[Illustration: ~Robert North, Esq. of Scarborough.~]
This portrait, copied from a picture at Scarborough by Mr. Baynes, jun.
and not before engraven, is of a very worthy person, whose
eccentricities in well doing rendered him in some degree remarkable. Mr.
Robert North, whom it represents, was born at that place, of which his
father was vicar, on the second of November, 1702. His education was
liberal. After completing his studies at one of the universities he
visited the continent, and was distinguished for refinement of manners
and exemplary benevolence and piety. In the latter part of his life he
sought retirement, and seldom went abroad except to the church, which he
regularly attended on every occasion when service was performed. He
generally appeared absorbed in meditation, and was accustomed to make
ejaculatory prayers, or fervent aspirations, as he walked. Once in every
year he had a sort of gala-day for the entertainment of his female
friends, whom he charmed by his polite attention and pleasing
conversation. With the next morning he resumed his usual seclusion for
the ensuing twelvemonth. He lived many years in full expectation of the
commencement of the millennium.
But that which has given celebrity to the name of the late “Robert
North, Esq.” at Scarborough is the founding, in the year 1728, of a very
useful institution, called “The Amicable Society,” for clothing and
educating the children of the poor; which under the government of a
president, four trustees, and four wardens, annually elected, with a
fund for its support, arising from the weekly subscriptions of the
members, collections made in the church, and other voluntary donations,
continues to flourish. The number of children thus clothed and educated,
now in the school, is sixty, and the number of members two hundred and
sixty-five.
This institution has preserved many children from the contagion of evil
example, and enabled them to follow useful occupations in life with
credit and advantage. Several, who, by their early education at this
seminary, attained a competent knowledge of navigation, became mates and
commanders of vessels, and eventually benefactors and patrons of the
institution.
The exact day of Mr. North’s death does not appear; but his interment is
dated in the parish-register of Scarborough, 14th October, 1760.
Mr. North, by a singular codicil to his will, gives one pair of his
silver candlesticks to the celebrated Dr. Young, author of the poem on
the Last Day, &c.; and the other pair to the Rev. James Hervey, author
of the Meditations among the Tombs, &c. “I call these,” he says, “in
some measure legacies to the public, having given them to persons so
well able to employ them for the benefit of mankind.”
The other legacies by this codicil are usually in themselves remarkable,
and all the bequests are accompanied by remarks, which denote the
peculiar character of the donor’s disposition: for example--“To the lady
Lowther, of Swillington, _a curious basket made of beads, the product of
the virgin amusements of my grandmother_--and her two sisters--it
seeming highly proper to present a thing, which has gained the applause
of most people, to a person who I hope has gained the applause of all.
To Mrs. Philadelphia Boycott, my Kerry seal set in gold, with _Mr.
Addison’s head_ engraven on it--which will be very fitly deposited in
the hands of a lady, whose letters are much celebrated for their wit
and humour. In pursuance of an old promise, to Mrs. Barbara Tatton _a
picture in needlework_, which was likewise _made at the leisure hours of
my aforesaid grandmother and her sisters_, and which I _suppose_ to have
been designed for king Charles II.--the subject of which may perhaps
sometimes engage her to reflect on this great truth, that the finest
wit, if it deviate from the paths of virtue, is but a more elegant sort
of folly. To Mrs. Christiana Hargrave, _spinster_, my silver coffee-pot,
silver tea-pot, the silver stands for them, and my silver tea-canisters,
milk-pot, and tea-spoons--being all of them baubles of some dignity and
importance, even to women of sense, when in complaisance to the customs
of an inconsiderate age they condescend to trifle. To the Rev. Thomas
Adam,[482] rector of Wintringham in Lincolnshire, my mahogany bureau and
bookcase--which may serve as a cabinet in which to reposit his
manuscripts, till he may think it proper to make a cabinet of the world.
In pursuance of an old promise to Mrs. Susannah Adam, his wife, my gold
snuff-box--but if the contents of it prejudice her constitution, I hope
she will upon this occasion follow the example of many fine ladies, who
have many fine things which they never use. My silver cup and best
silver tankard to Barnabas Legard, of Brompton, county of York, Esq., a
person qualified by experience to teach our fine gentlemen a truth,
which perhaps many of them will be surprised to hear--that temperance is
the most delicious and refined luxury. To ensign William Massey, (my
godson,) son of the late Capt. John Massey, of Hull, my sword; and hope
he will, if ever occasion require it, convince a rash world that he has
learned to obey his God as well as his general, and that he entertains
too true a sense of honour ever to admit any thing into the character of
a good soldier, which is inconsistent with the duty of a good
Christian.[483] I give the sum of forty pounds, to be paid into the
king’s exchequer.--I give thirty pounds to be added to the common stock
of our East India company--which two last legacies I leave, as the best
method I know, though not an exact one, of making restitution for the
injustice I may have done, in buying (inadvertently) any uncustomed
goods; and which I hope will be accepted by the great Judge of all men,
in case I do not meet with a better before I die.--I give the sum of one
hundred pounds to the person who shall within four years after my
decease _make_ and publish the _best tragedy_, entitled _Virtue
Triumphant_--wherein among such others, as the poet shall think proper
to introduce, shall be drawn the character of a virtuous man unconquered
by misfortunes, &c. I give the sum of one hundred pounds to the person
who shall, within four years after my decease, _make_ and publish the
_best comedy_; wherein--among such others as the poet shall think proper
to introduce--shall be drawn the four following characters, viz. of a
fine gentleman, a fine lady, a beau, and a coquet; the two first to be
drawn with a thorough taste for religion and virtue, accompanied with
fine sense and humour, and to be crowned with success; the two last with
the fopperies and follies common to persons of these denominations, and
to be made objects of contempt and ridicule,” &c.[484]