[1] See Campbell’s “Lives,” etc., vol. iv. p. 247.

[2] Sir Cloudesley Shovel sat for several years as member of Parliament for the city of Rochester. In the Guildhall of that city there is an interesting portrait, representing the gallant sailor as Rear-Admiral. A tablet states that the hall was painted and decorated by his desire and at his expense, 1695-6. The portrait from which our engraving is taken is by Michael Dahl, and was originally at Hampton Court. It was presented by George IV. in 1824 to Greenwich Hospital. Sir C. Shovel at the time of his death was one of the governors of Greenwich Hospital.

[3] “Bibliomaniacs” will be interested to learn the price of certain books at this date, 1775. Lackington says: “Martyn’s ‘Dictionary of Natural History’ sold for £15 15s., which then stood in my catalogue at £4 15s.; Pilkington’s ‘Dictionary of Painters,’ £7 7s., usually sold at three; Francis’s ‘Horace,’ £2 11s. At Sir George Colebrook’s sale the 8vo edition of the ‘Tatler’ sold for two guineas and a half. At a sale a few weeks since, Rapin’s History in folio, the two first vols. only, sold for upward of £5.”

[4] “History of Booksellers,” by H. Curwen, p. 73. Chatto & Windus.

[5] Articles of Peace with the United States were signed Nov. 30th, 1782; and the Peace of Versailles, between France, Spain, and England, was made Jan. 20th, 1783. It is to this, no doubt, that Lackington refers.

[6] “History of Booksellers,” see above, p. 74.

[7] “The shoemaker happily abandoned his last.” It may be interesting to note that the writer’s copy of this curious book once belonged to Henry Thomas Buckle, author of “The History of Civilization.” On the fly-leaf are memoranda of Wesleyan and Jonsonian anecdotes which Buckle had evidently made for his own use.

[8] Mrs. Bradburn was the daughter of Samuel Jones, of Wrexham.

[9] This incident will remind readers of the following account given by Bunyan of a similar incident in his early life: “One day, as I was standing at my neighbor’s shop-window, and there cursing and swearing, after my wonted manner, there sate within the woman of the house and heard me, who, though she was a loose and ungodly wretch, protested that I cursed and swore at such a rate that she trembled to hear me.... At this reproof I was silenced and put to secret shame, and that too, as I thought, before the God of heaven.”

[10] 2 Cor. 5:17.

[11] There was surely a Scriptural reason for this feeling. See Luke 15:7, 10, and Heb. 1:15.

[12] Acts 13:2.

[13] See Benson’s “Life of Fletcher.”

[14] “Religion in England under Queen Anne and the Georges.” By John Stoughton, D.D., vol. ii. pp. 158, 159. Hodder & Stoughton.

[15] Bradburn’s mother died during his first year’s ministry. In connection with this event he mentions a circumstance which enabled him to be resigned to the bereavement, and which many readers will regard with unusual interest. “God spared her life, nearly twelve years, in answer to a prayer which I offered up when she seemed to be dying, in which I begged that she might live twelve years exactly. I was then very young, and could not bear the thought of losing her, but imagined I should be able to part with her after those years.”

[16] Bradburn’s lodgings.

[17] “Life of Samuel Bradburn.” By T. W. Blanshard. P. 68. Elliot Stock, 1870. A most interesting biography of the famous Wesleyan preacher.

[18] Bradburn’s Life, see above, pp. 85, 86.

[19] Bradburn’s Life, pp. 177, 178.

[20] Ibid., pp. 183, 184.

[21] Bradburn’s Life, pp. 233-235.

[22] Bradburn’s Life, pp. 228, 229.

[23] 2 Kings 6:5.

[24] Proverbs 31:21.

[25] The “Della Cruscan school.” See below.

[26] The name Cruscan was taken from the Florentine Academy, by Robert Merry, the founder of this school of mawkish and affected poetasters.

[27] “History of Booksellers.” H. Curwen. Chatto & Windus. P. 175.

[28] Ibid., pp. 180, 181.

[29] Quoted in “The Lives of Eminent Englishmen.” Fullarton & Co., Glasgow, 1838. Vol. viii. pp. 317, 318.

[30] Tennyson, “In Memoriam,” stanza xxi.

[31] “Lives of Eminent Englishmen.” Fullarton & Co., 1838. Vol. viii. p. 245. See also “Views Illustrative of Works of Robert Bloomfield,” by E. W. Brayley. London: 1806, p. 17.

[32] See Chapter IV., William Gifford.

[33] AthenÆum, No. 2770, Nov. 27, 1880, p. 719.

[34] Samuel Drew, M.A., the self-taught Cornishman.” By his Eldest Son. P. 102. London: Ward & Co.

[35] “Baptist Jubilee Memorial.” London: Simpkin, Marshall, 1842, p. 83.

[36] “Memoir of Dr. Carey,” by the Rev. Eustace Carey. London: Jackson & Walford, 2d edition, 1837, p. 16.

[37] J. C. Marshman, in “The Story of Carey, Marshman, and Ward;” London, J. Heaton & Sons, 1864, p. 6. See also an account of Carey’s life and work in “The Missionary Keepsake and Annual,” by Rev. John Dyer; London, Fisher & Co., 1837; and “The Life of Dr. Carey,” by the Rev. Eustace Carey; London, 1837.

[38] “The Story of Carey, Marshman, and Ward,” p. 4.

[39] It ought to be said that in 1808, about a year after the death of his first wife, Carey married Miss Rhumohr, a Danish lady of good family and education, who proved a most congenial companion and helper in his work. He was three times married: his third wife, who survived him, was an excellent partner for a missionary.

[40] The first Sunday-school was opened in Gloucester in 1780.

[41] Viz., 1789.

[42] The text of this discourse was Isaiah 54:2, 3: “Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords and strengthen thy stakes; for thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited.”

[43] Quarterly Review, Feb. 1809, p. 197. This generous article on “The Periodical Accounts of the Baptist Missionary Society” is known to have been written by Southey. See below. Some idea of Thomas’s passionate zeal may be formed from certain expressions in the letters sent home after Carey and he had arrived in India. He says, “Never did men see their native land with more joy than we left it; but this is not of nature, but from above,” etc. See p. 223 of same article.

[44] Quarterly Review, Feb. 1809, p. 197.

[45] Ibid.

[46] “Carey, Marshman, and Ward,” by J. C. Marshman. London: J. Heaton & Son. 1864.

[47] “Carey, Marshman, and Ward,” p. 137.

[48] Quarterly Review, Feb. 1809, pp. 224, 225.

[49] Viz., Krishnu, who was baptized at the same time as Carey’s son Felix. The ceremony was performed at the Ghaut, or landing-stairs of the Mahanuddy, in the presence of the Governor and a crowd of Hindoos and Mohammedans.

[50] John Clark Marshman was the son of Dr. Marshman, Carey’s colleague at Serampore.

[51] “Anecdotes and Stories,” by Rev. Thomas Guthrie, D.D. London: Houlston & Wright, pp. 156, 157.

[52] Gen. 5: 24.

[53] Acts, 10: 1, 2.

[54] “A Memoir of John Pounds.” Foord, Stationer, Landport; p. 9. The writer is indebted to this brief memoir for most of the facts stated in this sketch. He is also indebted for information to the courtesy of Rev. T. Timmins, Portsmouth, pastor of the congregation of which John Pounds was a member.

[55] “Memoir of John Pounds,” p. 10.

[56] Ibid, p. 10.

[57] Rev. T. Timmins, Portsmouth, in a letter to the writer.

[58] See closing sentences of preface to “Purgatory of Suicides,” by Thomas Cooper, early editions.

[59] “The Life of Thomas Cooper, Written by Himself.” Hodder & Stoughton, 1872; p. 7.

[60] See above, p. 96.

[61] This seems to be a test of proficiency in the trade. Bloomfield’s brother says, “Robert is a ladies’ shoemaker;” and stories are told of his receiving, after he became famous as a poet, many orders from the nobility for ladies’ boots.

[62] Thomas Miller, afterward known as a poet and novelist, and for his charming descriptions of rural scenery, was an intimate friend of Cooper from childhood to old age.

[63] “Life of Thomas Cooper,” pp. 60, 61.

[64] “Life of Thomas Cooper,” p. 67.

[65] These lines stand first among the minor pieces in “Cooper’s Poetical Works.” London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1877.

[66] The Children’s Magazine (next to the Teacher’s Offering the first magazine for children published in this country), the Christian Pioneer, the Child’s Magazine. He was also editor of the Baptist Reporter for many years.

[67] “Life of Thomas Cooper,” p. 262, also pp. 356-367.

[68] “Life of Thomas Cooper,” p. 316.

[69] Ibid p. 335.

[70] The charges of atheism and atheistic advocacy made against Thomas Cooper have often arisen from confounding Thomas Cooper the sceptic with Robert Cooper the infidel. See “Life of Thomas Cooper,” p. 357.

[71] See letters to Thomas Cooper in “Kingsley’s Life and Letters.” London: Henry King & Co., 1877, pp. 183 and 221, etc.

[72] Among others, Coleridge observed that shoemakers had given to the world a larger number of eminent men than any handicraft. The philosopher was rather partial to shoemakers, from the time when, as a boy at Christ’s Hospital, he wished to be apprenticed to the trade of shoemaking.

[73] It is used by Pliny, who died a.d. 79.

[74] Eccles. Hist., Book ii. cap. xxiv.

[75] Ibid., Book iii. cap. xiv.

[76] Annianus is regarded in some countries as the patron saint of shoemakers. Campion’s “Delightful History of ye Gentle Craft.” Northampton: Taylor & Son, 2d ed., 1876, p. 25.

[77] Pressense’s “Early Years of Christianity.” London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1879, vol. ii. p. 355.

[78] Dr. Smith’s “Dict. Christian Biog.,” art. “Gregory Thaumaturgus.” In this article Gregory is called a charcoal-burner. Probably, like many other shoemakers, he followed more than one vocation.

[79] December, 1881.

[80] 4:11.

[81] Acts 5:38, 39.

[82] On the beach at Lidde, near Stonend, “there is yet to be seene,“ says Weever, in his ”Funeral Monuments,“ ”an heap of great stones which the neighbour inhabitants call St. Crispin’s and St. Crispinian’s tomb, whom they report to have been cast upon this shore by ship-wracke, and from hence called into the glorious company of the saints. Look Jacobus de Voraigne, in the legend of their lives, and you may believe perhaps as much as is spoken. They were shoemakers, and suffered martyrdom the tenth of the kalends of November (25th October), which day is kept holy to this day by all our shoemakers in London and elsewhere.“—Quoted in ”Crispin Anecdotes,” Sheffield, 1827, p. 18.

[83] For the legends of these saints, and much curious information respecting the craft and its guilds in early times, the reader may consult Lacroix, “Manners, Customs, and Dress in the Middle Ages;“ ”Histoire de la Chaussure,“ etc. That quaint old book, ”The Delightful, Princely, and Entertaining History of the Gentle Craft,” by T. Deloney, 1678, gives the story of the princely and saintly brothers in its English dress, and it is one of the strangest tales even in legendary lore. This story, Deloney tells us, accounts for the term “gentle craft” as applied to shoemaking, and explains the saying “a shoemaker’s son is a prince born.” The Princes Crispin and Crispinian becoming shoemakers sufficiently accounts for the former term, for

and the marriage of Crispine to Ursula, the daughter of the Emperor Maximinus, and the birth of a son to the Prince, will explain the latter. See the stories and ballads thereanent in Campion’s “Delightful History of the Gentle Craft,” Northampton, Taylor & Son, 2d ed., 1876, pp. 25-35. A most interesting and valuable little book on shoes and shoemakers in ancient and modern times.

[84] Vol. ii. pp. 305, 306. London, Longmans, 1848.

[85] Another memorial of the saints, of a very different character, was the semi-sacred play entitled “The Mystery of St. Crispin and St. Crispinian,” which used to be performed on St. Crispin’s Day by the Guilds or Brotherhoods of Shoemakers in Paris and elsewhere.

[86] “Biographie Universelle.” Paris, 1811.

[87] Ibid.

[88] “Nouveau Dictionnaire Historique,” tom. ii.

[89] “Nouvelle Biographie Generale.” Paris, 1853, tom. iv. p. 786.

[90] Butler’s “Lives of the Primitive Fathers, Martyrs, and Saints,” 1799, p. 532.

[91] This society flourished until the outbreak of the French Revolution, 1789, when it was suppressed.

[92] If this were a history of the craft and trade of shoemaking, attention might be called to the genuinely illustrious shoemaker, Nicholas Lestage of Bordeaux. This clever artisan having made a remarkably fine pair of boots, presented them to the king, Louis XIV., on his visit to Bordeaux, shortly before his marriage to the Infanta of Spain. The fortunate son of Crispin was made shoemaker to his Majesty, and rose rapidly to wealth and favor at court. In 1663 he presented to his royal patron the famous boot “without a seam,” which was spoken of as a “miracle of art,” and of which it was declared that “the name of a boot would fill the world.” About a dozen years after Lestage succeeded in making this wonderful seamless boot, a small book of poems was written to commemorate the extraordinary achievement. Among other extravagant things said about “cette admirable chaussure,” it was affirmed that “neither antiquity nor the sun had ever seen its equal,” “that man was not its inventor,” and its structure was truly divine!” etc.

[93] Vol. iv. p. 423.

[94] This book once belonged to Henry Crabb Robinson: see H. C. R.’s Diary, etc., vol. i. pp. 400, 401, for the above quotation.

[95] Lanzi’s “History of Painting.” London: Bohn, vol. iii. p. 200; and Bryan’s “Dictionary of Painters.” London: Bohn, p. 138.

[96] Lanzi’s “History of Painting.” London: Bohn, vol. iii. p. 126; Bryan’s “Dictionary of Painters.” London: Bohn, p. 114; and Pilkington’s “Dictionary of Painters,” p. 95 (1770 ed.).

[97] Sons of shoemakers have often become famous. See the list given below, which might be greatly extended.

[98] For this and one or two other examples of noted shoemakers the writer is indebted to a series of most interesting articles entitled “Concerning Shoes and Shoemakers,” in the Leisure Hour, 1876.

[99] Born 1676; died 1756. Bennett is placed out of his chronological order because it seems most fitting that he should follow the benevolent Castell.

[100] Selkirkshire, otherwise called Ettrick Forest.

[101] Berwickshire, otherwise, called the Merse.

[102] See “Border Minstrelsy.”

[103] Scott’s “Border Minstrelsy,” foot-note.

[104] Note IV. to Canto IV., “Lay of the Last Minstrel.”

[105] Risp and rive, creak and tear.

[106] To twitch the thread as shoemakers do in securing the stitches.

[107] “Biographical History of England,” vol. iii.

[108] The author of “Crispin Anecdotes,” p. 127, says, “Praise-God Barebones was a shoemaker, but from all the writer can learn he was a leather-seller; and Bloomfield is reported as saying that Secretary Craggs was a chip of leather. On what authority it is hard to say. His father, the postmaster-general, is more likely to have been in such a position; but his trade was that of a country barber.”—Grainger, Noble’s continuation, vol. iii.

[109] Pepys’ Diary, note, January 25th, 1659-60.

[110] Part I. Canto II., 409-430, etc.

[111] Part I. Canto II., 409-430, etc.

[112] Part I. Canto III, 118, 119.

[113] Quoted in Chambers’s “Book of Days,” August 15th. W. & R. Chambers, Edinburgh.

[114] Evelyn’s “Diary” of this date.

[115] Pepys, see above.

[116] Grainger’s “Biographical History of England,” vol. iii.

[117] “History of England,” vol. i. p. 316 (People’s Edition).

[118] Grainger’s “Biographical History of England,” vol. iii. Grainger has an interesting note concerning Myngs, which we cannot forbear copying: “I am credibly informed that when he had taken a Spanish man-of-war and gotten the commander on board his ship, he committed the care of him to a lieutenant, who was directed to observe his behavior. Shortly after word was brought to Myngs that the Spaniard was deploring his captivity and wondering what great captain it could be who had made Don——, with a long and tedious string of names and titles, his prisoner. The lieutenant was ordered to return to his charge, and if the Don persisted in his curiosity, to tell him that ‘Kit Minns’ had taken him. This diminutive name utterly confounded the titulado, threw him into an agony of grief, and gave him more acute pangs than all the rest of his misfortunes.”

[119] See the “Descriptive Catalogue of the Portraits of Naval Commanders,“ etc., in the ”Painted Hall, Greenwich Hospital,” Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, London, 1881, p. 10. The editor of the catalogue states that “this portrait and those numbered 7, 8, 47-49, 102, 105, 107, 110-112 form the series of valuable pictures mentioned in Pepys’ ‘Diary,’ as follows:—‘To Mr. Lilly’s the painter’s, and there saw the heads—some finished and all begun—of the flagg-men in the late great fight with the Duke of York against the Dutch. The Duke of York hath them done to hang in his chamber, and very finely they are done indeed. Here are the Prince’s (Rupert), Sir George Askue’s, Sir Thomas Teddiman’s, Sir Christopher Myngs’, Sir Joseph Jordan’s, Sir William Berkeley’s, Sir Thomas Allen’s, and Captain Harman’s, as also the Duke of Albemarle’s; and will be my Lord Sandwich’s, Sir W. Penn’s, and Sir Jeremy Smith’s.’”

[120] Sutor ultra crepidam feliciter ausus. See Lackington’s Life, p. 45.

[121] Elias Ashmole appears to have been given to astrology and alchemy; see his “Way to Bliss,” a work on the Philosopher’s stone, published 1658.

[122] The Tatler, April 11, 1709. Steele and Congreve assisted in the joke. Congreve pretended to take the side of Partridge by defending him against the charge of “sneaking about without paying his funeral expenses!“ See Timb’s ”Anecdote Biog.” vol. i. pp. 24 and 154.

[123] In regard to Manoah Sibly, see below.

[124] “Crispin Anecdotes,” p. 85. The plates in E. Sibly’s works are by Ames, a Bristol name a century ago. His portrait in the 1790 edition is by Roberts.

[125] His birth is set down as occurring 20th November, p.m., 1752.

[126] They were published at two guineas.

[127] The Secretary of the Swedenborg Society, Mr. James Speirs, has obligingly supplied the writer with most of the facts given above, which are taken from an obituary of M.S. in the Intellectual Repository, a Swedenborg magazine for 1841. Mr. Speirs says that Manoah Sibly was “presumably” born in London, but see above.

[128] The exact correspondence in title and date between this book and the first edition of E. Sibly’s similar work creates a suspicion of error in the name.

[129] “Maunder’s Biographical Treasury.” London: Longmans.

[130] Quarterly Review, January, 1831, p. 76.

[131] Charles Lamb, “Album Verses,” 1830, p. 57.

[132] London, 1675 and 1725.

[133] See Campion’s “Delightful History,” p. 51.

[134] The author of “Crispin Anecdotes” mentions another shoemaker who was made Lord Mayor of London, viz., Sir Thomas Tichbourne, who was Mayor in 1656, during the Protectorate.—“Crispin Anecdotes,” p. 127.

[135] One is ready to ask who but a shoemaker could have gone so heartily into the rollicking fun of the shoemaker’s room, or asked such a question as the following:—“Have you all your tools; a good rubbing pin, a good stopper, a good dresser, your four sorts of awls, and your two balls of wax, your paring knife, your hand and thumb leathers, and good St. Hugh’s bones to smooth your work?” It may be remarked here that St. Hugh is another patron saint of the craft. Hugh, son of the king of Powis, was in love with Winifred, daughter of Donvallo, king of Flintshire. Both were martyrs under Diocletian. St. Hugh’s bones were stolen by the shoemakers, and worked up into tools to avoid discovery. Hence the cobbler’s phrase, “St. Hugh’s bones.” See Deloney’s “Entertaining History.”

[136] See Southey’s preface to “Attempts in Verse, by John Jones,” London, 1830; and article thereon in Quarterly Review, January, 1831, p. 81.

[137] For an able discussion of the question, “Was Richard Savage an Impostor?“ to which the writer, Mr. Moy Thomas, says, ”Yes,” see Notes and Queries, 2d Series, vol. vi.

[138] See Life of Samuel Bradburn, President of the Wesleyan Conference.

[139] See a book of unusual interest, “Lives of the Early Methodist Preachers,” ed. by Rev. I. Jackson. Wesleyan Book-Room, London, 3 vols. 1865.

[140] “Life of Wesley,” vol. iii. p. 108. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1870.

[141] Toplady wrote the fine hymn “Rock of Ages,” etc.

[142] “Helmsley” has been set down to Olivers; but Mr. Benham says it was composed by Martin Madan, Cowper’s uncle, author of “Thelyphthora.” See Cowper’s “Poems,” Globe Ed., Intro., p. 34.

[143] “Memoirs of the late Thomas Holcroft, written by Himself, and Continued to the Time of his Death from his Diary,” by W. Hazlitt. The Traveller’s Library, vol. xvii. 1856.

[144] It may be thought by some readers that Bloomfield’s brothers, George and Nathaniel, ought to have a place in our list of illustrious shoemakers. George, in his correspondence with Mr. Capel Lofft, Robert’s patron, showed himself a man of good sense and a fair writer. See preface to Bloomfield’s Poems. But Nathaniel, the author of a little volume of poems, edited by Capel Lofft, 1803, entitled, “An Essay on War,“ in blank verse, and ”Honington Green, a Ballad,” was not a shoemaker. He was a tailor, though not a few writers have made Byron’s mistake of classing him with “ye tuneful cobblers.”

[145] Blacket’s “Remains,” preface, vol. i. pp. 62, 63. London, 1811.

[146] Blacket’s “Remains,” preface, vol. i. pp. 2-7.

[147] Editor of Blacket’s “Remains,” Letters, pp. 9, 10.

[148] That these generous friends labored to some purpose may be judged from the fact that after Blacket’s little legacies and funeral expenses were paid, £97 10s remained over for the benefit of his child. “Remains,” p. 101.

[149] “Crispin Anecdotes,” pp. 87, 88.

[150] Ibid.

[151] “Campion’s Delightful History,” p. 81.

[152] Of “The Sabbath,” a writer in the Quarterly Review, January, 1831 (p. 77), says it is “a poem of which unaffected piety is not the only inspiration, and which but for its unfortunate coincidence of subject with the nearly contemporary one of the late amiable James Grahame, would probably have attracted a considerable share of favor, even in these hypercritical days.”

[153] “Imperial Dictionary of Biography.” Glasgow: Blackie & Co.

[154] “The Blessings of Temperance, Illustrated in the Life and Reformation of the Drunkard: a Poem by John O’Neill, etc., forming a Companion to Cruickshank’s ‘Bottle,’ with etchings from his pencil.” London: W. Tweedie. 1851. Fourth edition.

[155] Kelso: Rutherford. Edinburgh: Blackwood & Sons.

[156] Glasgow, 1834.

[157] “Autobiography of John Younger, Shoemaker, of St. Boswell’s.” Kelso: J. & J. H. Rutherford, 1881.

[158] 6th May, 1882, p. 564.

[159] “The Vale of Obscurity, and Other Poems,” by Charles Crocker, 3d edition. Chichester: W. H. Mason, 1841.

[160] It is perhaps best, on the whole, not to speak of living men in such a work as this. An exception has, however, been made to such a rule in the rare instances of the famous politician, poet, and preacher Thomas Cooper, and the American poet Whittier. If the writer did not feel the necessity of adhering, in the main, to this rule, it would be easy enough for him to cite many instances in proof of the statement that the literary reputation of shoemakers is being well sustained in the present day by writers in prose and poetry, who either have been or still are working at the stall. Most Scottish sutors, one would think, have heard of the author of “Homely Words and Songs” and “Lays and Lectures for Scotia’s Daughters of Industry” (Edinburgh, 1853 and 1856). London craftsmen know and honor the names of J. B. Rowe, a political writer and poet, and John B. Leno, the editor of “St. Crispin,“ and author of the ”Drury Lane Lyrics,“ ”Tracts for Rich and Poor,“ and ”King Labor’s Song-Book” (London, 1867-68; see also “Kimburton, and Other Poems,” London, 1875-76); and the shoemaker of Wellinborough, John Askham, by his “Sonnets of the Months,” “Descriptive Poems,“ and ”Judith” (Northampton: Taylor & Son, 1863, 1866, 1868, and 1875), has made a reputation which is not entirely confined to his own locality, nor to the members of the craft to which he belongs.

[161] All the writings of George Fox were published after his death. See below.

[162] See answer to the question, “What is thy duty toward thy neighbor?”

[163] “Select Miscellanies.” London: Charles Gilpin. 1854, vol. iv. p. 135.

[164] “Journal of Thomas Shillitoe,” vol. i. p. 21.

[165] “Bonn’s Standard Library,” p. 305.

[166] Rotherham and Masbro’ are one town, only separated by the River Rother.

[167] “Masbro’ Chapel Manual” for 1881, whence many of these particulars are taken. See also Miall’s “Congregationalism in Yorkshire.”

[168] Dr. Edward Williams became president in 1795. He edited the works of Jonathan Edwards, and was the author of a once famous controversial treatise on “Divine Equity and Sovereignty.”

[169] “Crispin Anecdotes,” p. 18.

[170] “Crispin Anecdotes,” p. 18.

[171] “Imperial Dictionary of Biography,” vol. iv. Edinburgh: Blackie & Son.

[172] Vol. i. p. 402.

[173] The eminent Baptist minister of St. Andrew’s Chapel, 1761-1790, predecessor of Robert Hall.

[174] Huntingdon wrote his own epitaph, part of which reads—“Beloved of his God but abhorred by men. The Omniscient Judge at the Great Assize shall ratify and confirm this, to the confusion of many thousands; for England and its metropolis shall know that there hath been a prophet among them.”

[175] See Campion’s “Delightful History,” p. 83.

[176] “Congregational Year-Book” for 1863, pp. 214-216. To the obituary notice given in the Year-Book I owe the facts given in this sketch.

[177] “Memoirs of John Kitto, D.D.,” by R. E. Ryland, M.A. Edinburgh: William Oliphant & Sons, 1856.

[178] Magneto-electricity was discovered by Oersted in 1820.

[179] A story is told of Sir Robert Peel which is worth repeating here. A deputation of working-men once waited on Sir Robert to lay the wants of the trades’ societies before him. The two speakers selected by the deputation were shoemakers. On learning this interesting fact, the statesman turned to the sons of Crispin and said, half in earnest and half in jest, “How is it that you shoemakers are foremost in every movement? If there is a plot or conspiracy or insurrection or political movement, I always find that there is a shoemaker in the fray!”

It is a singular fact that the shorthand notes of Hardy’s trial were taken down by another illustrious shoemaker—Manoah Sibly (see above). There is a printed copy of these notes in the British Museum, published 1795.

[180] H. C. Robinson’s Diary, vol. i. pp. 26, 27.

[181] “The Oracle,” vol. vi. pp. 154, 237. London: 155 Fleet Street.

[182] Sermon entitled “The Philanthropist, a Tribute to the Memory of the Rev. Noah Worcester, D.D.” Channing’s Works, People’s Edition, vol. ii. p. 251, etc. Belfast: Simms & M’Intyre, 1843.

[183] Written in 1837.

[184] In “American Biographical Dictionary.” Boston: J. P. Jewett & Co.

[185] See the allusion to Sherman in Whittier’s lines, given below.

[186] These are Roger Sherman and Henry Wilson, already noticed, and Daniel Sheffey, Gideon Lee, William Claflin, John B. Alley, and H. P. Baldwin. In answer to the question, “What shoemaker has risen to political or literary eminence in the United States?” a writer in the Philadelphia Dispatch, besides speaking of the four remarkable men we have selected as examples, says, “There are other famous names of graduates from that profession. Daniel Sheffey of Virginia learned the trade, and worked at it many years, and from 1809 to 1817 represented his district in the Congress of the United States. His retort to John Randolph of Roanoke, who taunted him on the floor of Congress with his former occupation, was, ‘The difference, sir, between my colleague and myself is this, that if his lot had been cast like mine in early life, instead of rising, by industry, enterprise, and study, above his calling, and occupying a seat on this floor, he would at this time be engaged in making shoes on the bench.’ ... Gideon Lee, a mayor of New York City, and a member of Congress from about 1840 to 1844, was a working shoemaker, and afterward a leather dealer. William Claflin, an ex-governor of Massachusetts and a member of Congress, worked at the shoemaker’s trade when young, and is now at the head of a very large shoe-manufacturing firm. John B. Attey, an ex-member of Congress from Massachusetts, was in the shoe trade, as was also H. P. Baldwin, ex-governor of Michigan, and ex-member of Congress from that State.”

[187] In a review of this last volume of Whittier’s poems (Macmillan & Co.), a writer in the AthenÆum (February 18th, 1882) gives the following just estimate of Whittier’s character and merits as a man and a poet: “The poems in this collection ... show that delicate apprehension of nature, that deep-seated sympathy with suffering mankind, that unwavering love of liberty and all things lovable, that earnest belief in a spirit of beneficence guiding to right issues the affairs of the world, that beautiful tolerance of differences—in a word, all those high qualities which, being fused with imagination, make Mr. Whittier, not indeed an analytical and subtle poet, nor a poet dealing with great passions, but what he is emphatically, the apostle of all that is pure, fair, and morally beautiful.