DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE, 1798, 1799, 1800
Assessed taxes—Society—Mr. Pitt and the Board of Agriculture—A
foolish joke—Dinners to poor children—Interview with the
King—Royal farming—Correspondence—Bradfield—Incidents of home
travel—Portrait of a great lady—Correspondence.
_January 9, 1798._—At Petworth. This is the way in which I keep a
journal; had I the abilities of Johnson it might be an excuse, but I
am as idle as he without the talents that enabled him to think to
good purpose.
London has passed away till the vacation without much to note, yet
always something; for I met many at Mrs. M. Montagu’s parties twice
a week, whose conversation was interesting. Very few dinners, for
the town was empty. Attended divine service at Mr. Cecil’s chapel,
and ought to have made memoranda.
The breakfast at Wilberforce’s with Mr. Serjeant, Hawkins, Brown,
Thornton, &c., all members in committee on the assessed taxes.[187]
Miss Griffiths, the friend and mother of my ever dear Bobbin at
school, coming to board with Mrs. Y.; these and many more articles
all passed over, and, above all, the reflections which thronged in
my mind on the conclusion of that year which deprived me of my child
and turned my heart so imperfectly to God Almighty. Without that
event how should I have been able to bear the stroke of the taxes,
my share of which will I fear be 100_l._
Had I been out of debt it would have been comparatively light, but I
am seized about some bills which yet remain, and which, if I
pay,[188] shall not be able to pay those taxes. I have advertised my
cottage and eighty acres of land to let, but no chance of getting
such a rent as I know I ought to have to make letting answer.
I have been here with Lord Egremont above a fortnight. A good deal
of rabble, but some better. Lord Spencer, Lord Althorp, Lord
Dungarvan, Lord Milton, Lord Stair, Sir John Shelley, Mr. James
Feiryman, &c. I shall stay the whole vacation.
_February 14._—Another great gap, in which time I was four days with
the Duke of Bedford at Woburn, with a strange party, for all in all
I think the most strange I have been in for many years. Trevis, the
pseudo-Venetian Jew, who came long ago to England, has ran through a
great fortune, reduced from 200,000_l._to 1,200_l._ a year, having
shined with most satanic light in the annals of gallantry; Lady
Stanhope, Lady Cadogan, and a hundred more. Strong parts, wits,
originality (name evidently omitted here) and at seventy-one sings
wonderfully; Lord Lauderdale, who is a very pleasant, easy, cheerful
companion with knowledge, and so more capable of doing mischief;
Lord Maynard, Johns the parson, Bob Lee, Bligh, &c. The duke has
much good sense and clearness of head.
On my return to town, Lord Carrington applied to me to get a drainer
for Mr. Pitt at Holwood. I told him none to be had but from a
distance, and at a considerable expense; that perhaps it was an easy
job, and if so his own people could do it if the drains were marked
out for them, and I would go and look when nobody there. Next day he
came again from Pitt with thanks, and desiring me to go when he was
there.
I went, and examined the land. A hill wet from springs, the cure
obvious. So I am to do it for him. He and Lord Auckland and Lord
Carrington walked round the place with me, and then returned to a
cold dinner, where we debated the Board of Agriculture, and Pitt
seemed pleased with my idea of Government hiring the Bishop of
Llandaff’s house for the Board, and so getting rid of the difficulty
of not being able to quit Sir J. Sinclair’s without sixteen members
agreeing in the affirmative, a stupid statute they made.
By the first reports of the Board, and a multitude of other expenses
equally useless, Sir John ran the Board so much in debt that it
became a question of great difficulty how they should be enabled to
carry on any business at all. Through a spirit of liberality in many
individuals, a subscription was set on foot, and ten guineas apiece
by members and honorary members, which kept them for some time on
their legs. The revenue of the Board went entirely to printers,
above eighty reports in quarto, with broad margins, having been
given away to any who would accept them; and they were in general so
miserably executed, that they brought the institution into contempt.
While Sir John Sinclair was engaged in this pursuit he thought of
nothing but the establishment of his own character, and imagined
that his indefatigable exertions, misplaced as they were, gave him a
claim to the attention of Government, and, it is said, induced him
to ask a peerage. But Mr. Pitt not acceding to the proposition, he
next desired to be a Privy Councillor. When this second gentle
request failed, he set hard to work to form a party of his own in
the House of Commons in opposition to Government, which by degrees
completely estranged Mr. Pitt from him; and he was, by the votes of
the official members, turned out of the chair. Lord Carrington
taking me to Holwood, we walked about the place for some time before
Mr. Pitt came down. When he arrived, ordering a luncheon, he said he
had desired Lord C. to bring me, that he might understand what
members of the Board of Agriculture were proper to fill the chair.
I named Lord Egremont. ‘He has been applied to,’ rejoined Mr. Pitt,
‘and declined it.’ I then mentioned Lord Winchilsea; the same answer
was returned. I named one or two more, but the minister seemed not
to relish their appointment. I next said Lord Somerville, who was
famous for the attention he had paid to some branches of husbandry.
Mr. Pitt’s reply was, ‘He is not quite the thing, but I doubt we
must have him,’ and the conversation concluded with an apparent
determination that Lord S. should be the man. He was accordingly
elected; and I, the same day, received the orders of the Board
instantly to look out for a house (because Sir John S. being turned
out would no longer volunteer his), which I accordingly did, and
fixed upon one in Sackville Street, into which the Board immediately
moved their property, and appointed the secretary to reside in the
house, with an allowance of one hundred guineas a year for paying
the porter, keeping a maid in the house in summer, and finding coals
and candles.
_April 8._—A long gap, in which much has happened. The election, and
Sir J. Sinclair deposed. The world gives its all to politics, but it
was not caused solely by that motive; his management of the
3,000_l._ a year was next to throwing it away, and gradually created
much disgust; had his industry been under the direction of a better
judgment he would have been an admirable president. I have hired a
house for him and myself in Sackville Street. Crag, the clerk, wants
an apartment, and I have befriended him with Lord Somerville, the
new president, much against my own convenience, for the house is not
large enough; but, do as we would be done by, must be a rule far
more obeyed by me in future than formerly, and it is more a
convenience to him than an evil to me. It would be easy for me to
prevent it, and time has been that I should have taken that part;
but God send me the power to follow better dictates. I have been
twice more at Holwood. I have written a new pamphlet, a ‘Letter to
Wilberforce.’ I have worked hard at my Lincoln report, and the
election, with the business public and private concerning it, has
been on the whole such a worry, that I long for a week or two of
privacy and quiet, to render my mind more tranquil; it seems as if
my whole life is to be lost in a bustle. I am now going to Petworth,
and within the week to Bradfield; there I hope to make a momentary
retreat, and have time for recollection. I do not suffer anything to
distract me on a Sunday, or I should be lost in this hurry, and
everything serious driven from my mind. I have anxiety also about my
new habitation on another account, which is the doubt whether they
will furnish it for me; if they should not, it will be a most heavy
burthen of at least 200_l._, and an unjust one, elected as I am
annually.
Last Sunday se’nnight a new scene of sorrow and vexation. Arthur
sent me a foolish letter of his written to Lloyd from Dover, by way
of a stupid joke, describing an ideal conversation with some of
O’Connor’s jurymen,[189] to frighten Lloyd, who sent it to Lofft,
and he to Walker, to Erskine, &c. It was read in court at Maidstone,
and Lord Egremont told me it had an immense effect, exciting
universal indignation.
The Attorney-General pledged himself to punish it. The Jacobin
papers kindly assigned it to _Arthur Young_, so all believed it to
be me. I had a letter contradicting sent to four papers, and have
been in incessant worry ever since, writing for explanation,
employing Gotobed and Garrow, and seeing Lord Egremont often on it.
I sent an express to the Attorney-General, with a letter to him, and
another to O’Connor’s counsel. All agree Lofft to be a base villain,
pretending so much friendship for all the family, and keeping the
letter ten days in spite of Lloyd demanding it, and never asking any
explanation or naming it to Mrs. Y., Mary, or A. I have fretted
about this affair and worried myself terribly, and with reasons, for
it will be the utter ruin of my son. Possibly a fine of 500_l._ and
two years’ imprisonment if he is not able to prove it to be a jest.
To avoid being punished as a rascal, he must prove himself the
greatest fool in Christendom, which he certainly is, for the letter
was unquestionably a humbug.
_June 23rd._—I have had a roasting three weeks languishing for the
country; but, however, not discontented, and bringing my mind with
some success to submit cheerfully to everything I meet with. Arthur
has been in Kent and procured nine or ten affidavits of the jurymen;
those who refuse he never set eyes on till he made the application,
so he has cleared himself to me, but whether it will do for the
Attorney-General is another question. It is a sad business, and will
be very expensive, when I can ill afford it.
I have been four days at Woburn with Lord Somerville—a very great
meeting. The duke desired me to preside at the lower end of the
table; he told me to keep Stone from it.
I have been thrice at Holwood and conversed with Mr. Pitt every
time, but it is only on farming. No wonder. Reading Baxter’s
‘Serious Call to a Holy Life,’ which I have done with great
pleasure, and have begun it a second time. I think it an admirable
performance. Charity and a universal intention to please God in
everything are recommended with great ability.
I have forgotten to add a word about my new habitation. It is an
admirable house, and Mrs. Young’s only apprehension was the plan of
Cragg, the first clerk, having apartments in it; but when it came to
be debated, Lord Carrington procured it entirely to me, with an
allowance of 90_l._ a year for a porter, maid, coals, &c. Upon the
whole it is an arrangement which is equal in all to 100_l._ a year
to me, and in comfort, saving me the trouble of thrice a year
seeking lodgings, as good as a hundred more.
I am thankful to God for it, and may He give me His grace not to
apply to ill uses the favour of His providence.
_July 14th!!!_—This day twelvemonth it pleased God to take to
Himself my ever dear and beloved child. In the evening at the Hall,
my wife and self, children, and Miss Griffith joined in prayer.
[The remainder of the diary, chiefly detailing morbid religious
introspection, is not of sufficient interest to include.]
_Notes from Memorandum-book_
_March._—A dinner for fifteen poor children, 11_s._ 10_d._[190]
Another dinner for thirty-seven children, 16_s._ 6_d._
Another dinner for forty-seven children, 1_l._ 6_s._ 6_d._
_April._—This month seven dinners to about forty-eight children each
time.
_May._—Four dinners to about forty-eight children each time.
This year I sold the copyright of my ‘Travels’ for 250 guineas.
_April 1799._—In London. I am alone, therefore at peace. I rise at
four or five o’clock and go to bed at nine to ten P.M.
I have no pleasures, and wish for none, saving that comfort which
religion gives me; and the sooner I make it my only pleasure the
wiser I shall be. I go to no amusements, and read some Scripture
every day; never lay aside my good books but for business. I have
dined out but little, and wish for no more than I have. I get into
habits of reading and writing, and don’t like to quit them; privacy,
and silence, and retirement suit me, and I am content. New servants,
all; and the cook, a two-handed Yahoo, and cannot boil a potato. No
matter, I am passed being troubled at such things, but I like old
servants, and can’t bear this change.
May 4 of this year I went to the opera with Mrs. Oakes;[191] and
that amusement which had for so many years been my delight, I met so
coldly as to be almost asleep through much of the performance. What
a change had taken place in my mind! This was the last public
diversion at which I have been present.
I thank the Father of mercies that I have yet retained my attention
to religion, that I have read few books but those of devotion, that
I live very retired without any regret, that I rise at four or five
o’clock, and never omit my private devotions, morn and eve, and but
rarely family prayer. Thank the Almighty goodness I have almost
weaned myself from the world.
_June 4._—The King’s birthday. I have been in Kensington Gardens to
see the King review 8,000 volunteers of London and Westminster.
These corps owe their origin I may, without presumption, say to me,
and I should in a former part of my life have been full of
mortification and envy at the gay and brilliant situation of others,
whilst I was a humble spectator lost in the crowd, ‘the mob’ as I
should once have called them; but, thank God, I had no such ideas,
and am more free from sin of such thoughts than I am from that of
entering this note of it. My mind was much occupied in thinking of
such multitudes of people of all ranks, all ages, from infancy to
decrepitude, gay, lively, and running at the tilt of pleasure,
followed by more splendid scenes of courts, balls, dinners and all,
all to be in a few years in their graves, their souls in their
eternal doom, thoughtless as they may now be.
I work myself as often as I can, and as much as I can, into
meditations on the utter vanity of all such scenes and thence to the
inanity.
_July 1._—Wrote Mrs. Oakes an account of my visits to the King’s
farm. I got Sir J. Banks to ask his leave to see his farm. He gave
it readily, and said he would order Frost, his bailiff, to show me
everything completely. I wrote, but my letter came, by mistake of
the post, after I was there myself; and as Frost knew the King would
like to see me, he went when likely to meet him on his return from a
review. The Queen, Prince of Wales, the Princesses, &c., were in two
sociables, and the King on horseback, with his train of lords,
aides-de-camp, &c. He inquired who I was, and called me to him; rode
up to the Queen, &c., and introduced me. The Queen said it was long
since I was at Windsor, &c., not recollecting me at first; they
passed on, and then the King rode with me over his farm for two and
a half hours, talking farming, asking questions without number, and
waiting for answers, and reasoning upon points he differed in.
Explained his system of crops, his reasons, with many observations;
enquired about the Board, the publications of it, the ‘Annals,’ and
asked if I continued to work on my ‘Elements,’ which I have been
many years about; recommended me to compress the sense of quotations
in short paragraphs, ‘_as there are many, Mr. Young, who catch the
sense of a short paragraph, that lose the meaning of a long one_;’
said the work would be highly useful. Those who read the two letters
of R. R. in the last ‘Annals,’ written by his Majesty, will see how
clearly he expresses himself. He enquired about my farm, grasses,
sheep, &c.; he has himself only 160 lambs from 800 ewes. His strong
land farm is in admirable order, and the crops all clean and fine.
He was very desirous that I should see all, and ordered Frost to
carry me to two or three other things next morning. I found fault
with his hogs. He said I must not find fault with a present to him;
the Queen was so kind as to give them from Germany, and while the
intention was pleasing, we must not examine the object too
critically. ‘_The value of the intention_, Mr. Young, is greater
than a better breed.’ He told me he learned the principles of his
farming from my books, and found them very just. Quoted particularly
the ‘Rural Economy:’ Cattle give manure, and manure corn. ‘_Well
understood now, sir, but not so well before you wrote._’ When I said
anything that struck him he turned about to tell it to the nobles
that followed. He is the politest of men, keeps his hat off till
every one is covered. An officer with a lady in a whisky drew in his
horse as he saw the King crossing the road, taking his hat off. The
King rode up to him, uncovered, and conversed a little, and
afterwards said, ‘I think it is Captain Thorp, of such a regiment.’
What a memory!
Enquired much about the Duke of Bedford’s party at Woburn, &c. &c. I
forgot three-fourths. He was in high spirits, and looks remarkably
well.
My son this year married Miss Jane Berry, daughter of Edward Berry,
Esq. The connection arose from her being at school with my dear
Bobbin at Campden House, and afterwards visiting us at Bradfield.
Selected letters from those received this year:—
From Count Rumford on lime-kilns and cement for fire-places, &c.
‘Brompton Row: Jan. 8, 1799.
‘Dear Sir,—On my return to town last evening from Broadlands I
found your letter. I beg you will present my best compliments to
Lord Egremont and assure his lordship that it would give me very
great pleasure to visit Petworth and see the various improvements
he has, and is, introducing into the neighbourhood; but my stay in
England will be but short, and, as I have more to do in the
meantime than it will be possible for me to execute without being
very industrious, I must devote all my time to those occupations
in which I am engaged.
‘I wish it were in my power to give you any satisfactory
information respecting lime-kilns, but I have not yet had leisure
to complete the experiments I had projected, and which are
necessary in order to enable me to form decided opinions on that
subject. The kiln I had constructed at Munich not being well
built, and being forced with too intense a fire before the masonry
was properly dried, cracked, and burst open from top to bottom, so
that no just conclusions can be drawn from the imperfect
experiments that were made with it.
‘With regard to the best materials for withstanding the action of
intense fire, I believe common fire-bricks, as they are called, to
be one of the best. I am just now employing them in the
construction of open chimney fire-places, and they seem to answer
perfectly well. In laying them I have a cement of clay and brick
dust instead of common mortar.
‘One of the best kinds of cement for resisting the action of fire
I ever met with was composed of equal parts of brick dust, quick
lime, and iron filings, mixed up with blood. It unites itself
firmly to metals as to bricks and stones of all kinds, and even
the most intense fire seems to have very little effect on it. It
may even be made to join metals to stones, or even wood to metals.
Our soap boilers in Bavaria use it to join the wooden tops of
their boilers to their copper bottoms, which it does in so
effectual a manner that they are very seldom found to leak. It was
from them I learnt the secret of the composition of this most
useful cement. I have no doubt but it would be found to answer
very well for plastering the backs and covings of open chimney
fire-places. I wish you would make a trial. If it should be found
to answer it would be a most important discovery, for in that case
bricks would certainly be as good, or even better, than
fire-stones for constructing fire-places.
‘I am, dear Sir, with unfeigned regard and esteem,
‘Yours most faithfully,
‘RUMFORD.’
_From the Duke of Grafton_
‘Piccadilly: 1799.
‘Dear Sir,—I had but just time to cast an eye on Mr. Wilberforce’s
letter last night, and seeing that the references are so many to
texts of Scripture, I must desire you to leave it with me till I
can have a good hour’s leisure to give it that consideration which
everything from him must deserve.
‘I wish Mr. Wilberforce[192] and myself were agreed upon all
points as we are on the (I fear) hopeless attempts to abolish
totally the slave trade. Depend upon it that no one who knows that
gentleman so little honours him more than myself; nor do I impute
any opinions or dogmas to him which I have not learnt from his
writings. I believe him to be an upright, sincerely pious and
beneficent character, treading a road that leads to future
happiness, even should he be under great but involuntary errors.
Will he say the same of any one of those whom he improperly calls
Socinians? For, though they honour the memory of Socinus, they do
not follow his faith; far from it, for they acknowledge no masters
on matters of religion but Christ and His Apostles.
‘Yours very faithfully,
‘GRAFTON.’
_From Dr. Burney_[193]
‘Dover: Sept. 11, 1799.
‘My dear Sir,—Your letter [arrived] at Quarley after I had left my
friend Mr. Cox, and was returned to Chelsea preparing for a
journey into Kent. I have been here and hereabouts near three
weeks in the thick of all the military bustle of this county. My
headquarters are at my friend Mr. Crewe’s house in this town, the
best it affords, and is taken for three months. Mr. Crewe, being
colonel of the Second Royal Cheshire Militia, is quartered at
Hythe, but comes over frequently, Mrs. and Miss Crewe being
stationed here. The Duke of Portland and Lady Mary Bentinck came
hither on a visit last Thursday, and remained inmates with us till
yesterday morning. Being within eight or nine miles of the camp on
Barham Downs and seven of Walmer Castle, we have been there
several times, have dined twice at Sir Charles Grey’s, the
commander-in-chief at the camp, and twice at Walmer Castle with
Mr. Pitt, Mr. Dundas, and Lady Jane Dundas, who does the honours,
and is a most amiable, sweet, and charming woman. Mr. Ryder and
Lady Susan have a small house just by the castle, and Mr. Canning
is lodged within its walls. The Duke of York was there for several
days before he embarked for Holland. We, that is Mrs. and Miss
Crewe, with Lady Mary Bentinck, went in one coach, and the Duke of
Portland, with your humble servant, in another, at five o’clock on
Sunday morning to see the third embarkation launched. The wind was
furiously adverse, but it was done with wonderful dexterity,
quickness, and cheerfulness, without accident. The Duke of York
and Mr. Dundas were on the beach, the ladies were all in tears;
the soldiers in high _spirits_, and all fun and jollity. We
afterwards went to Walmer Castle to breakfast, and as the Duke of
York was not to embark till the evening, Mr. Pitt invited Mrs.
Crewe and her party to stay and take an early scrambling dinner.
This was accepted, and we remained in the castle while the cannon
on its ramparts were fired on his Royal Highness entering the
launch in sight of a fleet of at least two hundred sail of ships,
by which he was saluted; and we saw the flash of every gun, and
heard the report which was brought to us by the raging east wind,
_forte_, _fortissimo_. It was a glorious sight! God prosper the
expedition, and grant that those brave men who are gone so
cheerfully to fight our battles and those of all Europe, may come
home with honour and whole bones. The Duke of Portland’s youngest
son, Lord Charles Bentinck, sailed with the Duke of York, and
young Crewe sails to-day with the last embarkation, being
lieut.-colonel commandant of the Ninth Regiment of Infantry. The
hymn to the Emperor and Souvarow’s[194] march have been sung and
played to all these great folks with good effect and applause.
Lady Susan Ryder and Miss Crewe sing it admirably, and I join in
the chorus. I have obliged all the ladies mentioned above,
including Lady Grey, with copies of these compositions; they are
all musicians, and are the personages in the world most deserving
of such a favour, and where the granting of it will be of most
use.
‘I congratulate you on the great events of this wonderful
campaign, not forgetting the acquisition of the Dutch fleet,
which, I am glad to find, is ordered to England. The Duke of
Portland received a letter yesterday before he left Dover from his
son, who is with Marshal Souvarow (pronounced Souvaroff), of the
battle of Novi, confirming all that the French have told us of the
death of their General Joubert, of Moreau’s being unhorsed, and
all his staff killed, wounded, or prisoners. It has cost the
Allies 5,000 men. However, it seems to put an end to all other
fighting and resistance by Jacobin armies of Italy.
‘I intend returning in about ten days, but have a visit of a few
days to make on the road to Sir William and Lady Fawcett, at
Eltham.
‘God bless you.
‘My dear Sir,
‘CHARLES BURNEY.’
1800. _Bradfield._—I never come to this place without reaping all
the pleasure which any place can give me now. It is beautiful and
healthy, and is endeared to me by so many recollections, melancholy
ones now, alas! that I feel more here than anywhere else. Here have
I lived from my infancy, here my dear mother breathed her last, here
was all I knew of a sister, and the church contains the remains of
my father, mother, and ever beloved child! Here, under my window,
her little garden—the shrubs and flowers she planted—the willow on
the island, her room, her books, her papers. There have I prayed to
the Almighty that I might join her in the next world. All that
locality can give an interest to in this world is here—sweet
Bradfield, to use an epithet of my dear mother fifty years ago at
Bath!—the scene also of many and great sins; and of none perhaps
greater than the black ingratitude of never thanking God with
fervency for the blessing of such a spot till misery turned my heart
to Him, and oh! how cold my thanksgivings compared with what I ought
to feel!
To me it has, however, often been a source of foolish uneasiness. I
have reflected on the increasing taxes and burthens on land and
houses in this kingdom as the inevitable cause of ruin to all little
estates; they are gone or fast going in this country, and what hope
can I have that this should remain in the posterity of so poor a
person as I am?
I have preserved it by a life of industry and singular success, or
it had gone long ago. But such thoughts are wicked. All is in the
hands of the great Preserver and Disposer of all earthly as well as
all other existence.
How few years are passed since I should have pushed on eagerly to
Woburn! This time twelvemonth I dined with the duke on the Sunday.
The party not very numerous, but chiefly of rank; the entertainment
more splendid than usual there. He expects me to-day, but I have
more pleasure in resting, going twice to church and eating a morsel
of cold lamb at a very humble inn, than partaking of gaiety and
dissipation at a great table which might as well be spread for a
company of heathens as English lords and men of fashion.
In my way from Royston to Baldock, passing a village I saw a couple
of cottages which seemed very miserable. Alighted therefore and
entered one. The woman said she was very unhappy. I enquired why?
Her daughter was now dead in the house. How old? Thirty-eight.
Married to a glazier in London. She had been down with her mother
some time for health in a decline, and died two days ago. ‘I hope
she died a good Christian.’ ‘I hope so,’ replied the woman, who
seemed to feel very little. And it is the blessing of God that they
do not—they cannot afford to grieve like their betters. It was odd
that I should happen to stop and enter a cottage with a corpse in
it, but nothing interesting followed. God forbid it should be for
want of my sifting and enquiring more—but nothing led to it. The
husband was expected soon, and the woman has a son, a miller, who
keeps her, a cow, and she had a good pig feeding at the door. She
was, however, thankful for the trifle I gave her.
My adventures increase and have a strange similitude. Passing
through Millbrook, near Lord Ossory’s, some cottages, with corn in
their gardens, on the slopes of a narrow sandy vale, caught my eye,
but speedily passing it was a second thought to stop the horse and
walk down to them. There are thirteen of them, and all inhabited by
owners. A hemp weaver, who lives in the first I entered, gave me an
account of them all, and amongst the rest he named Underwood’s, who
had a large family, and was sadly poor. I went to it. Poor indeed!
the cottage almost tumbling down, the wind blowing through it on
every side. On a bed, which was hardly good enough for a hog, was
the woman very ill and moaning; she had been lately brought to bed,
and her infant was dead in a cradle by the bedside. What a
spectacle! She had four children living; one, a little girl, was at
home, and putting together a few embers on the hearth. My heart sank
within me at the sight of so much misery, and so dark, cold,
tattered and wretched a room. Merciful God, to take the little child
to Himself, rather than leave it existing in such a place. What a
sight! I entered another cottage, which was lately built, neat and
cheerful, the Widow Scarboro’s; she earns something by washing, but
her smoky chimney most uncomfortable. No wonder, with the old broad
high fire-place. In the depth of winter the door must be open. I
told her how to cure it, but I wished to give her a Rumford grate
and see it fixed. Impossible! and her evils are nothing to poor
Underwood’s.
But how strange yesterday to find a dead woman in a house, and
to-day a dead child, and in such an accidental manner, as it seems,
to enter just these houses. No chance; the more I see, the more I
reflect, the more I am convinced that the providence of the Almighty
directs everything, but in a manner utterly incomprehensible to us;
and it is the more incomprehensible from our paying so very little
attention to it. If every one was to be careful to observe all such
apparently accidental events, they would have reason to acknowledge
the hand of Omnipotence. In three days how has what the world calls
chance conducted my steps!
These poor people know not by what tenure they hold their land; they
say they once belonged to the duke, but that the duke has swopped
them away to my lord (Lord Ossory). How little do the great know
what they swop and what they receive! What would be a blessing
poured into their hands if they knew how to use it. What a field is
here! How very trifling the repairs to render these poor families
warm and comfortable! Above their gardens on one side there is a
waste fern tract now enclosed, from which small additions might be
given them, yet would enable them to live from their ground at least
much better than at present. What have not great and rich people to
answer, for not examining into the situation of their poor
neighbours?
To Woburn Abbey. Here is wealth and grandeur and worldly greatness;
but I am sick of it as soon as I enter these splendid walls. I had
rather be amongst the cottagers at Millbrook had I but the means of
aiding them. I will see Lord Ossory, and try to do something for
them.
In these farming tours[195] of mine, vain ideas will too often rise
in my mind on the importance of my labour to the public good; and
were the improvement of agriculture alone to be considered, I
believe little doubt could be entertained. But what is the tendency
of all these improvements except to add to the wealth and prosperity
of a country that is already under a most heavy responsibility to
the Almighty for innumerable temporal blessings; repaid with the
black ingratitude of irreligion, and a general contempt of
everything serious or sacred. Carriers’ waggons and stage coaches
are passing here every hour in open defiance of the laws of God and
man; and the Sabbath is the sure day of labour for all travelling
gentlemen. What horses are they that rest, that can by any means be
made to work? Our fields are made to smile with cultivation for the
profits of men thankless to Heaven. Can such a country continue to
be thus blessed? I fear and dread some terrible reverse, and have
the only hope that the prayers of religious men, Methodists as they
are called, may be heard, and avert the misfortunes we deserve. It
damps all vanity of public good attending such attempts as mine, to
think of the use that is made of great wealth. Affliction and
poverty may do something in bringing nations, like individuals, to
their senses; but to increase the wealth that adds to our irreligion
and ingratitude, is of a very poor importance indeed, and too
questionable to permit one vain thought to be fairly founded.
_July 7._—Breakfasting at Huntingdon from Kimbolton, after spending
just a week with the duke and duchess. It has been so pleasant and
agreeable that I am unhinged on quitting them. The duchess pleases
me as much or more than any woman I have met these many years. Her
character in every worldly respect is most amiable. There is a
native ease, simplicity, and _naïveté_ of character in her which
delights me; and when I consider the life of the Duchess of Gordon,
her mother, the great patroness of every dissipation, I am amazed at
this secluded young duchess, who never goes to London, loves a
retired life, and is quite contented on a fortune very moderate for
the rank of her husband. She gave me her whole history, from going
one summer for some weeks to drink goat’s whey on the mountains many
miles beyond Gordon Castle, and running up and down the hills
bare-footed, driving down the goats and milking them; and being
delighted with the place and the life, though no human being within
many miles except the family and an old woman of the solitary house.
This was the case of all the girls; she never went to school, and
laid in a fine stock of health, and with it a sweetness of temper
and simplicity of character which, joined with an excellent
understanding, contributed so much to form her as she is at present,
calculated to be a blessing to her husband. She loves him, and
behaves with a most exemplary and unexampled patience and mildness
under his connection with Mrs. ——. I like her greatly,[196] and wish
I could add that she was religious. She goes to church often, she
says, and brings her four lovely children up to attend it; but I see
she has no sense or feeling of real religion, which I spoke of
repeatedly, and earnestly recommended. The next time they come to
Culford they both promised to come and see me, and will do it I have
no doubt. The spectacle in this age of seeing a very plain table, a
plain unaffected way of living, and everything about them modest and
moderate in scale, very little company, and never at London, yet all
cheerfulness and content, even under the above circumstance, speaks
a good heart and an amiable temper, as much as such can be good with
the Almighty coming in for so poor a share of its attentions. I do
and will pray to God that He will give her His grace to change in
this respect, and then she will be a pattern for her sex.
_July 7._—To Huntingdon, St. Ives, and Holywell, at the Reverend Mr.
Hutchinson’s, who was long at Kimbolton, and had livings given to
him by the late duke; [has] four stout, well-looking, unmarried
daughters, that have been marriageable some years. A common
spectacle, and everywhere from the same cause: the fornication of
men with the abandoned of the sex robs thousands of such virtuous
and good girls of husbands. The more I reflect, the more I see the
reason of God’s wrath and denunciations against this vice in
Scripture, however natural it is, and however powerful the
temptation. The more the temptation the more the wickedness to throw
so many into it, by depriving those of husbands to whom God has
given the right, but of which the vice of man deprives them. Every
man would have his wife, and every woman her husband, were it not
for whores and whoremongers. Christianity is in everything
consistent with reason, morals, and the religion of nature.
At St. Ives [met] a drunken beast, a doctor of divinity, is
intoxicated every day; drunk about the streets; introduced himself
to me, and breathed like a puncheon of rum in my face.
_Sunday, 20th: Downham._—I have had a busy week and gained a great
variety of good intelligence; but what is it all but vanity and
vexation of spirit if examined with view of a superior nature!
However, it is my undoubted duty to do my best, and I must approve
upon the whole of exerting as much industry for the Board as ever I
did upon my own account. My employment is not only lawful, but
useful; God grant me to render it as much so to the poor as
circumstances will permit. In this week I have been at Wing’s at
Thorney Abbey. A party of ladies [here], Mrs. Ansel of Ormsby in
Lincolnshire and two daughters. They attacked me, but with
politeness, on my rabbit article in the Lincoln report. I found from
their conversation on Wilberforce and H. More that they are good
Christians, so they might say anything; but we parted very good
friends. At March: Reverend Mr. Jobson and a vulgar steward, a
prating but a useful fellow, Wandby, dined with me.
At Downham: Lemon, Dashwood, and a poor fen man Talbot. I have gone
on well for the object of my journey; would that I went on as well
in the great journey to the next world! At church twice; Mr.
Dashwood in his sermon spoke very properly on a topic which I have
often thought should be inveighed upon vigorously: the great
indecency of people sitting when they should kneel, which is now
everywhere so common; but in the afternoon a better congregation and
no sermon! For a clergyman to have an audience collected ready to
hear him and yet quit the church without preaching, how very
lukewarm he must be in care of souls who can bring himself without
violence to such a conduct! Is this the way with Methodists as they
are called? God forbid! With a church thus filled as that of England
is, who can wonder at Sectaries increasing? All is poor work when
men are not in earnest—when they are not as animated and eager in
their sacred calling as others are in their business and shops. A
parson should always think: what would St. Paul do on this occasion?
_Sunday, August 3._—Dined last Tuesday with the Grand Jury at
Cambridge, and in the afternoon Lord Hardwicke took me with him to
Wimpole. On the Thursday, a great public day, seventy-three at
dinner, turtle, venison, and everything that could be. A Lord
Lieutenant’s gala which has not been these four years. Lady Cotton,
Sir Wm. Rowley’s sister, there all the week, and a Miss Coburn. Lady
Margaret Fordyce has uncommon talents, and reading and languages,
French, Italian and German, but I mistake if she is not a bit of a
fury when she has a mind. I don’t like her countenance. Lady H.
pleases me better. Lord H. is very clever, has very good parts and a
clear head, a man of business. I was pleased to find that he went
twice to church, and read a long prayer at night to all the family,
taken from the Liturgy. I shall be here a week, and have idled none
of it away, but beat the country well for enclosures. I have not,
however, broken my resolution of passing Sunday alone without being
[misled], for even in such a family I had a farming expedition to
the next parish, and conversation is never religious—I hope I shall
do it no more.
_Night._—Lord Hardwicke had all the family together, and read a long
prayer taken from the Liturgy, from almost every part of it. I am
glad to find a great Lord who is not ashamed of praying to God. May
there be many such!
_4th._—I left Wimpole, and the 9th came to Bradfield after a journey
of eight weeks, thanks to the Almighty, in health and safety. There
passed a week, staying two Sundays. Mrs. Y. in great health, and
when that is the case in too much irritation—God forgive her—life is
a scene of worrying, time trifled with, a book never looked in,
quarrels and irritation never subsiding. My daughter and
daughter-in-law reading cart loads of novels. While at Bradfield I
received from Sir J. Banks, confidentially, many enquiries about the
means of encouraging the culture of hemp; they are therefore
apprehensive of a war with Russia. At the time of the Russian
armament I was consulted on the same subject by Lord Liverpool, but
they do nothing except on the spur of the moment, and then never
effectually. Heaven avert more wars, those scourges of humanity!
This first week of my second journey[197] I have laboured very hard
in my enquiries, and travelled many miles on bad roads, not
finishing the day till six in the evening, and then dining and
having much writing. Such a life I should earnestly wish to avoid if
I had a home tolerably comfortable, but mine is so far from that
description in almost every respect that I submit the better to
being ever in harness. It is the will of God, and my duty is to
submit with cheerfulness.
_October 6th: Hounslow._—Found near twenty letters at the
post-office, and, among the rest, two from Parker of Ripon, attorney
to Sir Cecil Wray, Kilvington, and Allanson, to inform he had orders
to hold me to bail on my bond to them on buying Knaresboro’ Forest,
as Abbey of Northampton has not paid one shilling rent or interest.
This is a fine affair; it is true there is land security for the
4,000_l._ of double the value, but who am I to get to bail me? I
fear this is the hand of God working against me, and that He means
me chastisement. The Lord’s will be done! I shall pray earnestly to
be spared, but if it is His will, be it done, and may He grant me
resignation, patience, and submission to His correction. It comes
heavy at the moment, for I was much injured at Enfield by coffee out
of copper, as I suppose, with a violent purging colic and vomiting,
and left by it in a state of great debility of body; this stroke of
fresh anxiety cuts therefore. May God be appeased and spare me the
affliction.
Last Sunday I read much in Hale’s ‘Contemplations: Moral and
Divine,’ in which the Providence of God is treated more to my mind
than in any other book I have read. I have derived on various
occasions, as well as the present, much consolation from that most
excellent work, which I now earnestly recommend to my children, and
hope if they should ever read these words, they will think of their
father and follow his advice to make that great lawyer’s book their
constant companion.
On the close of this century it may not be improper to look back
through the period of my own recollections in order to reflect on
some eminent names that may be mentioned as forming the principal
constellation of talents which have distinguished the period; and
the more readily because I have had the honour of conversing with
most of them, and being well known to several. In minuting such a
list I may name the following, viz.: Burke, Pitt, Fox, Johnson,
Reynolds, Barry, Burney, Miss Burney, H. More, Wilberforce, Soame.
The following are the selection of this year’s letters:—
_From Jeremy Bentham, Esq., queries sent from the
Treasury to the Board of Agriculture_
‘Queen’s Square Place, Westminster; June 14, 1800.
‘Dear Sir,—Underneath is a question, which I have just been
calling in Sackville Street to beg the favour of your answer to,
for my _own_ information. It is in contemplation to make the
purport of it the subject of a reference to the Board of
Agriculture from the Treasury. The occasion seemed to be of a
nature particularly favourable to the enabling the public to avail
itself of the services of the Board, and may perhaps have the
effect of placing the utility of that Institution in a new and
additional point of view; while the dignity of its members, and
the manner in which it is composed, will give such a title to
public confidence, in respect of the grand point of superiority to
all personal considerations, as would in vain be looked for in any
other quarter capable of being applied to for such a purpose. In
this light I have just been mentioning the matter to Mr. Nepean,
who entered so thoroughly into it as to say he would himself
propose it to the Treasury to make such reference.
‘On enquiring I had the mortification of learning that the Board
had adjourned to some day in November: but would there be no such
thing as the calling an extra meeting, if not to the Board at
large, of a Committee for the purpose of receiving a reference
from such a quarter, and making a Report? If not, possibly the
opinion of the Secretary might be accepted of as the only
obtainable succedaneum to the opinion of the Board; for where else
could any other equally competent opinion be obtained? But
howsoever the matter may stand with regard to the Board and Mr.
Secretary, I hope Mr. Young will not refuse an old correspondent
the favour of an answer for his own guidance, and that as speedy
as possible; for it is for this answer that I wait to enable me to
fill up a blank with figures, the propriety of which is what is
proposed as above to be made the subject of reference to the
Board. If you are unable to guess my reason for interfering in the
business, so much the better, but if you _have_ your conjectures,
all I can do is to beg (which I do with the utmost sincerity) that
you would forbear letting them find their way, directly or
indirectly, to any person to whose lot it may fall to concur in
making the Report. It was at Mr. Nepean’s express recommendation
that I called in Sackville Street for the purpose of conversing
with you in person: but, if your absence be not fatal to the
business, I shall be much better pleased with the opportunity of
transacting it in this manner without any other communication than
what will show itself in black and white. I am not _sure_ but the
Report from the Board might be waited for without much
inconvenience till their regular time of reassembling: but till
Mr. Young’s answer is obtained, or is known to be unobtainable,
everything is at a stand. And a business in which the public has
an interest of no inconsiderable magnitude, and for the conclusion
of which all parties are impatient, sleeps, and, in short, if it
does not come at farthest before this week is at an end, the hopes
entertained of an answer from a quarter thus respectable must be
deserted. But these matters are so perfectly A.B.C. to Mr. Young
that I am sanguine enough to hope, if not for a definitive
solution, at least for an answer with an approximation, and
announcing a definitive solution in a few days, by return of post.
‘I am, dear Sir, with all respect,
‘Your faithful humble servant,
‘_Jeremy Bentham_.
‘Now for my question—A sum having been allotted in March, 1793,
for the maintenance of a certain number of persons, of the lowest
rank of life, in provisions, clothing, bedding, washing, firing,
and lighting, how much, if anything, per cent. ought to be the
additional allowance made at present in consideration of the
intervening rise of prices? The calculation to be grounded not on
the prices of a particularly bad year (such as the present), but
on the probable average of a future term—say of twelve years.
‘P.S.—Relative to the "Annals"—I have got a titbit for your
“Dragon” (the name Dr. Hawksworth used to give his magazine),
some facts which to me are as new as they are interesting,
relative to the effect of the rise of prices on the wages of the
self-maintaining labourers in agriculture, and the mode of
provision for the burthensome. The author, a very intelligent
and respectable clergyman, Mr. North, Rector of Ashdon in Essex.
They are contained in two or three letters:[198] the moral of
them appears to lean to two practical results, both of them I
believe as alien to your notions as to mine, viz. rating wages
and restricting the size of farms. At the same time what they
indicate is certainly a disease, the mischief of which, however,
would, I am inclined to think, be much exceeded by that of the
least mischievous of the above two remedies. But if capable of
an answer, they are, at the same time, highly deserving of one;
and this not only on account of the facts themselves, but on
account of the good sense as well as candour with which they are
delivered.
‘J. B.’
_From J. Symonds, Esq., to the Speaker of the House
of Commons, &c._
‘Euston: November 30, 1800.
‘My dear Sir,—I came hither on Friday and shall go home next
Saturday. I hear there are three pamphlets lately published that
command much attention—Lord Sheffield’s,[199] Sir Thomas
Sturton’s, and “Candid Enquiries,” etc. When does your Board
intend to enter the lists? The Duke says it has shown him great
politeness by the attention it has paid to a proposal of his. If
you have not got “Islington on Forestalling,” &c. you should buy
it, for several statutes, absurd as they are, you will find set
forth clearly and methodically—I should not properly say clearly
(but this is no fault of the editor), for we do not know what
statutes may be said to be declaratory of the common law, or not.
Did you not rejoice with me that Sheridan animadverted on those
judges who had thundered their anathemas against forestallers,
&c.? I am persuaded that some of the riots owed their origin to
the intemperate language so extra-judicially used. I was sorry to
see the turn which affairs took upon the Report of the Committee.
Had Pitt been silent about the Jacobins, and had your friend
Wilberforce abstained from abusing Grey’s connections and Sir
Francis Burdett’s speech, there would probably have been a great
unanimity. The more Wilberforce endeavoured to exculpate himself,
the deeper he seemed to plunge. He was well advised by Sir F. B.,
who seldom harangues with any propriety, “to think more, and speak
less.”
‘When I mentioned agricultural books I ought not to have appeared
insensible to the pleasure I received from perusing the greater
part of Burke’s pamphlet, very lately published by Dr. Lawrence.
You, I find, make there a distinguished figure in the foreground.
Do you approve of what Burke says about the distilleries?
‘A few minutes before I came hither on Friday a very melancholy
event took place. Winterton, the Groom of the Chambers, had been
seen walking by the side of the river near the mill, not far from
the house, and was never heard of afterwards till his body was
found in the river. The Coroner is expected to-day, and he will
probably instruct the jury to bring in their verdict, “lunacy,” as
some of the servants had observed in him marks of insanity a few
days preceding.
‘If you can spare five minutes from the service you pay to the
Board and to the public, favour me with a few lines. You live now
more with politicians than with farmers.
‘What will be the result of our breaking with the Emperor of
Russia, whose conduct Mr. Pitt truly calls "strange versatility
and caprice"?
‘Tell me a good deal, for the Duke has no regular correspondent in
Town now that Stonehewer is here.
‘I was with you at Bradfield when Buonaparte’s first offers for a
peace were published.
‘You said you thought the Ministry would pay attention to them,
and do you think that, upon the whole, we can make as good a peace
as them, the French having been almost driven out of Italy?
‘Adieu.
‘Yours sincerely,
‘J. SYMONDS.’
-----
Footnote 187:
Assessed taxes. On December 4, 1797, Mr. Pitt introduced a Bill
for trebling the amount of assessed taxes. This was again debated
in the House of Commons in January 1798, and finally passed. See
Hansard’s _Parliamentary History_.
Footnote 188:
In a memorandum-book of the preceding year occur the following
entries: ‘Receipts, 901_l._; debts, Dec. 31, 986_l._’ Debts seem
to have been a burden throughout A. Y.’s long life.
Footnote 189:
A. O’Connor, concerned with others in an address to the Directory
France; tried for treason at Maidstone, 1798; found not guilty.
See _Annual Register_, 1798.
Footnote 190:
These dinners to poor children were given in memory of Bobbin.
Footnote 191:
_Née_ Betsy Plampin.
Footnote 192:
Referring to a long letter from the great Wilberforce on ‘Original
Sin.’
Footnote 193:
The _Letters of Maria Josepha Holroyd_ give an amusing account
of the events here described.
Footnote 194:
On November 4, 1794, Souvarow took Warsaw, when 8,000 soldiers
and 12,000 men, women, and children were massacred in cold
blood. See _L’histoire générale de Lavisse et Rambaud_, vol.
viii. p. 358. It is to be hoped that Dr. Burney was in ignorance
of this.
Footnote 195:
Note by A. Y. at close of year’s diary: ‘In the summer,’ in
consequence of much conversation with Lord Carrington on the
importance of enclosures, I proposed to him that I should take a
tour expressly for the purpose of ascertaining what the effect had
really been in practice. He approved of the idea, and desired me
to execute it; and, in regard to the expense, I told him that if
he would allow 100_l._, I would expend it in travelling, and
report to him the country travelled and the enclosures examined,
and then he might extend or not the undertaking at his pleasure.
He approved the plan, and I accordingly employed twenty weeks on
the journey.’
Footnote 196:
In the _Annals of Agriculture_, vol. xxxv. p. 432, occurs the
following: ‘If a farming traveller comes to Kimbolton, and forgets
its mistress, may his sheep rot and crops blight! A young duchess,
ever in the country, loving it, and free from a wish for London—a
character that, if I was to give my pen scope, it would run wild
on such a subject.’
Footnote 197:
Full accounts of these tours are given in the _Annals of
Agriculture_.
Footnote 198:
These letters are inserted in the _Annals of Agriculture_, vol.
xxxv. p. 459.
Footnote 199:
Lord Sheffield published _Remarks on the Deficiency of Grain
1799-1800_, and _Observations on the Exportation of Wool from
Great Britain to Ireland_. 1800.
-----