would immediately retire; to which he,
with a smile, replied, there was no neces-
sity for that. His lordship, he added, had
sent him purposely to ask me in, and show
me the house and grounds, if I desired it.
"What nobleman," said I, "has done
me such honour?"
"Lord Verulam."
"What?" I said, "is this Gorhambury,
once the seat of the great Lord Bacon ? "
" The same, sir," said my conductor.
" I had no thought that I was any-
where so near it. I should like very
much to see it."
" Then come with me, sir." Closing my
book and putting it in my pocket, I ac-
companied him into this handsome and
142 SIK HARBOTTLE GRIMSTONE.
interesting residence, which I believe was
built somewhere about the middle of the
last century. The magnificent portico is
supported by eight lofty and substantial
pillars, with Corinthian capitals, and the
elevation is in a similar style of archi-
tecture; the rooms are good though not
spacious, and were replete with every
comfort, and furnished in a fashion suit-
able to the dignity of its noble and
esteemed owner. It did not contain any
extraordinary work of art, and the paint-
ings consisted chiefly of family portraits,
by Vandyke, Sir Peter Lely, Sir God-
frey Kneller, Sir Joshua Reynolds, and
other esteemed artists. A picture that at-
tracted much of my attention was a like-
ness of one of his lordship's celebrated an-
cestors, Sir Harbottle Grimstone, who was
closely allied to the five members de-
manded by Charles the First, when he
went down to the House of Commons
HOT-HOUSE. 143
for the purpose of arresting them, and
was conspicuous in and out of the House
for the share he took in the proceedings
on that occasion which ill-advised act
was followed by the civil war, that
finally consummated that unfortunate
monarch's destruction.
Passing one room, where my conductor
said his lordship was at present engaged,
he took me first to the conservatory, full
of a variety of the most beautiful and
rare exotics; then to the forcing-houses,
where multitudinous clusters of grapes
hung from the roof in great profusion
and perfection. I could but stop and
feast my eyes on so pleasing a sight,
admiring how art could be made to sur-
pass nature, and cause this cold and cloudy
clime to rival the productions of the sunny
south. Leaving this place with a " linger-
ing look behind," I proceeded to the ruins
of the old mansion.
144 BACON.
Here there is ample food for the archae-
ologist, particularly in the small tower
or entrance, which gives evidence of a
date far anterior to that of Elizabeth.
The ordinary observer might place its
erection in the time of our Norman
kings, but he would be at a loss to
account for two Roman medallions on
each side of the building (one of a
Ca3sar), in excellent preservation, unless
he knew that they had since been dis-
covered in the neighbouring ruins of
Verulam, and purposely placed there.
My companion then pointed out the room
which the great chancellor generally oc-
cupied, when pursuing his studies after his
retirement from Court ; when that mighty
mind threw open the doors of knowledge,
and founded a system of philosophy that
has obtained through each succeeding
generation, and has been of more be-
nefit to his country and mankind than
BACON. 145
all the boasted and splendid productions
of the ancients ; or, indeed, any that
have dared to soar in regions which the
most powerful of human intellect alone
can reach in any age or nation our
own Sir Isaac Newton alone excepted.
He may have been, is now, and will
be, followed, imitated, almost worshipped,
and his works illustrated and embellished
by others, his highly-gifted and talented
admirers but there he stands in the
pages of our history, the Jupiter Olym-
pus of a sublime conception, masterly
design, sound reasoning, and useful know-
ledge combining to form a practical pro-
gressive philosophy, that has earned for
him a title far more enduring than any
a sovereign can bestow.
But I am wandering, as I did years
ago, among the ruins of that great
man's habitation. I turned from it with
thoughts on the infirmity of human na-
VOL. II. L
146 HOSPITALITY.
ture, and the mutability of mundane
affairs ; and I was about to take leave
of my kind chaperon, when he stopped
me, and said, " His lordship has desired
me to offer you some refreshment." Now,
although my mind was wrapped in me-
ditation, I was generally alive to the
comforts of the body; and as my walk
had been a lengthened one, measured
more by time than distance, I freely ac-
cepted his invitation, and entering a
pleasant apartment, I found everything
prepared, that could tempt the most fas-
tidious as well as satisfy the most crav-
ing appetite. After doing ample justice
to both solids and liquids, addressing my
friend, whom I concluded to be the steward,
I said:
" May I be allowed to ask, to whom
I am indebted for this more than com-
mon mark of hospitality to you, sir, or
his lordship ? "
CONTRAST. 147
" Oh, his lordship, most certainly/'
" How should that be," I said, " when
I am quite a stranger to him ? "
" Not quite, I believe. Are you not the
person who has lately been in corres-
pondence with one of the magistrates,
respecting a trespass you committed in
Rothamstead Park. I answered in the
affirmative; he bowed and said no more.
I then clearly understood what was
meant, particularly as my host and my
correspondent were neighbours, as well as
magistrates; therefore taking leave of my
companion, and requesting him most re-
spectfully to thank his lordship from me,
for this especial mark of his favour, I re-
turned to Redbourn, well pleased with my
walk and entertainment, contrasting in my
own mind the conduct of a man ennobled
by worth, as well as by rank and wealth,
with that of one of mean understanding,
who, possessing but one qualification ne-
L2
148 DINNER.
cessary for his position, had not a spark
of generosity or gentlemanlike feeling in
his whole composition.
It was not long after this, when I
had, by my solitary walks, or other
means with which I was unacquainted,
become pretty well known in the neigh-
bourhood, that one of Lord Verulam's
tenants, occupying a farm adjoining the
town of Redbourn, invited me to dinner.
I accepted the invitation ; and after re-
ceiving a hearty shake of the hand from
my new acquaintance, and as polite a re-
ception from his wife, a lady of prepos-
sessing appearance and genteel manners, he
introduced me to his friend, in whom I
immediately recognised the gentleman who
had been so assiduous in his attention to
me at Gorhambury.
He expressed his gratification at meeting
me again, and we sat down to an excellent
repast, in which I satisfied my host that I
POET. 149
well knew how to appreciate that part of
his entertainment. After the cloth was
withdrawn, and the bottle had circulated a
little, it did not take me long to discover,
that I was indebted for my invitation to
the gentleman whose acquaintance I had
already so unexpectedly made at Gorham-
bury. It was natural that the conversa-
tion should turn on that meeting, and I
learnt that the correspondence already
spoken of, which had been read before
the Bench, had attracted Lord Verulam's
attention, and raised perhaps alike his cu-
riosity and his disapprobation of the con-
duct of his neighbour hence my reception
at the hall, and the gratification I there
experienced.
Flattered at having made a favourable
impression, I failed to perceive that the
good old port, of which the host was by
no means sparing, was likely to make an
impression on me. Wishing, as I supposed,
150 IMPRUDENCE.
to mark the favour I had done him by
partaking of his hospitality, and knowing
my time was limited, he finished the en-
tertainment with two bottles of excellent
claret. He requested me not to hurry my-
self, as he had ordered his gig, and would
himself drive me to Redbourn, a distance
of little more than a mile. Nothing loth,
I followed his suggestion, and swallowed
glass after glass with considerable gusto.
Taking my leave of the fair lady, and
my friend the steward, I stepped into the
gig that was at the door; soon became
conscious that I had over-stepped the
bounds of prudence. I was, neverthe-
less, in full possession of my senses,
and in no fear of not keeping my equi-
librium.
Arriving at the inn, I found the coach
there, the horses put to, and the passen-
gers seated the proprietor, who resided
there, looking very serious ; and the
DRIVE. 151
coachman who had brought the coach
up standing by his side, with a significant
smile.
Without saying a word, except wishing
my entertainer good evening, I took hold
of the reins, mounted without any dif-
ficulty, and drove off, determined, as I
thought, to be doubly particular and
careful. As usual, I pulled up at St.
Albans for a minute or two. I did not
get off the box; indeed, I was afraid to
trust myself, for I began to feel more
and more the effects of the quantity, as
well as the quality, of the wine I had
taken. However, we proceeded very
steadily and very well to the top of
Ridge Hill ; from thence, the worst part
of the stage being over, the horses were
accustomed to go the last four miles at
a more rapid pace consequently I put
them on a little faster, and, passing
through the turnpike-gate at Mimms,
152 COBOURG.
they being all very fresh, I fancied they
would like a gallop ; so after leaving
the village, going down the little descent
that opens on to the Wash, I, as the
term is, " sprung 'em."
I was perhaps in the middle of the
road, and the fence on my off-side being
very high, I did not observe the Man-
chester " Cobourg" coming round the
corner, at about eight or nine miles an
hour I going about double that pace.
Just before we got to the turn, we met :
my leaders flew out of the road at the
instant, over a small ditch on to a bank,
where was a lodge with a white gate
leading to a residence then occupied by
the Duke of Leeds. The carriage-road
extended from the lodge into the turn-
pike, and was marked by two white
posts. Inside the first my horses passed,
but the sudden jerk in crossing the ditch
threw me off, and I lay on my back in
COLLISION. 153
the road, and, for a moment, saw the
coach falling on me ; but in that same
moment the body of the coach struck
the post, and the hind wheel having
spanned the ditch, she, as the sailor
would say, righted; and, with the force
from the speed they were going at,
broke down the other post, regained the
road in safety, and were stopped just as
they reached the little bridge over the
Wash: a most miraculous escape for me.
The passengers, who sat still, were un-
hurt ; but one gentleman, in jumping
off the hind part of the coach, sprained
his ancle, and, sore with pain and fright,
he insisted upon being conveyed to
London in a post-chaise. One or two of
the others accompanied him at which I
could not help observing, that there
is generally one troublesome customer
among the passengers when anything
occurs, and he is always sure to be a
154 DAMAGES.
member of the legal profession. As it
was, I thought myself well off by pay-
ing for the post-chaise, and the injury
done to the off-leader of the Manchester
coach my roller bolt having lacerated
his shoulder to such an extent as to
render him useless.
Altogether, this gross indiscretion on
my part cost me 20?. an inconsiderable
sum compared to what might have hap-
pened, but enough to purchase a resolu-
tion never to throw a chance away
again. I assure my readers that, in my
long career, it was never repeated.
155
CHAPTER V.
THE BOX.
Modern Philosophy Sir Robert Walpole A Railway
Director Coach Passengers A Birmingham Man The
St. Leger The Post-Horse Duty A Strange Bet-
Self -approbation A Warwickshire Grazier (Culloden)
A Lace Buyer Female Accomplishment R. W. Ellis-
ton Don Juan A Dashing Military Officer A Plea-
sant te'te a te'te The Retreat to Corunna General Le-
fevre Desnouettes Sergeant Bunn, of the 18th Hussars
The Emperor Napoleon I. A Cartel A Sad Finale
A Good Character.
"THE proper study of mankind is man,"
is a maxim as durable, nay, as imperish-
able, as is the fame of the man who
156 MAN.
wrote it an author whose poetic works
adorn our literature, and whose name
will ever be held in that veneration and
esteem his writings are calculated to in-
spire, and to justify the verdict pronounced
on both, by contemporaries and posterity.
Nevertheless, worthy as his words are of
all acceptation, they are capable of two
constructions Man in relation to his
God ; man in relation to his fellow-man.
Man, the sublime image of his Maker :
man, the diminutive and distant, yet
perfect, reflection of the great Creator's
attributes, praising and glorifying His
infinite wisdom, goodness, and power;
and man toiling in his predetermined
lot, fulfilling his prescribed career, urging,
bending, controlling all things in creation
to his use: man, enjoying and exulting
in the reward due to the judicious ex-
ercise of his corporeal or mental functions.
No man can refute the justice of this
ELEVATION. 157
axiom; and in its latter sense all men
may claim a right to apply it to their
own immediate associations. It has been
and is practised, in the court and in the
cabinet, in the camp and in the cockpit,
on the bench and in the senate ; and
many of our great men owe their ele-
vation and possession of power by steadily
pursuing it.
If this be the truth and our history,
as well of to-day as of yesterday, gives
irrefragable proof that it is so it must
equally apply to the different grades that
make up this vast and varied community.
Its principle relates as much to the
man who could raise himself from the
box of a stage-coach to be at the head
of an extensive railroad company, and
afterwards to be a Member of Parlia-
ment the highest honour, we are told
from the hustings, an Englishman can
aspire to as it does to that minister
158 REFLECTIONS.
who could boast of his knowing the
price of every man in the House of
Commons sufficient evidence that both
had made man their study, and by that
one talent .only did the latter maintain
his supremacy in the councils of two
successive sovereigns ; and by the same
rule did the former, aided, perhaps,
early in life by fortuitous circumstances,
work himself up to the ascendancy
and distinction he both desired and
deserved.
I have been led into this train of re-
flection merely to show that the coach-box
is not the worst school for acquiring the
knowledge already spoken of though,
perhaps, the person occupying that posi-
tion may have made it only a place of
observation and amusement, and as such
may not have turned it to advantage.
The gentleman above referred to has
now paid the debt of nature, and it is
RAILWAYS. 159
but due to his memory to state that,
to his indefatigable perseverance, his ap-
plication to business, his forethought and
general capacity, is to be attributed the
success of that company of which he
was so long and so deservedly the head;
which, for its efficiency and its remune-
ration to the shareholders, ranks among
the first railroad companies in the king-
dom. At his death he had accumulated
near half a million of money, it is said
an immense sum for a coachman to
realize more, perhaps, than the industry
and talents of any one man ought to
realize ; and to his lasting praise it must
be recorded, that he did not forget, but
took pains to provide for, many of his
dependants, whose means of subsistence
were destroyed by the introduction of
the new method of travelling. Had
others upon whom the author had far
greater claims done the like, he would
160 CHABACTEES.
not have been in the unenviable position
for the last ten or twelve years^ to which
that great change condemned him.
The road on which I now drove, and
more particularly the coach I was on,
admitted of a far greater variety of
character than the one I recently quitted.
Going to a large manufacturing town,
and passing through a rich agricultural
and pastoral district which included a
place of fashionable resort rising yearly
in favour with the public I had an
opportunity of making the acquaintance
of the button-maker from Birmingham,
with his cadaverous hue, soiled white
waistcoat, and unwashed hands ; the
jolly -looking, lusty grazier, his cheeks
glowing with health, and his long drab
coat enveloping a form that told of an
unrestricted enjoyment of the good things
of this world, a few of which class
half the year were my regular clients ;
. CLIENTS. 161
the lace-buyers, who bi-monthly visited
Stoney Stratford and Towcester, and their
neighbourhood; the pretty Warwickshire
lasses, who periodically came up for the
fashions ; and the dwellers in Mesopo-
tamia, as I will term those who inha-
bited the delightful spot that, being
free from tha smoke of furnaces on the
one hand, and the busy turmoil of the
great metropolis on the other, held out
such flattering invitations to, and ad-
ministered to the wants of, the votaries
of pleasure and, last to be enumerated,
those votaries themselves.
Among my most frequent companions
from the first-named place was an extra-
ordinary character ; even the present
Member for that then unrepresented
borough has not attained greater cele-
brity in its neighbourhood. Unlike our
Quaker friend, political power nor sena-
torial distinction had any charms for
VOL. II. M
162 A CHARACTER.
him. Money, with the pleasures and
enjoyments it produces, was his ob-
ject, and fortune seemed to mark him
as an especial favourite; for she tempted
and rewarded his advances with her
choicest gifts, and his name and fame
were as familiar to the inhabitants of
Birmingham then, as is that of the great
Radical orator now, though the origin,
as well as the career of the two men. were
very different. He was not a button-
maker, or a gun- maker, or a hardware
manufacturer at all ; but he had con-
trived to hammer out himself conside-
rable wealth, from the pulpit or rostrum
of the well-known and much-frequented
repository he had established.
" By what bye-paths and indirect crooked
ways" he had risen to this station no
man but himself could tell. Illiterate
in the fullest meaning of the word not
being capable at one time of writing
MR. BEARDSWORTH. 163
his own name even he had ascended
from the very lowest step in the ladder
of life, and, by dint of intuition, persever-
ance, and cunning, had ultimately attained
the topmost round that summit which
many of our magnates have aspired to
all their lives in vain : he won the St.
Leger and rightly named his horse*
after the town that had been the scene
of both his struggles and his success.
Providence had given him a help-meet
for him, who conducted his correspon-
dence, superintended his books, graced
his hospitable board, and otherwise, by
the ease and unaffected politeness of her
demeanour, and the use of good, sound
common sense, had contrived to make
his name respected and his acquain-
tance desired by men of all grades and
people of all denominations.
About the time I knew him he had
* Mr. Beardsworth's " Birmingham " won the St. Leger
in 1828.
M2
164 POST-HORSE DUTY.
reached the meridian of life, and to all
appearance was moving in a respectable
sphere. His manners and speech were
homely, but not coarse, his conversation
fluent on all matters of business of any
and every description ; he was apparently
of a kindly disposition, his spirits were
always good, and he was ready to enjoy a
joke, though at his own expense. As a
proof of this I must mention, that among
his multitudinous affairs for he dabbled
in anything where there was a chance of
gain he was a contractor, or farmer,
of the Post-horse Duty, a part of revenue
arising from and paid by those who were
licensed to let horses for hire, which
duty was put up to public tender by
the commissioners at Somerset House
every third year, England and Wales
being divided into districts, each district
containing six or seven counties Scot-
land being a district of itself.
INGENUITY. 165
In this admirable school he had re-
ceived his education, and had been early
initiated in all the art that was fre-
quently resorted to for the greater,
though, no doubt, fair remuneration of
the lessees. Now, to the shrewdness of
intellect or, perhaps, sharpness might
be the more proper term necessary for
the members of this unique frater-
nity, the acquirements of the betting-ring
or the stock-exchange were as nothing.
Such practice might be styled the acme
of human ingenuity, as exhibited within
the pale of the law.
My friend from Birmingham had already
established his fame as a principal member
of this community, by imparting some-
thing to the Commissioners, by which
they could contrive to screw a little more
out of the pockets of the innkeepers, and
thereby very much increase the revenue ; for
this they had rewarded him with a pre-
sent of 1,000?.
166 EXTEAVAGAXT ASSERTIONS.
The gift had created some jealousy
on the part of his compeers ; but a good
understanding seemed to prevail among
them the evening they all met prior to the
letting, at an hotel in the city, where my
friend would have me accompany him after
my arrival in London. In the course of
the conversation that arose I found he had
credit for enlarging or exceeding the truth in
matters of both small and great importance,
as had another gentleman in the company,
who was remarkable for a deep and crafty
expression of countenance, and came from
Newbury; he was well stricken in years,
and did, by the relation of some few dis-
crepancies the other had been guilty of,
astonish the whole company.
My friend took it all very good hu-
mouredly, and repaid him in the same coin,
till each of them, vieing with the other on
the palpable absurdity of their stories, and
taking credit for their own skill in exag-
let
v:c :~ -^
A
He
168 THE BET.
had elicited ; but seemed to be considering
what he should say in retaliation. What
was our surprise, then, when, gently raising
his head from his hands, and looking round
the room with a complacent smile, he
said " Gentlemen, I'll pay the bet."
The next day the majority of the com-
pany, myself included, for he insisted on
my remaining in town sat down to as
good a dinner as the city of London
could provide, and no expense was spared
in the variety or quality of the wines.
The winner and the loser sat at each end
of the table, and to my great surprise
no reference whatever was made to the
subject of the bet. All passed off in the
greatest good humour, heightened, no doubt,
by the success that one and all had met
with at Somerset House in the morning.
The bill was called and cheerfully paid by
my friend, without a syllable being said
by the company ; and when they dispersed,
GRAZIERS. 169
and I retired to bed, I might have said,
this man has made mankind his study
to some purpose.
In those sturdy and useful sons of the
soil whose company I generally had up on
the Saturday or Sunday, and down on the
Tuesday, I met with little variety of charac-
ter, and nothing to call for any particular
notice, except that with them I found
myself quite at home, both on the box and
on the Monday evening at their inn, after
their day's work in Smithfield, when en-
veloped in one cloud of smoke, imbibing
strong potations, and making display of as
many acquirements as their vocation re-
quired. These they all seemed to know
how to apply. Although their conversa-
tion would not extend beyond the breed
of oxen, I listened with attention when they
discussed the peculiar qualities of each, and
their adaptation to this or that particular
soil. I also discovered that they were all
170 OLD OXEN.
men of substance in every sense of that word;
among them, I remember, was the father of
the young man so heartlessly and cruelly
sent to his last account by that inhuman
monster, Palmer.
I remember about this time going into
a field at Redbourn, where there was a
drove of Highland oxen, on their way to
Barnet Fair. Observing three or four
among them with particularly large and
wide-spread horns, evidently worked oxen,
and otherwise shewing symptoms of ma-
ture age, I asked the drover a pure
Scotchman how old he might suppose
them to be.
" Indeed," said Sawney, " I canna' say ;
they might have draw'd the 'tillery for
Charley at the battle of Culloden, for