SECTION XI.

_Biographical Sketches

continued—Littel—Pyle—Hepburn—Rastrick—Browne—Keene—&c._

9. _Thomas Littel_, _D.D._ He is supposed to have settled here, as one

of our officiating clergy, pretty soon after the revolution; but whether

as vicar and principal minister of the town, or as Lecturer, or in an

inferior station as the Vicar’s curate, we cannot positively say. It is

certain however that he soon succeeded as vicar or chief minister of the

town, and continued in that situation for a great many years. Though a

Doctor in Divinity, he is supposed not to have stood high among his

brethren and contemporaries as a scholar, a preacher, or as a divine; but

there were traits in his character that were of no unamiable cast,

especially in regard to his attention to the edification of the common

people. In more recent times he would probably have been deemed a

methodistical clergyman, which is not mentioned here as dishonourable to

his memory, but rather the contrary, as it is the opinion of the present

writer, that if a _reasonable portion_ of methodism were imbibed by the

clergy, it would render their ministry more popular, and prove of

material advantage to the lower orders of their auditors. In Dr.

Littel’s time, a great many of his hearers, of the poorer classes, as it

would seem, became desirous of improving themselves in religious

knowledge; and the course that appeared to them most likely, or the best

for attaining that object was to establish private meetings for free

discussion, or serious conference. Whether they had been led to this

from something of the kind that existed among their dissenting neighbours

here, we are not able to say; but it is certain that such exercises are

much more common among dissenters than among churchmen. However that

was, it seems they were not disposed to put the plan in practice without

consulting Dr. Littel, who was then vicar of St. Margaret’s and chief

minister of the town: and it does not appear that he urged any material

objection, or gave them any serious discouragement. But he was aware

that it would not be safe or proper for him to countenance such a measure

without the privity and permission of his diocesan. He accordingly

applied to _Dr. Moore_, who then filled the see of Norwich, and who, in

his answer, dated September 10. 1697, appeared no way hostile to the

measure, provided it were properly conducted; though he said, however

friendly he might be to the design, yet he did not find he had any power

by law to constitute and authorize such assemblies. Nevertheless he

consented to allow the experiment to be here tried, under certain

regulations. This episcopal letter is on the whole a very curious

document, and not dishonourable to his lordship’s memory; but it is too

long for insertion here. He cautioned them to avoid all discussions

about state affairs, and whatever might tend to give umbrage to

government; and he advised them to meet in small rather than large

companies: which advice was probably adhered to. However that was, the

intended measure was soon put in practice. For six or seven years the

meetings seem to have been kept in private houses, under certain general

regulations. But in 1704 the plan was further matured, new rules of

conference were drawn up, {1010} and the meetings afterwards were

generally if not constantly kept in the Vestry of St. Margaret’s Church,

till the death of Dr. Littel, which happened in 1732. The Society then

languished and dwindled away, so that in the year 1744 it was reduced to

six members, whose names were Colins Banister, James Cowell, Joshua

Edwards senr. Adam Holditch, John Lee, and William Rayns: It appears to

have been dissolved soon after, having existed about fifty years; and for

a long time no memorial of it remained, except in some old papers which

fell into the present writer’s hands accidentally. This Society had

formed a library, a catalogue of which it also in this writer’s

possession. What became of the books at last, does not appear. We know

of nothing more creditable to the memory of Dr Littel, than the

countenance he afforded to those serious people. It is supposed that his

successor in the Vicarage of St. Margaret did not also succeed him as the

patron of this Institution.

10. _Thomas Pyle M.A._ Of the birth-place and the early part of the

life of the rev. T. Pyle, whose name is still mentioned with veneration

by the few who remember him as a preacher, we have not been able to

obtain any account. So rapid is the neglect or the forgetfulness of oral

tradition! From his epitaph we learn indeed that he was born in 1674.

About the year 1698, he was examined for ordination, at Norwich, by the

celebrated and truly honest William Whiston, at that time chaplain to

bishop Moore, who has stated in the interesting Memoirs of his Life, that

Dr. Sydal and Mr. Pyle were the best scholars among the many candidates

whom it was his office to examine. It is probable that he was ordained

upon the title of one of the curacies of St Margaret’s parish, as he

married, in 1701, a Mrs Mary Rolfe of an affluent and respectable family

in Lynn, and in the same year he was appointed by the Corporation to be

minister or preacher of St. Nicholas’ Chapel. He published some

political Sermons in the years 1706, 1707. and especially in the year

1715. In these discourses he vindicated and enforced those principles to

which we are indebted for the expulsion of the Stuarts, and for the

elevation of the Brunswick family to the throne. About the same period

he became generally known as the author of a very useful Paraphrase on

the Historical Books of the Old Testament, and another on the Acts, the

Epistles and the Revelation of the New Testament. Soon afterwards he

enlisted himself as a writer in the Bangorian Controversy, and was a

strenuous and able advocate of the civil and religious principles of Bp.

Hoadly. He appears to have been on terms of particular friendship with

some of the greatest and best men in the Church of England, such as Dr.

Sam. Clarke, Mr. Jackson of Leicester, Dr. Sykes, Bp. Hoadly, Dr.

Herring, afterwards abp. of Canterbury; and equally so with some eminent

dissenting ministers, particularly Dr. Sam. Chandler and Mr. Rastrick of

Lynn. Many years after his death his youngest son, the rev. Philip Pyle,

published several volumes of his “Sermons on plain and practical

Subjects.” His writings are characterised by a perspicuity and manly

sense, rather than by any elevation of style, or by a graceful

negligence; and yet in the delivery of his sermons, so impressive was his

elocution, that both in the metropolis and in the country, he was one of

the most admired preachers of his time. The flowing lines were sent to

him on his Sermon preached at Lincoln’s Inn, May 4th. 1735, on Gen. III,

19.

What sounds are these! What energy divine,

What master-strokes in every precept shine!

While from thy lips the warm expression breaks,

What heart but melteth as the preacher speaks!

Thy voice is nature, and thy diction clear,

It strikes like music on the listening ear.

—“Vain foolish man to murmur at thy fate,

The bounteous hand of heaven still leaves thee great;

Still makes thee first of beings here below,

Still gives thee more of happiness than woe.

To lazy indolence this world may seem

A barron wilderness; an idle dream;

Thistles and brambles to the slothful eye,

But roses to the hand of industry.

’Tis sordid avaries, with her sneaking train,

Ambition, who torments herself in vain,

Th’ unnumbered lusts that prey upon the mind,

Fix the primeval curse on human kind.

By their brow’s sweat their bread the labourers earn,

But then no passions in their bosoms burn:

Soon as the evening shade the day-light close,

Unbroken slumbers crown their soft repose;

And when the morning dawn salutes their eyes,

Anteus-like, with double vigour rise.

No stings of conscience! no remorse from sin!

They feel the noblest paradise within;

Content serene, that sunshine of the soul,

With her warm beam invigorates the whole;

Her blossom, health! her fruit, untainted joy!

Nor pain nor death her relish can destroy;

In unpolluted streams her pleasures flow,

No weedy passions in her bosom grow.”

—Thus faintly have I sketch’d thy glorious plan;

Which fills, improves, adorns the inward man.

Still urge thy generous task, to cleanse the mind,

Till from the dregs of passion ’tis refin’d;

To prune each vice, each folly of the age,

Each wild excrescence of this earthly stage.

Tho’ old in goodness, to the world resign’d,

Still want thy heaven to give it to mankind.

Religion’s friend! and virtue’s strongest guard!

That heaven alone such merit can reward,

Its joys approach no tongue but thine can tell;

Doubt not to taste what thou describ’st so well.

With such talents, and with such connections, it cannot easily be

accounted for, that Mr. Pyle should remain during so long a life in a

situation of comparative obscurity. Sir Robert Walpole was the member

for Lynn; and both the political and religious opinions of Mr. Pyle were

calculated to recommend him to queen Caroline, who then impartially

dispensed the dignities of the Church. Perhaps the spirit of the man was

not thought sufficiently accommodating for an introduction to a court;

or, like the late Dr. Ogden of Cambridge, from some deficiency of

external polish, he might be deemed not producible. A passage in Abp.

Herring’s Correspondence with Mr. Duncombe seems to be decisive on this

point. “Tom Pyle is a learned and worthy, as well as a lively and

entertaining man. To be sure his success has not been equal to his

merit, which yet, perhaps, is in some measure owing to himself; for that

very impetuosity of spirit, which, under proper government, renders him

the agreeable creature he is, has, in some circumstances of life, got the

better of him, and hurt his views.” {1015a} From whatever cause, with

the exception of a Prebend of Salisbury, which he received from Bp.

Hoadly, he was only in succession Lecturer and Minister of Lynn St.

Margaret, and vicar of Lynn All-saints—all truly but a poor and paltry

pittance for such a man, and from a church which had such immense

abundance of good things to bestow; most of which too were actually

bestowed on far unworthier objects.—The following Letters which passed

between Mr. Pyle and Abp. Herring are highly characteristic and

interesting.

“My Lord,

In the universal acclamation of joy for your Grace’s promotion to the

Primacy of all England, may the feeble voice of an old man be heard,

the short remainder of whose life, will pass off with a pleasure that

nothing could have given, but seeing at the head of the Church, a

Prelate so affectionately attached to the interests of Truth, Virtue,

and Liberty.

I am, my Lord, your Grace’s most dutiful Servant.

THO: PYLE.”

* * * * *

“Dear Sir,

Your kind wishes for me give me spirit, and make my heart glad, for

in good faith, I have been teazed and terrified with this exaltation;

and thus much I will venture to say for myself, it sha’nt make me

proud, it sha’nt make me covetous, it sha’nt make me ungrateful or

unmindful of my Friends, but it frights me, and I fear has robbed me

of the most precious thing in life, which is Liberty, but I will

assert as much of it as I can, and not be for ever bound to the

trammels of a long tail and ceremony, which my soul abhors.

I saw S—. Ch—r the other day. I really affect and honour the man,

and wish with all my soul that the Church of England had him, for his

spirit and learning are certainly of the first class; and I regard

him the more because he resembles you and your manner. You talk of

age and all that, but if I may judge from your letter, your eyes are

good, your hand is steady, and I am sure your heart is warm for your

friends, and those good things you mention, Truth, and Virtue, and

Liberty, but that sort of warmth will certainly go to the grave with

you and beyond it.

I am, Dear Sir, your affectionate Friend,

Tho: CANTUAR.” {1017}

Kensington. 17. Dec. 1747.

From the part which Mr. P. took in the Bangorian Controversy, and the

terms of particular friendship on which he was known to live with Bp.

Hoadly, we may be very sure that there subsisted between them a frequent

correspondence. Copies of two of the letters that passed between them

are now in the hands of the present writer. He has no reason to suppose

that they ever have been published, or are likely to be so, unless they

appear on this occasion. Thinking it highly probable that a sight of

them cannot fail of gratifying many of his readers, he takes the liberty

without further ceremony to introduce them in this place; not at all

apprehensive that their contents will any way disparage the memory of

either of the memorable personages by whom they were originally written,

“My Lord,

You may remember that when by your kind aid the affair of M—m was

concluded in my Son’s favour, I presented my humble (and said it

should be my last) petition to you, begging of you to be pleased to

bestow on him a living that might consist with M—m, and that you were

so good as to promise to give him any living you had not then engaged

to dispose of otherways.—An incident has lately arisen of such a

nature, as, I am sure will excuse my repeating the above-named

request to your Lordship, with the utmost earnestness.—My Lord, Mrs.

Bilk the D. of N—ch’s W. with her husband’s good liking, and out of

the esteem she has long had for me and mine, and especially for my

son Ph—. has been pleased to propose him as a H. for her niece, the

only child of Mr. Arrowsmith: such a proposal from one who can and

will make a considerable addition to the very good fortune that the

young lady’s father can give her, is a great proof of her esteem for

my son, who has been much with her from his childhood: and what she

requires on my part is that I use my interest in your lordship, and

mention her as joining with me to beg of you to confer a handsome

living on my Son. This will crown all the instances of your

beneficence towards me.—I want words to express the joy with which a

happy success in this affair would carry me thro’ the small remainder

of my life, and make me yield it up to its bounteous Author; or to

describe the tearing anxiety that would accompany a disappointment

from your refusing what I humbly ask.—Wherefore I beg of your

lordship to make me feel the beginning of that satisfaction I have

already in view by such a reply to this petition as may be pleasing

to the excellent friends I am herein concerned with, and so highly

obliged to, and to the heart of an old servant who has loved you all

his life, and served you as well as he could (would to God it had

been better) & will love you till death and beyond it. I am,

my Lord, yours &c. T. P.”

* * * * *

“Dear Sir,

6. Feb. 1752,

You cannot rejoice more sincerely at any good that falls on any part

of your family than I do: tho’ you may feel it more paternally. In

answer to what you propose, I first say that I was 75 years old on

the 14th of last November. What may happen God only knows. But if

it shd be both physically and morally in my power to serve your Son,

you may depend upon it without the force of the strong expression you

make use of. For my own inclination will in such case do it. And

the regard I have for the D. of N—ch (and his lady, tho’ unknown,

only by report) and for Mr. Arrowsmith, to whose faithful services

and exemplary behaviour I was long ago a witness at Stretham, will

not at all abate but increase the inclination. I cannot suppose that

by what you say you can mean such a living as would make void

M—lksham which your son told me was worth 250_l._ per ann. for that

would be to {1020} . . . entirety a valuable living very hardly

obtained; but one that would be an handsome addition to his income.

And this must be one within the canonical distance. Nor do I suppose

that the chapter of Salisbury will ever enter into measures for an

exchange of Mlkshm &c. I wish you would tell me freely what you

understand by an _handsome_ living, assuring you of my sincere

disposition to do any thing in my power agreeable to _your own_

wishes. I have without doubt several good livings in my patronage.

But you must remember that when you mentioned your request for your

son Ph. first, I told you of engagements, and I now tell you that

since that, I have not had one vacancy, as far as I can recollect, of

a living in Wilts of about 130_l._ per annum. I think myself obliged

to speak plainly, that nothing may be expected from me that I cannot

pretend to perform. I have, and have had, for some years, two

absolute engagements upon me for two of my best livings or such of a

secondary sort as will be accepted of till better fall. And I am

very sure, you are not the man that would say a single word to me

towards the immorality of falshood or breach of promise. And I have

the very same opinion of the goodness of heart of those worthy

persons who have entered into this affair with you. As to actual

vacancies, it is our duty not to wish for any by death. And they are

very uncertain, and improbable to happen during the remainder of my

life, tho’ my health is surprisingly better than it was in my younger

days. With all these considerations of my age, and the precarious

condition of all human affairs, if you will take my word, you will

find me if alive, as sincere a Friend, as you yourself can wish to

find.

Your affectionate &c. B. W. {1021}

Mr. Pyle, as was said before, obtained the lectureship, and became the

preacher at St. Nicholas’ chapel, and one of the ministers of the town in

1701. In that situation he continued till 1732, when he succeeded Dr.

Littel as vicar of St. Margaret’s. This situation he held till 1755,

being no longer capable of discharging the duties annexed to it. He

accordingly gave in his resignation, both to the Dean and Chapter of

Norwich, and also to the Mayor and corporation of Lynn, early in the

Summer of that year. How his resignation to the former was worded we

know not, but his resignation to the latter, of which we have obtained a

was expressed in the following words: and addressed to the elder _Cary_,

then in the second year of his mayoralty.—

“Sir, A long decline of life, and absolute incapacity of attending on

such a ministry as that of Lynn, calls upon me to resign it to some

hands able in due manner to discharge it to the good-liking and

satisfaction both of the Dean and Chapter of Norwich and of the mayor

and corporation of Lynn. But I cannot nor ought to do this, without

paying my just and most grateful acknowledgements to yourself, Sir,

with the former magistrates, and the rest of the gentlemen of your

Body, for the favours they have, for a long tract of time conferred

upon me, and in particular for their tender and generous indulgence

towards me in these last years of my age and infirmities. I request,

Sir, you will please to make your hand the conveyor of this only

return left in my power of thankfulness to them, accompanied with the

sincerest wishes of every kind of good that can finish the welfare

and prosperity of an ancient, generous, and loyal society; wishes

from the heart of yours and theirs most affectionate humble Servant

THO: PYLE.”

May 28th. 1755.

This Letter is supposed to have been dated from _Swaffham_, where, on

account of its healthy situation, he resided the two last years of his

life; and where, if we are not mistaken, he also died on the last day of

the ensuing year. He was buried in the Church of Lynn All-Saints, where

a latin epitaph honourable to their memories, is inscribed on the stone

that covers the remains of him and his wife. She died the 14th of March

1748, aged 66: and he died the 31st. of December 1756, aged 82. This was

58 years after the commencement of his ministry. He was succeeded in his

pastoral charge at Lynn by the late _Charles Bagge D.D._ whose

ministerial as well as literary character must have been widely different

from his; and yet it does not seem to have made any mighty difference as

to the audience, who, it is presumed, went on much as before, praising

the successor in terms very similar to those they had been wont to apply

to his predecessor. Thus it often happens after the departure of eminent

men, both in the church and in dissenting congregations.

11. EDMUND PYLE D.D. was the eldest Son of the former, and a native of

this town. In piety and inflexible integrity he is supposed to have been

much inferior to his father; and the same was probably the case as to

literary attainments, theological knowledge, critical skill, and

ministerial talents: but he was certainly a man of no mean parts, as many

of his letters that are still extant sufficiently evince. He was

educated at Cambridge. When he went into orders, or where he officiated

immediately after, does not appear; but in 1732, upon the death of Dr.

Littel, and the appointment of his father to be his successor, he then

succeeded to the vacant place, and became the lecturer, or assistant

preacher and minister of this town; which situation he held till the year

1751, when he resigned in favour of the late Mr. Vann Eyre, and became

chaplain to _Bp. Hoadly_, and a Prebendary of Winchester. After the Bp’s

death, which happened in 1761, he is supposed to have resided during the

remainder of his life at his prebendal house in that city, and to have

died there in 1776. At Lynn he was deemed proud and unsociable, which

character he, probably, might deserve, for we have sufficient evidence

that even the gentry of this town, for the most part at least, stood so

very low in his estimation as not to deserve his associating, or holding

any communication with them but what was unavoidable: which to be sure

was not altogether commendable, considering that he stood to those very

people in the relation or character of _one of their pastors_. But it is

certain that he could at times divest himself entirely of every

appearance of superciliousness and reservedness, and behave towards those

whom he esteemed in a very free, familiar, engaging and entertaining

manner. Of this his letters still extant are a very good proof, {1024}

and the same is corroborated by the testimony of some of his

contemporaries who long survived him. His two brothers, _Thomas_ and

_Philip_, who were much younger than he and lived long after him, though

not inferior to him in point of piety and moral worth, were yet thought

to be much so in point of acumen, or quickness of intellect, and

literature. They had also three sisters, all well spoken of, and that is

supposed to have been all the family their father left.

12. _George Hepburn_ (_or Hepborne_) _M.D._ He is supposed to have

settled here about the commencement of the last century, as a physician;

in which character he soon acquired high reputation, so as to be placed

at the head of the profession in this part of the kingdom for near if not

quite half a century. He was the favourite physician of Sir Robert

Walpole the then prime minster of this country, with whom he spent much

of his time at his princely seat at _Houghton_: and he was also employed

in the same capacity by the principal nobility and gentry of this county.

Very striking and diverting anecdotes are related of him during his long

residence in these parts: but they are hardly proper to be inserted in

the present memoir. He was certainly a very eminent and distinguished

physician. His posthumous fame is not yet extinguished, as he is still

remembered and mentioned, with the utmost respect whenever the

conversation leads to the recollection of our eminent men of the last

century. His reputation in the latter part of his life was become so

very considerable that he was seldom to be found at home, being almost

always attending one or other of the great families in the country. The

town-practice consequently devolved upon the two other physicians,

_Browne_ and _Lidderdale_, both of whom were skilful and judicious

practitioners. But as he lived to a very advanced age, it so happened

that his eye sight gradually failed, and he became quite blind some years

before he died. Having a large family to maintain, and being perhaps

during his extensive practice not very economical, he would towards the

close of life have been reduced to great difficulties, had it not been

for two pensions which he then very seasonably obtained; one from

_George_ II, through the interest and friendship of Mr. _Pelham_, of

100_l._ a year; and the other from Dr. _Maxwell_, a rich relation of his

own, of double that sum; which placed him above want, and rendered his

situation tolerably easy and comfortable. In Walpole’s life time, and

during his long premiership, while Hepburn was at the height of his fame,

and in extensive practice, there might be no obvious or urgent season for

befriending him and making provision for him in a similar way; otherwise

it cannot well be supposed that that minister would have neglected it.

But now the case was altered; the once celebrated and much sought

physician was become old and blind, and no longer capable of following

his profession, and gaining as theretofore the means of supporting

himself and family. Something therefore was to be done for him, or he

would sink into penury and want. It has been reported that though his

practice was extensive, yet his fees were but moderate, considering the

length and expence of his journeys, with the great attendance often

required by his patients. So that his not dying wealthy was less owing

to his improvidence and want of economy or frugality, than to the

ungenerous and niggardly conduct of his patients or employers.

Correspondent with this is said to have been the experience of others of

our physicians since his time, particularly the late Dr. Hamilton, who

never could boast of the great liberality or munificence of our opulent

families, altho’ he was for some time our only physician. In short, this

writer does not recollect having ever heard that any physician grew rich

here by his practice, however extensive, unless it was Sir W. Browne, and

it is generally understood and allowed that he really could do things

which most other people could not. Dr. Hepburn died in 1759, at the very

advanced age of ninety. He was a North Briton, as were also many, if not

most of our eminent physicians. We have not been able to ascertain in

what part of North Britain he drew his first breath, but rather suppose

it to have been in East Lothian, and at, or near Haddington. {1030} Nor

have we been able to discover at what university he was educated, but

think it most probable it was that of Edinburgh, where so many eminent

men of the same profession have been since educated. Dr. H. was twice

married, first in 1693, to one of his own country-women, who died in

1707, aged 30. There were several children by this marriage. He

afterwards married again, and his second wife was a Lynn woman. By her

also he had some children, two of whom at least survived him. But they

were remarkably and vastly inferior, in point of genius and capacity, or

intellectual endowment, to those of the first marriage. His eldest

daughter married a Mr. Young, and was the mother of the late Miss or Mrs.

Dorothy Young, a lady of distinguished intellectual and literary talents.

Another daughter became the wife of Dr. _Lidderdale_ an eminent physician

who settled here in the early part of George the second’s reign; and died

here, in 1766, much regretted, as he is said to have stood high in the

public estimation. The other daughter by the first wife lived single;

but was a very extraordinary character, and stood unrivalled all her life

time among the wits of this town. Her keen sayings, and stinging

repartees are still fresh in the recollection of her surviving

cotemporaries. Between her and her father’s daughters by his last wife

there was a most striking and humiliating contrast: they being but little

distant from idiocy.

13. WILLIAM BROWNE M.D. afterwards Sir _William Browne_, _Knight_,

F.R.S. and _President of the Royal College of Physicians_. Though he has

been already noticed repeatedly in the course of this work, yet as he

made so conspicuous a figure here in his day, and our materials relating

to him not being yet exhausted, he seems justly entitled to a place among

these biographical sketches. He was born about the beginning of the year

1692. The place of his birth we have not been able to discover, but

think it to be at some distance from this town. We have understood that

he was introduced here by the means and under the patronage of the Turner

family, to which he became afterwards implacably hostile. His settlement

here must have taken place at an early period of his life; for his name

was enrolled among our free burgesses in February 1718; which must have

been some time, perhaps two or three years, after he had first taken up

his residence here. Yet he seems to have previously resided and

graduated both at Cambridge and Oxford, for he denominated himself _M.D.

of both Universities_. However that was, he appears to have soon got on

fast in the way of his vocation, so as to obtain a large share of

popularity and practice, especially among the middling and lower orders

of the community, which he is said to have turned to very good account.

And he is understood to have made much more of his patients, in the

pecuniary way, than Hepburn was able to make of his among the higher

orders. Having become the popular physician and favourite, or what we

may call the man of the people, he grew quite regardless of the favour

and good opinion of the gentry or higher classes. As to the gentlemen of

the corporation, he held them very cheap, and treated them at times with

the utmost disdain, looking upon them as his inferiors, and taking

precedence of the very mayor himself, which gave no small umbrage, as was

observed before, at page 900. This took place as early as the year 1723:

and this hostility to the body corporate appears not to have undergone

any abatement during the remainder of his residence here.—Before we

proceed further we will beg leave here to subjoin the account given of

him in the _Encyclopedia Londinensis_, the substance of which is as

follows—

“BROWNE (_Sir William_,) an eminent physician, settled originally at

Lynn, where he practised with great success and profit. Having

acquired a competency by his profession, he removed to Queen Square,

Ormond Street, London, where he resided till his death, which

happened March 10, 1774, at the age of eighty two. By his will he

left two prize medals to be annually contended for by the Cambridge

poets. By his lady, who died July 25, 1763, in her 60th year, he had

one daughter, mother to the present Sir Martin Browne Folkes, bart.

Sir William Browne was a very facetious man, and the active part

taken by him in the contest with the licentiates, in 1768, occasioned

his being brought on the stage, in the farce of the Devil upon two

Sticks. Upon Foote’s exact representation, of him, in this farce,

with his identical wig and coat, tail figure, and glass, stiffly

applied to his eye, he sent him a card, complimenting him in having

so happily represented him; but, as he had forgot his _muff_, he had

sent him his own. He used to frequent the annual ball at the ladies

boarding school, Queen square, merely as a neighbour, a good natured

man, and one fond of the company of sprightly young folkes. A

dignitary of the church being there one day to see his daughter

dance, and finding this upright figure stationed there, told him he

believed he was _Hermippus ridivivus_, who lived _anhelitu

puellarum_, ‘by the breath of girls.’ At the age of eighty on St.

Luke’s-day, 1771, he went to Batson’s coffee-house, in a richly laced

coat, embroidered waistcoat and band, and fringed white gloves, to

shew himself to Mr. Crosby then lord Mayor. A gentleman present

observing that he looked very well, he replied, “he had neither wife

nor debts.” When he lived at Lynn, an extremely censorious pamphlet

was written against him, which he nailed up against his house door,

for the gratification of all who chose to inspect it. A great number

of lively essays, both in prose and verse, the productions of his

pen, were printed and circulated among his friends, Among those

written during his stay in Lynn were, an Ode in imitation of Horace,

ode 3, lib. iii, addressed to Sir R. Walpole, on his ceasing to be

minister. The Pill Plot; to Dr. Ward, a quack of merry memory, then

in the town; written Nov. 30. 1734. He also translated from the

latin original, Dr. Gregory’s Elements of Catoptrics and Dioptrics,

to which he added 1. a method for finding the foci of all Specula, as

well as the Lenses universally, as also magnifying or lessening a

given object by a given speculum, or lens, in any assigned

proportion. 2. a Solution of those Problems which Dr. Gregory has

left undemonstrated. 3. a particular account of Microscopes and

Telescopes, from Mr. Huygens; which was published at Lynn. His other

works are, 1. Opuscula varia utriusque Linguæ Medicinam, 4to 1765—2.

a Farewell Oration, 1768, 4to—3. Fragmentum Isaaci Hawkins Browne

completum, 1769, 4to—4. Appendix ad Opuscula; six odes, 1770, 4to—5.

A proposal on our Coin, to remedy all present and prevent all future

disorders 1774, 4to—6. A New years Gift, 1772—7. Corrections in

verse, from the father of the College, 4to—8. Speech to the Royal

Society, 1772—9. An Eulogy and address, 1773—10. a Latin version of

Job, left unfinished, 4to.”

From the above sketch the reader will perceive that Sir William Browne

was a person of no common cast, or ordinary genius. Men of his sort are

not to be seen every day: and when they do appear they are sure to

attract observation, and are apt to make a stir wherever they happen to

fix their residence. Sir William was at the head of the party which

opposed the ruling body here for most part of his long residence in this

town: and he appears to have acted his part with no small skill and

dexterity, and with considerable effect. When the squabble assumed any

thing of a literary aspect, Dr. Pyle seems to have been his chief

opponent. At other times he had the whole corporate body at him, and it

must be said that he generally defended himself and repelled the attacks

of the whole host of those philistines very stoutly and successfully.

There is great reason to believe that the opposition which he and his

friends so long maintained here, was often of real and not small service

to the town. At the contested election in, 1747, he bore a very

conspicuous part, as appears from Dr. Pyle’s Letter already quoted. The

part he acted on that occasion is supposed to have laid the foundation of

that intimacy between him and Mr. Folkes which issued in an alliance

between the two families, by the marriage of that gentleman with Sir

William’s only daughter and sole heiress. The issue of that marriage is

our present Sir Martin; and Sir Martin’s Lady is the daughter of that

same Sir John Turner, between whom and Sir William Browne there was such

inveterate and sworn enmity. After the Church was rebuilt in 1747, great

complaints were made of the unfair disposal of pews, &c. so as to exclude

in a great measure the common people from the privilege of sitting within

hearing of the minister. Sir William was one of those who set their

faces against this grievance. How far he and his coadjutors succeeded in

obtaining redress does not appear. But whether they succeeded or not,

the part they then acted was proper and praise-worthy. Our worthy

knight, no doubt, performed many other deeds that were equally

commendable, and others, it seems, that were not so. Among the leading

traits of his character have been reckoned undaunted assurance and

consummate vanity. {1037} He died at his house in Queen Square, whence

his grandson, Sir Martin, had his remains brought down to Hillington, and

there buried in the family vault belonging to that gentleman’s ancestors.

His Epitaph, or monumental inscription he had prepared long before he

died, and had an elegant engraving of it set up conspicuously in one of

his own apartments. It was in latin. This writer has seen a transcript

of it long ago, but has not been able to get a sight of it lately.

According to a rough draught of a translation of if, which he has now

before him, he understands that the beginning of it would read as

follows, in English.—

“Sacred to the memory of Sir William Browne, knight, President of the

Royal College of Physicians, London, and F.R.S. one who much pursued

study and business, and by God’s help surmounted the knowledge of

Physic; and every night and day, as his strength would allow,

cheerful to give health to mankind. Even that labour was pleasure to

him. Alas! to be beheld thus doing no more! Yet asserting that he

lived happily, well content, his time fulfilled; as a guest fill’d

with life he departed, being a man who thought nothing belonging to

mortals foreign from him. He died the — day of — in the year — aged

—. He was born on the birth day of Cicero, the 3rd of January

1692—Country! O be perpetual! and free! Let my soul be with

Christosophists, viz. with Newton, Boyle, Locke; far from mad-men,

and from some sort of wisemen — — —” {1039}

14. _Thomas Lidderdale_ M.D. He is said to have been an elegant and an

accomplished scholar, as well as an excellent physician. The land of his

nativity, as well as that of Dr. Hepburn, was North Britain; and it

appears that he was related to some of the first families in that

country: and such was the respectability of his character after he

removed to England, that he attracted the notice and obtained the

friendship of some of the first personages in this kingdom. He was born

in 1709, and settled as a physician in this town about the year 1731,

where he continued ever after to the day of his death, which happened in

1766. As to his descent, we learn that he was the “second son of David

Lidderdale of St. Mary’s Isle, by Eleonora the eldest daughter of Sir

James Dunbar of Mochrum, bart. by Isabella, 2nd. daughter and coheiress

of Sir Thomas Nicholson of Carnock, bart. and Lady Margaret, eldest

daughter of Alexander 2nd earl of Linlithgow and Lady Mary Dowglass,

daughter of William, tenth earl of _Angus_ or Dowglass.” This we have

learnt from his _Pedigree_, which is now in the possession of a very

respectable gentleman of this town, and which leads us back, by a long

line of ancestry, through the Dunbars of Mochrum and Carnock, earls of

Dunbar, of Murray, of March, heroes of the Holy War, earls and princes of

Northumberland, kings of Scotland, &c. up even to the Saxon kings of

England. So that in this view it could be no disparagement to any family

in England, or out of it, to cultivate the acquaintance or friendship of

Dr. Lidderdale. But it is certain that he derived far more real honour

and dignity from his own personal worthiness, or respectability of

character, than he could possibly do from his whole long catalogue of

illustrious ancestors: and that, no doubt, was what raised him so high in

the estimation of his numerous acquaintance in this country. Like other

younger sons of respectable families, he appears not to have had much of

this world’s goods bestowed on him by his father, beyond what was spent

upon his education, which seems to have been excellent, from the high

reputation he sustained as a scholar. The rudiments of learning he is

supposed to have received at one of the grammar-schools of his native

country; at one of whose universities he probably spent sometime

afterwards; but he finished his education, if we are not mistaken, at the

university of Rheims in France, where he received the degree of M.D.

which was also conferred upon him afterwards by the university of St.

Andrews. It is not very likely that he had begun to practise before he

came to England; for he arrived in this town, and took up his residence

here, as a physician, at the early age of _twenty two_. His introduction

here he probably owed to his countryman, Dr. Hepburn, who was then

advancing in years, and on the verge of his grand climacteric, though he

lived near thirty years after. Our young physician soon attracted the

notice and esteem of the enlightened and literary part of the public; and

being patronized by Hepburn, he presently came into good practice; but

like that of his patron, it seems to have been chiefly among those of the

higher class. It appears, from one of his letters, that he was employed

by the Townshend family from the very commencement of his practice; and

of that family he is known to have retained the esteem and friendship to

the very last. The Walpoles, Cokes, and Bedingfelds, the Hares, the

Hostes, and most of the great families in these parts were numbered among

his friends. With such high connections, it might be expected that he

could not fail of being placed in easy, if not in affluent circumstances.

It did not however so turn out. A sine cure office or place in the

custom-house was all he obtained from the favour and affection, the

interest and admiration of those honourable and noble personages, besides

the fees of attendance in the way of his profession, which appear scarce

ever to have corresponded with the length of his journeys, and the time

he was often required to spend in attending upon his patients. But many

beside him have found the smiles of the great very unproductive of solid

advantages.—About seven years after he had fixed his residence here, he

married Miss Susan Hepburn, the third daughter, if we are not mistaken,

of his great friend and patron, Dr. Hepburn. He was then 29 years old,

and the lady some few years older. They lived together about 28 years,

when he left her a widow with one daughter, said to have been an

extremely amiable and accomplished lady, whom the mother long survived;

one dying in 1787, and the other in 1796, at the very advanced age of

92.—How much the doctor felt the unproductiveness of his practice, and

the scantiness of his income, some years before he died, and how

anxiously he wished to better his condition and be placed in easy

circumstances, will appear from the two following Letters, one written to

the right honourable Chas. Townshend, then secretary at war, and the

other to general Townshend, afterwards Marquis Townshend. The first was

dated at Lynn Oct. 10, 1762, and worded as follows,

“Sir,

Having been now upwards of thirty years a Norfolk Physician; where my

practice has been attended with greater reputation than self-interest

or money; it is no small mortification at last to find myself totally

neglected and forgotten, among the many promotions and medical

preferments which have been made for sometime, and are still daily

making—Greenwich Hospital, or some Almshouse, I had reason to believe

was intended for me, but that is gone with other things—I now, Dear

Sir, beg leave to throw myself at your feet to dispose of me as you

think properest and best, whether in a Physical or Civil capacity, I

entirely submit to your determination and pleasure. Indeed I am

almost worn out in the service of this county, and am no longer able

to undergo the fatigue of winter journeys and slavery; neither is the

practice of physic, or manner of residence in the country the same as

when I had the honor of prescribing for your truly noble grand-father

and his family at Rainham.—Your generous humanity, and known friendly

disposition towards me, will I hope plead my excuse for the freedom

of this Letter, and remind you of one who has long been, with the

most cordial affection and fidelity, Dear Sir, Your most obedient and

devoted humble Servant,

T. L.”

The other Letter was dated April 19th, 1763, and expressed thus,

“Dear General,

It gave me real concern that my health would not allow me to pay my

personal respects at Cranmer, during your short stay in

Norfolk—Indeed I have now too much reason to fear that my

constitution and age will not permit me long to undergo the fatigue

and slavery of business in the country, where I have hitherto

practised with more reputation than profit; I therefore hope you’ll

pardon my present solicitation for some appointment (through your

interest and favour) that may render life less laborious to myself,

and not useless to my family. Having upwards of thirty years

disclaimed any application or pretensions but those of my connection,

and long endeavoured to be serviceable in this county, I rely upon

your friendship and favour to dispose of me as you shall think

properest and best, without any particular attachment to the

Profession of Physick, where so many, of a younger date and less

service, have been put over my head.

I am, with the utmost regard,

Dear Sir, &c.

T. L.”

The former Letter was not the first the Dr. addressed to that

correspondent on the same occasion. We have seen the copy of another, of

a prior date, which he wrote to him to the same effect. But these

applications or solicitations did not succeed. The Townshends did

nothing for him or his family in his lifetime, whatever they did

afterwards, though nothing could exceed their professions of respect and

esteem for him. The place he got here in the customs was not obtained by

their interest, but by that of Lord Orford and Sir John Turner: and he

continued in vain to wish and hope for further preferment to his dying

day. But however unproductive his practice had been, and much as he had

felt on that account, his death was said to be generally and deeply

regretted; as appears from the following paragraph in the public papers

of that time, drawn up, it seems, by a celebrated character, who was one

of his warm admirers—

“Lynn Regis Norfolk, April 18. 1766. On Friday the 11th. instant

died here extremely lamented by the whole county, Doctor Thomas

Lidderdale, a physician no less eminent for his skill and happy

penetration, than for his wit, learning, and probity. His sudden

sallies in conversation were so equally fortunate with his

premeditation in prescribing, that his power over dulness, and

disease, may be said to have been alike irresistable.”

Several Epitaphs, or monumental inscriptions, were also composed for him

about the same time, some in latin and some in english, of which the

following is one of the most remarkable.

“Sacred to the Memory

Of Thomas Lidderdale, a most eminent Physician,

in investigating the causes of diseases acutely sagacious,

in his practice as remarkably successful.

They to whom he restored health deservedly regret their loss,

The sick will wish, but wish in vain, for a physician

of equal abilities.

He possessed a vein of polite wit, and inoffensive humour,

ever flowing, ever new.

His sentiments, conversation, and actions were all

highly becoming a man of probity and a gentleman.

His Friendship, his Advice, his best services

were wanting to none.

With such sentiments, heightened by such an

amiably moral character, it is little to be wondered

that his life should be dear, and his death afflicting

to all.

If polite literature is held in deserved estimation by men,

If piety, and the duties of humanity are regarded by God,

To his memory will be paid lasting honours

on Earth,

To himself will be given eternal rewards

in Heaven.

He died the 11th. of April 1766 Æt. 57.”

Dr. Lidderdale could, as we have seen, boast not only of the professed

esteem and friendship of the great, but, as was before hinted, could

claim kindred with some of them, particularly the _Stair_ family, to

which he is said to have been very nearly related. The following

paragraph on the death of the great Lord Stair, being found among his

papers, in his handwriting, was probably drawn up by him—

“Saturday May the 19th. 1747. This night died in the 78th year of

his age, at his lodging in the Cannongate, the right honourable Field

marshal Joan earl of Stair, one of the sixteen peers for Scotland,

knight of the most ancient order of the Thistle, governor of Minorca,

General of Marines, Colonel of the royal regiment of Scots Grey

Dragoons, and one of his majesty’s most honourable Privy Council—A

nobleman of the most rare abilities, being endowed with every virtue

that could either accomplish the Statesman, or adorn the Warrior.—The

Court of Versailles and States general will tell of his wisdom, and

prudence, while the plains of Ramillies, Oudenard, Malplaquet, and

Dettingen will continue lasting monuments of his bravery and conduct.

Where shall we begin his Encomium? How equally qualified either for

Camp or Court; how great without pride; now amiable without vanity;

how just without rigour; how wise without arrogance, and bountiful

without ostentation: supporting the highest dignities with decency,

humanity, and moderation, only to be found among the truly great;

being possessed of every talent which can render man great in

himself, and beneficial to his friends and country.”

It is reported that Dr. Lidderdale had a genius for poetry, and would

sometimes amuse himself in writing verses, and particularly epigrams, one

of which is said to be the following—

“God and the Doctor men alike adore,

Just on the Brink of Danger—not before:

The Danger past, both are alike requited;

God is forgotten and the Doctor slighted.”

The following Copy of verses by the revd. Joseph Sympson, to the memory

of Miss Lidderdale, whose excellent character has been already noticed,

will not it is hoped be deemed an improper conclusion to this article.

In vain Maria, we the healing Art

Implor’d his balmy succours to impart:

The healing Art, despairing of his power

That well he knew diminish’d every hour,

With mournful visage from thy couch withdrew,

While hence to bliss thy gentle Spirit flew.

And sure, meek Saint, the just decree of Heav’n

To thee no Indian Paradise has giv’n;

No verdant hill surrounded by the floods;

No flow’ry valley in the depth of woods;

Thou sought’st thy native place, the seats divine;

The native place of ev’ry soul like thine!

Had Angels on thy bosom fix’d their eyes

They ne’er had seen a faulty thought arise:

All there was guiltless as a Hermit’s dream,

All mild as is the Sun’s departing beam:

No wayward passions with malignant strife

Disturb’d the peaceful current of thy life:

The soft affections, loving and belov’d

Alone its surface tremulously mov’d.

To live as Virtue bids is fame most high;

The second praise is virtuously to die;

And both to thee are due—as on the bed

Of tedious pain thou long reclin’d thy head,

Calm resignation ever smoothed thy face,

And unto sickness lent a languid grace;

While Hope and Faith, fair sister Seraphs near,

Still whisp’ring holy comfort in thine ear,

With radiant finger pointed out the way

That leads the good to everlasting day.

Tho’ thou among the bright ethereal choir

Again behold’st thy much regretted Sire,

No perfect bliss thy tender heart can know,

Reflecting pensive on thy Mother’s woe;

For ah! thy piercing glance still sees her mourn

In pious melancholy o’er thy urn,

Yet let not this invade thy breast with care;

For Hope and Faith, the same seraphic pair

That brought to all thy sufferings sweet relief,

Have stay’d below to mitigate her grief:

Ev’n now they kindly check the rising sigh

And close the opening sluices of her eye,

Nor will they quit her till from sorrow free,

She joins in Heav’n thy sainted Sire and thee.

We may here further observe, that among the friends and correspondents of

Dr. Lidderdale are found the names of _Dr. Heberden_, _Dr. R. Taylor_,

and _Sir John Pringle_. Between him and the latter however there was a

kind of relationship, by the marriage of a sister of his to Sir John’s

brother, the issue of which marriage was the late _admiral Pringle_. Sir

John used to correspond with the family long after the death of Dr.

Lidderdale, and so we presume did also the admiral, as miss Lidderdale

and he were so nearly related. But we are not sure that that lady and

her mother received many favours or much assistance from that quarter.

* * * * *

Some additional papers relating to Dr. Hepburn’s royal pension having

fallen into the author’s hands since that article was printed off, he

begs leave to take some notice of them here, by way of postscript or

supplement to that same article.—It was there observed that the doctor

had obtained a royal pension by the interest and friendship of Mr.

Pelham. After the death of that minister a fresh application for the

continuance of the pension became necessary, and this application was

made to the succeeding minister, the Duke of Newcastle, and through him

to the sovereign. The following is a copy of the Letter from the doctor

on that occasion, dated May 14. 1754.—

“My Lord,

The grateful remembrance of my happy success in applying to Mr.

Pelham 4 years ago for his Majesty’s Bounty, soon determined me to

address your Grace for its continuance, in whose congenial generous

breast I was sure to find the same benevolent disposition. But lest

the prolixity of the _Narrative_, by which it was proper to inform

your Grace of the present state of your petitioner, should possibly

put a stop to the timely inspection of the whole, I have thrown that

apart, to be considered whenever your Grace shall think proper.

Meantime confiding entirely in your Grace’s favour, I beg the honour

of being admitted, My Lord,

Your Grace’s most obedient and truly faithful humble Servant

G. H.”

The _Narrative_, above alluded to, was as follows—

“My sight has been declining for seven or eight years past. But in

the year 1750 (the 80th. of my age) I became almost quite blind, as I

have now for two years past been altogether so. Having lost most of

my business with my sight, and as the distribution of my small

fortune among _six_ daughters whilst I could see had left me but a

poor pittance to subsist on, I implored Mr. Pelham’s assistance for

his majesty’s Bounty, which he was pleased with great alacrity to

undertake: and with what zeal and address he performed it does not

obscurely appear from what he was pleased to tell me at Holkham

(where I had the honour to thank him Viva Voce) viz. That he never

knew his majesty grant a favour with more cheerfullness than he did

this.—The Earl of Leicester has annually done me the honour to

receive this royal Bounty from Mr. Pelham’s own hand; two noble

securities for one hundred pounds.”

To the above Letter an answer, of which the following is a copy, was

received from _James West Esq._ first Secretary of the Treasury, dated

May 16. 1754.—

“Sir, I am directed by the Duke of Newcastle to acquaint you that his

Grace has received your Letter, and that you may be assured his grace

will be the means of the same royal bounty being continued to you as

was in Mr. Pelham’s time.

I am, Sir, Your most humble Servant,

J. West.”

To this Letter an answer was returned in the following words (dated May

19. 1754)—

“Sir, The honour his Grace the Duke of Newcastle has done me, by your

Letter of the 16th. instant, is extremely obliging. But his Grace’s

readiness to oblige has enhanced these obligations beyond expression.

I must therefore humbly beg my noble friend’s assistance how to

acknowledge them as I would, as well as to receive, the royal favour

so frankly promised. Meantime I beg his Grace to believe that my

breast is full of all the gratitude that is possible to be expressed.

I am with very great esteem, Sir,

Your obedient humble Servant

G. H.”

It may be here just added, that though Lidderdale could not boast of the

generosity or munificence of the Townshends, the case was somewhat

otherwise with Hepburn, as appears from the following copy of a Letter

dated July 11th. 1756, from him to the then Lord Townshend. The copy,

probably in the handwriting of one of his daughters by the _last

marriage_, is as follows—

“My Lord, The singular testimony of your Lordships regard (which I

lately had the honour to receive from Mr. Case) has, like the

Sunbeams of Summer to a decayed plant, giveing (given) warmth and

springly vigour to the winter of my age. A warmth, my Lord, which

has filled my breast with greattitude (gratitude) that will last as

long as blood circulates in the veanns (veins) or the heart continues

to beat in the breast of,

My Lord, Your Lordship’s ever obliged, most obedient,

And most thankful humble servant.

G. H.”

When the kindness of Dr. _Maxwell_, in settling upon his uncle Hepburn

the very handsome annuity of 200_l._ a year, was noticed above, it should

have been also observed that the nephew had very great obligations to the

uncle, and owed perhaps almost every thing to him in regard to his good

fortune or advancement in the world. The following Letter from Hepburn

to the Duke of Devonshire, then Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, where Maxwell

was in the meantime stationed as a surgeon in the army, may serve to

throw some light upon that subject.—

“My Lord, The honour I have had for many years of being known to, and

sometimes taken notice of by your grace at Houghton in Norfolk, has

fixed in me such a firm opinion of your grace’s humane disposition,

that it is without the least diffidence I now presume to write to

your Grace, in behalf of Mr. Maxwell, a surgeon, the bearer. His

near relation to me, My Lord, claims indeed my endeavours to serve

him; but much more his own merit. However as consanguinity too often

occasions partiality, I choose, my Lord, and think it much more

equitable to leave him to produce vouchers for his character from

among the military officers of the best rank in Ireland, where he has

served near twenty years—Let this have the honour to introduce him to

your Grace, as my nephew. Let the merit of whatever boon he may beg

of your Grace (if any) depend upon the voice of those Gens D’honneur

who have been so long constant witnesses of his behaviour and

practice.—And now, my Lord, as in full assurance of your Grace’s good

nature I have ventured upon this Letter, so ’tis in your Grace’s

Goodness, I only can hope for pardon, and beg leave to subscribe

myself, Lynn Jan. 12. 1739–40. My Lord, Your Grace’s &c. G. H.”

15. _John Rastrick_ M.A. In the order of time, or seniority, his name

in this list ought to have preceded several of the former ones, as he was

many years older than even Pyle and Hepburn; and in point of learning and

piety, or real respectability of character, he was probably not inferior

to any one that has been yet named of the former inhabitants of this

town. He was born in 1649, at Heckington near Sleaford, in Lincolnshire.

Of the situation, or circumstances of his parents we are uninformed.

They probably ranked among the reputable yeomanry of that place. Their

son, being designed for the ministry, may be supposed to be placed at a

proper age at one of those seminaries in the country where youth are

prepared for the university. Having acquired the rudiments of classical

learning, he was sent to Trinity College in Cambridge, where he finished

his academical education and obtained the degree of M.A. He then went

into orders; but when that was, we have not learnt. He probably

officiated afterwards as curate for sometime; but that could not be long,

for he became vicar of Kirkton, near Boston, in 1674, when he was about

25 years of age. No sooner had he settled at Kirkton than he felt the

arduousness of the charge he had undertaken. His congregation was large,

and the parish of great extent. How much his mind was improved with

these considerations, and how anxious he was lest he should fail in the

due execution of his office, will appear from his own testimony on the

subject, in a Letter to a friend:

“The number and distance of the inhabitants, (says he) gave me a very

sensible concern, and I was very uneasy under the burden that lay

upon me: I knew not what to do for so many souls, that were also most

of them so remote from my dwelling, nor how to discharge my duty in a

place, that (as a learned, pious, and worthy clergyman, my friend

told me) was as large as some of the dioceses of the primitive

church. Catechising, and preaching to such as would come under them,

was not all I had to do. But I could not forbear being concerned

with such as would bring their children to baptism, or offer

themselves to the Lord’s Table, how to carry it, and answer the

Church’s expectations, with satisfaction to my mind, and fidelity to

my highest trust. In catechising and preaching, I could suit myself,

my doctrine, and discourse to the condition of the people; but (by

the rules and orders of my publick station) in administering

sacraments and applying the seals, (especially baptism) I saw I must

treat them all alike. Yet if catechising and preaching be to prepare

men for sacraments for themselves or theirs, it undeniably supposeth,

that the _latter_ are not to be given to such in whom the _former_

hath no effect, nor to their children. Qualifications for privileges

I knew were necessary, but where _those_ were wanting, it was

impossible I should apply _these_ without a relucting mind: and

therefore whatever I might have been in the capacity of a lecturer,

or bare preacher, yet as a _pastor_ it could not be, that I should be

unconcerned in acts of discipline and government, and in judging of

my own ministerial performances of that kind.”

Such is his own account; and there is no reason to doubt of its

correctness.—Having carefully formed an idea of his line of duty, he set

himself in good earnest upon acting up to it; but here he met with

insuperable difficulties, which troubled and plagued him exceedingly, and

forced him at last, to resign his living {1052} and quit the church of

which he had been many years a minister, and which he would probably have

continued still to be, had he been permitted by his ecclesiastical

superiors to act with honesty and a good conscience, which they however

were no way disposed to allow him to do. Thus was he forced to resign

his vicarage of Kirkton; after he had held it 14 years, while numbers of

sporting, fox hunting, and loose living incumbents were suffered to

retain their situations with impunity and without the least check or

remonstrance. But though he quitted the ministry, he did not immediately

withdraw from the communion of the established church, for we find him

communicating sometime after at Frampton, where his friend _Ishmael

Burroughs_ was curate, who himself afterwards left the church and became

pastor of a Presbyterian congregation at Wisbeach, where he continued the

remainder his days. We are not sure that either he or Rastrick engaged

in the ministry among the Dissenters, or even actually joined them, till

after the Revolution, when the Toleration Act made it perfectly safe for

them so to do. It does not appear at what time Burroughs undertook his

charge, or entered upon his ministry at Wisbeach; but it appears that

Rastrick entered upon his ministry and took the charge of the

Presbyterian congregation at Lynn in 1701, {1055} for we find that he was

minister here 26 years; and he died in 1727. The commencement of his

ministry here was therefore 14 years after he had resigned or quitted

Kirkton, and perhaps 30 years or more after the commencement of his

public ministry: so that at the time of his death he had been in the

ministry between 50 and 60 years. How and where he spent his time during

the interval between his quitting Kirkton and his settling at Lynn, we

have not been able to discover. Wherever it was, he spent it no doubt,

in a manner worthy of himself, or of that integrity and goodness of

character which he so uniformly and so well sustained through life. Old

members of that congregation used to say, 30 years ago, that he settled

here as successor to a Mr. _Williams_, who, as far as we can find, was

the only minister of that society during the 25 years, that intervened

between the death of Mr. Horne and the arrival of Mr. Rastrick. Of this

Mr. Williams we have not been able to obtain any further information.

Where he came from, what was his character, how long he was settled here,

what became of him, whether he died here or removed elsewhere, must of

course be all left among the uncertainties. When Mr. Rastrick came to

settle at Lynn, he had been 14 years in a state of separation from the

Church, and therefore a kind of dissenter. The Presbyterian was the

denomination he appeared most to approve, and it was that which he

afterwards joined: but he had too much moderation, and too little of a

sectarian spirit to be admired by any existing party. Dissatisfied with

many things in the Church, he was far from approving of all things he saw

among the dissenters. This made him often think and say (as he tells us)

that, as things then stood in England, “he was neither fit for Church nor

Meeting.” That this unprejudiced or unbiassed disposition of his should

not insure to him the admiration or esteem of his new friends or

connection, but would tend to lower rather than exalt him in their

estimation, and so prove prejudicial to his interest among them, must not

be deemed very strange or wonderful; especially as he was pretty free in

expressing his disapprobation of what he thought amiss. That such was

the case appears from his own testimony: “My conscience beareth me

witness, (says he) That in my more private station in all the places

where I have served, I have not been sparing both in preaching and

practice, to express myself, and set myself against the corruptions and

errors of Dissenters, tho’ it has been so much to my hindrance and

disadvantage in outward or worldly respects.” In another place he says,

“In the mean time, I hope (in the strength of Christ) to abide in the

true catholic and apostolic christian faith and church, and in the true

protestant reform’d religion: and (as to the church of England so called)

a _mere nonconformist_, not addicting myself to any faction, sect, or

party of christians, as such, under what denomination soever.” All this

is very honourable to his memory: and it may help in some measure to

account for a person of his learning and talents remaining all the

residue of his days the minister of a comparatively obscure and poor

congregation, (as this at Lynn, at best, certainly was,) while many

respectable and opulent congregations were in want of such pastors, or

were supplied by men of far inferior abilities and attainments. The same

may also help to account for those difficulties and trials he afterwards

experienced from his congregation, or from certain individuals that

composed a part of it. Such troublers or disturbers a moderate,

liberal-minded minister is pretty sure of finding in most dissenting

congregations. A thorough-paced bigot, or sectary, has a far better

chance of escaping them, or at least of obtaining their countenance and

co-operation. Rastrick kept his mind open to conviction; as appears from

the change which took place in his sentiments in the latter part of his

life, when he embraced the opinions which distinguished Clarke and

Jackson among the churchmen, and Peirce and Hallet and others among the

Dissenters. It is somewhat remarkable that both Pyle and he were then

proselyted to those opinions; so that the Church and the meeting here

became equally heterodox. This change in his sentiments appears to have

extended further than what related to the athanasian trinity, and to have

soon divided the congregation into two parties, one approving and the

other disapproving of his ministry. {1058} It is probable that much, if

not most of his discomfort here sprung from this source. This difference

of opinion, however did not, in his time, produce separation; for they

all continued, as far as we can learn, to attend on his ministry, while

he lived, notwithstanding their diversity of sentiments. The malcontents

not only were Athanasians, but appear to have been also strongly

tinctured with Calvinism, and even with Antinomianism; which indeed has

been thought to be little, or rather nothing more than “Calvinism run to

seed.” To them it is no great wonder that Mr. R’s ministry proved

unacceptable, or that they should cause him some disquietude and

unhappiness. That such was really the case, may be inferred from his

very Epitaph; and it is further corroborated by oral tradition, as well

as by the contents the prefer to a MS. volume of his, left by him ready

for the press; though, for some reason, to us unknown, it never was

published; and it has been now many years in the possession of the

present writer. This volume was certainly far more worthy of publication

than thousands that have been published since, and that are still daily

publishing. It is entitled, “Plain and Easy Principles of Christian

Religion and Obedience; or, The Necessity of keeping Christ’s

Commandments, in order to our preserving an Interest in his Favour,

Demonstrated from John 15. 10. By John Rastrick M.A. sometime vicar of

Kirkton near Boston in Lincolnshire, and now minister of the gospel at

King’s Lyn in Norfolk.” {1059} It is a sensible and notable performance,

and contains many striking and curious thoughts, {1060} especially in the

_appendix_, where the trinitarian controversy, and that relating to the

person of Christ are more particularly adverted to and discussed. We are

assured that he intended to publish this work himself; but being by some

means prevented, he left instructions at his death for his son to do it

afterwards: which yet he did not do, despairing _perhaps_ of its

convincing, or having any good effect on the malcontents, and fearing it

might irritate them further, and so preclude the possibility of re-union,

or a restoration of harmony in the congregation. But whatever

consideration it was that prevented the publication of this volume, it is

certain that harmony was never restored, or a re-union effected between

these two parties: the discontented or antinomian party went off

afterwards, in the son’s time, and formed a kind of Independent Society,

which after assuming various shapes, and undergoing divers changes,

produced the Baptist congregation here, which now meets at the new chapel

in Broad Street. Mr. Rastrick died in 1727, at the advanced age of 78.

{1061} He lived, as did also his son afterwards, in that house in

Spinner Lane, now occupied by Mr. _Dennis_, behind which stood the

chapel, both of which, if we are not mistaken, were his own property. He

left behind him several things in MS. some of which, beside the volume

above noticed, are now in the possession of the present writer. The

whole is written in a very small hand, and with singular neatness, for

he, as well as his son, was an admirable penman. He was doubtless an

eminent scholar, and reckoned a very good mathematician, which is not

unlikely, as he was cotemporary and of the same college with _Barrow_:

nor is it very probable that that generation of Dissenters had among them

many if any names of superior learning and respectability.

Of his writings not much went through the press, which we may presume had

not been the case had he lived in later times, or under more auspicious

circumstances. Of his printed works the present writer has not heard of

any except the following: 1. “An Account of the Nonconformity of _John

Rastrick_, A.M. sometime vicar of _Kirkton_, near _Boston_, in

Lincolnshire; containing the occasion and circumstances of his secession

from that place. In a Letter to a Friend.” [It was printed in London,

in 1705; and the friend to whom it was addressed was Dr. _Edmund

Calamy_.] 2. “A Sermon at the ordination of Mr _Samuel Savage_, at St.

Edmund’s Bury, April 22. 1714. With an exhortation to him at the

close.”—3. “Two letters to Mr. _Ralph Thoresby_ of _Leeds_, giving an

account of a great number of _Roman_ coins found at _Flete_ in

Lincolnshire, and other antiquities found at _Spalding_, &c. and printed

in the _Phil. Trans._ No. 279, p. 1156, &c.—4. “A _supplement_ to the

latter, printed in the same work, No. 377, p. 340.”—His unprinted, or

unpublished works appear to have been much more numerous and

considerable; but they got into different hands after the son’s death,

and most of them perhaps have been since lost. Some of them were in the

possession of the son’s successors Messrs. _Mayhew_ and _Warner_, and

some in that of the late Dr. _Lloyd_. What became of them we know not.

The two following articles with some other loose papers came into the

possession of the present writer—1. The MS. volume before mentioned,

entitled “PLAIN AND EASY PRINCIPLES OF CHRISTIAN RELIGION AND OBEDIENCE;

or the necessity of keeping Christ’s Commandments, in order to our

preserving an interest in his favour, demonstrated.” [It would make a

duodecimo volume of 250 or 300 pages, and may be called an ingenious and

elaborate piece, written out with great care and singular neatness.]

{1063} 2. “A SHORT CATECHISM; containing the chief heads of the

christian religion, and faith of Christ.” It is carefully and neatly

written like the other MS. volume, yet it does not appear to have been

intended for the press, but rather as a present, or new-year’s gift to

his children, the name of one of whom, _Hannah Rastrick_, is prefixed to

it in her father’s hand writing.—The smaller MSS. are some of them in

prose and some in _verse_, for Mr. R. _like one of our present

mathematicians_, {1064a} would sometimes leave those profound or severer

studies, and amuse himself with writing little poems; but with this

difference, that these productions of the former were only meant for the

amusement or gratification of his own children and family, or the small

circle of intimate and particular friends, and not for the inspection and

admiration of the public at large, like those of the latter. {1064b}

Without attempting to draw any further parallel or comparison between our

present or former race of mathematicians, we shall here close our memoir

of the venerable John Rastrick.

16. _William Rastrick_. He was the only son, or at least the only

surviving son of the former: and he was every way a son worthy of such a

father. In point of genius and learning, virtue and piety, or real

respectability or exemplariness of character, he has always been

understood as nothing inferior to him, or to any one of his

contemporaries either in this town or in all this part of the kingdom.

The very servants, and all those who were most intimate in the family,

and who had therefore the best opportunity of knowing and judging of his

private and real character, always deemed and spoke of him as one of the

best of men and most exemplary of christians. Knowing how much his

father had been teazed and tried by one part of the congregation, he

never would undertake the pastoral charge: but used to exchange with the

Presbyterian minister at Wisbeach, at those times when the Lord’s Supper

was to be administered here; which must have been very inconvenient to a

man of his retired and recluse habits. Like his father he exceeded any

of our townsmen of his time in many branches of knowledge, especially the

mathematics. His superior skill and judgement would accordingly be

resorted to on such difficult occasions as required extraordinary

scientific expertness or accuracy. In how many instances his townsmen

were indebted to his superior attainments, it is impossible now to say:

but the best _plan of the town_ that has yet appeared, with different

views of it and of some of its principal buildings, drawn by him, may be

reckoned among those instances. Except such productions we know not of

any thing else of his that has been published: nor do we know of any

thing from his exquisite pen that is now extant beside _his Account of

the Ejected Ministers_, in latin. Of this notable production there are

now in existence at least _three copies_; two in his own hand writing,

one of them deposited in Dr. _Williams’ Library_, in London, and the

other in St. _Margaret’s Library_, in Lynn: the latter written with

almost inimitable neatness. The third copy is a fair transcript of the

latter, in two different hands, and in the possession of the present

writer. It is entitled, “INDEX _Eorum Theologorum Aliorumque_ No. 2257.

_Qui propter Legem UNIFORMITATIS_, _Aug:_ 24 _An._ 1662, _ab Ecclesia

Anglicana secesserunt_, _Alphabetico ordine ac secundum gradus suos

depositus_. _Cura ac opera GULIELMI RASTRICK_.” Then follow, by way of

motto, Zech. i. 5. in _Hebrew_; Heb. xi. 38, in _Greek_; a passage from

_Erasmus_ in _Latin_; and one from _Locke_, in _English_. At the bottom

of the page stands 1734, denoting, as it would seem, the year in which

the MS. was written. Mr. W. R. lived after that about 18 years, and died

in the first week of _August_ 1752, just 25 years after his father; near

to whose grave, if not within the same, his remains are supposed to have

been deposited. He was buried on the 9th of that month, as appears by

the parish register.

17. _Anthony Mayhew_. He succeeded the former as the minister of the

congregation; and was a minister every way worthy of such a predecessor;

for a man of superior worthiness, or of a more excellent character was

rarely to be found any where. He was a native of Suffolk, and had been

many years in the ministry, chiefly in Hampshire, if we are not mistaken,

before he settled in this town. After he had been here some years the

old chapel in Spinner-Lane was deserted, and a new one erected in

_Broad-Street_, where Mr. Isaac Allen now officiates. He died Aug. 15,

1783 at the age of 76; about six years after he had resigned his pastoral

charge, when he was succeeded by

18. _William Warner_. He was a person of a most amiable disposition,

and of respectable parts and learning. He had been educated in London,

under doctors _Savage_, _Kippis_, and _Rees_, and came to Lynn in 1777,

by the recommendation of those eminent tutors, in consequence of an

application from Mr. Mayhew and the congregation. He was here about

three or four and twenty years. His health had been deciding some years

before he died, which made him wish for a more favourably situation,

which at last offered itself, at Hapton near Norwich. But he lived not

long there; for he died early in 1802 {1069} at the age of 46. He was

born at or near _Nailsworth_, in Gloucestershire, where he is supposed to

have several near relations still living. He married one of the

daughters of his worthy predecessor Mr. Mayhew, who still survives him,

and is no way unworthy of such a father and such a husband. His funeral

sermon was preached at Lynn by one who knew him intimately above twenty

years, and knew him to be a man without bigotry and without guile. The

congregation declined in his time, after his death the chapel, by some

odd management, went into the hands of the Calvinistic Methodists, under

the name of _Independents_, though it was said to be the property of the

Presbyterian Board in London.

19. Sir _Benjamin Keene_, Knight of the Bath, was born at Lynn, in 1697.

He was the eldest son of Charles Keene, Esq; a merchant and alderman of

this borough, who served the office of Mayor in 1714–15. Young Keene was

probably educated at the Free School in this town, and was thence removed

to Pembroke Hall in the University of Cambridge, where he took his degree

of civil law. He afterwards continued his studies for a few years at

Leyden. It is said that the misfortunes of Mr. Keene, the father, in

trade, first recommended the family to the humanity and the protection of

Sir Robert Walpole, who afterwards acknowledged that the talents and

integrity of the son, in a public station of peculiar difficulty, had

more than repaid his beneficence. In July 1724, Mr. Benjamin Keene was

appointed the British Consul at Madrid, and in 1727 Minister

Plenipotentiary at the Spanish Court. He was afterwards sent Envoy

Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Court of Portugal, and then

removed with the character of Ambassador Extraordinary and

Plenipotentiary to the Court of Spain. It was before observed, in the

biographical sketch of Sir R. Walpole, that it was the great and

meritorious object of that minister to preserve his country in a state of

peace: his instructions on this point appear to have been executed by his

pupil, Mr. Keene, with equal ability and dignity. At an early period of

the clamour on account of what was called the Spanish Depredations,

{1070} the origin of the differences, and the difficulty of adjusting

them, were thus clearly explained by the Ambassador in a letter to the

Secretary of State—

“Upon the whole, the state of our dispute seems to be, that the

commanders of our vessels always think, that they are unjustly taken,

if they are not taken in _actual_ illicit commerce, even though

proofs of their having loaded in that manner are found upon them; and

the Spaniards on the other hand presume, that they have a right of

seizing, not only the ships that are actually trading in their ports,

but likewise of examining and visiting them on the high seas, in

order to search, for proofs of fraud, which they may have committed;

and till a medium be found out between these two notions, the

government will always be embarrassed with complaints, and we shall

be continually negotiating in this country for redress, without our

being able to procure it.”

No efforts were, however, to be left untried by the parliamentary

opponents of Walpole to force him into a war; and while they incessantly

inveighed against the pusillanimity of the minister, they did not scruple

to give their sanction to the most exaggerated accounts of the insults

permitted and exercised by the Spaniards, and indeed to the most

incredible tales of horror. A transaction which had occurred seven years

before, and which was now worked up into “the fable of Jenkins’ ear,” as

Burke justly calls it, was made the vehicle of popular frenzy; and it

required the full exertion of ministerial sagacity and influence to elude

an immediate rupture. The pacific overtures of Sir R. Walpole were most

ably seconded by Mr. Keene, whose address overcame the dilatoriness, the

punctilios, and the repugnance of the Spanish Court; and a convention was

signed at Madrid, which promised all the advantages which the most

successful warfare could have procured. But no reasonable concession

could satisfy the people of England: their haughty and insulting language

at length disgusted and provoked the Spanish nation. The terms of the

convention were, in consequence, not fulfilled; Mr. Keene was recalled,

and the declaration of War against Spain was hailed in England with a

frantic enthusiasm. “They now _ring_ the bells,” was Sir Robert’s

observation, “but they will soon _wring_ their hands.” Burke, whose

veracity will not be doubted, declares that he had seen and examined the

original documents concerning these important transactions, and that they

had perfectly satisfied him of the extreme injustice of this war with

Spain. He even says, “some years after, it was my fortune to converse

with many of the principal actors against that minister, and with those

who principally excited that clamour. None of them, no not one, did in

the least defend the measure, or attempt to justify their conduct, which

they as freely condemned as they would have done in commenting upon any

proceeding in history, in which they were totally unconcerned.” It is

sufficient to add, that after a disgraceful period of seven years’

hostility, after a dreadful expense of blood and treasure, the right of

English Subjects to navigate in the American Seas, the original source of

the differences between us and Spain, were not even mentioned in the

articles of the ensuing peace!!

Mr. Keene was again appointed to the same honourable station, and in 1754

his majesty George the second was pleased to give a fresh and public mark

of approbation of the ambassador’s conduct, by dignifying him with the

knighthood of the order of the Bath; and as the king of Spain graciously

performed the ceremony of investing him with the ribband, Sir Benjamin,

in allusion to that particular ceremony, took for his motto “Regibus

Amicis.” He died at Madrid 15. December 1757, at the time when he was

about to return to England, with a view of retiring from public

employment, and to be created a Peer of Great Britain. {1073a} His great

abilities as a minister, exercised and improved by long and important

services; the liberality and magnificence with which he supported the

dignity of his public character, without any attention to the increase of

his private fortune; and unusual esteem and affection for his person,

which his many amiable qualities procured him at the court where he

resided, were universally acknowledged, and made his death, especially at

that critical juncture, a real loss to his country. His remains were

brought over from Madrid, and buried at Lynn, in St. Nicholas’ chapel,

near his beloved parents. {1073b} A sarcophagus of white marble is

placed over his grave, having on one side a medallion bust of the

deceased, and on the other a bas relief of Peace trampling under foot the

emblems of War, and pointing to ships and bales of merchandize.

20. Dr. _Edmund Keene_, a younger brother of Sir Benjamin, was borne at

Lynn in 1714. Through the interest of Sir Robert Walpole he was educated

at the Charter-House, and thence admitted of Caius College, Cambridge in

1730. He was elected Fellow in 1737, but afterwards he removed to St.

Peters’ college, on being appointed Fellow of that society in 1739; and

he was made Master of Peter-House in 1748. He was elected

Vice-chancellor of the university two succeeding years, 1749 and 1750.

In 1753 he was promoted to the see of Chester; {1075} and in 1764 the

Primacy of Ireland was offered to him, which he declined: but (as it is

related by Bp. Newton in the account of his life,) “he urged his request

to Mr. Grenville, that, upon the vacancy, he might succeed to the see of

Ely, which was the great object, the aim and end of all his ambition.”

In 1771, he “succeeded to his heart’s desire, and happy it was that he

did so; for few could have borne the expense, or displayed the taste and

magnificence which he did, as he had a liberal fortune, as well as

liberal mind, and really merited the appellation of a builder of palaces.

For he built a new palace at Chester, he built a new Ely-house in London,

and in a great measure a new palace at Ely, left only the outer walls

standing, formed a new inside, and thereby converted it into one of the

best episcopal houses, if not the very best in the kingdom. He had

indeed received the money which arose from the sale of old Ely-house, and

also what was paid by the executors of his predecessor for dilapidation,

which altogether amounted to about 11,000_l._ But new houses require new

furniture.”—Such is the detail of narrative old age. Bp. Keene published

only two or three sermons on the usual state occasions: he is said to

have been an attentive prelate to his diocese, particularly in reserving

to himself the appointment of all the curates in those parishes which

were without a resident incumbent. He died in 1781.

21. _Thomas Chesterton_. He was born at or near Downham, in Norfolk,

about the year 1715. When he was of a proper age to be sent to school he

was placed under the care of a respectable clergyman in that

neighbourhood, who had a number of other pupils, the sons of reputable

families, who generally turned out well, and did him no small credit.

Among young Chesterton’s schoolfellows there, were the late revd.

Thorogood Upwood, Mr. Philip Case, and others of equally creditable

connections. His superior genius for learning was known and acknowledged

by most of his fellow pupils, many of whom in making their exercises were

often not a little indebted to his assistance. While in that seminary he

was well grounded in the rudiments of the Latin and Greek languages: nor

did that satisfy him, for he continued ever after to press forward

unweariedly for further literary improvement; till he acquired an

intimate and accurate knowledge, not only of the Latin and Greek

languages, but also of the Hebrew and its kindred tongues, the Chaldee,

Syriack and Arabick; of the latter of which he composed a Grammar, which

was well thought of by good judges. He acquired likewise no slight

knowledge of the Persian, Coptic, and Ethiopic languages: so that it was

not without reason that some literary characters, even in the

establishment, who were well acquainted with his attainments, looked upon

him as one of the best scholars in this county.—It should have been

observed that after he left school, being designed for the medical

profession, he was placed with a _Mr. Harvey_, a Surgeon and apothecary

of very extensive practice in this town. After he got out of his time

with Harvey, he married and went into business for himself: and being

well respected in the town he soon came into good practice. Having from

the first been a frequent attendant on the ministry of the younger

Rastrick, he by degrees imbibed his principles and became a decided

nonconformist. Afterwards, in consequence of having some scruples about

infant baptism, he renounced that practice, professed himself a Baptist,

and joined a Society of that denomination at Downham. He was soon after

encouraged to engage in the ministry, and having an invitation to settle

with a congregation at Colnbrook in Buckinghamshire, he accepted the same

and removed to that place, where he continued several years. He

afterwards resigned his pastoral charge there, and removed to London

where he followed his medical profession (as he had also done at

Colnbrook) and preached occasionally. The congregation he was now

chiefly connected with was that which met in Eagle Street under the

ministry of the late Dr. Grifford of the British Museum. His health now

declining, and his property at Lynn and other parts of Norfolk requiring

a nearer residence, he returned back to this town about 1765, after an

absence in all of about ten years. He now resumed the medical practice,

chiefly to introduce his son into business, who was brought up to the

same profession. It so happened at this juncture that the people who had

formerly seceded from Mr. Rastrick’s congregation, and had formed a sort

of Independent society, were without a minister: their late minister,

William Eltringham, commonly called _captain_ Eltringham, having removed

from them to another congregation. These people invited him to become

their minister, and he accepted their invitation. But he was not long

comfortable among them. They soon became as unsatisfied with him as they

had been with Mr. Rastrick, though not on the same pretence. The

connection between him and them was consequently dissolved. His health

was now declining so fast, that he was obliged to relinquish the ministry

and every other active employment. After languishing for some time, and

mostly in most excruciating pains, he died on the 10th of May 1770, at

the age of 54. His disorder was said to be an ulcer in the bladder. He

was pretty highly orthodox, but, by all accounts, a very pious, as well

as a very learned man.

22. _David Lloyd_, L.L.D. He was a native of Cilcennin in

Cardiganshire. After having spent some time at school in that

neighbourhood he was sent to the grammar school at Caermarthen, then a

very reputable seminary. He went afterwards to Jesus College in Oxford,

where he took the degree of L.L.B. and afterwards that of L.L.D. {1079}

After having acquitted himself very creditably as usher at some school in

the vicinity of the metropolis, he was chosen master of the Lynn Grammar

School in 1760; which situation he filled with great reputation to

himself, and equal advantage to his pupils for the long space of 34

years. It does not appear that this school was ever in so flourishing a

state under any other master, unless it was in the time of Mr. _Horne_,

who was so long at the head of it, as was before observed. Dr. LL. was

unwearied in his attention to the literary improvement of the youth

placed under his care, and to the forming of them to be useful members of

society in the different departments for which they were designed; in

which he appears to have been in no small degree successful, as may be

seen by the number of those who were once his pupils and now usefully

occupy very respectable stations of life. The Doctor went into orders

late in life; (at the age of 50 or upwards) and having no preferment in

the church he preached but seldom, confining himself entirely to the

duties of his other profession. He died in 1794, and was buried in the

chancel of St. Margaret’s church. A stone with the following inscription

marks his grave—

“_Sacred to the Memory of_

_The revd. DAVID LLOYD_, _L.L.D._

_Master of the Grammar School in this town for_ 34 _years_;

_Who departed this life Nov._ 19. 1794, _aged_ 60 _years_.

_In him were united_, _with all the virtues of private life_, _those

inestimable_

_qualities which ought ever to characterize the instructor of youth_.

_To the authority of a Tutor he added the tenderness of a Father_,

_Multis ille bonis flebilis occidit_.”

23. _Robert Hamilton_, M.D. F.R.S. and F.R.C.P. Edinb. was another of

the former inhabitants of Lynn who deserved well of his fellow townsmen

and of the public at large. He was born at Edinburgh Dec. 17. 1721; and

was a younger son of James Hamilton, who was bred to the law, and was at

one time deputy keeper of Holyrood-House, under James Duke of Hamilton,

its hereditary keeper. He was educated at the High School in his native

city, and was there at the time of the memorable affair of captain

Porteus. When of a proper age he was placed with a surgeon and

apothecary at Leith, where he remained three years. After having

attended the lectures of different professors at the university, upon the

materia medica, pharmacy, botany, anatomy, surgery, &c. he was at length

obliged to quit these studies, and procured a birth on board the Somerset

man of war in 1741, having previously undergone the usual examination at

Surgeon’s Hall, London. He continued in that line, or as a navy-surgeon,

for about seven years, when the peace of Aix-la-chapelle put him out of

employment. He came to Lynn in 1748, to see a brother who was married

here and settled as a merchant; and having heard of, and engaged a

situation at the neighbouring village of Great Massingham, where there

was a vacancy for a surgeon and apothecary, he settled there in August

that same year, but continued there only till October 1749, when he

removed and settled at Lynn: and not long after he married a Miss

Hawkins, the sister of his brother’s wife. He now went into business, in

partnership with Mr. Young, a grandson of Dr. Hepburn. A vacancy for a

physician happening here in 1765 by the death of Dr. Lidderdale, he was

advised to procure a doctors degree, in order to become his successor,

which advice he at length complied with, and in May 1766 received that

honour from St. Andrew’s, the diploma being signed by no less than ten

professors.—Not long after he relinquished the practice of pharmacy, and

pursued those of physic and midwifery, which he followed the remainder of

his life, with considerable applause, and general approbation. He died

Nov. 9. 1793, and was buried in St. Nicholas’ chapel, regretted by a

large portion of the community. {1081}

* * * * *

Before we entirely close this part of the work, and proceed to the

_conclusion_, or to give a _view of the present state of the town_, it

may not be improper here, by way of _Postscript_, to rectify some slight

mistakes, and to supply certain omissions that have been discovered in

different parts of the preceding sections, since the sheets have been

printed off.

In the first place, the author wishes he had, at page 137, somewhat

enlarged the memoir of that eminent president of the R. S. _Martin Folkes

Esq_; the maternal grandfather of Martin Folkes Rishton Esq; of this

town; and especially that he had more particularly noticed that

ingenious, elaborate, and masterly publication of his, the _Tables_ “of

the _English Silver-coins_, from the Norman conquest to the present

time;” and “of the _English Gold Coins_ from the 18th. of Edward III,

when gold was first coined in England, to the present time.” The work is

comprised in one volume quarto, and was printed in 1745, for the society

of Antiquaries. It is a work of the highest authority, and of the

greatest use and importance to those who wish to be thoroughly acquainted

with the subject there treated of; and might, perhaps, he consulted with

no small advantage by our senators and others in the present precarious

state of our currency.

At page 961, the author now finds that he was mistaken in saying that

_both the old members_ were returned at the contested election 1784.

_Walpole_ indeed was returned with Molineux, yet not the old member of

that name, but a relation of his, who for a long while after continued to

be one of our representatives; to what benefit or advantage to the town

or nation, the present writer is not able to say.—The author has been

blamed for passing over in silence the _Ball and Supper_ given at our

Town-Hall in _commemoration of the Revolution_, on the 14th. of November

1788, pronounced, as it is said, by both Mr. and Mrs Coke to have been

“_equal in Splendor_ and _more comfortable than that given at Holkham_.”

The fact is, the author had quite forgotten it; and as it was kept so

much _out of time_, he is still inclined to think that it was given more

out of vain parade, than, out of real gratitude for that great and

interesting event.—Another omission the author has been reminded of is,

“that in April 1797, _prince William_ (now duke) of _Gloucester_ visited

Lynn, and after reviewing the Volunteers, and dining with the mayor, was

presented with the freedom of this ancient borough.”—The execution of

_Peter Donahue_, serjeant in the 30th. regiment of foot, for forgery at

Lynn in 1801 is another omission suggested to the author; and also the

condemnation of _Robert Nichols_, the year after, for sheep stealing: to

which might have been added the fatal disaster of the Ferry-boat, this

present year, by which ten persons at least perished.—It will be the

author’s endeavour to set all these matters right in a Table of

remarkable events at the end of the work.

CHAP. VII.

Impartial view of the _present state_ of the town and its vicinity:

containing introductory observations, brief account of churches, chapels,

almshouses, workhouses, charitable and social institutions, religious

sects and confraternities, the corporation, the shipping, trade and

commerce, exports and imports, population, &c. &c.

This town, or at least its western vicinity, being that part of Marshland

that lies contiguous to the town, has of late experienced an unexpected

and most striking change, in the sudden resort thither and settlement of

a number of characters in high life, consisting of peers, courtiers,

statesmen, nabobs, royal physicians, naval and military commanders, &c.

This may be reckoned among the wonders of these eventful times. It is

marvellous in the eyes of most people, and has filled all Marshland with

astonishment, so as to make its homely and unlettered inhabitants ready

to lift up their voices and cry out with the ancient Lycaonians, “The

gods are come down to us in the likeness of men!”—or with a celebrated

English poet, “Descending gods find their Elysium here!” {1085}—The

enormous price given by these new-comers for the estates they have

purchased has greatly astonished the whole country, being about double

the current valuation, or what lands usually fetched here before: and as

some of them are said to be deep in political and state secrets, these

purchases have excited strong suspicions of the tottering existence and

depreciating state of all funded property. For had such property been

really safe and good, these sagacious persons would hardly have withdrawn

theirs and thus deliberately bury it in the bogs of Marshland.

Those changes also that have recently taken place _within_ the town are

many of them very curious and striking. The late improvements in the

Streets, by the new paving of them, &c. might indeed be pronounced proper

and commendable, had not the expense fallen so heavy upon that large

portion of the community who were quite unable to bear the pressure of

any additional imposts, and could hardly stand under the weight of those

that had been previously imposed. Here the projectors and promoters of

the scheme appear in a very unfavourable light—inconsiderate and

unfeeling in a very high degree. But it is in their rage for

_innovation_ they appear in the queerest light. Considering what they

have done in that way, it seems really a wonder that the very name of the

town itself has escaped them, or that they did not take it into their

heads to bestow upon it some new and whimsical appellation, as they have

done to almost every part of it, and even some of principal Streets.

_Checker Street_, for instance, has been by them called _King Street_,

though it had borne the former name for many ages. The _Grass Market_

and _Damgate_, which were always before considered as _two_ distinct

Streets, (and had borne those names perhaps 500 years, if not much

longer) are by them converted into _one_, and called _Norfolk Street_; a

name that might with equal propriety have been given to _Broad Street_,

or _High Street_, or any other Street in the town. All this, if not

superlatively fantastical and absurd, is certainly childish and

ridiculous enough. But we will pursue the subject no further.

Among the recent changes in the town, those that have taken place in the

_Workhouse_ and the _Hall_ must not be here forgotten or overlooked. The

new order of things in the former place, (the _Workhouse_,) is expected

to produce a saving to the town, to no small amount, without any material

detriment to the paupers, that are there maintained: and this

expectation, it is to be hoped, will not issue in disappointment, like

too many of our former golden dreams. As to the _Hall_, the spirit of

economy and retrenchment seems to have become there now quite triumphant.

Such public days as those of _St. John_ and _St. Michael_, so remarkable

heretofore for festivity and hilarity, are now become like days of

fasting and humiliation. Not only the sumptuous dinners and

convivialities of former times have now totally disappeared, but even the

poor pittance of a bit of cake and a glass of wine, has been actually

withheld, even from the worshipful members whose attendance on those days

was indispensable, and who may be looked upon as the very pillars and

atlases of our ancient municipal constitution. After all it is not meant

here to censure this new frugal plan. It may be very necessary and

highly proper, as the world goes; for it certainly corresponds with the

complexion and exigencies of the times, which require the strictest

economy and utmost frugality from almost every description of our dear

countrymen, to enable them to go on with any prospect of success or

comfort. But here it was only meant to state a historical fact, too

remarkable to be entirely overlooked.

SECTION I.

_Brief account of the Churches and Chapels_.

In an account of the churches of Lynn, the first place, no doubt, is due

to that of ST. MARGARET, which was founded about the close of the 11_th_,

or commencement of the 12_th_ century, by Herbert de Lozinga bishop of

Norwich; memorable for his simoniacal offences, and subsequent

architectural expiations. Among the latter were the _cathedral_ and

episcopal _palace_ at Norwich, the great church of _St. Nicholas_ at

Yarmouth, and this of St. _Margaret_ at Lynn. The latter according to a

certain ancient deed or register was built by him _at the request of the

men of the town of Lynn_. But if that was the case, it seems their

contributions proved by no means adequate to the magnitude or exigences

of the undertaking; for the work it seems went but slowly and heavily on,

till he had recourse to that notable and wonderful expedient of offering

forty days pardon, or an indulgence for that time in all manner of

licentious or vicious courses, to all who would contribute towards the

completion of the sacred edifice. The work then went on prosperously,

was soon finished in a magnificent style, and the indulgence effected

what an appeal to the most pious considerations would probably have

failed to accomplish.

[Picture: St. Margaret’s church, King’s Lynn]

Herbert dedicated this edifice to _St. Margaret the virgin_, {1088} or,

as some say, to saint _Mary Magdalen_, St. Margaret and all the virgin

saints; which probably made Mr. Britton in the Beauties of England call

it St. _Mary’s church_, a name which does not appear to have been given

to it by any body else. This church has been so often re-edified and

repaired since its first erection, that but a small part of it, as it now

stands, is supposed to be as old as the days of Lozinga. If there be

any, it seems to be towards the west, or south-west end, where the style

of architecture appears to bespeak much higher antiquity than any other

part, according to the opinion of the best judges.

The church in its original state is supposed to have been of greater

dimensions, as well as more magnificent, than it is at present; and it

was certainly the case in later ages, and until the last century, when

the spire fell on the body of the church and demolished a great part of

it. This happened in 1741. Soon after the eastern tower lanthorn was

taken down, from a fear (groundless it seems) that it might also fall, as

the spire had done, and occasion irreparable damage. It was therefore

done to preserve the eastern part of the church. The West end being

demolished by the fall of the spire, an act of Parliament was procured

for re-building the body of the church. The king, it is said,

contributed a thousand pounds, and lord Orford 500_l._ towards the work;

and it was completed in 1747. {1089} It is much smaller than the former,

but is still one of the largest and handsomest parish churches in the

kingdom:—it also abounds with the tombs of our principal townsmen of

other times; (and so do the other churches of St. Nicholas and

All-saints,) with endless monumental inscriptions, which those who are

fond of such compositions may find at large in _Mackerell’s_ volume,

which contains little else. But they would take up too much room in this

work. This church had formerly at least three chapels attached to it, or

comprehended in it: one dedicated to the _Trinity_, one to _St. John_,

and one if we are not mistaken, to _St. Stephen_; only one or two of

which now remain. That of the _Trinity_ was taken down very lately, in

the progress of our paving-act improvements: and long before that the

whole north side of the church-yard was laid open and made a part of the

street, or market place. A new burying-ground, however, of a much larger

extent, has been since laid out adjoining to St. James’s Church-yard, on

which a neat small chapel has been erected, merely for the purpose of

reading the burial service. Had the friends of the establishment

contrived to build it on a larger scale, in order to have divine service

there on Sunday evenings, it might have answered a very good purpose; and

such a place would have been much filter for delivering evening lectures

than either of the two great churches, both of which were originally

constructed for very different purposes, it is to this omission of having

evening lectures in the churches, that the methodists and other

dissenters owe their crowded audiences, and not to the greater purity of

their creeds, or the superior abilities and respectability of their

ministers.

[Picture: N. W. view of Chapel & Burial Ground]

2. ST. NICHOLAS’S CHAPEL. Both _Mackerell_ and _Parkin_ have employed

their pens in describing this respectable fabrick. But a much better

account of it, and the best, no doubt, that has ever yet been given, came

from the pen of the _revd. Edward Edwards_, one of the present ministers

of the town, and has appeared in the 7th. number of the 3rd. volume of

_Britton’s Architectural Antiquities_. From that and other accounts we

learn, that this chapel, was built in the latter part of the 14th century

on the site of another erected about two centuries before, and of much

smaller dimensions. Mackerell seemed much puzzled to determine to what

Nicholas this sacred building had been dedicated, whether _the proselyte

of Antioch_, mentioned in the book of Acts, or _the bishop of Myra_ of

the same name, who so stoutly opposed the Arians at the Council of Nice.

After all, it seems not very likely that it was either of them, but a

namesake of theirs, of a much more modern date. {1093} This, however, is

a question in which few of the readers of this work will feel themselves

much interested.

This elegant edifice is supposed to be the largest parochial chapel in

the kingdom.

[Picture: St. Nicholas Chapel]

“It measures (says Mr. Edwards) 194 feet in length from East to West,

within the walls, and about 74 feet in breadth; having no transept or

distinct choir. The interior consists of a lofty nave, with two

lateral ailes. The latter are divided from the former by eleven

arches on the north side, and ten on the south:—the space of one arch

at the S.W. angle being occupied by the base of the tower. The place

of another arch, at the east end, is taken up by a vestry on the

south side, and a similar apartment, over the vault of Sir Benjamin

Keene, towards the north, leaving a kind of recess between, of the

whole width of the nave, for the communion table. The distinguishing

characters of this structure, as seen within, are lightness,

simplicity, and perfect uniformity of style; the _tower_ alone being

of an earlier date than the rest of the fabric. The pillars are

slender, having the horizontal section of the shaft nearly in the

form of a truncated lozenge, relieved by shallow flutings, and raised

about four feet from the ground upon corresponding bases. They have

no capitals, but small brackets which support the inner ribs of the

Arches. Opposite the arches, in the side ailes, are an equal number

of windows: between the windows are niches and canopies. The east

and west windows are very large, with a pleasing mixture of curved

and rectilinear tracery, and embattled ornaments upon the transoms.

The former is divided into nine days, or lights, by eight vertical

mullions, and the latter has eleven-days, or vertical compartments of

glass. More ornament has been bestowed upon the _doors_ than on any

other part of the building. The western door-way in particular, is

divided by a mullion which supports an elegant niche, and is adorned

with other sculpture in stone. The small south door-way is in the

same style, as is also the larger door-way towards the north. The

front of the _South Porch_ is still more elaborate, being covered

with a variety of minute decorations. The roof of it is handsomely

groined with stone. At the intersection of the ribs are some heads

and figures in bold relief, but much obscured with whitening: in the

centre is a figure of the Almighty Father with a globe in one hand,

and the other lifted up as in the act of blessing those who approach

his temple. {1095} In the circle surrounding this compartment appear

to be angels in the act of adoration; and at a little distance

towards the windows, are two crowned heads of a male and female,

which might be intended for Edward III and his queen Philippa. The

inner roof of the chapel is of oak, in a plain and simple style, yet

with a sufficiency of ornament to harmonize with the rest of the

building. The beams and cornices and relieved with carvings of the

strawberry leaf, which was so great a favourite with our ancestors;

and overall the upper windows there were originally figures of angels

with outspread wings, represented as playing on various musical

instruments.”

The original chapel, built by bishop Turbus, or de Turbe, about the time

of king Stephen, (the middle or latter part of the 12th century,) having

proved too small for the accommodation of the inhabitants, it is

understood to have been taken down and rebuilt upon its present scale, in

the latter part of Edward the 3rd’s reign, and of the 14th century: “For

the pope’s bull to that effect is stated by Parkin (p. 595) to have been

granted to the mayoralty of Jeffrey Tall, or Talbooth, who served that

office in 1371 and 1379. And it is recorded that in the latter year,

pope Urban VI sent his bull hither, which was received with great

veneration, to authorise and allow the baptizing of infants and others in

this chapel.” This is supported by the authority of Parkin and

Mackerell, and corroborated by the gravestone and history of William de

Bittering. Moreover “the figures of a lion and an eagle upon the summit

of the South porch, are thought to be the armorial supporters of Edward

III: and there was very lately in the centre of the west window, a figure

greatly resembling the usual portraits of that monarch, with three crowns

upon his sceptre. The ornaments which surmount the two canopied niches

in the buttresses on each side of the western door, also appear very like

the crest of the same king, as it is represented in his first gold coin,

the quarter florin.”—[see Folkes’ Tables p. 121.]—Repeated efforts were

made to render both the original chapel and the present one independent

of the mother church; but those attempts were always opposed and

frustrated by the bishop. But it really seemed sometimes to be

considered as independent by the inhabitants; and the _parish of St.

Nicholas_ occurs in old records as distinct from that of St. Margaret:

and in the reign of Philip and Mary the extent of each parish, and the

limits or boundary that divided them appear to have been accurately

marked out. Afterwards, however, the managers of St. Nicholas’ parish

were found to encroach on their neighbours of St. Margaret; which

produced a dispute between them that occasioned the interference of the

Hall to put a stop to it, by declaring afresh the proper bounds of each

parish. This happened in 1585, as appears from a passage in an old

record, now in the hands of this writer, mostly extracted, as he thinks,

from the Hall-Books of those times. {1097} About fourteen years after,

as we learn from the same document the corporation’s title to St.

Nicholas’ _church yard_ was seriously disputed, but it is not said by

whom. {1098} The last effort to establish the independency of this

church and parish was in 1609, but it was then crushed by the consistory

court at Norwich, and set for ever at rest. At present the two ministers

serve this church and that of St. Margaret alternately; and it would be

no very easy matter, perhaps, to find any two churches that are better

served. At the general dissolution of the monasteries, the impropriation

of these churches was purchased by the corporation; but it seems that the

provision they made for the ministers was more ample formerly than it has

been latterly.

3. ALL-HALLOWS, otherwise ALL-SAINTS, or _South Lynn Church_.

_Mackerell_, from its nearness to the site of their convent, infers that

“that this church did formerly belong to the _Carmelites_ or White

Friars”—he might as well have inferred that St. James’s formerly belonged

to the Grey Friars, and St. Nicholas’s to the Augustinians, as they stand

equally near to the sites of their convents. He also informs us that it

has been used for a parish church, ever since the abolition of the

Carmelite convent; as if South Lynn, (or _Suthsoken_ as it was anciently

called) had been without a parish church till the reign of Henry the 8th;

than which there cannot be a more groundless supposition. Of its _former

state_, in other respects, his account is more correct: “This fabrick

(says he,) though it cannot be said to be large, yet it is a neat,

regular, and solid structure, built in the form of a cross, within a fair

cemetery, or church-yard, well walled and fenced in. The steeple is

square and flat, with proper battlements round it. In the middle is a

streight pinnacle, upon which is placed a weather-cock, and has five

tuneable bells. Here are two convenient porticos, one on the south side,

and the other at the west end. The dimensions of the whole here

follow—From east to west within, 139 feet; from north to south, 48 feet;

length of the cross isle, 83 feet; height of the steeple, 83 feet; height

of the spire, 31 feet. The body consists of three alleys, and in a cross

isle besides the quire are very many grave-stones for _monks_, and

others, [of the different orders of friars] who came thither about the

reign of Henry III, and here settled, building themselves convents in

different parts of the town” [as divers protestant sects have also done

in more recent times.]—Of this Edifice, in its more modern state _Parkin_

says; “This church is dedicated to _All Saints_: it is a regular pile

built in form of a cross, with 3 isles and a chancel, covered with lead;

the whole being about 140 feet long; breadth 48 feet; cross isle 83 feet

long. At the west end was a strong tower—and 5 tuneable bells. The

tower fell down in 1763, and part of the end of the church, which is now

repaired with a strong brick wall; on the top of which is a kind of

cupola of wood, &c. in which hangs one small bell.—At the dissolution

this impropriate rectory being in the crown, was assigned to the Lady

Mary (afterward queen Mary) and was valued 11_l._ 0_s._ 9_d._—[a very

small sum compared with its present value, or annual product.] In the

20th. of James I. it was possessed by Sir John Jolleys,” [and at present

by Sir Martin Browne Folkes bart.] The _vicarage_ is in the gift of the

bishop of Ely; but is a very poor one, and said to be worth very little

if any thing more now than it was 150 years ago.