The unwearied Mrs. Crewe, grieved at the fresh dejection into which
these reiterated misfortunes cast the Doctor, now started a scheme
that had more of promise than any other that could have been devised of
affording him some exhilaration. This was arranging an excursion that
would lead him to visit the scene of his birth, that of his boyhood,
and that of his education; namely, Shrewsbury, Condover, and Chester;
by prevailing with him to accompany her to Mr. Crewe’s noble ancient
mansion of Crewe Hall: a proposal so truly grateful to his feelings,
that he found it resistless.
The following account of its execution is extracted from his own
letters to the Hermits:
“The die is thrown; and I have agreed, at last, to go
down with Mrs. Crewe to the family mansion in Cheshire,
which Mr. Crewe, as well as herself, has so long pressed
me to visit. M. le President de Fronteville, a very
agreeable French gentleman, is to be of the party. But
dear Mr. Crewe, with his daughter,[48] sets off first,
to pass a condoling day or two with poor Mrs. Burke at
Beaconsfield. We are then to join at Wycomb; and thence
to Oxford; &c.
“_Crewe Hall, 2d August._
“I could not get a moment to write on the road, as we
travelled at a great rate, with Mrs. Crewe’s four horses,
followed by four post. I have now only time to name what
places we passed ere we got to old Shrewsbury, which
lies forty miles out of the right road of dear Mrs.
Crewe; who so kindly made a point of carrying me thither.
Blenheim—Shakespeare’s Stratford-upon-Avon,—where I
visited the mansion, or rather _cabane_ of our immortal
bard, now a butcher’s shop! I sate on his easy chair,
still remaining in his chimney corner; and wondered
more than ever how a man living in such a miserable
house and town, should have attained such sublime
ideas of grandeur in the most exalted situations.
Birmingham—Wolverhampton—Nufnal by the Rekin—Watling,
thought a Roman road—Lord Berwick’s—and, at five o’clock
in the afternoon, on Monday, old Shrewsbury.
“I ran away from Mrs. Crewe, who was too tired to walk
about, and played the Cicerone myself to Miss Crewe,
who has both understanding and curiosity for gaining
knowledge, and to M. de Fronteville, to whom I undertook
to shew off old Shrewsbury; of which I knew all the
streets, lanes, and parishes, as well as I did sixty
years ago.
* * * * *
“I found my way, without a single question, to the old
Town Hall, the New Town House, High Street, and Raven
Street, where I was born. And then to the Free School,
founded by Henry VIII. and endowed by his daughter Bess.
“We went up to the top of the highest tower in the
Castle, which Sir William Pulteney now inhabits. He has
repaired every one of the lofty and venerable towers in
their true ancient and Gothic style. After dinner, I laid
out _a shilling or two_ with an old bookseller, whom I
catechised about old people and old things,—but alas! of
the first, not one creature is now alive whom I remember,
or who can remember me!
* * * * *
“The next morning, Tuesday, I set off alone, at seven
o’clock, to visit the new church, St. Chad’s; which is
a very fine one but so irreverently secular, that it
would make a very handsome theatre. I then walked in that
most beautiful of all public walks, as I still believe,
in the world, called the Quarry; formed in verdant and
flower-enamelled fields, by the Severn side, with the
boldest and most lovely opposite shore imaginable.
“I found my way, also, from this walk to a new bridge,
called The Welsh Bridge; which leads to Montgomeryshire.
On the former old one there was a statue, which was
supposed to be of Llewellen, Prince of Wales; but is
now discovered to be of the Black Prince. It is well
preserved, and is not of bad sculpture. I was driven back
to the inn by the rain.
“We all adjourned to breakfast with Dr. Darwin, who is
newly married to a daughter of Mr. Wedgewood’s. They are
very intelligent, agreeable, and shrewd folks.
“In a most violent rain, nearly a storm, we left my dear
old Shrewsbury; and without being able, in such weather,
to get to my dearer old Condover.
Yet I could have found nothing there but melancholy
remembrances; all gone for whom I had cared,—or who had
cared for me!
“Crewe Hall was built in the reign of James the First,
of half Gothic, half Grecian architecture. It is the
completest mansion I ever saw of that kind; and has been
repaired and kept up in the exact costume of that period.
It is a noble house; well fitted, and well applied to
hospitality. Mr. Crewe is one of the politest men in his
own house, and one of the best landlords that I know.
“The park, in the midst of which the mansion stands, is
well wooded and planted. There is a noble piece of water
in sight of my window, nearly of the same effect as that
of Blenheim, allowing for the different magnitude of the
mansions and grounds. Mrs. Crewe has a little _ferme
ornée_, to which she sometimes retires when the house is
crowded with mixed company. ’Tis fitted up with infinite
fancy and good taste. She has established there a school
of forty girls, who are taught needle-work and reading.
The outside is built in imitation of a convent, and the
matron is called the Abbess.
“When I had passed, most agreeably, about a fortnight
at Crewe Hall, Mrs. Crewe fulfilled her kind promise
of making an excursion to Chester, knowing how much I
yearned to see again that city of my youth. Miss Crewe,
and M. le President alone made the party; which turned
out most pleasantly. I ran about Chester, the rows,
walls, cathedral, and castle, as familiarly as I could
have done fifty years ago; visited the Free School,
where I Hic, hæc, hoc’d it three or four years; and the
cathedral, where I saw and heard the first organ I ever
touched.
“From Chester, we went to Liverpool by water, on a new
canal that communicates with the river Mersey. The
passage-boat was very convenient, and the voyage very
pleasant. The sight of the shipping from the Mersey is
very striking. We put up at the Hôtel; passed all the
morning in visiting Liverpool, the docks, warehouses,
&c., which we were shewn by Mr. Walker, a rich and great
ship-broker, and an acquaintance of Mr. and Mrs. Crewe’s.
Mrs. Walker is a really elegant and agreeable woman.
“Eight Jamaica ships had come in for Mr. Walker a few
days before our arrival, by which he cleared £10,000. We
dined at his villa, two or three miles from the town,
on turtle; and afterwards went to the play, at a pretty
theatre, where the performance was good.
“We then took a little dip into a charming part of Wales,
about Wrexham, and visited Lady Cunliffe, wife of Sir
Foster, _capo di casa_ of a very old and worthy family of
my acquaintance of very many years. She is an elegant and
most pleasing woman; the house is just finished by Wyatt,
in exquisite taste; as is the furniture, &c. &c.
“At the end of a month, the President and I took leave,
reluctantly, of Crewe Hall, and set off together for
London. Mrs. Crewe made a party with us, the first day,
to Trentham Hall, the very fine place of the Marquis of
Stafford. We were very hospitably as well as elegantly
received by the Marchioness. The park, through which the
river Trent runs; the woods; the valley of Tempe; the
iron bridge over a large and clear piece of water; the
pictures, all fine in their way; and the house, lately
altered and enlarged by Wyatt: all this we saw to great
advantage, for almost all, in compliment to Mrs. and Miss
Crewe, was shewn us by the Marchioness herself.
“We thence went to Wedgewood’s famous pottery, called
Etruria, and witnessed the whole process of that
ingenious and beautiful manufactory, of which the produce
is now dispersed all over the world. Mrs. Crewe wanted to
send you a mighty pretty hand churn for your breakfast
table; but I was sure it would be broken to pieces in
the journey, and did not dare take it in charge. Here I
parted with that dear Mrs. Crewe.