Page images
PDF
EPUB

Other friends or relatives of the Greenell family were named Russell and Pugh, and are buried at Hertford. A large gentleman's mourning ring in memory of Richard Russell, Esq., was given me by Miss Roberts, as, I presume, the person after whom I was given my second name, though probably from an error in the register mine is always spelt with one, and this peculiarity was impressed upon me in my childhood. Another ring is from Miss Pugh, a friend of my mother's, and, I believe, one of the Russell family. We also possess a very beautiful pastel miniature of Mrs. Frances Hodges, who was a Miss Russell, and who died in 1809, and is buried at All Saints, Hertford; but the precise relationship, if any, of the Russells to the Greenells I have not been able to ascertain.

One other point may be here mentioned. There seems to have been some connection by marriage between the Wallace and Greenell families before my father's marriage, as shown by the fact that his elder brother, who died in infancy, was named William Greenell Wallace, and it seems not unlikely that his mother, Mrs. Dilke, had been a Miss Greenell before her first marriage.

I will now say a few words about my father's early life, and the various family troubles which, though apparently very disadvantageous to his children, may yet have been on the whole, as is so often the case, benefits in disguise.

My father, Thomas Vere Wallace, was twelve years old. when his father died, but his stepmother lived twenty-one years after her husband, and I think it not improbable that she may have resided in Marylebone near William Greenell the architect, and that my father went to school there. only thing I remember his telling us about his school was that his master dressed in the old fashion, and that he had a best suit entirely of yellow velvet.

The

When my father left school he was articled to a firm of solicitors-Messrs. Ewington and Chilcot, Bond Court, Walbrook, I think, as I find this name in an old note-book of my

7

father's-and in 1792, when he had just come of age, he was duly sworn in as an Attorney-at-Law of the Court of King's Bench. He is described in the deed of admittance as of Lamb's Conduit Street, where he probably lodged while pursuing his legal studies, it being near the Inns of Court and at the same time almost in the country. He seems, however, never to have practised law, since he came into property

which gave him an income of about £500 a year. heard from my sister Fanny.

This I

From this time till he married, fifteen years later, he appears to have lived quite idly, so far as being without any

systematic occupation, often going to Bath in the

season,

where he used to tell us he had met the celebrated Beau
Brummell and other characters of the early years of the
nineteenth century. An old note-book shows that he was
fond of collecting epitaphs from the churchyards of the
various places he visited; among which are Brighton, Lowes-
toft, Bognor, Ryegate, Godalming, Sevenoaks, Chichester,
etc. Most of these are commonplace reflections on the
uncertainty of life or equally commonplace declarations of
faith in the orthodox heaven, but here and there are more
original efforts. This is one at Chichester on
Henry Case,
aged 28-

"Here lies a brave soldier whom all must applaud,
Much hardship he suffer'd at home and abroad,
But the hardest Engagement he ever was in
Was the Battle of Self in the Conquest of Sin."

In the following, at Woodford, Essex, the village poet has been severely practical :

"ON WILLIAM MEARS, PLUMBER.

"Farewell, old friend, for thou art gone
To realms above, an honest Man.

A plumber, painter, glazier, was your trade,
And in sodering pipes none could you exceed.

In Water-work you took great delight
And had power to force it to any Height,
But in Water-closets great was your skill,
For each branch was subordinate to your will.

But now your Glass is run-your work is done,
And we scarcely can find such another man.
Now mourn ye all, and your great loss deplore,
For this useful man is gone for evermore."

The following seems to be a heartfelt and worthy tribute to a good man-Mr. Mark Sanderson, of Chepstow, aged

66:

"Loving, belov'd, in all relations true,
Exposed to follies but subdued by few,
Reader, reflect, and copy if you can
The social virtues of this honest man."

One more I will give, as it is at least original, from a tombstone at Lowestoft, Suffolk

"In memory of
CHARLES WARD,
Who died May, 1770,
Aged 60.

A dutiful Son, a loving Brother, and an affectionate Husband.

This Stone is not erected by Susan his wife. She erected a Stone to John Salter her second Husband, forgetting the affection of Charles Ward her first Husband."

In some other old MSS. and note-books are a number of quotations in prose and verse, mostly from well-known writers or not of any interest, but among them are a few that seem worth preserving.

The following epitaph by a Dominican friar on Pope Clement the Fourth is remarkable for the ingenuity of the verse, which is equally good when the words and sense are inverted :

"Laus tua, non tua fraus, virtus non copia rerum
Scandere te fecit, hoc decus eximium,

Pauperibus tua das, nunquam stat janua clausa,

Fundere res quæris, nec tua multiplicas,

Conditio tua sit stabilis! non tempore parvo

Vivere te faciat, hic Deus omnipotens."

(The same reversed.)

"Omnipotens Deus hic faciat te vivere parvo
Tempore non stabilis sit tua conditio!
Multiplicas tua nec quæris res fundere clausa

Janua stat, nunquam das tua pauperibus,
Eximium decus hoc fecit te scandere rerum
Copia, non virtus, fraus tua non tua Laus."

My friend, Mr. Comerford Casey, has kindly given me the following elegant translation of the above:—

"Not by intrigue but merit, not by wealth

But worth you rose. This is your title, this,
That you bestowed your goods on those in need.
Your hospitable door was never closed :

More eager ever to alleviate

The wants of others than to gather gain.

May your prosperity be lasting, Pope!

May God all-powerful grant you length of days!"

(The same read backwards.)

"May God omnipotent remove you soon
From earth! May your prosperity be short!
You grasp at gain and shun expense: your door,
Inhospitable Pope, stands ever shut.

Naught to the poor you give : your power is due
To wealth not worth: by intrigue you have risen."

In faded ink and very old handwriting, probably my grandfather's, is the following charade, the answer to which is not given, but it is worth preserving for its style :

"My first's the proud but hapless Child of danger,

Parent of highest honours and of woe;

Too long my second to the brave a stranger
Heaps useless laurels on the soldier's brow.

My whole by dext'rous artifice contrives

To gain the prize by which he stands accurst,
And plung'd in infamy when most he thrives,

He gains my second whilst he gives my first."

I myself believe the answer to be "cut-purse "—a Shakespearean word in common use in the eighteenth century, and applying to all the terms of the charade with great accuracy. But few of my friends think this solution good enough.

The following is in my father's writing, and as it is comparatively easy, I leave the answer to my young reader's ingenuity :

"A RIDDLE.

"O Doctor, Doctor, tell me can you cure
Or say what 'tis I ail? I'm feverish sure!
Sometimes I'm very hot, and sometimes warm,
Sometimes again I'm cool, yet feel no harm.
Part bird, part beast, and vegetable part,
Cut, slash'd, and wounded yet I feel no smart.
I have a skin, which though but thin and slender,
Yet proves to me a powerful defender.

When stript of that, so desperate is my case,
I'm oft devoured in half an hour's space."

One more enigma in my father's writing is interesting because founded on a custom common in my youth, but which has now wholly passed away.

"Kitty, a fair but frozen maid,

Kindled a flame I still deplore,

The hood-wink'd Boy was called in aid

So fatal to my suit before.

Tell me, ye fair, this urchin's name

Who still mankind annoys ;

Cupid and he are not the same,

Though each can raise or quench a flame,

And both are hood-wink'd boys."

My sister told me (and from what followed it was pretty certainly the case) that while he remained a bachelor my father lived up to his income or very nearly so; and from what we know of his after life this did not imply any extravagance or luxurious habits, but simply that he enjoyed himself in London and the country, living at the best inns or boarding-houses, and taking part in the amusements of the period, as a fairly well-to-do, middle-class gentleman.

After his marriage in 1807 he lived in Marylebone, and his ordinary household expenses, of course, increased; and as by 1810 he had two children and the prospect of a large family, he appears to have felt the necessity of increasing his income. Having neglected the law so long, and probably having a distaste for it, he apparently thought it quite hopeless to begin to practise as a solicitor, and being entirely devoid of business habits, allowed himself to be persuaded into

« EelmineJätka »