"Why?" continued the child; "what have you done?"
""Why, I did nothing but preach at such a place, and they
did nothing but hear me." "But my grandfather shan't
send you to gaol." " Aye, but my dear, I believe he is now
making out our mittimus to send us all there. ' ' She hastened
to the library-door, and after vigorously kicking till
admitted, called out, "What are you going to do with my
good old gentleman in the hall ? "" That is nothing to you,
go about your business," exclaimed the magistrate. "But
I won't !" passionately replied this juvenile vixen : ' ' He tells
me that you are going to send him and his friends to gaol ;
and if you do send them, I'll drown myself in the horsepond ;
I will, indeed ! " Her determined manner so alarmed the old
man, that he gave way. He proceeded into the hall, and
addressing the prisoners, said: "I had made out your
mittimus, to send you to gaol as you deserve, but at my
granddaughter's request I drop the prosecution, and set you
all at liberty." The prisoners expressed their gratitude
without acknowledging any guilt. As for Eogers, he placed
his hand upon the head of his benefactress, and exclaimed,
' ' God bless you, my dear child ! May the blessing of that
God whose cause you did now plead, though as yet you know
Him not, be upon you in life, at death, and to all eternity ! "
In Queen Anne's reign there resided in London a Mrs.
Tooly. Like some others of her class, she customarily enter-
tained at her table the Nonconformist ministers of the town.
It was on one of these occasions that the Old Jewry lecturer,
Timothy Eogers, related the above passage from his father's
history. When the story was finished, Mrs. Tooly astonished
the company by remarking : ' ' And are you that Mr. Eogers's
THE OLD JEWKY. 119
young men for the Christian ministry. Rogers
began his public life at a week-evening lecture in
Crosby Hall, which he and Thomas Kentish jointly
son ? Well, long as I have been acquainted with, you, I
never knew that before. And now I will tell you something
which you do not know : I am the very little girl your dear
father blessed in the manner you have related, and it
made an impression upon me which I can never forget."
Thomas Bradbury, of Fetter-lane, who was present, ex-
pressed his surprise that the speaker had so effectually risen
above the bias of edu'cation and early prejudices against
Nonconformity. The lady then explained the reasons. After
having inherited her grandfather's wealth, mental dis-
quietude prevented her from deriving any satisfaction from
it. She thought a visit to Bath would dispel her reigning
gloom. During her sojourn in that gay city a certain
apothecary attended her professionally, and being a Christian
man, he got his patient to promise she would read a book
which he would provide, for the book, he said, was an an-
tidote to gloomy spirits. After repeatedly calling for the
eagerly-expected treasure, the lady scarcely concealed her
chagrin when presented with a New Testament. She acted,
however, upon her promise, and perused the book ; yet from
such perusal gained no immediate benefit. Her next resolu-
tion was to try the effect of a London season. Lodgings
were engaged for herself and maid in a fashionable quarter.
Like all preceding experiments, this change likewise failed
to relieve the mental burden. While in this state of mind
she dreamed one Saturday evening about a chapel, a
preacher, a text, and a sermon. So apparently real was the
vision, that upon awaking she distinctly recollected the aspect
of the meeting-house, the minister's features, and his text
seemed yet to ring in her ears. The impression this occurrence
made upon her mind was deep and lasting. The next morn-
ing being the Sabbath she set out, accompanied by her
120 ANCIENT MEETING HOUSES.
sustained. His peace and continued usefulness were
simultaneously interrupted by a strange spiritual
gloom which, darkened his mind with preternatural
horror. His appetite declined, social enjoyment
became impossible, because his tortured soul wan-
dered into regions beyond the reach of human con-
solation in " a land of darkness on which the sun
never seemed to shine." During a temporary sus-
pension of his affliction, Eogers published a treatise
on Trouble of Mind. He also resumed his duties at
servant, with the determination to discover if such a place as
the one dreamed of existed. The travellers walked east-
ward, and after a diligent but unsuccessful search, they found
themselves at one o'clock in Cheapside. They dined, and then
recommenced their wanderings. As they approached the
Old Jewry, they observed that numbers of persons were
turning down the street. This crowd turned out to be the
afternoon congregation at the Presbyterian Meeting-house.
The strangers followed them, and turned with them up
Meeting-house-court. The lady was startled at the first
view of the chapel. "This is the very place," she cried,
"I saw in my dream." Immediately after entering and
taking seats, the pastor, John Shower, took his place in the
pulpit. " That is the very man I saw in my dream; and if
every part of it hold true he will take for his text, Psalm
cxvi. 7.'' The words sounded like a preternatural message
when Shower read, " Return unto thy rest, O, my soul, for
the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee." Thus origi-
nated Mrs. Tooly's connection with the Old Jewry Meeting-
house. Thus it was, moreover, that she simultaneously
became a Christian and a Dissenter. The above narrative
was well authenticated at the time by many eminent divines.
A fuller relation was also prepared and published in a
separate pamphlet.
THE OLD JEWKY. 121
Crosby Hall, which he probably again relinquished
on accepting the lectureship at the Old Jewry.
Shower greatly admired both the character and the
ability of his colleague. A large congregation also
held Rogers in high esteem. "He was," we are
told, " a man of a most heavenly temper." His sad '
depression returned with unabated force in 1707,
and rendered his resignation necessary. He received
a life pension from his people. He retired, it is sup-
posed, to Wantage, in Berkshire, where he occasion-
ally assisted his brethren of the district ; but he
continued to regard himself " as a lamp despised,
a broken vessel, and a dead man out of mind."
Rogers died at the age of seventy, in 1729.*
Another of Shower's assistant's, Joseph Bennett, be-
longed to a family which through several generations
nobly defended truth and conscience. His father's
name is among those of the Sussex ejected ministers.
This old confessor afforded his son a careful training ;
he placed him with Thomas Goldham, a brother
Nonconformist, who after Bartholomew-tide, 166?,
set up a school at Burwash. Thence young Bennett
removed to the academy of Charles Morton, at New-
ington-green a tutor whose ability and attention
the pupil never after failed to acknowledge.
After leaving Stoke Newington, Bennett saw a
gloomy prospect spreading before him as he looked
abroad in search of employment. His family was
* Nonconformists' Memorial; History of the Dissenting
Churches. Eogers published several works.
122 ANCIENT MEETING HOUSES.
poor, and his class despised. Having no funds at
command, he might still have secured a competence
by violating conscience had he chosen to conform. In
such a strait, with threatening poverty on one side,
and beguiling temptations on the other, he sat down,
once for all to examine the basis of Nonconformity,
and he arose from the investigation with those
great principles strengthened which he learned at
his father's hearth and in Morton's class; he had no
resources, however, other than trust in God.
Providence wonderfully opened his way. He
obtained a tutorship in the family of Dr. Singleton,
the ejected head-master of Rugby School ; and when
the Revolution lessened or removed the grievances
of Dissenters, Bennett sought that labour which he
considered his peculiar work. He engaged himself
to a suburban congregation, and, in 1694, was
ordained, with six others, at Little St. Helen's. He
subsequently accepted a lectureship at Stoke ISTew-
ington under "good old Mr. William Wickens," who
died in 1699. ' Bennett was called from this rural
retreat to the Old Jewry on account of the loss of
Timothy Rogers. He passed an uneventful life, yet
laboured with satisfactory success till the period of
Ms death in 1726. For the space of forty years he
lived the valued friend of Edmund Calamy, and the
doctor paid him a last mark of respect by improving
his departure in a funeral sermon.*
* Dr. Oalamy's Sermon on the Death of Joseph Bennett ;
History of the Dissenting Churches.
THE OLD JEWHY. 123
A more remarkable man is seldom encountered
than Shower's successor, Simon Browne, who was
born in 1680, at Shepton Mallet, Somerset.* For
the particulars extant respecting him we are mainly
indebted to Anthony Atkey, whose affectionate re-
verence for his subject pervades the funeral sermon
he has bequeathed to posterity. The Brownes were
very respectably connected, and having been in-
tended for the Nonconformist pulpit, Simon was
* This interesting old town, which, is situated five miles
east of Wells, was early occupied by the Nonconformists.
The rector, David Calderwood, was among the two thousand
confessors of 1662. Either the tourist or the antiquary will
find the vicinity full of attractiveness, and the neighbourhood
is rich in historical associations. Mallet was anciently
appended to Shepton, because its possessors were of that
name. Some centuries ago there were placed in the church
two interesting effigies. They are supposed to represent two
of the Mallet family, who were members of the Society of
Knights Templars, and as such accompanied the crusades.
At an early date Shepton was also associated with Christianity
in Britain. In the year 709 an Irish convert, named In-
dractus, here encountered death, as he and a hundred fellow
pilgrims were journeying homeward from Home. A certain
robber, called Hona, supposing the party to be laden with
wealth, attacked them while sleeping, and after slaying the
whole number, he buried them in a neighbouring pit. At /
Shepton, moreover, Walter Charleton, the Court physician
during the reigns of the First and Second Charles, was born.
The Eevolution, which happened in his old age, appears to
have reduced him to poverty. He was the author of a }
curious work wherein he maintains that Stonehenge originated
with the Danes. Here may be mentioned a very remarkable '
occurrence that created some little consternation in Shepton
124 ANCIENT MEETING HOUSES.
early placed under John Gumming, the Shepton
Presbyterian minister. On completing his prepara-
tory course, he studied university learning with John
More, an eminent theologian, at Bridgewater. Even
in early life, Brown's talents were very conspicuous.
Before attaining his majority he served in various
pulpits; and such were his ability and grave de-
meanour that the most judicious readily excused his
early practice on account of the profit they derived
from his discourses.
In due course Browne settled at Portsmouth, where
the Nonconformist society was as respectable as any
then existing in the provinces. A strong attachment
sprang up between pastor and people ; and our divine
had sustained several years' local popularity when
called to the Old Jewry to supply the place of Shower.
For seven more years in his metropolitan pulpit he
sustained his reputation. Then a domestic crisis
occurred; death deprived him of his wife and only
during the year 1763. There was then living in the town an
old military pensioner, who worked at the tailoring trade-
in the decline of life he was overtaken by illness, and was in
consequence confined to the house. A sister, well-nigh as
poor and as old as himself, was his only attendant ; they
both mainly depended upon charity for daily necessaries.
In warm weather the invalid was occasionally carried
downstairs that he might enjoy a change of scene and air.
About sunset one evening the woman for a short time left
her brother alone, and upon returning home found only his
empty chair. In vain did the townspeople scour the neigh-
bourhood in search of the old soldier, and to this day his fate
is a mystery.
THE OLD JEWRY. 125
son, and from that shock Browne never recovered.
Sorrow produced a mental disorder, accompanied by
an hallucination of a very singular nature, so singular,
indeed, as to need a psychologist in any degree to
explain it.
During his stay at Portsmouth the pastor won some
literary laurels. The Caveat Against Evil Company
appeared in 1706, and was a piece pronounced by
Dr. Williams and other eminent judges, to be the
finest performance which they had seen of its class.
This was followed, in 1709, by The Character of a
True Christian. In this work the importance of
governing the thoughts is forcibly argued. After his
settlement at the Old Jewry, in 1716, Browne con-
tinued with unabated perseverance to pursue his
favourite studies. In 1720 he published his Hymns
and Spiritual Songs. This volume includes nearly
three hundred separate pieces, a dissertation on the
practice of psalmody, and a set of engraved tunes,
several of which the accomplished author himself
composed.
When the delusion referred to took possession of
the pastor's mind, one grand idea ruled his action.
Providence, he supposed, had gradually drawn the
soul from his body. He consequently imagined
himself a pitiable wreck a creature incapable of
intellectual effort, because he had lost " the thinking
substance." He discontinued all pastoral duties;
and, as he was now wholly animal, religious exercises
were also relinquished. He desired that friends
126 ANCIENT MEETING HOUSES.
would not offer prayer on his behalf, for he had
ceased to be, he declared, a moral agent. A dark
melancholy supplemented these illusions. At one time
the case appeared nearly hopeless, and relatives even
feared an attempt at self-destruction. As months
wore on, however, Browne became somewhat calmer ;
but after he settled quietly down, he continued for
the remainder of his days to be insane on the point
in question. He supposed himself beholding all
things with the ken of an animal, and perfectly
to resemble a parrot in speech. When persons
accepted his words as intelligent utterances, or
recognised his gaze as not meaningless, they gave
offence by seeming to doubt his veracity. He often
took great pains to demonstrate the reality of his
affliction, and on such occasions his behaviour showed
how keenly incredulity annoyed him. When some
would reason with him to prove all an hallucination,
Browne invariably showed signs of uneasiness.
Thus disabled, the pastor retired to Shepton
Mallet, where he soon gave convincing evidence,
that, instead of having suffered annihilation, his
mental capacity had really grown stronger, while his
imagination was capable of taking higher nights.
He was still a valuable acquisition to any company
caring for intelligent converse. He continued to
reason ably and clearly, and showed in conversation
an extensive acquaintance with science and general
literature. He applied himself to study with un-
flagging perseverance, and published several valuable
THE OLD JEWRY. 127
treatises. Indeed, he may be said to have accom-
plished prodigious mental feats, for he produced
poetical pieces, translated the classics, and composed
a spelling-book, a grammar, and a lexicon.* Once,
* Prior to his leaving London, Browne addressed the fol-
lowing remarkable letter to a ministerial friend. It has been
several times published, e.g., in the Gentleman's Magazine for
1762, in the Biographia Britannica, &c. "Keverend Sir, I
doubt not you have been earnest with God on my behalf since
you left the city, who expressed so much tender concern for
me while you were in it. I wish I could write anything to you
that might turn your compassion into thanksgiving, and your
prayers into praises. But, alas ! nothing of that kind is to
be expected from one who has lived a life of defiance to God,
under a Christian profession and a sacred character ; and
now through his just displeasure is in the most forlorn state
a man can be on earth, perfectly empty of all thought, re-
flection, or consideration, destitute entirely destitute of all
knowledge of God and Christ, and of his own soul, and the
things both of time and eternity, being unable to look back-
ward or forward, or inward or outward, or upward or down-
ward, having no conviction of sin or duty, no capacity of
reviewing his conduct, or looking forward with expectation
of either good or evil, and, in a word, without any principles
of religion or even of reason, and without the common sen-
timents or affections of human nature ; insensible even to
the good things of life, incapable of tasting any present
enjoyment, or expecting future ones ; dead to his children,
friends, and countiy, having no interest, either bodily or
spiritual, temporal to value or mind, but converted into a
mere beast, than can relish nothing but present bodily enjoy-
ments, without tasting them by anticipation or recollection.
This is my true condition : thus am I thrown down from my
excellency. Because I had not, God has taken away the
things that I had. Indeed, I have not those horrors on my
L28 ANCIENT MEETING HOUSES.
when absorbed in these literary occupations, a curious
visitor, peeping in at the study door, enquired what
he was doing. " I arn doing nothing," Browne
quickly replied, " that requires a reasonable soul ; I
am making a dictionary; but, you know, thanks
should be returned to God for everything, and there-
fore for dictionary makers." At another time, while
sitting at table, some one pressed him to say the
grace ; he uneasily hesitated, but at length exclaimed
with much emotion, " Most merciful and Almighty
mind to which you were a witness ; I am grown more calm,
because more insensible, and every day since you saw me
has this insensibility been growing upon me, nor can it be
removed without a miracle of grace, and for this grace I
cannot pray, having lost all sight of God, and tenderness of
soul towards Him. Such an instance of divine displeasure
the world hardly ever saw, much less one recovered by divine
grace out of such a condition. I doubt whether you have
room to pray ; but if you think you have, I doubt not
but you will be fervent at the throne of grace in your re-
quests. But I am so changed that I must first be made a
man before I can become a Christian ; having now none of
that knowledge, or common sentiments on which a saving
change must be founded. I am entirely incapable of any
business in life, and must quit my present station, and think,
as soon as I can, to be retiring into my own country, there
to spend out the wretched remains of a miserable life, which
I am continually prompted to destroy. I thought you would
be willing to hear from me, and though you cannot be pleased
with the account, I am obliged to give yeu a true one, and
beg an interest in your prayers, which will turn to your own
account if it avails nothing towards the salvation of the
wretched and wicked sinner who would yet, if he was able,
be your friend and servant, SIMOX BROWXE."
THE OLD JEWRY.
God, let Thy Spirit, which moved upon the face of
the waters, when there was no light, descend upon
me, that from this darkness there may rise up a man
to praise Thee." At dinner, on another occasion,
under similar circumstances, he said : " Lord, I am
nothing. I ask nothing, and I want nothing ; but
bless these good creatures to those who are about to
receive them." After retiring to Shepton his illusions
never checked his singular industry. At one time
fancy prompted the translation of a classical author :
but it led him at another time to make verses for
children. He composed a Scriptural History, and a
commentary on Paul's Epistles. " With great
labour," says Anthony Atkey, "he also amassed
together, in a short compass, all the themes of the
Greek and Latin tongues, and compiled likewise a
dictionary to each of these works, in order to render
the learning of both those languages more easy and
compendious." Neither these nor several minor
pieces were ever published, yet such as are curious
enough, and have the opportunity, may inspect for
themselves in the British Museum several manu-
scripts by Simon Browne.
While thus multifariously employed, time only
strengthened our author's hallucination. The
Defence of the Eeligion of Nature and the Christian
Eevelation he dedicated to the Queen, on account
of its being, as he imagined, a literary curiosity
emanating from a THING, once mortal. The book,
which he would have thus madly introduced to the
9
130 ANCIENT MEETING HOUSES
> world was hailed by scholars as one of the best
produced by the controversy with Woolston and
: the freethinkers.* Marvellous as such an halluci-
nation will necessarily appear, it was not entirely
without precedent. In the autumn of 1743, one
Lewis Kennedy, a gardener employed by the
Bedford family, committed suicide under a similar
delusion to that which affected Simon Browne.
Although the probable cause of the pastor's
affliction has been described, his contemporaries,
on this mysterious subject, held various opinions.
Dr. Ashworth, in a lecture on the Passions, delivered
* " Of all the extraordinary things that have been tendered
to your royal hands, since your first happy arrival in Britain,
it may be boldly said, what now bespeaks your Majesty's ac-
ceptance is the chief. Not in itself ; it is a trifle unworthy
your exalted rank, and what will hardly prove an entertaining
amusement to one of your Majesty's deep penetration, exact
judgment, and fine taste. But on account of the author, who
is the first being of the kind, and yet without a name. He
was once a man, and of some little name, but no worth, as his
present unparalleled case makes but too manifest ; for, by the
immediate hand of an avenging God, his very thinking
substance has, for more than seven years, been continually
wasting away, till it is wholly perished out of him, if it be not
utterly come to nothing. None, no not the least remembrance
of its very ruins remains, not the shadow of an idea is left ;
nor any sense, so much as one single one, perfect or
imperfect, whole or diminished, ever did appear to a mind
within him, or was perceived by it. Such a present from
such a thing, however worthless in itself, may not be wholly
unacceptable to your Majesty, the author being such as
history cannot parallel ; and if the fact, which is real, and
THE OLD JEW11Y. 131
before the students at Daventry Academy, affirmed
that sudden fright was the primary cause of
Browne's hallucination. The latter and a com-
panion were one day travelling together, when a
highwayman suddenly demanded their money ; and
the man threatened violence unless his demands
were instantly complied with. Browne sprang at
the robber, and after a short struggle upon the
ground disarmed him, and held him down with
a deadly gripe until assistance arrived from a
neighbouring town. On the officer's arrival, Browne
released his hold of the enemy's throat, but was
horror-stricken when a lifeless body lay before him.
That dearly - purchased victory unbalanced his
nervous system, and originated his strange illusions.
It has now become impossible either to disprove or
to establish the truth of this explanation.
The private character of Simon Browne was
amiable and attractive. His researches had been
multitudinous, and on scientific and literary themes
he was competent to converse with freedom and
judgment. His general knowledge was extensive
and correct. After returning to his native town,
he worked on in melancholy seclusion, until inces-
no fiction nor wrong conceit, obtain credit, it must be
regarded as the most memorable, and indeed astonishing
event in the reign of George II. , that a tract composed by
such a thing was presented to the illustrious Caroline." Vide
the suppressed dedication to The Religion of Nature and the
Christian Revelation.
9*
132 ANCIENT MEETING HOUSES.
sant application produced a mortification which
ended his life. When in 1725, all hopes of cure
were abandoned, a successor at the Old Jewry was
appointed, while a present of 300 was transmitted
to the disabled pastor. Browne died in 1.732,
in his fifty-second year, and rests in the chapel at
Shepton Mallet*
The constitution of the church in the Old Jewry