{6} It appears from his account of the Evelyn Family, in the second
volume of the ‘History of Surrey,’ that he had read these Memoirs as long
before as 1809.
{7a} Whom he afterwards married. She was the daughter of Mr. Stevens,
of Perry Hill, Worplesdon, and lived with her aunt, Mrs. Norwood, at
Guildford. She was two years older than Mr. Bray, who was then only two
months past 19.
{7b} Mr. Flutter and his brother were Mayors of Guildford more than
once, and the name of Flutter appears twice in the list of Mayors in the
reign of Charles II.
{7c} A lad of nineteen.
{7d} Mr. Duncumb was Rector of Shere. His father had purchased the
advowson from Mr. Edward Bray, and was a connexion by marriage.
{8a} Mr. Wilpley was what was then called an Apothecary.
{8b} Mr. Emily was his cousin, their grandfathers having married the
daughters of Vincent Randyll, of Chilworth.
{9a} Jacky was Mr. Martyr’s son. He was called to the Bar, and lived at
Guildford to an advanced age.
{9b} The medical charge for the inoculation was £4 4_s._
{11} He had very little to do at Mr. Martyr’s. In the summer he was
often at the Bowling-green, and took long walks with his friends, male
and female. It was not required that any married lady should join the
walking parties.
{14a} A Hessian regiment was quartered at Guildford for some time.
Their band was a great attraction.
{14b} An attorney at Guildford. Grandfather of the Rev. John Chandler.
{14c} Being of age and out of his articles to Mr. Martyr, he went to
London, and took lodgings there. Mr. Adderley, of New Inn, received him
in his chambers for instruction in his profession, but his attendance
there was not regular.
{15a} Mr. Jenkins was in Mr. Adderley’s office, and afterwards entered
into partnership with Mr. Bray. Mr. James was also in the same office.
{15b} He went to his French master for some months, an hour at a time;
not regularly.
{16} About this time he bought many books, all at low prices, at stalls
and auctions.
{17a} Playing at cards almost every night, and always for coin, he had a
purse on purpose.
{17b} Whilst at Guildford he lodged at Baptist’s for 7_s._ a week. He
dined at the ‘White Hart,’ for 10_d._
{18} He sold this stock to pay £23. 12_s._ 6_d._ for Viner’s ‘Abridgment
of the Law.’
{20a} He visited Miss Stevens almost every day, but he was not much less
in other society than formerly, and he was seldom alone at any time of
the day or evening.
{20b} Daughters of Dr. Adee, a physician, who afterwards went to Oxford
and practised there.
{21a} He went to the morning service on Wednesdays in most weeks,
usually to the Middle Church.
{21b} Mr. Webb was Solicitor to the Treasury. This appointment is now
given to barristers.
{21c} He only paid 10_d._ for his dinners (without wine) at the ‘White
Hart’ and the ‘Tuns,’ and 6_s._ a week for his lodgings in the town.
{22a} Miss Adee and Betsy Stevens were the bridesmaids.
{22b} Mrs. C.’s was the lodging Mr. Jenkins had taken for him in
Lothbury.
{22c} He left a particular account of his expenses on his marriage. The
following are some of them:—
£ _s._ _d._
Licence 1 11 6
Pair of gloves 0 1 0
Mr. Burdett’s fee 1 1 0
The clerk 0 10 6
Mrs. Norwood’s maid 0 7 6
Middle Parish ringers 1 1 0
Dinner at Epsom 0 5 6
Chaise from Epsom to London 0 14 0
Driver and hostler 0 2 0
Two bottles of Lisbon at the ‘White Hart’ 0 3 4
For fifty oysters 0 0 7½
A pound of cheese 0 0 3½
A pound and a half of salmon 0 1 0
Paid Jenkins for the ring 0 6 6
[Jenkins got the ring and sent it to him with
a humourous letter.]
Mr. Shrubb for a tabby nightgown 7 14 0
Ear-rings and necklace 0 14 0
Coffee with Boughton at the Lincoln’s Inn 0 0 5
Coffee House (on the afternoon of his wedding)
{23a} They received friends to tea every evening this week. They lived
in a house with a garden, in which Mr. Bray planted fruit trees and
shrubs, but where it was does not appear in the Diary.
{23b} He went to the Bowling-green to play at whist in the winter, and
at howls in the summer.
{24a} He had been the first performance of Marplot by Garrick.
{24b} When he took the horse as far as Dorking it was 2_s._ 6_d._
{25a} The son of the Member for the County.
{25b} Mr. Godschall, of Weston House, Albury. An accomplished
gentleman, LL.D. of Oxford, cousin of Lady Palmerston, the mother of the
late Lord Palmerston.
{25c} Of Parkhurst, where Rousseau was his guest for some time.
{25d} Who built the Leith Hill Tower, and was buried there.
{25e} It is remarkable that a young attorney of 22 should have been
invited to the social meetings of elderly and middle-aged gentlemen of
the highest position in the neighbourhood. His grandson, the late Mr.
Edward Bray, inherited his companionable qualities, and was welcome in
every house he visited.
{26a} The Member for the County.
{26b} Of Betchworth Castle. The author of ‘The Light of Nature.’
{27a} The father of the late Sir Henry Austen. He had been articled, as
well as Mr. Bray, to Mr. Martyr. He afterwards purchased a Clerkship in
the Six Clerks’ Office in Chancery.
{27b} Mr. Bray’s marriage made little difference in his habits this
year. He was almost every night with his friends at cards or backgammon;
in the summer evenings at bowls; frequently at the morning services on
week days at the Middle Church. He had very little to do at this time in
his profession.
{28a} Mr. Lane, of East Horsley Park.
{28b} Mr. Evelyn, afterwards Sir John, then M.P. for Helstone, had
offered him an appointment at the Board of Green Cloth, which he at
first, by the wish of his wife, declined to accept; but a few days
afterwards, being better advised, he was glad to find that he could still
have it. The following note was among the Memoranda which he left of his
early life.—‘Nothing could be pleasanter than our situation at the Board
of Green Cloth. The Principals were all members of the House of Commons.
We sat in the same room, at the same green cloth table, with them, by
whom we were treated rather as associates than as clerks.’ Mr. Bray was
at first only an assistant, together with Mr. Selwyn, a barrister,
afterwards in large practice; Mr. Blenman, also of the Bar, and Mr.
Fanshawe, but they rose to be chief clerks. His usual attendance was
from 11 to 3. He took a house in Holles Street, and settled there
December 14th, but in the following year he moved to Great Russell
Street.
{29} This child died in July,
{30a} After a Royal birth caudle was given to the Clerks of the Green
Cloth and others in office at St. James’s.
{30b} Of Bury Hill, now Mr. Barclay’s.
{30c} Of the Rookery, now Mr. Fuller’s. His son, Thomas Robert Malthus,
was the great writer on Population. His youngest daughter married Mr.
Bray’s son Edward.
{31} His son Edward, who married Miss Malthus, and left a large family.
His other sons died in childhood. Mr. Bray had no collateral relations
of his name after the death of his uncle and brothers within many
generations. His ancestor, Sir Edward Bray, was the heir male of Edmund,
Lord Bray, and succeeded to the family estates; but the title descended
to Lord Bray’s daughters, and was in abeyance until obtained by the late
Baroness Bray. Mr. Bray was one of the few descendants then living of
Sir Thomas More, whose granddaughter, the daughter of Margaret Roper,
married Sir Edward Bray. His two daughters, Mary and Catherine, were not
married.
{32a} He was now getting into the society of literary men.
{32b} Afterwards Admiral Brodrick.
{32c} He had entered into partnership with his friend Mr. Jenkins, whose
chambers were in New Inn.
{32d} The Guildford Races were then in May.
{32e} Mr. Sturt was a barrister, and a relation of Mr. Bray’s. Mr.
Budgen, Mr. Talbot, and Mr. Scawen, were trustees of the charity.
{33a} A tour with Mr. Jenkins to Oxford, Bath, Gloucester, Salisbury,
Blenheim, Fonthill, Longleat, Chepstow, &c. They hired a carriage and
horses for the journey; and, in a rhyming letter to his wife, he writes:—
‘We hired from friend Bryant a very good chaise,
Intending thus travelling quite at our ease.
James was mounted behind on a fine prancing steed,
To take care of the baggage and help us if need.’
Mr. Bray wrote a particular description of Fonthill, Stourton, and other
houses visited.
{33b} Some of his intimate friends dined with him every week. The
dinner was over at 5 or 6, and he often went afterwards to a
coffee-house. He also went frequently to the theatres, and sometimes in
the summer to Vauxhall. His mornings were spent at the Board of Green
Cloth or in New Inn.
{33c} The house which Mr. Jacobson built, called ‘Lonesome,’ has been
pulled down.
{33d} Mr. Bray went to many different coffee-houses, but most frequently
to the Percy and Mundy’s. On Sundays he went for an hour to the Buffalo.
{34a} He had a house at Shere, which his mother lived in, and made a
home for him during his frequent visits, and at little expense, for
riding round in the neighbourhood he got his dinner at one house and tea
at another. To general information he could now add the gossip of St.
James’s, and he was welcome wherever he went.
{34b} He kept what he called a chaise or whisky, and two horses.
{34c} Mr. Penneck was Keeper of the Reading-room at the British Museum
and Rector of Abinger.
{35a} Betchworth Castle.
{35b} He had become acquainted with Dr. Osborn and Dr. Price on the
institution of the Equitable Assurance Office, of which he was a
director. He frequently rode with his friends, sometimes a party of six.
{35c} He wrote a most particular description of it.
{36a} Mr. Planta, Principal Librarian at the British Museum.
{36b} This was the tour that he published an account of. He rode on
horseback 1,800 miles this year.
{36c} This was a society which met at St. Paul’s Coffee House. The
subscription was five guineas a year.
{36d} This plantation sowed all the fir trees between the Windmill and
Pislake. Another plantation adjoining to the West Churt, sowed all the
ground west of the road to Cranley.
{36e} This was for his father.
{36f} For a piece of land at the top of the plantation of beeches above
Picket’s Hole.
{36g} Dr. Parr.
{37a} Distinguished Antiquaries.
{37b} Formerly Jacky.
{38} The Rev. Mr. Manning, who began the ‘History of Surrey.’
{39a} Mr. Page had bought the Manor of Cobham, and lived at Pointers.
{39b} When he was in the country he seldom dined at home unless he had
friends with him.
{39c} His partnership with Mr. Jenkins was dissolved in 1774, but
without any interruption of their friendship.
{39d} To near the end of his life he would often stop to dine, and
sometimes to sleep, at the inn at Dorking, or Guildford, instead of going
home to Shere.
{39e} His only surviving son Edward was at Harrow.
{40a} These were all eminent antiquaries.
{40b} He was one of the Trustees of the British Museum.
{40c} He was subject all his life to inflammatory disorder, and
frequently took physic.
{41a} He went to Church every Sunday, but he did not think it wrong to
use his carriage and horses, or to travel on that day. Mr. Polhill, the
Rector of Albury, used to go to church in his carriage.
{41b} Abinger Hall. Afterwards Lady Donegal’s.
{41c} Mr. Rice was lord of the Manor of Tooting.
{41d} The Eaten Bray estate was inherited by Mr. Bray’s ancestor, Sir
Edward Bray, as heir male of Lord Bray, and sold by him.
{41e} They became clients, and the family have remained among the best
clients of Mr. Bray’s firm.
{42a} Sir Joseph Mawbey was member for Surrey;made a fortune by a
distillery. Mr. Briscoe derived the manor of Epsom from his daughter.
{42b} Mr. Malthus had left the Rookery, and was living at Albury, in the
house afterwards Colonel Clive’s.
{42c} An instance of Mr. Bray’s activity.
{42d} Granville Sharp. General Oglethorpe lived for some years at
Westbrook, Godalming.
{42e} The author of ‘The Coinage of Great Britain.’
{42f} His engagements for a week.
{43a} Of Shabden, father of the Miss Fanshawes.
{43b} He had been chosen one of the Council.
{43c} One of his usual rounds of visiting.
{43d} The dinner hour in London was getting later.
{43e} Of Burford Bridge.
{44a} For the following nine days there is no entry but ‘At home.’
{44b} These eight consecutive days were spent in society. When in
London he dined every week at the ‘Crown and Anchor’ with his antiquary
friends, and often received them to dinner. He played at whist still,
but not so often.
{44c} Sir Peter Burrell married the Baroness Willoughby of Eresby, and
was made Lord Gwydir. He and his descendants were among the best clients
of Mr. Bray’s office.
{45} The thermometer fell one and a half degree below zero.
{47a} As one of the Clerks at the Board of Green Cloth he had to collect
the land tax from the Officers of State. He received £520 from Lord
Grenville for four quarters’ land tax, at 4_s._ in the pound; from the
Duke of Portland, £923.; Mr. Pitt, two quarters, £456. 15_s._; Lord
Thurlow, do., £1,425. 17_s._ 9¾_d._
{47b} Afterwards a Judge and a Baronet. He was a very frequent Sunday
visitor, as well as Mr. Baxendale.
{47c} Afterwards Dean of Ripon.
{47d} Rector of Clapham.
{48a} Father of the great builder.
{48b} Afterwards Dean of Canterbury.
{49} He was confined to the house for more than a week by a bad cold,
which was followed by inflammation in one of his eyes. The inflammation
was subdued with difficulty by the great oculist Mr. Phipps, afterwards
Sir Watken Waller. The eye affected became gradually weaker, and the
sight of it was entirely gone for some years before his death, although
exactly when he did not notice. At the beginning of the 19th century he
was 64; and his son’s attention to the business of the office in Great
Russell Street enabled him to live more at Shere, but when in London his
habits were little changed. He dined with the Antiquaries’ Club almost
every week during the season until he was 90. He did not so frequently
take his meals at the houses of his friends, but at his own table they
were always welcome, and many came.
{51} He was frequently bled according to the usual practice in those
days. He was bled the last time when he was 84.
{52a} Mr. Bray cared very little for politics, but he was not a Tory,
and would not have voted for Mr. Summer if he had not represented the
county for many years and been much respected.
{52b} Mr. Bray was within a few weeks of 90. He took no servant with
him.
{53a} After this shameful affair, neither Mr. Taylor his clerk, nor Mr.
Wigzell had any communications with Mr. Bray or his partners; but as a
mark of repentance Mrs. Wigzell left Mr. Bray’s grandson a legacy of
£100, and Mr. Taylor left £100 to the firm of Bray and Warren.
{53b} Principal Librarian at the British Museum; afterwards Sir Henry
Ellis. He was Mr. Bray’s oldest friend then living. He died in 1868 at
a very advanced age, having during his long life rendered most valuable
services to the public, and particularly by his contributions to English
history.
{53c} Mr. Higgins was employed by Mr. Bray in writing for him. His last
guest at Shere was his old friend Mr. Carlisle, one of the Secretaries of
the Antiquary Society, who came to Shere on Saturday, the 28th of
October, and remained till Monday. His grandson Reginald was with him
for a day or two every week, and played at piquette with him three days
before his death, which took place on the 21st.