THOMAS PENNANT Esq
Publis'd according to Act of Parliament March 1; 1793.
THE LITERARY LIFE OF THE LATE THOMAS PENNANT, Esq. By HIMSELF.
............cura......
.........eadem sequitur tellure repostum.
LONDON: SOLD BY BENJAMIN AND JOHN WHITE, FLEET-STREET, AND ROBERT FAULDER, NEW BOND-STREET.
M.DCC.XCIII.
ADVERTISEMENT.
THE title page announces the termination of my authorial existence, which took place on
March
1st, 1791. Since that period, I have glided through the globe a harmless sprite; have pervaded the continents of
Europe, Asia,
and
Africa,
and described them with the same authenticity as
Gemelli Careri,
or many other travellers, ideal or real, who are to this day read with avidity, and quoted with faith. My great change is not perceived by mortal eyes. I still haunt the bench of justices. I am now active in hastening levies of our generous
Britons
into the field. However unequal, I still retain the same zeal in the services of my country; and twice since my departure, have experienced human passions, and have grown indignant at injuries offered to my native land; or have incited a vigorous defence against the lunatic designs of enthusiastic tyranny, or the presumptuous plans of fanatical atheists to spread their reign and force their tenets on the contented moral part of their fellow creatures. May I remain possessed with the same passions till the great EXORCIST lays me for ever. The two last numbers in the following pages are my post-existent performances. Surviving friends, smile on the attempts! Surviving enemy, if any I can NOW have, forgive my errors!
Tu manes ne laede meos.
THOMAS PENNANT.
CONTENTS.
LITERARY LIFE
—Page 1
APPENDIX.
Of the Patagonians Page
47
Free Thoughts on the Militia Laws Page
71
A Letter from a Welsh Freeholder to his Representative Page
89
A Letter on the Ladies Affectation of the Military Dress Page
97
On Imprudency of Conduct in Married Ladies Page
100
Flintshire Petition in 1779 Page
103
A Letter to a Member of Parliament on Mail Coaches Page
111
Of the Loyal Associations of the present Year, in Flintshire Page
135
THE PORTRAIT to be had separate at Mr.
Mazel
's, No 7,
Bridges-Street, Covent-Garden.
THE Bookbinder is desired to place the ruins of FOUNTAIN ABBEY at p. 16.
BE AS A FATHER TO THE FATHERLESS AND INSTEAD OF A HUSBAND UNTO THEIR MOTHER.
Ecclesiasticus IV. 10.
The Reverend JOHN LLOYD Rector of CAERWIS
Born MARCH 25th . O:S:
1733. Died MAY 21st . 1793.
The Constant Friend Companion & Assistant to
THOMAS PENNANT
Esq:
in his Tours in WALES.
JURE
X
LIBERORUM.
OF MY LITERARY LIFE.
VIXI ET QUEM DEDERAT CURSUM FORTUNA PEREGI.
ORIGINAL CAUSE OF MY STUDIES.
A PRESENT of the ornithology of
Francis Willughby,
esq. made to me, when I was about the age of twelve, by my kinsman the late
John Salisbury,
esq. of
Bachegraig,
in the county of
Flint,
father of the fair and celebrated writer Mrs.
Piozzi,
first gave me a taste for that study, and incidentally a love for that of natural history in general, which I have since pursued with my constitutional ardor.
A TOUR IN CORNWAL, 1746 OR 7.
A TOUR I made into
Cornwal,
from
Oxford,
in the year 1746 or 1747, gave me a strong passion for minerals and fossils, in which I was greatly encouraged by that able and worthy man, the late reverend doctor
William Borlase
of
Ludgvan,
who, in the kindest manner, communicated to me every thing worthy my notice.
THE first thing of mine which appeared in print was inserted unknown to me; an abstract of a letter I had written to my ever venerated friend and uncle
James Mytton,
esq. on an earthquake which was felt at
Downing, April
the 2d, 1750. This, with several similar testimonies, may be seen in the xth volume of the Abridgment of the Philosophical Transactions, p. 511.
ELECTED FELLOW OF THE SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES.
HAVING an inclination to the study of antiquities, I was, on
November
the 21st, 1754, elected a fellow of the society of antiquaries.
RESIGN.
THIS honor I resigned about the year 1760. I had married a most amiable woman; my circumstances at that time were very narrow, my worthy father being alive, and I vainly thought my happiness would have been permanent, and that I never should have been called again from my retirement to amuse myself in town, or to be of use to the society.
VISIT IRELAND IN 1754.
IN the summer of 1754 I visited the hospitable kingdom of
Ireland,
and travelled from
Dublin
to
Balli-Castle,
the
Giants-Causeway, Colraine,
the extremity of the county of
Donegal, London-Derry, Strabone, Innis-killen, Galway, Limcrick,
the lake of
Killarney, Kinsale, Cork, Cashel, Waterford, Kilkenny, Dublin.
But such was the conviviality of the country, that my journal proved as
maigre
as my entertainment was
gras,
so it never was a dish fit to be offered to the public.
ACCOUNT OF SOME CORALLOIDS, 1756.
In the Philosophical Transactions of 1756, vol. xlix. p. 513, is a trifling paper of mine, on several coralloid bodies, I had collected at
Coal brook-dale,
in
Shropshire.
It is accompanied by a plate engraven from some drawings by
Watkin Williams,
a person who at that time was an humble companion of my father.
IN 1757 ELECTED OF THE R. S. AT UPSAL.
On
February,
1757, I received the first and greatest of my literary honors. I value myself the more on its being conferred on me, at the instance of
Linnaeus
himself, with whom I had began a correspondence in 1755. I had sent him an account of a recent
concha anomia,
which I found adhering to a sea-plant of the
Norwegian
seas, sent to me by bishop
Pontoppidan. Hanc,
says the great naturalist,
recitavi in societatis regiae Upsaliensis, publico consessu,
1757,
d.
17
Februarii, quam collegae et socii omnes avidissimè excipiebant et mirati sunt; te quoque codem die membrum praefatae societatis unanimo consensu elegere omnes, et mibi in mandatis dedere hoc tibi significandi; probè persuasi te excepturum hoc eorum officium benevolè, ob amorem quem sers in scientias et omnia quae usui publico inserviant.
My correspondence continued with this illustrious personage till age and infirmities obliged him to desist. He did me the honor of accepting all my labors published before the year 1774. He spoke of them in terms too favorable for me to repeat.
FOLIO EDITION OF THE BRITISH ZOOLOGY, 1761.
About the year 1761 I began my
British Zoology,
which, when completed, consisted of cxxxii plates on imperial paper. They were all engraven by Mr.
Peter Mazel,
now living, and of whose skill and integrity I had always occasion to speak well. The painter was Mr.
Peter Pallou,
an excellent artist, but too fond of giving gaudy colours to his subjects. He painted, for my hall, at
Downing,
several pictures of birds and animals, attended with suitable landscapes. Four were intended to represent the climates. The frigid zone, and an
European
scene of a farm-yard, are particularly well done; all have their merit, but occasion me to lament his conviviality, which affected his circumstances and abridged his days.
THE worthy and ingenious
George Edwards,
that admirable ornithologist, at first conceived a little jealousy on my attempt: but it very soon subsided. We became very intimate, and he continued to his dying day ready and earnest to promote all my labors. He presented me, as a proof of his friendship, with numbers of the original drawings from which his etchings had been formed. These I keep, not only in respect to his memory, but as curious testimonies of his faithful and elegant pencil.
I dedicated the
British Zoology
to the benefit of the
Welsh
school, near
Gray's-inn-lane, London,
and supported the far greater part of the expence. I lost considerably by it, notwithstanding several gentlemen contributed. My agent was that very honest man, Mr.
Richard Morris,
of the navy office. His widow was left in narrow circumstances, I therefore permitted her to keep the plates, and make what advantage she could of them. I was, at the time of undertaking this work, unexperienced in these affairs, and was ill-advised to publish on such large paper; had it been originally in quarto, the school would have been considerably benefited by it.
JOURNEY TO THE CONTINENT, 1765.
THIS work was for a time left unfinished, by reason of a short tour I made to the continent. I lest
London
on
February
the 19th, 1765, passed through
St. Omer, Aire, Arras, Perron,
and across the great forest to
Chantilli,
and from thence to
Paris.
I made some stay at that capital, and was during the time made happy in the company of the celebrated naturalist
Le Comte de Buffon,
LE COMTE DE BUFFON.
with whom I passed much of the time. He was satisfied with my proficiency in natural history, and publickly acknowleged his favorable sentiments of my studies in the fifteenth volume of his
Histoire Naturelle.
Unfortunately, long before I had any thoughts of enjoying the honor of his acquaintance, I had, in my
British Zoology,
made a comparison between the free-thinking philosopher and our great and religious countryman Mr.
Ray,
much to the advantage of the latter. The subject was a Mole, really too ridiculous to have been noticed; but such was his irritability, that, in the first volume of his
Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux,
he fell on me most unmercifully, but happily often without reason. He probably relented, for in the following volumes he frequently made use of my authority, which fully atoned for a hasty and misguided fit of passion. I did not wish to quarrel with a gentleman I truly esteemed, yet, unwilling to remain quite passive, in my Index to his admirable works, and the
Planches Enluminécs,
I did venture to repel his principal charge, and,
con amore,
to retaliate on my illustrious assailant. Our blows were light, and I hope that neither of us felt any material injury.
I MUST blame the
Comte
for suppressing his acknowlegement of several communications of animals which I sent to him for the illustration of his
Histcire Naturelle.
One was his
Conguar Noir,
Suppl. iii. 223. tab. lxii; my
Jaguar
or
Black Tiger,
Hist. Quadr. 1. No 190. Another was the drawing of his
Isatis,
Suppl. iii. tab. xvii. which he attributes to good
Peter Collinson.
The third was his
Chacal Adive
of the same work, p. 112. tab. xvi; and my
Barbary
Fox, Hist. Quadr. 1. No 171, of which I furnished him with the designs. These are no great matters: I lament them only as small defects in a great character.
AT MONBARD.
I took the usual road to
Lyon,
excepting a small digression in
Burgundy,
in compliance with the friendly invitation of the
Comte,
to pass a few days with him in his seat at
Monbard.
His house was built at the foot of a hill crowned with a ruined castle: he had converted the castle-yard into a garden, and fitted up one of the towers into a study. To that place he retired every morning, about seven o'clock, to compose his excellent works, free from all interruption. He continued there till between one and two, when he returned, dined with his family, and gave up the whole remainder of the day to them and his friends, whom he entertained with the most agreeable and rational conversation.
VOLTAIRE.
AT
Ferney,
in the extremity of the same province, I visited that wicked wit
Voltaire;
he happened to be in good-humour, and was very entertaining; but, in his attempt to speak
English,
satisfied us that he was perfect master of our oaths and our curses.
THE forenoon was not the proper time to visit
Voltaire;
he could not bear to have his hours of study interrupted; this alone was enough to put him in bad humour, and not without reason. Lesser people may have the same cause of complaint, when a lounger, who has no one thing to do, breaks on their hours of writing, estimates the value of their time by his own, and diverts their attention in the most pretious hours of the rural morning.
From
Lyon
I went to
Grenoble
and the
Grand Chartreuse, Chamberri,
and
Geneva,
and from thence over the greatest part of
Swisserland.
At
Bern
I commenced acquaintance with that excellent man the late baron
Haller,
BARON HALLER.
who, on every occasion, shewed the utmost alacrity to promote my pursuits. At
Zurich
with the two
Gesners,
the poet and the naturalist; the last the descendant of the great
Conrad Gesner.
Ulm
and
Augsburg
were the first cities I visited in
Germany. Donawert, Nurenberg, Erlang, Bamberg,
and
Frankfort
on the
Maine
succeeded. At the declining city of
Nurenberg
I visited doctor
Trew,
DOCTOR TREW.
a venerable patron of natural history. At
Mentz
I embarked on the
Rhine,
and fell down that magnificent river as low as
Cologne.
From
Dusseldorp
I went to
Xanten,
and from thence reached
Holland;
few parts of which I left unvisited.
DOCTOR PALLAS.
I esteem my meeting with doctor
Pallas,
at the
Hague,
a momentous affair, for it gave rise to my
Synopsis of Quadrupeds,
and the second edition, under the name of the
History of Quadrupeds;
a work received by the naturalists of different parts of
Europe
in a manner uncommonly favorable. This and the following year, doctor
Pallas
resided at the
Hague.
From congeniality of disposition we soon became strongly attached. Our conversation rolled chiefly on natural history, and, as we were both enthusiastic admirers of our great
Ray,
I proposed his undertaking a history of quadrupeds on the system of our illustrious countryman a little reformed. He assented to my plan, and, on
January
the 18th, 1766, he wrote to me a long letter, in which he sent an outline of his design, and his resolution to pursue it with all the expedition consistent with his other engagements. But this work was fated to be accomplished by an inferior genius. In the next year he returned to
Berlin,
his native place; his abilities began to be highly celebrated; his fame reached the court of
Petersburgh,
and the empress, not more to her own honor than that of my friend, invited him into her service, and in 1768 placed him at the head of one of the philosophical expeditions projected for discovery in the most distant parts of her vast dominions. This was an expedition worthy of
Pallas;
it began in
June
1768, and was concluded on the 30th of
July
1774. It unfolded all his great talents, and established his fame equal at left to the greatest philosophers of the age. He was lost to me during that period. On hearing of his return I wrote to him at
Petersburgh,
and sent to him all the works I had published since our separation; he received them with the candor which only great minds possess at the fight of the successful labors of others. On
November
the 4th, 1777, I received from him the first letter of our renewed correspondence, which continued several years, to my great instruction. He suppressed nothing that could be of service to the cause of literature, nor did he desist, till, overpowered with business, he dropt all epistolary duties except those which were official. To this day he convinces me of his friendship by constant presents of the productions of his celebrated pen.
MR. GRONOVIUS.
AT
Leyden
I had the pleasure of making a personal acquaintance with my worthy correspondent doctor
Lawrence Theodore Gronovius,
descended from a race celebrated for their immense erudition; his own labors will remain lasting proofs of his being an undegenerated son.
On
February
the 26th, 1767, I was elected Fellow of our Royal Society.
BRITISH ZOOLOCY, SECOND EDITION, 1768.
Mr.
Benjamin White,
bookseller, proposed to me the republication of the
British Zoology,
which was done in 1768, in two volumes, octavo, illustrated with xvii plates; he payed me £.100 for my permission, which I immediately vested in the
Welsh
charity school. I may here observe, that
M. de Murre,
of
Nurenbergh,
translated the folio edition into
German
and
Latin,
and published it in that size, with the plates copied and colored by the ingenious artists of that city.
IN the
May
of this year I met Sir
Joseph Banks,
then Mr.
Banks,
at
Revesby Abby,
his seat in
Lincolnshire;
during my stay I made many observations on the zoology of the country, and must acknowlege the various obligations I lie under to that gentleman for his liberal communications resulting from the uncommon extent of his travels.
I MAY here mention, that our first acquaintance commenced on
March
19th, 1766, when he called on me at my lodgings in
St. James's Street,
and presented me with that scarce book
Turner de Avibus,
&c. a gift I retain as a valuable proof of his esteem. An unhappy interruption of our friendship once took place, but it recommenced, I trust, to the content of both parties, in a fortunate moment, in
March
1790.
A THIRD VOLUME OF FISHES, &c. 1769.
IN 1769 I added to the
British Zoology
a third volume in, octavo, on the reptiles and fishes of
Great Britain.
This was illustrated with xvii plates.
IN the preceding year sir JOSEPH BANKS communicated to me a new species of
Pinguin,
brought by captain
Machride
from the
Falkland
islands. I drew up an account of it, and of all the other species then known, and laid it before the
Royal Society.
They were pleased to direct that it should be published, which was done in this year, in the lviiith volume of the
Philosophical Transactions.
It was accompanied by a figure. It is not a good one, the skin having been too much distended: but in the second edition of my
Genera of Birds
a most faithful representation is given, taken from the life by doctor
Reinhold Forster.
I named it
Patagonian,
not only on account of the size, but because it is very common in the neighborhood of that race of tall men.
INDIAN ZOOLOGY, 1769.
MY mind was always in a progressive state, it never could stagnate; this carried me farther than the limits of our island, and made me desirous of forming a zoology of some distant country, by which I might relieve my pen by the pleasure of the novelty and variety of the subjects. I was induced to prefer that of
India,
from my acquaintance with
John Gideon Loten,
esq. who had long been a governor in more than one of the
Dutch
islands in the
Indian
ocean, and with a laudable zeal had employed several most accurate artists in delineating, on the spot, the birds, and other subjects of natural history. He offered to me the use of them, in a manner that shewed his liberal turn. Twelve plates, in small folio, were engraven at the joint expence of sir
Joseph Banks,
Mr.
Loten,
and myself; to which I added descriptions and little essays. I forget how the work ceased to proceed; but remember that, at my persuasion, the plates were bestowed on doctor
John Reinhold Forster,
together with three more engraven at my own expence. These he took with him into
Germany,
faithfully translated the letter-press into
Latin
and
German,
and added a most ingenious differtation on the climate, winds, and soil of
India,
and another on the birds of
Paradise
and the
Phoenix,
all which he published at
Halle,
in
Saxony,
in 1781.
OF MOSES GRIFFITH.
IN the spring of this year I acquired that treasure,
Moses Grissith,
born
April
6th, 1749, at
Trygain-house,
in the parish of
Bryn Groer,
in
Llein,
in
Caernarvonshire,
descended from very poor parents, and without any other instruction than that of reading and writing. He early took to the use of his pencil, and, during his long service with me, has distinguished himself as a good and faithful servant, and able artist; he can engrave, and he is tolerably skilled in music. He accompanied me in all my journies, except that of the present year. The public may thank him for numberless scenes and antiquities, which would otherwise have remained probably for ever concealed.
FIRST TOUR INTO SCOTLAND.
THIS year was a very active one with me; I had the hardiness to venture on a journey to the remotest part of
North Britain,
a country almost as little known to its southern brethren as
Kamtschatka.
I brought home a favorable account of the land. Whether it will thank me or not I cannot say, but from the report I made, and shewing that it might be visited with safety, it has ever since been
inondée
with southern visitants.
ELECTED FELLOW OF THE R. ACAD. AT DRONTHEIM.
IN the same year I received a very polite letter from the reverend
Jo. Ernest Gunner,
bishop of
Drontheim,
in
Norway,
informing me that I had been elected member of the Royal Academy of Sciences on
March
the 9th past; of which society that prelate was president.
IN the midst of my reigning pursuits, I never neglected the company of my convivial friends, or shunned the society of the gay world. At an assembly in the spring, the lively conversation of an agreeable Fair gave birth to the
ODE,
occasioned by a Lady professing an attachment to
INDIFFERENCE.
FLY, INDIFFERENCE, hated maid!
Seek
Spitzbergen
's barren shade:
Where old Winter keeps his court,
There, fit Guest, do thou resort:
And thy frosty breast repose
'Midst congenial ice and snows.
There reside, insipid maid,
But ne'er infest my EMMA's head.
Or else seek the Cloister's pale,
Where reluctant Virgins veil:
In the corner of whose heart
Earth with Heaven still keeps a part:
There thy fullest influence shower,
Free poor Grace from Passion's power.
Give! give! fond ELOISA rest;
But shun, oh shun my EMMA's breast.
Or on LYCE, wanton maid!
Be thy chilling finger laid.
Quench the frolic beam that flies
From her bright fantastic eyes.
Teach the sweet Coquet to know
Heart of ice in breast of snow:
Give peace to her: Give peace to me:
But leave, oh! leave my EMMA free.
But if thou in grave disguise
Seek'st to make that Nymph thy prize:
Should that Nymph, deceiv'd by thee,
Listen to thy sophistry:
Should she court thy cold embraces,
And to thee resign her graces;
What, alas! is left for me,
But to fly myself to thee.
CHESTER,
March
1769.
1770. ADDITIONAL PLATES TO THE BRITISH ZOOLOGY.
IN 1770 I published ciii additional plates to the three volumes of
British Zoology,
with several new descriptions, besides reserences to those which had been before described; it appeared in an octavo volume of 96 pages, in which is included a list of
European
birds extra
Britannic.
1771. PUBLISH THE SYNOPSIS OF QUADRUPEDS.
In 1771 I printed, at
Chester,
my
Synopsis of Quadrupeds,
in one volume, octavo, with xxxi plates.
ON
May
the 11th, 1771, I was honored by the university of
Oxford
with the degree of doctor of laws, conferred on me in full convocation. I was presented (in the absence of the public orator) by the reverend Mr.
Foster,
who made a most flattering speech on the occasion.
IN
September,
of the same year, I took a journey to
London,
to see sir
Joseph Banks
and doctor
Solander,
on their arrival from their circumnavigation. In my return I visited
Robert Berkeley,
esq. of
Spetchly,
near
Worcester,
to indulge my curiosity with seeing and examining Mr.
Faulkner,
an aged jesuit,
FATHER FAULKNER, A JESUIT.
who had passed thirty-eight years in
Patagonia;
his account satisfied me of the existence of the tall race of mankind. In the appendix to this work, I have given all I could collect respecting that muchdoubted people.
TOUR IN SCOTLAND IN TWO EDITIONS.
ABOUT this time I gave to the public my
Tour in Scotland,
in one volume octavo, containing xviii plates. A candid account of that country was such a novelty, that the impression was instantly bought up; and in the next year another was printed, and as soon sold.
IN this tour, as in all the succeeding, I labored earnestly to conciliate the affections of the two nations, so wickedly and studiously set at variance by evil-designing people. I received several very flattering letters on the occasion. An extract of one, from that respectable nobleman, the late earl of
Kinnoull,
dated
February
the 27th, 1772, may serve
instar omnium.
I PERUSED your book, for which I return my hearty thanks, with the greatest pleasure; every reader must admire the goodness of the author's heart; the inhabitants of this part of the united kingdoms should express the warmest gratitude for your candid representation of them and their country. This, unless my countrymen wish to forfeit the favorable opinion you entertain and endeavor to impress upon the minds of their fellow subjects, must procure you their best thanks. It would be a worse reflection upon us, than any that has fallen from the most envenomed pen, if the writer of that account did not meet with the most grateful acknowlegement.
DOCTOR FORSTER's AMERICAN CATALUGUE.
IN this year doctor
Forster
published a catalogue of the animals of
North America.
I had begun the work, by a list of the quadrupeds, birds and fishes. Doctor
Forster
added all the rest: and afterwards, in a new edition, favored the world with a most comprehensive
Flora
of that vast country, with a catalogue of insects, and the directions for preserving natural curiosities. My part in this work is of so little merit that it need not be boasted of. I only lay clame to my proper right.
IT was in this year that I laid before the
Royal Society
an account of two new species of Tortoises. The one a fresh-water species, known in
North America
by the name of the
Soft-shelled Tortoise.
It is attended by a very accurate history of its manners, and two fine figures, communicated to me by the worthy doctor
Garden,
of
Charlestown, South Caroline.
My paper was published in vol. lxi. of the Transactions, attended by a plate. This is the
Testudo ferox
of
Gmelin, Lin.
iii. 1039. and
Le Molle
of
La Cepede,
i. 13. tab. vii.
THE other is a small and new species, which I name the tuberculated.
Le Comte de la Cepede
and Mr.
Gmelin
err in making it the young of the
Coriaceous Tortoise, Br. Zool.
iii. No 1.
Le Luthe
of
de la Cepede,
i. 115. tab. iii. and
T. Coriacea
of
Gmelin,
1036.
B. T. tuberculata.
THIS year another little poetical piece was produced, by the accident of a lady being chosen, on the same day, patroness of a Book-society and Hunting-meeting.
THE sons of the Chace, and of Knowlege convene,
Each to fix on a patroness fit;
'Midst the deities one had DIANA, chast Queen!
The other the Goddess of Wit.
But on earth, where to find Representatives pat,
For a while did much puzzle each wight;
One Nymph wanting this, and one wanting that,
Disqualified each clamant quite.
Then says CHIRON, the case I have hit to a hair,
Since in numbers none equal I find,
I have thought of one Nymph, not VENUS more fair,
In whom is each Goddess combin'd.
Over wit then in heaven let MINERVA preside,
Soft discretion DIANA may boast.
Amidst mortals I am sure none our choice can deride,
When we name bright ELIZA our toast.
CHESTER,
Sept.
20, 1771.
ON
May
the 18th, 1772, I began the longest of my journies in our island. In this year was performed my second tour in
Scotland,
and my voyage to the
Hebrides:
my success was equal to my hopes; I pointed out every thing I thought would be of service to the country; it was rouzed to look into its advantages; societies have been formed for the improvements of the fisheries, and for founding of towns in proper places; to all which, I sincerely wish the most happy event; vast sums will be flung away; but incidentally numbers will be benefited, and the passion of patriots tickled. I confess that my own vanity was greatly gratified by the compliments paid to me in every corporated town;
Edinburgh
itself presented me with its freedom, and I returned rich in civic honors.
GENERA OF BIRDS IN 1773.
I PUBLISHED the octavo edition of
Genera of Birds
in 1773, and gave with it an explanatory plate.
NORTHERN TOUR OF THIS YEAR.
THIS likewise was a year of great activity. I rode (for almost all my tours were on horseback) to Mr.
Graham
's of
Netherby,
beyond
Carlisle,
through those parts of
Lancashire, Westmoreland,
and
Cumberland,
which I had not before seen. I visited
Sefton, Ormskirk, Blackburne,
and
Clithero,
in
Lancashire; Malham Coves, Settle,
and
Ingleborough,
in
Yorkshire; Kirkby Lonsdale, Kirkby Stephen,
and
Orton,
in
Westmoreland;
and all the countess of
Cumberland
's castles in that county;
Naworth, Corbie,
and
Beucastle,
in
Cumberland.
In my way I skirted the western side of
Yorkshire;
I passed some hours with the reverend doctor
Burn
at
Orton,
in
Westmoreland,
a most useful and worthy character.
FROM
Netherby
I crossed
Alston Moor
into the bishoprick of
Durham,
made some stay with its prelate, doctor
John Egerton,
and entered
Yorkshire
after crosing the
Tees
at
Barnard Castle.
From thence I visited
Rokesby
house;
Catterick
bridge; the singular circular entrenchments attributed to the
Danes:
the picturesque
Hackfall,
and the venerable remains of
Fountaine
's abby. The last attracted my attention so much that I revisited them in
May
1777, and each time they gave full employ to the pencil of
Moses Griffith.
He etched two of his drawings: I here give one of the plates, as a specimen of his extensive genius.
FROM thence I crossed to
Boroughbridge
and
Knaresborough.
Part of the inside
of the CHURCH of FOUNTAINS ABBY.
From
Harrogate
I visited the wonderful
lususes
of
Bramham
crags, and caused great numbers of drawings to be made of the most striking pieces.
FROM
Harrogate
I rode to
York,
where
Moses Griffith
was by no means idle. Among many other drawings, I caused him, out of veneration to the taste of Mr.
Gray,
to make a second drawing
See Memoirs of his Life, &c. p. 294, second edition.
of the chapel, so much admired by that elegant genius. From
York
I rode the great diagonal of the county to
Spurnhead.
Near
Hull,
payed a second time my respects to my friend
William Constable,
esq. of
Burton Constable,
WILLIAM CONSTABLE, ESQ.
, a gentleman the most happy in a liberal and munificent turn of mind of any one I know. I kept along the
Humber,
and from its banks went to
Howden, Pontefract, Doncaster,
and
Kiveton;
visited
Worksop, Welbeck,
the antient house of
Hardwick, Bolsover Castle, Derby, Dovedale, Buxton, Leek;
and proceeded by
Congleton
and
Chester
to my own house. I kept a journal of the whole I mention, as well as numberless places which I omit. In every tour I made I kept a regular journal, all which are placed apart in my library; these I wish never to be made public, as they may contain inaccuracies, either from haste or misinformation: yet, as they contain many descriptions of buildings, and accounts of places in the state they were at the time they were made, they ought not totally to be neglected.
Moses Griffiths
made numbers of drawings: my ingenious friend Mr.
Grose
honored me with using several for his fine work of the Antiquities of
England;
MR. HUTCHINSON.
and I believe Mr.
Hutchinson,
of
Bernard Castle,
will do the same in his history of
Durbam.
I COMMENCED a friendship with that gentleman in this journey, in a most singular manner: I was mounted on the famous stones in the church-yard of
Penrith,
to take a nearer view of them, and see whether the drawing I had procured, done by the rev. doctor
Tod,
had the lest foundation in truth. Thus engaged, a person of good appearance, looking up at me, observed "what fine work Mr.
Pennant
had made with those stones!" I saw he had got into a horrible scrape; so, unwilling to make bad worse, descended, laid hold of his button, and told him, "I am the man!" After his confusion was over, I made a short defence, shook him by the hand, and we became from that moment fast friends.
THE subject of part of this journey will be found among my posthumous works, fairly transcribed, neatly bound in vellum, and richly illustrated with drawings by
Moses Griffith,
and with prints. This will take in the space from
Downing
to
Orford,
the seat of my worthy and venerable friend the late
John Blackburne,
esq. From thence to
Knowsly, Sephton, Ormskirk, Latham,
and (crossing the country) to
Blackborn, Whalley-abby, Ribchester, Mitton, Waddington-hall,
and
Clithero,
most of them in the county of
Lancashire.
In that of
York,
I visited
Sally-abby, Bolton-hall, Malham Coves, Settle, Giggleswick,
and
Ingleton.
I THEN crossed the
Lune
to
Kirkby Lonsdale,
and visited all the parts of
Westmoreland
and
Cumberland,
omitted in my printed tours of 1769 and 1772: and finally I finished this M.S. volume at
Alston,
near the borders of
Durham.
For a more full account of my various
posthuma
I refer the reader to the latter pages of this book.
IN this year I kept a regular journal of the road between my house and
London,
and did the same on my return, digressing to the right or to the left, as the places which merit notice happened to lie.
I BEGAN the account of this excursion with saying, that almost all my tours were performed on horseback; to that, and to the perfect ease of mind I enjoyed in these pleasing journies, I owe my
viridis senectus;
I still retain, as far as possible, the same species of removal from place to place. I consider the absolute resignation of one's person to the luxury of a carriage, to forebode a very short interval between that, and the vehicle which is to convey us to our last stage.
1774. THIRD EDITION OF MY FIRST TOUR IN SCOTLAND.
IN 1774 I published a third edition of my
Tour in Scotland,
1769, in quarto, with the xxi new plates; but, to accommodate the purchasers of the first edition, I republished, with letter-press of the octavo size, all those plates.
IN this edition appeared a small poem of mine, in reply to a most amiable dignitary, now high on the bench of bishops, who had written to me, half-jest, half-earnest, on an invidious comparison I had made between the
English
and
Scotch
clergy. I thought it best to make my defence in rhyme, so sent him the lines in p. 173 of that edition, and all was well again; my coloring of the portraits I gave is certainly high, but the likenesses are confessed by all who have seen the originals. The reader need not be informed, that the seven first lines are borrowed from the inimitable author of the
New Bath Guide.
'FRIEND.
'YOU, you in fiery purgat'ry must stay
'Till gall, and ink, and dirt of scribbling day
'In purifying flames are purg'd away.
'TRAVELLER.
'O trust me, dear D***, I ne'er would offend
'One pious divine, one virtuous friend:
'From nature alone are my characters drawn,
O trust me, dear friend, I never did think on
The holies who dwell near th' o'erlooker of
Lincoln.
Not a prelate or priest did e'er haunt my slumber,
Who instructively teach betwixt
Tweeda
and
Humber;
Nor in south, east, or west do I stigmatise any
Who stick to their texts, and those are the MANY.
But when crossing and jostling come queer men of G-d,
In rusty brown coats, and waistcoats of plaid,
With greasy cropt hair, and hats cut to the quick,
Tight white leathern breaches, and truncheon-like stick;
Clear of all that is sacred from bowsprit to poop, sir;
Who prophane like a pagan, and swear like a trooper;
Who shine in the cock-pit, on turf and in stable,
And are the prime bucks and arch wags of each table;
Who, if they e'er deign to thump drum ecclesiastic,
Spout new-fangled doctrine, enough to make man sick;
And lay down as gospel, but not from their Bibles,
That good-natur'd vices are nothing but foibles;
And vice are refining, till vice is no more,
From taking a bottle to taking a*****.
THE CHURCH MILITANT.
See Mr .
Pennant's
literary life. P. 21.
Come jolly Bacchus God of Wine!
Hear me O Lord for I am poor & needy.
Dying in all its Branches.
The worst Reds dyed Black; or any Colour be it ever so bad; Enquire at the Key and Crook, in
& at the
, in
March 10. 178
Sir
—put off three times— due now near six years; besides two new suits—bear it no longer— —not paid by Tuesday next— —will arrest you—go to gaol for you
Yrs . Tho. Thimble
To Capt• .
With spear & scarlet now I'm deck'd,
And sing a jolly song;
But pennyless I must be wreck'd.
On Limbo's rocks e'er long.
But hope I spy from Bishops kind.
Like Lighthouse plac'd on high;
If for to change I heart can find,
Catches for Psalmody.
My scarlet coat I then will doff,
For qeue a grizzle wear;
The outward man I will put off,
And prim as Bawd appear.
Away let Oxford Curates trudge,
And starve with learning great;
For Bishops ne'er can wrongly judge,
Who've palm'd my empty pate.
I. Sternhold.
Then if in these days such apostates appear,
(For such, I am told, are found there and here)
O pardon, dear friend, a well-meaning zeal,
Too unguardedly telling the scandal I feel:
It touches not you, let the galled jades winch,
Sound in morals and doctrine you never will flinch.
O friend of past youth, let me think of the fable
Oft told with chaste mirth at your innocent table,
When, instructively kind, wisdom's rules you run o'er,
Reluctant I leave you, insatiate for more;
So, blest be the day that my joys will restore!
I AM a sincere well-wisher to the pure form of worship of the church of
England,
and am highly scandalized if I see any thing wrong in the conduct of our hierarchy. Now and then complaint has been made against the unguarded admission of persons of the most discordant professions into the sacred pale, who, urged by no other call than that of poverty, do not prove either ornamental or useful in their new character. To check the progress of a practice injurious to the church, and highly so to those who had spent their fortune in a course of education for the due discharge of their duties, I sent a sarcastic, but salutary print, into the world: at which even bishops themselves have deigned to smile.
VOYAGE TO THE HEBRIDES PUBLISHED.
IN the same year I published my journey into
Scotland,
and my voyage to the
Hebrides,
in one volume quarto, with xliv plates. In this work the beautiful views of the
Basaltic Staffa
appeared. I had the bad fortune to be denied approach to that singular island; but, by the liberal communication of Sir
Joseph Banks,
who touched there the same year, in his way to
Iceland,
the loss to the public was happily supplied.
VOYAGE TO THE ISLE OF MAN.
IN this year I visited the
Isle of Man,
in company with the reverend doctor
Lort,
captain
Grose, Paul Panton,
esq. junior, of
Plas Gwyn,
in the island of
Anglesey,
and the reverend
Hugh Davies,
at this time rector of
Aber
in
Caernarvonshire,
whose company gave additional pleasure to the tour. I kept a journal, and was favored with ample materials from the gentlemen of the island, most of which were unaccountably lost about a year after, and my design of giving an account of that island to the public was frustrated.
I SHOULD accuse myself of a very undue neglect, if I did not acknowlege the various services I received from the friendship of Mr.
Davies,
at different times, since the beginning of our acquaintance. I will in particular mention those which resulted from his great knowledge in botany. To him I owe the account of our
Snowdonian
plants; to him I lie under the obligation for undertaking, in
June
1775, at my request, another voyage to the
Isle of Man,
to take a second review of its vegetable productions. By his labors a
Flora
of the island is rendered as complete as possible to be effected by a single person, at one season of the year. The number of plants he observed amounted to about five hundred and fifty.
A TOUR, 1774, INTO NORTHAMPTONSHIRE.
IN the spring of 1774, on my return from my annual visit to
London,
I took the
Northamptonshire
road, passed by
Baldock, Eaton, St. Neots, Kimbolton, Thraipston, Draiton-house, Luffwick
and its fine tombs,
Broughton-house,
and the monuments at
Warkton, Leicester, Ashby de la Zouch, Bradford-hall,
celebrated in
Grammont
's Memoirs, through
Burton on Trent,
and by
Caversal Castle
to my own house.
NEWPORT, TONG, OMBRESLEY, MALVERNE, AND TEWKESBURY.
ON
August
the 26th I brought my son
David
to
Hackney
school, and placed him under the care of Mr.
Newcome.
In my way I saw
Whitchurch, Cumbermere, Newport, Tong Castle,
and the tombs in the church,
Ombresley, Westwood-house, Henlip, Crome,
the two
Malvernes,
and
Tewkesbury;
and, after passing a few days at my respected friend's, the then bishop of
St. David
's, at
Forthampton,
proceeded and discharged my duty at
Hackney
by the way of
Gloucester
and
Cheltenham.
I NEVER lost an opportunity of enlarging my knowlege of topography: on my return I had the honor of passing some days with her grace the late dutchess dowager of
Portland,
at her seat at
Bulstrode,
and visited from thence
Windsor
and
Eaton;
BULSTRODE, WINDSOR, STOKE POCEIS, BEWDLEY.
I also one morning saw the great house of
Stoke Pogeis,
then the seat of Mr.
Penn;
it had gone through many great hands. In the reign of
Edward
III. it belonged to
John de Molin,
a potent baron, in right of his wife, daughter of
Robert Pogeis.
From
Bulstrode,
I took the common road to
Worcester,
passed a day or two, as usual, at
Beverey,
with my old and constant friend the reverend doctor
Nash,
author of the Antiquities of
Worcestershire:
from his house went by
Stourport
and
Bewdley
to
Bridgenorth,
and from thence through
Newport
to
Downing.
THIRD VOLUME OF MY TOUR IN SCOTLAND PUELISHED 1775.
IN 1775 I published my third and last volume of my
Tour in Scotland,
1772, which took in the country from my landing at
Armaddie,
on the conclusion of my voyage to the
Hebrides,
to my return into
Flintshire.
This was illustrated with xlvii plates.
THESE tours were translated into
German,
and abridged in
French,
in the
Nouveau Recueil de Voyages au Nord, &c.
3 torn, quarto,
Geneve,
1785; they were likewise reprinted at
Dublin,
in octavo size.
TOUR IN 1776.
IN my road, in 1776, from
London,
I visited
Banbury, Wroxtonhall
the seat of lord
Guildford, Buckingham, Edge-hill, Charlcot
the seat of the
Lucies, Warwick
and
Kenelworth,
and passed through
Coventry, Atherston,
and
Temworth
to
Downing.
At
Buckingham
I narrowly escaped a death suited to an antiquary; I visited the old church at 8 o'clock in the morning of
March
the 26th. It fell before 6 in the afternoon, and I escaped being buried in its ruins.
ON
July
the 14th I took the route of
Oulton-hall, Winnington,
and
Durham
in
Cheshire,
visited
Manchester, Buxton, Bakewell, Haddon-hall, Matlock, Nottingham, Southwell, Newark,
and
Lincoln.
Near
Horn-castle
I entered the
Pais-bas
of
Great Britain.
I visited
Tatersale
and
Boston, Spalding, Crowland-abby, Stamford, Burleigh-house, Castor
and
Peterborough, Whittlesea-marsh
and
Ely, Newmarket, St. Edmundsbury,
the reverend Mr.
Ashby
at
Barrow, Cambridge, Ware,
and
Waltham-abby;
passed a day with Mr.
Gough
at
Enfield,
and concluded my tour in the capital.
IN this journey
Moses Griffith
made some of his most beautiful drawings in the line of antiquity: of several of the most elegant parts of the
gothic
architecture in the magnificent cathedral at
Lincoln;
and also a few of the grosser figures in the
Saxon
remains of the west front; and at
Southwell
he drew the exquisite interior of the matchless chapter, one of the lightest and most elegant productions of the
gothic
chizel which we can boast of. I wish my time would permit me to make a catalogue of the performances of
Moses Griffith.
I never should deny copies of them to any gentleman who would make a dignified use of them.
BROWN's ILLUSTRATION OF NATURAL HISTORY.
IN this year
Peter Brown,
a
Dane
by birth, and a very neat limner, published his illustrations of natural history in large quarto, with L plates. At my recommendation, Mr.
Loten
lent to him the greatest part of the drawings to be engraven, being of birds painted in
India.
I patronized
Brown,
drew up the greatest part of the descriptions for him, but had not the lest concern in the preface.
IN 1776 Mr.
White
published a new edition of the three volumes of the
British Zoology,
in quarto, and in octavo, and inserted in them the ciii additional plates published in 1770.
1777. TOUR IN KENT.
IN the spring of the year 1777 I made an excursion from town to
Canterbury,
along the post road, and digressed from
Canterbury
to
Sandwich,
and from thence to
Deal,
and by
St. Margaret
's church and
Cliff
to
Dover.
In this tour I had the happiness of making acquaintance with Mr.
Latham
of
Dartford,
Mr.
Jacobs
of
Feversham,
and Mr.
Boys
of
Sandwich;
all persons of distinguished merit in the study of natural history and antiquities.
IN that year I published a fourth volume of the
British Zoology,
which contained the
Vermes,
the
Crustaceous,
and
Testaceous
animals of our country; this was published in quarto and octavo, and illustrated with xciii plates.
To this volume I prefixed a most merited eulogy on my respected friend
Benjamin Stillingfleet,
esq. who died
Dec.
15th, 1771, at his lodgings in
Piccadilly,
aged 71. His public and private character might demand this tribute: but the many personal acts of friendship I received from that most amiable man, was an irresistible incitement to me to erect this small, but very inadequate, monument of gratitude.
TOUR IN WALES.
AFTER several journies over the six counties of
North Wales,
in which I collected ample materials for their history, I flung them in the form of a tour, and published the first volume in quarto,
1778.
with xxvi plates, in 1778.
1781. SECOND VOLUME.
IN 1781 the first part of the second volume of the same tour appeared, under the title of,
A Journey to Snowdon,
with xi plates, a frontispiece, and 2 vignets. The second part soon followed, with xv plates, and a large appendix, which completed the work. In all my journies through
Wales,
I was attended by my friend the reverend
John Lloyd,
a native of
Llanarmon,
and rector of
Caerwis:
to his great skill in the language and antiquities of our country I own myself much indebted; for without his assistance, many things might have escaped me, and many errors crept into my labors.
MOSES GRIFFITH's SUPPLEMENTAL PLATES.
Moses Griffith
engraved a Supplement of x plates, to which I added a little preface, and a few explanatory pages. Besides these proofs of his ingenuity, he etched several other (private plates) such as, about a dozen
North American
birds, two beautiful parts of
Fountains-abby,
and a few other things.
HISTORY OF QUADRUPEDS.
IN this year I also published a new edition of my
Synopsis of Quadrupeds,
in two volumes, quarto, with lii plates, including the xxxi from the Synopsis, which received considerable improvements and corrections from the correspondence of my friend the illustrious
Pallas,
who bestowed a long series of letters on this alone; this he performed, as it was a favorite work of his, and by accident transferred from his, to my inferior pen.
To Mr.
Zimmerman
I was greatly indebted for several important improvements, from his able performance the
Zoologia Geographica,
as well as great information from his frequent letters. It is unbecoming in me to express the partiality which that eminant writer, and other of my foreign friends, have shewn towards me: if the reader has the curiosity to learn their opinion of me, he may consult Mr. ZIMMERMAN's
Zoologia Geographica,
p. 286. The rev. Mr. Cox, in vol. II. p. 440, 441, of his travels, quarto edition, hath recorded the compliment paid to me by LINNAEUS; and PALLAS, in p. 376 of his
Nova Species Quadrupedum,
hath dealt out his praise with much too liberal a hand.
FREE THOUGHTS ON THE MILITIA LAWS.
The liberties which the country gentlemen, in the character of deputy-lieutenants, and militia-officers, now and then took with their fellow subjects, urged me strongly this year to publish
Free Thoughts on the Militia Laws.
ON
Feb.
the 3d, 1781, I was elected honorary member of the Society of Antiquaries at
Edinburgh.
OF THE TURKY.
IN the
Philosophical Transactions
of 1781 was published my history, and natural history, of the
Turky;
it had been doubted whether this was not a bird of the old world; but I flatter myself that I have made it apparent that it is peculiar to
America,
and was unknown before the discovery of that continent. My respected friend, Mr.
Barrington,
had taken the other side of the question; but this was not published by me polemically, or in any wise inimical to so excellent a character.
To this paper is annexed an engraving of a singular
Lusus,
the toe and claw of some rapacious bird growing on the thigh of a
Turky,
bred in my poultry court.
AT the request of Sir
Joseph Banks
I drew up an account of the several earthquakes I had felt in
Flintshire;
and remarked they were never felt at the bottom of lead mines, or coal pits, in our country. This paper was published, in the year 1781, in volume lxxi of the
Philosophical Transactions.
1782. JOURNEY TO LONDON.
IN 1782 I published my journey from
Chester
to
London;
this was formed from journals made at different times in my way to town. I frequently made a considerable stay at several places, to give this book all the fulness and accuracy in my power. This was republished in
Dublin,
in 1783, in an octavo form.
ON
June
the 5th,
1783.
1783, I was honored by my election into the
Societas Physiographica
at
Lund,
in
Sweden;
a favor I probably owed to my learned friend, professor
Retzius.
IN the same month and year I made a short elopement to meet the reverend doctor
Nash,
Mrs. and Miss
Nash,
at
Shrewsbury,
in order to make a partial voyage down the
Severn.
My son met us from
Oxford,
and we took boat at
Atcham-bridge.
About four miles distant from
Salop,
we were highly amused with the picturesque scenes, especially those from
Buildas
to
Ombresley.
We landed opposite to
Holmsflat,
a little below that village, and concluded our tour at
Beverey,
the hospitable seat of doctor
Nash,
about three miles distant.
IN 1784 appeared my letter from a
Welsh
freeholder to his representative,
1784.
to convert him from his political tenets. My then opinion of the minister is daily vindicated.
A WORK designed to comprehend the ZOOLOGY of
North America
had long employed my mind and my pen, on which I intended to have bestowed that name; but, for the affecting reason given in the advertisement prefixed to that work, (altered, indeed, from its original plan) I thought myself under the necessity of changing the title. I did so; and, after having considerably enlarged the work by the addition of the animals and history of the northern parts of
Europe
and
Asia,
I this year gave it to the public, under the title of the
Arctic Zoology.
It consists of two volumes, quarto;
1785. ARCTIC ZOOLOGY.
the first contains a long introduction, and Class I. QUADRUPEDS; the second, Class II. BIRDS. In this work I received considerable improvements from the voyage of Sir
Joseph Banks,
to
Newfoundland,
in 1767. He added greatly to the ornithology by the communication of several new species of birds, and several other subjects.
GERMAN EDITION.
THIS work was speedily translated into
German
by professor
Zimmerman,
and published in two volumes, quarto, with the prints, which I permitted to be taken from my plates. The introduction was also translated into
French,
FRENCH.
under the title of
Le Nord du Globe,
in two volumes, octavo; and, what is peculiarly flattering to me is, that as much as relates to the north of
Europe
is to be translated into
Swedish,
as an introduction to the natural history of that celebrated seat of the votaries of the great
Cybele.
THE
Arctic Zoology
gave occasion to my being honored, in the year 1791, on
April
15th, by being elected member of the
American
Philosophical Society at
Philadelphia,
(in the presidentship of
David Rittenhouse,
esq.) My labors, relative to that vast continent, were there favorably received: but this honor I esteem as a reward above my merits. There, science of every kind begins to flourish; among others, that of natural history; in which branch I may predict, that my correspondent and friend doctor
Benjamin Smith Barton
will soon rise into celebrity, and to his pen I trust the many errors, respecting the zoology of his native country, will be corrected with tenderness and candor. In regard to the abilities of the society, the volumes of its
Philosophical Transactions,
already published, are most incontestable proofs.
IN this year came out a second edition of the first volume of my
Tour in Wales.
IN
May
1784, I had the distinguished honor of being elected member of the Royal Academy of Sciences at
Stockholm.
In
Sweden
I am favored with the correspondence of doctor
Thunberg
of
Upsal,
doctor
Sparman
of
Stockholm,
Mr.
Wilcke
of the same city, and Mr.
Odman
of
Wormden,
not remote from
Stockholm.
I must not forget a grateful tribute to the memory of departed friends, to that of baron de
Geer,
professor
Wallerius,
and above all doctor
Solander;
the last so distinguished by urbanity of manners, and liberality of communication of the infinite knowlege he possessed.
ON
Jan.
the 3d, 1785, I was elected honorary member of the society at
Edinburgh
for promoting of natural knowledge.
ON
March
the 5th I received the same honor from the Society of Antiquaries at
Perth.
AND on
December
the 24th was honored by being elected member of the Agriculture Society, at
Odiham,
in
Hampshire.
SUPPLEMENT TO THE ARCTIC ZOOLOGY.
IN 1787 I gave a Supplement to the
Arctic Zoology;
it contains several additions and corrections, which I owe to the friendship of my several northern correspondents, and a systematic account of the reptiles and fishes of
North America,
together with two very beautiful maps of the countries I had treated of in the introduction, (corrected since the first publication) engraven by that excellent artist Mr.
William Palmer.
TOUR TO THE LAND'S END.
EVER since the year 1777 I had quite lost my spirit of rambling. Another happy nuptial connection suppressed every desire to leave my fire-side. But in the spring of this year I was induced once more to renew my journies. My son had returned from his first tour to the continent, so much to my satisfaction, that I was determined to give him every advantage that might qualify him for a second, which he was on the point of taking over the kingdoms of
France
and
Spain.
I wished him to make a comparison of the naval strength and commercial advantages and disadvantages of our island, with those of her two powerful rivals; I attended him down the
Thames;
visited all our docks; and by land (from
Dartford
) followed the whole coast to the very
Land's End.
On his return from his second tour, I had great reason to boast that this excursion was not thrown away; as to myself it was a painful one; long absence from my family was so new to me, that I may sincerely say it cast an anxiety over the whole journey.
THESE were my greater labors. I, at several times, gave to the public some trifles, which were not ill-received; but few knew the author. These I collected some years ago,
MISCELLANIES.
and printed, for the amusement of a few friends, thirty copies, by the friendly press of
George Allan,
esq. at
Darlington.
HISTORY OF THE PATAGONIANS.
THE principal was my history of the
Patagonians,
collected from the account given by father
Faulkner,
in 1771, and from the several histories of those people by various writers. I believe that the authenticity of the several relaters is now very well established. This was printed at the same press, in 1788.
BESIDES these may be added, the
ode on indifference,
and the verses on the lady being chosen patroness of a hunt and book-club in the same day.
AN essay on the improper behaviour of married ladies towards our sex, 1774.
A RIDICULE on the bold and masculine fashion of the ladies wearing riding-habits at all times of the day; which was republished, in 1781, by Mr.
Smith,
with a good mezzotinto of a modern toilet.
AMERICAN annals, an incitement to parlement-men to inquire into the conduct of our commanders in the
American
war. I omit this paper, unwilling to revive the memory of the most deplorable event in all the annals of
Great Britain.
THE
Flintshire
petition. The discontents of the year 1779 were grown to such a height, that the county of
Flint
took share in the attempt to produce a redress of grievances. I wished to allay the popular fury as far as in me lay; because numbers of the complaints were excited by that bane of this kingdom in all ages, pretended patriots. I formed a speech, which I had not courage enough to speak, so printed the lenitive intention, as certainly it could do me no discredit. The event shewed that impossibilities were attempted, and that soon as the patriots got into power, no more was thought of the plan once urged with much violence.
AN inscription over the entrance of the new gaol at
Flint
is printed in Mr.
Howard
's account of the principal
Lazarettos
in
Europe.
THE following grateful epitaph, in memory of my faithful servant and friend,
Louis Gold,
may be seen on a small brass plate in
Whiteford
church, close to which he was interred,
August
the 22d, 1785.
This small Monument of esteem was erected by his lamenting Master in Memory of LOUIS GOLD, a Norman by Birth, and above twenty years the faithful Servant and Friend of THOMAS PENNANT, Esq. of Downing. In his various services he made considerable savings, which he disposed of by his last will (having no relations of his own) with affection to his friends and to his fellow-servants, with unmerited gratitude to his Master and his family, and with piety to the poor. Every duty of his humble station, and every duty of life, he discharged so fully, That when the day shall come which levels all distinction of ranks, He may, By the favour of our blessed Mediator. hear these joyful words, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." He was born at St. Hermes de Rouvelle, in Normandy, August 22, 1717; died at Downing, August 20, 1785; and was interred in the Church-yard near this wall on the 22d of the same month.
PREVIOUS to this I could not, in the warmth of my heart, resist giving, in one of the
Chester
papers, the following paragraph as a notification of his death.
SATURDAY se'nnight, in the morning, died, at
Downing,
in
Flintshire, Louis Gold,
a
Norman
by birth, and above twenty years the faithful servant and friend of
Thomas Pennant,
of that place, esq.. He left the savings of his different services, which were very considerable, to several of his friends, his fellow-servants, and to the poor; and bequeathed to his lamenting master, and his four children, handsome remembrances of his affection for them: the remainder to be applied, at the discretion of his executor, to charitable uses.
1790. ACCOUNT OF LONDON.
THIS spring I published an account of our capital. I had so often walked about the several parts of
London,
with my notebook in my hand, that I could not help forming considerable collections of materials. The public received this work with the utmost avidity. It went through three large impressions in about two years and a half. The first, in
April
1790; the second, in
January
1791; and the third, in the latter end of the last year. Many additions were made to the second; together with three more plates by the persuasion of that worthy character
William Seward,
esq.. One was of the bust of
Charles
I. by
Bernini,
which stood over one of the doors in
Westminster-hall,
but was removed on the preparations for the trial of Mr.
Hastings.
I wish the drawing had been better executed.
IN this year Mr.
White
sent into the world a fifth edition of my
Tours in Scotland,
with several additions and corrections.
I AM often astonished at the multiplicity of my publications, especially when I reflect on the various duties it has fallen to my lot to discharge. As father of a family, landlord of a small but very numerous tenantry, and a not inactive magistrate. I had a great share of health during the literary part of my days, much of this was owing to the riding exercise of my extensive tours, to my manner of living, and to my temperance. I go to rest at ten; and rise winter and summer at seven, and shave regular at the same hour, being a true
misopogon.
I avoid the meal of excess, a supper; and my soul rises with vigour to its employs, and (I trust) does not disappoint the end of its Creator.
Quin corpus onustum
Hesternis vitiis, animum quoque praegravat una,
Atque affigit humo divinae particulam aurae.
Alter, ubi dicto citiùs curata sopori
Membra dedit, vegetus praescripta ad munia surgit.
Behold how pale the seated guests arise
From suppers puzzled with varieties!
The body too, with yesterday's excess
Burthen'd and tir'd, shall the pure soul depress;
Weigh down this portion of celestial birth,
This breath of God, and fix it to the earth.
So far respects my own labors; it will be but just to mention those of others,
OF OTHERS' WORKS PROMOTED BY ME.
which have been produced by my countenance and patronage; for I never can be accused of witholding my communications or my mite to assist my brethren who have wished to assume the perilous characters of authors.
DOCTOR JOHN REINHOLD FORSTER.
I, VERY early after the arrival of doctor
John Reinhold Forster,
had opportunity of introducing him to several of my friends, which proved of no small service to him during his residence in this kingdom. At my persuasion, and by my encouragement, he translated
Kalm's Voyage into North America,
which was published in 1770, in three volumes octavo.
IN 1771 he published
Osbeck's Voyage to China,
with that of
Torcen,
and
Eckberg
's account of the
Chinese
husbandry, in two volumes.
HE also added a second volume to his translation of
Bossu
's
Travels in Louisiana,
containing the life of
Loefling,
and a catalogue of
Spanish
plants, and those of part of
Spanish America.
By these the works of three of the most eminent disciples of the
Linnaean
school have been made known to the
British
nation.
I PUBLISHED, at much expence, in 1777, the
Flora Scotica,
in two volumes, octavo, with xxxvii plates. This was the elaborate work of my worthy friend, and fellow traveller, the rev. Mr.
Lightfoot.
REV. JOHN LIGHTFOOT.
The lamented loss of that admirable botanist, on
February
20th, 1788, I have related in a short account, printed 1788, to be given to the purchasers of the remaining copies of the
Flora Scotica.
MR. GOUGH.
THAT indefatigable topographer
Richard Gough,
esq.. paid me the compliment of submitting the sheets of his edition of
Camden,
which related to
North Wales,
to my correction; and I flatter myself that they would not have come out of my hands unimproved. To him I also communicated several of my manuscript journals, which I flatter myself might in some small degree contribute to the improvement of our venerable topographer.
REV. CHARLES CORDINER.
As it was my wish that no part of
North Britain,
or its islands, should be left unexplored, or any of their advantage lost for want of notice, I supported the reverend
Charles Cordiner,
episcopal minister at
Banff,
in a journey over the countries north of
Loch Broom,
which I was obliged to desist from attempting; this he performed, much to my satisfaction, in 1776. I published his journal, entitled,
Antiquities and Scenery of the North of Scotland,
at my own hazard. It is illustrated with xxii plates, taken from drawings by the skilful pencil of that ingenious traveller. The work succeeded. I made him a present of the expences which attended his journey.
NUMBERS of other subjects of antiquities, views, and natural history, are now in publication by the same gentleman.
REV. GEORGE LOW.
I WAS actuated by the same zeal in respect to the extreme islands of the same parts of our kingdom. In the reverend Mr.
George Low,
minister of
Birsa
in the
Orknies,
I met with a gentleman willing to undertake the visitation of those islands, and of the
Schetlands,
and to communicate to me his observations of every thing he imagined would be of use to the kingdom, or afford me pleasure. His surveys were made in the years 1774 and 1778, and he favored me with a most instructive journal, and several drawings. It was my wish to publish his voyages, as I had the travels of Mr.
Cordiner;
but certain reasons discouraged me. This ought not to be considered as any reflection on the performance. Mr.
Low
gives a good account of the natural history and antiquities of the several islands; enters deeply into their fisheries and commercial concerns; and on the whole is highly worthy the attention of the public.
I CANNOT help mentioning the services I did to the professors of the art of engraving, by the multitude of plates performed by them for my several works; let me enumerate the particulars and total.
British Zoology,
folio 132
British Zoology,
octavo or quarto 284
History of Quadrupeds
54
Tour in Scotland,
the three volumes 134
Journey to London
23
Tour in Wales,
two volumes 53
Moses Griffith's
Supplemental Plates 10
Some Account of London,
second edition 15
Indian Zoology,
second edition 17
Genera of Birds
16
Arctic Zoology,
two volumes 26
Systematic Index to de Buffon
1
The Rev. Mr.
John Lightfoot's Flora Scotica,
two volumes 37
802
IF I have omitted Mr.
John Ingleby
of
Halkin, Flintshire,
I did not do justice to a very neat drawer. I have often profited of his services: and many of the private copies of my works have been highly ornamented by his labors.
NOTWITHSTANDING my authorial career was finished on the preceding year, yet no small trouble attends my past labors. The public continues to flatter me with demands for new editions of my works: to the correction and improvement of which, I am obliged to pay considerable attention. Early this year appeared a new edition of my account of
London,
ACCOUNT OF LONDON, THIRD EDITION.
as I have mentioned at p. 34.
NONE of my acquaintance will deny that I write a most illegible hand. In order to deliver my labors intelligible to posterity, on
January
1st, of this year, I took into my service, as secretary,
Thomas,
the son of
Roger Jones,
our parish-clerk, a worthy, sober, and steady young man: I determined to profit of his excellent hand-writing to copy my several manuscripts, and he has discharged his duty very much to my satisfaction.
1792. HISTORY OF QUADRUPEDS, THIRD EDITION.
MR.
White,
at the latter end of this year, printed a third edition of my
History of Quadrupeds,
with most of the old plates re-engraven, and several new ones. This work was always a favorite one of mine: I bestowed very true pains on it: and added, I may say, every new animal which has to this time reached the knowlege of the naturalists.
LETTER ON MAIL COACHES.
IN the spring of the same year appeared my letter on
Mail Coaches.
I was irresistibly compelled to resume my pen, from the oppressions which the poor labored under, by the demands made on them to repair the roads for the passage of the mails, with a nicety, and at an expence beyond their powers. Let the little performance speak my apology for the publication.
INDIAN ZOOLOGY, SECOND EDITION.
IN this year came out a second edition of my
Indian Zoology,
(see p. 9) but very considerably enlarged by doctor
Forster
's essay prefixed to the
German
edition of that work, which was translated by doctor
Aikin;
and by a tolerably complete
Faunula;
a labor taken off my hands principally by the friendship of the rev. Mr.
Hugh Davies
and Mr.
Latham;
the
Faunula
of insects fell to Mr.
Latham,
and cost him no small pains.
THUS far has passed my active life, even till the present year 1792, in which I have advanced half way of my 67th year. My body may have abated of its wonted vigour; but my mind still retains its powers, its longing after improvements, its wish to receive new lights through chinks which time hath made.
A FEW years ago I grew fond of imaginary tours, and determined on one to climes more suited to my years, more genial than that to the frozen north. I still found, or fancied that I found,
OUTLINES OF THE GLOBE.
abilities to direct my pen. I determined on a voyage to
India,
formed exactly on the plan of the Introduction to the
Arctic Zoology;
which commences at such parts of the north as are accessible to mortals. From
London
I follow the coasts southern to part of our island, and from
Calais,
along the oceanic shores of
Europe, Africa,
and
Asia,
till I have attained those of
New Guinea.
Respecting these, I have collected every information possible, from books antient and modern: from the most authentic, and from living travellers of the most respectable characters of my time. I mingle history, natural history, accounts of the coasts, climates, and every thing which I thought could instruct or amuse. They are written on imperial quarto, and when bound, make a folio of no inconsiderable size; and are illustrated, at a vast expence, by prints taken from books, or by charts and maps, and by drawings by the skilful hand of
Moses Griffith,
and by presents from friends. With the bare possibility of the volume relative to
India,
none of these books are to be printed in my life-time; but to rest on my shelves, the amusement of my advancing age. The following is the catalogue of these labors, all (excepting the first) composed in the space of four years, all which will be comprehended under the general title of, OUTLINES OF THE GLOBE.
ARCTIC REGIONS.
VOL. I. will contain the Introduction to the
Arctic Zoology,
with considerable additions, in order to make it unite hereafter with
China,
which will be comprehended in the xiiith volume; but this first volume will also be augmented very greatly, by accounts of the internal parts of the country, and with the countries to the south, as low as lat. 45, to comprehend the great rivers of the north of
Europe
and
Asia:
not only the coasts but the internal parts of the United States of
America
will be described, as also our poor remnant, as far as the mouth of the
Mississippi,
and each side of that vast river as high as its source. The plates will be of new subjects, and executed by the first engravers of the time: the size of the books, that of
Cook's Voyages.
I feel an inclination to have one volume published in my life, as a model for the remaining twelve. It was impossible to omit this
arctic
volume, otherwise the work would have been very imperfect.
KENTISH TOUN,
VOL. II. describes a tour, commencing at the
Temple-stairs,
comprehending my passage down the
Thames
as low as
Dartford Creek,
and from thence to
Dover.
FRANCE.
VOL. III. and IV. The voyage along the coasts of
France,
from
Calais
to the frontiers of
Spain,
with a digression up the
Loire
as far as
Orelans;
and a second digression from the
Garonne,
near
Toulouse,
above
Bourdeaux,
along the great canal
de Languedoc,
to its junction with the
Mediterranean
sea near
Sette;
and a third from
Andaye,
along the
French
side of the
Pyrenecs,
as far as its termination on the same sea.
STAIN AND PORTUGAL.
VOL. V. comprehends the coast of
Spain,
from the
Bidassao
to the borders of
Portugal,
the whole coast of
Portugal;
after which those of
Spain
are resumed, and continued to the Streights of
Gibraltar,
and its celebrated rock. This volume is particularly rich in drawings (by
Moses Griffith
) of the birds and fishes of
Gibraltar,
communicated to me by the rev. the late Mr.
John White,
long resident in that fortress.
SOUTHERN FRANCE.
VOL. VI. contains the entrance into the
Mediterranean
sea, and the southern coasts of
Spain,
to the borders of
Italy
at
Nice,
comprehending the coasts of southern
France.
MR. IGNATIUS D'ASSO.
MR.
Ignatius d'Asso
of
Sarragossa,
author of the
Zoologia Aragoniae,
and
Flora
of the same country, by his intelligent correspondence, from the year 1783 to the year 1786, furnished me with several very instructive materials for the natural history of
Spain,
which were of considerable service in my account of that kingdom. I cannot quit the subject of the four last volumes, without (I trust) a most venial exultation at the source from whence I drew a considerable part of my account of the coasts of the kingdoms of
France
and
Spain;
and also of some of the interior country. It would perhaps be affected: but it certainly would be unnatural to suppress acknowlegements which spring warmed from my heart, because I pay them to a son.
David Pennant
began his travels into foreign parts in
August
1785; and from that time, (after intervals passed at home) has visited
Switzerland,
the
Grisons
country, all parts of
Italy,
as low as
Paestum;
almost all
Germany,
and a small part of
Hungary; Stiria, Carinthia,
and
Carniola;
almost every part of
France,
and much of
Spain.
From his journals, which, now fairly transcribed, fill eight folio volumes, I borrowed my most authentic materials.
NORTHERN AFRICA.
VOL. VII. is an account of the coasts of northern
Africa,
from
Egypt,
to the streights of
Gibraltar,
and from the streights, along the shores of western or atlantic
Africa,
to the
Senegal,
or borders of
Nigritia.
This will include the history of the great rivers of that vast continent, as far as has yet been discovered, and in particular that of the
Nile.
VOL. VIII. is descriptive of the coasts of
Nigritia,
NIGRITIA.
from the river
Senegal
to
Cape Negro;
and gives an account of the isle of
Ascension,
and other distant isles.
AETHIOPIAN AFRICA.
VOL. IX. takes in the coasts from
Cape Negro
to the
Cape of Good Hope,
and again the eastern coasts to the entrance of the
Red Sea,
and its southern shores as far as the
Isthmus of Suez; Madagascar,
and the several isles to the east and to the south of that vast island.
VOL. X. contains the coasts of
Arabia
on the
Red Sea,
ARABIA.
and on the
Indian
ocean; and on the gulph of
Ormuz
or
Persian
gulph. Some account of the river
Euphrates,
and the most remarkable places from its source to its mouth. The coasts of
Persia,
PERSIA.
within the gulph, and on the
Indian
ocean, to the limits of
Persia,
as divided from that empire by the river
Indus.
In this volume will be introduced accounts of several places mentioned in holy writ.
VOL. XI. gives an account of the river
Indus
from its source;
INDIA.
of the
Penjab;
of the western or
Malabar
coast of
India
to
Cape Comorin;
of the kingdom of
Madura,
and of the island of
Ceylon.
VOL. XII. describes the eastern coast of
India,
INDIA.
quite to the mouths of the
Ganges;
and contains an account of that river from its sources, and the several great rivers which fall into it; and of the
Burrampooter,
which, after an equal course, and vast deviation, falls into the
Ganges
just before it reaches the sea. In these volumes, much history (party and controversy avoided) will be given in their proper places.
INDIA BEYOND GANGES.
VOL. XIII. resumes the subject at
Arracan,
the first kingdom in the
India
beyond
Ganges.
Those of
Ava, Pegu, Lower Siam,
the archipelago of
Mergui,
the
Andaman
and
Niccbar
isles, are described. Then follow the streights of
Malacca,
and its peninsula on both sides; the gulph of
Siam,
and the
Upper Siam;
the celebrated
Ponteamas, Cambodia, Pulo Condor, Ciampa, Cochin-China,
and the bay and kingdom of
Tonquin.
The two last favor so much of
China,
that it is in compliment to the common geographical division that I do not place them out of the limits of
India.
The vast and amazing empire of
China
comes next: future times will read it fully explored by the nobleman so judiciously selected for performing the celebrated embassy now on its way. The several countries dependent on
China,
bordering on the northern and north-western sides, the islands of
Japan,
and the land of
Jeso,
conclude this volume.
MALAYAN ISLES.
VOL. XIV. The vast insular regions of
India
form the xivth volume, comprehending the great
Malaye
islands, such as
Sumatra, Java, Balli, Banca, Madura,
and others of less note.
Cumbava, Flores, Timor,
or the isles which stretch east of
Balli,
to the isles of
Arrou,
not very remote from the coast of
New Guinea.
AFTERWARDS are mentioned
Borneo,
and
Celebes
or
Macassar;
BORNEO.
and to the north of them, the
Manilla
or
Philippine
isles; and to the east the rich archipelago of the spicy isles, comprehending the
Banda
and the
Moluccas,
THE SPICY ISLANDS.
and others which may fairly be ranged under that general name.
New Holland,
and
New Guinea,
NEW HOLLAND.
with its appendages,
New Britain
and
New Ireland,
NEW GUINEA.
conclude this important list,
New South Wales,
or the western portion of
New Holland,
is as fully described as possible: the transient wonder of the vast views of the
British
nation, which, annihilating time and space, has dared a plan, which would make other countries startle at the very idea.
A FAR more complete
Flora
of
India
(than any that has yet appeared) will follow these three volumes, as a separate work, with small historical notations, and references to the best authors on the subject. It certainly will prove the best
Linnaean
index to
Rumphius,
and others of the greater
Indian
botanists.
THE reader may smile at the greatness of the plan, and my boldness in attempting it at so late a period of life. I am vain enough to think that the success is my vindication. Happy is the age that could thus beguile its fleeting hours, without injury to any one, and, with the addition of years, continue to rise in its pursuits. But more interesting, and still more exalted subjects, must employ my future span.
APPENDIX, No 1.
TO THE HONORABLE DAINES BARRINGTON.
DEAR SIR,
I NOW execute the promise I made in town some time ago, of communicating to you the result of my visit to Mr.
Falkener,
an antient jesuit, who had passed thirty-eight years of his life in the southern part of
South America,
between the river
la Plata
and the streights of
Magellan.
Let me endeavor to prejudice you in favor of my new friend, by assuring you, that by his long intercourse with the inhabitants of
Patagonia,
he seems to have lost all
European
guile, and to have acquired all the simplicity, and honest impetuosity, of the people he has been so long conversant with. I venture to give you only as much of his narrative as he could vouch for the authenticity of; which consists of such facts as he was eye-witness to, and such as will (I believe) establish past contradiction the veracity of our late circumnavigators, navigators, and give new lights into the manners of this singular race of men: it will not, I flatter myself, be deemed impertinent to lay before you a chronological mention of the several evidences that will tend to prove the existence of a people of a supernatural height inhabiting the southern tract. You will find that the majority of voyagers, who have touched on that coast, have seen them, and made reports of their size, that will very well keep in countenance the verbal account given by Mr.
Byron,
and the printed by Mr.
Clarke:
you will observe, that if the old voyagers did exaggerate, it was through the novelty and amazement at so singular a sight; but the latter, forewarned by the preceding accounts, seem to have made their remarks with coolness, and confirmed them by the experiment of measurement.
A. D. 1519. The first who saw these people was the great
Magellan;
one of them just made his appearance on the banks of the river
la Plata,
and then made his retreat: but during
Magellan
's long stay at
Port St. Julian,
he was visited by numbers of this tall race. The first approached him, singing, and flinging the dust over his head; and shewed all signs of a mild and peaceable disposition: his visage was painted; his garment the skin of some animal neatly sewed; his arms a stout and thick bow, a quiver of long arrows feathered at one end, and armed at the other with flint. The height of these people was about seven feet,
(French)
but they were not so tall as the person who approached them first, who is represented to have been of so gigantic a size, that
Magellan
's men did not with their heads reach as high as the waist of this
Patagonian.
They had with them beasts of burden, on which they placed their wives; by
Magellan
's description of them, they appear to have been the animals now known by the name of
Llama.
THESE interviews ended with the captivating two of the people, who were carried away in two different ships; but as soon as they arrived in the hot climate each of them died.
I DWELL the longer on this account, as it appears extremely deserving of credit; as the courage of
Magellan
made him incapable of giving an exaggerated account through the influence of sear: nor could there be any mistake about the height, as he had not only a long intercourse with them, but the actual possession of two, for a very considerable space of time.
Vide
Ramusios
Coll. Voyages,
Venice
1550; also the letter of
Maximilian Transylvanus,
Sec. to
Charles
V. and in the 1st vol. p. 376. A. and B.
It was
Magellan
who first gave them the name of
Patagons,
because they wore a sort of slipper made of the skin of animals:
Tellement,
says
M. de Brosse
This account (as well as the others where I do not quote my authority) are taken from that judicious writer
M. de Brosse.
, quils,
paroissoit avoir des pattes de Bêtes.
IN 1525,
Garcia de Louisa
saw, within the streights of
Magellan,
savages of a very great stature, but he does not particularise their height.
AFTER
Louisa
the same streights were passed in 1535 by
Simon de Alcazova,
and attempted in 1540, by
Alphonso de Camargo,
but without being visited by our tall people.
THE same happened to our countryman sir
Francis Drake;
but, because it was not the fortune of that able and popular seaman to meet with these gigantic people, his contemporaries considered the report as the invention of the
Spaniards.
IN 1579,
Pedro Sarmiento
asserts, that those he saw were three ells high. This is a writer I would never venture to quote singly, for he destroys his own credibility by saying, the savage he made prisoner was an errant
Cyclops:
I only cite him to prove that he had fell in with a tall race, though he mixes fable with truth.
IN 1586, our countryman, sir
Thomas Cavendish,
in his voyage, had only opportunity of measuring one of their footsteps, which was eighteen inches long: he also found their graves, and mentions their customs of burying near the shore.
Purchas,
i. 58.
IN 1591,
Anthony Knevet,
who sailed with sir
Thomas Cavendish
in his second voyage, relates, that he saw, at
Port Desire,
men fifteen or sixteen spans high, and that he measured the bodies of two that had been recently buried, which were fourteen spans long.
Purchas,
i. 1232.
1599.—
Sebald de Veert,
who sailed with admiral
de Cordes,
was attacked in the streight
Magellan
by savages whom he thought to be ten or eleven feet high: he adds, that they were of reddish color, and had long hair.
Col. Voy. by the
Dutch East India
company, &c.
London
1703. p. 319.
IN the same year
Oliver du Nort,
a
Dutch
admiral, had a rencontre with this gigantic race, whom he represents to be of a high stature and of a terrible aspect.
1614.—
George Spilbergen,
another
Dutchman,
in his passage through the same streight, saw a man, of a gigantic stature, climbing a hill as if to take a view of the ship.
Purchas,
i. 80
1615.—
Le Maire
and
Schouten
discovered some of the burying places of the
Patagonians
beneath heaps of great stones, and found in them skeletons ten or eleven feet long.
Ibid. i. 91.
MR.
Falkener
supposes, that formerly there existed a race of
Patagonians
superior to these in size; for skeletons are often found of far greater dimensions, particularly about the river
Texeira.
Perhaps he may have heard of the old tradition of the natives mentioned by,
Cieza
Seventeen years travels of
Peter de Cieza,
138.
and repeated from him by
Garcilasso de la Vega
Translated by
Ricaut,
p. 263.
, of certain giants having come by sea, and landed near the
Cape of St. Helena,
many ages before the arrival of the
Europeans.
1618.—
Gracias de Nodal,
a
Spanish
commander, in the course of his voyage, was informed by
John Moore,
one of his crew, who landed between
Cape St. Esprit,
and
Cape St. Arenas,
on the south side of the streights, that he trafficked with a race of men taller, by the head, than the
Europeans.
This, and the next, are the only instances I ever met with of the tall race being found on that side of the streights.
1642.—
Henry Brewer,
a
Dutch
admiral, observed in the streights
le Maire,
the footsteps of men which measured eighteen inches, this is the last evidence in the 17th century of the existence of these tall people: but let it be observed, that out of the fifteen first voyagers who passed through the
Magellanic
streights, not sewer than nine are undeniable witnesses of the fact we would establish.
IN the present century I can produce but two evidences of the existence of the tall
Patagonians.
The one in 1704, when the crew of a ship belonging to
St. Maloes,
commanded by captain
Harrington,
saw seven of these giants in
Gregory
bay. Mention is also made of six more being seen by captain
Carman,
a native of the same town; but whether in the same voyage my authority is silent.
Frezier's Voy.
84.
BUT as it was not the fortune of the four other voyagers,
Sir
John Narborough,
in 1670;
Bartholomew Sharp,
in 1680;
De Gennes,
in 1696; and
Beauchesne Gouin,
in 1699.
who sailed through the streights in the 17th century, to fall in with any of this tall race, it became a fashion to treat as fabulous the account of the preceding nine, and to hold this lofty race as the mere creation of a warm imagination.
IN such a temper was the public, on the return of Mr.
Byron
from his circumnavigation, in the year 1766. I had not the honor of having personal conference with that gentleman, therefore will not repeat the accounts I have been informed he had given to several of his friends; I rather chuse to recapitulate that given by Mr.
Clarke,
This able officer commanded the
Discovery
in captain
Cook
's last voyage, and died off
Kamtschatka, August
22, 1779.
in the
Philosophical Transactions
for 1767, p. 75. Mr.
Clarke
was officer in Mr.
Byron
's ship, landed with him in the streights of
Magellan,
and had for two hours an opportunity of standing within a few yards of this race, and seeing them examined and measured by Mr.
Byron.
He represents them in general as stout and well proportioned, and assures us, that none of the men were lower than eight feet, and that some even exceeded nine; and that the women were from seven feet and an half to eight feet. He saw Mr.
Byron
measure one of the men, and, notwithstanding the commodore was near six feet high, he could, when on tip-toe, but just reach with his hand the top of the
Patagonian
's head; and Mr.
Clarke
is certain, that there were several taller than him on whom the experiment was made, for there were about five hundred men, women, and children. They seemed very happy at the landing of our people, and expressed their joy by a rude sort of singing. They were of a copper color, and had long lank hair, and faces hideously painted; both sexes were covered with skins, and some appeared on horseback and others on foot.
M. de Premontel
makes this an object of ridicule, as if the size of the horses were unequal to the burden of the riders. Our navigators tell us, that the horses were fifteen or sixteen hands high. It is well known, that a mill-horse has been known to carry nine hundred and ten pounds, a weight probably beyon that of any
Patagonian
they saw.
A FEW had on their legs a sort of boot, with a sharp-pointed stick at the heel instead of a spur. Their bridles were made of thong, the bit wood; the saddle as artless as possible, and without stirrups. The introduction of horses into these parts by the
Europeans,
introduced likewise the only species of manufacture they appear to be acquainted with. All their skill seems to extend no farther than these rude essays at a harness; and to equip themselves for
Cavaliers.
In other respects they would be in the same state as our first parents just turned out of paradise, cloathed in coats of skins; or at best in the same condition in which
Caesar
found the ancient
Britons;
for their dress was similar, their hair long, and their bodies, like those of our ancestors, made terrific by wild painting. These people, by some means or other, had acquired a few beads and bracelets; otherwise not a single article of
European
fabric appeared among them. These they must have gotten by the intercourse with the other
Indian
tribes: for had they had any intercourse with the
Spaniards,
they never would have neglected procuring knives, the stirrups, and other conveniences which the people seen by Mr.
Wallis
had.
I SHOULD have been glad to have closed, in this place, the relations of this stupendous race of mankind; because the two following accounts given by gentlemen of character and abilities seem to contradict great part of what had been before advanced, or at lest serve to give scoffers room to say, that the preceding navigators had seen these people through the medium of magnifying glasses, instead of the sober eye of observation: but before I make my remarks on what has been before related, I shall proceed with the other navigators, and then attempt to reconcile the different accounts. In 1767, captain
Wallis
of the
Dolphin,
and captain
Philip Carteret
of the
Swallow
sloop, saw and measured with a pole several of the
Patagonians,
who happened to be in the streights of
Magellan
during his passage
Phil. Trans.
1770, p. 21.
Hawkesworth's Voy.
i. 374.
, he represents them as a fine and friendly people, cloathed in skins, and on their legs a sort of boots, and many of them tied their hair, which was long and black, with a sort of woven stuff of the breadth of a garter, made of some kind of wool. That their arms were slings formed of two round balls, fastened one to each end of a cord, which they fling with great force and dexterity. He adds, they hold one ball in their hand, and swing the other at the full length of the cord round their head, by which it acquires a prodigious velocity: they will fling it to a great distance, and with such exactness, as to strike a very small object. These people were also mounted on horses; their saddles, bridles, &c. were of their own making; some had iron, and others metal bits to their bridles, and one had a
Spanish
broad sword; but whether the last articles were taken by war, or procurred by commerce, is uncertain; but the last is most probable. It seems evident that they had intercourse with
Europeans,
and had even adopted some of their fashions; for many had cut their dress into form of
Spanish Punchos,
or a square piece of cloth with a hole cut for the head, the rest hanging loose as low as the knees. They also wore drawers; so these people had attained a few steps farther towards civilisation than their gigantic neighbors; others again will appear to have made a far greater advance; for these still devoured their meat raw, and drank nothing but water.
M. Bougainville,
in the same year, saw another party of the natives of
Patagonia:
he measured several of them, and declares that none were lower than five feet five inches,
French,
or taller than five feet ten;
i. e.
five feet ten, or six feet three,
English
measure. He concludes his account with saying, that he afterwards met with a taller people in the South Sea, but I do not recollect that he mentions the place.
I AM sorry to be obliged to remark, in these voyages, a very illiberal propensity to cavil at and invalidate the account given by Mr.
Byron:
but at the same time exult in having had an opportunity given me by that gentleman of vindicating his and the national honor.
M. Bougainville,
in order to prove he fell in with the identical people that Mr.
Byron
conversed with, asserts, that he saw numbers of them possessed of knives of an
English
manufactory, certainly given them by Mr.
Byron;
but he should have considered that there are more ways than one of coming at a thing, that the commerce between
Sheffield
and
South America,
through the port of
Cadiz,
is most uncommonly large; and that his
Indians
might have got their knives from the
Spaniards
at the same time that they got their gilt nails and
Spanish
harness: but for farther satisfaction on this subject, I have liberty to say, from Mr.
Byron
's authority, that he never gave a single knife to the people he saw; that he had not one at that time about him; that, excepting the presents given with his own hands, and the tobacco brought by lieutenant
Cummins,
not the lest trifle was bestowed. I am furnished with one other proof, that these lesser
Indians,
whom Mr.
Wallis
saw, were not the same with those described by Mr.
Byron,
as has been insinuated: for the first had with him some officers who had been with him on the preceding voyage, and who bear witness, not only to the difference of size, but declare that these people had not a single article among them given by Mr.
Byron.
See Mr.
Byron
's letter at the end.
. It is extremely probable that these were the
Indians
that Mr.
Bougainville
fell in with; for they were furnished with bits, a
Spanish
scymeter, and brass stirrups as before mentioned.
My last evidence of these gigantic
Americans
is that which I received from Mr.
Falkener;
he acquainted me, that about the year 1742 he was sent on a mission to the vast plains of
Pampas,
which, if I recollect right, lie to the south-west of
Buenos Ayres,
and extend near a thousand miles towards the
Andes.
In these plains he first met with some tribes of these people, and was taken under the protection of one of the
Caziques.
The remarks he made on their size were as follows; that the tallest, which he measured in the same manner that Mr.
Byron
did, was seven feet eight inches high; that the common height, or middle size, was six feet; that there were numbers that were even shorter; and that the tallest women did not exceed six feet. That they were scattered from the foot of the
Andes,
over that vast tract which extends to the
Atlantic Ocean,
and are found as far as the
Red River
at
Bay Anagada,
lat. 40. 1; below that the land is too barren to be habitable, and none are found, except accidental migrants, till you arrive at the river
Gallego,
near the streights of
Magellan.
THEY are supposed to be a race derived from the
Chilian Indians,
the
Puelches
who inhabited the eastern side of the
Andes,
the same brave nation who defeated and destroyed the avaricious
Spaniard Baldivia,
but after that were dispossessed of their seat.
THEY dwell in large tents covered with the hides of mares, and divided within into apartments, for the different ranks of the family, by a sort of blanketing. They are a most migratory people, and often shift their quarters; when the women strike the tents, assist in putting them on their horses, and, like the females of all savage countries, undergo all the laborious work.
THEY have two motives for shifting their quarters; one, for the sake of getting salt, which they find incrusted in the shallow pools near the sea side.
THE other inducement is the superstition they have of burying their dead within a certain distance of the ocean. And I may certainly add a third, that of the necessity they must lie under of seeking fresh quarters on account of the chace, which is their principal subsistence.
THOSE who deny the existence of these great people, never consider the migratory nature of the inhabitants of this prodigious tract, and never reflect that the tribes who may have been seen this month on the coast, may the next be some hundreds of miles inland, and their place occupied by a tribe or nation totally different. These gentlemen seem to lay down as a certain position, that
Patagonia
is peopled by only a single nation; and from that false principle they draw their arguments, sneer, insult, and even grossly abuse all that differ in opinion. Among the most illiberal of these writers is
M. de Premontal,
who, with the rapid ingenuity of his country, mounts on his headstrong courser PREJUDICE, sets off full speed, rides over all the honest fellows that would inform him of his road, and spurns even Truth herself, though she offers to be his guide: but truth is unadorned, and hated by this fantastic writer; it would spoil him of all the flowers of fiction, and tropes of abuse, against a rival country; and would teach him facts that would ruin his argument, and reduce his eloquent
memoire
to a single narrative of uncontested veracity.
THEIR food is (almost entirely) animal: the flesh of horses, oxen, guanacoes, and ostriches, all of which they eat roasted or boiled. Their drink is water, except in the season when certain species of fruit are ripe, for of those they make a sort of fermenting liquor called
Chucha,
common to many parts of
South America.
One kind is made of a podded fruit called
Algarrova,
which smells like a bug, and when bruised in water becomes an inebriating liquor. The same fruit is also eaten as bread. The other
Chucha
is made of the
Molie,
a small fruit, hot and sweet in the mouth: both these cause a deep drunkenness, especially the last, which excites a phrenetic inebriation, and a wildness of eyes, which lasts two or three days.
THE cloathing of these people is either a mantle of skins, or of a woollen
The
Puelches
have no sheep but what they purchase from the
Voluches,
who inhabit the
Andes,
cultivate sheep, and raise corn; the wool is equally fine with that of
Old Spain.
cloth manufactured by themselves; some is so strong and compact as even to hold water: the color is various, for some are striped and dyed with the richest red, made of cochineal and certain roots. They wear a short apron before, which is tucked between the legs, and preserves a modest appearance. They never wear feathered ornaments, except in their dances. Their hair is long, and tied up with a fillet. They have naturally beards
M. Premontal
roundly asserts that they have no beards.
, but they generally pluck up the hairs; not but some leave mustaches, as was observed by Mr.
Carteret
and
M. Bougainville.
WHEN they go to war, they wear a fourfold coat, of the skin of the
Tapiir,
a cap of bull's hide doubled, and a broad target of the same. Their offensive weapons are bows and arrows, the last headed with bone, lances headed with iron, and broad swords, both which they procure from the
Spaniards:
but their native weapons are slings; of these they have two kinds; one for war, which consists of a thong, headed with stone at only one end; and during their campaigns they carry numbers of these wrapped about their bodies.
THE slings which they use in the chace of horses, cattle, or ostriches, have a stone fixed to each end; and sometimes another thong, with a third stone, is fastened to the middle of the other: these, with amazing dexterity, they fling round the objects of the chace, be they beasts or ostriches, which entangle them so that they cannot stir. The
Indians
leave them, I may say thus tied neck and heels, and go on in pursuit of fresh game; and, having finished their sport, return to the animals they left secured in the slings.
THEIR wars are chiefly with the other
Indians,
for
Patagonia
is inhabited by variety of people, not a single nation. They have a great deal of intercourse with the
Spaniards,
and often come down to
Buenos Ayres
to trade for iron, bugles, &c.
THIS commerce with the
Europeans
has corrupted them greatly, taught them the vice of dram-drinking, and been a dreadful obstacle to their moral improvement. Mr.
Falkener
informed me, that he once prevaled on about five hundred to form a reduction, but that they grew unruly and ungovernable as soon as the
Spanish
traders got among them.
THEIR war and their chace are carried on on horseback, for they are most expert riders, and have multitudes of horses, with which the country is perfectly over-run, for they go in herds of thousands. The price of a horse at present is two dollars, or 9s. and 2d. provided it has been broken. About the year 1554
Garcilasse de la Vega,
377,
Engl.
translation.
near the time of the conquest of
Peru,
the common price of one was from four to six thousand to ten thousand
Pesos
Pesos
in the original; perhaps
Pesos duros,
which makes the above sum.
, or from £.1350 to £.2250
English.
THE venereal distemper is common among them. They do not speak of it as an exotic disorder, so probably it is aboriginal.
IN respect to religion, they allow two principles, a good and a bad
M. de Premontal
is clear they have no sort of religion.
The good they call, the Creator of all things; but consider him as one that, after that, never solicits himself about them. He is styled by some
Soucha,
or chief in the land of strong drink; by others
Gauyara-cunnee,
or Lord of the dead. The evil principle is called
Hueccovoe,
or the wanderer without. Sometimes these (for there are several) are supposed to preside over particular persons, protect their own people, or injure others. These are likewise called
Valichu,
or dwellers in the air.
THEY have priests and priestesses, whose office is to mediate with these beings in case of sickness or any distress; by the intervention of the priest they are consulted about future events; at those seasons the priest shuts himself up, and falls into a phrenetic extacy
The pretenders to second sight, in the
Hebrides,
and the
Awenyddion,
or the
Inspired,
among the
Welch,
are seized with the same extasies.
and appears epileptic. If he gives a wrong answer, he lays the fault on the evil principle, who, he says, had deceived him by not coming in person, but only sent one of his slaves. At these times the great people assemble about the cabin, from whence the oracle is to be delivered, waiting its report with great anxiety.
IF a
Cazique
dies, or any public calamity happens; for example, in particular, when the small-pox had made great ravages among the tribes, the priests are sure to suffer, for the misfortune is presumed to have happened through their neglect in not deprecating the evil; in these cases they have no other method of saving themselves, but by laying the blame on others of their brethren.
PRIESTS are chosen from among the young people, the most effeminate they can find; but those that are epileptic have always the preference, and these dress in a female habit.
THE
Puelches
have a notion of a future state, and imagine that after death they are to be transported to a country, where the fruits of inebriation are eternal, there to live in immortal drunkenness or the perpetual chace of the ostrich.
WHEN a person of eminence dies, the most respectable woman in the place goes into the tent, clears the body of all the intestines, and scrapes off as much of the flesh from the bones as possible, and then burns very carefully both that and the entrails: when that is done, the bones are buried till the rest of the flesh is quite decayed; they are taken up within a year; and if any of the bones drop out of their places they are refixed and tied together, and the whole formed into a perfect skeleton. Thus complete, it is packed up in a hide, put on the back of a favorite horse of the deceased, and then translated to the tomb of his ancestor, perhaps 300 miles distant, and always within a small space from the sea.
THE skeleton is then taken out, and, decked in its best robes, and adorned with plumes and beads, is placed sitting in a deep square pit, parallel with those buried before, with sword, lance, and other weapons placed by them; and the skins of their horses, stuffed, and supported by stakes, also accompany them. The top of the pit is then covered with turf, placed on transverse beams.
A MATRON is appointed to attend these sepulchres, whose office it is to keep the skeletons clean, and to new-clothe them annually
This account agrees with those given by
Lafitau
in most particulars; vide
Moeurs des Sauvages,
xi. 438.
I forgot to add, that, on depositing a skeleton in its tomb, the
Puelches
make a libation of
Chucha,
and, like what I have heard of an honest
Spaniard,
drink
Viva el morte,
Long live the dead.
THEY allow polygamy, and marry promiscuously among other
Americans;
they are allowed as many as three wives apiece, but if any take more than that number, he is esteemed a libertine, and held in very little esteem.
WIDOWS black their faces for a year after their husbands decease.
IN respect to government, the
Caziques
are hereditary, it is their business to protect the property of their people, and they have power of life and death: the office is far from being eligible; many reject it, because they are obliged to pay all their people for their services, who may at pleasure change their
Caziques,
so that several refuse to accept new vassals, who may offer themselves; for it is not allowed any
Indian
to live out of the protection of some
Cazique:
in such a case he would certainly be looked on as an outlaw.
ELOQUENCE is in high esteem with them. If a
Cazique
wants that talent, he keeps an orator; just as leaders in opposition have been known to do among us.
THIS closes the history Mr.
Falkener
favored me with; but I must not quit that gentleman without informing you, that he returned to
Europe
with a suit of
Patagonian
cloth, a cup of horn, and a little pot made of
Chilian
copper; the whole fruits the
Spaniards
left him, after the labors of a thirty-eight years mission.
FROM the preceding account it appears, that the country, which goes under the name of
Patagonia,
extending from the river
la Plata,
lat. 35, to the streights of
Magellan,
lat. 53
M. de Premontal
will compare
Patagonia
to the space between the
Rivicre des Sardines
and the streights of
Magellan.
, and westward as far as the
Andes,
is inhabited by men who may be divided into three different classes; and to them may be added a fourth, a combination or mixture of others.
THE first is a race of men of common size, who have been seen by numbers, and whose existence is indisputable. These often are seen on the northern side of the streights of
Magellan,
and oftener on the
Terra del Fuego
side, even as low as opposite to
Cape Horn.
These are frequently an exiled race, unhappy fugitives, drove by their enemies to take shelter from their fury, in those distant parts; for such is the information Mr.
Falkener
received from some
Indians
he met with in the southern parts of
Patagonia,
and this will account for the settled melancholy of the people observed by the navigators in
Terra del Fuego.
THE second class consists of those who (in general) exceed the common height of
Europeans
by a few inches, or perhaps the head; such were those who were seen by
John Moore,
who sailed with
Gracias de Nodal,
in 1618; by Mr.
Carteret,
in 1767, and by
M. Bougainville,
in the same year.
THE third class is composed of those whose height is so extraordinary as to occasion so great a disbelief of the accounts of voyagers; and yet they are indisputably an existent people; they have been seen by
Magellan,
and six others, in the 16th century, and by two if not three in the present.
THE fourth class is a mixed race, who, careless about preserving their generous and exalted breed pure and undegenerate, have degraded themselves by intermixing with the puny tribes of the country, and from that intercourse have produced a mongrel breed of every size, except that of the original standard; some few, as if by accident, seem to aspire to the height of their ancestors, but are checked in their growth, and stop at the stature of seven feet eight inches, scarce the middle size of the genuine breed. But another reason may be assigned for the degeneracy and inequality of size in this class: they live within the neighborhood of
Europeans,
they have intercourse with them, and from them they have acquired the vice of dram-drinking, and all its horrible consequences; this alone is sufficient to make a nation of giants dwindle into pygmies.
A THIRD reason may still be assigned, viz. the introduction of manufactories among them. Those people, who depended on the spoils of the chace for their habiliments, were certain of preserving their full vigor, their strength of constitution, and fulness of habit; while those who are confined to the loom grow enervate, and lose much of the force of their bodily faculties. They also live in tents lined with woollen manufacture, which doubtlessly are much more delicate, luxurious, and warm, than the dwellings of the third undegenerate class. We are unacquainted with the form of their tents, but we know that they still cloath themselves with the skins of beasts, and that, among those Mr.
Clarke
saw, there was not the lest appearance of manufactury, excepting what related to their horse furniture. These seem to have been the genuine remains of the free race; the conquerors of
Pedro de Baldivia;
the
Puelches,
whose original station was among the
Andes
of
Chiloe,
in about latitude 43, and almost due east of the isle of
Chiloe.
These were the descendants of the
Indians
who retreated to the south, far out of the common track of
Europeans,
and who retain their primeval grandeur of size; the others, who fled north-east, forgetful of their original magnificent stature, lost in general that noble distinction by unsuitable alliances, and the use of spirits, while the first probably only marry among themselves, and certainly have all strong liquor in abhorrence: some of this tall race seem still to inhabit the stations of their ancestors, or some not very remote from them; for
M. Frezier
was assured by
Don Pedro Molina,
governor of
Chiloe,
that he once was visited by some of these people, who were four
varas,
or about nine or ten feet high; they came in company with some
Chiloe Indians
Frezier's Voyage,
page 86.
, with whom they were friends, and who probably found them in some of their excursions.
M. de Premontal
insults
M. Frezier
with much acrimony on account of this relation; and charges him with changing the seat of those people from the eastern coast to the western, or the tract between
Chiloe
and the
Magellanic
streights; but the truth is, that
Frezier
says no such thing, but mentions them as a nation living up the country inland, not near the shores;
M. Premontal
also sneers at the evidence of the crews of the
Maloe
ships; but they by no means place these tall people on the western coast of
South America,
but at
Gregory Bay,
a place very little distant from the eastern entrance of the streights, and near which these giants have been more frequently seen than any where else.
MY remarks on
M. de Premontal
are but a tribute to the many civilities I have received from doctor
Matie,
who has been most unprovokedly, unjustly, and illiberally abused by this vague and pragmatical writer.
THUS I conclude all that I collect relating to these singular people. Let me beg you to receive the account with your usual candor, and think me, with the most regard,
Dear Sir,
Your faithful and affectionate humble servant,
THOMAS PENNANT.
Downing,
Nov.
28th, 1771.
Copy of a paper transmitted from admiral
Byron
to me; through the hands of the right reverend
John Egerton,
late bishop of
Durham,
after he had perused the manuscript of the foregoing account.
THE people I saw, upon the coast of
Patagonia,
were not the same that was seen the second voyage. One or two of the officers that sailed with me, and afterwards with captain
Wallace,
declared to me that they had not a single thing I had distributed amongst those I saw.
M. Bougainville
remarks that his officers landed amongst the
Indians
I had seen, as they had many
English
knives amongst them, which were, as he pretends, undoubtedly given by me: now it happened that I never gave a single knife to any of those
Indians,
nor did I even carry one ashore with me.
I HAD often heard from the
Spaniards,
that there were two or three different nations of very tall people, the largest of which inhabit those immense plains at the back of the
Andes.
The others somewhere near the river
Galiegos.
I take it to be the former that I saw, and for this reason:—returning from
Port Famine,
where I had been to wood and water, I saw those peoples' fires a long way to the westward of where I had left them, and a great way inland, so, as the winter was approaching, they were certainly returning to a better climate. I remarked that they had not one single thing amongst them that shewed they ever had any commerce with
Europeans.
They were certainly of a most amazing size: so much were their horses disproportioned, that all the people that were with me in the boats, when very near the shore, swore that they were all mounted upon deer; and to this instant I believe there is not a man that landed with me, though they were at some distance from them, but would swear they took them to be nine feet high. I do suppose many of them were between seven and eight, and strong in proportion.
Mr.
Byron
is much obliged to Mr.
Pennant
for the perusal of his manuscript, and thinks his remarks very judicious.
APPENDIX, No 2.
FREE THOUGHTS ON THE MILITIA LAWS, ADDRESSED TO THE POOR INHABITANTS OF
NORTH WALES.
1781.
Stat. L.
The Statutes at Large, published by
OWEN RUFFHEAD, Esq.
Digest.
Digest of the Militia Laws, by
RICHARD BURN, LL.D. 1781.
FREE THOUGHTS, &c.
MY DEAR COUNTRYMEN,
AT a time in which you feel the distresses in common with the rest of the nation, it behoves every one of you to be made acquainted with the laws, in order (as much as is possible) to ease yourselves of the burdens under which you labor, and legally to resist every oppression which may be attempted against you.
THE most grievous load which you now feel (next to the poor's rate) is that which arises from the taxes to support the militia. The laws relating to it are the most numerous, and the punishments attending the breach of them are so hard, that for fear that any of you should offend, by reason of ignorance, I shall, in the briefest manner, set before you a few points which concern persons in every station of life. If I should chance to speak of any piece of history, or touch on any thing beyond the apprehensions of any of you, your minister is, I trust, resident among you, and ready to expound any difficulty.
THE militia has been of very long standing in this kingdom; several statutes were from very old times enacted for its regulation, which in the reign of
Charles
II. were revised,
13, 14 Ch. II. c. 3. Stat. L. iii. 219. Digest 1.
and a new body of laws framed. These were continued almost to the reign of his present majesty;
30 G. II. c. 25. Stat. L. viii. 80.
for after they had undergone several alterations in the latter part of his grandfather's time, they were totally repealed, and the laws under which we now act were made in their place; but many of the clauses of the preceding statute were restored. The former is called the
Old Militia.
It certainly was of very little use as it then stood; but it had one advantage over the present;
13, 14 Ch. II. L. iii. s. 3.
for the expence of raising the men was founded on the truest justice. Those who had great estates, palaces, and rich furniture to defend, were charged accordingly. The gentlemen of lesser fortune, and freeholders, were charged less; and the honest farmer, who had nothing but his rick-yard, the hard fruit of his labor! his poor dwelling, and his coarse bed, to care about, was only obliged to pay according to such private agreement as might be made between him and his landlord;
The same, s. 29. Digest, p. 8.
and all this was done in the arbitrary reign of a
Stuart!
But at present there is, in one instance, a more levelling principle. The poor laborer is, in some cases,
2 G. III. s. 42. Stat. L. viii. 622. Digest 6.
obliged to contribute ten pounds (if he can raise it) towards the defence of the kingdom; and the greatest squire in the principality is not bound to give a farthing more.
IN the
Old Militia,
all business relating to the charging the subject with finding soldiers, was committed to the lieutenant of the county and his deputies, or to the major part of those present;
13, 14 Ch. II. c. 3. s. 3. Stat. L. iii. 219. Digest 3.
or, in the absence of the lieutenant, to the major part of the deputy lieutenants then present; which major part was to be
three at lest.
I am sorry to remark, that even at the first framing of the new militia, this important security of the interests of the poor subject was weakened:
2 G. III. s. 58. Stat. L. viii. 624.
for the powers were in that act entrusted to three deputy lieutenants or justices only; and since that time,
18 G. III. c. 59. s. 11. Stat. L. xiii. 288. Digest 47.
the number (when the militia is in actual service) is reduced to two only.
THIS has been a most dangerous and imprudent alteration. Every one knows the hazard of trusting power in few hands. Friendship, relationship, or an unfortunate congenial turn of mind, may be found in two, which will hardly be met with in a greater number. In fact, two may become but as one, and this reduction be productive of the most shameful abuses.
BUT if it were possible, that a gentleman should so far forget the duty he owes to his country, as to adopt a system, in the most distant view productive of a military government; should he, through mistaken friendship, promote or second any illegality of proceeding; Heaven have mercy upon poor
Britain!
Not the increasing power of the crown; not the machinations of a faction; not the corruption of a parlement, will half so effectually ruin its constitution. Not the force of man can overturn it, if the civil powers are true to their trust: nor less than the intervention of Heaven preserve it, if they are false.
AT present perhaps no danger is to be apprehended; but, for the sake of posterity, let us guard against events; and remember, that
an attack by storm may be repulsed, but an unsuspected sap is sure in the end to overturn the strongest works.
Is the militia at present that pure assemblage of men of rank, fortune, and independence, as it was in the beginning? It may consist of persons of equal integrity. But is it not possible that a few may have crept in, destitute of qualification, or destitute of heads steady enough to bear the great trial of power? Are there no instances of their carrying the controul of the camp into private life; none, of their ruffling the tranquillity of the social hour, clouding the bright moments of the gay assembly; or pre| venting the impending nap of the quiet magistrate, who dared to differ in opinion with them?
I SHALL make no remarks on the method of ballotting, except this: that a power is given to the deputy lieutenants and justices to order a fresh ballot, in case the lot falls on any person who,
18 G. III. c. 14
Abridged, and part of the clause omitted, in Mr.
Rufshead
's edition. See vol. xiii. 181.
. Digest, ed. 1778. p. 52.
by reason of infirmity, or want of size, is unfit to serve. This is extremely just: yet strict attention should be paid to this power; least through too great nicety in the gentlemen, or too great favor to the commanding officer, they should be induced to reject those to whom nothing but the most trivial, or perhaps affected objections could be made. Besides, it most commonly happens, that on the day of appeal the lists are entirely cleared from all objectionable persons. For the sake of the people therefore, a severe penalty should be enacted, as a guard against the abuse of this power.
IF any of you who are ballotted, do not chuse to serve, you have liberty of offering a substitute; and that substitute must be five feet four inches high, and fit for service. You must offer none but such who are active in body and sound in mind: who can fully answer the purpose for which they are called out, that of defending our wives, children, and property. You must offer such who will not shame you in distant counties, or give needless trouble to the gentlemen who command them, and who have, in many instances, for all our sakes, given up for a time every comfort of a domestic life.
IF you happen to be six feet high, and formed as perfect as man can be, the magistrates ought not to refuse a substitute inferior to you in those advantages; it may be your good (or I may say in this case) your ill fortune to be so made: but still they ought not to refuse any one you offer, who comes within the above description. Two deputy lieutenants, or one deputy lieutenant and one justice, have power to accept or refuse them. If these two are resolved to plague you, by the refusal of proper substitutes, look about the room, and see if there are any others present, and pérhaps by their interference the former may be shamed into compliance; for there are none but have eyes as well as they, to discern whether a man is five feet four, and proper to be accepted; and sense enough to know (in cases where a substitute is accepted) that a single man will be less burdensome to a parish than a married man. A merciful magistrate will surely never hesitate to prefer the former?
THE possible abuse of the power of rejection, or acceptance of substitutes, when lodged in two only, shews the necessity of resuming the antient mode, and of enlarging the number. At present, let the power be ever so much abused, you are left helpless in this act, for there is no punishment for those who make so wanton an exertion of it.
BUT remember, that in case you are at length teized, by the refusal of several stout substitutes, into the payment of ten pounds (which, properly speaking,
2 G. III. c. 20. s. 42. Stat. L. viii. 622.
is only to be levied in case you refuse or neglect to provide a man in your room) remember, I say,
2 G. III. c. 20. s;. 51. Stat. L. viii. 624. Digest 57.
that you are to pay the money into the hands of the church-wardens and overseers of your respective parishes only, who are also the only persons appointed by law to receive and pay the ten pounds, or to agree or contract for any substitutes, unless you should chuse to do it yourselves,
2 G. III. c. 20. s. 52. Digest 58.
or should chuse to employ any friend to do it for you.
AND observe, that in case any of the deputies or justices, or even the lord lieutenant himself, should offend in any article of the above clause,
2 G. III. c. 20. s. 51. Stat. L. viii. 624. Digest 57, 58.
you may lay an information against him, and he is liable to be fined
one hundred pounds:
half of which is to be paid to the prosecutor, and half to the poor of the parish in which the offence was committed; and you may recover it in any of his majesty's courts of record.
IF any deputy or justice demands and gets from you more than ten pounds, the offence becomes the dirty crime of extortion. Will not the world say, that the offender sinks the character of the generous
British
gentleman, or brave officer, into that of the recruiting serjeant; and that he forfeits the confidence of his poor countrymen, who look up to him for protection from every wrong? But you may have more substantial satisfaction; you may bring an action against him, expose him in a court of justice, and recover full damages. This may atone for the private injury: but the public wrong is of that moment, as only to be expiated before one of our highest tribunals; and with all the solemnity of public justice.
THERE is not one of your fellow-subjects, let him be ever so great, that can levy on you a farthing more than the law allows. One of our kings lost his head for trying to raise money without consent of parlement. Surely you have more spirit than to suffer any private man to tax you of his own authority? At the same time you must pay quietly the ten pounds penalty; but only in case you have by law incurred it. But remember, that this payment does not exempt you from serving again at the end of the three years,
2 G. III. c. 20. s. 42. Stat. L. viii. 622.
or from providing a substitute.
THE militia is our great and constitutional security: it is the interest of us all to preserve this bulwark of our freedom; but let us all take care that, what was so studiously intended to be the guardian of our liberties, become not the instrument of our slavery, in the hands of men who know not the true use of power.
IF it was possible that any deputy or justice should refuse your substitutes, and immediately after take those very men in the room of other ballotted people, let his shame be his punishment, for I fear that the act provides none. But as the precise description of fit or unfit is quite unsettled, you will, in such an instance, have the comfort of being assured by the very magistrates themselves, that you never wished to affront them by the offer of insufficient people.
IF a poor man is made desperate by the rejection of several fit substitutes, and by the inability of paying the ten pounds, and afterwards absconds, he is liable to a more severe punishment: how far it may exceed the offence, I submit to public judgment. At first the law provided one which seemed equal to the fault, which was a fine of ten pounds,
2 G. III. c. 20. s. 42, 128. Stat. L. viii. 621, 637.
or for want of distress, imprisonment in the common jail, there to live for three months among felons, and starve; for I suspect that he is in a worse situation than them, not being comprehended within the king's or county allowance, which the vilest of felons are entitled to.
THIS clause was repealed, and the unhappy wretch is, in time of actual service, liable to be seized, his name entered on the roll, be delivered to an officer of the corps he was ballotted for, torn from his family, hand-cuffed, and marched perhaps two hundred miles across the country;
19 G. III. c. 72. s. 22. Stat. L. xiii. 485, Digest 62.
then to serve three years under perhaps an irritated commander: and should he again abscond, be liable to the infamy of whipping, or to be shot like the most profligate deserter. In the name of Heaven! let this clause be for ever blotted from our statutes.
THIS merits the more attention, because nothing is easier to a merciless magistrate, than to bring a man within this clause. A poor creature may be able to raise six or seven pounds to give to the substitute whom he has engaged, and yet, with all his endeavours, not be able to raise ten pounds. The magistrates refuse his substitutes, and finding neither money or effects to the value of ten pounds, instantly convict him of the crime of poverty, and he suffers accordingly. Or, he may not be a householder, yet be able to pay the ten pounds; but through indignation at the treatment he has received, by the rejection of his substitutes, refuses to deposit the money, and having no effects, is in like manner subject to punishment.
IN case any militia man is disapproved by the commanding officer,
19 G. III. c. 72. s. 23. Stat. L. xiii. 485. Digest 55, 56.
after being enrolled, it is lawful for the officer to discharge him; but he must give his reasons in writing, and be assisted by two deputy lieutenants: so attentive, in this instance, have our law-givers been to the prevention of abuse in the military power! Why have they been so remiss in the former far more important matter?
PLEASE to observe, that throughout the militia act, the commanding officer is distinguished from the civil power, or the deputy lieutenants and justices of the peace.
2 G. III. c. 20. s. 28. Stat. L. viii. 618. Digest 36.
The lord lieutenant alone is permitted to act as colonel: he alone is permitted to unite the civil and military characters, because he can delegate his powers so that his absence may be dispensed with. In every other instance, they are so very carefully separated, as never to appear acting together; except in the instance of the discharge of a man, in which they have a short correspondence. The law plainly designs, that no person inferior to the lord lieutenant, should act in both capacities; much less to preside at the meetings, and brow-beat the deputy lieutenants or justices in the discharge of their duty.
A prince, therefore, never should give to military men a civil employment: on the contrary, they ought to be checked by the civil magistrate, that the same persons may not have the confidence of the people, and the power to abuse it
Montesquieu.
.
THE civil power is the soul which is to animate the military machine, and put it in motion.
2 G. III. c. 20. s. 95. Stat. L. xiii. 631. Digest 72.
The civil power forms the men into regiments, or in small counties into companies; assembles men in convenient stations, and even posts to each company its proper officers.
THE time of training and exercising the men,
2 G. III. c. 20. s. 99. Stat. L. viii. 632. Digest 74.
and the place of rendezvous, is also entirely in the power of the lieutenant and two deputies; or, in the absence of the lieutenant, in that of three deputy lieutenants:
2 G. III. c. 20. s. 116. 16 G. III. c. 3. s. 1. Stat. L. xiii. 634. xii. 431. Digest 98.
and the power of embodying the militia is entrusted to the same, even in time of actual invasion, or in case of rebellion.
IN a few words; it does not appear that the commanding officer has scarcely any part to perform till he takes the field: the ballotting, the approving, and the rejecting of volunteers or substitutes, resting entirely in the civil magistrates. The power of the commandant does not commence till, at soonest, the time of enrolling; for within a month after that, he is at liberty to correct the choice of the deputy lieutenants, and to discharge any man whom they have suffered to pass muster,
2 G. III. c. 20. s. 48. Stat. L. viii. 623. Digest 102.
and who is really unfit for service.
GOOD manners, and even prudence, should induce the magistrates to invite any discreet officer of the corps to attend the meeting for accepting of substitutes: or, if the corps is too remote, prudence should urge them to do the same to any fit officer of a neighboring corps, be it regular or militia. They ought not; they cannot be partakers of the power entrusted to the civil magistrates: but they may be usefully consulted on any cases of acceptance, in which the magistrates may have doubts. Every officer is equally a citizen of
Great Britain;
and I dare to say, on this occasion would, in his advice, not forget that most important character.
THE power given to the commandant, of discharging any man he dislikes in one month after enrolling, shews, that it is not supposed he could be present at the ballot, or could have any concern in approving of the substitutes; otherwise, he could not possibly receive improper men one week, in order to discharge them the next.
2 G. III. c. 128. Stat. L. viii. 637. Digest 61.
I SHALL close this suspicion of the probability of the commanding officer's being excluded from all concern in the raising of the militia, with this remark, that the overplus of the penalty of ten pounds, if any remains, is to be paid by the deputy lieutenants and justices to the clerk of the regiment or battalion
By the by, an omission in the Digest.
, who is to account for it to the colonel or commanding officer; a direction which sufficiently points out the difference of character and distinction of the department.
MANY of you, in order to ease yourselves of expence, have formed clubs, in which every person liable to be ballotted subscribed a small sum, and raised sufficient to find a substitute, in case the lot fell on any one of the members. By this means you prevented a heavy load from falling on all such, who by reason of sickness, or any other infirmity, were excepted from serving; but not from the taxes attendant on the militia. This you did freely: and in case the lot fell upon any one of you who chose to serve, you made use of the club-money, and scorned to put your poor neighbors (for whom you were going to fight) to any more expence than the support of your families.
THE law, by a very particular clause,
2 G. III. c. 20. s. 53. Stat. L. viii. 624. Digest 58.
encourages the use of these clubs, and as it were, renders optional the use of a foregoing clause; and prevents it from being made burdensome to any parishes, except those which have been imprudent enough not to form these clubs, in ease to themselves. But to levy the tax of half the price of a volunteer, as that clause directs,
2 G. III. c. 20. s. 47. 19 G. III. c. 72. Digest 101. Stat. L. viii. 623. xiii. 483.
is a mere wanton exertion of power, in all places where clubs have been established.
HALF the price of a volunteer has been generally fixed at four guineas, or four and a half: yet I have known, in the very week in which ten or twelve guineas have been prodigally bestowed on a substitute, men equally good have been inlisted in the regulars for four; and within five weeks after enrolling, a militia substitute to supply a vacancy has been got by one of the parishes for four only.
IN case half the price of a volunteer is to be raised on the country, you have an indulgence of deferring the payment one whole month. Among other reasons, is this; it gives time to the overseers of the poor, who are charged with the payment, to collect the money from their poor brethren, it being well known that many who are thus taxed are worse off than those for whose use the money is raised. Perhaps almost the whole month may be required for the distressed tenant to get in a little money, notwithstanding all the trouble and ill-will the overseer has in discharge of his office.
BUT our law-makers had another reason for giving you a month's time for the payment; because (as I said before) the commanding officer has power to discharge any man he dislikes within one month after enrolling,
The same, Sect. 48 in one, 14 in the other.
and then no such money is to be paid to that person, but to the next chosen by lot in his stead. Now it may happen, that if you pay it to the first person on, or soon after the day of enrolling, he may die within the month, or he may be discharged, and in the last case most probably may have spent the money; in so much that the parish must pay the same sum over again to the next person, who is as liable to be discharged within a day or two, as the other, and the parish put, without remedy, to fresh expences. Never, therefore, pay the money till the end of the month, and you will be on the sure side, and within the meaning of the law.
YOU need not fear being put to the expence of maintaining the wives or children of the serjeants. In one of your counties, two well-meaning magistrates made the trial, but when their order came to the clerk of the peace, who is a very honest fellow, he took it, and the matter was totally suppressed.
2 G. III. c. 20. s. 114. Digest 84. St. L. viii. 634. 2 G. III. c. 20. s. 38. Digest 38. Stat. L. viii. 619. 2 G. III. c. 20. s. 39. Digest 39.
One should have thought it impossible that they could mistake a noncommission officer for a common man, or not have read, that serjeants were appointed from among the common men, and were, on any misconduct, liable to be reduced to the rank of common men.
THE above is the only personal allusion in this little piece: but I hope I may make free with myself, and thus with shame and contrition perform my
amende honorable.
IF any of you are oppressed in any manner whatsoever, do not despair of relief. Remember you live in a free country, where justice is open to the poor as well as the rich. It is not many years ago since a great lord, a secretary of state, made the same mistake as most country justices have done, and issued a general warrant against a private gentleman; who had spirit to take the law of his lordship, and recovered four thousand pounds damage. And I remember a cobler near
London,
who went to law with a former king for a foot-path, and cast his majesty.
BUT let the law be your last resource. I have not the most distant thought of setting you and the gentry at variance. They are bound to give you protection by the duties of humanity: by their duty as magistrates. They are bound by their oaths
to do equal justice to the poor and to the rich, after their cunning wit and power, and after the laws and customs of the realm, and the statutes thereof made.
You are bound to pay to them a manly respect; for on their integrity, knowlege, and power, YOUR OWN SAFETY DEPENDS.
In our several stations we are
ALL BOUND TO BE PROTECTIONS
one to the other.
If any of them, through heat, or forgetfulness of the law, should have injured you, apply for redress in a private manner. I trust that there are in every
Welsh
county some worthy gentlemen who will undertake your cause, and perform the blessed office of peacemakers. Those who may have wronged you, need not be ashamed of making the poorest of you amends. Reparation of an injury does honor to the offender, and wipes away the offence. The greatest man in
England
may glory in the opportunity.
IN distracted times, such as the present, petty tyrants are apt to arise, who think they can act secure in the rage of the storm, The watchman is not to be blamed who, in suspicious seasons, gives the alarm on the sight of the rising of a distant dust. I hope, therefore, it will not be thought presumptuous in me, unbidden, to take the office. Internal impulses to prevent evils, ought not to be resisted. I am not a first-rate man among you: but a pygmy armed by justice goes forth a giant. Within the county in which I am destined to act, I am in a particular manner bound to befriend you; to befriend you in a good cause: but if you are wrong, and obstinately wrong, my utmost endeavours shall be used to inflict on you every punishment in the power of the law.
BUT I hope that peace and mutual confidence will ever reign among us; and that rich and poor will, as is their joint interest, endeavour to promote, to the utmost of their abilities, RESPECT TO THE LAWS, AND RESPECT TO TRUE LIBERTY. Such,
My dear countrymen,
is the constant wish of
Your fast friend, THOMAS PENNANT.
Downing,
Nov,
10th, 1781.
APPENDIX, No 3.
A LETTER FROM A
WELSH FREEHOLDER
TO HIS REPRESENTATIVE.
1784.
ADVERTISEMENT.
A FEW nights ago, my maid brought me a parcel directed to me, which she found flung upon my desk. I have perused it carefully, and find nothing in it but good found doctrine, and quite agreeable to the laws and usage of the land. I cannot but consider it as a fairy-gift; therefore will not wrong myself so far as not to print it, thinking myself free from blame for turning the penny in an honest way. But at the same time pledge myself to the author (should he hereafter appear) to allow him such a share of profit as shall be adjudged by any two of the trade, with a proper umpire.
J. MONK.
Chester,
April
1, 1784.
A LETTER FROM A
WELSH FREEHOLDER
TO HIS REPRESENTATIVE.
February
10, 1784.
DEAR SIR,
I AM obliged to you for your favor of
January
24th, and should have been extremely happy to have received an answer a little more satisfactory. I am most willing to believe that your designs may at this time be pure, that you have no thought to eradicate monarchy, no more than hundreds of great characters had in the beginning of the troubles of the last century, but by the artifices of the popular leaders, they were drawn from violence to violence, till their retreat became impracticable; and when they made the attempt, they were overwhelmed by the tyranny which they unwittingly had helped to establish, and which soon after totally subverted the constitution
A fimilar instance unhappily may be given in our times, when numbers of the first national assembly of
France
have been massacred by the very people they labored to free from one of the worst of governments!
. You seem shocked at the idea, and are ready to say with
Hazael,
"Is thy servant a dog, that he should do these things?" What is the government of our kingdom, but the wise mixture of King, Lords, and Commons, each one designed to be a check on the ill-conduct of the others: if you destroy the powers of any one, and the others should unite, you establish the most absolute despotism, for you take away the salutary control of the third. Your saying that the present majority is not anti-monarchial is saying nothing; for if you deprive the King of the power of chusing his own servants, or of the other great executive privilege of appointing to places, you make him merely nominal; an arrant King Log.
Within these two months the above has been (as yet happily) in vain attempted; first in the endeavour to place in the Commons the disposition of places in
India
and all its vast dependencies; secondly, in the interference of Lord ****, in the disposal of the dutchy of
Lancaster;
thirdly, in the present attempt to wrest from Majesty the undoubted right of chusing his own ministers: let these points be gained by the Commons, and monarchy falls. Have your leaders informed you what government they mean to establish? If prerogative is destroyed, this cannot subsist; for I think the King will never submit to be brought from his prison at
St. James
's, with the pageantry of majesty, to give his assent to acts signified by the pleasure of the Commons. I trust that we both look with equal horror on a King without Commons, as Commons without King. The pernicious resolutions of
January
the twelfth are without precedent, because unprovoked; the cause ought to have been of the first magnitude to have produced such effects, which involve all ranks in their destructive consequence. They are like a sword which passes undistinguished between innocent and guilty. Your constituents feel their share. All business is obstructed, and possibly in a few days the whole army is to be let loose on their fellow subjects. What crime has majesty or ministers committed, to bring on them and our country such calamities? Has not year after year the King quietly assented to every bill passed by the two other branches of legislature for the weakening of his own power? Had he had ill designs, his own prerogative might have checked the abridgement of his authority. I instance only the act for taking away the vote of revenue officers, and that for the abolition of the board of trade. The county of **** with great zeal petitioned for the taking away of useless places. Had the inciters of those petitions, when they came into power, pursued the design with the same sincerity with which they were supported by the duped counties, they would not have lest room to suspect that the desire of possessing the emoluments of Lord
North
's administration was not the chief end by them proposed. Let me name another merit of this reign, for the security of our liberties, in which the Commons had no share, I mean the spontaneous act of the crown which has made the judges independent of the King by giving them their places for life.
To these merits of the King, let me oppose one glaring demerit of the Commons. Did not the representatives of the people, in 1716, betray their rights by the septennial act, and vest in themselves four years more of power than the constitution or their constituents ever intended? I will not enter into a discussion of the eventual good or evil. The charge ought to be subject of deep consideration with electors and elected. But if it was wrong, is not the present majority
particeps criminis,
by permitting it to continue unrepealed? But does there not appear the greater probability of its design of assuming a far longer continuance of its own power, should it not be appalled by the warning voice of the people? I cannot give it a grain of credit for any one act of forbearance, any pretended moderation, since the awful sound begins to roll over its head.
THE King has lately dared to make use of his prerogative, in dismissing his late servants, for unconstitutionally trying to divert into another branch of the legislature his great prerogative of the disposal of places. Please to apprehend
that
to be the only part of Mr.
Fox's India
bill to which I make any objection. I should hold chartered rights most sacred; but not such which have affected the lives and properties of millions, in the manner in which the abuse of power is pretended to have done in our
Indian
empire.
IN place of the ministry dismissed, his majesty has been pleased to put at the head of the new one a youth endued, I may say, with miraculous abilities; one in whom malice can find as few defects as can be found in human nature. When I had the honor of speaking to you on the subject of his virtues, in the short conversation I had with you in your way to town, you seemed to have had no objection to him. Has his short administration been marked by any flagitious deed? Would it not have been fair to have given the man of the King's choice a short trial? Or, is it not because he is the man of the King's choice that the majority of mouths are open against him? I hope his virtues are not the object of jealousy, and that the eloquence of
Themistocles
is not to bear down the virtues of
Aristides!
surely the majority do not sign the shell because they are angry at every body calling
Aristides
just?
CERTAINLY there are strong contrasts to his character, who unite their force to pull him down. Why should the affairs of the whole nation be stopped at the instance of such persons? Could you not suffer the business to go on, with only the proper objections to what was wrong? Surely the taxes might have passed, in order to prevent what may possibly ensue, universal bankruptcy. But moderation must not be adopted; it will suit neither the views nor interests of a set of men, whom poverty and ambition have made nearly desperate. The nonsensical exploded cry of secret influence is for private ends again revived.
EXCUSE me for reminding you (but remind you I must) of the declaration you made at the last general election, that you would enlist under no party, follow no set of men; the performance is far from impracticable; many illustrious characters, who observe those excellent rules, exist at this very time. Your constituents wish you to do the same. They wish to prevale on you to compare your sentiments with theirs; the sooner it is done, the less will be the violence of the alteration. I first suggested the communication of our sentiments, and from my model (such as is inclosed) is drawn the declaration which I apprehend has by this time been sent to you from the gentlemen of ****, with the approbation of many respected characters in this end of the county. You need not start at the test offered to you. It is not designed to bind you to any party, to any set of men. It contains only constitutional fundamentals, such as you might subscribe without any derogation from your honor. If the name offends, change it to 'instructions,' and the offence is done away. Why should the majority be alarmed at subscribing to undeniable duties, who are daily offering to their Sovereign the most mortifying covenants? This squeamish nicety reminds me of the giant in
Rabelais,
who daily swallowed wind-mills for his breakfast, and at last was choaked with a lump of butter before the mouth of a warm oven.
To conclude: there is not a wish to change our representative, provided he acts consonant to our principles; but none of us ought to give up principle for affection. I trust that your answer will be clear and decided; so that in supporting you we shall support the dictates of our own consciences. The great majority of your constituents are firm friends to the legal prerogative. They will re-elect you; yet how must they blush at their inconsistency if you take an adverse part! I have been your friend, and I shall be sorry to withdraw my interest from you. Excuse me again if I say, with the spirit of a freeman, this must rest in yourself. If we differ in sentiments, there ought to be mutual forgiveness, for it is impossible to expect from either side a criminal compliment. I have never yet deceived you; nor will I begin in this late period of life. If we are so unhappy to disagree in opinion, I will not vote against you: but cannot vote for you.
I remain, dear Sir, Your affectionate humble servant, A WELSH FREEHOLDER.
APPENDIX, No 4.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE GENERAL EVENING POST.
Havod y lom, Feb.
1781.
SIR,
I HAVE long been very sensible of the several improvements which the military spirit, so prevalent in these kingdoms, and the frequent incampments, have introduced into the most distant counties. At present I shall forbear mentioning the happy effects they have had on the morals of the male part of the community, and confine myself to that sex to which we are indebted for every thing which renders life endurable. I was always its sincere admirer; and am happy to find any occasion of pointing out whatsoever may add to their charms, or extend their conquests.
I WAS last summer in a gentleman's family in the inland part of
England,
with whom I had a long and intimate acquaintance. I happened to reach the place in the dog-days; and finding the ladies sitting in an alcove in their cloth riding habits, instead of their cool chintzes, I expressed my fear that I prevented them from taking their morning ride. They assured me, they did not mean to stir out; and one of them, clapping on a vast hat with a cockade, declared she would only go for her work, and sit down for the rest of the morning. On turning round, how was my rusticity surprized to see her hair clubbed behind! another gave me an opportunity of seeing a whisking queue; and a third a greasy braid, hanging down and dabbing the shining cape!
AFTER the morning was far spent, Miss
Dorothy
(for, in imitation of the quality, there are now no such things as
Dollies, Mollies,
and
Betties
) with a great yawn flung her arms over her head, and her legs a yard before her, and informed us, it was dressing time: then pulling her watch out of (I believe) a tight leathern breeches, acquainted us, that it was half past two; and returned it to its place with a most officer-like air.
I SAW the countenance of my good old friend change. As soon as the ladies had left the place, he gave vent to his discontent in the following terms: "My dear
Jack,"
says he,
what an alteration is there in the manners of this house since I last had the happiness of your company! A cursed visit to
Coxheath
hath infected my poor girls to a degree that gives me the keenest concern. The chaste and elegant dress, which was once their characteristic, is now converted into what you have just seen. Female delicacy is changed into masculine courage, and as much of the garb assumed as at first view almost leaves the difference of sex undistinguishable. The manly habit is put on with the morning, and, as you will see presently, only changed for another of the same kind. The watch too has also quitted its modest station, and the fair wearer, instead of consulting the hour with the former graceful recline of the head, now boldly lugs out the oracle, and asterwards thrusts it—the lord knows where! My niece
Elizabeth,
in defence of this new mode, says, that its motions are considerably altered since it had experienced a new situation. No wonder, since it had quitted the temperate for the torrid zone. A long string, with all the masculine load of seals, &c. now affectedly hangs down the center of the fair frame; sometimes it is formed of hair, ending with a strange fringe of the same. A celebrated antiquarian assured me that this was the true love-lock. And a wicked rogue added, that it was an excellent conductor of amorous ideas to our sex, a remembrancer to our slack youth, and, like a strange peculiarity in the dress of the ladies of
Siam,
which serves as a whet to the depraved appetites of their copper-coloured gallants. Instead of—
I could no longer bear his prosing, so diverted the discourse: but not without giving internal assent to part of his reflections, even tinctured as they were by the foolish prejudices of old age. Laudable as a due attention is to fashion in young people, yet I was brought to confess that there were indecencies in those of the present year, which are the disgust of the grave, the scoff of the licentious; are marks of a light mind, or bring under suspicion of levity the purest heart, which thoughtlessly adopts the unsuitable manners or habit of our sex.
I am, Your humble servant, CAMBER,
APPENDIX, No 5.
MISCELLANIES.
Old Bond-street, August
10, 1774.
SIR,
I WAS the other day in a coffee-house filled with (not the first rate) company of this great town, where I long sate indignant at the topic which employed every tongue. I could have born with patience the common subjects of politics, the mere offspring of ignorance and rancour; but when I found their licentious mouths filled with the most infamous inferences, drawn from the unhappy conduct of a lady not less eminent for her rank than her beauty, I flung down my penny in a rage, and retired to my apartments full of reflections on some events unfortunately at this time too well known.
THE love of fame in either sex is a principle implanted in us for the most noble purposes, and is often of itself productive of the most important and generous effects. The character of the tender part of the creation confines them to a narrower sphere of action: but their duties are not less consequential than those of our sex, which make more eclat; and are attended with all the rewards that public merit can claim. If it is the lot of the fair to become wives and parents, a virtuous discharge of the duties of those relations should be the sum of their ambition. But if it be their fortune to remain single, an equal fame will attend them by that delicacy and ease of behaviour towards the men, which form the genuine characteristics of virtue. If once this honest species of ambition forsakes them, and an anxiety after foreign admiration seizes them, they become the mark of every profligate wretch, or fluttering insect; who may perhaps singe his wings, but at the same time is sure to impair the brightness of the luminary. Every soft look, and every little levity, becomes encouragement; and the enduring of one free action is sure to lay a foundation for another. The man of gallantry presumes on appearances, mistakes culpable vanity for vitious inclinations, and in the end, most deservedly, suffers for his error: he is disgracefully driven from the chateau by insulting domestics; or suffers still more marked mortifications, at the command of the insulted fair. She distresses her poor husband with her complaints: she wonders at the fellow's impudence. Alas! what can the unhappy spouse reply, but what must add to her and his own misery? He may (but it is more likely his suspicions may take an unhappy turn at the same time) he may, I say, allow her to be innocent at the bottom; but he will reproach her with having given the gallant every reason to expect an easy conquest: he may also unjustly conceive a jealousy that there may have been, or that there still may be, moments when poor virtue may be caught napping, and the sum of female dishonour effected. His peace of mind is gone; and mutual wretchedness becomes the price of the mere moments of levity, or the love of transient admiration.
EVERY attempt for that purpose becomes criminal; since the conclusion is often as uncertain as it is unexpected. To call aloud in public to men of gaiety; to suffer an unmeaning whisper; or to retire to a remote seat; are acts which bring with them the cause of the most cruel scandal. In private company to force yourself at table almost on the lap of your favorite; to rivet your eye on his; to catch frequently at his hand, or every now and then to place your's on his knee; or mutually to dangle your hands over the elbow chair, that they may come unperceived in contact, give as great disgust to the company as they do solid injury to the reputation of the fair offender, whether she is married or whether she is single. If the object of attraction be a married man, how aggravated is the offence: how pitiable is the situation of the poor injured spouse! And yet this species of conduct is very frequent, but never is passed unnoticed: the encouragement either brings unhappiness on the thoughtless fair; or busy scandal fixes on her an indelible blot: a cruel penalty! yet she falls unpitied, as it is brought on her by a criminal or insolent inattention to appearances.
CAMBER.
APPENDIX, No 6.
MISCELLANIES. FLINTSHIRE PETITION.
THE clamors raised in the year 1779, and the apparent discontents grew to such a height, that I thought it prudent that the county of
Flint
should add its weight to the petition, so that by prevaling on government to lessen every unnecessary burden, the minds of the people might be eased, and all ill consequences prevented, for civil war was almost threatened. I at all times professed my abhorrence of committees and associations. Sir
Roger Mostyn
advised me to write to some of our principal gentlemen to inform them of the terms on which I undertook to excite the county to petition, so that they might decline subscribing to the requisition, in case they disliked my plan: or if they did sign it, support me to its full extent. None to whom I wrote appeared at the meeting. Mr.
Yonge,
one of the friends to whom I wrote, disliked the petition, and declined signing the requisition. Sir
Stephen Glynn,
bart. and
Philip Lloyd Fletcher,
esq. approved my plan, and promised it every support, and to adhere to the very letter of it. Mr.
Fletcher
also sent my letter along with the requisition to the gentlemen of his neighborhood, that they might not mistake the terms on which they were to sign. I came to the meeting in a full reliance on the faith of my countrymen: but the dean of St.
Asaph,
burning after the glory of chairman of a committee, and backed by friends he brought with him, proposed a committee, and carried his point.
I DID intend to deliver the following speech, but my spirits failed me.
BEING totally unused to speak in public, I beg leave, in faultering words, to lay before you the motives which induced me to promote this meeting.
THE distresses of the times are too evident to admit of contradiction. To have recourse to any legal method of alleviating our sufferings is extremely natural. The only one which presents itself is, 'by petition to the high court of parliament,' a privilege preserved to us by the BILL of RIGHTS, and which can never be exerted with more propriety than at present, provided respect and moderation attend it.
IT is said by an able speaker on the side of opposition, 'that 300,000l. may be annually saved by retrenching the emoluments of offices, and abolishing the long train of useless placemen and pensioners.' As I make no doubt but this gentleman can support his assertion, let me observe, that the above sum will, at the rate of five per cent. pay the interest of more than six millions of money; and of course, in the next year, ease the all-supporting landlord and tenant from a burden equal to that sum.
THIS alone, in the necessitous state of our country (which from the nature of its trade suffers more in proportion than others) ought to determine us to make use of the proposed method of relief, leaving it to the wisdom of parlement severely to scrutinize into the nature of our grievances, and to rectify every one which may be discovered to exist. It is just to enquire before we condemn. Let the accused, if guilty, suffer the penalty of their neglect; if innocent, acquitted with honor. But let the minds of the people be eased, by a proper enquiry into the foundation of the national discontent.
THAT invaluable compilation the
Red-book
Edition 1779, pages 39, 122.
furnishes me with a very singular instance of a place of little moment, attended with a high salary. I cannot but smile at seeing the representative of one of our first cities, and one of the lords commissioners of the admiralty, unite with that important charge the post of
letter-carrier
to the court, with the lavish salary of 730l. a year. The duty might perhaps be performed (if any there is) by a less respectable person, for 2s. 6d. a day; and I will not pay a very worthy gentleman so bad a compliment, as to suppose, that his principles will be in the lest altered by being free from such a degrading office.
MANY similar instances may probably be found, all worthy of being lopped off: but let me do the times the justice to say, that few of them are of recent formation; they are the antient marks of regal state, created in prosperous days. In the progress of enquiry, it will be worthy to remark the periods when they ceased to be ornaments to the crown, and became the instruments of corruption.
THE affair of contracts is beyond my power to speak to. It will be our wish that parlement would guard against the abuse of them, and examine whether the princely state in which our contractors live, arises from any thing beyond the fair profits of their business.
IN attending to the report of any party on that subject, or any other, we ought to take particular care not to be too credulous. I say this because of the alarm that has (I trust causelessly) arisen among
us,
of a design of altering the courts of justice in the principality in a manner grievous to the
Welch:
let us wait with patience till the honorable member has laid open his design; and if it is then found to be a grievance, let us resist it with the same firmness as we did the treasury warrant. I hereby declare, not only in my own name, but in that of many respectable friends, great and small freeholders, that we do not, by signing the petition before us, exclude ourselves from seeking legal redress from any innovation, which may appear unjust and burdensome, let it come from any quarter whatsoever.
THE body of us petitioners consists of a stupendous multitude of persons, actuated with very different objects. I believe I may say with confidence, that there is not an individual in this assembly who has not the most laudable motives in view, abstracted from every party spirit whatsoever.
THERE are many very worthy and well-meaning gentlemen who think we have chosen an improper season for petitioning, amidst the rage of war. But let it be observed, that the strength of government consists in the variety of its resources, and if we are able to point out a most important one, we rather accelerate than impede its motion. In the peaceable times to refuse supplies would be a proper insult to an obstinate minister; but NOW! in the moment of RETURNING VICTORY
Lord
Rodney
's defeat of the
Spanish
sleet,
January
16th, 1780.
! it would be a measure fraught with certain danger and possible parricide.
I AM not of consequence enough to trouble you with professions, especially as I have no other object than to add my mite to serve my country; I shall only detain you, while I acquaint you with the steps I took after I had formed the resolution of exciting the county to assemble on this occasion. I drew up the requisition to the sheriff: I sent it, accompanied with a letter, experssive of my sentiments, to the three worthy gentlemen before mentioned. That I did not send it to more, was for want of time, not of respect. From my letter, and from the substance of a petition I sent with it, they might judge of the utmost limits of my intentions, that in case they disapproved of my design, they might decline subscribing to my requisition. It was returned to me, signed by an ample number, to whom I beg leave to return thanks for the compliment they were pleased to pay me.
I objected in that letter, and I do now in the strongest manner object, to all party-associations, and for myself decline the honors of committee-man.
THE former may end in combinations injurious to our peace, and perhaps fatal at the last to those who embark in them. We MUST not send our representative to the house with our prayer in one hand, and a dagger in the other. We MUST not attempt to intimidate the house from freedom of debate, at the time we are striving to wrest from men of power the pestilential baits of corruption: we MUST not wound when we wish to amend the diseases of our constitution: we MUST be consistent with ourselves. The parlement will suffer a civil death in less than a twelvemonth; it will be the fault of the people if they chuse another composed of members with whom they are at present so discontented. They will, when that period arrives, have an opportunity of legally rejecting those candidates whom they disapprove, and selecting those only worthy of their confidence.
MY mention of petitioning with a dagger in one hand gave great offence; but I thought myself vindicated by the indecent language of some of the petitioners, of which the following is a specimen.
SUCH were the people who agreed to the petition on which I now lean. Oeconomy in the expenditure of the public money is all they ask. Will any man vote for rejecting so modest, so reasonable a request? I hope not. Will any man vote that this petition be not brought up? No man, I trust, will dare do it. The minister will not dare do it, because he knows he ought not to dare it. But there is another thing also which he ought not to dare; and that is, to attempt to defeat the object of it. If the minister is so inclined, with the turn of his finger he may destroy it: but let him beware how he directs his influence against it. Let me advise him to beware how he institutes an enquiry into the merits of the petition: it speaks for itself; and the petitioners will look upon such an enquiry as a mockery, as a parlementary or ministerial trick to put an indirect negative upon their petition. When they met to draw it up they were unarmed; they had neither muskets nor staves; but if you mock them, they will — I'll leave blanks for the sagacity of the house to fill up.
LORD
Ongly
reprobated the idea of threats, notwithstanding he was a petitioner, and voted in this instance with the minority.
LORD
Ongly
reprobated, in severe terms, the connection that subsisted between the petition and county associations. Threats had been hinted, and more than hinted, if the prayer of this and of other similar petitions should be rejected. This alone, in his lordship's opinion, was sufficient to damn the petition. It puts me in mind, said he, of the man who went about robbing, under pretence of selling rabbits. He held out the rabbits in one hand, and a pistol in the other, and very civilly asked those he chanced to meet, whether they chose to buy any rabbits. Such is the conduct of the petitioners in the different counties; a conduct, which, if it is not checked in the bud, may be productive of the most fatal consequences to the liberty and happiness of this country.
THE clamor continued. I was attacked in the papers, and I put an end to the war by the following answer.
Downing, March
3, 1780.
MR. MONK,
PERMIT me, through your paper, to thank the gentleman-like freeholder of the county of
Flint,
for his explanation of the mysterious word
Associations.
I so fully approve the end which he intends, that (provided he would secure them from proceeding any farther) I do declare, that had I not seen the name of our representative in the glorious list of the lamented minority of 186, I would, at the next general election, have voted, but not associated, against him. Now! let the gloomy idea of the word, and the
air-drawn dagger,
vanish. But I must remain master of myself. Neither KING nor People shall have the sole keeping of my political conscience. Free was I born; free have I lived; and free, I trust, will die
THOMAS PENNANT.
APPENDIX, No 7.
A LETTER TO A MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT, ON MAIL-COACHES.
FACIT INDIGNATIO!
By THOMAS PENNANT, Esq.
1792.
A LETTER, &c.
DEAR SIR,
I AM much obliged to you for your favor of the 5th instant. I pay such deference to your opinion, that I entirely lay aside all thoughts of troubling your honorable house with the affair of repealing the act of exemption of mail-coaches from the payment of tolls. I would avoid every adventure which does not promise success, and should be much mortified to be unhorsed and laid sprawling on the
arena
of
St. Stephen
's.
YET I shall be extremely sorry that any member of your house should, through any quickness of misapprehension, wilful or natural, imagine me to be so wild as to think of an attempt that was not founded on reasonable and honest principles.
I AM sensible that the exemption of the mails from the payment of tolls commenced very early: I think, first by an act of
William
and
Mary,
which was afterwards repeated in several others, till it was oppressively confirmed by that of the 25th
Geo.
III.
THE most second-sighted of your house could never have foreseen that the usage of the single horse and post-boy, afterwards in many parts converted into the light mail-cart drawn by one horse, would be superseded by a
royal
carriage drawn by four horses, and filled by passengers, who before rode in the common stages, and contributed to support the roads which they passed over. This unfortunate change proceeded from an extent of prerogative, repined at only when perverted to the injury of the subject; as this most incontestably must be allowed to have done.
UNDER the sanction of the first act, turnpike gates were erected, and immense sums of money lent on the national faith. For a long time the security was esteemed good; and in
Wales,
where five per cent. was given, people at first were happy to place their money on mortgages they imagined so safe. The transfer was then easy, and the public rested perfectly content. The commissioners did their duty fully: they laid out the money to the best advantage; nor did they desist till the lowering of the tolls, by the fatal change of the mode of conveyance, had taken place.
I WILL exemplify the hardships only in the country I live. Other places equally remote from the capital must come in for their share of the grievance: but they will fall under the common description.
BEFORE the institution of mail-coaches, two stage-coaches ran through the county of
Flint.
And, were it not for an evasion, the change of horses between gate and gate in the
Mostyn
district, one of the districts principally aggrieved, each would have paid forty pounds a year. This unhappily was left unguarded in the act. By the help of that evasion both together only paid that sum: and even that sum, had we not been deprived of it, would have enabled us to take up 800l. more; and given us the power of repairing every part of the road which was not unexceptionably good.
MANY parts may have been allowed to have been indifferent; but they were adequate to the uses of the country, not only for the use of the farmers and the carriers, but also for the luxury of carriages.
IN this state they were found at the introduction of mailcoaches. These soon occasioned the suppression of the common stages, and deprived us at once of forty pounds of annual income. In the year 1789, a person was sent from the general post-office to survey the roads. From his report, and by the orders of the post-office, indictments were preferred at the great sessions at
Mold,
against the whole extent of road in the narrow but long county of
Flint.
In some instances, I fear the grand jury made a strain of their consciences in finding the bills; for some of the indicted places were in most admirable repair. But we were unwilling to obstruct any thing that tended to promote the public good.
FINES to the amount of 1200 l. were imposed on the several townships, many of which were very small, and the inhabitants composed of small farmers, and laborers, poor and distressed to the highest degree.
Two of these townships had a great extent of road, and only a few labourers, and a few miserable teams, to perform their statute duty. One of these townships, terrified with the prospect of ruin, by the execution of the
summum jus,
performed twenty-two days duty upon the road. The other township had only a single farmer living in it, who performed a duty of twenty-eight days.
THE vast expences which the commissioners had been at in the repairs of the roads, had almost exhausted the credit, in some totally; so that at present 50 l. cannot be obtained for 400l. worth of our parchment securities.
AT this period I was moved with compassion at the complaint and distresses of the poor. This induced me to write my circular letter to the several grand juries of
England
and
Wales,
in order to induce them to unite in a common cause. I blush at my want of success, resulting from either ignorance of, or indifference to, the first principles of security of property. I was simple enough to think that the justice of the cause would have insured an approbation of my plan. Instead of that, I am told, that in some places it was even treated with rudeness and contempt. I ventured even to write to two gentlemen with whom I was not personally acquainted: they never paid the lest attention to my letter: they forgot my character, and they forgot their own.
I TOOK the liberty of getting my circular letter conveyed to a third gentleman high in office, with whom I was acquainted. It was returned with (written on a corner of it) "Mr.
Pennant
is in the wrong, and I will have no concern in the affair." The gentleman may be politically right; but I am confident that Mr.
Pennant
is not morally wrong.
THERE has certainly been a strong misapprehension of my meaning. I did not intend the abolition of mail-coaches: they have their objections; whether we consider the barbarity with which the poor horses are treated, or the very frequent destruction of the passengers—our old
Jehus
may have slain their thousands; our modern, their tens of thousands. I only wished that they might not prove oppressive to many of our counties, by causes I have before mentioned. True it is, that, in my first circular letter, I did most rashly and unadvisedly hint, that they might, without injury, be converted into the mail-cart. The gentlemen of
Somersetshire,
who, I must confess, did admit that something should be done for us, very justly fired on the idea of sending their
Thespis
again into his cart. A worthy friend of mine of that county warmly but kindly expostulated with me on the subject: but I hope this my declaration of repentance will be admitted, and atone for my error.
THE grand juries of
Cheshire, Berkshire, Monmouthshire,
and those of
North Wales,
united in the support of my design. The rest of the counties proved to me the truth of the remark of
Swift,
That he never knew any person who did not bear the misfortunes of another perfectly like a Christian!
FAR the majority of the roads in
England
have great revenues, arising from the multitude of stage-coaches that keep their ground in defiance of mails. Our stages the obliged to desist from travelling, and give the former a most unjust and oppressive monopoly. The counties interested in them feel not our unhappiness, and want generosity to contribute to the alleviation of the distresses we suffer.
WE should have made a claim on the justice of the house, had we had the most distant prospect of success. We are now in the case of creditors defrauded by the superior cunning of an artful debtor. Had an individual received an adequate mortgage on his estate, and had afterwards the dexterity to lessen the income, what name would he have deserved? The highest term of reproach; but such a one that could never be applied the most remotely to any member of your honorable house.
THIS affair has never yet been seriously considered. Good men, I trust, will now awake as from a sleep; and stand amazed and confused at the sad delusion they discovered that they had labored under. Favourite systems run away with mankind, and totally annihilate all attention to the inconveniences they occasion. The act was obtained late in the sessions, hurried through a very thin house, and with the slightest opposition. The legislature obliges a certain time of notice to be given before the introduction of a common turnpike bill. Let me ask. Should not at lest the interval of a session have been given for the discussion of so strange and unequal a taxation?
WHAT, may I ask, could make the individual liable to censure; and the actions of the collective body be passed over without blame? Either the numbers defend, or some daemon, like the ghostly father of
Charles
I. has whispered in your ears, Have a double conscience! one that is to make you consult the plain dictates of honesty: the other telling you to support some fancied public good, at the expence of a certain number of persons, who, in times not very remote, had trusted their money to the security of the public faith.
OR may you not hold the same doctrine as the nuns in
Tristram Shandy;
that the divisibility of sin may enable you to fritter it away into almost nothing?—You certainly have the advantage, The nuns were but two, you are five hundred and fifty-two to bear the feather-weight of the wrong decision, you had most unwarily been induced to make.
LET me now ask, Are there no instances of repeal of acts on far less important occasions? I well recollect two. The first is the
Jew Act,
which had in fact no consequences to be feared, religious or political. The other was the cyder tax, esteemed like ours a partial grievance; and yet its overthrow was easily effected. I reflect on these two acts repeated without cause, and on our oppressions continued in defiance of every principle of justice.
SINCE your honorable house was determined to weaken our securities, ought it not to have first paid off every turnpike mortgage? and then you might have had full liberty of doing what you pleased with the income of the gates.
I BEG leave to lay before you a case in which your house once shewed a most scrupulous attention to the rights of creditors. That was by the repeal of a clause in the
Kingsland
turnpike act. Part of it leads from
Shoreditch
to
Ware,
and this part was crossed by the
Newmarket
road, and tolls were taken by the commissioners of the
Ware
road, from all travellers to and from that seminary of virtue, merely for crossing the road. On the renewing of the
Kingsland
turnpike act, the
Newmarket
people insisted that they should pass free of tolls. A clause was inserted in the new act for that purpose, and the cross-gates were pulled down. The creditors of the
Kingsland
turnpike petitioned to the house of commons for redress; they succeeded, and the cross-gates were again erected, and the tolls taken till the whole of the creditors were paid.
NEWMARKET ROAD.
SHOREDITCH TO WARE.
I IMAGINE that there is not a member of the house who has not acted as a commissioner of the turnpikes. Let me request him to call to mind, whether he has not in that character, or in the character of a magistrate, treated with a harsh severity the delinquent who, through poverty, has defrauded the gate of nine-pence. What pleas of conscience have not the commissioners urged for maintaining the interests of the gates, and discharging their trust like men of honor? Is there not a
Lethean
atmosphere in the chapel of
St. Stephen,
so suddenly to efface all memory of transactions in the common air of the world? I trust that there is: otherwise the individual who, in one place and in one character, had been so strenuous to save a poor nine-pence, should in another place, and in another character, vote as a perquisite to the comptroller-general of the post-office, an exemption of the mails from toll, a sum amounting to not less than 90,000l. a year, on which he has a most considerable poundage, besides some very good pickings from other articles. This I am assured of by a worthy member of your house. I think his salary is but 1500l. per ann. What a monstrous quantity of sack is allowed to his halfpennyworth of bread!
So liberally supplied as the comptroller has been with the means, cannot something be deducted to relieve our complaint? If the honorable house does not choose this mode, a small, a very small tax on the passengers, and on the immense sums got by the carriage of parcels, would compensate for the loss of exemption of tolls. The rich
English
districts would be above taking advantage of this diminution of revenue to the comptroller-general. It is only for the poor
Welch
districts, and a few others like circumstanced, for which it is humbly asked.
I HAVE a respect for the plan of the mail-coaches, and for the inventor; but I never could think of applying to him as the
nizam al muluc,
the regulator of the posting-empire. There ought not to be in our constitution such a monster as a comptroller uncontrollable by his legislature, or his superiors in office: legislature must now see its imprudence in permitting a latitude of so dangerous a nature. I, an individual, never could bear the thought: I looked for redress to the post-master general, or to the three estates of the kingdom.
I FEAR too great a veneration has been paid to this new-created office, and mode of conveying the mail. I always wish to pay every individual and every office a due respect; but in this case I must preserve the independent and useful man, and endeavour to correct every abuse that falls within my sphere as a provincial magistrate. What I am going to say may be deemed foreign to a legislative friend; yet as it may prove useful to many who behold these new vehicles with a kind of veneration, I shall mention an affair which happened in our county in the last autumn. Let me premise, that those protectors of the mail, the guards, relying on the name of royalty, had in the course of the
Irish
road through
North Wales,
committed great excesses. One, on a trifling quarrel, shot dead a poor old gate-keeper: a coroner's jury was huddled up; and, in defiance of the tears of the widow, no judicial notice has been taken of the affair to this very day. In
Anglesey,
another of these guards discharged his pistol wantonly in the face of a chaise horse, drawing his master, the Rev.
John Bulkely,
who was flung out, and died either on the spot or soon aster. These guards shoot at dogs, hogs, sheep and poultry, as they pass the road, and even in towns, to the great terror and danger of the inhabitants. I determined to put a stop to these excesses, and soon had an opportunity.
A NEIGHBORING gate-keeper laid before me a complaint, that one of the guards had threatened to blow his brains out; and had actually shot a dog that had offended him by his barking. I issued out my warrant, had the guard seized, and brought before me. He was a man who, for his great beauty and elegant person, was called the
Prince
of
Wales.
I did not hesitate to play the Judge
Gascoigne;
but from the goodness of his appearance, and the propriety of his behaviour, I did not go quite the length that famous magistrate did. I took bail for his appearance at our quarter sessions. He appeared before us, when, by the permission of the chairman, I took the lead in speaking. I represented to the audience, that the guards were intrusted with arms merely for the protection of the mail and the passengers, not for the terror of his Majesty's subjects; that a mail-coach was no sanctuary; that the bailiff might drag the debtor out of it; the constable, the felon; the exciseman might rummage it for contraband goods, and that with as little ceremony as if it had been a higler's cart. I farther added, had the driver been the offender, as the guard was, he should have been taken into custody, and the post-master of the district left to provide another to convey the mail to the next stage. The behaviour of the delinquent was so becoming his situation, that by the leave of the court I dismissed the offender with such a reprimand as became the high station of a
British
justice of the peace: an office in dignity and constitutional utility inferior to none in the land. Young men of the age, early initiate yourselves into that great character!
I BEG pardon for detaining you so long, but so much I thought was due to myself and to the public. A few papers I have subjoined will fling some farther light on the subject, as well as on my proceedings from the beginning. I remain, with much regard,
DEAR SIR,
Your faithful and affectionate humble servant, THOMAS PENNANT.
George-street, Hanover-square,
March
31, 1792.
Downing,
Feb.
18, 1793.
P. S. Notwithstanding the lenity shewn to the mail guard, the drivers of the coaches continue their insolencies. It has been a common practice with them to divert themselves with flinging out their lashes at harmless passengers by way of sun. Very lately one of these wretches succeeded so well as to twist his lash round a poor fellow's neck in the parish I live. He dragged the man under the wheels, by which one of his arms was broken. If ample satisfaction is not made, an action shall be commenced against the proprietors of the coach, who are certainly answerable for the misconduct of their people.
LETTER to
Thomas Williams,
Esq.. of
Llanidan,
Member for the Borough of
Marlow.
Downing,
Oct.
18, 1791.
DEAR SIR,
I AM much indebted to you for your late favor, with an official letter inclosed. I have no kind of doubt but that the comptroller general will, on cool re-consideration of his design of altering the course of the
Irish
mail, be induced to lay it totally aside. He will admit the importance of the county of
Chester
in its ancient staple of the cheese, on which our fleets and armies so greatly depend. The city itself (if I may judge by the frequent advertisements) is about to enter deeply on the fustian manufacture. The great remittances of taxes from the county, and from great part of
North Wales,
and the remittances to and from
Ireland,
and those occasioned by the great biennial linen fairs, must be flung into the scale.
THE port of
Park-Gate
has of late years risen into much consequence. It at present maintains four stout pacquets, which uninterruptedly ply between that port and
Dublin.
The correspondencies of the numbers of passengers embarking or disembarking, and the great remittances through this channel, are of no small moment, and of great general concern.
THE county of
Flint
(little as it is of itself), thanks to you and other companies, settling among us, is now rising into an amazing state of opulence: few perhaps can rival it. Our ancient cient lead trade was always considerable; but by the introduction of the copper and cotton business,
Holywell,
its environs, and their dependencies, may boast of commercial property, probably to the amount of a million sterling.
I HAVE always considered Mr.
Palmer
's plan as useful to his country, and an honor to himself, except in one article. I can never suppose that he will persist in deviating from the utility of his scheme, by diverting the mail from such a country as I have described.
Shrewsbury
has already its mail; after
Oswestry
is past, the greatest part of the road to
Conwy
is mountainous, poor, and half depopulated.
IT gives me concern to find our interests clash with those of the county of
Salop.
I must allow the excellency of the great staples of its capital, brawn and rich cakes; but still we have the balance in our favor; for on the most exact and impartial calculation, I do not find that at present the annual consumption (of both together) can possibly exceed the sum of 152,341l. 16s. 9¾d.
THE exceptionable article I allude to is the exemption of the mail-coaches from tolls. This falls heavy on the lesser districts: possibly we might have endured even that, had we not been insulted with indictments, and compelled to repairs beyond the real wants of the country. That is now over; we only wish the restoration of our lost tolls, to enable us to support the roads in the present state, and to take away all future grounds of complaint from every quarter. This will induce me to persist in my design of applying to parlement for redress of the grievance that affects the gates from
Chester
to
Conwy,
let the rich
English
districts take what share they please in their own concerns. There is one difficulty in
Flintshire
in respect to the road itself—I mean
Rhiallt Hill;
the alteration is beyond the power of the poor parish it lies in, and beyond the power of the poor
Mostyn
district to effect. Possibly the improvement may cost from 300l. to 400l. a sum adequate to the estimate has been raised by the voluntary subscription of the neighboring gentlemen: and the placo mostly complained of, has been most nobly improved, at the expence of 221l. 18s. 3d. I wish a small sum might be got from parlement, for that and the relief of a few other poor townships. I cannot bear to drive over roads smoothed by the bread of the poor peasantry. If the mail will be permanent, I will cheerfully subscribe fifty guineas towards that improvement. I shall conclude with saying, that a small addition to the fare of passengers between
Chester
and
Conwy,
will indemnify the coach from the loss by toll. Let Mr.
Palmer,
who cannot but be fertile in expedients, consider of the matter. My earnest wish is to have harmony restored, and the strongest mutual efforts made for the general good.
I am, DEAR SIR, Your most obedient humble servant, THOMAS PENNANT.
A LETTER to the worshipful
Peter Broster,
Esq. Mayor of
Chester.
Downing,
January
23, 1792.
SIR,
ON
Thursday
two letters were laid by Mr.
Smalley
before the commissioners of the
Flint, Holywell,
and
Mostyn
districts, signed
D. Smith,
and
G. Boulton;
in which our attention was requested to the repair of the roads which lay in our county in the course of the mail. It falls to my lot to desire you to communicate to your respectable corporation, what the commissioners have done, and what they intend to do of their own proper motions, not from the fear of any of the very unbecoming menaces sent forth.
ON the road from
Holywell
to the extremity of the district (which is called the
Flint),
has been laid out, within two years, 953l. in the space of five miles: great part of which, long before the indictments, was in most admirable repair.
THE
Mostyn
district begins at the western end of the
Flint:
much of it is in very good order: part is very indifferent, owing to the impoverished state of the
Mostyn
district, and to the inability of the poor inhabitants of the township in which
Rhiallt-hill
lies, to repair that part, which is bad by nature. I propose a subscription: you see my offer in the inclosed. We look up to the city of
Chester,
as both are engaged in a common cause.
THE
Holywell
district is, excepting near
Halkin,
in excellent repair. The part complained of will be attended to at the next meeting at
Holywell,
at eleven o'clock on
Wednesday
the 8th of
February.
We shall be happy to see any gentlemen on the part of your city.
EXCUSE me if I remind the city of
Chester,
the county, and also the county of
Flint,
that our importance is such, that our demand of a mail is a matter of right; not a petition for favor. How superior is the justice of our claim to that of
Salop,
which had long since its independent mail!
IN respect to my particular actings, I never will persist in any thing that is wrong; nor desist from any thing that is right. Our clame for abolishing the exemption from tolls is founded on common honesty. My seizing on the guard was the act of an attentive magistrate, to prevent future murders. Two, if not three, had been committed: one near
Conwy;
another in
Anglesey:
besides the terror spread along the whole road by the wanton conduct of the profligate guards. I brought the affair before our quarter-session; more to set it in the true light than to punish the offender. I was aspersed in your city; but the examination wiped away the dirty paragraph.
I am, SIR, Your most obedient humble servant, THOMAS PENNANT.
To the worshipful the Mayor of Chester.
To the Printer of the SHREWSBURY CHRONICLE.
Downing,
August
6, 1791.
SIR,
I REQUEST you to lay before the public the following advertisement, addressed by the commissioners of the
Mostyn
turnpike district, in order to avert in future the hardships several of the townships of the county of
Flint
labor under in the repairs of the roads. The advertisement itself relates to the greater part of the grievances. It was sent to the paper too late to inform the
English
circuits, but has been approved by the grand juries of
Cheshire, Denbighshire,
and
Flintshire,
at the Spring assizes, and by that of
Berkshire
and
Monmouthshire,
being the Autumn assizes. Let me here inform you, that, by indictments from the General Post-Office, fines to the amount of 1200l. have been laid on the several townships lying in the course of the post-roads in the little county of
Flint,
many of which are very small, and labour under the greatest poverty. One in particular has a vast extent of road to repair, and only a few labourers, and four miserable teams to perform their statute labor. Under those circumstances, terrified with the prospect of ruin, they performed twenty-two days statute duty. The French
corvées,
now so reasonably abolished, were introduced on British ground, yet in vain; for a fine of 82l. 10s. was imposed on the poor people. So little interested were they, and numbers of others of the
Welsh
townships, in the passage of the mail-coach, that possibly they do not receive a letter in a year; yet these townships must suffer equally with the most opulent and commercial towns. Many of the roads were unexceptionably repaired; the rest were in sufficient repair for the uses of the farmer, for the uses of the gentlemen's carriages, and for the uses of the mail, before the late unguarded innovations. We are, like the
Israelites,
required to make brick without straw. The means of repair are taken from us, and we are fined for not performing impossibilities. A post-road is a national concern; that to a neighboring kingdom doubly so: and certainly that consideration should induce legislature to afford an aid in such cases in which it is found necessary; and if a road must be finished with finical perfection, the expence ought never to fall on those who are totally uninterested in it. Justice can never require that the poor should keep pace with the innovations made for the benefit of commerce or luxury. Much of the road-laws calls loudly for a reform: in all laws there should be a point of limitation. The attention of the grand juries is requested at the ensuing assizes. It is hoped that they will direct their representatives to make the mail-coaches liable to tolls. We mean no injury to Mr.
Palmer:
let him, before the meeting of parlement, suggest any remedy for the evil, and we shall rest content. They will certainly do away the great parlementary opprobrium of the act passed by their predecessors; which lessens a security granted on the faith of parlement. And much more may be said on this subject; but the detail is reserved for another occasion; you may be again troubled with my complaints, as well as some account of a township grievance, brought on it by those whose peculiar office it was to have guarded against the deceptions which imposed on their judgment, and brought on a most erroneous and disgraceful adjudication.
I am, Sir, Your most obedient humble servant, THOMAS PENNANT
GENERAL TURNPIKE CONCERN.
1. AT a meeting of the trustees of the
Mostyn
turnpike, held at the house of
Joseph Roberts,
at the
Blue Bell,
on
Saturday, July
30, 1791, the state of the roads was taken into consideration:
2. WHEN it appeared, that parts of the coal-road were greatly out of repair; the trade in which was the original foundation of this turnpike.
3. THAT the present annual tolls are very inadequate to remedy the evil.
4. THAT the failure of the tolls does not arise from any decay of trade in the country, but from the exemption granted by parliament, by the 25th
Geo.
III. c. 57, to the mail-coaches from the payment of any tolls.
5. THAT, by such exemption, the common stage-coaches have been obliged to desist from travelling, by reason of the burthen they are singly to sustain, and which the mail-coaches are freed from, and now in many places monopolize the business.
6. THAT the
Mostyn
district alone suffers a loss of 40l. a year, which is the interest of 800l. the loss of which prevents the trustees from the repairing of road equal to the expenditure of such a sum.
7. THAT the clause of exemption in favor of the mail-coaches is highly detrimental to the credit of the tolls, and the fecurity of the lenders, who had lent their money under the pledge of parliamentary faith.
8. ORDERED, That the expediency of petitioning parliament on this subject be farther taken into consideration, and that these resolutions be published in the next
Chester
paper, as they are public concerns; every post-road, and its several creditors, being interested therein.
9. THAT the sum of ten guineas be paid into the hands of the solicitor, towards the expences of the proposed bill, for repealing the exemption of tolls of the mail-coaches, and for subjecting them to tolls, in case such bill be brought into parliament: and that the commissioners of the several turnpike districts in
Great Britain
be invited to correspond, by their treasurers, on the subject, with
Samuel Small,
treasurer of the
Flint
and
Holywell
districts, and
John Lloyd,
assistant treasurer of that of
Mostyn.
10. THAT the thanks of the commissioners be given to the foremen and grand juries of the counties of
Cheshire, Denbighshire,
and
Flintshire,
for their liberal concurrence with the resolutions of the commissioners of the
Mostyn
district.
11. THAT it is requested of the gentlemen of this county to attend at
Mold,
on
Saturday
the 9th of
April,
to give a sanction to this proposal, and to prepare one or more petitions, or to give necessary instruction to the representatives of the county and borough, &c. as may then be thought proper.
12. AND, in order to give force to this reasonable clame on parliament, it is recommended to the gentlemen of neighboring counties, who may attend the duty of their country on the ensuing grand juries, to take the above into consideration, and add their weight to the common cause.
Signed, by order of the commissioners, JOHN LLOYD,
Assistant Clerk and Treasurer.
APPENDIX, No 8;
MY LAST AND BEST WORK.
THE dangerous designs of the
French
at this time became so evident as to induce some of my neighbors to call on me, and request that I would take the lead, and form an association for the defence of our religion, constitution, and property, after the example of some of the
English
counties, cities, and towns; my zeal readily prompted me to comply with their request, and I drew up a requisition for a meeting in the following plain terms.
REQUISITION.
To the INHABITANTS and LAND-OWNERS of the Parishes of
Holywell
and
Whitford,
in the County of
Flint.
WE, whose names are underwritten, do earnestly request you to meet us, on
Thursday
the 20th instant, at the
Antelope,
in
Holywell,
at the hour of Twelve, then and there to declare, and subscribe, our abhorrence of the treasonable and seditious practices of a few disaffected persons, which are, to the best of their power, helping the
French
to ruin our trade and manufactures, to destroy our religion, our laws, and our king, to leave the poor without any one able to give them bread, or to protect them from wrongs from great or small, and lastly, to bring confusion and destruction upon this now happy, and flourishing, kingdom.
I bawb sy'n caru Cymru
To all who love WALES.
Holywell,
Dec.
13, 1792.
JOHN WHITTAKER
JAMES SHELDON
JOHN ELLIS SUTTON
BELL GRAHME
REV. PHILIP JONES
WILLIAM CHAMBERS, grocer
JAMES POTTS, publican
JOHN LLOYD, farmer
JOSEPH ROBERTS, publican
SAMUEL WILLIAMSON
THOMAS PENNANT
J. ELLIS MOSTYN
JOHN LLOYD, clerk
THO. EDWARDS,
Saeth aclwyd
CHRISTOPHER SMALLEY
ROBERT HUGHES
EDWARD HUGHES
WM. BRAMWELL, maltster
D. DONBAVAND,
Greenfield.
This ADVERTISEMENT produced the following ASSOCIATION.
At a MEETING of the INHABITANTS of the Parishes of
Holywell,
Whitford,
Northop,
Flint,
Halkin,
Kilken,
Skeiviog,
Nannerch,
Caerwys,
Newmarket,
Llanhasa,
Saint Asaph,
Rhuddlan,
Meliden,
Diserth,
Cwm,
IN THE COUNTY OF FLINT, Held at the
Antelope,
in the Town of
Holywell,
on
Thursday
the 20th day of
December,
1792;
Resolved unanimously,
THAT it is the opinion of this meeting, that associations of all persons enjoying the unexampled benefits of the happy and envied constitution of
Great-Britain,
are at this time highly expedient and necessary, to assist in preserving the established liberties and growing prosperity of our country.
We do therefore associate ourselves;—and do profess and declare our unalienable attachment to the Constitution, our firm and inviolable allegiance to our gracious Sovereign, under whose mild and beneficent reign we possess all the advantages of good government; our obedience to the laws, and our anxious wishes for peace and good order in society, which it is our determined resolution to use all our exertions to preserve; and we do express our abhorrence of every attempt made to deprive us of the invaluable blessings we now enjoy.
Thus associated, we feel it our duty to point out, and we request all orders of men in this country to reflect on, the inestimable benefits of our excellent constitution.
We are governed by known laws, that are just and equal, and respect not persons; they alike restrain oppression and curb licentiousness:
The highest
(as hath been well observed)
are within their reach, and the lowest have their full protection.
All the arts, farming, manufactures, trade, and every employment and labour of man, are encouraged, and flourish beyond any thing known in any former period, or in any country; every man possesses in security the fruit of his labour. Talents and industry are sure of success, and may, as we daily see, rise to wealth and honor.
We enjoy, and have long enjoyed, the perfection of civil liberty in our persons, our property, and our honest opinions: and it is the glory of
Britain,
that of all the nations of
Europe—HERE ONLY ALL MEN ARE FREE.
It is then our duty, and we solemnly pledge ourselves, collectively and individually, to use our utmost endeavors to preserve these invaluable blessings, by a firm and zealous attachment to our King and Constitution, a ready and strenuous support of the magistracy, and the most active and unremitted vigilance to suppress and prevent all tumult, disorder, and seditious meetings and publications.
Resolved,
That the thanks of this meeting be given to THOMAS PENNANT, Esq. chairman, for his activity and zeal in promoting this business, and his ready acceptance of the chair.
Resolved,
That the thanks of this meeting be given to EDWARD JONES, Esq. of
Wepre-hall,
for his attention in drawing up the resolutions of this meeting, above recited.
Resolved,
That a committee be formed of this Association, consisting of the following gentlemen;
THOMAS PENNANT, Esq. Chairman;
SIR ROGER MOSTYN, Bart. M. P.
SIR EDWARD LLOYD, Bart.
WATKIN WILLIAMS, Esq. M. P.
REV. THE DEAN OF ST. ASAPH,
ROBERT HUGHES, Esq.
EDW. MORGAN, Esq.
THO. WILLIAMS, Esq.
EDWARD JONES, Esq.
MR. DANIEL DONBAVAND,
THO. TOTTY, Esq.
CHRISTOPHER SMALLEY, Esq.
JOHN WHITTAKER, Esq.
JOHN ELLIS MOSTYN, Esq.
SAMUEL SMALL, Esq.
HUGH HUMPHREYS, Esq.
WM. ALLEN, Esq.
REV. JOHN LLOYD,
Holywell,
REV. PHILIP JONES,
THOMAS THOMAS, Esq.
REV. EDW. HUGHES,
Greenfield,
REV. JOHN POTTER,
PAUL PANTON, Esq.
DAVID PENNANT, Esq.
REV. JOHN LLOYD,
Caerwys.
MR. FRANCIS SMEDLEY,
REV. THO. HUGHES,
Bagillt,
MR. SAMUEL DAVIES, grocer
MR. THOMAS THORESBY,
MR. SAMUEL WILLIAMSON,
JOHN DOUGLAS, Esq.
JOHN LLOYD, Gent.
JOHN ELLIS SUTTON, Gent.
REV. HENRY PARRY,
MR. WILLIAM CHAMBERS,
MR. THOMAS SIMON,
MR. BELL GRAHME,
REV. JOS. TYRER.
Resolved,
That JOHN ELLIS SUTTON be appointed secretary to this committee.
Resolved,
That ten of the persons above mentioned may form a committee.
Resolved,
That a committee be held on every
Saturday,
till it is forbidden; and that the first be held on
Saturday
the 5th of
January,
at the hour of eleven, at the
Antelope,
in
Holywell.
Resolved,
That the clergy of the several associated parishes be requested to return the books to the secretary, on or before
January
the 5th, being the first committee.
Resolved,
That any other parish in
Flintshire,
which may happen to associate, be requested to transmit to the secretary notice of such association, that, if needful, they may hereafter correspond together.
Resolved,
That the proceedings of this day be published in
Adams
's Weekly Courant; and that EDMUND MONK be printer to this association.
THOMAS PENNANT, Chairman.
A BOOK for receiving the signatures of the several parishes, was sent to each, with the above resolutions, translated into
Welsh,
prefixed, and also a copy of Mr. Justice
Ashurst
's speech given in the same language, for the benefit of those who did not understand
English;
and these books were signed by an incredible number of people.
COUNTY BOUNTIES FOR SEAMEN.
FLINTSHIRE.
Holywell,
Feb.
2, 1793.
WE, whose names are underwritten, members of the committee of the sixteen associated parishes in
Flintshire,
this day assembled, do hereby offer two guineas (over and above all other bounties) to each of the first twenty Able Seamen, natives of
Flintshire,
and one guinea apiece to each of the first twenty Ordinary Seamen, or Landmen, natives of the same county, who are willing to enter into his majesty's service, to defend their religion, their king, their wives, children, or friends, from a most wicked and barbarous enemy.
ANY brave fellow, so inclined, is desired to apply to Mr.
John Ellis Sutton,
secretary of the committee, at
Holywell,
who will inform him of other particulars, and give him a recommendation to his majesty's regulating captain at
Liverpool.
THIS to continue in force for three months.
ROGER MOSTYN 42£.
WILLIAM DAVIES SHIPLEY 21£.
WATKIN WILLIAMS 21£.
HOPE WYNNE EYTON, for five able seamen.
LEWIS ST. ASAPH 21£. and more, if required.
ANY public-spirited
Flintshire
men, willing to encourage this undertaking in the smallest degree, are requested to send in their names to the chairman, as subscribers to one or more Able Seamen, or Ordinary Seamen, as may suit their inclination or conveniency.
THIS was the first county-bounty which had been offered. The example was instantly followed in
Chester,
and four places in
North Wales.
The committee of the sixteen parishes were immediately honored with the unsolicited thanks of the Lords of the Admiralty.
THE instances of the public spirit of the Ladies of
Flintshire
must not be passed over in silence.
To the EDITOR of ADAMS'S COURANT.
SIR,
YOU will be pleased to insert in your next paper the following letter, worthy of a CHARLOTTE DE LA TREMOUILLE
Countess of Derby, in the reign of Charles I.
It is not only a tribute due to the lady's public spirit, but may prove an incentive to others to follow an example worthy of the imitation of every good man.
To the Chairman of the Committee of the Sixteen associated Parishes in FLINTSHIRE.
Wrexham,
Feb.
15, 1793.
DEAR SIR,
I feel so much pleased with the spirited exertions of yourself and the other
Flintshire
gentlemen, expressed in the advertisement in
Monk
's last paper, that I must beg you to accept of the inclosed, to be applied to the same purpose; and, as it is a duty that every individual owes to that constitution that has protected their life and property, to do their utmost to support it at this awful period, if you want my further assistance, you may command the same sum whenever you chuse to call for it.
I am, dear Sir, Your affectionate kinswoman, MARY PULESTON.
At a Meeting of the COMMITTEE of the HOLYWELL ASSOCIATION, Held 16th
February
1793, at the
Antelope,
in
Holywell,
IT WAS ORDERED, THAT public thanks be given to Mrs. PULESTON, for her above spirited donation; and that her letter be printed in
Adams
's next Courant.
T. PENNANT, Chairman.
Other Contributors since February 6th.
Mrs. PULESTON of
Gwysaney
10£. 10s. 0d.
And an offer of the like sum, if required.
Mrs. EVANS,
Holywell
2£. 2s. 0d.
Mr.
Lewis Hughes St. Asaph
3£. 3s. 0d.
Mr.
John Davies
of
Gop
1£. 1s. 0d.
The Rev.
Edward Hughes
of
Kinmael
10£. 10s. 0d.
Thomas S. Chamneys,
Esq. and more, if required. 10£. 10s. 0d.
FINIS.