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(Eccles. 11. 2), a portion to seven & to eight, bestowing much, & refreshing many. Indeed he was a great patron to the poor; as long as he was able, he would go to y° parish meeting on purpose to befriend them there, & when he was disabled he would send his sons, & give them a strict charge to speak for the poor, that they might have some advocates among many adversaries; & as he was mindful of 'em in his life, so he was not forgetful 'em at his death, but left a sum of money to be distributed among them. These are works that will follow him, & not fail to find an ample reward, & they are such that will leave a good savour behind him, being both an evidence of his piety, & an ornament to it; & now I am upon ye head of his religion, I will hint something concerning it. He did not fetch the rules of his religion from a statute book, but from ye Bible, in which he was much conversant & well skill'd, being fully pursuaded of ye perfection & sufficiency of the Scriptures, that they are the only rule of faith & practice, & that ye closer we keep to 'em in matters of worship & discipline, the stronger ground we have whereon to hope for acceptance with God, in as much as he is always best pleas'd with what he himself has prescribed. It was his judgment that there ought to be no compulsion in matters of religion; that it's everyone's duty & privilege to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience, which he ought to inform as well as he can; that God should be served by everyone in such a way & manner as he's convinced is most pleasing to him, & finds most profitable to his own soul; & that all Christians should bear with & forbear one another in love, should avoid judging, censuring, & condemning one another for differences in lesser matters, & should unite in affection where they cannot but divide in opinion, upon these, no way scismatical, nor in the least uncharitable, but truly Christian, & entirely Protestant principles. He had been for many years a dissenter from the Church of England, & a member of this congregation, to which he was both a great credit & support, by a good conversation, & by a considerable contribution; & he has not, as others, wholly confined his good offices to the time of life, but taken care to leave something towards carrying on ye work of the Gospel among us for several years after his death; which was less expected from him than from others, because of his leaving those behind him who are like to fill up his place. As God gave him

many children, so he took much care of 'em, & has done well for them; he had the great satisfaction to observe them to take good courses, to find himself built up among them into a numerous family, to see many of his children's children, to be most tenderly taken care of in his old age by one of his own children, & to receive an uncommon respect & deference from all of 'em, which is as much their commendation, as 'twas his, tho' it was in part owing to a right breeding, & to a good education which he gave them; & now I am speaking of, permit me to say a few words to his

immediate descendants. Since it has pleased Almighty God, in whose hands ye life, breath, & time of all are, to take away your dear father, let all those affections you center'd in him, be terminated upon each other; be always as exemplary for respect one to another as you were for regard to him; love as brethren, & be united as one among your selves, having at heart one anothers interest, honour, ease, & comfort; keep close to God in the several stations wherein his providence has plac'd you; keep the good charge of your pious father, which you have in his own hand writing, & remember the passage in Jeremiah 49. 11, which many take to be a promise of God, under wch in his dying words he left you, Leave thy fatherless children, & I will preserve them alive.

1521.-LAWLESS STATE OF THE KINGSWOOD DISTRICT, 1795-1817. -The following paragraph, illustrative of the lawless condition of the Kingswood district in the last century, is extracted from Bonner and Middleton's Bristol Journal for April 18, 1795:

"On Monday last two bailiff's followers making a seizure for rent at a house in Kingswood, an alarm being given, they were surrounded by a number of colliers, who conveyed them to a neighbouring coal-pit, into which they were let down, where they were suffered to remain until about two o'clock next morning, when they were had up, and each having a piece of gingerbread and a glass of gin given him, were immersed again into the dreary bowels of the earth, where they were confined, in all, near twenty-four hours; on their being released they were made to pay a fine of six shillings and eightpence for their lodgings, and take an oath never to trouble or molest any of them again."

A Bath newspaper of September 11, 1817, gives an account of the burial, at Bitton on the previous Tuesday, of Benjamin Caines, a notorious Kingswood criminal, who had been executed at Gloucester. "He was interred," says the writer, "in the same grave with his brother, who was hung some time ago, and at whose funeral Ben attended, and sat on a wall whistling the whole time. A numerous concourse of his acquaintances attended the procession from Cock-road (near two miles); the pall was supported by six females dressed in white... The minister preached a very impressive sermon to Caines' associates from 'Let him that stole steal no more.' The body was afterwards committed to the grave by candlelight... According to the custom of the place, his body was previously exhibited at Cock-road at his father's house to all who chose to attend [for the purpose of obtaining subscriptions to defray the funeral expenses]. His body was brought from Gloucester by his own brother, who travelled all night with it, on Saturday last."

In the Ellacombe MSS. in the Bristol Museum and Library is a letter dated March 2, 1842, from Mr. G. Thompson, master of the Cock-road school, giving an account of the family of whom the

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above criminal was a member. Benjamin Caines, sen., had six sons, of whom Francis and Benjamin were executed for burglaries, George was transported for life for horsestealing, and Thomas, Joseph, and Samuel were transported for burglaries. His daughter Elizabeth cohabited with three men, two of whom were transported; and Lydia, another daughter, also lived with three men, all of whom underwent the same fate, and one of whom was transported twice. One of Elizabeth's natural children, James Caines, was executed for murder, and two of her other sons were transported. Again, the senior Benjamin Caines had two nephews named Thomas, who were transported, and one of these had a natural son who was also transported. Finally, Benjamin had a half-brother, Sampson Fry, who was transported like the rest. Mr. Thompson concludes this remarkable catalogue by observing:-"The whole of the foregoing list I knew personally with the exception of two, George and Francis Caines." J. L.

1522.-MRS. MARY GRANVILLE, OF GLOUCESTER 1724-1747.Anyone who visits the graveyard on the south side of Gloucester Cathedral, will find that the tombstones, with one exception, are now level with the surface of the ground. The one exceptionan oblong monument, standing in the angle formed by the south aisle and transept, is of older date than the rest, and bears a name familiar to the citizens of a century and a half ago. The inscription, now fast becoming illegible, reads as follows:-"Here lies interred the body of Mary Granville, daughter of Sir Martin Westcombe, Baronet, relict of Colonel Bernard Granville, who passed a long widowhood in this city, leading a most exemplary life, doing all the good to her poor neighbours that her income allowed of."

This lady, whose husband was brother to George Granville, Lord Lansdowne, was the mother of a daughter who was born at Coulston, near Westbury, Wilts, in 1700, and who became widely known as Mrs. Delany. Three volumes, entitled The Autobiography and Correspondence of Mary Granville, Mrs. Delany; with interesting Reminiscences of King George the Third and Queen Charlotte, and edited by the Right Hon. Lady Llanover, were published in 1861.* From this work we gather that Colonel Bernard Granville died at Buckland, near Broadway, in December, 1723, and that in the following year his widow removed to Gloucester, with her younger daughter Ann, then eighteen years of age. Here she was visited by her elder daughter Mary, then the widow of Mr. Pendarves, a gentleman of Cornwall, and who was accustomed to spend her summers with her mother at this "great distance from the metropolis." The family residence was for some years the house in Eastgate-street now occupied by Mr. Margrett; and afterwards somewhere in St. Mary's-square. The young widow was a brisk

• The second series, likewise in three volumes, and edited by Lady Llanover, was published in the following year.

and agreeable letter-writer. Her uncle, Lord Lansdowne, Earl Bathurst, Dean Swift, and other notable personages, were among her correspondents; but most of her epistles were to her sister Ann, between whom and herself a peculiarly strong and beautiful affection existed. Her references to Gloucester and its people are often amusing and interesting, but not always complimentary. The old city was dull: an occasional concert or ball, or the performance of a play in "Mr. Whitfield's great room," constituted the chief pleasures afforded to its small circle of fashionable inhabitants. Not only did the belles outnumber the beaux, but there was said to be "a scarcity of agreeable men." Some of the luxuries of life were not to be obtained in the shops of its tradesmen. Tea and chocolate were procured from London, at prices which contrast strangely with those of the present day. "The man at the Poultry has tea of all prices," says Mrs. Pendarves, writing to her sister in 1728: "Bohea from thirteen to twenty shillings, and green from twelve to thirty." "Tea dust" could not be bought for "love nor money." "I send three pounds of chocolate at four shillings a pound," she says-that at three and sixpence being unsatisfactory. China, which also had to be procured from the metropolis, could be obtained at more reasonable rates than the beverages for which it was used. Even at a time when its price was said to have "risen mightily," a set of cups, saucers, bason, sugar, dish, and plate" could be bought for fourteen shillings.

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In 1740, Ann Granville, after "languishing in the old town of Gloucester," from whence she could have but occasional escapes to a more congenial atmosphere, for sixteen years, married a Mr. Dewes, and settled in Worcestershire ; and in 1743, Mrs. Pendarves, after a widowhood of nineteen years, during which she declined several offers of marriage, became the wife of Dr. Delany (who was in the following year promoted to the deanery of Down), and removed to Ireland. Mrs. Granville remained in Gloucester, receiving frequent visits from her daughters and numerous friends. Her death in August, 1747, occurred suddenly while she was kneeling in private prayer.

In the summer of 1749, Mrs. Delany, accompanied by her husband, made a pilgrimage to Gloucester, to visit her mother's grave. Writing to Mrs. Dewes, July 1st, she says, "Yesterday I received my dearest sister's letter, and am glad you are determined to sit quiet this sultry weather. As for our meeting at Gloucester, it would have been too much for us both, and Mrs V[iney] takes the not coming in the true sense. Though I have suffered in my spirits by coming here, I have acquitted myself of a duty I owed, and find a satisfaction in my mind for having done it; and a quiet and uninterrupted enjoyment of my dear sister's company at my return to Welsbourne, will compensate for the melancholy hours I must spend in this place, where so many objects put me in mind of our great loss. But I will say no more on this subject, though my

heart is easier for having said so much. I found all here well except poor Nancy, who seems to me in a very bad way; our first meeting was what you may imagine it to be, and the first object that struck my eyes was a new tomb, and that put my spirits into such a hurry that I could not get the better of it for some time, nor had I courage to venture yesterday to church morning or evening, or to go out of doors but into the garden. . What a strange inconsistent letter is this, my dearest sister! rambling like my poor fluttered head and yet I think I find myself well composed to-day, and I intend going to church; for there is, after all, but one method that can compose the mind properly—which is, performing our duty to the best of our capacity, and praying for grace to sustain us under all trials."

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Mrs. Dewes died in 1761, and Mrs. Delany in 1788. There is a fine portrait of the latter in Hampton Court. GLOUCESTRENSIS.

1523.-SIR ROBERT SMIRKE, R.A., AND SIR EDWARD SMIRKE.— Sir Robert Smirke, the very able and successful architect, who died at his residence, 20, Suffolk Square, Cheltenham, on the 18th of April, 1867, was the eldest son of the eminent historical painter, Robert Smirke, R.A., and brother of Sydney Smirke, R.A., like himself, an architect of note. He was born in 1780, and studied for some time in the office of Sir John Soane, and subsequently spent several years in Italy, Sicily, and Greece, visiting, at intervals, the principal cities of Europe. Steadily advancing in his profession, he was elected R.A. in 1811; and in 1823 he was entrusted with all the works at the British Museum (which remained under his charge until 1847, when his brother Sydney succeeded him), and shortly after, with the building of the General Post Office; these, and the restoration of York Minster after its destruction by fire in 1829, being among the best known of his public works; while Lowther and Eastnor Castles may be pointed to as noble examples of his talent in the construction of private mansions. One of his many other well-known works was the erection of the Gloucester Courts of Justice. He was for many years architect to the old Board of Works, and was knighted in 1832, when that Board was reconstituted. He held for a long time the office of treasurer to the Royal Academy, but relinquished it on fixing his residence at Cheltenham in 1850; and a few years before his death, finding his declining health to interfere materially with the efficient discharge of the duties of a royal academician, he resigned that honour, in order that it might be conferred on someone younger and more active. He was the author of many architectural works. In 1819 he married Laura (d. 1861), daughter of the Rev. Anthony Freston, Rector of Edgeworth, Gloucestershire.

Sir Edward Smirke, fourth son of Robert Smirke, Esq., and a younger brother of Sir Robert Smirke, was born in 1796, and was educated at St. John's, Cambridge, where he graduated B.A. 1816,

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