In the middle of the eighteenth century England and France were
contending for empire in India and in America. For some service the
ship _Terrible_, Captain Death, was fitted out, and Thomas Paine made an
effort to sail on her. It seems, however, that he was overtaken by his
father on board, and carried home again. "From this adventure I was
happily prevented by the affectionate and moral remonstrances of a good
father, who from the habits of his life, being of the Quaker profession,
looked on me as lost." This privateer lost in an engagement one
hundred and seventy-five of its two hundred men. Thomas was then in his
seventeenth year. The effect of the paternal remonstrances, unsupported
by any congenial outlook at Thetford, soon wore off, and, on the formal
declaration of war against France (1756), he was again seized with the
longing for heroic adventure, and went to sea on the _King of Prussia_,
privateer, Captain Mendez. Of that he soon got enough, but he did not
return home.
Of Paine's adventures with the privateer there is no record. Of yet
more momentous events of his life for some years there is known nothing
beyond the barest outline. In his twentieth year he found work in London
(with Mr. Morris, stay-maker, Hanover Street, Longacre), and there
remained near two years. These were fruitful years. "As soon as I
was able I purchased a pair of globes, and attended the philosophical
lectures of Martin and Ferguson, and became afterwards acquainted with
Dr. Bevis, of the society called the Royal Society, then living in the
Temple, and an excellent astronomer."
In 1758 Paine found employment at Dover with a stay-maker named Grace.
In April, 1759, he repaired to Sandwich, Kent, where he established
himself as a master stay-maker. There is a tradition at Sandwich that he
collected a congregation in his room in the market-place, and preached
to them "as an independent, or a Methodist" Here, at twenty-two, he
married Mary Lambert. She was an orphan and a waiting-woman to Mrs.
Richard Solly, wife of a woollen-draper in Sandwich. The Rev. Horace
Gilder, Rector of St. Peter's, Sandwich, has kindly referred to the
register, and finds the entry: "Thomas Pain, of the parish of St.
Peters, in the town of Sandwich, in Kent, bachelor, and Mary Lambert, of
the same parish, spinster, were married in this church, by licence, this
27th day of Sept., 1759, by me William Bunce, Rector." Signed "Thomas
Pain, Mary Lambert In the presence of Thomas Taylor, Maria Solly, John
Joslin."
The young couple began housekeeping on Dolphin Key, but Paine's business
did not thrive, and he went to Margate. There, in 1760, his wife died,
Paine then concluded to abandon the stay-making business. His wife's
father had once been an exciseman. Paine resolved to prepare himself
for that office, and corresponded with his father on the subject. The
project found favor, and Paine, after passing some months of study in
London, returned to Thetford in July, 1761. Here, while acting as a
supernumerary officer of excise, he continued his studies, and enjoyed
the friendship of Mr. Cock-sedge, the Recorder of Thetford. On 1
December, 1762, he was appointed to guage brewers' casks at Grantham. On
8 August, 1764, he was set to watch smugglers at Alford.
Thus Thomas Paine, in his twenty-fifth year, was engaged in executing
Excise Acts, whose application to America prepared the way for
independence. Under pressure of two great hungers--for bread, for
science--the young exciseman took little interest in politics. "I had
no disposition for what is called politics. It presented to my mind
no other idea than is contained in the word jockey-ship." The excise,
though a Whig measure, was odious to the people, and smuggling was
regarded as not only venial but clever. Within two years after an excise
of L1 per gallon was laid on spirits (1746), twelve thousand persons
were convicted for offences against the Act, which then became a dead
letter. Paine's post at Alford was a dangerous one. The exciseman who
pounced on a party of smugglers got a special reward, but he risked
his life. The salary was only fifty pounds, the promotions few, and the
excise service had fallen into usages of negligence and corruption to
which Paine was the first to call public attention. "After tax, charity,
and fitting expenses are deducted, there remains very little more than
forty-six pounds; and the expenses of housekeeping in many places cannot
be brought under fourteen pounds a year, besides the purchase at first,
and the hazard of life, which reduces it to thirty-two pounds per annum,
or one shilling and ninepence farthing per day."
It is hardly wonderful that Paine with his globes and scientific books
should on one occasion have fallen in with the common practice of
excisemen called "stamping,"--that is, setting down surveys of work on
his books, at home, without always actually travelling to the traders'
premises and examining specimens. These detective rounds were generally
offensive to the warehouse people so visited, and the scrutiny had
become somewhat formal. For this case of "stamping," frankly confessed,
Paine was discharged from office, 27 August, 1765.*
* I am indebted to Mr. G. J. Holyoake for documents that
shed full light on an incident which Oldys has carefully
left in the half-light congenial to his insinuations. The
minute of the Board of Excise, dated 27 August, 1765, is as
follows:
"Thomas Paine, officer of Alford (Lincolnshire), Grantham collection,
having on July 11th stamped the whole ride, as appears by the specimens
not being signed in any part thereof, though proper entry was shown in
journal, and the victuallers stocks drawn down in his books as if the
same had been surveyed that day, as by William Swallow, Supervisor's
letter of 3rd instant, and the collector's report thereon, also by
the said Paine's own confession of the 13th instant, ordered to be
discharged; that Robert Peat, dropped malt assistant in Lynn collection,
succeed him."
The following is Paine's petition for restoration:
"London, July 3, 1766. Honourable Sirs,--In humble obedience to your
honours' letter of discharge hearing date August 29, 1765, I delivered
up my commission and since that time have given you no trouble. I
confess the justice of your honours' displeasure and humbly beg to add
my thanks for the candour and lenity with which you at that unfortunate
time indulged me. And though the nature of the report and my own
confession cut off all expectations of enjoying your honours' favour
then, yet I humbly hope it has not finally excluded me therefrom, upon
which hope I humbly presume to entreat your honours to restore me.
The time I enjoyed my former commission was short and unfortunate--an
officer only a single year. No complaint of the least dishonesty or
intemperance ever appeared against me; and, if I am so happy as to
succeed in this, my humble petition, I will endeavour that my future
conduct shall as much engage your honours' approbation as my former
has merited your displeasure. I am, your honours' most dutiful humble
servant, Thomas Paine."
Board's minute: "July 4, 1766. Ordered that he be restored on a proper
vacancy."
Mr. S. F. Dun, for thirty-three years an officer of excise, discovered
the facts connected with Paine's discharge, and also saw Paine's letter
and entry books. In a letter before me he says: "I consider Mr. Paine's
restoration as creditable to him as to the then Board of Excise."
After Paine's dismission he supported himself as a journeyman with
Mr. Gudgeon, a stay-maker of Diss, Norfolk, where he is said to have
frequently quarrelled with his fellow-workmen. To be cast back on the
odious work, to be discharged and penniless at twenty-eight, could
hardly soothe the poor man's temper, and I suppose he did not remain
long at Diss. He is traceable in 1766 in Lincolnshire, by his casual
mention of the date in connection with an incident related in his
fragment on "Forgetfulness." He was on a visit at the house of a widow
lady in a village of the Lincolnshire fens, and as they were walking in
the garden, in the summer evening, they beheld at some distance a white
figure moving. He quitted Mrs. E. and pursued the figure, and when he
at length reached out his hand, "the idea struck me," he says, "will my
hand pass through the air, or shall I feel anything?" It proved to be
a love-distracted maiden who, on hearing of the marriage of one she
supposed her lover, meant to drown herself in a neighboring pond.
That Thomas Paine should sue for an office worth, beyond its
expenses, thirty-two pounds, argues not merely penury, but an amazing
unconsciousness, in his twenty-ninth year, of his powers. In London,
for some months there stood between him and starvation only a salary of
twenty-five pounds, given him by a Mr. Noble for teaching English in his
academy in Goodman's Fields. This was the year 1766, for though Paine
was restored to the excise on July 11th of this year no place was found
for him. In January, 1767, he was employed by Mr. Gardiner in his school
at Kensington. Rickman and others have assigned to this time Paine's
attendance of lectures at the Royal Society, which I have however
connected with his twentieth year. He certainly could not have afforded
globes during this pauperized year 1766. In reply to Rickman's allusion
to the lowly situations he had been in at this time, Paine remarked:
"Here I derived considerable information; indeed I have seldom passed
five minutes of my life, however circumstanced, in which I did not
acquire some knowledge."
According to Oldys he remained in the school at Kensington but three
months. "His desire of preaching now returned on him," says the same
author, "but applying to his old master for a certificate of his
qualifications, to the bishop of London, Mr. Noble told his former
usher, that since he was only an English scholar he could not recommend
him as a proper candidate for ordination in the church." It would thus
appear that Paine had not parted from his employer in Goodman's Fields
in any unpleasant way. Of his relation with his pupils only one trace
remains--a letter in which he introduces one of them to General Knox,
September 17, 1783: "Old friend, I just take the opportunity of sending
my respects to you by Mr. Darby, a gentleman who was formerly a pupil of
mine in England."
Oldys says that Paine, "without regular orders," preached in Moorfields
and elsewhere in England, "as he was urged by his necessities or
directed by his spirit." Although Paine's friendly biographers have
omitted this preaching episode, it is too creditable to Paine's standing
with the teacher with whom he had served a year for Oldys to have
invented it. It is droll to think that the Church of England should ever
have had an offer of Thomas Paine's services. The Quakerism in which he
had been nurtured had never been formally adopted by him, and it offered
no opportunities for the impulse to preach which seems to mark a phase
in the life of every active English brain.
On May 15, 1767, Paine was appointed excise officer at Grampound,
Cornwall, but "prayed leave to wait another vacancy." On February 19,
1768, he was appointed officer at Lewes, Sussex, whither, after a brief
visit to Thetford, he repaired.
Not very unlike the old Norfolk borough in which Paine was born was
Lewes, and with even literally an Ouse flowing through it Here also
marched the "Heathen Men," who have left only the legend of a wounded
son of Harold nursed into health by a Christian maiden. The ruined
castle commands a grander landscape than the height of Thetford, and
much the same historic views. Seven centuries before Paine opened his
office in Lewes came Harold's son, possibly to take charge of the excise
as established by Edward the Confessor, just deceased.
"Paine" was an historic name in Lewes also. In 1688 two French refugees,
William and Aaron Paine, came to the ancient town, and found there as
much religious persecution as in France. It was directed chiefly against
the Quakers. But when Thomas Paine went to dwell there the Quakers
and the "powers that be" had reached a _modus vivendi_, and the new
exciseman fixed his abode with a venerable Friend, Samuel Ollive,
a tobacconist. The house then adjoined a Quaker meetinghouse, now a
Unitarian chapel. It is a quaint house, always known and described as
"the house with the monkey on it." The projecting roof is supported by
a female nondescript rather more human than anthropoid. I was politely
shown through the house by its occupant, Mr. Champion, and observed in
the cellar traces of Samuel Ollive's--afterward Paine's--tobacco mill.
The best room upstairs long bore on its wall "Tom Paine's study." The
plaster has now flaked off, but the proprietor, Mr. Alfred Hammond, told
me that he remembers it there in 1840. Not far from the house is the old
mansion of the Shelleys,--still called "The Shelleys,"--ancestors of a
poet born with the "Rights of Man," and a child of Paine's revolution.
And--such are the moral zones and poles in every English town--here in
the graveyard of Jireh Chapel--is the tomb of William Huntington S. S.
[Sinner Saved] bearing this epitaph:
"Here lies the Coalheaver, beloved of God, but abhorred of men: the
omniscient Judge, at the grand assize, shall ratify and confirm that to
the confusion of many thousands; for England and its metropolis shall
know that there hath been a prophet among them. W. H: S. S."
While Paine was at Lewes this Hunt _alias_ Huntington was a pious tramp
in that part of England, well known to the police. Yet in his rubbish
there is one realistic story of tramp-life which incidentally portrays
an exciseman of the time. Huntington (born 1744), one of the eleven
children of a day-laborer earning from seven to nine shillings a week in
Kent, was sent by some friends to an infant school.
"And here I remember to have heard my mistress reprove me for something
wrong, telling me that God Almighty took notice of children's sins. It
stuck to my conscience a great while; and who this God Almighty could be
I could not conjecture; and how he could know my sins without asking
my mother I could not conceive. At that time there was a person named
Godfrey, an exciseman in the town, a man of a stern and hard-favoured
countenance, whom I took notice of for having a stick covered with
figures, and an ink-bottle hanging at the button-hole of his coat. I
imagined that man to be employed by God Almighty to take notice,
and keep an account of children's sins; and once I got into the
market-house, and watched him very narrowly, and found that he was
always in a hurry by his walking so fast; and I thought he had need
to hurry, as he must have a deal to do to find out all the sins of
children. I watched him out of one shop into another, all about the
town, and from that time eyed him as a most formidable being, and the
greatest enemy I had in all the world."
To the shopkeepers this exciseman was really an adversary and an
accuser, and one can well believe that his very physiognomy would be
affected by such work, and the chronic consciousness of being unwelcome.
We may picture Paine among the producers of Lewes--with but four or five
thousand people, then a notorious seat of smugglers--with his stick and
ink-bottle; his face prematurely aged, and gathering the lines and
the keen look which mask for casual eyes the fundamental candor and
kindliness of his face.
Paine's surveys extended to Brighton; the brilliant city of our time
being then a small fishing-town known as Brighthelmston. It was scarce
ten miles distant, and had no magistrates, offenders being taken to
Lewes. There was a good deal of religious excitement in the neighborhood
about the time Paine went there to reside, owing to the preaching of
Rev. George Whitefield, chaplain of Lady Huntingdon, at a chapel
built by her ladyship at Brighthelmston. Lady Huntingdon already had a
quasi-miraculous fame which in Catholic times would have caused her
to be honored as St. Selina. In those days a pious countess was more
miraculous than the dream that foretold about Lady Huntingdon's coming.
Surrounded by crowds, she had to send for her chaplain, Whitefield,
who preached in a field till a chapel was built. At the time when Lady
Huntingdon was exhorting the poor villagers of Brighton, two relatives
of hers, Governor Shirley of Massachusetts and his aide-de-camp Colonel
George Washington, were preparing the way for the great events in which
Paine was to bear a part.
When Paine went on his survey he might have observed the Washington
motto, possibly a trace of the pious countess, which long remained on a
house in Brighton: _Exitus acta probat_. There was an ancient Washington
who fought at the battle of Lewes; but probably if our exciseman ever
thought of any Washington at all it was of the anomalous Colonel in
Virginia founding a colonial association to disuse excisable articles
imported from England. But if such transatlantic phenomena, or the
preaching of Whitefield in the neighborhood, concerned Paine at all,
no trace of their impression is now discoverable. And if there were any
protest in him at that time, when the English government had reached
its nadir of corruption, it cannot be heard. He appears to have been
conventionally patriotic, and was regarded as the Lewes laureate. He
wrote an election song for the Whig candidate at New Shoreham, for which
the said candidate, (Rumbold by name) paid him three guineas; and he
wrote a song on the death of General Wolfe, which, when published some
years later, was set to music, and enjoyed popularity in the Anacreontic
and other societies. While Britannia mourns for her Wolfe, the sire
of the gods sends his messengers to console "the disconsolate dame,"
assuring her that her hero is not dead but summoned to lead "the armies
above" against the proud giants marching against Heaven.
The ballad recalls Paine the _paien_, but the Thetford Quaker is not
apparent. And, indeed, there are various indications about this time
that some reaction had set in after the preaching phase.
"Such was his enterprise on the water," says Oldys, "and his intrepidity
on the ice that he became known by the appellation of _Commodore_"
William Carver (MS.) says he was at this time "tall and slim, about five
feet eight inches."
At Lewes, where the traditions concerning Paine are strong, I met Miss
Rickman, a descendant of Thomas "Clio" Rickman--the name Clio, under
which his musical contributions to the Revolution were published, having
become part of his name. Rickman was a youth in the Lewes of Paine's
time, and afterwards his devoted friend. His enthusiasm was represented
in children successively named Paine, Washington, Franklin, Rousseau,
Petrarch, Volney. Rickman gives an account of Paine at Lewes:
"In this place he lived several years in habits of intimacy with a
very respectable, sensible, and convivial set of acquaintance, who were
entertained with his witty sallies and informed by his more serious
conversations. In politics he was at this time a Whig, and notorious
for that quality which has been defined perseverance in a good cause
and obstinacy in a bad one. He was tenacious of his opinions, which
were bold, acute, and independent, and which he maintained with ardour,
elegance, and argument. At this period, at Lewes, the White Hart evening
club was the resort of a social and intelligent circle who, out of fun,
seeing that disputes often ran very warm and high, frequently had what
they called the 'Headstrong Book.' This was no other than an old Greek
Homer which was sent the morning after a debate vehemently maintained,
to the most obstinate haranguer in the Club: this book had the following
title, as implying that Mr. Paine the best deserved and the most
frequently obtained it: 'The Headstrong Book, or Original Book of
Obstinacy.' Written by -------- ------ of Lewes, in Sussex, and Revised
and Corrected by Thomas Paine.
"'Immortal Paine, while mighty reasoners jar, We crown thee General of
the Headstrong War; Thy logic vanquish'd error, and thy mind No bounds
but those of right and truth confined. Thy soul of fire must sure ascend
the sky, Immortal Paine, thy fame can never die; For men like thee their
names must ever save From the black edicts of the tyrant grave.'
"My friend Mr. Lee, of Lewes, in communicating this to me in September,
1810, said: 'This was manufactured nearly forty years ago, as applicable
to Mr. Paine, and I believe you will allow, however indifferent
the manner, that I did not very erroneously anticipate his future
celebrity.'"
It was probably to amuse the club at the White Hart, an ancient tavern,
that Paine wrote his humorous poems.
On the 26 March, 1771, Paine married Elizabeth, daughter of Samuel
Ollive, with whom he had lodged. This respected citizen had died
in July, 1769, leaving in Lewes a widow and one daughter in poor
circumstances. Paine then took up his abode elsewhere, but in the
following year he joined the Ollives in opening a shop, and the
tobacco-mill went on as before. His motive was probably compassion, but
it brought him into nearer acquaintance with the widow and her daughter.
Elizabeth is said to have been pretty, and, being of Quaker parentage,
she was no doubt fairly educated. She was ten years younger than Paine,
and he was her hero. They were married in St. Michael's Church, Lewes,
on the 26th of March, 1771, by Robert Austen, curate, the witnesses
being Henry Verrall and Thomas Ollive, the lady's brother.
Oldys is constrained to give Paine's ability recognition. "He had risen
by superior energy, more than by greater honesty, to be a chief among
the excisemen." They needed a spokesman at that time, being united in an
appeal to Parliament to raise their salaries, and a sum of money, raised
to prosecute the matter, was confided to Paine. In 1772 he prepared the
document, which was printed, but not published until 1793.* Concerning
the plea for the excisemen it need only be said that it is as clear and
complete as any lawyer could make it. There was, of course, no room for
originality in the simple task of showing that the ill-paid service must
be badly done, but the style is remarkable for simplicity and force.
Paine put much time and pains into this composition, and passed the
whole winter of 1772-3 trying to influence members of Parliament and
others in favor of his cause. "A rebellion of the excisemen," says
Oldys, "who seldom have the populace on their side, was not much feared
by their superiors." Paine's pamphlet and two further leaflets of his
were printed. The best result of his pamphlet was to secure him an
acquaintance with Oliver Goldsmith, to whom he addressed the following
letter:
* The document was revived as a pamphlet, though its subject
was no longer of interest, at a time when Paine's political
writings were under prosecution, and to afford a vehicle for
an "introduction," which gives a graphic account of Paine's
services in the United States. On a copy of this London
edition (1793) before me, one of a number of Paine's early
pamphlets bearing marks of his contemporary English editor,
is written with pencil: "With a preface (Qy. J. Barlow)."
From this, and some characteristics of the composition, I
have no doubt that the vigorous introduction was Barlow's.
The production is entitled, "The Case of the Officers of
Excise; with remarks on the qualifications of Officers;
and of the numerous evils arising to the Revenue, from the
insufficiency of the present salary. Humbly addressed to the
Hon. and Right Hon. Members of both Houses of Parliament."
"Honored Sir,--Herewith I present you with the Case of the Officers of
Excise. A compliment of this kind from an entire stranger may appear
somewhat singular, but the following reasons and information will, I
presume, sufficiently apologize. I act myself in the humble station of
an officer of excise, though somewhat differently circumstanced to what
many of them are, and have been the principal promoter of a plan
for applying to Parliament this session for an increase of salary. A
petition for this purpose has been circulated through every part of the
kingdom, and signed by all the officers therein. A subscription of
three shillings per officer is raised, amounting to upwards of L500,
for supporting the expenses. The excise officers, in all cities and
corporate towns, have obtained letters of recommendation from the
electors to the members in their behalf, many or most of whom have
promised their support. The enclosed case we have presented to most of
the members, and shall to all, before the petition appear in the
House. The memorial before you met with so much approbation while in
manuscript, that I was advised to print 4000 copies; 3000 of which were
subscribed for the officers in general, and the remaining 1000 reserved
for presents. Since the delivering them I have received so many letters
of thanks and approbation for the performance, that were I not rather
singularly modest, I should insensibly become a little vain. The
literary fame of Dr. Goldsmith has induced me to present one to him,
such as it is. It is my first and only attempt, and even now I should
not have undertaken it, had I not been particularly applied to by some
of my superiors in office. I have some few questions to trouble Dr.
Goldsmith with, and should esteem his company for an hour or two, to
partake of a bottle of wine, or any thing else, and apologize for this
trouble, as a singular favour conferred on His unknown
"Humble servant and admirer,
"Thomas Paine.
"Excise Coffee House,
"Broad Street, Dec. 21, 1772.
"P. S. Shall take the liberty of waiting on you in a day or two."'
* Goldsmith responded to Paine's desire for his acquaintance.
I think Paine may be identified as the friend to whom
Goldsmith, shortly before his death, gave the epitaph first
printed in Paine's Pennsylvania Magaritu, January, 1775,
beginning,
"Here Whitefoord reclines, and deny it who can,
Though he merrily lived he is now a grave man."
In giving it Goldsmith said, "It will be of no use to me
where I am going."
I am indebted for these records to the Secretary of Inland
Revenue, England, and to my friend, Charles Macrae, who
obtained them for me.
To one who reads Paine's argument, it appears wonderful that a man of
such ability should, at the age of thirty-five, have had his horizon
filled with such a cause as that of the underpaid excisemen, Unable to
get the matter before Parliament, he went back to his tobacco-mill in
Lewes, and it seemed to him like the crack of doom when, 8 April, 1774,
he was dismissed from the excise. The cause of Paine's second dismission
from the excise being ascribed by his first biographer (Oldys) to
his dealing in smuggled tobacco, without contradiction by Paine, his
admirers have been misled into a kind of apology for him on account of
the prevalence of the custom. But I have before me the minutes of
the Board concerning Paine, and there is no hint whatever of any such
accusation. The order of discharge from Lewes is as follows:
"Friday 8th April 1774. Thomas Pain, Officer of Lewes 4th O. Ride Sussex
Collection having quitted his Business, without obtaining the Board's
Leave for so doing, and being gone off on Account of the Debts which he
hath contracted, as by Letter of the 6th instant from Edward Clifford,
Supervisor, and the said Pain having been once before Discharged,
Ordered that he be again discharged."
In Paine's absence in London, writing his pleas for the excisemen,
laboring with members of Parliament, his tobacco-mill had been still,
his groceries unsold, and his wife and her mother had been supported
from the bank of flattering hope. No sooner was it known that the
hope of an increased salary for the exciseman had failed than he found
himself in danger of arrest for debt. It was on this account that he
left Lewes for a time, but it was only that he might take steps to
make over all of his possessions to his creditors. This was done. The
following placard appeared:
"To be sold by auction, on Thursday the 14th of April, and following
day, all the household furniture, stock in trade and other effects of
Thomas Pain, grocer and tobacconist, near the West Gate, in Lewes:
Also a horse tobacco and snuff mill, with all the utensils for
cutting tobacco and grinding off snuff; and two unopened crates of
cream-coloured stone ware."
This sale was announced by one Whitfield, grocer, and if there were
other creditors they were no doubt paid by the results, for Paine had
no difficulty in returning to Lewes. He once more had to petition
the Board, which shortly before had commended his assiduity. Its
commissioner, George Lewis Scott, labored in his behalf. In vain.
Whether it was because it was a rule that a second discharge should be
final, or that his failure to move Parliament had made him a scapegoat
for the disappointed excisemen, his petition was rejected. At
thirty-seven Paine found himself penniless.