SOCIAL AND PUBLIC LIFE--WRESTLING AND COCK-FIGHTING--AN EIGHTEENTH
CENTURY DEBATING CLUB.
It may be well here to take a nearer view of local life between the
years 1760 and 1800. In doing so we shall probably see two extremes of
social and political life, with rather a dead level of morality and
public spirit between them--at the one extreme an unreasoning
attachment to, and a free and easy acquiescence in, the state of things
which actually existed, with too little regard for the possibility of
improving it; and at the other extreme an unreasonable ardour in
debating broad principles of universal philanthropy, with too little
regard for their particular application to some improvable things
nearer home. Between these two extremes was comfortably located the
good old notion which looked for moral reforms to proclamations and the
Parish Beadle! As approximate types of this state of things there was
the Old Royston Club at the one extreme, and the Royston Book Club, at
least in the debating period of its existence, at the other, and
between these extremes there were some instructive measures of local
government bearing upon public morals, of which the reader will be
afforded some curious illustrations in the course of this chapter.
The Old Royston Club must have been established before 1698, for at
that time there was a list of members, but what was the common bond of
fellowship, which enabled the Club to figure so notably among the
leading people of the neighbouring counties, we are left to infer from
one or two of its rules, and the emblems by which the members were
surrounded, rather than from any documentary proof. It flourished in
an age of Clubs, of which the Fat Men's Club (five to a ton), the
Skeleton Club, the Hum-drum Club, and the Ugly Club, are given by
Addison as types in the _Spectator_. The usual form of this
institution in the Provinces was the County Club. The Royston Club
itself has been considered by some to have been the Herts. County Club,
but the County Clubs usually met in the county towns. Mr. Hale Wortham
has in his possession some silver labels, bearing the words "County
Club," said to have been handed down as part of the Royston Club
property; but on the other hand there is the direct evidence of the
contemporary account of the Club given in the _Gentleman's Magazine_,
for 1783, describing it as the Royston Club, by which title it has
always been known.
{20}
It may not have been strictly speaking a political institution, and
yet, according to the custom of the times, could never have assembled
without a toast list pledging the institutions of the country, and the
prominent men of the day.
But push round the claret,
Come, stewards, don't spare it,
With rapture you'll drink to the toast that I give!
Indeed, among some old papers placed at the writer's disposal, is this
candid expression of opinion by an old Roystonian:--"Probably the
members were strong partisans of the Stuarts; but, whatever may have
been their loyalty to the King, there is no doubt of their devotion to
Bacchus." If so, they reflected the custom of the times rather than
the weakness of their institution which could scarcely have existed for
a century, and included such a distinguished membership, without
promoting much good feeling and adding to the importance of the town in
this respect. The Club held its meetings at the Red Lion--then the
chief posting inn in the town--in two large rooms erected at the back
of the inn at the expense of the members. In the first of these two
rooms, or ante-chamber, were half-length portraits of James I. and
Charles I.; whole lengths of Charles II. and James II., and of William
and Mary, and Anne; a head of the facetious Dr. Savage, of Clothall,
"the Aristippus of the age," who was one of its most famous members,
and its first Chaplain. In the larger room were portraits of many
notable men in full wigs, and yellow, blue and pink coats of the period.
One of the rules of the Club was that the steward for the day had to
furnish the wine, or five guineas in lieu of it; and as politics went
up the wine went down, and vice versa, for, in 1760, after a
Hertfordshire election had gone wrong, and damped the ardour of the
Club, now in its old age, the attendance of members appears to have
fallen off, and the wine in the cellar had accumulated so much that no
steward was chosen for three months. By September, 1783, there
remained of claret, Madeira, port, and Lisbon, about three pipes.
There is also a reference to "venison fees," from which it appears that
the gatherings were as hospitable as the list of membership was notable
for distinguished names--Sir Edward Turner, Knight, and Speaker of the
House of Commons; Sir John Hynde Cotton, Sir Thomas Middleton, Sir
Peter Soame, Sir Charles Barrington, the Earl of Suffolk, Sir Thomas
Salisbury, of Offley, and many other men of title, besides local and
county family names not a few. Such an institution must have given to
the old town a prestige out of all proportion to what it has ever known
since. A fuller account of the Royston Club belongs, however, to a
history of Royston, rather than to these sketches.
{21}
It is more to the purpose here to note that the head-quarters of the
Old Club remained for many years after the Club itself had disappeared,
a rallying point for social and festive gatherings of a brilliant kind,
in which political distinctions were less prominent. For anything I
know, this over-ripe institution, with its old age and cellar full of
wine, may have been responsible for the following dainty _morceau_; at
any-rate it is in perfect harmony with the Club's traditions:--
"April, 1764. On Monday last at the Red Lion, at Royston, there was a
very brilliant and polite Assembly of Ladies and Gentlemen, which was
elegantly conducted. The company did not break up till six the next
morning, and would have continued longer had not a Northern Star
suddenly disappeared."
The poetical conclusion of the paragraph just quoted implies, I
suspect, a very elegant personal compliment to one of the belles of the
ball, and who should the "Northern Star" be if not my lady Hardwicke,
the first lady of that name, in whose newly acquired title the Royston
people took a pride--or at least it must have been a lady from the
Mansion on the North Road!
[Illustration: LADY IN REIGN OF GEORGE III.]
What a picture the Old Assembly Room at the Red Lion must have
presented! Ladies with gorgeous and triumphant achievements in the
matter of head dresses, hair dressing, and hair powder, and frillings,
such as young ladies of to-day never dream of; and gentlemen in their
wigs, gold lace, silken hose, buckles, and elegant but economical
pantaloons! A dazzling array of candles, artistic decorations, and
Kings and Queens looking down from the walls! "A brilliant and polite
assembly elegantly conducted." These brilliant assemblies were a
common and not unfrequent feature in our old town and district life
{22} all through the reign of George III., and more especially towards
the close of the eighteenth century. Verily, "the world went very well
then," or seems to have done, at least, so far as one half of it was
concerned. Of the other half we may get some other glimpses hereafter.
What were known during the present century as the Royston Races were a
continuation, with more or less interruption, of the old Odsey Races
established as far back as James I., and probably before that time.
The original course for these races was along the level land by the
side of the Baldock Road, near Odsey, and as time went on the course
was brought nearer the town of Royston. Until the later years of last
century the course was just beyond King James' Stables, afterwards,
from the association with the course, called the Jockey House. The
running of the "Royston" Races over a course on the west end of the
present Heath will be referred to under the head of "Sports and
Pastimes."
[Illustration: OLD JOCKEY HOUSE--KING JAMES' STABLES.]
In September, 1764, when the Odsey Races were run, the principal event
was the 100 guineas subscription purse, besides minor events of 50
guineas. That large numbers of persons attended them is evident from
what is related for that year when we learn that James Butler, a
servant of Mr. Beldam, of Royston, was, while engaged in keeping the
horses without the ropes of the course, unfortunately thrown down, and
{23} run over by several horses, by which he was so miserably bruised
that he expired next day; and on Friday the stand, which was erected
for the nobility, ladies and gentry, being overcrowded with spectators,
suddenly broke down, but luckily none of the company received any
damage. An old woman, however, who got underneath the stand to avoid
the crowd, was so much hurt that she died.
In September, 1766, at these races we read that "never was finer sport
seen," and that there was, as now, a good deal of betting connected
with race meetings, seems evident from the hint that the result of the
race was such that "the knowing ones were pretty deeply taken in."
The old Odsey Races only came once a year, in September, and other
sports were required to meet the popular taste. Cricket had hardly
taken practical shape, but representative contests did take place in
the favourite pastime of cock-fighting--or "cocking" as it was always
called in the last century--in which contests the Hertfordshire side of
the town brought its birds into the pit against those of the
Cambridgeshire side. Of this the following is a specimen under date
1767:--
"On Monday next at the Old Crown, and on Tuesday at the Talbot Inns, in
Royston, will be fought a main of cocks between gentlemen of
Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire; fourteen cocks on each side for two
guineas a battle, and ten the odd. Ten byes for each guinea."
The Red Lion also had its "assemblies and cookings as usual," on the
day of Odsey Races, from which it appears that the patrons of the races
finished up with cock fights at the inns in the town. Indeed it would
be impossible to understand the social life of the period without
taking into account the universal popularity of cock-fighting. Often
the stakes took the form of a fat hog or a fat ox, and the
technicalities of the sport read something like this:--"No one cock to
exceed the weight of 4 pounds, 10 ounces, when fairly brought to scale;
to fight in fair repute, silver weapons, and fair main hackles." On
one occasion in the year 1800 a main of cocks was fought at Newmarket
for 1,000 guineas a side, and 40 guineas for each battle, when there
was "a great deal of betting."
Another form of sport was that of throwing at cocks on Shrove Tuesday.
Badger-baiting continued in Royston occasionally till the first decade
of the present century, and was sometimes a popular sport at the
smaller public-houses on the Market Hill.
Wrestling was emphatically the most generally practised recreation, and
the charming sketches in the _Spectator_ of young men wrestling on the
village green was no mere picture from the realms of fancy. Such
scenes have been frequently witnessed on Royston Heath where the active
swain threw his opponent for a bever hat, or coloured {24} waistcoat
offered by the Squire, and for the smiles of his lady-love. Wrestling
matches were very common events between the villages of Bassingbourn (a
good wrestling centre), the Mordens, Whaddon, Melbourn and Meldreth,
but when these events came off there was generally something else
looked for besides the prize-winning. Sports in 1780 to 1800 were not
so refined and civil as those of to-day, and it was pretty well
understood that every match would end in a general fight between the
two contending villages; indeed, without this the spectators would have
come home greatly disappointed, and feeling that they had been "sold."
A favourite spot for such meetings was in a Bassingbourn field known as
the Red Marsh, on the left of the Old North Road beyond Kneesworth,
nearly opposite the footpath to Whaddon, where the Bassingbourn
men--who, when a bonâ fide contest did come off, could furnish some of
the most expert wrestlers in the district--frequently met those of the
Mordens and other villages, and many a stubborn set-to has been
witnessed there by hundreds of spectators from the surrounding
districts.
During the whole of the last half of the 18th century, bowling greens
did for the past what lawn tennis does for the present, always
excepting that the ladies were not thought of as they are now in regard
to physical recreation. There was an excellent bowling green at the
"Green Man," smooth and level as a billiard table. Earlier in the
century another bowling green was situate in Royston, Cambs., for which
Daniel Docwra was rated. The gentry had private bowling greens on
their lawns.
As to other kinds of out-door sport of a more individual kind, shooting
parties were not quite so select as at the present day, and the farmers
had good reason to complain of the young sportsmen from Cambridge.
Foulmire Mere, as it was sometimes called during the last century, was
a favourite spot for this kind of thing.
It seems that about this time the undergraduates were in the habit of
freely indulging in sport to the prejudice of the farmers, for in 1787
a petition, almost ironical in its simplicity, was advertised in the
_Cambridge Chronicle_ of that date, commencing--
"We poor farmers do most humbly beg the favour of the Cambridge
gunners, coursers and poachers (whether gentleman barbers or gyps of
colleges), to let us get home our crops, &c." In those days, and for
many years after, during the present century, there appears to have
been very little of what we now know as "shooting rights," over any
given lands, and the man or boy who could get behind an old flint-lock
with a shooting certificate went wherever he felt inclined in pursuit
of game.
{25}
The foregoing were some of the ways in which the people of Royston and
the neighbourhood took the pleasures of life, how they sought to amuse
themselves, and under what conditions. If the glimpses afforded seem
to suggest that they allowed themselves a good deal of latitude it must
not be supposed that our great grandfathers had no care whatever for
public decency, or no means of defining what was allowable in public
morals. In place of modern educating influences they could only trust
for moral restraints to proclamations and the parish beadle. Perhaps
one of the best instances of this kind of machinery for raising public
morals is afforded by the Royston parish books, and I cannot do better
than let the old chronicler speak for himself. The entries refer to
the proceedings of a joint Committee which practically governed the
town of Royston, and was elected by the parishes of Royston Herts. and
Cambs., which, as we shall see hereafter, were united for many years
for the purposes of local government.
"An Extraordinary Meeting of the Committee was held on 31st October,
1787, for the purpose of taking into consideration the Proclamation for
preventing and punishing profaneness, vice, and immorality, by order of
the Rev. Mr. Weston, present:--Daniel Lewer, Wm. Stamford, Jos. Beldam,
Wm. Nash, Wm. Seaby, Thomas Watson, Michael Phillips, Wm. Butler, and
Robt. Bunyan (chief constable).
"_Words of the Act_--No drover, horse courier, waggoner, butcher,
higlar, or their servants shall travel on a Sunday.
"Ordered that the above be prevented so far as relates to
Carriages--Punishments 21s., and for default stocks 2 hours.
"No fruit, herbs or goods of any kind shall be cried or exposed to sale
on a Sunday. N.B.--Goods forfeited.
"No shoemaker shall expose to sale upon a Sunday any boots, shoes or
slippers--3s, 4d. per pair and the value forfeited.
"Any persons offending against these Laws are to be prosecuted, except
butchers, who may sell meat till nine o'clock in the morning, at which
time all barbers' shops are to be shut up and no business to be done
after that time.
"No person without a reasonable excuse shall be absent from some place
of Divine Worship on a Sunday--1s. to the poor.
"The Constables to go about the town, and particularly the Cross, to
see that this is complied with, and if they find any number of people
assembled together, to take down their names and return them to the
Committee that they may be prosecuted.
"No inn-keeper or alehouse-keeper shall suffer anyone to continue
drinking or tippling in his house--Forfeit 10s. and disabled for 3
years.
"Ordered that the Constables go to the public-houses to see that no
tippling or drinking is done during Divine Service--and to prevent
drunkenness, &c., any time of the day.
{26}
"Persons who sell by fake weights and measures in market towns, 6s. 8d.
first offence; 13s. 4d. second offence; 20s. third, and pillory.
"Order'd that the Constables see that the weights and measures are good
and lawful."
A few years after the above bye-laws were adopted the Cambridge Mayor
and Corporation were considering the same question, and issued notices
warning persons against exposing to sale any article whatever or
keeping open their shops after 10 o'clock in the morning on Sunday.
Secular life was not so low but that it had its bright spots. Bands of
music were not so well organized or so numerous as they are to-day, but
there was much more of what may be styled chamber music in those days
than is imagined. Fiddles, bass viols, clarinets, bassoons, &c., were
used on all public occasions, and in 1786 we find that the Royston
"Musick Club" altered its night of meeting to Wednesday. That is all
there is recorded of it, but it is sufficient to show us a working
institution with its regular meetings.
The effect of the French Revolution even in remote districts in England
has been referred to, and it may be added that a good deal of the
"dangerous" sentiment of the times was associated with the name of
Paine, the "Arch-traitor" as he was called, and as an instance of how
these sentiments were sometimes received even in rural districts we
learn that in the year 1793 Paine's effigy was "drawn through the
village of Hinxton, attended by nearly all the inhabitants of the place
singing 'God Save the Queen,' 'Rule Britannia,' &c., accompanied with a
band of music. He was then hung on a gallows, shot at, and blown to
pieces with gunpowder, and burnt to ashes, and the company afterwards
spent the evening with every demonstration of loyalty." At such a time
it was easy for even some of our local men of a reforming spirit to be
misunderstood, and the name of "Jacobin" was attached to very worthy
persons in Royston who happened to entertain a little freedom of
opinion.
With the waning of the old Royston Club, another institution had sprung
up which at this time reflected the life of the place in a manner
which, while it was highly creditable to the intellectual life of the
townspeople, was, on the other hand, open to the suspicion of
representing what were called "dangerous principles" in the estimation
of those belonging to the old order. This was the Royston Dissenting
Book Club, which played an important part as a centre of mental
activity during the last quarter of the 18th and the first quarter of
the 19th centuries. The Club was an institution, the influence and
usefulness of which were felt and recognised far beyond the place of
its birth, and brought some notable men within the pale of its
activity. It was founded on the 14th December, 1761, the first
meetings being held at the Green Man, then and for many years
afterwards one of the foremost {27} inns in the town. Among the
earliest members of the Club occur the names of the Rev. Robert Wells,
Joseph Porter, John Fordham, Edward Fordham, George Fordham, Valentine
Beldam, James Beldam, John Wylde, Thomas Bailey, John Butler, Wm.
Coxall, and Edward Rutt. While the circulation of books amongst its
members was one of the primary objects of the Club--for which purpose
its existence has continued down to the present time--it was chiefly as
an intellectual forum or debating club that it is of interest here to
notice. From this point of view it fairly reflects the influential
position of the dissenting body in Royston towards the end of the last
century, and that growing tendency to the discussion of abstract
principles in national affairs which prevailed more or less from the
French Revolution to the Reform Bill, but especially during the last
few years of the last century.
In Henry Crabb Robinson's Diary, for the year 1796, there occurs this
reference to the great debates at the Club's half-yearly meetings:--
"There had been established at Royston a Book Club, and twice a year
the members of it were invited to a tea party at the largest room the
little town supplied, and a regular debate was held. In former times
this debate had been honoured by no less a man than Robert Hall. * *
To one of these meetings my brother was invited, and I as a sort of
satellite to him. There was a company of forty-four gentlemen and
forty-two ladies. The question discussed was--'Is private affection
inconsistent with universal benevolence?'" This question, it seemed,
was meant to involve the merits of Godwin's Political Justice, which
was making a stir just then, and among those who took part besides the
writer of this diary were Benjamin Flower, editor and proprietor of the
_Cambridge Intelligencer_, and also four or five ministers of the best
reputation in the place. "Yet," adds the writer, then a young man but
fluent speaker, "I obtained credit, and the solid benefit of the good
opinion of Mr. Nash." Among other names was that of George Dyer,
author of a History of Cambridge, and a biography of Mr. Robinson,
successor to Robert Hall, at Cambridge, a biography which Wordsworth
pronounced to be the best in the language.
At least on two occasions the celebrated Robert Hall, then a Baptist
minister at Cambridge, attended the Club and took a leading part in the
debates. From one of the old minute books of the Club [for a perusual
of this book I am indebted to Miss Pickering, whose father's shop in
John Street was the depôt of the Club till recent years] for the years
1786-90, I find that on two occasions the question for debate stands in
the name of Mr. Hall, and the subjects were, on the first
occasion--"Does extensive knowledge of the world tend to increase or
diminish our virtue?" and on the second occasion the subject
was--"Whether mankind are at present in a state of moral improvement."
{28} At the monthly debates it was the practice of the Club, having
debated some stated subject, to vote upon it, and enter the result in
the margin of the minute book, and many of these entries are curious
and instructive. Against the second question standing in the name of
the famous preacher, there is no such entry, but against the first, the
opinion of the forum seems to have been that an extensive knowledge of
the world tends to diminish our virtue, but it was only by a "majority
of 1" that this opinion was arrived at.
This old minute book throws some interesting light upon the
intellectual attitude of a large number of thoughtful men upon various
public questions and social problems. The majority of the entries in
the book are in the handwriting of the venerable Edward King Fordham,
the Royston banker, whose long life covered more than the whole period
selected for these sketches. The following resolution shows the _modus
operandi_ of the institution known as the forum, which was a very
general institution both in the Metropolis and in many centres in the
country--"It was unanimously agreed that a question or subject shall be
proposed for discussion or debate, every club night, as soon after
eight o'clock, as the book business is finished. The question to be
proposed on a preceding meeting, and balloted for (if required by any
member) before admitted in the list for discussion."
Then follow, through page after page of the old book, questions put
down for discussion, and in most cases the opinion arrived at. Among
the names in which questions stand are E. K. Fordham, Joseph Beldam,
senr., Wm. Nash, Elias Fordham, James Phillips, Samuel Bull, Valentine
Beldam, John Fordham (Kelshall), John Walbey, Wm. Wedd, Robert Hall,
Mr. Crabb, Mr. Tate, Richard Flower, Mr. Carver, Mr. Jameson, Mr.
Barfield. These were some of the men who figured in the intellectual
tournaments of the time. Let us glance at a few of the questions
debated and the result, and we shall get some idea of the subjects
which engaged men's attention, and what they thought upon them. The
subjects cover a great variety of matters, and frequently were as wide
apart as the poles in their nature. Here are the first two questions
debated:--
"Whether a General Enclosure will be beneficial or prejudicial to the
Nation?"
"Whether Hope or Fear be the most powerful incentive to Action?"
I venture to transcribe a few more questions at random, with the
decision of the forum upon them.
"Whether it be right for the Legislature to make Laws to punish
prophane swearing?--James Phillips.--Determined." [That is, determined
that it was right.]
{29}
"Whether free Inquiry is not upon the whole beneficial to Society
though it may be attended with some ill effects to Individuals?--E. K.
Fordham.--Determined unanimously for full inquiry."
"Whether a Candidate for Parliament ought to engage to support any
particular measures in Parliament previous to his election?--He ought."
"Whether it would be better to maintain the Poor of this Kingdom by
Charity or Rate?--By Charity."
"Whether Publick or Private Punishments are to be preferred in a Free
Country?--Publick Punishment preferred, August 27th, 1787."
"Whether a Man can or cannot be a real Christian, and at the same time
a gentleman in the World's esteem?--Joseph Beldam, senr.--Can 13,
Cannot 11."
"Whether the Art of expressing our thoughts by written characters is
not superior to any other art whatever?--John Walby."
To the above question is given the very curious answer--15 for Writing,
9 for Agriculture. Evidently there were some farmers of the old school
in the forum!
The character of the schools of the period is reflected in the
following:--
"Whether a Public or a Private Education for youth is to be
preferred?--Unan. for a private one, in favour of virtue."
"Whether the use of well-composed forms, or extempore prayer in
dissenting congregations be most agreeable to the Dignity of Religious
worship, and the general Edification?--2 for Forms, 16 for Extempore."
"Which is the greater Evil, to Educate Children _above_ or _beneath_
their probable station or Circumstances?--5 above Circumstances, 9
below."
Here we get a hundred years' old opinion that in effect it is better to
educate children above their probable station and let them take their
chance in the competition of life than to educate them below it. This
was evidently a vigorous reforming opinion for those days, considering
that Board Schools were yet nearly a hundred years off!
Fifty years even before the Reform Bill it was possible to get such an
opinion as the following upon the suffrage:--
"If we could get a Reform in Parliament would it be expedient or just
to exclude any Order of subjects from giving their vote for a
Representative in the House of Commons?--John Fordham (Kelshall).--Yeas
2, Noes 7." That is seven out of nine were in favour of universal
suffrage!
Here is an instance of the logical and discriminating faculties which
these forums called forth in such a high degree:--
"Is good sense or good nature most productive of Happiness--taking both
the Individual and Society into the Account?--Good Nature to
Individuals 13, Good Sense to ditto 8; Good Sense to Society 19, Good
Nature to ditto 1."
{30}
The foregoing answer is a very nice discrimination and involved a
"reasoning out" which is in striking contrast with most modern debates
in which the facts can be read up from various almanacks. The meaning
of it is of course that good nature between man and man and good sense
in general society are most productive of happiness.
The following is quoted of a different type:--
"Which of the three learned Professions--Law, Physic, or Divinity--has
been most useful to Society?--Law 7, Physic 1, Divinity 9."
This was rather hard upon the doctors, it must be confessed, but, then,
society had no reason to be very grateful to a class of men who in
those days dealt so largely in bleeding, blistering and purging! It
would be interesting to know what sort of a vote would be given on such
a question now. Probably it would be found that the doctors had pulled
up a bit during the last hundred years.
Here is another on the State and individual opinion:--
"Has the State a Right to take Cognizance of any Opinions whatever,
either civil, political, or religious?--A, 6; N, 12."
The following shows the financial insecurity of the times:--
"Ought country Banks to be encouraged in Great Britain"--A majority of
more than two to one were of opinion that they ought not! This was in
1791.
There were, of course, topics of a more strictly controversial kind,
bearing upon tithes, Church Establishment, Test Acts, &c., the
discussion of which was natural enough to a body constituted as the
Royston Book Club was, chiefly of Dissenting ministers and wealthy
adherents in their congregations. I have, however, quoted enough to
show that it was not merely a sectarian conventicle, but a forum for
intellectual debate in its fullest sense. Upon this point the
following three questions may be added:--
"Is there any foundation in fact for the popular Belief of Ghosts and
Apparititions [sic]?--J. Phillips.--Y, 15; n, 26."
If fifteen men of education voted for the Ghosts can we wonder at the
stronghold they had among the common people, and that it has taken the
hundred years which have elapsed to get them generally disestablished?
"Whether Old Bachelors ought to be most pitied, envied or blamed?"--No
verdict, probably the bachelors were in pretty full force and resented
the liberty implied by the question!
"Whether Good Sense, with a deficiency of Good Temper, or Good Temper
with a deficiency of Good Sense, be preferable in domestic life?--W.
Nash.--12 in favour of Good sense, 14 Good Temper."
That the debates were often characterised by considerable freedom of
thought and utterance is evident from other sources, as when the gifted
young barrister of Bury St. Edmunds (Henry Crabb Robinson) {31} by his
outspoken sentiments in one of the debates, and admitted leanings to
Godwin's philosophy, brought down the reproof from the great Robert
Hall upon his friend Mr. William Nash, for receiving the young
barrister of freedom of opinion on friendly terms into his family at
Royston. But the family of the quiet and eminently respectable country
lawyer appear to have had no cause to regret the enduring friendship of
the brilliant young conversationalist, who afterwards became an
intimate friend of Wordsworth, Southey the Laureate, and the Lake
School, with Goethe, Madame de Staël, and many other great names in the
world of letters and art, and even had the offer of the Chancellorship
of the Duchy of Sax Weimar.
At such a time, however, these debates did make a good deal of stir, in
fact "as the members were credited with holding what at that time were
called dangerous principles, their meetings used to cause a great
excitement in the place."
The peculiarity of these debates was the prevailing discussion of
general principles. The region of practical politics for many of the
coming questions was as yet almost half-a-century off, and having no
effective means of influencing many matters which did, nevertheless,
touch their daily lives very closely, they turned their attention
inwards to the mental exercise of debating abstract questions of high
philosophy and of morals.
The Book Club continued its meetings at the Green Man from 1761 until
1789, in which year it was "agreed to go to the Red Lyon," and from
that time, during the remainder of the last and the earlier years of
the present century, it continued to meet at the Red Lion, in the same
room, curiously enough, which had accommodated the old Royston Club,
and the two extremes of social and public life I have indicated, were
in turn brought under the same roof! To many of the old habitués of
the place under the older institution this use of their place of
meeting by "traitors, republicans and levellers," as they would have
called them, would have been little short of desecration, and that it
was possible for two such institutions to have existed for some time at
least side by side, can only be explained by the fact that one was an
institution reflecting the prevailing belief of the town at that time,
while the other brought together many of the county families of the old
order.
The only person living who ever attended one of the Book Club's
debates, I believe, is Mr. Henry Fordham, who can just remember
attending one meeting at the Red Lion towards the end of the Club's
debating period.
Have we degenerated since the period of this stiff and vigorous
debating of our great grandfathers? Would it be possible now to bring
together forty or fifty ladies and gentlemen all eager for debating
questions of moral philosophy, and public justice? Has the age of {32}
plain living and high thinking completely deserted our local life, and
left us comparatively high living and plain thinking instead? The
conditions of life have so greatly changed that the comparison need not
be pressed home, yet these are questions which naturally arise after a
glimpse at the old Royston Book Club.
That the education of that day was very exact is afforded by the
announcement of Mr. Jeremiah Slade, the keeper of a boarding school at
Fowlmere in 1766, which reads:--"Young gentlemen genteely boarded and
instructed in the art of true and correct spelling, and of right
pronunciation; reading English with a true emphasis, writing all the
most useful hands with accuracy and freedom and elegance; arithmetic in
all its branches in the most concise manner with its application to
trade and commerce," &c., &c.