A Few Letters From My Scrapbook, Chiefly of Kentish Historians

% ^ S JM ^ ^ ^ ft § * < * • ^ & & 8^$ \ ^ ^ q \ art * * 2 ^ 1>^ Ktvi I av A ^rrteakrjjm d^nfianx A FEW LETTERS PROM MY SCRAPBOOK CHIEFLY OF KENTISH HISTORIANS BY DR. F. W. COOK, tf.S.A. From Ann Dering, second wife of Sir Edward Dering, Knight and Baronet of Surrenden Dering (vide facsimile opposite). DEARE HART, I haue sente your capp. but I am uery glad to heare you are so well as not to need it, all your freindes heare doe now think long to see you. I haue sent Anthony his coate & spatter laslaes they ware sent by one of y* parish so y* we ded not heare how he douth, but all heare are well I thank God so thinking ye dayes to goe sloly away tell I see you I rest Your faithfull ANN DERING [At the side of signature] I would faine have some canuies & cruell1 If you could. I hard of one y* would haier Willisb°rough house & land it is one Mr Robart Kinsnoth * * * * Ann was third daughter of Sir John Ashburnham and Elizabeth Baroness Oramond. She died aged 23, 1628. Buried at Pluckley, where there is an inscription to her memory. She was the mother of the second baronet. The letter is directed: To Sr Edward Dering Knight & Baronet give thes. Endorsed in his autograph 1626. An : D T - The writing is in a large Italian script not unlike modern script. The Anthony, who died aged 14 in 1624, was the son of Sir Edward by his first wife. So the endorsement must 1 Canvas and crewel thread. 2 LETTERS FROM MY SCRAPBOOK have been made after the boy's death and the letter written before 1624. The letter is a charming specimen from a somewhat neglected young wife, for the first Sir Edward Dering was always busy in politics, especially in Town, being of the " nothing fixed nothing long " temperament which caused his ultimate downfall. Spatteiiaslaes is a variant of the spatterdashes of my youth, long leather leggings used in riding or walking through rough woodland. Crewel and canvas call to mind the immense output of all kinds of needlework that Englishwomen made throughout the ages, even down to near our time. From the Rev. Samuel Denne, M.A., Antiquary, to his brother the Rev. John Denne's wife, July 12th, 1777, from Wfimington, where he was Vicar. The letter fills up the vacant spaces of one from his mother,1 the widow of Archdeacon Denne, to the same. She was the daughter of Dr, Bradford, Bishop of Rochester and Dean of Westminster. " To my good ladie's congratulations on Summer's being at length arrived I beg leave to subjoin my own as also my best wishes that Molly and my Mother who are invalids may find great benefit from this comfortable alteration in the weather, happily their kind Companion is not to be enrolled in this class. Our Dr . Prattle's confab not having allowed2 good Madam to fill up so large a share of the Paper as might have been wished, I will do what I can to supply her place by giving the Trio at the Palace [at Maidstone] an account of some Occurrences that have happened since I passed an agreeable evening with them. 1 ut. sup. She died 3 December, 1780. 2 The Bishop -was the Rt. Rev. John Thomas. He married the widow of Sir Joseph Yates, Judge in the King's Bench, 12 January, 1776. He died 1791. The picture of the Bishop's Lady conveys a lively account of the dress of the period. It would not be difficult to see a score or more pairs of similar female shoes in the streets of Rochester nowadays. At the period of the letter high-heeled shoes were confined to the " upper classes " but their fashion goes back certainly to the time of Queen Elizabeth ; several pairs of hers survive. The tall walking stick and high skirts, too, were modish at the time, as can be seen in contemporaneous pictures by Sir Josuah and others. Evidently Madam was in the fashion. CHIEFLY OF KENTISH HISTORIANS. 3 I think I informed them I had a summons to make a visitation bow to the Archdeacon at Bromley the beginning of the week after, which I obeyed and in the tedious interval between this ceremony and the hour of Dinner, a few of us strolled in the Bishop's grounds to view the improvements he has made in that before delightful spot. Some of the Party having last year and the present neglected to pay their compliments to his Lordship, did not think it proper to wait upon him on this occasion for which we kept at some distance from the house. The Bishop however, who was out on his morning walk, with his Lady and her Dr, seemed designed to throw himself into our way and after a genteel reprimand for our backwardness in visiting him pressed us to go in and on our leaving him commissioned us to invite all the Clergy of the Deanery of Dartford to dine with him on the friday following. Unfortunately for myself and brother Faunce the day was so extremely wet that there was no going in his open chaise, nor had we time to alter our plan, supposing we had had any doubts that the distance of ten miles and a torrent of rain were not a sufficient apology for tarrying at home. My Mother (as Molly and Mrs. H will easily imagine) askd me a multitude of questions about Lady Yates,1 to which I answered in the General, that she was genteel in her person and polite in her air and address and that I did really believe she was not thirty years younger than her Lord. With respect to her Dress I did not imagine that her Petticoats reached quite down to her ankles and that if they did she must unavoidably draggled her train on the wet grass. I perceived, I told her, that what the extremity of the heels of her shoes wanted in width was made up in height, that she however walked with great security because.she had in her hand a smart hook Stick as lofty as the Prelate's Crozier. When I had concluded my representation, it was very plain by the Countenance of good Madam, that she recollected to have seen at Bromley Palace a Bishop's Lady2 dressed rather more in character and if my memory does not deceive me, she hinted that tho' she was not so strict in her notions 1 The Bishop's second wife. 2 Her mother. 4 LETTERS FROM MY SCRAPBOOK as to think with Sfc Paul, that a Bishop ought to be the Husband of one wife, that yet he ought not at any time to marry one young enough almost to be his grandaughter. The Dean of Rochester1 has however followed in this respect the example of his Diocesan for by the best information I can procure Mrs. Thurloe is only in her 20th year whereas the Dean cannot be under 43 and the Archdecon told me that when he sat at table with them the relation of Father and Daughter occurred to him as being a more suitable one than Husband and Wife. Dr. Cradock2 has already had the honour of feeling the pulse of Mrs. Deaness and of course the Dean's gold. But it is rumoured that the crisis of the Disorder will be a more beneficial fee to one of Dr. Lofbie's3 fraternity. It was a mortification to me that the Church of Canterbury had excluded man John4 from being one of their minor Canons. In so doing the Dean and Prebendaries, with submission, may have shewn they have musical ears but have certainly discovered [that they] have not consonancy of heart. As the Old Man had been really an ornament to their society for 59 years and as the young one had officiated for his Father during his long confinement, it was cruel to reject him tho' he might not and most probably was not, the most worthy candidate. Mr. Taswell who had a temper less tuneable than his voice, has I perceive left the Church for the sake of a living in Norfolk which it is imagined he takes to be a much more valuable benefice than it really [is]. Dr. Palmer travelled to Aylsham to inquire 1 The Dean was Thomas Thurlow, D.D. He married Ann, daughter of Wm. Bere of Lymington, Hants. His son Edward succeeded his uncle as Second Baron Thurlow. Tho Dean was forty at his marriage. He became Bishop of Lincoln in 1779. He died 1791. 2 Dr. Cradock, b. 1698, a well-known consultant in Rochester, was M.B. from Queen's, Cambridge, 1717 ; died 7 November, 1781. Buried in Rainham Church, vide Arch. Cant., XVII, p. 61. 3 Wm. Loftie, a well-known obstetric surgeon in Canterbury. He was President of the Kent Medical Benevolent Sooiety 1788-94, Mayor of Canterbury 1774 and Alderman ; d. 1811, vide The Family of Loftie by Rev. Canon A. G. Loftie, M.A., 1918. 4 This refers to the refusal of the Canterbury Chapter to elect John Goatling to the vacant Minor Canonry caused by the death of his father. See my paper on Wm. Gostling in our last volume. See also Foster's Alumni, Venn's Alumni, Gent's Mag., Stanley's Westminster and Nicoll's Anecdotes and the D.N.B. CHIEFLY OF KENTISH HISTORIANS. 5 into the circumstances of it, for it had been represented to him as worth £400 a year. But he there learnt that it would be more for his interest to continue Rector of S* Clement, Eastcheap. I have only room for repeatmg my best wishes and to subscribe the initials of my name S.D." A HASTED INCIDENT. From William Boys to Thomas Pennant. Sandwich, 23rd Augst 1795. DEAR STR I have much to plead in excuse of my long silence, attendance of Sick at Deal Hospital where I have at present nearly seven hundred sick and wounded men under my care— much indisposition during the severe winter etc. etc. but all together is not, in my opinion, a sufficient excuse in deferring so long to your last very obliging letter. I therefore throw myself on your mercy and crave forgiveness, promising my best endeavour to give you more frequent proofs of the respect and esteem I have for you, Than I have done. Mr Hasted, after whom you enquire, I am sorry to say is in the King's Bench and in the greatest distress. I have lately relieved him, when he assured me he had not money enough for three days further sustenance. His MS. History of Kent is in the hands of Mr Simmons a bookseller and printer at Canterbury who will, I believe very soon put it to the Press. In the mean time the author is starving. I cannot solicit for an unworthy man ; but having lived with him in a habit of intimacy formerly and having received a number of civilities from him in my early antiquarian pursuits, I must own it would be a satisfaction to me to know that persons, who wish well to Literature, would contribute a little matter to prevent the Historian of Kent from being starved in a Jail. He has laboured hard in this service and perhaps his close attendance to his History may have exposed him to Temptations to which his Poverty at first, rather than his Will gave way. [PENNANT here makes this note : " I SENT HTM 5 G/OTNBAS.] We have in these parts felt a little of the general anxiety and suffered some alarm ; 6 LETTERS FROM MY SORAPBOOK but our crop of wheat is good, and harvest is begun with every favourable appearance we can wish for. You heard of the accident from lightning at Dover to four horses and a man who took shelter in a storm under a Hawthorn bush. It is a curious circumstance that the hearts of all the horses were ruptured. The man's was not examined. With my best wishes for the health and welfare of yourself and family I remain Dear Sir Your most faithful servant. WM. BOYS. Addressed : Thomas Pennant Esq., with the Boys' seal with coat of arms. * * * * As there is no postmark, the letter was probably sent with others and delivered separately in London by hand. There is a sarcastic reference to Hasted's faux pas, in Pennant's hand on the back of the letter, but this is best omitted.1 By coincidence, I was given the following, the same week that I obtained Wm. Boys' letter. On a sixpenny stamped receipt form is :— " I promise to pay to William Boys Esq. or his order Five guineas on Demand for value received by me. EDWARD HASTED. £5 5 0 London August 6th, 1795." As the dates are so close it looks as if Boys had sent him the money and that Hasted out of pride had sent a receipt in this form. Hasted to Pennant. King's College, St. Georges Fields London Snt, October 29th 1797. Tho' I have not the pleasure of being personally known to you, yet from the liberal assistance I received from you in the early time of my adversity, thro' the friendship of my 1 Arch. Cant., Vol. XXVI. CHIEFLY OF KENTISH HISTORIANS. 7 truly good friend Mr. Boys, I am encouraged to trouble you with this Letter, requesting you to pardon the liberty I take in it. I am publishing, Sir, a new Edition in 8V0 volumes of my folio one of the History of Kent, a Book so much improved as to be almost a new Book. Several of my most respected friends, who have honoured me with their friendship in much better times and whose minds have not been estranged from me—on account of the scenes of adversity I have lately met with, have permitted me to dedicate these volumes of this edition of my History respectively to them. Lord Romney, Lord Viscount Sydney and Sir John Henniker have condescended to do me this favour for the three volumes already printed, the fourth volume now nearly printed I hope Sir, you will permit me to dedicate to yourself, a liberty I would by no means presume on, without first obtaining your leave for it. At the same time that the prefixing of your name to it, would from your high reputation in the Literary world add that credit and respectability to it which would be an Honour to it which from the Author it could never hope to obtain. It would further give me an inexpressible satisfaction to acknowledge by this, the only means in my power, the most liberal Behaviour which I have experienced from you and my grateful thanks to you for the Polite Manner in which it was conveyed to me. Pardon me, Sir, in this effusion of my gratitude and condescend thro' the same feelings I have already experienced from you to indulge me in my request, which will be received with the greatest respect by, Sir, Your much obliged and most obedient Servant, EDWARD HASTED. Addressed : Thomas Pennant Esq., Downing, Post Office, Flintshire. Bath. Postmarked Hollywell and G.P. Fee 8d., the first address is crossed out and another fee of 8d. added for the new address. * * * * 8 LETTERS FROM MY SCRAPBOOK But Pennant did not give his consent and Brownlow North, Bishop of Winchester, did and he it was to whom the fourth volume was dedicated. As an addendum I give the bill for paper for Volume 1 of the folio edition of the History of Kent. Edward Hasted Esq. To Simmons & Kirby Dr for a Paper for the History of Kent. March 27, 1777. Superfine Large copy for fifty £ s. d. seven sheets of the History of Kent beginning with letter B ending with 3 M. 17 Quires & £ each sheet, 400 No. 6 at 10/9 30 12 9 Superfine large copy for six sheets of the Histy of Kent beginning with 3 N ending with 3S, 20 Quires and 650 No. . . .(?) at 17/3 5 3 6 1778, Sep. Superfine large Copy for 134 sheets of History of Kent which with 2 sheets cancelled make together 136 sheets 650 of each 28 Quires 117 6 0 Do. for 57 sheets of Do. 250 of each 10$ Quires 18 10 6 Superfine writing medium for 199 sheets 6 Copies of each sheet 49 Quires and 18 sheets for the whole at 2/- 4 19 6 Superfine large Copy for 4 sheets cancelled since publication at 17/3 3 9 0 Superfine writing medium for the 4 sheets 6 copies of each 2 0 £180 3 3 Examined and allowed by Edward Hasted Esq to J . Simmons & Kirkby. Nov. 10, 1780. * * * * Hasted has added up the bill correctly and put the total in his own hand. CHIEFLY OF KENTISH HISTORIANS. 9 Volume 1 of the folio edition was published in 1777. In looking through the items of the bill it will be seen that some of the paper was that used for the six copies on large paper. One of these was sent to the Royal Library of George III. Of Hasted's disastrous mistake in his old age more can be read in Arch. Cant., XXVI. It will be noticed that he dates his letter to Pennant from King's College, St. Georges Fields. That was the pohte description of the King's Bench Debtors' Prison in which the poor fellow was immured from 1795 to 1802. In 1807 Lord Radnor gave him the Mastership of Lady Hungerford's School where he died in 1812 and was buried by his son, the Rev. Edward Hasted, in Corsham churchyard. It will be remembered that as there was no memorial there, the Society placed a bronze tablet to his memory in the Church a few years back. From the Rev. Thomas Streatfeild, at Charts' Edge, Westerham. 23 August 1835. To John Russell Smith, the compiler of the Bibliotheca Cantiana, 1837. The letter is pasted into a large-paper copy of this, inscribed " From the compiler to the Revd Thomas Streatfeild " on the half-title. SIR, That I have been frequently a purchaser of MSS. and collected for the County at a considerable expense in many other departments, induces me, very sincerely, to assure you that I would rather keep out of the way of temptation. I OUGHT NOT to devote the large sums to my pursuit which I do ; and, frankly, I should not have that confidence in the hand, whose collections you propose to bring, which would lead me to value them highly. SOMETHING I would certainly give for them, SOMETHING even for the privilege of referring to and occasionally transcribing from them, but I cannot imagine that I should be so far led from my discretion as to lay out any sum upon them that would make it worth your while to call here. I value myself upon collecting 10 LETTERS FROM MY SCRAPBOOK. from DOCUMENTS and every day adds to my distrust of those who have gone before me, where their collections assume the air of Authority and certainly Sir Egerton's (Brydges) are divested of THAT pretension. Nevertheless, should you be in this neighbourhood on Friday next, you will find me at home which I shall not be for a few days previous. Yrs in haste THOMAS STREATFEILD. * * * * Streatfeild's letters are not common but here we see what is common to all collectors, that inability to resist seeing anything that bears on their chief interest in life. When I first read this letter I felt that I was truly in this succession, for I must confess to a whole-hearted appreciation of the temptation to look at poor Sir Egerton's collections and of the collector's suspicion that they were not of any great value, as indeed I fancy they could not be as most of them had been sold with his library many years before ; and also that little indication that in all probability after all the writer did see them. John Russell Smith was not only a bookseller but also a publisher. He had an extraordinary knowledge of all Kentish publications. His Bibliotheca Cantiana is remarkable for the very few mistakes it contains. I would that a new edition could be brought out. I have a collection of cuttings of books and MSS. taken from catalogues and not mentioned in the Bibliotheca. These number nearly as many items as the original book contains and I believe there are other similar collections in existence. If anyone would undertake the task of a new edition, I would gladly lend this: it would indicate the direction in which a complete copy of the title pages, etc., might be looked for.