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A MEMOIR

THE REV. JOHN HODGSON,
M.A., F.U.S.L., F.S.A.N.
VICAR OF HARTBURN,
AND AUTHOR OF A HISTORY OF NORTHUMBERLAND, &c.

BY THE
REV. JAMES RAINE, M.A.,F.S.A.N.
RECTOR OF MELDON, ETC., ,
AUTHOR OF A HISTORY OF NORTH DURHAM, ETC.

IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. I.

" Historia prastat, ut qui aevo priore vixerant, vivere adhuc nostra
videantur setate." — Salmas. Prcef. in Aug. Hist. Scriptores.

LONDON:

LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, LONGMANS, AND ROBERTS,
PATERNOSTER ROW.

M.DCCC.LVII.

WESTMINSTER :
J. B. NICHOLS AND SONS, PRINTERS,
PARLIAMENT STREET.

MEMORY OF HIS FRIEND,

THIS IMPERFECT RECORD OF A LIFE

SPENT IN TRUE CHRISTIAN FAITH, HUMILITY, AND USEFULNESS,

IS DEDICATED,

IN ALL SINCERITY, BY

THE AUTHOR.

NOTICE.

In compiling the following Memoir the author has
had the use of the various letters addressed to Mr.
Hodgson from an early period of his life till the time
of his death, and also of such copies of letters in reply
as have been preserved. The latter, however, it is
much to be regretted, are not numerous. These letters
and copies are contained in several volumes arranged
in chronological order, under Mr. Hodgson's direc
tions, a while before his death, with indexes of the
writers. He has also been favoured with numerous letters
addressed by Mr. Hodgson to his various friends from
time to time, of which no copy had been taken,
and for the loan of which he begs to express his obli
gations. The great extent to which in this respect
he has been benefited will abundantly appear in the
course of the Memoir.
The letters by Mr. Hodgson to the various members
of his own family have all of them been carefully pre
served, and, having been placed before the author
without reserve, have signally contributed to give a
value to his narrative and illustrate the kind and
affectionate character of their writer.

NOTICE.

From the time in which Mr. Hodgson first settled
in the county of Durham in 1801, as master of Sedge-
field school, he appears to have kept a series of books
of a miscellaneous nature, but chiefly containing memo
randa respecting his school or parochial engagements.
Of such entries in these books as refer to his personal
history due use has been made.
Much private information is also recorded in his
numerous note-books of historical collections for his
various topographical publications, and the author
hopes that nothing of that nature registered in those
volumes has escaped his eye.
Eor a long period of his life it appears to have been
Mr. Hodgson's custom to record occasionally and in
an irregular method in the volumes and books above
referred to such of his personal proceedings and
thoughts as he wished to remember, but in the year
1833 he began, as it will be hereafter observed, to
keep a regular journal of his daily life, the precise
nature and value of which will best appear from the
Memoir itself, towards the compilation of which that
record has been so especially useful.
The other sources from which the author has de
rived his information, such as essays, sermons, &c.
&c, printed or in manuscript, are sufficiently specified
in the progress of his undertaking.
Crook Hall, near Durham,
July 10th, 1857.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

Birth — Family — Swindale — Rosgill — His first school— Bampton School — Westmor
land schools — Rev. John Bowstead — Schoolboy days and studies — Schools in
general — Professor Carlyle's offer — Schoolmaster at Matterdale — Geology —
Schoolmaster at Stainton — At Sedgefield — Mainsforth and Mr. Surtees — Sedge-
field— Holy Orders .... . . 1—22
CHAPTER II.
Lanchester — Esh and Satley — Collegiate Church — Lanchester School — Roman Camp
and Antiquities — Poems — Longovicum — His cousin Harding . . 23 — 48
CHAPTER III.
Gateshead — Neville's Cross, a poem — Presented to the Living of Jarrow with Heworth
— C Ellison, Esq.— Ancient History of Jarrow — Duties and Emoluments of
Jarrow and Heworth — Creation, a poem — A painter — History of the River Tyne
and the Roman Wall ....... 49—62
CHAPTER IV.
Marriage — History of Northumberland in " Beauties of England and Wales" —
Survey of Northumberland — Rev. A. Hedley — More Poetry— Sits for his portrait
— Letter of advice — History of Westmerland in " Beauties of England and
Wales" — Mr. Surtees of Mainsforth.— Picture of Newcastle . . 63 — 89
CHAPTER V.
The Felling Explosion — First acquaintance with the Author — The Society of Anti
quaries of Newcastle-upon-Tyne . ... 90 — 123
CHAPTER VI.
History of Jarrow — Northumberland — Sir John Edward Swinburne, Bart. — Experi
ments on Coal — Journal — Cowper's " Votum " — Another Explosion — Journal —
Lines in Sickness — Correspondence — Another Explosion . . 124 — 136
CHAPTER VII. ,
Visit to Monnces, a shooting-seat of Sir J. E. Swinburne, Bart. — The Durham
Advertiser ..... . 137 — 155

Vlll CONTENTS.
CHAPTER VIII.
The History of the Parish of Jarrow — Correspondence on that subject — Saxon
Coins  156-169
CHAPTER IX.
Expedition to the Dudley Coal Field — Sir Humphry Davy and the Safety Lamp —
Its first trial — Visit to Edinburgh — Correspondence . . . 170 — 189
CHAPTER X.
History of Northumberland — Histories of Northumberland — Correspondence — Mons.
Gallois — Essay on Brass and other Metals — Mr. Surtees's History of Durham —
History of Northumberland abandoned — Resumed — Mr. T. Bewick. 190 — 208
CHAPTER XI.
The Mickleton MSS.— First Visit to London— Letters to Mrs. Hodgson. 208 — 266
CHAPTER XII.
Announcement of History — Correspondence on History — Edward Swinburne, Esq. —
Correspondence respecting Engravings, &c. — Destruction of three cart-loads of
ancient Records at Little Harle — Richardson and Dixon's Picturesque Views in
Northumberland — Correspondence .... 267 — 289
CHAPTER XIII.
Correspondence respecting Engravings continued — A rival History of Northumber
land — The Greenwich Hospital and Tower Records — Correspondence resumed —
W. C. Trevelyan, Esq.— Henry Petrie, Esq. . . . 290—309
CHAPTER XIV.
Publication of the first volume (Part III. Vol. I.) of his History of Northumberland 
Contents — Preface — Topographical Queries — Letter of encouragement from Mr.
Surtees— Reply .... . 310—322
CHAPTER XV.
Correspondence— Second Visit to London — Letters to Mrs. Hodgson— Visit to
Oxford— Other Correspondence— The Living of Whitfield— Roman Altars, &c. at
Ryton — Subscription for Engravings for his History . . . 323  382
CHAPTER XVI.
Communications to the Gentleman's Magazine — Correspondence with Dr. McCulloch
on Natural History— The Rev. James Tate, Master of Richmond School,
and the Memoir and Monument of Richard Dawes— Engravings for another
volume— New Chapel at Heworth— Consecration Sermon— Church Restoration-
Family Distresses— Illness t,f his Children— Death of two Brothers— Sympathy
of his Friends— Discovery of a Mithraic Cave at Borcovicus or Housesteads—
Essay on the subject— Prospect of Preferment . . . 383  £08

MEMOIR

REV. JOHN HODGSON, M.A.

CHAPTER I.
Birth— Family— Swindale— Rosgill— His first school— Bampton School— Westmer-
land schools — Rev. John Bo wstead— Schoolboy days and studies— Schools in
general — Professor Carlyle's offer— Schoolmaster at Matterdale— Geology-
Schoolmaster at Stainton— At Sedgefield— Mainsforth and Mr. Surtees— Sedge-
field — Holy Orders.
"In addition to the interest felt by the general reader, the
lovers of antiquarian and topographical research, now and here
after, will have a characteristic anxiety to learn particulars of a
writer who has furnished them with such a work as ' Surtees's
History of Durham.' "
With this paragraph the late Mr. Taylor of Witton-le-Wear
commenced his Memoir * of Mr. Surtees of Mainsforth ; and with
it I, also, preface the following account of the life and character
of the late Historian of Northumberland, the Rev. John Hodg
son ; with the hope of interesting in the course of its progress not
merely the general reader, or the antiquary and topographer, but
also the poet, the naturalist, the geologist, the experimental
philosopher, and the parish priest. Not only was Mr. Hodgson a
poet of considerable merit, and a county historian of the highest
* Written to accompany the Fourth Volume of Mr. Surtees's History of the County
Palatine of Durham, which, at its author's death, was ready for publication. Mr.
Taylor's memoir has since been reprinted by the Surtees Society in an octavo form,
with numerous additions. For this second edition the author of the present under
taking had a melancholy pleasure in making himself responsible.
VOL. I. B

2 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
order, but he had also devoted much time, and that successfully,
to botanical, geological, and philosophical studies, solacing with
such pursuits many a weary hour of ill health, from his boyhood
till the day of his death, and benefiting in the end, not only his
own generation, but posterity by his researches and discoveries —
and, as a humble, painstaking, contented parish priest, he put the
finishing stroke to his character, and left behind him a signal
example for imitation. This is the man to whose " memory," in
the words of Bishop Hacket,* " I wish well — I profess it ; and
would have him live in honour, though he be dead ; not with
me, or a few more, only; but with the succession of men." I
may be indulged in another quotation from the same author.
" When a worthy man's fame survives, through their help that
light a candle for that use, that others in succession of ages may
perfectly behold him, it is a grateful service, to put one day more,
as it were, to the Life of Nature; but a day that may be longer,
perhaps, than the mortal preceding life thrice told over."f
In writing the following memoir, the pattern which I propose
to imitate to the best of my power, is one set before me by him
to whose memory I dedicate my labour of love.
In the progress of Mr. Hodgson's great undertaking, the History
of the County of Northumberland, there arose before him, as it
were from the grave — for divers of them had been long forgotten —
many worthy and learned men, claiming, from their connection
with the district in former times, a record in his pages; and he
has, in consequence, left behind him, interwoven in his history,
various proofs of his devoted regard for their talents and their
memory. The biographical pictures of these old Northumbrian
worthies, which he has drawn, in his history and elsewhere,
" amiable acts of piety" as he himself terms all such attempts, I
propose to follow as my guides; and it is my most earnest hope
to be able in some measure to imitate in the following narrative
the pattern of gentlemanly feeling and truth-telling simplicity,
which are so conspicuous in his own short biographical sketches
of the men whom he has rescued from oblivion.
Mr. Hodgson was born at Swindale, in the parish of Shap, in
* Life of Archbishop Williams. The Proem, p. 3. f lb. p. 2.

BIRTH — FAMILY. 3
Westmerland,* on the 4th Nov. 1779; and was baptized at Shap
nine days afterwards. His father was Isaac Hodgson, and his
mother was Elizabeth, daughter of William Eawes, of West
Sleddale, another hamlet in the same parish. Of this Isaac the
more remote ancestors had been seated in Patterdale, and other
places in the parish of Barton, which forms the margin of a large
portion of the lake of Ulswatcr; but his father had resided at Bos-
gill in the parish of Shap, to which he himself removed his family
soon after the birth of John his eldest son. The Hodgsons were,
as it appears, a numerous clan in that district, deriving their name
from an early ancestor with the Christian name of Boger, of
whose son (Eoger's son) Hodgson is a corruption, through Hodge,
a familiar name for Boger. Hodgson himself, in his after-years,
frequently signed himself John Fitz-Boger, at length or by
initials, in his communications to magazines or other periodical
literature. Isaac Hodgson, the father, on whose memory the son
always dwelt with the most affectionate regard, is described in the
parish register, in connection with the baptism of his son, as a
waller or stone-mason; and afterwards, in the same document,
upon the baptism of his second child, as a slater. By his mother
Elizabeth Bawes, or, as she was more frequently called, Betty,
the subject of our memoir, one of a numerous family, having five
brothers and four sisters, all of them younger than himself, was>
related to the Bev. William Bawes, M.A. ; who had settled in
the county of Durham, first as master of the school at Witton-le-
* This was the mode in which, at a later period of his life, Hodgson began to write
the name of his native county ; and for the following reasons : — " I observe (says he)
that the present mode of spelling this name is Westmoreland. The old and proper
way of spelling it in Latin was Westmaria, and in English Westmerland, which means
the lands of the western meres or lakes ; for in ancient times the name was not con
fined to the district now constituting the county of Westmerland, but to the district
in which the lakes of Westmerland, Cumberland, and Lancashire are situated : just
as Northumberland, formerly applied to the Saxon kingdom of that name north of tlie
Hurfiber, is now applied to the county of Northumberland alone.'7 Letter to his son in
1831. And again " There is not (say3 Vr. Burn) one ancient record that we have
met with — where' it is not expressly called Westmorland, and not Westmorland or West
moreland. The Latin word is IVestmaria, sometimes We3tmeria." Preface to Poetic
Trifles, printed at Whelpington in 1832, iy John Hodgson, jun. With such authority
before me, it is my intention to write the word in the following pages according to its
true derivation.
e2

4 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
Wear, and afterwards of that at Houghton-le- Spring, where he
died about thirty years ago. It was this connection with Mr.
Bawes, which, as we shall see afterwards, led in process of time
to Mr. Hodgson's crossing Stainmore and becoming master of a
parish school with a small endowment situated at Sedgefield, a
place at no great distance from his cousin, who resided at Witton-
le-Wear above mentioned.
Of the valley of his nativity, Hodgson thus writes in after-
years: " Swindale, to me, wild and craggy as it is, was, and con
tinues to be, in my remembrance and affections, one of the dearest
spots upon earth. I knew every rock and frowning precipice in
it, from the Druid's Stone to the black and precipitous front of
Wallow Crag." In truth, as is generally the case with those who
live at a distance from the place of their nativity, this little valley
became towards the close of his life the subject of his thoughts
by day and his dreams by night; and we shall see what efforts
he made to revisit it at the very end of his days, when the least
mental or bodily exertion gave him pain.
When Hodgson was only seven or eight months old the parents
of the boy quitted their habitation in Swindale, and moved a mile
or two down the stream of the Lowther to Bosgill, where the
Hodgsons had previously resided for two generations; and of
Bosgill also we have his recollections towards the close of his life.
" I had cousins in Swindale, and while I resided at Bosgill I used
to gather shells of snails, the beautifully-banded helix nemoralis,
on the limestone grounds about us, and carry these to my young
friends there, who admired and preserved them as curiosities,
because shells of that kind were not found in their own valley, on
account, as it was supposed, of having no limestone in it."
But at Bosgill the boy had other cares than those of gathering
shells for the amusement of his cousins in Swindale. He was, as
he informs us in his Journal of 1844, sent to school to Mrs.
Jackson, a female relation, of whom he thus writes, giving at the
same time his reminiscences of a very important event in his
history, his becoming a pupil in the endowed Grammar School of
Bampton, in the adjoining parish, in the seventh year of his age.
" Mrs. Richardson, mother of Admiral Richardson of Hunger Hill
near Bampton in Westmerland, was, as well as Mrs. Jackson, a cousin

FIRST SCHOOL— BAMPTON SCHOOL. 5
of my father. Mrs. Richardson died before I could well remember her.
Both she and Mrs. Jackson were schoolmistresses here at Rosgill. They
lived on the opposite side of the street to my father. I remember Mrs.
Jackson very well ; for, stepping on a duck in the dark entrance into
the school, she struck my face with her birch-rod so severely, that it
made me black and blue; and my mother took me to Bampton, when I
was about seven years old, and Mr. Bowstead examined me, and found
me fit to enter into the Grammar School. I remember that Mrs. Jack
son's stripes swelled so much, that I was not able, on the day of the sad
accident, to go to the horseraces at Knipe Scar Head. Mrs. Richardson
fixed her son in Mr. Bowstead's house, where he was educated till he
went to the navy."
The counties of Westmerland, Cumberland, and that part of
Lancashire on the north side of Morecambe Bay, have long been
most remarkable for the number and high character of their
endowed grammar schools, and for the zeal with which their
small landed proprietors, or statesmen, as they were called,
persevered in devoting one son at least out of their families to the
profession of holy orders. The endowments of the schools were
in general too small to encourage their masters in an indolent and
discreditable neglect of duty; and the general character of the
lads of the hills and dales for painstaking perseverance and
emulation, in acquiring a sound education, afforded much, in the
way of reward, to a zealous and conscientious teacher, who saw
himself engaged in an honourable and fruit-bearing labour. On
the subject of these schools, their history and utility, the reader is
referred to Mr. Hodgson's own statements and opinions in his
History of Westmerland in the "Beauties of England and Wales,"
p. 41, &c. a book of which somewhat will be said hereafter. At
the commencement of the present century, and for some time
before that period, the curates and incumbents of small benefices
in the diocese of Durham were almost all of them West Country
men, as they were called, many of them excellent classical scholars
or mathematicians, or both, and most of them well versed in
worldly wisdom, in its better acceptation ; and further, from the
economical way in which they had been brought up, able to live
with respectability upon small incomes, realised, partly by the then
scanty salary of a curacy, and partly by school-keeping, an

6 MEMOIR OF THE EEV. JOHN HODGSON.
occupation which they seldom failed to follow in their respective
localities. The master of Bampton school, when the little seven years' old
boy from Bosgill first entered within its walls, was the Bev. John
Bowstead, a teacher then, and for many a long year afterwards, m
the highest repute; and when such a man as this pronounced
young Hodgson "fit" for his school, it is not unreasonable to
suppose that certain indications of good natural talents had
manifested themselves to the examiner. Mr. Bowstead, who had
been himself educated at Wrea, near Carlisle, and had been
appointed to the mastership of Bampton school in 1775, was in
his after-years, as a fit recom pence for a long life of painful and
conscientious toil, rewarded by his nephew, Dr. James Bowstead,
Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry, with a stall in Lichfield
cathedral, and by Dr. Percy, Bishop of Carlisle, in 1832, with
the rectory of Musgrave. He died in November 1841, in the
86th year of his age, having, as he boasted before his death in
good Westmerian phraseology, " eddecated three hundert preests,
I hev, at hev ee." *
Mr. Hodgson never forgot his obligations to this venerable man.
In his History of Westmerland, in the " Beauties of England and
Wales," he speaks of him in the year 1811 in terms of respect, as
the author of several poems, as having presided over Bampton
school for the last forty years, and as having " much gratitude
due to him from his pupil." In 1814 he recommended his
former master to be an honorary member of the Society of
Antiquaries of Newcastle ; in the same year he presented to him
in person, at Bampton, his History of Westmerland ; in 1825, he
requested his acceptance of a snuffbox with a Latin inscription,
recording that year as the fiftieth of his mastership ; and, soon after
wards, he sent him a copy of his engraved portrait. Of Mr. Bow
stead, one word more. He is described, so late as the year 1831, as
fishing whole days on Hawes Water, and " a strange old man for
talking." A very characteristic portrait of him was published
soon after his death, which was much prized by his scholars.
From the age of seven until he was about nineteen, Hodgson gives
* Mr. Atkinson's Memoir of Hodgson.

SCHOOLBOY DAYS. 7
us, in his occasional reminiscences, not much information respect
ing his pursuits or studies. In the Ode to his mother, to be after
wards mentioned, he blames himself for spending many idle years
at school. He was devotedly fond of fishing in the pure streams
and lakes of his native valleys; and so late as the year 1834,
having for a long time laid his rod aside, upon going out with his
son William, the poor boy whom he soon afterwards followed to
the grave, to fish in his own sparkling Hart, he says in his Jour
nal that his " former fondness for angling would soon return if
encouraged." The following anecdote from his own lips, late in
life, proves that he also knew at that early period how to manage
not only a rod but a gun. " My father," says his son Richard,
" told me that he knew the late Lord Ellenborough, when he was
a boy at school. Mr. Law often came, when on the circuit, to
Bampton ; and once Mr. Bowstead sent him with that gentleman
to shoot snipes at Bampton Mires, as the likeliest lad in the school
to be of use. It was blowing full from the west, and Mr. Law went
with his face to it, but could not kill a bird. My father told him
he must not do so, but that he must begin with his back to the
wind. Pie could not at first see the reason, but gave the gun to
my father; who, when a snipe rose, waited till it turned to the
wind and then shot it." The fact is, that, from the nature of its
feathers, the bird cannot fly with the wind, but turns to face it,
ceasing for a while from its zig-zag motion; and that is the time
to shoot it. My informant proceeds to state that the future Lord
Chief Justice was so pleased with the boy and his intelligence that
he invited him to join him a few clays afterwards at Appleby,
during the Assizes; and, upon his appearing, placed him upon
the bench near the judge.
That Hodgson wasted, or considered that he had wasted, much
valuable time in his schoolboy days would appear from the follow
ing reminiscences of this period of his life. They touch upon
painful subjects; but they are too important to be passed over in
a faithful memoir of their writer. They speak of difficulties, and
disadvantages, and privations, of which he evidently had abun
dance. " Antiquities, as a subject of research, I had from early life a love
for, but I never walked in academic bowers. At Bampton, some books,

8 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
at the age of fifteen or sixteen, came in my way, such as Whitehurst's
Theory of the Earth, and Dr. "Watson's Chemical Essays. I was
delighted with them, but lost in them for want of means and guides —
no classes to meet on such subjects — employed in drudgeries — penniless
and forced to pay — idle too, and liked to fish and wander in a small
district, and neglecting the difficulties of classical learning from want of
being kept hard at work."
And yet that he prosecuted his studies with more than usual zeal
and success is certain. During this period he stored his mind with
a considerable stock of classical learning, acquired more than a
superficial knowledge of mathematics, and became a chemist, a
botanist, and also a geologist to a certain extent; having, as he
informs us in another place, had "his attention insensibly directed
to this latter pursuit from a period which he could not exactly
ascertain." In the school library he found Whitehurst's Theory
of the Earth above mentioned, which, as he informs us in another
part of his Journal, his imagination delighted to revel in, when
ever he could escape from the intricacies of grammar, and the
then to him unknown beauties of the ancient authors of Greece
and Borne. " At present," says he, in 1831, " I have very little
recollection of the contents of the book, but that it made me fond
of searching after different kinds of rocks and organic remains ;"
and he informs us that " Bampton was a place peculiarly favour
able for the study of the mountain limestone formation." His
passion for angling, in which he had"more delight than dexterity,"
led him up the sides of all the mountain streams and lakes in the
neighbourhood, and familiarized his eye to their geological ap
pearances. He became a frequenter of the Crosthwaite and Kes
wick Museums, and made many contributions to their treasures.
An account of his geological proceedings during this early period
is contained in a very remarkable letter to his son, written in
1831, and printed hereafter. But he was also a poet during his
schoolboy days. The writer has heard him speak of his early
compositions in verse — what schoolboy has not written odes and
pastorals full of Damons and Phillises and sheep and goats ?
" My father," says he, "had an uncle, who lived in the parsonage
house at Newchurch; and I paid my first visit to him in the
summer of 1792 or 1793, and he gave me a copy of Gay, which

SCHOOLBOY DAYS AND STUDIES. »
first introduced me to the 'Sural Sports' of that poet of nature."
It is believed that none of the compositions are preserved of
which this present of Gay may have been the origin.
Of Hodgson's schoolboy days we have one anecdote, which
indicates that, if he was in general intent upon the acquisition of
knowledge, he was also not indifferent to the amusements of his
schoolfellows. It was determined by the boys to perform in the
school Home's Tragedy of Douglas ; and to him was assigned
the part of Old Norval, probably from his grave deportment, for
which he was from his boyhood remarkable ; and from that day
he was known in the school by the name of Old Norval. It is
more than probable that the master, Mr. Bowstead, had something
to do with the giving and keeping up of this appellation ; for the
author was once informed, but whether by Mr. Hodgson or the
late Mr. Birkett, of Kelloe, another most able Bampton scholar!
he does not remember, that Bowstead rejoiced in giving names to
his scholars, founded upon some peculiarity, serious or ludicrous,
for which he was always upon the look-out. But in the demea
nour of one boy there was, for a long time, according to my
informant, no tangible point for the master to lay hold of; until,
on one unlucky day, he was caught riding upon the back of a
large female pig, and kicking it violently with his heels. The
master shouted for joy, and Peg-a-sus was ever afterwards the
name of the lad.
Hodgson has now reached his nineteenth year, having for at
least twelve years enjoyed all the advantages of an excellent
school. The general system of education, it must be admitted,
was not then carried on in our country grammar schools to the
same extent as it is now. Composition in Latin and Greek,
whether in prose or verse, was at that time not much required in
university examinations, and therefore it was not much cultivated
in schools. Neither were the elegances of the ancient authors
attended to, as they deserve, or any comparison instituted inter
legendum between them and the classical authors of modern times
on kindred subjects. In general he was accounted the best master
who had the most intimate acquaintance with the ordinary rules
of grammar, and whose head was the best dictionary. In the
usual regular routine of the week a theme, generally in English,

10 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
occasionally only in Latin, was set to the boys; and in doing this
at Durham, Dr. Britton, in his day justly held to be a first-rate
scholar, took care to tell his boys, that if, in its composition, they
quoted scripture he would knock them down. Now and then a
clever boy broke through such trammels, and took flight into the
regions of taste and imagination. That Hodgson had been one
of those was proved by his conversation in after-life, when in the
society of scholars and gentlemen. His mind was evidently stored
with the beauties of the classical authors, whether of Greece or
Borne, and, before his memory failed him, he was apt, but not
obtrusive or pedantic, in quotation from their writings.
Here then was a youth eminently calculated to adorn a
university, and become a sharer, in due time, in her honours and
emoluments; but, unfortunately, means seem to have been wanting
to enable him to take the first step in so honourable a career.
"If Providence," says he when writing to his wife from Oxford,
in 1821, " had thrown a university life in my way, it does appear
to me that such a life would have been best suited to the con
struction of my mind. But it has not been my lot to be sheltered
under academic bowers ; and I have no right to repine that it has
not been so." Exhibitions or other university advantages belong
ing to the school of Bampton there were none. It had produced
such men as Gibson, the naturalist; Mill, the biblical scholar;
Gibson, Bishop of London ; Gibson, provost of Queen's ; and a long
line of learned men who had been successful in the world in their
day ; but none of them had remembered the place of his education
in a beneficial manner. Hodgson was, therefore, compelled to
move in a more humble sphere at home; and at this very time,
when he was in an unsettled state, an offer of employment was
made to him, the particulars of which it may be well to give in
his own words, as they are contained in a letter addressed by him
to Sir Walter C. Trevelyan, Bart., in 1843, two years before his
death. " When I was at school at Bampton, forty-three years since, Professor
Carlyle, then Chancellor of the diocese of Carlisle, was anxious that I
should go with him, as his secretary, in the expedition he made with
Lord Elgin, as Ambassador to the Ottoman court. I ardently wished to
have been able to go; but instead of sailing through the Hellespontus,

SCHOOLMASTER AT MATTERDALE. 11
and seeing Hoemus and Rhodope on the right of the Propontis, and
Caucasus and Taurus on the left, I was content to become in that year
(1799) the schoolmaster of Matterdale, in Cumberland. It was how
ever very curious that, four years afterwards, the Professor was ap
pointed chaplain of Bishop Barrington ; and I had to be examined by
him at Newcastle, for deacon's orders."
The remainder of this very interesting letter belongs to a sub
sequent page of Mr. Hodgson's history. The reason why he
failed in this ardent wish is not stated. To have accompanied
such a man on such an expedition, was an employment for which
he was peculiarly well qualified ; and the result might have placed
him in a sphere more suited to his character and attainments.
Dr. Carlyle was Arabic Professor in the University of Oxford,
eminently skilled in the Oriental languages, and at that time
engaged in collecting manuscripts from all quarters for a revised
edition of the Greek Testament.
The village school at Matterdale, of which Hodgson became
master on the 8th of June, 1799, as he elsewhere informs us,
possesses a slender endowment of III. per annum for educating
poor children; and is situated in the narrow and picturesque
valley of that name, terminating in the lake of Ulswater. Here
it was that his geological pursuits began to assume a character,
and lead him into courses of thought and reflection ; laying in his
mind the foundation upon which he continued to build fabrics of
geological results and discoveries during the remainder of his life.
Before this period, even so early as 1794, he had been an observer
of the structure of the rocks in his native vale and its neighbour
hood: now he is something more than a mere observer. He
begins to make them the subject of his study, with such aids and
assistances as fall in his way. His letter to his son in 1831,
above referred to, and to be printed hereafter, gives a minute
account of his proceedings in this department of science, at the
period at which we have arrived; and in the same letter we have
a curious incidental proof that he was upon the look-out also, at the
same time, for subjects of archasological interest. " In passing,"
says he, "over Moor-Cuvoch, in 1800, I had observed a stone,
which I then supposed had some characters upon it with which I
was unacquainted. In walking from Askham to Pooley-bridge,

12 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
in May 3, 1811, I was anxious to have a second sight of it, but
sought it in vain." In 1817 he was more successful. "I did
not," says he, " in this search forget to look for the stone that
attracted my attention in 1800, and reached it soon; when I found
it to be a large detached mass of griiuwacke, shewing its con
glomerate origin in several rings and segments of circles, eaten by
the weather into its surface, as sharply as if they had been cut
with a sculptor's chisel; and thus the long-encouraged vision of a
Saxon or Latin inscription, in Runic or some other antique
characters, evanished in a moment."
But at Matterdale Hodgson did not long remain. After what
he calls " a frightful summer and winter," he became the master
of another village school at Stainton, in the parish of Dacre, near
Penrith, and here he was residing occupied in teaching the
children of the village, when, in the beginning of the year 1801,
upon the recommendation of his relation Mr. Bawes, at that time
master of the school of Witton-le-Wear, and afterwards the well-
known and highly respected master of Kepier School in Hough-
ton-le- Spring, he was appointed to the mastership of the school
of Sedgefield, in the county of Durham. Mr. Bawes, as it appears
from his letter to Hodgson, dated on the 31st of January in the
above year, had been solicited by Mr. (afterwards Lord) Barrington,
the rector of Sedgefield, to recommend to him a proper person
to take charge of his school, the emoluments of which, as it was
stated, consisted of an endowment of about 18Z. or 20/. per
annum, with from twenty-five to thirty scholars at from 7s. 6d. to
10s. per quarter. Hodgson lost no time in making application
for a situation so superior in point of income to any thing to
which he had been accustomed; and on the 23rd of February
following he received the appointment, and also a licence from
the Bishop of Durham, a short time afterwards, to exercise his
vocation. I find no traces of any subsequent intercourse, friendly
or otherwise, between Hodgson and his relation Mr. Bawes, with
the exception of a letter from the latter on the subject of the
Felling subscription in 1812, and his acceptance of a sermon by
Hodgson in a later year, and yet they lived at no great distance
from each other, until the death of Bawes in 1827, in the 63rd
year of his age.

SCHOOLMASTER AT SEDGEFIELD. 13
Hodgson has hitherto been acquainted only with his own native
hills and dales ; and as such wild and romantic scenery as that of
Westmerland and Cumberland has, in general, a tendency to fix
a stamp and impress of independent character upon its youth,
with that stamp he was strongly and honourably marked when he
turned his face to the east, to cross Stainmore, and settle as it
were under another climate and in a new land upon the eastern
coast of the island. Fie travelled by coach to Bowes, and
thence walked by way of Witton-le-Wear to Sedgefield, with but
few accompaniments. No coach had then begun to run in that
direction, and when, during his residence at Sedgefield, he had
afterwards occasion to visit his home from time to time, it was on
foot that his journeys were made; and he never failed to avail
himself of such opportunities to add to his stock of geological,
botanical, and antiquarian knowledge. The rocks of Stainmore
and the vale of Tees, which lay in his way, afforded him an
ample and novel field for observation, and his antiquarian zeal was
excited by new objects, the Norman castles of Bowes and
Barnard, and the monastic ruins of Eggleston. He did not then,
however, or ever afterwards, forget his own Abana and Pharphar,
the lakes and streams of his native valleys; or the majestic hills
on which he had been accustomed to gaze from his boyhood.
The memory of them never faded from his mind. He thus writes,
after an interval of thirty years, when he had been long settled in
Northumberland. When I was at Alston, last summer (1830), I went with some
friends, Sir J. E. Swinburne, his son-in-law Mr. Bowden, and Mr.
Hedley of Chesterholme, to the top of Hartside (a high hill on the con
fines of Westmerland), to let my " aching sight " have a view of the
" visions of glory " to be seen from thence. The new road led us in a
wrong direction to have a prospect over Lowther and the Shap and
Bampton fells, which I longed most to see : but I ran alone to an emi
nence, where I got a momentary glance of them all, and afterwards
wrote the following lines.
For a further mention of these verses the reader is referred to the
geological letter of 1831, printed in the sequel in its order of time.
Hodgson had been scarcely two months settled at Sedgefield
before he communicated to an old friend at Dalemain, near Stain-

14 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
ton, an account of himself and his position in his new locality.
The reply to this letter has been preserved; and it is very
characteristic of its writer, who appears to have been a good
hearty farmer, writing a neat hand, and overflowing with village
news. We are all very glad to hear that you approve so well of your
present situation, and hopes that, in time, it will turn to your advan
tage: although you are so much confined at present, i( may be better
afterwards.  William Thompson began our school, the Monday after
you left it, with about 25 scholars.  1 have seen your father twice,
but had no time to have any discourse with him. All articles of living
here continue extravagantly dear, and more so than when you left us.
 Senhouse has left off his writing, and has begun weaving, for
present pastime.  William Todd is a man of no small consequence.
 1 desire you will not think anything about the contents of your
former letter, as I can very well judge of your situation, and will
always be very glad to hear from you, and hopes that you will not fail
to come and see us when you come into this country, and heartily wish
you all the prosperity that you can desire and deserve.  — William
Fell's principles are upon the levelling system; his children do not
know what the catechism means ; but, as a teacher, he is excellent for
any young man going into trade — he is very changeable and wants to
get rich in no time, which he does not yet find the way of doing. Mr.
Percival's wheat looks well.  Mr. Hasell's man Walter is to be
married at Whitsuntide.  &c.  1 have received of Lane. Thomp
son 10s., and of Thos. Thompson, 4s. id.  1 am Sr, yor most obed.
serv*, Edmund Bowman.
It seems to be pretty clear that Hodgson had tabled with this
talkative but hearty man, and that there was a money account
between them, Hodgson being the debtor; but there is a frank
ness in the letter which must have removed any temporary
uneasiness from his mind.
At Sedgefield Hodgson was kindly received. Mr. Barrington*
was a nephew of the Bishop of Durham ; and his curates were
Mr. Hollingsworth and Mr. Stopfbrd. Mr. Hollingsworth had
been, or was soon afterwards, a popular preacher in a proprietary
chapel in London; but eventually he became Vicar of Halt-
* Afterwards, in 1813, Viscount Barrington, upon the death of his brother.

SEDGEFIELD. 15
whistle in Northumberland, and afterwards Bector of Boldon, both
in the p'atronage of the Bishop of Durham. He died at Boldon
m 1839. From this gentleman, as we shall see afterwards,
Hodgson received much kind advice upon a trying occasion ; and
at all times many proofs that in him he had a friend. To Mr.
Stopfbrd his obligations were still greater, and of a more durable
kind. From him he received important help in the studies to
which he had had no opportunity of paying attention at Bamp
ton; and probably also the rudiments of Hebrew, a language
which he afterwards cultivated with considerable success. Mr.
Stopfbrd had pupils of his own who were above the age of boy
hood. To some of these, as it seems probable from letters before
me, Hodgson gave instruction in mathematics; and with all of
them he appears to have associated on a friendly footing, interest
ing himself in their studies, and benefiting from them in return.
With many of these young men, for some time after they had
gone to the university or out into life, he kept up a correspond
ence; and their letters, in reply to his, address him in the
warmest terms of friendship and respect. With Mr. Stopford
himself, his acquaintance ripened into friendship, and continued
till the death of that gentleman in 1816 as Vicar of Brantingham,
in the East Biding of Yorkshire. He had previously held the
perpetual curacies of Kyloe and Lowick in North Durham.
Whilst they were resident at Sedgefield, Hodgson and he, as we
shall see afterwards, were upon the point of being employed in
collating two Greek manuscripts of the New Testament, of high-
antiquity, with the most approved English edition. The rector
too was not backward in appreciating Hodgson's deserts as a
scholar, and in after-days, when all official connection between
them had ceased, never failed to treat him and speak of him with
kindness ; frequently inviting him to spend a few days with him
at his house in the College in Durham during his residences as a
prebendary. " Mr. Hodgson," said Lady Barrington to him one
day, during one of those visits, in the hearing of Mr. Surtees,
" you look very unwell ; what can we do for you ? " " Lady
Barrington;" said he in reply, "I thank you for your kindness;
but, if I must tell the truth, I shall never be well again till I get
back to my own quiet home. Your late hours destroy me."

16 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
Of Hodgson's own scholars whilst he resided at Sedgefield,
many seem to have come from a distance, some from Newcastle,
for the benefit of his tuition; and with one of them, Benjamin
Braidley, a Sedgefield boy, of whom he had lost sight for many
years, he was delighted towards the close of his life to enter into
a correspondence, which will be noticed hereafter. Mr. Braidley's
letterof May 1835, to be printed in the sequel in its order of
time, gives the names and subsequent history of several other boys
who had been his contemporaries in Hodgson's school.
I have before me a book containing a few memoranda by
Hodgson at this period, but they are of little importance to his
personal history. They consist chiefly of scraps of original
poetry in an unfinished state, extracts from poems by others, from
John de la Bruyere's Characters of Theophrastus, Hume's History
of England, &c. He informs us, in another place, that at this
period he met for the first time with Boswell's Life of Johnson.
Here also he appears to have been a member of a book-club, to
which he pays 5s. , and also of a friendly society, which costs him
10s. lOd. He has dealings with Christopher, a bookseller in
Stockton, of whom he purchases Stillingfleet and Hooker, not
forgetting a sermon case, in anticipation of a curacy in due time.
In November 1801, the money affair with his Westmerland
friend again distresses him ; and in reply to a letter on the sub
ject, on the 21st of that month, Mr. Bowman once more writes to
him in the same hearty way. His letter is dated on the 8th of
December. " I beg of you," says he, " not to think anything of what you mention
in the first part of your letter; as, I assure you, it is of so little conse
quence as not worthy of notice ; and when you come into this country
will always be very glad to see you, and hopes you will not return
without spending a little time with us, so long as it can be made
agreeable, and can very readily forgive you for not seeing us again when
here last. We are very sorry to hear of your bad health, and should
recommend, if you could, not to confine yourself so much ; as it may lay
a foundation of bad health that you may never recover. And I think
you are right in pursuing the Church, as there is little doubt but in your
situation you will in time gain preferment.  Mr. Percival has been
employed a good deal since you were here in watching his com from
the sparrows, in cutting, getting it in, and in thrashing it; which has

SEDGEFIELD. 17
produced eight bushels from one and a quarter peck of seed. The Miss
Mounseys continue single.''
This letter informs us that Hodgson was at that time beginning
to think of entering into holy orders. He is now approaching
his twenty-third year, and his bad health was probably leading
him to the conclusion that school confinement might send him to
an early grave. An offer, however, is now made to him tempt
ing him to enter into an engagement of a very different kind from
either the one or the other, an offer which few persons in his
situation, with a very limited income arising from a most trouble
some and confining occupation, and labouring besides under the
most uncertain health, would not have gladly accepted. It may
be as well to state the nature of this offer, and his reasons for
declining it, in his own words.
" Mr. Fishwick (of Newcastle) offered me at Sedgefield 300?. a year
as Director of the Lemmington Iron Works (near Newcastle) ; which I
declined, as wishing to pursue a literary, rather than a mercantile life;
though I believe that the chemical skill required in conducting a con
cern like that of Lemmington would have led me into inquiries and
researches which would have been very delightful to me.''
This memorandum is written beneath a note in the hand
writing of another person, and in the following words: —
" Mr. Fishwick of Newcastle has called upon Mr. Hodgson at Sedge
field ; and, should Mr. Hodgson think anything further of the subject, he
will please to send a fine to Aubone Surtees, Esq. banker in New
castle." This offer, which proves that Hodgson's character, as that of a
trustworthy person and of a scientific mind, was well-known and
appreciated, was probably made to him by the recommendation
of Mr. Aubone Surtees, a banker in Newcastle, who had under
Mr. Stopford's care sons, with whom Hodgson for a long time
afterwards kept up an affectionate correspondence.
It would appear from a letter before me, dated 16 December,
(1801,) that, by way of amusing his leisure hours, Hodgson had
now begun to turn his attention to topography, and that he had
written to the Editors of the " Beauties of England and Wales,"
a work then in a course of publication, to offer his services so far
as the county of Durham was concerned. In his reply of the
C

18 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
above date, Mr. E. W. Brayley regrets that he had not paid his
correspondent a visit at Sedgefield during his personal survey of
the remarkable places in the county, and solicits any information
respecting Sedgefield and Hardwick (the only places in it which
he had not seen), not contained in Hutchinson's History. This
application led to an engagement in a later year, from which we
have the " Northumberland " and " Westmerland" of that very
useful publication.
From Sedgefield, Mainsforth, which will for the future be a
place of name and fame in the county, is distant only three
or four miles; but it does not appear that there was at that time
any intercourse between Mr. Surtees and Mr. Hodgson. Nor
indeed, all circumstances considered, is it to be wondered at that
the two should not have come into contact with each other.
Surtees was then fresh from Oxford, and in full possession of no
mean patrimonial estate. Hodgson was a poor youth, toiling
hard in a village school. And yet what seeds of union there
were between the two, and how those seeds grew up and
flourished in after years ! —both born in the same year, the one
kind-hearted and generous to an extreme, the other, although
a poor humble schoolmaster, a gentleman in thought and habit,
stamped with the strongest impress of an honest and independent
mind, the very man after Surtees's own heart; both deeply read
in the best authors of Greece and Borne, both poets, both ardent
admirers of nature and her operations, both, even then, in their
very entrance into active life, laying plans for developing the
history of their country. One thing is most certain, that if the
two had fallen in each other's way, then, for their mutual plea
sure and advantage, would have commenced the sincere friendship
which it was left for an after-year to originate and cement. It
was Hodgson's fate to outlive his friend, and deeply, as we shall
see, did he lament his loss.
In 1802, Hodgson appears to have obtained a title for Holy
Orders, as on the 1st of May in that year, I find the Bishop of Dur
ham writing to him, and consenting to receive the signatures of the
two Sedgefield curates, in addition to that of Lord Barrington, to
his testimonials, as he was unknown to any beneficed clergyman
in the neighbourhood. At the same time, and for the same

SEDGEFIELD. 19
object, his old friend and master Mr. Bowstead writes to him
respecting a testimonial for that portion of the preceding three
years during which he had resided within the diocese of Carlisle.
The name of the curacy which he had obtained as a title does not
appear, but it was probably that of Sedgefield itself, as may be
inferred from a letter by Mr. Hollingsworth to be hereafter noticed.
This curacy would appear to have been suddenly obtained; and
Hodgson as suddenly called upon to undergo the necessary
examination. And now comes what Anthony a Wood, the
Oxford Chronicler, would have termed a sad passage in his
history. I have heard him say that the time was fixed by Lord
Barrington without his knowledge, and that, being completely
taken by surprise, he urged the necessity of a little delay for
thought and preparation. But the day was appointed, and, his
request not having been granted, he made his appearance to
undergo the trial. The bishop's examining chaplain at that time
was Dr. Burgess, prebendary of Durham and rector of Winston, a
mild amiable man, and a consummate classical scholar, the
Editor of Burton's Pentalogia, of Dawes's Miscellanea Critica, and
of various theological works; but well known for his strictness,
and something more than strictness, in conducting his examina
tions. The Bishop of Durham had a prescribed set of books, with
which he expected his candidates for Holy Orders to be ac
quainted; and so particular was his chaplain that, as we have
been informed, he not only required the matter, but not un-
frequently the very page of the book in which it was written, in
reply to his questions. It was, besides, his habit to diverge from
the prescribed path into unknown fields, with which it was no
discredit to any young man to be unacquainted; and so notorious
had this strictness and this habit become, and such terror had it in
spired, that, although in those ctays the Bishop of Durham held
only one ordination in each year, yet, upon one occasion, only one
candidate ventured to present himself for examination. In the
year 1803, Mr. Barnes, the late vicar of Berwick-upon-Tweed, was,
as the writer has heard from his own lips, the only person who ap
peared, and that for Deacon's Orders. Candidate for the priesthood
there was none. The chaplain had heard of Barnes's classical repu
tation, and, by way of prelude to graver matters, introduced the
c 2

20 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
subject of Bentley versus Boyle, on the Epistles of Phalaris. The
conversation became animated; till at length the examiner said,
"Mr. Barnes, I shall give you no further trouble." Before such a
man Mr. Hodgson, who, as we have said, had enjoyed no time for
preparation, and was at all times timid even to excess, lost all
confidence in himself, the moment he entered the room ; and he
was rejected. They who knew his character and the acuteness
of his feelings can easily picture to themselves his state of
mind when he returned to his school and its confinement,
bowed down to the ground with disappointment. He had
failed in the object on which he had long set his heart; he
felt himself branded with disgrace; and he had before his eyes
the dreary prospect of a continuance of that wretched state of
health which the open-air duties of a parish might have alleviated,
or even removed entirely. At this period his case was an un
happy one. His depressed feelings soon began to co-operate with
his bodily infirmities; and he almost immediately afterwards, what
is not to be wondered at, appears to have formed a resolution to
escape from Sedgefield, at whatever risk, regardless of conse
quences. But he consulted a friend, and that friend gave him
good advice, which he wisely followed.
From the Rev. N. J. HOLLINGSWORTH.
" Dear Sir, Bath, Aug. 6, 1802.
" Accept my sincere thanks for your kind letter.  1 hope
to see you at Sedgefield in about a fortnight.  You will not, I
hope, determine anything hastily with respect to your situation at Sedge
field, as, if even you should resolve to quit it (which will not I trust
be. the case), it would be advisable to delay this till a situation for your
admission into Holy Orders may offer elsewhere. In the meantime you
will, of course, profit by your improved state, of health, in making such
additional preparation as you may think requisite to qualify you for being
a successful candidate in the diocese of Durham.  1 remain Dear
Sir, your obliged friend, N. H."
In December 1803, still anxious for a change of situation, he
made inquiries respecting the second mastership of the Free
Grammar School of Kirby Hill near Richmond, then vacant; but
in consequence of a letter from the Rev. Thomas Jackson, a name

LANCHESTER — ESH AND SATLEY. 21
never to be mentioned by the author without feelings of the
deepest respect and gratitude, he declined any further application
in that quarter.
In the commencement of the following year, having been at
last from continued bad health compelled to resign the school of
Sedgefield, he accepted the mastership of that of Lanchester, a
village about seven or eight miles to the west of Durham, the
duties of which were lighter, and, besides, he had hopes of ob
taining a curacy in the neighbourhood. In this expectation he
was not disappointed. Before many months had elapsed he was
fortunate enough to obtain a nomination to the cure of Esh and
Satley, to be held in conjunction with his school, and he rejoiced
in the prospect now before him. Since his unfortunate attempt to
obtain Holy Orders in 1802, much time had elapsed, and he had
been making due preparation. During the latter period of his
residence at Sedgefield, he had purchased from Christopher, a
bookseller in Stockton, the works of Hooker and Stillingfleet,
and he had no longer Dr. Burgess to be afraid of. That amiable and
learned man had been raised to the bench of Bishops, and Dr.
Carlyle, of whom we have above spoken, was appointed in his
place. How Hodgson fared in his next attempt, he himself in
forms us in his letter to Sir W. C. Trevelyan, written in 1843,
and already referred to in a preceding page.
" It was however very curious that, four years afterwards (that is
after 1799) the Professor was appointed Chaplain of Bishop Barrington,
and I had to be examined by him at Newcastle for Deacon's Orders ;
after which he put into my hands two very ancient manuscript copies of
the Greek Testament, and begged me to collate them with Wetstein's
copy. He had several other copies, which he purchased in different
Grecian monasteries. I thought our friendship was going to be firmly
fixed for some time, but he died at Newcastle (in 1804) before I could
be ordained. Tour letter about Greece reminds me of these circum
stances ; but my head, I fear, will not allow me to write another para
graph." In his Journal for 1841, Apr. 21, we find a further mention of
these two precious manuscripts. One of them, it appears, was to

22 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
be collated by Mr. Stopford, the curate of Sedgefield. After Dr.
Carlyle's death, they were given up to his executors. *
Having passed his examination, upon a title to the sub-curacy
of the chapelries of Esh and Satley, in the parish of Lanchester,
Hodgson, armed with letters dimissory from the Bishop of
Durham, was admitted into the order of Deacons by the Bishop
of Carlisle, at Bose Castle, on the third day of June, 1804. I
have heard him say that his journey to Carlisle was on foot, and,
further, that, having neglected to take with him a gown for the
ceremony, one was kindly lent to him by the Bishop (Dr. Ver
non, afterwards Archbishop of York), with this good-natured
wish, "Mr. Hodgson, this is the gown in which I myself was
first ordained, and I hope it will be as lucky to you as it has been
to me.'' This same anecdote is told in Mr. Atkinson's short but
pleasing memoir. From his account it would appear that Hodg
son's want of a gown on the occasion arose from his having
missed the coach in Newcastle, and his having, in consequence,
been obliged to leave his small portmanteau behind him and make
the best of his way on foot to the ceremony of the ordination.
To anticipate his history for one year, it may be here stated
that he was ordained a priest by the Bishop of Lichfield and
Coventry (acting for the Bishop of Durham) in Durham Cathe
dral, on the 29th of September in the following year, and on the
same title. Dr. Haggitt, one of the prebendaries of Durham, was
his examiner on this occasion.

CHAPTER II.
Lanchester— Esh and Satley — Collegiate Church — Lanchester School — Roman Camp
and Antiquities — Poems — Longovicum — His cousin Harding.
The year 1804 sees the subject of our Memoir settled in the
sub-curacy of Esh and Satley, chapels of ease in the parish of
Lanchester. These two chapelries, although at that time, as at
present, separate benefices, were then held by one incumbent;
and of this incumbent Mr. Hodgson was the representative. In
all probability his salary was very small, the curacies themselves
having been left in extreme poverty by the dissolution of the
collegiate church of Lanchester, to stalls in which their duties
and revenues had been attached before that act of spoliation was
carried into effect. In the church of Lanchester, before the disso
lution of religious houses, there were a dean and seven preben
daries, each having his specific duties within this extensive and ,
important parish, and each having his own share of its revenues,
in recompence for his services. It is not easy to understand why
the act of spoliation should have extended to collegiate churches;
but no county suffered more severely from its operation than that
of Durham. The great parishes of Darlington, Chester-le-Street,
St. Andrew's Auckland, and Lanchester, comprising a very large
portion, perhaps nearly one half of the county, were by royal
sacrilege robbed of their natural rights ; and at the present clay
any small income which they may happen to possess is chiefly
derived from Queen Anne's Bounty or other accidental sources.
In each of these collegiate churches there was, before they suffered
from the hand of violence, a staff of clergy with a due division of
labour, and a competency for their pains. In their stead we have
now lay impropriators, who take all and give little in return.
Such was the state of the chapels of Esh and Satley in point of
religious services for a long period after the- dissolution, that a
century has not elapsed since they had only duty once a month

24 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
performed by the curate of Lanchester, the mother church, in the
best way he could. " I feed my fell cattle only once a month,'
said an incumbent of Lanchester who died only in 1778. This
was surely not a subject for a joke.
With respect to the chapel of Esh, there is one little piece of
history, in which,, if he had been acquainted with it, Mr. Hodg
son would have felt much interest. Here, at the altar of St.
Mary, on the 10th day of August, 1303, King Edward I. made
an offering of seven shillings, on his way from Durham to Hex
ham; and on the same day, during mass in his private chapel,
he made another offering of three shillings, in honour of St.
Lawrence, at Lanchester. The king was at that time on his road
to the borders of Scotland, where he died at Burgh-upon-Sands,
in the February following.
Mr. Hodgson did not take up his residence at Esh or Satley,
but at Lanchester itself!, three miles from either chapel ; the
chapels themselves being about the same distance from each other.
Happily the districts were not then so populous as perhaps they
are now, but even at that time the curacy must have been one of
no small labour and responsibility. He could not afford to keep a
horse, and therefore he must have had many a long and weary walk
in all weathers, as we say in the North. His Sunday duties ap
pear to have been morning and afternoon service at each chapel
alternately, with the usual week-day ministrations. Once only
does his name occur in the Esh register, and that is in attestation
of a marriage on the 30th July, 1804.
Some opinion may be formed of the extent of Flodgson s perso
nal property at this period, from the circumstance that its removal
from Sedgefield cost him only the small sum of 4s. 9d., the dis
tance being not much less than twenty miles by the round-about
way of Durham. After he had become settled at Lanchester, his
first purchase was a fishing-rod, wheel, and hooks for 22s. The
pleasure which he had derived from angling in the lakes and
streams of his native Westmerland again revives. At Sedgefield
he had had no opportunity of indulging in this amusement,
without going to a distance; but here, at Lanchester, every
facility was thrown in his way. Two well-known trout streams
were at his very door, the one running through the village, and

LANCHESTER SCHOOL. 25
the other joining it a mile below. He buys also gunpowder, but
no mention is made of a gun or of shot. The one he could
borrow, the other he could purchase in the village. His payment
for board and lodging seems to have been at the rate of 14Z. per
annum; and, such being the fashion of the day, he buys hair
powder, for the first stock of which he pays Is. 3d. These few
notices are extracted from a collection of memoranda, begun at
Sedgefield, of which some use has been already made. In this
book I find reference made to a journal kept by him in 1802,
which has not been preserved. From the attempts at poetry in
the book before me, I select one, which, whatever its merit as a
composition may be, is very striking for its piety. The fourth
line is unfinished. " A Prayer.
Eternal source of never-ending love,
From whom all goodness, all perfection flows !
Let no fond passion in my bosom move,
But such
Frail, as the earliest flower of early spring,
And more unstable than the passing gale,
Thy succours 1 implore, Eternal King,
To guide my footsteps through life's dreary vale.
Tear from my heart the latent seeds of pride,
And prune the wild luxuriance of desire ;
For each day's want a competence provide,
Then let me, when Thou wilt, in peace expire."
But here also, as has been already stated, he was a school
master. To eke out the slender income of his curacy he was
obliged to teach the village school; and of his doings in this
school I have heard him tell many amusing anecdotes. The
school itself consisted of two very humble rooms, one above the
other, and the communication between the two was by a ladder.
The boys were aloft, and sadly did they sometimes misbehave in the
absence of the master. " I found them better to manage," said
he, " than the girls, and therefore I put them above, and I could
always frighten them well by going a few steps up the stee, and
showing; my black head, of which they were afraid."
** Soon as the evening shades prevail,
The moon takes up the wondrous tale."

26 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
" Now, my little girl," said he one day to a child repeating the
above lines, " tell me what is meant by this tale1?" " My daddy's
cow tail," was the reply.
There was at that time belonging to this school an annual
payment of ten pounds, settled upon the Greencroft estate by
George Clavering, Esq. a former owner, for teaching a few poor
children; but, owing to some family disputes, or some other cause,
it was not paid during Hodgson's mastership. The arrears how
ever, amounting to 251., were honorably given to him in 1813,
long after he had left the place; as he had conscientiously per
formed the duty, notwithstanding the withdrawal of the salary.
Of the other children, some were taught at the usual rate of 3d. or
4d. per week; others at the rate of 7s. 6d., and others at that of
10s. per quarter. From his account book he appears to have had
much difficulty in extracting his poor fees from the parents of
some of his scholars. One single entry may suffice. " Dec. 10,
1804. Received pay for Walton's children of New Houses. My
bill was 9s. lid., but I only took 9s. in money; the rest in scold
ing. The bill ought to have been 15s."
This was weary work for such a man. But he had clerical
duties to cheer him, and private pursuits and studies for his con
solation in his solitary hours. " At Lanchester," says he, "I
commenced my knowledge of the coal formation." On this ac
quaintance and its results, much remains to be said in a future
page. But, in addition to clerical duties and geological inquiries, he
begins to be a poet and antiquary in earnest. He had not long
been settled at Lanchester before his antiquarian zeal awoke from
its slumbers. In 1801 he had offered his services to the Editors
of the "Beauties of England and Wales," but the county of Durham
had been surveyed before his letter was received, and his assis
tance was not required. From that time we hear of no search
after old stones with supposed Bunic inscriptions, as upon Moor
Duvoch in 1800, nor of any other attempt at gathering sweets in
the flower-strewn field of hoar antiquity. Here, however, at
Lanchester, was a mine of the most exciting antiquarian wealth,
in which had laboured Camden, and Horsley, to say nothing of
those Dii Minorum Gentium, Gale, Stukeley, Hunter, Hutchinson,

LANCHESTER — ROMAN CAMP, ETC. 27
and last, though not least in his own honest estimation, Cade;
under whose feet wherever he trod there sprung up camps and
military roads, with the peculiar faculty of changing their sites
and directions according to his will and pleasure. By all these,
in their order of time, had the Roman camp at Lanchester been
investigated and described ; but each succeeding year had brought
to light new records, numismatic or lapidary, of its ancient in
habitants, calling for elucidation. Here, then, was a field for
an active mind, and just at the very time there came into the
valley a man in the vigour of youth, with every necessary power
of investigation, and already in no slight degree stung by the
oestrum which goaded on honest old Aubrey to " this wearisome
task of searching for antiquities, which (as he goes on to say)
nobody hereabout hardly cares for, but rather makes a scorn of it.
But, methinks, it shews a kind of gratitude and good nature to
revive the memories and memorials of those who are long since
dead and gone."
To Hodgson, whatever progress he might have made in archaeo
logical pursuits, which was perhaps not much, a Boman camp
was a subject of novelty; and we have abundance of proof that he
lost no time in commencing and vigorously prosecuting the study
of this branch of our national antiquities. In the progress of his
inquiries he was told that, on the subject of the camp at Lan
chester, some valuable information could be afforded by Mr.
Richard Waugh, a person who resided at East Morton, not far
from Durham; and in reply to his application to that gentleman
he has preserved the following letter, proving its writer to have
been a man of an inquisitive mind and accurate observation. Of
his own letter Hodgson has kept no copy. It may be stated that
his correspondent resided at one time, as it appears, at Lanches
ter. He died in 1808. In his will he is described as " of Gates
head, merchant," and he left behind him a manuscript collection
of local words and phrases, with respect to which I find Hodgson
making anxious inquiries in 1813, after he had taken up his
residence at Heworth. The result of these inquiries was, that the
book was, on the 22nd Nov., in the possession of Mrs. Emerson,
of Hillgate, in Gateshead. " She sought for it," says he, "yester
day, but did not find it, but she knows she has it, and will send

28 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
for me when she has found it." It does not appear that the book
was ever found. A collection of Durham words, formed now
almost a century ago, would be peculiarly valuable at the present
time; and I have placed the above memoranda upon record to the
intent that they may be of use in any search which may be made
for its recovery.

"To the Rev. Mr. HODGSON, Lanchester.
" SlR, East Morton, 5 May, 1806.
" Yours of Saturday morning was handed to me in Durham. I
shall willingly give you any small information I have respecting the
Roman station at Lanchester. The altar you allude to is a small votive
one, and was in good preservation the last time I saw it at Hollin Hall:
but since that it was in possession of the late Mr. Callender of New
castle, who gave it, along with some other antiquities, to P. Crosthwaite
of Keswick, in whose museum I suppose it still remains.
" The inscription I have not by me ; it being among other old papers
of mine in Gateshead; but I will seek them out, and send it you in a
few days. About 18 or 20 years ago, a considerable number of Roman
copper coins, with a stylus and other things, were found at your station.
Mr. Hopper (now of Hamsteels) got these ; who tells me he gave them
away ; and thinks they are at present in the collection of Dr. Mitford.
I am not certain whether I have a copy of their inscriptions preserved,
but a description of them was printed in the Newcastle Chronicle, at
that time, about 1787 or 8. The station has been supplied with water
from the sovu-ces of the Smallhope, above Knycheley, a distance of about
three miles. Mr. Tho, Fenwick, of Dipton, and myself, traced the
course of the aqueduct, from its head down to the west side of the station,
where there has been a reservoir. It begins about a mile to the S. W.
from Knycheley mill, near a house called Dyke Nook; where an
embankment has been thrown across the rivulet, to collect the waters of
three fine springs — thence skirting along the heath, till it crosses the
road on the west side of Mr. White's woodlands, where it enters his
plantation, and passes on a little way south of the house, distinguishing
its track by the superior size of the trees, which are more luxuriant by
its edges than in other parts of the grounds ; then, continuing its course
eastward through the new-inclosed fields on the north side of Home-
Moor Hill, takes a sweep to preserve the level and comes on 'tween

LANCHESTER  ROMAN CAMP, ETC. 29
Newbiggen and Upper Houses, and over the old inclosed ground, where
it is nearly obliterated, till it crosses the Wolsingham turnpike to the
station. " This watercourse is now dry, and has been neglected, I suppose, ever
since the Roman town and station were abandoned ; as the head-stream
has found its way down the ancient course of the rivulet, and now
supplies the corn-mill at Knycheley. Mr. Fenwick would, I dare say,
point out this aqueduct, so as to give you a better idea of it than any
description can convey; and I wish you every success in collecting
materials for a history of the place. Mr. Fenwick was mentioning that
he has lately got an altar that was found at Ebchester, which I have not
seen ; you may likely take an opportunity to examine it.
" When at Lanchester the other day, Smith's Botany was lying in
Newton's ; which induced me to suppose you are paying attention to the
native plants in the neighbourhood. As this part of natural history
has long been a favourite pursuit of mine, you would oblige me much
by communicating the habitats of any of the rarer species you have ob
served; as it may add to the catalogue of the Durham and Northumber
land plants lately published. " I am, Sir, with respect, yours, &c.
" Rd. Waugh."
Here is a kind and sensible letter, which, as we shall see, excited
Hodgson to make further inquiries touching the subject now begin
ning to engage his attention. The concluding paragraph of the
letter gives us the further information that Hodgson was at that
time beginning to turn his thoughts to botany, a science in which
he afterwards made considerable progress, and which afforded him
much gratification in his after years. A few days afterwards he
writes again to Mr. Waugh, and also to the keeper of the museum
at Keswick, respecting the altar above mentioned. I give their
letters to him in reply. Of the result of his investigations and
inquiries respecting the camp, more will be said in my notice of
his poems, written here at Lanchester, in which " Longovicum "
makes so conspicuous a figure as the result of his Roman
inquiries.

30 MEMOIR OF REV. JOHN HODGSON.

"To the Rev. JOHN HODGSON.
" Sir, East Morton, 17 May, 1806.
" The Roman coins, of which the following is some short account,
were found in a field on the east side of the station at Lanchester, be
longing to Miss Ornsby, where it was ploughed out in the spring of
1788 "No. 1. A laureated head, legend very perfect, imp'C-m*avr-
sev • alexand • avg. ; and on the reverse, pietas • avg. Figure,
the iype of Piety at the altar. This coin must be of Alexander
Severus. " No. 2. A female head, ivlia ¦ maesa • avg • ; and on the reverse
saecvli •'felicitas. The figure is stolated, at the altar, holding in the
right hand a patera with a star, which shews her to be deified; in
the left an hasta with a caduceus.
" No. 3. A laureated head, imp • antoninvs • avg. On the reverse,
victoria • avg. The figure Victory gradient or passant, holding in
the right hand a laurel, in the left a palm.
" No. 4. A female radiated head, legend perfect, sall • barbia
orbiana • avg. Reverse concordia • avg. Figura sedens, dextra pa-
teram, sinistra cornucopiam. The wife of Alexander Severus.
"No. 5. Of copper. A radiated head. On the obverse, imp • C • vic-
toeinvs ¦ p.f avg. On the reverse, pietas (as in No. 1 nearly).
" A large coin of very bad brass, one and a quarter inch in diameter
and one-eighth in thickness : legend defaced. On the reverse a figure
which I take to be Quies, a goddess among the Romans.
" The four first numbered coins are of a substance like tin. There
were also two more of copper and one of lead, defaced.
" A copper wire four and a half inches long; one-eighth of an inch in
diameter, sharp at one end, with a moulding one inch from the point ; the
other end is flat. I conjecture it to have been a Roman stylus or pen for
writing upon waxed tablets.
" A piece of lead which has been about an inch in diameter, and one-
twelfth in thickness, having a small triangular piece of copper fixed in
the middle : it seems to have had legends on each side, but now totally
defaced. " A kind of hollow-headed nail of brass with a flat shank, one inch
long, one quarter broad, flat at the end, and having near it a round
hole, one-sixth in diameter; to what use it may have been applied I

LANCHESTER — ROMAN ANTIQUITIES. 31
am not able to form the least conjecture: it is finely coated with the
' sacred rust of antiquity ' so much esteemed by antiquaries.
" The three following coins were found some time the same summer.
" 1. A laureated head, caes ¦ ner • tuaian • optim • avg* ger. Reverse,
p • M • T • P • CVi T'P'ST'Q'K. Figura stans, dextra bilancem, sinistra
palmam. " 2. A laureated head, p ¦ sept • geta ¦ pivs • avg  Rev.
.... Caasar paludatus, stans, dextra ramum, sinistra hastam, cum
tropeo a tergo.
"3. A laureated head, imp ¦ antoninvs • pivs • avg. (Elagabalus).
u The last and finest of these coins which I have seen is the following :
it was found in June 1789, in Miss Ornsby's field when weeding.
"A fine struck laureated head: legend, imp • constantinvs • avg.
On the reverse a very perfect figure of Sol gradiens, holding in the right
hand a lamp, in the left a globe; five rays about the head, soli
invicto ¦ comiti. In the exergue, ptr: under the right hand t: under
the left f. This coin is in copper, nine-tenths of an inch in diameter,
weight fifty-and-a-half grains, beautifully covered with an iron-coloured
rust: it is more perfect than any of the foregoing, both in respect of the
head and figure on the reverse, and also the formation of the letters ;
they being squared at the heads and feet like the modern Roman
alphabet now used. " Rev. Sir, yours truly,
" Rd. Waugh."
[On the back of the letter is a drawing of a Roman altar at Mr.
Tho. Wilkinson's, Hollin Hall, 1788. Face nine inches high: between
six and seven inches broad. Inscription, d victorie vot • s ¦ V ¦ L •
M. s.J " To the Rev. JOHN HODGSON.
" Dear Sir, Keswick, June 2, 1806.
" I received yours of the 30th ult., and indorsed send you as good
a drawing of the Altar as I am able ; but the latter part of the inscrip
tion is not legible and left blank. Breadth at the middle seven and a
half inches. Breadth at the two ends eight and a half. Thickness at
the middle four and a half. At the two ends five. On the centre of
the top is indented the representation of a small saucer with a cup topsy
turvy in its middle, viz. like as an indent made in clay with a six
pound cannon-ball in its middle, flat side down. The altar is free-

32 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
stone, of a large grit, and when fresh broke of a cream colour. I shall
be very thankful to receive any very curious article by carrier, if not
too heavy, and am, Sir, your humble and very obedient servant,
"Peter Crosthwaite.''
[Here is a bad drawing of the altar mentioned in Mr. Waugh's first
letter. J "N.B. — The figure on the side of the stone like the handle and
shank of a key, projects above the surface of the stone, and its parts are
about three-quarters of an inch in diameter I have no other antiques
from Lanchester."
At. Lanchester also the poetical tendencies of Hodgson's mind
began to expand and manifest themselves in a more conspicuous
way. The following pleasing stanzas were written here in 1805,
although they were not published till 1810, when his mother, to
whom they are addressed, was in her grave. She was buried on
the 25th Aug. 1809. His father died in 1807, in the 54th year
of his age. The small volume in which the stanzas are contained
will be noticed hereafter.
To the Author's Mother on his Birthday.
Full six and twenty winters now have swoln
With angry turbulence the stream that laves
The meadows, where my boyish feet
Their dark prints left in morning dew,
Since I was born.
O, my dear Mother, with what envious speed
The years of mortal beings roll away !
Like couriers through some beauteous vale
We haste, and the receding view
Escapes us fast.
In memory's eye the finish'd moments seem,
A mighty prospect, dappled o'er with gleams
And gloom — with sorrow and with joy :
A land diversified with wilds
And flowery plains.
Far back, in dim diminish'd form, appear
The days of childhood, like a distant hill
With ether blue ; and nearer rise,
A wild of barrenness, the idle years
I spent at school.

LANCHESTER — POEMS. 33
There is my entrance in the vale of life !
Dark as a forest in a winter's night,
All through whose boughs translucent streams
Of love and bliss, and hope and fear,
Like moonlight flow.
High on the foreground, in colossal size,
Manhood, in strange variety, presents
A picture over which the mind
Hurries with pain, or gazing views
With fond delight.
Before me blackness palpable is spread,
Through which conjecture travels but in vain :
Another birthday I may see ;
Or, long ere that, be lifeless clay —
'Tis mystery all !
O could I wings across my shoulders bind,
With speed far swifter than the swiftest gale
I'd rise impatient from the earth,
Cleave the long wilderness of air,
And come to you.
While life shall flutter at my mother's heart,
Dear, very dear, the dawning light shall be,
Which first, on dewy-glistening wings,
Maternal prayers for me upbore
To Mercy's throne.
Nor shall forgetfulness obscure the day
When o'er my cheeks the emblematio drops
Of pureness fell, and holy hands
Upon my infant temples made
The Christian sign.
For when I lose remembrance of her love,
Who watched with anxious hope my rising years,
Farewell to all the bliss of life !
Farewell my God, and farewell all
That's worth a thought.
But this was not the only poem written by Mr. Hodgson at
Lanchester. I have before me a small volume of the most unpre
tending appearance, with the following title, " Poems written at
Lanchester by John Hodgson, clerk. London, 1807," of which
little book an account must be given, not merely because it is its
D

34 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
author's first appearance in print, but because it demands a notice
from its intrinsic merit, and the light it throws upon the thoughts
and feelings, and, it may be added, the amiabilities, of his mind
at that early period of his life. One more remark may be made, —
that he was an acute observer and ardent admirer of nature in her
various operations is proved in every page of this little volume.
The poems which it contains were written, as their author in
forms us, in periods of ill-health and the depression of spirits
which the long continuance of such ill-health never fails to bring
along with it. What a merciful gift must a mind so constituted
be, under such painful and almost hopeless circumstances, to the
man to whom it is vouchsafed ! As long as Hodgson could so
observe, and think, and write, he wanted not consolations in the
midst of afflictions of whatever kind or severity.
The book contains a poem called "Woodlands," " Longovicum,
a Vision," and five " Odes." It is neatly printed, in a duodecimo
size, by David Akenhead and Sons, Newcastle, and extends to
nearly 140 pages. With Mr. John Akenhead, Hodgson main
tained a long and cordial friendship after his settlement on the
banks of the Tyne in 1806.
In the preface we have the following statements as an apology
for the boldness of its author, in thus appearing before the
public. These statements are chiefly deserving of a notice here
on account of the personal history which they contain.
" At a time when the claim to poetical talent seems no longer to be
attributed to innate power, or to any peculiar complexion of the human
mind, when the press every day teems with polite and well-finished
verse, it may demand an apology to offer to the public a work trifling
and unimportant as the present volume.
" And after I have confessed it is neither from the flattery or the
persuasion of my friends, nor from any confidence in the merit of my
own performance, that I send it into the world, I hope I may be
credited. To say I am entirely unanxious about its favourable recep
tion would belie my feelings. Authors of every description must be
agitated with some expectation of the good opinion of their readers, and,
if I have any motive for the publishing this volume, it certainly origi
nated in a desire to draw myself from obscurity into notice. My scheme
may be blameable, and every way unsuccessful. But when I recollect

LANCHESTER — POEMS. 35
the pleasure I had in composing these poems, and the hours of sickness
and anxiety they have alleviated, I shall never look back with penitence
on the time I have bestowed upon them.
" During a residence at Lanchester of a little more than two years
my time was chiefly occupied in educating the children of the village,
and attending to the duties of an extensive curacy. But my health
had required some relaxation from professional employment ; and that
was chiefly sought for in the society and hospitality of the families in
the neighbourhood, in wandering into the fields, in botanical recreations,
in searching for antiquities about the Roman station, and in occasional
attempts at poetry."
" Woodlands," he proceeds to state, " which has been chosen for the
subject of the first poem, is situated near Lanchester, in the county of
Durham, and is the estate of Thomas White, Esq. Prior to the year
1777 it was a wild heath. For improvements in it, according to the
Transactions of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, &c, Mr.
White received their gold medal ten times, and their silver medal once.
The following description of it previous to its inclosure is from Mr.
White's own report: —
" ' The ground of this plot, whilst in a state of nature, was covered with
ling, fern, broom, and bad grass, and rushes in the wet places : the high
parts of it very bad land, of a channelly 'quality, and not many inches
from a grit-stone rock: lower down the hills the land is of a better
quality, affording a tolerable depth of soil, but was then very cold and
swampy for want of draining. The features of this inclosure are rather
gentle than bold, inclining from the north and south down to a narrow
valley in the middle, which continues from east to west through the
adjacent country, over which a small but petulant trout-stream wantonly
meandered in so many ridiculous mazes as choked its own progress, and
rendered the whole of the small valley, containing about eleven acres of
my best and most sheltered land, almost useless.' " — Transact, of the Soc.
of Arts, fyc. vol. v. p. 10.
" Of the second poem (the author proceeds) the notes I have given
supersede the necessity of any explanation in my preface : and the pieces
I have ventured to call Odes are, perhaps, more in want of a sufficient
apology for their insertion than of a history of their composition."
" Gateshead, June 1807."
It forms no part of my duty to exercise, even if I were able,
the province of a critic; but it may probably appear to many
of my readers that, as a whole, the poem of Woodlands is no
D 2

36 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
ordinary composition, and there may be many who will thank me
for placing before them the following extracts, some of which, on
account of their personal nature, appear to demand a place m a
memoir of their author, if even there were no better reason for
bringing them forth from a book which is now but little known.
Now Flora, loveliest of the train of spring,
Her temples wreath'd with many a blushing flower,
And loose robe floating on the sunny light,
Calls out her children from the sleep of death.
The humble speedwells, with cerulean eye,
And deep-ting'd violet, with fragrant breath,
Adorn the shade: scatter' d o'er every mead,
The golden spangles of the pile- wort glow;
And through the leafless woods the anemone
And fair oxalis, like yon world of stars
That crowd the galaxy, serenely smile.
Meek offspring of the earth, your fragrance breathe
O'er hill and dale ! In all your mingled hues,
Burst from your seeds and little folded buds !
O'er you, as well as man, the Almighty's eye
Watches for ever; and the lily's bell
Is still as white, as beautiful, as sweet
As in the morning when the obedient earth
Heard the Creator's mandate, and ye sprang,
Seed-yielding herbs, tall trees, and grassy blades,
All-jocund into life. How many hours
Of sweet society I found with you,
When grief and sickness every evening drew
The wings of misery above my head !
And (hardiness may laugh) but I have thought
'Twas cruelty to pluck you in the bloom
Of life, and implicate your bleeding stems,
E'en though to make a garland for the brow
Of her I most admire. With you I claim
A mortal kindred ; for, like me, to death
Obnoxious are you all. But then, alas !
My death is passage to an awful state,
In which no change of circumstance can be.
A grain of wheat, committed to the earth,
Produces wheat, consimilar to itself,
And souls their moral likeness still shall keep —
Be rude and restless in the world to come,
Or, blessing others, happy in themselves. — p. 14, &c.
Spread like a mantle o'er yon sloping hills,
The forest now appears. It feels the vernal lymph

LANCHESTER — POEMS. 37
Ascending its innumerable veins,
And, pleased, its dappled livery reassumes.
For commerce or for war, in future days,
Of slow maturity, the sapling oak
Unfolds his princely honours ; and the lime
Weds his young branches to the shady beech.
Clust'ring and dark, the Caledonian fir
Puts on a brighter hue. The lofty spruce,
That on Norwegian hills by twilight seems
A sable pyramid of dizzy height,
Extends the branches of bis gradual wheels,
And throws his length'ning spears into the sky.
The larch, fair native of the towering heights
^Whence storm-fed Po, impatient down the brows
Of Viso, comes to kiss the blooming flowers
Of Parma's pastures, like some beauteous maid
At Hymen's altar, bends with graceful boughs.
Its robe is bridal, set with dangling flowers,
Of which the yellow male affords a dust,
That by the Zephyr's ministerial hands
Borne to the purple bride, with joy, insures
Fecundity. And, trembling like a hart
Entangled in a hunter's toil, the poplar shakes
His hoary tresses o'er the murm'ring'brook :
Dark alders too, the many-leaved ash,
The supple osier, and the slender birch
Put on the vesture of the youthful year." — p. 24, &o.

Tell me, ye dead ! is not your ceaseless work
To adore and imitate the God who made
Your glorious habitations, and to search
With unabated zeal into the plans
Of Wisdom infinite ? O happy life,
And happy spirits, whom no ills molest !
A few short years, and we shall all enjoy
This high, this full beatitude with you.
Brothers — is this no phrenzy of the soul ?
Oh, yes ! dear sister, I shall meet with thee ;
The anguish that my mother felt, and all
My father's tears, that wet thy early grave,
Shall then be quite forgotten in our joy.
Methinks I see thee in yon distant star
Astronomers the fair Arista call,
With all our humble kindred, bending down
To sing high anthems to the King op Kings,
And, while imagination fills my ear
With angels' harmony, my eyes weep joy.

38 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
O ! may this dear delusion oft possess
My soul, — this little visionary gleam return
To dissipate the clouds of human ills,
And gild my prospect into future bliss. — p. 36, &c.
Within the shadow of a southern hedge,
The mower hangs his scythe upon a bough
Of feathery larch. Exact, as is the sun
To climb the dizzy summit of his course,
His little daughter brings a clean repast,
Prepar'd by her who shares his toil and bliss.
The prating beauty on his shoulders hangs ;
Dangles the flexures of its father's hair,
And wakes a trembling pleasure in his veins.
Here is a lesson for the idle crowd,
Whose limbs are lax and weary with the toil
Of most laborious drivelling. Round his head
He twines his tawny arms, and lays him down,
Possess'd of all the luxury of rest.
Light is his heart, not many are his cares;
His mind upon a level with his state ;
And if he never felt the throb of him
Who wanders in the flowery paths of thought
With science and with poesy, he feels
No hooks of envy thrown into his soul ;
No shock electric, from the hand of pride,
To paralyze the body of research. — p. 38, &c.
The poem of " Longovicum" is, as its title at length informs
us, " a Vision." Its author sees in a dream a female "form
divinely fair — with flowing robe and braided hair" moving upon
a cloud " whose milky hue — was ting'd with shades of clearest
blue" and singing to her harp the history of Longovicum under
the Druids, the Romans, the Saxons, and the earlier period of
Christianity. The verse is harmonious, and some of the pictures
are very striking. But the poem was perhaps chiefly intended
to serve as a text to which might be appended numerous learned
and interesting notes relative to the history of the Camp it
self, the result of reading and personal observation. These notes,
which are occasionally illustrated by woodcuts rudely carved by
the author himself, prove that to Hodgson's short residence at
Lanchester must be attributed that faculty of patient inquiry into
the subject of Roman antiquities for which he was afterwards so
highly distinguished, and which, in process of time, led to such
signal discoveries in other and more extensive fields. He now

POEMS — LONGOVICUM. 39
for the first time writes upon subjects to which happily so much
of his after leisure was devoted, and he writes to the purpose.
To Lanchester in fact we owe " The Roman Wall."
A few of his more general remarks upon the camp and its
situation and condition at that time may be extracted from his
pages. Mr. Surtees made much use of the whole in his History
of the County, vol. ii. p. 303 — 307.
" The Roman station (writes he, p. 67, &c.) the history of which has
been attempted in this little poem, is situated near the village of Lan
chester in the county of Durham. From the present extent of its ruins
and the variety of curious inscriptions, coins, and sculptures that have
been dug from them, it is certain the place was once of considerable
importance. But its history is so much involved in obscurity, and so
many of the records of its ancient strength and extension have perished
with its less valuable remains, that its name is now disputed and its
founder unknown."
He then discusses at length the opinions of preceding writers
respecting the real name of the station in times of old, and pro
ceeds —
" The scene of this Vision is supposed to lie about the middle of the
south wall of the station. Within the last century, and in the memory
of many people yet alive, the whole site of the station was overgrown
with thorns, brambles, and hazels. But its irregular ruins have now
for several years been levelled by the plough, and its area, and the
ground on the outside of its walls, been usefully employed. It still,
however, exhibits one of the most conspicuous remains of a Roman
camp now to be seen in South Britain. That many valuable antiques
should be destroyed by the workmen, who prepared its site for agri
cultural purposes, was to be expected, and that its remains have
for many ages continued to be removed for building the church, the
village, the farm-houses, the fences of the neighbouring inclosures, and
even to be buried in the highways, is more than probable. It has often,
indeed, been visited by very eminent antiquaries, especially by Dr.
Hunter and Mr. Horsley, and several of its inscriptions and coins
have met the eyes of the curious. But, it is to be feared, many of these
records of its history are irretrievably lost. The late proprietor of
the farm at Hollingside remembered the spot when it was covered
with fallen pillars, and while the towers of the wall were still visible.
His dwelling-house was in a great measure built from its remains,
and the masons he enqsloyed, according to his own description, pre-

40 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
ferred the stones that were carved to those that had been used lor
ordinary purposes. " The grave stones that were a' covered wi1 letters
made excellent throughs .'" One stone in particular, he affirmed, made
a yard of wall, and had a beautiful female figure cut on one side,
which the' masons turned inwards. This figure is said to be in the
west gable." — p. 74, &c.
" While I resided at Lanchester I not unfrequently met with frag
ments of altars, hand-mills, mortars, and other curiosities, in the field-
walls, and the walls of the cottages and farm-houses, but was never
fortunate enough to be gratified with a new inscription. Two of
the votive altars I found, had the figures of toads cut upon them;
a third had a patera and urceolus on its sides ; and a fourth, though
neatly hewn, was without any emblematic representation." — p. 78.
" Its form is a parallelogram, the length of the vallum or wall from
east to west being one hundred and eighty -three yards, and its
breadth from north to south one hundred and forty-three yards.
Like all Roman camps, it had a gate in the middle on every side,
from which were streets traversing each other at right angles at the
centre. Of the east and west gate and the street leading between them
there are yet evident traces. The corners of the wall were round and
guarded with towers. The vallum itself was eight feet thick at the
foundation, gradually decreasing by parallel steps from the surface of
the inside to four feet at the top. It was strengthened on the west by
a fosse. The other sides had the advantage, in case of a siege, of the
sloping of the hill. The Pretorium was situated near the north gate,
and evident vestiges of it are still remaining. The stone has been
brought from a hill about a mile east from Lanchester. There are
traces of two aqueducts, each at least two miles long." — p. 91. &c.
At a subsequent period of his life, when resident at Heworth,
Mr. Hodgson communicated to the Archaeologia .iEliana (vol. i.
p. 118) Observations on one of these aqueducts, and also
Remarks upon certain heaps of Iron Scoria in the parish of
Lanchester. Of the odes contained in the same little volume one is ad
dressed to the West Winds; two to the Rev J. Cowper, a school
master at Swindale, the author's birth-place ; one to a Bee; and
the fifth and last to a Lady. We venture to print the first at
full length. It was a great favourite with the late Mr. Surtees,
no ordinary judge of poetical elegance, long before he was
acquainted with its author.

LANCHESTER — POEMS. 4 1

To the West Winds.
Whither, ye timid zephyrs, have you flown,
Ye people of the west wind, tell me where
You stretch your aromatic wings,
And in what gardens of the sun,
At morning, breathe
Your pleasant odours ? Have you southward fled,
With spring to linger on the breezy shores
Of Ebro, or the olive's leaf
To paint with everlasting green
On Tajo's banks ?
Perhaps you sport upon the golden sands
Of Niger, and, in heat meridian, dip
Your wings upon Anzico's plains ;
Or in the cocoa- vestur'd isles
Beyond the line
Kiss the young plantain, and to dance and song
The simple natives call. O ! ministers
Of health, and medicines that cure
The soul with sickness woe-begone —
O back return,
And brace my languid limbs, and on my cheek
With hands benevolent your crimson lay :
Come and repair the dreadful waste
Committed by the boisterous tribe
That rule the north.
From the fair pastures of the bright-horn 'd bull
Descending, on the orient shafts of day,
A thousand sylphs of heat are come
To strew your grassy road with flowers,
And bid you hail.
Already has the primrose decked for you
Her fragrant palaces, and wide unfolds
Their vestibule with yellow doors ;
The purple-spotted orchis too
Prepares his halls
Of curious workmanship, where you may spend
Your festal mornings, or, beneath the gloom
Of solitary midnight, rest
In caves, that azure crystal seem
To eyes like yours.

42 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
Come in the globe-flower's golden laver, wash
Your little hands with dew-drops, and in seas
Of evening tears, upon the leaves
Of alchemilla, gently plunge
Your beauteous limbs.
Will you not sip the woodruff's od'rous lymph,
And banquet on the ambrosia it affords ?
Will you not on the wortle * sit,
And luscious nectar drink beneath
Its ruby dome ?
0 ! you shall revel on Eliza's lip,
Madden with lapture on its coral bloom,
And in her gentle eye behold
The infant softness of your form
Reflected bright.
Come then, O genial winds, and in your way
Visit the fairest fountains of the sky,
And in the hollow of your hands
Bring each a precious drop to cheer
Returning spring.
On the subject of the above volume of poems, however, we
must not omit to give Mr. Hodgson's own opinion. The following
is an extract from a letter written by him to his wife at Heworth
when he was in London in 1821. " 3 March. I must not omit
to tell you what the Bishop [of Durham, Dr. Barrington] said
when I entered the room to dinner. ' 0 here he is ; we have just
been talking about you. I have been saying that you are not
only an excellent antiquary but an excellent poet. I assure you
I have read your poems all through more than twice, and I have
been advising the company to do the same; they are full of
genius.' I do not mention this from vanity, because I have none
about the work, which the Bishop honoured with his opinion.
I often wish, on account of its faults, that every copy was burnt."
I myself have frequently heard him express the same desire, es
pecially during a pleasant excursion from Durham to his old
scenes at Lanchester on Oct. 14, 1836. Our company, including
Hodgson, consisted of Mr. Townsend, Mr. Dobie Wilson of
* Vaccinium myrtillus, bilberry or blaeberry. The stamina of this shrub form
a very beautiful dome.

LANCHESTER — POEMS. 43
Glenarbach, in Scotland, Mr. Ornsby, and myself. Hodgson
was our guide over the camp, every line and stone of which
seemed fresh to his memory ; although thirty years had elapsed
since his connection with the village had ceased. But he strongly
deprecated any mention of his poem of Longovicum, which I
happened to have in my pocket, and regretted that the volume
in which it was contained was in existence. With the same feel
ing, he in the preceding year (1835) thus writes in his Journal,
on the 22nd of May: "Finished the account of the trees here
(at Hartburn) for Mr. Loudon, and sent him, to be returned, a
copy of the foolish poems I wrote at Lanchester, as he requested.'
And yet the book had been popular, not only at the time of its
publication, but long afterwards; and he had received numerous
testimonies in its favour from competent and disinterested judges.
Two maybe mentioned: " I shall be happy," says Mr. Surtees, by
letter on the 29th April, 1812, "in any opportunity of your
personal acquaintance; not only on account of the valuable
assistance you promise me, but from the great pleasure I have de
rived from your poems :" and Mr. Tate of Richmond thus writes,
3 March, 1829: " The sympathies of my heart are with you ever
— When I last saw John Ingram (Dr. Zouch's nephew), who once
lived at Stain drop, it delighted me to hear him speak in such high
terms of admiration about your little Book of Poetry. Ingram
is a man of very fine cultivated talent."
But of the poem of Woodlands more must be said, at the risk
of being thought tedious by those who have not, like Hodgson,
studied nature and her proceedings, and for whom the eternal lan
guage of hills and dales and streams has no charms. Such sub
jects as these, it must be admitted, have been much abused in
what has been called poetry ; but there may be some who will be
of opinion that Hodgson's feeling of intense veneration for out
ward nature is expressed in no ordinary way.
From a memorandum in his Journal it appears that, about the
year 1830, Mr. Hodgson revised the poem of Woodlands with a
view to a new edition. The alterations and additions which he
proposed to make are many of them before me ; and they are of such
a character as to cause a regret that his design was not carried into
execution. The additions are numerous and important, proving

44 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
that time had matured the judgment of their author, and had
furnished him with new ideas, and a still more happy mode of ex
pressing himself in poetic language. I shall probably not incur
much blame if I give from the manuscript the following extracts.
The poem itself is already before the world. The additions and
emendations may never see the light except partially in the
present pages. But how shall I the rural pipe attune
To peaceful measures, while tempestuous winds,
Fitful and loud, upon my roof descend ?
The sturdy plane-tree stoops : the moon, alarm'd,
Flies like a hunted stag from cloud to cloud.
While rudeness thus usurps the reign of night,
How shall I sing of influences of stars
Or inspirations from the midnight hours
That pour their soothings o'er the anxious soul ?
How shall I paint the mead,
With blooming hawthorn hemm'd around, and streams ;
With butter-cups that drink their spangled hue
From golden rivers of the opening day ?
How think I wander in some shelter'd nook,
Where, in the blushing noons of early spring,
The daisy courts the sun with open disc,
And tufts of primrose grace the hazel banks ?
But contrast teaches us the worth of things,
And gives the highest relish to the joys
That stand in sight of danger or of pain.
Hence the strange pleasure that the landsman feels
In safety, when he sees the tempest turn
The ocean's surface into whitening foam,
Or on its curling billows bear aloft
The gilded vessel and its gallant crew,
Like leaf autumnal, or an empty gourd,
To dash to atoms on the deafning shore.
Hence the lone herdsman, on a mountain-brow
Secure, the thrill of pleasing horror feels
While war's dread din from all the plain below
Comes thiek'ning up, and lightning's horrid glare
Through smoke and dust from thick battalions join'd,
And trench'd artillery on the carnage gleams.
Then, while depression weighs my spirits down,
And tempest riots in the troubled air,
Go, Fancy, forth and contemplation hold
With woods, and cultur'd fields, and lawns,
With warbling birds, and Flora's lovely train.

LANCHESTER — POEMS. 45
And tell, how White, with irresistless word,
Drove startled Barrenness from all her rights
Of old possession ; and morasses deep
And wind-swept hills in woods and verdure clothed,
Such as in genial climes spontaneous rise
By winding margin of a mighty stream.
And while in thought I tread yon silvan aisles
Through all the seasons of the changing year,
In morning's balmy air, in heated noon,
Or veiled in shadows of the dewy eve,
And trace Divinity in Nature's laws,
Be far, my soul, from adulation's shrine ;
Pour thou no incense on the altar there —
Its perfumes all thy youthful energies
Will kill, forbid thy pinions far above
The intrigues of life in freedom's car to ride
Arid make thee crouching sycophant, but fit
To be a great man's Sunday visitor,
The piteous object of his alms and scorn.
But be thou bold, and generous : from fear
Or envy never let my heart refuse
To useful merit its reward of praise.
Departed spirit ! daughter of my friend,*
From Heaven, thy home eternal now, 0 send
On me the lambent tongue of fire and powers
Thy aged father's broken heart to heal ;
His troubled mind with holy charm to touch
Of consolation, and to lead his step
Backward through scenes where he and nature vied
The desert and the wilderness to clothe
In garments such as floated once around
Patau's rich places and the ancient groves
Of Gehol. Thou hast pass'd the gate that leads
To life eternal, and the scenes with thee
Are all of certainty and joy : but do not
Angels of the world, of faith, and hope
Remembrance bear, and sympathize with those
They left behind, obnoxious to the pangs
Of mortal partings and the pains of death ?
And he, thy sire, of memory's dearest thoughts
Is worthy 'mongst the worthiest. They who
Were mighty born have mighty works to do,
And often do them not. The coronet
Within its magic circle has a spell,
That binds nobility to offer all
* Mr. White of Woodlands.

46 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
Her wealth and mental powers before the shrine
Of pomp. The hot-house bears the fragrant pine
While corn-fields cease from culture. Indian palms,
And balmy flowers that nature gave to climes
Within the Equator blossom now in air,
Britannia in ten thousand furnaces
Is forced to heat, while millions of her sons,
For want of daily bread, are forced from home
For friendlier shelter and for better fare
Than home could give, in foreign climes to seek.
The following extract savours strongly of the first Georgic of
Virgil. Where the smooth land with vegetable soil
Abounds, and dark and friable but thin,
And near to barren sands, is found below,
Then, O ye husbandmen, beware to let
Your coulters shine. The granary henee few times
Replenished, and ten centuries' constant rest,
Without manure your folds can ill afford,
The pilfered treasure from your injured fields
Cannot restore. Here, if the earth inert
By decomposing lime converted be
To pabulum fit for herbs that love the mead,
Enchantment quickly to the feast shall raise
Fescue and poa, and the clover white,
And odorous vernal grass, delight of sheep.
But if its face with willows low, and heath,
And mouldering brinks of pools uneven be,
Ere drought unusual make it gasp with thirst,
Or withering toughness root of shrub or rush,
Or spongy hillock touch, the parers then
With hooked spades in regular lines should lay
The loathsome bearded turf. Few days elapse,
And numerous hands to winds and sultry suns
In columns straight the sever'd earth expose,
Till fuel dry 'tis pil'd in rows of cones
On flaming embers, task of Bportive boys,
Laborious, but congenial to their minds.
By gentle breezes fann'd, the flame ascends
In lambent spires — a blaze that mocks the sun,
And far and wide in light blue volume spread,
The smoke with peaty odour scents the air.
Now strew the ashes alkaline around,
And covering friable of clay or sand
Or earth calcareous add, and plough the land,
And harrow, till the whole be smooth and plain ;

LANCHESTER — POEMS. 47
And last of all, when April's lengthening days
A streaming vapour from the moist land draws,
With even hand the well selected seed
Of various grasses to its care commit ;
But guard thy labour well from hoof of horse,
Or heavy cattle, till the roller's weight
Or summer's heat compactly bind the sward.
One winter past, and spring shall nurture here
A herbage thick of deeply-tinted green,
That from the scythe in fleecy loads Bhall turn
The rich reward of well-directed toil.
Whilst resident at Lanchester Hodgson discovered in the county
of Durham another cousin, a youth of the name of Harding, a
native of his own valley of Swindale, and three years younger
than himself, with whom he entered into a friendly correspondence
on subjects of literature, &c. The young man was a teacher of
writing, and perhaps also of arithmetic and mathematics, in the
school of Mr. Bawes, who had by this time removed from Wit-
ton-le-Wear to Houghton ; and certainly it is not easy to conceive
a more beautiful hand than that in which he writes his letters.
The two appear to have met occasionally, both at Lanchester,
and afterwards at Gateshead ; after which period all intercourse
between them seems to have been interrupted for many years ;
until in 1839 they again begin to write to each other: and in
one of his letters Harding, who then and had long resided in
Liverpool, gives an account of his history during this long inter
val. He had been a private tutor in several respectable schools,
had married, and had become the father of eight children, six of
whom were then alive and in the way of doing well. Of Hodg
son's letters to this gentleman I have unfortunately no copy,* but
' that they were full of kindness and information is manifest. To
one of them, the contents of which may be surmised from the
answer it received, Harding made a long reply, from which,
although I am anticipating the order of time which in general it
is my intention to pursue, I make the following interesting
extract. " In looking over your note, which I do with renewed pleasure, I am
particularly struck with the account you give of the dreams you relate
* It is probable that these letters may be procured in time for my purpose.

48 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
in reference to the scenes of our early youth. What you say about
Swindale is to me very affecting. It recalls many tender scenes, that
are past and gone, and which can never be recollected in this world ;
but the hope of a recognition and happy reunion to our relations in the
next is, as you justly intimate, our only solace here. I set a high value
upon what you call your proxy, as it does ' revive in my memory the
lineaments of an old friend.' It reminds me of Cowper's feelings on the
receipt of his mother's picture ; and I wish I had talents to pay an equal
tribute. The account you give of your topographical labours, con
sidering too your clerical duties, is to me quite astonishing; and am
glad to find that the composing of this work has afforded so much
rational amusement, and, I would hope, some reasonable profit. The
silence being now broken, I shall be happy to hear from you freely, as
often as may be convenient. Your affectionate cousin, "J. Harding."

CHAPTER III.
Gateshead — Neville's Cross, a poem — Presented to the Living of Jarrow with Heworth
— C. Ellison, Esq. — Ancient History of Jarrow — Duties and Emoluments of
Jarrow and Heworth — Creation, a poem — A painter — History of the River Tyne
and the Roman Wall.
In the summer of 1806, after having resided at Lanchester for
nearly two years and a half, the subject of our memoir became
Curate of Gateshead under Dr. Prosser, at that time its rector,
prebendary, and afterwards Archdeacon of Durham. Of Dr.
Prosser in after years Hodgson had little to say, except that he
made his curates wear a hat of a peculiar kind at visitations.
Hodgson kept his hat to the last, as a curiosity. He leaves the
vale of Lanchester, however, with considerable regret. With the
two principal families then resident in the parish, the Whites and
Greenwells, he had lived upon amicable terms. But his connec
tion with such friends was severed by a distance of eight or ten
miles only ; and after his departure it appears to have undergone
no interruption. The Whites, in particular, ever afterwards con
sidered him as a friend of their house, and invariably, as is proved
by their letters, communicated to him their joys or their sorrows ;
until Woodlands passed into the possession of another family, and
they themselves became scattered residents in other and distant
localities. The estate has passed into other hands. Much of the
timber planted by the first Mr. White, having gained its growth,
has been cut down ; and the land upon which it grew, having been
greatly benefited by the improving process it had undergone, is
now devoted to pasture and tillage. Woodlands, however, still
retains many beauties.
Proofs are not wanting that Hodgson was duly estimated by his
Lanchester friends, and his welfare an object of their anxiety.
Soon after his departure from that valley, Mr. Walker, the in
cumbent of the parish church, died; and, such was the feeling of
the people in Hodgson's favour, after his connection with them
E

50 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
had ceased, that they unanimously joined in a petition to the
Bishop of Durham, its patron, for his appointment to the vacant
benefice. The petition however was not attended with success,
and the unsuccessful candidate has preserved a letter from his
kind old friend Mr. Stopfbrd of Sedgefield, at that time perpetual
curate of Kyloe and Lowick, near Berwick-upon-Tweed, con
doling with him on his disappointment. There is somet hing ver
pleasing in the letters of this gentlemanly man. Others will pre
sent themselves to our notice hereafter.
"I do not forget you. I am not unmindful of you. My daily
prayers and wishes are for your health, prosperity, and peace, as well as
for the health, prosperity, and peace of all other friends and relations
who justly merit my esteem and love. I easily foresaw that the appli
cation of the parishioners of Lanchester in your favour would avail
nothing, but rather the contrary.  But be not grieved at your dis
appointment. Be not anxious about such things. Conscientiously
discharge your ministerial duties, and leave the rest to the disposal of
an all-wise, good, and gracious Providence. I beg to recommend to
your notice my son Theophilus, the bearer of this. I hope you will
have frequent opportunities of seeing him and giving him good counsel
and advice, which to young persons, in such a place as Newcastle, is
highly necessary.  Your sincere friend, " W. Stopford."
The duties of the parish of Gateshead were of a most laborious
kind. The population in 1801 was 8597, and there was at that
time, I believe, no chapel of ease to assist in accommodating so
many people. But Hodgson was no longer a schoolmaster; and
therefore his leisure hours, few though they were, were at his
own disposal. Here too was a new field for his inquisitive mind,
and here he converted to a good use the opportunities which
were thrown in his way for acquiring sound practical knowledge
in the various departments of science in which he took a delight.
If during his residence at Lanchester, he formed his first " ac
quaintance with the Great Northern coal-field" under such limited
circumstances as that neighbourhood afforded, here he became lo
cated in the very centre of mining operations, surrounded by pits
in full working, and so abundant in produce as to encourage
their owners in sparing no expense in working them in the most

GATESHEAD. 51
scientific way. Here also, in other respects, he found the human
mind in the greatest activity. Enterprise and commerce, with all
their remunerative concomitants, were flourishing on both sides
of the Tyne, and elaborate machinery for almost every variety
of purpose was in full exercise, giving employment to thou
sands. Here then was a wide field for a mind like his, taking
nothing upon credit, but investigating with eye and thought every
thing connected with science or adventure which fell in his
way, and suffering no opportunity of gaining practical informa
tion to pass away unheeded. The only literary employment
in which he appears to have been actually engaged, during his
residence in Gateshead, was the publication of the poems written
at Lanchester, of which we have already spoken. To the painful
discharge of his clerical duties and to the acquisition of useful
information he appears to have devoted his energetic mind with
constancy and patience — with success we may hope in the one,
under the blessing of the Almighty; the fruits of the other
were not long in making themselves manifest.
Hodgson's Journal during his residence at Gateshead, if it de
serves the name, is of a very miscellaneous nature, and kept
apparently with no great regularity. It comprises notices of his
various public and private ministrations as a clergyman, his
sermons, visits to the sick, distribution of charity money, &c. &c.
Many entries are made in short-hand of a peculiar character, in
all probability of his own invention. It contains also a few notes
of his personal expenses. Entries of a more general nature are
neither numerous nor important. He became, it appears, a mem
ber of the Literary and Philosophical Society in Newcastle, at
tended lectures there, gained the acquaintance of Mr. Adamson,
his future colleague as secretary of the Antiquarian Society,
and received much notice from his own parishioners. The fol
lowing memoranda are perhaps worthy of being brought to light
as specimens of the entries which the book contains :
 « To write a poem for the benefit of Newcastle Infirmary on
Charity — to make it chiefly didactive, but intersperse it with moral
tales and enliven it with anecdotes."
" I went to-day with Mr. Ornsby of Darlington, an excellent scholar,
to George Gray's room. He was painting a half- sized picture of Bruce
e2

52 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
the schoolmaster. On observing that he did not put his name to all
his pieces. I said ' But it is not a matter of moment, they will always
be recognized.' — He seemed pleased, and said, ' An artist's style is like
a hand-writing, peculiar and easily known.' "
"April 16 (1808). Dr. Prosser was collated to the Archdeaconry of
Durham." " May 5. Thursday. Went to Durham, under an expectation of
dining in residence with Dr. Prosser (his late rector). But, though I
had been pressed to go over, any day I was at liberty, I was not in
vited to dinner, or next to not invited : ' Perhaps, my dear, Mr.
Hodgson will stop and dine with us this evening.' "
The Journal also contains a notice that the sum of 114Z. 16s.
had been collected in the parish of Gateshead (chiefly by Hodg
son's means) for the benefit of the widows and children of
numerous poor fishermen belonging to Newbiggin and Blyth in
Northumberland, who had lost their lives at sea in a storm. He
had soon to undertake a similar task at home and in his own
parish, under circumstances of a more painful kind.
It has been said above that Hodgson did not engage in any
literary work whilst he resided at Gateshead, but a little book
has been preserved, which from its hand-writing induces me to
alter my opinion. It contains the beginning of a poem, in blank
verse, on the subject of the Battle of Neville's Cross, near Durham,
extending to upwards of 200 lines, written with considerable
spirit; and also numerous historical notes and extracts from
printed authorities on the same subject, together with memoranda
for his own guidance in the management of the poem. An
alphabetical list is prefixed of persons engaged in the battle on
both sides, and the plan is laid down for a poem as it appears
of considerable length. It has been already said that what is
written is in the most unfinished state, but we may venture to
give by way of specimen a single extract, which is spirited and
poetical. The Scotish king is addressing his nobles, and ex
horting them to make an inroad into England

-shall Scotland's thanes

Still tributary live, still hear the cries
That widows and that orphans for revenge
Morning and evening through our wasted towns
Unceasing utter, and in scabbards still

GATESHEAD. — NEVILLE'S CROSS. 53
Suffer their swords to slumber ? She who held
All Europe's states in tribute, and her sway
O'er Asia's plains extended, and compell'd
The tawny Moor her prowess to obey,
Never by guile or force could bind in chains
The sons of Caledonia; and shall we
Tamely submit to see the sacred soil
That fed our fathers, and through countless years
Has been the abode of liberty and peace,
Held in subjection by a king whose realm
Neither in bounds nor beauty of its fields
Surpasses ours ? What shall we say, my thanes ;
Shall we unsheath our swords and freedom seize,
Or let them slumber, and continue slaves ?
Upon the cession of Dr. Prosser Mr. Phillpotts, now Bishop of
Exeter, was collated to the vacant benefice ; and with him Hodg
son was making the necessary arrangements respecting his curacy
when he received the following letter from Cuthbert Ellison, Esq.
of Hebburn Hall, near Gateshead :
" DEAR Sir, Hebburn Hall, May 23 (1808).
"If your engagements will allow you to breakfast with me to
morrow morning at nine o'clock I wish to see you on particular business.
I am yours truly " C. Ellison.
" Rev. Mr. Hodgson."
The Journal above referred to explains this " particular busi
ness." Hodgson is no longer a stipendiary curate, but the incumbent
of one of the most antient and famous parishes in the whole North
of England ; the representative of a college of holy men who
from Jarrow and her sister establishment of Monkwearmouth
shed the light of learning, sacred and secular, over the widely
extending kingdom of Northumbria.
" May 15. Monday. At Mr. Harvey's. Evening. Mr. Glover (curate
of Jarrow with Heworth) died. Mr. Willis gave me some expectations
of obtaining the curacy of Jarrow and Heworth."
" May 17. Mr. Robinson curate of Boldon died suddenly in his way
from Hebburn Hall."
" May 22. Mr. Barras's. Mr. Akenhead's. Mr. Willis. Strong en
couragement to hope."
" May 24. Breakfasted with Mr. Ellison, and had the living of
Jarrow offered me, without any solicitation, or ever being, but once, in

54 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
Mr. Ellison's company before. Dined with him in the evening. My
obligations are great to Mr. Dodd, Mr. Ellison's steward, but especially
to Mr. Willis (his solicitor). Wrote to my mother, Mr. Stopfbrd,
Mr. Phillpotts, Mr. J. Rawes, Mr. White, Jun., Mr. Greenwell (both
Lanchester friends), Mr Marshall."
This is the commencement of a series of acts of kindness
extending over many years which Hodgson received at the hands
of Mr. Ellison, for whom, and his family, he entertained the
most sincere feelings of respect and gratitude to his dying day.
In turning over an immense mass of correspondence for these
pages I have been much struck with the way in which Mr. Elli
son writes to him on all occasions ; treating him not merely as
his parish priest, but as a friendly adviser on many important
occasions, and almost as a member of his own family. To antici
pate in some measure the course of time, as a specimen of the
delicate and gentlemanly way in which Mr. Ellison was in the
habit of conferring a favour upon him, when he knew it was
needed, the following letter is here presented to the reader.
Hodgson in this year was slowly recovering from a most severe
illness, and Jarrow with Heworth could not afford to pay the
bills of wine-merchants.
" Dear Sir, Hebburn Hall, 8th Jan. 1821.
" I will not fail to forward the letters I received from you to-day,*
and I am very sorry for the cause which prevents me from shaking
hands with you before I emigrate.
"Will ypu do me the favour to accept of 6 doz. of port wine, of the
year 1807, for which I have not a sufficiently rapid consumption. 
" Yours very truly, " C. Ellison."
On the 1st June following the Bishop of Durham wrote as
follows :
" REV. SlR, Mongewell, 1 June, 1808.
" Nothing can be more honourable to Mr. Ellison, more flattering
to you, or more satisfactory to me, than the motives which have in
duced him to give you such a proof of his favourable opinion. That
Mr. Ellison was at that time a representative of Newcastle in Parliament, and
his franks were of great use to Hodgson in his literary correspondence.

JARROW WITH HEWORTH. 55
you will answer his laudable purposes in the appointment by an exem
plary discharge of all the duties which it imposes, is not with me matter
of doubt. I have given directions for preparing your licence, which,
when signed, shall be forwarded to Mr. Burrell* I am with much
regard your sincere friend and brother " S. DUNELM."
His old friend Mr. Stopford also writes in terms of congratula--
tion. " Dear Sir, Kyloe, May 26, 1808
" Yesterday evening my son, on his return from Belford, left here
a letter from you, which conveys to us the pleasing intelligence of your
unsolicited, and consequently unexpected, promotion. We all greatly
rejoiced, and we heartily congratulate you on the pleasing event.
" I am an entire stranger to Mr. Ellison, but I must always esteem the
man who has penetration to discern, and generosity to reward, modest,
unassuming merit.
" I now entertain a pleasing hope that in a little time you will have
leisure and opportunity of paying us a visit. We shall be all very
glad to see you. Please inform us by a few lines when we may
expect you.
" We hope you frequently see Theophilus. We commend him to
your friendship and protection. We understand he has been some time
unwell ; we hope to receive a favourable account of him when you
write. " I pray God to bless you ; and am your sincere friend and humble
servant, " Wm. Stopford."
When Mr. Hodgson's private pursuits and line of reading in
his leisure hours are considered, he cannot but be considered as
having been fortunate in obtaining this preferment ; although
the income of the curacy afforded an inadequate compensation
for the spiritual services of so painstaking a man. If Lanchester
had been robbed of its rights by the strong arm of the Dissolu
tion, so had the church of which he now becomes the incum
bent. * Mr. Burrell's fees for licence, &e. amounted to 101. 2s. 3d. To pay this sum,
among others, Hodgson borrowed 501. of his friend Mr. Robert Akenhead, out of
which ha pays 271. for a mare and 8/. for a gold watch.

56 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
Jarrow had been in times of old a mother church, famous for its
antiquity, and renowned as a seat of piety and learning in the
Saxon period; and Heworth had been an unendowed chapel
within the limits of its jurisdiction. But ancient endowments
had been sacrilegeously set aside, and Hodgson found his prefer
ment in point of emolument, population and all other circum
stances considered, the poorest of the poor. But upon this subject
more will be said after few words shall have been devoted to the
early history of the parish.
If Mr. Hodgson found at Lanchester a Boman camp, for the
amusement o£ his leisure hours, he finds at Jarrow, not only a
station of that people, of a lower class it must be admitted than
that of Lanchester, but also a church boasting, and with no
empty boast, of having been founded in the Saxon times, and
pregnant with ecclesiastical associations of learning and piety
and academical renown. The position of Jarrow, on the very
verge of the Tyne, where that noble river combines with the sea
at high tide in forming a large estuary, now called Jarrow Slake,
led, without question, to the settlement upon that precise spot of
both the Roman and the Saxon. The sea, and security, were
both within reach, when danger approached on the side of the
land, and such a situation was in consequence not to be neglected.
The Roman remains at Jarrow, which Hodgson studied deeply
from year to year, consist of traces of a road extending from the
camp at Lanchester to the mouth of the Tyne, by way of Urpeth,
Gateshead Fell, the modern Wrekenton, and Jarrow itself, to
South Shields, where altars have been found, one of which is at
the present time preserved in the library of the Dean and Chap
ter of Durham. In a communication to the society of Antiquaries
of Newcastle, written in 1822 (Arch. iElian. ii. 123), Hodgson
proves this road to be a branch of the ancient Wrekendyke, and
when requested by the builder of a village on the line of the road,
near Gateshead, to give a name to the new settlement, he called
it by the appropriate name of Wrekenton, which it will now
always retain. But further : during the progress of certain repairs
in Jarrow church, in 1782, two Boman monuments, or inscribed
stones, were found in the walls; and two square pavements of
Boman brick were observed in the earth when the road was

ANCIENT HISTORY OF JARROW. 57
altered near Jarrow Row. Besides, the whole ground to the
north of the church has been ascertained to contain a series of
foundations bearing every character of Roman masonry — and
further still, in addition to these Roman indicia, as Leland would
have called them, a regular line of masonry has been traced from
east to west (parallel to the wall of the church-yard), till it ter
minated in the site of a round-tower, near the south-west angle
of the cemetery, and on this very spot was found a silver coin of
the emperor Aulus Vitellius.*
To come down to Saxon times: — the monastical church of
Jarrow (we may be indulged in giving a few particulars of its
origin and subsequent history) was founded in the year 681 by
Benedict Biscop, a Saxon of noble birth, who had held office
in the court of OswyKmg of Northuinbria, and who, at the early
age of 25, had abjured the world and had become an ecclesiastic.
Jarrow was the second of his monastic foundations. The church
of St. Peter at Wearmouth (afterwards Monkwearmouth) had
been the first, in the year 675. An inscription upon stone, of
unquestionable antiquity and in good preservation in the church
records the dedication or consecration of Jarrow in the year 685,
and soon afterwards, until their destruction by the Danes, the two
establishments appear to have been united in one fraternity, with
the education of youth as one of its principal objects. It is re
corded by Bede that at one time there were not fewer than 600
scholars receiving their education at Jarrow or Wearmouth.
" But Jarrow (we quote from Surtees, p. 69) derives its principal
honours from its connection with the Venerable Bede. An an
cient and not an improbable tradition fixes the birth-place of
Bede to the small hamlet of Monkton, nearly adjoining Jarrow.
Bede himself states, generally, that he was born within the
jurisdiction of St. Peter and Paul, that he entered the monastery
* These notes are chiefly extracted from Surtees, ii. 68, &c. ; see also Hodgson's own
account of Roman Jarrow in the Hist, of Northumb. vol. iii. pt. ii. p. 230. In »
letter to myself, on the 31st of March, 1832, he says — " Jarrow has much that is very
curious about it. The name is derived from the old Saxon and Danish term Gyr, a
carr or marsh subject to be flooded. The Isle of Ely had the same name; and in con
tradistinction to this was called "SuthGyrvy." The inscribed Roman stones mentioned
above fell into Hodgson's hands upon the death of Brand, and he gave them to
Mr. Ellison. They are now at Hebburn Hall.

58 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
at seven years of age in 684, was ordained deacon at nineteen by
John Bishop of Hexham in 696, and received the full order of
priesthood from the same prelate in his thirtieth year (707).
' From the date of my attaining the priesthood, until this my
fifty-ninth year, I have never ceased to compile annotations and
glosses on the Holy Scripture, for the edifying of myself and my
brethren !' In another passage he adds that he spent his whole
life, from childhood to age, within his own monastery. To
these naked dates, and to this simple and authentic account,
little can be added; but the sequestered habits of Bede may
demand the attention of those who, blind to native talent and
home-bred worth, despise all learning and undervalue all ac
complishment which is not tinctured with the flavour of a foreign
growth. The lamp of learning trimmed by the hand of a
simple monastic, who never passed the limits of his Northumbrian
province, irradiated from the cell of Jarrow the Saxon realm
of England with a clear and steady light; and when Bede died,
History reversed her torch, and quenched it in deep night."
But Jarrow and her sister of Wearmouth were, in the year
867, along with similar religious institutions on the eastern coast,
laid waste by a band of invading and plundering Danes ; and, after
having been for a long time unoccupied, became by the gift of
Walcher Bishop of Durham, in 1075, the property and residence
of a few Benedictine monks, who had migrated from Winchel-
cumbe to the North of England, and who eventually, in 1083,
were removed to Durham, to constitute the germ of that afterwards
splendidly endowed Benedictine convent. The Winchelcumbe
monks, however, were no sooner settled at Durham than, mind
ful of the historic fame and sanctity of the two churches
which they had so lately occupied, they established a few mem
bers of their body in the churches of Jarrow and Wearmouth,
which now became separate but dependent fraternities, obeying
in all things the will of the church of Durham, of which they
were offsets, removeable at pleasure, but with fixed sources of
income, of the receipt and expenditure of which an annual ac
count was to be rendered at home. The two churches, therefore,
became cells, as they were called ; and so they continued till the
Dissolution. Many of the annual account-rolls here spoken of, and

ANCIENT HISTORY OF JARROW. 59
numerous inventories of the ecclesiastical furniture, goods, &c. of
the two cells, extending from 1303 to the Dissolution, have lately
been made public by the Surtees Society, and much light has
consequently been thrown upon their history and domestic
economy during that period.
Of architectural interest the church of Jarrow has much to
boast of peculiar to itself. There is over its chancel-arch the
unique and memorable historical inscription in 685, above spoken
of, and numerous fragments of the original Saxon fabric are pre
served in the second structure, which mainly belongs to the
early Norman period of the Winchelcumbe settlers in 1075. The
tower is very characteristic of that early style, and there are ex
tensive remains of monastic buildings of the same date upon the
brow of the hill on the south and west of the church.
These few notices may suffice with respect to the church of
Jarrow, with which Mr. Hodgson becomes connected as its
minister, a place with everything to excite and keep alive his
historical and antiquarian zeal. The Roman, the Saxon, the
Dane, and the Benedictine monk of Durham, all figure before him ;
each with his own national feelings and characteristics, but all of
them belonging to the great family of man : and that he at one
time meditated a detailed history of the place in all its bearings,
appears from the following note by Mr. Surtees (ii. p. 67): "I
am the less anxious to give a more detailed account of this
interesting spot, both because I feel it impossible to collect, from
its present mutilated state, any certain account of its original ap
pearance, and because I am aware that the subject is turning in
the mind of a genuine antiquary who has every local advantage."
To the subject of this contemplated history we shall return by
and by.
It is in general, however, easier to write books than to find
means for sending them forth to the world. The income of
Jarrow was barely sufficient to procure the ordinary necessaries of
life for its incumbent. And here again we may have recourse
to somewhat of history to account for the present poverty of such
an ancient church.
To the monks of Jarrow, the convent of Durham had appro-

60 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
priated the tithes of the townships of Jarrow and Heworth
(strictly so called), together with the responsibility of providing
for the due performance of parochial service in both places, re
serving to themselves the tithes of the other numerous townships
within the parish: that these duties were duly performed by the
monks may not be doubted; but, as the annual revenue of the cell
of Jarrow did not at the Dissolution amount to 2001., it was dis
solved by the first spoliatory statute, and in consequence its
revenues (the above tithes included) fell away for ever from the
church into the hands of the Crown or its grantees, and until
recent times, under the operation of Queen Anne's Bounty, and
other charitable aids, the emoluments of the curacy consisted only
of a pension of ten marks (6/. 13s. id.) per annum, payable by the
lay impropriators (the owners of what had belonged to the monks,
and which had in their time been devoted to sacred purposes),
together with the surplice fees. The population of Jarrow and
Heworth amounted in 1811, three years after the commencement
of Hodgson's incumbency, to 6,303 souls. The income at that
time, from all sources, was not more than 1 161. per annum. There
was no glebe house, and the distance between the church and its
chapel was four and a quarter miles, and the circuit of the parish
was considerable; so that a horse was required, and yet Hodgson
could only afford to keep a horse for the first two or three years of
his incumbency, afterwards he borrowed or walked. But it may
be convenient to anticipate here somewhat of the subsequent his
tory of the parish in point of its emoluments. Things had not long
continued in this state of poverty before Hodgson made an effort
to procure an augmentation to his benefice from the fund of Queen
Anne's Bounty, but difficulties presented themselves, and for a
while he gave up his attempt in despair. In 1815 however he
was more fortunate; Jarrow was in that year augmented with
500/., 200/. being contributed by Lord Crewe's trustees, and 300/.
by Queen Anne's Bounty. In 1818 another sum of 500/. was
raised, 100?. being contributed by the Pyncombe trustees, 100/. by
Hodgson himself, and 300?. by parliamentary grant. In 1819
again Hodgson succeeded in obtaining from the governors of Queen
Anne's Bounty two additional allotments of 200/. each. This sum

DUTIES AT JARROW AND HEWORTH. 61
of 1,400/. in all was afterwards laid out in the purchase of a small
farm called Lough House, in the parish of Stamfordham, for the
benefit of the living.
From the commencement of Mr. Hodgson's incumbency, divine
service was performed in the morning or afternoon at Jarrow and
Heworth on alternate Sundays ; but, as he resided at Heworth, this
latter place had always an evening service, in addition to that in
the morning or afternoon, according to its turn ; so that, over and
above his other ministerial functions, such as reading prayers
thrice, baptisms, marriages, funerals, &c* which were generally
very numerous, Hodgson preached three sermons every Sunday.
" That's a wonderful man, that Mr. Hodgson," said a gentleman
one evening in Durham, in a crowded room, whilst looking on and
talking over a whist table. " Ye'll hardly believe it, but he has
the churches of Heworth and Jarrow, and he has so many duties
every Sunday, of one kind or another, that he's never done ; and yet
after all he gives a second evening service at Heworth; but he is
sometimes so tired that he can only read the exhortation and con
fession before he begins his sermon." " That's very wrong," spoke
a reverend personage, " very wrong, Sir; quite contrary to the
canons." " The canons," replied the first speaker, "the canons, did
you say ? Why as to the canons, just that," snapping the forefinger
and thumb of his right hand with such a noise that there was an
instant silence in the room; "the canons, you know, my Lord, say
a clergyman is not to play at cards, and there you are, a bishop,
with the ace of trumps in your hand." The bishop was the chaplain
of 1802, by whom poor Hodgson had been rejected in his exami
nation for Holy Orders, and the gentleman, who is happily still
alive, was a privileged person in the habit of telling plain truths
in a way peculiar to himself, a man who has not unfrequently
said a good thing, and, with all his peculiarities, has done many a
kind one.
In the year 1809, after he had resided a year at Heworth,
Hodgson began another poem, with the exalted title of " The
Creation," in which however, he made but little progress.
* A portion of land was inclosed within the chapel yard and consecrated as an
additional burial-ground for the chapelryof Heworth, in Sept. 1808, a few weeks after
the commencement of Mr. Hodgson's incumbency.

62 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
Eight closely-written pages in octavo contain the whole of his
labours on this high theme, before the design was abandoned.
Some of the lines, which appear to be in a finished state, are
harmonious and full of character. One extract may suffice. He
thus addresses Truth, in the opening of the poem :

 "O holy spirit, come and breathe
Thy own celestial ardour through my soul !
There is a valley in the moon, where oft
On herbage wet with fragrant dew thou lov'st
To walk by crystal waters, and repeat
The joyful hymn to which unnumber'd harps
Of angels sounded, when th' Almighty touch'd
Our infant world, and it began to move.
O take my fancy to the sacred spot !
O place her in a grove within the sound
Of rushing waters, and where zephyrs cool
By fountains fringed with amaranthine flowers,
Shed from their emerald wings a thousand sweets ;
Teach her thy hymn, and, pointing to our globe,
Tell her how darkness fled, and youthful light,
Clad in bright purple and with radiant wheels,
That ting'd the lingering gloom, surrounded, rose
From out the dawning East; how chaos felt
The genial sunbeams warm her muddy hills,
And earth and sea began to teem with life."
At this time also, Hodgson began to draw landscape scenery,
buildings, &c. in water colours. A few of his endeavours in this
way are contained in the volume intended to have been occupied
by his poem on the Creation ; but they are of a very humble
character. In 1810 he attempted a picture in oils of Pliny the
Elder, contemplating the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D.
79, which was tossing about in his house till 1841, when he
bestowed upon it a frame. This picture will be mentioned here
after.

CHAPTER IV.
Marriage— History of Northumberland in " Beauties of England and Wales"—
Survey of Northumberland — Rev. A. Hedley— More Poetry — Sits for his portrait
— Letter of advice — History of Westmerland in " Beauties of England and
Wales" — Mr. Surtees of Mainsforth— Picture of Newcastle.
On the 11th of January, 1810, Mr. Hodgson became a married
man ; the object of his choice was Jane Bridget, daughter of Mr.
Richard Kell, a stone merchant residing at Heworth Shore, in his
parish, and afterwards the affectionate mother of a numerous
family, the sharer in her husband's joys and sorrows for thirty-
five long years, and the very comfort of his life in his long
afflictions before he was removed out of the world.
The following letter gives intimation of an intention on the
part of Hodgson, immediately after his marriage, of which there
is no other trace, and which was certainly not carried into execu
tion at that time, or at any later period under that title. The
writer is Mr. David Stephenson, an architect of considerable
note at that period in Newcastle; the contributor of a plate of
miscellaneous antiquities to Brand's History of that town in 1789,
and the architect of that fantastic edifice the Church of All Saints.
To the Rev. Mr. HODGSON.
"DEAR Sir, Newcastle, Feb. 9, 1810.
" The communication of your intention of favouring the public
with an History of the river Tyne and Roman Wall gives me much
pleasure, and be assured that any assistance I am able to afford you
shall be most cheerfully granted.
" I shall, from time to time, forward you such remembrances as may
lead to the purest sources of information on your subject; and I trust I
need not add that you are at perfect liberty to introduce my name,
when connected with the matter before you. My library contains some
books not very common. They are very much at your service, if at all
connected with your inquiries. I shall just mention, Grose's England,
Wales, Scotland, and Ireland — Percy's Reliques — Ritson's Ancient

64 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
Songs — Hollingshed's Chronicle of Scotland — Bentham and other pre
faces on ancient architecture, &c. &c. Pray have you seen the Diary
of Roger North? It contains some curious anecdotes relative to the
sports on the Tyne. If in town, favour me with a call. In the mean
time forgive all hurry in writing in the middle of our timber customers,
and bustle of a counting house. Faithfully yours, "David Stephenson."
Forgive me introducing my congratulations on your marriage into a
P.S. Believe me, you have every wish of mine and my family for your
happiness, and Mrs. Stephenson will take the first opportunity of paying
her respects to Mrs. Hodgson, to whom, in the mean time, you will have
the goodness to tender our kindest compliments.
In the beginning of the same year also there commences in
earnest Mr. Hodgson's connection with Messrs. Vernon, Hood,
and Sharpe, the proprietors of a book then in course of publica
tion, entitled " The Beauties of England and Wales," giving a
succinct account of the leading features of each county, its an
tiquities, natural history, &c. &c. Hodgson, as we have seen
above, had made himself known to one of the editors, Mr.
Brayley, whilst resident at Sedgefield, and had begged to be
employed in compiling the account of the county of Durham,
but was too late in making his application. In the present instance
he appears to have been recommended by his friend Major Ander
son, of Newcastle, as on the 12th of July the publishers inform
that gentleman that they " gladly accept Mr. Hodgson's services,"
and propose that the account of Northumberland, which they wish
him to draw up, should extend to fifteen sheets; promising a
remuneration of five guineas per sheet, with an allowance of 20/.
for travelling expenses. With these terms Hodgson closed, and
made a proposal to write a like account of Westmerland in due
time, to which the publishers agreed.
He now commences a personal survey of the county of
Northumberland, and for the first time, in all probability, becomes
acquainted with its hills and valleys, and other objects of interest,
ancient and modern. The following letters to his lately married
wife, written during a portion of this survey, must not be withheld
from the reader, affording as they do such an artless picture of
the mind of their writer. Of such assistance his biographer

SURVEY OF NORTHUMBERLAND. 65
gladly avails himself. These letters were intended to be seen by
one alone, and on that account they are peculiarly valuable for
my purpose. " To Mks. HODGSON.
"My DEAR Jane, Haltwhistle, 23 Sep. 1810.
" I have been from you since Wednesday, and have only got
hither. I have this moment come from church : where I preached to
a congregation not over numerous. The church is the most miserably
damp and fusty place I was ever in.
I intend staying here all night, and going to Hexham to-morrow;
and from thence to proceed up the Reed. I trust I shall not be longer
from home than the time I proposed when I set out.
" On Wednesday night I slept at Chollerford, and on Thursday I was
at Simonburn with Dr. Scott,* and examined the station at Chesters,
one of the most delightful places you ever saw. I slept with Mr. Clay
ton at his house there ; and, in the morning, proceeded along the line of
the Wall ; and without getting any dinner reached Haltwhistle about six
in the evening. I had tea for dinner. I slept at Mr. Hollingsworth'st
on the Friday night, and next morning went to Caervoran ; then to Glen-
whelt; then to Blenkinsop Castle; and from it I passed over Redpath-
moor, partly along the Maiden Way, till it reached the South Tyne. I
met with it at Fetherstonhaugh Castle. Some places are beautiful, on
account of the extensiveness of the prospects they afford : this is sweet
and secluded beyond all description. From this charming spot I went
by the river's edge to Lambley, where once there was a nunnery, now
swept away : but my ride was amply repaid by a sight of a fine dark
broad oak ; and such an ash for size, lightness of foliage, and picturesque
situation as there is not another in the world. It has ten trunks, each
more than I can fathom, and at least eighty feet high, all springing
from one main stock.
" Lambley Chapel is one of the poorest and humblest of Christian tem
ples. When I got here I was divided, whether to return to Haltwhistle
as I had proposed, or go on to Kirkhaugh, near Alston. I went on;
and arrived at the public-house by Whitlaw Castle, a Roman station,
at about seven o'clock, and had just time to see it by a hazy light.
* Of Dr. Scott, and what took place at this interview, somewhat will be said hereafter
f One of the Curates of Sedgefield during Hodgson's short residence there, and one
of the gentlemen who had signed his testimonial for Holy Orders. See p. 15,'&c.
F

66 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
" I found it a wonderful place, but will tell you all about it afterwards.
The landlord was drank, and a dancing-master at the house; and, had it
not been for the great civility of a Mr. Teasdale, brother of Mr. Teas-
dale of South Shields, I should have been benighted in the drunkenness
and confusion of a hedge alehouse. We had tea there, the first thing
I had tasted during the day; but I got three eggs to it and excellent oat
cake and knead-cake of fine white bread, and as good water " as any in
the world ''—mind, that phrase you taught me. We crossed the Tyne,
which was very low, so low as to be passed in many places dry-shod,
in a night which had nothing to light a part of the way but flashes of
lightning; and I slept well at Mr. Teasdale's house, and with a guide
came over the moors this morning, through a thick mist, and got here
about ten o'clock, after a miserable ride of about twelve miles. Thank
God, I have no more such places to visit. Tell Betty I saw her uncle Mr.
Albany Fetherstonhaugh, and he spent the evening with me at Barhaugh
last night.
" I hope you take care of yourself. I have lost my pencil-case, my
ivory rule, and two of my new pencils ; and also my gold breast-pin.*
I hope I shall not lose myself.
" Remember me kindly to your father and mother. Is Sarah with you
yet, and is she well ? I hope she is. Bet must not be told how many
fine sights I have seen, and how many charming rides she has missed
by not being with me, or I shall never get her into humour again. —
God bless you, dear Jane, from " J. Hodgson."
'¦ To Mrs. HODGSON.
" My DEAR Wife, Hexham, 25th Sep. 1810.
" As I may not have an opportunity of posting a letter to you
again this week, I think it better to tell you not to expect to hear from
me by next Sunday again ; though I will not neglect to tell you where
and how I am as often as I can. I do not know the time I have en
joyed better health than I have done since I came from home. I left
Haltwhistle yesterday at four o'clock, afternoon, and slept at Haydon
Bridge. I did not get to this place till twelve to-day. The Cathedral is a
remarkable edifice. I have been in a sepulchral vault of a very
remarkable nature, and which has not been open for some time.
* These losses are very characteristic of the writer ; he seldom paid a visit to a
friend's house without leaving something behind him.

SURVEY OF NORTHUMBERLAND. 67
The stool of sanctuary here is still perfect, from which, before the time
of Henry VLLI. whoever had fled to it could not be dragged, whatever
great crimes he had been guilty of, under penalty of excommunication,
a punishment, at that time, worse than death.
" Tell Betty I have never had my boots well blacked since I saw her.
" I hope all things go on properly, and without grumbling in the
parish. I have to-day been with Mr. Hedley, minister of Hexham,
and have had great civility from him, and much pleasure in his com
pany, and that of a Mr. Buchanan, a very pleasant and wealthy
Scotchman. Mr. Hedley has promised to breakfast with me in the
morning. Tell your father I breakfasted along with Mr. and Mrs.
Hollingsworth at Isaac Waugh's, at Broomhouses, yesterday morning,
and that Isaac complains of the mill-stone trade being very bad. 1
much wished to have had your father there, as also at Fetherstonhaugh
Castle, which is close by Broomhouses.
" The weather has turned unpleasant and unfavourable to my pursuits.
The fogginess that prevails hinders the prospect into the country.
" I much wish to hear from you ; but, as it is impossible to say where
I shall be at any given time, I am afraid my wishes must not be
gratified. '* How are the cabbages thriving ? Have any new plants been put in ?
" Give my affectionate remembrances to all the family, and take care
of yourself, and be very happy. I am, dear Jane, thine " J. Hodgson."
" To Mrs. HODGSON.
" My DEAR Jane, Whittingham, Sunday morning.
" I got to this place yesterday, but quite fagged. I had not been
so much fatigued since I set out. I did not get from Hexham till about
5 o'clock on the Tuesday. That night I slept at Barrasford, in the
parish of Chollerton. In the morning I rode to Chipchase Castle, where,
though I was gratified by the sight of Col. Reed's paintings, and, more
particularly, with the sight of his pretty daughters, I stayed much too
long. At one o'clock that day the Col. sent a servant with me as far
as to the Watling -street road. I had a letter of recommendation from the
Rev.  Hedley of Hexham, to a person who lives on the Roman
station at Risingham, but when I got there the solitary gentleman was
not at home, and all the information I could pick up about it was from
observation. This person, whose name is Thomas Ridley, the station
F 2

68 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
belongs to : there have been two cottages in the interior of the ruins :
one of them is much out of repair, and the other, apparently a single
room, is Mr. Ridley's habitation. He follows no employment except
fishing for amusement. I am told he has a brother, who occasionally
resides with him, and is a labouring man: a person so oddly situated you
may guess to be an oddity. He is said to be a good scholar by the
country people, and I apprehend by them supposed to have communica
tion with praster-naturals.
" I got an uncomfortable dinner at Woodburn, my first entrance in
Reed ; and slept at a farmer's house, a respectable young man, named
Armourer. " Next morning I went to the Roman station, Rochester, aud was much
gratified. It detained me so long that I got no further than Elsdon on
Friday. There is a piece of great antiquity at Elsdon, which I shall be
better able to describe to you when I get home ; but, by the way, let
me tell you that Elsdon signifies the Den of Ell, a giant, who is tradi
tionally said to have resided and committed his ravages here. *
" Yesterday morning I travelled six miles over moors from Elsdon to
Hallystone. At a place near Hallystone, called Campyille, I saw and
copied all the fine altars that had been dug up at Rochester from the ruins
of the Temple of Minerva, and I also discovered that a Roman way ran
between Hallystone and Rochester.
" At Hallystone was formerly a nunnery. There is a very copious
spring here, having water sufficient to turn a mill, in which Paulinus
baptised in the sixth century many thousands of our Saxon ancestors, the
first converts to Christianity in these parts.
" Harbottle Castle is two miles above Hallystone. Its green mounds
and grey walls rise up proudly in the valley, and even yet seem to
threaten the traveller no passage to the mountainous districts of the
Coquet, without leave. I dined very comfortably here, and rode from
Harbottle to Alwinton, where I met with a very clever and sensible
old lady sitting at va cottage door, and gleaned much information
from her.
" The difference of soil between this country and the Reedwater is
as striking as the difference, of feature. The Reed has neither boldness
nor fertility : the hills seem to be laid alongside of it asleep, and to
suffer all the natural wants ¦ of indolence. About Alwinton the hills
lift up their green heads and spread out their broad shoulders with all
the strength and vigour natural to industry. There are a few farms
about Harbottle and High Alwinton in a high state of agriculture, and

SURVEY OF NORTHUMBERLAND. 69
there could not be a more sweetly sequestered spot than Clennell, if
its grounds had more wood upon them : but sheep-farms are fatal to
wood. "At Biddlestone, under the mountain Lownden, great and successful
exertion has been employed to rear wood. When I got to Netherton,
in the parish of Alwinton, a very thick fog set in, and had I not been
told that the road was direct to Whittingham I had not ventured to
this place yesterday evening. My upper coat however was good
company. " If you could send me a line  but it is impossible to say where
you should direct it to me; and I must be content to speak and not
hear. I am beginning to tire, and wish to be at home, though I find I
shall not have seen more than half the county when I reach it. 
Yours, dear Jane, very affectionately, " J. Hodgson, 30th Sep."
" To Mrs. HODGSON,
"My DEAR JANE, Cornhill, Sunday Evening, 30 Sep. 1810.
Though I wrote to you from Whittingham this morning, I am
someway apprehensive that the letter may not reach you; and, as I am
neither fatigued nor busy this evening, I hope I shall not be employed
unworthily in dedicating an hour to you.
" I set off from Whittingham a little before nine o'clock, with an in
tention of getting to Wooler, which is twelve miles from Whittingham, by
eleven o'clock to church: I did not however reach Wooler before twelve
o'clock, and on that account feel quite out of humour with myself for
having missed going to church. This will I trust be a solitary instance
in my life of spending the Sabbath in an unworthy manner.
" When I left Whittingham the same thick fog prevailed which
accompanied me thither the evening before. The day did not clear till
I left Wooler. My view, however, in my ride, before twelve o'clock was
sufficient to shew me both the features and fertility of the country
through which I passed. In many places there are very few hedges,
not even on the sides of the highway, and I confess that inclosure here
seems less to be desired by the admirer of the features of the country than
in any other place I ever saw. Except here and there, where a rivulet or
brook runs amongst the hills, the whole country is a confused but beautiful
series of hills, never rising high, but winding in all directions, and
appearing one past the corner of another, in undulating forms, as if they

70 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
were a sea of fields in fine cultivation. Sometimes to a great distance
nothing appears on the hills but corn ; at others large tracts are covered
with clover or turnips. But amidst all this profusion I cannot think
there is much praise due to the husbandman. The land is by nature
generous, and, being only lately brought into cultivation, repays the
farmer well. I walked from the inn into Wooler at about a quarter
past twelve. It is only a small place, about the size of Swalwell. I
cannot tell how many places of religious worship there are at Wooler,
but you cannot go fifty yards in any part of it without hearing either
singing or preaching. I counted five different sects. I stopped a
moment at the door of one place: it was much crowded: the preacher
spoke a language so Scottish it was to me almost unintelligible. The
air issuing from the door was so hot and unpleasant as to make me
almost sick.
" From Wooler to Cornhill the ride is interesting, both to the agricul
turist and the historian. I am sure that no country can be in a higher
state of cultivation than the whole tract of country from the head of
Milfield Plain to the river Tweed. On the Milfield Plain, my dear,
there are yet to be seen the camps where the English army lay before
the battle of Branxton, or Floddon Field ; and, if I remember right, the
Scots lost upwards of 500 men here in a skirmish before the battle.
As I passed the foot of Floddon hill, it was impossible not to suppose I
heard the last words of Marmion
" Charge, Chester, charge; on, Stanley, on !"
and after I came in sight of the Tweed, and the dark hill on which
Wark Castle formerly stood was gilded by the setting sun, and relieved
by the gleaming of the river, it was as difficult not to remember the
beginning of that poem —
" Day set on Norham's castled steep,
And Tweed's fair river, broad and deep,
And Cheviot's mountain lone, 
In yellow lustre shone."
" When I got here I was shewn into a room where the merchantmen's
clerks sit. You may guess I did not much like the idea of being the
evening companion of one of these gentlemen ; and, as I could not have
a, promise of being unmolested in the other parlour, I have taken up my
quarters in my lodging room, where I am both unmolested and com
fortable. I had not been long here before I recognised the handiwork
of Mary Mills upon the walls of the parlour in fine gilding, &c. &c.

SURVEY OF NORTHUMBERLAND. 7 1
The landlady is a good-looking fat body, very like her brother Charles,
especially about the eyes. She is very civil, and seemingly very clever.
" I can now in a very little time walk over into Scotland: and if I be
spared till morning, and in the good health I am at present, I shall go
thither , before breakfast. I wish your father had been with me from
Wooler to this place; he would have enjoyed the ride.
" Amidst the fertility of this country there is one very striking feature
of poverty. At Wooler, Etal, and Milfield the cottages are most
miserable, especially at the two latter places : they are dirty thatched
hovels, the walls built with mud, and small round stones of whin or
granite gathered from the fields. I am sure of getting scolded by Betty
when I get home ; my boot tops are bad, bad indeed. Have the cabbages
been put into the garden yet, and how is the celery taken care of?
" I forgot to tell you one part of the tale about Risingham in my letter
this morning. When I sat down at the corner of the station, a fine
game cock came close to me, and as I was writing, with all the fami
liarity of an old acquaintance, looked at me first on one side, then on
another, marching about with the ease and assurance of perfect safety.
As the people supposed the old man to use an art not very common,
I felt a little queerish in this cock's company, but when I recollected I
intended no injury or disrespect to Mr. Ridley, and had a letter of
recommendation to him in my pocket, I took courage and continued to
write, even though it were Mr. Ridley before me in that form.
"If the weather continues fine I hope I shall see all the distant parts of
the country before I set my face homewards. In another week I could
have perfectly satisfied myself; but I am determined to be back to the
parish. I hope John is alive yet; and if you see him tell him I asked
about him. I have never had time to make any sketches, but such as
merely to assist my memory in remembering the features of places. My
colours have therefore been of no use. I have not come to any more
losses, and may now perhaps bring all I have home with me  I
shall not, my dear Jane, forget you, nor any part of our good family in
my prayers. Remember me, &c.  Thine, dear wife, " J. Hodgson."
" Monday morning. — 1 have just returned from my walk to Coldstream.
The Tweed is a fine clear, broad river, and has much more fresh water
in it than the Tyne. I saw two salmon taken at the bridge. Cold
stream is only a small town. The kirk, though it is a new building,
and has a handsome steeple, has broken windows, and lies open to the
street. Large heaps of wood and accumulations of filth lie piled up

72 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
against its walls. There are two or three goodish houses in it; but the
streets are not paved, and mariy of the houses, though they have been
long tenanted, are not finished. The sinks and dunghills in two rows
on each side of the streets are very offensive, especially before breakfast.
Thick fogs this morning."
In one of the above letters is mentioned, for the first time in
these memoirs, the name of the Eeverend Anthony Hedley, a
gentleman with whom Mr. Hodgson formed, during his survey,
an acquaintance, which soon afterwards ripened into a friendship
sincere in itself and of long duration. Until the death of Hedley
in 1835, there were few events affecting the welfare, or the
contrary, of the one, at which the other did not rejoice, or
grieve ; and in their mutual exultations and sympathies there was
every character and proof of the most hearty and affectionate
sincerity. As Hodgson has left behind him a pleasing memoir *
of his friend, whose untimely death he deeply and truly lamented,
I enter not into Mr. Hedley's history, except so far as it concerns
the subject of these pages; and here I must express my regret
that I have before me only one part of the long-continued cor
respondence which was so faithfully kept up between the
two. Hodgson's letters to Hedley, with the exception of one or
two only, cannot be found. Hedley's letters to Hodgson have
been carefully preserved ; and they are of such a nature as to
justify me in bringing a few of them to light in this biography in
their order of time. I am writing a memoir of Hodgson and not
of Hedley; and if the letters of the former had been preserved,
judging from those of the latter, they would have been very
valuable for my purpose. Hedley appears, from his communica
tions, to have been a plain, straightforward, well educated man;
with a strong touch of antiquarian feeling about him, and a well-
marked but gentlemanly leaning in politics to what has been
* Vol. iii. pt. ii. p. 330, &c. At a later period of his life it appears to have been
Hodgson's intention to enlarge this short, but excellent memoir, and publish it in a
separate shape. I have before me various papers which seem to be compiled for the
pnrpose. In the Life of his friend, already before the public, Hodgson says, " In
Sept. 1810, the writer of this article, desirous of examining the architecture and
antiquities of the church of Hexham, had letters of introduction to its incumbent for
that purpose. I instantly found his mind responding with my own. My wishes
brought from his eyes a gush of gracious expressions."

REV. ANTHONY HEDLEY. 73
called the liberal side. In his personal appearance and demeanour
he was robust, frank, and open-hearted; just for all the world the
kind of man to have been looked up to in his native vale of Beed-
water in days of old, as the best planner and leader of a foray, or
the best fighter when it became a matter of blows. I well re
member the hearty way in which he joined a few of us at House-
steads in 1831, with somewhat to encourage us in our explorations,
far as we were from bodily comforts. His residence was at
Chesterholme, a place of his own creation, at the distance of a few
miles in the valley below, and his horse mounted the hill with
difficulty, so laden was he with his master and the good things
which he was bringing to our relief. Antiquaries do not always
feed upon old Boman altars and monastic ledgers. Let any one
look upon the portrait of that " fine, fat, fodgel wight" Captain
Grose, and he will come to the conclusion that that well fed
gentleman lived upon something more congenial to his taste than
" auld nick-nackets."* Dr. Caius the founder of the college in
Cambridge which glories in his name, and the author of a learned
book on the antiquity of that university, was famous also for his
invention of a sauce for sturgeon.
Mr. Hedley was probably for several years the only one of
Hodgson's correspondents to whom he wrote with freedom and
ease, not merely on topographical pursuits, to which the former
was passionately devoted, but on the ordinary topics of the day.
Hedley's first letter, written at the period in Hodgson's life at
which I have arrived, is as follows. From this time his commu
nications are numerous, and for any extended memoir of himself
they would be of great value to his biographer.
" DEAR SlR, Hexham, Nov. 19, 1810.
" Mr. Greenwood's delay in bringing the book must form my
apology for not answering your favour sooner. Your poems I read with
infinite pleasure; and, that I may indulge myself with a second perusal,
I must beg leave to detain them a little longer.
" Along with an abstract of the population of the town (for the country
part of my parish I shall not be able to survey till spring) I have on
the other side given you an abstract of our registers for the last ten
* Burns.

74 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
years ; but little that is accurate or useful can be deduced from them,
as they do not all embrace the same portion of population.
" The current tradition here respecting the field of the battle of Hex
ham is, that it was to the south of the Linhills, a farmstead on the
southern bank of the Devil's Water. It is in some histories called the
Battle of the Levels, supposed to be a corruption of Linhills. I shall
be very happy to receive a set of the Statistical Queries, and remain,
dear Sir, yours very sincerely, "Anty. Hedley."
The account of Northumberland for which the above survey
was undertaken was published in the " Beauties of England and
Wales " in its due course of time. It consists of not fewer than 243
closely printed octavo pages, and is written with great judgment
and spirit. The antiquities of the county, especially those of the
Roman period, are touched upon with a masterly pen. A detailed
account is given of mines and minerals; and especially of coal,
the staple of the lower districts. In the higher portions of the
county the wild scenery, which almost everywhere meets the eye, is
described in a tasteful and feeling way; and, in short, enough is
said of each district and place to prove that the author of the con
tribution was capable of greater things. The book, illustrated
by a map and eleven engravings, of which Hodgson was per
mitted to select the subjects, was afterwards, like those of the
other counties comprised in the work at large, published in a
separate shape, and is most unquestionably the best in the series.
It must be added that Hodgson's engagement to supply a com
pendious history of Northumberland for the above publication,
and his having publicly solicited information through the news
papers on the subject, led to his forming other acquaintances
besides that of Mr. Hedley above mentioned, such as Mr. Spear
man of Eachwick, Mr. Balph Patterson of Berwick-upon-Tweed,
Mr. Challoner of Morpeth, and Mr. John Britton, who all of
them kindly offered him their assistance and good wishes. To
Mr. Britton, who has only now been called away from us, the
architectural antiquaries of the kingdom are under great obliga
tions. He was the first to combine and encourage accuracy and
elegance in architectural draughtsmen ; and the result was the

POETRY. 75
" Cathedral Antiquities of England," and other publications of
equal taste and beauty on our domestic architecture.
In this same year, 1810, Mr. Hodgson again appears before the
world as a poet. A small duodecimo volume of thirty-two pages
contains " The Nativity of Jesus Christ, a poem; a Sonnet to the
Moon ; and an Ode to his Mother on his twenty-sixth birthday."
This ode has been noticed above, under Lanchester, where it was
composed.* The sonnet to the moon is subjoined, deserving as
it does to be brought forth from the obscurity into which it has
fallen. It was composed upon the seashore at Newbiggin in
Northumberland . " A Sonnet to the Moon.
O moon, how well I love thy beams,
That all night flow, like silver streams,
O'er banks and waves that thy dominion own !
O, tell me, in thy vales if God be known,
Or if thy people feel the change of clime ?
Hast thou a spring — a rapt'rous time,
To lift with love their passions high ?
And does a summer lighten in their eye ?
An autumn smite them, and a winter's breath
Their bodies wither with the frost of death ?
Or are they angels, guarding men from ill,
And all thy fruits and flowers of endless bloom ?
Thou wilt not tell me; but thou art lovely still,
O circlet, as the seas and sails thy beams illume !"
The poem on the Nativity contains many fine passages, but in
sacred poetry how few have succeeded? Indeed it may be
doubtful whether it should be attempted, except by a master-
hand. The Holy Scriptures themselves are poetry, and why
should they be divested of their garb of inspiration and clothed
in the verbiage of unskilful rhyme ? True devotion is not often
benefited by such attempts; not unfrequently a contrary feeling
may be excited. Let it not be said however that Mr. Hodgson's
" Nativity " is without its merits. The following extract will
perhaps prove the contrary. The poet is describing the descent
of Peace. * See p. 32.

76 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
" The angel Peace, that flew from man
When first the reign of sin began,
On lustrous wing, descending light,
To Hebrew shepherds bent his flight.
At first a meteor dim he seemed,
And then a halo round him gleamed.
Far-distant music, swelling, dying,
Advancing slowly, swiftly flying;
Now winding sweetly round and round
With all the melting charms of sound;
Now high in heaven, and now more near,
Descended on the listening ear.
A pleasure mingled with surprise,
Bewild'ring, filled the shepherd's eyes.
They listen'd, gazed, and silent stood
Like statues in a rapturous mood.
The circle widens, and the shout
Harmonious louder floats about :
It widens still, and sudden light
In glances plays on psaltries bright;
And, as the harpers nearer come,
The rural band, with terror dumb,
Fall down on earth, and, trembling, hide
Their faces from the effulgent tide;
While all the storm of music rolls
Tempestuous o'er their ravished souls."
This little volume was dedicated " to Mrs. Isabella Ellison, of
Hebburn Hall, with sincere gratitude and respect."
Hodgson now sits for his portrait to Nicholson, a Newcastle
artist, who afterwards settled in Edinburgh, and became W.ell
known. The picture is in a sitting attitude and of the full size,
developing much character and, with one or two trifling defects,
strongly resembling him, as it is said, at that period. It indicates
deep thought, with a tinge of melancholy ; and gives the idea of
a person labouring under feeble health, which with Hodgson was
unhappily too often the case. This portrait the painter took with
him to Edinburgh, where it hung for a considerable time in his
studio, and by its character and merit helped him to the name
which he afterwards j ustly acquired.
The following letter, from the pen of Mr. Hodgson, next pre
sents itself in the order of time, which I follow, and I cannot but
congratulate myself upon having access to such a document for

A BROTHER. 77
the purpose upon which I am engaged. It is overflowing with
good christian advice and brotherly kindness, and who knows
what may have been its happy effects upon the heart and mind
of him to whom it was written ! Isaac Hodgson was a younger
brother of the subject of our memoir, and was at the time this
letter was addressed to him just sixteen years of age, and upon the
point of leaving the Tyne, on his first voyage to sea as a sailor-
apprentice. The poor youth died soon afterwards, far from home,
and upon his death the letter was sent back, by some kind and
considerate person, to its writer, as, in all probability the only
memorial which his poor brother had left behind him. Its
present condition proves that it had been faithfully preserved in
the pocket of the boy and read apparently over and over again,
till in some of its foldings it has become worn away. The
address on the back is also illegible from the daily wear of a
sailor's pocket. The boy had perhaps not received much education,
and it is therefore written in a large legible hand for his benefit,
and it is as plain in its advice and exhortations as words can make
it, to suit his comprehension, and by its simplicity and earnestness
lead him to follow after that which is good. I know not that
I shall have to deal with a more affecting document.
" To ISAAC HODGSON.
" My DEAR BROTHER, Heworth Shore, Feb. 23, 1811.
" You would receive the letter I sent by Mr. Peacock ; and, as I
find Mr. Akenhead purposing to visit the ship, I cannot refrain from
again shewing to you that I do not forget you. Indeed, dear brother,
your situation occupies a great deal of my thoughts ; for, when I reflect
upon your youth, and how much easier it is to get into a wrong conduct
than to do right, I frequently lament that I cannot at times be with
you, to guard you from many of the idle folies which persons of your
years are apt to fall into, and against many of the vices which too
frequently make the character of sailors very absurd and guilty; which
otherwise is certainly highly respectable. You must, in this, however,
understand me, that I am not charging you with the follies I mention,
but only pointing out to you that they are such as young people in all
places are apt to run into, more particularly persons in your situation.
Let me then, in the first place, caution you against idleness, as the

78 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
breeder of all kinds of vice and unhappiness, and the root of everything
that is mean or unworthy of man. Industry is the very soul of content
ment, and he who is not industrious is always more or less unhappy,
and always a character that his friends are ashamed of, and other men
contemn and despise. In the next place, teach yourself to put as much
value on the smallest part of your master's property as if it was of
a thousand times the worth; and never suffer yourself, on any considera
tion whatever, to destroy anything unnecessarily. Value a rope yarn,
a biscuit, a pot or a spoon, as if it was worth a thousand times more
than it really is. When Mr. Peacock gives you any advice always take
it in the manner you ought, with patience and thankfulness ; and rest
assured that when you have done wrong, and any person tells you of
it, he is a good friend to you. I hope you do not swear ; should I ever
hear you were guilty of that most odious and impious vice it would
grieve me to the heart. Never, dear brother, make a bad use of the
name of that good and Almighty Parent of all men, who will punish
those that treat Him and His name with irreverence, and reward those
who respect and obey Him. Never, let me intreat you, make use of His
name when you are in anger or in a careless and idle manner. Then, let
me entreat you, as you value the favour of God, the esteem of your friends,
and the good opinion of all mankind, never to do any kind of dishonest
deed ; neither for yourself, nor for any of the boys or men, on any
account whatever, suffer yourself to pilfer anything of the smallest
value. Never, though it would gain you the greatest wealth, either do
an act of dishonesty, or be a partaker with any person in any act that
has the smallest appearance of dishonesty. Choose, my dear brother,
the greatest evil that can befall you rather than do the least act of sin.
In speaking, always speak the truth. Neither hide truth, nor mar it,
nor deny it. When persons once find you speaking in silly trifling
things an untruth, they cannot possibly believe you on great occasions.
A liar is not a fit companion for any man who has the least reverence
for his character, and is generally forced to associate with such as all
crimes and vices and indolences have driven from the company of
the friends that once esteemed them, but who now with shame and
sorrow are forced to relinquish them to abandonment and vice, and all
the excesses of depravation and self-inflicted misery. And after I have
strongly recommended to you a habit of cleanliness, as inseparably
connected with health and good principles, let me urge upon you the
frequent use of your Bible, and never to go to bed, or get out of it,
without thanking God for the goodness he has shewn to you, and

SURVEY OF WESTMERLAND 79
begging his assistance and protection for the future. If you read your
Bible you are sure to learn your duty; and if your sincerely pray to God
to be enabled to do your duty, you are sure not to fall far short of
it. But do you ever read ... do you ever write . . . Did I not think
these letters I wr  effect upon you it would  in
me to waste any time over them. But as I sincerely believe that you
both esteem me as  brother and a friend, and as such that you
listen  advice and value it more than other people, I cannot
refrain from pressing it upon you. If then you have any value for your
own character or the esteem and favour of myself and the rest of our
family, follow my advice. It is, you are sure, impossible that I can
have any other motive than your interest and happiness in advising you
in this manner. Mrs. Hodgson joins with me in entreaty to you that
you wifl acquit yourself in your apprenticeship in an upright and
honourable manner, which indeed we trust you are endeavouring to do ;
and that you will keep yourself from being .... by bad advice
and bad company.
Your sister's child at Rosgill, poor thing, died at about seven weeks
old. Our child and Mrs. Hodgson, and all the family here, are very
well, and send their most affectionate well-wishes and remembrances
to you. I am, dear brother, your sincere friend, " J. Hodgson."
In May 1811 Hodgson proceeds to complete his engagement
with the Editors of the " Beauties of England and Wales," and sets
out on foot for Westmerland, to make a personal survey of the
county for that purpose. His companions, for a while, were the
Rev. John Collinson, rector of Gateshead, and Mr. Matthew
Atkinson, who had relations at Temple Sowerby, to which place
in the first instance their steps were directed. His note-book for
that year contains a minute account of his gatherings for the sub
ject on which he was engaged; but the following letters to his
wife, written in the same artless and affectionate style as those
from Northumberland, above printed, will afford a more accepta
ble account of his proceedings than statements in detail of less
personal interest. From the Journal I copy only the following
notes, made at Swindale, the place of his birth, which he reached
in his travels.
" Mem. — To send my sister a Bible, and the boys some books.
Several family letters, and a curious old book which she will send."

80 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
"Mem.— To get Mr. Cooper Walker's Sermons, and to write him a
visitation sermon for Appleby."
Mr. Cooper was the perpetual curate of Svvindale.and the
gentleman to whom he addressed certain poems in 1806, above
mentioned. The sermon was duly written, and the preacher was
doubtless highly complimented after dinner for his services. A
request to print his discourse in all probability followed.
" To Mrs. HODGSON.
" My DEAR JANE, Temple Sowerby, 2 May, 1811. 7 o'clock morning.
" We left Carr Hill very soon after twelve o'clock on the Monday.
Before we were down Gateshead Fell the rain again commenced, and we
had less or more of it till we arrived at Healy Field ; where we found
an excellent fire in the kitchen, and got dry coats and stockings. Mr-
Arkless, of Tantovy, conducted us through the mist past Pontop-pike ;
and when we got into the vale of the Derwent it was pretty clear. — —
At half-past four we found it a fine morning, and were again on our
march at five. At Stewart Shield Meadows we had a fillip of rum and
milk, and, with a guide, set off towards Rookhope, a dale in Weardale.
 At eleven on Tuesday we got to St. John's in Weardale, and there
made an excellent breakfast, but in council assembled with the land
lady we determined to halt there all day.  At six on Wednesday
morning, with our landlord for a guide, we set off for Grass-hills, a
shooting-box of Lord Darlington, three miles from St. John's, and
thought it the most dreary road by far of our journey. At Grass-hills
we were told it was ten miles to the top of Dunfell, which gives us the
first prospect into Westmerland. All was now thick dark mist. We,
procured a guide, and had not advanced a mile before the mist began
to break ; and directly over the confluence of Troutbeck with the Tees,
where the counties of Westmerland, Cumberland, and Durham join, we
saw a very fine rainbow. The mist, however, still hung on the heights
of the mountains. At Troutbeck I, as purser, paid the guide ; and over
these dreary heights we began to march with the brook -of Troutbeck
for our conductor. We lost not an inch. The compass was of great
use, as the wind changed twice before we reached the height,
which we obtained exactly at eleven. In a miner's shop we had our
beef and bread and some excellent rum and water — rum made in
Jamaica by Mr. A. nine years since. We were much gratified here
by an immense metallic dike, which is nothing but one mighty mass of

SURVEY OF WESTMERLAND. 81
iron cinders. We got to Temple Sowerby at two. The spring here is
three weeks more forward than with you. Mrs. Atkinson has apricots
against a common stone wall as large as pigeon eggs, and the foliage of
the trees is nearly in perfection, except on the oaks and ashes. We are
very happy here, and perfectly well. Mrs. Atkinson, although 78
years old, is up every morning at six o'clock, a practice that she and her
children have always pursued, as recommended as the very best pre
servative of health. Never, she says, let any person, on any considera
tion whatever, take a second sleep. We intend to take this day's rest,
merely to saunter about the neighbourhood; and to-morrow to go to
Ulswater ; on Saturday to Ambleside, and there to halt the Sunday.
On Monday to go to Keswick, and on Tuesday I go to my sister's. Be
assured, dear Jane, I am completely well. We have now done break
fast, and it is not yet eight o'clock. There had been no rain here yester
day: the roads after we descended Dunfell, for we crossed farther
south than Crossfell, were quite dusty : and, after experiencing the cold
east winds and the thick fogs of the eastern sides of the mountains, we
were greatly cheered with the benevolence of a mild south-west wind.
This night much rain has fallen, but Mrs. A. says the day will be
favourable. We are just going to see some fine pictures at Acornbank,
and a Roman station near Kirby Thore; and thence to fish down
Eden. " Make my dearest respects to father and mother and Bessy and Abby ;
and do, my dear, take much care of yourself. I trust Hilly [Hilda, his
daughter] goes on well, and that she begins to be amused with her
bells. You will, I hope, be going to the sea on Monday, and that Wm.
Jameson will call and give you some money — or that you will, if he
does not come, send to him for some. The duty, we hope, will proceed
well. Collinson does not now intend to be at home before Tuesday or
Wednesday. With great affection, believe me thine, dear Jane,
" J. Hodgson.
" Direct to me at the King's Arms, Shap, Westm"5."

" To Mrs. HODGSON.
" My DEAR Jane, Kendal, 10th of May, 1811.
" I promised to write to you very frequently, and I trust you will
think I have hitherto realized my promise. After eleven o'clock last
Sunday, till yesterday morning, we had very severe weather — a cold east
G

82 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
wind, accompanied with frequent showers, and covering the mountains
with snow, having blown all that time. On Tuesday morning, as I
informed you of my intention, I went to Shap, in the mail coach.
After my arrival there I dined, and then walked to Swindale, with
expectation of meeting with Cooper ; and, after waiting till six o'clock,
and not having the satisfaction of seeing his face, I walked back to my
sister's, and stayed with her all night. I found herself and husband,
and also my two brothers, very well. After breakfast I again went in
quest of Cooper, and was fortunate enough to find him. While he was
employed in the morning with teaching his few pupils, I sketched his
chapel and school. We dined at one, and at three set out for Shap, where
we both slept, and I had the satisfaction of receiving your very wel
come letter. Right glad, my dear Jane, was I to receive all the gratify
ing information you sent me — your own and the dear child's health
— the health and good wishes of the family, and that the lodgings at
Down Hill are likely to answer your purpose. When I tell you that I
have seen the Western shores of England to-day covered with luxuriant
herbage and fine trees, you will scarce credit me when you look about
the naked cliffs of Marsden : but Marsden has its beauties — a rough sea,
which I shall not see here.
" On Thursday morning Cooper breakfasted with me, and then left me.
I walked out and examined part of the great granite monument, and
called upon Mr. Holme the vicar. At twelve I took the mail to Kendal.
After dining I spent the afternoon in viewing the ruins of the castle, at
the museum, and the stationer's shop. The castle is a very singular
building, seated on a hill somewhat like to an egg cut in two length
wise. It has a very deep ditch around it, but is all built of a very
coarse unhewn stone: the walls are very' massive. Some of the round
towers and a part of the keep and its dungeon are pretty entire. It is
on the opposite side of the river to Kendal, and from the town has a
very fine appearance, especially in the evening. Alderman Pennington
has been very civil to me, and has given me many pamphlets relative to
the town ; has shown me the church, the hospitals, and schools of
industry. Kendal is a well-managed town. Everything seems upon a
system in it, and, while the magistrates are industrious in defending the
system, the people are afraid of breaking through it. I have bought at
a manufactory three pair of knit stockings, which I find very cool and
pleasant. After seeing these things, I took a coach to Milnthorpe; and
there for a guide had a barber, not a spruce or intelligent gentleman,
though talkative enough. Perhaps there is not a finer country in the

SURVEY OF WESTMERLAND. 83
world than the neighbourhood of Milnthorpe : ships of about thirty-six
tons, lighters from Liverpool, bring merchants' goods hither for Kendal.
The day has however been miserably wet. After I had seen all about
here which the barber could shew me, I set out for Kendal again. In
my way, near a village called Heversham, where there is a fine church,
I was overtaken by a very heavy shower, but found shelter from it.
The sun, as the shower passed by, broke out, and certainly never was
scene more enchanting than that I viewed as I passed by Levens Park.
The hawthorn was just beginning to shew his crimson, the crab trees,
almost as large as the beech trees in Park Lane, were a full sheet of
blossom, and the apple orchards gave out a perfume rich as the per
fumes of Arabia. But I had not walked more than two miles before I
was again in a shower, which, as a man on the road called it, was
" like whole water." It continued till I got to Kendal, and well
drenched I was ; but the rain was perfectly warm. I had instantly dry
clothes, and my landlady and landlord are mighty civil. I am quite
comfortable after dinner, and shall now be very soon in bed. As I have
however got a slight sprain in my left leg I think I shall continue here
till after Sunday, well knowing that any long walk will be hurtful to
it. I have got a bottle of opodeldoc to apply to it, and do not fear but
it will be well by Sunday evening. On Monday morning I purpose
going in the coach to Kir by Lonsdale, and after that I will write again.
Thine, dear Jane, " J. Hodgson."
Hodgson's account of Westmerland is written with the same
care and zeal as that of Northumberland. It extends to 245
closely-printed pages in octavo, exclusive of a copious index, and
gives further proof of the decided turn his mind was now taking
to topographical inquiries and investigations. The county of
Westmerland could most assuredly have had no better history on
such a scale, and since its publication it has had no other history
at all. I have repeatedly heard its author say that the only
money he ever made by his pen was from these two surveys.
From his account, they put into his pocket not less than 200/.
In his other topographical attempts he was tolled on, like many
others, by public promises and allurements, and left a loser in
the end. The completion of this volume terminated his connection
with the editors of the " Beauties of England and Wales." The
work, when finished, was comprised in twenty-five volumes, and cost
G2

84 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
its proprietors a sum amounting to above fifty thousand pounds.
In process of time Messrs. Sherwood, Neely, and Jones, who had
become possessed of the work, wisely published a few copies of
the history of each county in a separate volume, for the use of
those who were unwilling or unable to purchase the whole work,
and even at the present day many of our English counties have
no other history.
The year 1812 was an eventful one in Hodgson's life.
In the beginning of the year, the list of his friends was increased
by the name of Mr. Ellis of Otterburn, the correspondent of Sir
Walter Scott on subjects of border history. Hodgson was at
that time engaged in putting a finishing hand to his Northumber
land for the " Beauties of England and Wales," and the information
afforded by Mr. Ellis in a kind and judicious way was probably
for that purpose.
The next friendship which he formed was one of which any
man might have been proud, and one which any man gifted, as
he was, with simplicity of character, in union with a moderate
share of good sense and judgment, and a spirit of manly indepen
dence might have been sure to gain. The author has said much
in another place of Mr. Surtees of Mainsforth ; and he will only
add here that, as time rolls on, and the year in which that gentle
man was removed to another world is gradually becoming more
and more distant and indistinct in the shade of obscurity, his
recollections of such a man become yearly more vivid and lively,
serving as a comfort in declining health, and a bright object to look
back upon amid younger men with other pursuits and feelings.
Mr. Surtees thus writes, in reply, as it seems, to an offer of
assistance in his History of Durham, on the first volume of which
he was now busily engaged. Mr. Surtees unfortunately preserved
few letters. " To the Rev. JOHN HODGSON.
" Sir, Mainsforth, April 29, 1812.
" I feel myself much indebted to you for your kind communication,
and shall be happy in any opportunity of your personal acquaintance,
not only on account of the valuable assistance you promise me, but from
* From the general introduction to the book.

MR. SURTEES OF MAINSFORTH. 85
the great pleasure I have derived from your poems. I visited Lan
chester for the first time last autumn, with your volume in my hand,
and shall be glad to consider the antiquities of Jarrow under your
direction. My knowledge of Roman antiquities is very trifling, and I
have had few opportunities of visiting stations, Binchester being the
only one with which I am at all familiar. It seems not improbable that
something of a Roman road has crossed the Tees near High Dinsdale,
and proceeded by Stainton-in-the-Street, through some route which I
cannot ascertain, to join Watling-street. We have perhaps more traces
of the Danes and Saxons. The former may, I fancy, have had some
sort of encampment in this neighbourhood: a hill on my estate has
been seized on by Cade and others as a camp, but no reliques were ever
discovered. The situation may have been very strong in the midst of
a morass. Betwixt Mainsforth and Ferryhill the road is evidently
forced across the morass, and the old records of the Convent (of Dur
ham) call that portion of marsh land " stagnum nostrum de Ferryhill ;"
and swan-oats are regularly paid by the adjacent properties to the
lessee of the old swan-house on the borders of the morass. The village
of Bradbury is, in an old record, called Danesbury. Of inroads from
the coast we have several traces ; and a few years ago a very singular
discovery took place at Stranton. The ground near a blacksmith's
shop became polished by continual attrition, and in a dry summer
discovered the strange appearance of a multitude of human sculls,
promiscuously thrown together, like vestiges of some bloody execution,
which I think they doubtless were: other human bones were discovered,
but not in proportion: no great search was made.
" I generally pass some weeks during the summer near Sunderland, and
shall then hope to have the satisfaction of visiting you at Jarrow ; but if
you would be kind enough to favour me with an interview here, I shall
be glad to talk more at large on these and similar topics. After the
present week I shall be pretty constantly at home for a fortnight or
three weeks ; but purpose being in York to explore the wills of some
Durham prelates in May. I will add that I have a small cabinet of
medals, which I shall be happy to show you, and that our marsh grounds
afford several rare plants.
" I have a copy of Hugh Pudsey's charter to the Burgesses of Gates
head, and some other records which I cannot just now lay my hands on.
My attention at present is engaged in compiling Easington Ward and
some introductory papers for the press. Of Chester'Ward I know less
than of any other district.

86 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
[The "pedigree of Ellison, as entered at Dugdale's Visitation of
Northumberland in 1666," is here given in the letter ]
" No doubt the above may be much improved by a reference to wills
and registers. I have the descent of Nathaniel Ellison, S.T.P., preben
dary of Durham, &c. ; but have no regular continuation of the chief line ¦
from Robert, who I suppose married . . . daughter of Sir H. Liddell,
about 1696. I have a few other Northumberland pedigrees, of which,
if of any use to you, I should be glad to send copies. If I have the
pleasure of seeing you here you will choose for yourself. My papers are
so mingled I can scarcely select them at present, or would send you
them with this. I have Lilburne, Grey, Jennison, He, Rogers, all of
Newcastle; Bewick of Close House; all dated 1666. Mr. Spearman of
Eachwick has a volume of mine of elder Hodgson, Forster, Fenwick,
Witherington, Ogle, Delaval, Ratcliff, &c, which I desired him some
time ago to send to you, if he thought it would be of any use. I am,
with sincere respect, your obedient servant, "R. Surtees."
A few days afterwards Hodgson received the following kind
letter from Mr. afterwards Lord Barrington, his ecclesiastical
superior whilst master of Sedgefield School. Hodgson had re
quested him to gain for him access to the Castle of Lowther for
his account of Westmerland.
" Dear Sir, Sedgefield, May 7th, 1812.
" I have this day heard from Lord Lonsdale upon the subject of
your letter, in which he says, ' I have not the least objection to Mr.
Hodgson's applying to Mr. Smirke for any sketches of this house he may
wish to have, for the purpose of embellishing his work. I am sorry it is
not in my power to supply them.' He goes on to state the shortness of
the time, and that he has nothing prepared, but refers you to Burn's History
of Westmerland for the account of the family — that he has no catalogue
of the pictures, many of which are not hung up, and none arranged with
any list of reference either to their character or subject. He desires
to be understood not as having any unwillingness to supply you with
materials, but from the fact of his not having the means of doing it.
" I had flattered myself with some hopes of seeing you here this week,
as I had heard from Mr. Surtees that there was a probability of your
coming to Mainsforth. I hope that visit is only deferred, and that I
shall still have the pleasure of seeing you here. Perhaps you had better

PICTURE OF NEWCASTLE. 87
copy the extract I have given you of Lord Lonsdale's letter as far as it
concerns Mr. Smirke, and send it to him directed to  Smirke, Esq.,
architect, London, and it will be sure to find him. I remain, Dear Sir,
most truly yours, " George Barrington."
In the commencement of the year 1812, or perhaps a while
earlier, Hodgson entered into an engagement to prepare for the
press a new edition of a Guide to Newcastle, which had been pub
lished in 1807 by his friend Mr. David Akenhead, the printer of
his poems of " Woodlands, &c." in that same year. This task he
duly performed, but in his edition little of the former publication
was retained. Breaking through the common-place fetters in
which it would have confined him, he determined to write a
Guide of his own, availing himself only here and there of such
matters of fact contained in the previous edition as were useful.
This book in due time was published with the following title.
" The Picture of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, being a brief historical and
descriptive Guide to the principal Buildings, Streets, Public Institutions,
Manufactures, Curiosities, &c, within that town and its neighbourhood
for twelve miles round ; and including an Account of the Roman Wall ;
and a detailed History of the Coal Trade ; the whole illustrated by a Map
of the various coal mines on the rivers Tyne and Wear, a Plan of New
castle, and other engravings. Newcastle-upon-Tyne : printed by and
for D. Akenhead and Sons, Sandhill. Sold also by Longman, Hurst,
Rees, Orme, and Brown, Paternoster Row, London. 1812."
If this little book had not been acknowledged as the work of
Mr. Hodgson, the question of its authorship would at once have
been settled by the advertisement, which, as it is very character
istically descriptive of the contents of the book, may be here
transcribed. It must be repeated that this short preface would of
itself have established the paternity of the production, however
carefully it might have been concealed.
" The first edition of this work appeared in 1807, and was rapidly
sold. Since that time nearly the whole of it has been rewritten, by a
different hand, and a great variety of new matter added. In its group
ing and general design, the main attention has been paid to simplicity
and accuracy. As a Picture, however, it aims at no higher pretension,

88 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
than of its being an outline— a rapid sketch, upon a small scale, and
without local colours.* Newcastle, Gateshead, and the coal trade are
placed in the foreground ; the Roman Wall occupies the offskip ; and the
towns, villages and country seats in the neighbourhood diminish into
aerial perspective, according to their size or importance in history.
" The utility of works of this nature is sufficiently proved by
their number. Almost every town of consequence has its picture or
guide — something to conduct the traveller to places worthy of his
attention, and to answer the garrulous and time-beguiling purpose of a
living chronicler.
" Encouraging a hope that this little performance will be equal to the
pretensions of its title-page, the editor presents it to the reader, in the
language, but not with the confidence of the city mouse in the fable—
1 Carpe viam, mihi crede, comes.' "
This little book, so far as Newcastle and its neighbourhood are
concerned, contains much curious and valuable information on
the usual subjects of inquiry, and the manner in which it is
written proves it to have been the work of one who could think
for himself, and not copy from others. It contains however two
subjects of greater local and general interest than the ordinary
topics of a guide-book, the Roman Wall and its history, and the his
tory of the Coal Trade ; the former occupying forty, and the latter
not fewer than sixty-five, closely-printed pages. On the subject of
the Roman Wall and what Hodgson has done for its history I shall
have an opportunity of making a few remarks in a subsequent
page. His account of the coal trade, when it made its appearance,
must have been read with great interest. It is historical, theo
retical, and practical, with a few cuts, rude but expressive, in
illustration of the subject; and it is probable that in the year 1812,
when it was published, it was received with welcome by many to
whom the coal trade was a subject of interest or investigation.
Frequent references are made in this essay to the geological
experiences of its writer in Westmerland and other districts; and
we may conjecture that this account and Hodgson's well-grounded
* The local colours, if they be colours at all, are the united smokes of pits and
manufactories, with not unfrequently a thick dash of denigrated fog from the river
These accompaniments were surely better away. But he probably does not allude to
such pigments as these.

PICTURE OF NEWCASTLE. 89
knowledge on the subject of coal mines led to his being deputed
by the coal trade to survey the Dudley coal-field in 1815, an
expedition to be mentioned in a subsequent page.
Such was the employment of Hodgson's leisure hours in the
spring of 1812, when his sympathies and energies, as a man and
a parish priest, were in a moment called forth by one of those sad
calamities which were then of but too familiar occurrence in the
coal districts of the North. The Picture of Newcastle, which had
made considerable progress in the press, was thrown aside, and it
was not resumed till autumn, when a place was found in its pages
for a brief account of this afflicting visitation.

CHAPTER V.
The Felling Explosion — First acquaintance with the Author — The Society of Anti
quaries of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
Mr. Hodgson had been now for four years settled in his prefer
ment, and had been actively engaged in the conscientious dis
charge of his duty. His population consisted in a great measure
of persons employed in coal mines, and, fortunately, since the
commencement of his incumbency there had happened none of
those sudden and destructive blasts by which persons so occupied
are liable to be swept away in a moment into eternity. But in
the month of May in the year 1812 an explosion took place of
so dreadful a nature as to surpass in its awful consequences, with
perhaps only one exception,* any calamity of the kind which had
previously occurred either in his own parish or in the whole
mining district of the North of England. In the heart of any
one with a mind and feelings so constituted, this sad event would
have excited deep sorrow, even if it had been merely an occur
rence in his neighbourhood, among people with whom he had no
connection save that of common humanity and its sympathies.
But the accident took place not merely in the parish of which he
was the minister and friend of his people, but at his very door.
He was well acquainted with the mining part of his population.
He paid them frequent visits, even in the dark chambers of the
earth. It was his custom to go down from time to time into the
pits within his parish, and talk kindly to the men and boys, and
make himself familiar with the nature of their work, and the
dangers to which they were daily exposed. To this pit in par
ticular, and its various workings and machinery, he was no
* I gather a note of the explosion to which I allude from Hodgson's MS. folio of
local words, under the word Cramer, a tinker or mender of broken china, &c.
" Itinerant Cramers (says he) formerly lodged in summer at Cramer Dykes, near the
head of Gateshead, where there was a great colliery, in which above 100 persons were
killed by an explosion in the year 1700."

THE FELLING EXPLOSION. 91
stranger, and towards the persons employed in it and his pa
rishioners at large he was at all times overflowing with kind
ness and sympathy. To give he had not ; but such as he had —
kind -advice and exhortation, a soothing word, and a sincere
feeling for his people in their distresses — were always at his dis
posal; and the manner in which such friendly and heartfelt
services were tendered gave them a value which was appreciated
and remembered. On this awful occasion there was need of all
his kindness, and his energies too. His presence was almost con
stantly required either at the mouth of the pit, to comfort and
console the widow and the fatherless in their affliction, or at the
door of his church, to bury the mangled bodies of the sufferers, as
they were brought up from day to day for seventeen long weeks,
from the bowels of the earth. And then came the afterwards,
and its troubles and anxieties — the commencing and conducting
a subscription for the destitute survivors of the men and youths
whom he had buried, and the apportioning to each what had
been, chiefly by his exertions, contributed for their benefit.
The explosion took place on the 25th of May, when not fewer
than 92 men and boys lost their lives in the Felling Coal-pit in
his parish. The bodies of 91 were brought up from time to
time and buried. The body of one was never found. The first
funeral took place on the 27th of May, the last on the 19th of
September. The greatest number of interments was on the 17 th
of June, when the mangled remains of not fewer than 14
poor fellows were consigned to the earth. On the 9th of August,
when nearly all the bodies had been discovered and buried,
Hodgson preached a funeral sermon in his chapel of Heworth
from the texts John xi. 35 and Luke xix. 41; and to this ser
mon, when printed, he prefixed a full account of the accident
itself in all its bearings, written in that plain and intelligible
style which the case required. This was no occasion for the orna
ments of the pen, and the little book was read by thousands.
This preface, with the book of which it forms a part, is now of
very rare occurrence, and as it not only affords a full account of
this awful calamity, but also is closely connected with Hodgson's
own personal history, giving, as it does, a perfect insight into his
own true sympathetic and energetic character, when placed in a

92 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
situation in which no clergyman of the North of England had
ever stood before that time, it becomes to all intents and purposes
a portion of his biography, and, in consequence, it is my intention
to lay the whole of it before my readers. I have already said
that the book can now be procured with difficulty, and the
preface may well accompany a memoir of him by whom it was
written. But further, independently of any consideration which
Connects it with Hodgson's own personal history, its style proves
how feelingly and graphically he could write on such a distressing
subject. If recent discoveries prove that much has been done,
they lead also to the conclusion that much more will be done by
the intellect of man, for the benefit of mankind. The time will
arrive when science will have mastered mining and every other
difficulty now standing in the way of human progress, and the
narrative which I am about to submit to my readers will then
perhaps be read more as a romance than as a piece of real history.
Besides, I am placing upon record a second sketch of the mode of
working a coal-pit at that period; and that by the pen of Mr.
Hodgson. (See p. 88 above.)
But there is a better reason than any hitherto adduced for
reprinting this publication. Let me earnestly beg of my reader
to give his serious attention to the following extract from a letter
to be printed in the sequel under the year 1831, and consider the
object which Hodgson had in view in this publication and the
difficulties with which he had to contend in thus advocating the
cause of humanity. It appears, I fear too plainly, that the coal-
owners of the day were adverse to publicity, and that, if in the
end they took measures for the safety of their men, it was to some
extent by compulsion. May we not therefore attribute the
safety-lamp and the lives of thousands upon thousands of men to
this identical publication — and if so, ought it, on its own account,
all other considerations apart, to remain in the obscurity into
which it has been suffered to fall ?
" Before the terrible accident at Felling Colliery, I had visited many
of the collieries in the neighbourhood of Newcastle, but that appalling
calamity determined me, contrary to the feelings of the coal-owners at the
time, to make it as public as I could ; and therefore I did not for many
weeks, after that explosion had in one moment taken away the

THE FELLING EXPLOSION. 93
lives of 92 of my parishioners, cease to write notices respecting it in
the Newcastle Courant, but also wrote and published a particular ac
count of it and its consequences, and accompanied it with a plan of
the mine and the mode of ventilating it. This I did with the hope of
rousing the sympathies of scientific men to investigate the causes of explo
sions in mines, and finding some mode of preventing them. A part of
the work, unknown to myself, was published in the " Annals of
Philosophy " before the whole of it was ready for sale ; and I have been
told that it was also published in journals both in France and Germany ;
so that its circulation in extent exceeded my expectation. In the same
year I also read before the Literary and Philosophical Society of New
castle ' Some Account of the Strata which form the Surface of the
Globe;' but, as I then imagined that my hearers were indifferent to the
subject, in the manner at least that I was able to handle it, I did not
finish the essay on trie plan I had formed it : and I never yet had either
leisure or inclination to resume the subject."
The book was published with the following title : " An Account
of the Explosion which killed Ninety -two Persons in the Brand
ling Main Colliery, at Felling, near Newcastle-upon-Tyne, on
May 25, 1812; with a Plan and Description of that Colliery; a
brief Statement of the Fund raised for the Widows of the
Sufferers; Suggestions for founding a Colliers' Hospital; and a
Funeral Sermon on the occasion. By the Rev. John Hodgson.
Newcastle: Printed by Edward Walker, 1813. Price 2s. sewed."
" I have," says he in a short preface," endeavoured to make
the subject of my narrative intelligible. Many names are men
tioned, and many circumstances related, of little moment to the
world, but perhaps of interest to the surviving relatives of the
sufferers. Should any profits arise from the sale of this performance,
I intend them to be applied towards erecting a plain monument
in memory of the ninety-two persons whose unfortunate exit from
the world I have here attempted to record. The largest portion
of the materials was derived from minutes I made in the mine,
about a fortnight before the accident, and from memoranda of
conversations I had with the workmen who attended the funerals
and were employed in recovering the bodies of the sufferers. —
J. H. Heworth, January 4th, 1813."

94 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
" A DESCRIPTION OF FELLING COLLIERY
previous to may 25, 1812.
" Felling is a manor in the chapelry of Heworth, and parish of Jarrow,
about a mile and a half east of Gateshead, in the county of Durham.
It has been a possession of the Brandlings of Gosforth since about the
year 1590. It contains several strata of coal, the uppermost of which
were extensively wrought in the beginning of last century. The
stratum called the high-main was won in 1799, and continued to be
wrought till the 19th January, 1811, when it was entirely excavated.
" The present colliery is in the seam called the low-main. It com
menced in October 1810, and was at full work in May 1811.
Messrs John and William Brandling, Henderson, and Grace, have each
a fourth share, both in its royalty and in the adventure : they have also
a lease from the dean and chapter of Durham of a large extent of coal
lying on the south and east of the manor of Felling.
" The working or down-cast shaft, marked A on the annexed Plan, is
called the John Pit, and is situated on the north side of the Sunderland
road, and half way between Felling toll-bar and Felling Hall. It is
204 yards deep, and furnished with a machine or steam-engine for draw
ing the coal, and with an engine called a whim-gin, wrought by horses,
and of use in letting down and drawing up the workmen, when the
machine chances to be crippled, or repairing: and when it lies idle on
pay-Saturdays or Sundays. Here is also a high tube of brickwork,
employed in assisting ventilation while this shaft was sinking, and till
the communication by the narrow boards and the drifts was opened
between the two shafts : since that it has been of no use.
" The up-cast, or air-furnace shaft, is called the William Pit. It is
on an eminence 550 yards south-west of the John Pit, and is dis
tinguished by a whim-gin and a lofty tube of brick-work. This shaft
is 232 yards deep.
" Over each pit two iron pullies were suspended on a kind of scaffold,
called the shaft-frame. In these ran the ascending and descending
ropes. The pullies over the John Pit were six feet in diameter, and
weighed nine cwt. a-piece. Those in which the rope of the gin of the
John Pit ran were fixed on a crane, which turned them over or from
the shaft, as occasion required.
" As there are no feeders of water in the strata below the high-main,
the low-main coal is kept perfectly dry by tubbing the watery seams with
a circular casing of oak wood, formed into pieces representing the fellies

S? § N -

3 *»*--+ (O'te

33JL  ¦?..

4; if

IE ._ . !r
¥¦ *
9) m 5
at X-S-
^Mm
*
\^
1
: )*¦
THE FELLING EXPLOSION. 95
of a wheel: this contrivance has the appearance of the ashlar-work of
a well, and saves the expense of a steam-engine for drawing water.
" The white lines on the Plan represent the excavated parts : the
broadest of them are called boards, and those that cross them at right
angles are walls.
" The two narrow lines which run north and south, on the east side,
are called double winning head-ways, and the narrow lines between them,
stentings: the two lines on the west side of the William Pit are also
double winning head-ways.
" The two boards on the north are termed the narrow boards : they
were the parts first excavated, and were made for the purpose of open
ing a communication for the atmospheric air between the two pits : the
lines between the west end of the narrow boards and the William Pit
are called drifts. The inclined plane board is marked P P on the Plan.
" The parallelograms formed by the boards and walls are called
pillars: they are solid masses of coal left to support the roof of the
mine, and are each twenty-six yards long, and eight yards broad.
" The single black lines in the walls and stentings represent stoppings,
and the double lines trap-doors, each of which are placed to divert the
current of atmospheric air through proper channels. The stoppings are
made of brick and lime, and in this colliery were strengthened on each
side with a wall of stone. The trap-doors are made of wood: each of
them is attended by a boy about seven, eight, or ten years old ; and
they are seldom used but in the avenues leading from the working
shaft to the workings. At the circle N the air crossed the waggon-way,
and at M the way to the stable, over arches of brick. The walls
which have stoppings in them are called sheth-walls, and those that are
open loose-walls.
" In all large collieries the air is accelerated through the workings
by placing a large fire, sometimes at the bottom and sometimes at the
top of the up-cast shaft, which in these cases is covered over, and con
nected with a furnace-tube or chimney by an arched gallery of brick
from forty to sixty feet in length. In this colliery the furnace was about
six feet from the bottom of the tube.
" The first course of the air, after descending the John Pit, was under
the arch M, up the inner narrow board, and the stable board S, to the
trap-door at the head of the narrow boards ; then down the board next
south of the stable board ; and so afterwards up two boards and down
other two, till it traversed the newly-formed sheth or set of workings,
branching from the southern-most part of the double headways on the

96 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
east: from thence it passed over the two arches up the outer board of
the narrow boards, to the most westerly sheth of boards, and, after
fanning them, found its way down the crane board, along the drift, to
the William Pit, through which it ascended into the furnace, and thence,
charged with noxious vapours, into the open air.
" From this explanation it will easily be perceived that the purity
and wholesomeness of a coal-mine has no reference to its depth. If the
air be conducted through all parts of a mine, as here described, and no
falls from the roof occur to prevent its visiting every corner, the old
excavations, which are called wastes, will be constantly ventilated by as
pure air as the boards in which the men are at work — each part, of the
mine will be uniformly wholesome ; but when obstructions occur, and
are not speedily removed ; when the fire in the furnace-shaft is neglected ;
or when care has not been taken to place the stoppings and trap-doors
in proper places, or the trap-doors are carelessly left open, or stoppings
fall down, — in all these cases accumulations of fire-damp, or hydrogen
gas (called stythe by the colliers), immediately commence in places
deprived of the atmospheric current, and continue to train their dread
ful artillery, and grow strong in danger, till the waste-men or ventilators
of the mine discover them, and wash them off, or they ignite at the
workmen's candles. Blasts occurring in partial stagnations, as in the
face of one or two boards, though they generally scorch the persons
in their way, seldom kill them; but when the air has proceeded
lazily for several days through a colliery, and an extensive magazine of
fire-damp is ignited in the wastes, then the whole mine is instantly
illuminated with the most brilliant lightning  the expanded fluid
drives before it a roaring whirlwind of flaming air, which tears up every
thing in its progress, scorching some of the miners to a cinder, burying
others under enormous heaps of ruins shaken from the roof, and, thunder
ing to the shafts, wastes its volcanic fury in a discharge, of thick clouds of
coal-dust, stones, timber, and not unfrequently limbs of men and horses.
" But this first, though apparently the most terrible, is not the most
destructive effect of these subterraneous thunderings. All the stoppings
and trap-doors of the mine being blown down by the violence of the
concussion, and the atmospheric current being for a short time entirely
excluded from the workings, those that survive the discharge of the
fire-damp are instantly suffocated by the after-damp, which immediately
fills up the vacuum caused by the explosion.
" Where persons suffering this kind of suspended animation are in
situations that can be visited immediately after the eruption ceases, and

THE FELLING EXPLOSION. 97
the air is again suffered to enter the workings, they have frequently
been brought up and restored to life by means similar to those recom
mended by the Humane Society; but as the air, after the stoppings are
blown down, always passes from shaft to shaft through the most direct
avenues it can find, 'and as neither lights will burn nor man can
breathe in places deprived of its visits, all attempts to save the persons
lying out of its track would not only be ineffectual, but fatal to the
lives of persons entering upon so dangerous, though benevolent, an
enterprise. " This after-damp is called choalc-damp and surfeit, by the colliers, and
is the carbonic acid gas of chymists. While the mine is at work, it
lies sluggishly upon its floor, and suffers the atmospheric air, as a lighter
fluid, to swim upon it: fire-damp, being the lightest of the three, floats
upon the atmospheric air, and therefore occupies a space, according
to its present quantity, nearest the roof of the mine.
" The coals from the boards on each side of the William Pit were con
veyed in strong wicker baskets, called corves, to the crane, on trams,
a narrow frame-work of wood mounted on four low wheels : this work
was done by putters and barrow-men, the latter pulling before, and
the former putting or thrusting behind: boys about fifteen or sixteen
years old are employed in this department of the colliery. The crane
at the time of the accident stood eleven pillars up the crane-board; it
had been removed from the several pillars which have their upper
most corner canted off, and a period fixed in the vacancy. The use
of the crane is to lift the loaded corves off the trams, upon waggons
which differ little from the trams, except in their being larger and
stronger. From the crane, about four waggons, each carrying two
corves, and chained together, were taken to the bottom of the crane-
board near number 86, by the machine, called an inclined-plane, which
draws up the empty waggons by the weight of the loaded ones : the
person who regulates this machine is called a brake-man. From the
bottom of the inclined-plane, the coals were conveyed on the same
waggons to the John Pit.
" This mine was considered by the workmen a model of perfection in
the purity of its air and orderly arrangements. Its inclined-plane was
saving the expense of at least thirteen horses ; the concern wore the fea
tures of the greatest possible prosperity, and no accident, except a
trifling explosion of fire-damp slightly burning two or three workmen,
had occurred. Two shifts or sets of men were constantly employed,
except on Sundays. Twenty-five acres of coal had been excavated.
H

98

MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.

The first shift entered the mine at four o'clock A.M., and were relieved
at their working-posts by the next at eleven o'clock in the morning.
The establishment it employed under ground, as will be seen in the
succeeding narrative, consisted of about one hundred and twenty- eight
persons, who, in the fortnight from the eleventh to the twenty-fifth of
May, 1812, wrought 624 scores of coal, equal to 1300 Newcastle
chaldrons, or 2455f£ London chaldrons.

" A LIST OF THE PERSONS KILLED BY THE EXPLOSION.

Nos.
on the
Plan.

Name.

Day of
Burial.

Years old.

Employment.

1

John Knox

May 27

Trapper

2

Robert Harrison

„ 27

14

Waggon-driver

3

John Harrison

,, 27

12

Waggon-driver

4

George Ridley

„ 27

11

Waggon-driver

5

Robert Hutchinson

.. 27

11

Trapper

C

Thomas Robson

July 8

18

Putter

¦"m 7

John Pearson

., 8

58

Shifter

8

Philip Allan

., 8

17

Putter

9

George Bainbridge, unknown

.. 8

10

Putter

10

Isaac Greener

., 9

24

Hewer

11

Jame3 Craigs

,. 13

13

Waggon-driver

12

Edward Bell

„ 15

12

Putter

m 13

Ralph Harrison

„ 15

39

Horse-keeper

ml4

Matthew Brown

„ 16

28

Hewer

15

James Kay

„ 16

18

Putter

16

George Bell

„ 16

14

Putter

17

Thomas Richardson

„ 16

17

Putter

18

Henry Haswell

„ 16

18

Putter

19

Joseph Anderson

„ 16

23

Putter

20

Joseph Pringle

„ 16

16

Putter

21

 Dobson, unknown

„ 16

a boy

Trapper

22

George Pearson

„ 16

26

Hewer

23

Robert Hall

„ 16

13

Putter

24

Gregory Galley

„ 16

10

Trapper

25

Benjamin Thompson

„ 17

17

Craneman

26

George Mitcheson

., 17

18

Putter

27

Matthew Pringle

„ 17

18

Putter

m28

Nicholas Urwin

» 17

58

Braking inclined-plane

m29

John Wilson

„ 17

32

Hewer

m30

Thomas Young

„ 17

Putter

31

John Jacques, unknown

„ 17

14

Putter

32

Edward Pearson

., 17

14

Putter

33

William Richardson

» 17

19

Putter

34

Christopher Culley

„ 17

20

Putter

35

William Boutland

.. 17

19

Crane on-setter

36

Jacob Allan

,. 17

14

Putter

m37

Isaac Greener

„ 17

65

Hewer

38

Thomas Bainbridge, unknown

„ 17

17

Putter

ra39

John Wilson

,, 18

30

Hewer

40

Matthew Bainbridge

„ 18 1

19

Putter

* Those marked m were married men ; the rest single.

THE FELLING EXPLOSION.

99

list of persons killed ( continued).

Nos. |

on the
Plan.

Name.

Day of
Burial.

Years old

Employment.

41

John Surtees

July 18

12

Trapper

42

Ralph Hall

„ 18

18

Putter

43

Paul Fletcher

„ 18

22

Hewer

44

William Galley

„ 18

22

Putter

45

John Hunter

„ 18

21

Hewer

m 46

Thomas Bainbridge

„ 22

53

Hewer

m47

John Wood

„ 22

27

Hewer

m48

Jeremiah Turn bull

„ 22

43

Hewer

m49

John Haswell

„ 22

22

Hewer

50

John Burnitt

„ 22

21

Hewer

51

George Culley

„ 22

14

Trapper

m52

Joseph Wilson

„ 23

25

Hewer

m53

John Boutland

„ 23

46

Hewer

54

George Reay

„ 24

9

Trapper

55

William Gardiner

„ 24

10

Trapper

m 56

Thomas Craggs

„ 24

36

Hewer

57

Thomas Craggs

„ 24

9

Trapper

58

John Greener

„ 24

21

Hewer

m59

Edward Richardson

„ 24

39

Hewer

60

Robert Dobson

„ 24

13

Trapper

m 61

William Dixon

„ 25

35

Hewer

62

George Robson

„ 25

15

Putter

63

Andrew Allan

,, 25

11

Trapper

m 64

John Thompson

., 25

36

Hewer

m 65

John Pearson

„ 25

64

Hewer

m 66

Thomas Bears

„ 25

48

Hewer

67

Charles Wilson

„ 25

20

Hewer

m68

Michael Gardiner

,, 25

45

Hewer

m69

James Comby

„ 26

28

Hewer

70

Joseph Gordon

„ 25

10

Trapper

m71

Robert Haswell

„ 25

42

Hewer

m72

Joseph Wood

„ 27

39

Hewer

m73

John Wilkinson

„ 27

35

Hewer

m74

John Turnbull

„ 27

27

Hewer

m 75

Matthew Sanderson

„ 27

33

Hewer

m76

Robert Gordon

,. 27

40

Hewer

77

Thomas Gordon

,. 27

8

Trapper

to 78

Christopher Mason

„ 27

34

Hewer

79

Robert Gray Lock

„ 28

15

Putter

m80

William Jacques

„ 28

23

Putter

81

William Hunter

„ 29

35

Deputy

82

Thomas Ridley

„ 29

13

Putter

m83

William Sanderson

„ 30

43

Hewer

84

George Lawton

„ 30

14

Lamp- keeper

85

Michael Hunter

„ 30

8

Trapper

86

William Dixon

„ 31

10

Waggon-driver

87

Edward Haswell

Aug. 1

20

Hewer

88

Joseph Young

„ 3

30

Trapper

89

George Kay

„ 26

16

Putter

90

Robert Pearson

Sep. 1

10

Trapper

91

John Archibald Dobson

„ 19

15

Trapper

92

Not yet discovered.

H 2
100 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.

AN ACCOUNT OF THE ACCIDENT, AND OF THE RECOVERY OF THE BODIES OF THE
SUFFERERS.
" About half past eleven o'clock on the morning of the 25th of May,
1812, the neighbouring villages were alarmed by a tremendous explo
sion in this colliery. The subterraneous fire broke forth with two
heavy discharges from the John Pit, which were, almost instantaneously
followed by one from the William Pit. A slight trembling, as from an
earthquake, was felt for about half a mile around the workings; and
the noise of the explosion, though dull, was heard at three or four miles
distance, and much resembled an unsteady fire of infantry. Immense
quantities of dust and small coal accompanied these blasts, and rose
high into the air, in the form of an inverted cone. The heaviest part
of the ejected matter, such as corves, pieces of wood, and small coal, fell
near the pits ; but the dust, borne away by a strong west wind, fell in
a continued shower from the pits to the distance of a mile and a half.
In the village of Heworth, it caused a darkness like that of early
twilight, and covered the roads so thickly, that the footsteps of passengers
were strongly imprinted in it : the heads of both the shaft-frames were
blown off, their sides set on fire, and their pullies shattered in pieces ;
but the pullies of the John Pit gin, being on a crane not within the
influence of the blast, were fortunately preserved. The coal dust, ejected
from the William Pit into the drift or horizontal parts of the tube, was
about three inches thick, and soon burnt to a light cinder. Pieces of
burning coal, driven off the solid stratum of the mine, were also blown
up this shaft.*
" As soon as the explosion was heard, the wives and children of the
workmen ran to the working-pit. Wildness and terror were pictured
in every countenance. The crowd from all sides soon collected to the
number of several hundreds, some crying out for a husband, others for
a parent or a son, and all deeply affected with an admixture of horror,
anxiety, and grief.
" The machine being rendered useless by the eruption, the rope of the
gin was sent down the pit with all expedition. In the absence of horses,
a number of men, whom the wish to be instrumental in rescuing their
neighbours from their perilous situation seemed to supply with strength
* There is a long note here in which Hodgson describes the eruption as " a feeble
representation of the subterraneous labour of Mount jEtna," and refers to Pindar,
Lucretius, Virgil, Aulus Gellius, and others.

THE FELLING EXPLOSION. 101
proportionate to the urgency of the occasion, put their shoulders to the
starts or shafts of the gin, and wrought it with astonishing expedition.
By twelve o'clock, thirty-two persons, all that survived this dreadful
calamity, were brought to daylight. The dead bodies of two boys,
numbers one and four, who were miserably scorched and shattered,
were also brought up at this time: three boys, viz. numbers two, three,
and five, out of the thirty-two who escaped alive, died within a few
hours after the accident. Only twenty-nine persons were, therefore,
left to relate what they observed of the. appearances and effects of this
subterranean thundering. One hundred and twenty-one were in the
mine when it happened, and eighty-seven remained in the workings.
One overman, two wastemen, two deputies, one headsman or putter
(who had a violent toothache), and two masons, in all eight persons, came
up at different intervals, a short time before the explosion.*
" They who had their friends restored hastened with them from the
dismal scene, and seemed for a while to suffer as much from the excess
of joy as they had lately done from grief; and they who were yet held
in doubt concerning the fate of their relations and friends filled the air
with shrieks and howlings, went about wringing their hands, and threw
their bodies into the most frantic and extravagant gestures.
" The persons who now remained in the mine had all been employed
in the workings, to which the plane-board was the general avenue, and,
as none had escaped by that way, the apprehension for their safety
began to strengthen every moment. At a quarter after twelve o'clock,
Mr. Straker, Mr. Anderson, William Haswell, Edward Rogers, John
Wilson, Joseph Pearson, Henry Anderson, Michael Menham, and Joseph
Greener, therefore descended the John Pit, in expectation of meeting
with some of them alive. As the fire-damp would have instantly ignited
at candles, they lighted their way by steelmills, small machines which
give light by turning a. plain thin cylinder of steel against a piece of
flint. Knowing that a great number of the workmen would be at the
crane when the explosion happened, they attempted to reach it by the
plane-board : but their progress was intercepted at the second pillar, by
the prevalence of choak-damp: the noxious fluid filled the board
between the roof and the thill ; and the sparks from the flint fell into it
like dark drops of blood. Being, therefore, deprived of light, and, nearly
poisoned for want of atmospheric air, they retraced their steps to the
shaft, and with similar success attempted to pass up the narrow-boards :
* A list is here given of the names and employments of the twenty-nine persons who
escaped.

102 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
in these they were stopped at the sixth pillar by a thick smoke, which
stood like a wall the whole height of the board. Here their flint-mills
were not only rendered useless, and respiration became extremely
difficult, but the probability of their ever reaching the places where they
expected to meet with those they were in search of, or of finding any of
them alive, was entirely done away. To the hopelessness of success in
their enterprize should also be added their certainty of the mine being
on fire, and the probability of a second explosion at every moment
occurring, and burying them in its ruins.
" At two o'clock Mr. Straker and Mr. Anderson had just ascended the
John Pit, and were gone to examine the appearance of the air issuing
from the William Pit. Menham, Greener, and Rogers, had also
ascended. Two of the party were at this moment in the shaft, and the
other two remained below, when a second explosion, much less severe
than the first, excited more frightful expressions of grief and terror
amongst the relatives of the persons still in the mine. Rogers and
Wilson, the persons in the shaft, experienced little inconvenience by the
eruption : they felt an unusual heat, but it had no effect in lifting up
their bodies, or otherwise destroying the uniformity of the motion of
their ascent. Haswell and H. Anderson, hearing its distant growling,
laid themselves down at full length on their faces, and in this posture,
by keeping firm hold of a strong wooden prop, placed near the shaft, to
support the roof of the mine, experienced no other inconvenience from
the blast than its lifting up their legs and poising their bodies in various
directions, in the manner that the waves heave and toss a buoy at sea.
As soon as the atmospheric current returned down the shaft, they were
drawn to bank.
" This expedient of lying down and suffering the fury of the blast to
roll over them is mentioned in the Life of Lord Keeper North, under
the year 1676. It is most efficacious where the mine is wet, for
atmospheric air always accompanies running water ; but, the warning of
a blast being usually sudden, it requires a degree of experience and
coolness not commonly united to exercise any precaution against it.
The miner, knowing its irresistible power, instantly sees the inefficacy
of every attempt to escape, and, like a physician attacked by some
incurable complaint, and conscious that his art is unequal to its cure,
makes no struggle to save his life.
" Mr. Straker was viewer of the colliery ; Haswell was its overman, and
had three brothers; Wilson was a wasteman, and had three sons;
Pearson had his father and two brothers ; Rogers was a deputy, and had

THE FELLING EXPLOSION. 103
several near relations in the mine. H. Anderson went down with
strong confidence that he would be able to reach his partner, number
eighty-seven. Pearson, Rogers, and H. Anderson, had also escaped from
the first explosion. These all entered the pit from a combination
of motives — from duty, humanity, parental or brotherly affection.
Greener was keeper of the adjoining toll-bar, and had his father, two
brothers, a brother-in-law, and two nephews. Mr. Anderson and Mr.
Menham hazarded their lives from the single and meritorious motive of
assisting to rescue a number of their fellow-creatures from death.
" As each of the party came up, he was surrounded by a group of
anxious inquirers. All their reports were equally hopeless; and
the second explosion so strongly corroborated their account of the im
pure state of the mine, that their assertions for the present seemed to be
credited. But this impression was only momentary. On recollection,
they remembered that persons had survived similar accidents, and when
the mine was opened had been found alive. Three had been shut up
during forty days in a pit near Byker, and all that period had subsisted
on candles and horse-beans. Persons, too, were not wanting to infect
the minds of the relatives of the sufferers with disbelief in the accounts
of the persons who had explored the mine. It was suggested to them,
that want of courage, or bribery, might be inducements to magnify the
danger, and represent the impossibility of reaching the bodies of the
unfortunate men. By this species of wicked industry, the grief of the
neighbourhood began to assume an irritable and gloomy aspect. The
proposition to exclude the atmospheric air from the mine, in order to
extinguish the fire, was therefore received with the cries of " murder,''
and with determinations of opposing the proceeding.
" Many of the widows continued about the mouth of the John Pit
during the whole of Monday night, with the hope of hearing the voice
of a husband or a son calling for assistance.
" On Tuesday the 26th of May, the natural propensity of the human
mind to be gratified with spectacles of horror was strongly exemplified.
An immense crowd of colliers from various parts, but especially from
the banks of the river Wear, assembled round the pits, and were pro
fuse in reproaches on the persons concerned in the mine, for want of
exertion to recover the men. Every one had some example to relate of
successful attempts in cases of this kind — all were large in their pro
fessions of readiness to give assistance; but none were found to enter
the inflammable jaws of the mine. Their reasonings and assertions
seemed indeed to be a mixture of those prejudices and conceits which

104 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
cleave to workmen to whom experience has afforded a partial insight
into the nature and peculiarities of their profession, and not to be
grounded on any memory of facts, or to result from a knowledge of the
connection between causes and effects : and on this account, as soon as
the leaders of the outcry could be brought to listen with patience to a
relation of the appearances that attended this accident, and to hear the
reasons assigned for the conclusion that the mine was on fire, and that
the persons remaining in it were dead, they seemed to allow the
impracticability of reaching the bodies of the sufferers till the fire was
extinguished, and consequently the necessity of smothering it out by
excluding atmospheric air from the mine.
" The proprietors of the mine gave the strongest assurances to the
crowd, that if any project could be framed for the recovery of the men,
no expense should be spared in executing it; if any person could be
found to enter the mine, every facility and help should be afforded him ;
but, as they were assured by the unanimous opinion of several of the
most eminent viewers in the neighbourhood that the workings of the
mine were in an unapproachable state, they would hold out no reward
for the attempt : they would be accessory to no man's death by persua
sion or a bribe.
" The mouth of the John Pit had continued open since the accident:
the William Pit was to-day almost wholly muzzled with planks.
" On Wednesday the 27th of May, at the clamorous solicitation of
the people, Mr. Straker and the overman again descended the John Pit,
in order to ascertain the state of the air in the workings. Immediately
under the shaft they found a mangled horse, in which they supposed
they perceived some signs of life ; but they had only advanced about
six or eight yards, before the sparks of the flint were extinguished in
the choak-damp, and Haswell, who played the mill, began to show the
effects of the carbonic poison, by faultering in his steps. Mr. Straker
therefore laid hold of him, and supported him to the shaft. As the
baneful vapours had now taken possession of the whole of the mine,
and they found it difficult to breathe even in the course of the full
current of the atmospheric air, they immediately ascended. But the
afflicted creatures, still clinging to hope, disbelieved their report.
Wishful therefore to give as ample satisfaction as possible to the
unhappy women Mr. Anderson and James Turnbull (a hewer of
the colliery who had escaped the blast) again went down. At thirty
fathoms from the bottom they found the air exceedingly warm: to
exist without apoplectic symptoms for more than a few yards round the

THE FELLING EXPLOSION. 105
bottom of the shaft was found impossible, and even there the air was
so contaminated as to be nearly irrespirable. When they ascended,
their clothes emitted a smell somewhat resembling the waters of Gils-
land and Harrogate, but more particularly allied to that of the turpen
tine distilled from coal-tar.
" The report of these last adventurers partly succeeded in convincing
the people that there was no possibility of any of their friends being
found alive Some, indeed, went away silent, but not satisfied ; others
with pitiable importunity besought that measures to recover their
friends might even yet be adopted and persevered in ; and many, as if
grief and rage had some necessary connection, went about loading the
conductors of the mine with execrations, and threatening revenge.
Some were even heard to say they could have borne their loss with
fortitude had none of the workmen survived the calamity : they could
have been consoled had all their neighbours been rendered as misera
ble and destitute as themselves ! From such a multitude of distracted
women unanimity of sentiment could not be expected — no scheme
of proceedings could be invented fortunate enough to meet with the
approbation of them all. In the evening of the day it was therefore re
solved to exclude the atmospheric air from entering the workings, in
order to extinguish the fire which the explosion had kindled in the mine,
and of which the smoke ascending the William Pit was a sure indica
tion. This shaft was accordingly filled with clay about seven feet above
the ingate or entrance from the shaft into the drift; and the John Pit
mouth was covered over with loose planks.
" On Thursday the 28th of May, both the pits continued in the state
they were left in on the preceding evening ; but early on the morning
of the 29th, twenty fothers of additional thickness in clay were thrown
into the William Pit, in order to insure its being air-tight; and on the
same day, a scaffold, at twenty-five fathoms and a hah from the surface,
was suspended on six ropes, each six inches in circumference, in the
John Pit. Upon this, ten folds of straw were thrown, and twenty-six
fothers of clay, namely, fifteen fothers on Friday, five on Saturday, and
six on Sunday, on which day the scaffold was found sufficiently air
tight, by its holding the. water poured upon it.
" On the 1st of June, one of the ropes of the scaffold gave way, and
on the next day, about five o'clock in the afternoon, the whole of it fell
to the bottom of the pit. Immediately after this a second scaffold was
suspended: but when eight fothers of clay had been thrown upon it, it
also broke its ropes and fell to the bottom, about eight o'clock on the

106 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
evening of the same day. At ten o'clock another expedient was resorted
to : three beams of timber were laid across the mouth of the shaft, a
little below the surface, and these were traversed with strong planks,
upon which, on that evening, and early next morning, a body of clay
was laid four feet thick, and firmly beaten together. At the same time
a ten-inch stopping of brick and lime was put into the tube drift of this
shaft: this drift had long been closed, but the additional stopping was
added, for greater security against the fire-damp escaping.
" Preparations now began to be made for re-opening the mine. For
this purpose a brattice or partition of thin deals began to be put down
the William Pit, of which and its furnace-tube and whim-gin the annexed
figure is a section.* The black line down the shaft represents the
brattice, which in this case was made to assist the workmen in raising
the clay thrown down the shaft on the 27th and 29th of May.
" About this time many idle tales were circulated through the
country, concerning several of the men finding their way to the shafts,
and being recovered. Their number was circumstantially told —
how they subsisted on candles, oats, and beans — how they heard the
persons who visited the mine on the day of the accident, and the
Wednesday following, but were too feeble to speak sufficiently loud
to make themselves heard. Some conjurer, too, it was said, had set
his spells and divinations to work, and penetrated the whole secrets of
the mine. He had discovered one famishing group receiving drops of
water from the roof of the mine — another eating their shoes and clothes,
and other such pictures of misery. These inventions were carefully
related to the widows, and answered the purpose of every day harrowing
up their sorrows afresh. Indeed, it seemed the chief employment of
some to make a kind of insane sport of their own and their neighbours'
calamity. '' On the 19th of June, it was discovered that the water oozing
out of the tubbing of the William Pit had risen to the height of twenty-
four feet upon the clay. On the 3rd of July, this being all overcome,
the brattice finished, and a great part of the clay drawn up, the sinkers
began to bore a crowhole out of the shaft into the north drift. On the
next day the stoppings in the tube drift of the John Pit were taken
down, and the bore-hole finished, through which the air passed briskly
into the mine, and ascended by the John Pit tube.
" Some experiments made on the fire-damp, by collecting it in
* There is here in the margin of the pamphlet an explanatory woodcut, which it is
not necessary to transfer to our pages.

THE FELLING EXPLOSION. 107
bladders in the John Pit tube, before the bore-hole was opened, proved
that it would not ignite previous to its mixture with atmospheric air.
This shaft became an up-cast at three in the afternoon of the 5th of
July ; at seven on the same day, the fire-damp exploded on its being
exposed to the flame of a candle. From the 6th to the 8th, it
continued in the same state, and after became so saturated with
atmospheric air as to lose that property.
" On the 7th of July, the workmen pierced through the clay in the
William Pit into the drift ; and at forty -five minutes past eleven o'ciock
in the morning the John Pit tube emitted a thick continued volume of
vapour, alternately of a blackish and gray colour : at five in the after
noon it was of alight steam colour, and the next morning scarcely visible.
" The morning of Wednesday the 8th of July being appointed for
entering the workings, the distress of the neighbourhood was again
renewed at an early hour. A great concourse of people collected — some
out of curiosity — to witness the commencement of an undertaking full
of sadness and danger — some to stir up the revenge and aggravate the
sorrows of the relatives of the sufferers, by calumnies and reproaches,
published for the sole purpose of mischief; but the greater part came
with broken hearts and streaming eyes, in expectation of seeing a father,
a husband, or son " brought up out of the horrible pit."
" As the weather was warm, and it was desirable that as much air
might pass down the shaft as possible, constables were placed at proper
distances, to keep off the crowd. Two surgeons were also in attendance
in case of accidents.1
" At six o'clock in the morning, Mr. Straker, Mr. Anderson, the over
man of the colliery, and six other persons descended the William Pit,
and began to traverse the north drift towards the plane-board. As a
current of water had been constantly diverted down this shaft for the
space of ten hours, the air was found to be perfectly cool and whole
some. Light was procured from steel-mills. As the explosion had
occasioned several falls of large masses of stone from the roof, their
progress was considerably delayed by removing them. After the plane-
board was reached, a stopping was put across it on the right hand, and
one across the wall opposite the drift. The air, therefore, passed to the
left, and number six was found.
" The shifts of men employed in this doleful and unwholesome work
were generally about eight in number. They were four hours in and
eight hours out of the mine: each individual, therefore, wrought two
shifts every twenty-four hours.

108 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
" When the body of number six was to be lifted into a shell or coffin,
the men for a while stood over it in speechless horror : they imagined
it was in so putrid a state that it would fall asunder by lifting. At
length they began to encourage each other " in the name of God " to
begin; and after several hesitations and resolutions, and covering their
hands with oakum to avoid any unpleasant sensation from touching the
body, they laid it in a coffin, which was conveyed to the shaft in a bier
made for the purpose, and drawn to 'bank' in a net made of strong
cords. " It is worthy of remark that number six was found within two or
three yards of the place where the atmospheric current concentrated, as it
passed from one pit to the other ; but that he was lying on his face with
his head downwards, apparently in the position into which he had been
thrown by the blast. The air visited him in vain.
" When the first shift of men came up, at ten o'clock, a message was
sent for a number of coffins to be in readiness at the pit; these being
at the joiner's shop, piled up in a heap, to the number of ninety-two
(a most gloomy sight), had to pass by the village of Low Felling. As
soon as a cartload of them was seen, the bowlings of the women, who
had hitherto continued in their houses, but now began to assemble
about their doors, came on the breeze in slow fitful gusts, which pre
saged a scene of much distress and confusion being soon exhibited near
the pit ; but happily, by representing to them the shocking appearance
of the body that had been found, and the ill effects upon their own
bodies and minds likely to ensue from suffering themselves to be
hurried away by such violent convulsions of grief, they either returned
to their houses, or continued in silence in the neighbourhood of the pit.
" Every family had made provision for the entertainment of their
neighbours on the day the bodies of their friends were recovered; and it
had been generally given out that they intended to take the bodies into
their own houses ; but Dr. Ramsay having given his opinion that such
a proceeding, if carried into effect, might spread putrid fever through
the neighbourhood, and the first body when exposed to observation
having a most horrid and corrupt appearance, they readily consented
to have them interred immediately after they were found. Permission
however, was given to let the hearse, in its way to the chapel-yard,
pass by the door of the deceased.
"From the 8th of July to the 19th of September, the heart
rending scene of mothers and widows examining the putrid bodies of
their sons and husbands, for marks by which to identify them, was

THE FELLING EXPLOSION. 109
almost daily renewed ; but very few of them were known by any per
sonal mark : they were too much mangled and scorched to retain any
of their features Their clothes, tobacco-boxes, shoes, and the like,
were therefore the only indexes by which they could be recognized.
" After finding numbers seven, eight, and nine, the operations of the
first day ceased, about ten o'clock in the evening. At six the next
morning the workmen began to put deal stoppings into the stentings
of the double headways, west of the William Pit. In the afternoon
number ten was found, and the third board south of the plane-board
discovered to be much fallen : carrying a brattice nearly to its face was
the last proceeding of the 9th.
" Early in the morning of the 10th of July the air in the William
Pit was discovered to be casting up with a current so feeble as nearly
to approach stagnation. This being supposed to be caused by the
water, collected about the bottom of the John Pit, approaching the
roof of the mine, the machine was put in readiness for drawing it.
A collection of water amounting to about 4,500 gallons, was twice
a week raised from a sump or well, immediately under the John Pit
shaft. This sump was made for the purpose of receiving it, as it oozed
from the tubbing. The dip of this colliery being about one yard in
twelve to the south-west, the lowest parts of the colliery were conse
quently at this shaft, and the little water that the mine produced
collected here. The double headway was nearly water-level. The
annexed section may assist in giving a clear idea of the appearance
of the water where the circulation of air through the mine began
to stop. A represents the shaft, and B the inner narrow-board.*
" Hitherto the air had descended into the mine by the John Pit
tube: but now the clay laid over the mouth of this pit on the
evening of the 1st of June was removed, and the settle-boards, or
frames, upon which the corves were loaded, were refixed. At forty-
five minutes after four o'clock this afternoon, the water began to be
drawn in buckets, each containing ninety gallons. Thirty buckets
were drawn in an hour.
" On the morning of the 11th, a larger stream of water than
had been hitherto used was diverted down the William Pit, with
the expectation of forcing the air to descend with it. This was a
desirable point to effect, as the bodies of the sufferers might be
more readily obtained by this pit than the other ; but as the water fell
* This cut is omitted as of no importance to our narrative.

110 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
about the John Pit, the atmospheric current set more strongly down it:
the attempt was therefore abandoned as hopeless.
" The machine was constantly at work drawing water, till Monday
the 13th, when the rubbish occasioned by the falling of the two
scaffolds on the first of June, stones blown from the roof by the blast,
and the body of a horse began to be raised. As the body of the
boy, number eleven, had lain a long time in water, it was perfectly
white. " On Tuesday the 14th of July, as the workmen were clearing out the
water- sump at the bottom of the John Pit, a gust of fire-damp burst from
the workings, and ascended the shaft. This caused so great an alarm,
that the cry " Send away a loop I " from the bottom, and " Ride away,
ride away ! '' from the banksmen, were heard together. Seven of
the men clung to the rope, and arrived safe at bank ; and two old men
threw themselves flat upon their faces, in expectation of an explosion ;
but, after a second and similar eructation, the atmospheric current
took its usual course. No alteration was perceived at the William Pit.
This phenomenon was afterwards ascertained to proceed from a
large fall at that time taking place in the stable-board, and forcing
back a foul admixture of the two damps and common air. The banks
men's cry so alarmed the villages of High and Low Felling that all
the inhabitants, young and old, hastened to the pit. At two o'clock in
the afternoon the work was resumed.
" On the 15th of July, the bottom of the plane-board was reached,
where the body of a mangled horse and four waggons were found,
Though these waggons were made of strong frames of oak, strengthened
with hoops and bars of iron, yet the blast had driven both them and
the horse with such violence down the inclined plane-board, that it had
twisted and shattered them as if they had been shot from a mortar
against a rock. Number twelve, though a putter, at the time of the
accident was employed at the meetings of the inclined-plane to keep
the ropes in order as the waggons passed each other. Number thirteen,
from the position in which he was found, seemed as if he had been
asleep when the explosion happened, and had never after opened his
eyes. He was seen, about a quarter before eleven o'olock, smoking
his pipe on the place where his body was found. He attended to the
five horses, and had the charge of keeping the waggon and inclined
plane-ways free from obstructions.
" After obtaining number fourteen, the crane was visited. Here
twenty-one bodies, from number fifteen to thirty-six, lay in ghastly

THE FELLING EXPLOSION. Ill
confusion : some like mummies, scorched as dry as if they had been
baked ; one wanting its head, another an arm. The scene was truly
frightful. The power of the fire was visible upon them all; but its
effects were extremely various : while some were almost torn to pieces,
there were others who appeared as if they had sunk down overpowered
with sleep.
" Number twenty-eight was married at the age of twenty-three to
Isabella Greener, aged twenty-two. They had eleven children, first
seven sons and then four daughters, successively. The oldest and the
youngest of the boys were born deaf; the rest were born with all their
senses. Both of these were sent to school, and were taught to write
and cast up sums. William, the eldest brother, after leaving school,
was employed about the skreen of the colliery, and in different kinds
of work about its bank, but never wrought under-ground. Until he
was twenty-one years old, his sight, according to his mother's account,
was quick and strong; but about that period a dimness, occasioned by
a heavy lift, suddenly came over his eyes, and has gradually increased
to total blindness. He was a good writer, and understood enough of
the power of numbers to reckon up his own earnings in figures. Once
the agent of the colliery deducted eight shillings from his fortnight's
pay, thinking him too young and infirm to work for the wages assigned
him: this grieved him much, and he, long remembered it as an act of
injustice. His observations on the characters of his comrades, written
with chalk on doors ahout the engine houses, were frequently humourous.
He has a contemptible opinion of his brother's attainments as a
scholar. His health has always been good, and since he lost his sight
he has been maintained by the owners of Felling Colliery. He is
thirty-two years old. Nicholas, the youngest of the seven, is twenty
years old, and follows the trade of a shoemaker, in which he is reckoned
to have considerable expertness. His sight and health are good. Their
mother has a language of signs by which she. holds a communication of
thought between them and herself: and they frequently spend whole
evenings together, deeply and most affectionately engaged in conversa
tion with each other. By the various passions which these conversations
draw forth, and the quick changes of expression in their countenances,
it is evident that their intercourse of ideas is nearly as rapid as they
could be by oral language. William, notwithstanding his uncommon
privations, can still express many of his wants by writing, at which
exercise he is more ready and expert than could be expected.
" It is difficult to quit this place without reflecting on the riotous

1 12 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
scenes constantly exhibited at the crane of a large colliery. The place
is lighted with a lamp, just sufficient to make ' darkness visible,' and
to give one faint glimpses of series of youths successively hurrying from
the wall of the full-way board, and hastening back to the working-
boards with the empty corves, up the crane-board. In many pits the
coals are brought from the hewers by horses, which, from the great
speed at which they are driven, make the bustle still more hideous.
The thousand tricks of a crowd of boys in high health and spirits, each
anxious to commit some frolic while his corf is under the crane — their
bodies half naked, and black with coal dust — their laughing, fighting,
loud swearing — these, joined to the incessant noise of iron- wheeled
trams running on iron plates, and to the great heat and offensive effluvia
of the place, make it indeed a ' horrible dungeon.' Such in all proba
bility was the picture here when these twenty-one persons were
 ' overwhelmed

' With floods and whirlwinds of tempestuous fire.'
"The bodies of numbers thirty-nine, forty, and forty-one, were
obtained on the night, of the 17th of July. Thirty-nine, being
challenged about daybreak next morning, before the other two could
be recognized, was therefore, though last in being found, the first in
order of burial.
" From an apprehension that the great body of fire-damp confined by
the stoppings newly put into the walls immediately south of the plane-
board might burst forth if kept perfectly tight, the atmospheric air was
thrown into the full-way board, by a stopping placed across the plane-
board, a little above the crane. As soon as numbers forty-two, forty-
three, and forty-four, were coffined, the air was conducted to number
forty-five. After this, the stopping above the crane was taken down, and
the workmen were employed from the night of the 18th to the
morning of the 22nd of July, in making a brattice from the north
west corner of the fourth right-hand pillar above the -crane, to the south
east corner of the pillar next above the drift to the William Pit. By
this contrivance, the fire-damp on the south side of the plane-board was
not only pent in by two rows of stoppings above the crane, but it was
left at liberty to escape into the drift on the south side of the brattice.
" July 22. Numbers forty-six and forty-seven, as well as thirty-nine,
had probably attempted to make their escape from the blast: they
were lying on their faces, their heads downwards, and their hands
spread forwards. Forty-six was working with forty-eight; and thirty-

[ THE FELLING EXPLOSION. 1 13
nine, forty-seven, forty-nine, and fifty were blasting stone from the roof
at forty-nine. " Little progress was made on the twenty-third, for, after fifty-one was
found, the day was chiefly spent in removing two heavy falls under
which fifty-two and fifty-three were buried. The last of these had his
employment in the second board south of the plane-board; he had
therefore at the time of the accident either not commenced his work, or
left it to talk with the young men at forty-nine.
" About ten o'clock this evening, the piece of solid coal between the
face of the first board, south of the William Pit, and the double head
ways on the west of it, began to be pierced. After being bored through
with a miner's auger, the hole was kept perfectly tight by a wooden
plug, while a passage for the men was opened. Iron picks were used till
the coal was thin, when it was battered down in the dark with a wooden
prop. Then picks of oak and lignum vita?, hardened in the fire, were
used in widening the avenue: and the steel-mills not suffered to play
till the air took a regular suck past fifty-four, seventy-nine, seventy-
eight, and behind the brattice, into the William Pit drift. This work
was finished a little after twelve o'clock.
" Before two o'clock in the morning of the twenty-fourth, number fifty-
four was reached. It is worthy of remark, that nearly the whole of the
men found in this line of boards had fallen on the very spot where they
were employed. In the progress of obtaining the bodies from fifty-four
to sixty, nothing particular occurred except a ' large fall, under which
number fifty-nine was found.
" On the twenty -fifth of July, eleven bodies, from sixty-one to seventy-one,
were interred. Number sixty-four was under a large fall. This man
was keeper of the Heworth poor-house, and a class-leader of the
Wesleyan sect of Methodists. A pamphlet has been published, con
taining twenty-four pages, and entitled " A Short Account of the Life
and Christian Experience of John Thompson, &c. compiled chiefly from
his own Journal. By Theophilus Lessey, Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
Printed by J. Marshall, 1812. The profits of this pamphlet will be
faithfully applied to the relief of his widow, and five orphan children.''
" The boards of fifty-nine and sixty-four were the only ones fallen in
this sheth : each board here was bratticed nearly to its face, more with
a view of rendering them pure and clean, than of giving assistance in
obtaining the bodies; for the workmen, out of anxiety to recover them,
became fearless of danger, and ventured into the repositories of foul
vapours before the brattice was long enough to convey sufficient atmo-
I

114 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
spheric air into them to render them wholesome. The twenty-sixth of
July, being Sunday, was a day of rest.
" On the twenty-seventh of July, seven bodies were obtained.
Seventy-two and seventy-three were much burnt, but not much mangled.
Seventy-four , seventy-five, seventy-six, and seventy-seven were found buried
amongst a confused wreck of broken brattices, trap-doors, trams, and
corves, with their legs broken, or their bodies otherwise miserably
scorched and lacerated. Before seventy-eight was found, the brattice
represented in the last figure was taken down ; a stopping put across
the plane-board at number forty-one ; and the air thrown past seventy-
nine and fifty-four, through the aperture (which had been-, partly
made by battering down the coal with a prop), and thence into the
William Pit. This wall, on account of the prevalence of fire-damp
where forty-five was found, had not been crossed till now.
" The twenty-eighth of July was chiefly spent in putting up stoppings
along the wall from seventy-eight to seventy-nine. Number eighty had
been blown through a stopping.
" Numbers eighty-one and eighty-two, the latter under a fall, were
found on the twenty-ninth of July.
" On the thirtieth of July, the fall, which commenced a little east of
eighty-two, was found to continue, and eighty-three and eighty-four were
dug from beneath it. Eighty-five kept the sheth down-going door
opposite the William Pit on the east : his hair, which was of a light
colour, had been burned off; but had grown again to the length of an
inch or more.
" As all the upper parts of the mine, in which there was a likelihood
of meeting with any bodies, had been once carefully gone over, and it
was known that three persons had not escaped from the newly-formed
boards on the south-east, the air on the thirty-first of July was diverted,
and thrown up the head-ways from the plane-board. Number eighty-
six perished by the first explosion; for as H. Anderson escaped, he felt
his body under his feet ; but having a living boy in his arms he was
unable to bring him out. He was employed in driving a waggon from
the south crane at number eighty-eight. His horse, which was lying
near him, had been turned round and thrown upon its back, by the
force of the blast: its skin, when first visited, was as hard as leather,
and, like the bodies of all the men, covered with a white mould : it was
dragged whole to the shaft, and sent to bank in a net. After the
atmospheric air acted a short time upon it, its skin and flesh soon lost
their solidity, and became putrid.

THE FELLING EXPLOSION. 1 15
" August the first. The men who had been working on the two boards
north of number eighty-seven made their escape up the wall in which
he was found to the crane-board, and thence down the head- ways.
They called on him as they passed his board, but he made no answer.
As he had been late up the night before, he is supposed to have been
asleep when the accident happened. He was not at the place in which
he was found, when the men alluded to passed it : it therefore appears
that he made a struggle to escape after it was too late to be successful.
A day or two before his death, he told some of his friends, that he had
a strong presage upon his mind that he had only a very short time to
live ; but who has not many times predicted his death before it arrived ?
" Number eighty-eight, discovered on the third of August, had the
charge of a trap-door in the wall, in which eighty-seven was found.
Nature had left something deficient in his brain, which caused an employ
ment to be assigned him in which little memory and contrivance were
required. He was found close to the crane, under a very heavy fall.
" All the trap-doors and stoppings in this part of the mine were
standing when the workmen escaped. The lamp at the crane was still
burning. They found no falls in their way out, nor saw any injury
done by the first explosion. But when it came to be explored at this
time, the stoppings and trap-doors were blown down, the roof fallen, and
as great marks of destruction as in any other part of the mine. It is
therefore probable that the atmospheric current, passing each way
along the double head-ways, intercepted the progress of the first explo
sion, and prevented its igniting the fire-damp here. But the choke-
damp, pressing up the head-ways to occupy the space of the atmospheric
air, threw a train of fire-damp hence into some part of the mine where
the coal was burning, and this little magazine was blown up. Perhaps
this may serve to explain the cause of the second explosion.
" The workmen now began to be employed in carrying on a regular
ventilation through the wastes of the mine, by stoppings of brick.
" On Thursday, the sixth of August, they found that the stable-board
had been on fire, and that the solid coal was reduced to a cinder, two
feet in thickness. As far as the fire had extended, the roof was'more
fallen than in any other part of the mine. At this time it was ascer
tained that this fall occurred on the fourteenth of July. The fire here
had probably been caused by the hay igniting at the explosion, and
communicating to the coal. The air, too, while the pits were open,
would have its strongest current up this board, and consequently keep
the fire alive. This was the only place in which the solid coal had
I 2

116 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
been on fire. In other parts, the barrow-way dust was burnt to a cinder,
and felt under the feet like frozen snow.
" Number eighty-nine was found under six or seven feet of stone.
From this time the ventilation, and search for the remaining bodies, were
uniformly persevered in, till September the first, when number ninety
was discovered; he had been narrowly missed by some persons who
visited this part in the dark, on the eighteenth of July.
" The ventilation concluded on Saturday the nineteenth of September,
when number ninety-one was dug from under a heap of stones. At six
o'clock in the morning, the pit was visited by candle-light, which had
not not been used in it for the space of one hundred and seventeen days ;
and at eleven o'clock in the morning the tube-furnace was lighted.
From this time the colliery has been regularly at work ; but the body
of number ninety-two has never yet been found.
" All these persons (except numbers one, four, five, and fifty, who
were buried in single graves,) were interred in Heworth Chapel Yard, in
a trench, side by side, two coffins deep, with a partition of brick and
lime between every four coffins.* Those entered as unknown, in the
burial register, have had names added to them since the search was
discontinued. " I pass over the many theories and absurd suppositions invented to
explain the cause of this calamity. The power that destroyed raised
and marshalled its forces in secrecy — it left no evidence to show from
what corner of the mine it issued out to battle. In its effects it indeed
proved that it either availed itself of the delusive security, the inac
tivity, or the want of strength in the means employed to keep it in sub
jection: but let us, with that charity which "•thinketh no evil," refrain
from inquiry into causes which commenced and wrought in darkness,
and concerning which the clearest information that can be collected will
amount to little more than conjecture and uncertainty.
* The monument which Hodgson speaks of in the preface to his account of the
accident, the expenses of which it was his wish to defray out of the profits of the book,
was soon afterwards erected in the south-west corner of Heworth Chapel-yard upon the
spot where the poor men and boys had been buried. It consists of a neat plain obelisk
nine feet high, fixed in a solid base of stone, and has four brass plates let into it on its four
sides, on which are inscribed the name and age of each of the ninety-one sufferers
alphabetically arranged. The following inscription runs along the head of the plates :
' In Memory of the 91 Persons killed in Felling Colliery, 24 May, 1812."
I find the following bill among Hodgson's papers. " Rev. Mr. Hodgson to M. Lambert,
Newcastle, Dr. 1817. Ap. Four brass plates, and engraving do. for Felling
sufferers, HI. 15s. Od. Feb. 3, 1818. Settled, M. Lambert."

THE FELLING EXPLOSION.

117

" The following synopsis may serve as a kind of recapitulation of the
preceding relation. It shews the number of men employed in the mine
on the day it exploded, distinguishing the number in each occupation
that were killed, escaped, or came up before the explosion. *

Occupations .

No.

In the mine when it exploded.

Came up before

Killed.

Escaped.

Overman

1

1

Deputies Wastemen

52

1

2

2
2

Hewers

50

34

16

1

Putters

30

28

1

TrappersWaggon-drivers
Horse-keeper Cranemen
22 8
1
2
17 5
1
1
5 3 1
Shaft-onsetters
2
2
Crane-onsetter
1
i
Brakeman
1
l
Shifter
1
i
Lampkeeper Masons
1
2
i
2
130
92
30
8
A meeting was held at Heworth, two days after the accident
had taken place, to promote a subscription for the relief of the
widows and children of the sufferers ; and Hodgson was requested
to draw up a circular embodying the leading circumstances of
the accident and the bereavements it had occasioned. It was
ascertained, as has been above stated, that the total number of
poor women whom it had made widows was forty- one, ten of
whom were pregnant, and that sixty-three girls and nine boys,
with about six other dependants, in all one hundred and thirty-
nine persons, were deprived of their ordinary means of subsistence.
Hodgson was appointed treasurer of such contributions as should
be made ; and from that day he was incessantly engaged in soli
citing, personally or by letter, the gentry and clergy of the whole
North of England to exert themselves in alleviating the distresses,
of his poor parishioners. He has preserved the letters which
came to hand in reply to his application, and has carefully bound
* H. Anderson, a hewer, should be added to the list of those that escaped, and the
person whose remains have not been found to that of killed.
118 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
them up in a thick volume, as a melancholy record of the cata
strophe. The total sum subscribed amounted to 2806Z. 15s. 6fd.
and along with his Sermon and his Account of the Accident, he
has published a statement of the manner in which it was ex
pended. The very first guinea was given by the master of a
collier, as he was sailing up the Tyne, within sight of the pit in
which there were at that moment the dead bodies of ninety-two
men slain by " the pestilence that walketh in darkness." I subjoin
his letter, and also another proof that all classes of persons in the
neighbourhood felt themselves called upon to lend a helping hand
to the fatherless and the widow.
" Deae SlE Felling Hall, 30th May, 1812.
" I beg leave to send you the donation of a real affectionate
sailor,* who in passing heard of the great misfortune, and the number
of widows and orphans left. He sent for me and insisted upon giving
his mite — said he was an orphan himself and could feel for others. I
thought it advisable to receive it. You will have the goodness to make
what use of his name you may deem proper. I am, dear sir, yours
most truly, " John Robson.
" FOR THE NEWCASTLE BANK.
" South Shields, Aug. 7, 1812.
" Where hase William Rusby Grand Master of the Mariner's
loyal and independent lodge of odd fellows held at Walter Mack farling
sine of Mason harms in South Shields hopnd a Subcrpson a mongst the
the offcers and Brothers of Lodge for Benfit of the wedes and childern
of the fallon colrey pleas to send a Recat By the Bearer. £ s d
pad £ 1 .. 5 .. 0 "
With respect to Mr. Hodgson's extraordinary exertions in this
melancholy case, there seems to have been an unanimous opinion
in the North of England. I give an extract from a single letter,
as a specimen of many which he received. The Eector of Whit
burn will, I hope, forgive me for making public what he in all
probability intended to be merely a private communication :
" Whitburn, June 22, 1812.
 " The cause of humanity has been highly benefitted, and the
admiration of all ranks of persons in this neighbourhood greatly ex-
* " Andrew Ryan, Master of the Princess of Wales, Brighton."

THE FELLING EXPLOSION. 119
cited, by your very zealous and benevolent exertions on this melan
choly occasion. We have all much to thank you for ; as you have
afforded us an excellent opportunity of calling forth the charitable
feelings, and making a strong appeal to the consciences of our respec
tive flocks; and have also bestowed unwearied pains in a proper
distribution of the money collected. " Thos. Baker."
The owners of the colliery, however, took no notice of Hodg
son or his services till the end of the year, seven months after the
accident had taken place. On the third of December they begged
him " to accept their sincere thanks for the very great anxiety and
trouble his very humane exertions had relieved them from," and
made him an offer of his coals. They at the same time begged
of him to thank the gentlemen who had acted with him on
the Committee. All this appears to be explained by a preceding
page. What a pity that his circumstances at the time made even
such a present as this acceptable !
The explosion of Felling Colliery led to the immediate for
mation of a society for the prevention of accidents in coal
mines ; and to this society we owe the safety-lamp and its happy
consequences : we shall see that Mr. Hodgson not only took an
interest but a very active part in the investigations which paved
the way to this fortunate discovery,
It was in the summer of the year 1812 that the writer of these
pages first became acquainted with Mr. Hodgson, during a visitation
held at Durham by the official of the Dean and Chapter, which Mr.
Hodgson was attending as belonging to the jurisdiction. This
might not, perhaps, be an unfit opportunity for a few remarks on
his personal appearance and general demeanour, at that period of
his life and afterwards; but, upon consideration, it is deemed ad
visable to defer this subject to a future page. I would only here
remark that the friendship at that time entered into lasted without
interruption till it was terminated in death, and that nearly two
hundred letters in the hand-writing of my departed friend, on
topographical, and other subjects of deeper interest to us both,
remind me, in a forcible way, of the loss which I then sustained.
Of these letters some will appear at length, others in an abbreviated
form, in the following pages.

120 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
The summer and autumn of the year 1812 had been to Hodg
son a period of toil and affliction. The close of the year finds
him engaged upon a subject more congenial to his mind than
that of burying daily by tens and twenties the scorched and
mangled bodies of his parishioners. I know not whether he was
the first to suggest, but certainly he was among the first to plan
and mature, an institution which has flourished since that period
in Newcastle, and was never perhaps in a more vigorous state than
at the present time.
In November 1812, a circular was issued from Newcastle,
suggesting the propriety of establishing a Society of Antiquaries
in that place for the usual objects of such institutions, and re
questing such gentlemen in the town and neighbourhood as
favoured the design to communicate their approbation to Mr.
John Bell junior, bookseller, Quay Side. The suggestion being
approved of, the society was established at a numerous meeting
on the 6th Feb. 1813; rules and office-bearers were agreed upon;
and by way of explanation of the objects which it contemplated,
Hodgson read at its second monthly meeting, ah essay on " The
Study of Antiquities,'' extending to a considerable length, and
very characteristic of his style and sentiments on such a subject.
This essay, which occupies ten very closely-printed quarto pages,
was, as we have heard him say, almost entirely composed one
morning in the vestry at Jarrow whilst waiting there upon duty.
As it is published in the first volume of the Transactions of the
Society, I refrain from entering into any detail of its character and
merits. To evince the interest which Hodgson took in this Society,
from its first establishment till more weighty engagements began
to occupy his thoughts, it may be well to enumerate in this place
the various papers which he communicated to its pages from time
to time.
" I. Some account of Gray's Chorographia, with additions extracted
from the author's own interleaved copy.*
" II. On the Study of Antiquities, read before the Society at its second
monthly meeting. Vol. I. pt. 1. p. ix. 19 pages.
* This contribution appears in the First annual Report.

SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES OF NEWCASTLE. 121
" HI. Some account of a Set of Gold Beads presented to the Antiqua
rian Society of Newcastle-upon-Tyne by his Grace the Duke of North
umberland, lb. p. 1.
-'-*• An Inquiry into the .ZEra when Brass was used in purposes to
which Iron is now applied. lb. p. 17. 87 pages.
" V. An Inquiry into the Antiquity of an Ancient Entrenchment called
Wardley,' in the parish of Jarrow, and County of Durham. lb. p. 112.
6 pages. " VI. Observations on an Ancient Aqueduct and certain Heaps of
L-on Scoria in the parish of Lanchester. lb. p. 118. 4 pages.
" VII. An Account of a Saxon Coin of Ecgfrith, King of Northumber
land, lb. p. 124. 2 pages.
" VIII. An Account of an Inscription on Fallowfield Fell, in the
County of Northumberland. lb. p. 126. 2 pages.
" IX. An Account of an Inscription discovered at Walwick Chesters,
in the County of Northumberland. lb. p. 128. 3 pages.
" X. Papers relative to the Plot in the North in 1663. lb. p. 143.
6 pages. " XL Calendars of the Prisoners confined in the High Castle in
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, at the assizes in 1628 and 1629. lb. p. 164.
35 pages.
'' XII. Indentures between Sir Francis Brandling and Sir Thomas
Swinburne in 1627, and Sir Thomas Swinburne and Thomas Carr,
Esq., for delivering over the Gaol of Northumberland. lb. p. 164.
7 pages. " XIH. Papers relating to the General History of the County of
Durham in the. time of Charles II. lb. p. 187. 4 pages.
" XIV. Some Account of an Ancient Plan of Tynemouth, in the
County of Northumberland. lb. p. 216. 3 pages.
" XV. Observations on the Roman Station of Housesteads, and on
some Mithraic Antiquities discovered there. lb. p. 263. 57 pages.
" XVI. Some Notices respecting an Inscription on the Bell of He-
worth Chapel. lb. App. p. 6.
" XVII. Observations on an Ancient Roman Road called Wrekendike,
and particularly of that Branch of it which led from the mouth of the
Tyne at South Shields to Lanchester in the County of Durham. Vol.
II. p. 123. 14 pages.
" XVIII. An Account of the Life and Writings of Richard Dawes,
M.A., late Master of the Royal Grammar School, and of the Hospital of
St. Mary in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. lb. p. 137. 30 pages.

122 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
" XIX. Account of an old Inscription at Lanercost, in Cumberland.
lb. p. 197.
" XX. An Account of the Chartulary of Brinkburn, with some
notices respecting those of the Abbeys of Newminster and Alnwick,
Lanercost and Shap. lb. p. 214. 10 pages.
"XXI. Explanatory Letters on Papers relative to the Murder of Lord
Francis Russell, at Hexpeth Gate Head, in the Middle Marches between
England and Scotland. lb. p. 287.
" XXII. Note on a Rental of the Principality of Redesdale. lb. p. 326.
" XXIII. Ancient Charters respecting Monastical and Lay Property in
Cumberland, and other Counties in the North of England, from originals
in the possession of William John Charlton, of Hesleyside, Esq. lb.
p. 381.
" XXIV. An Account of the Ancient ruined Chapel of East Shaftoe,in
the parish of Hartburn, and County of Northumberland. lb. p. 412.
" XXV. Testamentary and other Evidences respecting Persons and
Property in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, chiefly in the fifteenth century. Vol.
HI. p. 77. 5 pages.
To some of the above contributions reference will be made
hereafter, under the years in which they were composed. The
first portion of the Transactions of the Society was published in
1815; and, a few copies having been placed at the disposal of the
Secretaries, Hodgson presented one of those which thus came into
his hands to Thomas Thomson, Esq., Deputy Keeper of the
Eecords preserved in the General Registry of Scotland. In return
for the compliment, he received from Mr. Thomson, under the
authority of the Record Commissioners, copies of such Record
publications relating to Scotland as had issued from the press up
to that time, and also such as were published afterwards in their
order of time. These valuable books, as they reached his hands,
he presented to the library of the Newcastle Antiquaries; who,
as an acknowledgment of the gift, passed an order that he should
for the future be discharged from the payment of his annual
subscription. With respect to his connection with the society,
one more fact must be mentioned. Upon his quitting the neigh
bourhood of Newcastle to reside at Kirk-Whelpington, in 1823,
distance prevented him from attending its monthly meetings ; and
upon his resignation of the office of Secretary, the compliment

SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES OF NEWCASTLE. 123
was paid him of placing him upon the list of its Vice-Presidents.
That he continued to take great interest in the prosperity of the
society is proved by a letter to Mr. Woodman in 1831, to be
hereafter mentioned, and also by the following entry in his journal :
"1838, 13 Aug. Compiled, at the request of Mr. John Bell,
Librarian of the Newcastle Antiquarian Society, an account of the
Roman inscriptions and carvings in the society's collection, and
wrote to him on the subject."

CHAPTER VI. 1813-1814.
History of Jarrow — Northumberland— Sir John Edward Swinburne, Bart. — Experi
ments on Coal— Journal — Cowper's " Votum " — Another Explosion— Journal—
Lines in Sickness — Correspondence — Another Explosion.

To ROBERT SURTEES, Esq.*
" DEAE Sir Heworth, near Gateshead, 4th June, 1813.
" I have often lamented my inability to avail myself of your
kind invitation to visit Mainsforth during last April,! and after the con
clusion of May the accident at Felling Colliery, and a literary engage
ment,! together with the sole care of two very extensive cures, entirely
prevented my stirring from home during the season I could hope to see
you at Hendon.
" Mr. Ellison sometime since shewed me the pedigree of his family,
and offered me the liberty of copying as much of it as was suitable to
your purpose. It begins with Cuthbert Ellison, who was a Member for
Newcastle in the Healing Parliament, nearly at the time of Dugdale's
Visitation, whose certificate of their pedigree is entirely omitted. I
understand it was made out by the late Mr. Ellison, in whose hand
writing it is.
" I have lately met with a few other evidences of Jarrow being
occupied by the Romans, especially the remains of a paved road along
the border of the salt marsh and apparently stretching towards Learn
Lane. " Concerning the derivation of Learn, if you have not already dis
covered its import, I could furnish you with several notes. I consider
* Along with this letter is an official announcement by Hodgson and his brother
secretary that Mr. Surtees had been elected a member of the Society of Antiquaries of
Newcastle on the 2nd of June preceding.
t April 1812 is here referred to. See p. 85 above. Hodgson had had but too good
an excuse for his long silence.
t The Picture of Newcastle.

JARROW. 125
it as a sure indication of an ancient made-way wherever it occurs ;
and I believe there are few Roman roads in England, which have not
either some town or farm or field upon them of which Learn or Leming
does not make up a part of its name.
" The Antiquarian Society have resolved to republish Gray's Choro-
graphia, and the council seem to be inspired with a strong desire of re-
editing Horsley's Britannia Romana, with additions.
" Rooms, I trust, will be very shortly ready for the reception of the
collections and papers of the Society in the Castle of Newcastle.
" The papers respecting Gateshead are still in my study ; and you
will meet with a few particulars respecting that' town which were never
before published, in a work printed by Akenhead of Newcastle last
year, and entitled a ' Picture of Newcastle, being a brief Historical and
Descriptive Guide,' &c. I mention this title, as a former work was pub
lished nearly under the same title in 1807. I am, dear Sir, with great
respect, your obedient humble servant, " John Hodgson."
After the anxious summer and autumn of the year 1812, and
the establishment of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-
upon-Tyne, Hodgson began to turn his attention in earnest to a
History of Northumberland upon a more enlarged scale than
that of his contribution to the " Beauties of England and Wales."
In his various journeys through the county in 1810 to collect
materials for that publication, he had been struck by the abun
dance of its natural beauties and its richness in subjects of histo
rical interest, and he now began to make further progresses from
place to place within its limits for a purpose peculiarly his own.
It does not exactly appear in what way he had become acquainted
with Sir John Edward Swinburne, Bart, of Capheaton, a well-
known patron of historical inquiries; but, as the founders of the
Antiquarian Society of Newcastle had placed themselves under
the presidency of that gentleman, we may assign that judicious
choice as the origin of the acquaintance between him and Mr.
Hodgson. In July 1813 Hodgson seems to have paid a visit to
Capheaton, and on this occasion Sir John entrusted him with a
large collection of ancient documents illustrative of family and
local history which in the following year he arranged in cases
for their better security and preservation, and afterwards pub-

126 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
lished many of them in the first portion of his History in 1820.
In sending to Hodgson a somewhat which he had left behind
him, Sir John writes in a very kind manner and hopes he will
not forget his promise of returning to Capheaton, where he shall
always be gladly received. He asks at the same time a question
respecting the precise meaning of the word drengage, and I have
before me Hodgson's letter in reply, in which he answers Sir
John's inquiry in the best way he could; not over correctly,
perhaps, as he had not previously studied the subject, and had
few books at hand to help him; and assures his correspondent
that he feels great gratitude for the attention and kindness he
had received, hoping to pay another visit to Capheaton in the
ensuing autumn. " The book (he continues) you requested me
to order for your charters is in forwardness; but, though they
have followed the instruction I gave about binding it in vellum,
they have marbled its edges ; which in some degree destroys its
law character. But, as the edges of paper are always strengthened
by either colour or gilding, I trust it will have in use that which
it wants in consistency."
At this period (1813), Hodgson began to make more frequent
and copious memoranda of his daily proceedings than in previous
years. A book which has been preserved contains copies of many
of Sir John Swinburne's charters, succeeded by notes at a con
siderable length made during a course of lectures delivered at
Newcastle by Mr. Robert Bakewell, on geological and minera-
logical subjects. These he has illustrated with neat pen-and-ink
sketches, and many remarks of his own on kindred subjects.
The book further proves that, in that and the following year, he
was intently occupied in attending the meetings of the Society
for the Prevention of Accidents in Coal Mines, held at Sunder
land ; in drawing up advertisements and reports ; and in privately
making experiments of his own on the subject. The following
account of one of those experiments is printed here from the
geological letter of 1831 so often referred to.
"In my note-book for 1813, between the dates September 22 and
October 12, I have the following minutes: "Has Science no re
sources to control this dangerous element, carburetted hydrogen ?" It

EXPERIMENTS ON COAL.

127

is a fluid that escapes from the coal, and we hear of coal affording by
distillation light of a brilliant and beautiful kind."
" Apparatus to pound coal to procure gas : —

a, a piston of iron.

(7

b, a bladder tied to the

piston at the top and at

the bottom to
'l^fci
c, a bell-shaped glass
jy;
with a neck and hollow
at its top.
d, a piece of coal with
zm
w
in the glass.
e, a lute of clay to
.-^WHlk^
prevent any escape of
gas from the glass.
/w°l Jsk
/, a tube through the
/if ^^B1h
lute, with a cork in it.
He **
g, a quill with a cork
in it.
JpfjF :rc. .JBBBijIm
" Sometime after the coal
/ - =r^X^\-^^^^ : ¦ ;--' ~-?£^^gl??3p^7.-==\ £
mmmm^^^^^
-,S#S**-r _  .^r=^
had been pounded on a
^^B«D[MinnniiuH3l
marble slab, the bladder
WmW^m^mSMmaamimmm^mKmmmiii,
became distended, and on applying a candle to that quill when the cork
was taken out and the bladder squeezed the gas inflamed. On making
a second experiment, after exhausting the bladder and glass of air
through the tube at /, and another piece of coal was pounded, the gas
' burnt at g, which shews that in the trial at Felling Pit, the mine must
have been full of pure gas when it would not burn in the bladders.'
This inference relates to a passage in my account of the accident at
Felling, in which it is observed that ' some experiments made on the
fire-damp by collecting it in bladders in the John Pit tube before the
bore-hole was opened proved that it would not ignite previous to its
mixture with atmospheric air ;' in which expression ' would not ignite '
should have been, would burn, but not explode.1'*
Parochial matters are frequently mentioned, in the Journal
See p. 106 above.
128 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
above referred to, such as private baptisms, visitations of the sick,
&c. Room may be found for a few memoranda of a more general
nature. " Sept. On Marsden Hills Mr. Salvin * and I found the face of the
earth, i.e. the soil and clay, interspersed with coal, porphyry, red sand
stone, hornstone, granite, and different kinds of other stones.
" Mr. Atkinson f informed me that five or six of the Blair Athol
larches sold for 6s. per foot, and some of them measured 200 feet=60L
besides bark and branches. All the gentlemen's houses in the neigh
bourhood furnished with larch, which is never painted."
On the 12th of October, Hodgson paid a visit of a few days to
his friends in the vale of Lanchester, the Whites of Woodlands,
and the Green wells of Ford, with whom he had kept up a friendly
intimacy since the year 1806, in which he had removed to the
curacy of Gateshead. Many letters from both families prove the
regard in which they held him. Here he made sketches of altars
lately discovered in the Roman camp, and took measurements of
a station at Humber Hill.
" Oct. 15. Mr. Marshall, of Satley, gave me some specimens of
schist of quartz from the top of Skiddaw, and Mr. Greenwell promised
me some the evening before from the Strontian mines.
" Nov. 18. To-day I gave Mr. Atkinson my written report respect
ing the coal of Honey Pot, near Edenhall, the property of Lady Mus-
grave. I recommended them to sink to the seam in two or three places
by bore holes ; the holes to be equidistant with each other, and the
* The Rev. Hugh Salvin. This gentleman will be frequently mentioned in these
pages. He was a younger son of the family of Salvin, of Sunderland Bridge, near
Durham ; and, having devoted a portion of his youth to the profession of medicine,
eventually entered into Holy Orders. At this time he was, I believe, curate of
Gateshead. He afterwards became chaplain in a ship of the line, and upon his re
turn was appointed to the living of Alston, where he died a few years ago at an ad
vanced age. He was a man of a very active and energetic mind, much given to
philosophical inquiries, and an excellent scholar. His acquaintance with ancient and
modern languages was very considerable. The friendship between Hodgson and him
began at Gateshead, and lasted without interruption for many years. With Mr.
Hedley, already spoken of, Mr. Salvin was also long and intimately acquainted.
f Mr. Matthew Atkinson, of Carr's Hill, a neighbourof Hodgson, the gentleman with
whom he made an expedition on foot into Westmerland. Mr. Collinson the rector of
Gateshead was also of the party.

JOURNAL. 129
place where the coal crops. I also gave him certain queries respecting
the situation of the coal there, accompanied with two sections illustra
tive of the queries."
"1813. Nov. 23. Walked this morning to Coaly Hill in the
parish of Newburn, with Messrs. Salvin and Atkinson, and brought
home from the dyke specimens of several impressions from the schist
there ; also specimens of the coal burnt into coke. The basalt is fre
quently thrown up into the schist in whirling masses, which resemble
the head of a wave as it curves against a cliff, and in this case it
is surrounded with a coat of coke, the tenderest parts of which are
formed into square pyramids, placed closely and regularly side by side ;
each pyramid (or semicrystal) being bound by parallel lines, quadran
gular, and each side about a quarter of an inch broad. In some places
where the dyke is fresh opened and the air has not injured the schistose
sides of the dyke they are beautifully smooth and perpendicular.'' [A
pen-and-ink drawing.]
" 1813. Nov. 24. Went with Mr. Thornhill* and Mr. Falla,t jun.,
to the old ballast-hills at Jarrow, to obtain specimens of minerals.
Found, among a variety of other things, fine specimens of Cornish
hellas and a very fine piece of madrepore. — We found in the alumi
nous shale, thrown out of a drift at Jarrow Colliery, impressions of a
small freshwater mussel, the [blank"]. All the impressions were ex
ceedingly flat, as the shale which contains them lies at the depth of
130 or 140 feet."
" Nov. 26- Received from Mr. Thornhill a specimen of impressions
•of shells in sandstone, from the alluvial soil on Tanfield moor, and one
specimen of madrepora.''
" Dec. 23. Mrs. Pickering, of Carr Hill, is in want of one shilling a
week parochial relief. She has a daughter at home with her, and they
are employed in washing and getting up linen. The house-rent is one
shilling a week ; her husband was a sort of manager in the pottery of
Warburtons. She has had a son in the Fusileers. She is a decent,
respectable, religious woman of the Roman Catholic persuasion. Mrs.
Atkinson's recommendation."
" Dec. 22. Wrote a translation of ' Votum' by Cowper."
This translation, which is remarkable for its fidelity, and of
considerable elegance in itself, was communicated to the " New-
* Mr. Thornhill was Hodgson's clerk and schoolmaster, and an eminent naturalist.
T Mr. Falla was an enterprising nurseryman in Gateshead.
K

130 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
castle Advertiser" a few days afterwards, and is here printed from
a copy cut out of that journal and pasted into one of his books
by its author. " VOTUM. Cowper.
" O matutini rores, auroeque salubres,
O nemora, et Uetse rivis felicibus herbae,
Graminei colles et amcemE in vallibus umbrae !
Fata mod6 dederint, quas olim in rure paterno
Delicias, procul arte, procul formidine, novi.
Quam vellem ignotus, quod mens mea semper avebat,
Ante larem proprium placidam expectare senectam ;
Turn demiim, exactis non infeliciter annis,
Sortiri taciturn lapidem, aut sub cespite condi ! "
(translation.)
" O morning dews, and health-dispensing gales,
O groves and flowers, by happy brooks that live,
O grassy hills, and shadows sweet in dales !
O that the Fates the cheerful hours would give
Which on my father's land I once enjoyed,
From guile afar and intrigue's fearful strife,
What still I loved— my longing soul employed —
At home to wait a placid close of life;
And then, at length, my days not idly gone,
To lie 'neath grassy turf or silent stone ! "
Another dreadful colliery accident in the chapelry of Heworth,
in the same pit as that of 1812, closes the year 1813. On this
second occasion twenty-two persons lost their lives ; many were
very severely burnt, and out of twelve horses eleven were de
stroyed. If the accident had happened ten minutes later, the
loss of lives would have been immense. In Hodgson's Journal I find
a very minute account of the facts of this sad event, which he
embodied in a paragraph of considerable length for the local news
papers. One or two very touching extracts may be made, as they
were not communicated to the press. It must have been extremely
painful to Hodgson to be taken by surprise with such a message
as that to which the following entry refers, and which must have
turned his Christmas into a time of gloom instead of happiness
and joy.
" 1813. Dec. 24. Soon after eight o'clock this morning, Andrew
Thompson came to inform me that Mr. Robson (the colliery steward)

ANOTHER EXPLOSION. 131
requested me ' to provide graves for ten people; that the colliery had
again blasted, and that upwards of twenty people had been killed.' I in
stantly requested the sexton to get Mr. Kell's men from the quarry to
assist him, and saw them set to work on the side of the trench of
the ninety-one. -
" This accident happened at " Calling Course," about half-past one,
when the men were going to work. Ten minutes later the greater
number of the workmen would have been down. By report, Mr. Haswell
(one of the overmen) was much shattered. Some say his head was
blown off or nearly so, and that he was thrown out of the shaft mouth."
He proceeds to give details of the names, circumstances, and
families of the sufferers. Some of his notes are very affecting.
" Martin Greener of Ouston, where he had been an overman, had
only been at work here a fortnight. He and two sons have perished.
" Mrs. Atkinson informed me that William Haswell, yesterday night,
in the hearing of his wife, gave strict orders to Martin Greener not to
widen a certain hole; that he could not always be down to see that
nothing imprudent was done, and that he had seen evil consequences
enow the time before by not attending to a similar place. Mrs.
Haswell had lately persuaded her husband with much entreaty to seek
some other employment.
"  Love (or Reed) had his clothes packed up and sent to
Gosforth to spend his Christmas, and his wife wished him to have gone
away this morning.
" — — in Young's house told me that he found the horse-keeper and
four or five boys among the horses. It was quite dark, the horses all
but one killed, and that much burnt : he called upon them to speak, and
with difficulty dragged them to the shaft.
" Orricks was the son of a soldier's wife. She married, the soldier,
her present husband, about two years after Orricks's birth. Her name
Ray; 'his father's Orricks. Before her marriage she sold the child to
one Laws of Gateshead, who sold him at about five years old to a
chimney-sweeper, who called him Laws for a nick-name.
What a life of misery this poor boy must have led, and what a
death to terminate his sufferings! But enough on this painful
subject. It will be recollected that, since the great explosion of the
preceding year, Hodgson had been constantly co-operating with
k2

132 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
the Society for the Prevention of Accidents in Coal Mines, towards
the formation of which he had been so signally instrumental.
The coal-owners had been at first, as it appears, disinclined to
give publicity to such sudden and appalling calamities ; but nature
had again made her voice to be heard de prof&ndis, and all
attempts at concealment were now in vain. This second calamity
in the self-same pit must have redoubled the exertions of those
who were really in earnest in the sacred cause of humanity.
"1814. 14 Jan. Repainted, to-day, one of Mr. Clayton's defaced
Dutch pictures.
" 1814. 4 Feb. Went to pray with Richard Bell's wife in the High
Lane. She was very ill and deaf. The house filled with all kinds of
furniture, and containing three beds ; only one room. The hoodstone
used as a table  very broad on one side. The old man eating
hasty-pudding and milk, and having several tea and other vessels on the
hoodstone with his breakfast; a most picturesque sight; a checked
flannel cap on grey hair  small clouted strong apron, buttoned from
near his chin. [Here a drawing] . He has a house of several rooms, (all
of which, but one, he lets off,) a stable, a garden and field, and withal
parochial aid from Newbrough.
" 1814. 17 Jan. Rode on Mr. Kell's mare to Jarrow, to a marriage
of two Quakers, Robert Charlton and Martha Evans."
Hodgson now began to write an essay on Meteoric Stones; and
his journal contains a list of authorities on the subject, to which he
appears to have referred. No copy of this essay is preserved.
The original, as he elsewhere informs us, was given by him to his
friend Mr. Salvin. Mr. Bakewell's Lectures in the preceding
year had probably directed his mind to this subject.
" 1814. Feb. 10. Ill at home of a stomach complaint, which has been
increasing for the last three weeks. 11th. Mr. Murray came to see me
to-day, and recommended me to take calomel for some time, and to drink
barley-water made palatable by oranges or a little port wine; and to
keep my feet dry."
The above extracts will serve to introduce the following pathetic
Invocation, which stands in Hodgson's journal as having been
composed on the 12th of Feb., during this afflicting illness, and
which appeared a fortnight afterwards in the Newcastle Adver
tiser, with the signature Y.Z.

CORRESPONDENCE. 133

LINES WRITTEN DURING SICKNESS.
As captives sigh for friends and home,
Or maids for youths that distant roam,
Or crew, whose vessel strikes a sand,
For morning long and sight of land;
Spirit of life, I wait for thee,
From sin and pain to set me free !
0 come, and let me feel thy power,
As daylight wakes the sleeping flower;
Or freedom's unexpected voice
The woe-sick captive makes rejoice;
Or transports that the heart pervade
Of youth return'd to faithful maid;
Or morning breeze to crew, that find
Their bark securely court the wind,
And night and danger left behind.
Eternal spirit, let me feel
Thee breathing round, my limbs to heal !
And making all within me move
With faith and hope, and holy love.
Y. Z.
" 1814. Feb. 22. Richard to-day, while I was at Jarrow and Jane at
Newcastle, took a convulsion fit.  How slight a thread our life hangs
upon ! O God, make me, O give me grace, to live, to think, and act as
becometh a man and a minister of thy word. O let not the world choke
the proper effects of the word of God in my mind !

To Sir J. E. SWINBURNE, Cart.
Deae Sir John, Heworth, 9th March, 1814.
I have just returned from spending a few days in company with
Mr. Surtees of Mainsforth at the College in Durham. In our conversa
tion on the different resources for county history, I mentioned to him
your deeds respecting Hadham of Seaham; and he seemed quite delighted
to hear of their existence, as he had found great difficulty in drawing
up the pedigree, and a regular history of the possessions of that family.
He has therefore requested me to beg your permission that he may use
them, and that I may transmit them to Dr. Fenwick's of Durham, for his
perusal. Should you think it proper to entrust them for a few weeks
to Mr. Surtees's hands, I will pledge myself for their being safely
returned. It is of importance that he see them soon, as the neighbour
hood they belong to is at present in the press. Mr. S. also told me that

134 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
he has a few original charters respecting your family, which he will be
happy to add to your collection. I will make an inventory of them
after I have your permission and instructions about sending them. I
hope you will excuse me in taking this liberty, but, knowing your
desire to promote the cause of literature, I felt less hesitation in
addressing you on the subject.
" I am at present engaged in copying your Edlingham charters.
They are exceedingly curious and valuable.
"I am, dear Sir John, with much obligation, your most obedient
servant, " John Hodgson."

" From Sir J. E. SWINBURNE.
" Deae Sir Grosvenor Place, 12th March, 1814.
" My time is at this moment so much and so very unpleasantly
taken up by the melancholy event that has occurred in the family (if
you see Dr. Fenwick, pray tell him Lady Swinburne's father * was
buried yesterday), that I can only say in a few words that Mr. Surtees
is perfectly welcome to any documents of mine that can afford him the
least information. I don't know whether his work is publishing by
subscription ; if it is, pray put my name down, and pray return him my
best thanks for the charters he is so good as to offer me, and which I
have no doubt will be a valuable addition to my collection. I shall
write to Mr. Burn, your secretary, in a day or two. Believe me, ever
very sincerely yours. " J. E. Swinbuene."
From R. SURTEES, Esq.
" DEAE Sir, Mainsforth, March 31, 1814.
" I believed you would be glad to hear that the deeds have
arrived safe. I find they will afford a much better account than I had
before. I shall be very glad to return with them any scraps I have
connected with Swinburne ; and when you can find leisure to leave
home I should be very happy to shew you all my papers, with a view to
select what might be useful for your own subject. With much obliga
tion, I am your very obedient, " R. Suetees."
* Richard Henry Alexander Bennet, Esq. of Beckenham, Kent.

CORRESPONDENCE. 135
From the Rev. R. G. BOUYER, Prebendary and Official of the Dean and
Chapter of Dcriiam.
" REVEEEND SlE, North Allerton, May 9,1815.
" I have duly received the letter in which you do me the honor
to consult me on the interesting subject of the parochial school which
you wish to establish at Heworth, and I rejoice in observing the un
abated zeal with which you pursue that salutary measure : at the same
time that I cannot help lamenting to find you so feebly supported in so
laudable an undertaking, on the supposition that Mr. Ellison's subscript -
tion (which I should hope would be very liberal) is included in the sum
which you mention to be gathered. But, as you say nothing of having
applied to that gentleman, I hope the addition of his bounty will bring
you within a very fair chance of completing your good design by the
help of the other sources to which you allude, and which certainly are
all open to you ; and you may depend upon my best efforts to advocate
the cause in each of those sources. With respect to the Dean and
Chapter, and Lord Crewe's Trust, the application must be made by
letter or petition from you, accompanied by a detailed account of
the subcriptions entered, and such letter or petition must be
lodged in the hands of Mr. Bowlby for the former, and Mr. Woodi-
field for the latter; each being requested to produce them, the
one at the July chapter, the other at the first Trust meeting. We
have erected a school at Beadnell, nearly of the same dimensions,
and on a plan similar to yours ; and, having seen the effect of ours, I
would take the liberty to recommend this alteration, that the school be
in the upper part, and the master and mistress's apartment on the
ground-floor. I apprehend they would experience great inconvenience
from its being otherwise appropriated.
" Accept my best wishes for your success, and believe me, Reverend
sir, your faithful friend and servant, " R. G. Bouyeb."
" 1814. July 6. After 3 o'clock p.m. wrote my sermon for Thanks
giving: took till near 12 p.m. 12th. Sent Thanksgiving Sermon to
print at Akenhead's. Aug. 2. At Visitation at Durham. A copy of
my Thanksgiving Sermon to Drs. Gray and Prosser, and Messrs. Salvin
and Rawes.*
* No printed copy of this sermon has been found among Mr. Hodgson's books or
papers.

136 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
But Hodgson is again called upon to take his part in a visitation
of another kind. Here is another painful colliery accident in
his parish : To the Rev. JOHN HODGSON.
" DEAE SlE, Hebburn Colliery, Aug. 13, 1814.
" I am requested to beg of you, if you possibly can, to come down
and inter those poor unfortunate men at Jarrow church to-morrow
afternoon, after church-time at Heworth, as coffins, &c, I am afraid,
will not be got ready sooner. There is eleven of them ; but only eight
found yet; but we expect to get the others soon. Your answer will
truly oblige, yours truly " Geo. Foestee."

CHAPTER VII.— 1814.
Visit to Mounces, a shooting-seat of Sir. J. E. Swinburne, Bart.— The Durham
Advertiser.
In delineating Mr. Hodgson's life and character I now come
to a portion of his Journal which is of singular use to my pur
pose. My plan has been to suffer him to draw his own portrait,
and to put in with his own pencil such minute lines and touches
as have a tendency to render it perfect. In other words, I have
gladly availed myself, as far as possible, of such scraps of personal
history or unintentional indications of personal character from his
own pen as have fallen in my way ; not from any wish to avoid
trouble, but from a conviction that inferences drawn from such
sources are infinitely more to be relied upon than any surmises or
speculations of my own. Much use has hitherto been occasion
ally made of such pieces of authentic evidence. From this period
of his life they become more numerous and more valuable, and
towards its close, as we shall see, they so abound that selection
becomes necessary, and calls for discretion and judgment in his
biographer, increasing his responsibility if they diminish his
labour. In the year at which we have arrived, on the 22nd of August,
at the commencement of the season of grouse-shooting, Hodgson
visits his friend Sir J. E. Swinburne, at Mounces, a shooting-seat
belonging to that gentleman, situated in the very highest part of
Northumberland, on the border of Scotland, at the head of the North
Tyne. He rides on a borrowed pony, and divides the distance
into such stages as suit his convenience. He carries with him no
gun or game-bag. At an earlier period of his life he had been
selected as the likeliest boy in Bampton School to teach a future
Lord Chief Justice of England to shoot snipes on Bampton
Mires, but he has long ago laid that amusement aside, and
has now other objects in view. His absence from home is a

138 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
short one, extending only over seven days ; but he does and sees
much during that brief period. The following is a journal of his
proceedings, with the omission of a few pages of church notes,
epitaphs, &c. unimportant to our purpose. It must also be added
that a few paragraphs containing admeasurements of early
British camps, and some other details uninteresting to the general
reader, are printed in a condensed form. It is apprehended that,
with this journal before him, the reader will have little difficulty
in ascertaining from it, as far as it extends, the general character
of Hodgson's mind at this period, and his habits of minute observa
tion and careful reflection upon the subjects in which he felt an
interest. His intended History of Northumberland took him from
home ; but he travels as something more than a mere collecting
antiquary, culling simples on old castle walls, or in damp churches
or church-yards, the subjects which too many men of that class
delight in. Here we have him not merely as an archaeologist or
castrometer, but as an agriculturist, a planter of forest-trees, a
geologist, a naturalist, and a devout admirer of nature and her
scenery, which he describes with a poetic pen. They who knew
him best will bear testimony that the style in which he here
writes is in every sentence characteristic of his own simple but
inquisitive mind. In this very manner he would talk for hours
in the open air, in the society of those in whom he took a delight,
and with whom he was at his ease.
But, before we proceed, it may be well to give him an oppor
tunity of announcing his arrival.

" To Mrs. HODGSON.
" My DEAE JANE, Mounces, August 23, 1814.
" I take the opportunity of Sir J. Swinburne's servant returning
to Capheaton to say I have arrived here safe and well  but such a
torrent of rain is at present (10 o'clock at night) pouring down as I
think you never witnessed. When I arose this morning at Bellingham,
I was much grieved to see a damp east wind set in ; and, just as I began
to proceed up the Tyne, the rain began to fall briskly, and continued to
do so till I reached Falstone, a place designated by the title of town,
though it only consists of a chapel, a meeting-house, a minister's house,

VISIT TO MOUNCES, ETC. 139
a public-house, and an old peel inhabited by the Laird of Falstone. Sir
John and the family arrived here about 8 o'clock, half-drowned,
drenched as if they had been dragged through the Tyne. I write this
merely to let you know where I am, and to have the opportunity of
sending my love to you and the dear children. The brook that passes
the house roars like thunder. Let me beg of you to take care of your
self. Thine, dear Jane, " John Hodgson."
Minutes of a Journey to Mounces, a Seat of Sie John Swinburne,
Baet., in North Tyndale, Aug. 1814.
[From MS. Materials, N. 263.]
" Came from home August 22, at about five o'clock in the morning.
Arrived at Chollerford Bridge at half past ten. The morning exceed
ingly fine.
" Two fossil-shells coated with chalk, from the limestone in the hill
descending to Halton Chesters. One small fossil from a stratum of
limestone on the north side of the road, on the highest part of the hill
before descending towards Mr. Tulip's house at Brunton.
" The harvest commencing here. Some cut.
" On the west side of the brow of a hill, on the Bellingham road from
Chollerford, near the twenty-fourth mile-stone, there is whin overlaying
limestone, dark blue, much decayed on the outside and brown, inside
blackish. A plantation of beech and oak on the opposite side of the
road, and a little further north on the east side of the. road in a hollow
opposite water-troughs, and in the corner of a field, is a large round
hill, apparently factitious, fifty yards perhaps in diameter.
" Nunwick is placed in too low a site : the road should have come
from the farm-house, Fairshaw, on the east side of the road to the lane-
end, leading to Hall Barns and Simonburn; and the house to have
been placed on the crown of the hill, a little north of the present road,
opposite to where it now stands. Chipchase then in front, &c. On
the green in the (town gaet) street, about two years since, was discovered
underground a room fourteen feet square, without either door or window
to be seen, flagged with thick square hewn stones ; the walls all eight
feet thick, no arch ; filled with earth ; built with mortar ; stones squared
inside and outside.
" Lane from Simonburn close and narrow. Flies numerous. Much
wood embellishes the uneven surface about Chipchase, and Mr. Ridley's
house at Park-end, where is growing the campanula major.

140 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
" Wallis* was a kind man, very peaceable. One Sunday Wallis was
just beginning to read the morning prayers, when Dr. Scott, whose dogs
had followed him to church, said to him " Put out those dogs," to which
he replied " Let their owners put them out." He began to read, but was
much embarrassed and made mistakes, and as soon as he had finished
left the church ; but, the doctor having no sermon, the congregation had
to wait till he went to his house for one. Wallis never again went into
the church. John Philipson says this, who at that time lived at the
Cowpark, and was at church that day.
" In the camps in this neighbourhood, of which there have been many,
John Philipson, who was a mason by business, has often found small
mill-stones about a foot in diameter, and both the nether and upper one
all of the common rough grit free-stone.
" Mote Hill, at Wark, is a large hill on the river-edge, with a farm
house, a garden, and a few cottages upon it : in the way to it, near the
top on the north side, is an alluvial block of granite about a ton in
weight, "On the north side of it is Giles Heron's school, new built, with
Gothic windows in front, and the master's house of two rooms at the
end of it: the rent of the estate at present is about 200/.
"Archibald McDougal, an old soldier in Queen Anne's wars,f aged
103, lives in this village. The people have a tradition of their village
having been a city.
"Simonburn Castle, where the new wall is built, about eight feet
high: the wall eight feet thick, and a passage in that space: it was
arched below.
" The Hall-hill at Bellingham is a natural bank with a small tumulus
upon it; and south-east, about a hundred yards, are traces of ruins
traditionally pointed out as the seat of Bellingham. Sir Beiling-
ham told Mr. Fenwick that his family went hence to Levins in West
merland. He is one of the Commissioners of Greenwich Hospital. A
number of cottages formerly stood in the ground that is gardens at
present, on the west side of the site of the house .of the Bellinghams
below the farm-house.
[ Several pages here of church notes, inscriptions, architectural
sketches, &c]
" Wark chapel (in ruins) has a tombstone in it to the memory of a
mason. Only a small fragment of the south wall remaining: the
* This was the Historian of Northumberland, and Dr. Scott was his lordly rector.
See more on this subject in a future page. + Evidently a mistake.

141
foundations all high, overgrown with briers and nettles. A mountain-
ash on the site of the chancel to the north-east. A round hill, not
unlike a factitious one, but probably one of those that have been formed
by the agency of water, such as are common by river sides. The
chapel and mound on the north side of a brook half a mile from Wark.
" The Burghers' chapel. The Catholic chapel. School. Subscrip
tion Library, &c.
" Tarset Hall belongs to Mr. Thompson, who bought it lately of one
Mr. Somner.
" On the south side of the Keelder, above the castle, there is a burial-
place ; also at Bellsburn Foot, and it is thought there was a chapel there.
" There is a rocking-stone at Cranecleugh near Mounces. At High-
field there have been many buildings, and there are remains of a peel,
the arch still standing.
" At Daley Castle there is a moat marked Euins on the maps.
[More church inscriptions.]
" Hareshaw-linn is a waterfall over a sandstone rock about seventy
feet high, in Hareshaw-burn. There are numerous jack-daws, hawks,
&c. about it, and ravens' nests every year. There was much wood about
it. The west side belongs to Charlton of Lee Hall, the east side to
Charlton of Reedsmouth. They have cut the oak below it, which has
spoiled it of its romantic appearance There are however still fringes
of brushwood about it, bindwood clinging to the rock, aspen poplar;
the trembling asp, ashes, and rowntree. Populus tremula, the tremble of
the French.
" At Warksburn is a, place called Rose's Bower, a sort of spa, a
mineral water of the kind of Gillsland.
" In Hawkup is a mineral well of the chalybeate kind : it is on the
road to Mounces, and belongs to Dixon Brown.
" Near Wanney Craigs also a spa, at the head of Wansbeck : it
comes into Lisleburn at Woodburn : it is of the Gillsland kind. In a
peat moss. Its course is white as milk for a great distance in dry weather.
" At Wellhouse, in the parish of Chollerton, near the Watling street,
on the Erring's side, is a spa much frequented formerly. It belongs
to Mr. Riddell of Swinburne Castle : frequented by young people on the
Sunday afternoons.
" The curious inscribed stone in Mr. Wood's possession was found at
Hawkhope, in Mr. Riddell's estate.* I think it has been brought from
* Engraved in the Archseologia .ffiliana, vol. i. p. 103, and described in the same
Transactions, New Seiies, vol. i. p. 192.

142 MEMOIR OE THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
some religious edifice, and that it has been the ornament of a pilaster,
for the devices upon it much resemble many to be seen on the tomb of
Prior Richard at Hexham.
" A hill with a craggy front to the west has rows of terraces upon it
in this manner [a drawing with the pen] . This is the only appearance
of this mode of culture I have yet seen in this district.
" At Smeal, about some three miles south of Falstone, there are ten
or eleven oblong cairns, set up, as my informant supposed, in memory
of some battle ; and the ground around them, although covered with
ling, has been ploughed.
" Falstone is a very small poor village, having a chapel belonging to
the establishment, and a Presbyterian meeting-house of the Church of
Scotland, rebuilt in 1807. Mr. Wood minister of it, and Mr. Hobbs of
the other. Mr. Wood lives in the village, and has a tolerably good
house, and a garden, fairly cultivated, in front of it. A school-house
has been lately built, and has underneath it a large room called the
common-stable, from being used by persons coming to the places of
worship on Sundays. Besides these there is a cottage or two ; a peel-
house inhabited by the laird of the place, a Mr. Robson ; and a poor
ale-house one story high, thatched, and having two rooms and a
stable with three stalls. This village is seated near the Tyne, and has
a few good meadow-fields in front of it, with goodly trees in hedge-rows.
" Tarset castle is in ruins. It has been a strong and great building,
as large remains evidently testify. The ditch around it is about twelve
feet deep and twenty broad. At the west side it has been defended by
a declivity under which the Tarset runs. This bank has given way
very much in latter times, and broken in the N.W. end of the ditch,
• but the S.W. end has in it marks of a bridge and foundations of a
tower to defend it. The ruins afford vast quantities of hewn stones,
and the hamlet of two houses, with the field-walls below, have been
built out of it. At some distance from it I was told there are two or
three ponds which are artificial.
" This vale from Bellingham to the neighbourhood of Falstone is
very fertile in the meadows or holms by the river side ; growing wheat,
barley, rye, oats, clover, turnip, and abundant crops of natural grasses
in great luxuriance. Here and there woods embellish the scenery.
The river runs in a sinuous course, and is at present, owing to long
continuance of rain in the border mosses, very brown; but still contri
butes much to the beauty of the scenery, and to please the ear with its
incessant though monotonous murmur. Strong brooks both from the

A VISIT TO MOUNCES, ETC. 143
north and south, at intervals, add to its strength; and at their junction
the ground generally rises into knolls exceedingly green and enlivening.
The landscape of the Tarset seems to be much diversified.
" The Tyne and its. various branches run over beds of loose freestones
much worn and rounded; which accounts for the quantities of sand
which accumulate about its mouth and on its shores; for their constant
motion in floods and in rapid streams must cause them to wear away
very fast.
" I saw a rounded block of granite on the north side of the mote-hill
at Wark : there was one lying within the area of Tarset Castle, and one
on the road-edge, after I first entered Sir John Swinburne's estate at
Huntland. " There are coals wrought in Mr. Riddell's estate at Hawkup, and
in Sir J. Swinburne's estate at , and behind his house at
Mounces, where there is a thin bed of limestone of a black colour, with
shells (cochlea;, &c.) in it.
" In the ground about Mounces the young larch and beeches, which
are not well protected, are much blighted and covered with a shaggy
coat of lichens. But on the west side of the house there is a wood, in
which the spruce-fir thrives exceedingly well, becomes tall, and bears
very plentiful and luxuriant crops of cones. The larch also thrives
uncommonly well about it; and some of them have attained a very con
siderable height and thickness. This country certainly only wants
draining and stimulating with lime to make it exceedingly well-calcu
lated to grow almost any species of forest-trees. In many parts there
are oaks and ashes of a good size, and by natural growth, that is, not
planted trees.
" Soon after I passed Bellingham I saw the young people going with
out stockings or shoes. The wetness of the moors renders shoes almost
unnecessary to such as have to frequent them much.
" Were the application of lime, burning, and draining, much re
sorted to, vast tracts of land here might be rendered exceedingly pro
ductive in grass. Above Falstone there is certainly little ground,
excepting a, few flat fields by the river-side, anyway calculated for the
growth of corn.
" In the field before the house at Mounces there is a small plot of
land formed into two regular terraces ; and on the opposite side of the
river a wood of birch and oaks of natural growth.
" A cold fog drove from the east this morning, and at half-past
eight, when I set off from Bellingham, a heavy rain began to fall, which

144 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.,
continued nearly till I reached Falstone; where I fed my horse, called
upon the Rev. Mr. Wood, and then set off again for Mounces, which
place I reached about one o'clock, the weather fair all the way until
about five, when the clouds began to cross each other, some thunder was
heard, and the rain fell in very heavy showers, which it still continues
to do at six o'clock.
" The country here is much infested with the common summer-fly,
and with the small gnats called midges. Indeed these latter insects,
when the weather is hot, abound to such a degree, and bite so severely,
that the labourers are under the necessity of wearing a sort of veil before
their faces, which they call midgecaps. The number of insects ac
counts for the great quantity of swallows which frequent this district in
summer ; and the insects are perhaps assisted in breeding by the moist
state of the ground and the immense quantities of stagnant water on
the moors.
" I saw to-day near Mounces a small species of duck, a brown hawk,
a heron, and a wood-pigeon.
" On Broom Hill, between Falstone and Yarrow, there is the arch of
an old peel covered over with sods and green: it was inhabited about
two years since.
" The Romans, as far as I can learn, have had no camps above Garet
Hut in South (? North) Tyndale. That camp was well chosen for ob
serving the movements of an enemy out of this district from the Wall.
Redesdale being a straighter and more open vale than Tyndale, was
better adapted for a military way into Scotland. This only leads to a
mountainous district beyond the borders.
" Sir Edward Swinburne had this estate surveyed by miners, and a
written report given of it. Sir John told me that his father and uncle,
when young, came up hither to shoot, and lodged in a house three
miles above this place, which was so miserably bad that it was scarcely
drop-dry, — a low thatched hovel.
" Sir John has made seven miles of road within three years, and
miles in all : also rebuilt the farm-houses in a good style, and
covered them with blue slate, every ton of which costs him at least 71.
[A neat drawing of the house at Mounces in indian ink faces the
above paragraph.]
" Plashets colliery belongs to the Duke of Northumberland. It
adjoins Kennel Park. All the coals that go from it are taken by ponies
on their backs. The Duke, from some suspicious motive about his
game, refuses to mend the roads. When Sir John came to certify his

VISIT TO MOUNCES, ETC. 145
part of the road to the Quarter Sessions, Mr. Smith, the Duke's head
commissioner, who is a magistrate, was certain, as he expressed himself,
that a part of the road, at the north-west end, which the farmers made
at the. expense of 15Z., and which joined the new and old line of road,
would have the duke's concurrence; but his grace sent people and
ordered that part to have ditches cut across it at both ends. No appeal
has however been made against the. magistrates' order to shut the old
road by Wellhave up.
" Keelder Castle stands on a steep smooth green bank at the junction
of the Keelder and the North Tyne. It is castellated in front, not at
the sides, built in a quadrangle, fronts the east, and has a view down
the Tyne towards Bewshaugh. It has an enchanting appearance. The
moment I saw it it was shaded with a cloud, and the next moment a
beautiful gleam of sunshine burst upon it. Great plenty of wood about
it, consisting of planted pines, natural birch and alder, fine old thorns,
rowntree, &c. Pearlfell towers up majestically behind it, and is fantas
tically adorned with three or four pikes, rude pillars of stones, built by
the shepherds.
" The mountain of Bewshaugh forms a vast bow in the country.
Its form is grand, and its colouring at every distance extremely fine.
At the farm of that name, which was lately occupied by a Mr. Patters,
an intelligent person, who died suddenly last spring while sowing oats,
there is a garden well stocked with luxuriant crops of peas, beans,
potatoes, carrots, parsnips, various sorts of cabbage and broeoli,
rhubarb, &c. &c. all in excellent health and great luxuriance.
" Bells Chapel at Waterhead is a mean thatched building belonging
to the Church of Scotland.
" I saw oats and luxuriant crops of potatoes growing at Bells-burn
foot, where the Tyne joins with that brook. There were limestone
blocks in the river bank descending from Waterhead to the Tyne.
Dead Water, so called from its stillness, commences at the junction of
the Bells-burn and the Tyne.
" The head of the Keelder is divided into two parts, and is about ten
miles above the castle, in a vast amphitheatre of high boggy mountains.
" Sir John Swinburne built the bridge over the Lewis-burn, and has
planted several acres of the sheep ground on its sides immediately above
the bridge.
" Keelder Castle was wholly built by the Duke of Northumberland.
The place where it stands was formerly called Buttery Haugh.
L

146 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
[A rough drawing of Keelder Castle faces the succeeding page. It
is in colours, with Pearl-fell and Mid-fell by name in the background. J
" There are still patches of wood on the banks of Oakenshaw-
burn. " Christenbury Crag, a high hill with huge shattered stones upon its
top. The house to which the Capheaton family used to resort in the
shooting season, about a mile up Oakenshaw-burn on the north side, has
a garden before it in which are potatoes growing; also a few small
fields. [A sketch of the house and vale with the pen.] The wood is
on the south side of the burn, and its banks much broken ; a long range
of mountain behind it.
" Fir Tree moss was set on fire about fifteen years since, and laid
bare the roots of a vast quantity of fir trees, which had formed a thick
wood and had probably been overthrown by winds, as the trunks of
innumerable large trees still remain in the moss, and are often dug out
for the purpose of making ladders of, and for making lows or fish-lights
for fishing in the night. One was found in Black Cleugh up Keelder,
and made into a table, now at Keelder Castle. It contained about
twenty feet of wood, besides much that came down the river : the resin
so strong that the saw could not work in it till it was greased with
sheep-salve, i.e. tar and butter : the bark underneath three inches thick :
about two-and-a-half feet in diameter. [See Whitaker's Manchester,
ii. 47, on the length of time these trees may have remained. This note
added apparently long afterwards.]
The scenery rocky and romantic. At Grey's Crag, the junction of
the Craincleugh-burn and Little Whickhup, some wood remains, alder
and birches, and one young trembling poplar. In Craincleugh-burn, at
Marling Crag, a thick stratum of ironstone, the specimens marked. A
mineral spring of the sulphuric kind at Otterstone Lee, also a small
vein of lead near it. A stronger one at Dead Water, which stains the
ground with a white mucus as it passes from it, and a house very
miserable for a bath, which is an old wine-pipe. It is about twenty
yards into Scotland.
" There was a chapel at Bells-burn foot: the walls removed, but
still vestiges of it : the font stone, and a burial-ground : graves marked
with rough unhewn stones : some buried there within the last forty
years. There is also a burial-ground on the east side of the Keelder, a
short way from the castle. Stones of a chapel remaining : none buried
there within man's memory : some grave-stones unlettered remaining?

VISIT TO MOUNCES, ETC. 147
and the traces of the wall of the burial-ground still very discernible.
It is in the outfield ground.
" On the south side of the Tyne, a mile below Keelder, is a camp on
Bells Hunkin, round, 60 yards in diameter, inclosed with stones in vast
quantities, nothing led from it: large tree in it: a rowntree and birch:
several compartments divided into some round, some square; about
300 yards from the river. On the same side about a mile below, in
Hitch Hill wood, another circular camp, but much less of stones, many
led away : nothing known to have been discovered in it. At one mile
further down on Lowey Knoughs one of earth about 40 yards in diame
ter : at present faint. One on the Lewis-burn on Harpney Rig has
been of stone, about 40 yards in diameter ; grown over much with wood
— all about 300 yards from the river — of earth and stones, fair to be
seen. About 300 yards further down, on Well Haugh Moor, another,
entirely of earth, still perfect, about 30 yards in diameter.
" On the opposite side of the river, opposite each of the above, is also
a corresponding camp. The first one opposite Bells Hunkin. On
Ryens Hill one of earth, about 60 yards, but of earth and very faint.
Below Keelder one on Camp Rig, 50 yards over. Opposite the Hitchel
Camp one of stones, mostly led away. Several mill-stones and spears
and other pieces of iron, which fell in pieces from decomposition. On
Hobs Know, opposite Lowey, of earth, 50 yards over, pretty fair. On
Bairdales another, rather below that on Harpney Rig; of earth, 50
yards over; pretty perfect. One opposite Well Haugh, on Haws-
knough, in Kennel Park; of earth; faint; 50 yards over.
Kennel Park, the property of Sir John Swinburne, the Duke, and
Colonel Reed. It is on both sides of the Tyne. Mostly wall on the
north side, and altogether on the south side: nearly round, and about
three miles every way. It is wholly in sight from almost every part.
In several parts of it mounds of earth have been thrown across dells to
dam back the streams and form ponds, supposed by tradition to save the
deer from the dogs. In the head of Sunny-side Rig in the park is a
place called King Arthur's Round Table, a circular ditch inclosing an
area about 4 or 5 yards over, with seats cut out of the earth on the
outside of the ditch.
" Within a few yards of Keelder Castle on the north side, the earth
was washed away by a drain brought to the house, and exposed three
or four rings and two long round pieces of brass, very smooth ; about
two inches over the largest, others less, clumsily soldered together with
a whiter metal. Many deers' horns are found above Keelder Castle
L2

148 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
in the banks of the stream after floods, much decayed — red deer's
horns. " Robson, unto whose father Tarset Castle belonged, built a house at
Woodhouses, which is now dilapidated, and also the cottage of his
gardener, which was a very excellent one. Robson's' was the first good
house on that high ground. Formerly the people lived low down
below Falstone and came up in summer ; lived in shiels, and drove
their stock back on the approach of winter.
" The increase of stock in this country is the cause of the destruction
of the woods, which grow well on hained grounds.
" The Plashett colliery seam is about five and a half feet thick. Bright,
like the Newcastle coal, sells for 6d. a load, i.e. 8 bushels. The Hawk-
up Hill at the same price, but an inferior coal. Just below the
Plashetts a mile-and-a-half, Greenclough, belonging to Greenwich
Hospital, not wrought, but excellent coal, another seam than the Duke's.
Sir John Swinburne's coal at Shillburne-haugh is about 18 inches, but
light, very inflammable, and reckoned excellent.
" Heugh and Cleugh are the same, except that Heugh means a dry
dale, Cleugh one with a stream in it. A sike, cleugh, and burn are
gradations, rising till the term river be applicable.
'' Yearning-grass is applied to curdle milk for cheese. Daisies uni
versally called the Ewe-gowan.
" From Woodhouse to Falstone, 40 years ago, nearly a thick con
tinued wood. Indeed the whole valley by the river side some 60 years
ago was a thick wood of oak : further up the hills birch and alder. At
Emmet Haugh, a hazel-wood ; to which people come from Bellingham
for nuts, and in many other parts hazel-woods.
" The population of late years by inlarging the farms has decreased.
If they once saw a great man — so afraid, they went and hid themselves,
or if near rolled themselves in their plaids and laid down close to the
earth to avoid notice.
" Sir John Swinburne's grandfather and of
in Scotland, were many years in dispute about their boundaries; and
the expenses of law were great, as they had to pass through both the
English and Scotch courts.
" General Roy surveyed between the most westerly point of North
umberland against Scotland and Berwick, which Robertson went over,
and found it perfectly correct. Roy's drawings were given to the King,
and lost a long time. Arrowsmith influenced old Dundas to ask re
specting them. The King remembered inspecting them at Buckingham

VISIT TO MOUNCES, ETC. 149
House, and on being asked gave permission for their being sought.
They were found in a table drawer the lock of which was much rusted.
" Woodhouses is very pleasantly situated among fields that have
been much cultivated, but now without fences and grazed upon. Bil-
lingside is craggy and has two cottages and terraces on the upper side
of the craggs: pleasant haughs on the right bank about Emmet Haugh.
Vast quantities of slag in Hawkup.
" Dalley Castle is on the brow of a hill against the Girden : the
stones of it all led away : the ground on the left side dry and fertile :
on the right side rather swamped and wet, but inclosed and in grass.
" At the head of the haugh against a small birchwood, and on the
right brink of the river Tyne, traces of a round camp of earth and
stones 50 or 60 yards over; and on Knopping-holm Hill, opposite Tar
set Castle, another, of earth, round and faint. Girden and Tarset burns
meet the Tyne near each other. Tarset very fertile and delightful;
variegated and uneven ground in knolls ; brooks with woody hems for
four miles, in which district is Mr. Charlton's house of Redheugh.
Also further up for ten miles houses inhabited by farmers or
shepherds. " There is a mouldering pile of ruin on the east side of Bellingham,
on the left bank of Bellingham-burn. Qu. its antiquity ?
" At the gate leading from Bootland Common there is a round camp
like place of large dimensions, which has been ploughed, and is excellent
ground. It fronts Hareshaw Common, and overlooks a long district
over the Tyne and its extensive moors.
" The hill behind Tone Hall, called Low Shiel Green Crag, commands
a view over the head of Redesdale and as far as Wheel- fell and Keelder
on the Tyne, towards the mountains above Alston Moor and into York
shire. The limestone at the gate entering into the inclosed ground,
on the west side of Tone, contains various fossils, specimens of one of
which I brought away.
" Tone Hall is at present occupied by colliers. It is a large mansion
with offices on the north, in this manner (a sketch), and is much in
closed in wood, which flourishes well enough around the house ; but in
places behind to the north is stunted, though it has been planted on
casts of earth, but in peat moss.
" The colliery at Tone employs about eight people.
" Carrycotes stands on rocky ground on the east side of the turnpike
road ; is surrounded with sycamore and other trees in health at present,
but rather neglected. About seven years since it was inhabited by

150 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
George Delaval Shaftoe, who died at Hexham in the Langstairs prison,
and was buried at Thockrington, and his wife too, who died at Car-
rycotes. " Sanderson lived about a year at it after he changed his name to
Hodgson. Then his father came and lived there till*' about the time of
his death. It has been inhabited since by tenants, and now mostly by
pitmen." [Several pages are here devoted to monumental inscriptions,
of one of which, I believe from Stamfbrdham, a copy may be
given for the amusement of the reader :]
" ' Edw1'. F. Scott filius Gul1 Scott, M.D. de Stokoe, in Noeth-
UMBE. OB. ANNO 15 ^TAT. HUMAN. REDEMS. 1786.
" Gul. Scott. M.D. ob. Nov. 10. 1802. .et. 69. Vie eruditissimus et
ACCOUCHEUE CELEBEERIMUS : EX FAMLLIA DE BuCCLEUGH.
" Mae. Scott, uxor Gul, Scott, M.D. ob. Oct. 26. 1805. mt. 77.
ILLA VIXIT MORI.
" Large open sheep-downs east of Tone Pit and south-east. Excellent
ground. Hay chiefly procured from the moist land between the hills,
which flow in gentle undulations. Limestone stratum, full of shells and
some madrepore or entrochi, reaches from Tone-fell down to the basalt
rocks which come from Gunnerton by Swinburne Castle, and on the north
side of Bavington. Farm-houses ruined, many of them, in the Carrycotes
and Thockrington districts. The basalt rocks at Swinburne Castle, or
as one ascends them from the brook which runs by Swinburne Castle,
seem to range with the rocks above Walwick and towards Caervoran.
There is, according to report of a quarryman I saw, a piece of whin-
rock in the burn near Swinburne Mill below the level of the overlying
whin, and which goes perpendicularly into the horizontal strata.
" Above the whin a blue limestone at Little Swinburne, a gray
village with a ruined tower.
" At Five-lane ends sand heaps, which seem like tumuli: one especi
ally on the north side of the road to Stamfordham, and probably
mankind have spared themselves the trouble often of making new tumuli
by taking possession of natural round hillocks.
" Hallington Mill on limestone, and above it, on Erringburn Hal-
lington Hall and village. The hall a plain new building, roofed with
blue slate.
" Bingfield east-quarter has south of it in a field three or four regular
terraces. On Ryal west-side, from Bingfield east-quarter, on the east

VISIT TO MOUNCES, ETC. 151
many flights of terraces, rather irregular on the lower part of the hill,
and a field above it has been terraced and ploughed across and the
lines much erased.
" The Roman road from Bewlay past Ryal is called there Cob's Cawsey.
Ryal chapel small. No monuments in the inside, and the village appears
much decayed ; marks of cottages appearing on every side.
" A good house in Ryal, built by who married Alderman
Blackett's daughter. It now belongs to Sir William Blackett by
purchase. " A field east of Bingfield east-quarter, on the south side of the lane
opposite the terraced ground, has a round hill near its N.E. corner,
partly on the E. destroyed: but probably a natural hill, as some of the
ground below is thrown into undulations of a sweetish form.
" The pastures about Ryal good. The limestone stratum very thick.
Ryal east-side, where the terraces are, is a limestone hill. Moot-law is
about half-a-mile N. of Ryal on the west point of a hill.
" Whinstones scattered plentifully on the ground through all the
district towards Errington and Stamfordham on the S. side of the whin-
range in the brooks and land, but none on the N. side of the range.
They are found about the Moot-law and Ryal higher ground (more)
than any of the whin hills.
" Fenwick Tower. Little of it remaining, but partly converted into
a farm-house and offices — large trenches of fences, and old wa]ls of a
garden or orchard still point out the residence of a considerable family.
" School at Stamfordham. An old pile with the floor taken away
and stone partitions added — larger windows made — the chimnies
altered. The old chimney had been built upon corbels.
" The wall of the Eachwick west lane is walled with basalt, which
abounds here ; and there is gravel and sand in great quantities in
the lane.
" The road from Eachwick towards Newcastle has been about three
feet broad, paved, and is called the Salter's Way. It exists in many
places; in the hill ascending toward Stamfordham and about Birney
Hill. " Birney Hill House, an old mansion in the King James' style of
architecture, farmed by a Mr. Gilhespy.
" At the foot of the village of Eachwick, over against the Pont,
there was a few years since a dyke of earth where watch and ward was
formerly kept. Such dykes across lanes in Northumberland generally
bespeak a similar intention.

152 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
" South Dissington, a small ruined mansion of the Delavals in the
time of their adversity.
" North Dissington. Mr. Stanhope has pulled down the mansion of
the Colhngwoods there. It was in the King James' style. Windows
with stone mullions : the walls of the tower strong, a front standing yet
(27 Aug).
"Akenside's family still exist at Eachwick and have a very neat
public-house. Mr. Spearman gave me their pedigree.
" The Stamfordham road called the Street. (Ex inform. R. S.) See
Border Laws, p. 194."
In the autumn of this year Hodgson made another expedition
from home in company with Mr. Kell (his father-in-law) and
Mr. Bell, but the journey seems to have been undertaken more
for pleasure than for any other purpose. His route was by Dur
ham, Auckland, Staindrop, Barnard Castle, Bowes, Brough,
Appleby, Hawswater, Bolton, Morland, Newby, and Bampton,
where he paid a visit to his old master, Mr. Bowstead, and gave
him a copy of his Westmerland from the " Beauties of England
and "Wales." The party next go to Penrith by way of Askham
and Lowther Castle and so to Carlisle and Newcastle. Five days
were spent in this expedition, but I find no notes of interest con
nected with it.
In the autumn of the year 1814, the Newcastle Advertiser, to
which Mr Hodgson had occasionally made small poetical and
perhaps other contributions, was removed to Durham under a
proprietaryship in which Mr. Francis Humble, its former owner,
was the chief shareholder and the editor of the paper. The
address to the public which accompanied the first number of the
Durham County Advertiser, the name by which the publication
was thenceforward and is still known, was written by Hodgson,
and is as follows : TO THE PUBLIC.
The Proprietors of the Durham County Adveetiser submit the first
number of their paper to public inspection and patronage with great
anxiety for its favourable reception. Independent of feelings connected
with their own interest, they would gladly entertain a hope that they
have commenced their work on a useful and amusing plan ; and, well

THE DURHAM ADVERTISER. 153
aware that first impressions contribute more powerfully than any other
cause to the success or failure in undertakings of this nature, they
cannot conceal that their best endeavours and abilities have been
employed at the outset of their labour.
" They know that they are actuated by an honest and sincere desire
of conducting it to the satisfaction of their readers, and of adopting in it
any real improvement that may be suggested; and therefore stand
forward with no boasting pretensions to unusual excellence or novelty
in its arrangement or execution. To novelty, indeed, they most ardently
aspire, but the liability of all human schemes to fall short of their
ultimate aim, and the fear of raising expectations they may not be able
to gratify, induce them to withhold any lengthened or flattering develop
ment of their plan.
" They cannot, however, refrain from declaring that in their political
opinions they profess to be actuated by the purest motives of moderation
and mildness. Agreeing with Tacitus that " contemptu famte contemni
virtutes," they entertain a high reverence for popularity, and will seek
it in the road of public favour; but they will never attempt to distort
or hide the fair form of truth for the sake of countenancing any popular
outcry; and, while they watch over the purity of the constitution and
the rights and liberties of their fellow-subjects with caution and
jealousy, they will constantly abstain from needlessly irritating the
community by systematically construing the measures of government
into corrupt or unconstitutional motives. They will never close their
eyes upon public crimes, however high their perpetrators may be in
authority ; upon excess, extortion or oppression ; nor will they be the
instruments of publishing mischievous libels, or of strengthening the
hands of faction by assimilating their sentiments to the wretched and
pestilential reasoning of those writers who earn their bread by spreading
alarm, discontent, and unhappiness through the nation. They will not
condescend to prepare food for the voracious appetite of party : their
best judgment shall be assiduously employed in enabling them to set
every circumstance in its proper light, and to distinguish between pure
facts and the ignis fatuus of hearsays and reports, which in the London
daily papers " But leads to bewilder, and dazzles to blind.
" Though the interest which was felt in reading newspapers during
the late war with France has greatly subsided, and their columns may
not in a short time be expected to record events of such awful magni
tude as were exhibited in that desolating theatre; yet the face of

154 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
Europe is still marked with lines ominous of important occurrences, and
our warfare with America, while it is assuming obstinate and inveterate
symptoms, is employing a force, which, twenty years ago, would have
been equal to the whole energies, and have called forth the anxious and
undivided solicitude, of the nation.
" They trust, however, that even in the profound repose of war, a
liberal and enlightened people would never suffer a public journal, if
respectably conducted, to languish away in neglect: for publications of
this kind not only present themselves with strong solicitations to our
interest, curiosity, and desire of mental improvement, but their prayer
addresses itself to our friendship and affections by a weekly detail of the
occurrences, births, marriages, and deaths in the societies with which
we are most intimately acquainted, and, while they minutely inform us
of the state of mercantile and agricultural affairs in our own and a few
neighbouring counties, they cheer us at our fireside with the narration
of all the remarkable events that are transacting in every civilized
region of the globe.
" The arrangements made for continuing the History of the County
of Durham, which has been commenced in this number, will ensure its
being drawn from accurate and authentic sources, and will afford a
population of nearly one hundred and eighty thousand persons an
opportunity of gratifying one of the strongest and most universal
propensities of the human mind — that of being acquainted with every
thing remarkable in the history and produce of the district they
live in.
" The columns of the paper shall, moreover, be open to every species
of useful and elegant literature; to the lessons of the Christian Religion,
as the only strong foundation of morality and political strength: and
inquiries into the nature and operations of the human mind, and the
effects of virtue and vice upon individual and public happiness.
" The proprietors, too, will always feel delighted in strengthening the
wings of youthful genius, and in removing that diffidence and timidity
with which it is usually accompanied into the world, by transplanting
its early blossoms out of the shade of neglect into the sunshine of public
notice, and by publishing its more matured excursions into the regions
of poetry, science, or literature in general. They also solicit papers on
subjects connected with agriculture and commerce; communications
calculated to illustrate the History of Durham ; and that early informa
tion may be transmitted to themselves or their agents of any remarkable
occurrences, marine intelligence of interest in the adjacent ports,

THE DURHAM ADVERTISER. 155
ecclesiastical preferments, subscriptions to charitable institutions,
intelligence for sportsmen, births, deaths, marriages, &c. &c.
" The advantages to be derived to gentlemen who preserve their game,
to land proprietors, merchants and farmers, in the extensive range of
the circulation of this journal, by favouring them with advertisements,
are too obvious to need any lengthened explanation. It is particularly
requested that all original communications and long advertisements may
be sent in time to reach the Durham County Advertiser Office early on
the Thursday morning, on which day the first and fourth pages of the
paper will be printed off. Smaller advertisements and short paragraphs
of local occurrences will be received up to ten o'clock on the morning
of Fridays, but after that time they cannot be inserted. The greatest
attention will be paid to all letters which may be received post-paid, and
the utmost care will be taken in forwarding the newspaper punctually
to the several subscribers; to whom the proprietors offer their warmest
tribute of thankfulness and gratitude for the very liberal encouragement
with which they have favoured them."*

* Three short paragraphs of a business character were added by Mr. F. Humble, the
editor, and eventually the sole proprietor, of the newspaper. The first number of the
newspaper was published in September 1814.

CHAPTER VIII. 1815.
The History of the Parish of Jarrow — Correspondence on that subject— Saxon Coins.
The three following letters require a few words of introduction.
After the commencement of my acquaintance with Mr. Hodg
son in 1812, we had not seen each other till the spring of 1814,
nor had there been to the best of my recollection any epistolary
intercourse between us. In the latter year, however, we had had
an opportunity for much conversation at Lord Barrington's house
in the college, where Hodgson was upon a visit, and certain pro
mises of assistance on my part had been made to my friend in his
topographical proceedings. One result of this conversation was
the first of the letters below, reminding me of an offer, which
certainly could not have been made to the extent in which it had
been understood. At that period, and for many years afterwards,
the only portion of time at my disposal for private purposes
amounted to little more than twelve hours per week exclusive of
Sunday ; and the work which was required at my hands for a
history of the parish of Jarrow would have been a labour of at
least three months, witness the Jarrow and Monkwearmouth
Rolls, &c. lately published by the Surtees Society. I felt, how
ever, every inclination to assist an absent friend ; but had certain
doubts, which my letter to Mr. Surtees will explain. Upon the
receipt of Mr. Surtees's letter in reply, I communicated to Hodg
son, from time to time, copies of various records from the Durham
books, to which he had obtained access through the kindness of
Lord Barrington, and from that time there was always the most
friendly intercourse between us.
To the Rev. Mr. RAINE, Durham.
" Rev. Sir, Heworth, near Gateshead, 1 Mar. 1815.
" I have engaged to write for the Antiquarian Society of New
castle a History of the Antiquities of the parish of Jarrow, which are
chiefly British, Roman, Saxon, and Monastic.

HISTORY OF JARROW. 157
" On this subject I shall feel greatly obliged by your allowing me to
take advantage of your kind offer of transcribing such materials out of
the Durham Chartularies as you may judge to be admissible into my
narrative. " I remember seeing a Boundary Roll in which White Mere was
mentioned. The present names of the villages in the parish are — Jarrow,
Hebburn, Hedworth, Monckton, Westoe, anciently Wivestowe, Shields,
Heworth, Wardley, Felling. The minutest particulars respecting any
of these will be acceptable. I shall also thank you for any thing re
specting the Monastery of Monkwearmouth, as that house was con
solidated with Jarrow.
" My Northumberland, since I had the pleasure of seeing you, has
proceeded slowly. Within the last month I have however proceeded
upon a regular plan of arranging materials ; and a few parishes are
beginning to assume the appearance of readiness for the press.
" I am, dear Sir, yours very respectfully, " John Hodgson."
Rev. J. RAINE to R. SURTEES, Esq.
" Dear Sir, March 1815.
" Will you favour me with your opinion on this letter. Is not
Jarrow within your province ? If so, I think anything new would
better appear in your History than in a publication like that of the
Antiquarian Society of Newcastle. It is totally impossible for me to
extract from the Chartularies all that is said upon Jarrow; for since I
made the promise my time has become still more occupied. If you,
however, approve of Mr. Hodgson's undertaking I will send him some
extracts from Kellawe's Register, and invite him to come to Durham,
and give him all the time I can among the Chartularies. Pray let me
know as soon as you can what you think of this. Yours very truly,
" J. Raine."
R. SURTEES, Esq. to Rev. JAMES RAINE.
" Deae Raine, March 6, 1815.
" Many thanks to you for your adherence to your first colours —
but I am very desirous to contribute every assistance I can to Mr.
Hodgson, and shall forthwith rummage my stores for that purpose.

158 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
Independent of any consideration attached to my own work, Hodgson
seems an admirable good fellow, and understands Roman antiquities
much better than I do. Secondly, I am glad the Newcastle Society, of
which I am a member, are going to illustrate the antiquities in their own
neighbourhood. Thirdly, such publications never destroy but increase
the appetite for larger and more comprehensive works. I have given
every charter I could to Sir Cuthbert Sharp for his Hartlepool, now in
the press.
" We trust to see you at Easter, and I think Yorke would be glad
if you could take any part of the duty you prefer on Good Friday or
Sunday. " Whitmere is now White-mares-pool ; a place which Mr. Hodgson
will know well enough. It is to be found, as I recollect, in a boundary
about Boldon.
" I sent Wray merely to amuse you. I want nothing with them at
present. I will send further Wrayiana from the Beamish Abstract, and
an old heraldic MS. to peruse, on Saturday. Yours sincerely, " R. Suetees."
We may now make a few remarks upon the contemplated
History of the Parish of Jarrow which has been already men
tioned on p. 59, &c. and to which the above correspondence refers.
Eleven pages of manuscript before me, inscribed " Antiquarian
Society,''' prove that Hodgson had made a beginning in the
undertaking which was at that time occupying his thoughts ; and
it appears to me that the effort is worthy of being incorporated
in a memoir of his life, for two reasons, its comprehensive brevity
and its being his second attempt at a description of the great Ro
man works in his parish and neighbourhood. The word parish
may be here used with propriety, inasmuch as the chapelry of
Wallsend on the opposite bank of the Tyne, in which the great
Roman Wall had its termination on the east,* and that of South
Shields, where there is known to have been a Roman station, are
both of them members of the ancient parish of Jarrow, and have
only become distinct chapelries by the operation of Queen Anne's
Bounty. Hodgson's first essay on the Roman Wall was published

* In my account of the Roman Antiquities connected with the parish of Jarrow (p.
56 above), I omitted to mention this, the most notable of them all.

HISTORY OF JARROW. 159
in 1812, in his Picture of Newcastle, and has long been before
the public. In tjiis, his second, it will be recollected that he
is writing in 1815, having doubtless during the intervening period
devoted much additional time and thought to the subject. It
may be interesting to compare his opinions on the Wall in 1815
with those which he had previously entertained, and see how
these second thoughts themselves were afterwards modified and
enlarged until there proceeded from his pen towards the close of
his life the perfect treatise in which the subject is exhausted.
It will be observed from the termination of the short composi
tion now to be submitted to the reader, that the outline of the
plan for a continuation of the History of the Parish of Jarrow
down to more recent times is marked out upon the paper, but we
have Hodgson's own authority below for stating that the con
templated task was eventually laid aside, The undertaking ended in
three contributions to periodical publications : the first of a paper
addressed to the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle, entitled " An
Inquiry into the Antiquity of an Ancient Intrenchment called
Wardley," situated in the chapelry of Heworth, in which one of
the records communicated by the writer constitutes the principal
feature. The second and third are contained in the Collectanea
Topographica, vol. i. p. 66, and vol. ii. p. 40;* and are described
as " Collections respecting the Monastery of Jarrow;" with a
few prefatorial remarks, from which the following is an extract.
" From these [the records at Durham] some years since I made
a great number of extracts, with an intention of publishing
a History of the Parish of Jarrow and its three dependent cha-
pelriea All hope of ever having leisure to accomplish that desir
able object, I have now for some time, but very unwillingly,
relinquished." And yet after a while Hodgson again bethought him of his
Jarrow collections, and began to entertain an intention of giving
them to the world in another shape and under a new title. His
communications to the Collectanea Topographica were made in
1833. In 1838, five years afterwards, he thus addresses Arch-
* The first is dated at Whelpiugton, on the 8th Jan., 1833, the second at the same
place on the 20th Nov. following.

160 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
deacon Thorp, the warden of the University of Durham, an
nouncing a new plan, of which it may be enough to state that it
also was never carried into execution.
" Hartburn, 2 Sept. 1838. I miss out of the portfolio of my long medi
tated History of Jarrow two letters of Lord Barrington, which form a
note to the account of the revenues of the present church. These I
shewed to you at Ryton some years since, and you requested to have
the loan of them to lay before your Chapter : and I would now be
obliged by your letting me have them back. The work I have alluded
to was known to Mr, Surtees, and is noticed in his account of Jarrow
(vol. ii. p. 67, note i). I do not, however, now think of making it a
mere Parochial History, but a History of Education, under some such
title as this — " The Monastery and College of Jarrow in Saxon Times ;
an "he College and University of Durham in the Nineteenth Century ;
by one who for twenty-five years occupied the chair of the Venerable
Bede.'' It is not, I believe, much known that Germany was first con
verted to Christianity by missionaries educated at Jarrow."
These statements may suffice to introduce as much of Hodgson's
" Account of the Roman and Saxon Antiquities " in his parish as
was written in the year 1815, the period at which we have arrived
in his history.
Some Account or the Roman and Saxon Antiquities in the Paeish of
Jaerow, in the county of Dueham, by the Rev. John
Hodgson, Secretary.
" Chap. 1. Sect. 1. That the barriers called the Roman Wall were
erected to preserve the Roman colonies from the attacks of a people
whom they were unable to conquer.
" The Roman fortresses on the line of the Wall between Bulness and
Wallsend, and the auxiliary stations on its northern and southern sides, in
the counties of Durham, Northumberland, and Cumberland, bear a very
peculiar and prominent feature in the early history of Britain.
" The courage and perseverance with which the northern tribes of
Britain resisted the Roman arms ; their inextinguishable love of liberty ;
their desultory mode of warfare ; and the natural difficulty of subduing
a brave and free people entrenched among rapid rivers, and walled
about with steep and lofty mountains, seem to have been considered in
surmountable obstacles to the conquest of the Caledonian Nation, so
early as the time of Hadrian.

HISTORY OF JARROW. 161
" Agricola, indeed, had conquered the country as far as the Firths of
the Forth and Clyde, and even extended his arms considerably to the
north of them. Early in the summer of his third campaign he reached
the river Tay, but in his seventh he had penetrated little further. The
fourth summer of his expedition was wholly taken up with building a
chain of forts between the Forth and the Clyde, a line which he seems
to have considered as the terminus of the Roman empire in Britain,
and to which, in the reign of Antoninus Pius, it was a second time ex
tended ; but, from Hadrian till the final desertion of this island by the
Romans, the power of Rome seems to have been unequal to secure the
regular and peaceful domination of the country further than Solway
Firth and the Tyne.
" That Rome considered herself as physically unable to conquer the
Caledonians, may, I think, be very satisfactorily inferred from the
amazing quantity of labour employed at different periods in forming the
barriers in this neighbourhood and in Scotland: and from the great and
continual expense of garrisoning the several castles and stations on the
lines of the barriers. One campaign, conducted with the usual decision
and exterminating effects that attended the Roman legions, might, one
would suppose, have destroyed the little population that could at that
period have existed in the Highlands of Scotland. But some of their
generals, in theory, and others in practice, saw the impracticability of
the measure. The Emperor Severus came into Britain with the
determined intention of destroying the very name of the barbarians ;*
but, though in three campaigns he almost conquered natural impossi
bilities in clearing away woods, levelling hills, draining bogs, and
building bridges,f yet he saw no enemy in numbers; he fought no
pitched battles; but in hardships and skirmishes lost 50,000 of his men,
returned to York, and there died without effecting his purpose. Some
authors of dubious credit assert that he built the stone wall, and others
that he only repaired the vallum of Severus (sic), which had then
become ruinous ; but, in which way soever the fact be taken, it affords
strong presumptive evidence that experience began to convince him
that his design of extirpating the Caledonian name out of this island
was impracticable.
§ 2. That several of the forts between Solway Firth and Tynemouth
were built hy Agricola.
* In the margin he has the name of Richard [of Cirencester] as his authority. He
appears, however, to have soon afterwards lost all confidence in that publication.
t Dio. Ziph. M

162 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
" Tacitus informs us that Julius Agricola, in the progress of his
campaigns in Britain, regularly secured his conquests with forts and
garrisons, and that the sites of his forts were always so judiciously chosen,
that no instance was ever known of any of them being ever stormed,
deserted, or given up. All antiquaries, who have attempted to illustrate
the Roman history of this neighbourhood, agree that several of the
stations along the line of the Wall were built in his second campaign,
which was made in the summer of the year 79 ; but their opinion has
never been supported by any forcible train of evidence, or by the con
current testimony of any inscription or other object of antiquity.
" All the information we have respecting the eventful career of that
general is afforded by his son-in-law and biographer, P. Corn. Tacitus ;
an author whose style, in rapidity and strength, bears a striking
resemblance to the military character of Agricola. He hurries him
through his conquests, without pausing to give us any knowledge of the
geography of the country. It is indeed occasionally glanced at ; and a
few incidental passages afford considerable light on the subject at present
under inquiry.
" For the sake of clearness, it will be necessary to quote all that
part of his narrative which describes Agricola's military operations
about the time of his completing the conquest of the people in this
neighbourhood. " The name of Petilius Cerealis, says Tacitus, in the seventieth year of
the Christian Eera brought terror into Britain. He attacked the state
of the Brigantes, which was accounted the most populous of all the
provinces in Britain. Many battles were fought ; some of them bloody
ones; and a great part of the country was compassed either with
victory or war.
"In the latter part of the summer of the year 78, Julius Agricola
entered upon the government of Britain. He marched immediately
into North Wales ; fell suddenly upon the inhabitants ; routed them ;
and as suddenly reduced the Isle of Anglesea, which at that time was
the great sanctuary of Druidism. As soon as the next summer opened,
he drew his army together and commenced military operations. He
chose the sites of encampments and explored the firths and woods for
himself: and in the mean time harassed the enemy by such sudden
irruptions that they never knew when they were in security. When
terror was at its height he began to spare, and win the people by the
blandishments of peace. By these measures, several nations, which tiU
that time had stood out for liberty, were appeased, and gave hostages.

HISTORY OF JARROW. 163
These he environed with fortresses and garrisons, with such judgment and
care that no part of Britain, hitherto unvisited, could deem itself
secure. The succeeding winter was spent in the most wholesome
counsels. For, in order to accustom a rude and wandering people to
the delights of tranquillity and ease, he praised the diligent and punished
the supine: he encouraged them in private, and gave them public
assistance (Qu. kind of assistance? not money but men) to build
temples, courts of justice, and private houses. Thus contention for
honour became a sort of constraint. Already the sons of the chieftains
began to learn the liberal arts, and the genius of the Britons to soar
over the attainments of the Gauls. They who, a little time before,
despised the Roman tongue, desired to become eloquent. The Roman
habit grew fashionable. The toga was the rage. By little and little
they sought the elegances of vice-porticos,* baths, and the luxury of
banquets ; and thus unsuspectingly to call that kindness which was only
a part of the method of enslaving them.
" The third summer opened out new nations. The country as far as
the estuary of the Tay was devastated. The enemy retired panic-struck,
and, though the army had to contend with a severe season, the natives
never hazarded an engagement: and time was found for building castles.
" The fourth year was taken up with securing the country that had
been overrun. For this purpose a chain of forts was built from Glotta
to Bodotria, places situated at the internal extremities of the Firths of
the Forth and Clyde. All the succeeding operations were carried on to
the north of these places.
" From the preceding narrative, and the present appearance of several
Roman fortresses along or near the line of the Roman Wall, I think
that arguments may be deduced sufficiently strong to establish the
probability, beyond all possibility of doubt, that many of these fortresses
were built by Agricola.
" The. country of the Brigantes, which Petilius Cerealis contended
with, extended across the island from the Humber to the Tyne; and,
though it was a part of the Roman policy to leave strong garrisons in
the countries that were regularly subdued, yet I think the expression of
Tacitus, ' magnam Brigantum partem aut victoria amplexus aut bello ' (a
great part of the Brigantes were either compassed with victory or with
war,) makes it probable that the lesser part would have no stations
built in it: and, as the invader marched from the south, we must suppose
this lesser part extended along the northern frontier; and, therefore, that
" Qu. entrance porticos " interlined.
M 2

164 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
the country from the mouth of the Tyne, along the Irthing to Solway
Firth, had not been visited by a Roman army previous to the coming
of Julius Agricola. It seems probable that the extensive Roman works
in the district of Richmondshire, which branch in one way toward
Durham and the other over Stanemore, might be the work of the
legions of Petilius Cerealis.
"Agricola, we have heard, entered Britain in 78, and in that year
advanced as far as Anglesea. In the campaign of the year 80, he
had reached as far as the Firth of Tay. The next summer was spent
in building the forts between Glotta and Bodotria.
"It is therefore to the space between the conclusion of the summer
of 79 and the commencement of that of 80 that our attention is to be
directed, for discovering any correspondence between the narrative of
Tacitus and the antiquities of this neighbourhood.
'' The winter included in the years 79 and 80 was spent by Agricola's
army somewhere between Anglesea and the Firths of the Forth and
Clyde, for, though he skirmished in 80 as far as the Tay, I think it
extremely probable that the winter quarters of his army occupied the
strong position between these firths ; especially as we find the whole
operations of the succeeding year occupied in fortifying that line.
" Now, if we reckon upon any uniformity of progress between Angle
sea and the Tay, we may fairly conclude that the summer of the year
79 brought Agricola to the southern frontier of the province of the
Meatse, which extended along the line afterwards occupied by Hadrian's
Vallum : I would infer this from its being a medium distance between
Anglesea and the Tay; from the circumstance of Petilius Cerealis not
having conquered the whole of the Brigantian states; (because we
cannot fairly suppose that less time than a summer could be occupied
by Agricola in finally exploring and securing a province called by
Tacitus ' the most populous of Britain';) from the probability of his
not commencing operations against the Meate, whose province was
entirely unexplored, till the next spring; and from a General of
Agricola's prudence and discernment taking up his winter qtiarters in
a narrow and defensible part of the island, where the large fleet that
composed a part of his armament might be of service to him, and where
a chain of forts could be erected to be of the greatest present and
future advantage.
" Fixing, therefore, the main operations of the Roman army from the
latter part of the year 79 to the beginning of the summer of 80 in this
district, if our conjecture be right, we shall find, according to the account

HISTORY OF JARROW". 165
of Tacitus, the remains of fortified encampments on the northern frontier
of the Brigantes ; for such I think the expression ' civitates castellis
presidiisque circumdataj' (states environed with fortresses and garrisons)
implies. Temples, too, and market-places, private houses, porticos,
and baths were erected in this period, of which the ruins must be dis
covered in order to substantiate the proofs of the hypothesis in
question. [Note in margin: A centurion commanded 100 footmen: 600
made a cohort, and ten cohorts a legion, or 6000. So that the stations
seem to have been adapted for 600 soldiers.
" If it should be contended either that the lapse of 1700 years must
have mouldered away every fragment of buildings erected in so short
a space of time as Tacitus allows for them, or that the army was not
sufficiently numerous for that purpose, it should be recollected that the
Roman armies were as regularly trained to building as to fighting;
that the effects of the division of labour were as well understood and
as highly practised by them in military architecture as they are in
the most perfect of our modern manufactories ; and that, though the
buildings they erected were rude, yet their remains bear undoubted
testimony that they were erected with every consideration as to
strength and durability. Josephus, an author who flourished in the
time we are speaking about, describes the astonishing rapidity with
which their encampments of mason-work were reared up, and tells
us, that, though they might only be wanted for the security of a few
nights, they were made as strong and complete as if they were to
be the residence of ages. I have not been able to sum up more
than about 27,000 infantry, and 3,000 cavalry, that composed Agri
cola's army; but even this number, judiciously disposed of, and mixed
with the population of the country, would be sufficient to complete
(even supposing the season only allowed them about three months
to work in) all the erections we contend for. And that the natives
were pressed into this service is evident from the expression ' he
encouraged them in private, and gave them public assistance to build
temples, market-places, and private houses ;' which assistance I should
take to have been the instruction and labour of his soldiers.
" § The ruins of many baths and other edifices which were built by
Agricola's directions are still remaining in Northumberland, Durham,
and Cumberland.
" § That Jarrow was formerly a Roman station built by Agricola
for the purpose of protecting ships moored in the river Don, at the
head of Jarrow Slake.

166 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
" § History of the Roman station at South Shields.
" § Probable use of a square camp at Wardley.
'' § That it is sufficiently evident from the channel of the Don
at this time that light ships of 500 tons burden might lie there in
security. " § Concerning the building and endowing of the monastery at
Monkwearmouth. " § Concerning the building and endowing of the monastery at
Jarrow. " § Concerning the life and writings of the Venerable Bede.
" § Account of some Saxon coins found at Heworth.
" § The nature of the literature taught in the houses of Monkwear
mouth and Jarrow in Bede's time.
" § The sufferings and destruction of these houses by the Danes.
There had been found in the latter part of the year 1812, in
Heworth Chapel yard, an earthen vessel containing a few coins
of Egfrid King of Northumbria; one of which, together with the
pot or vessel itself, Hodgson soon afterwards presented to the
Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle, accompanied with a few
historical notices which were afterwards published in the Archaeol.
iEl. vol. i. p. 124, with engravings in illustration. The follow
ing letters prove that this discovery had excited considerable
interest among numismatists. Mr. Carlisle's letter is in the true
style of collectors. Mr. Ruding makes a modest request, and is
content with an impression. From NICHOLAS CARLISLE, Esq.
" SlE, March 4, 1815, Somerset Place, London,
" Among the donations with which you have obliged the Anti
quarian Society of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, you mention a Saxon coin of
Egfrid King of Northumberland. The rarity of this coin is not over
looked by those who are conversant in this subject; and I am requested
by Mr. Combe, the Keeper of the Medals in the British Museum, to beg
the favour of one to be deposited in that valuable and national collec
tion; and, if your stock be not already exhausted, I should feel much
obliged by one or two more, which I think might be placed with re
spectability to yourself in other cabinets of the curious. In thus

SAXON COINS. 167
trespassing upon your kindness I must apologize for the liberty which I
am taking; although I cannot but be sensible, from the elegance of
your style, that liberality of sentiment is a predominant feature. I have
the honour  " Nicholas Carlisle.
" Rev. John Hodgson, &c."

To NICHOLAS CARLISLE, Esq.
" Heworth, near Gateshead, March 1815.
" I am very happy to have it in my power to gratify Mr. Combe
with one of K. Egfrid's coins, and also to inclose one for the. acceptance
of the London Society of Antiquaries. I have added other two, which I
will thank you to deposit in the cabinets of such liberal and well-in
formed gentlemen as you may think they will be most acceptable to.
These coins were dug up in the latter end of the year 1812, in making
a grave tin the line of the old wall which runs between the new and old
burial-ground of the chapel of Heworth, in the parish of Jarrow.
[Further particulars of the place, with a drawing of the vessel in which
the coins were found"]. I hoped it would have afforded me more good
specimens than it has done. The whole of them, good and bad,
amounted in number to 23, all of which I have disposed of in the
following manner. One to the Antiquarian Society of Newcastle, one
to Mr. Adamson of Newcastle, one to Mr. John Bell of Newcastle, one
to Mr. Brumell of Newcastle, one to Mr. Murray, one to the British
Museum, one to the London Society of Antiquaries, two to Nicholas
Carlisle, Esq., two which were either lost or mislaid by my children
after the discovery: one to myself. Eleven destroyed on account of
being decayed and illegible. Though much corroded, the rust that
covered them was not hard. When I took them out of my drawer, after
the receipt of your letter, they had liquid drops of vitriol upon them.
Those, given to the Newcastle Antiquarian Society, and to Messrs.
Bell and Adamson, are the best; for they were given the first, and
before I had any suspicion that the rest would turn out so indifferently
in cleaning. I have had tempting offers of money for them ; but they
cost me nothing, and I could not do violence to my antiquarian feelings
by making a traffic of them. I have the honour, &c.
"J. H."
" N. Carlisle, Esq."

168 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
To the Rev. JOHN HODGSON.
" Sjjj Maldon Vicarage, near Kingston, April 22, 1815.
" As I know not how to apologize sufficiently for this intrusion
upon you, I shall throw myself entirely upon your goodness, and trust
to that to plead my excuse.
" I am now going to press with a large, work on the Coinage of
Britain, from the earliest times of authentic history ; and am, in course,
much interested by everything relating to my subject. On Thursday
last my friend Mr. Carlisle pointed out to me the very curious Styca
which is engraven in the Transactions of your Society ; together with
your account of it, and the specimen which accompanied it. As the
legend on the obverse on that coin, and also on that which is now placed
in the British Museum, is much corroded, may I be permitted to ask
whether any one of the specimens has the whole legend perfect on that
side ; and whether the letter between L and X on the reverse has on all of
them this peculiar form V? The earliest Styca of which I have an
engraving is many years subsequent to this of Ecgfrid ; and was struck
by Eanred, at the beginning of the 9th century. It is contained in a set
of 33 plates of British and Anglo-Saxon coins, which were engraven
under the inspection of Mr. Combe, and were purchased by me for the
illustration of my work. If the set should be thought worthy of a place
in the collection which your Society is forming, I shall think myself
much honoured by being permitted to send it by any conveyance you
shall be pleased to point out. I am, Sir, -with great respect, your very
humble servant, " Rogers Ruding."
To the Rev. JOHN HODGSON.
" Sir, Maldon, May 8, 1815.
" Accept my best thanks for the impressions of the Styca, from
which I have been able to make a drawing for my additions to Mr.
Combe's plates.
" I am highly gratified by the permission to add the name of so
respectable a society to my list of subscribers ; and have great pleasure
in placing Mr. Combe's plates in their collection. I have taken the liberty
to add to them Mr. North's two plates of Coins of Henry HI., of which
some account may be seen in the Literary Anecdotes of the Eighteenth

SAXON COINS.

169

Century. They are matters of some little curiosity, and are not to be
purchased; as, by the kindness of my late friend Mr. Gough, the copper
plates are in my possession. The duplicates of all these I hope you will
do me the favour to accept.
" The map of t£e several mints I will beg you to exhibit to the
society, for the purpose of correction or addition ; and shall think it much
honoured if it may be afterwards admitted to a place in their cabinet.
" If anything respecting the Mint at Newcastle has been discovered,
since the publication of my late friend Mr. Brand, you will greatly
oblige me by the information.
'' As I have hitherto not possessed any means of circulating my pro
posals in the North, I presume to trouble you with a few of them; and
trust to your goodness to pardon the liberty I take in requesting you
to disperse them for me. I have not separated them from my circu
lar to the Antiquaries of London, as possibly some of those who reside
near you may not have seen it. The work is now in the press ; and my
subscribers are so few that I print only 250, instead of 300, and limit
the large paper to 50.
" I am conscious that I, a perfect stranger to you, ought not to
trouble you with all this ; but the difficulty which, in times like these,
a country clergyman meets with in getting an expensive work through
the press, must plead my excuse. I remain, Sir, your obliged and very
humble servant, " Rogers Ruding."

CHAPTER IX. 1815— 1816".
Expedition to the Dudley Coal Field — Sir Humphry Davy and the Safety Lamp —
Its first trial — Visit to Edinburgh — Correspondence.
From the time of the great Felling explosion in 1812, an event
to which Hodgson had for a humane purpose given every publicity
in his power, the Society formed in that year, chiefly through his
instrumentality, for the prevention of similar accidents, had been
indefatigable in its exertions to provide a remedy against the well-
known cause of such misfortunes. Meetings had been held, plans
proposed and discussed, reports read; and, in short, every advisable
step had been taken to protect for the future the lives of the poor
men whose occupation it was to earn their bread in the bowels of
the earth.
At length, in 1815, the third year of anxious experiment
and investigation, there appeared on the banks of the Tyne
a Mr. James Ryan, from the Staffordshire Coal Field, with the
assurance that he was in possession of a plan for securing the
object which the Society had in view. This announcement was
naturally received by the coal trade with considerable doubt and
hesitation, and, in consequence, a deputation was despatched from
the north to examine the Dudley mines, in which, as Mr. Ryan
asserted, his method had been for some time in successful operation.
The deputation consisted of Mr. Hodgson, Mr. John Buddie, and
Mr. George Hill; to whom certain definite questions were sub
mitted, and full answers were requested after a personal investiga
tion. These three gentlemen left Newcastle on the 16th of
October ; and in due time submitted to the Committee of the coal
trade their united report, proving that Mr. Ryan had made
statements which, in point of fact, were any thing rather than
correct* And thus the labour of the deputation was fruitless.
But Hodgson did more than assist in drawing up and signing
*  " Our friend Ryan is again amongst us, and has favoured me with a long
letter in Walker's paper (the Newcastle Courant) of last week. I have not yet seen
it, but understand it is very much of the old story over again. Geo. Hill told me on
Saturday that he had seen it, but did not think that it was at all necessary that I

THE DUDLEY COAL FIELD. 171
a bare report, in reply to stated questions. I have before me a
closely written quarto volume of nineteen pages, in his usual small
and neat hand-writing, to which he has given the title " On the
Dudley Coal Basin. Miscellaneous Observations on the Dudley
Coal Basin, from Minutes taken in October 1815." This treatise,
for such in truth it is, is illustrated with neat pen-and-ink draw
ings and measurements; and, as it appears to be of a very
elaborate character, its publication would probably have excited at
that time a considerable interest in the district to which it refers ;
and perhaps elsewhere. I may be permitted to transcribe from it a
single passage, which proves that its author, in making his geolo
gical and practical observations, did not forget to notice such
subjects as had a tendency to attract the attention of the painter and
the poet. On these, as well as the more matter-of-fact points of
inquiry in his commission, he was equally at home.
" In a pleasing and "picturesque point of view, the caves formed by
the old workings in the Hill of Dudley Castle, are much more interesting
than those of the Wren's Nest Hill. Daylight is admitted into them by
apertures, through immense barriers of stone, left to support the roof
of the quarry ; and the canal, which passes up the lowest part of the old
workings, is perfectly invisible, excepting where small patches of
reflected light play upon its surface. There is also something exceed
ingly pleasing in the sound of the barges passing through the smooth
water. You can hear them, as they glide along, but so indistinctly that
it requires you to stand and listen, to hear a noise which certainly
would not be audible but in a place where the most perfect stillness
and tranquillity prevail. The openings that admit the daylight are
fringed with maple, and a variety of other trees. The sides of the cave
are in many places encrusted with mosses and lichens of various tints:
but it is in the length and capacity of this enormous excavation in
which its grandeur consists ; and in comparison of which the celebrated
caves in Derbyshire appear to be only chinks and crevices of narrow
dimensions." — p. 7.
The following letter refers to the above expedition. Such
authentic accounts of the slow travelling to which we in our
should reply to it. The best way will be, probably, to treat him with silent contempt,
and allow him to exhaust his venom. The trade will not again be humbugged by
him." Letter from Mr. Buddie to Mr. Hodgson, 21 Jan. 1828.

172 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
earlier days were compelled to submit, will eventually be read
with interest. To Mrs. HODGSON.
" My DEAE Jane, Dudley, Staffordshire, 18th Oct. 1815.
" We did not leave Newcastle till about 5 o'clock. It was dark
before we got to Durham'; and did not grow light till we were between
Borough Bridge and Wetherby. We dined at Wetherby about one on
Tuesday, and reached Sheffield about five: here we stayed all night at
a very moderate sort of an inn ; and set forward early next morning to
Chesterfield, where we breakfasted. Our next stage was to Alfreton,
and thence through a delightful part of Derbyshire to Derby. The
way from that place to Burton-upon-Trent is exceedingly flat. At
Burton we dined to-day, and proceeded to Lichfield ; where we visited
the houses in which the celebrated Dr. Johnson and Mr. Garrick were
born, and walked to the cathedral, which certainly is in all points of
view far more magnificent than Durham. The stage from Lichfield to
Walsall was over moors, and lonely, but from the last place, it being
night and rainy, the fires around this neighbourhood, and the immense
number of large iron furnaces, similar to that at Lemmington, illumi
nated the country to a great distance. ' The smoke of the country goes
up like the smoke of a furnace.'* We got here about ten minutes after
nine. I have borne the journey without fatigue.
" I hope every thing goes on well with you at home, and that my
darling little gibbering John begins to find ease in his ears. We hope
to be back about Thursday or Friday next week, and to return by
York. My affectionate blessing on the bairns Love to all at the
Shore, and my dearest regard to thee, dear Jane, from thine,
" John Hodgson."
But happier results were at hand, and the Society for the
Prevention of Accidents in Coal-mines became in the end amply
rewarded for their long-continued exertions in the cause of
humanity. In the autumn of this year the great discovery was
made, which has enabled the pitman to walk in safety through
what had previously been to him the valley of the shadow of
death; and in this discovery Mr. Hodgson had no mean part to
perform; independently of what he had done in the year 1812,
by compelling at that time the c<5al-owners and the public to
* Gen. xix. 28.

THE DUDLEY COAL FIELD. 173
give heed to the tale of distress which he had brought before
them, and combine to bridle, if it were possible', the demon of
destruction. In the month of August, Sir Humphry Davy paid his first
visit to the Northern mining district; and happily, Hodgson has
placed upon record, in his History of Northumberland, an account
of that visit, and also of the subsequent proceedings and investiga
tions which led to the discovery of the Safety Lamp before the
end of the year. This account is contained in a note in the last
volume of his History of Northumberland which he lived to
publish, under his description of Wallsend, the residence of Mr.
Buddie, and is as follows. [Part ii. vol. iii. 171. J
" Wallsend. The house of the colliery-viewer was for many years the
residence of the late eminent colliery director John Buddie, Esq. and,
since his death in 1806, has become memorable as the seat of his son
and successor of the same name. Here, too, in consequence of the
following letter from the late Bishop of Bristol, Sir 11. Davy had his
first conference (with Mr. Buddie and Mr. Hodgson of Heworth) on the
subject of lighting coal-mines.
' To the Rev. Mr. Hodgson, Heworth, Newcastle.
* Bishopwearmoulh, August 21, 1815.
' Dear Sir, — Having been informed by a letter from Sir Humphry Davy
that he is to be in Newcastle on Wednesday or Thursday next, I have felt
desirous that he should have some conversation with you and Mr. Buddie
on the subject of the accidents in the collieries, that he may be the better
able to furnish us with his opinion. I have, therefore written to him to
express the hope that he may see you ; and if, on the receipt of this letter,
you would address a few lines to him at the post-office, Newcastle,
saying where you might be seen on those days, it might contribute to
promote the objects which the Society (for the Prevention of Accidents
in Coal-Mines) has in view. I have written to Mr. Buddie with a
similar design. Sir Humphry comes from the North. Whether he
travels post or by mail I know not. With many apologies for giving
you this trouble, I remain, dear Sir, your obedient humble servant,
1 Robt. Geay.*
'P,S. I hope we shall sometimes see you again at our meetings.
I mean to call one to meet Sir Humphry Davy while with me.'
"Mr. Hodgson waited upon Sir Humphry, on the 23rd of August,
* At that time Rector of Bishopwearmouth, and prebendary of Durham, afterwards
Bishop of Bristol.

174 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
at the Turk's Head, Newcastle, and after there laying before him all
the printed information he knew of respecting the ventilation and light
ing of coal mines, and relating to him some experiments he had made
to prove that the explosive gas of these mines was a mixture of common
air and coal gas spontaneously evolved from the coal, they proceeded
together to Mr. Buddie's house ; where, after much general conversation
on the subject of a safe light for mines, Sir Humphry, by bruising coal
under water, satisfied himself of the truth of Mr. Hodgson's theory re
specting the generation of the fire-damp ; and by experiments with a
steel-mill in a dark place, and much conversation with Mr. Buddie on
the subject, ascertained the minimum of light by which the colliers
could work. He declined to descend a coal-mine, from a conviction
that the works put into his hand, and the information he had now re
ceived, supplied him with all the knowledge he could derive from such
an adventure.*
" Mr. Hodgson had mentioned to Sir Humphry the probability
that, in some instances, the blowers or springs of fire-damp, with which
many mines abound, might be supplied by the increasing temperature
of the earth downwards subliming off the carburetted hydrogen from
beds of coal below : and also, that the coal formation about Newcastle
was in many places intersected with whin-dykes, and especially at
Coaly-hill, where the coal in contact with the whin had been charred,
and in that state thrown up in wavy masses in one cheek of the dyke.
This appearance he expressed a strong desire to see ; and accordingly
* So late as the year 1'842, when Hodgson was labouring under his final malady, he
appears to have derived comfort from reverting to the Safety Lamp and the part he
had taken in its discovery. From a scrap of paper written in the above year, which
is scarcely legible from the infirmities of its writer, I extract the following memo
randa. It is painful to see the state of his memory on the subject of proper names.
Felling, he calls Fenwick ; and Nether Heworth, Nether Witton.
" I found Sir H. at breakfast. He instantly entered with ardour into the collieries,
the mode of working, and the galleries into which it was divided, and the gas it contained.
I shewed him my own account of the accident at Fenwick, and the experiments I
had made about gas, and that it passed as flame did before air in lighting whins to
burn — went first to the [here he is unable to remember the word mouth] of the pit.
Said Mr. H. had shewn him all the particulars in his own and Mr. Buddie's tracts he
could want, but in his own hand took out a bucket of fresh coal and said, ' with
this I will try Mr. Hodgson's experiment on coal gas.' This he took to Mr. Buddie's
dining-room, begged for a bucket of water, and after putting the coal into it and stirring
it several times round in it that no air might pass down it and shew bubbles through the
water, he struck a heavy poker with all his strength on the coal. It shattered into
several pieces, and numerous bubbles rose from it through the water, and said Mr. H's
experiments were certainly correct and interesting. Now I only want to see the quan
tity of light required is for {imperfect.)

THE SAFETY LAMP. 175
proceeded with Mr. Hodgson to Coaly-hill, where he inspected several
parts of the dyke with great care, declaring it to be the most curious
and instructive phenomenon of its kind that he had ever seen. These
were all the inquiries he made on the north side of the Tyne. From
Coaly-hill he and Mr. Hodgson went by invitation to dine and sleep at
Mr. Ellison's, of Hebburn-hall ; and on the following morning Sir
Humphry proceeded to Dr. Gray's at Bishopwearmouth. The results
of his inquiries there are mentioned in his papers on the fire-damp of
the coal-mines. His correspondence with Mr. Hodgson on the subject
commenced on September 27, 1815, continued to March 19, 1818, was
extensive, and has been preserved. One who has lived long within the
appalling sound of blasts in coal-mines, ivho was the first to publish any
detailed account of these life-destroying whirlwinds of fire — who has
often hazarded his life in investigating their causes — and who had spent
much time and money in promoting measures to prevent these afflicting
calamities, may surely venture to put in an obscure corner, and among
antiquarian rubbish, some record that he was one who was present at the
commencement of a train of inquiries that led to discoveries on the nature
and properties of 'flame, which gave to man the power of walking securely
through an element which had hitherto defied him to approach its dark
recesses with a light — discoveries that are endless in their application, and
which, in the Davy Safety Lamp, presented the miner with one of the most
brilliant and most beneficial inventions that stand in the annals of science —
a discovery which, in the early ages of the history of man, would have
ranked its author in the number of the heavenly gods — and which, though
the earth-born spirits of envy and ingratitude may for a season continue to
assault his name, will place upon the altar of his memory a light that shall
only cease to burn when our planet in its present condition ceases to exist''*
A thick volume now before me, containing original papers,
letters, reports, proceedings of meetings, &c. &c, lettered on the
back " Society for Accidents in Coal Mines, 1812-1815,"
" Safety Lamp, &c. 1815-1818," would enable me to lay before
the public many extraordinary proofs of the active and intense
interest which Mr. Hodgson took in every plan suggested for the
attainment of the object for which the Society had been formed.
He, as it appears, was daily thinking, and writing, and making
experiments on the subject long before Sir Humphry Davy's
* I think it right to say that these italics are mine. Does not such a paragraph de
serve to be specifically pointed out to posterity ?

176 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
visit to the North ; and it is quite manifest that it was chiefly
to him and his experience that Davy had recourse for most
of his local information. Hodgson has modestly informed us in
the above extract how completely his theory satisfied Davy ; and
papers are in existence proving that such of his hints as bore upon
the subject were instantly adopted, and followed out, by one ex
periment after another, till the great discovery was made; and
well does Mr. Surtees put the question, " What fairer triumph,
what brighter extension of the empire of science, has marked the
annals of philosophy, than this victory over the swart demon of
the mine?"*
It comes not within my province to enter into the question
which for a while afterwards agitated both sides of the Tyne, but
which long ago died away, — the question between the friends of
Sir Humphry Davy and those of the late Mr. George Stephenson
and others, with respect to the real inventor of the Safety Lamp.
It was Mr. Hodgson's firm conviction that the merit was due to
Sir Humphry Davy, and to him alone. This opinion he man
fully, but temperately, defended in the local newspapers, under
his own proper signature ; and no attacks of anonymous but well-
known partizans on the other side could convince him of the con
trary. Public opinion, which is seldom wrong, came to a speedy
decision on the subject ; and time has confirmed its conclusion.
To the miner his u Davy " — he knows it by no other name — is
now as necessary as his daily bread.
With respect to his obligations to Mr. Hodgson I make the
following extracts from papers on the subject of his discovery,
communicated by Sir Humphry Davy to the Philosophical
Transactions of the Royal Society.
" A very interesting account of this event (the Felling Explosion in
1812) has been published by the Rev. John Hodgson. I have named
this gentleman among many others who obligingly gave me assistance
in my inquiries ; and I cannot mention him again without again making
my acknowledgments for the variety of information he afforded me
during the visits that we made together to the collieries ; and for the
general interest he has taken in my experiments on the subject."
Paper in Phil. Trans, dated 31 Dec. 1815.
* History of Durham, ii. 89.

THE SAFETY LAMP. 177
" I cannot conclude this notice respecting the safe-lamp without
stating, that in the practical application of my views I have received the
most enlightened and liberal assistance from the Rev. John Hodgson and
Mr. Buddie, who have been the first persons to put my principles to
the test of actual experiment in the mines, and to confide their safety
to those new resources of chemistry." New Researches on Flame. Phil.
Trans. 1817.
The above are testimonies to Mr. Hodgson's services which are
already before the public. If the time shall ever arrive, and
arrive it may, when the volume of papers, to which I have above
alluded, shall issue from the press, as a record of proceedings
touching one of the greatest discoveries in modern times, it will
then be seen that Sir Humphry Davy's private acknowledg
ments of Hodgson's valuable services were numerous, and, as it
may be presumed, sincere; and it will also be seen that Davy
was not merely an abstruse philosopher, devoting his energies to
the good of others, but that, in defence of himself and his dis
covery, he could write also. His letters to Hodgson are not
fewer than forty in number, all upon the subject of the Safety
Lamp, or the conduct and motives of those who would have
deprived him of its glory. His lamp is the acknowledged pro
tector of the miner. His pen might at that time have not been
without the power of that withering blast over which he had
achieved a victory.
That Hodgson was among the first to test the saving power of
the lamp would naturally have been inferred, if even we had been
in possession of no direct evidence of the fact ; but on this subject
we are not left to inference or conjecture. We have Sir Hum
phry Davy's testimony above, that the subject of our memoir
was one of those who were present when the experiment was
made ; and, what is more to our purpose, we have the following
long and interesting letter from himself to Davy giving the fullest
particulars of his happy descent into the Hebburn Pit, another
mine in his parish, to fetter in a thin web of wire-gauze the de
structive enemy which had annihilated its thousands. For four
long years, at the very least, he had meditated day and night upon
a preservative against these fatal explosions. A discovery had
been made, of the efficacy of which he himself entertained no
N

178 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
doubt whatever ; and surely he was the person to lead the van in
the grand triumph, which could only be thoroughly performed
and enjoyed in those dark recesses which had been so often the
scene of mangled limbs and bodies rolled in blood or burnt to a
cinder. A Letter from the Rev. J. Hodgson to Sir Humphry Davy,
respecting the use of the Safety-Lamp.*
" Deae Sie,
" On the ninth of January (1816), the day after the arrival of your
lamps, with wire-gauze cylinders, I descended one of the shafts of Heb
burn Colliery, for the purpose of making experiments with them in fire
damp. Mr. Dunn, the resident viewer, Mr. Seymour, the under-viewer,
and some of the workmen attended me. Our first trials were made at the
mouth of an iron pipe, which discharges fire-damp, conveyed from the
same blower that Mr. Dunn procured the gas from which I sent to you
in the beginning of October last. It is occasionally lighted, to serve
instead of a lamp or candle in the horse-way ; and we found it perform
ing that office. The flame of the light was eight inches long, and of a
corresponding breadth,
" After blowing this gas light out, the lamp was held against the roof
of the mine on the leeward side of the discharging pipe; and
gradually advanced at that height till the fire-damp began to enlarge the
flame of the lamp : as it was brought nearer, flashes at intervals of a
few seconds played in the inside of the cylinder. These succeeded each
* This letter was communicated by Sir Humphry Davy to "The Journal of
Science and the Arts, edited at the Royal Institution of Great Britain," in which pub
lication it is printed, in Vol. I. p. 131. The same volume (p. 1, &c.) contains an article
on the lamp itself with an engraving, contributed by Davy, and also a letter addressed
to him by John Buddie, Esq. (p. 303), " On the practical application of the wire-gauze
Safe- Lamp ;'' written a few months after the date of Mr. Hodgson's communication.
Mr. Buddie's letter confirms Hodgson's report of the utility and safety of the lamp,
and contains many striking passages written in a due tone of exultation. " We have
frequently (says he) used the lamps where the explosive mixture was so high as to heat
the wire gauze red hot ; but on examining a lamp which has been in constant use for
three months, and occasionally subjected to this degree of heat, I cannot perceive that
the gauze cylinder of iron wire is at all impaired. Instead of creeping inch by inch
with a candle, as is usual, along the galleries of a mine suspected to contain fire-damp,
in order to ascertain its presence, we walk firmly on with the safety-lamps, and with
the utmost confidence prove the actual state of the mine." This is an admirable letter
from one thoroughly qualified and entitled to speak or write on such a subject.

THE SAFETY LAMP. 179
other more quickly and vividly as the lamp was lowered to a level with
the mouth of the pipe, where the gas burnt steadily in the inside of the
wire tube, without communicating flame to that which surrounded it.
" Much heat and smoke were evoived during this part of the trial ;
and the combustion, when the lamp approached near to the pipe, was
carried on in the upper part of the cylinder, and the flame of the wick
was extinguished in a luminous appearance. As the lamp was drawn
back again, the same appearances were exhibited in inverse succession ;
and the flame always settled upon the wick as soon as the lamp was
taken into a due proportion of atmospherical air. Our experiments
here were varied in every possible way, and uniformly attended with
the most convincing proofs of the safety of the lamp : but as often as a
candle was tried to perform the office of the lamp, the gas fired at it
with a sudden and bright flash and continued to burn at the mouth of
the iron pipe.
" With these assurances of perfect security from danger, we entered
the part of the mine where the fire-damp was discharging out of the
fissures in the floor. In many places it could be observed forcing up
the black heavy salt water with a bubbling noise. The place where
the main feeders issued was covered with a large air-tight trough, in
verted in the water; and out of which the inflammable air was con
veyed, through a wooden-pipe, to the place in the horse-way where our
first experiments were made. A current of fresh air, sufficient to render
the fire-damp, which was not collected into this pipe, quite harmless!
was constantly passing through this board or gallery into the adjoining
horse-way. " We removed the end of the pipe inserted into the trough, and im
mediately applied a candle to the roof, bringing it in the windward
direction towards the opening in the trough. In a moment the train of
fire-damp lighted with a flash, not unlike that of ardent spirits thrown
upon a fire ; it was transient, but ignited the gas at the opening of the
trough, where it continued to burn with a broad lambent flame, and
much smoke, and disagreeable smell. Soon after it was extinguished,
the same experiment was tried with the lamp, and with the same satis
factory appearances as we had observed at the pipe in the horse- way;
but far more perfectly and clearly exemplified here, on account of the
greater discharge of gas ; for the conducting pipe was not perfectly air
tight from end to end.
" We next placed a barrel, with both ends out, over the opening in the
trough ; and after preventing the atmospherical air from ascending up
N2

180 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
it, by luting it round the bottom with clay, brought the lamp from the
roof gently downwards into it: the fire-damp, like an unarmed and im
prisoned enemy, struggled in the inside of the cylinder, to which its
fury was invariably confined.
" We found that if the lamp was gradually introduced into explosive
mixtures of gas, it continued to burn as long as the atmosphere around
it contained oxygen ; but if it was suddenly plunged into highly explo
sive mixtures of fire-damp and common air, the flame was soon ex
tinguished. " After varying the experiments here in every way we could think
of, and always with the same uniform success, I ascended the shaft with
the lamp still lighted; and walked with it to Mr. Dunn's house, about a
distance of 300 yards, with a considerable breeze, attended with sleet,
blowing in my face, and the light continued to burn without any atten
tion on my part to preserve it.
" On Monday, the 17th [? 15th"] of January, I went down the same pit
with Mr. Buddie and Mr. Dunn, when our former experiments were
repeated, but in explosive atmospheres of greater extent; for we not only
lessened the current of fresh air passing through the board, where the
blowers of fire-damp issue, but suffered that damp to collect around
us for a longer time than we had done on the preceding Tuesday.
" After the place where we stood had partly stagnated for about half
a minute, a candle was raised gently to the roof of the mine, and
cautiously advanced to windward from the leeward side of the opening
in the trough. The inflammable train soon reached the light, and ex
ploded along the roof, attended with a very sensible shock. It flew from
us against the current of fresh air, and kindled the gas issuing from the
rents in the floor and sides of the board, which continued to burn till
they were dashed out. But when the lamp was put to similar tests, it
went through air in every degree of explosive state, from the slightest
to fire-damp in the greatest purity that the mines produce it ; and re
trograded through the same deleterious atmosphere, without either com
municating flame to the outside of the cylinder, or being extinguished.
" These trials were sufficient to remove the most distant idea of doubt
respecting the safety afforded by the lamp. But, that it might be used
in some practical sort of way, we took it into a board where a man, by
the light of a steel-mill, was hewing the pillars of coal which had been
left when the mine was first wrought over, and which, by the pressure
of the superincumbent strata, had sunk into the schistose stratum which
composes the floor.

THE SAFETY LAMP. 181
" All the parts of the mine here were so crushed and shattered, that
a grinding noise of the dislocated strata could be distinctly heard
over our heads, though the roof was supported by props and crown-
trees (lintels) of wood placed nearly side by side. In places of this
kind, the sides of the boards in which the men are working are often
so rent that the fresh air cannot, without the greatest difficulty, be con
veyed along them to dilute the great discharge of fire-damp. It filters
off through the new pillars of broken schist, and thus unavoidably
renders the mine exceedingly close and warm.
" In the place we had now entered it was considered quite unsafe for
the men to work with a candle ; though, at the moment of time we were
there, the air perhaps would not have exploded at a naked flame. The
lamp, indeed, burnt with a very slight increase of brilliance, and near
the roof the flame of its wick spired slightly into length ; and the copper
plate and the ring at its top very sensibly increased in warmth for the,
space of half a minute, during which time, I suppose, all the fire-damp
within its influence was consumed. The experiments I have been
witness to under ground, ended here; but Mr. Buddie, Mr. Dunn, and
other practical gentlemen, who have seen the lamps used in places that
have not been ventilated for several years, will be able to give you still
more satisfactory accounts of their great utility, and the security they
afford the miner from danger by explosions.
" The simplicity of the lamp, in my mind, is not more remarkable
than its security. If the men be only careful to trim it with clean
cotton about once every third time it is used, to keep up a constant
supply of clean oil, and never to raise the wick so high as to cause it to
smoke, it will give as good a light as a candle, and be less troublesome ;
but if they suffer a smoke to fly off the top of the flame, it will fill the
apertures of the cylinder with soot. When first lighted, the wick ought
to be cut straight with a pair of sharp scissors, and not suffered, while it
is burning, to get encrusted with coaly specks, or get jagged, in which
states it is sure to smoke and burn dimly.
" Another excellence of the lamp is, that in case of a stone falling
upon it from the roof, the light can scarcely be exposed to the open air,
for such an occurrence would either instantly extinguish the light, or
merely bruise the cylinder ; for the flexible nature of the wire and other
materials of the lamp render it almost impossible to break any part of
it by a stone or weight falling upon it.
" I also feel persuaded, that the wire-gauze cylinder will give a steady
and abundant light in mixtures which would explode with great fury at

182 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
a candle, and that it will continue to be highly useful, when sparks from
a steel- mill are too dull and feeble to afford the miner any assistance;
in short, that the miner may continue to work with them as long as the
air around him can be safely respired. I am, dear Sir Humphry,
yours very respectfully, " John Hodgson."
To those paragraphs in the preceding letter which detail the
dangerous condition of that part of the mine in which a poor
solitary man was working by no other light than the sparks of a
steel-mill, and in which it was determined to put the power of the
lamp to the most severe trial, even at the risk of its bearer and his
companions, we must revert for a moment ; as in this memorable
experiment Hodgson took the leading part, and the circumstances
connected with it are not only of an affecting nature, but also an
essential part of his history.
No notice had been given to the man of what was about to take
place. He was alone, in an atmosphere of great danger, " in the
midst of life in death," when he saw a light approaching,
apparently a candle burning openly, the effect of which he knew
would be instant destruction to him and its bearer. His command
was, instantly, " Put out that candle !" It came nearer and nearer :
no regard was paid to his cries, which then became of the most
terrific kind, mingled with awful imprecations against the comrade,
for such he took Hodgson to be, who was tempting death in so
rash and certain a way. Still not one word was said in reply.
The light continued to approach, and then oaths were turned into
prayers that his request might be granted, until there stood before
him, silently exulting in his heart, a grave and thoughtful man,
a man whom he well knew and respected, who, four years before,
had buried in one common grave ninety-one of his fellow-work
men, holding up in his sight with a gentle smile the triumph of
science, the future safeguard of the pitman.
It must, I fear, be admitted that Hodgson and his friends
acted unwisely in this proceeding. They might feel assured that
against foul air the lamp would be a sure protection, but how
could they calculate against the sudden death of the poor man from
absolute terror, — such things havehappened, — or upon what a man
might be driven to do in his despair? In his death throe, as it

THE SAFETY LAMP. 183
were, of agony, the man threatened to send his pick through the
body of him who was coming on, as he thought, in so rash a way;
and who would have said that he was not justified in so acting?
It is probable that Hodgson had afterwards come to the conclusion
that his conduct in this matter had been injudicious; for he
would not willingly converse on the subject; but, be it as it may,
it is an event in his history of no every-day kind or occurrence,
which must not be passed over by his biographer in silence.
The lamp which Mr. Hodgson carried in his hand in his descent
into the bowels of the earth, that " aureus ramus " of sovereign
virtue against all the infernal influences of the pitman's " avernus,
was in 1830 presented by him to Miss Emma Trevelyan of
Wallington (Mrs. Wyndham), who gave it to her brother Mr.
Arthur Trevelyan, by whom it was placed in the Museum of
Practical Geology in London, along with Hodgson's letter to his
sister, and another lamp used on the same occasion.
To Miss EMMA TREVELYAN.
" Deae Miss Emma, 17th January, 1 830.
" I request the favour of your giving the two Davys I send here
with a place in your museum. They are the first that were ever used in a
coal-mine. You will find an account of the experiments made with
them on the 9th and 17th of January, 1816, in the first volume of the
Journal of the Royal Institution, p. 131.
" I also send you an impression of a curious Mithraic Seal in the
Library of the College at Durham ; and some more paper,* with .my
best fhanks for what you have done. Yours very truly, " John Hodgson."
Before we leave the subject of the lamp, it may be proper to
lay before the reader the three following letters. The first gives
proof of the anxiety with which Mr. Hodgson watched over the
new discovery in its infancy, and thought of such alterations in its
mechanism as might have a tendency to promote its greater use-
* Miss Emma Trevelyan had been a. while before busily employed in making
transcripts for Hodgson's use, from books lent to him by the author. These transcripts
he quotes in the subsequent volumes of his History under the title of Raine's Testamenta.
See Preface to Part ii. vol. i. p. vii. and viij.

184 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
fulness and security. The second speaks of a contemplated Essay on
Coal and its History ; and the third of an honour, which, humble
as it was, appears to have been received with a hearty welcome.
To Sir HUMPHRY DAVY.
" Deae SlE HUMPHRY, High Heworth near Gateshead, 20th May, 1816.
" When Mr. Ellison was down about a fortnight since, I hoped
to have sent a lamp of Coxe's making, and such as is now in use; but
as the one he sent me had a loose burner, I have waited till he executed
one in such a manner as to remove all the practical objections which
occurred to the miners ; and I am now happy to offer you one, differing
in a very slight manner from those you sent down as models, which in
practice offers to pass without objection. The colliers grow much
attached to them, and emulous in keeping them in order. Coxe every
day receives fresh orders, and I believe they are now come into
very general use, both in the Tyne and Wear districts. Some other
workmen in Newcastle, I hear, have begun to make them; but in a
manner much inferior to those sent out by Coxe.
" The cylinder upon the new lamp is of tinned iron wire, and the first
that has been made. I hope they will answer the purpose of prevent
ing rust and strengthening the gauze ; and that Coxe will succeed in
his next attempt in putting the tin on after the cylinder is formed, which
will secure the seam from bursting open. I have in experiments tried
this sort of gauze, and though the tin melts in strong heats it does not
flow off the wire.
" The lamps sent by Mr. Newman answered extraordinarily well, and
no possible fault could be found with them, excepting that of the coal
dust hardening on the ledge around the bottom of the cylinder, and the
great weakness of the top of the cylinder. I have seen several of them
at Coxe's shop getting repaired, and the only things they want are new
upright wires and a stronger top. The screw for the aperture for
supplying the oil was wanting in several of them; but a good cork
answers every purpose. They had been much in use for nearly a
month, I believe about sixteen hours in every twenty-four on every
working day, and the cylinders, excepting one that had been thrown
into very salt water, and afterwards neglected, were all still in good
order. "From the general report of the miners, I find there are admixtures
of gas in which they think it not prudent to use the lamps, and yet in

THE SAFETY LAMP. 185
which they can still breathe and work with steel-mills. Mr. Hill told
me that in South Shields Colliery he tried a board with one, and that
it was no sooner introduced into impure air, than the whole cylinder was
heated to redness ; but that in an attempt the following week, under all
apparent similar circumstances, to try how long the gauze would be in
burning through, the lamp stood in an explosive mixture for nearly
half an hour, without even becoming red. I do indeed believe that
hydrogen exists in the mines in every degree of purity in which it is
produced by distillation from coal, and in the several combinations in
which it mixes with carbon ; because its inflammability is much greater
in stagnated parts of mines, than it is either in combination with a
current of atmospherical air, or as it issues out of the floors of mines from
lower strata of coal. This opinion is, however, entirely theoretical, and
therefore undeserving of attention. From the facts, however, that the
lamp in some mixtures of mine gas and common air heats to redness
almost instantaneously, I was lately so much impressed with the idea
that a regulator of the quantity of air to be admitted within the cylinder
might be advantageously employed, that I got a cylinder of tin plate
made for that purpose, and have taken the liberty of inclosing it with
the lamp in use. The experiments I have made with it have been very
unsatisfactory, but it has never been tried in a mine, and I have no
other methods of producing gas from coal but by a common retort,
which has no purifying apparatus attached to it, and by a Wolfe's
apparatus ; the former of which throws up so much smoke and other
impurities with it as to prevent one being led to anything conclusive ; and
the latter requires a nicety of experiment which I have had no leisure
to attend to. I got the cylinder made of tin plate with soft solder, think
ing that if it heated so much as to melt the joints it would be useless,
and if it stood the test of the strongest heat that could be produced,
while the light continued sufficient, that it might be made of copper with
hard solder for working purposes: but as explosive mixtures of gas,
when the apertures were nearly all covered, had the effect of falling
upon the flames as if grains of gunpowder had been dropt upon it, and
of making the light extremely dull and unsteady, I despaired of any
advantage being derived from the contrivance. When the regulator
left one-third of an inch of the gauze uncovered the solder melted, and
left the cylinder in the space of three minutes in the state you see it.
Perhaps with a cylinder made of copper, wide enough not to heat with
the ordinary flame of the lamp, it might answer better. But this should
still be borne in mind, that, however successful it might prove, it would

186 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
be useless, except in extraordinary cases, for the gauze cylinder answers,
even with the little experience the miners have had of it, all ordinary
purposes, and there can be no doubt but a further acquaintance with
its properties will enable them to manage it in every situation to which
they can carry it.
" The conversations of the common colliers respecting the lamp, where
it has been some time in use, I am told, arevery amusing and interesting.
They have not yet ceased to wonder at its magic-like properties, and
seem divided in their opinion whether to regard it as something pre
ternatural, or an instrument subject to the common laws of causes and
effects. Many of them have an extraordinary pride in keeping them
bright, and they have fallen into very simple and easy methods of
cleaning the gauze. They use small brushes to remove the soot and
dust which settle on the gauze and obscure the light while they are at
work. As soon as they reach their homes, after work, the cylinder is
unscrewed and placed upon the grate stone, where it remains till all
the dust and soot upon the gauze is completely dry, and in that state
a few gentle taps with the nail of the second finger stricken from the
under side of the thumb render it perfectly clean. They have also
fallen well into the way of keeping them properly trimmed, which causes
less soot to be thrown off the flame, and more light to be given than
they had in their former trials.
" At the time I was put upon the expedient of regulating the quan
tity of air admitted into the cylinder, I heard a great deal about the
alarming appearances which the burning gas exhibited when mixed
with small particles of coal. If I well understood Mr. Buddie's account
of it, the atoms of ignited coal flashed and floated about in the flame
with an effect something like fire-works in miniature: but such ap
pearances seem to me no way indicative of danger, excepting when
attended with great heat."
[The writer of the letter here gives an amusing account of the
anonymous proceedings of one of Davy's rivals in the discovery of the
lamp, which may remain where it is for the present.]
'' I beg pardon for troubling you with so long a letter, but being
desirous that you should see the lamp in its present state, I thought it
my duty to send some account of its success along with it, and with this
opportunity before me I could not refrain from mentioning  's very
malignant proceedings. I am, dear Sir Humphry, very respectfully,
your most obedient humble servant,
J. H."

THE SAFETY LAMP. 187

To Sir HUMPHRY DAVY.

23 May, 1816.
" I hope in the course of this summer to write a paper on the forma
tion of some of the coal strata of this country for the Royal Society. I
think I mentioned to you that I hoped by microscopical observations to
discover vegetable remains in the cropping of a stratum of coal near
this place, and I have succeeded in discovering numerous impressions
in it with the naked eye. I have also found that the schistose bed
below it contains pieces of very beautiful charcoal.
" I apprehend that I could procure the cast of a considerable tree
which was found in an upright position in the floor of Jarrow colliery,
and send it easily to London, if you should think it worth the accept
ance of either the Royal Society or Royal Institution. " John Hodgson."
An extract from Hodgson's Journal for the 3rd of May, 1841,
refers to this subject :
" In 1816 Sir Humphry Davy offered me to be made a member of
the Royal Society, which I declined, because I understood it would cost
me three or four pounds per year. He asked me also to write a paper on
coal, which I had not time to write well. The history of coal, its origin,
&c. were little known — required much investigation; though I had
thought much on the subject." To Sir HUMPHRY DAVY.
" Dear Sir, 27 May, 1816.
"The Antiquarian Society of Newcastle desire me to present you
with the inclosed certificate of your election into their body. Were
it not for the important services you have rendered to this neigh
bourhood by your late discoveries of the properties of flame by
this successful application to controul the dreadful energies of inflam
mable mine-damp, they would have considered themselves as guilty of
an unwarrantable liberty in adding your name to their roll ; but they
hope that strong sensations of gratitude for the humanity and admira
tion of the talents which elicited that great discovery will in some de
cree apologize for the honour they have done themselves.
" I am, dear Sir Humphry, " John Hodgson."

188 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
Sir H. DAVY to Mr. HODGSON. "June 28, 1816.
" I beg you, my dear Sir, to present my thanks to the Antiquarian
Society of Newcastle for the honour they have done me, and receive
my thanks for the flattering manner in which you have communicated
to me my election. Whatever connects me with your interesting
country is very agreeable to me, and one of the purest pleasures of my
life arises from the circumstances to which you so kindly recur. I am,
dear Sir, &c."
In September Hodgson paid a short visit to Edinburgh accom
panied by a friend from France, apparently a merchant trading
occasionally to Newcastle. Of this visit or its object I have no
other information than what is contained in the following extract
from a letter addressed to his wife at home ; which proves that in
time of need he could lay aside his usual quiet and peaceful de
meanour and stand up for himself.
To Mrs. HODGSON. " Edinburgh, 13 Sept. 181 5.-
" We were just in time for the coach on Monday morning; but
from the avarice of the clerk in taking pay for a greater number than
the coaches are allowed to carry, we found that more had mounted the
top than could be conveyed: the bill was, therefore, produced, and our
names called over, mine and  's not being found, we were ordered
down ; but, as I insisted that I both took the seats and paid for them on
Saturday, whereas others that were on the coach had only been
booked on Sunday, the guard desired me to speak with the ' Master.'
 , it was also agreed, shd go along with me ; but, as we entered
the staircase by the light of the ostler's lanthorn, I heard the coach
begin to move, and, before it got half way along Collingwood Street,
I overtook it, seized the horses by the head, turned the two first around
and would not suffer them to move till the clerk came; he arrived in
about three or four minutes, and then wd have it that I took seats in
the six-o'clock coach, which goes by Coldstream and Kelso to Edin
burgh; but as he had not entered me, even into the bill of that coach,
and he could not deny having received my money, I positively refused
allowing the coach to go off without me; and after near 20 minutes of

CORRESPONDENCE. 189
altercation, I gained my point, and two sailors were ordered off the top.
The passengers in the inside were much pleased with the resistance I
gave, and the few people who were in the street at the time declared
they never heard of so abominable an attempt to defraud and disappoint
any person ; as our trunks and great coats were in the coach when it
set off, and the guard had satisfied himself that we had paid our money
on Saturday, from seeing my name with £3 opposite to it. I was
much pleased with having so successfully gained my point ; as it would
have been a great disappointment not to have proceeded, when we had
set off from home, and a mortification to be bamboozled by the clerk
and guard of a coach."
In the year 1816, I find Mr. Hodgson corresponding with
several literary and antiquarian friends, but unfortunately no copies
of his own letters have been preserved. Mr. Thomas Davidson
writes to him on the subject of certain ancient gold beads, with
respect to which he contributed a paper to the Transactions of the
Newcastle Society. Mr. Wilson, Rector of Wolsingham, writes
to him on Roman Antiquities, Mr. Surtees for local information
to be incorporated in the second volume of his History of Dur
ham, Mr. David Constable on the subject of Bishop Richard
de Bury, and his Philobiblon, &c. &c.

CHAPTER X. 1817—1818.
History of Northumberland — Histories of Northumberland — Correspondence — Mons.
Gallois — Essay on Brass and other Metals — Mr. Surtees's History of Durham —
History of Northumberland abandoned — Resumed — Mr. T. Bewick.
In January 1817 Hodgson was informed by Mr. J. Norris
Brewer, that " The Beauties of England and Wales," to which he
had been a contributor in 1811 and 1812, was completed ; that an
Introduction to be prefixed to the work was preparing by the
writer of the letter, and that, as a few pages would be devoted to
additions and corrections to the preceding volumes, an opportunity
would be presented to him for revising his Views of Northumber
land and Westmerland for that purpose. With this suggestion he
complied, and forwarded to the editor ten pages of additional
matter for his account of Northumberland, leaving Westmerland
to stand as it had been published.
Soon afterwards, in the spring and summer of this year, we find
Mr. Hodgson again engaged in surveying the County of Northum-
land for his own long-projected history. On the 26th of May he
leaves his home, upon an expedition into Westmerland and Cum
berland, to prosecute certain geological inquiries, of which he has
left copious notes; but upon his return, as soon as he crosses the
hills, and enters Northumberland, his Journal is chiefly devoted
to topographical researches, which occupy many pages. There
are in the volume numerous pen-and-ink sketches of Roman re
mains, churches, gravestones, measurements of camps, &c. The
following letter to Mrs. Hodgson was written during another ex
pedition undertaken soon afterwards for the same purposes.
To Mrs. HODGSON.
" My Dear Jane, Blenkinsop House, 6 o'clock Thursday morning, 1817.
" Thank God for this most blessed weather. The hay-harvest here
is going on very expeditiously, and everything looks abundant. I had

HISTORY OF NORTHUMBERLAND. 191
a very wet day in coming from Chesters to this place ; and even on
Sunday it began to rain as I passed Felling brewery, and continued till
I reached Heddon-on-the-Wall. But I have felt no bad effect from the
duckings. The chaise that is to take us to Haltwhistle is in sight.
Col. Coulson and Mr. Adamson go on to Newcastle, and I go up Halt-
whistle-burn, and return homewards by the Roman Wall to Sewing
Shields Castle ; and then by Hexham and the country through Hexham-
shire, Slaley, and Lead-gate to Swalwell ; and hope to see you and the
dear children on- Saturday : but not Newcastle on that day. I have
passed this morning through a shrubbery in the garden here much en
twined with woodbine; and certainly nothing can be more sweet than
the perfume is. With affectionate remembrances to all at the Shore,
and love to thee, and the dear bairns, my dear, I am thine,
" John PIodgson."
From this time, with one slight interruption in his plans in the
following year, this subject, A History of the County of North
umberland, occupied Hodgson's leisure hours during the remainder
of his life ; and to show that such a publication was needed, this
may not be an unsuitable place for a few remarks upon the
histories of the county, if they deserve the name, which had been
previously put forth by other authors.
For the county of Northumberland, before the time of Hodgson,
little had been done in the way of real topographical description.
Grey's Chorographia, published in quarto in 1649, refers chiefly to
the town of Newcastle, the information which it contains respect
ing the county at large being confined to a mere list " of the
Noble and Ancient Families of the North and their Castles."
Horsley's Britannia Romana, published in 1732, is entirely
devoted to subjects of Roman History. Bourne, like Grey, takes
Newcastle for his field, but he has a few interesting notices of
the Baronies in the county which were bound to render guard-
service to the Newcastle. His History of Newcastle was published
in 1736, for the benefit of his widow and children. Horsley in like
manner had not lived to see the fruit of his labours. The next
writer to be mentioned is Warburton, a man who supplies us with
a somewhat early instance of an act of dishonesty which has of
late years been but too common, especially in the North of Eng
land, that of pilfering by wholesale from previous writers without

192 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
due permission, or acknowledgment. Warburton steals from
Horsley in every page, melting down the sterling and stately folios
of the latter into a book of a more commodious size and more
convenient price. But I now come to an author of a differ
ent character.
The Rev. John Wallis, in his History of Northumberland, in
two vols. 4to, takes an extensive field, and his efforts, at a period
when dry detail and soporific dulness bore full sway in topogra
phical publications, prove that its author was no slavish imitator i
but a man of judgment, who had carefully given his mind to his
task, with a view to render it interesting to the general reader, as
well as a vehicle of useful information. The book, moreover, is
written in a good spirit and feeling, leading to the conclusion that
Mr. Wallis was a man of gentlemanly taste and education. The
work is, as I have said, in two volumes, and was published in 1769,
with 230 subscribers, many of whom engaged to purchase more
than one copy. I have in my possession the copy on large paper
which belonged to Mr. Cade of Gainford, copiously illustrated by
its owner, in both volumes, with plates gathered from all quarters
on subjects of Natural History and Antiquities; and it is indeed
a goodly book. The work itself was not accompanied with
embellishments. The first volume is chiefly devoted to Natural
History, and contains twelve chapters on that subject, in its
various departments ; with a thirteenth, comprising a few pleasing
biographical sketches of eminent men connected with the county.
That Wallis was a better naturalist than an antiquary is most
certain. Twenty years of his life had deen devoted to that
captivating pursuit ; and even in the present day, his labours in
the wide and most fertile field of Natural History are well known
and highly appreciated. On this department of his History of
Northumberland he thus modestly writes in his preface : " In such
an enlightened age as this, to send abroad the Natural History and
Antiquities of a county is an arduous work. How well I have
succeeded will be left to the decision of able and competent judges,
possessed of the happy spirit of urbanity and good nature. It is
now upwards of twenty years since I first turned my thoughts to
the study of Natural History; rather for amusement, than for
any design of casting my observations under an historical form

HISTORY OF NORTHUMBERLAND. 193
for public view: rocks and dales, woods, heaths, hills, and
mountains, the shores of rivulets and the ocean, being my
company in the hours of leisure and relaxation ; after leaving that
august and venerable and truly charming and delightful seat of
learning, the University of Oxford; wherein upwards of seven
years of my earliest days were spent." Of the concluding volume
I give a description from a short memoir of Wallis by Hodgson,
his successor in the field of Northumbrian History, in his vol. iii.
pt. ii. p. 70. " The second volume is on the antiquities of the
county, and, considering the scantiness of the printed information
on the subject when the author published, is certainly not only a
copious, but a very correct account. In the history of estates and
families, in particular, its value is great; and, in confirmation of
this assertion, I would refer the reader to the article Belsay, at
page 539." Still, however, excellent though the work be, as far
as it goes, it contains little of general or ecclesiastical detail, no
parochial subdivision, and none of that account of descent, either of
property or family, essential to a good county history. The
volume is arranged in three Journies, descriptive merely of the
more remarkable places, or noticing only the great leading estates ;
some parishes are not even mentioned. It is, as Dr. Cyril Jack
son once said of one of Dr. Whitaker's early topographical publi
cations, a mere "scarifying of the surface;'' an attempt, excellent
as far as it goes, but still only an attempt. Hodgson's admira
tion of the character and works of Wallis was generous and sincere.
I have already alluded to his memoir of him in his own History
of Northumberland, to which I would refer the reader, and 1 may
here give an extract from a letter written by him in 1831, to
another eminent naturalist, the late Mr. Winch of Newcastle, as
it is probable that room may not be found in the. sequel for the
letter itself. Winch was printing his Flora of Northumberland
for the Transactions of the Newcastle Natural History Society, and
he writes to Hodgson for information about Wallis, "for," says
he, " it is a pity that this part at least of the kingdom should
know nothing about so indefatigable a naturalist." Hodgson, in
reply, thus writes. " I venerate the name of Wallis; he was an
amiable-minded highly useful man; and filled his situation in life
with zeal and credit. As an author he was remarkable for
o

194 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
integrity and simplicity. He never borrows a fact without ac
knowledging where he obtained it, nor, with his subject, ever
brings himself into notice." He then proceeds to give a few
particulars of Wallis's life and history, which are more fully
detailed in the memoir alluded to, written at a later period than
the letter ; and also a notice of certain indignities which appear to
have driven Wallis from his curacy. To these Mr. Winch barely
alludes in his printed paper ; and I therefore transcribe from the
memoir one or two paragraphs on the subject, especially as Hodg
son himself comes in as a hearsay witness against such insolent
impertinence.* " On the death of Mr. Wastell (the rector of Simonburn) in 1771,
James Scott, B.D., a polished courtier, a polite man of the world, and a
bold and eloquent preacher, succeeded to the rectory ; which was con
ferred upon him by Lord North, as a reward for his political services.
Wallis, who had for a long time administered nearly the whole of the
duties of the parish, found himself under the command of a proud and
overbearing superior, who had more regard for his spaniels than his
curate These favourites attended their master to the chnrch ; and on
one occasion, when they attempted to accompany him to the pulpit,
Wallis, who occupied the reading desk, was ordered to put them out,
but refused; an act of disobedience for which he was driven from
Simonburn." And now Hodgson himself steps forward to tell us somewhat
more of Dr. Scott, and of what he himself heard from his lips, no
doubt to his infinite disgust. He was at that time making a
survey of the county for its history in the " Beauties of England
and Wales," above spoken of. " What," said Dr. Scott to me, in
an interview I had with him in 1810, ' what occasion is there for
any more histories of Northumberland? My curate, Wallis, wrote
a very large one. He was an old wife; and fond of what he
called the beauties and retirements of the glen on the south side of
the church there :' and then he laughed at his own sagacity and
sneer." If any one will take the trouble to open Wallis's first
volume, and look at p. 50, he will see the curious investigation
which " the old wife " was making " in that glen on the south
* See also above, p. 140.

HISTORY OF NORTHUMBERLAND. 195
side of the church there," and which led to the following result,
to be given in his own words from one of the most interesting
chapters in his book, wholly devoted to an account of this inquiry :
" I was," says he " about two winters, and as many summers, in
seasonable weather, in the midst of very ill health, in digging this
hill and bringing it into the form described ; and did not at first
expect to meet with such irrefragable testimonies of a deluge, and
least of all this valuable sand." But I return to Hodgson. It
would be a sin to withhold his concluding remarks: " Dr. Scott
had a keen insight into human nature : but, if I esteem only such
men as I can make the willing panders of my ambition or my
pleasure, over how many of the wise and the good must I look
with contempt and scorn ! Wallis was too artless and innocent to
become the tool of a haughty and insolent churchman; and, while
he had the authority of the Highest in antiquity for meditation in
the olive grove and the garden, the dene of the church of Simon
burn might well be counted sacred with him. But he was banished
from these favourite haunts ' to seek for shelter ' where he could
find it; and, if his soul afterwards continued armour-proof against
' the stings and arrows.' of human neglect, it was only because
its trust was not on man for support and consolation." It would,
perhaps, be no difficult matter to point out the man whom
Hodgson had in his eye when the latter part of this paragraph was
committed to paper.
The next publication in point of time affecting the History of
Northumberland is that of Hutchinson, which was published in
1778, in two volumes, quarto, illustrated by numerous engravings,
and entitled, "A View of Northumberland, with an Excursion to
the Abbey of Mailross in Scotland." In a short preface, the author
modestly speaks of his book as " a compilation, for such with the
utmost deference I must call it ;" and in truth it is nothing more ;
interspersed here and there with sentimental reflections, and the
other usual and at that time fashionable make-weights of such
undertakings. It, also, like that of Wallis, purports to contain
the result of several rambles or rides in the county, in different
directions, but so as to touch only at the principal towns or localities
within its limits, totally omitting all parochial detail ; and in its
historical parts it relies chiefly upon the authority of Wallis, of

196 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
whose labours much use is made, and little said in the way of
acknowledgment. On Roman subjects connected with the Wall,
and the other remains of that nation in the county, the writer
quotes largely from the works of Horsley and Warburton, and
also the correspondence of Sir John Clerk, Mr. Cay, Mr. Maurice
Johnson, Dr. Stukeley, Mr. Patten, Dr. Hunter, Mr. Place, and
others, then in MS., and afterwards published, with the title
" Reliquiae Galeanse," in the Bibliotheca Topographica Britannica
by Gough. Many neat etchings by Bailey from drawings by him
self add considerable interest and value to the book, as in archi
tectural detail the sketches of that gentleman may be relied upon
for their accuracy; and since his time many of the buildings of
which he has given a representation, have either altogether
disappeared, or have been so tampered with as no longer to give
any correct idea of their original state or condition. About this
time Mr. George Allan of the Grange, near Darlington, printed
at his private press, Randall's " State of the Churches within the
Archdeaconry of Northumberland," containing a list of their
respective incumbents from the earliest recorded period; with
occasional notes purely of an ecclesiastical nature; and not
unfrequently this valuable, and now rare tract, is found bound up
with Hutchinson's " View," enhancing its value on account of the
additional and correct information which it contains, on subjects
of which the book itself affords no particulars.*
Up to Hodgson's time, therefore, there was, strictly speaking,
no History of Northumberland worthy of the name; nothing of
its " Origines," no account of its British or Saxon owners or their
works, no general detail of descent of property or blood, no
parochial description, and the records of the stirring and romantic
transactions belonging to its history as a border county, or to its
own internal feuds, — the inhabitants of one dale waging deadly
war against those of another more frequently than living in peace
and concord, — were sleeping under a covering of dust in the
* It is perhaps hardly necessary to add to the above enumeration, Brand's " New
castle," a lumbering book in two thick quarto volumes of the same nature as Grey
and Bourne above mentioned, into which its author seems to have emptied the gatherings
of a long-continued common-place book, without much selection or condensation. The
book contains few notices of Northumberland at large.

HISTORY OF NORTHUMBERLAND. . 197
public or private repositories of the kingdom. But, in addition to
all this, there was that mighty belt of stone the Roman Wall
demanding a new historian. Horsley's " Britannia Romana " was
an admirable performance at the time it was given to the world
(1732), and no one was more ready than Hodgson at all times to
own its merit, and do ample justice to the judicious labours of its
author ; but nearly a hundred years had elapsed since its publica
tion, and many most important discoveries, historical and mytho
logical, had been made ; the earth had in the course of the century
disclosed many secrets previously concealed in its bosom; old
theories, respecting the original projector and finisher of the
barrier and its accompaniments, were beginning to be questioned,
and Hodgson, from long previous study and repeated personal
investigations, felt himself equal to the task, not merely of revising
Horsley, but of undertaking and completing such an original
history of the Barrier, as might set all doubt as to its builder at
rest for ever. To anticipate, in some measure, the substance of
any subsequent remarks upon this subject to be advanced in a
future page, one observation may here be made, that, whatever of
his plan for a history of Northumberland Hodgson was compelled
by want of encouragement or death to leave unfinished, his
History of the Roman Wall is perfect; the result of not fewer
than thirty years of anxious thought and painful investigation ;
completed, it may be, in declining health, but in the full vigour
of his intellect, and having enjoyed, as could be proved, in every
line the benefit of his own revising and correcting hand. In this
work coadjutor he had none, and posterity will do justice to his
labour. To Moss. DE GALLOIS*
" My DEAE SlE, High Heworth, 2nd of March, 1818.
"Last Thursday was to myself and my wife a day of great
rejoicing and pleasure, inasmuch as it brought to High Heworth tidings
of one whose stay with us we shall always remember with the most
* This gentleman, who was a Frenchman , was introduced to Hodgson by Dr. Yel-
loley in 1816, and lived for a short time under his roof at Heworth whilst in a state of
ill health. The following extract from Hodgson's Journal terminates the unhappy

198 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
lively satisfaction ; and for whom we shall always cherish the warmest
affection and esteem. There could be no necessity for the apologies you
make for being so long in writing, for I can well understand how you
have been every day occupied since you left us ; and I am myself a
most dilatory correspondent. While you were in London I once or
twice heard of your being seen by friends of mine ; once by Mr. Losh,
and at Paris by Mr. Lamb. After your long absence I heartily con
gratulate you and Madame. Gallois on your reunion ; and my wife desires
to join me in the most kind and respectful expressions of friendship and
regard both to yourself and to her for whom you so often shewed such
symptoms of deep affection and interest while you were with us. I
shall always remember your sighings for your home and your family
during your hours of indisposition. Should your son ever visit this part
of the world, I trust you will be able to prevail with him to spend the
time requisite to see Newcastle and its neighbourhood with me. It
always gave me pain that there should be any necessity for pecuniary
considerations between myself and you; but in the manner we were
first introduced to each other it could not perhaps be otherwise. With
your son, if ever I shall have the happiness to see him, it must not be
so. My house must be his home during his stay with me ; and the
longer he can make his visit the more welcome it will be both to my
wife and myself. The book which you so kindly offer me I shall receive
as a token of friendship and regard; and preserve it as a memento of
one whom it is almost more than probable I shall never again have the
happiness to see. My literary friends are all rejoiced to hear that you
have it in contemplation to publish an account of your observations in
England. " On inquiry at Mr. Losh's office, I find that a ship will leave this port
for Rouen to-morrow. I shall therefore take the opportunity of it to
send you the publication the value of which you much overrate by
requesting a copy of it.* My essay wants many apologies. It has
many errors in it; some of them blunders of my own; others originating
in the carelessness of my associates. The last correction of the press
was committed to the care of my fellow-secretary, who is a lawyer ; and
history of his friend : " 1833, 11 May. Mr. Buddie told me yesterday that he was
informed that my good friend De Gallois got so fretted by misfortunes and the hard
temper of his wife that he threw himself from a window, and was killed by the fall.
He used to say of her, shaking his head, ' Oh ! my wife is unamiable of temper.'"
* Hodgson's Essay on the Uses of Brass and Iron; communicated to the Society of
Antiquaries of Newcastle, and published in their Transactions.

M. DE GALLOIS. 199
in the hurry of business not over attentive to literal accuracy : but I
have made the material corrections with a pen. This essay was not in
tended as a general history of the knowledge and use of Brass and Iron
amongst the ancients, but merely, what it pretends to be, an inquiry
into the ajra when brass was used in arms and edge-tools, and con
sequently when such use gave way to iron.  1 shall, as soon as the
weather grows warm, have an opportunity of sending you a letter in a
parcel which, at Mr. Losh's request, I am making up forM. Broigniart,
and which will consist of a series of the organic remains found in the
strata of this neighbourhood. My sister, to whom you so kindly beg
to be remembered, has been for some time in Cumberland. My wife
and children request their kindest love to M. Gallois, and we beg to
unite with you our most sincere good wishes and regard to Madame
Gallois. May the kindness of Heaven ever watch over you. Yours
always, " John Hodgson."
The Essay to which allusion is made in the above letter is
doubtless " An Enquiry," by Mr. Hodgson, " into the iEra when
Brass was used in purposes to which Iron is now applied," com
municated to the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle, and printed
in the first volume of their Transactions, p. 17. When it is stated
that this essay extends over upwards of eighty closely printed
quarto pages, and affords references to almost every author, sacred
and profane, by whom the various metals, from gold downwards,
are mentioned, it will readily be imagined that it manifests a wide
extent of reading, and contains much minute and curious infor
mation on the subjects upon which it professes to treat. The
" conclusions" respecting iron, bronze, brass, &c. at the end of the
paper, abound with interest.
I make the following extract from the opening of the Essay, to
indicate the object which Hodgson had in view.
" Having stated in a conversation at the meeting at which the brazen
sword from Ewart Park was presented to the Society (Feb. 18, 1815,)
my opinion that arms of that kind were not in use among the Romans
for a long time prior to the occupation of Britain by that people; I now,
in compliance with the wish of some of the members of this body, en
deavour not only to substantiate that opinion, but to shew from Hebrew,
Greek, and Roman testimony, the eras in which brass was used in war
like instruments by these and some other nations of antiquity, and to

200 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
draw some such general conclusions respecting the introduction of
brazen arms into this country, as are deducible from the intercourse,
generally allowed to exist, between the Britons and the people inhabiting
the islands and borders of the Mediterranean Sea, prior to the Roman
invasion." From ROBERT SURTEES, Esq.
" DEAE SlE Mainsforth, April 10, 1818.
" I shall feel much indebted to you if you will take the trouble
to run over my manuscript sketch of Jarrow, &c, and will have the ¦
goodness to prevent my falling into any gross mistake or local blunder.
You will believe me I am far from wishing to trespass on your private
province, or anticipate any select materials for your proposed history.
I only wish to give a fair general account of the place, its present
appearance, and the descent of property. If any of the documents, &c.
referred to in my MS. can be of use to you, I shall be happy to send
you fuller references or extracts: I mean chiefly those from the
Treasury ; and I shall be in Durham soon for some time. I have thrown
together a few queries on the other page ; your answers to which will
fill some lamentable blanks. Scribble where and as you like, on the
MS. or opposite to it; just as may give you the least trouble. Yours
very truly, " R. Suetees."
"Jarrow. Perpetual Curacy. What does the endowment consist of ?
any glebe? Did you not tell me of an odd freehold, which does not
touch the ground, consisting only of an upper story?
" Heworth Chapelry. Is it under Jarrow, or joined to it — a separate
presentation — or how?
" There is a vague old story that all the people in Simonside died of
the plague in the time of Elizabeth; and that four neighbouring
townships, I forget which, seized on the deserted lands and divided them.
" Would you wish any thing to be said in my publication as to the
collieries at Felling, the fatal explosion, &c, or will you keep the subject
whole as Monarch of the Mines? in which case I will only refer to your
future account.
" I have made great use in Gateshead, &c. of your good guide to
Newcastle. I know the second edition is yours, or chiefly yours ; but I
feel delicate whether in quoting it I may say so, or whether you chuse
to keep on your mask and be Mr. Anonymous. Direct me herein.
(Many other queries.)

MR. SURTEES. 201
" If you could find time, you could not do better than come over when
I am in Durham, and I shall be glad to give you my labour. I can give
you meat and drink, but being only in lodgings have no bed to offer you-
I send you the gold Galba found in a potato field at Chester-le- Street
two years ago, as you perhaps never saw it. Be so good as return it in
the parcel to Mainsforth or Durham. It is said other Roman coins have
been found in Chester, but I never saw any of them."
From ROBERT SURTEES, Esq.
' "DEAE SlE, Monday, April 13, 1818.
"I am ashamed to trouble you so soon again, but the hurry I
was in to send off the parcel on Friday night (which I trust you
received) drove several things out of my head.
" Coin of Egfrith.* What were they doing when it was found?
How many coins were there ? Who have any of them now ? Did you
not tell me something more about the earthen vessel than is printed?
Is the print in Archseol. 2E1. accurate? I observe in Ruding's plates
the reverse is represented — the cross within palmated branches rather
than rays, if rays they be ; and the epigraph is a little different. Do
you really think it is Lux ? Harold's coins have certainly Pax.
" May we say that High Heworth, or Whitehouses, or both, have an
extensive prospect over part of the vale of Tyne and over the heights
beyond Newcastle ?
" The Bell — what is its history? Can you make anything of the
inscription ? Was it brought from Gateshead? for I see an entry
there of the folks giving the litell bell to Mr. Ellison for Heworth Chapel
about 1702. I have the entry from the Churchwarden's books.
" Dawes. Is the inscription correct? Will you forgive this scrawl?
I am in a vortex of papers, &c. which I have forgot the way through in
my long peregrinations. Yours very truly, " R. Suetees."
Various other letters from Mr. Surtees, about this period, prove
that Hodgson rendered him much service in his second volume of
the History of Durham.
I now arrive at a letter from Hodgson to Sir J. E. Swinburne,
which proves that his resolution to write a History of Northum-
* See above, p. 166.

202 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
berland was beginning to give way, for various cogent reasons
which are set forth in his communication. Singularly enough, I
have no recollection whatever of the arrangement proposed as an
alternative; in which, as it is stated, I was to have taken a part;
nor do I remember my holding any conversation with Mr. Surtees
on the subject: in all probability the plan had been mentioned to
us, as the next best thing to be done in the event of an abandonment
of the History itself; but it was quite a surprise to me to find, in
compiling this memoir, that the subject had gone so far in
Hodgson's mind. At all events the scheme was no sooner formed
than laid aside ; and the History proceeded, as we shall see, with
out further interruption. In truth, he began to print his first
volume towards the end of the year.
To Sir J. E. SWINBURNE, Bart.
" DEAE SlE JOHN, High Heworth, near Gateshead, April 21, 1818.
" I am at last, and with great reluctance, compelled to relinquish
my design of writing a History of the County of Northumberland. To
finish such an undertaking, in a creditable manner, would take me one
year's constant residence in Durham, and another in London; and many
years of unremitting labour in the county, besides an expense in
travelling, &c. &c, which no county history can ever repay.
"I am, however, unwilling that the labours I have already bestowed
upon this interesting county should be entirely thrown away ; and have
therefore, in conjunction with Mr. Surtees of Mainsforth, the Rev. Mr.
Raine of Durham, and Sir C. Sharp, arranged a plan of giving to the
public, at a reasonable rate, a vast mass of important records respecting
Northumberland, &c.
" Our plan is to print, at Newcastle, ' A Quarterly Journal of Records,
&c, respecting Northumberland and the other Northern Counties.1 We
propose that the book should, in type and paper, be as near a resem
blance as possible to ' The Journal of Science and the Arts,' edited at the
Royal Institution," and the same in size.
" At first the Transactions of the Antiquarian Society presented itself
as a proper vehicle for bringing out our plan ; but, upon mature con
sideration, we find the funds of that body totally inadequate to meet
such a design; and we hope that when they are again recruited our
labours will not be found to interfere with its objects.

HISTORY OF NORTHUMBERLAND ABANDONED. 203
"Besides our own private collections of materials for our intended
work, the Treasury of the Dean and Chapter of Durham abounds in the
most curious and important documents — many of them coeval with the
foundation of the Priory there; and regular books of all their expenses,
correspondence, &c. of the Priors, till the Dissolution, and of the Dean
and Chapter since. The Bishop's Library at Durham has lately been
enriched by the addition of about seventy volumes of MSS., called the
Mickleton Collection. One of them is wholly in the handwriting of one
of your ancestors, Sir Thomas Swinburne, temp. Car. I. ; and consists
chiefly of matters relative to his office of Sheriff of Northumberland.
" The Records, too, which you have for so long a time entrusted to
my care, are a most abundant mine of historical matter. The miscel
laneous ones, if arranged in chronological series, and those similarly
arranged which relate to distinct properties, would form excellent
papers for our Journal, and be of the greatest use to a future historian
of Northumberland. For in our work records can be printed more at
length, and in greater numbers, than in county histories; which usually
throw such documents into notes and appendixes.
" The greater part indeed of your records — the most curious of them
at full length, .and the less important with the omission of all the
formal parts — are nearly ready for the press; and one volume of
miscellaneous charters is arranged and ready to be sent to Capheaton.
" I write this under the pressure of great pain from a severe affliction
in my face ; and am fearful that I have not made myself sufficiently
intelligible. Before the commencement of our editorial labours, both
Mr. Surtees and myself have been anxious to subject our plan to your
approbation, before we mention it to any other gentleman. Should we be
fortunate enough to obtain your patronage and countenance, we shall next
apply to the Bishop of Durham for leave to print out of the Mickleton
collection, which leave we have no doubt of obtaining, as the collection
is already open to us for the History of Durham," &c. (From a copy.)
From Sir J. B. SWINBURNE, Bart.
" MY DEAR SlE, 18, Grosvenor Place, April 27, 1818.
" I have had the pleasure of receiving your note from Mr. Elli
son. I cannot but regret much the abandonment of your intended.
History of Northumberland, a work that you were so well qualified to
execute, and one so much wanted; but your reasons are certainly very

204 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
urgent, and, under the circumstances you state, it would not be prudent
for you to embark in the undertaking. I hope before this reaches you
you will be entirely recovered from your indisposition. A great many
people are ill here. As to the Journal you propose establishing, I really
think it would be both useful and entertaining, particularly to those who
take pleasure in such pursuits, and your two coadjutors Mr. Raine and
Sir C. Sharp will afford you powerful assistance. I will make due
inquiries at the Royal Institution as to the mode of conducting, editing,
and expense attending their Journal. I only beg to suggest the pro
priety of ascertaining, before you start, the probable sale of the work,
(you don't mention whether by subscription, and if so to what amount,)
that you may have some certain grounds to proceed upon — that you
may not find yourself engaged in an expensive undertaking without a
fair prospect of remuneration. I can only say that I shall be very
happy to afford you what assistance is in my power, either by sub
scription, or the necessary papers or records I may possess. When I
return to the North I will send for the original charters you have already
. arranged and have done with. I believe there are many more at Cap
heaton that might be useful, besides those you already have in your
custody. I wish you would find time, or your friend Mr. Raine, to
come and rummage them sometime next summer. We should be most
happy to see you. Wishing you health and success, believe me, ever
very sincerely yours, " John E. Swinbuhne."
To Sir J. E. SWINBURNE, Bart.
" Deae Sir John, Newcastle, 27 June, 1818.
" The near prospect I now have of printing a great part of your
papers has made me very industrious in copying them. I have, there
fore, to request that you will permit me to keep them a little longer, that
I may have the opportunity of collating the proof sheets with the
originals. A great many of the miscellaneous papers relate to the Great
Rebellion, the Sheriffalty of Sir Thomas Swinburne in the 3rd and 4th
of Car. I., and other public matters from the time of Hen. VII. to that
of James II. These I intend to have printed in masses according to
date; and after they are printed to get the originals bound in one
volume with references to the printed copy.
" There are also a large collection of muniments respecting various

HISTORY OF NORTHUMBERLAND ABANDONED. 205
manors and estates, which were formerly the property of your family.
These I have also arranged according to date, and nearly finished the
first volume, which reaches through the thirteenth and fourteenth cen
turies ; and I intend to print them in a series of papers under some
such title as this : ' Miscellaneous Records in the possession of Sir J.
E. S. Bt., &c. illustrative of the History of various places in Northum
berland in the thirteenth century.'
" The deeds which belong to estates at present in your possession I
think will be best preserved in regular binding, for they all have
sufficient room in the margin for stitching. When they are merely
mounted on paper, as I have done the first volume, many of the
parchments with seals are too heavy for the paper, and twist the leaves
aside as they are opened. Edhngham would make a volume; Heugh
and Stamfordham another ; Chollerton, the Faunes, and Capheaton would
bind together: and there is a bundle of parchments respecting the
Strother and other families, which would class together with much pro
priety. Mr. Surtees approves much of this method of preserving origi
nal records, and is intending to get the Croxdale ones done so.
" We have changed our plan of printing, intending now that the book
shall be of the quarto size, and come out in quarter volumes at 7s. 6d.
each. The doomsday or abbreviated types, proper for printing old
deeds, &c. are at present casting for our use by Mr. Figgins in London,
and I expect their arrival at Mr. Walker's office in a fortnight or three
weeks; after which time I shall proceed regularly with the materials at
present before me.
" I had some inquiries to make respecting Collins's Baronetage, and
the pedigree of your family which was prepared for that work, but the
subjects have slipt out of my memory. Believe me, dear Sir John, to
be most respectfully your obliged and obedient servant, " John Hodgson."

From Sir J. E. SWINBURNE, Bart.
" Mr DEAE SlE, Capheaton, July 1, 1818.
" You are perfectly welcome to keep my papers for the purpose
you mention Would it not perhaps be well, if you can spare time to
come over here (where you know at all times you will be heartily
welcome), to take a look into my boxes? as I have many many papers
you have not examined — a number of papers and letters during the

206 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
Great Rebellion, sequestrations, &c. are among them. Perhaps some
thing might be useful to you out of the mass. But if you cannot come,
and will direct my searches to any particular object or period, I will do
it carefully, and send you the result as soon as possible. I think your
plan for the arrangement and binding extremely good, but I fear you
have had a world of trouble. Pray give me notice as soon as the pub
lication is ready to come out. Collins's Baronetage is not correct as to
our family. I have the family pedigree from the Heralds' Office, and a
number of papers relating to it, but they are not in the order they
should be. At any time you wish to see them you are very welcome.
I have likewise a good many emblazoned arms of a number of Northum
berland families, many of which are now extinct, and others have
altered their arms. I mean in future to quarter the ancient arms of the
Swinburnes along with the modern coat.  With every good wish to
yourself and family, in which Lady Swinburne begs to join, believe me,
ever very sincerely yours, " John E. Swinbdene."
To Mr. T. BEWICK, Newcastle.*
"Deae Sir, High Heworth, Nov. 13, 1818.
" When you see Mr. Adamson respecting his subscription copies
of your iEsop's Fables, I will thank you to say that I had rather keep the
one I have than exchange it for a large-paper copy ; as I have the Birds
and Beasts of the same size.
" At length I have seen Mr. Landseer's Essay on the Babylonian
Gems. He is very right with respect to their use, and his interpreta
tion of Job xxxviii. 14. is, I think, very natural and ingenious. Their
being intaglios shews that they were intended for sealing with; and
clay instead of wax has been commonly used in the East both by the
ancients and the moderns.
" The original of Job xxxviii. 14, literally translated, is, "it turneth
itself as the clay of the seal," i.e. it is plastic, as sealing clay — as it
goeth round it mouldeth all things into shape and beauty. The Hebrew
word homer, which is translated clay, also means asphalt, or perhaps any
substance used as mortar or for sealing with. The Mother of Moses
' bituminated ' the wicker cradle in which she laid her son ' with
bitumen and pitch.' * The eminent engraver on wood.

MR. T. BEWICK. 207
" The expression ' He sealeth up the stars,' Job ix. 7, is in the
original, ' above,' or ' behind the stars He sealeth.' ' He commandeth
the sun, and it riseth not,' i.e. lie causeth night to come on. Again
1 He sealeth up the stars.' He causeth them not to be seen, by the
superior brightness of the light of the sun. Light is here described as
the seal with which the Almighty shuts up the stars from our sight. In
another place it is beautifully called the ' Garment of the Lord.' ' Thou
deckest thyself with light as with a garment.' Ps. 104.
" Does Mr. Landseer think that there is any parity of signification
between these two texts; and that the latter as well as the first derives
a part of the justness of its metaphor from the similarity between the
rotatory motion apparent in the stars, and in the morning, and the man
ner of sealing with cylindrical gems?
" It is now so long since you shewed me Mr. Landseer's letter that I
have quite forgot the nature of his request. I have however thrown the
preceding observations very hastily together, more with a view of show
ing that I should be glad of corresponding with him on antiquarian
subjects than from any notion that they have not already occurred to
him. Believe me, dear Sir, to be most truly yours, " John Hodgson."

CHAPTER XL— 1819.
The Mickleton MSS.— First Visit to London — Letters to Mrs. Hodgson.
Mr. Hodgson is again intently occupied in compiling materials
for his History of Northumberland; the plan for the publication
of his previous collections, as communicated to Sir J. E. Swin
burne in the preceding year, having been abandoned.
" From ROBERT SURTEES, Esq.
"Deae Sir, Jan, 10, 1819.
" Conceive yourself at perfect liberty to make what use you wish
of the Mickleton MSS. I obtained the Bishop's leave in so ample
and general a way as to leave no doubt of your present purpose being
within its scope.
" I am right glad that you once more dare look Northumberland, with
all her lands and towers, boldly in the face. I am not aware that the
Mickleton MSS. contain much exclusively belonging to Northumberland,
but I have hundreds of scattered particles, which may all re-unite
in your MSS., and which I shall pour in from time to time, as you
demand them. I write a line in haste to set you at rest as to the
Mickleton MSS. Believe me yours ever sincerely, " R. Surtees.
" For your Gateshead corrections I was much indebted; and they were
all, I think, adopted. Willis* has been a good communicator. Tell
me what you want, and Raine and I will always search at Durham
for you."
In the month of April, 1819, Mr. Hodgson paid his first visit
to London. f In undertaking this journey he had several objects in
* A solicitor at Gateshead, and a gentleman with a strong turn for historical inquiry.
He has been mentioned above, p. 54, as having been instrumental in obtaining for
Mr. Hodgson the benefice of Jarrow with Heworth.
f On this occasion Mr. Surtees furnished him with many introductions to his literary
friends, the public offices, &c. See Memoir of Surtees, Surtees Society, p. 386.

VISIT TO LONDON. 209
view, such as a contemplated new chapel at Heworth, for
which he was anxious to raise the necessary funds, the visiting
his relations, by his mother's side, at Bromley, &c. but his
chief purpose was to collect from the British Museum and
the Public ' Record Offices materials for his History, in which
he was now again proceeding in real earnest. Happily the letters
which he wrote to his wife during this his first long absence
from home are preserved; and they are of such a character
as to call for a place in a memoir of their writer. He is now,
it must be remembered, a husband and a father; and we shall
see how deeply he remembers those obligations, and with
what affectionate simplicity he details his proceedings from day to
day for the information and amusement of his wife and children.
One single extract may suffice to shew the amiable object which
he had in view in writing these letters. He thus addresses his
wife when he had been little more than a week in London. The
words will present themselves again to the reader in their proper
place : " I havehad six hours' work in the Museum, and am getting
fast forward, but with work which will not afford much material
for writing to you. I shall, however, continue to give you a little
diurnal of observations, if for no other purpose, for the sake of
sending my thoughts and my heart to thee, my dear, and to our
dear children."
Mrs. Hodgson had seldom, we believe, travelled out of her
native valley, even before her marriage ; and now she has numerous
ties of a tender and care-engrossing nature to keep her more than
ever at home. The sluggish and coal-stained Tyne, with Gates
head and Newcastle, and their united smoke, were the principal
sights with which she had been familiar from her girlhood ; and
trees and hedge-rows in healthy, uncontaminated leaf, were objects
of which her children had, at that time, a very imperfect concep
tion. The blighting effects of coal-mines and manufactory
chimneys were visible on all sides of their residence ; and not for
,a considerable period after the date of these letters, as we were
once informed by Hodgson himself, had his children seen an
acorn. Under such circumstances as these, how welcome to the
mother, and instructive to her children, would be the description
p

210 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
of London, and its palaces, and parks, and habits, in such familiar
and affectionate letters as these ; so written as to engage the atten
tion of the latter in particular, and make a pleasing and whole
some impression on their memory. The Letters, it will be observed,
consist of a series of daily memoranda, sent home from time to time
as a frank could be procured ; and although there may be in them
much which to the general reader, or to one well acquainted with
the metropolis, may perhaps appear too minute and trifling, yet,
when we remember to whom they were addressed, what pleasing
purposes they were intended to serve, and, above all, perhaps,
how illustrative they are of the kind and thoughtful heart of their
writer, indicating in almost every line some leading feature or
other in his own amiable character or habits of reflection, they
must not be passed over in silence. That they were never in
tended to be submitted to public eyes is most certain ; and there
fore they are the more valuable for our purpose.
" My DEAE Jane, Saracen's Head, Snowhill, 23rd April, 1819.
" I have dined here and had a walk out since I arrived. Our
journey was exceedingly pleasant till I parted with the Atkinsons * at
Stamford yesterday evening. After that we had nothing but delays,
and I could sleep none all night. Wednesday continued fair till we got
to Thirsk, when it began to rain, which, with intervals of snow, dark
ened our prospect till we reached York at 6 in the evening : at 7 we left
York, and at half-past 11 reached Stamford [?] : at 4 today I got here.
" After dining I walked to the head of Holborn, and back to Snow-
hill: from thence to the Horse Market in Smithfield. Saw St. Bartho
lomew and Christ Church Hospitals, and the outside of St. Paul's.
This is the extent of my peregrinations. I have written to my ' tidy
fitting taylor,' and expect him every moment to be ushered into my
presence. " April 24. I went soon to bed last night. I have had a long and
excellent rest. To-day I feel quite refreshed and in high spirits, and
though I have been walking from eight to the present hour, half-past
four, I do not feel the least fatigue. I will just give you a sketch of my
first ramble in London. Imprimis: there has been a heavy soaking
* The Atkinsons were his neighbours at Carr-hill, a. family with which he was
long and familiarly acquainted.

LONDON — LETTERS TO MRS. HODGSON. 211
drizzle almost all day. It would have been only a Scotch mist in
Northumberland. From Snow-hill I wandered to the Fleet Market,
and continued sauntering there for a quarter of an hour. The Fleet
Prison is there, and you see " rakes and ruined lords" at loophole
grates, not weeping, but begging, either by proxy or personally. I
traversed Fleet Street next, through Temple Bar, into the Strand, and
visited Rawes's * shop in Surrey- street, sometime famous as the '' cock
loft" of wits and authors. A little beyond it is Somerset House, a mag
nificent pile of building of Portland stone, the mouldings and all the
carved work of which perishes fast. Waterloo Bridge crosses the
Thames just above Somerset-place, a plain and simple but grand and
massive structure of Cornish and Scotch granite, a kind of stone
which, in the ordinary acceptation of language, has been considered
everlasting. That of Scotland may certainly be entitled to the appel
lation ; but all the Cornish granite that I have seen has lost the living
lustre of that of Scotland, and is in my opinion, wherever it is exposed
to the weather, in a continual state of decay. After being both above
and below its arches, walking along it and viewing its panelled battle
ments, its graceful strings, and solid piers, in all their various and ever-
pleasing points of view, I saw the bald and dusky front of Northumber
land House ; the equestrian statue of Charles the First, at Charing Cross;
Colnaghi's print-shop in Cockspur Street; reconnoitred Mr. Ellison's!
house in Pall-Mall (preparatory to a call). I got into Piccadilly;
after traversing the west-end of which I went through the Arcades into
Vigo Lane, down Old Bond Street, into the eastern part of Piccadilly, and
back again through the Haymarket to Charing Cross ; thence to White
hall ; Westminster Hall ; the House of Commons ; and Westminster Abbey,
where I had a peep at the Poets' Corner. On my return from which
place, while I was staring at the interior of the Square of Somerset
Place, I met with Mr. George Hawks \. He took me into some of the
public offices, and after keeping me nearly an hour we had a hackney
coach, intending to drive to their office in Upper Thames Street: but
we stopped short at St. Paul's, and after seeing the monuments there,
I declined proceeding further on account of the wetness of the day. My
dinner and porter have cost me 14gd. to-day in the Old Bailey.
* Mr. Rawes, who will be mentioned hereafter, was a Westmerland cousin.
f Cuthbert Ellison, Esq. of Hebburn Hall, in his parish at home; the gentleman by
whom he had been presented to the living of Jarrow with Heworth, in 1808.
J Brother of Sir Robert Hawks of Gateshead, of the firm of Hawks and Co. Iron
Founders, upon an extensive scale, at that place.
p 2

212 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
" Mr. Hawks has pressed me very much to dine with him to-morrow
on Blackheath. His brother Sir Robert and family are on a visit there:
but I intend to call on Mr. Ellison in the morning and to spend the day
at the Churches. On Monday I shall look out for lodgings, somewhere
about Bloomsbury Square, which is near the British Museum. Mr.
Rawes cannot inform me where Robert lodges.* Sir Robert Hawks has
left a very kind letter in my absence from the Inn.
" What a wretched place St. James' Palace is 1 I was in the court
while the guard was relieving. The Keelmen's Hospital in Newcastle
is as good a looking building. Carlton House, the residence of the
Prince Regent, is a little better than St. James'. Mr. Ellison's house is
between them.
" April 25. This morning after breakfast I called on Mr. Ellison at
No. 85 Pall Mall, where I am to dine tomorrow at seven. I was at service
at St, Mary's in the Strand. At one I set off from the Saracen's Head
on foot for Blackheath. Two miles down the Surrey road at the Brick
layers' Arms, I got a coach to the Lime Kiln at Greenwich, near the
foot of Blackheath, from which place I trudged to Grote's Buildings. I
dined there with Mr. George Hawks, Sir Robert and my lady, and
David and Wm. Hawks, being there. At nine in the evening Sir
Robert walked with me across the Heath to the coach office in Green
wich. In our way we passed the site of the house (for all traces of the
house itself have been razed) in which our celebrated Princess of Wales so
long entertained her favourites. I adore the feeling that destroyed that
place of revels. A little east of this infamous spot is the house of the
Princess Sophia, Ranger of Greenwich Park. From Greenwich I was
set down in a part of the City in which I had not been, in Grace-
church Street, but found my way very well past the Royal Exchange,
the Mansion House, Bank, &c, to Snow Hill, where I arrived at half
past ten, and after having a glass of good milk am going to bed. So
ends this day's ramble. Mr. George Bramwell came to tea at Mr.
George Hawks', and I had conversations with him about rebuilding the
chapel, which led me to expect that I shall get an early, though I
cannot say a favourable, answer to our petition respecting it.
" 26th. I hope to get lodgings to-day.
"Lest I shall not have an opportunity of writing more till I get a frank
for this uninteresting scrawl, let me not omit to express my anxiety for
* Robert Hodgson, a. younger brother of the writer of the letter, at that time
engaged in the bookbinding business in London. He was in 1819 about twenty-two
years of age.

LONDON — LETTERS TO MRS. HODGSON. 213
your father, who, I sincerely hope, has not ventured out since I came
away, if the weather has been so damp and cold with you as it has
been here.
" The weather has improved since twelve yesterday, and we have
now a blithe and sunny morning. The apple-trees on Blackheath are
just beginning to burst into blossom ; but the spring not a week earlier
than it was when I left Heworth. This country is so much wooded ?
especially in and about villas and gentlemen's seats, that it has a degree
of richness of scenery which the bare plains of the seacoast of Durham
and Northumberland cannot boast of. But the produce on our lands is
as forward and luxuriant as any thing here. The cabbages in Covent
Garden Market are nothing but four green leaves.
" Give, my dear Jane, my most affectionate remembrances to your
father, mother ,.and sisters. I hope Richard* and Bessy are very dutiful
and diligent in their books, and say their prayers very regularly every
night and morning, and that Jane and San are well and full of frolic
and play. Pray take care of yourself! Write to me soon. God bless
you all! Thine, " John Hodgson."
" If you write to me under frank, it must be under a cover addressed
to C. Ellison, Esq., M.P., 85, Pall Mall, London. Or perhaps it will be
better, as I have not asked his permission to do so, to direct to J. II.,
Sir Robert Hawks, 2, Southampton Row, Bloomsbury, London.

"2, Southampton Row, Bloomsbury, 26th April, 1819.
" My Deae Jane,
" In a letter which you would receive on the 29th instant, I
gave you a sort of narrative of the manner I have spent my time since I
saw Hio-h Heworth. This morning I met Sir Robert Hawks, by
appointment, in Duxfbrt, otherwise Ducksfoot lane, near London Bridge,
for the purpose of availing myself of his kind assistance in getting me
lodgings. We accordingly got my luggage and ourselves taken up on
the Snow-hill, and drove to the place where I am writing from. I
understood him he had got me a place that would suit me, and certainly
nobody can be better or more cheaply lodged : for I have a bed, the use
of his house, and the command of his servants entirely to myself, Sir
Robert and his family being all upon a visit on Blackheath. On their
* Richard, aged seven, Elizabeth Hilda eight, Jane Bridget three, Susannah two.

214 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
return, I am promised I may have the liberty of seeking out a place in
this neighbourhood myself.
" It would be impossible to describe to you a thousandth part of what
I see every hour. Early in the morning I was struck with the extent
and elegance of the New Custom House. A little church somewhere
about Cannon Street, and called St. Stephen's Walbrook, I thought
exceedingly handsome — it is on the model of St. Peter's in Rome-
After I settled in this neighbourhood I went to the British Museum, of
which I could get only a cursory view. But there was one place where
I am sure you would have been delighted to have spent a day, with the
bairns in your hand and 501. in your pocket — I mean the Bazaar, a sort
of Turkish market, which occupied several rooms on two stories; in
which articles of almost every description and of the greatest elegance
are exposed to sale, women's apparel and toys especially. There are
two markets of this description in the west end of the town, one in
Bond Street, the other (which is the larger and most elegant) in Soho
Square. " After seeing this place I went with Sir Robert towards Charing
Cross, where we parted, he for Blackheath, and I for Southampton Row:
but instead of passing wholly up Drury Lane to Southampton Row, I
attempted to slant off to the bottom of King's Street in High Holborn,
and got myself nearly lost in the intricate streets of the neighbourhood
of St. Giles', where, for the first time since I left home, I was forced to
ask my way.
" At seven o'clock I went to dinner at Mr. Ellison's, where I met Mr.
John Ibbotson from Yorkshire, and Mr. and Mrs. Morrice. Mr.
Ellison's house being nearly a mile and a half from this place, I thought
it imprudent to risk myself among the ruffians that fill many of the
streets of London in the night, and therefore I got an eighteen penny
ride in a hackney coach.
" Tuesday, 27th April. This morning I called upon Sir J. Swinburne
in Grosvenor Place, Hyde Park Corner, and expect letters from him to
morrow of introduction to persons who can gain me admission to the
objects I am in search of. I did not tell you yesterday that I had an
interview with Mr. Jenner, a proctor in Doctors' Commons, and Secre
tary to the Commissioners under the Act for building additional
churches. I have little hope they can do anything for us, but Mr.
Jenner recommends me to call upon the Bishop of Durham, and get him
to send an answer to the Commissioners' letter. I am at this moment, six
o'clock, exceedingly tired, having wandered about all day by myself.

LONDON— LETTERS TO MRS. HODGSON. 215
Hitherto, no tidings of Robert, as I have not been able to- meet with
Rawes at his shop to-day.
" I have had tea and spent the evening with Mr. John Hawks, who
lodges near me.
" As Sir Robert Hawks will be returning soon, I think I shall
endeavour to get a bed at Willis' or some other coffee-house, which
will be quite as reasonable to me as a sitting-room and a bed-room in a
private place.
Wednesday, 28th April. This morning I have been to Chesterfield
House, where I saw your cousin and her husband. Mr. Burrell and
his bride were there. I arrived before they had breakfasted. George
went to school yesterday. The youngest child is very healthy and
lively, and the little girl, who has dark red hair, has bloom and colour
as much as if she had been bred in the country, with all the sangfroid
and address of a mademoiselle that has been introduced.
" I have since I returned from Chesterfield House been employed in
preparing a prospectus of my work for Mr. Ellison to present to the
Duke of Northumberland.
" On my way back I have seen a very interesting sight, a panorama
of the North Pole. It represents the ships of discovery pent up in ice,
on the shores of Spitzbergen. It is a most admirable performance.
" Will you, my dear, when you write to me, consider if there be any
thing in the way of furniture or dress of which you think we stand in
need, and which you think I am capable of purchasing, and give me
your opinion about the size, quality, &c. for I see that in the brokers'
shops here things may be got at very low prices: or if they want
anything at the Shore let me know.
" I now do wish most heartily that you had come with me. Except
ing in the journey, the expense would have been nearly the same.
One lodging-room and one sitting-room for us both would have only
been the same as for myself, and then I should, during my stay, have
been at home ; and, if we had come by sea, we should have been at less
expense than the journey and the stay in London will cost me in
dividually. " To-day, as yesterday, I have been obliged to spend chiefly in
lounging and visiting. I have, however, seen both Dr. Prosser and the
spiritual chancellor,* respecting the chapel : to-morrow I hope to call on

* Dr. Prosser, Prebendary of Durham, and at one time Rector of Gateshead, with
Hodgson for his curate. The spiritual chancellor was the late Rev. James Baker.

216 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
Lord Barrington * to obtain an interview with the Bishop on the same
subject. " Mr. Morrice in my absence has called and left a note asking if I
wished for an introduction to Mr. Combe,f which is the very thing I
wanted. Sir John Swinburne's letters have not yet arrived.
" I must tell you what I have seen to-day. After returning from
Chesterfield House, I employed an hour partly in writing to you, and
two or three notes to persons I wish to see. At twelve o'clock Mr-
John Hawks and myself set out for Mr. Ellison's. On our way we
visited Covent Garden Market, of which I think nothing; to be sure
there are all sorts of herbs and fruits, eatable and medicinal, green
sods, ragwort, and other weeds for cage-birds : flowers, such as the
season produces for bouquets for city noses; but I have seen everything
of the kind as good in other places, and in no place I ever saw worse
stalls, more shabby people in them, or a worse paved market-place. I
am much disappointed with it. From Covent Garden we passed through
Leicester Square by Piccadilly and St. James's Street to Pall Mall. I
called on Mr. Ellison, who was out. Returning we met with Mr. George
Forster and a Mr. Burne, with whom we first went to see the dandies
riding on hobby horses; or, as they are called, velocipedes — mere
whirligigs and playthings, fit only for boys to ride on under ten years of
age. Then we went to see the Exhibition of Mr. West's Pictures, of which
you will find an account in a little pamphlet which I put into D'Oyly and
Mant's Bible in the Book of Revelations. Death on the Pale horse is
finely designed ; the head of the horse he took from the fragment of a
statue brought from Athens : but he has not come up to the spirit of the
prototype. His Christ rejected is a fine picture, and both of them
splendid efforts of genius for an old man, a man near 80 ; but I have
heard so much about Mr. West's paintings that I was disappointed with
them. They are not so good in colouring, or grouping, or in expres
sion as many that I have seen. The two I have mentioned are certainly
very large, and time will probably effect a considerable change in the
colouring for the better.
" From this place we visited the arcades and bazaar adjoining the
opera-house. Went up Bond Street, a place crowded with all the
fashion of Westminster and of the squares of the west end of the town.
* Rector of Sedgefield and Prebendary of Durham, of whom much has been said
above ; see p. 12, &c. Lord Barrington may be considered as Hodgson's first
patron in the diocese of Durham.
f Keeper of the Medals in the British Museum. See above, p. 166.

LONDON — LETTERS TO MRS. HODGSON. 217
But it will be relieved of its crowd in a short time : a new street now is
forming from opposite to Carlton House, in Pall Mall, across Oxford
Street to Portland Place, which it will connect with the Regent's Park.
In this Bond Street, small baskets of ripe cherries and ripe strawberries
are exposed to sale. At Mr. Ellison's I had seen gooseberries last
Monday, and eat tartlets of them to my lunch in the arcades to-day.
" Nine o'clock. I have just returned from dining with Mr. John
Hawks, and have a pressing invitation from Sir Robert to attend an
evening party at Mr. Braham's the celebrated singer, at which the Duke
of Sussex and several of the nobility, with the singers from the opera-
house, are expected : but I have thought fit to decline his kind invita
tion, for reasons which I know you will be angry with me for when you
hear them: it is not because I left my authority at home, but a certain
article of dress which my portmanteau does not supply me with.
" 29th April. This morning I had a long walk before breakfast with
Sir Robert Hawks. We went past the Foundling Hospital, by Gray's
Inn Lane Road, Euston Crescent, Islington, the Regent's Circus, Devon
shire Place, and thence from street to street to this place. On our way
we called upon Shield, the celebrated composer, and master of His
Majesty's band, a plain, venerable old man, who was born at Whickham,
and bred at South Shields. After breakfast I called upon Mr. Morrice
for an introduction to Mr. Combe of the British Museum: he lives in
Devonshire Street, Portland Place: from his house I went to that of
Lord Barrington in Hill Street, Berkeley Square, and from thence to
Surrey Street, Strand. But in all my searches, I can only get this ac
count of Robert, that he has got a good situation in Piccadilly. From
Surrey Street I went back to the Exhibition of Foreign Paintings in
Pall Mall, where I stayed about two hours, dined at an eating-house,
Leicester Square, dressed and went to the meetings of the Royal and
Antiquarian Societies. The Earl of Aberdeen presided at the Antiqua
rian Society ; and after it was concluded I was introduced to that of
the Royal Society, in which the chair was filled by the aged and vene
rable Sir Joseph Banks. Mr. Carlisle, the Secretary,* invited me to take
tea with him ; and I reached my lodgings at ten ; half an hour after
which time I am wishing to you and the dear bairns my best wishes.
30th April. There was a very interesting gentleman at Mr. Car
lisle's yesterday evening, a M. St. who was at the head of the
* Hodgson's correspondent in 1815, on the subject of the Saxon Coins found at
Heworth. See p. 166 above.

218 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON;
Swiss guards when they were cut down in Paris twenty-five years ago.
He and another officer contrived to escape into a wood, and after eight
days' suffering under severe wounds, he was noticed by a London hatter,
in one of the English ports, brought to his own house in Holborn, had
medical attendance, and lived in his family for many years. He has the
character of a gentleman of great worth from his friends here, and they
have had twenty-five years' experience of his principles ; and no person
can be an hour in his company without perceiving an uncommon depth
of thinking, great choice of words, masterly conversation, profound
learning, and withal a gaiety of disposition that reminds you of nothing
but the playfulness of a child.
" 30th April. Since breakfast I have gone through a great deal of
fatigue ; my left shoe has pinched my toes so much that they are all
blistered. I called on Mr. Pepys at the Royal Exchange; on Mr.
Wylam,* in Upper Guildford Street, which is a short distance from this
place. Mr. Atkinson,f by appointment, met me at half past twelve, and
took me to Mr. N. Clayton J of Lincoln's Inn Fields, who has undertaken
to assist me in my Queen Anne's Bounty matters. On my return I found a
note from Sir J. E. Swinburne changing the hour at which I had en
gaged to dine with him, in consequence of which I was under the
necessity of dressing very hastily, and calling in the aid of a hackney
coach, to get me there in time. Just after dinner his brother Edward §
arrived from the North ; he says he had called on me after I had left
home. To-morrow I call on the Bishop by appointment respecting the
chapel. The Mr. Wylams set off for home on Tuesday. Miss Wylam is
very well, and a visitor in a very agreeable family. I have got
lodgings a few doors below the place I am at. At the coffee-rooms
Willis', the Tavistock, &c. a bed, breakfast, and attendance, costs in
regular charge 6s. a day : for a comfortable bedroom and a neat sitting-
room I am to pay 18s. a-week ; but I trust my stay will not be long,
though I assure you that I like London much. Again good night.
" May 1st. Now that I think of it, let me strongly urge upon you,
my dear Jane, the necessity of overcoming John's indisposition to attend
to his book. It must be done, and the sooner it be done it will be the
easier to himself. At the age of five all children should be able to read
a little, and if he be not pushed forward soon, that is, be able to read in
* A gentleman from his parish of Heworth.
t Of Carr's Hill, near Gateshead.
J A Newcastle gentleman resident in London as a solicitor.
§ His friend the amateur draftsman.

LONDON — LETTERS TO MRS. HODGSON. 219
the Testament before he be six, Richard and he will never be com
panions at their books; besides the habit he is getting of having his
own way with respect to his lessons is very cruel and ruinous to him
self, inasmuch as it will, if encouraged, at his time of life, grow so
strongly upon him, that we must either use great severity to overcome
it, or he must when he comes to reflection employ such labour, self-
denial, and firmness as are rarely to be met with. I really, my dear,
charge myself with great neglect towards that dear boy ; for I am sure
he would learn quite as readily as Richard if proper firmness was used
in drawing him to his lessons, and gentleness and persuasion in im
planting in his mind the necessity for such attention.
" This is Mayday morning, and the chimney-sweeper boys are
dressed in their ribbands and gilded papers, and have their faces
disguised: all the mirth of an unfrequent holiday, and the gaiety and
lightness of a being set free from long confinement, break out in the
tricks and farces of these little merryandrews ; besides them, there are
groups of French girls attended by a man bearing a Maypole round
which the party dance. The weather is uncommonly fine. The
laburnums just come into bloom, though I am sorry to find that you
have had some severe frosts in the North. A person told me that the
hoar-frost about a week ago at York was very strong.
" I have been with the Bishop, and very kindly and gracefully
received: he thinks it quite expedient that the parish should be
divided, and will instantly recommend that measure to the Commissioners,
though he is afraid they will not be able to effect it. He requests,
however, that I may not leave London before the 12th instant; when I
hope to have a final answer both on that and other matters respecting
my living.
" To-day I have been at Deptford, and dined on board a ship there.
The discovery ships, that have been just equipped for the Northern
Expedition, were lying near us, and I regretted much that I could not
get on board them. On my return, I landed at Ratoliff Cross, from
which place the way was very long and fatiguing; and, if I had not
been in a party, would not have been easily found. Mr. John Hawks
and myself halted about half-an-hour at the London Coffee House, in
Ludgate Street, where we found Mr. Alderman George Forster * and Mr.
Bourne. I have entered upon my new lodgings, and have no fear that
I shall feel myself very comfortable there, and much more to myself
* An Alderman of Newcastle.

220 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
than I have been. My landlady has procured me some tea, sugar, bread
and butter, and I have requested her to take me in a pint of milk every
evening. " May 2nd. I hope your father and mother have taken up their
residence at High Heworth. To-morrow I shall expect a letter from
you with a good account of them both. I hope I shall want no more
money, especially as I propose coming home by sea.
" As I passed the Lord Chancellor's door, I thought on the tale your
father relates of his friend Mr. Kendrick. But how am I to do about
calling upon Mr. Burke?* I expected some directions from your
sisters on the evening before I came away, but the wetness of the
weather prevented their getting to High Heworth.
" I have been most cruelly crippled in my left foot for several days.
Yesterday morning I halted and hobbled like one tender-footed from
the gout.
The Bishop told me that if I found any coldness or difficulty in
getting at the manuscripts in the British Museum, he would remove
them for me, if it were, possible ; and recommended me not to be afraid
of asking for anything I thought might be serviceable to me.
" The garden, my dear. There should be some more peas planted
below the row which I planted last: there was a few left, and I think
you might get a pint and a half or a quart more of the same kind, viz.
blue prussian; also a small quantity of lettuce seed should be sown, and
some kidney beans; the. last of which must have a dry situation.
The lettuce, too, which was sown with the first radishes, will be soon
fit for planting out ; and the cabbage and brocoli stalks should be pulled
up and the ground dug. In the north-west corner of the garden there
were a few cabbage plants, which I intended to plant out. If you could
by any means get your compliments to James at Hebburn, saying that
he had promised me a few cauliflower plants, and that as I was from
home you would thank him for them, you might plant them on the
ground next the autumn cabbages, after its being manured. At the
head of the. north border I sowed some potato seed: should it spring up,
after the plants are in rough leaf, be so good as to have some of them
removed into a dry border (manured), first taking care that the ground
be sufficiently moist to secure their taking root. You will observe that
I have planted some potato, which are also for experiment, on the
north part of the border opposite the raspberries. On other matters be
so good as to solicit Mr. Wylam's advice in the garden.
* A relation of Mrs. Hodgson.

LONDON — LETTERS TO MRS. HODGSON. 221
My greatest difficulty is with my duty. How does Mr. Gibson get
through it? Try, my dear, to see him ; and say that I cannot leave
London before the 12th, and, if you can, encourage him not to faint
under the load that is upon him.
" I have inclosed a note to Mr. Snowdon, and shall send some in
structions to the new constable as soon as I find an opportunity.
" May 2nd. This blessed sunny morning ! this day of rest and
delight ! I have spent in a most agreeable manner. The persons with
whom I live are Roman Catholics, and I requested to go with them to
their chapel in Leicester Square. But how ashamed have I been with
their unchristian ceremonies ! how pitiable it is to see persons calling
themselves after the holy name of Christ debasing their minds and
suffering their judgments to be darkened with superstitious rites ! Oh !
it is lamentable to see the human race seeking for comfort and conso
lation from things and creatures and phantasies that cannot assist thern,
or, at the furthest, give them only an imaginary assistance; only filling
their minds with debasing fears, or leading them to place reliance and to
hope for happiness where there is literally nothing for their hope to
rest upon. The sermon I heard there was indeed such a one as might
have been thought orthodox in any church ; but the rest was mere show.
" In the afternoon I went to the church of St. Botolph without
Aldersgate, and heard a good sermon from a Mr. Marsh, of Colchester.
His text, I think, was at Coloss. iii. 16. He introduced an eloquent,
though, in my opinion, an unjust diatribe into the latter part of his dis
course against the Roman Catholics. He said they could not have the
use of the Bible without a licence from their bishop or pastor: in
foreign countries it may be so; in Ireland it may be so; but I know
that in this country the Douay Translation was suffered to be read
about Lanchester indifferently, and that the college * there had no ob
jections to the boys of Roman Catholic parents reading the Protestant
Bible in classes with Protestant children.
" In the evening I went with Miss M. Wylam, and the family with
whom she resides, to the private chapel belonging to Mr. Daniel Wilson, j-
His sermon was long, eloquent, and delivered in the most animated style.
It was from Isaiah vi. 3 : only one verse was chosen for the text, but he
explained with masterly eloquence the whole of the vision that follows
the third verse.
* The College of Douay upon the French Revolution was removed first to Crook
and afterwards to Ushaw, both in the parish of Lanchester.
f Afterwards Vicar of Islington, and now Bishop of Calcutta.

222 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
" On my return, I found my brother Robert waiting for me : he is
very well, and a very fine steady young man. His long apprenticeship
has solidified him, if he had anything unsteady before. He is with a
person at No. 8, North Street, near Westminster Abbey, where he is
learning something which he could not get a knowledge, of where he
served his apprenticeship. He is comfortably situated; though he has
too long hours to work, and a considerable part of his earnings to give
to the foreman of the shop in which he works, as a bonus for the
instructions he receives.
" Now, my dear, at present I know of nothing I have further to add,
excepting my prayer that you will pay attention to your father during
my absence ; though I do hope that his complaint is so far subdued that
he is able to ride about. Remember me very kindly to him, and to
your mother and sisters. Kiss my dear children for me ; and I pray
God to watch over you all, and to guard you all from all trouble and
misfortune. Most affectionately thine, my dear Jane, " John Hodgson.
" 11, Upper King Street, Bloomsbury, London, 2nd May, 1819.
" 3rd May. The hawthorn is not yet in blossom. The stalks of the
flowers are distinct, but the flower has not opened. We had a severe
frost on Thursday morning ; but, as it was not attended with rain, I
hope it has done only very partial injury. The apple is scarcely in
blossom. " I send this by Mr. R. Wylam, who, with his brother, breakfasts
with me this morning.'' " 11, Upper King Street Bloomsbury, May 3rd 1819.
" My Deae Jane,
" I think I told you I expected Mr. George and Mr. Ralph
Wylam to breakfast with me this morning. We walked after breakfast
to Somerset House, with the hope of seeing the exhibition of the Royal
Academy ; but on account of its not opening on the first day until twelve
o'clock, I walked with them by the Burlington Arcade and Bond
Street to see Portland Place. In our "way back we called at the
British Museum, and after going hastily through it, I succeeded in find
ing Mr. Combe at home, and consequently in getting admission into the
Reading Room. I therefore immediately bid good morning to the
Wylams, and entered upon my labours. There are generally about
twenty gentlemen besides myself employed in consulting and transcrib-

LONDON — LETTERS TO MRS. HODGSON. 223
ing manuscripts. We write down the titles of the volumes we want, and
the servants of the Museum bring them into the Reading Room, which
is open from ten to four on every day of the week, Saturdays and Sun
days excepted.
" I have already found several curious documents. A very old letter
of one of the monks of Durham to the Prior and convent at Tynemouth,
respecting the discovery of the bones of Malcolm, King of Scotland, and
his son, the heir apparent, at Tynemouth. Also a very old and curious
account of the miracles which had been performed by the Saints of Hex
ham ; the latter of which is rather a long article.
" At four I had a beef-steak with Sir R. and Mr. D. Hawks, and
went at seven with them to a concert for the benefit of Dr. Calcott, in
Hanover Square. It was a very large and elegant room, and very
numerously and splendidly attended. Lady Swinburne gave me a
ticket to it, and I was exceedingly fortunate in walking into the part of
the room where her ladyship and Lady Gordon (her sister) had taken
their seats. Dr. Calcott was a composer of music, and is now unfortu
nately deranged. Braham sung, as did several other excellent masters
of the tuneful art. I was much taken with the playing of one of the
violincellos ; but the concertos and symphonies were dull, unintelligible
stuff to me — so dull that, in spite of the skill of the performers and the
display of beauty and brilliance with which I was surrounded, I was
frequently travelling in the Land of Nod.
" Your kind and acceptable letter, my dear, was here on my arrival
from the Concert. I need not say how gratifying it was to hear so good
an account of you all, and especially of your father: you say he talks
of coming here. If he has such a design, I hope he will be able to
effect it while I am here ; but I really fear it will be too great an under
taking for him to come by land, and by sea he would have poor
accommodation .
" I cannot think of any observation that I have to make arising out
of your letter, excepting that you have nothing to fear about inclosing
a letter to Miss Wylam, provided the sheet you write on, her letter, and
the cover, do not weigh an ounce ; if they should weigh more, the parcel
would cost Mr. Ellison three shillings at the least.
" 4th May. We have had fair weather since the 26th of last month
till this morning, and to-day it has rained more or less from seven
to the present time, seven in the evening. I have had six hours' work
at the Museum, and am getting fiist forward ; but with work which
will not afford much material for writing to you, I shall, however, con-

224 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
tinue to give you a little diurnal of observations, if for no other
purpose, for the sake of sending my thoughts and my heart to thee, my
dear, and to our dear children.
" This is the first evening since I arrived in London that I have
been by myself, and I assure you, in spite of all the noise and hurry
of this overgrown place, I feel myself as much at ease and quiet as if
I were a thousand miles from it.
" In the morning I wrote a note to Robert, wishing him to come
and spend an hour or two this evening with me. I am expecting him
every moment.
" The stays of dandies are commonly exposed in the street shops in
the Strand, &c. for sale. They are made of a sort of elastic girthing,
have straps at one end, and buckles at the other; and on the top
have three openings, pierced with holes for a lace, thus (here is a
drawing with the pen).
" Besides the dandies there are infinite successions of very observ
able personages in London. A day or two since I met, in Holborn,
a young man dressed in a fashionable short-backed great coat and
wide pantaloons, of the moderate length of six feet seven inches and
a half : he wears spectacles: this kenspeckle youth is called Wilson,
and is from Westmerland. At St. Botolph's church there was a
young man, who, as far as I could see of him, and that was only
the head and a part of the neck, was tossed off as much as any of
the Bond Street bodies: but that which made him an object to be
looked at was white eyelashes, and a profusion of white hair of the
precise tint of that of the white bear of Greenland.
" I have sat up to near ten o'clock, and as my brother has not made
his appearance, I begin to think of my bed. The wetness of the night,
I apprehend, has prevented his coming; as he lodges and works a
little to the west of Westminster Abbey, and the street I am now in
is north of Oxford Street, there is a distance of nearly two miles
between us.
" I have bought a paper to-day, to see the debate on the Catholic
question, and have directed it to your father. Though I am so near
the Houses of Parliament, I see and hear less concerning the business
transacted within them than I usually do in Newcastle. Till to-day,
I have not seen a newspaper since I left the Saracen's Head. Sir
J. E. Swinburne tells me that Mitchell is dead.*
* The Editor of the Tyne Mercury, and the great advocate of Radicalism iu the
North of England.

LONDON — LETTERS TO MRS. HODGSON. 225
" The watchmen are calling ' Past ten : ' it is therefore time for
me to retire, to pray that the favour and blessing of God Almighty
may rest on you and our dear children, and the family at the Shore.
" 5th May. After getting the newspaper posted for your father,
and a walk for nearly an hour, I returned to breakfast, and found
Robert in my sitting-room. At ten I went to the Museum. Dined
at five, and at half-past eight went with Mr. and Mrs. John Hawks
to Covent Garden Theatre, where we paid 3s. 6d. for half-play seats
in the boxes, — so, for me, adieu to the theatricals of London. The
play of which we saw part was Evadne, or the Statue. Miss O'Neil played
the part of the heroine, and performed it well. We had seats in the
second tier of boxes, and there were three tiers more above us. One
theatre is much like another, at least Newcastle is a very correct
model, as to effect and good acting, of anything I have seen here,
or indeed can possibly be done in any theatre: but it is a mode of
amusement and killing time that I have — and I can most heartily
thank God for it — no passion for. I am sure that the greater
part of the people who crowd these fashionable places of amusement
would be more honestly and more morally employed in sleeping,
and the whole mass might be more usefully and more happily em
ployed, if their minds only vibrated with a right tone of thinking,
in a thousand ways, than in hearing the silly stuff, and feasting the
eyes with the silly sights, of the theatre.  Not that I think that persons
of fixed principles can be corrupted by them, but that such persons
will have no desire to attend them or defend them. Many plays
are excellent lessons of wisdom and virtue; but the stage is not
supported by such plays ; it lives by licentiousness.
" May 6th. Though it was twelve when I went to bed, I rose,
after an excellent sleep, at six, and was with Robert in his work
shop, Dean Street, Soho, a little after seven. He showed me a most
splendid copy of Magna Charta, in the old text hand, and printed
with gold, parts of it beautifully illuminated; also a specimen of
beautiful binding, Mudford's History of the Battle of Waterloo, for
the Countess of Besborough.
" After breakfast I walked to Covent Garden to call on Mr. Lam
bert of the Grand Allies * Office, who, I understood, had called here
yesterday in my absence ; but he had gone out. Thence I proceeded
toward Chesterfield House; in my way stopping to see a show of
* A Company of Coal-owners on the Tyne.
Q

226 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
French prints and caricatures in Leicester Square. They are quite
out of the English style, and to me more gaudy than beautiful. Many
of them, however, are very playful efforts of fancy, such as "Love
pictured in a rose." Of Buonaparte there are several evidently de
signed by his friends. On one I noticed he is styled Napoleon the
First, as if they still expected his son would make a Second. In
another, his name is surrounded with stars. But in a shop near those
that deal in French prints, and at the corner of Panton Street, there is
a large collection of very spirited and witty caricatures in the true
English style, which attract their due proportion of notice. Mr. and
Mrs. Gordon and family are well, and Mr. and Mrs. Burrell still there.
Mr. Burrell says they are thinking of purchasing a ship in London,
the scheme of building one in Newcastle having gone off.
By appointment I was with Sir J. E. Swinburne, at half-past ten;
and at twelve he walked with me to General Sir Willoughby Gordon's
at Chelsea, on the margin -of the Thames. In his garden I saw a fine
Glastonbury thorn in full flower, and two American thorns also in
flower. The English hawthorn has not yet come into blossom, though
the flowers of it are beginning to peep out. One tree in the garden, I
mean the Arbor Judea, was quite new to me : flowers of a fine red
colour burst out of its bare stem in great patches, where there are no
appearances of either leaves or branches. Mr. Callcott, the artist, met
us there. After lunching with Lady Gordon we went to the Military
Asylum for the orphans of soldiers. The children are admitted between
the years of seven and twelve ; at fourteen they are apprenticed out.
We saw them assemble for dinner at one; 850 boys, 400 girls, in all
1250, marched in column into their respective dining-rooms at the
same time. After they have been for a moment stationed in their
places at the table, and while they are still standing, one stroke of the
drum announces attention, and a second is for grace ; that done, a third
stroke is for them to sit down. Their dinner was a piece of boiled beef
with potatoes, a large slice of the finest bread, and small beer for
their beverage. After dinner, the same order is observed as before it,
in saying grace, and returning to their respective play-grounds.
"Their meat and potatos are boiled together in large metal caldrons,
formed of plates of malleable iron riveted together. The meat is put
at the bottom and the potatos at the top, and only as much water is
used as will cover them. They breakfast on thick gruel of water and
oatmeal, to which a quart of water is added for every six boys ; each
having nearly a quart of this pottage for his mess. Colonel Williams,

LONDON — LETTERS TO MRS. HODGSON. 227
who superintends the Asylum, went round it with me, and was exceed
ingly civil and attentive to all my inquiries. On Sundays they have
roasted meat and potatos. After dinner, they have two hours of play,
and at three one party goes to their work and the other to their books.
Great numbers of them are bred up as tailors and shoemakers, in which
employment we saw them at work. I was peculiarly struck with their
prison and mode of punishment. They consist of a cage of strong iron
wire, in which is a sort of clock, the hands of which move one minute
by turning a handle like that of a grindstone ; so that to be sentenced
to move the hands one hour is a severe punishment.
" This splendid institution is close adjoining the Chelsea College, where
we also saw numbers of the old veterans sunning themselves, and
enjoying the air of this charming spring, — and I may also say this
charming climate, in comparison to ours. I observed that the leaves of
the noble horse-chestnut in the College grounds have been blackened by
the late frosts ; though they are at present in full blossom, which is not
the least injured. The grass here is getting very thick and long.
" We returned at five, and I dined and had a pint of porter in the
Strand for lid.
" Mr. Gordon tells me he will send your father a cheese, and I
promised to pay for it ; though, I fear, if it be large, the price may pinch
me for cash to set me home, and I should not like to be forwarded by a
vagrant's pass. I have, indeed, employed all the economy I am master
of since I came here, and yet money steals from me much too fast. For
one thing, I found I could not do without a trunk, and that cost me 20s.
out of my 25Z., besides several little articles of dress which I have
been obliged to purchase.
" In walking from Chelsea we passed several large nurseries : one
especially is very observable, on account of the variety and great
number of greenhouse plants which are reared in it : it is kept by a
person called Colville. As we passed it, it was very dangerous to cross
the road on account of the great numbers of carriages driving to and
from it. This place is a very great resort of ladies of fashion during the
whole of the winter and spring of the year; and it is not for plants
merely that large sums are daily expended, but even for flowers. Early
in the year it is not uncommon to pay a guinea for a rose, and larger sums
for more uncommon flowers. Some ladies expend as much as 100Z. a
year foi flowers here.
" I called at the Courier office in the Strand to-day, and bought a
paper, which I sent to your father. Q 2

228 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
"No person can form an adequate notion of the great wealth of
London from a cursory observation. One thing, however, must strike
even an inaccurate observer with astonishment; I mean the great
number of silver and goldsmiths' shops scattered through all parts of the
town and its environs. In a walk from Charing Cross to Leadenhall
Street, one night, I suppose there were articles of plate and jewelry
exposed to public view in the windows, sufficient to satisfy all the
luxury and all the necessity of the British Empire; but a very little
reflection is sufficient to unravel all the mystery that induces astonish
ment on the subject. Every family in the kingdom, and a very large
proportion of the individuals of the kingdom, who can afford it, pass a
certain part of every year, or some portion of their lives, in this theatre
of commerce, legislation, and fashion. It is the great mart of nations :
the Exchange of the World. In our own country there are few families
who have not some article of plate or jewellery made in London; and
from this place to all the corners of both the civilized and uncivilized
world, ornaments and trinkets are exported. People tell of the want of
gold, too ! but specie struck with the dies of every nation in the world
may be purchased of the jewellers in London, and that too to almost an
indefinite amount.
" May 7th. I have stirred very little out to-day. At ten o'clock I
went to the Museum ; and fell in with plenty of rich material there to
serve me for a few days. It is full of. stores for my purpose : but five
days a week, and only six hours a day, is much too short time for persons
who have travelled nearly 300 miles for the purpose of labouring in it.
To-day I found a finely written manuscript, which contains numerous
very ancient pedigrees of Northumberland families, drawn from records
in the Tower, &c, and large extracts from the Register Books of the
Abbeys of Alnwick and Newminster and the Priory of Brinkburn.
" In walking down Holborn Hill this afternoon to my dinner, I met
Mr. Taylor, the gentleman who resided some time in the Grove House
in Heworth. He seems quite well, though you will remember the state
of mind in which he was when taken from Newcastle some time ago
under arrest. He resides in London.
" I expect the garden is beginning to look well. I saw peas in
blossom in General Gordon's garden yesterday; but the stems of the
plants were low and feeble. How will you do for pea-sticks? there are
plenty at Hebburn.
" May 8th, half past seven a.m. I have just returned from taking a
third sight of Covent Garden Market. It is thronged this morning:

LONDON— LETTERS TO MRS. HODGSON. 229
the great avenues to it are all choked up with cabbage carts. It teems
with abundance, and of things of the most excellent of their kind; but
there is nothing neat about it— it is all confusion and disorder. I had
supposed that every thing in this celebrated garden was disposed in
regular stalls, with great neatness and regularity ; instead of that, carts,
stalls, baskets, wheel-barrows, and all the rest, are as rudely jumbled-
together as if they had fallen from the heavens. The carrying-women
are here, as in Newcastle, very tormenting, but very civil: they took
me for an half-pay officer, as I went in my great coat, without one under
it, and split their jokes very freely, but very goodhumouredly, upon
me : they were very witty, without any thing like indecorous language.
" Rhubarb of two kinds — one red for mixing with apples, the other
green to mix with grosieres, is here now in great abundance; fifty large
stalks of the green kind only one shilling. Vast quantities of lilac
flowers, tulips, &c. &c, but by no means in a nice state, are sold and
that not cheaply. You will recollect the evergreens and flowering
plants kept in pots in greenhouses in the market ; among them are great
numbers of spruce-fir and boxwood plants, which are sold to the
citizens as window ornaments. I have indeed observed in Snowhill, and
other places, that fir-trees are among the rarities of the collections
which grace the virandas of the London windows. Large cucumbers
sell for Is. &d. a piece; gooseberries, Is. a "quart; new potatos about
2s. 3d. a lb.; old ones at 3s. 6d. for sixty lbs.; asparagus of the finest
kind is. for 150 heads; old onions, 9s. a peck. There were small
quantities of strawberries, and small quantities of peaches, such as are
taken off in thinning overloaded trees. This sort of fruit, on the old
walls of Chelsea, were of the size of pigeon's eggs. I mean peaches
and apricots.
" I forgot to say, before I went to bed last night, that Robert spent
above two hours with me yesterday evening. I don't think that his
health is good.
" The trunk which I have bought is thirty inches long and fourteen
deep. It is neatly covered with leather in hair. I intend it for your
use; it has an excellent lock.
" Since ten I have had a ramble. First I called on the Wilsons at
Nottingham Place, in the New Road. Then left my card at Mr.
Askew's * house in Wimpole Street ; thence, by Bond Street, I proceeded
to Christie's sale-room in Pall Mall. In my way I stopped to look at
a drawing of the machinery, where an automaton figure plays at chess,
* Of Redheugh, in the parish of Gateshead.

230 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
and has never but once been beaten since it came to London. The
admittance to see it play is 2s. 6d., I therefore contented myself with
seeing the picture of this lifeless wonder. The people of London are
provokingly silly ; they talk of this box of wheels, and of the figure that
moves the men, as if the one or the other were endowed with intelligence.
The real matter of fact must be that intelligence guides the movements,
and that the man who shows it makes them ; but the query is, how he
applies an impetus to the machinery without being observed? I think,
when the number of men, and the various ways each man can move, are
considered, it is infinitely beyond the compass of mechanical art to calcu
late against all the varieties of change of position that the men can be
put into on a chess-board, by anything like clock-work : but I see no
difficulty in contriving machinery to direct a hand to any figure which
the conductor chooses to place it upon. This ingenious contrivance is
by a Mr. Kempelen, of Vienna.
"A large quantity of the Queen's curiosities, such as were sent as
presents to her on her birth-day, &c, are selling off at Christie's rooms.
I was about an hour in the room ; and marked the prices of the things
which I saw sold in a catalogue which I will bring with me. It is
very curious.
" At two I had a second interview with Mr. Jenner, respecting the
division of the parish, which I now most confidently hope will be soon
effected, and to my entire satisfaction,
" You see I have very little room to write about yourself and the
bairns; recommend me kindly to all inquirers; affectionately at the
Shore ; kiss my children for me, and God bless you all I From thine,
always, my dear Jane, "John Hodgson.
" I hope to receive a letter from you before you receive this.''
" 11, Upper King Street, Bloomsbury, 10th May, 1819.
" My deae Jane,
" Yesterday morning I met Robert at the Admiralty, from
which place we took seats upon a coach for Bromley.* The morning
was exceedingly charming ; a cool fresh air with a bright sun, and an
agreeable elasticity or springiness in the atmosphere, gave a cheerfulness
and sobriety to the spirits, and to the tone of thinking, that made one
* The Palmers, who were relations by his*mother's side, resided at Bromley. To
this place he paid frequent visits now, in 1821, and afterwards.

LONDON — LETTERS TO MRS. HODGSON. 231
delighted with being in existence. Of all things in nature a fine spring
morning is the most delightful, and the more so when that morning is
a Sunday morning, and connects all our better thoughts with that
glorious and magnificent Being that formed us capable of being de
lighted with the contemplation of His works.
" Spring, my dear, is a season of hope and pleasure, and it has often
in this beautiful season reminded me of the hope and pleasure I have
in my children. At present it is delight, unmixed with any uneasy
anxieties, that occupies our mind when we contemplate the prospect
of their future life. As the summer of the year begins to advance, and
the expectation of fruit is every day converted by degrees either into
real promise or disappointment, our satisfaction, if we find in them the
fruit of good living, will be greater than it is at present; but our
anxieties may also be converted into sensations more poignant than
those of disappointment.
" Kent, as far as we travelled in it, seems a delightful county, well-
wooded, has a waving surface, and is covered with a luxuriant verdure.
In some parts I observed the trees to be sorrily mutilated, stripped of
all their branches, excepting a little tuft at the top, so that they
resemble the inverted queue of the man of fashion thirty years ago.
But the abundance of untonsed trees, especially the fruit-trees, and the
luxuriantly-flowering horse-chestnut, give a richness and charm to all
the suburban villages of the metropolis, which to a person habituated
to the bare hamlets of the North of England is exceedingly enchanting.
All nature here is in the greatest luxuriance — even the ash is
beginning to clothe its naked branches. Will you, my dear, when you
receive this, note how the hawthorn is advanced about High Heworth?
On the road between Lewisham and Bromley I observed that in a few
places it was full blown ; but generally that the petals of the flower are
unfolded. " I found all the family well, excepting my aunt and Mrs. Richard
Rawes.* My aunt has had a bad fit of the gout, of which she is, how
ever, much recovered, and able to hobble into the garden and watch her
bees. Mrs. Richard Rawes has been ill during the winter. She has
had one child, and though her expectations of having another have
often been raised, they have as often been prematurely disappointed •
she is at present still very lame, and it is truly pitiable to see the lively
active, and high-spirited Miss Cantwell, now scarcely able to hobble
* All relations by his mother's side.

232 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
over a well-carpeted room, and robbed of all her wonted vivacity;
but she is in the way of recovery.
" I dined with Mr. Palmer, who married one of my cousins : they
are exceedingly kind and hospitable people, and have a delightful
residence on the outskirts of Bromley. Mr. Palmer has done much to
it of late, by way of beautifying the garden and orchard ground,
and adding largely to the stock of green-house plants, of which Mr.
Richard Rawes brought him a splendid collection last year from
China. I must remember that I have promised to send him a few
plants of the Ayrshire rose. He is both an agreeable and intelligent
man, and I was much pleased with the frank and open simplicity of
his wife.
" I had tea with Mr. Robert Rawes, the master of the school, a
gentlemen of refined education, and a member of Magdalen College,
Oxford. His spirits I understand are far from equal, now cheerful
and now low and melancholy; in whom the L' Allegro and the II
Penseroso of Milton are combined. There were on this day a swarm of
cousins and half-cousins, and countrymen, at his house, where open hos
pitality seems to be kept on Sundays.
" We left Bromley at seven, with inside seats, as the evening began
to gloom, and indeed it rained heavily for half-an-hour before we
reached Charing Cross, and very heavily about eleven. I hope the
weather with you is quite as good as it has been here for the last
week; it is the finest spring ever remembered. Nothing has been
injured by the frosts that prevailed about, a fortnight since, except
ing the laurels, the flower-buds of the laburnums, and the young germs
of a few other trees.
" On Saturday I bought two sets of copy-heads for Bessy and Richard,
which I would have sent down with my last letter, if I could have
seen Sir R. Hawks to have got a frank ; but he is still on Blackheath.
" Will you, my dear, get the children to attend to their catechism;
I think they have not fagged at it lately. If there be any book you
think they may want, you had best go either to Akenhead's or Charn-
ley's for it.
" To-day I called on Adamson* at Willis's Coffee House in Lincoln's-
inn Fields. He walked with me into Pall Mall, and waited for me till
I had a conference with Mr. Ellison respecting the chapel. After that,
* His brother secretary in the Antiquarian Society of Newcastle, and a solicitor of
great practice in that town. Mr. Adamson was an eminent Portuguese scholar, and a
man of considerable literary and antiquarian knowledge.

LONDON — LETTERS TO MRS. HODGSON. 233
we called at Buckingham House, the palace of the late queen, where
Mr. Carlisle the librarian showed us the excellent collection of books
which constitute the King's library. The first room consists entirely of
early printed books, which can be considered in no other light than as
curious specimens of the art of printing in its infancy. In this room
the king used to sleep during the times the queen was confined. We
were also shown the room and the chair in which Dr. Johnson was
sitting when the king paid him the memorable visit, which is recorded
by Boswell in his " Life of Johnson."
" From Buckingham House we went to St. James's Park and West
minster Abbey, and over Westminster Bridge to Lambeth Terrace, where
Mr. Adamson had to call upon a friend, and from that place by the
Obelisk in St. George's-fields to Southwark Bridge, which spans the river
with only three arches, all of cast iron; its piers are of granite. From
this noble edifice London Bridge has a most clumsy and heavy appear
ance, and seems as if it had been built with a view to dam back the
river. At three, I called on Mr. Jenner, to get some further information
as to the best manner of proceeding to divide the parish. We lunched
at Willis's; then walked to the Strand, called at Somerset House,
at Stockdale's in Piccadilly, at a printer upon stone in Great Marl
borough Street, at Tassie's in Leicester Square, and from that place I
proceeded to my lodgings. At six, we dined together at Willis's, and
parted at nine ; Adamson and Mr. Allason,* of Heddon-on the- Wall, to
Covent Garden Theatre, and I to bed, after scrawling thus far.
" I have had another meeting with Mr. Ellison, respecting the church
and chapel: but cannot bring the matter to a conclusion. If the patron
age had been wholly in Mr. Ellison, there would have been no difficulty
in the way. I dine to-day with Mr. Ellison ; and Mrs. Ellison has
promised me a ticket to the Opera. From twelve to four I had a search
in the Museum.
" On Sunday I saw rye in ear in several places. To-day I have
seen heads of barley in the window of a corn-merchant. They were
brought from the country.
" In returning from the Museum, I find Miss Wylam and Miss Meek
have called, and left their cards.
" I have received your last kind letter, my dear, before I go to dinner.
The article of dress I wanted at the time of Mr. Braham's party has
been supplied. I got a pair of new pantaloons immediately on my
* Vicar of Heddon-on-the-Wall, near Newcastle.

234 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
arrival, but not a pair of breeches, and I could not go there excepting
in full dress. I have also got a pair of silk stockings. I wonder
that you did not see it was a pair of breeches I wanted, as I supposed
I had hinted to them plainly enough.
" I will not leave London without bringing something for the children,
if they take great care with their lessons ; and when I arrive you must
expect me by sea : but I will not stir till I get everything settled as- far
as possibly can be done respecting the chapel.
" 11th May. I did not get from the Opera till near one o'clock this
morning. Mr. Middleton, a gentleman I had been accustomed to meet
at Hebburn, dined with us. At eight, I left the dinner table and went
to the Opera House ; the rest of the party, being habituated with the
sight, did not go till ten. -When I got there three or four scenes had
been acted. With the opera in my hand, and the use of an English
translation, I was able to follow the performance pretty well, and to be
pleased with parts of it; but, on the whole, nothing can be more dully
stupid and unnatural than it was, and all operas must be. It is a
species of amusement that cannot be enjoyed but at great expense, and
on that account it is fashionable. No person, or very few, seemed to
be interested with it. The ladies and gentlemen formed little coteries
in the boxes, and chatted without being at all interested with the ex
hibition. Now and then there was a clamorous bravura, and I think
I could, consistently with my own feelings, have joined the passionates
in clapping; but the applause was altogether unconnected with the
drama — is was for the airs, some of which were certainly sung in good
style : but they have no Catalani at the Opera House now. The music
was by Mozart. At the conclusion of the first piece, a statue of white
marble walks in and sings to a hardened and wicked hero, who had
murdered its prototype : but he braving all the terrors of futurity and the
warnings of the dead, chooses torments rather than say " I repent! "
and demons rise with flaming torches, and howl and shake their pale
blazing lights over his head; the earth opens, and they descend with
their victim into hell.
" Now, if there was any moral in this thing — if it was intended to
make any good impressions on the heart, all that impression could not
have failed being washed off by the levity which immediately followed.
What is it that pleases the spectators, that draws them together, and
that brings them back again and again to the exhibitions of the opera
dancers ? Some of the attitudes they put themselves into are certainly
graceful, and their nimbleness is a proof of great strength of muscle and

LONDON — LETTERS TO MRS. HODGSON. 235
of health, and in these views their performances are connected with
ideas that lawfully create pleasure. But 
" 12th. After my six hours were past at the museum, I went to dinner
at the house of the Bishop of Durham. The party consisted of the
Rev. Mr. Lysons, his wife and daughter, his brother Samuel Lysons, the
keeper of the records in the Tower, and one of the vice-presidents of
the Antiquarian Society, — these two gentlemen are joint editors of the
Magna Britannia ; Sir George Staunton, who has been twice with the
embassies in China, a gentleman well skilled in all the difficult litera
ture of that country ; Mr. Weston, a celebrated connoisseur in anti
quities, and a very various and elegant scholar; Mr. Price, who
brought with him a roll of large drawings made by himself of various
towns and ruins in the East, especially in the countries between Con
stantinople and Persia; this gentleman speaks the Arabic and Persian
languages with great fluency, and is at present engaged in translating
a Persian poem, which is founded on the History of Joseph ; and last,
but not least, the biblical antiquary and illustrator of Eastern customs
Mr. Burder, the preacher of St. Dunstan's, Fleet Street, and evening
lecturer at Christ Church Chapel. Mr. Burder presented the Emperor
Alexander with a copy of his works, in return for which his Imperial
Majesty sent him a beautiful sapphire ring set in two rows of pearls.
It was exhibited at table. When I entered the room, the Bishop said,
' Gentlemen, I have the pleasure of introducing to you a brother anti
quary — a Durham antiquary ; of whom I can assure you we are ex
ceedingly proud.'
" The lady who lives with the Bishop is very pleasant. I think she
is above forty: she has an expressive and agreeable countenance in
conversation, dark piercing eyes, and apparently very unaffected and
engaging manners.*
" The Bishop is quite a wonder.f So old, and yet so healthy, so
lively, elegant in manners and conversation, full of anecdote, and a
memory of all past and passing things, that you would suppose his
faculties still in the vigour and playfulness of youth.
" We dined at five, and left his lordship at nine. On my arrival at
my lodgings, I found my brother, who came here by appointment, and
stayed with me till eleven.
" My negociations respecting the chapel are still unclosed.
"I continue to enjoy very good health. The only inconvenience I
* Miss Colberg.
f The Bishop of Durham died in 1826, in the 92nd year of his age.

236 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
feel is the spasmodical flatulency, which sometimes affects me. grievously
for a few minutes, but never more than a few minutes, once in about
twenty-four hours, and only for the few last days. I was often afraid
the complaint originated in indulgences ; but now that I very seldom
ever see anything stronger to drink than milk, the complaint is precisely
the same.
" I hope you may expect to see me at High Heworth in a week's
time ; but, as I have made up my mind to take my passage by sea, I
cannot mention the day of my arrival, even if Providence make all
things to combine to give me a safe and expeditious voyage.
" I feel confident that our dear children are very good, and that
Bessy and Richard and John endeavour to make mamma happy, and
mind their lessons. Once more, my dear Jane, wishing a good night
to thee and thy dear children, and the good family at the Shore, with
all of whom I long to be again united.
" 13th May. After breakfasting this morning, I was preparing for
the Museum, when a message was brought me that there would be a
great meeting of the Sons of the Clergy at St. Paul's to-day. The de
scription given me, was such that I could not resist being present.
"Before proceeding thither I visited Ackermann's, with aviewof ascer
taining whether I could apply the new discovery of printing upon stone
to any useful purpose in getting up my History of Northumberland. I
was much and agreeably surprised at the spirited specimens of the art
which were shown me. It will answer excellently in making fac
similes of all kinds of writing and printing, and for plans of buildings,
camps, &c. ; but it is not applicable to giving fine views of buildings or
portraits of persons.
" At eleven I went to the cathedral ; but I found the choir every
where so crowded, and such a circle waiting to press by force through
the doorways, that at first I despaired of getting access ; and to remain
on the outside of the choir would not have gratified me, though I should
have heard the music distinctly enough. At 12 o'clock I had worked
my way into a part where I could both hear and see distinctly enough,
but the crowd was so closely jammed together, and kept up such a
waving motion, and the ladies, of whom there were very great num
bers, were so intolerably squeezed, that I began to think there would
be exhibitions of fainting, &c. and therefore by great exertion of main
strength made my way out. Mr. Allason, of Heddon-on-the-Wall, was
waiting for admission. I, therefore, though unknown, represented our
case to one of the Canons, who had a key, and he readily went and let us

LONDON — LETTERS TO MRS. HODGSON. 237
in by a private door to the Bishops' stalls, two of which, on the side we
entered, were empty. I consequently got a good place, Allason only a
stand ; one of the clergymen of the church having reached the head of
the stairs before him. There were eleven Bishops present, among whom
were the two Archbishops and the Bishops ofLondon and Carlisle ; the
rest I did not know. The Duke of Northumberland was also present.
All the music which was performed was by Handel, excepting one
piece, composed some time since on purpose for the meetings of the Sons
of the Clergy by Dr. Boyce. Among the pieces by Handel was one
which was quite overpowering in its effect ; for you must know that
the organ was assisted by the King's band, and the whole choir of St.
Paul's. The piece I allude to, is called, I think, the Halleluiah ; its
words are these :¦*-
' Halleluiah, for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth. The kingdom of this world is
become the Kingdom of the Lord and of his Christ, and He shall reign for ever and
ever, King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. -Halleluiah 1'
The Coronation Anthem was also sung:. you will find it in the Book
of Kings.
' Zadok the Priest, and Nathan the Prophet, anointed Solomon to be King. And
all the people rejoiced and said, God save the King ! May the King live for ever
Long live the King ! Halleluiah ! Amen.'
" From the place in which I sat the view of the congregation was ex
ceedingly grand. The whole area of the choir and within the rails of the
chancel was completely crowded. In the three tiers of stalls, and above
them in large temporary galleries erected between the pillars, not a
person more could in any way be admitted. Some ladies fainted, one
was seized with a sort of roaring hysterics. Dr. Goddard preached.
His text was, " I have been young and now am old, yet never saw I the
righteous forsaken or his seed begging bread." The service commenced
soon after twelve, and concluded about ten minutes before four. The Te
Deum lasted an hour : to be sure the music of it was exceedingly grand.
How all the trifling shows of the Opera House fade into nothing in com
parison with what I saw and heard here ! During the whole of the
service everything was calm and still ; there was a solemn silence, and
a riveted attention observed by every one. I think that the con
tinuous din of the carriages and waggons passing in the street did not
interfere with the grandness of the effect — it resembled greatly the

238 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
roaring of a tempest of wind around a large building enveloped in trees,
or the distant murmur of the sea in a storm.
" I forget to say that the Lord Mayor, Recorder, and three of the
Aldermen, came in state : I saw their carriage ; it is exceedingly antique
and curious in its shape, much gilded, and admirably painted with
metaphorical figures.
" While I was waiting for the procession coming out, Mr. Coulthard
came to me. We dined and had coffee together, and in my way to
my lodging we went, through Moorfields and by Finsbury Square, into
Smithfield. " Be so good, my dear, as to write to me again before I leave this
place. You may without hesitation direct to Mr. Ellison in this
manner, which I dare say is the way you have done. ' C. Ellison,
Esq. M.P., 85, Pall Mall, London.' And upon the letter in the inside
forme, ' The Rev. John Hodgson, 11, Upper King Street, Bloomsbury.'
It only troubles Sir Robert Hawks's people directing to their house,
though it is only five doors from my lodgings. I have seen Miss
Wylam this evening, and invited her to a great meeting of royal dukes,
&c. &c. at the Freemasons' Tavern to-morrow at twelve o'clock, to
which I have had a present of a ticket, for myself and one lady, from
Sir J. E. Swinburne.
" May 13th. The weather continues very fine. I had a walk this
morning through the three squares, which this street, and those which
join with it, bound in a right fine on the north: viz. Bloomsbury, Bed
ford, and Russell Squares. The trees in the area are in all their rich
ness, the gold of the laburnums being the most costly as well as the
most beautiful of the ornaments. What numbers of children with their
maids, belonging to different country families, who reside in the square,
were walking and scampering through the gravel walks, and over the
finely shaven lawns of these squares !
" I have determined to return by sea, and as soon as ever I have
finally arranged matters respecting the chapel. A week in the Museum
will do much for me: and I hope to establish a correspondence with
the keepers of the records in other public offices, which will answer all
my purposes.
" It is very agreeable and gratifying news to hear that your father
continues so well, and that the children are so attentive to their lessons.
Pray influence your father to stay a few days at least with you. I am
sure it will be of use to him.

LONDON— LETTERS TO MRS. HODGSON. 239
" Thank you, my dear, for the last kind letter, which I received on
my return from St. Paul's this evening; and thank you for your
attention to the garden, which I hope will repay you for all your
trouble in it.
" To-morrow I will give you an account of this day's observation.
You see I write a little every day, and at every leisure moment. It
is indeed the only amusement and the only thing I have to fly to while
I am by myself in my lodgings.
" With affectionate regard for all at the Shore, love to thyself and the
children, and compliments to the Wylams, believe me to be, thine most
truly, " John Hodgson.
" The next by Mr. Coulthard, who goes hence on Monday or
Tuesday." " My DEAR JANE, 11, Upper King Street, Bloomsbury, 14th May, 1819.
" I made a great mistake this morning. At nine I received from
the Bishop of Lichfield * a note, saying he would see me on business
respecting the chapel at one. I expected Mr. Allason at breakfast. He
never came. This new arrangement caused me to write to Miss Wylam,
saying I could not go to the meeting at the Freemasons' Tavern; soon
after I found that the meeting was not till the 15th.
" The Bishop of Lichfield is not so old in years as the Bishop of
Durham, but much more so in intellect. I could not bring him to the
point I wished to be at; though he was exceedingly kind and accessi
ble — ready to assist me, yet I could not fasten his attention on the sole
object I wished to accomplish ; he flew off to something else. At the
Queen Anne's Bounty Office they told me they had no power to sepa
rate Jarrow from Heworth ; but I succeeded in one thing, which could
not have been accomplished without my presence, and which I hope
will eventually repay me the expenses of this journey, viz. in getting,
to the 1,000Z. with which my living has been augmented, two additional
allotments of 200Z. confirmed upon it; so that I have now 1,400Z. to lay
out in land.
" I am moat miserably tired this evening; I have been all over the
town on the business of our most wretched chapel, and am still no
* Dr. James Cornwallis, afterwards Earl Cornwallis, Bishop of Lichfield and
Coventry, and Dean of Durham.

240 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
nearer than I was when I set out first, in falling into a method of
getting it separated from Jarrow. On Monday I intend to call upon the
Brownes, owners of Jarrow.
"Iwas half-an-hour with Mrs. Gordon this evening, where I saw
Mrs. James Burrell, whose husband has purchased a ship, for which he
is looking out for a freight to St. Petersburgh. It is not quite to his
mind, being about a foot too low for the trade he was wishing her to
enter into ; but, though it is seven years old, he considered it a well-
timbered and strongly-built ship. I did not see him: he sleeps on
board. " My work at the Museum has not proceeded as I wish this week.
It is full of valuable matter, and I am very loath to leave it without
taking away a considerable portion of the most valuable of it.
" 15th May. You will look long for a letter from me. I see Mr.
Ellison has so many letters to frank on his own account, that I am
loath to rob him of the privilege. If I can call on him to-day I will
get a frank for Sunday, on which day the members seldom make
use of their privilege, no post-office being open but the general one in
Lombard Street. This morning, since writing the above, I have desired
Sir Robert Hawks to get me a parcel franked at the Secretary of State's
office, which I hope you will receive on Monday, on which day both
Miss Wylam and myself will send dispatches by Mr. Coulthard.
" A*t eleven to-day Miss Wylam and myself went to the Anniversary
Meeting of the British and Foreign School Society. Though we were
an hour before the time the meeting was announced to commence, and
precisely two hours before it did commence, yet we were rather late to
get the best range of seats : we could not, however, complain, as we were
even in front of the chair, and not more than eight or ten yards from it.
" At ten o'clock the Duke of Kent arrived, and immediately took the
chair. I was exceedingly gratified with his conduct and his abilities.
I never before saw any person quit himself half so ably. His
manner of speaking easy, dignified, and unstudied, no gesticulations,
no " sawing the air with his hand," no hesitation, no affectation of elo
quence, but a straightforward, convincing, and forcible language poured
from his lips, as naturally and as nobly as a full river rolls over its
channel. From his situation in the chair he had often to speak and
often to reply, and invariably a masterly style was maintained. Not
so amongst the rest of the orators, amongst whom were several able
men, and very probably men of more various and more profound
abilities than himself. Lord Effingham, to quote poor old Goodrick's

LONDON — LETTERS TO MRS. HODGSON. 241
phrase ' made a sad set of himself.' The Honourable and Reverend
Mr. Hamilton, the son of an Irish Bishop, gave a most eloquent and im
pressive description of the state of education in Ireland. He was
followed by the Honourable Grey Bennett, who spoke badly enough,
before a less august meeting than the House of Commons, where he
frequently holds forth respecting the climbing boys, &c. His words
stuck in his hause; in short, he blundered most miserably. Of a
different class, followed Mr. Anderson, the Secretary of the Lady's
Subscription School in Edinburgh : his narrative was plain and un
embarrassed; his tale affecting, and now and then gracefully orna
mented with the jewelry of rhetoric. He said that an old man who
enlisted into the King's service in 1715, at the age of 117 became
desirous of learning to read, and that it was an affecting and gratifying
sight to see, in the school which he attended, mothers bring their infants
and cradles, that they might themselves have the benefit of being taught
to read the Scriptures. Mr. Philip, a member of the House of Commons,
spoke a deal better than his honourable friend Mr. Grey Bennett. But
of all that spoke none had so great a command of language, and of the
flowers and the elegancies and ornaments of speech, none was so fluent
and so warm and zealous as Mr. Wilberforce. I could not always hear
what he said, as he frequently sank too low to be heard ; but he is
growing old, and his personal appearance is much against him, for he
is plain, low in stature, and of a very awkward shape. I cannot enume
rate to you all that spoke, and name very few- that were present. But
we had orators from both France and Germany : a citizen of Paris and
a member of the Legion of Honor read a speech ; and I left a gentle
man from Bombay on his legs, and labouring very hard. The two
Princes of Hesse sat one on the right, the other on the left of the Duke
of Kent ; of whom I must not omit to state that that sincere, upright, and
patriotic senator, Mr. Wilberforce, said, that he was constrained to bear
public testimony to the many public and private virtues, and to the
laudable and exemplary zeal, of his Royal Highness in everything that
concerned the welfare of the lower orders of society. No person ever
heard me defend the vices of the royal family ; in so far as I believe them
really to exist, I do most sincerely deplore them ; but my persuasion
is that they have been belied, injured, and calumniated on every side
by persons a thousand times more wicked then themselves. He that
would go about and feed his mind upon the drunken and pestilential
trash of a London mob, or a London newspaper, daily edited to gorge
the ravenous maw of the discontented of London, must never hope to
R

242 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
arrive at that healthy and delightful state of mind which rejoices to
feast itself in the contemplation of the virtues and the excellencies of
those whom God created for the purpose of filling high and honourable
stations among their fellow- creatures. You, my dear, have heard it
said that " Publicity,
Though like the angel Innocence, would move
Divisions, horrid grinnings, and the yell
Of Jealousy."
Our royal dukes have virtues, and I hope I shall never arrive at that
low and sordid state of mind which cannot afford the due meed of praise
to the great as well as to the low. For I think it a vice which has
greatly prevailed -within the last twenty-five years in Europe, and which
cannot be too highly reprobated, to endeavour to extol the incon
siderable benefits rendered to mankind by low and obscure persons,
and to detract from the merit of real and important advantages con
ferred upon society by men of rank and opulence. But I forget to
whom I am writing, and am hurried on by a warmth, as if I was
addressing myself to, and endeavouring to convince, some idle and
worthless politicians, and not one who wisely suffers the rulers of the
nation to manage matters in their own way, and feels no pleasure in
seeing the light of public praise and public gratitude withdrawn from
the characters of the wise and well intentioned. My love, to be con
tended is to be happy: he that can praise another can rejoice within
himself; and I rejoice to have seen only one of the sons of that monarch
whose character I revere and venerate, advocating with zeal and elo
quence, such as I never before heard, a cause the most important a
human being can be engaged in, the instructing of the ignorant, the
giving light to them that sit in darkness and the shadow of death ; and
I have, further, no doubt but that all the children of my venerable
sovereign have virtues, which in the great day of account, when we must
all answer for ourselves, will hide the multitude of sins to which our
nature is so prone, and the more so when that proneness is ripened and
fostered under the beams of affluence and prosperity.
" 16th May. Robert came to breakfast with me, and at half-past nine
we set out for the Magdalen Chapel, not the nearest, perhaps; but1 on
our road we looked into the Chapel of St. Stephen's, Westminster, in
which is a window of beautifully painted glass.
" I was not much delighted with the method of doing duty in the
Magdalen. An elderly man, Mr. Prince, who has lost some of his

LONDON— LETTERS TO MRS. HODGSON. 243
fore-teeth, read prayers, and with far too much endeavour at effect, in
too theatrical a style. He was succeeded in the Communion Service
by a young man, whose method was impressive and dignified. A Mr.
Bowles, from Wiltshire, preached in a slow and solemn manner, from
Luke xv. 18. 19. His sermon was made up of shreds and patches,
a chaos of sentences on the subject of the parable of the" Lost Son"
and the Magdalen Institution, but it was in a great measure extempo
raneous ; and I have never yet heard any man deliver a well-connected
discourse extemporaneously, of advice and instruction, that had in it
that depth and consideration, which I think every sentence that is deli
vered from the pulpit ought to have bestowed upon it before the
preacher commits it to the heart and consciences of his hearers. But
the singing and the organ here were delightful. Of the notes of the
organ I may say as Sterne said of Maria's music — " they were the
sweetest notes I ever heard;" and of the singing, it flowed in that
sweet and captivating melody, which we think would fall from angels'
lips. After service at the Magdalen Chapel we went to Hyde Park :
but I forgot to mention one thing respecting Magdalen Chapel. I think
its form is well adapted both for hearing and seeing the preacher. It
is octagonal, thus: (a ground plan in pen and ink is here given.)
" The Magdalens have a screen of green stuff before them; their dress
appears to be uniform, and is, I understand, the same as prevailed
when the institution was commenced : their hats are of this form, as
may be distinctly enough seen through the screen. (A sketch of the
head-dress.) I understand the number in the Hospital is about eighty.
" Now for Hyde Park 1 We lunched at a pastrycook's shop on the
way: at half-past two we arrived in the Corner. Mr. Morrison of the
Team* came in soon after us, and talked about half-an-hour. Still
there was no throng; we therefore walked to Kensington Gardens, and
quite around them. These gardens should be called a park; as
the place abounds in fine trees, and not any part of it is now in
garden ground. The Palace there is a contemptible building of
brick. The horse-chestnuts were still in full flower, amd the most
richly -blossomed trees I ever beheld. The thorns, too, which are large, are
beginning to throw out their blossoms and perfumes most charmingly.
The day has been hot, and from Kensington Gardens along the upper
part of Hyde Park the heat and dust were almost insupportable; still,
however, the stream of London population' flowed heedlessly through
these inconveniences. When we reached the Park, near the head of
* A place near Gateshead.
e2

244 MEMOIR OF THE REV, JOHN HODGSON.
Oxford Street, it was a moving sea of veils, hats, and parasols before
us The carriages, in two rows, stood immovably for ten minutes, the
way before and behind them being choked up : — but it is folly to run
into descriptions of things that cannot be described. The crowd, it was
observed, was greater than had ever been seen excepting during the
time that the Allied Sovereigns were in London. The object of attrac
tion was the Persian ambassador ; he was mounted on a most beautiful
grey horse of the Arab tribe, the fullest chested animal I ever saw.
His dress was a close gown with long sleeves of ruby velvet; his cap
lofty and of a sort of sable fur ; he had three attendants, each mounted
on fine Arabian horses, but men of rather a shabby and certainly
dirty appearance; their seat — for saddle, according to our ideas, it
was not — was a sort of carpeting, but small, and gave you the idea of a
bit of hearth-rug. Their stirrups were short, consequently their position
on horseback not graceful. His Excellency seems to be of the real
Tartar race ; he is about fifty, a strong robust man with a very thick
and black beard, and his eyes are set in his head in the cat-like way in
which the eyes of the Chinese stand. This figure will give the children
a correct idea enough of him (a sketch in the margin of the letter). He
was attended by an English gentleman, with whom he was in earnest
and apparently amusing conversation, as he frequently laughed to
great excess, shaking his short thick stick over the gentleman's head.
" As we came out of the Park we met with Mr. and Mrs. John
Hawks and Mr. and Mrs. Brumell — the gentleman whom you will
remember me visiting at Kibblesworth. He wished us to go to dinner
with him, which I declined, with the view of going to another place.
After dining at an eating-house at six, my brother and I therefore went
to the Foundling Hospital. It was the anniversary day of the institu
tion, and above thirty boys and girls were there who had served their
apprenticeship " faithfully and honestly," and came back to return
thanks for the advantages they had derived from being nurtured and
educated in this excellent institution. The preacher's name was Mr.
Pitman, and his text was Luke xvii. 17, ' Were there not ten cleansed ?
but where are the nine ? there are not returned to give glory to God save
this stranger.' The sermon was well adapted to the occasion, well
delivered, and altogether a piece of excellent composition.
" Now, my dear, I purpose coming hence about the conclusion of this
week or the beginning of next. Still I expect to effect something
more useful respecting the Chapel ; and should I be delayed beyond the
week end, I hope no serious inconvenience will arise from it; the worst

LONDON — LETTERS TO MRS. HODGSON. 245
part of the matter is that my money is fast exhausting, and I cannot
find in my heart to ask for more. My weekly expenses, now that I
have got, as it were, into the method of the place, amount to about
30s. which I think must be considered moderate. If, however, you
think you could get a few pounds from Mr. Jameson, and desire your
father to send it to me through Sir M. W. Ridley's bank, I shall bring
it back if I do not want it. I hope you will receive this by Thursday,
but I will not come off till I have an answer from you. I now feel sure
that my work will answer to me.
" May 17th. I am waiting of a note to inclose with this from Mary
Wylam, and fear she is going to put me late, as I have to be at Brown's
office in the city early this morning.
" I hope you have the same sort of glorious weather that we have
here. There is considerable abundance of green peas in Covent garden
market this morning. Gooseberries are 4d. a quart.
" I have given myself no time to correct the blunders of this letter.
" Assure your father that I will not stay here a moment longer than
I think I am spending my time to advantage. But I hope his health is
such, that in these long and fine days he will be able to amuse himself,
and to pass his time with enjoyment.
" My compliments and affection to him, your mother and sisters, and
love and tenderness to thee and our dear children. From thine, my
dear Jane, " John Hodgson."
" 11, Upper King Street, Bloomsbury, 17th May, 1819.
" My Dear Jane,
" In a letter which I despatched this morning I expressed a wish
to be supplied with a few more pounds: but your anxiety and care for
me have gone before my wishes ; and I beg that you will thank your
father for the indulgence which he offers me. I shall draw upon him,
but not till about the time I am coming away, as I am not yet without
money, having about il. left.
" I have been so miserable in my feet that this morning I have bought
four pairs of very fine raven-gray worsted stockings, from which I find
a great relief, — they are a sort that are not worn at present, inasmuch
as boots and pantaloons have superseded the use of fine stockings ; and
on that account the dealer only charged me 14s. for the whole. I gave
at the same house 16s. for a pair of silk ones, though I might have had
silk stockings large enough for me for 8s. a pair; but they were thinner
than gauze at the heel.

246 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
" After losing two hours at the Museum by waiting for Mary Wy lam's
note, I went to the Messrs. Brown's office * (the owners of Jarrow), in
Fenchurch Street ; as they were not within, I left a note, requesting they
would give me a hearing respecting the chapel. Being so far on the
way, I thought it a good opportunity to visit the mercantile docks, and
accordingly got Mr. John Hawks to accompany me to Blackwall. We
had refreshment on board an Indiaman from Calcutta. I got as curiosi
ties two East India Gazettes dated in November last; they are curious
on account of the paper on which they are printed, and in containing
advertisements in three languages.
" The governors of Morpeth School have written to me to procure
them an office copy of their Charter, which has been discovered in the
Tower since I came to London.
" Without referring to your letter, I suppose the mistake about your
father coming to London originated with me. You said, I think, ' that
your father talked of coming up as soon as he got a part of his throng
over,' and that ' coming up ' I now see was only to High Heworth.
" I often sit with amazement here when I think how quiet I am in
the midst of so many hundred thousand people, and how I have got so
far from home apparently without any trouble or exertion.
" What trouble you have taken in copying the account of Mitchell's
funeral ! Sir J. E. Swinburne thinks Mr. Turner did imprudently,!
because Mitchell  ; and so all the Newcastle
people think, whom I have heard speak about it. But ' let the dead
bury their dead,' and let us be ready always to obey the command,
' Follow thou me.'
" May 18th. I have had six hours' work at the Brinkburn Register J
to-day in the British Museum, and am now going to dine with Sir R,
S. Hawks.
* The presentation to the living of Jarrow is in turns. The next turn belonged to
this family.
t " 1819, April 21th. Died at his house at Chimney-Mills, on the Leazes near
Newcastle, Mr. John Mitchell, editor and printer of the Tyne Mercury, aged 47
years. April 29th, his remains were interred at the foot of the garden of his residence.
The procession was conducted in the usual manner, and a numerous assemblage of
friends attended the body to the grave. The funeral service was read in a most im
pressive manner from the reformed liturgy of Dr. Lindsey, by the Rev. William
Turner, of Hanover Square (Unitarian) chapel, who also delivered an address suited to
the occasion." Local Historian's Table Book.
% Transcripts only. The original Chartulary was then at Stowe, in the possession
of the Duke of Buckingham. It is now buried in Lord Ashburnham's collection.

LONDON — LETTERS TO MRS. HODGSON. 247
" Our party this evening consisted of Sir R. Hawks and Lady Hawks,
his two sons, Mr. Shield the composer, Mr. Purvis (a young barrister,*
and son of Mr. Purvis of Earsdon), and Mr. Tully, a musician. This
last gentleman plays delightfully on the horn. He amused the company
with many curious imitations of performers — especially he mimicked
with great success, with a walking-stick to finger upon, the playing of a
foreigner on a flute; and Catalani's singing, on the horn, on which instru
ment he also played the Thorn, the music of which is by Mr. Shield.
" This Mr. Shield I told you was born at Whickham, and has risen to
fill the highest situation in his way in the kingdom, namely, that of
leader of H. M. band. He talks about Jarrow church with great
reverence and enthusiasm.
" My dear Jane, I will not stay an hour longer here than I think it
prudent to stay. I would have been with you before this, if I had any
prospect of coming back again ; but as I have no early view of such an
event, I think it right to learn as much of this wonderful place, as I
think every one, who has a public situation in the country, ought to
have some knowledge of, and that little cannot be had by a mere super
ficial glance.
" The little boys about London are all getting dandy-horses, for such
seems at present the name of the Velocipede: I wish Richard and
John could see one of them ; as for Richard, he would never know how
to guide it, but John, I think, in a year or two's time, will be able to
master it, though it will move only on level ground.
" Jane and San must have dolls, and I have seen a shop in Cranbourne
alley where I will call for one before I come away ; they have very
beautiful eyes, and some of them can, I dare say, do anything but eat and
talk ; Jane's shall be a very clever one and San's very pretty.
" As for Bessy, I think she must have a little workbox, or something
of that nature. She is too big a girl to want a mere plaything.
" I hope both Bessy and Richard are plying at their Catechism, and
that they get up a portion of it every night, and say it to mamma at
breakfast every morning. They would receive each a nice set of copy-
heads by the last pacquet ; to which Sir R. Hawks said he added several
other things.
" The shades of another evening, my dear, are over us : it is eleven>
and I hope you and our dear children are all well and sound asleep.
" There has been a very strong debate, as you will see in the papers,
* This gentleman in a later period made himself very useful to Mr. Hodgson in
making transcripts for his use from the British Museum. See hereafter.

24& MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
in the House of Lords, on the Catholic Claims. I lament that I have
not been towards the Strand to get a paper for your father, as I am told
that several of the speeches are excellent.
" May 19th. It is a month, my dear, this morning since I left you, — a
long month to us both : an eventful one to me, for I have seen more
in it than through all the rest of my life.
" We have had very hot weather for ten days. At 12 o'clock last
night it began to rain, and has continued to do so, at intervals, very
heavily, till this time, nine o'clock.
" In returning from my dinner this evening I bought a New Times
newspaper, and sent it to your father, which I hope he has received; it
contained the debates on Mr.Tierney's motion on the state of the nation.
" There is a general supposition that the milk used in London is a
composition ; that it is first diluted with water, and then thickened with
some white substance. Be it as it may, it is a very clever and excellent
thing. I see nothing bad in London excepting their veal, which is
neither beef nor veal, but a tough hard substance Very unlike either,
and like nothing but itself in badness. London is a most disagreeable
place in wet weather; the streets are so dirty in the crossings, and there
are such unceasing successions of umbrellas on the flags (or pavements,
as they call the side-paths here), that it is both disagreeable and labori
ous to make one's way through the crowded parts of the town in the
rain. To-day about 3 o'clock the atmosphere was so dark that I could
scarcely go on with my work in the Museum.
" I have not yet been to the House of Commons, but will see Mr.
Ellison on Saturday morning for an order which he offered me some
time since.
"I think I have some cold about me, and am therefore anxious to get
to bed. Though my health is very good, yet I have had a sort of stiff
ness and soreness in my back for some days, which make me both
incapable and un wishful to walk about. Good night, my love, good
night! " May 20th. I have been breakfasting with Mr. Purvis, a young
barrister, and son of Mr. Purvis, of Earsdon, at his chambers in
Lincoln's Inn. He is a very open and right thinking young man, and I
hope will succeed in his profession.
" Under a very heavy rain — that is, a thick, dark, drenching London
drizzle, a thing far worse than a Scotch mist, I have been wandering
about the town for four hours. The rain overtook me in Leicester
Square, where I looked about for a place to shelter in, and took refuge

LONDON — LETTERS TO MRS. HODGSON. 249
in Miss Linwood's gallery of pictures, done in needlework ; and it is
a very curious and excellent collection of pictures, all of which are
copied by herself from the works of eminent artists. The colours are
most happily and harmoniously blended ; in the dresses especially it has
a most happy effect.
" The rain continuing, I called on Barnes, the dealer in papers printed
for the Houses of Parliament, with a hope of procuring copies of the
Population, Charitable Donations Returns, &c. &c, but did not meet
with him at home. Sir J. Swinburne I found engaged at his house in
Grosvenor Place, Hyde Park Corner, with a brace of lawyers. His
brother, in Bury Street, St. James', was gone out. Mr. Ellison was also
gone out, so that all my calls at that end of the town were fruitless.
After leaving an advertisement respecting my work on Northumberland,
at Mr. Nichols's office, in Fleet Street, I proceeded to the Heralds'
College, Bennett's Hill, near St. Paul's, and was most civilly received
by Mr. Young,* one of the officers of that ancient corporation. I had
letters to him from Mr. Surtees, of Mainsforth,f and from Mr. Bentley, a
partner in the house of Nichols and Co., proprietors of the Gentleman's
Magazine. He has promised to supply me with any documents their
office affords, and that gratis: which I cannot but consider as a very
great indulgence, especially when I am aware that he has taken upon
himself a great deal of labour and drudgery.
" I forgot to say that at the request of, and by the advice of Sir J. E.
Swinburne, I left a card at the Duke of Northumberland's house in St.
James's Square, thanking his grace for the facilities which he has been
pleased to offer me in collecting materials for my History of Northum
berland. Having got all matters arranged at that quarter, I have, there
fore, sent an advertisement to the Gentleman's Magazine, and am to
have copies of it to circulate among my friends here, before I commit
myself to the mercy of the ocean.
" I saw the Guards to-day march into the Park. Richard and John
should have been there to have seen the beautiful dresses of the officers,
especially of the Polish Lancers ; the feathers of their caps are very
bright and magnificent — they appear like those of the bird of paradise,
but the wetness of the morning made them droop. If the boys should
ask what sort of appearance these fine men make, mamma can let
them see one of them on the other side ; though Richard must not ask
what sort of an animal the soldier is mounted upon, if papa does not
* Now Garter King of Arms, of whom much hereafter.
f See Memoir of Mr. Surtees, (Surt. Soc.) p. 386.

250 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
succeed in doing, what he has never yet succeeded in, that of drawing
a horse. (A sketch with the pen.)
" The dress of the Lancers is intended to have the appearance of
ancient armour, and the officers are narrowed at the waist, and sit as stiff
and upright as if they were cased in a jerkin of steel. There is a very
good French caricature of two Cossack soldiers preparing a young Russian
officer for the parade: he is seated upon a stool, and they have passed
a sort of swathing band of great length once round his body, and are
each of them puliing with all his might to tighten it : but I apprehend
this sort of dandyism is going out, except in the army, where it com
menced and is fixed as long as the order stands for the present sort of
dress. Indeed, the present sort of tightness and tidyness, which pre
vails in the army dresses, is, I think, suitable enough in the soldier —
he should be finely and smartly dressed, especially in London and in
the present time, when he is of little more use than to be looked at, and
admired either on account of his person or his dress ; and as every
soldier cannot boast of a good combination of personal perfections, it is
right that his dress should be such as to make up in show that which
is deficient in the attraction of his person. A soldier in the park, or on
parade-ground before the Horse Guards, is certainly one of the cleanest
and best dressed animals in the creation ; especially when he has risen
while young to the dignity of two epaulettes, and has the privilege of
plenty of goldlace to cover the seams of his coat and his pantaloons-
But dandyism in Bond Street is taking quite a different turn : the man
of fashion is now in some degree a negligee, in appearance partly a
male and partly a female, for his pantaloon is gathered into his waist
band, so as to have the appearance of a petticoat under the waistcoat;
and the coat itself is made full before, tight in the waist, and with very
wide gathers about the hips, so that the animal that moves in this sort of
habiliment does appear at a distance to be a thing of doubtful gender.
I will attempt to draw one. (A sketch, front and back view, with
the pen.)
" Here now you have one of the exquisites both before and behind.
I cannot say whether they came before or followed after the Persian
Ambassador; but I have no doubt but the Eastern trouser and
mustachio have caught the affections of the European beaux: but
whether they were first smitten in Paris and sent the distemper to
London, or London does not owe this fashion to Paris, I do not know,
as among the numerous inquiries I have to make, and the questions I

LONDON— LETTERS TO MRS. HODGSON. 251
have to ask, I have hitherto neglected to inquire into this very import
ant matter.
" I have dined with Sir R. S. Hawks, and Robert has been with me
some time this evening.
" Nothing in London is more astonishing than the great exertions of
every person connected with trade, especially that of the mechanics;
their hours of labor are very long; Robert works from six till nine,
that is, three hours' overwork. It is the same almost in every trade.
Here, if you are astir to see it, you find shops open at six in the
morning and at eleven at night. The booksellers have a very hard
life ; they have to labour immensely. Comparatively speaking, we, who
live in the country, are only half alive; but the consequence of this
overstrained exertion seems to me to be this, that the constitution of
the population is perpetually wearing out, and that if very large
supplies of fresh people were not always poured into it, the present
labourers would sink under their load. It is not the climate of London
that annually kills so many, it is an over attention to their employ
ment ; they have too little relaxation ; their hours are divided between
sleep and labour, no time is allowed for breathing in the open air, and
for relieving the mind from its constant and intense application to one
definite subject. The system pursued is such as will always tend to
enrich a few, whom nature has blessed with constitutions and abilities
stronger than the rest; but I question much that it tends to general
happiness, because I think it has a greater number of miseries attending
it than a less laborious, less hazardous, and less anxious life in the
country. " I am afraid I shall not be able to get a frank for this letter before
Sunday, on which day I intend to call upon Mr. Ellison and breakfast
with him.
" But after this letter arrives I must deprive myself of the pleasure
of receiving any more letters from you, as I hope to be at Sea before
they can possibly reach me.
" This evening I had a note from Mr. Thomas Brown, fixing twelve
o'clock to-morrow to meet him respecting the chapel.
" My prayers to God for the happiness of you and your infant family
shall not, my dear, be forgotten: God bless you all! and though I am
not personally with you to say good night into your ear, yet my good
wishes, my affection, and my blessing, are never absent from you.
" May 21st. Friday. After breakfast I walked to the Paragon in the

252 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
Kent Road, about three miles from this place, and immediately returned
in company with Mr. Atkinson by Blackfriars Bridge, through the
Temple to Lincoln's Inn, where I called upon Mr. Clayton to thank him
for the interest and trouble he took for me with the Governors of Queen
Anne's Bounty. As we came through Lincoln's Inn Fields a tremen
dous thunder-shower drove us for shelter under the portico of the
College of Surgeons. I returned to my lodgings, and then walked into
Fenchurch Street (about two miles) to wait on Mr. Brown. At first I
found him, as I expected, jealous and cold, and afraid of committing
himself He was afraid the division of the parish would make altera
tions in the divisions for the maintenance of the poor ; and much of such
other unreasonable objections I had to explain away, and by openness
and candour I at length got him to promise to meet Mr. Ellison on the
subject this day next week; sooner he could not; so you see it will he
next Sunday morning before I can possibly get off, as I am determined
to have final answers respecting the chapel before I leave, for there is
nothing to be done here by letter on the subject. Next week will
finish all I have to do for myself, and I shall be hard enough driven to
do it.
" After leaving Mr. Brown, I called at Mr. Lysons's office in the
Tower, but was not fortunate enough to find him. Then I went into
the Coal Exchange ; there was nobody there whom I knew. In Upper
Thames Street I inquired for Mr. Nichol : soon found him, and with him
his brother-in-law Mr. Graham, and Strachan, a captain of one of the
traders, who told me he had seen your father twice last Saturday, and,
what was more gratifying than anything I had heard since I came here,
that he appeared very well and was very hearty. In my way to King's
Street I had my plate of boiled beef and a piece of cheese in the Old
Bailey, and after all this ramble had a full hour's work in the Museum.
Since four o'clock I have visited Priestley the bookseller's shop, and,
excepting'two volumes of sermons, have bought the only book I have
ventured to covet since I came here, — it is Benson's edition of Somner's
Saxon Dictionary, a work which I have long wanted, and the only one
which I think of purchasing; it cost 11. 7s., and is in no great bulk,
being very scarce.
" Since I got new stockings my feet have kept in excellent order.
'' After a very long and heavy rain, the sky has this afternoon cleared
up, and the weather appears settled.
" As I hope to get this letter franked to-morrow or Sunday, I shall close
it this evening, noticing to you, that you will have another chance of

LONDON — LETTERS TO MRS. HODGSON. 253
gratifying me with a letter, if this reaches you by Monday. If you do
not get it before Wednesday, I fear I may not be to be found on the
morning of Saturday the 29th, on which day a letter posted on the
Thursday before nine would reach me.
" Here, my dear, is the last side of another portion of a very care
lessly written journal. If I should relate all I see it would take up
more leisure than I can spare, and leave us nothing to talk about when
I come home.
" I hoped to have been able to have sent you a proof of the Pro
spectus of my History, but I have not received a copy of it yet from
the printer.
•' If you chance to see Mr. Russell or Mr. Snowdon, you may say to
them that I wished to mention to them that I now have very sanguine
hopes of getting Heworth made an independent parish, and that I am
waiting till I am certain whether the division will take place or not, to
ask for money to assist in building the chapel, as it would be in vain to
ask for money before I have grounds and plans sufficiently digested to
prove to the trustees of the fund, to which I confidently look for assist
ance, that our scheme is a settled and practicable scheme.
" Now, my dear, to say in my own style, finally, let me entreat you
to take care of yourself. You have never yet said to me how you are.
To your father be so good as to say, that if I have a prosperous voyage,
God willing, I will be with him and see him smoke a pipe of Oronooko
by the second of June. My love to him, your mother, and sisters ; and
to thee, my dear Jane, and the children, my tenderest affections.
Always thine, " John Hodgson."
" My DEAE JANE, 11, Upper King Street, Bloomsbury, May 22nd, 1819.
" Mr. Allason, of Heddon-on-the-Wall, breakfasted with me this
morning, as also did Mr. Purvis of Lincoln's Inn. Between ten and
eleven I was fearful the weather was going to continue wet, but after a
heavy shower it cleared up, and to-day has been remarkably pleasant.
At eleven I called on Mr. Ellison, and made arrangements with him
respecting his interview with Mr. Brown on Friday.
" After that I called at Nichols's office (the printer), and was
astonished to find that the advertisements on the back of the Gentle
man's Magazine pay duty, and that my prospectus will cost three
guineas. Indeed I am not certain but I will countermand the order to
morrow morning ; though it is certain, I cannot have it so well or so

254 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
widely diffused over the kingdom in any other way, as the Gentleman's
Magazine is read almost entirely by antiquaries, and such country
gentlemen as have a taste for local history.
" From Mr. Nichols's office I went to Mr. Lysons's chambers in the
King's Bench Walk ; but not finding him there, I proceeded towards the
Tower, where I waited till he arrived. He showed me the Charter of
Morpeth School, which was endowed by King Edward the Sixth with
certain lands that had belonged to Chantries, &c. in Morpeth. It is
beautifully emblazoned, and has the seal of Edward attached, but, as
the document has been inrolled, Mr. Lysons could not permit me to
take a copy of it, because the copy of it in the Chapel of the Rolls is of
greater force in legal matters than the original itself, after that original
has been in the hands of its proper keepers, namely, the burgesses of
Morpeth. " Mr. Lysons showed me the room in the White Tower where the
main body of the records is kept. The first room is the chapel and the
second the great council chamber. It would be impossible to attempt
to describe them to you ; it is sufficient to say I was gratified with the
order and care in which they are preserved.
" It was at least curious to be shown some letters in the handwriting
of some of the Kings of England ; one especially of Richard the Third,
written with great spirit and freedom. Shakespeare has made him elo
quent, a great master of words and argument, but perhaps not more
great in that way than he really was.
" After being very politely offered to have any extracts out of these
records gratuitously for my History, I left Mr. Lysons and proceeded to
the office of the Tower guards, to get an attendant to show me the
Tower armour, with the sight of which I was greatly delighted. The
horse armour was to me not novel, but curious, especially the three
hundred cuirasses of the French soldiers taken at Waterloo. But of all
the astonishing sights I ever saw that of the muskets and other small
arms is the greatest. There is a small room into which you are first
shown that contains the volunteers' arms, the other room is 345
feet long, and 60 feet wide, and completely piled with highly polished
armour, arranged in the most beautiful manner.
" To see all these sights cost me 6s. 6d. It was nearly five as I came
through the archway of the Tower, and 1 had to dress and afterwards
dine at six at Nottingham Place, in the New Road, Paddington — a thing
impracticable without the assistance of other legs than my own : I ac
cordingly took a hackney coach in Cheapside, and after dressing,

LONDON — LETTERS TO MRS. HODGSON. 255
another to Nottingham Place, which cost me 4s. 6d. It is by expenses
of this kind that the money is drawn from one's pocket in London, not
so much by expenses of board and lodging. Of the party with whom
I dined was Mr. Blanchard, a very sensible man, serious, quiet, and
endowed, apparently, with great correctness and liberality of thinking.
He told me he is the great grandson of Roger Gale, and the great nephew
of Dr. Stukeley, two names ever memorable in the list of English anti
quaries. Of the other party I know little, excepting that I have forgot
the names of two of them and the other is called Miss Dalley : they are
from Ireland ; and greatly against the Catholics. I think the gentle
man's name is Godby. His wife is Miss Dalley's sister ; they are very
accomplished people, staunch Protestants, and connected by blood or
marriage with most of the great families in Ireland.
" I suppose the great fall in the Stocks will make great noise in the
country ; but by judicious persons it is considered purely artificial.
Your father will rejoice to hear that Lord Castlereagh is seriously, as I
hear, determined to try for a new property tax.
" But I am writing about things which will be old news when this
letter reaches you. O ! how I long to be at home I I am truly sick of
being here. And yet I must fag another week.
" Bromley in Kent, May 23rd. This morning my brother and I
came here on the stage. It was highly gratifying to observe on our
way the great improvement the country had made since the 9th, on
which day I first visited this place. The late rains had greatly refreshed
the country. We arrived just in time for church. The clergyman
preached from ' If ye love me keep my commandments, and I will pray
the Father and he shall send you another Comforter.' Before dinner I
sat with my aunt about two hours : she is at her own house, but con
fined to her bed of the gout, which was brought on by over anxiety for
her daughter Mrs. Richard Rawes, in the beginning of this month.
She is, however, recovering and in good spirits. Her memory is still
astonishingly accurate — as well in present matters as those which
occurred 60 years ago. She remembers all the people in Bampton
in Westmerland, where she was born, much better than I do, and
brought many things back to my memory which with me would for
ever have sunk into oblivion, but for the conversation I had with her.
" After dining with Mr. Palmer we had a stroll in Mr. Rawes'
shrubbery; it is a deep narrow dell with fishponds in the middle.
One side partly in garden, and one side partly in grass, with filberts,
flowering shrubs, &c. The other side is covered with tall forest trees and

256 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
underwooded with laurel in great health. On the brow of the hill on
one side of this shady retreat is a boarding school for ladies, which
belongs to the lay Rector of Bromley, the Bishop of Rochester, and
which is rented and sub-let by Mr. Rawes. It was about 8 o'clock
when we were here, and close to us, but not that I could discern it, we
listened to the " Sweet bird that shuns the noise of folly,
Most musical, most melancholy."
I was charmed with the variety and sweetness of its notes; but still
there were too many pipes of the woodland choir playing their evening
service to hear its warbling in its fullest charms ; and I reluctantly left
the sweet abode of music and gratitude, with the hope of visiting it be
fore bed time : but at ten the night became wet and I was disappointed.
" Bromley. The country around this place is very beautiful, though
they tell me not so much as about Tunbridge and the hop country. I
have made this sketch out of my aunt's breakfast-room window. (A
sketch with the pen.) It represents garths behind her garden; then a
gentleman's house, and beyond in the distance two seats in a country
which appears to be wholly wooded.
'' There is not much hay cut. My cousin, Mr. Rawes, has had one
field down for a week, and in very unfavourable weather. Several fields
between this place and London are much laid by the late rains.
" London, May 24th. We came from Bromley at eight, and I got
here at ten. The wind is N.E., and the weather not cold but wet and
gloomy. At ten I went to the Museum, where I staid till four, and Mr.
Atkinson and a Mr. Murray and two daughters came at four, and got
me to go through the galleries with them.
" I have employed a person to copy for me in the Museum, and after
I get a specimen from him shall be able to judge, whether it will be of
advantage or not to commission him to transcribe for me such parts as
I may write for from home.
" After dining to-day I came home by West Smithfield, Saffron Hill,
Liquorpond Street, and Theobald's Road. Saffron Hill is quite as elegant
as Sandgate, Newcastle ; it is full of shops for old iron, old clothes, and all
sorts of rags and fragments. The people who tenant it seem poor and
wretched. No person can judge of the true condition of London who
does not look into places like this: what a contrast between splendour
and filth! The shops of the Strand and Cheapside glitter with gold:
Saffron Hill and the adjoining streets are set out with rusted iron

LONDON — LETTERS TO MRS. HODGSON. 257
implements, great quantities of which are second-hand things, exposed
to sale for use, as they are not for working up.
" The College at Bromley is a very excellent establishment for the
widows and children of clergymen. Each. family has a comfortable
suite of apartments. Miss Shepherd, who edited her father's work on
the Common Prayer, and which you will find in new binding among my
books, lives with her mother in this establishment, and came up in the
same coach with me this morning.
" If you go to church in London there appears such attention to the
duties of the place, and in general such numerous congregations, that
you would suppose that the whole population of the place was influenced
by the purest and most zealous devotion. In the theatres they appear
to be in everlasting attendance, and given up to licentiousness and
folly. In the most public streets all appears to be wealth, gaiety, and
happiness — in the back lanes and alleys you see nothing but nastiness,
wretchedness, and discontent. It is a place, like all others, made up of
people in all conditions of life: but great magnificence and extreme
poverty stand in more conspicuous opposition here than in any other
part of the kingdom.
'' I have been nearly five weeks here, and during all that time have only
peeped out into the country three or four times. I say peeped out, for
even the journey to Bromley, which is called ten miles out of London,
is almost the whole way a sort of street, and people at all times swarm
upon the road more thickly than they do in the streets of many pro
vincial towns.
" I am sure you are longing for my arrival, and I know well enough
that something or other, on account of my absence, is occurring daily of
a vexatious nature; but you, kindly enough, have kept them from me.
Five or six days elapsed, and I shall be on my way home. By Wed
nesday or Thursday, if a tide answers in the day-time, how glad would
I be to be set on shore at your father's, and meet thee, my dear, and
our dear children there. Again I give the melancholy but affectionate
salutation of Good night, my love, good night!
May 25th. I scarcely know whether I shall or not find anything to
write about this morning. I expected Mr. Atkinson would have called
on me at the Museum at twelve to-day, to let me have some money, as I
mentioned my intention to him of drawing for some, and he would not
permit me, saying he would see me to-day about twelve and let me have
as much as I might want: but, as the morning was wet till about eleven
I suppose he did not come up to town. to-day.
s

258 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
" In the morning I wrote to the Bishop, inclosing a copy of the
Prospectus of my History, and also sent one to Mr. Askew. You will
see by the copy which I will forward to you with this letter that I have
neither dealt out long and large professions, nor cramped my plan with
too many explanations.
" I have been at the Museum from ten till four, and have met with
several very interesting papers, some of them as old as the time of
Richard the First ; and one in particular, which contains the characters
of most of the gentlemen of Northumberland, sent to King Henry VIII.
by a ' Mr. Browne ;' some of them are . called ' sharp borderers.' Sir
Francis Ratcliffe is styled ' a wise councellor, but no adventurer in
the field.'
*' Mr. Smith has left a note and his address, saying he wishes to see
me, and that you had given him my direction, and that you are all
well. I have fixed twelve to-morrrow for him to meet me here.
" The most provoking thing in London is the shortness of the hours
of business ; I can get into no public office before ten or after four. If I
could only have been in the Museum twelve hours a day, my work would
have been soon completed.
'' I have laid out three shillings in catalogues of the Queen's effects
which have been exposed for sale. You will think them very amusing,
and I am sure your mother will not readily lay them down after she has
once had a sight of them.
" This evening, after writing the above, I went to Sir R. Hawks, and,
not finding any of the family at home, I tried his'brother John's lodgings,
where were Mr. and Mrs. Brumell. To solitary individuals, as I am at
present, I can well enough conceive that the various theatres and places
of public amusement with which this place abounds may serve as
antidotes against that faculty of the human mind which some consider,
and in many certainly is, a disease, namely that of turning its opera
tions upon itself, of reviewing its own state, volitions, and intentions, and
with these connecting outward circumstances, such as fame, disgrace-,
adversity, prosperity and the like. When these are such as the mind
cannot review but with sensations of pain and despondency, it naturally
flies off to something which may divert its operations to things uncon
nected with itself and its affairs ; and for this purpose, the exhibitions
of the theatre, like stimulants taken into the stomach, afford a temporary
relief, and if returned to, fix into habits.
" It is on this account, I think, that every person ought to form in
themselves, at an early period of life, habits of filling up their leisure

LONDON — LETTERS TO MRS. HODGSON. 259
hours with rational employments. And amongst these are those con
nected with religion, science, and literature. Painting, and some other
of the arts, may be also reckoned amongst them. Religion, of all the
employments of the human mind, is that which a worldly mind goes
to the last, and in which it has the least knowledge. But to one who can
see things rightly, it, religion, connects itself with all useful and elegant
reasoning. He who would study the philosophy of our planet, its air,
and variations, and seasons, and connect these with religion, will have
enough to fill his mind with triumphs of delight, in the visions and
assurances which he will have of the goodness of God. And then what
is the study of Natural History, or the kinds, and economies, and habits
of organized nature, but a searching into the depths both of the wisdom
and the goodness of God ?
" For my own part, were I to choose one of two unavoidable alter
natives, I had much rather be seized with some powerful phantasy and
live, as it is said our venerable sovereign is living, upon the memory of
passed and visionary things, but without a consciousness of right and
wrong, than be condemned to sicken my mind night after night upon the
feverous and unwholesome folly of the theatre.
" I have been two hours at the Museum, and Mr. Atkinson is not
arrived: but fortunately I have got 10/., of Sir R. Hawks, with which
I can pay Mr. Nichols, who on Monday morning sent a stamped receipt
for the three guineas expense which I have incurred with him by
advertising my History. 
" At two o'clock I called at the Tower for a copy of the Morpeth
School Charter, for which I paid 11. 10s. As I went out of Lower
Thames Street, I met James Burrell, and was sorry to find that George
Wood would sail to-day ; as I should have preferred coming home by
him to being stewed up in a trader.
" At half-past four I dined in Pentonville with Mr. Rawes of Surrey
Street, in which last place he has merely a shop. The particulars
of our banquet I shall explain when I come home, everything not being
easily described on paper.
" Robert came to me at half-past eight at my lodgings, and left me at
half-past ten. You wish he would come down with me: but he cannot
be released from his business for three or four months.
" I have nothing more to add to this day's observations. Adieu.
" May 27th. The day of the Venerable Bede; and, should I live to
see the 27th of May a Sunday, I trust I shall not forget to compose a
S2

260 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
sermon and preach it, on the excellency of that ornament of Jarrow and
the human race.
" I have breakfasted with Mrs. Smith in Clipstone Street. She begs
to be kindly remembered to you.
" Only two hours in the Museum to-day. At twelve I called on some
business at a stoneprinter's in Lincoln's Inn Fields, and then gradually
worked my way down to Mr. Brown's office in Fenchurch Street, where,
to my surprise and vexation, I found that Mr. Thomas Brown was not
returned, being detained in the Trinity Barge at Gravesend, and unable
to finish his voyage on account of contrary winds. Mr. Nichol, how
ever, tells me that I cannot get a ship till Monday or Tuesday; but I
shall disappoint him if I can, and be off on Saturday: but more of this
before I finish this letter, as I cannot get it franked to-day, and it
cannot be posted before Saturday.
" Should I not eventually succeed in my desire of getting a new
church, I trust I shall stand blameless before my parishioners either of
supineness or neglect in the matter, as I have really laboured hard to
effect my object.
" Before I went to Church Row, Fenchurch Street, I walked up
Houndsditch and through some of the streets that lead out of it, for the
purpose of observing the features and habits of the Jews that inhabit
that part of the City.
"It is a very curious, and to me a reflection full of the deepest
interest; it is rather awful than pleasing- to reflect how long this family.
of the human race have, by lawrs and customs peculiar to themselves,
been hedged out from the rest of mankind, and to see how they still
differ in their features from the rest of their species. How is it that
the different families of mankind have through all the ages of authentic
history preserved their peculiar cast of countenance, and yet that no new
varieties have originated? Or is it, and perhaps it is the case, that the
variety is indefinite, and not to be counted; and that if a new family
from England, for instance, with some peculiarity even in one feature of
their countenance, was to settle in an untenanted country, it would pro
pagate a people strikingly different from the general body of the people
from whom it had migrated, and yet be various among themselves in the
form and cast of their visages.
" I have been dining with Mr. Brumell at 77, Baker Street, Portman
Square. There was a French gentleman in the party with whom John
Hawks got acquainted while travelling in the Pyrenees last summer,

LONDON — LETTERS TO MRS. HODGSON. 261
and with whom he met yesterday at his own door, a few hours after his
first arrival in London.
" I have been very well lately. No return of the spasmodic pains
in my stomach. I still, however, hope that my passage by sea may
have a good effect upon my general health, by removing that bilious
affection which I have not resolution to combat by medicines which
would have the same effect as a sea voyage.
" By to-morrow evening I hope I shall be able to say when I shall be
liberated. "May 29th. I must be very brief to-day. In the morning I went to see
after several little trifles. At one, Mr. Atkinson came to me at the
Museum and gave me 15/. for which I gave him a check, of which you
will find a copy on the back of this letter, which be so good as to give
to your father as soon as possible, lest I may appear to have been doing
wrong, if Mr. A. should send the check home before he comes himself,
which I think is not likely.
" At two, I went to Mr. Gordon's, saw the house, and paid 11. 13s.
for a cheese, 2s. of which were for carriage to the wharf. The paintings
in this house are good ; the staircase superb : half of it was purchased at
a sale of the Duke de Chandois for 50,000/. and the other part made
here of Italian marble at the expense of 100,000/.: so that the whole,
as they say, cost 150,000/. I find, from persons who knew him, that
the late lord was no witch in understanding. Lord Berkeley was once
dining with him in a large party, when it was usual to drink wine until
they were mellow. Berkeley was a plain blunt John Bull, and had,
whether by design or accident I am not told, shot one or two game
keepers, and Chesterfield, under the warmth of wine, said ' Pray, my
Lord Berkeley, how long is it since you shot a game-keeper? ' ' Not
since you hanged your tutor, my lord ! ' was the reply. You know that
Lord Chesterfield brought Dr. Dodd to trial, in consequence of which he
was hanged.
" May 29th. Positively I intend to embark on board Mr. Cooper's
ship, which I understand will not be ready till Monday or Tuesday. 1
was at Astley's Theatre last night seeing the horsemanship. I went
with Lady Hawks, her son, and another gentleman, and was amused.
But if I have time I will continue this journal, and write on Monday.
With love to you, and the dear bairns, and the family at the Shore,
thine most truly, ' " John Hodgson."

262 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
" 11, Upper King Street, Bloomsbury, May 29th, 1819.
"My deae Jane,
" I am tired everyway ; with wandering about all day, and with
really being alone and so far from home.
" My first journey to-day was to Reed and Nichol's office on Dowgate
wharf, where I met Mr. Cooper of the Halcyon. He directed me to
have my things on board on Monday night, and not be later in embark
ing myself than seven on Tuesday morning. Mr. Reed is a Hexham
man, and showed me some antiquities found in that place, and several
urns from Girgenti in Sicily. From his place I went to see Mr. Pepys,
a friend of Davy's, * whom I once saw in company with him in New
castle : but I did not find him, though he heard I was in London and
had wished to see me.
" But I should have told you that in my way hence to Dowgate I
came through some of the lanes that adjoin Saffron Hill by the Hatton
Garden office, St. John's Gate, and the Guildhall, where I saw Gog and
Magog in company with Chatham and Mr. Pitt, all of them silent now,
though people that once made a great noise in the world. From the
Poultry, where Mr. Pepys resides, I journeyed to Moorfields by Finshury
Square, through a wilderness of streets, to call on Mr. Caley, Exmouth
Street, but he also was out. The way from this place led me past the
House of Correction for the County of Middlesex, into Guildford Street,
where I called on Miss Wylam. She supposed I had left London, and
had called here in my absence, to ascertain if that was the case ; she
intends to write by me.
" Since that time I have called at the Navy Pay office in the Strand,
being nearly two hours in the exhibition room in Somerset House, at
Prince and Bunting's in Pall Mall; dined in Panton Street at six;
traversed the shops in Cranbourne Alley ; threaded the intricacies of
the Seven Dials ; walked up Oxford Street, to Swallow Street, on one
side, down it on the other to Tottenham Court Road, and by that street
through Gower Street, Keppel Street, and Russell Square — home — tired
as a dog.
" I have not yet been able to please myself with two dolls, and fear
that I shall have great difficulty to execute a promise which I must
not break.
" The weather during the last week has been very cold; yesterday
* His friend Sir Humphry Davy, who during the whole of this visit appears to have
been out of town.

LONDON — LETTERS TO MRS. HODGSON. 263
and to-day have been quite peevish. On Wednesday I caught so much
cold as to be still uncomfortable with it. Soon after I got here we had
about eight days of hot weather, but since that it is quite as chilly as
it can be in the North. I wish for a fire.
" Every day when I am passing through the streets, I see a thousand
things which 1 think I will mention to you, but when I get to my rooms
I have forgot the whole ; one thing has often struck me, that if a person
of small income be fond of collecting curiosities he must come to
London, and take a survey of the shops that deal in such things before
he ventures to buy. Such a person, I am sure, if he has a grain of
sense will be cured of his complaint ; I mean his diseased appetite for
things that cannot contribute to his happiness will be satisfied. For I
put a rational curiosity in these matters quite out of the question : as
reason contemplates nothing but with a view either to private happiness
or public good. China-shops, in which specimens of the arts of all the
nations who have succeeded in making fine porcelain are exposed to
sale, are exceedingly numerous — bronze figures, curious coins, oceans
of snuff-boxes of gold, silver, and all manner of precious stones,
Chinese gods, antique vases, &c. &c.
" May 30th. I breakfasted this morning with Mr. Ellison; called
on Sir J. Swinburne ; went to the Lock Hospital ; met my brother in
Hyde Park Corner ; took a chaise going to Hampton Court, and got out
of it at Richmond ; walked up Richmond Hill ; for a short time admired
the extensive and well-wooded prospect from that widely-celebrated
spot ; then we strolled through the Royal Park, and were let out of it
into Wimbledon Common. The brackens in the park wherever they
were exposed to the late cutting winds are quite destroyed ; the potatos
too are much injured, and the wheat has lost its healthy green, though
on the side of Wimbledon Common we saw a field of wheat nearly
wholly in ear. As we passed over this common the sky began to darken,
and we knew of no place near to shelter in, but fortunately a hidden
turn of the road exposed to us the view of the sweet village of Roe-
hampton, embosomed " in trees. Here we had some refreshment, and
waited till the rain was over. The road from Roehampton to Putney
is on one side wholly planted with villas, each having an opening into
the road or common, but hidden from the eye of passengers by fine
trees and a dark paling. Putney is on the Thames, has two churches
and a bridge, on the Middlesex side of which is Fulham, from whence
to Chelsea we passed along footpaths several miles in gardens, nothing
but gardens, full of fruit trees. Robert had tea with me, and left me at

264 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
eleven. I am much tired. This is my last night in my lodgings.
What more I have to tell must be after my arrival ' if by any means I
may have a prosperous voyage unto you.' I think I shall sleep on
board the Halcyon to-morrow night.
" The wind changed to the south-west to-day, and hope it will con
tinue there for some time. Commend me, my dear, to the mercy of
God in my voyage, and may God bless you and the dear children.
From thine, with affection to all at the Shore, " John Hodgson.''

" June 1st. I have left myself very little room to write upon, this
being the only piece of paper which I have not packed up : but I must
write a little to keep up a sort of record of the places I have visited.
" After breakfast I called, with Sir R. Hawks, on Mr. Bentham, 6,
Upper Gower Street, to whom Mr. Surtees gave me a letter. Thence I
walked to Somerset House to transact some business for a sailor's relative.
In Exeter Change I laid out 1/. Is. 6c/. for toys ; 7s. for a box for Bess;
6s. for a German fair and a village for John and Richard; Is. for a
book for Richard ; 2s. 6d. in questions for Bess and Abb. ; 2s. 6c/. for dolls ;
and 2s. 6c/. for a pair of strong scissors. This job executed, I went to
West Street, Smithfield, to call on Figgins the letter-founder, about
some types, but, to-day being holiday, he and his men were absent.
Besides all this I have posted a letter for you, seen a great number of
shops, and in my way home, for the third time smelt the delicious per
fumes, and seen the exquisite sights, on Saffron Hill.
" I do not know whether I can get this letter franked or not ; it is five
o'clock, have paid my lodgings, am all packed, and ready to flit after I
have dined with Sir R. Hawks, to whose kindness I am much indebted.
" Not having any book to note my expenses in, it is requisite' that I
also say that I have paid 3s. to the servant that waited upon me, besides
5s. which I have already accounted for.
" Robert came with me to Tower Dock, when I paid 3s. 6c/. for coach
hire, 2s. for trunks and boat, 6c/. in the morning for cheese.
" Halcyon, Tower, London, 2nd June. At eleven, went to bed. A
person of the name of Reed, drunk and lame through intemperance, very
annoying ; he breathed each way and every way loud and freely. I got
up at half-past five. We were under weigh at seven o'clock. At nine
passed Greenwich Hospital ; had a fresh breeze at S.W. Cool, delicious

. VOYAGE FROM LONDON TO JARROW. 265
" 20 min. before three. We have dined, and none of us has been
sick yet, though we have been nearly an hour in the Swin. As I sit in
the cabin to write I feel more of the ship's motion than I do on the deck..
" A very fine new steam-packet, called the Eclipse, passed us on her
way to Margate, at Deptford, this morning ; Price, of Gateshead, at her
head. We are in company with the Union, in which Sir J. Swinburne's
people are on board. The sea has a delightful swell, very little white
water. " At five, I began to grow sick, the sea to swell higher. At eight,
off Orford, and after two or three severe fits of sickness, went to bed,
and rested very comfortably.
" June 3rd. At six, off Hasborough, the wind N.W. and not so
fresh as yesterday. At ten, the wind nearly died away. The sea calm,
and the ship makes no way. Off Cromer at half-past ten. Wind from
the south-east, after an hour's calm; sick once during the calm. Cromer
continued long in sight ; the wind feeble, but the day fine. Only one
bird seen to-day; a white butterfly appeared about three miles north
of Cromer, and three or four miles off land. At six, the land to the
south still in sight, but growing dim in the horizon. At six, a light
breeze sprung up from S.W. The float-light in sight (a vessel
anchored in the deeps), and called the Dudgeon Light, from the shoal on
which it is placed. Sounded with a line of eight fathoms, without find
ing any bottom. The sun shining on vessels fishing oysters in Burnham
Flats. Fifteen after eight, the sun set beautifully on the sea with streaks
of dark clouds before it ; the breeze pretty stiff; the sun's half orb a
rose or ruby tint, the upper section of it lighter than the lower on
account of a thin film of haze close to the horizon darkening the lower
part. Half-past ten, Spurn Light in sight ; beautiful moonlight ; fine
masses of cloud ; steady breeze. I write by moonlight.
" June 4th. Rose after an excellent night's rest at seven. Then off
Flamborough-head Light-house, a tower, called Flamborough-head
Tower (of a church ?), near it. The cliffs chalky and stratified, like those
of Marsden, eaten into caves. (A sketch of Flamborough-head.) Afishino-
bay between Flamborough-head Tower and the farm-house. The cliffs
are very white, excepting where they are tarnished by diluvium falling
from the tops of the cliffs. Near Flamborough-head the diluvium is
several, perhaps ten or twelve, fathoms thick, i.e., between the bay and
the farm-house ; farther north it is thin, and when the main headland is
about a mile or something more in length is precipitous; after that
it is a slope to the water-edge.

266 .MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
" About the Head myriads of sea-fowl on the wing, in the sea, and
lining every seam of the strata, filled with nests ; two sorts, one black
and white, the other white and bluish, in troops. (A sketch.)
" Scarborough, ten o'c. 4th June, 1819. On the south cheek of
Robin Hood's Bay at twenty minutes before twelve. The strata re
markably regular, dipping to the south. In one part covered with
brush-wood ; a strong breeze.
" (A sketch of) Robin Hood's Bay, ten before twelve, 4th June, 1819.
The sky covered with thin clouds ; rather inclined to rain, though the
sun shines dimly.
" Ten o'clock, passing Whitby. Lord Mulgrave's seat to the north
shows its towers out of a wood on rising ground. Alum works on both
sides of Whitby. Smoke rising from alum works on the shores on the
north side. Very large excavations on the sides of the hills out of a
very thick bluish stratum. The abbey and church of Whitby on the
east side of the; town.
" Dined at one o'clock. The view of Whitby from the north very
striking ; irregular indented shores ; broken sloping lands ; much dilu
vium on the strata in some parts. The smoke arising on the verge of
the shores Mr. Cooper thinks is from sea-weed burning. At Runswick,
a little creek, lime burning. Staithes is a little sheltered spot close
upon the shore and rising in a slope from it.
" Opposite the Staithes the shores of Durham come in sight.
" Huntley Foot, a very fine bold headland, very regularly stratified;
an alum work in it burning, and several large excavations. Where
parts of the cliff are fallen it is of a reddish appearance. At two
o'clock the breeze strong, the water breaking over the midships.
" With a steady and strong breeze arrived at Marsden at six. Stood
off till twenty minutes before seven, when we took the Bar, but
struck upon it, and continued beating upon it for twenty-five minutes,
when we got off it and again stood off to sea; at half-past eight took
the Bar again, crossed it, and passed Clifford's Fort at nine ; dropped
up the river to Whitley Point, and then sailed to Jarrow Quay end,
where we now are, at half-past ten o'clock. At twenty past eleven we
anchored at Wallsend Staith, when it began to rain heavily.

CHAPTER XII.— 1819.
Announcement of History.— Correspondence on History. — Edward Swinburne, Esq. —
Correspondence respecting Engravings, &c. — Destruction of three cart-loads of
ancient Records at Little Harle. — Richardson and Dixon's Picturesque Views in
Northumberland. — Correspondence.
Me. Hodgson's engagement in a History of Northumberland
had long been a matter of notoriety among his friends, but it was
during his late visit to London that it was first announced to the
public. By the following advertisement, on the cover of the
Gentleman's Magazine and in the local newspapers, he publicly
pledged himself to carry his design into execution, and made
known at the same time the plan which it was his intention to
adopt and follow out in bringing it to a termination. This
scheme, however, was afterwards materially departed from in the
progress of the undertaking; and it seems certain, that if he had
lived to complete his task, it could only have been brought to a
conclusion by a still further deviation from the original design,
inasmuch as three volumes, judging from the method which he
pursued in arranging his materials, and the space which he per
mitted them to occupy, would have been found utterly incom
petent to contain the details of his parochial history. Neither
could three volumes by any possibility have done justice either to
his subject or to himself. In monastic history, Northumberland
may not be as rich as other counties with peace in their borders
in times of old, but still in this respect there are many subjects of
great interest to the historian, the more interesting perhaps from
the circumstance of their situation in disturbed and lawless
localities where plunder was more frequently thought of than
piety. Tynemouth, Newminster, Hulne, Alnwick, and Brinkburn,
to say nothing of the minor ecclesiastical institutions within the
walls of Newcastle and elsewhere, might of themselves have justly
claimed a volume at least — and when the great extent of the
county, its Roman Wall, its British and Saxon remains, its military
and predatory character, its border history, its families of old

268 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
renown, its castles and towers, and all its various subjects of martial
and civil interest, are taken into consideration, any history of four
volumes in which such stirring subjects should have been cramped
and confined would have been nothing more than an unsatisfac
tory abridgement.
His arrangements for the printing of his History were as
follows: " I agreed with the Courant office, Newcastle, to have
my History printed by them, on the condition that they should
collect all subscriptions, and pay first the engraver, then them
selves, and the remainder to me."* The proprietor of the New
castle Courant was at that time Mr. Edward Walker, who was
succeeded by Mr. Cooke, and he again by Messrs. Blackwell and
Co. , all of them in their order of time the printers of Hodgson's
volumes, and all of them affording him every facility and indul
gence in their power, treating him invariably with the greatest
respect and kindness.
" In the press and will be published, with all convenient speed, a
History or the County of Noethumbeeland in 6 vols 4to., by the.
Rev. John Hodgson of Jareow, Sec. Antiq. Soc. Newcastle, &c.
" The first volume will contain the General History of the County,
and separate Treatises on its Agriculture, Revenues, Mining, Geology,
Natural History, &c. &c.
" The second, third, and fourth volumes will be taken up with
descriptions of the towns, villages, public buildings, and antiquities;
with pedigrees of families of rank, the descent of property, and such
other local matters as usually go under the denomination of Parochial
History. " The fifth and sixth volumes (the first of which is in the press) will
consist of Ancient Records and Historical Papers relating to Northum
berland and the English and Scottish Borders.
* Letter to Mr. J. G. Nichols, 25 June, 1842. " The remainder to me !" Alas
for him and his family ! Where in the end was the remainder ? On this subject ha
was not long in learning a lesson, but it was then too late to be of use. He thus writes
a few years afterwards upon having come to the conclusion that there was great need
of a good History of Cumberland. (Hist. Part ii. vol. iii. p. 221.)
" To any one who has the ambition to write a work for which he may neither receive
thanks nor pay, but can be satisfied with the consciousness of being patriotically
employed, the History of Cumberland offers a wide and rich, but ill-cultivated, field
to work in."

ANNOUNCEMENT OF HISTORY. 269
"The whole of the authorities, especially the large collection of
ancient grants of property and franchises to individuals and corporate
bodies, which will be given in the fifth and sixth volumes, will be
printed in Doomsday types.
" Complete Indexes will be given to each volume.
" The impression is limited to 300 copies, 50 on royal, and 250 on
demy paper.
"4th May 1819."
Upon this announcement many offers of assistance were made
by gentlemen who possessed, or believed they possessed, local
information which might be of use. To such communications
Hodgson paid due and thankful attention; and in numerous
instances he received contributions which were of importance, and
were afterwards publicly and gratefully acknowledged in his
various prefaces. Along with those offers came the usual letters
with which every topographer has been troubled, and which
experience soon teaches him to throw aside. " I understand you
are going to write a history of Northumberland — you must have
many papers gathered together for the purpose. I am very sorry
indeed to trouble you, but your extensive collections, and your
well-known courtesy, &c. &c. — Will you be kind enough to give
me all the information you can about our family, at your earliest
-convenience? We think we spring from the  s who were
once owners of  Castle. We have the same arms; but I
am sorry to say we know nothing beyond my grandfather. The
 s say they are related to us, but we do not spell our names
in the same way," &c* And then, if the author chooses to give
himself a little trouble, and enter into a wild-goose chase with no
other evidence than that of a "name" and "hearsay" to guide
him, and good-naturedly makes a communication to his corre-
* Will the extreme folly of this argument of spelling never be exploded ? "Why,
till the time of George the Second the chances were that the same man would have
written his name thrice on the same page in different ways. Nay, as a still further
proof how heedless people were in this matter, the late Mr. Surtees used to tell a story
of his grandfather or great-grandfather, whose name was Edward, but who always
signed his name as Robert, because, as he said, he could write it better. In proof of the
extent to which these absurdities of spelling are now carried, the tortures which the
name of Smith is compelled to undergo to make it deny itself and assume a garb of
fashionable gentility will bear ample testimony. The name in its simple state is
decently clad. Why clothe it in motley ?

270 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
Spondent, taking care to say that what he writes is chiefly conjec
ture, his letter is stamped with the impress of truth, and quoted
as evidence in support of groundless pretensions. I see many
proofs that Mr. Hodgson was plagued in this way to more than
the usual extent, and we know enough of his obliging disposition
to assure ourselves that he was far too frequently occupied with
such frivolous inquiries at the expense of more useful engagements.
In the case of one family, after he had taken great pains to make
it respectable, the heir apparent acknowledged the receipt of the
pedigree with a " Sir," and " yours, &c." at the beginning and
end of his letter. Poor thanks for a month's worth of labour !
I cannot better illustrate the kind of questions put to county
historians than by printing here the following letter, although it
belongs to a later period. " Why, this is lunatics ! this is mad as
a mad dog ! " The preposition de in connection with a local name,
" a token of nobility !'' Happily the letter is anonymous.

From " ANGLO-SAXON."
" REVEEEND Sir, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, April 12, 1838.
" I take the liberty most respectfully of asking you the follow
ing questions relative to some old Northumbrian family names, and I
shall feel extremely favoured by your returning me an answer at your
leisure to the address hereafter mentioned.
" First. I am desirous of ascertaining for a certainty whether one
might resume, if one thought fit, the prefix ' de ' which is attached to
some English surnames, such as in the family names of ' John de Felton,'
' Robert de Harle,' ' Thomas de Fenwyke,' &c. ; and if (I am of opinion
it was not always) the de may invariably be considered as a token of
nobility. This was sometimes the case with the Normans of olden
times, as with the French of the present day ; and like the German ' von,'
and the Dutch ' van.' That the de is not accounted a mark of nobility
now in England is, I think, pretty plain — for instance, it is even lower
than an Esquire (if this word can be called a title) — ' de Cardonnel
Lawson, Esq.' ' Otto von Behrens, Esq.,' &c. I ask this question because
I find the ' de ' often used synonymously with ' the,' as Robert de Brus,
or Robert the Brus, &c. &c. &c. Besides it is often used as the Latin

TROUBLESOME CORRESPONDENCE. 271
preposition, e.g. ' Test, domino Hugone de Herle, Roberto de Hertwayton,'
' Rogero Heron filio Walteri Hearon de Chipches,' &c, and ' Noverint
universi per presentes me Johannam nuper uxorem Willelmi Fenwick de
Fenwicke defuncti,' &c.
" Also the de or of was formerly generally the assuetude to point out
the residence of people living in the country, of the same name or other
wise, and in this way to distinguish one from another, which was not
easy before Christian names were common, as ' Fenwicke of Little
Harle,' ' Dodde of Thorneyburn Hall,' &c. This distinction was and
is not much required in towns, where citizens were generally known by
their trade or callings. This using the of is, as has been observed, not
only the case at the present day throughout Great Britain, but also on
all parts of the continent with which I am conversant, viz. ' Berckemeyer
of Thurowerhoist,' &c. &c.
" The name of ' Fenwicke * of Fenwyke, or de Fenwyke ' is clearly a
Saxon name, and that family (in my opinion) was either an aboriginal
one in the country or of Saxon extraction, and consequently the de or
of might have been assumed before the Norman Conquest. I mean that
the de does not prove that the above mentioned family or families
necessarily came over with William the Conqueror, and were also noble
because they had sometimes the prefix of ' de.'
" Second. Could one then resume the preposition de when it has laid
dormant sometimes for centuries, perhaps from inadvertency? Is one
entitled to it (provided, of course, that one can certainly trace an un
broken descent from those families of whom we claim kindred),, and if
the right to resume the aforementioned prefix of de could be disputed,
or if any law has since passed to prevent the families of that day from
using the ' de ' now?
" In taking the great liberty of addressing these queries to you, allow
me to observe that I know of no gentleman so learned in the historical
lore of the country, and consequently your opinion on the afbrmentioned
heads will perfectly set the matter at rest in my mind, and confer a
great obligation on, Reverend Sir, your very obedient servant,
. , , " Anglo-Saxon.
" Address Post Office, Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
" To the Rev. the Vicar of Hartburn, Secretary to the Antiquarian Society of New
castle." * Fen.— penn is a Saxon word meaning a marsh, a moor, or bog— wick or wic, pic,
also from the Saxon, means, according to the different nature and conditions of places'
a village, or bay made by the winding banks of a river, or a castle, and often a cot.'
We have many wicks in Northumberland, as Prestwick, Berwick, &c. &c.

272 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
Another subject in which local vanity not unfrequently manir
fests itself is an offer to a County History of the likeness of a
mansion house, executed in coarse mezzotint or lithograph, or
in some such uncostly way, with trees, as Hodgson has well said,
" like wool packs," around it; and for this contribution, which is
in general unworthy of an ordinary Guide Book, the author is
expected to be grateful. Some of these, as I have ascertained,
Hodgson respectfully declined. He admitted others which do no
credit to his book. Instances of real solid disinterested assistance
in his case there were few indeed, but those few were bright
exceptions in the midst of a gloomy indifference. From the
commencement to the termination of his labours, the county of
Northumberland, in a general way, seems to have been contented
with folding itself up in its own impenetrable cloak of apathy,
either unable or unwilling to appreciate the painful toil of one
who was patiently devoting himself to the elucidation of its
gallant history in times of old, a history of which every inhabitant
within its limits might have been proud; ready enough, however,
to depreciate and decry his labour if he had called a man's great-
grandmother Margery instead of Margaret, or had made a mistake
in " our coat of arms,'' or in the number of acres in " our " estate.
But, as he says in one of his letters, the die was cast, and, heedless
of the present generation, he looked to posterity for the due
appreciation of his labours.
The following letters, or portions of letters, all refer to the con
templated history.

Sm J. E. SWINBURNE to Mr. HODGSON.
" My DEAE SlE, 18, Grosvenor Square, 10th May, 1819.
" I inclose you the answer from the Duke of Northumberland;
you need not return the letter, as you may wish to keep it. I did not
mention subscription ; not knowing that your work was to be so edited.
Pray let me know. Yours very sincerely, " J. E. Swinburne.
" Rev. J. Hodgson, 2, Southampton Row, Bloomsbury Square."

CORRESPONDENCE ON HISTORY. 273
To Sir J. E. SWINBURNE, Bart.
" Dear Sib John,
" From the account you give of Mr. Hodgson's abilities, I shall
have great pleasure in subscribing to his work ; though I fear I can con
tribute but little information. Collins's history of my family contains
the whole of the information that I am possessed of; and if there are
any other papers which would add to the history they are either in the
possession of Lord Egremont, heir to the Petworth property, or they
are to be found in some of the public offices. Yours very truly,
" Northumbeeland.''
Mr. HODGSON to Sir J. E. SWINBURNE.
" Deae SlE John, Upper King Street, Bloomsbury, 11th May, 1819.
" I feel greatly obliged by your kindness in sending the sketch
of my intended work to his grace the Duke of Northumberland. Before
I issued any prospectus of it I was anxious to have his Grace's appro
bation of the measure : and am therefore gratified by the permission I
have received to place his Grace at the head of the list of my sub
scribers. I think I mentioned to you that only 300 copies are printing,
50 on royal, and 250 demy, of which only 30 of the royal and 220 of
the demy are for sale.
" I am well aware that the antiquarian part of the History of the
Percy family has been rendered very complete by Mr. Collins ;* and that
I can have very little to add upon the subject: but there are various
matters connected with the County of Northumberland which I cannot
with propriety write upon without his Grace's permission, especially
upon the castles and other military antiquities which lie within his
estates, and which frequently require, plans and elevations to illustrate
them. In visiting such places the tenants or servants would naturally
ask my authority for making drawings or admeasurements ; and I have
always refused to obtain information surreptitiously or by bribes. In
the use of any facilities which may be afforded me by his Grace in
this arduous undertaking, I shall scrupulously avoid the publication of
anything which can have the slightest tendency to create litigation ;
and be always ready to suffer my MS. to be examined, and any ob
jectionable part struck out before it goes to press.
* It is in the fifth edition of Collins, 1779, that the history of the Percy family was
given in fullest detail, a contribution of Dr. Percy, Bishop of Dromore.
T

274 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
" If you can permit me to trespass this much further upon your
kindness to solicit this general sort of indulgence from the Duke, in my
rambles over the county, you would confer another great obligation
upon, dear Sir John, your most obedient humble servant, " John Hodgson."
" Sir John Swinburne to Mr. Hodgson. — 18th May, 1819. I have
stated to the Duke your further wishes and have received the inclosed
answer; so that you now see what ground you have to go upon, and
should leave your name to thank him. As you publish your work by
subscription, I beg you will put my name down for two copies."
The Duke of Northumberland to Sir J. E. Swinburne. — " St. James's
Square, 17th May, 1819. — Dear Sir John, In answer to your letter,
I can have no hesitation in assuring Mr. Hodgson that it will give me
great pleasure to facilitate his publication of the History of Northum
berland, by allowing him to make drawings and plans of any ruined
castles, or ancient camps, on my estate, as are likely to prove inter
esting to the historian and antiquarian ; provided Mr. Hodgson adheres
to his promise of abstaining from the publication of any matter which
is likely to have a tendency to create litigation. When Mr. Hodgson
visits Northumberland, I beg to refer him to my commissioners, to
whom I will give the necessary directions, to prevent his meeting with
any unnecessary obstruction."
" The Rev. Mr. Hodgson begs leave to return his respectful thanks
to his Grace the Duke of Northumberland, for the obliging facilities
which his Grace has been pleased, through Sir John Swinburne, to
afford him, in collecting materials for a History of the County of
Northumberland. 11, Upper King Street, Bloomsbury, 18th May,
1819." (From a copy on the back of Sir J. Swinburne's letter.)
" From Sir John E. Swinburne. — Capheaton, July 23rd, 1819— My
dear Sir, I am most extremely obliged to you for all the trouble you
have given yourself with arranging my Records; and I hope they
have been of some little use to you in your present pursuit. I
cannot help thinking you might pick up something from what are
remaining here. I wish you would find time to come over, and make
search. We shall all be most happy to see you. With our united
good-wishes, yours very sincerely, J. E. Swinburne."
The reader must now be introduced to Edward Swinburne,
Esq., a younger brother of Sir J. E. Swinburne, Bart., an amateur
artist of consummate taste and powers, and a gentleman from

EDWARD SWINBURNE, ESQ. 275
whom Mr. Hodgson received an uninterrupted series of kindnesses
of the most varied nature, extending from the commencement of
their acquaintance over the long period of thirty years. Hodgson
has left behind him a note, that on the 27th Feb., 1814, he met
Mr. Swinburne at dinner, at Mr. Ellison's house at Hebburn; and,
as this name does not occur in any memorandum of an earlier date,
it is probable that the two then for the first time became
acquainted with each other.
Soon after the death of Mr. Swinburne on the 6th of September,
1847, in the eighty- third year of his age,* Sir John Swinburne
kindly presented to the author of this Memoir a bundle of letters,
addressed at various times to his lamented brother by Mr.
Hodgson and Mr. Surtees of Mainsforth, regarding the embellish
ments of their respective histories, to both of which he was at all
times ready and even most anxious to contribute elaborate draw
ings ready for the engraver. The letters from Hodgson commence
in the year 1819, at which we have arrived in his history, almost
immediately before the publication of his first volume, and they
prove the great obligations and gratitude of their writer to Mr.
Swinburne for the benefit of his advice and pencil. It may be
interesting to trace the progress of one volume at least of the
History of Northumberland in an artistic point of view, and there
fore I propose to make a copious use of this correspondence, which
proves more satisfactorily than any words of mine could do, Mr,
Swinburne's kindness of heart, his taste, and, I think it may be
added, his patience. A few of his other letters on the subject of
the History are hereafter printed in their order.
To EDAVARD SWINBURNE, Esq.
" My DEAR Sir, Newcastle, 21st August, 1819.
" 1 have inclosed in a parcel to your brother Sir John three of
Buck'sj- views, reduced to half-size ; that of Belsay Castle is in an un
finished state, wanting a new sky, shadowing, &c. If you could give
* Mr. Swinburne would therefore have been in this present year of 1857, 93 years
of age. And yet his elder brother, Sir John E. Swinburne, has this winter travelled
from Northumberland to pay a visit in the Isle of Wight with the health and spirits of
a man of forty !
t The Bucks were two brothers, who, in the beginning of the preceding century,
had published a series of Views of Castles, Ruined Monasteries, &c, arranged in
T 2

276 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
it any touches of truth or detail I would feel greatly obliged to you; for
I know that Buck's views are greatly deficient in accuracy and minute
ness. " I have also sent a rough sheet of my book, which will give you an
idea of the size in which the drawings for it may be made.
" Will you have the goodness to say to the Miss Swinburnes, that I
beg they will not put themselves to any inconvenience in getting me
sketches of Thockrington Chapel, or of the tombstones at Cambo; as
I am in no immediate want of them.
" The greatest difficulty I labour under is that of supplying my
printer with vignettes for the ends of chapters. Should either yourself
or your nieces have any small sketches of villages or scenery, in North
umberland, such as would come into a compass of from three to four
inches by about two inches, or two and a half inches, they would be of
the greatest use to me, and I would take great care to return them.
" I write this in great haste at a bookseller's shop ; and am, dear Sir,
with many thanks for the great and valuable assistance which you have
offered me, your most obliged and obedient humble servant,
" John Hodgson."
From the Rev. A. HEDLEY.
" My DEAR SlE, Kirkwhelpington, Aug. 29, 1819.
" Permit me to return you my best thanks for your communica
tion, which the demon of procrastination has prevented me answering
earlier. I have, in the mean time, three other subscriptions for you,
which is a great proof that I have not been quite idle in your cause,
As this is the only way in which I can give you any effectual assistance,
I shall not fail to be as industrious as I can — I really think you should
advertise more liberally.
" If you have any rough literary work that you think I can perform
for you, do not hesitate to apply to me. As Sir John Swinburne has
not yet sent me any materials, I have had no opportunity of taking a
counties ; and had met With much patronage. Their Views are very valuable; for,
although the principles of perspective were not then well understood, and consequently
in this respect they are deficient, yet, in general, they are accurate in detail, and afford
representations of numerous edifices which have, since that time, been destroyed. That
of Widdrington, for instance, one of the four sent to Mr. Swinburne, upon a reduced
scale, affords now the sole representation of that, at one time, fine old castle. The
original copper-plates of Buck's Views were not long ago found and sold in London;
Mr. Charnley, a Bookseller in Newcastle, becoming the purchaser of those referring to
t e Counties of Durham and Northumberland.

DESTRUCTION OF RECORDS. 277
deciphering lesson. Mr. Trevelyan, of Wallington, with whom I dined
a day or two after I saw you, will be happy to see you when you
favour us with another visit. He has an immense mass of old deeds ;
but all unfortunately relating to the Calverley property in Yorkshire,
sold by Sir Walter Blackett. They are all copied in a very neat,
plain hand and properly authenticated ; with indian-ink drawings of
the seals.
" The late Lady Charles Aynsley, of Little Harle, after the death of
her husband, burnt, most wantonly and wickedly, what would have
formed three cart-loads of old papers and deeds ! My very blood boils
when I think of it. The man who assisted her m this most nefarious
transaction now lives in my village. He told me, the other day, that
many of the seals were nearly as big as his hand. Many most valuable
and, to the antiquary, most curious, documents were thus, I have no
doubt, destroyed; as the Aynsleys, though not a very ancient family,
had been lawyers, for several generations, and the last of them was
chairman of the quarter sessions, for very many years, and was likely
to have in his hands many papers, even of public consequence.
Yours ever, " Ant. Hedley."

From EDWARD SWINBURNE, Esq.
" My DEAE Sir, Capheaton, 1st Sep. 1819.
" Owing to my absence from Capheaton I did not get yours of
the 21st August till the day before yesterday. We shall be able to fur
nish you with some vignettes, and speedily, from amongst my Northum
berland sketches. Having nothing more than general county locality,
I cannot offer you subjects specially connected with the contents of your
fifth volume, the papers and records. This is an additional reason why
I apprehend that, unless you get them etched with taste and spirit,
they would be worse than an useless expense to you, for they will be
merely ornamental. Now the public has, for some time past, shewn
a great relish for topographical representations, which has induced
very able artists to bestow their labour on such objects; and the
taste of the public, accustomed to such fare, will be ill-disposed to
put up with indifferent things in that way: and I apprehend they
would even be injurious to the work itself, particularly where they
are not immediately illustrative of, and assisting, particular descrip
tions in the body of it. I freely express my opinion, as I think

278 MEMOIR OE THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
you will not take it amiss. It appears to me, as your expenses on*
etchings or engravings cannot be to any extent, that it were better
to limit very much the number of your plates, and to have what
you allot for that department applied in getting those few done by
able hands, in whatever way you may judge it best to get them
done — and in that case the choice of the. subjects should be attended
to, and pains taken with them. And, as far as regards myself,
though I shall be most happy to afford you all the assistance I can,
out of what I have or may get, suitable to your purpose, I must
candidly confess I should not like to have whatever merit the designs;
may possess, and I Km aware they could not have much to spare,
thrown away in their transfer to the copper by unskilful and tasteless-
artists; but let that be a secondary consideration. The other is.
sufficient, in my opinion, to require your mature deliberation.
" With the same freedom I shall now make some observations on
the prints you sent for my inspection. That of Belsay I wholly
disapprove of, and for these reasons : There is not one feature of the
castle and house which does not now exist, but they are all distorted,
and the character and beauty of the tower lost; the lay of the
ground is all false, rising where it ought to fall. The only novelty
to justify this repetition of Buck is the garden in front; of the
accuracy of the details of which we have great doubts, extending
further from the door than the road would allow; but, admitting it
not to be materially inaccurate in that respect, is the representation
of the garden a sufficient apology for so bad a view in all other
respects ? I do not think that any alteration in the sky or else
where would do good.
" As to the Widdrington Castle, as nothing of that exists, the
details are interesting. As a print it is very deficient: the tint of the
middle part of the building is so forced as to look like a shadow;
the shadow is too weak; for the shady part of the square tower
which throws it, receiving reflection, should be lighter than the
shadow it casts. There is a want of keeping in the print: the
shadows at a. (red ink) are too strong ; and all the sides of the build
ings are so out of perspective that I do not know where to find the
vanishing point of their lines; in some it is above, in some it is
below the horizon. See b. &c. Would not a mere outline, on the
reduced scale, from Buck have been sufficient ? On reflection, in
stead of returning you the print with the marks, I had better keep
it by me, in case of further observations from you. The shadows I

CORRESPONDENCE ON ENGRAVINGS. 279
meant at a. are those of the square pillars, supporting the stag's
heads (which are enormous), and of part of the ballustrades adjoin
ing: they come further forward than the nearest part of the garden
walls. For the perspective, look at the windows of both the square
and ornamented towers, and then at the side of the square building
near the garden.
" Of Alnwick we apprehend the inaccuracy is considerable; the
distance without any keeping, &c. I cannot suggest any remedy there;
all is so altered.
" Apropos of Belsay, I have a view of it from nearly the same point
of view, with quite sufficient accuracy of detail ; which will shortly
have, if it has not already, some value for the antiquarian, as it contains
the house part, which is in great part now taken down.
" Your sheet of letter-press will do to regulate the size of the plates.
For the vignettes something between the two measures you gave, viz.
about 3| or \, by 2\. I can send you a specimen by the next post,
and also tell you what I have that might be got for your present volume ;
that you may say which you prefer. I have heard it remarked that
you will probably find 300 copies too small a number to bear you
out in expenses, accidents, &c. incident to your publication; but I hope
you have got the best practical information, and that you are not em
barking so far as to involve yourself in a way that may subject you to
loss. If I understand it right, you mean this fifth volume in the press as
a trial. Yours very truly, "Ed Swinburne."
From EDWARD SWINBURNE, Esq.
" Dear Sir, 2nd Sept., 1819.
" I have been looking over my sketches, since I wrote to you
yesterday (1st Sept.), and as Mr. Ord is going to Newcastle to-day I
shall send you a list of what I have met with, which might serve as
vignettes. I believe about four inches in width would be a good general
proportion to the letter press.
" Copeland Castle — not good enough for a larger plate.
" Twysell Bridge — over which Earl Surrey marched to Floddon.
" Chipchase — a distant view of, reserving the nearer one for a plate.
" Thirlwall Castle— not good, but might do for a vignette.
" Ford Castle — distant view of, would do for ditto.
" Bothal — distant, I have a nearer view with details, for a plate.

280 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
" St. Cuthbert's Chapel on Fame Island — not good, but might do.
" Norham Castle — either for vignette or plate. I should prefer the
former, as I have a drawing of it to make for Mr. Raine's North
Durham. " Wark worth Bridge.
" Wyllymoteswick — picturesque, not much of building, which is
secondary. " Featherston — might do for a vignette or plate.
" Dunstanborough » I could give a distant, reserving the principal
" Bambro' ) views of each for plates.
" Holy Island — would do for a plate. I have nothing but distant
views of the Old Church, the ruin.
" Yeavering Bell — outline from a bridge over the Glen on Wooler
road, picturesque.
" Bellingham Church and River — I could make a vignette.
" Haughton Castle — might be made either a vignette or a plate, as
you like.
" I might get the bit in Hexham Church, and the Bridge up the
Devil, near Battlefield, or Aydon Castle, this autumn.
" How many would you want, and say which you would prefer ?
Write me this soon.
" I could not conveniently get at Branxton. It appears a hideous
village. Floddon Field has no monument of the event to mark it. I had
no opportunity of looking after Fair Cross ; nor could I hear of it. Does
anything exist ? Nor could I stop for Wooler Church. Mitford Castle
I have not yet got. The bit of the Abbey (Newminster) near Morpeth
is too shabby. I may perhaps get this autumn up the Reed-water for
Otterburne, &c. Point out anything that is come-at-able which you
like better. In haste, yours truly " Ed. Swinburne."
To EDWARD SWINBURNE, Esq., Sen.
" My DEAE Sir, • High Heworth, near Gateshead, 4th Sep. 1819.
" I received your two letters this morning ; and feel very greatly
obliged by your candid and judicious advice ; I will certainly have no
more of Buck's Views reduced. My reasons for having them done
at all were that Widdrington Castle does not exist ; the view of Alnwick
is the oldest of that building ; and that of Belsay showed the old style of
laying out gardens — and for having them done in Newcastle, because I

CORRESPONDENCE ON ENGRAVINGS. 281
thought that servile reduced copies (I aimed at nothing else) might be
made there as well as elsewhere ; though I find on comparing the two
performances Buck's is every way better.
" My wish respecting the Views, which you have had the kindness
to offer me for plates, was that they should be etched by able artists in
the style in which Blore has done the church of Houghton-le-Spring for
Mr. Surtees's Durham; and that the vignettes should be done by
Bewick, on wood ; for I could not get the latter either well engraved on
copper or printed well in Newcastle ; and it would be very inconvenient
to send the paper for the purpose of having them printed upon it in
London, on account of the letter-press being printed in Newcastle. I
have great promises of having them executed in the best style; though
I am aware that wood is not equal to copper for doing justice to the
original designs.
" For the drawings for plates I am in no great hurry, and shall not
want more than six for the present volume. It will be four or five
months before I can publish a volume, on account of the slowness of the
process of printing my book. It is, however, immaterial what views
appear in the volume that will be published first ; as no part of the
parochial history will be given in it. If it makes no difference to your
self, I could wish that the views of Bamborough and Prudhoe might be
amongst the number, also that of the private bridge at Dilston.
" Your list of vignettes is interesting to me, as they are the only
species of embellishments which I can give in the fifth volume (I mean
permanently to remain in it), and I shall be greatly obliged to you for
drawings for that purpose of the following places at your leisure: —
Thirlwall Castle — Dunstanborough — » Wyllymoteswick — Copeland
Castle — Ford Castle — Featherstone Castle — Warkworth Bridge — Bothal
Castle — Chipchase Castle ; and, at some future opportunity, the remain
ing part of the list, viz. Twizel Bridge — St. Cuthbert's Chapel on Fame
Island — Norham Castle — Holy Island — Yeavering Bell — Haughton
Castle — Bellingham Church.
" The Frid-stool in Hexham Church, and the Bridge over Devil's-
water at Linnells, whenever you are in that part of the country. I beg
you will not go a step out of your way for them.
" Will you also have the goodness to give me the name of any
engraver whom you would recommend me to employ in engraving the
plates. It sometimes happens that such plates as mine can be got
executed at a moderate charge by giving them into the hand of an
artist, and saying ' You may do them at your leisure.' If, therefore,

282 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
you could recommend me to any gentleman in London, I would
get my brother there to make arrangements with respect to the
time of their being finished, payments, &c.
" I do not recollect anything about an antiquity of the name of
Fair Cross; but I think I mentioned to you one at the way-side in
the parish of Ilderton, which was discovered some years since under
a heap of stones, which had gone by the name of the apron full of
stones. The base of it is circular, twelve feet in diameter, and has
five rows of steps from it to the remains of the shaft. It is now
called Percy's Cross, from a supposition that one of that family fell
there, and not on Hedgeley Moor, as has been said by later historians :
but on what grounds this new idea is founded I have not examined.
" I thank you also for your kind solicitude respecting the success
of my undertaking. My main inducement for the undertaking is to
gain so much by it as to enable me to get my children better
educated than my present means will allow; and, if I can sell 300
copies, I have no doubt of realizing my object. The fifth volume
will be dull, but if I can struggle against the difficulties of getting
up the second I shall have no apprehensions about the sale of the
whole of the copies.
" I do not intend to give any views of gentlemen's seats at present
tenanted by their owners, but confine myself to such buildings as come
under the class of antiquities. With this rule before me, Chipchase
would be admitted ; and, if I recollect rightly, you showed me a view of
it in which the old tower makes so principal and so interesting an
object that I could wish to give it. Belsay Castle is also one of those
interesting objects that must not be omitted; and I will thank you to
look again at the old painting of Capheaton ; and if the labour of re
ducing it be not too great I trust that Sir John will allow me to have
a copy of it. With many thanks for your great kindness, I am, dear Sir,
your most obliged humble servant, " John Hodgson."
From EDWARD SWINBURNE, Esq.
" My DEAR SlE, Capheaton, Friday, 20 Sept. 1819.
" I was prevented by an interruption from getting the vignette
of Warkworth Bridge ready, though it was nearly so, by Thursday's
post. To make up for it I shall send another with it on Monday in our
bag, to be left for you at the Post Office, Newcastle, as being less likely
that way to be doubled and creased. It is a small- one of Chipchase

CORRESPONDENCE ON ENGRAVINGS. 283
Castle, at a distance, with the river, and will not interfere with the
larger one you wish to have for a plate. I will write to my friends in
London to make inquiry about an engraver for the plates ; and I trust
we shall not find it difficult to meet with some clever artist to do them
as you wish and well. The size of your Buck reduced, which you sent
me, seems to me a good one for the proportion of letter-press. There is
room enough for what we want, and I hope it is one that would not be
a very great expense, even though the engravings were finished rather
further in effect than the one you allude to in Surtees's Durham. Some
information, which I will obtain, about the price will enable you to
judge. You have chosen three good subjects; and, as I think no time
ought to be lost in putting the drawings into the engraver's hands. I
shall be getting them forward without delay. I shall think of three
other subjects to complete your number. Might not Widdrington
Castle be reduced, and the details given in an outline as a vignette ?
"It seems of consequence that the plates of your first published
volume, if the matter is not very interesting, should be as attractive as
you can afford to get them.
" Thebit I have of Thirlwall Tower is so small (it is a poor one) and
without any of the general situation relative to the great (Roman) wall,
I have doubts whether it is worth having. I could make it into a
tolerably picturesque vignette. Qusere, would hot a small view of
Bambro' from the other side of the view you choose for a plate, in
cluding the sea, be a good substitute for it; or would you wish to
reserve that for another volume ?
" When you mention Bothal as a vignette I suppose you mean a
general and distant view of the Tower, and not the near one I have ; of
which, I presume, you would want a plate some time or other.
" My brother has not the least objection to the old picture's being
copied, and my nieces will make a reduced drawing of it for you.
" Lady Swinburne desires to be put down as a subscriber to your
work. All unite in best regards. Yours truly, " Ed. Swinbuene.
" Your reasons for getting the vignettes done at Newcastle are quite
sufficient. You cannot put them into better hands, or so good indeed,
for wood engravings."

284 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
Mr. (afterwards Sir A.) CALLCOTT to Mr. E. SWINBURNE.
" My deae Edward, °ot- 18> 1819-
" You will see by the inclosed extract from my letter to Mr.
Hodgson what I think as to the execution of plates to his work If
you should agree in opinion with me as to their being executed in
aquatint, I should recommend you to use the pen most freely, so as to
require little more than flat washes in the tinting. This will make
them to give a spirit and detail, in which in general such works are
defective. Lewis's power of imitation is quite surprising ; so much so
that his prints are perfectly deceptive on the closest inspection, and
when he has good things to work from, beautiful. The specimens
inclosed are from very loose sketches of Claude ; but, loose as they are,
I will be bound to say that there is not a touch or a line but what is
a precise fac-simile of the original. You will readily judge from them
that his ability is equal to the rendering of any kind of drawing in two
colours ; and there is no degree of finish compatible with a drawing, in
which the outline is conspicuous, that is not within his power of imi
tation. With regard to the price, of course the difference from seven
to ten guineas is to meet the variety of labour that the different
subjects will require. " And. Callcott."
Mr. CALLCOTT to Mr. HODGSON.
" I have made the necessary inquiries, and see no prospect of the pos
sibility of your obtaining any decorations to your work executed in line
engraving ; as the expense of any thing tolerable in this way would far
exceed the sum you have named, and add so much to the expenses of
the publication that, without a considerable rise in the price, it would
be quite ruinous to your profits.
" I find, however, that in aquatint you might very well accomplish
your object; as the price of engraving plates of the size you mention
will be from seven to ten guineas each, and that six of them would be
very well executed within the time specified for the first publication, or
at any rate within six months, which would be impossible in the line
way. " I am the more induced to recommend this style of work for your
history, as fac-similes of a most perfect description can be obtained
from Mr. Swinburne's drawings in this way, and the just reputation he

CORRESPONDENCE ON ENGRAVINGS. 285
has for taste among his friends in the North cannot fail to make this a
point of great importance to the work.
" I shall send to him by to-morrow's post specimens by the best
engraver we have in this style, Mr. F. Lewis, with my ideas on the
subject, and you will no doubt shortly hear from him on the point.
The detached architecture, seals, &c. I should think would certainly be
best rendered on stone."
28 Oct. 1819. — Mr. Swinburne to Mr. Hodgson. — "I have sent
you, to the care of Mr. J. L. Loraine, at the post office, two more
vignettes — Wyllymoteswick, of which there is just enough of the Tower
to swear by, and a distant view of Bothal Castle. Mr. Bewick will
make such alterations in them, and the others, as he may think
advisable, to adapt them to engraving; as I have not sufficient expe
rience to know what is best in the management for that purpose.
When are we to hear any thing about the larger concerns ?" — E.S.

From EDWARD SWINBURNE, Esq.
" My dear Sir, Oct. 29, 1819.
" Line engraving being out of your reach, I do not see that you
can do better than put the drawings into the hands of Mr. Lewis, of
whose very great powers of imitation Mr. Callcott speaks so decidedly
in his letter to me. The specimens he has sent have a peculiarity of
touch and manner, which I have observed in sketches of Claude, from
which they are done, corroborating his testimony. I am getting, now
the thing is decided on (for such I presume is your determination)
Bambro' Castle and Prudhoe Gateway ready as fast I can, to be sent
off and put into Mr. Lewis's hands, that he may be set -agoing; and the
other four (I believe you want six for your first volume, am I right ?)
to follow, as soon as I can get them done; if we keep free from an
explosion.* The Bridge at Dilston I propose to make the next : the
three others I have not determined on. I cannot say I am satisfied with
the first specimen you have sent me of the vignettes : I have compared
it with those of Bewick's works, his Birds and iEsop, and can see
nothing of the taste and spirited touch to be found in most of them.
It is to my eyes generally heavy and tasteless in the execution, with
deviations from the original in making out parts, which I cannot feel as
* Alluding probably to the Radicals of the period.

286 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
improvements. I cannot see his hand in it. I think it is best not to
notice it till I have had some conversation with you about it. I had
intended, weather permitting, to have been in Newcastle on Saturday,
but, in consequence of a note I have just received, I shall defer it to
Monday, between two and four o'clock. I am to be heard of at Mr.
John Ord's, in Westgate Street. Bad weather will probably prevent
me. Yours ever truly, " Ed. Swinburne."
In October 1819 Mr. Hodgson was applied to by Mr. T. M.
Richardson, a well-known and justly -appreciated artist in New
castle, to revise the letter -press of a publication which he contem
plated in conjunction with Mr. William Dixon, who was, I
believe, first a scene and then a portrait painter in Newcastle.
The work was to be entitled, " Picturesque Views of the Archi
tectural Antiquities of Northumberland ;" and it was intended to
confine it to twelve parts, but, after four had been published, the
undertaking appears to have been abandoned. Such plates as
were executed are now in the possession of Mr. Charnley, a book
seller in Newcastle. The descriptive pages submitted to Mr.
Hodgson's inspection in the first instance related to the Town of
Alnwick. " I trust," says Mr. Eichardson, " you will be gratified
with the perusal of the accompanying papers, as we consider our
selves exceedingly fortunate in our authoress, who has already
appeared before the public in different works with much credit
to herself: her services to us are gratuitous, which enhances the
favour. Our first description, being the residence of our patroness,
may probably be the longest." Mr. Richardson, as ,ve shall see,
afterwards made a second attempt upon a like subject, with
Hodgson again as the supervisor of his descriptions, and in this
also he was unsuccessful.
In this same year, 1819, a new name was added to the list of
Mr. Hodgson's topographical correspondents. John Smart, Esq.
of Trewhitt, kindly offered his services in investigating the
British and Roman camps and roads in the northern parts of the
county, and communicated a sketch of old Rothbury, &c, pro
mising further assistance. It must be admitted that in his quest
of antiquities of this description Mr. Smart occasionally made a

VIEWS IN NORTHUMBERLAND. 287
happy discovery ; and, further, that he took a sincere pleasure in
making his friends acquainted with the result of his labours.
Occasionally, however, he was fanciful. He was apt to mistake
the fosse of a Border tower for the ditch of a Roman camp, or the
mounds thrown up as sheep-folds, or night-lairs as they were
called, for British fortifications. An outline of one of his dis
coveries may be seen in the second volume of Mackenzie's patch
work History of Northumberland, p. 19, illustrative of what he
considered to be the remains of a Roman camp at Crawley Tower.
This cut however had " a double debt to pay." At no greater dis
tance than that of two leaves from the page on which it first
makes its appearance, the editor adroitly introduces the very same
illustration (if I am not mistaken) in an altered position, and
makes it do duty as a British camp between Linhope and Hart-
side. This however is nothing to the use made of the same em
bellishments, especially the portraits, in that earliest of our Pictorial
Histories — the Nuremburgh Chronicle. The self-same woodcut
stands in that most amusing book for Zaraya the priest, Solon
the philosopher, Salathiel, Demetrius the orator, Panaetius the
stoic, Suetonius the historian, Julius Africanus, the Venerable
Bede, Hugh de Sancto Victore, Bernardus of Compostella, Alex
ander de Hales, Johannes Calderinus, and John Gerson.
Nov. 19th, 1819. — Hodgson to Mr. Swinburne. — " Nesbit has Wylly-
moteswick in hand. Bothal is still with me, but, if Nesbit succeeds
in the cut he is working upon, I will send him it also. You will be
glad to hear that Warkworth Bridge looks much better in the book
than in the proof, as it is not printed so very black, and the sky has
been very lightly borne upon."
To RALPH SPEARMAN, Esq.
" Dear Sir, High Heworth, near Gateshead, 29th Nov, 18] 9.
" On Saturday last I received at Mr. Adamson's office your
copy of Mackenzie's Northumberland, with two parcels of papers
respecting the families of Widdrington and Erriugton, all of which shall
be gone through with as much expedition as I can make.
" At present I am engaged in making a selection from the Sheriff
Book of Sir Thomas Swinburne, and wish to get done with it before I

288 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
make any regular attack upon your papers. Several volumes of the
Mickleton and Spearman's MSS. have gone through my hands, and I
hope to be able to get transcripts of the best part of Dr. Hunter's papers
relative to the churches in Northumberland.
" Have you heard anything respecting a vast mass of ecclesiastical
papers at present at Paris, and which are said to have been taken from
England to Rome about the time of the Suppression, and brought from
Rome to Paris by order of Bonaparte when he meditated the invasion
of England ? I have been told that there are several amongst them
relative to establishments in Northumberland, particularly the Appro
priation Deeds of several of the Northumberland vicarages. In the
spring an opportunity I hope will occur to have them examined,
and, if the tale I have been told prove true, I will get fac-simile copies
made of such as will be of use to me.
" At present Mr. Raine, of Durham, is gleaning for pedigrees out of
a volume of extracts which I made from the MSS. in the British
Museum. When he returns it I will let you have a sight of it. Many
of my extracts were made on loose paper, and have heen arranged
under the several heads which they refer to ; but a few of them which
were copied on paper nearly all'of a size I have got stitched together,
and send for your perusal. When you have gone through it you can
return it to the care of our friend Mr. Adamson.
" In a record respecting the manor of Houghton, in Heddon-on-the-
Wall, the Roman wall appears to be called Thwertoner Dyke, which is
as much as to say the Thwartening Barrier. Thwerton being plainly
from a Saxon word for against, &c.
" Did I say to you that while I was in the Tower I met with the
original endowment charter of Morpeth School ? It had been brought
with a great mass of accounts, &c. from the Paper Office in West
minster, and deposited in the Tower a few weeks before I found it. I
suspect that it had been in the custody of Lord Widdrington, or some
other Northumberland rebel, and taken to London with the muniments
belonging to his estate, for the whole of these papers related to rebellions
in the North. I got an exact copy of it, and sent it to the Bailiffs of
Morpeth. " What think you of the character of Maister Ralph Ilderton, at
p. 42 of the extracts ? I like the description of Horsley and Carr.
" The two printed pages which I inclose are the only spare leaves
of the Placita de quo Warranto which I have in my study. It is a long

CORRESPONDENCE. 289
article, and very illustrative of the tenures in the time of Edward the
First. " Allow me to return you my very sincere thanks for the kind and
favourable manner in which you have mentioned me to Sir Henry
Lawson and Mr. Stapleton. I have had a letter from Sir Henry
offering me the perusal of his papers and title-deeds, when I can find
an opportunity of going to Brough Hall.
" Mr. Lysons at the time of his death was engaged in printing a
Calendar of the ' Inquisitiones post Mortem tempore Eliz.' upon a much
better plan than the Calendar for the reigns of Henry the Third and
the three first Edwards, printed by the House of Commons, which is
nothing but a copy of a very imperfect catalogue of the extracts in
those reigns made by some slovenly clerk a long time ago. The
Calendars for the reigns between Edward the Third and Elizabeth are
also in the printer's hands.
" With many apologies for the trouble I give, you, I am, dear Sir,
most truly your obliged and obedient humble servant, " John Hodgson."
From JOHN TREVELYAN, Esq., afterwards Bart.
My DEAE SlE, " Wallington, Dec. 15, 1819.
" On our return from a visit at Matfen we heard with regret
that you had been at Whelpington * during our absence. We shall be
most happy to see you whenever you will favour us with a visit ; and
perhaps I could shew you one or two MSS. which might afford you
some addition to your collections for the history of this county, in
which I heartily wish you success ; and remain yours very sincerely,
" J. Trevelyan."
* Doubtless upon a visit to his friend Mr. Hedley, then curate of that parish.

U

CHAPTER XIII. 1820.
Correspondence respecting Engravings continued— A rival History of Northumber
land—The Greenwich Hospital and Tower Records— Correspondence resumed—
W. C. Trevelyan, Esq. — Henry Petrie, Esq.
During the year at which we have arrived the Correspondence
with Mr. Edward Swinburne on the subject of drawings and
engravings was still carried on, and continued to be of the
same interesting nature; until, at length, in November the
volume was published for which there had been all this
thoughtful preparation; and Mr. Hodgson made his first appear
ance before the world, in a thick quarto, as a County Historian.
Along with these letters I print a few on different subjects, and
touch upon other matters connected with his personal history.
From EDWARD SWINBURNE, Esq.
" My DEAR Sir Capheaton, 9 Jan. 1820, Sunday.
" Mr. Lewis has sent me proofs of the aquatints of the two
drawings put into his hands.* Mr. Callcott, he says, thought they
looked very well, and was to write to me shortly. I have not yet
heard from him. This approbation of Mr. Callcott's is too vague for me
to know what he thinks of them as fac-similes, which they profess to
be. As for myself, after the very strong manner in which Mr. C.
had expressed himself about Mr. Lewis's powers of imitation, I am dis
appointed. There are many deviations in the copies, which appear to
me the effect of haste and carelessness. I will send you the aquatints
and the drawings next Thursday, either by Lee or the carrier, to Mr.
* It may be interesting to compare the plates in the forth-coming volume, as they
were eventually published, with the correspondence respecting them whilst they were
in a progressive state in the hands of the engraver. The same remark may be made
with regard to those in the subsequent volumes of the History, as far as we have any
correspondence concerning them. It is not necessary to refer under these letters to
the various pages in each portion of the book in which the engravings are respectively
contained, as the tabular view given by Hodgson himself at the head of each volume,
which it is my intention to reprint, will sufficiently answer that purpose.

CORRESPONDENCE ONtENGRAVINGS, ETC. 291
Ord's, in Westgate Street, that you may see them, together with a
note to direct your attention to the principal faults. I do not know
whether Mr. C. has ever seen the drawings either before or since the
aquatints have been done, to collate them. Mr. L. wishes to know
when the six plates must be done, and the sooner he has the others the
better. The expense is ten guineas each plate. I cannot believe there
is a want of power of closer imitation, but rather of some superin
tendence. I am just returned from a visit, and have not had time to
think of some arrangement for improvement in the execution of any
others that may be sent to him. I shall write to Mr. Callcott on
Thursday. My state of progress is — three others nearly finished ; and
one, the last, advanced ; so all will soon be ready to put out of hand. I
will tell you what plan I may hit upon for obtaining better stuff.
Yours sincerely, " Ed. Swinburne."
To EDWARD SWINBURNE, Esq.
" My DEAE SlE, High Heworth, li Jan. 1820.
" The meeting of our select vestry, on business relating to the
poor, prevented my getting out to Newcastle yesterday before two
o'clock in the afternoon, which will account for the proofs and drawings
hot being returned as you requested.
" If you had sent the proofs without the drawings I dare say I should
have been much gratified with them; but on comparing them together
the marks of carelessness in the copies are every where apparent.
The lights especially are too strong, and the shadows too feeble. The
detail of the herbage is very imperfectly made out, and the outline in
general without force. In Prudhoe the branches in shadow above the
figure are almost wholly omitted ; the shadow wants depth, and the
figure is inaccurately copied. The character and attitude of the figures
on the water-edge are mistaken ; and there is a want of touching and
sharpness about the mullions of the windows, the outlines of the battle
ments, and crosslet loopholes of the castle. Bamborough wants mellow
ness. The whole sky has a harsh and unnatural dapple, and the angles
of the towers are too imperfectly defined ; while the masonry of the wall
below the round tower is too much made out for the light that falls
upon it. I would not make these observations were I not very anxious
that the taste and spirit of the drawings should not be lost in trans
ferring them to the copper. I have no knowledge of the difficulties
there may be in managing the gum which is used in giving the tint,
u2

292 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
but surely a little more pains with the needle would not fail, in Mr.
Lewis's hand, to render the outline and the detail more accurately. But,
as you have taken the onus of doing so much for me, I must beg of you to
use any freedom of expostulation or advice with the engraver which
you may think likely to be advantageous in getting justice done to your
designs. " My printing has of late gone on very slowly: at present, and till
about the end of February, I do not expect the printer will be able to
give me more than four pages of proof in the week ; which will put off
the publication of the first volume to the latter end of May at the
soonest. Difficulties and delays occur to me at every step, but I have
begun and must go forward.
¦" As yet I have no tidings from Nesbit : very fortunately I have not
wanted his exertions : but they say, that, besides his itching for politics,
he has a spark in his throat which often requires to be cooled. What
do you think of the woodcut of Kelloe church in the first volume of
Surtees ? The leaves of the herbage are too large.
" I wish the hard edge of shadow in the upper part of the sky of Barn-
borough could be a little better softened down into the light.
" With respect to the tint in the sky, which Mr. Lewis speaks of, I
cannot pretend to judge upon its effect ; but wish in every respect to be
guided by your good opinion.
" I am in Newcastle two or three times a week. If you should ever
want anything done there which you may think me capable of ma
naging, I beg that you will not fail to command my services. Believe
me to be most faithfully your obedient servant, " John Hodgson."
From EDWARD SWINBURNE, Esq.
" My dear Sir, 20 Jan. 1820.
" I have written to Mr. Callcott about the aquatints, expressing
my mind on their want of care and fidelity, so little corresponding with
those powers of imitation he described, and to which, knowing Callcott's
accuracy, I trusted without hesitation. I cannot yet have had an
answer ; though I expected to have heard from him agreeably to his
promise. We shall see what he says; and perhaps he will suggest
some means (if he does not differ with us as to their merits), either by
remonstrance or superintendence, of getting the others more attended to,
and some improvement also of the two that are done. I see there is
time enough. Mr. Lewis's method is evidently a rapid one: we must

CORRESPONDENCE ON ENGRAVINGS, ETC. 293
Contrive to get a little more of the slow and sure. The great object is
to get them to be ornamental to your book, and assist the sale. There
is the same feeling here as to the general effect of the aquatints, when
not collated, as you say yours would have been, without seeing the
originals. I agree with you in all the omissions and inaccuracies you
point out, and had observed them. I am not surprised at your difficul
ties growing upon you; that is a tax upon printing-authors which
is never taken off. As to the carriage of the proofs, and such other
incidental trifles as may occur, I should be much obliged to you if you
would neither think about them yourself nor oblige me to do so. I
grudge that joint trouble. If any material expense should be incurred
I will not fail to come upon you for re-imbursement. Our roads are
blocking up. Yours sincerely, " Ed. Swinburne."
24 Jan. " I have heard from Mr. Callcott, who tells me he did not
consider the plates as completed, but looked upon them as successful
proofs, to be submitted for my suggestions for further finish. He has
no doubt of Lewis's ultimate success."
Feb. 2, 1820. — Mr. Hodgson to Mr. Swinbuene. "I have not
been well for the last week ; and the news of a rival publication, which .
Sir John has had the goodness to inform me of, has put me into
a nervous flutter. I think it right to advertise in the Newcastle papers
that my work is in progress ; but in drawing up an advertisement have
not ventured to mention to whose kindness I am indebted for the
drawings which will embellish it. Should I have occasion to repeat
the advertisement, may I have the advantage of saying that the
engravings are by Lewis, from drawings by E. Swinburne, Esq.? I
mention this, with all deference, begging that if you have the slightest
objection to see your name in the advertisement you will say so.
"It is very provoking that I can get no account from Nesbit; and
Bewick has made such a set of Chipchase Castle, that he is under the
necessity of making a second attempt. He says that it is not possible
to give distant and indefinite objects with any tolerable effect on wood-
that his style is best suited to short distances, in which the objects are
well defined. Such subjects he had in Warkworth Bridge and Copeland
Castle, both of which he has executed very indifferently, with respect
to keeping and drawing.
" There is a young man of the name of Nicholson who, I understand,

294 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
was a pupil of Bewick, and cuts very cleanly and skilfully ; but has not
a good knowledge of drawing: under proper directions he can, however,
execute his work in a very good style, and I am thinking of giving him
a vignette for a trial.
" It gave me great pleasure to hear from you that Mr. Callcott says
the proofs which Lewis sent were not finished proofs.
" Mr. Losh's speech is in my mind sensible, moderate, and full of
discretion. There will never be any reform, either in the representation
of the country or in the use of its money, till the moderate of all
parties join, and firmly and perseveringly demand it. We are now
under George the Fourth. We dare not say, ' Jam redit,' &c."
Feb. 14. — Mr. Hodgson to Mr. Swinburne. " I have not advertised my
book a second time. — I think the pretensions of the Alnwick bookseller
not so forcible. I have therefore deferred making use of the kind
indulgence you have given me of putting your name in an advertise
ment. I intend to ride to Swalwell, and, if Nesbit has not committed
Wyllimoteswick to wood, to secure the drawing. I have given Nichol
son Bothal Castle. I am much pleased with all the drawings, and
especially with the management of the sky and the foreground of Bywell
Tower. There is a charming stillness and solitude about Dilston, which
are in unison with the history of the place."
Feb. 20,1820. — Me. Hodgson to Me. Swinbuene. "Nicholson
promised on Saturday to have Bothal Castle drawn upon the wood, and
send it, with two or three queries, for your inspection. Should you
wish to alter it he tells me that the drawing must be looked at in a
mirror." But in the midst of all this preparation of engravings, &c,
Sir John Swinburne wrote, on the 28th January, 1820, to inform
Mr. Hodgson that a bookseller at Alnwick, of the name of
Davison, had sent him a prospectus of another, and what ap
peared to him to be a rival, History of Northumberland. This
will explain the allusions in the preceding letters. On the 3rd
of February following the Mr. Davison above mentioned an
nounced to Hodgson his wish to become a subscriber tohis History,
and live clays afterwards he wrote again, in consequence of
having in the mean time received a letter from Sir John, con-

A RIVAL HISTORY OF NORTHUMBERLAND. 295
taining somewhat amounting to an expostulation for his trespass
upon Hodgson's ground. In his second letter he stated in justi
fication that he had been by himself and others engaged for
upwards of four years in collecting materials for his projected
History — had been promised many materials and much support —
had had the description of the Roman Wall put into form for
twelve months — had caused many views to be taken and some
engraved — and all this before he knew anything of Hodgson's
publication. He proceeded to state that he had not made
his intention of publishing known until he heard that the
copies of Hodgson's intended History were all subscribed for, and
offered him any information in his power respecting the town of
Alnwick. He further informed Hodgson that Sir John Swin
burne had written to blame him for attempting a History of
Northumberland at this time, and added, in conclusion, that at
any -rate he should have nothing ready to come out for two years.
In reply to this communication, Hodgson addressed to him the
following letter, conceived and written with much kindness.
Mr. HODGSON to Mr. DAVISON.
" Sir, " I feel greatly obliged by the ingenuous statement of your
progress in a History of Northumberland, with which you have favoured
me. Sir John Swinburne has long taken great interest in forwarding
my labours on the same subject; but you will be well aware that the
letter which he lately addressed to you was without any previous com
munication with me on the subject; and now I tell you that I had
never heard of your intention to publish a History of the County till I
received a note from Sir John about a week ago informing me of it.
" My die is now cast, and I must go on. My plates for one volume
are all either engraved, or in the hands of engravers in London. At
the advice of persons well acquainted with the sale of County Histories
I have only printed 300 copies; but, should I be favoured with
subscribers for nearly that number, I intend to print a larger impression
of the Parochial History, and reprint the present volume to make the
impressions correspond.
" I cannot but feel sorry that we should, without each other's
knowledge, have both begun to labour in a field which, though rich in
history, offers I fear a very bare prospect'of pecuniary advantage; but,

296 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
as we have not met on the same ground with any hostile intentions, I
trust we shall proceed peacefully together in our endeavours to improve
it. Your name is added to the list of my subscribers ; and I will thank
you to allow me to take a copy of your work as it comes out, and to be.
of use to you in collecting information respecting the more southern,
parts of the county. I am, Sir, — " J. H."
On the 1 1th February following Mr. Davison wrote and offered
Hodgson 300 copies of impressions from plates engraved for his
History of Alnwick, at little more than the price of throwing off.
This offer however was declined, as the plates- were of the most
humble kind, and in the coarsest style of engraving. I am not
aware that any part of Mr. Davison's History was ever published.
Many of the plates were sold afterwards by him in a separate
state, without letter-press or description. In April 1824 impres
sions of not fewer than forty-three different engravings, chiefly of
the quarto size, were advertised by him at Is. 6d. each, or, in the
case of those of a smaller size, at that price in pairs. The subjects
engraved were castles, inhabited or in ruins, monasteries, mansion-
houses, camps, &c. ; he announced at the same time a series of thirty-
six engravings of views of churches on cards at 4d. or 6d. each,
many of which were finished, and others in the hands of the
engraver. With the exception of a few churches in the county
of Durham, most of these engravings had apparently been in
tended for his contemplated History.
Feb. 26, 1820. — Me. Hodgson to Me. Swinbuene. "After drawing
Bothal Castle on wood, Nicholson feels so confident of making a true
fac-simile of your drawing, as to think it unnecessary to trouble you
with seeing it till it is in the state of a pretty perfect proof. Bewick's
shop is at present quite tormenting. They have had one essay on,
Chipchase Castle, and made it so totally unlike the drawing that they
wish to have another trial ; and I fear, by the specimen of it upon wood,
they will not succeed. The engraving of Chipchase, and the rude
memory sketch from an old note-book of mine, were shewn to them to
give them a notion of the form of the building, which you will see they
are now attempting to give too much in detail. The wood itself has
none of that fine polish which it ought to have ; and the drawing is so
bedaubed with dirt and etching- wax that I am ashamed to let you see it,"

CORRESPONDENCE ON ENGRAVINGS. 297
March 21; 1820.— Me. Hodgson to Me. Swinbuene. " The volume
I am at present engaged in printing is intended to consist of about 400
pages, only 280 of which are printed off. After this week I am,
however, promised eight pages in the week; more, I fear, than I can
expect, so that the latter end of June will be upon me before I can pos
sibly get delivered of the present volume. I certainly would not per
severe in getting Chipchase done at Bewick's had they not already
spent a great deal of time over a block which failed, and been at the
trouble of drawing it a second time on wood. Nicholson has not
finished Bothal. He is very busy with some things for Charnley's
edition of Fables, to which Bewick made blocks when he was a young
man. As for Nesbit I have neither succeeded in getting a woodcut nor
the drawing back again, though I have commissioned a gentleman near
Swalwell to have either one or both."
June 8, 1820. — Me. Hodgson to Me. Swinburne. " I take the
liberty of troubling you with a proof of the first attempt to represent
organic remains by wood-cutting. It may still be improved, both in
fidelity of representation and in effect, by giving the longitudinal fibres
in every leaflet. Will you have the goodness to give me your opinion
whether you think such subjects will be interesting or not ? The
original, of which this is a representation, is from Fawdon colliery,
which abounds with excellent impressions of a great variety of plants,
mostly of the fern tribe. I have seen Nesbit. He says his health is,
much better, and that he hopes to finish the vignette very soon. At
present he is busy with a head of Bewick for an edition of iEsop's
Fables, which Mr. Charnley has printed, and which is embellished with
woodcuts made by Bewick many years since. The work has been
waiting for this head nearly three months. I get quite out of patience
with the slow progress of my book. About forty pages of the historical
part, besides the indexes, which will occupy at least forty pages more,
are still to print."
June 14, 1820. — Mr. Swinbuene to Me. Hodgson. " The specimen
you have sent me looks too much like a lady's pattern, whether from
incorrectness in the design of the vegetable part, or from its being made
so very black, I cannot say, without seeing the original. If intended
merely as an ornamental tail-piece I should not think it would do ; if il
lustrative and explanatory of the description of those remains in your
History, the imitation should be as close as possible, both in the forms

298 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
of the plant and its appearance in the substance in which it is de
posited. In your woodcut it looks as if the vacuum where the plant was
were filled up with coal. I am glad to hear of Nesbit 's revival. I
hope the improvement of his health is an indication of his radical
decline. — E. Swinbuene."
June 24, 1820. — To Me. Swinbuene. " When I sent your drawings
to Messrs. Lewis, through my brother, I wrote their titles upon the
back of each of them ; and some time after, finding that ' Bigge's Main
Staith ' was put on one of them instead- of ' Fawdon Staith,' I requested
my brother to mention the error to Messrs. Lewis, which I hope he has
done. The proof which I sent you is a very faithful representation of
a vegetable preserved in a carbonaceous state, and taken from about
forty-six fathoms below the surface in Fawdon colliery. I never before
saw so perfect a specimen as it is. The schist upon which it is im
bedded is of a lightish blue colour ; and the vegetable remains of a
bright and jetty black. As I shall have several similar subjects to get
engraved, I thought they might as well be scattered here and there
through my book. Those which I have selected are of kinds of which
I have seen no description, and I suppose that such of Tay readers as
are curious in natural history will be gratified with seeing them ; but I
would never attempt to give engravings of them if I supposed they
would not create an interest somewhat equal to the trouble and expense
which will attend them."

From the BISHOP OF DURHAM.
" Revt>. Sir, Cavendish Square, 17 March, 1820.
" I have at length been enabled to execute the two commissions
in which you feel so warm an interest ; and calling on Messrs. Forster
and Wailes, agents for Greenwich Hospital, at Newcastle, they will
acquaint you with the powers they have received from the Board to
communicate such papers as you want.
" Mr. Petrie, the successor to Mr. S. Lysons, has given me every
assurance he will render you all the assistance which his predecessor in
office had promised.
" Wishing you success in this arduous undertaking, which I am per
suaded you will accomplish to your own satisfaction and that of your
friends, I am, with much regard, your sincere friend,
" S. Dunelm."

GREENWICH HOSPITAL RECORDS. 299
The "papers" referred to by the Bishop in the above letter
as belonging to Greenwich Hospital were abstracts of the long
lost title-deeds of the Earl of Derwentwater, whose forfeited
estates had been attached to that charitable institution by Act
of Parliament in 1735. The following extract from a letter
written by Hodgson to the author in 1822, detailing the history
of the discovery of these records, is not without its interest. After
having long been missing, they were found soon after the second
Rebellion of 1745, when the word Derwentwater would not fail
to carry suspicion along with it. I have ascertained that during
his minority Lord Derwentwater had been a ward of his uncle
Colonel Radclyffe, who resided for a while at Capheaton, a cir
cumstance which may account for the finding of the boxes in that
mansion-house. 1822. — To the Rev. James Raine. "I have heard from Sir John
Swinburne and others, that all the Radclyffe title-deeds were, for many
years after the attainder of the Earl of Derwentwater, concealed at Cap
heaton, and that Greenwich Hospital procured them by the information
of a mason, who was employed to mend the roof of the house there.
They had been kept in a garret in boxes marked ' Derwentwater.'
A writ was issued to search for arms, and put into the hands of Sir
William Middleton to execute, who, finding these boxes with a rebel's
name upon them, seized them and carried them off. This is the sub
stance of all I know about the matter. Mr. Wailes and the late Mr.
Forster, Receivers for Greenwich Hospital, have told me the same tale.
—J. H."
It may be necessary to add to these statements that the docu
ments were immediately removed to Greenwich Hospital, where
they are now preserved, and that elaborate abstracts were made of
their contents, a copy of which was lodged with the receivers of
the estates in Northumberland. It was these abstracts which Hodg
son was anxious to consult, and we may now proceed to the
result of the Bishop's application.
The "powers" spoken of by the Bishop in his letter will be
best explained by what took place when Hodgson waited upon
the Receivers with the Bishop's letter in his hand ; unless, indeed
they themselves, of their own accord, threw obstacles in his way.

300 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
The abstracts were courteously placed before him, and he spent a
long day in making such extracts as he was in need of; but upon
taking his departure it was intimated to him that his minute-
books must be left for inspection by the legal adviser of the Hos
pital. With this request he complied, but he saw them no more.
The following extracts and letters tell the remainder of the tale :
Journal  Feb. 9, 1822. "Called at Greenwich Hospital Office
about my MS. book of extracts from their records. Mr. Wailes said
Mr Forster had it."
Ibid. — Feb. 13. " Called at Greenwich Hospital Office to get my
extracts respecting Tynemouth ; but Mrs, Forster could not get them,
as her son was from home, and had the key of the drawer where they
were." To Messrs. WAILES and BRANDLING, Receivers op Greenwich Hospital.
" Gentlemen, Whelpington, 22 Sep. 1824.
" As I expect to be in the neighbourhood of Newcastle for
several days some time during the next month, you would oblige me.
much by saying whether or not you think there is any probability of
my being allowed to make use of such extracts as I have already taken
from the abstracts of the deeds of the Greenwich Hospital Estates in
your office. For if I could see a prospect of deriving any information
from your books I would spend a day or two in going through them ;
but, if you think it is unlikely that I should be allowed that indulgence,
I would not trouble you any longer with applications on the subject.
I have the honour, &c. " John Hodgson."
From Messrs. WAILES and BRANDLING.
" Sir, Newcastle, 23 Sep. 1824.
" We shall gladly be instrumental in furnishing you with any
information relating to the Estates of Greenwich Hospital that we can
with prudence consent to be published. At the same time it is right to
inform you that we do not intend to take this responsibility upon our
selves, but to ask Mr. Williamson's opinion upon any extracts you may-
wish to make from our books. With this understanding we shall
willingly submit them to your inspection whenever it may suit your
convenience to call at our office. We are, Sir, your most obedient
servants, " Thos. Wailes,
" Rt. Wm. Brandling."

CORRESPONDENCE ON ENGRAVINGS. 301
Mr. Williamson was Temporal Chancellor of the County
Palatine of Durham, Recorder of Newcastle, and at that time far
advanced in years. It is perhaps hardly necessary to say that
Hodgson declined to give either that gentleman or the Receivers
any further trouble. As an indication however that the difficul
ties thrown in his way did not proceed from the Hospital itself, it
must be mentioned that upon a change in the management of
the Derwentwater Estate, soon afterwards, full access to the
Abstracts in question was granted to Hodgson in the most gentle
manly way, by John Grey, Esq., of Dilston, the sole Receiver, to
whom the author takes this opportunity of tendering his cordial
thanks for a similar obligation.
From Edw. SWINBURNE, Esq.
" My DEAR Sir, Penbrook, Hants, 26th June, 1820.
" I have heard of a mode of proceeding for vignettes, the
knowledge of which might I think have been useful to you in an earlier
stage of your work, and may do for another volume, which I hope you
will have encouragement enough to enter into. It has been adopted by
F. C. Lewis's brother (who travelled with Mr. Dibdin), in a book of
Travels which Mr. D. has now in the press. The etchings, executed as
vignettes, are taken off on fine India paper ; and, after the letter-press is
printed, they are pasted on the sheet with fine starch, and then simply
passed through the printer's press. I am told it answers very well.
Would not this enable you to get any vignettes, you might wish to
introduce, etched for you in London, where they would be well done,
and with far less trouble than you have had to get them spoiled in the
country ? The pasting and pressing, I suppose, you could get done
there without difficulty. I will try to get a sight of them when I
return to town in the course of a few days. I hope Mr. Lewis will soon
be ready for you. As your own operations appeared to be delayed, I
have ventured to stop his progress a little, in order to get some details
for a view of Newcastle, which I had not with me ; for having thought
it advisable to take a more simple point of view (very near Dunstan-
Hill grounds,) instead of the one I shewed you, I expect to find those
details on my return; and when they are made out in the aquatint of
it which was already much advanced, I presume he will have little else
to do before printing them off. Yours truly, " Ed. Swinbuene."

302 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
From W. C. TREVELYAN, Esq.
" My DEAE Sir Welbeck Street, June 29th, 1820.
" Thinking that you may not have met with a book entitled
" Catalogi Librorum MSS. Anglise et Hibernian" printed at Oxford in
1697, I take the liberty of inclosing you an extract from it of the titles
of some papers relating to Northumberland, which were collected by
Dodsworth, and are now preserved in the Bodleian Library, with many
others relating to the North. In Ashmole's Library, vol. 834, is a
paper which from the corrections, &c. in it (though I have not yet com
pared it with his autograph), appears to be the original draft of Flower's
Grant of Arms to Newcastle on Tyne in 1575; a copy of which, from
the papers belonging to the corporation, is given by Brand. In case
you wish for copies of any papers in the Bodleian, they may (I believe)
be obtained by writing to any of the librarians. IS, during my short
stay in London, I can be of any service to you, it will give me great
pleasure. Believe me, dear Sir, very truly yours, " W. C. Trevelyan.
" Will you have the goodness to forward the accompanying note to
Mr. Surtees."
The writer of the above letter is now Sir Walter Calverley
Trevelyan of WaUington, Bart., a gentleman well-known for his
literary and scientific pursuits. Hodgson had, as we have seen,
in the preceding year, received a kind invitation to WaUington
from Sir John Trevelyan, Mr. Trevelyan's father, and about that
period his acquaintance with the family seems to have had its
commencement. This is the first letter from his new corre
spondent which he has preserved, and it is probably the first with
which he was favoured. Mr. Trevelyan's subsequent communica
tions, and his contributions to Hodgson's materials for his History
of Northumberland in its various departments, were extensive and
of great importance. I find papers in his neat hand in most
of Hodgson's volumes of collections. One book in particular
consists entirely of transcripts by him from various sources, such
as the British Museum, the Bodleian Library, Miss Currer's
Manuscripts at Eshton Hall, &c. &c, and the assistance which this
volume must have rendered to Hodgson in his labours must have

CORRESPONDENCE ON ENGRAVINGS. 303
been great indeed. It is lettered " MS. Materials. Treveltana."
As we proceed we shall find that Mr. Trevelyan's sisters were
equally anxious to promote the History of Northumberland by
lightening the labours of its author. Miss Emma Trevelyan, in
particular, afterwards Mrs. Wyndham, a lady whose name has been
already mentioned, and which will often recur in the sequel, was
a frequent copyist in the British Museum on his account during
the visits of the family to London, and her pen and pencil were
always at his service at home, when a helping hand was needed.
From EDWARD SWINBURNE, Esq.
" York Coffee House, St. James's Street, July 1, 1820.
" My deae Sie,
" I saw Mr. Lewis on Saturday. (By the way it is only Mr. F.
C. Lewis who has anything to do with your aquatints.) He was just
sending off five proofs to your brother for you to see. There will be
some unimportant improvements made in them before they are printed.
The Bridge (Dilston), the Staith (the correction from Bigge's Main to
Fawdon is made), and Prudhoe are the best. The effect of Bambro' is
improved: the building has more substance; the sky, though more
appropriate, is liny, and some details about the rocks want taste a little ;
upon the whole it does tolerably. The shipping in the Fawdon Staith
is somewhat clumsy ; but the rest he. has been happy in, and has much
improved several parts. The By well is rather clumsy, more so than
the drawing ; a better subject should have been furnished by such a
spot. The distant view of Newcastle I do not expect to be very well
satisfied with : too little was done on the spot, and the change of the
point of view, which we thought advisable, has not helped us for
details. A substitute was not to be had in time. The cut, of which
you sent me a proof, being a faithful representation of the vegetable
so curiously preserved in a carbonaceous state, which part I erroneously
apprehended was only the engraver's mode of designating the vegetable
itself, and being illustrative of what you intend to describe, will I hope
.have its share of interest with its fellows, and assist the work. In a
week or ten days Lewis will be ready to print off the six plates. The
Queen has been parading the streets two days together, the mob in
harness. " I shall call the last view Newcastle simply. It will be known to

304 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
be from the westward, and distant enough! It can scarcely be called
from Dunstan Hill, being barely from the foot of it, a little to one side
of the Carr ground. If you like any other designation write it quickly
to Lewis. Yours truly, " Ed. Swinbuene."
To W. C. TREVELYAN, Esq.
" My DEAE Sie, Upper Heworth, near Gateshead, 1 0 July, 1820.
" Unavoidable circumstances have prevented me from answering
your very kind and interesting letter so soon as I could have wished,
but I now hasten to return you my best thanks, and to acknowledge my
obligation for your communication respecting Dodsworth's collections of
Northumberland muniments. The ' Catalogi Librorum MSS. Anglias
& HiberniEe' of 1697 is in the Library of the Lit. and Philos. Soc. of
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and Mr. Surtees mentions Dodsworth's Collec
tions as being in the Bodleian Library. Some years since I attempted,
through an application from Mr. Collinson, to obtain a copy of a
record in the Bodleian Library ; but did not succeed : and why my appli
cation was unsuccessful I cannot at present remember. I shall, how
ever, at your suggestion, through a friend in Oxford, apply to some of
the librarians, and have the whole of the charters and papers respecting
Northumberland transcribed ; excepting such of them as I have already
procured copies of; for I found Dodsworth's transcript from the Newmin-
ster, Brinkburn, and other cartularies in the British Museum ; and I
have had the muniments of some of the families, whose names you favour
me with, already through my hands.
" Should you have an opportunity before you leave London to look
into the British Museum you will greatly oblige me by naming whether
any of the papers respecting the affray at the Reedswyre have sufficient
interest to be copied. They are amongst the Cott. MSS. Cal. C. v., and
I have already copied those on fols. 31 and 32; those from fol. 33 to
fol. 60 appeared to be on the same subject ; but I had not leisure to
examine them. The transcripts of Dodsworth's papers are in a volume
entitled 'Apparatus Genealogicus Anglicus,' &c; but I have no
minute in which of the Catalogues it is to be found ; though I appre
hend it is in the Cotton Catalogue, Vitel. E. xxv.
Very proud of the permission to be ranked among the number of
your correspondents, either on matters relative to the history of North
umberland, or in furtherance of the objects of our Antiquarian Society,
believe me to be, dear Sir, very faithfully yours, " John Hodgson."

HENRY PETR1E, ESQ. 305
From W. C. TREVELYAN, Esq.
" My DEAR Sir, WaUington, Aug. 16, 1820.
" I wa3 sorry that I had not had an opportunity before I left-
London of examining the papers you mentioned in the British Museum.
Should you not be. successful in your application to the Bodleian this
time, if you will write to the Revd. A. Nicol, one of the librarians,
mentioning my name, he will I am sure give you all the assistance in
his power. I hope we shall have the pleasure of a visit from you this
summer. We might perhaps be able to assist you a little in the Concho-
logical department of the Natural History of the county.
" You will greatly oblige me by sending me the address of the binder
who made the volumes for Sir J. E. Swinburne's muniments, as I wish
to arrange some in the same manner. I remain, dear Sir, sincerely
yours, " W. C. Trevelyan."
To H. PETRIE, Esq.
« gIE) Upper Heworth, near Gateshead, 2 Oct. 1820.
" Though personally a stranger to you, the Bishop of Durham,
some time since, informed me that he had done me the honour of men
tioning my name to you in conjunction with my intention of publishing
a History of the County of Northumberland, and with some arrange
ments which were made by my late lamented friend Mr. Lysons and
myself respecting the manner in which I might be permitted to obtain
information out of the Tower. At present it is only in my power to
thank you for the favour you have done me in consenting to renew the
arrangement with yourself; but I hope that ere long I shall have an
opportunity of making a more suitable acknowledgment for your
liberality and kindness.
" One volume of my work is nearly printed off; but, before I can
conclude it, I wish to have full copies of the following escheats, literally
and closely written, with all the contractions exactly as they occur in
the originals. Should you be unable to send them in a Post-office or
Secretary of State's cover, you would oblige me by suffering them to be
directed to Cuthbert Ellison, Esq., M.P., Hebburn Hall, Newcastle, in
letters under one ounce, and so that only one letter be sent on the
same day. <
" You will also oblige me by informing me whether calendars of any
more than one volume of escheats have been hitherto published, and for
how many reigns such documents exist in the Tower. Mr. Lysons
X

306 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
told me that he was engaged in printing a calendar or index of the
escheats of Elizabeth's reign, and that he would send me the sheets of it as
far as it was printed; but his death, I fear, put a stop to the progress
of the work, as well as deprived him of performing his promise to me.
" Escheats wanted — I. Anno xii. Ed. I. Num. 16. Dominus Rex de
Consuetudinibus vocat. Frescheforce in Com. Northumbr. — II. Hen III.
anno 41. Num. 25. Rad. super Teys. Norde Goseford. Strodir defen-
sum. — III. Anno 7 Edw. III. N. 38. Ric. de Emeldon. Jesemuthe
maner. Goseford South, &c. to ' super Tynam.'
" You will oblige me by giving me an account of the charge of copy
ing the above-named records, and by suffering the copies to be forwarded
to me as soon as possible. I am, Sir, very respectfully, your obe
dient humble servant, " John Hodgson."
Mr. Petrie has been already mentioned in a letter from the
Bishop of Durham, to whom Hodgson was indebted for his intro
duction to this most kind-hearted and obliging man. Upon the
death of Mr. S. Lysons Mr. Petrie's profound knowledge in the
various departments of our national history, and his intimate
acquaintance with the writings of our early historians, gave him at
once, through the recommendation of Earl Spencer, the vacant
appointment of Keeper of the Records in theTower, where he had
increased opportunities of prosecuting the studies in which he
took a pleasure, and of affording every facility to those who were,
like Hodgson, devoting their time to topographical pursuits. To
gentlemen so engaged Mr. Petrie's courtesies were of the most
extensive and disinterested nature; and the writer, for one, can
never forget the patience with which he listened to the wants of
his visitors, or the free and hearty way in which those wants were
supplied. In his personal appearance he was robust, open-coun
tenanced, and manly, and in his general demeanour courteous and
affable. I know not that I ever saw a more perfect specimen of
an English gentleman.
In the year 1821 Mr. Petrie addressed to the Commissioners on the
Public Records of the kingdom a plan of his own drawing up for
the publication of materials for the History of Britain. This
scheme, which was of a comprehensive and elaborate nature, was
approved of not only by the Government of the day, but by a vote

HENRY PETRIE, ESQ. 307
of the House of Commons, and in May 1823 he was appointed to
be the principal editor of the contemplated work, the Revd. John
Sharpe being soon afterwards assigned to him as a co-adjutor by
the same authority. No time was lost in prosecuting the under
taking, but unhappily in 1832 Mr. Petrie fell into an infirm state
of health, which caused a considerable interruption in his labours.
Before the year 1835, however, the whole of the text of the first
volume of his contemplated series of historical authorities, under
the title of " Monumenta Historica Britannica," had been pre
pared, and, as we are informed by Mr. Hardy, a considerable col
lection of materials for other volumes had been made, when,
owing to some misunderstanding, the work was suspended by the
Record Commissioners, and most unhappily Mr. Petrie's labours
did not see the light in his lifetime. The publication of the
volume was eventually consigned to Thomas Duffus Hardy, Esq.,
who had long been officially connected with Mr. Petrie, and who in
putting a finishing hand to this most valuable volume has caught
the spirit of his master, and now sitting officially in his chair in
the Tower is equally kind and communicative to those who are
engaged in general or local history. In his General Introduction
to Mr. Petrie's volume Mr. Hardy makes all due acknowledg
ments to the merits of its compiler, and speaks in the most
becoming terms of his qualifications for the undertaking which he
unfortunately did not live to complete. " Had not the work been
suspended (says he), it is probable Mr. Petrie might have lived to
have witnessed the completion of several successive volumes. After
the publication of the first, the series would have gone on rapidly,
as several works were nearly ready for printing, but the suspen
sion .of the undertaking completely paralysed his efforts. His ill-
health, brought on chiefly by anxiety and disappointment occa
sioned by the interruption of his work, suspended its completion,
and he died on the 17th of March, 1842, at the advanced age
of 74, having acquired the well-merited estimation and deep
respect of those who knew his great historical learning and high
moral integrity. The feeling of unfeigned admiration of his
talents and character would dictate, and possibly excuse, a warmer
panegyric, but it might be thought unbecoming in this place to
indulge in expressions of esteem and veneration. It is extremely
x2

308 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
to be lamented that Mr. Petrie's valuable life had not been pro
tracted till he had at least completed his intended work down to
the period of the Norman Conquest ; for he had repeatedly ob
served, that, could he only extend his labours to this epoch, he
should establish a base on which any person of common ability and
assiduity, who would be content to pursue his plan, might erect a
column of authentic history which might rival those raised in any
other country, and exhibit the value of our national historians."
From H. PETRIE, Esq.
" Sir, Record Office, Tower, Oct, 9, 1820.
" I beg to acknowledge the receipt of yours of Oct 2, and to
repeat, directly, that I shall have great pleasure in facilitating your
researches at this place.
" With respect to the escheats, the printed Kalendar comes down to
the end of Edward III., the instruments themselves to the end of
Richard III. From that time, downwards, they are at the Rolls in
Chancery Lane. The Index mentioned by Mr. Lysons related, I pre
sume, to proceedings in Chancery during the reign of Elizabeth, as we
have no escheats during that period.
" I have given directions for the copies you wish to have to be sent
as you suggest under cover to Mr. Ellison, as there is no direct or
official intercourse between this office and those you mention. I
remain, Sir, your obedient and faithful servant, " Henry Petrie."
" Dec. 6th, 1820. (Post-mark.) To Edward Swinburne, Esq.— At
length I have got Nesbit's wood-cut of Willymoteswick ; but it is cut
so finely that impressions can only be got from it on India-paper.
On the strong paper, on which the royals of my book are printed,
it makes nothing but a black blot. When Mr. Bewick saw an im
pression of it, he said, ' It was very well, but he had forgot to put a
moon into it;' meaning that it had the darkness of a night-scene. He
charges me eight guineas for it; and after all I am forced to cancel
the page on which it is printed, and get Nicholson to make another
block. Nesbit's must be saved till I come to describe Willymoteswick,
when I will contrive to have it printed on India-paper. He has totally
mistaken the figure, and made it much too light; and besides that,

HENRY PETRIE, ESQ. 309
he appears to have no feeling for the subject ; the rocks and broken
banks of your drawing being most imperfectly rendered. The cutting
is unquestionably fine, but it is a fineness which cannot be made use of.
Many of the lines are so extremely tender that even on the India-paper
they blur.
" I shall be in the binder's hands next week, and the week after that,
publish without fail. — J. Ii."
" Mr. Swinburne to Mr. Hodgson. Capheaton, 10th Dec. 1820. — If
Nesbit has forgotten the moon in his cut, he has made up for it by the ¦
introduction of a ghost. If ever you use this vignette, you must get a
half-tint on the figure. There is some nice execution, but a great deal
too much work for any effect from it. He might produce a good
deal with such handling with better management. Your crisis is
approaching, I see. Yours, Edw. Swinburne.

CHAPTER XIV. 1820—1821.
Publication of the first volume (Part III. Vol. I.) of his History of Northumberland-
Contents— Preface— Topographical Queries— Letter of encouragement from Mr.
Surtees — Reply.
At length, after much delay and many annoyances arising
from the press and from engravers, at the close of the year 1820,
a volume of the History of Northumberland was placed before
the public by its author as the first fruit of his labour. It is
described in the title-page as " Volume V. being the first volume
of Part III, consisting of Antient Records and Historical Papers,"
and the table of its contents is as follows:
" Article I. A series of royal and private charters, relating to
lands in Knaresdale, and at Haughton, in the parish of Simonburne ;
copied from original muniments in the possession of Sir J. E. Swin
burne, of Capheaton, Bart. F.R.S., F.A.S., &c.
" II. A list of the names of all the castles and towers in the county
of Northumberland, with the names of their proprietors; made about
the year 1460. From a MS. in the possession of Robert Surtees,
of Mainsforth, Esq., F.S.A.
" III. Articles of Accusation preferred against Lord Dacre, warden
of the East and Middle Marches between England and Scotland, by
the inhabitants of Northumberland. [Between 1515 and 1530.]
Copied from the original in the possession of Sir J. E. Swinburne,
Bart. " IV. The Calendar of the ' Inquisitiones post Mortem' or ' Es
cheats,' during the reigns of Hen. HI., Edw. I., Edw. II., and Edw.
III., so far as they relate to the county of Northumberland.
"N. The ' Rotuli Hundredorum' (a0 1275), so far as they relate
to Northumberland.
" VI. The ' Placita de Quo Warranto' for Northumberland.
[1293.] "VII. The 'Testa de.Nevil' so far as it relates to Northumber
land. [Edw. I.]

HISTORY OF NORTHUMBERLAND.

311

" VHI. Rentals and Rates for Northumberland, with the proprietors'
names in 1663.
" LX. ' Taxatio Ecclesiastica Anglise' [1291.] So far as it relates
to Northumberland.
" X. An Account of the Expenses of Sir Thomas Swinburne, Knt.
during his sheriffalty for Northumberland, in the years 1628 and
1629; from his sheriff's book in the Mickleton Collection."
An explanation of the contractions used in the volume, occu
pying seven pages at the end of the Preface, is succeeded by a
notice respecting its embellishments, and an acknowledgement
of the handsome gift of 201. by George Anderson, Esq. towards
their cost, and of the kind and able assistance of Edward Swin
burne, Esq. by whom many of them had been designed with
that patient courtesy of which the reader has already had so
many striking proofs before him. The volume is accompanied
by six engravings in line or aquatint,* and, besides, there are
numerous wood-cuts and fac-similes, many of them by the author
himself, "solely," as he says, " to give an antiquarian character
to his book." Those cuts are chiefly initial letters. | It does not
appear that Hodgson contributed any decorations of a similar
kind to his subsequent volumes, but it is quite clear that somewhat
more of practice would have rendered him eminently successful
* The following is Mr. Lewis's Bill for his Aquatints :
July 28(A 1820. Rev. J. Hodgson to F. C. Lewis, Dr.

Engraving Prudhoe Castle ...

lOUOs.

>)

Bambrough Castle

10 10

j>

Dilston

10 10

,j

By well Tower

10 10

»

Wall's End 

10 10

S3

Newcastle

10 10

3 sets of Proofs

10

Writing

Engraving ...

1 10

Printer's

bill for 1800 proofs of 6 plates at 12s.

10 i6

75 sheets of Royal paper

18

375 sheets of Medium 

3 5

Box

10

£S0 9
T It was intended to have placed in the margin a few of these specimens of Mr.
Hodgson's skill and ingenuity, but unfortunately the blocks have been mislaid. They
may probably be found in time for a page in the Appendix.

312 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOnN HODGSON.
in wood-engraving. It is interesting to witness the variety of
subjects to which, in the common phrase, he could turn his hand.
The importance to any future^ History of Northumberland of
the various documents contained in the volume before us, as
materials of the most authentic nature, may not be doubted ; but
it may be questioned whether its compiler manifested his judg
ment when he sent forth to the world as the first specimen of his
long-expected work a book, which, to the general reader, con
tained so few attractions. With the seeds of genuine North
umbrian history it was indeed pregnant in every page, but they
were in a dormant state. That he himself was apprehensive of
the unfavourable impression which the volume would make, is
proved by more than one apologetic passage in the preparatory
statements and explanations with which it was accompanied.
That Preface, containing, as it does, not only the apologies
alluded to, but also many indications of Hodgson's peculiar
notions on the subject on which he was engaged, and many judi
cious remarks upon the general interest and utility of similar
topographical publications, deserves a place in our pages.
" PREFACE TO VOLUME THE FIFTH.
" In forming the plan of this work, I have thought it of importance
to provide as much as possible against the introduction of foreign
languages into the General and Parochial Histories; but to give full
copies from the originals of some of the most important records of the
county, . and to arrange them so as to ensure to myself a method of
digesting their contents under their proper heads, and to my reader
an easy plan of referring to my authorities. On these accounts, this
part of my work will be found to consist of Records • and Historical
Papers derived from public and private sources, and from books printed
by Royal Authority, but not generally known ; and to conclude with
Indexes * referring to the name of every person and place as often as
it occurs. " That the contents of this volume, in their present form, are of a
* The Indexes which accompanied Mr. Hodgson's volumes (the last excepted), are
perfect specimens of their kind, comprising not merely names of men and places with
out, it is believed, a single omission, hut subjects also, and every other conceivable

PREFACE OF FIRST VOLUME. 313
dry and unamusing kind, is readily admitted. But, while they fail to
entertain, I expect they will be considered as free from the attribute of
offending, or of creating litigation ; and from the inferences I have to
draw from them, and the positions I hope to place them in, I have no
doubt of rescuing them from the character of dulness ; and under .this
conviction, I could not be tempted to forego my plan, unpromising as
it appears, of publishing this volume the first, for the more flattering
reception that one enlivened with anecdote and family and local history
might have been expected to meet with.
"And with respect to the utility of collections of this kind, whilst
it is admitted, that no immediate pecuniary advantage, an interest of
a more tangible and gratifying nature than that of amusement, is to
be derived from them, it is maintained that they contain the evi
dences of the improvements and the declensions of nations in the
art of government; how law, and liberty, and knowledge, and social
order, and political strength flourish or decay together; and how the
application of science and of inductive philosophy to all the natural
wants and policies of man dissolve and dissipate the superstitions of
ignorant ages. For what tables of logarithms are to mathematicians,
and of affinities to chemists, Records digested into order are to the
lawyer, the landholder, the historian, and the antiquary. ' I dare
assure any wise and sober man,' says Dr. White Kennet, the learned
Bishop of Peterborough, ' that historical antiquities, especially a search
into the notices of our own nation, do deserve and will reward the
pains of any English student ; will make him understand the state of
former ages, the constitution of governments, the fundamental reasons
of equity and law, the rise and succession of doctrines and opinions,
the original of ancient and the composition- of modern tongues,
the tenures of property, the maxims of policy, the rights of religion, the
characters of virtue and vice, and indeed the nature of mankind.'
" Out of the numerous ancient and unpublished Charters with which
I have been favoured, 1 have selected those in the First Article solely as
specimens of the utility of such instruments, in illustrating the history
and customs of places, and in forming pedigrees.
" The three Records given below * were indifferently selected from
indication to lighten the labour of the inquirer and guide him to the object of his
search. The absence of these Indexes in the volume which terminated his labours
will be hereafter accounted for.
* The records here printed in a note (which I omit) are a writ and inquisition
upon the death of Ralph super Teyse (or Surtees) in 41 Henry III. and two other
inquisitions on the subject of Frescheforce.

314 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
the Calendar which commences at p. 41, and are introduced here as
examples of the kind of evidence which the Escheats contain. They
are printed from copies taken at length, and attested by Mr. Bayley-
The printed Calendar reaches no further than the time of Edward in.
The instruments themselves to the end of Richard III. to which time
they are preserved in the Tower, and from that time downwards they
are at the Rolls in Chancery Lane.
" The grand totals of the Rates and Rentals, with some reasonings on
the comparative rate of assessment in different parts of the county, will
be found under the article Revenues, in Part the First. The column
entitled " Names of Proprietors in 1663," and the. assessment to the
trainbands included between pp. 320 and 348, cannot fail of affording
interesting matter for reflection, not only to wealthy families, but to
every villager in the county. While they shew the stability of property
in a few houses, they are indexes to numerous vicissitudes in human
affairs. They call up in the mind traditions and histories of transactions
in times of high political excitement, and connect themselves with a
great variety of moral considerations. Many persons, too, are noticed
here whose names could not have figured in a pedigree ; and many
places, which have few other distinctions than one, that is common to
them with places that are blazoned on the pages of history, namely,
that they are the dwelling places of men, who had for their forefathers
the brave defenders of the English borders in Northumberland.
" Much pains have been bestowed in making the Indexes accurate
and copious; and by a slight inspection it will be seen that many
places disguised under barbarous spelling and erroneous reading, have
been classed under the most modern names in which they occur in
this volume.
" In the General Introduction, I intend, Deo cedente, to perform the
gratifying duty of acknowledging the obligations which I owe to
numerous individuals, for large and valuable contributions of materials
to the General and Parochial History ; for furtherances and facilities in
my researches ; and for much kindness and civility to myself. In the
meantime, however, I feel myself called upon to state my obligations
for assistance in this part of my work. And, in the first place, my
acknowledgments are due to the Lord Bishop of Durham, for permis
sion to enrich my publication with materials out of the archives of the
see of Durham, and from the Mickleton and Spearman Manuscripts ;
and to the Dean and Chapter of Durham, for the favour of being
allowed to select out of their very ancient and valuable collection of
Records and Charters, whatever relates to my subject.

PREFACE OF FIRST VOLUME. 315
" To Sir John Swinburne, of Capheaton, Baronet, F.R. and A. SS.,
I am indebted for the use of seven large manuscript volumes of original
charters, letters, and curious papers, highly illustrative of the local and
general History of Northumberland; and to his brother Edward Swin
burne, Esq. for the privilege of embellishing my work with designs,
the beautiful simplicity of which has been happily imitated in the aqua
tint engravings by Mr. Lewis ; but which, I lament, could not be so
uniformly expressed in the wood-cuts which accompany this volume.
" I am obliged to R. W. Grey, Esq. for the loan of the manuscript
which contains the first, second, seventh, and eighth columns of Article
the Eighth : to C. W. Bigge, of Linden, Esq. for a copy of the present
County Rate; the Rental for building the County Courts in 1809; and
for a transcript of the Kerr MS. of the Rates and Rentals in 1663: and
to John Adamson, Esq. M.R.A.S. of Lisbon, F.A.S.L. and E. and my
fellow-secretary in the Newcastle A. S., for the use of a copy of the
County Rate in 1690.
" To Robert Surtees, of Mainsforth, Esq. F.A.S. and author of the
splendid and elaborate History of the County of Durham, my obliga
tions are numerous, and especially for a copy, in an old hand, of the
fist of Castles and Towers in Northumberland, printed in Article the
Second. There is another old copy of the same document in the Har-
leian Library, No. 309.
"My acknowledgements were also due to the late Samuel Lysons,
Esq. Keeper of his Majesty's Records in the Tower of London, for
offers of assistance, of which I was prevented availing myself to any
extent by his lamented death. To Henry Petrie, Esq. however, my
warmest thanks are due for his ready and frank renewal of the liberal
offers of forwarding my undertaking, which I had from his predecessor
Mr. Lysons. I am also much indebted to Mr. Bayley, of the Record
Office, for the voluntary tender of rendering me every assistance.
" In this department of my work I am also under great obligations
to Sir M. W. Ridley, of Blagdon, Bart. M.P. ; to T. H. Bigge, of Little
Benton, Esq. ; to Ralph Spearman of Eachwick Hall, Esq. ; James Ellis,
of Otterburne Castle, Esq. ; Thomas Davidson, Esq. ; A. Donkin, Esq. ;
the Rev. A. Hedley, A.M.; and Messrs. John Murray and George
Burnett, of Newcastle ; and most particularly I am indebted to the Rev.
James Raine, of Durham, for numerous faculties and valuable contri
butions to my work.
" That I have not been guilty of literal errors, and larger blunders,
is more than I expect ; but while I trust that the consideration of the

316 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
magnitude of my undertaking and that it is not rising under the in
fluences of ease and uninterrupted leisure, but under the laborious
avocations of a minister in a very extensive and populous parish, and of
a father and * tutor in a numerous family, will in many minds stand as
a sufficient apology for the imperfections of my work; yet I have no
wish on these accounts, or on the ground that I give no pledges to the
public respecting my work, to lighten my obligations as an author to
fidelity and accuracy, or to hide myself from the just severity of
criticism. " John Hodgson.
" Upper Heworth, 11th November, 1820."
Along with this volume Mr. Hodgson published the following
statements with respect to the plan of the future Parts or portions
of his work, and also the Queries which are subjoined; soliciting
information on almost every topic which could possibly come
within the scope of his intended History. The Queries may be
useful to other topographers. His proposed arrangement of
volumes was, as we shall see afterwards, not strictly adhered to.
" In presenting to the public this Fifth Volume of a History of the
County of Northumberland, I beg leave to accompany it with the fol
lowing sketch of the plan upon which I propose to execute it.
" Part I. vol. i. will contain the General and Border History of the
County, with separate Articles on its Natural History, Agriculture,
Geology, Mining, Revenues, &c.
" Part II. vols. ii. iii. and iv. will include the Parochial History, i.e.,
descriptions of towns, villages, antiquities, and curiosities, pedigrees of
families of rank, memoirs of remarkable persons, &c.
" The first volume of this part, containing the History of the parishes
in Castle Ward, will be the next in the order of publication.
" Part III. vols. v. and vi. will consist of Ancient Records and His
torical Papers, relative to Northumberland and the English and Scottish
borders. " Only 300 copies are printed: 50 on royal paper at three guineas a
volume, and 250 on demy at two guineas. Each volume will contain
engravings on copper and wood.
" A list of the wood-cuts and copper-plate engravings which belong
to the Fifth Volume, will be found in it at page xiv. The following
eight prints which accompany it are intended to be bound up in the

HISTORICAL QUERIES. 317
future volumes where the places which they represent are described.
I. The Gateway to Prudhoe Castle. II. Newcastle. III. The Tyne>
from Fawdon Staith. IV. Dilston. V. Bywell Tower. VI. Barn-
borough Castle. These six are designed by Edward Swinburne, Esq.,
and engraved by F. C. Lewis. VII. Alnwick Castle. VIII. Wark-
worth Castle : the last two reduced one half in size from Buck's Views
in 1728, and engraved by M. Lambert, of Newcastle.
" Though I have collected a large mass of original and unpublished
materials for this work, and intend to visit every part of the county that
is worthy of notice, before I print an account of it, yet, aware that
it often requires long residence on a spot to become intimately ac
quainted with its history, I take the liberty of soliciting answers to the
following QUERIES.
" 1. Of a Parish. — Its ancient and modern name and etymology — how
many chapelries, townships, constableries, villages, and hamlets it con
tains, with the name of each — by what parishes it is bounded — does it
contain or make a part of any ancient barony or manor, and what are
the nature of the courts holden within them — the number of inclosed
and uninclosed acres in each township — which of the townships main
tain their poor separately, and which conjointly, what is the annual
rental of each township, the number of its weekly and casual poor, and
the sum annually paid for their maintenance — has it a workhouse, and
when was it built ?
" 2. Church or Chapel. — To what Saint is it dedicated— by whom built
and founded — what are its dimensions, its form, and style of architecture
— has it any oratories, porches, or aisles — any shrines, remarkable
monuments, or inscriptions — any family vaults, heraldic devices, any
painted walls or windows — had it ever any peculiar immunities — if a
chapel of ease, how connected with the mother church ?
" 3. In the Churchyard. — Any crosses, pillars, remarkable vaults,
monuments, or inscriptions — have any remarkable antiquities, such as
coins or coffins, been found in it, or any human skeleton of extraordinary
size ? i
" 4. 'Endowment of a Living. — Can a copy of its terrier be procured
— if not, what quantity of glebe land has it, and where is it situated 
who has the great tythes — what do the vicarial tythes consist of, and
who has them — has it any annual pension, and by whom paid, or has it
been augmented by Queen. Anne's Bounty,. and to what extent ?

318 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
" 5. Incumbents. — Can any addition or correction be made to the list
of them published by Mr. Allan, and usually annexed to Mr. Hutchin
son's View of Northumberland ? Can biographical sketches be given
of such of them as were remarkable for their writings or in their minis
terial capacity ?
" 6. Parish Registers. — When do each of them commence, and do they
contain any entries of persons of rank or learning, or eminent for their
talents or public services, or remarkable for their stature or longevity ?
When do the parish books commence, and do they contain any curious
information respecting the mode of relieving the poor prior to the 42 of
Eliz., or any curious records or agreements ?
" 7. Concerning Abbeys, Priories, and other Religious Houses. — Are
there any manuscripts, books, charters, or other writings belonging to
them, and in whose possession ? Have any curious discoveries been
made among their ruins ?
" 8. Concerning Chapels and Meeting-houses of Dissenters. — The
proper designation of each of them — when built, its size, and form —
names and a biographical account of the succession of its ministers —
has it any endowment in trust, or otherwise ?
"9. Of Public Libraries, Endowed Schools, Hospitals, Annual, Doles,
or other Charities. — By whom were they founded or bequeathed
— the annual amount of their revenues — and a description of each
charity ?
" 10. Antiquities. — Accounts of any remarkable camps, cairns, or
barrows — any ancient altars, coins, arms, or utensils, that have not been
noticed or imperfectly described in printed books ?
"11. Trade and Manufactories. — The number and kinds of mills
anciently and at present used in grinding corn, forging iron, making
paper, spinning, or in manufacturing or dressing cloth, making oil,
&c. &c — or any potteries, foundries, tanneries, or other kinds of manu
factories — how long have they existed — the number of persons em
ployed in each of them ?
" 12. Agriculture. — Commons or town-fields, their names, kinds of
herbage, and extent— if inclosed, whether by mutual consent, when, and
to what purposes have they been turned— the quantity of ground an
ciently inclosed by walls, hedges, or marches, in meadow, in 'tillage,
and the kinds and rotations of crops ; in grass, and whether grazed
principally by breeding or fattening -stock; in wood, and whether
natural or planted, the kinds of trees, and which of them are most pro
fitable— marie and clay beds, their extent, and how applied ?

HISTORICAL QUERIES. 319
" 13. Geology, Mineralogy, Mining. — Alluvium, what it consists of, its
form, and depth, and from whence it is supposed to have been brought;
does it contain any remains of organized bodies ? The cropping, incli
nation, line of bearing, thicknesses, and kinds of strata; accounts of
borings or sinkings through them ; drawings or specimens of the organic
remains found in each of them ; notices to what purposes they are or
may be put, whether they can be advantageously employed in building,
will take the marble polish, can be used as millstones, grindstones, or
whetstones, or contain clay for china or earthenware, crucibles, glass
house pots, or fire-bricks.  In what direction dykes and metallic
veins traverse the county ; the kinds of metals and spars they contain ;
where they are filled or surmounted with such whin as is found between
Glenwhelt and Kirkwhelpington, at Coaleyhill, Dunstanborough, Bam-
borough, &c; how the strata he, are elevated or depressed on each side
of such dykes, with descriptions of the strata in which the metals are
found, and which of them is most and which the least metalliferous ;
also accounts of the mineral springs that occur near such dykes.  Of
"nines, when they began to work, the quantity and kinds of metals
they have produced; the kind of spars that coat their sides; their
depth, extent of drifts, the size of the natural caves found in exploring
them; modes of working them; the kinds of furnaces and the pro
cesses used in smelting and refining metals; notices of old mines,
where unsuccessful attempts have been made to obtain metals, where
bloomeries have been, and of the sites and kinds of ancient heaps of
scoria ?
" 14. Respecting Collieries. — Of the winning — when it commenced and
when it was completed — what is the depth and nature of the alluvium
above the rock; the kinds and thicknesses of the several strata sunk
through — the power of the engines employed in sinking — and the sum
expended in making the shaft.  The names of the lessors of the
mine, and the extent, name, and boundary of their royalty — the names
of the lessees — the thickness of the several seams that have been worked
— and the quantity of coal annually worked and vended since the
commencement of the colliery.  Remarkable fossil substances or im
pressions of organized bodies found in the mine, and the name, and
depth from the surface of the stratum in which they were found — have
any extraneous substances, such as pieces of wood or rounded stones
been found amongst the coal.  Accidents by fire or water — when
they occurred, and the number of persons and horses lost in each
accident ; the means that have been resorted to, to give light when steel-

320 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
mills were found insecure, and before the use of safety-lamps.  Of
dykes or veins — their bearing — whether upcast or downcast — and to
what height or depth, and what are their contents.  Notices respect
ing any old workings, the names, qualities, and thicknesses of the strata
worked, and the period, extent, and mode of working ?
" 15. Natural History. — Rare or curious plants— their scientific or
provincial names, where they grow, especially the esculent and medicinal
species found near monasteries, castles, or ancient villages. — Shells,
whether found on land, in fresh water, or in the sea, their names, and
drawings or specimens of them, their localities, and the habits of the
animals that live in them. — Insects, the names, drawings, or specimens
of each species, with such information as can be procured respecting it in
its several states of an egg, a caterpillar, pupa, and perfect state. — Also
anecdotes or notices on the natural history of the birds and quadrupeds
that frequent the county, and the names and descriptions of the rarer
sort of fishes that frequent its coasts. " John Hodgson."
" Upper Heworth, near Gateshead, December 11th, 1820."
Under his doubts with respect to the popularity of this his
first volume, Mr. Hodgson must have been much comforted by
the following letter from his fellow -labourer in the field of topo
graphy, Mr. Surtees of Mainsforth ;
" DEAR SlE Mainsforth, Dec. 31st, 1820.
" I have just had time to cast a hasty glance at your volume.
I like your brave plan of laying the foundation of Records first; and
then referring to them. But, whatever it may be to the general reader,
these documents are as amusing to me, and give occasion to as much
reflection on the ups and downs of families and estates, as any regular
narrative. The list of 1663 is very interesting in this respect. I write
however, chiefly under an anxious wish that something should be done
towards perpetuating the Towers and Peels of Northumberland. I
would wish to see every old Strength and Castle preserved, and really,
if you can get such an artist as Edward Swinburne, and have his beau
tiful sketches executed so as to preserve their delightful truth and
simplicity, you will be a greater benefactor to Northumberland than by
throwing out a few expensive plates for the benefit of connoisseurs. The
plan also of reducing Buck pleases me mightily. Widdrington looks
like a gorgeous old dame in full dress. The very bull's heads are on

LETTER FROM HODGSON. 321
the great flight of steps, and one imagines knights and ladies pacing up
' with solemn step and slow ' to feast in the great bay-window'd room on
the left. Now, is there not spirit enough in Northumberland to raise a
fund for illustrating your pages with the views above hinted at ? I
should really hope it only wants setting a-going, and that Major Ander
son would not stand alone in such a list. At all events, permit me to
book myself ten guineas towards your future volumes. I am afraid I
have not sufficient acquaintance in Northumberland to set the stone a-
rolling ; but I really hope it may be done.
" I think your Society condescends to give tradesmen's tokens of the
old issue a place on their shelves. I take this opportunity of sending a
few of these nick-nacks, and some other trash, which may sleep in their
drawers till age makes them venerable. Raine, you probably know,
is in London. His direction: E. Blore, 56, Welbeck Street, Cavendish
Square. " I send an old Northumbrian deed which you may perhaps wish to
copy, — John de Vaux, Lord of Beaufront, to Adam Menvyle, of lands in
Whittonstall. Be so good as return it at leisure. It was found among a
parcel of Durham deeds not connected with it except by the occur
rence of the name of Menvyle.
'' The mutilated lar was found at Piersebridge ; give it to the Society,
or keep it to preside over your own household. Yours very sincerely,
" R. Suetees."
Hodgson's reply to this characteristic letter was as follows :
To ROBERT SURTEES, Esq.
" My dear Sie, 8th Feb. 1821.
" I have very severely to reproach myself for neglecting so long
to answer your kind congratulations on the debut of my book ; and es
pecially to beg your acceptance of my best thanks for your liberal con
tribution towards the embellishments of the future volumes, and for your
scheme of having all the old Castles and fortified dwellings engraved.
The truth is, when I received your favour I was confined to my bed;
and for nearly a fortnight after, and since that time I have been so
harassed with duty and unfit to go through it, that till within these few
days I have had no heart to write more than I was forced to do by
sheer necessity.
" My plan from the first was to give no engravings but on antiqua-
Y

322 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
rian subjects : but really the materials of that kind are so numerous in
Northumberland that I could not give half of them without being a
loser by doing so. Not being able to attend the Anniversary of the
Antiquarian Society (of Newcastle) myself, I sent my amanuensis with
your present of coins, &c, and took the liberty of accompanying
them with your letter ; and I now find that a subscription is talked of;
at the Spring Assizes it may probably be set a-going; though I am
apprehensive that it will be starved between the Whig and Tory storms
that rage at present. When I was in London, I got Sir John Swinburne
to mention my plans of publishing a History of Northumberland to the.
Duke of Northumberland, and at that time thought the measure very
coldly received. His Grace offered to become a subscriber to it.
Before that time I had never thought of publishing by subscription.
When a copy of the work was at Christmas sent to Alnwick Castle
directions were given to an agent at Newcastle to inquire at the printer's
whose authority he had for sending it; though I had the Duke's letter
requesting his name to be put down.  But I will go on, and
endeavour to write my work into notice: for I have no fear that the
public will neglect me after my next volume appears. I have no arts
of flattery. It is a thing I both hate to offer and to have offered to me.
 1 cannot think that mere pique can be the cause of the coldness
that is shown me, but interested motives ; and that to arise from the
idea that I may publish ^records &c. which may cause litigation and
loss of property. (Notes of two early documents respecting Tudhoe are
here given, and the copy is unfinished.)

CHAPTER XV— 1821.
Correspondence. — Second Visit to London. — Letters to Mrs. Hodgson. — Visit to
Oxford. — Other Correspondence. — The Living of Whitfield. — Roman Altars, &c. at
Ryton. — Subscription for Engravings for his History.
The correspondence with Mr. Swinburne proceeds, and we
have some further remarks upon the embellishments of the volume
published in the preceding year, together with details of plans for
those by which it was to be succeeded.
From EDWARD SWINBURNE, Esq.
" My deae Sie, Jan. 1821.
" I hope you are satisfied with the printing of your book. It
appears to me very well, but I am no judge. It is handsomely got up,
I apprehend at no small expense. The initial letters are good, and your
knight on horseback very spirited.* What has cost the most trouble is
the least creditable: the. vignettes from my drawings are failures. They
were not the right sort of things for engravers, who have no knowledge
of landscape. Willymoteswick (second trial) is not a blot like the first,
but it wants point. It will be easy to get upon a better scent for the
next volume. The view of Newcastle by Lewis is rather heavy in
execution, and its details less correct than the sketch, which was meagre
for want of nature and attention. The one from Dunstan Hill, which
had been prepared to make one of the six, was not liked by Lewis. The
details of Fawdon Staith in the shipping part are coarsely imitated ; the
rest well. Bywell is heavier than the drawing. Prudhoe and Bridge
are the best. I have as yet looked but hastily at the old deeds, &c. of
your work.
" Have you got the drawings of Willymoteswick and Chipchase?
Did you send me Bothal and Copeland? Warkworth I have, Don't
trouble yourself much about them. Yours very truly,
" Edw. Swinburne."
* A tail-piece cut by Hodgson. See p. 311 above, and p. 118 of the volume.
y2

324 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
From MAJOR ANDERSON.
" My DEAE Sie, Anderson Place, Jan. 6, 1821.
" I feel myself much obliged to you for the very flattering com
pliment you have been pleased to pay me in your History of Northum
berland. I should have been more pleased if I had seen it followed by
the more wealthy and higher classes of the county; but they are not
encouragers of the Arts and Sciences. I should have thought that the
example of the neighbouring county * would have inspired them to have
assisted you ; but their assistance is only to be had by servility, which
I think you very right in not crouching to. Your illustrations are not
equal to Mr. Surtees's splendid work, but they are respectable :  With
sentiments of the highest consideration and regard, I remain, your very
much obliged humble servant, " G. Andeeson."

From Sir J. E. SWINBURNE, Bart.
¦" My DEAR SlR, Capheaton, Jan. 6, 1821.
" I am much gratified with the volume of your History I have
just received, and shall on Monday pay Walker for the two copies he
has sent me, and for Lady Swinburne's copy at the same time.
" You have published my ancient deeds in so splendid a way, and
have had so much trouble about them, that I must beg you will allow
me to contribute my mite towards the expense by the inclosed draft.
A weakness in my eye prevents me from saying more than that I
most heartily wish you success, and remain, my dear Sir, ever most
truly yours, " John E. Swinbuene."
"Pray thank the Antiquarian Society in my name for the honour
they have done me in again electing me their President. I live at so
inconvenient a distance, and my time has of late been so entirely taken
up with various serious and not pleasant businesses, that I have not had
it in my power to attend ; and pray assure the Society that it is not
from want pf respect or neglect. J. E. S."
* On the subj ect of the County of Durham and its splendid subscription to the embel
lishments of Mr. Surtees's History, the reader is referred to a subsequent page. The
zeal of the county seems to have evaporated in the effort which was then made, and
that noble History remains in the imperfect state in which it was left by its author.

CORRESPONDENCE. 325
We now find Hodgson engaged in performing a debt of
gratitude, and laying further plans for future operations. He thus
writes to his friend Mr. E. Swinburne on the 10th Jan. 1821.
" Jan. 10,1821  To Edward Swinbuene, Esq. — I have a royal copy of
my book at Newcastle, of which I beg your acceptance, and will forward
it as soon as I can get from home to see it before it be sent. I have
been nearly a fortnight confined at home by bad health. You will
perceive by the title-pages of the copies sent to Sir John and Lady
Swinburne that Nesbit's cut has been rejected. It would not print.
An impression of the title-page was worked off from it, but it was so bad
as to render it 'necessary to cancel it. It would work on nothing but
India paper. He charges me eight guineas for it, and Nicholson in one
week cut the block, which has been made use of, for three. I found
some fault with the stiffness and inaccuracy of the figure, and when I
went back he had altered it as it now stands; and I trust you will
pardon the liberty, as it has a much better effect than his first attempt
produced; though he might have chosen a better subject than that of
age on two sticks, and placed even it in a more natural attitude, as it
does not seem to find that support from the sticks which their use would
naturally demand. Mr. Surtees in a letter to me expresses an anxious
wish to see many of the strongholds of Northumberland in your
" beautiful sketches, and executed so as to preserve their delightful truth
and simplicity." I wish I could have a day or two's leisure to consult
you about future operations, and to have your influence to impress your
nieces into the services of the County so far as to get a few sketches of
'• Peel or Tower or Castle hoary " from their pencils. Belsay is a
favourite subject with me, also Haughton Castle, and I should like a
nearer view of Chipchase, making the old tower of the De Insula's the
chief object. Bewick's woodcut of Chipchase, though the second attempt,
is a most miserable failure."
Edwaed Swinbuene, Esq., to Mr. Hodgson. — " Capheaton, 13 Jan.
1821. — I am much obliged to you for your handsome present, and,
though it is not well bestowed on one who has not a library, I will
accept of it, as I believe that I shall pay more regard to your feelings
by doing so than by declining it, on account of your great expenses
incurred. I had given some thoughts to subjects for your next volume,
and wanted no retaining fee to make me anxious to give you whatever
assistance lies in my power. I shall have sufficient opportunities

326 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
before the winter is over of conferring with you on the subject. I am
sorry to hear you have been unwell, as we all are here. My nieces
want no influence on my part to make them ready to assist you, and
most cheerfully, with their pencils, whenever any thing comes in their
way that can be turned to any account ; and so they bid me tell you
nem. con. If you have not forwarded the copy you destine for me, you
will oblige me by sending it, in the interim, to John Brough Taylor,
Esq., Villiers Street, Bishopwearmouth, who has expressed to me his
anxiety to see it : the documents of former times have much interest for
him. I will write him a line to-day mentioning the probability of his
getting a sight of my copy. I have more to say, but am short of time
this post and must defer it Yours very truly, "Ed. Swinburne."
From EDWARD SWINBURNE, Esq.
" My deae Sie, 21 Jan. 1821.
" If it would be any gratification to you to possess the drawings
I did for your work, I should be happy if you would accept of them ;
and in that case, in what shape would you have them? If it were your
wish to insert them into the books themselves, I could, I dare say, con
trive to take them off the present mounting and fix them on to a
single sheet, which would bind up with the work ; or would you like
them better hung up in your study?
" There is a great deal of clearness in Nicholson's Willymoteswick;
and if he had had more time, and I could have had access to him while
about it, to call his attention more to some characteristic features,
and management of the drawing, and to arrange with him such devia
tions from it as that style of engraving may have required, it would
have come out more to our satisfaction : it is the best of them ;' the
foliage is prettily cut.
" I shall be very glad to hear you have got your health again
Don't worry yourself about the false grammar,* it is so evidently a
mere oversight, and moreover cannot be helped now: but the cause
of it can be explained the next time you come before the public with
new matter. Yours, " Ed. Swinburne."
In the quotation from Cicero on the title-page, the word delecla is in some copies
of the volume printed delectant.

CORRESPONDENCE. 327
To Edw. Swinbuene, Esq. — "26 Jan. 1821. — Itwouldbe a great grati
fication to me to possess the drawings which you made for my work ;
but I am unwilling that you should have any trouble about dis
mounting them, because I would like best to bind them up with my
work, with the description of the places which they represent ; and it
will be a long time before the whole of the work be printed, and con
sequently ready to bind uniformly. They would, therefore, be quite
as well in their present form to put into my Northumberland portfolio
of drawings ; and when the work is complete the bookbinder could
marshal and mount them on suitable steeds.
" I have discovered that the blunder delectant does not pervade the
whole impression of my book, and consequently that the error is not
chargeable upon me, but lays at the door of the compositor. I am
quite well. After Easter I propose to go to Oxford and London, to
complete my search for records, &c. for the next volume.
" J. H."

To the Rev. J. RAINE.
" DEAE SlE, Upper Heworth, 12th Feb. 1821.
" A week since I had planned to be at Durham on the 19th
instant, for the purpose of copying and availing myself of your kind
offer of being my guide through the labyrinths of ancient days in Dur
ham. But a friend having offered to take my duty for a month, and
I finding it indispensable to be in London and Oxford before I put another
volume to press, I have taken my seat for London this morning.
Lest you should want your books, I return the whole of them. Such
as are marked with copied or _|_ we have transcribed, and I hope in
six weeks' time for an opportunity of comparing the transcripts with
the originals. My address will be at Mr. Robert Hodgson's, book
seller, 22, Cursitor Street, Chancery Lane, where I shall be happy
to receive your commands, if I can be of any use to you. Always,
my dear Sir, very faithfully yours, " John Hodgson."
Hodgson, therefore, did not wait till Easter had come and
gone, as had been his intention when writing to Mr. Swinburne
in January, but proceeded at once to pay his second visit to
London, having obtained the kind assistance of a friend in his
parochial duties during his absence.

328 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
In this journey Hodgson had again two objects in view. The
rebuilding of his chapel of Heworth, upon an enlarged scale,
for the better accommodation of his numerous flock had now
begun to occupy his mind in earnest, and for so good a purpose
he was intent upon raising the necessary funds; and he was
anxious also to lay in an additional stock of information for the
subsequent volumes of his great undertaking. For Northum
brian History the treasure-house is of course London, in its
public and private repositories of documentary evidence; and
he had heard and read enough of the Bodleian Library and its
stores to make him wish to pay a visit to Oxford. His proceed
ings during a six weeks' absence from home on this second occa
sion are fully detailed in the following communications, addressed
by him to Mrs. Hodgson, and, as I have already remarked upon
the importance of his family letters, towards a correct delineation
of his character as a husband and a father, I gladly avail myself
of this further assistance in the task which I have undertaken,
and without any additional preamble lay them before my
readers.

" 34, Hart Street, Bloomsbury, London, 15th Feb. 1821.
" My dear Jane,
" It will be very gratifying to you to learn that I performed my
journey to this place without fatigue. Indeed I think I grew stronger
and into better enjoyment of myself the further I proceeded. But I
will endeavour to-morrow morning to recollect the observations I made
in my way, and put them into the form of a journal for the amusement
of our children, and send them in a frank. To-day I cannot be
favoured with that indulgence, and must therefore be brief in my ob
servations. " My journey has not been costly, and, though I have been a day in
London and had some extra expenses in the outfit, the one pound
fourteen shillings and sixpence of silver with which I set out is not all
expended. "Robert,* I hope, is doing very well. He is, as must be supposed,
in a small way — himself, a man, a boy, and a sewing girl comprising
* His brother the bookbinder, so often mentioned in the letters of 1819.

SECOND VISIT TO LONDON. 329
his establishment : all his implements are new. Of bookselling he
does nothing but by commission ; he has therefore no shop : and I am
apprehensive he would be better quit of that department of his
business, as it calls him out from the persons whom he employs : and
requires a larger capital to conduct it than he can possibly command.
For instance, if any one in Newcastle give him an order, he cannot
here, till his credit is established, get the books till he has paid for
them, and his customers cannot be supposed to advance him money.
But more of this hereafter.
" As soon as I got here I called on Mr. Ellison, who was as much
surprised to see me as Robert had been. From him I went to William
and Charles Grey, and called on Sir H. Davy, whom I did not find in
the house : but, on my return from the Bull and Mouth to my lodgings,
I found an invitation from him to make one of his evening party,
which was large, and consisted of the first scientific men in the nation.
" To-day I dine at the Crown and Anchor with the Royal Society,
and to-morrow with Mr. Ellison.
" You will have found before this that I came off with my keys.
When writing-paper is wanted, a sheet of the kind we are using must
be sent to Mr. Akenhead's, and a quire or two of the same kind
procured. " I write this at Robert's lodgings, where I am breakfasting, but have
put my own address at the head of it.
" Robert's landlady is a Newcastle woman, a widow of a Captain
Elliot, who commanded a West Indiaman.
" On Monday I hope you may expect a larger packet from me.
The weather continues cold and frosty, with a dark fog. Compliments
at the Shore. God bless you all. Thine sincerely, "John Hodgson."

" My DEAE Jane, 3*> Hart Street, Bloomsbury, 15th Feby. 1821.
" I promised you in a hasty note, which I wrete from Robert's
lodgings this morning, that I would send you a journal of my travels
to this place for the amusement of our dear children, which promise I
will attempt to realise as well as I can.
" During the first stage. I had three fellow-travellers, a gentleman
and a lady and her infant child, a fine baby that slept, and sucked, and
eat sweet-cake, but never cried. All these left me at Durham, where a
young lady got in who was very fond of talking about the handsome

330 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
pretty, and romantic walks about the places which she had visited; but
further appeared to have no genius to extend her conversation.
" The foo- and hoar-frost continued all way to near Rushy-ford, where
we began to have a prospect into the fields at some distance from the
road. As we descended into the low country towards the Tees the air
grew gradually clearer, till the forms of the clouds began to appear,
though the sun could not get a ray through even their thinnest part.
The hoar-frost after mid-day, and till four o'clock, however, was con
verted into tears on the hedges, every little twig being ornamented with
a row of brilliant drops, which as the sun began to sink below the
earth were in their, turn changed into pearls of ice.
" The road from Durham to Rushy-ford is through a cold and barren
country; from Rushy-ford to Darlington it gradually improves in
interest. " The county of Durham is divided from that of Yorkshire by the
river Tees, and at the village of Croft that river is crossed with a very
handsome stone bridge, which for about 200 yards on the Durham side
mixes delightfully with thelittle, low-towered, and humble but ancient and
beautiful church of Croft, and the dwellings, and trees, and orchards of
that charming place. When Richard begins to have a knowledge of
the different sorts of stones, and of the different situations which they
occupy, he will be interested in being told that the Tees at Croft rolls
over red sandstone.
At Northallerton, the fourth stage from Newcastle, we arrived during
a large horse-fair. The busiest part, of it indeed was over; but the
streets were still occupied by stalls, with horse-cloths, &c, and the
dealers in inferior animals were very active. Here we got four fresh
passengers, Messrs. Dyson, Shilleto, Dell,, and a London dealer, whose
name I cannot remember. My companion soon found that Mr. Shil
leto was a distant relation; and the whole history of the Shilleto
family, from Dick, a sort of jobber and cattle doctor, to the great
dealer, with whom she had the honour of claiming acquaintance, was
minutely related.
" It was still daylight when we got to Thirsk, and between that place
and Easingwold a sudden alarm was made, and the cry raised, ' Stop !
stop ! here is a passenger a-missing; he has, I am sure, fallen off.'
And, to be sure, on looking back a long motionless lump, not unlike a
man, was seen at some distance lying on the road. The guard and
two or three outside passengers ran back, and a man they found breath
ing and alive : on raising him up he could mumble and talk, but partly

SECOND VISIT TO LONDON. 331
by the fall and more from the effects of what he had got at the market
at Thirsk, he had a very indifferent use of his legs: as he came up the
horse-dealers gave their advice — 'Bleed the drunken dog' — ' Loose his
neckcloth ' — ' Dick, where's your fleams ? — Hoist him up again, and
tie him on with a rope.' It was indeed impossible either entirely to
pity him or to be merry with him. He was all blood about the face ;
but he could mutter that he was no worse. After being conveyed
without his neckcloth or a great coat in hard frost for three or four
miles further, he was set down cool enough, but still drunk enough ;
and it was quite a sight to observe with what full eyes and with what
fear and surprise the white-apron'd old landlord of the public house
where he chose to be left held the candle to his face, but kept back, as
if in dread of losing the heaviest part of his body.
'' From Easingwold to .York we had hard frost and moonlight all the
way; but, the coach being full,. I was much warmer than. I had been
between the Cannon* and Northallerton. We stayed about eighty
minutes at York, and before- daylight all my amusing companions had
left me, and I had not. again a person to. speak to through the whole of
my journey. . ,<
"The morning of the 13th opened very calmly; it was grey and
sober : all the way from Dpncaster ta.-Barnby Moor the light gradually
unveiled the country, and the stillness of night gave way to the sounds
of human voices and of human labours; for the roads were in such
excellent order that through a great part of the way the horses' feet
and the wheels of the coach went as silently over them as if they were
passing over a carpet. At a village not, very far from Bawtry I saw
several children frisking about a neat school-house before 7 o'clock in
the morning. Would there be any person at home in bed at that time ?
The fields of wheat from this part of Yorkshire all the way to the
south were of a beautiful green, and completely matted the. earth.
" We breakfasted at Barnby Moor, which was the first meal I paid
for. This place is a large and excellent inn, much different from that
at Markham Moor, where I dined in my way to London in 1819, when
a rice . pudding, with lumps of rancid suet in it, made a part of the
dinner. At Barnby, Moor I noticed that the gooseberry bushes were
pruned in the same, manner that James To^rence prunes his, at Heb
burn : all the old wood is cut away and the shoots of the last year left.
" It would be about 8 o'clock when we passed East Retford, where
* At that time a well-known inn on Gateshead Fell, at which Hodgson had joined
the coach.

332 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
Mr. White's * brother-in-law is rector. The church has a very hand
some stone spire; the nave and chancel are plastered, and its church
yard is ornamented with hollies and other evergreens, which give a
solemn and sacred aspect to the spot. These trees I apprehend were
planted in the late Mr. White's time. He resided here before he settled
at Woodlands.
" The next stage was to Tuxford, a little to the south of which place
there are two hop-grounds on the right ; with the poles piled in bundles,
in this manner (a drawing) , from twelve to twenty feet long ; and in
summer they are stuck into the earth for the hops to climb upon.
" All through Lincolnshire there are great numbers of handsome
churches with towers and spires.
" I think it was between Tuxford and Newark, near a village called
North Muskham, that the coachman and guard stopped to regale them
selves at Mr. Harrold's, the sign of the Lord Nelson. Mrs. H. was a
perfect character ; from the coach, which was close to the door, I could
observe all her motions and hear all her speeches. You may remember
Mrs. Lancaster in the Newcastle theatre. In Mrs. H. I heard the same
shrill-toned voice, saw the same lilting quick step ; and the same hurried
gestures; and,by-the-bye, the same sort of low cunning ; as many of the
characters which Mrs. Lancaster used to personate, were very prominent
features of Mrs. Harrold's character — for I could observe her watering
her rum bottle before she measured out the guard and driver's drams.
" Newark was the next stage : it stands on a very extensive, dry, and
fertile plain ; has a fine old castle built in the time of King Stephen, but
much ruined. Some of the towers are covered with ivy. As we ap
proached and passed this place the mild light of the sun, beaming
through thin films of cloudiness, gilded the fine trees and the white
windmills that appear all around : and at a little distance we began to
have distant glimpses of Belvoir Castle, the magnificent seat of the
Duke of Rutland. With the various turns of the road this fine edifice
seen at several miles' distance, crowning the summit of a wooded hill
in Milton's language, 'bosomed high in tufted trees,' took a variety of
interesting shapes. Its towers were all sky-tinted and in shadow for
it appeared between us and the sun in a gush of purple and yellow light.
" From the sketch in the next page you will have some idea of the
magnitude and bold situation of this famous seat ; bearing in mind that
you must imagine it five or six miles, if not more, from you (a sketch).
* His old friend Mr. White of Woodlands.

SECOND VISIT TO LONDON. 333
" I must now abridge my observations into a narrow compass. We
changed horses at Grantham, next at Witham Common, then at Stam
ford, which is a curious, old, and well-built town. After this it was
night all the way, and the stages were in this order — Huntingdon, . . .
Lane, Buntingford, Ware, Waltham Cross, Bull and Mouth, London,
where we arrived soon after 7 o'clock. After breakfast I hasted to
Robert. I believe I gave you some description of Wednesday's opera
tions in my letter of this morning.
" Friday, 16th Feby. 1821. Yesterday I dined with the members of
the Royal Society, where Sir H. Davy was in the chair, and the Earl of
Aberdeen, the Bishop of Carlisle, &c. &c, were of the party. At 8
o'clock we went to the weekly meeting of the Royal and Antiquarian
Societies. Yesterday and to-day I have laboured hard in the British
Museum, where I will finish before I go to any other repository of
records. I have just received an invitation from Sir Charles Grey to
dine with him on Thursday next, where I hope to meet Mr. Beaumont,
the Member for Northumberland.
" The weather continues very cold, dry, and frosty. I am going to Mr.
Ellison's to dinner at 7 o'clock. It is now half-past 6. I breakfasted
with Robert yesterday, but do not expect to see him again till Sunday
morning, which day we purpose spending together.
" I inclosed Miss Wylam's letter with a note, saying I would call on
Mrs. Meek some day next week.
" Thine, my dear Jane, with my love to the children, and at the
Shore, always. " John Hodgson."
" My DEAE JANE, Si, Hart Street, Bloomsbury, 17th Feb. 1821.
" I gave to Mr. Ellison yesterday evening a letter to frank to
you, but, as he had not a pen and ink in the room, he put it in his
pocket, and, I fear, may forget to have it posted before it be too late
for you to receive it. Mr. Ellison is very well, better I think than I
have usually seen him.
" Though it is nine o'clock in the morning, there is so thick a yellow
fog that I am writing with a candle. The weather still continues
very cold, though I cannot think that the frost is intense.
" Since I came here I have felt every day better enjoyment of my
health ; for the two last nights I have slept very soundly.

334 MEMOIR OP THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
" Saturday evening. I have been to-day with Messrs; Nichols and
Co., making some arrangements about the advertising of my book ; they
seem to approve both of it and my plans of publishing the future
volumes, and promise to review it in their Gentleman's Magazine for
March. After settling with them, I called at Baldwin's, and requested
them to advertise in the Courier and the Times.
" I also called on Mr. Coulthard, but found that he had returned on
Thursday, and on Mr. Nichol, who was not at his office. At one, I
found Robert at dinner, and had a chop with him ; since that time I
have been from one bookseller's shop to another, in quest of the Calendars
of Records published by order of the House of Commons. I hope our
Antiquarian Society will buy as many of them as have anything in them
relative to Northumberland. This is the first evening I have spent by
myself, and, as ¦ I have no books, you may be sure I am not over
wide awake, especially as I have had some very long walks.
" 19th Feb., Sunday. Robert breakfasted with me to-day, and at
eleven we went to Mary-le-bone New Church, where Dr. Heslop is
rector, and read the communion service; and Mr. Phillpotts, the
rector of Stanhope, preached a sermon replete with nice arguments and
fine distinctions, but, as I thought, ill adapted to make any strong im
pression on his audience, which was very great. I must give some
account of the church : its dimensions I cannot guess at, but it has two
tiers of elegant galleries, which occupy the south, west, and north
sides ; and at the east end there are also two tiers of galleries on each
side of the organ, and with seats for charity-boys and charity-girls who
sing. The altar-table is hung and covered with fine red cloth ; and there
is a beautiful picture by West, of the Nativity, behind it ; and over the
picture backwards is the organ gallery, the performer in which is screened
from the view of the congregation by a long curtain of crimson velvet.
Above these again is a large east window, with a sun-blind representing
the angel Peace, with crowds of seraphs coming in clouds to proclaim
' Peace on earth and good will towards men.' The charity-girls were
neatly dressed, and some of them sung well; their head-dress is remark
ably neat and becoming : a plain white cap somewhat in this form (a
drawing). Mr. Phillpotts's text was : ' As many as are led by the Spirit
of God they are the sons of God.'
" The whole congregation was a very interesting sight, and very
attentive. After calling at Lewis the engraver's, at nearly three, we
dined at an eating-house, and went to afternoon prayers at St. Paul's,
where we stood among the crowd until I began to feel tired, and then

SECOND VISIT TO LONDON. 335
asked one of the vergers for seats, which we readily obtained. One of
the minor canons preached a plain, elegant, and impressive discourse:
his arguments were strikingly convincing, his diction remarkable for
propriety ; his text ' And His commandments are not grievous.' St.
Paul, he said, preached to infidels in the Jewish religion( and to the Gen
tile nations, and therefore insisted upon Faith. St. James long after
wrote to correct some misconceptions which Paul's doctrines had in
duced, and therefore insisted upon the necessity of good works. St
John, at a still greater period from the promulgation of the gospel, laid
the greatest stress upon love. Now where love is, there is the fulfilling
of the law, religion is bearing its proper fruit, happiness is produced ;
and the grand discovery is made to the human mind that the command
ments of God are not grievous ; but that all the precepts that restrict our
tempers and passions within the limits of moderation are merciful in
junctions imposed upon us for our greatest benefit. Indeed, who can
contemplate, who can but once come to see, to comprehend, and feel the
beneficent designs of the great Father of Spirits in those acts of grace
and favour which he has bestowed upon his rebellious creatures by the
preaching and the passion of Jesus Christ, without exclaiming with the
Apostle, ' Beloved, if God so loved us, how ought we to love one another !'
" St. Paul's is a very cold church, but a very interesting edifice,
though I don't think its Greek style of architecture so suitable for a
place of worship as that which is usually called the Gothic style. The
organ was well played, and I think of exceedingly fine tones, but whether
it was the noise with which it was drowned, or the bustle that
constantly prevails about the place, I cannot tell,, but certainly I felt
none of those effects from the singing which have usually been produced
upon me by the Choir of Durham, where
" Through long-drawn aisles and fretted vaults
The streaming anthem swells the note of praise."
" Tuesday Feb. 20th, 1821. Yesterday, my dear Jane, my time was
so fully occupied that I had not a moment's leisure to write at my lodg
ings. I had great difficulty to find my friend Carlisle ; but, learning that
he would be at the King's Library in Buckingham House by eleven
o'clock, I took the opportunity of calling at Grosvenor Place on Sir John
Swinburne, with whom I also dined at half-past six. Mr. Carlisle gave
me a letter of introduction to the Land Revenue Office, and now I hope
that there will be very few difficulties in my way. Hitherto my
researches have been confined to the Museum, where I shall not be
engaged for more than another day.

336 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
" If you look into the last number of the London Magazine, which I
left uncut-open, you will find in the beginning a very warm correspond
ence between Mr. Lockhart, of Edinburgh, and Mr. Scott, the Editor;
which arose out of an article in the London Magazine for the preceding
month. The affair has at length terminated fatally. A friend of Mr.
Lockhart wrote such a letter to Scott as compelled him in his opinion to
challenge him to fight. They met not far from London on Saturday
night, and Scott was shot through the body. — Sir J. E. Swinburne told
me yesterday night that he was not dead, but that there were no hopes
of his recovery.
" I have had a cold, which affects my nose, ever since I came here,
and the sharp weather does not suffer it to grow better.
" You will think it fortunate that I made no engagement with a
Magazine,* the Editor of which is likely to go or has gone out of the
world in so conspicuous a manner. I am every day more and more con
vinced that persons meddling in political matters are all the while forging
to themselves chains of slavery. It was on political subjects that Scott
and Lockhart quarrelled. Happiness is only to be had in the calm,
sober, equal, and philosophical contemplation of passing events : if they
are viewed in any other manner, if suffered to raise any other feelings
than those which should arise out of inquiry directed by a love of truth,
they are sure to create all kinds of uneasy, restless, and miserable
tempers. There is no slavery equal to that into which the passions,
induced by party feeling and political rancour, bring men.
" Since I wrote the above, I have seen in the " Times " that Mr. Scott is
in a hopeful way of recovery : the ball passed through his body and
lodged in his back, but without injuring the intestines, and has been
extracted. His antagonist was a Mr. Guthrier who fired the first time
into the air; but Mr. Scott's second and himself, either not perceiving
him to do so, or being determined to fight to extremity, Mr. G. levelled
his pistol at the second shot, which took effect.
" I called on Mrs. Meek this evening, and found her well. But her
daughter, who was lately married, has of late been suffering grievously of
the tooth-ache. Since last Friday she has had three teeth extracted, and
could not say she was any better. Mr. Smithers sets out for the North,
I think he said, on Friday first, and will travel nearly direct for Newcastle.
* The following extract of a letter from Messrs Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy, to Mr.
Hodgson, dated Nov. 16, 1820, explains the above allusion, "We know not if you
have ever by chance seen the London Magazine, published by us. Should you approve
of it, and ever condescend to contribute to the pages of a periodical work, we would
be most happy to add your name to our list of remunerated contributors."

SECOND VISIT TO LONDON. 337
" Nothing new has occurred to me to-day worth relating. I go to see
no sights; indeed I have no inclination to do so. London is as tame
and uninviting as if I had lived always in it. The only inconvenience
I should be liable to feel as a lodger, were I long here and without
books, would be how to dispose of myself in the evenings. Hitherto it
has not been so; for I have found my spare time, when I have not dined
in company, sufficiently occupied in arranging my plan of operations in
the Museum, which contains very abundant and rich stores of materials
for my work.
" Wednesday Feb. 21st. We had some rain yesterday evening, which
made the streets dirty ; so that I have had a full half-hour's work in
brushing my coats and pantaloons ; they were not merely bespattered
with dirt, but literally had a layer of it upon them — though my walk
extended no further than to Mr. Smithers' in Doughty Street, from thence
to my brother's lodgings, and back to my own — as if I had gone to
Crowhall, then to Nether Heworth, and thence home.
" I have been all day at the Museum ; and the more I am there the
more I would be ; I am the first every morning into the room, and with
the last to leave it; it would take a couple of months to exhaust the
rich repository of historical materials of the subject into which I am
inquiring. I begin to doubt whether I shall go to Oxford or not, as I
have found a part of the articles which were formerly there, in the
British Museum: at any rate my stay in Oxford will be very short.
" I would most gladly ask for another week or even a fortnight's
absence more than I at first mentioned, but cannot tell how to do it :
really all that can be got in three weeks is not worth the expense of
travelling so far, and in a month's absence there are only eighteen days
to work in, and in them only six hours a day; for on the Saturdays
the Museum is shut, and one finds one's self an unwelcome intruder at the
Public Offices on that day, though on all others there is every liberality
shown to publishing authors.
" I see Mr. Ellison this time very seldom ; indeed I wish to be left to
myself as much as possible. Should I not be able to get a frank before
to-morrow evening, you will not receive this letter before Monday.
" I hope Richard and the rest of the children are very diligent with
their work. Richard I hope will show me some neat work which he
has done for me, when I return. He can be copying out of the Rolls of
Parliament.* " There is no need to do anything more with the garden, till the
* A somewhat singular employment for a boy of nine years of age.
Z

338 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
weather is mild; then plant about half-a-dozen rows of potatos; two
next to the two already planted, of the early kind, under the
cellar window; and three or four rows, of the other early kind, at the
upper end of the pit in the north border of the garden.
As I cannot get a fire in my room before eight in the morning, I am
getting into the habit of sitting up till twelve o'clock. I have constantly
breakfasted on coffee; only twice dined at an eating-house. My cold
has wholly left me; indeed I believe it was nothing more than the
sharpness of the air which affected my nose, for in every other way I
have been uncommonly well.
" Thursday Feb. 22nd. The coach in which I came to London set
me down at the Bull and Mouth, which is an inn after the old fashion
of our country. Many of the monasteries were built after the same
manner, and many inns on the continent are of the same kind now. It
is a square differing only from the old Custom House in its having only
one entrance to it, through large folding gates, which are closed in the
night, so that no person can enter the premises without climbing over
the roof. The second floor of the building is approached by staircases
and a gallery which ¦ runs round the inside of the square ; but is
covered over ; also the doors of the lodging rooms, or most of them, open
into this gallery, and, as the building is old, the doors are none of the
best kind. The room I was shown into was black and dirty, had a
crazy door, and was so miserably cold, that I instantly came up into this
quarter of the town to seek some roosting place that had more of the
appearance of comfort in it; and I am certainly comfortably enough
situated, but am much deceived as to the expense. This morning, being
the beginning of a new week, I asked for my bill for the last, and find,
besides my 18s. a- week for my rooms, I have Is. a-day to pay for fire,
besides candles. On inquiry, I am satisfied that it is usual to pay for
fire, and therefore must submit to the charge: the whole expense of a
week's breakfasting, lodging &c, amounts to 11. 13s.; independent of
which, my payments have been very small.
" This evening I dine where I hope to get a frank, and will resume
my journal, God willing, to-morrow. I have none, however, of the
variety to amuse my dear children with which I might have had if I
could spare time and money to go and see sights. They must, however,
all have some token of papa's love brought home : for Bessy some article
of dress; for Richard, perhaps a Pandean pipe, so that he can get under
the sycamores, and imagine himself under a beech, and, playing on his
whistle, John Thornhill must come and say,

SECOND VISIT TO LONDON. 339
" Tityre, tu patulse recubans sub tegmine fagi,
Sylvestrem tenui musam meditaris avena.''
John, a new knife, Jane and Sann * dolls ; and Ikee,* what ? I must think
of something. My affectionate remembrance to your father and all at
the Shore. God bless you all. Thine, my dear Jane, " John Hodgson."
" My DEAE JANE, " 34, Hart Street, Bloomsbury, 23rd February, 1821.
" I am much distressed at your melancholy letter. I have a
long one written for you, but cannot get it franked till to-morrow. It
will reach Gateshead on Sunday, and will contain- one for Mr. Hedley.
" I am making some arrangements about the sale of my book, and
hope by Monday to have completed them. Should your father's symptoms
not grow more favourable, pray let me know and I will certainly return,
for I cannot enjoy a moment's happiness in being here if he continues ill.
" I have nothing that I can say to you. My health and spirits have
been exceedingly good since I arrived in London : but the idea of your
father and yourself both being out of health will make me anxious to
have all things in readiness to return to you.
" Mr. Ellison had kept my last letter over Saturday. I shall get Mr.
Beaumont to frank the one I have to send, as well as one for Mr. Hedley.
Pray assure your father, how much I feel for the return of his complaint ;
and give me a report by return of post of the state he is in, describing
how he is affected ; and say how much and how sincerely I sympathize
with him. Having got your letter late in the day, I am compelled to be
brief to win the post. Do not write to me under cover, but address me
here. My most dutiful and affectionate remembrance and regard to
your father ; and my love to you, my children, and the family at the
Shore. I have been just one week here, and the distance from you
makes the time look longer than it really is. Thine, " John Hodgson."
" My DEAR JANE, 34, Hart Street, Bloomsbury, Feb. 23, 1821.
" Ever since, the receipt of your melancholy letter I have been
much depressed in spirits ; and am more so to-day than I was yester
day: I know the nature of your father's complaint too well not to be
apprehensive of its consequences, if it be not combated in time. The
reflection that I am so far from him, and cannot sit and sympathize with
him in his illness, constantly rises up in my mind, as a reproof for hav-
* Susanna and Isaac.
z2

340 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
ing come hither on an errand which may never be of benefit to my
family, nor any way useful to the public. Till yesterday morning I had
bright prospects of seeing the schemes I have formed of accomplishing
my work brought into realization. Now the whole thing seems to have
been constructed upon a foundation little more solid than air; and
presents nothing to my view but useless labour and perpetual em
barrassment. I will certainly never attempt to print any more till the
expenses of the present volume be all paid, and I see some fund
established for defraying the heavy expense of the engravings.
" You must, my dear, by all means endeavour to raise up your own
spirits, and to rest in the belief that your indisposition is only temporary ;
for I have no doubt or fear about me but you will soon throw it off: it
might perhaps be some amusement to your father to send Richard down
now and then, even if it were only for an hour or two : it would be alittle
variety to him, for I know how heavily the hours pass away in sickness,
and without some one endeavouring to divert the mind from its prone-
ness to partake with the body in its sufferings.
" I dined yesterday with Sir Charles Grey. Mr. Beaumont, the
member for Northumberland, and one of his brothers ; Mr. CoUingwood,
whose name was Newnham, and who married one of the daughters of
the late Lord CoUingwood ; Mr. Pearce, who travelled in Egypt, the
Holy Land, &c, Mr. Walker, Mr. Alderson,* and another gentleman,
composed the party. Alderson appeared to me to be a clever fellow. He,
as well as the whole of the party but the two Beaumonts and myself,
are all lawyers. Alderson has much of life, wit, strong sense, and
bluntness. He is a plain man, thick-lipped, and wide-mouthed, and
is very free and not very gentle in his remarks. Mr. Walker is a very
mild, well-informed, and gentlemanlike character. Mr. CoUingwood,
you would suppose, while he is talking, to be imitating some affected
young lady ; he draws in his chin, and sets out his chest, and simpers
over his words; and after all it is but manner; for he is full of freedom,
good humour, good sense, and has considerable fluency and choice of
language for conversation. Mr. Beaumont, the member, I should say,
is one who is very anxious to do what is right, to say nothing unadvisedly.
His gravity (perhaps pomp) is very remarkable for so young a
man; and when any subject is agitated which has any pretensions to
interest him, his eyes and whole countenance are fixed on the speaker,
with the most marked attention. Of his brother I could not hear or
observe enough to form any opinion ; and the gentleman whose name I
* Afterwards one of the Barons of the Exchequer.

SECOND VISIT TO LONDON. 341
have forgot, or indeed never thought of, had not, so far as I recollect,
anything very remarkable about him. He was, as our old writers about
plants and cookery would say, one of a wearish taste.
" February 26th, 1821. I have been two days without setting down
a word respecting my proceedings. On Saturday morning it was so
dark when I left my lodgings at half-past ten o'clock, that I could not
see to write my name on a card but close to the window. I went out
at that time and found gas-lights and lamps in great numbers of shops
in Holborn and the lower part of Oxford Street. The fog was dense,
bitterly cold, yellow, and stunk of soot and coal-gas most abominably. I
have had ever since a slight cough ; I could feel it cold about my
lungs, and it produced sickness. When I reached the Regent Circus,
it became suddenly lighter ; but stiU the sun appeared shorn of his
beams, not like the moon, for his margin was more distinctly marked
than hers ever is, and his orb more candescent and uniform in its
colour. At eleven I caUed on Dr. Haggitt, who is sub-dean of Durham
according to the intimation that I had from him the evening before
respecting Heworth Chapel. Dr. Gray had sent him my letter which
I left for Mr. Woodifield on my way through Durham, which con
tained a request that Mr. W. would write to me, informing me of the
determination of the Chapter on our petition. Dr. Gray requested
Dr. Haggitt to see Mr. Phillpotts and myself on the subject, as Mr.
P. had had the petition intrusted to his care, and the Chapter could
not find it. Dr. II. promised me to write baek to the Chapter
immediately, and recommend them to subscribe liberally; and desired
me, if I possibly could, to stay in town till their answer should arrive,
which I do not expect before to-morrow week. He thought 100Z-
would be liberal ; and I took the liberty of saying that if they did not
subscribe more it would effectually prevent any further progress in
the business. After a very friendly interview with him I called upon
the bishop, who, in the course of observation, fell upon the subject of
the chapel, the success of building which I told him I greatly feared ;
and his answer was " Come, come, Mr. Hodgson, you must not be dis
appointed in realizing your plan; I will give 1001. ; I have many calls
upon my purse, but the Christian religion, and especiaUy that part of
it which is under the Church of England, has the strongest claim
upon me.
" Among the inquiries, the bishop asked what was said in the
North about Mr. Phillpotts's letter to Lord Grey. I told him, as indeed
I have heard it said, that it was considered unanswerable. ' So I

342 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
think;' was the reply. Speaking about my book, he said, ' I am no
antiquary, Mr. Hodgson, and at my time of life you will not expect I
should begin to learn to read it. The matter you have collected
together is unquestionably very valuable, and the county of Northum
berland is much indebted to you for your zealous labours.'
" At half -past eleven I proceeded to the Land Revenue Office, and in
going downwards dipped again into the thick cold and choking fog.
After copying the titles of a few interesting surveys of places in
Northumberland, such as Tynemouthshire, the Regality of Hexham,
the baronies of Bolbeck and ByweU, the manor of Whalton, &c. &c.
I went by appointment to Mr. Palmer's house at half -past two, in
Abchurch Street. He took me down to Bromley in his gig, ten miles
exactly, in one hour. My aunt and aU my friends there are quite
weU. At the illumination for the Queen, Mr. Robert Rawes did not
think it right to agree in opinion with the populace, and consequently
had his windows broken to the amount of 221., which sum he intends
to recover of the county. This morning I returned from Bromley in
the same conveyance that took me down; and I have been occupied
since eleven in the Museum.
" February 27th. While I was at Bromley I slept at Mr. Palmer's.
On Sunday we dined with my aunt, and had a green goose, four
months old, to dinner ; it was of a Chinese breed, and the most tender
and weU-flavoured bird of its kind that I ever tasted. Yesterday
evening I spent with Robert in his lodgings.
" The weather still continues dry and cold; the wind is in the east.
I have written to Mr. Russell informing him of the Bishop's contribu
tion to the church. We have now 8001., and want 7001. more. I
reckon-in the materials of the old chapel. It is quite indispensable
that I continue here till after this day week, in order that I may have
the Dean and Chapter's answer, and appear before the Society for
enlarging Churches : if . therefore, my duty cannot be got done on
Sunday, March 11th, I must abandon my plan of returning by way of
Oxford. You will by this have learned how Mr. Hedley is situated ;*
* The following very kind letter from Mr. Hedley, which must have been thought of
whilBt Hodgson was writing, would set his mind at ease on the subject of his church
duties. From the Rev. A. Hedley.
My dear Hodgson, Summer Hill, Feb. 28, 1821.
To save post, I have little more than time to say that I have it now in my
power to give you an unlimited extension of your furlough. You may riot among

SECOND VISIT TO LONDON. 343
if he cannot supply my place, perhaps Mr. Collinson would do it or
one of his curates. Mr. Harrison is indebted to me two or three
Sundays' duty, for the very inconvenient liberty which I gave Mr. Gib
son to assist him in April and May, 1819. Mr. Snowdon, I know,
would ask Mr. CoUinson ; and I have no doubt but Mr. lieslop, at
Hebburn Quay, would ride down to Mr. Harrison's to ask him, if it
were necessary. It gives me pain to think that I may cause you and
many of my friends much trouble ; but I am not asking assistance
for myself, but for the parish ; for the ultimate success of the subscription
towards a new chapel depends now very much upon my staying here, to
give explanations to, and to get an answer from, the Society in Lincoln's
Inn Fields. On the receipt of this, I must, therefore, press you for an
answer. " I had written thus far, and was rising to go to the Land Revenue
Office, when I received your very welcome and acceptable letter. It is
a great relief to me to hear of your father's recovery ; and either Bessy
or Richard must go down and say how glad I have been to read
mamma's account of him. But, my dear Jane, I cannot be exempted
from being a sharer in suffering, until I hear that your accustomed good
health has returned to you. In being here I have no other consola
tory reflection than that I am persuaded you wiU have as much atten
tion shown you, as can be hoped for, both from our dear children, and
from the servants. When I was last here, I constantly wished that
you had been with me. But as I am now occupied all the day, and the
weather is extremely cold, I am glad you are at home; for it is
comfortless to be in London for any lady in such extremely cold
the luxuries of the Brit. Mus., &c. till Easter, if you please. What a joyous and
most uncanonical Lent for an antiquary !
Keep yourself quite easy as to every part of your duty, and reserve all the energies
of your mind to gather in the harvest you have gone so far to reap. The pleasure I
feel in serving you on such an occasion is a rich and most abundant reward.
I am obliged to you for your little tid-bit about Warke Castle. When you spend
an evening by yourself and have nothing better to do, I shall thank you for a few
more of the crumbs that are falling from your rich table. You will, of course,
secure the pedigree of the Shaftoes. In Caligula, B. n. 257, are the " Names of
Pensioners, with their fees, on the Borders." See if there be anything worth
copying as an addition to Browne's List ; but I have no time for a word more, except
to add that I am now as ever, yours very faithfully, Ant. Hedley.
P.S. When you see the Swinburne family, pray give my affectionate remembrance
to them all.

344 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
weather, unless she has a gentleman to accompany her, or a carriage of
her own. After spending three hours in the Land Revenue Office, and
running back to the Museum for half-an-hour, I dined, and then went
to see Mrs. Gordon at half-past six. I stayed about three-quarters of
an hour, and had a cup of tea with her. Mr. G. was not at home ;
George is at school. Their little girl is much grown and has very pretty
manners — no forwardness, no cockney tongue or airs in them : but very
modest and gentle. The little boy James took more notice of the cat
while he was in the room, than of me.
" On my return to my lodgings at half-past seven, I found the damsel
that waits on me had lost the use of her eyes. It was with difficulty
I could persuade her that the pen and ink was not a candle and a candle
stick, and she was quite amazed that the top of the pen would not
burn. I fear that to the crime of drunkenness she adds that of dis
honesty, for I have had a pound of coffee since I came, and though
I have never used it but at breakfast, and been several times out at
breakfast, I have none left; but I have locked up everything. Her
mistress, while I am writing this, has come to me, in great distress,
having not discovered her state tiU she had lighted me up-stairs.
My landlord, Mr. Deville, in seeking for his great-coat, missed
IsabeUa, and came up stairs halloing " IsabeU, Isabell!'' She had
hid herself or gone to her bed-room in the garret, and Monsieur, for he
is a Frenchman, was mightily amazed at Isabell's entrance into his
presence, with her fight in one hand, and her pot-de-chambre in the
other. " I forgot to say to you that I met in the narrow part of Chancery
Lane the great procession carrying the address to Her Most Gracious
Majesty. It was near to Temple-bar when the formidable cavalcade,
accompanied with the drowning din of all sorts of music, first presented
itself to my astonished senses ; I was afraid of being run down, and
therefore lodged myself in a recess. A turn in the street prevented
the whole procession being seen in the.street at once: it was preceded
by a few dirty men, boys, and drunken-looking women; then came
music and banners, many of them bearing mottoes taken from Southey,
&c. A more wretched crowd under richly- decorated ensigns you need
not imagine. The few persons in the procession were dressed in their
best clothes ; but their long hair and dark beards showed that they
were in their holiday's dress. No more notice seemed to be taken
of them than is usually taken of the clowns and trumpeters that ride
about towns and fairs giving notice of the wild beasts to be seen ; the

SECOND VISIT TO LONDON. 345
passing crowd stared and went on; there were no plaudits, no ex
pressions of unison in sentiment or sympathetic feeling between the
populace and the addressers.
" February 28th. This morning the streets and houses are thinly
covered with snow. Yesterday was the first time since before
Christmas that I ventured out without a great-coat ; it was very cold
but dry, and I could keep myself warm with walking. After break
fast I called at ten on Sir H. Davy ; he was not out of his room, having
been much indisposed. On returning to my lodgings, I find, as I had
left a note to request, a letter of introduction from him to the Library
of the Royal Society.
" From Grosvenor Street I proceeded to Craig's Court, where I saw
Mr. Burke,* who is a much older man than I thought. After getting
to see that I was reaUy the person I described myself to be (for at first
he seemed very cold and suspicious that I was an impostor), he was
very friendly with me, and pressed me to dine with him to-morrow,
which I could not do, having previously engaged myself for that day
with the Bishop of Durham. I did not see his mother, whom he
represents as still enjoying good health, but so lame and infirm as not
to be able to leave her room. If nothing came in the way to prevent
me, I have promised to dine with him on Sunday.
" The Auditor of the Land Revenues Office, at which I have been
writing for the last two days, is in Spring Gardens, very near to
Craig's Court. I was permitted to remain in that office tiU four to
day, and have got access to it in the morning in future : it contains a
great deal of interesting material for my work, and every facility and
attention is shown to me.
" Since ten it has been snowing gently all day : near the river the
streets are fuU of sludge, and in the upper parts of the town, where the
passage is frequent, the snow half-melted ; but it lies white and dry
on the tops of the houses.
" I have been very sleepy this evening, and got little written ; indeed
I can think of nothing I have to write, but to teU you of what I have
been doing. Of news I know nothing, as I see newspapers more
seldom than I do when at home.
" Have you ever seen Widow Haggerston, of High FeUing, or Widow
Robson, at Windy-nook? Should you be able to get to church on
Sunday, pray send Haggerston half-a-crown out of the coUection.
* A relation of Mrs. Hodgson.

346 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
" At nine I am going to the Wednesday evening party of the Royal
Society at Sir Humphry Davy's,* where I hope to meet some one or
other who can supply me with a frank for this letter ; if not, I will
endeavour to spare time to call upon Mr. Ellison for the purpose.
" Pray tell Mr. Hedley that I meet with nothing I can fix upon
as a paper for the Antiquarian Society, as he requested, unless such a
one as this would answer his purpose.
" A Survey anno 6 Jacobi I. ' Hexham Manor and Regalitie,'
anciently parcel of the possessions that belonged to the Archbishop of
York and which came to the crown by exchange made between King
Henry VIII. and Cardinal Wolsey, then Archbishop of York, and
in the possession of the crown at the time of this survey.' It is a
curious document made by Bartholomew Haggat and George Ward,
gent., by virtue of a commission.
" I have nothing more, to add but my prayer to you, my dear Jane,
that you will take care of yourself, and endeavour to get weU as fast
as possible. My affectionate remembrance to your father, mother, and
sisters, my blessing to my children, my kind regard to Mr. Hedley,
and all my good smiles to yourself. From thine always, my dear
Jane, " John Hodgson."
P.S. You can get Mr. Thornhill or Richard to copy out from A
survey, &c. to this survey, and give it to Mr. Hedley, as my letters are
not fit for any person but yourself to see.
" Thursday, March 1st. Not having succeeded in getting a frank
last evening, I have opened the covering of this letter to say that I now
hope to fall in with something that will answer Mr. Hedley's purpose
very well. Mr. Caley, the Keeper of the Records in the Augmentation
Office and in the Chapter Office, Westminster, as also the Secretary to
the Commissioners for Printing the Public Records, came to Sir H.
Davy's party. When I was in London before, it was in vain that I
tried to get him to stand straight before me ; he eyed me askance, as if
I was wanting to pick his pocket; but, when he found that I was a
friend of the President of the Royal Society, his optics underwent some
sort of philosophic change, and represented me as an animal of which,
with abundance of smiles and sparkling expressions of his eye, he was
pleased to express himself proud of being honoured with the acquaint-
* Sir H. Davy was at that time President of the Society.

SECOND VISIT TO LONDON. 347
ance, and being in the presence of. He has promised to communicate
to our Society some very curious and unsunned letters of Lord Dacre's,
which were this week found in an obscure corner of the Chapter House ;
and I have no doubt but an honorary diploma will attract much valuable
information from him; for he is a walking depository of records, and is
said, though I do not believe it, to know more of them than any man in
the kingdom. Thine dear Jane, " John Hodgson."

" My DEAE JANE, 34, Hart Street, Bloomsbury, March 2nd, 1821.
" I think I brought up my journal to you to yesterday morning.
" The weather these two days has been bad, having rained gently, but
constantly, the whole time. At 10 yesterday I went to the Royal
Society's Rooms, and by an introduction from the President obtained
access to the library, in which I wished to consult a MS. for materials
respecting Tynemouth. It occupied me nearly two hours, when I went
to Mr. Ellison's to get the packet franked, which you will receive to
morrow. I found him at breakfast, as he had been late upon the sub
ject of the Catholic Claims in the House of Commons. At half-past one
I went to the Record Room in Spring Gardens, where I continued nearly
to four, and was much hurried to get to the Bishop's by five. Mr. and
Mrs. Tristram (whom you saw at Tully's sale), and Mr. Terrot, the
lecturer at South Shields New Chapel, dined there. The Bishop seems
in perfect health, and is very cheerful and full of spirits. The conver
sation turned upon longevity, and his nephew the Honourable Mr. Russell
Barrington told a tale about a rich man of sixty marrying a girl of
eighteen, who expected at the time to live him out, and then marry a
young man to whom she was attached. ' Now,' said the Bishop, ' you
have told a tale about an old man marrying a young woman of eighteen,
I wiU give you some verses which I have here, and which were related
to me a few days ago, about a man of eighty going to marry a lady of
eighteen.' The old gentleman addressed his friend thus — his name was
Gould:— ' Can you credit the tale, my dear friend, when you are told
That a girl of eighteen is in love with old Gould ?'
" The friend's answer was : —
' A girl of eighteen may love gold, it is true ;
But trust me, dear friend, it is gold without «.'

348 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
" The Bishop's memory is very accurate. He is 87 years old. He
said he was ordained a deacon in 1756, being then twenty-two and a-half
years old. He was consequently ten years old at the RebeUion of 1745.
I left him a little before eight; and before bed-time ran over an unpub
lished index of the Records in the Tower, by the late Mr. Lysons.
" To-day I was occupied in going back and forwards about the
chapel. The subscriptions now amount to 1,0052.; the Dean and
Chapter having promised to give at their July meeting 105/., and Dr.
Haggitt has sent me a note, saying that he will give me 201. There are
now I hope few difficulties in the way ; though I fear I shall not accom
plish my scheme of seeing a chapel built this year. To-morrow I
have an appointment at half-past one on the subject with one of the
secretaries. " Robert has been an hour or more with me this evening; and since
he left me I have devoted the time I have been in writing this to the
remembrance of you and your dear children.
" I must not, however, forget to say that I have this afternoon had a
most kind letter from Mr. Hedley, giving me licence of leave tiU Easter,
if I choose to take it.* I shall certainly endeavour to profit by his
kindness, and defer my departure somewhat longer than I first intended.
My health is very good. I wish I could have so good an account from
yourself and your father.
" When you write again, pray address me under cover to Mr. Ellison.
Mr. Hedley's letter came in that manner.
" March 3rd. I have not been out this morning. It is wet and un
comfortable ; so that till twelve I have employed myself in writing out
some statements respecting the chapel. I have also felt myself a little
indisposed ; my old complaint of bile having come to plague me. In future,
I fear, you must not expect such long letters from me as I have already
sent, as Mr. Hedley must have a few extracts, and Mr. Caley has kindly
sent me some indexes to copy out of in the evenings. I am going to see
the Secretary to the Society for Enlarging Churches. You will have
seen that Scott, who fought with Guthrie, is dead. His second is much
blamed here.
" I will not omit to teU you a word or two which the Bishop said
when I entered the room yesterday. ' Oh! here he is ; we have just been
talking about you : I have been saying that you are not only an excel
lent antiquary, but an excellent poet. I assure you I have read your
* See p. 342.

SECOND VISIT TO LONDON. 349
poems * all through more than thrice ; and I have been advising the
company to do the same ; they are full of genius.' I mention this, not
from vanity, because I have no vanity about the work which the Bishop
honoured me with his opinion of; and I often wish, on account of its
faults, that every copy of it was burnt ; but I mention it because he is
considered a man of taste, and he could have no object in flattering
me; and more so, because the world is much more apt to find fault
with inferior poets like myself, than to give them their just portion of
praise. " Four o'clock. You will rejoice to hear that I have every encourage
ment given at the Society for Enlarging Churches ; and that I may
expect to have the matter finally settled on the third Monday in this
month. I am to have another hearing at one o'clock on Tuesday. The
gentleman with whom I have had an interview has been at Heworth,
and feels interested in forwarding my views. After Tuesday he wiU be
able to tell me finally whether my petition is to go before the Commis
sioners or before his Society.
" Mr. Burke left a card here yesterday when I was out. I have fixed
to dine with him to-morrow. It was very wet yesterday, and I got cold
by waiting so long about Doctors' Commons respecting the chapel ; so
that I am very uncomfortable to-day. London is a filthy dirty place
with the rain.
" At the Bishop of Durham's party last Thursday there was a conver
sation respecting the Quakers; in the course of which the Bishop
related the following anecdotes. Mr. Barrington and himself had a
female friend in one of the places where they resided, who was a
Quaker ; and he once asked her to tell him the true secret why, under aU
circumstances, they preserved such a remarkable equality of mind? The
reason assigned was ' they took much pains with their chUdren to get
them into the habit of neither laughing loud nor talking loud.' Another
was, His saddler, who had always attended the Church of England, one
day came to him in a drab coat and a broad-brimmed hat : ' Well 1'
said the Bishop, ' what is the reason of all this change ? have you turned
Quaker ? ' He answered ' Yes ! ' ' Now pray sit down and teU me the
arguments which persuaded you to leave the Church of England and
become a Quaker.' ' To speak the truth, I have married the widow of
a Friend, and, in order to keep the business together, I have joined the
Society.' This reminded me of a saying of Sir Camaby Haggerstone,
who was a Roman Catholic, that ' his wife made more converts to mass
with the kale-pot than the priest did with preaching.'
* Woodlands, &c. See p. 42.

350 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
" March 4th. This is the third Sunday on which I have been absent
from you : I hope I shall be away only one more. I laid upon the
sofa aU the afternooon yesterday, and went to bed soon ; and am now,
at nine o'clock, much refreshed, though I cannot get my stomach into a
right state. I know I have some cold, and the weather is so thick and
wet that there is no getting out to have any exercise.
" I intend to go to St. George's Church, Bloomsbury, which is only
a few doors from me. At present, I think I can see you all in a bustle
preparing for the chapel, at which, I have every hope, we shall not
have to assemble for many weeks more.
" It will give me pain to see the workmen begin to puU down a place
which I have now been familiar with for nearly thirteen years, and
which attaches itself more to me from the certainty I have before me
that it will soon be removed out of sight.
" There is something, my dear Jane, very lonely and melancholy in
being left entirely to one's self in this mighty metropolis, without anyone
to speak to, and neither in the best enjoyment of health nor spirits;
but it is a situation in which much improvement of the mind and much
inward satisfaction may be gained. When we are shut up from the view
and a share in the business and the hurry of worldly affairs, we the more
readily and the more clearly turn ourselves to the contemplation of the
end to which aU our labours and our own lives are tending. It is when
we are thus left alone that the questions ' From whence are we, and
Whither are we going ? ' come upon us with more force, and represent
themselves to us with more importance, and furnish us with answers
more convincing to ourselves, than ever can be obtained in the common
and almost momentary aUowances of time which we commonly give
ourselves for meditating on our present duties and our future destiny.
If the sabbath, with all of us, were spent as it ought to be — partly in
public worship and mainly in private and solitary devotions, in reading
the Bible, and in contemplating the love of God to sinful man, I am
persuaded that nothing could so greatly tend to our happiness or lead
to such beneficial results in our several pursuits in life. For, if a
servant, for instance, was anxious all the week to get everything done
that she might have nothing to do on the Sabbath, and on the Sabbath-
endeavoured to learn for what purpose she was created, and how, and
by what course of conduct, she would be most happy in this world, she
would soon get to understand that her best interest, and her purest
enjoyment of life, arise from a faithful discharge of her duties during
the other days of the week ; and this course of exercise would lead to

SECOND VISIT TO LONDON. 351
wider views of the love of God, and more anxious desires to do His
will. Of all the subjects that can engage the human mind there is
none which contains everything that it should admire, or is so capable
of satisfying its large desires after knowledge, as the scheme of salva
tion which the Almighty has submitted to our choice through Jesus
Christ. It is there we learn that all the knowledge we enjoy of God,
of what we are and what we shall be, is grace, is a favour, is some
thing that we have not in common with all mankind, that we derive
not from birthright and bring into the world with us. The world
neither by wisdom nor by nature knows God. He is only known by
revelation. By nature the nations who bow down to idols, and still sit in
the shadow and in the darkness of death, have flesh and blood and all the
other faculties and properties of life in common with ourselves. But
the grace of God, that free gift and favour which we enjoy beyond
our natural functions of body and mind, has not hitherto been vouch
safed to them ; and it is this talent, this piece of gold, this field, which
it is our business and our wisdom to improve. It is in this point of view
too, in which all the beautiful allusions in Scripture to the kingdom of
God, and its progress in the souls of men, are to be taken. This know
ledge, when the heart has once taken hold of it, it covets with more
desire than a miser loves his gold; and that Spirit, which, like the
wind, blows where it listeth, and no man can hear the sound thereof,
or ' tell whence it cometh or whither it goeth,' day and night breatheth
upon it, and causes it to grow up and increase, gradually and imper
ceptibly indeed, till that which in the beginning was smaU as a grain of
mustard-seed, attains to such a height that the fowls of the air come to
lodge amongst its branches.
" I have been to church ; Robert went with me. The sermon was
good and sufficiently striking ; the text, ' And as Paul reasoned of
righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled.' In
one part of the discourse the preacher compared the conduct of Felix,
and his fearfulness at the reasoning of Paul, to the self-conviction of
Joseph's brethren at selling him into Egypt, when they were accused of
being spies. ' We were verily guilty concerning our brother, in that
we saw the anguish of his soul when he sought us, and we did not hear,
therefore is this distress come upon us.' Their conscience flew in their
faces. Belshazzar, too, when he was sitting in the banquet, with his
nobles, saw a mysterious hand, in still more mysterious characters,
writing on the wall of his palace, and the consciousnes of his guilty
life led him to interpret the writing as some accusation against him, so

352 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
that his countenance was changed and his thoughts troubled him, so that
the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against
another.' And Herod, when he had put John the Baptist to death, when
he heard of Jesus, was struck with the injustice of his sentence, and
became afraid. ' This,' said he, ' is John the Baptist whom I beheaded ;
he is risen from the dead, and, therefore, mighty works do show
themselves in him.'
" Twelve o'clock. Now, my dear, I have been to dine at Mr. Burke's,
and wiU relate to you, before I go to bed, what I have to say respecting
my visit: — I went, by appointment, at half-past four, and found Mr.
Burke and your aunt alone. She received me very kindly, and was
very full of inquiries after aU her friends at Heworth Shore, especially
after the state of health in which I left her brothers and sister. But I
shall be able to recoUect all these things when I come home, and to
give you more full details. She looks weU, is in a perfect state of
health, and not so lame as I expected to find her. Her spirits and
appetite are very good; in appearance I should say that she bears
a striking resemblance, in features, to Mrs. Bewicke, of Gateshead,
only that she is much older, rather more joUy, and has more regular
lines and better expression of countenance, than Mrs. B. At five, a
gentleman, a Mr. Thomas, and his lady, came ; and, I should have said,
about five minutes before them Mrs. Burke made her appearance, a
much younger person than Mr. Burke. She has two children, a boy
called William, and a little girl, a perfect doU, about two years old, very
talkative, playful, and engaging. At half-past five we sat down to
dinner. Will you have a description of the dinner? — Soup at the head
of fhe table and roast beef at the foot, with a ham in the centre, and
four vegetable dishes ; two with potatos and two with greens. The
soup was removed with two barn-door fowls, and the whole of that
course with an apple and a Damascene plum tart ; cheese to conclude
with, and a dessert of oranges, almonds and raisins. I staid at tea, and
to half-past eleven. Supper, of sandwiches and tarts, was introduced
just before I came away, when I left the whole party. Your aunt ate
heartily of the sandwiches, remarking that her meat always agreed weU
with her, and that while she lived, which could not be long, she would
not deprive herself of it.
" I have promised to call upon her before I leave London. I must
relate two anecdotes which she told me. Admiral Delaval and his
servant coming late one night past Benton church,* they observed a
* Near Newcastle.

SECOND VISIT TO LONDON. 353
light in it. He desired his man to get off and see what was doing : but the
man refused, saying he did not dare to do it. The admiral therefore gave
his horse to his servant, and went himself. Through a window he observed
a man and a woman busy about a corpse. He found the door unlocked,
and, stepping up quickly to the persons, found them cutting off the
breast of a female corpse. The man vanished, and was supposed to be
the devil; the woman he secured and carried off, but when his servant
was requested to take her up behind him, he again refused through
fear: the admiral therefore had her put and tied on behind himself.
On examining her at the proper court, she was found to be a witch, and
was of course hanged.
'¦ The other tale was this: — The clergyman who preceded Mr. Hall
at Earsdon* had a school of young gentlemen. A beggar-woman came
to a poor person's house in the village where a child was crying ; and
its mother, being angry with it, dismissed the beggar with some sharp
observations. The old mendicant had scarcely gone out of their
presence than the child began to cry, " Mother, mother, that old woman
is tearing my heart out of me ! " Alarm was given ; the young gentle
men ran after the old woman, whom the child pricked in the forehead
with a pin till the blood. came, when the spell of torment which she had
laid upon it was dissolved.
" God Almighty make all your slumbers sound, and shield you all
with his arm ! It is past midnight.
" March 5th. I have been from ten to four at the Land Revenue
Office, and at seven go to dine with Mr. Ellison. I have little to say;
only in addition to what I wrote yesterday night, that your Aunt
Burke teUs me that when you were in London nobody could get you to
speak lest you should be laughed at: but that your sisters never minded
their brogue.
" My kind compliments to all at the Shore, and love to you and
aU the children. How does Ikey get forward? You don't say. Thine,
my dear Jane, always, " John Hodgson,"

" My DEAR JANE, London, March 8, 1821.
" This will probably be the last letter that you will receive
from me from this place, as I purpose going to Oxford on Wednesday
* Near Newcastle.
2 A

354 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
week, and I find that Mr. EUison has very seldom a cover to
spare. " Since I last wrote to you I have been so hurried that I have not
had a moment to spare to set down day by day how I have been
occupied. But I will endeavour to recollect. One thing, however, let
me disemburden myself of — I have received another letter from Mr.
Hedley, dated on Tuesday last, giving me the option of the same un
limited absence as his last allowed me. What must I say to him? I
have not answered his first letter. The truth is, I have wished to give
him some extracts out of the Museum which I made about a week
ago, and to send them under a frank, as they are in two sheets ; but
finding on Monday from Mrs. Ellison that she could not but very
rarely be indulged with Mr. E.'s name to an address, I have been dis
appointed, and would not send my thanks unaccompanied with some
evidence of their sincerity.
" The affairs of the chapel since Tuesday morning have almost
wholly engrossed my time, and I have promised Mr. Rodber, the
secretary to the society to which my application for assistance to re
build Heworth is to be presented, to remain in town till Tuesday
morning the twentieth instant, when he will communicate to me the final
answer which I am to have. But I will throw my account into the
form of a journal.
" Tuesday, March 6. I wrote an hour out of an unpublished printed
volume of Escheats which Mr. Caley has lent me, and at half-past nine
went to breakfast with Mr. Young, the York Herald, in the CoUege of
Arms. A Mr. Benson of the Temple, and who is engaged with Sir
Richard Hoare and several other gentlemen in compiling a History
of the County of Wiltshire, was also of the party. It was nearly
twelve before I could get from Mr. Young's books and his pedigrees,
and in my way from thence heavy rain compelled me to shelter at
Robert's lodgings till half-past one, the hour I had fixed to meet Mr.
Rodber to hear how it was judged I could most effectually apply for
assistance to rebuild the chapel — that is, whether my case should wait
to be taken up by the King's Commissioners for bmlding additional
churches under a new Act, or that it should be taken before the
Enlargement Society — and I found that it was thought every way
most advisable to trust my case to the latter. I had therefore imme
diately to repair to my lodgings and draw up statements showing the
whole history and nature of my cure, the quantity and kind of the popu
lation of the parish, and certain answers to a printed form of questions

SECOND VISIT TO LONDON, 355
the last of which had to be signed by the Bishop, Mr. Ellison, Mr.
Brown, and myself; at which work I fagged hard till five o'clock, when
I went to dine with the President of the Royal Society. A Mr. Clifford
was to have been there, but did not come, so that I had the benefit of
enjoying the whole of the attention and conversation of Sir II. Davy
and his lady. I must be very brief in the account of my visit. Mrs.
Beecher, who was Miss O'Neil, was spoken of, and Lady D. wondered
how a person who had enjoyed so much of the applause and popular
good opinion of the country could be satisfied all at once to give it up
and retire into the quiet and unobserved retirement of domestic life.
She indeed had heard that Mrs. B. never liked the life she had chosen,
that it was painful to her feelings to be set up every night as a show,
and in that capacity to have the plaudits of the mob lavished upon her ;
1 but, for my part, if I had once been the object of so much public
admiration, 1 should not have been easily satisfied with giving it up.
I own that I have a taste for popular applause, and that I had rather
have the hearty and undisguised shouts of the many, than the cold and
capricious praise of the learned and reflecting few.' Sir Humphry
agreed with her that the taste she described was one which prevailed
among mankind ; and Sir Francis Burdett was an example of it — a
gentleman who, he believed, considered the voice of the public as the
only oracular one, the only true standard of truth and merit: but for
his part, both his taste for approbation and his opinion of the public as
fit judges of men's merits and of all kinds of public questions were quite
of a contrary kind.
" But I must not go on with anecdotes and conversations ; I will only
say that Sir H. D. told me that when he first came to London he lodged
in Southampton Row, in rooms for which he paid 14s. a- week, and
that his friend Mr.  (did he say the present Clerk of the House of
Commons?) had rooms near him on a second floor, for which he paid
only 32s a-month. Both of them complain of being unwell — my lady
of a cold, and Sir H. of a pain in his stomach and bowels. He how
ever ate very plentifuUy, so that I should say that his disordered state
of body is produced by confinement and anxiety : for on the Tuesday
he dines at the club of the Royal Society, -on Wednesday has a party
at his own house, and on Thursday presides at the R. S. ; besides the
calls upon him now are very numerous, and this routine is from the
middle of November into June. Trust me that the office of P. R. S.,
while it is surrounded with the glories of honour and distinction, is
followed by a numerous and gloomy train of disquietudes, and that
2 A 2

356 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
these gentleman-ushers seldom fail to fill the food of their lord with
condiments of indigestive and painful qualities. This evening I wrote
from eleven till half-past twelve.
" March 7th. I continued to-day at the case of the chapel and
plans of the parish till half-past eleven. At twelve I called upon the
Bishop. I found him at his Greek Testament and with a tract by Orton
and others on Ash Wednesday before him. He was in his audience-
room and his porters and servants in attendance, doubtless in case any
heathen should call on that day. He was very cold with me, and
asked me if I knew the tract which I have mentioned, and said it was a
very excellent work and recommended it to my perusal — I might get it
at Hatchard's. I felt the reproof. I ought not to have gone, at least
till twenty minutes after that time : perhaps it was nothing more than
my own consciousness that I had been spending one of the most solemn
days of our Church too secularly that made me feel the Bishop's remark
as a reproof. He however signed the consent very pleasantly, talked
about Mr. Raine's History, and the delay which the engravers cause ' to
you antiquaries,' and dismissed me with the assurance how heartily he
wished well to me and all my undertakings.
" Though I felt, and always shall, conscious that he was displeased
with me as a clergyman for calling upon him during the time of service
on Ash Wednesday, yet it is difficult to be in his company without
being both pleased with him and one's self. His conversation always tends
to have this effect: yet, among the numbers that enter his doors and are
admitted to his table, how impossible it is that he can realize the expecta
tions of even a very small part of the tithe of those whom his seductive
conversation has flattered into hopes of preferment. I do not mean this
observation as a censure; though I do think that a great man, who has
much preferment at his disposal, should be careful not to touch the
vanity of persons, whom he may suppose candidates for his favours, too
magically ; for there is nothing more sickening and full of death than hope
often raised, deferred, and at length disappointed. There is an old maxim
applicable to some who have shared the good opinion of the disposers
of rewards, but have been suffered to perish under the languishment
of hope thus deferred — ' He is praised, but starves,' which great men
should carefully, as a matter of charity, beware of inflicting ; for it is
better far that great talent should live and die in obscurity than that, after
it has figured on the theatre of life, and received the praise and approbation
of the world, it should be left to retire out of notice and to consume the oil
of its own life in lighting up the darkness into which it is driven back.

SECOND VISIT TO LONDON.

357

On leaving his lordship I repaired to Mr. Ellison's, and readily
obtained his signature, and in passing through the Strand went in to see
the Panorama of Naples now exhibiting there. When I reached Mr.
Brown's in Fenchurch Street, he had gone out on some parish business,
and was not expected till four, so that I had about two hours and a half
to wait, which time I employed in reading an account of the South Sea
Islands, Owyhee and Otaheite, by the Missionaries, about the year 1797-
Their description of the vegetable productions is very curious and very
interesting: for it would appear that they are so well supplied, and with
so great variety of excellent roots, that the garden productions of this
country, which had been introduced among them from time to time,
were neglected, as very inferior to their own, and as almost unfit for
use. When Mr. Brown came, I had a difficulty in persuading him that
his consent to pull down and rebuild Heworth Chapel should not be
some disadvantage to him, though he had not an inch of land in the
chapelry, nor could ever be called upon to contribute towards its rates.
I could see that he could not find a reason why I should take so much
interest in a matter which should not bring some great pecuniary
benefit to myself. How shocking it is to see a human mind driven by
the mercenary tyrannies of a worldly spirit into so narrow a space that
it has scarcely a loophole left out of which it can get a glance upon
anything that is liberal or strictly rational 1 After I had got his name,
as his brother had before requested me, I showed him a list of the sub
scribers to rebuilding the chapel, upon which he very crossly and inso
lently said, " Gome, Sir, you came only to ask for my name: be content
without begging." His brother explained that he had requested me to
write out the list and show it: and he saw well enough that I looked
indignant at his remark. As soon as he found he could get off without
being importuned for his money, he was all smiles and mildness. I do
not believe that he would have signed the consent, if he had thought that
no advantage was to arise out of it to himself. 
" At five I had my dinner on my way home : and at six called on
Robert, and, though I got a part of my work done, yet I became so over
powered with sleep before ten that I judged it best to take one long
night's indulgence, and therefore went to bed at that hour.
" May 8th. I finished my statement respecting Heworth and the
necessary plans to illustrate its situation with respect to Jarrow, South
Shields,* and its own population, to-day at one o'clock. They occupied
* South Shields, it will be remembered, was another chapel of ease within the parish
of Jarrow.

358 MEMOIR OE THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
three closely- written sheets of foolscap paper. At half-past one I was
at Mr. Rodber's chambers ; but he did not come to them-to day, owing I
suppose to its being very wet. I have been an hour at the Museum to
copy a paper for Mr. Hedley, and am now at the end of my narrative for
this day.
" I have however forgot to mention that in the Strand, in my way from
Mr. Ellison's to Mr. Brown's, I called to see a very interesting panorama
of the Bay of Naples. It is indeed a very interesting sight. Mr. and Mrs.
EUison had told me that it was a very faithful representation, both of the
features and colouring of the country, and Sir H. and Lady Davy both
gave the same account of it, observing that it gave the character of
Vesuvius and Mount St. Michael, as well as all the distances, very
faithfully. I had there before me the house the Queen of England
occupied at the time she went to the masquerade, and the moles and
forts so near that I could see distinctly how each person upon them
was occupied, and the wood of ships in the harbours, the Royal Palace,
&c. &c, and at a distance the Appennines and the mountainous
defiles through which the Austrians would have to march upon Naples.
The sites of Herculaneum and Pompeii were so distinctly pointed out
under Vesuvius, that I shall always imagine that I have been almost
within sight of these celebrated cities of antiquity : but it is in vain to
give you any adequate or intelligible notion of this interesting picture ;
for even the key of it which I got at the room gives a very imperfect
notion of the original.
" Sir H. Davy told me, that when he first came to London he lodged
in Southampton Row, and paid 14s. a-week for his rooms, and that Mr.
(I think he said), Clerk to the House of Commons, lodged
near him and only paid 32s. a-month for his rooms. Both of them had
second floors.
" Lady Davy, in talking about the different degrees and kinds of de
sire persons have for having praise, said she must freely own that she had
rather have the applause of the multitude than of the few — that the
expression of the mob was more sincere than that of the learned and
wealthy. Sir Humphry said his feeling was directly of an opposite
kind — a mob could not judge whether a person was deserving of the
praise for which he was a candidate and became an object, or not:
it most commonly followed at the heels of impostors and cried them up:
and besides, its good opinion was not lasting ; it was fickle and incon
stant, though he owned that he believed that many persons had a
taste for popular applause, and he believed that Sir Francis Burdett

SECOND VISIT TO LONDON. 359
thought there was more honour in the shouts of the mob as he went to
the House of Commons than there was of glory in being applauded by
the most upright of his fellow-senators.
" March 9th, Friday. In the morning I was at the Museum till one;
when I went in quest of Mr. Rodber, whom I found at his chambers,
and after a few minutes' conversation with him left him with the
strongest hopes that I shall get something very handsome from the
society to which he is the secretary. I have at present 1005Z., and
have given in Stokoe's larger estimate, that of 1,666Z., with the addition of
191. for a stove. After two I copied some curious papers for Mr.
Hedley, and am now, at six o'clock, left for the remainder of the evening
to myself and my books.
" March 10th. Yesterday evening I wrote out of the books Mr.
Caley lent me till a late hour — till after twelve : and was at them again
this morning before seven : at ten I was at the Auditor of the Land
Revenue's Office, and since my return here at half-past four have finished
my extracts from Mr. Caley's books, and sat with Robert till half-past
ten. I write this after eleven, and, as I shall not post it till Monday at
the soonest, I will leave it open for such reflections as may occur to
me on the important duties of to-morrow.
" Mr. Hedley in his letter reminds me that I should write to Mr.
Jackson telling him that I had prolonged my visit longer than I in
tended, but he told me that he could take my duty till May if I chose,
and he would continue to do it as long as he was sent for. Pray say,
my dear, to Mr. Hedley how much I am sensible of his kindness, and
that he shaU have the free use of all my MSS. when I get home ; and
that I shall on no account stop in London any longer than Wednesday
morning, 21st instant. I am executing his commission ; but fear that
with my knowledge of London, and especially of its ecclesiastical matters,
I shall prove a very unsuccessful applicant for him. Before his last
letter I had been making inquiries, and have extended them since.
Franks are so bad to get, or perhaps I am so bad an asker for them
else I should send Mr. Hedley some of my extracts as I make them :
for I find the masses of interesting unpublished documents are so nume
rous that I must in most cases be content with giving the mere titles of
them and saying where they are to be found. During this week I have
got a list of all the causes that have been tried in the Court of Ex
chequer on tithes, commons, and boundaries in Northumberland from
the reign of Henry VIII. to the beginning of the reign of George HI.,
as well as of all the decrees that issued out of that court upon Northum
berland affairs.

360 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
" March 12th, Monday. I must, my dear, endeavour to be very
brief. My time is of great importance ; but I cannot keep my thoughts
from home, and must devote a moment to you and our dear children.
Yesterday I breakfasted with Robert. After ten I called for a moment
at Sir J. Swinburne's, and went to the Lock Hospital Chapel, where
the prayers were very well read, in a devout and natural strain of piety ;
especially I thought the poetry of Isaiah charmingly delivered; and
there was a thrilling tone of feeling in the reader's voice given to all the
awful solemnities recorded in the narrative and dialogue of the second
Lesson.* The preacher delivered his discourse extemporaneously: his
text was the six first verses of the second Psalm, which he explained
to belong to the several circumstances respecting the reception of
Christ's kingdom upon earth. I have not either room or time to give you
an abstract of the discourse. The only person of note whom I saw
there was Mr. Wilberforce. In the afternoon I intended to have gone
to St. Mai-tin's Church to prayers : but in my way thither, and near that
church, I observed a number of Quakers flocking through a narrow
alley and followed them to the meeting. It lasted a full hour-and-a-half,
and not a word was said. It was however impossible not to be struck
with the solemnity that reigned in the place — not to consider that one
was in a house dedicated to God, and amongst a congregation of
Christians employed in silent and inward prayer : and before I left the
meeting I had got my mind into a temper that induced forgetfulness of
the dulness and want of effect that struck me when I first entered the
place. I was in fact loath to rise, and aUow ideas of natural objects to
break in upon the happy train of meditations into which I had fallen.
" Now, my dear Jane, tell the children that I have settled to leave this
place on the morning of Wednesday, the 21st instant, for Oxford; where I
shall stay a day or two at the least: it will be impossible for me to
get home, I fear, to do any duty on the Sunday following, so that I must
throw the onus for two Sundays more on Mr. Hedley. It will be no
more expensive to me returning by Oxford, Birmingham, and Leeds,
than by York. Something must be done to the garden. In half a day
Boiston would sow such things as are wanted, especially onions. But
I will leave everything of the kind to yourself. The carrots too should
be taken up. I grow very anxious to get home, and very uneasy about
it; but I am so desirous of arranging all matters so that I need not
return hither on the errand on which I am, that I think it right to stay
Another week, if even the business of the chapel did not interfere to
* Luke xxii.

SECOND VISIT TO LONDON. 361
prevent my getting away till next Wednesday. I dined at five yesterday
evening with Mr. Burke. They had no other person, which was much
pleasanter to me than the formality of the former party, especially as
we sat down to a plain family dinner.
" My kind love to all at the Shore, to the children, and to yourself.
God bless you all. From thine always, dear Jane, " John Hodgson.''
" I have been with Mr. Caley this morning, and am waiting to go with
him to the Chapter House in Westminster. I fear this letter wiU
abound with blunders, and be bad to make out, as I have written in
great haste."
" My DEAE Jane, 23, Hart Street, 14th March.
" Thank you a thousand times for your very affectionate and
acceptable letter, and for your account of the children ; and especially
for Mr. Thorp's letter. Every moment I grow more and more anxious
to get home, but I am sorry to say (and especially because the account
you give of your father is not so favourable as I had flattered myself I
might have expected,) that you must not expect me for a little more
than a fortnight. I intend to go to Oxford on this day week, and
to stay there for a week; at any rate, I will endeavour to get you
one letter after this, before I leave this place, but while I am in Oxford
I shall not be able to get one sent free. You must therefore not expect
to hear from me after Tuesday next, till you hear me vivd voce about
to-morrow fortnight. To stay and work here would be endless: the
more I extend my inquiries the greater store of unexplored infor
mation pours itself upon me ; besides, every time I go out I meet with
some one or other who offers, or who is ready to give me, every
assistance, and access to materials. I have left a letter with Sir John
Swinburne to-day to get franked, and it is a pity I did not speak to him
before, because he can, through Sir W. Gordon, the Duke of York's
secretary, get franks for letters above an ounce. The letter I am
speaking of is for Mr. Hedley, and is pretty long, but not half so
long or half so interesting as it should have been, to one who has
shown you so many kindnesses, and who, with so much openness
and sincerity, allowed me to remain here so much longer than I
could reasonably have expected.
" On Monday I wrote a few lines to you after getting Mr. Ellison to
frank my packet, and posted it myself. Yesterday I was all day in the

362 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
Museum, as well as to-day, copying some letters respecting Border
quarrels &c. for Mr. Hedley ; and this evening, after dining with Sir John
Swinburne, I went with him to the meeting of the Royal Society at Sir
Humphry Davy's ; but, as the President had gone into the country for
his health for a few days, and as there was nobody with whom we were
acquainted, we left our names and came off very soon.
" For the last few days the weather here has been very fine, which is
a great relief, for London is a shocking dirty place in wet weather, and
expensive also when one has to hire coaches to take one to dinner; the
dirt I often experienced, but the expense only twice ; and I shaU not dine
out again during my stay, excepting I should go on Sunday to Mr.
Burke's. " The cold I got in St. Paul's left me soon, and since that time I have
been in excellent health ; though I do feel myself a little disordered
to-day by staying too long on Monday in the Chapter House in West
minster, which is a very large circular room, without fires, and fitted
up quite to the top with shelves and racks for books, sacks of papers,
and mighty rolls of parchment, which are like so many huge pieces of
coUared brawn, or rather like large Cheshire cheeses brown with dirt, and
a cord bound about them to keep them together. I also visited on the
same day the Augmentation Office ; from both of which repositories of
the legal and civil transactions of our country I am promised every
assistance I may want.
" Thursday, 15th March. The weather, my dear, is now delightful;
somewhat cold during the day, and frosty in the nights. This morning
there is a fog, attended with its usual filthy smell of coal-gas. The sun
through it appears like a rising full moon, and reminds me of the length
of time I have been here ; for he is now, at half-past seven, high above
the horizon. I went to bed soon last night on account of my cold,
and therefore am soon at work this morning, and quite well. To-day
my evening and morning writing will be done unless I can get a fresh
supply from Mr. Caley.
" I really am forced to write to you on trifles if I write at all ; for
my employment and observations are so unvaried, and to you so un
important to describe, that if I write at aU it must be either on
subjects of invention, or a journal of petty things. I have thought of
John Thornhill,* and also of his father, having a book for each, which
* A youth who at that time acted as his amanuensis, and is now librarian of the
Literary and Philosophical Society of Newcastle. His father was the parish clerk and
schoolmaster at Heworth.

SECOND VISIT TO LONDON. 363
will be sent down with a parcel containing part of my wardrobe, to the
wharf on Saturday, to come to you by sea. The more I know of the
Swinburne family the more I am delighted with them. On Sunday I saw
that they had just got Jeremy Taylor's Works, with which Lady S. was
highly delighted, and yesterday they had brought home Law's Serious Call,
of which they were anxious to learn the character. The volume was
still uncut, and I was disappointed in not finding the account which
Boswell gives of Johnson's opinion of it, in the account of Mr. Law's
life, prefixed to it ; certainly it is in my copy ; or if it be not, the com
piler of that memoir has evinced his ignorance in the commonest
department of English literature. I would not be very anxious to see
the Miss Swinburnes get married, unless I could be sure it was to
gentlemen who had education, and feeling, and habits, to watch over and
protect so much that is amiable and exceUent, and unaffected, with the
most affectionate care. Their brother Charles also is a very charming
young man, as much delighted with the piety and excellence of Jeremy
Taylor as his mother and sisters; and was anxious in his inquiries
about the merits of Doyly and Mant's Bible, of which he had lately got
a glimpse, and with which he was highly pleased ; inasmuch as it ex
plained the history, habits, and customs narrated in the Bible, in a
plain and less dogmatical way than he had before seen them illustrated.
(This reminds me that your father's and my copy of Mant's Bible
should come hither to be bound; as Robert only charges 10s. a volume
for doing them very neatly, and John Akenhead said they would cost
me 14s. a volume at the least.) What a contrast, my dear Jane, what
a gloomy contrast, I felt on leaving the company of the Swinburnes,
and going into that of Sir Everard Home at the President's house:
the Swinburnes encouraging the belief that when man ceases to exist
here he commences a new existence — that we do not all die, but that
we have immortality in our nature- — that some part of us escapes the
grave — and, full of this hope, anxiously preparing themselves for being
welcomed into the felicities of that new existence ; Sir Everard, on the
contrary, inquiring no doubt very sincerely after truth, but seeing
truth in that discouraging doctrine, that man is but a more beautiful
and more perfect system of organization than the rest of the mechanical
bodies that live and move upon the earth; that his mind and powers
of reasoning are only the properties and effects of nice arrangements of
matter, which receives the attributes of intelligence in the construction
of the human brain, and of speech in the human lips and tongue, but
wants .them in those of the brute creation. This philosopher has

364 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
dissected thousands of animals to discover their construction, and to
illustrate and support the doctrine of materialism; and in the first
meeting at which I attended in the President's house he was all the
evening engaged in experiments tending to bring back life into a frog
that had been for some time shut up with ice in a coating of sheet
lead. " Friday morning has opened with a dense fog. I spent six hours of
yesterday in the Museum. In the evening I went to the meeting of the
Royal and Antiquarian Societies. Sir John Swinburne soon came after
me, and continued with me till the meeting closed.
" At the Antiquarian Society, an extract of a letter was read respect
ing the hilt of a sword of curious workmanship, of bronze, found near
Capua; also a paper on some rare coins discovered lately in England;
and a part of a paper on Gothic architecture, whieh was iUustrated
with curious drawings.
" The proceedings of the Royal Society were more interesting. In
the President's absence, on account of his health, at Buxton, Sir Everard
Home took the chair, and filled it well, for he is a fat, bulky fellow, and,
as far as organisation goes, the same order and beauty and exquisite
mechanical arrangement, not a doubt of it, pervades his frame as does the
rest of his species; but as to symmetry of form, or liveKness of expres
sion in his looks, or grace, or dignity of action, or the wilings and
seducings of eloquence, poor man, Sir Everard has as little of any of
them as the lowest of his kind. He rolled into the chair, put on his hat
of office as if he had been putting on his night-cap, and when he rose to
read the list of strangers introduced, he put it off, and laid it down just
as you would do a cannister lid. Having short sight and lost some
teeth, he made a sad bother of the list. The names (and there were
many) dropped from him one by one, slower than shillings come from
the die at the Mint, and all more or less nicknamed ; there was a good-
tempered half-suppressed laugh during the whole of the performance, of
which Sir Everard sat down as perfectly unconscious as the statue of
Newton behind him. After the routine of business, such as reading over
the Proceedings of the last meeting,and proposing and balloting for fellows>
was gone through, Mr. Secretary Combe read a most interesting paper
by Sir Humphry Davy, detailing all his experiments and observations
upon the papyrus manuscript rolls found in Herculaneum (Pompeii ?)_
I am not able to give you a sketch of the contents of this curious paper.
It abounded with curious facts, deductions, and reasonings derived from
the rolls themselves, and the methods he had tried to unroll them ; on

SECOND VISIT TO LONDON. 365
the progress of the arts of making ink and the substances used to write
upon; upon the state of the rolls and the foreign matters which had
filtered into them. He showed that the ink of the Romans was charcoal
j combined with glue : but I have no more leisure till the evening, when
you shall have my time for a quarter of an hour longer; I fear I cannot
spare more. I am in great good health. I wish your father and you
could say the same of yourselves when I get home.
"16. This evening I have bought two dolls, both alike, and both
of a price, one for Jane and one for Susannah. Also a packet for Lkee,
which you will find inclosed with Priestley's Catalogue, and directed for
' papa's man.' It is of the same value as one of the dolls. The parcel
will be sent down to Mr. Nichol's wharf to-morrow, so that it stands a
chance of arriving before myself, and even before this letter. In it you
will also find some old books, which I got of Robert ; one of them a Law
Dictionary, price 15s., for Mr. Snowdon, if he chooses to take it; but I
wish to have a further sight of it before it gets out of my possession.
There is also a History of England for Richard. The parcel will be
directed to Mr. Atkinson, as it contains some books for him, but will
have separate covers directed to you ; and 1 will in a letter on Monday
request Mr. A. to order it to be forwarded to your father's by Laws.
The little parcel, for Mr. Adamson, and that for Miss Bewicke, may be
delivered as an opportunity occurs.
" You have not said whether you have seen widows Haggerston and
Robson, though I have no doubt but you have. Pray say to Mr.
Thornhill on Sunday that I will thank him to be preparing a class of
his best scholars to be publicly catechised; and if you can get any
method of having Dale and the masters of High Felling and the Shore
informed of my wish that they should be doing the same, you would
remove from me the uneasy reflection that I had not seen them on the
subject before I left. At any rate, it must be one of my first objects of
attention when I reach home.
" Robert stayed with me from nine till eleven. He is grown a much
better goer to bed than he was when he was with us. It is now striking
twelve by St. George's Bloomsbury, and St. Giles, in a lower tone,
seems to be mocking his neighbour St. George. Still the streets sound
with the quick motion of the wheels of carriages, not as at an earlier
hour with a continuous din ; for the noise momentarily dies away, and
' Past twelve o'clock ' on all sides, and £very variety of tone, fills up the
interval. But it is only momentarily that the ear of night in this great
theatre of activity is suffered to distinguish the sound of the human

366 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
voice at more than a few yards' distance ; for no sooner does the united
sound of the trampling of horses' feet and the rattling of the wheels of
coaches begin to be faintly heard than that of others rises and roars up
the short streets between this place and Holborn, like the rising and
retiring of a heavy sea, or of a long peal of thunder. Good night, my
love, good night. The blessing of God Almighty be with you all !
" March 17th, Saturday. My dear Jane, can you contrive to get a
note or a message sent to Mr. Fisher, saying that as soon as I get home
I wiU get him the money which I promised — in the latter end of March.
The signatures of two clergymen of the diocese and that of the
Bishop are requisite before I can procure it at the Bank, which process
cannot be well gone through till I reach home.
" To-day I called in the morning on Mr. Ellison to get a parcel of
seeds, which I knew he wished to send to his gardener. They will come
off in a parcel, directed to Mr. Adamson, and containing some drawings
for the N. Antiquarian Society ; and under them is a parcel directed to
you, containing the plans of the chapel, and some other things which I
could not possibly take to Oxford with me, nor durst venture to send by
sea. I hope Mr. A. will not delay sending them a moment, as it is of im
portance that they should get to James (the gardener) as soon as possible.
" After leaving Mr. Ellison I called upon Mr. Grey of Acton, who has
been ill ever since he came to London. He was a fortnight at Brighton,
and improved; but since that time his complaint, which is a swelling
occasioned by cold in the wind-pipe and soreness in the chest, has re
turned, and he is not able to get out. From him I went to his brother
Sir Charles, who promised to furnish me with letters to the Master of
Oriel and other persons of influence in Oxford.
" From ten till three I was at the Land Revenue Office, paying my
last visit there : at five I went to Mr. Lewis's* to dinner, at Paddington,
at whose house I met the Academicians Callcott and Mulready, and Mr.
Lewis's brother, who is the artist who made the drawings and super
intended the engravings of the forthcoming work of Mr. Dibdin, viz. his
Bibliographical Tour to Vienna. The engravings are very numerous
and very weU executed. It cannot fail of being an interesting book,
from the account Mr. Lewis gives of his travels with Mr. Dibdin. 1
grow worse and worse in getting to bed. It was twelve before I left
Mr. Lewis's house, and is now considerably past one o'clock. Again,
my dear, good night ; and the blsssing of God be with you all !
* The engraver who had executed some plates for his lately published volume.

SECOND VISIT TO LONDON. 367
" Monday morning. I must be very brief. Yesterday I was at two
places of worship. At a very large Methodist meeting-house in the
morning, where the service was done exactly the same as in our churches,
excepting that in the Litany the words ' all bishops and curates' were
omitted and ' ministers ' used ; and the minister himself was habited in
an ordinary dress of black. He read the prayers very unsolemnly, in my
opinion, making no pause between each collect: the Psalms were well
read, especially by the congregation; the preaching, however, seemed to
be that part of the service which the minister and the congregation held
as of the greatest importance. The congregation before the conclusion
was very large, for they were coming in, and partly going out, during
the whole of the service, and there was something in the whole that
struck me as too familiar and wanting solemnity. After the minister
ascended the pulpit he hawcked and spitted very disgustingly, spitting
upon the floor of the pulpit, and rubbing it with his foot.
" In the afternoon I was at St. George's Bloomsbury, where the
prayers were rather well read; but the sermon, by an elderly man,
was laboriously performed, and an attempt was made at something
sublime and magnificent ; and certainly the tones of the speaker's voice
were very often deep and mellow — but he filled his cheeks full, and set
himself in such a determined posture to discharge his affecting and
sublime passages, that to me the thing appeared to be very burlesque ;
though I could see it was all seriousness with him, but, poor man,
there was little but pompous sound in his discourse. The Methodist I
heard in the morning was incomparably the better divine. The text in
the morning was — " And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be
blessed." That in the afternoon was — " Seek ye the Lord while he may
be found, caU upon him while he is near."
" I dined at 5 at Mr. Burke's : we were the same party as on the
first Sunday on which I dined there.
" 5 o'clock. I have sent off a letter this moment to Mr. Snowdon,
informing him that the Society for assisting in the enlargement of
churches have granted 400Z. towards the rebuilding of Heworth chapel.
So that the subscription is now 1145Z., (? 1405Z.) independent of the
materials of the old chapel, the sale of seats, and such additional sub
scriptions as may be gleaned up from persons having interest in the
chapelry. Pray tell your father and Mr. Wylam of my success.
" I am going to dine with Mr. EUison this evening, and promise to
call at Craig's Court in my way to his house, and inform your aunt of the
fate of my application respecting the chapel, and to bid good bye to the
family.

368 MEMOIR OE THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
" Pray think of the seeds as soon as they reach you.
" My very dutiful and affectionate remembrance to your father and
mother, kisses for my dear children, and love and tenderness to thee, my
dear Jane, from thine always, " John Hodgson.
" The weather is again very cold ; I have been much pinched with it
to-day."

34, Hart Street, Bloomsbury, March 22nd, 1821.
" My dear Jane,
" I wrote an hasty note to you on Tuesday, and sent it with the
plans of the parish directed to Mr. Snowdon.
" Yesterday I went to the Bishop to inform him of my success before
the Enlargement Society. He was in great spirits, but I had only a
moment's hearing with him, as some gentleman on business drove rapidly
to the door and was announced, on which I retired; not having really
anything in the way of business with his lordship. He cautioned me,
not only to have a man of the law, but one who understood the matter,
to draw up the minutes respecting the rebuilding of the chapel. He
was engaged writing letters, and while I was with him sealed one, rising
to the light and handling the wax and seal with as much dexterity as a
young man. After leaving him I called for a letter of introduction at
Oxford on Sir Charles Grey ; but, not finding him at his lodgings, I went
to see Martin's much celebrated picture of Belshazzar's Feast. It is
really an astonishing thing, quite different from any painting I ever saw ;
though the perspective is erroneous, the diameters of the pillars being
enormously greater than they ought to be, and the colouring all florid,
and in detail such as no good artist or critic whose judgment has been
formed upon the acknowledged rules of art could commend; yet the
mightiness of the space which the picture embraces, the simple grandeur
of the architecture, the colour of the granite walls, columns, and
piazzas, the flood of light emanating from the mysterious characters
traced on the wall, and the bursting of Ughtning and a thunder-storm
over the battlements where the menacing sentence appears, and the
consternation into which the king, his courtiers, and the thousands of
people that were enjoying the banquet are thrown, make this perform
ance upon the whole, certainly, I say the most singular effort of art
that I ever saw.
" From the British Gallery I was going through the passage at St.

SECOND VISIT TO LONDON. 369
James's to visit Mr. Burne in the Dean's Yard. But the number of
carriages passing along Pall Mall towards the King's palace at Carlton
House reminded me that His Majesty's levee was holding ; I therefore
passed the gates of Carlton House to observe the throng: but little was
to be learnt; there was a continued line of carriages passing in at one
gateway, each only stopping while the party alighted from it, and going
out at the other, and then sweeping round to fall into the same order in
their return in which they came. As I passed the Park going by the
way of Spring Gardens I observed that several carriages went and
returned by the back way to Carlton House : these I supposed were
those of His Majesty's Ministers.
" I called at Dean's Yard respecting Queen Anne's Bounty. Burne is
far from a civU man. He is cross and cold : but I urged the considera
tion of the case of Heworth so strongly that he promised me at length
with some good temper that he would make himself master of it and see
if any thing could be done.
" On Tuesday night and all day yesterday I was very uncomfortably
unwell ; but I am in good enjoyment of myself this morning.
" 22nd. Evening. I have been six hours to-day writing in the office
of the Duchy of Lancaster, and nearly aU of the time was violently
affected with rheumatic pains in my knees, which have continued ever
since to such a degree as to make me very lame. I have, however,
hobbled out to get a few things by way of presents when I get home.
"March 23rd. This is a delightful morning: but I was so sadly
afflicted with pains till I went to sleep last night that I did not dare to
determine to set out for Oxford till I felt whether I should be able to
bear the cold and the fatigue of travelling. I have, however, thank
God I had a very refreshing sleep, but am too late in rising to take the
advantage of the coaches this morning,
" Evening. I wrote in the Museum till one, dined at two, and then
went to call on Mr. Nichol, but, not finding him, proceeded for the first
time to the Tower, where I wrote one-and-a-half hours: but Mr. Bayley,
seeing that I could not accomplish my object, kindly promised to have
it copied out by one of the clerks. From the Tower I went into
Wapping to search for George Glover, and readily found him. Mr. T.
Barnes was with him in his warehouse. That I might see his wife and
sister, I consented to go and sit down to dinner with them. They are
weU: the chUdren two boys and two girls. Bell must be eventuaUy
an old maid. Mr. G. set me into Street. I called on Robert
at ten, and bid good-bye to him.
2 B

370 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.Oxford, 24th March, 1821.
" I left London to-day at half-past eight, from the George and
Blue Boar in Holbom. The morning was fine, but cold. At eleven it
began to rain, and continued to do so till after we reached this place at
4 p.m. I took my seat on the outside of the coach, and, though the
wind was both strong and cold, I suffered much less from cold than I
did in my way up to London in the inside of the coach. There were
few objects in this day's journey that were particularly attractive; the
cold and wet, and especially the heavy wind, made everything un
interesting : the prevailing desire I had was that I might be driven as
last as possible to my journey's end. I wiU, however, note a few things
which are fastened in my memory. After crossing the smaU barren
common of Gerard's Cross, we passed the fine Park of Bulstrode on the
feft: it- is an irregular ground, and the property of the- Duke of Port
land. The country nearly the whole of the way from Uxbridge is hilly ;
the hills consisting of chalk out of which flints are procured for making
the roads. From London to Uxbridge the flints for the roads are pro
cured by passing the alluvium through riddles ; and the quantity thus
procured to the west of Kensington is so great that in many places in
about eight or nine feet that are dug up, more than two-thirds are
taken away. The re-covered space thus dug over is carefully levelled
and re-covered with soil — the whole of the process being remarkably
systematic. Near to Oxford limestone begins to prevail.
" Near Loudwater, and towards High Wycombe, the ordinary process
of cultivation forms the sides of the steep hills into terraces, a process
by which I have no doubt but the terraces on the sides of the hills in
Westmerland were formed.
" On the west side of Stokenchurch Hill, juniper grows abundantly
and in great luxuriance.
" The flints in the alluvia near London, appear to be the remains of
chalk hills in the neighbourhood that have been washed away ; more
properly the remains of the valleys that have been formed between the
hills that remain. The prospect from Stokenchurch HiU is extensive
over the valley to the west, north, and south.
" March 25th. I have been to New College Chapel and heard part
of a sermon, for, though it was not eleven o'clock, the service was so
far gone through that it did not last above half-an-hour after I entered the
chapel : there was a large attendance, nearly the whole standing, for
the area of the place where the sermon was preached is neither seated

visit tO Oxford. 37 1
norpewed, only there are a few forms in its centre, and seats in the
manner of the staUs in cathedrals all round against the walls : its form
is thus : (A drawing with the pen).
" The windows are ornamented with very beautiful paintings ' of
glass ; those in the chancel representing the Apostles and numerous other
saints whose names appear in the calendar of the Latin Church ; and in
every window is written in Latin, ' Pray for William of Wykeham
Bishop of Winchester, the founder of this college (O. pro Willelmo de
Wiccam Winton. fundatore istius collegii). In the west window is a
painting of the Nativity, which is seen through an arch in the organ
gaUery from the altar to good effect. The whole is a most beautiful
piece of architecture and art.
" Since half-past twelve I have caUed on the Provost of Oriel, on
Mr. Rowley of University College, Mr. Ellison of Balliol, aU of whom I
have seen, but have not been able to deliver my letter from the Bishop
of Durham to Mr. Bandinel, Librarian of the Bodleian Library, and
another letter to Mr. Lightfoot of Merton ' CoUege. At half-past two
I was at prayers at St. Peter's, where the -Bishop of Oxford and the
corporation of the city attended. They were also at New College
Chapel in the morning. To-day has been very fine. In a very short
time I should become well acquainted with this celebrated seat of
learning ; but my stay must be as short as possible ; for I apprehend I
have got to a most expensive inn, though it is the one the coach came
to and to which Mr. Burke recommended me. It would be in vain to
begin any description of this place. The walks, avenues, and buildings
are aU upon a grand scale. The elm tree here is in its perfection.
Merton CoUege is a pecuharly neat, ancient, and interesting building.
I do not covet apartments here: but if Providence had thrown a
University Ufe in my way, and my habits and pursuits had been such as
they are, it does appear to me that such a life would have been best
suited to the construction of my mind : but it has not been my lot to
be 'sheltered under academic bowers; to have my genius fostered and
my habits formed by this kind mother of all good arts: and I have no.
right to repine that it has not been so.
. " Nine o'clock. I have just returned from dining, I think they call
it, in Commons, that is, the Common Hall, in University College, having
been the guest of Mr. Rowley, who is Tutor and Senior Fellow of thai;
college : I was at the Fellows' table : besides which there are two other
descriptions of Undergraduates — the one caUed the FeUow-Commoners,
&c.,but I must not begin to describe, for I ara Utterly ignorant of the
2 B2

372 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
terms. Nothing can be more pleasant. As soon as eating was done
the Undergraduates retired, and in a short time the FeUows went into
their room, where we had some wine and afterwards some tea. •
" March 26th. This morning I breakfasted with the Provost of Oriel
College (Dr. Copleston), who at ten went with me to the Bodleian
Library and introduced me to Mr. Nichol the hbrarian. When I was in
London I asked Mr. Phillpotts for-letters of introduction to the Bodleian,
and about a week after received a note from the Bishop of Durham,
inclosing a letter to Mr. Bandinel, the head-librarian there. Very
fortunately, Sir C. Grey had suppUed me with an introduction to the
Provost of Oriel, for Mr. Bandinel is at present out of Oxford. I con
tinued in the library till four, and at half-past four went to dine with
Mr. Wilson, a Fellow of" Queen's College, and stayed with him till near
eleven. I had letters of introduction from Mr. Rawes of Bromley. He
is a modest and serious person: I dare say a good divine too, for he has
just finished printing a work on the Thirty- Nine Articles, the plan of
which I think is a good one ; but I had no time to examine whether it be
judiciously executed or not. He was Proctor of Oxford last year; the
person who originated the inquiry into St. Bee's School : and a native of
Kendal. Below you will see on what account I became anxious to be
introduced to him.

Rawes=p  Wilson^..
' ,  L.

William Rawes^=lsabella Robert Wilson=p......
I Wilson. I
I — | — [— i — |  1 — |  n John WiIson.=p 
1. Robert. 6. Agnes. 8. Elizabeth=plsaac Hodgson. |
2. Richard. 7. Janet. J ,  1
3. Wilson. I  :  ' William Wilson,
4. Gerard. John Hodgson.=j=Jane Bridget Kell. Fellow of Queen's
5. Lancelot. | — | — |  1 — r—i — ' College, Oxford,
Richard W. Elizabeth Hilda. March 26, 1821,
John. Jane. unmarried.
Isaac. * Susannah.
"The Bodleian Library is in the form of the letter H., and has
galleries around it. The roof is of oak, curiously ornamented with
armorial bearings, &c. Adjoining it in the same building is an exten
sive gallery of pictures, and in it the Rawlinson MSS. are kept in presses,
but are so iU arranged that I was unable to find the volumes which I
had expected to consult. The Dodsworth collections are in the room called
Gough's Room, which contains the library of the late Mr. Gough, the
Editor of Camden's Britannia, to which there is a printed catalogue.
" Before breakfast I walked round Christ Church Meadow, which on

VISIT TO OXFORD. 373
the south is bounded by the Isis. The walk called Christ Church Walk
is a broad gravel walk between two rows of very large and aged elms,
the finest and largest avenue I ever walked along. There is also a very
fine avenue of elms belonging to Magdalene College, and called the
Maudlen Walk, in the Maudlen Meadows, by the margin of the Cherwell.
The Isis is a fine stream, full of boats ; some of them very large, like
floating houses, having windows and brick chimneys; others, and the
greatest number of them, light pleasure-boats, painted green.
" March 27th. I have to-day breakfasted in Queen's with Mr. Wilson.
He showed me the Hall Library: in it a fine copy of Wickliffe's Bible,
which has been mutilated by cutting out the first leaf of the Old Testa
ment and a part of the first leaf in the New, for the sake of the illumi
nated letters.
"At ten I went to the Bodleian Library, finished there at two, and
then made my third unsuccessful attempt to get into the treasury of
Merton College. I have been round the upper part of the town, seen
the Gaol where there is a singular old tower, caUed the Castle, and a
very large mound of earth of the shape of a truncated cone. My seat
for Birmingham is taken for Thursday.
"11 o'clock. I have been dining with the Provost of Oriel. His
other guests were Mr. Rowley of University CoUege, Mr. Ellison of
BaUiol, Mr. Nichol, one of the Bodleian librarians, and Dr. Bliss of St.
John's College. The Provost contrived the topics of conversation to fall
on Antiquarian subjects. I could get no opinion either there or at
University CoUege on Mr. Hedley's inscription. Dr. Copleston showed
the list'of the books given to his college by its founder: it is a catalogue
raisonne, and not only classes the books in subjects, but gives the price
and the name of the illuminations of each MS. He also showed me the
first book of accounts of their coUege: it begins about the year 1400, and
the series I think he said is perfect since.
" Mr. Nichol and myself on leaving the Provost of Oriel went with
Dr. Bliss to St. John's College, and had bread and cheese with him in the
common room there. It is an excellent room, and well furnished.
" Wednesday, Mar. 28th. I breakfasted with Mr. Nichol, one of the
librarians, &c. in the department of Oriental literature, in which he has
the reputation of a great master. He is a native of Aberdeen, and came
to Balliol College, Oxford, as a Scotch exhibitioner, in which capacity
he was entitled as a student for about eleven years to about 160£. per
annum. He married a Danish lady, who died of a consumption three
weeks after they were married ; a mild, kind, exceUent man.

374 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
" At ten I was introduced by Mr. Ellison to the master of Balliol, who
not only refused me a sight of the records of their possessions, but even
a copy of the calendar of them. When he put the calendar of the
Mickle Benton box into my hand, I refused to look at it unless I might
be permitted to make use of it. I told him that my avowed object was
to obtain evidence how they came into their possession. The deeds
respecting Heugh and Stamfordham are first enumerated ; then those of
Mickle Benton. A BaUiol gave the first, which I think he purchased
for 2001., then some of the Swinburnes, &c. The Benton property was
granted by the SomerviUes. Their grants are curious ; but he advanced
the case of Brand's History losing rights to Newcastle as a reason for
refusing me. He could not see how it could be interesting to the
kingdom that such documents should be published, and it was in vain.
that I pleaded the precedent of such documents forming the main
interest of Dugdale's Monasticon, that they were historical evidences as
well as title-deeds, and that no manner of loss could come to their body.
by their being published. It did appear that there are three keys, and.
that I could not have gained access to their deeds without the consent of
their corporation as a body; but as an individual his mind was.
decidedly against permitting me to see or use anything. .
" At eleven I went to the Bodleian, copied, and conversed with Dr.-
Bliss. The Rawlinson MSS. are rich in topography. At half-past
four dined in the HaU in Balliol CoUege. Mr. Hugh Moises was there,
as a guest, Mr. Ellison, Mr. Cleeve, and Mr. : Mr. Cleeve
thought the master had done perfectly right. Wine, dessert, and tea in the
Common HaU. Mr. EUison desired me to state in writing to him what
I wanted, and he would lay it before the coUege when they met as a
body. " LelancL's MS. works are in Gough's Ubrary, in a plain, strong
handwriting. Mr. talked much this evening about the.
respectability of Mr. Hodgson's character and his work, and that if a
person not so well known, and so well recommended, had asked the
favour, they might have hesitated in giving an answer. But civiUty and-
compliment are not always inseparable from a narrow-mindedness ; I do
conceive that the coUege had planned a refusal. The condescension I
had shown me in the. Common Room convinced me that it was so,
and fruit, wine, and tea, and smiles, and comphments were given to me
in lieu of records. Poor souls! I tried all I could to put them out of
pain .that I thought them illiberal, that their refusal was not grounded.
on reason, by saying that I could not expect that all persons could be

VISIT TO "OXFORD. 375
brought to have the same feeling for my work, and for illustrating its
history, as myself: that I had no right to expect every one would give
me what I asked, however reasonable in fact, my request might be ;
that I considered their evidences as historical facts, that the statute of
Umitations, &c. secured to them their possessions, and that Dugdale's
works had published the deeds of the monasteries, &c. without injury to
the proprietors, &c. 
" My DEAR Jane, Star Inn, Oxford, Wednesday, March 28th, 1821.
" Yesterday I intended to have set off from this place this
morning : but, finding that I cannot get from Birmingham till Friday
morning, the Telegraph Coach only going from that place to Leeds on
Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, I think it better to stay here over
to-day, and set my face homewards to-morrow, than to spend all day
to-morrow in Birmingham, where I know nobody and have no objects
of inquiry. You may therefore expect me about nine o'clock on
Saturday evening; I shall get out at the Red Robins, and contrive to
find there some person to help me home with my things. Mr. Ellison
of BaUiol College here tells me the Telegraph usually passes the Red
Robins about seven o'clock, but I apprehend it is later. Every atten
tion has been shown me here. You will not get this note till Saturday,
and a few hours after it arrives papa expects to reach home. Thine,
my dear Jane, " John Hodgson."

From JAMES ELLIS, Esq.

" DEAE Sir, Otterbourne, 23 June, 1821.
" A few days ago I accompanied Mr. Singleton * and Mr.
Vernonj- to look at some minerals collected by a self-taught genius in
our village commonly called the Philosopher. It then struck me for the
first time that he was the kind of man you wished for to assist you in
* Rector of Elsden, afterwards Archdeacon of Northumberland — the Archdeacon
Singleton of Sidney Smith's famous letters.
t Son of the Archbishop of York , and Rector of Rothbury.
J The philosopher's name was James Thomson.

876 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
the mineralogy of this district, and on my mentioning it to the above
gentlemen they were of the same opinion. I dare say he would be
glad of the employment.
" I am happy to furnish you with another subscriber, and you will
please to insert in your list the name of Matthew Reed, Esq. of Old-
town. If you send the present volume to me I wiU convey it to him.
Sir, yours very sincerely, " Jas. Ellis."
To JAMES ELLIS, Esq., of Otterbourne Castle.*
" DEAE Sie, Upper Heworth, 4th July, 1821.
" Your letter of the 23rd of June did not reach me tiU last
Friday, after which time I had no opportunity that week to send you
the copy of my book for Mr. Reed of Old-town.
" I felt both much rejoiced and very thankful for the offer of assist
ance in the department of natural history from the person at Otterbourne
which you have mentioned to me ; and have inclosed, with the book
for Mr. Reed, a small box I contrived last summer for killing insects in
without injuring them.f The insects are shut up in the upper part,
and some brown paper being lighted in the bottom sUde, when it is
flaming and smoking, the top is to be put on, and the insects by one or
two smokings wiU be found dead; after which beetles, moths, butterflies,
and in short all such as have wings, while their joints are pliable, should
have their wings extended in this manner. (A drawing with the pen in the
margin.) Fasten the insect upon a weU-stained board of soft wood by
a pin put through it behind the head ; then with a pin put through a
piece of pasteboard fix the wings in an extended position — thus. If I
could be accommodated with a few of the most remarkable insects
fixed in this manner, it would be of much service to me. Moist
meadows before the grass is cut generally abound with smaU butterflies
of great variety : one or two of each kind would be sufficient for aU
my purposes. Butterflies are seen abroad by day ; the various kinds

* The Editor is indebted to Mr. Robert White of Newcastle for the copy of the
letter here made u3e of.
f This may remind some of my readers of Isaac Walton and his worm. I fear,
however, that the good old angler did not think so much of the worm's feelings as of
the necessity of not giving it pain, that it might be the more lively, and consequently
the more tempting, upon his hook.

CORRESPONDENCE. 377
of moths by night. Beetles are commonly found under stones, in rotten
wood, dung, &c. Brimstone must not be used in kiUing them, and
much flame must be avoided, else the wings of the insect wiU be singed
through the wire gauze. Of shells my collection is hitherto but small ;
your neighbourhood must have many ; of the tribe snail I know there
are several, and some so excessively minute as to escape ordinary
observation. A very little attention to. their haunts will soon render
any one expert in finding them ; both the land and water abound with
them, and there are none, however small and common, that I do not
Wish to be acquainted with, and to have specimens of from different
parts of the country. Of shells I would wish to have half-a-dozen or a
dozen of each kind. But to obtain assistance of this kind I fear I shall
not be able to render any adequate recompence. My expenses, without
paying anything for authorship, can never be repaid to me by the sale
of the work.
" When I was in London this spring I copied a pedigree of the
Reeds of Old-town, which I sent to Mr. Ridley, and have not yet got it
back. I expect it is the only document I have found respecting the
ancient family of that name. Sir William Reed, Knight, had a lease of
certain tythes at Beadnale, dated 13 Sept., 30 EUz., copy in the
Auditor's office, lib. ii. fol. 108; and there was a grant of lands and
houses at Cookley to Ralph Salkeld and Edward Reed, June 18, 34
Eliz. ib. ii. 28. Mr. Reed of Troughend is mentioned in the Lans-
downe MSS. at No. 326, which belonged to R. Todd, sheriff, (not certain
of this,) who collected rent respecting Northumberland, and out of whose
MSS. in the British Museum and in the Bodleian Library Howard made
large extracts.
" There are some curious particulars respecting the franchises of the
 * also of Redesdale connected with the History
of Cleveland, and in (the) depot in the Duchy of Lancaster Office: they
consist of several charters in a full illuminated volume written in the
beginning of the reign of Edward I. I have not leisure to turn at
present to my memoranda made from the authentic copy : but if my
memory saves me the trouble, these furnish some new history where
with Harbottle, or . . .* Castle . . . .* to Mr. Thos. ClenneU.
I write in much haste. With many thanks for your kind assistance
and interest in my work. Believe me, my dear Sir, faithfully yours,
"John Hodgson."

The original letter was here worn away.

378 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
The following letter and the memoranda by which it is suc
ceeded would seem to prove that in this year Hodgson was
thought of for the valuable rectory of Whitfield. But it may be
doubtful whether Mr. Bigge had any real authority for exciting
his expectations. To C. W. Bigge, Esq.
" DEAE SlE, Newcastle, 12 Nov. 1821.
" Having had to call at your bank this morning for my Queen
Anne's Bounty money, and not having had the pleasure of meeting you
there, I cannot avoid expressing the strong sense of gratitude and obli
gation which I feel for your kind intentions towards me respecting the
rectory of Whitfield. The more I have reflected upon what you said
to me, the more desirable the preferment appears to me. The retire
ment of the place would be very congenial to my feelings, and very
favourable to my plan of publishing a History of Northumberland ; and
the additional income which the living would bring me would enable
me to send my children to school ; which, with my present means, is
quite out of my power. . If, therefore, Mr. Ord could make it agreeable
to his own views to offer me the situation, I beg to assure you that it
would, under any conditions as to residence he may think fit to impose
upon me, be most acceptable to me ; and in the event of my succeeding
to it I hope that my best endeavours would always be given to make
my incumbency both satisfactory to him, and creditable to your recom
mendation. From, dear Sir, your very grateful and obedient humble
servant, " John Hodgson."
" N.B. I saw Mr. Bigge on the day this letter was written, and he
told me that ' he believed that Mr. Scott, Mrs. Ord's brother, had
accepted the Uving ; but that he had written to Mr. Ord saying that I
would accept of it if it was offered to me. Also that Mr. Ord had two
months since talked of offering it to me, but thought that I would (not?)
accept of it on the condition of residing upon it.' — Journal.
" 1821, 29 Dec. Mr. Bigge to-day told me that his brother-in-law
Mr. Scott had passed his examination for Holy Orders and accepted of
the living of Whitfield. He stiU thought it strange that he would take
it with the condition of residing upon it, and that I would not have
liked it, as there would have been little more society than walls and
woods and heath ; that when I was fatigued with my study I would not

KOMAN ALTARS, ETC., AT EYTON. 379
have Newcastle to go to, to refresh myself with the conversation of literary
and scientific men. But I told him, as I felt, that my History would
occupy a large portion of my life, even if it were spared to an advanced
age ; that it would keep me in a sort of perpetual motion, and that
solitude and quiet were very congenial to my feelings; and that
Whitfield would in every respect have suited me better than Jarrow
and Heworth; but most especiaUy because it would have enabled me to
provide better opportunities for the education of my family. — Ibid. '¦
" 14 Dec. 1821. Set off at seven with Messrs. Hedley, Adamson, and
Tho. Hodgson, to Mr. Thorp's* at Ry ton to see his Roman Antiquities ;
for the purpose of guiding us in the price we should offer for those dis
covered at Housesteads, and offered to the Newcastle Antiq. Soc. by Mr.
Gibson of Stagshaw Close House. — Ibid.
" The coUection of Roman Antiquities at Ryton belonged to Mr-
Brand, and were left by him at his Newcastle lodgings in Hanover
Square. The persons with whom he lodged, two sisters, claimed one
moiety of them and Mr. Wheatley another. Mr. Wheatley gave me his
share, and the two sisters sold me theirs for ten pounds. A day or two
after I agreed to give this sum for them, I was dining with Mr. Thorp and
mentioned the price of .them; and he, expressing a wish to. have them,
requested me to transfer the purchase, which I readily consented to*
Mr. Thorp therefore had them for half their value if the Miss 's
share was worth 10Z. He however sometime after made me a present
of Wordsworth's Ecclesiastical Biography. — Ibid.
" 18 Dec. 1821, To John Adamson, Esq. — Dear Adamson, — I have
considered upon the sum which the Society ought to offer for the House-
steads Roman Antiquities, and recommend it to be twenty-five guineas.
" About ten years since I purchased the late Mr. Brand's coUection of
Roman Antiquities for 101. They contained the celebrated altar to
Jupiter Dolichenus, and the tablet to the Matres Campestres found at
Benwell, four inscribed stones found at Jarrow, and several perfect
inscribed tablets and centurial stones, besides imperfect inscriptions,
votive altars, Cologne-stone querns, &c. &c. to the number of thirty-five
pieces. It is superior to the Housesteads collection in the number of its
inscriptions, but inferior in other respects. For the uninscribed altars
and stones bearing figures brought from Housesteads are very imposing
in their appearance, but have no value in affording any proof or iUustra-
* Now Canon and Archdeacon of Durham, Warden of the University, &c. — at all
times a kind and steady friend of Mr. Hodgson.

380 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
tion of history or topography. They are, however, very curious, and
have a claim to be preserved, because they have survived the ravages
of at least fourteen centuries, and were set apart from common purposes
by a celebrated people, either from devotion to their gods and emperors,
or in memory of some deceased friend. Mr. Brand's coUection was taken.
away at the. expense of the purchaser; but I include the carriage which
has been paid in the twenty-five guineas, which I recommend the
Society to offer. I am, &c. J. H."
" 1821, Dec. 22. My son Richard having 9s. and 6d., I gave him old
English silver, local tokens, and foreign sUver, which he sold for lZ..16s.
6d. and with the 9s. and 6d. put it into the Savings Bank in Newcastle,-
his no. being 1843. I have done this with the view of getting him into
an early habit of saving; being convinced that nothing is more injurious
to rehgious and moral principle, and consequently a greater enemy to
human happiness, than want of thrift. Avarice is a horrible vice ; but
it is not so natural as waste .and thoughtlessness, and therefore not so
common; for where there is one person who seUs himself to the love of
money, there are hundreds who seU their independence, principles, and
happiness by an improvident use of the means of human subsistence. —
Journal. " 1821. Dec. 29. Near aU the great Roman Stations there are found
the ruins of a bath. The soldiers came out of warm climates, and were
accustomed to bathe and wash their whole bodies every day. This habit
of cleanliness they could not forego, even in our colder cUmate. — Journal.
m
To ROBERT SURTEES, Esq.
« My deae Sib, Deo- 31, 1821.
" Your letter sent by Raine I have received, and beg your
acceptance of my best thanks for your kind contribution of 10?. towards
the plates of my Northumberland, and for your promised endeavours to
obtain further patronage to it. During the whole of this year I have
been very much occupied with rebuUding Heworth Chapel, so much so
that I have found it impossible to go on both with it and attending my
second volume through the press. More than a few weeks, however, I
very sanguinely hope wiU not now pass by, before I shall proceed with
printing. My amanuensis is constantly employed five days a week, so
that my materials grow very bulky, and a day seldom passes without a

CORRESPONDENCE, 381
portion of my own labour being employed either in the outline or
filling up the detail of the extensive work that I have before me. In
pulUng down the chapel of Heworth, very little in the way of antiquities
was found, if a few pieces of a fluted and corresponding moulded penning
of a pointed arch, and some transoms and spandrils of -windows be
excepted. Within the altar rails we found a leaden coffin bearing the
foUowing inscription on a plate of copper, RALPH BRANDLING,
ESQ., DIED FEB. 23d. 1750, AGED 20 YEARS, and removed it
with the remains it inclosed within the area of the new chapel."
Upon the subject of a contribution to be made by the gentle
men of Northumberland to procure embellishments for Mr. Hodg
son's History, Mr. Surtees still continued to feel a considerable
anxiety. He himself had received a munificent donation of not
much less than 800Z., from the nobility and gentry of the county
of Durham for the illustration of his own splendid History, and
he flattered himself with the hope that such an example would be
imitated by the county of Northumberland, but he hoped in vain.
After the receipt of the above letter, he thus wrote to his friend
Mr. J. B.- Taylor, who was also intimately acquainted with Mr.
Edward Swinburne.
" Feb. 1822. I cannot find a letter of Hodgson's which explains the
subject, or would send it to you. The idea originated with myself.
Having a great regard for Hodgson, and thinking it a pity Mr. Swin
burne's drawings should not have more justice done them, I sent
Hodgson 101., but of course had no ground to stand on to begin a
general subscription, but advised him to apply to Sir John Swinburne
and other gentlemen of the county (see p. 321). He answers me that
he fears his first, or rather fifth, volume, full of antiquarian lore, has
been a damper to the public feeUngs, and he deemed it expedient, before
his friends set anything a-foot, to show the pubUc that some portion of
his work would be of more general interest. I do not agree in this,
because time is passing; and, if there were funds, plates or etchings
might be preparing, but, as my powers were absolutely nothing, I could
only acquiesce. I never spoke, I think, to any one but Mr. DarneU, who
promised, I believe, 51. 5s. and said he would canvass Mr. Trevelyan of
WaUington, but the proposition ought to come from some powerful
local interest."

382 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
No subscription however was entered into. Northumberland
cared not to follow the example of Durham, and its historian was
left to work his way in his public undertaking unbefriended and
uncared-for by a county abounding in wealth, and still more in
subjects of intense historical interest, many of them rapidly falling
into decay.

CHAPTER XVI.— 1822.
Communications to the Gentleman's Magazine. — Correspondence with Dr. McCulloch
on Natural History. — The Rev. James Tate, Master of Richmond School,
and the Memoir and Monument of Richard Dawes. — Engravings for another
volume. — New Chapel at Heworth. — Consecration Sermon. — Church Restoration.
Family Distresses. — Illness of his Children. — Death of two Brothers. — Sympathy
of his Friends. — Discovery of a Mithraic Cave at Borcovicus or Housesteads. —
Essay on the subject. — Prospect of Preferment.
In this year Mr. Hodgson communicated to the Gentleman's
Magazine, under the signature of " Archseus," accounts of Cope-
land Castle, Bothal Castle, Warkworth Bridge, and Willimotes-
wick, in illustration of certain wood-cuts of those places which
had appeared in his lately-published volume, and of which the
Editor of that venerable publication had solicited the loan, as
embellishments for its pages. That of Copeland Castle, in
particular, contains much valuable information. Other notices of
his various communications to the Magazine will occur hereafter.
" 1822. , April 1. Analysed a limestone found in the African
wood of which the pulpit is made in Heworth Chapel. It was in a
shake near the core and blunted the saws." — Journal.
In the summer of 1822 there commences a series of letters
addressed to Mr. Hodgson by Dr. Thomas McCulloch, an eminent
American experimental philosopher and naturalist, chiefly on the
subject of insects and other objects of Natural History; and
affording, at the same time, some curious information on the state
of Experimental Philosophy in that country. Unfortunately, we
have none of Hodgson's letters in reply, but it is easy to discover
that he took a great interest in the pursuits, and did everything
in his power to supply the various wants, of his correspondent.
On the 2nd of July, the Doctor thanks Hodgson for certain
publications with which he had favoured him, sending to him a
few American insects in return, and assuring him that if the
Newcastle Society would send him insect-pins and cork he would

384 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
repay them with insects " in the fall." " The pins are made by
Durnford of London, and can with difficulty be got in America."
" In our Institution," continues he, " it is a part of my duty to
deliver lectures upon Natural Philosophy, and I am, at times, very
much at a loss for receivers, tubes, &c.  At present lam prepar
ing a small electrical battery of twelve jars, but want the wires
for connecting them. In Nova Scotia things of this kind are
not to be got." On the 21st of November, the Doctor writes
another letter thanking Hodgson for supplying his wants, and has
further requests to make : " At this time I am hardly able to
make anything like a decent appearance in the class for want of
glass articles. They occasionally break upon my hands and cannot
be replaced in this country; there are not more than three un-
cracked receivers in our seminary, not one glass globe, and, I be
lieve only one tube of a wider bore than those which you sent 
In my electrical course for want of them I am reduced to many
a miserable shift.  -You may judge that last summer I lost no
time when I tell you that I pinned about 4000 insects. Of these
four boxes go to the University of Glasgow and the remainder to
that of Edinburgh.  For you I have reserved a few.  1
hope to furnish you with as many as may introduce you to some
Philosophical Society of which you may wish to be a member.
Along with the box of insects, I have sent for your little children
a few Indian playthings. I hope to send you a collection of the
birds of these provinces  "Would you wish a few of the
reptiles of this country? Some of the toads and frogs are very
curious." The Doctor proceeds to enumerate not fewer than
twenty-four different articles in which his lecturing apparatus was
deficient, such as articles in glass, wire, &c. &c, upon which he
requests Hodgson to lay out six or seven pounds, and concludes
by requesting him to gee that the boxes of insects brought into
the Tyne by an American ship be duly forwarded to Professor
Cowper of Glasgow, and Professor Jameson of Edinburgh, for
their respective universities. With this request Hodgson com>
plies, and these two gentleman in due time acknowledge the
arrival of the boxes here spoken of.
On the 24th of June 1823, Dr. McCulloch again writes, over
whelmed with gratitude for Hodgson's kind attentions in supply-

NATURAL HISTORY, ETC. 385
ing the deficiencies of his laboratory, and makes large promises
of shells from the shores of the Gulph of St. Lawrence, the
Atlantic Coast, and the Bay of Fundy, including such as could
be found in the province. Circumstances seem to have prevented
him from fulfilling these promises, and in October we have another
letter: " The collection which I am about to send is not what I
expected it to be. I never spent a more active summer, but
fighting against nature is a profitless toil. We have had so
little summer that many beautiful species have not been hatched.
You will scarcely believe me when I tell you that I and some of
our students expended several hundred miles' riding upon the
largest species of our butterfly, without catching one. My whole
collection contains only three, of which you will receive two.
You will receive four boxes containing, I conjecture, about two
thousand specimens. In moths you will find a very beautiful
collection." Of Dr. M'Culloch we hear no more till 1826, when, on the
first of April in that year, he writes from Newcastle to Hodgson,
who had then been some time settled at Whelpington, stating that
" the trustees of our institution, in consequence of some embarrass
ments, had deputed" him "to solicit in its behalf the assistance of
the British public." In another letter he writes that he is " sorely
in want of the countenance of somebody, for never was poor
mortal worse cut out for such a mission as mine. Everybody
hates beggars, and whenever I try the trade I feel it at every
pore." He did not however pay a visit to Whelpington. Hodgson
had at this time much illness in his house, and he contented
himself with giving to his friend an introduction to some one
in Edinburgh. After this we hear no more of Dr. M'Culloch.
Some of the insects given by this gentleman to Hodgson are now
in the museum at WaUington.
To the Rev. JAMES TATE * Richmond.
" Deae Sib Upper Heworth, near Gateshead, 19th July, 1822.
" My engagements have put it out of my power to return you an
early answer to your letter of the 21st of last month; but I have given
* The learned master of Richmond School. I print this letter in its order of time;
but more will be said of Dawes and his monument in the sequel.
2 C

386 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
up the first moment I have had to spare to consider about a monument
for Dawes. For 251. I can have one made of statuary marble on the
annexed design. It will be nearly six feet high, and wiU have a free
space for an inscription on its tablet of 22 inches by 12 inches. If the
subscription amount to more than 251. then the whole monument will be
proportionably enlarged.
" The sketch is not correctly drawn, as to dimensions, exactly accord
ing to the proportions in which I could wish it to be executed ; but it
will serve well enough to give a general notion of my plan. The book
and lamp I hope you wiU think appropriate enough. All the rest is
purely Greek, excepting the tablet, which is Roman, and therefore, per
haps, suitable enough for receiving a Latin inscription.
" If you should think of adding any account of Dawes and his writings
to the paper you have planned for the Classical Journal, I could furnish
a paragraph respecting his person and habits. His books and MSS., as
you will know, were purchased by Dr. Askew; and, in addition to the
notices of him in the encyclopedias and books of biography, some ma
terials may be gleaned from Bishop Burgess's Preface to his Misc.
Crit., and from an odd letter of his own to Dr. Taylor, in the Appendix
to Bentley's Letters ; also from the second volume of Mr. Surtees's His
tory of Durham; and Brand's Newcastle, vol. i. pp. 85, 96, 97.
" The 'Eniypa/iiia must be whoUy your own. It wiU be much better
as you suggest to represent the book in marble, inscribed misc. ceit.,
than to crowd the inscription with the title of the work ; and I will take
care that the book be boldly done, and the label flowing and natural.
Do you think it necessaryto insert some such sentence as this hvivs • in •
iEDis • ccemiteeio ¦ sepvltvs., as a reason for putting up the monument
at Heworth ?
" There is a large basaltic block lying in this village which I have
some thoughts of moving and putting upon his grave, to prevent his re
mains being disturbed. Should this scheme be ever reaUsed, I intend to
fix a brass plate in the stone, and inscribe it with, " The grave of Richard
Dawes. Let no man move his bones ;" or " Tumulus Ricardi Dawes. Ossa
ejus ne quis commoveto."
" I will not be formal with you in apologising for the trouble I am
giving you, or with thanking you for the zeal you have shewn for the
memory of Dawes ; being well aware that you enter con amore into the
matter. " As soon as you have completed the subscription, I shall be glad to
hear from you ; but we must not venture upon ordering the monument

ENGRAVINGS FOR HISTORY. 387
till we have exactly ascertained our means. I have of late been buying
a good deal of experience about bargains with masons, and find that
nothing must be left to honour in such matters.
" Most truly yours, " John Hodgson.1'

To EDWARD SWINBURNE, Esq.
« My deae Sir, Aug. 4, 1822.
" The Bishop of Oxford * comes hither on Wednesday to conse
crate my chapel; and, as no preacher is appointed, I am under the
necessity of taking that office, for which my sermon is wholly to begin.
I must therefore be brief to your very kind letter.
" If Mr. Lewis will be content to wait for payment for his work till
my next volume is ready for pubUcation, I shall be most glad to engage
him to be going on with the plates. The business of my chapel, as you
well know, has been constantly engrossing the whole of my time for
nearly two years ; but I do think that I shaU in the course of a few
weeks be ready to fag again at my History, and consequently to go on
with printing. I cannot, however, hope to get a volume out in less than
fourteen or fifteen months, which I fear Mr. L. will think a long time.
" If I adopt more expensive plates I must give fewer of them; as the
price I have set upon the work and the few copies I print will not pay
for expensive views. Fifteen guineas is not however anything extra
vagant ; and if Mr Lewis will go on with five or six on the terms I have
mentioned I shall be obUged to him by his doing so.f Etching is my
favourite method: it is a mode sufficiently perfect for truth, and that is
what I would principally aim at. The subjects you mention are all
sufficiently interesting. I would however prefer Haughton Castle,
Linnels Bridge, Hexham, Chipchase, the Peele on the Chirden, and
Halton or Harnham, as those I could like to see put forward.
" The only hesitation I have in this matter is the trouble I am giving
you, especiaUy in negociating with Mr. Lewis. But, as I know that you
enter con amore into the subject, I wiU not to the other burdens I have
laid upon you add that of a load of apologies.
" I have no novelties to tell you of, unless a late discovery at House
steads of some Roman antiquities can be classed amongst such things.
They consist of several altars and fragments of bas-reUefs, which were
* The Hon. Edward Legge.
* By letter of the 20th August, Mr. Lewis agreed to this arrangement.
2 c 2

388 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
dug out of the ruins of the penetralia of a temple, which was partly
under ground. One of the altars is inscribed, " deo soli invicto mithe*
SECULAEI POBLIDS PEOCULINUS CENTUEI0 PRO SE ET PEOCULO SU0 VOTUM
solvit libens meeito." One of the bas-reliefs contains the signs of the
zodiac. I have a paper in hand for our A. S. to iUustrate them. Very
faithfuUy yours, " John Hodgson."
The result of Hodgson's second expedition to London, so far as
his contemplated new chapel at Heworth was concerned, had
been successful ; and soon after his return the old chapel was re
moved to make way for the new fabric, the first stone of which
was laid on the 23d of May, 1821. " It will," wrote he to his
wife, " give me pain to see the workmen begin to pull down a
place which I have now been familiar with for thirteen years, and
which attaches itself the more to me from the certainty that it will
soon be removed out of sight;" but, with every credit to him for
that very natural feeling, there really was nothing in the old fabric
except this association to excite it and keep it alive. Of the chapel
before it was pulled down, there is a representation in one of Mr.
Hodgson's Journals, and another in Eichardson's Table Book,
proving it to have been totally devoid of ecclesiastical character or
antiquity; and it was most certainly utterly unable to accom
modate a twentieth part of the population of its district.
The new church was designed by Hodgson himself, and is
capable of holding 1500 people* In its outward appearance it
made at that day a considerable impression in the North. Never
was church architecture at so low an ebb as in the commence
ment of thepresent century; and Heworth was the first new church
in the district with any pretensions to character and due arrange
ments; but now that the art of church building is in advance
towards ancient perfection it will by no means bear a strict exa
mination. It would be unfair however to criticise too severely a
fabric built at such a time for so small a cost f and under such dif-

* In the old chapel there were only 67 seats free to all comers ; in the new edifice
the number is 687, over and above those appropriated to houses or families.
+ The total cost was 2,200?. The subscriptions amounted to l,500i. The remain
ing 7001. were borrowed for a limited time.

NEW CHATEL AT HEWORTH. 389
ficulties. It is in the form of a cross, with a tower at the west end,
but without aisles, with a low roof and a flat ceiling. The
windows are numerous, and of the pointed shape, but poor in
design, with a single upright mullion, headed by tracery incorrect
in character; and externally the same kind of window is stuck on
here and there in blank, on what would have been naked spaces of
surface, in the style of panelling. The effect of this arrangement,
as it will be readily conceived, is heavy and unsatisfactory.* To
revert for a moment to the fame which Mr. Hodgson acquired by
this effort as a church architect, it must be mentioned that he was in
1825 requested by his neighbour Mr. Collinson, rector of Gateshead,
to furnish a design for the spire of the new church on Gateshead
Fell (never was there such a mistake as that of a spire in such a
situation); and when in 1841 the University of Durham, as we
shall see, did him the honour of conferring upon him the degree
of Master of Arts, it was seriously regretted by a gentleman in
the Convocation House that the official person who presented him
to the warden had forgotten to specify, among his other merits,
that he had been the restorer of church architecture in the North
of England.The chapel of Heworth is within a stone's throw of the
Great North-Eastern Railway, at the north-west end of a short
tunnel near Gateshead. It was opened for Divine service by
licence on the 5th of May, 1822, and on the 6th of August
following was duly consecrated by Dr. Legge, Bishop of Oxford,
acting for the aged Dr. Barrington, Bishop of Durham. Hodgson
himself preached upon the occasion, and made many happy and
touching references to the history of his parish, at a time when
Jarrow was the University of England, and that man of ancient
and modern fame, the Venerable Bede, its teacher and pattern of
learning and piety. His sermon, which is before me in manu
script, is very remarkable for the plainness of its language,
addressed as it was chiefly to working men, and it is not less
striking in its earnest exhortations to his hearers to make a

* The stone, which is of good freestone was procured from a quarry at Upper
Heworth, belonging to Mr. Kell, Mrs. Hodgson's father, and the masonry is well
executed.

390 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
proper use of the blessing. A few of its historical allusions
deserve to be made public. They were probably listened to with
great attention by men who had, till that time, no correct idea
of the ancient history and glories of their parish. His text was
Luke vii. 5 :
" Christianity was introduced into this part of England about the
year 635; and forty-six years afterwards, viz. in 681, Egfrith, king of
Northumberland, gave to Benedict, Abbat of Weremouth, forty farms of
land for the purpose of founding an Abbey upon it at Jarrow, which
the zealous and indefatigable Abbot completed in two years : for the
church there was dedicated on the 24th of May, 684. Hitherto the
churches in this part of the country had been made of riven timber,
lighted with lattice windows and roofed with reeds and straw. But
Benedict built his churches after the Roman style, which he most
admired, and for that purpose traversed France, in quest of masons and
artificers skilled in making glass, which till his time was unknown in
these parts. He also made frequent journeys to Rome for the purpose
of purchasing books for the libraries of the abbeys ; and among other
benefactions to his churches, in his last journey from that country
he brought certain curious pictures to adorn the mother church of this
place, which contained subjects admirably adapted to show the concord
ance between the Old and New Testament; for example, Isaac carrying
the wood for his own sacrifice, and Jesus bearing his own cross, were
compared; and on another table were given the corresponding subjects
of the lifting-up of the serpent in the wilderness, and the last solemn
scene of the crucifixion.
" These things I give on the testimony of the Venerable Bede, a man
born within your parish, who spent aU his life in the Abbey of Jarrow ;
who was the greatest scholar of his day, and whose name you will find
in the Kalendar of our Prayer Books opposite to the 29th of May, as
one whose memory had been honoured with a canonization.
" From him we further learn that Benedict died in 689, and was
succeeded by Ceolfrid, who presided as sole Abbot of Weremouth and
Jarrow for twenty-one years, during which time he was not slow
in carrying into effect all the plans of his illustrious predecessor. And,
among other things which time suggested to him as necessary to be
done for the benefit of his monasteries, ' he built more chapels of ease.'
" Now, though this passage affords no positive evidence that a chapel
was founded here either by Benedict or Ceolfrid, it is a good historical

NEW CHAPEL AT HEWORTH. 391
proof that several were built by them within the lands of their abbies ;
and I could advance arguments,* grounded on rational evidence, to show
that one was founded here either in or soon after the reign of Egfrith,
the royal founder of our church (of Jarrow). From his time to the
year 1214, 1 have met with no allusion to it, but a record of that year
mentions ' The lands of the chapel of Heworth ;' and since that time the
notices of it are frequent. From the Commonwealth to the commence
ment of the last century it would appear to have either been in ruins,
or to have been very seldom used; but in 1710, on account of the in
crease of the population in the neighbourhood, it was rebuilt and
enlarged. And, as man has gone on according to the commandment of
God, increasing and multiplying and replenishing the earth, that en
larged building, while it was rapidly falling into decay, grew greatly
inadequate for the purposes for which it was erected ; and you are now
again met together for the first time within the waUs of one reared
partly out of its remains, but six times larger, and how much more
goodly in its appearance than the humble edifice in which we were wont
to assemble! " Can we, my friends, warm our imaginations with the picture of the
inhabitants of Capernaum assembled for the first time in the Synagogue
which the Centurion had built for them, and not now feel the same holy
flame of gratitude glowing in our hearts as burned in theirs? Can
we carry back our thoughts to the times when our parish was
filled with but a handful of Saxon barbarians, newly converted to the
Christian faith? See the king of the province bestowing lands for the
maintenance of a College of Missionaries sent to confirm them in their
new religion. See Benedict the first superior of that coUege traversing
France and Italy for artificers to build them a church ; for fixtures for
its walls, and goodly vessels and ornaments for its altar, for vestments
for its ministers, and books for its libraries 1 Can we, I say, bring into
our minds the transports and the raptures of gratitude and admiration
which the inhabitants of this parish felt when they saw all these things
done for them — when they saw the temples, the altars, the idols that
they had so lately bowed to, burnt down and demolished, and in
their room obtained a Christian church in which they heard the
ministers of Christ every Sabbath-day preaching to them the glad
tidings of salvation? and, finally, when we contemplate one of the
* He probably alludes to the discovery of coins of Egfrith, in Heworth Chapel-yard,
in 1812. (see p. 167.)

392 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
holy and the aged Abbots of that church, for the greater ease of
the inhabitants of this place, building a chapel here, and on the
day of its consecration assembled with them on this spot — can
we imagine to ourselves the blessings they silently poured upon
him, their admiration and their love for him, while they gazed on
him as he stood at the altar and lifted up his hands and his voice
and exhorted them all to flee from idols and turn to the Uving God
who made heaven and earth and all things that are therein?"
During the whole of the period in which Mr. Hodgson was
engaged in rebuilding his chapel of Heworth, his mind was
almost entirely occupied with his holy undertaking. To him it
was a labour of love as well as of duty ; and great was his exulta
tion when the work was finished, which for so many years had
been the object of his earnest anxiety.
Few people, except those who have been engaged in so pious a
work, are aware of the pleasurable excitement there is in building
a new church, or in freeing an old one from the squalid abomina
tions of puritanical neglect, or intentional and unchristian parsi
mony. In either case there is a wholesome feeling of devout
gratification which is not easily described. As the new fabric
rises slowly from the ground and points upwards to Heaven, the
promoters of so godly a work cannot but feel that they are build
ing a house for the holiest of purposes, a house not for themselves or
their own day, but for their Maker, and posterity ; and as an old one
emerges from its defilements, and by degrees re-assumes its ancient
character of decent arrangement and church-like appearance, in
themselves no mean promoters of true devotion, they cannot- but
hope, in all humility of mind, that in them may be verified that
notable declaration which may be found in the 8th verse of the
26th Psalm; and that they may reasonably entertain a trust that
such a good deed may not fail of a reward. After Richard Earl
of Cornwall had laid out ten thousand marks upon the church of
Hailes, and the work was now nearly finished, he made a memora
ble remark in the hearing of Matthew Paris, which that historian
has taken care to place upon record.* " Would to God," said the
Earl, " that all the money I have laid out upon my Castle of
* Hist. Angl. 827; and Dugd. Mon. Angl. I. 928.

NEW CHAPEL AT HEWORTH. 393
Wallingford had been spent in so pious and salutary a way." All
honour and praise to him who builds or restores a House of God
upon the true principle of reverence and devotion, and with the
conscientious feeling that he is doing no more than his bounden
duty in return for blessings received !
On the subject of church restoration in particular, more must
be said, to account for the necessity of such a work, in so many
localities and upon so extensive a scale at the present time.
In general our ecclesiastical fabrics, where they are in a state
of disorder or decay, have had to contend with one or other, or
perhaps with all, of three causes which generally go hand in
hand — want of architectural skill and feeling, or gross neglect on
the part of the Ordinary — ignorance or, as the result of bigoted
notions, intentional indifference, and disregard of decency on the
part of the minister — and pennysaving selfishness on the part of
the parish. It is the duty of the Ordinary, by himself, or some
one lawfully deputed as his representative, to make frequent
inspections of every church or chapel within his jurisdiction.
When these inspections were duly attended to they were made
yearly, as they ought to be; and for this purpose Rural Deans,
functionaries of which every diocese had its complement, were
especially useful. Visitations of this nature, however, presuppose
persons duly qualified to give good and wholesome orders, and
moreover deeply imbued with the feeling, not merely that a
church is somewhat different from an episcopal palace or a par
sonage house, but that every church or chapel has its sacred
history and associations, and owes its origin to a period, in which,
whatever else there might have been to be amended, there was a
devotional feeling and a reverence for holy things which we in
our day ought to respect, and would do well to imitate. Now,
whatever the feeling of persons in authority may have been in
this latter respect, it is much to be feared that they have since
the Reformation rarely possessed the qualifications I have spoken
of. Not, however, that this ignorance of the true principles of
the fitting and the seemly has led the Ordinary in general to
neglect his duty ; although in every diocese such omissions arising
from other causes have been far too common. In truth, qualified
as he was, he performed it perhaps too frequently, if only once in

394 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
ten or twenty years he made an inspection by himself or his
deputy, and gave rash orders leading to results to which we of the
present generation, many of us, look back with regret, and not
unfrequently with shame. In every diocese of the kingdom,
churches, once stately, with fair proportions and seemly arrange
ments, but now mutilated and curtailed and begalleried into the
bargain, would bear me out in this statement.
But there was another unhappy result in attendance upon such
injudicious and pernicious proceedings on the part of the duly
constituted authorities. Almost every order made on such occa
sions was of a saving kind, consulting the purse rather than the
duties and liabilities of the parish. In the case of windows, for
instance, churchwardens have been authorised (in truth this seems
to have been the rule) to destroy the good old workmanship of
graceful mullions and pictured glass by stopping a badly-glazed
square-headed sash window into the opening, and filling up the
space beneath the arch above it with raw masonry, supported by
a wooden lintel made of unseasoned timber, cut down probably for
the occasion. That various other beautiful and essential parts of
our good old churches were meddled with in this ill-judging way,
under a due order, is everywhere manifest ; and the consequence
was this, that the local authorities were not backward in making
the discovery, that in such unhappy and tasteless parsimony an
example was set by authority which it might be to the advantage
of the parish purse for them to imitate when left to themselves and
their own sage devices.
And then again, among the parochial clergy, how seldom has
it happened, until recent times, that an incumbent has mani
fested such a feeling for the temple of his ministrations as to
induce him to exert his influence in behalf of decency, or set an
example of reverence and respect for the handy-work of good and
devout men in ancient times !
It must be admitted that at the present time a very different
feeling is in general beginning to make itself manifest, and is
making a progress, slow it may be, but sure and certain, not
merely among the clergy, but among the laity also; and men of
all ranks and orders in every part of the kingdom are happily
beginning to give hearty and affectionate proof of their love for

CHURCH RESTORATION. 395
the honour of the Almighty, by following the example which He
Himself has set us in that glorious temple in which He has
placed us and all His creatures, to render Him the worship due
unto His name — the mighty dome of Heaven above, gilded at noon
day with the brightness of the sun, or spangled at midnight by the
moon and stars — with the surface of the earth as the floor of this
magnificent church, inlaid with all the gorgeous colours and
patterns of fields, and flowers, and mountains, and rocks, woods,
rivers, and seas. What man with the slightest pretension to any
true devotional feeling can read the cxlviiith psalm without
discovering one end at least of the creation of this beautiful and
spacious temple, in which all things are there called upon to
praise their Maker? Of the temple of Solomon, in all its glory,
the avowed architect was the Almighty himself, and in it
we have a distinct indication of the nature and character of the
house in which He takes a delight. But He constructed a nobler
temple than that, to excite the admiration of His true worshippers
in every age, when He created the heavens and the earth.
Such progress has the feeling of decency and respect for the
house of God, above spoken of, made in late years among rightly-
minded men, that probably, before long, a squalid church, or one
out of repair, and more suited for the purposes of a stable or barn,
than for those for which it was constructed, will be justly
considered as an indication that true religious feeling, from
whatever cause it may arise, is at a very low, ebb in the parish in
which it stands, not as an honour but a disgrace to the people who
assemble in it and call themselves Christians. From ill-judged
directions on the part of the Ordinary, we are probably now safe.
Public opinion is powerful, where what is wrong may be con
templated. Churchwardens are more disposed to take good advice
for their guide.* Here and there there may be an incumbent
* It is almost impossible to estimate the good produced in the way of Church-
restoration by a little book published anonymously now upwards of thirty years ago,
entitled " Hints to Churchwardens." The real object of the work was to prevent
mischief, but the lessons which it avowedly taught, were, how to commit mischief ;
how to maltreat and disgrace our churches in, every possible feature and way, within
and without, from the foundation to the weather-cock. Every single direction is illus
trated by a ludicrous engraving of the happy change to be effected ; and scarcely one

396 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
who presumptuously or puritanically affects to despise such
decencies, and in self-justification uncharitably gives hard names
to those who in humbleness and sincerity of heart entertain a
different opinion. But the number of such is diminishing.
Even our Dissenting brethren, who differ from us, unhappily, in
points of doctrine or discipline, are building for themselves places
of worship after the purest patterns of the best times of our archi
tectural history, and are calling them no longer meeting-houses,
but after our names, putting to open shame many a clergyman
and influential lay member of the Church of England, who, by
their apathy, or unworthy arguments for indecent plainness, give
proof that their opinions on such matters are better suited to a
period of our history of which there are few who do not think
with regret and shame, and to the bringing in of which such
opinions contributed, not a little, to pave the way.

Fbom EDWARD SWINBURNE, Esq.
" My DEAE SlE, Richmond, Sept. 3, 1822.
" I have, since the receipt of yours (p. 387), had a conference
with Mr. F. Lewis, on the subject of your Topography, and, finding
him not only willing but desirous of undertaking the etchings on
the conditions you proposed, I shall, without delay, put some of the
subjects you mentioned into his hands, and the remainder before
long. He desired me to say that the payment at the time of pub
lication would do very well, and that it would be a great conve
nience to him. to have so much time beforehand, as he could take
them up occasionally, when other business was not pressing upon
him. A line to him, when you have leisure, would procure you a
confirmation of this from himself, which it would be satisfactory to
have. We have talked over the drawings together; and he made
several useful suggestions for their improvement. He rather opened
single instance is given which had not been perpetrated in some part of the kingdom.
The grave title of the book led to its purchase by numerous well-inclined clergymen
and churchwardens who were meditating improvements in their churches and seeking
for information ; and its satirical engravings and explanations were more than suffi
cient to keep them from doing harm. Its author must have been a man of infinite
humour, and of the most correct taste and feeling.

ENGRAVINGS FOR HISTORY. 397
his eyes at the Peel, which to be sure is not very pictorial, but it
has a very appropriate interest. We have adopted Halton.
" Our list is therefore: Haughton, Chipchase, Hexham, the Peel,
Halton, Linnel Bridge.
" I hope you don't slave so much, now that your masonic labours
are over. Yours ever truly, " Ed. Swinbuene."
" I have just been writing to Lewis, and have suggested to him
to mention, the first time he has occasion to write to you, his having
agreed to your proposal, &c."
But grief and despondency are at hand. Hodgson's new
church was no sooner finished and consecrated than his joy
began to die away. Almost immediately after his heart had
been gladdened by those happy events various causes began to
array themselves against him in painful co-operation, and turn his
rejoicing into sorrow. His first volume had not met with a ready
or general sale, and many of those by whom copies of the book
had been purchased had neglected to fulfil their part of the en
gagement. The "res augusta domi," that far too frequent
attendant upon scholars and men of an independent and liberal
mind, had long been his inmate, and he had learned patience
and submission under its afflicting visitations; but disease and
death are now at his door. His brother Robert, the ingenious
young book-binder, of whom mention was so often made in
his letters from London to Mrs. Hodgson, in 1819 and 1821,
had come down to Heworth to die, and while the young man
was patiently wearing out his latter days in a hopeless con
sumption, a typhus fever of great virulence made its appearance
among the children; and, although happily it was in no case
fatal, yet the distress and misery, of various kinds, which it
occasioned were hard to bear.
On these most painful subjects it may suffice to throw together
in their order the following letters, which speak of sympathy
on the one side and patient endurance on the other. Here
again the house of Swinburne is at hand to comfort and condole,
and we have the good and aged Bishop of Durham offering
something of a more substantial kind in alleviation of domestic
misery.

398 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
" To the Rev. J. Raine, 27th Sept. 1822, Heworth.— On my return
from Durham I found my eldest daughter suffering under a fever,
which has confined her to her bed ever since, and which is not yet
come to a crisis. Our medical adviser still continues to encourage us
with the hope of her recovery, though she is so much reduced as merely
to seem alive. This, joined to my brother's continued indisposition,
must be my apology for having delayed to give you such additional
lights on Meldon as my papers afford 
" I inclose this in a small box of organic remains to Mr. Darnell,
and forbid you shrive your Major Canons of all their sins till you get
them into the mind to let the poor Chaplain of Heworth have his lands
again.* — John Hodgson."

From THOMAS PURVIS, Esq.
" My DEAR Sir, Newcastle-on-Tyne, 16 Oct. 1822.
" A good deal of business consequent upon a death in the
family has prevented me from having the pleasure, of seeing you again
before my return to London, for which place I set off on Tuesday. You
must therefore have the goodness to let me know on paper what you want
out of the British Museum for your History, and how I may procure an
admission, &c. Also tell me the particulars of the information you
desire from Merton College, and I will try to interest Mr. Nath.
Ellison,-)" a very late fellow, in your favour. In any other matters in
which you think I can assist you apply to me sans ceremonie. I think
you have my address in London, 7, Old Square, Lincoln's Inn.
" Yours, very truly, " Thos. Purvis "
This letter must not be passed over, although it interrupts our
tale of affliction. Mr. Purvis, who so kindly tendered his assist-
* This letter was sent undirected in the box addressed to Mr. Darnell, one of the
" Major Canons " here spoken of, who forwarded it to its destination, having written
upon its back, " Opened, and believed to be for the Rev. J. Raine." This was not the
only letter intended for the author by Mr. Hodgson which fell into other hands for
want of having been properly directed. A very amusing tale might be told of one in
particular, which found its way to Archdeacon Bowyer, whilst that intended for him
was delivered to me. For the chapel lands see p. 391.
f Mr. Ellison is now the much respected Commissioner of Bankrupts in the North of
England.

FAMILY DISTRESSES. 399
ance, was afterwards a barrister of considerable eminence with
the honour of a silk gown. The author may be permitted to
express his obligations to Mr. Purvis, for his friendship and for
somewhat more than mere professional zeal and assiduity upon a
trying occasion. He died about six years ago, leaving behind
him a valuable collection of pictures.
From EDWARD SWINBURNE, Esq.
" My DEAE SlE, Capheaton, 3 Nov. 1822.
"I was much concerned for you, when I heard, on passing
through Newcastle yesterday week, that your brother had sunk into his
early grave. When I saw him in London his half-extinguished voice
and emaciated countenance shewed too evidently what havoc disease
had already made ; but there was a spirit and animation about him
which encouraged hope that change of air, quiet, and affectionate care
might, with youth in his favour, have prolonged his existence. I was
much pleased with the mixture of kindness and energy that appeared
in his character; and I fear you have had a great loss by his untimely
end. Did he not leave a family?  1 left three drawings with Lewis
to go on with ; the others are so far thought of that they can be ready
for him before he wants them  " Ed. Swinbuene."
To EDWARD SWINBURNE, Esq.
" My DEAE SlE, Friday morning, 8 Nov. 1822.
" I have a spare moment to say how much obliged to you I feel
for your kind expressions of condolence for my poor brother's death.
He had been seven weeks with me ; and, though when he first came
down I could not venture to indulge in the most distant hope of his
recovery, yet I did not suppose that he would have been so suddenly
snatched from us as he was. He had been in a lethargic state for about
three weeks ; but till within a few hours of his death continued to sit
with me in my study, still full of life and animation. The moment he
could shake off the drowsiness for a short time, all his mental energies
seemed suddenly to revive, and to light up his sunken eye-balls with a
fire almost preternatural. Very soon, however, after he left my study
for the last time he became comatose and continued so till he expired.

400 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
Poor fellow 1 it was a sad affliction to him that he came here ; for,
though everything that affection could do for him was done, yet the
week after he came to us my eldest child was seized with typhus fever,
and, though recovering, is still lying - in a very helpless and emaciated
state; and before his death the disease had attacked one of the servants,
and since her recovery my second boy has been fifteen days confined to
his bed by it without the least symptom of its abating. These things
bore more hardly upon my brother than his own sufferings. Added
to all which, I have just received the afflicting intelligence of the death
of my youngest brother from the Island of Jamaica, to which place I
had sent him at his own urgent request, and at great expense to myself.
 Pray accept my best thanks for your kind attention to my work,
which has been much delayed ; for before the business of my church
was done my father-in-law took ill, and I have ever since had to assist
him in his books ; and about ten weeks of continual sickness in my
house have in some degree assisted in smothering the zeal with which I
silently but laboriously proceed in the undertaking.
" I beg my respectful compliments to Sir John and Lady Swinburne,
and to the young ladies, and am, dear Sir, most truly yours,
" John Hodgson."
From the BISHOP of DURHAM.
" REV. SlE, Cavendish Square, 3 Dec. 1822.
" Having somewhat accidently heard that you have been visited
by much sickness in your family, I desire you to accept the accompany
ing 501. The bank bills are divided for security. When you
acknowledge the first halves, the second shall be sent. I am, with much
regard, your sincere friend and brother,

S. Dunelm."

To EDWARD SWINBURNE, Esq.

" My deae Sir, 27 Dee. (1822.)
" I have this moment received, I suppose by Mr. Orde's man, the
turkey and the hare ; and beg of you and Sir John to accept my best
thanks for these tokens of your kindness and regard to me. My dear
children are indeed recovering, and I hope at present rapidly. One of
them, who has been nine weeks confined, has begun to walk again

FAMILY DISTRESSES. 401
during the last week; but my eldest child, who has been nearly fourteen
weeks confined to her room, is not yet able to get out of bed,, owing to
the extreme weakness of her knees and ankles. She, however, has an
extraordinary good appetite, and is become cheerful and buoyant in her
spirits ; indeed, considering that she lay upwards of six weeks, in a
state of deUrium, her recovery, even as far as it is advanced, seems to
us in a manner miraculous ; and we have every motive to induce us to
thankfulness to Providence for sparing us from the lacerating pang
which parents have to suffer in parting with their children at the door
of death.
" My chapel answers very well. The flue fills it sufficiently with
warm air. I have indeed had some difficulty in getting it weU attended
to and the doors kept regularly closed, but my poor old sexton is
beginning to understand the rationale of the contrivance a Uttle better
than I ever hoped he would ; and aU goes on smoothly now. Without
the stove the building could not have been used during this winter ;
as many parts of the walls are still damp. I could not muster
money for a balustrade of open-work round the top of the tower;
but have finished it with crenated battlements, having pretty high
pinnacles, with gilded vanes at each corner, and four intermediate and
shorter ones in the middle of each side.
" I did not get my paper on the Mithraic Antiquities quite finished
before the meeting of the Antiquarian Society on the first Wednesday in
last month, and have therefore been occasionally engaged in working,
upon it since that time. Hyde's History of the Ancient Persians,
which Mr. Adamson procured for me from Sir John, has been of some
use in my inquiries ; but it is impossible to fall into his notions respect
ing the ancient rehgion of the Persians, as he deduces his evidences on
that subjectfrom documents of a comparatively modern date, and slights
the testimony of the classic authors, many of whom were sufficiently
weU acquainted with Persia to speak with certainty on the state of
religion in it in their times.
" What a pity that the taurine tablet should have been so sadly
mutilated! I have got another bit of it which adds one more symbol,
the lunette, something in this manner, [here a slight sketch of a portion of
a crescent or half-moon,] and makes the dimensions of the stone about a
foot higher.
" The Mithraic rites appear to me to have been a mixture of severities,
pretty pure notions of morality, elevated ideas of a future state in the
Pythagorean sense, but withal so blended with Sabeanism and Mys-
2 D

402 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
ticism, in its strictest sense, as to have been upon the whole little better
than a jargon of witchcraft and astrology. Pray, when you have an
opportunity, offer my respectful compliments to Sir John and Lady
Swinburne, and the rest of the famUy. You wiU find this letter sealed
with a gem that was connected through Abraxacism with the worship
of Mithras. The figure is Harpocrates ; the letters some occult philo
sophical signs, not to be deciphered but by a Hen. Cor. Agrippa.
Most truly yours, " John Hodgson.''
The discovery to which Hodgson alludes in the conclusion of
the preceding letter, and also in that dated on the 20th of August
above, was prpbably one of the most interesting and important
which had ever been, or perhaps will ever be, made along the;
line of the Wall, or even in the whole of England, connected
with the religious rites and ceremonies of the Romans : it was
made at the station called Housesteads, which is satisfactorily
identified as the ancient Borcovicus, a place long known and, most
famous for the number and character of its various remains, even
after the lapse of thirteen centuries. " It is," writes Gordon in
1727, "unquestionably the most remarkable and magnificent
Roman station in the whole island." " It is hardly credible
what a number of august remains of Roman grandeur is to be
seen here to this day, seeing in every place where one casts his
«ye there is some curious antiquity, either the marks of streets and
temples in ruins, or inscriptions, broken pillars, statues, and other
pieces of sculpture, scattered all over the ground." Horsley,
Gale, Stukeley, and Brand are all diffuse in their admiration of
the place, and of the wonderful indications which it manifested
in their respective periods of its ancient extent and importance.
After the time of the last of these most pains-taking investigators,
altar after altar, and one inscribed stone after another, had been
brought to light. But the grand discovery was left to be made
ia June 1822, when there was living at no great distance from
the place, in the full vigour of intellect and learning, and'bum-
ing with Roman enthusiasm, a man with ability and inclination
to place upon record, for succeeding generations, a description of
the historical arid mythological treasures which the earth had for
so many centuries concealed from public view.

MITHRAIC ANTIQUITIES. 403
In a hillock called the Chapel Hill, at the foot of the declivity
upon the summit of which stands the camp itself, there was found
an artificial cave of walled masonry, dedicated to the worship of
the heathen god Mithras, one of the various names given to the
Sun in heathen times, and containing the various altar symbols,
&c. more or less perfect, which were in use in the secret under
ground mysteries of that deity. In Hodgson's opinion " the cave
itself, and the antiquities which were found in it, afford one of the
finest and most copious illustrations of the nature of that worship
of any that have been hitherto discovered;" and in the midst of
" professional engagements, and a long series of domestic afflic
tions," — we have seen above how painfully he had been tried, — he
beguiled his weary and sorrowful hours by compiling an elaborate
account of this discovery, which on the 22nd November following
he communicated to the Transactions of the Newcastle Society of
Antiquaries. This essay in its printed state occupies 57 quarto
pages, and contains a full description with engravings of the
subterraneous temple and its accompaniments, entering minutely
into the origin of Mithraic worship, and elucidating it through a
long period of time in its various phases and migrations. A
perusal of this elaborate treatise will amply repay him who takes
an interest in tracing the various efforts of the human mind, when
left to itself to discover a fit object of adoration, and to every one
it may afford a striking proof of the simplicity and purity of that
bright light from above which is gradually dispelling the
darkness of heathen errors and impurities from the face of the
earth. An analysis of this interesting Essay might with propriety
have been made for these pages, but I must content myself with
extracting the two following paragraphs, which appear to contain
the results at which the writer of the paper arrives.
" There can be no doubt that all the mysteries of paganism had one
common origin ; that the secrets, to which the aspirants were admitted
in the orgies of Isis and Osiris in Egypt, of Ceres at Eleusis, of Adonis
in Phoenicia, of Bacchus in Samothrace, of Hu in Britain, and of
Mithras in Persia, all emanated from one common fountain. Though,
in their progress through different countries and ages, numerous causes,

404 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
such as vice, a fondness for novelty, the schemes and animosities of
politics, national aversions, were incessantly employed, not only in per
verting and debasing them, but increasing their numbers by setting
them up in one place in opposition to their establishment in another,
yet, still, such was the power with which the pageant which they
exhibited preserved its ascendancy over men's minds, and kept ahve
the fear of departing from their forms and injunctions, that they seemed
only to differ one from another as the produce of the seeds of the same
plant differs from being stinted or luxuriant in its growth, in different
soUs and altitudes, and under different modes of treatment. In aU their
moral austerities and licentious impurities they kept a common likeness
to each other.
" The little glimmerings of hght which continue to shine on the
religion of Mithras, have faUen on no part more distinctly than upon the
severities which it enjoined upon the candidates for admission to its
mysteries. But even this distinctness is comparative. It is brighter
than those ' gUmpses of the moon' which ' made night hideous' in his
caverns ; but it is only a twilight. It is, however, strong enough to
enable us to perceive that, among the many apparent contradictions and
real difficulties which accompany them, the primary object of these
severities was to prepare the mind and bodies of the aspirants by a long
course of rigorous discipline, to undergo every species of self-denial, and,
by an exhibition of that part of the Pagan creed which relates to the
passage of the soul from life to immortality, to impress upon them the
necessity of that great moral regeneration which was to fit the soul
for entering upon a new, happy, and eternal existence."
As a concluding remark upon this singular discovery, it must
be observed that it is not unusual to find in Northumbrian camps
of a Roman origin the sacred symbols of Christianity, such as
crosses, crucifixes, &c. ; all of them belonging to a very early
period, if not of a date coeval with the Romans themselves. That
some of the Roman soldiers may have been believers of the Truth
is more than probable, and the discovery may thus be accounted
for ; but one thing would appear to be certain and of natural
occurrence, that, upon the departure of that people in A. d. 476,
their camps and dwelling places would be instantly converted into
houses and villages by the natives of the district, who not long
afterwards, as we know, became Christians, under King Oswald

MITHRAIC ANTIQUITIES. 405
and Aidan of Lindisfarne his bishop; knd hence in Roman
camps the Saxon emblems of the Christian- religion. That the
earlier Christians in the North of England were glad to avail
themselves of what the Romans had left behind them, in the
shape of works of art or usefulness, is proved by two very singular
pieces of evidence, two prayers to be said over vessels found in
ancient places, in order to purify them from the taint of heathenism.
These prayers are contained in the venerable Durham Book of
Church Services of the Saxon period, lately published by the
Surtees Society. One of them must not be withheld from the
reader : Benedictio supee vasa eepeeta in locis antiquis.
" Deus, qui adventu EiUi tui, Domini nostri, omnia tuis mundasti
fidelibus, adesto propitius invocationibus nostris ; et hase vascula, quse
tuae indulgentia pietatis post spatia temporum a voragine terrse abstracta
humanis usibus reddidisti, gratis ture largitate emunda, per, &c* "
It is more than probable that the particulars of Mr. Hodgson's
distressing situation in the autumn of 1822, arising from domestic
afflictions and other causes, had been communicated to the Bishop
of Durham by Mr. Bouyer, the kind-hearted Archdeacon of
Northumberland, a man without an enemy, and certainly without
a fault, except that of unwisely meddling with chapter-houses
and churches, and building a windmill within the castle walls
upon the towering and far seen hill of Bamborough4 Mr.
Bouyer had in the course of this autumn himself done much to

* Rituale Eccles. Dunelm. Surt. Soc. p. 97. In both of the prayers there is an inter
linear translation into Northumbro-Saxon.
J This mill was a while ago, happily, removed. The warmest admirers of Mr.
Bouyer's memory must, it is to be feared, plead guilty in his name in the matter of
Bamborough and the chapter-house of Durham. In those two cases he unfortunately
did enough, and more than enough, to convince us that in an architectural point of
view he was utterly devoid of taste and feeling. But in the case of the parish churches
within his archdeaconry a greater weight of blame is laid upon him than he deserves.
The sash-windows, and ceilings, and other abominations in the churches of Northum
berland, are mostly due to an earlier Archdeacon, Dr. Sharp, who did not stop there,
but, in his capacity as a prebendary of Durham, was mainly instrumental in reducing

406 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
alleviate Mr. Hodgson's distresses. He had lost no opportunity
of recommending the lately published volume of the History of
Northumberland to the notice of his friends, and had been instru
mental in selling many copies in Durham and its neighbourhood
for the benefit of its author. But it matters not through what
channel the Bishop of Durham had become acquainted with the
state of things at Heworth. We have already seen what his
kindness prompted him to do at the moment. He soon after
wards conferred upon Hodgson a greater and more durable
favour. In the following statements I shall be unhappily compelled, in
the faithful prosecution of my undertaking, to assign to myself a
somewhat prominent part in this portion of my narrative, but I
beg to assure my readers that nothing shall be committed to paper
which is not, in my opinion, necessary to illustrate the considerate
kindness of the Bishop of Durham to such a man and in such
a case. During the Christmas of 1822, and for a few weeks in the
commencement of the year 1823, I spent much time in the
British Museum on the subject of my History of North Durham.
School holidays were then no holidays to me; from morning till
night during the appointed hours my seat was at a desk in the
reading-room with a manuscript before me. In the course of this
visit I was favoured with much notice by the Bishop of Durham.
At his own request I saw him frequently, and the conversation
which he was pleased to hold with me on one evening in parti
cular made a deep impression upon my feelings, turning as it did
almost exclusively upon a friend whom I had known and valued
for several years.
"I take it for granted," said the Bishop, one evening after
dinner, "that you are well acquainted with poor Hodgson;" and
he proceeded to make very numerous and minute inquiries into
the noble east end of that glorious church to its present bereaved and miserable con
dition. He was, at that time, owner of the house in the South Bailey, which is
nearest to the water-gate on the south side of the street ; and the old window mullions
which are stuck upon the garden-wall of that house (a portion of the old Norman
wall of the city) are trophies of his architectural triumphs borne away from the east
windows of the Nine Altars. With Dr. Sharp we shall meet again at Hartburn.

PROSPECT OF PREFERMENT. 407
his state of health and that of his family, the extent and population
of his parish, and the real value of his benefice. Upon these
various subjeots I was able to give much information, to
which the Bishop lent a most attentive ear. He then put to me
several questions with regard to the progress which Hodgson had
made in his History of Northumberland, and its probable extent
and cost; and here again I had it in my power to give a reply to
his inquiries. I can never forget the earnest attention which his
Lordship paid to the information I placed before him, or the ex
pressions of kindness and sympathy which fell from his lips
during the conversation.
My residence was, during my visit to London, with a friend in
Welbeck Street, and, at an early hour the following morning, I
received a note from the Bishop requesting me to call at his house
in Cavendish Square, on my way through it to the Museum . ' ' Mr.
Raine," said his Lordship, as I entered the room, " I am informed
by letter this morning that one of my livings is vacant;" and, as
he appeared to me to hesitate for a while, I ventured to say, pre-
sumingly perhaps, but with a full heart at the announcement,
" My Lord, what an opportunity for doing a kind act to Mr.
Hodgson ! " " No, not this," said the Bishop, giving me to under
stand by his manner that my suggestion was kindly received, " I
want you, if you will do me the favour, to write to your friend
Mr. Headlam of Wycliffe, (afterwards Archdeacon of Richmond, )for
the value of the living of Barnardcastle, which he will not fail to
know. Circumstances make it desirable that I should send Mr.
Davidson to Chillingham, the vacant living, and then I would
endeavour to obtain for Mr. Hodgson Barnardcastle, if he would
be benefited by the change." The letter was duly written,
although I was afraid, from what I knew personally of the matter,
that my friend would be no gainer either in emolument or ease by
leaving the Tyne for the Tees. But, on the following morning,
there came another note from the Bishop, requesting another
call. " Mr. Raine," said his Lordship, upon my waiting upon
him this second time, " I am informed that Chillingham
is not vacant; Dr. Thomas is still alive!" Knowing that?
that was the last interview with the Bishop with which I
should be favoured during that vacation, as I had arranged to

408 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN HODGSON.
return home in the evening, I ventured to say, " My Lord, I am
sorry, for Mr. Hodgson's sake.'' Bishop Barrington, even at an'
earlier period of his life, never made promises, as I have been in
formed, which he might not live to fulfil. At that time he was
89 years of age. But I left him with a feeling amounting to a
comfortable assurance that he had that morning made one to me.
He smiled, and wished me a good journey home in the kindest
way; and from that moment I could not but feel assured, that, if
his life should be spared a while longer, and an opportunity should
present itself, Hodgson would not remain long at Heworth.
But, let us begin a new year with a new chapter and another
-volume, and see whether a change of residence, and lengthening
days, and the pure air of Northumberland may not bring along
with them more of comfort and happiness to a family greatly in
need of such blessings. Let us bid farewell to the Tyne, and
take our departure to the Wansbeck.

end op the first volume.

Westminster ; Printed by J. B. Nichols and Sons, 25, Parliament Street.

03747 2876

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