_History of Wisbeach continued_.
Wisbeach was formerly a parliamentary borough, and that as early as the
reign of Edward I. {99} The exact time when it ceased to be so, does not
appear. That privilege was afterward restored to it under the
protectorate, but withdrawn again at the restoration, and never restored
since; while such insignificant places as Castle-Rising and others of a
similar description, still continue (absurdly and ridiculously enough, it
must be said) to enjoy that privilege. Were such paltry places
disfranchised, to make room for the admission of such as Manchester,
Birmingham, Leeds, and Sheffield, it would appear very reasonable; but as
that is not at present to be looked for, we will here dismiss the
subject.
Ever since the reign of Edward VI. Wisbeach has been a corporate town,
but of a sort most singular and whimsical, and at the same time the most
harmless that can well be thought of. Had all our corporations been like
it, there would have been, it is presumed, not much reason to complain of
them. This corporation appears to have emanated from a religious
fraternity, called the Guild of the Holy Trinity, instituted in 1379, and
possessed of estates for pious and charitable purposes. This
establishment shared the general fate of ecclesiastical foundations in
the reign of Henry VIII; but Edward VI, on his accession to the throne,
having passed an act which provided for the security of those
institutions that had been originally founded, either as grammar-schools,
for relief of poor persons, or for the maintenance of “piers, jetties,
walls, or banks against the rage of the sea, &c.” the inhabitants of
Wisbeach availed themselves of the statute, and through the solicitations
of Gooderich, bishop of Ely, were elevated into a corporation, on the 1st
of June, 1549, and invested with all the possessions of Trinity Guild,
(lying in eight different parishes, and occupied by thirty-nine tenants)
the revenues of which were then estimated at 28_l._ 2_s._ 3½_d._ but
were, undoubtedly, much greater. {100}
By king Edward’s charter the inhabitants were directed to assemble
annually, and elect _ten men_, who were to have the direction of the
_business_ of the body-corporate: yet for the first thirty six years
after the charter was obtained, they seem to have done little else than
meet, once a month in the town-hall, and, “out of mutual love and amity,”
immediately adjourn to a tavern, where having _dined_, {101} they decided
petty controversies among the inhabitants. Afterwards they proceeded
further than they were warranted by the charter: they took cognizance of
the accounts of the churchwardens, and surveyors of the highways; they
directed the application of money over which they had no right; assumed
the privilege of levying an acre-tax; and moreover, during the _plague_,
which raged here in 1588 and 1588, they summoned delinquents before them,
and punished them at their own pleasure.
On the 28th of January 1610–11, the inhabitants obtained a renewal of
their charter, at the great expence of 193_l._ 19_s._ 3_d._ They were
then constituted a body-corporate, by the style of “the Burgesses of the
town of Wisbeach;” but the right of election of the _ten men_,
thenceforward named “Capital Burgesses,” was limited to the possessors of
freeholds of the value of 40_s._ a year. From this period the said ten
_men_, as we are informed, became objects of veneration and confidence,
and were entrusted with the care of nearly all the donations for the
benefit of the poor.
On the 17th of February 1669 they obtained a _second_ renewal or
confirmation of their charter; on what occasion we cannot discover.
Their executive officer is the _Town-Bailiff_, {102} who, though a person
wholly unknown to the charter, has the entire management of the estates
and affairs of the corporation. He is not at liberty, however, to expend
more than 5_l._ at one time, without an express order of the
body-corporate.—These Capital Burgesses have no connection with the
jurisprudence of the town, her have they any degree of civil authority,
as the civil government of the town is not distinct from the general
magistracy of the Isle of Ely, in which it stands: their principal
business is to regulate the management of the revenues of the estates
bequeathed, partly for charitable, but chiefly for public purposes. The
income, of which they direct the expenditure, amounts to about 800_l._
annually; and to the credit and honour of the parties concerned, we are
told, that it appears to be not only honestly, but even wisely expended.
Part of the said sum arises from a grant made to the corporation by the
Trinity House, in 1710, of one penny per ton upon all goods exported and
imported, for the purpose of maintaining buoys and beacons, and keeping
clear the channel of the river.
Among other improvements to which their attention has been directed, was
the building of an elegant stone bridge, in the room of the old wooden
one, over the great river. This was done about 1767, at the expence of
nearly 2,300_l._ It consists of one elliptical arch, very accurately
proportioned. A new Custom-House has been also erected; and the streets
are cleaned, lighted, and watched, at their expence. Of late a new Jail
and Shire-hall have been likewise built; and when a few more improvements
are made, and especially the finishing of the circus, but few towns will
be more handsome than Wisbeach. The Theatre is a commodious buildings in
nearly a central situation. The Rose Inn, where balls and monthly
assemblies are held, is said to have been a place of public reception
from the year 1475, at which period it was known by the sign of the Horn;
and on one of the out-buildings, erected in 1601, the figure of a horn is
yet to be seen.
The trade of Wisbeach is said to have much increased of late years,
through the improved state of the drainage and navigation of the fens,
and consequent augmentation of the produce and consumption of the
country: and it would, no doubt, have increased much more, but for the
bad state of the harbour or river below. The average of the exports and
imports amounts to 40,000 tons annually. The principal articles of
traffic are coals, corn, timber, and wine. The neighbouring lands are in
high cultivation, chiefly on the grazing System. The Sheep and oxen grow
to a great size, and considerable numbers of them are fattened, and sent
twice every week to the London market. The inhabitants are employed in
commerce, there being no manufacture of any kind in the place, though the
surrounding country produces immense quantities of wool, hemp, and flax.
The market is abundantly supplied with poultry, fish, and butchers meat;
and the trade of the town is further promoted by six small fairs, for
hemp and flax, horned cattle and horses. The canal, which was completed
a few years ago, extending from Wisbeach river to the river Nene at
Outwell, and thence to the river Ouse at Salters-Lode Sluice, opened a
communication with Norfolk, Suffolk, and other counties, and has already
benefited the town considerably. {104}
The Summer Assizes, and the January and Midsummer quarter sessions for
the Isle of Ely, are held at Wisbeach; where the magistrates assemble
also every Wednesday and Saturday to settle the assize of bread, and for
other purposes. The chief Justice of the Isle, and all other magistrates
are appointed by the bishop, who is here invested with temporal as well
as spiritual jurisdiction. The education of youth at Wisbeach is
provided for by a free school, and two charity schools, supported by
voluntary contributions. The appointment of Master of the Free-School is
vested in the Capital Burgesses, with the consent of any other ten
inhabitants, having voices in the election of those Burgesses. It
appears that the Trinity Guild used to allow the Schoolmaster the annual
salary of 10_l._ 6_s._ 8_d._ and that they also distributed annually
among the poor the sum of 3_l._ 15_s._ which last sum, as Mr. Hutchesson
assures us, has been continued invariably to this day. But 3_l._ 15_s._
is now a very paltry sum, indeed, compared to what it was in the 15th and
16th centuries. Its value now is scarcely a tenth part of what it was
then. {105}
An institution which has been justly deemed creditable to Wisbeach, is
its _Literary Society_, formed in 1781, whose members sometime ago were
about thirty, and its collection of books, or library, consisted of
upwards of a thousand volumes.—Besides this institution, and some reading
societies, or book-clubs, Wisbeach can also boast of a _Philosophical
Society_, the President of which is _Mr. Wm. Skrimshire Junr._ a
gentleman much and deservedly respected among his fellow-townsmen. He is
allowed to be well qualified for the presidentship of such an
institution, from his extensive knowledge of those subjects which it is
the aim of the Society chiefly to cultivate; and in some branches of
natural history he is said to be eminently conversant. He is a native of
the town, as well as one of the most ingenious, intelligent, and
respectable of its inhabitants.
Many remarkable personages may be supposed, one time and another, to have
appeared among the natives of Wisbeach; but we shall here mention but two
of them, and those of very unequal merit.—One of them was _Dr. Henry
Southwell_, late rector of Asterby, and the reputed author of a well
known and popular Commentary on the Old and New Testament, commonly
called _Dr. Southwell’s Family Bible_; not a page of which, however, was
written by him, being absolutely unequal to such an undertaking, and but
a few degrees, if any, above an ideot. {106} But he sold his name to
some London booksellers for a certain pecuniary consideration, and they
employed one _Dr. Saunders_, a noted hackney writer, to do the work.
They also produced Letters of approbation and recommendation, addressed
to Dr. Southwell, from a great number of pretended eminent clergymen, in
different parts of the kingdom. The trick succeeded, and the credulous
public went taken in, as usual. It was, certainly, a most shameful
business, and must be contemplated by all honest men with abhorrence and
indignation: but the work brought no small gain to the publishers, for it
had, it seems, a great run; and that, with them, would sufficiently
sanctify the imposture. It is to be wished it could be said to be the
only instance of the kind that occurs in the transactions of modern
booksellers. But this is the age of imposition and humbugging, in which
not only booksellers, but even ministers of State have sometimes been too
fond of acting their parts.
The other person that shall be here named, as a native of Wisbeach, is
_Thomas Clarkson_. He too is a clergyman; but of a character so very
different from the former, that no two human beings could well be more
unlike each other. His unparalleled exertions in behalf of the oppressed
Africans, and for the abolition of the detestable _Slave-trade_, so long
the disgrace and curse of this country, must place his name very high
indeed, among the modern sons of Britain—even far above our _Burkes_, our
_Pitts_, and our _Nelsons_, as the real friend of his country and his
species, and the benefactor of the human race. Compared with such
characters, he appears as an angel of light by the side of a group of
demons. The honour of giving birth to so estimable and distinguished a
person, must justly entitle the town of Wisbeach to no small degree of
lasting celebrity. He should, certainly, be placed at the head of those
memorable and venerable instruments, who contributed to the abolishment
and annihilation of our most shameful, detestable, and horrid traffick in
human flesh and blood. But for his vigorous and unwearied efforts, the
names even of a _Fox_ and a _Wilberforce_ had never perhaps been known,
as the promoters and champions of that honourable and sacred cause. But
the virtues he displayed, and the service he performed, on that never to
be forgotten occasion, are too well known, and too frequently
acknowledged, to need any eulogy that this feeble pen is capable of
attempting. Long may he live to enjoy his well-earned fame, and to
exhibit still more widely among his contemporaries, by his future
writings, the truth and importance of those exalted principles, for which
he so nobly and so successfully contended.
The attention bestowed upon Wisbeach by _William_ I, in erecting there a
stone castle, has been already noticed. To some of our succeeding
monarchs it also appears to have been an object of partiality: we are
accordingly informed that _Richard_ I, March 28th, 1190, granted the
tenants of Wisbeach-Barton Manor an exemption or freedom from toll in all
fairs and markets throughout England. This grant was confirmed, in 1214,
by king _John_, who came to Wisbeach from Lynn in October 1216, as Dr.
Brady has proved from original records preserved in the Tower. In the
12th of Henry IV. it was renewed, and again confirmed by writ of privy
seal of Henry VI. Afterwards the privilege being forfeited, it was
restored through the exertions of _Nicholas Sandford_, who died in 1608,
and was buried in the church, where an inscription, on the brass plate
inserted in his tomb-stone, commemorates his singular bounty and
patriotism, as having, _at his own charge_, _freed the town from toll_.
After Oliver Cromwell had been appointed governor of the Isle of Ely, for
his activity in swaying it to the interest of the Parliament, he caused
fortifications to be raised near the Horse-shoe on the north side of
Wisbeach, to secure the passes out of Lincolnshire, which continued
attached to the king. The soldiers stationed to defend them were
commanded by Colonel Sir John Palgrave, and Captain William Dodson; and
the ammunition, and other warlike stores, were supplied from a Dutch
ship, which the Queen had dispatched from Holland for the use of the
royalists, but which, very seasonably and conveniently, fell into the
hands of their opponents.
In 1643 the burgesses lent 150_l._ to Captain Dodson, who was then
engaged in the siege of Croyland; and on the 25th of March 1644, they
delivered to Major John Ireton four muskets, three bandeliers, and two
swords, for the service of the Parliament. They also furnished the
latter with a loan of 250_l._ towards raising a troop of horse for the
defence of the Isle. This troop seems to have been supported even after
the Revolution, as on the 6th of June, 1690, 4_l._ were ordered to be
paid towards the expence of a horse to serve in “the Troop,” and the
town-bailiff was directed to defray a moiety of the charge for arms and
furniture.
Between the restoration and the year 1672, cities, towns, and even
individuals, were allowed to coin copper money for the convenience of
trade: the Capital Burgesses of Wisbeach, therefore, in February, 1670,
ordered the town-bailiff to expend 20_l._ in coining halfpence, with the
words “A Wisbeach Half-penny,” on one side; and on the other, the
impression of the town-seal. In 1722, the poor-house was erected, at the
expence of 2000_l._ borrowed for that purpose by the Capital Burgesses,
on their corporation seal:—for being an invisible body, (like other
bodies-corporate) whose intentions cannot be manifested or expressed by
personal acts, or oral discourse, they could act and speak only by their
common seal. {109}
The frequent journeys made by George II. to Hanover, (whither it was
supposed he transported a large share of the national treasure,) and his
attachment to Lady Kilmarnock, afterwards Countess of Yarmouth, excited
the displeasure of some of the inhabitants of this town; and the Rev.
_Thomas Whiston_, curate to Dr. Bell, preached a sermon full of asperity
against the King’s conduct. His text was from Proverbs vii, 19–22. “The
good man is not at home, he is gone a long journey, he hath taken a bag
of money with him, and will come home at the day appointed. With her
much fair speech she caused him to yield. He goeth after her
straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the
correction of the stocks.” Mr. Whiston seems to have been endued with
that talent which gives its possessor a facility in adapting the language
and circumstances of distant ages to the occurrences of modern times; of
which he gave further proof after the suppression of the rebellion in
1745, and the return of the Pretender into France, when he zealously
defended the succession of the House of Brunswick, taking for his text, 2
Kings, xix, 33. “By the way that he came, by the same shall he return,
and shall not come into this city, saith the Lord.” {110} One would
suppose this clergyman to have been in his day somewhat of an uncommon
and singular, though not apparently of a disreputable character. He was
evidently a patriot and anti-jacobite; and, unlike most of his order, he
could discern the errors and misdoings of the great, and even testify
against them in a very open and pointed manner. On the prudence and
propriety, or expediency of this part of his conduct, different persons,
no doubt, would entertain different opinions. What he would have
thought, said, or done, had he lived in the present reign, and to this
very time, it is impossible to know. Of royal journeys to Hanover, and
of female favourites, or mistresses of the sovereign, one may presume he
would have seen no cause of complaint. But that the same would have been
the case, as to all our state maxims, and public measures, and especially
our three last wars, is more, perhaps, than we are warranted to conclude;
as it seems rather probable, not to say more than probable, that Mr.
Whiston would have discovered in some, if not in all of them, no slight
cause of disgust and animadversion. How he would have stood affected
toward some of our princes of the blood, or royal dukes, and what texts,
or passages of scripture he would have applied to them, or made the
groundwork of sermons or addresses to his parishioners concerning them,
are questions that cannot now be answered or resolved.
The river Nene, being navigable from Wisbeach to Peterborough, and many
other more distant inland parts, contributes much to the commercial
importance of the former. There are also passage-boats on this river,
which prove very convenient to travellers, in their progress to, or from
the great north road.—Before we quit Wisbeach it may be here just hinted,
that some of its inhabitants have often been heard loudly congratulating
themselves, on the very superior advantages of their town, compared with
Lynn and most other boroughs, where the corporation spirit is too apt to
encroach and bear hard upon the unprivileged part of the community; but
which, happily, never haunts, molests, or disturbs the people of
Wisbeach. If that be really the case, they have, certainly, cause for
boasting; and we can do no less than hail them on the occasion.—The
population of Wisbeach, as ascertained by the late act, amounts to near
five thousand: so that it is the most populous town in the county, except
Cambridge.