Graves visited Allen ; and he also tells us
that he met Hoare, the painter, at Prior Park. Hoare painted
Allen's portrait and that of Marshal Wade, Nash, and others.
Hoare was an accomplished artist, a ripe scholar, and a very
gracious man. Graves mentions also that "about the year 1752,
I met Mr. Richardson,' in Mr. Leake's, the bookseller's, parlour
' Allen's Stone "Vard i^t&m). —Tour in Great Britain, 4 vols.,
i2mo, 1761. Written originally by Defoe, repubHshed by Richardson,
the novelist, in 1762, in which the foUowing, written by him during this
visit, first appeared : —
" The stone-yard of this great, because good, man, who may be styled
the Genius of Bath, is on the banks of the Avon. In it is wrought the
freestone dug from the quarries in Combe Down, which is another part of
Odin's Down, purchased by him. He has likewise a wharf to embark
the same stone in unwrought blocks, which are brought down from the
quarry by an admirable tramway that runs upon a frame of timber of
about a mile and a half in length, placed partly upon walls and partly
upon the ground, Hke the waggon-ways belonging to the collieries in the
North of England. Two horses draw one of these machines, generally
loaded with two or three tons of stone, over the most easy part of the

Richardson, Leake, Chandler, Warburton. 135
(Richardson had married Leake's sister), the former telling me
he was going to dine with Mr. Allen, at Prior Park. ' Twenty
years ago,' Richardson said, ' I was the most obscure man in
Great Britain, and now I am admitted to the company of the
first characters in the Kingdom. I would have persuaded your
cousin, Miss Chapone (who was then in Bath) to accompany
me to Prior Park, but she said she should not like to go
amongst strangers.' "
Bishop Warburton.'
The most continuous visitor to Prior Park was William
Warburton, who was introduced to Allen by Pope — as we
have already shown. (See page 8^.)
Warburton's friendly alliance with Pope was, to say the
descent, but afterwards its own velocity carries it down the re.st, and with
so much precipitation that the man who guides it is sometimes obliged to
lock every wheel to stop it, which he can do with great ease by raeans of
bolts applied to the front wheels, and levers to the back wheels. The
freestone can be carried by the Avon into Bristol, whence it may be trans
mitted, to any part of England, and the new works of St. Bartholomew's
Hospital in London, as well as the Exchange of Bristol, are built with
stone from Mr. Allen's quarry."
Miss Chandler, in the poetical Description of Bath written by her,
thus mentions the machinery referred to : —
" Here is seen the new-made road and wonderful machine.
Self moving down from the mountain height
A Rock its burden of a mountain's weight."
Miss Chandler was a lady of good old Bath family, and having only a
very small capital, she resolved to open a small milliner's shop at the
entrance of Wade's Passage. Allen admired her independent spirit,
and she was often a guest at his table.
' We desire to mention that in this article, on Warburton's relations
with Prior Park, we have received very valuable assistance from a.
friend.

136 Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
least, a curious coincidence, and had been brought about in a
peculiar manner. Pope's Essay on Man had been pubUshed
in 1733-4, and had raised a swarm of hornets about the poet's
ears. Warburton himself had denounced the rank atheism of
the Essay, which he declared to be collected from the worst
passages ofthe worst authors ; but the most formidable attack
came from Croussaz, a Swiss Professor, who had no difficulty
in showing that the Essay was steeped in rationalism and
fatalism, and that various parts of the Essay were inconsistent
and self-contradictory — which was not surprising, seeing that
the philosophical materials had been furnished by Boling
broke, and that Pope, without understanding them, had merely
put them into verse, and supplied the poetical imagery. Pope
must have felt the awkwardness of the situation and his
inability to defend himself, in a case which he did not under
stand ; but at this moment Warburton, whom Pope has
characterised as the sneaking parson, suddenly appeared upon
the scene like a deus ex machina, much to Pope's surprise and
deUght, and rescued the poet from his helpless position by
means of a skilful, but very sophistical, Commentary on the
Essay, which he demonstrated to be free from the imputation
of favouring fatalism and rejecting revelation. Pope's
gratitude knew no bounds. Writing to Warburton in 1739,
he says : — " You have made my system as clear as I ought
to have done and could not. It is, indeed, the same system
as mine, but illustrated with a ray of your own, as they say
our natural body is the same still when it is glorified." What
induced Warburton to step forth as the champion of Pope we
can only conjecture. It may have been his love of paradox,
which was almost a ruling passion with him ; or it may have
been a cool calculation that he would glorify himself, as
indeed he did considerably glorify himself, by an alliance with
Pope. Warburton's literary vanity was gratified by an asso
ciation with Pope ; and it was through the influence of Pope's

Bishop Warburton. 137
friend Murray, afterwards Lord Mansfield (to whom Pope
addressed the fourth of his Satires and Epistles), that War
burton was appointed to the preachership of Lincoln's Inn,
and afterwards to a prebend at Durham. Whatever may
have been the motive, the sneaking parson and the writer of
rank atheism, collected from the worst passages of the worst
authors forgot their differences and became fast friends.
Warburton survived his friend by many years, and in 1751
honoured his memory by issuing an edition of the poet's
works, in the frontispiece to which the artist^ — by Warburton's
special instructions — made Warburton's bust larger and moie
prominent than Pope's, and represented light ascending from
Warburton to Pope !
Having now said all that is necessary, for our purpose, of
Warburton in relation to Pope, we will devote a few pages
to the consideration of W'arburton in relation to Allen. As
we have said more than once, Warburton's visits to Prior
Park commenced in 1741, at which time he was vicar at Brant-
Broughton, near Newark ; and there is no doubt that Allen's
friendship was exceedingly valuable to Warburton. In 1745'
1 In 1765 Warburton obtained the royal licence for his son, Ralph, to
take the surname of Warburton-AUen. The youth died in 1771, in his
twentieth year, and was buried at Gloucester.
" Near this place
lie the remains of
Ralph Allen Warburton,
the only son of
William Warburton, Lord Bishop of Gloucester,
and Gertrude his wife,
who died July 28, 1775,
aged 19 years.
He was a youth
eminently distinguished
for goodness of heart, elegance of manners,
and gracefulness of person.
How transient are human endowments !
How vain are human hopes !
Reader,
Prepare for eternity."

138 Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
Warburton married Allen's favourite niece, Miss Gertrude
Tucker, who remained childless until 1756, when she gave
birth to her first and only child, Ralph Allen Warburton, with
reference to whose paternity the finger of scandal pointed to a
frequent visitor at Prior Park, the Archbishop of Canterbury's
profligate second son, Thomas Potter, the boon companion of
Wilkes,' and generally supposed to have had some share in
Wilkes's filthy parody, entitled. Essay on Woman? In 1757
Allen's friend, Pitt, who was at that time member for Bath, pro
cured the Deanery of Bristol for Warburton ; and three years
later Warburton was, by the same influence, raised to the
Bishopric of Gloucester. From the time ofhis first introduction
to Allen in 1741, and even after he became successively Dean
of Bristol and Bishop of Gloucester Warburton lived mostly at
Prior Park until Allen's death in 1764;^ when Warburton and
his wife came in for a legacy of i^S.ooo each and the rever-
^ At this time the sister of Wilkes resided in Bath, and there is no
doubt that in one of his visits to his sister he made the acquaintance of
Allen. ^ This parody on Pope's Essay on Man was a compound of lewdness
and blasphemy. As the original was inscribed to Lord Bolingbroke, so the
parody by Wilkes was inscribed to Lord Sandwich ; thus it began, "Awake,
my Sandwich", instead of "Awake my St. John". Thus, also, in ridicule
of Warburton's well-known commentary, some burlesque notes were ap
pended in Warburton's name. Much scandal followed this vile pro
duction ; and when the question of Wilkes's breach of privilege was
brought before the House of Lords, Warburton made a pompous speech,
at the conclusion of which he exclaimed, that the blackest fiends in hell
would disdain to keep company with Wilkes, and then asked pardon of
Satan for comparing them together. The composition was soon for
gotten, and it was much regretted at the time that such ribaldry was
made the subject of public animadversions, by which it received even
temporary notoriety.
5 Almost from his first introduction to AUen, Warburton preached
occasionally in the private chapel at Prior Park. At AUen's request and
at his cost, Warburton issued a volume of Sermons, 1745-6, preached in
the chapel.

Bishop Warburton. 139
sion of the Prior Park and Claverton Estates was bequeathed
to Mrs. Warburton on Mrs. Allen's death — which took place
in 1766. Jt may excite surprise that a calm and unruffled
man like Allen, and a restless and explosive man Uke W^ar-
burton, should have maintained an unbroken friendship for
nearly a quarter of a century, but Allen was one
" Whose sympathetic mind
Exults in all the good of all mankind,"
and the last man in the world to pick a quarrel ; while merely
prudential considerations would be a sufficient guarantee for
the good behaviour of a self-regarding man like Warburton in
his conduct to Allen. That Warburton was supposed in some
quarters to have " sponged " on Allen is suggested by the
following anecdote. Quin the actor, in intercourse with
whom Warburton appears to have assumed patronising airs
and graces, was one evening asked by Warburton. — " the saucy
priest" Quin calls him — to give a specimen of his dramatic
skill before the company which was assembled in Allen's
drawing-room. Quin excused himself, but offered to recite a
passage from Otway's Venice Preserved ; and the applica
tion of the following lines was made perfectly and apprecia
tively clear to the audience by the significant glances which
Quin cast at Allen and Warburton respectively as he dwelt
on the words " honest men" and " knaves'^ : —
" Honest men
Are the soft, easy cushions on which knaves
Repose and fatten.''
Warburton, however, was bound to Allen by something more
than by the tie of self-interest ; he was attracted to him by a
genuine admiration, amounting almost to reverence, for the
grandeur and nobility of his character, under the influence of
which " the saucy priest " seems to have been speU-bound. In
one of his letters he says : — " He (Allen) is, I verily believe,

140 Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
the greatest character in any age of the world. You see his
munificence to the Bath Hospital. This is but a small part
of his charities, and charity but a small part of his virtues. I
have studied his character even maliciously, to find where the
weakness lies, but have studied in vain." Not only was War
burton unfaltering in his devotion to Allen, but he jealously
resented even the remotest appearance of an attempt to be
little the great man ; and, indeed, in this respect he was almost
absurdly quick to discover offence, where an ordinary man
would not suspect any. For instance, Dr. John Burton, an
Oxford man and Fellow of Eton College, came to Bath -with
an introduction to Allen, took stock of men and things, and
published his impressions in a brochure, entitled fter Bath
oniense. After playfully satirising the frivolities of Bath, and
rather roughly — but in our opinion very justly — handling Beau
Nash, whom he describes as " Master of follies, an effete, tooth
less, brazen-faced, shameless old man" \_" Magister ineptiarum,
effcetus et edentulus senex  sine verecundia rubor immu-
tabilis"\ Burton proceeds to exhaust on Allen the language
of compliment and eulogy, contriving to perpetrate by the
way a harmless, good-natured little pun, which most people
would assuredly forgive. Here is the passage : — " Tandem
inveni virum ; instar mille unum ;  virum inter Bath
onienses suos facile principem ; quem undequaque praesentem
parietes ipsi . . . loquuntur ; quem illustrat gloriosa natalium
obscuritas, fortunse eundem et virtulis filium, .... virum
quem non ego sane doctissimum, at certe omnium quotquot
fere uspiam reperiuntur literatissinium appellare ausim, et ex
commercio suo literario fructus pro merito suo uberrimos sine
invidia consecutum."
[" I have at last found a man, one worth a thousand . . . . ;
a man by far the chief among his fellow-citizens ; whose pre
sence the very walls . . . everywhere proclaim ; a man whose
notoriously humble birth renders the more illustrious, and shows

Bishop Warburton. 141
him to be at once the child of virtue and the favourite of for
tune ;  a man whom I would not venture to call the most
learned, yet certainly of all men in the world most conversant
with letters, and one who, by his connexion with letters, has
deservedly acquired an ample and unenvied fortune."]
Of course, the words literatissimum (most conversant with
letters) and ex commercio suo literario (from his connexion with
letters) have reference to Allen's contract with the Post Office.
Few people would detect any offence in the allusion, but War
burton was furious with Burton, whom he characterises, in a
letter to Bishop Hurd, as a ''puppy" for his " saucy stupid joke"
on the " man who. received him so hospitably", and gibbeted
him in a note to a passage in the fourth book (lines 441-2)
of the Dunciad, where Dulness observes : —
"The common Soul, of heaven's more frugal make,
Serves but to keep fools pert and knaves awake," etc.
"Gentle Dulness ever loves a joke", Pope had said in a
previous book (ii, 34). Warburton, in his note, harks back to
this text, returns to the passage under consideration in the
fourth book, and improves the occasion at Burton's expense.'
Yet, if the citizens of Bath at the present day, realising Allen's
many-sided greatness as a postal reformer, as the creator of
the modern Bath stone trade, as the founder of the Bath
General Water Hospital, and as a magnet which attracted to
Bath all that was representative of the best and most interest
ing life of the country — in short, as a national benefactor, as a
benefactor to his city, and as the maker of Modern Bath ; if,
we say, the Bath citizens of to-day were to realise all this, and
were inspired with a desire to do honour to themselves and
tardy justice to Allen by erecting a statue to him in the most
conspicuous part of the city which he ennobled, we cannot
'^ On the intercession of Bishop Haytor this note was removed in
subsequent editions.

142 Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
conceive more appropriate words for at least a part of the
inscription than the words employed by Burton : — " Virum
inter Bathonienses suos facile principem, quem undequaque
parietes ipsi loquuntur!'
The opportunity of perpetuating Allen's memory in Bath
by a monument in the Abbey and a statue in the city
presented itself to Warburton on Allen's death ; but the
Bishop went to work in his own wilful way. On the
south side of Prior Park, in a large field, formerly the site
of the ancient Grange and the Prior's farm and home
stead, now popularly known as Monument Field, the proud
prelate resolved to erect a monument to his friend — not in the
city of Allen's labours and philanthropy, but away from
the busy haunts of man in a spot unprotected from the
mischief-loving wayfarer. Not only was the spot ill-chosen,
but the monument itself — a circular tower enclosed in a
triangle — is devoid of all merit and interest, and nothing
could be colder and balder than the inscription (composed by
Bishop Hurd) placed on a slab over the door : —
" Memorise sacrum
Optimi viri, Randiilphii Allen.
Qui virtutem veram simplicemque coHs,
Venerare hoc saxum."
The slab and the inscription have long since disappeared,
and within thirty years after Allen's death the very purport
of the monument was almost forgotten ; while at the present
day there are scarcely twenty people in Bath who have the
slightest idea what the fantastic edifice means. Allen, how
ever, is not forgotten by us ; whereas Warburton, though
he Uved in Bath so many years, and was identified with her
best known and most honoured citizens, is almost unknown,
except to the curious few amongst us ; nor is there a single
local tradition, or any event of local interest, popularly asso
ciated with his name,

MONUMIiNT ERECTED TO THE MEMORY OF RALPH ALLEN,
BY Bishop Warburton.

144 Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
We have now concluded our account of Warburton in his
relations to Pope and Allen ; but a few words on Warburton,
apart from those relations, may be of interest to the general
reader, who is referred for fuller and more detailed information
to the Reverend Selby Watson's interesting Life of War
burton, to which work we take this opportunity of acknow
ledging our obligations.
William Warburton was born in "Newark towards the end of
1698, and received the greater part of his education at Oak
ham Grammar School. In 1714 he was articled to a solicitor
for five years ; but at the expiration of his articles he re
nounced the law, and began to study for Holy Orders, which
he entered in 1723, having received great assistance in the
necessary preparation from his cousin, the Rev. William War
burton, Head Master of Newark Grammar School, who
generously sacrificed to his youthful relative all the time that
he could spare from scholastic duties. The future Bishop at
once plunged into that career of authorship and controversy,
for which he afterwards became so conspicuous. In 1728 he
was presented by Sir Robert Sutton to the living of Brant-
Broughton, near Newark, which he held till 1746; and it was
in these eighteen years, during a life of seclusion and study
little interrupted by parochial duties, that he laid the founda
tions of his vast knowledge and wide reading. How during
this interval he became acquainted with Pope, who introduced
him to Allen, and how Warburton was materially benefited by
his associations with Pope and Allen, we have previously
shown ; but Warburton had already established himself as an
able writer and controversialist before contracting an alliance
with these two powerful men.
We do not propose to detail or criticise Warburton's
numerous works and pamphlets, but we cannot forbear a
passing allusion to his magnum opus, generally known as
The Divine Legation of Moses, The title of the book is

Bishop Warburton. 145
familiar to every reader of English literature ; but most people
have forgotten, or never kne-w, the object of the treatise and
the arguments by which it was supported. The facts are very
simple. The absence of the doctrine of a future state from
the Mosaic Dispensation had been fastened on by the Deists
as a decisive argument against the divine origin of the Jewish
religion. At this point Warburton stepped in, and undertook
to meet the Deists on their own ground, and from the facts
alleged to deduce an opposite conclusion. Hence the full
title of his work was " The Divine Legation of Moses De
monstrated, on the Principles of a Religious Theist, from the
Omission of the Doctrine of a Futtire State in the Jewish Dis
pensation!' If it can be shown — and Warburton scarcely con
ceived the possibility of disputing the propositions — that (i)
the doctrine of a future state of rewards and punishment has
been accepted by all mankind as necessary to the well-being
of society, and that (2) such a doctrine is not to be found in
the Mosaic system, then, says Warburton, " one would think
we might proceed to the conclusion ;. — Therefore the Law of
Moses is of divine origin!'
Of course Warburton did not reach his conclusion in this
simple way, or without first of all laboriously establishing
his premisses ; and in doing this he fetched a wide compass,
being resolved — as he said — " to stretch the inquiry high and
wide". Handling a great variety of topics, and covering a vast
deal of ground, he presented a very extended front, of
which the enemy was not slow to take advantage. Omitting
all the numerous side-paths into which Warburton strayed,
it is evident that his argument, as above stated, is exposed
to all the attacks which can possibly be made against
an argument, it being not difficult to plausibly dispute each
premiss separately, and then — even assuming the validity of
the premisses — to claim a non sequitur. To say nothing ofthe
strained conclusion, which was vigorously attacked by Bayle,
L

146 Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
Warburton had to face the strenuous opposition of classical
scholars in his attempts to bolster up his first premiss by
squeezing into all the ancient polities an implied belief in a
future state ; nor did he fare better at the hands of theologians
in his resolute efforts to establish his second premiss by stamp
ing out of the Mosaic system all the supposed germs of a belief
in a future state. The Divine Legation, however, made a
stir, and found favour in some influential quarters ; and though
the argument may not convince, and is now generally forgot
ten, it cannot fail to impress the curious reader with a sense of
the author's powerful and versatile intellect. The strength and
weakness of Warburton are traceable in this work, as in all
his other numerous writings. Everywhere we see the vigorous
understanding, the strong and retentive memory, and the wide
reading of the author ; but it was considered that he read too
much and too fast to assimilate all that he read ; hence
Bentley's famous dictum : " This man has a monstrous appetite,
but a very bad digestion " — a charge which Warburton seems
indirectly to admit in one of his letters. The want also of a
regular academic training often suggests itself, for Warburton
left school before he was sixteen years of age, was then articled
to the law for five years, and finally qualified for Orders with
out proceeding to a University.' Of Hebrew he knew practi
cally nothing. With Greek writers his acquaintance was
mostly second-hand, obtained (like Pope's knowledge of
Greek) through the medium of French translations. A
typical instance of this is given in the Rev. Selby Watson's
Life of Warburton, p. 629. In a note on Shakespeare, War
burton quotes the following lines from the Phcenissce of
Euripides, EiYU, r^ap ov&€V, /u,aTep, u.'iroKpv'^a^ epw.
KcTpiav ave\0otfjL -ijXiov -rrpo^ av-ToXa<),
Ka« 7^s e'vepOe, Svva7o<! Av Spaaai -ra&e,
' The honorary degree of D.D., which was refused by the Oxford
University, was conferred upon him by Cambridge.

Bishop Warburton. 147
and then adds the English translation : " I will not, madam,
disguise my thoughts. I could scale heaven, I could descend
to the very entrails of the earth, if so be that by that price I
could obtain a kingdom." This rendering was soon shown to
have been taken bodily from Brumoy's French translation in
the The'dtre de Grees : " Je ne d6guiserai point ici mes
sentimens, Madame ; j'escalerois le ciel, et je descendrois aux
entrails de la terre," etc., etc. Warburton's knowledge of
Latin, though extensive, lacked all the higher attributes of
fine scholarship. His knowledge of the language employed
by the great Elizabethan writers was ludicrously defective,
though he presumed to annotate Spenser and Shakespeare ;
and this ignorance of Elizabethan English often implies
ignorance of Latin. For instance, when Spenser says of " the
tree of life " that God " Did it call
The tree of life, the crime of our first father's fall."
{F. Q., xi, 46.)
Warburton observes in a note : " I apprehend Spenser did not
call it by any such senseless designation, but that it is a mere
blunder ofthe printer, and that the poet wrote :
'Didit caU
The tree of life, the time of our first father's fall ;'
i.e., he gave it that name at the time of our first father's fall.
The particle at is frequently omitted by writers of that age."
Yet Warburton ought to have known that crime is one of
Spenser's numerous Latinisms, and that crimen in Latin may
signify the cause of a crime as well as the crime itself See
Virgil, xii, 600 —
" Causam clamat crimenque caputque malorum."
Warburton's unfitness to edit Shakespeare is best illustrated
by his tinkering with the line in King Lear,
" I '11 speak a prophecy or e'er I go,"
L 2

148 Lije and Times of Ralph Allen.
where Warburton says that or e'er is not EngUsh, and for or
substitutes or two, making the line run thus : —
" I '11 speak a proph'cy or two, e'er I go."
Yet the Elizabethan parallels for or e'er are not far to seek.
Compare Macbeth : " dying or e'er they sicken." Also
Psalm lviii : " or ever your pot be made hot with thorns."
In Warburton's controversial writings one feature stands
out with unpleasant prominence — the merciless way he
chastised his opponents with the valour of his tongue ; and
there are probably few authors from whose writings may be
gathered such a collection of bitter and abusive epithets. His
vanity and arrogance could brook no contradiction, and woe
betide the man who incurred his displeasure. We must
remember, however, that Warburton, with his bold and fearless
spirit, was essentiaUy a fighting man, and that
"Men
Are as the time is ; to be tender-minded
Does not become a sword."
Moreover, the amenities of controversy were not so gentle
as they are now. Hard words were the fashion, and it is quite
possible for a man of vigorous intellect and strong feelings to
express himself roughly without being hard-hearted. That
Warburton had a warm corner in his heart is evident. His
relations with his mother and his sister bring out very
pleasantly his filial affection and brotherly love. He was
a fond father, and doted on his promising son — half his soul
he calls him — after whose premature death in 1775, the Bishop
made a final settlement of his affairs, then ceased to take any
interest in life, and gradually fell into a state of imbecility, in
which he remained up to the time of his death in 1779. He was
deeply attached to his "dear wife", whom he commends to
Bishop Hurd's care in a note attached to his will in 1776. He
appears to have been a good husband, for we are told that

Bishop Warburton. 149
Mrs. Warburton always seemed to feel a peculiar satisfaction,
both during his life and after his death, in recounting his
many excellencies. Above all, he was capable of gratitude.
He never forgot the services of his cousin, the Head Master
of Newark Grammar School, whose virtues he commemorated
in a glowing epitaph. We have seen his generous, almost
reverent, testimony to Allen's royalty of nature ; and he was
equaUy steadfast to his first patron, Sir Robert Sutton. Pope,
in his Satires, had pilloried Sir Robert ; but Warburton used
his acquaintance with Pope to write a warm defence of Sutton,
and succeeded in getting the name erased from the Satires.
Lastly, if he was, like Cardinal Wolsey,
" Lofty and sour to those that loved him not,"
he was, also, like that proud prelate,
" To those men that sought him sweet as summer."
This we see in the case of Hurd, afterwards Bishop Hurd, who
sought his friendship by extravagant compliments, maintained
it by prudent subserviency, and finally wrote a life of his
friend, which overflows with fulsome panegyric.
Warburton's death occurred in 1779, comparatively un
noticed ; and two years afterwards his widow married the
Rev. Stafford Smith, the late Bishop's chaplain, who was
presented by Hurd to the vicarage of Fladbury in Worcester
shire. The epitaph to Warburton in Gloucester Cathedral is
by Hurd. " To the Memory of
WiUiam Warburton, D.D.,
For more than Nineteen Years Bishop of this See :
A Prelate
Of the most sublime Genius and Exquisite Learning,
Both which talents
He employed, through a long life,
in the support
of what he firmly believed
the Christian Religion,

150 Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
and of what he esteemed the best Establishment of it,
the Church of England.
He was born at Newark-upon-Trent,
Dec. 24, 1698;
was consecrated Bishop of Gloucester, Jan. 20, 1760 ;
Died at his Palace, in this City, June 7, 1779,
and was buried near this place."
The Reverend Richard Graves and Warburton.
In his Diary, Graves says : —
"At the first visit which I made at Prior Park [i757], I met Dr. War
burton for the first time, whom I ventured to pronounce one of the politest
men I had ever seen. Those who only know him as engaged in con
troversy may be surprised at this. But I found him so attentive to every
one who spoke, particularly to myself, who am the worst of all possible
speakers, setting everything that I said in the clearest light, and, in short,
paying such deference to his inferiors, as most of the company were (for
he was then Dean of Bristol), that he had certainly a claim to the character
of a polite man, if destitute of superficial gentleness of manner. Indeed,
when contradicted, or opposed, his antagonist would probably have no
reason to triumph, as appeared on many occasions. It must be owned,
likewise, that he treated some of his most res])ectable adversaries, as
Dr. Stebbing, for instance, and Dr. Grey, with too much haughtiness and
contempt. When Mr. Allen gave an entertainment to the Corporation
[1757] on Mr. Pitt being chosen M.P. for Bath, Dr. Warburton sat at the
head of the table. An old bencher of Lincoln's Inn, Mr. Keck, to whom
I sat opposite, was telling a gentleman, who had asked him, whom they
had got for a preacher now Dr. Warburton had resigned, 'Oh ! we have
the finest preacher in England, Dr. Asheton.' ' Yes, sir,' said Warburton,
who overheard him, ' I would have recommended a man of some learning
to you, but you were determined to have a mob preacher.' Poor Keck
drew in his horns, and made no reply."
Warburton was very deeply attached to Allen, but there
must have been times when the good man could not help
being tried by the arrogant, overbearing conduct of Warburton
to Allen's guests. These defects of temper and disposition, if
they were not due to some mental infirmity, might well expose
him to the epigrammatic lines written upon him ; —

Estcourt, Bassett, Holder, Skrine. 151
" The first entitled to the place
Of honour, both by gown and grace.
Who never let occasion sHp,
To take right hand of fellowship ;
And was so proud that should he meet
The twelve apostles in the street,
He 'd turn his nose up at them all.
And shove his Saviour to the wall."
Warburton was unpopular in the city, his cold, haughty
bearing repelling his equals and frightening his inferiors. At
length he was very much avoided in the city, and was scarcely
known by the citizens at large.
Claverton Manor.
Claverton, the old historic manor of the Estcourts, the
Bassetts, the Holders, and the Skrines, as already mentioned,
legally became Allen's property in 1752, by Equity of Re
demption, but it was not until 1757 that he paid off the
mortgage of ;^ 16,000 held upon the estate by William Skrine.
The house, of which only the dairy now remains, was a
beautiful mansion, standing on the eastern side of the terrace
and steps.'
Tradition assigns the creation of this house to Jokn of Padua,
who is also said to have designed Kingston House at Bradford-
on-Avon, and also Longleat. There was a good deal of romance
mixed up with the Manor House. Estcourt represented Bath
from 1695 to 1698, his town-house being in Broad Street, and
a very worthy dignified old citizen he was. Bassett sat as the
representative of Bath from 1640 to 1645, when, for no other
alleged reason than his loyalty to the Crown, he was expelled.
This same Bassett, entertaining Sir E. Hungerford and others
' The Claverton Estate is again in the possession of the Skrine family,
the present owner being Henry Duncan Skrine, Esq., the owner also of
the opposite estate of Warleigh Manor,

The Terrace, Claverton Manor.

Episode of the Civil War. 153
in 1643, was fired at by a small force of Parliamentarians from
the opposite hill. The ball entered the guest room, passed
over the party, and lodged in the chimney wall. A skirmish
in the valley on the Warleigh side took place a few days
afterwards ; three soldiers of the Parliamentarians and one
Royalist were slain, and were afterwards buried in Claverton
Churchyard.' When Allen took possession of the estate, he was much
pleased with the house, and brought down with him War
burton, Hurd, and Mason, the poet ; to meet whom, Graves,
the Rector, was invited. Allen usually brought his visitors
once a week from Prior Park to dine and wander about the
lovely domain, around and about which he had made excellent
roads. Allen had a very warm regard for Graves, who, being an
excellent scholar, received pupils. Until Allen took possession
of the Manor House, it was occupied by Graves, the rectory
being too small. Allen, however, enlarged the rectory and built
a school-room for his worthy friend. When Warburton's son
was eight or nine years old he was sent to Graves to be
educated, and remained there until he was ready for the
university. About this time, or a little earlier. Potter intro
duced a gentleman at Prior Park named Strahan, who was,
we believe, a clerk in the House of Commons, and who be
came a very regular visitor at Prior Park and Claverton. This
gentleman conceived a great liking for Warburton's son, and
became a regular correspondent of Allen's. Strahan wrote a
very pretty hand, and conveyed much of the social and
political gossip of the day to his Bath friend. Later on
will be found an interesting account of John Wilkes and his
trial in the House of Commons from the pen of Strahan.
' In the Proceedings of the Bath Field Club, vol. vi, p. 167, will be
found a full account of this skirmish, by H. D. Skrine, Esquire, the pre
sent owner of Claverton knd Warleigh.

154 Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
POLITICS, Party, and Pitt.
We have already referred to the interest taken by Allen in
politics, and the motives by which he was guided in his
relations with Marshal Wade.' That Allen was an earnest
Whig in all respects his later conduct shows. In every
election subsequent to Wade's death there is no doubt the
choice of candidates was to some extent determined by
Allen's judgment. Nor can any blame be cast upon him in
respect of this. Even the caricaturists of his day have no
stronger censure to cast upon him than that he was permitted
by his colleagues to have his own way ; but having regard
to the standing, intelligence, and independence of many of
those colleagues, we think the inference too broad, and
that it is not too much to assume that one feeling of general
confidence pervaded the whole body. There are two facts
that stand out very prominently as marking the character of
the Bath corporate body from the earliest part of the century
to its -close : (firstly) the absence of all deliberate jobbery and
wrong-doing ; and (secondly) the men who were chosen, as
will be seen by the following chapter, did honour to the city —
they were men incapable of lending themselves to any of the
corrupt and demoralizing practices only too common in that
age of pocket boroughs, corrupt and complacent corporations.
The rupture with Pitt was, perhaps, the cause of more
distress to Allen than any public event that ever concerned
him ; and of this we shall have more to say in connection with
the political squib — "The One-Headed Corporation" — and
the correspondence with his illustrious friend, Pitt.
' Some years after Wade's death Allen erected an Obelisk, of tri
angular form, on the south side of the Prior Park mansion. There was
on each face a handsome tablet, on which was engraved the civil and
military achievements of the worthy Marshal. The obelisk was removed,
we believe, by Mr. Thomas,

Thicknesse, Wade, Politics, Volunteers, etc. 155
It was said by Thicknesse that Allen refused, from selfish
motives, to become one of the representatives of Bath in
Parliament, but that he took care to choose the members
himself;' that is, he exercised unbounded influence over the
Council. It may be well to see how he used his power.
Allen was a warm adherent of the Hanoverian dynasty.^ He
was, as we have shown, attached to it by ties of interest, con
viction, and by personal connection with Marshal Wade. The
Marshal, as the representative of Bath from 1722 to 1748 (the
year of his death), had little sympathy with any particular
shade of politics which existed amongst the " Revolution
party" ;^ he cared chiefly for the dynasty. The Marshal was
much more than the representative of the city in Parliament ;
he was its fast friend ; he lived in it and loved it, and identified
himself with its local institutions. So long as the Marshal
lived, Allen seems to have contented himself with giving him
and his colleague a steady and loyal support. The Jacobite
and the High Tory party were relatively small and insignifi
cant ; but the great Whig party was split into two separate
' The fact that Allen was a Government contractor disqualified him.
^ During the '45 Allen raised, clothed, drilled, officered, a company of
volunteers, and provided drill-ground for them at his own cost of £1,000,
during the two years of agitation. Richard Jones was fhe Lieutenant
of the corps ; and to this faithful clerk of the works was entrusted the
building of Newton Bridge. On the Lower Bristol Road, opposite Newton
Park, whence the brook flows, there was a sudden dip which frequently
became impassable after a moderate downfall of rain. There was much
grumbling, and certain proposals made to erect a bridge to span the
hollow, which came to nothing. To obviate the great public incon
venience, in which he only suffered in common with the public at large,
Allen undertook the cost and responsibility of building a good, substantial
bridge, of which Lysons, the eminent antiquary, left a beautiful water-
colour drawing, now in our possession. This is quoted as another example
of Allen's pubHc spirit.
^ A term applied to the political party favourable to the Revolution of
1688, the Hanoverian dynasty, and Whig principles.

156 Life and Tiines of Ralph Allen.
factions, and the conflicts in Parliament were almost limited
to those two sections, Allen choosing the section which was
led by William Pitt, in opposition to Walpole.
At the general election of 1747, Marshal Wade was again
chosen a representative of the city, in conjunction with Robert
Henley, who was descended from an ancient Somersetshire
family. Henley's father was Anthony Henley, a man of great
distinction, the friend of Dorset, Sunderland, Swift, Pope, and
Arbuthnot. Generous and bounteous, learned and witty, he
was one of the most popular men of his time. He represented
Andover, and afterwards, till his death, Melcombe Regis.
Considerable wealth came to him through his wife, who was
sole heiress of the Hon. Penegrine Bertie, second son of
Montague, Earl of Lindsey. Robert Henley, the second
son of the marriage, was born in 1708, and ultimately suc
ceeded to the family estate' on the death of his elder brother,
Anthony. Educated at Westminster and Christ Church, he
was entered at the Middle Temple, and called to the bar in
1732. Handsome in person, jovial in habits, he used to pass
his vacations at Bath, and was one of the best known of the
fashionable men at " The Bear." He was the gayest of the
gay in the Pump-room in the morning, and amongst the most
jovial of the topers in "The Bear" at night. His briefs at
this time did not give him much trouble, but he cultivated
the friendship of the Bath citizens, and was singularly popular.
Lord Campbell relates the romantic story of his courtship and
marriage, which is very similar to that previously told by Lord
Henley,^ in his Life of the Earl oj Northington.
1 " The Grange," Hampshire. The original mansion was built by Inigo
Jones. When the property passed into the possession of the first Lord
Ashburton, he pulled down the old house and built the present magnifi
cent mansion on the site.
'^ The Earl had eight children— three sons and five daughters. Only
one son survived his father, and he seems to have been a man of unusual
promise. His abilities were considerable, and his manners popular. In

The Earl and Countess of Northington. 157
There was at Bath, for the benefit of the waters, a very
young girl of exquisite beauty, who from illness had lost the
use of her limbs so completely that she was only able to
appear in public wheeled about in a chair. She was the
daughter and co-heiress of Sir Jno. Husband of Ipsley,
in Warwickshire, who was the last male of a time-honoured
race, whom Dugdale states to have been lords of that manor
in lineal succession from the Conquest. Henley, struck by
the charms of her face, contrived to be introduced to her, when
he was still more fascinated by her conversation. His admira
tion soon ripened into a warm and tender attachment, which
he had reason to hope was reciprocated. But it seemed as if
he had fallen in love with a Peri, and that he must for ever
be contented with sighing and worshipping at her shrine,
when suddenly the waters produced so effectual and complete
a cure that Miss Husband was enabled to comply with the
custom of the place by hanging up her votive crutches to the
nymph of the spring, and to dance the " Minuet de la Coeur"
at the Lower Rooms with her lover. Soon after, with the
full consent of her family, she gave her hand to the suitor who
had so sedulously attended her. To the end of a long life she
continued to enjoy a most perfect state of health, and their
affection remaining unabated, she gave him that first of human
blessings — a serene and happy home.
They were married by Henley's old schoolfellow. Bishop
Newton, at the chapel in South Audley Street. After describ
ing his settling in London and the family property descending
to him, the memoir goes on : —
1783, he was appointed by the Coalition Ministry Lord-Lieutenant of
Ireland. The daughters all formed high alliances, but they all died without
issue, except the Lady Elizabeth, who married Sir Morton Eden, who was
raised to the Irish Peerage by the title of Lord Henley. His son (who
wrote his Grandfather's Life) married the sister of the second Sir R. Peel,
and left by her a son, the present Lord Henley.

158 Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
"After his marriage, Henley continued to go frequently to Bath, carry
ing his wife along with him. He now led comparatively a sober life, but
occasionally he would indulge in his old convivial habits, and, by his
toasts and his stories and his very agreeable manners, he ingratiated
himself so much with the Mayor and Common Council, forming a very
small corporation, with the right of returning Members to Parliament
exclusively vested in them, that they made him their Recorder, and
agreed to elect him at the next vacancy one of their representatives ;
being swayed, perhaps, not merely by his personal good qualities, but the
prospect of his being now able to show his gratitude for their kindness
to him. Accordingly, on the dissolution of Parliament, which took place
in the summer of the year 1747, he was elected a representative for Bath
along with Field-Marshal Wade."
It is certain that he had ingratiated himself with the
Marshal and Ralph Allen, and although he never distinguished
himself as a speaker, he was a good lawyer and a fair debater.
He was subsequently Solicitor-General to the Prince of Wales
(afterwards George III). In November 1756, he succeeded
Murray as Attorney-General to the Crown, and on December 2
in the same year, on the issue of a new writ, was re-elected.
In the following year he was made Lord Keeper by Pitt (by
whom he was succeeded in the representation), an office which
rendered his seat vacant and precluded him from sitting in
the Commons, though it did not involve a peerage. In 1760,
the Lord Keeper Henley was elevated to the dignity of Lord
Chancellor and the Earldom of Northington. He held the
Great Seal nine years, in two reigns (Geo. II and Geo. Ill),
and during four administrations.
Marshal Wade died in 1748, and was succeeded in the
representation by Sir John Ligonier, a distinguished military
commander. Sir John was re-elected at the general election
in 1754. In 1757 he was created an Irish Viscount ; at the
following general election, in 1 761, he was re-elected in con
junction with the same colleague, William Pitt ; and in 1763
he was made a Peer of the Realm as Earl Ligonier, when Sir
John Sebright, Bart., was elected.

Representation of Bath — Mr. Pitt. 159
correspondence in relation to the contemplated
Vacancy by the Advancement of Henley.
To Ralph Allen, Esquire.
" Dear S", — Ever since I received your very friendly Letter, I have
been endeavouring to acknowledge it. It is with the utmost Difficulty
that I secure a moment for that Purpose now. All the Fatigues I ever
underwent in Parliam' were trifling to what we suffer now. We have sat
six days upon the Enquiry into the Loss of Minorca. Sometimes we have
sat 'till two in the morning, and never rose earlier than ten at Night.
My Office on the Occasion confines me to a Chair the whole Time, so
that it is with Difficulty I can by Exercise and Air lay in a sufificient stock
of strength in the morning to undergo the Fatigues of the Evening. I
I am afraid I do not keep the Ace's quite even, being obliged to spare a
little from the Stock, w<:h before was not abundant.
" Your kind congratulations on the complete Recovery of our Girl are
but fresh marks of a friendship perfectly felt, and with the warmest Grati
tude. We have laid aside all Cares, but for her Beauty, and the Con
noisseurs in Faces say we need not suffer Apprehensions even on that
Ace'. " The Part you have taken in the Honours lately done to Mr. Pitt by the
Corporation of Bath, is understood by him as it ought to be. He has been
disabled from using a Pen by the Gout in his right Arm, w^h he is obliged
to carry in a sling. He tells me he has made Shift to sign his Name to
a Letter of Thanks, and he wishes that if that Letter sh'' be printed, as
probably it will in the Bath Papers, it sh^ be done from a very correct
Copy, as mankind are extremely alert in searching even for single Words
to found some Accusation against him.
" When I shall be able to set out for Bath I cannot yet guess. After
the Enquiry is over, I have some Business ¦^'^'^ will detain me a Day or
two. But when the Enquiry will be finished, is a Question w<:h no one
can form the least Judgm' of As my Girl has been so long recovered,
and as neither I nor my Servant will bring with us a single Garment w«h
we have worn in London, I shall hope to come even without the Suspicion
of Infection, of w':'' the D's. assure me there has been none this fortnight.
When it was greatest there was not much, since the little Lad who
attended upon me the whole Time my Girl was ill has not been fortunate
enough to catch the Distemper. But I insist that M"- Warburton shall

i6o Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
tell me upon Honour whether "W^- Allen or she shall have the least
Apprehensions of me.
" Need I say how much I am bound to love and honour you and all
Yours ? " Yours most faithfuU,
"Thursday, Apr. 27th, 1757- "Tho. Potter."

To Thomas Potter, Esquire.
" Dear Sir, — I am very thankful to you for your last friendly Letter
to me, and hope that we shall soon have the pleasure here which you are
so good as to intend us.
" I was this morning much surpris'd, as well as concerned, to see an
Address printed in the Bath Journal, from that Corporation to Mr. Pitt
and Mr. Legge, that was never offered to their consideration. My great
regard for them, as well as a due attention to my own character, obliges
me publickly to advertize again'st this Imposition. Of which advertisement
I have under this cover troubled you with a Copy, as well as a Letter
wch Mr. Clutterbuck sent to me this morning on this subject.
" For your own and Mr. Pitt's private information, I beg Leave to
supp'y you the few words w'^'^ I spoke on that occasion in the Town
HaU. " P.S. — The word overproud in the Second paragraph of Mr. Pitt's
answers to the Corporation must be a mistake, and if reprinted, will, I
presume, be corrected." "R. A."
The following correspondence also passed on the occasion : —
A Copy of Mr. Clutterbuck's Letter to R. Allen.
" Sir, — I have sent the Resolutions litterally as it is inserted in the
Council book. I deliver'd your Message to the Mayor, who desires his
Compliments to you, and says that as He thought something was neces
sary to be deliver'd, the Gentlemen with the Boxes, He sent the Address
inserted in the News papers on the presumption it wou'd not give offence
to an individual of the Corporation, and would have sent it Seperately to
them for their perusal but the time would not permit. " I am,
" Bath, 2nd May 1757. " (Sign'd) Lewis Clutterbuck."

First Election of Mr. Pitt. i6i
To Thomas Potter, Esquire. "Bath, June 23, 1757.
" Sir, — Your obliging Favour, dated the 20th, came to Hand yesterday
morning at eight : in it you hint at a conversation that pass'd between us
in Regard to Mr. Pitt's being a Candidate for this City. I remember at
that Time I set forth to you the Connections that were between Mr.
Langton' and his Friends, and the Improbability of their desisting from
the Intention of serving him till a generall Election.
" I immediately on the Receipt of your Letter conven'd my Friends on
the Business express'd in it, which I apprehended was unknown to any
other Persons. But at the first onset of Treaty with our Party I found the
Town was canvassing in Favour of Mr. Pitt.
" Mr. Langton was sent to, and as his Resolutions are to offer himself
a Candidate, his Friends are determined to serve him.^
" I should have given you an Answer sooner, but as the Affair was
circumstanc'd possibly could not.

' Grandson of Sir Joseph Langton of Newton Park, who was one of the
Representatives of Bath from 1690 to 1695. At this time there was no
connection between the Langton and the Grenville (Temple) families.
Earl Temple was created Marquis of Buckingham ; andhis son assumed,
by royal licence, 15th Nov. 1799, the additional surnames oi Brydges-
Chandos, and was created Earl Temple, of Stowe, with limitation,
on faUure of issue male under the former patent, to Anne-Eliza-
Mary, his granddaughter. This lady married the late W. H. P.
Gore-Langton, and her eldest son inherits the Earldom of Temple, of
Stowe. The Marquis above referred to was further elevated, 4th Feb. 1822,
to the Marquessate of Chandos and Dukedom of Buckingham and
Chandos. He married, i6th April 1796, Anna-Eliza, daughter and sole
heir of James Brydges, 3rd and last Duke of Chandos of the family of
Brydges, and by that lady (who died 15th May, 1836) left at his decease,
17th Jan. 1839, an only son, Richard-Plantagenet, the second duke, who
left one son, Richard-Plantagenet-Campbell, third and last duke, who
died in 1889 without male issue.
^ It is clear from this letter and the preceding one by the Town
Clerk, Clutterbuck, that, at this time, the writers did not desire "to
serve Mr. Pitt." M

1 62 Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
" I and my Friends really have the same due Sense and Regard for
Mr. Pitt as we have hitherto possess'd, and should be glad of testifying
that Regard when we have an Opportunity of doing it.
" I am y' most hum. Serv',
"Edward Bushell Collibee.
" P.S. — Some of our Friends are absent, but when they return we shall
have their Sentiments, which will resolve us how far we can serve
Mr. Pitt. But you require such a speedy Answer that I cannot possibly
say more than what I have as above.
" Deliver'd in at the Ofifice 40 minutes after 12 in the morning."
[Collibee was Mayor of Bath on this and other occasions.]

To Ralph Allen, Esquire.
" Sunday night, near nine o'clock.
"Dear Sir, — Your second xpress being this moment come in, I think
it necessary to answer it in the same manner to prevent the Anxiety you
may be under from a longer Delay. With Difficulty I have prevailed on
Mr. Pitt to accept the Invitation sent by the Corporation, and without
the Assistance of L'^ Temple, whom I carried to give Weight to my
Advice, perhaps I shd have failed in it. But an Answer in Form cannot
be sent till to-morrow night, because, tho' I verily believe that every
publick Promotion will be fixed tomorrow, yet at present it is not certain
that Mr. Henley will vacate his seat till after the Parlm' is prorogued, in
wh case it w** be highly inconvenient for Mr. Pitt to be out of Parlm' at
the beginning of next Session. But this promotion being settled, and the
Kg. being apprised of it, it is intended that Mr. Pitt sh'' take some ofifice
expressly to vacate his seat, which will be the highest complim' that he
can pay the Corporation. But I find it absolutely impracticable for him to
think of getting down to the Election on ace' ofthe arrear of business in
the Secretary's ofifice, not a stroke having been done in it since he quitted
in April. But I shall certainly attend his Election in Bath, and the
moment it is over proceed to my own at Oakhampton. Mr. Pitt is highly
thankful for your invitation to P. Park, which he hopes to accept before
the Winter. S"^ Robert Henley has promised to resign the Recordership
when we chuse he sh'', and to keep it till then.
" He thinks it wiO be best to chuse a new Recorder while the Cor
poration is harmonious. He mentioned Mr. Pratt as a fit person,
but, if you approve it, I have many reasons wch induce me to take it

First Election of Mr. Pitt. 163
myself, having had an Education at the Bar, and being, I trust, qualified
for it. " Y>- faithfull and aff"<=
" Tho. Potter.
" I propose returning from Oakhampton to drink the waters, and have
taken the liberty to send to my wife to meet me at Prior Park, and to stay
till you go to Weymouth."

To Edward Bushell Collibee, Esquire.
"Tuesday, June 28''', 1757.
" Mr. Mayor, — Give me leave to present to you, and thro' you to the
Gentlemen of the Corporation of the City of Bath, my most respectfull
and warmest acknowledgments for the high mark of their favour and
Confidence in vouchsafeing to think of me for their Representative in
Parliament. I have long ambition'd the honour of a Seat there, derived
from a Body so independent, and so truely respectable as the City of Bath,
and which can never fail to reflect Lustre and impart weight to whoever
they shall be pleased to think not unworthy of so high and honourable
a Trust. As soon as the necessity of afifairs will permit me, on my return
again to business, to be absent from my attendance on his Majesty's
Commands, I propose to wait on the Corporation in Person, and to assure
Them more particularly of the deep and warm Sentiments of Respect and
Gratitude with which I am, and shall ever be, devoted to the City of Bath
and to every member of the Corporation.
" I am, with the greatest consideration, Mr. Mayor and Gentlemen of
the Corporation, " Your most Obliged and most Obedient,
"humble Servant,
"W. Pitt."

To Ralph Allen, Esquire.
" Tuesday, June 28th, 1757.
" Dear Sir, — The repeated instances of your kind friendship, and too
favourable opinion of your faithfull Servant, are such and so many, that
thanks and acknowledgements are quite inadequate. Give me leave to
present them to you, with a heart so truely yours as, on that account,
makes me hope your goodness will accept them for something. I send
open to you, for your perusal, two letters for Mr. Mayor, one private, in
M 2

164 Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
answer to his receiv'd yesterday, the other for the Corporation. If you will
be so good to seal them, and order them to be delivered to Mr. Mayor,
I shall be much obliged to you. You will please to observe I have pre
pared the Corporation for my not being able to attend them in person at
my Election, the thing wUl be utteriy impossible, and I trust the necessity
of afifairs and my indispensable attendance on His Majesty wiU excuse
me. I shall be better able towards autumn to wait on the Corporation,
and hope no impression of want of due respect wiU remain, when the
peculiarity of my situation, at the present moment, is considered. I must
in this, as in all the rest, rely on your goodness and friendship to help me
out of my distress. " I am with my whole Heart,
" Dear Sir,
" Your ever obliged and Affectionate Servant,
" W. Pitt.
" My best respects to Mrs. AUen and Mrs. Warburton."

To Ralph Allen, Esquire. " Tuesday, June 28th,
" Dear Sir, — This is to go in an Express Mr. Pitt sends to Bath, in
order to inform you, and likewise the Mayor, from whom in the name of
Mr. Langton and his friends he has received a very polite Letter of
Invitation, that matters are at last arranged in such a manner as will
vacate Mr. Pitt's seat for Oakhampton, and enable him to be chosen at
Bath. He tells the Mayor that he is determined, if he can obtain his
Majestie's leave, and the publick business will permitt, to come down to
Bath at the Election; but as we know the- publick business will not per
mitt, it is agreed that I should attend and represent him. We are all to
kiss hands to morrow, but no new Writs will issue till Tuesday, July 5th,
when the Parlt meets for that purpose, and in order to be prorogued.
" As I must first attend Mr. Pitt's Election at Bath, and then go to my
own at Oakhampton, it is necessary for me to precipitate the first and
procrastinate the last. The writ issuing the 5th of July may be at Bath
the 7th, and if Mr. Clutterbuck wiU get the Undersheriff to attend that
day, he may make out immediately his precept to the Mayor, who may
proclaim the Election the evening ofthe 7th, for Monday, the nth. And
I can manage as to defer that at Oakhampton to the i6th, whh will give
me time to vist the Electors of Bath and return Mr. Pitt's thanks before
I set out for Oakhampton. But tho' the Writ for the new Election may

First Election of Mr. Pitt. 165
not be in Bath tiU the 7th, it is not necessary that I shd stay from Prior
Park so long. When I shall see it, I cannot now fix with certainty, but
I know that till I do see it I shall be impatient. S"- Robert Henley is
L"* Keeper, and now it seems Ld Halifax did not actually resign, but only
threatened to do it. " I am, with the kindest affection and regard,
"D' Sir, "Yr most faithfull,
"Tho. Potter."

To the Right Hon. Mr. Pitt.
"Prior Park, June 29, 1757.
"Dear Sir, — This morning, at nine o'clock, I received the obHging
Letter which you honour'd me with, by an Express, with that which you
was pleased to enclose for our Mayor, which, in obeydience to your
commands, I immediately read, Seal'd, and Sent to Him.
" I have the Satisfaction to tell you that now every thing at Bath is
just as you wish it, which makes me very happy ; for tis Impossible for
any Expression, to shew you how much and how respectfully I am.
Dear Sir, " Your most hon'd and most obed' Serv't, "R. A.
"My Wife and M" Warburton begs your acceptance of their hearty
thanks and best wishes, and that Lady Hester' will permit them to send
Her Ladyship their respectful Complm's."

To Ralph Allen, Esquire. " Whitehall, June 30th, 1757.
" Dear Sir,— The writ for Bath will be moved tomorrow, Sir Robert
Henley having receiv'd the great seal this day.
" What I now beg leave to trouble you about is that you wou'd be so
good to employ a person to be trusted to prepare the Under .Sheriff and
get the Precept ready, so that the election may be proclaimed time enough to
fix the Election for Saturday, y« 9th of July. The writ will be in Somerset
shire by the 3rd inst., and Tuesday is the latest day for the Proclamation,
in order to go to Election on Saturday, as the day of Proclamation must be
' Sister of Earl Temple {See note, p. 161).

1 66 Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
exclusive of the four days, the day of Election inclusive. I am more
apprehensive that my attendance in Person on the Corporation will be
utterly impossible, and I am very uneasy about it, lest I should appear to
be wanting in that real regard I, with so much reason, feel for them ; may
I again recommend this Distress to your friendly and kind offices, and
hope you will add this to the many obligations I feel to you, and shall
ever most gratefully acknowledge.
" I am, with all respects and affection, " Dear Sir,
" Your most obHged and most faithfuU Friend and Servant,
"W. Pitt."

To the Right Hon. Mr. Pitt.
" Prior Park, July 2, 1757.
" Dear Sir, — I have received the letter which you was pleased to
honour me with the' 30th of the last month, and in obedience to your
Commands, a proper person, who can be confided in, is Imployed to
prepare the Under Sheriff and get the Precept ready for your Election on
Saturday, the 9th of this month.
"Your Presence at the Town Hall on that occation would be very
pleasing to aU your Electors if it had been consistent with His Majesty's
Service, but Since it is not, I may safely venture to assure you that no bad
consequences wUl attend your absence.
"When you receive an account from the Mayor of your unanimous
Election, you, in your letter of thanks to Him and the Corporation, wiU, I
presume, be pleased to mention with concern the cause of your necessai-y
attendance in London on the National afifairs, with your full intentions
to make your Personal acknowledgmts for their distinguishing or rather
peculiar regard to you, before the meeting ofthe Parliamt.
" Upon this pleasing occation permit me to say that you shall certainly
find me to be with the truest Sincerity and the most affectionate Respect,
" Dear Sir,
" Y'' most humble and most obed. Serv.,
"R. A."

To Ralph Alle7i, Esquire.
[Not dated, but obviously July 3rd, 1757.]
" Dear S", — I will say little to you in this Letter, because I will have
the Pleasure of saying more to you when we meet. That I hope will be
Tuesday or Wednesday next. Mr. Pitt writes to you and the Mayor by

Pitt a Citizen of Bath. 167
this Post. He certainly will not be able to attend the election, and,
therefore, I am to represent him. In Order to enable me to attend at
Oakhampton, w^h I must do ffor I have just now the Pleasure of hearing
that tho' my Election there is safe I shall probably have a Competitor,
and be obliged to let loose some Irish guineas), I have desired Mr. Pitt
to recommend Saturday, the ninth of July, as the most convenient Day
for the Election at Bath. Mr. Clutterbuck will, therefore, see that the
SheriflPs Precept is delivered to the Mayor on Monday or Tuesday, so as
to enable him to proclaim the Election before Sun set on Tuesday.
" I am just setting out for Bedfordshire. " Yr most affec' and obliged friend,
" Tho. Potter.
" Pall Mall, Thursday."

To the Right Hon. Mr. Pitt.
"Prior Park, July 12th, 1757.
"Dear Sir, — Permit me upon my receipt ofthe obligeing Letter which
you honour'd me with by the Express which you Yesterday sent to the
Mayor and Corporation of Bath, just to say that it is Impossible for you
to be more satisfied with the pleaseing Event which had been transacted
in that City than I am with the honest and faithfull discharge of my Duty
to my Country upon that occasion.
" And with the most Zealous and aff'ectionate Respect you will allways
find me to be, " D'' Sir,
" (Sign'd) Your most humble and most Obed' Servt,
"R. Allen.
" My fifamily begs your acceptance of their most respectfull Com
pliments." William Pitt was a citizen,' and proud of the city which
he now represented, and in which, from his early manhood,
' It is well known that the elder Wood designed the Circus, and that
the execution of it was left to the younger. The house No. 7, with all its
covenants and obligations, was conveyed to Pitt on the 3rd day of January
1755. The property was re-sold by Pitt in 1763, the year in which the
breach between him and the Corporation occurred,

1 68 Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
he had spent so much of his time, and from whose famous
waters he had experienced such signal benefits during the
terrible attacks of his constitutional malady. We are
unable to trace where Pitt Uved during any of his occa
sional visits to Bath, but there is no doubt that on two of
his visits he was entertained by Ralph Allen at his town-
house, and once, if not twice, at Prior Park. He is said to
have suggested the erection of the Palladian Bridge, of which
mention is made, page 112. We need not enter upon any
historical or political disquisition, except so far as it may
enable us to make clear the relations of Pitt with Bath, and to
put into a more definite form some of the very interesting
associations connected with him and with those other states
men who either were the choice of Allen, or in the choice of
whom Allen had, perhaps, the largest share.
In 1754, when Pelham died, Pitt was ill in this city, and on
that occasion the Corporation paid him the most marked
attention. That body, with its most important member,
Ralph Allen, showed the great Commoner almost regal
honours. His past and present conduct as a statesman
deserved their warmest approbation, and they felt great
resentment at the manner in which their distinguished
fellow-citizen was treated by Newcastle in the construction
of the new Administration. They applauded his opposition
to the subsidies to the German States. They adopted an
address to the king on the disasters which followed the war.'
It is clear that they did not look for consistency in their
idol. If he opposed at one time what he afterwards sup
ported, they probably thought that the capacity of the man
1 In November 1755, Legge and Pitt were dismissed from office — the
former (as Chancellor of the Exchequer) for refusing to sign the Treasury
Warrants for the payment of the subsidies granted, and the latter (as Pay
master of the Forces) for his fierce denunciation of the principle of
subsidies.

Lord Ligonier and Mr. Pitt — Second Election. 169
made all the difference between the soundness and the
unsoundness of the policy pursued. In April 1757, he and
his colleague, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Legge,
received each the freedom of the city in a gold box for
" their services to the country during their late short adminis
tration."' When a special vacancy occurred in the representation of
the city, in 1757, by the elevation of Attorney-General Henley
to be Lord Keeper, Pitt was unanimously chosen as his suc
cessor. [At the General Election of 1761, he was re-elected in
conjunction with his former colleague, Viscount Ligonier. In
1763, this nobleman having been created a Peer ofthe Realm,
a vacancy occurred, to supply which Sir John S. Sebright was
elected, who thus became the colleague of Pitt]
The disasters under the feeble administration of Newcastle
had occasioned great national indignation, and the public
voice proclaimed Pitt to be the man to " save the country".
Up to this period, the Bath Corporation had enthusiastically
supported their illustrious representative. After he entered
upon the Administration — which lasted from June 17th, 1757,
to October 1761, and in which he was practically all-powerful
— he received the cordial approval and the repeated thanks of
the Corporation, by whom he was elected, and of the citizens,
who worshipped him. His conduct of the war, the policy of
the war — indeed, every act of his public life — inspired his
friends in Bath with exultant pride and commanded their
unfaltering allegiance. In October 1760, the Mayor and
Corporation unanimously adopted the following address to
Mr. Pitt and his colleague. Lord Ligonier^: —
' Under the Duke of Devonshire. It began in November 1756,
and ended in April 1757. It was during this Administration that
Admiral Byng was tried, and Pitt used the noblest efforts, in vain, to save
him. 2 When the address was sent he was Sir John Ligonier.

I/O Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
To Lord Ligonier and Mr. Pitt.
"Bath, Oct. 6, 1760.
" Sirs,— We, the Mayor, Aldermen, and Common Council of this city,
do transmit to you, our representatives in Parliament, our most grateful
thanks, for exerting your great abilities with so much zeal and unwearied
diligence in the service of his Majesty and our country, as hath reflected
particular honour on our city. We are convinced we should not do justice
to ourselves and brother citizens, if we did not pay that regard which is
justly due to your distinguished merit, by taking the earliest opportunity
of offering to you the same trust at the next general election ; and which
we hereby beg the favour of your acceptance of, from, " Gentlemen,
" Your much obliged and very humble Servants."

Mr. Pitts Answer.
"St. James's Square, Oct. 9, 1760.
" Mr. Mayor and Gentlemen of the Corporation, — I am this
day honoured with your letter, and cannot defer a moment to express the
sentiments of the warmest and most respectful gratitude for such a fresh
mark of your condescension and goodness to me, after the many great
and unmerited favours which you have already conferred upon me.
" Happy ! that my feeble endeavours for the king's service have, in
your candid interpretation, stood in the place of more effectual deservings;
and that, actuated by the generous motives of zeal and steady attachment
to his Majesty's Government, you are pleased again to think of committ
ing to me the important and honourable trust of representing you at the
next general election.
" Be assured, gentlemen, that I am justly proud of the title of servant
of the city of Bath, and that I can never sufificiently manifest the deep
sense I have of your distinguished and repeated favours ; nor express the
respect, gratitude, and affection with which I remain,
" Mr. Mayor and Gentlemen of the Corporation,
" Your most faithful and most obHged humble Servant,
" W. Pitt,"

Mr. Pitt's Letter to Allen. 1 7 1
Lord Ligonier's Answer.
" To the Worshipful the Mayor and the rest ofthe Corporation ofthe
City of Bath.
" North Audley Street ; Oct. lo, 1760.
" Gentlemen, — The very great honour done me by your letter of the
6th instant requires my earnest and most grateful thanks. Though your
noble and generous way of acting is no new thing to me, who have had
the honour to represent you in the two preceding Parliaments, and have
experienced so often your goodness to me, nevertheless I must feel a very
great satisfaction at the approbation you are pleased to express of my
endeavours to serve my king and country as your representative. I
accept with great gratitude this distinguished mark of your favour. The
interest and honour of your city of Bath it will be ever my study to
promote. " I am, with the greatest regard and esteem,
" Gentlemen,
" Your most obliged and most faithful Servant,
" Ligonier."
The following letter was written to AUen by Pitt after he
had consented to renew his political connection with the
city : — To Ralph Allen, Esquire.
" St. James's Square, Dec. 16, 1760.
"Dear Sir, — The very affecting token of esteem and aff'ection which
you put into my hands last night at parting, has left impressions on my
heart which I can neither express nor conceal. If the approbation ofthe
good and wise be our wish, how must I feel the sanction of applause and
friendship accompany'd with such an endearing act of Kindness from the
best ofmen? True Gratitude is ever the justest of Sentiments, and Pride
too, which I indulge on this occasion, may, I trust, not be disclaim'd by
Virtue. May the gracious Heaven long continue to lend you to mankind
and particularly to the happiness of him who is unceasingly, with the
warmest gratitude, respect, and aff'ection,
" My dear Sir,
" Your most faithfull Friend and
"most obliged humble Servant,
"W. Pitt."

172 Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
These cordial relations between the electors and the two
representatives were creditable to both parties. There was
neither servility on the one side nor arrogance on the other.
Everything pointed to the continuance of those relations,
which was indicated in the Address ; and at the General
Election in March 1761, the two members were unanimously
re-elected. Pitt had steadily maintained his war policy ; he
was judged by it, and he was ready to stand or fall by it.
The Corporation not only re-elected their members, but
honoured them publicly at the Guildhall, and the citizens vied
with each other in doing honour to the men, especially to Pitt,
of whom they were justly proud. In October, Pitt was de
feated in the cabinet on the question of war with Spain and
left the Ministry. In December of the same year, the following
gushing address was sent to Pitt by the Bath Corporation : —
"Bath ; Dec. l8th, 1761.
" Sir, — Had it not been for the particular relation in which we have
the honour to stand towards you, we should, perhaps, have been still
content, as others are, to enjoy in silence those fervours of gratitude
which every true British heart must feel for the great, unparalleled services
which you have done your king and country throughout the course of
your late ministry.
" It is true that after so ample and honourable a testimony, borne to
them by your royal master himself, it would be extremely vain in us to
think that anything could be wanting to the glory of a character thus
illustriously established. But though we can add nothing to you, we have
ventured to employ this occasion to do credit to ourselves in that light,
and are most ambitious to be seen of faithful and loyal subjects, for in
these expressions of our great regard to you, we have only presumed to
follow the gracious example of the best of kings.
" For the rest, there is no station where you can be found in which
your country will not need and will not be sure to have your most
effectual assistance.
" We have nothing, sir, further to offer but our ardent prayers for your
health, a blessing so precious and so important to the public.
" We have the honour to be. Sir,
" Your most humble and aff'ectionate Servants."

The 'Family Compact." 173
Mr. Pitt's Answer. "Hayes ; Dec. 22, 1761.
" Mr. Mayor,' — I have received the particular honour of a letter
signed by you, sir, and by a great many other gentlemen of the Corpora
tion, containing the most condescending and endearing remarks, marks
ofpersonal regard and favour towards me, and at the same time bestow
ing on such inconsiderable efforts as I have been able to exert in the
service of my king and my country — testimonies of so distinguished and
honourable a nature, that I only accept them with a confusion joined to
unceasing gratitude.
" AUow me, Mr. Mayor, to entreat that you will please to communicate
to the other gentlemen of the Corporation these my most unfeigned and
respectful acknowledgments, and to assure them of my ardent and con
tinual wishes for the prosperity of the City of Bath, and for the particular
welfare and happiness of the several members of that ancient and con
siderable Corporation.
" I am, with the warmest sentiments of regard and respectful considera
tion, sir, your most obedient and most obliged humble Servant, "W. Pitt."
This correspondence, it must be remembered, followed the
energetic councils given by the Minister to the King, as to
the expediency of a declaration of war against Spain on
account ofthe "Family Compact",^ and her equivocal conduct
' At this time, Alderman John Chapman.
2 The " Family Compact " was a secret alliance between France, Spain,
and Naples, and stipulated that if England should be still at war with
France on ist May 1761, Spain would declare war against England ; and
as return for this assistance, France was to restore Minorca to Spain.
With reference to which, as Lord Stanhope says, " the commence
ment of the War of Secession was never yet so fully vindicated as by the
conclusion of the Family Compact."
In June 1761 there were fresh English successes, and France would
probably have submitted to Pitt's terms, if Charles III, who had recently
become King of Spain, had not renewed the " Family Compact", knowing
that the vast colonial empire of Spain was endangered by the predomi
nance of England in North America. Pitt, having secret intelligence of

174 Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
towards those with whom we were at war, and it leaves no
doubt that the great minister felt that in resigning office he
had the sympathy and confidence of those from whom that
address came, whatever it was worth.
The war against Spain — which Pitt urged in vain in
October of 1761, and which his prescience had foreseen as
inevitable — was declared by Lord Bute, in January 1762,
three months after Pitt quitted office. It seems probable that
this short delay and the retirement of the great minister had
encouraged Spain in the insolent and offensive course she had
taken against Great Britain. Be this as it may, the attitude
of Spain, and her intrigues with France, if they justified war
in January, equally justified it in the previous October, when
Pitt " would have had the first blow, which is often half the
battle." " When once convinced of their hostile designs, why
allow them further time for preparation?" — which, indeed,
was just what the fatal delay accomplished. The war was
declared on the 4th January 1762, and the Seven Years War,
of which the Spanish War was an episode, was concluded
early in 1763 by the Peace of Paris. Bute resigned in
April. The war had been carried on languidly by him, and
much against his inclination. Pitt opposed the peace, because
he deemed it inadequate; it did not secure the objects for
which it was undertaken. When Parliament met, he de
nounced the peace with vehement eloquence, but all to no pur
pose ; eloquence could not prevail against the corruption em
ployed to bu)' over a majority of members in favour of peace.
There has been nothing to show that, as between Pitt and
the Corporation, either collectively or individually, there had
been any misunderstanding.' When the peace was concluded
what had happened, urged the Cabinet to declare war on Spain at once.
The Cabinet, however, refused to follow him, and on October 5 Pitt
resigned. ' It would seem indeed that Pitt's resignation was regarded by the

The "Adequate Peace" Address to the King. 175
which Pitt had so vehemently opposed, the Corporation, at a
special meeting,' held in May 1763,2 over which Ralph Allen
presided, adopted the following Address. It is printed in
italics, because it will be observed that on the terms of the
document hinged the whole future relations of Pitt with the
Bath Corporation. It is the more necessary to make this
clear, because in the late Rev. F. Kilvert's paper on Ralph
Allen he leaves the Address out of the Correspondence ; so in
Uke manner Sir Jerom Murch omits it. So that in each case
the reader is left in a state of utter ignorance as to the charac
ter and wording of that document which gave Pitt so much
offence, and led to the termination of his political connection
with a city in which he had received so many proofs of the
confidence and admiration of all classes.
TO THE KLNG'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY.
" We, the Mayor, Aldermen, and Common Council of the ancient and
loyal city of Bath, do beg leave to congratulate, and most humbly to thank
.-vour Majesty for an adequate and advantageous peace, which you have
graciously procured for your people, after a long atid very expettsive,
citizens and the Corporation as a great public calamity. It inspired Mr.
T. Atwood, Burke's friend (who was Mayor, 1756-60-69), to write —
well, a stanza, which, if it does not exhibit poetic genius, perhaps faithfully
expresses the feelings of his colleague : —
" Whence does the Gaul exult ? Can Broglie* boast
At length one battle not entirely lost ?
Or has the Spaniard their alliance joined ?
Alas ! much worse — our Patriot has resigned !"
' Of which there is no record in the Journals.
2 It should be mentioned here that in April of this year "Viscount
Ligonier (in the Irish Peerage) was created an English Earl. His seat
being thus vacated, two candidates were proposed — Mr. Long and Sir
John Saunders Sebright, when the latter was elected.

* Due de Broglie, who commanded a portion of the French Army.

176 Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
though necessary andglorious war, which your Majesty, upon your acces
sion to the throne, found your kingdoms engaged in.
" And we take the liberty to assure your Majesty, that upon all occasions
we shall be read-y to give the most evident proofs of the truest zeal and
duty, which the most dutiful subjects can testify to the most gracious and
best of prittces.
" In testimony whereof we have hereunto affixed our
" Common Seal, ihe 2?,ih day of May 1763."

To Ralph Allen, Esq. " Hayes ; June 2, 1763.
" Dear Sir, — Having declined accompanying Sir John Sebright in
presenting the address from Bath, transmitted to us jointly by the Town-
Clerk, I think it, on all accounts, indispensably necessary that I should
inform you of the reason of my conduct. The epithet of adequate given
to the peace contains a description of the conditions of it, so repugnant
to my unalterable opinion concerning many of them, and fully declared
by me in Parliament, that it was as impossible for me to obey the Cor
poration's commands in presenting their address, as it was unexpected to
receive such a commission. As to my opinion of the peace, I will only
say, that I formed it with sincerity according to such lights as my little
experience and small portion of understanding could afford me. This
conviction must remain to myself the constant rule of my conduct ; and
I leave to others, with much deference to their better information, to
follow their own judgment. Give me leave, my dear, good sir, to desire
to convey, through you, to Mr. Mayor and to the gentlemen of the
Corporation, these my free sentiments ; and with the justest sense of
their past goodness towards me, plainly to confess that I perceive I am
but ill qualified to form pretensions to the future favour of gentlemen, who
are come to think so diff'erently from me, on matters of the highest im
portance to the national welfare.
" I am ever, with respectful and aff'ectionate esteem, my dear sir,
" Your faithful friend and obliged humble Servant,
" (Signed) W. Pitt.
Lady Chatham joins with me in all compliments to the family of Prior
Park."

Pitt Correspondence. 177
To the Right Hon. Mr. Pitt.
" Prior Park ; June 4, 1763.
" My Dearest Sir, — It is extremely painful to me to find by the letter
which you was pleased to send to me the 2nd of this month, that the word
adequate, in the Bath address, has been so very offensive to you, as to
hinder the sincerest and most zealous of your friends in the Corporation
from testifying for the future their great attachment to you.
" Upon this occasion, in justice to them, it is incumbent on me to
acquaint you, that the unexceptionable word does not rest with them, but
myself ; who suddenly drew up that address, to prevent their sending of
another, which the Mayor' brought to me, in terms that I could not
concur in ; copies of the two forms I have taken the liberty to send to
you in the enclosed paper, for your private perusal ; and Sir John
Sebright having, in his letter to Mr. Clutterbuck,^ only acquainted him,
that in your absence in the country he delivered the address, I shall
decline executing of your commands to the Corporation on this delicate
point, unless you renew them, upon your perusal of this letter, which for
safety I have sent by a messenger, and I beg your answer to it by him,
who has orders to wait for it.
" Permit me to say that I have not the least objection to, but the highest
regard and even veneration for, your whole conduct ; neither have I any
apology to make for the expression in which I am so unfortunate to differ
from you. And with the utmost respect, affection, and gratitude, you will
always find me to be, my dearest sir, your most humble and obedient
servant, " (Signed) R. Allen.
" The best wishes of this family always attend Lady Chatham. " R. A."

To Ralph Allen, Esquire. " Hayes, June 5, 1763.
" My Dear Sir, — I am sorry that my letter of the 2nd inst. should
give you uneasiness, and occasion to you the trouble of sending a
messenger to Hayes. I desire you to be assured, that few things can
give me more real concern, than to find that my notions of the public
good diff'er so widely from those of the man whose goodness of heart and
' Alderman Samuel Bush.
2 Lewis Clutterbuck, the Town Clerk.

178 Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
private virtues I shall ever respect and love. I am not insensible to your
kind motives for wishing to interpose time for second thoughts ; but
knowing how much you approve an open and ingenuous proceeding, I
trust that you will see the unfitness of my concealing from my constituents
the insurmountable reasons which prevented my obeying their commands
in presenting an address, containing a disavowal of my opinion delivered
in Parliament relating to the peace. As their servant, I owe to these
gentlemen an explanation of my conduct on this occasion, and as a man
not forgetful of the distinguished honour of having been invited to repre
sent them, I owe it, in gratitude, to them, not to think of embarrassing
and encumbering, for the future, friends to whom I have such obliga
tions ; and who now view with approbation measures of an adminis
tration, founded on the subversion of that system which once procured
me the countenance and favour of the city of Bath. On these plain
grounds, very coolly weighed, I will venture to beg again that my
equitable good friend will be so good to convey to Mr. Mayor and the
gentlemen of the Corporation my sentiments, as contained in my letter
of the 2nd instant.
" I am ever, with unchanging sentiments of respect and aff'ection,
" My dear sir, most faithfully yours,
"W. Pitt."

Letter to Mrs. Allen, accompatiying the last addressed to Ralph Allen,
June Sth, 1763.
" I cannot conclude my letter without expressing my sensible concern at
Mr. Allen's uneasiness. No incidents can make the least change in the
honour and love I bear him, or in the justice my heart does to his humane
and benevolent virtues."
[The context of this letter to Mrs. Allen is missing.J

71? the Right Hon. Mr. Pitt. " Prior Park, June 9th.
" My Dearest Sir,— With the greatest anxiety and concern, I have
in obedience to your positive and repeated commands executed the most
painful commission that I ever received.
" Upon this disagreeable occasion, give me leave just to say that, how
ever diff'erent our abilities may be, it is the duty of every honest man,
after he has made the strictest enquiry, to act pursuant to the light which
the Supreme Being has been pleased to dispense to him ; and this being

Pitt Correspondence. 179
the rule that I am persuaded we both govern ourselves by, I shall take
the liberty, not only to add, that it is impossible for any person to retain
higher sentiments of your late glorious administration than I do, nor can
be with truer fidelity, zeal, affection, and respect than I have been, stUl
am, and always shall be, my dearest sir,
" Your most humble and most obedient servant,
"(Signed) R. Allen.
" The best wishes of this family wait upon Lady Chatham."
Lord Stanhope thinks the word adequate slipped into the
Address 'without design or the intention of conveying a mean
ing of especial significance. If it be so, it is singular that a
word should have been used which, in itself, is so plenary in
the sense it bears, and at the same time is the very converse
of that which Pitt had used over and over again to charac
terize the peace — inadequate. It is not surprising that Pitt
should have regarded the Address with scornful indignation,
not simply as approving the peace, but as by implication
reversing all the judgments the Corporation had passed upon
his previous policy and conduct. The word was " untoward",
and Pitt thought that not only the word, but the whole
Address, was the artful work of Bishop Warburton.' Pitt
1 Bishop Warburton had received his Bishopric from Pitt, and having
promoted a similar Address from his own Chapter, the only Chapter
in the Kingdom from which a similar Address was sent, it was
natural that the Bishop should have been suspected of being "the
power behind the throne" who had prompted AUen. The Bishop
denied the accusation, but it is fair to presume that as he was
constantly at Prior Park, he may have made known his intention
of sending an Address and the sense of it, and thus unintentionaUy,
or it may be too adroitly, influenced Allen's judgment. The Bishop
wrote to Pitt, whose reply left a wound which troubled Warburton not a
little :— " I will only venture to observe, my Lord, that the Cathedral of
Gloucester, which certainly does not stand alone in true duty and wise
zeal towards His Majesty, has, however, the fate not to be imitated by
any other Episcopal See in the Kingdom, in this unaccustomed efifusion.
of fervent congratulations on the Peace."
N 2

i8o Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
sold his house in the Circus at the close of the year, and,
although he visited the city again in 1766 for the use of the
waters, he does not seem to have renewed his intercourse with
his former friends. He retained his seat until 1766, when he
was created Earl of Chatham,' the dignity of Baroness
Chatham having been already conferred upon his wife. Lady
Hester Pitt (sister of the then Earl Temple).
The One-headed Corporation Caricatures.
In the first of these caricatures, dated 1763, the central figure
is a large head — an admirable portrait — of Allen. Perched on
it is a raven, who is croaking " Raafe, Raafe, poor Raafe." Allen
is holding a scroll in his hands, on which the word " Ade
quate" is conspicuously written. A bishop (Warburton) in
full canonicals is whispering into Allen's right ear, " 'Tis I did
this great work for you !" The devil, however, who is close
upon the bishop's back, says : " No, no, friend, 'twas I, the
father of political lies, that first thought oi Addressing !" To
which Coward replies, " Don't drive me, St. John,^ I'll go graze
on the Common or in Prior Park." In the right-hand upper
corner is a portrait of Lord Ligonier, and in the left a portrait
of Pitt. Around the figure of Allen are gathered the mem
bers of the Corporation, each in the character which symbol
ized his calling. The death's head and gallipots signified the
' In an amusing passage in Barry Lyndon, Thackeray puts some
trenchant remarks into the mouth of his hero with regard to the Seven
Years' War in which he had taken part, and concludes by a short
reference to the " Marquis of Tiptoff"" and Lord Chatham : — " Though a
Whig, or, perhaps, because he was a Whig, the Marquis was one of the
haughtiest men breathing, and treated commoners as his idol ; the great
Earl used to treat them— after he came to a coronet himself— as so many
low vassals who might be proud to lick his shoe-buckles."
2 St. John was apparently a citizen who exercised some influence upon
Coward ; there was no person of the name in the Council.

i82 Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
several medical men. The wagon— Walter Wiltshire, carrier ;
the horse's head— John Glazier, coachman ; greyhound's head
—Sir John S. Sebright, M.P.; the ass's head— Leonard Coward;
the bishop — Bishop Warburton ; the double-faced head — Aid.
Biggs, lawyer ; the clock-face — French Laurance, watch
maker ; the E. O. Tables — J. Leake, publisher; the latticed
window — Axford, glazier ; the lock — Hales, ironmonger ; the
£^<X) and doll — Davis, jeweller and toyman ; the inkpot —
Clutterbuck, the town-clerk, who is exclaiming, " What is all
this clutter about" ; the soldering-irons — Atwood, glazier ; the
hoop — Milsom, cooper. To the left stands the figure of
Falstaff, whose identity is not so certain. He is very angry,
and evidently was a man who thought he did well to be angry.
From the part played by Thicknesse in Bath about this time,
and from a close study of the character of the man, we feel
almost certain that he it is who is intended to be represented
by Falstaff It is the more probable from the language he is
made to use — "Dam ye for a set of poltroons, I'll drive you
from hence with this dagger." The sturdy form, the attitude,
and the true nature of Thicknesse's courage, are all so admir
ably depicted in the Falstaffian figure. It is difficult to con
ceive any " outsider" in Bath, at this period, who combined in
himself so many unamiable qualities as Philip Thicknesse.
The caricature gave deep pain to Allen, because it imputed
to him gross dissimulation — which was utterly foreign to his
nature — and he was so little accustomed to be chidden by
his Bath friends. Bishop Warburton thought it not beneath
him to write to Pitt to vindicate himself from the implied
charge of duplicity, or, what was worse, treachery, and com
plained of the character he is made to assume in the cari
cature. Shortly after the first caricature appeared, a second was
published^ — " A Sequel to the Knights of Baythe, or the One-
headed Corporation," The Committee is here represented, the

184 Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
members of which are most likely discussing Pitt's reply.
Allen is presiding. After others have spoken, he is just saying,
"An Adequate Peace merits an Adequate Address," when the
curtain is drawn aside by a character whose identity we fail to
recogni.se, who says, " I'll show them in their proper colours,"
and there stand Warburton, Pitt, Ligonier, and the redoubt
able swash-buckler, Falstaff. The bishop says : " And I must
have a stroke at 'em." Falstaff says : " They should drink the
Waters, for the Body wants cleansing, by G — ." Pitt ex
claims, "Let who will represent such Wretches, I won't.''
Ligonier puts in, "Faith, Brother, they deserve to have no
Members at all." Underneath the picture the following lines
are printed : —
" See Liberty's Champions still loyal and true.
Displaying the tricks of poor R  h and his crew.
Who thinking to show \^\m%Ai courtly and civil,
Is eagerly x\6!\a^ post-haste to the Devil.
" My friends (Hark ! he crys) of this wise Corporation,
This Adequate Peace deserves Congratulation.
His Lordship by me too his compliments sends.
And promises shortly to make you amends.
" Then to it they go, but, ye Gods ! such a Thing,
Was never presented before to a 
For Reason her sentiments wisely expresses
A Peace that is patch'd, should have patch'd up Addresses."
Allen for some time had experienced symptoms of internal
disease, which proved to be cancer ; and there can be little
doubt that the agitation caused him by the incident con
nected with Pitt, and the severe, not to say savage, reflections
upon him in the caricatures, tended greatly to aggravate the
disorder. Allen, however, bore himself with his usual calm
and simple dignity. Whilst showing his deep and most

Aliens Death. 185
heart-felt respect for, and deference to Pitt, and the regret
at his resolution to give up his seat, Allen assumed the
whole responsibility for the use of the offensive words, and
adhered to them and the policy they implied.
The caricatures were as bitter as they were clever. The
caricaturist, under the nom de plume of William O'Gaarth, had
just previously published a work in two small volumes, en
titled, British Antidote to Caledonian Poison, which consisted
of a series of caricatures satirizing Lord Bute and glorifying
Mr. Pitt. Each portrait in the work is drawn with the same
characteristic skill, hits off with clever exaggeration the alleged
foibles and political misdoings of Lord Bute and his adherents,
whilst elevating Pitt to the highest pitch of heroism and
virtue. It is not at all probable that Pitt was privy to the
publication of these malicious prints, which, if Allen had been
the meanest renegade, instead of the true and admiring friend,
could scarcely have been justified. There was evidently a
bitter political animus on the part of a small band of London
politicians against all and any sort of opponents of Mr. Pitt.

Allen's Retirement from Public Life.
The following letter, written by Allen in the year of the
political misunderstanding, indicates his consciousness that
his local work had come to an end ; but even here there is a
quiet, pathetic dignity. From first to last no attack, however
unjust, ever extorted from him one word of complaint, re
monstrance, or anger. "Prior Park; Oct. i8, 1763.
"Sir, — My weak state of health and growing Infirmities obhges me to
beg that you and the other Gentlemen of the Corporation will permit me
at their Hall to resign my Station of one of your Aldermen.
" Upon this occasion give me leave to make my most hearty acknowledg
ments for the great attention and distinguishing regard which you and

1 86 Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
they during a long course of years have been pleased to show to me, and
to give the strongest assurance that in the remainder of my Life, one of
my greatest pleasures on all proper occasion wiU be to testifie my utmost
regard for the welfare of our City, and to show you and the other Gentle
men of the Community, every fifriendly act that may be in the power of
them and of " Sir, " Your most humble and obedient Servant,
"Ralph Allen."
"To Samuel Bush, Esq.,
" Mayor of Bath who is desired at the next Town Hall to lay this
Letter before the Aldermen and Common Council of that City.
" P.S. — Upon this Resignation. That the five hundred pounds which I
sometime since desired your acceptance of towards the expence of Build
ing a New Town Hall in our City shaU be payed to any person forthat
purpose which you may be pleased to receive it whenever that useful and
ornamental design shall be entered upon. " R. Allen."

About the time this letter was written, or a little later,
Allen removed to Claverton^ for a few months while some
1 [From the Harvey Correspondence, to show the difficulty of locomo
tion in those days.] " Bath, May 13, 1723.
" Lady Bristol to Lord B. — I am (if possible) more dispirited to day
after my bathing than I was last time, and that I believe you might see
by my letter was enough, for I hardly knew what I writ, but think I told
you I was to spend the evening with Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Paget, where
they found me so bad that they held a consultation for me, and found it
absolutely necessary I should be as much in the air as the weather would
permit me to sit abroad ; (being not able to walk,) Mrs. Lewis was so
kind as to desire I would try a coach, which I readily accepted of; so
she carryd Mrs. Smith, Betty and my self to vissit Mr. Skrine and his
wife. They have a very pretty place at Clarkendown [Claverton], but I
not being able to see all the garden, lost (as they say) several beauties ;
but it had need be as fine as Chatsworth, for the way to it (I think) is
almost as bad ; I am sure my poor legs found it so ; that and being 4
in the coach made them in a sad condition, for which I cryd about an

Allen's Death. 187
alterations and painting of the rooms at Prior Park were
going on ; but in the spring of the year 1764 hewas prevailed
on to undertake a journey to London, though he had laboured
for some years under a complaint which made travelling
irksome to him. He proceeded as far as Maidenhead Bridge,
at the west end of which Allen had built the room with
the bow window and the room over it. Here he found
it necessary to halt for some days, when, finding his malady
increase, he returned by short stages to Prior Park, where, ,
on the 29th June 1764, his useful life terminated, in the
seventy-first year of his age. He was buried in the church
yard of Claverton, where a pyramidal monument is erected
over his remains, according to a plan which he left behind,
with a short, plain epitaph expressive of his faith in the
redemption and mediation of Christ.
" Beneath this monument lieth entomb'd the body of Ralph
Allen, Esq., of Prior Park, who departed this life the 29th day
of June 1764, in the 71st year of his age, in full hopes of ever
lasting happiness in another state, through the infinite merit
and mediation of our blessed Redeemer, Jesus Christ. And
of Elizabeth Holder, his second wife, who died 20th Septem
ber 1766, aged 68."
hour after I came home, and as much this morning, though Mr. Skrine'*
tells me my Lady Rochester's legs were as bad as mine, when she came here
last year, and that he quite cured her before she left the place with the same
medicine he begins with me too night in a glass of the Bath water, and
the same in the morning at the Pump. . . . But I think I have said
enough of my self, unless I could teU you something better ; besides that
I have chosen a very ill time to transgress the rules you laid down to me
about writing, which I should never have been able to do, if your dear,
kind prose had not been much more enlivening than your heroick verse."

¦*• This was not the Claverton Skrine, but the local surgeon, who resided
at Hungerford House, then called " Skrine's Lower House", and js now
the " Abbey Church House."

1 88 Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
On the occasion of her husband's death Mr. Pitt wrote to
Mrs. Allen :—
" I fear not all the example of his virtues will have power to raise up
to the world his like again."

.sfl^^fi^

CORRESPONDENCE WITH MR. STRAHAN.

HE following correspondence with Allen will tell
its own story. The writer was, we believe, a
clerk in the House of Commons and was
much esteemed by Warburton and other friends
of Allen.

To Ralph Allen, Esquire. "London, October 25, 1763.
" Sir, — I have sent by the machine which setts out tomorrow, the Read
ing- Glass you did me the Honour to desire me to procure for you . It
cost £\ 4J. od. If it does not suit your Eye, or is not otherwise precisely
what you want, I can change it for another. Along with it I have sent
the History Books I promised Master Warburton \i. e., the Bishop's
son], which, tho' of very small "Value, have afforded much Entertainment
to the Good People of England for some Centuries past. As they con
tain great "Variety, and many of them deal in the Wonderful, it is likely
some of them may attract his attention and allure him to read a little
more than he might otherwise incline. A Boy of his lively Genius need
but choose to learn anything to make himself Master of it.
" Every Eye is now turned towards this Opening of the Session. The
Ministry, I am assured, do not propose to avail themselves of the Sanction
given by Parliament to the late Peace ; but are determined to defend it.
Article by Article, by clear and solid Argument, to the Conviction of every
reasonable man in the Kingdom. The audacious Wilkes, it is thought,
will be forthwith expelled. The Opposition are not supposed to exceed
Ninety at most. In that case, the present Sett of Ministers, who, by-the-
bye, act in conjunction with Lord Bute, whatever is pretended, if they
have the Public Good really at heart, and do not fall by the Ears among

IQO Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
themselves, wUl certainly stand their ground ; the Authority of Govern
ment will be re-established, and the great and important Business of the
Nation wiU be at last attended to.
" I am very proud of your Approbation of the Paper you were pleased
to take the trouble of Reading. All the merit I pretend to is that of
Meaning weU. It is a Misfortune which Great Men are peculiarly subject
to, seldom or never to be approached by those who have Honesty enough
to tell them the Truth.
" Permit me, Sir, to take this Opportunity of returning you my most
grateful Acknowledgments for the very kind Reception you were pleased
to give me at Prior Park. Nothing could possibly exceed the Pleasure I
felt at seeing with my own Eyes what I had long been used to contem
plate at a Distance with so much Esteem and Veneration. Such a Sight
enlarges the mind, and enhanses the opinion of our very Nature. But I
restrain myself for fear of offending you. Nothing is farther from my
Intention than to give one Moment's Uneasiness to so respectable a
Character, whose whole Existence deserves to be crowded with the
choisest Blessings of Humanity.
" May you retain the undisturbed Enjoyment of your earthly Paradise
till you are called to the Possession of another more permanent, better
suited for the Abode of such enlarged Benevolence, where Ingratitude
never enters, and where tried and pure Virtue can alone find an adequate
Reward. " I am, with the most perfect Esteem and Respect, Sir,
" Your most obedient and humble Servant,
"Will. Strahan."

To Mr. Strahan. " Prior Park, October 29, 1763.
» Sir, — I am very thankful to you for your obliging Letter and for the
great Parcel of Books which you were pleased to send to our Dear
Little Boyi for his Improvement, as well as for your Buying the reading
Glass, which fits my Eyes, and I shall desire the Bishop to repay you for
it. I truly am. Sir,
" Your obliged and most hum''' Serv', " Signed, R. Allen."
1 Ralph Allen Warburton, who, dying in his 20th year, rests in Allen's
tomb at Claverton, not at Gloucester, as inadvertently stated on p. 137.

Strahan Correspondence — Wilkes. 191
To Ralph Allen, Esquire. " London, Novr. 21, 1763.
"Sir, — I should have sooner acknowledged the Receipt of your Favour
of the 29th uit., but that I was unwilling to give you any unnecessary
Trouble, and waited till the Season arrived, when I might be able to write
you something new.
" The Bishop of Gloucester (his Lordship tells me) has acquainted you
with what passed in the Upper House in regard to Wilkes. The aff'air
was happily kept so secret, that neither he nor his Friends were apprised
of, or prepared for, the Blow, which most eflfectually reduced the seditious
and profligate Fellow to that State of Insignificance and Contempt he so
justly merits.
" As soon as the House of Commons met, Wilkes stood up in his Place,
and read a short Account of his Imprisonment in the Tower, and com
plained of the Breach of Privilege. The Chancellor of the Exchequer
acquainted them at the same time that he had a Message from the King
relating to Privilege. Upon this a Debate arose, whether, previous to
hearing either the Complaint or the Message, a Bill ought not to be read,
agreeable to constant Practise, in order to open and constitute the Session.
The complying with this Form, which could not take up above five
Minutes, was opposed for some Hours by Mr. Pitt, in order to gain Time,
and throw every Obstruction in the way of bringing the Aff'air in Question
to a quickly Hearing. Mr. George Onslow, son of the late Speaker, cited
the Case of one Mompesson, in whose behalf a Case of Privilege was
heard, before the House entered upon any Business ; but as this regarded
a Riot in the Lobby, and required immediate Redress, it was not to the
Point. Mr. Pitt next attempted to unite the Resolution for reading the
Bill to the hearing the Breach of Privilege ; that is, Resolved, that the
Bill be read before the hearing of the Complaint, &c., with a view to post
poning the receiving the King's Message, but without effect. Then Mr.
Yorke stood up and observed, that as every Act they passed which had no
special Commencement, had a Retrospection to the Beginning of the
Session, and as a Session did not legally begin tiU they had done some
thing in their Legislative Capacity, such as reading a Bill, it was therefore
necessary, to prevent many Inconveniencies, to keep strictly to the antient
Practise. Lord North then proposed an Amendment to the Resolution,
viz.. Resolved that the Bill be read before receiving the Kings Message,
and hearing the Complaint, &c. Upon which the House divided. For

192 Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
the Amendment 300, against it in. Then the BiU was read. After this,
the King's Message was received, and an Address voted upon it. Then
the North Briton, No. 45, with the Examinations relating to it were read,
when a Motion was made and seconded, that it was a false, scandalous,
and seditious Libel, etc. Mr. Pitt still laboured to protract the Debate,
by insisting that there was a wide Difference between a seditious and a
traiterous Libel, and that these Terms ought never to be blended together ;
that the Actions which constituted Treason were very few, and all expressly
mentioned in our Statutes ; and that he would call any Lawyer to the Bar
who would avow that he had given it as his Opinion that this was a
traiterous Libel. Mr. Norton (now Attorney-General) then stood up, and
owned himself that Lawyer ; that he was not 'afraid to confess he gave
that Opinion, that he was ready to support it, and dared that honourable
Gentleman to call him to the Bar for so doing. Mr. Pitt only replied to
this, by owning that the Gentleman had very well acquitted himself in his
Reply to him, and complimented him on his abilities as a Lawyer. At
length Mr. Pitt was obliged to give up the Point, and when Wilkes him
self proposed the leaving out the Word False, would not second him ; so
that [after a Division of 273 to 1 1 1 against leaving out these Words, and
to excite them to traiterous Insurrections against his Majesty's Government^
the Paper was voted, ' a false, scandalous, and seditious Libel, containing
Expressions of the most unexampled Insolence and Contumely towards
his Majesty, the grossest Aspersions upon both Houses of Parliament, and
the most audacious Defiance of the Authority of the whole Legislature,
and most manifestly tending to alienate the affections of the People from
his Majesty, to withdraw them from their Obedience to the Laws of
the Realm, and to excite them to traiterous Insurrections against his
Majesty's Government' — and ordered it to be burnt by the Common
Hangman. These are the precise Words of the Resolution, which I
copied from the written Journal of the House, the Votes not being yet
published. " By the strenuous Opposition and Management of Mr. Pitt, as above
narrated, the Debate was drawn out till past two in the morning.
"You, Sir, who, after the most dihgent search into your own Heart, can
find no Traces of Insincerity, or the least Inclination to a disingenuous
Proceeding, will be very apt to wonder how a man of Mr. Pitt's great and
acknowledged abilities, could submit to act a Part so truly unworthy of an
honest mind. But so it happens, and a melancholy Truth it is, that Men,
even of the greatest Talents, when once they deviate from that Rectitude
of Conduct which every one ought above all Things to preser\e, often

Strahan Correspondence. 193
suffer themselves to be seduced, by Pride, Ambition, Faction, or false
Glory, to a Degree that highly disgraces Human Nature.
" The next Question to be debated in the House of Commons is.
Whether the Author of a Seditious Libel is entitled to Privilege of Parlia
ment. Upon this they were to have entered to day, but are again
adjourned till Wednesday, occasioned by the Indisposition ofthe Speaker.
The House of Lords meet to morrow, when they go upon the Breach of
Privilege regarding the Bishop, who has acquired much Honour in this
affair in that most impious Poem, of which they have proved Mr. WUkes
the Printer, and partly the Author.
" I shall not trouble you farther at this time, only I could not help
observing from Mr. Pitt's Behaviour in the House last Thursday, in the
Debate upon the Address in answer to his Majesty's Speech, wherein he
made use of many Circumlocutions and Subterfuges (which a candid and
honest Conduct had better spared him) that he means to drop his present
Connexions as soon as he can, and once more slide into the Administration.
How far I am right in this Conjecture time will discover.
" I purposed to have answered my dear young Correspondent's^ Letter
to-night, but must defer it, it being now late. I sincerely hope this will
find you in perfect Health. You have in truth added much to my Happi
ness. What I already know of your amiable Character gives me infinite
Pleasure ; and it is so deeply impressed on my mind, that it is not in my
Power to omit any Occasion, either Public or Private, of speaking my
Sense of it. I must, therefore, intreat your Forgiveness for the Liberty I
here take of assuring you that I am, with that perfect Esteem and
Veneration which such singular Worth can alone inspire,
" Sir,
" Your most obedient and most humble Ser'.,
"Will. Strahan.
" If you have any Commands that I can execute here, you would make
me very happy in employing me."

To Mr. Strahan. "Prior Park, Nov. 24th, 1763.
" Sir, — I am very thankfuU to you for the particular and clear repre
sentation which you was pleased to send to me of the Proceedings in the
House of Commons. ^ The young lad, Warburton. O

194 ^^f^ '^^^ Times of Ralph Allen.
" Little Ralph is thankfuU for the kind Letter which you sent to him,
and another nephew of mine^ will soon repay you for the reading Glass
that you lately bought for " Sir,
Yr Obliged and most hum'''^ Ser'.,
" (Sign'd) R. Allen."

To Ralph Allen, Esquire. " London, Novr. 26, 1763.
" Sir, —1 purposed to have sent you tonight an Account ofthe Debates
of last Wednesday and Thursday, when the Author of a Seditious Libel
was voted not intitled to Privilege, 258 against 135. But my Business
would not permit me to be at the House, and had I been able to attend,
there was no room, almost the whole Lords being present. A Member,
however, who attended the whole Debate, has promised me some Account
of it to morrow, which, if I receive, I will send you by Monday's Post.
Mr. Pitt was the only Person who mentioned Wilkes, and then he called
him a Blasphemer of his God, a Reviler of his King, and one who had
endeavoured to subvert the Constitution of his Country. This is some
what particular, as he had all along endeavoured to serve him. Inclosed
is an Account of the Poem,^ published by one Kidgell, with an apparent
View to his own Benefit ; forit serves no good Purpose to excite People's
Curiosity to know the Contents of it. 1 was favoured with your Letter
to day ; but I beg leave to observe, that tho' I intend to write you when
ever I can send you any News, I do not expect that you should take the
Trouble of acknowleging the Receit of mine. I know your Time is
precious, and I would not wish to intrude upon it. I am, with the most
perfect Esteem, " Sir,
" Your most obedient and most humble Servant,
"Will. Strahan."

1 Ralph Allen, the younger son of Philip AUen.
''¦An Essay on Woman, in Three Epistles. The book was printed by
Wilkes at his private press, 1763. It was one of the most lewd and
disgusting books ever issued from any press. It was said at the time
of its pubhcation that Potter had a hand in this indecent " patchwork".
In his intercourse with Bath, Potter concealed this " dirty" side of his
character.

Strahan Correspondence. 195
To Ralph Allen, Esquire. "London, December i, 1763.
" Sir, — The House of Lords, last Tuesday, agreed with the Commons
in regard to the Afifair of Privilege. The Speakers against the Vote were
Lord Shelbourne, Lord Temple, the Duke of Newcastle, the Duke of
Grafton, &c. — For it, the Chancellor, Lord Mansfield, &c. On the Side
of Opposition Lord .Shelborne spoke best ; but the Duke of Newcastle
was not heard, and Lord Temple made a very poor Figure. He was told
during the Debate, how very unbecoming it was for a Member of that
House, who was indebted to the Crown for the most distinguishing
Honours, to mix and associate with the Dregs of the People, to counte
nance and abett a Man who, with the most unprovoked Malice and the
most unprecedented Effrontery, had endeavoured to calumniate Majesty
itself ; to set at Defiance the Laws of his Country, and to stir up a Spirit
of Discension between the two Parts ofthe United Kingdom. In answer
to this, he declared (in direct Contradiction to aU his late Conduct) that
nobody had a greater Esteem for Lord Bute than he had, and that so far
from being prejudiced against the Scots in general, or abetting ihose who
had endeavourd to sow Discensions between them and us, he had always
held that brave Nation in the highest Esteem ; that he had himself been
an Eye-Witness of their gallant Behaviour during a former W^ar, and had
heard from good Authority of their intrepid Conduct in the most arduous
Enterprises in this ; that he was not insensible how much this Kingdom
owed to their Services, and thought this Country particularly happy in
being united to so sensible, so hardy, and so industrious a People. The
Lord Chancellor, in his honest, blunt, open Way, told them he had seen,
with the utmost Concern, that Spirit of Licentiousness, which had spread
of late to a most unsufiferable Degree ; that the permitting this to pass
with Impunity was really a Disgrace to all good Government ; that it
essentially hurt the Reputation of the Kingdom with Foreigners ; that the
rest of Europe could not fail to have a very contemptible Opinion of that
Government that had not Power to secure itself from receiving such
Insults, or to inflict upon the Authors of them the most examplary
Punishment ; that he owned he had long ago in Council declared it as
his Opinion, that this Evil ought to be stopt in its Progress, and that the
King, by his just and legal Prerogative, had sufficient Power to do it ;
and had his Advice been foUowed, Things would not probably have come
to this Pass. Lord Mansfield, in a Speech of two Hours, with his usual
Clearness, Precision, Accuracy, and Knowledge of the Law, treated the
O 2

196 Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
Subject very fully, and shewed with irresistible Force of Argument, the
Expediency, the Propriety, and the Equity of such a Resolution, so that
it passed 155 against 33. Proxies included ; present 92 to 27.
" Thus hath this Opposition, which at the opening of the Session was
thought to be so formidable, vanished into Smoke. The King's Servants
will now have it in their Power to attend to the Business of the Nation
without Interruption : and if they are honest, much public Good may yet
be done this Season.
" Nothing is so true as that Honesty is the best Policy, and that all
Wickedness is Misery. With what Pain must Mr. Pitt reflect on his late
Conduct ; on the Baseness of cruelly sacrificing the best of Friends to his
Ambition, and uniting himself with a Crew which he is already, for very
Shame, obliged, in the most public manner, to disclaim any Connexion
with. And yet I can hardly help droping a Tear to the Memory of his
past Services, and lamenting, sincerely lamenting, that a Man of his rare
and useful Talents should suffer himself, from mere want of Honesty, to
sink into such universal and deserved Contempt.
" There is nothing left for me to wish you in this World, but an Allevia
tion of those Pains to which your bodily Infirmities subject you. This I
most sincerely do. As for the mental Sources of Pleasure and Happiness,
by much the most essential, those you have effectually secured by a long
Life of Virtue and Beneficence, to which you can at all times look back
with unspeakable Satisfaction.
" The North Briton is to be burnt at the Royal Exchange next Saturday
by the Common Hangman ; and a loyal Address will be presented to the
King by both Houses on the Occasion.
" I am, with the highest Respect,
" Sir,
" Your most obedient humble Servant,
"Will. Strahan.
" I beg my most respectful Compliments to all the Family."

To Ralph Allen, Esquire. " London, Deer. 8, 1763.
"Sir, — On Tuesday last the Tryal between Wilkes and the Under-
Secretary Mr. Wood, as you will see by the Papers, came on before Lord
Chiefjustice Pratt, which lasted from Eight in the Morning till Eleven at
Night, when the Jury, after retiring about a Quarter of an Hour, brought
in a "Verdict for the Plaintiff, with ;£ 1,000 Damages.

Strahan Correspondence. 197
" The Defendant urged a double Plea : First, Not Guilty, and Secondly,
a Special Justification. In order to which his Councel endeavoured to
prove Wilkes the Author of the North Briton, No. 45, but this they did
not do to the Satisfaction of the Court. In conclusion, after summing up
the Evidence, which the Chief Justice did with great Candor and Impar
tiality, he observed, that he knew no Power the Secretaries of .State were
invested with superior to that of any other Magistrate ; that he was certain
they had none, by any Law or Statute extant ; and that if the Secretaries
could delegate to their Inferior Officers the Power of forcibly entering
Houses, breaking up Bureaus, and seizing Papers without Limitation or
Controul, there was an End of all Liberty, no man could be safe ; but, he
added, that as this Power had been so long exercised without Interrup
tion, that Circumstance ought to be considered, in favour of Mr. Wood, as
a just Cause for the Mitigation of the Damages ; and, but for this, it is
thought the Jury would have given their "Verdict for a much larger Sum.
A Bill of Exceptions was then offered for the Defendant, as to the Point
of Law : Whether the Secretaries of State are or are not legally invested
with the Power they have hitherto exercised ; so that the Aff'air wUl not be
finally settled perhaps till it comes before the House of Lords. When the
Trial was over, a vast mob, who had attended the whole Day (a large Posse
of whom were evidently hired by Wilkes's Friends) made the Hall resound
with their repeated Huzzas ; from whence they went to George Street to
congratulate their Champion on his Success.
" The House of Lords have taken notice of the mob at the Ex
change last Saturday, when the North Briton was burnt, but I really
think not very properly ; for as the Disturbance was, by the best
Information I can get, purely accidental, it was, of course, unworthy their
Attention. " It is just now reported (with what Truth I cannot say) that Lord
Shelbourne is dismissed from his office of Aid de Camp to the King,
and that Mr. Calcraft hath lost the Agency of all the Regiments he
enjoyed. " There is nothing else that I can recollect worth troubling you with.
I hope our internal Peace will now be soon restored ; and am, with the
highest Respect, " Sir,
" Your most obedient, humble Servant,
"Will. Strahan."

198 Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
To Ralph Allen, Esquire.
" London, Janry. 2, 1764.
" Sir, — My Lord of Gloucester would bring you all the News from this
Quarter. This only serves to convey to you the Tender of my most
fervent Wishes that you may be blest with many happy Returns of this
Season ; that all you love may prosper, and that the Remainder of your
Days may be as remarkably distinguished by Peace, Ease, and Tran
quiUity, as those which are past have been by the constant Exercise of
every Virtue within the Reach of Humanity. There is a Pleasure in con
templating your Character, which, tho' I am altogether unable to express,
I yet most sensibly feel ; I cannot, therefore, help indulging myself in the
Hope that you will yet be long preserved, the Delight and Happiness of
your Friends, a bright Example of every Social Virtue, and the Ornament
of your Native Country.
" I have presumed, through the Mediation of the Bishop of Gloucester,
to prefer a Request in behalf of Mr. Leake,' which, if you think it at all
proper, I know your Humanity will prompt you to comply with. Of this
you are the only Judge. And I freely confess I have no Excuse for this
Boldness, but that I do not think anything else could tempt me to
be guilty of a Repetition of it.
" I pray for the Happiness of all under your Roof, and am, with the
highest Deference and Esteem, " Sir,
" Your most obedient and most humble Ser',
" Will. Strahan."

" London, Febry. 20, 1764.
" Sir,— I was favoured with yours of the 24th past, and am extremely
happy that you are not off'ended with my late Boldness. The obliging
Manner, also, in ^'hich you mention Mr. Leake, agreeable to your exten
sive and well-known Humanity, leaves me so much your Debtor, that I
am truly afraid, tho' I shaU never omit any Occasion, that it will never be
in my Power to shew you the just Sense I have of your Kindness,
" I should have sooner done myself the Honour to write to you, but that
I had nothing particular to trouble you with, and waited the Issue of the

1 This "Request" was that Allen would place any available MSS.
relating to himself and Prior Park at the disposal of Leake, the local
pubHsher,

Strahan Correspondence. 199
Debates in the House of Commons in regard to the Seizure of Wilkes's
Person and Papers, by virtue of a Warrant from the Secretaries of
State. " On Monday this Debate was opened by reading another Letter from
Wilkes ; and then several Witnesses were examined as to the Behaviour
ofthe Messengers at his House. Beardmore, his Attorney, in particular,
gave a circumstantial (and evidently a partial) Detail of what happened
on his Commitment to the Tower, and the steps taken to obtain a
Habeas Corpus in order to his Release. After this, Mr. Webb, in his
Place, gave a very full account of the whole Transaction, from which it
appeared that Mr. Wilkes was treated with proper Respect and Decency,
that his Papers were offered to be sealed up in presence of Lord Temple,
who happened to be at his House when he was seized, or any other ofhis
Friends, that on his Commitment to the Tower, tho' an Order was given
that no Person should have access to him, that Order was reversed next
morning ; and that no Obstruction whatever was given to his obtaining
his Habeas Corpus. Mr. Wood next stood up, and in a very genteel
manner acknowleged the Share he had in the aff'air, for which he had no
Apology to make, as he imagined he was, in so doing, discharging the
indispensable Duty of his Ofifice. It was now near Eleven, when a
Motion was made to adjourn, which passed in the negative, 379 to 31.
They then proceeded to read authentic Copies from the Records of all the
Warrants that hadbeen issued by Secretaries of State for a Century past ;
but this dry and unentertaining Business soon disposed the House to
adjourn, which they did about twelve.
" From this night's Debate I plainly saw that the Ministry did not intend
to bring the main Question to a Decision, and that the Opposition, on the
other hand, meant nothing more than by pushing the matter as far as
they were able, to make a Handle of it to raise a Cry against the Admini
stration. This was so very obvious throughout the whole Altercation
(for it deserves not the name of an honest Debate) that I own it hurt me
exceedingly to see the Great Council of the Nation so uselessly and so
factiously employed, whilst many of our most material and most urgent
Concerns were suff'ered to be neglected. Mr. Pitt's Behaviour more par
ticularly disgusted me. The Observations he made, and the Objections
he raised during the Examinations, were apparently frivolous and in
sincere, and most unworthy ofthe high Character he once sustained with
aU honest men. I will not trouble you with Instances of this, tho' I could
give you many, because I wish, in Gratitude for his former Services, they
could be utterly forgotten. I will only say, I think his whole Conduct,

200 Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
since he gave up the Seals, is of a Piece ; exceedingly factious, with
repeated, tho' unsuccessful, attempts to regain his Popularity, which I am
now more than ever fully perswaded is irretrievably lost. 'Tis needless to
observe to you. Sir, whose Love for your Country and for Human Kind
is so notorious, how melancholy a Prospect it affords, to see Persons of
the first AbUities in the Nation, and from whom we might expect every
thing the Exigencies of the .State requires, actuated by such unworthy
Motives, instead of employing their Talents in the only way in which
they can with true Glory exert them.
" Next Day (Tuesday) the House proceeded in hearing the Warrants
read, among which was one issued by Mr. Pitt himself, when Secretary of
State, ordering the Sailors and Passengers of a certain Ship to be brought
before him to answer to the Premisses, tho' no Charge whatever was
mentioned in the Warrant. To "this Mr. Pitt readily pleaded Guilty, and
with much affected Contrition and Submission, threw himself upon his
Country. He insisted likewise that Mr. Wood (of whose Honour and
Fidelity he had had, he said, repeated Experience whilst in Office) stood
there his Fellow Criminal, and that they ought both to submit to the
Justice of their Country. Mr. Wood replied to this, that he did by no
means look upon himself in the Light of a Criminal ; that what he had
done he thought it his indispensable Duty to do ; andthat he only waited
the Sentence of the House upon his Conduct, from whence he would not
depart till they had pronounced it. It was now near two in the morning,
when it was ]3roposed to put this Question : That a General Warrant
for apprehetiding and seizitig the Authors, Printers and Publishers of a
Seditious Libel, together with their Papers, is not warranted by Law.
This gave rise to a fresh Debate ; after which another Question was put,
viz.. That this Debate, and the further Consideration of the tnatter of this
Complaint, be adjourned till this Day at twelve o'Clock; which was carried
in the negative, 207 to 197. Then this last Question, amended by insert
ing the Words, Friday mornitig next instead of this Day at twelve cf clock,
was agreed to without a Division. It was then moved. That the Com
plaint against Robert Wood, Esq., a Metnber of this House, for a Breach
of Privilege of this House be discharged. Upon which it was again moved
to adjourn; which, upon a Division, passed in the Negative, 208 to 184.
And then the Motion for discharging the Complaint against Mr. Wood,
Mr. Webb, and the Messengers, was agreed to without a Division. Then
the House adjourned till Friday, it being now half an Hour after Seven
in the Morning. The Speakers of chief note this Day were, the Attorney
General, Mr. Grenville, Mr. Wilbraham, Mr. Wedderburn— Mr. Pitt,

Strahan Correspondence. 201
Sir WilHam Meredith, Sergeant Huett, Thos. Townsend, Col. Onslow,
Mr. Beckford, and Mr. Mawbey — Mr. Pitt spoke lo or 12 times.
" On Friday they accordingly resumed the further Consideration of this
Matter, when both Sides exerted themselves to the utmost in mustering
their whole Forces, so that the House was very full. Many excellent
Speeches were delivered, which did more Honour to some People's
Talents than to their Candor and Integrity. At length the Question was
proposed : That a General Warrant for apprehending atid seizing the
Authors, Printers, and Publishers of a seditious and treasonable Libel,
together with their Papers, is not warranted by Law, although such
Warrant hath been issued according to the Usage of Office, atid hath
been frequently produced to, and so far as appears to this House, the
Validity thereof hath never beeti debated in the Court of King's Betich,
but the Parties thereupon have been frequently bailed by the said Court.
Upon this a very warm Debate arose, which terminated in putting the
previous Question, That this Debate be adjourned till this Day four
Months ; which, upon a Division, was carried by a very narrow majority,
232 to 218. The Reasons for dismissing the Question in this manner are
sufficiently obvious. Many and great Inconveniences would attend the
explaining \!ti& precise Power ofa Secretary of State. In all Governments
there is lodged somewhere Powers not warranted by Law, to be exercised
upon great and critical Occasions, such as times of open Rebellion or
dangerous and secret Conspiracies ; and as under our Constitution, which
admits of greater Liberties to the Subject than the best Republic that
ever existed, every Minister exercises this Power at his Peril, we have
nothing, in my humble Opinion, to apprehend from the Abuse of it.
This I am fully perswaded every Member in the Opposition were duly
sensible of, notwithstanding their violent Declamations to the contrary.
Those who spoke this Day, in the Order in which they spoke, are as
foUows : —
Attorney General. Lord Frederic Campbell.
Mr. York. Mr. Shelly.
Attorney General. Lord Granby.
Lord North. Mr. Charles Townsend.
Lord George Sackville. Dr. Hay.
Colonel Burgoyne. Mr. Richmond Webb.
Mr. Nugent. Mr. Dowdeswell.
General Conway. General Townsend.
Mr. Stanley. Mr. FuUer.
Mr. Hussey. Lord Barington.

202 Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
Charles Townesend. Mr. Thos. Townsend.
Lord Barington. Mr. Eliot.
Mr. Wilbraham. Mr. Thos. Townsend.
Sir Francis Delaval. Lord North.
Mr. Pitt. Mr. Barr^.
Mr. Grenville. Mr. Shififner.
" In this manner hath this important Affair been composed for the
present ; and I hope the Remainder of y= Session will go on pretty
smoothly ; at least, I see not any new Matter for the Opposition to take
up that will answer their Purpose. 'Tis high time, you will doubtless
think, that the Legislature should seriously set about settling our new
Conquests, and improving by all other means the late Peace, which, bad
as it may by some people be represented, appears more and more
every Day to be a very great and seasonable Blessing to this King
dom. " To morrow, Mr. Wilkes's Trial for being the Author and Publisher of
y^ North Briton comes on before Lord Mansfield at Westminster, the
Issue of which I am in little Pain about, as the Jury is Special, and the
Proof strong and clear. The same Day the House of Lords are to take
into Consideration an inflammatory Pamphlet entitled. Droit le Roy, in
which the Prerogative of the Crown is pretended to exceed whatever was
exercised in the most arbitrary Reign. This Publication is another Effort
to disturb the Peace of Government, and divert the Attention of the
Administration from the real Business of the Nation.
" I shall endeavour to transmitt to you any thing that comes to my
Knowlege during the Course of these Distractions. In the mean time
permitt me to turn my Thoughts to a much more agreeable Subject, which
I shall mention with that Openness and Freedom so natural to me, and
which your known Candor emboldens me to use, even when I address
myself to you.
" From the most feeling Sense of your excellent and uncommon
Character, which hath inspired me with a Veneration that gives me in
expressible Pleasure, and which I shall ever glory to avow, I am extremely
solicitous for the Increase and Preservation of your honest Fame. With
this View I have often observed to the Bishop of Gloucester how
very desirous I was that the Influences of your Virtues might be per
petuated beyond the Period (long as I hope that will be) of your own Life,
and that you could be prevaUed with to put such Materials into his Lord
ship's Hands, as might serve to illustrate many Parts of your Conduct,
which from your singular Delicacy and Modesty you have ever been most

Later Postal Arrangement. 203
careful to conceal.' This I am the more strongly impelled to solicit from
a full Conviction, that an authentic Detail of a Life so pregnant with
Instances of public Spirit and private Benevolence will be of the most
general and lasting Utility, not only as it wiU do honour to this Country
and to human Nature, but as it may prove a strong Inducement with many
to endeavour at least to follow your Example. I have many other argu
ments to off'er in support of the Propriety of my Request, which I could
easily enumerate to any other Person. To yourself I will mention no
other than the above, as it is the only one that is likely to weigh with you.
I leave it, therefore, to your Consideration, and am, with the highest
Esteem, and the most ardent Wishes for the Continuance and Increase of
your Happiness, " Sir,
" Your most obHged and most obedient Servant,
" Will. Strahan.
" I past two very agreeable Hours last night with the Bishop, whom I
found in good Health and Spirits."

To Mr. Strahan. "Prior Park, Feb''y. 29th, 1761.
" Sir, — My thanks attend you for your Clear Representation of the
late Important debate, and I am not Insensible of the too favourable
Sentiments that you retain of " Sir,
" Your obliged most humbi<= Servant,
" (Signed) Ralph Allen."

Local Postal Arrangements follo'wing Allen's
Death.
No doubt Philip Allen (Ralph Allen's elder brother) was an
able coadjutor with Ralph in the practical working of the
postal operations, although it does not appear that he held any
1 It is to be seen that the writer was not unobservant of Allen's
characteristic modesty and reserve with regard to himself and his per
sonal actions.

204 Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
recognised official position under the Government. It seems
certain, however, that after Ralph Allen's death, Philip dis
charged the duties of local post-master until his death, which
occurred on Wednesday, December 4th, 1765, and is thus
officially noticed : —
" Ordered, — That Mr. Thomas Foley be appointed Deputy Postmaster
at Bath, in the stead of the late PhiHp Allen, Esq., deceased, to commence
the 5th of Jany. next."
After Ralph Allen's death, all his post-office work (that of
Postmaster excepted) was transferred to London, and the
office, which was created for its performance, the " Bye and
Cross Road Letter Office", as it was called, consisted of only
eight persons. In London, without Ralph Allen to superin
tend, more persons may have been employed upon the work
than at Bath, but it is very unUkely there were fewer.
A Copy of the official Minute, making appointments to this
office may be interesting, if only because it shows that there
was a second Philip Allen, the elder son of Ralph's brother,
Philip. " Wednesday, Oct. 24, 1764.
" Ordered,— That PhiHp Allen, Esq., be appointed ComptroUer and
Resident Surveyor'^ of the Bye and Cross Road Letter Office, and that
Mr. William Weaver be appointed the Comptroller's Clerk.
" That Mr. Thomas Hyett be appointed Accomptant of the said Office,
and that Mr. Ambrose Serle be appointed Clerk to the Accomptant.
"That Mr. William Ward be appointed Collector to the said Oflfice, and
that Mr. John Atkinson be appointed the Collector's Clerk.
"That Mr. John Spicer be appointed Clerk of the Dead and Refused
Letters in the said Office ; and
"That Mr. Thomas Gibbons be appointed Office and Storekeeper in
the said Office — aU to commence from the loth of Oct. 1764."
The salary of Philip Allen (Ralph's nephew) was : as
Comptroller, ;£"300, and as Resident Surveyor, ;£'200, or ;£'500
1 This official is now called " District Surveyor".

'The Second Philip Allen. 205
altogether. In 1783, the Postmasters-General proposed that
his salary should be raised from .£^500 to £600, and the reason
they gave for the proposal, with their accompanying remarks,
has a not unimportant bearing on the point in question.
"We have proposed," they say, "an addition of ;^ioo a year
to Mr. Allen during his continuance, as he enjoyed a salary of
;^900 a year under his late uncle at Bath, who projected and
formed this Branch. We have also proposed an addition of
£y:) a year each to the Accomptant and Collector, and of ;^20
a year to the Clerk to the Comptroller, vA\o were all brought
up from Bath at the same time with Mr. Allen on the estab
lishment of the Bye and Cross Road Letter Office in London
in 1764."

PEDIGREE

BENNET FAMILY.

O deal with Prior Park and the Allen
family without referring to WiDCOMBE
House and the Chapman and Bennet
families, would be difficult. At the same
time, having in Historic Houses in Bath,
and Bath, Old and New, entered largely
into the subject, we content ourselves
with giving a clear and tolerably full
table of genealogy, which, with a few
brief notes, will afford all the informa
tion likely to be of interest ; it will,
moreover, show the connection between
the Bennet and the Allen families.
Philip Bennet was the best known
member of the family in Bath, having represented the
city in Parliament from 1741 to 1747. The youngest
sister of this gentleman became the second wife of
Philip Allen, who died in the same year as her husband,
1767.

PEDIGREE OF
THE FAMILY OF BENNET, OF WIDCOMBE, MAPERTON, AND SOUTH BREWHAM IN
THE COUNTY OF SOMERSET ; AND OF TOLLESBURY, CO. ESSEX ;
ROUGHAM, CO. SUFFOLK ; AND CHEVELEY, CO. CAMBRIDGE.

Robert Benet, Keeper of the King's Seal in England,

I

Ascelin Bennet, Clerk of the
King's Exchequer, an
Archdeacon, Commissary
of Ramsey Abbey [Litt. , 7
Johan., Rot. Chart i, f.
103). II9S-I20S-

Adam Benet of Churiblun-
terdon, Co. Wilts, 1271.
I
Adam Benet of Churiblun-
terdon, 1327.

I
William Benet FitzRobert, Co. Wilts.
I
Henry Benet, holds certain manors and lands in Wilts, Suffolk,
I and Cambridge, 1279 (7 Ed-w. I, Rot. Fund.).
John Benet, heir to his father's lands in Wilts and Cambridge,
7 Edw. I, High Sheriff of Wilts, 1266 [Plac. de quo Warr. Rot.
54). 1
John Benet of Wilts, appointed by the King Governor of Mon
mouth Castle, 1327 (Hoare's Hist. Wilts.).

Peter Benet FitzRobert, one of
the chief citizens of Winchester,

 Benet, miles, holds lands
near Southampton under the
Abbey of Bec-Herlewyn [Plac.
de quo Warr.).
Galfred Benet of Suwicke, Co.
Wilts, 1274 (Test, de Nevill).
Galfrid Benet of Telesford juxta
Suwicke, Co. Wilts.

f to

^

John Benet, M.P. for Bridgwater, 1319. Living at Endford, William Benet of Malmesbury, 1338. Collector and Keeper of
I Co. Wilts, 1338. the King's Wool Customs for Ireland, 1322.

Walter Benet of New Sarum
(Abl). Rot., 274).

William Benet, in Holy Orders,
1364 (Inq. f.m., 38 E. III).

Peter Benet of Bereford, =Christiana, dau. and heir of |._^
I Somenour of Bymerton. q,
I a. ^j

At about this time the family of Bennet,
Earls of Arlington and of TankerviUe, said
by Morant to have descended from the
Wiltshire stock, may probably have taken
their descent. William Bennet of Newbury,
father of Henry Bennet of Newbury (will
proved London, Jan. loth, 1485), may well
have been son or brother of John, buried at
Norton in 1467. It may be remembered that
Norton and Newbury are scarcely forty
miles apart. And from the Newbury stock
the London Branch undoubtedly comes.

Thomas Benet of Lopene Magna.
John Benet of Norton Bavent, son and heir. Lord of West Harnham, Co.
I Wilts (Lansd. MS. 306).
John Benet of Norton Bavent ; bur. there October 13th, 1467.
Thomas Benet of Norton Bavent, eldest son=  , daughter and heir of
I (.ftfn?-/. J/5. 5185, 45). I Page of the Devizes, Co. Wilts/

I
John Benet of Norton Bavent, only son=Agnes, daughter of
(Harl. MS. 1092, 61).  Forwarde.

I

John Bennet of Heytesbiury, M. P. for Hey
tesbury (MS. Fam. Reg. ) ; bur. at Hey
tesbury. Eldest son (Harl. MS. 1092,
fill-

William Benet, D.C.L,
Precentor of Sarum ;
bur. Sarum 1558.

William Benett of Norton
Bavent, from whora the
Benetts of Norton Bavent.

John Benett, fourth
son (Harl. MS.
1092, 61).

Edward Benett, or Bennet, M. P. {MS. Pam. Reg.), only son of=Cicely, daughter and heir of ... Franklyn (A<r«. Reg.). (See her
He°tefbT ¦ Heytesbury (Fam. Reg.); buried at arms in Sam. Benett's Commonplace Book, 1660. )

Thomas Benett,
eldest son, b.
1542 ; bur. at
Heytesbury,
Sept. 5th, 1612.

John Benett, Bart.,
Heytesbury, 1545,
M.P. for Heytes
bury, 1586, and
buried lhere(Lansd.
MS. 1218; MS.)

Philip Benett, b. Heytes
bury, 1548 ; bur. Brew-
ham, Feb. nth, 1632.
Marr. 14th Nov. 1586 to
Elizabeth, dau. of John
Turner of Middleton in
Norton Bavent.

I

Edward Benett, Lord of the
Manor of S. Brewham, b.
Heytesbury, Oct. 26th, 1567 ;
bur. Brewham, Nov. 14th,
1626. Marr. 1605, Susanna,
dau. of Thomas Churchey
of Wincanton.
I'-

,J I I I I i I
Emlyn, b. 1551.
Margaret Benett,
Eadeth, 1562.
Joane, 1564.
( 'ycely, 1566.
Mary, 1570.
Dorothy, 1574.
(Fam. Reg.)

b. I

SS3-

O 00

Co

William of WilUam of S. Brewham, m.
Heytesbury Margaret Lewis.
.... 24, Edward of ChorUngton, m. i,
1603 ; bur. EUs Tyning ; 2, Agatha
Heytesbury Burden ; 3, Agnis Norman.
(Fa-m. Reg.). Thomas of Brewham, m.
Mary 
John, m. Margaret Longman.

i

I

PhiUp Benet of Bay-=pMary, dau. of Rich.

ford and S. Brewham,
Col. Denzil Holies'
Regt. , 1642 ; born
Brewham, May loth,
1610 ; bur. Brewham,
Sept. 2Sth, 1690.

Shute of Bayford ;
b. Bayford, March
2nd, 161 1 ; marr.
1634 or 1635 ; bur.
Brewham, Dec.
14th, 1691.

Edward,
Capt., and
bur. Brew
ham, 1613.

I I I
Cycely, ... Parson, died
at St. Christopher's.
Susanna, m. John Col-
lens, and died in New
England.
EUzabeth, mar. Thomas
Creech, and died at
Barba.

Philip Bennet, only son and=Anne, dau. and co-heir of

heir ; bapt. Stoke Rister,
March 4th, 1637 ; bur. Win-
canton, April 1725. Lord
of the Manors of Maperton
and South Brewham.

Thomas Strode of
Maperton ; b. 1655 ; mar.
Maperton, 1677 ; bur.
Wincanton, 1735.

Mary Bennet, born Bayford,
1635 ; bur. West Pennard,
1693. Mar. John Walter,
issue four sons and three
daughters.

Martha Bennet, b. Brewham ;
mar. 1666, John Clements of
Meere, who died Jan. 5th, 1691,
Issue John and Martha.

Philip Bennet, b.=Jane, only child of Scarborough

Maperton, Sept,
2nd, 1678 ; died
March isth,
1722 ; bur. at
Maperton.

Chapman of Widcombe House,
Co. Som. ; b. Widcombe, April
23rd, 1672 ; mar. Widcombe,
Aug. 29th, 1702 ; bur. Maperton,
May 2nd, 1772.

IIII
Abigail, b. Nov. 20th, 1682;
mar. 1722, Saml. Burges.
Anne, b. March i8th, 1680;
d. unmar. , Oct. I7lh, 1705.
Mary, ob. inf. , 1688.
Martha, ol. inf., 1699.

Mary, b. Mapleton,
1694 ; m. William
Burleton of East
Knoyle, from whom
the family of Burle
ton Bennet.

I I I
James, b. 1681 ; bur.
Maperton, r683.
Strode, b. i69i;bur.
Wincanton, 1711,
unmar.
Sarah, b. March 5th,
1694 ; Uving un
mar. 1736.

Philip Bennet, eldest=Anne, dau. of ... =Mary, dau. and Robert
Estcourt of Co. sole heir of Bennet of
Gloucester, sister Thomas Hal- Shaftes-
of Thomas Est- lam of Tolles- bury ; bur.
court; bur. Wid- bury and Clack- Widcombe,
combe, April ton ; bur. Wid- Aug. I4lh,
nth, 1730, aged combe, Aug. 1750, j./.
24, s. p. 14th, 1739.

son, M. P. for Shaftes
bury 1734, for Bath
1741. Lord of Brew
ham, Widcombe,
i-j Maperton, and Tolles
bury ; where bur.
Dec. g, 1761.

1 III
Thomas Ben-  bur. Bath

net of Las
ceUes' Regt.
of Foot. Ad-
mon. granted
to his brother
Philip, May
7th, 1748.

Bath

ampton.
Susan, bur.
ampton.
Mary, mar 
Doddington, M. P.

Jane, b. 1704, died
April 14th, 1767 ;
mar. Philip Allen,
brother of Ralph
Allen ; d. 1767,
leaving issue, Mary,
mar. Cornwallis,
Lord Hawarden ¦}
Philip and Ralph. 2

' Lord Hawarden resided at Prior Park for some years, until his death in 1704. He was succeeded by his son, the only
issue of this marriage, at whose death, in 1707, the connection of the Maudes with Prior Park ceased.
2 Philip succeeded his uncle, Ralph, as Post-master, in 1764 ; died 1787.

o

PhiUp Bennet of Widcombe=f Mary, dau. of Rev. Chris. Hard of Aller, and

and ToUesbury; bapt. Wid
combCj^ April nth, 1734
bur. Widcombe, 1774.

co-heir of her brother Christopher and
James Hand of Cheveley, Co. Cambs.

Mary, b. Widcombe,
173s ; oi.
WiU dated March
Sth, 1784.

Thomas, b. Widcombe,
Jan. 31st, 1736 ; bur.
Widcombe, Sept.
22nd, 1737.

PhiUp Bennet, only child and heir, b. Widcombe, April 14th, 1771 ; bur. Rougham, =Jane Judith, only child and heir of Roger
May 1853. Lord of Rougham, ToUesbury, Widcombe, and Cheveley Green. of Rougham Hall, Co. Suffolk.

PhiUp Bennet of = Anne, dau. and
Rougham Hall, co-heir of Sir
Thomas Pilk
ington, Bart.,
. Yorks.

I

b. May 9th, 1795;
M.P. for West
Suffolk 1845-54;
d. 1866.

of

James Thomas^
Bennet, Rector
of Cheveley ;
b. 1796 ; bur.
Cheveley, 1868.

: Henrietta
Eliza, dau
of James
of bor.

Edward: Bennet of
Copdock Lodge.

I
Christopher, ol. s. f. ,
1853-

I
Ralph,
ob. s.p.,
1875-

I
WilUam, ob. s. p. ,
18. . .

Jane Fenny,
mar. Rev. S. H.
Alderson, and
left issue.

IIII , ,
Two sons and two daughters.

PhiUp Bennet , = Barbara

R.H.G. b. 1837,
d. 1875 ;
only child and
heir.

dau. of
Edgar
Disney.

James Thomas=
Hand Bennet,
b. 1832.

Edward Keding-T=Frances CaroUne,

ton Bennet
b. 1834, D.C.L.,
F.S.A, Rector of
Bunwell.

dau. and co-heir
of WiUiam Thos.
Adams ReiUy.

Mary, mar. W. G.
Blake and . . .
Edith Anne.

James Philip, ob. s. p. ,
1849.
Henry Bower Butts, ob.
s. p., 1849.

Four sons and one daughter.

One son and one daughter.

One son and two daughters.

10O

Si.

Marriage Alliances. 211
" Philip Bennet of the Parish of Lyncombe and Widcombe, Bachelor,
and Mary Hand, of the Parish of Aller, in the County of Somerset, were
married in this Church by licence this fourteenth day of December, in
the year One Thousand Seven Hundred and Sixty-nine, by me.
" John Chapman, Rector.
" This Marriage was solemnized ) pi, i- -d
between us in the presence |- ^ K H "
of Ralph AUen.i J ^"^^ ^" '
Robt. Fleetwood.
" N.B. — The Parish Church of Lyncombe and Widcombe by the late
Marriage Act deemed Extra Parochial, and the Parish of St. James is
rebuilding. " I do hereby Certify the above to be a true Copy from the Marriage
Register of the Parish of St. Peter and Paul, in the city of Bath, extracted
from the register this 9th day Nov. 1813.
" Signed, James Phillott, Rector of Bath."
In the Widcombe valley, opposite Prior Park, there stood,
and still stand, the ancient and picturesque little Church and

1 This Ralph Allen was the younger son of Philip Allen and nephew of
Ralph Allen, and is the same mentioned as witness also in the following : —
"No. 572.
" Cornwallis Maude, Esq'^, of the Parish of Laugharne, in the County
of Caermarthen, Widower,and Miss Mary Allen, in their Parish, Spinster,
were married in this Church by Licence, this tenth day of June, in the
Year One Thousand Seven Hundred and Sixty-six, by me. Duel Taylor,
Rector of Bath.
"This Marriage was solemnised . Cornwallis Maude.*
between Us. (. Mary Allen.
" In the presence of Ralph Allen and Philip Bennet.
" I certify ye above to be a true copy from ye Marriage Register of ye
Parish of St. James, City of Bath, extracted this s^d Day June 1830.
" Charles Crooke, Rector."

¦* Afterwards Lord Hawarden. Mary Allen was the daughter of Philip
Allen, by his marriage with Jane Bennet. P 2

X

'--,1-'

Widcombe Church and House. 213
Manor House, with their lovely surroundings, forming one of
the most beautiful groups near the city.
The Church was built in 1502, and is dedicated to St.
Thomas k Becket. The Manor House stands upon the site
of a pre-Reformation mansion, which was standing long before
the first Richard Chapman, by subtlety, acquired the estate at
the Reformation {vide p. 40). In 1656 Walter Chapman
employed Inigo Jones to design a new mansion.^ This
Chapman family, to whom reference has already been made,
figure throughout Bath history for three and a-half centuries.
The race has presented various types in almost every profes
sion and trade. There is scarcely a public office of any
consideration which has not been filled by a Chapman, some
times with credit, and occasionally the reverse. The elder
branch, of whom the representative lived from the Reformation,
down to 1702, in affluence and dignity, became extinct by the
death of Scarborough Chapman, when began the reign of
Philip Bennet, who married Chapman's only child in the year
of her father's death. Besides Philip and other issue, she had
a daughter, Jane, who became the wife of Philip Allen, and she
died in 1767. It was in 1736 that the last-named Philip Bennet
restored the south front of Widcombe House, on which are
his arms and those of his two wives ; he also made the present
entrance, and erected the two handsome pillars, each being
surmounted by the Bennet crest. He added the pretty group
of offices in the south garden, close to the Church. It is
strange that this gentleman, so reserved and circumspect up
to middle age, entered about 1747 upon a career of wild
dissipation, squandering his fortune with reckless prodigality.
1 Dictionary of Architecture, article " Inigo Jones".

BEAU NASH.

[" There are things we do and know perfectly well, though we never
speak of them — the moral world has, perhaps, no particular objection
to vice, but an insuperable objection to having it called by its proper
name. The Ahrimanians worship the devil, but don't mention him, and
a poUte pubUc wiU no more bear to read an authentic description of vice
than a refined English or American will permit the word teacher to be
pronounced in her presence." — Thackeray.^

T would be difficult to write of Ralph Allen
and his Times without touching upon the
subject of Beau Nash. Of Nash we have
ventured to make some brief but emphatic
observations in Rambles about Bath, Historic
Houses, and Bath, Old and New. We be
lieve we were the first local writer by whom
any unfavourable criticisms were published on the life and
character of the notorious beau. For some reasons, or for no
reasons, we are expected to receive the charming romance by
Goldsmith as a trustworthy account of Nash ; that is, we are
expected to accept his inferences, despite his facts. We may
say that Goldsmith's biography of Nash has been the quarry
from which all succeeding biographies of Nash have
been hewn. It is true that a few writers, aiming at
novelty, have manufactured a few dull anecdotes for our
edification. We accept Goldsmith's dictum expressed in the
opening paragraph : " History," he says (he should also have

Beau Nash. 215
said Biography), "owes its excellence more to the writer's
manner than the materials of which it is composed." We
freely admit that Nash, in succeeding the coarse and vulgar
Webster, about 1706, perceived that any attempt on his part
to "organize" society, must be made in a different spirit and
with a higher aim than had ever entered the mind of his pre
decessor. Moreover it is clear that, at the outset, Nash really
aimed at purifying the curious, not to say motley, and promis
cuous admixture of people with whom he had to deal ; and we
frankly allow that for nearly fifteen years he performed his
self-assumed functions with decision and prudence.^ The
assemblies were conducted with propriety and success. Again,
Nash's private life, if not beyond impeachment, was fairly
good. Sobriety was always one of his virtues, and so far he
was an example to the by no means exemplary youth of the
period who ranged themselves under his banner, and, in a
sense, were subject to his sway.
After this all w*as-changed. The first assembly-rooms were
^ Nash possessed no private fortune, and as he gradually lapsed into
luxurious and extravagant habits, he became reckless and unscrupulous
as to the methods of gratifying them. This mode of life, doubtless, was
largely encouraged by the snobs and fashionable cads of the day. There
was literally no moral restraint exercised by the society from whom Nash
received his principal support. And it must again be admitted that
illiterate and ignorant as Nash was, yet in natural shrewdness, general
intelligence, and insight into the sort of human nature with which he had
chiefly to do, and in the audacity and the assumption of a plausible and
factitious authority, he did exercise a unique and irresistible influence
upon the persons with whom he had to deal.
The life and character of Nash are excused — nay justified — on the
ground of the unrestrained licentiousness of the age. This is the very
essence of our indictment. We say that whilst he " curbed the young
bloods'' of the day and repressed the coarse and vulgar vices which had
previously prevailed, Nash erected his own policy — more dangerous
because less manifest and revolting — into a system, carried on in secret
with all the subtlety and cunning of which Nash was a consummate master-

2i6 Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
erected in 1708 by Harrison,^ the central room of which still
1 [In the Hervey Correspondence just published, there is a characteristic
illustration of even the earlier and better habits of Bath society and
Nash's conduct in relation thereto.] "Bath, Sept. 20, 1721.
" Lady Bristol to Lord Bristol.— Notwithstanding all the regu
larity I boasted of, I can send you nothing but complaints ; for I have
been very bad again with my hysterick disorder after I writ my last letter,
which I believe you will not wonder at, when you see by it the distraction
of mind I was then in, and am likely to continue so, if to-morrow's post
does not bring me some comfort ; pray God send it for both our sakes,
that I may be easd in my mind, and you in your body, which sure if you
are, you will not loose a moment to bless me with your dear and
much longd for presence ; so much longd for that sure I shall die with
joy once more to behold you. O what would I not give this were the
happy minute ; for I do love you beyond expression farr more than ever
(if that be possible) ; I was made sensible this morning in a dream what
I might suffer by to-morrow's post ; for I dreamd you were worse, and putt
myself into such a passion of crying that I have not been able to recover
it all the day, tho' I have had a good deal of company to dine with me, which
I believe you will think pretty necessary, (tho' I have a bad cook,) when
I tell you I have eat but one meal at home before this this week, so very
charitable and kind to me are the most agreeable people in this place ;
and as the greatest compliment can be made to me, your health is
constantly drank. I wish I could tell you any news to entertain you, but
really I can't tho' the town is as full as possible, but such a mixture as
was never got together at the building of Babel ; yet one piece of news
I must not forgett, which is that I threw fifteen mains yesterday morning,
and I got but fivety pound by it ; Mr. Nash said he had a great mind to
write you word of it ; here is very deep play ; Mr. Stanup [Stanhope]
has improved it since he came ; Nash lost fivety pound a Saturday at
Harrison's, and as they say broke all the windows according to custom.
There is several parties of ladys and gentlemen gone to Bristol to see a
review, and General Whiteman is to give a ball there ; I had the honour
to be invited, but I neither likd my company, nor was fitt for such an
expedition, if I had. To-morrow I am to begin pumping by Doctor
Friend's directions, which I shall follow in that particular, tho' not in his
orders to continue in this cursed place longer than till I can gett a
conveyance to carry me off, which I am sure you will not lett me be long

Gamblers and Gambling. 2 1 7
forms the Lecture Room of the Literary and Philosophical
Institution, close to the North Parade. After Harrison's
death the rooms were leased, in 1737, by Miss Hayes, who was
herself a gambler and married the notorious Lord Hawley.
In 1720 Thayer employed Wood to build the rival rooms,
almost opposite, the first lessee of which was Mrs., or, as
she was called, Dame Lindsay; and, although the Assemblies
were held at the rival rooms alternately, it was at the
Dame's rooms in the thirties that Nash became a confederate
with this bad woman, and afterwards with her successor,
Catherine Lovelace ; then with Walter Wiltshire, and lastly
with Walter's son, Walter ; and, in a word, Nash found the
victims, and the gamesters successively plundered them.
Rigorous laws were made by the Government to suppress
the gambling, but without success. The monster was
scotched, not killed, the laws being evaded by the invention
of new games. The result, therefore, so far as the victims
were concerned, was "heads I win, tails you lose." This
system was carried on for many years ; and when Nash
departed from his original simple habits, it was only by the
plunder which, for the time, he shared with his confederates,
that he was enabled to sustain the large expenditure in which
he indulged. The system came to an end by a wrong move
of Nash's.
After the repressive laws referred to were passed, it became
necessary to evade their provisions by the invention of a new
game. This was devised by A  e in conjunction with one

without, if you feel half the torments I endure by my stay ; either come
or send for me, for I am not able to bear it any longer ; I am wretched
beyond expression, and shall not have an eye left in a little while to make
my complaints to you ; I can bear no more : adieu, my life. — My Lord
Radner bids me tell you that these waters will certainly cure you as he
knows by experience ; therefore hopes you will come for your own sake
fis well as mine, else I shall niake them loose their creditt."

2i8 Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
C  k, who having quarrelled, as thieves sometimes do, the
former, with Nash and Wiltshire (lessee of the Rooms) and
a man named J  e, formed a quadruple alliance, the chief
provisions of which were that the operations should be carried
on at any and all times except during the ordinary assem
blies. This alliance meant, further, that whilst Nash was not
to be seen in it, he was to provide the victims, take the lion's
share of the plunder, whilst his colleagues were to work the
machinery, conduct the bank, and to meet all legal risks and
responsibilities. Then came the d^no-dment.
Wiltshire refused to pay over to Nash a large sum which
he claimed as his share of plunder. Nash brought an action
to recover it, and was at once non-suited on legal grounds ;
but the matter received additional notoriety by the Vestry of
St. Peter and St. Paul (Abbey) suing Wiltshire and recover
ing the fine of ;£^500 for keeping a gambling house. This,
occurring about 1745, was a death-blow to Nash's usefulness
and influence. Every public transaction after it was accom
panied by an accusation against his gambling confederates,
and a tedious printed apology for and an attempted justification
of himself In a word, his reputation was gone ; and all the
" charming writing" and the specious gloss of Goldsmith, in
the Life, fails to rehabilitate him.
The admirable projects to which Nash had in his better
days set his hand, even with great forbearance and help of
former colleagues, came to nought. The Mineral-Water
Hospital lingered for years before it was brought to a success
ful issue by Wood, Allen, and others.
When the late John Forster undertook to write the Life of
Goldsmith, it is doubtful whether, previously, he had been
acquainted with The Life of Nash, Forster, indeed, must
have been surprised to find that a subject such as Nash
should, for any reason, have engaged the attention and the
pen ofthe author of The Vicar of H'ahefiild and The Citizen

Goldsmith' s Life of Nash. 219
ofthe World. Forster thinks Goldsmith must have seen and
known Nash. We think not. Goldsmith was never in Bath
before 1771, when, according to Forster himself, he paid a
visit to Lord Clare^ on the North Parade. Nash died ten
years previous to that, and some years before his death he
had become a helpless invalid. The fact, perhaps, makes
little difference. Forster, as might be expected, makes the
best of the case. Goldsmith, no doubt, was led to write the
Life of Nash by some eccentric instinct — some feeling of
blended sympathy and romance. Forster saw, as most other
careful readers who read between the lines now see, namely,
that Goldsmith was concealing more than he was relating,
and relating only such half-truths as answered his purpose.
Forster says the " book appears quite a surprising perform
ance for fourteen guineas." We should say it would have
been a more "surprising performance" if Goldsmith had
undertaken it for mere pay.
The age truly was a vicious one, and the worst of its vices
culminated in Bath ; but it was an age, as we have shown,
not altogether incompatible with public and private virtue,
difficult, perhaps, as its exercise may have been, amidst so
much profligacy and so many shameless vices.
Goldsmith apparently did not or would not see that if
Nash joined a quadruple alliance for an immoral, an unlawful,
and in every sense, an unjustifiable purpose, he shared the
odium and blame of that alliance. The rogues fell out, and
1 The Earl of Cork and Burlington on this occasion was residing at
No. 9, North Parade, his neighbour at No. lo being the Duke of
Northumberland. On returning home one day Goldsmith entered No.
10 instead of No. 9, and making his way into the drawing-room, the Duke
and Duchess being absent, he " cuddled" himself up on the sofa, went
fast to sleep, and in that condition was found by their Graces when they
returned. The surprise of Goldsmith was great, but the Duke and
Duchess, knowing who he was, were very kind, made him stay to dinner,
and were ever after his fast friends.

2 20 Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
Goldsmith writes as if he thought that the violation of the
axiom " honour amongst thieves" rendered Nash a martyr to
virtue, instead of exhibiting him as the leader of a nest of
robbers, whose study it was to plunder a public who had
trusted him as an honest leader and " king".
To sum up Nash's character, we say that if he had followed
out the original lines he had marked out for himself he might
have been a benefactor to the city. He departed from those
lines. The successes of his earlier days did not satisfy
his vanity. What was good and lawful in itself and for the
advantage of the community at large, was to be made sub
servient to other ends — evil, base, and demoralizing. The
primary duty of Nash was a simple and praiseworthy one.
It was simply to protect society in the exercise ofa charming
— and indeed what had become an almost indispensable —
amusement — the "condenced step and rythmic movement" ;
to blend the various elements of society into something like a
harmonious whole. This task Nash had partly succeeded in
accomplishing ; that success assured him a moderate com
petence. Nash's vulgar nature could not submit to simple
honesty and exemplary habits. Licentiousness, equipages,
and even mock dignity were costly luxuries, and they must
be paid for. But how ? Here was the test of Nash's prin
ciples. The transactions afford a curious psychological study.
Nash conceived a comprehensive plan for plundering in
' private the community that trusted him in public. The As
semblies he conducted with propriety and regularity, and his
rigid adherence to the hour of closing, really facilitated the
proceedings of his wily agents in seducing their victims from
the innocent to the guilty work that followed.
Goldsmith, in relating the guilty transactions which led to
the legal proceedings {Life of Nash, pp. 68, 69, 70, 71), quotes
from the Psalms, " For the Lord hateth lying and deceitful
lips." That is to say, the Lord hated the subordinate

Smollett on Bath. 221
sharpers, but loved the sharper-in-chief simply because he was
outwitted. The game was carried on in Wiltshire's Rooms,
and the chances to the players were literally hopeless. Nash
organized, directed, controlled. He found he had been out
witted, that his creatures had "defrauded" him. "I," he
says, " taking them to be honest, never enquired what was
won or what was lost ; and thought they paid me honestly,
till it was discovered that they had defrauded me of 2,000
guineas !"i of which, with his concurrence, they had first
" defrauded " the public.
Goldsmith never mentions the trusting public, hundreds
of whom were ruined by trusting Nash. Nash suing Wilt
shire (the lessee of the rooms) to recover his winnings, and
being non-suited, and Wiltshire^ being then sued by a local
1 Smollett in his earlier visit to Bath saw a good deal of the life, after
Nash had given himself up to the gambling and gamblers, to enable him
to keep up the large expenditure which his later expensive and immoral
habits entailed. The fact is indisputable that the state of society in
Bath was rotten to the very core. There was not a vice that did not pre
vail. It varied in degree rather than in kind, according to the social
status and position of the various sections into which society was divided.
Every form of gambling then prevailed, until the Legislature, almost in
vain, attempted to cope with the evil. No sooner was it attacked in one
form than, Proteus-like, it assumed new forms and presented new diffi
culties. It was an evil age, of which Smollett has given us a striking
picture. " About a dozen years ago, many decent families, restricted to
small fortunes, besides those that came hither on the score of health, were
tempted to settle in Bath, where they could then live comfortably, and
even make a genteel appearance, at a small expense. But the madness
of the times has made the place too hot for them, and they are now
obliged to think of other migrations. Some have already fled to the
mountains of Wales, and others have retired to Exeter. Thither, no
doubt, they will be followed by the flood of luxury and extravagance,
which will drive them from place to place to the very Land's End ; and
then, I suppose, they will be obliged to ' ship them'."
2 Lessee of what are now spoken of as Wiltshire's Rooms, which were
erected opposite Harrison's by Humphrey Thayer in 1720.

222 Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
public body for keeping a gaming house, and being mulcted
in a fine of ;^SOO, Goldsmith does not refer to.
There is a curious and pathetic story told by the architect.
Wood. A young lady who was known as Madame Sylvia
occupied apartments in his house. Her habits were singular, not
to say mysterious, but Wood never suspected her of immoral
habits. On the contrary, she was refined in speech and manner,
and unusually affectionate towards Wood's children. One night,
returning home late, after entering the children's room, and
kissing them in their sleep, she went into her own apartment
and hanged herself with her own garters. Neither Goldsmith-
nor Wood ever knew who she was, nor has her name ever been
revealed by any local annalist, even if it were known. We are
indebted for the following fact to a private note made by the
famous Dr. Henry Harington in a copy of Wood's Description
of Bath. The unfortunate General Braddock had two daughters,
to the elder of whom he left ;^ 15, ooo, and to the younger a
small annuity, which she eked out by becoming a governess.
This younger daughter, then, was the Madame Sylvia. On
the death of the elder sister, Sylvia inherited her fortune,
came to Bath, got into the clutches of " Dame" Lindsay and
others, who, like Nash, inherited the blessed assurance of the
Psalmist that lying and deceit could not be imputed to them.
Dame Lindsay,^ like Nash, did not touch the unholy things
herself Her " simplicity", like that of Nash, never degenerated
into the weakness of running needless risks by doing a dirty
or a dangerous thing so long as it could be done by deputy.
True, Goldsmith assures us, by implication, that Nash and
Dame Lindsay had not erred from " the sacred dictates of the
Psalmist " !
Some years ago, during the visit of the British Archaeological
1 Lessee of Harrison's Rooms, on the site of the Royal Literary
Institution, the old assembly room still forming the public Lecture
Room.

fane Breretons Epigram on Nash. 223
Association to Bath, public attention was called to the
anachronism involved in the epigram on Nash's statue in the
Pump Room. The late Mr. Ezra Hunt had (with ourselves)
called attention to the fact that the thing referred to was a
picture, not a statue.
The lines have been generally attributed to the pen of
Chesterfield, and constantly quoted as his in the several works
descriptive of Bath ; it is clear, however, that Chesterfield has
no claim to their authorship. The original lines referred to a
" picture", not a " statue". The vei ses from which the couplet
is quoted may be found in the first volume of Southey's
Specimens of the Later English Poets, page 392, and were
written by Jane Brereton, who died in 1740. The poem is
inscribed " On Mr. Nash's picture at full length, between the
busts of Sir Isaac Newton and Mr. Pope", and is as follows : —
" The old Egyptians hid their wit
In Hieroglyphick dress
To give men pains to search for it.
And please themselves with guess.
" Moderns, to tread the self-same path,
And exercise our parts.
Place figures in a room at Bath,
Forgive them, God of Arts.
" Newton, if I can judge aright.
All wisdom doth express,
His knowledge gives mankind new light,
Adds to their happiness.
" Pope is the emblem of true wit.
The sunshine of the mind ;
Read o'er his works for proof of it.
You'll endless pleasure find.
" Nash represents man in the mass,
Made up of wrong and right ;
Sometimes a knave, sometimes an ass.
Now blunt, and now polite.

2 24 ^if^ ^^'^ Times of Ralph Allen.
" The picture, placed the busts between,
Adds to the thought much strength ;
Wisdom and wit are little seen.
But folly at full length."
It may also be added that the statue which is constantly
referred to as the supposed picture between the busts of
Newton and Pope, was not in existence until many years after
the verses were written. Whose is that picture ? It could not
have been either Hoare's or Hudson's.
After Nash's fall, his means diminished and his reputation
gone, he was obliged to economise. For some years, he lived
in the large house^ in St. John's Court, the Saw-close front of
which is now obscured by the atrium of the Theatre going
through the first storey. After Nash left the house many
celebrities lived in it, Mrs. Delany being one of them. Nash
removed to the smaller house on the north of his former one,
the handsome door entrance being at the gable, or south end
of it, and is still to be seen. Here, it is to be feared, that
Nash no longer deserved the immunity from the fate of the
gamester, for he did his gambling in person, and not by
deputy !
The private life of Nash from his early manhood was never
very good, but age did not improve his habits. The latest
victim of his unrestrained lust was a good-looking girl named
Juliana Popjoy, a dressmaker. During her early connection
with Nash she rode about the streets of Bath on a dapple-
grey horse ; in her -hand she carried a many-thonged whip,
and hence she was known as "Lady Betty Besom". Nash
died in 1761, and at this time " Lady Betty" was about 30
years of age. During the last five years of his life, Nash was
a poor helpless invalid, and this young woman tended him
with exemplary fidelity and kindness, ultimately to find her
self helpless, homeless, and characterless.
' The " Doctor Johnson" Public-house

Beau Nash. 225
" At Bishopstrow, her native place, near Warminster in Wilts, the cele
brated Juliana Popjoy, in the 67th year of her age. In her youth, being
very handsome and genteel, she was taken notice of by the late celebrated
Beau Nash, a gentleman noted for his gallantry, dress, and generosity ;
when he soon prevailed on her to tread the flowery paths of pleasure with
him ; she was accordingly ushered into the blaze of the world, was
mounted on a fine horse, and had a servant to attend her. This seem
ingly happy state continued some time ; but at last, Mr. Nash's finances
being low, a separation took place, when poor Juliana experienced a sad
reverse of fortune, and was driven to almost the lowest ebb of misery.
However, she did not, like too many of her sisterhood, take to parading
the streets for a livelihood, but to a very uncommon way of life. Her
principal residence she took up in a large hollow tree, now standing
within a mile of Warminster, on a lock of straw, resolving never more to
he in a bed ; and she was as good as her word, for she made that tree
her habitation for between thirty and forty years, unless when she made
her short peregrinations to Bath, Bristol, and the gentlemen's houses
adjacent ; and she then lay in some barn or outhouse. In the summer
time she went a simpling, and occasionally carried messages. At last,
worn out with age and inquietude, she determined to die in the house
where she was born ; accordingly, a day before her exit, she reached the
destined habitation, where she laid herself on some straw, and finished her
mortal pilgrimage." — Contemporary Account.

APPENDIX.

WILL OF RALPH ALLEN.
Extracted from tht Register ofthe Prerogative Court of Canterbury
I, Ralph Allen, of Prior Park, in the Parish of Lyncomb and Wid
comb, in the county of Somerset, Esquire, being of a sound disposing
mind, memory, and understanding (Praised be God), do make and
declare this my last will and testament in manner following (that is
to say) : —
Principally I recommend my soul to Almighty God in full hopes
of everlasting life, through the merits and intercession of our only
redeemer and saviour Jesus Christ, and my body I remit to the earth
to be decently buried in the Church of Claverton in the said county,
and as to the disposition of my worldly estates, wherewith it hath
pleased God to bless me, I give and dispose of the same as follows,
that is to say, I give my wife one annuity, or clear yearly rent of
thirteen hundred pounds, for and during the term of her natural life,
and chargeable on and made payable as hereinafter mentioned.
Then I give and devise to my said wife all that my capital messuages
called Prior Park, wherein I now live, with all my Dove houses,
coach-houses, stables, outhouses, buildings, gardens, courts, barns,
yards and offices thereto belonging. And all the messuages, lands,
and tenements which I purchased from Pool (since deceased), and
all and every the messuages, lands, and tenements I lately bought and
purchased of and from Simon Collet and the trustees of John

Appendix. 227
Marchant, clothier, deceased, and all that my estate called Comb
Down, with all houses and buildings. To hold the said Capital
messuage with its appurtenances, and the said estates before
mentioned, to her my said wife, and her assigns, for one hundred
years,! commencing from the day of my death if she my said wife
shall so long live, she repairing and keeping the premises in good
and sufficient repair. And I also give my said wife and her assigns,
from time to time, full and free Ingress, Egress, and Regress at all
times, either on foot or with coaches, chariots, and other carriages of
passing and repassing in, by and through and over all or any the new
roads by me made from Dole Mead Gate to Combe Down, and of
all other ways, drives, and other Roads by me made or to be made
or used into, upon, through, and over any of my lands, tenements, or
hereditaments in the parishes of Lyncomb and Widcomb, Monkton
Comb, Bathampton, and Claverton, or either of them, in the said
county of Somerset, and also all my messuage or tenement, with the
appurtenances at Weymouth, in the county of Dorset, I give and
devise to my said wife and her assigns, for and during the term of
her natural life. Item, I give and devise to my said wife and her
assigns, for and during the term of her natural life, the free use of
my plate, china, and household goods of my said house at Weymouth.
Item, I give and bequeath to my said wife all her jewels, rings,
watches, seals, trinkets, and all other the Ornaments of her person,
absolutely as her own, and I also give her, my said wife, the use of
all my household goods. Pictures, plate, china, Linen, implements
and utensils of household, which shall be in or belonging to the
house wherein I now live at the time of my decease. But in case
may said wife shall happen to die without making any compleat or
full disposition of her jewels, rings, watches, seals, trinkets, and other
ornaments of her person in her lifetime, or in writing by will or other
wise, Item, I do hereby give the said Jewels, Rings, Watches, Seals,
Trinkets, or such other part or parts as shall not be by my said wife
given away or disposed of as aforesaid, unto my nieces, Gertrude
1 A legal fiction, as covering all questions of time and limitations.
Mrs. Allen died two years after her husband.
Q2

2 28 Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
Warburton, wife of the Reverend Lord Bishop of Gloucester, and
Mary Allen, ^ Spinster, equally between them, share and share alike,
and all my household goods, pictures, plates, china. Linen, imple
ments and utensils of household I will and direct, shall be and remain
in my dwelling house at Prior Park, and be held and enjoyed by such
person and persons to whom I have hereinafter given and devised the
said house, in the nature of and as Heirs Loom, except such parts
thereof as my wife shall in her life time, or by her will in writing or
otherwise give away and dispose, and which gift and disposition I do
hereby empower her to make. And I hereby direct that the said
jewels, household goods, china, plate, and other things, both in my
house at Prior Park and in my house at Weymouth, shall not be liable
or subject to pay any of my debts. I give my said wife six of my
coach-horeses or geldings, and such harness for such six horeses, and
also such two of my saddle horeses or geldings, with two such saddles
and bridles as my said wife shall choose. Item, I give my said wife
my Coach and Post Chaise, with all appurtenancies belonging. Item,
I do hereby charge and make liable all and every my manors, mes
suages, lands, and tenements, and real estate whatsoever (except what
I have before given my said wife for her life), with the payment of my
wife's annuity hereinbefore given to her, and direct the same to be
paid at four quarterly payments, Christmas Day, Lady Day, Mid
summer Day, and St. Michael the Archangel, by equal portions, the
first payment to be made on Such of the said feasts as shall next
happen after my death, and to be free of all taxes and deductions
whatever. And I do hereby invest my said wife with all other powers
and remedies for recovering my said annuity by entry and distress, or
by receiving the rents and profits of my said estates as fully as if the
same was repeated here at large. And I do hereby declare said
annuity to be in lieu and discharge of any dower of thirds which she,
my said wife, can or may claim out of any my Estates, and whereas
by the Articles made on my brother Philip Allen's marriage with his
present wife I am obliged to pay him two annuities of one hundred
pounds per annum, each at such times as therein mentioned, and the
same is chargeable on all or some parts of my Estates in the parish of
1 Whom Allen sornetimes called Molly. After Allen's death she
married Cornwallis Maude. See page 211.

Appendix. 229
Lyncomb and Widcomb, I do hereby exonerate such estates from
the payment of the said annuities, and do will and direct the same to
be charged and chargeable on my Estate and lands in the Parish of
Bathampton, during so long as my said wife shall happen to live.
Item, all my and every my manors, messuages, lands, tenements, and
hereditaments whatsoever, which are of freehold tenure (subject to
my wife's Estate for life in those particular Estates I have before given
to her) I give, devise, and bequeath unto John Chapman, one of the
Aldermen of the City of Bath, and James Sparrow of the same city.
Clerk, To hold to them and their heirs and assigns In trust, that they,
my said trustees, or the survivor of them, and the heirs and assigns
of such survivor, do and shall from time to time, and at all times
hereafter during my wife's life, receive the rents, issues, and profits
thereof and (after paying taxes, Repairs, and all other outgoings) do
in the next place pay and discharge my said wife's annuity, and do
out of the rents and profits of my Bathampton Estate, pay my brother,
Philip Allen, annuity or annuities, and do pay and apply the overplus
of the nett Profits of all the said Estates (which are not given my
said wife for her life) if any be, after such deductions as aforesaid, to
my niece, Gertrude Warburton, wife of the Rt. Rev. William, Lord
Bishop of Gloucester, for her own sole and separate use, separate
and apart from her present or any after taken husband, and her
receipt alone to be a sufficient discharge for the same. And from
and after my wife's decease I will my said Trustees, and the survivor
of them, and the heirs and assigns of such survivor shall stand seized
of all and every my manors, messuages, lands, tenements and
hereditaments of freehold tenure, to, for, and upon the following uses
(that is to say) As, to, for, and concerning, all that my Manor, with
all lands and hereditaments thereto belonging, situate and being in
the parish of Bathampton aforesaid, with all Courts, Royalties,
Jurisdictions, and Rights whatsoever thereto appertaining (except the
Warren), and also all that my Estate and interest of and in the Lands
and Estate I purchased of His Grace the Duke of Kingston, and now
out upon the lives of William Skrine, Esq. and his sister. To the
use of my brother Philip and his heirs for ever in lieu of the ;^2oo
per annum I am obliged to pay him by his said Marriage articles.
And I will and direct that my said brother and his heirs do, within

230 Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
six months after he or they become entitled to the said Estate here
bequeathed him, release, acquit, and discharge all other my estate
and lands of and from the payment of the said annuities for ever
after, but in case my said brother shall refuse to accept of such
devise and bequest in lieu and satisfaction of such annuity (the same
being of much greater value), I then direct the said devise and be
quest shall become void, and that they, my said Trustees, do pay him,
my said brother, the sum of ^^5,000 as a purchase for said annuities,
which purchase I am empowered to make by the said marriage
articles ; and as to all other my manors and messuages, lands, tene
ments and hereditaments of freehold tenure (including the Warren
I have excepted before), and also including all my estate and lands
before given to my br-other Philip and his heirs, in case my said
brother refuses to accept thereof upon the terms aforesaid, to the use
of and in trust that they, my said trustees, and the survivor of them,
and the heirs and assigns of such survivor, do and shall with all con
venient speed after my wife's decease, by sale or mortgage of all or
any part thereof, raise and levy the sum or sums of money as shall be
sufficient to pay and satisfy all my just debts and legacies hereinafter
given, in case my personal estate shall not be sufficient for that pur
pose, and to this further use, intent, and purpose that they, my said
trustees, and the Survivor of them, and the heirs and assigns of such
survivor, shall stand and be seized of all and every the same last-
mentioned manors, messuages, lands, tenements, and hereditaments,
or such part thereof as shall remain unsold for the purposes aforesaid,
To and for the several uses, intents, and purposes hereinafter
mentioned (that is to say) In trust, that they and the survivor of
them, and the heirs and assigns of such survivor, do and shall receive
the rents, issues, and profits thereof, and every part thereof, and after
paying taxes, repairs, and other outgoings, do and shall, from time to
time, pay and apply the neat produce of the said rents, issues, and
profits to my said Niece, Gertrude, for so long as she shall happen to
live, to her own sole and peculiar use, separate and distinct from her
present or any other husband, and her receipt alone shall be a
sufficient discharge for the same. And I will my said Trustees, and
the survivor of them, and the heirs and assigns of such survivor shall.

Appendix. 231
during the life of my said niece, be seized of the same lands, mes
suages, and tenements and hereditaments In trust, to support and
preserve the contingent uses and estates hereinafter limited from
being defeated and destroyed, but nevertheless to permit and suffer
my said niece, Gertrude, to hold and enjoy the rents, issues, and
profits of the same premises as I have hereinbefore directed, and
from before and after the decease of my said niece, Gertrude War
burton, In trust for the ist, 2nd, 3rd, and all and every other the
son and sons of the body of my said niece lawfully begotten or to be
begotten, severally, successively, and in remainder one after another,
as they and every of them shall be in seniority of age and priority of
birth, and the several and respective heirs male of the body and
bodies of all and every such son and sons lawfully issuing, the elder
of such sons and the heirs male of his body, to be always preferred,
and to take before the younger of such son and sons, and the heirs
male of his and their body and bodies issuing. And in default of
such issue. In trust for all and every the daughter and daughters of
the body of my said niece, Gertrude Warburton, lawfully begotten or
to be begotten, to be equally divided between them if more than one,
share and share alike, to take as Tenant in common, and not as joint
tenants, and the several and respective heirs of the bodies of all and
every such daughter and daughters lawfully issuing. And in case
one or more daughters shall happen to die without issue of her or
their body or bodies. Then as to the share or shares of her or them so
dying without issue. In trust for the survivors or survivor, and others
or other of them, to be equally divided between or among them (if more
than one) share and share alike, to take as Tenant in Common, and not
as joint tenant, and the several and respective heirs of the bodies of
such .survivors or survivor, and others or other ofthem, and if all such
daughters but one shall happen to dye without issue of their bodies,
or if there shall be but one such daughter, In trust for such surviving
or only daughter and the heirs of her body. And in default of such
issue. Then in trust for my nephew. Captain William Tucker,^ and
his assigns, for and during the term of his natural hfe, without im-
' Nephew of Allen and brother of Mrs. Warburton,

232 Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
peachment of waste, except wast, in pulling down houses and build
ings, and from and after the determination of that estate to the use
of the said John Chapman and James Sparrow, and their heirs,
during the life of my said nephew. Captain William Tucker, In trust
to support and preserve the contingent uses and Estates hereinafter
limited from being defeated and destroyed, and for that purpose to make
entries and bring actions as the case shall require, yet nevertheless
to permit and sufier the said WiUiam Tucker and his assigns, during his
life, to receive and take the rents and profits thereof, and of every part
thereof, to and for his and their own use and benefit, and from and after
his decease. In trust for the ist, 2nd, 3rd and all and every other,
the son and sons of the body of the said William Tucker lawfully to
be begotten, severally, successively and in remainder one after
another as they and every of them shall be in seniority of age and
priority of birth, and the several and respective heirs male of the
body and bodies of all and every such son and sons lawfully issuing,
the elder of such sons and the heirs male of his body to be always
preferred, and take before the younger of such son and sons and the
heirs male of his or their body and bodies issuing. And in default of
such issue In trust for all and every the daughter and daughters of
my said nephew, William Tucker, lawfully forgotten or to be be
gotten, to be equally divided between them (if more than one)
share and share alike, to take as Tenants in common and not as
joint Tenants, and the several and respective heirs of all and every
such daughters and daughter lawfully issuing, and in case one or
more of such daughters shall happen to die without issue of her or
their body or bodies, then as to the share or shares of her or them
so dying without issue. In trust for the survivors or survivor and
others or other of them to be equally divided between or among
them (if more than one) share and share alike, to take as tenants in
common and not as joint tenants and the several and respective
heirs of the body of such survivors or survivor and others or other of
them. And if all such daughters but one shall happen to dye
without issue of their bodies, or if there shall be but i such daughter.
In trust for such surviving or only daughter and the heirs of her
body lawfully issuing. And in default of such issue then in trust for

Appendix. 233
my niece, Mary Allen, and her assigns for and during the term of
her natural life without impeachment of waste, except wast, in
pulling down houses and buildings, and from and after the deter
mination of that estate to the use of the said John Chapman and
James Sparrow and their heirs during the life of my said niece,
Mary Allen,! In trust to support and preserve the condngent uses
and estates hereinafter limited from being defeated or destroyed, and
for that purpose to make entries and bring actions as the case shall
require, yet nevertheless to permit and suffer the said Mary Allen
and her assigns during her life to receive and take the rents and
profits thereof and of every part thereof to and for her and their own
use and benefit, and from and after her decease. In trust for the ist,
2nd, 3rd and all and every other the son and sons of the body of
the said Mary Allen lawfully to be begotten severally and succes
sively and in remainder one after another as they and every of
them shall be in seniority of age and priority of birth and the several
and respective heirs male of the body and bodies of all and every
such son and sons lawfully begotten issuing, the elder of such sons
and the heirs male of his body always to be preferred and take
before the younger of such son and sons and the heirs male of his
and their body and bodies issuing, and in default of such issue. In
trust for all and every the daughter and daughters of the body of
my said niece, Mary Allen, lawfully begotten or to be begotten,
to be equally divided between them, if more than one, share and
share alike, to take as Tenants in common and not as joint
Tenants, and the several and respective heirs of the bodies of all
and every such daughter and daughters lawfully issuing, and in case
one or more of such daughters shall happen to die without issue of
her or their body or bodies. Then as to the share or shares of her
or them so dying without issue. In trust for the survivors or survivor
and others or other of them to be equally divided between or among
them, if more than one, share and share alike, to take as tenant in
! Mary Allen was the only daughter of Philip Allen, by his second
marriage with Jane Bennet of Widcombe House. In 1766 she became
the second wife ofthe first 'Viscount Hawarden. See pp. 211, 228.

2 34 Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
common and not as joint tenant, and the several and respective
heirs of the body of such survivors and survivor and others or other
of them, and if all such daughters but one should happen to dye
without issue of their bodys, or if there shall be but one such
daughter in trust for such surviving or only daughter and the heirs
of her body lawfully issuing and for want or in default of such issue
to the use and behoof of my own right heirs forever. Provided,
nevertheless, and it is my express wish and desire that it shall and
may be lawful to and for them my said Trustees and the survivor of
them and the heirs and assigns of such survivor in my wife's lifetime
to make sale or mortgage of all and every my freehold manors,
messuages, lands, tenements, and hereditaments, except my Manor
and Estate at Bathampton, and my estate and Interest in the lands
purchased of the Duke of Kingston as aforesaid for the purposes of
paying my debts and legacies, and I do hereby empower them to
make such sale or mortgage as aforesaid, in case the party or
parties for the time being who shall become intitled thereto by the
limitations and bequests aforesaid shall request the same, and in
case also that the same is not to be in prejudice to m.y wife's estate
for her life or the annuity I have hereby given her. Item, All my
leasehold messuages, lands, and tenements whatsoever, subject to
my wife's Interest therein for her life, I give, devise, and bequeath
to them my said trustees upon the following trusts, that is to say, in
trust that they my said trustees and the survivor of them, and the
Executors and Administrators of such survivors do and shall pay and
apply the neat rents and profits thereof to my said niece, Gertrude,
and her assigns for and during her natural life, separate and apart
from her present or any other husband, and her receipt alone to be
sufficient discharge, and atter her decease I give the same leasehold
estates to her son Ralph Warburton and executors and assigns for
all the residue and remainder of the several terms that shall be
thereon to come at his mother's death. But in case the said Ralph
Warburton shall die before he arrives to the age of 2 1 years, then I
give the same leasehold estates to my nephew. Captain William
Tucker, and his executors and assigns, for all the residue of the
several terms that shall be thereon to come in case my said

Appendix. 235
nephew be living at the death of the said Ralph Warburton,
but if he be then dead, I give the same leasehold estates and
premises to my niece, Mary Allen, and her executors and assigns
for all the Estate and Interest that shall be thereon respectively to
come. Item, I give and bequeath unto my loving wife the sum of
^500 to be paid within one week after my death. Item, I give to
the said Lord Bishop of Gloucester my whole library of books, and
whereas upon the marriage of the said Lord Bishop with my niece
Gertrude his wife, I did by certain Articles of Agreement, dated on or
about 25 Mar. 1745, and made between me the said Ralph Allen on
the one part, and the said Lord Bishop on the other part, covenant
and agree to pay unto one or more trustee or trustees to be named
and approved by the said Lord Bishop and Gertrude his wife or the
Survivor of them, or the executors or admors. of such survivor, within
the space of one yr. after the death of my now wife the sum of
;^5,ooo in part of a fortune with my said niece. Now, in case I
should happen to die in the lifetime of my said wife, I do hereby
order and direct to such trustee or trustees to be nominated and
approved of as aforesaid the sum ;^S,ooo instead of the said sum of
;^S,ooo so by me covenanted to be paid after my said wife's death as
aforesaid, and to be upon the same trusts as are mentioned and
declared in and by the said marriage articles and to be paid in
6 months after my death. Item, I give and bequeath to my wife the
sum of _;£r,ooo to be by her paid and applied to and for such charities
as she shall see proper. Item, I give my brother, Phillip Allen, the
sum of ^2,000 to be paid him in 6 months aft my death. Item,
I give and bequeath to my said niece, Gertrude, the sum of fs:°°°
to be paid her within 6 months aft. my death, and to be separate
and apart from her present husband and not subject to his debts,
control, or management, but to do therewith as she shall think proper.
I give my nephew, PhiUip Allen, the sum of ^1,000.! I give my
nephew, Ralph Allen,^ the sum of ^^5,000, to be paid them respectively
within 1 2 months next aft. my death. I give my niece, Mary AUen,

1 Elder son ofhis brother, Philip.
^ Younger son of Philip Allen, See p. 21 1,

236 Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
the sum of ;!£'io,ooo to be paid her in 12 months next after my death.
Item, I give to my nephew. Captain Wm. Tucker, the sum of ;^io,ooo
to be paid him in 12 months next after my death. I give to my
sister, Gertrude Elliott,' the sum of ^3,000 to be paid in six months
after my death. Item, I give to my nephew, Phillip EUiott, the sum
of f 1,000, to be paid him in 6 months after the death of my wife if
he my said nephew be then living. And I give to my grand nephew,
Ralph EUiott, the sum of ;^i,ooo, to be paid 6 months after my said
wife's decease if he my said grand nephew be then living. Item, I
give to my nephew. Captain William Tucker, the additional legacy of
^5,000, to be paid him in 6 months after my said wife's decease,
and to my niece, Mary Allen, I give the additional sum of p^5,ooo,
to be paid her in 6 months after my wife's death. Item, I
give and bequeath unto the Reverend James Sparrow the sum of
;^5,ooo, and to his son, James Sparrow, I give the sum of ;^ioo, and
to Mrs. Ann Bennett the sum of ;^ioo, which said 3 last mentioned
legacies I will be paid within twelve months aft. my decease. Item,
I give to my grt. nephew, Ralph Warburton, the annuity of f^o a yr.
I purchased for his life in the Government security for his own use
and benefit. Item, I give to Doer. Wm. Oliver Jerry Peirce, Mr. Jno.
Knipe, Clerk, the Reverend Mr. Hurd, of Shurkaston, and Aldn.
Chapman, Wm. Hoare, Lewis Clutterbuck, Gent., Jos. Lobb and
Ralph Mould ^100 each, which said last mentioned legacies I wiU
be paid in twelve months after my death. Item, I give to the
3 chUdren of Henry Fielding, Esqre., deceased, the sum of .;^ioo
each, and to their Aunt, Sarah Fielding, I give the sum of ;^ioo,
which said 4 last named legacies I will be paid in 1 2 months after my
decease. Item, I give to my servants William Ward and Isaac
Doddesly the sum of^^ioo each. And I give to my servant SamL
Mellard the sum of ^50. I give to Richd. Jones,^ each of my menial
servants, except Wm. Ward, Lamb Prym, Is. Doddesley and Saml.
Mellard, i yr.'s wages over and above what shall be due to them at my
' The wife of Richard EUiott, Esquire, of St. Austell, to whom she
was married May 20, 1732.
2 Richard Jones was Allen's Clerk of the Works, and after Allen's
death he was appointed City Surveyor of Works.

Appendix. 237
decease. I give my clerk, Saml. Prynn, the sum of ;^4oo, and to his
wife ;^ioo for her extordiny. care of my wife in her great illness, to
be paid in 12 months after my death, and it is my express wiU and
meaning that if by any unforeseen accidents and misfortunes my real
and personal estates shall prove insufficient to pay the whole of my
wife's annuity, debts and money legacies. Then and in such case I do
hereby direct that all and every the Legatee and Legatees herein
named whose respective legacy and legacys shall amount to the sum
of one thousand pounds and upwards, shall abate in proportion to
their legacies, and such legatee and legatees to have and receive
Interest for such abated sums at the rate of f/^ per cent, per annum,
to be computed from the day of my death to the day of my said wife's
decease, and then such legatee and legatees to be entitled to have
and receive their respective abated sums if my Estate will admit
thereof. Item, aU the residue of my goods, chattels and personal
estate, whatsoever and wheresoever not hereinbefore disposed of, I
give unto the said John Chapman and James Sparrow, my said
Trustees, in trust to pay all my debts, funeral expences, legacies, and
charges of proving this my wUl. Then my will is, And I do hereby
give and bequeath such neat estate as shall be so remaining after the
above ends and purposes are fully satisfied to my said Trustees
to place the same out at Interest, and to pay such Interest
to my niece, Gertrude Warburton, for and during her natural
life, separate and apart from her present or any after-taken husband,
and her receipt to be a sufficient discharge for the same, first
allowing thereout to my Great Nephew, Ralph Warburton, the sum of
_;^2oo yearly towards his education until he arrives at the age of
21 yrs., and after allowing him, the said Ralph Warburton, ^400 per
annum instead of the said ;^2oo per annum durhig the joint lives of
his mother and my said wife, and after the death of my wife his
mother surviving allowing him .;^6oo per annum for his life instead
of the said ;^4oo per annum, And I give the said Ralph War
burton the said annuities accordingly, and to be clear of all
deductions and over and above the ;^40 per annum I have herein
before given him, and the said annuities to be paid by two half-
yearly payments, (to wit) the nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ

238 Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
and St. John the Baptist, by even and equal portions. And I will
the said allowances or annuities shall be deducted by my said trustees
out of what real and personal Estates and Incomes I have herein
before given to his said Mother, if the yearly produce of the neat
produce of my residuary Estate shall not be sufficient for that pur
pose. And from and after the decease of my said niece, Gertrude
Warburton, I give the said neat principal of my residuary Estate so
as aforesaid directed, to be placed out at Interest, unto the said Ralph
Warburton, his executors and administrators, for his and their own
use and benefit, if he shall happen to survive his said mother, but if
he dies in his mother's lifetime, then I give and bequeath the same to
my Nephew, Capt. Wm. Tucker, and my niece, Mary Allen, and their
respective executors and administrators, not as joint Tenants, but as
Tenants in Common, but if only one of them shall be living at the
death of my said Niece, Gertrude Warburton, her said son being then
dead, I give the same principal Estate to such One so surviving, and
his or her executors or administrators, but if it shall so happen that
neither of them, my said nephew and niece, Capt. Wm. Tucker and
Mary AUen, shall live to be entitled to the said principal Estate, I
then give the same to such person and persons, and in such parts and
proportions, as my niece, Gertrude Warburton, shall, by any deed or
deeds, writing or writings, to be by her executed in the presence of
and attested by two or more credible witnesses, or by her last Will and
Testament so executed and attested as aforesaid limit, direct, or
appoint, give or bequeath, and in default of such limitation or ap
pointment, gift, or bequest, then in trust to pay the same principal
Estate to the Executors, Administrators, or assigns of my said Niece,
Gertrude Warburton, and I give the same accordingly, and I will that
my said trustees shall deduct and detain out of the trust moneys and
Estates, all cost, damages, and expences they shall sustain or be put
unto in the execution of the trusts hereby in them reposed, and that
they shall not be chargeable with or accountable for any more
moneys than he or they shall actually receive, and shall not be
accountable one for the other of them, or for the acts, receipts, or
defaults of the other of them, but each for his own act, receipt, and
default only, and I do hereby make, constitute, and appoint them, my

Appendix. 239
said Trustees, the said John Chapman and James Sparrow, joint
Executors In trust of this my last wiU and Testament, and do hereby
revoke all former wills and Testaments by me made. In witness
whereof I have to this, my Last Will and Testament, contained in
3 skins of parchment, to the 2 first skins thereof set my hand, and to
this third and last skin set both my hand and seal, this 28th day of
June, one thousand seven hundred and sixty three. Ralph Allen.
Signed, sealed, pubUshed, and declared, by the said Ralph Allen,
the Testator, as and for his last WiU and Testament, in the presence
of us who have subscribed our names as witnesses thereto at his
request, in his presence and in the presence of each other — Richard
Rogers — James Mullins — Robt. Foreman.

I, Ralph Allen of Prior Park, in the Parish of Lyncomb and Wid
comb, in the County of Somerset, Esquire, do declare the following
bequests to be a codicU, and as part of my last will and testament of
this day's date, that is to say, I give my servant, Francis Breed, for
his great care of me in my severe illness, the sum of ;!^3oo. I give to
Mrs. Moore, late Nurse to my Grt. Nephew, Ralph Warburton, for
her great care of him in his infancy, the sum of ;^2oo. I give to
Mrs. Mary Poyntz the sum of ;^ioo. I give to Alderman John
Chapman the additional sum of .;£^ioo in case he takes upon hira the
execution of the trust of this my will. And I give to the Lord
Bishop of Gloucester the sum of ;^Soo, all said legacies to be paid in
12 months aft. my death. Witness my hand and seal this twenty-
eighth day of June, one thousand seven hundred and sixty three.
Ralph Allen.
Signed and Sealed by the said Ralph Allen as a Codicil to his last
will in the presence of us — Richard Rogers — James Mullins — Robt.
Foreman. 2.
I do hereby confirm the legacy of ;^i,ooo given to Mr. Pitt on the
other side of this paper, by deeming that gift to be the second

240 Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
Codicil to my last wUl, dated yesterday at Prior Park, June 29th,
1763. Ralph Allen.
The former CodicU was in the foUowing terms :—
" For the last instance of my friendship and grateful regard for the
best of friends, as well as the most upright and ablest of Ministers
that has adorned our Country, I give to the Right Honble. William
Pitt the sum of ;^i,ooo, to be disposed of by him to any one of his
chUdren that he may be pleased to appoint for it. And I hereby
declare this to be a CodicU to my last Will and Testament, dated the
first day of last August, Prior Park, November loth, 1760.
R. Allen."
3-
Prior Park, June 29, 1763.
I do hereby declare that it is my will and intention that if Capt.
Tucker! should, upon the death of his sister Warburton and her
child Ralph, or other children that she may hereafter have, come
into the possession of my Estates of inheritance, and my niece, Mary
Allen, should then be living. In such case do give at that time to
Molly the additional fortune of;^i5,ooo over and above her other
legacies, and I do deem this to be a 3rd Codicil to my last wiU dated
yesterday. Ralph Allen.
4-
I, Ralph Allen of Prior Park, in the County of Somerset, do give
to Retkiren AUen, of St. Columbe, in Cornwall, the annual annuity of
_^20 during his natural life, to be quarterly paid to him by my
Executors without any deduction and out of the ;^i,oc'o which, in
my will dated the 28th day of last month, I have given to my wife
for she to dispose of at her discretion to charitable uses ; it is my
desire that she will ;^2oo of that money to James Donnell, who was
my servant in the Stables and is now blind, and that in the disposal
of the remainder of the ^1,000 above mentioned, it is my desire
! Capt. Tucker predeceased his sister, Mrs. Warburton, and in 1797
Mrs. Warburton (then Mrs. Stafford Smith) died— her son had long
predeceased her. At her death the only son of Lord Hawarden, Thomas-
Ralph, succeeded to Prior Park, and died without issue in 1807.

Appendix. 241
that Richard Gibbs and other old labourers now employed by me, or
old servants passed their labour and not particularly taken notice of
by me in my last wiU, may be considered and taken care of out of
that money by my wife. And I declare this paper to be a 4th Codicil
to my will, July 6th, 1763. Ralph Allen.
S-
Wednesday, June 27 th, 1764.
40 minutes after 7 a.m.
Mr. Allen desires to be buried as privately and decently as possible,
without pomp, in the Churchyard at Claverton, in a Vault made to
hold eight. The inscription for, and draught of the Tomb, which
is to be of stone, are both made, and are in one of the Drawers in
the room in which he now lies. His will is in the second drawer of
the Chest nearest his bed. He dies in perfect good will towards
Mr. Pitt concerning whom there is a codicil added to his will ; he
wishes happiness to all, desires that a part of a ^^'ill not yet signed
relative to his nephew Mr. Phillip Allen's marriage may stand good
in the manner intended by that writing, of which Mr. Clutterbuck
(and, I think he said) Mr. PhiUip Allen, Senr., were acquainted ; he
also desires that all those who have attended him in his illness may
be rewarded, and that I may be taken care of; is very thankful to
God for his present ease, and chearfully submitts to his decrees. He
enquired tenderiy for Mrs. AUen, desires that Mr. Mears may be paid
a fuU year's allowance as if he had lived, without any deduction for
what has already been paid of the year. 20 minutes aft. 8 o'clock—
Tho. West— Thomas Hyett— Hugh Frazer— Francis Breedon.
Proved at London with five codicils, 11 August 1764, before the
Judge, by the Oaths of John Chapman, Esqre., and Rev. James
Sparrow, Clerk, the Executors to whom Admon. was granted, having
been first sworn by Comon. duly to administer.
Chas. Dinelv.

CHAS. UlNELV. ^ „
John Iggulden. > -r, ¦ ..
¦' „ ( Registers.
AV. F. Gostling. ; *

294 Simpson, 74 B.P.

242 Life and Times of Ralph Allen.
PRIOR PARK AT THE PRESENT DAY.
After the death of Lord Hawarden^ in 1807, Prior Park was sold to
a rich Bristol merchant, Mr. Thomas, a member of the Society of
Friends. This gentleman felled as much timber as paid the greater
part, if not the whole, of the purchase-money.
In 1829, the property again changed hands, passing into the
possession of the late Bishop Baines, for the purposes of a Roman
Catholic Seminary ; and with the exception of a few years' interval,
during which it was occupied by a Mr. Thomas Thompson, it has
been occupied and used for the same purpose. Bishop Baines was
a man of pre-eminent ability, and held in great honour and esteem,
not simply for his great learning, but for the dignity of his character
and the gentle beneficence and kindness of his disposition.
Anyone looking at the view of the vast sweep of the original
mansion and offices as given (p. 109), and comparing it with the
present, wUl perceive several changes. The Palladian steps in front
of the mansion were constructed by Bishop Baines ; the original
stables are raised a storey and used for purposes of the coUege ;
whilst on the site of the pigeon-house and port-cochere a handsome
chapel stands. But, considerable as are these changes, the great
deterioration in this beautiful estate is in the grounds, especiaUy in
the rear. It is deplorable to see the roads and fences and the sur
roundings generally. But when it is remembered what pecuniary
resources would be required to keep such an estate in handsome
condition — in their beauteous original condition — we can only avert
our face, and cry, " Alas ! alas I"

Prior Park is now passing into the hands of that vigorous and
enterprising educational body, the Christian Brothers, a Roman
Catholic community, under whom the establishment is to be carried
on with ample capital and a competent staff of masters and pro
fessors. We look forward to the revival of those external beauties
which, in former times, were the lories of the glocality and the city.
! See pp. 211, 228, marriage of Cornwallis Maude with Mary, daughter
of Philip Allen, and niece of Ralph.

INDEX.

Abbey, Bath, first built by Offa, 13 ;
crowning of King Eadgar in, ib. \ re
built by de Villula, 26 ; general diocesan
collection for repair of, 36 ; state of at
time of Reformation, ib. ; Lay ton's
report on monks of, ib. \ sale of ' ' car
case" of, 39 ; deed of sale, ib. ; first
appointment of Rector of, 42 ; erection
of buildings in precincts of, 42 ; public
thoroughfare through, 65 ; rebuilding
in 15th century, 102
Abbot of Bath, his dwelling, 25
Allen, Philip, father of Ralph Allen, 56
Allen, Philip, brother of Ralph Alien, 56 ;
his residence in Lilliput Alley, 70
Allen, Phihp, Jun., appointed Comp
troller of Cross-road Office in London,
204
Allen, Ralph, recognizes the evils existing
in the Post OfBce system, 52 ; birth
place of, 52, 56 ; entries of Allen
marriages in Register of St. Blazey,
Cornwall, ib. ; his father, 53, 56 ;
anecdote of, ib. ; placed with his grand
mother, postmistress of St. Columb,
54 ; removal to Bath, ib. ; story as to
introduction to General 'Wade, and
appointment as Postmaster of Bath,
55 ; his personal appearance in early
life, 57; offers to farm the cross-post
letters, 58 ; particulars of his contract,
59 ; marriage of, with Miss Earl, 60 ;
reforms the Bath Post Office, ib. ; his
second marriage, 62, 71 ; elected a
member of the Bath Corporation, 65 ;
his mayoralty, ib. ; difficulties as a
Postal reformer, 6g ; removes Bath
Post Office, ib. ; his house on North
Parade, 70 ; second contract with the
Government, 75 ; takes up his residence
at Hampton Manor House, 76 ; makes
roads at Hampton Down and at Prior
Park, 77 ; document relating to latter,
78 ; constructs tramroad from Combe
Down, 81 ; improvements to Bathamp
ton estate, 83 ; his general character,
86 ; his patronage of Dr. 'Warburton ,

90; the epithets "low-born" and
"humble" applied to, ib. ; Warner's
account of his breach with Pope, 93 ;
reconciliation, 95 ; the stone business,
99 ; raised a company of volunteers,
IOI n. , 155 ; plan and building of Prior
Park, 104 ; joins committee for erection
of Mineral-Water Hospital, 116 ; his
benefactions to hospital, 118 ; his
" charity money" for 1745, 120 ; postal
reform, 121 ; commences daily posts,
123 ; social life at Prior Park, 126,
129 ; Richardson's account of his stone-
yard, 134 ; Dr. John Burton's eulogy
on, 140 ; Bishop Warburton's me
morial to, 142 ; his purchase of Claver
ton Manor, 151 ; his visits there, 153 ;
his political views, 154 ; his connection
with the representation of Bath, 155 ;
correspondence respecting the election
of 'Wm. Pitt, 159 ; correspondence
with Pitt regarding the " adequate
peace" address to the King, 176 ; the
"one-headed Corporation" caricatures,
180 ; illness from cancer, 184 ; retire
ment from public life, 185 ; last journey
to London interrupted at Maidenhead,
187 ; return to Prior Park, ib. ; death,
ib. ; tomb and epitaph in Claverton
Churchyard, ib. ; his will, 226 appendix
Allen, Ralph, Jun., 211
Amelia, Princess, visits to Bath, 130 ;
received at Prior Park, ih.

Baines, Bishop, purchase of Prior Park
by, 108, 242
Barrow ridge, mound on, 17
Barton fair, 35
Bath, the Roman City, 5 ; the Norman
City, ib. , 19 : in the tenth century a
Royal demesne, 22 ; Queen Edith, high
justiciar of, ib. ; burgh of, sold by
Rufus to Jolin de ^'illula, 23 ; bishopric
of Wells- transferred to, 26 ; first map
of, 30 ; in the eighteenth century, 47 ;
walls of, ib. ; corporation of, ib, 63,

244

Index.

103, 169, 172, 175, 179, 180 ; removal
of walls of, 48
Bathampton, manor of, 72 ; remains of
monk's cell at, ib., n. ; Allen takes up
his residence at Manor house of, 76 ;
improves house, 83 ; church of, 85
Batheaston, manor of, farmed by -Rufus
to the burgesses, 23 ; a possession of
Hosate family, 29 ; devolution of, ib.
Bathford, a possession of the Hosate
family, 29 ; devolution of, ib.
Bath post office, in the old church, 58 n. ;
removed to Allen's house, 69 ; ar
rangements in, after Allen's death, 203 ;
removal of the cross-road office to
London, 204
Bath "society" in 1742, 127
Bath-stone, used by the Romans, 10, 12 ;
quarry in Holloway, 12 ; used for com
pletion of Abbey, 12 ; its ornamental
use, 99 ; use of in erection of modern
Bath, ib. ; at Greenwich Hospital, 100 ;
at Prior Park, loi
Baths, the Roman, discovered in 1755,
II ; site of, covered and built over,
II n.
Bathwick, included in sale of privileges to
John de 'Villula, 23 ; held by Alured, a
Saxon Thane, 24 ; village of, ib. ;
Norman church of, ib.
Bear Inn, Smollett's description of,
117
Beau Nash, Dr. John Burton on, 140 ;
notice of his life, 214 ; his gambling
habits, 217 ; Goldsmith's Life of, 218 ;
poem inscribed on portrait of, 223 ;
his residences in the Sawclose, 224 ;
his connection with Juliana Popjoy,
224
Beechencliff, origin of name, 35
Belgce, landing of in Britain, 2
Bennet family, pedigree of, 206
Bennet, Phihp, of "Widcombe House,
M.P. for Bath, 64, 206 ; grants Allen
right of way through the Mill Ground,
78 ; certificate of marriage of, 211
Berewyke, tithes of, assigned to St. Mary
de StaU, 24
Birde, Prior, his work in rebuilding
Abbey, 102
Blathwayt, 'William, M.P. for Bath,
64
Blazey, St., early residence of Ralph
Allen, 53
Blount, Martha, 93
Bristol, Lady, account of visit to Claver
ton, 186 n. ; on Bath Society in 1721,
216 n.
Bush, 'Wm., Mayor of Bath, 64

Cantlow, Prior, saves Church of St. Mary
Magdalen, 28 ; prepared to rebuild
Abbey, 102
Catherine's, St. , Court and "Valley, 86
Celts, the earliest inhabitants of Britain,
2 ; amalgamation of with the Belgse, 5
Chapman Family, 41, 213
Chapman, "Walter, rebuilds Widcombe
manor-house, 213
Christian Brothers, the, take over Prior
Park, 242
Claverton Manor, 151 ; skirmish near, in
1643, 153 ; Lady Bristol's account of
visit to, 186, n.
Codrington, John, M.P. for Bath, 64
Combe, manor of, sold to Giso, Bishop of
'Wells, zz
Combe IJown, tramroad constructed, 8i ;
quarries, ib.
Cork and Burlington, Earl of, designs
houses in Bath, 66; Goldsmith's singular
introduction to, 219, n.
Corporation of Bath, the ' ' carcase" of the
Abbey offered to it for sale, 103 ; Allen
elected a member of, 63 ; improvement
in character of, 68 ; relations with
William Pitt, 169, 172 ; address to the
King on the "adequate peace", 175;
consequent rupture with Pitt, 179 ; cari
catures of, 180
Domesday survey, the, 21
Drokensford, Bishop John de, decreeof, re
garding endowment of St. Mary's, 29 ;
remonstrance to Prior of Bath by, 33
Dunstan, St. , crowned Eadgar in Bath
Abbey, 14 ; claimed as a native of
Weston, 14
Dyrham, near Bath, battle of, 7
Earthworks and barrows, 2
Edith, queen, high justiciar of Bath, 22
Edward of Salisbury appointed justiciar of
Bath, 23
Feet of Fines, quotations from, 32
Fielding, Henry, a visitor at Prior Park ;
his estimate of Allen, 133
Fielding, Sarah, her residence at Wid
combe, 133
Fisher, Robert, possessor of the great
tithes of Bathampton, 73
Fosse, the, i, 5, 46 ; constructed by the
Romans, 6, 11 ; identical with Hollo
way, II ; its use for conveyance of stone
and coal to the city, 11
Gainsborough, a visitor at Prior Park,
130

Index.

245

Garrick, a visitor at Prior Park, 130
Gay, Robert, M.P. for Bath, 64
Goldsmith, his Life of Nash, 218 ; his
visit to Bath, 219
"Go to Bath," origin of expression,
116
Grant Allen on monastic institutions, 10
Graves, Rev. R., of Claverton, on Allen's
birthplace, 52 ; on Allen's early post-
office training, 54 ; his works and
personal appearance, 134 ; his estimate
of Bishop Warburton, 150
Greenway, Thomas, Bath stonecutter, 99

Hampton Do^vn, stone works on de
veloped, 76 ; method of conveyance of
stone from, ib.
Harington of Kelston, lands of Bath
Monastery bestowed on, 103
Hawarden, Lord, 211, 242
Hawley, Lord and Lady, their rooms
frequented by Wade, 67
Henley, Robert, Earl of Northington,
elected M.P. for Bath, 156; his court
ship and marriage, 157
Hermen Street, 11, 46
Hide, the Somerset, 22
Holder, Charles, Allen's brother-in-law,
71 ; death of, 72
Holder, Richard, father of Allen's second
wife, 71 ; purchased Bathampton
manor, 73
Holeway, last Prior of Bath, 103
Holloway fair, 35, n.
Hosate, or Hussey, family, 28
Hurd, Bishop, his estimate of Allen,
87
Icening Street, Roman road, 11, 46
Ina, King, divided see of Sherborne, 19

Jocelyn, Bishop, censures monks for mis
management of domain, Z7
Jones, Richard, Allen's clerk of theworks,
83, IOI ; designed last wing of Prior
Park, and Palladian bridge, 113 ;
Newton bridge erected by, 155
Joyce, Mr. Herbert, references to his
work on the Post Office, 45, 52, 55, 57,
60, 69, 73, 75, 121
Kilvert, Rev. Francis, Essay on Allen, 88
King, Bishop Oliver, helps the rebuilding
of the Abbey, 102
King's Mead, included in sale of privi
leges to John de 'Villula, 23

Langton and Temple families, 161 n.
Leake, Bath boolieller, friend of Allen,
73
Lepers' Hospital, church for, designed by
'Walter Hosate, 28
Ligonier, Sir John, elected M.P. for
Bath, 158 ; address to, from Bath Cor
poration, 170
Lyncombe, domain of, and probable site
of Saxon village, 13 ; manor of, eccle
siastical property, 16 ; derivation of
name, etc. , 30 ; reference to in Domes
day, ib. ; products of, 17 ; included in
sale of privilege to John de "Villula,
23 ; development of, 27 ; sale of church
property in, at Reformation, 39
Mary de Stalls, St. , church of ; closed, 41 ;
tower of used as prison, 50 ; nave ap
propriated to Grammar School, ib.
Mary Magdalen, St. , Norman church ot,
erected by 'Walter Hosate, 28
Maude, Cornwallis, married Mary Allen,
211
Michael's, St. , sites of churches dedicated
to, 27
 church of ; remains of used for Post-
office, 50
Millar, Lady, vUla of, at Batheaston, 85
Mineral-Water Hospital, Royal, origin of,
114 ; laying of foundation stone, 118 ;
completion of, ib.
Nomenclature, local, explained by early
documents, 32
Northstoke, a British stronghold, i n.
Offa's cathedral church of Bath, building
of, 14 ; standing at accession of de
"Villula to bishopric, 25 ; puUed down
by de "Villula, 26
Old bridge, Bath, Early-Enghsh church
near, 30
OUver, Dr., 116
Osric, king of the Huiccii, obtains power
in Wessex, 8 ; his tomb in Gloucester
Cathedral, 8, 9 n. ; probable bmlder of
first Widcombe church, 13
Picts and Scots, attacks by, encouraged by
departure ofthe Romans, 5
Pitt, WiUiam, purchases No. 7, The
Circus, 132 ; his advancement of War
burton, 138 ; correspondence respecting
his candidature for representation of
Bath, 159 ; supported in his policy by
the Bath Corporation, and his poUtical

246

Index.

connection with the city, 168 ; address
to, with Lord Ligonier, 170 ; a second
address to, and jeply, 172 ; letter from,
to AUen, on the " adequate peace" ad
dress to the King, 176 ; created Earl of
Chatham, 180 ; his connection with the
Wilkes case, 191 et seq.
Pope's intimacy with Allen, 89 ; his coup
let on Allen, 90
Pope's Walk, 114
Popjoy, JuUana, her life with Beau Nash,
224 ; subsequent life and death, 225
Post Office, General, state of before
AUen's time, 45, 51 ; Allen's arrange
ments under his contract, 59 ; AUen's
troubles with and reforms in, 121 ;
establishraent of the Cross-ro'ad office
in London, 204
Potter, Thomas, M. P. , a visitor at Prior
Park, 131 ; letter from, to AUen, on
retirement of Henley, 159
Prior Park, 18; sale of after Dissolution,
40 ; subsequent purchasers, ib. , purchase
of by Ralph Alien, 42 ; roads made by
by Allen, 77 ; document relating to, 78 ;
erection of, 104 ; the stables and
pavilion, 106 ; the central mansion,
108 ; visitors to, 130 ; at the present
day, 242
Priors, rank of, 25 n.
Priory, Bath, decay of lands of, 102
Pulteney, Sir William, 118
Quash, appointment of as Bath Post
master, 50 ; death of, 58
Quin, a visitor at Prior Park, 131
Roads, state of in the eighteenth century,
51 ; horses used for travelling on, ib.
Romans, The, discovery of the beds of
oolite by, 10; remains ot their baths, 11

Saxons, invited to assist the Belgae, 5 ;
attack the British and capture Bath, 6 ;
their religious rites, 7 ; not road
makers, 13; characteristics of the, 14
Sham Castle, erection of, 70
Shockerwick, seat of the Hosate family,
28 ; devolution of, 29 ; house and park
restored by the WUtshires, ib.
Smith, Milo, an opponent of AUen's in
the stone trade, 100
SmoUett on Bath, 221
Sodbury, camp of Saxons at, 6
Strahan, a visitor at Prior Park, 153 ;
correspondence with AUen, 189
" Sylvia, Madame", tragic death of, 222

Thicknesse's description of Prior Park,
and Allen, 97

'Via Badonica, The, 1, 11, 46
Via JuUa, The, i
¦Villula, John de, purchased the iDUrgh of
Bath, 23 ; succeeded to bishopric of
WeUs, ib. , 25 ; transferred bishopric to
Bath, 26 ; rebuilt Abbey church, ib.

Wade, Marshal, story of Allen's introduc
tion to him, 55 ; marriage of his
daughter with Allen, 60; elected M.P.
for Bath, 64 ; benefactions of, to Bath,
65 ; portrait of, 66 ; his house in the
Abbey churchyard, ib. ; erection of
obelisk to, by AUen, 154 ; his death,
158
Walcot, included in sale of privileges to
John de ViUula, 23
Wansdike, the, i ; constructed as a
boundary between the Celts and Belgae,
2 ; derivation of name, ib. ; course of,
ib. -, most perfect near Englishcombe
Wood, 4 ; length of, 5
Warburton, Bishop, his introduction to
AUen, 88 ; his first visit to Prior Park,
90 ; sermons in aid of Mineral-Water
Hospital, 119; birth ofhis son, 132;
his relations with Pope, 135 ; his rela
tions with Allen, 137; death of his son
and epitaph on, ib. - his residence at
Prior Park, 138 ; his memorial to Allen,
142 ; biographical notice of, 144 ; his
epitaph, 149 ; Rev. R. Graves on,
150 ; Strahan's references to, 189 et
seq.
Warner, Rev. R. , on the religious rites of
the Saxons, 7; on the Norman conquest,
19 ; his account of the breach between
Allen and Pope, 93
Watling Street, Roman road, 11, 46
Wells, see of, created, 19; Athelm, first
bishop of, ib.
Wessex, sub-division of sees of, 19
"Widcombe, derivation of name, 16 ;
reference to in Do7nesda-v, ib. ; included
in sale of privileges to John de ViUula,
23 ; development of, 27 ; estate of, at
time of Reformation, 37 ; sale of, 39,
41
Widcombe Church, Old, early church
probably founded by Osric, 13 ; present
church, 213
Widcombe manor-house, 213 ; designed
by Inigo Jones, ib.

Indi

ex.

247

Wilkes, proceedings concerning, in Houses
of Parliament, 189 et seq.; his trial,
202
WiUiam the Conqueror, Warner on, 19 ;
Freeman on, 20
Wiltshire's Rooms frequented by Wade,
67 ; by Beau Nash, Z17
Wolfe, General, residence of, 49
Wood, the first, began the work of

rebuUding Bath, 49 ; Prior Park erected
by, 88
Wood, the second. Royal Baths erected
by, 58 n.
Woolley, part of manor of Bathwick, 24

Yorke, Charles, a visitor at Prior Park,
131

At Batheaston.

LONDON ;
PRINTED AT THE BEDFORD PRESS, 20 AND 21, BEDFORDBURY, W.C.

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