VISITS TO ENGLAND
1899
I visited England again in 1899. I did not go to the Continent
or Scotland. My wife consulted a very eminent London physician
for an infirmity of the heart. He told her to go to the Isle
of Wight; remain there a few weeks; then to go to Boscombe;
stay a few weeks there; then to Malvern Hills, and thence
to a high place in Yorkshire, which, I believe, is nearly,
if not quite, the highest inhabited spot in England. This
treatment was eminently advantageous. But to comply with the
doctor's direction took all the time we had at our command
before going home.
We had a charming and delightful time in the Isle of Wight.
We stayed at a queer little Inn, known as the "Crab and Lobster,"
kept by Miss Cass, with the aid of her sister and niece. We
made excursions about the island. I saw two graves side by
side which had a good deal of romance about them. One was
the grave of a woman. The stone said that she had died at
the age of one hundred and seven. By its side was the grave
of her husband, to whom she had been married at the age of
eighteen, and who had died just after the marriage. So she
had been a widow eighty-nine years, and then the couple, separated
in their early youth, had come together again in the grave.
We found a singular instance of what Americans think so astonishing
in England, the want of knowledge by the people of the locality
with which they were familiar in life, of persons whose names
have a world-wide reputation. In a churchyard at Bonchurch,
about a mile from our Inn at Ventnor, is the grave of John
Stirling--the friend of Emerson--of whom Carlyle wrote a memoir.
Sterling is the author of some beautiful hymns and other poems,
including what I think is the most splendid and spirited ballad
in English literature, "Alfred the Harper." Yet the sexton
who exhibited the church and the churchyard did not seem to
know anything about him, and the booksellers near by never
had heard of him. The sexton showed, with great pride, the
grave of Isaac Williams, author of the "Shadow of the Cross"
and some other rather tame religious poetry. He was a devout
and good man, and seemed to be a feeble imitator of Keble.
I dare say, the sexton first heard of Sterling and saw his
grave when we showed it to him.
The scenery about Boscombe and the matchless views of the
Channel are a perpetual delight, especially the sight, on
a clear day, of the Needles.
We did not find it necessary to obey the doctor's advice to
go to Yorkshire. After leaving Boscombe, I spent the rest
of my vacation at Malvern Hills, some eight or nine miles
north of Worcester, and some twenty miles from Gloucester.
The chief delight of that summer--a delight that dwells freshly
in my memory to-day, and which will never be forgotten while
my memory endures--was a journey through the Forest of Dean,
in a carriage, in company with my friend--alas, that I must
say my late friend!--John Bellows, of Gloucester. He was,
I suppose, of all men alive, best qualified to be a companion
and teacher of such a journey. He has written and published
for the American Antiquarian Society an account of our journey--
a most delightful essay, which I insert in the appendix.
He tells the story much better than I could tell it. My readers
will do well to read it, even if they skip some chapters of
this book for the purpose. I am proud and happy in this way
to associate my name with that of this most admirable gentleman.
I visited Gloucester. I found the houses still standing
where my ancestors dwelt, and the old tomb in the Church
of St. Mary de Crypt, with the word Hoare cut in the pavement
in the chancel.
My ancestors were Puritans. They took an active part in the
resistance to Charles I., and many traces are preserved of
their activity in the civic annals of Gloucester. Two of
my name were Sheriffs in those days. There were two other
Sheriffs whose wives were sisters of my direct ancestors.
Charles Hoar, my direct ancestor, married one of the Clifford
family, the descendant of the brother of Fair Rosamond, and
their arms are found on a tomb, and also on a window in the
old church at Frampton-on-Severn, eight miles from Gloucester,
where the Cliffords are buried. The spot where fair Rosamond
was born, still, I believe, belongs to the Clifford family.
I got such material as I could for studying the history of
the military operations which preceded the siege and capture
of Worcester and the escape of Charles II. Several of the
old houses where he was concealed are shown, as also one in
Worcester from which he made his escape out of the window
when Worcester was stormed, just as Cromwell's soldiers were
entering at the door.
Shakespeare used to pass through Gloucester on his way to
London. Some of his celebrated scenes are in Gloucestershire.
The tradition is that Shakespeare's company acted in the yard
of the New Inn, at Gloucester, an ancient hostelry still standing,
a few rods only from the Raven Tavern, which belonged to my
ancestors, and is mentioned in one of their wills still extant.
I have no doubt my kindred of that time saw Shakespeare, and
saw him act, unless they had already learned the Puritanism
which came to them, if not before, in a later generation.
I purchased, some years ago, some twenty ancient Gloucestershire
deeds, of various dates, but all between 1100 and 1400. One
of them was witnessed by John le Hore. It was of lands at
Wotton-under-Edge in Gloucestershire. I have in my possession
a will of Thomas Hore of Bristol, dated 1466, in which he
mentions his wife Joanna, and his daughters Joanna and Margery,
and his sons Thomas and John. These names--Thomas, John,
Joanna and Margery--are the names of members of the family
who dwelt in the city of Gloucester in later generations.
So I have little doubt that Thomas was of the same race, although
there is a link in the pedigree, between his death and 1560
or 1570 which I cannot supply. This Thomas bequeaths land
at Wotton-under-Edge, so I conjecture that John also was of
the same race. A large old black oak chest bound with iron,
bequeathed by Thomas to Bristol in 1466, is still in the
possession of the city.
I was very much gratified that the people of the old City
of Gloucester were glad to recognize the tie of kindred which
I, myself, feel so strongly. I received a handsome box,
containing a beautifully bound copy of an account of the City
from the Traders' Association of the City of Gloucester.
This account of the matter appears in the _Echo,_ a local
paper of July 4, 1899.
GLOUCESTER CITY. GLOUCESTER TRADERS' ASSOCIATION.
INTERESTING PRESENTATION
On Monday evening a largely attended public meeting was held
in the Guildhall under the auspices of the Gloucester Traders'
Association for the purpose of hearing addresses on "The municipal
electricity supply." Mr. D. Jones (president) occupied the
chair, and there were also present on the platform the Mayor
(Mr. H. R. J. Braine), City High Sheriff (Mr. A. V. Hatton),
Councillors Holborook, Poole and several members of the association.
The Chairman said that in his position as president of the
association it was his pleasurable duty to present a copy of
their guide to Mr. G. F. Hoar, the distinguished member of
the United States Government, who had always taken a great
interest in their historic City.--The presentation consisted
of a handsomely carved box made by Messrs. Matthews and Co.
from pieces of historic English oak supplied by Mr. H. Y.
J. Taylor. On the outside of the cover are engraved the City
arms, and a brass plate explaining the presentation. A beautifully
printed copy of the well-known guide, bound in red morocco,
has been placed within, and on the inside of the cover there
is the following illuminated address:
"To the Hon. G. F. Hoar, of Worcester, Mass., Senator of the
United States of America. Sir,--The members of the Traders'
Association, Gloucester, England, ask your acceptance of a
bound copy of their guide to this ancient and historic City,
together with this box made from part of a rafter taken from
the room in which Bishop Hooper was lodged the night before
his burning, and from oak formerly in old All Saints' Church,
as souvenirs of the regard which the association entertains
for you and its recognition of your ardent affection for the
City of Gloucester, the honored place of the nativity of the
progenitor of your family, Charles Hoar, who was elder Sheriff
in 1634; and may these sincere expressions also be typical
of the sterling friendship existing between Great Britain
and America."
"Senator Hoar had been unable to attend the meeting, and
the presentation was entrusted to the American Vice-Consul,
Mr. E. H. Palin, to forward to him. Remarking on the presentation,
the Mayor expressed his regret that Mr. Hoar had been unable
to accept the high and important position of American Ambassador
which had been offered to him. Addresses on the installation
of the electric light were then given by Mr. Hammond, M.I.C.E.,
and Mr. Spencer Hawes."
I was invited by the Corporation of the City to visit them
in the fall and receive the freedom of the City, which was
to be bestowed at the same time on Sir Michael Hicks-Beach.
But I had arranged to return to the United States before the
time fixed for the ceremonial. So I was deprived of that
great pleasure and honor.
I had a great longing to hear the nightingale. I find in
an old memorandum that I heard the nightingale in Warwickshire
in 1860, somewhere about the twentieth of May. But the occurrence,
and the song of the bird, have wholly faded from my memory.
When I was abroad in 1892 and '96 I hoped to hear the song.
But I was too late. Mrs. Warre, wife of the Rector of Bemerton,
George Herbert's Parsonage, told me that the nightingales
were abundant in her own garden close to the Avon, but that
they did not sing after the beginning of the nesting session
which, according to a note to White's "History of Selborne,"
lasts from the beginning of May to the early part of June.
Waller says:
Thus the wise nightingale that leaves her home,
Pursuing constantly the cheerful spring,
To foreign groves does her old music bring.
There are some counties in England where the bird is not
found. It is abundant in Warwickshire, Gloucester and the
Isle of Wight. It is not found in Scotland, Derbyshire or
Yorkshire or Devon or Cornwall. Attempts to introduce it
in those places have failed. The reason is said to be that
its insect food does not exist there.
I utterly failed to hear the nightingale, although I was
very close upon his track. On the night of the fifth of
June at Freshwater, close to Tennyson's home, we were taken
by a driver, between eleven and twelve at night, to two copses
in one of which he said he had heard the nightingale the night
before; and at the other they had been heard by somebody,
from whom he got the information, within a very few days.
But the silence was unbroken, notwithstanding our patience
and the standing reward I had offered to anybody who would
find one that I could hear. Two different nights shortly
afterward, I was driven out several miles past groves where
the bird was said to be heard frequently. Nothing came of
it. May 29, at Gloucester, I rode with my friend, H. Y.
J. Taylor, Esq., an accomplished antiquary, out into the country.
We passed a hillside where he said he had heard the nightingale
about eleven o'clock in the daytime the week before. Shakespeare
says:
The nightingale, if she should sing by day,
When every goose is cackling, would be
No better a musician than the wren.
But the nightingale does sometimes sing by day. Mr. Taylor
says that on the morning he spoke of the whole field seemed
to be full of singing birds. There were larks and finches
and linnets and thrushes, and I think other birds whose name
I do not remember. But when the nightingale set up his song
every other bird stopped. They seemed as much spellbound
by the singing as he was, and Philomel had the field to himself
till the song was over. It was as if Jenny Lind had come
into a country church when the rustic choir of boys and girls
were performing.
The nightingale will sometimes sing out of season if his
mate be killed, or if the nest with the eggs therein be destroyed.
He is not a shy bird. He comes out into the highway and will
fly in and out of the hedges, sometimes following a traveller.
And the note of one bird will, in the singing season, provoke
the others, so that a dozen or twenty will sometimes be heard
rivalling one another at night, making it impossible for the
occupants of the farmhouses to sleep.
The superstition is well known that if a new-married man
hear the cuckoo before he hear the nightingale in the spring,
his married peace will be invaded by some stranger within
the year. But if the nightingale be heard first he will be
happy in his love. It is said that the young married swains
in the country take great pains to hear the nightingale first.
We all remember Milton's sonnet:
O nightingale, that on yon bloomy Spray
Warbl'est at eve, when all the woods are still,
Thou with fresh hope the Lover's heart dost fill,
While the jolly hours lead on propitious May,
They liquid notes that close the eye of Day,
First heard before the shallow Cuckoo's bill
Portend success in love; O, if Jove's will
Have linkt that amorous power to thy soft lay,
Now timely sing, ere the rude bird of hate
Foretell my hopeless doom in some Grove nigh;
As thou from year to year hast sung too late
For my relief; yet hadst no reason why,
Whether the Muse, or Love, call thee his mate,
Both them I serve, and of their train am I.
I had a funny bit of evidence that this superstition is not
entirely forgotten. A very beautiful young lady called upon
us in London just as we were departing for the Isle of Wight.
I told her of my great longing to hear the nightingale, and
that I hoped to get a chance. She said that she had just
come from one of her husband's country estates; that she had
not seen a nightingale or heard one this year, although they
were very abundant there. She said she had seen a cuckoo,
which came about the same time. I suppose she observed a
look of amusement on my countenance, for she added quick as
lightning, "But he didn't speak."
I made this year a delightful visit to Cambridge University.
I was the guest of Dr. Butler, the Master of Trinity, and
his accomplished wife, who had, before her marriage, beaten
the young men of Cambridge in all of the examinations. Dr.
Butler spoke very kindly of William Everett, with whom he
had been contemporary at Cambridge. He told me that Edward
Everett, when he received his degree at Oxford, was treated
with great incivility by the throng of undergraduates, not
because he was an American, but because he was a Unitarian.
I told this story afterwards to Mr. Charles Francis Adams.
He confirmed it, and said that his father had refused the
degree because he did not wish to expose himself to a like
incivility.
I dined in the old hall of Trinity, and met many very eminent
scholars. I saw across the room Mr. Myers, the author of
the delightful essays, but did not have an opportunity to speak
to him. I was introduced, among other gentlemen, to Aldus
Wright, Vice or Deputy Master, eminent for his varied scholarship,
and to Mr. Frazer, who had just published his admirable edition
of Pausanias.
A great many years ago I heard a story from Richard H. Dana,
illustrating the cautious and conservative fashions of Englishmen.
He told me that when the Judges went to Cambridge for the
Assizes they always lodged in the House of the Master of Trinity,
which was a royal foundation, the claim being, that as they
represented the King, they lodged there as of right. On the
other hand the College claims that they are there as the guests
of the College, and indebted to its hospitality solely for
their lodging. When the Judges approach Cambridge, the Master
of Trinity goes out to meet them, and expresses the hope that
they will make their home at the College during their stay;
to which the Judges reply that "They are coming." The Head
of the College conducts them to the door. When it is reached,
each party bows and invites the other to go in. They go in,
and the Judges stay until the Assize is over. This ceremony
has gone on for four hundred years, and it never yet has been
settled whether the Judges have a right in the Master's house,
or only are there as guests and by courtesy. I suppose that
in the United States both sides would fight that question
until it was settled somehow. Each would say: "I am very
willing to have the other there. But I want to know whether
he has any right there." I asked about the truth of this
story. Dr. Butler said it was true and seemed, if I understood
him aright, to think the Judges' claim was a good one. Mr.
Wright, the Deputy Master, to whom I also put the question,
spoke of it with rather less respect.