1837–1843
BEING disposed beyond immediate pastoral duties to help in religious work
outside, I found ample opportunities for doing it. Sir Culling Eardley
was at that time zealous in the furtherance of village preaching. Coming
to Windsor, he offered to help us in purchasing a tent for services in
the neighbourhood. It was procured and employed, but with less success
than had attended his enterprise of the same kind in Hertfordshire. I
undertook, at his request, a fortnight’s tour in that county, and one
evening preached near a wood, where John Bunyan, in days of persecution,
addressed the neglected peasantry.
Revivalism at the period now referred to, attracted attention in England,
in part owing to the circulation of American books, and the preaching of
American divines. A great awakening occurred at Reading, Henley,
Maidenhead, and Windsor. Streams of people might be seen on dark winter
mornings, lantern in hand, on their way to the place of prayer. Chapels
were thronged, ministers were in full sympathy with each other; all
worked with a will. Looking back on the whole, I believe genuine good
was done; yet in some instances the effect was transient. Conversion was
insisted upon, and peace with God through Jesus Christ was offered; but
whether moral improvement in the details of human life was proportionally
emphasised, and practically carried out, I am not prepared to say.
Certainly, appeals respecting holiness in general were not wanting.
Rightly to adjust the balance, so as to guard against self-righteousness
on one hand, and the neglect of personal responsibility on the other,
requires vast wisdom. To induce people to look at themselves and to
Christ also, cannot be accomplished without thought and discrimination in
promiscuous gatherings. Whatever might be defects in the movement,
assuredly they did not come from artificial arrangements. No one can be
said to have “got up the thing.”
At all times in the course of our ministry “cases of conscience” occur.
One in particular I may mention. I was once sent for to visit a dying
person. The home, the people, the surroundings, excited revulsion, as
well as a determination to improve a strange opportunity. I found a
young woman on her deathbed, and another sitting by, who used phraseology
indicative of evangelical sentiment. She offered to leave the room that
the patient might unburthen her mind to me. It was obvious some secret
of guilt lay on the sufferer’s conscience. I had no wish to be a father
confessor, and pointed her to the _only One_ who can pardon sin. At last
the dying creature uttered a piercing exclamation, which seemed to me an
acknowledgment of sin. What the secret was she did not disclose.
Presently she entered “the silent land.” When I called again, I
intimated to her attendant my surprise at what she had said, for I could
not doubt that she was leading an immoral life. She frankly confessed
she had fallen into vice, after expressing a belief that she had been
converted, and _had_ been a “child of God.” The incident was affecting,
instructive, and admonitory.
Public questions interested me much, and I took part in those which
belonged to philanthropy and religion. Amongst them at the time I speak
of, negro emancipation stood foremost. From boyhood it laid hold on me.
Speeches at Norwich, by Joseph John Gurney and others, had left an
abiding impression; and when the great controversy became ripe for
settlement, I threw myself into the struggle. The excitement throughout
the nation was intense, and it laid hold chiefly of the religious section
of the British public. Missionaries had been at work amongst negroes,
and had seen the horrors of the system. The persecution of Smith, a
missionary in Demerara, who died in prison, evoked passionate sympathy;
and the appeal of Knibb, another missionary, who came over as an advocate
of emancipation, struck the nail on the head, and drove it into the
centre of this colossal wrong. Nothing is more manifest, to those who
witnessed what went on in England half a century ago for slave
emancipation, than that, however manifold the arguments employed, however
numerous the methods and agencies in motion, it was Christianity which
lay at the heart of the movement. Quakers were amongst the most zealous
co-operators in this advocacy for freedom, and I much enjoyed the
fellowship into which I was brought with followers of George Fox, early
family associations strengthening bonds of friendship between us.
Deputations went up to London to wait upon Mr. Stanley, Colonial
Secretary, afterwards Earl of Derby, and I well remember the crowd
gathered in a large room in Downing Street, to strengthen the hands of
that gentleman in his chivalrous enterprise. The history of steps which
led to the final victory it is not for me to tell in these pages, but I
may mention the third reading by the Lords of the Emancipation Bill in
August 1833. It filled multitudes with joy; and on August 1st, 1834, the
Act took effect, when a solemn celebration of the event occurred in
England, as well as the West India Islands. That day I preached at
Windsor from Jer. xl. 4:—“And now, behold, I loose thee this day from the
chains which were upon thine hand.”
In 1839 the Anti-Corn Law League took shape. I distinctly recollect the
scene presented at a great bazaar in Covent Garden Theatre, in aid of
Free Trade, when there was a wonderful gathering of notabilities and
other folks. Stalls, articles, and ornaments, were varied and imposing;
and as that exhibition appeared before the present age of bazaars was
fully inaugurated, it had a more dazzling and bewildering effect than
efforts of the kind can have now that they have become so common.
Dissenters’ grievances, too, were exciting subjects in those days.
Certain disabilities had an irritating effect on those who felt them, and
legislation was sought for their removal. No doubt, in the heat of the
conflict things were said on both sides which, on calm review, cannot be
justified; and I am in my old age more than ever convinced that union of
the _suaviter in modo_ with the _fortiter in re_, is the best method of
conducting controversy.
My holidays, whilst I was a Windsor pastor, were spent in preaching; but
there were two exceptions, when I broke ground as a tourist. Travelling
in Nottinghamshire and the neighbouring counties, I visited Newstead
Abbey with a fresh remembrance of Washington Irving’s description of the
place. I had a gossip with an old domestic, who told me stories of Lord
Byron, whom she knew as a boy, and used to carry on her back on account
of his lameness. He pricked and otherwise tormented the patient
creature, so as, on one occasion, to provoke her so much, that she boldly
ventured on a rather amusing act of retaliation. Leaning over her
shoulders to look into an old chest full of feathers, she, to use her own
words, “copped him over, and he came out for all the world just like a
young owlet.” What I then heard of his early days gave me an
unfavourable idea of that child of genius, so caressed and tormented, so
flattered and persecuted, so early thrown into unfortunate circumstances,
and altogether so badly brought up. What a contrast between two poets,
whose memories came vividly before me during this tour!—Byron and Scott,
both of them lame for life; one a stranger to the other’s purity. Years
afterwards I heard Dean Stanley preach a sermon to children, in which,
with his characteristic felicity of thought, he spoke of the contrasted
influences of physical deformity in these two instances—how the club foot
of the first was an occasion of mortified pride and ill-nature, and the
club foot of the second was borne with patience and contentment. The
story of Byron’s club foot is now treated by some I hear as a popular
delusion; but, at all events, he had something the matter with his foot
which irritated his temper and made him disagreeable. Therefore the
Dean’s moral lesson remains untouched. In connection with good humour
and kindness, a physical defect may be only a foil to set off moral
excellence.
After passing through Yorkshire, Durham, and Northumberland in company
with my dear friend Harrison, we reached Edinburgh by coach at midnight
to find ourselves in the morning amidst grand preparations for the
Queen’s first arrival in the Scottish capital. The view at noon from
Calton Hill, as the arrangements for receiving royalty had reached their
acme, was most magnificent. Princes Street, from end to end, presented
multitudes of people in holiday attire, military uniforms, tartan, kilts
and feathered bonnets, gave rich plays of colour. The crowd waited and
waited, but no Queen appeared. Night fell, and the expectants went to
bed disappointed. Next morning every one was taken by surprise, for Her
Majesty, having been detained at sea, landed at Leith, whilst the Lord
Provost was still asleep. My friend and I afterwards went to Stirling,
and identified historic points which dot the field of Bannockburn—then to
Perth, Dunkeld, Killiecrankie, and Blair Atholl.
In the course of numerous journeys I had opportunities of seeing the real
state of Nonconformity in rural districts. It was then much better than
some people suppose. There were then families of influence identified
with country places of worship, who have not left behind them sympathetic
representatives. The revival of religion in the National Church has
produced a considerable change in the relative position of ecclesiastical
parties. Sunday evening services in cathedral and parish church, and the
pastoral activity of incumbents and curates, with numerous missionary and
other organisations, have produced effects very visible in the eyes of
old people, who can look back on the religious condition of England
during the first quarter of the present century.
My first Continental tour occurred before I left Windsor. I visited a
family at Rotterdam into which a fellow-student had married, and had
pleasant insights into Dutch life. After peeps at the Hague, Leyden, and
Amsterdam, abounding in a gratification of antiquarian and historical
taste, slowly proceeding up the Rhine, I felt all the enthusiasm incident
to a young traveller as he first gazes on castle-crowned hills which line
the river. Many and many a ramble since on those romantic banks have
increased rather than diminished my admiration of the Rhine.
Friendships have through life been essential to my enjoyment, I might
almost say to my existence. Intimate acquaintance with people of
remarkable character in my Windsor days was a source of intense
gratification.
The Rev. W. Walford, for some years minister of a Congregational Church
at Yarmouth, then classical tutor at Homerton College, and finally pastor
of the old Meeting House, Uxbridge, was one of the most remarkable men I
ever knew. I see him now, with his handsome face, bald head, well-knit
form, keen eyes, compressed lips, rather tottering in gait, and brusque
in manner. What walks and talks we had! In conversation he expressed
himself with singular accuracy on theological and metaphysical subjects.
He had Butler and Jonathan Edwards at his fingers’ ends, and could pack
into a few words some of their most abstruse definitions and arguments.
He had a habit of turning round when you walked with him, and standing
face to face, when he would, in a most luminous style, state his
propositions and adduce his proofs. He read Sir William Hamilton with
immense admiration, though he did not in all respects adopt his views;
and, at a period when looseness of religious thought was becoming
prevalent, it was a treat to see him make a stand, figuratively as well
as literally, for a distinct utterance of what people believe. From no
man’s conversation have I derived more instruction and advantage. I can
never forget his reading to me, with tears in his eyes, a translation he
had made of Plato’s “Phaedo.”
One day an old gentleman called to say he was about to reside at Old
Windsor, and intended joining our worship at William Street Chapel. He
had a cheerful, lively expression of countenance, with a few short grey
locks on each side of his bald head, and showed in his gait signs of
paralytic seizure. Full of humour and kindness, he made a pleasant
impression. Thus began my friendship with Mr. Samuel Bagster of famous
Polyglot memory. Notwithstanding his lameness, he could at that time
walk from Old Windsor to our house with the aid of a stick, only asking a
helping hand at the commencement of his pedestrian attempts. Thus
started off he would steadily pursue his journey dressed in a short cloak
and wearing a very broad-brimmed hat. He was one of the chattiest, most
amusing friends I ever had. He possessed a large fund of anecdotes,
which he knew I liked; and from time to time, as I visited his house, he
doled them out with no niggard hand. He had lived on books, and books
were his delight. Many choice editions in handsome bindings lined the
walls in his rambling, quaint sort of residence, where also flowers,
gathered in his little garden, formed conspicuous ornaments. There he
would sit nursing his foot, complaining of pain in his great toe, and
would launch out for a pleasant sail over the lake of memory, and take me
from one point to another. The old books he had bought and sold, the
circumstances connected with the origin of his Polyglot and Hexapla, the
fire which occurred on his premises in Paternoster Row—these he would
narrate in a characteristic way.
He often talked about the French Revolution and events connected with it
in our own country. Clubs of a more than questionable description were
established, and he told me that, invited by a person of his own age to
attend a meeting held in an obscure street, he was surprised, on his
entrance, to find a number of men ranged on either side of a room,
sitting by long tables, with a cross one at the upper end. There sat the
president for the evening. Several foaming tankards were brought in,
when the president calling on the company to rise, took up one of the
pots, and striking off the foam which crested the porter, gave as a
toast: “So let all . . . perish.” The blank was left to be filled up as
each drinker pleased. The avowed dislike to kings entertained by these
boon companions suggested to Mr. Bagster the word “kings” or “tyrants”;
and at once he gladly left the place, not a little alarmed, lest he
should be suspected of treasonable designs. With characteristic caution,
he took care not to observe the thoroughfare through which he passed on
his way back, that he might be able conscientiously to declare he did not
know the situation of the place. He also related that his father had a
workman in his employ, whom he knew to be a disaffected subject. He
expostulated with him on the horrors of a revolution as illustrated in
France, and dwelt upon the confusion which would ensue upon outbreaks on
established order. The man lifted up the skirt of his threadbare coat
against the window, and significantly asked: “Pray, sir, what have I to
lose?” My friend was no Radical, no Whig, but a Tory of the
old-fashioned type, who approved of things as they were, without,
however, any consciousness of wishing to tyrannise over other people. He
was a great admirer of Izaak Walton, and had made a collection of
drawings illustrative of his “Compleat Angler,” of which he intended to
publish a new edition, with a life of the author. When he had completed
his “Comprehensive Bible,” which, by permission, he dedicated to George
IV., he was allowed personally to present it to His Majesty; and I have
heard him say that on that occasion he was introduced to the royal
presence by the Archbishop of Canterbury. The publisher was already
paralysed, and could walk only with a tottering step; but the Primate
gave him his arm, and led him up to the so-called first gentleman of
Europe, who received him very graciously, and accepted at his hands the
handsomely-bound volume.
There were other people I met with at Windsor whom I may mention. At the
house of Dr. Ferguson, a Scotch physician of good birth and high culture,
I met with his son-in-law, the Rev. Mr. Moultrie, Incumbent at Rugby, and
friend of Dr. Arnold. He was a man of genius and piety, and gave a
conviction of personal goodness, which made me value his volume of poems
even more than I had done before. I like to look at authors through
their books, and then again at books through their authors. In some
cases the personal damages the literary judgment; but in many cases I
have enjoyed works much more after knowing the worker.
Mr. Jesse, the naturalist, was another of my acquaintances. He held an
office in connection with royal parks and palaces, and I spent pleasant
hours as he drove me in his little pony gig from Windsor to Hampton
Court, in the restoration of which he felt great delight. An amiable
disposition, gentlemanly manners, and large information, made him an
excellent companion. From the account he gave of his early life I found
his father was a clergyman, a friend of Lady Huntingdon’s, and an
occasional preacher at Spafields Chapel. Mr. Stark, the eminent
landscape artist, was one of my hearers, a man of decided religious
convictions, and conscientious in art as in other things. He and Mr.
Bristow, the animal painter, were amongst my friends; and in Windsor
Forest they found subjects for their united skill, Stark putting in the
trees, Bristow dogs and horses.
Amongst London friends at that time, and long afterwards was John Bergne,
brother to my fellow-student Samuel Bergne, already mentioned. Clerk in
the Foreign Office, he rose to the superintendence of the Treaty
Department. Full of knowledge respecting European affairs, he often
amused me by his taciturnity whenever they came on the carpet,—abstinence
from communication of office secrets having become to him second nature.
His mind was rich with information on various subjects; and in the
science of numismatics he was well skilled. His collection of coins was
of great value, including examples of English money from the earliest
time, and valuable portions of “great finds” in Greek states. His
affluent conversation, overflowing with humour, his rapid utterance and
command of language surpassed what I have heard from many good talkers,
whom it has been my fortune to meet with during a long life.
With other remarkable persons, I became intimately acquainted after my
removal to Kensington. These I shall notice in their proper place.
In 1833 arose the Puseyite or Tractarian controversy as it was called.
Of this a full account is given by Dr. Newman, in his “Apologia”—an
account, of course, proceeding from his own point of view. The strife
both inside and outside the University of Oxford, where the masters of
the Tractarian movement lived and worked, was of the hottest kind; and
those engaged in it on both sides, under the influence of party feeling,
failed to appreciate each other’s position, and to estimate correctly the
tendencies involved. The Anglo-Catholics did not believe they were so
near Rome; the staunch Protestants did not calculate on the wonderful
effect which the controversy would have in stirring up the latent
energies of the Church, and in modifying forms of worship, even amongst
Evangelical parties. An amusing story I remember hearing when the famous
Tract, “No. 90,” was published. The then Bishop of Winchester (I think)
wished to see it, and wrote to his bookseller to forward a copy, but from
illegibility of penmanship “_No_ 90” was mistaken for “_No go_”; and the
poor bookseller, after inquiring in the Row for a pamphlet with that
title, wrote to inform his Lordship, that there was no such tract in the
market. The story ran its round, and the Evangelicals pronounced “_No._
90” “_No go_.”
Dr. Newman condensed within the space of a few years the Romeward
tendencies of Christendom during successive ages: starting with
Tractarian doctrines, it was consistent for him to become a Roman
Catholic in the sequel; and Dr. Pusey, in pausing where he did, never
explained the grounds of his practical inconsistency. I felt it my duty
to point out the unscriptural character of the Tractarian movement in a
course of lectures, afterwards published under the title of “Tractarian
Theology.”