'Oft have I seen, from fam'd St. Michael's height,
The ocean's rage, with wonder and delight;
Whilst foaming waves the lordly bulk surround,
Lashing its bulwarks with a hideous sound:
Thetis in vain the lofty pile assails;
But all her force and clangour nought avails;
The pile majestic scorns the pond'rous shock;
Her basis is an Adamantine rock.
Just so (in worst of times) its _owner_ stood,
Serenely great and resolutely good.
His virtues early to the world were known;
He makes his country's int'rest still his own.
Nor Courts, nor tyrants can his soul affright,
Who dares to vindicate his country's right.
On him Cornubia's happiness depends;
The best of patriots and the best of friends.
Guard him, kind Heav'n, to bless his native shore,
When truth shall stand, and traytors be no more.'
The friend of Pope,[139] I cannot help thinking that the poet may have
had the unassailable integrity of his Cornish acquaintance in his mind
when he wrote the last line of the couplet which I have prefixed by way
of motto to this chapter.
Of the fourth baronet it will suffice to record that, having taken the
degree of M.A. at Oriel College, Oxon, in 1747, he became a member for
Cornwall in 1761, and continued to sit for the county for eleven years.
His monument in Clowance Church sums up, sufficiently for our purpose,
his character and his career:
'To the memory of Sir John St. Aubyn, Baronet, who, by his descent
from a long line of worthy ancestors, and a father distinguished by
honest zeal and prudent moderation, was recommended to the important
trust of representing in Parliament the county of Cornwall; and
justified the confidence of his electors by unshaken constancy of
principle, uniting with the dignity of his public character the
domestic virtues of tenderness and friendship. This monument was
erected by his disconsolate widow. He was born the 12th of Nov., 1726.
He died 12th Oct., 1772.'
But the fifth baronet of the same familiar name will demand somewhat
more of our time and attention. He was the son of the last-mentioned
Sir John St. Aubyn, was born on the 17th May, 1758, and was educated
at Westminster; where, when a lad of seventeen, he had an amusing
escapade. He and another hopeful young gentleman, his schoolfellow,
joined in a bond for raising money to enable them to obtain the
delights and luxuries which the discipline of the school and the extent
of their pocket-money denied. The inevitable day came for repayment of
the moneys advanced. It was in vain that 'infancy' was pleaded against
the suit of the London money-lender; the precocious financier was
ordered to pay back the sums he had borrowed, and interest at four per
cent. A lad of so much enterprise was evidently designed to make some
figure in the world, and we accordingly find him, when only twenty-six
years old, contesting the county in 1784. He made another unsuccessful
attempt six years afterwards; but, nothing daunted, once more essayed
to obtain a seat in Parliament, and on this occasion succeeded in
securing his election for Penryn. He afterwards sat for Helston from
1807 to 1812.
But it does not appear that he took any very prominent part in
political life, his tastes leading him rather to the pursuit of the
arts and sciences; and accordingly we find that he was elected a Fellow
of the Royal Society, of the Society of Antiquaries, and of the Linnæan
Society. In 1804, in conjunction with others, he proposed to establish,
at the Royal Institution, at a cost of £4,000, a mineralogical
collection and an Assay Office, on a large scale, for the improvement
of the study of mineralogy and metallurgy; but the scheme failed for
want of funds, although Sir Humphry Davy, Lord Dartmouth, and one or
two more took great interest in the matter, and contributed valuable
collections of minerals, etc. Here it may be mentioned that Dr. Wm.
Babington dedicated to Sir John[140] his 'New System of Mineralogy.'
It was, in fact, a catalogue of the Baronet's own collection, much of
which had previously belonged to the Earl of Bute.
As evidencing his fondness for art, it may be observed that he was
from first to last the discriminating friend and patron of his
fellow-countyman, John Opie, R.A.; and it may be added that he was one
of the pall-bearers at the artist's funeral. To Opie he entrusted the
painting of his portrait (mezzotinted by W. Barney), which now hangs
in the Town Hall of Devonport. In this town the family of St. Aubyn
has long held large possessions, the value of which the fifth baronet
is said to have increased three or fourfold, although he is said to
have embarrassed the family estates for many years by the singular
provisions of his will. When Sir John's collection of engravings and
etchings were sold at Phillips's Auction Rooms, in April, 1840, the
sale attracted the presence of most of the principal connoisseurs in
the kingdom; and to give some idea of the vastness of the collection,
it may be added that the sale lasted for seventeen days.
It is not surprising to find that, with such tastes as his, Sir
John St. Aubyn found London a more congenial place of abode than
Cornwall. In the metropolis, therefore--at 63, Portland Place--or
in its vicinity--as at Short Grove, Saffron Walden, or at Woolmers,
Hertford--he lived; and, close to London he died--at Putney, on the
10th August 1839--at the good old age of eighty-one. He was noted for
his beneficence, and for his refined and courteous manners; and these
virtues and graces are suitably recorded on his monument at Crowan.
On the occasion of his funeral, advantage was taken of his popularity
(especially amongst the Freemasons, of which body he was a prominent
member) for his body to 'lie in state' at St. Austell, Truro and
Clowance; and his remains were followed to the grave by between 20,000
and 30,000 persons--a multitude as numerous as their sorrow was sincere.
It has not been my practice to refer to any of the living
representatives of the families whose histories I am endeavouring to
sketch, but it can hardly be out of place on this occasion to observe
that Sir John St. Aubyn, the present baronet, has also been for more
than a quarter of a century a Member of Parliament for Cornwall; and
that, to say the least, he is not likely to tarnish the lustre which
surrounds the names of the past St. Aubyns of Clowance and the Mount.
[Illustration: (end of chapter vignette.)]